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
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:47 pm
Win P………The only person you know about selling short is your wife.
1eyedJack
May 12th, 2011
1:48 pm
The AJC was losing money on the Tech blog so they cancelled it and fired the writer.
And….there are not enough pigs in the state of Alabama to make enough hot dogs to sell out Booby Dud stadium/mausoleum.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
1:49 pm
UGA winning the BCS in 2011?
Yeah, and I’m Brad Pitt.
DawginLex
May 12th, 2011
1:49 pm
You ain’t Brad Pitt
you are BeastfromTheEastEatenByDawg
Wonderful Ohio on the Gulf 'Dog
May 12th, 2011
1:49 pm
It is inconceivable that Caleb King is academically ineligible.
From Richt in Greenville last night:
“[King] has become, I think, a very dependable football player.”
“People can have a debate on how effective he’s been, but when it comes to knowing what to do, when it comes to pass protection, when it comes to doing the things that we’re asking him to do, he does a good job.”
King needs to “trim down a little bit… to get as much quickness and speed as we can get from him.”
“I don’t anticipate him being the only one that’s going to carry the ball this year, but I think the goal for him is going to be to work extremely hard on quickness and speed. If it means dropping a couple of pounds to do that, I think we’re going to try to do that. But I’ve got faith he knows what to do, and he’ll compete well.”
Coaches do not thusly describe academically ineligible players.
Go away you trolls!
C-Town
May 12th, 2011
1:49 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWRcM_d2qWE&feature=fvwrel
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:51 pm
Beast………..Good to see ya……..What’s happening down there…..Heard they got the Seal Team 6 keeping the press away. Word is Brantley looked bad in the spring game?
FixIt
May 12th, 2011
1:52 pm
If it IS broke, Mark Richt, fix it.
2007, 11 wins
2008, 10 wins
2009, 8 wins
2010, 6 wins
Good thing Coach Richt didn’t see the need to make any major changes.
Joe
May 12th, 2011
1:53 pm
Mark Richt’s team was ranked #64 last year, pre-season #18.
HAAAAAAAA!
aaa
May 12th, 2011
1:54 pm
UGA gets worse every year!
STOP THE INSANITY!!!!!!!!!
trupert
May 12th, 2011
1:54 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it. Except for LSU, South Carolina and Auburn. I don’t think a fourth place finish in the West gualifies as rolling or unstoppable.
A fourth place finish and that after all that bogus dynasty talk by all those delusional Alabama fans. I would have thought an average of eight oversigned players a year would have produced better than a fourth place finish but it is what it is.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
1:55 pm
JB,
Not much news. Lost a couple of fresmen due to transfers. In my opinion, no news is good news!
DawginLex,
Keep it up. It’s just going to make it that much harder for you when you have to type that dreaded blog handle!
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:55 pm
Joe……….you bored waiting on the school bus?
S1 Fan
May 12th, 2011
1:55 pm
Tired of going 0 & 6 against winning teams???
Getting beat by Colorado???
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:55 pm
This year marks TWO times that the 13 year cicadas have appeared since UGA won a title.
Elton
May 12th, 2011
1:56 pm
And I think it’s gonna be a long long time…..
until Richt wins more than 6 games…
JB
May 12th, 2011
1:56 pm
Dawgs will be the Surprise of the SEC this year. 9-10 wins.
YonderHere
May 12th, 2011
1:57 pm
Richt’s 2-9 against ranked teams, last 2 years.
Buzz kill.
Auburn Fans are horrible.
May 12th, 2011
1:57 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it = Yellow Fuzz
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
May 12th, 2011
1:58 pm
Nope, not me.
PinataPin
May 12th, 2011
1:58 pm
How about finishing 10th in the SEC in offensive scoring against ranked teams!!!!
Indeed, buzzards are circling.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
1:59 pm
JB,
9 wins ain’t what it once was. Most teams have about 5-6 gimmes on a 12 game schedule.
HuskerJim
May 12th, 2011
2:00 pm
ESPN fueled Buzz says South Carolina will be a top 10 team.
UGA was unranked by field of over 30 experts.
what of it?
May 12th, 2011
2:00 pm
good thing we just ran off a running back averaging 5.5 yard/carry
Auburn Fans are horrible.
May 12th, 2011
2:00 pm
Ooh Kay.
Hendu
May 12th, 2011
2:00 pm
Bradley, you continue to prove how irrelavant your opinion is. How do writers like you get columns? Only on a liberal, communist rag like the AJC where women do the hiring.
RuntheBallNow
May 12th, 2011
2:01 pm
Richt’s trying to pass the ball
In a run league.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:01 pm
Yellow Fuzz needs a job, a woman and a sense of humor. Big world outside that concrete slab called Tech Fuzz. We know the drill when you show up down there. Mostly envy. Gotta get your mind off that misery and life outside that place. And don’t get desperate and marry a girl from India.
Buzzards Circling
May 12th, 2011
2:02 pm
Oops, Richt’s AD won’t renew his contract. 2 coaches quit. Ealey, #1 rusher, transferred.
RuntheBallNow
May 12th, 2011
2:03 pm
I got an idea….
Kick the SEC’s #4 scorer since 2008 off the team??
I’m a genius, that’s whyn they pay me $3 million.
Buzzards Circling
May 12th, 2011
2:05 pm
Richt’s lost 2 more games than they year before last 2 seasons in a row.
10 wins in 2008 to 8 in 2009, to 6 in 2010
Looking for 4 wins in 2011?
CJ
May 12th, 2011
2:05 pm
The Hawks are in a tight playoff matchup with the #1 seed and the top story on AJC.com is about UGA Football. Nonsense.
priceshula
May 12th, 2011
2:06 pm
bama fans dont get too full of it, becuase it only took ONE season to forget the dubose through shula years
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
2:06 pm
@ the truth,
“And the Florida Gators eat boogers.”
Nah, we prefer Dawgs!
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:09 pm
Beast, true, but 9 wins saves this guys job. Now half on here don’t want that. Half on here feel he has become Tubbs and Fulmer and eating to many buffets at the country club. Folks on here can deny all they want to, but the man is on a hot seat. I feel he has failed to hold assit. Coach’s accountable and treated them like family rather than employee’s.
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:10 pm
I would rather serve hard time than to go to ANY NBA game.
DC
May 12th, 2011
2:10 pm
Once again…UGA is crowned he preseason BCS NC! Congrats you guys…heres to a better than .500 season.
cOLUMBUS
May 12th, 2011
2:12 pm
Amen!
cOLUMBUS
May 12th, 2011
2:13 pm
Serve hard time because a close NBA playoff game is AWESOME. The crowd, the CONSTANT action, it’s electric….unlike game 3…I was there. I want to go tonight man….but I am too busy and live 100 miles away!
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:14 pm
Who’s your powerhouse team DC? Nobody cares about your post if they don’t know who YOU support. If it’s Tech, we don’t have time to get into all ya’lls problems.
Beast from the East
May 12th, 2011
2:15 pm
JB,
Does 9 wins keep him if the losses are to USC, UT and UF? What about BSU, USC and UF?
1eyedJack
May 12th, 2011
2:15 pm
If Dawg fans agreed on everything they would be Tech fans….shudder.
Douche Bag Trolls
May 12th, 2011
2:16 pm
You know who you are!
Bodda Getta
May 12th, 2011
2:20 pm
UGA troll whiners,
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.
Dawg Gone
May 12th, 2011
2:21 pm
CJ…you don’t have to be here beat it..
Bad News, Trolls
May 12th, 2011
2:22 pm
Georgia may, or may not be very good this year. Who knows? But Georgia fans (most) are still excited about the season, as they will be the next and the next and the next. It’s not entirely because the football team can win the conference championship of the strongest football conference in college, but because it’s a great school, Athens is a really cool college town and Georgia has historically been at a minimum competitive at the highest level of the sport.
Georgia is one of the most desirable state universities in the country and certainly in the Southeast, and will remain so. Kids in the state that go to Auburn, Alabama, Ol Ms., etc do so almost always only because they could not get into UGA (which probably explains a significant % of the troll population).
And as all you trolls deep inside know, Georgia will get the football ship righted, with or without Richt. Last year was a disaster for the football program from the AD to off the field stuff to wins and losses and they STILL landed a dynamite recruiting class.
Hate on, trolls, we absolutely LOVE IT!!!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 12th, 2011
2:23 pm
Good grief
I now think ESPN has gotten into the pouring the kool-aid to dawg fans
BCS give me a break
DC
May 12th, 2011
2:24 pm
I support AU, most know that..I’ll accept anything (if you have proof haha)…but back to UGA…
All I ask from UGA fans is to say “We have had tough couple years and our main goal is to win the SEC East and go from there”..but all we hear is BCS BCS BCS and you guys buy into it..have a subjective mind..you guys were under .500 and lost some key game changers..do you have any game changers as of today?…the answer is no.
honestly, I feel like next year and year after is UGA’s time to get some hardware..(richt wont be around to see it).
JB
May 12th, 2011
2:24 pm
Beast, I don’t think the people that matter ( our AD/Prez) care who we lose to. Maybe the AD, but our President will look for ANY sign to keep Mark. Prez Adams is a fan and he cares about being competitive,not winning championships. It pains me to say that, but it’s true. 9 wins gets him more time, and that includes losing to the Gators. 6-7 wins gets him fired IMO, and 8 wins will be anyone’s guess.
DC
May 12th, 2011
2:25 pm
test test…stop eating my posts