Even if the Bulldogs were to go undefeated, there's almost no way we can go wire to wire #1 in the USAToday/Coaches Poll. Georgia only has an 8 vote lead over #2 Southern Cal, and we only have a 46 vote lead over #3 ranked Ohio State.
UGA has 22 first place votes in the poll, which means that only 36 percent of voters have the Bulldogs in the top overall slot.
Both USC and Ohio State each have 14 first place votes, and they play each other in Week 3. The winner of that game will almost definitely take the 14 first place votes from the other team. Those votes combined with a further consolidation of the teams behind Georgia will knock UGA down to #2 -- at best -- entering our Week 4 match-up with Arizona State.
(Image: Prince Miller. Photo by Jim Hipple)
The Good News -- The coaching staff will certainly get to play the disrespect card going into the ASU game. Being #2 is an excellent place for the Bulldogs as it gives the team something to strive for and something to be angry about. Especially after we've tasted #1.
The Bad News -- Barring an upset of the USC or OSU winner following Week 3, Georgia may not have a realistic shot to take back the #1 position unless/until we beat the Gators or win the National Title Game in Miami.
Here's a pretty good estimate for how UGA looked on the different ballots. Obviously, it's not exactly, but it may help to visually understand how the individual votes would've fallen to get us to 1,438 total points (math by me):
| Points | Votes | |
| #1 Votes | 550 | 22 |
| #2 Votes | 312 | 13 |
| #3 Votes | 230 | 10 |
| #4 Votes | 220 | 10 |
| #5 Votes | 126 | 6 |
| Total | 1438 | 61 |
Thoughts?
PWD
