Even though the Florida victory was an absolute A++, the mantra of taking one game at a time must continue to be followed

 

Alright, alright, alright!
 
 
I don’t know about you, but that’s exactly how I feel right now after our Bulldogs absolutely destroyed the Gators in Jacksonville. Boy, what an amazing day for everyone in the Bulldog Nation, which of course led to plenty of celebrating well into the night in places like St. Simons Island. Hopefully, there wasn’t any property destroyed, but I guarantee plenty of cocktails were.
 
 
Last week, I encouraged everyone to “get their savage on” and that’s exactly what happened from the opening whistle. Although the first play was another Rodrigo Blankenship touchback, I noticed that virtually every Bulldog on the kickoff team sprinted, bowed up, all the way to the Gators’ endzone. It was the kind of stern showing of strength that I personally have been begging for in the Georgia-Florida game for decades.
 
 
Our defense flexed their muscles forcing Florida to three straight three and outs and our offense did their part moving the football at will against a Gator defense that dominated them last year.
 
 
The rout was on and it was a thing of beauty that I know every player and fan will cherish for many years to come. Unfortunately, it’s now time to put the frolicking in the rearview mirror as a very solid South Carolina team travels to Athens for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
 
 
Like with last week’s cover, I charged our photographers with capturing a killer photo for me. Would you believe the person that I requested was none other than Sony Michel, who finally got the taste of beating Florida with two long gashing touchdown runs?
 
 
I would love to claim some expert editor skills with wanting Sony on this cover, but really it had more to do with his leadership in everything he does as a Georgia Bulldog. But, hey I’ll take blind luck any ole’ day because #1 certainly showed out on the banks of the St. Johns River.
 
 
However, rather than some glowing headline having to do with looking back at the huge win, our art director, Hannah Groseclose came up with the idea of reminding everyone in the Bulldog Nation the importance of taking “One Game at a Time.”
 
 
Without a doubt, Gamecocks’ head coach Will Muschamp understands that Georgia’s pasting of Florida is a big deal. And you can bet that he hopes that our players and fans still have their heads in the clouds when his garnet and black squad steps on the field in Sanford Stadium.
 
 
In college football, you can never rest on your laurels, which is why the leaders on a team are so important. There’s no doubt in my mind that players like Sony, Nick Chubb, Jeb Blazevich, Lorenzo Carter and Roquan Smith will keep everyone grounded, which means playing one game at a time. Now, I don’t know how much our players or coaches read BI, but I hope they won’t miss Jeff Dantzler’s column on page 8. JD reminds us that South Carolina has had some big victories over Georgia in the last dozen or so games that have been, oh, so costly towards national aspirations.
 
 
Keep the focus, Dawgs!
 
 
And that includes every fan that bleeds red and black. Yes, we have all enjoyed one splendid ride thus far, but we are just now arriving to the final turn of the 2017 regular season. With that being said, I encourage everyone to get to Athens on Friday, enjoy a nice meal and get some rest, so you can be sharp on Saturday. Sanford Stadium needs to be packed at the very least 30 minutes before kickoff.
 
 
Speaking of our fans, I think we set a new record for fan photos from the Georgia-Florida weekend. I assure you Hannah is cussing my name right now having to design 10 pages with 100 plus photos. I hope all our readers enjoy seeing fellow fans from the incredible festivities that continue to make Georgia-Florida so special.
 
 
That will do if for me as we still have plenty of pages to wrap-up in order to put this issue to bed, which will swiftly be followed by me hitting the sack. Whoa, what a fun weekend!
 
 
See everyone on Saturday … I hear Cackalacky Chicken is what’s on the menu … Go Dawgs!!
 
 

 
 
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