Such anonymity certainly won’t be the case this season. The Bulldogs are expected to win, and the Georgia faithful are ready to explode. They truly believe this is the year for their beloved Dawgs. As a result, the peanuts won’t be the only thing coming to a full boil in Georgia this fall, and the players are well aware of the situation.

“We can’t avoid it,” wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi said. “Anywhere you go in Athens, anywhere you go in Georgia, people are talking about it. There’s red and black all over the state. Everyone’s expecting us to do great things. We know that.”

Players and coaches at Florida, USC, Ohio State and Oklahoma have experienced expectations of this extent. For Georgia, it is still relatively new, and the Bulldogs might not be able to handle it.

Florida is too good, and too angry
Lost in the rush to coronate the Bulldogs is the fact that Florida has a championship-caliber team as well. Led by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at quarterback, the Gators are considered by many to be every bit as talented as Georgia, if not more so (as evident by the number of players named to the all-conference team).

In addition, Florida won the national title just two years ago, so pressure and expectations shouldn’t be a problem. And the Gators’ schedule is much more manageable than Georgia’s, especially near the end of the season. After playing the Bulldogs on Nov. 1, Florida closes with Vanderbilt on the road, South Carolina and The Citadel at home and a beatable Florida State team in Tallahassee.

And then there is the revenge factor. The entire Georgia team infamously ran onto the field following the Bulldogs’ first touchdown against Florida last year, sparking what became a 42-30 Georgia victory. In a recently released book, Meyer is quoted as saying that celebration “will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. … So we’ll handle it. And it’s going to be a big deal.”

A draining schedule, intense pressure and a fired-up, talented rival. Add it all together, and it could be that these Dawgs have a bark that is worse than their bite.

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