By now you’ve probably heard about Georgia’s 10-10 tie in Sunday’s series finale at LSU. Though the tie snaps Georgia’s SEC winning streak at 10 games, the Diamond Dawgs can still claim an 11-game SEC unbeaten streak. The team sits at 14-3-1 in the league which puts them with a comfortable 3.5 game lead over South Carolina, the closest team in either division. There are still series remaining with Florida, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss – three of the better teams in the conference – so Georgia has the opportunity to shut the door on several of the other contenders.

LSU isn’t having the best season, but it’s still a significant accomplishment to take an SEC road series. Ties suck, but they beat the alternative of losing.

Ties aren’t all bad. It all depends on context. The last draw by a Georgia football team came at Auburn in 1994. In Eric Zeier’s last attempt at a legacy, the Bulldogs scored two second-half touchdowns to erase a 23-9 Auburn lead. As we watched and exhaled as Auburn’s last-second field goal attempt sailed wide, the tie didn’t feel so bad. The Dawgs had ended Auburn’s 20-game winning streak, and they had done it by getting off the mat in the home stadium of a rival. Not bad, though a win instead of a tie in that game surely would have meant a bowl bid in my senior season of 1994. I’m not bitter though, not at all.

Back to baseball. A lot can be said for a tie in Sunday’s game. Saturday’s game was wild enough with Georgia blowing an 8-1 lead before winning it in the 9th. Most teams would have been happy to get out of town with the series in hand. Down 10-3 on Sunday, you couldn’t blame the Dawgs for looking east towards the trip home. It says a lot about this team that they were able 1) to regroup after giving up the lead on Saturday and 2) to come up with seven runs late in the game on Sunday. With a tough schedule remaining, that half-game in the standings could be a very important trump card to hold at the end of the year.

The Senator says that the preseason talk around the Bulldogs has an "uncharted territory" feel to it, and I have to agree. It’s a challenge for the team, and excitement and optimism can seem like kryptonite to a fan base full of Munson disciples.

But a high preseason ranking wouldn’t be a first for a Mark Richt team. The Bulldogs were a consensus #3 in 2004, and they even started #1 according to the Sporting News. The outcome of 2004 notwithstanding, a lot was expected of the final year for Greene and Pollack. The Senator’s right, though: there’s just a different feeling about the hype surrounding this year’s team. Why the difference? I see two reasons, and both have to do with the aftermath of the 2003 season.

1. Momentum
2. The post-2003 college football landscape

Momentum. Though Georgia played in the 2003 SEC Championship, they didn’t finish the season well. They "won" the SEC East after an obscure tiebreaker broke a three-way tie with Tennessee and Florida. Then they got steamrolled by LSU in the Dome. Finally, the Dawgs escaped the Capital One Bowl in overtime against an ordinary Purdue team after blowing a lead in extraordinary fashion. It was 10-win season, and I’ll always consider that defense one of the best of the modern Georgia era, but that was a pretty shaky way to end the season. Though Greene and Pollack returned, there wasn’t much momentum from 2003 into 2004.

Contrast that picture with the current state of the program. Georgia has an active seven-game winning streak. They closed the season with double-digit wins over rivals Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech. Finally, they finished the season with a BCS embarrassment of Hawaii which earned Georgia the #2 ranking. The momentum began building right away as nearly all of the first looks at the 2008 season had Georgia at or near the top. The momentum has sustained itself through Signing Day and spring practice, and it shows no signs of letting up.

What does 2003 have to do with now? Given the drama towards the end of the 2007 season, the consensus in support of LSU’s championship is strong. Other contenders either didn’t win their conferences (Missouri, Georgia) or lost their bowls (Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Ohio State). It was a different story of course in 2003 when LSU and Oklahoma played for the BCS championship while Southern Cal claimed the AP title after their bowl win.

The fallout from 2003 immediately established Southern Cal and Oklahoma as the teams to beat heading into 2004. LSU, as defending champion, was somewhat in the picture but was ranked no higher than third by any preseason poll. The Trojans and Sooners were so clearly established as #1 and #2 entering 2004 that even Georgia as #3 generated very little title noise.

(As an aside, I believe the above also explains why discussion of Auburn’s 2004 schedule as a factor keeping them from a shot at the national title is a red herring. No one was passing Southern Cal and/or Oklahoma unless one of those two lost a game. Auburn could have played the Colts, Patriots, and Steelers out of conference and still had no shot for anything better than #3.)

There is no such clarity heading into 2008. Instead the preseason talk has been to identify a pool of about eight contenders. Ohio State will be good again, but two title game losses have pundits nervous about naming them a favorite. Southern Cal will be in the mix as always. Georgia, Texas, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, and Missouri have just as much place at the table. With a top ranking as much up for grabs this year as ever, why not Georgia?

Without a clear favorite entering the season, it will be interesting to see if that lends itself to greater poll volatility early in the season. Will the polls pick a #1 and stick with them, or will the first few weeks be an audition?

The Florida Factor. I can’t let this post go without mentioning this point. Last summer when everyone was talking about who was and wasn’t a national power, I put down three simple criteria that seemed to hold up. One was that you can’t be under another team’s thumb. Georgia had lost six straight to Florida entering the 2004 season. With that kind of track record in Jacksonville, it was pretty easy to dismiss Georgia as a title contender even at #3. Though it will take a few more wins (consecutive wins would be a big first step) to declare the Gator domination over, the Dawgs are certainly in a much better position vis-à-vis the Gators entering 2008 than they were entering 2004.

I have no idea what the ‘enhanced version’ is (Director’s Cut? cutting room footage from the ‘real’ G-Day?), but if you blinked and missed G-Day, it will be on at these times (and probably 233 more times over the summer):

Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) will re-air an enhanced version of its complete-game broadcast of Georgia’s spring football game held April 5th.

Led by quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Red team defeated the Black team, 17-3, as the Bulldogs concluded the 2008 spring practice season. They will open the 2008 regular season against in-state opponent Georgia Southern on August 30th.

CSS’s re-air schedule for the 2008 Georgia G-Day game is as follows:
Monday – 4/21 – 7:00 PM
Thursday – 4/24 – 9:30 PM
Tuesday – 4/29 – 7:30 PM

It was a low point for Bulldog athletics when women’s golf coach Todd McCorkle resigned last year over allegations of harrassment and inappropriate conduct.

“Resigned” actually meant “reassigned within the athletic department.” McCorkle wasn’t fired. There’s just one problem.

McCorkle now has a new title, administrative specialist-managerial.

He even has an office phone number listed on the University Web site. The problem is the number routes to current women’s golf coach Kelley Hester.

Nobody in the athletic department could provide The Red & Black with even a semblance of McCorkle’s job duties.

They didn’t know.

But apparently they know how to get him his paycheck which comes with a $94,000 price tag in this new “position.” Whether or not he was fairly or unfairly accused last year, that doesn’t excuse this sham of a post within the athletic department especially when he has been double-dipping “as an instructor at The Golf Club at North Hampton in Fernandina Beach, Fla. “

McCorkle’s contract with UGA will expire at the end of June, and he told the Red & Black, “I’m at a point in my life where I’m content with each of us going our separate ways.” I guess even his shame has its limits.

They’re no inflatable couch, but these two items should be in your possession sometime this year:

Author Rob Suggs is writing a book named “Top Dawg: Mark Richt and the Revival of Georgia Football.” For the majority of you who know your way around the Bulldog message boards, telling you that this is SaxonDawg’s book should say everything. It’s going to be a good one. Despite Richt’s hesitancy that comes across in the ABH blurb, he is cooperating with the author, and it will be one of the first inside looks at the most recent chapter in Georgia football history.

You can pre-order the book on Amazon now.

Second, the Munson bobblehead that was in the news last week seems to be available now. You can find it over on the Anti-Orange page, at Bulldog Sporting Goods, or you can try your favorite Bulldog retailer. Remember that 100% of the royalties and proceeds goes to UGA Athletic Department’s Noah Harris Memorial Scholarship Fund.

20 Bulldog players will accompany Mark Richt to Honduras in May on a five-day mission trip. “Defensive end Rod Battle, offensive linemen Chris Davis and Ben Jones, punter Brian Mimbs and running back Richard Samuel are among players expected to make the trip,” according to the ABH.

Thank goodness the trip passes the compliance smell test. “It’s not like they’re going on some plush trip,” Richt said in the understatement of the year.

In other good works news, Bulldog signee Christian Robinson spent his spring break doing mission work in Africa for the second straight year. You might remember that he received his UGA offer while he was on last year’s trip. UGASports.com has a great (free) feature with Robinson about his 2008 trip.

Then there’s this. Hopefully this guy can get CBS:

“The cool thing about being a Georgia player was that I found a Dawg’s fan while we were visiting a church there, and he started gong nuts when he found out I was a future Dawg. So Georgia is an international team.”

Though Georgia has won eight consecutive SEC games, the Dawgs were a couple of innings away from going 3-3 over their last six games. The Bulldogs had to rally from an 8-1 deficit in order to beat East Tennessee State last night in Athens.

Georgia had risen to #7 in the nation thanks to their impressive SEC play to date, but losses last week to Winthrop and Georgia Tech had the team facing the possibility of its third straight nonconference loss before Tuesday night’s late-inning comeback win.

Though conference games are what it’s all about this time of year, midweek games can’t be overlooked. Not only do they give a team like Georgia the occasional chance to test themselves against regional powers like Clemson and Georgia Tech, they’re also an opportunity to develop pitching depth for the postseason. Most importantly, midweek games factor into the overall record which the NCAA can use when it comes time to determine postseason seeding and host sites.

With baseball talent as widespread as it is, even games against Kennesaw, Winthrop, and ETSU can’t be considered gimmes. Getting the win last night was big for this team, and keeping it going tonight against Georgia State is just as important before the team gets ready for a big SEC road trip to LSU and Florida.

UPDATE: Congratulations are in order for Gordan Beckham who was named Baseball America’s Midseason Player of the Year. He’s batting .438 with 16 HR and 40 RBI.

Mustache Wednesday is Orson’s bag, but today’s it’s the end of a Georgia lip ornament that’s in the news.

Come watch Coach Felton shave off his mustache to make good on a promise to the UGA Student Section for winning the 2008 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The first 100 students receive free Domino’s Pizza and SEC Tournament Champion t-shirts. Coach Felton’s barber Vernell Wilson of Wilson’s Hair World will shave the mustache off this Friday, April 18 at Noon at the Tate Center Lawn.

Fans can also pick up the 2008 Georgia Men’s Basketball SEC Tournament Champion posters.

Just you try to take it off.

We found out last season that the post-Florida celebration did a number on the Chapel bell and that more permanent repairs would have to be made. That time is now, and the bell is coming down for repairs. Both the bell assembly and the tower itself will get work; parts of the wooden tower are over 100 years old.

The bell should be back and ringable in time to celebrate a win in the season opener.

The AJC is reporting that Georgia basketball has added a fifth and final member to its incoming 2008 freshman class. 6’4″ G Ebuka Anyaorah will sign with Georgia on Wednesday.

Anyaorah will join Travis Leslie as spring additions to a strong class that already included Howard Thompkins, Dustin Ware and Drazen Zlovaric.

You can’t blame Dennis Felton for looking at the short term, but the decision to take a full class of five this year will have an impact on Georgia’s strategy for the promising 2009 class. Unless there is further attrition (unfortunately a fact of life with Georgia basketball lately), Georgia will have a full load of 13 scholarship players next season.

With Billy Humphrey and Terrence Woodbury as the only rising scholarship seniors, the numbers tell us that there’s only room for two signees next year. PG DeMario Mayfield has already committed, so is there only room for one more commitment for 2009? And is that single scholarship reserved pending the decision of superstar PF Derrick Favors?

Congratulations to Georgia’s Tasha Humphrey who was selected by the Detroit Shock with the 11th overall pick in the first round of Wednesday’s WNBA draft. She is Georgia’s eighth WNBA first-round selection; only Tennessee and Connecticut have produced more.

It was a bit of a surprise and disappointment for local fans that the new Atlanta expansion team passed on Humphrey at the #8 pick, opting instead for Tamera Young of James Madison. But Atlanta’s mistake is Humphrey’s gain. Instead of being part of an expansion franchise, she finds herself on a contender. Detroit won the league title two years ago and remains strong led by Deanna Nolan, another former Lady Bulldog great. Detroit’s first pick at #4 was Alexis Hornbuckle of Tennessee. Besides being outstanding players, Humphrey and Hornbuckle are both very smart on the court with great awareness. It goes without saying that two decorated players from Tennessee and Georgia should be assets in Detroit.

The situation is great for Tasha. She’s on a good team with a chance to win a title as a rookie, she won’t be the only quality player drawing attention from defenses, and she should relate to Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer’s style easily. Yet another Lady Bulldog, Kara Braxton, is the liklely Detroit starter at center.

I can’t let this post go without mentioning the #9 pick. Amber Holt of MTSU originally signed with Georgia, but she was "rejected a week before the fall semester because course credits for her major weren’t accepted." It’s an understatement to say that a player who was among the most prolific scorers in the nation would have made a difference on a Georgia team that struggled to produce offense. Insult was added to injury when Holt helped to lead MTSU to an upset win at Georgia in December of 2006.

Head over to Kit’s Dawg-gone Blog for a thorough live-blogging from yesterday’s game. Pretty much as I remember it.

The good…

The Diamond Dawgs swept a double-header from South Carolina, and both wins required late-inning scoring. The opener saw a rare 0-0 defensive battle head into the bottom of the ninth before Matt Olson’s RBI single plated the only run of the game. In the nightcap four eighth inning runs brought the Dawgs back from a 3-1 deficit, but the bullpen had to escape a bases-loaded situation to hold on for the sweep.

Heading into Sunday’s series finale, the Diamond Dawgs move into first place in the SEC East at 8-3 in the league. South Carolina drops to 6-5. Both teams started the day with identical 6-3 SEC records.

The double-header sweep guarantees Georgia their fourth SEC series wins in four tries this season. The consistency has been impressive. One thing remains – though Georgia has won all of their SEC series to date, they have yet to sweep a series. They can change that on Sunday afternoon at Foley Field.

Football recruiting also had some big news on Saturday. Northside Warner Robins defensive end Abry Jones committed to the Dawgs becoming the seventh commitment for Georgia in the class of 2009. I don’t pretend to have much skill at evaluating players, but Jones was one of those who couldn’t help but stand out during his team’s run to a 2008 state title. He is quite possibly the best defensive line prospect in the state this year – this is a big commitment.

The scary…

This *is* brain surgery. Larry Munson is recovering from a procedure on Friday to “remove a subdural hematoma.” The surgery went well, and he is expected to recover completely and be back in the broadcast booth this fall. That’s great news, but damn…brain surgery. Hopefully the brain surgeons were not tossing around words like “whatchamacallit” during the operation.

The news release notes:

Munson’s family and his attending medical staff have asked everyone to respect his privacy during his recovery. Anyone wishing to send cards or letters to him is asked to send them to the following address:

Larry Munson
c/o UGA Athletic Association
P.O. Box 1472
Athens, GA 30603

A better crowd than I expected turned out to see the Red beat the Black 17-3 at G-Day.  Though around 40,000 tickets were supposedly pre-ordered, an announced crowd of 19,874 braved the rain.

• No real surprise to see the Red team with the first team offense come away with the win.  The shortened nature of the game made it tough to put up much in the way of gaudy stats or scoring.  Michael Moore was he star of the day with two touchdown receptions to account for all of the day’s touchdowns.
• Matthew Stafford is aiming for a 62% completion average, and he came close with a 6-10 performance.  He did have one perfectly-placed touchdown pass and got lucky when Asher Allen dropped a sure interception.  Had Kris Durham not dropped a sharp pass, we’re looking at a 70% day, so it was a pretty fair day for the starting QB.
• It was a ho-hum day for the running game.  No one looked awful, and several guys did well creating yards, but no one really ripped off a long run.  It says enough that Caleb King was the leading rusher with 6 carries and 31 yards.
• An unexpected highlight of the day was placekicking.  Andrew Jensen nailed a 47-yard field goal, and Brian Behr hit one from 52 yards as the first half expired.  They weren’t being rushed, but it was good to see some distance on a wet field.  Punting was a different story…
• Once they settled in after a touchdown on the opening drive, the first team defense held their own.  Curren, Atkins, and Allen all had nice games.
• Two defensive newcomers had plays worthy of the highlight reel.  Akeem Hebron, who spent last season at GMC, had a key 40-yard fumble recovery after a botched snap.  He also had a game-high five tackles.  Safety John Knox looks like the next pain delivery specialist in the defensive backfield.
• Caleb King showed plenty of the elusiveness that’s supposed to be his hallmark.  You’d like to see what he could do behind the starting line, and I’m sure we will get plenty of chances to see that this fall.  He definitely needs to work on his pass protection though. 
• Logan Gray’s debut was impressive, and he showed off both the arm and the mobility that makes him a likely successor to Stafford.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees some real playing time this season.
• It was hard to get a read on the offensive line.  The second team line got beat for five sacks, but the first team line “did well” according to Coach Richt. 
• The only injury of the day was Vince Vance with about a minute remaining.  Coach Richt said postgame that it was an ankle sprain, so it looks as if the Dawgs dodged the injury bullet on a wet track.  That’s the best news of the day.

Now let’s hope that the traditional night on the town after the end of spring practice stays under control.  We only need to read about highlights in the papers tomorrow.

One other thing…nice job by Buck Belue of sneaking a Tommy Bowden reference in there. Well done.

Mark Richt wants a lot of people at G-Day on Saturday. “I hope a lot of people show up so it will make it more and more exciting and more like a real game,” he said after Wednesday’s practice. Of course it’s left to the fans to make the spring scrimmage seem “more like a real game” because it’s doubtful that the action on the field will resemble one.

Richt’s priorities for the day are “a crisp game without a lot of penalties and fumbles, probably without a lot of scoring and for everyone to come out healthy.” Sounds like big fun, right? You certainly can’t blame a coach for just wanting to get through the day – G-Day might be that day of spring practice where the least gets done, but it is still a chance for the team to have some fun and show off in front of the fans after weeks of hard work.

Players like early favorite Kalvin Daniels will battle it out for the Brown-Powell Award after Stafford and Moreno put in their couple of series, and fans will gauge the team’s worthiness for a national title run based on the outcome of a single scrimmage. We all know what G-Day is like, so I can’t really be down on Georgia fans if they have more options in life than Alabama fans and don’t pack Sanford Stadium. There’s a ton of anticipation around this year’s team though, so, weather permitting, Coach Richt will probably get his wish and have a decent crowd.

I like Ching’s take: we know that G-Day is a dawg-and-pony show for the fans that doesn’t mean much in the big picture, but I’m curious as anyone to see some of the names and groups that have been in the news.

One of the challenges for a fan looking to see how the Dawgs are doing is not reading too much into each bit of news that comes out of spring and preseason practices. We should know by now that certain statements in the press and even depth chart decisions at this time of the year can be as much motivational tactic as they are real news. As we sift through all of that, we’re left with a few main storylines going into G-Day:

• Everyone in the world wants to see Caleb King, but the other newcomers at tailback might be as intriguing. Richard Samuel and Dontavius Jackson would be the center of attention on a team that didn’t already have players with the hype of Moreno and King.
• I questioned myself for pointing to the offensive line as a possible weakness for this team, but it has been a big story so far in the spring. Clint Boling has been sidelined with mono, Ben Jones has tweaked his ankle, and the battle for the center position will continue on into the summer. I think the staff has a general idea of who they’d like to see on the starting line, but Boling’s illness and the unsettled center spot have meant that the ideal starting line hasn’t seen much work as a unit. With G-Day unlikely to settle much in this area, the line should be a focus well into August.
• Injuries at some positions will peel back the layers of the depth chart. Receiver might be the one position where this is most noticed. Massaquoi, Wilson, and Harris are all injured. Young players like Israel Troupe, Walter Hill, Tavarres King, and even Aron White should benefit from extra playing time. I’d also like to see some of the veterans who have lurked down the depth chart – guys like Demiko Goodman and Michael Moore. At other positions, center Ben Jones has an ankle sprain, and defensive tackle Jeff Owens is out with a separated shoulder.
• Is the defense really that good? Aside from Owens’ shoulder, there just hasn’t been much bad news from the defensive side this spring. The biggest question is at defensive end, and that seems to be more a case of seeing which promising player will win the job. We remember how bad the defense looked last year, so G-Day performance isn’t the best indicator of things, but I will be curious to see how things have changed and improved since the dominant performance in the Sugar Bowl.

We aint one-at-a-timin’ here, we’re mass communicatin’!

For those who aren’t making the trip to Athens, UGA is making G-Day available on television, radio, and online. It won’t quite rival the overexposure for Florida’s spring game (featuring Tebow healing Percy Harvin at halftime live on ESPN), but most Dawg fans who want to tune in should be able to find the game.

Television

CSS will have the game live at 2:00. If you can’t catch it on Saturday or DVR it, one would expect CSS to replay this game a few dozen times in the next couple of weeks.

Radio

AM750 WSB will carry the game for the first time since 1993. The game will also be broadcast across the Bulldog Radio Network; check your local affiliate to make sure that they will have the broadcast. XM subscribers nationwide can find the game on channel 199. If you XM subscribers leave it on 199, you’ll get the LSU spring game at 6:00.

Online

For the first time, UGA’s GXtra will stream a football game live. GXtra has had its shaky moments in the past few months (anyone else get that great mousepad?), but this is the best option for distant fans who want to watch the game.

Oh…and if you’re in Athens for the game, head over to Foley Field after the G-Day game.  There’s a big weekend series with South Carolina.  Georgia’s coming off of a nice two-game sweep of Clemson, and it would be huge for the Diamond Dawgs’ SEC chances if they can take another series from a Palmetto State team.