The WWL explains the SEC East to us:
… Florida isn’t alone. The SEC East is full of teams that could go in any direction. Tennessee, with Derek Dooley as the Vols’ third coach in three seasons, might head south faster than college kids at spring break. Georgia hasn’t won the East in five years. Kentucky and Vanderbilt are starting over.
The team best poised to take advantage of the flux is the veteran bunch at South Carolina. After five seasons of winning no more than eight games and no fewer than six, Steve Spurrier no longer resembles the evil genius of his days at Florida. If this Gamecocks team doesn’t challenge for the division title, Spurrier’s legacy as a ball coach will suffer a scratch no buffer can remove.
That’s per Ivan Maisel, who’s actually one of the more thoughtful pundits over there.
Mark May should be a real trip.
Get The Picture 
I’m starting to think we’re going to really kick *** this year based on the lack of hype, if Murray is half decent and Grantham can improve the defense where it functions half way between last year the standard of the Van Gorder years then I think we could realistically be 11-1 or 10-2.
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South Carolina hasn’t won the East … ever.
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But he is right that this is an opportunity for them–the stars are as aligned as they ever get for SC.
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Pardon my french, but –
are you fuckin’ kiddin me? South Carolina? This would be like CNN predicting Ralph Nader to win a Presidential election.
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God forbid we actually do well (I’m in the camp that we’ll win 10 games, mostly due to a softer schedule) but if we actually go 11-1.. get to the SECCG, win that.. (all big ifs, mind you and for the record I don’t think that scenario is very likely) this is setting up where it will be impossible for us to play for the MNC. Mark May and his ilk wouldn’t let us near that game… but why should this year be any different than the norm?
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Bear in mind the “no fewer than 6” win season floor was set in the monumental collapse of 2007 when the game chickens dropped the last 5 in a row to finish 6-6.
Most will teams pick up momentum as the season wears on.
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All I can say is that I can’t wait for all this guessing, and throwing paper at the wall and seeing what sticks is over! I’m trying not to get all riled up at all the BS that’s being spat at UGA…let’s settle this shit on the field! The fact is that it doesn’t matter what you have, or what you’ve done in the past…what matters is how much you leave on the field on that given day! Not many people respect UGA these days, but I have a strong feeling that they will soon enough!
I have to believe that the new staff has brought a new, refreshed mindset to this years squad that will echo for years to come. With this mind set anything is possible…we’ll just have to wait and see how it all takes shape. I for one can’t wait!
I can’t wait to see our boys take the field in the best colors in college football! I can’t wait to see the big boys up front play smash-mouth football and pound the ball down the other guys throats! I can’t wait to see our D flying around the field and laying the wood! I just can’t wait! That’s just week 1!
LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!! GO DAWGS!!!
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That’s a pretty nice example of lazy journalism. Georgia hasn’t won the east in five years is really his lone dismissal of why we aren’t in the running? Sure, South Carolina has as good of a chance this year as they ever have, but that still doesn’t explain the condescending attitude towards Georgia. I’m pretty disappointed in Maisel for that one.
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What can one expect from a guy like Maisel, even conceding that he’s a talented writer who seems to put some thought into his work?
If all the scribes did was pick favorites, no one would pay any attention to them. What sells? Conflict. It’s all opinion at this point. His guess that a decent SCarolina team has a shot at the East isn’t any better or worse of a guess than anyone else’s guess, but it’s bound to rattle a few cages in the hyper-competitive fan bases across the SEC.
Besides, look at it from his viewpoint. What fun is it to be the 10,000th guy to predict Florida wins the East again? Media guys love to be the one who spotted the trend, or the longshot, before it became trendy. Thus, “Boise State could take UGA!” Thus, “Hawaii’s offensive juggernaut could baffle UGA!”
And, when the longshot wets the bed, who remembers the guy who liked their chances? Nobody. He can just hide in the wreckage while other pundits scoff at how overrated said underdog was, and how UGA really wasn’t any good, anyway.
Dooley’s teams were often average when they were supposed to be good, and good when they were supposed to be average. Nobody saw Auburn as a top flight team in 2004. Nobody saw Alabama as a top flight team in 2008. Me, I say let’s go ahead and play the games and see how it goes. UGA may suck, but I don’t see any teams on the schedule that make me think “no way we can hang with them.” Sure, we could lose to a bunch of them, too, but we could beat any of them. With a little luck, a little health, no stupid manufactured calls (cough, LSU, cough), who knows?
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It’s been 4, but who cares about facts.
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Predictions this time of year are hard to take seriously but we are all so hyped up about being just over 3 weeks from some real football that we get rattled easily. I am in a real quandry now.
On one side we have the WWL who employs both Lou Holtz (who picked ND to win it all last year) and Bimbo Adelson who predicts UGA to abandon football altogether by December. The other side has Phil Steele, perhaps the most astute, hardest-working guy in the CFB media ranks. Being a man who likes a game of chance, I find this has almost been reduced to a coin toss…..not!
Certainly you have give SC a chance to contend for the East, but how the hell do you use that logic to differentiate between UGA and SC? And how many times has anyone won three consecutive division titles in the East?
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The point was that SC was going to win the East, it was more that if SC didn’t CHALLENGE for the East this year then they, under Spurrier, likely never will.
Florida is Florida, and likely the best team in the East. But, as you state, how do you differentiate between SC and UGa? And if you can’t really differentiate between those two, with the other three being at least another level down, than why not SC to be at least the runner up in the East. And with an unexpected Florida loss…cue the Western Bulldogs…couldn’t they be a two loss East Champ?
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Of course the answer is South Carolina’s schedule. Aside from UGa and Florida, the Gamecocks get Alabama, Auburn, and Arkansas from the West.
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Agree, the SC schedule is a major factor, as is Florida’s game at Tusky which looks like a loss (on paper). If you expect that as a loss for UF, add LSU as a game which only has Florida with a slight edge, and one game they will win in the West, that tilts the table to UGA which has two games where they look to be slight favorites against the West, and one they should win. That edge for UGA could be huge in a year where the East looks razor close.
SC does look to be overwhelmed from a schedule perspective, especially given their past depth problems. It does look like SC’s best chance, but they still appear to be a step behind.
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My POV is that while Florida may lose to Alabama, it is no given. But, let’s say they do…is LSU really that much better than they were last year…good enough to beat Florida in Gainsville? I’m not convinced. Which leaves Florida with a great chance to be a 1-loss SEC East Champ.
For me, until Georgia actually beats Florida in any specific game I am going to lean toward Florida, no matter what the questions they may have on the roster.
Which means can Georgia go to Jacksonville undefeated? In other words, can the Dawgs beat South Carolina and Arkansas in back to back weekends? Tough task…
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His entire argument about Georgia not winning the East is that we haven’t done it in 5 years? Deep.
The good news is that we’ll have an opportunity to shut this storyline down (outside of SC, anyway) in Week 2. Any more than that and it would get deeply annoying.
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Technically the guy is right–UGA hasn’t won the SEC East since 2005. The whole truth is that UGA tied for the SEC East title in 2007, lost the tiebreaker (so the Dawgs did not get to play in the SEC Championship Game) but still finished the season ranked #2 in the nation. And that, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story.
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Well, he’s actually not right. Georgia hasn’t won it in 4 years.
But that’s not my point. My point is, if “they haven’t done it in 4/5 years” is all you can come up with to show that Georgia’s not likely to win it this year, then you’re not really convincing me. It’s not a good argument. Talk to me about players, talk to me about coaches, talk to me about scheme. Don’t talk to me about “it hasn’t happened since 2005, and is therefore impossible.”
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You know what a real meme is? “Florida is the best team in the East because they’re loaded.”
I guess if enough people repeat it it must be true.
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It would be hard to argue against that, based on recruiting rankings?
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Mark May should be a real trip.
I can’t wait to hear Lou Holtz proclaim that SC will be playing in the MNC game.
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South Carolina vs. Notre Dame for all the marbles…Dr. Lou…Dr. Lou
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