ESPN Predicts UGA in Capital One Bowl; Also, video of new uniforms from Georgiadogs.com

It's nice to be getting some love from the media (even if we don't yet deserve it).

First, today it was announced that Georgia is ranked #19 in the AP Poll, a few spots higher than in the Coaches'.  I feel strange about a 6-7 team being ranked in the teens, but I'm not complaining.  The higher the better for making it to a better bowl at the end of the year.

Then, ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Brad Edwards are both predicting UGA to play in the Capital One Bowl this season, versus either Ohio State or Nebraska, respectively.  I can't say I would complain about either one of those scenarios.

As for our new uniforms that were released today, I will say this: I'm not a huge fan of how they look, mainly just because the matching jerseys and pants looks a little bit Arena Football League-ish for my tastes.  However, I think it would be a pity if all of our complaining fans made the team less excited about wearing them for the big opener.  Plus, I'm really glad they decided to release these images two weeks before the game so we can get used to them, unlike the fiasco that happened at the Cocktail Party in 2009.

By the way, the uniforms look a lot better in this video from the UGA athletics website.  I'm thinking people will really warm up to them when they're being worn by the real Dawgs as they run out of the tunnel onto the field.

Some Interesting Links for a Tuesday...

First, Ivan Maisel of ESPN wrote a piece yesterday on his top 20 Heisman candidates for 2010. I understand that QBs and RBs are the most likely Heisman winners, so it's no surprise that they make up almost the whole list. But Maisel includes two wide receivers, Julio Jones at #18 and Notre Dame's Michael Floyd at #19, but.... no mention of A.J. Green. How exactly does Jones make the list with only 596 yards and 4 touchdowns last season, but Green doesn't? I'm hoping Maisel just overlooked this, but I have a feeling that isn't the case. I can understand leaving Green off the list... but only if there are no other receivers included.

Second, take a look at this ESPN writeup. You may notice that it compares Mark Richt and Les Miles, perhaps implying that both coaches (not just Miles) are on the "hot seat." Interesting. But then notice the author on the ESPN page. Yes, that is Andrea Adelson, the same writer from the Orlando Sentinel who infamously ranked UGA #64 in her preseason rankings released in July (the page credits the rankings to Jeremy Fowler, but in the comments below you can see Adelson confess that she compiled them). Apparently her outrageous rankings warranted a promotion.

(Here's a link to see more of those ridiculous Orlando Sentinel rankings. Apparently, UGA will not be as good as Army (#44), Temple (#45), or Ohio (#50). But the rest of the rankings are even worse.)

Quick Look Back at SEC's Bad Calls in 2009

First, ESPN's Chris Low had a blog update yesterday remembering the bad officiating calls in the SEC last season. (Also note that Low mentions "Georgia receiver Julio Jones")

Then, watch this great YouTube video which shows those controversial calls and even refers to the NCAA football rule book to show why they were so bad.

Thanks to RC123au for the video. Interesting (yet painful) stuff to watch.

Corch Meyers: New Rules for Media (ESPN)

I don't have much to post about today, but if you haven't seen it yet, check out this humorous piece done on ESPN Page 2.

I'm sure everyone has already seen the video of the confrontation that started it all, but it's always good fun to watch it again.

SportsCenter Gets Pranked (Youtube video)

I've heard past rumors that ESPN's Scott Van Pelt used to read/post on some Georgia football forums (particularly the UGA Rivals forum Dawgchat, which apparently requires a membership now). If this is true, and SVP has a place in his heart for the Dawgs, then I feel a little bad for him being the victim of a good call-in prank on SportsCenter yesterday.

NCAA Teams with Top Attendance in 2009 (UGA is 6th)

Yesterday ESPN released a list of the top 20 NCAA football schools ranked by average home attendance during the 2009 season.

Georgia comes in at 6th, with 100% capacity. I'm not really sure how so many other stadiums exceeded their capacity, but it sounds uncomfortable.

It's good to know that even in a down year, the fans still show up strong at Sanford Stadium.

Ealey and Charles on ESPN's 10 best freshmen in SEC

ESPN's Chris Low posted a story today listing "the 10 best true freshmen in the SEC," and guess who makes his list? Washaun Ealey and Orson Charles, that's who.

ESPN Gameday going to the wrong game next week

It looks like ESPN's College Gameday program is headed to #5 Penn State for their "revenge" matchup against an unranked Iowa. Keep in mind that Iowa had two miracle field goal blocks to beat Northern Iowa 17-16 in their first game this season. This will be a very... exciting.... gameday.

Interestingly, #9 Miami will be playing at #11 Virginia Tech the very same day... also on ABC.

Also, notice that #21 Georgia's game versus Arizona State, while not a marquee matchup, is one of the best non-conference games of the weekend. But it'll be stuck on ESPN U, while ABC will have Iowa at #5 Penn State, unranked Notre Dame at unranked Purdue on ESPN, and unranked Texas Tech at #17 Houston on ESPN 2 that evening. Amazing.

ESPN is really dropping the ball with their scheduling and Gameday location decision right now.

ESPN: Florida has already won the SEC East

I really don't know what to say about this.

Yes, Mark Schlabach graduated from Georgia, and I've always believed that he downplays UGA and praises UGA's rivals on purpose, whether it is in an effort to show his journalistic objectivity by overcompensating, or maybe he simply would like Georgia to be a surprise and have rivals be sorely disappointed.

At first, I thought maybe this article was supposed to be a joke, as it opens with:

"Should the SEC East even bother playing games this season?"

It continues with what also appear to be an attempt at humor, perhaps pointing out how ridiculous the media is in anointing Florida the preseason national champions. But then he writes this:

"The Gators are going to win the SEC East in 2009. And it's not even going to be close."

"It's up to the Gators to determine how difficult it's going to be."

So I start to think, "Wait... this is serious?"

"The SEC East is nothing more than a formality for Florida. The Gators are going to end up where they start the season -- on top of the division."

"Shouldn't the SEC just say Georgia is probably going to be pretty good in 2009, maybe good enough to win nine or 10 games and lose to the Gators by, oh, 40 points?"

I'm still hoping that this article is a very pessimistic joke written by an unnecessarily depressed Georgia alum, but it's hard to tell. But if you watch the video at the top of the page, those guys don't seem to be joking at all.

ESPN's Erik Kuselias says with a straight face:

"I think the general consensus is... Florida, and nobody else in the East. Three teams out west, Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU."

Alright. Well, I guess this means Georgia and the other 4 SEC East teams might as well cancel the season.

ESPN asks which 40 teams should be the new Div. 1A

I don't really know the point of this ESPN poll, but it's interesting nonetheless.

So far 11,411 people have voted on the 40 teams that they think should be a new, hypothetical Division 1A for football.

After you choose 40 teams and vote you can see the results.

Florida is the most voted team with 80.4% votes, but UGA comes in 2nd with 80.3%. That's some respect right there.

Alabama is third, then Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, LSU, Penn State, USC, Florida State, Michigan, Miami, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, and Notre Dame.

More things to note:

Georgia Tech is the 22nd most voted team with 60.8%.

The last team to make the "Top 40" is Oregon State with 37.3%

Vanderbilt is the lowest-voted SEC team with 6.4%

EDIT (4:04 PM): Looks like the Tech fans found the poll and started their computer poll rigging. Georgia's dropped to #12. Still, it's an interesting experiment from ESPN. Apparently tomorrow some of ESPN's College Football guys will be "drafting" their top 40 teams for the simulation. So keep an eye on that.

Georgia Kicker Update, and ESPN's Joe Cox Interview

First of all, the Bulldog's Blog does an excellent job (as always) getting some great quotes from players and coaches at practice. But there's one on there that makes me a little uncomfortable. David Hale reminds us about how Coach Richt vowed to go to Poland to find someone who could kick the ball out of the endzone, and then it appears that no one was found for kickoffs at all. Since Blair Walsh is understandably still the kickoff specialist, he's asked about what the plans are for kickoffs next season:

“I don’t know yet,” Walsh said. “We haven’t really done anything yet. I don’t know what their philosophy is, I don’t know what the coaches are doing or thinking about.”

Well, that's comforting.

Let me get this straight: I believe in Walsh. Yes, he had some bad luck last year on some of those field goals, but in the Capital One Bowl, he made a pretty good one to prove that he's still the guy. And on kickoffs, there were some very confusing and terrifying things that happened. In fact, most people assumed that Walsh could have kicked it out of the endzone on every kick if he was told to, but that the coaches wanted more shorter, directional kicks instead. I seem to remember Coach Richt saying at one point that this wasn't true, and that they would love to make it a touchback every time, but don't quote me on that. But we still believe in Walsh.

I'll just take this for now as, "Spring practice just started, maybe they just aren't getting to the kickoff troubles yet." Admittedly, yes, there are some more looming problems to look at.

In other news, ESPN's Chris Low posted a good interview with Joe Cox yesterday. He sounds like he's a great leader and teammate, which is very exciting, and the Bulldog Nation is rooting for him.