The Contenders: Georgia

by SMQ on May 12, 2008 4:33 PM EDT

Making the case for number one.
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I’m sure Georgia boards have made the point ad nauseum since last October, but for those who thought it was a prime example of a classless act, the most classless act in the history of college football, the most classless act you’ve ever seen, or just absolutely bush league, for the record, after Mark Richt instructed his team to do this:

...Georgia’s poll position did this:

The win over Florida was on Oct. 27; the big upshot at the end– including the Cocktail win, a 25-point win over Auburn, double-digit margins over Kentucky and Georgia Tech and the very un-subtle bludgeoning of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl – begins Oct. 28. Prior to that, if you ignore the "spike" facilitated by the 2007 offseason, the Bulldogs hadn’t been on an upward trend at any point more than three weeks in a row before they started down again. But then they got theyselves motivated, or something, and they’re the hottest stock of the early summer prognostiscenti: in the early polls, UGA is number one by the Worldwide Leader, The Sporting News, and (watch out) Sports Illustrated; Sportsline.com and College Football News have them second. I expected opinions to be more mixed, but the early returns say if there’s a preseason frontrunner, Georgia is it.

Bow Down. One of the clichés of being as young and gifted as UGA was in 2007 is the "wait until next year" treatment, which only sounds like poor consolation until next year actually arrives. Then, the quarterback, secondary and offensive line were green (or "untenably young in a lot of areas") and scared voters away. Now, they’re stacked. There’s not even room here for sleepers and overachievers. The stars on the defense are still more prospective than fulfilled, with the possible exception of scout favorite Jeff Owens in the middle of the line, but it’s very possible the defense will field a lineup made up entirely of guys rated in the top dozen at their position out of high school. This is exceptional recruiting, retention and development: at worst, there won’t be a regular on the defense who was ranked outside of his position class’ top 25 by Rivals, and even the feted units at USC and LSU can’t say that across the board. All the noobs in the secondary are now upperclassmen who ended last year by holding André Woodson and Colt Brennan to their worst games of the season.

No, Matt: We’re talking about number one.
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The offense is not as monolithically talented, but it is equally loaded in the right spots. The late season turnaround coincided with the commitment to Knowshon Moreno as the focal point of the offense, which was so dramatic that Kyle King thinks Moreno can be the special player of his generation who enshrines Richt in the pantheon. And that’s only if he doesn’t lose carries to Caleb King. Matt Stafford progressed as expected, less spectacularly but by every measure: his passer rating improved 20 points over his freshman effort, and if this year’s gains are only half that dramatic, he can probably take his bomb-throwing, keg-wielding arm to the NFL a year early. Again, though, because it’s Moreno’s show, Stafford just has to be good enough in the occasional crunch, not the all-American his recruiting hype predicted. That’s not really in question.

Bust Out. Essentially, the bet is that the transition to "next year" occurred during the bye week before the Florida game, and the team that rolled from that point is the team. That ignores the inconsistency that defined the team over the preceding year-and-a-half, during which time the Bulldogs were a very pedestrian 7-6 in the SEC and had to survive regular squeakers (six wins in 06-07 by five points or less) to get there. UGA was a fringe poll team that rocketed upward in a little less than half a season. The only reason to think that brilliant half will override the sketchy half in the future is Moreno, and if just a couple stout defenses commit to bottling him up – almost guaranteed to happen at some point, with Arizona State, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, LSU and Auburn in a brutal eight-game span – there’s still at least a member or two of the jury out on Stafford, if for no other reason than the unreliability of his receivers. Without some pop from the passing game, a team can only win so many tightly-wrought defensive slugfests.

In the Immortal Words of Meatloaf... The absence of a steady receiver – a big play guy or a reliable possession type – is the only quibble with the personnel; the depth chart is definitely mythical championship quality. Georgia’s problem is every SEC team’s problem: there’s not one giant hurdle amid more routine obstacles, but about four of them, especially in a year when the rotating draw from the West division is Alabama and LSU instead of Mississippi State, Ole Miss or momentarily de-fanged Arkansas. Knowshon Moreno is a pretty good reason for guessing Late ‘07 Georgia is the best predictive model for ‘08 Georgia all the way, but anyone who likes UGA at the top either thinks the schedule is somehow manageable for an undefeated season or that surviving Florida, at LSU and at Auburn with just one loss will be good enough with some help. Neither is necessarily likely, but if you’re playing the odds, the twists of championship Saturday the last couple years reinforce the latter. The first decade of the BCS has taught us that two undefeated teams is always a bad bet – it's only happened three times. So where the USC-Ohio State winner or the Big 12 champion might be more likely to run the table, if they don't, they almost certainly won't be able to hang with Georgia's strength of schedule when voters put them on the scales. So maybe two outta three ain't bad.

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Georgia is a tough team to categorize because of that inconsistency. That loss to Tennessee sticks in my mind as something that makes you go “hmm”. But the decisive win over Florida made you go “wow”.

by gahnki on May 12, 2008 5:15 PM EDT 0 recs

Georgia

In hindsight, I’d say the onfield celebration was a symptom of Georgia’s attitude transplant, not the cause of it. It didn’t end up working that well in the game too, since 3 plays after it Florida had tied the game. UF led the game later in the first half, and it was a one-possession game for most of the fourth quarter despite Tebow’s injury preventing him from running and the Gators’ defense playing terribly.

If I was a Georgia fan, I’d be concerned about all of the 2009 mock NFL drafts out there with Stafford as a top-10 pick. He hasn’t been asked to carry the offense yet, but he probably will at some point this year. Can he handle it with the added pressure? We’ll find out.

In the end, I’ll believe a national title out of Mark Richt when I see it. He had David Pollack and David Greene together for four years and couldn’t pull it off. Had UGA just beat a very inferior Florida team in 2002, it would have been playing Miami for the title instead of Ohio State since Georgia was ranked higher than OSU in the preseason.

by Year2 on May 12, 2008 7:48 PM EDT 0 recs

That 2002 season

The same result would have ended with Georgia in the championship game five or six other years since the BCS was formed, including the last two. Part of my conclusion was that the same season might get them there this year.

To me, to say “I’ll believe it when I see it” is a little odd. Nobody’s a winner until he wins. It took Bowden, Osborne, Paterno et al years to win a championship, and they all carried the tag, “can’t win the big one.” Obviously they could, and did. Richt hasn’t been around long enough to get stuck with that label, especially since, when he was hired, Georgia was always the ‘third wheel’ in the division behind Tennessee and Florida. SEC championships weren’t even the table, much less national championships. Now UGA is the winningest program in the SEC in his tenure. Again, the championship teams from Florida in 06 and LSU in 03 and 07 didn’t do anything the 2002 UGA team didn’t do – LSU lost to an inferior Florida team, too, in 2003, and two more inferior teams last year. They just got the breaks that they needed from other teams, and Georgia didn’t. Of those Greene/Pollack teams, only 2004 was disappointing, mainly because of the loss to Tennessee.

I think Richt has been great for Georgia, he’s built an elite program and his time should come at some point.

by SMQ on May 12, 2008 8:34 PM EDT up 0 recs

Richt

I totally agree that Richt has been great for Georgia, especially when you look at the two guys who came before him.

Maybe it’s just provincialism, but I see a lot of little things with him. Things like beating Florida only once when it wasn’t the week the UF coach got fired. Or posting one of the worst first quarters in Sugar Bowl history against West Virginia. Or actually losing to Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the same season. Even Ron Zook was 6-0 against them, and Richt lost to post-Jay Cutler Vandy.

There’s always something, from the loss to that 2002 Florida team to DJ Shockley being hurt for the 2005 Florida game (which UGA would have won with him) to giving up 35 points to a Tennessee team that only mustered 20 against Florida’s JV defense last year. His tenure is marked by a lot of success, but a lot of bad timing and bad luck. It’s not all his fault, but this is what has happened.

Georgia will win at least 10 games and gave a nice season. As for getting over the top? Maybe this is the year that luck and timing turn in his favor. Based on prior years, I have no reason to think it will.

by Year2 on May 13, 2008 9:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Judges?

“just provincialism”

Yeah.

May the wings of liberty never lose a feather

by peacedog on May 13, 2008 2:44 PM EDT up 0 recs

Bowden...Miles...Richt

Excellent points SMQ. With all due respect to the White-Hated One (and I tend to think he doesn’t get all the respect that is his due – but that’s a separte matter) it is hard to view the aggragate of his achievements in Red Stick with those of Richt in Athens. The revival and fairly routine excellence of the program would certainly seem to eclipse, in he aggragate the gaudier, if perhaps somewhat less steady achievements of Miles.

Clearly one could argue that Bowden et. all had achieved a great deal more than MNC winners Majors and Robinson. Luck is a huge factor here and I think your right that if he stays at Georgia for the next hald dozen to a dozen years an MNC is likely to come his way. To lable him a looser at this point is absurdly premature.

by marcillac on May 13, 2008 12:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

the celebration

After the lackluster loss to UT and the near loss to Vandy (which Richt is shown on TV chewing the players a new one for dancing on the field), he put it to the team to celebrate and earn a penalty on the first score of the UF game. It was the cause – it was the seed that started it all – to infuse some spirit into the players. It was supposed to be ONLY the “team” on the field at the time of the score – the offensive players celebrating together, not an individual act. The whole team rushing the field was not his intent.

Yes, that is my son. Yes, that is a bottle of Crown.

by BCDawg97 on May 13, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yup

Which is one of the under-reported parts of the story. A lot of people were ready to string Richt up for telling his team to do that when he didn’t actually tell his team to do that. It was especially stupid for the players to do because the play had to be reviewed and if it got reversed, they’re looking at being 16 yards instead of a few inches from the goal line.

As it is, I would have liked to see Richt tossed from the game but no further punishment. I was sitting in the upper deck sideline even with that endzone at the game, and I didn’t see anyone from the Georgia coaching staff attempt to call the players back. There was no way to know that the coaches didn’t intend for it to happen at the time, and the highly combustible situation it caused was a really bad precedent to set.

Even if Richt did get tossed, Georgia still wins that game.

by Year2 on May 13, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'll try to be rational...

Yes, the Richt years have been marked by spotty receiver play. But we do have a pretty solid go to receiver in senior Mohammed Massaquoi. He slumped his soph year but really burst out last year. He should be pretty reliable again. There are names other Dawg fans will throw out (Kris Durham, Tavarres King, TEs Tripp Chandler and Bruce Figgins) and they can be pretty productive, but as noted, consistency is the key. MoMass is the only truly proven one.

And I’ll admit it – UGA has always had a “what in the world?” game once or twice a year. So while I wouldn’t trade Richt for anyone (other than maybe Pete Carroll or Jim Tressell simply because they’ve won a title and only if I actually had to get rid of Richt), I do think there is a bit of a stigma there. The difference (which you saw last season) is he’s not the OC anymore. He can gameplan and manage the team better. As OC, at times he would call plays to not lose the game rather than to win.

Richt and UGA is good enough now where at least one season (and hopefully many) everything will fall into place.

Yes, that is my son. Yes, that is a bottle of Crown.

by BCDawg97 on May 12, 2008 8:53 PM EDT 0 recs

AJ Green?

He’ll probably be given every chance to earn some receptions, won’t he?

And how in the hell can the SEC get away with sending Alabama and LSU in the same year? Did it just rotate into that mess? Because that sucks for Georgia.

by Passive Voice on May 12, 2008 9:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yes

That’s how Georgia’s rotation goes. It last played LSU and Alabama in the same season in 2003.

In the SEC, each team has an assigned permanent “rival” from the other division who you play every year. For UGA, that’s Auburn. You rotate through the other 5 teams in your opposite division, always keeping one and replacing the other. In Georgia’s case,

2003: Alabama, @ LSU
2004: LSU, @Arkansas
2005: Arkansas, @Miss State
2006: Miss State, @Ole Miss
2007: Ole Miss, @Alabama

The 5-year cycle is now repeating with Alabama and @LSU.

by Year2 on May 13, 2008 9:53 AM EDT up 0 recs

Also

Note that the home/away games with Auburn works against UGA even moreso this year than in ‘03 since they will be traveling to Auburn. So every 10 years UGA plays at both LSU and Auburn, and this is that year.

by TexasTiger on May 13, 2008 12:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

I just wanna give a little love

...to the 230-word setup for a Meat Loaf joke. Bravisimo.

Georgia will be nasty, but I always seem to guess the SEC winner wrong by one team.

by HooShotYa on May 12, 2008 9:26 PM EDT 0 recs

SEC

As good as I think Stafford can be, I just can’t see him carrying the Dawgs to the one or two SEC wins in the games were Moreno/King are ineffective that they will need for the National Title.

by Chilltown on May 12, 2008 10:08 PM EDT 0 recs

There was, and never will be anything wrong with what Richt did...IT WAS BRILLIANT!

You must be a Gator fan. What Richt did was a stroke of genius, and anyone with half a brain knows that he did nothing wrong. I don’t care what anyone says, IT WAS AN AWESOME IDEA! Richt is a classy coach, and you Gator people are just wetting your pants because we kicked your butt, and you can’t handle it.
What Spurrier did against us was the most classless, bush league, immature, and selfish act in the HISTORY of COLLEGE FOOTBALL, BAR NONE! When you run up the score on other teams, that is AS LOW AS A PERSON CAN GET! HE IS A COWARD AND A LOSER!!! GO DAWGS!!!!

by BeachGaBulldog on May 13, 2008 1:26 AM EDT 0 recs

Re: Spurrier

If you can’t stop a team’s backups from scoring, that’s your problem.

by Year2 on May 13, 2008 9:21 AM EDT up 0 recs

I won’t get too much into this because obviously Gators will see it one way and Dawgs will see it another. But when you deliberately score a touchdown just to set a record, it might be viewed as classless. Agreed you shouldn’t let another team score, and if it was just one instance it might be viewed differently. But unless I’m mistaken, running up scores was a bit of a pattern with Spurrier.

Yes, that is my son. Yes, that is a bottle of Crown.

by BCDawg97 on May 13, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

Spurrier had a personal vendetta against Georgia because UGA gave Florida its only loss during his senior season, preventing him from a shot at a national title.

However, he ran it up on everyone, like you said. His philosophy, which he stated many times, was that he wasn’t going to put in his backups and tell them not to try to score. That’s where his line about how stopping his backups from scoring is not his problem came from.

I had to sit through Florida’s 31-3 loss to Bama a couple years ago in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Though it was one of the most awful times I’ve had at a football game, I couldn’t blame Alabama for trying to score in the fourth quarter. If Florida couldn’t stop them, that wasn’t Bama’s fault. What was bad about that game was Mike Shula trying to score in the fourth quarter with his starters, which led to Tyrone Prothro’s horrible injury.

by Year2 on May 13, 2008 3:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

Well, I guess we can make the argument that, after long-suffering, the Dogs had a vendetta against Florida. I am willing to concede 1 possible classless act by Richt vs. many classless acts by Spurrier.

by fotodog on May 13, 2008 5:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

SEC opener

I understand that USC’s five game slider at the end of the year is the reason most pundants and blogs are overlooking the gamecocks. It’s deserved. But USC is returning 10 of 11 starters on a defenese that held UGA to 9 pts last season and has a good chance to be the best defense in the conference next season. UGA has to go into Williams Brice in Columbia in game 3 next season for a game that is always close. There is definately an upset possibility there. UGA’s season is one of the thoughest in the country next year, even with all that talent, they will be fortunate to go 10-2 like LSU did last year.

by Charlestowne on May 13, 2008 10:08 AM EDT 0 recs

USCeast

SC always scares me. It is early in the season, lots of motivated players from Georgia on USC. I won’t guarantee a win, but there is a difference between last year and this year though. Last year was our new OC’s 4th game and there wasn’t a steady dose of Knowshon – we threw it 44 times in last year’s game. Will SC put 8 in the box? Probably, but Stafford’s also better than he was a year ago. Is he a #1 pick? Who knows. But he’ll be a lot better this year than he was 2 games into his 2nd season. It will still be a close game.

Yes, that is my son. Yes, that is a bottle of Crown.

by BCDawg97 on May 13, 2008 2:09 PM EDT up 0 recs

RE:SEC opener

First you shorted us by 3 points but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway how can you believe the gamecocks defense has a chance be the best in the conference but UGA has no chance to go undefeated. South Carolina returns 10 of 11 starters from a defense that ranked dead last in rushing defense and 9th in total defense in conference play. But they have the chance to be the best?

by deanpat92 on May 13, 2008 3:04 PM EDT 0 recs

Conceavab ly

I mean, he’s right, there is a chance. The season hasn’t started yet; there’s a chance Vandy will win it all.

by blackertai on May 13, 2008 6:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

To be honest, SMQ, I expected a bit more indepth analysis. What everyone seems to be forgetting is that UGA had three freshmen on the OL most of the time and a fairly new OC. While the OL is definitely one of the most talented in a long time at UGA, they had to learn the ropes. Velasco will definitely be missed this year because he was a rock at C. It is one of two positions with a huge question mark alongside it this year. However, I am really excited that “Bean” Anderson turned a lot of heads this Spring because with him at OG it will allow Tripp and Boling to duel it out or the RT spot. Adams took one for the team last year playing RT. He is an OG all the way, and that was exposed more than once. This observation leads me to a second ( or third..), you will note that Stafford, while uncannily good at avoiding a rush in many instances, definitely got ahead of himself more than a few times this year when the young OL simply missed on a block. I think Stafford has already proven he can handle the pressure with the game on the line. He definitely has some accuracy issues and makes at least one throw a game that leaves one scratching the head, but I do think many people will see just how good a QB Stafford can be this year,mainly because for the last two years he has been reading defenses and making the adjustments on his own in addition to dealing with his own mechanics, his receivers’ idiosyncracies, and dealing with either a less talented OL (06) or a young one (07). I am not sure why everyone is so wary of the offense-last year’s (with many of the same players) was one of the most prolific at UGA in a long time. Yes, team’s will try to stop the run and will be burned more often than not, just like GT was last year. UGA does have two FBs that can run pretty effective pass routes… Also, I think that Tony Wilson will end up having a breakout season he is already the best blocking receiver UGA has had in some time. He dropped a few too many balls last year, but I think he catches them this year. Personally, I think the receiving corps is going to shock more than a few in general.

On defense, the DL and LBers are about as deep as any I can remember. I would be happier with Marcus Washington in the middle, as he came up huge helping against the run, but I really don’t think there are too many stronger or more talented corps in college football ( although USC is certainly as strong and can definitely make the argument for stronger). The DBs will come down to Reshad Jones using his athleticism to get better in coverage and Prince Miller getting more physical.

While there are question marks on this team, I really can’t recall when a UGA team had this much talented depth across the board. It will be what allows them to have a chance at getting to the MNC in a year when the schedule is a tough one.

For what it is worth, I will not predict a MNC run, but I do think this is the first year that UGA will beat UT and UF in the same year in a long, long time which should at least secure them a spot in the SEC championship. USCe will have a great defense,but as always lacks depth. Vandy and UK will likely be lesser teams overall this year as they both lost a lot of their best players. In the end, the toughest game will likely be Auburn as it comes on the tail end of a hellacious 4-game road trip and that series has always favored closer games than the last two have been.

To the UF fan that said the celebration wasn’t effective, you probably couldn’t understand unless you are an older UF fan, but it was the most effective stunt Richt could have possibly come up with. You say that UF came back to tie the game. Sure they did, and it year’s past, UGA players would have been so tight, they may never have recovered from that or the Stafford Pick-6. Just as Spurrier’s cocky and gaudy offenses gave UF a leg up in the series after a pretty miserable decade, I think we all just witnessed a UGA team not being being talented, but also not being shy about declaring themselves bad-asses. This team isn’t tight about a preseason #1 ranking, they want it and more importantly want to maintain it all season long. As the new offseason team t-shirt says, “Don’t Flinch”. In this case, the schedule will help because there really is no classical let-down game. Ga South is first game of the season, Central Mich is an intriguing and talented team, and Vandy is Homecoming I believe. UK in the middle of UF and AU will be a tough game to play, but if UGA is still in the thick of things at that point, I don’t think this team will discount them playing on the road. There will simply be too much to lose at that point.

Sorry for the length but wanted to add a few more things for those interested in reading more.

by archdawg on May 13, 2008 9:23 PM EDT 0 recs

I’ve attended most of the Florida-Georgia games over the past 15 years. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Spurrier’s teams.

As I said before, I think the celebration was a symptom of the attitude change, not the cause of it. The real change happened somewhere in the two weeks Georgia had to prepare for the game.

by Year2 on May 14, 2008 9:31 AM EDT up 0 recs

If Georgia loses that game...

they may never beat Florida. All the pressure, in my humble opinion, was on Georgia. In the past, it didn’t matter how much time we had to prepare, how “down” Florida was. We still lost (usually). Our mental block that was in danger of becoming terminal. I can understand why some people had a problem with this. But it was the slap in the face the Dawgs needed to wake the hell up. Net result: This is a rivarly again. It needed to become a rivalry again because it was a great, great rivalry. Risky move? Yes. Effective? Oh, yeah.

by DavetheDawg on May 14, 2008 10:45 AM EDT 0 recs