Maybe they’d play better if they were still behind.

Here’s Edward Aschoff’s profound thought of the day:

… Auburn is a pretty tricky team and with a week to rest, Georgia will get the Tigers’ best. Plus, you have to think about where this team’s head will be once it finds out what happened with South Carolina. How will this team react if it trots out onto the field and sees that South Carolina has beaten Florida? That absolutely puts Georgia in a must-win situation.

Um… maybe I’m missing something here, but haven’t we just spent the last eight weeks watching how Georgia would react to being put in a must-win situation?

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Long way down

This seems like kind of a waste of resources.

Former ESPN play-by-play announcer Ron Franklin will be the guest speaker at tonight’s New Horizons Credit Union-1st and 10 Club meeting at Heron Lakes Country Club. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m., with dinner beginning at 6.

Franklin was reunited with former ESPN colleague Mike Gottfried over the weekend to broadcast the Samford-Chattanooga football game. The two men were partners for several seasons as ESPN’s top college football broadcasting team.

If Uncle Ron says he’s really, really sorry and won’t condescend to women again, can he have his old gig back?

And if that doesn’t work, I’d take him in Athens in a heartbeat.

Dawg stat watch, Week 10

Hells yeah, the stat watch is on this week.

Here’s what we’re looking at now:

1. Hold opponents under 17 points per game.  As a team, Georgia is yielding 19.9 ppg.
2. Finish at least +8 in turnover margin.  Georgia’s turnover margin is +8.
3. Average better than 380 yards per game on offense.  Georgia’s offense is averaging 428.8 ypg.
4. Finish in the top five in total defensive yardage.  Georgia’s defense ranks third in total defense.
5. Finish in the top three in first downs.  Georgia is second in first downs.
6. Finish no worse than third in passing yardage.  Georgia is second in passing yardage.
7. Finish no worse than third in sacks.  Georgia is second in sacks.

Aside from scoring defense (hey, that’s the SEC’s term for it; don’t blame me), the Dawgs are on track.

SEC presidents may be greedy, but at least they’re not stupid.

South Carolina’s president says the SEC will go to a nine-game conference schedule in the wake of expanding to fourteen schools.  That’s a win for the fans.

As an aside, this is kind of interesting:

… For a conference title game, the NCAA requires leagues to have balance in both divisions. With a 13-team league, the SEC would have been required to apply for a special waiver to hold the annual game in Atlanta.

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UPDATE:  Hold that thought.  Maybe they are just a bunch of greedy morons.

Montana logic

Shorter Stewart Mandel:  Expansion will be the downfall of the SEC because they don’t know how to tailgate in Missouri.

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UPDATE:  I wonder if this is the kind of tailgate experience Mandel is referring to.  (h/t MrSEC.com)

Thank God I’m a country boy.

One more pre-game picture from Saturday: Ben Jones walking barefoot through the Sanford Stadium grass.

“People better enjoy it while they got it.”

There’s something truly marvelous about Will Muschamp calling out the rest of the conference after Florida squeaked by Vanderbilt at home to end a four-game losing streak.

SEC Power Poll, Week 10

Interestingly, Game of the Century Week turned to be more of an affirmation of the standing order in the conference than anything else.  I wound up making only one change in my rankings.

1. LSU (9-0, 6-0).  Remember the old SNL skit where Reagan was presented as a doddering fool in the public eye, but behind closed doors was the mastermind in control of everything?  There’s a little of that in Les Miles, I think.
2. Alabama (8-1, 5-1).  You lose by a field goal in overtime to the best team in the country, you’re not gonna drop very far, if at all.
3. Arkansas (8-1, 4-1).  Fragged South Carolina despite a half-assed showing for the first thirty minutes.  That won’t work against LSU.
4. Georgia (7-2, 5-1).  Best.  Scheduling.  Ever.
5. Auburn (6-3, 4-2).  Statistically, it’s hard to justify them being ranked this high.  Does that mean Chizik’s a good head coach, or just the last man standing in comparison to those ranked lower?
6. South Carolina (7-2, 5-2).  Remember when South Carolina used to run out to glory early and then fade in November?  Last year may turn out to be the exception instead of the start of a new trend.
7. Florida (5-4, 3-4).  Bad news for the Gators’ secondary:  Jordan Rodgers, 180.53 passer rating.  Good news for the Gators’ secondary:  South Carolina appears to have run out of quarterbacks.
8. Vanderbilt (4-5, 1-5).  I would have paid good money to watch a James Franklin-Penn Wagers post-game rumble.
9. Mississippi State (5-4, 1-4).  Oh, goodie.  The Bulldogs get to play a Nick Saban-coached squad coming off a brutal loss.
10. Tennessee (4-5, 0-5).  Hey, it’s November.  Isn’t there a rule that the Vols don’t play ranked teams this month?
11. Kentucky (4-5, 1-5).  Feel the surge, baby.
12. Mississippi (2-7, 0-6).  Rumors are that Nutt’s out of a job.  If that’s true, do we say he was Jokered?