It’s out. Georgia’s fifth, roughly the same spot it started last season. The Dawgs start off the season playing numbers seven and eight. There are five SEC teams in the top ten and six in the top thirteen.
Hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid the only parts of this exercise that’ll matter in two months will be that Ohio State and Louisville will be riding higher than they deserve off those soft schedules.
Get The Picture 
and our good friend Stewie is quick to remind everyone of the irrelevance of UGA – Stewart Mandel @slmandel Preseason coaches poll: 1) Alabama 2) Ohio State 3) Oregon 4) Stanford 5) … Georgia (??)
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Not surprised. SI always ranks Georgia low in its power rankings.
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To be fair, the Coaches Poll isn’t a power poll. If it were, Ohio State and Louisville would be lower.
Georgia comes out of the gate playing 3 of the top thirteen teams in the CP in the first four weeks. It’s not unreasonable to think the Dawgs will finish that stretch lower than fifth.
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Looking at the schedules my concern is that it will be difficult for any team from the SEC East, UGA included, to finish the season undefeated. The SEC West including Bama has a similar problem although Bama has the best shot at going undefeated because its toughest games are at home except for A&M. The problem is that there really isn’t anybody on tOSU’s schedule that can realistically beat them (Michigan maybe) and the Buckeyes start out #2. They are going to get in the BSCNCG–take that to the bank. The winner of the Stanford-Oregon matchup has a good chance to go unbeaten also. That means if the SEC Champion has a loss, there is a likelihood that the SEC Champion will get locked out of the BCSNCG. This is even worse if, let’s say Bama has 1 regular season loss and the SEC East winner has 2 regular season losses ( hypothetically in UGA’s case a loss to Clemson and a 7-1 conference record) then beats Bama in the SECCG. The SEC Champion would then have 2 losses and runner-up Bama would have 2 losses. The SEC almost certainly gets locked out then.
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tOSU alone doesn’t bother me, it is the threat that L’ville or a PAC team also winning out.
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1 loss sec team would get the nod over L’ville. I would like to think that our new overlords at ESPN would shephard any reasonable SEC champ into the title game – especially considering the 5 of the top 10 rankings.
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Normally that would be true, but FU’s loss to L’ville cuts into that argument.
Now if there were 8 teams involved, we wouldn’t be cut from the herd by dude ranchers and end up pulling our hair out over frustration of the present system. What in hell does it take for us to learn, a couple more years of Pick Four?.
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Absent a real aberration like what I described above Cujo, I think the SEC champ is likely in the top 4 pretty much every year, although some (read: Jim Delaney) would try like hell to keep it out.
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True but at the same time if UGA somehow manages to win out in September, it would not surprise me to see UGA in the top 2 at the end of the month.
Clemson bothers me the most a young D against an explosive Offense in the opener.
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If we somehow go 4 – 0 in September, we should be ranked #1. We won’t be, but there really should be no argument about it. Will be interesting to see how far Dawgrading goes.
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“5) … Georgia (??)”
Stewie looks for answers without realizing Mayor has already found them
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Damn. We finished just out of the playoff. Expand the brackets!
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Meh.. I prefer beong the Underdawgs..
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This.
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“Being”, sorry. And I don’t see Tech anywhere. Hmmm, imagine that.
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I’m going to bitch about this every preseason until it stops. I absolutely hate the “predicative model” of ranking college football teams. No one cares whether your post-season poll looks like your pre-season poll. The question is not “how will they finish?” The question is who has the best team? Second best team and so forth? Under that model I have no doubt that we would be #2. However, everyone thinks that Ohio State will go 12-0 and then get their ass handed to them by the eventual SEC Champ while we have a tough schedule. That doesn’t mean that OSU is No. 2 team in the country. Louisville at #9, please! If they were in the SEC would they finish better than 6th? No, so they are worse than LSU at #13 right? Pre-season polls are a joke.
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Yes they are, but it gives us (Dawg fans) a clue at the perception of our team (by writers and coaches) at the beginning of the year plus gives some down room in the polls that allows us to make it back after a loss.
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Bama, bama, bama, blah blah blah.
What we know about them:
1. the lost most of their OL
2. they lost their best RB, but return a very good one
3. they return a good D but still lost several and you can’t simply plug and play every year. You can do it sometimes, but not everytime.
4. We know that their run has to end, it always does for every program
What else we know:
5. they have been fortunate to avoid the injury bug, that will not last
6. the breaks that they seems to always get, fumbles bouncing back to them, etc, will not continuously happen. Never does.
7. they will not lose a single player to grades, behavior, or other suspension related incidences. They bury everything and do it well. Doesn’t mean we don’t all know they do.
The odds of winning 3 straight, 4 of 5, in these times are extremely small. You cannot predict why a team has a down year, they just do. Bama is overdue for one. That critical fumble, the critical injury, the bad bounce, the team chemisty not jiving, etc. Stop thinking they will win just b/c they’ve won at such a pace. It can’t and won’t continue.
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Yippee! Someone else who thinks they put their pants on like we do and had lucky breaks on their way just like every team has to have in order to win the NC.
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Ain’t done real good last few years beating preseason expectations, only once in five years.
http://preseason.stassen.com/over-under/teams.html
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All we cam control is win the East, win the SECCG, beyond that is all bullsheet. Look at the comments and silly the process is. Pre-season polls, schedule silliness, guessing games, bad breaks/bounces, biased opinions, etc. Play it on the field, dismiss the perceptual BS.
We have a good, solid team with a schedule to prove we are among the top teams. I am excited by that, few teams can say either. We do it, or we don’t; I don’t really care what a weeney like Mandel thinks. Win the SEC and you are best of the best….period.
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