Thursday is the first day of the rest of your weekend, so time is short and much is afoot, so let's take a moment to get you caught up on matters of immediate interest in the time it takes you to scarf down that scalding hot first cup of morning coffee. Here we go:
It's official, more or less: the Joe Tereshinski III era resumes this Saturday night.
I'm hoping Kregg Lumpkin sees a lot of this on Saturday.
The Lawgiver has posted the new BlogPoll, in which Georgia is ranked a respectable 12th, behind No. 2 Auburn, No. 5 Florida, and No. 8 L.S.U. but ahead of No. 13 Tennessee and No. 17 Georgia Tech.
After being named Mr. Manic-Depressive last week, I finished third in the standings for that dubious distinction this week and also took the bronze medal for the Straight Bangin' Award, which was shared by two other denizens of the Dawgosphere, Hey Jenny Slater and The Cover Two, the latter of whom nevertheless counsels that the sky is not falling. (Egad, was that all one sentence?)
In his "Wack Ballot Watchdog" segment, Brian singles out Dawg Sports, identifying the following as a thing "That Just Plain Don't Make No Sense":
While I have already defended my ballot (which was drafted without reference to prior ballots, which helps explain the movement of the teams), I should add that, while Brian saw "enough of" the Alabama-Florida game, I watched pretty much the whole thing and it was much closer than the final score indicated . . . as evidenced by the fact that the Gators held a one-point advantage with seven minutes remaining in the contest.
The Gators have been far less dominant than the Vols and the two teams played a game against one another that was a dead heat but for one trick play. As for "mighty Memphis," a convincing win over a pesky in-state opponent counts for something, particularly in a league in which some teams refuse to play mid-major squads from the same state.
Tommy West may have been Clemson's Ray Goff, but he's built a pretty good program at Memphis. (Photograph from Sports 56.)
The Tigers have given the Big Orange fits over the years, beating Tennessee in 1996 and losing nailbiters to New Year's Day bowl-bound Volunteer squads in 1992 (26-21), 1999 (17-16), and 2000 (19-17). By way of comparison, I should note that, during the 2001 campaign, the Vols beat a 5-6 Memphis team by 21 points . . . and that same U.T. unit defeated an 8-4 Michigan squad by 28 points in the Citrus Bowl.
Our colleagues at the Rakes of Mallow have published the latest MaxwellPundit standings, as well. The top vote-getters are a quarterback, a pair of wide receivers, and a couple of running backs, underscoring a recent question asked by an old college buddy of mine: "Is there (rightly) an offensive bias here?"
Meanwhile, here at Dawg Sports, I have gone around the S.E.C., picked the national games of interest, and declared the national game of disinterest, in addition to publishing my First Treatise on Government . . . and Football.
Eat your heart out, Johnny.
All of you know that I am steadfast in my opposition to a Division I-A playoff, but here is one more reason to be against the idea: Tommy Tuberville and Steve Spurrier are for it. Case closed.
You may now consider yourself completely up to speed and ready to face your work day. No, you don't have to thank me.
Go 'Dawgs!