GUNSLINGERS SHOOTS UP MANDEL NASTY-LIKE

Actually it was Stewart Mandel can eat a dick, but that’s all just semantics. Mandel mostly frustrates me, because I think he competes annually with John Clayton, Dave Schoenfield, and Skip Bayless for the Nationally Acclaimed Sportswriter that Probably Catches and Throws Like a Girl Award.

I mean look at him. The closest this guy has ever come to a football field was either marching on it with a clarinet (the least manly of all band instruments) or running water out to folks.

I’m wagering he wasn’t even in the marching band, unless he played the skinflute. Those band kids got all kinds of sex in high school and college, although it was all with each other. And it may have been impressive only in terms of sheer tonnage. Nonetheless, Stewart Mandel doesn’t strike me as someone who spent much of his youth down at Make Out Creek.

O, Gunslinger and others

Are most college football nuts in agreement that a pundit who incorrectly picks a team (say OSU this past weekend) and then atones for it in his outlet (internet, TV…etc) would be given more credability than ones who simply ignore the fact that they were wrong?

It certainly helps to admit mistakes and learn from them, but I fail to capture how Mandel found UGA “unimpressive.” Alabama was playing at home with a jacked-up crowd against a team that is still adjusting to an entirely new offensive philosophy. UGA, on the other hand, went into their rival’s stadium, and their defense completely shut down the division favorite. UT had two TD drives, one of which spanned the length of a football and one that was during garbage time. I’m not saying that UGA’s win was more impressive than ’Bama’s, but they bullied UT. That was in no way luck.

Do you think Gunslinger’s blog is going to be linked off of SI on Campus?

Bullied?
Depends through what color of glasses you are (or aren’t) looking…
1. Shockley’s mobility – UT may win this game with Greene behind center.
2. Penalties, penalties, penalties (e.g. 20 yd gain on 3rd and 1 called back by irrelevant chop block = 3rd and 16)
3. Special teams (UT starts at least 4 times inside own 10 – great job by UGA punter; UGA punt return touchdown to ice it)

Tennessee couldn’t run, but they moved the ball through the air well enough to win. Clausen had a Brock Berlin/Erik Ainge moment where he forced one into coverage to make up for an overthrow/missed TD. Big momentum shift there.

I’m not one to whine about the refs, but a UT lineman clearly recovered Clausen’s fumble late in the 2nd qtr, then the ref standing 5 feet away allows 2 UGA d-linemen to grab him in the nuts and rip the ball away. Watch the Tivo replay and tell me I’m wrong. (Maybe wrong about the grabbing of the nuts, but UT did have possession.)

I’m also not one to criticize Fulmer, but punting on 4th down with 6 minutes left and down by 13 is saying to your team that you think there’s a better chance of UGA turning the ball over than your team making a play and driving down the field. It was more than conservative. I don’t think there’s a word for it.

Bullied? Some might think so. Tennessee’s just not very good. They’ve played one good half of football out of ten this season.

But hey, at least we’re not Michigan, who is having their worst season EVER.

Thanks for calling my attention to the Gunslinger’s rebuttal of Stewart Mandel’s column.

I read what Mr. Mandel wrote last night and my general take on it was of the it-doesn’t-matter-what-they-say-about-me-in-the-papers-as-long-as-they-spell-my-name-right variety: I saw a big picture of D.J. Shockley, a blurb about how Stewart Mandel didn’t take the ’Dawgs seriously as a national title contender, and a link to the new A.P. poll saying Georgia held steady at No. 5.

There’s a lot of football left to play and the Red and Black have crazy nasty tough games remaining against Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech and, if the Bulldogs win those, they get to go face a monumentally tough Alabama team in the conference title game, so I am counting on exactly nothing. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that Stewart Mandel doesn’t take Georgia seriously as a national title contender, because, as someone who has spent his whole life listening to Larry Munson, I am fretful about weaknesses Stewart Mandel has no idea my team even has.

Having said which, it was nice to see Mr. Mandel’s contentions refuted in such a compelling fashion and I appreciated the distinct non-homerism of two U.F. graduates who took the time to call attention to it. Orson and Stranko, you’re good people.

I was thinking the same thing (“well, there goes my chance at being a ‘must-read’”) as I wrote it. No worries though.

But hey, at least we’re not Michigan, who is having their worst season EVER.

Yeah. I keep making a mental list of teams I can say “well at least we’re not…” but it keeps dwindling. The list at present:

Pitt
FAMU
Stanford

aaaand that’s it.

Also, I’d like to narrow a bit the axiom on told-you-so’s after picking against a team. There must be an exception in the instance where a pundit/columnist picks a big underdog to beat a heavy favorite. If the favorite squeaks one out, the pundit may say he was underwhelmed by the favorite, and even gloat that he picked the winner with the points.

This didn’t happen in the UGA-UT game, so Mandel’s still in the wrong.

And Brian, the Cardinal won on the road this weekend at WSU, so they might be off the list. I would include Oklahoma, Syracuse, Purdue, Army and Temple though.

VolPundit—UT got hammered in the fourth quarter because their OC’s playcalling left them out there soooooo long. We wrote it more as an outrage against Randy Sanders for squandering another great effort by his defense in the name of going pass-wacky with Clausen. Jesse Mahelona was, for three quarters, force personified. Tennessee can beat people if they just run the ball right at them. We try not to be one of the “ur skeem sux” guys, but in this case it truly is the offensive coaching staff’s fault.

VP – they dis get bullied in the 4Q, doesn’t mean that ehy got rolled the entire game. And as far as the officiating, it was a typically bad game by SEC officials, who are consistently the worst for a major conference, to the point of embarrassment sometimes. Also, you might want to take off your rose specs with regard to bad calls, because for every bad call in UGAs favor there was one in UTs favor. Massaquoi’s catch in the 1st half was both a catch and in bounds. That holding call on Max Jean Gilles against Mahelona in the 3Q wasn’t even close to holding, that call was made on Mahelona’s rep alone (holy, shit, he didn’t make an amazing play? He must have been held). And one could argue that Pope was in on that touchdown, and it sure as shit looked like your dude was clearly down short of the goal line on that final play – thankfully the game was already decided and we didn’t have to suffer some horrible SEC official call at the end like UF did last year.

The rest of your points – dude, if my Aunt had nuts she would be my uncle (Shit, I still lament the 1992 game in Athens where UGA had SIX turnovers and lost by 3, but that’s just college football). Yes, the game chaned on special teams(our pinning you and then the punt return for a TD), but I think any neutral who watched the game would say that overall UGA were more impressive and that the team who played better and deserved to win the game won.

Orson – Is there a ‘Junior’ version of Boggle for CFB players who are simply passed along through the public education system and wind up at major universities with academic skills that in and of themselves often do not merit them being there at all?

VP: I’m a Realist (link to the right) has a good rundown on the bad calls (both ways) that went down Saturday. Yes, you’ll hear no argument from me that there were bad calls (and that fumble recovery also looked like UT got it back).

I still don’t think Mandel watched the game though.

Thanks for the mention, LD.

Bullied? Check the rushing stats: UGA – 198, UT – 48. No one has had such success against Tennessee this year (including top teams like Florida and LSU). UT was two or three plays from being in the game at the end, but UGA was two or three plays from a blowout. That’s the difference.

Cheat sheet against Tennessee the rest of the year:
1. Stop the run.
2. Stop big plays in the passing game.
3. If you can’t stop the run, just make Randy Sanders think it is a good idea to pass.

Very UGAly game, Georgia went straight at UT and didn’t let up. The Vols had every opportunity to be in the game but squandered them with bad play calls and turnovers. Our last defensive drive said alot, I see a closed door team meeting in our future. Offense v Defense. Our D kept us in it until late, and Fulmer’s punt pretty much sealed the deal. The game goes four quarters, but somehow our offense and coaches don’t seem to get this. Hats off to UGA though, they got it done because of teamwork, not starpower. I seriously see UT losing 2 or 3 more games if something doesn’t change. That’s not counting a Bowl game.

Not to pile on the honorable Mr. Mandel – but this gem caught my eye too:

“Louisville DE Elvis Dumervil

It’s just getting ridiculous, really. Through five games, the Cardinals senior has 14 sacks. No other player in the country even has seven."

That’s a great line, except Bradon Perkins from Kansas (a Big XII program, not some small league he might miss) had 8 sacks … and that was before the K-State game this week. The complete lack of research he puts into his work is laughable. The man is a no talent assclown and a hack.