The Lady Dogs found a way last night to make the men’s 56-point performance at South Carolina on Wednesday look like the output of a Tarkanian UNLV team.

Georgia gave up only 47 points to Kentucky…and lost 47-44.

They scored 17 points in the second half, and that includes a garbage layup at the buzzer.

After going up 36-27 with 13 minutes remaining, the team made just one more shot until Ashley Houts’ layup as the clock expired.

Tasha Humphrey scored 20 points for Georgia, but even she was held to just six points in the second half. Kentucky doubled down on the Bulldog star, and Georgia’s perimeter players were not quick enough to make the Wildcats pay for the extra attention paid to Humphrey.

It is impossible to describe just how wretched the Georgia offense was. If it wasn’t missed shots, it was turnovers. Really bad turnovers. Everything from Ashley Houts’ unforced double-dribbling along the sideline to Megan Darrah throwing the ball away on Georgia’s final opportunity to tie the game.

When you’re a successful coach like Andy Landers, watching (and pointing out) the same mistakes over and over is maddening. He reached a breaking point after the game and pulled the team into the postgame media conference to let them hear some very candid and pointed public criticism.

"We don’t fight," Landers said. "I have a hard time correcting mistakes. And quite honestly, our accountability is not really great. All that’s my fault. I’ve got to figure out how to get all that straightened out. We don’t like to be accountable. We’ll call momma. We’ll call daddy. We’ll call you if we think we can get you to agree with me on a bad idea. …I’m an ineffective coach. I’m not doing a very good job."

From what I’ve seen over the past couple of seasons, he’s right to be frustrated with the players. But the scary thing is looking beyond this year. What is this team without Humphrey and Darrah? The program signed a single guard in the fall signing period without much fanfare. There are a couple of post players sitting out this season – one due to injury and one due to transfer rules – but neither seems to be the impact player that Humphrey is. The long-term outlook for the program is another post for another day, but it’s not a pleasant subject, and Landers has plenty to answer for himself.

Getting back to the present, the Lady Dogs have only a couple of days to rebound and get ready for a rematch with Vanderbilt on Sunday. Vandy jumped out to a 16-0 lead and led by as many as 20 before Georgia made a game of it in the second half, getting as close as 6 points before Vanderbilt sealed the 67-59 win. 24 turnovers – including 9 by Houts – did in the Lady Dogs.

Halfway through the SEC regular season, the Lady Dogs must beat Vanderbilt to avoid sinking below .500 in conference play.

The Georgia basketball team isn’t hard to figure out. I wrote a week or so ago that "we know that this team is an off-night from Humphrey and/or Gaines away from an ugly loss." You don’t need to look much further into Georgia’s 62-56 loss at South Carolina last night after seeing that Humphrey and Gaines were a combined 4-of-22. Against a South Carolina team that put recent scares into Florida and Kentucky, I’m surprised that Georgia only lost by six with the shooting as it was.

The news doesn’t get better: it looks as if Billy Humphrey is going to have to tough out the rest of this season with a painful injury that seems to be affecting his head as much as does his knee. A struggling perimeter game gives defenses the chance to pack inside the arc and frustrate attempts to penetrate, create space for post players, or get clean looks at entry passes. If the transition game isn’t working, the halfcourt offense will continue to suffer.

The Jekyll and Hyde nature of this team away from home is something else. I don’t know the extent to which this has been done, but Dennis Felton really needs to follow Mark Richt’s lead and see if something drastic needs to be done to shake up the routine that’s clearly not working. We’re all familiar with Richt’s adjustments during the 2007 season after he sensed a problem with intensity at Tennessee. Of course I’m not suggesting that the basketball team all run on the court after the first basket against Kentucky, and it’s a lot easier to turn around a season when you have the players to do so.

It’s just that with results so skewed, some serious introspection needs to be done into this team’s approach on the road. Felton can’t continue to compartmentalize and say that the defense was generally good and that we played with a lot of fight while nothing gets done on offense for minutes at a time. While I commend him for trying to find a positive after losing, that’s a bit of a red flag to me that the urgency for change isn’t really there. Even if South Carolina was just a case of shots not falling, the offense has been equally inept in other road games at Mississippi State and Tennessee.

Saturday’s game against Kentucky seems like a great chance to get back into the win column. Georgia has yet to lose in Stegeman Coliseum this year, and Kentucky is 0-5 away from Rupp Arena. The Dawgs took one in overtime against the Wildcats last year, and holding serve at home seems to be the only way that the team can keep its head above water this year.

Consider this thought: Knowshon Moreno might be the lowest-rated recruit among the Georgia running backs on the 2009 team.

It’s not like Moreno was an afterthought as a recruit. He was a heavyweight prospect considering Georgia and Florida. He was rated the #10 back in the nation in the 2006 signing class. That’s pretty damn good, and at this early stage it’s possible to argue that he has outperformed most on the list ahead of him.

The Dawgs lose two solid seniors from the 2007 team, Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin, but let’s look at who’s joining the team over the next two seasons:

• Caleb King, RFr. Injuries to Brown and Lumpkin moved King up on the depth chart for the Florida game, but he was able to preserve the redshirt season. King was rated the #8 back in the 2007 class.
• Richard Samuel, Fr. Because of his versatility (tailback or linebacker), Samuel is ranked the #2 "athlete" nationally in the current recruiting class. He will start out at tailback and is already on campus.
• Washaun Ealey, class of 2009. The Emanuel County star was named the state of Georgia’s player of the year as a junior. He committed to Georgia earlier this week and will likely be rated among the top 5 players in Georgia for his recruiting class at any position.

On paper, it looks like the most impressive set of backs at Georgia since at least the mid ’80s. When you think about the state of the tailback position in 2003 or around the turn of the decade, the upgrade in talent is tremendous.

But recruiting rankings and hype only go so far of course. Brown and Lumpkin were just as heralded coming out of high school: Brown was the #4 tailback in the nation as a high school senior in 2004, and Lumpkin was the #2 back in the nation in the 2003 class. Their careers were full of plenty of positive moments, but injuries plagued both Brown and Lumpkin, and neither was able to separate from the other (or Danny Ware, for that matter). Moreno as a redshirt freshman was able to get the lion’s share of carries over the two seniors from the beginning of the 2007 season.

There are also the implied questions of playing time and rotation. The Georgia offense has struggled over the past few seasons with getting the right back on the field when injury didn’t make the decision for us. It should be pointed out though that some of the better tailbacks in college football lately have split time. Reggie Bush had LenDale White, and Darren McFadden had Felix Jones. LSU won a title in 2008 with a mix of three backs.

It’s entirely likely and reasonable that two or more of these Georgia backs will share carries, but it will be up to the staff to make sure that the right guy is on the field in the right situation. The abundance of talent also opens up the opportunity for creativity. Whether that means two-back sets or increased use of backs in the passing game, spread formations, or direct snaps, the offensive coaching staff shouldn’t be limited by the talent with which they have to work.

UPDATE: There have been some great comments so far. I do agree that many project Samuel to play defense, but we’re going with the news that he will at least be given the token opportunity to start his career at tailback. But as Tommy pointed out, I’m mistaken not to include mention of Dontavius Jackson, Rivals’ #8 running back, who also is already on campus. If Jackson lives up to his billing, that might accelerate Samuels’ move to defense. To be complete, there’s also Carlton Thomas from Florida who will have quite a career as a utility player – think a better Tyson Browning.

Andy Landers became just the third women’s basketball coach to win 700 games at a single school on Thursday evening.  With an 82-55 win at Florida, his career mark in Athens is 700-218 (a .763 winning percentage).  By beating Florida, Landers raises his career mark against the Gators to 41-7. He needs just 17 wins for his 800th win as a collegiate head coach.  With 918 Division 1 games under his belt, only three others were faster to 700 wins, and only two others (Pat Summit and Jody Conradt) have done it at the same school.

While the game was significant as an achievement for Landers, it also stood out as Georgia’s most complete effort of the season.  The Lady Dogs were 1-3 on the road this year and had look pretty dreadful in their two SEC road contests to date.  They badly needed a road win and a solid performance to shake off some of the self-doubt that surely creeps in after a few sub-par games away from home.  Against Florida the Lady Dogs took control from the beginning and put together a 22-2 run after the game was tied 6-6.  Ashley Houts scored 21 of her career-high 25 points in the first half, and Tasha Humphrey took over in the second half to finish with 23.

“We were solid from beginning to end,” said Landers postgame.  “We dropped the big hammer on them early…we clicked on both ends.”

Houts had struggled with poor shooting and turnovers in the past couple of games, but she came to play in Gainesville.  “Tonight there was an opportunity for Houts to assert herself, and she did,” said Landers.  Her turnovers were down, and she added six rebounds, six assists, and five steals while shooting 50% from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 from outside.

“He’s the main reason so many of us chose to come to Georgia, not only now but throughout his career,” Houts said. “To play for him when he won his 700th –  and to play for him every game – is an honor.”

Humphrey had her second-straight impressive performance.  After setting a season high against Alabama, she recorded her second-best output of the season against Florida.  Though sidelined with foul trouble at the end of the first half after scoring a quick 8 points, she poured in 15 in the second half.  Freshman Jasmine Lee was impressive in 11 minutes of relief for Humphrey.

Landers took a moment to reflect on the 700th win.  “The thing that pleases me most is that we’ve been able to do it all at Georgia. We haven’t jumped around. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great people and a lot of great people surrounding me in Athens. That’s what I and my family are most thankful for.”

The Lady Dogs don’t get long to celebrate.  After a day back home in Athens, they’ll head west to play at #11 Oklahoma on Sunday evening at 5:00 p.m. in front of a national television audience on ESPN2.  Oklahoma is the highest-ranked opponent for Georgia to date this season.  The game will surely be billed as a Tasha Humphrey vs. Courtney Paris showdown; the two have been a couple of the best post players in the nation over the past four seasons.  But in games like this, it’s often the supporting cast that determines the outcome.  Will Houts, Robinson, Darrah, and the others be the difference in a game with big national significance?

Please, oh please, let this happen:

Sources have confirmed to CSTV that newly hired South Carolina defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is likely to leave Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks and return to the NFL as the defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

Brian Curtis of CSTV has the scoop. The Falcons hired Jacksonville defensive coordinator Mike Smith, and the two worked together when VanGorder left Georgia to become Jacksonville’s linebacker coach after 2004 which was about seven jobs ago for VanGorder. VanGorder left Jacksonville after one year to take the head coaching position at Georgia Southern. From there – you know, I kind of lose track. I think he had a stint with the World League, briefly took over for the Atlanta Thrashers, and had begun taping a reality show on Food Network before Spurrier came calling.

VanGorder’s four-week stay in Columbia would be kind of short even for him.

UPDATE: South Carolina’s Rivals site confirms the news. “Sources close to the USC football program have confirmed to Gamecock Central that VanGorder will be named the new defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.”

I think this is a pretty easy prediction to make. It might not play out when Fisher follows Bowden at FSU or when Phillips follows Brooks at Kentucky, but one of these arranged succession plans is eventually going to explode in a program’s face. Some team is going to end up in one of these situations:

• The program fires the current staff before the old coach has a chance to step down, leaving the successor without a job he assumed was his.
• The fan base grows weary of the outgoing coach and everything about the old program. The successor is seen as a slipcover on worn-out furniture.
• The successor loses luster as an assistant before the transition can take place, leaving a program stuck with a guy they didn’t even want as an assistant.

I think the third scenario is most likely.

The AJC reported several days ago that Herschel Walker is coming out with a book in which he details a secret struggle with multiple personality disorder.

Meanwhile, everyone from Frank Ros to Vince Dooley to Herschel’s own father has said that Walker’s revelation is news to them.

Like Dooley, I’m curious to see what the book has to say. While mental illness is very real and often goes untreated and under the radar of even our loved ones, there is no shortage of fraud and quackery in the business, especially when it comes to “repressed memories.” If Herschel really has dealt with this condition privately his whole life, coming forward in this very public way is truly a significant act. I just hope for his sake that someone isn’t out to make a name off of Herschel Walker.

We continue a high-level look towards the football season by acknowledging that winning even an SEC East title in any season is a difficult challenge with very little margin for error. Other than the usual caveats about injuries, these factors will be potential obstacles for the Dawgs in 2008:

» The schedule. It’s going to be tough. In the SEC part of the schedule, you replace Ole Miss with LSU. That LSU trip comes a week before the Florida game. The Dawgs will have three interesting and challenging nonconference opponents: Central Michigan pushed Purdue in the 2007 Motor City Bowl. Georgia Tech will present a unique offensive scheme to challenge the defense at the end of the season. Then there’s the trip to Tempe.

Playing Arizona State will test the Dawgs in three ways. First and most basic, the Sun Devils are a quality program, and Dennis Erickson looks to have injected some energy into the program. The game will also bring a tremendous amount of hype; it’s Georgia’s first regular season trip outside of the southeast since 1965, and that fact alone will add to the circus of a quality midseason lineup. Finally, there’s the human element. The Dawgs must play at South Carolina (often a night game), return, prepare for, and travel to Arizona State, absorb that game and the effects of cross-country travel, and then prepare to host a motivated Alabama team the next week. Should they survive that three-game swing, a bye week awaits before Tennessee comes to town.

Georgia will face nine teams next year that played in a bowl this season. The two 2008 Division 1 opponents that aren’t coming off a bowl trip are South Carolina and Vanderbilt – two teams that gave Georgia plenty of problems in 2007.

There is one bit of good news peeking through the schedule gloom and doom: no SEC opponent will have a bye week before they play Georgia.

» The offensive line. Hear me out. Stacy Searels and his troops were magnificent this season. But we’re not out of the woods yet. As young and inexperienced as line was in 2007, the Dawgs still had a rock to anchor that line: senior center Fernando Velasco. Velasco’s contribution to the success of the 2007 squad might be one of the most underrated stories of the year. Senior Chester Adams was also a key; his versatility at guard and tackle enabled the coaches to experiment until they found the most effective combination of linemen.

Those two seniors will be replaced by another round of newcomers. While the Dawgs might have the "luxury" of using redshirt freshmen instead of true freshmen this time, the difference in experience is marginal. Where the line, and even the entire offense, could look to Velasco as a leader, that role will now fall to sophomores Boling, Davis, and Sturdivant. Vince Vance, a junior reserve tackle, and senior long snapper Jeff Henson will be the lone upperclassmen on the line.

» The hype. There’s no escaping it. There will be no going under the radar. Big things will be expected of the Dawgs next year. Expectations are always high at Georgia, but the Dawgs will have the additional glare of the national spotlight. Teams can wilt easily under that pressure. On the other hand, we’ve seen plenty of instances where a team can get full of itself and try to coast on its ranking. Embracing and coming to terms with high expectations will be a key factor of success in 2008.

I think that Mark Richt has had the right attitude so far when asked about high preseason rankings: it’s a good thing. Teams want to be ranked high, and it’s every team’s goal to play for the national title. Why field a team if that opportunity doesn’t excite you? But Richt is quick to caution that a high ranking entitles a team to nothing. Sure enough, Georgia won’t be the only SEC team with a top 10 ranking. If the team approaches the expectations with the right mindset, the hype will be motivation for the offseason. "We got a taste of just how close we might be to getting that ultimate goal," Mark Richt said. "And everybody’s gonna be really working hard toward that end."

See also:

• Things in Georgia’s favor in 2008
• Embracing expectations

I was impressed as anyone with Georgia’s win over Arkansas on Saturday. There were so many things to note: Humphrey’s continued development inside the perimeter. Woodbury finally started to find his shot. Price and Bliss are becoming an effective tandem when Bliss plays well.

It was interesting to hear analyst Eddie Fogler note that Arkansas didn’t strike him as a very bright team. You could see that play out as Arkansas willingly got into Georgia’s preferred up-and-down style. The Dawgs were able to hit layups and jumpers, often in transition, and passing was generally sharp.

As pwd observes, we’ve seen flashes like this from the Dawgs before. Putting it together against Arkansas is one thing. Keeping it going in consecutive road games at Tennessee and South Carolina is another. We know that this team is an off-night from Humphrey and/or Gaines away from an ugly loss, but Humphrey especially has become more and more consistent of a scorer, and that’s just what this team needs to be successful. Now with Woodbury seemingly coming around and a nice supporting cast developing, are we foolish for starting to get our hopes up again?

One thing is becoming clear after a few weeks of SEC play: Georgia might be a sure tournament team if they played in the SEC West. There is some awful basketball being played over there.

You’d think that a game at Tennessee wouldn’t be the place to expect much consistency, but hopefully the guys will hold themselves to a better standard. A lot has happened since last March, but Georgia pushed the Vols to the buzzer in the 2006-2007 regular season finale. They are more than capable of playing with the Vols.

SEC Men’s Power Ranking:

1. Tennessee: Handling the role of favorite well for once.
2. Florida: Still a very quality club.
3. Vanderbilt: Need to beat better teams to be taken seriously.
4. Mississippi St.: Good start, solid defense.
5. Kentucky: Best of the rest?
6. Ole Miss: Shaky SEC start after undefeated non-conference slate.
7. Georgia: Can we play them all at home?
8. Arkansas: Disappointing start for preseason West favorite.
9. Auburn: Good upset win at home over Ole Miss.
10. South Carolina: Stole one at Arkansas; Odom’s farewell tour begins.
11. Alabama: More than missing Steele behind their 0-4 start.
12. LSU: Is John Brady still coaching this team?

Lady Dogs

Andy Landers had been stuck on 698 career wins at Georgia for over a week, but a return home to Stegeman served to put the Lady Dogs back into the win column. Ugly road losses at Auburn and Vandy gave Georgia a 1-2 conference record and three losses in their last four games. Behind 25 points from Tasha Humphrey, Georgia beat Alabama 71-53 on Sunday. Angel Robinson added 12 points and 14 rebounds.

I’ll say what the team couldn’t say in the press. Alabama isn’t good. They’ve improved slightly from last season when they were embarrassingly bad. A win over Bama isn’t much cause for celebration these days, and the fact that the margin in this game hovered around ten points for much of the afternoon isn’t a good thing. Georgia out-talented Alabama, and that’s about it. Turnovers in particular were devastating. Guard play, especially on offense, is becoming a big concern.

This is an important week for the Lady Dogs. They’ve lost three of their four true road games this season, and those three losses haven’t been pretty. They go on the road to face Florida this week. The Gators have been surprisingly good in conference play with a first-year coach, and they surely have to see a shaky Georgia team as a great opportunity to make some noise in the SEC. This Sunday the Lady Dogs head out to face Oklahoma in a nationally-televised battle of ranked teams. It’s billed as a Tasha Humphrey vs. Courtney Paris showdown, but the supporting casts will likely mean the difference.

A win in both these road games would be significant to right the ship, and beating Oklahoma would be noteworthy on the national scene. Landers’ next win will be his 700th at Georgia.

SEC Women’s Power Ranking:

1. Tennessee: A class of their own.
2. LSU: Defensively dominant with Fowles. Offense can sputter at times.
3. Vanderbilt: 2-2 with losses to UT and LSU.
4. Kentucky: Solid win over Auburn has them at 3-1 after some bad nonconference losses.
5: Georgia: Got a needed win over Bama, but still vulnerable. Key week for them.
6. Auburn: Win over Georgia the sole bright spot lately. Depth and suspensions taking their toll.
7. Florida: Playing well, first back-to-back SEC wins since 2006.
8. Ole Miss: Nice upset of Arkansas.
9. Arkansas: Unimpressive in conference play after soft nonconference schedule.
10. Mississippi St.: Embarrassed at LSU.
11. Alabama: 22 losses in last 23 SEC games.
12. South Carolina: Unacceptable loss to Alabama.

Like a lot of football fans I watched some of yesterday’s NFL playoff action (Go Giants!!!), and I don’t think I was alone in reacting to the weather in Green Bay with a mix of amazement, horror, and admiration for those out in the sub-zero temperatures. A week earlier, we saw Green Bay beat Seattle in a blinding snowstorm.

As a kid who spent plenty of winter afternoons playing backyard football in the snow, I have to say I love watching games like that. You haven’t lived until you leap over a three-foot snow drift serving as goal-line defense. At the same time, I have to ask if watching football in such weather is a worse product. The weather is more often the story instead of the skills of the players.

Dealing with the elements is part of the game, and it certainly adds a bit of humanity to the game to see a receiver track the ball through the snow or a running back try to get his footing in the mud. That’s entertaining to a point, but in a sport where speed and precision play such a role, is it really such a great thing that weather can do so much to equalize the game and keep the stars from performing at their top level?

The Super Bowl will be played in Arizona. Weather won’t be a factor. Instead, the game will be about Brady to Moss. Manning to Burress. It’ll be about Seymour and company trying to shut down Jacobs and Strahan finding a way to pressure an untouchable quarterback. As much as a game on the Frozen Tundra is a fascinating novelty, I prefer it when games are decided more by the players and not the thermometer.

All that said, I couldn’t help watching those games yesterday and thinking about some of the colder Georgia games I’ve been to since I began following the Dawgs in 1991. My wife nominates the 1987 Liberty Bowl when fans were setting fires in the bathroom sinks to keep warm. This is my list, though, so here we go. Is it coincidence that four of them were losses? Does sitting through a loss just make it seem colder?

My Five Coldest Georgia Football Games:

1: 2001 Music City Bowl. Going by my recollection of the crowd, you probably skipped this one. Other games might have had worse weather, but no game I’ve attended matches this one for sheer bitter cold. I had never been too cold to tailgate until this day, and portable heaters were useless. Still, there was Uga VI on his bag of ice…

2: 1991 Florida. America remembers the weekend of this game as the dates of the "Perfect Storm" later made (in)famous by Hollywood. Much of the East Coast was in the grip of a large storm off New England, and Florida was no exception. Friday was nice enough, but those of us at the beach were already dealing with the strong winds. By Saturday, the strong storm off the coast was bringing cold arctic winds straight down the entire East Coast and into the Gator Bowl. Incidently, other than 1992, the weather for my four Georgia-Florida games as a student was pretty damn crappy…just like the outcomes.

3: 1995 Auburn. This game was noteworthy for the plummeting temperatures as the day went on. The morning started off relatively mild for mid-November as rain ended and the skies began clearing following a cold front passage. By the time the game came around, fans – many of whom were dressed for the warmer temperatures of the morning – were facing not only rapidly dropping temperatures but a gusty, biting northwest wind that came right in through the open end of Sanford Stadium unimpeded.

4: 2000 Ole Miss. It’s not often that a Georgia home game is accompanied by frozen precipitation, but it happened here. Tailgaters dodged sleet and then a cold and miserable rain. It seemed like another cold, soggy loss was on the way when Ole Miss went up 14-0, but the Dawgs bounced back for a 32-14 behind Musa Smith. The weather wouldn’t improve much before Georgia’s next home game…

5: 2000 Georgia Tech. Maybe it was the outcome. Maybe it was the fitting end to a disappointing season. Maybe it was the unthinkable third-straight loss to Tech. All of that only served to make the day’s cold rain seem that much colder and more miserable.

We started talking about the 2008 season by recognizing and embracing the high expectations awaiting the Dawgs next fall. What are the reasons for those lofty preseason rankings?

» Lots of returning key players. Returning starters are all over the place. Moreno. Ellerbe. Curran. Owens. Stafford. Georgia’s losses are few and occasionally significant, but the list of departing players for whom there doesn’t already seem to be a successor in place is limited to Velasco and Coutu. No one is jumping to the NFL.

Of course our glee over a low attrition forecast has to be tempered with the acceptance of the likely offseason suspension or two. Hopefully the Dawgs can at least avoid a catastrophic injury over the spring and summer, and it would be nice if no Paul Oliver-like academic screwup was an issue this year.

At first glance, it looks as if the roster will be stocked next year. Sure there are a couple of holes; there always are. But you look across the roster and don’t see any positions that really scare you, and several bring a big smile.

» Momentum / exposure / poll position. Georgia is hot. They finished among the top 3 in both final polls, and they will surely start out high in 2008. That’s a big advantage if Georgia can put together another nice season next year.

Once the Dawgs dispatch Georgia Southern in the season opener, the same schedule that presents such a challenge will put the Dawgs in the spotlight early and often. You have clashes against LSU and Florida with direct national significance. Georgia’s trip to Tempe won’t go unnoticed. Even Saban coming to Athens will create a stir. The Dawgs will be performing on the main stage for much of the season, and there won’t be a way to ignore them should they put up wins.

With the 2007 emergence of Knowshon Moreno alongside the established Matthew Stafford, the Dawgs also have a backfield rich in name recognition. Stafford fills the role of the BMOC quarterback, and Moreno is as charismatic a personality as David Pollack was. That kind of star power, not to mention others like Rennie Curran, will ensure that Georgia is a program that gets talked about. They’re interesting, fun to watch, and, above all, pretty damn good.

» Impact newcomers. The depth chart will be bolstered in 2008 by some very highly-regarded newcomers. Tailback Caleb King is at the top of the list. King was an option during 2007 as injuries took a toll on the position, but he was able to preserve his redshirt season. King and Moreno could give Georgia the most exciting tandem in the conference. Besides King, you also hear about QB Logan Gray, WR/TE Aron White, LB Charles White, and S John Knox.

I’m interested to see what role LB Akeem Hebron will play. He was slated as a possible starter in 2007 but spent the semester at Georgia Military College after alcohol violations at UGA. He’s back, but there’s a question how the linebackers might have to shuffle to fit him in next year. The unit had begun to click at the end of 2007.

Then there are the true freshmen. In a class rated among the best in the nation, you figure some will contribute right away. Receiver AJ Green comes to mind first. Kicker Blair Walsh will get a chance to start out of the gate. Preseason camp should be entertaining as these talented freshmen fight for positions against a roster that’s already potent.

» Stable coaching staff. As regional rivals such as Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, and Georgia Tech replace coordinators, several assistants, or even head coaches, the only change in the Georgia program – at the time I write this – looks to be the departure of TE coach David Johnson. While Georgia has turned over all but a handful of assistant coaching positions since Mark Richt arrived, we’ve been fortunate 1) not to have more than one or two in a given offseason and 2) the departures have almost always been career moves with the best wishes of the program.

The stability of the staff gave Richt the luxury of being less hands-on in 2007, and he used that freedom in part to step into more of a managerial role. With Mike Bobo promoted to offensive coordinator, Richt was able to get his head out of the details and look more frequently at the bigger picture. That change possibly afforded him the opportunity to recognize and correct problems during the 2007 season, and a changed team emerged. With confidence in a staff that continues to operate well, Richt can continue to grow in his new role and prepare the team to play at the level required of their ranking.

Alabama’s Ronald Steele, out for the year with a knee injury, won’t be able to travel at the end of tonight’s Georgia-Alabama basketball game.

If there’s one game that keeps coming back when you talk about last season in basketball and coming up just short of the NCAA Tournament, it was the loss at Alabama. Georgia blew a 20-point lead and a rare chance at a big SEC road win, and that buzzer-beater by Steele might have been the single most significant play of the entire season.

The Dawgs and Tide both enter tonight’s game looking for their first conference wins of the season. Georgia has struggled with inconsistent offense, and Bama has really missed Steele. The home court should give Georgia the edge, but they’ll have to play and shoot much better than they did last weekend at Mississippi State.

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.

The Georgia hoops program isn’t exactly on the national radar these days, so outside perspective can be hard to come by. This mention on a Duke site caught my eye:

…no great surprise that Tech lost to Georgia. The Bulldogs are more disciplined and, overall, a better coached team.

The observation is probably more of a comment about Hewitt’s program than Felton’s. “More disciplined” and “better coached” are relative after all. Felton has his own problems, but the criticism is really starting to pile up on Hewitt. Tech fans have noticed how they replaced a football coach with a consistent, if not lukewarm, record of bowl wins and conference success while a basketball coaching with a losing ACC record remains.

It’s said that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. After “this year’s experience with the BCS,” UGA President Michael Adams wrote this week how his opposition to a playoff has melted, mailed his not-quite-95 theses to the NCAA, and made the heads of many Georgia fans explode as they reconciled their support for a playoff with the fact that Michael Adams might be the man to get the credit for it.

NCAA President Myles Brand responded to Adams’ letter on Thursday, saying

In a letter to me dated January 8, 2008, University of Georgia President Michael Adams requested that a discussion committee to the Division I Board of Directors be appointed to explore options related to postseason football. I will bring to the board that request at its meeting in Nashville on January 14. The structure of postseason football in the Football Bowl Subdivision rests with the presidents of those institutions.

That’s a long way of saying, “we got the letter,” but at least the item is now on the agenda at the annual NCAA convention.

There’s been a lot of griping in the wake of Adams’ proposal about the timing. How dare Adams try to steal LSU’s thunder before they can even enjoy their championship. But Brand’s addition of the request to the Board of Directors’ agenda shows how the date of the NCAA Convention forced the awkward timing. Making this proposal during the season or even during the bowls would have seemed even more inappropriate. As it is, the proposal will have less than a week to bounce around before it’s brought to the Board of Directors. If all of this outrage is over Adams waiting another day or two, that’s rather petty.

Even if the issue is raised next week, it might be DOA anyway. Adams faces quite an uphill fight even among his peers (h/t Get the Picture). Of a sample of 30 university presidents, 14 – including four other SEC presidents (including LSU, natch) – were opposed and remain committed to the BCS. 11 others were either undecided or didn’t want to commit to a specific playoff plan. Only five were on board with the idea. We saw similar opposition when Florida’s Bernie Machen tried to raise the issue over the summer.

Unfortunately the timing and the urgency of Adams’ proposal means that a lot of things haven’t quite been thought through. Rather than asking these questions, playoff proponents are just giddy to see that the subject is again in the spotlight. Conceptually a playoff seems right to me. It’s just that a lot of us look at playoff proposals the same way we would a fantasy football league. Pick eight teams, draw up a bracket, and go. For example, Adams proposes to use the four BCS bowls as the first round of the playoff. What do the bowls think of that? Do you think the Rose Bowl would be cool with just being a #3 vs. #6 quarterfinal?

That’s why the involvement of the NCAA in the college football postseason is central to any serious playoff proposal. As Brand said, the structure of the postseason is up to the presidents. In the case of a playoff, the task is to drag certain conferences away from the comfortable tie-ins and bowl relationships that seem beneficial enough to all parties that neither the bowls, the conferences, or the networks seem very willing to end. Adams notes the power of “conference and bowl commissioners,” but those conference commissioners already serve at the direction of their conference’s presidents. Is the steadfast opposition to a playoff from Jim Delany or Mike Tranghese contrary to the wishes of the Big 10 or Big East presidents?

The Football Bowl Subdivision has lots of schools who are not in BCS conferences. Their support of a playoff is key if the strategy is to have a majority of the FBS membership force change on the stubborn conferences comfortable with the current system. Will that support come easily? Likely not without 1) a cut of the pot and 2) better access to the playoff system than just “make sure you’re one of the eight seeded teams.”