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It is Wednesday morning, and the tension is rising, as we look ahead to this Saturday night’s SEC East showdown between the Georgia Bulldogs and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Ere we steel ourselves for the coming battle, though, we must get up to speed on the events surrounding this titanic struggle for division supremacy, so, please, grab a cup of coffee, take a moment, and learn what you need to know in today’s edition of Dawg Bites:
Let’s start with the rankings. The BlogPoll has the Bulldogs ranked fifth, two spots ahead of No. 7 South Carolina, while Florida checks in at No. 11. (Incidentally, Georgia received a first-place vote from One Bronco Nation Under God, presumably as a peace offering after last year’s summer of “Muscle Hamster” hype videos.) Closer to home, the SEC Power Poll judges the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks to be the league’s second- and third-best teams, respectively.
Sanders Commings, Todd Gurley, and Keith Marshall all earned SEC honors this week, with Gurley being named the conference freshman of the week for the third time. (Already in 2012, Gurley has been named the SEC freshman of the week as many times as Knowshon Moreno was in 2007.) Commings, “Gurshall,” and all the Bulldogs realize the magnitude of this Saturday’s game, while Alec Ogletree hopes to be Georgia’s difference-maker against Marcus Lattimore. This game, in short, is kind of a big deal.
I hope I’m not stealing NCT’s thunder from tomorrow’s “Other Bulldog Voices, Other Bulldog Rooms,” but, last Saturday, Georgia, Clemson, and Florida squared off in a timber sports competition at the Rock Ranch’s Lumberjack Day, and the Saw Dawgs took first place against their orange-clad rivals. The Red and Black even beat the Gators at falling off a log!
@clemsonlacrosse Thanks for having us guys, always good to renew the rivalry. See y'all in the spring! #SELClax
— UGA Men's Lacrosse (@ugalax) October 2, 2012
Are you still getting used to the SB Nation site changes? We are, too, but don’t worry, because Bruins Nation has provided us all with a handy guide to the new sites. In the meantime, the period of adjustment has done nothing to stymie the creativity of the Dawg Sports community, which recently has seen such quality reader-produced content as BravesAreZilla’s EA Sports NCAA ’13 simulation of the South Carolina game, Travis Rice’s SEC bowl projections, Chesterhighwater’s summation of the postgame possibilities following Saturday’s showdown, and fotodog’s detailed exegesis on the state of the Bulldog Nation. Well done, everyone!
Later today, you’ll probably be crying into your Gordo’s Cheese Dip after you hear me poor-mouthing the Bulldogs’ chances on this week’s podcast, but hope for the Red and Black may be found in Georgia’s net yards per play, which are second only to Alabama’s as the best in the league.
California junior college tight end prospect Beau Sandland will not be coming to Georgia, or to any other SEC school, because the conference will not accept on-line course credits. Pac-12 programs, whose academic requirements are more lax in such matters, remain in play for Sandland’s services. I will refrain from further editorial comment . . . unless, of course, it comes to light that Big Ten teams side with their Rose Bowl brethren on this issue, in which case the gloves will come off and the hypocrisy will be decried.
Finally, who doesn’t love a good video, particularly when that video contains Mark Richt, David Pollack, and a brief discussion of bacon at breakfast? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, so enjoy! Also, you may feel free to enjoy Kirk Herbstreit’s inability to form grammatically coherent sentences, pronounce the word “plethora” properly, or identify correctly whose defensive front Aaron Murray will face this weekend.
You are now up to date on all things Bulldog, and you are free to unfasten your seatbelts and move about the cabin freely until we begin our descent into Columbia, S.C., for what promises to be another barn-burner between two teams with a lot of history, both ancient and recent, of playing close contests that remain in doubt well into the fourth quarter.
Go ‘Dawgs!