Nevada Dawg

I am not about to kick Dabo when he is down but...the man has not handled the Portal era well at all, practically ignoring it as a matter of fact. Nice to know that he feels confident in the rosters he has recruited out of high school, but he has fallen off in that regard as well. Clemson simply is not as talented as they were thought to be by the pundits and it is showing up between he lines. H either adjusts his recruitment strategy or he will lose his credibility with the Clemson fan base and maybe be coaching at somewhere like...Troy. That would be sad for a man who has recently won two Nattys.

Actually, I was surprisingly calm as the game unfolded, even when the Dawgs were down big time early. I was faltering a bit late in the 4th when down by 8 and facing a 4th and 7 with little time left. That's when Gunner Stockton uncorked the biggest of his many clutch plays by throwing a perfectly thrown back shoulder fade caught in the end zone and then threw a pass again in the end zone to convert and tie the game. Maybe it was irrational but I just felt at that point that we would win this sucker. After the game remained tied when UTs young kicker missed a game winning field goal and then made one in OT, I knew we would somehow pull out the win with a touchdown in OT. I was relieved of course and really did enjoy my post-game glass of celebratory bourbon. Let me add that I was really impressed by the Ducks' two D. Moores--what a great battery!

Man this is a poor slate of BIG games! By contrast, the SEC has several games against opponents, some in conference some OOC, where both teams actually have a pulse. I am tuning in to the Ducks game until it becomes out of hand and then flipping to see if Georgia's next opponent, Bama, can begin to resurrect its season against Wisky--one if the Best BIG games this week. My Dawgs have a tough road game against Tennessee that I am not at all confident about. Plus Game Day is there and I may have an audiogenic seizure having to listen 50 times to Rocky Top should the Vowels play well.

Ducks looked sharp executing today, BUT...they were playing one of the very worst teams among the P4 conferences, one that did not execute and looked, quite frankly, pitiful. Gundy is gone I fear, possibly before the end of the season. It is time. Meanwhile, the competition ramps up soon with PSU looming. Go Ducks!

Ya never know if the money is good enough, but there are several reasons Schumann is an unlikely candidate IMHO. First, he is very well compensated in Athens. Second and possibly more important: His wife and all his kids are reported to absolutely LOVE Athens, GA, and there is a lot there to love. Glen is pretty fond of the place as well I am told. Bama is going to face great difficulty finding what boosters consider a suitable replacement for St. Nick and they'd better hope that DeBoer grows into the job.

I told everybody who would listen that LSU would take down Clemson, the most overhyped team in America. Clemson was as badly overhyped as a team as Arch Manning was as a QB and presumed Heisman winner. I do think that Arch will become a pretty fair college QB, but he has neither the arm nor (this year) the receivers to be a superstar. At this point, I certainly wouldn't write Texas off as a serious Natty contender. They lost a close game to a pretty fair football team at that team's place but have one of the most talented rosters in the game. Bama is more of a puzzle to me, although my Georgia sources have been saying all Spring and Summer that their lauded offensive line is all recruiting stars and hasn't proven itself in the heat of battle. These guys seemed to have nailed that one based on Saturday's results in Tallahassee.

the Boise game is the surprise of the night for me. They no longer have the stud running back, but my sources tell me that they have a lot of talent and production on both sides of the ball returning this year. Suddenly their upcoming game at Notre Dame seems no where near as enticing. To me Nebraska was disappointing. We have a number of Corndawg Nebraska fans on the forum where I participate, and these guys assured us all Winter that Rhule and the Huskers were breaking out big time this year. It could still happen of course, but I saw nothing tonight that would fuel such deep optimism.

Potentially a most interesting opening week. I didn't realize there are so many watchable games on Thursday--thanks for pointing them out Jon.

Actually, the consensus of local and national analysts is that Georgia's wide receiver room is, hands down, the most improved position group on the team. I think this will be quite apparent from the jump this year. It is also expected that the running game will be greatly improved as well. People are optimistic about the 25 offense. One virtue of the 9-game SEC schedule is that Texas may finally have to play a worthy SEC slate of games. Last year's schedule was soft and they play the same teams this year, although they have finally drawn some challenging road games. I don't understand the Texas favoritism over Georgia and Alabama (not to mention TA&M,) teams than will be better than they were last year I think. A lot of that variance in favoritism revolves around hype about the virtues of QB Arch Manning. My guess is that Arch will be good, but he has proved nothing yet.

Don't know how they could ever do this in figuring strength of schedule, but shouldn't some tweak be made for scheduling shafts some teams must endure. One that is irking me at the moment as a Dawg fan is that our two highest regular season opponents, Alabama and Texas were awarded bye weeks before coming to Sanford Stadium to take on my puppies, whereas the Dawgs have league games those weeks. This may prove to be of little consequence in September when we play the Tide, but could prove to be a major advantage for Texas in November when more guys are nicked up and dragging. Sure wish the Dawgs had had a similar advantage last year when we played these teams at their places. Sorry for the whiny rant on such a glorious day--the return of college football. It was grand, no?

I am so tired of all the pre-season wrangling, Let's tee the ball up and get between the lines. There will still be lots to wrangle about guys. I am even planning to take in a couple Week 0 games which I almost never do. It is time for football!!!

Awesome. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Knight

Bear always had the raw talent. And as noted, this is his last shot as a to be a premium NFL prospect.. The information that he is really grinding at practice bodes very well for Bear's future. His biggest problem at both Georgia and USC was his level of emotional maturity. From the early practice reports, it does sound like Bear is starting to grow up. And that is very good for the Ducks.

When I heard the Ducks were recruiting Bear, I had very muixed feelings. He thought he was the biggest star on the team at the beginning of year 2 (he contributed some as a freshman), was chippy with his OL teammates, got his b--t kicked several times in practice, and sulked because nobody saw his value. Portaled to USC and badmouthed Georgia for the next year. This Spring before signing with Oregon, he explored returning to Georgia, Kirby put the inquiry to a yes/no vote of the upperclassmen and they said that he needed a new start elsewhere. So now he's a Duck and I wish the best for him. But I have to admit that I am more than a little nervous about this one. Hopefully, he truly has grown up.

Despite a few early rules violations, Charles got me properly socialized and I have always felt welcome by the board members on his forum. I do enjoy exchanging views with y'all and rooting the Ducks on.