A big part of football is game planning.  Defensive coaches game plan against upcoming offenses to see what their strengths and weaknesses are, and conversely, offensive coaches game plan against defenses to see what the best course of action might be against based on personnel.

Lane Kiffin, and the entire country knew full well what the Tennessee personnel consisted of: Montario Hardesty.  And, um.  Yeah, that’s it, Montario Hardesty.  So that being common knowledge, Lane Kiffin decided to do what any no other coach would do, start, and consequently pass with Jonathan Crompton.  Wait, what?

Crompton has been all over the place.  Against Western Kentucky, he looked like he should have been the Heisman candidate, then quickly, that feeling gave way to a feeling of “wtf? zomg, why are they starting Jonathan Crompton?”  Obviously the answer lies in that Kiffin has been setting up the pass for the past 5 weeks or so.

No one.  NO ONE saw it coming.  Myself, as a fan, Georgia as a defense, the fans in the stands, the people watching at home, the commentators at the game, the grandmas and grandpas in the expensive seats, the janitors cleaning up bulldog vomit on the sidelines, the cheerleaders (the hot ones and the tubby ones), the dance team (who are all consistently hot), the pirates in Somalia, the beret-wearers in France, the scientists in the Antarctic, the dental hygienist who was a little too rough with my sensitive gums even though I told her that I had fucking sensitive gums, saw this coming.

On my expert count, I counted that we ran about 4 plays.  One was a play-action roll out left pass, one was a play-action roll out right pass, one was a play-action drop back pass, and the last one was a hand off to Monterio.  It was roughly the same number of plays that Randy Sanders used to call except that “incomplete pass” and “no-blocker screen pass” weren’t taking up 50% of the playbook.

For the Tennessee fans, other than the special teams lapses, probably the worst part of the game was that the Eric Berry return was considered a fumble recovery and not an interception return.  It seemed like someone told Berry about what happened and he played a little more angry the rest of the game.  Which made the Georgia offense immediately soil themselves.  I may have pooed a little too.

Georgia is a bit of a conundrum this year.  On one hand, they did lose 3 star offensive players, but at the same time, they played a Tennessee team that starts Jonathan Crompton.  Georgia did come off a heartbreaking loss last week to LSU, but Tennessee started Jonathan Crompton.  I’d say it’s a push.

Many on the Georgia message boards are screaming that the sky is falling, and perhaps it is.  But others were quick to point out that Mike Bobo v. Monte Kiffin kind of isn’t fair.  It kind of isn’t.  But Tennessee started Jonathan Crompton.  Willie Martinez (which sounds like a dirty sexual position btw), wasn’t able to adjust to the offensive juggernaut of four offensive plays.  It’ll be interesting to see how Georgia responds in the coming weeks.  Will they be able to regroup, and beat Florida like everyone wants them to?  Will they be able to get their offense going?

Conversely, how good will Alabama be by the time the Third Saturday in October rolls around?  Will they be ranked even higher than they are now?  Will they still have a punishing rushing attack and a suffocating defense?  Many might think they’ll be able to name their score against the Vols, and depending on which Tennessee team shows up, that very well may be the case.  But Tennessee will be starting Jonathan Crompton.