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.
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
688 comments Add your comment
Hairy Dawg
August 21st, 2010
7:49 pm
NavMan is right. Coach Richt is class and he is Christiains to. Thats why we got to supporters and cheer for Dawgs winning as we runs state. Other programs is chumps and not with Christain. coaching that recruits top talent for SEC. With Coach Richt we been unloading a whooping can and doing it again this year to be dominatring state and running tables to champs.
Go Dawgs!
4 ncs are better than 1
August 21st, 2010
7:55 pm
Hairy Dawg graduated top of his class at Ugay!!!!
Reality Check
August 21st, 2010
7:55 pm
The polls just show what most Dawg fans do not want to accept. GT and CPJ are a program on the rise and UGA football is in the decline. UGA football will equal mediocre over the next five years. There is a new sheriff in town and it is Coach Paul Johnson. Dawgs will be CPJ’s new Army over the next five years as long as CMR stays,.
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
7:57 pm
Hairy Dog, with Georgia’s recruiting advantage, the Bulldogs should have a fistful of NCs by now. Tech simply cannot compete in a state that is rabid about high school football and provides the means for any football to reach his potential. Until Tech changes its academic requirements (they have the highest SAT scores of any public university football team), Georgia will always be able to nab the five star athletes that would never be accepted into Tech. Florida does not have that issue with Florida State. Of the major college programs in states blessed with high school football excellence, Georgia has a virtual monopoly on picking and choosing the best talent.
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
8:00 pm
Oops….make that any football player
Hairy Dawg
August 21st, 2010
8:01 pm
Yechie nerds we talking football not schools and gradauting is nothing to doing football. Pestky bugs is worst in football in nation and embareassment to state for having no talent in football and loosers.
4 ncs are better than 1
August 21st, 2010
8:01 pm
GR82, you know that Hairy Dawg can’t comprehend all of that!!!
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
8:03 pm
Hairy Dog, have you been drinking?
NESBITT ............ for ......... HEISMAN
August 21st, 2010
8:03 pm
Toughest Quarterback in College Football,
that be Joshua Nesbitt.
ugakev
August 21st, 2010
8:05 pm
I am trying to figure out how Auburn is ranked ahead of us in the AP poll that bothers me more than tech being ranked ahead of us..lol.
KinderCare
August 21st, 2010
8:07 pm
Hairy Dawg is 4 years old, (mentally).
Alphare
August 21st, 2010
8:07 pm
Jeff, you are NOT an idiot. Period. Actually, if you went UGA back then, you would be the smartest azz in Athens.
I agree with you 100%. You absolutely nail it. Usually, UGA recruiting ranks higher than its pre-season poll, and its pre-season poll ranks higher than post-season poll. If you discount recruiting ranking, FL/BAMA prove otherwise. Just when it comes to UGA, people may have doubt.
Hairy Dawg
August 21st, 2010
8:08 pm
No I aint drinking yet and will be soon. But Dawgs is just best from dominates state and running with best SEC talent and speed. That with Christain coaching makes us win 30-24 and 8 – 1 so nerds stinks bad.
Stormy Petrel
August 21st, 2010
8:13 pm
Attention, everyone, especially dawgtards. We will now observe a moment of silence in memory of Saint Jan Kemp, who exposed the shameful practices at UGA that were initiated and carried out by Vince Dooley. Dooley’s image as a coach and a nice guy were forever shattered during the trial, not to mention the one million dollars that dawgtards had to pay Saint Jan. These practices of recruiting morons and coddling them for four years, them tossing them out like garbage, are still going on, but at least the world knows what’s going on now.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And now, the moment of silence…
Thank you, you may resume your normal activities now.
poopdawg
August 21st, 2010
8:14 pm
Been watching the ESPNU show with Bama practicing. No doubt Saben will always overshadow Smart on defense. Saben is very hands on .
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
8:14 pm
Hairy Dog, the reason you beat Tech so often lately is that overall, your athletes are so much better than Tech’s. There is no comparison. Tech simply cannot recruit like Georgia can.
The reason Florida has beaten Georgia so much lately (17 out of 20), is Florida has a much better program overall, with better coaching.
Hairy Dawg
August 21st, 2010
8:19 pm
We lost sometimes to Gaytors cuase refs cheating to help Gaytors. Arrogants loud mouth coach Oscar Myer hot dog working refs and voting in polls and that keeping good Dawgs down from winning champs.
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
8:21 pm
Hairy Dog, you should plead the 5th, rather than drink it.
ugakev
August 21st, 2010
8:27 pm
It would be an absolute disaster for UGA to ever consider letting CMR go unless the program got completely terrible year after year… He is a coach that is going to stay at Georgia until he retires after old age. He is going to win multiple national championships in years to come and we will not have to worry about him leaving us if he began to win multiple bcs titles like some coaches will do with other teams. He is stability and in todays college football world you do not have many bobby bowdons or joe P’s anymore. Georgia won 8 games last year with a defense that had a secondary you would not even see on the tv screen sometimes when the opposing teams wr’s had a ball thrown to them. That shows me a lot because that is as worse as it will get for us georgia fans.. i mean it sucked losing five games but coach richt was able to coach a team to an 8-5 record with incompetent coaches so just imagine how great things are going to began to get with very good coaches around him to help him out once again.
GR82BAG8R
August 21st, 2010
8:33 pm
Ugakev, Richt’s coaching gem last year was the Tech game, when he decided to use his talent advantage via a power running game to overwhelm Tech. If he does it again this year, he will win again.
He will need more than a running game, however, in the SEC where talent is equivalent.
RxDawg
August 21st, 2010
8:37 pm
Geez Jeff, it ain’t that bad
Hairy Dawg
August 21st, 2010
8:49 pm
Exactly Kev. Coach Richt is best for Dawgs and more Christain to get recruits for winning in SEC. He just needs help from fans to get on refs and gets Adams to quit stopping best talent recruits we need for winning. We got Evans out of way for not supporting Coach Richt in standing up to Adams in recruiting and now we got to fix Adams. Us fan’s also got to make refs and league pay for fixing games against Dawgs.
dap01
August 21st, 2010
9:06 pm
Jeff: Deep don’t you can not really believe what you just wrote. If you watched Tech last year against UGA with the worst defense that UGA faced all year, you really can’t believe that the perception of Tech has changed.
The empty seats in that small stadium each game will prove me right. No matter what is written or said.
outkasted
August 21st, 2010
9:12 pm
this is such a dumb article…
David A. Patten
August 21st, 2010
9:15 pm
I love how you mutts hang on to history like a baby holds on to a blanket. Paul Johnson is 1-1 against all those shiny 5 star recruits you hang your hats on in Athens. And this is all while implementing new schemes and not having a full 85 on scholarship. We’re just getting started. What’s your excuse?
1eyedJack
August 21st, 2010
9:16 pm
Try to find a ticket scalper at a Tech game. That’s perception.
jimmymack
August 21st, 2010
9:17 pm
you deserve respect, not being for any thing insightful but for being the next village idiot we should call you terrance
Uncle Rico
August 21st, 2010
9:19 pm
Jeff — You have really become a boring caricature. These types of columns used to be stimulating because they were different, not all that grounded in facts, but because they were so counter intuitive they got some notice. However, you kept rehasing the same illogical themes and it has become farcical. The last thing a columnist or writer wants is to be considered is a bore, but I hate to let you know that is what you have become.
Stinger
August 21st, 2010
9:23 pm
here is the biggest difference between GT and UGA alum/fans: GT people recognize that we enter every football season as a program that must fight to gain notoriety and respect from the national media and coach’s polls. UGA people are delusional. That about sums it up.
Dr. Phil
August 21st, 2010
9:26 pm
Richt needs to spend less time in the pool with the boys and more time on the practice field instilling some discipline.
tell me again
August 21st, 2010
9:33 pm
here’s what you need to know about the “PROS” – “Boise State – the greatest offense of the century – will hang 50 on the Dawgs … Um, DID NOT HAPPEN! Hawaii will skunk Georgia in the bowl game….Um….another pro opinion that bit the dust. So, the POS really don’t know CRAP. Rank Tech where you want….they are totally irrelevant in this state – more on the level of GEORGIA STATE… LOL
BC$ Slave
August 21st, 2010
9:36 pm
It is never to early to complain about the sorry BC$ system. It doesn’t matter how good you are or if you “deserve” to be ranked. What matters in the end is perception. The BC$ is about money and power.
It is nothing more than a beauty contest.
We need a playoff system.
Ted Striker
August 21st, 2010
9:45 pm
Tech was ranked higher than UGA before they went head to head last year too. But we saw who was the better team that day.
The truth about blowouts and respect
August 21st, 2010
10:09 pm
Dawgs don’t really deserve a whole lotta respect. This is a team that has suffered a number of 20-30 pt blowout losses with regularity in the last few years.
3 blowout losses to UT, 2 blowout losses to UF, the halftime blowout to bama in the blackout game. Great teams like UF, Bama have lost games the last few years.
But how many 20-30 pt blowouts has florida suffered under Urban Meyer? Only 2 and those were to Bama. How many 20-30 pt blowouts has bama suffered since Saban came to town? None. A 14 pt loss to Utah and an 11 pt loss to UF and that’s it. His losses in 07 with his initial bama team were all 7 pts or less.
Great programs do not get blown out on a consistent basis and this is what currently separates bama and UF from Georgia.
David A. Patten
August 21st, 2010
10:13 pm
Tell Me Again-not saying much for your program when “Georgia State” beat you at home two years ago and lost in the final minute last season. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of excuses this season when lowly “Georgia State” beats you again.
J Clay
August 21st, 2010
10:27 pm
Won’t comment much on the Tech part other than say if they have that perception fine – we’ll just keep beating them (kind of like Florida says to us every time we think we are back up)….But I actually would argue the perception of Georgia is still pretty strong given: coming off the worst year in many years, starting a new QB (and oh by the way the back up has no experience either), several new coaches…yet we are still in the pre-season poll…We also play 4 of the teams ranked higher than us (and a 5th if we somehow beat the 1st four) so we could easily move up…But here is my quesiton Schultz – lets go to dream world – lets say UGA and Tech go into final game both undefeated – who would be ranked higher? I’d bet UGA would be the higher ranked team – even though starting the season 7 spots lower….because as you talk of perception, perception (and reality) is the SEC is stronger than the ACC…Now for those that can’t read, I am not predicting either of the teams to go undefeated, it is a hypothetical what if.
Wreckmaniac
August 21st, 2010
10:36 pm
Yea Jeff, like dap01 says, who did write this article ? You don’t really mean this.
Will all the drunks typing with their noses on this blog please pass out ? Jeff, we need a sobriety test to qualify anyone admitted after 6 pm.
Richt Needs to GO
August 21st, 2010
10:41 pm
With our recruiting talent there is no way we should ever be ranked out of the top 10. Richt was great 3 years ago but the SEC and yes even Yech has upgraded. We have remained stagnant. If we fail to win at least 10 games in a weakened SEC East and a schedule that avoids both Bama and LSU plus no out of conference games to truly threaten us…he should be fired. Great man but only an OK coach in the current SEC.
Bean Counter
August 21st, 2010
10:44 pm
In the “great race” the hare was ranked ahead of the tortus! Why do preseason rankings matter? Lets wait until the end of the year to determine wheather Tech has improved more than UGA. If the preseason was so important, why do we even need to play the games? Why not write about something that is interesting to the readers instead of wasting so much space on something that does not matter? Maybe this is why the paper is called the “fish wrapper” because with articles like this that is all it is good for.
Ouch
August 21st, 2010
10:44 pm
NOBODY thinks Tech is better than Georgia. Stories like this simply make the Nerds feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Georgia absolutely owns Georgia Tech and everyone knows it, including every single voter in the AP. Polls aren’t reflections of how good teams are. They’re reflections of how well someone thinks a team will fare. Keep stirring, Jeff.
chalkdawg4
August 21st, 2010
10:50 pm
I don’t really care about the polls except it makes it harder to get to the BCS championship if we have a great season. No question to me that Georgia is better than Tech. I went to Ga but have two ex-wives from Tech that I remember fondly. ACC is just not up to SEC level. Kind of like varsity and JV. Richt had better produce this year. No more excuses. Easy schedule – lots of returning starters. If we don’t win at least 10 and beat Florida I am ready to show him the door. Too many assets in Athens for this kind of crap. I want a bastard like Saban running my program. Not sure the players respect Richt enough.
Coach Johnsons Paul
August 21st, 2010
10:53 pm
Simple Formula for ranking Tech higher…It’s called playing in the ACC!!!
Best Tech team in 20+ years and those “lost benefit of doubt-Shreveport bound” Dawgs SMACKED Tech @ home and did it the old fashioned way…RAN THE BALL DOWN THEIR THROATS!!!
But none of that matters to you Jeff because you still can’t get over Richt not placating to your juvenile, petty attitude and stupid questions you ask in pressers. Do us all a favor and go smoke another cigar with Paul Johnson and revel over that lone Tech victory in the past 10 years.
RUSS GATA
August 21st, 2010
11:18 pm
WRTS-and the SEC-so what they are jealous-10-2 at the worst and it will not be a loss to the 2nd [3rd when GSU gets rolling] in the state. Facts.
SuperB
August 21st, 2010
11:55 pm
Perception? What about the beating Georgia gave GT on the field last year?
Perception? Americans think the President is Muslim?????
Maybe the same people are voting for football teams that expect to see Obama in a mosque?
Jeff: You know Georgia is ranked too low and so does Georgia Tech.
David A. Patten
August 22nd, 2010
12:02 am
Beating?? You won by a TD and the game wasn’t decided until the final minute. Lay off the crackpipe muttface.
Unfortunately for you guys, Dave Wommack is no longer the defensive coordinator at GT. That was the only prayer you ever had for beating Paul Johnson again. Y’all had a nice little run, didn’t ya?
payne
August 22nd, 2010
1:25 am
David a patten…you do know georgia state is NOT tech right
Red Dog 77
August 22nd, 2010
1:32 am
Schultz…………You are such a silly guy………..RED DOG 77
Mike Smith
August 22nd, 2010
1:42 am
Georgia never has the benefit of the doubt. No one in college football outside of the name brand programs get the benefit of the doubt. Why else is Oklahoma ranked in the top 10 after posting the same record as Georgia last year? Lets not forget they have gotten pantsed in their last 4 BCS ball games. Still…there they are. Nebraska finishes in the rankings for the first time in years…top 10 preseason ranking. Alabama ranked #1 after losing their entire defense. Florida top 5 after losing almost everything including their DC.
College football rankings are a beauty contest and a joke.
Mike Smith
August 22nd, 2010
1:43 am
Lets not forget a top 5 ranking for Ohio St….again. Guess we will get to see them thrust into another matchup they cant handle. I could go on forever about the pollsters and this absurd system.
turkey caller
August 22nd, 2010
4:47 am
I admit I have never been a Richt fan and in all honesty never will. I don’t believe he is as staunch and solid as he tries to purvey. That is my perception and I would like for the man to prove me wrong. I saw more stupidity and failure to even be involved last year than I can remember in almost 50 years of being a fan. Both sides of the ball had problems and until the Tech game I didn’t feel the coaching staff had much control over it’s destiny much less the squad in general. Alot of Dawg fans see the same things I can’t tolerate much more of. Things such as players dancing and rapping during games, several of which we were gettting our asses beat. Hitting players out of bounds and always having to perform some stupid celebration and ensuing penalty for making even a routine play. A no reaction defensive stance much of the season and absolute stupidity in the kickoff game. Why didn’t Richt react in correcting some of this long before the post season? How much control and actual vision did the staff actually possess? The solidity of basic college football was missing in a whole lot of areas and in a whole lot of games. I didn’t feel Richt really got involved during a game until we played Tech. Folks I’m not talking sour grapes and suggesting that we should win the NC every year but we will have to clean up and move forward in numerous areas to be a really solid team. Maybe enough heat hit him to make him wake up but Richt should be held accountable to correct multiple glaring weaknesses of his own leadership. The support and money are there and this previous lack of control shouldn’t garner more excuses. We won’t win them all the time but I do wish we could show some aptitude in correcting apparent blunders along the way. Some changes have been made and I hope they help. Ever think about how smart it might have been to let your up and coming qb”s take a few snaps during the season instead of being thrown into our present situation? It has happened more seasons than not. There is no reason for Richt to even try to warrant any trust to the faithful when he apparently can’t see the forest for the trees.