Welcome to Tuesday, Bulldog fans! We’re riding home winning streaks, SEC winning streaks, overall winning streaks, #1 ranking streaks, most of which are either the best all-time or else coming up fast on the record. But I must temper your enthusiasm with a touch of melancholy. For this is the last Tuesday of the 2023 regular season. It is a season in which the Georgia Bulldogs are undefeated in conference, and with one simple beating of little brother, can clinch a 3rd straight undefeated regular season.
It all started in Sloptember, quickly transitioned into Brocktober, and we’re now near the close of NovemBeck. The regular season is but a fleeting moment.
Seemingly, Georgia escaped the hellscape that is Neyland Stadium turf mostly unscathed, with no serious injuries. There were a couple of players dinged up, such as Tate Ratledge, RaRa Thomas, and even Ladd McConkey. But according to Head Coach Kirby Smart, those are all minor and possibly won’t require missing any game time.
Gary Danielson was a little too excited Saturday to point out Brock Bowers with a slight limp. But Brock ain’t got time for that. Even having missed half of the Vanderbilt game, and the entirety of the Missouri and Florida games, Brock Bowers is still considered one of college football’s elite. Not only is he a finalist for the Maxwell and Mackey Awards, he is now a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given to college football’s best receiver.
As is our wont, we check in with the intrepid young folks over at the Red & Black. They provide us with their weekly grading of each Bulldog position group. Two items of note: it’s hard to believe a group that played their best just last week received the lowest grade of any group this week; and the Red & Black was forced to create a whole new position group. Love it.
With the regular season nearing it’s terminus, tonight will see one of the last few College Football Playoff rankings revealed. The most important rankings won’t be released for 2 weeks (after both rivalry week and conference championships), and those will determine the actual playoff teams, and trickle down into the NY6 and other bowl games. Not too much drama is expected tonight, but the committee could make a statement by dropping FSU down after a horrific QB injury, and moving Washington up after a win versus a ranked Oregon State team during a cold rain. The only other point of contention would be Alabama slipping past Texas based on how the teams are currently performing, and thumbing their nose at an early-season head-to-head. If they’re going to do either of these things, now is the time. Like a Friday afternoon news dump, put it out there and let the actual rivalry games soak up the bandwidth (including one of the more important OSU/UM tilts).
In related poll news, but not banner-worthy, Georgia is again ranked the #1 team by the AP voters. However, there was a slight change at least near the top, as Michigan fell down to #3 while Ohio State moved ahead. Somehow, Tennessee remained ranked though they fell to #25. Not that I want anything nice for the Vols, but it does look better on our resume’ if they stay relevant.
The Bulldogs have opened up as a considerable favorite as they trek to Mark Richt Field in downtown Atlanta. The lines seem to have jumped a bit, and now are at 24 points in favor of the good guys. As you know, Georgia only beats the spread when it’s a ranked opponent, so fade the red and black at your own risk.
Unfortunately the Georgia Bulldogs Women’s Soccer team ended their incredible post-season over the weekend, running Clemson even over full time and extended time (soccer fans: did I say that right?). The Bulldogs eventually lost to the top-seeded Tigers in penalty kicks (3-5). They did win the SEC, and that’s a Bulldog point of pride.
It is Hate Week. Specifically, Clean Old-Fashioned Hate. But if a parody account that usually covers an entire region of the country instead focuses just on the Plains, well, we can’t help ourselves but to take a moment to spread it far and wide.
That’s all for now. Thanks for checking in between the umpteen grocery store runs you’re either making or planning to make. Enjoy your day, make sure to hate Tech, and as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!