LSU was fresh from its off week and waxed Auburn Saturday night. Tennessee was rested from its break and nearly upset Alabama earlier Saturday. Florida, of course, had the opportunity to rest injured quarterback Tim Tebow during its off week earlier this month before traveling to LSU and beating the Tigers with Tebow behind center.
Now it's Georgia's turn to see how it fares following a breather last Saturday.
While the Bulldogs enter Saturday's SEC showdown against top-ranked Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., as a double-digit underdog, they at least have a little history on their side. Georgia is 11-3 under head coach Mark Richt following an open date, including 1-0 (42-30 two seasons ago) when it comes before playing UF.
Head coach Mark Richt, the dean of SEC coaches, admits the Bulldogs have "a long way to go" to be a good football team. After consecutive losses to LSU and Tennessee, Georgia has this week to find the necessary answers to beat Vanderbilt Saturday. Off Oct. 24 before meeting top-ranked Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 31, the Bulldogs actually don't return to Sanford Stadium for 35 days.
Considering the foul mood of fans, that might be a good thing.
Here's the top lesson from Saturday: If you're a major program, never schedule a game you can lose as your season opener. Period. This should be a rule. Why? Because we fans sit around for nine months waiting for the college football season to return, and then, in one sixty minute game, the entire season is ruined. It's just not worth it. You roll out of bed the next morning and effectively the wildest dreams of the offseason, that your team could run the table and contend for a national championship, is over.
Ask Georgia fans what they feel like this morning. Ask Tennessee fans what the last two years prior to this season felt like losing the first game of the season in California. Losing the opening game counts as two losses, it makes you feel like complete crap. And don't even get me started with how good you feel if you win an opening game. You're a liar. You don't feel good, you just feel relieved. Nothing has changed about your season if you win a big opening game. You just get to dream for one week more. On to the ClayNation Starting 11.
A year ago at this time Georgia was King of the Mountain. Of course, Bulldog fans know how that power struggle ended.
Georgia fell victim to the fourth-toughest schedule in the country, it needed more than two superstars in quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno to keep pace with rival Florida, and there were questions concerning the toughness of its defense.
While the Bulldogs -- the best team over the past 10 years in the SEC -- still won 10 games, including their bowl, the season was largely considered a disappointment.The expectations are a notch lower this year since nobody in their right mind is picking anyone but Florida to emerge from the SEC as a national championship contender.
"It's been a big difference this season," defensive tackle Jeff Owens said Thursday during SEC Football Media Days in Hoover, Ala.
Wednesday, the annual circus known as the SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Ala. As college football has become a year-round sport, the three media days down in Birmingham have become the official launch date for SEC football fans, a time when our region's football obsession officially begins anew. Even if, you know, it never actually dies. Last season then-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer arrived and was immediately served with a subpoena in a lawsuit brought by my favorite people on Earth: disassociated Alabama boosters. Getting disassociated from the Alabama football program is like being the only guy in a prison who no one will share a table with.
This season, 25 radio stations will be broadcasting live from inside the event, and over 800 members of the media have been credentialed. It's like Woodstock for people who use the word, goll-durn. And we'll be there for the ride. Goll-durn.
Tennessee receiver Marlon Brown has done the unthinkable in spurning the home state Volunteers to play for Mark Richt and the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The six-foot-five receiver was widely regarded among the nation's best, with an excellent combination of speed, hands and leaping ability.
His offer sheet included nearly every top national program before he narrowed things down to Florida, Ohio State, Tennessee and eventual pick Georgia. Asked by ESPNU to explain his decision, Brown cited Georgia's ability to get young receivers up to speed. The 'Dawgs clearly have a solid record of that lately, as A.J. Green was among the SEC's best receivers as a true freshman last year.
Prop Bets for the College Football Junkie is a weekly post that cares not for your silly point spreads. If you have the money and the gumption, we'll lay down a weekly gauntlet of propositions that'll take you from the penthouse to the outhouse faster than you can guess the number of times Lee Corso will say "not so fast my friend." As always, this is for entertainment purposes only.
$ With the big news of the week being the firing of Tommy Bowden at Clemson, the crew at ESPN will be sure to debate the thought process at Clemson. Lou Holtz will most certainly defend Bowden and Mark May will defend the administration. So we give you a straight up bet that Holtz will forget the camera is still rolling again this week and have some less than flattering words for Clemson. What the heck, +/-5 on the number of times he says "damn."
$ Jim Harbaugh and Rick Neuheisel are both known for taking jabs at opposing teams and coaches in the week leading up to the game. As both have been quiet this week, we're sure they are saving everything for the post game handshake when Stanford plays at UCLA. The conversation will most certainly revolve around the post-game speech Neuheisel gave after the Tennessee game. Straight up, one of two thing will be said depending on the outcome of the game. Neuheisel-"Jim, I'd love to stand here and talk, but I've got a speech to give. Better luck next year, loser." Or, Harbaugh-"Doesn't look like anyone stuck around for your speech tonight. You guys got any games left on the schedule you think you can win?"
$ When Mississippi State travels to Tennessee, we'll be seeing the 103rd and 104th worst offenses in the country. So we'll put the over and under on the closeups of each team's offensive coordinator at +/-10. Because if someone is going to go, these guys are going to get the boot first.
Look, I'm not the one saying Charlie Weis is underpaid. It's the fine folks over at Coaches Hot Seat who claim that the best-paid coach in college football isn't making enough. Notre Dame's head coach makes $4.2 million a year, but Coaches Hot Seat says he ought to be paid $5.25 million.
Where do they get off saying this stuff? They didn't just pull that number out of thin air. Coaches Hot Seat figures that a coach should be paid 7.5% of his school's football revenue. Why 7.5%? I don't know, but they claim that the average coach takes in 7.61% of the team's football revenue, so their numbers seem reasonable. Still, take all this with a grain of salt.
Weis is getting shafted by more than a million bucks a year, so is he the most underpaid coach in college football? Nope. Not even close. The school getting the biggest bargain, as measured in sheer dollars, is Georgia. Few can argue with Mark Richt's record as the head Bulldog and, at $2.2 million a year, he probably doesn't remember what ramen noodles taste like. CHS says he ought to be getting just under $5 million. Mack Brown? Underpaid. Jim Tressel? Ditto.
Matthew Stafford was decently efficient (18 of 28 for 213 and two touches) and Knowshon Moreno was an absolute monster (18 carries for 168 yards and three trips to the end zone) but I think we all know that it was Mark Richt's message on his brand spankin' new blog (MarkRicht.com) that inspired Georgia to a 56-17 slaughterhouse of Central Michigan on Saturday.
I want to see if our atmosphere can exceed anything Central Michigan has ever experienced. I am challenging the fans to get as loud as they can when Central Michigan is on offense and they're trying to communicate signals, plays and audible. You can make a difference! I want Central Michigan to see what SEC Football is all about.
Georgia coach Mark Richt plans to blog Sunday. Sometime between now and then he'll have to figure out exactly what that is.
"I don't even know what a blog is, to be honest with you," Richt said with a laugh Thursday afternoon.
Yet ... he ... somehow ... already ..... blogged? Is it meta? Or does Richt just not care? I'm guessing the latter. Also, it would be nice to hear him blog about red-shirting Moreno, an act he admitted was a pretty big mistake after tonight's game. I'm not guessing he mentions that though.
(Double fist head pound to Game On for finding said site.)
As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. Next up the SEC.
LSU was fresh from its off week and waxed Auburn Saturday night. Tennessee was rested from its break and nearly upset Alabama earlier Saturday. Florida, of course, had the opportunity to rest injured quarterback Tim Tebow during its off week earlier this month before traveling to LSU and beating the Tigers with Tebow behind center.
What's next for the reeling Georgia Bulldogs?
Here's the top lesson from Saturday: If you're a major program, never schedule a game you can lose as your season opener. Period. This should be a rule. Why? Because we fans sit around for nine months waiting for the college football season to return, and then, in one sixty minute game, the entire season is ruined. It's just not worth it. You roll out of bed the next morning and effectively the wildest dreams of the offseason, that your team could run the table and contend for a national championship, is over. 
A year ago at this time 
Wednesday, the annual circus known as the SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Ala. As college football has become a year-round sport, the three media days down in Birmingham have become the official launch date for SEC football fans, a time when our region's football obsession officially begins anew. Even if, you know, it never actually dies. Last season then-
Tennessee receiver 
Look, 
