Oct 21, 2011

2011 UGA compared to 2007 UGA at this point

Remember the UGA team that after playing 7 games (5-2) and struggling to beat Vandy in Nashville, went on to become one of the best teams in the country to end the season?


That was the 2007 Georgia Bulldogs, but could it also be the 2011 UGA team?


The past couple of years have made Georgia fans much more pessimistic about our team and program.  A 5-game win streak right now should be a big deal, but most of us instead say, "Well we've beaten no good teams" or "we have an easy schedule."  So let's take a look at 2007's UGA at this same point, one of the best teams of the past decade.


The 2007 team started the season with an overhyped Oklahoma State who was supposed to be great.  We won that game and thought we were great, but no one knew that OSU would end up going 7-6.  That win was probably about as good as our win at home this year against Mississippi State.  But perspective at the time made it seem much bigger.


Then the 2007 team then lost a horrible, boring game at home to South Carolina.  But South Carolina was horrible that year and went 6-6.  It was a bad loss, to a bad team.  The South Carolina team we should have beaten this year was much better, and even with losing Garcia and Lattimore they'll still probably end up at least 8-4.  It was a much worse loss in 2007.


Then the 2007 team destroyed Western Carolina 45-16, but not as impressively as we beat Coastal Carolina this year 59-0.


Once again, another huge game at Alabama.  Georgia won a thriller in overtime.  We were great again!  But guess what?  Alabama finished the season 7-6 and lost to Louisiana Monroe that year.  It wasn't as great of a win as it looked.


We then easily handled Mississippi (just like we did this year), followed by a horrible, blowout loss to Tennessee in Knoxville.  Tennessee was a good, but not great, team in 2007 that finished 10-4.


And then finally, in mid-October, we went to Nashville to play the lowly Commodes, and snuck out of the game on a last second field goal from Brandon Coutu to win 20-17.  We thought this year's game was bad, even though we were winning easily most of the game and almost let them come back.  In 2007, it was a struggle through the whole game.


So comparing the 2 seasons: Our 2 losses in 2007 were much worse than the ones in 2011.  We lost at home to a 6-6 South Carolina and in Knoxville to a good Tennessee.  In 2011, we lost to a top 5 Boise State team and a good (before injuries) South Carolina team.


Our wins so far in 2011 are pretty much comparable to 2007, except we've more easily handled opponents, despite playing too conservatively late in the game and letting teams come back.  In 2007, though, we still look at those wins as good ones, just because at the time they were played, our opponents were overhyped (see Oklahoma State and Alabama).


So going into the Florida game this year, our team actually has a BETTER resume than in 2007.  Could we get a repeat of that year, but this time with our East competition actually losing when they should?   

Oct 14, 2011

New Hyundai Commercial shows UGA's "Hedges" (YouTube Video)

This new national commercial has been slowly spreading around online.  It played on ESPN last night during the USC vs. Cal football game.  I've never owned a Hyundai, but thanks to this, I might look at them some in a few years when I need a new car.

Oct 3, 2011

Say Goodbye to Dreams of Mullen

A while ago, after Mississippi State's loss to LSU, I wrote this post explaining why I didn't think Dan Mullen would be a good choice for UGA if we were to make a coaching change in the near future.

Now it appears that Mullen has tried to emphatically pronounce to UGA that he is not the guy for the job.  First, his Bizarro Bulldogs were dominated by the real Dawgs between the hedges on Saturday.  We all know that the final score of 24-10 does not properly illustrate the true embarrassment suffered by the cowbell ringers, as Mark Richt and co. apparently decided that Georgia had enough points at the half and could just mess around a little in the 2nd and practice (poorly) field goal kicking.

Not only did Mullen's rising power in the west have a horrible day in Athens, but he seemed to have let his squad run out and celebrate midfield before the game even began, causing a bit of a scuffle between the teams.  Of course, Mullen claims that his team didn't mean to disrespect anyone, and it was clearly a Georgia player who started the whole thing.  Just to make himself sound more guilty, he also threw in that his team "won't back down" to anybody, and as the attacking UGA players approached, his innocent guys just wouldn't back down.  Too bad they aren't as tough on the field during the game.

Here is a video of the incident below (courtesy of ecdawg1).  It replays in slow motion toward the end so you can clearly see the MSU players rushing the G, and then the UGA players coming out toward them.  And at 1:17, you can see Mullen smiling while the refs are breaking it up.



Finally, Mullen perhaps also allowed one (if not more) of his players to... relieve themselves on the hedges, as photo evidence here purportedly shows.

This guy really knows how to build résumé.