Georgia hasn’t had much respect from the national pundits over the last two weeks. I mean, how else do you describe a widespread attitude that a top ten team was destined to lose to a team riding a fifteen-game conference losing streak?
Have the Missouri and Arkansas results made for a perceptible change in the media’s opinion of Georgia? Maybe. At least I’m seeing a couple of canaries in the coal mine now.
Check out Bruce Feldman’s brief synopsis of where Georgia stands. Kudos for taking a crack at “everybody’s trendy upset pick”.
And Jerry Hinnen asks a good question in his piece: “If the absence of Gurley and the UGA secondary aren’t enough to derail the Bulldogs, what holes do they really have?”
I hate to think stuff like this matters, but when the selection committee is going all touchy-feely this year, I don’t want the Dawgs to be perceived as the team that was expected to lose to Missouri and Arkansas. So, yeah, this is a start, hopefully.
Get The Picture 
This stuff bugs me, but then I remember if we win out, we’ll be there. No doubt. I means we will have beaten Auburn plus the SECW rep in the SECCG. We will get respect eventually, but for now I can see the benefit of not being taken seriously.
LikeLike
Our problem could lie with losing to Auburn and then winning the SEC Championship game. It seems inconceivable the SEC could get left out of the final 4, but if we’re viewed as a weak representative from the conference where all the good teams were from the West, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Especially if there are a number of 1 loss teams out there.
LikeLike
If there is a way for the SEC champion to be left out of the big 4, we will find it.
Damn, that’s negative, especially for me, a dyed-in-the-wool Disney Dawg.
LikeLike
It would find us.
LikeLike
11-2 SEC Champ is in, book it.
LikeLike
I want to believe that, PTC, but I think 11-2 UGA from the East might get left out. An 11-2 Champ who’s been through the West round robin certainly will not get left out.
LikeLike
If I remember correctly, the last SEC champion to not play for the national title was….the University of Georgia.
LikeLike
Auburn 2004.
LikeLike
UGA 2005.
LikeLike
UGA 2007 (de facto).
LikeLike
Just keep winning. 1) if we’re a 12-1 sec champ we’re not getting left out. We’ll have beaten auburn and the west champ. That’s a plenty good resume. 2)we’ve never been “left out”. In 02, 07, 05, & 12 there were always at least 2 teams with better resumes. Yes, even in 07. 3) even if we’re 10-2 I’d be giddy especially if it includes a trip to Atlanta. You have to be extremely proud of this team. They’ve over come a lot of adversity and the way the play TOGETHER as a team is very refreshing. It’s not one unit carrying the team. It’s special teams making sure the offense and defense have good field position. It’s an offense that takes care of the football and has a freshman step in and continue the amazing running game when we lose our star. It’s a fifth year guy who’s paid his dues and it’s starting to gel with his receivers in addition to providing leadership when we needed it most. It’s a relentless pass rush and front seven that’s allowed the secondary to develop. Lastly it’s a team improving and hitting it’s stride in the middle of the season. How can you not love these guys?
DisclAimer: if this long schpell jinxes them for the Florida game.
LikeLike
Good post. This hyper-fascination with making the 4 team playoff and “if Georgia doesn’t win the national championship we’re not worth a damn” is sick. The team is 6-1 and ranked #9 in the nation. Win the SEC East and get to Atlanta for a chance to win the SEC–that’s all one can do during the regular season. If more than that comes later, great–the rest is gravy.
LikeLike
This
LikeLike
Yeah nice post, Mayor. If we continue to get better and play well, and we’re 10-2 going into Atlanta, and make a good showing there, we have to be pretty happy with that.
But the Senator has a good point about Georgia’s national reputation and the perception of The Committee. That could turn out to be very important, even this year. While we might be happy to get to Atlanta, none of us wants to get screwed by The Committee the next week if it worked out we lost the SECCG but were still in the Playoff picture. It IS possible, and moreso than what happened in 2007.
So it’s critical that we stay solid and keep getting better.
~~~
LikeLike
Beat florida
LikeLike
The narrative won’t change until the Todd Gurley situation is resolved.
LikeLike
Proly that’s true…not for any rational reason, but the national punditry will go bananas when/if this gets settled…if we get him back they will go all post-Clemson on Georgia.
LikeLike
So I coach a 5th and 6th grade football team. One of our players is a pretty big kid who is also fast; has potential to be a really good player. One thing I’ve found is that the worst thing you can do for the kids is to compliment or praise him during a game for good play. For whatever reason, if you praise him for making a good play, which I like to do with kids, he inevitably screws up the next play. He even recognizes this, and has told the coaches not to compliment him.
I think UGA is like this. And not just this year. I hope the pundits keep knocking our team. The last think we need is for the players to hear from all the media that we are the favorite for making the playoffs, a’la Herbie after we beat Clemson.
LikeLike
This. Not the same for everyone, but Ga plays so much better as the underdog. I want everyone to keep doubting us.
Also, there is a long way to go for this, but to me the nightmare scenario is us losing to Auburn or someone else, making the SECCG, and upsetting an undefeated Ole Miss or MSU. Then the Committee takes the one loss west team and the one lose Notre Dame team, undefeated FSU, and either a Pac 12, Big 10, or Big 12 team. I really think there will be some very serious issues with the 4 team selection each of the first two years, which will be enough to go to 8 teams by year 3.
LikeLike
Winning thr SEC is never a nightmare scenario, ever.
LikeLike
Ordinarily I would wholeheartedly agree, but in the world of our new playoff overlords….
LikeLike
I guess I just view it differently…..if we win the SEC with one or two losses, I see UGA in the playoff..winning with 3 losses would be a big upset, and again I see no downside. I need a newer hat than 2005. 🙂
LikeLike
You raise an interesting scenario. In that situation, could the polls just decide to vote SEC Champion Georgia as their national champion in spite of the playoff, much like what happened with Southern Cal when one poll picked the Trojans when they were not picked to play in the BCSNCG?
LikeLike
The AP and coaches poll will name the playoff winner as champion. An SEC champion that is left out of the playoff could be named champion in one of the computer polls.
LikeLike
Do the AP and coaches polls even have a vote at all post bowl season? The reason I ask is the following scenario: Suppose a 2-loss Georgia wins the SECCG but gets left out of the playoff when three 1 loss teams and a fourth team that has 2 losses get in. The #4 seed upsets the #1 seed and goes on to win. Georgia really waxes some team in its bowl by 35 points. The #4 seed unimpressively eaks out wins in both of its playoff games. Georgia was rated #5 by the committee. If the polls still voted after the bowls a situation like that might persuade a whole lot of folks to ignore the “requirement” to declare the playoff winner the national champion and vote for Georgia instead. This would be a demonstration that the committee screwed up and picked the wrong 2 loss team (which I have been saying for years about 2007 and the final regular season BCS poll).
LikeLike
Comparing us to other 1 loss teams right now, we do have a hill to climb. Teams like Bama, ND and MSU lost to much more respectable opponents than we did. But as posted above – win out and hopefully it takes care of itself.
We did get a nice shout out from Kirk and Chris in the ND-FSU game though so hopefully people were listening.
LikeLike
Win out and we are in. lose one more game and win SEC… Yeah I’d say the media impression matters.
LikeLike
That is a scenario that would wreck the playoff in its first year if the committee took an sec team but did not take the sec champion. I would rather see us just win out but watching the committee trying to maintain its credibility by having to explain why a 2 loss sec champion gets in ahead of other 1 loss teams would be fun. That whole have to win your conference thing you know.
LikeLike
I know how it’d play out, and it’d look a lot like 2007.
LikeLike
Si, Senor.
LikeLike
BTW, that Foxsports website is a disaster. I clicked the Feldman link and entered a world of ads, pop-ups and basically wall to wall noise. I think there was a video in there somewhere I was supposed to watch but shut it down before getting that far.
LikeLike
Just curious; what browser are you using?
LikeLike
Chrome
LikeLike
I got to admit that I was pretty po’d by all the pundits picking against the Dawgs last week. Jason Sehorn really ticked me off with his comments and attitude. Yeah, I took it personally.
LikeLike
Sehorn is a dope. There’s something wrong with the guy.
LikeLike
This is par for the course for Georgia. In 2012, despite having one loss, everyone wrote us off in the SEC Championship game and we were going to get trucked by Alabama. Opinions only changed when we almost beat them and they destroyed Notre Dame.
Let them piss on Georgia all they want; this team plays well when they’re pissed off.
LikeLike
Feldman ends with, “If you have a chance at the SEC Championship game, who knows what that could lead to?”
Yep, who knows? But it’s a good bet that a one-loss Georgia team winning the SEC would get to dress for the dance. And from there? Right, who knows?
LikeLike
I’m going all Nick Saban on what the pundits say, although I do understand the beauty contest issue. What I do have time for is getting ready for Florida.
Pruitt and us have been lucky about not getting banged up in the secondary so far and there is still a whole lot of football to be played.
If we can go to Duval Street, rip the hearts outa the Gators and “stomp them suckers flat” then I can start worrying about going to Lexington at night.
I gotta say this about the quarterback play… When 14 got the ever lovin shit knocked out of him on the targeting penalty, then went back to the huddle pumping his fist and yelling….man…that was a goosebumper. Kid is a baller.
LikeLike
+1
LikeLike
Not embarrassed to say I jumped off my couch and screamed at the TV, “#14, you are one tough mother!!”
LikeLike
Ok, here’s the truth….I was so choked up I could barely talk…turned to my son, said “There is a man.”
LikeLike
Just win, and Georgia’s national reputation and resume will be more than good enough to make the playoff. All the commentary at this point is just irrelevant noise designed to spark more meaningless debate.
Personally, I think Georgia is more often over-lauded by the national press than the other way around. I actually prefer when everyone dismisses them, because they tend to play better, with a chip on their shoulder, in such cases.
LikeLike
Well, Florida is really tough and they are DUE so we should be the hip underdog pick in that one too!
LikeLike
What I cannot figure out is how Michigan State is ranked so high. I get it, they lost to Oregon and it was a very close game through three quarters. But guess what? Football is a four quarter sport and they got spanked in the 4th. If it was a three quarter sport Arkansas would only have two losses.
MSU has not beaten anybody this season and they are ranked so high because they played three quarters of good football against a team now ranked behind them in the Coaches Poll.
LikeLike
MSU is in the Big Ten and that conference gets undeserved respect every year based on nostalgia and nothing more
LikeLike
In all fairness, MSU’s loss is better than ours. Along with the other one loss teams currently ranked ahead of us, not that any of that matters…but it is what it is right now.
MSU and most of the other one loss teams don’t have a chance of playing two top 5 teams between now and years end…UGA does..
LikeLike
It’s really simple. Win out and were in, drop another game and were out.
LikeLike
A lot can happen, I don’t think it is as simple as you state.
LikeLike
Just get ready and beat Florida. My god 4 in a row in right there for us. 4 in a row in Jacksonville. Close your eyes and you can almost taste for salty gator tears.
LikeLike
So Georgia leads the SEC in PPG and the Red and Black (amongst others I presume) is saying we “held on” or “squeaked by” Arkansas, So I thought I should point this out:
The Arkansas game ended, with us running a 10 play drive, 52 yards which ended in V formation at the Arkansas 10
The Clemson Game ended with a 5:23 drive ending in V formation on the Clemson 9
The Tennessee game ended with a 6 play 22 yards drive ending in V Formation at the Tenn 20
The Mizz game ended with us running a 9 Plays for 52 yards that ended in V formation at the Mizz 12
My first wish this offseason was that, win or lose, we have a few games that weren’t white-buckle nail-biting heart-stopping madness until the last second. My Heart could’t take another 2013. Mission accomplished.
LikeLike
As Mr. Corso might say “Not so fast, my friends…”
We have a very tough game ahead of us against Auburn and Florida always seems to bring its A game to Jax. Meanwhile, Mizzou only has one conference loss and should be favored to win the rest of its games. The only one that appeared to be a challenge, A & M, doesn’t look so tough now. If we lose to Auburn and Mizzou runs the table they are the SEC East champs with one conference loss versus our two.
Easy? I don’t think so.
LikeLike
Let’s be serious for a second. Florida doesnt have an A game. They dont even have a B game.
UGA is going to rollin jacksonville. that is all.
LikeLike
I sure hope you are right-,but if the players are thinking like that we are in trouble
LikeLike
Florida was terrible last year and look how poor we played against them. But they quit on Boom so i don’t see them coming with a scare, but I would like to have Gurley there.
LikeLike
We need to lay 60 on FU at the WLOCP–sort of making a statement, as it were.
LikeLike
Yes people 1 game at a time. .Florida will give it hell until we get up buy 2 scores. hope they let Driskill start.
LikeLike
We earned our reputation of underachievement, giving games away, falling flat on our face every time we approached the top, etc., over a period of 9 years.
So it’ll take at least one solid year before people become believers. If that happens this year, that’ll be enough to wipe it away, IMO, at least almost all of it.
~~~
LikeLike
somebody needs to link up the video to DJ Khalid’s “All I Do is Win.” It’s just the right amount of &$%^ you, doubters, in my opinion.
LikeLike