Georgia loses to Kentucky, and the song stays the same
This is the picture? Do you really need to know more? An interception by Kentucky's Shane McCord of a Joe Cox pass set up the Wildcats' winning touchdown in a 34-27 upset of the Dogs.
ATHENS — They got bruised in Stillwater, blindsided in Knoxville and humbled in Jacksonville. Also, their dog died.
Nobody intended for Georgia’s season to unfold like a country-western song. It just sort of turned out that way.
So what were the objectives Saturday night? Easy. To create a memory for seniors who were playing their final game in Sanford Stadium. To diminish chances of the season ending in Shreveport. To look convincing enough in a win over Kentucky — whose 6-4 record entering the night mirrored Georgia’s — that the Bulldogs’ somewhat jaded fan base would start salivating over a possible upset next week on North Ave.
They whiffed.
With representatives from the Independence and Liberty Bowls in attendance, the Bulldogs held a 20-6 halftime lead over Kentucky, then unraveled like they have far too often. They committed four second-half turnovers. The Wildcats scored four touchdowns. Georgia went down, 34-27, in its final home game of the season, and it’s just as well because there probably are not a lot of folks around Athens who wanted to be subjected to another game this season, anyway.
Mark Richt is going to have a chore trying to keep his players pumped up after this one.
Most fans in the students section wore black. At this point, we can’t be certain if they were mourning the sudden loss of Uga VII, or the passing of significant bowl game hopes.
The Dogs just lost a home game to Kentucky for the first time in 32 years. Their record is now 6-5. It’s the most losses ever for a Mark Richt team. They would need to upset Georgia Tech and win whatever low-grade bowl game that takes them just to match Richt’s all-time low win total at Georgia in 2001 (final record: 8-4).
By any measure, it has been a dreadful season.
This won’t make things any easier for Richt. He has been fielding questions about the future of the program and what changes he might make, both in direction and his coaching staff. All this has been going with games still left in the season. Richt has been trying to lay out some tangible goals for his players –one of them was to close the season with five straight wins, which would have led to a respectable final record of 9-4.
Last week, the Dogs responded with a win over Auburn in possibly the team’s best performance of the year. But this was one of their worst — at least the second half was.
It looked like it might be an easy night. Four straight scoring possessions (two touchdowns, two field goals) to close the first half gave the Bulldogs a 20-6 lead. But if you throw out the Tennessee Tech game, do you know how many easy games this team has had this season? Zero. What could not have been predictable was a complete collapse.
It started when Branden Smith fumbled the second-half kickoff return. That set up one Kentucky touchdown. Joe Cox connected with Rantavious Wooten for a 43-yard touchdown to restore the Dogs’ 14-point lead at 27-13. But no lead has been safe with Georgia’s defense, not even against pedestrian teams like Kentucky. It’s why defensive coordinator Willie Martinez may have coached his final game in Athens, at least as the defensive coordinator.
The defense did nothing to help secure Martinez’s future. Late in the third quarter, the Wildcats closed to 27-20 when quarterback Morgan Newton hit La’Rod King for a 21-yard score. Early in the fourth, tailback Derrick Locke got behind the defense down the left sideline, snared a pass from Newton and blasted off for a 60-yard touchdown, tying the game.
Instead of responding with a score, Georgia responded with a meltdown. On the ensuing drive, Cox threw a pass over the middle right to defensive tackle Shane McCord. That set up the Cats at the Dogs’ 8-yard-line and led to Randall Cobb’s second TD of the game and a 34-27 Kentucky lead.
The meltdown was soon complete: While driving for a would-be tying score, Washaun Ealey fumbled a pitch at Kentucky’s one-yard line with 2:21 left. Another possession ended with an inteception. Checkmate.
This was not how Georgia expected its final home game to go. But it also didn’t expect the losses to Oklahoma State and Tennessee and so many other messes this season. The song never changed.
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1,377 comments Add your comment
G8TR
November 22nd, 2009
10:14 am
Calm down, Dawgs. Remember, your team does not have Stafford and Moreno any more. Right? Actually, those guys never won any championships either.
Andrew Travers
November 22nd, 2009
10:14 am
There’s blood in the water in Athens and the sharks are circling. CPJ is the best rivalry coach in college football and he’s going to step on your brie cheese eating, froo-froo zima drinking, candy ass throats next Saturday night. Hide the women and children, it gets real ugly in Atlanta next week.
One team will truly care about playing the game next week and one team won’t want to be on the field. Pretty sure a nine year old numbskull can tell who is who.
NorthStarsDave
November 22nd, 2009
10:14 am
Herschel Talker, good initial post…but calm down a bit….at least we are not Notre Dame, Florida State, Michigan….and has anyone noticed what happened to Oklahoma yesterday?
It is VERY apparent that there is some very poor coaching of Top 10 talent (per the recruiting class ratings). For the last two years, the same issues persist….penalties and turnovers….the two most important stats in football. Lead in these two catagories, you generally lose.
CMR was supposed to address these issues BEFORE this year…yet, except for the Auburn game, UGA continues to lead in TO’s and penalties. Please do not tell me that UGA does not have talent or intellect…the players HAVE as much if not more talent and intellect (due to the Jan Kemp academic requirements that most other SEC schools do NOT have to meet)!
Most, if not all head coaches…just like senior managers in the business world…rely on their coordinators to get the job done. Look at what Les Miles did at LSU after a poor defensive performance last year…yep, replaced the coordinator! At every major program that challenges for a National Title, experienced coordinators are in place.
Now at UGA, we have promoted from with in our top two assistants….neither have had coordinator experience! We Dawg fans should not be surprised at what happened last night…why in gawgs name are we pitching the ball at the 1….undisciplined defensive penalties….poor defensive positioning…
Even the casual fan can tell the difference in a team that is coached well and one that is not….and it comes down to fundamentals. The better and more disciplined teams are fundamentally sound….and last night it was Kentucky, before it was Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma St…and obviously Alabama and LSU (look at their YOY improvement).
If CMR is reluctant to make changes that D Evans should mandate…given that he is the leader of Dawgs Athletics….then D Evans should let CMR go to FSU…and bring in his own Coach….remember, CMR was Dooley’s choice.
idiotsinohio
November 22nd, 2009
10:14 am
Tuberville for defensive coordinator
UGAgrad05
November 22nd, 2009
10:16 am
Is it just me or is Bob Davie a complete moron. He kept gushing over Joe Cox as if he is the best thing since sliced bread. Also we may lose by a hundred next weekend.
UGA! UGA! UGA!
Glory, Glory
November 22nd, 2009
10:16 am
and the song remains the same, UGA sucks, ;period end of story. the penalty bowl would be an appropriate post season game for this undisciplined dawgs, woof woof
TrueDawg
November 22nd, 2009
10:17 am
Reality, my friends, is that we should never have let Coach Goff go as early as we did. Think of where we’d be if he had been given the opportunity to build a program.
GO DAWGS!!!
Jacket Man
November 22nd, 2009
10:18 am
Hey, bkbroila……
I am in section 106, row 27, on the aisle….. stop on by big boy…..
Epiminondas
November 22nd, 2009
10:18 am
Richt and that tanned AD need to go NOW. Don’t wait another year for a 4-8 season to make the decision, Adams. Recruiting is already back to the Goff days…
Lame Duck
November 22nd, 2009
10:18 am
Georgia’s best move for next year would be to hire Charlie Strong the head coach. But I forgot that he has a white wife and that just wouldn’t work in good ole Athens.
Navigator
November 22nd, 2009
10:18 am
If the game against Tech could get any bigger, it is now. One of the common denominator with the previous administration being ousted was it’s losing to Florida, Tennessee, and GTech in the same year. Richt is not going anywhere based on this year, but the next two are huge and he needs to understand that. The thing that hurts his teams going forward is that Florida is a level up and the Vols and Jackets are getting better. Let’s not forget what Vince Dooley’s record was the year before HWalker got there, 6-5, and there was a lot of grumbling then as well. Richt needs to right the ship and do it now. If he’s keeping Bobo because he doesn’t want to deal with a less subservient offensive coordinator (who knows what he’s doing), then his career at UGA may be in the last chapters.
Realistic Homer
November 22nd, 2009
10:18 am
CMR will be his arrogant, self important self on the coaches show tomorrow night on the radio.
TrueDawg
November 22nd, 2009
10:19 am
And if Cox is the starter again next year, I WILL sell my season tickets!! CAN’T TAKE THAT NO MORE!!!!
UGAgrad05
November 22nd, 2009
10:20 am
NorthStarDAve,
Actually CMR was Michael Adams’ pick. I was in school when this happened and Dooley wasnt sold on CMR but was overuled. At the time a great choice because we were worried Dooley would pick another awesome redneck a la Ray Goof or Jim Donnan.
Who let the dogs out
November 22nd, 2009
10:20 am
woof woof
UGA is pathetic
Super Dog
November 22nd, 2009
10:20 am
Coach Martinez defense isn’t the worst defense in recent history
Its the worst in the ENTIRE history of the program
american dream
November 22nd, 2009
10:20 am
Anybody want Les Miles at UGA?
CornieBread
November 22nd, 2009
10:21 am
Brock…
Being “a good Christian man” doesn’t mean that he is perfect. If UGA doesn’t want him, I know of lots of SEC teams that would do very well to get him.
No Dawg Fan
November 22nd, 2009
10:21 am
What a great Saturday….UGA Bullpuppies lost AGAIN!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! It was great seeing the faces of the UGA fans on national TV last night looking all sad and depressed….WHAT A NIGHT!!!!
Everything that goes up, must come down and seeing all those pompous UGA fans faces was priceless. The downward fall is even harder when you realize that your program is not as elite as you thought….huh?????
Yellow Fuzz
November 22nd, 2009
10:21 am
Nah, nah, nah, nah, Irrelevant, goodbye
Nah, nah, nah, nah, Gimmick option, goodbye
Nah, nah, nah, nah, High school offense, goodbye
Nah, nah, nah, nah, Papa John Bowl, goodbye
Anyone still going
November 22nd, 2009
10:22 am
to the flats? Puppies should stay home, you know the team will, thanks to the no motivation, discipline teaching of pope richt
Tulsa Dawg
November 22nd, 2009
10:24 am
s o s for the dawgs, penalties, no discipline, no motivation from cmr, disappointed 4 sure, but getting used to mediocrity
DawginLex
November 22nd, 2009
10:24 am
I’m still counting on us showing up next week. Tech better win.
Hell hath no fury like a laughing Dawg beating its biggest rival while being 6-5.
stingtime
November 22nd, 2009
10:25 am
thousands of fans streaming out of the stadium with 3 min. to go and all your time outs remaining. Nice!!!!
MarkTwain
November 22nd, 2009
10:27 am
To BAMA 2010- Chris Hatcher is still the best quarterbacks coach money can buy and he can recruit. For all you idiot haters, see Tim Couch/Daunte Culpepper’s college stats vs. their pro stats (in Culpepper’s case, stat’s without Randy Moss) Kirby Smart was Hatcher’s D-coordinator at Valdosta. My guess is a call has already been made from Tuscaloosa. Jim McElwain is a good coordinator, but Bama’s QB play has been atrocious. Alabama needs a quarterback coach and Hatcher needs a pay raise. The coaching slot is there, Bama doesn’t need two linebacker coaches, hell, with Rolando McClain, they really don’t even need one.
I’d like to think Georgia is not smart enough to fire Bozo and hand it over to Hatch or at the very least, give him QB’s. If they do, Athens will surely win out over Tuscaloosa if they can come close in dollars.
Dipstick
November 22nd, 2009
10:28 am
LAME DORK
Go and protest somewhere else
If Charlie Strong was so good then Why didn’t FL hire him as coach
Why not Notre Dame or Michigan, how about Syracuse or Washington Nebraska or even recently UCLA these were coaching opportunities
Oh thats right everyone in the south is a racist not the north HMMMM
John
November 22nd, 2009
10:28 am
Love it Dawgnation! It’s not CMR’s fault – it’s the THUGS. Of course.
These damned 18-21 year olds who forced CMR (at gunpoint no doubt) to offer them a full ride at UGA. It’s the thugs who come to your beloved Athens with their dreads and cubic zirconia earrings. It’s the thugs who speed down Broad Street on their Vespa scooters – some with expired licenses and even FAKE ID’s. My God! A college student with a fake id.
You’d think at least these thugs would have the decency to tuck all that hair up under their helmets so Dawg Nation doesn’t have to see it – and be reminded that under that helmet is a thug.
CMR’s just the highly compensated head coach- the adult, the authority figure. Why hold him responsible for the team’s performance – or the player’s deportment?
We love our thugs. We love our thugs conditionally. We covet their high school football resumes and their times in the 40 yard dash. We celebrate another top ten recruiting class with our fingers crossed – with the full knowledge that without the thugs, it wouldn’t be another top ten recruiting class.
We love our thugs as long as they don’t embarrass our beloved program by acting like…thugs – or not acquitting themselves to our liking on game day. Same difference. A thug’s a thug.
And CMR is a victim.
Jacket Man
November 22nd, 2009
10:28 am
Coach Scott,
Well said…. a Bulldog fan with some brains and the right persepctive.
Andrew Travers
November 22nd, 2009
10:30 am
You mutts have as much chance at beating Tech next Saturday night as Herschel Walker does of suiting up to play starting RB. Paul Johnson will put the final nail in the coffin of your pathetic season and program. GT is here to stay and you’re set to be an average also-ran for a long time to come! After Nesbitt and Co spank your mutt butts with a rolled up newspaper next week, don’t go away mad. Just go away.
pSA
November 22nd, 2009
10:30 am
Can anyone answer why Joe Cox is the starting quarterback this year. He is clearly not a D -1 quarterback, and Mike Bobo has to go point blank.
Willie Martinez
November 22nd, 2009
10:31 am
I am putting in some wrinkles to shut the Jackets next week.I will guarantee a win next week.
PS.I am drinking heavily and will not stop for a while.
karl
November 22nd, 2009
10:31 am
what happens to those 5 star recruits when they get to UGA? this goes back to Donnan and Goff, they had big time recruits too. I remember Spurrier laughing about it way back when.
DanNotDan
November 22nd, 2009
10:33 am
Bring back Dooley, Evans makes money for the University, Dooley wins championships.
Football lost its rudder when Dooley was forced out.
Reality
November 22nd, 2009
10:33 am
cle they win, the Dawgs will be stuck with Willie for another year.
Cox Better Than Stafford
November 22nd, 2009
10:34 am
Cox Beats Stafford—Any day!!!
Compare Cox’s 1st Year (2009) to Matt Stafford’s (2006):
Cox beats Stafford Hands down!
56% completions, 53% compeltion
141 rating, 109 rating
14 int’s, 13 int’s
23 TD’s, 7 TD’s
Cox is 3rd in SEC in passing yards, and TD’s. 4th in passer rating.
David Granger
November 22nd, 2009
10:34 am
Yep. Just as soon as KY got that cheap touchdown on he fumble to begin the second half, you could see it coming.
UGA committed stupid penalties at criticial times, and made foolish turnovers. (This has been a recorded announcement). That part of the song DEFINITELY remains the same.
Loser Dawgs
November 22nd, 2009
10:36 am
Relax, leghumpers. Charlie Weiss will be available soon.
HT
November 22nd, 2009
10:36 am
It’s time for Richt to go!
PO
November 22nd, 2009
10:38 am
Dear UGA football (team and coaches): You do not deserve to wear the red and black or “G”. You are an embarrassment to all the loyal fans who donate thousands of hard earned dollars every year. I’m SICK and TIRED of wasting all the money for donations, tickets, food, gas, plane tickets, UGA clothing, EVERYTHING to see this. I will not waste anymore until someone repairs this awful program.
The Ghost of UGA VII
November 22nd, 2009
10:38 am
Boo.
See why I left when I did?
By the way, my replacement should fit the team image – so it should be a Pit Bull or a Rot, with a big gold chain around the neck. Name = THUGA.
Boo.
UGAgrad05
November 22nd, 2009
10:40 am
To Cox better than Stafford,
You are a clown. That is all
Tulsa Dawg
November 22nd, 2009
10:42 am
Dawgs just ahead of Notre Dame in the last CBS Top 120 Poll, we’re # 42 baby, go dawgs
godawgs
November 22nd, 2009
10:43 am
If you’re gonna knock Cox for interceptions, which wern’t any worse than Stafford’s, then you have to give Cox credit for his passer rating, completion %, and TD’s. Even in the Kentucky game, without AJ Green, even 2 int’s, Cox made some GREAT passes and found a way to almost get the win. Cox had a 141 passer rating in this game, and threw 3 TD’s and threw for 291 yards. It could have been worse if Cox would have had a year like Stafford did his 1st year…
Anybody think we’d have won the SC or Arkansas games without Cox? I don’t think so.
If Matt Stafford went #1 in the NFL draft, and Cox OUTPERFORMED Matt Stafford during their 1st year at the reins, what does that say about Joe Cox? He should have been the starter at Ga for 4 years. He would have improved each year. By his Jr year, Natl’ Champs.
Music City Bowl
November 22nd, 2009
10:44 am
too good for the dawgs now hey, wow sad commentary on the season when you dont qualify for a bowl in nashville.
Allen
November 22nd, 2009
10:44 am
Uga 7 didn’t die of a heart attack or other health concerns, he was just really embarrassed by this “team”
Appalachian-American
November 22nd, 2009
10:44 am
Richt is going through a learning process of rebuilding because of the defections of 3 superior offensive players last year. His problem now is that he has not worked either freshman qb into his lineup. This means a 2nd year of rebuilding unless a dominant running game can be found for ball control. It don’t look good.
Will
November 22nd, 2009
10:45 am
Among the many, many disappointing things about this season is last night many of the people sitting in my area (Section 326)weren’t to concened one way or the other about the outcome before, during or after the game. In other words, this season and this team was irrelevant.
When UGA turned over the ball on the UK goal line, there was more than two minutes remaining and UGA had all of its timeouts. UK was going to run the ball conservatively backed that close to the goal line. In spite of all of this, ten of thousands of UGA ticket holders left the game. I think most were thinking like the folks around me – it wasn’t so much that they were “mad” or that they did not believe UGA would get the ball back in good field position with plenty of time to score. It was the fact that, who cares? It was already 11:00 pm and the drive home would already take until 2-3:00 am. It was getting chilly. So what if UGA comes back? Improving from Shreveport to Memphis as a bowl destination didn’t mean anything. Keeping the “hope” alive for an eight win season? Are you serious.
Much more dangerous than the anger that many UGA fans are feeling is the very real feeling that this team, this season, is irrevelent. Getting a short jump on the traffic and getting warm, among other variables, were greater priorities than waiting to see if UGA won or loss this game.
But it is just THIS TEAM, THIS SEASON. I believe it will be along time before we see another UGA season like this one.
SadDawg
November 22nd, 2009
10:45 am
Whew!! Just think how bad it woulda been this season is the coaches hadn’t of worked so hard to fix the turnovers, penalties, and special teams. Thanks Coach Richt and Staff!!!
Gold & White RESURGENCE
November 22nd, 2009
10:46 am
i would love to say that the dogs will finally hit rock bottom when they lose by 40 or so next weekend
sorry i just can’t…
THERE IS NO END IN SIGHT-
no reason to think it won’t just get worse and worse and worse
Disappearing Dawgs
November 22nd, 2009
10:46 am
How about all the Dawg “fans” fleeing the stadium with UGAg down by one score, about 2 minutes left and the Poodles getting the ball near midfield after a KY punt? It reminded me of the beautiful site of teal seats along the banks of the St Johns River.
Personally, that was my favorite part of last night’s game.