(SEC) The Bulldogs play on a grass field at Sanford Stadium (seats 92,746).
- Mark Richt is in his 11th year as head coach of Georgia. One thing that has always been impressive about Richt’s record at Georgia is how he has done in true road games (in an opponent’s stadium). He enters the 2010 season 34-10. The problem is that four of those losses came last year and 2010 was Richt’s first losing season as head coach of Georgia (6-7).
- Last year the offense returned all of their starters, except one. And their offense had already
Quarterback Aaron Murray
taken a dip the previous year when they had to replace 1st overall draft pick quarterack Matthew Stafford. So it wasn’t shocking that the passing game improved, led by redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray. And the fact that Murray is a sophomore and should improve upon a 61% completion percentage (which is a great start and Super Bowl winning QB Brad Johnson would agree) is really the best thing going for the offense this year. He also had a great TD-INT ration of 24 touchdowns to 8 interceptions.
- The running game dipped somewhat in 2010, perhaps due in part to injury and suspension. And the top two rushers are off the team this year. Running back Caleb King was declared academically ineligible and entered the supplemental NFL Draft and #1 rusher from last year, Washaun Ealey has transferred. The positive comes in the arrival of the highly vaunted Isaiah Crowell, considered the top running back recruit this year.
- And having just two offensive linemen return puts the running game in further question. But then again last year’s line didn’t play up to expectations, allowing the most sacks, the least amount of rushing yards and the worst yards per carry average in years.
- Star wide receiver A.J. Green is gone, selected in the 1st round of April’s NFL Draft. He did miss four games last year due to an NCAA suspension for selling his bowl game jersey to someone who qualifies as an agent. What is the effect of not having Green in the game? Georgia lost all three of their SEC games during that time.
- How did Georgia do last year reworking their defense? Well first let’s start off with why they
had to fix it. The Bulldogs defense had recently been on a steady decline. As a result all four defensive assistants were fired after the 2009 season and they switched to a 3-4 scheme (from a 4-3). Perhaps because of the inexperience of the defense and the added pressure on the defensive line that has just three people to do the job of four, their rushing defense declined to their worst numbers ever under Richt.
Nose Tackle John Jenkins
- The most important part of the 3-4 defense is the Nose Tackle who is front and center and is responsible for 2-gap blocking. This year Georgia is lucky to have the arrival of Junior college transfer John Jenkins, who is not only massive, but apparently can move pretty well and has had a lot of hype surrounding his arrival
- Even though the passing defense improved considerably, the fact that the linebacker unit takes a hit could possibly impact both the rushing and passing defenses. This year they lose three linebackers who were three of the top 4 tacklers on the team.
- Turnover margin really improved in 2010. Unlike 2009 when the turnover margin showed the weakness of this team overall not only in takeaways but also in giving up the ball, last year this team improved over 100 spots to the 16th best team in the nation.
- Georgia is considered to have a decent chance of winning the SEC East, especially with a schedule that doesn’t include Alabama this year. But it does include South Carolina and Mississippi State and an opening game against Boise State. The good news is that none of those games are in hostile environments (i.e, in their opponent’s stadium).
