Final Feelings: Must-Read Before Georgia-Vandy
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Matt’s Final Feelings
Winter is here, and so are Final Feelings.
The Dawgs play their worst opponent of the year this week as Vandy comes to town. It’s a terrible, aggravated Vandy team that just fired their head coach. If the game does end up getting played, Kirby should let the seniors play as much as they want.
This game will be 60-0 if Georgia wants it to be. The ‘Dores are embarrassingly bad, and the Bulldogs are finally starting to play like a top 10 team. The Dawgs have found their QB, but it would’ve been nice to see them play a respectable team in the final few weeks. So this one should be a bloodbath. As long as Kirby is in town, this game should be a blowout by halftime every year.
As far as the rest of college football, it looks like we’ll see a playoff consisting of Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State.
The Buckeyes will find their way into the playoff, and it’ll be the easiest path to the playoff we’ll ever see. They may not deserve it, but I think we can all agree that right now, there aren’t four teams better than Ohio State.
Alabama can lose to Florida, and they’ll still get in. Clemson can’t lose again to Notre Dame, but they are in if they beat them. Will the Irish still get in after they lose to Clemson? Probably.
If Florida beats Alabama, who gets pushed out? The Gators will get in if they win the SEC, meaning either the Buckeyes or Irish will be on the outside looking in after the Tigers win the ACC.
But if you’re a Georgia fan, it’s all about 2021 and has been for a few weeks. JT Daniels should absolutely come back next year and give Georgia one of the best offenses in the nation. Year two with Todd Monken and JT Daniels could be fun to watch. The run game should still be fine next year even if Zamir White decides to leave, but if he comes back, he makes the offense even better.
The defense could possibly take a step back, but it will still be a talented group. It will all come down to execution and continuing to learn the defense for those guys. Eventually, Georgia needs to stop a great offense. Every good QB has been able to have a big game on Georgia. Joe Burrow went off against Georgia’s defense last year, but he did that to everyone. Mac Jones and Kyle Trask also had big games against Georgia this year.
There’s way too much talent on Georgia’s defense for them to give up 40+ points every time they play a QB who knows what he’s doing. That has to stop in 2021.
Moving on….
If the Falcons were a person I’d punch them in the face (Dawg Post does not condone Matt’s call for violence). They lose when they need to win and win when they need to lose. This exact scenario happened in 2019 when the Birds could’ve EASILY landed a top 10 pick. Instead they won a bunch of meaningless games and picked in the middle of the first round. After going 0-5 this year, they’ll do the exact same thing.
THE SEASON WAS OVER IN OCTOBER! I was glad to see them fire DQ and TD. I actually celebrated it that night. That sounds bad, but I don’t care. They both deserved to be fired years ago. But if they just promote Raheem Morris I’m going to lose my mind. I can just see it now…they hire Morris as head coach, start 2021 off losing 5 of their first 6 games, and we’re in the same exact situation once again.
I’ll always stand behind my Birds, but - damn - they are really pissing me off.
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Dylan’s Final Feelings
I’ve been fighting my allergies so hard today. If I had to guess, I think I’ve probably sneezed upwards of 40 times today alone.
But I love y’all, and I will fight through it for you. Let’s get it rolling.
Vanderbilt is bad at football. They haven’t won a game. It looks like they aren’t going too, either.
To be fair, they have played some close games with good teams—Texas A&M and Florida. Could Georgia be third on that list? Sure, I won’t completely discredit it. But Vandy just took a 41-0 ass-whooping from Missouri. There is no excuse for that as an SEC program—maybe even Power Five.
*I have sneezed eight times already in writing this*
The game, truthfully, is irrelevant. Georgia and most of their starters should be pulled by the third quarter. If they aren’t, something is wrong.
What is relevant though, is that younger kids will get snaps, and that is important. People like Daijun Edwards, MJ Sherman… perhaps Carson Beck?
Now I have no reason to say this, but I mean, why not? Stetson may still be the backup, but Beck deserves some reps if they’re blowing Vandy out. Stetson has had opportunities to play this year and has shown what he can do. Let’s give Beck at least a small portion of that, too.
Regardless, Dawg Post has talked extensively about how important these games are for younger players. To get in-game reps against any SEC opponent for your freshman and non-starters is huge, especially for a Georgia team that will be bringing back loads of talent next season. Getting these kids reps now will pay off in big ways in 2021.
Anyways, Georgia is going to blow them out of the water. Fin.
As with the Horns…
There is chaos in Austin. Herman is still coaching, although it seems like that is just to save him the embarrassment of getting fired mid-year. Texas fans aren’t just hopeful, but already seem to be celebrating the inevitable arrival of Urban Meyer to Austin. My friends have SWORN to me that this is a legitimate, and maybe even a likely possibility.
I just can’t see it. I don’t even know if I want to see it. I hate Urban Meyer so much. CFB’s tool of the century if you ask me. But, if it really was him, that does mean that greener pastures are ahead. The man has shown that he can be incredibly successful across multiple programs. If he was in Austin, he’d have more resources to work with than any of his previous stops.
But I think if you’re buying into the idea that Urban Meyer is going to be your head coach, you might as well chase after the city of gold too (which I am a firm believer in, but understand that it is probably extremely well hidden).
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Dean’s Final Feelings
I will admit that I don’t always watch ESPN’s College Playoff Playoff rankings show. Tuesdays can be a little nuts for me because we are coming right off of Kirby Smart’s teleconference - and that spills right into the rankings show.
But I did manage to catch this week’s show just as the No. 5 and 6 teams were revealed. Then I left the sound on for the four-person panel. This week’s show is certainly one to keep an eye on.
ESPN’s most powerful voice in college football - Kirk Herbstreit - said that a major power in the sport, Michigan, would dodge their rival, Ohio State - a school Herbstreit played quarterback for in the 1990s.
“I still think Michigan waves the white flag, potentially avoids playing Ohio State next week, and then they’ll potentially get a game on the 19th,” Herbstreit, said during the show. “Michigan could opt out, basically, of that game, and keep Ohio State out of six games to qualify for the Big Ten championship. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Yikes.
This, of course, is coming a few weeks after a coach, Dabo Swinney accused a member institution of the conference he’s in, of dodging his program.
"This game was not canceled because of COVID," Swinney said of Clemson’s game with Florida State being cancelled. "COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game. I have no doubt their players wanted to play and would have played. And same with the coaches. To me, the Florida State administration forfeited the game."
Herbstreit went on to say that he’s hearing from a lot of coaches that programs don’t want to play. It should be pointed out that two of Herbstreit’s sons play for Swinney at Clemson. Two of the most eye-opening statements of this college football season have come from those two men.
We’ve got to cool the rhetoric down in college football. You can’t just say anything... that’s not OK. It’s probably too late for Swinney. He’s been triggered by little stuff for nearly a decade now. It is who he is. But I’ve grown to expect more from Herbstreit who should have known better than to dip his toe into the madness that is one school “waving the white flag” to avoid playing another school. He should be acutely aware that anything he has to say about Michigan is going to be taken the wrong way.
And there was a lot to take the wrong way Tuesday night.
We are living in a pandemic that’s resulted in the deaths of over a quarter million Americas. College football is entertainment. This pandemic is not.
Herbstreit apologized Wednessday on social media, saying: “I did not mean to insinuate — I have no evidence at all. Michigan right now they’re trying to do the best they can to cover and contain a virus from spreading on that roster. I wish them all the best. I hope they can play Saturday against Maryland. Hope they can play against Ohio State.”
The suggestion that a team is ducking someone… this is sports. Anyone who has had their ass whipped knows what that’s like. Anyone who is playing college football isn’t ducking anyone. Michigan’s response on Wednesday:
"To insinuate that, to say something other than that, is a statement by a fool,” said Michigan AD Warde Manuel. “It is something — I can’t tell you how embarrassed I am for the Big Ten conference to have one of their representatives, who played this game, to say that about any team in this conference. And to say it about college football and the student-athletes around this country who are trying to play games, during a pandemic, it is ridiculous and sad.”
The notion that a team is trying to dodge a game should be removed from our language right now.
Also, so suggest that you’ve heard that from coaches… you are going to need, at some point, to say who those coaches are.
ESPN isn’t Dawg Post’s What We Are Hearing. It is the global leader and partner with college football. It controls a great deal of the talking points, power and money in the sport. That company is literally in bed with each major conference - making money with and for the college football programs.
This is a business. I am in this business. And the business is college football, and no one is more invested in that business than ESPN. They need games to put on the air. They need content, and content is king. And Herbstreit is part of that business.
One of the greatest pieces of content ever created in our industry is the College Football Playoff. It gave everyone what they wanted: A clear champion for a sport that is still splintered and hyper-partisan.
The development of the CFP, which has a long-term contract with Disney/ESPN, gave the sport a three-game package to sell - another massive money take for the schools and their partners. The marketing effort went into selling the game to the masses - at the expense of the non-CFP bowl games. This took a little while to take shape, but it is here now, and it has been brought to the sport pretty much exclusively by Disney and ESPN.
They did the right thing for themselves, their shareholders and their partners in college football in creating the CFP. But is greatly reduced the meaning of everything else. No one cares about anything, but the playoffs, Herbstreit told a Michigan radio station Wednesday morning.
Yes. That’s right. We’ve been conditioned by the largest megaphone in the sport - ESPN - to only worry about the CFP. Can or should we really be surprised that no one cares that Georgia beat Baylor in the Sugar Bowl last year? It used to really matter if you won the Sugar or Cotton Bowl. Does it matter now?
It should matter, but the Sugar Bowl, which is one of the top events I have ever been to (and I have been to the Rose Bowl Game, the Kentucky Derby, the Masters, the Orange Bowl, the World Series and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game) doesn’t mean what it used to only because of the power of the playoff.
So folks have to be a little curious to hear ESPN’s Herbstreit talk Wednesday about how the playoff is hurting most of college football…
"I’m worried about the sport overall," he said. "I’m worried about the focus strictly on the playoff, that if you’re not one of the playoff teams, 'Why does it even matter, who cares? Let’s just opt out, let’s get ready for the NFL.’"
This is the college football world ESPN has given us, and Herbstreit and company should realize we are in a better place right now than we were in the past when it comes to determining a champion on the field. But there are consequences to all of the big money and power that’s flowed into the sport this century.
It is what it is - a business for everyone. Dawg Post. ESPN. Disney. Herbstreit. Georgia. Justin Fields. Dabo. The SEC. FOX. Nike. Coke. JT Daniels. Brock Vandagriff. 247 and Rivals. Nick Saban. Kirby Smart. Everyone.
Things have changed, and it is OK to say that. But as Oasis said: Don’t look back in anger.
The most powerful voice at ESPN - really the most powerful voice in the sport - is saying that there’s something wrong with college football because of the playoff. Did I get that right?.
Even Don Draper and his “Why I'm Quitting Tobacco” ad in the New York Times thinks that’s a little much.
I have admired Herbstreit for a long time. I will continue to do so. He’s been a great ambassador for the sport. He’s been very entertaining and good at his craft. But this was a bad look for both him and ESPN. He should have known better on a lot of levels. Saying that about Michigan - where is the evidence that they were trying to avoid Ohio State? Is it possible they simply have a massive COVID outbreak?
Bad week in Bristol. I would also suggest that ESPN make clear to its talent that reporting should be left up to the reporters they have on staff… and they have a lot of good reporters. Let the folks on the ground talk about why teams are missing games rather than regurgitating talking points heard from a coach.
After all - just because a coach says it doesn’t make it true.