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
WDE
August 24th, 2011
7:37 am
@chazzo that was a great post couldn’t agree more, most of Bull Dog Nation is tempering our expectations with a hope for the best, but we know this this and this have to happen for us to have a good year…we don’t expect it to happen just because we want it to…this kids have stayed out of trouble, worked hard all summer and are saying and doing the right things I hope they are successful they have worked hard toward it..what more can you ask of them?
RedandBlackDAWG
August 24th, 2011
7:46 am
UGA’s defense will greatly influence the outcome of the game. It is going to be lost or won on the line, and our defense is stronger, faster, and a lot bigger there. Boise will be starting a tackle that must protect their QB’s blindside and he has never started before. Their center, is coming off a major leg injury and will give away almost 60 pounds and 6 inches in height to either one of UGA’s nose tackles. If UGA controls the line, their defense can control Boise’s offense and that will be the key. Make their QB move around all day with happy feet and the game belongs to the DAWGS.
GO DAWGS and GATA
Thomas Brown
August 24th, 2011
7:58 am
Improved chazzo ?
We have to go back 58 years to 1953 to find one of our teams who lost more than the 7 games we lost last year.
No wonder you don’t want to put up a record for us 2011-2012, that and the 10 CUPCAKES we play. You see ? Putting up a record, would then obviously beg the question, just whom was it we beat this season, wouldn’t it ? Yesterday we all read with horror how Mark Richt has done the last 4 years compared to teams with LESS TALENT as judged by the Scout.com # 11 ranking average the last 5 years making up this team this season. Mark Richt’s record vs teams finishing in the AP Poll Top 10 and Mark Richt’s losses to teams not finishing in the AP Poll Top 25, even, including their win over Mark Richt. Makes you wonder where such a person came up with such an idea. Judge a “coaching staff” put together by Mark Richt and for whom he and he alone is responsible compared to the truly great teams and compared to the truly lousy teams. All 10 years, it has been the same. It is not a 4-year deal on this one of the worst coaches in America beating teams finishing in the AP Poll Top 10 and losing to teams not even finishing in the AP Poll Top 25, even with their win over us.
3-9 vs teams finishing Top 10 AP Poll all 10 years Mark Richt
10 more losses to teams not even finishing that season in the AP Poll Top 25 Mark Richt
Improved, sir, would be to actually beat teams who then finish in the AP Poll Top 10 instead of losing them all.
Improved, sir, would be to actually not lose to lousy teams who even with their win over Mark Richt’s “coaching staff” they still did not even finish that season in the AP Poll Top 25 even.
11-3 is not improved then. It is just more of the same with no significant team beat, yet again, and probably with a loss to a team who doesn’t even finish in the AP Poll Top 25 as usual too.
Mediocre describes where we have been, where we are and where we will be. And, it better not include a loss to Boise State.
WDE
August 24th, 2011
8:16 am
@Thomas Brown you one of the longer winded trolls on the board, the Bear is dead every team has off years we went 20 years without a SEC championship not that long ago..ask BAMA how that 4th place finish in the West felt ask the Gators how getting schooled by Bama last year felt, it felt like 6-7 crappy! If 11-3 is mediocre your never going to be happy, you can rant and rail all you want no one wins them all, 10 cupcakes really we have a 11 game season and play UF, USC and Boise all in the top 25 do the math where do you get 10 cupcakes…take your stats and head on back to Bugville Thomas. And what will you do if we do lose to Boise..start saying bad things about the coaching staff, the team, withhold all the millions you give to the school, hold your breath till you turn blue?
Bait
August 24th, 2011
8:43 am
Enough about the Unis. Look, we are going to beat BSU. I’ve met several folks from Idaho, and they were all (unlike Techies) good, honest people, with a healthy respect for the outdoors. So WHEN we beat them, let’s do it with class (unlike the lizards). Let’s be LOUD, but respectful. I don’t want to be able to hear myself think in the Dome!
The last couple of years have been rough. As Bagger told Junah; It’s time to come out of the shadows….
LogicalUS
August 24th, 2011
9:05 am
“can be ranked so high – they lost all of their D-Backs and most of their top receiving corp from last year”
Well Boisy fans would probably point out that a 6-7 UGA team lost its top receiving corp along with all its running backs, its best player on defense and yet it hasn’t stopped UGA fans about predicting national championships and a rout against them.
So it goes both ways,
mackeyboi
August 24th, 2011
9:51 am
vince dooley is the most overrated coach in UGA history! if it wasn’t for herchel walker saving him in 1980 he would be considered the 2nd worst coach in UGA only behind Ray Goff
War Dang Dawg
August 24th, 2011
10:01 am
“vince dooley is the most overrated coach in UGA history! if it wasn’t for herchel walker saving him in 1980 he would be considered the 2nd worst coach in UGA only behind Ray Goff”
Couldn’t disagree more. Dooley wasn’t a great coach, but he was pretty good. Much better than Goff or Richt. They didn’t have two guaranteed win cupcake games every year when Dooley was coaching. Nonconference games included Clemson, South Carolina (before they joined the SEC) and Tech every year, and Georgia played UCLA, BYU, Pitt, Michigan, TCU, Texas A&M, and FSU among others. No Idaho States or La.-La’s on Dooley’s calendar.
And the best part of all: 17-7-1 against Florida. And that includes wins over some darn good Florida teams. He denied the Gators SEC Championships at least 4 times that I can remember.
That’s my kind of coach. I’d take Dooley over Richt any day.
LawDawg
August 24th, 2011
10:40 am
Grown men talking about what teenagers are wearing is equivalent to watching the red carpet before the Oscars. Stupid and embarrassing. Let’s talk football, not fashion.
Dirty Dawg
August 24th, 2011
11:41 am
As much as I agree that we need to be thinking football rather than uniforms, one thing that occurred to me. I hope that their ‘dress rehearsal’ today includes wearing these new unis…I’d hate to think we could end up with a ‘massive’ wardrobe malfunction on national television – now that would be embarrassing. Oh yeah, and they probably need to wash ‘em at least once before wearing to make sure they don’t fade – who knows we could end up with a washed-out color of red…kinda like Tennessee’s orange that looks as it it’s been left out in the sun too long. Of course the worst ‘wardrobe malfunction’ on that night would be to lose in the damn things.
Big Dirty Dawg
August 24th, 2011
4:23 pm
Alphe…if i remember…Garcia didnt throw a TD versus the Dawgs last year. so whats your point?
Big Dirty Dawg
August 24th, 2011
4:32 pm
Who friggin cares about uniforms….lets just play some ball!!!
G-Man Phoenix
August 24th, 2011
8:05 pm
There’s a lot of tough talk here with a lack of knowledge and even minimum research. BSU/UGA 2005 is ancient history and doesn’t apply. BSU has been on an upward trajectory for several years now, which means bigger, faster players. You put this together with the only caoch to have won the Bear Bryant award twice, and it’s a powerful combination. Also, BSU’s QB crashed in that game and was personally responsible for about a 1/2 dozen turnovers. Who wouldn’t get creamed if that happened. Last year, 5 mos before the Labor Day game, VT hired a coach to do a thorough play x play analysis of BSU in an attempt to figure out their “system”. VT had NC aspirations, took that game very seriously, and they were as prepared as they could be. That’s one reason it ended up being so close. Check the stats. They lost that game on a Monday night, then had a 4-hr bus trip home, then had school. The loss was devastating, and 5 days hardly gave them enough time to practice, let alone recover from the loss. It’s no wonder that a good James Madison was able to take advantage of the situation. The dawgs could be in a similar situation, but with a more difficult 2nd opponent. BSU with Moore as a freshman QB, beat Oregon in 2008 on their home field, one the toughest home fields in the country. After that, don’t you think Oregon would have been prepared for revenge in the 2009 opener in Boise? They didn’t get a first down until 3Q, and LaGarrete Blount was held to minus 5 yds rushing. BSU made a lot of first game mistakes, including several fumbles on snap, or the score wouldn’t have been so close. I’m sure CMR and the team know what they’re up against, and will be prepared. And I doubt they’re expecting a walk in the park.
chazzo
August 24th, 2011
8:14 pm
Improved? No. I said greatly improved. I think Mark Richt has addressed very issue thrown at him. I think he is improved. I think the team is improved. I don’t really care about the record. This is a young crew. I’m betting this will be the most exciting team to watch since the Greene/Pollack days.
I’m not making far out predictions. I’m not talking smack.
I just flat out think this group has come together as a team, and they seem excited to play some football. I’m excited for them. WDE said it best. These guys worked hard. They deserve our support. Anybody with a heart knows that.
Thomas Brown
August 24th, 2011
11:53 pm
WDE cannot even count to 11-3. Quote WDE to me ? Mark Richt has addressed, every issue. Great Scott. Is Mike Bobo the offensive coordinator ? Is Bryan McClendon the RB coach ? Did we recruit a fullback the last 6 recruiting classes, I missed somewhere ? There is a single player who plays the forward pass in our entire secondary ? Do we have a hole in the OL in the starting 5, and is there anyone behind them ? Were there now 26 players who would have played vs Boise State who no longer on even on the roster. All those 26, whom Mark Richt is given great credit for bringing here, none of them are Mark Richt’s “coaching staff’s” responsibility for running off this roster ? Will we not lose the game number 11 in the 11 years this season of Mark Richt and his “coaching staff” to a team who does not end up in the AP Poll Top 25, like Florida for example ? Will we beat Florida or go 2-9 vs Florida his 11 years here ? Are we better than South Carolina in game 2, or will it be not a winning record vs The SEC East the last 6 consecutive seasons the night after the game 2 ? Oh, yeah he has really fixed things. All issues fixed. Hands us all yet another wardrobe malfunction with lies that all the players just love looking like a Japanese cartoon CLOWN SUIT. Will not have beat any team finishing in the AP Poll Top 10 yet again this season. Have our wide receivers just awesome out there.
lttl ms G
August 25th, 2011
6:53 pm
Look a hear boys you can only raddle a bulldogs cage just a lilltle I promise ya he won’t forget you knw as they say every dog has its day : and its comin so lookout!! GO Dawgs always and forever
bama fan
August 27th, 2011
9:50 am
We gave a few suits away to a few players and people are saying it going to get ugly when the NCAA comes down on us but not have as ugly as Ga. uniforms. Talk about ugly!!