Final Feelings: UGA Fans Overload the Big Easy
Dylan’s Final Feelings:
So I’m sitting in the new official Dawg Post van right now. I just took off my shoes and my feet smell so I’m hoping the others don’t notice. Usually, on these road trips, we’re in much tighter quarters, but I have a whole bench to myself right now in this 12-passenger van. Matt and I also get our own beds tonight! We’re truly moving up in the DP ranks. At least I like to think so.
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As for practice this week, we only got two days to watch because Georgia gave the media practice off on Monday to celebrate Columbus Day (Woo!) There wasn’t a whole lot to be seen in those practices that were out of the norm, but you could tell there was one thing that stood out - physicality. Just in the drills the team was doing, they all seemed to focus on getting a body on someone and dominating them. You see stuff like that every week, but it seemed hyped up today even more.
UPDATE: They noticed the smell of my feet. Oh well.
But yeah, Kirby has been preaching physicality this week and I thought you could see that reflected in the way the team practiced. Against a team like LSU, that’s just how it has to be.
I think this ends up being an ugly, gritty game that Georgia wins 27-14.
As for the rest of college football:
Baylor is in Austin taking on the top-10 (!) Horns. Baylor fans are a lot like South Carolina fans - They think their program is a lot better than it truly is due to some impressive years they had. The Bears will tell you they got a shot, but they don’t. Texas will beat ‘em and cover -14.
Speaking of them Chickens, the Aggies will be in their neck of the woods this week. It will be an ugly game, but A&M will win and cover the -2.5 spread. Jimbo is going to run the ball down South Carolina’s throat.
Up in Ann Arbor, I’m honestly thinking it could get out of hand. I still believe in Michigan, I think they’re starting to hit their stride a little bit. On the other hand, I’ve lost a lot of faith in Wisconsin. I think Michigan wins this game, covers (-9.5), and gets back on the national radar.
My week was pretty laid back but was super fun. Monday sucked cause it was Monday, so to get over that my friends and I celebrated on Tuesday. I still felt the celebration the next morning in my religion class, can’t say I learned much that morning. Then Wednesday night I learned that my Communication law test on Thursday was pushed back to next Tuesday so my friends and I had to celebrate. Not as hard as Tuesday, but enough to have a good time. And tonight is our first night in New Orleans, so you know Matt and I will be celebrating. Then tomorrow night is Friday in New Orleans and the Dawg Post event so you know I’ll be celebrating again. Saturday is all business and Sunday I have a ridiculous amount of school work do. But that’s Sunday Dylan’s problem. I’m making sure that current Dylan is having the best time possible.
Matt’s Final Feelings:
I’ll just go ahead and get it out of the way. I’m happy with my Atlanta Braves. Yes, they got embarrassed against a really good Dodgers team, but it was nice to watch some good baseball all summer. They still need starting pitching, a few new guys in the bullpen, and another offensive piece or two, but this will be a fun team to watch moving forward.
My week overall was about the same. The Bulldogs got some big news on Wednesday landing four-star DB Lewis Cine. Dawg Post members shouldn’t be surprised as he has been leaning towards Georgia for about 6 months now. He’s a hard-hitting safety with good size who can contribute as soon as he learns the playbook.
So we’re on the road to New Orleans. Dylan is currently ranting about Tom Crean’s twitter page, and how successful Crean can be at Georgia. I’m not basketball expert, but there seems to be an air of excitement around the program that hasn’t been around in a long time. It’s not like Georgia basketball has been terrible forever. Those days with Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams were fun to watch. The early Mark Fox years with Trey Tompkins and Travis Leslie were fun to watch as well.
So it CAN be done. Can Crean get Georgia back to the NCAA’s? He should. There’s too much talent from the state of Georgia to not build a good team. Yes, the best in-state players will still go to UNC/Duke/Kentucky, but Georgia should have no problem getting to the NCAAs in the future.
So onto the big game. Georgia and LSU. Baton Rouge. LSU took a big loss to Florida last week. The Tigers are going to be beat up a little bit, but this is a must-win for the Tigers. If they lose this game to Georgia their season is done and they can pencil in a trip to the Outback Bowl.
My key to the game is these Georgia receivers. Georgia will be able to run the ball here and there, but Fromm is going to have to make plays with his arm. Can the receivers get open against this tough LSU secondary. They sure don’t have anyone who can run down a guy like Hardman at full speed. Georgia needs to get their speedy playmakers involved early and offense to get the offense moving.
On defense, losing David Marshall is a big deal. He’s a guy who has been playing better and better each week and would have gotten plenty of playing time again against LSU. Expect freshman DT Jordan Davis to have a bigger role as well after making some plays against Vanderbilt last week. Can they get pressure on Burrow? If they can, look for LSU to have lots of trouble scoring points. I’m expecting a 4th quarter game but Georgia’s depth and running game should prevail in the 4th quarter. Georgia wins this game 24-20.
Now onto the food. I’m a big cajun food guy so I’ve been waiting on this trip for a while now. I could eat some jambalaya and gumbo just about every day of the week. Some spicy fried chicken, some shrimp, all that good stuff. I’ll need some good quality New Orleans beers after this car ride for sure. Possibly a few Purple Haze’s.
Anyway, it was a solid week overall, but I’m hoping to come back from this little trip down to New Orleans and Baton Rouge a happy camper. Good food, good drinks and good football. Sounds like a good time to me.
Dean’s Final Feelings
I took a jog around where we are staying in New Orleans (near Tulane) and started thinking about all of the great Georgia teams who have played here in the Sugar Bowl.
Ray Goff and the 1976 SEC Champions. The 1981 Sugar Bowl, which was a pretty uninteresting game, but resulted in the Dawgs taking home their 2nd undisputed national title and 5th overall. The next two years at the Sugar were a disappointment - with losses that either cost the Dawgs the national title, or prevented it from happening outright.
It would be another 20 years before UGA returned here to play in the Sugar. That shows two things. First, things in this sport can change quickly without you even notice it. It didn’t look or seem like the Dawgs would do anything other than win and win and win back then. Then they didn’t.
Mark Richt and company took the league by storm in 2002 with classic wins over South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and a blowout win over the Hogs to win the league. The destruction of Florida State didn’t fully happen in New Orleans, but it was a solid win nonetheless.
A few things I remember most about the 2008 Sugar Bowl:
Hawaii talked a lot of shit before the game - the players. The media folks and fans were great. That really was a huge event for the state of Hawaii. The Sugar Bowl knows how to treat people. It is a wonderful bowl experience.
That might have been the longest game I have ever been at. Fox kept taking commercials with Georgia up huge in the game.
Last thing, I remember talking with Thomas Brown after the game who was certain of one thing - he was going to party at Harrah’s… UGA couldn’t tell him what to do any more.
Its a wonderful, quirky town.
Georgia is going to need to be powerful, physical and patient in this game against LSU. There are tons and tons of UGA fans here in New Orleans. And we all know they love and know how to party. I didn’t think more than 10,000 Dawg fans would travel to Baton Rouge… I’m pretty certain it is going to be many more than that now.
Having that many opposing fans in Death Valley is going to be a new thing for LSU fans. Georgia has been doing this a lot of late. So a big momentum play early might be enough to get it real weird in the stadium.
But on the field this Georgia team should able to do what it needs to to win this game. The line on the game has settled around UGA -7.5. It opened a point higher than that. I wonder where it will finish. I have to say, I think the over/under at 50.5 is a little low.
I know this is a game between two power schools, But I do think that Georgia will figure out how to score “about” 35 points. LSU should be able to manage 17 easily. I like the over here, but I don’t bet.
We’ve hit up Cafe du Monde for beignets, which were outstanding. Pretty much just waiting around to see what happens on Saturday. Georgia should win this game. That’s what I expect. I also know that at some point this season this team will be charged in a major way or lose. I don’t “think” that will happen this weekend.
We will see.