Georgia Bulldogs

Somewhere, Mark Richt is smiling.

After looking at Georgia’s 2012 schedule, he has to feel pretty good about his team’s chances at not just another SEC run but possibly a BCS run.

Outside of the talent expected back in Athens, Georgia was dealt a pretty favorable hand when it came to scheduling, as the Bulldogs will once again miss Alabama, Arkansas and LSU. The Bulldogs were supposed to play Alabama, but that game was dumped, and Georgia will play Ole Miss.

So instead of playing a team currently preparing for the Allstate BCS National Championship Game, Georgia will take on a Rebels team bringing in a new coaching staff after a 2-10 season.

(Stop giggling Georgia fans!)

Georgia’s other Western Division opponent is Auburn, which will take place in Auburn on Nov. 10, a week after the Ole Miss game in Athens.

The combined 2011 winning percentage of Georgia’s 2012 opponents is .500.

Georgia will most likely get some prime-time billing very early, as the Bulldogs will travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on new SEC member Missouri.

The Bulldogs’ nonconference opponents are Buffalo, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern and archrival Georgia Tech.

Things are set up nicely for Georgia to make it back to Atlanta, while South Carolina fans should be happy to know that the Gamecocks pick up LSU on the road and keep Arkansas next season.

Ole Miss, which sported the worst SEC record in 2011, has arguably the toughest schedule. The Rebels’ conference road games are Alabama (Sept. 29), Arkansas (Oct. 27), Georgia (Nov. 3) and LSU (Nov. 17). Ole Miss also hosts Texas (Sept. 15) and new SEC member Texas A&M (Oct. 6).

This schedule looks like a tailgater’s dream, but it will have new coach Hugh Freeze’s hair turning gray. Nine of Ole Miss’ 11 FBS opponents made bowls this season and the combined 2011 winning percentage of Ole Miss’ 2012 opponents is .701.

What an absolutely brutal way to start for Freeze.

As for the newbies, Texas A&M’s first conference game in the SEC comes at home against Florida on Sept. 8, while Missouri will host Georgia the same day. The site for Texas A&M’s game against Arkansas (Sept. 29) hasn’t been announced, but there’s a chance these two won’t play in Dallas in 2012. The Aggies haven’t released all four nonconference games but will open with McNeese State and play SMU in Dallas.

Outside of playing in the SEC West, the Aggies' schedule isn’t overwhelmingly difficult, as LSU and Missouri will come at home.

Missouri also hasn’t finalized its nonconference schedule but will host Arizona State after Georgia. Four of Missouri’s first five games come at home, including Alabama on Oct. 13, but will play on the road three times in November.

Florida and Tennessee won’t open conference play against each other for the first time since 1995. The 2001 game was postponed until the end of the season because of the events of 9/11. These two will play on Sept. 15.

South Carolina and Georgia also won’t open SEC play against each other. That game has been moved to Oct. 6.

Alabama-Tennessee, however, will be played on the third Saturday in October (Oct. 20). After a very rough 2011, the Vols will play three of their last four games at home and pick up Mississippi State from the West, giving Tennessee a pretty nice 2012 schedule.

Here are some additional notes:

• The SEC said the 2012 schedule isn’t based on previous or future scheduling formats. Athletic directors will meet in the spring to begin formulating scheduling principles for the 2013 season and beyond.
• LSU gets eight home games, with four coming in the last six games.
• Alabama continues its trend of playing highly rated nonconference foes, as the Tide will open with Michigan in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• Florida hosts Missouri on Nov. 3 and will end the season with three straight nonconference games, including playing at Florida State on Nov. 24.

As expected, Georgia picked up a 2012 road game against SEC newcomer Missouri and dropped a visit to Alabama, according to the conference football schedule released by the SEC on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs will be Missouri’s first official SEC opponent on Sept. 8, when they visit Columbia. That will move Georgia’s traditional early-season meeting with South Carolina to later on the schedule.

The other SEC rookie, Texas A&M, will host Florida on the same day.

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Freshman wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley hasn’t gotten on the field for Georgia yet, but the talented wideout still wants to help the Bulldogs score. So at the conclusion of his redshirt football season, Scott-Wesley plans to what he does best: run.

“I talked to Coach [Mark] Richt and I talked to the track coaches and I am supposed to start training with the track team after the bowl game,” Scott-Wesley recently told DawgNation.

A little more than 18 months ago, Scott-Wesley shattered the Georgia Olympics 100m dash record with a blistering time of 10.35 seconds. He also won the state championship in the 200m dash and then, on the same day, committed to Georgia. He led his Mitchell County High School track team in scoring points and now he wants to try to help out in college.

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It has been a great year in sports, with some very memorable sound bites. Here, ESPN features the best of the best, looking back at the Sounds of 2011.

Later this week, the bowl season kicks off for the SEC with three games.

On Friday, Mississippi State faces Wake Forest in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. And on Saturday, Vanderbilt takes on Cincinnati in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, while Auburn meets Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Who in the SEC has the most to prove this season in the bowl games? And we’re talking head coaches, assistant coaches, players, teams and particular units on teams.

Here’s a look:

South Carolina: Don’t bother looking up South Carolina’s bowl record. It’s ugly. Try 4-12 all-time, and the Gamecocks have lost four of their last five, including three straight. They’ve played some real stinkers in the postseason, too. Steve Spurrier has knocked down a lot of barriers at South Carolina. Here’s a chance to knock down another one against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. He and his ball team need to prove they can get it done in the postseason.

Alabama: Second chances are rare in college football. The Crimson Tide are getting one in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game against LSU. There was a lot of chatter coming out of Tuscaloosa the first time about Alabama being the better football team despite what the scoreboard said. Well, this time, there’s a lot of chatter nationally about the Crimson Tide not belonging in the national title game. There’s only one way to quell that.

Mississippi State: It wasn’t a bad season in Starkville. Unfulfilling is probably a better way to put it. The Bulldogs had high expectations, but wound up 6-6. It’s true they were a few plays away from being 8-4, but they didn’t make those plays. Making them against Wake Forest in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl and completing a second straight winning season would make everybody in Bulldog Land feel a lot better.

Bobby Petrino: It’s not so much that Petrino has a lot to prove. After all, he’s turned Arkansas into one of the SEC’s elite programs in four seasons. But here’s a chance to get to 11 wins and do it against a top-10 team — Kansas State in the AT&T Cotton Bowl. The Hogs have lost five of their last seven games to top-10 opponents. If they’re going to take that proverbial next step, this is the kind of game they need to win, and a victory would generate a ton of momentum heading into next season.

James Franklin: The coach has already done what nobody (outside the guys in that Vanderbilt locker room) expected -- he's guided the Commodores to a bowl game. But if they don’t win it against Cincinnati in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, it’s just going to go down as another losing season, which would be the 28^th at Vanderbilt in the last 29 seasons. The difference between winning and losing this game for Franklin and the Commodores is huge.

Alabama's place-kickers: Not much needs to be said here. If the Crimson Tide had made a couple of field goals back on Nov. 5, they would be unbeaten right now. Cade Foster is the one who’s struggled the most, but he handles the longer attempts. In Jeremy Shelley’s defense, he ended the regular season by making his last four attempts. Alabama fans hope they’re saving up all their big kicks for the Big Easy.

Jordan Jefferson: There are a lot of folks who don’t think the LSU quarterback can beat Alabama standing in the pocket and throwing the ball. Obviously, a big part of Jefferson’s game is running the ball. But something says Alabama will be a bit more prepared for the option this time. If LSU is going to win its second national championship in five years, Jefferson will have to make a few big plays in the passing game.

Isaiah Crowell: For a true freshman who flirted with 1,000 yards in the regular season, Crowell sure has been a lightning rod. He still has a lot of growing up to do, but the talent is there to be a great one in a long line of great Georgia tailbacks. Maybe he'll put it all together for four quarters in the Outback Bowl versus Michigan State.

Auburn's defense: Not that head coach Gene Chizik is prone to point the finger, but if he’s looking for somebody to blame about the way Auburn plays on defense after the Chick-fil-A Bowl, he’ll have to point it at himself. Chizik is in charge of the Tigers’ defense for the bowl game, and this is their last chance to get that sour taste out of their mouths from the regular season. Auburn was one of two SEC teams to give up an average of 400 yards per game and allowed 34 or more points in seven of 12 games.

Florida's offense: Charlie Weis has taken off for Kansas, meaning Brian White moves in as the Gators’ interim offensive coordinator. He could be auditioning for the full-time job. The thing he has going for him is that it can’t get much worse than the regular season. Not counting the Furman game, the Gators scored more than one offensive touchdown in a game only once in their last seven contests. The other bit of good news is that Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey should both be as healthy as they’ve been.

The regular-season grades are a mixed bag for the Georgia Bulldogs, who won the Eastern Division crown.

OFFENSE: B

The Bulldogs moved the ball consistently all season and led the SEC with 281 first downs. It wasn’t the best start for sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray, but he made up for it the second part of the season by throwing 20 of his school-record 33 touchdown passes in his last seven games. Murray had plenty of targets, too, and threw touchdown passes to 10 different players. Junior tight end Orson Charles had an All-SEC season, and the Bulldogs’ younger receivers, led by freshman Malcolm Mitchell, made big impacts. The offensive line had a rough debut against Boise State, but played much better as the season progressed. The real enigma was freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell, who rushed for 847 yards and looked great at times. But Crowell wasn’t very durable and struggled to finish games. The Bulldogs averaged 32.2 points per game, which was fourth in the league, and were one of three SEC teams to average more than 400 total yards per game. Had it not been for the Boise State and LSU games and the crippling turnovers against South Carolina, this would have been a solid A.

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