Monday ‘Dawg Bites Looks To Get Right Against The Blazers

It was another fantastic weekend of college football, but you’re probably on your way back to the grindstone of responsibility (or at least trying to look busy). But before you begin toting the barges and lifting the metaphorical bales, let’s take a look at what’s happening in Bulldog Nation.

Palmer Thombs of DawgHQ has the freshman participation report for the South Carolina game, which reflects the closeness of the matchup by not including a lot of the freshmen who played in comfortable wins against UT-Martin and Ball State. At this point CJ Allen and Joenel Aguero appear to be the frosh we’ll see in the every game rotation on defense, no surprise since both impressed in camp and have looked solid when given the opportunity. It will also be interesting to see whether a healthy Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton could mean fewer snaps for Roderick Robinson, assuming we can get and keep a healthy Edwards/Milton combo.

This Saturday may provide another chance to get healthy and get on track offensively, as the UAB Blazers come to town off a 41-21 loss to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. Perhaps the key stat from this one was that UAB surrendered 513 yards on only 64 plays, an eye-watering 8.0 yards per snap (Georgia averaged a respectable 5.8 yards per play against South Carolina). If there were ever a defense that gives Mike Bobo’s unit a chance to work the kinks out before a road test against Auburn, this would be it.

Georgia opens as a 40 point favorite against UAB, not surprising given the Blazers’ struggles thus far under Trent Dilfer. It’s worth noting however that if you’ve bet on the Bulldogs to cover so far this season you’ve probably also developed an affinity for bologna sandwich dinners. Georgia hasn’t beaten the spread yet, with UT-Martin and Ball State covering on late scores against the UGA reserves and South Carolina keeping their matchup a lot closer than the 27 point spread.

Even after that closer than expected shave against the Gamecocks Georgia remains #1 in the AP and Coaches polls. Texas is your big mover, shooting all the way up to #3, while Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide have uncharacteristically fallen out of the top 10 and down to #13. The Red and Black are the only SEC team in the top 10, though five league schools are ranked from 12th (LSU) to 25th (Florida). Gator fans are furious that they’re ranked behind the Tennessee team they beat by two scores on Saturday, and I’m pleased that they’re not pleased. Because that’s 30% of what college football is all about. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!