To the Georgia fans:

The countdown to the start of the 2018 football season is now being measured in weeks instead of months, so I know what’s going on in your heads right now, and in your hearts.

You’re giddy, you’re pumped and you’re sporting read-and-black Georgia gear new and old every day. It’s a great time to be a Bulldog. With an SEC title and near-miss in the National Championship Game last year, you know that it’s time for another run, and this time it’ll have a happier ending.

You can’t wait to erase 38 years of heartache and finally get another national title. You talk Georgia football all day every day, and you end every conversation with a “Go Dawgs!’

And what do I have to say about that?

Good for you!

One of the great joys of loving college sports is being along for the ride during memorable seasons. They don’t come along all that often, so when they do, embrace them. Love every minute of it. Hope for the best — a natty! — but love every step of the journey as well. Because it’s going to be a lot of fun between now and January.

Much of my professional career has been in the South in the past three-plus decades, so I know your pain and your occasional near-misses. I cursed right along with you in 2012 in that SEC Championship Game, because you had Alabama beat and that would have been just as easy a win in the national title game against an overrated Notre Dame team as it was for Bama.

That should have been your title. All you ever want is a chance, and you had a chance then. Had a chance last year, too.

And this year, too? Of course.

Here’s a good analogy for you. I’m an Indiana grad, which means my passion as a fan is with basketball, not football. I’ve enjoyed three national championships in my day, and there were two others before then. But it’s been a long time, since 1987 to be exact, so I know waiting a long time for the next title isn’t fun.

I felt like you feel now back in 2013. Indiana was preseason No. 1, on the cover of Sports Illustrated and all the basketball publications. Tom Crean — you may have heard of him — and the Hoosiers beat North Carolina by 24 early in the year, went 7-1 against ranked teams during the regular season and won the Big Ten regular-season title. They were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the regional semifinals to Syracuse and the season came to a crushing end.

The ending stunk, but the season was great, a memorable joy ride.

You’re in for the same thing. How good your season is going to be won’t be determined until January, but there are going to be many fun days along the way. Georgia’s odds of winning a national title are 9-to-1, fourth-best behind Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State, according to VegasInsider. So, yes, we’re saying there is a chance. Enjoy the ride. I’m looking forward to taking the ride along with you.

With camp starting this week, your excitement level is going to ramp up, much like it does seemingly every week when another 4-star or 5-star recruit commits. As each day passes between now and the Sept. 1 opener, there’s still plenty to watch. Such as:

  • The quarterback debate, if there is one: Jake Fromm is the starter, with an impressive one-year resume. Justin Fields is the No. 2 recruit in the nation, with a skill set that has everyone drooling. How perfect will Fromm have to be all year to keep Fields on the sidelines with a clipboard in his hands?
  • The cohesiveness of the defensive units, especially at linebacker: There are concerns at all three levels, but not losing-sleep levels of concern. There are depth issues, at least for now, to worry about along the defensive line, and there are still visions of guys in the secondary getting torched on pass plays. The linebacker corps might be more curiosity than concern, as new faces and moving pieces will make this the group to watch all month and beyond.
  • Confidence level, or over-confidence? The Bulldogs put in the work last year to make a surprising run to the National Championship Game. Now that they are the hunted, will they still have that same fire burning? As big favorites to win the SEC East, it could be easy to overlook September road foes like South Carolina (Sept. 8) and Missouri (Sept. 22). That would be dangerous. The Bulldogs should be favored in every regular-season game, but that’s no guarantee that they’ll win them all. That’s what is going to make the journey so much fun.
  • The schedule debate: Here’s a topic that is going to be discussed often between now and early December when the College Football Playoff committee selects its four teams. The Bulldogs just might have the easiest nonconference schedule of any Power 5 team, with games against Austin Peay, Middle Tennessee, Massachusetts and Georgia Tech. Will that easy schedule come back to haunt them come selection time? Is it possible that going 12-0 but losing badly to, say, Alabama in the SEC Championship Game could cost them one of the four Playoff bids?

As they put on the pads on this week, let’s watch the Bulldogs get to work. It’s going to be fun.