The Red and Black

Red and Black Blogs

January 7th, 2008

Sugar Bowl thoughts, looking ahead to 2008, Nat’l Championship

First off, I hope everyone had a happy holiday and great new year. I sure did. New Orleans might be one of the best cities, if not the best, in America to go out and have a good time. I had a great time with the friends I went with and I’m thrilled I had the chance to experience the Big Easy for the first time.

The reason I was there? The Sugar Bowl: What a beatdown. I called a cakewalk and the Bulldogs’ actions backed my statement. Hawai’i showed they are great at what they do and where they do it, but until they can get linemen that are both strong and mobile, they will never be able to compete with the top of the BCS teams.

Defensively Georgia was superb. I had a feeling Colt Brennan would be on his butt a good bit, but eight times? Are you kidding me?

Apparently, Geno Atkins wanted to get his picture taken with Brennan while both teams were out experiencing New Orleans. Ironically, the alleged starstruck defensive end knocked out the stat-monster before backup Tyler Graunke came in and led the Warriors to a garbage time touchdown.

Georgia’s win, combined with USC’s monstrous victory over overmatched Illinois, and Michigan carving Florida’s secondary to shreds begs this question: Who will be No. 1 heading into next season?

With Michigan putting up 41 on Florida and with the Gators expecting to lose Derrick Harvey to the NFL Draft, you can only assume the Gators will not be in the top 2. USC loses John David Booty at quarterback but still returns a team that is arguably the best in the nation when healthy.

Then there’s Georgia. The Bulldogs return 17 starters, including Matthew Stafford who will be the most experienced quarterback in the SEC. Sure, Tim Tebow won the Heisman but the Florida quarterback IS his team. Stafford has a plethora of talent returning with Knowshon Moreno and redshirt freshman Caleb King carrying the running game. The receiving corps put it together late this season, and while they lose Mikey Henderson and Sean Bailey, the Bulldogs return a unit that rotated - it seemed - a million receivers. Add in five-star recruit A.J. Green and early enrollee Tavarres King and this Bulldogs offense appears more and more balanced and dangerous.

With that said, here is the Butt-ing In Preseason Top 5:

1. Georgia

2. USC

3. Missouri

4. Texas - yes, that’s right. Texas.

5. Florida

Prediction for tonight’s national championship

Ohio State will keep this closer than many in the South think, or at least want to think. Stubborn Les Miles will keep his Tigers from breaking it open, but in the end, the athletes on LSU’s defense will prove that when healthy, is the best defense in the country. Ohio State’s Todd Boeckman excelled against inferior competition, but crumbled against Illinois and Michigan. Chris Wells will keep the Buckeyes in it early, but LSU will pull away in the fourth quarter.

Final Score: LSU 27, Ohio State 17

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am and is filed under Football, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.