It's been a while since I made a concerted effort to get you all caught up on big events in the blogosphere, so, with your pardons and indulgences, I'll take a quick five minutes to run through everything you need to know, lickety-split, in the time it takes you to knock back that first morning cup of coffee. Hang on tight, 'cause here we go:

Here on the home front, I have thrown caution to the wind and seen it pay big dividends on the Plains, finally gotten the opportunity to update the Mark Richt Victory Watch, ranked college football's 25 best teams and five best players, and forecast this week's S.E.C. contests and prominent national games.

Either Tra Battle played a whale of a game or Auburn's starting quarterback was Courteney Cox.

We have both BlogPollage and MaxwellPunditry . . . and, sure enough, not only did my ballot listing the top 25 teams in the land not earn me my fourth straight finish among the top two in the running for Mr. Manic-Depressive, it netted me the runner-up spot in the race for Mr. Stubborn. Go figure.

Doug Gillett has put on a clinic on how to wrap up a BlogPoll roundtable. Evidently, Doug interpreted my answers to his questions as indicating that (a) I would like to see the Georgia-Clemson rivalry renewed, (b) I write well of Rutgers as a flimsy excuse for posting pictures of Kristin Davis, and (c) I hate Auburn. Yep, sounds like Doug's got a pretty good handle on what makes me tick.

Rutgers alumna Kristin Davis believes Doug Gillett has an overly suspicious nature and she is convinced that my professed respect for the Scarlet Knights is genuine and in no way influenced by the fact that she is the best-looking woman on the face of the planet.

I have asked Dawg Sports readers to tell me which bowl game Georgia should attend. For his part, Paul Westerdawg has a pretty solid handle on the Bulldogs' postseason prospects, which, believe it or not, may be affected by this week's national games of disinterest. (While you're of a mind to exercise the franchise, by the way, listen to Ludakit and take a moment to vote for Mike "Big Dawg" Woods. The guy who has Uga's magnificent visage painted on his bald pate for every game deserves to be declared a "Super Fan.")

While I'm on the subject of Dawg Sports reader polls, I posed this question prior to last Saturday's games: "Assuming no additional losses, which team should face the Ohio State-Michigan winner in the national championship game?" Arkansas finished first with 25 votes, trailed closely by Rutgers with 24 and Florida with 22. Since-beaten Texas was a distant fourth with a dozen ballots, followed by Southern California with 10. Prior to being beaten by the Bulldogs, the Plainsmen drew three votes, tying the Tigers with the ever-popular "none of the above." Notre Dame garnered only a pair of votes, but that allowed the Fighting Irish to escape last place, which went to the California Golden Bears, who received the support of nary a Dawg Sports reader.

By the way, I noticed that someone sneaked a 101st vote into the pile after the balloting officially was closed . . . but, as a native Georgian and a student of history, I try to view flagrant electoral fraud as a charmingly endearing example of local color in the "boys will be boys" vein.

In addition to posting poll questions, I have solicited reader opinions on the site itself and two particularly noteworthy points were made by readers who believed I linked too liberally and posted too frequently. Any additional feedback upon these two points would be most welcome, as they affect directly your enjoyment of this weblog and I am especially interested in addressing reader concerns such as these. Your input is invited and appreciated.

Finally, L.D. paid me one of the all-time great compliments when he wrote:

If you really think Jessica Simpson was miscast as Daisy Duke, try picturing that bikini made out of a Confederate battle flag.

After that run-down of goings-on in the blogosphere, you ought to be fully informed and well-prepared to go about your day. Let's enjoy the open date, watch a little football in an angst-free fashion, and get ready to cheer the Red and Black on to victory in the final two games of a rebuilding season that now looks a lot more likely to have a happy ending.

Go 'Dawgs!