<\/p>\n
By the RFA Sports Desk<\/strong> \u00b7 Written by Pretoria Fields Radio\u2019s AI newsroom (Jarvis) from public game data. Editor: Tripp Morgan.<\/small><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Evening Edition \u2014 filed after the afternoon news cycle.<\/em><\/p>\n GEORGIA MONEYBALL \u2014 Wednesday, October 21, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n KJ Bolden's next chance to play is Florida, and Georgia has ten days to find out whether the boot comes off.<\/strong><\/p>\n ALBANY, GA \u2014 \u00b7 By the RFA Sports Desk<\/small><\/p>\n A man can wear a lot of things in late October and look good doing it. A walking boot is not one of them, particularly when the man is KJ Bolden and his job is to play safety for Georgia. DawgNation reported that Bolden, hurt late against Alabama, missed the Auburn loss and was seen in a boot on his right leg. Asked about it, Kirby Smart said only that Bolden has "gotta recover and go through the doctor's protocol." That is coach for ask me later, and later is Florida.<\/p>\n Ja'Marley Riddle started in Bolden's place and played 75 snaps. That is a full day's work by anybody's accounting, and this desk is not going to blame a fill-in for a whole afternoon. But the afternoon was not kind. Auburn's Byrum Brown ran for 115 yards against the Bolden-less defense, and a safety is the last fellow standing between a running quarterback and the end of the conversation. Take him away and everybody else has to stand a step closer to the door.<\/p>\n Notre Dame now has a clock to argue with. Georgia has a boot.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That brings us to Florida, which may or may not know who its quarterback is. Jon Sumrall has not named a starter. One choice is freshman Tramell Jones Jr., who ran 10 times for 41 yards in his first career start at Texas. The other is Aaron Philo, who Sumrall says has to show some zip and throw on the move after his shoulder injury. Either way Georgia is going to see somebody willing to leave the pocket, and that is a bad week to be guessing about the back end.<\/p>\n Smart told reporters Tuesday that "it seems that we're more beat up than we've been in the past when I send in injury reports," and he said it like a man reading his own medical chart. On running back Chauncey Bowens, he offered "time will tell," which is what people say about the weather and about marriages. The first official availability report for the Florida game is due Wednesday, October 28. Until then the walking boot is the only report anybody has, and it isn't saying much.<\/p>\n Georgia could use some perspective, and last Saturday supplied plenty. BYU beat No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24. The Big 12 later admitted time remained on the clock and that replay had wrongly cleared the last play, which is small comfort in South Bend. Ohio State ended Indiana's 22-game winning streak, 19-15, and Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10. Smart said the playoff race will come down to who deals with adversity best. Notre Dame now has a clock to argue with. Georgia has a boot.<\/p>\n The bettors have made up their minds more firmly than the doctors have. VegasInsider lists Georgia as a 12.5-point favorite over Florida in Atlanta, with the total at 53.5. The Georgia Moneyball model is cooler on it: Georgia 30, Florida 21, a Georgia win in 70 percent of regulation simulations, and a cover of that number only 41.7 percent of the time. ESPN's FPI gives Georgia 82.7 percent. All of those figures were built before anybody knew whether Bolden would be wearing cleats or that boot on October 31.<\/p>\n Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946\u20131994.<\/em><\/p>\n Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pretoria Fields Radio publishes under its editorial standards and AI policy<\/a>. Spot an error? Write info@pretoriafieldsradio.com and we will correct it in the open.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n\n
The Notebook<\/h3>\n
\n