Five Reasons Why Will Muschamp Should Come Back to Georgia

Will Muschamp is on the hot seat way out the door at the University of Florida. It’s one of the highest-pressure jobs in college football. Not only are you coaching in the SEC, but you are coaching in the shadows of the offensive ridiculousness of Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.

Yeah, I know there was a guy named Zook sandwiched in there, but I’m trying not to rub salt in the wound.

OK, yes I am.

In any case, Muschamp had the Gators on the cusp of national championship contention in 2012. Then, by the powers vested in the BCS as well as Jarvis Jones, Florida got stonewalled out of a chance to dance with Alabama, and instead were sent slovenly sulking to a Sugar Bowl date with Teddy Bridgewater and Louisville, where they suffered humiliations galore.

Since then, it’s been all downhill for the Gators.

The truth of it is, it’s not Muschamp’s fault…well, mostly. He’s shown that he can win with this team, but injuries and lack of offense have doomed the Gators to what could be a sub-500 season.

If you don’t think that the UF Board of Trustees and their boosters haven’t already been searching for a replacement, then you need to go back and brush up on your SEC politics. The wheels are in motion, I guarantee it.

So if Muschamp is shown the door in Gainesville, what next? Will another top program take the risk of hiring him as a head coach? Possibly. But he could end up with even worse results in a school that doesn’t recruit as well as Florida, or that doesn’t already have a quality core of players.

Here are the best five reasons I can think of why Muschamp should come back to the University of Georgia where he once played, and–if Todd Grantham hasn’t already been fired–give him one of his legendary scowls and push him out the door and back to the NFL, where he’ll be much more…um…appreciated.

The Florida Players and Fans are Never Going to Buy into Muschamp’s Philosophy:

Will Muschamp knows defense. He loves defense. He played safety (and damn well) at Georgia, and has been a defensive coach for the better part of his career. He doesn’t concentrate on offense. Hell, I don’t even know if he knows the names of all his players on offense. He wants to win with defense, and with running the ball.

Florida wants points…and lots of them. They want to stretch the field from sideline to sideline, and then make it a vertical game from that point on. No matter how many games Muschamp wins (outside of a national championship) the knock would always be there that the Gators needed more offense.

Muschamp Doesn’t Have All the Tools to be a Head Coach:

I’m not saying he can’t coach or doesn’t know football x’s and o’s better than most, but it takes more than just football knowledge to be a successful head coach. You have to be a philosopher, a statesman and a human shield. Have you ever watched one of Muschamp’s press conferences? He looks about as comfortable as a nine-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Muschamp is at his best when he can concentrate on scheming his defense and working one-on-one with his players. The day to day headaches and tedium that come with a head coaching job take away from his effectiveness. 

I guarantee nobody on the Georgia sideline is ever going to ask him if he knows what a Padawan is. 

Muschamp is One of the Best Defensive Minds in the Country:

Outside of Alabama’s Kirby Smart, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find another defensive coach in college football with the credentials and ability that Muschamp has. He’s coached some of the top defenses in the country in the past, and even in an otherwise languishing season for the Gators, their defense is still one of the most formidable units in the nation.

He’s not an “innovator”, he just knows how to coach up young players and how to develop talent, and if any school needs that kind of help on defense right now, it’s Georgia. Which leads me to…

Georgia NEEDS a Guy Like Muschamp as Defensive Coordinator:

Imagine having all the fire and spewing of emotion that Grantham brings to the table, and adding actual coaching to that mix. While Grantham is great at getting his guys all fired up and ready to rip arms out of sockets, he seems to forget exactly how many of those guys he’s allowed to send out to the huddle (see; Georgia vs. Florida – 2013).

Muschamp has that same passion and ability to motivate, and he has actual ideas about how to play to the strengths of his defense and to focus on the weakness of the opposing offense. He embraces the team concept on defense, and while individual achievements are great, he doesn’t allow the prima donnas and their need for attention to take away from the success of the unit.

Go back and looks at tapes of any defense that Muschamp coached. You never see guys wandering around, out of position, looking like they don’t know where they are supposed to line up or what the call is for that play. It’s unreal that we see that on a weekly basis with the Bulldogs.

Once a Dawg, Always a Dawg. How Sweet It Is:

Do you think it’s a coincidence that Florida has yet to beat Georgia since Muschamp took over? Come on, man. Muschamp doesn’t want to beat Georgia. He can’t want to. It’s in his DNA. His brain would go into shut-down mode like Robocop trying to arrest an OCP senior officer.

Deep down inside, Muschamp is playing the game in his silver britches, and standing on the other sideline cheering on the Dawgs. He’s doing a mock gator chomp with his fingers behind that towel the trainers are holding up. He’s subconsciously calling plays he knows that even Grantham’s defense can stop. He’s a Bulldog, and always will be. He should just come home and let his brain stop trying to wrap around wearing anything orange.

As an added bonus, if he were coaching at Georgia, Muschamp would finally get to be on the winning side of a Cocktail Party.

Come on home Will. The Bulldogs need you, and want you. Gainesville is no place for a Dawg to lay its head after a long, hard day.

Michael Collins is an Atlanta sports humorist, columnist, radio host and owner of Georgia Sports Craze. He is a member of the FWAA and eats peanut butter straight from the jar. Follow on Twitter @GaSportsCraze on Facebook here or on Google here

David Sims Making His Mark on Georgia Tech Record Books

Senior running back David Sims is attempting to assault the Georgia Tech record books for rushing even though he made the move to B-back after playing quarterback for three seasons. His 1,978 career rushing yards have him sitting 12th all-time on the Georgia Tech list of rushers, and he still has a few games left to play.

With 610 yards so far this season, Sims still has a shot

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Georgia Win Over Florida Marred By Poor Sportsmanship From Both Teams

The Georgia Bulldogs and their fans should be ecstatic right now. They just accomplished something that hasn’t been done since the days of Buck Belue and Herschel Walker – beating the Florida Gators for a third straight year. Instead, what should have been a high point in the season looked more like a gutter moment.

There’s always a lot of animosity when these two bitter rivals meet, and in past years it has spilled out onto the field, but never (to my memory) to the extent that it did this year.

Both teams were guilty of chirping and taunting beyond what is considered acceptable, and the number of tussles and scrums after the whistle were completely out of hand. Even the normally classy Todd Gurley incurred two personal fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct.

I’m sure both fan bases are blaming the other, claiming their team was baited into retaliating and were pushed to the limit by childish and thug-like behavior by the other team. On two occasions, referees had to break up skirmishes on the field, throwing flags for nine separate unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the wake of the shoving matches.

Truthfully, both teams should be ashamed.

In terms of the game – it was just ugly. Poorly played, poorly coached, and poorly executed (and I’m sure if you asked Georgia fans, poorly officiated for at least one play).

None of that is a surprise, as this game has become more of a bar-mat shooter than a cocktail party in recent years. When you have a Florida team at the bottom of the FBS in offense, and a Georgia team at the bottom in defense, you can’t expect a lot on the highlight reel.

The return of Todd Gurley was a welcome sight, and although he did put up some impressive numbers (17 car-100 yds, 1 TD), it was obvious that his time off with the injured ankle took its toll on his conditioning, as he was easily gassed through the course of the game. 

Hats off to Georgia QB Aaron Murray, who had a typically middling game against the Gators, but once again did just enough to secure his third victory against Florida, making himself only the third Bulldogs QB to do accomplish the feat, along with Buck Belue (1979-1981) and John Rauch (1945-1948). 

Georgia’s road to the SEC Championship is still tough, especially after Missouri‘s 31-3 manhandling of Tennessee today. The Dawgs still need to beat Auburn, and have Mizzou drop two more SEC games.

Michael Collins is an Atlanta sports humorist, columnist, radio host and owner of Georgia Sports Craze. He is a member of the FWAA and eats peanut butter straight from the jar. Follow on Twitter @GaSportsCraze on Facebook here or on Google here

Yellow Jackets Become Bowl Eligible, Stay in ACC Coastal Race With Win Over Pitt

It wasn’t pretty, but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets held on to beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 21-10 on Homecoming night at Bobby Dodd stadium on Saturday. The win kept the Jackets in the race for an ACC Coastal division title, and made them bowl eligible for the 17th straight season.

It was completely a tale of two halves for Paul Johnson‘s team, who ran the ball

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Georgia Tech-Pittsburgh Preview: A Battle To Stay in ACC Race

ACC newcomer Pittsburgh (4-3, 2-2 ACC) is heading down to Bobby Dodd stadium to take on Georgia Tech (5-3, 4-2 ACC) in a battle to keep slim hopes alive for a spot in this year’s ACC Championship game.

Pittsburgh leads the all-time series 5-2 against the Yellow Jackets, with the last meeting coming in 1976 when the Panthers smashed Tech 42-14. The Jackets haven’t beaten Pitt since…

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Assessing the Georgia Bulldogs’ Chances for the SEC Championship Game

Believe it or not, despite two consecutive conference losses, not to mention the loss of nearly half the starting offense, the Georgia Bulldogs (4-3, 3-2 SEC) are still in the thick of the hunt for the SEC Championship game.

OK, maybe thick of the hunt is stretching it a bit. Their chances are on life support to be honest, but it can happen.

The Bulldogs have to take care of their own business first, with three conference games remaining against Florida (4-3, 3-2 SEC), Auburn (7-1, 3-1 SEC) and Kentucky (1-6, 0-4 SEC). A loss in any of those games will essentially close the book on any chance Georgia has for playing in a third straight SEC Championship game.

What Georgia does have in its favor are the tiebreakers with some key teams. Victories over Tennessee and South Carolina would put Georgia on top in any tied conference record situation. The team that the Bulldogs need to be concerned with is Missouri (7-1, 3-1 SEC).

Not only are the Tigers leading the pack in the SEC East, but they have a head-to-head victory over the Bulldogs. This means that anything less than three conference losses for Missouri would result in them being ahead of Georgia in the standings.

Last week’s heartbreaking loss by Missouri to the Gamecocks has cracked the door just a bit for Georgia to possibly claw their way back in.

The Tigers have four conference games remaining with Tennessee (4-4, 1-3 SEC), Kentucky, Ole Miss (5-3, 2-3 SEC) and Texas A&M (6-2, 3-2 SEC). If I were a betting sort of fellow, I’d put my money on Tennessee and A&M to be able to deal the fatal blows to Missouri. But the Tigers are a quality team (as Georgia found out), so none of those teams are going to cake walk through them.

If two of those four conference opponents can topple Missouri, and Georgia can figure out how to win their third straight game against both Florida and Auburn (something that’s rarely done) and take care of a beatable Kentucky team, then the Dawgs will sit atop the East once again and face–more than likely–the Alabama Crimson Tide once again.

The bigger difficulty may be in Georgia winning their remaining games rather than having Missouri lose two more. The return of Todd Gurley will certainly help Georgia’s chances, and hopefully getting Michael Bennett back soon will give Aaron Murray at least one dependable target to throw to downfield.

Right now I’d say it’s about a 30% chance of the Dawgs getting it done. Should they manage to beat Florida, then I’d up that to a 50% chance.

Georgia needs a lot of help from other teams even if they can win out the remainder of their games.

Michael Collins is an Atlanta sports humorist, columnist, radio host and owner of Georgia Sports Craze. He is a member of the FWAA and eats peanut butter straight from the jar. Follow on Twitter @GaSportsCraze on Facebook here or on Google here

Assessing the Yellow Jackets’ Chances for the ACC Championship Game

It wasn’t long ago that Georgia Tech‘s chances at making the ACC Championship game were all but dead after two consecutive conference and division losses to Virginia Tech and Miami. But the wonderful part of college football is how quickly things can change, and what some unlikely upsets can do to shift the landscape.

Right now the Yellow Jackets are on the outside looking in, and it’s still an unlikely scenario…

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2013 Atlanta Falcons are a Team Built to Lose

It’s taken a while for this to simmer with me, but when you remove all the extra flash and the hype videos, when you strip everything down to the bare bones and take a good hard look at what you’ve got, it all becomes clear. This 2013 Atlanta Falcons team was built to lose.

Now before you go all social media crazy, unfriending and unfollowing me, and referring to my parental heritage in the harshest of terms…hear me out.

They aren’t losers. There is a difference between being a loser, and having a team built to lose.

The Falcons are loaded with winners and talent. They have some of the premier players in the NFL.

And yet…

If you told me back in April that the Falcons would be 2-5 and essentially out of the playoff picture by the time week 8 was rolling around, I’d have just dismissed you as a rabid New Orleans Saints fan. Most analysts assumed there would be a slight fall-off from last year’s 13-3 season, but nothing that would cause huge concern.

But yet here they are, sitting exactly in that position.

Why? What went wrong? How could this team go from mere yards away from Super Bowl glory to a non-factor in the NFC in less than a season?

OK, yes…the Falcons have had a ton of injuries. Injuries to key players. Look at the list; Julio Jones, Roddy White, Kroy Biermann, Akeem Dent, Sean Weatherspoon, Asante Samuel, Steven Jackson, Sam Baker, Stephen Nicholas, Jason Snelling…and the list goes on. You could practically field an entire starting team with the Falcons injury list.

Those are injuries that no team could overcome. That pretty much explains away the dismal season.

Or does it?

What about the New England Patriots? They lost pretty much their entire starting wide receiver and tight end group, as well as a few other key components to either injury or other factors. Yet, they sit at 6-2, atop the AFC East once again.

And how about the Green Bay Packers? Another team whose starting wide receiver group is sitting on the sidelines, and who have nothing but a rookie running back to depend on for a running game. They are sporting a 5-2 record and are in first place in the NFC North.

There are other teams who have been hampered by injuries to key players as well, and yet none of them have tanked the way the Falcons have this year.

But those teams placed a lot of stock in the positions that matter, and make due with whatever they are able to get in other positions. 

The bottom line is this, to win consistently in the NFL you have to have a great quarterback (which the Falcons have), and you have to have great line play on at least one–preferably both–sides of the ball (which the Falcons do not have).

Outside of a typically disgusting game against the Arizona Cardinals, quarterback Matt Ryan has been the one consistent thing for the Falcons this season. He’s kept them in games and taken the team on his back…which, honestly he shouldn’t have to do quite as often as he does. Ryan is proving that he’s worth every penny that Atlanta gave him during the offseason.

What is coming back to haunt Atlanta is how this team is constructed and how it’s coached.

Last season the Falcons had the personnel at the skill positions who made those big plays to win the close games. The overall play of the team hasn’t differed much from 2012, except now the Falcons are losing those games.

The loss of the big name players has just served as an instrument to expose exactly how bad the Falcons offensive and defensive lines truly are. The lack of grit and character on those lines is just a testament to how this team is coached. Very organized. Very clean. And very bland.

This team was built around its stars, and the guys in the trenches were an afterthought. The faith that the coaching staff placed in the young players on those lines was questioned by many, and is now coming back as a full-fledged explosion of misplaced confidence.

The sad thing about all this is that it can’t be fixed this season…probably not even next season. The window of opportunity in the NFL can be brief, and Atlanta’s is closing quickly.

So what needs to, and probably will change? A lot.

I’m quite sure that head coach Mike Smith will be the sacrificial lamb for this outrage of a season. Owner Arthur Blank wants results, and his heavy-handed sideline prowling style of ownership will rear its ugly head and send Smitty packing.

With a new head coach inevitably comes the new coaching staff. Whether or not Dirk Koetter and Mike Nolan need to be replaced isn’t the question. A new head coach will have his own ideas of who he wants by his side as coordinators.

So here’s my bold prediction for it all. The new Atlanta Falcons head coach will be…

Jon Gruden.

You heard me right. I’m calling it now. A players coach is almost always replaced by a disciplinarian, and Gruden has already stated this year that he’d like to give coaching one more try. His job will be to come in and get the the two lines playing as nasty, cohesive units, and to make the defense a feared entity in the NFC South again.

GM Thomas Dimitroff isn’t exactly safe either, although I believe he’ll be spared this time. Should there be another failure of a season that can be traced back to personnel choices however, TD will be the next to go. 

If you want to see a Falcons Super Bowl championship,  you may have to wait until 2015 or 2016, but the foundation is there. This team just needs to be built to win instead of being built to compete when healthy.

Georgia Tech Recruiting Rumors: Yellow Jackets Could Grab Georgia Target

It’s not often that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have the opportunity to one-up in-state rival Georgia in recruiting, so when that opportunity happens, head coach Paul Johnson needs to seize the chance to close the deal.

Four-star offensive tackle David Sharpe (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence School), who is the No.2 offensive tackle prospect in the nation, had previously…

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Georgia Tech Defense Covers Offensive Miscues in Win Over UVA

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets didn’t look anywhere near as sharp offensively as they did against Syracuse, but the defense stepped up when needed, leading the Jackets to a 35-25 win over the Virginia Cavaliers.

Miscues were the order of the day for the Yellow Jackets, who after playing a practically flawless game against the Orange just a week ago, were riddled with…

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