The Smackdown: UGA-LSU

This weekend brings our first big intra-Expat matchup -- LSU at Georgia. Let's now have a reasonable, civilized discussion between the representatives of these fine institutions of learning.

Tommy Tomlinson: True story. I was down in Louisiana to write stories about Katrina. Our makeshift office was in Baton Rouge. All the hotels that were still open were jampacked, so I spent a few nights in my car. The last night I was in town, my boss found me a spare bedroom in the apartment of some LSU students. I knocked on the door, thanked the guys who were letting me stay there, petted their dog. We were standing there in the kitchen when I heard a strange clattering from around the corner.

I looked up and there was a goat in the living room.

(I should probably note here that this was not a Katrina thing. The Goat had a collar.)

We stared at each other, me and The Goat. He started to grunt.

"Don't worry," one of the guys said. "We'll keep him with us. He won't bother you."

Then I noticed the dog starting to growl, and another guy reached down and held back The Goat.

"By the way," he said, "he and The Goat don't get along too good."

So... I can't swear to you that all LSU fans sleep with goats. All I know is what I saw.

As for the game? I still can't tell if either team is any good. LSU had to man up on a goal-line stand to beat Mississippi State. Georgia had to get lucky about seven different ways to beat Arizona State. I could see either team getting crushed. In this kind of game, when the gyroscope is spinning in all different directions, Vegas usually takes the home team by three. Sounds about right to me. Georgia, 23-20.


Cliff Mehrtens:

A goat, eh? Hmmmm.

Some may use Hurricane Katrina as an excuse, but I know that's not true in this case, Tommy.
See, Louisiana folks are different in plenty of ways….good, bad and um, sometimes zoological.

They'll hunt anything. They'll cook anything. Heck, I once ate barbecued squirrel at 10 a.m…..Why? That's all we shot that morning on a swamp hunting trip (too cold to dip into the water for snakes and gators).

So the fellas at LSU with the goat - no big deal.

But THE big deal is Saturday's game….you're right, LSU and Georgia have been spotty-good heading into this game. By all rights, LSU should have lost against Mississippi State last week, but the Bulldogs went mental and couldn't run 1 yard on two goal-line plays with a minute left.
Go with the team on a roll - unbeaten LSU……Tigers 23, Georgia 13.

Winning there will be tastier than any redfish, raccoon or nutria.

Who ya got? (Week 5)

R. Trentham Roberts:

LSU @ Georgia -- Tigers' talent hasn't translated into a dominating performance. They don't speak Ninja, either. Georgia 35, LSU 31.

Auburn @ Tennessee -- Here we go again: Big-time offense vs. Kiffin the Elder. But the real difference will be the War Eagles' patented Whiff defense. Tennessee 27, Auburn 24.

Alabama @ Kentucky -- Wildcats off to rehab after a couple of weekends at the Flora-Bama Lounge. Alabama 35, Kentucky 10.

Ole Miss @ Vanderbilt -- Can the Rebels rebound? Can the Commodores score? Ole Miss 20, Vanderbilt 7.

Georgia Tech @ Mississippi State -- The coulda-woulda-shouldas from the LSU game linger for the Bullpups. Tech 24, MSU 18.

Texas A&M 24, Arkansas 21

South Carolina 28, South Carolina State 10

Peter St. Onge:

LSU @ Georgia -- National titles don't mean tenure for SEC coaches. LSU boards already talking about replacing Les Miles. Saturday won't help his cause. Georgia 27, LSU 21.

Auburn @ Tennessee -- Auburn can defend big, between-the-tackles rushers. Tennessee can't throw. And there is only one Eric Berry, no matter what it looks like. Auburn 31, Tennessee 24.

Alabama @ Kentucky -- I was told this week that kids go to Alabama to play for national championships. Didn't know that, given that the Tide hasn't even won its own conference title this century. But still: Alabama 38, Kentucky 10.

Ole Miss @ Vanderbilt -- Is Ole Miss 2009 the same as Auburn 2008? Highly regarded early. Can't move the ball. Things fall apart badly. Hmmm. Not yet. Ole Miss 24, Vanderbilt 10.

Other games:

Georgia Tech 33, MSU 17

Arkansas 34, Texas A&M 24

South Carolina 31, S.C. State 7

Tommy Tomlinson:

LSU at Georgia pick coming in separate post.

Auburn at Tennessee: Is Auburn really this good? I don't think so, especially when Vols need at least one big win in Kiffykins' first year. Vols, 24-16.

Alabama at Kentucky: I hate to say this, because I can already sense the smugness emanating from Bama Mike, but Alabama is the best team in the country so far this year. Tide, 30-13.

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt: Rebel hangover continues. Vandy, 19-17.

Georgia Tech at Mississippi State: Over-under on passes thrown: 7. Woody Hayes would love this game. Jackets, 31-20.

Texas A&M at Arkansas -- Hawgs, 35-27.

S.C. State at South Carolina -- Cocks, 38-13.

'It's nice to see something pure and whole and simple and beautiful'

Are we talking about the same LSU? -- RTR

Then again, this is a newspaper-sponsored publication, and since we're genetically predisposed to not play favorites, how about this tribute to the halls of higher education in Georgia. -- MG

http://dcnlive.com/videos/516

A good read

Click here for a fine story by Slate's Josh Levin on Tim Tebow, head trauma and the culture of football.

A word of advice to our ACC brethren

Don't even think of it.

Don't waste your brain cells and our time with any extended crowing IF Georgia Tech beats Mississippi State this weekend.

Predictably, some genius named Anonymous will take keyboard in hand and declare to the world that the gap between the SEC and ACC is much narrower than the fans of the former would like to admit.

Here's what we will admit:

1. Tech should win.
2. The teams hang from different rungs on their conference ladders. Mississippi State is at the bottom of the SEC. Tech, on the other hand, will participate in the ACC's annual scrum to see who plays in the country's worst conference championship game. Given the SEC's superiority, don't be surprised if the Bulldogs keep it close.
3. For a more informative comparison of the two leagues, let's turn to Alabama-Va. Tech. Tech, apparently the ACC's best team once again, was a couple of special team plays from being run out of the Georgia Dome. N.C. State did even less with South Carolina.
4. The ACC is already home to the season's most embarrassing loss -- William & Mary won't do, Virginia -- AND the most embarrassing win -- Florida State over JSU (that would be Jacksonville (Ala.) State University). Bobby Bowden's resume was further adorned by Saturday's thumping from South Florida.
5. Just when you thought Miami would become the first ACC football team in almost a decade to grab a chair on the national stage . . . poof!
6. ACC schools have also lost to Middle Tennessee and Richmond and have been scared silly by a subpar App State squad. Bowden won't leave. Al Groh and Ralph Friedgen won't be staying.

Now the good news. Tech, whose pummeling of North Carolina raised serious questions about Butch Davis' restoration project in Chapel Hill, should knock MSU around come Saturday.

If they don't, the floor disappears under an ACC season that's been sliding off its foundation from the start.
-- Michael Gordon


P.S. from RTR -- All defenders of the ACC would be wise to heed the words of Tallahassee (could there be a better name at a better moment?) in the new movie "Zombieland" ... "It's time to nut up or shut up."

Best pregame speech. Ever.

October 14, 1922: Vanderbilt opens its newly built Dudley Field by hosting mighty Michigan. Dan McGugin (above) is the head coach of the Commodores, who are a national power. (McGugin would end up with a record of 197-55-19.) McGugin gathers his team before the game and, referring to a nearby miliary burial ground, says ...

In that cemetery sleep your grandfathers ... and on that field are the grandsons of the damn Yankees who put them there.

(What McGugin did not say was that he himself was the son of a Union officer. Sadly, the exact quote seems to have been lost to time, but what you see above is close and makes for a pretty good telling.)

The game ended in a 0-0 tie. It was the only blemish on either team's record that year.

 

-- R. Trentham Roberts

SEC coaches: Any lifers out there?

Nine years in and going on 10, Georgia's Mark Richt is the dean of SEC coaches.  Here's the question: In this day and age of big money and bigger pressures, will we see any coaches stay for, say, 20 years or so?

Current coaches and their years on the job, along with each school's longest-tenured coach:

Georgia - Mark Richt, 9 years (Vince Dooley, 25 years)

Vanderbilt - Bobby Johnson, 8 (Dan McGugin, 30)

Kentucky - Rich Brooks, 7 (Fran Curci, 9)

Florida - Urban Meyer, 5 (Steve Spurrier, 12)

LSU - Les Miles, 5 (Charles McClendon, 18)

South Carolina - Steve Spurrier, 5 (Rex Enright, 15)

Alabama - Nick Saban, 3 (Bear Bryant, 25)

Arkansas - Bobby Petrino, 2 (Frank Broyles, 19)

Ole Miss - Houston Nutt, 2 (Johnny Vaught, 25)

Auburn - Gene Chizik, 1 (Shug Jordan, 25)

Mississippi State - Dan Mullen, 1 (Jackie Sherrill, 13)

Tennessee* - Lane Kiffin, 1 (Bob Neyland, 21)

* Note that Kiffin's two predecessors, Johnny Majors and Phil Fulmer, had the job for 16 and 17 years, respectively. If Kiffin manages a similar stint at the helm of the Volunteer Navy, that'll take him to the ripe old age of 50.