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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > August > 22 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWhy UGA will win it all: The schedule
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia will win the BCS national title because it has the team and the seasoning, and also because it has the schedule. That’s correct. The schedule many folks feel will ultimately derail the Bulldogs’ run will actually speed their ascent.
Most teams ranked No. 1 in preseason carry some expectation of going undefeated. Because of its scheduled degree of difficulty, Georgia will surely be forgiven one loss, and maybe (as was the case with LSU last year) even two. Repeat after me: You don’t have to be No. 1 in the final BCS standings to win the national title; you only have to be No. 2.
The schedule will also serve to focus the Bulldogs on the weekly task, as opposed to the longer view. They can’t fixate on Florida in Jacksonville because they first have to negotiate South Carolina in Columbia and Arizona State in Tempe and Alabama and Tennessee between the hedges and then LSU in Baton Rouge. They have before them a step-by-step proving ground, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nor is it a bad thing to be preseason No. 1. Only one of the past four BCS champions was ranked lower than No. 2 when it started — the exception was Florida in 2006 — and because the coaches’ poll figures in the BCS standings, it’s nice to have those folks’ attention.
“We all know it doesn’t matter where you start as much as where you finish,” coach Mark Richt said, “but the coaches’ poll is part of the decision-making process to see who plays in the big game down the road … It’s nice to have a third of [that selection process] think highly of your team as you begin.”
About the team: It’s the best Richt has had. There’s All-America talent at the skill positions, quickness across the defensive board and a burgeoning sense of self-worth fired by last season’s closing burst. Granted, lots of teams feel good about themselves in August, but no team has more cause to feel good than Georgia.
Said Knowshon Moreno, the great tailback: “Any team will be disappointed if it doesn’t win the national championship. That’s what every team is out to win.”
Only one team, however, will win the 2008 BCS title. Knowshon Moreno is part of that team.
(Editor’s note: Want a different take on how UGA’s schedule affects the Bulldogs’ chances of winning the national championship? Terence Moore says it’s too tough.)
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