Wednesday Morning 'Dawg Bites.

You've made it all the way to the halfway point of the first full work week of 2015. Congratulations! In celebration, here are a few links of note in Bulldog Nation to start your day.

Guerry Clegg: SEC's strength in 2014 was its depth | War Eagle Extra | Columbus Ledger Enquirer
Guerry Clegg shares an interesting take on both the state of SEC dominance in college football and the misplaced narrative of SEC West superiority. While there may be some holes in his argument, one point is dead on. The SEC West may have been better this year, but as close losses by South Carolina and Florida to SEC West contenders demonstrated, the margin wasn't that wide. Absent from this article? The point that only the Mississippi schools and Arkansas entered the season with the same clear starter at QB they had at the end of 2013. This was a relative rebuilding year for much of the SEC, and it showed over time.

Dismissed UGA player to start classes at Alabama? (UPDATED) | College recruiting blog
There are conflicting reports about whether or not Jonathan Taylor has committed to Alabama. Taylor, you'll recall, is the former UGA defensive tackle who was dismissed last summer after being arrested on an aggravated assault/family violence charge. This is one of those instances where my desire to see a young man learn a hard lesson, get a second chance, and become a contributing member of society runs head-long into my sense that Nick Saban cares not for anything but the almighty W.

Open thread: Will John Harbaugh’s success influence future head coach hires?
This particular article is actually two years old, so why am I posting it this morning? The answer is that we have reached that time of year when I find myself looking more at the philosophical and strategic aspects of football. And with some Georgia fans viewing Mike Bobo and Will Friend's departure as an opportune time to renew calls for Georgia to hire a special-teams coordinator, I thought it was vaguely relevant as well.

A slightly different, better way of looking at tempo - Football Study Hall
Bill Connelly writes anout using run-pass rates and seconds per play to come up with a way of gauging offensive tempo in college football. And yes, Baylor moves at a higher tempo than anybody else no matter what measure you're using. Georgia actually comes in higher in the rankings than one would expect given our run-heavy focus in 2014. As usual, if you like deep numbers, Football Study Hall is great place to spend some time. Until later...

Go 'Dawgs!!!