There’s joy in Bulldog Nation: UGA picked second in the East!
"Yeah, baby! Time to dance! We're No. 2 and you're not!" (AJC file photo)
Hoover, Ala. – Earlier in the week I’d wondered if the SEC media would, for the first time in memory, pick Georgia above Florida. (Lest we forget, in 2008 the Bulldogs entered the season ranked No. 1 in the land — but had been slotted second behind the Gators in their division.) OK, here’s the answer:
Yes. The assembled SEC media has voted Georgia second in the East behind South Carolina.
Warning: Over time, this body has proved inexact in its forecasts. Only twice since 1991 has the correct league champ been identified during Media Days. (This year’s choice is Alabama.) Still, it’s fascinating to get a sense of how the wind is blowing, at least in the eyes of the SEC press corps.
(Disclaimer: Neither I nor esteemed colleague Chip Towers voted in the poll. The AJC doesn’t allow its writers to participiate in polls or suchlike.)
The balloting for second in the East wasn’t as close as I thought it might be. South Carolina got 114 first-place votes; Georgia drew 38 to Florida’s 12. Four voters picked Georgia to win the SEC. (Rumor has it that their names were Richt, Grantham, Bobo and Crowell. I kid.)
Then again: One voter picked Kentucky to win the East, and two tabbed Ole Miss to win not just the West but the league.
And now I leave you for the moment. Nick Saban is speaking, and he just glared at me because I was typing too loudly. Back soon.
By Mark Bradley
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158 comments Add your comment
JB
July 22nd, 2011
11:10 am
Russ, you need to fast after 6 tonight because I’m taking you to Vet in the morning to have a procedure done to you…..don’t worry, I told the Vet to put them in a jar for you, but you will have a hard time licking them anymore. sorry.
Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
July 22nd, 2011
11:10 am
LSU/Arkansas vs. UGA/USC for the SEC Championship. Alabama has a tough schedule and many holes to fill. 9-3 or 8-4 for the Tide.
Dirty Dawg
July 22nd, 2011
11:18 am
Hey smyrnaman…(that even ‘looks’ funny – needs some vowels or something – let alone how most people pronounce it – usually starts with ’smear’) if you’re a Georgia fan we can do away with your cynicism…if you’re not, then just go away and leave us the hell alone. As for your assessment of Mark Richt not being ‘impressive’ or that Georgia deserving better, anybody foolish enough to hang a moniker on themselves like you have shouldn’t be criticizing anybody about anything.
Mark Richt did just fine thank you and even that Tech guy on ESPNU said so, and you know how smart they are.
ClemsonBrad
July 22nd, 2011
11:20 am
Mark, are the people who said Ole Miss would win the SEC high?
NewnanDawg
July 22nd, 2011
11:21 am
Woo-hoo! Can’t wait to visit Shreveport or Memphis in late December….again. Keep finishing the drill, CMR.
MaconBulldog
July 22nd, 2011
11:23 am
@SmyrnaMan : what did you want him to do ? Jump up and down curse like a sailor?? I mean come off it man. We got a mad man on the side lines named Todd Grantham.
Darth Hater
July 22nd, 2011
11:24 am
In Athens under Mark Richt, “Moving the Chains” typically involves monochrome jumpsuits, shiny wrist and/or leg irons, bright orange vests, trash bags and correctional officers holding shotguns, not anything to do with football.
Maybe some of Richt’s academically ineligible and soon-to-be-incarcerated players will get the change to show off their skills in “Moving the Chains” during the SEC Championship Weekend in December along the State highways for visitors coming to the game.
Ralph
July 22nd, 2011
11:25 am
Of course Florida will get a good shot at second if it comes to head to head when they do their annual beatdown of thUGA.
At least Bark Madley will keep predicting “run the table” right up until the last sorry bowl game.
Jack Wood
July 22nd, 2011
11:26 am
Nice guys finish 10-2.
MatthewH
July 22nd, 2011
11:29 am
Mark,
I know you’ve mentioned the rule twice (once in the blog and once in a comment), but WHY is that the AJC’s rule that you can’t vote?
KINGDAWG
July 22nd, 2011
11:32 am
KingDawg…Show some imagination if a name is already used..This KINGDAWG has been around much longer…wannabe
blazer
July 22nd, 2011
11:33 am
I thought they would be first since they win the NC every year. (in their minds)
Jake
July 22nd, 2011
11:34 am
That’s a ridiculous policy that the AJC has, and the voters who selected Kentucky as the East Champion and Ole Miss as West and league champions are making a mockery of the process. They should have their voting privileges revoked.
UGA Insider
July 22nd, 2011
11:44 am
JB
Your 10:55 post was spot on. Adams loves money and UGA was 2nd in the country last year at making it. How can that be? UGA has not won a NC in any of the three major sports in 20 years!! If you think about it we are average or below average consistently in Football, Basketball and Baseball. However Adams keep bringing in the HUGE amounts of cash. I heard from several big wigs at UGA that CMR had a 2 game season to turn it around. Boise and USCe. If he lost those two it was over. However I just don’t believe that. I just don’t. I think CMR will be the coach until he is ready to retire in the next 3 or 4 years. I saw his presser and it was terrible. He acted like he would rather be on Mars than in that room. He makes $3mil a year! He should be doing cartwheels.
Dawg Fan
July 22nd, 2011
11:45 am
Tell Nick to Bite Me!
DawginTX
July 22nd, 2011
11:45 am
@Darth Hater, only a Bama fan would misspell the word ILLITERATE. By the way, the term means “unabe to read or write.” It is not “illeterate.” Next time, try sounding it out, imbecil. Better yet, ask your Aunt Mom for help.
LHarding Dawg
July 22nd, 2011
11:46 am
This caracter “Darth Hater” must be a pitiful person. To hate so bad as to be a troll on a Georgia blog is something his kids must be proud of him for.
Dawg 1
July 22nd, 2011
11:51 am
Big Deal.
They are ‘fans with a pen’
beebee
July 22nd, 2011
11:51 am
Bama: One year removed from a National Championship. They HAD the No. 1 ranking for a short spell last year. This year they are close to the top once again.
So why the HAYELL do UGA fans feel the need to bash Bama when you guys cannot beat frickin’ Central Florida and would feel BLESSED to finished 2 games above .500?
beebee
Cubby Fan
July 22nd, 2011
11:51 am
UGA will win the SEC, and the Cubs will win the World Series.
Whoa!!!
July 22nd, 2011
11:55 am
Are you tools really 3 and 18 versus your biggest rival?!? No wonder you are all crazier than sh*thouse rats.
eric
July 22nd, 2011
11:57 am
for a team who hasn’t won a national championship since 1980, it is always funny to see every year the ajc always predicts UGA to finish high and they never do. PLEASE! the last national champion in Georgia is Georgia Tech in 1990 and that will stay that way for a long time.
Russ the spotted bulldog
July 22nd, 2011
11:58 am
Coach said I could try my new backflip in my doggie business suit at the pool party, but Coach has lied to me before.
eric
July 22nd, 2011
11:58 am
Boise State Loss. USC loss. 0-2 to start the season. Go Dogs! lol
beebee
July 22nd, 2011
11:59 am
What happened to my post?
Anyway, I was saying you UGA fans need to stop bashing Bama. We’re one year removed from a National Champion for for FOUR years running now Bama has had a decent shot at winning it all!
You guys on the other hand cannot break .500 and lose to frickin’ Central Florida in a meaningless bowl game.
Wave your rebel flags down there and keep hoping!
bee
uhoh
July 22nd, 2011
11:59 am
Trouble is it’s gonna take 3-4 games for the freshman and the converted linebacker that you have at RB to learn how to pick up the blitz at the college level. By then Aaron Murray will be as dizzy as McElroy was at that end of the Iron Bowl last year from all the hits-and the Dogs might be 0-2.
techfan
July 22nd, 2011
12:00 pm
Seems like the most logical ranking. One bad thing for UGA is that with the incredible lack of respect that Florida is getting, they will be playing with a huge chip on their shoulders.
Bobo X&O
July 22nd, 2011
12:02 pm
UGA where so little has been accomplished with so much, 3rd place east at best.
Devoted Reader
July 22nd, 2011
12:03 pm
Here we go again (as every year in Atl, or GA). After a promised, but at the end miserable season we sweep things under the rug,(no staff changes), paint up the room (new uniforms), and move on at the beginning with big promises. The results will be the same as the season before. For the millions of $$ they make.
Here we go again, Techers
July 22nd, 2011
12:06 pm
Hines Ward is beloved by a huge majority of the USA entertainment world and for many different reasons. NFL dbs fear him if he DOES NOT have the ball, because he will block them off. He hits hard.
This argument that “Hines is on the Fulmer Cup team at UGA” is ridiculous because of his DUI thing. If true, then GT’s greatest rusher in many years, Eddie Lee Ivory and to my way of seeing it, one of the BEST GT rushers ever ( he was great) is ALSO on the Fulmer Cup team …………….but for far more sinister things. G Techers too young to recall this Green Bay Wisconsin incident …………… look it up. He ( Eddie Lee Ivory) then played for the GB Packers. He did time in Wisc pen. Look it up GTechers. What did he do???
Name one UGA fellow and I can name two or three GT men, like Lavin, Mooney and Salisbury over at the old pizza parlor on old N Ave at the now gone Tech Motel. They stomped an itty, bitty girl, her boyfriend and an off duty cop. Look it up.
Joey Hamilton, Reuben Houston or DE Robert Hall for gal slapping, etc. Drug ods at GT?? Hmm? Terrorists on cmapus !!!! Professors STEALING RESEARCH GRANT MONEY,etc
Leave it alone GT kids ………….you look dumb when you bring stuff like that up. You set yourself up to look REALLY DUMB.
Who gives a _____
July 22nd, 2011
12:07 pm
I heard the next Uga is almost ready for his debut. He has a foot growing out of his forhead…genetic freak.
Oh yeah, UGA lies, cheats, and sucks.
jennifer
July 22nd, 2011
12:08 pm
Why the heck would you be typing while Saban is talking? He’s far more relevant than anything going on at UGA. The fact that y’all are celebrating a prediction to make it to #2 in the East says it all.
Dawg88
July 22nd, 2011
12:08 pm
I remember a year we went 6-5 and a freshman running back coming in the next year and went 12-0.
But I have a looooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg memory.
microphone assasin
July 22nd, 2011
12:09 pm
check check
hand me tha mike so i can bust like a bubble
coach mark richt an tha doggs r in trouble
USC an boise losses dats double
gonna needs a dozer to dig outta tha rubble
coach mark richts career is deuces
when he rolls up on da big boyz he loses
spurrier say he ain’t signin no truces
now da doggs fulla stiches an bruises
peace out beeotches
Pope UGA XXIII
July 22nd, 2011
12:11 pm
I can rest easy now since a bunch of “paper boys” have picked
the Dawgs second in the SEC East. To add to it, basically none
of these posts, including mine, bring a lot of thought to the table.
tar and feathers party
July 22nd, 2011
12:12 pm
UGAG always wins the national championship in the ajc pre season stories, then gets pounded on the football field. Close the ajc, fire the staff, get a real life.
beebee
July 22nd, 2011
12:12 pm
test
beebee
July 22nd, 2011
12:14 pm
Dawg fans: Stop bashing Bama.
We’re one year removed from a National Championship.
For the past 4 years, counting this upcoming season, we’ve been National Title contenders.
Y’all have done NOTHING!
bee
Bilbo
July 22nd, 2011
12:19 pm
These predictions like sportswrting in general are only as good as the fish wrapped inside the newspapers they’re printed in. Lest we forget SI in 1980 picked UGA sixth in the SEC (just a tad low for the national champions), and also picked the Falcons to finish 4 and 12 when they wound up 12 and 4 with arguably the best team they ever had.
Darth Hater
July 22nd, 2011
12:20 pm
I bet the Hairy Dogs in Athens cannot wait to get to drool over this year’s topless photos the AJC annually publishes of Mark Richt at the swimming pool.
beanster
July 22nd, 2011
12:24 pm
Brilliant observation there, uhoh. Except what you don’t know is Samuel was once the #1 tailback before he was switched to LB because he couldn’t hold onto the ball. So other than being an experienced, stout senior at 240 lbs. whose played on both sides of the ball, you’re right, he’ll have no idea how to pick up a blitz on the college level.
And some people say Auburn is a crappy education. How dare they?
WDE
July 22nd, 2011
12:25 pm
@jennifer how relevant was that 4th place finish in the West last year darling girl?
Boobie Bowden
July 22nd, 2011
12:27 pm
Boobley – do us all a favor and stay gone.
WDE
July 22nd, 2011
12:27 pm
@Darth Hater troll still out there I see, your weak and the worst sort of troll is the weak boring and cowardly kind like yourself, Name you team troll ? I best that they are leading UGA for the Fulmer Cup this year..wanna bet?
Alabama Jack
July 22nd, 2011
12:28 pm
WHY is that the AJC’s rule that you can’t vote? ’cause they are dumb
Reality Check
July 22nd, 2011
12:32 pm
Wow. Only UGA gets this excited about a preseason prediction. I guess they haven’t had many postseason results to celebrate in recent years. I’d hold off on the celebrating until the season (and October 29 in Jacksonville) is complete.
Nick's Raybans
July 22nd, 2011
12:32 pm
Is it dark in here or is it just me? What, Auburn scored again?? I thought we were winning.
WDE
July 22nd, 2011
12:34 pm
@beebee all that talent, all those great coaches, the “Bama” tradition, and the genius that is Nick Saban oh yeah and a 4th place finish in the West..according to your bunch our coaches,players etc all sux and we finished 4th in the East…someone is underachieving beebee ……and we have owned up to it and CMR is addressing it….Bama fans….really denial is not a river in Egypt. Remember rot starts at the top.
danny
July 22nd, 2011
12:36 pm
Another delusional pipedream
Buckeye
July 22nd, 2011
12:37 pm
Wow!. Picked # 2 in the SEC Least.
JOY in dogville
I guess it beats 6-7.