2021 UGA Football: Week Eight

 UGA Instant Analysis 

Week 8:  7-0 (DNP)

Georgia enjoyed a bye in week 8 of this tremendous football season, and it came at a critical time for these dawgs. With injuries stacking up and a string of tough games, the Bulldawgs needed time to regroup and get healthy. From public reports, it sounds like JT Daniels and some of the receivers made significant strides, Darnell Washington continues to regain his health, and Chris Smith got some extra rest this week. Unfortunately those same reports came with the news of a Kendall Milton injury, which is manageable with the tailback depth, and confirmation of a torn ACL for transfer Tykee Smith which further dampens the secondary strength. An overall positive trend in the health department along with an extra week to prepare for Dan Mullen’s impressive scheme is a good sign to me. Despite Florida fans’ displeasure, make no mistake Dan Mullen is one of football’s best play callers and can spring an upset on Georgia if they’re not focused. This season is great so far for the Dawgs and while I try to temper expectations this team is special and at a minimum has the talent to win the national championship. For the team and for us fans I certainly hope it happens, and these players and coaches deserve it, but if something keeps Georgia from winning I’m grateful either way for the quality they put on the field and the even better leadership they produce off it. Short of a severe character mistake, Kirby Smart belongs in Athens forever and every Georgia fan should should support that.

This bye week gives a chance to talk other areas of college football, and even some other sports out there that also accomplish my mission of raising young men and women of character through athletics. 

Despite my love for Georgia and UGA, which my beautiful wife is actually the graduate of in my family, I did not attend college in Athens. My dream of leading Marines led me to Annapolis and while Navy is a very different college experience than an SEC school, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I met some of the best men and women in the country, lifelong friends and many brothers dedicated to preserving the US Constitution and protecting our nation’s values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And while I wasn’t quite talented enough to play ball there, I was blessed to spend my four years helping lead the Rugby team to a wildly successful and fun stint. I don’t think I survived the rigor of Annapolis without that team and I’m grateful to my teammates and coaches for pushing me every single day to be a better man on and off the field. We came up short of national championships, but finished in the top five nationally three out of four years, and more importantly it helped us grow into quality leaders about to step in front of Marines and Sailors. Sports are incredible on the field, but the leadership and work ethic lessons they teach are priceless. I bring this up to honor and shout out to the boys who I love dearly, and all those who benefit from sports without playing professionally like us, but also to highlight the current Navy Rugby team who competed today against our bitter rivals at West Point, but did come up a try short. Despite the rivalry, there’s no one I’d go to battle with more than a Navy or Army contact athlete. 

The Navy football team, another squad which produced and continues to produce some of the best young men in our country, competed their guts out against #2 Cincinnati. I’m not convinced for a second Cincy is the second best team in the country — I still believe #1 and #2 reside in Athens and Tuscaloosa (in no particular order) and frankly #3 might be Ole Miss — but Cincy is well coached and very disciplined and Coach Fickell is impressive. When Ken Niamotulolo calls plays he is great; the only problem with how he handled firing OC Jasper is that it happened ten years too late. Like Kirby, I hope Ken is at his position for as long as he wants. 

Outside of The Boat School, there’s a few programs to highlight at the midpoint of the season. Michigan State, led by a tremendous tailback in Kenneth Walker, stepped up this season and while they have a tough road ahead they are one of the best stories of the year. The same goes for Wake Forest, a team led by incredibly underrated coach Dave Clawson, who continues to compete for an ACC championship. I also have to make note of some family ties — my father is a proud Villanova grad, and while basketball season means a little more for Nova sports, the football team is dominating at the FCS level. Nova’s only loss this year is a tough game against Penn State (who also isn’t close to their ranking), so they may compete for an FCS championship this season.  With basketball around the corner, I know the Nova crowd is excited for another season of Jay Wright — the best coach in college basketball and clearly I am spoiled with lots of great teams to root for.

On a negative note, I must bring up LSU and the wild swing from love to hate for Coach Ed Orgeron. Up front I’ll admit I am a Coach O fan; I love his attitude, toughness, and realistic mentality. There are some disappointing reports of his behavior but with each report is a testimony from former players countering it. I’m not there and I don’t know what happened, but it’s odd to see this fan base and administration turn on him so quickly after a national championship. Unfortunately this isn’t the first time something like this happened and usually it works poorly. Miami fired Larry Coker only a few seasons after dominating college football, and since then Miami has absolutely stunk. Texas fired one of my favorite coaches, Mack Brown, only a few years after taking Bama to the edge in the final game, and winning one of the best national championships of all time; Texas also stinks. Florida State “parted ways” with Jimbo Fisher and Auburn fired Gene Chizik shortly after winning titles and neither program lived up to those standards since the changes. There are only a handful of head coaches in college football with national championships, that list consists of Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Mack Brown, Ed Orgeron, and Dabo Swinney. Five. FIVE. Programs, including their boosters, must stop expecting championships within three years of a hire and certainly need to stop firing coaches with rings (unless a character issue comes up). If you do fire a coach, please let him finish the season with his boys and let him complete the mission he started. Conversely, coaches must stop bouncing from program to program in the middle of a contract. I understand coaches want to move up and take advantage of vacancies, so stop signing long contracts and extensions. There must be a penalty for breaking a contract to leave schools. If coaches are supposed to teach young men about commitment and loyalty, they can’t also bounce at the drop of a hat. 

Ending on a positive note… the Atlanta Braves are going to the World Series. What a nail-biting week against the reigning champs with identical shades of last season’s collapse. Freddie Freeman basically called their shot before the game saying this team was different and he was right. The resilience and compassion this group plays with are impressive and I know a lot of people are itching for the Braves to win it all. I don’t know the ins and outs of baseball like I do football, so I’ll avoid any deep analysis, but I do hope Braves Country can give Luke Jackson a break. He improved so much from last season to this one and despite two poor showings this week, he was a critical piece of turning a sub-.500 team into a World Series participant. I probably would have kept him on the bench for the rest of the Dodgers series, but he deserves a lot of credit and respect. The same goes for Tyler Matzek, one of the best stories in baseball, and of course the seemingly out-of-nowhere Eddie Rosario. I don’t typically jump up and down for baseball, but I bounce around for this team, and maybe they can pull off one more victory to lift a trophy. 

What a week even without the Dawgs! Big game coming up, and lots more to be excited about moving forward. 

Go Dawgs!