Two Football Predictions

(Note: the following should be a regular, pre-UGA gameday feature. The gist of it is this: before each UGA game, I offer the overly optimistic, Kool-Aid-drinking, rose-colored-glasses wearing, “homer” preview, and then the wildly pessimistic, thinks-Munson-is-too-positive, doom and gloom take.

The first take is kind of a throwback to my carefree freshman and sophomore years at UGA, where, despite nearly a decade straight of losing to UT, I would talk smack, and UGA was favored to win every game, by a lot, according to me.

The less optimistic preview gets its name from the infamous Cumberland College game in which the North Avenue Trade School whipped a bunch of scrubs to the tune of 222-0 (currently the most points and largest blowout…until Northern Colorado plays Hawaii Saturday.) It was inspired by The Girl’s less than positive attitude about UGA football last season (which, to be fair, may have just been borne from the results on the field and might not how she starts off each season) in particular when she admitted to me a night or two before the Florida game that she expected Florida to break the Cumberland record against us, because, she reasoned, even if we “only” lost by say, 182 points, it was better than what she thought would happen. She has a far better and subtler sense of humor than I realized at the time.

Anyway, the hope is between the two extremes something—good, ideally—happens.)

Let’s get the bad out of the way first:

Georgia vs. Oklahoma St. – The Cumberland Report

This could get ugly. The last orange-clad team to come between the hedges with a high-powered offense did something only Spurrier’s best Florida team was able to do. And that was against a good D Line where the DE wasn’t 230 lbs. Without Paul Oliver to cover OSU WR Bowman, Reid will be able to torch us deep, opening up huge lanes for the running game. OSU’s D, porous last year, will feast on UGA’s inexperienced O Line, which could result in Stafford reverting to “midseason” form, tossing INTs like he was playing for Mississippi State. It won’t be last year’s UT game part II, but it’ll be close.

Georgia vs. Oklahoma St. – The Rose-Colored Glasses View

What the DLine lacks in size, they make up for in speed, and will blow past the corn-fed, slow, Oline of the cowboys. Stafford and the WRs, along with Bobo calling the plays, will light up the usually porous OSU secondary, freeing the underneath for the RB trio to melt the clock, letting the D rest. It won’t be Boise St. part II, but it’ll be close.