Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

The UGA football team should be one of the most talented in the country, there is no reason for it not to be.  And, the 247 rankings over the past few years shows they are, aside from some transfers like Fields.  Just about anyone should be able to recruit well at UGA.  They appear to have some assistants who focus on this who are able to "connect" with players in the state, and elsewhere.  Facilities are very good, mostly new.  Track record is pretty good.

I think they used up all their "luck" in 1980 and then some.

Kicker - Bama

Bowden's worst nightmare, back when FSU was good

I think facilities among the major programs really only differs in terms of which is newest, as new is, well newer.

You need a break or three even with a very talented team to win the NC, coupled with being relatively injury free.  An outstanding QB is often also needed.

The 247 recruiting rankings over the past four years have been 1st, 2nd, 1st, and 3rd.  Some 5 stars have departed (Fields and a TE back to Illinois among them).  And of course some juniors leave early.  With that much talent, a team should be "in the mix", and they have been, one play here and there went the other way, and some of that is coaching at times.

Had they not lost to USCe last year when Fromm threw four INTs, they would have made the playoffs even with the L to LSU.  They would not have won.

I don't know that I imagined a situation where I though, thank god I had to watch LSU-Oklahoma, but when faced with the prospect of LSU-UGA II, it worked out fine. 

A first-round rematch of the SEC title game with that UGA offense woulda been even sadder than what we got. (I'm also dubious a 1-loss conference champ would get left out for a non-1-loss conference champ, but that's a theoretical argument for another day)

2002 was my favorite recent UGA season - they got Zooked!

I mean, that game was still over at halftime. Just one version would've involved some points, and a probably more interesting outcome.

(That was a weird participation trophy title. Someone got a prize for losing)

After the fact, it seems like people simply forget how all-time great that LSU team was on track to be.  
Here's their games vs ranked teams, aside from the Bama regular season game:
vs #3:  win by 13 pts
vs #25:  win by 13
vs #16:  win by 26
vs #17:  win by 30
vs #19:  win by 35
vs #3:  win by 24
vs #12:  win by 32
First of all, that's 7 games.  Plus the Bama win.  The SOS was above reproach.  The special teams were elite in every facet.  Great pass D.  Great run D.  And the offense was much better than we remember it being - scoring 40+ points 9 times!  We think it pedestrian because of the NC game vs Bama.

You may be thinking, so what, OAM, LSU wasn't the problem, Alabama getting in ahead of OK State was.  

Well if we put LSU in the proper perspective, then what Alabama did is all the more amazing.  It took that LSU super team to OT.  All of those ranked teams getting pantsed, and Bama was just as good.  Sorry, how fun the game is isn't relevant.  It was elite, big-boy football, period.

And what did Alabama go on to do?  Totally emasculate an all-time type team.  Bullied the bully.  It's not a slight to say Oklahoma State wouldn't have done well vs LSU that year - no one would have, aside from who did, twice.  

So for 2019, would you rather see OSU play Clemson again or watch OSU vs Oklahoma?

After the fact, it seems like people simply forget how all-time great that LSU team was on track to be. 
Here's their games vs ranked teams, aside from the Bama regular season game:
vs #3:  win by 13 pts
vs #25:  win by 13
vs #16:  win by 26
vs #17:  win by 30
vs #19:  win by 35
vs #3:  win by 24
vs #12:  win by 32
First of all, that's 7 games.  Plus the Bama win.  The SOS was above reproach.  The special teams were elite in every facet.  Great pass D.  Great run D.  And the offense was much better than we remember it being - scoring 40+ points 9 times!  We think it pedestrian because of the NC game vs Bama.

You may be thinking, so what, OAM, LSU wasn't the problem, Alabama getting in ahead of OK State was. 

Well if we put LSU in the proper perspective, then what Alabama did is all the more amazing.  It took that LSU super team to OT.  All of those ranked teams getting pantsed, and Bama was just as good.  Sorry, how fun the game is isn't relevant.  It was elite, big-boy football, period.

And what did Alabama go on to do?  Totally emasculate an all-time type team.  Bullied the bully.  It's not a slight to say Oklahoma State wouldn't have done well vs LSU that year - no one would have, aside from who did, twice. 

I never questioned LSU in that spot. They deserved to be there full, full stop. I wouldn't call them a super team because that offense was quite good, but not really super. But they were as accomplished a team as one could construct. 

I'd argue against Bama because until they got the the rematch, the best thing you could say was they lost well. They had the same record as OK State against a somewhat worse schedule. They had fewer big wins. The best things about Bama were two things: 1. They had a very majestic eye test, pulling the Boise move, where they hammered the teams on their worse schedule 2. They were very, very close to being at the top of those ranking when you just stack up the losses and were that close against a very good team. They never very good and their biggest accomplishment was losing close. 

I thought Ok State was more accomplished but couldn't stand up to the feeling Bama was the best team. And they ended up being, even if I thought logically it didn't flow as smoothly as I'd like. 

Such is life. It brought us multiple sometimes funny Oklahoma playoff appearances, which Oklahoma State might have not brought around so fast.