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ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia is getting its wish -- just a little late and in reverse.
No. 1? Don't be surprised to see the Dawgs on top of one poll or another to begin the season.
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| Heisman hopeful Knowshon Moreno hopes to lead the Bulldogs to a national title. (Getty Images) |
National title shot? Sure, if they follow through after last season's botched attempt.
But what does all that mean in July?
And where, hairy hounds everywhere might ask, was that love eight months ago? When the smoke cleared on the sport's greatest season ever, Georgia was in a fog. It started the final weekend of the regular season ranked No. 4 in the BCS. After losses by No. 1 (Missouri) and No. 2 (West Virginia), it ended the regular season No. 5.
The UGAs didn't handle the disappointment well. Some Georgia types carped about not being able to play USC in the Rose Bowl. That made it seem like the program didn't want to be in the SEC's pride and joy, the Sugar Bowl. A day after LSU wrapped up its second national championship in five years, school president Michael Adams proposed an eight-team playoff that was obviously more political than practical.
The "reward" came late enough for Georgia to feel something less than rewarded. For the first time since 1971, a conference finished with the top two teams in the final Associated Press poll (LSU-Georgia).
Preseason No. 1 hype has rarely descended upon this ultimate college town. If Georgia starts on top of the AP poll, it would be a first. If that happens, cue the poor mouthing. Funny how an offseason of outrage can morph into a preseason of caution.
"I'd prefer to be ranked No. 25 and work our way up," defensive tackle Jeff Owens said Thursday at the SEC media days, "than being No. 1 and everybody is gunning for you. Everybody wants Georgia. Who doesn't want Georgia?"
Well, last season it was those same pollsters. The stink from a 21-point midseason loss to Tennessee never wore off. There wasn't much sentiment outside of Athens to reward a team that didn't even play in the SEC title game. Still, Georgia stated its case from message boards to the coach's office.
"I felt like if I didn't say anything, the players would be let down (saying) 'Coach isn't even fighting for us,'" coach Mark Richt said. "We were disqualified for a rule that doesn't exist. The system does not say you must win your conference to be 1 or 2."
True. Nebraska infamously played in the 2002 BCS title game a few weeks after being routed by Big 12 North champion Colorado. On a scale of BCS travesties Georgia's barely moved the needle. Strip away the emotion. How was anyone supposed to choose between eight two-loss teams in the BCS top 11. Georgia (11-2) was merely one of them.
"I don't think you're going to see that type of season again," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "For us the biggest thing is knowing what got us there."
Oh yeah, there's that. Part of the reason Georgia could start at No. 1, somewhere, is curb appeal. The pollsters who ignored them in December, love that kind of stuff when it comes to filling out their preseason ballots. Georgia has won its past seven. That's the country's second-longest winning streak. There are 17 returning starters, a studly defensive backfield, a Heisman favorite (Knowshon Moreno) and a blossoming quarterback (Stafford).
The Tennessee stench has turned to lilacs. The fresher memory is Hawaii's stay in intensive care after that Sugar Bowl whipping.
If form holds, though, Georgia will be the first No. 1 knocked out. There were four No. 1s last season. Ohio State held the spot three different times by itself. There were an amazing 10 changes at the No. 2 spot.
"If you can't learn from last year seeing all the top teams lose, then No. 1 doesn't mean all that much," cornerback Asher Allen said.
Supposedly, Georgia has learned. October's bloodbath at Tennessee will be remembered as some sort of Black Saturday. The nation wrote off the Dawgs after the 35-14 loss.
"It was one of our worst losses ever," Stafford said. "Nobody had to tell us. At that point, if I was in the media, I probably would have written us off, too."
For good reason. Up to that point in the season Georgia's players were performing like their coach lived his life -- as God-fearing Christians. That's nice if you're leading the choir. Terrible if you're an SEC power trying to smack somebody in the mouth. Unpardonable if the last national title was more than a quarter century ago.
"I was the biggest culprit," Richt said. "I was sitting there waiting for something to happen, too. I told myself, 'If I want these guys to be enthusiastic, I better (show) some of that myself. I better make a plan for it.'"
Looking back, the plan seemed so high schoolish. Richt already had struck a secret deal with the seniors for the team to wear all black for the Auburn game in November. After Tennessee, though, that little stunt could have seemed like just that. What if the Dawgs came in at 4-5? They already had dropped to 4-2 after the Tennessee debacle.
In the three weeks between Tennessee and the Florida game, Richt still wasn't sure about his team. Georgia had sneaked by Vanderbilt thanks to a late Commodores fumble. Where, he kept asking himself, was the fire? Mostly with the Gators, who had lost twice to Georgia since 1990.
"Men," Richt told his team, "We're going to have to play with all the emotion and energy we can muster up. If you have to fake it, we're going to do it."
You know by now that the message got jumbled in a wonderful, quirky way. Receivers started treating the scout team like, well, a scout team with touchdown celebrations in practice that de-evolved into Vegas floor shows. No, no, no, Richt stressed. This was not an individual thing. After the first touchdown against Florida, the offense was supposed to celebrate together as a unit to draw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag.
"He knew we didn't like that 15-yard penalty," said defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, who was worried about field position for his unit. "I wasn't fired up about it but I respected him and I went with him. At least we were all on the same page. If we were going down, we were going down together."
Something was lost in translation when the entire team came off the bench to celebrate Georgia's first touchdown. Laundry flew in the air faster than in the first act of a Jenna Jameson film.
Martinez couldn't have been happy when the team was assessed two 15-yarders and had to kick off from its own 8. Florida immediately tied the game. If the Gators weren't immediately shaken, at least Georgia was shaken out of its slumber. Three weeks after one of the lowest lows of the Richt era, the Dawgs beat Florida in the Cocktail Party for only the third time in the past 18 years.
"I didn't even think about the ramifications," Richt said. "It could have gotten stupid. It could have trickled down to high schools. ... That's what you think afterwards, 'My God, there could have been a fight.'"
Owens called it one of the top 10 plays in Georgia history. The fight was back in the Bulldogs. They won the next five by an average of 17½ points. Richt still gets goose bumps over how well the blackout worked against Auburn. Somehow, the seniors had kept the secret all that time -- from teammates and assistant coaches too. Right before kickoff, trainers broke out black jerseys. Georgia then throttled the Tigers 45-20.
"I saw guys with tears in their eyes," Richt said of that day. "It's hard to let go of that."
They have to let go, all of them. Georgia sports a national bull's-eye. But Florida isn't far behind, if at all. A berth in the BCS title game might come down to the Florida game on Nov. 1. Urban Meyer certainly hasn't let go. In his new book Urban's Way, the Florida coach seems to be promising some sort of revenge for the Jacksonville Bum Rush.
"That wasn't right," Meyer says in the book. "It was a bad deal. And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. ... So we'll handle it. And it's going to be a big deal."
Tim Tebow said this week that the Gators were "motivated" to meet the Dawgs again.
"It got his team fired up," Tebow said of Richt. "They changed their demeanor. It really did, probably, change the rest of their season. It gave them the drive, a sense of passion."
What about the Gators, would that motivation include emptying their bench?
"We wouldn't do it. We always try to handle it a little bit differently."
What does all that mean in July? Plenty.