Tuesday Morning ‘Dawg Bites Is Looking To Lock It Up

Welcome to Tuesday, Bulldog fans! You’re fresh off a whoopin’ of Kiffykins, the Sanford Stadium crowd and environment is still resonating across the nation, and you can almost taste the cranberry out of the can. But we have some things to sort out first.

Once Brock Bowers was announced as a starter Saturday night, nay, once he came out and warmed up with the team, the general public knew UGA was getting healthy. Kirk Herbstreit sounded like Ricky Bobby in his first race and was effusive as he warned the world that Georgia is only getting better as they get players back from injury (podunkdawg is looking over my shoulder so I can’t elaborate on the reference). And it was a sight to see.

But what I saw was a lot of players leaving the field at various stages. DB Julian Humphrey was taken off and could have a broken clavicle (though I haven’t seen it confirmed). Warren Brinson left after making his presence known early. Fellow DL Zion Logue hit the sidelines for a short period as well. Then we saw Ladd McConkey go into the injury tent. It doesn’t appear that any of these are serious/long-lasting outside of Humphrey.

Much has been made of CJ Allen in his breakout performance Saturday against Ole Miss. Bulldog Nation was already in the weeds and saw Allen more than serviceable for the injured JDJ, and he was awarded as such with the esteemed MVD by macondawg. The folks in Birmingham took notice and decided CJ is the SEC Freshman of the Week. (Of course Jayden Daniels took home the Offensive Player award).

The chances of a Bulldog winning a Heisman award may have died when Brock Bowers got injured. But that doesn’t mean the best player in college football can’t be a Georgia Bulldog. Both Brock Bowers and Carson Beck have been named as finalists for the Maxwell Award. The spotlight isn’t solely on the offense. Because Malachi Starks has been named a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the best defensive player in college football. Starks got everyone’s attention in his freshman campaign last season, snagging that spectacular pick against Bone X in the Georgia-Oregon opener.

The last thing we do before putting a bow on the Mississippi Mugging is to see how each position group graded out. The intrepid folks over at the Red & Black haven’t been afraid to call out underperformers in weeks past. So how will they assess pretty much the best total Bulldog showing in the 2023 season? Let’s take a looky-see.

There’s only 2 games left in the regular season folks, so start to cherish these opportunities to see the boys in red and black playing football. We know we have at least one post-season opportunity, thanks to Tennessee crapping the bed in the 4Q in CoMo beating Ole Miss and earning a spot in the SEC Championship Game. We know the Tennessee game this Saturday is the CBS 3:30 game. And now we know the season finale against Georgia Tech will be a night game - kicking off at 7:30 pm ET and carried by ABC.

There’s a little something of interest coming up sooner though - the weekly reveal of the College Football Playoff committee rankings (Tuesday, 7:00 pm ET on ESPN). Georgia has been firmly ensconced in the #2 slot every week, trailing only an Ohio State team and ahead of an coach-less school up north. Oh, and FSU and Washington. Every one of these top 5 secured a win last Saturday - Ohio St. easily overwhelming a hapless Michigan St., Michigan solidly over #10 Penn St. while forgetting that Paul Brown advanced the sport a while ago, FSU in a nail-biter against back?/not?/lil’ bit? Miami, and Washington coming from behind against the #18 Utes.

So will Georgia’s dominating win over #9 Ole Miss convince the committee to push UGA to the top? FSU didn’t exactly control a barely bowl-eligible and inconsistent U squad. The Anemic Beavers of Happy Valley didn’t exactly scare the Maize and Blue, nor did the Maize and Blue scare anybody else. Washington looked good in the second half, shutting down Utah, but Utah isn’t known for an explosive offense and injured more than any other top 20 team. Personally, I think they will let things sit; they’re content to let the regular season play out and then use the benefit of championship weekend to weed out one or two teams leaving them with the easiest decision in the history of decisions.

Let us know of other news you’re hearing, any rumours you’d like to carelessly type into existence, and of course expressions of disdain for those who never figured out the intricacies of belt mechanics and instead regularly clasp their pants over their shoulders. And as always...

GO ‘DAWGS!!!