As noted by MaconDawg, the last football-free weekend is upon us, which means life is about to get gloriously, magnificently busy, so this is as good an opportunity as any to get caught up on items of interest. As we say in the law, to wit:
- While David Ching and Paul Westerdawg got the word out more quickly than I did, I also received an e-mail from DallasDawg, who asked several of us in the Dawgosphere to notify everyone that we are trying to turn the season opener against Oklahoma State into a "red out," with everyone wearing a red shirt to the game. You may have been planning to do so already, but now it is part of an orchestrated campaign to show the spirit of Bulldog Nation for the biggest home opener in years. You can check out the movement's Facebook page for further details.
- Here at SB Nation, we try to keep advertising separate from editorial content, but, since it has been the subject of some good-natured ribbing, I thought I should mention that I finally cleared up the problem I was having with my Amazon affiliate ad, which was supposed to identify items suited to the demographic that comprises the readership of Dawg Sports but instead pulled up The Conformist, books with "dawg" in the title having nothing to do with Georgia football, and thongs by the, uh, shall we say, boatload. Now we feature the likes of What It Means to Be a Bulldog, Vince Dooley's Tales from the 1980 Georgia Bulldogs, and NCAA Football 08 for the Xbox 360. Just for old time's sake, though, you can still get a pink Georgia Bulldogs thong.
I can't speak for the rest of you, but this is more my style when it comes to lucky game day underwear.
- Sunday Morning Quarterback is killing me with the '42 Auburn game and the '93 South Carolina game, but, fortunately, SMQ's bad mojo is partly counteracted by Orson Swindle's Uga love.
- I was high on Arizona this season. Then I found out that Matt Hayes agreed with me. Yeah, the Wildcats are going 3-9, aren't they?
Let the record reflect that I believed in 'Zona up until almost a week before kickoff of the first game.
- While we're on the subject of Stoopses (who were not the subject of a trilogy by William Faulkner, incidentally), the Oklahoma Sooners have named a starting quarterback and it isn't Joey Halzle. That's unfortunate, because it eliminates the possibility that, at a future reunion of Bob Stoops-era starting quarterbacks from O.U., there will be a moment at which the person making the introductions gets to say, "Halzle, Hybl. Hybl, Halzle. Halzle, Heupel. Heupel, Halzle. Heupel, Hybl. Hybl, Heupel."
- Feedback has been solicited regarding the initial BlogPoll and the responses range from constructive criticism to qualified praise to a new paradigm. For my money, the best response to the inaugural roundtable questions came from The Hoosier Report, where John M wrote:
Well, based on my ballot I suppose I have to say Georgia. To some degree, my rationale for ranking the Bulldogs #5 (as opposed to #14 in the Blogpoll at large) is inconsistent with above. UGa returns only 3 defensive starters. Consistent with my other logic, the Bulldogs do return QB Matthew Stafford, who should be better (of course, being worse would be almost impossible). In the SEC East, even compared to defending champion Florida, I trust Richt's track record at Georgia more than I trust the track record of any other coach/program. Last year was Georgia's worst season since Richt's first season, 2001. My hunch is that Georgia will rebound.
The Lawgiver (who, to his credit, acknowledges the possibility that "this offseason of nonstop SEC crowing has filled me with so much hate that I can't possibly rank SEC teams appropriately") sees it differently, partly because he relies upon the Charles Rogers Theorem, which does not apply to the Bulldogs because the Red and Black fit within at least two of the three exceptions. Besides, the last two S.E.C. teams to have been red-flagged by this theorem were Auburn in 2004 and Florida in 2006.
They wound up having halfway decent seasons, didn't they?
A fellow Georgia blogger rose to the defense of the 'Dawgs, as well, and, although he got one small detail wrong (Michigan went 7-5 in 2005, not 8-5), he makes a good point, especially in light of the fact that Brian's doubts about Matthew Stafford's maturity heading into his sophomore season simply are mistaken. Add to that the fact that Georgia's surfeit of new starters does not appreciably distinguish the 'Dawgs from Florida or Tennessee and it becomes clear that the reports of the Classic City Canines' demise are greatly exaggerated.
That, at least, is how it appears from this corner of Bulldog Nation, where Eric Zeier will be broadcasting road games for his alma mater and Matthew Stafford will be leading the Red and Black to victory.
Go 'Dawgs!