The predictions that Georgia would win the East began almost as soon as the year did, and you may have heard that we're now a preseason blogpoll consensus top 10 team. Don't believe the hype. The Stoics taught us not to let passion interfere with clear reasoning, and Larry Munson taught us that a little pessimism never hurt anyone. So, with just 110 days left until kickoff, you need to start preparing yourself for the inevitability of an 8-4 regular season. Here's why:

Buffalo (09/01/12)
Buffalo has a great running back, but there's a reason that we're paying them nearly a million dollars to be our home opener. If we lose this game, it's time to occupy the doomsday bunkers. WIN

at Missouri (09/08/12)
Remember that time that we were returning 9 starters from one of the most dominant defenses in the country? No? Me either. All of our DBs will be suspended for this game. That is a serious problem when we're facing one of the most prolific spread offenses in the country. I have full faith in Coach Grantham's abilities as coach, but his NFL background has not fully prepared him for his initial outings against offenses that are unique to college football, particularly with a true sophomore wide receiver in his first SEC start on defense. We're in for a world of hurt, y'all. LOSS

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Brandon Boykin is many things: He's Georgia's all-time leader in kickoff return yardage. He's the only Georgia player to return three kickoffs for touchdowns in a single season. (This is also tied for the best in Southeastern Conference history.) He's the only player in SEC history with three plays of 100 yards or more. He's the 2011 Paul Hornung Award winner. He's a threat on offense. He's a threat on defense. He's a threat on special teams. He's a human highlight reel.

More important than any of that, though, is the fact that Brandon Boykin is a phenomenal human being. Boykin says that the first things he plans to do with his NFL money are tithe and take care of his parents' house. This is clearly a young man who has taken all of Coach Richt's lessons to heart.

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You're probably just as shocked as I am that there are actually enough women at Georgia Tech to field a softball team, but, in all fairness, I guess there's no rule against North Avenue Trade requiring all sixteen coeds to play on the squad. But however they managed to get enough ladies on the diamond, the ones they found handled their business, defeating the visiting Bulldogs 2-0. I guess the Engineers brought their A-game on their high holy day.

Defensively, the Diamond Dawgs did well enough in the first five innings. Junior Tess Sito delivered a typically strong performance from the mound, allowing just one hit and no runs in four innings. Sophomore Morgan Montemayor took the loss as a reliever, but she gave up no earned runs. With the only Jacket batter to manage a hit waiting on first base after a walk, a surprise bunt led in-fielder Gracie Goulder to rush a throw to second, which bounced off Ashley Pauley's glove into right field. The runner made it all the way home on the play. The surprise bunter worked her way from second to third and then from third home on consecutive ground outs to score the game's second and final run.

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Tonight your seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs handily defeated the Furman Paladins 8-0 in six innings at home. The Diamond Dogs were models of efficiency, scoring their eight runs off of nine hits. Second basewoman Ashley Pauly, catcher Kristyn Sandberg, and third basewoman Gracie Goulder each batted two runs in. Tess Sito handled pitching duties, striking out ten batters -- a season high -- while allowing just two hits. She was even better as a batter, getting on base on all three of her appearances at the plate and ultimately scoring each time. She's also the subject of tonight's Better Know a Bulldog.

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In case you haven't been paying attention, our softball squad is legit, y'all. The Bulldogs rounded out another successful weekend with a 2-0 win over Mercer today. That took them to 5-0 for the weekend, and 18-2 on the year. These Diamond Dogs are justifying all the preseason hype and proving they're worth the number 7 national ranking.

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I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as our softball squad did. The Dawgs won all four of their games to move to 8-1 on the year. (The weekend's fifth contest against Winthrop was cancelled due to the weather.)

The weekend got off to a strong start, with back-to-back wins against Connecticut (8-1) and Tennessee Tech (6-1). Senior Erin Arevalo handled pitching duties against the Huskies, allowing only two hits against ten strike-outs. Her classmate Ashley Pauley notched six (!) RBIs. Against the Golden Eagles, sophomore Morgan Montemayor struck out ten batters with six hits and four walks. On offense, Paig Wilson hit up the middle in the first inning to bring in two runs, and first basewoman Tess Sito later recorded two RBIs of her own.

Saturday was even better. Junior Tess Sito shutout Western Illinois, and Erin Arevalo continued a strong 2012 with a shutout of Buffalo. The Dawgs scored just two runs against the Leathernecks, both off of sacrifice flies, but scored eight against the Bulls, including home runs from Krystyn Sandberg and Brittney Hubbard.

After two successful home tournaments, the Dawgs head to California on Thursday for the Cathedral City Classic, where they'll face Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Washington, UCLA, and Oklahoma. It's time to justify that preseason number 14 ranking.

Go Dawgs!

On Friday night, the softball squad dispatched Army (12-0) in five innings. Bulldog senior Erin Arevalo recorded seven strikeouts, two hits, and one walk in five innings. Senior Kristyn Sandberg and freshman Gracie Goulder led the Bulldogs, going 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBIs. Junior Tess Sito went 2-for-3 and batted in one run.

On Saturday, the Dawgs beat Utah State (8-0) in five innings and St. John's (2-1) in eight. Sophomore Morgan Montemayor pitched against the Aggies, giving up only two hits against eight strikeouts. Second basewoman Ashley Pauly and catcher Kristyn Sandberg each batted in two runs. Senior Erin Arevalo gave up one run against the Red Storm but recorded eight strike-outs. The Bulldogs notched ten hits, but Kristyn Sandberg and junior Tess Sito batted the only runs in.

Although this morning's games were cancelled due to the unexpected cold, Georgia beat Campbell (10-1) but lost to NC State (2-3). Sito took the mound for the first time this year against Campbell, striking out seven batters and giving up only two hits. Kristyn Sandberg continued her impressive RBI streak, notching three against the Camels. Against the Wolfpack, Morgan Montemayor took the season's first loss despite tallying seven strike-outs.

If you're keeping score at home, our softball team went 4-1 for the weekend. I'd say that's not a bad start at all. Keep an eye on the softball team this year. The last time we won the SEC in softball, we also won in football.

Go Dawgs!

Georgia softball's sixteenth campaign commences tonight against Army at Jack Turner Stadium at 7:00 p.m. This will be the first game of this weekend's fifth annual Red and Black Showcase, in which the Bulldogs boast an impressive 19-1 record. The rest of this weekend's opponents are:

• Utah State, Saturday at 11 a.m.,
• St. John's, Saturday at 1 p.m.,
• Campbell, Sunday at 1 p.m., and
• NC State, Sunday at 3 p.m.

The tenth ranked Bulldogs return four position starters and two pitchers from a team that finished 51-14 and advanced to the Super Regionals. Tune in to the audio broadcast at GeorgiaDogs.com to listen to the start of a campaign that could see Coach Lu Harris-Champer secure her 800th win as a collegiate head coach.

Go Dawgs!

National Signing Day is less than a week away; the offseason is about to get real, y'all. I don't know about you, but the only way I can deal with the crippling depression that accompanies the knowledge that football is seven months away is to keep myself busy. And why not stay busy by getting ready for football's triumphant return?

Like many of you, I don't make it back to Athens for games as often as I would like. Accordingly, I wind up watching a lot of games at home, and I try to recreate the tailgate atmosphere by having friends over. But contrary to what beer commercials have been trying to tell us for years, having a successful tailgate involves a little more effort than showing up in a jersey with a six pack. A professional-grade tailgate involves a full bar, among other things, and, if you've ever had the misfortune of attending a bad party, you know that stocking a bar is a little more complicated than it seems. But never fear: I'm from the internet, and I'm here to help. You can stock a full bar for about $100, and since you can pick up pieces here and there over a couple of weeks, it makes for a perfect offseason project.

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Now that the 2012 football schedule has been released -- be sure to read Kyle's initial thoughts and further analysis, if you haven't already -- and vineyarddawg has put some Dawgs on notice for the Outback Bowl, there's not much football news out there right now... except for the 923,234,542 bowl games to be played in the next two weeks.

In my first set of bowl picks, I went 2-3 against the spread. Ludakit managed to go 3-2 against the spread in his picks. I mention these records to underscore why this feature has its name. I'm not even the best football forecaster on this site, so when I predict the outcome of a football game, Don't Bet On It!

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I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays so far. We are now in the in the thick of the bowl season, and, more importantly, we are officially in the slowest work week of the year for everyone outside of retail. It's the perfect time of year to catch up on emails, clean out your desk, and sneak out of work early to watch sparsely attended match-ups between 7-5 teams whose mascots you can't remember.

I'll precede our usual disclaimer with a little disclosure: I prepared this set of picks while on a flight to New Orleans. The free wifi ran out before the free drinks did, so these forecasts may be a little more uneven than usual. Given my shoddy track record and this additional datum, I urge you to follow this sound advice: Don't Bet On It!

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Bowl season is nearly upon us! This is truly my favorite time of year. Say what you will about the relative merits of a playoff vis-à-vis crowning a national champion. I will never support a system that jeopardizes even one of the thirty-five (THIRTY-FIVE!!!) bowl games we get to enjoy over the next three weeks. Think about it: even a thirty-two team playoff wouldn’t provide the sheer quantity of football that we see under the current system. For the true college football junkie, this is the last big bender we get before we’re reduced to scraping up the resin of recruiting and scrounging up the shake of spring practice. This is it, my friends. Enjoy every minute of it.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be predicting the outcome of each of the season’s bowl games. We always warn you not to wager any real money on our picks, and with good reason: my 2-4 record over championship weekend brought my ledger for the season down to 17-18-1 against the spread. Accordingly, I don’t offer these football forecasts for any purpose other than to give you some semi-plausible excuse for why watching the SummersEve.com bowl is more important than helping out with the dishes at your fourth-cousin-in-law’s party. Will anyone buy it? Don’t Bet On It!

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We've already looked at the National Games of Interest, which, honestly, was pretty difficult list to compile this week. I don't know about you, but I'm a little preoccupied by the Dawgs' SEC title tilt in Atlanta. Nevertheless, although none of the other games this weekend have much appeal to the Bulldog nation, most of them at least have some national or local appeal. But not all of them. There's one game that I'm pretty sure not even the fans of one of the participants will be watching. That game is this week's National Game of Disinterest, and it is...

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Did y'all know that football games are being played this weekend? No, really. I thought that we were just crowning LSU national champions on Saturday, too, but it turns out that there are actually a couple of games left on the schedule. Heck, some of them might even be pretty good.

That means that it's time to predict the outcome of some of these football games. Last week, I went a respectable 5-2 against the spread in the SEC, bringing my conference ledger to 10-5-1. My national picks, however, were not so respectable, as I went 1-3 against the spread, bringing that mark to 5-9. If math isn't your strong suit, that means that my overall record against the spread is 15-14-1. Is this the week that I finally get my act together with national games and bring my overall tally in line with my SEC picks? Don't Bet On It!

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Despite the loss of our legendary voice earlier this week, the Bulldog nation has a lot to be thankful for this year. After an 0-2, the Red and Black have reeled off nine straight wins. We beat Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee in the same season for the first time since 1982. Mark Richt has secured the fourth Eastern division title of his career. Hopefully, you're also thankful for heeding our advice not to wager on any of my college football predictions. I once again went 2-3 in my national picks last week, bringing my ledger for the season to 4-6. Are my picks this week going to improve that mark? Don't Bet On It!

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Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! By now you should be done dealing with traffic and be about ready give thanks for all of the good things in your life by over-indulging on turkey, stuffing, and football. Last week I went 2-1 against the spread, bringing my ledger for the season to 5-3-1. It may seem that I know a little something about college football, but, in all likelihood, I'm just due for a serious regression to the mean. With a full slate of seven SEC contests to pick this week, there's plenty of room for error. While I hope you enjoy these weekly picks, I also hope you take our customary advice with respect to each and Don't Bet On It!

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Now that we have gone around the Southeastern Conference and the nation picking this week's games of interest against the spread, it's time to identify this week's National Game of Disinterest. I generated a little controversy with last week's pick(s), so let me clarify: the National Game of Interest isn't necessarily the game played by the worst teams. (Indeed, we pick Ole Miss's and Kentucky's games every week as part of our SEC slate.) Rather, this is the game about which even the most rabid college football fanatic will struggle to care unless his team just happens to be a participant. This week, I'm sure we can all agree that we don't care about...

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I warned you last week that my national picks were going to be based on internet research and pure conjecture. Unsurprisingly, I posted a 2-3 record against the spread. This brings my overall ledger for both conference and national picks to 5-5-1. Yikes. This week, work has intervened, and I don't even have time for much last-minute internet research. Will gut instinct combined with nascent knowledge outperform informed opinions? Don't Bet On It!

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Last week I warned you that I had never correctly picked a game against the spread in print. That has all changed now, as I correctly predicted the outcomes of three of last week's SEC contests! Unfortunately, I picked six games. With one push due to Mississippi State inexplicably scoring a touchdown against Alabama in garbage time, my official SEC ledger now stands at 3-2-1.

Though there are seven contests involving SEC squads this week, Vegas has not seen fit to assign point spreads to four of them. With only three games to pick against the spread, the odds of my record improving are not good. Accordingly, I urge you to treat each of these picks like the wiseguys treated each of the majority of this week's outings: Don't Bet On It!

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We have now gone around the SEC and the nation forecasting the outcomes of the most interesting games of the week. Now it is time to identify the game that is so inconsequential that its outcome warrants not even a moment's consideration. This week's National Game of Disinterest is (drumroll, please)...

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Kyle was too intensely disinterested to pick any national games of interest last week, so his non-SEC ledger still stands at 25-13. He's too much of a hater to give you any forecasts this week, so you're stuck with me. You may have already seen my SEC selections. If so, you know I have no idea what I'm talking about. And I actually watch most of the SEC games. With national games you're getting abject conjecture and enough last-minute, internet-based research to make a high school senior blush. You've been fairly warned, but my legal training won't let me continue without removing any and all doubt about what you should(n't) do with each of these pigskin prognostications: Don't Bet On It!

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Last week, Kyle posted a respectable 3-2 record in his SEC predictions, bringing his mark for the fall to 46-12. (If you don't think that 3-2 is respectable for last week, bear in mind that his two errors were in games that resulted in tears for some and whole-sale regime change for others.)

Fortunately for the Bulldog Nation, Kyle is hating Auburn full-time this week. Unfortunately for fans of accurate prognostication, that leaves you with me as the resident Dawg Sports football fortune teller. Full Disclosure: I have literally never posted an accurate sports prediction on these internets. To make matters worse, I'm going to up the difficulty by picking these games against the spread. Under the circumstances, Kyle's customary disclaimer should probably go without saying, but I'll repeat it to avoid any doubts: Don't Bet On it!

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