No reason. I just love this pic (Image: Hipple)
Doug at HeyJennySlater has taken a look at 13 pre-season magazines so far, and he has published the composite Top 25 based on those Polls. Georgia comes in tied at #12. His site says we're #13, but he's got the full spreadsheet online, and we're definitely tied with Cal for 12th.
After he adds the newly released Sporting News Top 25, he'll update the Google Spreadsheet and his site. I don't know about you, but 12th looks a bit high right now. I'd say around 15th would be generous. If we win our first two, then sure. Vote us 12th.
Speaking of TSN's Top 25, they have Georgia at 14th....yet they have the Georgia Bulldogs losing to Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State. In what parallel universe can you lose to those guys and finish 9-3 while ranked in the Top 15? That would require beating SC, UT, UF and AU. Senator Blutarsky basically calls bullsh*t. I can't argue.
Scary Stat of the Day from David Ching:
- I read this note in a column the other day by Huntsville Times writer Phillip Marshall -- in the last 10 seasons Auburn has had an incumbent senior returning to start at quarterback (which is what Brandon Cox will do), they're 8-2 against Alabama and 10-0 against Georgia. It'll be interesting to see if that trend holds up this year. I could easily see Auburn slipping back to the pack a bit this season, because their schedule's gonna be a bear.
PWD
10 comments:
"Speaking of TSN's Top 25, they have Georgia at 14th....yet they have the Georgia Bulldogs losing to Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State. In what parallel universe can you lose to those guys and finish 9-3 while ranked in the Top 15?"
That would be the same universe that you can lose to Vandy and Kentucky, then beat Auburn, GA Tech, and Virginia Tech.
"In what parallel universe can you lose to those guys and finish 9-3 while ranked in the Top 15?" (emphasis mine)
"That would be the same universe that you can lose to Vandy and Kentucky, then beat Auburn, GA Tech, and Virginia Tech."
Ummm, no it wouldn't. That universe had Georgia ranked at 26 for all intents and purposes.
What are the chances you're going to have back-to-back seasons like that in the first place, though?
I said on Blutarsky's site that Georgia should be able to mark up a win over Vandy based on sheer will for revenge alone. If Georgia can't gin themselves up to pound the 'Dores to the tune of at least 42 points after the way they got humiliated last year, then they should just pack it in.
And as far as Oklahoma State, I'm starting to think that the more pundits pick against us, the better -- it's starting to remind me of Boise State '05. The minute Heismanpundit comes out with his prediction that the Cowboy offense is going to roll over UGA, you can pretty much assume a Georgia win is in the bag.
Really, when you look at the Sporting News Rankings we would almost certainly have to lose 4 games! They have the Gators winning the East. If the Dawgs were to lose to Vandy, the only way the Gators finish ahead of us in the East is if we lose to them or lose another conference game. Since they have Florida finishing #5, that cannot happen. So in other words, the Sporting News is picking us to lose 4 games, but still go to the highest ranked Non BCS Bowl and play Penn State and still finish #14. That is totally dumb...you would think that they would have figured out that this makes no sense.
Good preview mags are edited as one master body of work. TSN and some others seem to edited by a different guy on each page.
Ultimately, Phil Steele's is one of the best because it's all him. He has his own broader context in his head and everyone fits into it with fewer contradictions.
That said - as a marketing person who has approved volumes of graphic layout projects it physically pains me to see his tiny, mismatched fonts and crazy margin abuses.
"The minute Heismanpundit comes out with his prediction that the Cowboy offense is going to roll over UGA, you can pretty much assume a Georgia win is in the bag."
I love you, man.
One of my favorite resources for tracking preseason rankings is here:
http://preseason.stassen.com/
It's a good site to put some real numbers behind the perceptions of which teams are historically overrated and underrated. Some teams come by those labels fairly, others don't.
Looking back a decade or so, only the 2000 and 2006 Dawgs seem to have been overrated by a good margin. The 2004 team was overrated slightly, but slipping from a preseason #3 to a final #7 isn't too bad.
The most underrated teams were 1997 and 1998, and that makes sense. Richt's first three teams also finished better than preseason expectations.
One guess as to the most overrated team last year.
You know, looking at the spreadsheet, the first thing that jumped out at me was that ESPN has done it again: Michigan ranked preseason #2, LSU ranked preseason #10. They have lost their damn minds - again. ESPN's rankings = ESPN's hoped for championship game = ESPN/ABC's hoped for ratings.
All of those teams will be tough but we have the team and the QB to beat all of them.
Groo --
Miami or South Carolina?
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