From the editor : vance leavy Well Bulldog fans the 2012 season finally kicked off this past Saturday in Sanford Stadium and I would have to say the outcome was pretty much what I expected. It wasn’t great, nor was it terrible. The biggest goal was attained with Georgia’s 45-23 win over the Buffalo Bulls. You can’t win them all without winning the first one. On the positive side of things, it’s always great when our offense takes care of the football. And with zero turnovers, mission accomplished there. While Aaron Murray had several over anxious throws early, he did settle in nicely giving his receivers plenty of catchable balls. And in case you didn’t know it, this Georgia team has a ton of talent at wide receiver. Tavarres King, Michael Bennett, Chris Conley and Rantavious Wooten all had solid games, which is very comforting not knowing how serious the injuries are to Malcolm Mitchell and Marlon Brown. And my, oh my, didn’t our true freshman running backs have a stellar start to their Bulldog careers? Todd Gurley looked like a veteran using speed, power and stiff arms to create big plays throughout the game. And Keith Marshall’s quickness was definitely a nice compliment to both Gurley and Ken Malcome’s power game. How exciting to see some quality production from Bryan McClendon’s tailback unit that has struggled over the last few years. And what I like best is that it appears all these youngsters are committed to the program in all the right ways, both on and off the field. However, it will certainly take more than one game to determine whether our tailbacks are truly on the up. You also have to give props to our young offensive line. Yes they gave up a few sacks, but Aaron Murray had adequate time to the throw the ball most of the day. And many of our tailbacks productive runs began with a nice seam or hole provided by the big uglies on the Oline. Keep it up young fellas and this season could certainly be dreamy. Now across the ball, things weren’t all that great for our Bulldog defense. But that was fine by me because I fully expect Todd Grantham to use that this week to have his players foaming at the mouth when toe meets leather Saturday night in
Columbia, Mo. Players like Jarvis Jones, John Jenkins, Abry Jones and Branden Smith better be ready because all indications are that Mizzou can flat out move the football. Unfortunately by now, we all know that our defense is missing more than a third of their starters due to suspensions. Perhaps, Mark Richt’s poker game with the media will have a happy ending this week and Alec Ogletree and Bacarri Rambo will get to see some action on Faurot Field? With or without those guys, Grantham’s defense must patch things up quickly. The focus wasn’t there for every play and that will certainly equate to some SEC losses if not rectified. My bet is things get better for Georgia’s D this week. Beyond our offense and defense, things were about the same for special teams and overall coaching in my opinion. Not great, not bad. I was glad to see our kicker, Marshall Morgan, drill his second kick after missing the first one. And Coach Richt seemed to have a good grasp of the overall ebb and flow of the game. However, I’m not sure I would’ve shown the double pass against Buffalo. That play was definitely a headscratcher. Although it should have gone for a touchdown, the drive quickly ended, which was folllowed by Buffalo marching down the field to tighten the score, 24-13. That’s enough Monday morning quarterbacking for me. It’s now time to devote all our energy to getting ready for the slugfest that’s sure to take place on Saturday night. It’s Missouri’s debut in the Southeastern Conference and they are so off their rocker with enthusiasm that one of their players opened his mouth when he should not of. Defensive tackle, Shelton Richardson said he turned off the Georgia-Buffalo game saying “ … It’s like watching Big Ten football, It’s oldphoto by Rob Saye man football.” Well, I guess Mr. Richardson and all the Mizzou faithful are about to figure out how much Georgia loves their football. And how much they don’t appreciate when someone disrespects them. Still, we here at Bulldawg Illustrated always do our best to stay above the fray. So while we realize that our beloved Russ will be enshrined as UGA IX before the Florida Atlantic game in two weeks, we decided our “old man” mascot needed to grace our cover this issue. May his wisdom and ferocity lead our Georgia team and it’s incredible fans into Memorial Stadium for what we hope is an “old man”, Dawg whippin’. See you there Saturday night. Let’s blow the doors off that sucker!
Missouri Cha Cha Cha Publishing Inc. Editor Vance Leavy Editorial & Ad Director Cheri Leavy Sports Guru Jeff Dantzler Sales Caroline Kinney, Holly Stanfill Sports Murray Poole Travis Ragsdale Layout/Design Cheri Leavy, Vance Leavy Cover photo Rob Saye Photography Rob Saye Columnists Carlton DeVooght Al Hickson Rob Sherrell Loran Smith Chad White Student Editor Travis Ragsdale Interns Katherine Parke Pierce Persons Annie Trice Delivery Hatton Abernathy, Martin Cameron Jake Davis, Will Hayes, Frank Sinkwich IV, Champ Vance
Missouri, September 3, 2012 FOR ADVERTISING OR TO SUBSCRIBE:
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