re: Everything is set up for UGA to win the East this year

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In fact, I expect them to struggle some what. 8-9 wins

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Most UGA fans have indeed predicted 9 wins this season (personally sticking to my 9 +/-1)... Note it wasn't a UGA poster who started the thread. Do I think it's *possible* for us to win the East? Sure... our schedule is pretty favorable. Do I think it's the most likely outcome in Yr 1 of the Kirby Smart era? Of course not. Personally, I'd rather see us start Eason for most if not the entire season, take some lumps at 8-9 wins and be better prepared at the QB position for year 2/3, but ultimately trust the coaches to make the right call as they have more complete info than any fan would.

More important than our end record to me is elimination the "oopsie" game that we seemed to have every year under Richt, where the team came in woefully underprepared. If we're competitive in every game, I really am not terribly concerned about the record this season... if we missed a bowl game that would be disconcerting, but 8 wins and no "non-competitive" or headscratcher losses would be acceptable.

If we lost say UNC, Ole Miss, and UT, with UT winning close in Athens, but win the rest of the schedule or take one additional loss (not named UF or GT), I'd be reasonably pleased with the outcome. Year 1 is about quality over quantity... if the team is developing and improving (particularly with some of the depth concerns we have at DL/OL as well as a tFR QB hopefully seeing significant playing time) and recruiting continues the direction it's going, that would feel like a slight step back to take a bigger leap forward.