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
Gator man
August 25th, 2010
11:03 am
This pathetic program will never receive the benefit of the doubt with its refusal to play top teams On the Road…Why not schedule worthy out of conference opponents like Texas, USC, Oregon or Ohio St instead of the fodder UGA plays this season.
8-4 again….
Dawg Fud
August 25th, 2010
12:48 pm
Why would i follow you on Twitter if this is the mudane crap i have to read?
Dawg Fud
August 25th, 2010
12:49 pm
Like Charleston Southern, Gator man?
You have to be kidding. Look at your out-of-conference schedule the past couple years and get back to us.
BravesVol
August 25th, 2010
12:58 pm
I disagree with this assessment. Just because GT is “perceived” to be better because of a higher ranking means very little. The only reason they are ranked higher is because they win more games and are competing for the conference title in a more inferior conference. *see last year UGa winning at Tech and SCar winning vs Clemson…the 2 teams playing in the ACC title game*. In the end, this all goes back to the old argument about “well if so-and-so played in the SEC each week their schedule would be ‘X’ instead of the ‘Y’ that it is in the ACC.
SOME uga fans are just delusional
August 25th, 2010
3:02 pm
No vols fan has ANY room to critique any football program in the NCAA.
You all will be lucky to go 3-9
Paul Johnson
August 25th, 2010
3:15 pm
BOTTOM LINE IS UGA KICKS OUR BUTTS EVERY YEAR!!! END OF STORY
SOME uga fans are just delusional
August 25th, 2010
3:23 pm
Bottom line is that CPJ @ GT = 1-1 vs CMR
Jared Thompson
August 25th, 2010
3:51 pm
CompughterRatings.com has Georgia at #12 and Georgia Tech at #22. According to Stassen.com, that site was the most accurate in 2009.
http://www.compughterratings.com
kerryb
August 25th, 2010
4:34 pm
Gator man is a complete moron. Schedule tough teams on the road? What have you been smoking. I think Oklahoma State was a pretty tough team to play on the road in the first game last year. I believe the year before we plated Arizona State on the road. Let me ask you this. When was the last time Florida played a tough team on the road. They are usually starting out with cupcake teams at home to pad their record. I don’t think I have seen Florida schedule a Pac Ten, A Big 12 especially on the road ever. Until your team does that why don’t you shut the H**L up because you don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about . MORON.
kerryb
August 25th, 2010
4:37 pm
By the way, when was the last time Florida scheduled Texas,USC, Oregon or Ohio State? Maybe we shouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt anymore either.
69dog
August 25th, 2010
5:03 pm
I love UGA. I have no respect for CMR as a coach. CMR has made UGA a joke. UGA has been blownout by teams inferior to us several times. UGA never upsets anyone. UGA has lost respect and yes, it has been all the fault of CMR. UGA has lost the benefit of the doubt solely because of our inept coach.
Delusions of grandeur
August 25th, 2010
5:37 pm
kerryb,
Put down your own crackpipe. Okay state has never even won its division and didn’t even finish in the top 25 when they whupped UGA. Nuff said bout dat. matter a fact they finished 4th in the division you idiot.
Arizona State- gimme a break. When the hell is the last time ASU has been relevant? 10 years ago? What was their record in 08? 5-7? or 4-8? They sucked.
Dawgs play these middling so so teams and the mediocre teams like Colorado which seems like a big name but went 3-9 last year and has had 4 straight losing seasons.
You cowards will never man up and play a Texas, OU, USC, Ohio state, penn state, VT, etc. Bunch of cowards.
Delusions of grandeur
August 25th, 2010
5:38 pm
Florida plays FSU which has been down these last few years but historically has been a national power. Did UGA ever finish top 5 14 straight years. Shut up kerrb dufus.
Yellow Fuzz
August 25th, 2010
6:03 pm
“Rankings prove Georgia has lost benefit of doubt”
And I am proud to say that it was 45-42 that started it all.
(((((((((((((((((((( hahahahahaha ))))))))))))))))))))
Glad it still smarts!
Woodstock Dawg
August 25th, 2010
7:20 pm
Another worthless article to stir up the masses before the season starts. Schultz, you just keep stooping lower and lower..we all know that preseason polls mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Come on Man, you are better than this, aren’t you?
Peter
August 25th, 2010
7:22 pm
Come on now folks……who is Georgia playing in their first home game…..The Girls from Sister of Mercy ?
Woodstock Dawg
August 25th, 2010
7:25 pm
Dang, we should have scheduled mighty South Carolina State!!
Yellow Fuzz
August 25th, 2010
8:16 pm
“Rankings prove Georgia has lost benefit of doubt”
And I am proud to say that it was 45-42 that started it all.
(((((((((((((((((((( hahahahahaha ))))))))))))))))))))
Glad it still smarts!
The Ghost of Doyle Hargraves
August 25th, 2010
9:45 pm
Coach Richt is starting to look like the polar opposite of Jim Mora jr. Instead of going from the NFC championship to snorting drugs on the sidelines, acting like a belligerent jerk in public, and leaving his team with pig-souey booby latrine-0, he has gone from aggressive do-all-it-takes-to-win to warming us over with his ambivalance and indifferent attitude. A kinder, gentler Coach if you will.
MAYBE WE OUGHT TO CHUG ON OVER TO MAMBY-PAMBY LAND AND SEE IF WE CAN FIND HIM SOME SELF CONFIDENCE! (not ready to call him a jack wagon, yet).
You gots to get it together! You might be next year’s Damon Evans.
UGA education
August 26th, 2010
1:46 am
let’s be serious – sitting in an auditorium of 300 hungover hipsters listening to a graduate assistant regurgitate the 25 pages of text you had to read the night before is not an educational experience.
you memorize the old tests from the fraternity files and voila – you get your 3.0 and graduate to a job making $30,000.
you only had to go $60,000 in debt to get this “education”. at least you had lots of bars to party in and a good football program.
Barnacle Bill Bavasi
August 26th, 2010
7:07 am
Have you noticed that Schultz disappears for loooong stretches pretty regularly now? I have.
Dawgs Rule
August 26th, 2010
8:16 am
How is this blog even still around? Hopefully it is because Schultz has been admitted to the psych ward!!! I mean. come on!! This crap has been omn here WAY too long!!!! Bottom line – UGA IS ranked preseason where as they finished last season unranked. I think they still are significant, don’t you?
Dawgs Rule
August 26th, 2010
8:32 am
Hey Yellow Fuzz:
30-24!!!!
Glad it still rankles your feathers.
Yellow Fuzz
August 26th, 2010
9:53 am
“Rankings prove Georgia has lost benefit of doubt”
And I am proud to say that it was 45-42 that started it all.
(((((((((((((((((((( hahahahahaha ))))))))))))))))))))
Glad it still smarts!
PS:
Dawgs Rude:
Glad 30-24 got you to the SHREVEPORT Bowl! Hahaha. Hahaha, we were certainly caught looking ahead to OUR Conference Championship game and consequently BCS Orange Bowl. Hang on to yesteryear little man! Hahahaha. (((((((((( hahahahahaha ))))))))))). We will be returning to the 45-42 stadium in 3 short months. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZER!
Dawgs Rule
August 26th, 2010
11:21 am
Yellow Fool:
You are hanging on to 2 YEARS ago, little man!!
You will be climbing back into the woodwork soon enough, NEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRDDD!!
Dawgs Rule
August 26th, 2010
11:22 am
BTW, wasn’t the Orange Bowl where you go whipped, AGAIN?
Gatormeat
August 26th, 2010
11:44 am
Don’t take it too personal dogs, I live pretty close to the state line and people from up there are no different from people down here that I can tell. It is just for whatever reason we are just better at football, and sports in general, than you are. It does not reflect on what kind of people there are in a particular state. We will probably beat you by a rather large margin again this year but it is no big deal, you guys should be used to it by now
AFDawg
August 26th, 2010
12:09 pm
Jeff, You’re being called an idiot because you wrote that Georgia is closer to Temple or Middle Tennessee State — I can’t believe you actually put that into print. Look at Josh’s response for an accurate way to interpret the polls. Maybe the AJC can put him on staff — he sounds like he knows what he is talking about. It is immature commentary like yours that made me drop my subscription to the AJC — people get tired of reading sensational BS just to spark some controversy — they want true analysis.
Yellow Fuzz
August 26th, 2010
12:22 pm
Dawgs Rude:
I’d rather lose by 10 in a Major Bowl (and win my conference champioship) than to win by 100 in SHREVEPORT (my conference’s #8 bowl). Hahahaha. Not to mention, you got passed over by The Outback Bowl who chose an Auburn team with an identical record who you had also just beaten. Hahahaha. Little man, it looks like I am not the only one that hates the big, bad, loud and proud, obnoxious dog nation fans. Hahahahah. It looks like YOU have finally cost your team/school the “benefit of the doubt” with national pollsters and bowlsters. Hate it for your coaches and players but YOU certainly deserve what you get or in this case, don’t get. Hahahahahaha.
Yellow Fuzz
August 26th, 2010
12:25 pm
“Rankings prove Georgia has lost benefit of doubt”
And I am proud to say that it was 45-42 that started it all.
(((((((((((((((((((( hahahahahaha ))))))))))))))))))))
Glad it sticks in the dog nation’s crawl!
JDawg
August 26th, 2010
12:35 pm
Of course they (tech) are ranked higher this year? We have a freshman qb, tech has a returning starter. Pretty poor article to have to ask that question unless the author is just trying to start a stupid argument. Lost the benefit of the doubt? Really? And here we go again, just because tech has a good year or two does not mean their program has surpassed UGA’s, give me a break.
Reality
August 26th, 2010
1:11 pm
No one will or should care about UGA until they can at least win their division. You have to take care of business on the field against your division opponents rather than getting drunk and getting dui tickets.
HERSCHEL WALKER!!!
August 26th, 2010
1:35 pm
GA has lost the benefit of the doubt??? LOLOLOL!!!!
How many years ago did GA win the MNC????
Durn near 30!!!
And they’ve sucked ever since then.
The Herschel Walker years were the greatest years for GA football…every year since then…they’ve sucked.
How Bout Them Dogs???
MF them dogs!!!
Step up to the plate…..win a national championship…and then you’ll get respect again.
Quit living in the past…..you’re not an elite program.
ugaclassof2004
August 26th, 2010
1:56 pm
I don’t care where Tech is ranked, Nationally they are still irrelevant. Until they can beat UGA on a regular basis, the National Media will not care. The fact that their BEST team of this decade lost to UGA’s worst team, shows you just how far Tech has to go.
It’s the same think with UGA when our best team of this decade in 2002 lost to a pitful Florida Gator squad. Until UGA can get a handle on the Florida rivalry, we will continue to be viewed as a second tier program. I said before the UGA vs. Florida game in 2008 that if UGA wants be a National Title contender, it will only happen if they bury this Florida team in back to back seasons. Not only did that not happen, but my Dawgs got blown out. And with their pathetic play last season, they have lost the right to complain about National Reconition.
Mack Brown and Texas were Oklahoma’s whipping boy, until they turned it around in the later part of this decade. Now they are perennial National Title Contenders. Until UGA beats Florida on a consistent basis, they will be a second tier program. And until Tech beats UGA on a semi-regular basis, they will continue to be irrelavent.
ugaclassof2004
August 26th, 2010
2:00 pm
don’t care where Tech is ranked, Nationally they are still irrelevant. Until they can beat UGA on a regular basis, the National Media will not care. The fact that their BEST team of this decade lost to UGA’s worst team, shows you just how far Tech has to go.
It’s the same thing with UGA when our best team of this decade in 2002 lost to a pitful Florida Gator squad. Until UGA can get a handle on the Florida rivalry, we will continue to be viewed as a second tier program. I said before the UGA vs. Florida game in 2008 that if UGA wants be a National Title contender, it will only happen if they bury this Florida team in back to back seasons. Not only did that not happen, but my Dawgs got blown out. And with their pathetic play last season, they have lost the right to complain about National Reconition.
Mack Brown and Texas were Oklahoma’s whipping boy, until they turned it around in the later part of this decade. Now they are perennial National Title Contenders. Until UGA beats Florida on a consistent basis, they will be a second tier program. And until Tech beats UGA on a semi-regular basis, they will continue to be irrelevent.
SOME uga fans are just delusional
August 27th, 2010
2:55 pm
ugaclassof2004
Good points – you must beat your rivals consistently to gain national recognition
I would only counter that point by making this statement; even with the loss to UGA last year, had GT whipped Iowa in the Orange Bowl, GT would be a top 9 or 8 team right now.
Either way, I agree with what you posit.
Tech Sting
August 27th, 2010
5:32 pm
Georgia hasn’t been relevant since 1980, spent their last bowl in shreveport, but their fans still act like buck and herschel are on the team. Give it up dawgs–your program is mediocre! Bama and Florida run your conference. Ga is a pretender. Tech—another ACC title on the way—bank on it.
Mark R.
August 30th, 2010
8:42 am
I feel your pain – but know this….we will kick butt in 2010.