The resulting flurry of comments from irate dawgfans took me the better part of half an hour to sift through. The author is a bit indignant, and very sensitive to any criticism of his work - of which there was plenty! There were glaring inaccuracies in his piece, and many people pointed that out. The argument that the two teams are not who they were a year ago, improvements, attrition, etc...all were discussed. But, what I noticed on the grandest scale was the age-old SEC chest-thumping argument of "You guys don't play who we play week in and week out."
Now, I'm a dawg man all the way. I go into every season believing, quite honestly, that we can win every single game we play. I go into every season saying we have no excuse to lose a single game. And, I come out of every season believing that no matter what we've done, we can always do better next season. Still, I do not subscribe to the idiotic thinking that simply because we're in the SEC, we'll romp all over the Broncos.
Yes, BSU played a pathetic schedule last season, and it doesn't get MUCH better this year. They racked up high point totals against teams which placed in the lower 50 of all collegiate teams. They held weak offenses to no points. They did not do that when faced with quality competition. However, they were 2-1 in games against decent competition. That ain't bad.
The team we're bringing to Atlanta is not completely unlike any they've ever seen. Yes, we have big strong athletes who, individually, may be more naturally gifted than they've ever faced. But, Boise State has built its success and reputation on being a TEAM and it is in that area where we must find a way to beat them. Boise State has a history of rising to the occasion. In recent years, UGA has lacked that. We faced some cream puffs last season, and romped over them...but, we did NOT beat 66.66 percent of the good teams we faced.
Do we have arguably the best QB in the SEC? Yes we do. Do we have freakishly big, yet still athletic players on the defensive line? Yes we do. Do we have TEs who can create nightmare matchups for linebackers? Yes we do.
But, Boise has a bunch of talented players too. Don't be fooled into thinking they don't. Now...is it entirely possible that squeezing a pass between Sanders Comings and Brandon Boykin is a little different than doing so against Utah State? Yeah, I'd say it is. Might zone-blocking against a pair of 350+ double-team-splitters be a little tougher than against the 285lb tackles in Toledo? I'd say yes.
This is where the quandry comes in...if this 2011 team is the Championship team we believe they can be...this game could look much more like the UGA-HI Sugar Bowl than the BSU-VT kickoff. But, if there's any of the hangover from the past few UGA seasons left...it could be a scary night for Dawgfans.
I'm siding with the Sugar Bowl.
Go Dawgs!
