This Ain't Your Daddy's SEC

By: Darrell Huckaby

OK. I know I am late with this week's comments, but I got lost on my way home from Nashville. Trust me. That's the last time I will try to see Rock City.

It was a heck of a second half and a much needed win and I don't want to hear anything about it was "just Vanderbilt."

It was "just Kentucky" that brought LSU's house down on the same Saturday night. It was "just Mississippi State" that beat Auburn a few weeks ago. It was "just Ole Miss" that almost beat Florida. This ain't your daddy's Southeatern Conference, y'all.

And if you want to extend the comparisons to the nation, it was "just Stanford that beat USC" and "just Appalachian State" and on and on and on. This year any win is a big win. Especially in the conference.
Especially on the road. Especially when you are behind at half-time. Especially when you are tied and the other team is in field goal range with two minutes and change to play.

Especially when . . .well, you know all the particulars.

And having said that, let me say this. I love Georgia football and I love being a Georgia fan. Most of the time.

I go way back with the Bulldogs. I go back to Wally Butts. I started listening to games when Ed Thelineus was still asking us to "imagine the radio dial as the football field as we look at it." I cried when Theron Sapp scored the touchdown that broke the drought.
Nobody is a bigger Bulldog than me.

Oh, there are people who can afford to give more money. There are people who paint themselves up for the games. There are people who memorize more statistics and can tell you the underwear size of every high school junior that this or that scouting service hints might play on Saturdays sometime. But they aren't bigger Bulldog fans than me.

My energy and my good humor rises and falls with the Bulldogs' fortunes every week. I live for Saturday. Two of my children and all of my money go to Georgia. I have graduated from there two or three times myself, so far. Get the picture? Nobody wants Georgia to do good more than me, and I am way disappointed when they don't. Sometimes I complain and once in a great while I catch myself being critical.

But too many of our so-called fans have lost touch with reality and the garbage that has been floating around in the past couple of weeks is absolutely ridiculous and somebody needs to say something about it. I guess I am as good a somebody as any.

The people who are calling for Richt's scalp are morons. They don't know anything about the reality of college football and they don't know anything about history.

What has Richt won since arriving at Georgia? I think it is 69 games. We have won two conference championships since he got here and they are our only two since Herschel left, twenty-five years ago. We usually crack the Top Ten and even in an off year like 2006 finish in the Top 25. He is a quality person who runs a quality program and we are lucky to have him.

And he has a much better record at the same stage of his career than any of our previous coaches.

Every year is not going to be a banner year and at Georgia it never has been. Only four schools have won more games than we have in the past seven years and with all our youth, the next couple of seasons should be special. And although it won't keep the morons among us who have never been more than a spectator at any athletic event from spewing their garbage it needed saying.

Now, back to Vandy. I have finally gotten to be like a lot of the rest of you. I think if Matthew Stafford develops a little touch on some of his passes a lot of those drops and overthrows will become catches and touchdowns. But wasn't he grand in the last two minutes?
And how 'bout that Tripp Chandler?

If Knowshon Moreno avoids the injury bug he may be our best running back since you-know-you. I will be glad when our linemen on both sides of the ball are full grown. I am happy for Brandon Coutu and I really and truly don't believe for a minute that our players lowered themselves to jumping up and down on Vandy's stupid Star-V. That just happened to be where we wound up.

But I'll tell you one thing. If we can find a way to upset Florida in the Gator Bowl in two weeks, I'm going on the field. Y'all follow me down there. I'll be the good-looking guy in the red shirt with his bail money in his hip pocket.