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Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever. It’s Tate here, returning for a little chat following about 9 months of hiatus from me and Rand. As you all know, Rand’s lovely father has been holding down the fort here at 4&F while I’ve been navigating the wedding -> new job -> house purchase/immediate stop work order that has been my past year. Rand, meanwhile, started a new job himself right as he also began graduate school, where I believe he is studying the effect offshore wind turbines have on chipmunk mating habits. He texted me yesterday that he was driving to Charlotte and had to “do accounting” which is either a euphemism for something truly abhorrent, or his new job is even more cartel-related than I thought. Regardless, Rand is unavailable so you’re stuck with me, Deac fans, but please do not fret - I promised to cover America’s Team for him. But we know why I decided to pop my head out on this week of all weeks, so without further ado, let’s get to it.

HBTFD

As Kirby Smart so eloquently put it prior to kickoff, Saturday night in Tuscaloosa was going to be a Him Or F*ckin Me evening, and boy was he f*ckin right. As the entire world, and certainly Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler, were sure to point out all week, Georgia had not beaten Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2007. Sure, there had only been two games played there since 2007, but that fact just didn’t quite fit the desired narrative here on Saban Documentary Week. To be very clear, Georgia is now 3-2 in Tuscaloosa in the 21st century.

It was the most physical game I have seen the Dawgs play in years, and you do have to credit Kalen DeBoer for quickly solving the criticism that the Tide were getting increasingly soft the further they got from the days of Nick Saban - it was a war up front on both sides for 60 minutes. Despite it being impossible for the two quarterbacks to be any more different, Keelon Russell (redshirt freshman, uber athletic with an incredible arm, future top 5 pick at minimum) and Gunner Stockton (5th year senior, quite literally owns cows) were in a duel of their own as well. While Keelon made a bunch of great plays, including one that I was certain would end up on DeBoer: The DeBocumentary presented by KalshiGPT in 20 years, it was Gunner who won the day. He was 9/10 for 104 yards on third down, including this one to true freshman Craig Dandridge on the gotta-have-6 first possession of the second half, this dart to Talyn Taylor in the 2nd quarter, and this absolute bullet to Elyiss Williams to ice the game. He was just incredible on Saturday, man. Not enough can be said about the offensive line which, despite Bama’s Yhonzae Pierre being an animal all day, was able to largely dominate, protecting Gunner and allowing the run game to flourish pretty much all game.

But it was that run game that was the story of the night. No Nate Frazier, no Chauncey Bowens, the Dawgs are on their 3rd and 4th string running backs on the road against Alabama.

Most teams are absolutely screwed in that scenario.

Most teams don’t have Peanut.

Dwight Phillips Jr. showed up in Athens two years ago as a state champion in the 100M who weighed 160 pounds. He started garnering some buzz around his name this fall in camp, and after a quiet first few weeks he had about 200 total yards and 2 TDs in the Oklahoma and Vanderbilt games the past two weeks. But still, those plays largely happened in games we had full control of, at home. Despite putting on some weight since he got to campus, he’s still probably only 185 soaking wet, and this is the Alabama Crimson Tide he was going to have to carry the load against, on the road for his first start ever. Peanut ended the game with 17 carries for 120 yards, one of those carries being this one in the second half when we needed to lean on the run game. Kirby gushed about how tough Peanut is after the game, saying that when he heard Frazier wasn’t going to be able to go with Bowens already ruled out, he said “We’ve gotta give it to Peanut how many times? He can do it.” We knew he had burst, and we knew if he hit the second level that nobody is catching him. But nobody in the world knew that we’d be able to give him 20 touches, primarily in the ground-and-pound game up the middle that defines Alabama/Georgia games, and that he’d keep getting hit and keep popping right back up. It was truly an all-time Dawgs performance, one that I’m not sure I’ll ever quite get over. 

I’d be remiss to not mention that Bama fans (and Kirk Herbstreit) remain very upset about what they see as getting screwed by the refs, particularly on the non-PI call near the end, and I would just like to take a moment to say this as clearly as possible: I do not give a flying f***. The Dawgs have been on the wrong end of a multitude of awful calls against this very team over the years, from Tyler Simmons being onside to Isaiah Bond dropping the ball, from the facemask on D’Andre Swift to Arian Smith getting tackled on a non-PI of his own. I won’t even bring up the late hit on Aaron Murray in 2012. Too many to count. Not to mention, Georgia fans have spent years hearing Alabama fans bitch about injuries to their receivers in the 2021 natty just for us to show up at their place with our two starting running backs and top two X receivers out, and kick their ass anyway. Bama fans, I invite you all to enjoy the ongoing documentary reminiscing on when you guys were the best program in the country, and shut the hell up.

Seriously though, in my eyes those were the two best teams in the country going at it and I fully expect to be chasing Keelon around the backfield at least one more time this year. But it was a legendary night in UGA football history, and I remain on cloud 9 here on Monday morning because dammit if Kirby didn’t get his first win up in this b*tch. We’re banged up at the moment, but have the opportunity to cruise through Auburn in Athens this upcoming Saturday right into our much needed bye week as the 7-0, #1 team in the country. Our quarterback has taken the step up that we needed him to, we keep finding new young stars on offense every week, and the defense is full of pterodactyls once again. We remain entrenched in the glory days, Dawg fans. I urge you to not take them for granted, because one day, we’ll be reminiscing about them over the Kirby: A Chubby Champion documentary (presented by Flood Futures: Tomorrow’s Coastline, Today’s Opportunity.)

And How ’Bout Them Deacs

Before Wake’s game against NC State, I texted Rand that when - not if - the Deacs won, I wanted him to say the words “Playoff Deacs.” He still hasn’t said those words to me, but dammit if today’s newsletter isn’t mine and mine only. I’m ready to say it: The Deacs are 5-1, ranked #21, are playing football that warrants more national attention than they are currently receiving, and are legitimate playoff contenders.

Jake Dickert has these guys so incredibly well coached, particularly on defense, and Saturday was a pretty good demonstration of what makes this team different not only from their competition, but from some Wake teams of the past. The Deacs went into halftime down 14-10 in Raleigh, and I’ll admit there was a moment in the 2nd quarter when NC State took that 14-7 lead on a 93-yard drive that the Deacs responded to with a 3-and-out where I thought, ahh, I may have gotten a little out over my skis on this team. I mean there’s a reason that Rand responded with “Hey (friend), shut shut shut your mouth” when he was texted something positive about the Deacs in the middle of the game, right?

And then Wake held NC State to 63 yards and zero points over the entire second half while exploding for 28 of their own. That is as clean of a halftime coaching adjustment → team executes said adjustments as you will ever see, and that has become a consistency for the Deacs under Dickert. Gio Lopez had yet another 300 yard + 3 TD burger, his third of the year. It’s insane how much a guy can flourish when he leaves a sad, pathetic program like UNC and goes to an elite one. The Deacs can get stops against just about anybody in the country which is similar to how I felt about them last year, but this year they have a real human being at quarterback that can take advantage of those stops, and not some ambiguous specimen called “Robbie Ashford” trying to throw a football.

This isn’t a cutesy 5-1 either. Wake has won on the road at Purdue who just blew out 4-1 Minnesota, won at a Louisville team that is among the ACC’s best (at least offensively), and has now gone into Raleigh and beaten the hell out of State. The only loss came against #3 Miami, who has absolutely obliterated everybody they’ve played except for the Deacs, who they could only muster 9 second half points against and had to avoid a late Wake effort to put the game away. There is a résumé here already, with multiple good win opportunities still on the schedule.

The next stretch is not a cakewalk. A trip to Cal and a home game against Virginia, with a bye between them, are both games I’d expect Wake to be favored in, but neither is a guarantee. But if you get through those, we’re talking about an 8-1, top 15-ranked Wake Forest team in November where a 2nd loss may not kill all playoff hopes. Say the words Rand, you absolute coward. Say the words.

 Playoff Deacs.

Around the Country

Ohhhh man Texas, that is bad. That is really, really, really, really bad. All of my criticisms about this Texas team (read: offense) came rearing their ugly heads at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, and the world is rid of the stain of having to pretend that is the #1 team in the country. The Longhorns continue to fail to assert their dominance on the offensive line, and Arch continues to panic and make horrid decisions when pressured. They are way too boom-or-bust on offense for a team that has the talent that they have, and it is largely because Arch simply can’t hit the consistent 8-yard, 6-yard, 11-yard throws on his second and third options when the first look isn’t there. In large part he is either hitting a home run downfield, or panicking in the pocket and making mistakes. The only possible way that this Oklahoma team could beat Texas is if they held the Horns’ video-game-players on offense in check and got something like, oh, I don’t know, a punt block for a touchdown and a pick 6. Somehow Texas allowed exactly that to happen. I don’t feel like breaking down all the scenarios of potential disaster on their remaining schedule for what was supposed to finally be Sark’s ultimate team right now, because with the win over OSU they’re going to get a lot of leeway re: the playoff. But whooooo weeeee man, Sark better get these issues fixed or things are going to get real rocky, real fast in Austin. Yikes.

I also wanted to give a couple quick shoutouts to #12 UCLA and #15 Kentucky, who beat #13 Oregon and #10 LSU, respectively. Neither of these schools are football powerhouses, but both hired what seem to be two really good young coaches who have their teams rolling early. We’re halfway through the season and the UCLA Bruins and Kentucky Wildcats are contenders for the Big Ten and SEC, as well as the College Football Playoff. That’s fun! And it’s noteworthy that this is the second time in three years that a Big Ten team hired James Madison’s coach and immediately went on a year 1 tear. We’ll talk soon, Billy Napier. As a note on Kentucky, they are the first team in the overtime era to win back-to-back games on walkoff two-point conversions. Again, that’s fun!

On the flip side of those games, I have no idea what the hell happened to Oregon this year other than they must have severely downgraded on the staff after losing both coordinators (one of which was, of course, new Kentucky HC Will Stein). They’re a mess, and I think it’s pretty safe to write them off from the national conversation at this point. Next year is going to be a massive one for Dan Lanning. On the LSU side, while I admittedly didn’t predict a Kentucky loss before the season, I wasn’t nearly as excited about this team as the rest of the world seemed to be. I think Lane will become a problem in Baton Rouge in short order, but I’ve never been a Sam Leavitt guy, and I thought they were a 9-3ish type of team before the season - that’s probably what they are. Regardless, what a win for a fanbase that has been dying for something like this to happen for years.

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Quick Hitters

·       No. 4 Ohio State (45-16 over Maryland): Jeremiah Smith is the best college wide receiver I have ever seen.

·       No. 5 Indiana (20-17 over Nebraska): The Hoosiers are not what they were last year, but they’re still pretty damn good and well coached. But man, Nebraska blew this in the 4th. Who coulda seen that coming?

·       No. 13 Missouri (27-6 over Texas A&M): Mizzou is for real because Austin Simmons has the livest arm in the country outside of Kamario. Next week in Oxford against Trinidad - Simmons’ former backup at Ole Miss - will be an absolute banger.

·       No. 23 Boise State (38-31 over Fresno State): Noting this here for G6 playoff purposes. Boise remains the clear frontrunner, but they do not look entirely unbeatable. I worry that if Boise falters, we may be in for the least deserving G6 team making the playoff that we’ve seen yet in the 12-team era. So, go Broncos?

·       Florida (38-19 loss to South Carolina): Hahahaha what the hell happened Gator fans?? I thought you guys were winning the league??

·       North Carolina (21-17 over Pitt): And, to satisfy the apparently binding requirement that this newsletter mention North Carolina, the Heels beat previously unbeaten and #25 Pitt 21–17 for Bill Belichick’s first ranked win at UNC. Pitt’s star young quarterback may have gotten hurt and been lost for the season, but who cares about details at a time like this. Belichick is starting to look like a young coach with a lot of potential!

Texts of the Week

“Shut shut shut your mouth” - Rand’s response to a “Gio for Heisman” text in the 3rd quarter

“DeBoer Documentary moment inbound” - Tate prior to Alabama’s final drive, having seen this story too many times before

“How is she still talking?”  - Adam D during the Jasper County tornado warning that interrupted the Bama/UGA game during Bama’s touchdown drive before the half

“Just totally mogged this kid trying to get the second bar TV turned to Penn State/USC. Good omen for the Dawgs.” - Ben D

“Tyler Simmons is the #4 trend in the US on Twitter” - Sam W

“Craig said you only win Mickey Mouse natties to that DB and he freaked out”  - Alex S

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Thanks for reading 4th & Forever. Feel free to forward this to friends & family and if you have comments or suggestions on the newsletter, please let us know. We really appreciate any and all feedback on this endeavor. Check out our website by going to 4thandforevercfb.com where you can drop us suggestions, read and comment on previous newsletters, and argue with us and other readers.

Rand & Tate met a few years ago through a mutual friend who went to college with Rand and high school with Tate. Tate went to Georgia and has spent the last few years collecting championship rings while traveling to watch the Dawgs. Rand went to known CFB powerhouse Wake Forest, and currently pays rent in Charlotte, but is rarely found there with all the work & CFB travel he does.