Let all the Bulldog faithful rally behind the men who now wear the red and black with two words, two simple words which express the sentiments of the entire Bulldog Nation: Auburn Sucks.
If you are going to another site for your Dawgs’ content today, make it the guys at Dawg Sports. This defense of the Georgia-Clemson home and home is a magnum opus (Someone needs to send this to Josh Brooks – athdir@uga.edu). The good Senator would be smiling over this if he were with us today.
I’ll say it now. I refuse to purchase tickets to either of these games if they move to a neutral site (yes, I attended both games in 2021 and 2024). I may even decide to hell with it and not even watch the games on television on principle. I get that schools have to look for every revenue stream they can at this point, but the powers that be look at us as nothing but wallets at this point in the name of looking out for what’s best for UGA athletics as opposed to what’s popular to fans.
I carried the ticket stub from 1984 in my wallet for years after that. I wish I had kept it pristine and gotten a signed picture of Kevin Butler kicking the most famous field goal in Georgia history.
If we don’t reject this kind of thinking while still getting OOC games with the likes of Tenn State and WKU in our season ticket packages, we’ll get more of this.
It’s time for these people to feel the economic impact of the decisions they make rather than to tell us they know what’s best for us.
For years, if college coaches and staffers wanted to pursue a player at another school, they would find a way to get to them. They would call their high school coach or reach out to a trainer or family member to express interest and try to persuade them to transfer. Coaches knew they risked NCAA sanctions for impermissible contact, so they had to be cautious about making these overtures.
But now that players have agents, impermissible contact has dramatically escalated.
“The tampering got much more brash and blatant,” one agent said.
The current transfer rules now make it seem impossible to navigate the chaotic portal process without the help of an agent and their rolodex of contacts. This year, the portal window began on Jan. 2 and was open for only two weeks. To meet enrollment deadlines, players on the move had to get official visits booked and deals negotiated as fast as possible.
For all parties, tampering has become imperative. Teams need to find out who will be available. Players need assurances they’ll have somewhere to go. Agents play the role of matchmaker throughout December, if not sooner.
Agents say they started getting calls from general managers as early as September last season, and many agencies will distribute their client lists to front offices to initiate discussions. Purdue coach Barry Odom said his staff received a list of impending transfers from an agency who mistakenly included Purdue players. By now, these general managers know they can’t be naive. While they’re doing early shopping, their players are being shopped around as well.
In other words, it’s hard to call it tampering and impermissible if everyone is doing it. Wasn’t this supposed to be the era of above-the-table deals and negotiations? While the relaxing of the transfer portal and NIL deals would suggest that it should, it seems there’s going to be a shady side to college football, regardless.
An ACC GM told ESPN he received a call in late October and learned his top receiver already had million-dollar offers on the table from SEC and Big Ten programs. It didn’t stun or even bother him. If you have good players, it’s inevitable. There’s no sense, he said, in phoning the GMs at those schools and calling them out. All you can do is put in the work to try to retain them.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever going to call a press conference and be like, ‘I lost a player because he went to his agent and said he wants more money in the portal, shopped his name around and got three offers,'” the GM said. “That’s called recruiting nowadays.”
From the agents’ perspective, it’s not really tampering or tortious interference when you’re talking about players on expiring one-year deals. The way they see it, their clients are well within their right to explore their options.
“I don’t even see why schools get mad about it,” one agent said. “If you don’t want your kid to be tampered with, sign them to an agreement that’s fair and the kid won’t be looking to go elsewhere.”
In other words, don’t sign the star athletes to one-year deals, hedge your bets on their development and sign them to a long-term contract? Am I reading that right? And how well does that work when the athlete decides to head somewhere else, anyway? It seems like buyouts from other programs are being tossed around in some of these stories, like Damon Wilson, but given that it seemed like no litigation actually started to move until a year later, I’m of the assumption that Georgia never got their money back. And who is supposed to regulate that if they can’t regulate tampering?
Pete Golding may have gotten one over on Kirby in the Sugar Bowl, but Kirby can confidently say Dabo never got one over on him quite like Swinney did here.
8 minutes of Dabo Swinney flaming Ole Miss for tampering with Clemson’s Luke Ferrelli
If you don’t have 8 minutes, the summary is essentially that Ole Miss was tampering and didn’t do it in a very discreet way. To make matters slimier, the agents involved tried to convince Clemson that if they doubled the athletes NIL deal, they’d give Clemson more information to burn Ole Miss with.
Clemson declined.
Never thought I’d say it, but I got some mad respect for Dabo Swinney doing what he can to save us from this bullshit era of college football.
Whatever you do, Dabo, don’t hold that Tiger. Let the hate flow through you.
Basically the transfers coming in to Georgia and even leaving rarely go down to a G5 school. This seems to suggest that Smart only takes in quality, impact transfers, but also speaks to the quality of guys he recruits who eventually opt to leave and head elsewhere. Most seem to head to other Power 4 programs, instead of heading down a level to get more playing time (or, presumably, money).
Not surprised to see Alabama and Ohio State there…but this warrants the question: what the hell is wrong with Clemson, I mean, aside from being Clemson?
#BREAKING: Clemson will name Garrett Riley as their new Offensive Coordinator – Riley won the 2023 Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach while at TCU. pic.twitter.com/f4fp7kAF6o
I wonder if Dabo is reflecting on what he has wrought. From perennial powerhouse to laughingstock of college football, let’s take a moment to appreciate that Kirby Smart coached in the same era and found a way to adapt and win.
IPTAY needs to adjust their donation base, apparently.
But hey, at least they have a sense of humor about their downfall, amirite?
This weekend saw one team virtually eliminated from the playoff race while a rival that team beat convincingly keeps its playoff hopes alive with a big victory on the road. The message boards were lighting up all over the place. Let’s start out today’s trip in Louisville to check on the temperature of the Greater Anderson Cow College fan base.
Clemson wins a game, and it pisses off a portion of the fan base. I’m guessing Dabo isn’t going anywhere unless he decides to do it. I don’t see Clemson joining the coaching carousel fray voluntarily at this point in this season unless major donors force their hand. Clemson lost the game everywhere except on the scoreboard (the one place that matters).
The Tyler from Spartanburg segment of the fan base clearly believes that championships are their birthright. They forget that Dabo brought them that success (and expectation) and that there used to be a thing called Clemsoning.
I don’t care what Clemson does, but I am here to watch the fallout.
Let‘s move on to College Station to see the smoking crater that is the South Carolina football program following the biggest choke job you’re going to see.
Clemson lost the first game in program history when scoring 45 or more points a couple of weeks ago at home against the University of New Jersey at Durham. South Carolina says, “Hold my beer, Tiggers” by breaking a 286 game SEC winning streak since 2004 when leading by 27+. Ouch.
I’m here for the chaos in the Palmetto State. The only thing South Carolina has to play for is to ruin the remainder of Clemson’s season in Columbia.
Let’s move on to Tuscaloosa to check on the Bammers after their most recent loss to Oklahoma.
Bammers can’t decide if DeBoer is the genius that holds the key to success against Georgia or if he’s a bumbling fool from the West Coast who doesn’t get it. The Sooners get a blocked field goal, a pick 6 and 2 more turnovers while only generating 212 yards of offense themselves. Bama still controls their own destiny to get to Atlanta with a win at Jordan-Hare in the Iron Bowl. F-bum is going to be glorious on Monday with the Bammer whining and the Georgia gloating.
Let’s move on to Oxford as the Rebel fan base wants closure on Kiffin’s decision one way or another.
The Handbags are officially “there’s no place like home for the holidays” after Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss in Oxford (snicker). The majority of Rebel fans want Lane to stay in Oxford, and Lane said he loves Ole Miss after the game.
I still don’t think he wants to leave to take a higher pressure job in an inferior location (Baton Rouge or Hogtown). The media and the airplane watchers are going to be watching what happens over the next week as Ole Miss starts its preparation for the Egg Bowl.
Let’s end today’s trip in the Classic City after the Dawgs flex their muscles against Texas again.
Why can’t we bottle what we show against Texas to use against another opponent (cough, cough … Alabama … cough, cough)? After the Dawgs bowed up to force a field goal on the game’s first possession, the defense really allowed nothing except when put on a short field after the 3rd quarter interception.
Gunner Stockton > Arch Manning. I don’t think there’s much more to say than that.
On any remaining debate of Kirby vs. Sark, I’ll let a good follow on Dawg X who commented frequently at GTP summarize it for you:
While we’re on the topic of the win in Athens, let’s look in on the nerds’ take on Saturday night.
Talk about not being a ball-knower in this situation. I guess when it takes a last second field goal to beat a (checks notes) 1-win Boston College team, all you can do is to take a shot at your rival. Black Friday is coming, nerds. You’re going to get our best shot since we’re not likely to be in the SEC championship game. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Thankfully, it wasn’t, and I have an opportunity to take us on a tour of the message board universe. We saw at least one team eliminated from CFP contention, a lot of pain inflicted on our main rivals and a program with a delusion.
Let’s start today’s trip in Baton Rouge to check in on the Corn Dogs’ coaching search.
If Nick Saban wanted to coach in the NIL and transfer portal era, he would have stayed in Tuscaloosa until he collapsed in his office. He looks very happy to be doing media, enjoying his ability to play golf, and living the high life after a successful coaching career.
Cajuns, Nick Saban isn’t coming back to save you from your governor’s decision to choose the next LSU football coach. He’s 74 (yes, a young 74). No way does he have the ability to look a recruit (and family) in the eye and say he’ll be a coach for 4 or 5 years at this point.
For all of those fan bases who believe Saban is coming back to save them, just stop.
Let’s move on to check in on Coach Amazon Prime in Boulder.
Colorado gets absolutely smashed in Boulder by Arizona. 5 turnovers and fewer than 300 yards of offense (3 turnovers of which led to extremely short fields for touchdowns) will get you run out of the stadium. The Wildcats led 38-7 at the half and played like Ralphie running over the Buffs.
I don’t know if Deion can be a successful head coach long-term. His formula isn’t working and probably isn’t going to work to make Colorado competitive. I wonder how happy Juju Lewis is in Boulder right now.
Let’s head to Dallas to see how the week 3 national champions are faring.
The Hurricanes are down bad after their 2nd loss to an unranked ACC opponent. Carson Beck throws 2 interceptions including a backbreaking pick on the goal line in overtime. Miami’s defense gives up 365 yards passing as Kevin Jennings takes care of the ball and engineers a 2:00 drive for the tying field goal aided by unnecessary roughness penalty.
Miami probably has to win out including the ACC championship game to be in the field of 12 at this point. Does Cristobal get blown out if that doesn’t happen? Coach Oeaux in Coral Gables would be a clash of cultures.
Let’s head to Greater Opelika to say “Thanks for the memories” to Hugh Freeze.
To those who believe #FireEverybody is the answer to your football program’s problems, Auburn should be the cautionary tale. Lather, rinse, repeat, War Tiglesmen. Your job is 3rd best of the conference’s open positions by a large margin. You have to convince someone that they can be successful being squeezed between 2 of the current giants of the sport while your past advantage (cough, cough … Auburn boosters … cough, cough) doesn’t matter any more. How quickly does Cam Coleman go into the portal with plans to play in Tuscaloosa?
I wondered if this was fake news. If not, this is pretty incredible. If Hugh was playing golf every Sunday in season, that’s a bad look, and I believe these guys should have a life.
The Corporate Media cannot fathom this level of investigative journalism, which broke the story of Hugh’s firing before it actually broke https://t.co/pe0WZ9Z2e9
Fun fact: Yesterday’s loss to Duke was the first time in 129 years of football that Clemson has lost when scoring more than 45 points. (134-1 now) Ouch. For the IPTAY crowd that loved Dabo for doing things the right way and looked down on the rest of college football, it sucks to be you now. Georgia broke Clemson in Charlotte on the night of September 4, 2021, and smashed them in Atlanta on August 31, 2024.
Can Clemson afford to fire Swinney or encourage him to find a new employer? Do they want to jump into a football coach hiring frenzy that already has LSU, Florida, Penn State and Auburn looking?
Sorry, Clive, but I’m guessing Dabo will be on the sidelines when Clemson goes to the Bayou in 2026.
Let’s move over to East Tennessee to check in on the fan base and team playing Halloween dress-up in a CFP elimination game.
Bobby Hill and the Vols likely save Brent Venables job with a loss on Rocky Top. Tennessee’s lines of scrimmage get dominated giving up 192 yards while gaining only 63 on the ground. Joey Aguilar’s 2 picks were both bad. One took points off the board for Tennessee, and the other enabled Oklahoma to steal 3 points right before the half.
Those 2 picks eventually led to the winning margin.
We’re going to take a short stop in Jacksonville to check on the geniuses of the UGA message boards.
This team keeps finding ways to melt down the fan base. This time it was a couple of explosive plays allowed by the defense while the offense sputtered for portions of the first 3 quarters. The first TD was the result of a poor punt leading to a short field and then a blown coverage. The field goal was the result of a turnover and then another blown coverage on a short field. The 3rd quarter was generally garbage.
I would love for this team to come out and blow people out. This team isn’t that right now, guys.
Sad, pathetic and soft aren’t words I would use to describe a team that has fought in every game for 4 quarters.
Let’s wrap up today’s trip on Tobacco Road to check in on America’s darlings, the Nerds of the North Avenue Trade School.
StinkTalk is probably saying how great they are because a 4-4 team rushed the field after beating them. Alas, since their board is blocked, we won’t know. I’m here for you to find other sources of amusement.
Nerd reaction to getting a swirlie on Saturday night in Raleigh
While no one cares enough about the other nerd boards to send any #MeltdownAlert posts to MBG, this post encapsulates their team. With Clemson’s implosion, they haven’t beaten anybody with a pulse and almost lost to Wake Forest who allowed FSU to break their ACC losing streak yesterday in Tallahassee by the score of 42-7.
NC State lost to Duke by 12, Virginia Tech by 2, Notre Dame by 29 and Pitt by 19. NC State’s offense then pistol-whipped the Jacketasses’ defense to the tune of 583 yards of total offense including 243 on the ground.
I’m sure Kirby is licking his chops over what much better athletes are going to do on a fast track in MBS against their defense.
That’s what I saw this weekend. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
I’m not sure which I like better. Tech having Haynes King account for 500 yards of offense and losing by two scores to an unranked NC State, or seeing Auburn lose 10-3 to Kentucky after they felt justified that the Fumble Before the Crumble made the top of the list in ESPNs worst officiating calls of the season this past week.
