They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, but they've been known to smoke unprepared defenses in Stillwater. The AP has us entering this game as #16 playing #13 Oklahoma State. Like I said I'll be taking preseason rankings with a grain of salt but that doesn't mean I should completely ignore them.
This will officially be the farthest distance I've ever traveled for a UGA football game (New Orleans 2008 drops into second). It gets said every time we start off with a big boy, this is the most important game of the year. It will set the tone for the remainder of a long and grueling season of SEC football. Few of us know much about Okie State other than they will be stacked on returning Offense and at one time their coach was 40.
Here is my completely one-sided, horse-squeeze prediction for UGA/OSU:
Final Score - UGA 34, Okie State 10...seriously.
Here's why, OSU has our attention right now especially with a higher ranking. I'll be the first to admit the Dawgs have a HORRIBLE habit of going into mid-level difficulty games with a gameplan of playing half-assed football (see Vandy, South Carolina, etc...) but we tend to show up for the (non-ACC) OOC games with a different mindset because they are a different breed. Boise State had our attention going into 2005 and we had the same questions yet to be answered.
The Cowboys have an offense that will be looking to put us away early, but it ain't gonna happen. Willie Martinez is ready to shut people up...and as much Hell as I've given him in the past I've got a gut feeling this will be the year he gets our boys in line and they perform the way we recruited them to perform. Just look to last years film minus WR d'Juan Woods to see what we have to stop. Our big boys will be ready, Willie's livelihood depends on it.
On Defense the Cowboys will have some serious question marks. Here are the words straight from mrorange from the Orange Power messageboards...
Our defense pretty much stunk last year, but we've got a new DC that should hopefully stop someone every once in a while. We had a good d-line last year, but most of them graduated. You could call it our most glaring weakness. Our secondary was iffy last year, but we played a lot of young players that have hopefully gotten better. Our linebackers should be really good, although legal issues may prevent one of our best defenders from playing. I'm still unsure about our corners; we got burned way too many times last year for me to get super excited about them.
...now THAT is what I like to hear. A vote of No-Confidence from the Cowboy faithful means there might be some serious problems to exploit. Here is the Dawg mindset for this. Joe Cox has been Led Zeppelin playing second ticket to Pink Floyd (Matthew Stafford) for the last 3 years. Both players are incredibly awesome but for two completely different reasons. Matthew is now out of the picture making money in a city where people don't make money (...other than Vegas) and it's Joe's time in the limelight. If my knowledge of red-headed stereotypes serves me right Joe Cox is the kind of guy who will hold a grudge and get fired up when he's challenged on his level of competence.
By our second possession, Joe Cox will have a good understanding of OSU's defense and he'll smell blood in the water. He will do anything and everything to get the football in the endzone because he's got a chip the size of T. Boone's bankroll on his shoulder. When it's all said and done, the score will 34-10 and just like Zeppelin Joe Cox will be beating his critics with a mudshark.
I'd look for UGA to put up some big numbers and get our hopes up for a great season before tragedy strikes in a subsequent game...you'll have to keep checking back to see which ones I think we drop. If there is any good to come out of this game for the Okie State faithful, it will be that T. Boone doesn't have to fly his solar powered helicopter too far after a crushing defeat. Hopeless optimism? Overly confident? Call it what you will, but Mackie's looking to start the season with a quality win.
Who knows, we've still got 2.5 months, something could happen that makes this a whole new ballgame.
Be the voice of reason here, tell me why I'm wrong.
UPDATE:
I'm a moron and did a copy & paste job of MRORANGE from a OSU messageboard from 2 years ago...the good news? Apparently things haven't changed too much! Try this article for a more up to date idea of the OSU defense. It's a damn good thing I claim no journalistic integrity, otherwise people would question my viability...HAHAHAHAHA!!!1
But if you want a serious professional's assessment of OSU, peep this.
2 comments:
I can't argue with that, Mack. Until Tech last year (vurp) Richt had never lost an OOC regular season game. Boise, Okie State, and Arizona State have all been beat down as if they owed us the night's take from 14th Street. As young as we are in certain areas, they'll have no answer for our O-line, or interior defensive line. Our young secondary may have some trouble, but I doubt it. You're exactly right about Cox's chip. He's hungry, and he has the tools to pick a weak defense apart.
I'm still not sold on our defense. I think a win is possible but 34-10? Not sure I can get there at this point with the concerns I have about our pass rush and general defensive philosophy. That being said, I really hope you are right.
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