I don’t have a cardiologist, per se, but if I did, they would have been wildly concerned if I had had a heart monitor strapped across my oddly-hairless chest last Saturday.
Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs certainly have a flair for the dramatic, and us fans are paying the price. As fun as it is to watch our favorite team on the biggest stages, it sure can be stressful. This past game against Tennessee was just the latest example, and now our last three wins against power conference opponents
have come in overtime (GT x8, Texas, Tennessee). With Alabama on the horizon, I don’t think I could handle another game like that.
As the transfer portal and NIL continue to bring more parity to the game, the days of 65-7 national championship games may be all but over.
But at least we know there will be no overtimes this weekend as NSYNC’s favorite team the BYE Byes are next on the schedule. And it could not have come a second sooner.
Following a big win like that gives the team a moment to gather and regroup, review what went well and what didn’t, and get some key offensive linemen extra time to get healthy and back into the lineup. But just as importantly, it gives us fans a chance for a breather.
Typically, Saturday activities around this time of year are well-regulated, but this weekend we can do anything we want since, like Ross and Rachel in FRIENDS, we are on a break. This is a good time for us loyalists to do classic Saturday activities we normally cannot; like going to Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond (if there’s time), get married, and everything in between.
But it’s also fun to take some time to look ahead. A drunkard in a dive bar recently asked me who I thought would win the SEC this year, which sparked a lengthy discussion. After ensuring him that his picks of Clemson and Florida State most certainly would not be winning the SEC, we came to an agreement that it’s anyone’s game.
What we thought we knew about Georgia got turned upside down last weekend in the win. Maybe Gunnar can lead an explosive offense, maybe our running game can lean on a defense, and maybe our own defense isn’t as strong as we thought.
We don’t know if Alabama and Texas’ early woes can be overcome or if they have real issues that will persist. We don’t know if LSU, Oklahoma, Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, or Vanderbilt are good or just beat some overrated opponents.
All we do know for sure is that Texas A&M will still somehow go 8-4, and that Florida is terrible and Billy Napier is burning through his jorts sitting on a seat that hot.
The aforementioned drunkard and I had very little in common, but we did agree on two things: that a good crème brûlée takes time and patience, and that it will be fun to watch how the rest of this season unfolds. With so many unknowns a quarter of the way through the regular season, fireworks are bound to fly and subsequently pop.
Take advantage of the off week, get some R&R, and get yourself ready for an exciting season.
