AF: How unfair is it that Todd Gurley is out and Jameis Winston is still playing? For Winston, no one has paid that much for an illiterate signature since "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
DS: Logically, one could say it's fair because only Todd Gurley has had someone come forward and say "I paid that guy to sign autographs." I get that. I also logically know that Jameis Winston didn't sign 900 items for one person just for funsies. In other words, I'm a realist, I understand why the University is doing what it's doing. But it does gall me just a little that so many players have been implicated in autograph investigations over the past couple of seasons, but Gurley is the only one to miss significant time. If you ask Georgia fans, many will tell you it's the latest example of our administration being the only one in the conference not yet aware that Emperor NCAA has no clothes. Self-flagellation is kind of what we do, whether it's our drug policy which suspends players for a first failed test, or our dealings with the NCAA. This is one reason why Athletic Director Greg McGarity finds himself far more unpopular recently than Mark Richt (more on that below).
AF: Despite Bielema being 0-11 in SEC play, how is it that Mark Richt seems to be on the hotter seat of the two?
DS: Mark Richt isn't on the hot seat. He hasn't been on the hot seat for three years. The vast majority of Georgia fans don't quite understand why other fan bases can't or won't understand that. The guy was one play in the SEC title game away from playing for (and likely winning) a BCS title in 2012. And then still won 8 games in 2013 despite losing his starting QB, top two running backs, and top four receivers to significant injury. Not to be intentionally provocative (okay, maybe a little), but I would be willing to bet that Mark Richt is still coaching in Athens when Bret Bielema's tenure in Fayetteville ends, voluntarily or otherwise.
AF: Screw, marry, kill: Penn Wagers, Tim Tebow, Bryan Allen (the guy who ratted out Todd Gurley).
Screw Bryan Allen. That one's self-explanatory. Marry Penn Wagers because you don't screw Penn Wagers; Penn Wagers screws you. And kill Tim Tebow because he's the answer to the question "Who does a guy have to kill to stand next to Kaylee Hartung?"
AF: How weird is it that Kentucky is your biggest competition to win the East this season?
DS: Running into Bill Snyder at a Neutral Milk Hotel show weird. Discussing 50 Shades of Gray with your grandmother weird. Casting Ben Affleck as a superhero again weird.
AF: As you know, the SEC West is undefeated against the rest of the country so far this year. Is there added pressure to the game knowing that Georgia is the favorite and has a chance to do something that no other team has done this season?
DS: Not really. I think Bulldog fans are too concerned with winning until Todd Gurley gets back (assuming he does) to worry about that. The West is really good this year, no doubt. I personally poo-pooed both Mississippi schools in the preseason, and I was pretty damned wrong on that one. Arkansas is about the best football team I've ever seen winless in the conference at the halfway mark of the season.
But anyone who views LSU's win over Florida or A&M's win over South Carolina as proof of some systemic dominance needs to familiarize themselves with the law of small numbers.
AF: Prediction.
DS: The emotional hangover from last week's Missouri win is going to be too much. Georgia makes the kind of mistakes one can't make and still win on the road. And I can't help but feel that the Razorbacks are about to break through. Arkansas 24, UGA 20.
I will say that if Georgia wins this one, and especially if they win in anything close to the fashion they did last week in Columbia, they'll be favored from here on out with the possible exception of next month's home rivalry game against Auburn. That's kind of frightening for Georgia fans, who know the light at the end of the tunnel is always the front end of a locomotive.
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