Every year, I say I'm going to post more art here. This counts.

That's the Georgia Southern mascot Gus and the UGA mascot Uga drawn for a nursery wall. As I understand it, one wall of the nursery will be painted to look like a football field. Isn't it good to know that some babies are still raised with the right values?

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On 4th and 18, with Auburn on their own 27-yard line, with only 35 seconds remaining in the game, with Georgia having scored just 21 unanswered points to lead by 1, this happened:

The entire 2013 UGA football season represented in one play. It's a good thing Larry Munson is already dead.

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Mom and I traveled to Nashville to see UGA play Vanderbilt. Instead of a football game, we saw an epic tragedy. It was cold and rainy at kickoff, and the sun didn't come out in Nashville until it had set on the Bulldog's SEC Championship chances.

I could talk about the terrible targeting call that turned a failed Vandy fourth down conversion into a first down that finally broke the spirit of our staggering team. (Replay can overturn the ejection, but not the bad call itself? Who thought that was a good rule?) Or I could talk about the inability of our coaches to improve the failures that have defined them this season (Richt's special teams muffed a punt and a snap, Grantham's defense surrendered 31 points, Bobo's offense managed only a field goal in the second half, Tereshinki's conditioning resulted in a 6th player with a knee injury.) Or I could talk about Arron Murray failing to put it together with the pressure on again.

But what it all comes down to is the fact that Georgia lost 31-27, and is now all but mathematically eliminated from SEC contention. What was such a promising season is now wasted.

Heartbreaking. There is no other word.

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There's not a lot of good things I can say about this game other than it's over. Not unexpected, but still very disappointing.

Our injuries on offense caught up with us. So far this season, we have lost the #1 and #2 tailbacks and the #1, #2, and #3 wide receivers on our depth chart from the start of the season, all to knee injuries.

It really didn't help that our defense played true to form, giving up 41 points. So far this season, UGA's defense has surrendered an average of 34 points per game. That is terrible by any standard, but is recipe for disaster in the SEC.

All that proved too much to overcome against undefeated Missouri, which remains undefeated after beating us 41-26 (in their very first trip ever to Athens, GA). I like to say "the exodus has begun" when the crowd starts to leave Sanford Stadium in bulk each week. I suspect after the injuries and continued porous defense, the exodus may have begun on the season.

Congratulations, Coach Bobo, you're no longer the worst coach on the team. That honor currently belongs to the four Strength and Conditioning coaches (Joe Tereshinski, John Thomas, Sherman Armstrong, and Justin Lovett), all now worse than you are. Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham's mess on defense for 2 straight seasons is putting him in the doghouse, too. But don't think the failure of so many other coaches lets you off the hook, Bobo. Your offense wasn't spectacular this week, either. Missouri seemed to have a good idea how to slow down your offense. I'll say it one more time: if everyone in the stands can predict the next play, so can the coaches on the other teams. You don't have the talent left to bail out your predictable play calls.

No more home games until after we play Florida in November. Here's hoping that UGA can right the ship next week against Vanderbilt in Nashville before our chances at an SEC Championship appearance evaporate completely.

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Sorry, no post yesterday, but I have an excuse.

See, I was going to go to the UGA game versus Florida Atlantic University with Trey. However, I simply couldn't make myself care about spending 5 hours in a car (not to mention the $40 in gas and $20 for parking) to witness the Bulldogs beat a 43-point underdog. The only draw for the game was the ceremony to officially declare Russ, the UGA fill-in mascot for the past 3 years, as the official UGA IX. I'm not really big on ceremonies, so at the last minute, we decided not go.

Our plan was instead to sit around the house with Mom and watch the Florida/Tennessee game on one tv and stream the GA/FAU game on the computer. It sounded like a good plan. Unfortunately, the football gods frowned on my passing up stadium seats for the couch, and the cable went out. Since we have a cable modem, we couldn't watch football on television or the web. What a disappointment.

I don't think I'd do anything differently in repeat circumstances. Georgia went on to win 56 to 20 without my participation, I still have those 60 dollars in my bank account, and I'll definitely be back in Sanford Stadium next week when an actual SEC team finally comes to town. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned in this experience, but I guess like any good bulldog, I'm too stubborn to learn it.

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What a difference a week makes. Last week Sanford Stadium was abuzz with nervous anticipation as SEC rival South Carolina roared into town in their current bid for national dominance. This week felt more like a relaxed church reunion as Coastal Carolina limped in to take their whipping from a far superior Georgia team.

See that? That's what Sanford Stadium looks like in the 4th quarter of a 59-0 football game. Even the students had long gone home.

Georgia normally opens the season against a weak opponent to try to pick up steam for the coming season. Because of our participation in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (Pre-Season Edition), we don't get our first gimmie game until today. And boy, was it a gimmie. Coastal Carolina found no way to compete with Georgia, outmatched on offense and defense. Even their mascot seemed deferential and outclassed, spending most of the game looking but unable to spot any of the few Coastal Carolina fans in attendance.

I mean no disrespect to the Chanticleers. Their slaughter was simply a necessary sacrifice to the football gods to restore Georgia's honor after two consecutive losses to open the season. And the Bulldogs made the most of the situation, playing hard enough that even Russ, the curmudgeonly substitute-Uga, came out of his dog house to see what all the fuss was about. Briefly.

No point to get too excited. After all, in 4 previous games against Division I-A schools in the past decade, the Chanticleers had lost by a combined 164-13. Now make that 223-13. Go back to sleep, Russ. There's nothing to see here.

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I welcomed football season with a trip to Eastman, Georgia, to watch the football team of the school at which my brother teaches. They weren't very good, and I say that generously.

The Dodge County High School Indians lost to the Lucy C. Laney High School Wildcats, 26-13. I had a very enjoyable time, despite the behavior of the children in attendance who insisted on running up and down the metal bleachers in their flip flops. It was surprisingly loud for a high school football game. Fans attending a UGA game would have been proud of the support shown by the home team.

Quite by accident on the way out of town after the game, I discovered a memorial to Mr. Angel, the first recognized Bulldog mascot of the University of Georgia. The monument was dated 2008, and a bit of research after the fact revealed that it was built only after the dog was snubbed by an official UGA mascot list snubbed the poor fellow in 2006. It's a pretty cool monument for a dog with such a silly name.

The next day, the Bulldog's current mascot, Russ, wisely chose to hide in his doghouse and not to show his face in Georgia's latest loss. The University of South Carolina came to town and quite simply outplayed UGA on the way to a 45-42 victory. At least the Georgia coaches aren't directly to blame for the loss. Bobo's play-calling was generally far better than usual, and the team appeared ready to play, if unable to find an answer for the superior talent of USC's Marcus Lattimore.

Walking into the game, Trey and I had a conversation with a pair of South Carolina fans who claimed to be attending their first game in Athens. They were extremely concerned about potential maltreatment by the UGA fans, who they claim have an especially bad reputation in South Carolina and throughout the SEC. I've always felt that UGA fans are unusually gracious when compared to those found in some other stadiums. But later during the game, two drunk, obnoxious Georgia fans managed to offend nearly a dozen other UGA fans sitting nearby. If we can't stand our own fans, I can't imagine that we are engendering much love outside our home field.

As you can [no longer] see in the Flash file above showcasing nightfall in Athens, the field markings and stadium scoreboard have been redesigned for 2011. It's not an improvement, but it's better than the uniforms worn last week. If nothing else, the Georgia "G" needs to be returned to the goal line where it belongs. Georgia needs all the help they can get finding it.

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We came to Athens for the crowning of a new king, and we stayed for something that vaguely resembled football.

Vanderbilt perfectly played the role of the walkover Homecoming guest, allowing Georgia to hang 43 unanswered points on them in the completely one-sided rout. Unlike Tennessee last week, which was reeling from a crushing loss at LSU, Vanderbilt was just plain bad: outplayed in all phases of the game. If you didn't know better, you'd think that Georgia was actually good. (But we know better: Georgia blew through all of their first half timeouts in the first 5:16 of the 1st quarter. The crowd held it's breath, relaxing only once it became clear that Vandy hadn't really come to play.)

But no one seemed too disappointed that the game wasn't competitive. Most of the crowd, my mother included, had come to the stadium solely to see the coronation collaring ceremony for Uga VIII (nee Big Bad Bruce). Uga VIII, less than a year old, seemed a little understandably overwhelmed by the crowd, cameras, and noise. Russ, however, seemed relieved to be free of the burden of having to watch the Dawgs play any more football.

Earlier in the week, Athletic Director Greg McGarity said that Uga represents "everything we want our student-athletes and fans to be: proud, loyal, tenacious, and relentless." I can't speak for any bulldogs, but I for one am proud to recognize that three of those words are nearly synonyms for stubborn.

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Going into today's game, Tennessee and Georgia were tied for worst in the SEC East. Fortunately for UGA, Tennessee seemed shell-shocked after their denied defeat of LSU last week. (Tennessee thought that they had won that game only to surrender the game to LSU on an Illegal Participation penalty.) Things did not go significantly better for Tennessee this week against a UGA team desperate for a win.

Even the normally affable, temporary Uga-substitute mascot Russ turned his back on the distraught Tennessee mascots (both Smokeys and their Davy Crockett-inspired "volunteer" flag-bearer) late in the 41-14 Georgia rout.

The normally rambunctious Volunteer fans were unusually subdued during the debacle. I'm not going to lie; that was very satisfying. But the best part was that the UT band only played "Rocky Top" 7 times during the game, establishing what must be a new all-time low.

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While I'm on the subject of catalogs, do you notice anything odd about the cover to this catalog I received in the mail last week?

No? Maybe it's kind of hard at that resolution. Here, let me help; I've got an eye for this sort of thing. How about this?

Gee, whiz! What happened to that poor dog's toes? Look, I know that Uga VII is dead, so you can't get any new photographs of him. But there isn't exactly a shortage of images of him sitting on grass. Especially since this image is a photoshopped from a picture of... Uga VII sitting on grass.

These images are all the intellectual property of long-time Athens photographer Danny White. According to UGA, Mr. White has been the "official Uga portrait photographer since 1973." And so far as I can tell, he's taken some pretty darn good pictures of some damn good dogs. On first glance, you might think that this is one of them. Seems like someone disagrees with you, though.

Granted, there are a few unsightly wrinkles in Uga's custom Nike jersey. And his right eye is looking a little lazy. And he's got some grass hanging out of his mouth. But none of that explains why someone 'shopped in some li'l doggy toes!

Don't just take my word for it, see for yourself here against the original:

Mouse over/off this swf to control your own seizure.

If you really like this image -- the photoshopped one, not the original -- you can pick up your own copy as a handy refrigerator magnet available at www.ugaredzone.com. (For reasons unexplained, the magnet image is slightly different than either of the other two!) However, be warned: you'd better be prepared to explain to your observant guests why you have a picture of a dog with fake feet.

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