The chatter
From Mark Bradley’s blog at AJC.com:
I know Georgia fans are upset that Todd Gurley won’t be allowed back until the Auburn game on Nov. 15, but let’s be realistic: Until Wednesday, there was no guarantee he’d be back at all. Owing to the level of the impermissible benefits ($3,000, or three times the $1,000 A.J. Green got for his Independence Bowl jersey) and the number of times Gurley took money for signing (apparently many, meaning this couldn’t be written off as a single lapse in judgment), he’s actually a lucky ‘Dog, as it were.
At least now Georgia knows when Gurley can play again, which will be nice after 20 days of uncertainty, and that he’ll be able to partake of the biggest remaining game of the regular season. (Imagine if the NCAA, which thought hard about toughening the four-game suspension, had bumped it to five. Whoa, Nellie.) Provided the Bulldogs can negotiate the next two weeks — Florida in Jacksonville, Kentucky in Lexington — they’ll be in Position A to win a lot more than the SEC East.
The first College Football Playoff rankings, unveiled Tuesday, showed Georgia at No. 11. A word of advice to Bulldogs fans: Keep calm. … Georgia has fewer chances to lose over the next month than does any team in the SEC West. If it can make it to the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6 without another loss and win there, it will be in the four-team playoff. You can take that to Gurley’s bank.
Numbers game
328 Games since Florida was last shut out, the longest streak in the country.
1983 The last time Georgia won four in a row in the series against UF.
Recruiting update
UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week that he has no plans to change his agreement with Florida about not inviting recruits to the annual game in Jacksonville. Two years ago, the SEC amended its rules to allow home teams at neutral sites to issue recruiting tickets. Alabama and Auburn have taken advantage of the loophole to invite Atlanta-area prospects to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome. UGA is passing on the opportunity, despite playing in the middle of Florida's fertile recruiting grounds every Halloween. "Nothing has really changed," he said. "Neither school wants to do it. That's why we don't discuss it. It's just not an issue. The only thing you can do is give these young people a ticket (for a home game at a neutral location). You can't talk to them. You can't interact with them. As far as seats for the game, we're in a sellout situation every year. You'd have to go to individuals who have been going to this game for decades and tell them you don't have the tickets for them. Again, you can't recruit these kids while they're at this game. All you could do is give them tickets. So neither school sees any value in that for this game. We'd rather spend our time with them on campus. " — Michael Carvell
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