Looking ahead

I know Richt and his team won’t be spending any time trying to game the season out, but that won’t stop us.  Besides, what’s the fun of that 3-1 start if you can’t fantasize a little?

Looking at the Coaches Poll first, the Dawgs got a nice little bump this week, passing two undefeated teams, Louisville and FSU.  The good news is that two teams ahead of Georgia will play each other (Oregon and Stanford) and Georgia, should it make it back to the SECCG, will get a crack at another highly ranked team, perhaps a top-ranked Alabama squad.  That will clear some of the underbrush.  The bad news is that there are several other undefeated teams still out there, including the Clemson squad that notched a win over Georgia.  It’s also worth keeping an eye on 10th-ranked Oklahoma.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions on the computer front yet, but a look at Sagarin’s early rankings doesn’t offer much ground for optimism.  Despite playing the toughest schedule on the list and having two wins over top thirty teams (and one over a top ten team), Georgia ranks only ninth, behind two other one loss teams, including LSU.

All of which means it’s still a very mixed bag for the Dawgs.  As BCS Guru puts it,

With its victory over LSU, Georgia staved off BCS elimination and bolstered its credentials considerably now that it’s played three games against top 10 teams and is 2-1. With a win over South Carolina, the Bulldogs are in control of the SEC East as long as they defeat Florida in Jacksonville. Their problem stems from their loss to Clemson as they’ll not be able to jump an unbeaten—or even a one-loss—Tigers, Oregon or Stanford if they finish without a loss.

Which means things are pretty simple for now: focus on getting back to Atlanta and winning the SECCG.  That’s all Georgia can control at this point.  Get there and hope the football gods are kinder than they were in 2002.