GLORY GLORY!!!

I'm going to get this out of the way at the very top and move on very quickly.  Georgia better be ready for a much improved Ole Miss team next week.  Can't have a let down.  More on that later in the coming week.

Right now:

Georgia 17  Florida 9

Everyone please to the middle of the band wagon to make room for all of those people who jumped off in the past 3 weeks.  I guess we are going to keep our coach now, huh?

For Georgia fans, all that matters is the final score.

For the past 20 years Georgia fans have flocked faithfully down to Jacksonville, only to see our beloved Dawgs fall short more often than not.  The trip home from Jacksonville is sometimes referred to as the "Trail of Tears."  Well, they will be tears of joy in 2012!

Aaron Murray played terribly.

Georgia 17  Florida 9

We turned the ball over, went away from the run inexplicably when it was working early in the game, and we were awful on third down.

Georgia 17  Florida 9

See, for Georgia fans, none of that other stuff matters.  We beat Florida.  That is the only thing that matters for the next 6 days.

We have taken bad teams, mediocre teams, good teams, and in 2002 a great team to Jacksonville and come home empty, but this year, the script was reversed.  We ruined Florida's season.  We control our own destiny to get to Atlanta, despite the game in Columbia.  We didn't play great, but we won the game.

You might hear some people talk over the next few days about how they don't think this team is really that good.  Some people might say that we got lucky.  Other people might say Florida gave us the game.  Let them talk.  Why?

Georgia 17  Florida 9

Next year, before the game starts, you know what stat they will show?

Georgia has won 2 in a row against Florida.  First time you can say that since I was in kindergarten.

Georgia's players will have to get back to work on Monday, but for Georgia fans, we can enjoy this one for a while.

Glory, Glory!

Cocktail Party Preview

It is almost impossible to cover all of the story lines heading into the annual Georgia/Florida game in Jacksonville.

The headline, without a doubt, is that the winner of this game will most likely face Alabama in the SEC title game for a chance to play for the National Championship.  Florida officially clinches the East with a win, while Georgia still has to beat Ole Miss and Auburn to make it official.  With all the negativity surrounding the program for the past three weeks, it is important to remember that Georgia still has a chance to achieve all of it's goals.

Florida is overachieving at a spectacular level.  I truly believe that the only aspect of this team that is as good as they have been playing is the special teams.  The kicker is almost automatic.  The punter was the biggest reason Florida destroyed South Carolina last week, the punter... When you look at the offense, it is totally dependent on the run.  CBS will probably show the throw that Driskel made against Tennessee about 100 times tomorrow, but it is because that is the only big throw he has made all season.  Their running back is good, and Driskel, in my opinion, is a bigger running threat than he is a throwing threat.

Defensively you will hear people talk about how great they are, but I'm not convinced that they are that good.  They are opportunistic for sure, but I think they lack the sheer talent that the best teams in the SEC have.  Their defensive line isn't dominant, but they are strong at linebacker and in the secondary.

No matter what happens on Saturday, there is one thing I'm convinced of:

Georgia is far more talented than Florida.

But as we well know, especially in Jacksonville, that doesn't mean Georgia will win the game.  Spurrier once remarked that the same caliber of player goes to Georgia and Florida, but that he wasn't sure what was happening to them once they got to Athens.  That comment was made back in the '90's, but sadly, not much has changed in that regard since Richt got to Athens.

Casual fans will look at this game and say that Georgia got rolled by South Carolina, and Florida stomped South Carolina, so that means Florida is much better than Georgia.  They would be wrong.  South Carolina played out of their minds against Georgia, and Florida was the beneficiary of three South Carolina turnovers inside their own 20 yard line last week.  This game is going to be close, which probably favors Florida because of the special teams players that I mentioned earlier, but you will never get me to pick the Gators over the Dawgs.

I heard the local radio guys ask a question this week that I thought was interesting.  Who is this game bigger for, Mark Richt or Aaron Murray?

Richt has been great in Athens.  Not good, great.  But fans are seeing other teams in the conference win National Championships and they are convinced that Richt is the reason that Georgia hasn't joined them.  I am convinced that if Georgia losses big on Saturday, Mark Richt will be fired.  Maybe not at the end of this season, but after next season.  They can't fire him if he goes 10-2, no matter what the schedule looks like.  I got sucked into engaging the Richt haters on the AJC's website earlier in the week, but its like talking to the wall.  They aren't satisfied that Richt has brought the longest period of success that the school has ever seen along with 2 SEC titles to Athens, they want more.

The biggest thing for me that the Richt haters don't understand is that it can ALWAYS get worse.  Why do they think you can fire a great coach, and automatically find another great coach, and then he will start winning right away?  I said it last week, and I'll say it again.  Ask an Auburn fan if they would take 10-2 right now?

Going back to the radio question, the game is much bigger for Richt.  He is the one making millions of dollars and he is the one that can be fired.  Murray will get his shot in the NFL no matter what happens on Saturday.  Just ask Peyton Manning.

Manning never won anything at Tennessee, and he is one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and a Super Bowl Champion.

The question on Murray goes deeper than just Saturday against Florida.  The question is, how do we define greatness?  By the time he is done in Athens, Murray will hold every passing record that Georgia has.  Midway through his junior season, he has already thrown more touchdown passes than any other quarterback to wear the Red and Black.  However, he hasn't won a big game.  A win on Saturday would change that, and it would most likely set up a chance to play Alabama in what could be the biggest game Georgia has seen since the glory days of Dooley and Herschel.

Murray is good player, but he still has to prove that he is a winner.  He is running out of chances to be what he wants to be at Georgia, because a loss on Saturday will make this season a total failure.  So what if we go 10-2 and play in the Outback or Capital One Bowl.  No one cares.  With this team and this schedule, 10-2 is terrible.

Shawn Williams called out the defense this week for playing soft.  I'm glad someone on the field noticed.  It was embarrassing watching Kentucky run the ball on Georgia last week.  You can bet that this defense is going to come out fired up and aggressive, and if I were a Florida coach, I would be ready to take advantage of that aggressiveness.  The problem with playing with emotion is that it can go both ways.  Hopefully Georgia can settle into the game before they make a big mistake.

I have one BIG pet peeve right now with Richt and this coaching staff.  Is there not one person on our team that can hit an extra point?  This is ridiculous!  I have heard many fans criticize Richt over the years for sticking with players because they have seniority, just like he did last year when Blair Walsh struggled.  Marshall Morgan is a freshman!  Are you telling me that we have to watch this kid miss extra points for the next 4 years because he won the kicking job in fall practice before the start of his freshman year?  I can't take it.  Pull a kid out of the stands and he can hit extra points.  My God there are girls you can pull out of the stands and they can hit extra points.  If he misses one more, he should be done.  Period.  No more.  This isn't Pop Warner where everyone gets a trophy   It's the SEC.  You don't let the entire team suffer because one guy can't do his job.  Last week, when Morgan hit the upright and bounced the the field goal through right before half time, Richt was laughing about it.  I wasn't laughing.  Saban wouldn't be laughing either.  This has got to stop.

Like I said, I think this game is going to be close.  A missed extra point in the first quarter could change how the entire game is played.

Now, I climb down off my soap box, and get back to the game.

I can see this game going about 100 different ways.  Georgia is more talented.  They could play a great game and win by 3 touchdowns.  Florida is consistent and they play as a team.  I could see them forcing turnovers and winning by 3 touchdowns.  There is also a hurricane in the area which might mean high winds and rain.  That makes it even easier to try to predict what will happen.

I said earlier I can't pick Florida and I can't.  Georgia is going to win this game.  We are better than them.  There is no way that this Florida team can go undefeated, and if they beat us that is probably what is going to happen, at least until they play Bama.  This isn't Florida circa 1996 with Wurfull and Spurrier.  This isn't Florida in 2006 with Meyer and Tebow.  This is 2012 and we are talking about Muschamp (who yelled at his own radio guy before half time last week when Florida was up 3 touchdowns!) and Driskel.  Florida should have lost to Bowling Green to start the season.  They can't go undefeated.

Georgia is going to win this game.  Georgia is going to win this game.  A few more times and I might convince myself right along with a few of you.

I'm Back!

It has been just over two weeks since I was walking out of Williams-Brice Stadium, completely shell shocked at what I had just witnessed.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't shocked that Georgia lost to South Carolina, but the way Georgia lost to South Carolina was shocking to say the least.

It has taken all of the last two weeks for me to really figure out how to look at the rest of this season.  The bye week meant that I had some time to stop thinking about the team, the match-ups,  the possibilities   I tried to sit down and write a Kentucky preview about 3 times last week, but just couldn't find it in my heart to do it.  I really thought it was a second straight bye week (boy was I wrong about that).  But this morning I woke up and the picture of this season was clear in my head and in my heart.

As I stated at the beginning of the season, with this team,  and this schedule the only acceptable records that Georgia should have were 12-0 or 11-1.  After further evaluation, my conclusion is that nothing, absolutely nothing has changed.  Well I take that back, one thing has changed, and I hate to say this, but some Georgia fans really suck.

Like I said I was at the South Carolina game, and I thought the atmosphere was amazing.  The Georgia fans were just as amazing, but as the game played out, it was difficult to stay excited about what was going on.  I was so frustrated I wished that I could go down on the side line and ask some of these guys who have all the talent in the world where their heart was, where their pride was.  My brother and I stayed until the very end of the game, but a lot of Georgia fans left.  When I got on Facebook after getting back to my hotel, I saw members of the band criticizing the fans that made the trip for not supporting the team.  That was the first instance of what the last two weeks have been about in Bulldog nation.

After one loss, given it was a awful loss, but still just one loss, you start hearing the "fans" talking about how this team isn't that good, Richt and Bobo should be fired, Georgia will never win anything with Richt.  First of all, Richt has already won 2 SEC championships.  Secondly, it was a bad night.  Georgia didn't play well and South Carolina played out of their minds.

It is a long season, and there is no reason to give up on this team.  Just look at what a difference two weeks can make.  Two weeks ago South Carolina had moved up to be the number 3 team in the nation and had  hopes of a SEC and perhaps National Title.  Now, just two weeks later, they are done.  No SEC East title for South Carolina.  They still have to play Tennessee and Clemson, they have a quarterback controversy thanks to Spurrier's quick trigger against Florida and I'm not convinced they won't lose another game.

And now look at where Georgia sits.  They control their own destiny to get to the National Championship Game.  I'm not saying it is going to happen, but I am saying that if Georgia wins the rest of their games, they can still achieve every goal they had at the beginning of the season.  South Carolina can't say that.

There is going to be plenty of time for breaking down the Cocktail Party, and I will be doing that all week, but right now I want to finish up this post by saying one thing to Georgia fans: It could always be worse.

When I hear people talk about firing Richt, I wonder if they are new Georgia fans.  You know, fans that have started following the team in the last 10 years or so.  They have seen Georgia win some big game and a pair of SEC titles, but they have seen LSU, Florida, Alabama, and Auburn win National Titles and they wonder why Georgia hasn't been able to do that.  They assume it is because of Richt.

First of all, it takes more than a good team to win a National Title.  It also takes a bit of luck.  Luck?  Yes Luck.  Look at Bama just last year.  They got a huge break even being in the Title game!  They didn't win their division but they got the chance to play LSU again.  That was lucky.  Georgia went 12-1 in 2002 and played in the Sugar Bowl not the title game.  In 2007 Georgia was left out of the title game because they didn't win the SEC despite the fact that anyone with a pair of eyes could tell they were the best team in the nation at the end of the season.

So back to my original point: It could always be worse.  Use the internet, new Georgia fans, to look at the team's record from 1989-2000.  There were a couple of high points in there, 1997 for example, but for the most part, it was bad.  Losing every year to Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and a lot of the time Tech.  Mark Richt changed that the moment he got to Athens.  We have lost to Tech once in the Richt era.  The only team  Georgia has a losing record to under Richt is Florida.  But during that time, 1989-2000 Georgia beat Florida twice.  Richt has done just a little bit better by beating Florida 3 times.  So Georgia fans it could be worse.  It could be so much worse.  And if you think I'm wrong, do you know an Auburn fan?  Call them.  Ask them if it could be worse.

It is Georgia/Florida week and the Dawgs have everything to play for.  Forget Columbia.  GO DAWGS!!!!

Georgia/South Carolina Preview

At the beginning of the season, you looked at October 6^th and thought that it could be a big game.  Well October 6^th is rapidly approaching, and it is a very big game for the Georgia Bulldogs.  There aren't enough adjectives in the English language to properly put this game in perspective.  Let’s just say this, football games in the SEC are big occasions in their own right, but this game is as big as Georgia has played in the last 10 years.

  

Not since Georgia traveled to Jacksonville as an undefeated team in 2002 have the Bulldogs been poised for a legitimate run at the National Championship.  We all remember what happened that night, well I remember and Terrence Edwards and his butterfingers remember as well.  Georgia lost to Florida, and that was the only blemish on an otherwise spectacular season that saw Georgia win the SEC and the Sugar Bowl on the way to finishing their season with a 13-1 record. 

The only other game that could be considered this big would have been the Alabama game in 2008, but I can’t talk about that game at all, so we are going to move on. 

The importance of the game can’t be overstated for Georgia.  Having already played Tennessee, a win on Saturday would mean that Georgia would have to lose two of their final four SEC games for South Carolina to win the division.  Georgia will beat the pants off of Kentucky and Ole Miss.  Auburn is down, so even though it is a rivalry game, it’s hard to see Georgia losing that one.  That leaves only Florida on the 27^th of the month as a swing game.  Florida and South Carolina have to play each other later in the season, so one of them will have 1 loss already.  Both South Carolina and Florida have to play LSU.  Barring an upset, both teams would lose those games.  Still with me?  If you think Florida is good, but not great, as I do, then there is no way they are winning two games out of three against Georgia, South Carolina, and LSU, which means simply this: 

A win on Saturday means that Georgia will be playing for the SEC title in the Georgia Dome on     December 1^st. 

Now, quickly, what does a loss mean?  A loss means you better hope that LSU beats South Carolina and then you better hope that either Florida, Tennessee, or Arkansas beats South Carolina too.  Hmm.  A loss means simply this: No SEC title game.

Now that we know what the stakes are, let’s get down to business on the game itself.

South Carolina is a 3 point favorite given that they are playing at home, but that is standard, which means the guys in Vegas think this is an even match up.

Games like this could come down to a single play, a single call, or a single mistake by the coaching staff.  Everyone associated with the game for Georgia has to bring their best on Saturday night. 

No wasting timeouts because players didn't know what personnel was supposed to be on the field.  No stupid penalties.  No TUNOVERS!!!!!!!!

Defensively, Georgia is underrated this week.  For the first time all season, Georgia had their intended starting lineup on the field against Tennessee, and the results weren't great.  But that is good news for Georgia fans, because Coach Grantham has been telling his players all week (I’m sure in a calm and respectful voice) that they have to be better.  This is the kind of game made for big players like Jarvis Jones, and I would be shocked if he doesn't play well.  Rambo and Ogletree will be wanting to make some noise after missing time.  The key to this game the past two years has been Marcus Lattimore.  In 2010, Lattimore seem to pick up every third down South Carolina faced by a foot.  In 2011, with the game on the line, Lattimore ran the ball very well in the fourth quarter to help keep the Georgia offense on the sideline.  I would expect that the game plan will be to stop Lattimore, and dare Conner Shaw to beat you, and if they can manage to slow Lattimore down, I don’t think Shaw will be able to win the game for South Carolina.

Offensively, Georgia has too many weapons to not score points.  South Carolina’s defense is amazing, especially up front, but Georgia’s offensive line has played well all season, and Murray has done a great job of getting Georgia into the right plays.  As crazy as it sounds, the key to Georgia’s offense are the strongest parts of the offense to this point in the season. 

The two freshman running backs have been amazing.  Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall have been more productive so far this season than Herschel Walker was in his freshman season.  Obviously there are two of them, but production is the key, and Georgia has gotten amazing results out of their running game.  Can these two avoid making freshman mistakes in a crazy environment like Columbia?  Will they pick up their blocking assignments, and will they hear the audibles?  Will they turn the ball over?  They are amazingly talented, but can they be poised in the face of great adversity?  We will find out.

The other question facing the Georgia offense is Aaron Murray.  Once Murray’s four years are up in Athens, he will, statistically speaking, be the greatest quarterback in the school’s history.  He will hold every major passing record, and he might break the record for wins in a career by a quarterback.  He is already been to 1 SEC title game, and there is no reason he couldn't play in a couple of more.  So why is he a question mark?  Because 32 games into his college career, Murray has yet to win a big game.  Murray hasn't won a bowl game, lost the SEC title game last season, and has lost road games at Mississippi State and Colorado.  His biggest win to date, would be a tie between the Florida and Tennessee games last year.  Those teams were not good last year.  Can Murray avoid making big mistakes at the worst possible times?  The fumble against South Carolina last year, killer.  The turnovers against LSU and Michigan State in the second half last year, killer.  Can Aaron Murray win when the eyes of the college football world are squarely on him and his team?  Again, we will find out.

Special teams cost Georgia the game against South Carolina last season.  South Carolina faked a punt, and scored a touchdown.  Georgia was offsides on a converted onside kick in the second half.  Those two plays were the turning point.  That should make Georgia fans very nervous.  Special teams were a disaster last week against Tennessee.  Georgia has already announced that there will be a new punt returner, but as a unit, things have to get better now for Georgia. 

In 2005, Georgia beat South Carolina because of a missed extra point.  After Georgia scores touchdowns on Saturday, don’t look away.  Marshall Morgan has to hit his extra points!  It could change the game and the season.  I can’t remember a kicker that I felt better about when he was kicking a 50 yard field goal rather than an extra point.  Maybe Georgia should start taking penalties on extra points to move him back to a place where he is comfortable?

South Carolina has beaten Georgia each of the last two seasons.  Never, in the history of this series, has South Carolina beaten Georgia three years in a row, and it won’t happen this year.

Georgia will win this game because their defense is plenty good enough to limit, not stop, Marcus Lattimore, while Georgia’s offense is elite.  Elite.  There are more playmakers on this Georgia team than we have had since the 2008 team with Stafford, Moreno, and AJ Greene. 

Georgia 27   South Carolina 17

GO DAWGS!!!!!!