The PGA Tour heads to Miami this week, the first time playing at Doral since 2016. The reasons for not playing at a decidedly Tour-level venue are both varied and soaked in nuance, but we’ll skip those and just address the basics.

Tournament: Cadillac Championship, April 30-May 3, 2026.

Course: Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster Course; par 72; 7,739 yards. It used to be just the Blue course, but got renamed like everything else at the property (the name is justified – the course is a big track, and the 18th hole is a beast of a par 4, usually into the wind). Just outside downtown Miami, but practically across the street from Miami International Airport. You will both see and hear planes on the broadcast.

Purse: $20 million, with $4 million to the winner. Yes, another Signature Event aka cash grab for the rich.

Defending Champ: Adam Scott. The Boss clothing-sponsored and part-time supermodel won the WGC Cadillac Championship 10 years ago. Remember the WGC events? Man, I miss those simple times.

Fun Fact: Winners on this course are a Who’s Who of golf history. Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo, Tom Weiskopf, and many other hall of famers. It also boasts Craig Parry – another Aussie winner. Parry was a decent player 20 years ago, and won the tournament when he holed a fairway shot on the tough 18th. The best is that holier-than-thou broadcaster Johnny Miller had been bashing Parry’s swing all week on TV. And then ate some crow late Sunday.

TV Times: Thursday and Friday are on Golf Channel from 3-7 pm ET. Golf Channel also has the early coverage Saturday and Sunday from noon-3 pm, when CBS (okay, Paramount too) takes over from 3-7 pm ET.

‘Dawgs in the Field: It’s an 80 man limited field, but we have 5 former Bulldogs qualified and ready to tee it up. Russell Henley, Harris English, Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, and Keith Mitchell. A good finish by Mitchell will qualify him for the PGA Championship in 2 weeks.

We had the Masters 3 weeks ago, a Signature Event in Hilton Head right after, the fun but weird team event in NoLa last week, and another Signature Event in Charlotte next week. The PGA Championship is the week after that. Someone really needs to rework the PGA Tour calendar.

Because of the weird schedule, and possibly some personal beliefs, the #2 and #3 players in the world are skipping (Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick) as well as a few others in the top 30. But most of the top sticks are here, including Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, and a host of crowd favorites like Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. But we know who you’re really rooting for.

So tune in to see if our boys can put some Red & Black on the Blue Monster. Enjoy, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Good Friday morning, Dawg fans!!

The Georgia Bulldogs have wrapped up another demanding stretch of SEC play as the regular season begins to wind down, and the margin for error continues to shrink. With just 13 games remaining, every inning now carries postseason implications for a team with its sights set firmly on Omaha.

Over the past two weeks, the Diamond Dawgs faced a challenging slate that tested both their consistency and resilience. Georgia battled through two three-game SEC series against Florida and Arkansas, while also squeezing in midweek matchups against East Tennessee State and a high-profile, top-five showdown with in-state rival Georgia Tech. Across those eight contests, the Bulldogs posted a 4–4 record, a mark that reflects both their explosive potential and lingering inconsistencies.

At the plate, Georgia continues to prove why it is regarded as one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the country. The Bulldogs erupted for an eye-popping 64 runs during this stretch, highlighted by a dominant 26-run outburst in the series finale against Arkansas. Performances like that continue to showcase the lineup’s ability to overwhelm solid pitching staffs and flip a series on its head in a matter of innings.

However, the same cannot be said for the pitching staff, which remains the primary concern as postseason play approaches. Georgia surrendered 69 runs over those eight games, including 10 or more runs allowed in half of them. For a team with national championship aspirations, those numbers are difficult to ignore. While the offense has more than held its own, the inconsistency on the mound has created a dangerous imbalance that could prove costly against top-tier competition.

Despite the uneven stretch, Georgia still finds itself in an enviable position. The Bulldogs hold a strong 32–10 overall record, including an impressive 13–5 mark in SEC play. That resume has them sitting at No. 5 in the national rankings, firmly in the conversation as one of the top teams in college baseball heading into the final weeks of the regular season.

Individually, the Dawgs continue to be powered by standout performances from Daniel Jackson and Tre Phelps, who have emerged as two of the premier players in the country. Both are making compelling cases for the Golden Spikes Award, college baseball’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Jackson has been electric, hitting .378 with 20 home runs, combining elite contact with game-changing power. Phelps has been just as impactful, batting .370 with 14 home runs while boasting an impressive .492 on-base percentage. His ability to reach base has been amplified by his toughness at the plate, as he has been hit by pitches 25 times this season, tied for the most in college baseball.

Looking ahead, the Diamond Dawgs now turn their attention to another critical SEC road test as they travel to Oxford, Mississippi, for a three-game series against Ole Miss. Game one is set for tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, and it presents another opportunity for Georgia to tighten up its pitching and build momentum heading into the final stretch.

As always, it’s a great time to be a Georgia Bulldog. Be sure to tune in not only to this weekend’s series, but also to rounds two and three of the NFL Draft tonight, where several former Dawgs are expected to hear their names called.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend, GO DAWGS!!!

There was some doubt whether Georgia would even have a player taken in the first round of tonight’s NFL Draft. Monroe Freeling erased that doubt when he went #19 overall to the Carolina Panthers.

Freeling’s college career at Georgia was defined by both early responsibility and sustained consistency. Those two traits explain why he could have a solid NFL career.

Freeling was unexpectedly thrust into a big role as a true freshman in 2023, seeing action in eight games for the defending national champions. But he quickly proved he could handle elite SEC competition. That’s a true rarity for offensive linemen who typically require longer development timelines, even blue chip prospects like Freeling. His immediate impact in Athens was made possible by a combination of advanced technique and mental readiness, particularly in pass protection and assignment discipline. 

Across subsequent seasons, Freeling established himself as one of the most reliable pieces on the Bulldog offensive line. His combination of size (6’7, 318), strength, and technical refinement has made him a cornerstone player rather than a rotational contributor. Importantly, his consistency (not just peak performance) has elevated his draft profile, as NFL evaluators often prioritize linemen who minimize mistakes over those who flash intermittently. 

With limited roster spots scouts also prioritize guys who can play multiple positions, and that’s definitely Freeling. While his work in Athens was mainly at left tackle, he also cross-trained at both guard spots. His ability to realistically play at least three of the five OL spots is both a testament to his football IQ and a huge selling point.

Projecting forward, Freeling’s NFL potential appears significant. His early starting experience against top-tier competition mirrors the developmental path of many recent first-round offensive linemen. His polish and toughness as likely reduce the risk associated with high dollar first round offensive line prospects. While Freeling may not have the same ceiling as former Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor, I’d argue he has a much higher floor because he doesn’t have the same conditioning and work ethic concerns scouts highlighted with Proctor. Freeling might not be a perennial Pro Bowler, but I’m confident he also won’t be a first round bust. Congrats, Monroe, and…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Few players in recent Georgia football history have been by turns as exhilarating and maddening to watch as Daylen Everette. I’m happy for Pittsburgh Steelers fans to witness first hand exactly what I mean now that the Norfolk, Virginia product is headed to the Steel City.

Everette projects as something of a developmental prospect, but with definite starting cornerback potential. He arrives with clear NFL-caliber tools, but some technical refinement still needed. At Georgia, Everette was a three year starter who appeared in 55 games (41 starts), compiling 150 tackles, 5 interceptions, and 21 pass deflections while earning First-Team All-SEC honors in 2025. His production reflects consistency more than elite ball-hawking volume, though he showed a knack for stepping up in big moments, including multiple SEC Championship interceptions. 

That’s to say nothing of the Daylen Everette-shaped indention Quinn Ewers still has in his torso.

Athletically, Everette checks all the key NFL boxes. He ran a 4.38-second 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine, along blasting off with a 37.5-inch vertical and 10-foot-4 broad jump. Those numbers confirm what Bulldog fans have seen on the field: his explosive speed and lower-body power. These traits translate to strong recovery ability and closing burst in coverage. His strengths lie in zone awareness, physicality in run support, and prototype CB1 size (6’1”, 195 lbs), allowing him to disrupt passing lanes and match up with bigger receivers. 

However, his weaknesses cap his immediate ceiling. Everette can struggle with hip fluidity and transitions in man coverage, making him vulnerable to sharp route runners and double moves. Everette’s technique can also be inconsistent and occasional lapses in coverage discipline contributed to uneven play (and a full 32% of my game day swearing) during his UGA career.

Overall, Everette’s NFL potential right now is likely that of a scheme-dependent CB2 with upside, particularly in a zone-heavy system. But his physical talent is next level, and his issue isn’t ability, it’s consistency. If he hones his craft Everett also could develop into not just a reliable starter but a potential lockdown corner in the City of Bridges. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Another Georgia Bulldog has found a new home in the 2026 NFL Draft. Wide receiver Colbie Young was taken in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals. He is the third pass catcher from the Dawgs to be taken in this draft behind Zachariah Branch and Oscar Delp.

Young came to Athens in 2024 after a stint at the University of Miami. His 6’4 frame was intriguing for Mike Bobo and the Georgia offense. He quickly became a reliable target for quarterback Carson Beck in one-on-one situations, as he scored his first Bulldog touchdown in week one of the 2024 season against Clemson.

During his two seasons in Athens, Young caught 37 passes for 507 yards and three touchdowns. His numbers were limited due to a foot injury he suffered during the regular season game against Ole Miss in 2025 and a suspension in 2024 for charges that were eventually dropped.

Beyond his height, Young has shown flashes of explosiveness. At the NFL Combine, he ran a 4.49 40-yard dash. His physicality makes him difficult for defensive backs to bring down. He can also be a deep threat for quarterbacks, as he demonstrated often last season for the Bulldogs.

Young will be entering a crowded receiver room in Cincinnati, with guys like Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins already cemented as Joe Burrow’s top targets. With his tangibles, however, Young could carve out a role for himself with the Bengals as they look to return to the playoffs. We wish Colbie the best of luck as he begins his pro football career!

The New Orleans Saints became the latest NFL team to pilfer the Georgia tight end room in the third round of the NFL Draft on Friday night, selecting Oscar Delp with the 73rd overall pick.

With Delp’s selection, a Georgia tight end has been drafted for the seventh time in eight seasons.

Casual NFL fans may not have seen as much highlight-wise of Delp during his Georgia career, and sharing time at a position with Brock Bowers part of his time in Athens clearly had a bit to do with that. But in times when Georgia has leaned on the tight end the past few years is when Delp thrived as a blocker and receiver.

“I think it’s the most important thing you can do as a tight end is to be able to block and bring that to your game,” Delp told Nola.com “I love being able to dominate another man, and in a successful offense, you have to have a tight end that can dominate the perimeter and own the C gap.”

It’s also of note that Delp was not targeted more than 32 times in a single season at Georgia, so the thinking is may be what he showed in Athens could be magnified even more with additional passes thrown Delp’s way.

That, combined with an impressive pro day that included a 4.49 40-yard dash time makes Delp a nice pickup for New Orleans, a team seeking to beef up its offensive arsenal and build on quarterback Tyler Shough’s growth.

Someone with Delp’s measurables and capabilities plays right into that agenda for the Saints.

Go Dawgs!

Christen Miller steps into the New Orleans Saints facility carrying more than a duffel bag. He brings the hardened identity of the Georgia Bulldogs defensive front.

Perhaps no player in the past three seasons has epitomized the blue collar work ethic of that group quite like Miller. He waited his turn behind future first rounders Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, and Jalen Carter. Like them, his college numbers didn’t scream superstardom: 64 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks across four seasons. But they told a subtler story of control, discipline, and reliability in the trenches.

At his best, Miller is immovable. His excellent lower body strength allow him to anchor well against double teams, clog rushing lanes, and free linebackers to make plays. His hand placement is consistent, and his awareness against the run makes him a natural fit for early downs in the NFL.

But the league demands more than strength. Miller’s biggest question mark follows him from Athens to New Orleans: pass rushing. His burst off the line is good, but not super explosive for a defender of his size, and he can stall once initial contact is made. Too often, plays end with him holding ground rather than collapsing the pocket. For a defensive tackle hoping to elevate his role from a rotational player to a three down fixture, that matters.

Still, the Saints see something worth shaping. In flashes, Miller has shown he can push the pocket and disrupt timing, even if it doesn’t always translate into sacks. If he develops a deeper pass rush arsenal his impact could expand quickly.

For now, Miller projects as a dependable interior player who does the dirty work, absorbs contact, and quietly makes everyone around him look better.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

CJ Allen was one of the leaders of the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense last season. Now, he will be taking his talents to the Indianapolis Colts thanks to the announcement from former Colts’ punter, College Gameday host, part time WWE commentator/wrestler, and host of a weekly sports show with his namesake, Pat Mcafee. He will look to be the next great Georgia linebacker in the NFL.

Allen, a native of Barnesville, GA, burst onto the scene in 2023. The then-true freshman was thrown into the starting lineup against top 10-ranked Ole Miss after starting linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson suffered an injury the week prior. He proceeded to lead the team with nine tackles and a sack on his way to being named SEC Freshman of the Week.

He would only improve over the next two seasons. In 2025, he led the team with 88 tackles and eight tackles for loss. He also made one of the biggest plays of the season against Auburn, when he punched the football out of Jackson Arnold’s hands to force a fumble to prevent the Tigers from taking a 17-0 lead into halftime.

NFL.com’s scouting report wrote that he “plays with toughness and control, sorting through run fits with patience and leverage in pursuit. He has average trigger quickness and pursuit speed, which forces him to work harder to get to junction points when facing climbing blockers. He has adequate size and strength with good hand strikes to play off blocks. He doesn’t blow up blocks or disrupt on the other side of the line all that often, though. He’s an effective blitzer with average man-cover talent and is capable on all three downs. Allen is a dependable starting Mike ‘backer who raises the floor of a defense.”

Allen will look to help improve Indy’s defense, which ranked 23rd in total defense last season. His leadership abilities could be crucial for the Colts as they seek to return to a Super Bowl for the first time since 2010. Congratulations CJ and best wishes for a long and productive NFL career!

Losing is no fun.

If it’s to the North Avenue Trade School in any aspect of competition, it’s even worse.

In one respect, it was a let-down that two top-five teams faced off Tuesday night at Truist Park and that it was not able to be watched on TV.

On the other – perhaps it was for the best that Georgia fans did not have to see what looks to be the weakness of this team – the depth of the bullpen in a 14-4 loss.

It’s tough to swallow as fans of The University of Georgia, but at the end of it, games like this don’t really matter. It’s why in the past when Georgia and Tech had games impacted by weather, little effort was made to reschedule them.

What does matter? Big conference series’ that’ll decide whether or not Georgia can gain a national seed. Both Georgia and the Rebels are slotted in at least one recent projection to be regional hosts. I’m pretty sure that a series win helps a lot more than a pedestrian midweek series.

Per Baseball America, the Dawgs are currently in line as a regional host and No. 7 national seed. Five spots lower, though, and that national seed goes away as well as hosting a super regional.

Florida lost to Jacksonville this week for the second time this season, but odds are fairly good that if you stack them up weekend starters vs. weekend starters, UF prevails.

In the end, midweek games are a good chance to do things well and be in good shape for when it matters – weekend series in the nation’s toughest conference.

Go Dawgs!

Zachariah Branch enters the 2026 NFL Draft as one of the more polarizing wide receiver prospects on the board. A former five star recruit who starred at both Southern Cal and Georgia, Branch combines elite athletic traits with a somewhat unconventional (some would say uneven) production profile, making his evaluation highly dependent on projection and scheme fit.

College Production and Statistical Profile

Branch’s college career can be split pretty neatly into two phases: his early explosiveness at USC and a more refined, high-volume role at Georgia. Over three seasons, he totaled 159 receptions for 1,634 yards and 9 touchdowns across 37 games. 

That’s a pretty solid record of production against some of the best competition college football has to offer. At USC in 2024 Branch recorded 47 catches for 503 yards and 1 touchdown, averaging 10.7 yards per reception. While those numbers were solid, they represented a bit of a letdown for some from expectations after a standout freshman campaign in which he caught 31 passes for 322 yards and averaged over 22 yards of punt returns per game. His usage included screens, quick passes, and significant work in the return game, reflected in his 699 all-purpose yards that season. But still, USC fans were curiously

After transferring to Georgia for 2025, Branch saw a major uptick in both volume and responsibility. He led the ’‘Dawgs with 81 receptions for 811 yards and 6 touchdowns, establishing himself as a primary offensive weapon in the SEC. This production demonstrated his ability to handle a larger workload against elite competition, though his yards-per-catch figure remained modest, reinforcing his short-area usage profile.

Branch’s most defining traits are elite athleticism and playmaking ability in space. He possesses top-tier acceleration, change of direction, and speed, evidenced by a 4.35-second 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine. These traits translate directly to his effectiveness after the catch, where he can turn short throws into explosive gains.

Another major strength is his versatility. Branch has experience as both a receiver and return specialist, winning the Jet Award as a freshman and contributing in multiple phases of the game. His all-purpose skill set makes him attractive to NFL teams looking for a multi-faceted weapon rather than a traditional wide receiver.

In addition, Branch shows strong vision and instincts with the ball in his hands. Scouts consistently highlight his ability to navigate traffic, set up blocks, and maximize yardage on designed touches. This makes him particularly dangerous in modern offenses that emphasize screens, motion, and run-pass option concepts.

Despite his dynamic traits, Branch’s draft potential is limited by several concerns. The most obvious is his size. At an official 5’9″ and 177 pounds, he lacks the ideal physical profile of a typical outside receiver, which raises questions about durability and his ability to win in contested situations, especially downfield. It is worth noting that Branch’s size hasn’t been an issue in the run game, where he’s a tenacious blocker. But he will struggle one-on-one against bigger pro defensive backs.

His receiving skill set is also not pristine. Branch has a tendency to focus on yards after the catch before securing the ball. Drops and ball-tracking issues could limit his reliability at the next level.

Route running is another area of concern. At times in 2025 Mike Bobo used Branch in screen situations that manufactured touches rather than running a full route tree, and his production was heavily skewed toward short-area targets. This creates uncertainty about whether he can get separation consistently against NFL defensive backs on intermediate and deep routes.

Finally, Branch’s projected role is somewhat narrow. He’s like a slot receiver or a situational player, at least early in his career, rather than a true WR1 or even WR2 option. That limits his ceiling unless he significantly develops his technical skills, and the size concerns will always be there.

NFL Projection and Team Fits

Branch is likely a Day 2 pick, going in the second or third round, though opinions vary depending on how teams value his unique skill set. Some analysts rank him among the top wide receivers in the class based on production and pure athleticism, while others see him as a more specialized contributor.

The New York Giants are a logical fit due to their preference for smaller, explosive receivers and creative offensive schemes. Branch’s ability to operate in space aligns well with offenses that emphasize quick passing and yards after catch. However the Giants don’t currently have a 3rd round pick, and I do not see Branch as a 2nd round selection. The Big Blue would need to move into the 3rd to snatch him, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

Other potential fits include teams that prioritize offensive creativity and motion-heavy systems. The San Francisco 49ers could maximize his skill set, given their track records of utilizing versatile playmakers in space. Similarly, teams needing special teams impact alongside offensive upside may view him as a dual-threat contributor. The Kansas City Chiefs fall into this category, and it’s not hard to see Branch in the type of speedy role Tyreek Hill has ably filled, along with Mecole Hardman before him.

Overall Outlook

Branch’s draft outlook ultimately depends on how teams weigh his elite athleticism against his developmental needs. Yes, there is also that thing in Athens with the sidewalk and the smirking. I don’t think it will be a factor. The circumstances of that arrest are so preposterous that they could only happen in Athens, and Kirby Smart has been effusive in his praise of Branch’s work ethic and character since he arrived in the Classic City. That carries weight with a lot of folks in the League.

Branch’s ceiling is that of a dynamic offensive weapon capable of changing games with limited touches, similar to hybrid receivers who thrive in space-oriented systems. However, his floor is that of a situational player who struggles to expand beyond a gadget role.

If he lands with a creative offensive coordinator willing to design touches the way Georgia did in 2025 and gradually expand his route tree, Branch could outperform his draft position and become a high impact player. Conversely, in a more traditional system that demands polished route running and physicality, he may struggle to carve out a consistent role.

Zachariah Branch then represents the classic high-variance prospect: electrifying with the ball in his hands, but still a work in progress as a complete, every down receiver.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

The Georgia Bulldogs will wrap up spring practice 2026 this afternoon in the Classic City with the traditional G Day Game. The Red and the Black will square off in Sanford Stadium at 1:00 pm Athens time. While there’s no television coverage per se, the game will be streamed on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.

If you’re watching expecting to see a lot of familiar faces, you will be disappointed. The Bulldogs brought in roughly 37 new players from the high school ranks and transfer portal.

Seth already brought you a list of players to keep an eye on, LugnutDawg has the run down of what to look for on defense. And earlier today we went over what to look for on offense.

This thread will be the hub for updates and commentary throughout the afternoon. Y’all grab a beverage if your choice and pull up a chair.

Now let’s have a healthy, stress free, injury-free day in the Classic City.

Go ‘‘Dawgs!!!

It’s a warm, sunny morning in Athens, Georgia, just perfect for a little spring football between the hedges. Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs will square off against…, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs, this afternoon in Athens. LugnutDawg already brought you a handful of things to keep an eye on defensively. Let’s take a look at some of the key points to keep an eye on on the offensive side of the football.

#1 Somebody’s got to play wide receiver. The Bulldogs are losing six out of their top seven pass catchers from 2025. London Humphreys is the only returning wideout with more than 10 receptions. And while the ‘Dawgs are loaded at tight end (more on that in a moment) Mike Bobo’s offense only really works if there’s someone to stretch the field vertically and horizontally. Today will be our chance to see young receivers like CJ Wiley, Craig Dandridge, and Thomas Blackshear in their most extensive action. Sophomore Talyn Taylor showed some flashes last year. Could today be a bit of a coming out party for him?

#2 Why couldn’t you play five tight ends at once? If there’s a way to build the whole offense out of tight ends I hope Todd Hartley figures it out. Lawson Luckie returns as an All-SEC candidate, and Elyiss Williams should be even more of a matchup nightmare than he was as a freshman. Jaden Reddell has drawn praise from the coaching staff, and freshman Kaiden Prothro has drawn favorable comparisons to none other than Brock Bowers. I expect we’ll see at least a handful of multiple tight end sets and some downfield passing to the big guys that make Bulldog fans salivate about this unit’s potential.

#3 The quarterback. No, the other one. No, the other, other one. It’s nice to go into spring with Gunner Stockton the clear starter. And if we’re honest, we’ve also got a pretty good bead on what Ryan Puglisi brings to the table as his backup. But I’m curious to see redshirt freshman Ryan Montgomery. Montgomery suffered a serious knee injury as a high school senior in 2024 and sat out G Day last year. But he’s impressed so far this spring with his live arm and maturity in the pocket. Could he show enough to create a real battle with Puglisi for the backup role?

#4 Playing for Peanuts. Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowen’s return as arguably the top Thunder & lightning running back tandem in the SEC. But Dwight “Peanut” Phillips has been an underrated contributor to the offense for each of the last two seasons. I’m curious to see his physical development entering year three, as well as how he might figure in the passing game.

#5 Let’s be upfront about what’s happening up front. Georgia has a new offensive line coach in Phil Rauscher, fortunately Rauscher has a lot of returning material to work with. While the left side of the line loses starters Monroe Freeling and Micah Morris, Drew Bobo returns at center, and a whole boatload of players with experience on the right side are back. This will be our first chance to see how Rauscher redistributes all that bulk. Dontrell Glover has practiced through injuries this spring and may get a break. But I’m curious to see if Juan Gaston is in shape, as well as where Earnest Greene fits into the rotation.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

The 2026 NFL Draft gets rolling this evening in Pittsburgh with the first round selections beginning some time after 5:00.

The odds of any Georgia Bulldogs getting picked this evening are up in the air. Some mock drafts have Monroe Freeling creeping up into the first round for a team looking for a guy who could cut his teeth at guard and eventually take over a tackle slot. Some draft analysts love CJ Allen and think a team with one of the first 32 picks will fall for him as well, while others are worried that his measurables will kick him to day two.

We’ll be here all evening to talk picks. Also head over to SB Nation’s NFL Draft feed. There’ll be news from across the network, and I’ll be chipping in comments and coverage of any Bulldogs whose names are called throughout the weekend.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Just over three months ago, as I watched Trinidad Chambliss do his best Nightcrawler impression in the Superdome, I unleashed a torrent of profanity that would’ve turned Andrew Dice Clay the color of a firetruck and swore to Quetzalcoatl that 2026 is the year I finally kick my college football habit. Of course, now that we’re coming up on G Day, I’m scouring every source I can find for news about spring practice. 

This weekend, we’ll get our first look at the 2026 iteration of the Georgia Bulldogs. Kirby Smart and company will likely play things pretty close to the vest, of course, but we’ll start to get a sense of what the team will look like. At a minimum, we should be able to tell who’s likely to end up starting come Labor Day weekend based on who gets assigned to the Red squad versus the Black. 

During my time in the Classic City, I used the G Day game to run a scrimmage tailgate to work out the kinks in my process ahead of the fall. With that in mind, this is something of a scrimmage post, knocking the rust off the ol’ blog to gear up for the next season. Here are the five (plus one, kind of) players I’m most interested in seeing this weekend. For the purposes of this exercise, I’m only considering players who will be new to UGA this fall. 

1. Kaiden Prothro, Tight End

You guys remember Brock Bowers? On the off chance you don’t, meet Kaiden Prothro. He’s the highest-rated member of Georgia’s 2026 recruiting class. Like Bowers, he’s technically classified as a tight end, but he’s got a receiver’s skill set. At 6’6” and 230 pounds, he’s a big target for the quarterback, and he excels at making contested catches and breaking tackles with the ball in his hands. And despite his size, he’s deceptively fast once he gets going, which means we could see the welcome return of the Bowers-esque “dumpoff pass that turns into a 75-yard touchdown.” As a testament to his receiving prowess, Prothro finished his high school football career with 66 receiving touchdowns, a record for the state of Georgia. 

Prothro is going to be a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. If it’s close to him, he’ll probably catch it. And if he catches it, the defense will need more than one guy to get him on the ground. I cannot wait to see him in the Red and Black. 

2. Isiah Canion, Wide Receiver

For my money, the biggest loss from last year’s team is Zach Branch, who’s off to the NFL draft. He had a strong rapport with Gunner Stockton, racking up more than twice as many receiving yards as anyone else on the roster. He combined track star speed with an actual ability to catch the damn ball, something the 2024 receiving corps often struggled with. Thankfully, Stockton offers continuity at the most important position, but someone is going to have to step up at receiver if the passing game is going to avoid taking a step back.

Perhaps that someone will be transfer wide receiver Isiah Canion, newly arrived from just down the road in Atlanta. In his sophomore season for the Engineers, he led the team with four receiving touchdowns. That may not seem like much until you remember Tech’s offense was mostly based around trying to void Haynes King’s warranty in increasingly baroque ways. At 6’4” and 215 pounds, he’s got the size and toolkit of a possession receiver, which makes him well-suited to attacking the middle of the field in the type of passing game Georgia likes to deploy. He doesn’t have Branch’s top-end speed, but he makes up for it in toughness. If Talyn Taylor can take a step forward this year as a deep threat, the two of them will be a formidable one-two punch for any defense. Add in Prothro, and the offense could be extremely explosive.

3. Khamari Brooks, OLB/EDGE

The most frustrating aspect of last year’s otherwise stout Dawgs squad was an inability to generate consistent pressure on the quarterback, most disastrously in the Sugar Bowl when Chambliss managed to escape no matter how many guys were in the backfield. The stats bear this out. In 2024, Georgia sacked the opposing quarterback 37 times. In 2025, that number dropped to 20. The good news is that Chris Cole and Raylen Wilson are both back, but losing CJ Allen and Christen Miller from the defensive front isn’t going to make things any easier.

The plan seemed to be to shore up the pass rush with Auburn transfer Amaris Williams. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending injury in spring practice. In his absence, freshman Khamari Brooks has an opportunity to make an immediate impact. As a testament to his athleticism, he played both wideout and linebacker at North Oconee High School, earning a four-star rating as a recruit. On the defensive side of the ball, he excelled as a pass rush specialist, tallying eight tackles, including 1.5 sacks in the 2024 state championship game. He’s listed at 6’3” and 245 pounds, so he’s going to be a problem to block, and his technique is already quite sharp for an incoming freshman. As he adds weight and sharpens his abilities, he’s only going to get more dangerous.

Last year, Ellis Robinson IV started the season with some growing pains, getting burned badly in coverage on a big stage. But the coaching staff stuck with him, and by season’s end, he was among the most valuable players on the defense. It’s entirely possible we see something similar with Brooks this year, and I’m very excited about getting a first look at him soon.

4. Khalil Barnes, Safety

With Daylen Everette off to the NFL and Joenel Aguero relocating to Oxford, the back end of the defense will need some help. Say hello to Khalil Barnes, who fled the sinking ship S.S. Clemson to join a functional team to boost his draft stock ahead of his senior year. He established himself as a ball hawky safety in his first two years there, notching seven interceptions across two seasons. He took a bit of a step back last year, but 2025 Clemson was so juiceless it’s hard to say whether that was on him or the team’s badly broken development program. 

We’ll find out when Barnes comes to Athens. He’s an aggressive playmaker over the middle who will make a receiver pay for hesitating on a ball. That aggressiveness means he gets burned sometimes (though what safety doesn’t?), but his speed means he can run down receivers and running backs who get behind him. That speed and his physicality also mean that you can bring him on a disguised blitz, which should provide some more options for generating QB pressure too. 

5. Wade Register, Punter

Maybe this is shades of Vince Dooley worrying about the long snapper (or snappah, if you prefer), but we’ve been spoiled with Brett Thorson handling punting duties. He was extremely reliable, which is vital for one of the most high-leverage moments in a game. Punting is like my lack of a real retirement plan: I don’t wanna think about it. Fortunately, incoming freshman Wade Register was the top-ranked punter in the state of Georgia by most rating services, and it’ll be good to get a look at his abilities in a semi-live-fire situation. 

Of course, now that I type it out, I realize “I’m excited about seeing the punting” is the kind of thing only an absolute degenerate would say. But it’s true!  

6. Bonus! Tie: Zach Lewis, Zykie Helton, Tyreek Jemison, Graham Houston, Ekene Ogboko

Another Achilles’ heel for the 2025 Dawgs was the inconsistent offensive line play. Whether due to injuries or personnel problems, Stacy Searels just couldn’t seem to figure out a regular combination up front. Two of the group’s better players, Monroe Freeling and Micah Morris, are gone too. Hopefully, these five new linemen can get some playing time and start getting up to speed.

What piques your interest this Saturday?

By no means is any G-Day scrimmage a be-all end-all of where things stand, but it is a good outward sign of how the fabric of any Georgia team is coming together as the summer draws near. 

The defensive side of the ball will be no exception as Saturday’s spectacle wraps up spring practice in Athens. 

Here are some key things to watch for on Saturday, either in person, watching at home, or in other ways that we cannot legally endorse.

On-field chemistry

Georgia’s defense was a ride last year, and a bit too adventurous early-on.

As headache-inducing as stretches of the Alabama and Tennessee game were, there were also the Ole Miss and Texas games, for instance. Finding footing early this fall will be key, so it’ll be of note to see how the back-and-forth communication on the field is and if there are many blown coverages or missed assignments or not. If we see a good number on Saturday, it’ll show how far off away from getting on the same page this group is. 

How much do we really want to see the starters?

We already know what the KJ Boldens and Raylen Wilson of this defense can do. If you are aiming to see what younger or newer faces can do, how much do you really need to see well-established players in what’s a part of multiple weeks of spring practice? 

Are injuries a silver-lining? 

Spring ball is about seeing what the up-and-coming part of the roster can do. Given that, could the injuries to Jordan Hall and Amaris Williams be a blessing in disguise? If you want to see what the second and third group of a rotation can do, that task is a lot easier now with a handful ofvplayers sidelined.

Bigger roles for Dawgs on the rise

All that leads to by far the most exciting part of G-Day. For those who either are new to the roster or played sparingly, they now get their chance for more of the spotlight. The list is here each year of players that were highly touted, and it’s settings like this where you hope to see how much of that promise will be realized soon.

Isaiah Gibson and Zayden Walker absolutely come to mind in the front seven, and it’s intriguing to see how this defensive staff will try to use Khamari Brooks from nearby North Oconee as well.

In the secondary, we all know what Ellis Robinson can do. But how will Clemson transfer Khalil Robinson look within this group at safety. The same goes for Braylon Coney and Gentry Williams are corner, opposite of Robinson. 

So set a nice table for Saturday. The spread of appetizers going into the summer look to be very tasty.

Go Dawgs!

The highest holy week of Georgia sports…not related to football, of course, is upon us.

No, it’s not laughing at Tennessee or Florida fans whose only path to contending for a national title is by pulling out old VHS tapes.

Nope, it’s the Tradition unlike any other – The Masters.

But one of the layers of the pageantry that will grace Augusta National this time of year is off the course in the annual Champions Dinner.

This year’s, served in honor of Rory McIlroy is highlighted by yellowfin tuna carpaccio.

And then there was last year’s version where at the request of Scottie Scheffler was basically…a Sunday night at Texas Roadhouse

Personally speaking, yours truly would have a menu of fried shrimp from O’Steen’s in St. Augustine as an appetizer, entrees being a pig sandwich from Fincher’s BBQ as well as some Chicken Parmesan with it all being finished off by an orange creamsicle cheesecake.

So, what would be on your Master’s menu? Weigh in below!

Within the span of a weekend, Georgia’s women’s basketball program saw one coach exit and found their replacement.

After Saturday morning’s announcement that the school had mutually agreed to a parting of ways with Katie Abramson-Henderson after a four-year Mark of 69-59 with two NCAA Tournament berths, Ayla Guzzardo was announced as the fourth full-time head coach in program history.

If it’s a coach on an upward trajectory that Georgia desires, it certainly has that in Guzzardo. She’s coming off a season in which she guided McNeese State to a school-record 29 wins. But there’s more to it than that for Guzzardo, as it also stood as the greatest single-season turnaround in the history of NCAA women’s basketball.

The Cowgirls were 10-21 the year before her arrival a season ago. Before that, Guzzardo guided Southeast Louisiana to a 47-9 record over her final three seasons there, a run that included an average of 22 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Given her ties to Louisiana, it’s not a shock that one of her contemporaries is that of current LSU head coach Kim Mulkey.

Guzzardo isn’t exactly having to take on a massive rebuild for Georgia. Yes, it has some portal losses, as is the case in the current NIL landscape, but this team is coming off a season in which it went 22-10, its most wins since 20171-8. But the other sentiment is that just getting to the NCAAs should not be the ceiling.

For sure, there is portal work to do with Trinity Turner, Mia Woolfolk, Zhen Craft, and Angie Gonzalez having announced plans to transfer.

Even if players do not stay put as long, there are way too many good players in-state for a program to just be happy to be postseason-bound, and the last part of the quote from Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks on Saturday morning may be telling:

“We have an outstanding group of alumni and a dedicated fan base. Our search for a new head coach will focus on someone who will carry on this legacy and connect with our student-athletes, alumni and supporters in an impactful way.” 

Is Guzzardo the right person to elevate the level of this program to that?

Time will tell.

Go Dawgs!

The good news for fans of Georgia Bulldog golfers is that four of the six former or future ‘Dawgs in the Masters field will be playing the weekend. 

The bad news is that they are all playing for second place. 

Rory McIlroy turned in a 65 on Friday, including one of the most dominant back nines in recent Augusta history to take a commanding six stroke lead into the weekend. A pair of Georgia alums, Russell Henley, and Harris English, sit 12 strokes back at even par. That however, is only six strokes back from 2nd place, where Sam Burns and Patrick Reed sit at -6. There’s still plenty of time for either or both of them to play their way into a top ten finish and a handsome payday. 

Sepp Straka sits at +1, tied for 32nd. And Brian Harman shrugged off a rough Thursday to put up an impressive three under par 69 on Friday to make the cut at +4 (47th). Again, after carding a seven over 79 just playing their way into weekend is a real accomplishment.

The news wasn’t so good for Bubba Watson and Thomasville native Mason Howell. Bubba’s 73 on Friday wasn’t quite enough to make it to the weekend, as he was among the first cut of golfers to miss the weekend field at +5. Howell, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and an 18 year old incoming freshman at UGA, went +5 then +4 in his first time in the Augusta field. That being said, he’ll absolutely be back and has a very bright future in the game. 

The story of Friday however was the diminutive Irishman looking for a second consecutive green jacket. McIlroy bogied no. 10, parred no. 11, then birdied six out of his final seven holes, a stretch of golf course that has been known under the right conditions to literally drive some of the best golfers in the world to tears. To paraphrase an old Chuck Norris joke, Amen Corner starts praying when Rory arrives. 

While there’s still time for a historic collapse (Paging Greg Norman to the courtesy phones…Mr. Norman to the courtesy phones…) that sort of thing isn’t really in McIlroy’s character. Instead I suspect we’ll be watching one of those historic Masters moments that’s impressive if not suspenseful. 

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Good Thursday afternoon, Dawg fans!! The Georgia Diamond Dawgs are arguably the hottest team in college baseball right now, riding an impressive eight-game win streak that has quickly turned heads across the national landscape. During this stretch, Georgia has dominated SEC competition with back-to-back series sweeps over the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs, while also picking up convincing midweek victories against the Georgia State Panthers and Presbyterian. As a result, the Dawgs now boast an outstanding 28-6 overall record, including a strong 10-2 mark in SEC play, positioning themselves firmly among the nation’s elite.

This recent surge has propelled Georgia to No. 4 in the national rankings, sitting just behind UCLA, Texas, and in-state rival Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While the pitching staff has shown flashes of inconsistency at times, Georgia’s offense has more than made up for it, establishing itself as one of the most dangerous lineups in college baseball. The Dawgs have displayed explosive run production throughout the win streak, highlighted by a staggering 28-run performance against Presbyterian that showed just how potent this lineup can be when firing on all cylinders.

At the heart of Georgia’s offensive dominance are Daniel Jackson and Tre Phelps, who have emerged as the driving forces behind this Dawgs’ lineup. Both hitters are batting over .400, with Phelps leading the way at .413 and Jackson close behind at .408. After a disappointing redshirt sophomore campaign, Phelps has responded in a major way this season, reestablishing himself as a potential first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. Jackson, on the other hand, has elevated his game to another level, solidifying his reputation as one of the premier power hitters in college baseball while also showcasing an impressive ability to hit for average. Together, the duo has combined for 30 home runs, 14 from Phelps and 16 from Jackson, accounting for a significant portion of Georgia’s nation-leading 98 home runs. To put that into perspective, Vanderbilt, the next closest team, sits well behind with 73, further emphasizing just how dominant Georgia’s offense has been.

What makes this team especially intriguing is the balance between its offensive firepower and the question marks surrounding its pitching staff. If Georgia can find more consistency on the mound, this team has all the tools necessary to make a deep postseason run and potentially secure a trip to Omaha. Even as it stands, the Dawgs’ ability to outscore opponents at such a high level makes them a serious contender every time they take the field.

Georgia will look to keep its momentum going this weekend as the Florida Gators travel to Athens for a key three-game SEC series at Foley Field. With first pitch for Game 1 scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Friday, the Dawgs will aim to extend their winning streak and continue making a strong statement as one of the top teams in the country.

Hope all of you have a great rest of your week and weekend. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

On the morrow, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and an increasingly bitter South African will hit ceremonial tee shots and the 90th Masters Tournament will officially begin. If you have a badge, you’re probably debating if you’ll get to the grounds early enough to watch it in person, weighing that against a long day of walking hills in warm spring sunshine.

If you’re stuck at home or work, you will still be able to see and hear those traditional opening drives, because the Masters annually teaches a masterclass in sports coverage and availability. The concessions are simple and delicious. The grounds are natural and verdant. The parking is free. The golf never disappoints. But maybe the thing the Masters is best at is giving everyone access.

There’s the traditional over-the-air broadcast via CBS. (If you’re of a certain age, you waited all year to watch 6-7 hours of Masters TV coverage… in total.) But CBS now has one of the smaller content windows of all the broadcast partners, just Saturday and Sunday from 2-7 pm ET.

For the other times, it is an interesting mix. Thursday and Friday, there’s no “television” broadcast until 1:00 pm ET. And that will be on new media partner Amazon Prime Video. They have coverage until 3:30, when ESPN will start broadcasting until close of day.

Saturday and Sunday are a litle different. Only CBS (and Paramount+) will start at 2:00 pm ET.

That being said, CBS Digital, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+,Golf Channel, and ESPN+ will carry early day content pretty much every day. That might only be showing players on the range, or special shows they produce, but it is more content.

Of course there is ALWAYS content on Masters.com and the Masters app. Thursday and Friday early day will be a little fragmented, as they have a choice of Featured Groups, holes 4-6, Amen Corner, and holes 15-16. But starting early afternoon, the Masters media will also feature the typical full-field coverage you’re used to seeing on TV.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up: get the Masters App, or cast Masters.com to your big screen, and you’re fine. If you have access to all the CBS/Paramount stuff, get that loaded up in the meantime. And you can always catch “main feed” broadcasting early afternoon on ESPN the first 2 days and CBS on the weekend.

So that’s how. Now let’s talk about when.

Bubba Waston tees off Thursday at 8:08 am ET.
Russell Henley starts his tourney at 10:19 am.
Brian Harman puts peg to ground at 12:03 pm.
Sepp Straka follows a little later at 1:32 pm.
Harris English can sleep in, as his start is 1:56 pm.

And as bonus ‘Dawgs in the Masters content, I inadvertently left off a future Bulldog. Winner of the 2025 US Amateur, Thomasville native, and University of Georgia Men’s Golf commit Mason Howell gets to play with defending champ Rory McIlroy the first two days, and they start at 10:31 am ET. He’s the 3rd youngest winner of the US Am, and will be the youngest player (18) in the Masters field. And that grouping with the defending champ is a decades-old tradition at the Masters, in deference to tournament co-founder and greatest amateur ever Bobby Jones.

I feel like that TikTok pajama-clad DJ who inspires people to get out of bed and start their day. I’m as pumped as can be, and I want you to be as well. The Masters is now just hours away. I hope you’re not an accountant in public practice, or a urologist, because you’re going to be busy and you won’t get to devour all the Masters content like most of us. Either way, Happy Masters to all, and let’s root on another Bulldog to take the Green Jacket. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

We’ve made it to Masters Week! This is when Dawg Sports becomes Dawgs Golf. It is a nice table setter for the end of Spring Practice in Athens and the sadly not-televised G-Day game. So don whatever Masters logo gear you were able to snag (or had your father-in-law give you for your birthday), mix up a batch of Azaleas to sip on, and set right down for a preview of the former Bulldogs plying their trade at the most famous golf tournament in the world.

Only 5 ‘Dawgs are in the field, but that’s 5 more than Tigers in this year’s field. Scottie Scheffler is planning on playing, but he pulled out of another tournament ostensibly to attend his expecting wife. Collin Morikawa withdrew from The Players (and this past week) due to a back injury, but the rest of the world’s top 10 look to be in pretty good shape.

The course will be pretty much the same to the naked eye, but the 17^th hole was elongated to 450 yards, and other holes will have subtle contouring changes around the greens.

So here’s who you’re going to be rooting for come Thursday morning.

Harris English: T-12 in 2025, so that automatically gets you an invite back the next year. Has played 6 times before and made 5 cuts. He tied for 22^nd in 2024, tied for 43^rd in 2023, so he’s definitely trending up. He’s also had three top-3 finishes in majors in recent years, so he could be ready to break through.

Brian Harman: this will be the wee lefty’s 8^th Masters, yet he’s only made the cut 3 times. And only 6 rounds under par. He tied for 36^th last year (and a top 10 at the British Open). His best finish was T12 in 2021.

Russell Henley: the Maconite has competed in 9 previous Masters. Surprisingly he missed the cut here last year, arguably the best of his career. A T38 in 2024, T4 in 2023, T30 in 2022 having missed the previous 3 Masters, but a T15 in 2018, T11 in 2017, 21^st in 2015, and T31 in 2014.  His only missed cut in August was his inaugural appearance in 2013.

Sepp Straka: his 5^th trip to Washington Road, having made the cut 3 out of 4 tries. His best finish was T16 in 2024, T46 in 2023, and T30 in 2022. So his only year missing the weekend was last year – like Henley, arguably his best season in his fairly young professional career.

And then there is Bubba. Gerry Lester Watson Jr. is of course a Masters Champion; the first former Georgia Bulldog to win a major. But he liked his win in 2012 so much he did it again in 2014. He’s made it to Amen Corner 17 other times, making the cut in 14 of them. Augusta National is often referred to as a “second shot” golf course, and Bubba does like to take unconventional lines which ANGC offers in spades. He’s 47 years old now, having played the last several year on the LIV tour, and I honestly have zero assessment of his game. But he does love UGA, he married another Bulldog athlete, and he returns to Athens frequently.

We’ll be back with more coverage, specifically tee times and how to watch. Thanks for reading, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Tis the season to take a look back at the college football season that was. We could of course do a basic game by game recap of the Georgia Bulldogs’ 2025 football season. Just go over the stats and storylines from that point in the season. Talk about the things we thought we’d learned (that often turned out not to really be true). . But where’a the fun (or challenge) in that?

Instead, I’ve decided to once again recap every game played by the Red and Black last year in the style of a different literary great of the past. We begin by revisiting the opener against Marshall in the style of one of the most stylish writers of the 20th century, that chronicler of the idle rich of the British Isles, the great P.G Wodehouse.

The Bulldogs of Georgia, and Their Afternoon’s Work

It would be misleading to suggest that Georgia approached the matter of the Marshall Thundering Herd with anything resembling elaborate preparation. One does not, after all, bring out the good silver for Tuesday supper. The Bulldogs, sensible fellows to a man, simply attended to the fundamentals with the quiet competence of a well-trained but unsettlingly violent butler, and the result was precisely the sort of outcome that causes Athenian enthusiasts to press loved ones warmly by the hand and emit small but audible pips of satisfaction.

The offense, that sometimes temperamental engine, produced four hundred and eighty-eight yards of progress, which is the sort of figure that puts a spring in the step. More gratifying still was the democratic distribution of the spoils, two hundred and forty-nine yards through the airier regions, of Clarke County and two hundred and thirty-nine along the terrestrial firmament, a balance that would have brought a tear to the eye of a haughty gentleman’s gentleman who appreciates things being properly shared out.

One Dwight Phillips contributed sixty yards on a mere five carries, which represents a commendable rate of knot. It was the sort of economy of effort Bertram Wooster would admire, sparing of actual perspiration for ample reward. Some might call it sloth, but only because they lack the vision to recognize genius.

But it was the young Stockton (Gunner, as his intimates know him) who topped the red and black rushers with seventy-three yards merely upon ten attempts, and who further distinguished himself by becoming the first Georgia quarterback since the estimable Stetson Bennett, in that celebrated championship business of 2022, to motor across the goal line on multiple occasions in a single afternoon. One felt that Stockton, a young man who appears to have been assembled with an excess of energy, rather enjoyed himself.

Now, I should note that Coach Bobo — a man who, one gathers, has views on the proper deportment of a quarterback — may not have intended for the lad to do quite so much galloping about in the early exchanges. But the film, as they say, does not lie, and by the time the rougher fellows of the SEC come snorting onto the schedule, opposing coaches will have spent any number of sleepless nights attempting to devise counter-measures for this tiger from Tiger. This is the sort of reputation that takes years to shake.

The pass protection, one must confess, was not uniformly of the highest order. In truth it was more akin to the fare at a roadside pub than supper at the Savoy; sufficiently filling, but lacking in any panache. There were moments when the offensive line presented something of an open-door policy to the Marshall rush, and it fell to young Stockton to extricate himself by means of his legs, a resource his predecessor Carson Beck, (a perfectly decent chap in his way, acclaimed the Gussy Fink-Nottle of his generation) was rather less richly endowed with.

A portion of the blame for the sporadic hijinx at the front may be laid at the door of injuries to guards Morris and Gaston, and to the tackle Greene, which is the sort of personnel setback that tends to complicate matters. Morris, to his credit, dusted himself off and returned to the fray after taking his lumps. The coach, Smart by name and one assumes by nature, was heard to speak warmly of one Bo Hughley, who stepped in for Greene in a manner that gave general satisfaction. Gaston, however, was dispatched for what the medical profession terms an MRI, and may find himself resting on his laurels for some time to come. If the laurels are draped over a set of crutches that would be all the worse.

Defensively, the Bulldogs performed in more or less the fashion one would expect from a sound outfit confronting an opponent who had not previously been identified as a source of particular danger. The total yardage conceded was two hundred and seven, and the bulk of that accumulated only after the backups had been introduced, which is the sort of mitigating circumstance that any fair-minded observer would take into account. Georgia will shortly encounter opposition of a considerably more muscular stripe than a Marshall eleven still engaged in the philosophical question of who ought to be throwing the ball. But on this particular afternoon the gents did what was asked of them, which is all any reasonable employer can demand.

The matter of turnovers, it is true, remained untouched. No fumbles recovered, no interceptions plucked from the muggy, hazy Georgia sky. Yet the Herd was held to three successes from fifteen attempts on third down (a conversion rate of twenty percent) which is the sort of statistic that causes defensive coordinators to exhale through the nose with quiet approval. This is particularly worth noting given that the 2024 unit had displayed a certain, shall we say, reluctance to remove opposing offenses from the premises when requested. And the tackling — ah, the tackling! — while it could not be described as the work of artists, was by and large what one would call passable to good. Given that Coach Smart had spent no inconsiderable portion of the fall training camp period expressing certain anxieties on precisely this subject, ( and in his customary quiet, calm manner) one takes it as a promising portent.

The Classic City Canines, for so the cognoscenti style them, now prepare for another engagement, this time against the Austin Peay Governors who are not, one understands, expected to trouble the scorers unduly. There are limits, naturally, to what a thinking man can deduce about his team from such airy exercises. But Georgia, on this September day, showed encouraging signs of having squared up to certain of last season’s demons and given them a firm talking-to. As fresh starts go, one has seen worse.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Good Thursday afternoon, Dawg fans! The Georgia Diamond Dawgs began conference play last week and have turned in a decent performance overall in this opening stretch.

Georgia opened SEC play against the Tennessee Vols in a highly anticipated series. In game one, the Dawgs fell 7-4, with all four of their runs coming in the fifth inning. It ultimately wasn’t enough, as Tennessee chipped away throughout the game to secure the win.

Georgia quickly turned the page in game two, showing a more consistent offensive approach paired with improved pitching, taking down the Vols 4-2 to even the series.

Game three proved to be the most exciting of the weekend, with the outcome coming down to the very end. Tennessee appeared to be in control for much of the game, holding a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. That was until Georgia’s lineup erupted for five runs in the inning, highlighted by Bryce Calloway’s three-run blast over the right field fence, giving the Dawgs an 8-6 lead.

By the ninth inning, Georgia still held that lead, but Tennessee refused to go quietly. Blake Grimmer launched a solo home run to cut it to 8-7, and tension quickly built inside Foley Field. With the game on the line, Cole Johnson delivered a highlight-reel moment, robbing the Vols of a go-ahead two-run homer to seal the win and the series for Georgia. A play like that is always special, but doing it against Tennessee makes it even sweeter.

With the series win secured, Georgia returned home for a midweek matchup against The Citadel as they prepared for a road trip to face Texas A&M. The Dawgs came out sluggish, clearly still riding the high from the Tennessee series, and found themselves trailing 5-0 heading into the seventh inning.

That’s when things flipped. Georgia began to wake up offensively, scoring two runs in the seventh, three in the eighth, and three more in the ninth. The comeback was capped by Kolby Branch’s dramatic three-run walk-off home run, sealing an impressive and resilient victory.

Georgia then traveled to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. In game one, the Dawgs delivered a steady performance, putting up nine runs offensively while the pitching staff held strong against a talented Aggies lineup in a 9-4 win.

Game two saw an even sharper performance, particularly on the mound. Georgia limited Texas A&M to just two earned runs while continuing their consistency at the plate, scoring eight runs to secure both the game and the series with an 8-2 victory.

However, game three told a much different story. Georgia struggled significantly on the mound as the Aggies’ offense erupted for 18 runs through seven innings, handing the Dawgs a tough 18-5 loss.

Following their return to Athens, Georgia faced Kennesaw State in a midweek matchup. It was another uneven performance, as the Dawgs struggled offensively for much of the game before breaking through late. Georgia scored four runs in the seventh and added three more in the eighth to reach seven total runs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as continued pitching struggles allowed Kennesaw State to put up ten runs and secure the win.

Georgia now sits at 20-6 overall with a 4-2 record in conference play. The Dawgs will now turn their attention to hosting the South Carolina Gamecocks, who are currently struggling, particularly in SEC play. South Carolina is also in the midst of a coaching search, as head coach Paul Mainieri recently stepped down and announced his retirement.

Game one of the series is set for tomorrow night at 6 p.m. ET in Athens.

Hope all of you have a great rest of your week and weekend. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

Even though the football season has ended, the free agency period of the NFL has gotten off to a hot start. Several former Bulldogs have earned some massive paydays over the past few days. Some have joined new teams, and some received record-breaking contracts.

Over the past few seasons, we have often referred to the Philadelphia Eagles as the “Philly Dawgs” because of the large number of former Dawgs on the team. The Las Vegas Raiders saw this and decided to get in on the action as well. The Raiders signed multiple former Dawgs this month, most notably linebackers Nakobe Dean (three years, $36 million) and Quay Walker (three years, $40.5 million). They will unite with former tight end Brock Bowers and cornerback Eric Stokes.

Last season with Philadelphia, Dean recorded 55 tackles with seven tackles for loss and a career-high four sacks. He was limited to 10 games last season while he recovered from a torn patella tendon. Walker posted a career-high 128 tackles and eight tackles for loss with the Green Bay Packers last season. Both Walker and Dean, who were teammates on Georgia’s 2021 CFP National Championship winning team, will provide a boost to the Raiders’ linebacking core, which was a position of need for Las Vegas.

Speaking of former 2021 team members, Eagles’ defensive tackle Jordan Davis signed a new contract earlier this month. The North Carolina native signed a three-year, $78 million contract, which includes $65 million guaranteed. He is now the highest paid nose tackle in the NFL.

Davis has become a staple of the Eagles’ defensive line. He has been a key player in their multiple playoff trips and had a key sack in their Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh, and he also did this last season:

Other former Dawgs signed with new teams, such as Azeez Ojulari and Channing Tindall returning to the red and black with the Atlanta Falcons. More players, such as Leonard Floyd and Nick Chubb, are still awaiting their new teams. Stay tuned for more free agent news from former Dawgs.

First, there’s the good news for the Hoop Dawgs.

There’s no drawing a much lower-seeded than they should be seeded team like it did in Gonzaga last year. But that’s no reason to pop a celebration just yet.

No, Georgia does not draw a team that should be seeded much higher in Saint Louis. Yes, there is something to be said that the Billikens are not a team used to being in the Field of 68 as this is their first berth in seven years.

But Saint Louis has come from the Atlantic 10, a conference of teams that grinds down one another as the season goes on. During the season, the Billikens’ conference wins included both VCU and Dayton. VCU’s an NCAA tourney regular, as is Dayton – the latter of whom edged Saint Louis by one point in the conference semifinals. That loss, by the way, came after the Billikens were the class of the A-1o, claiming a regular-season title for the first time in 12 years.

But the success of the Billikens goes back further, as they started 24-1 and ascended to being ranked as high as 18th nationally.

A big reason for that success? The Billikens being able to get up and down the court fast and well. Saint Louis may have ranked fifth-fewest in points allowed, but it also led the A-1o in points per game. That’s exactly the kind of team a Georgia has to worry about in this format – one that once it gets hot, can be hard to stop.

The offensive heart of the Billikens, on and off the court, is center Robbie Avila. He became a household name in recent years at Indiana State, and that play continued with Saint Louis.

With his physical play and tight-rimmed glasses, he’s every bit of a folk hero and one that if he plays big, can be one of those March Madness feel-good stories – unless Georgia wrecks that narrative of the preseason all-conference pick.

Avila has plenty of support in Dion Brown and Trey Green, both of whom average around 11 points with Brown being key in the paint with nearly six boards per game.

The key for Georgia seems simple – don’t go on a cold streak (looking at you, Ole Miss game in the SEC tourney) and don’t let an underdog swing the momentum of an arena not close to either team’s home.

Go Dawgs!

We have always been at war with the Billikens.

Well, not really. But for tonight we will be locked in mortal athletics combat with the imaginary gremlin champions of the Atlantic Ten regular season.

Tipoff should be somewhere in the general neighborhood of 9:40 pm eastern on CBS and Paramount+. I’ll be popping in here with updates and stats.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Georgia will take on the St. Louis University Billikens in the night cap of this evening’s Midwest Regional, tipping at roughly 9:40 p.m. Athens standard time.

Georgia is the higher seed and a slim 2.5 point favorite according to Fan Duel’s odds, but the #9 seeded Billikens are a dangerous team. They finished as the top team in the always tough Atlantic Ten conference, logging an impressive 27-4 regular season record. How can Mike White’s Hoop Hounds knock out the Billikens? I have some ideas.

Five Keys To A Bulldog Win

Show up: No, Georgia can’t win this one just by showing up. But as we saw last year against Gonzaga it’s easy to lose in the tournament when you don’t get off the bus on time. A slow start in this one feels like not only a sure way to get sent home, but a good reason to ask exactly why Mike White’s teams come out flat in tournament games.

Contain Robbie Avila. Steph Blurry. Larry Blurred. Looks like the manager of a Jiffy Lube but makes it rain from inside and out. Avila averages 12.9 points a game for a very balanced St. Louis attack. If the 6’10 big man can be bottled up (and if Georgia’s bigs don’t get in foul trouble trying to stop him) it will take a major cog out of the Billiken scoring machine.

Break serve. Both of these teams score a lot of points. And this Georgia team, when it has struggled, has just flat out given up a lot of points in only a little bit of time. If the ‘Dawgs can get a couple of stops and force the Billikens to play from behind, however, I like our odds. 

Turnovers, both ways. A big part of breaking the Billikens scoring flow is going to be creating some turnovers. At. Louis, like the Red and Black, pushes the ball up the court, and that should create some turnover opportunities. Likewise, Georgia absolutely cannot give up easy baskets to a high octane Billiken offense that averages 87.2 points per game.

Know thy enemy. What is a Billiken? According to Wikipedia, the most trusted source on the Internet for totally reliable reference information:

The Billiken is a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream.

Why is that important? Honestly I’m not sure it is. I just found it interesting. And now you can add that knowledge to your quiver of useful data.

We’ll be back this evening with an actual Georgia basketball live thread. Because why not? Until then…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

The tournament committee has spoken, and what they had to tell the Georgia Bulldogs actually could have been worse.

The Hoop Hounds have been slotted into the Midwest Regional and given a #8 seed. They’ll open the tournament Thursday against the St. Louis Billikens, most recently seen dropping a tough, back and forth Atlantic 10 conference tournament semifinal matchup to the Dayton Flyers.

To be clear, the Billikens (28-5, 15-3 in conference) won’t be an easy out. They’ll open are a tough midmajor opponent, and were the top seed in the Atlantic Ten tournament. Nevertheless the Red and Black have opened as 2.5 point favorite over the Billikens at FanDuel. Some of that could be attributable to the Billikens’ lack of quality wins against Power 4 opponents this season. They’ve been consistently good against mid-major competition, but Georgia will definitely present a physical test.

In light of the Bulldogs’ early exit from the SEC Tournament, I was a bit worried about falling to a 9 seed and potentially getting an opening tilt against one of those 8 seeds who really deserve to be a 7 or 6. This matchup isn’t that (see Georgia’s matchup with Gonzaga last year for an idea what that looks like). Still, if Mike White’s team picks up a round one win they’ll be rewarded with a second round contest against top-seeded Michigan in Chicago, a locale chock full of Michigan fans and alums. That would be…. difficult, to say the least. But for now, the Bulldogs are dancing, and we intend to enjoy it. And who knows, history confirms that somebody’s going to pull an upset. Might as well be us. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Let the Madness commence.

The college basketball postseason is here with Selection Sunday and the reveal of the 68 team NCAA Tournament bracket this evening. Coverage will begin on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+, at 6:00 pm eastern. You can also watch live streaming coverage on the NCAA’s March Madness Live

As a reminder, 31 teams will punch their ticket to the Big Dance by winning their respective conference tournaments. 37 will be selected by the tournament committee as at-large selections. That is the route your Georgia Bulldogs will need to take following a pretty ignoble exit in the SEC Tournament. The ‘Dawgs earned a first round bye but then fell 76-72 on Thursday to #15 seed Ole Miss, which had only won 4 conference games all season. Yeesh.

Picking up arguably your worst loss of the year three days before Selection Sunday is no way to improve your seeding. Mike White’s squad could have landed as high as a 7 or even a 6 seed with a deep run in a strong SEC Tournament field. As it is they’re definitely in the field, but will likely be a #9 seed, meaning a tough first round game against a #8 seed and a likely second round date with a #1 seed. To loosely paraphrase John Wilkes Booth, thus always to those who don’t take care of business against 12-19 Ole Miss when it matters.

Still, today looks like the day when your Bulldogs will make their first repeat trip to the Big Dance since 2001/2002. That’s something to celebrate. This will be the thread for all Selection Sunday discussion and news, right up until the Hoop Hounds’ matchup is announced. At that point we’ll break down the matchup, including a look at the odds from our friends at FanDuel, as well as key stats and player comparisons. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Good Thursday afternoon, Dawg fans!! The Georgia Diamond Dawgs have put together a solid 15–3 record, earning the #8 spot in the National rankings as they are currently riding a four-game win streak. Last week, Georgia earned a win over Kennesaw State and completed a four-game sweep over Queens University of Charlotte, with their lone loss coming at the hands of Western Carolina in a 10–9 final.

Georgia put up double-digit runs in all four games against the Royals, outscoring Queens 50–10 over the course of the series as the Dawgs’ offense continues to stay red hot.

Game 1: UGA-12 Queens-2

Game 2: UGA-13 Queens-5

Game 3: UGA-11 Queens-0

Game 4: UGA-14 Queens-3

Senior catcher Daniel Jackson has been the early catalyst of the Dawgs’ offensive attack at the plate. Jackson earned Co-SEC Player of the Week honors last week after smashing five home runs, two of which were grand slams, while also posting a .478 batting average and 13 RBIs.

While the Georgia offense has continued to produce at the plate, there is still a question mark surrounding the pitching staff as the Dawgs prepare to enter the grind of SEC play. Through the first 18 games, Georgia’s arms have shown flashes of dominance, but consistency has been an issue at times. The loss to Western Carolina highlighted some of those concerns, as the Bulldogs surrendered ten runs in a game where the offense still managed to put up nine.

The margin for error will only grow thinner once conference play begins. Lineups across the SEC are among the most talented in the country, and every weekend series presents a new challenge on the mound. Georgia will need its starters to provide length while allowing the bullpen to settle into defined roles if the Dawgs want to remain competitive in the conference standings.

Still, there are plenty of positives to build on. Georgia’s offense has proven it can score with anyone (per usual), and when the pitching staff limits free passes and keeps the ball in the park, the Bulldogs have looked like a very complete team.

All eyes now turn to the SEC opener as Georgia welcomes the 13–4 Tennessee Volunteers, who are still settling into the Josh Elander era following the departure of Tony Vitello. This series should provide an early test for the Dawgs, but Georgia has the opportunity to prove itself as the better team.

If the bats stay hot and the pitching staff rises to the moment, the Dawgs will have a great chance to start conference play on the right foot and compete at a high level throughout the remainder of the season.

Hope all of you have a great rest of your day and finish out the week strong. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

Yes, Bulldogs are headed to Duval but not for the Coctail Party. One of the biggest week’s on the golf calendar, and we’ve got some ‘Dawgs in the field. But first a quick recap of what went down at Arnie’s place at Bay Hill for the big bucks and elevated FedEx points:

Brian Harman never got anything going, blew up Saturday, and finished last of those making the cut. Chris Kirk wasn’t much better, and he tied for 47^th. Keith Mitchell both opened and closed with solid 68’s, but Friday and Saturday rounds took him out of serious contention (T33).

Harris English also started strong yet did not recapture any magic and tied for 24^th. Sepp Straka improved every day and started the final round in the top 6, but a bad Sunday bumped him back down to T13. And Russell Henley, who was the defending champion, hung around until a 4 under par final round got him into the top 10 at 6^th.

So that’s 3 former Bulldogs in the top 25, 2 in the top 15, and a top 10. Let’s see if we can make a little more headway as the Tour heads up the Florida coast to St. Augustine and the PGA Tour’s signature, signature event.

Tournament: The Players Championship, March 12-15, 2026

Course: TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course), 7,352 yards, par 72. A former swamp outside of Jacksonville turned into some of the priciest golf real estate in the country.

Purse: $25 big ones. As in the richest purse in golf. The winner gets a cool $4.5 million. This is frankly ridiculous, but it does make for some drama.

Defending Champ: Rory McIlroy. JJ Spaun led going into Sunday, but was just able to hang on with an even par 72. McIlroy charged from a little further back, shooting a 68 and forcing Spaun to make some crucial putts coming in just to make the playoff. The early sunset pushed the 4 hole playoff to Monday morning and a sparse crowd. And McIlory was comfortable enough to not make mistakes, Spaun the opposite, and the Irishman captured the Players as a prelude to what would happen in Augusta 4 weeks later.

In 2024, Brian Harman captured 2^nd place, and Kevin Kisner forced a playoff in 2014 but eventually lost to Rickie Fowler. Other than that, there haven’t been too many high finishes from our boys, but we said the same thing about the British Open.

TV Times: The Golf Channel will have live coverage Thursday and Friday from 1:00 – 7:00 pm ET. But they also have live look-ins almost all day. NBC will have extended coverage Saturday from 2-7pm ET, and Sunday from 1:00 pm ET to end of coverage. PGA Tour Live via ESPN+ is essentially all day (roughly 7-7 ET all four rounds).

Dawgs in the Field: 7. Harman, English, Henley, Kirk, Mitchell, Straka, Thompson.

Whethere this is a “5th major” or not, it is quantifiably the toughest field in golf, with 123 of the top players (outside of Jon Rahm and a couple of other LIV members). It is also the richest purse in golf. And on one of the toughest tests in terms of course setup. Add that up, and it’s a big week for everyone in the golf world.

Rory McIlroy is a game time decision (little after 1:30 pm ET Thursday) with a bad back, Scheffler is coming off his worst finish in forever (a top 25, but consecutive non-top 10s – poor guy), and plenty of other storylines. You might be distracted with the SEC basketball tournament or other items of March Madness. At least Georgia plays at 7 pm tonight, hopefully after the golf coverage concludes.

Whatever you’re watching, have yourself a day. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

The SEC Tournament begins today in Nashville, Tennessee, with the first-round slate of games. LSU and Kentucky get things started from Bridgestone Arena at 12:30 eastern, followed by Mississippi State and Auburn. The whole bracket is available over at the SEC website, along with game previews and results/stats.

Georgia begins the tournament as the #7 seed, and won’t play until Thursday night when they take on the winner of #10 Texas and #15 Ole Miss. While the Red and Black are more than likely securely in the Big Dance, the conference tournament isn’t without some significance. Most model brackets have the Bulldogs situated between a 7 and 9 seed, which means a tough first round matchup with a fellow 8 or 9 seed, and presumably a second round date with one of the #1 seeds. A deep run in the SEC Tournament could set up a much smoother road to the Sweet Sixteen.

By the way, if you’re thinking about taking a flyer on the Fightin’ Mike Whites to win it all, the odds are not exactly in your favor. FanDuel has the Dawgs at +50,000 (500 to 1) to have their one shining moment. Obviously as Bulldog basketball fans we understand that’s not the realistic goal here. Getting past the first round seems realistic, making it through round two and into the Sweet Sixteen would make this the most successful UGA basketball season since before any player on this roster was born.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Only a couple of weeks ago the Georgia Bulldogs were squarely on the March Madness bubble. However, a decisive home win over the Alabama Crimson Tide and a come-from-behind road victory over Mississippi State to finish the conference slate put Mike White’s team squarely in the tournament. The question is, where?

Some bracketologists had the Dawgs as high as a #7 seed following the win in Starkville, but events elsewhere on the college hardwood seem to have pushed other teams ahead of them. That may turn out to be a bad break. ESPN for example has the Hoop Hounds at a #8 seed taking on a solid Ohio State team in the Greenville region. The winner of that match up would get a second round date with the top overall tournament seed, Duke. In the words of great basketball philosopher Jeffrey Lebowski, that’s a bummer dude.

On3 Sports’ latest projections have the Bulldogs and Buckeyes playing as well, but as a 7/10 matchup in the Houston. That same bracket has the hated Florida Gators as the top seed following their season-ending victory over the Kentucky Wildcats (what? Like that’s hard?).

HoopsHQ also has the Gators earning a top seed, but their UGA projection is also an interesting one. That site has the Dawgs a #8 seed traveling to Chicago to take on the always feisty Utah State Aggies. The winner would likely earn a second round matchup with #1 seed Michigan, playing in a city in which the Wolverines have a huge alumni presence and would likely enjoy a solid home court advantage. Again, do not want.

The bottom line for Bulldog fans is that Georgia could substantially increase its odds of a deep tournament run by having a solid showing in the SEC Tournament that tips off tomorrow, and in which the Dawgs are the 7 seed. A run to the tournament final could push Georgia into the top third of the region brackets, which allows you to avoid the #1 seeds and also can allow you to pick up a second round game against an underdog that has enough magic to slip through one game but not two.

Speaking of odds, you can find the odds for all the conference and March Madness action over at FanDuel, just remember to wager responsibly. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Welcome to Freeform, Friday, the close cousin to football season’s Friday tailgate. This is a place for us to kick around life’s weighty questions during the off-season. Sort of a virtual rec room if you will. Maestro, queue the extended music, live from the fabulous 40 Watt:

The Georgia Bulldogs will enter play in the SEC basketball tournament next week, and spring practice for football will begin the week after that. In short, spring sports have sprung in the Classic City. Be that as it may, it is never, ever a bad time to talk about University of Georgia football. so I thought this inaugural Free Form Friday for the year 2026 should probably begin with a quick look back at football 2025.

Specifically, my question for you is this: what was the one shining moment you will take from the 2025 Georgia bulldog football season? Obviously the entire SEC championship game was magical, but I am really looking for a single play or sequence of plays that you will smile or chuckle about years from now. London Humphreys’ amazing catch of Gunner’s amazing throw in Knoxville? Auburn fans (and Hugh Freeze) losing their minds along with the ball? Arch Manning once again rolling snake eyes against the Bulldog defense? There’s a lot of great stuff to look back on, and a long way until August. So let us know what really lit your fire this fall. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

As a reminder, the stated policy of Dawg Sports regarding University of Georgia basketball is to ideally acknowledge its existence once annually. It’s not because we aren’t hoops fans. We would love to see the ‘Dawgs win every game, and in fact for my part, I can say I watch a decent amount of bulldog basketball. But harsh experience has taught us that the Hoop Hounds’ success is a bit like a timid baby deer traversing the forest floor. Adorable, but the moment you turn your eyes toward it, it dashes away in terror.

But on this morning, I am excited enough to break the rule. In case you missed it Coach White’s team down number 16 Alabama last night 98-88 in the Stege. The effort was keyed by a monster night from sophomore Kanon Catchings, who put up a career high 32 points.

If you’d have told me during the Mark Fox era that a Bulldog hoopster could score 32 points in a single game I would have wept. But this Bulldog team, now 21-9 overall and 9-8 in the SEC, is quite literally built different. They’re, and I think I’m using this word correctly….fun? The Red and Black are second only to the Crimson Tide in scoring at 90 points a game despite no player on the squad averaging over 20 points per night. Lest you get too concerned, they do still follow the grand Bulldogs basketball tradition of turning the ball over like Shriners handing out candy at a July 4th parade. But that kind of thing is a lot less damaging when you can actually shoot the basketball and rebound. Which, weirdly, it seems this team can. I’ve seen it. With my eyes.

And this emergence is even more enjoyable given that the league’s media picked the Athenians to finish 14th in the league, and placed no ‘Dawgs on the SEC first, second, or third team preseason lists. It’s fun to be right. It’s more fun to prove your doubters wrong.

Though to be fair, this season has been a bit of a revelation for Bulldog fans too. Roster turnover is now just a fact of life in college sports, perhaps nowhere more than college basketball. And Georgia came into this season without Silas Demery, Jr. (who transferred to UConn) and Asa Newell (currently doing work off the bench for the Atlanta Hawks). So perhaps the league’s scribes had some reason for skepticism.

But they fell victim to one of the classic blunders. No, not getting involved in a land war in Asia. I mean underestimating Mike White, who now sports a 77-55 record in Athens. Most importantly, that ninth conference win against the Tuscaloosers essentially clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the second appearance in a row for the Classic City Canines. That last happened during the 2001-2002 tournaments. Not sure how that streak came to an end. Like Lewis Grizzard, frankly, I don’t want to talk about it.

But I digress. The Hoop Hounds will travel to Starkville on Saturday to take on a Mississippi State team that’s lost four in a row and sits at 5-12 in the SEC. Then the SEC Tournament tips off a week from today on March 11th. At some point thereafter this Bulldog basketball team is going to mildly disappoint me by bowing out of postseason play in a frustrating and/or wholly predictable manner. But before that occurs, let me go on record stating that we’ve got one heckuva basketball team in Athens.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

The college baseball season has officially begun, and the 2026 Georgia Diamond Dawgs are back on the Foley Field diamond with their sights set on another postseason run and ultimately a trip to Omaha.

Georgia opened the season with a solid four-game week, taking a weekend series from the Wright State Raiders before closing things out with a midweek win over the USC Upstate Spartans. It was a balanced week that featured Georgia’s signature power at the plate, solid pitching, and multiple players stepping up in big moments.

Game 1 vs. Wright State

Georgia opened the weekend with a steady, dominant performance. The Dawgs wasted no time applying pressure, jumping out to a 2–0 lead in the first inning thanks to Tre Phelps launching a two-run opposite-field homer that also scored Kenny Ishikawa.

The offense broke the game open in the middle innings. Across the fifth and sixth, Georgia strung together hit after hit and capitalized with runners in scoring position. Daniel Jackson highlighted the offensive surge with a three-run blast to left-center that pushed the Dawgs’ total to 13 runs.

From there, Georgia’s pitching staff took control, pounding the strike zone, limiting free passes, and never allowing Wright State to find an offensive rhythm. The bullpen slammed the door to secure a convincing 13–1 win and a strong start to the series and season.

Game 2 vs. Wright State

The Dawgs followed up with another complete performance in Game 2.

Kenny Ishikawa was electric on the mound, striking out eight batters over four innings while allowing just one hit. The two-way transfer is already making a serious impact in Athens.

Offensively, Georgia kept rolling. Four different Dawgs homered in the game, with Brennan Hudson leading the way. Hudson finished 2-for-2 with three walks, two RBIs, and a home run in a dominant all-around performance at the plate.

With a 9–0 lead by the seventh inning, the bullpen again handled business, shutting down any hopes of a comeback and securing the series victory.

Game 3 vs. Wright State

Georgia’s opening weekend momentum hit a bump in Game 3, as Wright State responded with a strong performance to take the finale 6–3.

The Dawgs had their chances offensively but stranded eight runners on base. Henry Allen provided a spark with a solo home run in the seventh inning, but Georgia couldn’t close the gap as Wright State capitalized in key moments to earn the win.

Georgia vs. USC Upstate

Georgia bounced back in the midweek matchup against USC Upstate with an aggressive offensive start. Daniel Jackson and Ryan Black both homered early, helping the Dawgs build a 5–1 lead by the third inning.

The offense stayed hot through the middle innings with several extra-base hits, and freshman Cole Johnson stood out as part of Georgia’s deep lineup, contributing throughout the night.

On the mound, Georgia mixed and matched arms effectively. Multiple pitchers logged quality innings, using the midweek opportunity to gain experience while still maintaining control of the game. Although Upstate chipped away at times, the Dawgs never let things get tense, closing out a 12–6 win.

Dawg Sports Diamond Dawg of the Week

The first Diamond Dawg of the Week goes to two-way standout Kenny Ishikawa. His impact on both the mound and at the plate was undeniable, and his early-season form is a major boost for Georgia moving forward.

Coming Up

The Diamond Dawgs return to Foley Field tomorrow for a three-game series against the Samford Bulldogs. First pitch for the opener is set for 3:00 p.m. ET. Following that series, Georgia will welcome the Troy Trojans to Athens for another early-season mid-week test.

Hope all of you have a great rest of your day and week. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

Welcome to Thursday, and another edition of ‘Dawgs on Tour. But let’s check in to see the final results from the Genesis Invitational in La-La Land.

The field was cut from 72 down to 50 players after 2 rounds, and that score was even par/142 strokes. Unfortunately Russell Henley recorded 144 strokes, so he slammed his trunk and went home.

Brian Harman made the cut on the number, but he shot 76-71 over the weekend to tie for last place (and $51,500 in earnings).

Sepp Straka was 4 under par Saturday, and apparently decided that was too good. His Saturday 80 pretty much ensured he would fall to the bottom, and ultimately tied with Harman for the same score and same cash.

Harris English only made the weekend by a couple of shots and held serve with an 1 under 3rd round, but made some serious cash with a closing 65, jumping 16 spots on the leaderboard and $224,500.

The winner was Jacob Bridgeman, SC native and Clemson Tiger. His first PGA win was worth 700 FedEx points and $4 million. His wife of about 2 months is supposedly pleased with the outcome. Now onto this week’s Tour stop:

Tournament: Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, February 26-March 1, 2026.

Course: PGA National, (the Champion Course), par 71, 7,223 yards. Just outside of West Palm Beach, FL.

Purse: $9.6 million total, $1,728,000 to the winner. Less than half of what is offered in the Signature Events.

Defending Champ: Joe Highsmith, formerly of Pepperdine, made the cut on the number, and shot consecutive 7 under par 64s on the weekend to hold off a few others and overtake Jake Knapp (who choked on the last nine to give up the lead).

Fun Fact: The Nicklaus redesigned PGA National Champion course is one of 5 on the property. At one point, this course was home to the most balls in the water on the PGA Tour, and there is water on 15 holes. The 3 hole stretch of 15-17 is known as “The Bear Trap” thanks to Nicklaus’ tweaking, and is supposed to frighten everyone and remind you of Amen Corner at AGNC. It is definitely a tough combination, but the statue and naming makes it a little contrived.

TV Times: Thurs-Fri 2-6 pm ET on Golf Channel; Sat-Sun 1-3 pm ET Golf Channel and 3-6 pm ET NBC. CBS has given over to college basketball until after the Final 4, and will pick up golf at the Masters in early April.

‘Dawgs in the Field: 4. Brendon Todd, Davis Thompson, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell.

So now you get the title. After being the Honda Classic for a decade, Cognizant and apparently the Convention & Visitors Burea of Palm Beach County got together for a perfectly bland tournament title picking meeting. But the course is very difficult, and gives fits to every Tour pro.

The problem is that several big names aren’t competing. Thanks to having two Signature Events in a row, and Bay Hill next week with the Players 2 weeks after that, this tournament is getting skipped for rest by some of the top pros like Scheffler and McIlroy. And some highly ranked former Bulldogs like Henley, Harman, and Straka. No matter – this place is where ‘Dawgs come to win.

In the last 7 years, a Bulldog has finished in the top 10 every year here. That includes Sepp Straka’s first Tour win in 2022, Chris Kirk’s personal redemption win in 2023, and Keith Mitchell’s first Tour win in 2019. And going back further, Russell Henley’s second Tour win in 2014. So it’s a place both familiar and comfortable. And I expect more good things from Mitchell, who has shown early season flashes and won on this course.

If you don’t want to pin your hopes on a Georgia mens’ basketball team that is back to .500 in conference play and looking to secure its 20th win on the season, you might just forget those hoop dreams and come watch ‘Dawgs chasing little white balls. Either way…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

I’ll address the article photo a little later. Before that, last week at Pebble Beach started with ideal conditions and devolved into a challenge as winds swept in off the Pacific to the very exposed Pebble Beach Golf Links. While the event was eventually won by Collin Morikawa in the final group, a few former Bulldogs hung around the first page of the leaderboard and earned some good finishes.

Chris Kirk and Keith Mitchell finished at 8 under par in a tie for 52, but slightly different ways to get there; Kirk was very steady while Mitchell had a little more volatility round to round.

Harris English opened with a 73 but followed it with a 63 and 2 more under par rounds to finish t24.

Brian Harman started Sunday T19 but eagled both par 5s on the front and started to scare the leaders at 6 under for 15 holes, but faltered at the finish at ended back at T19.

Russelll Henley started back in the pack but a hot front 9 moved him up the leaderboard and a eagle at 18 secured a top 20 standing.

And Sepp Straka started in the final threesome but early bogeys seemed to doom his chances. That is until a birdie on 14, 16, 17 and an eagle on 18 jumped him over all but Morikawa and gave him a T2 finish. Now the Tour moves down the Pacific Coast to LA.

Tournament: The Genesis Invitational, February 19-22, 2026

Course: Riviera Country Club, par 71, 7,384 yards. Located just a few miles north of Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles metro.

Purse: $20 million total, $3.6 million to the winner. Another Signature Event, another bloated purse with another exclusive field.

Defending Champ: Ludvig Aberg. Due to the fires in LA last January, the decision was made to move the tournament from it’s home at Riviera (LA) down to Torrey Pines (San Diego). There, the young Swede captured his 2nd Tour title with a clutch final 9 holes. Davis Thompson and Brian Harman were the only two ‘Dawgs in the top 20.

Fun Fact: Bubba Watson won this tournament 3 times – Northern Trust in 2014, 2016 and the Genesis Open in 2018 (hence the cover art). The caddy for all 3 of those wins was Ted Scott. Who is now the caddy for #1 in the world Scottie Scheffler. The same player who has finished in the top ten in his last 18 tournaments, and 6 of those were wins. You might not get much value from placing a bet on Scheffler to win, top 5, or top 10, but at least you’re shekels are pretty safe.

TV Times: Thursday-Friday 4-8 pm ET on Golf Channel; Saturday 1-3 pm ET Golf Channel and 3-7 pm CBS; Sunday 1-3 pm Golf Channel and 3-6:30 pm CBS. Plus all the streaming on satellite radio and ESPN+.

‘Dawgs in the Field: 4. Harris English, Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, Russell Henley.

This is a Signature Event with a smaller, invitation only field, yet the tournament has a 36 hole cut, thanks to the insistence of host Tiger Woods (who famously never won on this course in his PGA Tour career). It is essentially the same as last week so we’ll only see a couple more new faces, but more importantly (to most viewers and definitely the networks) is that the top players on Tour will all be in attendance facing off against each other. Even though the season is 6 weeks old, this will be only the second event of the year for players such as Rory McIlroy and last August’s FedEx Cup winner Tommy Fleetwood. But this is about as close as you can get to good on good outside of the 4 majors.

We’re about to conclude the West Coast Swing and head to the Florida Swing, but it is interesting to see how the schedule sets up. Last week’s first Signature Event was at Pebble Beach – iconic by every measure. This week is at Riviera, a close runner-up tier in iconography and it is hosted by Tiger Woods. Next week is the Cognizant – PGA National is a good challenge but while not on any Mount Rushmores, it is hosted by Jack Nicklaus. The following week is Bay Hill – founded and named after Arnold Palmer. The next week is the Players at Sawgrass. That is quite the stretch of golf for February/March.

Though only February, it’s never too early to earn FedEx Cup points to get into the post-season via top 100 in point rankings. Of our Bulldogs, Chris Kirk and Davis Thompson have the most work to do at 124th and 116th repsectively. Brian Harman is 77th after last week, Keith Mitchell 47th with lots of cuts made but no high finishes, Harris English 39th from a mixed bag, Russell Henley 25th with a very good Sunday scoring average, and Sepp Straka 9th thanks to his runner up in the point-boosted AT&T last week.

The golf world is still splintered and in an arms race for purses, players are making surprising moves in and out of tours/leagues most every week, and there’s plenty of griping about field sizes and pathways, but the sport of golf is no more messed up than every other sport: just the issues are different. The good news is that a lot of very good golf is on TV every weekend and the sport is about to start playing some of the best venues in the world. That’s worth watching. Enjoy, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

This is a tumultuous time in the world of college athletics. Name, image and likeness, as well as changes to the playoff scheme in football and resulting conference upheaval have upended the world as many of us knew it for the past three decades.

It’s a world gone mad, and someone needs to bring a bit of sanity to it. You could be just the person for the job.

Our open question to you on this afternoon is simple. Imagine you have been crowned the king or queen of college athletics. Like the head of the NCAA if you didn’t have to worry about school presidents, meddling congresspersons, or television executives telling you what you can and can’t do. Once vested with this enormous power (and equally weighty responsibility) how would you exercise it?

For my part, I think at a minimum I would require that no college sports conference at the FBS level can have a geographically non-contiguous layout. That is, you can’t skip states to get to another school to add to your conference. The Big Ten for example spans coast-to-coast but doesn’t have any schools in most of the states its student athletes are currently flying over to get to that big UCLA/Rutgers matchup. I think this simple rule would do a lot to rein in some of the far flung, stitched together Frankenconferences now emerging.

Drop your ideas for how to fix this mess in the comments. And as always…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

No backdoor top 10s for the Bulldogs last week, and none were contending on an exciting final 9 holes ultimately won by Chris Gotterup over Hideki Matsuyama on the first playoff hole. But money was earned, and FedEx Cup points were awarded. Brian Harman, most recent honoree of the 2026 UGA Young Alumnus Award, never got anything going and missed the cut by a few strokes. Chris Kirk couldn’t get the ball in the hole in Round 2 and missed the cut by 1. Davis Thompson was in decent shape for the weekend, but slid down to T64 at the end. Keith Mitchell played steady if uninspired golf and he finished T41. Harris English climbed up a few spots each day, and Sunday showed him in a tie for 28th. And Sepp Straka also kept hanging around, ultimately to T18. Now onto this week’s Signature Event.

Tournament: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, February 12-15, 2026

Course(s): Spyglass Hill Golf Course: Par 72, 7,071 yards and Pebble Beach Golf Links: Par 72, 6,989 yards.

Purse: $20 million in total with $3,600,000 to the winner. And no cut. Last place gets $32,000. 35th place is over $100k. Thus the title of the article. Think of it like the inflated contracts Power4 QBs are getting – it is ultimately unsustainable without some change.

Defending Champ: Rory McIlroy. At this time last year, McIlroy was but a fresh-faced kid off the boat from Ireland. Okay, he was already a multi-millionaire, but he was NOT a Grand Slam and Masters Champion. Last year, Georgia’s own Sepp Straka actually held a 1 stroke lead going into Sunday, but it was bunched and there was a lot of movement early with the lead bouncing around. Then McIlroy got his irons and putter to work, and he closed with a 66 and a 2 stroke lead (Straka finished 7th, Henley raced up to a T5, Mitchell was T33, Harman was T53, Thompson was T58, Kirk T62, English T73 and Todd T78. )

Fun Fact: It’s Pebble Beach. It’s the old Bing Crosby Clambake. It’s Clint Eastwood prowling around, Bill Murray shanking and not coordinating, and Jim Nantz getting to sleep at home (a proprety on the course that is probably north of $15 million).

TV Times: Golf Channel will have coverage Thursday and Friday 3-7 pm ET, also on Saturday and Sunday 1-3 pm ET. CBS will have the main weekend coverage Saturday and Sunday 3-7:00 pm ET. Set your DVRs to record 60 minutes as appropriate.

And a reminder that if you have ESPN+, you have coverage from essentially 11 am ET every day, and with mutlitple streams to view (featured groups, featured holes, main feed, etc.). And SiriusXM has coverage from 1:00 pm every day.

‘Dawgs in the Field: 6. The usual suspects thanks to finishing top 50 last year. Harris English, Sepp Straka, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Chris Kirk (thanks to a good Fall season a few months back), and Keith Mitchell (via a sponsor’s exemption).

It is the first “Signature Event” of the 2026 season, which means a smaller field, an elite field for those qualified, and bloated purses. If you qualify for this tournament, you were already rich from your recent success. And now you get guaranteed money, about double what is available at a normal Tour event. So the rich get richer.

My bitter pill is wearing off so I’ll mention the highlights. First, it’s Pebble Beach, widely regarded as one of if not the most picturesque places to play golf on earth. Hugging Carmel Bay along 17 Mile Drive on the Monterey Peninsula, the Pacific Ocean is actually in play on several holes. Unpredictable weather, scenic vistas, and some of the most expensive land in the US is where these millionaires will ply their trade.

And it’s a pro-am. In the old format, with a full field across 3 courses, the players were still faced with 6+ hour rounds thanks to pandering to the crowd and foursomes including the amateur partners who would lose balls and play poorly on a course set up for PGA pros. But it’s fun, provides a few TV moments, and is one of the last tournaments to have amateurs play alongside pro during the competitive rounds.

Keith Mitchell seems to have some magnetism. He previously paired with Josh Allen of the Bills, and this year is teaming with Taylor Swift’s fiance.

Chris Kirk will play with David Kohler, CEO of the Kohler Company which owns Whistling Straits and some sink accessories.

Russell Henley is teamed with Ted Fike, who I believe is an entrepreneur and founder of Investco (among others).

Sepp Straka with Chris Reyes, co-chair of the 6th largest private company in the country.

Brian Harman with Bill Rogers. There are a lot of famous people with that name, but I think this is the CEO of Truist.

Harris English with Ralph LaRossa, and I’m guessing this is the CEO of PSEG, one of the big power companies in the US and specifically NY/NJ.

There are a few other celebrities which I recognize, but I won’t bore you with details. More importantly, the vast majority of the world’s top 50 golfers will be going head to head at an iconic venue with a lot on the line. Enjoy, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Hello. My name is MaconDawg (well not really, not on my driver’s license because that would draw some weird looks, but go with it…) and I am still paying for cable.

For years I have vowed that I would be joining the ranks of the cord cutters, those who no longer pay ever-escalating fees just to have access to the Hallmark Channel (which I never watch) and Animal Planet (which I watch precisely once a year when my wife and daughter turn on the Puppy Bowl). The prices keep going up. My television viewing continues to go down. It is a horrible value proposition , one which no sane person would accept.

Except for college sports. As you can imagine, writing several hundred thousand words about college sports every year requires one to actually watch a fair amount of college sports. Unlike commentating on college sports for a television network, which requires either a weird tie, frosted tips, or a Labrador retriever, and preferably some combination of the three.

But I digress.The point is that every year I say I’m going to figure out which streaming services offer me the greatest variety of college football programming for my hard-earned buck, and every year I get into the fifth draft of my presentation to the family and say “Forget this, saving $10 a month ain’t worth it.” Except that now, I suspect it probably is. And that’s where you come in.

Assuming I have no need to catch up on Ted Lasso or Magnum P.I. or Bridgerton (wait, wasn’t that the name of Tom Selleck’s old Navy buddy on Magnum P.I.?) what is my best streaming option for college sports, commentariat?

I’m not averse to paying for more than one service if it gets me all the college football, most of the college basketball, and a surprising variety of college baseball/gymnastics/quidditch. But if there is indeed one streaming service to rule them all in 2026 I’d love to hear about that too. Remember, by sharing your experiences you’re not just helping one doddering oaf, you’re helping our entire community watch sports better. And if you help us save a little coin here and there maybe we can redirect it to NIL and pick up a reserve long snapper. It couldn’t hurt.

I’m counting on you, Dawg Sports readers. What are your current favorite college sports streaming options, and why?

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

We are just a few days away from Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, CA. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will battle for the privilege of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, capping off a season of hard work and sacrifice for the players and coaches. For the 25th consecutive season, the Georgia Bulldogs will be represented in the big game.

Of course, winning a Super Bowl often requires standout performances from individual players. In the history of Georgia football, there have been several former players who have shined on the biggest stage.

The first Super Bowl MVP in Bulldogs’ history was Jake Scott, a safety and punt returner for the Miami Dolphins. He earned MVP status in Super Bowl VII against the Washington Redskins thanks to his two interceptions off of Washington quarterback Billy Kilmer. The Dolphins would win the game 14-7 to finish off their undefeated 14-0 season.

Other Georgia players would become staples of the Super Bowl over the next few years. Offensive lineman Guy McIntyre, a standout on those great early 1980s Georgia teams, won three Super Bowls as a lineman for the San Francisco 49ers. Six-time Pro Bowler Ray Donaldson won Super Bowl XXX as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in 1996.

When you think about all-time great Super Bowl performances from former Dawgs, however, one name stands out about the rest: Terrell Davis. The former sixth round pick of the Denver Broncos had a relatively short NFL career, but his impact has been remembered even to this day. A three-time All-Pro and the 1998 league MVP, Davis played in two Super Bowls. His best performance came in Super Bowl XXXII against the Green Bay Packers. Davis had 30 carries for 157 yards and three touchdowns. His third touchdown was a go-ahead score with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Broncos would go on to defeat Brett Favre and the Packers 31-24, giving Denver its first Super Bowl title, and Davis would earn Super Bowl MVP. They would win it all the next season against the Atlanta Falcons, with Davis rushing for 102 yards in that game.

The 2000s saw former Dawgs like Richard Seymour collect multiple rings. During his career, Seymour won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots as an anchor of their defensive line. The player with the most notable Super Bowl performance of the decade is former Bulldog utility man Hines Ward. Drafted as a wide receiver. The 1998 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ward played multiple positions as a Bulldog, including receiver, running back, and even quarterback.

Ward carved out a nice career for himself with the Steelers, earning four Pro Bowl berths and winning two Super Bowls. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks, catching five passes for 123 yards and one touchdown. All but one of his passes were throw by Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Funny enough, the one not thrown by Big Ben was a 43 yard touchdown pass from receiver Antwaan Randle-El the fourth quarter. This score would ultimately seal the 21-10 victory for Pittsburgh and help them win their fifth Super Bowl victory.

In the last few years, there have been other standout Dawgs who have made big Super Bowl plays. During the Patriots’ historic comeback against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI, wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell caught six passes for 70 yards, with five of them coming in the fourth quarter. Sony Michel was almost the entirely of New England’s offense in Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams, as he rushed for 94 yards and scored the game’s only touchdown. Matthew Stafford, the 2025 NFL MVP, was clutch in his first Super Bowl appearance. He threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns, including the game winner to Cooper Kupp with less than two minutes left in the game.

Of course, the most dramatic moment from a former Dawg in the Super Bowl occurred in the 58th game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Mecole Hardman, who was initially drafted by the Chiefs in 2019, found himself as a member of the New York Jets at the start of the 2023 season. He was traded back to the Chiefs in October of that year.

Hardman did not have a touchdown catch the entire season up until the Super Bowl, but his lone catch in the endzone will be remembered by Chief and Dawg fans forever. Trailing 22-19 in overtime, quarterback Patrick Mahomes found a wide open Hardman, who ran an excellent route, for the game winning touchdown to give the Chiefs their third Super Bowl win in five seasons.

As we continue towards the big game on Sunday, I hope you enjoyed this look back at some former Dawgs the Super Bowl. Will we see new legends be made on Sunday? We’ have to tune in and see, and I’ll be sure to write about them next week.

First a quick glance at last week’s results in San Diego, likely the last time that tourney is sponsored by Farmer’s Insurance (We are apparently not Farmer’s. Bum ba-dum bum bum bum bum.) Davis Thompson started hot but cooled off quickly in the back half of his opening round, and really didn’t get anything going en route to a T43. Harris English started off cold, but slowly warmed up and ended up T22 at 10 under par. Keith Mitchell fell back to the pack after his 2nd round, and had spectacular front 9’s both Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately he also had to play the back 9 both days, and those tougher holes spoiled otherwise really good rounds. He still finished at 12 under par, and got a T11 for his efforts. Now onto this week’s event:

Tournament: WM Phoenix Open, February 5-8, 2026

Course: TPC Scottsdale, par 71, 7,261 yards (Scottsdale, AZ)

Purse: $9.6 million total, $1,728,000 to the winner.

Defending Champ: Thomas Detry turned this mostly into a runaway at the end of Round 3, and even though some other players made noise Sunday, the Belgian kept his foot on the accelerator and cruised to a 7 shot victory. And also became the first Belgian to win on the PGA Tour. For the Red & Black contingent, Sepp Straka finished 15th, Mitchell & Harman tied for 25th, Greyson Sigg T32, Davis Thompson T36, while Chris Kirk and Brendon Todd missed the cut.

Fun Fact: Almost every tournament has an outdoor concert on the grounds at some point, but these guys do it up more than anyone else. The “Birds Nest”, an area cordoned off specifically for concerts (and a 360 degree stage no less) will feature Bailey Zimmerman/Chase Matthew on Wednesday; Zach Top with Ernest Thursday; Nelly/Ludacris/Ja Rule Friday; and John Summit with BUNT Saturday. I guess this will appeal to people.

TV Times: Thurs-Fri 3:30 – 7:30 pm ET on Golf Channel, Sat-Sun 12-3:00 pm ET Golf Channel and 3-6:30 pm ET on CBS (NBC picks up this tourney when CBS has the Super Bowl).

‘Dawgs in the Field: 6. Harris English, Brian Harman, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell, Sepp Straka, Davis Thompson.

Welcome to Spin City. No, not a mid-week Michael J. Fox sitcom vehicle, but an allusion to what branding and marketing departments are good at.

The Phoenix Open has been around since the 1930s, and followed suit in the early 2000’s with corporate sponsorship naming rights. The FBR Open (Friedman Billings Ramsey, I kid you not) lasted a few years before Waste Management took over. Waste Management was a mainstay in business school ethics courses, along with its founder Wayne Huizenga (yes, that Wayne Huizenga). The iteration of Waste Management that sponsors the tournament had severed all ties to that distasteful regime, and they saw sponsoring a golf tournament popular with the young crowd as a wonderful opportunity to sportswash. Or at least get the public thinking about things other than corporate malfeasance and market fraud.

Along with the large local philantrophic Thunderbirds organization which mans and manages the operations, they leaned into big crowds, rowdy crowds, and a unique atmosphere for heretofore stuffy professional golf. They increased ticket supply, drew in local Arizona State students, pumped up fan experience kiosks/events, and basically turned the tournament into a Coachella for the country club adjacent. The decidedly young crowd in the tens of thousands can’t be contained, so quickly the Waste Management Open became the “Wasted” Management, and for good reason. Just search for “waste management drunk fans” and you’ll have plenty of entertainment.

“Waste” and “Wasted” may be accurately descriptive monikers, but it isn’t necessarily a feel good connection. So the Mad Men of Trash rebranded the company “WM”, and the tournament is now the “WM Phoenix Open”, trying to nip the projection of drunk frat bros. They’re moving from “The Greatest Show on Grass” to “The People’s Open”. The tournament website now more prominently displays a Fan Code of Conduct and a banner pleading visitors to “respect the game”.

This is a tournament that encouraged caddy races (literally caddies running races), schleps more beer than a Sigma Nu rush party, told players to engage with fans by throwing out swag/merch on certain holes, built a Colosseum around a par 3, allowed fans to construct a 30 foot+ “beer snake” out of beer cups, and let players take off their shirts and dance during play. Yeah, good luck with that.

Our Beloved Boys in Red and Black haven’t fared that great here in the desert. Bubba Watson had a 2nd place back in 2012 and a T3 a few years later, and Harris English tied for 3rd 10 years ago. To be honest I don’t think there has been anything else other than some top 15s through their collective efforts. It is one of only a handful of PGA Tour events that does not list a former Bulldog as a past champion. But as a lifelong Braves fan, just wait ‘til next year. Enjoy this instead of 4 hours of Super Bowl preview drivel. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

The 60th Super Bowl in NFL history has been locked in following a captivating conference championship weekend. The Seattle Seahawks will look to avenge one of the most egregious Super Bowl losses in history as they face the team that defeated them in the big game 11 years ago, the New England Patriots. Despite not having Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, the Patriots will play in their 10th Super Bowl this century. They are officially football’s version of Thanos.

The Patriots punched their ticket to Super Bowl LX by beating the Bo Nix-less Denver Broncos on Sunday by a score of 10-7. The game turned into what the South has been over the past few days: cold and snowy. Patriots’ quarterback Drake Maye iced the game (no pun intended) by scrambling on a third-down run with less than two minutes left to secure the victory. 

There really weren’t many highlights from this game, but for Georgia fans, the biggest news is that former offensive lineman Jared Wilson will have a chance at an NFL ring as a rookie. He could become the first rookie Dawg to win a Super Bowl since Sony Michel, who did so with the Patriots by scoring the only touchdown in their Super Bowl LIII win over the Rams.

Speaking of the Rams, their season came to an end Sunday after a 31-27 loss to the Seahawks. Despite the loss, Matthew Stafford had one of his best games of the season, throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns. The likely league MVP stated that he will make a decision on his football future over the offseason. If this was the curtain call for the Texan Dawg, he went out with one of his best games and individual seasons of his career. 

I mentioned last week that Kenny McIntosh was the only former Dawg on Seattle’s roster. He will not be active for the Super Bowl due to an ACL injury, however. Amazingly, I completely forgot about head coach Mike Macdonald’s connections to the University of Georgia. 

Macdonald grew up in Roswell, GA and played football at Centennial High School. Injuries ended his football career, and he would enroll at UGA to earn a degree in finance after graduating. He was still determined to pursue a career in football, and in 2010, he joined Mark Richt’s staff as a graduate assistant. From 2011-2013, he worked as a member of the defensive coaching staff before joining the staff of the Baltimore Ravens. He ultimately returned to college as the defensive coordinator at Michigan in 2021 before returning to the same position with the Ravens. 

Shortly after he was hired by Seattle as their head man, Coach Richt praised Coach Macdonald as a “sharp guy” and someone who has a strong work ethic and has what it takes to succeed. 

The storylines leading up to this game in Santa Clara will be interesting to follow. Nonetheless, this should be a great game between two teams that were at the top of the NFL for most of the regular season. Best of luck to the players, especially all the former Dawgs playing (or coaching) in this game.

A quick look back at the American Express which concluded Sunday afternoon in Palm Springs, California. Scottie Scheffler started hot, jumped to the top of the leaderboard on Day 2, stayed there Saturday, and blitzed the field on Sunday. That was his 20th win on Tour (a lifetime exemption) and put him over $100 million in on-course earnings. Defending Champ and former Bulldog Sepp Straka missed the cut as did other Bulldogs Brian Harman, Chris Kirk, and Davis Thompson. But Keith Mitchell got a T44, Harris English tied for 27th, and Russell Henley got a back door top 10 (T8) after a Sunday 67. Now onto this week’s event.

Tournament: Farmers Insurance Open. January 29-February 1, 2026

Course(s): Torrey Pines Golf Club has a North and South course. Players will rotate between the courses the first two days, then a 36 hole cut and the remainder is played on the South course. North: 7,258 yards par 72; South 7,566 par 72.

Purse: $9.6 million total with $1,758,000 to the winner.

Defending Champ: UGA’s own Harris English. He was in pretty good shape at the midway point last year, but a Saturday 66 pushed him out in front and he was able to hold everyone off on a blustery final round Sunday. This was the 5th Tour title for English, and his first in almost 4 years.

Fun Fact: The namesake of the course, the Torrey Pine, is an endangered tree and is only found on these seaside bluffs and on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Santa Barbara.

TV Times: Because Brooks Koepka is making his first PGA Tour appearance in almost 4 years, ESPN will broadcast Thursday and Friday noon-3 pm ET (and available on Hulu and Disney+. Golf Channel will pick up those first two days from 4-7 pm ET. Weekend coverage is Golf Channel 1-3 pm ET and CBS airs its first golf of the season from 3-6 pm ET. This will be the first CBS golf production without Ian Baker-Finch, and the first with Colt Knost in a tower and Johnson Wagner on the course.

‘Dawgs in the Field:3. Harris English, Davis Thompson, and Keith Mitchell.

For the 2nd week in a row, the PGA Tour event’s defending champion is a former Georgia Bulldog. And the week before that has a ‘Dawg as a past champion. In fact, there are only a handful of PGA Tour events that have not been won by a golfer who matriculated in the Classic City. This could be a decent storyline for the golf press, and one you might have seen on a national scale.

Except the bigger story this week concerns a golfer who defected from the LIV Tour back to the PGA Tour. He also happens to have 5 major championships in his trophy case, married a girl from Winder, GA, and had a public beef with Bryson DeChambeau. Yep, Brooks Koepka is back with the PGA Tour and golf media and golf Twitter are all atwitter about it.

This is why ESPN will broadcast a non-major golf tournament for probably the first time ever, and they elevated the normal streaming ESPN+ coverage to be included on both Hulu and Disney+. And Golf Channel extended their Thu-Fri coverage by an additional hour. And now we hear that one-time UGA golfer and multiple-time cheater Patrick Reed has left LIV and is in talks to rejoin the PGA Tour as well.

Whoever you’re rooting for let’s hope for a strong finish by our boys in Red & Black. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Good afternoon, Dawg fans. I hope everyone has managed to stay warm over the last few days while enduring the winter storm. Like many of you, I’ve been cooped up at home on this fine Monday, and before total boredom fully sets in, I figured I should do something productive. So why not hop on the 2016 trend and take a look back at Coach Kirby Smart’s first recruiting class, specifically, the crown jewel of that class: Jacob Eason.

Man, writing this article really takes me back. I can still remember watching Eason’s highlights when I was in middle school. The hype surrounding him was very real, and the tape absolutely backed it up. When Coach Mark Richt and the Georgia administration mutually agreed to part ways after 15 successful seasons of Georgia football, Eason’s commitment to the Dawgs suddenly felt uncertain. Eason, Coach Richt, and the rest of the UGA offensive staff had built a strong relationship, and it was fair to wonder what might happen next.

There’s no denying that Richt was an outstanding coach during his time in Athens, but the program had struggled to get over the hump and consistently contend for national titles. It was time for a change. Just eleven days after Richt’s departure, Kirby Smart accepted the head coaching position at his alma mater, ushering in a new era of Georgia football.

Smart arrived in Athens fresh off his fourth national championship as defensive coordinator at the University of Alabama, determined to bring that championship culture with him. While instilling a winning mindset is crucial, talent, especially at the quarterback position, is what truly jumpstarts a program. For Smart, that process began with recruiting and, more importantly, keeping Jacob Eason committed to Georgia.

Despite all the coaching turnover, Eason’s commitment to the Dawgs never wavered. He went on to sign with Georgia and headline Coach Smart’s first recruiting class. A native of Lake Stevens, Washington, Eason stood 6’5” and weighed 205 pounds, possessing all the physical tools needed to eventually become a franchise NFL quarterback. A five-star recruit, Eason was ranked as the No. 4 overall player in the 2016 class and the No. 1 pro-style quarterback. He was widely viewed as the next Matthew Stafford, boasting elite size, impressive accuracy, and an absolute cannon for an arm.

During his high school career, Eason threw for 9,813 yards, 102 touchdowns, and just 18 interceptions. His senior season was especially dominant, as he passed for 3,585 yards and 43 touchdowns, earning National Gatorade Player of the Year honors.

Once Eason arrived on campus, he immediately pushed for the starting quarterback job, competing with Greyson Lambert. Although Eason had a strong spring, Lambert was ultimately named the starter as the Dawgs opened the 2016 season against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Midway through that game, Lambert played solid football, but Georgia needed a spark on offense. Enter Eason.

Eason completed 8 of 12 pass attempts for 133 yards and one touchdown, while leaning on the Dawgs’ run game, led by Nick Chubb, to secure a 33–24 victory and begin the Kirby Smart era with a win. Eason would go on to start the remainder of the season, finishing with 2,430 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

Heading into the 2017 season, expectations were sky-high. Many believed Eason was poised to become one of the premier quarterbacks in college football. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. In the season opener against Appalachian State, Eason suffered a knee injury. Backup quarterback Jake Fromm stepped in and never looked back, leading the Dawgs to victory and eventually guiding them on a run all the way to the National Championship game.

Eason’s time in Athens effectively came to an end, and following the season, he elected to transfer to the University of Washington. Due to the NCAA sit-out rule, Eason waited until 2019 to take the field for the Huskies. In his lone season at Washington, he threw for 3,132 yards, 23 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. After the season, Eason decided to forgo his senior year and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft.

He was selected in the fourth round by the Indianapolis Colts and spent time with the Colts and Carolina Panthers, appearing in two regular-season games and completing 5 of 10 pass attempts for 84 yards with two interceptions. Eason also had brief practice-squad stints with the Seahawks, 49ers, Giants, and Green Bay Packers. Now 28 years old, Eason is currently a free agent, and unless another opportunity arises, his playing days are likely over.

Regardless, he’ll always be a DGD in my book and will forever be remembered as the face of Kirby Smart’s first recruiting class, the class that helped turn Georgia from a good program into an elite one.

I hope you all enjoyed this article and that it helped cure some of your boredom today. I know it certainly cured mine. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

A quick check of last week’s Sony Open. Last year’s glowup Chris Gotterup got off to a hot start then lapped the field in the final round to take the title. Our beloved boys had meh results: Russell Henley finished T19, Brian Harman was T61, and Keith Mitchell was T66. Chris Kirk missed the cut.

Now we’re back on the mainland, and starting the tour of California with the first stop in the Coachella Valley. Some of the big dogs (and ‘Dawgs) skipped the long flight to Hawaii and are going to start their season this week. That includes world #1 Scottie Scheffler. Even more will appear next week in San Diego along with brooding prodigal son Brooks Koepka, and then even more in the desert at the WM Open the following week. Now onto this week’s Tour stop:

Tournament: The American Express, January 22-25, 2026

Course(s): Nicklaus Tournament Course: 7,147 yards; La Quinta Country Club: 7,060 yards; Pete Dye Stadium Course: 7,210 yards. All are pay 72. Players rotate courses Thursday through Saturday, the field is cut to top 65 after 54 holes, and Sunday’s final round is competed on the Stadium Course.

Purse: $9.6 million total, $1,656,000 to the winner.

Defending Champ. UGA’s own Sepp Straka. You have to go low at this birdie-fest, and Straka did that out of the gate, shooting rounds of -7, -8, and -8 to establish a bit of a Sunday lead. He was -3 through 15 holes in the final round, made his only bogey of the week on the 16th, and was able to play safe the final 2 holes to secure his victory over Justin Thomas.

Fun Fact: After play concludes Friday, a band called “Old Dominion” is slated to perform at the course. And Saturday, “One Republic” will crank it up. I feel I should know who these acts are, yet I do not.

TV Times: 4-6 pm ET, Thursday-Sunday on Golf Channel. And plenty of streaming on ESPN+ and the PGA Tour app.

‘Dawgs in the Field: 6. Sepp Straka, Brian Harman, Harris English, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell.

The golf is going to ramp up quickly, with last week serving as an amuse-bouche and this week more of an appetizer or soup (try the bisque!). There are two signature events (read: elite limited field, elevated purses) coming in just 3 weeks so the Tour pros are dusting off the shoes and trying to dial in their new equipment before the cash grab. Plus it’s a good way to check out southern California desert resort golf while you’re stuck in the deep freeze. Enjoy, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Conference championship weekend has arrived in the NFL. Four teams from the AFC and NFC will battle for a spot in Super Bowl LX. Which former Dawg will be the latest to win a ring this reason?

The first divisional round game last Saturday saw James Cook and the Buffalo Bills visit the Denver Broncos. After giving up a field goal in the first quarter, the Bills got on the board late when Josh Allen connected with former Bulldog Mecole Hardman for a four yard touchdown. This was Mecole’s first and only catch of the season.

The Bills ultimately found themselves trailing 23-10 in the third quarter before Josh Allen helped the team score 17 unanswered points with a pair of touchdown passes from the former MVP and a fourth quarter field goal.

Former Auburn and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix would lead the Broncos to a game tying field goal to send the game into overtime. In OT, we saw the most controversial call of the season as Broncos safety Ja’Quan McMillan wrestled a Josh Allen pass away from Bills’ receiver Brandin Cooks. I’m not going to get into the ““catch or interception” debate, but this play changed the trajectory of this game. Denver would go on to kick the game winning field goal in OT for a 33-30 victory.

Shortly after the victory however, the Broncos announced that Bo Nix suffered a season ending ankle injury and would miss the AFC Championship game. Replacing the former Auburn quarterback is another War Tiger QB, Jarret Stidham, who has yet to complete a pass this season. As for the Bills, they fired their head coach Sean McDermott on Monday after the game after another disappointing postseason loss.

The second game on Saturday was not as drama-filled. The Seattle Seahawks handled the San Francisco 49ers with a 41-6 route at home. The only Georgia player listed on the Seahawks’ roster is Kenny McIntosh. McIntosh suffered a torn ACL last summer and has not played this season.

On Sunday, the New England Patriots took down the Houston Texans 28-16 in a game that featured eight turnovers. Former Georgia center Jared Wilson played 65 snaps on the offensive line for the Patriots. He will look to be the next great Georgia offensive lineman to anchor a Patriots’ line in a Super Bowl like former Dawg David Andrews did in New England for 10 seasons.

Our favorite MVP candidate Matthew Stafford and his Los Angeles Rams visited D’Andre Swift and the Chicago Bears at snowy Soldier Field. Though it was a low scoring affair, it wasn’t without drama and late game heroics. On 4th and goal with less than 20 seconds left, Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams threw a prayer to the end zone that was caught by a wide open Cole Kmet, sending the game into overtime (I wonder if the Pope had anything to do with that one).

In overtime though, Stafford and the Rams would make the plays needed. After intercepting Williams for the third time, Stafford led a 10 play, 54 yard drive that culminated with a 42 yard Harrison Mevis field goal for a 20-17 win. During the drive, Stafford threw one of the best passes of his career to Davante Adams, giving the presumptive MVP another highlight reel moment in a season full of them.

This Sunday will determine the two teams we will see in Santa Clara, CA on February 8th. Best of luck to each of them, especially all our former Dawgs.

And here we are. The 2025 college football season has reached its conclusion with 135 teams vying to get to where only two could.

The Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers will square off this evening with a national title on the line. Very few people saw this matchup coming when the season opened, yet both teams have survived enough challenges to rightly say they’ve earned the right to play for a title.

Kickoff will be some time after 7:30 on ESPN. The Hoosiers are a solid touchdown favorite wherever you get your betting odds, and it would be a decided upset for them to lose their first game of the season. On the bright side, if I’d told you a mere 13 months ago that would mean Carson Beck was winning a national title that would have made you pretty happy, right? Right?

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Welcome to the 2026 PGA Tour schedule! And my 11th season (I think) of ‘Dawgs on Tour. There have been some changes in eligibility, changes in tournament scheduling and sponsors, changes in leadership, and even some rule changes. And some big news on changes in Tour membership. What stays the same is golfers who matriculated at the University of Georgia will be well represented at each Tour stop. If you didn’t know, Bulldog Men’s Golf Coach Chris Haack is prolific in developing student-athletes into millionaire pro golfers.

The rule changes are minor, and mostly deal with getting relief from pitch marks, embedded balls, and preferred lies (if you want a deeper dive on them, feel free in the comments. I’m always glad to nerd out on USGA rules.). The casual fan won’t notice them and they’re not going to change play significantly.

The membership change is indeed seismic. On Monday, the PGA Tour announced a pathway for LIV golfers to regain Tour membership and privileges. It only applies to 4 golfers due to the qualifications, and has significant monetary penalties. As of this posting, only Brooks Koepka has accepted and he will tee it up in two weeks at San Diego. There are other LIV golfers who would welcome such a pathway, including Georgia’s own Hudson Swafford.

The scheduling changes were most notable last week. In September, the Tour announced the season kickoff Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua (Maui) would be canceled as the course was suffering due to a water dispute. It is bizarre and yet not surprising that manmade resorts built on a wonder of nature taken from indigenous people would cause lawsuits over use of natural resources. There is both brash and nuance in the issue – I’m just disappointed the golf didn’t happen.

So the Tour season opener is now this week, but still in Hawaii as has been the tradition. So let’s see what’s in store:

Tournament: The Sony Open, January 15-18, 2026.

Course: Waialae Country Club, par 70, 7,044 yards. A short course by today’s standards, almost completely flat topography, but tight doglegs, tall palm trees, and ocean winds can make it difficult

Purse: $9,100,000 in total, with $1,638,000 to the winner.

Defending Champ: Nick Taylor. The Canadian (whose silhouette was incorporated into the RBC Canadian Open’s logo) won in a playoff over Colombian (and Arkansas Razorback) Nico Echavarria. 10 former Bulldogs were in the field, with 4 finishing top 30 (Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, Keith Mitchell, Russell Henley) and 1 with a top 10 (Henley).

Fun Fact: This tournament is the 2nd oldest on Tour, and has been held at Waialae since 1965. Here in 1983 Isao Aoki became the first Asian and Japanese player to win on the PGA Tour.

TV Times: Thursday through Sunday, 7:00 pm ET – 10:00 pm ET.

‘Dawgs in the Field: 4. Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell. Brendon Todd is an alternate.

The Sony is considered a “full-field” event, though it will only include 120 players. In an effort to make players think there’s more money to win, they’ve spread essentially the same purse to a few less players. Full Tour membership was only granted to the top 100 players from last year, and those on the outside have a complicated pecking order of using their conditional status to get into tournaments. Brendon Todd and Greyson Sigg unfortunately fall into this category. And some players were able to improve their status during the official/unofficial “PGA Tour Fall” series.

With different status of those ranked 101-125 from those 126-150 and so on, it is fairly complicated to figure out who will be eligible and get entry into any given week. The good news is that Henley, Harman, Straka, Mitchell, Harris English, Davis Thompson, and Chris Kirk should be frequent competitors, with Todd and Sigg sneaking in here and there.

If you’re head is swirling trying to keep up with the transfer portal, you resent Indiana’s success, you don’t really care for the NFL, and basketball hasn’t quite taken hold of your sports-watching attention, you can always kick back and watch some former ‘Dawgs chasing little white balls. And from the comfort of your recliner on a chilly January night. Enjoy, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Or maybe that’s just me being bitter.

All kidding aside, Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers are a prohibitive 7.5 favorite over the Miami Hurricanes. But who are fans picking to win it all? Well, turns out readers responding to our SB Nation Reacts poll also have their money on the Hoosiers:

I think that’s certainly the safe bet. Indiana hasn’t really been challenged this season by anyone other than the Ohio State team that took them down to the wire in the Big Ten title game. Miami and Carson Beck on the other hand, in addition to their regular season losses to Louisville and SMU, have scraped their way through the playoffs.

It’s also worth noting that fans don’t seem to be rooting for the underdog Hurricanes, either.

That also makes sense given that, while they’ve haven’t been that impressive over the past few years, Miami are one of college football’s traditional powerhouse programs. Indiana however is a perennial doormat, and has been for decades. Even if, like me, you find Curt Cignetti’s over-the-top schtick as grating as nails on a chalkboard, there’s no denying the Hoosiers are a great story.

We’ll be back with one final football open thread this evening. But for now, who are you picking tonight? And is that the team you’re actually hoping wins?

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Good afternoon, Dawg fans. With the 2026 College Football season officially coming to a close Monday night and the College Basketball season nearing its midway point, that can only mean one thing: baseball season is fast approaching. The Georgia Bulldogs baseball program is gearing up for what they hope will be another impressive year in Athens.

Wes Johnson and his Diamond Dawgs are coming off a solid 2025 campaign, finishing 43–17 overall and 18–12 in SEC play. Georgia’s season, however, came to a heartbreaking end in the Athens Regional, falling to Oklahoma State 11–9 on a walk-off home run. Following that loss, the Dawgs saw significant roster turnover, with nine players selected in the 2025 MLB Draft back in July. Eight of those nine draft picks were pitchers, forcing Georgia to be aggressive in the transfer portal to help reload its pitching staff.

Below are the pitchers who have transferred to the Dawgs:

Caden Aoki (RHP): USC transfer, Big Ten Medal of Honor winner.
Andrew Behnke (LHP): Tennessee transfer.
Teddy Brennan (LHP): George Washington transfer.
Tommy Ellisen (RHP): UConn transfer.
Caleb Jameson (LHP): Baylor transfer.
Lane Pearson (RHP): West Georgia transfer.
Brad Pruett (RHP): ECU transfer.
Matt Scott (RHP): Stanford transfer.
Dylan Vigue (RHP): Michigan transfer.
Joey Volchko (RHP): Stanford transfer.

This group brings a wide range of experience from power conferences, mid-majors, and academically elite programs. Caden Aoki headlines the class, bringing leadership accolades and high-level experience, while Andrew Behnke adds valuable SEC familiarity after his time at Tennessee. The left-handed additions provide important balance, and the sheer number of arms should allow Georgia to be flexible as roles within the pitching staff begin to take shape throughout the season.

The Dawgs also landed two of the top two-way players in this year’s transfer portal class: LHP/OF Kenny Ishikawa and 1B/RHP Bryce Calloway.

Ishikawa transferred to Georgia after spending time at Seattle University. Standing at 5’11, 195 pounds, he put together an impressive offensive season, batting .318 with eight home runs, 32 RBIs, and a .982 OPS across 52 games. On the mound, Ishikawa appeared in 19 games, posting a 4.21 ERA with 73 strikeouts. He is expected to contribute both at the plate and on the mound, giving Georgia valuable versatility.

As for Bryce Calloway, there is plenty of excitement surrounding his arrival in Athens. Standing at 6’4”, 265 pounds, Calloway possesses natural light-tower power. Last season at the University of New Orleans, he hit an impressive .390 with 18 home runs and a massive 1.206 OPS. While listed as a two-way player, Calloway primarily served as a closer on the mound. That said, he is expected to be predominantly an offensive piece for the Dawgs and should slide in as the primary first baseman, allowing Tre Phelps to move back out to the outfield.

Speaking of Tre Phelps, he should be at the forefront of returning production. After filling the First Base role at times throughout last season, Phelps is expected to return to the outfield, where he is projected to play at the next level defensively. His versatility, experience, and steady offensive production should make him one of Georgia’s most important returners, and if he reaches expectations, he should be hearing his name called in the first-round of this year’s draft.

Another key returner is Kolby Branch, who has provided athleticism and consistency in the middle of the infield over the last two seasons. Branch also has plenty of pop in his bat, clubbing 30 home runs over the last two seasons. His ability to impact the game both offensively and defensively gives Georgia a reliable everyday option and helps anchor a lineup that blends returning talent with new additions. His experience will be especially valuable as younger players and transfers adjust to the grind of SEC play.

From a schedule and outlook standpoint, Georgia once again faces the gauntlet that is SEC baseball. Weekend series against conference foes will test the depth of the pitching staff early and often, making the transfer additions all the more critical. Non-conference play should provide opportunities for the staff to experiment with rotations and bullpen roles before SEC play ramps up.

Ultimately, the 2026 season will likely hinge on how quickly the revamped pitching staff comes together. Losing eight pitchers to the MLB Draft is no small task to overcome, but Georgia’s aggressive approach in the portal suggests confidence in this new-look staff. If the arms settle in and the offense continues to produce, the Diamond Dawgs have the pieces to not only return to postseason play but potentially make a run to Omaha.

Georgia will begin their 2026 season on February 13th in a three-game series at Foley Field against Wright State.

It was an exciting weekend of playoff football in the NFL. It featured back and forth contests, multiple comebacks, a defensive battle in New England, and a loss so bad that it ended the tenure of the league’s longest serving head coach. Above all, we are another week closer to seeing who will compete in the 60th Super Bowl.

The first wild card game might have been the most exciting of the weekend. The Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers battled from start to finish. With 2:39 left in the fourth quarter, the Panthers took a 31-27 lead after a Bryce Young touchdown pass to Jalen Coker. In response, former Dawg and first time All-Pro Matthew Stafford led a seven play, 71 yard drive, capped by an incredible throw from Stafford and catch by Colby Parkinson. The Rams would go on to win 34-31, setting up a divisional round matchup with the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Stafford also put himself in the driver’s seat to win the MVP award this season.

Speaking of the Bears, they completed an impressive comeback on Saturday against the Green Bay Packers. Down 21-3 at halftime, the Bears went on a 28-6 second half run to stun their division rival and earn their first playoff win in 16 years. Running back D’Andre Swift scored Chicago’s first touchdown on the day with a six yard run in the fourth quarter. He would end his day with 54 yards on 13 carries.

Over in the AFC, James Cook and the Buffalo Bills defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road with a 27-24 victory. Cook went for 46 yards on the ground. The Bills will battle the Denver Broncos Saturday.

The San Francisco 49ers ended the Philly Dawgs’ quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions with a 23-19 win in Philadelphia. Despite 21 combined tackles, including three tackles for loss, by Nakobe Dean, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, and Smael Mondon, the Eagles’ offensive inefficiencies proved too much to overcome. The 49ers will face the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.

Nick Chubb, Kamari Lassiter, and the Houston Texans had a dominant victory on the road (I’m noticing a trend here) against the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6. Chubb rushed for 48 yards in his first playoff game since the 2020 season. Lassiter notched six tackles, including one tackle for loss.

This weekend of football should be as entertaining as last week. Best of luck to the remaining Dawgs in the playoffs seeking to hoist the Lombardi trophy at the end of the season.

Apparently, college football season isn’t over.

It certainly may feel that way to Bulldog fans who have moved on to the twists and turns of the transfer portal and (I can’t believe I’m typing this) basketball season. But four teams remain in the hunt to hoist the Dr. Pepper national championship trophy. Two of them will face off tonight in a matchup that Bulldog fans hoped not to see.

Carson Beck will lead his Miami Hurricanes into action against the Ole Miss team that knocked the Bulldogs out of contention in tonight’s Fiesta Bowl. Kickoff from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., is set for 7:30 p.m. Athens Standard Time. Television coverage will be, as one would expect, on ESPN and the Disney family of stations.

The Hurricanes are 3.5 point favorites according to the folks at FanDuel, thanks in part to one of the most vicious pass rush attacks in college football. That sounds about right to me assuming Trinidad Chambliss doesn’t go absolutely out of his mind for ten minutes the way he did during the 4th quarter against the Red and Black.

It will also be interesting see which Carson Beck shows up. Under two turnovers Carson Beck may well be headed to a national title game. Over two turnovers Carson Beck is likely headed back to Coral Gables to buff his Lambo.

If you just can’t bring yourself to watch this one I would totally understand. But be aware that we’re about to head into the cruel months of the offseason. There may come a time this June when the Braves have morphed into the Barves and you’re cleaning the gutters when you wish you had the chance to watch Mario Cristobal engage in clock management malpractice. Take that chance while you still can.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Even though our Georgia Bulldogs are no longer playing football this season (sadly), several former Bulldogs will be gearing up for a run at a Super Bowl title. Every matchup has been set in both the AFC and the NFC. Georgia will be looking to have representation in the big game for the 25th consecutive year.

The first matchup will take place in an unlikely city: Charlotte, North Carolina. The Los Angeles Rams, who are 12-5 and led by MVP candidate and former Dawg Matthew Stafford, will take a visit to Flair country (even though the Nature Boy is a die-hard Rams fan) to battle the 8-9 Carolina Panthers. Yes, you read that correctly: the 8-9 Panthers won the NFC South division and earned a spot in the playoffs by virtue of sucking the least out of the teams in their division. Stafford finished his regular season with over 4,700 yards and 46 touchdown passes. The old gunslinger will look to add another Super Bowl title to his collection en route to (hopefully) his first NFL MVP award.

Despite losing star defenders Micah Parsons and former Bulldog Devonte Wyatt for the season, the 9-7-1 Green Bay Packers will look to make a run at their fifth Super Bowl. Several former Dawgs are contributors on the Packers’ defense, namely Quay Walker and Javon Bullard. They will face off against their division rival, D’Andre Swift and the 11-6 Chicago Bears, who have been the surprise of the NFL thus far. Swift set career highs in rushing yards (1,087) and touchdowns (nine). He has become a reliable weapon for quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense.

Other matchups include the Philadelphia Eagles facing the San Francisco 49ers. The Philly Dawgs will look to win a second straight Super Bowl, and star linebacker Nakobe Dean will look to remain healthy for the duration of the postseason, unlike last year, when he suffered an injury that sidelined him for much of the Eagles’ run to the championship. 

Over in the AFC, the game with the most intrigue this weekend will be the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting the Buffalo Bills, featuring James Cook. Cook finished the regular season with the most rushing yards in the NFL with 1,621 yards. He will look to be a major factor in helping the Bills finally reach and win the Super Bowl. They will have to contend with Travon Walker and a solid Jaguars’ defense. Though Walker has battled injuries this season, he has been playing well in the last few weeks and looks to be a major disruptor to offenses this postseason.

The road to Super Bowl 60 begins this weekend. Best of luck to the former Dawgs who will be competing to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, CA, in February!

The matchup for this year‘s national championship game will be set tonight as Oregon and Indiana face off in the Peach Bowl. Kickoff will be sometime after 7:30 PM Athens standard time live from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.Television coverage will be on ESPN and elsewhere across ye olde House of Mouse.

Top-ranked Indiana is a 3.5 point favorite according to the folks at FanDuel. Honestly that seems a tad low to me. Oregon may be without standout tailback Noah Whittingham, nursing an injury from the Ducks’ quarterfinal win. And the Hoosier offense is tailor made to hum in an indirr stadium like the Benz. While Oregon has a big, physical SEC-style defense, Coach Cignetti’s unit has also shown a lot of toughness in their late season run. I just don’t expect the Fightin’ Danny Lannings to be able to establish a consistent run game in this one, and without that they’re not keeping up with Indiana.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Welcome to the offseason, friends.

The college football season continues on this week without the involvement of your Georgia Bulldogs. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a ton of Bulldog-centric news out there. Let’s get you caught up on what’s happening.

First, if you’ve been absorbed in college football to the exclusion of other pursuits you may not have been aware that both the Georgia men’s and women basketball teams have been on an absolute tear in the early season. On Saturday Mike White’s Hoop Hounds (13-1, 1-0 SEC) pulled out a thrilling 104-100 overtime win over the Auburn Tigers to open SEC play. As Dawgs247’s Jordan Hill notes, the ‘Dawgs showed a great deal of fortitude to bounce back after almost letting the game slip away.

Then yesterday Coach Abrahamson-Henderson’s team also notched an overtime SEC win, knocking off the Texas A&M Aggies 64-56. The win pushed the Lady Dawgs’ record to 15-1, 1-1 in the SEC, the team’s best start in some time. Sophomore guard Dani Carnegie in particular had a stellar outing, notching her second double-double of the year with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Obviously things could very well go sideways in conference play. But it’s looking more and more like these ‘Dawgs are something entirely different.

Most of the football news these days involves the comings and goings of NFL and transfer portal announcements. So far the Red and Black have lost only one underclassman to the draft, with defensive tackle Christen Miller announcing his intention to turn pro.

Miller was widely expected to head to the NFL, and has the potential to be a first day draft pick. The redshirt junior came back for 2025 despite being a potential pick last year and earned AP First Team All-SEC honors. Just a dang good Dawg, no matter how you slice it.

Georgia also experienced some not-unexpected transfer prot announcements with tailback Roderick Robinson, defensive tackle Jordan Thomas, and cornerback Daniel Harris all entering the annual game of musical chairs. Robinson never quite got back in the rotation at tailback after suffering a series of injuries, and seems like one of those guys who may just need a fresh start as part of a less crowded depth chart. Thomas played in five games this season but likewise played less as the season wore on and some other young contributors (especially Elijah Griffin) took more and more snaps. Harris had already announced his intention to test the portal waters after falling behind Ellis Robinson, IV and Demelo Jones on the depth chart. Here’s hoping all of them find what they’re looking for.

On the bright side, the Bulldogs did pick up the first of what should be several commitments from the portal with the announcement that Clemson safety Khalil Barnes is headed to Athens. Coach Smart has said repeatedly that his staff doesn’t pursue players in the transfer portal who won’t make an impact. And Barnes, a former North Oconee standout, could be a big contributor. He started three seasons at Clemson, picking off 7 passes and earning freshman All-American honors along the way.

I like the idea of he and KJ Bolden helming the Bulldog safety rotation in 2026, and you should too. I also expect that the Classic City Canines aren’t done in the portal. In particular I think there’s a good chance Kirby & Co. look for additional help at tailback, Edge, and perhaps receiver in the portal. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Welcome to Tuesday, Bulldog fans! And not just any Tuesday, but the first of 2026 and the first without meaningful Bulldog football for many moons. So as we look back at what could have been, we reminisce about good ol’ days riding around in a black limousine, looking so fine, drinking and dancing. But those days are gone, wrecked, washed up. If only someone had put these thoughts to song, specifically a good bluesy rock song in the early 80’s, and added some grungy guitar and harmonica to convey the edginess of it all. Ladies & Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones!

(This live version went with more sax than harmonica (it looks like Bobby Keys), but I did want to get some Ronnie Wood into the mix this season.)

The transfer portal continues to throw the sport into utter chaos… errrr… I mean allows young men and women to chase their dreams unfettered by archaic NCAA restrictions. Macondawg alerted you to the addition of Clemson DB Khalil Barnes. On the minus side, we’re down an OL, a RB, a TE, a DL, a LB, and 2 DBs – none of which played more than sparingly this season. And the TE, Pearce Spurlin, has recently been cleared to return to football but because of said NCAA rules is medically ineligible to play again for UGA.

The NFL draft is going to take a few Bulldogs, and now we know that it will take the most productive wide receiver in recent UGA history. All I’ve got to say is, thanks Z, your time here was productive and sometimes electrifying.

And on the heels of that, beloved linebacker CJ Allen also declared. He of the making almost every tackle, he of the drop into coverage, he of the blitzing gaps, he of the heroic plays saving the Bulldogs collective behind on many, many occasions. What we might miss most of all was the vocal and demonstrative leadership on a very young defense. That will be the hardest skill to replace.

So our most dependable DT, LB, and WR are now off to play pro ball. I mean, play ball and not be enrolled in an academic program with demonstrable progress towards a degree.

This time last year we were learning that Carson Beck was not going to the NFL draft, but instead taking his talents to Coral Gables/Miami Gardens. There’s a piece that portrays his decision in a favorable light… to Carson Beck and Miami. It is a fair assessment, and only skims at the off-field rumours about his time in Athens. It also barely hints at the not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 interceptions he had in the middle of the season leading to losses at Alabama and Ole Miss.

The Gym Dogs open up their 2026 campaign Saturday afternoon in Columbus against #21 An State College in that school up north from us. I fear the heady days of Suzanne Yoculan stacking national championships are far in the rearview, but if the injury bug stays away and they can stay on the balance beam, this squad has potential to make a little splash and start building back to the top 15-20 in the country.

The now top 20 ranked Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball team (yes, you read that right) is playing tonight in Gainsville for their first true road test and a big conference matchup. The defending national champions started this season at #3 in the AP, but a tough non-conference schedule has produced losses to Arizona, TCU, Duke, and UConn, plus a 2 point deficit in their SEC opener at Missouri. So while it’s a Quad1 game no doubt, the jort-jumping Mullet Buckets are currently unranked.

You have another week to pine for ‘Dawgs on Tour, since the PGA season start was delayed one week by some weird circumstances. Mom, you’ll just have to wait to read that one. For the rest of you, have yourselves a Tuesday. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Happy New Years, Bulldog fans! I’ll forgo all the wishes for prosperity and peace t the moment, because it is game day and I have a lot of Munsoning with you people. But first, here’s why I’m NOT worried about the Magnolia State Matriculators:

1.   Kewan Lacy is an incredible running back for Ole Miss, and the perfect complement for Lane Kiffin’s Charlie Weiss’s air game. But not only did Georgia throttle him last time, holding him to his lowest production of the season, but Lacy left the Tulane CFP game with an injury. QB Trinidad Chambliss is definitely a running threat, and calls his own number a lot near the goal line, but no one else in the Baby Blue backfield has meaningful carries. And the Georgia run defense has been outstanding the last couple of months, allowing less than 2 yards per carry and no rushing scores the last 4 games (3 of which were ranked opponents).

2.  Look, we’re probably going to punt this time. Let’s be real and understand the chances of Georgia playing a CFP game against a top 6 team and not punting are slim, and Slim just got through TSA. Everyone’s making a big deal about “zero punts”, but honestly it’s not that special. Just ask Brett Thorson, Bulldog punter and social media savant. His twitter beef with Stetson Bennett not allowing him to punt (by successfully ending offensive series with scores) happened more than once.

And oh yeah, Brett Thorson is also the current Ray Guy award winner – going to the best punter in college football. Georgia has to punt? To be honest, no big deal.

3.  Georgia has had a problem with back-up quarterbacks, especially in the college football post-season. Whether it be Tua Tagovailoa, or Jalen Hurts in a QB2 role, Bulldog defenses have been burned by the change of pace. Austin Simmons is not that.

I admit he looked the part in October 2024 in Oxford, where he subbed in for a banged up Jaxson Dart, marching the Rebels right down the field. But he was pulled out quickly, and he was pulled out of the Ole Miss starters role just as quickly this season. Lane Kiffin, or whoever is supposedly making decisions on offense, attempted all season to install packages and situations for Simmons to play – mostly goal-line. But the handful of times I saw him, he was lost, had no confidence, and couldn’t execute. There’s a reason Chambliss was able to lock down QB1.

Now forgive me, as I was weaned at the nipple of Larry Munson’s scratch so here’s what does worry me about playing the team whose only mistake is that they played football in Athens this season:

1.  If you do shut down their best weapon, or at least make Ole Miss left-handed by taking away the run game, Trinidad Chambliss can spread you out. In the last 6 games since they left Athens, the ReBears are averaging 322 yards passing and tossing 2 scores a game.

They have 5 receivers with at least 35 catches on the year. That includes tight end Dae’Quan Wright, a big body who has more receptions on the year than UGA’s own Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie combined. So good luck stopping the run, containing the QB in the pocket and preventing big scrambles, all when you’ve got to cover the entire field short, long, and wide. And we will be missing the services of Joenel Aguero, who is officially out Thursday. The DB had a breakout game when these teams last played, as the 2nd leading tackler on the Georgia defense.

2 .  As Trinidad Chambliss goes, so does the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Since the October 18^th game in Athens, #6 is tossing over 290 yards a game with 11 scores and only 2 picks. All at a 70% clip. And that is largely why Lane Kiffin’s old team has won their last 6 games by an average of 22 points.  

And don’t forget he has 8 rushing touchdowns on the year. Their run styles may be different, but his run stats are eerily similar to Gunner Stockton’s. Chambliss just throws for 50 more yards a game on top of that. Ole Miss has only lost 1 game, and they were leading until the Bulldog defense finally confused him enough to produce a 1-11 fourth quarter.  

We’re going to need a CJ Allen performance, just one more time. With Gabe Harris in a walking boot, Allen and Raylen Wilson and others will be tasked with filling gaps, spying on Chambliss, and having to read and react all over the field.

3 . The Ole Miss offense is a little hard to pin down. They run fairly quick tempo, and as such don’t typically have a big edge in time of possession. Yet they also lead the nation in first downs gained. Plus they’re 2^nd in the nation in plays from scrimmage gaining at least 10 yards. And they are #1 in 30+ yard plays. So they get a lot of first downs, and get a lot of chunk plays. They’re 33^rd in rushing with aforementioned Kewan Lacy, and they’re 3^rd in passing offense at over 312 yards per game.

So they run fast and make big plays. But not so big that they can’t just eat you alive with first down after first down, sustaining drives until they score. They have the best running back in the conference, and one of the best passing attacks in the country. Our boys in red and black have been off for 3-4 weeks and facing this tempo will take some getting used to with the signals, communication, substitutions, etc. 

Call me crazy, just don’t call me late for collards and black eyed peas. Let us know in the comments what you’re feeling about having a rematch for the 2^nd game in a row. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

The Georgia Bulldogs are back in a familiar place, getting set to face the Ole Miss Rebels in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. ET.

Georgia, having compiled a 12-1 record as the SEC Champ in the regular season, got a first-round bye for the second straight year and is facing a team they beat 43-35 in the regular season.

That game was one of Georgia’s best offensive performances of the year, as the Bulldogs had their third-highest scoring output of the season, trailing only their wins over Marshall and Tennessee.

In that game, quarterback Gunner Stockton had one of his best games of the year, throwing for 289 yards and four touchdowns, while having only five incompletions. He also added 59 yards and a touchdown on the ground, keeping the Bulldogs ahead in a shootout.

Not only was Stockton dialed in throughout the contest, but he came up big in the fourth quarter as Georgia came back to score 17 unanswered points to finish the game. Stockton was a perfect 6 of 6 for 71 yards and a touchdown in the final period, while also adding 25 yards on the ground.

Georgia’s defense has been the heartbeat of this unit, but games like the one against Ole Miss showed what the offense could be when everything is clicking. The issue? That hasn’t happened very consistently this year.

The Bulldogs haven’t been very explosive at all this season, and the offense wasn’t very efficient to end the season. Against Georgia Tech, Stockton was just 11 of 21 passing for 70 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Georgia’s rushing offense went for 190 yards, but that was still a 16-9 slugfest without much from the passing game.

Against Alabama, Stockton threw for just 151 yards and two touchdowns, while Georgia ran for just 3.4 yards per carry, with their defense carrying them once again to a 28-7 win.

According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, 49 percent of Georgia’s passes have been at or behind the line of scrimmage in the last four games, as he’s averaged just five yards per attempt. While the Bulldogs weren’t as explosive in the air before, they’ve become very conservative as of late.

We’ve seen what the Bulldogs can be in a shootout. And, that side will need to come out against an explosive Ole Miss offense that might be the best remaining in the College Football Playoff. That means Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs have to take the training wheels off Gunner Stockton and allow for more of a downfield passing attack.

Ole Miss’ pass defense is great. They struggle against the run, which is probably where Georgia will look to exploit. But, they’re going to need a passing attack as well this weekend, and Stockton will have a tough challenge ahead of him.

As the great philosopher Porky Pig said, “that, that, that’s all folks!”

A season of high drama and thrills that came with mostly highs and a few lows ended late Thursday night in a Sugar Bowl loss to Ole Miss. Here are ten thoughts, or something of that variation from a night in the Big Easy that’s sure to leave a bad hangover.

1. Not advancing to the semifinal round is a disappointment. This was a very young team that found success in the midst of growth and exceeded expectations. Both of these things can be true. At the end of the day, the goal of any team in this postseason format is to be crowned champion. Falling short is a disappointment, especially when talking heads coronated Georgia as a team to beat for a national title a few weeks ago. It’s an overused quote, but Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” summed up the mentality when you’re in this postseason format:

Sure, it makes you feel better to think about how this year’s group progressed further than it should, and there will be plenty of time in the next half-year to dwell more on that. But it still stings to go from a national title hopeful to not getting to the semifinal round…again.

2. Are we in the mode of this format where at some point you have to accept the fact that getting there is a great thing and anything else is just gravy? Georgia beat Ole Miss earlier this year. Alabama lost to Oklahoma earlier this season. And you want to tell me those games mattered nothing? Players who lined up on both sides in those games would argue that point. This format breeds the unexpected. Does it really reward the best team or the one that manages to play its best in a small window of the ESPN media circus? As this new era of a college football postseason develops, that is the standard that coaches and fans will have to ask – is being part of the show enough?

3. I was not old enough to know what was going on then, but this now makes back-to-back Sugar Bowl losses for the first time since the early 1980s for Georgia. I know some readers may love New Orleans. Others detest it. To each their own. But between the last two years and the loss here to Texas, I’d be ok avoiding the Crescent City for a few spells.

4. So here’s the thing about Mike Bobo’s offense. When it’s rocking, it’s rocking and rolling. But when it’s off, it’s way off. The situational awareness on Thursday….has seen better days. Between waiting three series to even have a run play to someone not named Gunner Stockton, to not mostly running tempo until the final eight minutes, and the coaching malpractice of the goal line series in the final 70 seconds, Mike Bobo has had better nights. This is not a calling for someone’s job post. But nights like this make it easy for those in search of that red meat.

5. Losing this game should have been something that was seen coming. Maybe time causes a memory loss, but this was an Ole Miss team that Georgia was in a slugfest with for three quarters in Athens, and you had for the most part, the same rosters. Any thoughts that the Rebels would roll over, especially given their past few weeks, were foolish.

6. The slogan is true. In the SEC, It Just Means More. But how much should an SEC title mean? If Georgia would have lost to Alabama in Atlanta, it likely has no first-round bye. And given that having to play in the opening round seems to help, would this team still be playing? Don’t be mistook. Beating Alabama was a great thing, but at some point do you weigh how important a conference title is if losing helps you win bigger things?

7. In this era of college football, you can’t play with a concussion due to all the protocols and athletic training oversight (which is a great thing). But after the horribly missed targeting call, it’s hard not to think that Stockton was impacted. It’d be hardly a shock to learn that the Georgia signal-caller was tentative afterward, specifically when you consider part of Stockton’s bag of tricks is his ability to extend the pocket.

8. If this game had a turning point, it was ironically AFTER Daylen Everette’s scoop and score. Georgia’s inability to get more points on the board not just to end the half but also coming out of the break sent bad signs that this team was going to try and outlast Ole Miss. That’s a good theory except when considering the Rebels’ offensive playmakers. Made worse was that as gutsy as the fake punt was, Georgia only mustered three points from it. The Bulldogs played like they were trying to dance with fire in the second half, and in the end got torched.

9. Not to use injuries as an excuse, but it’s not a coincidence that the interior offensive line was pistol-whipped, in turn making the run game a non-factor, all while Drew Bobo was sidelined.

10. The targeting rule needs to be fixed. Now. This is not an ask to ensure players get brain damage, but to DQ guys for a bang-bang play is not it, especially if it’s the first for a player in long season. Perhaps a system like soccer’s yellow card-red card progression would be worth considering?

As always, Go Dawgs!

You don’t lose to an Ole Miss team that is actually being coached on a part time basis by another school’s coaches without a total team effort. It really takes everyone from the head coach on down screwing up royally on multiple occasions. But even when you manage to stumble repeatedly over your own feet and lose in embarrassing fashion, there are bound to be at least a couple of players who don’t totally bring shame to their family names. Those players are your MVDs, the Most Valuable ‘Dawgs from Georgia’s season-ending 39-34 loss to Ole Flippin’ Miss.

Offense: Gunner Stockton. Stockton’s 18 of 31 for 206 yards passing effort sounds pretty pedestrian on paper, and it was pretty pedestrian on the field, too. But the Rabun Ruffian almost single-handedly managed to will his team to victory, rushing for two touchdowns, including one on a play immediately after very likely being concussed on one of the most egregious non-called targeting I’ve seen since the stupid targeting rule took effect. I fully understand if you get frustrated when Stockton misses an open receiver here and there. And yes he took a couple of sacks when he should have just gotten rid of the dang ball. But that was one of the gutsiest games a Bulldog quarterback has played in a long time. I’m pretty excited at the prospect of that guy coming back as our starting quarterback next year.

Defense: KJ Bolden. Bolden was here, there, and everywhere in a depleted UGA secondary. Once Jacorwy Thomas went out for targeting (sic) Bolden almost never left the field. He finished with 10 tackles, 6 of them solo stops, and broke up a 3rd down pass attempt, as well as being one of our more reliable cover guys all night. Again, pretty dang excited for that guy to come back as the leader of the 2026 Bulldog secondary.

Special Teams: Landon Roldan. Roldan had touched the ball exactly once this season before he took the snap on a fake punt and delivered a perfect pass to Lawson Luckie for a first down conversion. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide of the game, but it was still the kind of play that reminds you that there are players on this roster who will likely step up and make more big plays in the future. On a day when Peyton Woodring missed a long but makable field goal and no one in red and black returned a kick for more than a handful of yards that’s as good as I’ve got to offer.

As always we welcome your own suggestions in the comments.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

It’s almost time to kick things off in New Orleans. A few pregame notes:

Your game captains are: Gunner Stockton, Drew Bobo, Nate Frazier and Christen Miller.

Colbie Young and Ethan Barbour are both warming up and moving around looking for all the world as if they are both full-go. That’s certainly not bad news.

Been there, brother. Been there.

Let’s do this.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Well, that was disappointing. We said at the half that Ole Miss would come out swinging, and they did. Georgia on the other hand never really left the halftime locker room, and so the Bulldogs’ season ends with a 39-34 loss to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.

The Bulldogs had won 75 games in a row in which they led going into the 4th quarter. That streak is over. There was plenty of blame to go around. Daylen Everette, whose electric first half fumble return threatened to blow the lid off the game, played the second half like a blind man with hip bursitis. The offensive line, which had opened up some solid holes in the ground game in the first half, got repeatedly stoned at the point of contact in the run game and run the heck over in the passing game when it mattered most. Heck, Peyton Woodring missed a field goal, one which it turns out could have sent the game to overtime had he hit it.

Just about everything that Georgia has done right to win game this season they did wrong at the worst possible time. So they’re on a plane back to Athens with a lot of unexpected free time this January. The real coup de grace may have been the head-scratching time management on Georgia’s last offensive drive. The Bulldogs had first and goal inside the ten with a chance to take the lead but lost four yards on first down, stopped the clock by trying to throw into the end zone on third down, and as a result left Ole Miss 0:56 to get into position for kicker Lucas Carneiro. It was more time than was needed, even with no timeouts. A better approach would have been to keep the ball in Gunner Stockton’s hands, and at worst kick the field goal with under :20 seconds on the clock. But alas, we left enough time for Trinidad Chambliss to drop one final beautiful ball over Demelo Jones’s head. The rest, as they say, is Ole Miss football history.

More than the errors in execution, morthan anything, Ole Miss, and specifically Trinidad Chambliss, made the plays that mattered when they needed them. Georgia’s defense simply had no answer for Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss. Coming out of the locker room he completed 13 passes in a row, including a series of improbable off-script conversions. He finished the game 30 of 46 for 362 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Unfortunately the quarterback who played utterly out of his mind in this Ole Miss/Georgia matchup was not the one who did so back in October. But if it’s any consolation, I doubt he can do that two weeks in a row, so we’ll probably get to watch Carson Beck play for a national championship. That’s fun, right?

Gunner Stockton on the other hand went ice cold in the second half. I suspect we may find out that Stockton played the second half of this game with a concussion and/or other injuries. In addition to this shot that was absolutely targeting, Stockton at one point also had Ole Miss defending openly gouging at his eyes. Really just the sort of thing you expect from America’a backup school, but Georgia did little or nothing to overcome it. Gunner ended the night 18 of 31 for 206 yards, a touchdown through the air and two on the ground. It wasn’t his best statistical outing of the year, but it would have been enough to win this one had the Bulldog defense reciprocated his effort.

This one was also a great reminder that in the 12 team playoff era getting through the gauntlet of top tier opponents to win a national title is harder than ever. Fans of programs like Georgia and Ohio State are just going to have to come to terms with that. No team still playing has won a national title in the last 24 years (if at all). If you wanted more teams to have access to the title, well, you got it. The College Football Playoff is designed to keep fans’ eyeballs on screens for an additional two weeks of games. If the “best team in college football” is the one hoisting the trophy at the end that’s purely accidental.

But on this night the best team in the building is the one that will be heading to face the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl. The Bulldogs can turn their focus to 2026, a year in which (transfer portal willing) they should return a host of starters and key contributors on both sides of the ball. This season didn’t end where or how we wanted it to. But we are again the champions of the SEC, and again beat every one of our traditional rivals. That qualifies as a good football season in my book, one in which the things that matter most went our way.

It’s fine to be disappointed with how this season ended. But as a reminder, it’s not fine to be disrespectful to your fellow fans and commenters. So let’s all act the way Mama raised us to, remember the good times, and be glad we’re not coached by Kalen DeBoer. Because that would be much worse.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Are your Georgia Bulldogs taking on a potent offense, trying to beat the same team twice in one season, and looking to become the first team in the 12 team playoff era to win a game coming off a bye (pending Alabama’s current face flop against Indiana, of course)? Then you could probably use a drink. I can help you with that.

A lot of folks around college football tuned into Ole Miss’s opening round matchup against Tulane with genuine interest. Not so much from an X’s and O’s perspective. Mainly just to see how the Rebels would play after a monthlong soap opera in which Lane Kiffin attempted to hold the Ole Miss administration hostage before decamping for Baton Rouge. He left behind a staff of coaches who would lead the Rebels through their playoff run despite already being employed at LSU. It’s hard to gauge how a team would perform under this unprecedented arrangement.

The Rebels responded by beating Tulane under Pete Golding about as soundly as they had beaten the Green Wave in the regular season under the leadership of Coach Emotional Blackmail Von Yogapants. Which doesn’t really tell us a great deal about how the Rebels will perform tonight against a much tougher Bulldog team. But it at least seems to tell us that the Black Bears haven’t packed it in entirely.

At the same time, the distractions for both coaches and players have multiplied over the past week with the transfer portal opening and coaches pulling double duty trying to coach at Ole Miss and recruit for LSU. That’s generally been a tough combination when we’ve seen it in the past.

Ideally I’d love to see the Red and Black come out strong and force the Rebels to play from behind. Because I suspect that if they get far enough behind some guys in powder blue may start evaluating their next career options mid-game. However if the Bulldogs surrender an early turnover and give the Rebs a chance to have some fun, and maybe play a little looser, this one will get tight in a hurry. Are we clear on the plan? Sweep in, sweep through, and devastate everything in your path, Dawgs. And what’s the cocktail for sweeping through the gulf coast leaving destruction in your wake before they know what hit them?

A Hurricane, of course.

The Hurricane was created at Pat O’Brien’s bar in New Orleans in the 1940s and remains the signature drink of this venerable Big Easy institution. At the time Caribbean rum was cheaper than whiskey and other liquors, so Pat O’Brien’s began experimenting with the spirit, eventually landing on their recipe that remains essentially unchanged to this day. The world famous bar continues to sell more than half a million Hurricanes every year.

You’ll need:

• 2 ounces light rum
• 2 ounces dark rum
• 1 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce orange juice
• 1/2 ounce passion fruit puree
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 1 teaspoon grenadine
• An orange wheel and cocktail cherry for garnish.

To assemble the drink add the light and dark rums, lime and orange juices, passion fruit puree, simple syrup and grenadine into a shaker with ice and shake until chilled.Strain into a large Hurricane glass over fresh ice and garnish with the orange wheel and a cherry. Enjoy, and…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

If you had Ohio State tabbed as your College Football Playoff winner please accept my sympathies.

One thing we’re learning here in the new, expanded playoff era is that when you have to run a gauntlet of some of the best teams in America you can take nothing for granted. Today brings three more contests that could easily go either way.

No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon | Orange Bowl | 12 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)

We’ve been waiting all year to see how Texas Tech will fair against elite competition, and in the opening game of today’s action we get our chance. I think the key matchup in this one is Oregon QB Dante Moore versus the Red Raider pass rush. If Moore can take care of the football and create off script I expect the Duck defense to get enough stops to pull them through.

No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama | Rose Bowl | 4 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)

Personally, this game means either I don’t have to listen to Curt Cignetti’s weird, corny postgame remarks or I get to enjoy Alabama fans starting the egg timer on Kalen DeBoer’s time in Tuscaloosa. Either way I’m happy. This feels a little like the game where we find out if the moment is still a little too big for feel-good Indiana, or if the problems Alabama struggled with in SEC play (no running game whatsoever, penalties, special teams miscues) will dig them once again.

No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss | Sugar Bowl | 8 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)

Obviously the main event. As you would expect we’ll be along later this evening with an open thread devoted to this one. But in the meantime if you want to read about the key matchups, the relevant stats, or want something to Munson about, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s wishing yours a safe and happy New Year’s Day and a prosperous 2026.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Welcome to Tuesday, Bulldog fans! And not just any Tuesday, but the one before the one before the next Georgia Bulldog football game. There’s this little thing called Christmas in between, but you’re probably aware of that. In this festive season of holly, sugarplums, mulled wines, and goodwill toward men, what else would go better and match the vibe but some drug-fueled country-blues number written from a villa in France in the early 1970’s? Ladies & Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones!

Things are fairly quiet in Athens during the winter break, but here are some news and notes:

With the season over for most teams, college football writers switch to the rearview mirror. One such article listed Army transfer Elo Modozie as one of the biggest busts of the transfer portal. That may be true, but one could counter that the Georgia coaching staff is pretty good with this portal thing: Josh McCray had big contributions as did Noah Thomas, and that whole Zachariah Branch thing turned out pretty well.

Yet the best stat I’ve seen shows that you don’t necessarily have to buy your team in the portal each winter. A novel idea employed by Coach Smart et al is that you can identify players in high school, teach them the game of football, and actually develop them. Exhibit 1:

Maybe that’s a reason Coach Kirby Smart was named as a finalist for the 2025 Dodd Trophy Coach of the Year. His competition is AP COTY Curt Cignetti, Ryan Day, Joey McGuire, and Clark Lea. CKS has twice before been a finalist, but this hardware named after a Volunteer-turned-Yellow Jacket has eluded him.

It could be because of the “announce that you’re getting better” statement Coach Smart delivered at the Sugar Bowl press conference Monday, a line that will resonate throughout college football. Aside from this profundity, he also gave some fairly vague injury updates: “hoping to have” Gabe Harris available, Drew Bobo, and Colbie Young; probable for Noah Thomas and Chauncey Bowens, but no word on Joel Aguero and Zion Branch. Bo Walker and Dontrell Glover are “finishing up their consequences” but per usual, getting wind of internal discipline specifics is about as likely as a white Christmas in Folkston.

Speaking of coaching, by now you’ve heard that Will Muschamp is relocating to Austin in order to pursue his espionage career. Godspeed, Secret Agent.

I guess we can take Bobby Petrino’s name off the Michigan coaching search list. The Cycling Cervical Collar is finalizing a move to Chapel Bill, hoping to invigorate a UNC-CH offense that ranked 135th in explosive plays last season (Arkansas was 6th). He is likely excited by the fact North Carolina does have helmet laws.

Is talk of money and it’s influence taking a Miley Cyrus sized wrecking ball to the traditions of college football getting you down? Then keep scrolling. I wouldn’t want to be accused of taking part in a rumble. But if you ingest the green side of college sports, CNBC has provided an absolutely-based-on-accurate-data-and-totally-not-made-up-formula to value the biggest college athletic departments. Spoiler: somebody(ies) in Athens is rich.

The Georgia basketball teams are pretty good. The women’s team is still undefeated, and starting to recieve AP votes. As the calendar turns to 2026 and conference play begins, the slate becomes much tougher. 3 of the AP top 10 are SEC teams, and 7 in the top 25.

The men’s team has but a single loss, is the #1 scoring team in the country, and have officially cracked the top 25. And after 3 losses in the last 5 games, the Auburn Tigers are not ranked. And Bruce Pearl is still sweating, though not as much as his son.

That should get your Tuesday started. And contemplating them are a perfectly reasonable excuse to not go shopping, or spending time with your in-laws, or getting around to fixing that GFI outlet that cuts out your holiday lights every time it rains. An early Merry Christmas everyone, and a belated Happy Hanukkah. As always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

When the powers that be in college football expanded the playoff to an unnecessarily large 12 team field today was the day they had in mind.

It’s a full day of must-see college football action that kicks at off at noon with Miami traveling to Kyle Field to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. How many interceptions will Carson Beck and Marcel Reed combine for? I’m putting the over/under at 4.9. The one whose final pick is the least crippling is probably the quail the winning team.

Then Tulane travels to Oxford at 3:30 to take on Ole Miss for the right to face Georgia on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl. The Rebels beat the Green Wave by 35 in the regular season, but that was before both teams’ head coaches decided to take other jobs. A win by Tulane would keep Lane Kiffin from collecting the bonus the desperate crowd at LSU promised him if the team he isn’t even coaching advances. It would also keep Jon Sumrall in New Orleans that much longer, and away from actually preparing to coach the Florida Gators. In short, you should be pulling for the Green Wave, even if the odds are decidedly against them.

Finally, James Madison travels to Eugene to take on Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducksin the prime time slot. This is a choice based more on geography than viewing interest because it’s the game least likely to make for compelling night time viewing. If Oregon doesn’t dismantle the Dukes I’ll be shocked.

You’ll find all three games across the House of Mouse industrial complex, including ABC and ESPN. This will be the spot for game specific discussion, general playoff observations, and unrelated holiday hijinx.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

The Sooners and the Crimson Tide will kick off the 2025 College Football Playoff at 8:00 (or a little thereafter) on ABC and ESPN. The Sooners are a slim 1.5 point favorite at home over the Fightin’ DeBoers, which is about as close to a toss up as you’re going to get.

I expect we are in fact going to see a close one, and the first team to 17 may win this one. There’s no one in college football I trust more to shut down an offense than Brent Venables if you give him over two weeks to prepare. I think the Land Thieves may have the only defense in the SEC superior to Georgia’s, and the Tide will play without tight ends Josh Cuevas and Danny Lewis. Cuevas in particular was clearly missed against the Dawgs.

On the other side of the ball it will be interesting to see if Oklahoma QB John Mateer can take another step forward in his return from hand surgery. The Wazzu transfer didn’t look after surgery like the Heisman contender he appeared to be beforehand. The Sooners manufactured points on defense and special teams in defeating the Tide in November, and they might need to do the same tonight.

Personally, I’m picking the Sooners in what should be an electric atmosphere in Norman, 20-17.

The first round of the College Football Playoff ended, as expected, with a bit of a whimper. James Madison got crushed by the Oregon Ducks in a game that was over long before the clock hit zero. That game was only one of four, and we learned a little something from all of them. In no particular order, here is my non-exhaustive list of the lessons we can take from these games both for the quarterfinals, and for the College Football Playoff in general.

Lesson #1: Nick Saban was right, insofar as it matters. The Armani Bear raised some eyebrows earlier this week when he remarked that the G5 teams should really be part of a separate playoff. Frankly, Tulane and James Madison didn’t do much to prove they belonged in this playoff, each getting shellacked by four-plus touchdowns.

If the objective is to get the twelve best football teams in the nation matched up on the field then having teams from the American Conference and Sun Belt involved isn’t going to be consistent with that. But what’s at stake here isn’t precisely that. The playoff committee has committed to trotting out the sacrificial 12-1 lambs of the land to prevent the G5 from having an argument that they shouldn’t have been left out that one year when perhaps a team from the Sun Belt might have caught somebody napping for a round one win.

Eventually that is probably going to happen. When it does it will be a bonanza for the committee. And the trade off is that we don’t get to see the fourth best team from the Big Ten or the SEC, who wasn’t going to win it all anyway. Honestly I think I’m fine with that.

Lesson #2: The committee was probably right to leave Notre Dame out. Fighting Irish fans were mad watching Alabama fall behind in the first half against Oklahoma on Friday. They were furious watching Miami and Texas A&M set the game of football back four decades on Saturday. But the truth is head-to-head regular season matchups have to matter for the integrity of the playoff process, and the Irish lost to both of those teams playing crappy football at Kyle Field. If you start having late season beauty contests the whole process probably loses what little integrity it has left. Miami may not have played pretty, but they were the last team in and won in a hostile environment.
To me that’s at least enough to say they belonged in.

Lesson #3: Ole Miss won’t be an easy out. The Rebels looked just about as good against Tulane in the playoff as they had in the regular season. And it was clear that Ole Miss fans are behind this team and think it can go deep in the playoffs. Expect a lot of baby blue in New Orleans on New Years Day, and an Ole Miss team that will be looking to leave it all on the field against the Dawgs.

Lesson #4: Oregon is gettable. The Ducks took their eye off the ball a little late in their win over James Madison, and they never were in serious danger. But the Fightin’ Lannings gave up over 500 yards of offense to the champions of the American Conference. Their linebackers looked less athletic in coverage than they’ll need to be against the likes of Indiana or Texas Tech.

Lesson #5: Carson Beck is still Carson Beck, and that may be a problem for Mario Cristobal. Beck was 14 of 20 passing for 103 yards against the Aggies and looked about as inaccurate on downfield throws as I remembered from my nightmares. However a Hurricane defense that sacked Marcel Reed seven times and created three turnovers made up for it. I don’t think the Hurricanes can count on that for three more games.

Lesson #6: The Georgia defense may be that good. I really thought that with two weeks to game plan Brent Venables would be able to shut down the Alabama offense. At first it looked like he just might, but the Tide and OC Ryan Grubb adjusted well and ended up putting up 34 points, 27 more than they’ll had 13 days earlier against the Red and Black. Perhaps more importantly Georgia just looked way more physical than the Sooners. That bodes fairly well for the coming weeks I think. While there are no guarantees, I like the fact that this Bulldog team lines up and hits as hard as anyone in America. That’s something you just can’t develop or teach this late in the season if your team hasn’t already developed it. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Let us acknowledge that the playoff is ridiculous and we hate it. That being said, there’s asses out there to be kicked, so let’s get to stompin’.

As I’ve said before, while honor forbids me from saying anything nice about Steve Spurrier, I do begrudgingly respect his innovations in the field of Haterology. So, I wanted to get everyone ready for the playoff by saying a bunch of mean stuff about all the teams in the field except for one. Can you guess which??

Does this article contain any actual football analysis or information? No. But will it be funny? Also probably no. 

1. Indiana

I still haven’t gotten my mind around the fact that Indiana has made the playoff two years in a row and is now the #1 seed. I don’t even have anything mean to say. We should seriously consider making Curt Cignetti the president. 

That being said, it’s entirely possible they’ve already emptied the clip against Ohio State, and this heartwarming story is about to run into the grim reality of roster strength. Fernando Mendoza has been a great story, and he’s been legitimately great, but do you really think a dude who was originally committed to Yale is going to win a title?

If they win…

Bloomington is a fantastic college town, probably second only to Athens. If you’re ever there, be sure to check out Nick’s English Hut, a great pizza place/bar. And the campus is unbelievably beautiful. Seeing one of the all-time losingest teams win a title is probably the second-best outcome here. They’re also a fellow red team, which means we can consider them Honorary Dawgs if disaster befalls Georgia.  

2. Ohio State

Boy, seeing Matt Patricia make a comeback sure is a feel-good story for the ages, isn’t it? 

My parents used to have a dirtbag neighbor who was always about half a Miller Lite from saying something that would ruin the good time everyone was having. That man looked exactly, EXACTLY, like Ryan Day. Day has the energy of the guy in the company-branded quarter-zip that you try to avoid at the airport bar. No wonder Brian Hartline took the USF job. 

If they win…

Ugggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh, throw me off the Sears Tower. At least Jeremiah Smith is cool. 

3. Georgia

In a sport filled with charlatans, cheaters, crybabies, frauds, hooligans, malefactors, mountebanks, ne’er-do-wells, rascals, reprobates, rogues, ruffians, skinflints, spendthrifts, snakes, scoundrels, villains, whiners, wretches, and garden-variety psychopaths, Georgia alone represents the high-minded ideals on which the game was founded. Only Georgia football embodies the principles of sportsmanship, athleticism, competitive integrity, self-betterment, and humility that sports are meant to cultivate in the human soul. Those lucky enough to count themselves among the Georgia faithful have attained a level of emotional maturity, intellectual refinement, and inward metaphysical harmony previously known only to the sages of the ancient world. This spiritual enlightenment is reflected in the community’s habit of barking at opponents, which the less fortunate see as an act of aggression rather than the joyful greeting of a perfected soul.

If I should ever die, God forbid, bury my heart at Sanford Stadium, a peaceful mausoleum for a grateful ghost. 

We finally beat Alabama in Atlanta. Nobody can stop us now!

On the other hand, the single-worst human being I’ve ever met is also a Georgia fan. On the rare occasions when we lose, I take the sting out of it by thinking about how he’s unhappy, too. 

4. Texas Tech

Despite having the Ubermensch at quarterback for three years, Texas Tech has played exactly two interesting football games this century. The first was the Red Raiders’ 2008 upset of #1 Texas with the legendary last-second Michael Crabtree catch. In the other, Patrick Mahomes threw for a record-tying 734 (!!!) yards against Oklahoma in a game his team somehow still lost. 

This year, the addled oilfolk who constitute TT’s booster squad finally poured the GDP of San Marino into the team’s roster. The result will end up being the most forgettable 11-win season you’ve ever seen. Five years from now, you’ll probably lose bar trivia because you won’t remember this team made the playoff. I’m told they have a couple of impressive linebackers, but, to quote Jules Winfield, “Sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know.”

Texas Tech wins this year’s Oklahoma Sooners Memorial Award for Most Fraudulent Playoff Participant. Nobody was afraid of the Big 12 when they still had the actually good teams. Why start now?

If they win…

On some level, it might be kind of fun for a traditional also-ran to win it all. Just speaking personally, though, the third-worst human being I’ve ever met is a deranged Texas Tech booster, so even the modest level of success they’re currently experiencing fills me with anguish.

5. Oregon

The Oregon Ducks cannily employ an affable, cuddly mascot and some wild uniform combinations to obscure the fact that the program is swimming in Nike dollars. All that cash has netted them the exact same number of national championships as noted football powerhouse St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Seriously, Lafayette (the Pennsylvania one), Cornell, and Vanderbilt all claim championships, and you’ve never won one? What are you doing with all that money?

You might remember the Ducks from their early 10s teams that lit up scoreboards thanks to the Chip Kelly blur offense until it was time to play in a game that mattered. Then suddenly their offense became D.B. Cooper (another notable Oregonian). We have Kelly and his Magic Vanishing Offense to thank for Auburn’s lone championship this century. Great work!

Hey, where is Chip Kelly now anyway? Oh right.

If they win…

I know better than to say anything mean about Dan Lanning on the internet, lest he show up at my house to yell at me and beat me with a stick. Also, if Oregon wins, Georgia fans can claim this as a partial title because Lanning is from Kirby’s coaching tree.  

6. Ole Miss

There’s nothing I can say about the Ole Miss ReBears that’s worse than what Lane Kiffin has already put them through. But I’m sure all the coaching drama will make for a smooth transition to the new administration, right? I mean, it’s not like Pete Golding’s introductory press conference had the energy of a man who’s just been informed he has to go to Mars next week.

When a backup quarterback is forced to start, one of two things usually happens. Either he goes out and throws for 400 yards and four touchdowns on pure adrenaline, or he explodes on the launchpad. Let’s find out which one Golding is gonna do!

If they win…

Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy are both extremely fun to watch, unless of course it’s your team’s defense that they’re shredding. The defense probably can’t hold up, but if Ole Miss makes the title game, hooboy do you want to be in Miami for the party.  

7. Texas A&M

Less a football team than a cult that worships a collie, Texas A&M is the living incarnation of an 8-4 record. They spent November cheating the hangman while everyone said “Wow, I guess they’re actually good this year!” But, like the guy in the horror movie hiding a zombie bite from his friends, the inevitable happened. 

They were last seen cramming a full season’s worth of regression into their final game of the season, which is coincidentally the one they care the most about. The slow oil leak that started around Halloween has progressed to the point where there are flames shooting out of the engine block as we enter the home stretch. But don’t worry, Aggies, I’m sure you’ll manage to finally reverse a century of futility. After all, you’re playing Miami in the first round, and they’re similarly snakebit. Just don’t look at who’s after that. 

If they win…

At least Marcel Reed is extremely cool. More than that, seeing Mike Elko win a championship in his second year here would make Jimbo Fisher look like a complete idiot, not that he needs any help with that. Also, please don’t misinterpret that first sentence above as disrespecting Revillie. I would never speak an ill word about Miss Rev.

8. Oklahoma

Oklahoma decided to adapt to its new SEC home by siphoning all the gas out of its old Big 12 offense to fuel a legitimately terrifying defense. The result has been a masterclass in playing football games that challenge the concept of “watchability” in new, esoteric ways. Anytime you see these Sooners in a primetime game, go ahead and make a dinner reservation somewhere nice. Your family will appreciate getting a night out during football season, and you absolutely won’t miss anything worth seeing. 

Watching the Sooners try to matriculate the ball down the field is more punishing than Salo. Brent Venables hates offense so much he won’t even let his own team have a functional one. He stays up late trying to figure out ways to win a game while gaining exactly zero yards. Look, I’m a Georgia fan — I appreciate defense! But can you at least do one interesting thing during a game??

If they win…

The defense is absolutely incredible. Hanging in the pocket as R Mason Thomas rushes you takes the kind of courage that you’d need to go over the top during the trench warfare days. And even though he’s been hampered since his hand surgery, John Mateer has the potential to be fun. Also, their OC is named Ben Arbuckle, which reminds me of Garfield. 

9. Alabama

Here is a true story: In the late 90s, my family took two vacations to Gulf Shores in the same year. The regular one, and the second, special trip back to testify against the local gentleman who stabbed my cousin, unprovoked and wordlessly. On another family vacation, the engine in our car exploded, trapping us in Prattville for two days. Alabama: We’ll meet again, and you’ll hate it! 

Georgia held Alabama to -3 rushing yards in the SEC championship.

If they win…

I suppose it would be nice to see DeBoer deliver a championship to a title starved fanbase…loljk. That being said, since the committee called while they were strapping these guys into the chair at 11:59, I’m fairly convinced they’re going to win the whole thing. Might as well get used to the idea now.

10. Miami

Explaining to someone under 30 that Miami used to be appointment viewing is like telling them you did your homework by candlelight. Those late 90s/early 00s teams are as distant a memory as the Age of Sail. Also, do you guys remember Mark Richt coached here for a little bit after he left Georgia? It was like seeing your Sunday school teacher take over a pruno operation.  

They’re led by Mario Cristobal, a man who looks like Sam the Eagle wearing a Spirit Halloween Frankenstein’s monster costume. He perpetually has an expression like he’s trying to do long division with Roman numerals. That befuddlement isn’t just an act, either, as he routinely finds byzantine ways to lose football games. Remember the Miracle at the Meadowlands? Mario Cristobal does, and he’s devoted himself to recreating it. No team is less scary with a late lead than Miami. Is it good when your horrible decision makes your own player do this? They should give teams six timeouts per half because it would be fun to see Cristobal call four of them before the game started. 

If they win…

I was vaguely pro-Miami for a while because of Richt and because Sebastian the Ibis is a good mascot. Then I heard a Miami fan as a podcast guest earlier this season, and he was more delusional than any other football fan I’ve ever heard. Now I almost exclusively root against Miami. Anyway, with Carson Beck and Cristobal at the helm, I don’t think we need to worry about them going all that far in the tournament. 

11. Tulane

Tulane is the preferred school of the kind of kid who takes AP classes but never does any of the work. I joke, but going to Tulane is smart because you get to live in New Orleans and partake of its many culinary and cultural delights. You come out of the experience with a respectable degree instead of liver damage. 

Tulane was a charter member of the SEC, but the snuck out the back in 1966 to “focus on academics,” which is another way of saying “This is Vanderbilt’s problem now.” After 60 years of nothing much, the absolutely bonkers governance structure of the sport positioned them to annually contend to be the sacrificial offering from the G5 to the playoff. So get used to seeing a bit more Tulane football in your future than you thought possible.  

If they win…

One cool thing about Tulane is the school’s mascot, the Green Wave, is one of the small number that doesn’t end in -s. And I would much rather play them in the Sugar Bowl than Ole Miss. It would be particularly fun to welcome Jon Sumrall to his new job by beating him before he even gets there. 

12. James Madison

James Madison University is located in the interior part of Virginia, which is a great place to avoid at all costs. The school’s namesake, James Madison, had a huge influence on the United States of America as the primary author of the constitution before serving as the fourth president. During the War of 1812, his wife Dolly saved an iconic portrait of George Washington and some vital government documents during the British assault on Washington, D.C. He was also the shortest president, with a height of 5’4”, and he only weighed about 100 pounds. That’s an incredible legacy for such a tiny man!

You’ll notice I haven’t said anything about football here. 

If they win…

Their star player is running back Wayne Knight. Did you know that the actor of the same name is a Georgia alumnus? That’s right — the law is clear that we can claim this one too! 

It’s that time of year again, and I’m not talking about Christmas. Although, Christmas Day will officially be a week away by the time this article is published (hope that helps some of y’all out).

No, I’m talking about Pro Bowl voting. The fan voting wrapped up on Monday, and several former Dawgs made the top 10, such as Matthew Stafford, Roquan Smith, James Cook, Tykee Smith, Javon Bullard, Brock Bowers, and more. The official rosters will be announced sometime in January, and Georgia will be well-represented at this year’s game in San Francisco.

One player whose name did not make the top 10 is Houston Texans’ cornerback Kamari Lassiter. The second year player has put together an impressive season with 77 tackles and four interceptions, including one on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. This was his second straight game snagging an interception, as he picked off Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes last Sunday.

Chicago Bears’ running back D’Andre Swift continued his solid 2025 with another great performance on Sunday. The original Philly Dawg rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns in Chicago’s 31-3 victory over the Cleveland Browns. The Bears have improved to 10-4 on the season and look primed to make a deep playoff run.

Here are some other highlights from some Dawgs in the NFL:

• Roquan Smith, Malaki Starks, and John Jenkins combined for 23 tackles against Cincinnati on Sunday as the Ravens shut out the Bengals 24-0.
• A.D. Mitchell continues to find success in New York following his trade from Indianapolis. The wide receiver caught six passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. He was one of the few bright spots for the Jets as they went on to lose to the now 10-4 Jacksonville Jaguars.
• The Philadelphia Eagles got back on track Sunday with a 31-0 shutout over Brock Bowers and the Las Vegas Raiders. Nakobe Dean led the team with tackles, and Nolan Smith recorded a sack as they held the Raiders’ offense to just 75 total yards.

That’s all for this week. Tune in next time to hear more adventures of your favorite Dawgs in the NFL.

Go Dawgs!!!

Good morning, Bulldog Nation!

Here’s hoping you enjoyed a fantastic weekend in which your coach didn’t appear for an arraignment and your Athletic Director isn’t trying to explain why this sort of thing keeps happening on his watch.

Sadly University of Georgia athletics has t been completely immune from crime and punishment news as word broke on Friday that freshmen Bo Walker and Dontrell Glover were arrested for misdemeanor shoplifting. The details are. Bit murky with some online sources indicating that they didn’t scan all merchandise at one of the now ubiquitous self-checkout kiosks blighting the retail landscape. I’m withholding judgment on this one until we know more. But I’d be a little surprised if this situation isn’t handled internally.

In sunnier news, your Georgia Bulldogs cleaned up at this weekend’s college football awards announcements. Brett Thorson won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter, and Beau Gardner took home the Patrick Mannelly Award for college football’s top snapper. Some might brush aside these awards, which obviously aren’t the Heisman Trophy. But if you watched Georgia give up zero blocked punts this season, and watched the momentum of the SEC title game flip decisively because Alabama can’t say the same, you know better.

Speaking of winning, Mike White’s Hoop Hounds just can’t stop winning, most recently taking down the Cincinnati Bearcats 84-65 on Saturday. That runs their record to 9-1 on the year headed into the final stretch of the non-conference slate. Unless they find a way to slip up against Western Carolina, West Georgia, or Long Island University the ‘Dawgs should enter SEC play at 12-1 with only a 3 point overtime loss to Clemson blemishing their record. I’ve watched enough UGA basketball over the years to have trouble believing Nni just typed that. Until later,

Go ‘‘Dawgs!!!

Yesterday afternoon the SEC released the 2026 schedules for league schools, and around the Southland the reaction seems to have largely bee ““ouch.”

The reason? As you likely know the league has decided to play 9 conference games for the first time next season, that in and of itself ratchets up the level of difficulty a fair bit. But the cherry on top is that due to the way the calendar falls there are only 13 Saturdays between the late August/early September start of the season and the last week of November. That means teams will take on the new, tougher schedule with one bye week rather than the two they enjoyed in 2024 and 2025. Talk about star-crossed.

At any rate, here’s the Red and Black’s slate:

Obviously the home lineup is a real step down from 2025. We joked in 2024 that season ticket holders were really paying a year in advance to see Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas all visit Athens. This lineup of home games similarly suffers by comparison. Admittedly the September 26th home date with Oklahoma should be a pretty compelling football game, and the next week will provide Georgia its first chance to reacquaint itself with the newly mouthy Vanderbilt Commodores. But all-in-all these are not the titanic clashes we were promised with conference expansion.

The league will once again send Georgia to Tuscaloosa to play the Tide because, as previously discussed ad nauseum in this space, we are now the league’s prize pony and are going to be trotted out to boost television ratings at every available opportunity. In return however we get to go play Arkansas in Fayetteville, which isn’t a terrible trip if you’ve never made it.

The ‘Dawgs also have an uncharacteristic November trip to Columbia to take on South Carolina. I’m not sure what Williams-Brice Stadium feels like when the temperature is under 100 degrees. But I have been to Columbia itself during the winter months, and can assure you it still looks like a giant strip mall, albeit with no leaves on the trees.

The Bulldogs will also take on at least four teams breaking in new head coaches. I say at least four because as round two of the coaching carousel kicks off both Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Vandy’s Clark Lea remain options for certain deep-pocketed programs.

And perhaps most historic is the Halloween matchup with Florida in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It’s going to be weird, I don’t like it, and once it’s over we’re never going to speak of it again.

‘What are your thoughts? Will this be the year an SEC head coach stumps for the playoff with a straight face after losing four games? Is eleven tailbacks enough to make it through this gauntlet? And how close is it safe to get to WKU’s amorphous, globular mascot, Big Red?

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

For the second year in a row, SEC champion Georgia will head to the Sugar Bowl in the quarterfinals of the college football playoff. This time the ’Dawgs will be facing the winner of a matchup between teams whose head coaches clearly thought they could do better elsewhere.

Tulane, coached by soon-to-be Florida coach Jon Sumrall, and Ole Miss (coached by Pete Golding and the other guys who didn’t leave Oxford for Baton Rouge with Lane Kiffin) will face off in the first round in a game played on December 20th at noon in Oxford. It’s a rematch of a September regular season matchup won by the Rebels 45-10.

The Fightin’ Pete Goldings are an early 17.5 point favorite over the Green Wave, who clinched the American Conference yesterday with a 34-21 victory over North Texas.

It’s arguably the best possible draw for the Bulldogs, facing a Group of 5 opponent with a staff and players who have one eye on their future options or an Ole Miss team that will be playing its first game under a new(ish) staff. Perhaps the only downside is doing so in New Orleans, literally across town from Tulane’s campus and an easy trip for a lot of Rebel fans. Still, as an old school Bulldog fan I still hew to the belief that you never complain about playing in the Sugar Bowl. It’s where SEC champions belong.

The Sugar Bowl will kick off at 8:00 pm eastern on New Year’s Day with coverage all across the ABC/Disney/ESPN family of networks.

Go ‘‘Dawgs!!!

There’s no way to dress it up any nicer. The Dawgs are SEC Champions again, their first time going back-to-back since 1980-82. Any SEC title is sweet, and it’s got some extra sugar on top of it given that much like 2017, it comes with a measure of revenge.

Here are ten thoughts from Georgia’s latest SEC triumph.

1. No, this was not the same catharticism of January 2022 in Indianapolis. But boy, did it feel good. Coming into this week, there was a rightfully-built up sense of confidence that Georgia could win this game. A few months ago in Athens, it was a case of one, Georgia solving Alabama’s offense after a half and not making quite enough plays to win. But the past few times gave a sense of pause – did that scripted “A” have some kind of juju over all things Georgia aside from one night? Is it meant to be that some teams just mentally master others? Yes, Kirby Smart could be accused of laying it on thick about this team being counted out in his post-game comments on TV, but be certain of this – the point that outsiders doubted if Georgia could beat Alabama was hammered home, and Kirby Smart never met a motivational opportunity that he did not like.

2. Speaking of sending a message, it’s not an accident that Kirby Smart chose to spotlight Georgia’s defensive staff after the game. It’s no secret. This defensive staff has at times been maligned, and the fact that not just Glenn Schumann but the whole defensive staff was shouted out is not a slip of any phrase, especially when Kirby Smart says something to the effect of “It’s not Kirby Smart’s defense, it’s Schumann’s defense.” Back when Smart was at Alabama, you heard things like, “oh, but it’s Saban’s defense..” Saturday’s post-game was a prime chance to do what was rightly deserved – give this defense staff its well-earned due.

3. Georgia took this game personally. I’m not sure Alabama did. Georgia took the role of aggression, and the Crimson Tide looked to be a team still trying to figure itself out. Alabama may have been big enough for the moment back in September in Athens, but the test of a team is how good it is over the course of a season. We have seen signs of this team progressing, but you did not want to pin that as a high mark against pedestrian teams like Florida and Mississippi State. But when you do that against a team like this? It’s a proof of concept of how Georgia does things as a program against others.

4. This is not saying the Crimson Tide are a walkover at all. But at some point, there’s a toughness mentality that you expect to not be there minus Nick Saban. The bottom line is that Georgia out-toughed Alabama. Clearly, part of that was holding them to negative rushing yards. That’s something you’d of expected in the uneven SEC title games of the 1990s against the SEC West…but not the current era Alabama. Defensively, Georgia did disrupt Alabama up front with blitz packages, but it also found success from winning the trenches and collapsing run lanes and pass protection. Physicality is one of Georgia’s calling cards, and it showed on Saturday.

5. Be honest. When Alabama’s freakish drive got the Crimson Tide on the board, many of you thought, “oh no, here we go again…” Thankfully, Georgia locked in from that point forward.

6. I’m not sure what was more satisfying early on – the fact that Roderick Robinson got into the end zone, that he was in for a meaningful play, or the fact that it came out of a fullback play design.

7. And on the note of kicking it old school, this had an old-time football feel to it. Georgia was the dominant team, but opportunism ruled the day as Dawgs didn’t just create opportunities, but cashed in as well. If you get 21 points off of prime field position on special teams and turnovers, you’re going to have a very good result.

8. However much Ellis Robinson will be paid when he is drafted by the NFL, he earned a good chunk on Saturday. Georgia’s coaches decided that he was up to the task of shutting down Ryan Williams. That job was handled, as Williams managed just 33 yards.

9. This win was not perfect. If it was closer, the 80 yards of penalties would have caused a lot more heartburn. As stomach-churning as Demello Jones’ pair of penalties to aid an Alabama scoring drive were, the absolute silver lining was seeing multiple players around him after the fact appearing to already help him refocus for whatever the next play is – very similar to the famous Nakobe Dean on-field coaching against Alabama in 2021. That, of course, is yet another lay-up to compare this defense to the ones we saw a few years back in Athens.

10. Thanks to the 12-team playoff, this game did not have a high sense of postseason urgency for Georgia. And depending on the CFP Committee, the loss may not knock Alabama out of the playoffs. So it was nice not having more pressure, at least for Georgia, riding on Saturday’s result. That obviously was not the case in 2023, when a close loss dropped UGA by multiple spots outside the top four. Other teams had to sweat out Saturday, but not Georgia. To paraphrase Han Solo in Star Wars, A New Hope, “better them than me!”

The rub of course is that should Alabama and BYU be punished for playing for a conference title. If conferences are set to keep these title games, you may as well expand the playoffs field to 16. Think about the atmosphere you had in Atlanta. And I’m sure those at the Big Ten title game would tell you the same. Beneath the postseason layers, these conference title games should matter. Yes, the CFP may be a TV cash cow, but if you don’t think that conference title games matter, ask any players on the winning side.

Go Dawgs!

For years, proponents of a postseason playoff argued that it would more fairly determine a champion and remove the controversy that surrounded the few years in which multiple teams had legitimate title claims. For instance, I personally only acknowledge Colorado as the champion of the 1990 season. 

And yet, here we are a dozen years into the playoff, still having the same stupid arguments.  Parsing the difference between the meaning of “best” versus “most deserving” like the world’s lamest con law scholars. Weighing “bad losses” against “good wins.” Reading the tea leaves of the idiotic weekly rankings show to get some idea what the committee is thinking.

The original playoff arrangement offered four postseason berths to a sport with five power conferences. It was more or less explicitly designed to engender controversy to justify further expansion. We wouldn’t need to wait long for it, either. In the first season of the playoff, the committee had to choose between three one-loss teams in Baylor, TCU, and Ohio State. It picked Ohio State — not coincidentally, the biggest brand of the three. 

The committee then more or less got things right until 2023, the last year of the four-team format, when it put a one-loss Alabama team in over an undefeated Florida State that had lost quarterback Jordan Travis. Amidst the furor, we were again assured that a bigger playoff field would fix problems like this one. 

And yet, here we are again, mired in further idiotic controversy. Maybe next year, when it’s 16 teams, we’ll be fine. Or again in a few years when they expand to 24 like the FCS playoffs. Or maybe we should just have a big, 136-team tournament.   

To be clear, I have no sympathy for Notre Dame, and I don’t find it to be a particularly grave injustice that they were left out. That’s what happens when you lose twice and leave it in the committee’s hands, as this writer correctly points out. And any pity I might have felt for the Irish would’ve evaporated when they threw their bowl-refusing tantrum.

I do find it a little annoying that the time Georgia finally breaks through and beats Alabama, the Tide still manage to avoid any penalty for getting absolutely romped.  

Watching adults gravely call for official investigations into the committee’s process is deeply, deeply embarrassing. That’s not just my anti-Notre Dame bias at work. It was just as humiliating when Paul Finebaum, an Alabama PR flack who moonlights as a journalist, showed his entire ass stumping for the Tide on his unwatchable show. ALL OF YOU GROW UP! 

Regardless, the playoff is doing what it was designed to do. The problem is that it was not designed primarily to select a champion.

The Sport Is Too Big

The first problem is that there is no legitimate way to crown a national champion in this sport as it’s currently structured.

The Football Bowl Subdivision has 136 teams competing (theoretically) for 12 playoff spots across 10 conferences, six of which are relegated to an unofficial second tier. That means, as of now, approximately 9 percent of teams make the playoff. When it’s expanded to 16 next year, that will go up to just under 12 percent. For comparison, 43.75 percent of NFL teams make the playoffs. 

I don’t think a bigger playoff is the answer because, in most years, there aren’t really even 12 teams that deserve a title shot. But my point is that the sport is too sprawling and diffuse in its current form. 

There are too many competing interests, from individual schools, coaches, and players, up through conferences, and the NCAA and ESPN, for any kind of coherent governance structure. And that’s unresolvable unless you believe the Group of Six schools will all willingly agree to officially become a second-tier league with their own playoff. 

The Committee System Is Broken

There is no legitimate system for selecting playoff participants via committee.

No other sport has an independent committee select its playoff field. In part, that’s because college football has such a diffuse structure without true central governance.  

But there’s a simpler reason no other sport does this: It’s a stupid way of determining a playoff field. 

There is no fair way to assemble a panel of experts who can fairly adjudicate a field of this size to determine the dozen teams that should make the playoff. Nor could you locate enough people with the necessary expertise who don’t have some sort of potential conflict of interest. But including currently active athletic directors gives the further appearance of malfeasance. After the field was announced, I saw more than one accusation of corruption. The truth, I would argue, is that the committee is both stupid and cowardly.

Alabama made the playoff because Greg Sankey would’ve been announcing the end of the SEC Championship game today if the Tide got left out after playing in it. But having the sitting athletic director of an SEC school announce it undermines the system’s legitimacy.

The Criteria Are Incoherent

There aren’t enough objective criteria for selecting participants, nor is there a clear philosophy.

Looking again at professional models, teams earn a spot in their leagues’ playoffs by meeting objective criteria. Your team either has to win its subdivision or a wild card spot based on record. Sometimes this means teams win weak divisions — the 2014 Carolina Panthers made the playoffs at 7-9 — but it’s objective. Would something like that mean a five-loss Duke team made it this year? Yes, but they probably would’ve been more competitive against Oregon than James Madison will.

The only objective principle in the current setup is that the five highest-ranked conference champions earn berths. That means more than half of the playoff field is determined by subjective debate. The committee could establish more defined criteria, i.e., a team must have 10 wins, must meet a certain analytical threshold, must play for or win a conference championship, etc.. But they don’t because the current system allows the group to put whatever teams they want into the field.

Absent a clearer set of objective metrics, there should be a consistent philosophy, right? Viewed that way, the committee’s selection process would evolve based on precedent, similar to the way the law works.

Well, we’ve known there’s no guiding philosophy from year to year. In 2023, Georgia dropped five spots and was bounced from the playoff after losing by three points to Alabama on a neutral field in the SEC Championship. This year, Alabama got dominated in Atlanta and didn’t move at all, nor did Georgia move up for beating a top 10 team.

Each season is different, of course, so perhaps asking for consistent, durable philosophical principles would be overly limiting. But we’ve now seen that even the week-to-week rankings are equally bogus. No matter how many times Hunter Yuracheck says “body of work” or whatever nonsense, there’s not enough consistency to make the rankings appear legitimate.

The System Is Working As Intended

It’s evident that the purpose of the College Football Playoff is not to determine a legitimate national champion. The sport is too ungovernable, the committee system too compromised, and criteria too vague for the system to claim legitimacy. 

Stafford Beer, who is my style icon, is famous for coining the maxim “the purpose of a system is what it does.” In short, this means we gauge a system not by what we want it to do, but by what it actually accomplishes. So, what exactly is the playoff for? 

The College Football Playoff exists to market college football to a national audience.

As such, it can’t fail. Controversies like this one are good because they attract attention. They justify further playoff expansion. They provide fuel for hours and hours of ESPN chatter. Coaches debase themselves arguing for inclusion with a 9-3 or 8-4 record. 

And no amount of playoff expansion will fix this. In a 16 team field, there will be extensive debate about teams 15-20. In a 24 team field, it’ll be an argument about 20-28. Because the arguing is the point. 

Eventually, this will all do irreparable damage to college football. Not because Notre Dame or any other team gets left out in a given year, but because fans stop believing in the integrity of the process. Systems exist because people have a collective faith in them. What is a country and its governing legal structure except a group agreement to follow a certain set of rules? The College Football Playoff is far less serious, but its existence depends on schools, players, coaches, and fans all accepting its legitimacy.  

Eventually, the endless controversy and relentless drive toward growth at all costs will become unsustainable. I have no idea what will happen then, nor do I have any idea about how to fix it. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t give it away for free. But this problem isn’t going away.

That being said, if Georgia doesn’t win the playoff, I will lock myself in the bathroom and cry in my shower while drinking a fifth of Famous Grouse.

Welcome to Tuesday, SEC Champion Bulldog fans! Can we call this the 3rd off week of the season? The regular schedule is complete, the SEC Championship Game trophy safely esconsced back in Athens for the sixth time, and Georgia now awaits the Green Wave/ManBearPig winner on January 1 in New Orleans. So this is like an off week, right?

Before we get to news & notes, should we not revel a little more in the whipping Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz? There’s a “BTA” trend kicking around, but I like the stylings of one Michael Philip Jagger. Ladies & Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones!

The Bulldog defense brought the whip down on the Crimson Tide all game long, and for the last time in 2025 we can turn to the intrepid folks at the Red & Black for a position group breakdown. Sure enough, they thought highly of Georgia’s front, backers, and secondary in Mercedes-Benz.

The whip came down on Brent Pry a couple of months ago in Blacksburg, but that didn’t stop him from answering James Franklin’s “you up” DM over the weekend. Pry has now been hired as the Defensive Coordinator at Virginia Tech, after being terminated by the same Athletic Department September 14th. No word on if he has to wait 30 days for his benefits to take effect.

The CFP committee whip came down on Notre Dame Sunday afternoon, as Macondawg told you yesterday. It couldn’t happen to a more entitled deserving program. The subsequent refusal to play a bowl game has set off decisions by several other team, and the slope is officially slippery.

Irish Athletic Director Pete Bavacqua has doubled down, and now states the ACC has caused “permanent damage” to the ACC/ND tryst by pushing South Beach instead of South Bend to the playoff committee. Something tells me this is a good excuse to open up a bidding war for part-time Irish services.

The whip came down on Iowa State and Kansas State, administered by Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. The conference is fining each school $500k for refusing to fulfill the league’s bowl game participation requirement. Reports say both schools decided after meeting with players. Does that mean the players would rather spend this time preparing a film package to send to prospective transfer schools? I don’t get it. Like, at all.

With all that havoc, somehow all the bowl games have come to agreement with teams, and there are a few rundowns if you’re interested. Mississippi State was the beneficiary of this tradition-bucking, and will now play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Wake Forest. Just like Burgermeister Meisterburger approving of drying stockings, Georgia will play in the Sugar Bowl, as is proper.

Don’t look now, but Georgia men’s basketball has the 3rd most in “Others Receiving Votes” category in the latest AP top 25 poll.

Things are fairly quiet otherwise, as final exams are in full swing and students are about to leave campus. That doesn’t mean you should relent razzing any Bama fans you come across, or letting all the Vols, Barners, and Gators know that Georgia is once again king of the best conference in the country. Have a conference championship day, Bulldogs, and as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

#2 Life rule from Podunk: 

Reputations cannot be bought.  People can.

For those of you who have been around a while, this story may sound familiar. Mark Richt was the head coach at UGA, and it was 2009. Probably mid-Octoberish, when the team was even with 3 wins and 3 losses, and someone here on the blog posted “what do we have to do, sacrifice a goat at the arch?”

In those days, my intermittent appearances on the blog were mainly to irritate Podunk, although she often cautioned me, lest someone on the blog, unaware of our sisterhood, attack me for pestering her. (For the record, no one EVER bothered me on the blog. Now, whether that was because she quietly let everyone know that I am her older sister, I’m not sure).

However, there was discussion, and the first ever Dawgsports annual Goat Roast was born. The inaugural Goat Roast was October 2, 2010. A group of us, including Podunk, gathered at the Blind Pig in their digs just off campus (the address eludes me, but I’m sure I could find it again if I had to). I was in charge of the cake, and I commissioned a red velvet cake in the shape of a goat, complete with frosting flames and pretzel logs just under it. The group was delightful. The game, less so. We sacrificed the (cake) goat at halftime, but the Dawgs still lost. 

The final Goat Roast was in 2016, the year Jacob Eason was the starting QB. If my photo tag is to be believed, it was September 24, 2016, and we lost to Ole Miss. Coach Richt had been fired, and Kirby Smart was announced as the new head coach of the Dawgs.

One of the reasons the Goat Roast faded was that Podunk realized that the majority of the folks who attended were either fellow moderators of Dawg Sports, or personal friends/family of hers who came because she was in town. She decided that for the effort and expense, she’d rather visit when the Dawgs were playing at home and go to the game.

Thus, a new tradition was born. Beginning with the 2017 season, and ending with the 2020 season, Podunk would choose whichever game she deemed most likely to be the best home game of the season, and make travel plans. She flew in Thursday or Friday, and she and I would trek to Athens in time to see the game. We would return to my house after the game, where she would write the Victory Post (if we won), and we would visit until it was time for her to return home.

Her first game was the Notre Dame game. That was also the inauguration of the LED light system. It was a wild night, and a great game. She came back for the first weekend in December, when we played a rematch with Auburn, defeating them 28-7 to claim Coach Smart’s first SEC Championship. I still remember discussing bowl games with her – she (correctly) predicted we’d play in the Rose Bowl, with the National Championship Game to be held in Atlanta in January. We discussed finances, and arrangements, and as much as I have always wanted to see the Rose Parade in person, Podunk wanted to come back to Atlanta if the Dawgs got to play for the Natty.

It really came down to finances. We could afford either the Rose Bowl, or the Natty, but we couldn’t afford to do both. And in the end, she said “It might be the only time I get to see the boys play for the Natty in my life”. So we stayed home for New Year’s, and a couple of weeks after that, she and I were in Mercedes-Benz stadium, watching the Dawgs leave it all on the field. The only blemish of that night was the result.

Since 2017, CKS has led the Bulldogs to SEC Championship games in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. We lost in 2018 (AL), 2019 (LSU), 2021 (AL), and 2023 (AL). Podunk and I attended in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Mr. Squillian and I attended in 2021. I figured since the team was 1-4 in SECCG when I attended, that it must be me, and I have remained on my couch for this particular game ever since. While 3-2 isn’t quite the dominating record I want to see, it certainly beats paying the money & going to Atlanta to come home with an L.

Several people asked me before, during and after the game if I was going/had gone. Few people got this level of detail in my answer. Remember folks, I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.

However, it is our intention to celebrate Georgia Bulldog Football Wins whenever and wherever they occur. The ugliness or beauty of any particular win is irrelevant for the purposes of the Winning Smart Victory Post. It is therefore my deepest honor and privilege to bring to you this week’s edition of: The Winning Smart Victory Post.

Coach Kirby Smart coached his 137th game this week for the Red & Black. He currently boasts a 117-20 record and a 0.8540 winning percentage, having carded his one hundred seventeenth win overall in the SEC Championship game of the 2025 season against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

At the identical juncture in their careers:

Vince Dooley’s 137th game as head coach resulted in a Georgia Bulldogs win over the Gamecocks Chickens of Sackerlina in the third game of the 1976 season, giving Coach Dooley a record of 91-41-5 and a 0.6825 percentage.

Coach Mark Richt was 101-36 (0.7372) after a win over Vanderbilt in the 7th game of the 2011 season.

One hundred and thirty seven games into his head coaching career Kirby Smart is sixteen games ahead of Coach Mark Richt and ahead of Coach Vince Dooley by 26 games. As of now, he is holding his own versus the two winningest coaches in Georgia Football History.

As always . . .

Go ‘Dawgs !!!!

Obviously the big news of the day is that the College Football Playoff bracket was announced yesterday. Not everyone in college football got in. Some took that better than others.

To be clear, of the trio of Miami, Notre Dame and Alabama I thought Notre Dame had perhaps the best case to get in. They would probably be favored on a neutral field over the other two, and have played the best football in recent weeks, albeit against a schedule sponsored by Charmin.

it’s interesting to me that Notre Dame’s principled stance against the college football playoff only emerged after the Irish were left out of it. That’s how you can tell the difference between a genuine stance and a juvenile temper tantrum. This is the latter rather than the former.

Do you remember when Georgia buzzed through the SEC in 2023, finishing 12-0, then lost to Bama in the SEC Championship Game and got left out of the playoff? Remember how the Bulldogs had a hissy fit and took their ball and went home? Of course not, because Kirby Smart’s team reacted to the snub by beating Florida State so badly it appears to have permanently broken the Seminole football program. I guess we’re just built different, bro.

Heck, even Vanderbilt is built different than that, as Clark Les made clear in talking about his team’s matchup with Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

“We love playing football here,” Lea said. “To realize that we get a chance to close out a special season, a special group of players on a great bowl stage in a great city against a really, really tough opponent, as a football fan, as a football coach, as a football person, it’s hard not to get excited about that.”

Maybe it’s harder than you think, Coach.

Stop. Just stop, Roll Bama Roll. You had me at “Alabama was humiliated.” This loss seems to have thoroughly shaken the Crimson Tide faithful, who were rumbly after the loss to Oklahoma in which a special teams play made the difference for the other team. They were grumbly after another uninspiring Ty Simpson performance in the Iron Bowl. But getting physically dominated up front in a game which many in Gumplandia couldn’t conceive of losing is going to make for a great Finebaum show today. Lose to Oklahoma again in the first round of the playoffs and Kalen DeBoer could find himself inching ever so slightly into the hot seat in Tuscaloosa.

We’ll be back later to talk more playoff miscellany and Bulldog news. Until then…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

If you’re like me, you are still in celebration mode after Georgia’s dominant victory on Saturday against the Alabama Crimson Tide. That game was euphoric for me, as I’m sure it was for many readers. Back in 2012, my young teenage self had a camera ready to take a picture of the TV of what I knew would be a Bulldog victory over Alabama in the SEC championship. How could it not be? Aaron Murray and co. were on the Bama eight yard line after some impressive throws late in the fourth quarter.

I won’t ruin your mood by telling you what happened next. To make a long story short, seeing the Dawgs thoroughly thrash the Tide made up for that heartbreak in the Georgia Dome all those years ago. Well, almost.

Anyways, the biggest contributor to Georgia’s win was a nasty defensive effort (they only allowed -3 rushing yards by the way). Good defense was also seen across the NFL last week by many former Dawgs.

A man who we haven’t spoken much about in these columns is Travon Walker of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has battled some injuries this season but returned in time for an important AFC South matchup between the Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts. Walker recorded six tackles, including one tackle for loss, in a 36-19 victory for Jacksonville, who now own a 9-4 record and sit in first place in the AFC South.

On the west coast, Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams returned to the win column Sunday by cruising to a 45-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Stafford continued to build his MVP resume by throwing for 281 yards and three touchdowns in the win. He currently has the best odds to win the award according to FanDuel.

Unfortunately for the Philly Dawgs, they did not get a MVP-like performance from their quarterback on Monday night as the Eagles dropped their third straight game, this time to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Eagles’ defense sacked quarterback Justin Herbert seven times on the night, with Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis accounting for two and a half of them.

Unless they figure out their offense, it doesn’t seem like Dean, Davis, and the other Bulldogs in Philadelphia will get an opportunity to win a second straight Super Bowl.

That’s all for this week. Come back next Thursday to read more about the adventures of your favorite former Dawgs in the NFL. Until then…

Go Dawgs!

Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?

The Broyles Award is given annually to the top assistant coach in college football.

Of this year’s five finalists, only one is an offensive coordinator.

That offensive coordinator…well…

The Mike Bobo criticism has almost become an amusing sideshow at this point. Odds of convincing anyone on either side from changing their mind is about as likely as convincing a vegan to suddenly chow down on a Pig Special at Fincher’s BBQ.

OC’s are a lot like lineup and pitching bullpen management in baseball. There are so many easily observable things in a game, and when the smallest thing goes south, it falls on the OC’s shoulders.

At the same time, when things go well, the OC gets the credit. And with the way that Georgia is cooking with peanut oil on offense, it’s good to see Bobo getting his just recognition.

It’s all-SEC season. To zero surprise, Georgia’s 11 on the coach selections leads the conference.

When it became known that Drew Bobo could not play against Alabama’s physical front, there was cause for concern. How would a new face playing extensive snaps in Malachi Toliver hold up? It turned out to be a worry over nothing.

There’s one metric that measures how well a center plays – when they are not mentioned during a broadcast due to no center-QB snap exchanges. Toliver did that. Whether Bobo can return or not in the Sugar Bowl, one reason for worry a week ago no longer exists.

It’s only December and in non-conference play, but the Lady Bulldogs are unbeaten on the basketball court.

One of many things that would be amazing to have Lewis Grizzard with us for these days – knowing he’d be writing about the confluence of Georgia football and passenger rail, especially given he did a cover of this classic.

Go Dawgs!

Happy Early National Signing Day Dawg Nation! This week’s around the SEC is basically dominated by the coaching carousal and signing day shenanigans, which is unfortunate cause we have a massive SEC Championship Game on Saturday against Alabama.

Anyone that says the SEC Championship Game does mean much any longer due to the expanded playoff can go on and get. Winning the SEC is a primary goal each season, and some of us remember the dark days of not even competing for a spot in the game. Or, like yours truly, some of us were at the game and in the end zone that Aaron Murray and co. were driving towards when a batted ball landed in Chris Conley’s hands as time expired.

I still remember Kirby Smart jumping for joy and rushing the field with the rest of the Alabama sideline as the clock struck 00:00 in 2012. In my silent rage, I was so mad at him for celebrating so hard against his alma mater. Alas, I was a naive and heartbroken youth at the time, and his defense just made an SEC and national championship sealing play. Luckily he is on our sidelines now, and I hope we can finally beat Bama in an SEC Championship game.

Back to the newsmakers, here is a list of new SEC head football coaches:

• Lane Kiffin, LSU (formerly Ole Miss head coach)
• Alex Golesh, Auburn (formerly USF head coach)
• Jon Sumrall, Florida (formerly Tulane head coach)
• Pete Golding, Ole Miss (formerly Ole Miss DC)
• Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas (formerly Memphis head coach)
• Will Stein, Kentucky (formerly Oregon OC)

Six new head coaches in one week is wild for the SEC. I think the Golesh hire is unfortunately a good one by Auburn. I believe Stein has some big shoes to fill but will keep Kentucky afloat in the SEC and do an admirable job. I think Silverfield will be gone within three years (and will get blasted by Georgia in Fayetteville next fall after his unprovoked inflammatory remarks towards the Georgia football program earlier this season). Finally, I think Kiffin will have no more success at LSU than he did at Ole Miss, deliver no trophies to the Tigers, and jump ship for a new gig by the end of the decade.

Switching gears, Early National Signing Day is today. While we won’t go in depth in this piece, it’s worth noting that Georgia currently has the #5 class ranking based on the 247 Composite Ranking, which is good for second in the SEC behind Alabama even after the decommitment of #1 recruit Jared Curtis.

In a wild week in the SEC full of shocks and shakeups, I’ll leave you with this: Go Dawgs, Beat Bama.

It’s early National Signing Day, the day when college football fans across the nation dream of victories tomorrow secured by the blue chip prospects of today.

Where We Stand

Yesterday wasn’t a great day for Georgia football recruiting as Nashville quarterback Jared Curtis announced that he’s flipping his commitment from the ‘Dawgs to the hometown Vanderbilt Commodores. That dropped the Red and Black from the #3 rated class in 247Sports’ rankings to #7.

The Bulldogs also lost the nation’a top JUCO prospect, offensive tackle Jarmaine Mitchell, who flipped to Arizona State.

The Bulldogs still have 28 prospects committed in this class. While the math is a little bit of a guess, my estimate is that Georgia has room to sign 30 to 31 players in this class. That total is based on the number of seniors and draft-eligible juniors on Georgia’s roster, as well as projected transfer portal entrants.

Where We’re Going

Who are the additional 2-3 prospects the Bulldogs sign? Hard to say. If past years are any guide some probably are not on anyone’s radar.

One possibility is four star offensive lineman Tyreek Jemison. The 6’5, 315 pound standout from Paulding County High had been committed to Kentucky, but decommitted in October and has been a hot commodity since. He’ll announce his decision at 8:30 this morning.

Another possible option is Benedictine (Savannah) edge rusher LaDamion Guyton. The five star defender is rated the #2 player in the state and #15 player in America by 247, but has been committed to Texas Tech since August, reportedly due in part to a monumental NIL package. Flipping him would be a tall order, but never count Kirby Smart out until they sign on the line that is dotted.

If history is any guide we should also see at least one player committed elsewhere flip to Georgia, what I call the ““George Pickens.” Those commits are among the hardest to predict, though I think there are a handful of players committed to SEC schools with new coaching staffs who may jump rather than giving the new guys a chance.

The one thing I am fairly confident of is that we’ll also get at least one announcement from a player for the class of 2027. I have some suspects in mind, but let’s just let those play out how they will, shall we?

We’ll be here all day to update the commitment list as the signings become official, as well as providing news and analysis along the way. This thread will be home base for discussing any breaking news, rumors, and general observations as the day progresses.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Signee List

1. Khamari Brooks (OLB), Bogart, GA
2. Preston Carey (DT), Long Island, NY
3. Ekene Ogboko (OT), Durham, NC
4. Craig Dandridge (WR), Alpharetta, GA
5. Carter Luckie (DT), Norcross, GA
6. Pierre Dean (EDGE), Clemmons, NC
7. Lincoln Keyes (TE), Saline, MI
8. Ryan Mosley (WR), Carrollton, GA
9. Tyreek Jemison (OL), Dallas, GA
10. Zykie Helton (OL), Carrollton, GA
11. Jae Lamar (RB), Moultrie, GA
12. Harran Zureikat (K), Pittsburgh, PA
13. Valdin Sone, (DT), Dyke, VA
14. Tyriq Green (S), Buford, GA
15. Graham Houston (OL), Buford, GA
16. Caden Harris (CB), Brownsville, TN
17. Elijah Littlejohn (LB), Charlotte, NC
18. AJ Lonon (DL), Athens, GA
19. Brayden Fogle (TE), Lexington, OH
20. Nick Abrams (LB), Reisterstown, MD
21. Zech Fort (S), IMG Academy
22. Terrence Penick (LB), Snellville, GA
23. Blake Stewart (S), Fairburn, GA
24. Jordan Smith (DB), Warner Robins, GA
25. Zach Lewis (OL), Suwannee, GA
26. Kaiden Prothro (TE), Bowdon, GA

This has been an extremely weird season in the SEC. Preseason #1 Texas will probably end up missing the playoff. Perennial tomato can Vanderbilt won 10 games for the first time in school history, and their quarterback will probably get a Heisman ceremony invite. Alabama lost to Florida State, marking the first time it lost to a non-bowl-bound team since 2007. Six head coaches got pink slips, including a predictably disastrous and litigious end to the Brian Kelly era at LSU.* Marty Smith spent an entire Saturday in the Ole Miss athletic offices like some sort of cursed football Grail Knight.

With all this chaos, it’s nice to know that there’s one thing you can count on: This weekend, Georgia will once again play for a conference title. Kirby Smart’s teams have missed the SEC Championship game twice in his tenure: once in his first year and again during the Covid year. That’s a level of consistency fans of any other team in the country would love to have.

And yet.

Last Saturday, I watched the Iron Bowl with the demeanor of a man awaiting the results of an abnormal liver panel. Ashton Daniels threw the ball like he was trying to win tuition for veterinary school at halftime of a conference championship game, and his receivers had apparently all sprayed their hands down with Pam as some sort of bizarre pregame ritual. Even when Auburn mounted an improbable comeback, I knew with a metaphysical certainty that we were going to see the Tide again in Atlanta.   

The last time Alabama lost in Atlanta was December 6, 2008. George W. Bush was the president. The #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 was “Live Your Life” by T.I. and Rihanna, and the #1 movie was the forgettable Reese Witherspoon vehicle Four Christmases. Matthew Stafford was still a student at UGA. A baby born that night is currently a high school senior, perhaps themselves applying to a college whose football team will one day drive them to the brink of madness. 

As you already know, that streak includes four wins over Georgia in the SEC Championship. Speaking personally, each of those had a different flavor of anguish. There was the absolute soul-crushing agony of being so near a breakthrough (2012), the mind-shearing rage of another blown lead (2018), the stomach-churning disappointment of laying an egg (2021), and the icy fingers of inevitable death closing around the ol’ windpipe (2023). 

Because I have work to do later and can’t start drinking room temperature gin right now, I will not mention the 2018 national championship, but please know that I am aware it was also played in Atlanta.  

With the exception of 2021, each of those SECCG losses kept Georgia from playing for a national championship. This year, thanks to the expanded playoff format, UGA will get another bite at the apple even if things go sideways on Saturday afternoon. In fact, I’m sure a sizable number of Georgia fans would prefer to sit at home this weekend and let A&M and Bama beat up on each other while we prepare to host a home playoff game.  

There’s a bigger conversation to be had here about the conference championships as a general proposition. Gone are the days when a team basically had to win a conference title to secure a championship game berth. Most years, both teams in the SECCG will end up in the playoff. Optimistically, you could say that’s because the SEC is the deepest conference and both teams will have earned their spots. Cynically, you might argue it’s because Greg Sankey and the league wield so much influence over the sport. Both are true.

The stakes of this meeting are undeniably lower than years past. The first-round bye that accompanies winning would be a plus, but it’s not do or die. Regardless of outcome, unless Georgia loses a galactic blowout or suffers a catastrophic quarterback injury, we’re probably going to host a first-round playoff game at minimum. 

But if you’ve been keeping an eye on the site this week, you know most of the staff here wants to be in Atlanta this weekend. So, why should we care about this game? 

Earlier this year, I wrote about the narrative value of a win over Alabama. That might be truer for Georgia than any other team in the country. Even Tennessee has beaten Alabama twice in the last four years. I can’t speak for the players, but as a fan, getting the Alabama ghost out of the attic would be huge. I can’t say I’m optimistic, necessarily, but I do believe the old football truism holds: It’s very hard to beat a good team twice. 

But that’s not why I’m looking forward to this weekend.

A friend of mine recently observed that part of the NFL’s success over the last 20-plus years rests on the fact that NFL football is perfect background noise for a lazy Sunday at home. It’s easy and pleasant to just turn on a football game as you putter around the house. Diehard fans are unlikely to ever give up on football, so you don’t have to market the product to them. Instead, the NFL has become the dominant force in American sports by targeting growth among casuals.

College football lacks centralized leadership responsible for guiding its development and growth. The absence of a governing body results in a patchwork arrangement of entities that often work at cross-purposes. The NCAA clearly saw its role as protecting universities and athletic departments from having to compensate players, which makes the organization little more than a vestigial organ now with respect to football. Individual conferences exist to advance the interests of their member schools and their own branding. The College Football Playoff is a mechanism (sort of) for determining a national champion and (more accurately) marketing college football nationally.

To that end, without true leadership, the primary driver of college football’s future has been television, most specifically ESPN/Disney. As the Worldwide Leader has gobbled up more and more college football inventory for broadcast on Saturdays, it has likewise worked to turn the sport into a national product. You can see this in countless ways, but the clearest one is the network’s monomaniacal focus on the playoff. Does anyone really need or want a full month of playoff committee rankings shows? No — it’s all about marketing the sport to casuals. 

Of course, you can’t make a decision like that without some tradeoffs. My favorite Georgia football blogger, the much-missed Senator Blutarsky, was fond of pointing out that college football’s glory was regionalism. The lack of a centralized authority allowed each conference, originally organized around geographical affinity, to develop its own character and traditions. As the sport becomes more national in focus and increasingly professionalized, much of that uniqueness will fall away. Because ESPN, the conferences, and their member schools stand to make more money from transforming college football fully into NFL-Lite, that’s what they’re going to do.  

I try not to be overly sentimental or nostalgic for the glory days of college football. There’s nothing in the Dead Sea Scrolls about the ancient and sacred nature of conference championships. In fact, the SEC Championship game is younger than I am. It’s also unlikely the conference championships are going anywhere in the near future because the ratings are still extremely strong. Last year, the SEC championship drew more viewers (16.6 million) than the most-watched regular-season game (13.2 million, also Georgia-Texas). That’s more viewers than every first-round playoff game and half the second-round games. As long as they draw that many eyeballs, they’re safe enough. But eventually, as the system develops to increasingly resemble the NFL’s structure, the individual conference championships won’t be worth preserving.

Since I’ve been a college football partisan, the first weekend in December has been the one of the emotional high points of the season. The goal was always to get to Atlanta first. But there will come a time soon when that’s no longer the case. Perhaps some fun stuff will come from that — more helmet matchups, more leeway for top teams to make the playoff, more, more, more. But embiggening the playoff will come at a price, even if it’s a small one.

So this weekend, I’m going to undertake my usual SEC Championship Game traditions. I’ll be using some of my post-Thanksgiving turkey stock to make a large batch of Victory Collards. I’ll be dragging my smoker out in freezing temperatures to smoke a few racks of ribs. I’ll be opening the last Classic City Lager in my fridge at kickoff, playing my tailgate playlist, and wearing my faded gray gameday hat. 

Because I believe that, one day, Georgia will beat Alabama in Atlanta. And I’ll want to be full of ribs and collards and Georgia beer when we do. And I don’t know how many more chances we’ll get. 

*It’s a testament to Kelly’s essential loathsomeness that his attempt to scapegoat his OC went so badly awry that he got himself fired.

Nathan and Yara are back to preview the SEC Championship Game

• Injury news that isn’t actually all bad for Georgia.
• Yara comes to terms with Kirby Smart’s metaphorical career mortality.
• How the vibes have shifted since Georgia and Alabama last played.
• Some names to know on the Tide side of the ball.
• Why Kirby Smart has to come out of his comfort zone for Georgia to win another SEC title. Is he clinically insane if he doesn’t?
• Perhaps Yara’s most inspiring pep talk ever (as if this is necessary, warning strong language).

As you may have heard, you should like, rate, subscribe, and patreonize the show wherever you get your podcasts, or else Lane Kiffin may show up and claim your dog as his own. You don’t want to risk that.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

*Rohan Chakravarthi covers college football for SB Nation, and is a guest writer on DawgSports

It’s time for the biggest game in college football every year: the SEC Championship. And it’s no surprise that the Georgia Bulldogs are taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide in a game with major College Football Playoff implications.

For the Bulldogs, a win or a loss should still keep them in the 12-team picture, but a victory could very well vault them to the No. 2 seed, given that No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana play this weekend.

But, to do so, they’ll need to overcome the issues they faced earlier this season in their 24-21 loss to the Crimson Tide, which is their lone defeat on the season.

Where do the Bulldogs need to improve in the rematch?

Execute in the biggest moments

Looking back at the game in September, one of the biggest moments was Georgia’s failed fourth down early in the fourth quarter on a 4th & 1 at the Alabama eight-yard line. Down three points, it was the perfect opportunity for the Bulldogs to take the lead, but they were stuffed for a loss of three.

The Bulldogs never got past midfield after that, punting on their ensuing drive and failing to get a stop that led to the Crimson Tide running the clock out.

It wasn’t only that missed fourth down that proved to be costly, though. Alabama was a stunning 13 of 19 on third down conversions, while Georgia was a measly 2 of 8.

That allowed the Crimson Tide to control the game early with two touchdown drives of 14 plays. They also had multiple drives of eight plays (a touchdown drive and to close out the game), a nine-play drive, and a 10-play drive.

While Georgia still kept it close throughout, that time of possession battle helped Alabama keep control of the game and never trail in the 24-21 loss.

In the rematch, the Bulldogs need to do better on the money down to even the scales, while also finding a way to get some stops defensively, especially earlier in the game.

Tougher looks for Ty Simpson

Georgia didn’t have many answers for Ty Simpson in the first half back in September, as they allowed him too much time in the pocket, which proved to be costly.

Simpson was a big reason why the Crimson Tide kept converting and moved the chains in the first half, leading to three touchdowns by halftime. He finished the game with 280 yards, two touchdowns, and zero turnovers.

Simpson is the biggest key to Alabama’s offense, which has struggled to run the ball at times this year and will potentially be without running back Jam Miller on Saturday. We’ve seen him slow down a little over the last three games, as his accuracy and decision-making has wavered a bit.

But, Simpson is still a very talented quarterback who can kill defenses with his arm when given the time in the pocket. Georgia needs to find ways to make him uncomfortable on Saturday and get off the field on third downs.

Costly mistakes

The Bulldogs are 1-10 in their last 11 meetings against the Crimson Tide, with a ton of those losses being one-score games.

That was the case again in September, and one costly mistake proved to be the difference: Nate Frazier’s fumble.

Backed up in their own end zone, the Bulldogs coughed up the ball at their own eight-yard line, which put the Crimson Tide in prime scoring position. The defense came up with a big stop to force a red zone field goal, but those three points were the difference in the game.

More importantly, Alabama didn’t have a costly turnover or mistake. They were the more disciplined team (68 penalty yards for Georgia vs. 16 for Alabama) and forced the key turnover on Frazier.

In the rematch, the Bulldogs can’t afford to have those types of mistakes. They’re 66th in the country in turnover margin because they just haven’t created takeaways this season (105th in the nation).

Meanwhile, Alabama is a top-15 team in the nation in turnover margin. Not only do they create turnovers at a high rate (1.6 takeaways per game), but they also protect the football well.

Georgia will need to find a way to do the same on Saturday.

Good Friday afternoon, Dawg fans!! We’ve made it to conference championship weekend, and once again it’s the Dawgs versus the Tide in Atlanta for the SEC crown. Georgia heads into this one at No. 3 in the latest CFP rankings following a gritty 16–9 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Alabama sits at No. 9 after their close 27–20 victory over the Auburn Tigers. Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 4:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

First off, the SEC Championship still means something, and it’s an absolute honor to have the opportunity to sit atop this conference. I get the worries about injuries while other teams sit at home resting up for the playoffs (when they really should be playing “play-in games” tomorrow, but that’s a discussion for another time). But this game means a ton to the Dawgs and should mean just as much to the entire fan base, especially when the opponent is Alabama. If we lose more key guys, it’ll be unfortunate, but as Coach Smart says, “next man up, it’s football.”

Alright, let’s dive in. Georgia’s success in this one all comes down to how well they can pressure Ty Simpson. In the first meeting earlier this year, the Dawgs’ non-existent pass rush let Simpson sit in the pocket for what felt like days, carving up the secondary, especially in the first half. He finished that half with 192 yards on 23 attempts and two touchdowns, and Alabama went a perfect 8-for-8 on third down. Georgia regrouped in the second half and nearly stole it after holding the Tide to just three points.

I bring all of that up to make one thing clear: Georgia cannot start slow and dig itself a first-half hole too deep to climb out of. The good news? This team has made major strides on both sides of the ball since that first matchup, especially in the pass rush. Georgia had nine sacks in November, more than the eight they had from August through October combined. Simpson and the Tide offense have struggled to connect on deep shots recently, thanks to increased pressure. Georgia has to keep that going and avoid giving up explosives.

On offense, it all starts with winning in the trenches. The absence of Drew Bobo is going to matter. He’s been rock-solid at center, not just during the play, but with pre-snap recognition that helps Gunner Stockton make the right checks. Redshirt freshman Malachi Toliver will get the start in Bobo’s place, and it’s a tall task against a physical Alabama defensive line. He’s had all week to prepare mentally and physically, and it’s on him and the rest of the O-line to set the tone.

If that unit does set the tone, I’d pound the rock until Alabama proves they can stop it. Nate Frazier has been one of the best running backs in college football in the second half of the season, and there’s no reason to go away from the hot hand. As for Gunner Stockton, he just needs to play with the moxy we’ve all come to love. Yes, he looked a little shaky at times last week against Tech, but I doubt Georgia entered that game planning to be explosive offensively. Now is the moment for Stockton to let it rip and get the ball to his playmakers, especially Zachariah Branch. Georgia has as much, if not more, offensive firepower than Alabama. It’s time for Mike Bobo to dial it up, and for the Dawgs’ offense to execute.

Prediction: UGA- 31 Bama- 21

Yep, you read that right, I’ve got the Dawgs winning by two possessions. Why? Because they should. Many of us have watched both teams closely all season, and the one that’s consistently improved is Georgia. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been here before as the better team and still found a way to lose, but not this time. It’s time to finish the job and take down the Tide.

The keys are simple: pressure Ty Simpson, don’t give up deep shots, dominate the trenches, and on offense… let your nuts hang. Man, I’m ready to run through a brick wall after writing this.

Hope everyone has an incredible rest of their Friday and enjoys an electric weekend of college football. As always, GO DAWGS!!!

If your Georgia Bulldogs are once again attempting to beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and you’re haunted by flashbacks of all the times that happened before, and of how it’s always ended, you could probably use a drink. I can help you with that.

Look, I get it. I sat crumbled in the floor after the clock ran out in 2012. I watched helplessly as Devonta Smith caught a touchdown on 2nd and 26. I still don’t understand that fake punt. I have watched Alabama torment Georgia in Atlanta from hundreds of miles away and from only a few feet away. I cannot make you trust this Bulldog team to get the job done this time in a way they haven’t so many times in the past.

I can tell you that this Alabama team isn’t those Alabama teams. That they’re almost as banged up as the Bulldogs, and coached by a man who is having to actively having to answer questions about whether he and his family are going to decamp to State College, Pennsylvania because things in Tuscaloosa are too tough. I trusted Nick Saban to deal effectively with those kind of issues. Kalen DeBoer is going to have to show me he can simply brush those things off.

There’s also the fact that this UGA team is a little different from some of those past teams. Not better, per se. But different. They seem borderline impervious to pressure. They came within three points of beating this Alabama team in September, and they’re a significantly better football team on both sides of the ball now than they were then.

Will they need Gunner Stockton to avoid throwing one of those ugly interceptions he’s taken to tossing over the past three weeks? They will. Will they need the defense to get some third down stops in situations they did not in round one with the Tide? Certainly. Will they need to take some chances and gamble at least once in a way that will give you and I heartburn? Sadly it seems almost guaranteed. This game is going to make me nauseous no matter what happens right up until the final buzzer.

But you know what? Bama can’t do anything to me that they haven’t already done. I’ve had my heart ripped out by Tua, Jalen Hurts, Dre Fitzpatrick, Devonta Smith, Mark Ingram, Bryce Young, and a whole lot of other guys in Crimson and frankly you can’t stomp on what’s no longer there.

And what’s the cocktail to drink as you prepare for someone to try fruitlessly to tear out the heart they already tore out a decade ago?

A Heartless Bastard. You’ll need:

• 1 ounce rye whiskey
• 1 ounce gin
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 4 ounces ginger beer
• A lime wheel and mint sprig for garnish

Fill a shaker with ice. Add the whiskey, gin, lime juice, and bitters. Shake well and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Then top it with the ginger beer and stir gently. Garnish with a lime wheel and a mint sprig and enjoy. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

Here we go again. I was tempted to regurgitate this feature from the September meeting in Athens between the Beloved Bulldogs and Carcinogenic Crimson Tide, but decided otherwise. Both teams have changed, and their are other dynamics at play. So here’s why I’m NOT worried about the team from the Yellowhammer state that is now apparently scared of West Virginia football:

1.   Let’s start with the obvious. Alabama isn’t a threat with the running game. Well, under normal circumstances. The Ryan Grubb rushing attack only exceeded 150 yards 3 times this season, and only once (158) against a Power4 team.

And they will run the ball in close games: 38 times vs. Georgia, Auburn, and Vandy; 33 times against Oklahoma even when they trailed. Georgia has given up the 6^th least rushing yards in the nation, against the 2^nd least attempts. That is because Georgia is either leading or controlling the time of possession. The good news is that Alabama will always try to run, and that Georgia is very good at stopping it no matter the time in the game or the position on the field.

2.  Tyler Simmons was onsides. I mean, Tyler Simpson has regressed. In Alabama’s first 6 games, the redshirt junior was building a Heisman campaign. He was completing 71% of his passes with 16 scores and a single interception. Even in the opening loss at FSU, Simpson was more than serviceable – he didn’t throw an interception, passed for 2 scores, but faced a amped up Seminole defense and uncharacteristic drops by the Tide wideouts.

Fast forward to the last half of the season, and the brash hedge-trimmer has come down to earth. He’s throwing for 50 less yards a game, only has 9 passing TDs, and 3 interceptions. His completions are down a full 10 percentage points. He did face some decent defenses in LSU, Oklahoma, and Auburn, but those numbers are right in line with how he performed in Athens this September. The trend is good, our secondary is tightening up, and our pass rush has only gotten better.

3.  Alabama’s defense looks to be pretty stout on 3^rd down. They rank top 30 at allowing less than 35% conversions. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.

First, take away UGA’s horrid 3^rd down performance, Missouri’s 1-11 attempt (without their starting QB), and that number jumps to 40%. So what happens when an offense doesn’t convert a 3^rd down? Sometimes they go for it on 4^th down. And Alabama has shown a weakness here. FSU was 2-2 on 4^th, Wisconsin was 1-1 (albeit late). Missouri and Auburn were 2-3, while Tennessee was 4-5.  South Carolina hit on both 4^th down attempts. And while Kirby Smart doesn’t roll the dice a ton when faced with a 4^th down, he usually converts (5^th nationally at over 75%).

Now forgive me, as I was weaned at the nipple of Larry Munson’s scratch so here’s what does worry me about playing the bane of Georgia football:

1.  Can we run on the Tide defense? When last we faced the Red Elephants, Gunner Stockton only had a handful of starts under his belt, the Georgia defense was still trying to figure itself out, and the offensive line had a different starting 5 every week. But Mike Bobo committed to the ground game, gaining 227 yards on only 33 carries. Can we do that again? We may need to if the air attack resembles the last couple of games.

Alabama is allowing less than 100 yards on the ground their last 4 conference games. And it wasn’t for lack of trying, as they faced an average of 32 attempts in those games. In a larger sample, if you take away Georgia and FSU, opponents have kept running the ball to only 3.5 yards a tote. Now with Drew Bobo a question mark, the Georgia offense that only managed less than 50 yards in the second half against Tech will face an even stouter front. Not to mention Tide DT Tim Keenan, who is more of a Saban-era DT and is looking forward to facing a patched-together OL.  

We need to spread them out so our outside zone can work and we can get our guards to the 2nd level. They tend to rush 3-4 and we absolutely have to wall them off to get our backs in the holes and getting meaningful yardage.

2 .  Alabama isn’t going to give this to us. They’re #10 in the nation, and #2 in the conference in time of possession. Since the Bulldogs are #1 in the SEC, don’t count on a lot of possessions in this contest. So Gunner Stockton et al. are going to have make these possessions count.

The Tide defend between 11-12 possessions per game. They force punts on half of those possessions, they get either a 4^th down turnover or a fumble/pick on at least 1 more of those, which only leaves around 5 possessions to score. Over a third of those possessions result in a field goal try (thank goodness for Peyton Woodring). So Alabama is really only giving up around 2 touchdowns a game, which is scant. Georgia has got to take advantage of every possession – burn clock, score points, and keep their defense tired while their offense looks at tablets on the sideline.

3 . Games like this often come down to turnovers. Looking back at September, a 2Q fumble by UGA’s Nate Frazier, just after Georgia had scored a TD and forced a Bama punt, flipped the momentum and allowed a field goal that ultimately was the deciding score. Lest we forget, Carson Beck was in the giving mood during the 2024 game in Tuscaloosa, and those short fields were most certainly the difference on the scoreboard.

And turnovers were paramount in at least 3 more of Alabama’s games this season. If Diego Pavia doesn’t try to get cute with the ball deep in Bama territory, Vanderbilt has 2 more scoring chances. The same can be said about LaNorris Sellers and South Carolina, which was a 1 score game at the end. Auburn certainly sealed their own fate with a bad fumble early, and then a late thrown pick. And I don’t think Oklahoma wins without the 3 interceptions thrown by Tyler Simpson.

Both Georgia and Alabama generally take care of the ball. The difference is Alabama is both opportunistic and they force more turnovers. With interceptions thrown in the last 3 games, and 4 of the last 5, we will need mid-season Gunner Stockton and not the visibly shook November Gunner Stockton.

Call me crazy, just don’t call me late for dinner. Let us know in the comments what you’re feeling about trying to loose the chains we forged in previous gridiron encounters with the Tide. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

Another week of the NFL season has come and gone, and this week saw some great moments from your favorite former Dawgs.

Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell cemented his legacy with Georgia football by having two of the most clutch touchdowns in program history. In 2021, Mitchell was a rising freshman who became a reliable target for quarterback Stetson Bennett. Their connection culminated when the Mailman hit Mitchell for a 40 yard go-ahead touchdown against Alabama in the championship game. One year later, despite missing almost the entire season due to injury, Mitchell returned for the College Football Playoffs and caught yet another go-ahead touchdown against Ohio State in the Peach Bowl. Even though he would transfer to Texas following this season to be closer to his daughter, Mitchell will forever be a UGA legend in the eyes of fans.

Even though his NFL career has gotten off to a slow start, Mitchell, now with the New York Jets, had his best game as a pro on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. He caught eight passes for 102 yards and a touchdown to help the Jets earn a 27-24 win over the Falcons.

Out west, one of Mitchell’s teammates proved to the football world why he might just be the best tight end in the NFL right now. Brock Bowers was known for some incredible moments and catches during his time in the red and black, which is why Dawg Nation was not surprised when he made a spectacular catch against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

Unfortunately for Brock, the Raiders were unable to secure a win against the Chargers and fell to 2-10 on the season. Here’s to hoping Las Vegas will add more talent to the roster to help out Brock.

Here are some other notable performances by former Dawgs over the weekend:

• Buffalo Bills running back James Cook rushed for 144 yards on 32 carries in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cook is now second in the league with 1,228 rushing yards. He appears on his way to a third consecutive Pro Bowl and another playoff spot with the Bills.
• Despite losing on Thanksgiving night, it was a solid day of defense for a trio of former Dawg defenders. Roquan Smith recorded 11 tackles, Malaki Starks added six, and veteran John Jenkins recorded a tackle for loss.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith came up with a fumble recovery on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. Smith is quietly putting together a solid season with 52 tackles on the year.

That’s all for this week. Until next time…

Go Dawgs, beat Bama!