Sports

The second edition of the BCS poll was released last night and the Top 10 was virtually unchanged…except for one big movement: Oklahoma is now #2, Texas is now #3.

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
16. UGA

This is critical, because according to the Big 12 Tie-Breaker rules, in the event of a three-way tie, the team ranked the highest in the BCS will win the division. In this case, because Oklahoma is now #2, Texas #3 and Texas Tech #7, Oklahoma will play # 20 Missouri in the Big 12 Title Game. The interesting thing about all of this is that out of the five conferences that are broken into divisions (ACC, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference (MAC) and SEC), it is only the Big 12 rules that would have Oklahoma play in their conference title game. The other four conferences’ three-way tie-breaker rules would have had Texas instead.

Anyways, after last wekeend’s games, things have become very clear from a National Perspective.

The ACC Champion will be either #25 Virgina Tech or #17 Boston College. Those two each won their perspective divisions by winning last weekend and will play each other in the conference title game for the 2nd straight year (with this year’s game being moved to Tampa Bay). The winner will play Big East Champion Cincinatti in the Orange Bowl.

The SEC winner will be either #1 Alabama or #3 Florida. Those two will gut it out next Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. The winner of this game will go to the National Title.

The Pac-10 scenario is pretty simple. If #5 USC goes on the road and beats 4-7 UCLA, they will play Penn State in the Rose Bowl. If they lose, they will fall into a three-way tie that will actually give Oregon State the Pac-10 crown and trip to the Rose Bowl.

The Big 10 will now more than likely get two teams in the BCS, due to Oregon State’s home loss to #19 Oregon. #10 Ohio State appears headed to the Fiesta Bowl (more than likely playing Texas), while Penn State will represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. If USC loses Saturday to UCLA, the Big 10 might only have Penn State go to a BCS game, because USC still might earn an at-large bid over Ohio State.

With Ohio State likely playing in a BCS game, it appears that #21 Michigan State will be Georgia’s opponent in the Capital One Bowl. Despite the loss Saturday to the now #15-ranked Yellow Jackets, UGA will still likely get the nod over 8-4 Ole Miss or 7-5 South Carolina or LSU.

As for the National Championship, it appears that it will be Oklahoma vs. the SEC winner. I cannot see Oklahoma losing to Missouri in their conference title game. If they do lose, however, then with a win Saturday, USC would play the SEC winner. If both Oklahoma AND USC lose on Saturday (a very, very unlikely scenario) then the BCS would be in complete turmoil, as Texas, Utah and Penn State would all make compelling cases to play the SEC champion.

If you were to ask any student on campus, which game you were looking forward to the most/which team is our biggest rival, the majority would say “Florida”. Sure you would get some, “Auburn” or “Tennessee” or perhaps some “South Carolina” for those of you that just really hate Coach Spurrier that much, but few to none would say “Tech”. Now, if you were to ask your father, grandfather or really any middle-aged alum who they circle on their calendar every year and almost everytime it’s one team: Tech.

Despite Georgia’s dominance over the course of the history (UGA holds the all-time series 59-38-5, including a 33-11 record since Vince Dooley took over the program in 1964), the older alum still hate nobody more than our closest and in-state rival. That might change over time, but until then you can still hear those that say that they would have no problem going 1-10, as long as that lone win is against Tech.

While some may say that besides pride, Georgia does not have a lot on the line this Saturday, here is something to consider: a win Saturday, would give Georgia 8 straight wins over Tech, matching the Yellow Jackets’ streak from 1949-1956 as the longest in the series. On top of that, if would give UGA’s its 6th 10 win or more season in the past 7 years. Off the top of my head, only Ohio State, USC, Oklahoma, Texas and Boise State (though, of course, they never play anybody) can match that kind of success.

However, it not not be easy, especially if history has anything to say about the outcome. From 1991-1997, despite having 2 losing seasons and a 6-6 season, UGA still managed to beat Tech 7 straight times. In 1998, Georgia came into the game 8-2 and faced a 8-2 Tech team in a game that was played in Athens. Unfortunately, Tech won a close won 21-19 and it began a stretch in which Tech won three straight against the Dawgs (something that had not happened since 1961-1963).

One thing that concerns many, including Mark Richt publicly, is Tech’s new triple-option offensive attack. Georgia has not seen an offense like this since the 2004 season opening 29-7 win over Georgia Southern (who ironically was coached by Georgia Tech’s new head coach, Paul Johnson). What makes it tough to stop is that it is the kind of offense you do not see very often and a result it is very tough to pick up with such a limited amount of time between one game and another. Georgia does have the luxury of having two weeks to prepare, but as Coach Richt mentioned the other day, the scout team will not be able to run it in practice nearly as well as Georgia Tech will be able to run it Saturday afternoon in Athens.

With the new offense in place, Tech is 4th in the Nation in rushing, averaging 270.8 yards a game on the ground. Defensively, they are giving up 78 points less than Georgia, which is just over a touchdown fewer than the Dawgs per game. In my opinion, with a confident Tech team that just rolled up 518 yds of offense against the previously ranked Miami Hurricanes last Thursday night on ESPN, this ought to be a very close, low scoring affair, much like the 2005 (14-7 UGA win) and 2006 (15-12 UGA victory) games.

If the Dawgs had to play Tech last week, I would probably pick an upset here. But, after a week off to rest and reflect on the season a bit and to now play a home game (the first in six weeks) after four straight games on the road, I think Georgia will be up to the challenge. It will be close and it will not be pretty, but give me UGA 21-Tech 17.

Well a week after not a whole lot of movement in the Top 10, we got plenty of action as 5 out of the top 7 spots saw new teams take hold:

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Florida
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
11. UGA

Oklahoma’s unbelievable 65-21 thrashing of previously unbeaten Texas Tech allowed the Sooners to jump Florida into the #3 spot. They are now just behind Texas and with a road game @ #12 Oklahoma State this weekend, it appears that with a win this Saturday the Sooners are in a prime position to jump #2 Texas (who plays lowly Texas A&M on Thursday) and win the Big 12 South (due to the potential three-way tie, the Sooners would win the division by virtue of being the highest ranked Big 12 South team).

However, what makes things very funny for all three Big 12 teams (Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech) is that none of them control their own destiny. Texas essentially needs to beat A&M and have Texas Tech lose to Baylor in order to win the division. Under this scenario, Texas would play in the title game, because it holds the tie-breaker over Oklahoma.

Oklahoma needs to beat Oklahoma State and have Texas Tech beat Baylor to maintain a tie between them and Texas Tech/the three way tie in general.

Texas Tech needs to beat Baylor and have Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma. If this were to happen, Texas Tech would win the South division, since they have the tie-breaker over Texas. With all of those scenarios in mind, it ought to be a very interesting/important weekend for the Big 12.

In the Pac-10 it is simple: if Oregon State beats Oregon, they win the Pac-10. If they lose, USC will win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl.

The ACC is almost as simple. If BC beats Maryland, they will win the Atlantic Divison and either play GT or VT in the championship game. If they lose, then FSU will win the division. In the Coastal Division, if VT beats UVA this weekend, VT will play either BC/FSU in the championship game. If they lose, GT will go.

The Big 10 season is completed, with Penn State winning the title for the first time since 2005 and will be making their first Rose Bowl appearance time since 1995.

The SEC, as many of you know, has already been simplified to the winner of the #1 Alabama/#3 UF gets the title and the Big East crown is essentially down to 4 teams (Cincinnati, West Virgina, Pitt and Rutgers) but there are too many hypotheticals regarding that one so I will pass on going into to them…plus, who cares, it is the Big East, the worst of the major six conferences.

As for Georgia, from just about every media outlet, it appears that they are locked-in to the Capitol One Bowl at this point, win or lose Saturday against GT (unless, of course, Alabama or UF lose their last two games, in which case we would end up in the Sugar Bowl again). The one thing we do not know is who UGA’s opponent will be: Ohio State or Michigan St.

This will be determined by who wins the #23 Oregon-#17 Oregon State game. If Oregon State wins, then the Pac-10 will send two teams to the BCS and we will get #10 Ohio State. If Oregon wins, then the Big 10 will get two teams into BCS games and we will get #19 Michigan State.

Sunday brought the college football world one step closer to the end of the regular season, by releasing the fifth edition of the BCS poll. Due to no upsets amongst the Top 10, the poll is virtually unchanged, with only Ohio State’s jumping of Georgia being the only movement in the Top 10:

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Utah
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
11. UGA

BCS matchups remain up in the air, with so many hypotheticals still possible. This weekend’s games ought to shake things up, especially when #1 Texas Tech goes to Norman, OK to play #5 Oklahoma. This game has major, major implications not just for the Big 12, but for the National Title game picture.

If Texas Tech wins, Texas and Oklahoma will be eliminated from the Big 12 and National Championship picture. However, if Oklahoma wins, then things are wide open in the Big 12 as there would be a 3-way tie in the Big 12 South between Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma with only one game left in the regular season. According to Big 12 rules, in the event of a 3-way tie, the team that is ranked the highest in the BCS at the end of the regular season will play in the Big 12 Championship.

In another big game, #23 Oregon St. travels to 6-4 Arizona. If Oregon St. can beat Arizona this weekend and Oregon (8-3) next week at home, they will play in the Rose Bowl (thus eliminating any chance #6 USC has of getting to the National Championship).

The Big 10 picture will finally be complete, when #15 Michigan St. travels to Happy Valley and Michigan plays #10 Ohio State. The scenarios are quite clear in this conference:

1) If #8 Penn State beats Michigan St. they will win the Big 10 and go to the Rose Bowl
2) If Penn State loses and Ohio St. wins, they will win the Big 10 and go to the Rose Bowl
3) If Ohio St. loses and Michigan St. beats Penn State, Michigan State will win the Big 10 and go to the Rose Bowl.

Whoever wins the Big 10 will certainly help clear the picture for Dawg fans regarding potential bowl opponents. Assuming Georgia beats Tech in two weeks, they will likely play whoever finishes 2nd in the Big 10 in the Capitol One Bowl (though the Cotton Bowl against a Big 12 opponent is also a strong possibility).

Finally, the battle between #14 BYU @ #7 Utah should reveal which nonautomatic-qualifying conference team will earn a spot in the BCS. If Utah wins, they are in. Lose, and they must hope for #9 Boise St. to get upset in one of their final two games.

If one were to think back just two years ago, this game would appear to be very similar, with only one subtle difference…a complete role reversal. In 2006, as the 6-4 Dawgs, coming off two embarrassing losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, came to Auburn to play the 8-1 #5 Tigers, many were expecting a pretty one-sided affair (hence the game got a 12:30 EST kick-off time, much like this matchup).

Well one-sided game they got, only it was Georgia that was on the good side of it, shocking everyone with a 37-15 thrashing of Auburn. Georgia went on to knock off Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech to finish the year 9-4 and set themselves up for last year’s memorable season (which included the 45-20 Blackout victory over the Tigers).

So, while this years match-up may not live up to the preseason hype it received with both teams getting preseason ranked inside the Top 12, it still should make for a very good game. For Georgia, a win would give them three straight wins over Auburn, something they have not done since 1980-1982.

It would also close the all-time series gap, which Auburn currently holds 53-50-8. For Matthew Stafford, a third win against Auburn would also be quite an achievement. If the Dawgs win on Saturday, he would become the first Georgia QB to beat the Tigers three straight years in a row since Johnny Rauch from 1945-1948.

From Auburn’s point-of view, while they are only a shocking 5-5 on the season, this game still holds quite some signifigance. In order to avoid missing the bowl season for the first time since 1999, the Tigers need a win against either #10 Georgia on Saturday or two weeks from now @ #1 Alabama.

So, what’s going to happen Saturday? Well last time I offered a prediction, Georgia got its butt-kicked against the boys from Gainesville, but despite this I am feeling relatively confident in this one. Give me Georgia 24 Auburn 17.

On Sunday, the 4th Edition of the BCS Poll was released. Minus #3 Penn State’s shocking upset to Iowa on Saturday and #2 Texas Tech thumping #9 Oklahoma State, there was not too much movement overall in the poll:

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Utah
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. UGA

Despite Georgia’s narrow 42-38 victory over 6-4 Kentucky, the Dawgs jumped up 3 spots, including over Ohio State who crushed previously-ranked Northwestern. The computer poll’s love for Georgia (#7 avg. rank) over the aforementioned Buckeyes and Missouri Tigers (who the computers both rank at #12) is the biggest reason for this, despite the fact that both of those teams are ranked ahead of Georgia in the Coaches and Harris Polls.

Unfortunately, like I stated last week, unless Georgia gets some help (aka Alabama or Florida would likely have to lose twice), no matter how high Georgia is in the BCS, they will not be eligible to be selected in a BCS bowl.

In fact, figuring out who will actually get a BCS bowl bid is a bit complicated right now. The basic set-up of the BCS is that the six champions of the major conferences get a bid along with four other at-large selections. The only major rules that come into play are

1) No conference can send more than two teams to BCS games

2) The champion of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference or the Western Athletic Conference will earn an automatic berth in a BCS bowl game if either:

A. Such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS Standings, or
B. Such team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS Standings and its ranking in the final BCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls.

The Pac 10 has an interesting scenario. While USC is the conference’s highest ranked team, it is Oregon State (the only team to beat USC this season) that actually controls its own destiny. If Oregon State can win its final three games, they will win the Pac-10 and play in the Rose Bowl, not USC. USC would then need to earn one of the four at-large bids to go to a BCS game.

That pool would include the loser of the SEC and Big 12 Championship games, Utah, Boise St., Miami of Ohio and Ohio State. Essentially six teams fighting for four spots.

With just a few weeks to go, it out to be a very interesting finish to the college football season. From Georgia’s perspective, if they win out, a trip to the Capitol One or Cotton Bowl (both New Years Day games) appears to be on the horizon.

Last night, the 3rd BCS Poll came out. After Georgia’s big loss against Florida, it is no surprise to see that UGA fell out of the Top 10, checking in at #13. They are the third highest 2-loss team, behind Ohio State and Missouri. Texas Tech was the big mover, jumping up five spots from #7 to #2. This was quite a surprise, because many figured that with Texas’ loss, Penn State would move up one spot to #2. Now, it appears that even if Penn State wins their three remaining games, they will still need either Alabama or Texas Tech to lose.

Without further ado, here are the new rankings:

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Penn State
4. Texas
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma State
10. Boise State
13. UGA

With a quick glance, one would think that with three weeks to go, if UGA won out and finished 10-2, they should crack the BCS Top 10 and therefore have a great shot of going to a BCS game as an at-large team.

Unfortunately, due to the BCS policy that a maximum of only two teams per conference are eligible to be selected to BCS games, no matter how high UGA is ranked they will more than likely not be invited to a game.

This is because Alabama and Florida are currently ranked ahead of the Dawgs in the BCS and considering both teams beat Georgia pretty handedly in front of a national audience, the selection committees of each of the bowls will likely pass over Georgia for one of them. Those two will likely be representing the SEC in the BCS games, one as the SEC champion and the other as an at-large bid selection.

On August 1st, UGA was preseason ranked #1 in the Coaches Poll and shortly thereafter the AP writers also voted the Dawgs #1. With the way the team finished last year and given the expectations of the media, this season had more hype to it than any since the Hershel Walker days roughly twenty-five years ago. On November 1st, the dream season that countless envisioned came to a bitter end.

While the season as a whole is technically not over for another month (at least the non-bowl part), Georgia’s chance to play for the SEC and potential National Championship essentially ended in an embarrassing 49-10 defeat to Florida Saturday. You have to go back to Jim Donnan’s first season as the Dawgs head coach (1996, with a team that went 5-6, the last UGA team not to go to a bowl game) that lost 47-7 to the eventual National Champion Gators to find a defeat worse defeat (which happens to still remain as the worst loss to the Gators). With the win, Florida needs a win either this week @Vanderbilt (5-3) or at home vs. South Carolina (6-3) in two weekd to clinch the SEC East and more than likely play #1 Alabama for the SEC Championship in Atlanta next month.

The sad thing for Dawg fans comes with the fact that in many ways, Georgia beat themselves. Now do not get me wrong, clearly with or without the Dawgs help, Florida was the better team Saturday. But when you consider the fact that Florida scored 21 points on UGA turnovers and Georgia missed two very makable field goals (from 37 yds and 27 yds out) in the first half that swung the momentum, some might change their perception of the game to a certain extent.

Florida’s scoring began on a drive that should have ended twice in my opinion. First off it was extended on a questionable spot on a Tebow run on a third and short that was challenged by Georgia. Then later in the drive while Tebow was throwing an interception, there was a personal foul call on a Georgia defensive lineman on the contact he made with the helmet of a Florida offensive lineman.

The rule should be that the penalty should be assessed on Georgia’s offense (by backing them up 15 yards from the end of the play), because the penalty had nothing to do with the interception. But, that is not the case and by a technicality the drive continued resulting in a touchdown. The next Florida another scoring drive that was set up on a failed onside kick. If there was one that will be forgotten in this game it was the performance the UGA defense had in the first half. They gave up just 130 yds and due to the negated-interception drive and a drive set up by a failed on-side kick gave up 14 points.

The turning point of the game was without question Stafford’s first interception of the game. With about 8 minutes to go in the 3rd Quarter and UGA on the UF 30 yd line, Stafford’s interception that was returned to the Georgia one yard line turned the tide. Had Georgia not turned the ball over and either made a field goal or touchdown on that drive, the score would be been 14-6 or 14-3. Instead, after a 1 yd Tebow run , the game swung to 21-3. After a Georgia three and out, UF got the ball on their 44 yard line and marched down the field to put the game away 28-3.

On the next drive a bad toss by Stafford to Moreno, resulting in Florida getting the ball at the UGA 10 yard line. A few plays later the game became 35-3. Throw in another Stafford interception on the UF 11 a few drives later that gets returned to the UGA 25 and one-play later it is 42-3. A quick recap of my summary will find that on five of Florida’s seven touchdown drives, UF started the ball on their 44-yard line or closer. Three of those drives started on UGA’s side of the field (including two inside the UGA 10). It does not matter who you play, you turn the ball over that much and give any team that kind of field advantage, you will get burned.

At the end of the game, the defense gave up 373 yds and while it did not play its best game, it deserved a better fate than the 49 points that show up in the final score. UGA actually outgained UF, putting up 398 yds of offense (only 30 yds below its season average), but only had 10 points to show for it due to far too many costly mistakes. UGA turned the ball over FOUR times in roughly ELEVEN minutes of game time (from roughly 8:00 to go in the 3rd Quarter to 11 minutes to go in the 4th Quarter).

The dream is over. For Georgia, they must re-adjust their goals and focus on finishing as high as they can. They are 7-2 with three games left in the regular season, plus a bowl game. If they win out, Georgia will be going into the bowl game 10-2 and will likely make an appearance in either the Cotton, Outback or Capitol One bowl. They win that and UGA will likely end up inside the Top 10 for the 6th time in 7 years. However, first thing is first and Georgia must move on past this disappointing lost and travel to Lexington next weekend and beat UK.