THE PACKING LIST : CLEMSON

Hello, DAWG Nation!  The BEAST is back and man it feels good.  It has been an extremely busy year around our way, but football is back and that gets our attention.  What’s more, we look up and find an old rival has invited us over to get the party started…Clemson.  In case I haven’t mentioned it before, we grew up about 30 minutes from Clemson, have family that went to and graduated from Clemson, and I will readily state that as a matter of fact, Clemson’s version of Tiger Rag is the one and only true version of Tiger Rag.  Period.  But enough of that noise.  This week those Tigers are nothing more than the first in a long and formidable line of challengers that the DAWGS must conquer to claim the championship mantle they truly desire and make good on their mantra, “New Year.  New Team.  One Dream.” 

And what a way to get it started!  A top ten match-up with a prime time national television spotlight.  Whew-wee, son!  Everybody in the pasture town that is Clemson better strap ‘em on tight Saturday ‘cause they don’t get any bigger than this.  I’m serious.  Wherever you may be, you better get your head on a swivel.  When the DAWG Nation gets this amped up, you just never know where that knockout crack back is going to come from.  It might just be that lovely lady on your arm dressed in her best red and black.  Man, I can’t wait!  It’s coming…tick, tIcK, TICK…and the DAWGS are gonna get loose. 

All the big stuff’s already on the trucks, but there are just few things we have to make sure we don’t leave behind before we fire the diesels and roll this show up I-85.  Don’t forget to steal a quick look at beautiful Lake Hartwell on the way.  We know traveling can get a little hectic and it can be tough to always remember everything, so we humbly offer up this week’s packing list.

*BIG BOY (SILVER) BRITCHES*

Georgia and Clemson.  Dooley and Danny.  This is the classic rivalry of my youth that showed me what Georgia football is all about.  The one that built the legends and made me understand what silver britches were really supposed to look like and more importantly, represent.  I know exactly what I was doing when I saw Kevin Butler kick one 60 yards, plus a foot and a half…hanging in the doorway with the cousins as we craned our necks back inside to see the game as we rambled out the door to play a pick-up game of tackle in the front yard.  This one is rooted deep for me and all that makes me the DAWG I am to this day. 

That’s why I know Georgia has to bring their big boy britches to this one.  Everybody knows there will be more than a few new faces taking the field on Saturday, but that can be no excuse for a team that absolutely expects to do big things this season.  The environment will be tough and the stage will be huge, but if the DAWGS are really what we all hope and believe they are, those new faces need to be the next wave of stars for us to cheer and not a handicap that must be overcome.  If we’re lucky, we’ll see some silver in those britches and if we do, this Georgia team really could turn out to be something special.

*HAMMERS*

Let’s just put it on the line here.  It’s time to break some stuff.  What better tool to get that done than a hammer?  I know folks are high on Clemson and their complicated and flashy offense, but winning football is a simple concept.  You must win.  Man on man, eleven individual battles across the field.  You must beat your opponent until he don’t want to be hit anymore.  So, it’s a good thing that Georgia’s got a few trusty old hammers in the toolbox. 

If the DAWGS are going to get this done, that talented backfield of Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall (don’t forget that 6’2”, 257 lb Mack truck of a fullback Quayvon Hicks) will have to grind on the Tigers.  On defense, I’m looking at #52 Amarlo Herrera and the rest of the front seven to shut down that unproven Clemson running game…with prejudice.  All those young kids we’re going to be lining up on Saturday should grab one of those hammers and bust some stuff up while we’re at it and use it to break out for the world to see.  If all goes well, all you people in red and black heading north this weekend better watch your step on the way out ‘cause there’s gonna be pieces of shattered hopes and ACC prestige all over the place.

*OLD HAT*

While there’s no doubt this is a big game on Georgia’s schedule and on the college football landscape in 2013, it really shouldn’t faze this group of DAWGS.  Yes, I know.  There are some pups on the bus this week.  But for a program that has seen the glare from more than a few bright lights over the last few years, this game should not provide too big a stage, especially with veterans at every level on both sides of the ball.  The DAWGS must embrace this opportunity like that old familiar hat that’s already broken in and fits just right, and then rock that lid like we all know they can.

*THE NASTIES*

Both in 2002 and 2005, Coach Richt’s DAWGS rode experienced offensive lines to SEC Championships.  Those groups were more than just veteran though, they were nasty.  They lived to gnaw shins, grind lanes and wreck defenders, imposing a championship will as they laid claim to rings.  In 2002, I was in the stadium when Coach Richt believed in his men and went for it on 4^th and short near midfield late in the fourth quarter against Clemson to put the game away and Jon Stinchcomb and crew bulled the way for Musa Smith to go up and over for the first down to seal the win.  I’m certain the young men that make up Georgia’s offensive line unit are wonderful individuals, fabulous students and upstanding campus citizens, but we don’t need to see those guys.  We need the angry, play-through-the-whistle and right up to the line guys.  By the time they walk off the field in Clemson on Saturday night, Georgia’s O-line better have shown a much darker side to the Tigers and made them understand....we are not friends, we do not like you, and you’re gonna like it.  If the DAWGS get that message across to the Tigers, the ride South early on Sunday morning will be a sweet one.

So there it is, Nation.  We’re finally here, the long wait is over and we are rewarded with what should be a fantastic, classic match-up.  The DAWGS are ready and so are we.  If you’re making the trip watch out for those speed traps and fly your colors high.  Don’t take too many back roads or you might find yourself in a country traffic jam, sitting behind a few escaped cows in the middle of the road somewhere in the prettiest pasture town in the Piedmont.  Safe travels, Nation.

Glory, Glory.

WTF?!?!? You CANNOT let this slide!

Look, I'm not sayin'....I'm just sayin'. If someone punches your brother in the face, are you just gonna stand there and watch???? I fully understand that these photos might be misleading. We don't know where he is looking. We don't know if his eyes are even open. HOWEVER, the following photos seem to clearly show that DAWGS center Ben Jones has a front row, unobstructed view of LSU defensive lineman Rahim Alem as he LAUNCHES himself at Caleb King, clearly leading with the crown of his helmet with a seemingly fully realized intent to use his headgear as a weapon! I do not remember a single DAWGS player coming to King's aid after the play (full disclosure: I will have to check the tape on my DVR later). Simply stated....WTF!!!! That just cannot be acceptable. We all know that if an opposing player is a bit too rough with a teammate of yours, it is absolutely acceptable behavior for you to come to his aid. Hell, it's almost mandatory! ESPECIALLY when it comes to offensive linemen and a running back or quarterback! A football team truly is like a family. A band of brothers. At least, the ones worth a flip are. There is absolutely no way that Alem should have been allowed to get away with this action without some sort of retaliation. I'm not saying there should have been a fight or that Alem should have been targeted, but someone should have been immediately in his face to let him know that, uh, stuff just won't fly.

Alem's hit certainly had the desired effect. It was made public after the game that King suffered a broken jaw (almost definitely on the play in question) and a concussion. And by the way, HUGE KUDOS to the kid for playing the majority of the rest of the game. This hit is ABSOLUTELY, to the letter of the rule, what the helmet-to-helmet penalty is supposed to punish. THERE WAS NO FLAG. If the game doesn't provide justice, shouldn't someone.

Again, I cannot say definitively whether Jones actually saw this frame-by-frame the way we can see it now, but regardless...I say it's a safe bet that someone saw it...and they should have been Category 4 PISSED! This reaction, in my opinion, is absolutely justified by the laws of brotherhood, team and pride in defense of all that the Georgia "G" on the side of that helmet stands for.

This type of action CANNOT be allowed to go unchallenged and I certainly hope it was just a situation of circumstance that prevented the DAWGS from taking care of their own. For Caleb's sake, I certainly hope so. I would love to know what y'all think.

GO DAWGS!!!

So, DAWGS…whatcha got?

The Dawg Nation has been here before. Head coach Mark Richt, his staff and his teams have been here before. Question is, “What’s up from here?”

Dawgsports.com sums it up pretty well:

This season is going to be a repeat of 2006. Early close calls against weak opponents proved to be a harbinger of close (and not so close) losses to come when scares against the Colorado Buffaloes and the Mississippi Rebels served as the prelude to four losses in a five-week stretch. The season was only salvaged with wins over ranked yet overrated Auburn and Georgia Tech squads.

This season is going to be a repeat of 2007. The first half of the fall featured a close conference loss at home and a defeat by a wider margin in a lackluster effort against an orange-clad opponent on the road. The Bulldogs somehow managed to scratch and claw their way to a 5-2 record following a road win over the Vanderbilt Commodores, and, after a well-placed open date, Georgia finally put it all together, began playing up to its considerable potential, and went on a 6-0 run to close out the season.

You can read the rest of this fine article HERE:


I ask again. So, DAWGS…whatcha got?

Here we are headed down the road in another SEC season where we haven’t turned the corner and headed deep into fall, but we can see it from here, and the DAWGS find themselves once again at a crossroads in their season. It is Tennessee week and the Vols look a lot different than they did in 2006…no Great Pumpkin, aka Phil Fulmer…but I don’t know that Georgia does. On that sad October Saturday we witnessed our DAWGS trot out and promptly roll over without displaying any fight and Coach Richt said as much. Unlike that 2006 team, I don’t think anyone is going to say that this Georgia team is not going to fight for all they’re worth Saturday in Knoxville. In 2007, it was a flash of fight and good fortune in Nashville that saved the DAWGS season before they exploded on the CFB landscape two weeks later in Jacksonville. This year’s team has shown some of that flash-factor, but has not been consistent in any area outside of the individual performances turned in by #8, Green, the Domin8oR.

The 2009 Georgia Bulldogs sit at 3-2 overall, 3-1 inside the conference. All things considered, outside of any hit the team’s national perception may have taken from a loss to the #4 team in the nation, this bunch of DAWGS is none the worse for wear and is still in total control of its own destiny. As fans, certainly nothing has changed for us. It is football and you’re not going to win them all, every season. This team can still be a champion. Now, there are several legitimate reasons to doubt this team can accomplish that feat, but it must be acknowledged that everything they want to get done is still out in front of them.

It is possible. There are two weeks, two winnable SEC games and a bye week straight ahead. For the first time all season, the defense is coming off an effort that has more easily recognizable positive things to build off of than any other performance this season. They can look at the film and see themselves doing things the right way in game action and that will only breed confidence and belief in the system and in the coaching. The offense can still find their way in the running game and if they do, it will open the passing game up even more. The road for Georgia still goes through Florida, just like we all knew it would. We don’t know what the immediate future is for this team, but there is time to work out the kinks and peak when everything is on the line. The mettle of this team is still to be tested further. Watch closely how this team approaches the next two week. Can you see them working to get better and do the little things well? I think these next two games may be as telling as any two the DAWGS have played this year.

I will throw out this word of caution though. Due to the presence of Green, the Domin8oR, the offense, the WRs in particular, as well as the rest of the team should be careful of the “superstar syndrome” that they seemingly suffered with at times last year where they seemed to depend too much on the star power of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno. No one man is a team, regardless of how much of a BEAST he is.

So DAWGS, whatcha got? Here’s hoping you can put it all together, practice smart and play fierce over the next weeks and arrive in Jacksonville playing with an urgency and a momentum like that of a runaway train headed down hill and we will just see what happens between the lines on Halloween. If you can, this road we’re all traveling down together may not turn out to be so bumpy after all.
GO DAWGS!!!