Bradley’s Buzz: For 2010, SI has Tech 8th, UGA 22nd
Will Georgia again outrun the Yellow Jackets in 2010? (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
You’ll never guess who’s No. 1 in SI.com’s college football power rankings for 2010. Actually, you will. Alabama is the easy choice, same as Florida was easy in preseason 2009. (And who was preseason No. 1 in 2008? Why, Georgia.) But the top spot isn’t why we’re here. It’s to focus on the locals, both of which appear in Andy Staples’ Top 25.
Georgia Tech is No. 8. Georgia is No. 22. I’d say that’s too high for the former, about right for the latter.
I reserve the right to amend my opinion in light of developments — if, say, either one finds a defensive coordinator, or if Herschel Walker forgoes his MMA dreams to reclaim that fourth year of collegiate eligibility — but I’d say, as of Jan. 14, 2010, that Tech will dip slightly in 2010 and Georgia will rise a bit.
My take on Tech: It won’t be bad on offense — quoth Paul Johnson: “I’d be stunned if our B-back doesn’t gain 1,000 yards next season” — but Demaryius Thomas is the irreplaceable part, not Jonathan Dwyer. Given the nature of his offense, Johnson isn’t apt to find another receiver half as good as Bay-Bay. (Johnson inherited Thomas, it must be noted, from Chan Gailey.)
The defense will surely benefit from a new coordinator, but not many defenses can lose its two most gifted players and spike upward in production. Through these long-range lenses, I can see Tech winning nine games next season and finishing second to Virginia Tech in the ACC Coastal.
One word of caution, however: The Coastal is going to be tough. Three other teams are included in Mr. Staples’ rankings: Virginia Tech at No. 9, Miami at No. 14 and North Carolina at No. 18. And the Jackets must play two of the three on the road.
As for Georgia: I could see the Bulldogs winning nine games if things break right. The offense could be terrific if Georgia finds a quarterback. One note: The past two times Mark Richt has entered a season with a new quarterback, his teams have finished 9-4 and 8-5. And I’m thinking Aaron Murray (or Logan Grey, or Zach Mettenberger) won’t quite have the impact Matthew Stafford did at the end of 2006.
Loading ...The defense lost a big-timer in Rennie Curran, but Marcus Dowtin should fill that tackling-machine role. At issue is how fast the new coordinator, assuming Georgia finds one, can make a difference. My guess: Soon, but not overnight.
Mr. Staples has only one SEC team rated above Georgia in the SEC East: Florida is No. 11. Only two SEC West teams are in the Top 25 — LSU is the other, at No. 23 — and Georgia doesn’t play either. If Richt can find the right quarterback and the right coordinator, the door is open. But I, as suggested in yesterday’s post that was loved by one and all, see South Carolina as the team primed to give the Gators the hardest run.
Oh, and if you’re wondering which team will win at Sanford Stadium on Nov. 27, here’s your final score:
Georgia 27, Tech 24.
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584 comments Add your comment
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
7:25 pm
The Amazing Kreskin….
you gotta be from Tech with that ” worser “…..I’m a product GA lower & somewhat Higher Ed and that is bad even by my low standards….no way you a UF dummy, more likely SoCarolina
Better Blog
January 14th, 2010
7:25 pm
http://blutarsky.wordpress.com
– Mike Hamilton moves on to Plan B. No doubt he’ll incur the wrath of the AJ-C’s sports blogging community when they hear about this:
Will Muschamp, Texas‘ defensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting, has turned down a lucrative offer to be Tennessee’s new coach, sources close to the situation told ESPN.com.
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:25 pm
Actually the last 20 years contained an undefeated season, and UGA……..none
McPhee
January 14th, 2010
7:26 pm
QB is the key position for both schools. Tech’s is returning. Uga has a frosh. They won’t win 9 games in the reg season.
Losses to SC, Fla, Aub, Colorado, and GT.
7-5 again.
Tech goes 9-3.
Benjamin
January 14th, 2010
7:26 pm
Question for the Bulldog/Yellow Jacket masses:
If one team has a better record than the other by, say, one victory, and finishes 1-2 spots better in the rankings, but LOSES to the other team — i.e. ((30-24)) style — should the general fan base say the higher or lower ranked team had the “better year.”
Or am I being completely silly and just baiting the Dawg and Jacket fans into arguing again over nothing of real consequence. (I kid, I kid…)
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:27 pm
Mo, its called self censorship. I’m proud to say Mark has never knowingly filtered my comments. cant say the same for many, many others.
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
7:27 pm
VJacket…..my grandbaby poops something very close to Tech greeny yellow
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:27 pm
I love how that 1990 season just hurts UGA fans so much…………..HAHAHAHA!
Enjoy your silly one-on-one record why you Big Brother Tech will always have more National Championships than you dawgies……HAHAHAHA!
CBB1
January 14th, 2010
7:28 pm
The Amazing Kreskin,
You MUST have graduated from Florida based on your grammer. Did you ever attend an English class?
GoVols
January 14th, 2010
7:28 pm
Sorry for crashing the Georgia thread but I am inconsolable over our Cutcliffe hiring. This sets the program back 4-5 years. I would rather have forgone the recruiting class to take another week and find a coach that would excite the fan base. Look for major upheaval at UT. Hamilton as AD – gone.
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
7:28 pm
Mr Mahtinez, was that supposed to be funny? i dont believe it was.
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
7:29 pm
Mo Betta, i do believe we have met somewheah befoah.
Benjamin
January 14th, 2010
7:29 pm
If anyone’s hurt by the 1990 season at this point, Opinion, they need to be re-evaluated.
Mo Betta
January 14th, 2010
7:29 pm
dat sec east looked awful mighty just a few seasons ago wid the west pickin up the leftovers. now things done changed all around and aint nobody in the east gonna win no champ’ship next year. ‘member, you’s heard it first from Mo Betta!
JK
January 14th, 2010
7:30 pm
Imagine what tech will do when we get back to playing defense like before. We will still be putting up 30-40 a game. We just won’t be giving up 30-40. We have some studs coming in on D this year and some redshirts. We will be better than you think. And that ga recruit stephen hill is a pretty good receiver. We will be just fine. It will be tough to beat unc and va tech on the road. Vt is losing some guys too.
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
7:30 pm
Mr GoVols, i woudnt be so pesimistic. Mr Cutcliff might turn out to be a very fine leada.
Andrew
January 14th, 2010
7:31 pm
Who cares what uga does. They are irrelevant and have been for some time. How many days have they been looking for a DC? 60? That sums that decrepid program up.
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
7:31 pm
Opinion….isn’t this year the swap year when Colorado gets to have the 1990 NC trophy that ya’ll split
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:31 pm
All I wanted after CPJ was hired is to be relevant again, finish ranked, and to beat UGA. Check, Check, and Check……thank you for nothing Chan Gailey
Technophobia
January 14th, 2010
7:31 pm
Benjamin, I do not respond to hypotheticals. lol
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
7:32 pm
althoo i believe i would have preffeahd coach fulmah
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:33 pm
Actually that 1990 UPI championship trophy went to the only team in the nation to finish undefeated like every other Tech National Championship……we didn’t have enough 5th downs to capture the other half
jeffrey d
January 14th, 2010
7:33 pm
The gift that keeps giving
Georgia will be more worser in 2010
Too easy. But seriously, has our educational system failed that much when someone can write this sentence and think “I made an educated point here. Moving on.”
Georgia Tech, they will lose 3.
To the draft? To injury? Are 3 players going to die? You gotta elaborate, man.
Go Gator!
Just one?
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:33 pm
uh, opinion, about that last check…
dawgfan
January 14th, 2010
7:34 pm
I see that Techies are reverting to their usual exaggerations about UGA personell losses. Its really sad. Every year we’re losing our “entire defensive front” or our “entire secondary” or our “entire backfield” according to these idiots. Heck, after ‘08 they went so far as to say that we lost our “entire offense” due to the departures of Stafford and Moreno. I tried to tell them that we would in fact be fielding an offense in 2009, but they didn’t believe me. Maybe after rushing yard #300 they started to get it.
Its all wishful thinking of course. Its just really sad.
Johnny Majors
January 14th, 2010
7:34 pm
my cell number is 555 555 5555
jojatek
January 14th, 2010
7:35 pm
Wow! Tech at No. 8 is really hard to believe given our performance down the stretch and the losses to the NFL (stunningly overrated, in fact… I hope I am wrong). CPJ has worked miracles for us already, but he’s not that good. We have a long way to go, folks, before we think we can compete consistently at that level…
As for the prediction, I would simply flip it around: Tech 27, UGA 24… a close game, but CPJ will learn from this year’s debacle, and the team will have plenty to think about after the BS that went on in the pile with Nesbitt after the tackle (not to mention the quotes from Earley and others after the game… plenty of locker room material there…).
And a quick shout out to the Vols and their fans: Good riddance! Kiffin’s departure is a blessing in disguise… he will struggle mightily at USC, and the Vols will have the last laugh (particularly if they bring Cutcliffe back…).
frank james
January 14th, 2010
7:35 pm
It is sad if it is true that Tuberville let the entire Texas Tech staff go. I hope Craig Death Penalty James is happy. That’s another sign of which way our society is going. I wonder if Adam and Craig were on the search committee?
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:36 pm
Sorry Willie, I was talking about CPJ’s two year stretch, not only one year, would of been nice if we did it two years in a row
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
7:36 pm
Opinion…….the only NC Tech wins since Eisenhower and they split it…….yeah
Mo Betta
January 14th, 2010
7:36 pm
i do declare mista genr’l i think yo might be right and all. is yo from the texas borned neyland’s? if’n so you betta speak up ’bout these here cordinators on defense ’cause yo family had sum of the best cordinators we ever done seen. why dat robert neyland was somethin’ special i’m tellin ya. if’n yo run into him you say dat Mo Betta said how do. yep, he wuz mighty special at dat.
Jonas Grumby
January 14th, 2010
7:36 pm
Here’s all you need to know about that SI ranking. His top 10 had one team from the SEC and three from the Big Ten. Shhhhhhhhure.
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
7:36 pm
and by the way Maak, who is this staples fella you seem to put so much credence in?
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:37 pm
You know if there were no UGA/Tech blogs on AJC, they might be out of business….
CBB1
January 14th, 2010
7:37 pm
Technophobia,
How can you say that the ACC has not figured out how to defend the Triple Option? Johnson is 0-2 against Miami and 1-1 against VA Tech. Plus, you were lucky to beat a bad FL State team the last 2 years and barely beat Clemson the first time around and had to go to OT to beat a really bad Wake Forest team. Miami, FL State and VA Tech will be better next year and ALL have better defenses than GA Tech. Paul Johnson’s teams have always had bad defenses. Don’t count on having a much better D next year with a new DC coming in. The current players will have to learn under a new DC.
Better Blog
January 14th, 2010
7:37 pm
http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/
– Mike Hamilton moves on to Plan B. No doubt he’ll incur the wrath of the AJ-C’s sports blogging community when they hear about this:
Will Muschamp, Texas‘ defensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting, has turned down a lucrative offer to be Tennessee’s new coach, sources close to the situation told ESPN.com.
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:38 pm
ok opinion. i’ll give you that argument. willie
Bawney Fwank
January 14th, 2010
7:38 pm
Tebow’s crying seemed to work a lot better than Joe Cox’s crying after his first two losses in 2009 and the “Crimson Crier” did pretty well in the BCS Championship!
Joel Chandler Harris
January 14th, 2010
7:38 pm
what is da world comin too?
Arthur MacBride
January 14th, 2010
7:39 pm
Tech’s passing success (or shortfall: see Iowa/Georgia) depended more on Nesbitt than Thomas. So Thomas is gone. The real question is, can PJ get Nesbitt’s passing game up?
Elmore Spencer
January 14th, 2010
7:39 pm
Tech will claim basically anything as a National Championship. They won the NPI or was it ZPI or something not sure whatever it is it doesnt even exist anymore.
If UGA used some of that Tech math they would have 5 National Titles to Techs four. Alas like the reasons we lost the games in 43 and 44 ( when patriotic UGA players were off at war while the techies sat that one out) we are too honest for that.
The big story is that Tech was ranked 8th. Why? Because of their conference as the Andy Staples noted.
When Tech plays a big game out of conference we have all seen what happens and it aint pretty.
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:39 pm
skipper, some people never learn.
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:39 pm
I actually liked the 1980 dawg team, my uncle played on that team so I will have to give credit to the dawgies for that one……..
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:40 pm
will muschamp: always a bridesmaid, never a bride
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:41 pm
same applies to kirby smart
CBB1
January 14th, 2010
7:41 pm
Go Vols,
I think you are wrong. I am a UGA grad and I would rather have Lame Kiffin there instead of Cutcliffe. He has been successful everywhere he has gone. I think TN will be really good with him there. He is a GREAT offensive coach. If he hires a great recruiting coordinator, watch out.
willie martinez
January 14th, 2010
7:41 pm
he did?
Opinion
January 14th, 2010
7:41 pm
Ok, so UGA’s big win out of conference would be………………..Texas A&M??????
I would say Mississippi State was a better win than Texas A&M…..sorry pups
Another Mark
January 14th, 2010
7:42 pm
No GT fan is going to honestly say we won’t miss Thomas. (not to mention the other three) However, Cooper Taylor is a baller and will be back next year for S. Dieke is Michael Johnson Deux @ DE. Anthony Allen is plenty capable as the B-back. (with some capable guys also behind him). Look, Baybay was very good, but he basically ran a) slant or b) sideline fly for a jump ball throw. Stephen Hill is capable of doing more. ie. it’s a minimum 5 yard gain if you give him a reverse because nobody can tackle him on first engagement. Chris Jackson is also a solid WR who CPJ can move around from a-back to WR. I still see Tech winning 8 or 9 w/o the bowl included.
Ron
January 14th, 2010
7:43 pm
Cutcliffe is a solid coach. You are lucky to have a coach with integrity and knowledge of the game. He won 5 games at duke. Nuff said. You will be surprised what he does. I predict the vols win 9 games this year.