Labor Day ‘Dawg Bites Is Blazin’ Into Next Saturday

The Monday following a big Georgia bulldog victory is always a nice day. About the only

The Monday following a big Georgia Bulldog victory is always a nice day. About the only thing that could make it nicer is not having to go into work on Monday morning. Well, here we are.

So before you get on with whatever you have planned on this holiday Monday, let’s take a look at what’s making news in Bulldog Nation.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows following Saturday’s win, as we got confirmation that starting guard Tate Ratledge will miss the remainder of the season with what’s believed to be a Lisfranc fracture to the foot. For those without advanced medical training, a Lisfranc injury is a fracture in which one of the toes comes unattached from the larger foot. You do not want one. It is named after French surgeon Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, who first observed it and likely exclaimed “Merde, l’orteil de ce type s’est détaché!”

Ratledge’s long-term absence is going to require some additional reshuffling to a Bulldog offensive line that only recently finished being shuffled. Starting center Warren Ericson moved over to guard against Clemson when Ratledge went down, pushing backup center Cedric Van Pran-Granger into the starting role that he was expected to occupy had Ericson not recovered in time to play after suffering a hand fracture in camp. That’s not likely to be a long term solution, however.

I’d expect Coach Luke to perhaps move touted tackle prospect Broderick Jones our to left tackle, or maybe even true freshman Amarius Mims, in order to bring Jamaree Salyer back to guard. While this week’s opponent, the UAB Blazers, are a solid football team, they and the Vanderbilt Commodores aren’t the worst squads to tinker against before settling on a lineup for the more difficult stretch run in October and November.

Dabo Swinney would like you to know that, see, what had happened was the Tigers just didn’t play their best game is all. In fairness Swinney isn’t entirely incorrect, in that the Tigers has some mental busts that deprived them of chances to score and take command of this one. But as Swinney also acknowledged, those busts came from essentially every position group on his offense, including the coaches. Which sounds a lot like the Country Gentlemen flat got outplayed when the Bulldog defense was on the field.

Up next of course are the Blazers of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The Blazers torched instate rival Jacksonville State 31-0 on Wednesday night. The Montgomery Advertiser has a solid breakdown of what was learned from the rout. And if you need a holistic view of the Blazers I highly recommend Lugnut Dawg’s preseason breakdown of UAB.

We’ll be back later with more Bulldog talk. Until then....

Go ‘Dawgs!!!