Monday ‘Dawg Bites: Low, even for Gators.

Are you a human?

Do you hate the Florida Gators with the fire of a thousand suns fueled by another thousand suns (shoutout VineyardDawg)?

Then you’re in the right place.

You’ve got a full week of Gator hatin’ to get to, so let’s take a quick tour through what’s making news in Bulldog Nation.

On the recruiting trail Coach Smart keeps winning. This time it was the Sunday commitment of Charlotte (Providence Day) cornerback Chris Peal. Peal, the #177 player nationally and the #3 player in North Carolina according to the 247Sports Composite chose Georgia over fellow finalists including Michigan, NC State and South Carolina. He’s the 22nd commitment for the Red and Black’s 2023 class, currently ranked #2 nationally. The future, it looks bright.

Here in the present, things are looking pretty swell too. Unless you’re a Florida fan. In which case they look historically miserable.

There may come a day when I feel sorry for Gator fans about how far their team has fallen. Today is not that day.

In fairness 22 points seems like a lot to me in this game, unless Georgia is successful in forcing Anthony Richardson to make mistakes, in which case it’s not enough. Billy Napier has no doubt had this one circled since he took the Florida job. It’s undoubtedly the game that he needs to figure out how to win if he’s to avoid the same professional fate as Will Muschamp and Dan Mullen. I expect the Gators to come into this one fully loaded and ready to let it rip. That cuts both ways however. Look for a few big plays and also some spectacular errors. Should be a hoot.

Connor Riley has his oft entertaining winners and losers from the weekend, which this Monday includes an emotional personal note, and also news of turmoil at a couple of SEC West schools, Texas A&M and Alabama. Connor notes that Jimbo Fisher absolutely is not being paid $95 million to lose to South Carolina. While it may take a while for Jimbo to get his bonus baby recruiting class fully operational, in the transfer portal era I’m not 100% certain he’s ever going to get that chance. I still think a sizeable portion of the Aggies’ record-breaking 2022 class is not in College Station next season. Unlike Jimbo, who may literally be too expensive to fire.

There’s also the controversy surrounding former Georgia receiver Jermaine Burton, who appeared on video to slug a woman after the Tide’s defeat in Knoxville. Nick Saban announced midweek that any disciple for Burton would be handled in-house. Apparently Burton raced through that discipline with his trademark speed, because he was suited up and on the field for the Tide this weekend.

Our policy here at Dawg Sports remains that you shouldn’t hit people, unless they’re wearing football pads, and even then only until the echo of the whistle, above the knees, and not with the crown of your helmet. So in our book there’s not really a good excuse for Burton’s actions no matter how many qualifiers you place on it. But as Connor notes Saban’s response likely turned a one week footnote into a multi-week story, something Alabama doesn’t really need this season as they fight their way forward hoping to stay in the playoff hunt.

Until later. . .

Go ‘Dawgs!!!