Thursday, August 28, 2008

My Predictions for the 2008 Georgia Bulldogs Football Season


That's right--predictions for every game. By the end of the season, we'll all know that I'm not that kind of prophet.

August 30--Georgia 48, Georgia Southern 10. I met Eagles' second-year head coach Chris Hatcher when he was the head coach at Valdosta State; I invited him to speak at the Adel Lions Club. He did a good job and seemed a nice sort. I'd like to see the Dawgs go easy on GSU, but when you're ranked #1, you have to beat up on the little guys, just like Florida would.

September 6--Georgia 31, Central Michigan 21. I know nothing about Central Michigan. The Dawgs often struggle against schools against which they ought not struggle, and they might be looking ahead to South Carolina.

September 13--Georgia 38, South Carolina 7. If Steve Spurrier can win an SEC East title at South Carolina, I will finally admit what most people already readily affirm--that he is one of the greatest coaches of all time. He's at least a few years away from being on a level with UGA and UF and Tennessee, though. This will be the Dawgs' first game this year on national television. If they're still ranked #1, they'd better use this game to prove that they deserve it.

September 20--Georgia 24, Arizona State 21. I'm glad that Georgia is starting to schedule some tougher non-conference games. A really top-tier program needs to do that, even though no one should blame an SEC team for loading up on non-conference creampuffs. But a game like this really puts you on the national map and expands your recruiting base. It's risky, though, and this will be a tough matchup on the road.

September 27--Georgia 35, Alabama 14. It won't take long for Nick Saban to make Alabama a national championship contender. Thankfully, it's not this year.

October 11--Georgia 41, Tennessee 17. This is always a tough, tough game for Georgia, and sometimes UT beats a better UGA team. That happened last year. By this time the Dawgs will be starting to believe that they really can win the national title and they will want to prove it to everybody.

October 18--Georgia 21, Vanderbilt 14. A dangerous, dangerous game. There will be the distractions of Homecoming. Worse, the Dawgs play Alabama and Tennessee the two weeks before and then LSU and Florida the two games after. It will be easy to overlook Vandy and you just can't do that. They're tough and getting better. We'll sweat during this one, even in the crisp fall air, and we'll say a prayer of thanks when we squeak by.

October 25--Georgia 35, LSU 28. Another scary, scary game, especially in Baton Rouge.

November 1--Georgia 35, Florida 14. The Gators are still mad about last year. I think--I hope--that it was the beginning of a long winning streak in this series. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that these teams will arrive in Jacksonville undefeated and ranked #1 and #2 in the nation. This may be the most important game in the history of the storied series.

November 8--Georgia 28, Kentucky 18. It shoudn't be this close, but the Dawgs will be exhausted.

November 15--Auburn 21, Georgia 20. I just don't see UGA running this gauntlet undefeated. It is unfortunate that their lone loss will come against one of their biggest rivals; it is even more unfortunate that it will come this late in the season, thereby hurting their chances to play in the BCS Championship Game. Those chances won't be destroyed, though.

November 29--Georgia 41, Georgia Tech 14. Paul Johnson will, I believe, do a good job at Tech, but it will take a few years.

December 6--SEC Championship Game: Georgia 41, Auburn 17. Sweet revenge in the rematch and a ticket to the BCS Championship Game.

January 8, 2009--BCS Championship Game: Georgia 31, Clemson 21. That's right, I said Clemson, not USC or Ohio State. By the way, if Ohio State is the opponent, the score will be UGA 51, Ohio State 10.

All in all, Uga VII will have quite a rookie season!

4 comments:

Scott Rushing said...

If your predictions pan out, Uga will be cloned. :)

Drew Hill said...

Mike- What happens if your Bulldogs play Mizzou on January 8? That would be a great game. I had a chance to see the young Georgia quarterback play football in high school right here in Sedalia. Pretty impressive!

Anonymous said...

your BCS Champ. game got thrown out the window the first week of play.
-Roll Tide

Michael Ruffin said...

Anonymous--indeed it did! Unfortunately for you Tide fans, my predictions for each UGA game have been spot on. So, if the trend holds, this Saturday should go well for my team.

That having been said, I did make all of my predictions during the preseason. I never dreamed that the Tide would look as strong this year as they have so far.

Should be a great game.