College Football

Happy Memorial Day weekend! As you may know, Division I men’s lacrosse is about to crown a new NCAA champion, and our own Lax Dawgs finished in the top 20 in the MCLA following their SELC championship season. That would seem to make this an opportune time for me to renew my efforts to state the case for varsity lacrosse at the University of Georgia. First, though, a brief recap of what has transpired since last I posted in this space would seem to be in order. The Red and Black men’s tennis team made the national semifinals, while the ladies made the quarterfinals. The women’s equestrian team finished second in the nation for the third straight season, and the Gym Dogs made it back to the Super Six. The men’s golf team is about to begin competition for an NCAA title, whereas the women’s swimming team has already won a national championship. In short, if it’s a sport about which citizens are serious in affluent Peach State suburbs, particularly in metropolitan Atlanta, the University of Georgia is good at it. This brings us to lacrosse. Of the 32 high schools whose boys’ lacrosse teams made this year’s Class 5A and Class 6A playoffs, 31 of them hailed from one of six Georgia counties: Cobb, Columbia, DeKalb, Fayette, Fulton, and Gwinnett. According to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, those six counties all are among the ten wealthiest counties in the Empire State of the South, with each having a per capita income above $27,300 annually. If, as chuckdawg often has observed, the University of Georgia excels at "country club sports," lacrosse ought to be an endeavor at which the Bulldogs may do well merely by drawing from the areas of the state in which "the Creator’s game" is on the upswing. Incidentally, according to this report (.pdf) from the University System of Georgia, Cobb, Columbia, DeKalb, Fayette, Fulton, and Gwinnett Counties together accounted for 54.9 per cent of the in-state first-time freshmen who enrolled at the University of Georgia in the fall of 2011 (the most recent autumn for which I was able to find complete data). That’s right. The year before last, nearly 55 out of every 100 incoming Peach State frosh entering the University of Georgia hailed from one of the six counties that together accounted for nearly 97 per cent of this year’s high school lacrosse playoff field. Since they’ve come, we can build it. This, of course, is not news to the fine folks involved in the highly successful Bulldog club lacrosse program, who know where to look for future players, and who showed the good sense to schedule a regular-season conference game at Centennial High School, home of the 2013 GHSA Class 6A state champions. It should not be news to the powers that be in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, but, given how long it took for David Perno to be fired, I’m not going to assume anything is so obvious that it absolutely goes without saying, so here it is: Georgia is good at sports that are played at a high level in the high-income areas from which the student body in Athens increasingly is drawn. Lacrosse is no exception to this rule. Therefore, the Bulldogs should field varsity lacrosse teams in the same manner, for the same reasons, and with the same expectations as our equestrian, golf, gymnastics, tennis, and swimming and diving teams. Go ‘Dawgs! Happy Memorial Day weekend! As you may know, Division I men’s lacrosse is about to crown a new NCAA champion, and our own Lax Dawgs finished in the top 20 in the MCLA following their SELC championship season. That would seem to make this an opportune time for me to renew my efforts to state the case for varsity lacrosse at the University of Georgia. First, though, a brief recap of what has transpired since last I posted in this space would seem to be in order. The Red and Black men’s tennis team made the national semifinals, while the ladies made the quarterfinals. The women’s e

C-USA cooking up own bowl game in South Florida

In the months since Johnny Manziel won the Heisman, most of his life has been subject to scrutiny and ridicule. But ESPN analyst Joe Tessitore started a conversation about one of the lesser talked about parts of Manziel's world during College Football Live on Wednesday when he said people should focus on Manziel’s football skills instead of his “celebrity and VIP-ness.” /record scratch His VIP-what? C’mon, channel your inner 12-year-old and say “VIP-ness” fast. Yeah, he just said that. It's OK to giggle. Of course, Tessitore was referring to Manziel’s spotlight, which has been courtside at NBA games, the Super Bowl and hanging out with the likes of LeBron James, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, and not his nether region, but it was really a poor choice of a made-up-word when discussing Texas A&M’s starting quarterback. But don’t worry Joe, this isn’t the first time that word has been mistaken for something else. See, it happens. - - - Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday and be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you won't see on the blog.

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss. PLAYERS WHO COULD KEEP JOHNNY MANZIEL FROM ANOTHER HEISMAN NO. 1 AND 1A, TEDDY BRIDGEWATER AND MARCUS MARIOTA When we go to a restaurant, we just order two dishes to avoid having to decide. Honestly, we planned on going with Teddy Bridgewater for the top spot. But how can you pick him over Marcus Mariota? Then again, Bridgewater has to be the top candidate aside from Johnny Manziel to win the Heisman, right? So we just picked both as the co-leaders in the race to knock off Manziel from his Heisman throne. Bridgewater might be the most talented quarterback in college football, at least in NFL scouts' eyes. Bridgewater telling Louisville he doesn't want any part of a Heisman campaign, so the focus stays on his team, has sparked an interesting debate. Our first reaction was that it was a fine gesture and Heisman campaigns are just aimed at lazy voters anyway. The Sporting News' Matt Hayes said he thought Bridgewater had "saved Louisville’s season and was "dodging disaster" by telling Louisville no thanks. HeismanPundit.com's Chris Huston had a contrary opinion, saying Louisville should promote him anyway, comparing a Heisman campaign to a politician's marketing campaign. Both columns raise good points. That's all a subplot for May, however. The big picture of this week's Bridgewater story is that his Heisman train has already started, whether he requested it or not. As the player being named as the most likely to steal the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft from Jadeveon Clowney (and it will be very interesting if a quarterback needy team like Jacksonville or Oakland gets the first pick), of course Bridgewater has to be a top Heisman candidate. The biggest issue with Bridgewater is his conference and how much exposure he'll get during the season. During Louisville's lame-duck season in the American Athletic Conference before it jumps ship to the ACC, Bridgewater faces a schedule that won't provide any high-profile games. The toughest opponents on Louisville's schedule might be Cincinnati or Rutgers. He has no margin for error. That makes it incredibly tough to win a Heisman. The last Heisman winner to come from a conference as small as the AAC was probably BYU's Ty Detmer in 1990. That's a long time. Bridgewater has a lot going against him. Not so much for Mariota, who plays in a major conference and is on a team that should compete for a national title. Mariota played very well as a freshman, leading a team that was even more successful than Manziel's Texas A&M squad. Assuming replacing Chip Kelly with offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich works (and honestly, there has to be some worry when you replace an offensive genius like Kelly), Mariota should put up numbers as good as any other quarterback. If he can boost his passing numbers a bit (32 touchdowns and six interceptions last year was remarkable, but 2,677 passing yards might not get it done given the depth at quarterback in college football), and add a bit to his rushing numbers (752 yards and five touchdowns in 2012), he will be in the conversation. He has the dual-threat talent, as well as the explosive offense that should again run a ton of plays, to make an even bigger name for himself this season. We would pick Bridgewater over Mariota if we were starting a team. But Mariota is in a much better spot to have a huge season and impress voters. If anyone can knock off Manziel this year, the list probably starts with these two, in some order. Previously on the "Doc Five" 5. Jadeveon Clowney 4. Jameis Winston 3. Lache Seastrunk 2. Tajh Boyd - - - Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday and be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you

Kick it, maestro: In summers past Dawg Sports readers and authors shared their "Dawgographies", stories about how we each came to be red and black dyed Georgia Bulldog fans. Those stories were as varied as they were entertaining. There were stories about our college days, about family, about exhilarating victories and crushing defeats. But recently while considering these stories about lifelong fanhood being born I asked myself a perplexing question, one which I now ask you, Dawg Sports readers: if you had to be a fan of an SEC school other than the University of Georgia, which one would it be? I know, it's borderline unthinkable. I've tried to imagine myself in the colors of all thirteen of our conference coevals one after the other. None of them quite fits, but some fit more poorly than others. For example I couldn't even begin to allow myself to imagine life as a Florida Gator fan. I hate Florida. That one was just unthinkable. I don't think I'm paranoid enough to be a South Carolina fan. Besides, even if I was the SEC office would hatch some sort of plot to make me become an Alabama or Georgia fan. Every Missouri fan I've ever met was nicer than every fan of any other school. And if I was an Alabama fan I would be able to pretend that I know more about football than other fans because my school's coach does. I thought being an Auburn fan might be lucrative, but then I realized that being an Auburn player is where the real loot is at. So no go on that one. If I were a Kentucky fan I'd have to forget that the game of football exists, but I might get to sit near Ashley Judd at a basketball game. It would take me a decade or more to get up to speed on all the indecipherable jibberish one has to master to become a Texas A&M Aggie. Really, it's a commitment that I'm just not certain I'm willing to make. Finally I decided, I think I'd be an LSU fan. For one thing, drunk LSU fans are at least as obnoxious as drunk Georgia fans. I'd fit right in. Also some of the nicest visiting fans I've met in Athens have supported the Bayou Bengals, like the one who came up to me as I trudged to the car after the 2009 debacle, slapped me on the back and said "don't nobody deserve to get punched in the nuts like that." With the possible exception of Florida Gator fans he was right, and I appreciated the gesture. I'm a huge admirer of cajun and creole cooking, so I think the tailgates consisting of various jambalayas, gumbos and etouffees would work for me. Really there's nothing that walks, crawls, flies or swims that can't be made edible with a roux and enough time. The Abita Brewing Company, makers of the first ever Cocktail Thursday drink (Turbodog Ale) are right down the road from Baton Rouge. The football team is excellent, the stadium is raucous, and the coach is a wacky bastard who everyone, even bitter rivals, have to admit is at least entertaining. So there you go, I've made my choice. Now tell me yours. If you couldn't be a Bulldog, where would your SEC allegiances lie? Until later . . . Go 'Dawgs!!!

In the summer of 2002, if you visited the fever swamps of the Gamecock message boards, you would have learned that South Carolina was getting ready to deploy that season’s Heisman Trophy winner, a former baseball player named Corey Jenkins. Jenkins didn’t win the Heisman.  In fact, if memory serves, he didn’t even make it through the season as the starter.  He did have one memorable moment, though not one that ‘Cock fans particularly cherish. I only bring this up because it looks like we may have a new sheriff in town, boys. So Nick Marshall is going to be a Heisman candidate this year. Birmingham sports radio has the rationale of a grandmother playing bunko.— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) May 24, 2013 Auburn fans are so cute this time of year. Filed under: Auburn's Cast of Thousands

If Finebaum is perceived as somehow representative of us denizens of the South, does that mean the rest of the country is going to start wondering why we tongue bathe Nick Saban so much? Filed under: PAWWWLLL!!!

The Southeastern Conference has hired LSU administrator Herb Vincent as associate commissioner for communications.

As you may or may not have seen by now, Lion's Pride is now selling a new style of Penn State football jerseys. Before you all start freaking out, it's just a tiny little change. And it's just the logo! No big deal! We like that logo, remember? Just be happy that we didn't go to something like this, or this, or this, or even this. There haven't even been any official announcements, so these may not even be our real uniforms. We could end up with these for all we know. In the end, this is still our wonderful football team, and we're only 99 days away from seeing them play. Before you start flipping out in the comments section, donate to the Kickstarter. It's so easy, and it's right there! Plus you get free stuff if you do it, so win-win! Follow @BSDtweet on TwitterAnd join us on FacebookAll BSD community members should review our current Posting & Commenting Policies before creating any posts or commenting.

Five-star athlete Peppers to announce choice Sun.