Georgia Bulldogs - Season Predictions

The last few days have been eventful in Athens.  The Bulldogs wrapped up two-a-day practices on Friday and held their annual Picture Day festivities on Saturday.  During the Saturday morning practice word got out that Georgia followed up the #1 USA Today ranking by picking up the top spot in the AP Poll.  It is a great time to be a Bulldog.  Let’s just hope this preseason respect and optimism from the pollsters is proved true by performance on the field.

 I will discuss preseason practice and the events from Picture Day in a later blog but to start things off I want to layout my season prediction for the Dawgs.  I came up with this during a late night while drinking way too much of the Georgia Bulldog Red and Black flavored kool-aid so there may be some logic missing from the game to game predictions but I hope this makes a good starting point for conversation.

 So here we go:

 8-30 Georgia Southern - no Appalachian State upset here.  GSU entered fall camp with 52 redshirt and true freshmen and only 16 seniors.  UGA stops scoring points only when they decide to stop.
 
9-06 Central Michigan – Dan LeFevour is the best running QB in the MAC who gets crazy stats.  The Chippewas will score points in the first half and this will be the first of 4 spread offense teams the Dawgs face this season.  Our defense can use this game as a warm-up for the contests with more skilled players.  We will get scared, but their defense will be no match for Knowshon, he runs for 150.
 
9-13 South Carolina – The Gamecocks should have a good defense again this year.  They get back some key defenders lost to injuries last season, most notably all-SEC linebacker Jasper Brinkley.  The problem is the Carolina offense.  This is a major mismatch, our defense against their offense.  The chickens’ offensive line and quarterback play was sporadic late last season and that trend will likely continue in 2008.  Look for Steve Spurrier to play musical chairs with his QBs.  Gamecock fans have looked for the second coming of Steve Tannyhill in Stephen Garcia but his play in fall camp has put him at the bottom of the depth chart after spending the 2007 season at the top of Columbia’s police blotter.  They have a good receiver in Kenny McKinley, but will whoever starts at quarterback have time to throw to him before Jeff Owens and the heat seeking missile Rennie Curran crash the pocket?  This game has been too close for too many years, it’s time for Georgia to break one open.  This is our 1st conference game and we need to start strong in SEC play.  UGA 35-7
 
9-20 at Arizona St – This game is played 100,000 miles away from Athens, in the desert.  Look for 30,000 Georgia fans to make the trip.  ASU sold out their season ticket packages this year because UGA fans bought them all up just for this game.  (you could get a full ticket package starting at 100 bucks).  This is the first ranked team we face but still no match for our talent.  We will see Knowshon and Caleb King have big numbers.  42-10
 
9-27 Alabama in Athens - We won’t go to overtime this year.  Bama talked the #1 high school receiver in the nation into joining the Tide (Julio Jones) and he will have a good game, but can they stop our offense?  Knowshown had a good game against them last year while playing behind Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin.  He scored Georgia’s only rushing TD of that game.  I also think Stafford goes off in this one. 
 
10-11 Tennessee in Athens- Dawgs come out in all black wanting revenge for last year’s embarrassment.  That’s all we have to say.  24-7
 
10-18 Vanderbilt (homecoming)- This was the game that turned the season around last year for the Dawgs, it won’t be close this year.
 
This is where the grind starts-
 
10-25 LSU in Red Stick - This will be a night game and Death Valley will be rocking.  I could see this being a defensive clinic and a low scoring game.  Georgia true freshman Blair Walsh kicks the most important field goals of his life and we win by 6.
 
11-01 Florida - The earth stops rotating for this game.  UGA and UF will be ranked 1 and 2 and all eyes will be on Jacksonville.  Florida head coach Urban Meyer is still mad about Georgia’s end zone celebration last year and vows revenge.  This will be a high scoring game, but Florida’s D is their weak link again this year.  Dawgs pull away at the end and for the 2nd straight year Saturday night at the Landing on the St Johns River will be all Red and Black. 
 
11-08 Kentucky in Lexington – I know this Kentucky team is light years different from the Wildcats of 2007 but this game kinda bothers me.  If we leave Jacksonville undefeated knowing Auburn is in two weeks will the Bulldogs have a letdown?  I can see this game being sloppy but we pull out a squeaker.
 
11-15 at Auburn - Away team historically wins this game, but can we do it again?  Auburn is now figuring out their new spread offense but at this point in the season the spread is no big deal for our defense.  Question is can we score against their D?  I don’t think the Tigers will have a meltdown like last year.  The atmosphere and intensity of last year’s Blackout game shocked the Tigers.  This game will be close and Auburn may very well get one on us.
 
11-29 Georgia Tech in Athens - Tech has a new coach and is now running the spread.  Four offensive players quit when Paul Johnson was hired.  It’s really a bad situation for Tech.  If we lose to Auburn, UGA will be pissed and roll big.  If the Bulldog Express is still on track at this last home game the Yellow Jackets will be just a bump on the rail.  Knowshon runs for 150 yards in 3 quarters and watches the 4th on the sidelines.
 
It’s a fact that Georgia will have to win the SEC conference game in Atlanta to get to the national championship game.  One of the 3 teams the Dawgs already played in the regular season will be the western opponent, Auburn, Alabama, or LSU.  This feat has been done before in the SEC, LSU beat Georgia in the 2003 regular season and in the championship game on their way to the national championship.  Dawgs win and the celebration is on.  Athens and Atlanta dang near implode from the celebration.  UGA fans leave the SEC game and immediately head to Miami.  The national championship game is a clinic on SEC football.  Will the opponent of this beatdown be Ohio State again?  The Buckeyes are already being penciled in for the game by the media despite a pop warner schedule (other than the USC Trojans on September 13).  We shall see, look for this season to be just as wacky as last year.
 
So that it, there’s my prediction for the season.  Anyone else?

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