Good luck with that appeal.

This is one helluva quote.

Isaacs did not represent Mays during his initial waiver bid. He is representing him during his appeal.

“Because of a variety of factors, it was a toxic environment that did not support Cade Mays’ well-being as a student-athlete,” Isaacs said of Mays’ experience at Georgia and his bid for a waiver.

A “variety of factors” would indicate that there was something more than just daddy’s pinky finger.

I’m beginning to think Mays and Georgia did not part on good terms.  Which might explain why his waiver didn’t go through.

Advertisement

Odds are.

Latest odds to win the SEC East & West Divisions by https://t.co/750s9R1mMt pic.twitter.com/A0K1cXIpvP

— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) August 18, 2020

And here are the lines for the SEC’s opening week of games:

• Alabama is a 22.5-point favorite at Missouri.
• Florida is an 11.5-point favorite at Ole Miss.
• Georgia is -24.5 at Arkansas.
• Auburn is a 7.5-point home favorite vs. Kentucky.
• LSU is a 17.5-point home favorite vs. Mississippi State.
• Tennessee is a 2.5-point road ‘chalk’ at South Carolina.
• Texas A&M is a 29.5-point favorite vs. Vanderbilt.

Thoughts?

Personally, betting on college football this season gives me the willies.  That being said, if we do actually get a season, I will open up another episode of the Fabris Pool, assuming you guys are interested.

A good day for Newman porn?

Hayull, any day is a good day for Newman porn.  Here goes PFF again, ranking all D-1 quarterbacks:

3. JAMIE NEWMAN, GEORGIA

There might not be a more underrated player in college football than Newman, who is set to join Georgia from Wake Forest. Wake didn’t cater to Newman’s arm talent as much as it should have, as they instead relied heavily on his athleticism in the ground attack. Newman’s mobility is a great attribute, but his arm talent is far superior. His touch downfield is arguably the best in the country, and it was instrumental in him producing the second-best deep (20-plus-yard throws) passing grade among Power 5 quarterbacks.

The new Georgia signal-caller wasn’t necessarily in an ideal situation at Wake Forest, given his usage, the RPO-heavy offense and the lack of separators in the receiving unit. He actually had to throw into a tight window at a higher rate than any quarterback in the country, yet he overcame that and earned the second-best passing grade on such throws. Now, Newman will go to a Todd Monken-led offense at Georgia that will cater to his strengths and is boosted by an incredible supporting cast. Dawg nation is in line for a lot of success with Newman — and not J.T. Daniels — under center.

He’s behind only Lawrence and Fields (who isn’t going to play this season).

Let a conference be a conference.

Andy Staples, preaching to the choir ($$):

… Auburn and Tennessee met every year from 1956-91. They’ve played twice since the SEC expanded to 14 schools in 2012. Florida and Ole Miss are charter members of the conference, but they haven’t played one another in Oxford since the year the iPhone was invented. Texas A&M has played eight seasons in the SEC, but the Aggies’ trip to Knoxville on Nov. 14 will be the Aggies’ first visit to Neyland Stadium as a conference member. And they still won’t complete the full set until they play at Kentucky — which is currently scheduled for 2025.

That set could be completed a lot faster if this became an every-year thing. And after seeing what it might look like, no one should ever be satisfied with the eight-game SEC schedule and its generous padding ever again. If this schedule gets played this fall, league athletic directors should have a fan revolt on their hands if they try to foist a season ticket package containing two or more directional schools on their loyal customers. After they’ve seen how good the product can be, why should they ever be satisfied with an inferior version again?

Fuckin’ A, man.

And for those who object to what an extended conference schedule might do to the hopes and dreams of every 6-6 Ole Miss team (just sayin’!), he has the perfect answer — do away with the 6-win requirement for bowl games.  The idea that we should water down the regular season with meaningless cupcake games to preserve a shot at a meaningless postseason exhibition game defies all logic.  (Of course, nobody said the people running the game are always logical.)

Greg Sankey, be a hero.  We fans could sure use one.

Sneaky good?

There’s been a fair amount of “watch out for Kentucky” chatter of late, especially after it was revealed yesterday that the ‘Cats open against Auburn.  This may explain some of that:

#SEC @PFF_College

Number of returning players with an overall grade of 70.0 or greater and at least 130 snaps in 2019.#UGA = 21#Bama = 15#Kentucky = 15#Florida = 11#Auburn = 8#LSU = 7

— Brent Rollins (@PFF_Brent) August 16, 2020

Mark Stoops’ team may not be as deep as the front line conference contenders, but they’re talented and experienced — basically, the philosophy Dan Mullen pursued with success every few years at Mississippi State.  If UK stays healthy, there’s a good chance for a nice season.

And UK ought to be as healthy as UK can be for its opener.

The new schedules are here! The new schedules are here!

• “This is a year about adjusting,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said Monday afternoon. “The teams that adjust will have an advantage. Usually going into preseason camp, you have the first three opponents broken down, so we’ll be playing catch-up, as will everyone else in our league.“This isn’t a time for tradition.”
• Bill Connelly sees an ulterior motive in play:  “I’m just saying that if that [i.e., making sure the conference champ has a very good record] was the goal, giving Alabama the conference’s eighth-best (Kentucky) and 12th-best (Missouri) teams per SP+ for its two bonus games, giving LSU its 12th- and 14th-best (Vanderbilt), giving Georgia its 11th- (Mississippi State) and 13th-best (Arkansas) and giving Florida its 13th-best team would be a pretty perfect way to go about it.”
• Each SEC team has a built-in bye week between Week 5 and Week 7, plus a conference-wide open week on Dec. 12 to accommodate any disruptions that might occur.
• Week 4, with Georgia at Alabama and LSU at Florida is gonna be lit.
• Tony Barnhart’s takes here.
• Georgia and LSU have been dealt very similar hands this season.  Both teams were given very favorable add-ons and both get three games to work out their offensive kinks with new players and changes on the staff before playing Alabama and Florida, respectively.
• Georgia and Florida have their traditional bye weeks before the Cocktail Party, but Alabama and Auburn don’t before the Iron Bowl.  (Alabama’s is before the LSU game and Auburn’s is before Mississippi State.)
• With TAMU, Auburn and Florida, it’s the most challenging November for Tennessee I can remember.

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

Your Daily Gator will figure it out.

So, Florida began its drive to reclaim the SEC East throne yesterday by… having four key players miss the first practice?

The Florida Gators kicked off preseason practices Monday but at least key four players skipped the workout.

UF wide receivers Kadarius Toney, Trevon Grimes and Jacob Copeland and defensive end Zachary Carter all missed Monday’s practice, a source told the Orlando Sentinel. Sports Illustrated’s Zach Goodall was the first to report the players skipped the workout.

Florida coach Dan Mullen, during a videoconference Monday, confirmed the Gators didn’t have perfect attendance, but he declined to identify the athletes or their reason for sitting out. The absences come against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and movement among players seeking long-term health protection and compensation for their performance.

For someone potentially looking at his receiving corps being gutted, the Portal Master™ sounded remarkably nonchalant about the situation.

“We had a couple guys not practice today, but we’ll see how that goes moving forward for us,” Mullen said. “But, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have guys opt out. I’m going to support them fully. Really wouldn’t be surprised if we had coaches opt out, to be honest with you. Coaches are at such high risk because of the age group that they’re in.

“But we’ll figure it out.”

If you’re cool with it, Dan, so am I.

A bubble by any other name

AP style calls for no hyphen in clusterfuck pic.twitter.com/sjCayl1dpp

— dan michalski (@danmichalski) August 18, 2020

So, the proverbial shit hit the fan in Chapel Hill after the school announced 177 students are in isolation and another 349 are in quarantine because of the coronavirus.

“Our student-athletes will continue to attend online classes, and may choose to remain in their current on- and off-campus residences,” North Carolina said in a statement. “Workouts and practices will continue under the standards set by our University, health officials and department. We still are expecting to play this fall, and we will continue to evaluate the situation in coordination with the University, the ACC, state and local officials, and health officials. The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, and community remains our priority.”

Hey, look at the light bulb that went off!

Source: One ACC President has been told by medical personnel that the best course moving forward is to have virtual classes with all non student athletes moving off campus.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 18, 2020

No shit, Sherlock.

Georgia’s 2020 schedule

Here ’tis, in all its glory.

Georgia's new 2020 schedule:

Sept. 26: at Arkansas
Oct. 3: Auburn
Oct. 10: Tennessee
Oct. 17: at Alabama
Oct. 24: at Kentucky
Bye week
Nov. 7: vs. Florida
Nov. 14: at Missouri
Nov. 21: Mississippi State
Nov. 28: at South Carolina
Dec. 5: Vanderbilt

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) August 17, 2020

Before you go ballistic over anything, remember it’s a weird year.  There’s no point in trying to match it to what’s normal, because that’s the one thing this season is anything but.

With that in mind, a few observations:

• Over a month away from Athens is interesting.  Home field advantage is likely to be an overrated thing this year, but constantly leaving the friendly confines of home worries me a little as far as maintaining health protocols.
• There were more than a few yesterday describing the schedule as being front-loaded, and I suppose that’s true to the extent that wherever Alabama showed up was going to make that part of the schedule loaded.  But, come on — opening against one of the weakest teams in the league and having Auburn and Tennessee in Athens does not a murderer’s row make.
• That being said, if there’s a trap game on the schedule for the Dawgs, it’s Kentucky.
• The Cocktail Party being moved a week later is basically a prayer that somehow fans are going to be allowed to attend in some numbers.  Color me skeptical it’s a prayer that’s going to be answered.
• The final 40% of the season looks like it was ripped straight from the pages of the Phil Fulmer playbook.  (And that’s without Georgia Tech.)  If Georgia leaves Jax with the division lead, it’s going to be a tall order to blow it.  And I can already hear Smart’s denial about looking forward to SECCG game prep during Vandy week.

What do y’all see there?

Ripped

Gotta question for you.

Chamberlain Smith/UGA Sports

When’s the last time Georgia had a quarterback you’d like to see be the first guy off the bus?