Let all the Bulldog faithful rally behind the men who now wear the red and black with two words, two simple words which express the sentiments of the entire Bulldog Nation: Auburn Sucks.
I can recall, as a freshman on campus at Georgia in the 90s, walking across the bridge by the Tate Center one spring morning and seeing something you don’t usually see on the bridge. A nice new red SUV came driving across the bridge, which was odd since you typically only saw buses take that route during the school day. More unusual, it pulled into a space by Memorial Hall that wasn’t really a space and parked.
Exiting the vehicle: Hines Ward.
I knew of Ward’s humble roots in Forest Park, and knew his mom couldn’t afford such luxury for Ward, so some simple math and a not-too-big mental leap could put two and two together to figure out how that might’ve happened. Back then, it was all under the table, I suppose.
Sure, it’s NIL and all. I seem to also remember a picture when Brenton Cox was being recruited that showed a fleet of cars on the indoor practice field, which was pre-NIL.
So what do you think was the real under the table deals that were conducted prior to NIL? Dickerson’s gold Trans Am comes to mind.
Y'all.
We've got Eric Dickerson telling the truth about the damn Trans Am today after 40+ years. Seriously. https://t.co/40DsFV5wCz
Between the Bobo contingencies and the non-stop downgrading and questioning that Kirby has lost the magic touch, this is trending towards being a hyper critical offseason for Smart and Company. It’s coming from our fanbase and from socials, but now it’s out there in print.
Here's how Lindy's ranks Georgia's position groups going into 2025: Backfield: Not in their Top 10 Receivers: Not in their Top 10 Offensive Line: Not in their Top 10 Defensive Line: Not in their Top 10 Linebackers: No. 4 Defensive Backs: No. 4
— The Bulldawg Report (@ReportBulldawg) June 8, 2025
While depth might have been depleted in the portal/NIL era, Kirby still has racked up class after class of top talent, but the conventional wisdom, despite injuries that hampered a team for much of 2024, is that Kirby, a back-to-back national championship coach who brought the Saban way to Athens, has much to prove.
This, while everyone is warming to Florida being the surprise playoff team for 2025.
Since going 1-2 against the three teams mentioned above in 2016, Smart is 23-2 (92%) against the Orange teams (make it 25-2 if you want to lump Texas in there with them) in the conference.
So why the doubt and hyper-love for a really questionable Florida team?
Texas lost pretty much their entire offensive line, key receivers, and defensive talent from 2024, yet many are lauding the Longhorns as next year’s championship lock.
Ditto Auburn, who imploded last season and never looked like the team that they were supposed to be on paper.
Is it just the quarterback? These teams have holes and gaps, too, but coaches who haven’t strung together a fully competent season are getting props while Kirby is getting constantly downgraded.
The Diamond Dawgs season ends with a pitching collapse in the bottom of the 9th, giving up 4 hits runs off two homers. Naturally, folks are critical of Johnson’s approach to “gorilla ball” over solid pitching, yadda yadda, I blame Bobo.
The Dawgs go into Austin and rip #1 Texas, ESPN, the SEC and the officials a new one in a 30-15 win that was classic Kirby Smart Junkyard Dawg defense. The Georgia defense put together possibly their best 60 minutes of football since Tennessee 2022 or Clemson 2021 as the Bulldog anaconda took away any threat of the Texas running game, got after Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning, and forced 4 turnovers leading to cheap field position and points. Here’s my link to the preview:
108-29. Yes, I know that includes all of the sacks of Ewers & Manning, but the Dawgs front put the clamps on any running threat by the Longhorns. Trevor Etienne will forever be known in Georgia lore as the Longhorn killer for his effort in the 2 wins over Texas in 2024. When the Georgia defense plays as they did on this glorious night in Austin, we are almost impossible to beat. Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker dominated, and Daylen Everette took a major step forward. This night was a throwback to watching a defense just take over a game. It’s really too bad SEC officiating made this game closer than it really was.
I don’t understand why we didn’t see this defense week after week in 2024. They played team defense, tackled extremely well, and just dominated the line of scrimmage throughout the game. Of all of the teeth gnashing of the offseason about the offense, I believe this is the reason we didn’t have a chance to hoist the big trophy in January … defensive inconsistency.
Individual Stats:
The impact of the Thunder from Down Under was felt throughout the season, but in a game where both defenses dominated, Brett Thorson was arguably one of the players of the game. The first drive is a 3 and out, and Thorson booms a 58 yard punt that goes out of bounds on the Texas 13. The second punt happens at 2:00 to go in the half from the 29. A net punt of 51 yards (49 and -2 on the return) puts the Horns in poor field position, and, eventually, a Manning fumble leads to Peyton Woodring’s 44 yard field goal to end the half. On the Dawgs’ first possession of the 2nd half, Thorson flips field position again with a 55 yard kick that has no return with Texas getting the ball on their own 5 after a holding penalty during the kick. His final kick after a 3 and out is a 54 yard touchback.
Just money.
Something to Consider for 2025:
After a slow start for the year, Oscar Delp makes one of the biggest plays of the game with a 43 yard catch and run to flip the field and get the ball into scoring position. It seemed after that game, Delp seemed to raise his level of play for the remainder of the season. I think Delp is one of those players this year that has a chance to make some money with a good season. As the leader of the tight end group, I want him to be one of the team’s leaders as he enters his senior year.
If Delp is to be one of the leaders of the offense, my belief is Daylen Everette needs to be one of those guys on defense. In the 2 games against Texas, Everette was one of the best players on the field. He has been one of those guys who has been maligned for not being a lockdown corner on day 1 similar to what Kamari Lassiter was opposite Kelee Ringo in 2022. If Everette grows the same way Lassiter did between 2022 and 2023, we may have a guy who is a prototype NFL corner physically that can allow the defensive coaches the ability to rotate coverage to the opposite side.
6 for 6 kicking in a very hostile environment including that 44-yard field goal that was a dagger at the end of the first half is about as good as it gets. Peyton Woodring will enter 2025 as a leading candidate for postseason national and SEC honors and should be a finalist for the Groza Award for the nation’s best kicker. I know people complain about kicking field goals over scoring touchdowns (I do, too), but knowing the team is more likely than not to score once the team crosses the 50 is a comfy security blanket. Ask Sark if he would have liked to have had Woodring in white in Atlanta later in the season.
Summary:
It’s great to be a Bulldog in the middle of the ocean on a Saturday night (I was on a cruise) after taking the Hamburgers and their entitled, arrogant fan base behind the woodshed and down a few notches. While the Clemson game may have been the best the team looked for a full 60:00, this game was clearly the most satisfying win of the season and likely one of the most appreciated wins of the Smart era. Kirby said it best after the game:
At least it’s not Tennessee, I guess, but color me shocked to see that somehow he couldn’t get his daughter into a similar role at Georgia, though I wonder if there’s some form of nepotism clause that couldn’t be avoided here. But hell, Drew Bobo is about to be our starting center.
Also makes me wonder how much insight is shared when it comes down to guys like Justus Terry when Texas and Georgia are competing for the same recruit.
Well, well, well. Another day, another pundit looking to drive up engagement.
There are two programs in College Football that since 2017 have finished in the AP top 10 in every season- Ohio State and Georgia. Both teams always lose a good amount to the draft and have proven they can reload thanks to top tier recruiting and development and produce elite… pic.twitter.com/Xu92v8ISPy
Looks like we’re going 7-5, tops this year. If team success was based on hype and hypotheticals alone, then I can’t understand why Texas and Florida aren’t tied for first.
I think Kirby has to be loving the offseason press this year.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is peak off-season rage bait.
He’s right, that’s why the SEC Championship trophy currently resides in Austin, Texas — one of two cities where Texas manhandled Georgia and took the power from them last season https://t.co/NRze4X2OQI
I really had to check the date of the post, because this was the same shit we heard all off season and all on season long. Even after Georgia beat Texas the first time, we continued to hear that Texas would get sweet, sweet revenge. Yeah right.
Georgia lost a quarterback, had injuries across the offensive line, and was down three running backs. Didn’t Texas have the greatest benchwarmer of all time to turn to in Arch Manning?
Let’s take a quick walk down memory lane from 2024, Texas’s inaugural year in the SEC.
Boasts the best NIL packages in the SEC, complete with a fleet of Lamborghinis
Has the supposed two best QBs in the conference
Opens the season by trouncing the defending National Champion* Wolverines
Coasts through easy competition, but loses Quinn Ewers to injury allowing Arch Manning to start showing his chops, hysteria ensues
Longhorn fanbase proclaims theybownnthebSEC, this is too easy
Loses to Georgia, both quarterbacks look like average Tennessee signal callers
Coasts through rest of season unscathed
Enters SEC championship, fans again boasting they are about to own the conference…again
Loses to Georgia, to backup quarterback Georgia, while watching a one-armed quarterback hand the ball to a Florida transfer acquired by Georgia’s pitiful NIL coffers
Sees Ewers play for Ohio State again by gifting Jack Sawyer a turnover and game-clinching touchdown
Watches former five star everything Ewers fall to the last rounds of the draft
Quite a year. Undoubtedly, not enough for the Longhorns, who are now doubling down for success:
Head coach Steve Sarkisian applauded quarterback Quinn Ewers for not taking money from the Texas One Fund although the Texas source said he got some but was paid the bulk of his money by corporations “so Texas could have more good players around him.” … Quarterback Arch Manning is “by far the highest-paid Texas player,” as expected, but doesn’t take a dime from the school. He and his family acquired all his deals on their own “with no help from the school.”
Well, then, who and why are they paying that much money to? As the article states, this amount won’t last long as the House Settlement will likely cap NIL at 20.5 million after the 2025 season, so it seems the Texas program and their donors are throwing a Hail Mary and hoping the relevance and dominance they hooted about last year comes to fruition this year.
I still want more than anything else to beat Alabama in Sanford and snap that curse. But beating Texas the Kirby Way might be just as sweet should that turn out to be the case.
One things for sure…Ewers should’ve reconsidered his draft decision and maybe asked for the same NIL valuation to be Arch’s backup this year.
Quinn Ewers turned down $8 Million in NIL to declare for the draft …
Now he’ll make $4 million over 4 years as a 7th Round Pick 😬
