A Crazy Couple of Weeks

It has been an amazing two weeks for the Georgia Bulldogs.

I’ve started to write this blog a couple of times, but I was unable, because my feelings have evolved. At this point, I think I’m writing this more for myself than for anyone else.

Let’s start at the beginning, with the win over Tech.

I can’t remember a time where I have been more underwhelmed by a Georgia team than I was for this year’s team. The victory over Tech was just another example of the offensive limitations of this team. Tech is bad and Auburn is bad, but Georgia struggled mightily against both of those teams, and barely won the game because of their inability to do anything creative/effective on offense.

But, when the Tech game was over, I was sure that Mark Richt had done enough this year to save his job. He won the last four games of the season. He won 9 games, again, and with a bowl win would have the chance for yet another 10-win season. He had made the right hire two years ago when he brought in Jeremy Pruitt who had developed our defense remarkably. He also had the potential for one of the best recruiting classes he has ever put together at Georgia. I thought he had done just enough to keep his job.

Two weeks ago today, we all found out that I was wrong. We had just gotten home from church and Harrison had just gone down for his nap when I heard the news. I was sad. I loved Mark Richt, and I loved the way he represented the university that I love. I was frustrated. For so long, people had wanted Mark Richt fired and I had argued with those people time and again that he was the right man for the job. Now, all of those people had won.

The next day, I watched Mark Richt show just as much class and dignity as he could ever show in his press conference. After the press conference, I had a different feeling: this was the right move for Mark Richt and for Georgia.

You could just see how at peace he was with the entire situation. When he talked about wanting to be more involved with the hands on coaching if he ever decided to coach again, you could tell that even in the short time he had to digest what had gone wrong, he was self-aware enough to understand that he had made some mistakes in the past few years.

The program had become stagnate, and a change needed to be made. I credit Greg McGarity for making that tough decision, because I don’t think I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes.

Mark Richt was a fabulous coach for the University of Georgia. He set a standard here that had never been set before. Vince Dooley was a great coach, but it was a different time with a different level of competition. Mark Richt established a level of expectation that ultimately lead to his firing, because winning 10 games isn’t good enough. The bar has been set for Georgia: win championships. SEC East championships, SEC championships, and National Championships. That is what we should expect from a program like Georgia, and if that standard is not being met, we should continue to search for the person capable of delivering those things to a fan base that is thirsty for a title.

Moving on.

I posted on social media that I didn’t want Georgia to settle for an assistant coach with no head coaching experience. My logic was simple, if Georgia is a Top 10 job, which I firmly believe it is, then there should be about 118 Division 1 coaches that could move up in the world of coaching by leaving their current school and going to Georgia.

20 years ago, that was good logic. But something has changed: money. You see, 20 years ago, Hugh Freeze would have been the head coach at Florida after Will Muschamp got fired last year. Florida, a Top 10 program in their own right, had to settle for the head coach of Colorado State instead. The money at Ole Miss and other mid level programs is so good now, that you don’t have to be at one of the Top 10 programs in the country to be happy. Hugh Freeze can make $4 million per year in Oxford, Mississippi and be happy. The fan base thinks he is a God because he is going to win 10 or 11 games each season, and he has brought that program to heights never seen before. Why would he trade that in for a move to Florida who has had 5 coaches in 14 years?

So, very quickly it was obvious that Georgia wanted Kirby Smart. After about two days of social media click bait, the rumors surrounding the coaching hire all but stopped, because there was nothing to report. Smart was going to be the guy. Everyone in the know, knew that, but with the SEC title game on the horizon, nothing was going to happen until last Sunday.

One week after Georgia announced the firing of Mark Richt, they announced the hiring of Kirby Smart. Instantly, energy was restored to the program. After Smart’s press conference, last Monday, I was encouraged too. Smart seemed to have an idea of how he wanted to run the program and how he wanted his team to play football. He didn’t seem to want to give too many details, and when pressed by the media to give answers or clues as to what he was going to do with the two coordinator positions, Smart stood firm in saying nothing. He wasn’t rude, but he seemed like a man with a plan, who didn’t feel the need to share that plan with anyone. I like that.

Now, we need to take a minute to talk about Kirby Smart, what he is, and what he isn’t.

Kirby Smart is a Dawg. He played in Athens, his wife played basketball in Athens, he got married in Athens, and looking back, he has been waiting for the Georgia job to open up so he could return home and be the head coach in Athens. Kirby could have been a coach two or three years ago, but he wanted this job, so he stayed at Alabama, waiting for his opportunity. I like that.

Kirby Smart is not Nick Saban, and I don’t want him to be. Any great coach is a great coach because he is trying to be himself, not some other great coach. Standing next to a genius does not make you smarter. Kirby Smart should benefit from years of coaching alongside one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, but he can’t just try to make Georgia the diet coke of Alabama, or he will never succeed. I believe he understands this, but I’m not sure if Georgia fans understand this. What Saban has been able to do at Alabama has been impressive, but his methods have worked for him because they are his methods. Anyone who is a real leader has the ability to learn from those around him, but a true leader will also have unique ideas and systems that they will want to implement. If Kirby Smart is going to be successful at Georgia, he will have to figure out the Kirby Smart way to run a program.

Kirby Smart is a fantastic recruiter. This fact is undeniable. He connects with players, he connects with parents, and he brings in the big fish. Since taking the Georgia job, he has acknowledged that one of the biggest things that will have to change at Georgia is the talent level. Smart has seen at Alabama that you have to get great players consistently if you want to win. Nick Chubb got injured this season, and Georgia’s offense fell apart. To compete for titles, you have to be able to replace your best player and not miss a beat. Kirby will get the players, and that will start this year. Georgia’s class was on track to be in the Top 10 before Smart was hired. Kirby is going to keep everyone, yes everyone, that Georgia had on the hook, and he is going to bring in a few more guys who he recruited while at Alabama who really like him. He has already started to offer a few guys that Georgia had not offered with Richt at the helm. Georgia’s recruiting class will finish in the Top 3 in February. Georgia will get Eason. They will get Mecole Hardman. They will get Isaac Nuata. They will get Julian Rochester. Georgia will put together a class that the entire Bulldog Nation can be proud of. The best part of this class is going to be the way it is handled. Smart won’t call the 2016 class the Dream Team, or any other catchy name. He will put together this fantastic class and he will call it the new normal. He will act as if Georgia got the players that Georgia should get, rather than celebrating a bunch of 18 year old who have never played in the SEC. He will bring in talent, but…..

Kirby Smart is not a proven head coach. There is a huge difference is being the man, and being the man the man depends on. Sure, Smart has been Saban’s right hand man for a while now, but its different when you are sitting in the big chair. Smart has not proven that he can run a program, and Georgia fans should  understand that nothing is guaranteed. On paper, Will Muschamp should have had great success at Florida, but it didn’t work out. The jury is still out on Butch Jones at Tennessee. If being a head coach in the SEC was easy, then so many guys wouldn’t get getting fired year after year. The fact that South Carolina had the audacity to ask Steve Spurrier to step down at the end of the year just shows how crazy this entire thing has gotten. South Carolina is Kentucky with Sandstorm playing in the background, and Steve Spurrier is the best coach they have ever had. Spurrier should have been able to write his own ticket, but South Carolina wants to be Alabama, so they thought they could do better. Spurrier is a tool and he was a tool for quitting on his team in the middle of the season, but South Carolina has misjudged who they are, and it will cost them, dearly. Georgia fans should be excited, but there are still big questions about Smart as a head coach, and we won’t get answers until next fall. You can win the press conference, you can win Signing Day, but can you win in the Dome against North Carolina? Can you go on the road and beat South Carolina for the first time since 2008? Can win in Jacksonville? Not winning those games cost Mark Richt his job, so until Kirby Smart wins those games, consistently, we won’t know what we have in a head coach.

Smart is all but done putting together his staff. The offensive coordinator and offensive line coaches were announced yesterday. I could tell you their names, but you wouldn’t recognize them. I like that. It tells me that Kirby knew what he wanted, and he didn’t feel the need to hire a name that would excite people, he felt the need to hire the right guys for the job. I’ve seen a lot of positive comments from regional and national pundits praising the two hires.

Apparently, Smart will be bringing Kevin Sheerer and Scott Cochran from Alabama as well. Sheerer will be the defensive coordinator and Cochran will take over as strength and conditioning coach, a position that he has held at Alabama for many years. The Cochran hiring is perhaps the most important hire that Kirby will make. Georgia has been weak on both lines of scrimmage for many years, and new blood was needed in the off season training program.

If you can’t tell, I’m excited. Next fall will bring more anticipation than any college football season since 2008 when Georgia was the preseason #1. You will hear a lot of people say that we need to give Kirby time. I disagree wholeheartedly. There is no reason, on paper, or anywhere else, Georgia should not win the East next year. Tennessee has to come to Athens. I don’t buy Florida at all. Missouri has come back to reality after a couple of seasons of overachieving and South Carolina hired Muschamp, so they are out of the picture for about 3 or 4 years until they fire him. Nothing about Auburn scares me for the next season or two. Our toughest road game next season is at Ole Miss, who loses three of their best players at the end of this season. Tech will always and forever be Tech, so don’t expect Kirby to start losing to them. We won’t win the whole thing next year, and we probably won’t win the SEC, but we will be in Atlanta, because that is where we belong.

The sun is rising in Athens. A sleeping giant has been awoken. The era of the Dawgs will soon begin. Get on board now, while there is room.

We look back on the past with reverence and thankfulness for what Coach Richt and his staff did while they were in Athens.

We now look to the future with eyes set firmly on the ultimate prize. Georgia will raise another National Title banner. It is not a question of if, but of when.

Glory, Glory

Go Dawgs!

Does your blood run Red and Black?

Each college football season, the first blog I write is almost exactly the same, because each year, fans have to start with perspective.

Sure, pundits in the media can say stupid things like, “this team should be in the hunt for a national championship every year,” but that isn’t realistic.

Now, you want to point out Alabama. Ok, for the past six years, Alabama has been in the hunt each year. But what about before that? Maybe look at Alabama football from 1993 to 2007. Despite what Bama fans might tell you, the Crimson Tide did field a team during those years, and they weren’t competing for a championship each year.

Perspective is the key to enjoying any season, and Georgia fans completely lost perspective on the 2015 season.

As Georgia enters their bye week, the Bulldog Nation has become disenchanted with this season, this team, and of course, this coach.

If you thought this team should have contended for a National Title this season, then you are the problem, not this team.

Sure, once Georgia was 4-0 and hosting Alabama, who had already lost a game, you could start thinking that things might fall Georgia’s way. But go back to August, and remember that this team was going to be young at receiver, incredibly young in the secondary, and they didn’t have a quarterback.

Here we are on October 18^th, and what is the state of this team?

We just played about a million freshmen mostly at receiver and in the secondary, we still don’t have a quarterback, and our best player is out for the year with a knee injury.

If you are a Georgia fan, please stop rooting for a team that doesn’t exist, and root for the team we have. This team isn’t going to change before they get to Jacksonville in 13 days.

So you have about two weeks, as a Georgia fan to decide if you want to be a Georgia fan or not. This team is 5-2, will probably get back in the Top 25 before the Cocktail Party, and controls its own destiny in the SEC East.

Are you in or are you out? You have to decide now. Because I am sick of hearing people complain or cheer after the game.

Georgia fans aren’t alone in this, but we have become a terrible fan base that is ready to burn down Sanford Stadium after every loss. We want to fire a great coach and a better man because Nick Saban has gone on an historical run at Alabama, and now we have decided that it is our birth right to win every college football game we play.

There are five games left in this season, and I’m going to choose to be a fan. If we lose in Jacksonville, I’m going to watch the Kentucky game. If we lose to Auburn, I’m going to watch the Tech game. If we lose to Tech, I’m going to vomit, and then I’m going to watch the bowl game.

After the season, we can assess the season and the program, but instantly reacting to every third down play and trying to judge the entire program on a game or two is annoying.

Georgia is going to be underdogs in Jacksonville in two weeks, but in a rivalry game you never know what might happen. The Dawgs were a far better team last year, but didn’t show up and play at their best, and they lost the game. Florida isn’t the greatest team in college football, and Georgia can beat them.

Win or lose, the program is heading in the right direction. The recruiting job that this staff has done over the past two seasons is excellent and the incoming class might be the best of all. We see Georgia’s depth at linebacker with the injuries and ejections this season, so I’m convinced we will be strong there again next season, the young secondary is really talented and they are going to be really good maybe even by the end of this season, and next year we will have a quarterback that has the ability to make all the throws.

Is anything guaranteed?

Of course not.

As a fan I’m excited about watching these young Dawgs grow over the rest of this season, and I’m very excited about the future.

Perspective is something that we aren’t good at in this country any more. We want  what we want and we want it yesterday. For Georgia fans, the best example of this is that just two years ago these same “fans” that want Richt fired were calling Aaron Murray a bum and wanted Hutson Mason or Bryce Ramsey to play quarterback, because they were obviously a better option than Murray.

I hate to break it to you “fans” but you aren’t nearly as smart as you think you are. You might watch a lot of football, and you might have even played in high school, but you don’t know more about the game that Mark Richt and his coaching staff. You thought Murray was terrible, and he was the best quarterback we have had at Georgia in a very long time. Reading a message board doesn’t make you qualified to coach the team any more than writing a blog does.

The media is part of the problem. Whether it is sports, politics, the economy, or social issues, we are influenced by what we read or hear from so called experts, but they get ratings and readers by telling you who to blame. They sit in the cheap seats and criticize the man in the arena who does the hard job of actually competing or making decisions. If these people were truly experts, they would be on the field either playing or coaching. Mark Richt makes a lot more money coaching than anyone at the AJC makes writing about how bad Mark Richt is as a coach. That should tell you something. 

Fans need to be fans, support the team in good times and bad, or just find another team to support. The term fair-weather fan applies to the Bulldog Nation more than I ever thought it could. Character is revealed through adversity, and true loyalty is shown in the hard times.

At the beginning of the season, from my perspective, 10-2 would have been a success for this team, and I’m sticking to that, but win or lose, I’m all in.

The rest of you Georgia fans need to decide where you stand.

Does your blood run Red and Black or not?

Georgia/Alabama Preview

Weeks like this are so much fun.

The anticipation of a big home game, especially against a traditional power like Alabama is what college football is all about. The weather doesn’t seem to want to cooperate, but both teams have to play in the same conditions, so I’m not convinced that will be a deciding factor in the game.

When I say this game could go either way, I mean it. In any game, there are four possible outcomes: either team wins a close game, or either team blows the other team out. Most of the time, you could eliminate at least one of those possibilities, but not this week.

Nothing that happens on Saturday will surprise me.

Obviously either team winning a close game would be just about what most of us expect.

Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it, so you can’t discount the idea that Georgia could get blown out on Saturday just like they did in 2008.

My guess is, based on previous Georgia performances in big games, most Georgia fans wouldn’t expect a blow out win for the Dawgs, but that is exactly what I expect.

Going back to 2012, the last time Alabama won the National Title, you see that the Alabama defense was fantastic. Even in the one game they lost in 2012, to Texas A&M, Bama only gave up 29 points. In the classic SEC title game versus Georgia, the Tide only gave up 28 points.

The following year, 2013, Alabama gave up 42 points to Texas A&M in a victory, and then gave up 34 points to Auburn in the “Kick Six” game, and 45 points to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

Last season, Alabama gave up 44 points to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, but still won the game, and they allowed 42 points to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff.

Two weeks ago, Ole Miss put up 43 points on Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama still has good players on defense, and they are more than capable of putting up a big performance, but against the best teams that Alabama has faced over the past few seasons, Alabama’s defense hasn’t been the juggernaut that the dynasty was built on.

Then look at the other side of the ball. Alabama’s offense is still solid, but would anybody take Jake Coker over Blake Sims, AJ McCarron, or Greg McElroy? I don’t think so.

Lane Kiffin’s big play offense worked last season with Sims finding Amare Cooper time and time again for long touchdowns, but this year, Coker hasn’t had the time in the pocket to execute those big plays, and he has been too loose with the football at times.

Now let me say something that could really come back to bite me. Derek Henry is not as good as Trent Richardson, Mark Ingram, or TJ Yeldon. I’m not saying he is a bad player, but he isn’t the dynamic kind of runner those previous backs were. He is too big. Once he gets going, he can’t be stopped, but I think there are going to be a lot of plays on Saturday where Henry doesn’t get going.

Now look on the other side of the field.

Georgia’s offensive line has been phenomenal this season. They run block, they pass block, and they haven’t been giving away stupid penalties.

Georgia’s quarterback isn’t an All-American or a 5 star recruit, but he has shown himself to be a solid game manager that is capable of making big plays in the passing game when needed.

At running back, Georgia has multiple weapons they can put on the field in different situations to cause matchup problems for opposing defenses with Chubb and Michel.

Malcolm Mitchell is a game changer at wide receiver, and now that he is healthy for the first time since the Clemson game in 2013, he is showing just how good he is.

Defensively, Georgia has come a long, long way under Jeremy Pruitt. The strength of the defense is obviously the linebacker position, where it seems some of Georgia’s backups are as good as the starters. The secondary has been great since the middle of last season, and those guys all seem to have a nose for the ball.

The defensive line is solid, with a chance for greatness as Mr. Thompson continues to develop into the beast that I predicted he would be before the season started.

So what does that all add up to?

Great offensive line, smart quarterback, dynamic receiver, multiple running backs, strong defense that can produce turnovers.

Georgia 2015 is built just like Alabama 2009-2012. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I guess the Tide should be flattered.

I think we are going to see the same type of game on Saturday afternoon that we saw 7 years ago, just with the roles reversed. Georgia is poised to break out and prove to the nation that they are a different team with a different feel. I’m not saying that the Dawgs are the best team in the country right now, I’m just saying they are better than the team they will be playing on Saturday.

The South Carolina win has been blown way out of proportion because the reality is that South Carolina isn’t a very good team this year. This win for Georgia will also get blown out of proportion because Alabama 2015 isn’t the same team that we are used to seeing Nick Saban coach. I think Alabama is going to lose their 2^nd SEC game on Saturday night, but it won’t be their last. Bama is going to lose 2 more games this season, with the likes of Texas A&M, LSU, and Tennessee still on their schedule.

Now I am an eternal optimist when it comes to Georgia football, I know that, but this program has a different feel to it now. The talent on the field has gotten better and better through some fantastic recruiting. The talent on the sidelines has gotten better with new coordinators. The mentality of Mark Richt has changed a bit, as his experience is starting to show him how to prepare for these big games. Georgia is ready to take the next step, and I think that is exactly what they are going to do on Saturday night.

Georgia 34  Alabama 20

Glory, Glory

More than just a game

The stakes could not be higher for each team as we approach the showdown in Sanford on Saturday afternoon.

For Georgia, Saturday is the beginning of an October that is sure to define the 2015 season. Four games in five weeks that will challenge Georgia more than they have been challenged all season. 

Momentum is a huge factor in college football, and starting the month off with a win over Alabama would make it a lot more plausible for Georgia to make it to the Dome for the SEC title game.

Let’s be honest about Georgia’s schedule. Every one of the games that were circled on Georgia’s calendar at the beginning of the season are easier today than we thought they were going to be. Tennessee, Auburn, and Tech have all lost two games already this season. Missouri and Florida are still undefeated, but both teams seem to be very beatable and full of holes. Even Alabama is more flawed than we thought they would be coming into this game. Georgia is favored on Saturday afternoon over Alabama, something that hasn’t happened to the Tide in five seasons. Georgia will most likely be favored in all of their remaining games this season. Amazing as it sounds, Georgia has to be considered, on paper, to be a favorite to not only win the SEC East, the SEC, but also a legit contender for the College Football Playoff.

So now would be exactly the right time for the wheels to fall off and leave the entire Bulldog nation sitting around, lamenting what could have been.

Georgia has come up incredibly small in the spots over the last few years.

2012: losses to South Carolina and Alabama in the two biggest games of the season.

2013: home loss to Missouri and road loss to Auburn.

2014: road loss to an average South Carolina team, loss in Jacksonville to a bad Florida team, and a bad home loss to Tech.

The program feels different these days. Coach Richt is talking a lot about focus, where he used to be aw shucksing during press conferences. Coach Richt’s job isn’t on the line Saturday, but he has the chance to change the perception of his program and himself.

At the beginning of his career, Richt was known for winning big games, but his teams’ recent failures have made most fans forget about wins on the road at Tennessee in 2001, in Tuscaloosa in 2002, at home against LSU in 2004, the Blackout against Auburn, and so forth.

So what is at stake for Georgia? Everything.

On the other side of the field, there will be a team even more desperate.

After losing to Ole Miss two weeks ago, the season would officially be over for Alabama if they fail to win in Sanford Stadium on Saturday. This program has set the standard in college football for the last seven years, and now they have that incredibly high standard to live up to year in and year out. Expectations in Tuscaloosa start with SEC titles and assume a shot at a National Championship. A loss on Saturday would put the Tide in uncharted territory, 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the SEC. Season over. Finished. Pave the way for the Outback Bowl.

Obviously Alabama would have to play the games remaining on their schedule this season, but they won’t matter. A loss against Georgia would render the rest of the season pointless for their fan base, and I dare say, their coach. Without a national title to keep Saban motivated, he might just let someone else coach the games so he can hit the recruiting trail to make sure another tragedy like this one would never happen again.

Going back to the loss against Ohio State last January, pundits nationwide have been speculating on the fall of the Alabama Dynasty. The conversation ramped up after Alabama’s home loss to Ole Miss two weeks ago. A loss at Georgia on Saturday would, in my opinion stop the conversation. Dynasties are build on winning championships, and this would be the third straight season without a national title, after winning 3 out of four titles from 2009-2012. The end of Alabama’s dynasty doesn’t mean that Bama won’t be good anymore, just that the era of dominance is over in Tuscaloosa, and with the level of talent in the SEC West, it is unlikely to ever return to the level it was at just a few years ago.

So what's at stake for Alabama? Everything.

Each year there are multiple games that garner national attention. There are other games that are important in the chase for a title. Still there are other games that are program defining for one of the two teams participating. Saturday is a combination of all of the above. The stakes for each team could not be higher, and the anticipation for this game is as high as any since Mark Richt has been the head coach of Georgia.

Sometimes there is symmetry in sports, and it would be incredibly appropriate if the Alabama Dynasty, which was born in Athens, Georgia on September 27, 2008 ended in the same place nearly 7 years after that fateful game. That game changed the trajectory of both teams, and this game could very well do the same.

A game that is unlikely to disappoint

Georgia and Alabama don’t play that often, but in the past 15 years, when they do play, the game rarely disappoints.

The recent history of the Georgia/Alabama series started back in 2002 when an up and coming Georgia team traveled to Tuscaloosa where Georgia had never won before.

Leading up to the game, former Auburn coach and Georgia graduate, Pat Dye, said Georgia wasn’t “man enough” to beat Alabama.

Georgia came out and played very well at the start of the game and had a 12 point lead in the fourth quarter, before the Crimson Tide stormed back to a one point lead. Behind David Greene, Georgia got into field goal range, where Billy Bennett kicked at 32-yard field goal to give Georgia the 27-25 win. The win propelled Georgia on to its first SEC title since the days of Herschel Walker.

One year later, Alabama was falling apart when they came to Athens. Georgia dominated the first half of the game, leading 30-3 before Alabama had even made a single first down. Alabama made yet another comeback, but this one fell well short as the Dawgs completed the two game sweep 37-23.

Those first two games in the series were about one team on the rise, Georgia, and one team failing to rekindle past glory, Alabama. Despite what Alabama fans might remember, there was football played between 1992 and 2008, there just wasn’t a lot of good football played by Alabama. Each time the 

Tide hired a new coach, the shadow of the Bear loomed large over the coach and the program in general.

In early 2007, Alabama hired Nick Saban from the Miami Dolphins, and there was again hope that there would be a return to past glory. We all know that Saban would turn things around for the Tide, but in 2007, nothing was guaranteed. Ironically, the Georgia/Alabama series was back on in 2007 as the Dawgs headed back to Tuscaloosa trying to make it three straight wins over the Tide.

Alabama was having an up and down season under their new coach, and Georgia had already lost to South Carolina at home. The loser of this game wasn’t going to have the type of season they each hoped for.

It was a battle of two top 25 teams that was back and forth then entire game. Neither team led by more than 10 points at any time. Just as they did 5 years earlier, Alabama came back in the fourth quarter tying the game at 20 with only one minute left in regulation. For the first time in the history of the rivalry, the game went to overtime.

Alabama got the ball first but didn’t move a yard. The Tide had to settle for a field goal, leaving the door open for the Dawgs to win with a touchdown. Georgia wasted no time as Matthew Stafford threw a 25-yard touchdown to Mikey Henderson on the first play of Georgia’s possession to win the game 26-23.

As it often does in this series, the game defined each team’s season to a point. Georgia would lose to Tennessee soon after their win in Tuscaloosa, but they would recover to dance on the field against Florida, Blackout Auburn, and go on to win the Sugar Bowl over Hawaii and finish the season as the #3 team in the nation.

Alabama would struggle all season finishing the season 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the SEC. The very definition of average. The low point of the season would come in November, when the Tide lost at home to Louisiana-Monroe 21-14. A win in the Independence Bowl over Colorado gave the Tide a 7-6 record for the season. No matter what any Tide fan would tell you now, no one was convinced after the 2007 season that Nick Saban was going to be the man to return the Tide to national prominence.

That would change one year later.

There has been a lot of talk about the end of the Alabama dynasty in recent weeks. The 24 hour news cycle requires people to talk more than they think, so everyone is ready to write off the Tide because they have lost a few games over the past two seasons. All good things come to an end, so at some point, the Alabama Dynasty will be over. We still don’t know when and where it will end. Only time and perspective will truly be able to answer that question, but I can tell you where it began.

September 27, 2008 in Athens, Georgia.

Alabama had upset Clemson to start the season, but when the Tide rolled into Athens, they were the team with something to prove.

Georgia started the 2008 season as the number one team in the nation behind Stafford, Moreno, and Green. Georgia was undefeated, but they were unimpressive in the first few weeks of the season, so they had dropped to number 3 in the polls.

Georgia’s seniors asked Mark Richt to allow the team to wear black jerseys against the Tide for a 7:45 pm kickoff. The UGA Athletic Association website advertised it as “Blackout Bama.” When asked about the blackout, one of the Alabama assistant coaches said that Georgia was wearing black because they were going to their own funeral. How right he was.

The Tide offense rolled up and down the field in the first half, with the Georgia defense unable to stop the Tide. Meanwhile, the vaunted Georgia offense never got going. At half time, it was 31-0. Georgia fought back to make the final score look more respectable, but at the end of the day, it was a beating.

Alabama would stay undefeated all the way to the SEC title game where they lost to eventual national champion, Florida. Georgia would lose to the Gators in Jacksonville and worst of all, to Tech at the end of the season. For a team that started as number one, three losses was a huge disappointment.

Over the next few seasons, Georgia would struggle while Alabama would win national titles.

Fate would bring the two teams back together on December 1, 2012 in the SEC title game. As it had for many of the previous seasons, the SEC title game was a defacto National Semifinal with the winner of the game poised to take on Notre Dame for the National title.

This was the first time under Mark Richt where Georgia had put themselves in position to get to the National Title game. While the Tide were favorites, Georgia was ranked 3^rd in the nation, so it wasn’t like they didn’t belong on the field.

Georgia proved that they did belong, leading the Tide by 10 points early in the third quarter. Bama came back to reclaim the lead early in the fourth quarter 25-21. Georgia, behind Todd Gurley would storm back down the field to pull ahead 28-25 with 13 minutes left in the game. After a couple of punts by each team, AJ McCarron hit Amari Cooper with a 45-yard touchdown with only 3 minutes left in the game to give Alabama the 32-28 lead.

Georgia of course would come up just short on their final drive of the game when Aaron Murray’s pass to the end zone was tipped at the line of scrimmage and caught by Chris Conley as time ran out on the Dawgs dream of playing for the National Title.

As the anticipation for Saturday’s game increases throughout the week, prepare yourself for a game that will most likely be close on Saturday, but also have long lasting repercussions for both programs. 

Georgia/South Carolina Preview

Steve Spurrier is coming to town. Lock your doors and hide your women, because the Old Ball Coach is coming to Athens.

South Carolina is coming off a disappointing home loss to Kentucky last weekend, where they were completely and thoroughly outplayed for all four quarters. South Carolina lost their starting quarterback, Conner Mitch, for the season with a separated shoulder. South Carolina has struggled to stop the run in both of their first two games. South Carolina will come to Sanford Stadium on Saturday a mind-blowing 17 point underdog.

So this is going to be an easy win for Georgia right?

WRONG.

If there is one thing we should all know about being a Georgia fan, or even an Atlanta sports fan in general, is that it is never as easy as it should be.

I wish so badly that Georgia would come out and just run the ball up and down the field, while letting our star-studded defense dominate the game, but I know that won’t happen.

Georgia is far more talented than South Carolina. Other than Carolina’s wide receiver, Pharaoh Cooper, there isn’t a position on the field where South Carolina is better than Georgia. 

Like I said, this game should be easy. The obvious weakness of Georgia’s team is quarterback. After watching the first half of the game last week against Vanderbilt, I was ready to see the Grayson Lambert experiment come to an end, but the coaches saw differently. Lambert was better in the second half, and if going 0-7 and playing as bad as he did against Vanderbilt didn’t get Grayson Lambert benched, then nothing will. The coaches have made their decision, and Grayson Lambert is going to be Georgia’s starting quarterback this season.

As nervous as Georgia fans are about Lambert, the quarterback situation at South Carolina is even worse. The Gamecocks will be starting former walk-on quarterback Perry Orth on Saturday night. Orth was 13-20 for 179 yards against Kentucky coming in for Mitch who was hurt early in the game. Orth threw one touchdown, and a late interception that sealed the win for Kentucky.

Read that paragraph again. Steve Spurrier, offensive genius, quarterback guru, visor-tossing loon is bringing a former walk on quarterback between the hedges for the first start of his career. The Old Ball coach is a long, long way from Gainesville in the mid 90’s where he changed quarterbacks like they were underwear.

With Orth under center, South Carolina’s offense is going to be heavily dependent on the run, which means the load will be carried by Brandon Wilds. Spurrier will have many ideas about how to get the ball in his best players hands, so don’t be surprised if you see a lot of plays with Pharaoh Cooper taking a direct snap, or Cooper on a jet sweep. If I know this, Georgia’s coaches surly know this, and they should be ready.

Georgia’s defense has been so fun to watch this year. Jordan Jenkins played like a man possessed in Nashville, and the talent that Georgia has on the defensive side of the ball makes me feel so much more confident about this team this season than in years past when we knew we just had to outscore everyone.

The game plan for Georgia could not be simpler. Run the ball on offense, and throw when needed off play action. Defensively, stop the run and take advantage of Orth who would have to be super-human not to be overwhelmed by the moment on Saturday. Any time Orth drops back, Georgia will be sending the most talented trio of linebackers in the country right into his kitchen, and my guess is he will not be able to handle it. The secondary will be licking their lips at the idea of this green quarterback throwing early trying not to get hit. I would be shocked if Georgia doesn’t get at least one interception.

There is no reason Georgia should lose this game.

There is no reason that Georgia shouldn’t cover the spread in this game.

But, then all we have to do is remember a mere 11 months ago, in Jacksonville, Florida. Georgia found a way to lose a game that was impossible to lose.

There will be many tests for Georgia this season, but this first test is the most important test of all. Can we finally get out of our own way, and drop a game to a team that is on the verge of disarray?

South Carolina is already 0-1 in the league, and they will lose at least 3 more games this season. Georgia isn’t a perfect team, but they are much better than the team they are playing on Saturday night. Georgia is at home. Georgia HAS to win this game.

The Dawgs will get the win, but I wouldn’t lay the 17 points if I were betting your money.

South Carolina 17   Georgia 31

Go Dawgs.

Week 3 Preview

Fans, pundits, and prognosticators spend the summer months analyzing the coming college football season, but once the season finally kicks off, it takes a short period of time for us to see that all of that talk means absolutely nothing.

The reason I believe college football is the greatest sport we have is because its regular season is a test that lasts 15 weeks. Every week, we peel off another layer of hype, to slowly reveal the ultimate truth in the form of a National Champion.

There were a few themes that were hyped all summer that have already been put to rest. Let’s start with the demise of the SEC. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the SEC West’s bowl record referenced. The West went 2-5 this past bowl season, and apparently, that meant that the amazing games and drama produced by the SEC West meant nothing.

The reality is that the SEC was never as dominant as it was perceived to be. 7 straight national titles was great, but it coincided with multiple programs around the country going through transitional periods. USC, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Florida State, and Notre Dame all had coaching changes, probation, scandals, or rebuilding seasons during the SEC’s reign at the top of college football.

The new reality is that many of those programs are on the way back, while some of the SEC’s top programs are in a bit of a transition themselves. Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Auburn, and LSU all have serious questions at quarterback coming into 2015. As good as some of those teams are, they will struggle to repeat past dominance because quarterback is the most important position in football, and you can’t just throw anyone in there and expect to get results.

The NFL is the most popular sport in America because of parity. Each year, teams that struggled the year before make the playoffs, and many times, teams that played in the Super Bowl, miss the playoffs. With some of those traditional college football powers beginning to regain past glory, at the same time, SEC teams are reloading, what we have in 2015 is a dream for a college football fan: parity.

There are many notable games this weekend, Auburn/LSU, Ole Miss/Alabama, Tech/Notre Dame, and BYU/UCLA. Those are all games that feature two teams ranked in the Top 25. Outside of those matchups, there are plenty of intriguing games like Georgia/South Carolina, Clemson/Louisville, Kentucky/Florida, and Stanford/USC that are must see this weekend. In any of the games I listed, I would not be surprised if either team won. That is both amazing and exciting. There is no person in the country right now that could predict the playoff teams with any kind of certainty, and that is a great thing for college football.

There will be questions answered this weekend, but in reality, even a team losing on Saturday would still have a good chance of making the playoff if they ran the table, so we won’t be able to make any definitive statements on the playoff for another month at least.

Everyone would agree that Ohio State is number one, but they might be in the most precarious situation of all. Their assumed dominance could lead to complacency at times throughout the year, and the wrong loss, to the wrong team, could completely derail their attempt at defending their title.

With the coming week of college football put into context, here is my preview of Week 3, the first of 

many, Showdown Saturdays.

Auburn v. LSU  3:30 pm CBS

The Auburn Tigers almost ruined their entire season last Saturday against Jacksonville State. They needed overtime to take out the Gamecocks at home, in a game where most people showed up to see Auburn’s new video board, rather than to see a competitive football game. There is no way the Auburn Tigers could have a lot of confidence as they travel to Death Valley on Saturday afternoon to take on LSU.

Before the season, Auburn was everyone’s pick as a surprise team this season, but I wasn’t buying the hype. Auburn couldn’t stop the run last year, and if the first two game of this season are any indication, nothing has changed. Enter Leonard Fournette. Fournette could be the best running back in the nation, and he will be licking his chops as he watches Auburn’s defense fail to stop backs that don’t have 1/10^th of the talent of Fournette. On the other side of the ball, Auburn has not been efficient on offense with Jeremy Johnson under center. Johnson has thrown too many interceptions, and hasn’t been effective running the ball the way we saw Nick Marshall run the Auburn offense over the past two seasons.

LSU has flown under the radar all off season and they continue to be overlooked, but that will end on Saturday. Just like we saw last year, the SEC West will deliver great game after great game, and the winner of those great games will then have all the pressure in the world placed on them moving forward. The reality is that no team will survive the SEC West without a loss, and if a team makes it through with only one loss, they will be the only one to do so. LSU is a terrible matchup for Auburn, offensively and defensively. Les Miles has said that Death Valley is where opponents dreams come to die, after last week’s close call, I think Auburn’s nightmare of a season will begin on Saturday afternoon.

Auburn 16   LSU 27

Ole Miss v. Alabama  9:15 pm ESPN

Last year, Ole Miss gave Alabama their only regular season loss, in a game that Alabama had won a couple of times. For the Rebels, it was a national statement that they were a legit contender, and it lead them to one of the greatest seasons in their school’s history.

This year, Ole Miss won’t surprise Alabama, and this will be the truest test of where the program is and where it is going. You don’t just walk into Alabama and beat the Tide, you have to earn it. Alabama has looked good so far, and so has Ole Miss, so unless you have something really important to do on Sunday morning, stay up late on Saturday night and watch this game.

There are huge questions for both of these teams at the quarterback position, and Saturday night will go a long way to providing answers. If Chad Kelley can lead the Rebels to a win, then Ole Miss will be in the driver’s seat for Atlanta. If Jacob Coker struggles, Alabama’s quarterback race could be opened back up very quickly.

Instinct would tell you that Ole Miss can’t win this game. Saban doesn’t lose these types of games. Ole Miss has come a long way in just three short years, but to be the man you have to beat the man, and they aren’t quite ready to walk that aisle just yet.

Ole Miss  23  Alabama 31

Florida v. Kentucky  7:30 pm SEC Network

As good as some of these other games are, this is, to me, the most intriguing game of the week. Neither Florida or Kentucky are going to win the National Title this season, but the result of this game will tell us so much about both of these teams.

Kentucky took a big step forward last week going into Columbia and beating South Carolina. They looked explosive on offense and solid on defense. Florida is not a good team, but they have 

Kentucky’s number. The Cats haven’t beaten the Gators in 30 years. Kentucky’s schedule is very interesting. They get Florida, Missouri, Tennessee, and Auburn all at home this season. They only have three road games left this year, Mississippi State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. I’m not ready to say 

Kentucky can win the East, but it’s not going to be a cake walk beating this team, especially in Lexington.

Meanwhile, Florida continues to try and find their way under first year coach Jim McElwain. Last week’s sideline rant in the face of Kelvin Taylor grabbed all the attention in the lead up to this game, but it matter when the Gators take the field. It says a lot about where Florida is that a win against Kentucky would be big for the program, but that is exactly what is on the line this weekend.  It is entirely possible that a loss this weekend against Kentucky could be the first of 6 straight losses for the Gators. The next winnable game I see on their schedule is Vanderbilt on November 7^th. McElwain might get this program back to great heights, but he isn’t going to do it this year.

History is going to be made in Lexington, and you better get ready for a Fall full of pain in Gainesville.

Florida 17   Kentucky 20

I was going to do an extended preview of the Tech/Notre Dame game, but I’m not sure the Irish are going to have enough healthy players to field a team. Tech should be able to win this game, but only because of Notre Dame’s season ending injuries to their quarterback, running back, and starting tight end.

South Carolina/Georgia preview coming tomorrow.

The names you will know before the end of 2015

Each year, I try to give Georgia fans a few names that they won’t know when the season kicks off, but they will know very well by the time the season is over. Sometimes I am right, and sometimes I am wrong. I’m feeling pretty confident after last season, because gave two names: Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. I liked them both, but I favored Chubb. Like I said, feeling pretty confident.

This year, I’m going to give you four names. Four players that I believe will make a huge impact on the 2015 season and beyond.

1.       Trenton Thompson: Mr. Thompson, you would call him Mr. if you met him on the street, is 6-4 311 pounds and he just turned 19 on July 27^th. Mr. Thompson is going to change Georgia’s defense this season. At one point, he was rated by Rivals as the number one player in the country, but late in the recruiting process, he was bumped to number 2. At the Under Armor All America game, one reporter asked him why he hadn’t smiled all week. Trenton answered that he wasn’t here to smile and make friends; he was here to get his number one ranking back! The moment I heard that, I loved this guy. Last season, Georgia’s defense was number 2 in the nation against the pass, giving up an average of 158.4 yards per game. Georgia had 13 interceptions and sacked the quarterback 24 times. Teams couldn’t pass against Georgia. But they could run, and run they did. Georgia’s rush defense was tied for 75^th in the nation, giving up 175.6 yards per game rushing. Georgia was 10^th out of 14 teams in the SEC in rush defense. In Georgia’s two worst losses of the season, Florida and Tech, Georgia’s rush defense was embarrassing. Florida ran 60 times for 418 yards, while Tech ran 70 times for 399. Georgia gave up 2,169 yards rushing last season and 817, nearly 38%, came in the two games against, arguably, Georgia’s two biggest rivals. Mr. Thompson will help change all of those numbers in 2015. Mr. Thompson will play nose tackle in Georgia’s 3-4 defense, which is, without question, the most important position in a 3-4 defense. The base concept of the 3-4 defense is that one, huge nose-tackle would need to be double teamed by 2 offensive linemen, leaving three linemen to block the other two defensive tackles and a blitzing linebacker coming from one of the four linebacker positions. So, in real terms, a true nose tackle means that there would be a one on one situation between a lineman and Leonard Floyd or Lorenzo Carter. Offensive lineman wouldn’t stand a chance, so teams will have to use tight ends and/or, running backs to help block, thus changing the opposing offense completely. You might not hear the name Trenton Thompson week in and week out on television, but you will read about Mr. Thompson in this blog, and you will know that when Georgia’s defense improves dramatically against the run in 2015, Mr. Thompson will be the primary reason.

2.       Terry Godwin: Wide receiver is one of the most interesting, and least talked about positions heading into the 2015 season. Godwin is a five-star athlete that Georgia was able to keep in state, something that hasn’t happened in previous years. While someone like Mr. Thompson will probably start from day one, Godwin’s role will be a little different. Georgia’s coaches would be crazy to believe that the Dawgs’ top two returning wide receivers, Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley, can make it through the entire season healthy. Neither player has been healthy in their Georgia career, so odds are that at some point this season, one if not both of these guys are going to be on the bench. Georgia lost Chris Connelly, Michael Bennett, and Jonathan Rumph to graduation, so the returning starters at wide receiver don’t leave you feeling very confidant. Names like Reggie Davis, Kenneth Towns, and Shakenneth Williams are largely unknown to the Bulldog Nation because they haven’t made major contributions in their limited playing time. You will know the name Isaiah McKenzie, but his size and speed make him a perfect fit for a third, or slot receiver, leaving a potentially big hole on the outside of Georgia’s offense. Enter Terry Godwin, and to a lesser extent Michael Chigbu. Godwin will establish himself as Georgia’s top receiver before Georgia plays Florida in Jacksonville, and he will be the best receiver Georgia has had since AJ Greene.

3.       Rashad Roundtree: When Georgia was thriving under Mark Richt in the early to mid 2000’s, there was always a big name safety that would be ready at a moment’s notice to lower the boom on opposing receivers. Names like Thomas Davis, Greg Blue, and Kelin Johnson were often the leaders of the defense. Rashad Roundtree is built in that same mold. 6-1 and 205 pounds, Roundtree was recruited heavily, and chose the Dawgs over defending national champion, Ohio State. Last year, Dominick Sanders showed that freshman have the ability to make a big impact in the secondary under Jeremy Pruitt, and Roundtree will be able to do the same in 2015. I’m not quite sure where he will fit it, free safety, strong safety, nickel corner, but when he is on the field he will make an impact. The secondary is Pruitt’s specialty, and Roundtree just adds more talent to an already loaded position group.

4.       Jake Ganus: While Ganus is a name you might not know yet, but you will know by the end of the season, his story is quite different than the other three names on this list. Mr. Thompson, Rashad Roundtree, and Terry Godwin are all freshman who will have an early impact in their Georgia careers, Ganus is a senior, who will have only one season to make his mark in Athens. Ganus, 6-2, 227 pounds, is a transfer from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is eligible to play this season because UAB abolished their football program last year, and any former UAB player transferring was ruled to be immediately eligible. Ganus will help bridge a gaping hole in the Georgia defense. Georgia lost their top two leading tacklers from a year ago in Amarlo Herrera and Ramik Wilson, and while they have some talented freshman coming in, like Natrez Patrick and Roqaun Smith, Ganus will provide instant maturity at a position of need, inside linebacker. I think Ganus will start at inside linebacker alongside Tim Kimbrough, who saw a lot of playing time last year. If Ganus can step in and be effective against the run, he could very well help Georgia establish one of the best defenses in the nation. Another interesting angle to keep an eye on is the fact that many people believe that the University of Alabama, and Nick Saban in particular had a hand in UAB shutting down their football program. Poetic justice would be sweet for Georgia fans if Ganus, who should be a senior at UAB, has a big impact against the Tide when they come to Athens on October 3^rd. As successful as Saban has been at Alabama, his actions have backfired in a big way before: remember, he lobbied the refs are in 2013 to get one second put back on the clock so he could attempt a field goal against Auburn. We all know how that story ended. Kick-Six.

From Herschel Walker, to AJ Greene, to Todd Gurley, to Nick Chubb, first year players making an impact is nothing new between the hedges. However, with the amount of talent Georgia has been recruiting over the past two seasons, more and more we will see first year players making a real difference in the direction of Georgia’s season. If these four players have the type of impact they are capable of having, Georgia could find itself in the Dome for the SEC title game on December 5^th.

Concerns for the 2015 Season

I’ve already told you that there are a lot of reasons to be excited about Georgia in 2015, but let’s be honest; there are a lot of question marks as well. For those fans that grew up in the Vince Dooley/Larry Munson era, you are more accustomed to hearing about all of the bad things that could happen to our beloved Bulldogs than to hearing anything positive. While both Dooley and Munson loved Georgia, I’m not sure if they ever felt confident before any game against a significant opponent.

A cynical man would say that there isn’t much difference between a realist and a pessimist, but I’m not sure that I buy that. Realistic, Pessimistic, or whatever you might want to call it, here are five reasons to be concerned about the 2015 Georgia Bulldogs.

1.       Who will be the starting quarterback?

For only the third time in the 15 seasons that Mark Richt has been at Georgia, there are legitimate questions surrounding the quarterback position as fall camp starts. In 2001, David Greene and Corey Phillips were battling for the job. Obviously that battle was won by Greene and he would lead Georgia to the SEC title one year later. In 2006, there was a three man race between Joe T 3 (I didn’t want to look up how to spell his name), Joe Cox, and Matthew Stafford. That season, all three quarterbacks started for Georgia and won games for Georgia, but eventually, Stafford won the job and led Georgia to a #2 national finish a year later.

This year, the race is more wide open and a lot different. Barring some unforeseen turn of events, none of the quarterbacks on Georgia’s roster will be the starter when the 2016 edition of the Bulldogs take the field in the Georgia Dome against North Carolina next year in the Chick-fil-A kickoff game. In January, Jacob Eason will be enrolling in classes and will participate in spring practice. Eason is the quarterback of the future, and I expect him to start from day one when he gets to Georgia, so while the quarterback race this year is intriguing and important, it is for one season only.

Bryce Ramsey, Faton Bauta, and Virginia transfer Grayson Lambert will all be vying to start under center for Georgia this year. Ramsey has the most experience as he was Hutson Mason’s back up a year ago and appeared in a few games. Ramsey played the rest of the Belk Bowl after Mason’s injury and looked shaky at best. Bauta brings potentially a new wrinkle to Georgia’s offense, with his ability to run. However, it remains to be seen whether or not Bauta can be effective enough from the pocket to fit into Georgia’s Pro Style offense. The Dawgs won’t be running the spread option any time soon, and for play action to actually work, you have to be able to throw the ball down field with some sort of effectiveness. Lambert is the biggest question mark. Fall practice is his first chance to get on the field with the coaching staff. He hasn’t learned the offense and his numbers at Virginia were pedestrian at best. The biggest question for Lambert is why did Georgia want him? With Eason coming in next year and two experienced quarterbacks already on the roster, what did the coaching staff see in Grayson Lambert?

It has been proven in recent years that your quarterback doesn’t have to be the best in the nation to win a national title, but he has to be at least effective. With the running game that Georgia is bringing back this season, all you need is a guy who can get you in the right plays at the line of scrimmage and 5-10 big throws per game at the right time in the game. I hate the term, but Georgia needs a game manager this season. I don’t think any of these guys is going to win the job with excellent performance, I think we are going to see two guys lose the job by not being able to run the offense and by turning the ball over. One thing is for sure, Georgia can’t win the SEC unless one of these guys can perform better than Hutson Mason did last season.

2.       The Schedule

Every year, the schedule in the SEC is difficult, but this year, Georgia got about as bad of a draw as you can get. Georgia plays Auburn every year, so there is always going to be a strong opponent from the West on Georgia’s schedule. However, this year, Alabama travels to Georgia on October 3^rd, meaning that Georgia will play the projected two best teams from the West this season.

The month of October will make or break Georgia’s season. The Dawgs open at home on the 3^rd with Alabama, then travel to Knoxville to play Tennessee, before returning home to play two-time defending SEC East champion Missouri. The Dawgs close out the month on Halloween night against Florida in Jacksonville. Even the most optimistic Georgia fan would be crazy to feel confident about any of those games.

Alabama is the best coached team in the country, year in and year out, and the last time they were in Athens, they humbled Georgia on national television. Tennessee could have beaten Georgia two years ago in Knoxville if it weren’t for a fluke play in overtime. Missouri stunned the Dawgs in their only other trip to Athens in 2013, and have won the division for the last two years. Florida, well, all Georgia fans know that you can never, ever feel comfortable in Jacksonville.

November is a little better, but you still have to go on the road to both Auburn and Tech, both of whom will be in the running for their respective conference titles. There is no wiggle room in the schedule, and Georgia will have to peak in October if 2015 is going to be a season worth remembering.

3.       A Disappointing Trend

Why should Georgia fans be worried about 2015? Because Georgia has managed to lose games it should have won in each of the past, I don’t know, 15 seasons? That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but not really.

Here is a list of bad losses, either because of the team that Georgia lost to, or the manner in which they lost, under Mark Richt:

2001: South Carolina, Auburn (clock runs out on Georgia), Boston College

2002: Florida (only loss of season)

2003: Florida

2004: Tennessee (after destroying LSU a week earlier)

2005: Florida (Shockley hurt), West Virginia

2006: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

2007: South Carolina (didn’t score a touchdown), Tennessee (35-7)

2008: Alabama, Tech

2009: Tennessee, Kentucky

2010: Mississippi State, Colorado, Florida, UCF

2011: Michigan State (lost in overtime when we had a field goal to win in regulation)

2012: South Carolina

2013: Vanderbilt, Auburn (prayer at Jordan-Hare), Nebraska

2014: Florida, Tech

That’s right, every single year there has been at least one game that left you scratching your head or breaking your furniture, depending on your temperament. Some of the losses have been embarrassing, like any loss to Kentucky or Vanderbilt because that should never happen. Some of the losses have cost Georgia a shot at a title, like Tennessee in 2007, and Florida in 2002. Last year was probably the most obvious of all. Georgia was miles better than Florida, but they underestimated the Gators, and made no adjustments to the Florida run game, and managed to not only lose, but embarrass themselves in the process. Georgia won the Tech game. It was over. Until a bad squib kick left Tech enough time to tie the game with a field goal, and eventually win in overtime.

I have already said that the schedule is a big obstacle in 2015, so it should go without saying that Georgia can’t afford a single bad loss this season. The most Georgia thing that couldn’t happen to the Dawgs this season would be to lose to Vanderbilt and Auburn, beat everyone else, and get shut out of Atlanta and potentially the college football playoff because of a week 2 loss to a Vanderbilt team that won’t go to a bowl game.

Mark Richt must find a way to get the players up for every game, because last year was close to being special, but the entire season fell apart in Jacksonville.

4.       10 Long Years

2015 is the 10 year anniversary of Georgia’s 2005 team that won the SEC title. While the 2005 team should be remembered fondly and celebrated, you can’t think about the 2005 team without adding one little piece of information: 2015 is the 10 year anniversary of Georgia’s LAST SEC title in 2005. Since 2005, 4 SEC schools have won National titles, including 7 straight from 2006 until 2012. Since 2005, Georgia has played in the SEC title game twice, 2011 when they were blown out by LSU, and 2012, which we do not speak of.

In 2005, you wouldn’t have believed that 10 years would pass without another SEC title. Georgia had won 2 of the past 4 SEC titles, and they were, arguably, the best program in the conference. Richt was one of the, if not the, best coach in the league, and Georgia had the number one quarterback recruit in the entire country coming in for 2006. The past 10 years have been filled with disappointments and close calls, and in a business that is all about winning, Mark Richt has managed to win barely enough to keep his job. I love coach Richt and believe that he is the best coach Georgia has ever had, but the reality of major college football in 2015 is that you have to win championships to keep your job. I’m not sure an SEC title is in the cards for 2015, so the streak will probably reach 11 years, but Georgia needs to be in the conversation in November, and Richt needs to bring a conference title back to Athens soon, or Georgia will be looking for a new man to lead the Bulldog Nation.

5.       The Unexpected

A fear of the unknown seems illogical, unless you are a Georgia fan. There is no other way to say it, Georgia has had some terrible luck in recent years. Think about 2012, I know, I know, I’m breaking my own rule. Georgia was on the cusp of playing for a national title. One year later, they beat LSU and South Carolina and look to be on their way to the SEC title game again, then Gurley gets hurt. Marshall gets hurt. Michael Bennett gets hurt. Georgia manages to pull out a win in Knoxville, only to lose at home to Missouri and then on the road to Vanderbilt. Murray has the game of his life in Auburn, pulling Georgia back, nearly single handedly, only to see two freshman manage to screw up a Hail Mary to lose the game. A week later, Murray tares his ACL and his season is over.

Last year, Gurley is the best running back in the nation and on his way to the Heisman, and then he is suspended. Will he come back, won’t he come back? It drags on and on and costs Georgia the Florida game. Gurley comes back, Georgia dominates Auburn, but Gurley tares his ACL and is done at Georgia. Chubb keeps Georgia afloat all season, and the Dawgs only need to Missouri to lose to either Tennessee or Arkansas at the end of the year to go to Atlanta. A day before Georgia plays Tech, Missouri manages to beat Arkansas, clinching the East, and the next day, Georgia loses to Tech with nothing to play for.

Go back even further. Isaiah Crowell was fantastic as a freshman, then he gets busted with a gun, and Georgia loses a star player. Washaun Ealey, Caleb King, Ray Drew, Jay Rome, Nick Marshall, Josh Harvey-Clemons, Trey Matthews, Shaq Wiggins, these are just a few of the names of guys who come in with a lot of hype and or expectations who flopped big time for one reason or another. Most of these guys ended up leaving Georgia, and not because they graduated.

Nick Chubb seems humble, team oriented, and talented, but the I can’t remember the last Georgia tailback that contributed as a freshman and didn’t end up being a disappointment before leaving school. Did Musa Smith contribute as a freshman? The point is, Georgia hasn’t caught a lot of breaks when it comes to the intangibles lately. But maybe that means they are due?

I like to think I am an optimist, but there are real concerns about the 2015 team, and now I have shared them with you. We are going to focus on the positive for the rest of the preseason, but don’t be shocked if we look back in December at this list, and realize that the fatal flaw of this team was right here all along.

Reasons for Optimism

We have already established what the bar is for the 2015 Georgia Bulldogs. 10-2 would be a successful season. Anything better than that would be, in my opinion, an over achievement, and anything less than 10 wins would make for a third straight year of Georgia underachieving. Let me be clear, 10-2 isn’t my prediction for what I expect to happen as much as a conservative bar of what would be acceptable.

I like to think of myself as an optimist, so we will start today with reason to be optimistic for the 2015 season.

1.       Talent

This team, on the back of two consecutive, excellent recruiting classes is the most talented group of players that Georgia has ever put on the field in the Mark Richt era.

Offensively Georgia has playmakers all over the field. Chubb and Michel are the most dynamic one two punch in college football. The biggest thing new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will bring to the table is, hopefully, an NFL approach to the offense where you try to get your best players on the field at the same time. Chubb lined up in the backfield, with Michel, or sophomore wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie in the slot, tight end Jeb Blazevich, and two wide receivers on the outside will give Georgia so many options that any defense would have a hard time covering everyone. Obviously, Georgia’s offense is going to be run first, as always, but the ability to get quick throws in the hands of speedy guys like Michel, McKenzie, and Malcolm Mitchell, will take a lot of heat off the inexperienced quarterback, whoever he is. The forgotten part of this offense that is going to be a major strength is the offensive line. Deep and experienced, the offensive line might be the best in the SEC.

2.       Nick Chubb

Last year, Chubb was the third guy to get into the game against Clemson. By the time Chubb started getting carries late in the third quarter, Georgia was well on its way to winning the game, but the run that Chubb made down the Georgia sideline, where he ran around, and over Clemson defenders was epic. It was so epic, that you probably didn’t remember that he had stepped out of bounds on the long run and the touchdown was called back. By the middle of the season, Chubb had gone from third string to the only healthy running back Georgia had eligible to play. At Missouri, in perhaps Georgia most impressive game of the 2014 season, Chubb was a workhorse. Chubb ran for 143 tough yards on a mind-blowing 38 carries with one touchdown. If the Missouri game was his coming out party, the Arkansas game a week later was his coronation as the lead Dawg to the Bulldog Nation. 30 more carries against the Hogs for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns. By the time Chubb was finished running all over the Louisville defense in the Belk Bowl, the freshman had run for 1547 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was the first team All SEC running back and the SEC Freshman of the Year. Only one Dawg has ever run for more yards in a season than Nick Chubb ran for last year, and they ended up retiring his number 34. Chubb’s humility and team first mentality is refreshing, and seemingly genuine, you want to root for number 27, and Georgia fans should be thrilled to have him in the backfield for two more seasons.

3.       Year 2 of the Jeremy Pruitt Defense

A year ago, Georgia fans saw a significant improvement on the defensive side of the ball. Not that the bar had been set very high by the Todd Grantham disgraces that were Georgia’s defense in 2013. Last year was by no means perfect, but you have to feel that things were heading in the right direction. The most glaring problem from 2014 on the defensive side of the ball was Georgia’s inability to adjust to the run game against Florida and Tech. Both teams kept running the same play, over and over, and having success. Georgia will have to be better against the run in 2015 if they want to compete against the best teams in the league. The most encouraging aspect of the defense was the secondary. Pruitt was secondary coach at Alabama before his one year as defensive coordinator at Florida State, and his work with Georgia’s secondary last season paid big dividends. Schematically, a secondary that covers well will give the strength of Georgia’s defense, the linebackers, time to get to the quarterback without having to blitz on every play. About those linebackers, Jordan Jenkins returns for his senior season. Leonard Floyd comes back for his red-shirt junior season, and Lorenzo Carter, who might be better than either of his upper classmen counterparts, will look to build on an impressive freshman season. If Pruitt can figure out ways to get all three guys on the field at the same time, quarterbacks will be safer taking a knee, rather than risking their lives by dropping back for a pass. When Georgia was at their best under Mark Richt, in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2012 Georgia’s defense was a big part of the team’s overall success. That would appear to be the case again. The question is, how good can this defense be this season, while still keeping Pruitt in Athens?

4.       Impact Freshman

Georgia has a talented freshman class coming in. Each year, I do a single post about the names you might not know now, but you will know by October, so you will get a lot more on the incoming freshman, but believe me when I tell you that just like last season, when Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Isaiah McKenzie, Lorenzo Carter, Jeb Blazevich, and Dominick Sanders made big contributions as freshman, Georgia will be better because of their incoming class. It would be hard to top last year’s class, but Georgia might be able to duplicate their freshman success of 2014.

5.      Weak East

For the first 10-15 years of the SEC, the league was dominated by the Eastern Division. Obviously, the tide (no pun intended) has changed, and the West is by far the stronger of the two divisions. The coaches poll, which has already been released features 5 SEC West teams in the top 25, with the other two teams ranked 26^th and 27^th if the poll were extended. Contrastly, Georgia, Missouri, and Tennessee are the only Eastern division teams that are ranked in the preseason poll, and the Vols come in at #25. Vanderbilt is terrible, Kentucky is getting better, so they are only bad, Florida is an unknown quantity, and South Carolina has seen their best days come and go. The East is wide open, which should mean that Georgia won’t have to be perfect to win the division, but as we have seen many times in the past, strange things happen on the road to Atlanta. Missouri won the East last year despite a 30-0 home loss to runner up Georgia. Georgia won the East in 2012 despite at 35-7 loss to runner up South Carolina. Georgia lost their first two games in 2011, to Boise State and South Carolina, only to reel off 10 straight wins to win the division at 10-2. There is no way any team in the SEC is going to be undefeated this season, but I think there could be an 11-1 team coming out of the SEC East, heading to Atlanta for a shot at the playoff. The West is going to get all the hype again this season, and for good reason, but being in the East is a far better path to the College Football Playoff.

For every ying, there is a yang. Next up, I give you the reasons to worry about Georgia in 2015.

Setting the Expectations for the 2015 Season

As we approach another college football season, I feel compelled once again to do the small public service of reminding college football fans that the number one key to enjoying the coming season is to have the proper perspective and expectations for your team.

Here in Athens, there is an unusual hesitation that seems to be hanging over the 2015 season. Going back to 2012, Georgia has been expected to finish the season at the top of the SEC East and in contention for the National Championship. A few weeks ago, the sports writers that gathered in Birmingham, Alabama for SEC Media Days voted Georgia as the favorite to win the Eastern Division again this season, but it has been nearly 3 years since Georgia played in the SEC title game, and there is no way to look at the past two seasons as anything but disappointments.

There are so many reasons for Georgia fans to expect this year to be a special season, but in many ways, those expectations seem to have become more habit than anything else.

The reality of the 2015 season is that we lost the best running back in the country in Todd Gurley, we have a first year offensive coordinator coaching who will be trying to break in a new quarterback for the second consecutive season, the defense made huge strides last year, but there were plenty of holes throughout the year, the kicking game and special teams improved over the disaster that was the 2013 season, but in the biggest moment of the 2014 season, on the road at a wounded South Carolina, two missed field goals doomed the entire 2014 campaign.

Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it, and for Georgia, that means facing the uncomfortable facts head on. For two seasons running, Georgia has at least one inexplicable loss each year. In 2013, Georgia lost at home to Missouri in a game that the Dawgs didn’t seem prepared for, and then followed that performance up with an inexcusable loss on the road at Vanderbilt.

Last season, Georgia was unable to beat a beatable South Carolina in Columbia, but the real disasters were in Jacksonville, where Georgia was unbelievably bad and the home finale with Tech, when the Dawgs managed to rip defeat from the jaws of victory with the squib kick heard around the peach state.

Early in the Richt Era, Georgia had a reputation for going on the road and winning big games. Georgia earned that reputation by winning in Knoxville in 2001, 2003, and 2005, by shutting out Clemson on the road to open the 2003 season, by coming back from a 16 point deficit to win at South Carolina in 2004, then shutting out the Gamecocks in Columbia two years later, Georgia won in Tuscaloosa for the first time ever in 2002, then “walked off” against the Tide in overtime in 2007, Georgia has never lost to Tech in Atlanta under Mark Richt. A reputation isn’t built or dismantled in one game or one season, but over the past two years, Georgia has earned the reputation of a team that is going to have a bad loss at some point of the season. It will be imperative that Mark Richt changes that reputation in 2015.

When looking ahead to the new season, you have to start with the schedule. Georgia’s schedule sets up nicely for the month of September as the Dawgs open at home against Louisiana Monroe before opening up SEC play on the road against Vanderbilt. Both of those games should be easy wins for Georgia. The Dawgs have those two games to work out some kinks before coming home to play South Carolina on September 19^th. Georgia is better than South Carolina and they will be playing at home, so Georgia should be expected to win that game. The Dawgs finish out the month of September by hosting Southern University on September 29^th.

The 2015 season will be decided in October. Georgia hosts Alabama on October 3^rd for the first time since the infamous “Blackout” game in 2008 when the Tide destroyed the Dawgs. The next week, Georgia heads to Rocky Top to take on the trendy pick to win the SEC East, Tennessee. The last time Georgia played in Knoxville, in 2013, it took an overtime miracle for Georgia to leave with a victory. Tennessee will have this game circled as a program-shifting opportunity to put themselves back in the conversation for the SEC title. The following week, Georgia returns home to host the two-time defending SEC East Champion, Missouri Tigers. Since Missouri came into the SEC in 2012, the home team hasn’t won a game in this series. Last year, Georgia humiliated the Tigers, but Missouri managed to get into the SEC title game because they ran the table in the SEC, while Georgia had two, ugly losses to Florida and South Carolina. October ends, literally, with Georgia v. Florida in Jacksonville on Halloween night.

For all the questions we have about Georgia, we will have all the answers we need by November 1^st. Georgia’s November schedule seems reasonable when compared with the gauntlet that is October. Georgia hosts Kentucky on November 7^th, travels to Auburn on November 14^th for the first time since the “Prayer and Jordan-Hare” in 2013, comes home to play Georgia Southern on November 21^st, and then concludes the regular season in Atlanta against Tech on November 28^th.

Overall, the schedule is difficult, but as SEC schedules go, it is reasonable.

Georgia returns a solid team from a year ago, featuring three returning linebackers that should give Georgia one of the best past rushes in the nation. Leonard Floyd, Jordan Jenkins, and Lorenzo Carter will make it fun watching the defense terrorize opposing quarterbacks this season.

Offensively, Nick Chubb is getting a ton of hype as a potential Heisman candidate, but Georgia also returns Malcolm Mitchell, who is healthy for the first time in almost two years, Justin Scott-Wesley, Sony Michel, Jeb Blazevich, and Isaiah McKenzie on offense which gives Georgia more than enough weapons to have a potent offense.

The biggest question for Georgia in 2015 is a familiar one: can the quarterback be good enough to lead this team to an SEC title. Last year, Hutson Mason was not good enough at quarterback. I’m not saying the entire season was his fault, but at the end of the day, he was not enough of a legitimate threat to win week after week. This season is even more unknown that last year. Three players, Brice Ramsey, Faton Bauta, and Virginia transfer Greyson Lambert will vie for the opportunity to win the starting job when camp opens next week, but even if one player separates himself before the start of the season, it doesn’t mean that we won’t see more than one quarterback take meaningful snaps for Georgia this season.

The irony of the past two years is that Georgia fans constantly complained about Aaron Murray during his four-year career at Georgia, but the reality is this: Georgia would be ranked #2 in the preseason polls (right behind defending champion Ohio State) this year if Murray was under center for Georgia rather than the quarterback position being a question mark. Please, please, please Georgia fans, when we have another great quarterback (in 2016), be thankful for what you have, and remember 2014 and 2015 when all you needed was a quarterback to be a legitimate contender.

So what then should we expect for 2015?

You should expect a great running game, a great defense, and an exciting season that will ultimately fall short of a significant achievement. Here is the bar for 2015: 10-2, with those two losses coming against Alabama, Auburn, or Tennessee. Georgia cannot lose to South Carolina, Florida, or Tech and call this season a success. 10-2 will most likely get Georgia back in the SEC title game, but unless I am very wrong about the quarterback situation, Georgia won’t be good enough to win the SEC, let alone be considered for the playoff.

So now that you have the proper level of expectations for the 2015, we can spend the next month breaking down the team, position by position, analyzing the rest of the best from across the nation, and predicting the practically unpredictable 2015 college football season. It should be a fun ride.

Go Dawgs!