Looking for the silver lining as UGA spreads the red
A look at Georgia uniforms of the past. (Heritage Sports Art)
So I return from vacation to find Mark Richt’s Dogs now a Top 20 team with opening-game uniforms that look like something out of a Japanese kiddie show.
Actually, I don’t mind the red on red aspect of Georgia’s Nike Pro Combat uniforms so much but I just don’t like that jersey, especially the black on the sleeves. However, the helmet actually comes close to being pretty cool; I just wish the red stripe wasn’t so wide. I could see those helmets — or a variation — brought back out for a future bowl game or something with our traditional uniforms.
Discussing the Pro Combats over the weekend with several fans, both young and old, I found a recurring theme that most would have preferred something a bit closer to a retro look (silver helmets, red jerseys, silver britches), but throwbacks is not really what the whole Pro Combat thing is about. Still, as my old schoolmate Rusty said on Facebook, “Well, they’re hideous, true. But I can live with them for one game.”
(For a closer look at the poster of the evolution of Georgia’s uniforms, go here. Artwork courtesy of Scott Sillcox. Each of the 15 actual pieces of original watercolor artwork used in the UGA uniforms poster are available for sale here.)
Meanwhile, I have to say I was a little surprised to see Georgia ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press preseason poll — the only team on the list coming off a losing record — but Boise State at No. 5 (making the Broncos the highest-ranked season-opening opponent for the Dogs since 1965) and South Carolina at No. 12 is about what I expected.
As Neil “Hondo” Williamson of the Georgia broadcast team points out, dating back to the first AP poll in 1936, Georgia has never opened the season against two top 20 teams (or top 25 for that matter). So in terms of how highly ranked the opponents are, 2011 will mark the most difficult opening two games in Bulldogs history (though I’ve heard several fans make a good case for the opening tandem in 1982 when Georgia faced defending national champion Clemson and a Steve Young-led BYU team).
Estimations of how the Dogs will weather those first two games and the 10 regular season matches to follow are all over the place, ranging from Phil Steele’s prediction of Georgia winning the SEC East to Sports Illustrated predicting a 6-6 record.
Of course, such predictions are, like the preseason polls, nothing but guesswork, but if there’s anything even sillier, it’s preseason bowl projections. That doesn’t stop various sports media outlets from trotting them out, though, and College Football News has Georgia playing Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in its “way too early” projection, while both of ESPN’s bowl projections have the Dogs in the Capital One Bowl, with Mark Schlabach pitting Georgia against Ohio State and Brad Edwards pegging Nebraska as the opponent.
That’s getting way ahead of all the games, of course, in a season where even die-hard UGA loyalist Loran Smith isn’t sure what sort of team Richt is going to field but is cautiously optimistic, noting, “this team could play really well the first two weeks and begin the season 0-2. The good news is that, in the Butts-Mehre building, you won’t find anybody who believes that will happen.”
Neither do I. How about you?
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217 comments Add your comment
GIVE ME A BREAK
August 23rd, 2011
12:19 pm
As a GT fan, I hope UGA goes 2-0. It will make November even sweeter. Good luck, dawgs. ” GO JACKETS “
DawgByte
August 23rd, 2011
12:19 pm
I like the Nike Pro Combat uniforms. The whole damn thing. Love the helmets… wide stripe and all. The most important thing is that we win. The new uniforms are an interesting side show. We’ve got to win this first game, period!
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
12:20 pm
“The good news is that, in the Butts-Mehre building, you won’t find anybody who believes that will happen”
Of course not. That’s because da Preacha Man and his Straw Dawg coaching staff have the KoolAid machine running full tilt and and the bar is now open 24/7. Step right up boys.
King Gator
August 23rd, 2011
12:20 pm
…and Georgia has beaten Florida since. or Central Florida for that matter… Keep dancing, playing dress up and losing. We’ll just enjoy or victories, SEC Titles and BCS Titles. Go Gators!
RedandBlackDAWG
August 23rd, 2011
12:20 pm
If anybody is interested, fox sports rates our regular season uniforms as number one, I am assuming in the NCAA, due to things like tradition and how well they are put together color wise. There is way too much concern over a uniform UGA will only be wearing for one game. If the kids playing in those uniforms do their thing, the uniforms will be remembered more for that, then any style statement they are suppose to make for Nike.
King Gator
August 23rd, 2011
12:24 pm
Who cares about the uniforms, it’s the accessories that matter – like SEC and BCS championship rings. Get some bling dawgs, then you can wear what ever ugly uniform NIKE makes you wear. Trust me, we know. Go Gators!
Brian
August 23rd, 2011
12:24 pm
Dear lord will you people quit complaining about the uniforms!!! It’s the Chick-fil-A Kickoff. It’s two highly recognizable programs on national TV. It’s about dollars and cents, not about tradition or mojo or any crap like that. Alabama wore a Pro Combat Uniform. So has Florida, Boise St, Virginia Tech, and a couple of other schools. This is not some publicity stunt like the “Black Outs”. This is Nike being a major contributor to the game asking it’s two participants (who both wear Nike equipment anyway) to wear it’s product on the field for one game. September cannot get here soon enough so we don’t have to read/listen to this crap anymore!!
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
12:27 pm
@SSIgator talk about kool-aid drinkers you have NO HC experience leading your team, your starting QB has been at best shaky , your OC is installing a new offensive scheme while destroying every buffet in the state of Florida. There are as many question marks on you OL as ours and you and King Gator are ready to anoint yourselves as SEC champs and world beaters.. koolaid…its just not for Dawg fans…
Buster
August 23rd, 2011
12:27 pm
Enough about the freaking uniforms! Let’s play some football!
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
12:30 pm
WDE -
Maybe King Gator alluded to that, but I sure have not. Have another glass my friend. It obviously distorts your reading comprehension.
WinderDawg
August 23rd, 2011
12:33 pm
Georgia opened 1982 against defending National Champion Clemson at night when Herschel had a broke his thumb in practice…I actually sat in the club level with Herschel’s family.
Then played the Mormon’s – never saw so many white shirts with black tie’s…
Good times….
Buster
August 23rd, 2011
12:33 pm
BTW, thank God we don’t have to listen to Loran Smith much anymore! I think of him more as a blowhard than a diehard! If it weren’t for Herschel and he coming from Wrightsville we would never have had to put up with old syrup mouth for so long!
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
12:39 pm
@SSIgator so you think you have what this year a contender, a pretender or you going to bank on moral victories? Come on sport let us know what we can expect from those “mighty mighty Gators” this year. I’m sure your chomping at the bit for a rematch with the Tide in early Oct…
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
12:39 pm
“this team could play really well the first two weeks and begin the season 0-2″
Huh? Doubtful. If you start the season 0-2 you obviously are not playing very well. Another “whatta ya got Loran” moment. What a tool.
Top Row Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
12:41 pm
Loran has been with Dogs since the 1960’s. His history articles for the Athens Banner along with anything by Dan MaGill are the best things to read in each Gameday. He is a survivor and a damn good dawg, lay off Buster.
Huck
August 23rd, 2011
12:44 pm
I really do expect Georgia to dominate Boise State across the defensive front, much as they did the last time the Broncos dared to play the Dawgs. 37-21 Georgia wouldn’t surprise me. South Carolina is a much bigger game with more at stake. If the team can somehow avoid a big let-down after a huge opening day win those lucky enough to be in attendance could see an old fashioned war on Sept. 10.
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
12:45 pm
WDE -
You are the one that believes in “moral victories” not me. I prefer the old fashioned won/lost stat sheet. As for the Gators; who knows. If I had the answer to that I would also have more money than any of the other suckers in Vegas.
JDawg1785
August 23rd, 2011
12:59 pm
Welcome back, Bill! Honestly, the only thing that matters for the Dawgs right now is that game on the 3rd. They could be ranked #1 or #100 for all I care.
UGADawg83
August 23rd, 2011
1:16 pm
Quotes from a friends facebook page? Advertising for a friends artwork in your column? Wow and I thought you’d turned the corner Bill.
Russell
August 23rd, 2011
1:18 pm
I think your poster of the past unis is wrong. In 80 the white road jerseys were worn with red pants (Just ask Bill Bates, we all know he remembers!)
Spike 80DF
August 23rd, 2011
1:19 pm
SSIgator, is this you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JZVbanZWsE
Spokesman for the SEC East
August 23rd, 2011
1:23 pm
Yea spike 80df and this is you:http://www.google.com/imgres?q=redneck+uga+fan&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=5FazBPnpOpiVIM:&imgrefurl=http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php%253Ft%253D254063%2526page%253D2&docid=pXZYpZoDUgQ01M&w=407&h=331&ei=mOFTTtnPO8PZgQeS6pBH&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=184&vpy=87&dur=497&hovh=202&hovw=249&tx=120&ty=77&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=181&start=0&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1280&bih=867
Spokesman for the SEC East
August 23rd, 2011
1:24 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh1Er9KKutw
another humper
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
1:26 pm
@SSIgator so let me see if I get this you don’t have a clue about the state of Gator Nation but you know everything that is wrong with UGA….you call us koolaid drinkers I call you troll…how sad is it when you care more about your opponents flaws than your teams strengths , weaknesses and challenges….
Athens= God's Country
August 23rd, 2011
1:26 pm
They look much better on a human. The uni on the dummy looks, well, dumb. Its all red vs. all blue. Yall know that, right?
P.S. WHO CARES?!!!
Dawgs> 30 = Victory
WinderDawg
August 23rd, 2011
1:27 pm
Georgia wore silver britches in the 80’s except for Tenn…Herschel’s debut!
DawgDawgDawg
August 23rd, 2011
1:37 pm
Boise is a much better football team AND program than they were when we last played them. And our program has been on a slide the past few years. Any UGA fan who thinks we’re going to destroy Boise should take a hard look at what is going on with our football program. Just the fact that we’re coming out ranked #19 and Boise is #5 should scare the silver britches off any true UGA fan. Serious changes need to be made at UGA. And I’m not talking about the uniforms.
LHarding Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
1:39 pm
WDE – SSIgator is probably Saint Simons and knows absolutely nothing about the gators or football in general.
Remarkable
August 23rd, 2011
1:40 pm
If they win vs. BS I say let them wear the unis every game until they lose one. If they don’t win, burn them in front of the Butts-Mere Building.
JB
August 23rd, 2011
1:48 pm
We ask ourselves ( or convince ourselves) that this year will be all different and better….and hope that it is….but at the same time, what in 9 months going by is STILL there that caused us to go 6-7. Not bad luck, but real stuff like not being able to open holes for the running game or not being able to stop folks from running up the gut on us for 7,8 10 yards. The real stuff that wins and loses games? What’s left over from last year that’s still there? A lack of talent? A lack of depth? Have the coach’s rethought things?
Athens= God's Country
August 23rd, 2011
1:48 pm
DawgDawgDawg
You are right. Let’s fire everyone right now and not let the coaches correct the issues. Forget that we have a 2nd year all SEC qb, and a scary 2nd year D. But, yea, lets get rid of everyone now, snatch up our ball and pout all the way home. GIVE ME A BREAK YOU WHINEY LIL B.
here is a link to the nike website. These look much better. http://inside.nike.com/blogs/usnikefootball/2011/08/19/red-black-and-silver-dawgs
DawgFan88
August 23rd, 2011
1:48 pm
My final thought on the uniforms – why didn’t Alabama play in clown suits when they played in two of these games? I’ll tell you why – they respect tradition, they respect what Alabama means. Unfortunately at my alma mater, it’s who writes the biggest check.
Athens= God's Country
August 23rd, 2011
1:52 pm
JB
The only thing EVERY SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY has is hope. There is nothing wrong with that.
Bill King is a..................
August 23rd, 2011
1:55 pm
Bill, you are still a goober. What i cant get over is this…….for a team (UGA) to have as many diehard fans as we do, there are so many negative people on the uga blogs. If you dont like us, then go fck yourselves! I’m very optimistic on our season. Have any of you morons actually looked at our players?? Do you people not get that we have a DC that is starting his second season. We had our learning curve last year for our defense. Look for them to be much better. Murray is a year older, our starting five on offensive line are pretty good. We do have to pray that we dont have any bad injuries. We have no depth there. that will be what gets us if anything. We no longer have Caleb or Waushaun. Those two contributed to the bad attitudes we had last year on the team. The whole team morale will be better without those two thugs. We have a great placekicker. The only other thing we have that might be a liability other than no depth at O line is Mike Bobo. If our players can overcome him, we will be just fine. Look at our LB’s, look at our D Line. Our secondary will look much better because we finally have some players who can get pressure on the QB. The Dawgs will be fine….look for them to make a second trip to the Dome in December. And once again, to all the naysayers…..leave the UGA blogs alone, we dont need it. Go pleasure yourselves!! This is going to be a good year for the us
Spokesman for the SEC East
August 23rd, 2011
1:57 pm
JB, most realistic post I have seen by a Dawg. The question I would ask if I were a Dawg is, who made the decision to kick the fieldgoal against UCF on 4th and inches inside their 5 yard line early in the 1st Qtr in a meaningless bowl game?
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
1:58 pm
@LHarding Dawg you could be right…he is never one to talk football just take shots at UGA.
JB
August 23rd, 2011
2:04 pm
Against UCF, in a meaningless bowl, in the first quarter, I would expect Richt to go for it on anything inside the 50. What the heck was he thinking?
ga gator
August 23rd, 2011
2:05 pm
Welcome back Bill. Too much good and bad has been said about the uniforms. They will not make you win or lose or make the fans like you or hate you more. The kids like them as well as recruits plus they make the school some money.
HardTruth Soldier
August 23rd, 2011
2:13 pm
Lets clear something up, Techies, Gators, Bama Hillbillies, and Nat’l Champs, and Fake East champs S.C. Georgia, who all of Dawg nation will admit had a bad year last year didn’t get blown away by SC, blew BSU out last time here, and I guarantee will be 7-0 when we go to Hator country. Bank on it we’ll beat alot of people down.
AltamahaDawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:20 pm
“Silver Lining”???
Gawgalmighty Bill, Georgia is about to kick off another season of the best entertainment known to man playing in a huge game in 2 weeks. Are you really looking for the silver lining?
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:23 pm
Earth quake in N.Y. city… airport closed.. building evacuated… huge traffic jam !!
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:24 pm
Dome to Dome this year… we win 3 games in Atlanta this season ~!
mark
August 23rd, 2011
2:25 pm
I can’t believe BYU wasn’t ranked in 1982…I always thought they were. Man, it poured that day…still got a crumpled, rain soaked program. Uniforms: Agree completely on the helmet…it’d be nicer with a smaller stripe. It does have potential and I like the DAWGS print in red on black above the facemask alot better than the current one that doesn’t stand out at all. The pants are stock issue that anyone could just purchase at nike.com. They could’ve done more with that jersey if they wanted to make money selling it. Supposedly we’ll get an explanation as to what it all signifies later this week or next.
Shrimp N Grits
August 23rd, 2011
2:28 pm
JB
Its to show the guys on the team that in a meaningless bowl against a “bad” team, you play hard no matter what. You get the touchdown/first down in three plays, not four. He was proving a point. He did the same thing in his first year against a “bad” team (BC) in a meaningless bowl. Dawgs lost 1 game the next year.
Would you be proud if we won that game? I wouldn’t.
no dog
August 23rd, 2011
2:30 pm
The new uniforms are the perfect excuse. If you win, they were great. If you do not win, they were the reason. Win/win!?!
I have not a good feeling about that dome game. Happy trails however to all dogs.
Burma Shave
August 23rd, 2011
2:34 pm
UGA players
Are clowns anyway
But how much to Richt
Did Nike pay?
BURMA SHAVE
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
2:34 pm
SSI is too stupid to realize that we could start 0-2 and because of who we played and how we played, we could be much better than a year ago. Starting out with 2 high school scrimmages tells you nothing about your team.
We will know a lot about our team after the 1st 2. The gators won’t know anything except their coach can scream and their OC can eat and SSI is still obnoxious.
Anyone notice collegefootballnews.com predicting an 0′fer for the gators in October? How the mighty have fallen…………………………….
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
2:35 pm
BURMA SHAVE
Is a TROLL
Don’t even need
to take a poll
Idiot
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
2:37 pm
BURMA SHAVE
He likes men
Wants to marry
a guy named Ken
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
2:39 pm
BURMA SHAVE HATES NASCAR
Loves Elton John
That explains
What Pole he is on