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
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:33 pm
Gatorzone – no worries as long as you can admit your mistake, your OK with me – except the gator fan part.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:33 pm
I bet BIGREDDAWG was also going to climb Everest, be an Army Ranger, bench press 600, and raise a small little of puppies…until he blew out his knee.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
3:33 pm
Oh and too bad your DA self from “Cobb County” doesn’t even know what a classic motorcycle a Triumph is… Why don’t you stop while you are a head there junior?
Dawg Gone
May 12th, 2011
3:34 pm
CJ cry me a river…. its a football state with a basketball fringe….if your not smart enough to know that well I’m not patient enough to school you…bye bye.
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:34 pm
Tide – so you never answered. Did you ever play football or were you too scared. It’s OK you don’t have to admit to being scared, just say you wanted to play soccer or cheerlead instead and we’ll leave it at that.
WDE
May 12th, 2011
3:36 pm
@Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it what ever BigREDDAWG has done or will do is a moot point he is no Tide fan..so he’s one up on you.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:36 pm
Yes, I was going to pay for Bear Bryant and then the Packers…until I blew out my knee.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
3:36 pm
I already said I was going to play at Georgia until I blew out my knee.
What an idiotic statement…. Anyone can say that… I was going to be a millionaire, but i didn’t pick the correct numbers for the lottery… LMAO!!!
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:37 pm
I happen to blow it out while working in my garden. Tulips are so hard to grow in this heat!
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:38 pm
I was going to be president, but I couldn’t find my certificate of live birth.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:39 pm
I was going to play ball in middle school before playing in high school, but I blew out my knee in T-ball
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
3:39 pm
Good ‘un, Jack!
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
3:40 pm
I was going to cure cancer until i didn’t make it into medical school…
1eyedJack
May 12th, 2011
3:40 pm
“I was going to be president, but I couldn’t find my certificate of live birth.”
No problem, you can have one made up after you get elected.
Saban
May 12th, 2011
3:40 pm
I was going to sign 10 more players, but the medical ward was full and we were out of greyshirts
WDE
May 12th, 2011
3:40 pm
I was going to win the Iron Bowl this year…but aliens stole my team.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:41 pm
Saban
Good one!
Mark Richt
May 12th, 2011
3:42 pm
I was going to sign more talent, but oversigning and winning are just evil
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
3:42 pm
Getting weird here…I read 1eyedJack’s post, I commented on it, and mine now appears before it.
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:43 pm
Anyone on here vote for Obama? If so, will you again?
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:45 pm
I can melt a server with UGA cracks
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
3:45 pm
I WAS GOING TO WIN THE RUSHING TITLE THIS YEAR AND GO ON TO BE A NUMBER 1 DRAFT PICK OVERALL, BUT I LEFT UGA!
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:46 pm
I was going to be an alabama fan but my parents game me class
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:46 pm
Waushaun Ealey DUH, winning!
Obama's grandma
May 12th, 2011
3:46 pm
Hell no
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
3:46 pm
JB, this is a sportsblog
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:47 pm
Darn Waushaun, where you at?
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:48 pm
BIGREDDAWG was going to reply, until he blew out his knee…
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
3:49 pm
I am over at Auburn looking for a payout!!!!
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:49 pm
Now that’s funny Tide rolling
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
3:49 pm
Tide… hahahahaha!
JB
May 12th, 2011
3:50 pm
I’d get at least 180,000K
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:50 pm
Tide,
So, you think it’s funny when someone gets hurt? Stay classy.
Ace
May 12th, 2011
3:51 pm
King will be ruled ineligible tomorrow. A relative dates one of the offensive players. I will not throw him under the bus……..
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:51 pm
I was going to be an alabama fan but I grew teeth.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:52 pm
I like this Waushaun guy
BigREDDAWG
May 12th, 2011
3:53 pm
whaaaaaa!!!!!! My PU$$Y hurts!
UGA Preseason national champs 2007 and now 2011.. This koolaid sure is good!!!
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:54 pm
No, I think it’s funny when UGA fans have illusions of grandeur (playing at UGA, UGA winning title) unitl I hurt my knee.
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
3:54 pm
Wow, BigRed, glad to see you come out and admit being a baby!
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
3:56 pm
No, I think it’s funny when UGA fans have illusions of grandeur (playing at UGA, UGA winning at title)…until I hurt my knee.
Dawgpound
May 12th, 2011
3:57 pm
You seem to have a lot of insight on UGA’s football players “We (UF) Own UGA”. Are your comments based on facts or the result of what you’ve been smokin’ with Janoris Jenkins? Show a little bit of class and refrain from throwing out speculative information about an 18-20 year-old’s personal life. That goes for you too “pswole”. You’re lying if you claim to know the actual truth about a student-athlete’s academic status unless your one of the coaches, the player himself or his parents so take your trashy rhetoric somewhere else like the Orlando Sentinel.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it!
May 12th, 2011
3:58 pm
I would laugh at illusions of grandeur (playing at UGA, UGA title) but….I hurt my knee.
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:10 pm
I just wish i was still playing for that vaunted 6th National Championship, but who knows… I could have hurt my knee.
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:13 pm
Caleb King would be academically eligible this year, but he hurt his knee…
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:13 pm
Osama Bin laden would have gotten away, but he hurt his knee…
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it!
May 12th, 2011
4:14 pm
Waushaun,
I am so sorry to hear you hurt your knee. Will this affect your next trip to space? Please excuse all these classless fans who doubt that you would have released a hit record, swam the Bering straight, and started your modelling career all while carrying your 6th TD in the National Championship.
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:14 pm
St. Simons would have won the World of Warcraft championship, but he hurt his knee
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:16 pm
Tide, Now that is funny!!!!
Waushaun Ealey
May 12th, 2011
4:18 pm
Damon Evans would still be the AD at UGA, but he hurt his knee…
bitter "OLE" School Dogs-fan
May 12th, 2011
4:18 pm
waiting on the season is long and hard —ive hurd my wife say that——hahahahahah
—————————-games are played on saturday————yaaaaaaaaaaaw