Jan. 7, 2009.

It’s a date that changed the landscape of Georgia football, if not forever, for a year. It’s one that saw Georgia fans, Georgia coaches and college football say goodbye to Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno.

Stafford, the strong-armed quarterback, and Moreno, the super-stud running back, would both be leaving school early to enter the NFL draft.

Stafford would become the No. 1 overall pick to Detroit. Moreno would go at No. 12 to Denver.

It would be a whirlwind for Georgia without them, one that has found the Bulldogs at 7-5 and landed them in the Dec. 28 Independence Bowl against Texas A&M.

 Fifth-year quarterback Joe Cox was quickly named the starter after Stafford’s departure. After waiting for his chance for four years, there was guarded optimism about Cox’s season at the helm.

And justifiably so. Cox provided his up-and-down moments. he was named the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week for his five-touchdown performance against Arkansas, and provided a similarly impressive performance against South Carolina. He found a knack for delivering the long ball, helping sophomore A.J. Green become a All-SEC first-teamer.

He also threw 14 interceptions.

“It’s been a pretty crazy year,” Cox said after helping Georgia to a 30-24 win over Georgia Tech. “One minute I feel like people can’t wait for me to get out of Athens, and the next minute we have a game like this.”

Stafford, meanwhile, led the Lions, who went winless in 2008, to their first victory in 19 games in September. He’s had an up-and-down NFL debut, too, throwing for 13 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He set a rookie record with five touchdowns in a win against Cleveland.

 With Moreno gone, Georgia’s running game struggled to start 2009. With Caleb King in and out of the lineup with injuries, Richard Samuel and freshman Washaun Ealey (the new No. 24) struggled to find consistency.

But once King returned, things turned around, and Georgia found a true running attack without one feature back for the first time since Moreno came to town. They found their stride in Week 10, running all over lesser opponent Tennessee Tech for 304 yards.

King and Ealey rushed for a combined 349 yards against Georgia Tech, capping off a four-game stretch of solid running to give Georgia fans hope for a strong 2010 campaign ahead.

Moreno has rushed for 774 yards, 4.3 yards per attempt and five touchdowns as a rookie with the Broncos.

 The effect that Stafford and Moreno’s departures had directly on Georgia’s defense are debatable.

But a second straight struggling season by the Bulldog defense formerly known as the Junkyard Dawgs led to the dismissal of defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, linebackers coach John Jancek and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris in recent weeks, and one could argue that Stafford and Moreno were the difference between a 10-3 season in 2008, and a 7-5 campaign in 2009.

With a defensive performance not all that different from last season’s, it could be reasoned that Stafford and Moreno, and wins, kept Martinez & Co. around a little longer. Now, with only head coach Mark Richt, defensive tackles coach Rodney Garner and two graduate assistants to help, Georgia takes on Texas A&M’s high-powered offense in the Independence Bowl.

When Stafford and Moreno decided to leave school early, Richt said this: “Anybody who’s out there thinking about drafting these guys, you’ll do well by drafting these guys as high as you can get them. And trade up for them if you got to.”

They were drafted early, and they’ll continue to try and validate Richt’s statement as the NFL season continues. But Richt, like everyone else, acknowledged that they would sure be hard to replace.

And, in 2009, they were.