Final Feelings: Jackets Arrive in Athens
Dylan’s Final Feelings:
I’ve been pretty disconnected from Georgia football this week. I’ve listened to the press conferences and read over player interviews, but I’ve been in Texas all week so I haven’t been able to get the best feel on what’s going on leading up to Georgia Tech.
Honestly, I don’t view the Jackets as much of a threat to Georgia. I know among UGA fans there is always a healthy dosage of skepticism when it comes to GT, but I think Kirby has a pretty good remedy of dealing with them. Practice a decent bit on them in fall camp, prepare for them a little bit each week of the season, then a bunch (of course) the week of the game. He has said several times that he just wants that weird offense to be refreshed every now and then in the defensive players' minds. He’s done that, and I think Georgia wins 48-21.
One thing that will hurt UGA though is the absence of Monty Rice. The latest I’ve heard on his foot is that the team is hoping he can make it back for the bowl game, although it’s not 100 percent certain that he can be back by then. This likely means Georgia won’t have him against Alabama too which is a tough loss for Georgia’s most important game this season.
As for the Horns, they should’ve played yesterday, but because of stupidity, they didn’t. They should play at home tonight, but because of stupidity, they don’t. They should play a team from Texas, but because of stupidity, they don’t. They’re playing at Kansas (Really? Kansas?) for their big “Thanksgiving” game this year. Texas will win because Kansas is a joke. Clearly, I’m upset with how this week’s game was drawn up for the Longhorns.
Texas A&M has LSU at home. This will end up being a pretty decent game, I bet. The Aggies look really flat in some games and sharp in others. I think they’ll look sharp this weekend, but come up just short to the Tigers.
Side note: Someone once tried to tell me the LSU-A&M rivalry was bigger than Texas-Texas A&M. That is a really dumb statement. Like really dumb.
Wow, was my Thanksgiving underwhelming. It was just me, my brother, my dad and my grandparents for it. No cousins, no aunts, no uncles. Just the five of us. My grandparents are too old to do any cooking themselves and we were driving from too far to bring anything we cooked so we ended up having to eat at the Thanksgiving brunch that their country club had.
Holyshit was it bad. Astoundingly bad. A whole new level of bad. You know how upsetting it is to get disappointed by a Thanksgiving meal? You see everyone else in the world flaunting off the great food they’re getting to eat while you’re just eating some horrid food.
The food was cold. The dressing suckeddddddd. It was way too salty with little flavor. Green beans? Bad. Soup? Bad. Mashed potatoes? Bad. How do you mess up mashed potatoes? Even the turkey was bad! C’mon. At least get the turkey right.
It doesn’t make things better that we are in the middle of nowhere Texas (Midland) and the drive back to their place is flat land, cows and oil pumps (No joke). Then the Cowboys won, which I’m not too upset about, but it was like the cherry on top of the disaster of the day.
Thankfully we’re going to see my mom’s parents in Houston today. They make an awesome Thanksgiving meal, so all is not lost.
Matt’s Final Feelings:
It’s one of the best weeks of the year. Thanksgiving and Tech week.
On Thursday we hosted a bunch of family over at my parents’ place in Cumming. Two crazy cousins, one super crazy aunt, and 4-year old twin boys all made sure it was a loud and crazy Thanksgiving. My girlfriend came over to meet the extended family and I believe she was a bit overwhelmed. I warned her weeks ago that would happen, but she now thinks the entire DeBary crew is insane. She’s not wrong though.
Thanksgiving is all about family and food. We all know that. But in a way, it’s also about football. Football on Thanksgiving is as American as bald eagles and cold beer. It’s tradition.
In game 1, the Bears are going to take care of the Lions. I love Matt Stafford as much as the next guy, but this Chicago defense is for real. The Bears would be a Super Bowl contender if they would have drafted Pat Mahomes or Deshaun Watson over Trubiski.
In game two we’ve got an epic matchup between the Skins and the Cowboys. Dallas is coming off a season-saving win over the mighty Falcons but won’t be able to handle the Redskins.
Speaking of my Birds, I’m calling the upset on Thanksgiving night. I’m so tired of those damn Saints. I hate them. I really do. They’re the best team in the NFL, but they’re going down on Thursday. Nobody is expecting Atlanta to win this game which means they’ll shock the world. I’ll be having dinner with the girlfriend’s family so this game will give me another chance to get away from everyone and crack open another beer. Count me in.
Now onto the Tech game. For so many reasons, Georgia can’t lose this game. Tech has been way too successful in Sanford Stadium recently and that has to change starting on Saturday. I do think Tech has a good team and will get their yards on the ground. They’ll find the end zone three times and manage to put up 24 yards. But lets be real, Georgia should be able to score at will. Fromm will find wide open receivers, and the backs should be able to run through Tech with a blindfold on. Georgia will win this game 42-24.
The big factor is to get in front early and manage the time of possession. Georgia needs to get stops early in drives and stop Tech from having 7-8 minute drives every time they get the ball. Georgia can play that game though. I’m expecting Georgia to run the ball at will and try to keep their defense on the sideline and as fresh as possible.
This going is going to get chippy. Georgia Tech might be the annoying little brother, but for some reason they think they can compete with Georgia. These teams can’t stand each other. Tech can be winless coming into this game, but if they find a way to beat Georgia, it’s a great season. This is their Super Bowl every year. They’re out to ruin Georgia’s quest for a national championship, but it’s not going to happen this year.
As for recruiting, the big target in Athens will be four-star running back Noah Cain. The IMG back is still looking at Georgia and the staff would love to add a second back in this class to go along with 4-star Kenny McIntosh.
Most of the commits will be in town, but most of the major prospects will be at the Iron Bowl.
As for the rest of the games…
Michigan over Ohio State
Gators over the Noles
The Tide rolls over Auburn
Clemson destroys the Coots
Maryland upsets Penn State
LSU wins a close one over the Aggies
ND embarrasses USC
Overall, I hope everyone had an incredible Thanksgiving. If you ate as much turkey, dressing, mac and cheese, and cornbread as I did, you had an awesome day. Family, food, and football. One of the best days of the year.
Now go enjoy a big win over the Jackets.
Dean’s Final Feelings:
Mine will be short this week because I have gotten so caught up grilling, cooking and baking that I am writing as fast as possible to get my thoughts out.
BEWARE OF TYPOS!
Another year another disappointment with dry turkey. I didn’t even get cranberry sauce. That was my mistake. I did get down on lost of desserts, however. I made a cheesecake, Tool House cookies, chocolate cookies with creamed peanut butter stuffing (one was enough to fill you for the entire day), ribs, pork tenderloin and some other stuff.
Pumpkin pie is basic, but I really am starting to think that it is underrated. Pecan Pie typically wins the day as it is full of nothing but sugar.
I’m having a harder and hard time seeing Tech win this game. I watch their win over Virginia last week, and they struggled on offense. Everyone is concerned about Tech’s offense all of the time, and it is something to watch, but they are going to have to stop Georgia.
That’s going to be the real challenge for the Jackets - stopping this Georgia offense, which seems to be finding its rhythm at very good time. I’ve got the Dawgs. I will take Tech and the points only because 17 is a lot, but a blowout win for Georgia wouldn’t be surprising at all.
We will have much more next week. Stay tuned for a lot of content focusing on Georgia-Alabama, what’s at stake and more.