Ten things for your Sunday

As we kick off Georgia-Georgia Tech week, some news, notes and thoughts, football and otherwise:

1. Georgia has opened as a 15-point favorite over Georgia Tech, according to Vegasinsider.com. If that seems too heavy a spread, consider that a) the Yellow Jackets are without their best offensive weapon, b) are coming off a 10-point home win over woeful Duke.

2. Monday remains a key practice day as far as Aaron Murray’s ability to go this week, head coach Mark Richt reiterated on Sunday evening. Richt said he hadn’t seen Murray since Thursday, so there wasn't anything new as far as how he's dealing with his injuries.

If Murray, battling a bruised sternum and knee, can practice fully on Monday or Tuesday, then all should be well as far as the Georgia Tech game. If not, then every day will be worth watching as the week goes on.

It’s still hard to foresee Murray not being able to start, but you never know.

3. Richt said he was in “100 percent agreement” with the decision to schedule Boise State as next year’s season opener. And in doing so, he slightly betrayed his earlier vow not to say anything more about where a certain other game is played annually.

“Basically it’s a game that everybody in the country is gonna watch and have a high level of interest in. So I think it’s important for our program,” Richt said. “If you’re gonna play at a neutral site, it’s nice to play at one that’s in your state.”

4. Georgia (5-6) needs to win Saturday in order to be bowl-eligible, at least under the current rules. (There’s still a chance there won’t be 70 teams with six wins.) But Richt downplayed attaining bowl eligibility as a motivating factor for this game.

“It’s most important because we’re playing Georgia Tech,” he said. “I really mean that. That’s the most important part of this game.”

5. Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss’ loss at LSU, means that two SEC teams are eliminated from bowl eligibility, while Tennessee will have to beat Kentucky on Saturday, and Georgia will have to beat Georgia Tech.

So the possibility still exists that the SEC will have too many teams, or too few, for its nine bowl slots. Should two teams get into the BCS, then the SEC will have 10 slots to fill. If not, there are nine slots, with Georgia and Tennessee’s status to be determined.

I still think Georgia is going to either the Liberty or Music City Bowls, but it depends on how things play out the final two weekends.

6. You may have missed it Saturday night, but the Georgia men’s basketball team got an important win. Jeremy Price’s tip-in at the buzzer lifted the Bulldogs to a comeback victory, which has to be a big confidence boost, considering the team’s road woes last year. (Head coach Mark Fox now owns a road win as Bulldogs’ coach.)

Saint Louis may not be good, but without Trey Thompkins, the victory becomes a very, very good one for Georgia.

7. We should find out early this week whether Thompkins’ high ankle sprain is healed enough to play in next week’s Old Spice Classic. Those could end up being three pivotal games for the Bulldogs when it comes to their NCAA tournament resume’.

8. In NFL news, former Bulldog Richard Seymour was ejected from today’s Oakland-Pittsburgh game. Seymour slapped Ben Roethlisberger on the helmet. Insert your own Milledgeville comment here.

9. They put the Christmas decorations up in downtown Athens. That stuff is nice, but I’m not sure I’m ready for all the music, egg nog and bell-ringers outside Kroger.

It’s not a Bah Humbug thing – I usually love the holiday season. It just seems like they’re pushing it earlier and earlier every year, sort of like how the bowl season keeps growing, the baseball postseason stretches into November, the Super Bowl is in February … it’s just all too much. Everything in its place, people.

10. They’ve remade “True Grit.” Normally my response would be: “Why?”

But considering the cast – Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin – and the directors – the Coen brothers – color me intrigued.