September 23, 2011

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Georgia at Ole Miss: where the first (crucial) conference win is on the line

Posted by: Capuano and Filed Under: Main

Frankly, there are certain fall days in the SEC that make it really hard to be disciplined and work. How I’d love to be out for a walk on Oxford’s “Square” right now – high 70’s, not a cloud in the sky… simply stunning, as seen by this photo I snapped about three hours ago.

Fortunately, I’m fairly certain we’ll enjoy a similar banner day tomorrow at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the week four matchup pitting Georgia (1-2, 0-1) at Ole Miss (1-2, 0-1).

The question is, how much will these teams be able to enjoy this game? All signs are pointing to one of gut-wrenching importance, particularly for the two head coaches, Mark Richt and Houston Nutt. Plenty has been written this week, labeling the matchup as the “Hot Seat Bowl”:

Clarion-Ledger columnist Rick Cleveland (@rick_cleveland) on why both coaches are under intense scrutiny

Ole Miss C-L beat writer Hugh Kellenberger (@HKellenbergerCL) on the coaches’ reactions to the label and their thoughts on each other.

Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) covers Georgia athletics for the Macon Telegraph & Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and has a similar post on the coaches’ mutual respect, as well as this article on what was one of the main themes of our crew call with the UGA coaching staff: continuing to lock down on defense.

Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) is the UGA football and basketball beat writer for the Athens-Banner Herald. He found a great Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College connection on these two teams, and also explains how the punters will play a key role Saturday (the headline of that article has me humming, “Nothing beats a great pair of L’eggs!”, which also led to the discovery of this, both a reaffirmation that I heart YouTube as much as the 80′s.)

Georgia fans definitely need to create a favorite link to ESPN.com’s DawgNation – one of five “Nation” sites within ESPN.com dedicated to colleges (Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan and USC being the others.)

Along with the writers I’ve already linked to and shared Twitter handles for above, here are a few more folks to follow:

For Georgia:

@ajcuga – Chip Towers covers UGA sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and has a post on the depth issues surrounding the O-Line for this game

@UGAAthletics – official Twitter page of Bulldogs athletics georgiadogs.com

For Ole Miss:

@OleMissNow is the official athletic twitter site for Rebels athletics, and @RebelCoachNutt has a Twitter account as well – but tweets are rare (last tweet was a few days ago to promote Coach to Cure MD week – both staffs are participating.)

Kyle Campbell (@CampbellKyle) is the Asst. Athletics Director for Media/Public Relations.

David Brandt (@davidbrandtAP) is locked into Ole Miss (and Mississippi State and Southern Miss) for the Associated Press.

Image of the Trip:

This is the “Redemption Burger” – an item on the menu at Madidi Restaurant in Clarksdale, MS. Actor Morgan Freeman is a co-owner of the restaurant – one of the stars of “Shawshank Redemption” (one of my top five ALL TIME films, and one of hundreds of movies that Freeman has played a role in – not to mention all of the narration work that he has done… that voice – how I love that voice!)

Description of the Redemption Burger: House ground beef, peppered  bacon, guacamole, fried egg, caramelized onions, cave-aged cheddar and  served with rustic confit aioli, served with sweet potato fries.

The Redemption was not what I ordered (I chose instead one of the most heavenly cioppino dishes I’ve ever had the delight to devour!) but I loved the presentation of the sandwich…  I found the somewhat savage imagery rather timely, considering the importance of this SEC Network game for both teams tomorrow.

And finally, a little college football education moment, courtesy of Georgia’s last opponent.

Apparently I’m not the only one who has ever wondered aloud, “what is a chanticleer?” If a university has a whole page to explain its mascot – and its pronunciation (yes, I was wrong on my first attempt) – you know it’s a common question. The Phi Beta Kappa in me relishes that the Coastal Carolina mascot is inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. This first line to describe said chanticleer, “For crowing there was not his equal in all the land,” is rather apropos for the school’s football coach, David Bennett, this season. If you haven’t seen him explain why he needs more dogs, not cats, you’ll really enjoy this next minute of your life.

If you’re not making it to Oxford, this is where you can watch the game. It’s the only early game in the schedule, leading into an afternoon and evening of SEC magic - sure hope I make the earlier flight, so that I can channel-surf those beauties!

See you tomorrow from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium!