Dawgs continue unlikely rise in preseason picks
Aaron Murray seems to be the key to optimistic preseason picks for Georgia. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
If this keeps up, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to keep my inner optimist from taking over.
I’m talking about another national college football preview picking Mark Richt’s Dawgs to win the SEC East in 2011, following on the heels of Phil Steele. This time it’s Athlon Sports, which sees Georgia winning the East and then losing to Alabama in the Georgia Dome.
The Athlon analysis of the conference sees the league’s balance of power remaining “tilted in westerly direction.” In the East, a return to Atlanta for the South Carolina Gamecocks is deemed “far from certain, especially with the ongoing drama with quarterback Stephen Garcia.” Meanwhile, Athlon notes that Richt “is probably one mediocre season away from unemployment. Fortunately for him, he has the horses to win the division, led by quarterback Aaron Murray, who has transitioned from question mark to lead Dawg.”
Georgia, Athlon says, “has perhaps the league’s top returning quarterback … a highly rated recruiting class and a favorable schedule.”
Of course, they do ask, “Has the SEC ever entered a season with less returning star power at quarterback? When a redshirt sophomore (Georgia’s Murray) is arguably the top returning QB, that says something.”
The final analysis is that “this might not be a vintage Georgia team that is capable of competing for a national title, but the Bulldogs should be in the hunt to win the relatively mediocre SEC East.”
OK, definitely a bit underwhelming as votes of confidence go, but when you’re coming off a losing season getting picked to win your division is noteworthy. Even if it does look like an off year in that division.
What do you think, are Steele and Athlon just dazzled by Murray’s freshman numbers and the whole “Dream Team” thing, or are they on to something?
MASCOT SHOWDOWN
It’s a dog fight in SportsNation and EA’s “NCAA Football Traditions” voting as Georgia’s Uga and Tennnessee’s Smokey battle in the first round. As of this morning, Uga was in the lead with 52 percent of just over 30,000 votes tallied so far. You can cast yours here.
RINGING ENDORSEMENT
New UGA spot will focus on ringing the Chapel Bell. (University of Georgia)
Most UGA alums and fans I heard from thought last year’s low-rent spot promoting the university that aired during football television broadcasts was pretty embarrassing. So a group of alums, including some TV production professionals, decided to offer their services to come up with something better.
Thursday, a couple of hundred volunteers lined up in front of the UGA Chapel in Athens for filming on the commercial, which will show an endless line of students and alums lining up to ring the Chapel Bell. The promotional spot also will feature the song “Oh My Heart” by Athens’ own R.E.M., The Red and Black reports.
“What happened is, I think like a lot of Georgia alumni, I was disappointed with the UGA TV spot,” said alumnus Mike Martin, creative director of the commercial. “Rather than be a voice of criticism, I wanted to do something about it.”
Martin said R.E.M. agreed to have their song used in the UGA spot “because they love Athens so much and they wanted it to be a celebration of the University and the town of Athens.”
The new spot is scheduled to air Sept. 3 during the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game with Boise State.
Martin said many college commercials show generic images of professors holding test tubes and students throwing frisbees on campus. For the new video, however, they instead chose to showcase what makes the university and Athens special.
“We want people to choke up a little bit and be proud of being a Bulldog,” he said.
I’m getting a little verklempt already!
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405 comments Add your comment
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:19 pm
……..or games played
Jackson
June 17th, 2011
12:20 pm
OL depth is a concern but I am not worried about that until game time. Gates was a 3 star prospect and was only offered 72 hours prior to signing day…. how did that turn out? Not only did he break into the starting rotation as a true frosh but he did it with “a veteran” offensive line. Don’t be surprised to see another Gates performance from some of the other “underrated” lineman. We will see how things shape up after the first week of summer camp. Go Dawgs!
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:21 pm
Murray is 0-6 vs. teams with winning records, 6-1 vs. teams with losing records.
Wow, what a leader. Hilarious.
WDE
June 17th, 2011
12:21 pm
My only question for the entire season is how is it that Tide Roll is not a SEC HC the guys is a fountain of football knowledge!
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:22 pm
UGA has plenty of talented bodies (depth)…..needs more experience (games played)
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:23 pm
….and coaching
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:24 pm
Murray won 2 state championships in the highest level of high school football in the state of florida
Mettenberger won zero. Plus he never even got his team into the state playoffs at Oconee County high school.
Obviously, Murray is better.
Murray 24 TD’s in D-1 college
Mettenberger-zero
Teams kicked off of is a stat that Mett leads in
Mettenberger – 1
Murray – 0
CFBFan
June 17th, 2011
12:24 pm
Martin,
On the surface yes, but you aren’t thinking about the REAL concept of depth.
Think about this, “That football team is deep on the line with 4 seniors, 2 juniors, 3 sophomores”.
Compares to, “That football team needs some depth there, while they have 2 seniors, the rest of the line only consists of sophomores and true freshmen”.
The number of linemen is only a part of determining true depth.
GDawg65
June 17th, 2011
12:25 pm
I think the Dawgs have the talent and leadership on the field; however when it comes to creditable offensive coaching, disipline and motivation we’re still hurting and that can and will take us down.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:26 pm
Murray in big games?
SC- O td’s
MS- 1 td
UF- 4 to’s
Ark- 6 sacks
Aub- terrible in 2nd-4th qrtr
UCF- 3 to’s, O td’s
Murray’s signature game is La Lafayette.
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:26 pm
Again..UGA has plenty of talented bodies (depth). What they lack is experience and coaching. We dont know if the new guys are good enuff to fall under your umbrella or definition of depth as THEY HAVE NOT PLAYED YET.
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:27 pm
Nobody will complain about Bobo, Richt, Murray, King or Crowell if Grantham’s defense can drop PPG allowed from 22 to 14 or 15 and get more stops on 3rd down.
Richt won tons of games that way.
The playcalling is no different now than it was in 2001 when Richt first got here.
The difference is the defense.
CountryBlumpkin
June 17th, 2011
12:27 pm
Oz, wasn’t that in JUCO? If we are going to use those Mett stats, can we use Murray’s high school stats…pretty much the same thing.
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:29 pm
Your definition of depth is PROVEN players. Thats not the definition of depth. Thats the definition of PROVEN players. We have to WAIT until the season to develop before we KNOW if they fall under your skewed view of depth
The Sham
June 17th, 2011
12:29 pm
RE: New Commercial
I for one have always thought our commercials during game broadcasts were embarrasing. Some years were better than others but that wasn’t saying much!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we’re able to attract a few Rhodes Scholars from year to year, but those are at most 5 students among 25K. I’m glad to hear this one will focus on what really goes on in Athens that make it a GREAT place to get an education for the majority of the students that are or will be on that hallowed ground.
Oh and regarding the main pt of the article: I would prefer our pre-season rankings/opinions to be just high enough to keep us withing BCS consideration but low enough to keep these Dawgs working hard and others underestimating us. We still have to be sure to rid ourselves of any sense of entitlement that may have contributed to some of last year’s debacle.
SIC’EM!
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:30 pm
Think about this, “That football team is deep on the line with 4 seniors, 2 juniors, 3 sophomores”.
——————————————
that define experience……….not depth
Martin
June 17th, 2011
12:32 pm
Unfortunately, I lack the time needed to fully explain football to you. I have other endeavors awaiting.
UGA Alumnus
June 17th, 2011
12:32 pm
If you’re going to proclaim “FIRST”, at least have some conviction about it. It’s a stupid enough practice, but when you put a question mark behind it it’s just plain lame.
FIRST?
“Hey guys, am I first? Huh, huh? OMG, am I first?!”
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:32 pm
Actually, Murray led offense only scored 10th in SEC againt winning teams. 16 points a game. Down 21 from 2007’s 37 points a game against winning teams with Stafford. Down 4 from Joe Cox. Murray couldn’t score more than Joe Cox. WOW!
CFBFan
June 17th, 2011
12:33 pm
Martin,
Now I have arrived at your fallacy! You just put in right there in black and white.
If you have to wait until the season develops, then as of right now, you are admitting that UGA has little depth on Oline.
My definition of depth is very accurate. Depth is the by product of number of bodies and experience.
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:34 pm
Oz won’t take my bet because he knows I will win
solja
June 17th, 2011
12:35 pm
I hope THuga opens the season ranked #1.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:35 pm
Let me get this straight, Murray lost to every winning team he has ever played against, and you UGA fans, think Murray will beat Florida, Boise, South Carolina, Auburn, Tenn, Kentucky, Georgia Tech? Murray has NEVER beat a SINGLE team with a winning record. Never!
AltamahaDawg
June 17th, 2011
12:37 pm
Butler County CC had won 6 JCNC prior to Mett getting there, in fact he landed in the top program for the decade in JC. He was hardly responsible for thier success. Not sure his one year there, really qualifies him as the best QB in the SEC right now.
and FWIW, he did NOT win a NC there, they lost that game. They are probably saying, “damn 6 times before this kid screwed us up………” Ah, but he was hell in that Dodge City community college showdown.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:38 pm
Murray led offense had UGA ranked 12th in SEC in turnover margin.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:38 pm
12th in to margin against winning teams isn’t going to win many games.
tide roll
June 17th, 2011
12:39 pm
Bobo teaching Samuel how not to fumble?! Have you seen Bobo at QB vs.Ole Miss.on those televised SEC classics? He was coughing it up like a furball. I swear the guy was hung over! If Samuel had a fumbling problem, it could have been corrected, and still can be with proper coaching. It’s obvious that whatever the Richt/Bobo brain trust conjures up the Georgia Kool Aiders are going with it. The kid needs to dot the “I” as a 6′2″ 230 lb. north/south blaster for Butch Davis at UNC. They’ll teach him to hold on to the ball AND put him in the NFL. Richard needs to get out of that nut house. Those two are putting his entire future at risk
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:42 pm
Mett’s junior year in high school, 10 td’s and 9 int’s. Never led Oconee county to playoffs. sr year threw 19 td’s. Murray threw that many in 5 games and against better competition. Broke his ankle his senior year, came back and won state title in highest level of florida high school ball.
Murray is better than Mett now or will ever be. Miles figured it out already and has already recruited over Mett for 2012. No character.
Murray also 4.0 GPA. High character. Defense gave up too many points and too many 3rd down conversions.
I’m done arguing with Oz the pig. Even though I won the debate, I still have mud all over me and smell like a pig.
Later
AltamahaDawg
June 17th, 2011
12:42 pm
Yes, I think Murray could beat Tenn, Kentucky, Georgia Tech.
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:44 pm
tide roll you dumb idiot, Samuel prefers to play linebacker.
When is the NCAA going to contact Bama about those vacated wins?
Saban and the Bama media guide are going to have to change the overall records.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:46 pm
Murray couldn’t beat Colorado. He won’t be able to beat any winning team, ever.
JB
June 17th, 2011
12:49 pm
6,7,8 wins. The lucky bounce will determine which. OL and coaching I’m afraid.
Still@theBAR
June 17th, 2011
12:51 pm
R.E.M? Why not the B-52’s Love Shack? That is more like what Athens is like. Dr..k, Naked, & Partying in the woods. “Tin Roof Rusted”.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:51 pm
1. Steele & Athlon were ALSO big on Georgia LAST year.
2. Steele & Athlon BOTH sell football magazines, of which the state of Georgia is a big chunk of their income.
3. ESPN panel of 30+ experts, did NOT pick UGA in top 25 pre season.
AltamahaDawg
June 17th, 2011
12:53 pm
Where did ESPN pick your school Oz?
Oz
June 17th, 2011
12:56 pm
Murray led offense finished 10th in SEC in red zone conversions against winning teams, only scoring 7 td’s, Florida got 13, South Carolina got 24 td’s. Murray tends to choke under pressure. Especially in th red zone, against winning teams, he can’t score td’s.
Dawg 39
June 17th, 2011
12:57 pm
My Concern remains the OL; as it goes, so goes the Dawgs.
Murray was the best QB coming out of HS, the best RS Freshman QB last year, & will be the best Sophmore QB this year. Barring injury the Dawgs will be his Team for the next 3 years.
Still@theBAR
June 17th, 2011
12:59 pm
The BCS game is on Jan. 9th. 6 weeks and 4 days after the UGA v GT game. WHAT A JOKE. No more bowl games after Jan. 1st. 6 weeks is too long between games. Too many worthless bowls games and TV trying to show every game is ruining College bowl games.
kb
June 17th, 2011
1:02 pm
Oz new handle same old tired posts.
Still@theBAR
June 17th, 2011
1:02 pm
How many Heisman winning QBs has Bama had? How many truly great QBs has Bama had? Bama won a lot of MNCs with average QBs and Great running backs and defense. UGA doesn’t need agreat QB. UGA needs to LEARN how to run the ball and stop the run if they want to compete in the SEC.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
1:07 pm
You guys like Lemay better or Mason? Wonder who will be starting the 3rd game?
Still@theBAR
June 17th, 2011
1:09 pm
I like Hutson Mason better.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
1:10 pm
Why Mason?
nostrodamus
June 17th, 2011
1:13 pm
I see Martin in his Mommies basement, yellow stained tidy whities, a dog that has been abused sexually. I predict he will follow in the path of Jeffery Dahmer.
Oz
June 17th, 2011
1:15 pm
I like Lemay better because of his leadership, and the way he helped his school accomplish some things for the first time. Mason did too, but Lemay’s 1st accomplishment’s were more impressive. Mason has an advantage of experience, and helped Lassiter do something for the 1st time, but over the long haul, I think Lemay’s the future. Big Lemay fan.
Still@theBAR
June 17th, 2011
1:16 pm
He is smart. He was a winner in high school. He has all kind of passing records. He was in a passing Offence in high school. If Bobo is hell bent on passing at every chance then I believe Mason deserves a shot. If he doesn’t play a lot real soon it is time to get the transfer papers ready. If the coaches don’t play him soon he needs to tell them he will not play this year at all and save a red shirt year if he transfers.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
June 17th, 2011
1:16 pm
Blahahahahaha
Wow
A coaching staff that couldnt even compete on the field with Stafford, Moreno, Greene, and Masquoi , 2-7 against FL really 1-8 against FL and we are picked to win the east
Someone send me a copy of this magazine Ive run out of toilet paper and need something to wipe with
Truth dawg
June 17th, 2011
1:17 pm
Lmao @ Nostrodamus on Martin…im hurting
WDE
June 17th, 2011
1:17 pm
Oz you creep Murray has beaten KY and Tech and blew the doors off UT…you witless boob you. He tool the “mighty” Gators to O.T coming back from a double digit deficit at the beginning of the 2nd half…he ran wild vs Auburn in the first half and the Defense couldn’t hold the lead but in your pinheaded world view that is his fault too.
Reality Speaking
June 17th, 2011
1:20 pm
DawginLex some of what you say is obviously true about Murray, TD’s, character etc. However in the only game that Murray and both Mett played, Mett CLEARLY outplayed him but Mett lack the character so in reality he did Richt a favor by getting in trouble. Murray did lead his team to the state championship but it was not at the highest level it was 4A not 5 or 6A. The kid is a great leader but my concern is his height. He has to roll out to really see his receivers and in several games his interceptions cost us; especially in Jax. I find it odd that these pubs would pile on the praise on a kid who has yet to beat a team in college with a winning record. There are too many iffs for UGA this year: OLine depth, receivers, too many new faces on defense with a blowhard calling the plays and of course being led by a coach who did not have the nads to go for a 4th and inches against UCF. The only thing the Dawgs have going for them is an easy schedule after the first 2 games. The winner of the USC UGA game will win the East.