Mark Schlabach reports that Philo will get the start in the Cocktail Party.
Here’s what The Ol’ Ball Sack said years ago about having two good quarterbacks on the roster.
Buster Names His Starter
7
Category Archives: Gators, Gators …
Early look at Florida
It’s time for the Cocktail Party in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz. Jonny Boy Sumrall gets his first taste of the rivalry. The Dawgs have been stewing for the last couple of weeks after an upset loss to a bitter rival. It has been 16 years since the Dawgs lost to Auburn and Florida in the same season. Let’s get to the first look.
Series record / last meeting
Georgia leads the series 58-44-2 and enjoy a 5-game streak in the series. In the last meeting, the Dawgs win 24-20 with Gunner Stockton taking a knee on the Florida 1 yard line after picking up the first down to end the game. Chauncey Bowens’s 36-yard TD with just over 3:00 minutes remaining provided the winning margin after a Gator field goal early in the 4th quarter. Florida took advantage of explosive plays, a rare shanked punt by the Thunder from Down Under and a turnover to give themselves a chance to win the game. A late potentially controversial (depending on your point of view) prevented Florida from having a chance to win the game late.
Gambling degenerate facts
According to DraftKings, Georgia is an 11.5 favorite with a 55.5 point total. Georgia is a -440 favorite on the money line.
Interesting statistic: 44.12% (Florida 3rd down conversion defense rate)
Florida’s defense has not been great on 3rd down for much of the season. In 4 of the Gators’ 7 games, they have given up conversions on 50% or more of 3rd downs on defense. The Georgia offense has had 1 game this season so far where they didn’t convert at least 50% of their 3rd downs. If those 2 trends hold true on Saturday, the Georgia offense is going to have the opportunity to score points and play keep-away with the ball.
Early outlook
I do like the Dawgs in this match-up in Atlanta where Georgia is very comfortable playing over the last 10 years. I expect this team to start fast on both sides of the ball. I also expect not to see the backbreaking mistakes we saw the last time we saw the Dawgs on the field. I probably should have withheld any look toward Saturday until seeing the availability report for tomorrow.
I can’t imagine that Kirby is going to allow this team to sleepwalk into Atlanta and give the Gators a chance to break the win streak and do it in Georgia after he was a part of the team the last time it was played in the Peach State.
Dawgs win and cover.
What’s your thought right now for Saturday?
Given this game as the World’s Largest Cocktail Party, what has been your cocktail of choice for this game? I’m more of a beer guy for this game now, but back in the day, I was definitely a bourbon and Coke back in the day.
Let us know in the comments below.
Hate Week: Spritz that gator
Dawglicious’ Hate Week Diary
Sunday, 25 Oct 2026
Dear Diary:
Well, Hate Week is off to a vicious start. I received a phone call today from my eldest, Dawgliciousina #1. She was sobbing as she had a rough day at work at her new job working the front desk of a major chain hotel. It breaks your heart when your offspring hurts.
When her internship with the Mouse ended earlier this year, Mickey laid off thousands nationwide and there wasn’t a position for her in her desired field of work. So, on her own initiative, she took this job while she searches for what she really wants to do. “Adulting 101” turned into weedout course real quick! So proud of her…
The cause of her bad day was a guest who had requested early check-in, and when she informed him that the room wasn’t quite ready yet, he launched into a tirade, berating her in front of a packed lobby. Fortunately, she has a good manager who intervened and handled the situation. (I hope they put him in a room next to the ice machine or elevator). Between sniffles, she made me promise than when I get old, that I won’t yell at people who are truly trying their best to resolve a situation. I comforted her and told her that some people are just that way, and certainly not to excuse that behavior.
Then she laid down the kicker: “Dad, you’ll think this is funny, He was wearing a Florida Gator shirt.”
As Ranger Russ would say…
Every Penny’s Worth
Upset about the loss this last weekend? Hold please..
And to think…a lot of that 30.6 million was sitting on the injured reserve this last weekend.
If we’re spending more than the Gators, one would stand to reason we beat them, right?
The weekend that was at MBG – week 7
Well, that time has come. I’m not going to duck this week’s post just because we lost and frankly looked like hot garbage while doing it. Multiple teams including Georgia looked like their games from the previous week took something out of them. It looks like one coach is standing at the standing at the precipice of what could be an unbelievable fall.
Let’s get it out of the way and start today’s trip in the Classic City.
I’m sure these 2 geniuses were crowing about going 16-0 and winning the whole damn thing last Saturday night after Tuscaloosa. No excuses. Auburn played physical on both sides of the ball … that surprised me. Byrum Brown never had the backbreaking turnover, but Gunner did … that surprised me. The terrible penalties? That surprised me.
To people who want to place the blame completely on Gunner (yes, he gets some of the blame … see above), he wasn’t on the field when the only play that seemed to work for Auburn was the QB run. The undisciplined penalties weren’t by the offense.
I admit I start every game with the defense because that’s Kirby’s side of the ball and where our talent has been stacked. The defense was spotted a 14-0 lead even with Puglisi having a forced involvement in the first drive. The effort after that until the 4th quarter was awful, period.
Kirby was right during his press conference. All of this team’s goals sit in front of them IF, IF, IF they play disciplined, complementary football. There could be multiple losses on the horizon if they don’t. Any big overarching conclusion about the direction of the program and especially of Kirby’s stewardship of the program over 1 loss should be ridiculed.
Let’s move on to the banks of the Tennessee River as Georgia beats Alabama for the 2nd week in a row.
All week we were told that Bama was going to take out all of their frustration from last Saturday on Tennessee. Instead, they got their asses beat in Knoxville. -2 turnover margin, less than 4 yards per play, 24:00 of time of possession. They gave up 20 first downs and 350 yards to an offense led by a quarterback whose name sounds more like the chairman of the board of your local Kiwanis Club rather than an SEC quarterback.
I wonder if the windows of Kalen DeBoer’s office have brick-resistant glass in them. The Auburn team we played yesterday (Will it be?) will whip Alabama in T-town.
Let’s go out to DKR where Sark is looking into the abyss after losing at home to the Handbags who looked like garbage the last 2 weeks.
Even in a win, the North Florida trailer park trash doesn’t get a pass.
Damn, the meteor didn’t hit again. The Texas faithful have to be fit to be tied at this point. They have lost 2 games in a row to mediocre to OK programs. Texas was 2-10 on 3rd down. Florida had 38 minutes of possession. The Longhorns blow a 1st half 2 TD lead to a team that was absolutely lit up and left for dead the last 2 weeks.
Hey, Handbags, when I bookmarked this, I was hoping you would completely melt down on Saturday. I don’t know if Sumrall is another Sun Belt Billy or the next coming of the Corch. What I do know is that you are going to have our full and complete attention in 2 weeks’ time. That hasn’t typically gone well for you over the last 10 years.
Let’s move on to lovely hamlet of Oxford to check on the ultimate SEC interloper, Missouri.
That running game that ran all over Florida and Texas A&M the last couple of weeks went for 39 yards on 26 carries, and Ole Miss gashed the Tigers for almost 500 yards and 31 points. Is that the Ole Miss defense we’ll see the rest of the season or did they put it together for one day in Oxford?
Missouri fans who call Drinkwitz a “beta” deserve to have him leave and take his abilities elsewhere. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see an ACC school make a run at him this offseason.
Let’s move out west to check in on the ultimate media darling after they lose their first game against a real opponent.
If Notre Dame loses to Miami in South Bend in 3 weeks, will the committee penalize them for their joke of a schedule come rankings time? Certainly, if they lose to both currently ranked opponents remaining on their schedule, there’s no way they can be in top 12 to get their special treatment that no one else gets.
Can the sport’s powers that be quit treating Notre Dame like it’s 1976 instead of 2026? Of course, now we’re going to devalue winning a conference in the expanded playoff, so any motivation the Domers would have joining a conference for football is now gone.
We’re going to finish our trip in what has become a mainstay on our trips over the last few years … Clemson, South Carolina … and it has nothing to do with what happened in their win over Charleston Southern.
Yes, you would expect a Civil War reference to come from the state of South Carolina. To this genius, the problem the Tigers have has nothing to do with programs from the north raiding for talent. It’s that Dabo hasn’t found an NFL top of the draft type of quarterback since Trevor Lawrence left. No one has ever really thought Swinney is this great Xs & Os kind of coach. I don’t even think he’s this great CEO within the program itself. He got people to open their checkbooks and cheered on lil old Clemson to the IPTAY crowd. Everyone knows he got a few players and took advantage of the Almost Competitive Conference while Miami and FSU were down.
What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
The weekend that was at MBG – week 6 edition
Saturday was glorious. I hope the pollsters find some reason to continue to disrespect us and move Notre Dame to #1. Anyway, on a day like this the message boards once again didn’t disappoint and our geniuses didn’t show up even when it felt the game may be slipping away.
Let’s start today’s trip in Louisville on Friday night for Mike Norvell’s throwing away all of his goodwill from the week before away with 1 play call.
On the road up 14 and instead of going up by 3 scores, Norvell decides to go for it on the 2 yard line and then calls a play where the ball gets thrown behind the line of scrimmage. I don’t know if a field goal there changes the eventual outcome, but it allowed the floodgates to open on the next play from scrimmage when Louisville has a 97 yard run to cut the lead in half. If you’re going to go for it there, either line up and run or make sure you throw the ball into the end zone.
Norvell is a dead man walking at this point. The question is whether they can raise the money to buy out his contract plus his assistants.
Ouch.
Let’s move on to Hogtown where it hasn’t taken long for the Handbags’ season to start free fallin’.
-3 turnover margin gets you beat most Saturdays, and, most of the time, that team gets run out of the building. Giving up 10 of 16 3rd downs is not a good look for a Handbag defense that has multiple loseable games on the schedule left on the schedule. I wonder what the ticket market for the Cocktail Party on the Gator side of MBS is like right now as they get ready to head to Austin for a date with Texas who deep down knows their faceplant in Hogtown last fall was the reason they weren’t in the CFP.
Jonny Boy is finding out really quickly how fickle Handbags are. At this point, the Florida-FSU game may end up on the ACC Network+.
Let’s head to CoMo to check on the mental state of Drink’s latest beatdown victim … Texas 8&4.
That first post is truly genius worthy, or maybe a T-sip posing as an Aggie pulls a great troll.
Could the Missouri game in November end up as the biggest home game of the year? After the last 2 weeks, that appears likely now. Texas A&M is officially on tilt after their defense gets shredded for 252 rushing yards.
On the other side, this stat line is horrible.
At 3-3, it could get ugly for Elko because the Aggie oilmen are more than happy to pay another buyout.
Speaking of little brothers, let’s look in on the Greater Opelika Cow College’s preparation for the DSOR (Dawgs, be loud on Saturday … no letdown).
Auburn fans are as bad as Tech nerds over their never-ending obsession with all things Bama. I’m not going to watch the Sa(t)an documentary for many reasons, but seeing a Barner call any program a bunch of cheaters is rich.
Let’s head to the west coast where the preseason national champions’ season is going up in smoke.
7 turnovers. 20:00 of time of possession. 73 yards rushing. 1 for 12 on 3rd down. Damn, just damn, Dan.
If Kirby decided he has had enough, Lanning would no longer be on my list of coaches I would want to pursue. He has every advantage a first time head coach would want, yet he finds ways to lose games where his team is more talented.
Let’s head to Dallas to check on the status of “Texas is back!” after Sark and Arch fail yet again.
To the genius that fires a stray at Kirby, I’m sure Kirby is worried about your opinion. Texas gets exposed by Oklahoma’s defense, and the Archduke is officially out of the Heisman race after throwing 2 backbreaking picks in the 4th quarter. Steve Sarkisian has to be looking at the fine print in his contract after this one. Oklahoma was dreadful on offense again, but Mateer makes 2 throws that make all the difference in crunch time.
That “best team money can buy” strategy appears to be exploding in Texass’s face. Speaking of programs overspending on NIL …
Let’s head back to horse/bourbon country to check in with the Corn Dogs after losing to Kentucky.
I know a lot of LSU fans aren’t that smart, but that genius doesn’t understand the basics of what $19 million really means. A quick Google search mentioned the following: A waterfront mansion in Ft. Lauderdale, a super-yacht, or a portfolio that generates $760k a year (conservatively without touching the principal).
On to the game itself, Kentucky goes for the win in the first overtime for the 2nd week in a row and lives to tell about it. If this keeps up Will Stein may be in line for SEC CotY. There isn’t a game left on the schedule that Kentucky can’t win starting on Saturday night in Norman where they open as a 6.5 point underdog.
On the other side, LSU is fortunate the game went to overtime after 2 turnovers in their own territory both resulted in no points. The Cajuns adored Kiffin in December and are now turning on him in October. They still have upcoming games against Texas and Alabama which I’m sure Disney will put at night in Death Valley.
This will hurt:
Let’s move on to our last spot of the night … west Alabama where the Dawgs win with a flair for the dramatic.
There’s been plenty of cloud storage used over the 36 hours about the officiating and the embarrassment of Fowler and Herbstreit. Dawg in Austin’s observations post from yesterday is a tour de force in analysis if you haven’t yet read it.
My take on Saturday night is that this was a win for the culture and values of the program as created by Kirby Smart. I have said for 10 years now that Kirby took the Process of Saban and put a human face on it.
Connection – Even when Sacovie muffed the punt (thank goodness for Blake Stewart), Kirby and some players made it clear that they were behind him. He made a clear fair catch of the next one.
Composure – It would have been easy for the team to lose their composure as Alabama turned the game in the 2nd quarter, but clearly the team did not leave the field for halftime discouraged.
Resilience – The first drive of the 2nd half was resilience in action. That was coming off the mat and pulling up the defense after the late 2nd quarter drive.
Physicality – The drive chart of the 2nd half was a beauty to behold: 8 plays, 75 yards, 4:22 (TD); 11 plays, 69 yards, 6:20 (Missed FG); 10 plays, 84 yards, 5:19 (FG); and 8 plays, 40 yards, 3:10 (End of game).
G.A.T.A.
What did you see this weekend that made you laugh out loud? Let us know in the comments.
I Should Call Her
Here’s a quick reminder: drinking and calling people never equates to anything good.
As far as theories go, it’s as good as any to help explain why the guy everyone had as a Heisman lock last week only gained 13 yards…in the entire game. I don’t think it has anything to do with the caller’s theory, because as far as that goes, there’s plenty of them running around on the team wearing helmets. And one who is their head coach who likes to say a lot of tough guy things until they get their ass handed to them, then it’s all about “we’ve got problems”.
It’s a long season. Instead of Bloody Tuesday, maybe Sumrall should take the team out to Ruby Tuesdays to relax, have some fun, and meet some womerns.
You might have to drive up to the Ruby Tuesdays in Savannah, though.
The weekend that was at MBG – week 5 edition
As usual, the message boards did not disappoint in the usual locations including one that has been a frequent spot in the past. As the season continues, it’s clear there are a couple of places that have buyer’s (and seller’s) remorse on some recent decisions, and there are others where difficult decisions that are going to cost universities a lot of money are imminent. How quickly is the coaching carousel going to start turning? Let’s get going to see what’s happening.
We’ll start this week’s trip in the Windy City on Friday rather than Saturday as the Nittany Lions get their butts flat run over by Northwestern.
Northwestern runs for 413(!) yards against the once proud defensive stalwart Ped (sorry, Penn) State. 2 backs go over 160 yards, and the Wildcats average 7.5 yards per attempt. Joe Paterno is spinning in his grave, and all of the linebackers who once made Happy Valley LBU are probably ready to take Matt Campbell out for a little tackling practice. On the flip side, 48 yards rushing on 22 attempts is appalling for a program that made its reputation on physicality. When a coach leaves a place that has treated him right as Iowa State did with Campbell for years, I enjoy watching that coach fall flat on his face.
Moving on to Blacksburg where “Enter Sandman” couldn’t save the Hokies from a James Franklin face plant.
The Hokies blow a double digit lead at home to Pitt. They lose on a special teams mistake by missing what is not much more than a glorified extra point in a 36-yard field goal as time expired. -4 turnover margin, yikes. They were fortunate to have a chance to win with that kind of lopsided margin.
Let’s move on to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to check in on the Kyle Whittingham Experience at Michigan.
Michigan gets beaten by Minnesota, who got absolutely worn out at home by Mississippi State. Michigan has scored more than 20 points once this season … against UTEP. They generated all of 180 yards of total offense, and Barstool NIL QB Bryce Underwood looked awful again. But. The flip side Troy Bowles appears to be Michigan’s best defensive player, and he could make the 2-deep at linebacker at Georgia.
This graphic is a pretty good summary of Michigan football.
Karma is a bitch, Wolverines. There’s no doubt there should be a big asterisk by 2023.
Let’s head out west to check on the latest on the Men of Troy and the genius Lincoln Riley … yes, I understand they won.
USC comes back to beat Washington at home after falling behind by double digits. If that doesn’t happen, I’m betting Lincoln Riley may have been fired as early as Sunday morning. Life doesn’t get any easier for the Boy Wonder as as a home game against Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes and a November date at the defending national champion Hoosiers loom on the schedule. That’s without even mentioning the cross-town rivalry game with UCLA where Riley truly could be coaching for his job. Colin Cowpatty is hazzing a sad over this.
Let’s head back southeast to check on the state of college football in the Palmetto State … let’s just put it this way – it ain’t pretty.
With the “Enter Sandman” reference earlier in today’s feature, “Sandstorm” doesn’t save South Carolina from another blown double digit lead. Kentucky was left for dead after the 2nd half firebombing that Bama laid on them at Commonwealth Stadium (I can’t call it Kroger Field). It appears unlikely that Baby Beamer is going to last long enough for Kirby to drive the final nail in his career coffin in Columbia East. That job is a place where careers go to die. Is what South Carolina has become the result of pouring your NIL money into 2 players while neglecting the rest of the roster?
On the other hand, last night may have been Dabo’s last stand to maintain any credibility that he can turn things around at the Greater Anderson Cow College. I watched much of the first half, and it looked like Miami was just like a cat playing with a mouse before it finally decided it was time to go in for the kill. I wasn’t impressed with the Canes (I don’t get the money Miami spent on Mensah … he’s good, but he’s not this unstoppable force IMHO). Dabo is going to be given the opportunity to retire at Clemson on his own terms and be loved by their fan base. The game has truly passed him by at this point.
Let’s go back to Knoxville to check on the mental state of the Auburn Family post-loss to the Vols.
Auburn thought they were hiring their offensive genius in Golesh. What we’re finding out is that being successful at South Florida is a little different than the gauntlet that is the SEC. Byrum Brown looks terrible, and the Tigers’ defense got absolutely run over by Tennessee, who barely even tried to throw the ball. The fact they are saying that Drinkwitz wasn’t cool enough to be part of the Auburn family makes me laugh out loud.
Lather, rinse, repeat, Tiglesmen. We’re here for it.
That really was nothing but some context for our last stop of the weekend … Columbia, Missouri.
You knew this was eventually coming. The guy being claimed as the Gators’ savior is being dragged 5 weeks into his tenure as the Head Handbag. The Bloody Tuesday jokes write themselves after the way Missouri dominated Florida physically especially in the 2nd half. The 80-yard run they gave up to make it 45-10 was well blocked, and then the back just made the Gator secondary look awful. The “Won’t Back Down” serenade by the Missouri fans is just the chef’s kiss. I don’t know what that means for Halloween afternoon in Mercedes Benz Stadium, but I can imagine Kirby isn’t going to go easy on Jonny Boy.
A little bonus content from a genius at StinkTalk who has diagnosed their problem.
This is Nerd 101 kind of stuff. The next thing you know they’ll be hooking Key up to some biofeedback machine on the sideline to tell him when he needs to drink water. They are pathetic.
What did you see this weekend? Here’s to no UGA geniuses showing up in this space next Monday. GATA, Dawgs.
I Won’t Back Down…Well Maybe I’ll Back Down a Little
Or maybe a lot.
Lol.
Humility is always a week away.
Someone needs to tell Sumrall to add that to his Bloody Tuesdays practices.