I guess fans aren’t the only folks who play the “what if” game. Here’s something from Charles Johnson:
PG: After a standout junior year, you decided to go pro early. And, a lot of people, especially in the media, give their reasons—or, what they think are the reasons—why players enter the NFL Draft early. So, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you enter the draft early?
CJ: First off, I always wonder—I mean, I truly think about it a lot—what if I had stayed [for the 2007 season] because that year was when Georgia won the Sugar Bowl, and really came close to playing for a national championship. I would have played with Marcus Howard (Howard, like Johnson, was a reserve for multiple seasons until finally starting at a defensive end spot his final year in 2007), and I wonder if I would have been able to help the team out further…
Would it have made a difference if he had stayed? I’m not sure he could have done much to change the result in Knoxville that year, but that 16-12 loss to South Carolina… yeah, who knows. And a one-loss regular season would have sent Georgia to the SECCG, in a wild, wild year. Would have been crazy, that’s for sure.
Then again, if Georgia wouldn’t have beaten the ‘Cocks, I hate to think what kind of harm Johnson and Howard together might have inflicted on Colt Brennan in that Sugar Bowl. It was bad enough as it was.
Get The Picture 
Colt Brennan – yeah, that’s one guy who’s glad Johnson didn’t stay. I really thought we were going to kill that guy.
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He did, too.
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From 3rd in the Heisman balloting to irrelevant … That’s what the Georgia defense did to Colt Brennan. My wife said, “Aren’t they going to take him out before we kill him?” She was feeling sorry for the whole Hawaii team at the end.
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We should have had Paul Oliver on that squad, too. He was ruled academically ineligible before the 2007 season and had to enter the supplemental draft. He was a DGD. RIP Paul.
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Yes, he might have helped us beat USCe and the Dawgs would’ve blasted LSU in the SECCG and played for the title.
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I think losing to USC that year was about getting away from the run with Knowshon, which was working. Bobo was still growing into the job at that point. Losing in Knoxville, on the other hand, was a total team letdown.
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Exactly that. Moreno had over 6 ypc that game, but like 15-16 carries total. Stafford attempted well over 20 passes. It was basically the opposite of the offensive plan Bobo used to thrash Florida that season.
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One of two years I thought we could have beaten anyone we played at the end of year.
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Yup, 2007 w/ Stafford & Knowshon and 2009 w/ the Ginger Ninja.
Best teams I ever seen.
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2007? Best team? Then ‘splain that long hot-assed afternoon in Knox Vegas to me again. ‘Cause by 5:00 that day, it looked to me like we shouldn’t have beaten Western Carolina that year. I will agree that they finished strong in the stretch even though it was really over by Columbus Day.
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I’m still pissed we had to play the Polyneasians. What a mismatch. Georgia got screwed…but took it out well on Colt and Co….Remember before the game almost all of the talking heads were picking Hawaii to win the game..Granny Holtz laughed at them and told them that they were about to see the difference between the kind of teams HI had been playing and a real team..”You’re about to see something”…twasn’t long before Colt was sitting on the bench crying.
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I wasn’t happy about the matchup, but the one that bugged me more was getting stuck with a “starting a WR at QB” FSU in 2002 instead of what would have been a really interesting matchup with USC.
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Man, I really thought we’d at least get to go to Pasadena and play USC. But I guess the powers that be weren’t interested in another split title.
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