Dawg Bites: Fulmer Cup, SB Nation Atlanta, Pro Combat Uniforms, and the Big Ten

It is officially the first day of the 2010 college football season. That’s right, folks; at 7:30 p.m. this very Thursday, you will be watching Southeastern Conference football. However, we still have a lot of ground to cover before the Georgia Bulldogs kick off their campaign against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns on Saturday, so let me give you a quick rundown of a few items requiring our attention ere we get back down to business. Here’s what you need to know if you don’t know it already:

• It’s official: Georgia has won the Fulmer Cup on the strength of a string of penny-ante offenses producing a surfeit of arrests full of sound, fury, emergences from alleys, failures to provide middle names, and suspended driver’s licenses, signifying little, but, hey, what do you expect from the nation’s No. 1 party school?
• Among the many fine features available for your perusal at SB Nation Atlanta are Doug Gillett’s previews of the SEC West and SEC East, Jason Kirk’s five best ACC-SEC matchups (in which he predicts a Bulldog victory over the Yellow Jackets this year), Jon Kirk’s five "must watch" games on Georgia Tech’s schedule (in which he essentially agrees with me that the rivalry has taken secondary importance for both Peach State schools), and my five "must watch" games on Georgia’s schedule (in which I put in a plug for the First Annual Dawg Sports Sacrificial Goat Roast).
• According to the verdict of the SEC Power Poll, the Alabama Crimson Tide have the league’s best uniforms, while the ‘Dawgs rank third and the Tennessee Volunteers sport the conference’s least aesthetically pleasing attire. That sounds about right.
• Speaking of uniforms, Nike’s Oregonization of the sport as a whole has Alabama and Florida dressing up in something called "pro combat" uniforms, which will be worn by players who are neither professionals nor in combat. The Gators will wear theirs for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, hopefully perpetuating the cycle of alternate uniform doom that befell the ‘Dawgs in Jacksonville last year.
• In case you were curious, the Big Ten has announced its divisions, which feature the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio St. Buckeyes competing in opposite divisions yet still keeping their annual year-end date. Technically, this means the two rivals could meet on consecutive Saturdays, once during the regular season and again in the conference title tilt one week later, but, as Holly Anderson astutely notes in the article linked to above, the Maize and Blue won’t be contending for a division title for the foreseeable future.

That’s all the news that’s fit to post for now. Be on the lookout for Too Much Information to start your work day. We’re in the home stretch, people. Hang in there, everyone.

Go ‘Dawgs!