Aaron Murray stays, which puts Georgia back in the hunt
"Coach, maybe we'll get us one of those nice crystal trophies next year." (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Fort Lauderdale -- The cream of football journalism had gathered for a media party at our hotel overlooking the ocean — the Atlantic, I believe it is — when esteemed former colleague Mark Schlabach, lately of ESPN, rushed over and said, “Aaron Murray’s staying.” And we managed to tear ourselves away from our paella to ponder where this puts the Georgia Bulldogs headed in the 2013 season. (Never mind that the 2012 campaign has one game to go.)
Pretty darn high, we decided. (I know exactly where Mr. Schlabach has the Bulldogs in his not-yet-published Top 25 for 2013, but I’ll let him do those honors.) I’d say Georgia has again become the favorite to win the SEC East, and I’d say — this is just me — this again puts the Bulldogs at/near the top five.
Figure Alabama will be preseason No. 1. Figure Notre Dame will be up there, too, and Texas A&M. (I sat in on a press conference for award winners later this afternoon, and someone asked the Heisman holder Johnny Manziel if he thought the Aggies would be ranked No. 1 in August. He smiled and said, “I feel like we’ve got a lot of tools coming back.”) And Oregon, now assuming Chip Kelly stays, will be good again, and Stanford and Ohio State and Louisville and Clemson, too. Plus the three best teams in the SEC East, which makes a Top 11, does it not?
But I’d told Noah Coslov of CineSport earlier Sunday that I thought the East would be a three-way tussle involving Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, and that the Gamecocks would hold the edge if Murray left for the NFL. But apparently he’s staying, and he’s a very good college quarterback, and you’d have to think Georgia is again the East’s top dog, pun somewhat intended.
I know, I know. The Bulldogs have to replace nearly their entire defense, and that won’t be easy. But all those banner recruiting classes have created depth, and the offense should be among the very best in the land. The schedule is tough early — Georgia opens at Clemson and must play South Carolina and LSU in September — but if the Bulldogs are going to stay relevant they’re going to have to prove they can handle a more taxing regimen.
I’m not going to go so far as to say Georgia punched its ticket to the 2014 BCS title game one night before the 2013 edition is played. (Crazy as I am, I’m not that crazy.) Still, Murray’s announcement should put the Bulldogs back in the ol’ hunt. They were five yards and five points short of being here. Maybe they’ll find those five yards and five points next time.
(For the record, this marks the second time I’ve ducked away from a BCS media party to react to breaking news. The first was in January 2007, and we were in Scottsdale, Ariz., when word circulated that the Falcons had hired Bobby Petrino. I rushed back to the room and proclaimed it a splendid move. I slightly missed that one.)
By Mark Bradley
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222 comments Add your comment
oakisland
January 7th, 2013
5:16 am
Everybody is talking and worrying about our tough schedule starting off next year– Clemson , SC, LSU. I think Clemson, SC, and LSU should be the ones “sweating bullets” for having to play the Dawgs. GATA from a 69 grad.
The Game Chickens will still watch the 2013 S.E.C. championship siting in Steve's lap
January 7th, 2013
5:54 am
Enter your comments here
bwell
January 7th, 2013
5:58 am
5-1-5
5 yards
15 seconds from the BCS C’ship game! That should be Ga motto for the off season!
If the defense gel and don’t play scared then we roll into another SEC title and win this one! This past season it was the offense who was questioned, now its the defense who is questioned. Hopefully someone step up and lead this bunch of young pups! Go dawgs.
molto
January 7th, 2013
6:17 am
georgia beats fla and sc easily to win the east. in the sec title game, ga upsets alabama to win the title—ga to the BCS title game!! bet the house.
lw
January 7th, 2013
6:19 am
Death Valley welcomes you. 08/31/2013.
Cal22
January 7th, 2013
6:19 am
Heavens no!!! A tough schedule for UGA this year? Get comfortable with third place in the East.
Cal22
January 7th, 2013
6:20 am
In Athens, the NC is always next year.
The Morning After – January 7, 2013 edition | The Victory Formation
January 7th, 2013
6:46 am
[...] leader on offense stays, the one on defense goes. (c/o Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Red & [...]
Reality
January 7th, 2013
6:48 am
Funny people ThUGA fans are. I’m willing to bet, come tomorrow morning should Notre Dame beat Alabama, most of you will be talking about how ThUGA should have played Notre Dame………of course that’s beside the fact that’s all you all have been saying since you LOST the SEC Title game.
Clowney is KIng
January 7th, 2013
6:54 am
SC afraid to play UGA? I think it is the other way around! 3 straight with this last win being an absolute beat down. Seems UGA has a SC problem, physical and mental at this point Spurrier and Clowney are UGA’s big daddies.
Mulk
January 7th, 2013
7:16 am
1. Murray is a good college QB. A lot better than Stafford was. UGAG will be better with him than without him. No doubt. Not taking anything away from Murray, however, he won’t be drafted high in the pro draft.This year or the next. I saw somewhere that he was the 10th rated QB prospect in a very weak field this year??? You guys can dis him all you want, but Mettenburger, for example, will be drafted higher when he goes pro. So, please stop with all this pro stuff for Murray.
2. Why is it that when any SEC team is scheduled to play a team they are always a very good team – like Clemson, LSU, Missouri, Vandy, Miss. St., Florida, etc, but when other teams play those same teams and beat them, those teams are “disinterested”?? The last time I looked, Clemson couldn’t even win a division (much less conference) in the ACC but now they are everybody’s darling because they beat LSU? Or, is it because they are scheduled to play UGAG next season? Georgia is great because they beat Florida but when Louisville exposed them it was because Florida was disinterested? Georgia is great because they didn’t embarrass themselves against Alabama like they did against S. Carolina? If Georgia is great, how good is Texas A&M? I think they actually beat Alabama. And, in Tuscaloosa. I don’t remember A&M winning a lot of Big 12 titles but they are world beaters now that they are in the SEC?
3. Why is anybody worried that the defensive players from UGAG are going pro? Next year’s defense has got to be better than this year’s, don’t it? Addition by subtraction.
4. And, if all those defensive players are so great, why isn’t Granthem doing anything with them? Spurrier wants to know…
JB
January 7th, 2013
7:16 am
Well, to my Techie friends…..You guys always seem to think you can win with the spread wing T or whatever Johnson runs without a sniff of defense…. Dawgs offense will be unreal running, passing….and the D will be young…..but very talented…..I like our chances.
Old Dog Class of 80
January 7th, 2013
7:31 am
I think the Georgia team will be a lot better with Murray coming back. He is not a GREAT QB, but he is a GOOD QB who has improved every year.
Someone mentioned on another blog that they would like to “have their cake and eat it, too” – have Murray back but see Mason taking a lot of snaps. That is what I would like to see, too. It would show that we actually have Coaches who think about the future. Of course, Murray is going to start all the “big” games, but when we get comfortably ahead, Mason should be put in. And on the “cupcakes”, Mason should start, with Murray in the wings in case Mason starts imploding. We will see what our Coaching staff ends up doing. Murray should have his stats padded enough by now.
Mulk
January 7th, 2013
7:32 am
JB,
When Tech ran a traditional offense, they weren’t very good, either. And, even though highly touted, Georgie’s defense was not very good this year. I think it is safe to say that next season’s defense will be better. But, good? Good players, poor coaching. I know you like your chances, but your best chance is that neither Florida or LSU is as good as everybody thinks. Not as good, but highly rated so that if Georgie does win, then they will be highly rated. Speaking of chances, what is the chance that Spurrier will once again come out on top in that game?
Mike Bell 790
January 7th, 2013
7:33 am
78th?
Shug
January 7th, 2013
7:37 am
I’d prefer if Murray left. He’s had plenty of opportunities at UGA and done all he’s capable of doing at the college level. Time to move on. This is isn’t necessarily good news for Murry or the Bulldogs.
Hendrik
January 7th, 2013
7:43 am
Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity includes several pages of extremely complex mathematical equations that have an infinite number of mathematically possible solutions, although the majority of those solutions have no real world physical possibilities. An elite team of physicists and mathematicians have recently completed the analysis of 2,000,000,000 sets of solutions, and they’ve made some startling discoveries.
In the sports world, one of the solutions appears to allow the Georgia Bulldogs to win the SEC and the BCS championships with Mark Richt at the helm. However, the scientists caution that the possibility of this happening is approximately 1 in 382,952,892,028. If Richt is not there, the odds increase by a factor of 100,000,000.
Since no one has yet found a flaw in Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, it would appear that Richt must go.
Hendrik Lorentz,
Leader of ConcernedScientistsWantRichtFiredNow.com
CC
January 7th, 2013
7:49 am
Great news. The future is bright at UGA.
Time and Tide
January 7th, 2013
7:56 am
I’m sure that Dawg Nation will be unanimous in cheering the Crimson Tide on to victory against Notre Dame. Even dawgs admire the strength and skills of a well-coached team of scholar-athletes, especially since they see so little of that in Athens, bless their hearts.
Drink up that leftover New Year’s champagne to celebrate the Tide’s second straight BCS championship!
NCDAWG
January 7th, 2013
7:57 am
Reality – what reality do you live in? ThUGA? God I’m so tired of piss ants like you thinking that a few kids that get into trouble makes the whole team thugs. Go back and read the article about Marlon Brown. Read some articles about Jarvis Jones. College kids do stupid things and at Georgia they get acknowledged and punished. Go hang out on some other blog because you have no business being on a Georgia blog at all.
Hurley
January 7th, 2013
7:57 am
Bad news for the dawgs.
Time and Tide
January 7th, 2013
8:02 am
I’m sure that Dawg Nation will be unanimous in cheering the Crimson Tide on to victory against Notre Dame. Even dawgs admire the strength and skills of a well-coached team of scholar-athletes, especially since they see so little of that in Athens, bless their hearts.
Let’ s all drink up that leftover New Year’s champagne to celebrate the Tide’s second straight BCS championship!
Paddy
January 7th, 2013
8:07 am
Mulk……….you may be right that Metenburger would be a higher NFL draft pick than AM. But I am a Dawg fan and am very pleased he is returning. Could care less what NFL scouts say about any player on any team. This may be to ‘old school’ for some but AM will have his Dr degree and set up his life for success with or without a NFL career. DGD that AM! Hope UGA is fotunate to sign more like him in the future.
CapitalOneDawg
January 7th, 2013
8:07 am
Woohoo! He’s coming back. Paper Champions AGAIN!
Woof! Woof! Wolves!
grifter
January 7th, 2013
8:11 am
Too bad Georgia can’t beat the Gamecocks. How many years now have the Cocks ruined Georgia’s chances? Let’s see what Clowney does to Murray this year, he’ll wish he had jumped. Delightful.
Real Dawg FAN!
January 7th, 2013
8:11 am
daddo (or whatever that stands for?)
Dude you need to chill on the defense.
We have a lot of young men that got playing time this year on defense due to some bad descesion made by some of our seniors this year.
We are going to be OK.
Got to beat the best to be the best!
DO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heat Check: Will Falcons again feel the January chill? | Mark Bradley
January 7th, 2013
8:11 am
[...] Won the Capital One Bowl, lost Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree to the NFL, kept Aaron Murray. That latter bit is the biggie, folks. It’s the difference between being picked to repeat as [...]
Gator Mike
January 7th, 2013
8:12 am
Smart move by Murray because he will leave UGA with an MS Degree which will take him farther in life than football. He is a good kid, and he will keep the UGA offense together. He represents UGA with class. As for UGA being a top 5 preseason team team, I doubt it with all of the other good teams out there and your losses on defense. Just hope my Gators show up in Jax this year.
Happy New Year to all.
yellowfever
January 7th, 2013
8:13 am
will we get to see jawga play Johnny football before he leaves the Aggies? Probably not.
Mulk
January 7th, 2013
8:22 am
Paddy,
I agee with you whole heartedly! As a Tech fan, I wish he would leave. He has done well and will do well next season. My point is, and it may be your point, his draft status has little bearing on his accomplishments. So, there is no need to exaggerate them.
NCDAWG
January 7th, 2013
8:25 am
Murray returning is good news… I hope that his experience in the SEC Championship and against Nebraska have put him past the big game “nut up” issues he has had. It looked like the 2nd half of the SEC Championship did his confidence a world of good. South Carolina is not going to see the same guy next year. I guess we need to outscore some folks until the young D can get straightened out. Could be a wild ride.
DAWGMAN
January 7th, 2013
8:27 am
I’m happy for all of us.
Now support the SEC Champ tonight.
Roll Tide!
GT
January 7th, 2013
8:29 am
It is strictly the schedule with the east. South Carolina has been the best team for three years and only gone once to the championship. Georgia looks like they’ll play a real schedule next year, and USC loses its running back, but not its coach. Tenn will take a couple of years to get back, Auburn may do it faster, and Florida ain’t going anywhere till it gets an offense. The team that dodges the west division the most will win this division. Did anyone see Johnnie Football this weekend, now that is something you cannot over hype.
GT
January 7th, 2013
8:29 am
It is strictly the schedule with the east. South Carolina has been the best team for three years and only gone once to the championship. Georgia looks like they’ll play a real schedule next year, and USC loses its running back, but not its coach. Tenn will take a couple of years to get back, Auburn may do it faster, and Florida ain’t going anywhere till it gets an offense. The team that dodges the west division the most will win this division. Did anyone see Johnnie Football this weekend, now that is something you cannot over hype.
GT
January 7th, 2013
8:29 am
It is strictly the schedule with the east. South Carolina has been the best team for three years and only gone once to the championship. Georgia looks like they’ll play a real schedule next year, and USC loses its running back, but not its coach. Tenn will take a couple of years to get back, Auburn may do it faster, and Florida ain’t going anywhere till it gets an offense. The team that dodges the west division the most will win this division. Did anyone see Johnnie Football this weekend, now that is something you cannot over hype.
ugafancolumbusga
January 7th, 2013
8:31 am
AM PROUD AND HAPPY FOR AARON S DECISION ESPEICALLY WHEN IT COMES TO COLLEGE MATERIAL IMPORTANCE OF GRADUATING IN GRADUATE SCHOOL .. THAT S AWESOME AND INPUT FOOTBALL 2013 COULD SPELL UGA YEAR WINNER.. .
B
January 7th, 2013
8:34 am
Top 5 no. They lost 2 games last year with what was their best team with overall talent in the richt era. And they will lose major pieces on defense. Plus no more cupcake schedule. Adding clemson and lsu next season means at least 2 reg season losses. Will probably start in the top 10 but finish in the top 20.
Joey
January 7th, 2013
8:37 am
Good news.
Now gotta tighten up that D before September, or Richt won’t ever get to take his foot off the gas.
NFL
January 7th, 2013
8:38 am
Yahoo sports said he would not be drafted.
So this makes him a top 5 QB?
B
January 7th, 2013
8:38 am
Looks like you should go back and finish high school Columbus. Writing in CAP letters is annoying. Not to mention your several typos, misspelled words and overall incoherent sentences.
dlove
January 7th, 2013
8:38 am
I think the dawgs would have been ranked in the Top 10 with Hudson at QB. Personally I wish he would have turned pro, seen enough of him, I want to see the Hudson kid get his chancI, he’s like a stallion sittin in the barn wasting away…
DP
January 7th, 2013
8:38 am
I saw the news on Murray scroll across ESPN this morning and figured that Mark Bradley would immediately have Georgia in its second straight BCS championship game. To only proclaim them a top 5 team despite losing virtually the entire defense is a very muted initial reaction from Bradley, but my prediction is that by July or August he will have them winning the BCS championship.
Where’s all this alleged depth on defense for Georgia? The defense was lousy early in the year with several players out of suspension and when I watched Georgia other than the nose guards just about all the defensive starters were playing virtually every snap.
Chad
January 7th, 2013
8:40 am
Him returning is good for uga but says a lot about him going to the next level. Already graduated so nothing to do school wise. Two sec champ appearances. If he was nfl caliber, he would be going. Obviosuly he is not and playing another year in college won’t change that.
NFL
January 7th, 2013
8:42 am
fox sports reported on the radio that the NFL told Murray he wouldn’t draft well and so he decided to stay. Makes sense. He isn’t a big game QB and that’s been the knock on him for a while. He’s also short and at critical times inaccurate.
The NFL knows what it wants. That’s why Jones and the defense are trying to leave. For Murray, that wouldn’t bode well going into a far tougher schedule then UGA has seen in 4 years or more.
dawg4life
January 7th, 2013
8:48 am
Everyone seems to think that no one on next year’s defense played this year. Most of these guys played every single game and some started about 40% of the season while suspensions were being served. Trust me when I tell you there will be a slight drop, not a lot of drop off, which is what other teams are hoping. These idiots are acting like we are only going to field 2 defensive players against 11 offensive players.
DP
January 7th, 2013
8:49 am
Yo Mulk, if you think Texas A&M this season was the same team it was when it was in the Big 12, you apparently didn’t watch the beatdown it put on Oklahoma of the Big 12 in its bowl game. This year A&M has this QB you apparently haven’t heard of whose nickname is Johnny Football, set the SEC record for total offense in a season, won the Heisman and had over 500 yards of total offense in the bowl against Oklahoma. A&M also has 2 offensive linemen and one defensive lineman expected to go in the first round of the NFL draft.
But you’re right, people only think A&M is good now because they’re in the SEC.
dawg4life
January 7th, 2013
8:49 am
The Dawgs will go 10-2 next year, play for SECG, but will not have a shot for MNC due to other teams having only 1 loss. Mark it.
DP
January 7th, 2013
8:51 am
Hey dawg4life, with regard to those Georgia defensive backups who started 40% of the games, the rules allow you to have 11 guys on the field so it stands to reason that when a starter is suspended somebody will take his place whether he’s any good or not.
DAWGMAN
January 7th, 2013
8:52 am
Going to have to superglue that pedal to the metal. Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning. Designated Special Teams Coach…
AltamahaDawg
January 7th, 2013
8:53 am
WOW, Murray just lead the most prolific offense in the history of Georgia Football. Ever. And did so with a rebuilt line, freshman RBs, and missing his best WRs. But some of you think the back up surely has to be better than that. Brilliant deduction.
Maybe we sould put Mason in. I mean, there is something about him that has some people convinced that he would have:
1. Lost less games last year (all against top 10 teams) purely based on his individual talent. (although there is zero evidence of that).
2. Definetely would have gone undefeated this year. (Despite no reality in which this was an undefeated type team coming into the year.
I am seriously starting to question my own wisdom in even participating in these blogs lately.