Rub some dirt on it and get back in there, kid.

Justin Scott-Wesley has a knee sprain and intends to gut it out.

Schultz gonna Schultz.

If you want to know why Georgia fans are on occasion frustrated with the AJ-C, here’s Exhibit “A”.

I don’t think “bold predictions” means what you think it means.

From Kevin Causey’s Georgia preview:

5 Bold Predictions

5. Georgia will lose to somebody it shouldn’t.

In 2014 it was Florida. In 2013 it was Vanderbilt. Georgia has had some slip-ups that have cost the Dawgs a chance at something bigger. This year the schedule is laid out pretty well for an SEC East title run. That being said, games at Tennessee, against Missouri, and Florida represent possible slip-ups for the Dawgs.

Quite frankly, I think it’s a bigger stretch these days to call for Georgia not to lose to some team it shouldn’t.  It’s the new 3-18.

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This ought to be great for game day traffic.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate tailgating in Athens during election years?

Turn out the lights, Frat Beach.

Glynn County commissioners are expected to make the World’s Largest Cocktail Party a little smaller.

“There’s not a day, not a rep that goes by that we don’t emphasize turnovers…”

Seth Emerson asks the $64,000 question:

The Bulldogs had a plus-16 turnover margin last year, the program’s best since 1982. It was the best margin in the SEC, the fourth-best in the nation.

Can it be maintained, or even improved upon, in 2015?

All those great stats from last season regarding offensive efficiency stemmed from what a +16 will do for a team, particularly more offensive chances and better field position.

The Dawgs only lost once last season when they were positive on turnovers (South Carolina – don’t get me started).  And they lost the only game in which they finished in the red in that department (Georgia Tech).

There is a random element to turnovers, largely with regard to fumble recoveries, but there is some aspect that can be controlled to an extent.  Here’s what Georgia’s turnover margin has looked like over the past seven seasons:

• 2014:  plus-16
• 2013:  minus-7
• 2012:  plus-11
• 2011:  plus-7
• 2010:  plus-10
• 2009:  minus-16
• 2008:  minus-3

No, it’s not an answer to everything.  Last year’s margin didn’t get Georgia to the SECCG.  (Maybe we need to track a brain fart margin.)  But I would argue it’s a big deal for a team that’s set up like Georgia is this season.

If Mike Bobo were still at Georgia today…

… do you think we’d know the identity of the starting quarterback?

Mike Bobo knows the ability to make plays trumps over decision-making in the end. It’s something he’s seeing and balancing in his first camp at Colorado State.

“A guy can grade 90 percent defensively and is not productive. He’s making a play one out of 45 snaps. He’s doing his job, but not making plays. Same thing offensively. A guy might know what to do, but he’s not making plays. … I don’t care if they know 1/10th of the playbook. If they’re playmakers and can change the game, we’ve got to find a way to get them on the field, as coaches.”

“He’s going to be the hardest working guy on the field every time.”

BREAKING:  Nick Chubb really is special.

Amateurs at amateurism

Well, with COA and unlimited food budgets, college athletic departments are off to the races providing their student-athletes with sensible financial support.

Yeah, right.

Schulz added that “there was a little bit of trust involved” in making the changes. Using the introduction of unlimited meals and snacks as an example, he said schools had to ignore worries that “if we let everybody do that, maybe somebody’s going fly lobsters from Maine every evening for their football team. At some point, you’ve got to say, ‘If people are going to do that, they’re going to do that and let’s not worry about it.’ ”

But worries are being raised. Within the broader higher-education community, there is concern about pressure being put on financial aid officers, whose decisions about schools’ cost-of-attendance figures can impact student debt levels…

Noooo.  That can’t be happening, can it?  Oh, yes, it can.

SEC schools are additionally working through a set of reporting requirements designed to bring transparency to their cost-of-attendance calculations. At the NCAA convention in January, the SEC proposed that these rules apply to all NCAA schools, but it was voted down. In May, the conference’s schools adopted them anyway.

They begin from the principle that cost of attendance for all students is supposed to be based on budgets determined under federal guidelines by financial aid office staffers, who also have the authority to use what the U.S. Department of Education terms “professional judgment” to provide upward variances on a case-by-case basis.

By July 15 each year, SEC schools must provide the conference office with their cost-of-attendance figures and methodology, as well as certification from their campus CEO and senior financial aid officer that both have reviewed and approved the report.

Then, at the end of each term, they have to submit information to the SEC about each student who has been granted an individual increase in their cost-of-attendance budget based on “professional judgment.”

Justin Draeger, the president and CEO of National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said he is “disappointed that has not been adopted among all the institutions. Transparency is integral to this going forward.”

Justin, are you kidding?  This is the SEC we’re talking about.

Draeger said he doesn’t have any evidence of an athletics department manipulating cost-of-attendance numbers or pressuring a financial aid office to do the same.

What he does have is “an enormous amount of newly found interest in how schools come up with their cost of attendance,” he said, “and it’s not just coming from the athletic department. It’s coming from the board or trustees or the president’s office in relation to how their cost of attendance compares to (those of) other schools within their conference.

“So I think it’s too soon to tell whether pressure ultimately will be brought to bear.”

Oh, they’re interested alright.  But you’re going to be disappointed when you find out what kind of pressure those folks are bringing.

The irony of people fretting about what an 18-year old kid is going to spend his stipend on while colleges breezily manipulate data allowing them to spend more and more millions on sports shouldn’t escape anyone’s attention.  But, who am I kidding here?

“Hey, stop him – he’s about to waste $400 bucks on an Xbox!”

But, Booch, you’ve recruited so well.

For all the buzz, there’s still a potentially serious Achilles heel for that juggernaut known as 2015 Tennessee.

With the season-opener against Bowling Green less than three weeks away, the Vols have yet to finalize a starting five in the offensive line. They’re not even close. And for all the talent and depth elsewhere on the roster, the uncertainties up front on offense are cause for caution…

… UT entered preseason practice with some uncertainty along the offensive front, and things have only gotten worse. Starting guard Marcus Jackson, a fifth-year senior, suffered a biceps injury that required surgery. Since then, other dominoes have fallen because of a series of relatively minor injuries.

Jackson’s absence is a big hit. He was the Vols’ most experienced offensive lineman. Jackson has started 17 games in his college career, including 12 of UT’s 13 games in 2014. He also could play multiple positions along the line.

Because of Jackson’s loss and other developments, the unit is in a state of flux. Offensive line coach Don Mahoney is trying a number of different combinations in order to find the right five starters plus a couple of backups who can fill in at multiple positions in the event of injury once the season starts.

So, all things considered, which problem to solve would you rather have right now, Tennessee’s offensive line or Georgia’s quarterbacks?