UGA vs. Michigan in 2010/2011?

Michigan fans react to this post.

Despite the rumors swirling around about a potential two game series between UGA and Michigan, we heard earlier this afternoon from a pretty good source that there's nothing to it. Certainly not now anyway. The rumor originated from the Michigan campus newspaper.

Additionally, Bill King the AJC fan blogger debunks the rumor via applying common sense to the situation; although, he made no indication of actually calling the athletic department and asking.

The original rumor had UGA traveling to the Big House in 2010 to open the season. King pointed out that UGA already has a season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2010. However, that's not such a big problem according to the Athens Banner-Herald (05/18/09):

"Georgia would play Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 4, 2010 in the season opener, but that might be moved to a November date to accommodate another opponent the Bulldogs might add, [Arthur] Johnson said."

The real issues are these (some Bill outlined and some he didn't):
1. Georgia absolutely will not play a schedule with only five home games. To play a game at Michigan in 2010 (and the series would have to start there due to the UM schedule), UGA would only have 5 home games. For financial and political reasons that will never, ever, ever happen. Nor should it.

2. To avoid having only 5 home games, we would have to cancel the road game at Colorado in 2010 or move it. It would be extremely difficult to move that game given Colorado's schedule. So we'd have to buy the game out. Thereby reducing the financial incentive of playing Michigan in the first place. I would glady swap two games with Michigan for one game with Colorado. Or we could move the UF game out of Jax (kidding).

2. UGA's 2011 schedule is full. We've already moved the App State game once. I guess we could move it again. But we just booked NMSU so I'm doubting that we're about to move that one. That leaves the Louisville game. Pushing the first game in that series (home in 2011) out makes no sense because 2012-2014 is when the schedule turns more difficult with Bama and LSU returning to the rotation. So we'd have to cancel the series likely. Do you think that Georgia is going to pay the cancellation fees to end one game with Colorado and two games with Louisville just to play Michigan? That seems pretty expensive.

3. Michigan has only played three games in the Deep South during the regular season since the Great Depression. Those games include:

Chapel Hill - '65
Duke - '68
S. Carolina - '85

In my opinion, they aren't coming down here in September. You can pretty well forget that. Since 1922, Michigan hasn't traveled to the states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missisippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia, Texas or Oklahoma. During those years, schools from almost all of those states have played games in Ann Arbor without a return trip. Including Georgia (1957 and 1965).

I would be shocked out of my chair if this happened. Thrilled. But shocked.

Brian Cook, leading Michgan blogger, doesn't think it'll happen either; although, some of his details are wrong about UGA's scheduling issues.

PWD

UGA vs. Michigan in 2010/2011?

Michigan fans react to this post.

Despite the rumors swirling around about a potential two game series between UGA and Michigan, we heard earlier this afternoon from a pretty good source that there's nothing to it. Certainly not now anyway. The rumor originated from the Michigan campus newspaper.

Additionally, Bill King the AJC fan blogger debunks the rumor via applying common sense to the situation; although, he made no indication of actually calling the athletic department and asking.

The original rumor had UGA traveling to the Big House in 2010 to open the season. King pointed out that UGA already has a season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2010. However, that's not such a big problem according to the Athens Banner-Herald (05/18/09):

"Georgia would play Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 4, 2010 in the season opener, but that might be moved to a November date to accommodate another opponent the Bulldogs might add, [Arthur] Johnson said."

The real issues are these (some Bill outlined and some he didn't):
1. Georgia absolutely will not play a schedule with only five home games. To play a game at Michigan in 2010 (and the series would have to start there due to the UM schedule), UGA would only have 5 home games. For financial and political reasons that will never, ever, ever happen. Nor should it.

2. To avoid having only 5 home games, we would have to cancel the road game at Colorado in 2010 or move it. It would be extremely difficult to move that game given Colorado's schedule. So we'd have to buy the game out. Thereby reducing the financial incentive of playing Michigan in the first place. I would glady swap two games with Michigan for one game with Colorado. Or we could move the UF game out of Jax (kidding).

2. UGA's 2011 schedule is full. We've already moved the App State game once. I guess we could move it again. But we just booked NMSU so I'm doubting that we're about to move that one. That leaves the Louisville game. Pushing the first game in that series (home in 2011) out makes no sense because 2012-2014 is when the schedule turns more difficult with Bama and LSU returning to the rotation. So we'd have to cancel the series likely. Do you think that Georgia is going to pay the cancellation fees to end one game with Colorado and two games with Louisville just to play Michigan? That seems pretty expensive.

3. Michigan has only played three games in the Deep South during the regular season since the Great Depression. Those games include:

Chapel Hill - '65
Duke - '68
S. Carolina - '85

In my opinion, they aren't coming down here in September. You can pretty well forget that. Since 1922, Michigan hasn't traveled to the states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missisippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia, Texas or Oklahoma. During those years, schools from almost all of those states have played games in Ann Arbor without a return trip. Including Georgia (1957 and 1965).

I would be shocked out of my chair if this happened. Thrilled. But shocked.

Brian Cook, leading Michgan blogger, doesn't think it'll happen either; although, some of his details are wrong about UGA's scheduling issues.

PWD

Trey Thompkins update from New Zealand

Howard "Trey" Thompkins III is in New Zealand with Team USA's U19 team, and things are going well. The team played an international friendly upon arrival in New Zealand against Croatia and won 97-68. 

Trey had seven points and seven rebounds in the game.  Team USA Head Mentor Jamie Dixon (head coach at Pitt) said this about the team so far:

"I would say the thing that really stands out (about the USA team) is how different guys have impacted throughout and how it has changed constantly. I had a couple of people who have been through this who said that. Even just in practices from one day to the next, guys would change, different guys would step up and I think really that's going to be our strength. The strength of this team is we have 12 players top to bottom, that might be our advantage over some other teams.

"John Shurna today played really well today and he didn't play as much in our last scrimmage. Tyshawn Taylor played really well, so we've had different guys. Seth Curry has been our leading scorer, so has Howard Thompkins, but today I don't think they were and so we had different guys today. I think that again will be our strength and we've really stressed that as well through these 10 days, that we're going need all 12 guys to win every game and I think the guys are seeing that as well."

To learn that Trey is one of the leading scorers for a team like this through the practice sessions is promising. It'll be interesting to see how he performs as they get into more serious international play.

PWD

Trey Thompkins update from New Zealand

Howard "Trey" Thompkins III is in New Zealand with Team USA's U19 team, and things are going well. The team played an international friendly upon arrival in New Zealand against Croatia and won 97-68. 

Trey had seven points and seven rebounds in the game.  Team USA Head Mentor Jamie Dixon (head coach at Pitt) said this about the team so far:

"I would say the thing that really stands out (about the USA team) is how different guys have impacted throughout and how it has changed constantly. I had a couple of people who have been through this who said that. Even just in practices from one day to the next, guys would change, different guys would step up and I think really that's going to be our strength. The strength of this team is we have 12 players top to bottom, that might be our advantage over some other teams.

"John Shurna today played really well today and he didn't play as much in our last scrimmage. Tyshawn Taylor played really well, so we've had different guys. Seth Curry has been our leading scorer, so has Howard Thompkins, but today I don't think they were and so we had different guys today. I think that again will be our strength and we've really stressed that as well through these 10 days, that we're going need all 12 guys to win every game and I think the guys are seeing that as well."

To learn that Trey is one of the leading scorers for a team like this through the practice sessions is promising. It'll be interesting to see how he performs as they get into more serious international play.

PWD

Gordon Beckham Heats Up. Average now at .267

Gordon Beckham is now adjusting to the White Sox in a big way. During the Chicago White Sox's Monday and Tuesday games, Beckham combined to go 6 of 7 with 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 walk, and 1 stolen base.

On the season, he's hitting .267 with 2 HR and 13 RBI in 23 games. Considering he started out 2 for 28 (.071) thru his first 8 games, he's doing extremely well to have a .267 average now.

Tuesday night he was moved up in the order from 8th to 7th for the first time.

(Image: TheBeckettBlog)

Why do I keep coming back to Gordo? Because the one thing the baseball program lacks is a flagship Major Leaguer, and because...how can you not like the guy? He's the Diamond Dawg equivalent of David Pollack in terms of charisma and production in Athens.

PWD

Gordon Beckham Heats Up. Average now at .267

Gordon Beckham is now adjusting to the White Sox in a big way. During the Chicago White Sox's Monday and Tuesday games, Beckham combined to go 6 of 7 with 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 walk, and 1 stolen base.

On the season, he's hitting .267 with 2 HR and 13 RBI in 23 games. Considering he started out 2 for 28 (.071) thru his first 8 games, he's doing extremely well to have a .267 average now.

Tuesday night he was moved up in the order from 8th to 7th for the first time.

(Image: TheBeckettBlog)

Why do I keep coming back to Gordo? Because the one thing the baseball program lacks is a flagship Major Leaguer, and because...how can you not like the guy? He's the Diamond Dawg equivalent of David Pollack in terms of charisma and production in Athens.

PWD

The Steady Erosion of UGA Athletics?

The final NACDA Learfield Sports Cup rankings came out Tuesday and the news isn't good for Dawg people.  For those that don't know, the cup (it was once the Sears Cup, but is now sponsored by something called Learfield Sports) is the award for the best overall athletic performance by an NCAA athletic department.  Each school's score is based on a system of point allocations.  Points are given to each athletic program based on how their athletic teams finish in NCAA championships.  Each program gets to take their top twenty performing teams, ten teams of each sex.  Stanford, who fields an enormous amount of D-1 teams, always wins because they can usually pick twenty really good teams from their diverse portfolio.  UGA, in comparison, has only 20 athletic teams and riding horses doesn't count in the standings.

Across the conference, however, the criteria are fairly equal.  LSU has 19 sports teams and UF has 20, but one is women's lacrosse, which they haven't ever gotten points for.  So, of the three SEC athletic programs which are consistently in the top 15 in the standings, all have the same number of sports, 19.  

For the first half of the previous decade, UGA and UF were always fighting it out for the best SEC athletic program.  From 1999 to 2005, these two schools were in a constant battle.  UF held on to the conference crown in successive years only once.  Other than those two years, it was an alternating honor between the two schools.  LSU was a consistent third.

Since 2004, however, check out the trends:

That's disturbing for UGA as it illustrates a consistent erosion in overall athletic competitiveness.  This year's finish sees us outside of the top 15 for the first time since 1997.  Meanwhile, LSU has been on the opposite trajectory, rising for its first back-to-back top 10 finish.

So, what's the problem?  Could it be Damon Evans, who assumed the reigns of the UGA athletic department on July 1, 2004?  Or is that just a coincidence?  Damon inherited Felton (the basketball program has garnered points only once during the decline), Andy Landers had his worst year in a long time last season, and it was an odd year for the baseball team.  Most of this year's differential with LSU can be accounted for by two sports: track and basketball.  Every other UGA team is within the general area of their 2004 performance (baseball was #3 in 2004, but we did get points this year).  When UF and LSU are putting every team they have in postseason, UGA is going to fade fast with a couple of misses.  That's just what happened this year.

Any year you finish in the top ten is a good year.  This year's big drop isn't necessarily Damon's fault, but it should be a warning.  UF and LSU are demanding and getting excellence from every program they field.  We should do the same.  I hate for UGA to be second in anything.  I hate third even more. 

Quinton