We can officially start thinking about better days

I've said today that if we go 10-2 I won't care if we win the East or not. Of course, I want to win it. But, the ship of controlling our destiny sailed a few weeks ago. What we can control are the next 6 games. Let's just win 'em and see where the chips fall. 10-2 in the dome would be great. 10-2 and ending up in New Orleans or Orlando would also be outstanding. But… I really tihnk we're the favorite for the East now. There's almost no way Florida wins it. They'd have to just about win out, and they've still got games against Auburn, Georgia, and South Carolina, and only one of those is at home. Those guys could only win 6 if things go down hill. South Carolina could win it with 1 or 2 losses. I don't think they get by Arkansas. The next month will tell the tape on them. They go @ MSU, open date, @ UT, @ Arky, UF I just don't see them winning those 3 straight road games. The question for them is 'What will UGA do?' If we win out, it's going to take a large effort for them to win the East.

Interesting scenarios would be us losing to Florida, but Florida losing to Auburn and beating the Cocks and the Cocks losing to Arky, too. I'm not sure how I'd feel about winning the East losing to Florida and South Carolina, but that scenario isn't even all that far fetched. I think it's going to get crazy in our conference in the next month. What I was thinking about today, though, was, what if we do win the East? What does that mean for Richt and our program? That would mean this during Richt's tenure:

SEC East Champs since Richt took over in 2001:
2001 - UT
2002 - UGA
2003 - UGA
2004 - UT
2005 - UGA
2006 - UF
2007 - UT
2008 - UF
2009 - UF
2010 - Fake USC
2011 - UGA?

That would mean 4 Division Titles in 11 years. 4 for UGA, 3 for UT, 3 for UF, 1 for Fake USC. That's about as good as you could hope for, right? What's happened on the other side of the conference during that time?

SEC West Champs since Richt took over in 2001:
2001 - LSU
2002 - Arkansas
2003 - LSU
2004 - Auburn
2005 - LSU
2006 - Arkansas
2007 - LSU
2008 - Bama
2009 - Bama
2010 - Auburn
2011 - Bama/LSU?

Assuming Bama wins, that would give LSU 4, Bama 3, Auburn 2, Arkansas 2. If LSU wins, that would give LSU 5, Bama 2, Auburn 2, Arkansas 2. It hasn't been a fun last couple of years but a division title sure would put us in some pretty elite company during Richt's tenure. You'd no doubt take that over the next 11 years. On that pace, if he coached here as long as Coach Dooley, he'd win 9 division titles in those 25 years. In this league, you're simply not going to dominate. That’s about as dominating as you can get.

Just for kicks and giggles, what if we shocked the galaxy and won on the first Saturday in December?

SEC Champs since Richt took over in 2001:
2001 - LSU
2002 - UGA
2003 - LSU
2004 - Auburn
2005 - UGA
2006 - UF
2007 - LSU
2008 - UF
2009 - Bama
2010 - Auburn
2011 - UGA?

That would make the 11 tally: UGA 3, LSU 3, UF 2, Auburn 2, Bama 1. People could say what they wanted to about whatever they wanted to, but that's as elite as elite can get in this league. It's funny. This is why I sort of like LSU. I feel a kindred spirit with them. I feel like they don't quite get the respect nationally that they deserve. Bama and Florida both get all the media love, but the truth is that LSU has been the most consistently great team in the league in the last 10 years. And the Dawgs ain't been far behind. You can talk about a lot of things, but those championships are what matter. Of course, I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but that's what fans do.

Let's beat Vandy, get healthy, take care of business in Jax, pound those cheaters, score 100 points vs. UK, punch Paul Johnson in the face and see if Malcolm Mitchell can get open deep against all the man coverage LSU or Bama is going to play against him.

It's at least fun to start thinking about games that matter again!