Phil Steele: Georgia Bulldogs ‘could very well run the table’ this year
If you missed it, you’ll want to hear what college football analyst/publisher Phil Steele said when asked on ESPN to name an off-the-radar team that could have a big season.
He initially mentioned Oklahoma, his pick to win the 2010 national title despite losing five games last season.
And then he mentioned someone else:
“If I was going to pick another one out of the stack there,” Steele said Friday on ESPN’s College Football Live, “I would have to say the Georgia Bulldogs. I think they’ve got a shot of even winning the SEC East and could very well run the table.”
Wow. Whoa. Run the table?
Steele doesn’t go so far as to predict the Bulldogs will do it, mind you. In fact, he has them No. 19 in his preseason rankings. But I’m pretty sure he’s the first to utter on national TV the possibility of an undefeated season for the 2010 Dogs.
Phil Steele’s College Football Preview magazine is always packed with information. Here are a few morsels pulled from his two-page preview of Georgia in this year’s edition (the abbreviations are his way of conserving space to cram in more info):
- “The 17 total QB int [last season] were the most at UGA since 1984.”
- “Surprisingly heading into ‘07 UGA had just one 1,000 yd back since ‘92!”
- “UGA had a pair of 100 yd rushers vs GT (Ealey and King) but just three 100 yd efforts all year and I look for significant improvement.”
- “Figgins returns and Green is back to full health making UGA my #2 receiving corps in the NCAA.”
- “The [offensive line] unit has an amazing 155 career starts (counting Justin Anderson who moved to the DL in spg) which is #1 in the FBS (my #1 OL unit).”
- “Even with the loss of their star [linebacker], provided this unit stays healthier, it should be stronger.”
- “This [defensive backfield] is a less exp’d unit and my biggest concern on the 2010 team.”
Interesting stuff once again, Phil Steele.
Also:
Click here for our latest UGA notebook, with items on new up-close basketball seats, fretting the Gators and the future of Foley Field.
And please follow @ajcuga on Twitter for Bulldogs news and notes.
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537 comments Add your comment
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:36 pm
funny that you say that……. “CMR has coached in more national championships than saban and mayer combined”… LOL
lets see he was offense cord at florida state when they lost 13-2 to oklahoma…. thats right, the only points they scored was a defensive safety……. what a way to show CMR at his best
and he has only 2 national championship rings and one of them is tainted when they lost to notre dame is ‘93..
other than that he has coached in a total of 3 national championship games
saban and mayer coached in 4 and are a perfect 4and 4 in those games
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
10:37 pm
GT is gonna have a tough time this year cause VA Tech, Miami and FL State are gonna be tough but I think we can be right there with those schools and battle with them.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:39 pm
what i mean losing to south carolina 3 years ago… yes we did lose or did you forget
and who has beaten florida? well lets just see meyer is 1-3 against ole miss
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
10:40 pm
Gt Fan – I haven’t said UGA will win a NC. Not many UGA fans do make that statement. It is other people that get on here and say we won’t. I don’t know why people worry about the Dawgs and Coach Richt. I’ll bet you one damn thing it won’t be Tech, even though I think you have a great football coach.
hjay5
May 31st, 2010
10:40 pm
Phil Steele is an idiot if he thinks GA can run the table. They have a green QB who didn’t look good at all in spring drills. They’re changing their defense. They have to beat South Carolina, Florida, and Auburn for starters. Bet against it. Bet the farm.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:40 pm
miami FL will NOT be any good this year….. mark it down
Urban Meyer
May 31st, 2010
10:41 pm
“I’ve seen murray and brantley play—murray’s a lot better. He played big time high school ball and brantley played at some small school. Look for Grantham’s D to pressure brantley into some INTs—Ga wins that game easy. Gators: tebow’s gone, spikes is gone and the run is over—book it.”
Brantley played high school football at Trinity Catholic in Ocala, FL and set numerous Floirda High School records for passing, touchdowns, etc… He was also the Gatorade Offensive Player of the Year coming out of that “small school.” He’s a solid four inches taller than Murray and I think Murray will be a good QB, just not his first year out. Dawg fans better back of on putting the pressure on Murray or they are going to have this season meltdown on them, give the kid some time to develop. Brantley high school bio below.
http://www.johnbrantley.org/
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:44 pm
i agree, murray was not a highly regarded recruit, just like several of our poor past 2 recruiting classes….
brantly was a more sought after recruit
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
10:44 pm
Urban – How are you doing? I heard you got dehyrated at Six Flags and had to go back to the Hotel. Listen, pace yourself and if I need to call Tim, let me know.
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
10:47 pm
mdawg – What year did you graduate from Miss. State? Was Jackie Sherrill your coach?
Dawgs Run
May 31st, 2010
10:50 pm
With a couple of breaks, UGA could win the SEC—florida’s way down, bama lost 9 starters on D. Ga can beat florida, since fla lost their top 4 players on O and D. The rest of the SEC east will be terrible, so UGA should win the east pretty easily. Look for the dawgs to go 11-1, win the east and play bama for the SEC. 2010—the year of the Dawg—mark it down!!!
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
10:50 pm
Hey mdawg – I haven’t forgotten, but what is Coach Richt’s record against South Carolina? You know so damn much.
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
10:52 pm
jesse james – UGA will lose @ South Carolina, UGA will lose @ Arkansas, UGA will lose against Florida in Jacksonville, UGA will lose @ home against GT.
UGA final record will be 8-4
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:53 pm
jesse james i am a diehard UGA fan… but i will not sugercoat things….. ugas recruiting class the past 2 years was ranked at number 9 while florida’s recruiting class was ranked number 1 the past 2 years….
just stating the facts
i wish it was UGA getting better than florida but its not true and yet i find it funny how us dawg fans get upset when we lose to a florida team that just has better players
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:55 pm
jesse james, CMR is 7-2 against south carolina and that is terrible…. especially when meyer is perfect against them….. when spurrier was at florida he was 14-0 against south carolina
facts are facts
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
10:57 pm
funny how you just said that florida is down this year…. florida is just reloading, not rebuilding.
see us dawg fans obviously dont realize that and we must change that
Jokester
May 31st, 2010
11:01 pm
April Fool’s Day has come a bit late this year……
Here we go again. Dog fans with another mythical championship year. Oh, wait….They did have 1 (one)…… 30 years ago.
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
11:02 pm
mdawg – Who would be your coach? It takes a gutless individual to get on here and bash, and bash and bash. If you have a problem with Coach Richt, why don’t you meet with him and Damon Evans and give them your facts are facts. You are not a Dawg fan, you are a bandwagon jumper and you always will be and that is the fact.
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
11:04 pm
GTFan – What will be Tech’s final record? Seems to me you sure are worried about the Dawgs. Run Caleb Run!
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:05 pm
funny you say that jesse… i have never said to fire CMR…. maybe bashing him will make him wake up and face reality
and i will forever be a UGA fan
naganole
May 31st, 2010
11:06 pm
WOW, run the table? No way that..
-UGA beats UF. UF’s defense is elite. UGA’s isn’t. People raving about UGA’s DLine?? They had a very good 4-3 line, but UGA doesn’t have anyone to play the true 0 tech 3-4 NT spot. If the guards of teams like UF are allowed to get to the second level and block UGA’s undersized LBs, then it’s going to be a LONG day. UF’s entire two deep on the DL will be 5*s who have at least 2 years in the system. It only gets worse from there. UF’s LB are very solid. Their weakest link might be John Bostic. LOL, UGA dfoesn’t even have a LB of Bostic caliber on their entire roster. Then the DB. The DB depth is scary good. Best in the nation, no doubt about it. UF will be a starting a redshirt junior QB, UGA’s will be a redshirt freshman. UGA has a lot of talent, but not on the same level as UF. UGA will need to find a DT NT in the mold of Terrance Cody for the 2011 class. A couple big fast OLBs wouldn’t hurt either. Give Todd G 2 years to get that D up to speed and Murray the chance to mature in the system and by 2012 UGA should be on UF’s level…
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
11:11 pm
mdawg – I didn’t say you said fire him. I said if you have a problem with him go talk to him. I promise you he doesn’t read this mess. No you don’t have the gut to talk to him.
Sven Ottke
May 31st, 2010
11:12 pm
Thanks for your once weekly does of BS. Here we go again. When will you guys EVER learn?
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:13 pm
jesse james – GT final record will be 11-1 with our only lost being @ VA Tech.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:13 pm
for your information i have sent an email to damon evans at his UGA email address
NEXT
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:15 pm
GTfan, your comments have me laughing so hard i will surely sleep soundly knowing that UGA will destroy tech this year
Kirk
May 31st, 2010
11:16 pm
Florida and Bama fans are hilarous, they spend all their time here on the Georgia blg.
Sure, nothing to fear, 4 pages of posts later.
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
11:16 pm
Well I better go, we have practice in the morning and we have got to work hard to overcome our coaching. At least that is what some you think. I have to go because some of you think we won’t win a game next year. The fact is we will show up .
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:16 pm
jesse james – If we can somehow beat VA Tech we can be in the national championship facing Alabama though that would be awesome. VA Tech is gonna be tough this year though Frank Beamer always have his team prepared will but hopefully coach Johnson will have the Jackets ready to Buzz them in Blacksburg.
Gus
May 31st, 2010
11:18 pm
Wow, maybe Phil Steele is wrong. Maybe Georgia will be horrible and go winless. Maybe they won’t be able to win a single game. Too funny.
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:18 pm
mdawg – I didn’t say GT will destroy UGA it will be a close game but I see GT winning the game.
Tim
May 31st, 2010
11:21 pm
Florida fans want us all to think Richt’s National Championships at FSU never happened. 2002, 2005, 2007, the 90 wins at Georgia, they don’t think any of it happened. They don’t think Steele’s article really was written or Scout’s similar opion of Georgia.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:22 pm
funny because i did say that UGA will destroy tech
Liven loudly
May 31st, 2010
11:23 pm
Too funny. Florida fans want to act like Meyer just accidentedly schedules his bye week for Richt. Too funny.
Shreveport Shorty
May 31st, 2010
11:23 pm
Here in Shreveport, we can’t wait for those georgia fans to come back to town for another great bowl week shindig, with plenty of cold PBR, the prettiest ladies this side of the mississippi and nicest motel 6 in the southeast! Hurry up dawg fans and book your rooms—that motel 6 fills up fast near the freeway.
Tim
May 31st, 2010
11:24 pm
I guess if Richt’s coaching in 5 National Championships never happened, then none of Meyer’s wins happened either, right? How strange, the way a Gator thinks.
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:25 pm
I just don’t see UGA winning a national title for a long time they have to compete with Ala and Fla those schools recruit very well. I can see Tenn winning a national title before UGA.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:26 pm
tim in the early 1990’s we did not have national championship games…. when florida state won the national champ in 1993, there was no bcs and they were regular bowl games……. thats why they had split national champions previous to 1996
in 1990 tech had to split it with colorado but yet they did not play each other in the national championship game and that year tech played there bowl game in the citrus bowl which is now called the capital one bowl
facts are facts….. its not a national championship game if you do not play the other team vying for a national championship
jesse james
May 31st, 2010
11:29 pm
Well mdawg, gtfan and the rest it has been fun. I like to shoot the bull all in fun. That is what is great about sports, it is great that we can argue, discuss, pick at each other and at the end of the day we can put our heads down without fear because of all the brave armed forces and veterans that make it possible. It has been fun and happy belated Memorial Day.
Jared
May 31st, 2010
11:32 pm
Florida fans try to villianize any writer who says something positive about Georgia, even if that writer is not biased towards Georgia.
Scout for example said Georgia could win the SEC East, and win the SEC, and maybe make a run, because of the schedule.
According to Florida fans, the following Scout article does not exist either;
http://cfn.scout.com/2/968165.html
Tim
May 31st, 2010
11:35 pm
Maybe Georgia shouldn’t even show it up since the Florida fans on our Blog disagree with unbiased experts like Phil Steele & Scout and think Georgia will lose so many games. Hilarious. maybe Florida should have been ranked #1, and all the experts got it wrong. That’s funny.
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:37 pm
jesse james – you’re right dude happy memorial day to all the veterans and it was good debating with you. Go Jackets!
I’m ready for some football College and NFL. Go Jackets & Go Falcons.
Gus
May 31st, 2010
11:38 pm
Exactly guys. See, accordng to Florida fans:
1- They didn’t lose 9 guys to the NFL
2- Charlie Strong isn’t coaching in Louisville
3- Leading rusher Tebow will return
4- Leading receivers Hernandez & Cooper will both be back
5- Meyer never leaves a school after 5 years–he’s the model of longevity
6- Alabama didn’t beat them in the SEC Championship
Florida fans humor me. Thanks for the laugh.
mdawg
May 31st, 2010
11:39 pm
and i guess florida should not show up when they play at alabama this year…… can you say repeat national champ
GT Fan
May 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
mdawg – It’s either going to be Virgina Tech vs. Alabama in the national championship game or Georgia Tech vs. Alabama.
From 11-3 to 14-0
May 31st, 2010
11:45 pm
………………….
…………………. NESBITT for HEISMAN !
………………….
Mike T.
May 31st, 2010
11:46 pm
Bama,
Remember three years ago when the Dawgs won in overtime in Tuscaloosa?
When Bama had to apologize for the actions of its fans behaviour.
Gus
May 31st, 2010
11:50 pm
And, according to Florida fans, Georgia:
1- Does not have 155 games of experience in the O-Line
2- O-Line did not give up just 12 sacks last year
3- Running game didn’t average over 240 a game over last 7 games
4- Ealey is not averaging 5.7 yards per carry, King isn’t getting 5.2, Smith isn’t getting 12.2 yards per carry
5- TE’s Charles, White, Lynch did not average 15+ yards a catch
6- WR’s Wooten, King, Troupe did not all average 17+ yards a catch
7- AJ Green is not that good
8- Richt has not won 90 games in 9 seasons
9- Saban didn’t try to hire Grantham, Grantham never was brought in to coach Alabama in the recent off-seasons
10 Belin’s LB’s at Vanderbilt did not finish #1 & #7 in tackles in SEC
11 Lakatos’ secondary did not finish in the top 10 in pass efficiency at UConn 2 years recently
12 Willie Martinez is still the head of the Georgia defense
13 All-American Punter & Top 3 ranked Kicker do not exist
14 Richt’s defenses did not finish in the top 20 for 7 straight year in 2001-2007
15 Richt’s teams have not finished in the top 10 13 out of the last 16 seasons
According to Florida fans, none of this is real.
Jeff
May 31st, 2010
11:52 pm
Not even gonna read the crap posted by Tech fans on here… I scrolled straight down to comment.
My two cents: I think Steele and others have some reasons for optimism for a successful year but I think running the table is out of the question. Until Florida gets knocked off, they should be favorites in every SEC East game. I think Colorado may be tough out there, South Carolina is ALWAYS hard to beat in Columbia, and Georgia Tech has given us some good games in recent years and Georgia’s had to battle to win (NOTE TO TECH FANS: Notice that I complimented your program and didn’t name-call, like many of you love to do. ALSO NOTE: While Tech has played some CLOSE games vs. Georgia, Dogs are still 8-1 vs. Tech in the Richt era and 16-4 over the last 20 years and 23-7 over the last 30.)
So my prediction is a solid 9-win season, at least a shot at being 1st or 2nd in the SEC East, and (once again) a good bowl. I really think, from what I’ve read and heard, that 2011 could be the BIG year for Georgia… lotta great kids coming in next summer, plus this years fresh. and soph. classes will be a year older and wiser. Good luck Dawgs, GATA!!!
Jared
May 31st, 2010
11:54 pm
If Florida fans aren’t afraid of Georgia, I wonder why they spend so much time on this blog?
Why not spend their time on their ‘real’ competition, since Georgia’s so easy for them to beat? Why do they write so much here if they’re not afraid of Richt and Georgia this year?