Bradley’s grid picks: Tech wins eight; UGA wins the SEC East
My credo. (AJC photo by Ben Gray, doctored by Mandi Albright)
Six months ago I wouldn’t have imagined this pick, but here it is: Georgia will go 10-2 and win the SEC East. And how’s that for a snappy beginning to our annual long-range look at college football?
What changed my mind about Georgia? The Dream Team. I’m not the biggest believer in recruiting rankings, but this class rekindled a fire that, after 8-5 followed by 6-7, was down to embers.
Six months ago I saw a program that had run out of ideas. (How do you not score a touchdown against Central Florida?) Today I see a team primed to seize its opportunity. The SEC East is as rickety as it has ever been: Urban Meyer is gone from Florida, Tennessee is in flux and South Carolina’s breakthrough season — the Gamecocks finally won the division — fizzled at its end.
Georgia’s schedule sets up beautifully. The Bulldogs open against a team that figures to be ranked among the nation’s top five, but the team is Boise State (meaning: less talented than Georgia) and the game is in the Georgia Dome. The next week South Carolina comes to Athens. After winning those two games, the Bulldogs will find themselves in the Top 10.
Their two losses? Even with Florida under new management, one will come against the Gators. (One Georgia loss always comes against the Gators.) The other will come against Mississippi State even though the game is in Athens. (I’m not sure the fourth-best team in the SEC West couldn’t win the East.) As for Georgia’s opponent in the SEC title game … well, keep reading.
• Georgia Tech will tighten up on offense and defense — fewer turnovers, fewer points allowed. This will enable the Jackets to go 8-4 and finish third, behind Virginia Tech and Miami, in the ACC Coastal. They’ll miss Joshua Nesbitt but profit from a kinder schedule. They don’t play Florida State. They get North Carolina, Maryland and Clemson here, and they should win two of those. They get N.C. State, Miami, Virginia and Duke on the road, and they can win at least two of those.
• Andrew Luck, the Stanford quarterback who spurned the NFL, will win the Heisman Trophy.
• Nebraska, new to the Big Ten, will win the Big Ten (now up to 12 members). Ohio State, as you may have heard, has issues.
• With Nebraska gone and Texas in retreat, Oklahoma will tear through the Big 12 (now down to 10) and finish first in the BCS standings.
I foresee a great leap forward. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
• As big as the Georgia-Boise game is to us around here, it will pale in comparison nationally to the other neutral-site game of Sept. 3: LSU-Oregon in Arlington, Texas. LSU 34, Oregon 31.
• Boise State won’t lose after Sept. 3, but from a national perspective it won’t matter. Boise State registers only when unbeaten.
• Auburn goes from 14-0 and the BCS title to 7-5 and fifth in the SEC West. That’s unless Russell Wilson, the baseball-playing quarterback who was released from his scholarship by N. C. State, chooses the Tigers over Wisconsin. Should that happen, bump the Tigers up to 8-4 and fourth. Wilson isn’t Cam Newton, but he’s good.
• Florida State will lose to Oklahoma in Tallahassee on Sept. 17 but will run through the ACC undefeated, beating Virginia Tech in the conference title game (now housed in Charlotte).
• Florida will beat Georgia and still finish 7-5. The Gators must play Alabama and LSU. (Georgia gets neither.) The odd Will Muschamp-Charlie Weis alliance will be in tatters by Halloween.
The string of losing seasons ends at one. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
• South Carolina will go 10-2 — its other loss will be to Arkansas — and lose the division title on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
• Tennessee will finish 6-6. Its new athletic director, whoever he/she is, will not be pleased.
• Utah will win the South Division of the newly configured Pac-12. Stanford will win the North because its biggest game — Oregon on Nov. 12 — is at home. Lane Kiffin and Southern Cal will finish 7-5, if anyone still cares.
• As for the SEC West … Alabama has the better schedule, but LSU has the better team. The Tigers will lose early at Mississippi State but not again. They’ll take down Alabama, which won’t lose to anybody else, in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 5. I see LSU beating Georgia for the SEC championship and Oklahoma in the BCS title game, which will, conveniently enough, be staged in New Orleans.
• Georgia State will go 8-3. It will, however, lose 51-10 at Houston on Sept. 24. Which, when you consider the Panthers lost 63-7 at Alabama last season, will be a sign of progress.
• After the doings of this offseason — Auburn’s trees, the Fiesta Bowl follies, the fall of Jim Tressel and the weirdness at West Virginia — the games themselves will seem almost staid. Even Tech versus Georgia will be nothing special. The Bulldogs will win by two touchdowns.
By Mark Bradley
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746 comments Add your comment
The Real GSU plays in Statesboro
June 11th, 2011
10:05 am
How dare the AJC put up a three school football picture, and inlcude georgia state instead of the 6 time IAA National Champion Georgia Southern Eagles. Wait until the pewkie panters win something. There are three Football programs of note in Georiga. The biggest plays in Athens, #2 plays on the Flats and the third plays in Statesboro GA. GO EAGLES!!!!
Rufus
June 11th, 2011
10:05 am
Tech at 8-4? Not in your wildest dreams! It’ll be another 6-6 season, at best, with another bowl loss if we even get invited after last year’s fiasco.
From Where I Sit
June 11th, 2011
10:16 am
What a HOMER pick, GA, are you kidding me?
That team has done NOTHING in 30 + years and you pick them over SC and FL?
Give me a break as you need to stop writing.
Enough Said!
Panther Prowler!
June 11th, 2011
10:17 am
This is the ATLANTA Journal Constitution, and the AJC used to be a block or two from our campus. Of course they write about our football program. It’s easy to overlook sports in other parts of the state (just ask Kennesaw State, Mercer, and the Atlanta Beat), unless you’re the oldest university in the state (UGA), so don’t take it personal.
dogdawg
June 11th, 2011
10:20 am
For the 32 years I have been a Dawg fan we do much better when we have a weak team to tune up with before starting our SEC schedule. BS is no weak team.Even if CMR can get our team up( big IF)and we beat BS,the Gamecocks will be that much tougher the next week. I see us more like 1-1 gong into the coastal carolina game than 2-0. CMR making 3 million a year coming off a 6-7 2010 should have us up for both games and we SHOULD be 2-0. IF he can’t I give up on him and say its time to find someone who can! I’m hoping CMR can still do the job but the last 3 years have been awful.
Bobby Bobby
June 11th, 2011
10:24 am
Mark is just a Bama hater. Soon we will hear him fighting with Finebaum again. Some things never change.
dawg day afternoon
June 11th, 2011
10:28 am
Thanks for jinxing the Dawgs, Bradley. I do see us beating the GaTurds though.
Whoa, did Georgia Southern just concede 2nd place in the state to teck?! That says it all!! If you ask me, the nerds aren’t even #2 in downtown Atlanta. Georgia State and Morehouse are neck and neck!!
HAHAHAHA!!! Suck it, honey bees!!
Dawg Town Now
June 11th, 2011
10:29 am
tech may be lucky to win 7 games–all of chan gailey’s recruits are long gone. Ga: wins the SEC easilly, upsets Alabama for the SEC title—lay the bets.
Dirty Dawg
June 11th, 2011
10:30 am
Well Simple Tool (aka techster), you said it simply enough, you don’t think much of Georgia football, our coach, our school, or indeed anything about us…guess what? Well we don’t need to say it. Suffice to say that Mark Richt will be coaching at Georgia long after your boy Johnson is wherever there’s a school that’ll have run out of ideas as to how to compete – aka, to another Service Academy.
Yes young Mr. Lattimore got hurt in the Peach Bowl – yes I said Peach, I don’t recognize corporate America’s right to end tradition just in the name of selling fried chicken sandwiches. He got hit in the mouth…no concussion…no lost teeth…probably not even more than a stitch or two, if that…if he’d had a hockey player’s mental toughness he wouldn’t have even missed a snap. Now we know what it takes to, effectively, render him ineffective. And while I’m at it, Mr. Moore’s Heisman hopes will be pretty much dashed by the end of that Dome game.
Now how’s that for being delusional? After all Mr. Bradley opened the door, so why not barge through it?
John
June 11th, 2011
10:35 am
Guys, it’s time to wake up to the fact that UGA is not a “traditional powerhouse” as it is so often called. One national championship 32 seasons ago, rarely even the tops of the SEC East, even more rarely tops in the SEc (obviously). Georgia has had some great players, sure, and some great victories, but it is essentially a regional team with occasional bursts of national prominence by the end of the season.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 11th, 2011
10:36 am
Snoop Dawg,
enough with the stupid comments about koolaid. Shows your immaturity too much. I can’t believe you call yourself a DAWG fan, when you never have any thing positive to say about UGA. As for insulting CMR. You are not even in the same cateogory as he is. If you and a bunch of the others on here know so darn much about coaching, why not apply for the job then. Instead you write stupid, childish, immature remarks on here because you can hide behind your computer. If you don’t like CMR and UGA, keep it to yourself, people get tired of reading the same thing from you, over and over.
Home of six titles....7 will be here soon
June 11th, 2011
10:39 am
I really can’t believe Georgia Southern didn’t even get their name in the article. This is by the best team in Georgia in the last thirty years (in their division)….and this is coming from a UGA fan. They are returning almost every starter and lost in the semis last year. Its a shame that Georgia Southern doesn’t even get mentioned because they aren’t located in the metro area….and yes I consider Athens the metro area now…..it wasn’t that way in the 70’s. Maybe next time they should get recognized.
UGA#1
June 11th, 2011
10:40 am
I expect UGA to be ranked #1 from week 3 thru the end of the season.
CONGRATS TO UGA ON THE 2011 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
We(UF) own UGA
June 11th, 2011
10:54 am
Bark Madley,
This article show’s how CLUELESS you really are! If UGA loses 2 in division to South Carolina and Florida, while South Carolina loses to Florida and Arkansas a team from the SEC West, South Carolina wins the SEC East. My god, how does the AJC pay you to write this stuff?
UGA will be lucky to go 8-4.
dani
June 11th, 2011
10:55 am
I can’t wait to see the Ga Southern Eagles this year! Amazing team, amazing football. Go Eagles!
Richard Cranium
June 11th, 2011
10:56 am
CONGRATULATIONS TO UGAg and its’
20th STRAIGHT PRE-SEASON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP !!!!
IGNORANCE IS BLISS….
DIT
June 11th, 2011
11:00 am
As stated before, Bradley just gave UGA the kiss of death with his prediction. He said the same last year and look what happened……. Why couldn’t you just say UGA will go 2-10? As a Dawg, that would have made me feel much better.
On a serious note. Love my Dawgs, but it’s just hard to get that excited about them when there has been so many let downs in recents years. I think our O-Line will be exposed. Boise St. will be very tough. I don’t see us beating SC. They will be very good. Does not matter what kind of team UF has, that always seems to be a given loss. UT will surprise us this year because we are hardly ever ready to play them. And there will be one mosre loss that nobody counted on. 8-4 best!
I hope I’m wrong, but this team is going to have to go out and prove it to many of us. There is just too much talk and not enough hard-nosed playing.
With Tech’s schedule they should be 8-4 as well. If their QB passes more accurately and more often they could win 9 to 10. Just my opinion.
Barack Hussein Obama
June 11th, 2011
11:12 am
Let me be perfectly clear, Kansas will beat Ohio St in the Final Four.
USC GAMEC0CK
June 11th, 2011
11:15 am
The team that will shock the SEC this year and the rest of college football is USC because they will actually get it done….and even beat bama or lsu in the SEC Championship Game….BTW Mark, USC will beat uga in athens to get it done too.
Next time you need a football smarts injection….look me up
Special K
June 11th, 2011
11:22 am
Someone needs to call the AJC and get the random drug testing up and running. Mark, what are you smoking? lol
Jason K
June 11th, 2011
11:29 am
Mark, if you get a chance can you do a mock-up for some of the D-II schools in the state. Specifically the Gulf South Conference? VSU always has a chance to get into the playoffs, UNA is loaded with D-I talent this year, UWG is -supposed- to be vastly improved, and even Shorter is getting into the mix. Please and thanks!
savannadawg
June 11th, 2011
11:35 am
My prediction. As long as we have NO injuries on the offensive or defensive lines. I think we lose the first two games, very close mind you. And we may even win them. But I can ssure you that by the third or fourth game these incoming defensive freshmen, specifically the new linebackers will be pushing the starters HARD for playing time, and if those cats catch on LOOK OUT everybody! Everyone of them is a beast for sure. Just watch!!!!! Sooner or a little later they will be laying waste to everyone that lines up in front of them.
1828
June 11th, 2011
11:56 am
heeldawg: geeeeeeeezzz. how stupid can you be ?
it is laughable how much uga fans think they know about tech’s offense & defense.
when tech beats uga in november, all of the usual lame-azz arguments that dawg fans try to use
to say how the offense doesnt work, teams have the blueprint now, johnson cant recruit, defenses are figuring it out, talent wont come to tech, blah, blah, blah.
when tech beats uga in november, all of those idiot arguments will fail.
and when those idiot arguments fail, then uga fans will take a giant collective dump
in their pants.
Walker
June 11th, 2011
11:58 am
What about pre-season #1 Ga. Southern. I guess you don’t write abouy anything below South Atlanta. Probably 75% percent of the students at the real GSU are from Atlanta area.
Larry
June 11th, 2011
11:58 am
AUBURN stands for “Alabama Usually Beats Us Red Necks !!!
captguitarman
June 11th, 2011
11:59 am
I think your analysis is plausible and possible, but unlikely. But who really knows? That’s why they play the games, isn’t it? I am not sure what you see there (as a sportswriter you cetainly have a better view and better info than most), but I think it is unwise to stake so much on a recruiting class, especially in the SEC where there are so many close games, and taking well going season and good record on the road to visit a struggling team (whose only highlight of the season would be beating you) is always so dangerous. Being a steeled veteran in the SEC wars matters. I guess you must be seeing a change in coaching situation. Perhaps CMR has started to impose some discipline and breathe some fire when necessary. Unless the coaching approach has changed, Drean Team won’t matter. Again, we’ll see. You have them beating Boise State, and they will have to be new team from top to bottom to do that. Your whole prognostication depends on that, because if they lose in the Dome to a second tier team to start the season (and they very well could), everything following that, especially the next game with SC, changes. Good column and interesting take on things.
Bodda Getta
June 11th, 2011
12:01 pm
Larry,
Auburn has won seven of the last nine.
GIT-R-DUN.
Vince Doodley
June 11th, 2011
12:02 pm
I love Fulmer Cup. Another whining Dawg fan. Thats the greatest thing about beating Georgia, the fans cry for a freakin year. Its the gift that keeps on giving. Auburn will be just fine.
I think UGA will lose 3. Not sure which three, but just enough to be irrelevant in the bigger picture.
Bill W.
June 11th, 2011
12:04 pm
Ha, I can tell that you get paid to support the local teams, Georgia is going to be 0-4 they do NOT have the personal to beat any of those teams. I wish you could be a litte more objective in your writings.
Bodda Getta
June 11th, 2011
12:11 pm
Georgia is bad, but don’t get carried away Bill.
Georgia will be 1-3 to open the season just like last year.
They will beat Coastal, NM State, and maybe Kentucky at home.
Sad, isn't it
June 11th, 2011
12:20 pm
It’s kind of sad to see all the Dawg fans getting so excited this year (just like the year before, the year before that, etc.). How long is it going to take for UGA fans to realize that UGA is simply no longer relevant in the SEC? In the national picture, UGA isn’t even a blip on the radar, and hasn’t been since the preseason #1 ranking two years ago.
Sit back and be grateful for the six or seven wins you’ll get every year. Coaching genius Mark Richt may take you to 8-4 or even 9-3 occasionally, but Florida will still win the SEC, meaning no BCS bowls and no top 10 final ranking. Most years, UGA will be very lucky to finish in the top 25, and only after a big bowl win over a nobody opponent.
It’s a different world now, and Dawg fans need to adjust their expectations downward to reflect reality.
Unfortunately nothing is going to change until UGA changes its mediocre coaching. That’s where the difference is, and that’s why everyone outside Dawgtard Nation just laughs at Dawg fans getting so excited year after year about what a great recruiting class UGA gets. It doesn’t matter how many blue chip high school players go to UGA, they simply don’t get the coaching they would get at Florida or Alabama, to name two schools whose programs are far ahead of UGA. And that’s not going to change as long as Mark Richt is in Athens.
Get your heads out of the sand and face reality. And mediocrity and irrelevance.
Dawgs are dogs
June 11th, 2011
12:40 pm
You’re insane that you think Auburn won’t punish uga again this year. By the time Auburn plays UGA, UGA should easily have half of their starting line suspended for bad behavior if they’re not already in jail.
Jee S. You
June 11th, 2011
1:01 pm
Doubtful that GSU goes 8-3, but it is certainly possible.
Or, as for the “real gsu” type “gsu.edu” into your browser and see where it goes.
GSU! Let's Go Blue!
June 11th, 2011
1:04 pm
There is no way Georgia State goes 8-3 this year. Houston, Old Dominion, SC State, South Alabama are guaranteed losses in my reality. Jacksonville State is a toss up. We almost beat them last year in overtime, but this year it wont be as easy because we will be playing them on the road. Ending the season 6-5 again would make more sense.
Jee S. You
June 11th, 2011
1:05 pm
UGA goes 10-2? Well, they don’t call him “Bark Madly” for nutin’!
Jee S. You
June 11th, 2011
1:06 pm
@Go Blue!: GSU has a much better shot against Old Dominion and USA than Jax State. They won’t be surprised again.
GSU! Let's Go Blue!
June 11th, 2011
1:06 pm
Nobody cares about Georgia Southern. The real GSU is in ATL!
GSU! Let's Go Blue!
June 11th, 2011
1:09 pm
You never know, GSU could beat Houston depending on how well Kelton plays lol. That kid is fast! He’s no Denard Robinson, but he has a great knack for finding holes and exploding through them.
papadawg
June 11th, 2011
1:15 pm
The DAWGS will show Boise St why they don’t belong in the National Championship Game EVER.
GSU! Let's Go Blue!
June 11th, 2011
1:16 pm
The DAWGS will lose when it matters most… like usual.
papadawg
June 11th, 2011
1:18 pm
Question for Auburn. Who is getting the money to play ball this year?
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:19 pm
Richt can’t out scheme good teams. He’s 2-9 vs. ranked teams since 09′. 0-6 vs. winning teams in 10′. Look for UGA to lose to all good teams they play.
Losses to:
Boise, South Carolina, Miss St, Tenn, Florida.
Could also lose to:
Kentucky, Georgia Tech
Finish 7-5, 3rd in SEC East.
GSU! Let's Go Blue!
June 11th, 2011
1:20 pm
Auburn…lol…i can’t wait for the day they finally receive the death penalty. Have they ever won without cheating?
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:21 pm
Richt finished 8th in SEC scoring against ranked teams at 15 a game.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/911/team/offense/split13/category09/sort01.html
papadawg
June 11th, 2011
1:22 pm
Hey dunder I’d like to place a little money on your predictions
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:23 pm
Richt finished 10th in SEC scoring against ranked teams.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/911/team/offense/split09/category09/sort01.html
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:24 pm
well, last one was against winning teams.
point:
Richt averages less than 20 points a game against good teams.
papadawg
June 11th, 2011
1:25 pm
Past records do not win or lose ball games
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:25 pm
Like 88% odds?
88% chance Richt loses more games than the year before, he has 7 out of last 8 seasons.
Means 5-7, 88% chance
Dunder
June 11th, 2011
1:27 pm
Richt lost to Tenn last 2 times he played in Knox.
Richt’s record vs. Fla is 2-8.
Richt lost to Miss St last time, and is 2-9 vs. ranked teams last 2 seasons, 0-6 vs. winning teams in 10′, so losses to Boise, SC, and MSU highly likely.