Assuming the defense has improved…

Gawd, please stop with this kind of analysis.

Look, you want to tell me that you think Florida is simply going to outscore its defensive weaknesses?  Fine, I can understand that, even if there’s nothing in SEC history that suggests that’s a conference-winning strategy over the course of a season.

I can go along with the willies over Georgia’s schedule, although you never really know how things like that turn out until the season plays out.

But don’t sit there and tell me Florida’s defense magically improves, while insisting that you’ll need to see Stafford get better before you can believe it.  Especially when you’re betting on unproven freshmen in the case of the former and against a junior with two seasons under his belt in the SEC in the case of the latter.

Sorry to sound so pissy here, but this kind of stuff is starting to drive me up the freakin’ wall.  And Dead Guy is one of my more favorite sites.

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Are the preseason polls an omen of a boring season?

By now, it’s almost old news that the AP preseason poll has come out, with Georgia at the top for the first time in its history.  Of course, in and of itself, that’s no guarantee of ultimate success, as only ten teams starting out in that position have gone on to win a MNC.  An SEC team hasn’t accomplished it in thirty years.  So we’ll see.

What caught my eye about the AP poll was something that Matt Hinton went to the trouble to verify:  how similar the AP rankings are to those in the coaches poll.  Take a look at this chart:

You have to go down to #25 to find your first major discrepancy.  That’s pretty strange, considering how chaotic the previous season turned out to be.  And the preseason polls were in fair agreement last year, too.  Wishful thinking or lack of imagination?  We’ll see.