This season with Stafford?

I just read Ok St's preview on msn.foxsports, I believe, and it said the UGA game is \"more winnable than many will predict.\" I'm not sure who he's referring to, since I haven't heard anyone in the media predict UGA would win.

I watched the replays of the Auburn and VTech games last night. The thing I noticed about Stafford was, really, not about Stafford. The protection the o-line gave him, especially in the Auburn game, was terrific. So, IMHO, it really isn't about Stafford who will be fine if he is well protected, but about how well the o-line is going to protect him. We can make all the predictions we want, but we really won't know until we actually see how the o-line is going to perform.

RxDawgboy, I think you also need to look at Stafford BEFORE the Auburn game. Compare and contrast. Look at his performance in the Kentucky game, the number of picks he threw. Even the SCarolina game had a couple of INTs. By the Auburn game he had learned not to throw the ball into coverage, had learned to throw the ball away if he needed to, and was MUCH more adept at finding a hole into which to run (although he showed definite signs of being Mr. Veer as early as the UAB game).

Now, I'm not going to pretend to have seen anything in Stafford (yet) that makes me think he's the Bulldog Savior. But he's got an arm, he's got accuracy, he's got a running game, and he's got leadership qualities.

Of course the O-line is important. That's why CMR went out and got all those JuCo players in the off-season. Peyton Manning wouldn't be able to do what he does without that O-line the Colts give him. But you give Trent Dilfer the same O-line, and he's not able to do the same things Manning can. I think that with a strong O-line, Stafford will be able to do more than Tebow or even Woodson can do with the same line. And this is coming from someone (me) who thinks that Andre Woodson is the SEC Player of the Year this year unless he pulls a Prothro.

The bad news is that the defense held Stafford to 13-20 for 135 yards passing and one TD...or is that the good news for the D being so stout in their scrimmage? The other news is that Rivals Radio host Bill King sed just this morning that the national media was making a HUGE mistake in believing that the Dawgs won't be a major player in the conference this season, or that CMR wont have the team ready for revenge after last year.

dapolla wrote:

Now, I'm not going to pretend to have seen anything in Stafford (yet) that makes me think he's the Bulldog Savior. But he's got an arm, he's got accuracy, he's got a running game, and he's got leadership qualities.

That's what I said, that I think Stafford will be fine, if the o-line gives him time.

I think the running game needs work, someone needs to step up. Lumpkin only averaged 4.7 ypc last year which puts him in the middle of the pack in the country. Brown only average about 4.1 ypc before the injury, and that simply isn't good enough. If our backs step up the ground game it could take a WHOLE lot of pressure off of Stafford.

Well, look, it's not a bad place to be, really. If the national media wants to malign Georgia, then fine. If we have a crapper of a season then it's \"Oh well, told ya.\" If we have the season that a few of the more insightful writers and pundits predict (props again to Phil Steele) then they can eat crow. They'll eat crow.