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PAGE 24, DECEMBER 1, 2008, THE ISLANDER
OTTAq
A
Season's end
As far as I’m concerned football sea
son is over... or it might as well be.
The Bulldogs and Jackets tangled
last Saturday in the traditional in-state
rivalry that has long been both teams
final game of the regular season.
BTW - if you want to know what
happened turn to page 11 and read our
sportswriter Jake Harrison’s account
of the game.
See, I’m writing this on Friday, Nov.
28, the day before the game whereas
Jake will catch the game and write
about it Saturday night or Sunday and
e-mail it to us for Monday’s paper.
This is Jake’s first football season as
our sportswriter and has done an excel
lent job and even though he is in high
school, he writes like a pro and has a
comprehensive grasp of football.
For example, Jake, the son of a Uni
versity of Georgia alum, is a big Dawg
fan, yet over the course of the season
he wrote about their weaknesses and
pointed out their seeming failure to
get pumped up for the big games i.e.
Alabama and Florida.
We look forward to Jake’s continued
writing for us and will find plenty of
sports and stuff for him to write about
diming football’s off-season while we all
anxiously await next year.
Now, you’re all, well, maybe one or
two of you, may be wondering why I
think football season is all but over.
To me the regular season is what
college football is all about. It’s what
sports are all about.
I don’t think you will find the urgen
cy and thrill of Saturday afternoons
on college campuses across the nation
anywhere else in all of sports.
Many of these guys, good as they
are, will not go on to the NFL, so they
play as if every game is their last.
And they know they won’t be play
ing for a different college next year, so
their’s is a loyalty and bond between
players that is not matched at the pro
fessional level.
Yeah, it’s the regular season I love,
much more so than the bowl season.
Over the last several years there’s
been much debate over the BCS versus
a play-off system.
In the past I leaned toward the play
off system, but supporters of the BCS
have their good points.
UGA Coach Mark Richt, a man who
has certainly earned the respect of
the Bulldog Nation, said this, “I think
college football has the most exciting
regular season of any sport because
there is not a play-off system. The
whole season is a play-off.”
Coach’s point is well taken. Florida
beat us like a drum this year and that
one loss took us out of contention for
the SEC championship. And had we
beat Florida and Alabama, we cer
tainly would have been in the hunt for
a National Championship.
As of Nov. 23 Alabama (11-0) was
ranked #1 in the BCS standings and
Matthew J. Permar
Publisher
Florida (10-1) was #4. So depending
on what happened last weekend and
what happens this weekend (Dec. 6)
in the SEC championship, one of them
could certainly be a National Champ
contender.
Last weekend the Gators faced a
mediocre Florida State team and Ala
bama took on one of the worst Auburn
teams in recent memory. Both should
have won (remember, this was written
before the games), although losses for
either the Gators or the Tide would
not effect their standings for the SEC
championship this weekend, but it
would almost certainly drop them from
National title contention.
As a point of interest, as of the Nov.
23 standings, #1 Alabama was the
only consensus ranked team in all four
major polls.
The #2 BCS team, Texas, is #4 in
the Harris Interactive Poll, #4 in the
USA Today Coaches Poll and #2 in the
combined computer rankings.
BCS #3 Oklahoma is #3 in the Har
ris, #2 in USA Today and #3 in the
computer rankings.
While holding the #4 spot in the
BCS, Florida is at #2 in the Harris, #3
in USA Today and a lowly #6 in the
computer rankings behind Texas Tech
(10-1) and undefeated Utah.
I won’t bore you with all the BCS
poll details, they’re on the internet if
you want to read them, but I will tell
you that the Harris poll, USA Today
Coaches poll and the computer rank
ings each comprise one-third of the
BCS standings.
My point is you can see why it has
yet to be determined who will play for
the National Championship on Janu
ary 8 in Miami. All we know now is
that it will be #1 versus #2.
Let’s go Bowling...
When I was a kid there were four
post season bowl games - Cotton,
Orange, Rose and Sugar. And every
damn one of them was exciting, espe
cially when Georgia was in the Sugar
Bowl. I remember watching them with
my father and brother.
Now there are 34... count ‘em, 34,
bowl games. And sure, I understand
it’s about the money, I’m not stupid,
but for cryin’ out loud even run of the
mill teams go to bowl games now.
Take last year’s Sugar Bowl between
the Bulldawgs and the University of
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors... if that
wasn’t a lopsided mismatch I need to
get the dictionary out and look up the
meaning of lopsided and mismatch.
By the fourth quarter Coach Richt
had the cheerleaders in the secondary
and some drank frat bros on the offen
sive line, while Hawaii’s hotshot, record
setting quarterback was in tears on the
sidelines phone - not to the spotter in
the booth but to his therapist who was
trying to talk him off the ledge.
And since SEC teams play in eight
bowl games this year there is a very
good chance Georgia will be in one of
them again.
It will be either in the Independence
Bowl against the Big 12 conference,
or the Papajohns.com Bowl (serious
ly) against the Big East, or the Gay
lord Hotels Music City Bowl against
the ACC, or the Chick-fil-A Bowl also
against the ACC, or the Outback Bowl
(man, that could be taken the wrong
way) against the Big Ten, or in the
Capital One Bowl also against the
Big Ten, or in the AT&T Cotton Bowl
against the Big 12 or, finally, in the
AutoZone Liberty Bowl against Confer-
ence-USA.
Oh sure, I’ll watch the 'whatever-
bowl-game' Georgia goes to and I’ll root
for my Dawgs, but I’ll really be looking
forward to next year and hoping that
the talk of an NFL rookie salary cap
doesn't drive Matthew and Knowshon
to the pros next year.
But as far as the rest of it goes, well,
the season is waning fast for Permar.
Thank goodness Coach Mike Smith,
Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Jerious Nor
wood and Michael Turner have given
me something to be excited about in
Atlanta.
Turner “The Burner” is really some
thing to watch. And this guy was a 5th
round, 22nd pick in the 2004 draft by
San Diego out of Northern Illinois Uni
versity. (Don’t you know somebody in
San Diego is kicking themselves in the
Turn to Page 11 - Back Talk
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