Dawg stat watch, ’08 version

If you’ll remember, last year I decided to track Georgia’s progress in seven statistical categories that had one thing in common:  Georgia excelled in all of them every season in which it won the SEC East and played in Atlanta.  Here’s the list:

1. Hold opponents under 17 points per game.
2. Finish at least +8 in turnover margin.
3. Average better than 380 yards per game on offense.
4. Finish in the top five in total defensive yardage.
5. Finish in the top three in first downs.
6. Finish no worse than third in passing yardage.
7. Finish at least third in sacks.

Again, there’s no claim that there’s a causal relationship here; it’s strictly a correlation of what went right in the good times (’02, ’03 and ’05).

I tracked this stuff last year until after the UT game, when I became convinced that the Dawgs would not make an appearance in the SECCG.  Since it’s a new year, it’s worth taking a shot at seeing how much of a bellweather these seven items are this go around.

So here’s where Georgia stands currently (per the official SEC site):

1. Defensive scoring:  13.8 ppg
2. Turnover margin:  +3 (+0.75 pg)
3. Total offense:  450 ypg
4. Total defense:  8th (275 ypg)
5. First downs:  2nd (21.5 pg)
6. Passing offense:  2nd (260.8 ypg)
7. Sacks by:  2nd (10)

All in all, that’s a very good start.  The only stat that’s not on target at present is the defensive yardage ranking, and the Dawgs are about 25 ypg away from the fifth slot in that category.  I’ll continue to follow this as long as Georgia stays in the hunt, so we’ll see how things play out.