Besides Vanderbilt and Tenn Tech it looks like UGA could have an extremely tough year.

what kind of leash does he have? Enough for a 4-5 loss season?

will bless the Bulldogs.

I have faith.

Especially with the defensive meltdowns that are sure to occur in 3 outta’ the first 5.

…1-AA opponents, but they almost get a pass on that one for the rest of the schedule.

Let me come at this with the Georgia perspective as I probably follow the program stronger than most of you guys, being an alum and all. No disrespect, just that there’s the indisputable fact of looking at this with crimson-colored glasses (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

First off, the Georgia collapse from pre-season #1 to the worst 10 win season I can remember was the concurrence of a perfect storm of things. Frankly, I believe injuries played a bigger role than anyone’s willing to admit. I know the old adage that injuries are a part of the game and for that I don’t disagree. What injuries did to this team kept its most vocal leader on defense (Jeff Owens) off the field and never allowed the team to actually practice at full-speed due to fear of further injury. Even Coach Richt admitted they didn’t tackle in practice as much as they have in the past due to sheer lack of bodies to run practice. They got after the tackling drills for the bowl game and you could tell the difference with the way they handled Michigan State and shut down Javon Ringer.

The biggest thing to me was the lack of a vocal leader on the team. No one truly realizes how big the loss of Jeff Owens was, but he was the only vocal leader on the team and you could tell the lack of player leadership during the “Funeral” and the Cocktail Party. The team choked in both of those and basically dug itself into a hole it couldn’t climb out.

The biggest deficiency on the defensive side of the ball was the lack of DE devleopment. Nobody stepped up this past year like Marcus Howard/Quentin Moses/Charles Johnson have in the post-David Pollack era and it showed. There was never consistent pressure on the QB and any defense will get picked apart if you give a D-1 QB 4-6 seconds to make a decision.

For 2009, contrary to popular belief, the OL should be Georgia’s strongest collective position. There is tons of experience due to all the Frosh and Sophs that have played in the last two years. The team also returns Sturdivant who was a stud his freshman year and is the best lineman on the team. This is of course assuming the ridiculous rash of OL injuries doesn’t hit this team again (I honestly believe Mark Richt peed in the injury gods’ Cheerios or something because last year was just something ridiculous).

With a stronger OL that should help out a running game that obviously won’t have a back that matches the talent of Knowshon Moreno, but it’s not like Georgia’s been recruiting a bunch of chopped liver back there. These are guys that were wanted by schools all over the country, so there’s definitely talent back there. Whether that translates to a successful running game is yet to be seen, but there won’t be as much pressure on the backs to be Moreno-like elusive due to the improved OL.

Now Joe Cox is the unknown commodity. He’s looked good in his mop up time and he led the team to 14 4th quarter points versus Colorado in 2006 to avoid a really embarassing defeat at home. Don’t forget that Cox was a highly recruited QB when he came out and was unfortunate in that he redshirted his freshman year due to DJ Shockley and got stuck behind Stafford the last three. I don’t think there’s as big a drop off in offensive production as everyone thinks. In fact, all interviews from Mike Bobo and Joe Cox have indicated that the team intends to be even more aggressive on offense than last year (this also is due to what is expected to be an improved OL and WR weapons).

As objectively as I can state, I don’t expect Georgia to win the SEC next year. I don’t even expect them to win the East (being that Florida returns its two-deep on defense and the God-Child at QB). But I would not be surprised at all if this were the best team that Mark Richt has fielded at Georgia since 2002 either. By all accounts, the leadership is already there that didn’t exist last year and the team seems more hungry than 2008.

I think 2008 humbled this team and they bought into the hype. You could tell when they got down in the ‘Bama and Florida games that they just expected things to turn just because they were pre-season #1. Last year’s Georgia team reminds me a lot of the 2007 Florida team in that respect. They felt entitled based on what other people thought of them and didn’t work as hard as they should have to realize their goals.

Frankly, this team can make some noise next year in the SEC should they stay relatively healthy and a pass rush from DE emerges. That schedule is pretty darn brutal, but if they can get through OK State and South Carolina without losing, this may be a team to watch. Thanks for letting me air my comments and feel free to comment on my post to let me know whether you agree or disagree.

….is of course the Defending National Champs, the Florida Gators!

Besides facing UGA and LSU, and maybe you guys an SEC championship rematch, they could come to their other games drunk and half asleep and still win. I haven’t checked but i doubt there is an easier schedule for an SEC team.