After winning 2 consecutive National Championships, the University of Georgia football program has rewarded its loyal season ticket holders with a schedule consisting of traditional rivals Auburn, Vanderbilt, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech... all on the road. (Florida is the "home" team when the World's Largest Cocktail Party is played in odd-numbered years at the "neutral" site inside the state of Florida).

By comparison, the home schedule is UT Martin, Ball State, South Carolina, UAB, Kentucky, Missouri, and Mississippi. This is, without a doubt and by a very wide margin, the worst home schedule I've seen in my two decades as a season ticket holder. Mississippi is the only game with any promise of being a worthwhile watch, and I'm sure I could get pretty damn good seats to that for much, much less than what I paid for the entire slate. ($1,720 this year, if you're keeping track at home.)

I figured if any of those unworthy cupcakes was going to make for a fun experience, it would be the opener against UT Martin, with the debut of UGA XI "Boom" (following this week's unexpected death of Sonny Seiler), a rare 6PM kickoff, and a crowd eager to celebrate the 2022 National Title.

I was wrong.

In November of last year, I made a note to myself that games like the 2022 contest against Tennessee (ranked No. 1 at the time) were the reason I annually buy season tickets. Games like this are the reason no one should.

UGA rightfully treated the game against the NCAA Division I FCS Skyhawks like a glorified practice, with Mike Bobo's patented vanilla play-calling and an offense that looked like they could have used a few more weeks of minicamp. The shadows advanced down the field faster than either team. The word "boring" doesn't quite describe how uninspiring it all was. I've had more fun watching Pop Warner drills. If Georgia played like that against an SEC opponent, well, no one would be talking about three-peating, that's for sure.

What was worse was that UGA has now closed Gillis Bridge overlooking the West end zone on game days, which also closes our traditional route into the game. When we did finally arrive inside Sanford Stadium, Mom quickly overheated in the blaring late afternoon sun. So we left as the band cleared the field at halftime, having had a simply dismal experience. Given that a total time of 3 hours and 40 minutes would pass before the final whistle was blown (in a game that was televised to a very limited streaming audience but with a full complement of television commercials), I'm certain we made the right call.

Maybe I'll go back when a competent SEC team comes to town... in November.

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No sooner had I put money towards buying 2023 UGA football season tickets than it was announced that the team's new offensive coordinator will be its old offensive coordinator, Mike Bobo.

As evidenced by my keyword tag "bobo is a bozo," I was very, very hard on Mike Bobo during his first turn as UGA OC from 2007 through 2014. The Bulldogs went 75-31 during the time, and many pundits have lauded Bobo for those teams' amazing offensive production. Personally, I always attributed that success to superior on-field talent thanks to Mark Richt's great recruiting. To say that Bobo's offensive plays were "unimaginative" would be doing him a kindness.

Georgia's record with Bobo as OC earned him a head coaching job at Colorado State for 5 years (28-35) then OC jobs in South Carolina (6-16) and Auburn (6-6) before returning to UGA last year so that he could rehabilitate his tarnished "offensive genius" bone fides as an analyst for OC Todd Monken on the way to UGA's second consecutive national title with Monken at the helm.

And now Bobo's UGA's OC again. Once again, Bobo will be handed the reigns of a Georgia team with superior on-field talent thanks to Kirby Smart's great recruiting. And frankly, I'm on board for it.

If Bobo is as great as the pundits have always said, UGA is destined to win more championships. But if his play-calling is as stale as it was in 2014, well, I look forward to the opportunity for many more "bobo is a bozo" posts in the future.

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UGA crushed South Carolina. Then Alabama lost to Mississippi. Vegas declared No. 13 Alabama an underdog against the No. 8 Bulldogs. All UGA had to do was show up and play.

They didn't.

Final score: Alabama 38, UGA 10. It wasn't ever really that close.

In all the UGA games I've ever watched, never have I seen the team collapse like they did today in the steady rain. After clawing to a 3-3 tie, it was like they ran out of fight at the start of the 2nd quarter. Alabama proceeded to score a rushing touchdown, block a punt for a touchdown, pass for a touchdown, and come back from halftime to intercept the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. All UGA did was stare at their own navels. The only reason the score wasn't worse was because Nick Saban didn't need it to be.

UGA did nothing right. Defensive backs were out of position on every play. Quarterback Greyson Lambert couldn't decide who to throw to and froze up. Relief quarterback Brice Ramsey couldn't manage to throw to his own team. But the worst of it all was Coach Richt and his coaching staff:

• Calling a majority of passes and not runs even before the game was out of hand. (The Bulldog's two scoring drives were the only two possessions in the game when UGA called more runs than passes. That was not a coincidence. Maybe I was too hard on Mike Bobo all these years; Bobo is gone but UGA is still up to its same old sour tricks.)
• Continuing to get special teams wrong. (Time outs to ice your own field goal kickers? Punt protection formations that block no one? Sigh.)
• Worst of all, completely failing to prepare their kids for yet another big game. (Of everyone in the stadium before kickoff, no one seemed more confident in a UGA victory than the UGA players. That swagger sure disappeared in a hurry once they went down by one touchdown!)

Let this be known as the game that finally destroyed my faith in Mark Richt. I mean, I still like the guy. I think he's good for the University and its student athletes. I certainly don't want him to be fired. (Some things, like academic performance and ethics, are more important than wins and SEC Championships.) LSU in 2011? Alabama in 2012? Vanderbilt in 2013? Florida in 2014? Alabama in 2015? I just need to accept that we're never going to win any "big games" while he's the head football coach.

I admit that I didn't go to last week's game. I was sick with a cold and didn't want to endure the rain just to see UGA beat up on an inferior opponent like Southern University. I regret that decision now. If I want to see UGA win, those are the only games I should go to. Inferior opponents are the only ones we can beat.

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When the football season ends, the coaching carousel begins.

Bad news: On Sunday Miami Dolphins team owner Stephen Ross announced that the team will be retaining Head Coach Joe Philbin. This should come as not too much a surprise because Philbin had a year remaining on his contract. However, let's take a look at Philbin's tenure with the team:

• 2012: Philbin joins the team. The nations watches on Hard Knocks as the new coach is unable to look Chad Johnson in the eyes as he cuts him from the team for beating his wife. Great start. Dolphins miss the playoffs with a final record of 7-9, one game better than the previous year.


• 2013: Again, the Dolphins are in the national spotlight as the locker room becomes a school yard where bullies reign. Philbin says he didn't know anything about it. Great management. Dolphins collapse at the end of December and miss the playoffs with a final record of 8-8, one game better than the previous year.


• 2014: With the Dolphins acting as NFL ambassadors during a game in London, Philbin declines to name a starting quarterback despite having only one option. Great motivational technique. Dolphins won 7 of their first 12 games, then fade late and miss the playoffs. As I write this, there's still a chance the Dolphins will finish one game better than the previous year.

So the news that Philbin will be back doesn't inspire me with anything other than a knowledge that the 2015 Dolphins will be one game better than 2014 and still miss the playoffs. I've got better things to do with my time than wait for that to happen. I'll catch up with you in 2016, Dolphins.

Good news: Georgia Bulldog Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo will be leaving to become Head Coach at Colorado State, effective immediately. I've been opposed to Bobo for years: his play calls are predictable and his players are often unprepared for four quarters of football. That Georgia has been successful owes more to superior talent than superior coaching. Perhaps Bobo's talent lies in recruiting. we'll see how well he does in Colorado. If he's successful there it won't hurt my feelings so long as he stays far, far away from Georgia.

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Last week, UGA's Mike Bobo was named Offensive Coordinator of the Year by 247sports.com. Yes, Georgia scored a ton of points in 2013. But no, that doesn't make Mike Bobo a good offensive coordinator, much less the best in the land.

The argument made is that Bobo managed to score points without a lot of our starters. That's a testament to Georgia's depth of talent, for which Bobo does deserve partial credit as a recruiter. I'm sure Aaron Murray, a fifth-year senior and four-year starter, couldn't have scored points with players he's know for years (including a couple of previously downgraded starters) without Bobo's expert help (he said sarcastically).

More damning, SEC teams are giving up 2.3 more points per game than last year, yet UGA managed to score only 0.4 more points per game than last year. Great improvement, Bobo! You didn't even manage to match the average increase.

Who is this 247sport.com, anyway? Wikipedia tells me they didn't even exist until 2010. Alexa tells me they are the 1,344th most popular website in the United States. I don't know where they came from, but if this is who they select as their first Offensive Coordinator of the Year award winner, I don't care where they're going.

Maybe these accolades will convince some other school to take Bobo off our hands. (I hope, I hope, I hope.) And while he's going, I hope he takes Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham with him. Not counting next week's Gator Bowl, UGA has already allowed a school record 29.4 points per game this year. Someone should award him the opportunity to look for a new job in 2014.

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There's not a lot of good things I can say about this game other than it's over. Not unexpected, but still very disappointing.

Our injuries on offense caught up with us. So far this season, we have lost the #1 and #2 tailbacks and the #1, #2, and #3 wide receivers on our depth chart from the start of the season, all to knee injuries.

It really didn't help that our defense played true to form, giving up 41 points. So far this season, UGA's defense has surrendered an average of 34 points per game. That is terrible by any standard, but is recipe for disaster in the SEC.

All that proved too much to overcome against undefeated Missouri, which remains undefeated after beating us 41-26 (in their very first trip ever to Athens, GA). I like to say "the exodus has begun" when the crowd starts to leave Sanford Stadium in bulk each week. I suspect after the injuries and continued porous defense, the exodus may have begun on the season.

Congratulations, Coach Bobo, you're no longer the worst coach on the team. That honor currently belongs to the four Strength and Conditioning coaches (Joe Tereshinski, John Thomas, Sherman Armstrong, and Justin Lovett), all now worse than you are. Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham's mess on defense for 2 straight seasons is putting him in the doghouse, too. But don't think the failure of so many other coaches lets you off the hook, Bobo. Your offense wasn't spectacular this week, either. Missouri seemed to have a good idea how to slow down your offense. I'll say it one more time: if everyone in the stands can predict the next play, so can the coaches on the other teams. You don't have the talent left to bail out your predictable play calls.

No more home games until after we play Florida in November. Here's hoping that UGA can right the ship next week against Vanderbilt in Nashville before our chances at an SEC Championship appearance evaporate completely.

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Sigh. Georgia lost the SEC Championship game. Yes, the Bulldogs played hard and lost to a better team, but being so close to the National Championship Game and losing is heartbreaking. My only solace for the loss is that I've heard several of Mike Bobo's late-game play calls openly criticized on national television in post-game analysis. Any game that brings us closer to the end of Bobo's Reign of Terrible isn't a total loss.

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For the second time in two home games, the scoring didn't start until after I went to the concession stand. Ole Miss was up 3 to nothing when I went to buy a Coke and popcorn. By the time I returned to my seat, it was 10-7. I probably would have been back in my seat sooner, but the dude running the concession stand had to use a calculator to add $3.50 to $3.50, and he still gave me the wrong change for a $20. He must have been a Georgia graduate.

It was a strange afternoon. During an absolutely wild second quarter that saw 4 turnovers over the course of 5 consecutive plays, two separate groups of people were thrown out of our section for intoxication. No one ever gets thrown out of our section! That led to this overheard exchange:

Guy 1: "Did you tell on them?"

Guy 2: "Hell, no. I'm just glad they didn't see my shit."

Once Georgia was finally on the way to their eventual 37-10 victory, the crowd collectively exhaled and spent the final two quarters joking about how clueless the radio announcers are about the names of the players and how bad Mike Bobo's offensive play calls are.

Guy 3: "I've been watching Bobo call plays for years, and he sucks at it."

Guy 4: "I remember watching Bobo play, and let me tell you, he sucked at that, too."

I think in the end, a good time was had by all, probably even the people who got kicked out in the first half.

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Another season of home games is in the books, and it ended pretty much the way it began: with Mike Bobo doing his best to keep Georgia out of the end zone. Fortunately for UGA, Kentucky wasn't even in the same weight class as they allowed the Bulldogs to win 19-10. Now isn't the time to revert to form, Bobo. If my brother and I can predict your every play from 3 stories up in the stands, Georgia Tech and LSU aren't going to have any problem shutting you down.

Despite the terrible offensive play (8 total turnovers?), Trey and I had a lot of fun. There was plenty to complain about both on the field (horrible officiating) and in the stands (McDonald's advertisements), and that kept us plenty entertained throughout. I am already looking forward to home games next year, where I hope to see many more post-game celebrations.

As I mentioned above, only Georgia Tech is left between UGA and LSU in the SEC Championship game. I don't think there were really a lot of people out there in week 3 who thought UGA would end the season playing for the SEC title. As Trey pointed out leaving the game, Steve Spurrier is probably furious, having fate steal the SEC East from his star-crossed South Carolina Gamecocks [after losing his star quarterback and running back mid-season]. If Steve Spurrier can't get it done, how do you think you'll fare next year in the meat grinder of the SEC, Missouri?

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So DC Comics has turned Batman into a gun-toting thug, and the Georgia Bulldogs have started this season off with the same dismal performance we've come to expect from Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo. Could Batman and Football Month get worse? In a word: yes.

The Miami Dolphins will kick off the 2011 season a week from today against the New England Patriots. Traditionally, the Dolphins have held their own against the Patriots. However, this year things look bleak. To sum up the Miami offseason:

• Head coach Tony Sparano was unofficially fired then re-hired with a raise when team owner Stephen Ross couldn't convince his intended replacement to come to Miami.
• Both running backs from last year were not offered contracts to return to the team. The two backs were drafted one and two overall in different NFL drafts, but both were considered expendable by the Dolphins who instead plan to start an untested rookie drafted 62nd overall this year.
• The Dolphins' starting quarterback, Chad Henne, is so bad that the league's own media arm, NFL.com, recommends that you not take him in your fantasy draft unless 25 other starting quarterbacks -- or 168 other players -- have already been taken.
• A few months ago, the Dolphin's best receiver was stabbed by his wife and then publicly revealed he has mental illness. It begins to become obvious why Denver was willing to trade their star receiver who owns several NFL game receiving records, none of which have been set as a Dolphin.

I'd like to think up a list for the positives as we head into the season, but the only thing that comes to mind is the Dolphins signed Jason Taylor to a one-year deal. I like Taylor, but he has played only sporadically the past two years, and its unlikely he will make a significant addition on the field. Still, it's good to have at least one player to cheer for this year, because it's going to be a long, long season.

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