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
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
2:40 pm
BURMA SHAVE
Played no sports
Just drinks his beer
Wears his Jorts
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
2:44 pm
DawginLex -
Don’t wait by the phone for Jay Leno to call.
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:45 pm
this is Todd Grantham’s career breakout season… he knows it… Todd’s a great coach… we have the players… favorable schedule… Junkyard Dawgs are BBBAAACCCCKKKKK !!!! !!
Chris S
August 23rd, 2011
2:47 pm
If the Dawgs beat Boise St, I don’t care if they wear orange and blue and Mark Richt throws his golf visors
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:48 pm
Coach Richt please help Bo Bo call the offense… Grantham can call the D.. Go Dawgs !!!
frodawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:49 pm
Go you Silver Britches!!!!
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:49 pm
Uga 31 Bosie State 17.. Uga 24 S.C. 17
Middle Georgia Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:50 pm
I believe we will split the first 2 games with a close loss to Boise and a very close win against USC. I hope it doesn’t work out the other way. A win against USC would be huge!
destin dawg
August 23rd, 2011
2:50 pm
Boise State … we will win 3 in Atlanta this season !!
Pete
August 23rd, 2011
2:55 pm
It’s crazy and delusional and completely homer to for pup fans to have the audacity and ignorance to think the game against Boise will be close.
Remember UCF Colorado and the other 4 team you lost to? Boise is still better than all those teams that rollled uga….. and Boise will be OWNING the Dome just as they own FedEx. Just another notch in the post.
SSIgator
August 23rd, 2011
3:01 pm
destin dawg -
“we will win 3 in Atlanta this season”
Sounds like you are expecting the UGA basketball team to go very deep in the SEC tournament.
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
@SSIgator and still nothing on the state of Gator Nation….trolling trolling trolling tho’ the streams are swollen keep kicking at the doggies troll on! @Pete just tell me how your going to outplay a bigger,stronger and faster team on both sides of the ball…we listened in 05 to all that Boise jive, win a game vs the SEC and perhaps some will start to give the respect you so badly crave…by the way I hear all day long “this isn’t the same Boise” and I think you much better but 6 years later and you still haven’t won vs the SEC …proof is in the pudding.
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
Pete you are an idiot of the highest order.
Virginia Tech led that game until less than 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.
If that is “owning” FedEX Field, you might want to re-think your definition of owning.
Boise is going to get beat. Accept it. Move on back to the Tech blog.
AltamahaDawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
Shrimp and grit, I loved what he said to the boys “if you wanted a first down, do it right there when you are supposed to, don’t come running over here asking me to go for it on 4th down”.
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
Welcome back Bill…cutting it a little close to season don’t ya think?! Should’ve typed a quick article while away for us to nibble on…..oh well, hope you had fun.
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
Newman…we had some great DB’s that made all those picks in ‘82…Thankfully we also had Butler to win it.
kerryb
August 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
Pete, we don’t think that the Boise State game will be close. I’ve said all along that UGA will beat Boise State 35-14. I don’t get this love affair with Boise State. Who do they play? Nobody. You can’t count beating a Virginia Tech team that lost to, I believe, Jacksonville State the next week. They are coming to try and play big boy football in the SEC which they haven’t been able to do in the past. This year will be no different. Get out of your mind the Georgia team that was 6-7 last year and lost 4 close games. This will be a totally different team than last year. Bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic with more experience than last year.
kerryb
August 23rd, 2011
3:24 pm
Oh, I’m sorry. I was wrong it was worse. Virginia Tech lost to James Madison the next week 21-16.
WDE
August 23rd, 2011
3:24 pm
@kerryb VT lost to James Madison the week after Boise.
Still@theBAR
August 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
The helmet is just ugly
kerryb
August 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
Then Virginia Tech ripped off 11 straight wins. Boise State won the Virginia Tech game 33-30. They would not have beaten Virginia Tech at the end of the year.
kerryb
August 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
My point is that Boise State beat a Virginia Tech team that was just looking at Boise State as another team to play to start the season. Georgia players are looking at Boise State as redemption on the national stage which makes this a dangerous game for Boise State.
how2fish
August 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
Not football related but would like to send my condolences out to the Tenn fans regarding Pat Summitt’s condition best of luck to her, her family and the Vols, she has been a great coach for a long time and our prayers are with them.
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:37 pm
Down to business….Bill those uniforms are BUTT-UGLY! Thought Mark Richt was over this uniform crap. Fans and alumni hate it and CMR knew we would, so as to introduce them early “to get over it”! Darn bad choice of words Coach…coming across as not caring whatsoever about fan base…Could’ve easily said they wanted to introduce early so fans could “get USED to it” for ONE game.
This is not Nike U…JUST SAY NO TO NIKE….There are much more credible companies out there UGA could do business with pertaining to uniforms.
and if this is just a marketing ploy to sell more stuff, UGA has more money than God already and our fans will still spend the same amount of money on merchandise regardless of it being new……Smacks of New Coke!
Don’t let the kids tail wag the dog of the program. They’ll turn it into ghetto nike.
Shrimp N Grits
August 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
Altamaha
I’m glad somebody remembers that. I was upset watching that game, but I knew what CMR was doing. We lost to BC. The next year was year 2 for the qb and year 2 for the D. We lost 1 game. Look out. There are many similarities.
Dome to Dome
Shrimp N Grits
August 23rd, 2011
3:40 pm
Top Dawg
sthu. Clever name for a Yechie.
Alphare
August 23rd, 2011
3:43 pm
Here is a reality for your dog fans:
(1) Boise State is a national power house. Just read the article on AJC about Hawaii playing football in Japan. It says so in there. While Boise State is national power house, what’s UGA? regional power house?
(2) SCar has Lattimore/Jeffrey/Garcia. Who does UGA have? Murray? he couldn’t even throw a TD against CFlorida.
Andy Landers deserves a NC
August 23rd, 2011
3:45 pm
Always knew Pat Summit was nuts.
SiddyBoy
August 23rd, 2011
3:47 pm
Let’s get something straight !!! UGA wears dull gray pants not silver. If you don’t believe me, speak with the UGA equipment manager who said so on The Mark Richt show a couple of years ago.Or just look closely at them.I think they detract from the appearance of the uniform. Bring back the silver pleaseeeeeeeee;and put some bright red UGA numbers on those dull white road jerseys.We had white with red numbers in the early 70’s and they looked great.I also loved the red pants !!!
Dawg Walk?
August 23rd, 2011
3:48 pm
Anyone heard if a Dawg Walk is scheduled for the Boise game?
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
3:49 pm
Alphare
when Boise state makes their living going 11-1 and 12-0 in the SEC, I’ll be impressed. Otherwise, they are a team that plays 9 OOC jokes that we schedule for patises in the SEC.
The SC/UGA game is going to be a war. It always is. To say otherwise just shows your a lack of knowledge about the history of the series recently.
Gatormeat
August 23rd, 2011
3:49 pm
georgia starts 0-2, gets blown out in Jacksonville by Florida, again, and ends the year 6-6 or 5-7.
Ming the Magnificent
August 23rd, 2011
3:50 pm
Do they have a Nike uniform for the miserable mutt, or are they just going to paint his butt again like last year?
Inquiring minds want to know.
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
3:51 pm
Florida goes 6-6 including a Jacksonville beatdown by Georgia and embarrassing losses to LSU,Auburn,Bama,FSU and Kentucky.
Kentucky breaks the streak this year in Lexington 31-30
Weis eats Gainesville
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
3:53 pm
Ming
Let him borrow your Jiffy Lube shirt that says “Ming” on the front
“Ready on Bay one”
Ming the Magnificent
August 23rd, 2011
3:53 pm
@Gatormeat we will have a better record that the Gators this year. once the tide beats you like they own you..just like last year the crying starts but it won’t end there Gators 6-6 at best.
Gatormeat
August 23rd, 2011
3:53 pm
Maybe the dogs could wear those Grambling helmets again when they play Boise, we all know how well it worked against those Gators a couple years back
Gatormeat
August 23rd, 2011
3:55 pm
Gators will be in the SEC title game this year. No one else in the East is even close
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:55 pm
?
The Ghost of Wally Butts
August 23rd, 2011
3:55 pm
Sometimes you have to loose a limb to save a body, I guess.
Maybe after we are embarrassed by Boise, the Leeburn-Adams Athletic Association will end all of this gimmicky business about changing uniforms to try and recruit thug-wanna-be types and let us wear the classic look once and for all.
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
3:57 pm
Bill, Is Jenkins turning out to be an out of shape bust?
I hope Kwame Geathers is real deal if Jenkins summer is any indication of his play.
Patriot now and forever
August 23rd, 2011
3:58 pm
@DawginLex: “The SC/UGA game is going to be a war.”
With the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have given their lives fighting in wars to defend this country, please don’t disrespect them and trivialize war by comparing it to football.
I’m sure you didn’t mean to do this. I just cringe when someone says [fill in the sport of your choice] is war.
Ming the Magnificent
August 23rd, 2011
3:59 pm
@Gatormeat I think they should do the endzone dance seems to have worked the first time!
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
4:01 pm
At least Damon Evans had the balls to say we weren’t going to change uniforms again on his watch. Time for new AD to step up on subject.
Guess Mark didn’t care for that or us fans.
Ghetto is as ghetto does…ghetto kids will want ghetto uniforms…Where are the adults in the program?!!!!
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
4:04 pm
Patriot
I would never disrespect the military.
They are the reason we get to blog as we choose to and go to football games.
it's ok
August 23rd, 2011
4:05 pm
Patriot, understand your point…but getting too sensitive….it’s just semantics and has always been described in those terms throughout history….some just take it to extreme.
how2fish
August 23rd, 2011
4:05 pm
@Patriot now and forever you might be on the up and up and if you served please let me say thanks, but I’ve had this discussion with my Dad,uncles, cousins and friends who have served over the years in every conflict from WWII to our current sand boxes …no a one have any concerns with the “going to be a war” statements a couple have objections with calling pro or college players “warriors” but never the more abstract ‘going to be a war” description for a game…just my 2 cents again to all the vets thanks for your service.
DawginLex
August 23rd, 2011
4:06 pm
Top Dawg
McGarity booked the opener
McGarity agreed to the uniforms
Richt hadn’t seen them until a couple of weeks ago.
Not Richt’s call
Top Dawg
August 23rd, 2011
4:09 pm
The helmet is especially atrocious! Don’t F with the uniforms….Leave the trash for the trash states surrounding us.
Alphare
August 23rd, 2011
4:09 pm
DawginLex
While Boise State is ranked around #5 by numerous media outlets, UGA is ranked around #25.
Be careful, don’t get your tail stomped while sleep walking.