2008 Woodie Awards
Bulldogs' preseason ranking a distant memory
TYLER ESTEP
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Sports
It would have been hard to predict Georgia would lose three games when it was named preseason No. 1 in August.
Georgia entered 2008 riding the momentum of a Sugar Bowl dismantling of Hawaii and tons of preseason hype, but after a 45-42 loss to Georgia Tech Saturday, the Bulldogs are 9-3 and out of the BCS top 15.
"Nobody thought we would be in this position at the beginning of the season - it was all high hopes and everything," said linebacker Rennie Curran. "Things didn't work out the way we wanted them to."
Georgia is 0-3 against teams that are currently in the BCS top 25 (Alabama, Florida and Georgia Tech). Vanderbilt and LSU were both ranked when the Bulldogs beat them earlier this season, but now have a combined 11 losses.
And the Bulldog defense has given up more than a mile's worth of total offense (1,932 yards) in its last five games, with national and SEC championship dreams all but forgotten.
"It's not been an easy season, that's for sure," said Georgia head coach Mark Richt. "We certainly had the bar raised so high that anything short of some kind of championship is a disappointment. And when you come up short, it hurts."
If Georgia does win its bowl game (likely the CapitalOne Bowl against a Big 10 team such as Michigan State), it would mark double digit wins for the sixth time during the Richt era.
But the Bulldogs probably envisioned their season ending in trips to Atlanta and Miami rather than with a loss in Athens and a trek to Orlando.
"Of course we're not where we wanted to be toward the beginning of the season, but guys really played hard and there's no letdown, not at the end of the season," said tailback Knowshon Moreno. "We still have one more."
Moreno and quarterback Matthew Stafford will have a bowl opponent and NFL draft decisions to worry about in the month or so before taking the field to officially close out the 2008 season.
Last game in Sanford Stadium or not, Stafford was reluctant to call his potential final season a disappointment just yet.
"We've still got one more to go," he said. "Ask me later."
If they do return for another campaign in Athens, unfulfilled dreams this season may make future championships all the sweeter, Richt said.
"I guess you've got to have a season like this here and there to really appreciate the other ones," he said.
Georgia entered 2008 riding the momentum of a Sugar Bowl dismantling of Hawaii and tons of preseason hype, but after a 45-42 loss to Georgia Tech Saturday, the Bulldogs are 9-3 and out of the BCS top 15.
"Nobody thought we would be in this position at the beginning of the season - it was all high hopes and everything," said linebacker Rennie Curran. "Things didn't work out the way we wanted them to."
Georgia is 0-3 against teams that are currently in the BCS top 25 (Alabama, Florida and Georgia Tech). Vanderbilt and LSU were both ranked when the Bulldogs beat them earlier this season, but now have a combined 11 losses.
And the Bulldog defense has given up more than a mile's worth of total offense (1,932 yards) in its last five games, with national and SEC championship dreams all but forgotten.
"It's not been an easy season, that's for sure," said Georgia head coach Mark Richt. "We certainly had the bar raised so high that anything short of some kind of championship is a disappointment. And when you come up short, it hurts."
If Georgia does win its bowl game (likely the CapitalOne Bowl against a Big 10 team such as Michigan State), it would mark double digit wins for the sixth time during the Richt era.
But the Bulldogs probably envisioned their season ending in trips to Atlanta and Miami rather than with a loss in Athens and a trek to Orlando.
"Of course we're not where we wanted to be toward the beginning of the season, but guys really played hard and there's no letdown, not at the end of the season," said tailback Knowshon Moreno. "We still have one more."
Moreno and quarterback Matthew Stafford will have a bowl opponent and NFL draft decisions to worry about in the month or so before taking the field to officially close out the 2008 season.
Last game in Sanford Stadium or not, Stafford was reluctant to call his potential final season a disappointment just yet.
"We've still got one more to go," he said. "Ask me later."
If they do return for another campaign in Athens, unfulfilled dreams this season may make future championships all the sweeter, Richt said.
"I guess you've got to have a season like this here and there to really appreciate the other ones," he said.
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