One school’s dismissal is another school’s second chance.

Round up the usual suspects.

Junior defensive back Sheldon Dawson is no longer a part of Georgia’s team.

UGA coach Mark Richt announced Monday that the Bulldogs had parted ways with Dawson, a 5-foot-11 player from Memphis, Tenn.

A source close to the situation has indicated to Dawgs247 that Dawson’s departure was as a result of a dismissal from the team for rules violations.

Dawson was reached by cell phone while Georgia’s team was practicing Monday and declined to comment on the situation.

Give him a week and he’ll be able to talk about his travel options.

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“A little confrontational”

Boy, it must suck to watch your financial dreams wiped away by… evidence.

When being interviewed in his West Broad Street apartment, police said the student was informed about the video footage that showed him being struck by a white male, not Gurley, police said.

The student admitted he’d had been drinking that night, but contended he was not drunk, according to police.

He became “a little confrontational” during the interview, according to the police report, and said he did not wish to pursue his allegation.

I’ll bet.  Then he had to cancel the appointment with the personal injury attorney.

The only reason the Heisman Trophy matters.

It’s been a long time since I’ve cared who won the Heisman.  But this year, I’ll make an exception.  Chris Huston has the explanation.

2. Todd Gurley, JR, RB, Georgia

Gurley had a career day in Georgia’s thrilling 35-32 win over Tennessee, rushing for 208 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. He is now sixth nationally in rushing yards per game and is averaging nearly nine yards per carry. More importantly, he is very close to getting on pace for the magical 2,000-yard mark. It may take a Bulldog appearance in the SEC title game for him to get there, which means Gurley has to lead his team to the SEC East title. Otherwise, he may be sitting at home on the last weekend of college football. It will be hard to win the Heisman if that happens, but he appears to be on pace to get to New York as a finalist no matter what.  [Emphasis added.]

He’s going to have to see his team make the SECCG to have a chance.  Which means, obviously, good season for Georgia.

Damn it, where did I put the mute switch?

The SEC Network on-air crew for #UGA-Vanderbilt Saturday: Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Laura Rutledge.

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) September 29, 2014

If you’re not gonna give me all the Daves, SEC Network, screw it.

Your surprise stat of the day

Tied for fourth in the SEC in passes defended, along with the likes of Vernon Hargreaves, III, is Aaron Davis.

No, that doesn’t make him all-SEC, but it does mean he’s making more plays than we’re giving him credit for.

“We’re getting better, even if the results aren’t showing on the scoreboard just yet.”

If you want to feel a little better about the defense, read Cory Brinson’s piece breaking down the Tennessee game.  Some of what happened can be attributed to Bajakian outguessing Pruitt on a few plays, but if I had to point to the two biggest problems, they would be (1) poor safety play and (2) not controlling field position as well as had been the case in the three earlier games.

As far as the first issue goes, I’m not sure Pruitt can do more than he’s doing, which is to keep rotating guys into the safety slots until somebody steps up.  But as for the second, Georgia has to stay focused on avoiding turnovers, stupid penalties and special teams snafus.  That’s what will keep the Dawgs in every game, even if the secondary and passing attack struggle.

Mike Bobo’s learned lesson

On Twitter, I joked about Gurley’s lack of action in the third quarter, but the breather turned out to be a key to how Georgia finished.

I wasn’t as impressed by Todd Gurley’s 28 carries for 208 yards and two touchdowns against Tennessee as much as I was by what Gurley did to the Vols in the fourth quarter. He carried the ball 12 times for 129 yards in the last quarter, picking up six first downs and a touchdown. One of the reasons that Gurley was so fresh is that he carried the ball only four times in the third quarter. Freshman Nick Chubb may have gained only 17 yards in the second half, but his seven carries were seven that Gurley spent on the sidelines, gearing up for the decisive push against a worn-out Vol defense.

If you don’t think that onside kick was more about keeping the ball from Gurley than anything else, Butch Jones would disagree.  And good for Bobo for getting this fourth quarter right.

This week, in things that should get you fired…

I’m wondering which of these is the more egregiously stupid – Brady Hoke’s management of his quarterback in the Minnesota game, or the Florida coaching staff’s decision to pick Driskel over Brissett.

It’s probably Hoke, but I bet Boom has more regrets.

*************************************************************************

UPDATE:  Hoo, boy.

Is this Hoke criticism about Morris' injury even a story if UM were 4-0 ranked in the top 10? #witchhunt

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 29, 2014

Damn, son.  I don’t think I would have tweeted that.

Fabris Invitational results, Week 5

The standings are in, and there was a crowd at the top.

STANDINGS for WEEK 5

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 21-20
1	Rev_Whitewall	Adj	8-2	8	27-24**
1	tlstep	Adj	8-2	8	31-28
1	Sanders7631	Adj	8-2	8	31-34
1	WFHIT?	Adj	8-2	8	35-31
1	remlapmit	Adj	8-2	8	37-33
1	wstanford	Adj	8-2	8	38-34

Congrats to the good Rev for pulling it out with the tiebreaker.

And here’s what the seasonal race looks like now:

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 5

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		Valley Dawg	35-15	35
2		Turfman25	34-16	34
3		BR Dawg	32-18	32
4		Pistol Formation	31-19	31
5		mg4life0331	30-20	30
5		Second String Secondary	30-20	30
5		OneHairyDawg	30-20	30
5		Rev_Whitewall	30-20	30

Ooh, it’s lonely at the top.

SEC Power Poll, Week 5

It’s time to shake up the rankings, yo’.

1. Alabama.  Saban gets his bye week bounce.  Let’s see how Junior does against a salty Ole Miss defense.
2. Auburn.  1B to Alabama’s 1A.
3. Texas A&M.  If I don’t think Arkansas is that good – and I don’t – then the Aggies aren’t quite as good as I thought.
4. Mississippi State.  Still undefeated.
5. Ole Miss.  Taking better than three quarters to put away Memphis at home?  Meh.
6. Georgia.  Despite playing only four games, no team in the East has scored more points this season than the Dawgs.
7. LSU.  New Mexico State was berry, berry good to the Tigers.
8. Missouri.  Lose to Indiana at home and best South Carolina on the road.  Sure, sure, that makes sense.
9. Arkansas.  So Bret Bielema was 38-0 in games when his team was leading by two TDs in the fourth quarter.  The operative term there being “was”.  He’s still perfect when it comes to SEC losses, though.
10. South Carolina.  First, they couldn’t stop anybody.  Now, they can’t score.  But the ‘Cocks are as talented as ever.
11. Florida.  Psst!  I hear Jeff Driskel had a great week of practice.  Pass it on…
12. Tennessee.  It’s tempting to give the Vols a moral victory bump, but why not wait a week and see how they do against the Gators first?
13. Kentucky.  It may not have been a thing of beauty, but a win’s a win.  Even over Vanderbilt.
14. Vanderbilt. You know, I was going to say at least there’s a good chance of another win on the schedule.  Then I noticed that Charleston Southern is 5-0.

Before you get too freaked out, the gap between 6 and 7 is as small as the gap between 1 and 2.