From the Sports Desk

At 7:00 pm tonight, we will finally get the answer to the question all of America is asking: can the unranked but undefeated Georgia State Panthers (4-0) keep its win streak alive against the 2-2 Trojans of Troy? GSU is a 1-point favorite.

Panther QB Darren Grainger (73-105, 69.5%) will get his 1,000th passing yard of the season today. His 263 rushing yards are second on the team only to running back Marcus Carroll (508 yards). 

James Madison U, who beat Troy by 2 points two weeks ago, play South Alabama today. A James Madison loss today, combined with a GSU Panther win, will give Georgia State sole possession of first place in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference.

The Georgia Bulldogs are playing Auburn University at 3:30 this afternoon, so that should be exciting. After four weeks of home games, this is finally Georgia’s first road trip of the season. The Bulldogs have won back-to-back national championships, are ranked No. 1, have won 21 games in a row, and have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. The unranked Auburn Tigers, also known as the War Eagles for some reason, lost last week to unranked Texas A&M and are 14.5-point underdogs.  

But at least Auburn has fielded some good teams in the past and is in the Southeast Conference.  Today's game is the first of even for Georgia against SEC opponents. Two of those seven teams (Kentucky and Missouri) are currently undefeated and after last week's results, four are in the AP Top 25. Okay, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri are only No. 20 through 23, respectively, but that's still Top 25 and better than the other 110 schools in the FBS.  

Besides, Georgia's playing for a three-peat national championship, not the status of a high mid-season ranking. Championships are determined by making, and more importantly winning, playoff games. Georgia will make the playoffs and will win the next National Championship Belt.

Auburn doesn't stand a chance.

Georgia plays Kentucky next week, and today the Wildcats put their 4-0 win streak on the line against No. 22 Florida (3-1). This game should be interesting to Georgia fans, not only because it’s an SEC game (and naturally just more interesting than any non-conference game), but it should preview what kind of Kentucky team we will be facing next week. If Kentucky wins, we can expect a 5-0 Wildcat team to be nationally ranked and confident, a dangerous combination, and a Georgia victory over Kentucky the next week should count as a “quality win” and go a long way to redeem the reputation of Georgia’s perceived “soft” schedule. If Florida wins, it will suggest that the Gators are indeed back and we will be playing a significantly improved team in Jacksonville on October 28 (Week 9).

So Kentucky-Florida is the most interesting 12:00 noon game today. Clemson plays Syracuse today at noon but no one cares anymore. The only thing interesting at this point about Colorado hosting No. 8 USC is seeing how well the two PAC-12 teams perform at 10:00 am Denver time (noon here in the East). For their sake, I hope they have a Starbucks on the sidelines.

What else? No. 2 Michigan plays Nebraska but no one cares. No. 3 Texas is a 16.5-point favorite over No. 24 Kansas, so that should be boring. No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Florida State are both off this week, but at least we’ll be spared another one of Buckeye Coach Ryan Day’s white-boy-aggrievement “everyone hates Ohio State” speeches.

Georgia versus Auburn is clearly the best game today. It’s the oldest college rivalry in the Deep South, and it’s an SEC game and so should feature higher-caliber performances than in any non-Conference game. And it’s the GEORGIA FREAKING BULLDOGS!!!

After the Georgia game, South Carolina at Tennessee could be worth watching (7:30 pm). Last year, QB Spencer Rattler and the Gamecocks absolutely destroyed a confident Tennessee team that had just pulled off an epic upset over Alabama. No. 21 Tennessee has been pretty suspect this season. Sure, they beat Virginia, but then so did James Madison. They lost to Florida, who lost to Utah, who lost to Oregon State last night. Will the Volunteers get their revenge this week, or will South Carolina prove its continued superiority over Tennessee? Exciting stuff, even if it doesn’t have national playoff implications. For what it's worth, Georgia beat South Carolina two weeks ago and plays Tennessee Nov. 18.

Have fun, y’all and GO DAWGS!