Ratledge earned SEC Co-Offensive Lineman of the Week, which is unbelievable considering he’s currently managing pain from the tightrope surgery from a high ankle sprain. Regardless of the injury, he played all 76 snaps of offense. He had a 77.5 pass-blocking grade, according to PFF (subscription needed), and he was part of a line that didn’t allow Carson Beck to get sacked once against a fierce Tennessee pass rush.
“It’s probably the first game that we haven’t subbed an offensive lineman the whole time,” Kirby Smart mentioned about Ratledge, “And we were concerned about that because we didn’t know how Tate would hold up. And that game meant a lot to Tate. Tate grew up in a Tennessee family and a dad that was a Tennessee fan. That game’s a lot of pride to him. And I thought his energy and toughness really showed. And just a week ago, he dinged it and couldn’t go. And he went out there tonight and really played physical, played tough.”
Thorson won SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week. The Australian native averaged 44.2 yards per punt, with a 53-yard boot and two punts inside the Tennessee 20-yard line. He also had a touchdown-saving tackle in the first half.
Thorson gave a presentation to the team after his tackle.
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This year, Thorson has averaged 46.3 yards a punt, which is ranked tenth in the country. He also ranks fifth in the country on net punt average, with 43.5 net yards per punt.
Three Georgia Bulldogs are projected to go in the top half of the first-round in a recent CBS NFL mock draft.
CBS writer Ryan Wilson recently released his newest 2025 NFL mock draft. Wilson projects that three Georgia Bulldogs will go in the top half of the first round of his mock draft.
All three of Wilson’s projected first-round picks from Georgia play defense. The Bulldogs are among the best defenses in the country, but still have room for improvement.
Jalon Walker, Miami Dolphins, 12th overall
Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images
Jalon Walker has shown insane versatility, lining up as both an off-ball linebacker and as an edge rusher. He’s a fast player that is great at block shedding, both in pass-rushing and run defense. He’s already drawn praise from NFL legends, such as Micah Parsons, who he’s received comparisons to. Walker would be an impact player for the Dolphins defense that sorely needs one in the front seven.
Mykel Williams, 14th overall, Chicago Bears
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Mykel Williams is a little further down from draft mocks earlier in the year. He was considered a contender for the No. 1 overall pick in September. However, he is still a one-of-one talent when he’s healthy.
Williams’ incredibly good against the run, showing elite upper-body strength and technique that helps him bulldoze offensive tackles. The Bears could use offensive lineman, but they could also use a second edge rusher to pair with Montez Sweat.
Malaki Starks, 16th overall, Seattle Seahawks
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Starks would fit perfectly in former Georgia assistant Mike McDonald’s system. Starks is a safety with excellent range. He is super effective at reading running gaps and is one of the best tacklers on Georgia’s defense. That could make a Seattle defense that is already 12th in tackling grade, according to PFF, even better.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” will host from a Big Ten campus for the fifth time this season
ESPN’s “College GameDay” has announced that it will attend the Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio State Buckeyes game in Week 13 of the 2024 college football season.
Indiana’s road trip to face Ohio State has some serious College Football Playoff and Big Ten championship implications. Indiana enters Saturday undefeated and ranked No. 5 in the playoff rankings. Ohio State is 9-1 and ranked No. 2 behind Oregon.
No school has hosted GameDay more than Ohio State. The Buckeyes have hosted the premier college football pregame show 23 times.
GameDay has already attended one Indiana and one Ohio State game this season. The GameDay crew went to the Indiana-Washington game on Oct. 26 and the Ohio State-Oregon game on Oct. 12, so they are familiar with both teams.
This will be GameDay’s fifth time on a Big Ten campus this season. Only the SEC (seven) has hosted GameDay more. GameDay has not gone to a Big 12 campus all season and it has only attended one ACC game.
Other top Week 13 games include Ole Miss at Florida, Penn State at Minnesota, BYU at Arizona State, and Army at Notre Dame. Georgia plays against UMass in a Saturday schedule that does feature some lackluster games across the SEC.
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GameDay will begin coverage at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday. Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Pat McAfee serve as college football analysts for GameDay.
Georgia football fans, coaches and members of the media are thrilled after the nation’s fourth-best edge rusher committed to UGA
The Georgia Bulldogs have landed a commitment from four-star edge rusher Chase Linton, who is a member of the class of 2025. Linton committed to Georgia over Georgia Tech, Illinois and Rutgers.
Linton trolled Georgia Tech and Rutgers during his commitment. He initially put on a Rutgers hat. Then he changed into a Georgia Tech shirt and put on a Georgia Tech hat, but said it felt a little bit too tight. He went on to commit to Georgia moments later in a very memorable commitment.
This is not Linton’s first commitment. Linton decommitted from Rutgers in August.
Linton is listed at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, and plays high school football at North Atlanta High in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the fourth-ranked edge rusher nationally and the No. 7 ranked player in Georgia. Linton is the No. 45 recruit in the country and is not far from being ranked as a five-star recruit, per 247Sports.
“This committee is not serious,” said ESPN college football expert Paul Finebaum.
ESPN college football expert Paul Finebaum does not like where the College Football Playoff selection committee has ranked the Georgia Bulldogs.
Finebaum thinks that Georgia has the biggest right to be angry following the most recent playoff rankings. Georgia has the nation’s best strength of schedule and has gone 3-2 against top 20 teams in the committee’s own rankings. Georgia faced four of these five teams away from home.
“(In the playoff rankings) You saw Georgia’s opponents all over the place including, Texas, the No. 3 team in the country,” said Finebaum. “When you look at everyone else, Indiana doesn’t have a ranked team. They’ll get one this weekend. Penn State has lost to one.”
Yes, Georgia has two losses, but the Bulldogs have played a lot of great teams.
Finebaum went on to criticize the selection committee. “This committee is not serious. There are football coaches on this committee and there is no way those football coaches can tell me or anyone else with a straight face that they really think Indiana, Penn State, Miami, schools like that are better than Georgia. It is not possible,” Finebaum said.
We have to agree with Finebaum. Georgia would probably blowout this trio of teams with the exception of Penn State. However, we can’t envision Penn State scoring much against Georgia. In fact, none of Indiana, Miami or Penn State have scored an offensive touchdown against a team in the committee’s top 20 rankings team all season.
Top edge rusher recruit pledges to Georgia, trolls Georgia Tech with his commitment
The Georgia Bulldogs are the new home for four-star edge rusher Chase Linton, who is a member of the class of 2025.
The talented edge rusher picked the Bulldogs over Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU and Rutgers. During his commitment, Linton put on a Georgia Tech shirt and hat, but he said it felt too tight and then committed to UGA.
Linton is listed at 6 feet, 4 inches and 215 pounds. He plays football at North Atlanta High in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the fourth-ranked edge rusher nationally and the seventh-ranked player in Georgia, per 247Sports. Linton is the No. 45 recruit in the country, so he is not far from being a five-star recruit.
The Bulldogs offered Linton on July 28 and were favored to land a commitment from the four-star pass rusher since his decommitment from Rutgers in August.
Coach Kirby Smart and UGA hold the nation’s top ranked recruiting class. Georgia has 26 commitments in the class of 2025 recruiting cycle. The Bulldogs are now ahead the Ohio State Buckeyes and Alabama Crimson Tide.
Flip targets for Georgia football in the 2025 recruiting class
Early signing day is two weeks away and Georgia has been ramping up their recruiting for their 2025 class. After the flip of former Florida State wide receiver CJ Wiley committing to Georgia earlier this month, the Bulldogs are nowhere near done. Georgia is coming off a huge 31-17 win against No. 12 Tennessee there is a lot of momentum for UGA on the recruiting trail.
Who are Georgia football’s top flip targets in the class of 2025?
Donovan Starr
Four-star cornerback Donovan Starr was in attendance for the Tennessee game this past weekend. The Bulldogs extended an offer late last month.
The Auburn commit is drawing interest from other programs and has recently taken official visits to Alabama and Vanderbilt. The Tennessee game was Starr’s first in-depth experience of a game day at Georgia. Expect the Bulldogs to stay continue recruiting Starr to add to their second-best recruiting class in the nation (UGA is ranked behind Ohio State according to On3).
DJ Pickett
Pickett is the big fish that could turn a lot of heads in the national media. The five-star cornerback is committed to the LSU Tigers and visited UGA for the Tennessee game.
Pickett, who is 6-foot-4, possesses rare size at corner. Oregon, LSU, and Miami are all competing in the number one cornerback sweepstakes as well with Georgia. If Pickett signs with Georgia, then it would be the second year in a row where the No. 1 corner committed to UGA.
Tavion Wallace
Georgia may want add another difference-maker at linebacker and the in-state four-star prospect and Arkansas recruit Tavion Wallace fits the bill. Wallace has been to Athens three times including his official visit which happened in July.
With Wallace being a frequent visitor, there is some real momentum coming from Georgia to lure Wallace away from Arkansas.
KaMario Taylor
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The Georgia Bulldogs have offered a scholarship to quarterback recruit KaMario Taylor, who is a four-star prospect ranked across all recruiting services. Taylor is from Noxubee County in Macon, Mississippi, has been committed to Mississippi State since Oct. 2023.
Georgia has been looking to add talent in the quarterback room with Carson Beck likely leaving after this season. Taylor is a dual-threat quarterback that possesses mobility that has not been in the quarterback room since Justin Fields.
Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele
Sagapolutele is another quarterback prospect that Georgia wants to come into the room and compete. The Bulldogs recently offered a scholarship in October to four-star California Bears quarterback commitment Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele.
Sagapolutele is a recent riser in the On3 rankings to five-star status. He is scheduled to come to the UMass game this Saturday. Although he is committed to Cal, Oregon and Georgia are emerging as strong contenders to persuade Sagapolutele to come on their campuses this winter as.an early enrollee.
Four-star recruit, who is the nation’s No. 8 ranked running back, is considering Georgia football
Georgia’s 31-17 win against Tennessee was not only big for the Bulldogs’ position in SEC standings and in the rankings for the College Football Playoff.
It was also a major recruiting day for the Bulldogs with the early signing period less than two weeks away. There are some recruiting battles in which the Bulldogs have a real chance to flip elite recruits.
Montgomery (Alabama) Carver four-star running back Anthony Rogers had been committed to the Alabama Crimson Tide for almost a year and a half before backing off the pledge on Sunday.
Rogers was in attendance during Georgia’s energetic win over Tennessee. Rogers is deciding between Georgia and Ohio State after decommitting from Alabama.
Rogers is the No. 8 running back in the nation and the No. 147 recruit, per 247Sports.
Ohio State is looking like the leader with the Bulldogs right behind. Rogers left Athens with more hard thinking to do after Georgia’s excellent atmosphere against Tennessee. Rogers plans to decide on Dec. 4.
Every team ranked ahead of Georgia has a worse strength of schedule and a worse strength of record (with the exception of Oregon)
If the season ended today, the Georgia Bulldogs would be the No. 11 seed in the College Football Playoff bracket. Georgia would have to go on the road to play the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions in the first round of the playoff.
The Bulldogs might need some help to get a first-round bye. Georgia is done with SEC play, so the Dawgs must watch how other teams perform over the next couple of weeks to learn their SEC championship fate. Of course, Georgia will have to beat Georgia Tech to make the playoff unless the Bulldogs win the SEC championship.
The selection committee is disrespecting Georgia. The committee ranks Georgia lower than both the AP Poll and the US LBM Coaches Poll. The committee appears to favor win-loss record over everything else including strength of schedule, ranked wins and strength of record.
How many teams ranked ahead of Georgia would have been able to go 8-2 with Georgia’s schedule? Not very many in our estimation. Only the Oregon Ducks have a better strength of record than Georgia. The Bulldogs have the toughest strength of schedule in the country.
All strength of schedule and strength of record metrics are according to ESPN.
No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs
Brett Patzke-Imagn Images
Record: 8-2
Strength of schedule: No. 1
Strength of record: No. 2
Ranked wins: No. 3 Texas, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 17 Clemson (Note: all ranked wins are based on the playoff rankings and not the playoff seeding)
Losses: No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 7 Alabama
No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels
Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Record: 8-2
Strength of schedule: No. 29
Strength of record: No. 12
Ranked wins: No. 10 Georgia, No. 18 South Carolina
The Georgia Bulldogs host the UMass Minutemen at 12:45 p.m. ET. Where can you watch the game?
The No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs play the UMass Minutemen at 12:45 p.m. ET on Saturday in Athens, Georgia. The Georgia-UMass game will be televised on SEC Network.
The television commentators for the Georgia-UMass game are Dave Neal, Max Starks, Ashley ShahAhmadi.
Georgia is 8-2 (6-2 SEC) and is coming off a huge win over Tennessee.
UMass is 2-8 lost in overtime to Liberty, 35-34, last week. After the loss, UMass fired head coach Don Brown. The Minutemen will have Shane Montgomery serve as their interim head coach.
“Heard the unfortunate news about (recently fired UMass head coach) Don Brown just recently, and I know Shane (Montgomery, interim head coach) from the past and recruited together on the road and been around Shane before. He’s a tremendous coach, and we look forward to preparing for this game,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Montgomery’s firing.
UMass is without starting quarterback Taisun Phommachanh. In his place, quarterback AJ Hairston played well in the Minutemen’s overtime loss to Liberty.
Georgia is favored by over 40 points against UMass. The Bulldogs finally have an easy game after finishing their SEC schedule. Georgia has won 29 straight games at Sanford Stadium.
