Dawg Bites Gets Ready for Week 1

The 10 greatest words in sports, “The University of Georgia plays a football game this week” are finally true once again. Things will look a lot different this time next week: fans will have an idea of what the Dawgs will look like in 2025, Lee Corso will no longer be making headgear picks (I’m not ready for this), and no one will be wearing white, since Labor Day will have passed.

Like many, if not all, of you, I have been preparing for this week by rewatching old Week 1 games from the Kirby Smart era, trying to get into the right mindset. I’ve been reminded that opening games have typically been stress free in this time, with Georgia being a perfect 9-0 in opening games since 2016, winning those games by an average score of 35 to 7 (according to my manual data entry and the =average function in Excel). Four of these games have been against ranked opponents, including and limited to UNC in 2016, Clemson in 2021 and 2024, and Oregon in 2022.

The closest game in this timeframe was of course the 10-3 slugfest win over Clemson that sparked the magical 2021 championship run and set the tone for what would be the greatest defensive season we have ever seen.

Coincidentally enough, Clemson would score exactly 3 points against UGA in the 2024 opener as well. Dabo just can’t quite figure out that Kirby defense.

The last team to score double digits against Georgia in Week 1 was our old friend Sam Pittman and his fighting Hogs in what historians refer to as the “Dwan Mathis Game” of 2020. That was the game that introduced us to our future savior, Stetson Bennett.

However, that was not the only time Kirby has pulled the starting QB in the opener, as he also did so in his debut in 2016 in which former future savior Jacob Eason was inserted over NCAA record holder and future lawyer Greyson Lambert.

The Dawgs’ offense has typically started slow in the openers in this time, only scoring a TD on the first drive of the season twice (2019 and 2022). The Dawgs’ defense, however, is yet to allow a TD on the first drive of the season. Let’s hope that continues.

Now although this is a new season, there are some similarities we can draw on to get us comfortable. This is the second time the Dawgs have hosted the Marshall Thundering Herd in Sanford Stadium, the other being a sketchy and squeaky 13-3 win in 2004. This is also the second consecutive year Georgia has started the season against a team whose mascot is a four-legged animal, and the second time that Kirby has opened the season against a school that had a two-worded mascot that started with the letters T and H (Tar Heels of UNC).

By now you have probably Thundering Heard that Marshall has a new Head Coach this year in Tony Gibson, but this is still a program that won 10 games and ended 2024 on a 7-game win streak. Coach Gibson has the talent to make some noise this year, and you know how they say, when there’s Thundering Herd there’s Lightning Herd.

Tickets to the Marshall game are relatively inexpensive, costing you just under $50 for the cheap seats. A major discount compared to other games this season, this aligns perfectly with the Marshalls’ Labor Day Sale, now well underway. Head to your nearest shopping mall to save big on brand names.

Coincidentally the University of Georgia is located closer to a Marshalls (7 miles) than Marshall University is (11 miles). I found that to be borderline interesting.

Get your shopping in now, because football season starts soon. Happy Week 1 y’all.