This Week in The SEC

South Carolina just scratched out a tough win in Nashville, by defeating the Commodores 17-13. And tomorrow evening, Double D's Volunteers will suffer the first loss of their season at the hands of (gasp) an ACC squad named NC State. But, there's plenty of football left to be played in the SEC. Florida opens their season with a loss to Bowling Green on Saturday, while Georgia is busy beating up on the Buffalo Bulls in Athens.

Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi will defeat Central Arkansas in Oxford. Also on the schedule, the Bobby Petrino-less Pigs will demolish Jacksonville State in a similar fashion to the trouncing LSU will give North Texas. In a laugher, the Dogs of Mississippi State will easily defeat Jackson State in Starkville. Due to weather issues, newcomer to the SEC, Texas A&M will not play Louisiana Tech this weekend. The game is a rescheduled loss for LA Tech, which will occur later in the season. In Louisville, I've got former Dirty Bird, Ray Buchanan's Cardinals over the Wildcats of Kentucky.

Now, let's discuss the highest profile games of week one in the SEC. Nick Saban's National Champions will derail Denard Robinson's Wolverines in Arlington, Texas by a score of 31-17. Not to be outdone by their in state rivals, the War Eagle Tigers will corral a Clemson offense that is minus Sammy Watkins. First year defensive coordintor, Brian Van Gorder will make an immediate impact on the plains. Auburn wins 24-19.

*For those of you who are new to the site, I ain't crazy. But I do enjoy celebrating the RS Sports tradition of picking Florida to lose their season opener, regardless of whom those Gators are playing. It is personal. Ha ha. Go Dawgs!!!

Note: I forgot to mention the Missouri Tigers. But, there won't be anything exciting about their lopsided victory over Southeast Louisiana.

South Carolina at Vanderbilt

Currently watching South Carolina vs Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks are leading 10-7 in the second quarter after a 78 yard six-strike from Jordan Rodgers to Jordan Matthews. It's good to see the 'Dores suddenly come to life. The Dawg in me is pulling for an upset.

Thomas Brown

As football fans, we all have our favorite players. One of mine was a 5'8" scatback from Tucker named Thomas Brown. During his UGA career, number 20 ran for 2,646 yards and 23 touchdowns. But, some of his greatest plays went unnoticed by statisticians.

In 2007, Knowshon Moreno burst onto the scene, rushing for 1,334 yards and 13 scores. But, one of my favorite plays transpired with Thomas Brown in the Bulldogs backfield. On a playaction pass with 3:09 left in the first quarter, Brown threw a key block on a blitzing Auburn defender, allowing Matt Stafford to launch a 58 yard six-strike to wide open receiver, Mohamed Massaquoi. The score gave Georgia a 10-3 lead and electrified the sellout crowd at Sanford Stadium on Blackout Saturday.

Bolstered by tremendous efforts from Brown, Moreno, Sean Bailey, and a defense that played with clean, old fashioned junkyard tenacity, the Dawgs finished the drill by defeating Auburn 45-20. The last score of the game was a 1 yard touchdown by Brown with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter.

As a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tucker native led by example in all aspects of his life. Brown was a leader in the classroom, the weight room, and on the field. If you ask Mark Richt about the strongest player, pound for pound in UGA history, I'm sure he'll say, "Thomas did it the right way...as a matter of fact, he did it the Georgia way."