Late Season Run Priming Dawgs For '08

Thanks to sizzling end to 2007, Georgia among favorites to win it all next fall

Jan. 11, 2008

By Adam Caparell

CSTV.com

	ADAM CAPARELL Adam is CSTV.com's football editor and national football writer. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- FOOTBALL 01/23: Feeling It 01/18: Post-Bowl, Pre-Spring 2008 Preseason Top 25 01/11: Late Season Run Priming Dawgs For '08 01/07: Ring A Bell? 01/04: Tressel's Hopefully Prepared For Anything 12/21: Hokies Have Something To Play For 12/14: Name Game 12/8: Little Surprise Tebow Takes Heisman 12/8: Back For More 12/7: Class Act 12/6: Flutie's Legacy Still The 'Miracle' 12/4: Dixon Can Still Smile 12/2: Wishful Thinking 11/30: Daniel Driving Missouri On BCS Run 11/28: 'Game' Still Largely Defines Beban 11/23: Long Time Coming 11/21: Bandstanding Brown 11/16: Georgia In The Know 11/14: Only Eddie Held Eddie Back 11/9: Soft Schedule Could Have Hawai'i BCS Bound 11/7: The 'Bear' And Crow 11/2: No Secret To Oregon's Success 10/31: Age Only A Number 10/26: Nittany Lions Know It's Got To Be Close 10/24: In Long Line, White Continued Tradition 10/19: Trojans In Unfamiliar Territory 10/17: Rogers Larger Than Life 10/12: Missouri The Machine 10/10: The Jet Likes To Run 10/5: Meyer's Seen This Before 10/4: Polled Over 10/3: Long On Memories 9/28: Season Begins For Dixon And Ducks Saturday 9/26: Desmond The Poser 9/21: Spurrier's Being Honest 9/19: All In The Family With Rozier 9/14: USC Ready For Another Early Road Test 9/12: Detmer's Magic Won Him Heisman 9/7: 'Show' Time For Virginia Tech 9/5: Drive Drove Dorsett 8/31: Family Affair 8/29: Count On The Gamecocks To Hatch 8/28: Youth Gone Wild On Gator Defense 8/28: Talent Comes Naturally To Tigers 8/27: SEC Preview 8/27: All Hail Saban 8/25: No More Lazy Sundays 8/24: Illinois D Brimming With New Confidence 8/23: Big Ten Preview 8/23: 2007 Football Schedule Planner - Week 14 8/22: Tee'd Off 8/16: 2007 Football Schedule Planner - Week 13 8/15: Brohm's Back, And All Is Well 8/15: Coaches Split On Early Signing Period 8/14: Schiano's Success Starting to Show 8/13: Big East Preview 8/13: It's Not About Respect With Leavitt And USF 8/11: Production Time for Seminole Signal Callers 8/10: Shannon Looking To Return Swagger 8/10: Wake Up? 8/9: Atlantic Coast Conference Preview 8/9: Tough Turkeys, Once Again 8/9: 2007 Football Schedule Planner - Week 12 8/8: Preseason Top 25 8/2: 2007 Football Schedule Planner - Week 11 8/1: Big Ten Expansion Doesn't Make Sense 7/26: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 10 7/25: Beamer's Burden 7/19: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 9 7/18: Good Vibrations 7/12: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 6 7/11: Three and Up 7/4: And The Winner Is... 7/2: Where In The World Is Ed Smith? 6/28: SEC East's Big Weekend 6/27: Summer Bowl Forecast 6/21: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 5 6/20: Big 12 Loses Its Big Man 6/14: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 4 6/13: Trick Up His Sleeve 6/7: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 3 6/6: For the Record 5/31: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 2 5/30: Like Clockwork 5/24: 2007 Schedule Planner - Week 1 5/23: Florida Freshmen Get Defensive 5/16: Maroon Affected 5/10: Brennan's A Numbers Guy 5/9: More Than Just One Play 5/2: Post-Spring, Pre-Preseason Top 25 4/27: Quinn's Fallen, But He'll Still Be Up There 4/26: Size Does Matter 4/25: Troy Smith Now Middle of Pack QB 4/24: Peterson Can't Wait For The Moment 4/21: QB Biggest Question Facing Buckeyes 4/21: Don't Forget About The D 4/20: Bowl Game A Boon For Bluegrass Boys 4/19: The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall 4/18: New Coordinator, New Scheme, New Results? 4/18: Earlier The Better 4/17: It's Your Turn Offense 4/16: Spartans Hope Big Changes Go Long Way 4/14: Defense The Question Mark For Michigan 4/12: Height's Nothing But A Number 4/5: Two Much To Handle 3/28: More To Hill Than Just TDs 3/21: Down Could Mean Up For Delaware's Patrick 3/14: Changes In Store For Gill and Buffalo 3/7: Lurking In the Backgroung 2/28: What A Mock-ery 2/25: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same 2/24: Piscataway Proud 2/23: 40, For Better or Worse 2/22: The Ultimate Q and A 2/21: Combine's A Coming 2/14: Rights For Recruiting Wrongs 2/8: Recruiting No Joke For Coaches 2/6: Lemming Retrospect: Class of 2006 1/31: Coker In No Rush To Move On 1/30: Ross Bows Out, But Leaves His Mark At Army 1/26: Seniors With Something To Prove 1/25: Coaching For The League 1/24: Welcome To The Pros 1/17: Pre-Spring, Post-Bowl 2007 Preseason Top 25 1/10: Irish Have A Ways To Go 1/8: Siler and Gators After Something More 1/4: Russell Sweeter Than Sugar 1/3: Irish Out For Respect

Mark Richt didn't see more than a handful of plays from Monday's BCS Championship Game and that wasn't necessarily by choice.

The Georgia coach was in the air, traveling to Anaheim for the American Football Coaches Convention this past week, and managed to catch a few plays in the airport and the final kneel-down once he got to his hotel room.

And when he saw LSU begin to celebrate its second BCS Championship in four years, there were no "what could have been" thoughts running through Richt's mind.

The bitterness Richt felt from the snub didn't last long and at this point it makes no sense to look back when the future seems so bright. After all, the Bulldogs just capped 2007 with a dominating victory over Hawai'i in the Sugar Bowl - their consolation prize - to finish with the No. 2 ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll and will be one of the favorites to win it all in 2008.  

"We're excited to be ranked so high," Richt said. "We didn't finish No. 1, but to finish No. 2 in the AP and 3 in the Coaches Poll is a tremendous honor. As a head coach, it's the highest ranked team I've ever been involved in and that's exciting. And I know it's very exciting for our fans and our players."

The No. 2 ranking is the highest Georgia has finished in the polls since its national championship season in 1980, but the Georgia faithful are decidedly more excited about the prospects of finishing atop the polls at the end of next season.

With 17 of 22 starters coming back next year, the expectations in Athens will be through the roof. Fans will be buzzing about the Bulldogs' expected national title run from now until the season kicks off, but Richt wants to make sure he and his players don't get ahead of themselves.

"If guys want to start talking about it out in the open then they have to understand there's a lot of responsibility that goes with it," Richt said. "They've got to understand those types of seasons don't happen on accident, they happen because you can pay a price."

The foundation for next year's run was laid following the Bulldogs' sobering mid-season loss to Tennessee that could have easily derailed their run to the BCS.

The 35-14 undressing the Bulldogs suffered at the hands of the Vols could have easily been the wrong kind of turning point for a team chock full of young offensive talent. And Richt admitted after the regular season that when he got back from Knoxville, with Florida on the schedule the next weekend, he was worried about gaining bowl eligibility, not a BCS berth. 

But a six-game winning streak to close out the season, thanks to the emergence of tailback Knowshon Moreno helping to lead an offensive explosion, left Richt singing a different tune at the end. Georgia found itself in the Sugar Bowl, matched up against Hawai'i, and the Bulldogs were bent on closing out their season on a high note.

So Richt coached his team up. Never under Richt had the Bulldogs been so well conditioned heading into a bowl game. They were all business, concentrating on getting their rest, healing up all those SEC-inflicted bumps and bruises and playing as hard as humanly possible in New Orleans.

"We were ready," Richt said. "I felt like in my gut we prepared very hard. We had 15 practices and every one of them, expect for when the seniors were graduating, was geared toward beating Hawai'i. It was not an extra spring practice for us. It was planned strictly to be prepared the best we could against Hawai'i."

Maybe the Bulldogs were overly prepared, considering they pummeled the Warriors and Heisman Trophy finalist Colt Brennan, 41-10. Georgia was flying all over the field, having their way against overmatched Hawai'i and leaving many in the country - but not Richt - thinking that maybe the Bulldogs should have been playing for the national title.

"We played great that night. Could we have beat anyone in the country? Maybe. But there were other good bowl performances out there," Richt said.

But that bowl performance was a big reason why the Bulldogs finished where they did in the final polls and a big reason why many have them pegged as a 2008 title contender. With Moreno, the best underclassman running back in the nation, a relatively young offensive line, quarterback Matthew Stafford back and no early defections to the NFL expected, Georgia will be loaded next fall. 

Richt, however, will caution that Georgia is not without its challenges and holes. For starters, there's the schedule. On top of a trip to Arizona State there's the SEC slate that includes Alabama, Auburn and LSU next year. Personnel-wise, the Bulldogs need a new center and right tackle to emerge. There are three freshmen who are right now slated to backup Moreno, Kelin Johnson will be gone at safety and new leaders must step forward.

"How will the new group of seniors respond to their role as leaders?" Richt said. "They've got to understand it's already begun."

It sounds like they have. Before he left for Anaheim last Sunday, Richt had his first team meeting of the season and it marked a big change for the Bulldogs. The team has assigned seats when they gather and with the old guard out, next year's seniors eagerly moved up to the front of the room, symbolic of their new role as leaders.  

And while they're looking forward, they're certainly not forgetting how they got there. The Bulldogs were right in the mix at the end of 2007 and that will only serve to drive their hunger higher in 2008.

"It's a season where we got a taste to how close we might be to getting to that ultimate goal," Richt said. "And everybody's going to be working hard toward that end."