The Dawgs will again be playing at thier home away from home...The Georgia Dome againt a Va. Tech team that I, in all honesty, know very little about. I do know that they always seem to have great special teams but I also know that they got beat this year, in their own house, by the Techwood Insects......so, that being said...how does everybody feel about the match up.
Also, what do you think about Florida getting into the NC game?
1 comment:
I, for one, am grateful that we are staying in the ATL for our bowl...as it gives me one last chance to see the Dawgs of '06 play...as I missed the regular season finale against Tech. I expect a tough matchup as VaTech, without question, has a tough D...even though they seemed to struggle against Tech. I think for us to win we are going to have to do 3 things.
1- Keep the Hokies from making a big special teams play. We have all seen and heard of their blocked punts, blocked FG's, etc....and we all know how susceptible we are to each of those this season. They have some kind of ridiculous record when blocking a punt or returning one for a touchdown....and if we want to increase our chances of winning, we must prevent such a thing from happening.
2) Keep them under 20 points. We have not had a great "O" all year, with the exception of the Auburn game....and a low scoring game would lean in our favor, whereas a high scoring affair likely means some big special teams play...and I have already voiced my concerns above on that.
3) Prepare better than we normally do for bowls. I know that Richt has a better than average bowl record...but most will be willing to agree that we normally don't play up to our potential (either offensively, defensively, complete game, etc.) most bowls. I don't know if it is the time off, a lack of focus, or what....but we need to come out smoking, rather than having to battle back from an early deficit.
As for UF making the Big Game- We have (most of us at least) already seen the Michigan/Ohio St. game once this year....and we already know the outcome. I don't know that Michigan could score many more points in a rematch (if even come close again) and don't know that they could stop Ohio St. on a bet. Along those same lines, rematches don't normally live up to the original....and likely would be an ugly game, even if it was close.
I don't know that Florida has a shot if Ohio St. plays well, but I do know that their "D" is pretty tough....and their offense can get it done most of the time. It will be very interesting to see how good Ohio St's "D" is compared to that of Auburn or LSU.....or even UGA, all of whom did pretty well containing the Gators. The X factor, to me, is two-fold. 1- It will be something like 51 days since Ohio St. played their last game when they take the field for the National Championship. I know that Florida will have had some time off too...but not that much. 2- I do believe that Meyer is smarter than Tressel....and I believe his game plan for both stopping and attacking the Buckeyes will be top notch. Something must be said for a guy changing schools 3 different times and taking those teams to conference championships by the 2nd year each time. It will be very scary to see what he might do when he gets more of "HIS" players into "HIS" system...and not just those he inheirited.
I do feel badly for Michigan, as it must seem odd to be sitting in 2nd place for so long, barely get topped by the best team in the nation and drop to 3rd....then see that team that jumped you get knocked off....only to see the #4 team jump you after a pretty unimpressive (in my opinion) win over Arkansas. With that said, you had your shot...so eat it. Its about time an SEC team got rewarded for the level of play each team must face week in and week out. Did you know Florida beat 9 bowl-eligible teams? Impressive...even if the manner in which it was done was not exactly "stylish".
The next topic should be how Notre Dame should not be playing in a BCS...and should just go ahead and join the Big 10 (11) to give them 12 and then qualify for a League Championship game...which should be required at this point anyway.
Also, do you think anyone would be opposed to Ohio St and LSU playing in the Rose, Florida and Michigan playing in the Sugar...and the winners taking it to the Fiesta for the National Championship? Just Curious. AC
Post a Comment