Since I returned from vacation this week, my focus has been on getting caught up at the office, so I hadn’t thought to order my 2011 Georgia Bulldogs football media guide. (2011 Georgia Bulldogs Maple Street Press annual? That, I got. 2011 game day parking pass? That, I ordered. Media guide? Not so much.)

Fortunately, others have gotten their media guides, and in those tomes those individuals have found such data as the Red and Black’s 2012 schedule, which, like, cool!

Here is the slate the ‘Dawgs will face in the twelfth year of the Mark Richt era or the inaugural autumn of the Kirby Smart regime:

Sept. 1: Buffalo Bulls
Sept. 8: at South Carolina Gamecocks
Sept. 15: Florida Atlantic Owls
Sept. 22: Vanderbilt Commodores
Sept. 29: Tennessee Volunteers
Oct. 6: at Alabama Crimson Tide
Oct. 13: at Kentucky Wildcats
Oct. 20: bye
Oct. 27: Florida Gators (Jacksonville)
Nov. 3: Mississippi Rebels
Nov. 10: at Auburn Tigers
Nov. 17: Georgia Southern Eagles
Nov. 24: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Two aspects of that slate immediately leap out at me:

• There’s some serious shuffling going on there. Tennessee and Vanderbilt have been moved from October to September, Kentucky has been moved from November to October, the patsies have been sprinkled at various points throughout the fall, and, heck, we might end up playing Ole Miss for homecoming. If that reflects Greg McGarity’s influence---and I’d be willing to bet it does---I’d say the man holds some sway.
• Although I wish I could flip-flop the order of the outings against the Commodores and the Volunteers, I otherwise have few gripes about that schedule. Yeah, it’s tough to travel to Columbia, Tuscaloosa, and Auburn all in the same season, but the way the road games fall really can’t be helped. Getting a home game against a patsy before South Carolina, a home game against Vandy before Tennessee, an open date before Florida, a home game against Ole Miss before Auburn, and a home game against a Division I-AA opponent before Georgia Tech is about as favorable a slate as you could ask for an SEC team.

What leaps out at you about the 2012 schedule?

Go ‘Dawgs!