It’s customary for a top-five BCS team to be disappointment the following season, the quality of college football doesn’t allow anybody to get comfortable at the top. Besides Alabama, of course.
In recent years Texas, TCU and Oklahoma State have all failed to sustain a high level of play from a previous season, sorry Georgia fans, I think it could be you in 2013.
The Bulldogs had a terrific campaign in 2012, victories against No. 2 Florida in October and No. 16 Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl obvious highlights, as well as a four point loss to eventual national champion Alabama nothing to be ashamed of.
Aaron Murray returns at quarterback for his senior season, the signal caller will be building on his 3,893 yards and 36 touchdowns a season ago as he tries to prove he is worthy of an early-round draft pick. Star running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall also return, but that’s where the good news ends for the offense. Big play wide receiver Tavarres King has left for the NFL, leaving Murray to find a new favorite target. Malcolm Mitchell looks the most likely, as he posted 40 receptions and four touchdowns in his sophomore season.
On defense no less than seven players were selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. Linebackers Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree were selected in the first round . Defensive lineman John Jenkins and Cornelius Washington were selected in the third and sixth rounds respectively, while defensive backs Shawn Williams, Sanders Commings and Baccari Rambo went in the third, fifth and sixth rounds. That’s eight starters in the first 191 picks of an NFL Draft, an incredible amount of talent lost in one off-season.
On top of replacing numerous star men, Georgia has to contend with an unfavorable schedule. The Bulldogs open the season away to Clemson followed by a home game against South Carolina. LSU travels to Sanford Stadium in Week 4, as well as Florida in Week 9. All of which will have their eyes on a top-five ranking.
Georgia is a premier football college, and head coach Mark Richt has shown during his 12-year tenure he is more than capable of guiding the program through choppy waters, however, 2013 will be a transition season which will include at least three defeats, pushing the reigning SEC East champions down the rankings.