Another preseason pick likes Dawgs in SEC East
Blair Walsh topped one of ESPN's many SEC lists. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
ESPN.com’s SEC coverage team, Chris Low and Edward Aschoff, so far have spent the summer making lists. Lots of lists. They’ve compiled conference rankings looking at each position on the basis of team strength and individual players (Georgia’s Blair Walsh topped all SEC place-kickers, for example).
And after all that was done, they crunched the numbers all together and have come up with an overall ranking. As Aschoff explains it, “For our overall team rankings, we took all eight position rankings and found the mean for each team. Obviously, the lower score, the better — just like golf.”
Alabama came out on top, as you’d expect, and the SEC West dominated the top of the chart, with Arkansas second, followed by LSU. But Georgia pulled an upset by nudging out South Carolina for fourth place.
And, says Aschoff: “That gives Georgia the SEC East in our book. The Bulldogs also had 13 players ranked in our position rankings, with seven making it in the top five. Even with those offensive questions, Georgia has some pieces in place to make a real run in the East. The Bulldogs would feel right at home in Atlanta for the SEC championship game against Alabama (if our rankings hold true).”
So we can add that to the growing list of preseason picks that like Georgia in the East.
KEEPING DAWG FANS OUT
Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich has made an appeal for Jackets season ticket holders to purchase additional tickets to the game against UGA at Grant Field this season so as to keep tickets out of the hands of Dogs fans.
“Two years ago,” he writes, “you all responded en masse and our entire remaining allotment wound up in the hands of our season ticket group. The result was an overwhelming display of Gold and White support at that critical state rivalry game.”
Which Georgia still won, by the way.
He continues that with the last day for season ticket holders to exclusively purchase single-game tickets and request additional tickets to the Georgia game coming up on June 30, “we still have a long way to go to get all of these tickets claimed by our Georgia Tech faithful. Please take the time to purchase your additional Georgia tickets now and help us maintain that great home field advantage when we face the Dawgs.”
Yeah, I know. Pathetic, isn’t it?
Anyway, if the Tech faithful don’t buy all those tickets, they undoubtedly will be snapped up by Georgia fans. Of course, some Red and Blackers go so far as to buy Tech season tickets to assure a seat at Grant Field when the two schools meet. If you want to go that route, it’ll cost you $350 for the game you want and the six that you don’t care anything about. An additional TECH Fund per-seat contribution is required in some designated sections throughout the stadium, but not all of them. You can buy Tech season tickets here.
BEAT NOTRE DAME!
Kevin McCann writes: “Bill, UGA has fallen behind ND. Can’t let those guys win this thing. Re-post if you can and try to drive some traffic to vote. Thanks for what you do.”
Kevin is referring to the EA Sports NCAA College Football Traditions battle, where our mascot Uga is now up against Notre Dame’s “Play like a champion” sign. As of this morning, the Notre Dame sign was leading with 51 percent of nearly 43,000 votes cast. If you haven’t voted already, support Uga here!
PLAYING IT OLD SCHOOL
As the brother of a Redcoat Band alum, I get a kick out of a vintage version of “Hail to Georgia” done by the Redcoats and the UGA Men’s Glee Club back in 1955 that UGA has posted online. Check it out and read about the history of the Redcoats.
Go Dogs!
Got a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg
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
263 comments Add your comment
P-The-Ricker
June 26th, 2011
3:43 am
Way to go Bill!!
Only blow-hard fans like yourself pay so much attn to pre-season polls. Maybe you’ll do the same as the last couple of seasons……read into the hype and then bash the players throughout the season when they don’t live up to the hype.
ie, evans, cox, rambo, ealey, king, etc
whether you ever admit it or not…… YOU’RE ONE OF THE BIGGEST FAIR-WEATHER FANS OUT THERE
MS Bully
June 26th, 2011
3:56 am
Georgia should win the East with that easy schedule they play. The SEC East and then they miss Bama, LSU, and Arkansas which are the top 3 in the West. UGA will get killed in the SEC Championship by either Bama or LSU.
tech buzz
June 26th, 2011
4:34 am
another disappointing year in store for the university of football in athens—another top ten recruiting class, followed by 3-4 losses. but—richt’s on a mission!!! Look for a huge Tech upset over ga this year—Tech wins 9!
Thomas Brown
June 26th, 2011
4:50 am
Only problems with that type analysis by ESPN is (1) every poster has said what idiots ESPN is on this blog daily and (2) that presupposes that the better team will win and as we have seen here in the last 10 years, we have promptly gone right out and lost 10 games in 10 years against teams who did not even end up in the AP Poll Top 25.
Yellow Fuzz
June 26th, 2011
6:56 am
lol. I own 6 tickets to this game (40 yardline-21 rows up). Would not sell them for less than $1000 q piece personally. This game will be like the last 3 (touchdown either way). Hope it knocks you out of bowl contention or at the very least, sends you to Birmingham (papajohns.com) instead of Tamp/Orlando. Look forward to seeing and hearing the yaps of the dog nation shut! Hahahaha.
DawginColumbus
June 26th, 2011
7:40 am
Here ya go AJC. http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/06/26/1633786/scandal-puts-eligibility-of-caldwell.html
sec football
June 26th, 2011
7:49 am
Sad the AD has to do this to fill a stadium half the size of his state rival.
This is why the kids in the state should be going to UGA or another SEC school if they have the talent and grades.
Wolfman
June 26th, 2011
8:02 am
Tech doesn’t have enough graduates in the state of GA to fill the stadium. They get real jobs and move out of state. Some go to the space station. The UGA grads seem to be able to get time off from delivering pizza to go to the games.
Yellow Fuzz
June 26th, 2011
8:09 am
I would say that less than half in the stands in Stamfort Stadium are graduates of the university of georgia. I wish there was a way to verify how many were actual high school graduates but you can’t.
I hate Georgia
June 26th, 2011
8:15 am
7 wins, shut up and enjoy the weedwacker bowl
DogGone
June 26th, 2011
8:36 am
Bill King, get a life, homer. keep drinking the koolaid and telling anybody who will listen how much better uga is than everybody else. wave those pom poms. I bet you looked real cute cheering on the sidelines way back when,
DogGone
June 26th, 2011
8:38 am
101 reasons why not to be uga fan, uga sux 101 times
David Granger
June 26th, 2011
9:01 am
Worst thing that could happen for us. Every time Georgia is picked to have a good team, the players start believing it and the fans are even worse. Start talking smack, and end up sounding like fans of that FSU scum. You would think we learned a lesson a few years ago when we were picked to be national champs, and ended up playing awful just about the whole season. Let’s win a few games and play well before we start worrying about any damn preseason rankings.
themaninblack
June 26th, 2011
9:10 am
As happens in every preseason, THuga fans who objectively have nothing to crow about get themselves into a tizzy because the same writers/pubs mention them as a “contender” in the SEC. By the BSU game time, as in every other year before, the puppy lovers will be out there with their chest bowed up and holding up that number one finger before the kickoff. By midseason, as always, they’ll have at least two losses and calling for Saint Mark’s head. I love it when THuga gets all excited in the preseason….it means for the rest of us the fall will be hilarious to watch.
Thomas Brown
June 26th, 2011
9:13 am
David Granger, amen.
Thomas Brown
June 26th, 2011
9:16 am
I don’t understand why there are so many posts by supposedly Georgia tek grads in here, spelling words such as your repeatedly in the same post, referring to your stinky football team has lost every game your team played against Mark Richt except for 1. Of course, they said you’re team and you’re fans. Nice Georgia tek grads you got there. And, nice football team. What a joke.
old time dog
June 26th, 2011
9:18 am
Tech buzz, fuzz and wolfyman…. U ArE aLL verYYY sMart because U aRE GT fans. AD RAD NeeDs ur helP!!!!! So trot youR priSSy little AssES to the fLatS fer YEt anotheR aSs whoPPing. Go buzz, fuzz and wolfy.
old time dog
June 26th, 2011
9:31 am
Wolfyman {boy}…. Will be glad to bring you and fuzz and buzz a pizza! Just didn’t know you boys ate anything other than those delicious golden fried creek suckers Paul and Al fry up with that special secret recipe tartar sauce! Eat up boys!!! eYe bet all three of you used those daunting engineering degrees along with Al and Paul’s help to land promising positions at Uncle Bill’s Catfish Pond baiting hooks with chicken livers and stinkbait. Good work boys!!!!
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2011
9:33 am
Amen, except for the glaring completely illogical parts. Georgia is picked to have a good team something like, oh every year. most often they do, so scratch that theory. The player form thier opinions on how good they are in practise, Not by reading fan interpretation of media reports, so scratch that part. I don’t know who you talk to but all the Bulldog friends of mine always talk rational expectations, maybe you need to hang with less chest thumping idiots. Not that it matters what smack anyone talks, it has not bearing on the games. UGA was not picked to win the National championship, they were preseason ranked, categorized based on the information availible in the summer by a few percentage point over about 5 other teams, AND the overwhelming majority of Dawg fans were very aware of the statistically improbability over going #1 wire to wire. Again, you might want to consider hanging with some smarter people if they were already braging about winning a NC in August. And Georgia did Not play awful all year, they finished as one of the better team in the nation, and you cannot name a team that has ever played better with less healthy roster if you had 10 years to research it. And once we did win a few games , why then would we then start worrying about preseason rankings. That doesn’t even make sense. But BuLLdawg liked it.
GR82BAG8R
June 26th, 2011
9:33 am
So, what if UGA does not win the SEC East? At what point do the UGA fans demand a change in coaches? Perennial top-10 recruiting classes should not deliver 6 – 7 seasons. Of all the rivals, UGA has the most stability in coaching and steady stream of blue chip talent. The BCS trophies are at several SEC schools – - Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, LSU – - but not at UGA. Will the UGA faithful continue to accept that?
GR82BAG8R
June 26th, 2011
9:37 am
Until Tech can win a bowl game – - any bowl game – - and beat UGA more than 1 out of 10 tries, Tech’s fans might want to consider just sitting back and watching how major college football is played, because it is not in the ACC.
Thomas Brown
June 26th, 2011
9:38 am
no
SickandTired
June 26th, 2011
9:43 am
That’s a great thing. Another predictor pickin the Dawgs to win the East. I am all in on this one. The Dawgs SHOULD win the East. The Dawgs should make it to the SECCG and win. Mark Richt should be fired if he doesn’t…this year, above all years, the Dawgs are poised and ready I tell you……Mark Richt is back from Honduras and ready to Rock and Roll the Dawgs to heaven…Come on Bill, let’s get this Dawg season in perspective…Dome or Busted!!!
edumacated
June 26th, 2011
9:54 am
I’m afraid Spurrier and his chickens are going to put it on us. After that, Richt will have a hard time keeping the morale up. I hate it, but I believe it will be another long year. I hope I’m wrong. Anyway, if Murray gets hurt, then the craps really gonna hit the fan. He’s our only proven star on offense. Everybody else is just potential.
Richt won’t and should not survive another year like the last two in Athens. He has to beat Florida or he will be gone for that alone. We can’t lose to those guys forever.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
9:56 am
Damn.the moderators are in full effect this morning!
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
9:58 am
The 08 season was one of Richt’s BEST coaching jobs at UGA.
Red Rooster
June 26th, 2011
10:11 am
UGA’s midget QB hasnt beaten a team with a winning record.
Alabama Jack
June 26th, 2011
10:15 am
Ho hum. Another UGA mythical pre-season national championship. Too bad you guys end up striving for mediocrity and seldom achieve it.
Magazine salesman and prognosticator
June 26th, 2011
10:15 am
I have Georgia ranked # 1 this season and I also having them to win the MNC. Thanks for my windfall this year UGA fans!
CMR IS competing with CMR !!!
June 26th, 2011
10:16 am
Here are the hard facts confronting Mark Richt:
He is faced with equaling his first two or three or four years in Athens as UGA HC.He has to get back there THIS YEAR. It is the way that it is and all know it.
Short of a 9-3 campaign in which UGA loses to say Boise State and to AU and maybe to Ole Miss, then wins all of the East, or maybe they lose to Boise and Florida only, then SC and Florida beat up each other and they both lose another ……………..UGA could win the East, at 9-3. This would keep him around by making a trip to the Dome with a shot vs West Champ. Holding on barely this 9-3 scenario would be.
He must replicate his early UGA success …………. the alumni have had enough of pres season prognosticating, only to come up short, after a summer of DUIs, parked car side swiping, no driver’s licenses and or the usual monkey business.
Go Dogs
UGA man,
class of 71 & 73.
old time dog
June 26th, 2011
10:19 am
Why do i bother trying to convince UGA fans that all of our students actually take real classes – I guess everyone really knows that the football players couldn’t find the engineering building with a map, a compass, and an assistant coach helping. Yes, OK I admit that our students take real classes while our football players are actually as retarded as though as other schools. (See Josh Nesbitt for examples)
GT grads in space at space station??
June 26th, 2011
10:22 am
Engineers have been also adversely impacted by Obama’s ever downturning economy.
As for the space station ………….OBAMA has killed NASA going forward, so what are you talking about GT grads at the spacde station? It does not sound like job security to me.
old time dog
June 26th, 2011
10:37 am
To the individual that posted 10:19 using my name…. resorting to using my name is flattery to say the least. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! eYe need to let everyone in on another secret eYe discovered…. you are the individual with that coveted engineering degree that discovered using Ivory soap as bait while catfishing at Uncle Bill’s. Congratulations on that. Be careful though and make sure Al doesn’t get too much soap on his fingers while baiting up or his might lose that famous ring you all are so proud of. Thanks for letting me know eYe struck a nerve Techie. I’ll leave you to your catfishing now.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
10:41 am
How can 10-3 ever be considered awful?
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
10:49 am
In 17 seasons from 84-2001 UGA won 10 games twice.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
10:54 am
17 seasons from 84-2001 UGA won 9 games 3 times.
Nomobama
June 26th, 2011
11:01 am
Love this time of year when many dog fans are all hyped up over the upcoming season. Wasnt it the same way last year? We all know how that turned out. Add to that the list of players no longer there and you get an sec east title? Doubtful.
Beast from the East
June 26th, 2011
11:03 am
“The 08 season was one of Richt’s BEST coaching jobs at UGA.”
SOUTHGADAWG88,
You may be correct, but he won’t ever get any credit for it. When you’re pre-season #1, on the cover of SI and lose at home to Tech, Bama and get throttled by Florida, that’s all 99% of the people will remember. The media doesn’t care how many injuries you have…..nor do most fans. Fair? Maybe not but that’s bigtime football.
ETC.
June 26th, 2011
11:04 am
Murray is the key. Until Murray wins a game that matters, and starts showing up against Div rivals the way Garcia did last year against UGA & Fla, UGA will struggle. Until Murray starts scoring points against winning teams, not the 18 points a game last year, but more in the range of 35-40 points a gamer against winning teams, Boise, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Missisippi State, these 5 games, and Murray’s play more than anyone on the team, are the key to the season. If the offense continues to score an SEC 10th best 18 points a game against winning teams, it will be a 4 or 5 win season, because their are 7 good teams on the schedule Boise, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Missisippi State, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech.
Paul Hewitt
June 26th, 2011
11:15 am
Can i buy some tickets? (i have all of tech’s money already) BTW – anyone else think it is funny how Tech always thinks they are smarted than UGA – but it was a UGA Law grad who wrote my contract guaranteeing me 7 years of pay if i was ever fired fro tech basketball? All those smart techies – and none of them figured out that it was the greatest contract favoring an employee ever written?
ETC.
June 26th, 2011
11:16 am
There are 5 great teams on the schedule:
Boise, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, and Missisppi State
Note: Richt went 0-6 against winning teams in 2010, 2-9 against ranked teams since 2009. South Carolina & Florida are the 2 most important games of the season. Boise is a non-conference game.
Prediction: 2-3, with wins against Boise, South Carolina, and losses to Florida, Auburn, and Missisippi State.
There are 3 good teams on the schedule:
Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Kentucky
Note: Richt won all 3 of these last year, due to a 5 td performance against Kentucky, and a great game by Murray against Georgia Tech & Tennessee. In UGA-Tenn game, last 4 winners were at home, home team is 4-0 in last 4 meetings, this one is in Knoxville.
Prediction: 2-1, with loss to Tenn.
There are 4 bad teams on the schedule:
Coastal Carolina, New Mexico State, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt
Note: Richt went 6-1 against losing teams, losing to Colorado without key WR, and with a red zone fumble by Caleb King
Prediction: 4-0, potential upsets are Ole Miss & Vanderbilt.
Totals:
6 wins, 6 losses
ETC.
June 26th, 2011
11:17 am
Prediction:
8 wins, 4 losses to Florida, Auburn, Missisippi State, Tennessee.
ETC - the engineer
June 26th, 2011
11:19 am
I cant count my own post…
ETC.
June 26th, 2011
11:21 am
If UGA loses either Murray or Tavarres King, looking at 6-6. I think Murray wil more than likely get knocked out by Clowney on a missed block by Crowell and miss the rest of the season. Tavarres King just has to stay out of trouble, unlike AJ Green.
ETC.
June 26th, 2011
11:30 am
The SC D line was voted #1 by ESPN.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 26th, 2011
11:31 am
For all the talk about Murray not beating winning teams….it seemed to me that our Defense didn’t play too well against winning teams either.
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2011
11:32 am
That might be the generic perception Beast, but that doesn’t mean that SG88 has resign himself that that there aren’t any more knowledgable fan who actually follow the game beyond media and hype, to which he can have a conversation with. He doesnt need to dumb down his comments, because 99% (and I think you are way underestimating % the real fans of the game) are in some “none of that matters” mentality.
Hurl
June 26th, 2011
11:32 am
Only 6 teams in the SEC East, 5 if you don’t count Vandy and 4 without Kentucky. Tennessee is rebuilding. So, in reality, 3 teams have a legitimate shot. S. Carolina has QB issues and Florida has a new coaching staff. That leaves UGA.
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2011
11:35 am
#1 what? everything I have read said the SC BIGGEST concern was a completely unknown front 7, returning one playmaker.
ray goff for next coach
June 26th, 2011
11:36 am
from scout.com this morning…Short-Term Thinking, and a Culture That Lacks Discipline
Follow me on Twitter @RussMitchellCFB
By all accounts, University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt is a charismatic, pleasant, trusting fellow. A generous man willing to spend what little free time he has on many a noble cause.
He’s just done a poor job stewarding Georgia’s football program, and it’s time for a change.
On the field, the Bulldogs are a mess. Georgia football has failed to live up to expectations in four of the past five seasons.
Last season goes without analyzing – as painfully fresh as it still is. The season before UGA had about seven different halfbacks lead the team in rushing in a single game, had a secondary that gave up more than Anthony Weiner, and pretty much surrendered the forward pass at the season’s mid-point.
As for the much heralded 2008 season, in which the Dawgs were nearly everybody’s preseason #1, Richt’s squad played only three games against teams that finished the regular season in the Top 25 – and lost all three of them. Actually it was worse than that – they gave up a staggering 135 points in those three defeats.
So much for Bulldog pride.
You can’t argue there hasn’t been talent, either – Georgia has had a boat load of top flight recruiting classes over that span. So what is it then? Why was Richt so successful in his first five years, particularly when compared to everything since?
To answer that one must step off the football field. Discipline is a top down trait; it doesn’t work its way up from the bottom. During the past three to four years it seems nary a month has gone by without some Georgia football player splashing the headlines with a transgression or two (yes, we’ll circle around to Urban Meyer). This highlights a lack of leadership – or the right kind of leadership – at the head coaching level, which filters down to the players and, for that matter, the staff. Don’t think so?
When was the last time this many transgressions happened at Penn State? How about under Mack Brown? Or Nick Saban? Or Les Miles? The latter two illustrating it is possible to have different coaching styles and still not tolerate this lack of discipline. Hell, you can eat grass and still carry the absolute respect of your players.
You think Richt’s players respect him absolutely? If they do, they certainly have a funny way of showing it.
Before the start of the 2008 season, Miles fired his meal ticket in the form of fourth year junior, SEC Championship MVP, starting quarterback Ryan Perrilloux…plummeting the Tigers into a nuclear winter of a quarterback wasteland for two years. In the process, nearly costing Miles his job. But there wasn’t a player on that team who didn’t respect him for it. And there’s not a player at LSU today who joined after Perrilloux was booted that doesn’t live with the positive effects of that decision.
Flash to Richt. It starts with wantonly breaking the rules on the field – ordering (wink wink) players to collectively break the rules. Specifically, the infamous “End Zone Party” of 2007. Like many at the time, I thought it was harmless – and perhaps in isolation, at a different program, it still might be.
But that was before it had become apparent Georgia is a rudderless ship from a discipline perspective. The aforementioned coaches would never have condoned, let alone organized, such in-game behavior…and their players know it! They carry themselves on and off the field with that knowledge. That restraint. And it is this which is lacking in Athens.
Not to say other schools are perfect. We’re talking about herding 85 young men here – there will be mistakes. But nowhere near the volume of those under Richt’s “leadership”.
Some of you are thinking about Florida right now, and the 30+ players arrested during Meyer’s tenure. Don’t kid yourself – that was catching up to Urban too. Meyer also had more overall talent during those years than Richt, not to mention perhaps the greatest leader in CFB history in Tim Tebow. Without Tebow to control the locker room, Meyer started losing his team last season even with more talent on the bench than most coaches have in a starting roster.
Richt runs a loose ship, often focusing on unimportant things like fashion rather than discipline. Perhaps he has wanted to give players more responsibility – to help them grow as men by taking charge of themselves. Regardless, he has permitted coaches and players to make significant blunders that go virtually unpunished. He’s trying to change that here towards the end of his career at Georgia, but it’s too little, too late.
Take defensive coordinator Todd Grantham choking his throat at Florida kicker Chas Henry, and barely getting a slap on the wrist. THAT ECHOS! Can you imagine Jo Pa letting that go without some form of material punishment? You think for a minute that impressionable young men don’t notice that – don’t notice that their coach allows egregious behavior to go unpunished? And that’s just a single example.
Steve Spurrier is doing it right now with Stephen Garcia and his fifth suspension. It’s short-term thinking…and it spreads like cancer. Short-term thinking like Jimmy Johnson’s at Miami. Pete Carroll’s at USC. Butch Davis’ at Miami. And yes, Meyer’s at Florida. None of them lasted a decade. Richt? Just finished his 10th year.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with short-term thinking – the problem is that Richt apparently wants to be in it for the long haul.
Lack of discipline/respect leads to half-assed behavior off the field. It leads to half-assed behavior in practice and weight training, which in turn leads to injuries and mistakes on the field. It leads to a careless disrespect for authority, not to mention structure and restraint.
Even if Richt could suddenly change his coaching style, he cannot undue this culture he has nurtured over years. And one winning season won’t change that; it’s just a Band-Aid atop a wound. One winning season has as much to do with luck, schedules, experienced players and what’s happening at other programs. Winning consistently requires a solid core of discipline/respect which is lacking at Georgia.
Georgia football will never win a national championship with Richt as its head coach, let alone achieve consistent top-shelf performance. That short-term window has closed. It’s time for a change.