Are your Georgia Bulldogs playing in their fourth consecutive SEC Championship Game, trying to beat a team twice in the same season in defiance of conventional wisdom, and just generally confusing you about what kind of outfit they truly are? Then you could probably use a drink.
I can help you with that.
This Georgia Bulldog team is simply exhausting. Like on a deep, spiritual level. We have seen them dominate this same Texas team on their home field. We have also seen them run over, around, and through by the UMass Minutemen and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, among others.
This Bulldog team has a nasty habit of playing up or down to the level of its competition, a habit that has generally failed to bite them in the rear through this season. But there’s still time. Of particular concern is the fact that the Longhorns have looked better since playing the Red and Black. The Longhorns rushed for a mere 29 yards on 27 carries against the Bulldogs. In the five SEC contests since they’ve averaged 4.65 yards a carry on 203 attempts, an eye-watering 188.7 rushing yards per game. If they come anywhere close to that average on Saturday, we’re toast.
That rushing total was a major reason the Bulldogs outperformed against the Longhorns in their first matchup. But in parsing the statistics and game flow it’s also clear that the Bulldogs benefited the first time around from some short fields and some turnovers, as well as seven sacks (which skewed those rushing numbers a bit). The optimist would say that game in Austin demonstrates that the Bulldog defense has that type of performance in them. The realist would say that those fortuitous events were an aberration that hasn’t occurred before or since. And that without them Georgia would not have secured its biggest win of this season.
If the Burnt Orange play their best game, we’re hosed. It’s really that simple. In order for the Athenians to ride back from Atlanta victorious they must play above their average, a thing which they have admittedly done at times this year. But they also need the Longhorns to play less than their best, something they too have done this year. And what’s the beverage of choice for the game in which you need the Burnt Orange Bovines to fall at least a little flat?
A Bum Steer.
It’s a new spin on the Old Fashioned, one of our favorites and a standby in any decent bartender’s repertoire. You’ll need:
* 2 oz Reposado tequila. Reposado means “restful” in Spanish, and reposado tequila “rests” (some would say ages) anywhere from two months to a year before being bottled. Reposados are typically aged in oak barrels and take on a straw to golden hue from the barrels, not unlike how bourbon whiskey takes on coloration from the charred oak barrels in which it is aged (albeit for much longer).
* 1⁄2 oz simple syrup
* a dash of cocktail bitters
* Orange peel for garnish/zest
Use a vegetable peeler to take off two strips of orange peel, avoiding the white pith, and making sure to express some of the citrus oil into an old fashioned glass.
- Add the tequila, simple syrup and bitters.
- Add ice, stir, and enjoy.
Drink responsibly, and…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!