It's not Patrick Nix, but...

Auburn has hired Gene Chizik from Iowa State as its next head coach. Chizik went 5-19 in his two years at Iowa State including a 10 loss streak this season in which he avoided playing Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. Congrats Auburn, looks like you got the man to lead you into further futility. Seriously, could this have been a worse hire? Turner Gill seemed like the obvious choice. I don't know if it feels better to beat Auburn, or if it feels better for Auburn to beat Auburn.

Update: In an even crazier turn of events, Iowa State essentially told Auburn they could one up them. I mean, hiring an ex-Auburn defensive coordinator worked out so well for them last time... Will Muschamp has to be wondering why no one's made an offer that exceeds his head coach in waiting status at Texas.

My Christmas List

Santa,

I've been a very good boy this year.  Please let this happen for me.  I'll never ask you for anything else again, I promise.

-AuditDawg

It's getting feisty over there...

This thing has certainly been interesting to watch. Hooray for hate week?? I thought that was when we played Florida. I don't hold the level of disdain for Auburn as many that commented on that post. I guess it just depends on what part of the fan base you run into. I've always experienced gracious winners (I played flip cup with a bunch of Auburn folks before and after the game in 2005) and gracious losers (many a fan shook my hand in 2002 and 2006 in Jordan-Hare Stadium). A lot of those responses seem to give credence to Buzz Bissinger's tirade this past year. Many post under the veil of Internet anonymity and leave rude comments and take shots that they would never be man, or woman, enough to say to that person's face. Here's to being cordial and acting like adults.

An early look at Auburn

Just some SEC rankings for fodder:

UGA - #1 in total offense, Auburn - #7 in total defense
UGA - #8 in total defense, Auburn - #8 in total offense
UGA - #2 in scoring offense, Auburn - #4 in scoring defense
UGA - #11 in scoring defense, Auburn - #10 in scoring offense
UGA - #5 in rushing offense, Auburn - #9 in rushing defense
UGA - #3 in rushing defense, Auburn - # 6 in rushing offense
UGA - #1 in passing offense, Auburn - # 4 in passing defense
UGA - #10 in passing defense, Auburn # 9 in passing offense

Don't know what these numbers really tell me. Looks like UGA's passing defense won't bite them in the butt this weekend as the forward pass is something that hasn't been seen in Auburn since 2005. Both teams are getting lit up on the scoreboard this year. Auburn is middling in all offensive categories while UGA is middle to bottom in all defensive categories except rushing defense. At the beginning of the year, Auburn was supposed to have the meanest D in the land, but the numbers don't seem to back that up. Right now, UGA's offense has been putting up some monster stats that aren't always translating to the scoreboard. More analysis to come later this week. The big stat that can't be mistaken is the fact that this is going to be the Raycom Sports game. Auburn tends to not wake up in time for those games as they start at 11:30, local time.

Georgia 42, Kentucky 38; Post Knee Jerk Reaction with some thought put into it

After taking a step back from my earlier position and doing some real thinking, I feel a little bit better about this weekend. I put a Fan Post up over at Dawg Sports that was ripe with emotion, but lacking logic. After reading some comment from others at Dawg Sports and some self-reflection, I've stepped back from my initial position. It doesn't help that Mark Richt makes it completely clear that he feels it's not the coaches' faults. There have been numerous breakdowns in Special Teams and untimely offensive turnovers that have contributed to the numerous points layed on this defense in the last two games. Thankfully, none of the turnovers against Kentucky came back to bite Georgia in the proverbial butt.

The Special Teams play was atrocious. A 96 yard kickoff return, a blocked punt, and a punt for 18 yards all set up scoring drives for Kentucky with the short field. It's hard to hold the short field against the defense, but I'd certainly be a little happier if those scoring drives were 3 points instead of 6. Maybe my post should have been titled "Fire Jon Fabris Now", instead of "Fire Willie Martinez Now".

Knowshon Moreno was singledhandedly a red-zone beast this weekend. Hard to believe that in all the years of Georgia football only he and some other guy you might have heard of are the only two RB's with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons. As I mentioned post-game Saturday, I think Matthew Stafford must have forgotten he played in the SEC and thought he was playing for one of those Big 12 teams. He ended up throwing for a career-best 376 yards with 3 TD's and zero INT's. The offense in total rolled up 520 yards and 42 points. The offense was six for six in the red zone.

Demarcus Dobbs decided to pull his best Thomas Davis in 2002/Charles Johnson in 2006 impression and cause a last minute turnover that sealed the game for the Dawgs against inferior opposition. What scared me most about this weekend was the fact that Kentucky was running nothing more than a variation of the triple option and gashed the defense for over 220 rushing yards. I believe we play some team in a few weeks that is known for its option offense. Anyways, I hold hope that Coach Martinez can rally his troops and maybe they will magically start wrapping up tackles and stopping the run again.

I don't do this very often, but I do take exception to Coach Richt's comments regarding what he sees as likely the casual or uninformed fan. As a person that believes he knows a little about football, I'll go on record and say that my complaints aren't scheme based or lack of blitzing. My complaint is this team just doesn't have that killer instinct that defenses in the past have had, and it seems fundamentally undisciplined (see missed tackles, poor execution, etc.). Of all people, Coach Richt should know best that having a bad defense can get you run out of Athens. I may be wrong, but that's how Coach Richt got his current job. Now, I appreciate Coach Richt for taking this sleeping program and "blowing the lid" off it in 2002. It seems the program has a sense of complacency over it and isn't doing what it takes to get to that elite level. I just don't want to see the team become mired in mediocrity like FSU the last few years due to unwillingness to address needed change. I just ask that Coach Richt doesn't allow Coach Martinez to become our Jeff Bowden if it reaches that point.

We've got two more regular season games and a bowl game. This team can still reach 10 wins and achieve another top 10 ranking. The goal at this point has to be to send the senior out the right way. Three out of four versus Auburn, extending the streak to eight against Tech, playing in a third New Year's Day bowl, winning 10 games three out of four years, and finishing in the top 10 three out of four years. Certainly the setbacks have caused this season to be something of a disappointment, but we can still finish the season strong. Let's hunker down and GATA!