SI unveils its Top 25. A tip: Don’t bother looking for Georgia
Why, even South Carolina gets a regional cover shout-out. (Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated)
Sports Illustrated’s college football issue should be arriving in your mailbox any moment. (I’d be out checking mine as we speak if, for the first time since 1968, I hadn’t let my subscription lapse.) But for those who can’t wait, here are the highlights:
Seven SEC teams are included in SI’s Top 25. Georgia isn’t among them.
Alabama and LSU are in the top three. (The Tide is SI’s No. 1 pick, which makes sense given that the magazine declared Alabama a dynasty back in January 2010, whereupon Bama went out and finished fourth in the SEC West.) South Carolina and Arkansas are in the top 10. Mississippi State, Auburn and Florida are ranked between 21st and 25th.
Georgia is nowhere, man.
I’m not trying to suggest I’m smarter than the folks at SI. (I’m not smarter than anyone anywhere.) But I should report that I’ve been asked to compile the Top 25 for the ol’ AJC’s college football preview, and – spoiler alert! – I can attest that the Bulldogs are included. (Auburn, FYI, is not.) I have an SEC team ranked No. 1, but it’s not Alabama.
I can understand why some publications – the Sporting News is another – don’t believe Georgia will be a Top 25 team. On Jan. 1, 2011, I wouldn’t have, either. But I believe the dynamics have changed. I believe the Bulldogs will have a very big year. And I’m never wrong. Except for all those times when I am.
By Mark Bradley
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283 comments Add your comment
Delbert D.
August 17th, 2011
5:36 pm
Drew Brees is 6′ 0″. Notice how he steps up in the pocket and hides from the pass rush, and then he pops out the front and zips the ball to a receiver.
smyrnabob
August 17th, 2011
5:44 pm
Only 17 days until Georgia starts out with back to back Top 10 challenges. We won’t need polls to evaluate the dogs after the scores go up, we will know by the results.
Delbert D.
August 17th, 2011
5:51 pm
smyrnabob, the whole purpose of inhabiting these blogs is to pretend that the real future won’t actually occur. Our posters are going to be so disillusioned when they realize the true meaning of your statement.
HawginLex
August 17th, 2011
5:59 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 three 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 Other schools 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 or South Carolina or Arkansa, to name a few 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.
GO RAZORBACKS!!!
Joe Bob Thibodaux
August 17th, 2011
6:04 pm
Mark, good programs like Alabama and LSU make the most out of playilng
in the Independence Bowl then go on to win national championships.
Quarterback Jefferson at LSU is the real question isn’t he? If he plays like a senior, then the sky is the limit. The man walks a fine line between ____________________________________________________________
being boooooooed out of the stadium to bowl game MVP.
On strength of schedule alone, I think LSU deserves pre-season top 5, but rank doesn’t mean anything till the end of November, does it?
It looks like a great season coming up with lots of surprises along the
way. No one eats turf grass like Les Miles.
Are you ready for some football?
JBT
gotta beat boise state in the GEORGIA dome
August 17th, 2011
6:04 pm
Sports Illustrated is always wrong, the jinx never quits.
An SI curse of misfortune and bad luck placed on a team.
Joey
August 17th, 2011
6:07 pm
You know, it’s not like Richt doesn’t know how to beat highly-rated teams. He’s had 2 bad years, but we’ve got to let by-gones be by-gones.
Think back to UT in ‘01.
I’m betting that Boise gets a big suprise in 2 weeks, 3 days.
And you Techies talking crap about UGA is just laughable. 9-1. Yeah. 9 out of 10. Go mash some zits . . .
buck Eye
August 17th, 2011
6:43 pm
Thank satan for miami. I shouldn’t thank him too much though. I kind of got short changed on that soul I sold him.
Easy
August 17th, 2011
7:00 pm
Hey Buckeye….you are 1-9 against the SEC in Bowls and 7-11-2 overall. You may want to restrict your comments to the minor wee ten blogs.
powerhouse?
August 17th, 2011
7:10 pm
Evidently many people think BS is better than the dogs based on ranking BS in the top 10. If these guys are knowledgeable at all, it seems fair to assume that BS will beat Ga. However, reading so many of the dog fans, you guys just do not believe in polls this year. Will it be a rocket ride or drop an anchor?
BiggdawgK
August 17th, 2011
7:11 pm
MB The ajc doesn’t think their reporters should make the news??!!! Someone should tell d o ledbetter, he of the starting a feud with Falcons wifes. Then again it’s obvious the ajc has seperate rules when it comes to dol. He is allowed to ban posters for pointing out what a crappy blogger he is. Also he can be scooped often and doesn’t even need to actually write (if you could call what he does writing) about the Falcons more than once a week.
In my opinion dol should be given the tech beat, no one reads that anyway. Let that Ken kid take a run at the Falcons blog he is pretty sharp. I am sure you will not reply and I am just as sure many of you on the sports team feel the same way but you can’t say anything.
If no one sees my name on MB’s blog for a while, rest assured he caved to pressure and I’ve been banned again for daring to speak out about dol.
BiggdawgK
August 17th, 2011
7:15 pm
Only a few weeks left before UGA starts what will be a great year for the Bulldogs and their fans. All you sad friendless haters better enjoy spewing your pathetic jealous comments while you can.
SEC1
August 17th, 2011
7:38 pm
Jakar Hamilton is out for the season.
Sure do hope our RB situation improves…
Get your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
August 17th, 2011
8:54 pm
Joey
Richt really doesnt know how to beat top ranked teams
He’s 3-9 against top 10 teams
Buzz 2011
August 17th, 2011
10:20 pm
Dogs will be the #1 team in Athens, Georgia. No wait Clarke Central will win more games than UGA..
savannadawg
August 18th, 2011
7:09 am
Well. Well. Does it really matter? No. It should motivate UGA a little more. But then again doesn’t everyone think last year should be motivation enough. Good gosh lets get this thing started already!!!!!!
m
August 18th, 2011
7:12 am
“Georgia is nowhere, man”.
I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU THAT SINCE 2008 WHEN WE B SLAPPED YOU AND YOU’RE PRESEASON #1 RANKING. GLAD YOU ARE STARTING TO REALIZE THAT YOUR S DOES IN FACT STINK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE’S. WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, SMELL A TURD AND HIKE. HAHAHAHAHAHA.
WILLIE
August 18th, 2011
8:56 am
THIS TEAM GETS NO RESPECT!!!!!
GONNA TAKE OUT DISRESPECT ON BOISE & SC!!!!!
YOU DOUBT US???? 6 TOP 10 FINISHES IN 10 YEARS????
TIME TO PROVE THEM ALL WRONG!!!!
SHOCK THE WORLD!!!!
Mark Seminole
August 18th, 2011
8:58 am
@ANTOINEFORD – Garnet is strictly for Seminoles, you limp cocks should know that we own it…BTW, has Lattimore found all the teeth that Greg Reid knocked out of his mouth in the Chic-fil-A Bowl trashing the SEC runner ups took?
I heard a tooth was found in the vacuum cleaner they use to clean the turf.
202dawg
August 18th, 2011
9:03 am
A team coming off a 6-7 season, playing in the toughest conference in the land, not being ranked top 25 pre-season. GROUNDBREAKING journalism Bradley…
FRED
August 18th, 2011
9:16 am
SOME DAY IF I LIVE LONG ENOUGH WE WILL IN THE TOP 10 EVERY YEAR. WHEN THAT DAY COMES WE WILL HAVE A WINNER FOR A COACH AND HE WILL LOCK DOWN THE STATE OF GEORGIA TO ALL RECRUITING.THAT DAY WILL COME THE QUESTION IS AT 73 WILL I LIVE LONG ENOUGH
WILLIE
August 18th, 2011
9:16 am
GET OFF THE BUS SPORTS ILLUSTRATED & HITCH YOUR STAR TO SABAN!!!!
EVERYBODY WROTE US OFF IN 79!!!!
6-7 IN 79′, 12-0 & NATL CHAMPS IN 80′!!!
THIS AIN’T NO RINKY DINK HAS BEEN WANNA BE TEAM!!!!!!
THIS IS GEORGIA!!!!!
SIC EM’!!!!!!
WOOF!!!!!
BEWARE OF THE DOG!!!!
WILLIE
August 18th, 2011
9:26 am
ANDY STAPLES AIN’T NO GENIUS!!!!
STAPLES PICKED TEXAS #4 (5-7), FLA #10 (8-5), GA TECH #15 (6-7), AUB #25 (14-0)!!!!!!
THE DUDE’S PICKS WAS OFF!!!!!!
NO STREET CRED!!!!
SEC Fan
August 18th, 2011
9:49 am
HawginLex @ 5:59PM hit the nail on the head: head coach is the problem. Go out and get a coach who can compete in the SEC of today and things might change for the better. Stick with Richt and make your reservations in Shreveport.
CarolinaGal
August 18th, 2011
11:01 am
Dawgs, your NC was in 1980. Get over it, those days are OVER!!!!!!! Garnet & Black rules this year. Dawgs start bad – first Boise and then we whip your arse 2nd week. 2011 – SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT! GO COCKS!
Alabama | MrSEC.com
August 18th, 2011
12:02 pm
[...] at safety.5. Isaiah Crowell is closer to returning to action than Richard Samuel.6. Egads! UGA’s not in the Sports Illustrated’s preseason Top 25.More to [...]
CarefulNow
August 18th, 2011
12:11 pm
Why hell…if predictions are to be socially acceptable and nobody cares how ridiculous they sound, try this……….UGA 99…Boise 3…………………………UGA 72….South Carolina ….2.
UGA 14-0…………..See how easy ridiclous predictions are when there is so little basis for making them. After the second game …any prediction would remain a very tentative suggestion of what reality might be. The best time to make unimpeachable predictions ….for athletic contests is “after the game”……..Otherwise it’s merely……wild-ass guessing.
trey
August 18th, 2011
2:04 pm
SOUTH CAROLINA HAS 0, I SAID 0 TITLES-READ IT AND WEEP
sane dawg
August 18th, 2011
3:00 pm
The one calling himself “Herschel Talker” uses the word “we” when referring to his assertion that he’s a Bulldog. You’re not one of us, pal, so quit using “we” in any sense regarding the Georgia Bulldogs. And there’s nothing about South Carolina to which anyone has ever described as having class, and that starts with HC Spurrier. They just don’t know how to act like a winner, because they’re such losers. No class at all.
Thomas Brown
August 18th, 2011
5:51 pm
Mark Bradley,
Georgia tek is NOT LISTED.
Why is that not in the headlines for this blog, Mark Bradley, like I do not know.
It is because you PICK ON UGA Mark Bradley, sir, and always have and it is because you CODDLE Georgia tek and try to the best of your ability to hide everything beginning to be negative about Georgia tek and always have.
thomas carlyle
August 19th, 2011
12:32 pm
we are going to beat the living you know what out of boise. count on it.
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