That was an impressive Boise State team I watched in the MAACO Bowl last night. It did what good teams having an off night do – hang on in the face of early turnovers and then grind the other team down. That should make for a lot of talk about where BSU’s season would have wound up if the Broncos hadn’t lost to Nevada.
And selfishly speaking, I’m glad that’s how it went down. You can already hear the narrative over the summer as ESPN builds up the hype for Georgia’s opener next season (expect to become tired of hearing Kyle Brotzman’s name and “if only”, along with some chatter about revenge for 2005). And that’s good. The bigger and badder Boise gets portrayed, the better Georgia comes off looking.
One little catch: it won’t be this year’s Boise State team we’ll be watching in Atlanta. Kellen Moore will be there, but a lot of his teammates won’t.
… All things considered, it was probably a better team than the ’09 edition over the course of the entire season – except for the season-killing collapse in Reno, which slammed the window shut, possibly forever. This time, ten starters will be moving on in 2011, including Brotzman, prolific receivers Titus Young and Austin Pettis and All-WAC defenders Ryan Winterswyk, Winston Venable, Brandyn Thompson and Jeron Johnson.
I still expect the Broncos to come into that game as the higher ranked team. They should be a good measuring stick for Georgia. Not to mention that we’ll get to see Aaron Murray going head-to-head with a Heisman Trophy candidate in Moore. A big game in that setting and he could start getting a lot of national hype himself.
Get The Picture 
Don’t like that Kellen will still be there. He is impressive. But overall its probably a good thing. They’ll keep the respect in the media’s eyes with their QB returning, but should be down with 10 starters leaving. Now if we can GATA’s!
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if we don’t get much better ol play, that’s going to be a tough game to win. i know they’re losing a lot of their best defensive players, but i saw a defense that was fast, fundamentally sound, and aggressive at the line of scrimmage. i’ve been watching some of the games again from this season, and, more than any other single failing, the ol play is for me the most baffling and frustrating. frankly, watching those guys miss blocks, get bull-rushed, and stand around after the play pointing fingers makes me a lot more sympathetic to mike bobo.
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+ 1.
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True BD. But lets not forget what we need to get done on the D line as well. Coach T. better get some kids whipped into shape and lets keep our fingers crossed for a solid juco recruit. Otherwise, we may be tired of looking at inside draws all year long.
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no doubt–we need improvement on both lines. but i can understand the d-line’s lack of achievement this year; i cannot understand the o-line’s. at all.
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Out of shape. They didn’t show up for S&C. That’s why Van is out.
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In 2011 BSU will probably be a pre season top 10 team. The Dawgs will be the underdogs. I agree that all of that should work in favor of the Dawgs. However, If they lose, The Fire Richt clamor will get even louder. A big game for everyone to start looking forward to.
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It’s not that the Fire Richt clamor will get louder. It will be a done deal. McGarity moved his chips all in when he signed up to play that game. If Richt gets beaten by Boise State in Atlanta, he’ll have lost more than just a game. Bet on it.
Boise State loses 10 starters. Well, UGA will be without the best players of this season including top linebackers, AJ Green, Justin Houston, Caleb King, Shaun Chapas, etc. Oh, and lets not forget that we’ll likely be missing a few players via a suspension for their typical off-season antics. That’s a wash.
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A big portion of your list was absent -in part- during 2010 already. Caleb King is a junior.
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What if UGA goes 10-2, but loses to Boise State and first year coach Muschamp @ Florida? You think he will be fired after a ten win season?
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Yes, Boise is well coached but does not have anywhere near the athletes of UGA. If the Dawgs get their act toghether it is a no contest.
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I’ll take well-coached over talent always. We had 6 Pro All-Americans this season and went 6-6.
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they looked plenty athletic and “disciplined!!” to me.
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I actually think BSU is in a place UGA was once. We lost Stafford, Moreno and MoMass to the draft. That was roughly 70% of our offense. I know BSU isn’t losing Moore, but they are losing both top WR who accouted for 1,300 yards roughly. They are going to have to show they can reload as opposed to rebuild. It hit UGA hard when our guys left, it may impact BSU similarly. Some of those fast D lineman and LB are gone. I think they might be losing a few O-lineman as well. I think we’ll have to solve our WR situation and hope Mr Crowell is the real deal otherwise Murray is going to have a hard time finding Charles.
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Justin Beiber looks more “butch” than Kellen Moore.
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Begin rant: Dawgs should kick BSU ass all over the field – whether they loose 10 starters or not. Have we fallen so far that a team from the mountain west can beat us in our own state? This is Georgia – home to many of the greatest football players – past, present & future – in the USA. Fire everyone if we don’t win! Mediocrity has to stop. Dawgs should be the top 5 team, not BSU. End of rant.
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While I’m not a “Fire Richt” guy, I’ve gotta say I agree with your overall theme. No way should we ever be looking up at BSU, yet that’s where we are today.
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I won a fair sum of cash by giving Boise 8 points in 2005 by believing in DJ and that UGA team; I will not be risking that in 2011. I think many fans underestimate what BSU has done the past several years. I am not saying they would have won the SEC because they do not have the quality depth to run that gauntlet, but don’t question the quality of that starting group, nor that coaching staff’s ability to get them ready for big games. Early in the season, with the ability to develop a plan for UGA, I believe they should be favored in our opener against them.
You can minimize it all you want, but they manhandled Oregon, the PAC 10 champs in 2009. Then they beat a pretty decent TCU team that beat Clemson in Death Valley. This year they beat Va Tech, the ACC cchamps, in what was basically a VT home game. In all other games, except the Nevada upset, they totally dominated all their competition. I believe they have not only won 12 games each of the past three seasons, they are the #1 team in the nation in covering the spread according to Phil Steele. That means they bring an attitude to every game they play, execute on both sides of the ball, and are consistently underestimated.
No, I am not a member of the BSU fan club, but I have a great deal of respect for what CCP has done with athletes passed over by many other programs out West. I saw nothing about our defense that makes me think we will contain them. We made average offenses look prolific this year, and it didn’t matter if they were a running team, passing team, spread or pro-style. Really hope I am wrong, but our defense was so bad this year I cannot believe we can improve enough to stop KM. They lose some talent at WR and on defense, but the backups on Boise have played a lot of downs this year and the fall-off wasn’t that great. Just a warning to those who think we have an edge going into the Dome; we are capable of beating them, but it will be UGA who has to step their game up this time. I like our chances of beating So. Carolina the following week.
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The above should read, I like our chances “more” against SC the following week..
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I agree. Rest assured that BSU will be game planning from now until they play UGA for that game. National television, Game Day, etc. Like Va Tech this year, this game is one if the biggest of their 2011 season. The Dawgs have to play 5 out of the following 6 games against SEC teams, 3 of which are on the road. I’m sure our boys will be be just as up for this game…but our guys got a lot of games in the coming weeks to worry about as well. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say that it’s a must win for Richt’s job. That said, I reserve the right, as all attorneys would, to reassess that opinion at a later date.
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This is sad. Back in 2005, the media was telling us how BSU was gonna come in and woop an SEC team at home, and I remember that not one of my friends even remotely thought there was a possibility of them keeping it within 20 points. Now, with them losing 10 starters, we are questioning whether we will be able to 1. hang with them and 2. Even be able to get up for the game??? What has happened to us? We are GEORGIA. Richt, I love ya, but take a look at the confidence you’ve instilled into this fanbase. Just make sure the guys that matter have the confidence next year.
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