National Landscape, week three. The Dawgs lose a first round bye.

Once again, this week brings some changes. Although I'm not overly concerned about this Georgia team, I do admit it now feels less likely we can go undefeated. The Dawgs' schedule is just brutal and the offensive line is down a starter and looked road weary already Saturday night.

So I'm shaking up my SEC stance this week. I'm moving Texas up to the top, which drops Georgia significantly. And I'm also shying away from my confidence in the SEC getting five teams in. To put it as concisely as I can, I think Georgia, Alabama, and Texas are my clear favorites to compete for the conference crown. And I think all three get in the playoffs. That leaves Ole Miss, Missouri and Tennessee on a second tier, and maybe only one of them gets in.

Why? Of those three, Tennessee has the hardest path. They get Bama at home, and go on the road against their other two ranked opponents - Oklahoma this weekend, and Georgia in November. Missouri - away games against A&M and Bama, home against Oklahoma. Ole Miss - home against Oklahoma and Georgia. It's early I know, but it feels like these three need to shove their way onto that first tier to guarantee a spot come December.

Lucky for them, there's still a LOT of football to be played.

In the ACC, I'm sticking with Clemson over Miami. And I still don't see a second team making the playoffs. In the Big10 however, Oregon finally showed some hope for a post-season run in their win over a pesky Oregon State team. I'll keep Penn State and Ohio State in, but move the Ducks up to a 1st round bye. And in the Big 12, Kansas State's rout of Arizona put them on my radar. But I'm keeping Utah as both the Big 12's conference champ and only seed in the bracket.

The only thing left to decide: if I scale the SEC's seedings down from five to four, who gets the other spot. At this point I'd have to go with the Salukis, as NIU's victory over Notre Dame is the Group of 5's biggest win thus far. In fact it only looked better after the Fighting Irish laid waste to the Boilermakers this past weekend. But keeping an eye on Toledo and Memphis here too.

Onto the bracket:

1. Texas (bye)
2. Oregon (bye)
3. Utah (bye)
4. Clemson (bye)
5. Georgia (hosts)
6. Penn State (hosts)
7. Alabama (hosts)
8. Ohio State (hosts)
9. Ole Miss
10. UCF
11. Boise State
12. NIU

Yes, I know that Tennessee and Missouri are likely better than (probably) both Group of 5 teams. But it's September 18th, and I prefer to recognize NIU's play on the field rather than reward something...I don't know...something like an onside kick in the 1st quarter when you're up 30-0.

Anyway, as always, we close this weekly post with this: Those are at least some intriguing matchups in Round 1. $till not $old on making the $ea$on thi$ long. But I'd watch, and I gue$$ that'$ why they expanded, right?

Digesting Kentucky

With a couple of nights to sleep on it, the fog has cleared and I think we see what Saturday night in Lexington actually was - a road win in the SEC, even when we had an off night.

So I think the best way to translate this from my brain to a page on the web, is to use pros and cons. Let's dive into it starting with the good.

Pros

• The defense wasn't at its usual prowess in tackling, but stood up to the test with a depleted defensive line. For the fourth consecutive game they have not given up a touchdown. And looking back, we can all agree that to do so on Saturday night would've meant a loss.
• Jalon Walker's night doesn't show up enough in the game stats. But man oh man, what a night he had!
• Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins earned every bit of his Co-Defensive lineman of the week honors.
• Special teams had a good night when we needed them to have one. Thorson averaged nearly 50 yards a punt and had three inside the 20 yard line. Woodring connected on both FG attempts.

Cons

• Beck had an off night. As much as some would lay the offensive woes completely at Bobo's feet, I suspect a lot of the inability to find an offensive rhythm is on our quarterback's shoulders. It's a new era with helmet communication. At 15 seconds on the play clock Bobo's mic is turned off. There were several plays where Beck just didn't check into a pass and went with a run into a seven man front. Weird, and not something we're used to from the last few years as there was little to no drop off in line of scrimmage adjustments from Stetson to Carson.
• That being said, the play calling was very vanilla. Which is a good point to remember, Kirby determines the game plan. And I can see (clearly) a scenario where he tells Bobo to save pages of the playbook for the gauntlet that starts in Tuscaloosa.
• The bend but don't break defense was just enough, but the lack of contain on Vandergriff is definitely a point of emphasis heading into a matchup with the country's best dual threat quarterback. BVG made use of space for big gains. Milroe can turn yards into actual touchdowns.
• More than Bobo and Beck's play calling, the blocking overall should receive a failing grade. And let's give a nod to Kentucky's game plan and their players for having a great game. On our side, even before Ratledge went down, the OL was not in sync. In short, they were dominated for much of the game. Especially in run blocking.
• And our wide receivers and tight ends didn't fare any better. That screen pass to Frazier for -5 yards saw both Delp (who usually runs a clinic in downfield blocking) and Lovett whiff. Not good.

I think that's enough of that. It's time to take the win and move along. 

With games like this, I always attempt to view it through Kirby's eyes. It was a ugly win ahead of a bye week, with a huge game in Tuscaloosa up next. Use the extra week to sharpen up. Iron on iron. Go Dawgs!