LSU hasn’t been champion long, but we might as well look ahead to the next season while the previous one is still fresh in memory. Over the next several days we’ll look at the strengths, challenges, and dynamics ahead in Georgia’s 2008 season. The dominant story out of the gate will be the expectations facing the 2008 squad.

The "who’s #1?" talk is already starting for the 2008 season. (As an aside, this is why delaying official polls until midseason won’t change much. The discussion will happen with or without their participation.) Tony Barnhart didn’t wait very long to declare Georgia his preseason #1 team. He’s just one pundit, but it’s reasonable to expect many preseason polls to include Georgia among their top 5.

John Kaltefleiter takes what I think is the wrong approach today in the Banner-Herald by downplaying the expectations. I think he overreacts to what’s been going on. He complains of a "public coronation" and says that making Georgia the "hands-down preseason No. 1 team and booking those Orange Bowl reservations for the first weekend of January of next year is not just premature, it’s presumptuous."

The trouble is that no one is really saying all of that. No one, least of all Mark Richt, is assuming anything about next year. There is simply the recognition that there are several really good teams with a shot at a title run next year and, yes, Georgia is one of them. Beyond that, why not Georgia? While the Dawgs might not be the hands-down favorite (is anyone?), they make as good of a case as anyone at this ridiculously early stage. It’s not Kaltefleiter’s job as a journalist to cheerlead for the Dawgs, but if he’s going to try to temper the enthusiasm, I have to disagree.

Blame Dooley or Munson, but for whatever reason Georgia fans seem to shrink from this position and relish the under-the-radar approach. There’s no getting around it though: the Dawgs (and their fans) are going to have to deal with some very high expectations in 2008. We might as well dive in with both feet. The ranking and the expectations should serve as motivators for a team that, as Mark Richt said, "got a taste of just how close we might be to getting that ultimate goal. Everybody is going to be really working hard towards that end."

It’s likely that Georgia will be in its best preseason position since a #3 ranking to open the 2004 campaign. Though an 11-win season, New Year’s Day bowl victory, #7 finish, and a win over Florida can hardly be considered a truly disappointing season, many fans expected Pollack and Greene to ride off into the sunset with at least a divisional title. It didn’t happen.

Fans might be a little gunshy after high expectations in 2000 and 2004, but that’s no reason to run from the promise of the next few seasons. The story of the 2004 season has another lesson: the best program never put all of their eggs in one season or all of their hope in one player. Georgia’s no stranger to this lesson. While 2004 didn’t result in any hardware beyond an Outback Bowl championship, the Dawgs followed it up with an SEC title in 2005.

There is no reason not to be enthusiastic about the 2008 season. The best part is that even if the schedule takes its toll and the Dawgs drop a game or two, this isn’t a one-and-done shot. With outstanding recruiting classes in 2006 and 2007, the pump seems primed for seasons to come in Athens. Excitement and even a little attitude is justified. Enjoy the ride we’re about to take.

Coming up we’ll look a little deeper at some of the reasons for all of this hype and of course give the schedule and other potential stumbling blocks their due.