CAN'T WAIT!

Gotta tell you, I'm about ready to run through a brick wall. I'm certain that I say this every year, but I don't think I've been this excited about a season in a long time. I've drank the Dream Team Kool-Aid. I know that all are not in agreement, but I think we are going to destroy Boise. I mean it. I think we're going to punish them. I don't know that it will look like the Hawaii Sugar Bowl, but it might be close. I really believe that #29 and #9 are going to unleash on some people. #2 is just too good and may run a kickoff back every game.

I've got some theories. I think we're going to see #1 and #2 both back at the same time for KO and punt returns. I think we're going to make people put it in our play-makers hands. I think Boykin tipped his hand a little bit with his tweet. I don't think he was just talking about KO's, because I think he's smart enough to understand the goal is for them to KO once. Richt said a few weeks ago when asked about whether we'd have 1 or 2 guys deep on KO returns: "That's top secret information." And, we listed Boykin or Smith as the punt returners. I think we're going to see a new attitude.

You know what I've said for 3 years. I just want to see #2 take one toss sweep and I can die happy. Just one. I think he'd look a lot like ol' #47, another former corner who turned into a pretty good tailback.

The bottom line is that I believe our defense is going to be loads better. We traded in some much better players than what we played in that Liberty Bowl with. Perhaps that day will be the death nail for Mark Richt, but I believe that sad day in Memphis was the best thing to ever happen to him in the last 3 years. It showed him that we needed a major attitude adjustment. I believe we got one. This team seems really ticked off. I'm calling it. We boatrace them on Peachtree. My hope is that we have enough in the tank to beat the Chickens 7 days later.

Interesting Boise / Gamecock Thought

We posted this earlier in the Summer. Now that we're a little over a week away, how do you feel?

I began thinking something kind of strange today. Obviously, I want to come out of the gate 2-0. We do that and we're set. But I begin thinking about who I'd rather lose to if we go 1-1. It's kind of strange, and you have to think about what your ultimate goal is.

This may sound odd, but if you're goal is first and foremost win the National Title, then you have to say that it's more important to beat Boise. Boise will be higher ranked. Plus, if you beat Boise and lose to the 'Cocks, you could recover and go 11-1 and beat a bunch of good teams. Moreover, it's hard to imagine going 11-1, w/ the 1 loss being to Boise and going to the MNC game OVER an undefeated Boise. Heck, it would even be hard to put us in the game over a 11-1 Boise. I mean, if our records are equal and they won head to head, it's hard to say we deserve to go over them.

HOWEVAH…

If our goal is first and foremost to win the SEC, then obviously beating the Cock's is more important. In fact, the best route to the MNC game is winning the SEC, and it would be very hard to win the East without a win over FakeUSC.

It's just an interesting thought. For the record, I think we win both of them. We have so much on the line. I think we're going to come out swinging like we never have before. And I think our QB is going to be better than we remember. He's going to be a lot better this Fall. And #7 ain't bad.

Couple of tidbits on the secondary, the Cocks and uniforms

-The fact that we lost Jakar Hamilton for the season and Richt doesn't seem that worried is a good thing, not for Jakar, but for that position. The other thing that hits me is as VERY positive is the comments about who's running with the first team secondary. Looks like Rambo is a decided 2nd teamer. I really like the idea of our starting 4 being Williams, Commings, Smith and Boykin. I really, really like that. If Rambo's loafing last year won't be tolerated this year, that's a very, very good sign about our coaching staff. I mean, we're talking about benching a guy that started EVERY game. I still think he was recovering from that Auburn hit all year. He looks like he's lost about 10-15 lbs, so hopefully that's good on Bacarri.

-Speaking of lbs…Got my SI preview yesterday with, get this, Alshon Jeffrey of the Cocks on the cover, along w/ some Richardson and some other national guys. Jeffrey's got a belly. More than that, he just doesn't look fit. Here's to hoping that Garcia has really influenced the culture in Columbia. They guy does not look good, man. Might not make a lick of difference on the field, but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a decrease in production from Jeffrey because he's not fit. He does not look like AJ or Julio or, for that matter, Orson. He should really lay off the spandex.

-And speaking of the Cocks, their new unis are terrible. While their old unis had that Under Armour look, they were crisp and sharp. Their new ones have a TERRIBLE number font. They had a really good looking thick block font on the old unis, and this one is just skinny and has too many curves. Number fonts simply make a football uniform.

-And speaking of uniforms…Did you know that that Penn St. is getting new jerseys. GASP! They dropped the trim collar and cuffs. They're the same color as their jersey now. That's the way they were back when JoePa started. And did you know that the Mountain West, thank goodness, has prohibited Boise from wearing all blue at home. I don't know if that means orange jerseys or simply white or orange pants, but they can't wear all blue. I'm glad for it. It was just hard to watch and it was clearly a ploy to make film review difficult, especially when they changed their number color from white to gray, which made it even more difficult to read jersey numbers on the screen.

Oh, and Alec Ogletree is going to DO-MI-NATE. We wanted our Rolando McClain…I think we got him.

The world will be better when Swiper Boy is off the mic

I'm sure you have all seen Renaldo Woolridge's song about Eric Berry....now he's got one about their beloved precious, Derek Dooley.

Enjoy!

Precious

I like change and new things and exciting things, so I'm cool with it (expansion)

I think I like the idea of A & M and FSU rather than adding A & M and OU. I like Auburn and Bama in the same division because an SEC Champ. game w/ them is bad. I'd also rather go to Talahassee every other year than Norman every 7. It would be advantage Florida because they'd lose that non-conference game and have 3 patsies. We'd have Tech and 2 patsies. It would be a disadvantage to us and the Cocks for that reason.

However, I think it hurts Florida in recruiting. Maybe it's overblown, but only the Gators can offer those Florida kids the chance to play in the SEC. FSU offering that helps the Florida recruiting. I would expect A & M to rise pretty quickly. I think they'll be like Va Tech and get better because of it. Does it make the East better than the West? I don't know.

The interesting thing would be do you have 2 all the times and 2 rotating or 3 rotating from the other division?

WE ARE....the weird number team...and I love it.

Our starting LBs wear 29, 45, 83, & 9. Our nose guard wears 6. Our tail back wears 1. Our fullback wears 89 and our tight end is 7. Our new star WR wears 26 and another one wears 31. And, still, my favorite, our All-American kicker wears 57. I love that kid.

Defensive Backs Situation

Is it just me…but I'm getting pumped about our secondary. Sounds like Sanders is working at safety more, which I personally like. I think he, Rambo, Branden and Brandon are our best 4. Rambo looks like he's lost about 10 lbs, which he needed to.

That defense is paper thin, but they've got a chance to be scary good. I like our starting 11, especially with #29 on the field.

If #45 or #9 get hurt, I'm going to to need an anti-depressant.

Stat of the Day...Mind Blowing

So, practice is underway. Thank goodness. Just glancing over the media guide today, I came across a staggering stat. I know we all hated seeing Logan back there to receive punts, but couldn't really put it into words. We knew he wouldn't fumble, but we knew he wasn't a weapon. Did it matter that much?

We have been keeping punt return yardage since 1950 -- 61 years. It list the top punt returner for each year in yardage. In 61 seasons, we have had 5 seasons in which we had a punt returner amass more than 400 yards in a season. This will blow your mind:

2002 - SEC Champs
2005 - SEC Champs
1980 - SEC & National Champs
1968 - SEC Champs & Dooley's "Other" National Championship team
1971 - 11-1 Gator Bowl Champs

Are you kidding me? Richt's 2 SEC titles, Probably Dooley's 2 best teams, at least 2 of his best 3 or 4, and an 11-1 team. In the regular season, those 5 included 2 undefeated teams, 2 one loss teams, and 1 two loss teams.

That's unbelievable. Here's to having one guy back there who is dangerous. BTW, the 2 guys in '68 and '80 were Jake Scott and Scott Woerner, 2 of our best players on the team. Scott was the best player, and Woerner was the best defender we had. Here's to either Branden Smith or Brandon Boykin finishing with 467 punt return yards.

Go Dawgs!
Beat Boise!
Eat Moore Hors!