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.
We have to give some kind of shout out to the Jacksonville Bulldog Club
The annual celebration of the end of Prohibition kicks off at 3:30 today in Mercedes Benz Stadium as the Dawgs and Gators get together to renew old acquaintances. Coming off a win in Austin over Texas, the Gators are back to talking big after they started acting like Jonny Boy was the reincarnation of Sun Belt Billy after losing badly to Missouri and South Carolina. The Dawgs are looking to get the bad taste out of their mouths after a bad loss to Auburn. A segment of the Georgia fan base is doubting this team or channeling their inner Munson leading up to the game. Let’s get to the preview.
When Georgia has the ball
The Georgia offense vs. the Florida defense appears to be the match-up that is likely the difference between the 2 teams. The Gators are giving up an average of 34.8 points per game in SEC play so far this year. As discussed earlier this week, Florida has been susceptible to giving up 3rd down conversions. In their 2 losses, the Gators yielded a first down on 58.6% (17 of 29) of 3rd down attempts. If Florida can’t force the Georgia offense off the field on 3rd down, it’s going to be a long day for the Gators.
If the Dawgs stay in front of the chains and away from the backbreaking turnovers that occurred last week, I do believe the offense will get easily into the 30s and will make it extremely difficult for Florida to win.
When Florida has the ball
Who starts at quarterback for Florida? Based on some reporting from Mark Schlabach, Aaron Philo appears to be poised to get the start this afternoon, but I expect Tramell Jones to get snaps given the Georgia defense’s propensity for trouble with dual threat QBs. KJ Bolden is listed as questionable on the final availability report of the week, which I believe is a huge potential lift for the Georgia defense. Florida has a number of skill players on offense with Jaden Baugh at running back and their wide receivers.
I expect the Georgia defense to force whichever Gator quarterback plays to beat them with the pass. If the front 7 can get home and create havoc, I like the Dawgs’ chances to walk out of MBS with a win.
What will happen
I do think the Dawgs win this game and could cover easily if the Dawgs’ offense controls the game and doesn’t make mistakes. I’m sure Kirby has let his team know how much this one means to him personally after the debacle of 1995. As mentioned earlier, Georgia hasn’t lost to Auburn and Florida in the same season since 2010 in Auburn’s cheating national title and Urban Meyer’s last year in Hogtown. Jonny Boy isn’t Urban.
Dawgs win and look comfortable doing it in front of what should be a more partisan than normal Georgia crowd in the Benz.
Final score: Georgia 38, Florida 21
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
This also serves as the Georgia game day thread, so keep it civil.
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.
…especially at night in Sanford, or in a takeover of another team’s stadium, is always a Point of Bulldawg Pride for most of us. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. You’ve got the Redcoat Band, a soaring classic John Williams theme, and thousands of cell phone batteries draining into the red all at once. Chill bumps appear and I am frozen in the web they weave…*
Notre Dame aka Sanford North
Which leads me to ask, just as a fun little thought experiment: Let’s say a long time from now, one of the titans of the Athens music scene goes off to the Great Gig in the Sky. The Sanford Stadium In-Game Programming Committee** decides to honor their memory with a singalong a la what the Handbags do with Tom Petty and “I Won’t Back Down”.***
What Athens musician(s) would rate this type of treatment in your mind?
What song would you choose to hear 93,000 of your closest friends sing in their memory?
At what point during the game would be appropriate to do this?
Or…since Tom Petty got there first and Florida jumped on it, you just cannot stomach the thought of looking like we’re copying the lizard people?
My vote would be for any of the boys from R.E.M. with “The One I Love” being short enough for a TV timeout, easily memorized lyrics, a simple chorus of “Fire!” that gives the harmonizers in the crowd a chance to float above it…
One that would be funny to see is Widespread Panic’s “Chilly Water”. I would expect a repeat from when Panic opened for the Rolling Stones in Denver a few years ago. Unbeknownst to the older Stones fans in the crowd, the tradition when “Chilly Water” starts playing is to take a water bottle and sling water all over and around. You can imagine the grumpiness this caused. If Georgia were to implement this as tradition, I would suggest anyone sitting near the student section to bring a poncho.
What say y’all?
*Name that tune.
**I totally made this committee up. It’s probably a couple of interns.
***I know you all just heard Ranger Russ: “FTMF gotdam hippies”
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.
Yikes.
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:
Random stat:
Shane Beamer has more Top-25 road wins in his career than Lane Kiffin.
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.
Well, well, well. Reports are saying that Jared Curtis has miraculously recovered from his severe bout of wussiness he had last week, preventing him from playing against Georgia.
He’s behind us now, but I wanted to offer up a song in tribute to Jared, set to the tune of a classic ballad, which can be found here:
Here goes a JP original, enjoy:
Well I used to wake the morning, before the agent calls,
Searching for social follows, make myself some dough,
Come down to Nashville, come be the Admiral’s ho,
Cash it in, make myself money, I’m a man named Curtis Low!
Ole Jared was a bag man, with wild, lively arm
When he had a big old bag, he didn’t have a care
Used to be an ole Bulldawg, but he’d be whooped in Kirby’s knee
If you give ole Jared money, he’ll play on a shitty team
Play me a snap, Curtis Low, Curtis Low!
I got your NIL money, tune up your excuses.
People say you’re a wussy, but people are all right
Cause Curtis Low was the scaredest player, to never play the Dawgs.
It’s odd to me how quickly one can reference a team they were with less than a calendar year ago as “them”.
Safety issues are a reality for Lane as he stands ready to return to Oxford. That’s certain, but it’s also interesting how he’s already pivoting to say the game is on the players and not on the focus on him. It’s a hell of a motivator, and Lane should recognize that.
But, hey, it’s easier to pre-emptively throw your team under the bus early, right Joey?
He really was the perfect fit for Tennessee, we just never knew it.
SEC rage baiter and Florida village idiot Danny Kanell is at it again.
Company man Saban is the one slinging that SEC BS. After losing to 2 ACC teams in reg season the Canes man-handled Texas AM at Kyle Field – the place every SEC fan says is impossible to win. Overpowered Ohio State. Beat Ole Miss.
If you are an FSU graduate who holds up Miami as a positive for anything, there is no way your blood has any garnet and gold in it now. Chief Osceola and Renegade should run over him or kick him in the head next time he’s on the sideline pregame in Tallahassee. His football IQ may improve by a couple of points as a result.
I came up with 3 serious and 3 not-so-serious questions for Kirby if I were at SECMD.
Serious:
Q: Who would be the first 5 on the offensive line to run out for the first snap if you were playing a game today?
My thoughts (or hopes) on an answer would be Greene at LT, Glover at LG, Bobo at C (I’m assuming he’s fully healthy since he’s going to Tampa), Calhoun at RG (is that too much to ask), and Gaston at RT. I admit I’m not as sold on Jah Jackson as others appear to be. I want Gaston to be groomed to take over at LT in 2027. I also want Helton to get a bunch of snaps (just not the first one) this season.
Q: The narrative this off-season is all about going deeper in the playoff. Would you rather win the SEC and lose a quarterfinal or go deeper in the playoff without winning either the national title or an SEC title?
My answer (if I were Kirby) would be: A number on the wall should mean something. Winning the SEC title is an outstanding year regardless of how the season ends. Do we want to go deep in the playoff and win the whole thing? Absolutely. Should we discount the value of winning our league in the name of the playoff? Absolutely not.
Q: You made a big deal about being more explosive on offense and disruptive on defense throughout the spring and the offseason. Who are the players you expect to make that a reality?
After injecting Kirby with truth serum … here’s the answer as opposed to coachspeak:
On offense, that starts with the offensive line playing to their immense potential to give Gunner time to allow plays downfield to develop or holes for our backs to run through. Then, Gunner has to be willing to take calculated risks in the passing game with the intermediate and downfield routes. Don’t be stupid with it, and also don’t default to the check-down or the behind of line of scrimmage throw. Finally, make the first guy miss. Talyn Taylor, Nate Frazier and Elyiss Williams need to be those guys for us.
On defense, it starts again up front. Take away the run game and force teams into poor down and distance. Move the line of scrimmage back. We started doing that in games later in the season last year but didn’t do that consistently in New Orleans. Cover a second longer to give our front 6 a chance to get home and disrupt the QB. I would love to get more sacks, but taking the QB out of rhythm is the most important thing. Look at the 2 Alabama games. Game 1 we didn’t do that and they had their way in the first half. Game 2 we never let them truly get comfortable. Elijah Griffin, Chris Cole, Q Johnson, and Gabe Harris need to play to their potential.
Not-so-serious (with in some cases not-so-serious responses):
Q: Your son Andrew recently attended a Georgia Tech camp and seemed to come away with an offer. Is there any way your son plays for that good-for-nothing program where he has held up whiteboards with “We Run This State” written on it multiple times?
Andrew is Weston’s little brother, but no way will I allow him to play for a little brother program like Fech, Texas Tech, the Barn, the Handbags, or Texas AgCult. FTMF.
Q: It’s been reported you are a member of the new golf club, The Rose, right outside of Athens. You can take anyone to play. Who are you taking?
That guy, EE, who writes at GTP Refugees, seems like a guy I would enjoy a day on the course with. I know he would bring a couple of members of the best community in the Dawg interwebs with him.
Q: You and Mike (Bobo) are both SAE alumni. Do you think you two would have gotten in if you didn’t play football?
Hell, no. They would have sent both of us to sit in the TV room watching 1980 highlights on VHS with a paper cup of tepid water while they schmoozed their rich boy legacies.
Those are my questions.
Inquiring minds want to know what your questions and answers would be.
