Countdown to No. 1: Should Georgia be higher or lower than No. 18?
We continue our countdown to the nation’s top five teams on Friday, Today we rank teams 16-20. If you see teams that should not be ranked at all or should be ranked in another position, let me know and tell me why. Here we go:
20. Miami
**–It will be a good season if: QB Jacory Harris stays healthy. Harris threw for 3,352 yards as a sophomore but at the end of the season was battling with a bad thumb. He’s had surgery and then just watched during spring practice. If Harris can cut back on the interceptions (17 in 2009) the Hurricanes could have a special season.
**–It will be a disappointing season if: The ‘Canes don’t play big in the big games. They were 9-4 last season but in the big games they had a tendency to turn it over and make other big mistakes (Eight combined turnovers in losses to Clemson and North Carolina). After a 3-1 start against Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma, Miami should have finished better.
19. Oregon State
**–It will be a good season if: The Rodgers brothers stay healthy. RB Jacquizz Rodgers had almost 2,000 yards of total offense (1,440 rush, 522 receiving) last season. WR James Rodgers has blazing speed and had 2,328 all-purpose yards in 2009.
**–It will be a disappointing season if: The Beavers don’t win the Civil War and go to a really good bowl. The past two years they were a win against Oregon away from going to the Rose Bowl. With 16 starters returning and with Oregon coming to Corvallis on Dec. 4, this is the year.
18. Georgia
**–It will be a good season if: A veteran offensive line is good on day one and a defense which forced only 12 turnovers last season gets an attitude adjustment from new coordinator Todd Grantham. If the Bulldogs can run the ball and play defense, they have a chance every week.
**–It will be a disappointing season if: Redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray struggles and the Bulldogs lose back-to-back games at South Carolina (on Sept. 11) and at home to Arkansas (on Sept. 18).
17. Pittsburgh
**–It will be a good season if: Running back Dion Lewis can continue to be a workhorse. Lewis carried the ball 325 times in 13 games as a freshman last season. Only Stanford’s Toby Gerhart carried it more (345). Lewis will still be the focal point of the offense, especially with a new quarterback in sophomore Tino Sunseri.
**–It will be a disappointing season if: The Panthers don’t win the Big East championship. They came so close a year ago, losing to West Virginia (19-16) and Cincinnati (45-44) in the last two games of the regular season. Cincinnati has a new coach and Pittsburgh gets West Virginia at home on Nov. 26.
16. Arkansas
**–It will be a good season if: Quarterback Ryan Mallett improves on last season’s numbers. The 6-7 quarterback threw for over 3,600 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first season in Bobby Petrino’s offense. He has a deep stable of receivers and at least four really good running backs.
**–It will be a disappointing season if: The Hogs don’t at least split games on Sept. 18 at Georgia and Sept. 25 against Alabama in Fayetteville. Expectations are high in Arkansas. Starting 0-2 in the SEC would be a setback.
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403 comments Add your comment
crackbaby
August 17th, 2010
4:58 pm
TB,
So many preseason polls only consider what teams did the previous year. Remember when UGA was ranked #1 after the Sugar Bowl drubbing of Hawaii? Did anyone have Alabama as their preseason No. 1 last year? Of course not because the Gators were NCs in ‘08.
You have the Dawgs ranked too low. SI has them going 4-4 in the SEC. SERIOUSLY, sports journalism still resides at the level of the guy who asked “is the donor still alive?” after Mickey Mantle’s liver transplant. UGA has a veteran O-line and should win 8 or 9 games just running the ball and playing good D.
Also, please don’t tell us Alabama will be national champs. They lost 8 to 10 defensive starters (depending on who you listen to). The odds of playing championship D after losing that many players is, well, low. The Tide should have lost to the Vols last year and you could make the argument that Auburn just gave them the Iron Bowl in the second half.
BTW – I like your call on Oregon State. The Beavers have never stepped up to grab the brass ring. Maybe with USC out of the Bowl picture, they will take advantage.
Dustin
August 17th, 2010
4:58 pm
I like Georgia in 2010. Here’s why.
SC: Gonna win this one. Richt’s 7-2 vs. Spurrier’s SC and Richt has a
39-5 road record at Georgia. Also, Lakaotas’ DB’s at UCONN shut out Spurrier in the Bowl game, complete domination, Lakatos studied SC for weeks, he’ll be ready for this game and anything Spurrier tries. Lakatos’ DB’s were ranked higher than Saban’s in 2008. You won’
to be able to pass well against the guy’s program, and Grantham’s blitzes will drive SC nuts.
Ark: Gonna win this one too. Mallet is terrible on the road with a .40 accuracy, very few td’s, and does not play well against good teams on the road, and gets Georgia in Athens. Richt’s 5-0 against Ark in last 5. Ark can’t play D, AJ Green, Ealey & Olson gonna have a HUGE day, look for O to score 40, and go for 500 yards in this one.
Fla: Fla is WAY down. Brantley is untested. WR’s are anemic. RB’s are fumble prone. No depth at QB. Lost Strong, Tebow, and 9 guys to the NFL. Fla will lose 4 games in 2010.
Bama or Auburn: Richt’s 7-1 against the Alabama teams. Richt’s record in big games is 11-2, Bowl games and SEC Championships.
Ealey will roll. AJ will go nuts. Olson and White and Figgins will dominte. Defense will average 2+ TO’s, and hold to under 20 points a game average.
17 of 20
August 17th, 2010
4:58 pm
I for one am glade Murray is the quarterback for Georgia.
GatorGuy
August 17th, 2010
5:06 pm
PTC DAWG – You are right, not too Shabby. But also not elite.
Dawgtards ruin this state
August 17th, 2010
5:08 pm
Dawgs are about 35th this year, if they stay healthy.
tell me again
August 17th, 2010
5:14 pm
For all of you fools who say CMR has not done well in SEC play – .767 winning percentage over the past ten years – tell me again what your point is????
Jack
August 17th, 2010
5:23 pm
Anywhere within the top 25 is an overranking for the dawgs. Then again they are always overrated.
sec analyst
August 17th, 2010
5:24 pm
tell me again,
How about 10-10 in the sec east over the last 4 years including 2-2 against UK and a loss to Vandy. Or 1-4 vs the urban legend. No one cares that Richt had great stats in his first few years when bama had shula and florida had the zooker. things are a different now. no zook and no shula means richt’s program has sunk in recent years. he will never win the division as long as meyer is at florida let alone the sec as long as both saban is at bammer and meyer at florida Richts teams not only have lost their edge but they have a habit of getting blown out 3 blowout losses to ut and 2 straight blowouts to uf plus who can forget the blackout game. great programs lose games but great programs do not get consistently blown out as uga does. that is why uga is not a great program
SEC
August 17th, 2010
5:25 pm
telling you again, dogs are sliding/spiraling/falling/sinking, ________________
bitter little techie
August 17th, 2010
5:25 pm
why does everybody like Georgia so much. It makes me so gosh darned mad. So what if the girls are pretty there. We have robots and stuff. Who needs pretty girls if you have robots and circuit boards and all kinds of cool stuff like that. I hate you Georgia. I hate you and your good sports players. Anytime you want to try your hand at robot competition, just come on down. I’d like to see you people try Robot Wars 3. we would crush you. crush you all. Also, for the guy who made fun of GT for being the only school to reduce the size of their football stadium. I say so what and goodie. It’s stupid to waste all that space when you can make the library bigger. Again, I want to reiterate.. I hate Georgia and all attractive popular people throughout the world!
Athens, Georgia
August 17th, 2010
5:35 pm
.
——————————
NESBITT for HEISMAN
——————————
.
30 years and counting...
August 17th, 2010
5:39 pm
bitter little techie,
Why be bitter? Georgia is lackluster program who hasn’t won an nc in 30 years and has won only 2 sec titles in 28 years. These guys aint nuthin to be jealous about. They are a middling, average at best sec team and even they know that
Spike
August 17th, 2010
5:44 pm
ACC Champs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.. 0-5 in last five bowl games. Bwahahahaha.
76-Dawg
August 17th, 2010
5:46 pm
I haven’t seen much talk about UGA also having one of the best field goal kickers in college ball. Walsh will be a huge help in 2010. I think Walsh will lead the team in scoring.
Dawghater
August 17th, 2010
6:11 pm
The best thing about all the lame Puppy Dawgs fans is they care sooo much about their PRESEASON ranking. That is due to the fact they all know in the back of the little minds they actually have that the Preseason ranking will the highest ranking they will see all year. They don’t want to know the facts on what the final ranking will be. You know, the ranking that counts.
Coolest in the Clutch
August 17th, 2010
6:11 pm
.
…… nesbitt for heisman
.
ReddJonn68
August 17th, 2010
6:16 pm
Preseason means just that, ain’t nobody got hit in a meaningful game yet !!! Just like the so called experts when comes to picking NFL preseason Super Bowl winners. The ranking only hurts when trying to move up into the BCS picture, its hard to make that run unless you have complete meltdowns of the top ten squads. One thing on the Dawgs side no matter where we start in the rankings, if you win the SEC outright you are going to be playing somebody for a Sear’s trophy, nuff said !!!
1eyedJack
August 17th, 2010
6:34 pm
30 years, we know no such thing.
76-Dawg, it’s not unusual for a kicker to lead the team in scoring.
It can be done. As our rivals constantly remind us, it’s been 30 years since we won it all. ANNIVERSARY!! I seem to remember the Dawgs went something like 6-5 the year before and nobody was giving two hoots in h311 for their chances. They started ranked around 17 or 18. Déjà vu all over again?
CMR needs to bus ‘em over to Turner Field and let ‘em rub some of them Braves bald heads and hope some of the magic rubs off.
SecGuy
August 17th, 2010
7:07 pm
I’m a Bama guy but think Georgia will be better than where Tony has them. Their offense looks to be much improved over last year. If the recruiting rankings are to be believed, their talent level is top notch and they are heavily experienced on the offensive line. Their situation is similiar to Bama’s, in that the offenses of both teams need to carry the load until the defenses come together. Georgia also has the best kicking game in the country. I don’t see them winning it all, but I don’t see any other SEC team winning it all this year either. If they finish worse than 10-2, it will be an under- achievement IMO.
SuperiorIntellect
August 17th, 2010
7:24 pm
Better get ready; UNC’s offense is shining in pre-season. With a much-improved offense and the best D in the land, better get ready! The warning is out.
FORTY ONE POINTS to your seventeen points
August 17th, 2010
7:40 pm
Way too high.
Another Dawg
August 17th, 2010
7:47 pm
I think the better question is how many wins does it take before Georgia should be ranked ahead of Tech.
(If the answer is greater than 3 then the preseason rankings are wrong)
Florida Not #3
August 17th, 2010
7:49 pm
Florida’s run is over. No way brantley comes close to tebow. He’ll get scared and throw some INTs in the big games. Look for florida to lose to bama and georgia and maybe fsu. Georgia plays bama for the SEC title—book it!
TXDawg
August 17th, 2010
7:55 pm
Wilder to UGA…..OMG it’s raining Sugar!!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/438084-top-recruit-james-wilder-jr-will-commit-to-georgia-according-to-sources
Tony B ROCKS!
August 17th, 2010
8:19 pm
http://thegeorgiasportsreport.blogspot.com/
Christian Dior Dogg
August 17th, 2010
8:19 pm
Our beloved dawgs will be NUMBER ONE! because of Coach Richt’s fab fashion sense! Other coaches can worry about their “game plan,” but Coach Richt always picks the perfect color jersey for that week’s game!
Jack
August 17th, 2010
8:22 pm
If only his fashion sense could throw touchdown passes
BJH
August 17th, 2010
8:30 pm
I’m not sayin we’ll win the NC, but i am sayin we return 10 of 11 offensive starters and the one that is not returning was the worst one. Defensive will also be much improved. I think we win the east
Yellow Fuzz
August 17th, 2010
8:32 pm
How2fish
August 17th, 2010
11:09 am
“Yellow Fuzz ………………IOWA !”
They are currently ranked 5th and were 9th last year when they beat us by 10 points in the BCS Orange Bowl.
Where are you ranked?
hahahahahaha.
Pick on someone your own size little man.
Spike
August 17th, 2010
8:39 pm
sec analyst – bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha. what a foolish tool you are.
Yellow Fuzz
August 17th, 2010
8:58 pm
OneEyeJacked:
STFU!
Chucky Cheese
August 17th, 2010
8:59 pm
UGA gets past Arkansas and South Carolina and we’ll start moving up quick…
Dream on, dawgtard.
It’s kind of sad to see all the Dawg fans getting so excited this year (just like the year before, the year before that, etc.). How long is it going to take for UGA fans to realize that UGA is simply no longer relevant in the SEC? In the national picture, UGA isn’t even a blip on the radar, and hasn’t been since the preseason #1 ranking two years ago.
Sit back and be grateful for the seven or eight wins you’ll get every year. Coaching genius Mark Richt may take you to 10-2 or even 11-1 occasionally, but Florida will still win the SEC, meaning no BCS bowls and no top 10 final ranking. Most years, UGA will be very lucky to finish in the top 25, and only after a big bowl win over a nobody opponent.
It’s a different world now, and Dawg fans need to adjust their expectations downward to reflect reality.
Unfortunately nothing is going to change until UGA changes its mediocre coaching. That’s where the difference is, and that’s why everyone outside Dawgtard Nation just laughs at Dawg fans getting so excited year after year about what a great recruiting class UGA gets. It doesn’t matter how many blue chip high school players go to UGA, they simply don’t get the coaching they would get at Florida or Alabama, to name two schools whose programs are far ahead of UGA. And that’s not going to change as long as Mark Richt is in Athens.
Get your heads out of the sand and face reality. And mediocrity and irrelevance.
And those red panties!!!
Paul in RDU
August 17th, 2010
9:07 pm
Chucky Cheese – I’ve lost count of the number of times you have posted that under different names. Please give it a reat.
oledawg
August 17th, 2010
9:29 pm
Place the Dawgs at #9. I can’t think of 10 teams in the country that are better or that we can’t beat on a given day. The season rests on injuries to each team so the ranking early on like this is like throwing the dice on injuries. Who cares at this stage? It is fun to weed out the writers, coaches and web sites who either can punch up the numbers to show why the Dawgs should have a good season and to see others use no evidence and plug in any perceived negative info to stir up the fan base.
In this article and others it’s always fun to extract a school’s name and plug another one in. Try it and you can see that to take this puinditry seriously qualifies you to be in the Tea Party. Have fun and SIC’EM DAWGS!!!
Brilliant
August 17th, 2010
9:49 pm
“If the Bulldogs can run the ball and play defense, they have a chance every week.”
What a brilliant statement, especially from a dawgtard. Give that man some red panties!
LHardingDawg
August 17th, 2010
9:51 pm
Right now, everybody is batting 1000, no loses, no wins. This is just something to fill in the time until the first games. We’ll all know when the BCS poll comes out where our team really fits into the national rankings.
Right now I think that Georgia is ranked a little high. But in August, who cares.
Tom, Resident SC Georgia Fan
August 17th, 2010
9:57 pm
Tony, you are flat out wrong about Arkansas.You’ll see.
Delusions of grandeur
August 17th, 2010
10:05 pm
SSDY,
Aaaahhhh,
The unbridled optimism of dawg fans before the season. Sounds like 2008 preseason. I expect the same sh$t different year routine. Dawg fans get all pumped up, talk about how great their season is going to be, then reality hits and they get crushed a few times. Expect the midget to look completely lost coming out of the gates against Carolina, Ark to rock that new defense’s world, and then the usual beatings at the hands of Florida and possibly UT and UK. Even Tech will be putting it on that young dawg D. All talk no results on the field. Will this program ever win another nc? Probably not and certainly not this year.
Buzzzed
August 17th, 2010
10:28 pm
Come on guys, 18 is realistic for UGA. UGA’s schedule is so easy that they could better the Shreveport bowl without a defense this season.
fair and Balanced
August 17th, 2010
10:39 pm
This season is about Mark Richt. His true character will be revealed as never before. I for one, believe in him that he’ll get the job done.
G8TR
August 17th, 2010
10:57 pm
One of our favorite UGA stats is Richt’s career “road” victories. Ever notice how the game in Jax isn’t counted? Seems like if you’re not playing at home, you’re on the road. But apparently not in Dawn fantasyland. No problem, though. Please keep Coach Richt at the helm — as long as possible.
kyle
August 17th, 2010
11:28 pm
Chucky Cheese,
we did make coaching changes. We fired our DC and 2 other defensive coaches. Dumbass
Bad Dawg, Bad Dawg
August 17th, 2010
11:44 pm
Why is Georgia ranked at all? Not ranked in Top 25 at the end of 2009, played in Shreveport, new QB??? Year in and Year out Georgia gets benefit of the doubt and fails to live up to expectations.
Sven Ottke
August 18th, 2010
12:18 am
They’ll stumble and slide out of the polls.
nicktator
August 18th, 2010
2:57 am
georgia who?
Yellow Fuzz
August 18th, 2010
7:08 am
Who is ranked higher, georgia or Georgia Tech? That’s what I thought. Hang on to yesteryear dog nation. The tables have certainly turned.
LET THE BIG DAWG EAT!
August 18th, 2010
7:09 am
Dear Reality,
You are right, Tech will once again be ranked higher than UGA, and once again when November rolls around the Dawgs will beat an overrated GT team with their high school offense.
» SEC: Tennessee wants to soften its football schedule John Clay’s Sidelines
August 18th, 2010
7:41 am
[...] Tony Barnhart of the AJC looks at pre-season rankings for Georgia and Arkansas. [...]
BMDPD
August 18th, 2010
10:31 am
Wow! We do have some delusional dawg fans. I too am tired of sports writers being wrong about us in pre-season. It broke my heart two years ago when they had us as number 1. Look at our record in the SEC East over the last few years. We are sliding. We have become predictable on offense. Lame Kitten said so and he was right. Our O and bad decisions put Willie’s in a lot of bad spots. If that trend continues, then we will struggle. I hope 18th is right, but I am not so sure.
Evansdawg
August 20th, 2010
9:58 am
Georgia should control the game clock with its balanced attack. Lean on the running game and losen the secondary for the big plays down the field. I hope we are offesively managed in the exact same way we handled The WannaBees, and Texas A&M.