Around the Dawg House will bring you daily updates from what people and publications are saying about Georgia, from inside and outside of Athens. 

Rodrigo Blankenship named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week

Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship had another stellar game on Saturday, as he connected on both of his field goal attempts and all 7 of his kickoffs went for touchbacks.

And after the great game, Blankenship was honored by the SEC as the junior was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week. In his Georgia career, Blankenship has converted on 84 percent of his field goals, which is tops among active SEC kickers and is fifth nationally.

Blankenship is continuing his stellar form from last season, where he converted every kick he made that was under 40-yards. He also nailed a 55-yard field goal in the Rose Bowl and a 51-yarder in the national championship game.

The other players of the week are Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill, Kentucky linebacker Josh Allen, Tennessee defensive back Bryce Thompson Mississippi State defensive lineman Montez Sweat and Jervontius “Bunchy” Stallings,

ESPN slides Georgia back into playoff picture

Following the big win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, three ESPN reporters put Georgia back into their College Football Playoff, as Andrea Adelson, Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg all have Georgia as the No. 3 team, with the Bulldogs taking on Clemson. Only Edward Aschoff has Georgia left out, as his playoff four is Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach also has Georgia as his No. 3 team in his power rankings following the Bulldogs beat down of South Carolina.

“Georgia is showing promising signs of once again having a dominant running game and physical defense, which it used to reach the CFP National Championship a year ago,” Schlabach wrote of the Bulldogs. “There is still plenty to correct on both sides of the ball, but it’s hard not to be impressed by a 31-point whitewashing at South Carolina, where the Bulldogs have traditionally struggled.”

Kirk Herbstreit also moved Georgia up in his own personal rankings, as Georgia now sits at No. 3. Last week the Bulldogs came in at No. 4.

University of Georgia named a top 50 university in the United States

On Monday the U.S. News & World Report released its annual Best Colleges rankings. And the Bulldogs again had a strong showing.

The University of Georgia came in at No. 46 among all schools and tied for No. 13 among public schools. With regards to SEC schools, only Florida ranked higher as the Gators came in at No. 8 for public schools. Georgia Tech also tied for 8th, meaning the state of Georgia joined Virginia and California as the only three states to have multiple public schools in the top 15 of the rankings.

To see the full list of rankings, click here. UCLA was named the top public school in the country and Princeton was named the top overall college.

Best stories from around DawgNation