THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE IN!!!!!

Remember that scene from “The Jerk”, where marked gas pumper Steve Martin was waaaay too excited because he received a copy the new phone books and he was checking for his name? Something similar happened this week and a bunch of us ‘Steve Martins’ are excited (only none of our names are in THIS book). Not only was the 2007 UGA Spring Football Media Guide released, but so was the Spring Depth Chart. Not impressed? Fine, whatever. But this material will give guys like me HOURS and HOURS of debate fodder. What will the running game look like? Which linebackers will start and who will back them up? Who’s gonna pick up the slack and get called for all those penalties now that Daniel Inman is gone? (OK, that was cheap, but, come on. No one’s gonna miss him)

One note (yeah, just one after reviewing all that data). Last season’s loss to Kentucky in Lexington marked the first time since Mark Richt arrived that we have lost to an unranked team in their home stadium (#3 Auburn and #11 LSU are the only other two losses – please don’t bring up Florida). There are two candidates for that this year. Alabama and Tennessee. Let’s take Alabama first. After God sent his son, Nick Saban, down to earth to coach the Tide (can you tell I’m sick of hearing about him?), He decided he would let Little Nicky stand or fall on his own. So contrary to every Bama fan’s declaration that they have already won their 13^th National Championship in 2007, he hasn’t exactly started out with a bang in his first year (8-4, 6-5-1) at big time schools. And by using the term ‘big time school’, I’m excluding Toledo. Um, can Alabama beat us? Sure. Pat Dye probably still thinks we’re not ‘man enough’. But if Saban took over any team but Alabama, I would be worried. We win that one.

Tennessee. Every year I pick us to lose up there in Knoxville. And every year, we man-handle them on Rocky Top. How? Why? Hopefully, the Dawgs will remember that last year the Vols became only the second team EVER to score more than 50 points in Sanford Stadium. But QB Erik Ainge is a senior and is poised for a big year. I think this is the year we find out he doesn’t HAVE to have a pair of All SEC receivers to be good. That’s right, I’m picking the Vols to win.

What about Vandy you say? We play in Nashville this year. They hurt our pride. They ruined our Homecoming. I bet Coach Richt does everything but bring Hershel back to make sure we beat them. We don’t lose that one.

Ok, I have to get back to the media guide. There’s more raw data to review.