I’m struck by the quotes in this article about Georgia’ season opener as to how the measuring stick has completely flipped since the last time these two teams met.
McGarity said scheduling the game put “some juice in our program,” and Richt said it was needed “to let the college football world know that Georgia is still alive and kicking.”
Well. Of course, that only works if Georgia wins the game.
Get The Picture 
We need to clean their clock a la 2005. If we lose, it will be another long season.
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Not necessarily. Virginia Tech lost to them and JMU and still made the Orange Bowl. UGA does not have the same powerhouse schedule as VT but an opener loss to Boise St doesn’t kill off the season as long as UGA wins in conference and Boise wins their games too.
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I agree with Spike.
I can see Boise State beating the eventual ACC champion, but I cannot see us losing to the Broncos and then winning the SEC.
The ACC just does not compare to the SEC. Enroute to winning the ACC, Va Tech managed to beat the North Avenue Trade School for Strange Boys only by a touchdown.
So I wouldn’t rank last year’s Va Tech team anywhere near an Auburn, an LSU, or an Alabama. And maybe only barely with an Arkansas, a Mississippi State, or a South Carolina.
Upsetting Boise State has to be our top priority between now and September 3. Focusing specifically on South Carolina needs to wait to September 4.
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I think you miss my point. A one loss team who has won the east, goes to the Dome. A strong BSU team at the end solidifies SOS and with a win in the Dome anything can happen. I mean I want UGA to beat the Broncos but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
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Absolutely, we could lose to Boise State and then win the SEC. And Vamderbilt could win the SEC this year as well.
I just don’t think it likely that an SEC team that cannot beat Boise State will then turn around and beat the other SEC division champ in the Dome.
The fact that it happened last year in the ACC doesn’t, it seems to me, make it more realistically likely to happen in the SEC. I believe the gap between winning the SEC and winning the ACC is much wider than might seem apparent from, say, the Chick-fil-A Bowl results.
Of course, I could be wrong,
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“I just don’t think it likely that an SEC team that cannot beat Boise State will then turn around and beat the other SEC division champ in the Dome.”
The only reason I would disagree with you is I think that Georgia is going to have an adjustment period early on in the season due to the o-line reshuffling. If we lose to Boise because we haven’t figured out our personnel it is possible we can survive SC and then figure out what we’re doing as we go through the rest of the season. Our SEC schedule, while challenging, isn’t the hardest it has ever been, so if we could figure out those personnel issues we could still end up winning the east despite a loss to Boise.
I’d rather just win though.
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Walkon07, I agree that O line concerns are there and there may be great improvement along the O line over the season.
I’m thinking, though, that the key to beating Boise State isn’t on offense, but on defense.
The Broncos jumped out to a quick and huge lead over Va Tech last year, only to see it recede to a rather ordinary three point win at game’s end.
Keeping Boise out of the endzone early on will dampen their spirits if they have a reprise of the Va Tech game in their heads.
Getting to Moore early and often is key, too. Moore was sacked twice by Va Tech; five times all last season. He’s not at all accustomed to being flat on the ground.
Then, over time, our much larger (than their defense) offense will take its toll and we can start putting a lot of points on the board.
But if our defense isn’t good enough to stop Boise State early, is it going to get good enough over the season to stop LSU or Alabama or whoever else the SEC West sends to the Dome?
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How likely was it that Va Tech would win the ACC last year after losing to JMU (a D-IAA school)? UGA could definitely lose to Boise State and then win the SEC East (which would get UGA into the SECCG) and then beat the SEC West winner. It would depend a lot on who the SEC West winner was.
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Too bad they couldn’t get this motivated for last years bowl game.
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I kind of blame us fans. We couldn’t sell 9,000 tickets for a game in the next state and in a town from which we regularly recruit players.
While ‘Dog butts should have been kicked from the old Iron Horse statue south of Watkinsville to the Arch after losing to UCF, the team’s enthusiasm for winning last year’s Liberty Bowl merely matched that of Georgia’s fans.
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You’re right. The fans only scored 6 points against UCF.
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We didn’t even score six points against UCF.
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“We” meaning “us fans.”
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Did you play in the Liberty Bowl? On offense?
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“Us fans,” means “fans,” not “players.”
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Scoring points requires one to actually be in the game.
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You really should read the prior posts before you comment.
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I did.
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Well, you got right ahead and blame yourself. I am going to continue to blame kicking a FG on 4th and inches at the 3 after driving 95 yards with nary one negative yardage play against a C-USA team. Georgia should never lose to a C-USA team. Ever. Anywhere. No matter who is in the stadium. If UGA could rip through UVA in Hawaii with a lame duck coach, the number fans in Memphis shouldn’t matter.
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How about UCF running the opening kick-off 99 yards? That TD did get called back. But it also gave UCF confidence they could score against us, and, I think, demonstrated a lackadasical attitude on Georgia’s team’s part.
It seems to me the team’s lackadasical attitude reflected the fans’ lackadasical attitude, evidenced by fewer than 9,000 tickets sold.
If fan attitudes can fire a team up, surely fan attitudes can take a team down.
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I find it funny that you cite fan attitude in this argument and then issue a dooms day edict in the Boise State issue.
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I don’t think I’m doomsday on Boise State.
I think we have a really good shot at upsetting the Broncos and a reasonably good shot at shocking them (something like 41-10, Georgia, a-la-Hawaii).
What I do not think will happen is Georgia will 1) Lose to Boise State and 2) then, ultimately, Win the SEC.
Like Spike, I think we need to clean Boise State’s clock. Shocking the Broncos would set the table for a great 2011. Talk about fan attitude!
Back to the Liberty Bowl. I think fan attitude stunk that particular game. Maybe it was coincidence, but I think team attitude stunk that particular game as well.
Georgia usually travels very well. It didn’t last December 31. And we lost one we certainly should not have. Coincidence?
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I agree with Richt. If you can get a yard, get it on third down. You can’t argue that the team that could not pick up a yard on third down was guaranteed to make it on fourth down.
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Turns out CMR was wrong either way. The 3 points were meaningless. It may have even been better to get nothing and leave UCF’s offense on the 3 yard line. We looked like pussies kicking that FG, and UCF took the message to heart.
The Liberty Bowl was a total meltdown by our coaches and players. It’ll hang over CMR’s head until he whips BSU’s and SCU’s a$$es, and get us back to respectability. Fortunately, the easy 2011 schedule should net 10+ wins.
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In a perverse sort of way the Liberty Bowl may have been a blessing because of the shock value. It woke up CMR, coaching staff, the players, certainly the fans and probably the administration behind closed doors. What I am seeing now going on in Athens makes me more positive about Georgia football than I have been in quite awhile. the addition of McGarity to the mix also bodes well for the future. He will not accept mediocrity. CMR will win or be gone with McGarity as AD and he knows it.
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A shaky defensive backfield versus one of the top returning QBs in Moore. Wouldn’t put any money on the game.
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But, BSU lost their top two receivers who accounted for half their receptions, half their receiving TD’s, and over half their receiving yards. That match-up will definitely be interesting.
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I just have this feeling our defensive backfield isn’t as shaky as it seems.
Sure we got burned for a few big plays last year, but I think a good part of that was we weren’t putting as much pressure on up front as we should have/could have, and I’m thinking that is being fixed.
With the exception of the last half of the Auburn game, we really we not blown out all last season. A handful of better plays on the defense side and we’d have been 10-3 or 12-2
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Exactly. Even Champ Bailey couldn’t maintain coverage for as long as our d-line gave some QBs to throw last year. If we can get pressure early on, we’ll see a big improvement in the secondary.
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It’s just eerie how the roles are reversed from 2005. Back then, it was BSU that was focusing on Georgia everyday during the spring and talking about what a key game it was for their season. Then they went out and got smoked by the Dawgs. I hope that result isn’t reversed, but everything else is.
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We ran into some Bronco fans during vacay in 2005 whom we have come to know over the years . They were pretty confident then that they would take the next step and beat Georgia that year. I make it a point not to get to passionate with an opposing teams fans about our Dawgs during these encounters, so I just listened as he explained how and why they were going to beat us. We ran into them again this year and I listened patiently as he went over the same meme. He asked me what I thought and I responded. “This is the same thing you said last time before we played and it didn’t happen. Not going to happen this time either.” The D will be greatly improved. That damn wheel route won’t get all day to develop. The O line will be stronger–both physically “and” nutritionally . The qb will have a year under his belt and the mistakes from RB’s will go way down. Kid’s will avoid one way streets while on scooters. We have a sense of urgency now . One that replaces the old sense of entitlement. ……..imho! It’s preseason and we are all equal football guru’s right now. 😉
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I believe we are gonna put the smack down on Boise St. This year’s Boise team will not be as good as the previous few years. They lost a lot of offensive weapons from last year. Just got that feelin that Richt will have his boys ready to play come kickoff in the Dome. Dawg fans are going to be wild and Boise won’t know what hit them come the second quarter. Mark it down!
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This may be a little off topic. Forgive me, boys. But I watched the replay of the Arkansa-UGA game last night on ESPNU. Vance Cuff SUCKS!!
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I watched the 2007 Sugar Bowl on Hulu the other day. I liked that one much better than last year’s Arkansas game.
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So does Ealey’s pass protection.
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“to let the college football world know that Georgia is still alive and kicking”
What has happened to us? We need to beat Boise to stay relevant.
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After losing to UCF, yes. Sorry! But, yes.
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Let’s just beat Boise. I don’t even want to talk about the possibility of losing that game.
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I want the Dawgs to put a beat down on BSU. Open up a huge can of whoop a$$ and manhandle the Broncos. However, I have seen no indication over the last 3 years that will happen. Obvious points of concern: O-line play. RB’s. WR’s. And finally the entire D. Those are HUGE question marks heading into any season. It is highly unlikely that all 4 areas of concern will be shored up by game #1.
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I’m sure that it was equally (?) “highly unlikely” that Cam was gonna throw that laptop out the window…. said laptop was found in dumpster….fail college courses…. leave Floriduh…. attend “jr College”;-) ….go to Aubarn…. avoid the NCAA inspection…. win the SEC… win the National Championship…… win the Heisman…. currently talked about as a top draft choice…… I choose to see the cup as half full at the University of Georgia.
Go Dawgs!
just sayin’
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Cam’s walk through this world appears to be on gold paved streets. Not sure that I can say the same for our Dawgs and CMR the last 3 years. That being said, even if your glass is half full, what have you seen that leads you to believe the Dawgs beat BSU? If you are taking it on faith in the program alone, the good luck to you brother.
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The gamblers are going to have to give a lot of points to get any betting on UGA in this one.
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How far have the Dawgs fallen that we consider a team from the MWC (WAC?) to open the season a program defining win/loss? My goodness I am embarassed that we are making such a big deal out of this. Look at who BSU have played and beaten over the last 5-6 years….other than a total fluke of a win against Oklahoma a bunch of nobodys. I don’t count the Va Tech game from last year even if they did end up winning the ACC (not saying much). If we don’t completely dismantle BSU then it will be another year of fighting Vandy and UT to stay out of the SEC East cellar.
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I think our coaches are confident that if we play our best we’ll win the game easy enough. But why not go along with the media and build Boise up as much as possible. That will only do great things for us if we win. If we lose, we’re toast no matter what the pundits think of Boise.
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