Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Monday Morning Quarterback: Sit down, get some coffee, and let’s revisit the Palooza on the Plains, because it must be done; Surprises, Loughdmouthings

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Monday Morning Quarterback: Sit down, get some coffee, and let’s revisit the Palooza on the Plains, because it must be done; Surprises, Loughdmouthings

          The SEC appointed the three all-the-time conference opponents for teams, and we need an adjustment.

          Every three years, let Auburn and Georgia play twice.

          Sure, it’s not good for the health of the coaches, the players’ parents, the officials, and those with some internal or heart issues, and the, um, somewhat mentally unstable members of fan bases.

By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com

          The rest of us would be fine with all that.

          In a land already addicted to suspending reality, Saturday night took that to a slightly higher level.

          Maconite, member of Central’s 1975 state title team, and former longtime SEC official Johnny Crawford does a short Q&A each week at the Macon Touchdown Club about rules questions and any notable calls and plays he saw over the weekend.

          I’m guessing he turned his phone off earlier on a Saturday night than in years. Or he regrets not turning his phone off earlier.

          And he’ll get questions Monday night – as is always the case – about why, why whatever.

          He’ll have to give the same answer one gives for just about every call: That’s what the official called. Officials call what they see, which – for the 2,402th time – comes from just about the worst view of the game in the stadium, on the field.

          An official can be 12 feet from an egregious facemask or hold, but there may be 1,300 pounds of human between him and the foul, while everybody not on the field can see it, because the only obstruction in the stands is either hydration induced or just that nasty ol’ reality peeking in and being shoved aside. The actual view is clear.

          Refs call what they see, though, yes, occasionally one will anticipate a call. That’s why I’ll defend officials 98 or 99 percent of the time. Coaches? About 95 percent of the time, and it’s dropping, on all three – high school, college, pro – levels.

          There was some hysterically funny stuff on social media Saturday night and Sunday morning, when I stopped looking mainly because people only got dumber and less lucid.

          A reminder about objectivity: “the state or quality of being objective.” And about “objective”: “not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased.”

          Please realize that’s completely lacking in those “covering” the teams involved, from their stalking of high school kids and changing analysis based on commitments and schmoozing kids to come to the school they cover to an inability to note fallibility or being wrong. So when one goober opened a post with, “I know I’m biased …” He unfortunately didn’t realize how that likely eliminated any credibility with what followed.

          There hasn’t been much acknowledgement from either side (though there is a consensus that despite three close losses to ranked teams, Hugh’s in trouble) that they might be wrong. The smugness of a lot of the Georgia “media” is predictable and disappointing.

          So, as for objectivity: I’m not a fan of either head coach, nor fan of teams, in general. All fan bases annoy the crap out of me, so I don’t really push for misery to be set – and hey, don’t folks love pushing for misery on people they don’t know? – on any group more than another.

          That said, let’s go.

          First, Kirby was clapping?

          Come on. Come the hell on. People staggering out of the Tedeschi Trucks/Gov’t Mule concert Saturday night at the Amphitheater – and you know there was an ever so slight but still detectable aromatic haze – didn’t clap so spastically.

          Kirby’s clap made no noise, until he was on the field after the timeout was given him.

          Smart’s taking a serious hit about what he said afterward, and deservedly so.

          No, Kirby, that’s not rain we’re feeling.

          Don’t try to sell to us that late in the game was the first time you alerted the officials to Auburn clapping, because no doubt it was not the first time Auburn was clapping.

          And in a full Jordan-Hare on a Saturday night with Georgia, do you really think anybody 15 feet away from the clapper and with their back to the clapper and looking to the ground could’ve heard him?

          Not bloody likely.

          Now, I want flexibility. Most don’t, I do. But the official(s) who allowed that change? Hamstrings and tendons should be sore from stretching. It’s a wretched look to be talked out of a decision like that. As one of us posted seconds after it happened, suspendable.

          Smart would’ve been wise to literally admit nothing, smile and wink, and say he’d have to look at the tape, that it was a game full of big plays and calls.

          “I do not recall.”

          It’s worked before.

          Second, the fumble/touchdown, the play on which UGA lined up offside a good while before refs missed an Auburn offsides is almost coin flip.

          The popular picture with a line on it – from a Zepruder camera, apparently – doesn’t show anything, and pictures are much easier to manipulate than TV video. Blurry is blurry.

          People and “media” from both sides - (good LORD there are too many hand-wringing people doing streaming and ) from both sides – failed miserably in posting anything clear, and pushed their agenda with imperfect angles and blinders.

          Over and over. Throw in AI and bots, and searching was a struggle.

          The breathless “the play in super slow motion” hyped by fans and “media” of both teams is moot. It’s not straight down the goal line. It’s a yard or two in the end zone.          It’s a self-serving angle, but only a perfect angle and a very clear frame by frame is worth considering.

          After an hour of searching, I found a pyloncam view, the only one – the only one – that matters. And, well, Auburn, y’all are owed an apology. Again.

          The pylon and then combo view indicate the ball crossing the plane – the very first blade of white grass - when Jackson Arnold was at his highest, and that’s when it was punched out by Lamar County grad C.J. Allen, who’s quietly turning into Roquan Smith reincarnated.       

          Note that officials don’t even realize Georgia’s Kryon Jones is running downfield with the ball.

          Note: An Alabama quarterback – and one of the few people on teevee who doesn’t annoy the bejeebers out of you with crap or blindness – said Auburn’s quarterback clearly scored.

          Chew on that for a second.

          All that said – and this one won’t die just yet – the reality is that Auburn never responded after that great first quarter. Sure, it should’ve been 14-0 at halftime, but the Tigers haven’t shown an ability to finish, or hold off a stronger team.

          Hugh Freeze was right, and it’s easy to foresee Georgia adjusting and coming out stronger in the second half, sending us to, say, a 20-17 or 21-20 win. The Bulldogs finish, the Tigers don’t.

          Of course, with these two, a 10-10 game heading to overtime wouldn’t have been a surprise.

          Nevertheless, it wasn’t a great night for either head coach, and was a brutal and fairly embarrassing night for the other human beings known as officials of a conference too arrogant to care.

          The Bulldogs fortunate, the Tigers were snakebit, and they better execute the 24-hour rule because the next round of frisky football starts soon enough.

Surprises

          With nearly half of the Central Georgia Sports Report’s coverage area – which doesn’t, unlike some other places, change based on convenience, communication, or season – having a bye week, there was little head-scratching on the high school level.

          Was right in saying Richmond Academy would give West Laurens a good four-quarter battle.

          Was wrong on Westside getting a win, a road win, and a double-digit win. And Gatewood was mildly upset.

          Didn’t foresee Central Fellowships by 32 and putting up 51, nor Trinity Christian getting hammered.

          Nevertheless – braggin’ time – Central Georgia’s second-longest tenured sportswriter ever went 19-3, for a two-week run of 49-7, with a slew of getting it within seven points of the margin, and just missing the exact margin a few times.

          The surprises, though, are fixing to return, in a big way down the stretch of the regular season.

Loughdmouthings

          We’re getting some fall weather, but the radars don’t show the heat in Statesboro and near Clay Helton’s backside.

          There appears to be a lot of chatter about him and first-year athletics director Chris Davis and the extensions Helton and his coordinators reportedly keep getting. Quietly.

          He’s making the hotseat lists, like one on coacheshotseat.com, where he was ranked No. 20 last week, two spots worse than Georgia State’s Dell McGee. Some social media came alive last week with alleged information on contract extensions and guarantees despite GSU being a .500 team under Helton, information not made public but available through FOIA.

          He signed a new deal in February pushing him through the 2029 season, with a $50,000 raise each year that will have him at $1.1 million at the end, and there are naturally all the usual bonus incentives for on and off the field.

          There is an almost panic of a misunderstanding of the normal one-year rollover to the contract. Each year got another year. The new contract is new money. But apparently there was no announcement of the rollover, perhaps because it’s pretty standard.

          The buyout is $3 million after this year, drops about $700,000 a year to $825,000 after 2028.

          Helton is a regular visitor to the Macon Touchdown Club, and is high on the all-time likable list. But he’s now at .500 in his fourth season and it will be a struggle to become bowl-eligible.

          He’s scheduled to speak in Macon on Oct. 27. Scheduled. …        

          Apparently the social media post Saturday night about whether Oregon State could get Ryan Day or Kirby Smart was pulled, am guessing in the morning, when influences had worn off. …

          Who called it? Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, in August:

          “The Texas Longhorns are deservedly ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason poll, but I have a bold prediction to make. The Longhorns will lose only one game this season – and it won’t be the season-opener against Ohio State. It’ll be Oct. 4 in the Swamp against Gators. I know, I know, this Nostradamus moment is proof that sleep deprivation from 15 years of morning radio does permanent damage.”

          OK, he was wrong on the one-loss part – there’s two more sitting out there - but still, calling a Florida upset is pretty sporty.