“We don’t want what happened last year to happen this year.”

The bye week.  The one time all season when it’s okay to look ahead to next week’s game.

Georgia and Florida both are on bye weeks and have an equal amount of time to prepare. For Georgia, this week has been focused on cleaning up mistakes made so far. The Bulldogs have done some work preparing for Florida, but that won’t start in full force until Sunday, after the players return from a three-day break.

Georgia is 5-2 and will be back in control of its quest for an SEC East title if Alabama defeats Tennessee on Saturday. If the Volunteers do get a third conference loss, Georgia can take the division by winning the remainder of its conference games.

While the players, at least to some degree, will pay attention to the Alabama-Tennessee game, their primary focus is already on Florida.

Good for them.  All I can say in response for today is Roll, Tide.

The Pruitt Way isn’t into style points.

For those of you who think the steady dose of hiccups we’ve seen on defense is an indictment of the defensive coordinator, you’re right, but probably not for the reason you think.

EIGHT true freshmen on defense played at least 10% of the snaps for #UGAvsMIZZ. 4 over 50% https://t.co/IuhqFLvexZ pic.twitter.com/mfBKEetnWV

— Trent Smallwood (@SmallwoodTrent) October 23, 2015

If you’re Pruitt and you walked into a situation where you thought the program’s talent level wasn’t up to SEC standards and you’re committed to getting it there, that’s pretty much what you’re gonna do with the kids you brought in to get there.

In the short run, it ain’t gonna be pretty, though.

35 years later: “Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!”

Here’s a great piece from Steve Hummer, who talked to the key folks involved in the greatest play in Georgia football history. What comes through is an understandable sense of pride, along with a little surprise there’s been nothing close to a repeat.

They could take the attitude of a musician grown weary of playing his greatest hit. They could roll their eyes, slump their shoulders, sigh and grudgingly go through the motions of telling the old story again. But none do.

“It will never come to that,” Belue said. “What most people have is some sort of story that relates to (the play), and I’ve heard some good ones. People just want to tell you what they were doing at the time — so, that’s been fun to hear that.”

“I’m a Georgia guy. I live in Georgia. People live and die with the Dogs. That play always comes up. I don’t dread it; I embrace it,” Scott said.

That said, none of them would mind having a little company in their lonely championship wing of the Bulldogs’ big-play vault.

When asked about the everlasting nature of Belue-to-Scott, the blocker who quietly made it happen touches on the frustrations of every red-and-black wearing partisan.

“Until they do it again (win a title), that should be the only thing that comes up,” Hudson said. “You got to do what the old fellas did. This is the example; this is what we want.”

You got to do what the old fellas did.  One day, hopefully, they will.

Envy and jealousy, it’s selection committee time again edition

You guys know I’m not a fan of Cinderella when it comes to the college football postseason, but despite the subject of this piece, I’ve got to admit this is one helluva lede:

In roughly two weeks, the oligarchy that controls college football will begin its latest attempt to quantify that which defies quantification: On November 3, the College Football Playoff committee will issue the first of its weekly rankings, and given the joyous and unpredictable clusterfuck that this season has become, it will no doubt engender tremendous gales of message-board fury.

So much nailed there in one short paragraph.

A different kind of MVP

I didn’t get the chance to take part in the AB-H midseason blogger roundtable podcast – sometimes duty in the real world calls – but a question was asked that I thought would be fun to discuss here: Who is your midseason MVP?

Chubb, despite the injury, is probably the obvious choice, but I’ve gotta say, if I’m Mark Richt, my midseason MVP is Kenneth Towns.  If he doesn’t make the touchdown saving tackle on the first play of last Saturday’s game and Mizzou goes up 7-0, who’s to say how things would have played out from there?  Had Georgia not recovered from that and lost a third straight game, the second to another team it should have beaten, the reaction to that would have made what we heard last week sound like sweetness and light.

Your thoughts?