I decided to wait a week until I made my season predictions for Georgia Tech, Georgia and the Falcons. The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets already have a win under their belts, both coming against I-AA teams. Nothing unexpected there. So here we go. Make your plans for Vegas and you can bet on my picks; just don’t call me if they’re wrong.
Starting with Georgia, I don’t think they will win a national championship. I do think, however, that they will win the SEC. The schedule is just too tough to take it all and they have already lost two good linemen.
For sure, the Bulldogs will go into their game against Alabama on Sept. 27 at 4-0, beating Central Michigan easily in Athens and then winning on the road against South Carolina and Arizona State. They will beat the Gamecocks easily and then slip by ASU. The Crimson Tide will provide a huge test, but I think the Bulldogs pass it, then beat Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Then come some problems. The Oct. 25 game at LSU is going to be Georgia’s first loss, though they will come back in the next two weeks and take out Florida and Kentucky. Now they’re sitting around fourth in the nation but can’t handle the Tigers at Auburn before closing the regular season out with a victory over Tech. Still, the win over Florida gives them the SEC East and they come to the Georgia Dome for a rematch with Alabama and take the Tide out again for the title. But two losses will be too much to win a national title this year, though they get a BCS bid.
Now to Tech: They go to Boston College Saturday and win to go to 2-0, but lose back-to-back games at Virginia Tech and at home against Mississippi State. Wins against Duke and Gardner-Webb come before a date with Clemson on Oct. 18. The Jackets can’t handle the Tigers and drop to 4-3 before beating Virginia here. Then comes the key game of the season, at home against Florida State. With a victory over the Seminoles, the Jackets are on the verge of bowl eligibility with a chance to win perhaps eight games. It won’t happen, however, as FSU is too much and leaves Tech at 5-4 with three games left. The Jackets go to North Carolina and win a tough one, but drop the final two against Miami and Georgia, finishing 6-6. Not bad at all for Paul Johnson’s first year.
OK, here comes the surprise: the Falcons. It appears most so-called experts expect this team to win maybe three or four games. I don’t think the team is going to the playoffs, though the worst team in the NFC South for the last five years has come back to win the division the next season. I do think they will win eight games, and here is how it will happen. They beat Detroit in the opener, then lose at Tampa Bay before taking out Kansas City here. The next two are tough, at Carolina and Green Bay, though I see the Falcons being competitive, losing close games. The Falcons then come home and beat the Bears, lose to Philadelphia on the road before getting their first road win of the season in Oakland. At this point, the Falcons are 4-4. The team then plays three tough games at home against New Orleans, Denver and Carolina. I see a win over the Saints and a loss to the Broncos before a big win over the Panthers. The team is now 6-5 with an outside shot at the playoffs, but the schedule gets too tough, as losses at San Diego and New Orleans, a win here against Tampa Bay, a loss at Minnesota, and a win in the final game against St. Louis puts the team at 8-8. A good start for head coach Mike Smith and company. Bet on it.
SEE YOU LATER, JAY
When I was at the AJC, one of my least favorite sportswriters was Jay Mariotti, who wrote for The Denver Post before moving to Chicago. I saw that he went to the Olympics in China for the Chicago Sun-Times and then came back and quit the paper. Nothing surprising here. Mariotti has always been a bum. Just look at what very popular Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert wrote in a letter distributed to employees at the paper:
“What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. It does not speak well for you. Your timing was exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with a two-word e-mail: ‘I quit.’ You saved your explanation for a local television station.
“As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat. Newspapers are not dead, Jay, and this paper will not die because you have left. Times are hard in the newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign on for the luxury cruise? There’s an old saying that you might have come across once or twice on the sports beat: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
“Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want the whole story, not a sound bite. If you go to work for television, viewers may get a little weary of you shouting at them. You were a great shouter in print, that’s for sure, stomping your feet when owners, coaches and players didn’t agree with you. It was an entertaining show. Good luck getting one of your 1,000-word rants on the air. … On your way out, don’t let the door bang you on the ass.”
Thanks, Roger – and two thumbs up.
AND FINALLY
The SEC certainly flexed its muscles as the best conference in football this weekend, and hats off to the Atlanta Sports Council for bringing in Alabama and Clemson for a game Saturday night in the Georgia Dome. The atmosphere downtown was incredible and I still think there are some Alabama people here that haven’t left and are still celebrating.
Score Atlanta begins a new NFL scoreboard show this Sunday from 1-4 p.m. on 790 The Zone. The show will be hosted every Sunday out of the station’s studio at STATS on Marietta Street. Check in for NFL scores every 10 minutes and make sure to come by and enjoy the atmosphere and giveaways at STATS. Rosenberg can be reached at ijrosenberg@scoreatl.com and 404-256-1572.
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