The "Georgia Bulldogs soft schedule" meme took a bit of a hit with the release of this week’s BlogPoll. Oh, sure, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers, whom the ‘Dawgs will not face during the regular season, remain entrenched as the country’s top two teams, but the Red and Black are due to cross paths with the No. 11 South Carolina Gamecocks, the No. 17 Florida Gators, and the No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers. Georgia presently is ranked fifth in the land, behind the two SEC West juggernauts and a pair of Pac-12 frontrunners, the USC Trojans and the Oregon Ducks.
Closer to home, Georgia occupies the third spot in the SEC Power Poll, behind Alabama and Louisiana State. South Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida check in at fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
Mark Richt's goatee is back. Repeat: MARK RICHT IS GROWING THE GOATEE AGAIN!
— Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) September 12, 2012
As the above tweet attests, it was a good week for the Red and Black, so much so that a graduate of both the University of Florida and the Georgia Institute of Technology declared it “The Week of the Bulldog,” noting:
Jones had nine tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception against Mizzou, and did all of it with an injured groin. Assume the injury just made him angrier, and even more like the invincible 11-foot linebacker you find in various versions of EA Sports. This is a literal and serious comparison: Jarvis Jones made that exact annoying video game pick against James Franklin on Saturday night, and then put a move on a would-be tackler before rolling into the endzone. PRO TIP: the best game plan for Jarvis Jones is not to play against him, ever.
Also, there was this:
According to Jordan Jenkins, Mizzou QB James Franklin broke a tense moment by asking Jarvis Jones "to quit hitting him so hard."
— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) September 11, 2012
I know we were told there would be no math, but still we turn from the alphabetical to the numerical, where Bill Connelly reports the following:
48.0. Georgia's average starting field position in the second half of the Bulldogs' 41-20 win over Missouri in Columbia. While Jarvis Jones justifiably stole the headlines with his monstrous game (and even more monstrous fourth quarter), Georgia had subtly tilted the table in the Tigers' direction for a while, first pinning Mizzou deep (the Tigers' average starting field position in the second half: 24.0) then finding the big plays to finish the game off. The Dawgs' last three scoring drives started at Mizzou's 38, 1, and 5.
How good was the Bulldogs’ run defense against the Tigers? Missouri’s run blocking against Georgia was 42 per cent worse than in its second-worst performance of the two previous seasons. Bill wisely elects not to panic over this fact, inasmuch as Mizzou will not play another game against Jarvis Jones, who may or may not have been admitted as the 15th SEC team. (As long as we’re on the subject of conference expansion, yes, I know that Notre Dame is joining the ACC for sports other than football and hockey. No, I’m not going to write about it, because I don’t care about either Notre Dame or the ACC. Seriously, this subject will not interest me until lacrosse season.)
You already know that Jones is the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week, but he isn’t the only Bulldog being decorated for his recent performance: Blair Walsh was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after his performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. When you make a “Christmas Story” reference in the midst of honoring a former Georgia player, you get a link!
Speaking of getting links, the Bulldogs are about to begin a run of three straight home games, at least two of which will be evening affrays. If you’re looking to get back to the Classic City for a game, here is your starting point in the search for tickets. This has been a public service announcement; we now return you to your regularly-scheduled sports weblog, which is already in progress.
Having included that promotional link as a sorbet, to cleanse the palate, I now tip my cap to the more visually inclined among you with a video, preceded by last Saturday’s drive chart:
Animated Drive Chart brought to you by Gameday Depot.
For the benefit of anyone not now convinced that we here at Dawg Sports are the kings of all media, I would direct your attention to RedCrake’s handy printable college football TV schedule and this week’s edition of the world famous Dawg Gone Podcast, as well as to vineyarddawg’s fine work in calling out injustice and getting it corrected. Nice work, vineyarddawg.
Go ‘Dawgs!