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
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
652 comments Add your comment
Real Dawg Fan
May 12th, 2011
1:15 pm
dont forget this is a rebuilding year for most of the SEC so it just may be possible..before all of you haters keep bringing up this and that about why UGA wont win anything, remember
1- Murray was a freshman last year
2- Defense was brand new
3- (for all the Tech fans) we still run THIS state!
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:16 pm
Have wheels been installed on Saban’s statue yet?
Seems appropriate since 98% of the fanbase lives in trailers.
Plus it will help when he leaves.
Dawg Gone
May 12th, 2011
1:17 pm
My God its a medical miracle! Yellow Fuzz and St. Simons both woke up from their comas..of course their a big gaps in their memories going back 10 years…but they have awaken!
flavorflav
May 12th, 2011
1:17 pm
If I was the real flavorflav then you would be right.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:17 pm
GeoffDawg,
Not surprising, you dawgs do tend to stay in your part of fence. Explains the expectations.
Bodda Getta
May 12th, 2011
1:17 pm
I am guessing an extra lining in the back of the silver britches for the Boise game, for obvious reasons.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:19 pm
Dawg fans shouldn’t be allowed to chant “SEC, SEC!”: after embarrasing the conference in their bowl game.
Dawg Gone
May 12th, 2011
1:19 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it , did your guys get their NC rings at the spring game this year…no wait you finished 4th in the West…but it’s Bama what the heck you’ve claimed NC’s before that were a little “shaky” haven’t you?
Cant stop laughing
May 12th, 2011
1:20 pm
@ugagrad92 said:
One More Thing Boise Staters, Shut up and go tend to your sheep before you make me mad.
This?!?! From the Clarke County School of Turf Management ????????
flavorflav
May 12th, 2011
1:20 pm
DawginLex
UGA has plenty of the sidewalk alum trailer trash. I have been to a game over there and seen it myself. Was it north campus that the university had to shut down tailgating because the lazy inbred uga fans wouldn’t even pick up their own trash?
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
1:20 pm
BIGRED…”So, go ahead and hate and in the fall we’ll start on the way to winning our 6th National Championship.”
I am familiar with 1980, but please educate me on the other 4 National Championships…
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:20 pm
I know! Black panties!
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:20 pm
yellow fuzz,
Why do you get into the personal attacks? Calling everyone a “little man”. He doth protest too much????
You come on to a UGA blog and start spewing. I never have understood the mentality behind making that decision.
I’m just asking?
UGA
May 12th, 2011
1:22 pm
yeah the last time UGA lived up to expectations was …. uhhh when was that again?
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:22 pm
UGA – Walker = Miss State
Dawg Gone
May 12th, 2011
1:23 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it “after embarrasing the conference in their bowl game.” Can you say Utah??
Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
May 12th, 2011
1:23 pm
Tide is rolling…
Seriously, why aren’t you helping victims in T Town? I have. Oh, thats right. You only care about a game. I do believe the last time your team played in the Sugar Bowl, you got your butts handed to you by a bunch of Mormons. Or does your memory only go back to 2008? I also think your boys lost to some school out of Monroe, Louisiana in Tuscaloosa.
Bodda Getta
May 12th, 2011
1:24 pm
C’mon UGA fans, stop whining again about trolls.
The truth is that SEC fans are coming here for a few laughs during the offseason as no other football program in SEC history is a bigger joke than Georgia is right now.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:25 pm
UGA,
Actually richt’s scorecard is about even.
2001-Overachieved
2002-Way over achieved
2003-about as expected
2004-I say underachieved
2005-over achieved
2006-about as expected
2007-overachieved
2008-underachieved
2009-underachieved
2010-underachieved
I say it’s 4-4-2
Last 3 are the problem
GeoffDawg
May 12th, 2011
1:28 pm
Tide, that’s correct – I follow Georgia and am generally knowledgeable about college football and the SEC as a whole. It strikes me as unhealthy to be able to recite other team’s bowl opponents going back multiple years. Get a job or at least a hobby there pal.
fuzzy – Of course we would crow over a win. Of course, this is a fan base that described a three point victory as a “stomping” and a “beatdown” for over a year and in obsessive fashion on every single blog related to Georgia. That first victory of the decade really went to your heads there.
Bodda Getta
May 12th, 2011
1:28 pm
UGA fans whining about trolls,
The truth is that SEC fans are coming here for a few laughs during the offseason as no other football program in SEC history is a bigger joke than Georgia is right now.
Bama came close to this during the Dubose / Frannie / Probation / “It’s Rollin’ Baby” / Shula / Phyllis era, and we all flocked to the Bama blogs and al.com to join in the fun.
Now that you have your own Shula (with a bad hair cut), had your own Dubose as Athletic Director, have your own Fulmer Cup, and your own “#1 Party in the UGA” joke of a university, the humor opportunities here are endless. And I didn’t even mention your joke of a university president.
So just “Roll” with it for now, dawg fans (pardon the pun).
This too will pass, likely when you change coaches next year.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:29 pm
Maybe if you would have gotten Kirby Smart, you might have a chance to win 8 games this year
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
The over/under on the amount of screen passes Bobo calls against Boise = 25.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
Maybe if you had a different coach, different fanbase, different school, different stadium and different mascot, you wouldn’t be blowing 24 point leads at home to your arch rival and losing 3 games when you were supposed to be unbeatable.
When it happens again in 2011, we will all be laughing and watching the trailers and pickup trucks getting overturned.
Bodda Getta
May 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
UGA fans,
The truth is that SEC fans are coming here for a few laughs during the offseason as no other football program in SEC history is a bigger joke than Georgia is right now.
Bama came close to this during the Dubose / Frannie / Probation / “It’s Rollin’ Baby” / Shula / Phyllis era, and we all flocked to the Bama blogs and al.com to join in the fun.
Now that you have your own Shula (with a bad hair cut), had your own Dubose as Athletic Director, have your own Fulmer Cup, and your own “#1 Party in the UGA” joke of a university, the humor opportunities here are endless. And I didn’t even mention your joke of a university president.
So just “Roll” with it for now, dawg fans (pardon the pun).
This too will pass, likely when you change coaches next year.
Andy in Blairsvile
May 12th, 2011
1:30 pm
“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.”
Make note of this countless fair weather puppy fans. Since history tends to repeat itself, there’s a good chance Mark Bradley is going to be ripping the Dogs after 6 or 7 loses this season and all the AJC whiners will be saying Mark hates the Bulldogs in order to make themselves feel better.
Jimmy Crack
May 12th, 2011
1:32 pm
Has anyone ever visited the Tech blog? It must be crickets over there. Is there one? Hmm. What they even do over there, measure each others’ logarithms? Fondle their exponents? They sure as heck can’t talk about sports or g-g-g-girls!
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:32 pm
UGA = that little kid that’s not very bright who picks fights with the big kids.
Huntsvillian
May 12th, 2011
1:33 pm
Build’em up, to tear’em down. Richt now has no excuse for the crash and burn that will be the 2011 season.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:33 pm
UGA is too busy watching Dancing with the Stars to concentrate on a meaningful season.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:34 pm
Bama fans are too busy watching Cops to see if they see relatives
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:34 pm
Alabama economy always takes a hit when Bama has a road game.
Tractors have to leave on monday. No plowing for a week.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:35 pm
1980, man that’s a long time ago…
trupert
May 12th, 2011
1:35 pm
Wow, the Alabama Trolls are multiplying, It must get lonely not having an instate newspaper blog where they can insult each other 24-7. Funny, the better the news is about Ga the more trolls that will show up.
The reason that ESPN and many more are promoting the Dawgs is the same reason that Ga has turned the corner and it’s what’s been missing for a few yeras, it’s defense and the dawgs are back! Eat your hearts out trolls.
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:36 pm
If Richt couldn’t win the state in 08, he will NEVER win a title.
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:36 pm
You can say a lot of things about the Alabama football history. They have won a lot of Championships. ….They have also been caught cheating by the NCAA ( fact, not spin) as much or more than any University in history.
C-Town
May 12th, 2011
1:36 pm
Crowell Grades are fine. Stop the Rumors, Haters.
joe
May 12th, 2011
1:36 pm
Sad news…Bama tackle Aaron Douglas, former UT player, was found dead today in Jacksonville, FL. No details yet on death, but Bama AD confirmed the story. He had drug issues in the past, so that might be a possible COD. Please keep his family in your prayers.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:37 pm
This tide dude nust be the only one in the state with a computer in his double wide.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:38 pm
29 Vacated wins from 1993-2007
“That’s another Bama Point of Pride.”
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:38 pm
UGA = 6 major NCAA violations
Bama = 6 major NCAA violations
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:39 pm
Come on Tide. Dig a little deeper…or I will for you…….
Delbert D.
May 12th, 2011
1:40 pm
My own *very* early Boise St. 2011 scouting report:
In 2010, Boise St. returned 20 of 22 starters. Not close to that in 2011.
Boise St. returning veterans:
Defense:
DT Chase Baker, 3L 6-1 296 6.5 TFL 4.5 S
LB Tommy Smith, 1L 6-1 227
S Travis Stanaway, 2L 5-11 203
CB Jamar Taylor 2L 5-11 194 35 T 3.5 TFL 2 INT
LB Aaron Tevis, 3L 6-3 232 43 T 2.5 TFL 1 S 2 INT
DT Billy Winn, 3L 6-4 295 9.5 TFL 4.5 S
DT Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe, 1L 6-3 307 6.5 TFL 2.5 S
Offense:
Kellen Moore, 3L 6-0 191
TE Kyle Efaw, 3L 6-4 242 299 y, 5 TD
WR Kirby Moore, 1L 6-2 206 (2009) 242 y, 2 TD
OG Brenel Myers, 2L 6-2 277
OL Kevin Sapien, 3L 6-4 286
WR Tyler Showmaker 3L 6-1 213 582 y, 5 TD
OT Matt Slater 3L 6-4 267
2011 Spring game
4 8-minute quarters
Defense 21 Offense 13 (Defensive scoring based on 3/outs, sacks, TO, Red Zone stops
RB Drew Wright led rushers in the Spring game with 8 carries 24 yards.
WR Geraldo Hiwat led receivers with 5 catches for 97 yards.
QB Kellen Moore played 3 series.
The defense recorded 11 tackles for loss.
The offense scored 2 FGs and a TD on the last play of the game.
The Ghost of Wally Butts
May 12th, 2011
1:40 pm
Lord, now we have the AJC publishing photos of recruits like Crowell in Heisman trophy-like poses….problem is….
HE AIN’T PLAYED A SINGLE DOWN YET.
Shouldn’t we hold off on the coronation until we see whether or not these spoiled ‘dream team’ kids can:
1. Stay out of the Clarke County Detention Center; and then,
2. Actually win football games?
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:41 pm
Maybe this article is about the buzz surrounding the UGA/Kentucky game. Then it’s believable
trupert
May 12th, 2011
1:41 pm
What will the Alabama fan’s say when Saban again finishes behind both LSU and Arkansas for the second year running and this after they were all guranteeing a dynasty just this time last year?
All those oversigned players and they could only manage a fourth place finish in the West and to top it all off, Saban blew that hugh lead in the iron bowl and to little brother Auburn of all teams.
Lets talk reality
May 12th, 2011
1:43 pm
1. With the exception of Vandy, every SEC team is optimistic at this time of year, and few Georgia fans are predicting a national title. So Georgia fans are no better or no worse than any other SEC fanbase, and I can give you countless examples.
2. Reality is that outside of last year, Richt was averaging 10 wins a season, with a number 2 and number 3 final rankings to go along with the two SEC titles.
3. UGA football is the most RELEVANT sport in this state- look at the interest any UGA blog draws and compare to Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Tech, and any other team.
4. Look for the Dogs to make a run at the SEC title this year, and in 2012 go for the BCS NC.
Gatorzone
May 12th, 2011
1:43 pm
Joe, sad news indeed..
BIGRED, you gonna enlighten me on UGA’s other 4 National championships… Hell, can any UGA fan tell me what years those were?
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:43 pm
Scout power ratings from 2011 class for the ACC and I quote ” other than QB Vad Lee, looks like another disappointing class on the flats”. Yes, ranked 9 of 12 in the ACC. What a joke. Key word, another. The talent is dropping quickly. When you’re fighting Mars Hill for players, you know you’re in trouble.
Win P.
May 12th, 2011
1:44 pm
With this hype, were UGA football team a stock, now would be the time to sell “short”.