CFN looks at Georgia’s 2016 scheduling and ranks it easier than every SEC team’s except Vanderbilt’s.
… They have to go on the road against Ole Miss, but Missouri, South Carolina and Kentucky is like scheduling Christmas. There’s no Alabama or LSU to deal with, and Tennessee is at home. Yeah, North Carolina begins the season and Georgia Tech ends it, but those will be in front of home crowds.
If there’s a good reason to expect ten wins this season, that’s it.
Get The Picture 
This is the worst kind of happy talk there is: the idea that this presumed super easy schedule is a good reason to expect 10 wins. Man it’s really, really making me uneasy.
It’s “the worst” because as this narrative builds it means that if we do reach 10 wins many people will just shrug and say, “Well, it’s to be expected – we had such an easy schedule,” whereas (I believe) in reality it would be monumental for this team to get 10 wins this season.
Too much fundamental change in the coaching staff and too much uncertainty all around – especially at QB and the RB situation (at least to start the season).
Overall is our schedule easy? Maybe. But as has been mentioned time and time again, our first five games will feature three Top 25 opponents. On what planet is that an easy schedule for a team that’s breaking in an almost entirely new coaching staff and possibly a true freshman QB (or a graduate student with severe and well-known limitations)?
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Context matters. An “easy” SEC schedule means something different from an “easy” ACC schedule, for example.
There’s no shame in Georgia winning ten games this year.
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True. Georgia’s “easy” schedule is objectively probably as tough or more tough than over half of all the P5 conference teams. According to pre-season rankings anyway. I’m always interested to see how perceived toughness of schedules change as certain teams out-perform or under-perform expectations in a big way.
For instance, if UNC, Ole Miss, and Tennessee are just as good as everyone expects them to be…. but, say for instance, Florida and Auburn are each ranked in the Top 15 by the time we end up playing them (which is possible!)…. wouldn’t we automatically, then, end up having had one of the toughest regular season schedules of the year?
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Sure… and that’ll be taken into account then.
It’s preseason, brother. It’s all we’ve got for now.
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“There’s no shame in Georgia winning ten games this year.”
Unless you want your picture taken with a national championship trophy at your local Wal-Mart … Then, it’s time to pitch a fit.
I expect 9 and would love to see 10 regular season wins. I just want to beat Florida more than anything.
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Apparently you memory is short, our last ten win season got our coach fired. So maybe the easy schedule doesn’t make everyone happy or safe. You have zero cover from winning 10 games, if they are the wrong ten games.
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Doesn’t a head coach have to actually be around to coach that tenth win game in order to get the cred? CMR was 9-3 last year.
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Geez. How artful, and pitiful.
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I fail to understand how 10 wins would be “monumental” when the last regime averaged 10 wins. Every college team has to deal with the same issue Georgia does.
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It’s almost like UGA is actually better than most of the teams on the schedule and should probably win those games.
weird.
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I feel we are equal to Ole Miss and UT and better than the rest. If we play our A game against those two and avoid a stumble against the rest…
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Agree with the Senator. You never really know. Remember, last year Auburn was the pick to win the SEC and even challenge for the National Title. Tech was coming off a big Orange Bowl win and appeared to be consensus favorite to play Clemson really tough. Mizzou was worse than expected. Then again, Florida turned out to be better than many expected. Guaranteed that there will be teams we play who are tougher than expected and others that will be a disappointment to their fan base. That is exactly what makes CFB so fantastic.
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How in the heck could Vanderbilt’s schedule be easier than Georgia’s? They don’t get to play Vanderbilt.
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This is exactly what I was thinking… Their schedule is almost identical to ours this year weirdly… http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-16/2016-vanderbilt-commodores-football-schedule.php
OOC – GA Tech
SECW – Auburn (r), Ole Miss
I assume the difference is we play UNC compared to their WKU game, but that doesn’t seem to balance out the UGA/Vandy game.
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it’s kind of comical to watch the “demanders of excellence” backpeddling from their customary expecatations that UGA shouldn’t lose more than maybe 1 game, sweep to the East title, and probably win the SEC. We’ve always had the talent, they reasoned, it’s just the coaching that holds UGA back. Well, now they have their guy, and suddenly they all have the vapors about how it will go.
Me? Kirby is my coach now. If he’s half of what the excellence demanders were claiming he was back when he was still in Tuscaloosa, He had a good recruiting class, he seems focused and energetic, the staff hires seem first class, and there’s a lot of returning talent that seems to have bought in on his approach. I see no reason why UGA can’t win the East this year. The schedule, as an SEC schedule, is not “easy,” but it’s about as favorable as it could be in July.
Who knows how the season plays out (injuries, flukes, mental mistakes), but right now, today? I don’t see anyone on the schedule we shouldn’t beat. I don’t expect us to go undefeated, but I’m looking for an upgrade, frankly, not a bunch of excuses before the first play. I’m excited to see what we have, and I expect to see some deliveries on the promises.
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Well said you silver tongued devil.
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A step back is sometimes warranted before moving forward. We are THIN in a few crucial areas…
Still don’t get why folks continually bring up what CMR did here, what good does it do? He Coaches for Miami…
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Are some of y’all so blinded by your disdain for the man that you don’t understand why people bring up what he did? He was the coach for 15 years and had a huge hand in where the program is today, for better or worse. Y’all have no problem talking about all the ways he set the program back, but get the vapors (to steal a line from 81Dog) when anybody talks about the good he did.
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We can agree to disagree, change was made..we all want to win something of consequence I believe…
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Just saying – five years from now, he will certainly be less relevant. However, it’s impossible to discuss the current state of the program in an intellectually honest manner without at least acknowledging the previous boss’s hand in it.
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UGA Creationist:
FACTS:
UGA didnt evolve from CMR.
UGA was sprung forth from Saban’s Rib.
UGA is only 9 months old.
#newUGA
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Kind of like Florida never played football before 1990.
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98% of College football would kill to have the Georgia’s “thin areas”. Every college team has to deal thing such as roster turnover and inexperience.
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Everyone except maybe Alabama is THIN in a few crucial areas. UGA is as well equipped as anyone to handle that issue, certainly as well equipped as anyone not coached by Nick Saban. I note that Nick is breaking in a new QB this year, and lost the Heisman trophy winning RB, and some awfully good defensive starters. Do you hear anyone in Tuscaloosa whining about how thin they are? Have I not been hearing for years that UGA underachieved with all the talent on the roster? Didn’t we hire a guy who was supposed to be an improvement?
I’m not bringing up the former coach, except to point out that he didn’t leave the cupboard bare, and he won a lot. Why should we expect worse results with the same or better talent, and better coaching? I’m all for waiting to the end of the season before making any decisions about how good or bad things are, but I don’t understand why the people who wanted Kirby so badly in the first place seem to be the ones who are the most afraid of the schedule, the talent level, his game day experience, the sun being in his eyes, etc. Hiring him was a bold move. Expect bold results.
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Didn’t mean to seem to be singling you out….I Have really zero expectations this year…too many unknowns for me. Next year, now that is another story…
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you might be right in tempering your expectations. None of us know anything at this point, we just have to see what happens. I can’t blame anyone who’s been a UGA fan for more than a year for adhering to the Dooley/Munson School of Dire Forecasting. Me, I guess I’m more of a Optimistic With a Tinge of Concern kind of guy. I expected us to win the East the last couple of years; Chubb going down was unforeseeable (although injuries are just part of the game), but in August, I figured “we should win.”
At least in September, we can all be talking about what actually just happened!!!
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What promises? And by whom?
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As one of the better teams in the East, we should have one of the SEC’s easier schedules every year. Especially the years we don’t play Alabama. Our schedule is usually favorable; now we need to capitalize and get to ATL.
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How many SEC teams play two Power 5 teams OOC?
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And of those, how many get to play one that’s lost 13 of the last 15 in the series?
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The answer is one,….you think GT is not better than the patsies that our rivals have lined up?
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Tech was 3-9 last season. Let’s not pump them up too much yet, okay?
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LOL…they may stink…but not like the patsies our rivals regularly line up. I’ll give you that the SEC slate may be the easiest, the road games probably could not be any easier..at least on paper with the info we have now.
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The OOC games don’t count directly toward the East title. I am really concerned at this point about getting to Atlanta, and the SEC schedule sets up well for us in this regard.
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now, now. Math is hard for some people. You can go back as far as 1991 (a tidy 25 years) and that 13 for 15 becomes, what? 20 for 25? Tech isn’t the same as playing Mars Hill or Elon, but it isn’t like playing Ohio State every year, either. As far as solid D1 wins go, that game is money in the proverbial bank about 80 percent of the time the last 25 years, and probably 70 percent of the time since Coach Dooley rode into town. Why are the excellence demanders so afraid of a mediocre D1 program we usually beat?
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No mention of the WLOCP?
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Easier opponents on the road, tougher opponents at home or at (somewhat) neutral sites. Nobody except fu has a bye the week before we play them. The games set up well.
– big UGA ‘home’ crowd at the dome for unc.
– ole miss has to survive bama the week before we travel to Oxford.
– ut vs fu the week before they come to Athens.
– scu gets aTm the week before we travel there.
– auburn could have 4+ losses and be a beat up team by the time they come to Athens. Gus might be on the megabus outta town.
– I think it’s likely gtu will have 6+ losses by the time they come to Athens. Fishfry might need to change his nickname to lame duck.
We’re a very strong contender for the division title with this schedule. Remember all those years fu had an off week before Jax, and we didn’t? This schedule has none of those built-in disadvantages, and quite a few advantages.
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just kick it out the damn endzone.
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Hear, hear.
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Think most everyone is finally admitting that Kirby stepped on at a most opportune time. Even our perceived weak areas, (OL) returns more starts than all but one team I believe. Will be favored in 10 maybe 11 games, so anything less than 10 regular season will be disappointing.
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In reality, that is always the case..no matter the Coach.
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