It’s the little things that brighten my day.

I’m just now finding out with this tweet that Arkansas has a linebacker named Bumper Pool.  I am thoroughly pleased with that discovery.

Boom makes a funny.

It’s only Tuesday and this is already turning out to be one entertaining game week.

Will Muschamp mentioned early in his press conference that Georgia didn't send a depth chart to South Carolina. And later: "Maybe Claude Felton's slipping, I don't know. I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with Kirby."

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) September 4, 2018

He’s complaining about something he didn’t get that nobody else has gotten, either.

Kirby ought to send him a roster that contains 85 names, all linked by “OR”.

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Today, in ‘Cocky Talk

After reading, my response to Saturday Down South’s “South Carolina football: 5 areas where Gamecocks are better than Georgia” is:  only five?

Scary stat of the day

… comes from yesterday’s Seth Emerson piece ($$):

The fastest offensive lineman, per the GPS units, is Ben Cleveland. That’s according to Thomas, who said Cleveland was recorded hitting 19 mph.

Jeebus.  That’s one fast-moving load of a man there.  I can see a few linebackers getting freaked out this season.

I don’t know about South Carolina’s long snappah…

… but Kirby’s channeling every ounce of his inner Vince Dooley when it comes to Deebo Samuel.

“He’s probably the most underrated player in all of college football,” Smart said of Samuel. “I dont think that everybody in the country knows what the SEC knows about Deebo Samuel.”

Samuel is expected to be a guy that will touch the football 15-20 times a game, Smart said. The Gamecocks will find different ways to get him the ball, whether its through screen passes, the kick return game or just catching passes at wide receiver.

“He’s an electric football player that’s extremely powerful, confident, hard to tackle and he’ll be a key guy for us,” Smart said.”You gotta get him on the ground when he gets the ball, because you’ll never know when it’s going to him.”

With regard to kickoffs, you can’t return what you can’t catch, so let’s hope Rodrigo’s leg can nullify Samuel’s legs.  As far as catching the ball goes, you have to figure he’s gonna get his to some extent; it’s a matter of limiting the damage.  At least Georgia has guys in the secondary that Deebo can’t outrun.

My biggest week one takeaway

I watched a lot of football this past weekend and was surprised at how much mediocre to genuinely bad offensive line play was on display.  Some could be chalked up to injury, like Washington losing its stud left tackle, but there were plenty of teams that looked shoddy simply because they were shoddy.

What I can’t figure out is why it’s happened.  Is it simply a matter of opening week kinks that need to be worked out?  Has the talent pool shrunk?  Is the coaching worse?  Is the emphasis on pace and spread having an effect?

Thoughts?

This week’s motivation stone

I see that former Gamecock Tori Gurley is doubling down on his prediction.

I guarantee South Carolina Beats UGA on Saturday!!! Columbia is going to be Lit!!!

— Tori Gurley (@TGurley81) September 3, 2018

Apparently, the locker room in Athens is already lit.

Here’s proof from a UGA Football manager’s Snapchat that the store brand Gurley’s comment is in fact bulletin board material in the weight room this week. Literally. pic.twitter.com/Qhpg9smCml

— 𝐿𝑜𝑔𝒶𝓃 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓇 (@LoganMBooker) September 4, 2018

FPI, for the win

With Week One results in the book, I thought it was worth checking out how much Georgia’s projected results changed in the eyes of ESPN’s computers.

Answer:  not much.  The Dawgs are still favored to win every remaining game, including at LSU (64.8%) and against Auburn (58.7%).

Overall won-loss record is still projected at 10-2, largely due, I’m guessing, because the remaining strength of schedule has bumped up to 28th.

The NCAA gets another bite at the apple.

Everybody is back in front of Judge Wilken today for another antitrust battle.

The NCAA is ready to stand its ground.

“As was demonstrated in the O’Bannon case, the NCAA will show that our rules are essential to providing educational opportunities to hundreds of thousands of student-athletes across the country,” NCAA general counsel Donald Remy said in a statement.

“We are proud that many student-athletes can receive a college education debt-free, access to resources that ensure greater academic success, and an experience that will pay dividends for a lifetime. Allowing paid professionals to replace student-athletes on college campuses would change the face of college sports as we know it.”

Two things there, Donald.  Student-athletes are already being paid and I didn’t notice any difference this past weekend. Also, don’t think I didn’t catch your “many student-athletes” qualifier there.  If the experience is everything for the NCAA, why aren’t all student-athletes receiving that debt-free?

“Not going to get me on that one,” he said. “Next.”

It’s cool to learn I live in a world where Georgia Tech gets to be the aggrieved party about the officiating in a game it won 41-0 and wasn’t flagged once for blocking below the waist more than five yards down the field.