An ESPN-fueled buzz gathers around the Georgia Bulldogs
Isaiah Crowell hasn't played a collegiate down but casts a long shadow. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
More and more folks are thinking warm thoughts about the Georgia Bulldogs, and some of those folks work for ESPN. (Which makes their thinking significant, given that ESPN runs the part of college football Mike Slive doesn’t.) Citing cases:
• Bruce Feldman of ESPN Insider lists Georgia as his No. 8 best-value choice to win the BCS title. (Link requires registration.) Not the SEC East, not even the SEC — the BCS.
By “value,” he means getting long odds in Las Vegas on a team that has a legitimate shot. Feldman notes that Georgia opened at 40-1 to take the BCS but is down to 25-1 already. Feldman’s rationale for including UGA:
If the Dawgs were still at 40-1, they’d probably be a spot or two higher on this list. I’m on record as picking them to win the SEC East. I expect QB Aaron Murray to emerge as a star and for Isaiah Crowell, the nation’s top-rated RB recruit, and a healthy Caleb King to boost one of the SEC’s worst running games. They have talent on the defense, and it’s Year 2 in Todd Grantham’s 3-4 scheme.
• Esteemed former colleague Mark Schlabach, also of the worldwide leader, has Georgia rated 17th in his post-spring Top 25. That’s up one spot from his post-Signing Day ranking, but the bigger news lies elsewhere. Schlabach now places the Bulldogs ahead of South Carolina, which he drops from 15th to 19th.
See, Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia has been suspended again. Which leads us to …
• KC Joyner, also an ESPN Insider, puts Garcia’s presumed replacement Connor Shaw atop his list of shaky spring game performers. (Link requires registration.) I’m not sure how much weight should be placed on any spring game, but Joyner studied film and graded Shaw poorly.
All of which reinforces a notion that has been stirring these past couple of months: The team that finished 2010 by losing to Central Florida will enter 2011 as a team with buzz attached to it. Part of this has to do with the Dream Team. Part has to do with Georgia’s schedule: No Alabama, no LSU, no Arkansas — plus South Carolina and Mississippi State and Auburn at home. A bit of it has to do with Garcia and the Gamecocks.
Add it up, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see the Bulldogs considered the favorite to win the East by the team SEC Media Days arrive. And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see them actually go out and do it.
By Mark Bradley
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652 comments Add your comment
WDE
May 12th, 2011
2:25 pm
Bodda Getta no one went to a Bama blog back then, hell there wasn’t any internet in Bama until Saban brought it with him…got a favor could you give us a blueprint on how to go from NC’s to 4th in the west in one year in 3 easy lessons?
red&silver
May 12th, 2011
2:26 pm
I was just looking over these comments and, what I don’t understand is how do some of you call yourself a UGA supporter? Some of the blog posts are just flat out of line.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:27 pm
Beast, doesn’t matter. 9 wins keeps him. This administration is in love with the guy. 9 wins would make them giddy. If we were still a football school , he would have been fired after that bowl game last year.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 12th, 2011
2:31 pm
JB
9 wins with a loss to FL better = unemployment line
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:31 pm
A beam must of hit Bodda in the head during the tornado 2 weeks ago. Geez.
Dawghater
May 12th, 2011
2:33 pm
Rank UGA #1 and put them on the cover of SI with some red panties. They’ll need them once the real season starts!
DC
May 12th, 2011
2:35 pm
JB I support AU…but as an outsider looking into UGA’s world..I feel like if UGA fans were a little more subjective about each season then many people wouldn’t do all this…I never hear these words
“we have had couple bad seasons in a row..we just need to focus on winning the SEC east and proceed from there”…all we hear is BCS BCS BCS…
Like I will be subjective about my team…we are going to have a rough season..we lost some game changing players and we are in a transition period..have alot of road games..and testing out a new QB…
for what its worth I think UGA trophy year will be next year or year after…
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:35 pm
Flat Tire…………You do know Prez Adams loves this guy. Hell, Maryland and Miami pulled the trigger last year……….. 3 year slide, 6-7, losing to UCF in a bowl and not scoring a touchdown is Georgia football? 9 wins and he get’s an extension, Florida game or not, IMO
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:36 pm
Dawghater…we ALWAYS have Tech to beat, good or bad team.
DC
May 12th, 2011
2:36 pm
JB I support AU…but as an outsider looking into UGA’s world..I feel like if UGA fans were a little more subjective about each season then many people wouldn’t do all this…I never hear these words
“we have had couple bad seasons in a row..we just need to focus on winning the SEC east and proceed from there”…all we hear is BCS BCS BCS…
Like I will be subjective about my team…we are going to have a rough season..we lost some game changing players and we are in a transition period..have alot of road games..and testing out a new QB…
for what its worth I think UGA trophy year will be next year or year after…
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
2:38 pm
That would be either 8-4 and a loss in a middling bowl, or
9-3 with a loss in a higher-profile bowl.
Which would be harder to take?
how2fish
May 12th, 2011
2:38 pm
As a long time Dog fan I know we will be deep in the season before I or most of the Bull Dog Nation starts thinking SEC east titles..even if we were to start 2-0 and that is a stretch we still won’t know what we really have until I think the UF game…..both Miss schools will be tests and you have to give a OL time working together to work out the kinks and get a timing down..and practice only won’t do it. I think we will see improvement this year but heck that could be 7-7..with our OL woes I really wish we were playing a cupcake the first game just to help the OL jell…but it is what it is. We have to show better effort if we are GATA and come up short early in the year that is one thing..lack of that effort will lead to a change in HC I’m sure.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:39 pm
Delbert….you talking about Tech? They lose EVERY bowl they get in.
how2fish
May 12th, 2011
2:40 pm
Dawghater who in the heck is your team? Declare yourself.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:41 pm
How2fish…….Our OL is going up against a cupcake the first game. They give up 50 points to no names. bobo should put the peddle down. That league stops no one.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
2:42 pm
how2fish,
I agree that we really don’t know waht to expect from UGA this year. I feel the same way about my Gators. I’ve predicted 8-4 for both of us.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:42 pm
Dawghater is a Techie……hence the name.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
2:43 pm
JB,
Dawghater could be Michel Vick
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
2:43 pm
JB – I tried to correct that immediately…it should have read, “8-4 with a win in a middling bowl.”
I got a popup from the AJC that said, “You are posting too fast. Slow Down.”
New feature?
Oh, and a win by Tech in any bowl would be a good objective for Tech this year. It may be unreachable, though.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 12th, 2011
2:44 pm
JB
I agree but money talks and I can assure you another year of just beating the same no good teams and donations will really fall
Heck
This is the first time I had FL tickets, Tenn away game tickets, and extra tickets to every home game except AUB
That tells me people are not wasting their money like me to watch mediocrity on the field, and laws being broken off the field
Buzzards Circling
May 12th, 2011
2:45 pm
Richt 2 & 8 vs. Florida.
how2fish
May 12th, 2011
2:47 pm
Beast from the East I agree we both have a TON of questions…..but really that’s not a terrible thing. It will be another wild ride in the SEC this year…..Lord I love this sport….
how2fish
May 12th, 2011
2:51 pm
JB good point I guess last years D woes rattled me some..we could score but stop no one…I look for the D to be much better…but it would really help us against the Smurfs if we could establish the run and control the clock…not sure right out of the gate we can. I think we beat them if we can keep it from being a track meet.
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
2:54 pm
Buzzards Circling: vultures will descend on the Dawgs opponents broken carcuses after we’re done with them this year. 10 wins EASY! With one of them a BIG win over the gators! MARK MY WORDS!
Just look at the dream team – they will have a bigger impact than anyone things because they all played in the best high school football state in the country and were the best of the best. I know how good the high school football is in Georgia because I played in Cobb and would have been a Dawg but I blew out my knee my softmore season.
Go Dawgs.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
2:54 pm
I hope the Gators come out hungry as well as the dogs… That being said, what happens to UGA if they get beat by BSU to open the season? Will they bounce back and finish strong, or will they go into a shell?
Buzzards Circling
May 12th, 2011
2:56 pm
Richt’s 0 & 6 against winning teams last year.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
2:58 pm
Bigred, i thought you disappeared… please tell me when UGA won their 5 national championships? also, it is sophmore, not softmore…
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
2:58 pm
Note to Cobb Co. Board of Education: More emphasis on spelling is needed.
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:03 pm
Gatorzone ( nice to talk ball rather than insults by the way) That is the million dollar question. We start 0-2 or 2-0, what are the ramifications for the year. None of us know. This has been a strange off season for us ( ya’ll also) and about the only good news we’ve had lately is our OL coach gone to Texas and ( as usual) a pretty good class coming in.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
3:03 pm
Where is the “italian dawg?” Shouldn’t you be chiming in about now?
Herschel Talker
May 12th, 2011
3:04 pm
Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
You avoided the question. You said that Richt would get a contract extension with 8 wins. Do you really believe that after the last 3 years that McGarity would reward him with a contract extension with 8 wins? And you really believe that’s appropriate? Idiot.
HT
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:05 pm
Gatorzone – stupid name. These are the years we won natonal championships. Maybe add 2011 to it.
1927, 1942, 1946, 1968, and 1980
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:06 pm
BigRedDawg = what most people think of when they think GA fan.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:07 pm
Like the Chinese guy in the hangover: “It’s funny cause you not good at football!”
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:07 pm
I bet BigReddawg didn’t even play football
WIN WITH RICHT
May 12th, 2011
3:08 pm
Richt averages 11 wins per season when he has a returning starter at QB.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:10 pm
Well maybe he did. He did misspell sophomore
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:12 pm
I would have played at UGA if…= If AJ hadn’t been suspended…
It must be a penal colony cultural thing…
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:13 pm
Tide:
Why would I lie about playing ball? I bet you never did. You’re one of those who were to scared to play and now your the big football expert. I already said I was going to play at Georgia until I blew out my knee.
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
3:14 pm
And carcasses.
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
3:17 pm
BigREDDAWG – You ride a Triumph Bonneville?
WDE
May 12th, 2011
3:17 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it….hey what really did happen in the 2nd half of last years Iron Bowl is it true that aliens exchanged the Tide players with clones of Betty White?
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:18 pm
Wow, I misspelled a couple of words. Big deal. What are you even doing on this board?
Tide is rolling right to probation and you’re coach will move on to another job. When it happens, think of me LMAO!
CJ
May 12th, 2011
3:20 pm
Dawg Gone, why don’t you go wank it to the recruiting rankings again
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:20 pm
Delbet D.
I think I know what the D stands for – what you like. I have no idea what a triumph bonneville is but pretty sure you ride a tricycle.
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:22 pm
If Richt wins 11 games this year, I believe he would be named National coach of the year. Of course, Maryland fired Ralph Frigen ( sp?) after being named ACC coach of the year.
1eyedJack
May 12th, 2011
3:22 pm
These blogs are full of people that learned to somewhat write but evidently never learned to read. If they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing it.
Gator Mike
May 12th, 2011
3:24 pm
I am a Gator, and I always want to beat UGA. Of course, the DAWG Fans feel the sam about beating UF. I want both teams to be the best they can be on the last Saturday in October for the fans of both schools. The idiots at ESPN need to leave both teams alone.
Spurrier is only a shell of what he used to be on discipline; therefore, we can all assume that Garcia will be back on the team by mid June. I also want to see UGA beat the Gamecocks in Athens this year. The Gators can worry about UGA and USCe later in the year.
It was more exciting in JAX when both UF and UGA were in the hunt to win the East and go to Atlanta. Coach Muschamp will catch some hell no matter who wins this year, and that should be very interesting.
Go Gators!
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
3:26 pm
BigREDDAWG – I met a local Cobb County guy at the gas station awhile back who rode a blue Triumph Bonneville. Big kid, looked like a D-lineman, and he mentioned that that he was “over at Athens.” This was on a weekday during the season. So, I assumed he wasn’t on the football team. Wild guess on my part; never mind.
The “D” is a middle initial.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
3:29 pm
Well, BIGRED I suppose I have been educated. But 1946, and 1968 seem like a bit of a stretch… Perhaps 2011 will be your year. who knows. Sorry my name is not as profound as “BIGREDDAWG…” Mr. Cobb County football…