Welcome to Tuesday, Bulldog fans! The new SEC is here, and maybe no more of an announcement than this past weekend. South Carolina gives up a 27 point halftime lead to a Texas A&M team that somehow isn’t 8-4, Brent Venables and Oklahoma are now 4-0 in conference against the Yellowhammer State, and Georgia has played Texas 3 times in 13 months in 3 different stadiums. This is certainly a far cry from wringing hands over the SEC East race and watching the SEC race from afar.
The more things change, the more some things stay the same. Florida has lost 5 Cocktail Parties in a row, Tennessee and Auburn have lost 9 in a row respectively to UGA, and Texas-Austin is now 0-3 against UGA in conference. After the Master Class in coaching displayed Saturday night in Athens, Coach Smart clearly has Steve Sarkisian right where he wants him. Ladies & Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones! (and a little Chuck Leavell intro)
Now onto news and notes of the Georgia Bulldog variety:
We take one more look back at the Loveable Longhorn Losers visit to the Classic City, and for that we always turn on Tuesday to the intrepid folks over at the Red & Black (who I believe were interviewed on Finebaum Friday). I’ll agree with most of the grades, the reasoning is pretty good and there wasn’t anything controversial in the game to dispute. Possibly a little tough on the offensive line – they were facing a top 10 defense nationally, especially in regards to run defense, sacks, and tackles for loss. Our OL I think held up slightly above average when considering the totality.
And one could surmise that if one of the OL receives the SEC’s Offensive Lineman of the Week, then your overall line play was probably decent, if not good. Since Monroe Freeling collected his 2nd such award of the season, I’ll go with the latter.
Head ‘Dawg Kirby Smart held his weekly press conference Monday, and this one had a few choice nuggets:
- First off, CJ Allen is “week to week”.
- Chauncy Bowens is rehabbing, but reports are good and he is “day to day”.
- Coach Smart reflected on this senior class, the first in the NIL era. He said this was their “last home game…errr… scheduled to be their last home game.”
- If a player transfers from UGA because of the physical demands, Kirby said they try to schedule the school that accepts the player. Paraphrasing that the new school likely isn’t as physical, and he’d love to suit up against teams like that. “You don’t run from ‘hard in life’. If you run from ‘hard in life’, you’ll find more ‘hard’.”
I’m not going to read too much into this, but I bet those last few lines will make their way to the practice field and locker room. And probably some other locker rooms, too.
Another change is that there is a new site on the interwebs, and it is to help muster support for Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King and his Heisman Trophy campaign. Kirby Smart addressed the trophy and selection criteria, and let’s just say he is taking a different tack.
Change will come tonight, as it is the 3rd weekly reveal from the College Football Playoff committee. The rankings will be pretty similar at the top – I expect everyone to move up a slot and for Bama to slip down to around #10, and Texas to start sniffing the 20’s. We will also see a change from the chairman interview portion, as Hunter Yurachek takes over for the recently departed Mack Rhoades. I would like to make jokes at Baylor’s expense, but honestly there have been such horrors in that Athletic Department it is far beyond anything humourous.
The SEC championship game participants won’t be decided until late Saturday, basically 24 hours after our game with Tech at Mercedes Benz. Yet there could still be some movement in the polls with the results from this weekend’s games, which greatly affects CFP matchups, . If I didn’t have enough to worry about, Dawgnation takes a look at what playing a cupcake means for UGA, and how those above and below UGA in the rankings can improve their position.
There’s only two more regular season Bulldog games this season folks, and this is the last “scheduled” one in Sanford. While you never underestimate an opponent, this one probably isn’t going to cause as much angst in the fanbase or noise in the sports media. So let’s enjoy it. I hope you have a great day, thanks for sticking around, and as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!
