25 Things I'm Looking Forward To This Season In The SEC, #20-16.
by MaconDawg on Jul 28, 2010 5:00 AM EDT
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Back before all heck broke loose, I began counting down the 25 things I am most looking forward to this coming season in the SEC. I am now pleased to continue that list, with this installment featuring mascot continuity, players looking for breakout seasons, and 100,000+ brown liquor-fueled cajuns in an animalistic fury. Or, what's known around New Orleans as "Wednesday." Among other things, I'm seriously looking forward to:
20. Florida at Tennessee, September 18th. It's just not going to be the same as last year, without General Peachfuzz, Jr. basking in a moral victory of epic proportions. Tennessee will be coming off a home date with Oregon which they will not be favored to win, while Florida will be coming off what passes for murderer's row in Jeremy Foley scheduling land: back-to-back home dates against Miami of Ohio and South Florida. Both of those games are noon starts in the Swamp, by the way, meaning that if you're an enterprising intravenous saline salesman, the Redhawk sideline on September 4th will be the place to be. I'm betting they run short in the 3rd quarter and will need a rush reorder.
The Gators should be a solid touchdown-plus favorite on Rocky Top (which will feel like the breezy shores of Lake Michigan after the prior two weeks' outings), but I'll be curious to see what Derek Dooley has put together by the third game of the season. I don't think I'm in the minority among Bulldog fans in thinking that Georgia's October 9th contest with the Vols will be a critical barometer at the season's midpoint, and a game that we really, really want to win given last season's debacle in Knoxville. I'll be watching this one in a feeble attempt to read the SEC East tea leaves going forward. My early guess is that the Vols will be full of fight, but will go down swinging.
19. Morgan Newton.The sophomore from Carmel, Indiana started the last eight games of the 2009 season for the Wildcats after Mike Hartline went down, and responded by completing 56% of his passes and being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. You may remember him stinging the Bulldogs for 3 TD's in Kentucky's upset victory. When I first saw Newton as a high school senior, I thought the kid might be special. Nothing I saw last season changed my mind. While he'll battle for the starting job with the now-healthy Hartline, Morgan Newton has the physical tools of an NFL quarterback, and it will be interesting to see if he can take charge as the quarterback of the future for Joker Phillips.
18. Hold That Tiger. I am a bit of a chauvinist regarding college marching bands and happen to believe that the Redcoats are as good as it gets. Nevertheless, ahem:
Say this for LSU fans: it takes a lot of noise to drown out a band that big from only a few yards away. Baton Rouge + brown liquor + darkness > jet engine. Yet another reason to love SEC football.
17. Cornelius Washington. While I don't believe for one second that he runs a sub 4.3 second 40 yard dash, I do believe that he could have a big year rushing the passer off the edge. I also think that Washington's size/speed combination might allow him to cover tight ends and H-backs, something we've sorely missed at times in the past. Washington could also prove to be a valuable recruiting tool for guys like Griffin's Xzavier Dickson, who may still want to see Todd Grantham's defense in action before fully committing to play in it.
16. UGA VIII. I love Russ, and he’s done admirable work which should never be forgotten. But it just doesn’t seem right going into a football season without an UGA on the sideline. It's just not the same. Though the gap may be shrinking, mascots are one of the things that still differentiate the college game from the NFL. I take ours seriously, and while Russ will almost certainly (in true bulldog fashion) continue to wallow out a special place in the hearts of the Bulldog faithful, I just don't think equilibrium will be restored to Bulldog Nation until the UGA line is back in place.
I'll be back later with items 15-11. Until then . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!
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Apologies in advance...
It’s pretty nitpicky, but when you’re referring to the mascot, his name is “Uga,” while the school is “UGA.” I hope that doesn’t come off douchey.
Fair point.
I read it as being in all-caps for emphasis, as in: “UGA VIII! HECK, YEAH!”
Maybe that’s just me, though. :)
Go 'Dawgs!
douchey or not
Most around here, including the site’s principals, are sufficiently thick-skinned to accept such commentary.
I checked the official UGA Editorial Style Guide (I’m a big fan of style guides*) and could not find an entry for our beloved line of mascots. The only entry found using the search term “mascot” was for Hairy Dawg, reminding us not to use “Hairy Dog” or “Harry Dawg”. The athletics website, however, does use “Uga”.
*Yeah, it’s weird the places I find entertainment. When I read McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, it wasn’t the Coma Baby or the second-person device that I found captivating: it was the strangeness that a job so glorious as fact checker for a fancy-pants New Yorker-esque magazine could possibly be seen as mundane and tedious. I mean, really, who the hell needs cocaine when you’re daily riding a high of making sure an article’s facutal minutiae are correct? Bliss.
It's a fair criticism.
I actually noticed it this morning but was unable to figure out how to change it on my mobile phone. I did overestimate how long it would take someone to point it out though.
I won't speak for gej, but
I think avoiding doucheyness is a virtue, but it clearly has not been very high on my list of priorities in life. It happens. Quo me amat, amat et canem meam.
If we played on a Saturday night at LSU stadium, you could stand on the 50-yard line and smell the bourbon.
Nick Saban, from the 2010 Coach of the Year Clinic Football Manual
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
check that
Russ is actually one of my top five reasons for looking forward to the season.
Viva la Russ!
"Well, we're gonna have to go out there and work hard so we can get butter."
-Ray Goff, 1989
by Greg Talley: Wildcat Formation on Jul 28, 2010 10:17 AM EDT reply actions
The Golden Band from Tigerland...
… is second only to the Redcoats, for my money.
But then again, I’m biased towards LSU, too. At least they don’t wear orange.
Best mascot in college football.
While of course I have a deep and abiding love for Smokey (got to pet him once) for me, college football is summed up by Uga’s stern face overseeing the goings on between the hedges whilst cooling on a block of ice. I hope (but don’t seriously believe) we beat y’all like a drum, but long live Uga.
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