From his time as Georgia’s quarterback through his tenure as the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator, Mike Bobo is familiar with fan expectations.  Aside from a team’s head coach, are there any two roles on a team under more scrutiny than those of the play-caller and the signal-caller?

Well now Bobo has inked a splashy new multi-year contract that will bump his pay up $240,000 to $575,000.  He knows what that will do for expectations… and he says he doesn’t care:

“There’s going to be critics this year the first time we punt.  That’s part of it.  I’m worried about how the guys in my room and the guys on offense respond when I walk in that room and respond to us as coaches and how they perform and play for us as a team and the University of Georgia.  That’s really the only thing I’m concerned about.”

Here’s how Bobo’s offense’s have finished since his first full-season as a play-caller back in 2007:

Here’s a quick and easy way to end most arguments: Do the math.  And that happens to be the view of Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin when it comes to the Heisman Trophy campaign of redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel:

“Compare his numbers to anyone who’s played the game — they speak for themselves.”

Okay, let’s check him against the last five Heisman winners.

Now let’s compare Manziel to this season’s top five total offense leaders.

For the record, this writer doesn’t care much for the Heisman Trophy because there is no official criteria used to determine the winner.  One year voters will base their decision on stats — and that would certainly aid Manziel this season — while another year they’ll vote for the best player on the best team.  Only one defensive player has ever won the award (Michigan’s Charles Woodson) but his all-purpose numbers were trumped by another defensive back just a couple of years later (Georgia’s Champ Bailey) and that player didn’t even sniff the Heisman.  So in our book, it’s the most over-hyped award in a sport filled with over-hyped awards.

But if you go by the numbers, Sumlin’s right.  If the Heisman is going to go to the guy with the best stats this year, the winner should be Manziel.

Content provided by All Things Maroon – A MSU and SEC blog.

Hey guys, since the regular season is in the books, I figured that I would share some research that I’ve done over the past few days. At the end of the 2009 season, we all saw the drastic jump in offensive production when we compared Dan Mullen’s first season, to Sylvester Croom’s last. So, since Mullen has now had 2 years to install his Offense and dig deeper into the depths of the playbook, I figured we’d take a look at how the Dawgs have progressed just under Dan. Not only will we take a look at the Offense, but the Defense as well. For that research, we will be comparing newcomer Manny Diaz’s attacking Defense, to last year’s Carl reactivestyle Defense ran by Carl Torbush. So, here we go…

*Key*  Offense: Improvements (+) and Decrease (-)

______OFFENSE______

Scoring: 27.1 ppg (+ 2.5)

Points: 325 (+18)
  1st Qtr: 95 points (+ 40)
  2nd Qtr: 90 (+6)
   3rd Qtr: 62 (+17)
  4th Qtr: 78 (+1)

First Downs: 242 (+15)

Rushing Yds: 2,589 (-142)
   Rushing Yds per Game: 215.8 (-15)   

Passing Yds: 2,143 (+ 411)
   Avg Per Catch: 14.3 (+ 3)
   Avg Per Game: 178.6 (+ 23)

Total Offense: 4,732 (+ 269)
   Avg yds per Game: 394.3 (+ 23)

Fumbles/Lost: 17/8  (2009- 23/13)

3rd Down Conversions: 45% (+ 12%)

4th Down Conversions: 71% (+15%)

Sacks Allowed: 22 (+2)

Rushing TDs: 24 (+3)

Passing TDs: 15 (+6)

Red Zone Scores: 77% (+ 2%)
   Red Zone TDs: 60% (+ 12%)

*Key*  Defense: Improvements  (-) and  Decrease (+)

______DEFENSE______

Scoring: 20.3 ppg (- 6.5)
   
Points Allowed: 244 (-77)  
  1st Qtr: 53 points (-15)
  2nd Qtr: 74 (-29)
   3rd Qtr: 56 (+5)
  4th Qtr: 54 (-43)

First Downs: 235

Rushing Yds: 1,460 (-292)
   Rushing Yds per Game: 121.7 (-25)

Passing Yds: 2,837 (+ 197)
   Avg Per Game: 236.4 (?)

Total Offense Allowed: 4,297 (-95)
   Avg yds per Game: (+ 23)

Fumbles Forced/Recovered: 17/14 (2009  22/8)

INTs: 12 (-5)

3rd Down Conversions: 35% (-1)

Sacks: 26 (+8)

Red Zone Scores: 78% (-6 %)
   Red Zone TDs: 44% (-12%)

-Last season, Tyson Lee led the team in Total Offense. In 2010, Chris Relf is the leader with: 2,191 total yds, 683 Rushing, 1,508 Passing. 572 yards more than Lee registered last season.

-On Defense, the Dawgs top 5 tacklers saw an increase in total tackles: Chris White- 105 tkls (+30), KJ Wright- 93 (+11), Charles Mitchell- 86 (+22), Johnthan Banks- 50 (+17), Corey Broomfield- 48 (+29).

-Last season, State finished the regular season 5-7 overall, 3-5 in SEC play, 2-5at Home, and 3-2 Away. In 2010, State finished 8-4, 4-4, 5-2, and 3-2, respectively.

Any thoughts on this year’s production on both sides of the ball?

Bulldogs Honored…Again: Derek Sherrod named SEC OL of the week, LaDarius Perkins SEC Freshman of the Week. Link

Cam Newton story continues. Link

Bama announcer FIRED. Played songs related to Newton at Iron Bowl. Link

Bowl Picture for SEC. Link

That’s it today Boys!