Stewart Mandel’s friends from Montana called, and they want Georgia’s preseason #1 status back. Or something like that.
… Georgia is still a prime national-title contender, but I no longer consider the Dawgs the favorite. Either Ohio State or Oklahoma will move to No. 1 when I release my initial power rankings Aug. 26. I’ll have to give it some serious thought.
What’s caused the pullback? Trinton Sturdivant’s knee, baby.
… Besides quarterback, there is arguably no more important position on a football team than that of the guy protecting the QB’s blind side. In Georgia’s case in particular, I would argue that only QB Matthew Stafford and RB Knowshon Moreno were more irreplaceable.
Keep in mind that while we love him, Sturdivant wasn’t on the horizon for the SEC coaches when they selected their preseason all-SEC teams. He didn’t even make third team. Yet now, according to Mandel, his injury “towers over the others in terms of potential national implications”. Whoa, mama.
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UPDATE: Will Mandel factor this into his power ratings?
Get The Picture 
They were looking for a reason and they found it. If it had been any other starter on our team out for the year, they would have said the same thing.
Meanwhile the Gators are still up there with Espn despite losing five, many in places they really can’t afford to.
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the horror…the horror. We should go ahead and cancel the season. It’s hopeless. We’re doomed…doomed, I tell you.
I feel terrible for TS. He’s a talented young man, and would have been a tremendous asset to the OL, had he not been injured. That said, it’s not like we’re going to have to roll one of the trainers out there to play tackle. UGA’s depth chart took a hit, but surely we can come up with someone to do a respectable job, cant we?
The good news is that if UGA takes care of bidness, it wont matter what Stewart Mandel or anyone in Montana thinks. If UGA doesnt take care of business, it wont matter that they didnt respect us, either.
I’ve heard Tebow is going to heal Cornelius Ingram by laying hands on him prior to the game in Jacksonville. No word yet on whether he’s going to circumcise him, though.
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We’ll see on the field Coach Searles will have his hands full but 2 or 3 years from now we’ll probably have the best Offensive line in the land. That being said if everyone agrees that the 1 of the biggest weaknesses of Georgia was it’s offensive line and the most important and best offensive lineman went out one would reasonably have to be more concerned.
Specifically a new LT vs. LSU’s
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I think we have enough talent (or at least bodies) to overcome this setback. Now that we have CSS, instead of CNC, and we still have 2 weeks of practice plus two fairly easy games to begin the season so I think we’ll be fine. There will be some drop-off but this is not a total derailment from reaching the MNC game.
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kckd is right on this one. They were looking for a reason to disparage Georgia, and losing the starting left tackle was reason enough.
Granted, it’s just preseason posturing, but it is disheartening to see what biases and negative attitudes are building against Georgia before the team has played a single down. Every chance the talking heads have gotten, they’ve denigrated Georgia, whether it has been for the arrests and resulting suspensions, or now losing Sturdivant for the season. (The lone exception that I’ve seen is Kirk Herbstreit. He can’t get enough Georgia.)
Trinton’s injury is significant, and it weakens the team without question. But how you can say the loss of a true sophomore left tackle at a position that is (finally) one of sufficient, talented depth as being more important than losing a three-year starting, second-team all-SEC defensive back like Asher Allen or a senior, first-team all-SEC linebacker like Dannell Ellerbe is just crazy. It shows the level of depth Stewie has for his “analysis.”
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I know I’m paying more attention because it’s our Dawgs, but seriously, I haven’t heard a single endorsement for UGA as # 1 without a “but…” following it. If Coach Richt needs a motivating tactic this year, I say he pulls out a “most disrespected #1 team ever.”
“#1? Yes, we’re #1. But nobody out there thinks that we deserve it. They’re looking for a reason to knock us down, keep us out of the big one. Are you going to give them the reason?”
Something like that, but with an end-zone dance and black jerseys.
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We are deep at OL. Young, but deep. Herbstreit saw Stafford at the Elite 11 or something like that and, being the qb that he is, has seen the light.
The media is having a hard time letting go of Florida. They will have a good record this year but will lose to us again. If we can beat LSU and/or Auburn, we go to the SECC. We will have a great year.
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