THE PACKING LIST REVIEW: VANDERBILT

Sorry for the delay in checking the list Nation, but I figured with a bye week we could spread things out a bit. It was Vanderbilt. There was another victory, the DAWGS fifth straight, but everyone I talked to afterward was left feeling unsatisfied and even a little…dirty. But, all that’s done. The bottom line is Georgia is one of only two teams in the SEC East that has only one conference loss and that places them in a tie atop the division in the battle to get to Atlanta. The next one up is a doozy, but first we must put the wraps on Nashville.

FIRST ITEM: *GRANTHAM’S TOWEL* HEADACHE

This is what I wrote about Grantham’s towel and all that it represents…

This seems like an easy one to remember, but those are the things that hurt the most when you leave them behind. How ‘bout we just go ahead and tuck that one in the truck driver’s belt…just to be sure.

What the hell happened here? Not only did everything symbolized by coach’s towel not work as well as it had, for most of the game it appeared it didn’t even make the trip. The DAWGS defense surrendered 200 yards rushing and 28 points to Vandy last Saturday. The ONLY way that can happen is if the Georgia players are busting assignments and not handling their responsibilities. To be fair, the DAWGS did force four turnovers and did make a final stand with the game on the line to get the win. However, even a scrappy Commodore team should not have been allowed to make this game this close even though the offense certainly shares some responsibility on that point. Just talking about it again is making my head start to pound. You know what, just go ahead and pass the ibuprofen.

SECOND ITEM: *RECEIVER’S GLOVES AND EYE BLACK* CHECK

Thank goodness somebody put this box on the truck. I had stated that Vandy was going to throw it to us a couple of times in the game and we just had to make sure we caught the ball when they did. That’s exactly what happened. Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks threw three interceptions between them and also lost a fumble to the DAWGS. Check, check, check on this one.

THIRD ITEM: *BULLY ATTITUDE* HEADACHE

This is what I wrote about the DAWGS needed demeanor prior to the game…

All that talk of swagger and attitude…when you’re riding high and playing fast, these are the games you just dominate. This is a week when Georgia should be the baddest dude on the block and they need to show it.

This one made it onto the truck, but much like a chicken salad sandwich left on the truck’s seat in the sunshine, it went bad in a hurry. There was plenty of attitude coming from Georgia’s sideline last weekend, but it went unchecked and spoiled what could have been another solid building block victory in the road to a possible SEC Eastern division title for Georgia. Instead of taking what I had hoped would be a workman-like, good is never good enough, attitude against the ‘Dores our DAWGS took the much easier and much less satisfying tact of believing they had already achieved something of worth and deserved more than what they had actually earned on the field. At the end of the day, all the DAWGS got from it was a black eye for the program and a couple of suspensions for key players heading into the most important game of the season. Not quite what I was talking about. That ibuprofen isn’t doing the trick. After how last week went down, this bye week is coming at the right time for us too. I think I’m going to take some Excedrin migraine and rest a bit. No worries Nation, I’m sure I’ll get things worked out and be full speed by next weekend, just in time for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Here’s hoping the DAWGS can do the same.

Glory, Glory.