We have some house cleaning to do before we get to what happened yesterday.
It has been a long time since I was as mad about a football game as I was at the end of the Auburn/Georgia game two weeks ago. It was not that Georgia lost. It was how Auburn won.
Cam Newton is as good as any college football player I have seen. (That includes Tim Tebow).
However, the way that Nick Fairley played in that game was disgraceful. The fact that the refs let it happen was disgraceful. The sight of seeing Mark Richt yelling at the refs because of their lack of control of the game was laudable, and the way the Georgia players went after Fairley after the hit on Aaron Murray was to be expected.
Auburn has a good team, but with all of the rumors around Newton, and with the thug-like way they finished the Georgia game, I’m not sure they have the character of a champion.
I was lucky enough to be at the game last night, and besides the stands not being full, it was everything a rivalry should be. Neither team has had a memorable season; however, pride was on the line between the hedges. Georgia did not play well on defense and their tackling didn’t look any better than it did last season under Martinez. However, I think all Georgia fans have learned the value of a victory this season, and getting the win was all we could hope for last night.
Justin Houston and AJ Green showed out in what will most likely be their last game in Sanford Stadium, while the maturation of Aaron Murray continued to be evident. Tech made some good plays, and Paul Johnson has to be one of the most aggressive coaches in college football. It is easy to love a coach that will go for it on fourth down and try to win the game rather than to not lose the game.
There were some iffy calls, especially the ball spotting on the fourth and short play in the second quarter, however, as coach Richt said after the game, you can’t leave it close enough to depend on the spot. If Georgia could have converted the fourth and short, and not had two fumbles in the red zone, we would have put the game away in the third quarter, and I would not still be cold today. However, this team does not do things the easy way, and you have to credit Tech for battling back from down two touchdowns in the second half.
The decision to run the ball at the end of the game rather than take a knee was curious. Had Tech managed to score and convert the two-point conversion, Georgia coaches would be getting killed today. As it was, the Dawgs escaped with the victory and advanced to their 14th consecutive bowl game.
Not sure where the Dawgs will play, but making the bowl is important for the fact that Murray needs the chance to continue to practice with receivers other than Green since he will be playing on Sundays next year.
With one week to go in the season, here are my predictions for the BCS bowls, and other games of interest.
Florida will play in the Gator Bowl and Tennessee will play in the Music City Bowl because those venues will sell out easily with defacto home teams playing in them. By that rule, Georgia should be playing in the CFA Bowl, but I think it will most likely be the Liberty Bowl against Central Florida.
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin v. TCU
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech v. Stanford
Sugar Bowl: Arkansas v. Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl: Nebraska v. UCONN
BCS Championship: Auburn v. Oregon
Coming Wednesday: A retrospective on the Bulldogs 2010
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