Mark Richt, Georgia Football: Bulldogs Unlike Any Other SEC Team

In the simplest possible terms, SEC teams can be sorted into one of three categories: Great, Good and Gosh Darn Awful.

Reserved exclusively for the BCS National Championship contenders, the great teams usually include Alabama, Florida and LSU.

Still incredibly talented but not necessarily perennial national title contenders, the good teams in the SEC generally are comprised of Auburn, Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Hopelessly doomed and generally unworthy of playing in the mighty SEC, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt complete the ranks of gosh darn awful football programs.

While teams can occasionally move into a higher (Auburn 2010) or lower (Florida 2011) category as a result of coaching changes, player departures or potentially even NCAA sanctions, most teams achieve fairly similar results each season.

The one exception to this system is Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldogs.

Elevated to the elite status following a stunning 2007 season, the Dawgs earned the 2008 AP No. 1 preseason ranking and were expected to be the third consecutive SEC team to maul Ohio State in the BCS National Championship Game.

Instead, UGA's season was derailed by losing two humiliating blowouts to Alabama and Florida.  Inexplicably blowing a huge halftime lead against instate rival Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs finished a disappointing 10-3.

After losing Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno to the NFL following the 2008-2009 season, Georgia slumped to 8-5 in 2009.

Expecting their team's fortunes to change during the 2010 season with highly recruited quarterback Aaron Murray taking over the offense and new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham converting the defense into an NFL-style 3-4 system, fans were shocked when the Dawgs finished an abysmal 6-7.

Ending the season with a humiliating defeat to lowly Central Florida, Georgia had managed an unprecedented fall from great to gosh darn awful.

Yet Richt, the SEC's senior statesman, somehow managed to both keep his job and capture one of the nation's finest recruiting classes.

Hoping the influx of new talent could power his struggling Georgia program, the former Florida State offensive coordinator surely cringed when the Dawgs lost their opening two games for the first time in over a decade.  Could Georgia actually manage to not even qualify for a bowl game this season?

A month later, Richt's Bulldogs seem capable of accomplishing far more than simply qualifying for a bowl game.

Registering consecutive one-sided defeats over Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, Georgia has accumulated a 3-1 SEC record and has officially returned to the realm of good SEC teams.

Though the offensive has looked less than spectacular, the occasionally error-prone Murray has played well enough while freshmen sensations Isaiah Crowell and Malcolm Mitchell have consistently left opposing defenders quaking in their boots.

Reminiscent of the Junkyard Dawgs of what seems like many seasons ago, Georgia's defense has been utterly spectacular.  Led by ruthless outside linebacker Jarvis Jones and smash-and-grab safety Bacarri Rambo, you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching David Pollack and Greg Blue.

Assuming his retooled Dawgs take care of business against Vanderbilt next weekend, Richt could lead his team into Jacksonville with a 4-1 SEC record.  Facing a reeling Florida unit that could potentially have suffered three consecutive losses, the Bulldogs seem poised to finally defeat their hated most hated rival and officially declare their intentions to compete with the SEC elite.

If the Richt squad could couple couple a long awaited victory over the Gators with expected victories against lifeless Auburn and over-matched Kentucky, the now 100-victory coach would be well on his way to his fourth conference title game.

Coaching his confident Dawgs to a hugely unexpected victory over LSU or Alabama, Richt might just be able to accomplish the equally unprecedented feat of moving his team from gosh darn awful to great in a single season.