It’s no great surprise that the media’s preseason predictions at SEC Media Days aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. As Barrett Sallee observes, the media has predicted the eventual SEC champion just seven times in the 27 years since the divisional split in 1992.
Sallee goes on to break down the predictions versus results by team for the seven seasons since the last round of expansion. Alabama’s pretty much spot on, because Alabama. I’m amused to see the same people who loudly proclaim what a great coach Dan Mullen is have consistently underrated the chances of his Mississippi State teams.
As far as Georgia goes,
(-4) Georgia has matched its hype five times over the last seven seasons. The two misses were in 2013 and 2015, when they finished third after being picked to win the SEC East. All three of Kirby Smart’s teams have matched their prediction.
He labels Georgia over-hyped, but that’s a little unfair. If the media had known in advance about the rash of injuries that hit the team in 2013, the Dawgs wouldn’t have been the preseason divisional favorites. That leaves one season out of seven in which Georgia under-performed the media’s expectations.
I expect after this one, it’ll be one season in eight.
Get The Picture 
That 2013 season was a season of “what if.” An extremely difficult September with the huge win over Mett and LSU and the USCjr smack down had us in position. By the time the team had its knees under it after all of the injuries in Kneeland, it took a miracle for the eventual national runner-up to beat them. Then Murray got hurt and we were untouchable by the bowl committees. I don’t imagine we would have finished our season in Jacksonville for Murray’s last game. I guarantee you we would have been in Tampa at worst for him to play his last game in his hometown.
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No depth
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No one could have taken the repeated injuries at the same positions (running back and receiver) we did over a 4 game stretch and be successful.
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Would have been nice to have had a full boat.
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When you play with a roster of 68 s cholarship players……
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That Vandy loss hurt, but they will sneak up on your ass every now and then. Only the second loss to Vandy under Richt….two too many. But still better than the average (historically).
The ’94 game was the most miserable loss I can remember as far as losses go. The day the team just quit on Goff, also homecoming if I remember correctly. That was the day that I knew it was time for him to go….DGD though, had us within 5 points of being undefeated in ’92.
Nonetheless, the ’13 season was a tough one.
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That Vandy loss was due to 2 terrible targeting calls and 2 special teams disasters. We had a two score lead when Ramik Wilson was called for targeting on the 4th down play. Because no one wanted to hurt officials’ fee-fees, the 15 yard penalty and first down stood that first year of the penalty.
I thought the targeting rule was a good rule until that day.
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From the standpoint of someone that never played the game, that tackle by Ramik Wilson was as textbook a tackle as any one I’ve ever seen.
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It was truly horrible and was as a PWG penalty as I’ve ever seen (runner-up to the ultimate – AJ Green’s “excessive celebration” in the 2009 LSU game).
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was there, in Nashville (lived there at the time)….I had the best seats in the house. Which is not hard at their stadium. Had to listen to “Vandy Lance” during the game….he is probably still talking about it.
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The symmetry between this pre-season UF team and last year’s pre-season SC team is amazing. This time last year, the trendy east pick was SC, who was coming off a 9+ win season and a Michigan bowl victory. That previous season they sported an outlier turnover margin and were supposed to have the top receivers and a junior experienced QB. Sound familiar?
Then the season and depth happens.
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The “under achieving” meme is much ado about nothing. Like all teams, UGA has been both overrated , and underrated, by people who post predictions long before the team has even assembled for the first time. Love the inability to project the surprises that occur every year in CFB. I like the look of this team as we look at 2019 in July, hope we are close to how good I think this team just might be. Very slight weaknesses to be found anywhere, loads of depth and talent, just give us good health, stand back and get the coaches and refs out of the way. Could be the best UGA team potential I have seen going into a season. Dawgs have a better chance of reaching Atlanta than the Tide, imo, but I do hope they win the West. 11-1 my guess, with a floor, and a ceiling, one game either way. 49 days.
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