I was born in summer 1982, so I only remember bits and pieces of Herschel's final season. But as we sit here today, this is most certainly the best Georgia team I've ever seen. 2002 was really good, but it took that group a while to get going... some of those games early in the year (Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama) all could have been losses, but that 02 team was able to tough its way through it. Special group, but not as dominant as this one.
2005 was one of my favorite Georgia teams ever. And I think if that team is fielded in 2006 or 2003, it wins a national championship. Right team, but wrong year. There was never a situation where Texas and USC were not going to play in the national title game if both finished undefeated. 2005 was a very, very good team. But they weren't as good as this one.
2007 played at an incredibly high level after the Vanderbilt game. I think fans rightfully remember November 2007 with more fondness than any other month in the modern era. But that team still lost at home to South Carolina and still got beaten badly by Tennessee. We caught South Carolina at the wrong time... and really caught Tennessee at a bad time too with the Vols rallying around Fulmer. But those losses happened. No team in America would beat our group this year by 21 points.
2012... I can't think back on that one without getting a little sad about what might have been. The South Carolina loss was ugly, but didn't hurt us ultimately. For whatever reason, the SECCG that season is more of a heartbreaker to me, still, than the 2017 season national title game. Great run by 2012, but that team wasn't this team.
Finally, 2017 - look, you play teams as you find them. And we were dominant all season long, until Auburn. But you didn't really KNOW what we had, just because Tennessee and Florida were so bad that year. The Notre Dame win was great. This Miss State win was a lot of fun. And while our running backs on the '17 team were better than the running backs on this team, this offense as a whole is better - much better I would say, as we aren't playing with a freshman QB and are more willing to spread the ball around offensively. At least the front seven is better this year than in 2017. We don't have a guy like Roquan, but the front seven as a whole is better. The 2017 secondary was more experienced. I'm not sure it was better than our current secondary, and I didn't really expect that to be the case over the summer. As of early October, this is a better team than we put on the field in 2017. There's no question about that to me.
I'm not trying to blow off the Auburn game or anything. It is our first real road test and will be the first time a lot of these guys have played in a hostile atmosphere. But I'm also not worried about it. We're much, much better than Auburn and I expect that to be made clear on Saturday afternoon.
The reality about playing at Auburn is that we've taken all of ONE superior football team to Jordan Hare Stadium since the Vince Dooley era that has failed to win there. And yes, that happened under Kirby in 2017, but Auburn was also a much better team in 2017 than they are now. And we avenged that loss a few weeks later anyway. Alabama has actually had a much tougher time at Jordan Hare than we have. We took a very average team over there in 2013 and were beating Auburn 38-37 with about 30 seconds left, then we know what happened. And Auburn wound up playing for the national title that year. Likewise, we weren't any good in 2010 and were within 4 points in the 4th quarter against the eventual national champions. This isn't the 1980s anymore and there is nothing that should be scary about Jordan Hare Stadium. And we are favored by two touchdowns for a reason.
Just sit back and enjoy this. This team, this year, is generational.
2005 was one of my favorite Georgia teams ever. And I think if that team is fielded in 2006 or 2003, it wins a national championship. Right team, but wrong year. There was never a situation where Texas and USC were not going to play in the national title game if both finished undefeated. 2005 was a very, very good team. But they weren't as good as this one.
2007 played at an incredibly high level after the Vanderbilt game. I think fans rightfully remember November 2007 with more fondness than any other month in the modern era. But that team still lost at home to South Carolina and still got beaten badly by Tennessee. We caught South Carolina at the wrong time... and really caught Tennessee at a bad time too with the Vols rallying around Fulmer. But those losses happened. No team in America would beat our group this year by 21 points.
2012... I can't think back on that one without getting a little sad about what might have been. The South Carolina loss was ugly, but didn't hurt us ultimately. For whatever reason, the SECCG that season is more of a heartbreaker to me, still, than the 2017 season national title game. Great run by 2012, but that team wasn't this team.
Finally, 2017 - look, you play teams as you find them. And we were dominant all season long, until Auburn. But you didn't really KNOW what we had, just because Tennessee and Florida were so bad that year. The Notre Dame win was great. This Miss State win was a lot of fun. And while our running backs on the '17 team were better than the running backs on this team, this offense as a whole is better - much better I would say, as we aren't playing with a freshman QB and are more willing to spread the ball around offensively. At least the front seven is better this year than in 2017. We don't have a guy like Roquan, but the front seven as a whole is better. The 2017 secondary was more experienced. I'm not sure it was better than our current secondary, and I didn't really expect that to be the case over the summer. As of early October, this is a better team than we put on the field in 2017. There's no question about that to me.
I'm not trying to blow off the Auburn game or anything. It is our first real road test and will be the first time a lot of these guys have played in a hostile atmosphere. But I'm also not worried about it. We're much, much better than Auburn and I expect that to be made clear on Saturday afternoon.
The reality about playing at Auburn is that we've taken all of ONE superior football team to Jordan Hare Stadium since the Vince Dooley era that has failed to win there. And yes, that happened under Kirby in 2017, but Auburn was also a much better team in 2017 than they are now. And we avenged that loss a few weeks later anyway. Alabama has actually had a much tougher time at Jordan Hare than we have. We took a very average team over there in 2013 and were beating Auburn 38-37 with about 30 seconds left, then we know what happened. And Auburn wound up playing for the national title that year. Likewise, we weren't any good in 2010 and were within 4 points in the 4th quarter against the eventual national champions. This isn't the 1980s anymore and there is nothing that should be scary about Jordan Hare Stadium. And we are favored by two touchdowns for a reason.
Just sit back and enjoy this. This team, this year, is generational.
