You may (or may not) have noticed the absence of a game-themed libation on the site Thursday. That was partially by design, partially by happenstance.
I was out of town Wednesday and didn't have a chance to get the cocktail post together during my normally allotted blogging time. I had planned to put it up Thursday evening. Then I decided to change it up.
At this point, I'll do just about anything to avoid seeing the Georgia Bulldogs fall to 0-3 in the SEC. That includes moving our regularly scheduled pregame drink recipe. Unless I'm mistaken, the first time I did that was in 2006 prior to the Auburn game, and that turned out pretty well. So let's try it again. Why not?
Today's cocktail isn't actually even a cocktail, strictly speaking. It's a shot. Again, changing it up. What we need tonight is simply to play up to our potential. Georgia is deeper in talent than the Bizarro Bulldogs, and should pull away for the win. But does anyone feel comfortable enough to put the mortgage money on that happening? Yeah.
If Georgia is to win this game we must avoid defensive breakdowns against Dan Mullen's spread attack. After reviewing the tape I thought our defense played better up front than they did against South Carolina. But when we missed coverages against the Razorbacks, Ryan Mallett made us pay for it. I don't think anyone's going to confuse either Relf or Russell with Ryan Mallett, and I don't see us giving up 31 points to the Starkville Dogs.
But as much as we need a complete game effort on defense, we also need to get off to a good start on offense to keep the Missy State fans in check. This will be Aaron Murray's first night game, and it will be interesting to see how he responds. It will also be interesting to see if the offensive line has finally gotten its act together. As I said last week I don't put that on Mike Bobo.
While we might not be able to win this interdivisional tilt solely with defense, we could easily lose it solely on the weakness of an anemic offense. That does fall on the beleaguered Mike Bobo, who's taken a lot of criticism this week for a guy who's offense scored 18 more points in their last outing than the week before.
No matter where you come down on Mike Bobo's competence, I think we all have to admit we need him to call a great game, and for his players to execute the game plan. While you're rooting for Bobo to find the only page of his playbook that doesn't include play action passes which don't really fool anyone, you should enjoy a Bourbo.
Mix 1 and 1/2 ounces of ouzo with 1 ounce of bourbon. Rinse and repeat. The combination of the anise-flavored Greek spirit and Kentucky's quintessential distilled export is hard to describe, but i think you'll like it. Sort of like 80 proof root beer. Be careful however, as ouzo has a way of sneaking up on you. You've been warned.
I'll actually be around for the open comment thread tonight for the first time this season and I'm really looking forward to it. Let's hope there's reason for everybody to be in a good mood. Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!