As the time for casting postseason BlogPoll ballots is fast approaching, the Dawg Sports community has been considering the case for Utah to be No. 1. While I hope that conversation will continue, now is the time to ask whether, as my good friend and colleague Peter Bean claims, Texas has "as plausible a claim to #1 as any of the other one-loss teams." With all due respect to Peter, I do not believe that this is the case.

For purposes of this discussion, I will leave aside the Utes’ undefeated season and look only at the other once-beaten squads to whom Peter compares the Longhorns. I would have a hard time building a case for Texas over Southern California because the Trojans won their conference championship and throttled the Ohio State team the ‘Horns barely beat. However, I will concede for the sake of argument that a case might be mounted for U.T. over U.S.C. in light of the former’s strength of schedule and the relative quality of their respective losses.

Where Mack Brown’s crew runs into trouble is with respect to the contestants in the B.C.S. title tilt. Florida, which captured its conference championship, would match the Longhorns’ best win (over Oklahoma) with a victory on Thursday night, and U.F.’s lone loss (to Ole Miss) would mitigate strongly in the Gators’ favor, in light of the Rebels’ Cotton Bowl victory over the team that beat U.T. (Texas Tech).

That just leaves the real fly in the ointment . . . an O.U. victory in Miami. Burnt Orange partisans would shout "45-35" to the highest heavens, citing the head-to-head tiebreaker. The only problem is that the two teams are not tied: Texas is 12-1 and Oklahoma would finish 13-1.

The Sooners would have one more win, they would be the Big 12 champions, and they would (perhaps ironically) have suffered their only setback to a better team, the one-loss ‘Horns, than the one that beat Texas, the twice-beaten Red Raiders.

The Longhorns had a legitimate argument for getting into the Big 12 title game, but the primary thrust of that argument was their head-to-head win over O.U. That point, though, was rendered moot by the Longhorns’, Red Raiders’, and Sooners’ 1-1 records against one another. The league reasonably elected to use the B.C.S. standings to break the tie, in exactly the same manner that the S.E.C. chose to do when deciding the Eastern Division representative in the Georgia Dome in 2003. Fairly or unfairly, that ship has sailed.

Oklahoma and Texas were two of the three teams that shared the Big 12 South title. The Sooners, however, have the conference championship all to themselves. With that laurel goes all legitimate claim to a piece of the national crown.

The most controversial and indefensible moments in the history of the B.C.S. have come when teams that did not win their league crowns were allowed to play for the final No. 1 ranking. Nebraska in 2001 and Oklahoma in 2003 simply received berths that ought to have gone to Oregon and Southern California, respectively. The arguments for a Michigan rematch with Ohio State in 2006, and, yes, for Georgia to have gotten in ahead of either the Big 12 or the S.E.C. champion last year, likewise were weaker than the opposing position.

The bottom line is that a team cannot plausibly argue that it is the national champion without first being a conference champion. In an era in which all of the major independents have acquired league affiliations---no offense, Notre Dame, but, when beating Hawaii in a bowl game represents a breakthrough win for your program, you’re strictly small potatoes, no matter how big a deal you were in the ‘40s---it is a non sequitur to suggest that a team can be the best in the country if it is not first the best in its conference. Such a claim is as absurd as arguing that a fellow can be the tallest person in his neighborhood without being the tallest person in his household. It’s just plain cognitive dissonance.

Texas boasts an elite program, both currently and historically. Unlike some teams I could name, the Longhorns have had a fine year and they deserve a top five ranking. In the national championship sweepstakes, however, they simply are not entered. I can make a case with a straight face that Texas is No. 3, but they have no credible argument---none---for No. 1.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Two important events transpired within a week of one another early in November 1980. One was the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency of the United States. The other covered 93 yards and ended with Larry Munson breaking his chair.

I mention these two events because, obviously, 1980---a presidential election year---ended quite well for the Red and Black, as had (to varying degrees) three of the previous four presidential election years (Vince Dooley’s first season in 1964 and the S.E.C. championship seasons of 1968 and 1976). With the sole exception of 1972, each of the five presidential election years following 1960 ended well for the ‘Dawgs.

What happened after that? Did we use up all of our presidential election year mojo with the undefeated season of 1980? Look at what has happened since:

• 1984: Georgia started the year well with Kevin Butler’s 60-yard field goal to beat second-ranked Clemson, but the Bulldogs faded down the stretch to finish unranked for the first time in five years.



• 1988: The Red and Black had a shot at winning Vince Dooley’s seventh conference title in his 25th and final season, but a fifth loss to Auburn in a six-year span and Georgia’s first loss in Lexington since 1965 doomed the ‘Dawgs.



• 1992: A Georgia squad loaded with talent was favored to win the Eastern Division and should have contended for a national championship, but losses by three points to Tennessee and by two points to Florida spoiled the Classic City Canines’ chances.



• 1996: Excitement over the installation of a new coach and a new offense between the new hedges quickly dissipated in the wake of an 0-2 start. Georgia failed to make a bowl game for the third time in four years.



• 2000: The ‘Dawgs came into the year expected to win the S.E.C. and considered a contender for the No. 1 ranking. Quincy Carter then proceeded to throw five interceptions in a loss to South Carolina and the team ended up in a bowl that doesn’t even exist any longer. This dismal season concluded with the firing of Jim Donnan.



• 2004: With Fred Gibson, David Greene, and David Pollack all back for their senior season, the Bulldogs once again were expected to win the conference championship and be in the running for a national title. A letdown against Tennessee and a beatdown at Auburn relegated Georgia to the Outback Bowl instead.



• 2008: Uh, yeah.

Let me hasten to add that I am not advocating the abolition of the electoral college, the establishment of an hereditary monarchy, or the creation of a parliamentary system of government. (There are arguments for that last one, but that’s a separate subject.) The U.S. Constitution vests the executive power in a president, which is just fine with me.

Nevertheless, I cannot overlook the fact that, after years of outperforming expectations in presidential election years, the Bulldogs now seem to fall short of playing to their potential each time voters go to the polls to choose the electors who will select the next leader of the free world. What, precisely, is up with that . . . and would it be wrong to suggest a Constitutional amendment giving the chief executive a single six-year term, so that we can space out the recurring downcycles a bit?

Go ‘Dawgs!

Matt. Does a Big Ten also-ran in the Ex-Citrus Bowl even qualify as a consolation prize for Georgia? Or is UGA's season just a crater after getting pantsed by Georgia Tech, no matter what?

Ten wins (assuming a win over MSU, whose defense has been ripped on numerous occasions) with a slew of injuries sounds like a fine year to me. Georgia fans ... they do not readily agree.

Holly. Georgia Tech on its own, maybe not a crater. Georgia Tech and an impending Knowshon departure? Yeah, that might do it.

(Matt Hinton and Holly Anderson, Dr. Saturday)

Let us leave aside for now the question of whether Knowshon Rockwell Moreno is N.F.L.-bound; we will know the answer to that one soon enough. Sticking strictly to what happened on the field in 2008, do we in Bulldog Nation have any business feeling as dour as we (or, at least, I) do in the wake of the campaign just concluded? Given the rash of injuries (including the loss of two starting left tackles and our best defensive lineman), was it, as Dr. Saturday says, "a fine year"?

I take the position that it was not, and, while I know the Doc meant no offense, I believe it says something about the popular perception of the Red and Black that the question even would be raised. No one would ask whether Florida, Ohio State, or Texas fans ought to be disappointed by a three-loss season and no conference crown in an autumn in which a national championship game berth was anticipated; it would be taken as a given that they would be and should be dejected at such a result.

After the Gators won a national championship in football in 2006 which was bookended by back-to-back N.C.A.A. tournament titles, there was fear expressed in Bulldog Nation that the Saurians were about to dominate the league. I took issue with that assertion, and my position was bolstered by the following year’s result in Jacksonville.

Then came 2008, with its lofty preseason expectations, its lopsided loss on Duval Street, and its embarrassing culmination in the final home game. If the Gators had suffered exactly the same injuries the Bulldogs suffered this season---meaning, of course, that all of their skill position players remained healthy throughout the fall---and, instead of making it into the national championship game, they had lost badly to a Western Division opponent, gotten blown out in the Cocktail Party, and been beaten by Florida State to end up in the bowl formerly known as you-can’t-spell-"Citrus"-without-U-T, would anyone anywhere call that "a fine year"? Not on your life.

I respect the fact that Doug Gillett views the glass as half-full, but I agree with Damon Evans that Georgia should be judged alongside its peer institutions. By that standard, 2008 was a woefully dispiriting year for Bulldog football. I agree with the maxim that things are never either as good as they seem or as bad as they seem, but the season just concluded gives real cause for concern that the program slid backwards, not just from a preseason No. 1 ranking that now seems like a cruel joke, but to the late 1990s (when blowout losses to the Gators and close losses to the Yellow Jackets were the norm) or even the early 1990s (when shootouts were standard and the ‘Dawgs often came out on the short end of high-scoring games).

At the end of the 2005 campaign, it was clear that Georgia and Louisiana State were the top two teams in the Southeastern Conference. In the three years since, the Red and Black have not attended a single S.E.C. championship game, while Florida has won two conference crowns and is about to play for its second national championship in a three-year span, L.S.U. has won league and national titles, and Alabama has resumed its historic place among the conference and national elite.

In 2008, for the first time in the Mark Richt era, Georgia seemed to be losing ground. That perception is being perpetuated as we enter the offseason. The Bayou Bengals, following a brief downcycle, have found the quarterback and made the coaching staff changes to place themselves back among the S.E.C.’s upper echelon. Rumored or reported assistant coach acquisitions not only by L.S.U. (John Chavis), but also by Auburn (Gus Malzahn and Trooper Taylor) and Tennessee (Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron) represent positive developments for those annual Georgia rivals, as well.

Yes, Coach Richt managed to keep Rodney Garner and Stacy Searels in the fold, but all of Georgia’s hopes (including the fervent wish that Moreno and Matthew Stafford return for another year) are based on holding the line rather than rooted in getting better. Merely not regressing (or not regressing further) is not synonymous with progress; when your rivals all are improving, standing still is tantamount to losing ground.

Three years ago, Georgia was no worse than the second-best team in the conference, and, given the Bulldogs’ lopsided wins over the other contender for the top spot in 2004 and 2005, the Classic City Canines had a compelling case for being the top team in the country’s toughest conference. Today, the Red and Black clearly are behind Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana State, and Georgia’s argument for being the No. 4 team in the league presently holds water only because Ole Miss was not among the Western Division foes the ‘Dawgs faced in 2008.

I have great faith in Coach Richt based upon past performance, but changes must be made if we are to stop the slide, reverse the trend, and begin again to ascend. If we do not get moving anew, we will be left behind; we already appear to have been lapped by the parvenu program to the south of us, and why? The Gators have a wealth of institutional advantages, including a devoted fan base, excellent facilities, a compatible climate, a natural nearby recruiting base, extensive financial resources, a proven head coach, a forward-thinking athletic director, regular television exposure, a strong conference affiliation, and a run of success in recent years.

Those characteristics give Florida a built-in edge over all but a handful of programs in the country . . . but Georgia has every one of those advantages, and, whereas the Gators have a winning tradition dating back to the early 1990s, the Red and Black have a winning tradition dating back to the early 1890s. There is absolutely no excuse for what has happened in Jacksonville over the last 19 years, much less for what happened there last November 1.

Was 2008 "a fine year"? With all due respect to Matt, Holly, and Doug, no, it wasn’t. Hell, no, it wasn’t. It wasn’t even close. The win over Michigan State took an absolute disaster and turned it into a mitigated disaster. I’m not the least bit satisfied with the season and I will not be satisfied with any subsequent seasons until the Bulldogs get back where they belong. Falling from No. 1 in the country before Georgia Southern to No. 2 in the state after Georgia Tech is and always will be utterly unacceptable. Losses sometimes happen, and there is no dishonor in falling to a superior opponent, but Georgia should never encounter three superior opponents in any single regular-season schedule, and failing even to show up in big games invariably is inexcusable.

Georgia went into the 2002 Auburn game needing to beat a longstanding orange-and-blue-clad rival on a field in that opponent’s home state to claim a division crown and open the door for much more. The Bulldogs trailed 14-3 at halftime, but team leaders voiced their discontent in the locker room and capable coaches made effective adjustments at intermission. The Red and Black came back for a stirring win to propel them to an S.E.C. title, a Sugar Bowl victory, and a No. 3 final ranking.

The identical scenario unfolded in 2008, when Georgia went into the Florida game needing to beat a longstanding orange-and-blue-clad rival on a field in that opponent’s home state to claim a division crown and open the door for much more. The Bulldogs once again trailed 14-3 at halftime. Where was the leadership? Where was the coaching? They were in the other locker room.

When a program reasonably expects to end the year in the Promised Land, no season in which the team wanders blithely back into the desert can be counted a success. By no reasonable measure was this "a fine year" and Georgia will have something to prove in 2009. The Classic City Canines lost much of the respect they spent the previous six or seven years earning, and deservedly so. The Bulldogs will have to break out the hobnailed boot, if not 70 X Takeoff, to get back to where they were one year ago.

There are 244 days remaining until the Oklahoma State game and the Georgia Bulldogs will spend Thursday night watching the national championship game instead of playing in it. It’s time for finishing the drill to stop being a slogan and go back to being a way of playing. First snap. Last snap. Every snap.

Go ‘Dawgs.

Now that only three bowl games (and only two consequential bowl games; sorry, GMAC Bowl) remain, it is time to begin giving thought to how the teams will be ranked on my postseason BlogPoll ballot. One question, of course, leaps directly to the forefront of my deliberations: "How seriously does Utah deserve to be considered for the national championship?"

Obviously, the Utes will conclude the campaign as the lone unbeaten team in Division I-A, which counts for quite a lot. I gave similar consideration to Boise State two years ago, for the same reason, and the identical issue has reared its head again this year. (For some reason, whenever Florida is in the running for the national championship, it always involves a mid-major power arguably getting hosed, be it Brigham Young in 1996, Boise State in 2006, or Utah in 2008.)

As stated by JazzyUte, the argument for the Mountain West Conference champions is simple: "Utah still did more than any other team in college football. They proved it on the field every single week by winning all their games, while the winner of the BCS National Championship will have failed at doing that."

There is, however, more to a team’s resume than just its record. In 1990, Georgia Tech went undefeated against (a) a weak A.C.C., (b) what remains to this day the worst Georgia team since the Johnny Griffith era, and (c) Nebraska in the bowl game at a time when the Cornhuskers couldn’t buy a postseason victory in the Sunshine State. That simply, and correctly, counted for less in the eyes of many voters than Colorado’s once-beaten run through a daunting Big 8 slate and non-conference schedule.

Let us, therefore, look at the Utes’ resume, which stacks up as follows:

W 25-23 at Michigan (3-9)
W 42-21 v. U.N.L.V. (5-7)
W 58-10 at Utah State (3-9)
W 30-23 at Air Force (8-5; lost Armed Forces Bowl)
W 37-21 v. Weber State (Division I-AA)
W 31-28 v. Oregon State (9-4; won Sun Bowl)
W 40-7 at Wyoming (4-8)
W 49-16 v. Colorado State (7-6; won New Mexico Bowl)
W 13-10 at New Mexico (4-8)
W 13-10 v. Texas Christian (11-2; won Poinsettia Bowl)
W 63-14 at San Diego State (2-10)
W 48-24 v. Brigham Young (10-3; lost Las Vegas Bowl)
W 31-17 v. Alabama (12-2; lost Sugar Bowl)

That comes to three wins over B.C.S. conference teams, six wins over teams that went to bowl games (including three over bowl champions), and six wins over Division I-A teams that finished with winning records.

Leaving aside the Utes’ one game against Division I-AA opposition, Utah beat five teams that lost eight or more games but also defeated five teams that won eight or more games. Utah beat the Horned Frogs, whose only other loss was to Oklahoma, and the Crimson Tide, whose only other loss was to Florida.

The question is how that resume compares to this one . . .

W 56-10 v. Hawaii (7-7; lost Hawaii Bowl)
W 26-3 v. Miami (Florida) (7-6; lost Emerald Bowl)
W 30-6 at Tennessee (5-7)
L 31-30 v. Ole Miss (9-4; won Cotton Bowl)
W 38-7 at Arkansas (5-7)
W 51-21 v. Louisiana State (8-5; won Chick-fil-A Bowl)
W 63-5 v. Kentucky (7-6; won Liberty Bowl)
W 49-10 v. Georgia (10-3; won Capital One Bowl)
W 42-14 at Vanderbilt (7-6; won Music City Bowl)
W 56-6 v. South Carolina (7-6; lost Outback Bowl)
W 70-19 v. The Citadel (Division I-AA)
W 45-15 at Florida State (9-4; won Champs Sports Bowl)
W 31-20 v. Alabama (12-2; lost Sugar Bowl)

. . . or this one . . .

W 57-2 v. Chattanooga (Division I-AA)
W 52-26 v. Cincinnati (11-3; lost Orange Bowl)
W 55-14 at Washington (0-12)
W 35-10 v. Texas Christian (11-2; won Poinsettia Bowl)
W 49-17 at Baylor (4-8)
L 45-35 v. Texas (11-1; Fiesta Bowl win result pending)
W 45-31 v. Kansas (8-5; won Insight Bowl)
W 58-35 at Kansas State (5-7)
W 62-28 v. Nebraska (9-4; won Gator Bowl)
W 66-28 at Texas A&M (4-8)
W 65-21 v. Texas Tech (11-2; lost Cotton Bowl)
W 61-41 at Oklahoma State (9-4; lost Holiday Bowl)
W 62-21 v. Missouri (10-4; won Alamo Bowl)

. . . if a victory by one over the other is added to the mix.

If the Sooners win on Thursday night, would Utah have an argument over Oklahoma? What about when if the Gators win on Thursday night? Would it matter whether the winner of the designated national championship game won by a little or won by a lot?

Go ‘Dawgs!

Because there has been some discussion in the FanPosts about whether an S.E.C. fan should root for his conference coevals during bowl season, I thought I’d raise the question here on the main page.

S.E.C. squads have taken the field seven times this bowl season, with one game left to go. Vanderbilt, Louisiana State, Georgia, Mississippi, and Kentucky won the Music City, Chick-fil-A, Capital One, Cotton, and Liberty Bowls, respectively, while South Carolina and Alabama lost the Outback and Sugar Bowls in turn.

A Florida win in the national championship game would give the league a 6-2 postseason ledger, all in bowls played on New Year’s Eve or later. That would represent a strong showing by the S.E.C. An Oklahoma victory on January 8, on the other hand, would drop the conference to 5-3 yet send the S.E.C.’s three least likable coaches (Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and Steve Spurrier) down to defeat.

Which way should we, as Georgia fans, break on this question? I’ll be rooting for the Saurians out of conference pride and the knowledge that the ‘Dawgs fare well against defending national champions, but I know some of you feel differently. Where will your loyalties lie next Thursday night?

Go ‘Dawgs!

Shortly before my family and I sat down to supper on New Year’s Eve, my wife, Susan, asked me what I wanted to drink with my evening meal. Reflexively, I told her I wanted a Coke.

When we had members of our extended family over for Christmas, however, my in-laws brought some soft drinks with them, including a twelve-pack of Fresca. My son, Thomas, who is five years old and whose status as a mojo savant has been confirmed repeatedly through several successive football seasons, asked me whether I wanted a Fresca instead. Without thinking much about it, I took him up on his suggestion.

After we had finished eating, I sat there at the kitchen table for a few more minutes when my eye spied the empty Fresca can, along the side of which were emblazoned these words: "Original Citrus."

Then it hit me: Thomas intuitively had done it again. Just before kickoff of the Chick-fil-A Bowl---an Atlanta-based postseason game featuring an Atlanta-based rival team---I had chosen the definitive Atlanta-based soft drink until my son talked me out of it, convincing me instead to drink a beverage billed as the original citrus on the night before the Bulldogs were to take the field in the Capital One Bowl . . . or, as it previously was known, the Citrus Bowl.

From that moment forward, I had no doubt that Georgia Tech would lose, Georgia would win, and order would be restored to the universe . . . or, at least, to the Peach State, which is near enough to being the whole cosmos to suit me.

If you buy the idea that Thursday’s game was a referendum on Willie Martinez, you are free to come to one of two conclusions. If you prefer to see the glass as half-full, it is clear that the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator put together as effective a game plan against Michigan State as he had against Hawaii a year ago. If you prefer to see the glass as half-empty, it is equally clear that, if the ‘Dawgs are given four weeks to prepare for every opponent and Georgia joins the Big Ten or the W.A.C., Willie Martinez is our man. Against S.E.C. opposition with a game every Saturday, not so much . . . although my confidence would be bolstered by a public announcement that Coach Martinez TiVo’d the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Nevertheless, credit must be given for a stout defensive effort. The Spartans spent much of the first half in Georgia territory but managed only six points before the break. A first-quarter interception thrown by Matthew Stafford set up M.S.U. with first and 10 at the Bulldog 12 and a personal foul penalty halved that distance. Sparty picked up three yards on the next three plays and settled for a field goal.

Later in the opening period, a forced fumble was recovered by Michigan State on the Red and Black’s side of the field. The ‘Dawgs held, turning first and 15 into third and 24, when a borderline roughing the passer call give the Big Ten team a fresh set of downs at the Georgia 36 yard line.

By the way, as many times as Brian Hoyer was put on the ground on New Year’s Day, how could the announcers not use the phrase, "Down goes Hoyer!"? (Associated Press photograph by Michael Conroy.)

It was the sort of situation in which the Georgia D has folded this season; it was, in fact, the sort of situation in which the Georgia D has given up a play that covered whatever number of yards separated the line of scrimmage from the end zone. Instead, Asher Allen threw Keshawn Martin for a six-yard loss back to the 42. Javon Ringer’s second-down carry yielded a four-yard setback to the 46. An incomplete pass made it fourth and 20.

Overall, the Spartans held the ball for exactly 30 minutes of clock time, won the turnover battle, and picked up nearly as many first downs (16) as Georgia (19). Even so, though, M.S.U. was limited to a 25 per cent conversion rate on third down (4 for 16), managed only 236 yards of total offense, and averaged less than one yard per carry (34 rushes for 31 yards). Ringer picked up 47 yards on 20 attempts and never carded a scamper of longer than 21 feet.

There were, as there too often are, foolish penalties (7 for 53 yards) and long stretches in which Stafford simply appeared off his game. (From his vantage point on my living room couch, my brother-in-law opined that the Georgia quarterback was simply trying to get out of being drafted by Detroit.) Knowshon Rockwell Moreno had more receiving yards (63) and touchdowns (1) than rushing yards (62) and touchdowns (0).

Smart second-half adjustments saw the Georgia offense improving significantly, as the ‘Dawgs got away from attacking the middle and began using screens and going after the perimeter. Kris Durham had a moment or two at which he looked like he could be in the passing game what Brannan Southerland was in the running game. With six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, Michael Moore took up the slack when A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi were held in check.

Bad breaks and dumb luck (particularly in the kicking game) appeared for a while to be conspiring against the Classic City Canines, whose no-huddle attack worked like gangbusters for the first four plays of an eight-play opening drive that looked at the outset like the prettiest initial series ending in three points ever . . . or, at least, since the 2005 Outback Bowl. After that, though, it looked like a typical 2008 Georgia effort, in which the ‘Dawgs looked great in one phase of the game but only intermittently good (at best) in the others.

There is no denying that the Red and Black were lucky to be trailing only by a field goal at halftime. The opening possession of the third quarter gave little cause for confidence, as a 24-yard kickoff return and a 16-yard drive were squandered on a penalty and a punt. It wasn’t that I ever doubted that the ‘Dawgs would win---again, the Fresca on New Year’s Eve and the resulting Chick-fil-A Bowl win for the good guys left me certain of a Bulldog victory---but I had my doubts whether the Red and Black would win any way other than ugly.

Then an Aaron Bates punt went 53 yards and took a favorable bounce for the Great Lake State Gladiators inside the five. Moreno went 10 yards on first down and caught a five-yard pass two plays later. Stafford’s next five passes went to Moore for 16 yards and a first down, to Green for 12 yards, to Durham for 13 yards and a first down, to Caleb King for 11 yards and a first down, and to Moore for 35 yards and a touchdown. After that, the outcome never really was in question.

The 2009 Capital One Bowl resembled the 2005 Outback Bowl in ways more profound than the similarity of the Bulldogs’ opening drives in the two Sunshine State season-enders. We knew that beloved players, including an established starter under center, were or probably were playing their final game in silver britches, and we felt a profound sense of disappointment at the thought of what that season might have been.

That feeling has pervaded most of this autumn. It will rear its ugly head anew as I sit down to watch the national championship game in which my alma mater’s football team does not appear. That depressing sense of opportunity lost will weigh me down throughout most of the coming offseason. Even with Thursday’s victory, this will be a cold hard winter in Bulldog Nation. For now, though, I am going to enjoy a game which, however imperfect, ended in a Georgia win. That’s enough, at least---if only---for the moment.

Go ‘Dawgs!

I am pleased to bring you the long-overdue return of the Mark Richt Victory Watch, in which we count down to Coach Richt’s eventual overtaking of Vince Dooley as the winningest coach in Georgia history.

The Mark Richt Victory Watch now stands at 82. Coach Richt needs just 119 more victories to tie Coach Dooley.

The Bulldogs’ Capital One Bowl victory improved Coach Richt’s record to 82-22 (.789) after 104 games. Despite the Red and Black’s stumble down the stretch, Mark Richt continues to have the best record of any Georgia coach at this point in his career.

After 104 games, Wally Butts was 75-26-3 (.736) and Vince Dooley was 69-30-5 (.688). While this afternoon’s outing was by no means the prettiest victory of the Mark Richt era, it still goes into the books as a W to continue Coach Richt’s run of success and give the Bulldogs their 25th all-time bowl win and their sixth ten-win season in the last seven years.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Happy New Year! The final game day open comment thread of the season is also the first game day open comment thread of 2009, and, while the Capital One Bowl isn’t where any of us wanted to be in August, here is where we are, and, no matter where you find yourself, you’d rather win than lose. Your thoughts on the day’s college football action go below.

Now is also the time to declare the Dawg Sports honorary game day captain. Since Georgia and Michigan State have exactly one game’s worth of history together heading into this afternoon’s outing, it probably wasn’t hard for you to figure out who the honoree would be:

20 years ago today, Rodney Hampton rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown while catching four passes for 71 yards and two more scores. Here’s hoping a latter-day Bulldog has a similarly proficient day today . . . although I’d prefer it if it weren’t the current No. 7 who did so!

Go ‘Dawgs!