GEORGIA BULLDOGS O:4 D:5
The Bulldogs have been the team to beat the last four seasons in the SEC East. They’ve been to the SEC title game in three of the last four year’s, and throttled the #3 ranked LSU Tigers by a 34-14 count last season. If not for a late season injury to QB DJ Shockley, the Dawgs might have found themselves in the Rose Bowl instead of the Sugar. That being said, things look to be a bit different in ’06. Georgia only returns nine starters on both sides of the ball, and loses a number of key personnel that’s attributed to the Dawgs success over the last four years. Don’t expect the offense to be the juggernaut of year’s past. There are just too many question marks all over the board to expect them to be able to match last year’s 29.5 PPG. A QB is yet to have set himself apart from the rest of the pack, and the O-Line is retooled. The LB corps looks to be the most experienced of the three facets on defense as the secondary loses three starters to the NFL, but the D-Line returns 1st TM SEC DE Quentin Moses and his 11.5 sacks from a year ago to help mold the new guys up front into another formidable unit. Special Teams is where the Bulldogs will shine in ’06. They return both K Brandon Coutu who hit 23 of 29 FG’s last year, with one being from 58 yards out, and P Gordon Ely-Kelso who netted an outstanding 38 yards per punt last season.
This is now the sixth season of HC Mark Richt’s tenure at the University of Georgia. He’s tallied a remarkable 52-13 SU record, and hasn’t lost more than three games in any one season. With that being said, it’s not all gloom and doom for the Dawgs in 2006. Sure, on paper, it doesn’t look too promising for a return to the SEC Championship game, but he had the same amount of returning starters back in ’03 and still won 10 games. Only time will tell this year, but they can be a major player in the East if they’re able to defend between the Hedges.
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