Sometimes, it's just a matter of timing. Just like Florida this year, Georgia went through the '02 season with only one loss. And the Dawgs dominated Arky in the SECCG. But unlike this year's Florida team, Georgia didn't get the opportunity to play for the MNC in '02 because there were two undefeated teams ahead of them, instead of one...

As great as the picture O&B paints of Georgia looks, some of it is left out. A lot of the financial successes that Georgia enjoyed the last few years were not around in the early '90s. The University has only recently moved up from being a middling academic institution, and improvements across the board are all fairly recent.

The talent richness of the state is not a new development. UGA has only just begun to get its pick of the in-state talent, and the cream from the surrounding areas. To evaluate Georgia as somehow underachieving is to paint a broad picture and assign it the qualities of a single brush-stroke. The Georgia that makes a lot of money, gathers much of its local talent, and builds top-notch facilities is performing well. Two SEC titles in football, 4 straight top 10 finishes, and a finally resurgent basketball program (recovering from scholarship loss) are not indicators of failure. They are signs of growth. Georgia's resources are growing, and the performance is growing alongside. This question should come up in 5 years, if Georgia is still not regularly at the center of the national attention in either of the two big sports.

Compared to whom?

Two things to add:
1) Never underestimate the power of a marquee rivalry game to focus national attention - other than the traditional SEC matchups, Georgia has Georgia Tech. The implications of the 90's Florida/FSU matchups (where there was direct national championship implications a ridiculous number of years) helped boost those schools "national" status. Georgia has not had an equivalent. Tenn. has done a good job with this same "obstacle" by more proactively scheduling out of conference opponents from all over the country(Miami, Notre Dame, Notice how this has been a more recent complaint in regard to Florida scheduling now that FSU has "slipped."

2) In regard to skill players: Over the past ten years the receivers Georgia has recruited have been just as sought after as any others in the SEC (Fred Gibson, I'm looking in your direction), yet somehow they never produce up to expectations. This is a coaching issue. I don't know if the stats prove this out, but my lying eyes see way more drops in crucial situations by the DAWGS receivers than by any other team in the nation. This is not a recurring coincidence.

Umm, CFR, by playmakers, do you mean offensive playmakers?

Because by any measure, I would think that guys like David Pollack and Thomas Davis were playmakers...

Understand, Senator, that when CFR uses a football term, he means offense. Always.

Very good defensive line play in the SEC is as much coaching as gene pool. My school, LSU, has had at least two exceptional defensive line coaches in a row. The last guy, Karl Dunbar, is now with the Vikings. The current guy, Earl Lane, basically built USF from scratch before coming to LSU. The result is that the last several sets of defensive linemen are ALL in the NFL now.

The entire premise of the article is absurd. And long. UGA has won 60 games over the past 6 years including 2 SEC titles and 2 SEC East titles. That puts us in the Top 10 among BCS schools over that period in overall wins.

During the decade of the 1980s, we finished 6th in overall wins. The problem UGA had was very basic. We didn't have a good enough coach from '89-'00 to beat Spurrier, Dye, Stallings and Fulmer on a consistent basis.

There's nothing more to it.

A Gator asking that question makes the entire conversation even MORE ridiculous. The Gators went 90+ years without winning ANYTHING in any football or basketball. No national titles, no SEC titles. Nothing but 1 lousy Heisman.

It wasn't until the Gators FINALLY hired a great coach in 1990 that they won SOMETHING.

The article almost assumes that winning national titles is "easy." Other than Miami from '84-'01, Nebraska from '94-'97 and USC from '03-05, national titles have not grown on trees.

OSU went 40+ years between national titles.
Michigan went 50 years between national titles.
Oklahoma went 15 years between titles.
Nebraska went 35 years between titles.
FSU only won 2 titles over Bowden's 30+ years.

UGA has won 12 SEC titles which is 3rd among SEC schools. That's twice the number as UF. UF has exactly two more SEC titles than Georgia Tech, a team that has been out of the SEC since 1964.

The football world didn't begin in 1990. Despite what the Gator Nation seems to believe.

Over the past 21 years, Georgia has won 5 SEC titles. That's more than AU, LSU or Bama. It's tied with UT and 2 less than UF.

Like I said. It's a ridiculous premise.

As for Hoops....UF's basketball tradition was as pathetic as Georgia's until they hired Donovan. Until that point each of us had 1 Final Four appearance in about 100 years. Again. They hired and RETAINED a great coach. We didn't.

Hiring and retaining great coaches ain't easy.

See Zook, Shula, Willingham, Goff, Gary Gibbs, Gerry Faust, Ray Perkins, etc for examples.

PWD

Should say 3 SEC east titles. Which over the past 6 years is more than the Gators. UGA has won more overall games, more SEC games, more SEC titles and more SEC East titles during that period.

Separately - The State of Georgia is bad at producing 2 things.

1. Polished Quarterbacks -- charlie whitehurst and david greene are exceptions. Not the rule.

2. Polished WRs -- most of the elite WRs in GA High Schools are playing QB and they are projecting them as WRs. See Eric Berry the UT commit (UT legacy)

That's because GA HS loves the Wing T like a child loves it's father.

That said...Reggie Brown and Fred Gibson were 1st team All-SEC players at WR. Both were homegrown. Reggie was a first round draft pick. He was a playmaker. Just not Reggie Bush.

But who is?

The "Truth" has been spoken.