Too many days separating me from football...

The title says it all...right now, one of the persistent thoughts in my mind is the upcoming football season. In particular, it's UGA football that is fighting obligations for brain time.

The other (obvious) persistent thought is updated over at Caleb's blog.

So there's all kind of speculation about where UGA will be ranked, or where UGA will end up at the end of the year. For once, it's nice to have Georgia be the topic of preseason discussions, and not just because the whole team is being arrested for one thing or another...although that's always a common reason at UGA for some reason.

So is it better to be ranked high and get a big ol' bull's eye on you? Or, is it preferable to be ranked low, and have to prove yourself against all the naysayers? Right now, it looks like only a handful of people are predicting UGA to go undefeated, and the schedule is perhaps a little bit too intimidating to expect all wins and no losses. Even worse, as we learned last year, some of those sleeper games at the beginning of the season can have the undesirable effect of putting a football team to sleep, or giving the team more confidence than they have earned by defeating much lesser opponents.

So we start with Georgia Southern...while they are usually a Division I-AA powerhouse, they are still Div I-AA, which means - theoretically - that they aren't as good as any of the other 120 football teams in Division I-A. That being said, we've certainly opened the season with weaker opponents in the past, so this is good enough (and certain to stir the conversation around whether or not UGA, as a big name team, will get shocked like Michigan did last year when Appalachian State ruined their picnic).

Then there's Central Michigan...again, not a huge threat, but they aren't pushovers either, and are probably going to be more of a surprise than GA Southern proves to be.

Follow those two with a weekend in Columbia, SC against the Gamecocks and the king croc-cock himself, Steve Spurrier. This game last year still stings, because it stands out in my mind as the one game of the two that we lost that we should have won (easily)...it's the game that I think took us out of the SEC championship and the National Championship games. Sure, we lost to Tennessee, but they're usually a tough opponent, and they played well to the end of the season. South Carolina proved to be quite beatable down the stretch, and UGA was but one of their very few conquests. So this year is about not making that mistake again, and NOT losing to Steve Spurrier's team. It's do-able...they're still dealing with a fairly young team.

Next is Arizona State, probably the first time in as long as I can remember that Georgia left the south to play football. ASU is no pushover...they gave USC a run for their money last year, and are usually in contention for the Pac 10 title. With the unique climate and big game atmosphere out west, makes a man wonder how his team will play out.

Alabama comes in after that for their 2nd loss to UGA in as many years. Really, I think Saban will have Alabama in good shape sooner rather than later, but this isn't the year. I like Bama...like 'em a WHOLE lot more than Auburn...but they're in a little over their heads trying to beat out this UGA team in Athens this year.

Tennessee...oh, how I hate thee, Tennesee. Rocky Top isn't a bad song, it's just that I lose my head after the 140th time they play it each game. It also doesn't help when they're beating you pretty soundly, which is the story of the last 2 years, and 3 of the last 4. They're gonna have a good team this year, and they usually do. But...and this is a big "but"...I doubt Georgia is going to forget how they fell asleep last year. My money says we'll see Georgia win this one pretty easily.

That's the first half of the season, and I can see UGA going undefeated all the way 'til Jacksonville for the Cocktail Party...but at that game, we'll probably be looking at #1 and #2 playing each other for the top spot, and it'll be tough to call until about halfway through the 3rd overtime period.

I might try posting a mid-season update once we get to October, but for now I'm going crazy counting down the next month full of days until kickoff.

GO DAWGS!