It looks like Mr. Steele is about to lay one on the Georgia program soon.
BACK ON FRIDAY
I will be back on Friday with more site updates and I am also currently working on an article called “FIVE Reasons Why Georgia Will NOT Finish #1 This Year.”
Bummer, dude.
Get The Picture 
Wow! Georgia might not finish #1? You mean to tell me he’s going to go doubleplus in depth on how this whole “schedule” thingy might hurt Georgia’s chances?
Steele’s great, but dude- Captain Obvious is Captain Obvious.
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Hard sked is BS…..it’ll help us more than hurt us in that we could have a loss and make it to the BCS game
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LSU lost two last year. Won the MNC. Why? They were ranked HIGH in preseason.
UF lost one in 2006. Won the MNC. Why? They were ranked HIGH in preseason.
If you ain’t ranked preseason top five, you don’t have much chance at a MNC. So, I like our chances with one loss – and even possibly with two – to play for the MNC.
Who is this Steele bag anyway?
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Well, I’ll say one thing for the Dawgs this season: If what they needed to get them fired up about a potential title run was a boatload of bulletin-board material, they’ve certainly got it. Richt should have all the motivational tools he needs by now.
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Screw you to all you one-loss-two-loss dawgs. I say win em all and be the champion. Or win em all and don’t be the champion- I don’t care. But I’m not surrendering one game to anyone. When I look at our schedule I see nothing but Glorious Wins. Glory, Glory to ol Georgia!
It’s August and some of you are counting losses.
Who does Steele play for?
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Analysis paralysis.
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Bulldawgy,
That’s a completely false characterization of how or why LSU and Florida got into the BCS MNC game… but thanks for trying.
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Gotcha. Next time I want to post, I’ll give you a call to make sure my characterizations are true according to your specifications.
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Not to escalate tensions…but Florida ’06 was around 6/7 in the preseason polls. High-ish, but the Gators weren’t considered MNC material.
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I agree with HVL, lets go NCAA 09 freshman level on their arse and win all of em by 40.
GO DAWGS!
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Actually, Texas Dawg, I have to agree with Bulldawgy somewhat on this one. Maybe not in the case of Florida, but certainly in the case of LSU.
When LSU lost to Arkansas, at the time it threw them completely out of the MNC, however, the next weekend when the debacle was over, everything was essentially set back to zero because the playing field was equal again.
You had Ohio State playing a soft schedule and losing to Illinoi, USC getting obliterated by Stanford (and losing to a good Oregon team), UGA losing two (but not winning the SEC) and LSU losing two (but winning the SEC). WVU took themselves out of it when they lost to a horrible Pitt team who played their collective balls off (classy, I know).
It goes without question that the SEC gets more leeway in a situation like this because the schedule is tougher and there’s an extra game thrown in, so LSU’s two losses in the mind of pollsters was equal or greater than Ohio State’s one loss and USC’s two losses.
So the pollsters, in my opinion, set the needle back to zero and said “in this current situation, who are the best teams in the land from top to bottom?” I believe LSU got the nod because they were believed to be the best team at the beginning of the season and since their record was similar to others at the top of the polls, they were considered to be the best team at the end of the season.
Pre-season rankings in my mind are remarkably stupid, but they do serve a purpose when determining a champion. I know this sounds unheard of, but the national media has an ego and it doesn’t want to be wrong. Before kickoff in 2007 they said LSU was the best in the land and, damn it, no one was going to tell them different at the end of the season.
I’m just sayin…
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Bulldawgy, would you be praising Steele had he predicted a UGA victory?
Also, Texas_Dawg, if you’re referring to Steele with the Analysis Paralysis comment, that’s a mis-aplication of the term (but maybe you’re referring to Bulldawgy?).
Since 2002:
BCS title game appearances by people starting outside of the top 10:
2002 OSU (13/11) (AP/Coach)
2003 LSU (14/14)
2007 OSU (11 AP, but 10 in the coaches, making it a tweener)
Title game appearances by people starting outside of the top 5:
2003 USC (8/8) noteworthy given they’re claiming a share of the title.
2004 Auburn (17/similar) also noteworthy, any other year they’re a title game team. Partly a reminder that it’s not all in your hands. It is incredibly unlikely a higher preseason ranking would not have helped them unless (1) it was 1 or 2 or (2).
2006 USC (6 in AP but 3 in coaches, kind of a tweener)
2007 OSU (if you don’t want to count them in the other category).
2007 Florida (7/8)
12 BCS title game spots have seen 3 teams outside the preason top 10 make it (or 2.5 if you want to count OSU differently). UGA was 8/11 in 02, kind of a tweener, so if they had made it that’d be 3.5.
Florida is the only team that falls neatly into the “outside the top 5 but in the top 10” category. More or less, 5 of the 24 BCS title game berths since 2002 haven’t started in the top 5. At just over 20%, that’s a significant number. To be sure, any team in the top 10 can be said to benefit from “becoming a known comodity early”, but that can also apply to teams that start with a lower ranking. Several other teams outside of the top 5 *just* *missed* spots in the game. One of them was SOL regardless (Auburn, again unless they started 1 or 2).
Texas_dawg is right that Bulldawgy is assigning Both Texas and LSU got there due to a combination of factors:
– Being storied as a contender in the media early in the season (and that didn’t change during the season)
– Winning the conference (despite what some Georgia fans would like to claim, that;s generally been important to pollsters since a couple of fiascos previously – undefeated big 12 teams losing the conference title game but getting in anyway. ESPN’s ridiculous harping in 2006 over Michigan notwithstanding, since 2003 it seems there’s been more emphasis for winning the conference title).
– Small number of true 1 loss contenders, or no true 1 loss contenders and nobody undefeated (which probably rarer than having an undefeated contender).
– Marquee in season wins
Luck matters.
Steele is excellent. He’s far from flawless and wouldn’t claim to be. One of the things that makes him great is that his predictions are borne from detailed methodology, and you can follow all of this. Steele thinks UGA finishes a close 2nd in the east to Florida. It’s not an unreasonable prediction. Steele things UGA is absolutely a national contender – one of the criteria that helps a team get into a title game when things get bunched at the end of the season (since “contenders” tend to stay ranked high until circumstances force a lower ranking. Excessive losses or just one more loss than other, suddenly better looking, contenders), and very much a compliment to the program. I’m looking forward to his article, myself. He’s right that having so few upperclassmen on the OL is a bigger deal than some are making out. But I don’t think he’s giving the returning kids enough credit maybe.
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Nope – I wouldn’t be singing Steele’s praises, regardless of his prediction. My point was the stupidity of preseason rankings, period.
Start out #10 and lose one – and see where you end up compared to starting in the top 5 and losing one.
It’s a bunch of hooey. There should be a playoff of nothing but conference champions. Then it would mean something.
But, if the Dogs win the MNC – I’ll be celebrating with the rest you….
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I think I can write Steele’s article for him…
1. Tough Schedule
2. Tim Tebow
3. Percy Harvin
4. Urban Meyer
5. Tim Tebow again
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To be clear… those are not my sentiments, but my interpretation of Steele’s love affair with Tebow and company.
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Too bad Urban got the crap coached out of him last year.
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Amen, D.N., if last year’s WLOCP was one thing it was CMR handing Urban his ass.
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>My point was the stupidity of preseason rankings, period.
Your first post certainly doesn’t appear to be saying that.
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Oh really? Dang. I’ll check in with you before I post too.
You guys are tough to please.
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