Bold predictions for 2012

Is it just me, or is already time to get fired up?

Prediction 1: Dawgs win the SEC East going away.
Even in another down year for the East, that's a scary thing to say, because we lose to Florida like it's a career. But this defense will be nasty. Yeah, we got cornerback issues, but quarterbacks taking a dirt nap will make even the thinnest secondary look strong. The offensive line is obviously a question (and when was the last time it wasn't?), but you have to feel good about Aaron Murray's third year under center, the promise our receiving corps showed last year and the talent stacked at running back. The tools are there to run an efficient offense, and efficient offenses, combined with nasty defenses, are deadly.

Prediction 2: Malcolm Mitchell plays a lot of defense.
You'll see him on offense. You might even seen him return a few punts. But I believe it will just be too hard to move him too far from cornerback. Plus ...

Prediction 3: Tavarres King has an All-America type season.
Maybe not first team All-America, but a turn-people's-heads, merit consideration, Biletnikoff-watch-list type season. Sure, it'd be nice to have Mitchell on the other side, stretching the field. But we've got solid WRs all around in Conley and Bennett. If the offensive line can give us a running game and we can throw Malcolm in the mix from time to time, the sky's the limit.

Prediction 4: Malcolm on defense opens doors for the tight ends.
It's not the logjam we had last year at the position, but we've got two talented guys in Artie Lynch and Jay Rome. They're both gonna play, and they're both gonna play a lot. This is going to be a multiple offense with a balance we're not used to seeing.

Prediction 5: Isaiah Crowell does not win the Heisman.
Isaiah, I love you for aiming high, my man. And I got no problem being wrong about this. You've got Heisman-potential talent and, if I have my way, you're going to be a very big part of the best running game this side of the triple option. But you're going to split time with at least two other guys. Plus, how can you win the Heisman when Malcolm Mitchell's going to?

Joe chimes in: I predict 10-2, 1,400 yards from Crowell, defense second best in the nation. I'm banking on Bama or LSU at No. 1. We win the east, Missouri second. Oh, and Tebow screws up the Jets, Dooley gets fired, Kirby Smart takes over UT.

Big Season Ahead if it Worked: The S&C

If the strength, conditioning and nutrition changes we made in the off season worked, this team will win 11 regular season games. I say that despite concerns about the offensive line, safety and wide receiver, not to mention running back and a few other places we're relying on new and largely unproven talent.

We've got a long list of question marks, in fact. But if THIS TEAM can push people around in the Fourth Quarter, I like it's chances an awful lot.

That includes tonight, against what I expect will be a very good Boise State team. I say Dawgs by 3.

The rest of the season? A while back The Dawgbone had a picture / motto / with one basic message: We believe in Joe Tereshinski. It went up after one of the guys played golf with Coach Tereshinski and, like a lot of people who've met him, came away impressed as hell.




"All I can say is JTII is a badass," Deke said. "After the round everyone was socializing in the clubhouse drinking and eating. JTII sat at a table by himself the whole time and talked to no one.

"I’m a fan."





Me too. I think we fulfill a lot more of our potential this year, and I'm excited.

Final Thoughts:

Dan: I hope we don't blow them out too bad and get the big head. Rest of the season, we'll know in 8 days.

Joe: My final thought is we win.

Huff: UGA 35 - BSU 24. Some of the years that we have the most question marks are the years we have the best seasons. What I want to know is are boooze served in the dome for this?

...
Post-game update: I no longer believe in anyone.

The L.I. Season Preview: Holding a growing optimism in check

Joe: Who are your odds-on favorites to melt down and destroy themselves this year? What's LSU got brewing over there? It's gotta be chaos, right? And, then, in the east, it's us and South Carolina for that battle. But the only thing that's really changed, right, is Joe Cox. And Willie Martinez.

Me: You have to think those are improvements.

Last year's season preview was colored by too much of what lead blog analyst Joe Petersen calls "August optimism." And even though I'm predicting a good season this year, the voice in my head says I'm not being optimistic enough. I'm not going to listen to that voice, though, because it's not reasonable.

The 2009 team was full of questions, most of which were answered poorly. This year, there are two very large questions, but perhaps only two.

- How will the new defense do?
- What about Aaron Murray?

Murray is young, but what SEC quarterback isn't this year? Take away Alabama and Arkansas and everyone else has questions marks at quarterback. That is, unless you're sold on Stephen Garcia.

Joe: Lot of intriguing story lines in the SEC. Bama's the clear favorite. Florida is No. 1 in the East, though surely they're not going to be as good as they have been the last two years. Charlie Strong is gone. Don't discount that. Tebow's gone. Their head coach had a heart attack or a stroke or something last December.

Joe: Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, I know how those stories end. I can see the future on those. Ole Miss? Who cares? Tech? They lost some talent.

Me: They still have Nesbitt. He's the key for them.

We've got the best pair of kickers in the nation. I can see us winning a few of those 16-13 games, with Blair Walsh kicking a couple of 42-yard-pus field goals. I can see us using Drew Butler as a weapon, pinning teams on their two yard line and turning Justin Houston loose.

Coach Richt has run that game before.

Our return game should be dangerous. And with new philosophies taking hold on special teams, more capable.

And if last year's team felt like the fastest Georgia squad I'd ever seen, doesn't that mean this year's team is faster? Athletically, you have to figure we're a head above everyone on our schedule, except Florida. We just look fast as hell in this probable 3rd quarter Sanford Stadium video, and there's not even much Orson Charles in it.

Joe: Arkansas and South Carolina, they're early so it's scary. But we shouldn't lose to those two teams. Our 44 against their 44? Come on. I know you're not sold on Auburn.

Me: Correct.

Joe: I'm worried about Auburn. You can write that down.

Schedule-wise we miss Alabama and LSU from the west. In fact the schedule opens up in just about every way we could ask, except it's as boring a home slate as I can remember. Even the South Carolina game, which is usually difficult and probably will be again this year, is bending our way more than usual, what with the problems they've had lately.

We'll be without Munson again this year, though. That seems worth mentioning at least two years in a row.

After the way things broke last year, it seems the No. 1 thing Aaron Murray cannot do this year is kill drives with poorly timed turnovers. He cannot take the wind out of our sails in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Murray's performance at G-Day and Mike Bobo's subsequent description of a "boneheaded" Murray interception during a recent scrimmage are enough to make me worry on this point. And let's not even think about what happens if Murray gets hurt, because the options are a.) emergence of one of the greatest heretofore unknown quarterback legends of all time leading us to the promised land, b.) massive train wreck and c.) slightly less than massive train wreck.

Me: It comes down to the quarterback again. That didn't work out too well last year.

Joe: Well, you don't need a guy to go out and put up Ryan Mallett numbers. So I think it's gonna be a get-back-to-your- roots kind of year. But he's gonna have opportunities to throw the ball. And he does have the greatest player in College Football to throw to. I don't know. Is it wrong to not be that concerned about Aaron Murray?

Me: Is it wrong that I'm not that concerned about the transition to a new defense?

Joe: Yeah, the defense. How bad was that last year? Worst case scenario, this year is better than that, right? Grantham's mantra is disrupt the quarterback. The secondary is strong — the national media doesn't know that yet, but you and I do. And surely the front 7 can put something together, so they're going to be disruptive. I just feel like — as crazy as it sounds — I just feel like there's less to worry about this year.

So what do you figure for us this year? You have to mark the Florida game as a loss until proven otherwise. Auburn, Tech, South Carolina and Arkansas? Maybe we lose two of those, including at least one we shouldn't. And then the question is whether we come up short anywhere else, lose a close game on a bad turnover or a blown assignment in the secondary.

Truthfully, those kind of dumb mistakes seem less likely this year. With a new defense and a redshirt freshman, you have to expect them. But when you compare that expectation to the actual results from last year, how can you expect worse?

So 9-3. That's on the optimistic side of reasonable, which is where I like to live around this time of year.

8-4 would be straight up realism. If you say 10-2, you might be kidding yourself. If you say 11-1, you're just flat out unreasonable ... but part of me thinks you're right.

Georgia girls and Sanford Stadium: Your only guarantees in 2009

And Rennie Curran.
...
A couple of years ago I think Ford had a commercial: "The only guarantee on Gameday? Tailgating."

My tailgate isn't even guaranteed this year. A parking deck is under construction and the University has temporarily destroyed my tailgating spot to execute what looks like a bad ass master plan.

There are a lot of questions about this season, and we're going to have answers very soon. And that is what I think about this team. I think I was more confident about the opener 2 weeks ago.


Note the new red bridge, and yellow riverwalks.

...

JOE: What about Joe Cox, man?

ME: For all our talk about the o-line, here we are at the end, we're talking about the quarterback.

JOE: Can he complete 60 percent of his passes?

ME: That's the question.

JOE: Nah. Too many questions. But, shit, I guess that's what happens sometimes.

I think these are reasonable questions about The Dawgs on Aug. 29, 2009:

• Starting corner opposite Prince Miller
• Safety
• Defensive end
• running back
• Quarterback
• Offensive line
• Defensive coaching

Now, the question is, how many of those do you really feel confident in? And, if you have six or seven questions heading into a season, how reasonable is expecting great success?


Yes, I'm happy to announce that, one week before kickoff, my supreme confidence has turned to organ-gnawing worry. Worry with confidence at its foundation, colored by an excitement for Sanford Stadium. Now it's football season.


Not even guaranteed this year.

I say we truck these fools in their renovated stadium. Otherwise, what the hell are we doing?

One other thing: The University of Georgia Master Plan is to destroy my tailgating spot this season. But it's to build something better in the future.

I expect a 10 win season like anyone else. And if Tebow gets hurt, a path opens through the SEC East.

But that's a big if to add to 7 questions.