Rankings prove Georgia has lost benefit of doubt
Georgia's Mark Richt doesn't have to wonder what it's going to take to pass Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson: win. (AJC photo)
(Last update: 2:10 p.m.)
In two weeks, this becomes less about perception than reality.
Games start, the season unfolds, myths get busted, the guy on the bar stool who never said a word before suddenly says I told you so, a Big 12 coach locks a player in the broom closet and eventually we get to January and scream about the BCS. It’s college football’s circle of life.
But for now, it is about perceptions, and this much has become clear: Pollsters believe Georgia Tech has passed Georgia on the football field.
This is what consecutive years of failed expectations and a five-loss season will do to a program.
When last season ended in Shreveport, the Bulldogs were not ranked in the final Associated Press poll for the first time since 1996. That also left them behind the Jackets (13th) for the first time since 2000.
When this season begins, Georgia will trail Tech in the preseason polls for the first time since 2001, which is the year Mark Richt was hired. The AP’s preseason rankings were released Saturday. They’re similar to the coaches’ poll that came out two weeks ago, which had Tech ranked 17th and Georgia 21st. The gap in the AP poll is a bit wider: The Jackets are 16th and the Dogs are No. 23.
It’s worth nothing that the AP is no longer part of the BCS formula, having pulled out after the 2004 season because of the illogical selection process, to say nothing of the fact orchestrating a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game and rendering all other bowls relatively insignificant is just a bad idea. But the AP still is the most watched preseason and in-season poll, and it fuels what many previously believed:
Georgia has lost the benefit of the doubt.
This bit of reality won’t go over well in Athens. Richt inherited a program that hadn’t won an SEC championship since 1982. He proceeded to win two in his first five seasons. Then Georgia finished strong in 2007 to end the year at No. 2. Such cachet tends to carry over in polls from year to year.
But a preseason No. 1 ranking in 2008 turned out to be only a gateway to lopsided losses to Alabama and Florida, and a home upset by Georgia Tech (in coach Paul Johnson’s first season). Then came last year’s tumble to 8-5. Richt began to feel some heat for really the first time in his tenure. The Dogs now are at a prove-it stage. At Tech, most assume the arrow is pointed up. In Georgia, few are assuming anything.
The Jackets are 20-7 in Johnson’s first two seasons and went 11-3 with an ACC championship last season. They lost four stars (Demaryius Thomas, Jonathan Dwyer, Derrick Morgan, Morgan Burnett) to the NFL draft. But perceptions remain that they’re better than Georgia. Why?
“We won more games than they did last year,” Johnson logically concluded Saturday morning, when asked about the recent coaches’ poll.
Asked if he cared about perceptions, he gave the expected response: “Not really. I just worry about what I perceive and what actually happens. I’m more worried about what happens at the end of the year. Being ranked before somebody at the beginning might be nice, but I’d rather be ranked in front of them at the end.”
Since the non-ranking in 2001, the Dogs have ranked No. 8, 11, 3, 13, 15, 13, 1 and 13 in the preseason under Richt. At 23, they’re now closer to the “others receiving votes” category with Connecticut, Temple and Middle Tennessee State.
“I am thankful we are ranked,” Richt said Saturday when asked about the AP poll. He added, “I hope we play well enough to move up. That’s the plan.”
That’s the way to play this. Richt raised the expectation level at Georgia. This shows how missteps in consecutive seasons can significantly alter public opinion. Georgia finished out of the rankings four consecutive seasons (1993-96), but when it finished 10th in 1997, the Dogs suddenly were back in the preseason rankings in 1998 (19th) for the first time in five years.
It figured there would be a hangover after last season. The preseason rankings might be cause for debate, but that’s what rankings are all about. There’s no reason for Georgia to scream. In two weeks, the games start, and the Dogs will have a chance to change perceptions.
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688 comments Add your comment
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
2:35 pm
Last year was not GT’s best in 25 years. GT has had a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP during that time frame, has Ugay? Oh yeah, the 2008 Sports Illustrated Pre-Season National Championship! Almost forgot that one! Ahahaha!!!!!!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
2:37 pm
And Sports Illustrated only gave them that out of fear of a lawsuit!!!!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
2:41 pm
Can you believe a college football program and it’s fans could even think of, much less talk about, sueing the NCAA for not being chosen for the NC game in a year they couldn’t even win their half of the conference? Well BELIEVE IT!!!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
2:44 pm
Bring up these facts and the dawgs STFU every time!!!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
2:48 pm
Another thing that REALLY, REALLY cuts ‘em to the bone is the FACT that GT has 4 LEGITIMATE National Championships and they have only the ONE!!! And they only have it because of a fluke play!!!
Dawg'88
August 22nd, 2010
3:03 pm
Perception didn’t matter last year in ATL vs. the mighty yellow flackjackets.
WE RUN THIS STATE!!!
30-24…Reality is perception…UGA DOMINATES YECH!!!!
8 out of 9 confirms it!
No matter What
August 22nd, 2010
3:17 pm
NO MATTER WHAT the dawgs are rated, no matter who they recruit, no matter who coaches tek, no matter who coaches UGA, no matter how many NCs tek has won, now matter what imbiciles like Yellow Scuzz and crew post UGA owns tek. It is a fact. UGA had a down year in 2009 and still beat the best tek team since1990.
It is hard for tek fans to accept the reality they face. UGA will be lots better this year than last and tek will not be as good. Everyone knows what that means…another ass whooping in Athens in November. Get ready bugs to eat dirt and shut your pie hole for another year.
Dawg'88
August 22nd, 2010
3:20 pm
4 ncs are better than 1….60-39-4 Is a fact Yechmites cannot make go away. Yech wil never dominate this series such as this or even as the 8 out of 9 that UGA has won recently. “4 ncs” cannot disguise the fact that Yech is far inferior to UGA. Can’t defend it or explain it away. If the best you can do i talk about things that happen 70 years ago, then you have no facts to say that UGA is not better than Yech. The past is past…UGA Dominates Yech in football…live with it…deal with it…it will never change and you know it!
Proof…one of Georgia’s more average teams in 2009 still dominated a supposedly good Yech team. A Yech team that won a vastly overrated/average AC and went to the Orange Bowl. And yet UGA whacks them on their own field before their legion of delusional fans who think one victory in 2008 somehow erases or equals the Dawgs complete domination of the series.
Now go ahead and try to answer me “4 ncs is better than 1″ but do it with being insulting. You will not be able to do it. When an inferior opponent is challenged and given indisputable facts, they will then turn to insults and meaningless opinions. Opinions don’t count here…
WE RUN THIS STATE!!!!!!!!!!
30-24 and 8 out of 9!!!!!!!
Really alot of Yech recent wins have been vacated due to using ineligble players. UGA has never had to vacate wins vs Yech. We use actual UGA student-athletes not those who cheated to pass classes!
You’re done 4ncs..now go away!
No matter What
August 22nd, 2010
3:21 pm
4 mythical NCs to 1…….. you are owned, you are jealous, you are young, and you can’t talk about head to head competition cause you got nothing
You are also angry and are likely to stay that way cause UGA is gonna pound the bugs this year.
Paul My Johnson
August 22nd, 2010
3:24 pm
4 ncs – cuts em’to the bone – are you serious? My math tells me UGA 60 wins GT 39 wins – your bones have been picked clean.
Win a freaking bowl game then we will talk – until then you will always be our little sister.
Check this out Techies
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/292942-setting-the-georgia-georgia-tech-rivalry-straight
Stinger
August 22nd, 2010
3:26 pm
Perception is everything. If the persception out there is that Georgia Tech has a better football team than UGA, the perception is real. BANK ON IT. The Jackets have surpassed the dawgs in every phase of the game. Go Mighty Jackets. Dawgs suck. LMAO
Stinger
August 22nd, 2010
3:27 pm
Dawgs, play in a major bowl game then we will talk. LMFAO
Dawgtards ruin this state
August 22nd, 2010
3:37 pm
1eyejack – Nice!
Uncle Rico's pimp
August 22nd, 2010
3:37 pm
Did you get that rash cleared up?
Paul My Johnson
August 22nd, 2010
3:42 pm
Perception – UGA has treated GT like a rented mule for as long as I can remember – no wait that is fact and requires no crystal ball or nonsensical preseason poll.
Enjoy the top 20 ranking while you can – you will be out of the top 25 before the end of October BANK IT.
murray county mystic
August 22nd, 2010
3:54 pm
are you really better off with Richt than Donnen? If so, please explain…I don’t see it…
No matter What
August 22nd, 2010
4:05 pm
Stinger, the perception last year was that tek was better than UGA…. who won that one?
My perception is that you are a jealous, weak kneed, pimple faced nerd, with lots of hate for the Dawgs.
If being ranked #17 or # 18 is so great, then would ...
August 22nd, 2010
4:18 pm
This question will draw all of you GT fans out into the light of day.
At season’s end would you still want to be rated # 17 or # 18? If so, then great. If not, then why is that rating today worth anything? Hmmmmmmmm?
My take is this: GT fans feel slighted, slapped hard in their faces and frankly, humiliated for only being ranked in the Top 17 or 18 After …………….AFTER ……………AFTER their ACC title year. They know that the real TAKE on all of this is not about UGA. No, heck no. It IS ABOUT the LACK of any repsect for GT and only ranking therm in the Top 17.
UGA? We all know that they lost 5 games and they are STILL just behind GT ………..now, either UGA IS getting a great deal of respect ………..Or GT is being greatly disrespected. I believe that it is the latter. Is GT sitting with Kings or is GT sitting with homeless folks right now??? “UGA stinks”, we all know this to be correct? Then, um, ah, why are they ranked so closely???? Hmmmmmmmm???
GT fans …………be pround come December of your Top 17 or 21 ratings.It will STILL BE great won’t it??
Be truthful …………you will be happy in December rated # 17??? That means the Blue Carpet. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Hey Stinger
August 22nd, 2010
4:26 pm
Play in a major bowl? GT has been to two majors in 45 – 50 years. Prove me wrong. Only one in the 1960s and then again in 2009 ………….pathetic. Sad, frankly, disgraceful.
Two major bowls in 45 – 50 years. Urange in 67 and Urange in 09 and two LOSING blow outs. Citrus in 90 was not a major. It then was about like the Liberty. GT won the NC …….congrats. Still GT has been to two, count em ………..please look it up ………..two majors, Stinger. Two.
UGA? Three Sugar and two Capitol One and one Outback in 9 years. Um, ah, um, that um is ah, about 6 majors in 9 years vs GT’s two majors in 45 to 50+ years, sir. Prove me wrong.
If UGA does back to the 60s, we will have to add about 5 or 6 more Sugar Bowls, three or four more Cotton Bowls and well, you know …………….vs GT’s two. Urange in 67 and Urange in 09. So sad.
AAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHA
No matter What
August 22nd, 2010
4:27 pm
Tek loses 4 maybe 5 this year. Talk about delusional……
They took advantage of a down year for VT, almost lost to Weak Forrest, lost to the worst UGA team in 13 years and got hummiliated by Iowa… What exactly makes them think they have arrived? No matter What tek is over rated… for sure.
Kids only think history was like a year ago.
August 22nd, 2010
4:51 pm
My excuse for blogging here is retirement. I have a lot of free time to sit, read and giggle, when I am not on the fairways. I am also a UGA grad and love my alma mater. My dad and gradnfather were lil old engineers. They could not help it. In the Depression caused by FDR, one taught at The Flats.
Most of the so called GT fans here are kids. I can read their foolish comments and know it. To tell them about GT’s two major bowl trips in nearly 55 years years, is like talking about Cro Magnon man to most of us. Today’s kids think in terms of long ago as being being 3 years. They will outgrow this shortcoming …………we hope.
Real GT fans know this: GT has been to two major bowls ( Orange Bowls ) since the late 1950s. Starting with the same era, UGA went to the Orange, about 8 or 9 trips to the Sugar Bowl and about 5 trips to the Cotton (where we beat # 1 TEXAS 10-9 in Dallas) and tons of Capitol One Bowls and tons of Outbacks and such. UGA does not count the old Peach and now the Chic Fil A as a major, anymore than the Gator Bowl is.
The Gator Bowl, since the late 50s, has been GT’s “go to” bowl ……….beyond the TWO Orange Bowl visits that resulted in slaughters for GT and a humiliating loss in Dodd’s last game.
Go Dogs.
payne
August 22nd, 2010
4:51 pm
Georgia has landed a commitment from its first defensive lineman for its 2011 recruiting class.
Chris Mayes from Spalding High School in Griffin told Georgia coaches of his decision on Saturday, he told both Scout.com and Rivals.com
Gatorbait 17-3
August 22nd, 2010
5:14 pm
What happened to all the expert Georgia fans that have been saying the Gators are going to have a down year? I guess all the people who are sports writers or coach college football know nothing. The Gators are in the top 10 in every poll and in the top 5 in most.
On the other hand it appears it will be the dawgs who will have to upset a lot of teams
to finish in the top 25. To be very honest, it is more likely for the dawgs to finish 8-5
than to make it to Atlanta, much less win that game
Dawg-Hatin' Jacket
August 22nd, 2010
5:32 pm
THWG
Paul in RDU
August 22nd, 2010
5:36 pm
Hey Stinger @4:26
How do you define a “major bowl”? Played of Jan 1? Has the champions of a major conference?Interesting that you define the Capital One Bowl as a “major bowl”, but claim that the Citrus Bowl was not. You realize that they are the same bowl, I hope.
If you call a “major bowl” the traditional ones (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton up to dissolution of SWC, Fiesta for the last 30 years or so), UGA still has more “major bowl appearances than GT in the last 25 years by the score of 3-1
BIG BEE
August 22nd, 2010
5:47 pm
HOW2FISH, I hope you play up to your potential in Nov., cause it is not near as high as last year.
THUGA TOO SCARED TO PLAY BAMA AND LSU
August 22nd, 2010
6:01 pm
Here we go again UGA mutts playing that same broken record they play every year…as always they choke,cry, whine and make excuses…30 years of failure…that’s UGA football for ya’ll.
Jeff Sutter
August 22nd, 2010
6:24 pm
What ? This is like saying the pole than ranked UGA #1 was reflective of the season. You did succeed in stirring the pot of emotions which you are paid to do. You are nowhere near as good as Neal Boortz though or you would actually rank as a sports writer.
This Article Proves Schultz Has Lost It
August 22nd, 2010
6:30 pm
Let’s see… The Dawgs go 8-5 last year and get a pre-season ranking of 23… I’m a Dawg fan and I wouldn’t give them much more than that… What benefit of the doubt he is talking about? With the football season upon us, a creative writer should be able to come up with a better story.
harold
August 22nd, 2010
6:47 pm
You write well Jeff and you writers at the AJC tell it like it is! Georgia has lost their MOJO in recent years. 8-4 last year and Independence Bowl champions. Tennessee and Florida torched Georgia for more than 70 points. Rich is 20-12 in the SEC the last four years. Georgia has lost 17 out of the last 20 games to Florida.
Richt has not been to the SEC Title game in 5 years. Georgia has not won a National Championship in 30 years. Four coaches “Rejected” the D coordinators position including Georgia’s own, Kirby Smart. He chose to reject Richt and stay with a Championship program & Nick Saban. Georgia is not a Championship calibur football team. Tons of great talent leaves the state.
If Richt doesn’t win The SEC Title it is time for Richt to go!
An Inconvenient Truth
August 22nd, 2010
7:01 pm
UGA folks can brag all you want to about beating Tech in football most years, and that’s perfectly fair. What’s also fair is to point out that with a history of Jan Kemp (Vince Dooley exposed as a slimy fraud), Jim Harrick, and now Damon Evans, UGA is truly “The Cesspool of the South,” and is richly deserving of that title. No one outside of Georgia has any respect for UGA or its athletic department, and that is a fact. It has been said many times: “Tech people are proud of their school, Georgia people are proud of their team.” What a crappy legacy for dawgtards to be proud of!
UGA fans can now return to your delapidated mobile homes and resume waiting for your unemployment checks and food stamps.
And watching those red panties falling from the sky, always a good time-killer for thUGA dawgtard morons. :-) :-) :-)
An inconvenient truth seconded
August 22nd, 2010
7:14 pm
You hit on one important point and it is an important one- no one outside of Georgia really respects the Georgia football program. They just don’t. Ask someone up north about southern football’s powers today and they think of Florida and Alabama and LSU to a lesser extent since they won 2 bcs titles this decade. Tennessee would have been included in that group up until just a couple years ago also.
On a historical or traditional basis they think solely of Alabama and Tennessee because the 2 have been playing huge home and home games outside the immediate southeast for the past 50 years. They are nationally respected. Georgia was too scared for 50 years to play regular season home and homes with other nationally prominent names and hence they just aren’t a national brand.
Last, in the bcs era all the teams mentioned above have won a bcs title. Georgia not only has not won a bcs title they haven’t even played in 1 which means they could never finish the regular season as the #2 team let alone being no. 1. At least make it to the big game but they can’t even do that. This program is the child of a lesser football god.
lamar
August 22nd, 2010
8:04 pm
Jeff, are you a idiot? Are you trying to say Gt is better than GA? If you are explain this. Ga has beat them 8 out o9f 9 times and 8 in a row. Hell they even beat them last year, Hell they won the ACC last year and on their best year could’nt beat GA! Untill they nbeat GA, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM RUNNING YOUR MOUTH!! WHAT A IDIOT! GO DAWGS!
Wreckmaniac
August 22nd, 2010
8:22 pm
Jeff, just because most polls show Tech ahead of UGA, dosen’t mean you should point it out. You’re supposed to drink CMR Kookaid and ignor it like all good doggie fans do. And if UGA loses a game this year, don’t write about. Just pretend they won. If they don’t win the SEC championship don’t write about it. Just pretend they did. How dare you tell the truth !!
Atlanta Jock
August 22nd, 2010
8:24 pm
This has been a bad week for the Dawgs! Fisrt, US News releases its annual academic rankings of colleges, with Tech finishing much higher than UGA. Tech was ranked #35 in the top 50 universities, while UGA is listed in the second tier of schools. Then the AP poll comes out listing Tech higher than the Dawgs. It is clear that Tech’s program is improving while UGA has been sliding. So now tech has the top football program in the state. At least UGA is #1 in something…it was ranked as the top party school in the country.
Party on Dawgs. Hopefully you can beat South Carolina this year!
n. howard
August 22nd, 2010
8:27 pm
i am so thankful that the ajc has quit delivery to the mts. that way i don`t have to look at the horrible picture of jeff schultz. the only things is i don`t have any news paper to wrap my catfish in. that is about the only thing the ajc is good for. jeff have you ever had a decent job? i have no idea what you would be fitted for. you are just plain STUPID alone with the rest of the fish wrappers club..
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
8:48 pm
Looks like I stirred up a hornet’s nest. Told ya, cuts ‘em to the bone EVERY time! Ugay has the big stadium and top recruits, GT has the football history and National Championships! Cuts ‘em EVERY, EVERY time!!!
Isle of Palms
August 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
(((((30-24))))) hahahahahahhahahaha – how many head to head games has GT won over the last 9 years? For you losers at the trade school, the answer is 1.
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
GT wins National Championships on the field, Ugay wants one so bad they try to sue someone for it! What a joke!!!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
8:53 pm
Who you gonna sue this year, cry babies?
trey
August 22nd, 2010
8:54 pm
Yellow Fuzz is a chick. You guys can’t tell that? LMAO
How’s that 30-24 whipping the dawgs handed your football “team” in your ghetto stadium feeling today girls? Still hurts doesn’t it? Now, here we are, 12months later, and you’ve got yet ANOTHER cupcake schedule. LMAO But, don’t worry yellow babies, in 3 months we’ll have a new score to post reflecting yet another whipping by the dawgs. lolololololol lmao
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
8:55 pm
How many 5 stars you gonna waste this year, cry babies?
17 of 20
August 22nd, 2010
8:58 pm
Georgia will be 5 and 3 in the SEC this year. That will give them a 15 and 13 record for the last 3 years of conference play. I think they will be ranked somewhere around #23 when the season is over.
4 ncs are better than 1
August 22nd, 2010
9:07 pm
GT grads wear neckties, Ugay fans wear insurance collars!
Shreveport Weedeater Preseason Poll
August 22nd, 2010
9:49 pm
Shreveport Weedeater Preseason Poll
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Florida
4. Ohio State
5. Boise State
6. Texas
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Iowa
10. Nebraska
11. Virginia Tech
12. Oregon
13. Georgia Tech
14. Miami
15. Penn State
16. Pittsburgh
17. Wisconsin
18. Arkansas
19. North Carolina
20. USC
21. Florida State
22. LSU
23. Auburn
24. Oregon State
25. West Virginia
Spike
August 22nd, 2010
9:51 pm
Yellow Fuzz You have been called out on Reggie Ball and his “degree” and “B” in calculas .
Spike
August 22nd, 2010
9:55 pm
Stinger, that is rich. A Tech nerd whose team has l ost five bowls game in a row, and other than the Orange Bowl (their fifth loss) the last major bowl they played in was in the sixties telling UGA to play in a major bowl. That is a joke, right?
Give me a break
August 22nd, 2010
10:16 pm
so the nerds lose to UGA and Iowa in their last two games.,..they come into this year with momentum and are the team to beat.
No Respect!
August 22nd, 2010
10:21 pm
UGA is getting no respect from the dawg-hating media. Richt and the dawgs will remember that when they start with an early blowout of South carolina, rout tennessee, beat florida by 10 and then take tech apart in athens. Dawgs: 11-1—-mark it down! This dawg team is loaded and on a mission.
The jokester
August 22nd, 2010
10:32 pm
Georgia Football! hahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahh. Get it!