Tag: Top 25

When the USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll came out recently, it listed the Georgia Bulldogs in the top spot. But that’s about all the good news UGA has gotten this week.

Georgia suspended linebacker Darius Dewberry for the first two games of the season for his role in an incident at an Athens-area hospital last Sunday. It was the fifth Bulldog suspended.

Dewberry was at the hospital while teammates Donavon Baldwin and Marcus Dowtin were being treated for injuries suffered in a bar fight early Saturday morning.

Junior long snapper Jeff Henson was suspended indefinitely Saturday morning after being arrested and charged with public intoxication and urinating in public. Henson was charged with a DUI last November and suspended one game, which he served during the Sugar Bowl.

Baldwin, a junior safety who was set to serve a one-game suspension after a DUI arrest in January, was also suspended indefinitely after the bar incident that resulted in his hospitalization.

The 236-pound Dewberry went to St. Mary’s Hospital to check on Baldwin, and broke a barrier on a control arm at the parking lot — with his hands, not his car — and also broke four plant pots.

Not a good start to a promising season for Georgia. Regardless of being suspended for a game or two, you hate to see young men lose their composure, but it happens. Hopefully Richt gets his program back on track because the Bulldogs have a lot going for them in ’08.

The USA Today Preseason Coaches Top 25 Poll has been released and the Georgia Bulldogs have claimed the No. 1 spot.

1. Georgia (11-2)
Points: 1,438 (22 first-place votes). Final 2007 rank: 3. Outlook: This could be the Bulldogs’ best team and best chance for a national title since the Herschel Walker era in the early 1980s. QB Matthew Stafford seeks to take the next step in his career, and RB Knowshon Moreno looks like a budding star. The schedule could be difficult, however, with trips to South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU and Auburn, along with the Florida game in Jacksonville. Opens: Aug. 30 vs. Georgia Southern.

Quite frankly, the top five teams are all interchangeable based on talent alone, but it’s hard to argue with Georgia being ranked No. 1 with how well they played during the back half of last year. The Dawgs scored nearly 40 points a game and Moreno looked outstanding as a freshman. He’s a true Heisman candidate as a sophomore and Stafford could wind up being the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft.

But if we’re talking about which program has the best chance of making it to a national championship, it’s not Georgia; they’re SEC schedule is too tough. USC (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 3) and even Oklahoma (No. 4) have better chances of making it to the title game based on their talent and strength of schedule. Who is going to stop the Buckeyes in the Big Ten outside of maybe Wisconsin? They should blow through their Big Ten schedule.

Comment starter: Should Georgia be ranked No. 1? Do they have the best shot of making it to the NC? If not, which program does?