Thursday Morning Dawg Bites Is Your Vehicle, Baby

T. Kyle King, founder and managing editor emeritus of Dawg Sports, once wrote that winning a National Championship was like getting a Members Only jacket. Everybody else seemed to have one, so you felt like you should too... and once you got one, it was cool but you realized it wasn’t the end-all, be-all (I’m paraphrasing here. Badly.). I never had or wanted a Members Only jacket because, let’s be frank, I’m much too young to have wanted such a thing (God and I have a deal where I get to be 29 in perpetuity).

To me, winning an SEC Championship is like getting a Starter jacket. I had one once and it was AMAZING! I’ve never felt better than I did strutting around in that absurd, puffy nonsense that required me to bundle my Christmas and birthday presents from my parents into one ridiculous purchase. It was glorious! And I want that feeling again.

The SEC Championship Trophy may not be much to look at, but it represents everything that I value in college football. Am I gonna be upset if my Georgia Bulldogs advance to the playoffs and beat a wildly overrated Wisconsin Badgers squad before dismantling the Clemson Tigers en route to a National Title? Hell no! But winning the SEC Championship is really where it’s at. Besting Gators, Vols, Tigers, Bizarro Bulldogs, Wildcats, Gamecocks, Commodores, and Wartiglesmen is what gets my blood pumping. Being declared lord of the land over the best conference in college football (diminished though it may be at the moment) is all I can reasonably ask for. And I’m asking.

When it comes to that luscious SEC Championship Trophy... by now, I’m sure you know that I love it! I need it! I want it! Got to have it, child!

Now on to your Thursday Morning Dawg Bites:

• If you can get past the infuriating slideshow format, 247 Sports has a nice breakdown of how the Bulldogs rank nationally and in the SEC in a few dozen statistical categories.
• Welp. Noted jackleg Colin Cowherd has picked the Dawgs to beat Auburn and represent the SEC in the College Football Playoff. To counteract this, I’m gonna need Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corse to go ahead and pick Auburn on College Gameday. I have no doubt that Herbie will do us a solid (because he hates Georgia... losing to Ray Goff will do that). But Corso worries me... because I’m pretty sure he has a little conversation with the mascot heads before the show and lets them make the pick.
• Want a mid-week practice report light on consequential details, but just brimming with well-intentioned enthusiasm? The Red & Black has you covered.
• Related: And we wonder why Kirby Smart doesn’t like interacting with the media. Please, Gary, go away. You aren’t a journalist. You’re an awful former NFL QB with an almost 1 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio that convinced some goober at CBS that people would be interested in your “expertise”. Why did Verne have to be the one to retire?
• I’m not sure I grant the premise of this particular piece. I’d argue that most of the players on the 2017 Georgia squad have quite a bit of experience with being “under the radar.” Like 2-3 years of it.
• Finally, while I don’t generally care for the AJC, I’ve enjoyed Seth Emerson’s work for years. So if you’d like to take a trip down memory lane filled with regret and what might have been, he’s the guy to take you.

That’s all for now folks. Until later...

GOOOO DAWGS!!!