Why I believe UGA, Tech and the Falcons are bound for glory
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When next these two collide, both will be division champs. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
As best I recall, I’ve never picked Georgia, Georgia Tech and the Falcons to win their respective divisions in the same season. As some might have noted, I’ve done so this time. In the attempt to disprove the notion that I’ve gone completely (as opposed to partially) insane, I’d like to offer a few words in the defense of my mental health.
There was no grand design to my three-fer. I didn’t sit down and say, “Boy, wouldn’t it be neat to pick everybody to win something?” For the record, Georgia was the easiest choice and Tech the hardest. For the record, I would not have picked the Bulldogs to win the SEC West or Tech to take the ACC Atlantic, but at last check neither is switching divisions anytime soon.
Not to get all grandiose about it, but I’d like to think there’s a method to my madness. Why do I think these three locals — sorry, Georgia State, but I couldn’t stretch my bound-for-glory theme quite that far — will do what I foresee them doing? Here goes.
Good team + bunny schedule = SEC East title. If you’re looking for a team that has a real chance to do something, you start with one that has either a seasoned quarterback or a shutdown defense. Georgia has both. And it did win its division last season, and with an even easier schedule I see no reason why it can’t again.
The reach is in picking Georgia to win not just the East but the whole SEC. Memories of the Bulldogs’ 42-10 loss to LSU in the 2011 SEC title game are fresh and raw, but for 24 minutes the Tigers seemed the side more apt to be routed. Georgia held LSU to no first downs in the first half and should have led by 17 or even 21 points. There’s no reason a more experienced band of Bulldogs can’t upset LSU or Alabama this December, and is there any way a 12-1 SEC champ wouldn’t play for the BCS title? Confidence level: I’m comfortable with all aspects of this pick.
Big early game + big-game coach = ACC Coastal title. I’d be lying if I said I think Georgia Tech will be a great team. I see it going 9-3, which falls under the heading of “pretty good.” But it also has a kind conference schedule — it doesn’t play Florida State or North Carolina State — and its chance to win the division will hinge on what happens Labor Day night.
Beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg isn’t easy, but the Yellow Jackets under Paul Johnson have come close twice. I see these Jackets as a team with a point to prove. Georgia Tech had a losing season in 2010 and lost five of their final seven games last season. Being so-so is not what Johnson has in mind, and he’s among the best tacticians extant. If Virginia Tech expects to win simply because it’s playing at home, it won’t win at all. Confidence level: This pick could look silly come 11 p.m. Monday, but I’ll take that risk.
In 2012, the Falcons will scramble ahead of their rival. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Rebooted team + retreating rival = NFC South title. I’d have liked the Falcons’ chances even if Sean Payton hadn’t been suspended for the season, but I can see no way in which the Saints will be nearly as good without one of the two men (Drew Brees being the other) who made them what they are, or at least were until Roger Goodell got hold of them. The Saints are so messed up they’ll need an interim coach for interim coach Joe Vitt, who’s suspended for four games himself.
Loading ...It isn’t quite now-or-never for Dimitroff/Smith/Ryan, but the Falcons will never have a better chance than this. Their schedule is tough but not oppressive. Their new offensive and defensive coordinators surely will be more adventurous. Like you, I wonder about the offensive and defensive lines, but I see few teams than can match the Falcons at the skill positions. I like them to go 12-4, win their division and then take the NFC title. Confidence level: Very high.
Oh, and before you say, “Way to go, Wrong-Way Bradley — dooming three teams in one fell swoop” … please note the following. When last I picked Georgia to win its division, it did. (Last year, it was.) When last I picked Tech to win its division, it did. (In 2009.) When last I picked the Falcons to win their division, they did. (In 2010.) Far from being a jinx, I consider the MB imprimatur a stairway to heaven.
By Mark Bradley
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260 comments Add your comment
realdog
August 30th, 2012
12:24 pm
ga has the best running game in the SEC with all these top recruits. with grantham’s D, the dogs should win the east easily and play alabama. The dogs can pull the upset since alabama lost a lot of talent.
GTgold
August 30th, 2012
1:03 pm
UGA is the one SEC team that is consistently overhyped in preseason year after year, only to come out early in the season and lose to less than stellar opponents (Boise, Mississippi State, Colorado, Okalahoma State in recent years). Maybe its because UGA is more of a fashion statement in the south rather than a sports program with a legitimate fan base (I’m guessing over half of so-called UGA fans couldn’t even tell you their starting roster)? Or maybe its because UGA players and fans start celebrating 2 months before the season starts and are hungover the first few games……..In any case Mark I hope you are right about the falcons and GT although I have my doubts………….UGA fans, enjoy your three week season.
GATiger
August 30th, 2012
1:31 pm
Best running game in the SEC? Are we still talking football here? I’d love to know what evidence you have for that claim. Don’t tell me about incoming freshman – they’re unproven. How many yards did your returning RBs gain last year. What’s your OL shown us?
I’m no Bama fan, but you shouldn’t rely on the “Alabama lost a lot of talent” idea. Programs like Alabama just reload.
pt pt pt tp tp porky pig......
August 30th, 2012
1:37 pm
Porker 97 you are clear for take off on runway 7-6er-9er……once your porcine fuselage is airborne, head for vector 9er-5er-7er…..crusie your bacon at 35,000 feet…..in other words…”when pigs fly……”
snydlee dishrag
August 30th, 2012
1:40 pm
real (dumb) dog, there, i added your middle name
GTgold
August 30th, 2012
1:42 pm
Enter your comments here
snydlee dishrag
August 30th, 2012
1:46 pm
The falcons have stated that they want to go further than the first round of playoffs…so i guess they are content to not say we want the super bowl trophy……..plan your work, work your plan, measure twice, cut once, pull for GA and uh….uh…well……
CocktailDundeed
August 30th, 2012
1:47 pm
Take this to the bank—this Ga team may be the best in athens in 20 years—they are loaded on O and D. The only teams in the SEC with Ga’s talent are lsu and alabama. Ga can upset either one in the sec champ. game this year with their talent.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
August 30th, 2012
1:58 pm
Bradley vs Peter King
Bradley a small time newspaper columnist says superbowl
vs
King a prime time national sports writer says 1 & done again
Hmmmm who do I believe?
Ed
August 30th, 2012
1:58 pm
“…and is there any way a 12-1 SEC champ wouldn’t play for the BCS title?”
Sadly, yes. See the 2002 Georgia Bulldogs.
But is it likely? Probably not. There’s always a chance that two other BCS teams, like USC and someone else, will be undefeated champs of their conferences.
Back to Reality
August 30th, 2012
2:05 pm
The Falcons definitely have a legitimate shot at making it to the NFC title game this year with the revamped pass heavy offense we have seen in the preseason. Yes it is the preseason but we have never seen Matt Ryan look as studly as he has thus far. As for the Jackets, if they can make it by VT then they will win the conference, not just the division. The Jackets are always a big mystery until they face a high caliber opponent and this year we will see it in week one instead of waiting the usual 4-6 weeks. They did not lose any big pieces other than Stephen Hill who will be remembered more for his big drops than his big catches. Even with a loss to VT, it could still end up a 9-3 or 10-2 season for the ramblin wreck.
As for the Bulldogs, it will most likely end the same way it did last year with high hopes crushed into pieces with the reality of the sec championship game, which UGA stands no chance. The coaching staff can’t mold the majority of the top recruits it gets every year into great student-athletes. The biggest problem is the “student” part. Academics is a lost cause at UGA and has been for decades as the majority of student choose to attend the school do so solely for the chance to tailgate next to Samford stadium a few days out of the year. The only school related award UGA has won in the past few years has been the # 1 Party School. I have been to a few UGA games and can say with confidence that 90% of the fans in attendance consist of obliterated students and old red-neck alumni that gladly spend 5% of their annual income on tickets. An average of $200 per game with 7 home games a year; I’ll let you do the math… although I don’t expect you to be able to if you are a graduate of UGA. The city of Atlanta will always belong to the ramblin wreck!
P.S. The average UGA graduate pumps my gas.
Rick James
August 30th, 2012
2:14 pm
@GT Dan
August 30th, 2012
1:06 am
UGA fans ! Don’t worry about the SEC champ game or national title game . You will be back in the Outhouse bowl or the Capital one !
Yes , THE TIGERS WILL TAKE YOU DOWN IN cOLUMBIA IN WEEK 2 !
Book it
——————————————————————————————————–
Now tell us what Tech will do against Georgia in Athens..Other than the fact that you’re a Tech fan that likes to hide behind other teams Georgia plays tell us why we can “book it” as a loss.
Trueblueeagle
August 30th, 2012
2:36 pm
UGA 9-3
GT 10-2
Bout time
August 30th, 2012
2:38 pm
Football is back. Hooray !!
Go Dogs. I see a 10-2 thing. It is UGA with CMR, afterall. I see Cap One Bowl.
Love seeing GT get whupped up on by the middle weights in the ACC
Falcons? Gave up on them back when they fired Leeman Bennet.
UGA man
class of 71 & 73
Mike 'WEED' Vick
August 30th, 2012
3:05 pm
@ Matt ‘Choke’ Ryan:
You should listen to your mother and move out of the basement.
Matt
August 30th, 2012
3:12 pm
If you wanna see a “bunny schedule” take a look at USC’s. Seriously?? They should roll through that schedule with their backups! And why is everyone so high up on Oregon? If USC is healthy when those 2 play USC will beat them by 3 TDs or more.
FROM THE OUTSIDE
August 30th, 2012
3:43 pm
TECH AND THEIR JOKE OF A COACH,KNOWS THE DAWGS OWN THIS STATE. DREAM ON YOU YELLOW FLIES WITH YOUR YELLOW PANTIES
dinopolis
August 30th, 2012
4:22 pm
I never got my red panties back!
—damon’s atlanta girlfriend
Doug Hutch
August 30th, 2012
4:22 pm
Courtney Stodden
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 30th, 2012
4:28 pm
Wake me up when we beat a team who makes the Top 10, something we’ve done once now in the current today 7 years and counting. And, it was 7 years’ ago.
Falconhater
August 30th, 2012
6:24 pm
Still laughing at the comments above from this Bradley guy…..what a joke….Falcants are forever SB RINGLESS!
Bradley Curse
August 30th, 2012
7:17 pm
“and is there any way a 12-1 SEC champ wouldn’t play for the BCS title?”
you must have missed the part where you wrote, “bunny schedule”. If UGA does win the SEC this might be a year in which the SEC Champ does NOT get an “automatic” BCS Championship bid. Some of the other conferences who played a undefeated tougher schedule? I could see the analysts supporting them over “bunny schedule” UGA.
*heck if UGA won the SEC Championship game, I could see the loser of that game getting the nod over UGA thanks to the “bunny schedule”
Of course this all assumes UGA plays good this year, we’ve seen the high expectation seasons come crashing down before
Sine Die
August 30th, 2012
8:30 pm
@@huh. Huh?
Dr. Warren
August 30th, 2012
9:47 pm
14 years since the Super Bowl season. It’s about time. Go you big red/black birds!
t2go
August 30th, 2012
11:17 pm
So many people are worried about Mizzou!!!! Today and yesterday everyone was saying Vandy was going to beat SC…South Carolina did not look great and there was a missed call at the end..BUT IT DID NOT HAPPEN! Missouri didnt have a great record last year…everyone loves the underdog and wants the guys to win who want it more. Yes the game is potentially dangerous…mainly if someone walked in the expecting a win…dont think the Dawgs will be feeling that way….they have something to prove as well…WELCOME to the SEC Missouri!!!! I see the Dawgs pounding the Tigers…leaving that stadium a crumbled mess!!!
Reality
August 30th, 2012
11:18 pm
At least you’re a positive thinker. I would agree with you on U.G.A. The Falcons, you never know. Tech? who the hell knows. I just don’t have alot of faith in that offense. I have watched alot of football over the past years and it always seems to me the team with the biggest strongest, hardest running backs, fastest, hardest hitting defense dominates. But we’ll see.
Flappin' Falcon
August 30th, 2012
11:24 pm
The newly designed AJC websites SUCKS! Incredibly slow, crowed with ads no one wants to see, hard to read, page loads are painful and frankly not worth the wait. BYE BYE AJC!
Observer
August 31st, 2012
12:02 am
If you vote for Obama again, you are an idiot. Period.
Observer
August 31st, 2012
12:04 am
If you vote for Obama again, you are an idiot.
Flounder
August 31st, 2012
12:57 am
‘Dwags” … giggle, giggle [snort]
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 31st, 2012
2:01 am
Where are the South Carolina fans now ?
Like I said South Carolina is never negotiating Georgia, LSU, Clemson and Arkansas while we play only them.
I’m not convinced they even deserved to win
How could the officials not call that pass interference ?
No one can comment on the horrible call not over-turned upstairs, either ?
I can.
South Carolina drops out of the top 10 with that “performance”
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 31st, 2012
2:02 am
Vandie was robbed by replay booth
JB Wengie
August 31st, 2012
6:44 am
UGA Will be 6-6 at best!
Reality
August 31st, 2012
7:54 am
UGA has such an easy schedule it is pitiful. If strength-of-schedule was still a primary consideration for rankings, UGA won’t be in the top 20 even if they went undefeated!
GT
August 31st, 2012
8:15 am
GT
August 31st, 2012
8:14 am
Georgia has to run to be the team they should be. Watch how they play Tech and play that way every game they can beat anybody. Their defense has got to cut down on penalties. Cheap shotting only gives them poor field position, makes their offense one dimensional and that is when they lose to a sub par team, which their whole schedule is.
Tech may get undressed Monday. Frank Beamer use to be one of the top five coaches in the game and he is not bad now. Playing him the first game of the season when he knows exactly what we are doing and we haven’t a clue what he is doing is poison, then add being up there it could be a shipwreck waiting to happen. I remember us losing to a Kansas team two years ago away, first game, one of the worse loses to a bad team in Johnson’s career.
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13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 31st, 2012
9:06 am
Listening to Georgie tek fans is such a joke. Not 1 of them has a clue about college football. Yet, yap-away they go. Typically, about how getting your hats handed to you by UGA forever, means nothing to you – like water off the back of ducks.
Our Defense doesn’t have to do NOTHING :
# 5 in the nation NCAA Total Defense, UGA
# 44 in the nation NCAA Total Defense, Georgie tek
7 teams we played last season scored fewer points against us than you did. We didn’t particularly play well on defense against you.
Our Defense is one of the very best in the nation, and your defense is one of the very worst in the nation.
And, you run in here telling everyone how great a football fan you are in saying our defense needs to do this or that, and look how we played you and do that against everyone else and we would be good in your eyes then.
Shut up
Jim Mora Sr
August 31st, 2012
9:08 am
UGA is a realistic pick. I like Paul Johnson, but their defense is not up to par. Plus, opening at Va Tech when they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for our offense is not good. Falcons won’t do it because of their lack of a pass rush, and a mediocre offensive line.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 31st, 2012
9:12 am
UGA is a realistic pick because we play no one
SameSh!tDifferentYear
August 31st, 2012
10:13 am
Every year we hear the same old same, this is the Falcons Year, every year we get eliminated in the 1st round, Time for some new coaching!!!!!!
elroy
August 31st, 2012
10:51 am
I amreally hoping there is no Mark Bradly curse for our football teams. Bradly’s picks in past have been a jinx for ga teams.
GT
August 31st, 2012
11:41 am
You know this is not the same Falcon organization that we hear every year, it actually gets to a lot of playoffs, and seems to improve every year. The problem with the pros is parity. Who would have picked the Giants even at the end of the year last year. I think college is a lot more certain than pros, I think there are too many colleges to keep up with so you may know more about your school than the “expect” and northerners know next to nothing about this sport. These radio guys locally are comical, they keep trying to throw a out of region team into the mix because they know more about them than a southern school. They do know pro sports better than us. You can take your kids to a college game not sure I want them going to a pro sports atmosphere.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
August 31st, 2012
11:52 am
_____________________________
“The problem with the pros is parity.”
_____________________________
The NFL teams who did best last year, play the best teams this season. The NFL teams who did poorly last year, play the worst teams this season.
In college, you can have a team like UGA 2012 who is ranked # 6 and plays absolutely no one to prove nothing.
If we win the games 2012, sooner-or-later, we will have to play at least 1 top team at the end of the season – and, that is our season then – just that.
South Carolina what a joke of a team who cannot possibly win their games vs Georgia, Arkansas, LSU and Clemson while all we play is South Carolina.
GT
August 31st, 2012
12:17 pm
The east got weak over night outside Ga. This hurts Georgia in more than power ratings. It give them nothing to measure their team until it is too late and they are in a blood bath with LSU. LSU lost to Alabama, corrected a few things and were loaded for bear against Ga. Good competition makes football teams better.
Alphare
August 31st, 2012
12:51 pm
watching last night’s game seems to tell me the old man still got it. I am afraid he will be undefeated again in the EAST 3 years in a row.
georgia guy
August 31st, 2012
12:58 pm
Huh??? you are an idiot and a jerk. Read the column again. Try to comprehend.
North Georgia Dawg
August 31st, 2012
1:11 pm
I think the Yellow Jackets have a legitimate shot of winning the coastal, but only if their defense has improved a good bit. Georgia should win the East, but the Dawgs always lose one game they should have won. Florida always plays us tough and so does South Carolina. I’m much less worried about Missouri than I am those two, especially with Missouri’s injuries mounting.
North Georgia Dawg
August 31st, 2012
1:18 pm
I think Georgia has high expectations this season, because the defense has much more depth. Guys like Ray Drew, Garrison Smith, Ramik Wilson, Josh Harvey-Clemons and Damian Swann will if nothing else not provide a significant drop-off when the starters come off the field. We won’t know for sure until the guys prove it on the field, but we seem to have a lot more bodies to put out there this year in our front seven. The secondary is still something to keep on eye on.
Batter up!
August 31st, 2012
1:50 pm
Is the rumor true about Richt hiring Kyle Carter and his baseball bat to assist Grantham on the sidelines during games? You know, to keep the opposing coaches from beating the crap out of loudmouth Grantham.
North Georgia Dawg
August 31st, 2012
2:26 pm
Batter Up, how did you know? The rumor has been confirmed. Javarris Crittenton or whatever his name is will also provide protection to Georgia Tech.
GB
August 31st, 2012
3:01 pm
What would Larry say….”Do you see what’s going on here?”