Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Monday Morning Quarterback: What do we know about our main teams in Georgia, near and far? Well, it’s complicated, and entertaining; Surprises, Loughdmouthings (a readable podcast, OK?) galore

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Monday Morning Quarterback: What do we know about our main teams in Georgia, near and far? Well, it’s complicated, and entertaining; Surprises, Loughdmouthings (a readable podcast, OK?) galore

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

          Here we are near the end of October, and we still aren’t completely sure about The Big Three, but have more clarity about others.

          We know Kennesaw State is better than expected.

          We know the GSUs will have new head coaches for the 2027 season at the absolute latest, barring the shockingly unexpected.

          We know that Mercer will be in the FCS (I-AA, damn you, NCAAAAA!) top 10 by the time the Bears visit Auburn, where they might hear some “We want Ja-cobs *clap clap clapclapclap* We want Ja-obs” chants.

          We know Fort Valley State is in transition, because the Wildcats are in breaking-in-a-new-coach transition every three years. We now Central Georgia Tech has done a fine job so for in establishing a program. And we know GMC JC is GMC JC.

          The Falcons? We’re back to wondering. Fitting that Atlanta is a big strip-joint city, because the city’s teams are a phenomenal tease.

          The Bulldogs? No idea on any Saturday what they’ll look like. Nobody expected that offensive explosion against Mississippi. Late arrivals – “Man, I need one more drink before I can watch us in the first quarter” – missed a whole lot of fun. But for now, a good start is the exception, and the Gators aren’t bereft of talent.

          Let’s see if they’re still bereft of the right coaching.

          And, well, we don’t quite know about Georgia Tech because the Jackets haven’t beaten anybody all that good. Of the six FBS (I-A, damn you, NCAAAAA!) victims, five may make a bowl game, all but by default, because they’re 20-22.

          But we kind of know about Tech. The Jackets aren’t trying to be something they’re not, which helps avoid upsets.

CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE

Last week
🏈 Roundup: Houston County handles Coffee, Dublin pulls away from Bleckley County in second half, Jasper County & Lamar County stay perfect, Westfield wins showdown, Windsor upends CFCA
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games
🏈 Breaking down the GHSA, GIAA playoff picture
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Monday Morning Quarterback: Sit down for more Palooza on the Plains; surprises, Loughdmouthings
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Two weeks ago
🏈 Roundup : West Laurens, Lamar County stay perfect; Thrillers with Baldwin, Mary Persons, Westfield; Streak-breakers for Westside, Hawkinsville, John Milledge outlasts FPD, CFCA rollsp
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Monday Morning Quarterback: Nobody knows who’s in the CFP, nobody, so get ready; Surprises, Loughdmouthings (are loaded up, from ball dropping, high schools, fibbing …)
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Three weeks ago
🏈 Roundup: HS FB roundup: Northeast nipped at Bleckley County; funky night for County of Houston teams; Jones County win in OT, Westfield in the final seconds; FPD wins showdown, Mount de Sales blanks Tattnall
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Monday Morning Quarterback: Notes, reviews, Loughdmouthings
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

          For those of us who don’t care who wins, this is mighty fun stuff, a test of one’s ability to guess what’s going to happen while being able to relax and watch other games with no stress.

          For the others, well, there are all sorts of medication in use.

Surprises

          Obviously, whoever wins when Northeast, Dodge County, Bleckley County and Dublin play each other is no surprise.

          Obviously, they’re all mighty even and do things different.

          But yet again, Dublin is involved in a surprise.

          Just as few saw Dublin getting shut out by Northeast, few saw the Irish hammering Bleckley County in the second half 28-6 and putting it away in the third quarter.

          It was no surprise that Houston County handled Coffee, and I didn’t expect 70-0 with Thomas County Central and Northside. Man, TCC is good and Northside’s in a rebuild bigger than we realized, but 70-0?

          Those of us on hand – and there weren’t many of us – at Ed DeFore did not have “Southwest 21-0 in the first 15 minutes” on our bingo card, but it was inevitable that ACE would get going.

          A Skipper Road crowd was certainly thrilled that Windsor got up on and then held off Central Fellowship, which should inspire those meetings now that Windsor is solidly back in the 11-man game.

          Prepare for many surprises this week.

Loughdmouthings

          It’s sad that after all of their bellyaching for so many years, and Lord, having suffered through The Collins Debacle, that Georgia Tech - now top-10 Georgia Tech  - can’t fill that friggin’ stadium.

          I don’t care who they’re playing.

          The fan base tends to be – how shall we put this? – old and predictable. So here you have a Tech guy and former offensive lineman as the head coach, a beloved-by-outsiders gutsy quarterback who even got people in Athens to fawn over him last year during the two hours of overtimes, and by mid-October, the Jackets matched the win total of the last two seasons, and of 2018, and are set up for their first double-digit wins season since 2014.

          And barring an it’s-rainin’-sideways day, can’t crack 45,000 for Clemson? Has yet to actually fill up the place this season?

          Come on, folks.

          The good news – probably – is that the ratio of Tech fans to Georgia fans when they play at the Benz is unlikely to be embarrassing. Certainly many fewer people will sell their tickets, yes. Maybe 75-25 or 70-30 instead of 80-20.

          Tech is getting $10 mil for the game. It should buy tickets and resell them below face value to people contractually obligated to show up.

          Note: As of Wednesday afternoon, a whole lotta tickets remain. …

          Catching up: Virginia should be fined a million bucks and all sorts of seats empty for the most dangerous rushing of the field you’ve ever seen after the Cavs beat Florida.

          Holy crap, it was monstrous, worst I can recall, because most are more controlled. This was a tsunami.

          And boy, isn’t it damn embarrassing now to think about storming the field against Florida State? There may be a field storming next month if the Seminoles aren’t running the table and Mike Norvell hasn’t been dismissed. …

          Because nobody loves teevee people more than teevee people – and some sad folks – CBS showed us a Pittsburgh fan with a Fathead of the playbyplay guy, who giddily noted that, yeah, it’s a good way to get on TV.

          It’s also pretty pathetic. Folks got to get over the people near cameras, for real. ….

          Speaking of reclassification, Creekside has won its last five games in 4-4AAAA 70-0, 56-0, 69-0, 55-0, and 91-0. Yeah, we need to look at some things. …

          Random Unrelated Thought: The state and counties and systems released assorted graduation rates recently.

          And districts braaaagged and bragged and bragged while people who work in those districts or with those districts criiiiiinged and cringed and cringed.

          Sorry, smells like teen fiction. …

          The new GHSA playoff seeding system that’s coming? That almost eliminates the importance of regions? Give it a year, and prepare for discussions of major tweaks. …

          Headline: Players' parents unload on 'rude,' 'nasty' UNC culture under Belichick

          Reaction: Well, duhhhh.

          Belichick makes Nick Saban look like Steve Spurrier after beating Georgia personality-wise. Some of us saw that when Belichick didn’t have an abundance of talent and good coaches in New England, well, yeah, he was overrated. Wildly successful overall, yes, but still overrated. And, as it turns out, much more overrated than we realized.

          That nobody in the NFL wanted him showed as much, and that on a rare occasion, a lot of people in charge can avoid being moronic or incompetent. They wisely – even the Falcons, for the love of God – blew him off.

          Gives one some hope.

          I didn’t think Belichick would be this much of a cluster and disaster. Not when he was hired. But I was very confident North Carolina – of all places – made a huge mistake hiring a one-dimensional coach for a changing college football landscape, and in a region where puckering up is a little more mandatory than other regions.

          Either nobody told him or he completely ignored referencing sweet tea, barbque, fishing, Andy Griffith, Dean Smith, and even Bear Bryant.

          No need to hug people, but make them feel hugged. That’s recruiting.

          Clearly Belichick had more help and support in New England than we realized. …

          Just a reminder: Kirby wasn’t clapping. …

          We’re at about the point of the college season where the teeve clowns and clickbaiters can almost hype game as a game of the year without looking as stupid as they usually do. Of course, we can’t label a game as such until it’s over and it was great. Anybody remember the Games of the Year from last month? Me neither.

What they wrote

          “You know what’s crazy? Last week, a head coach at a Florida state school was fired, and a coach named Norvell was fired, and neither were Mike Norvell, who thanks to what’s happening with the Dolphins still prob doesn’t have the hottest seat of a coach named Mike in the state.”

          - David Hale, ESPN