[JRL]

By CARTER STRICKLAND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/02/08

New Orleans -- Forget all the talk about what might have been.
Sure, Georgia maybe could have beaten USC in the Rose Bowl. Or maybe it deserved a shot at the national title. And maybe it would have won it.

"But that's over," Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "There is nothing we can do." So instead, it is time to focus on what could be. What this Georgia team could be -- and is not afraid to say it will be -- is a national title contender in 2008.

"That is going to be a lot of fuel in the offseason," linebacker Dannell Ellerbe said. Title talk will be gas on the fire for a team that blazed through the last six games of its regular season, beating most teams by double digits. Then it beat Hawaii by 31 points in Tuesday's Sugar Bowl.
"Their team speed on defense, you kind of realize how the game is," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "We have got a few players with that kind of speed, but not 11."

The last time Hawaii played a team that had speed like that was USC in 2005. The Trojans had Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and a defense loaded with future NFL players. "I don't know that [USC] had as much team speed on defense as this [Georgia] team had," Jones said.

USC lost in the national title game to Texas that season by three points.
Speed is what wins in college football. Georgia has plenty of it. But no matter how much speed a team has, it still has to be in the right place at the start of the season. Georgia, because of the former and the fact that 17 of its 22 starters will return, should be in the top five when the polls come out in a little more than seven months.

"Realistically, we are going to be looked upon as a national-championship caliber team, and we are not going to be afraid to say it," Stafford said. "Starting off the year, we have got a lot of makings to be pretty good."
It's big talk, and the team knows it might put a target on its back. The players don't care.

"I'd rather be up top to start the season," Stafford said. "Seems like you start at the top, somehow you find your way back to the top at the end."
OK, maybe Georgia isn't over being passed by LSU in the rankings. That showed against Hawaii.

"They knew this game had implication on this season and also with what our future is going to be next year," defensive line coach Rodney Garner said.

But "next year" is eight months away. Things happen in eight months. Some are good things, like the projected No. 3 recruiting class coming with players such as Cass High running back Richard Samuel and Summerville, S.C., wide receiver A.J. Green. But other things can happen, too.

"We have to make sure we take care of business off the field, too," Garner said. "We don't need any off-the-field issues to pop up that can deter us from our goal. I don't know if we are to the point to talk about what some of the other people want to talk about at this point."
But the 2008 national title game in Miami is going to be all the talk this offseason. Players said while in the past they have been reserved in talking about national-championship goals, this year, they will do just that so they can remain in the voters' and ESPN's collective minds when hyping teams.

"We are legit enough to be in the national championship game," linebacker Rennie Curran said. "Only time will tell."