Which game (besides South Carolina) will be Georgia’s toughest?
Marcus Lattimore is one of the reasons South Carolina looms as Georgia's toughest opponent in 2012. (Associated Press)
This time last year, I conducted what had become our annual survey to see which game you thought would be the toughest for the Dogs, other than the showdown in Jacksonville.
Because of the Florida game’s history over the previous couple of decades, I had decided to put it in a category all its own. It was, of course, the toughest game Georgia would face. The monkey on their back. The discussion was over which game was the next toughest.
But no longer. I think it’s fair to say there’s been a sea change in the SEC East over the past couple of years and, at least for now, I don’t believe the Florida game qualifies any longer as the automatic biggest hurdle on the Dawgs’ schedule.
Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks have taken over that spot.
Consider: South Carolina, which last year was picked by 65 percent of Junkyard Blawg readers voting in the poll as the likely toughest game on the schedule aside from Florida, has won two in a row against Georgia, which beat Florida last year.
Yes, I know I said a few weeks ago that I consider the showdown with Florida a more important game than South Carolina, and that’s still the case. Because, let’s face it, the Dawgs can lose to the Gamecocks and still win the SEC East if they win the rest of their conference schedule (which admittedly is again easier than the Gamecocks’ schedule this year). Plus, winning two in a row in Jacksonville would pretty much park the “jinx” talk on the back shelf.
But we’re not talking most important game here, or the game you most want Georgia to win. We’re looking at which game will be the toughest for the Dawgs, and I don’t think there’s much argument there. Most college football observers are picking the Oct. 6 game in Columbia as the most likely loss in a Bulldog schedule that otherwise is deemed quite manageable.
The fact that many of those picking the Gamecocks to beat Georgia are also picking Georgia to win the SEC East again in spite of that drives Spurrier absolutely crazy.
Is this a great world, or what?
So, for the sake of this exercise at least, let’s stipulate that South Carolina is the toughest game on the schedule, thanks in large part to the Gamecocks’ perennially tough defense, the assumed presence of a healthy Marcus Lattimore in the lineup and the fact that Spurrier wants it practically more than life itself.
The Bulldogs certainly don’t want to lose a third consecutive year to South Carolina for the first time ever, but it wouldn’t derail their season.
So, let’s turn out attention to which game besides South Carolina looms as Georgia’s toughest challenge.
Is it the Gators, who are still going through their post-Urban renewal? You could make a good argument that because of the series’ history and the rivalry between the two programs (and the closeness of last year’s game thanks to Georgia’s awful special teams play) that the Jacksonville classic is the next toughest game on the 2012 schedule. Florida should be tough on defense, but at this point they’re still a big question mark offensively.
James Franklin could be a big challenge for a UGA defense missing several starters. (Associated Press)
From what I’m hearing, though, more fans are concerned about the conference opener against Missouri. Not only will it be Mizzou’s SEC debut — which means they’re sure to be jacked for it — but Georgia is entering the game with an automatic handicap in having several defensive starters suspended. Plus the Dawgs will be going without last year’s SEC freshman of the year at tailback. Also, recent history shows Mark Richt’s teams have a tendency to get off to a slow start early in the season, especially on offense. And Tigers quarterback James Franklin probably will be the most dangerous two-way threat Associate Head Coach Todd Grantham’s defense will face all season.
As for the rest of the non-cupcake part of the schedule, there’ll probably be a bit more interest in the game with Vandy this year, thanks to the chippy nature of last year’s visit to Nashville, but it still would require a definitely subpar performance on the part of the Dawgs for the Commodores to win in Athens.
Loading ...Kentucky has been known to be surprisingly tough against the Dawgs in recent years, but on paper it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen this year.
Ole Miss? Still pretty much a disaster.
Auburn, of course, always has the potential to be a tough game, though the Tigers remain something of an unknown at this point.
And Georgia Tech and its tricky offense are always dangerous.
So how do I vote? I’m going with Missouri as the toughest game this season after South Carolina.
What about you? Feel free to share your comments, vote in the poll or do both.
Don’t forget the Junkyard Mail! 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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199 comments Add your comment
AltamahaDawg
July 11th, 2012
8:40 pm
Here is a problem for you: What occurs 0.09090909 % of the time?
Indian Dawg
July 11th, 2012
8:55 pm
I think the two toughest (minus SCAR) will be Florida, for obvious reasons, and Missouri. We don’t have any experience playing Mizzou, we’ll be missing our starting secondary for the most part, and we’re still figuring out our offensive pieces and how to shuffle them according to the situation. We also traditionally suck at the beginning of the season. We just need to figure out how to cover the pass and we’ll be fine, but that’s a lot easier said than done.
I don’t think Auburn will be that difficult this year, mainly because they’re bringing in new coordinators. It takes time to adjust as we’ve seen.
I am actually really excited about the Vanderbilt game this year. Can’t wait to see the pay back we’re going to dish out on James Franklin and his arrogant mouth. Ah and my last Tech game as an undergrad. Time flies.
Brainiac(Dawg/Richt fan for life)
July 11th, 2012
9:10 pm
@ Elise:
Please move on to another team or another sport with my blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have enough “Rainy Day Fans” without you!!!!!!!!!!!
We all call for players/recruits that really want to be a DAWG so the same should apply to fans!!!!!!
You have the nerve to badmouth CMR while he is only the 3rd winningest active coach in America.Better won/loss record than ANY active SEC coach and he is carrying an albatross called “Most Stringent Team/School rules in college football”.
UGA kicks players off the team for serious infractions and they come back a year later playing for another SEC team but I’m pretty sure you have no idea what goes on in the real college football world!!!
Bon Voyage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Swamp Thing
July 11th, 2012
9:22 pm
It’s F-L-O-R-I-D-A….
Divicenzo
July 11th, 2012
9:44 pm
South Carolina will roll over UGA like a freight train. Why? Better coaching, better athletes, far more intelligence athletes, and there are no me-first stooges like UGA has, even with Crowell gone.
Bam Bam
July 11th, 2012
9:48 pm
You have the nerve to badmouth CMR while he is only the 3rd winningest active coach in America.
Right. Remind me again how many national championships your boy Richt has won.
Bam Bam
July 11th, 2012
9:49 pm
I lovs the picture of the Georgia Klowns chasing Lattimore!
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
9:51 pm
Are you talking BCS Championships? The BCS is a joke. All it is is a beauty contest for ESPN. In other words everyone that has played in one is ESPN’s bi***ches.
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2012
10:02 pm
Kerryb,
I usually agree with you on most subjects, but your disdain for the BCS is only shared by programs that have never won it all. It reminds me of the poor folks that peer through the windows of an expensive restaurant and make comments about the wealthy patrons inside. Always on the outside looking in. You’d sell your soul to win it all and be one of ESPN’s “bi***ches”.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:12 pm
Nope. That’s why I’m glad there is finally going to be some kind of playoff. Now you have to earn it instead of being selected by ESPN.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:13 pm
I think the disdain for the BCS by ALL Dawg fans started in 2007.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:14 pm
And was confirmed by what happened last year.
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2012
10:16 pm
kerryb,
How do you have to “earn it” anymore than before? You still have to be SELECTED to participate. Then win one extra game IF you are chosen. Not a whole lot of difference if you ask me.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:21 pm
Beast, the reason I put that was because of that idiotic comment form that nimrod Bam Bam. Like winning games didn’t mean much if you don’t play in a hyped up beauty contest called the BCS NC Game. Ask Okie State. You have no control if you are selected for that game. It is all up to the media.
fan
July 11th, 2012
10:22 pm
Missouri in Columbia will be tough
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:28 pm
I really am not worried about Missouri. Don’t know why some people are.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:29 pm
I think our toughest game of the year will be the SEC Championship game.
NC_Dawg
July 11th, 2012
10:30 pm
Who gives a crap about all this off season speculation? As far as I’m concerned every game matters. Georgia has a cupcake schedule this year. If they can’t beat USC, they don’t deserve to play in the SEC Championship. Shut up and play football! I can’t wait for the season to start.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:32 pm
NC_Dawg
July 11th, 2012
10:30 pm
Who gives a crap about all this off season speculation? As far as I’m concerned every game matters. Georgia has a cupcake schedule this year. If they can’t beat USC, they don’t deserve to play in the SEC Championship. Shut up and play football! I can’t wait for the season to start.
______________________________________________________________
Agree. Bill must be getting bored or running out of topics to write about.
NC_Dawg
July 11th, 2012
10:33 pm
I’ve been waiting 32 years for Georgia to win another National Championship. I hope all the pieces fall into place this year.
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2012
10:33 pm
kerryb,
Understood. You were responding to us trolls…LOL.
Have a good one!
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:34 pm
Beast, I would NEVER call you a troll. I know how to identify real trolls.
FLA DAWG
July 11th, 2012
10:40 pm
You know you asking which game in preseason is the most important is moot.
Come on Bill – space to fill?
McGarity and Richt have had a combination of luck and planning in lining up patsy teams this season.
Having said that, I am going way out on a limb (I’m sure Alta Dawg will reprint this if I am wrong) that we will lose by midseason to one or more of the following; Buffalo, Mizzou, FL Atlantic, Vandy, UT and SC.
Sorry Dawg Nation but I don’t see any improvement in Offense, Head Coaching, Offensive Coaching or Special Teams. The D should be better but that is only a hope.
Richt cannot command this ship and he has proven it in and off season to me in my opinion.
Let’s get someone who can.
Todd Grantham has the cajones to cover all bases while looking for a good, ground & air OC.
“Get’ r done!”
Mobile Dawg
July 11th, 2012
10:48 pm
I’m interested to see what plays out, but my expectations are definitely tempered. Using the past few years as a gauge, we have been unprepared at times, and spectacular at times. Consistently inconsistent. Not sure what has changed that would make things different.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:51 pm
Having said that, I am going way out on a limb (I’m sure Alta Dawg will reprint this if I am wrong) that we will lose by midseason to one or more of the following; Buffalo, Mizzou, FL Atlantic, Vandy, UT and SC.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Are you kidding me? Are you really that paranoid of a Dawg fan? take the Dawg off your name. Get real.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:53 pm
The last two post are a classic example of the average wieners that are Dawg fans. They should call you guys wiener Dawgs. These are the Dawg fans that just make me want to puke.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
10:58 pm
I’m just going to call you guys Eeyores from Winnie the Pooh. (said in the voice of Eeyore) “Whoa me, we stink, we can’t beat anyone, our coach stinks (even though he has the third highest winning percentage the last 10 years). We can’t beat even Florida Atlantic or Buffalo”. Man if you’re going to be like that go be fans of another team.
Mobile Dawg
July 11th, 2012
10:58 pm
So kerry, you’re saying the Dawgs haven’t been inconsistent? Your insults are humorous, it’s your intelligence I have to question.
kerryb
July 11th, 2012
11:03 pm
It’s your fandom that I question. I think we had a pretty good season last year. Yea, we lost our bowl game but it wasn’t like Michigan State was UCF. They finished in the top 10. 2009 and 2010 were flukes and there were reasons for those seasons. Get on the bandwagon and quit being so negative or just get off. I don’t think any fans in college football are more negative than Georgia fans
Mobile Dawg
July 11th, 2012
11:09 pm
I don’t think being realistic is negative. If anything I said wasn’t true it would be different. Nice dodge of my question though.
Dawg Whisperer
July 11th, 2012
11:24 pm
Riddle me this Professor. Where x=GT and y=UGA, y does x always = zero when GT plays UGA?
DawginLex
July 11th, 2012
11:24 pm
UGA 45
Mizzou 28
SC game will be toughest and florida will be next. Would not be surprised to see Florida beat SC in the swamp and finish 2nd in the east at 9-3(6-2 SEC). Also won’t be surprised to see Sc go 8-4
If we lose more than 1 game all year it will be a big letdown
Red Dawn
July 11th, 2012
11:26 pm
The South Carolina game will be a great game to watch!!
The old ball coach loves to stick it to the dawgs but hope
Georgia wins this year!!
RED DOG 77
July 11th, 2012
11:37 pm
Not too many years ago, Georgia used to be the most feared road team in the SEC…………2012 Will prove to be a return to the days of Georgia whuppin’ you in your own house………………Oh and by the way, I don’t pretend to know who the DAWGS toughest and second toughest games will be, but take my word Dawg Nation………………Georgia beats the livin’ crap out of South Carolina this year…………….RED
Froggy The Gremlin
July 12th, 2012
2:07 am
The Phil Fulmer Trophy has already been permanently renamed The Richt Cup. He has established low standards that can never be touched. One would have to assume that most of the bloggers here are Wal-Mart alumni. I think real alumni would be more concerned with the tarnished image that their school now has and has brought on the entire state. Tech can only raise this image by limited amount. You hear me alumni?
drbasic1
July 12th, 2012
5:47 am
@froggy
your a moron
We Run the East
July 12th, 2012
6:16 am
So UGA beats the crap out of SC…. at Columbia….REALLY….REALLY! Yep, enjoy all this bravado before the games start. SC is Best In East for 3rd year in a row. this blog is fantasy football for UGA fans. Pure fantasy,
Which game (besides South Carolina) will be Georgia’s toughest? – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | blah blah
July 12th, 2012
6:37 am
[...] monkey on their back. The discussion was over See full story … Filed Under: [...]
paul
July 12th, 2012
7:00 am
I”d say, Buffalo ..
kingdaddy
July 12th, 2012
7:05 am
Paul
One game at a time…
Stephen
July 12th, 2012
7:32 am
Dale, The Clemson Grad:
“you can’t beat nobody when it really counts”
Dale must have been an english major.
Columbus Dawg
July 12th, 2012
7:35 am
That is correct Gamechicken, we are going to eat little gamechickens at the tailgate party AND on the field in your pathetic little stadium. Spurrier will think he is in the Olympic Visor Slinging Finals at the 2012 Olympics. Spurrier will think long and hard about his retirement after the lack luster season he will finish with in 2012. Little Gamechicken dreams dashed!
Joey
July 12th, 2012
7:35 am
Red Dawg 77, I hope you’re right about the road team stuff, but I’ll believe it when I see it. And, the Bulldogs WILL get tested on the road early on – Mizzou. They will throw everything but the kitchen sink at us to win their historic, first SEC game, and while I trust Grantham, he will be short-handed with experienced DBs, and overall depth. Not to mention, Richt/Bobo have proven for a while they can’t adjust in-game, and Richt coaches more to “not lose,” than to WIN.
I will say this, if Richt coaches every game as he did vs Auburn last season, we will have a good year. But he didn’t even coach the final 2 games last season in the manner he did vs Auburn, so that’s probably a moot point . . .
yellowfever
July 12th, 2012
7:48 am
This is the year that Tech starts another run of 8 in a row. Go JACKETS.
whiskey breath
July 12th, 2012
7:52 am
Bill, I would like to know how does Ga obtains such a soft schedule? I know the fans will say it is just the luck of the draw, but it is pretty obvious it is selected by a couple of people.
The head coach and AD? Slive either rubber stamps it or he doesn’t care.Nobody else seems
to be able to swing it.
Joey
July 12th, 2012
8:04 am
Thanks for your concern whiskey breath. I bet you worried about our schedule in ‘08 too, huh? You know, when we played the defending BCS Champ (LSU), the “08 BCS Champ (UF), and the SEC runnner-up and ‘09 BCS Champ (Bama), as well as SC, Arizona St, Auburn, Tech, etc. Did you ask Bill why UGA had such a tough schedule?
How about ‘09? Ok St, SC, Ark, Arizona St, LSU, UF, AU, Tech?
Check out all/any of UGA’s scheds in the past, it just might make you seem more informed than you appear now:
http://www.sicemdawgs.com/football/sched/fbsch_09.php
Larry Munson, Jr.
July 12th, 2012
8:26 am
The dawgs are gonna be hard-pressed to win ANY games this year ! We’re so THIN up-front. We don’t have anyone to PLAY ! Everbody’s so much BIGGER and STRONGER ! And we don’t have any SPEED !
WOW!
July 12th, 2012
8:27 am
With about 65 real ship players all of them will be very hard. I cant believe people dont understand how bad this will hurt the team for 2-3 years. What a joke this program has become.
Munson - Dead and Gone Forever
July 12th, 2012
8:47 am
Us Dawg fans should be happy with anything over 6 wins this year……I, myself, would be ecstatic if we lost less than 4 games.
Can’t wait to watch Keith Marshall (The Next Herschel Walker….MY GOD, A FRESHMAN!) play.
Toodles…….WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!
Bama Boy
July 12th, 2012
9:05 am
In 13 they get us and it aint gonna be pretty,Richt will leave for Miami as an assistant and BooBoo gets the head job!hahaha loserville once again