Dawgs as consensus favorites: ‘A lot of pressure on us’
Vegas thinks Mark Richt will be striking this pose after every regular season game in 2012. (Jason Getz / AJC)
We’ve already established that Vegas oddsmakers like the 2012 Dawgs, but it turns out they’re so high on Mark Richt’s upcoming team that the folks who come up with point spreads have installed UGA as the early favorite in every game on the schedule.
At the Golden Nugget, Georgia is a 3-point favorite over Missouri, a 13.5-point favorite over Tennessee, a 2.5-point favorite over South Carolina, a 4.5-point favorite over Florida and a 6-point favorite over Auburn. And Pregame.com rates Georgia as the favorite in every game on its schedule.
Of course, as has been discussed here, Richt teams have had a disturbing tendency in the past to falter under high expectations, and playing as the favorite every week is going to be as big a challenge this season as rebuilding that offensive line and getting the special teams to quit rolling gutter balls.
The Athens Banner-Herald talked with a couple of the team leaders about Georgia playing as the favorite at the Pigskin Preview in Macon.
“It’s great that people say that, but I think it does put a lot of pressure on us to go out and just win games,” safety Shawn Williams said.
And quarterback Aaron Murray noted that, with a key difference, the Dawgs face a similar problem to last year, when they had to ignore all the media noise about their coach being on the “hot seat.”
“Our motto last year was, ‘We’re on the bus and we’re not listening to any outside noise,’” Murray said. “There was a lot of negative noise, and we wanted to ignore that. The hard thing now is to ignore all the positives and people wanting to pat you on the back and tell you that you’re great and this and that. We have to ignore that, too, and just do what we did last year.”
Or better.
After last year’s 0-2 start, the Dogs reeled off 10 straight wins and took the SEC East, only to end the season with a couple of disappointing losses. But as a team loaded with returning talent and playing the favorite’s role every week this fall, just notching 10 regular season wins again probably won’t be viewed as an entirely satisfactory outcome by many in the Bulldog Nation.
Loading ...But what would constitute a disappointing season in your eyes? Less than 10 wins? Or perhaps anything less than the SEC championship? Feel free to weigh in with a comment, vote in the poll or both.
Got something you want to discuss concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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340 comments Add your comment
SSIgator
June 14th, 2012
11:39 am
Nancy, Nancy, Nancy . . Calm down darlin’ or you will have a stroke. What’s the matter? Did the girls cancel lunch with you today? You better scurry back over to Twit Towers blog. He needs all of the hits he can get to try and justify his position with the AJC, but remember, he only wants smiley faces on his site so go back there with a better attitude. Besides, AltamahaDawg will get lonely if youu are gone too long.
atl xman
June 14th, 2012
11:42 am
fla has pretty much more talent every year than uga…2007 defense was not very good..nothihg like it is now…moreno and stafford couldnt play defense…2002 and 2005 teams were very good and if the sec had as much clout back then as it does now then uga and richt would have most likely won 2 or at least 1 NC those years,,13-1 sec team now would never be kept out of the NC game..now the tide has turn once again in UGA favor with the all the guys coming back on defense , and an experienced and really good qb coming back with really good receivers and running backs to help out..the O-line will be fine even better next year so i expect uga to start showing up to play in more title games the next 4 or 5 years with all the talent and finally experience building up at uga.
SEC Football Morning Coffee: No Respect for Florida in Preseason … | SEC Football
June 14th, 2012
11:57 am
[...] Georgia knows that the bull’s-eye is on their back this year in the SEC East, writes Bill King of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [...]
Old Dawg in Troup
June 14th, 2012
12:11 pm
The Truth Detector
June 13th, 2012
9:03 pm
Here is how I see UGA season going.
Buffalo- UGA Wins in a blowout and UGA fans hoop and holler how good their defense is even without 4 starters.
Missour- Close Win or Close Loss and the UGA nation will say once we get our starters back we will be even better.
Florida Atlantic- Blow out Win and the Dawg Fans Barking while Murray throws for 300 plus and RB’s get over 200
Vanderbilt- Closer game than UGA fans like and UGA wins late…The Offense does not look as good and fans start calling out BoBo.
Tennessee- Closer game as Dooley needs to win this game but comes up short…higher scoring game than UGA fans expected.
South Carolina- USC fans are rowdy and UGA comes out flat while USC puts up points with ground game and in the air. USC hangs on and wins. UGA fans blame Bobo and Richt and the fans at home are not happy and now hope the tougher USC schedule gives them a chance in the East.
Kentucky- after week off to recover from USC..UGA comes out on fire and blows out a weak offensive Wildcat team.
The Truth Detector
June 13th, 2012
9:03 pm
Here is how I see UGA season going.
Buffalo- UGA Wins in a blowout and UGA fans hoop and holler how good their defense is even without 4 starters.
Missour- Close Win or Close Loss and the UGA nation will say once we get our starters back we will be even better.
Florida Atlantic- Blow out Win and the Dawg Fans Barking while Murray throws for 300 plus and RB’s get over 200
Vanderbilt- Closer game than UGA fans like and UGA wins late…The Offense does not look as good and fans start calling out BoBo.
Tennessee- Closer game as Dooley needs to win this game but comes up short…higher scoring game than UGA fans expected.
South Carolina- USC fans are rowdy and UGA comes out flat while USC puts up points with ground game and in the air. USC hangs on and wins. UGA fans blame Bobo and Richt and the fans at home are not happy and now hope the tougher USC schedule gives them a chance in the East.
Kentucky- after week off to recover from USC..UGA comes out on fire and blows out a weak offensive Wildcat team.
Florida- in Jacksonville- Muschamp has focuse attention on this game and UGA’s running game is non existent. Murray makes a couple of errors and this is a close game down to wire. Either team winning…too close to call. Fans complain about BoBo and his play calling and Richt says he will take more of a role in play calling to soothe the fans feelings.
Ole Miss- Blowout win and Richt is the hero for his involvement in play calling. The Bulldawg Nation is semi happy while watching USC play tough opponents.
Auburn- closer game than most fans imagined, the Auburn Tigers make it close, and this is a toss up game. UGA fans grow angry.
Ga. Southern and the option play havoc on UGA and but sets them up for Tech the next week. UGA wins.
Ga Tech- GT regresses all season and Al’s defense at GT is not very good. UGA blows out Tech.
UGA fans are happy and “own their rivals one more year” while the core fans are not happy with all the close games and losses in a season they should have gone 12-0.
_____——————————————————————————————————–
I really have to agree with most of this! This has been the pattern and with all of the late season drama, off season problems and lack of discipline, same coaches and play calling, the Mark Richt MO has not changed the past 6 years.
As a very old dawg fan, I can say that my hope are much greater than my expectations based on the past 6 years of play.
Thank Slive for Georgia's Cupcake Schedule
June 14th, 2012
12:12 pm
So, should we cancel the season & award Georgia the BCS trophy??
Georgia should thank Slive yet again for their cupcake schedule…no Bama, LSU or Arkansas. SMH Opening game is Buffalo? Talk about Sisters of the Poor…this schedule is downright embarrassing for a SEC so-called elite school?
SEC Football Morning Coffee: No Respect for Florida in Preseason Magazines | Florida Gators Football
June 14th, 2012
12:16 pm
[...] Georgia knows that the bull’s-eye is on their back this year in the SEC East, writes Bill King of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [...]
RONNIE
June 14th, 2012
12:18 pm
Theres not a lot of integity in coaching anyway if we had Terry Bowden over the last 5 yrs 1 maybe 2 national championships.
evillurks
June 14th, 2012
12:18 pm
Nothing screams epic failure as a THuga team being preseason favorites for anyting.
Alphare
June 14th, 2012
12:24 pm
I think UGA should drop USC and FL from their schedule and replace them with an annual showdown with UAB and Chattanooga instead.
You’ll have a better chance to Atlanta that way.
Alphare
June 14th, 2012
12:35 pm
You can call that UGA Exceptionism (to the SEC rules).
DawginLex
June 14th, 2012
12:44 pm
SIMPLE STUPID IGNORANT GATOR
Nancy?
forgot that one on my list
You are like a broken record son
come up with some new material
how does it feel to be banned PERMANENTLY from UGA blog and from most Gator sites? Yeah, you know they banned you too.
There are some gators with class
Too bad you are not one of them
GT Bobby
June 14th, 2012
12:45 pm
Mr. GT Bob:
How’s GT’s Probation going which is Tech’s second this century! Yes, that’s all Tech has to show for this Century in for football the ACC.
Ole Big Dawg
June 14th, 2012
12:45 pm
30 mins away from a SEC Championship last year. Granthams JYD defense will HUNKER!!
R3 Dog
June 14th, 2012
12:50 pm
This may be the best dog team since 1980—the roster is loaded!!! Mark this down-the dogs will be in the BCS title game!!! the dogs are back!!!!
kerryb
June 14th, 2012
12:58 pm
I don’t get Bill’s comment about” disturbing tendency to falter”. You would think with comments like that that he is not really a UGA guy. Yea, in 2008 we were picked by a few publications to be #1 but polls dropped us to #2 or 3 after the first game even though we won it. I don’t remember that happening to often. In 2008 there was high expectations but if everyone remembers we had a ton of injuries that year to key players. In a lot of the years under CMR the team was not expected to do that well but did. Does 2007 come to mind? People dwell to much on that 2008 season and act like UGA and CMR fails all the time because of that one season. Not a fair assessment.
jay
June 14th, 2012
1:10 pm
These bulldogs have plenty of talent, it’s these weak a** play calls. I watch these guys take a lead and then wanna go conservative and sit on the lead. No sir be aggressive for four quarters and show this country what them dawgs are made of! Also can I please see a pitch, toss, counter, draw some other running play then right up the middle. The game is all about being unpredictable!
COLLEGE INSIDER
June 14th, 2012
1:20 pm
RICHT IS 3 AND 1 AGAINST SABAN!
Amsterdam Sam
June 14th, 2012
1:22 pm
HAROLD is a short, diminutive man who thinks he must shout to be heard.
choot em Liz
June 14th, 2012
1:34 pm
Florida- in Jacksonville- Muschamp has focuse attention on this game and UGA’s running game is non existent. Murray makes a couple of errors and this is a close game down to wire. Either team winning…too close to call. Fans complain about BoBo and his play calling and Richt says he will take more of a role in play calling to soothe the fans feelings.
You people don’t get how bad the Gators are this year. Last year they had -19 on the ground against the Dawgs and 245 through the air. I can’t see them doing that well this year.
I figure the Gators get 1 or 2 first downs and maybe a field goal if they are lucky.
Danny Dawg
June 14th, 2012
1:35 pm
Okay, let’s have a little fun today. This is announcing the first of a series of contests about UGA sports. The first contest is to come up with a 3-word description based on the letters “CMR.” I’ll start things off with some answers to give you the idea. Ready? Okay, here goes:
Coach Misses Readily
Crappy Muck Retched
Creepy Mindless Rogue
Crappy Middling Reality
Costly Mistaken Role
Coarse Modern Rat
Those are just a few examples, I’m sure you can do better, so let’s hear some answers!
DDPO
June 14th, 2012
1:40 pm
I love seeing Georgia’s DC stating how Saban is one of the two greatest influences in his life. (The other being Frank Beamer) CMR was not listed… Weird.
What’s great is that all of the kids that CTG is recruiting can go play for him or one of his greatest mentors.(Saban) One school plays/wins National Titles, the other usually gets their tail kicked by a Big 10 school in a non-BCS Bowl.
DDPO
June 14th, 2012
1:43 pm
College Football Insider -
Saban has 3 National Titles
Richt has 0 National Titles
@Danny Dawg
June 14th, 2012
1:50 pm
CMR = Coaches Mindless Retards
There. How’s that?
Tide Rising
June 14th, 2012
1:56 pm
I see that SSIgator is still taking the dawg blogger’s lunch money from them.
In other news Georgia’s top recruit, a 5 star tailback, decommitted from the dawgs after a weekend visit to Bama. No question about it- Saban Rules over Richt with an iron fist. I actually feel sorry for a lesser coach like Richt having to go up against a juggernaut like Saban. I mean really. What the hell can the man say to a recruit when going head to head against Saban? What does he say?- Don’t go there because they win championships. Don’t get there because they physically develop players for the pros- evidenced by more 1st rounders the last 2 years than anyone. Don’t go there because its a disciplined, well run program where you don’t have time for the silly legal trouble that gets most dawg players in jail. Don’t go there because of the storied tradition and all them national championships and sec championships. Don’t go there because its a dominant program that just lines up and whups people’s asses.
What does he say to a recruit? Come here where we haven’t won a championship in 32 years? Come here where players are constantly getting in trouble due to a lack of discipline. Come here so that you can play in a crappy bowl game and lose to UCF. Come here so that you can lose to a middling Big 10 team in embarrassing fashion in a bowl game. Come here where you can be the 5th best team in the SEC behind the big 3 in the west and Carolina in the east. Come here where our biggest rival has owned us 19 of the last 22 games. Come here where lately we don’t send anywhere near the number of 1st round draft choices as the big boys over at Bama.
If you’re Mark Richt what advantage can you seriously talk about to a recruit to convince him to come to UGA over Alabama? Pretty much nothing.
Joey
June 14th, 2012
2:00 pm
“RICHT IS 3 AND 1 AGAINST SABAN!”
*************************************
What are you an insider of, COLLEGE INSIDER, the library?
It sure ain’t football. I’m not looking it up, but I can think of at least 3 times a Saban team beat Richt team. Twice in 2003. And once in ‘08. I can think of 2 Richt wins – ‘04, ‘07.
Do some research and you won’t look so silly with such a statement . . .
DawginLex
June 14th, 2012
2:01 pm
tide rising
SIMPLE STUPID IGNORANT GATOR is a 45 year old cross dressing queer.
If you like his posts, you must be one too
Still@theKool-aidBAR
June 14th, 2012
2:03 pm
There should be NO PRESSURE…………It is ALWAYS the SAME…………..This Could Be the Year……until it turns to…………Wait Til Next Year!
Tide Rising
June 14th, 2012
2:04 pm
DawginLex,
I just think its funny the way SSIgator owns you guys. As for your name calling and insults I guess that’s all you can resort to when you’re a dawg fan. Cause you dang sure can’t brag about your football accomplishments- or rather glaring lack thereof.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
June 14th, 2012
2:07 pm
“SIMPLE STUPID IGNORANT GATOR is a 45 year old cross dressing queer.”
Are we talking about Max “SASHA” Reinhart the UGa Professor again?
Tide Rising
June 14th, 2012
2:11 pm
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/467/nick-saban-vs-mark-richt
Actually Saban is 3-2 against Mark Richt. This article proves it.
Richt is 3-1 against Alabama but that’s because 2 of those wins came in the early 2000s against probation weakened Mike Shula Alabama teams. And of course he did beat Saban in Saban’s inaugural transition year at Alabama when Bama went 7-6. Beating Shula twice and Saban in his first year at Bama?- not impressed.
The Truth Detector
June 14th, 2012
2:26 pm
COLLEGE INSIDER
June 14th, 2012
1:20 pm
RICHT IS 3 AND 1 AGAINST SABAN!
LIE….
Thank You
Signed
The Truth Detector.
The Truth Detector
June 14th, 2012
2:37 pm
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/44750/ranking-the-secs-football-facilities
Bama=home of the T-bag special
June 14th, 2012
2:40 pm
Tide Rising but he has a winning record against Bama where we only play for championships remember?
DawginLex
June 14th, 2012
2:45 pm
tide rising
You are pathetic to come onto a UGA blog or any blog on this newspaper from the state of Georgia to come and tell us how many things bama has won.
You are a joke. That is not an insult, that is a fact.
Go back to your trailer and hump your sister some more
old dog
June 14th, 2012
2:53 pm
I love my Dawgs, but in the words of Bum Phillips: “Saban can take his’n and whoop your’n, and your’n and whoop his’n!” Has nothing to do with blogs, fans, opinions, etc. ‘Bama got lucky and landed the premier coach, pure and simple.
Get Real
June 14th, 2012
2:53 pm
Someone is really delusional if they think the doggies should be favored in all 12 games. 9-3 with no return trip to Atlanta and no embarrassing loss there, and consider it a good season. CTG’s D will whimper down to the good teams on the schedule, like last season, and also like last season, will build up impressive stats against the have nots. Same for AM and his overrated QB self. Looks great against New Mexico State, but looks ordinary against Boise. A bunch of creampuff schedule wins, and losses against the tougher teams on the schedule.
Bama=home of the T-bag special
June 14th, 2012
2:59 pm
Get Real so how bad did AM light up your team last year hmmm?
Jeff Wolfe
June 14th, 2012
3:08 pm
Not every good program and good coach are going to have the good fortune to win a game called the ‘title’. When a rival does this and more than once it makes the goal look easier than it is. Even the most controlling coaches do not have total mind and body control over their players. Celebrate every victory because every time two teams step on the field one is going to get more points than the other. If you think another person in another year could be sure to do it you are probably not considering everything that would have to line up. Will it happen someday?,maybe, but hundreds of other programs are busting their backside to get it done also. Do you win it all in your daily tasks every day, month, year? probably not. Do you even go out and seek the toughest competitors in your field in the nation to compete against where everyone gets a fairly equal starting position ? probably not. So where does this attitude come from that winning a heck of a lot of games against the best is just not satisfying for you? I think it is interesting to watch the people who put their money where their mouths are, Vegas for example. These people are probably more often far better advised and studied than the average blogger. They are trying to tell you that even if you win you are not that far ahead of the pack here and a lot of luck is going to be needed. It could go well this year or it might not go as hoped (for every fan of every team). You are banking on 2,3, and 4 point margins, come on wake up.
Get Real
June 14th, 2012
3:09 pm
He didn’t!!! He tried, but 42 unanswered points later, he was just an afterthought.
Redneck Dawggie
June 14th, 2012
3:15 pm
Georgia fans are desperate to win anything resembling success in college football.
Last Big Bowl win over a top 5 final ranked team?
Last SEC championship?
Last win over a Top 20 team?
But you do have all of those Pre Season National Championships
Wilson Pickett
June 14th, 2012
3:20 pm
Old Dawg said this………..‘Bama got lucky and landed the premier coach, pure and simple.
I agree 100% with his statement. Nick was looking for a job back in college and Bama just happened to have a spot. The BOT at Bama had hired everyone except Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans ( I loved those guys) to coach our beloved Tide only to fall on our collective azz year after year. Sometime you better get lucky and boy did Alabama with Nick Saban. If the man has good health he should win maybe 2 more NC before he takes it to the lake. The thing that makes Nick Saban so successful is his fear of failure. He understands he’s not the sharpest saw in the drawer but he understands he can and will outwork most of the competition and he hires staff that will do the same. In addition he pays folks very well for those long hours for he understands they will move on to better things going forward and that is great in his eyes.
SSIDAWG
June 14th, 2012
3:36 pm
CMR beat a Saban Coached LSU team 45-16 in 2004.
UGA Insider
June 14th, 2012
3:50 pm
atl xman,
You are mistaken, CMR was going to be fired by Greg McGarity after the USCe loss but Adams stepped in and stopped as I am told. Richt survived again when UGA barely won the Vandy game. McGarity would have let him go then as well. It was that close.
Joey
June 14th, 2012
3:54 pm
Wilson, I think you are on the money regarding Saban. I usually have the opposite reaction of opposing coaches as most fellow Bulldog fans – I even admired Spurrier’s coaching (not his petty, smirking persona) as well as Myer’s. I am the same about Saban. I think he outworks his fellow coaches and he demands excellence from his assistants, directly contrary to Richt, who plugged in buddies to important positions in his program, and stuck with them when it was apparent to everybody, that they pretty much stunk at their jobs.
I was hoping Richt would take this new contract, hire some pros to help with the offense, the O-line, and special teams, and go lights out to win a Title – but typically, he doesn’t see the need for new and improved assistants, as well as new and improved offensive schemes and special teams.
Joey
June 14th, 2012
3:57 pm
“CMR beat a Saban Coached LSU team 45-16 in 2004.
*****************************************
SSIDAWG, I enjoyed that game immensely (and it could have been worse if he hadn’t called off the dogs in the second half).
I also enjoyed being 8 years younger back then . . .
aints=Dung
June 14th, 2012
3:58 pm
@Holy Guacamole
June 13th, 2012
10:25 am
harold – depress the caps key.
************************************************
why does it matter
old dog
June 14th, 2012
4:02 pm
@SSIDAWG,
You are right, but more often than not Saban will come out on top. I love my Dawgs but we ain’t got that killer instinct necessary to “finish the drill”………maybe its coming…….
Joey
June 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
I bet we’d get the “killer instinct” if, when Richt retires, Grantham takes over as head coach, old dog . . .
sldasdf
June 14th, 2012
4:11 pm
Harold: Neither Greene nor Pollack were on the 2005 team.
Beatdown
June 14th, 2012
4:12 pm
Georgia should easily win the weak SEC east. fla will be down again and usc is overrated. But, it will be another beatdown in the SEC title game. Ga will get blown out by lsu or alabama, like last year.