Saturday in Athens: Georgia Bulldogs Talent Doesn't Always Equal Success

[Note: "Saturday In Athens" will be a weekly column running each Saturday afternoon assessing the state of Georgia Bulldogs football. It will contain thoughts and opinions on the preceding week's news and will occasionally contain items from other Georgia sports as well. Responses in the comment section are encouraged.]

The University of Georgia is still home to one of the premier football programs in the country. Just ask the self-appointed "source for everything football" Phil Steele.

This week, Steele announced his preseason All-American and All-SEC teams, placing five Bulldogs on the national list as well as 14 with conference honors—an impressive (and optimistic) number considering the debacle that took place in the Classic City a season ago.

To call last season a debacle, even, doesn't really do it justice. It's like saying the Atlanta Hawks were a little over-matched by the Orlando Magic. Half the time, the team looked like it could take on the world, the other half, it would have struggled against the Little Giants. It was less consistent than a political campaign platform.

And yet, on paper, the experts still consider the Bulldogs to be one of the most talented teams in the country. To compare, Steele included just 12 players from the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide on his All-SEC team, two less than the Bulldogs. Even the talent-laden Florida Gators managed just one more with conference honors and had one fewer at the national level.

When processing this news, you can look at it in one of two ways.

On the one hand, it appears that the Bulldogs may be headed for a turnaround in 2010. It returns ten starters to its offense, the only newcomer—albeit at arguably the most important position—is quarterback Aaron Murray, an obviously talented individual who will have all the pieces in place for a successful freshman campaign.

The team sports one of the nation's best playmakers in wide receiver A.J. Green, an improving backfield with high-powered halfback duo Caleb King and Washaun Ealey and a special teams unit with three preseason Steele All-Americans— kicker Blair Walsh, punter Drew Butler and returner Brandon Boykin.

With a new defensive coordinator and a more aggressive 3-4 defensive scheme, one could look at the offseason changes and see nothing but positives from their beloved Bulldogs.

And then there's the other point of view. The one that questions why such a talented program—one that brings in more star athletes than the Gold Club VIP—could possibly underachieve as often as the Georgia Bulldogs.

Just two years ago, the Bulldogs were a team that started the season ranked No. 1 in the country, only to sputter and cough to a 10-3 finish and an unimpressive victory in the Capital One Bowl. Even in its magical 2007 season when the Bulldogs fell just short of making a trip to the national championship, the Bulldogs tripped up in two inexplicable losses to lesser teams— a 35-14 embarrassment at Tennessee and a 16-12 loss at home to South Carolina when a win in either game could have put the team into the SEC Championship game with a national title appearance on the line.

While teams like Alabama, Texas and even resident SEC punching bag Ohio State capitalize on their talented recruits, Georgia has thus far been unable to break into that upper-echelon of college football programs.

Why? Because it has consistently lacked the killer instinct of some of those other programs. The problem has never been the volume of the team's bark, just the power of its bite. The talent is always present, but the discipline and the winning edge disappears faster than my date on a Friday night.

Whether this new litter of Bulldogs will be the group to finally make that transition into a powerhouse program remains to be seen. Perhaps the offseason changes are just what the Bulldogs needed to capitalize on their talent. Perhaps new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham's aggressive defense will mold the formerly soft secondary into a shutdown pass defense.

We won't know any of this until the team finally takes the field on Sept. 4.

Until then, the Bulldogs' faithful can comfort themselves knowing that at least our source for everything football recognizes the team's talent—maybe this year the team will too.

Some final thoughts...

• The Georgia baseball team finished up its dismal 2010 campaign with a series victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, its first series win in conference play. The Diamond Dogs scored a 20-0 victory in the second game of the series by hitting only singles—22 of them. Seems about the right way to end the season to me. Did anyone else think they quit playing a month ago?
• Kudos to the football team for its success off the field. The team had 45 members with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. In-game statistics aren't the only numbers that matter...
• Anybody else geeked up for the finales of LOST and 24? Theories and post-show opinions welcome in the comment section.

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