I like to think about this particular week not as part of preseason camp but as a bye week before the next game. Two-a-days have been over for a while, classes are in session, and Georgia started looking at Georgia Southern earlier in the week.

The Dawgs have already had a few scrimmages this month, but Thursday evening they will hold a practice game at Sanford Stadium to simulate the season opener.

Since the team is transitioning from the offseason into game preparation, we might as well too. The big Georgia Southern news of the day is the suspension of eight players including four starters. (Whew…that’s a load off.) I guess if we want to really find any significance for Georgia in those suspensions it’s that starting DE Damon Suggs is among the suspended. So one of Georgia’s new offensive tackles should have an easier debut with a reserve starting in place of Suggs in Southern’s new 3-3-5 defensive alignment. All-conference DE Larry Beard will still be there to challenge the other side.

Georgia Southern is a very young team, and coach Chris Hatcher “expects 22 of the 25 true freshmen and newcomers to play this season.”

That youth is especially evident on offense where only three starters return. The leading receiver in 2007, Raja Andrews, is among the suspended. The Eagles are also replacing five seniors on the offensive line, and two of the linemen will be redshirt freshmen.

And of course Southern’s starting center will be Georgia Tech transfer Trey Dunmon who endeared himself to the Georgia defensive line in last season’s regular season finale (see below). It should be a pleasant afternoon in Athens for young Trey and his enabling father.

It’s one thing to steal $316,000 from Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia. But using a state credit card to buy Auburn football tickets?

Off with her head!

When we last saw the former Bulldog tailback, he had just earned a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants. Ware’s still with the Giants, but his spot on the team is still up for grabs.

His performance last night might have cemented his status. In a preseason win over the Browns Ware totaled 97 yards on 10 carries. He also stood out on special teams with an average of 39 yards on three kick returns including one return of 59 yards. Ware also had a return of 35 yards against Detroit in an earlier game.

Even if Ware doesn’t find a place with the Giants, his visibility around the league is increasing.

The AP poll isn’t directly part of the national title picture anymore unless you consider that it might be a crib sheet for lazy voters in the coaches and Harris polls. We are able to see how individual members of the media voted, and it’s useful that some AP voters take the time to walk us through their ballot.

This isn’t about anyone’s placement of Georgia. I agree with Doug when he basically says look – there are several really good teams all with a reasonable claim to the top spot at this moment. Putting Georgia first, third, sixth, whatever is the voter’s prerogative at this point, and I won’t argue. You might think that I’m going to rake Jon Wilner over the coals for naming Florida #1 and dropping Georgia to #6. I’m not. I credit him for being open and even going back after the fact to look at his preseason rankings.

Wilner’s just a convenient example of a common approach to handicapping the Dawgs in 2008. "The Dawgs are the most talented team in the country," he begins, but oh, the schedule. So instead of ranking "the most talented team" at the top, he anticipates a few losses and starts Georgia out at #6.

The problem is that this approach to the poll changes during the season. Instead of remaining predictive, it becomes reactive. Ranked teams that lose fall in the polls. That’s the way it works. If, and it’s an if, Georgia loses, they’ll fall in the polls. Fine. But those using Wilner’s approach will ding Georgia twice – first in the initial poll and then again when the loss comes.

Georgia has a tough schedule, yes. Just how tough might be overstated a bit (seriously – by now it sounds as if in addition to eight SEC games Georgia’s playing the NFC East, the Redeem Team, and Michael Phelps). If that’s the case, it’ll play itself out during the season. Georgia will either win, or they’ll drop a few of these tough games and fall in the polls. If, as I do, you look at preseason polls as pole position for a race, dropping Georgia in the first poll because of a tough schedule makes about as much sense as moving a race’s top qualifier a few rows back because the race features an especially strong field.

Wilner’s reasoning should be of concern to those who want to see better and more interesting interconference games. The signal being sent is that it’s more important to navigate a manageable schedule than it is to be a good team that schedules ambitiously. Fortunately, as the first poll indicates, not too many voters feel that way.

Add the AP to the preseason polls putting Georgia at #1.

Georgia received 22 of 65 first-place votes and a total of 1,528 points to edge out Ohio State who received 21 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and Florida round out the AP’s top five.

The SEC has four teams (Georgia, Florida, LSU, and Auburn) in the AP’s preseason top ten.

USA Today, The Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated have already placed Georgia at the top of their preseason polls.

I thought about that question and immediately got a picture of a perfect tailgate on a sunny morning with good friends and Gameday just coming on the TV.

There’s a Pavlovian reaction to so many parts of game day. Thinking about tailgating is one of them. Just hearing the CBS theme is another. When we’re in Sanford Stadium, the pregame video means it’s time to play ball.

If you haven’t yet seen the Georgia Sports Blog’s extended pregame video, watch it here. Great stuff.

If you want to see some of the other scoreboard videos from last year, go here. Then figure out a way to be productive for the next two weeks.

Chip Towers is on the story. Uga VII has been selected. We won’t get to see him until the end of the month, and any pictures you’ve seen to this point claiming to be of the new Uga are hoaxes.

Seiler said he is working with UGA sports communication director Claude Felton to issue a detailed news release about the new dog — including pictures — on Aug. 29. However, Uga VII won’t make his first public appearance until he is unveiled in a pregame ceremony the next day.

Seiler described how they arrived at the decision. “We all holed up in a room for two days and considered all the possibilities,” he said. And everyone thought I was pulling their leg with my exclusive look into the selection process.

Most of us are familiar with Jody Yarbrough’s weekly game previews whether it’s through an e-mail distribution chain or posted at various places online.

Jody’s started a blog, and it’s as good as you’d expect from such a talented writer. Visit, bookmark, subscribe, and enjoy the View From 336.

We’ve seen the Sports Illustrated cover and brushed off any jinx talk. Now we also have an ESPN the Magazine cover to deal with. But as Warrick Dunn points out, the potential jinxes don’t stop there. Fortunately we don’t have to worry about the Madden curse, and Herschel Walker was superhuman enough to avoid the Heisman curse.

But, as the New York Times Olympics blog discovers, there’s a new curse in town: the Curse of the Gillette Ad. Think about it:

• Thierry Henry: Getting ready to face a messy divorce after spending much of last season dealing with injuries.
• Tiger Woods: Everyone knows about the knee injury knocking him out of competition until 2009.
• And now Roger Federer gets upset by American James Blake at the Olympics. His 4+ year reign as the world’s #1 player ended with a loss in the Wimbledon finals.

There you have it – pretty compelling stuff. Think about it, sports stars. Is a close, comfortable shave really worth the risk?

The SEC and CBS have announced a 15-year extension on the contract for broadcasting rights to football and men’s basketball. Tony Barnhart reports on the “landmark deal” in the AJC. There were no details about the financial terms, but you have to imagine that they don’t suck.

Barnhart notes that, “This new deal with CBS does not eliminate the possibility of an SEC television network. That won’t be determined until the SEC announces the remainder of its television contracts with ESPN and Raycom.”

There are three key changes in the deal which I can’t see as anything but positive.

• CBS will get the first pick of games every week. Barnhart reminds us that currently “ESPN got the first pick a few weeks out of the season.”
• There will be one prime time CBS game per season.
• CBS will considering streaming some games on the internet.

The relationship with CBS has been fantastic, and they always dedicate top-notch production and broadcasting talent to the SEC games. Hopefully we’ll get to see many more years of Uncle Verne enjoying a game in Sanford Stadium.

A new crop of freshmen is arriving in Athens this week to begin the college experience at UGA. They’ll meet each other, size each other up, and compare notes. "Oh, you were in the National Honor Society? Me too. I also lettered in three sports."

One UGA freshman will be bringing something to campus that will be hard to trump: an Olympic medal.

Incoming Georgia freshman Allison Schmitt won a bronze medal as a member of the women’s 800-meter freestyle relay on Thursday at the Olympics.
Schmitt, a native of Canton, Mich., led off the relay that set the American record with a time of 7:46.33. Natalie Coughlin, Caroline Burckle and Katie Hoff joined Schmitt on the relay.

Schmitt is just one of 22 athletes or coaches in Beijing with ties to the University of Georgia. Not surprisingly, over half of them are competing for or associated with nationalities other than the United States. It’s also not surprising that most come from Georgia’s strong swimming and diving program which will include a wide range of representatives from the incoming Schmitt to coach Jack Bauerle. We’ll see more Bulldogs as the track and field events get underway later this week.

Even Suzanne Yoculan is involved. The Georgia gymnastics program has had its share of Olympians, and this year Yoculan provided expert commentary during the women’s team competition. Most Georgia fans know all about her strengths as a showman and promoter, but such a successful program can’t be built without strong coaching competency, and she lets that side loose in this commentary.

Since I’ve opened the Olympics topic, I have to tip my cap to Michael Phelps. He’s the most decorated Olympian ever, and he dominates this sport. But I’m not going to get much into the "best ever" discussion. He may be, he may not be, but absolute statements like this don’t impress me. I watched Phelps coast in yet another qualifier last night and thought to myself, "didn’t he just swim this event a few nights ago?" Oh, right – that was the 100 meter event, and this was the 200 meter. And each comes with a medal just like the other 79 swimming events.

Think if they approached basketball the same way. You’d have the same team competition still. But you’d also have a dunk contest. A three-point contest. A 1-on-1 tournament. A 3-on-3 tournament. A 3-on-3 halfcourt tournament. H-O-R-S-E. A free-throw shooting contest. A free-throw shooting contest using the granny toss. You get the point.

I don’t begrudge Phelps his success. Few swimmers excel outside of one event, and he’s in rare air even among other swimmers. Even fewer can do it from one Olympics to the next. His accomplishments stand on their own. I’m just hesitant to put everything on the total medal count when some very gifted athletes in their own right have just a single event and a single chance at their one gold medal.

It’s becoming an annual tradition: the Bulldogs took some time out this morning to hit the Ramsey Center pool, and the 10-meter diving platform was once again the star of the show. Lifeguard Alexander Hope had the proper reaction.

“I was seriously terrified that Matthew Stafford was going to break his back … trying to do a back flip,” Hope said. “If one of those guys got hurt while I was guarding, I would never forgive myself. None of my friends would ever forgive me.”

Not just your friends, Alex. Count yourself lucky that the rumors of Rennie Curran and swimmer’s ear turned out to be nothing.

The AJC has a photo gallery, and UGASports.com subscribers get a gallery of 159 photos.

Richt levitates. (Photo: Radi Nabulsi, UGASports.com)

First, re: Sturdivant. Anthony Dasher of UGASports.com reported that there was no nerve damage to Sturdivant’s injured knee. Georgiadogs.com added that Sturdivant will “require a 9-12 month rehab. He is expected to fully recover within 12 months.” Given the severity of the injury and the aftermath of other multiple ligament injuries (think Albert Hollis), this was about the best possible news we could get. If all goes well, Sturdivant should be ready to go for the 2009 season.

There’s also good news on the recruiting front. The loss of TE Dwayne Allen to Clemson was one of the few disappointments in a strong 2008 recruiting class. Georgia addressed that tight end position today with a commitment from Arthur Fontaine of Dartmouth, Mass. He’s rated the #4 tight end in the nation by Rivals.com. Fontaine had committed to Boston College back in May, but he “de-committed shortly after when he realized he rushed his decision,” according to Mike Farrell of Rivals.com.

It should be noted that Georgia is still in the running for Rivals.com’s top-rated tight end, Orson Charles.

The Boston Globe has a great read on Fontaine. (You’ll also see his name as “Arthur Lynch-Fontaine” or, increasingly, “Arthur Lynch” as a nod to his mother’s maiden name.) In it he explains his decision to leave the Boston area.

“There’s nothing wrong with [BC],” he said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “They have a great football program, but I was so familiar with the school… Part of college should be about going off to do your own thing for four or five years and mature as a person — academically, physically and mentally. Just do your own thing for a couple years….With BC, I would have got a great education, a great degree and a great football career if it had played out, but I wouldn’t have got the same experience because I was so familiar with it.”

As he told Rivals.com, “This wasn’t as much a football decision as it was a college decision.”

If the idea of a Georgia tight end from Boston sounds familiar, it should. Jermaine Wiggins transferred from Marshall when Jim Donnan took over the Georgia program, and Wiggins played for the Dawgs in 1997 and 1998. Though undrafted out of college, Wiggins has had a productive NFL career and has a Super Bowl ring as a member of the 2001 New England Patriots.

News is breaking all over that starting Georgia left tackle Trinton Sturdivant tore three knee ligaments and will require reconstructive surgery. With that kind of catastrophic injury, you’re hoping it’s just season ending and not career ending. We send our best for a complete recovery.

I posted last night that I expected Clint Boling to end up as Sturdivant’s replacement, but the question is more complicated than that. Boling of course is suspended for the opener, so there’s a more immediate question of who starts in the Ga. Southern game. Here’s a run down of all of the names mentioned as possible replacements:

Josh Davis: RSo. 6’6″, 293. Currently working behind Sturdivant at the left tackle position, but that’s no guarantee. Davis saw reserve action in eight games last year as a RFr.

Vince Vance: Jr. 6’8″, 320. Vance is currently the starting left guard, and he does have the size to move outside. Tanner Strickland seems to be coming on behind Vance at guard, so the interior line would still be OK if Vance moved outside. Speed is a concern with Vance though, and speed is important given the left tackle’s key role in pass protection.

Cordy Glenn: Fr. 6’5″, 313. Glenn has been very impressive so far in fall camp and actually started Monday’s scrimmage at right guard ahead of Justin Anderson. Rivals.com had him as one of their top 20 tackles in the 2008 recruiting class. The biggest question is experience. Georgia dodged a bullet with a true freshman at left tackle a year ago; are they willing to take that risk again?

Clint Boling: So. 6’5″, 290. Boling proved to be a athletic and versatile lineman who played at both right tackle and guard as a freshman before settling into the right guard spot. His consistency and experience might tip the decision in his favor.

Kiante Tripp: RSo. 6’6″, 270. It made news when Tripp moved from defensive end to the offensive line a year ago. He had the prototypical offensive tackle frame and the recruiting pedigree to go along with it. After getting some playing experience in his RFr. season, he’s been the unquestioned starter at right tackle since spring. Now with the higher-profile left tackle position open, will the staff move their remaining starting tackle to the other side of the line and focus on developing a new right tackle?

We knew that talking about injuries was whistling past the graveyard, and it might now be Georgia’s turn to face a significant season-ending injury. Starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant was taken from the field today with a knee injury. Though the severity of the injury is still unknown, the AJC account doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

Those who have read Michael Lewis’s The Blind Side know that the left tackle stands above the other line positions, and it’s a significant loss when you’re without a good one. Sprain or tear, Georgia’s going to be without Sturdivant for some length of time, and they’re going to have to find an answer at the position that’s responsible for protecting Matthew Stafford’s blind side.

A great deal of Georgia’s success last year came because Sturdivant was up to the job as a true freshman. Now the job will likely turn to sophomore Clint Boling who was also a key contributor as a freshman in 2007.