UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > August > 20
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Do Eagles have any shot vs. Georgia?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The start of the season is right around the corner and, as a result, Georgia is shifting some of the focus off itself and putting it on its opponent, in this case Georgia Southern.
The Eagles are an interesting first-game opponent for the Dogs. Of course, they’re in Division I-AA (I don’t care, that’s what it is to me, not “Football Championship Subdivision”). So that effectively makes it a no-win situation for Georgia. Win big and you were supposed to. Let them keep it close and you’re overrated. Lose and you might be run out of town on a rail (see Appalachian State-Michigan and Lloyd Carr).
But to UGA’s credit it has agreed to play its good neighbors to the South every four years or so. It’s represents a financial bonanza for Georgia Southern, which receives several hundred thousand dollars for the game, and gives the program some exposure it otherwise might not receive.
I haven’t delved deeply yet into what all the Eagles will be bringing to Athens. But I’ve seen enough to know Georgia shouldn’t be in grave danger. I know I’ve always felt Chris Hatcher was one of the great up-and-coming coaches around, and he’s been up-and-coming for a while now. I know they bring nine starters back on defense from the team that finished 7-4 last season and tied for third in the Southern Conference. I know they lost eight starters on offense, including the quarterback.
In fact, a pretty good quarterback race has been going on in camp this preseason. According to Chad Bishop in the Statesboro Herald, redshirt freshman Lee Chapple is the current starter but Ohio State transfer Antonio Henton is closing in on him hard. Sounds like there might even be a chance the Bulldogs see both of them.
Meanwhile, Georgia Southern does very little like anybody else. They run a derivative of West Virginia’s 3-3-5 defense and Hatcher has been running a Hal Mumme-style spread offense for years, way before the spread became vogue offense in college football.
That said, I don’t expect Georgia to struggle quite as much with Southern this year as it did last time they played in 2004. The Dogs won 48-28 but were ahead only 13-7 at halftime and gave up 348 yards offense. I counted 70 freshmen and sophomores on the Eagles’ roster in their media guide and that’s not generally the makeup of an underdog team getting ready to pull an upset or even a scare.
So what do y’all think? You believe Georgia Southern can make a game of it? Will you be disappointed if Georgia doesn’t win by at least 50 points? Or do you just not care and want to hurry up and get this win and get it over with without injuries regardless of score?
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