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.
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