My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/bulldogs-blog/
and update your bookmarks.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Herbstreit on UGA-Bama

I spent my Friday afternoon with the "GameDay" folks. I'll have a full Q&A on the game with Desmond Howard a little later today, but here are some thoughts from Kirk Herbstreit on today's game...

On whether Georgia or Alabama could jump up to No. 1 with a win:
"If Georgia wins, they went to South Carolina and won. They went to Arizona State and won. And now they'd have beaten Alabama who is a top-10 team, that's a pretty good resume. And Alabama, what they did with Clemson, what they did last week with Arkansas, if they can win on the road in Athens, that would be a strong case. But you've got Oklahoma though, which to me is a very talented team. Who's No. 1 though, for me, in early October is irrelevant. If you're Alabama and you run the table, you win all your games, you're going to be in the national championship, in my opinion. If you're Georgia, especially Georgia with their schedule, if they run the table, they're going to be in the national championship. It's almost like a whole bunch of energy and hostility over nothing because it's really not important."

On Alabama's weaknesses:
"They're paper thin. That's the difference between ‘Bama and Georgia, Florida and LSU. They don't have the depth. Their margin of error is so slight. If John Parker Wilson gets hurt, they're in big trouble. If Caldwell gets hurt, they're in trouble. If any of these crucial ingredients go down, they don't have anybody. So they have to stay healthy in order to have the kind of year they want to have."

On the key to the game:
"Everyone's talking about the running game. Up to this point, (Jim) McElwain has put him in a position and the offense in a position where they are more physical than everybody else they play. They just wear them out. You can't do that this week. So John Parker Wilson's ability to throw on first-and-10 is the key to the whole game. And it doesn't have to be 80 yards downfield. Just hit the tight end, dump it to the back, once in a while to Julio Jones or McCoy down the field. Then they get back to pounding the ball. I think (Wilson), not just his ability to throw, his decision-making, a three-year starter in this conference, he's not going to be intimidated by a blackout. He's not going to be intimidated by Georgia. Just go out and make plays, and if he plays well, they'll win."

On what fans think of him:
"In the South, they think I'm bias toward the Big Ten. The overpassionate fans think that. But in the Big Ten, they think I'm anti-Ohio State and anti-Big Ten. I could give you the same analysis on one game, and if it involved the SEC and the Big Ten, the SEC people would think it was one thing and the Big Ten people would think it's the other. That's just the way it is, and I could really care less. I just say what I think."

No comments: