ATHENS - The Dawg Post crew tell you what to look for this Friday night and Saturday, and their final takes, views and predictions for this weekend.
Dylan’s Final Feelings:
While I would prefer the second week being at Notre Dame again (Wow was that a fun trip), I’m glad I don’t have to wait several more weeks to watch Georgia go at it with a legit opponent.
As for practice this week, it actually seemed really calm. I don’t think I heard Jim Chaney yell a GD or drop an F-Bomb. James Coley didn’t look like a gasket had blown in his head either. Kirby Smart was yelling, but he wasn’t springing across the field like you see him do in other weeks.
I’m not exactly sure why that is. Before Austin Peay, they were all looking like 2007 Mike Gundy. This week though they didn’t have that same intensity. I don’t think it’s a big deal, personally. I remember last year talking to Dean about how they looked the same way the week before playing the Gators. I told him that I thought they might come out a little flat before picking it up after a few drives that game.
I was wrong.
I don’t think the Dawgs will come out and hang 21 on South Carolina in the first quarter, but I don’t think they’ll start off flat either. Georgia will look good, USC will too. I think it will be tight going into the half, after that I think UGA will start to pull away by just keeping fresh legs rolling on the field more often than the Cocks can. Georgia takes it 31-21.
Friday I’m heading to see a 2020 prospect in Callaway’s Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby. He’s listed as an athlete, but at the next level he’ll probably play running back. At least that’s what it sounds like right now. I’ve never seen him play live, but I saw him at The Opening a few weeks back. Good size, good athleticism. I expect to see him do well, especially if he goes by Tank (The coolest name for a running back possible).
Finally, a little story from my week:
So I live next to an Enterprise Rent-A-Car. It has a fence surrounding it, maybe seven or eight feet high. My next door neighbors have a cat named Basil. Well, Basil suffered an accident when she was younger and can only walk with her two front legs.
Not where you thought this was going, right? It gets weirder.
I pulled into my driveway around 10 p.m. on Tuesday. In clear eyesight of Enterprise’s fence, I see it shaking kind of weirdly. I get out of my car and peak over to see what was up. There, I see Basil, a cat capable of using TWO LEGS, on top of the fence, before it jumped off into Enterprise’s lot. She then scurried away into the darkness.
It’s the kind of stuff that you just can’t make up.
Matt’s Final Feelings:
Football season couldn’t have come back soon enough.
This is the time of the year where every Braves fan starts to get their heart broken and this year is no different. But it’s cool because football is back. The Bulldogs are heading into week 2 against South Carolina with the East likely hanging in the balance. The Falcons are coming off an absolutely dominate performance Thursday night against the Eagles and have started their Super Bowl run. Everything is going according to plan (Matt wrote this before the result from Philadelphia was in).
As for recruiting, I got to see some high level prospects last Friday and Saturday and came away impressed. Four-star linebacker commit Rian Davis is a badass. Dude was a fun to watch on Saturday night and made plays all game. He’s got good size at 6-foot-3 235-pounds and he can really run. Looks like he’s 25 years old already and plays with lots of passion to go along with a high motor. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.
2020 ATH Arik Gilbert is a freak. He’s still my top ranked junior in Georgia right now and he’s an absolute mismatch at TE. Really good size and athletic ability with above average speed for his size. His future might be on the defensive line, but Gilbert showed he can be a big weapon on offense too at the next level.
As for the Dawgs, I’m expecting a 4th quarter game over there in that parking lot in South Carolina. Georgia’s more talented and should pull out a 31-23 type of win down the stretch. If Georgia can run the ball, which they should, that will keep their defense off the field and they can play the game they want to keep the defense fresh. If the quarterbacks can limit the bad decisions and turnovers then Georgia should have no problem putting up some points. The Gamecocks are the second best team in the East but the Bulldogs will get the job done.
On another note, Eminem is back guys. The greatest rapper of all time dropped 13 songs on us last weekend and he ended the careers of a few wanna-be rappers with face tattoos. No surprise there. Eminem might be a crazy lunatic, but the man is an absolute genius. Nobody will ever be able to do what he can do on the microphone. So if you’re looking for some real rap music out there, listen to his latest album, “Kamikaze”. It’s awesome.
So the Jersey Shore, the best reality show of all time, is back on the air. The original cast blew all their money on plastic surgery and expensive cars so now they’re all broke. The gang is now back together to start fake drama and try to make a few bucks while they still can. Get this, they didn’t even go back to Jersey this time. The wonderful folks at MTV decided to put them in Las Vegas where there is never any drama at all. Smart move. The girls (Snooki, J-Wow, Sammy Sweetheart, loser Deena, the dirty little hamster Angelina) are all basically married now with kids and tons of plastic on their face and chest. It’s funny but still so so sad at the same time.
As for the guys, Pauly D is in his late 30’s and still clubbing like he’s in college. Mike “The Situation” decided not to pay his taxes so he’s probably headed to the slammer soon. He’s sobered up now and got married to this not so good-looking broad. Oh well. Ronnie’s life became a dumpster fire after Sam left him. He then knocked up another girl and now has another woman to argue with every episode. It’s the perfect trash television show and I’ve been hooked since season 1. Vinny is still the exact same person he was 12 years ago.
Anyway, Dawgs get the win in Columbia and move to 2-0 on the season. Bring on Bama.
Dean’s Final Feelings:
Poor Matt. His pathetic Falcons have provided such disappointment for him since we met. At what stage last night did I have doubt about who would win the NFL opener? Maybe the last play of the game. Then I realized what I was watching - another pathetic offensive performance from a franchise that, despite decades of disappointment, is at least consistent in its let downs.
Then Eminem.
SMH.
Look, he’s not the greatest rapper of all time. He’s an elite rapper, but he isn’t Jay Z, Biggie or Rakim. Eminem is excellent. He’s not the best of all time. He’s top five - he’s Kobe… he’s just not MJ or LeBron.
I’m not even getting into Dylan’s two-legged cat. So many jokes there…
So we’ve hit South Carolina week where the season is early, and the Cocks are powerful. Look, they are fine. Again, for like the tenth time this week, if Georgia doesn’t win this game they have a lot of work to do. Either way this is a long season.
Anyone picking South Carolina to win this game straight up is doing one of two things:
Trying to get clicks.
Trying to learn about football.
Georgia is a ten-point favorite. I fully understand that any team can lose any game. Georgia has a 20% chance of losing this game. So it is not unheard of that Carolina could win. For instance: Donald Trump had a much higher than 20% chance to win the presidency in 2016. This would be a much bigger upset than that. South Carolina’s chances to win on Saturday are about the same as an inmate on death row being married - about 20%.
In addition, last week four teams were ten-point favorites: Duke (-10) vs. Army; La Tech (-10) at South Alabama; No. 22 Boise State (-10) at Troy; No. 23 Texas (-10) at Maryland.
Winners: Duke, La Tech and Boise
Loser: Texas
Last week if you were a ten-point favorite to win you won 75% of the time. That's a fact. So chill out a little bit. Play the numbers knowing that it is not impossible that you can lose, but that you are, statistically, a really heavy favorite to win the game.
This week there are three games with ten-point favorites (as of Friday morning).
No. 3 Georgia (-10) at South Carolina
UAB (-10) at Costal Carolina
Utah (-10) at Northern Illinois
The likelihood, frankly, of all three winning is pretty high (what is interesting is that all three are on the road). Again, each ten-point favorite has an 80% chance to win. Once more, UGA winning this weekend is not as certain as Steph Curry hitting a free throw (90%), but the chance of winning is better than the typical NBA player making a free throw (75%).
Now then…
I have all my shots. I’m inoculated for the trip to Columbia. General William Tecumseh Sherman burned the state capital to the ground on February 17, 1865. The place has never been the same since (so I have heard).
If you like railroads, broken glass, chain-linked fences and parking lots you are going to love Columbia. South Carolina really does have a number of wonderful places (the state used to use the phrase Smiling Faces Beautiful Places for tourism development) - Charleston, the coast (minus Myrtle Beach - Myrtle Beach is Columbia on the Atlantic) and the upstate.
Columbia is the gathering place for all of South Carolina - a small state that still has a complex about not being the “bigger” Carolina and is proud of its, how do you say, turbulent role in American history. The state flagship’s football team - the Fighting Gamecocks - was named after Thomas Sumter… who was the Carolina Gamecock for the way he fought the British. They decided not to name the team after Sherman.
How does any of this trivial information matter?
It doesn’t when you have Georgia’s massive offensive line confronting you on a man-to-man basis. Williams-Brice will be hot and loud - just like Sanford last weekend. The Coots will be a solid team, too. In many ways my take is that Will Muschamp has corrected the problem he got at Carolina in 2016, but it has gone largely unnoticed because of the in-state success of Clemson.
South Carolina has had exactly seven nine-win or better seasons in school history. Muschamp just made that happen a season ago. That means last year’s 9-4 Cocks were one of the best teams in program history.
Nine wins in 2015 got Mark Richt fired. In 2000, Lou Holtz got the Cocks to 8-4. Jim Donnan went 8-4 in 2000 and got fired. Get my point?
These are two very different programs with very different expectations for those on the gridiron. What Steven Spurrier did in Columbia was amazing - again - AMAZING.
I got Georgia winning this game, but the cover won’t come until the 4th quarter. I’m not real settled on the line with this one.
Other notes:
I love the US Open. It is a heck of an event live, and it is really wonderful on TV. The matches drag on late into the night. They are full of drama - way better than a midweek baseball game. The skill level of these players is beyond belief.
Nationally, I thought Alabama looked much better than everyone else in college football. I need more from Clemson. I was unimpressed with their first half against Furman. I expect the Tigers to win this weekend, but they need to play better. The QBs were just plain not good in the first half.
Auburn was solid and did the job. The Gators scored some points. Miami can’t lose like that to LSU. That just plain can not happen. Florida State can not lose like that to Virginia Tech at home. That can not happen.
The ACC is a mess. One and a half teams doesn’t make a conference. The Big 12 - not so great. Pac 12 had a not-ideal weekend, too. Big Ten - what is James Franklin talking about half of the time? In a world of fakers, Franklin is up there. Michigan State. Michigan. Penn State. Not a great weekend for the Big Ten. Ohio State looked legit on offense. I don’t know about giving up 31 points to Oregon State
Food? I made ribs Monday. I’ve done a better job than that. Tuesday night Pork Chops. Wednesday night modified Mexican. Thursday night, chuck roast in the Le Creuset. Thursday night was likely the best. Chips Ahoy candy blast is what you should be going with right now. I like a soft cookie, but these are very good store-bought cookies. Frankly, all cookies should be home made.
Cootlumbia traffic will be in full force. You are going to want to get there early. Yes, bring your own supply of water and canned food unless you get stranded near the stadium. A flare gun might be a good plan, too.
On Friday night I will be in a safe house in Columbia hydrating for Saturday. We will see you on TV and after the game.
