CFN has their Georgia preview up (written by Pete Fiutak), and of course the message boards are all over it. It’s not a bad read actually. There are a few things I’d take issue with, but many of them come from being waaaaaaaay too familiar with the team. For someone at the 30,000-foot level, he’s got it more or less right.

I appreciate that he remembers the rebuilding challenge that Richt had in the 2003 season. At some positions, the issues in 2003 were even more severe than they are now. No one can deny that Georgia is turning to some inexperienced players to fill needs, but at least there are talented players we expect to step in there. In other words, I don’t think any of these positional situations are as dire as the running backs in 2003. I’m also glad to see the national recognition starting for Quentin Moses.

One opinion he has that I question is a common one, even among our own fans. We talked about this on the DawgVent the other day in fact. It’s the notion that the three running backs “have to carry the load” this year. It’s easy to forget in hindsight, but that was the line last preseason too. It’s actually a testament to the transformation of DJ Shockley over the past year. At this point a year ago, Shockley was seen as a talented guy who had shown some flashes but was still shaky and had never shown enough consistancy to make people think he’d be anything but a dropoff (however slight) from David Greene. While Shockley got adjusted to the starting role, the trio of young backs were going to have to be the strength of the offense.

Never happened. Oh, of course the backs were a key part of the offense last year (though, as Fiutak points out, not as productive as you might think), but there was no question that this was DJ Shockley’s team from the season opener. We got a Georgia offense that was similar in scheme and flow to the 2003 and 2004 units (with the occasional Shockley run of course).

I think we’ll see more of the same in 2006. Richt’s not afraid to use a good tailback – see the explosion of Verron Haynes at the end of 2001 or the 1,300+ yards of Musa Smith in 2002. But until we see otherwise, he just doesn’t seem to trust this current group of backs to be the focus of his offense. Will that change now that they are upperclassmen? I hope so. It would make life much easier for a new quarterback. Until they show otherwise though, I expect that the new quarterback will have a much larger role in the offense sooner than many seem to think. For that reason, I hope that we settle on someone before the season starts and get him adjusted to that role as soon as possible. It might also make the receivers and the ability of Mohamed Massaquoi to become a serious playmaker much more of an issue than this preview indicates.

I say “trust” above with Richt and the running game, but it might be something else. With one clear established tailback, you know whom you want in the game. You have almost no choice about playing time. With the three capable tailbacks not really separating themselves, it’s more difficult to push the right button. There were several examples last season. In the Florida game, Danny Ware had been on a tear, and the Dawgs were moving. We put in Thomas Brown who lost eight yards on the next play, and a promising drive was over. In the Tech game, Kregg Lumpkin was playing well early and had some nice runs on the first scoring drive, but he disappeared in the second half.

My point isn’t to second-guess Richt or criticize the backs. But the trio makes the decisions more difficult. If you have Garrison Hearst or even the senior Musa Smith, the decision is made for you. Run him, run him some more, and take him out of the game only if necessary. Substituting Brown for Ware against Florida might seem like a reasonable case of interchangable fresh legs perfectly suited for the three tailback rotation, but put another way, Musa Smith or Verron Haynes probably don’t come out of the game at that point. Lumpkin and Brown seemed to be moving into a class of their own during the spring, and that’s helpful. Fewer options might be bad if the emerging choice is a poor one, but that’s not what’s happening here. One running back emerging as the best option from a good group makes it more likely that the coaches will trust that guy to “carry the load”, and he can become a focus for the offense while a young passing game gets established.

Forget onepeats – who was the last team to beat a Gene Chizik defense?

Georgia.

In November, 2003.

That streak might come to an end this year (then again, it has a good chance of standing also). It’s not uncommon for good coordinators to duplicate success from job to job, but it’s amazing to construct two separate defenses of undefeated programs. Of course he had good talent to work with and a strong offense making the difference in a lot of those wins. The guy must be doing something right though.

The Chizik defenses we saw at Auburn weren’t especially overwhelming or physical, but we did see plenty of speed. Linebackers all over the field. Agile defensive tackles. Defensive ends who specialized in the pass rush. Even in Georgia’s solid 2003 win, points were excruciatingly tough to come by, and I didn’t feel good until Odell Thurman’s back-breaking interception. In 2004, Auburn’s defense was overshadowed by the offense, but the defense led the nation in scoring defense and was Top 5 in yardage. I was especially impressed in the 2004 Georgia game how Auburn made plays to stop the few potential game-changing drives that Georgia put together.

Chizik’s Texas defense last year wasn’t quite as good. I didn’t consider them dominant against Ohio State or USC, and they were a bit shaky against the run, but they played well enough during the season to finish as a top 10 unit in scoring and total defense while giving Young and Co. plenty of support.

28 and counting. How long will it last?

South Carolina (40-23) at No. 7 Georgia (45-20)
11 a.m. (ESPN2), 4 p.m. (ESPN/ESPNU), 1 p.m. (ESPN/ESPNU)

Looks like an early morning on Saturday. Monday’s game, if necessary, would be a day game. That hurts those of us who would drive up after work.

Times, matchups, and TV for all Super Regionals

Reminder – tickets are on sale at georgiadogs.com or over the phone at 706-542-1231. Only all-session tickets are sold now. Individual game tickets, if available, won’t be sold until Friday night.

Anyone should know better than to count these Dawgs out. Facing three elimination games to win the Athens regional, Georgia put together a string of wins that had everything from power hitting to shutdown pitching. Monday’s tight 3-2 win over FSU concluded a tremendous regional and a three game series with one of the nation’s most storied programs. FSU had a lot on their side after winning Saturday night’s game, and they had never failed to advance from a regional. Typically you’d expect a high-scoring game in a situation like this, but both Georgia and FSU found strong performances waiting down their pitching depth charts. Georgia’s Trevor Holder just got better and better, and regional MVP Joey Side made FSU pay for one of their few pitching mistakes with his third home run of the weekend.

For the regional Side batted .455 with six extra-base hits and twelve RBI. Side joins Jeff Keppinger in 2001 and Will Startup in 2004 as Dawgs who used the postseason to elevate already-solid reputations to lead Georgia to success.

“I felt like I was pretty much in the zone as a hitter,” Side said after Monday’s win. You don’t say.

Side wasn’t the only story of the regional of course. You have Morris tying the single-season HR mark. You have the trio of freshman pitchers who stepped up in the final three games to make sure that Georgia was playing on top most of the time. You have Georgia fighting out of the elimination round at home for the third time this decade. So many contributions and big plays. Kudos to FSU for an ultra-competitive series.

Now it’s the super regional, and South Carolina will return to Athens. Georgia has swept all four meetings to date with South Carolina this season, but of course none of that matters now. South Carolina obviously has to be playing good baseball to advance from the Charlottesville regional, and they bring one of the more dangerous offensive teams remaining in the tournament.

Super regional tickets are already on sale at georgiadogs.com, and the series will be a best-of-three beginning on Saturday.

Many Georgia fans know that Andy Landers’ frontcourt was decimated before the 2005-2006 season even started. Four forwards and centers were wiped from the roster through injury and attrition. Out of desperation, Landers turned to Georgia volleyball player Maria Taylor after the volleyball season had ended. Taylor had been an accomplished basketball player at Centennial High School but was on volleyball scholarship at Georgia. Because Bear Bryant (and I suppose others in that era) abused athletic scholarships from other sports and stockpiled football players, the SEC (and only the SEC) has a rule that prevents football and basketball teams from using players who are on scholarship in another sport. Landers’ plan to use Taylor (who had even begun practicing with the team) was stopped in its tracks after an appeal to the SEC fell through.

Now at the SEC spring meetings, Landers is promoting a rules change that would remove women’s basketball from the rule, and the suggestion has been well-received. Landers obviously has a specific motivation for suggesting this rules change, but he also presents the idea as an issue of opportunities for female student-athletes. “To limit those (opportunities) for any reason at this point in the evolution of women’s sports is I think wrong and counterproductive,” he said.

What Landers attempted to do with Taylor last year was entirely above-board and not against the spirit of the “Bear Bryant rule”. It wouldn’t have received a second thought in any other conference. It’s a little too late to help, but I hope he’s successful in this campaign.