Don't buy the hype regarding Georgia winning the 2008 college football national championship

Almost since the end of the 2007 college football season, a lot of experts have been touting the Georgia Bulldogs as a national championship contender in 2008. The Bulldogs completed last season with a flourish and stomped Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.

I concede the Bulldogs will enter the 2008 season with a lot of momentum, and they also have the luxury of having most of their starters back from last year. However, they will not win the national championship.

Why? Because their schedule is too tough.

Here it is:

August 30 -- Georgia Southern
September 6 -- Central Michigan
September 13 -- at South Carolina
September 20 -- at Arizona State
September 27 -- Alabama
October 11 -- Tennessee
October 18 -- Vanderbilt
October 25 -- at LSU
November 1 -- Florida (at Jacksonville, Fla.)
November 8 -- at Kentucky
November 15 -- at Auburn
November 29 -- Georgia Tech

That is a brutal schedule, and it is not set up for a national championship run. There are at least two losses on that schedule. I know LSU won the title last year with two losses, but that was the exception rather than the rule. It won't happen again soon.

Six of the Bulldogs games are against teams that have head coaches who have won national championships (South Carolina, Arizona State, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, and Florida). The Bulldogs picked the wrong year to have LSU come onto their schedule. In consecutive weeks they play at LSU then must play Florida.

Sorry, Georgia fans. Your team may be great next year but you will be lucky to win the SEC championship much less the national title.