We continue a high-level look towards the football season by acknowledging that winning even an SEC East title in any season is a difficult challenge with very little margin for error. Other than the usual caveats about injuries, these factors will be potential obstacles for the Dawgs in 2008:

» The schedule. It’s going to be tough. In the SEC part of the schedule, you replace Ole Miss with LSU. That LSU trip comes a week before the Florida game. The Dawgs will have three interesting and challenging nonconference opponents: Central Michigan pushed Purdue in the 2007 Motor City Bowl. Georgia Tech will present a unique offensive scheme to challenge the defense at the end of the season. Then there’s the trip to Tempe.

Playing Arizona State will test the Dawgs in three ways. First and most basic, the Sun Devils are a quality program, and Dennis Erickson looks to have injected some energy into the program. The game will also bring a tremendous amount of hype; it’s Georgia’s first regular season trip outside of the southeast since 1965, and that fact alone will add to the circus of a quality midseason lineup. Finally, there’s the human element. The Dawgs must play at South Carolina (often a night game), return, prepare for, and travel to Arizona State, absorb that game and the effects of cross-country travel, and then prepare to host a motivated Alabama team the next week. Should they survive that three-game swing, a bye week awaits before Tennessee comes to town.

Georgia will face nine teams next year that played in a bowl this season. The two 2008 Division 1 opponents that aren’t coming off a bowl trip are South Carolina and Vanderbilt – two teams that gave Georgia plenty of problems in 2007.

There is one bit of good news peeking through the schedule gloom and doom: no SEC opponent will have a bye week before they play Georgia.

» The offensive line. Hear me out. Stacy Searels and his troops were magnificent this season. But we’re not out of the woods yet. As young and inexperienced as line was in 2007, the Dawgs still had a rock to anchor that line: senior center Fernando Velasco. Velasco’s contribution to the success of the 2007 squad might be one of the most underrated stories of the year. Senior Chester Adams was also a key; his versatility at guard and tackle enabled the coaches to experiment until they found the most effective combination of linemen.

Those two seniors will be replaced by another round of newcomers. While the Dawgs might have the "luxury" of using redshirt freshmen instead of true freshmen this time, the difference in experience is marginal. Where the line, and even the entire offense, could look to Velasco as a leader, that role will now fall to sophomores Boling, Davis, and Sturdivant. Vince Vance, a junior reserve tackle, and senior long snapper Jeff Henson will be the lone upperclassmen on the line.

» The hype. There’s no escaping it. There will be no going under the radar. Big things will be expected of the Dawgs next year. Expectations are always high at Georgia, but the Dawgs will have the additional glare of the national spotlight. Teams can wilt easily under that pressure. On the other hand, we’ve seen plenty of instances where a team can get full of itself and try to coast on its ranking. Embracing and coming to terms with high expectations will be a key factor of success in 2008.

I think that Mark Richt has had the right attitude so far when asked about high preseason rankings: it’s a good thing. Teams want to be ranked high, and it’s every team’s goal to play for the national title. Why field a team if that opportunity doesn’t excite you? But Richt is quick to caution that a high ranking entitles a team to nothing. Sure enough, Georgia won’t be the only SEC team with a top 10 ranking. If the team approaches the expectations with the right mindset, the hype will be motivation for the offseason. "We got a taste of just how close we might be to getting that ultimate goal," Mark Richt said. "And everybody’s gonna be really working hard toward that end."

See also:

• Things in Georgia’s favor in 2008
• Embracing expectations

Mark Richt didn’t have to turn very far to find his new tight ends coach. UGASports.com is reporting this afternoon that Richt’s friend and former Florida State colleague John Lilly will accept the position left vacant by David Johnson’s departure to West Virginia.

While some of Richt’s past hires have required a bit of connect-the-dots to make sense, Lilly was an obvious target from the beginning. He was offered a position at Georgia in 2001 when Richt originally assembled his staff, but he chose to remain at FSU. Seven seasons later, Lilly has decided to make the move and will join Richt and Dave Van Halanger in Athens.

News of this move breaking before Signing Day is a little surprising; Lilly has a reputation as an outstanding recruiter, and his departure will surely have an impact on the Seminoles’ recruiting efforts. He has been FSU’s recruiting coordinator since 1998. With Georgia’s 2007 recruiting class more or less finished, Lilly won’t have much of an impact this year except perhaps to shore up the commitment of TE Dwayne Allen.

For future classes the addition of Lilly will give the Georgia program an impressive roster of recruiters. Rodney Garner is still Georgia’s recruiting coordinator of course, but Lilly gives Georgia some flexibility down the road. Garner is happy at Georgia, but we can’t blame the guy for eyeing his dream of a head coaching opportunity. In the meantime, Garner, Lilly, and Bobo are as good as it gets as recruiters, and they all complement Mark Richt well.

Lilly’s challenge on the field will be to continue the recent legacy of successful Bulldog tight ends that goes back over a decade now. Brandon Warren was a freshman All-American tight end at FSU in 2006, but he left the Seminole program before the 2007 season.

I was impressed as anyone with Georgia’s win over Arkansas on Saturday. There were so many things to note: Humphrey’s continued development inside the perimeter. Woodbury finally started to find his shot. Price and Bliss are becoming an effective tandem when Bliss plays well.

It was interesting to hear analyst Eddie Fogler note that Arkansas didn’t strike him as a very bright team. You could see that play out as Arkansas willingly got into Georgia’s preferred up-and-down style. The Dawgs were able to hit layups and jumpers, often in transition, and passing was generally sharp.

As pwd observes, we’ve seen flashes like this from the Dawgs before. Putting it together against Arkansas is one thing. Keeping it going in consecutive road games at Tennessee and South Carolina is another. We know that this team is an off-night from Humphrey and/or Gaines away from an ugly loss, but Humphrey especially has become more and more consistent of a scorer, and that’s just what this team needs to be successful. Now with Woodbury seemingly coming around and a nice supporting cast developing, are we foolish for starting to get our hopes up again?

One thing is becoming clear after a few weeks of SEC play: Georgia might be a sure tournament team if they played in the SEC West. There is some awful basketball being played over there.

You’d think that a game at Tennessee wouldn’t be the place to expect much consistency, but hopefully the guys will hold themselves to a better standard. A lot has happened since last March, but Georgia pushed the Vols to the buzzer in the 2006-2007 regular season finale. They are more than capable of playing with the Vols.

SEC Men’s Power Ranking:

1. Tennessee: Handling the role of favorite well for once.
2. Florida: Still a very quality club.
3. Vanderbilt: Need to beat better teams to be taken seriously.
4. Mississippi St.: Good start, solid defense.
5. Kentucky: Best of the rest?
6. Ole Miss: Shaky SEC start after undefeated non-conference slate.
7. Georgia: Can we play them all at home?
8. Arkansas: Disappointing start for preseason West favorite.
9. Auburn: Good upset win at home over Ole Miss.
10. South Carolina: Stole one at Arkansas; Odom’s farewell tour begins.
11. Alabama: More than missing Steele behind their 0-4 start.
12. LSU: Is John Brady still coaching this team?

Lady Dogs

Andy Landers had been stuck on 698 career wins at Georgia for over a week, but a return home to Stegeman served to put the Lady Dogs back into the win column. Ugly road losses at Auburn and Vandy gave Georgia a 1-2 conference record and three losses in their last four games. Behind 25 points from Tasha Humphrey, Georgia beat Alabama 71-53 on Sunday. Angel Robinson added 12 points and 14 rebounds.

I’ll say what the team couldn’t say in the press. Alabama isn’t good. They’ve improved slightly from last season when they were embarrassingly bad. A win over Bama isn’t much cause for celebration these days, and the fact that the margin in this game hovered around ten points for much of the afternoon isn’t a good thing. Georgia out-talented Alabama, and that’s about it. Turnovers in particular were devastating. Guard play, especially on offense, is becoming a big concern.

This is an important week for the Lady Dogs. They’ve lost three of their four true road games this season, and those three losses haven’t been pretty. They go on the road to face Florida this week. The Gators have been surprisingly good in conference play with a first-year coach, and they surely have to see a shaky Georgia team as a great opportunity to make some noise in the SEC. This Sunday the Lady Dogs head out to face Oklahoma in a nationally-televised battle of ranked teams. It’s billed as a Tasha Humphrey vs. Courtney Paris showdown, but the supporting casts will likely mean the difference.

A win in both these road games would be significant to right the ship, and beating Oklahoma would be noteworthy on the national scene. Landers’ next win will be his 700th at Georgia.

SEC Women’s Power Ranking:

1. Tennessee: A class of their own.
2. LSU: Defensively dominant with Fowles. Offense can sputter at times.
3. Vanderbilt: 2-2 with losses to UT and LSU.
4. Kentucky: Solid win over Auburn has them at 3-1 after some bad nonconference losses.
5: Georgia: Got a needed win over Bama, but still vulnerable. Key week for them.
6. Auburn: Win over Georgia the sole bright spot lately. Depth and suspensions taking their toll.
7. Florida: Playing well, first back-to-back SEC wins since 2006.
8. Ole Miss: Nice upset of Arkansas.
9. Arkansas: Unimpressive in conference play after soft nonconference schedule.
10. Mississippi St.: Embarrassed at LSU.
11. Alabama: 22 losses in last 23 SEC games.
12. South Carolina: Unacceptable loss to Alabama.

Like a lot of football fans I watched some of yesterday’s NFL playoff action (Go Giants!!!), and I don’t think I was alone in reacting to the weather in Green Bay with a mix of amazement, horror, and admiration for those out in the sub-zero temperatures. A week earlier, we saw Green Bay beat Seattle in a blinding snowstorm.

As a kid who spent plenty of winter afternoons playing backyard football in the snow, I have to say I love watching games like that. You haven’t lived until you leap over a three-foot snow drift serving as goal-line defense. At the same time, I have to ask if watching football in such weather is a worse product. The weather is more often the story instead of the skills of the players.

Dealing with the elements is part of the game, and it certainly adds a bit of humanity to the game to see a receiver track the ball through the snow or a running back try to get his footing in the mud. That’s entertaining to a point, but in a sport where speed and precision play such a role, is it really such a great thing that weather can do so much to equalize the game and keep the stars from performing at their top level?

The Super Bowl will be played in Arizona. Weather won’t be a factor. Instead, the game will be about Brady to Moss. Manning to Burress. It’ll be about Seymour and company trying to shut down Jacobs and Strahan finding a way to pressure an untouchable quarterback. As much as a game on the Frozen Tundra is a fascinating novelty, I prefer it when games are decided more by the players and not the thermometer.

All that said, I couldn’t help watching those games yesterday and thinking about some of the colder Georgia games I’ve been to since I began following the Dawgs in 1991. My wife nominates the 1987 Liberty Bowl when fans were setting fires in the bathroom sinks to keep warm. This is my list, though, so here we go. Is it coincidence that four of them were losses? Does sitting through a loss just make it seem colder?

My Five Coldest Georgia Football Games:

1: 2001 Music City Bowl. Going by my recollection of the crowd, you probably skipped this one. Other games might have had worse weather, but no game I’ve attended matches this one for sheer bitter cold. I had never been too cold to tailgate until this day, and portable heaters were useless. Still, there was Uga VI on his bag of ice…

2: 1991 Florida. America remembers the weekend of this game as the dates of the "Perfect Storm" later made (in)famous by Hollywood. Much of the East Coast was in the grip of a large storm off New England, and Florida was no exception. Friday was nice enough, but those of us at the beach were already dealing with the strong winds. By Saturday, the strong storm off the coast was bringing cold arctic winds straight down the entire East Coast and into the Gator Bowl. Incidently, other than 1992, the weather for my four Georgia-Florida games as a student was pretty damn crappy…just like the outcomes.

3: 1995 Auburn. This game was noteworthy for the plummeting temperatures as the day went on. The morning started off relatively mild for mid-November as rain ended and the skies began clearing following a cold front passage. By the time the game came around, fans – many of whom were dressed for the warmer temperatures of the morning – were facing not only rapidly dropping temperatures but a gusty, biting northwest wind that came right in through the open end of Sanford Stadium unimpeded.

4: 2000 Ole Miss. It’s not often that a Georgia home game is accompanied by frozen precipitation, but it happened here. Tailgaters dodged sleet and then a cold and miserable rain. It seemed like another cold, soggy loss was on the way when Ole Miss went up 14-0, but the Dawgs bounced back for a 32-14 behind Musa Smith. The weather wouldn’t improve much before Georgia’s next home game…

5: 2000 Georgia Tech. Maybe it was the outcome. Maybe it was the fitting end to a disappointing season. Maybe it was the unthinkable third-straight loss to Tech. All of that only served to make the day’s cold rain seem that much colder and more miserable.

I wrote just a few posts below that “our glee over a low attrition forecast has to be tempered with the acceptance of the likely offseason suspension or two.”

As it turns out, it didn’t even take the weekend to get to the “or two” mark.  In separate incidents, defensive back Donavon Baldwin and fullback Fred Munzenmaier were arrested and will be suspended for at least the season opener against Georgia Southern.

Because both incidents were alcohol-related, a second offense down the road could result in a semester-long suspension from the University; that was the punishment for Akeem Hebron for a second alcohol-related arrest while on University probation for his first offense.

Both arrests have an element that makes it a bit tougher to shrug them off.  Baldwin was arrested for DUI, always a serious thing.  Munzenmaier allegedly decided in his late-night drunken stroll (in sub-freezing temperatures) to pop off at the Athens Clarke-County officer and accused the APD of having it in for athletes.  Some misguided fans probably agree with him.  It’s no shock for a football player to think he’s above the law, especially after a few drinks.  But if it’s a common belief among Georgia players that the Athens police are out to get them, one might think that they’d be a little smarter about going out of their way to draw attention to themselves after a bender.

We can hope this is the end of it, but as Carter Strickland notes in the AJC, this is the third consecutive season that Georgia has had a January or February arrest that has impacted the subsequent season.  There’s a long way to go until August.

A former player also was a casualty of the weekend.  Terreal Bierria was arrested for DUI and speeding in Athens.

In what I guess is a conciliatory gesture, President Adams has written writing our vanquished bowl victims and patted them on the head for a job well done.

The University of Hawai’i has much about which it can be proud — its academic program, its successful alumni and, yes, its football team. But what will remain for many of us from this year’s Sugar Bowl is the warmth and graciousness with which UH fans conducted themselves.

You’d think he’s campaigning for something. Did we send a similar note to the Roanoke Times last year?

We started talking about the 2008 season by recognizing and embracing the high expectations awaiting the Dawgs next fall. What are the reasons for those lofty preseason rankings?

» Lots of returning key players. Returning starters are all over the place. Moreno. Ellerbe. Curran. Owens. Stafford. Georgia’s losses are few and occasionally significant, but the list of departing players for whom there doesn’t already seem to be a successor in place is limited to Velasco and Coutu. No one is jumping to the NFL.

Of course our glee over a low attrition forecast has to be tempered with the acceptance of the likely offseason suspension or two. Hopefully the Dawgs can at least avoid a catastrophic injury over the spring and summer, and it would be nice if no Paul Oliver-like academic screwup was an issue this year.

At first glance, it looks as if the roster will be stocked next year. Sure there are a couple of holes; there always are. But you look across the roster and don’t see any positions that really scare you, and several bring a big smile.

» Momentum / exposure / poll position. Georgia is hot. They finished among the top 3 in both final polls, and they will surely start out high in 2008. That’s a big advantage if Georgia can put together another nice season next year.

Once the Dawgs dispatch Georgia Southern in the season opener, the same schedule that presents such a challenge will put the Dawgs in the spotlight early and often. You have clashes against LSU and Florida with direct national significance. Georgia’s trip to Tempe won’t go unnoticed. Even Saban coming to Athens will create a stir. The Dawgs will be performing on the main stage for much of the season, and there won’t be a way to ignore them should they put up wins.

With the 2007 emergence of Knowshon Moreno alongside the established Matthew Stafford, the Dawgs also have a backfield rich in name recognition. Stafford fills the role of the BMOC quarterback, and Moreno is as charismatic a personality as David Pollack was. That kind of star power, not to mention others like Rennie Curran, will ensure that Georgia is a program that gets talked about. They’re interesting, fun to watch, and, above all, pretty damn good.

» Impact newcomers. The depth chart will be bolstered in 2008 by some very highly-regarded newcomers. Tailback Caleb King is at the top of the list. King was an option during 2007 as injuries took a toll on the position, but he was able to preserve his redshirt season. King and Moreno could give Georgia the most exciting tandem in the conference. Besides King, you also hear about QB Logan Gray, WR/TE Aron White, LB Charles White, and S John Knox.

I’m interested to see what role LB Akeem Hebron will play. He was slated as a possible starter in 2007 but spent the semester at Georgia Military College after alcohol violations at UGA. He’s back, but there’s a question how the linebackers might have to shuffle to fit him in next year. The unit had begun to click at the end of 2007.

Then there are the true freshmen. In a class rated among the best in the nation, you figure some will contribute right away. Receiver AJ Green comes to mind first. Kicker Blair Walsh will get a chance to start out of the gate. Preseason camp should be entertaining as these talented freshmen fight for positions against a roster that’s already potent.

» Stable coaching staff. As regional rivals such as Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, and Georgia Tech replace coordinators, several assistants, or even head coaches, the only change in the Georgia program – at the time I write this – looks to be the departure of TE coach David Johnson. While Georgia has turned over all but a handful of assistant coaching positions since Mark Richt arrived, we’ve been fortunate 1) not to have more than one or two in a given offseason and 2) the departures have almost always been career moves with the best wishes of the program.

The stability of the staff gave Richt the luxury of being less hands-on in 2007, and he used that freedom in part to step into more of a managerial role. With Mike Bobo promoted to offensive coordinator, Richt was able to get his head out of the details and look more frequently at the bigger picture. That change possibly afforded him the opportunity to recognize and correct problems during the 2007 season, and a changed team emerged. With confidence in a staff that continues to operate well, Richt can continue to grow in his new role and prepare the team to play at the level required of their ranking.

Though the playoff proposal got tabled, another issue raised by UGA President Michael Adams will get a closer look from the NCAA.

The Division I Board of Directors at its January 14 meeting approved the formation of a presidential task force to examine issues of commercialism and student-athlete well-being associated with athletics, including postseason football.

The Board issued a statement which said in part that, “the NCAA Board agreed the issues of presidential leadership and commercialism, identified in President Adams’ communication, especially deserve further discussion.”

One wonders what the outcome of this task force will be. When most of us complain about the crass commercialism surrounding bowl games, we’re talking about television broadcasts that last until the rooster crows three times the following morning. But “commercialism” can mean many things from corporate sponsorships to the gifts given to participating players.

On the other hand, TV deals fuel the bowls which fuel the BCS conferences, and, as we’ve seen every time this subject comes up, the conferences aren’t in a hurry to get off the gravy train. A conclusion that “less commercialism” means “give us just as much money but be less visible” will probably get the same response from the networks and sponsors as the playoff proposal got from the conferences.

Alabama’s Ronald Steele, out for the year with a knee injury, won’t be able to travel at the end of tonight’s Georgia-Alabama basketball game.

If there’s one game that keeps coming back when you talk about last season in basketball and coming up just short of the NCAA Tournament, it was the loss at Alabama. Georgia blew a 20-point lead and a rare chance at a big SEC road win, and that buzzer-beater by Steele might have been the single most significant play of the entire season.

The Dawgs and Tide both enter tonight’s game looking for their first conference wins of the season. Georgia has struggled with inconsistent offense, and Bama has really missed Steele. The home court should give Georgia the edge, but they’ll have to play and shoot much better than they did last weekend at Mississippi State.

LSU hasn’t been champion long, but we might as well look ahead to the next season while the previous one is still fresh in memory. Over the next several days we’ll look at the strengths, challenges, and dynamics ahead in Georgia’s 2008 season. The dominant story out of the gate will be the expectations facing the 2008 squad.

The "who’s #1?" talk is already starting for the 2008 season. (As an aside, this is why delaying official polls until midseason won’t change much. The discussion will happen with or without their participation.) Tony Barnhart didn’t wait very long to declare Georgia his preseason #1 team. He’s just one pundit, but it’s reasonable to expect many preseason polls to include Georgia among their top 5.

John Kaltefleiter takes what I think is the wrong approach today in the Banner-Herald by downplaying the expectations. I think he overreacts to what’s been going on. He complains of a "public coronation" and says that making Georgia the "hands-down preseason No. 1 team and booking those Orange Bowl reservations for the first weekend of January of next year is not just premature, it’s presumptuous."

The trouble is that no one is really saying all of that. No one, least of all Mark Richt, is assuming anything about next year. There is simply the recognition that there are several really good teams with a shot at a title run next year and, yes, Georgia is one of them. Beyond that, why not Georgia? While the Dawgs might not be the hands-down favorite (is anyone?), they make as good of a case as anyone at this ridiculously early stage. It’s not Kaltefleiter’s job as a journalist to cheerlead for the Dawgs, but if he’s going to try to temper the enthusiasm, I have to disagree.

Blame Dooley or Munson, but for whatever reason Georgia fans seem to shrink from this position and relish the under-the-radar approach. There’s no getting around it though: the Dawgs (and their fans) are going to have to deal with some very high expectations in 2008. We might as well dive in with both feet. The ranking and the expectations should serve as motivators for a team that, as Mark Richt said, "got a taste of just how close we might be to getting that ultimate goal. Everybody is going to be really working hard towards that end."

It’s likely that Georgia will be in its best preseason position since a #3 ranking to open the 2004 campaign. Though an 11-win season, New Year’s Day bowl victory, #7 finish, and a win over Florida can hardly be considered a truly disappointing season, many fans expected Pollack and Greene to ride off into the sunset with at least a divisional title. It didn’t happen.

Fans might be a little gunshy after high expectations in 2000 and 2004, but that’s no reason to run from the promise of the next few seasons. The story of the 2004 season has another lesson: the best program never put all of their eggs in one season or all of their hope in one player. Georgia’s no stranger to this lesson. While 2004 didn’t result in any hardware beyond an Outback Bowl championship, the Dawgs followed it up with an SEC title in 2005.

There is no reason not to be enthusiastic about the 2008 season. The best part is that even if the schedule takes its toll and the Dawgs drop a game or two, this isn’t a one-and-done shot. With outstanding recruiting classes in 2006 and 2007, the pump seems primed for seasons to come in Athens. Excitement and even a little attitude is justified. Enjoy the ride we’re about to take.

Coming up we’ll look a little deeper at some of the reasons for all of this hype and of course give the schedule and other potential stumbling blocks their due.

Pittsburgh all-pro receiver Hines Ward had knee surgery on Wednesday and will be out of commission for about six weeks. The Steelers’ season ended with a playoff loss to Jacksonville last weekend. Of course Ward still recorded 10 catches for 135 yards with the bum knee – that’s just Hines.

By the way, does seeing the phrase “ten-year veteran” in a story about Hines Ward make anyone else feel old?

The Georgia hoops program isn’t exactly on the national radar these days, so outside perspective can be hard to come by. This mention on a Duke site caught my eye:

…no great surprise that Tech lost to Georgia. The Bulldogs are more disciplined and, overall, a better coached team.

The observation is probably more of a comment about Hewitt’s program than Felton’s. “More disciplined” and “better coached” are relative after all. Felton has his own problems, but the criticism is really starting to pile up on Hewitt. Tech fans have noticed how they replaced a football coach with a consistent, if not lukewarm, record of bowl wins and conference success while a basketball coaching with a losing ACC record remains.

It’s said that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. After “this year’s experience with the BCS,” UGA President Michael Adams wrote this week how his opposition to a playoff has melted, mailed his not-quite-95 theses to the NCAA, and made the heads of many Georgia fans explode as they reconciled their support for a playoff with the fact that Michael Adams might be the man to get the credit for it.

NCAA President Myles Brand responded to Adams’ letter on Thursday, saying

In a letter to me dated January 8, 2008, University of Georgia President Michael Adams requested that a discussion committee to the Division I Board of Directors be appointed to explore options related to postseason football. I will bring to the board that request at its meeting in Nashville on January 14. The structure of postseason football in the Football Bowl Subdivision rests with the presidents of those institutions.

That’s a long way of saying, “we got the letter,” but at least the item is now on the agenda at the annual NCAA convention.

There’s been a lot of griping in the wake of Adams’ proposal about the timing. How dare Adams try to steal LSU’s thunder before they can even enjoy their championship. But Brand’s addition of the request to the Board of Directors’ agenda shows how the date of the NCAA Convention forced the awkward timing. Making this proposal during the season or even during the bowls would have seemed even more inappropriate. As it is, the proposal will have less than a week to bounce around before it’s brought to the Board of Directors. If all of this outrage is over Adams waiting another day or two, that’s rather petty.

Even if the issue is raised next week, it might be DOA anyway. Adams faces quite an uphill fight even among his peers (h/t Get the Picture). Of a sample of 30 university presidents, 14 – including four other SEC presidents (including LSU, natch) – were opposed and remain committed to the BCS. 11 others were either undecided or didn’t want to commit to a specific playoff plan. Only five were on board with the idea. We saw similar opposition when Florida’s Bernie Machen tried to raise the issue over the summer.

Unfortunately the timing and the urgency of Adams’ proposal means that a lot of things haven’t quite been thought through. Rather than asking these questions, playoff proponents are just giddy to see that the subject is again in the spotlight. Conceptually a playoff seems right to me. It’s just that a lot of us look at playoff proposals the same way we would a fantasy football league. Pick eight teams, draw up a bracket, and go. For example, Adams proposes to use the four BCS bowls as the first round of the playoff. What do the bowls think of that? Do you think the Rose Bowl would be cool with just being a #3 vs. #6 quarterfinal?

That’s why the involvement of the NCAA in the college football postseason is central to any serious playoff proposal. As Brand said, the structure of the postseason is up to the presidents. In the case of a playoff, the task is to drag certain conferences away from the comfortable tie-ins and bowl relationships that seem beneficial enough to all parties that neither the bowls, the conferences, or the networks seem very willing to end. Adams notes the power of “conference and bowl commissioners,” but those conference commissioners already serve at the direction of their conference’s presidents. Is the steadfast opposition to a playoff from Jim Delany or Mike Tranghese contrary to the wishes of the Big 10 or Big East presidents?

The Football Bowl Subdivision has lots of schools who are not in BCS conferences. Their support of a playoff is key if the strategy is to have a majority of the FBS membership force change on the stubborn conferences comfortable with the current system. Will that support come easily? Likely not without 1) a cut of the pot and 2) better access to the playoff system than just “make sure you’re one of the eight seeded teams.”

Not ten years ago, you’d go to a Georgia basketball game on a January weekend to scan the crowd. It was official visit time for football recruits, and obsessive fans had to know who was there, who was hosting them, what snacks they got from the concession stand, and to what extent they were enjoying the game. The final month of the recruiting process was a zoo with almost half a class still to assemble. Each weekend brought a half-dozen or more high-profile prospects to Athens, and it was disaster if verbal commitments didn’t follow.

Here we are now a month from signing day, and crickets are chirping. Tumbleweeds. Georgia football recruiting is more or less finished. Recruitniks are already moving on to look at the early standouts in the 2009 class. There are just a few storylines remaining for what might well be the top recruiting class in the nation:

• Maintain those who have committed to date. That includes some like TE Dwayne Allen who have been looking around a bit, but the recruiting pundits don’t expect any defections.
• Maintain the commitment of A.J. Harmon. Harmon, one of the state of Georgia’s top line prospects, switched his commitment to Georgia from Clemson over the weekend. Harmon still shows a bit of indecision, but it’s clear that he has been thinking about committing to Georgia for some time. In fact, he tried several weeks ago only to be told that there was no room left. The subsequent transfer of Blake Barnes opened up a scholarship for Harmon. Depending on whom you read, Harmon is either solidly in the Georgia camp now, or just "kinda" committed.
• Watch the decision of Zebrie Sanders. The story of Sanders, a standout offensive tackle from Ohio, has taken an interesting turn recently. Sanders was more or less down to Georgia or Florida, but both schools have put him on hold within the past week.

Florida’s sudden change of heart with regard to Sanders might be explained by last weekend’s commitment of tackle Matt Patchan. If they were considering Sanders as an insurance policy in case Patchan went elsewhere, they can move on to other priorities.

Why has Georgia suddenly cooled on a four-star tackle like Sanders? The reason might be named Omar Hunter. Hunter, a defensive tackle from Buford rated the #4 DT in the nation by Rivals.com, pulled his verbal commitment from Notre Dame last weekend. It was assumed that Hunter would simply switch his pledge to Florida, but rumors this week indicate that Hunter is also showing some late interest in Georgia.

I don’t get that involved in crunching scholarship numbers. All I know is that Georgia manages to field a team every year with the right number of scholarship players, so I leave the worrying and accounting to those paid to pay attention to those things. That said, we know that Georgia is very close to its limit even with Sanders and Hunter hanging out there. There was room for Harmon only after Blake Barnes transferred, so were the Dawgs holding a final scholarship for Sanders? Has the interest of Hunter made Georgia apply the brakes? One source shows how that might be the case:

Sanders came to the Under Armour game set to announce a commitment to Florida or Georgia. The 6-foot-6, 275-pounder had hoped to commit on ABC…but a pair of phone calls changed the plan.

"I was supposed to commit today," Sanders said after the game. "I called Florida up and I called Georgia up. Coach Meyer and [Georgia] coach [Mark] Richt both told me that right now wouldn’t be the right time."…

…This could be a "slow play," meaning Florida and Georgia coaches are encouraging Sanders to wait as they sort out their scholarship numbers and determine if they have room for him in their classes. NCAA rules allow schools to bring in only 25 new players a year, and some may not even have enough open scholarships to sign that many. So Sanders will wait until Sunday before announcing his final decision.

So even in this relatively calm homestretch, there is some drama worth keeping up with. Things should settle pretty quickly; Sanders is still planning on committing on January 13th, and Hunter is expected to visit Florida this weekend. Excepting the always-possible signing day surprise, it should be a pretty quiet finish to a great class.

With the sole exception of the brief Takais Brown era, Georgia basketball over the past four years has been defined by the fortunes of up and down guard play.  We seem to be back in that mode again this season. Fortunately the backcourt came up huge in a 79-72 win over Georgia Tech on Wednesday evening. 

The Dawgs had four guards and wing Terrence Woodbury as their top five scorers.  After a career-high 24 points against Gonzaga over the weekend, Billy Humphrey followed it up with another 23 points tonight.  He shot a blistering 9-of-12 from the floor and, more importantly, continues to find his game inside the arc.  Only three of Billy’s attempts were three-pointers.  Sundiata Gaines had another solid night with 16 points.  Like Humphrey, Gaines shot 75% from the floor.  As we’ve come to expect from Gaines, he was among the team leaders with six rebounds and had five assists against just one turnover.

Make no mistake, it was an ugly game.  The score was 2-2 at the first TV timeout.  The two teams missed 27 free throws between them.  Both teams were guilty of some pretty stupid fouls. These aren’t two teams with any delusions of greatness this year.  But it was still Georgia-Georgia Tech, and it mattered to both teams as they prepared for conference play.

Georgia was able to gain some separation after the slow start and led by as many as 12 in the first half before going into the locker room up by 9.  Tech made a pair of runs in the second half and eventually drew even at 51 midway through the half, but they were never able to take the lead.  After Tech tied the game, another Georgia guard, walk-on Corey Butler, drilled a three-pointer.  The Dawgs ran off seven in a row but were unable to put the Yellow Jackets away.  Tech soon drew back to within two, and the Georgia lead ebbed and flowed for the rest of the game.  Importantly, Georgia hit free throws – 9 of 10 in the second half at one point – and free throws proved to be a turning point in the game.

With just over two minutes remaining, Tech’s Jeremis Smith missed two free throws with a chance to tie the game.  Georgia center Dave Bliss was fouled on the rebound and drilled his two foul shots to put Georgia ahead by four.  Corey Butler followed that up with another clutch three-pointer to extend the lead to seven, and that was all she wrote.

With the win, Georgia remains perfect at home against their rival since the series returned home-and-home in 1995.  With Georgia’s 75-70 win in Atlanta in 2000 the sole road victory in the series, the Dawgs now hold an 8-5 mark against Tech since the game returned to the campuses.

Coach Dennis Felton deserves recognition for a good personnel strategy.  Georgia was able to find success with a smaller lineup that got three guards plus Woodbury on the floor.  I’m sure part of the strategy was dictated by foul trouble among the post players, but it’s getting hard to keep both Humphrey and Butler off the court.  If this is how we’re going to live and die this year, so be it.  Felton is now 3-2 against Georgia Tech.

The Dawgs are finished with nonconference play and head to Starkville this weekend to open the SEC slate against Mississippi State.  We’ve seen enough to know that the Dawgs will succeed or fail based on the play of Humphrey and Gaines, but what we don’t know is how far that will take them in a weak SEC.  Forgetting that for the moment, a win over Tech was big for Felton and the program if only to keep the fans behind the program heading into conference play.  Great showing by the students.

Player of the game:  Billy Humphrey.  A second-straight big game.  Consistency has been Billy’s weakness, even tending to disappear for stretches, and he was money all night long in this game.  Humphrey has feasted against Tech; he scored a team-high 19 in the 2005 win, and there’s no better way to get in my good graces than to come up big against Tech. On top of all of that, he led the Dawgs in this game while playing through a sore left knee that had him questionable for the game in the first place.

Play of the game:  Butler’s three-pointer to give  Georgia the lead for good at 54-51.  It put Georgia on top to stay.

• Box Score