Best. Game. Ever.

I’m not trying to be critical here about Bill King’s list of the ten best Georgia games ever, as I’m in agreement with plenty there, including the past Rose Bowl game being at the top, but how in the world do you compile such a list and leave the 1980 Georgia-Florida game off entirely?

It’s such a strange omission I had to go back and check it again to make sure.

What do you guys think?

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Maybe he’s just getting warmed up.

Hey, remember that whole “don’t judge Dan Mullen’s recruiting by MSU, ’cause Starkville” narrative?  Well…

Four of the top seven ranked recruiting classes thus far for the Class of 2019 per 247Sports are in the SEC West: 1. #Alabama 2. #TAMU 6. #LSU 7. #MissState. (Very impressive start by Joe Moorhead & his new staff at MSU) https://t.co/vtrHMKFeYg

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) June 24, 2018

I know it’s a long way to December/February, but don’t you think a few Gator Nation assholes are puckering just a wee bit over that news, especially since Florida sits 29th in those same rankings?

Maybe Mullen’s better than he showed at his old gig, but is he better than FSU or Miami?  Great recruits are more plentiful in the Sunshine State, but so are the great recruiters.

Steele is back, baby.

For me, the summer doesn’t officially get underway until I have my Steele preseason mag in hand.  That day came yesterday.  352 pages.  The print is still small and the abbreviations flow.  I love it all.

I’ll post several in the weeds items about Georgia during the week, but for now, I thought I’d share a few things more in an overview sense.

• By far, the funniest thing I’ve read so far is Steele’s reaction to his inaccuracy predicting the outcome of the 2017 season.  I’m sure most of you know he touts himself as being the most accurate of all the preview mags on those.  Last season, he finished seventh, poorly enough that it dragged down his three year average from first to third.  He’s pissed.  And he’s not hiding it, either — it starts on the very first page.
• If you want intentional humor, here’s something he writes about Georgia Tech:  “GT was the toast of college football at the end of 2014… In 2015 they opened up 2-0, but then were just ‘toast’ after that, going 1-9.”  He’ll be here all week, folks, try the veal.
• His playoff field this season is pretty standard stuff — Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington.
• For those of you who sense that Alabama is in the very early stages of some decline, he couldn’t disagree more strongly.  He sees the Tide being ridiculously dominant in 2018.  One example, his Plus/Minus power ratings:  Georgia’s 126.45 would top every conference in the country, with the exceptions of the ACC and Big Ten, where the Dawgs would trail Clemson and Ohio State by about a point.  Oh yeah, and the SEC, where Alabama betters Georgia’s number by almost thirteen points.

Tomorrow I’ll look at the group position ratings.  (SPOILER ALERT:  You’ll like ’em.)

You gotta try and find an edge whenever you can.

John Ward was another one of those iconic radio voices that helped define SEC football who just passed away, sadly.

I mention that to set up this story, which is classic.

John Ward prided himself on arriving super early for games. Georgia’s Larry Munson was the only man to occasionally beat Ward to the stadium, and he often poked Ward about it. (1/2)

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) June 24, 2018

Ward’s final season in 1998, he arrived stupid early to the Vols-UGA game in Athens so Munson wouldn’t beat him. Munson knew Ward would arrive even earlier than usual, and he arrived even earlier than that just so he could greet Ward and irritate him. (2/2)

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) June 24, 2018

It just meant more.