When the night began in Jordan-Hare Stadium, the home fans spirits were lifted by the loss of cross-state rival Alabama, and there was a sense of hope in the air. By the time the night ended, the home fans were long gone, and the stands at the north end of the stadium were rocking with fans celebrating a division championship.
Georgia took care of business in an impressive way against Auburn on Saturday night. They scored touchdowns on their first 4 possessions and took their foot off the gas mid way through the third quarter. Make no mistake, Georgia could have picked their number against Auburn, and I'm not sure if the two teams played until the rapture, that Auburn would have scored on Georgia's defense.
Aaron Murray was spectacular.
Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall were sensational.
The defense was dominating.
And even the punt team was fantastic, three times pinning the Tigers inside their own 5 yard line.
You cannot dominate another team more than Georgia did on Saturday night.
Many will look at this game and believe that it says more about Auburn than Georgia, and that is fine. For the Dawgs, only one thing matters. Two years after experiencing their first losing season under Coach Mark Richt, the Dawgs are going to their second straight SEC title game.
Richt has been consistent that Georgia's first goal each season is to win the East. Now with that goal checked off, Georgia looks to take the next step and win the title game. Richt said after the game that this team is not done yet, and that there was no big locker-room celebration this year.
With Alabama's loss, the Western Division Champion is still to be determined. However, it would take a Tide loss to Auburn to open the door for LSU or Texas A&M to make it to Atlanta, so it is a pretty safe bet that Georgia will meet the Tide for the first time in the SEC title game, and the first time since the infamous 2008 Blackout Game when Bama rolled Georgia in Athens.
I saw another Dawg fan post on Facebook on Sunday morning that Georgia will not play for the National Title. I really don't understand some Georgia fans.
One month ago he probably would have said there is no way Georgia will beat Florida and win the East. Before the Alabama game on Saturday, he probably would have said there is no way that Texas A&M would go into Tuscaloosa and beat the number one team in the nation.
Can we please stop this?
There is only one thing that can be certain at this point in the season: nothing is certain.
Oregon will be the new number 1 in the human polls. They still have to play 3 games. All 3 games will be played against ranked teams. An ESPN analyst said that playing those games would help Oregon's ranking in the BCS computer polls. Of course, he is assuming that Oregon will win all three of those games.
Notre Dame should have lost to Pitt last week. Notre Dame looked pedestrian against Boston College on Saturday night. Notre Dame still has to play at USC to finish the season, and the Trojans won't have anything to play for except ruining Notre Dame's season.
Kansas State is a one man show, and they still have to play Texas.
Of course, for Georgia, any road to Miami would have to feature a victory in Atlanta over Alabama.
I'm not going to sit here on November 11 and predict that Georgia will play for the National Title, but you can't tell me it won't happen.
The one thing I am willing to predict is that Georgia will play in a BCS game. Florida will lose to Florida State at the end of the season, knocking them out of contention. As long as Georgia doesn't get run out of the Georgia Dome by Alabama, the Dawgs will make their 4th appearance in the BCS.
A few weeks ago, I said that Georgia fans should let the season play out before making judgments on this team and this coaching staff. Now, I think, we can all see that this team had one bad night, but has showed great character in coming back and playing their best football at the end of the season.
The story of the 2012 Georgia Bulldogs is still to be written.
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