Per CFN,com: Man, is Georgia the most snakebitten team in college football history when it comes to injuries? (PS-Hey, it's my 700th post!) ldskule: :champs:
Some early morning chatter on Dawg Run.com indicates he's gone for the season. Talk of him being a medical redshirt and, more prominently, alot of hand-wringing over them, once again, not being able to run the ball well. Can anyone remember the last time a team won the National Championship without a strong running game? Anyone? Hey, I feel both a bit sorry for UGA fans but bitter, too, because if LSU beats them again in 2004, they'll have that damn, "Well, if (insert names here) wasn't hurt, we'd beat you guys." line to trot out. Again.
Not to sound krass, but Lumpkin isn't all that great of a loss for them IMO. He was never the center of the offense anyway. They are going to live and die by the pass. Lumpkin was just a hair better than Tony Milton and Cooper anyway, so they won't have all that much of a dropoff.
DAMN!!! I wanted to beat them TWO TIMES (AGAIN! - AND, this time, BOTH games would be UGA Home games) and I wanted them to be at full strength so that there were NO EXCUSES. I can see Trev Alberts now - "Well, if Georgia would have had Lumpkin, they could have EASILY made up that 31 point deficit. Therefore, just like last year, I'm going to give Georgia a WIN in my book despite the 38-7 score." "Also, although the game was played in Athens, LSU just brought entirely too many fans. Therefore, I am marking this as a HOME LOSS for LSU and ROAD WIN for UGA. And, I don't want to hear about LSU winning the score on the field of 38-7. The only thing that matters is how I and other media members WANT the game to have turned out."
Bad news from the Dawgs but if Florida steps up like I think, then they are capable of they may have beat them already which put them in the seat for Atlanta in December. This injury could make my trip to Athens more peaceful. We have a good team and a win is a win. Nobody cried for us when Toe or Mauck or any of our other injuries came upon us. Who knows maybe the dawgs have someone waiting in the wings that steps up this year and turns heads.
I understand what you're saying--I mean, Lumpkin didn't tear it up in 2003, either--but this only highlights a question all these media types hyping Georgia keep ignoring: How can a team that finished 74th in the nation in rushing in 2003 lose it's #1 RB in preseason practice and be a legit National Title contender?
I tend to disagree with the pundits here. For a team like UGA who recruits some of the top athletes in the south, a loss at RB is not detrimental, as say, a loss to a starting safety. How many times have we seen a RB go down and someone step up and contribute big (i.e., justin vincent). Although I realize Lumpkin is the starter, I'm sure UGA has someone waiting in the wings to live up to his recruiting hype.
The difference here, in my opinion, is that UGA isn't "reloading" like LSU. They recruit top athletes, no doubt, but I don't think they have anyone who's ready to burst on the scene. We saw Lumpkin's backup last year. His name is Cooper. The SEC is not scared of the UGA rushing attack.
A good buddy of mine (an Ole Miss alum) called me this morning to tell me about his trip to Athens over the weekend to attend a wedding. He told me that the UGA fans were dripping with confidence and that a NC run was being discussed at every turn. My friend is a big Ole Miss fan and, living in LA, he hears a lot of talk year in and year out about LSU - however, he says this was beyond the typical summer Tiger Talk and the Dawgies he ran across this weekend were carrying on at a whole new level. Evidently, the Dawgs feel like they are on the brink of something special. This is going to be fun...
