Georgia enjoys a laugher and tries not to wonder, ‘What if?’
Celebration time: Carlton Thomas is mobbed after a first-quarter touchdown, igniting a 43-0 rout. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
ATHENS – Since Georgia is way past concerns about where it ranks in the Harris Poll, there’s little in the way of buildup for the unveiling of the first BCS standings Sunday. Certainly, there’s no reason for fans to reflect and wonder: “Will Vanderbilt’s record hurt our strength of schedule?”
But that shouldn’t matter right now. There is a pulse.
One week after thumping Tennessee 41-14, the Bulldogs boat-raced Vanderbilt 43-0 on Saturday.
That’s two wins by a combined 70 points. The only lingering depression following consecutive dismemberings stems from the fact the schedule is now exhausted of teams from the Volunteer State.
Seven weeks into the season, a 3-4 record is not what anybody in Athens had aspired to. But aesthetically, it’s far more appealing than 1-4 was — or what 1-4 seemingly projected to.
The latest win even inspired two Capital One Bowl officials to sit in on coach Mark Richt’s postgame news conference. A tad premature, perhaps.
Consecutive wins over bad teams at home don’t reveal a lot about how good a team is. But it certainly makes everybody stop guessing where the bottom is. It also says something about character.
As Richt summarized neatly: “It looks like we’re getting better. It looks like we’re playing with more passion. We’re getting some momentum.”
Next week at Kentucky will be a slightly tougher test. (The Dogs are 0-3 on the road.) The following week against Florida will be significantly tougher. (No reason to revisit inglorious history right now.)
Win those two games, and suddenly two Capital One Bowl officials won’t look so out of place. Uga VIII would be elevated to deity status.
If Georgia manages to turn this season into something special, people are going to start showing up at Uga’s doghouse, asking him to lay paws on their forehead.
The Dogs weren’t without some minor flaws Saturday. Among other things, Richt and his team burned three timeouts in the first five minutes of the game. But what followed was mostly a performance that gave them the look of a wrecking ball. Richt was even allowed to even joke about the early management issues. When asked about officials not checking replay when a seeming touchdown pass to A.J. Green was ruled incomplete, the coach cracked he couldn’t debate it because: “I didn’t have any timeouts left.”
"Big Bad Bruce" (Uga VIII) fell asleep during the game, apparently having concluded, "My work is done here." (AP photo)
But when a defense pitches a shutout and limits an opponent to 140 yards and an offense amasses 547 yards, there’s not a lot to pick on. The offensive line blocked. The running backs ran hard, broke tackles and didn’t fumble (Washaun Ealey: 123 yards, one touchdown). Aaron Murray threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns, and Green didn’t even account for most of that (he was the third-leading receiver after Kris Durham and Tavarres King).
The Dogs’ only challenge will be not looking back, not asking: What happened in Columbia? And Starkville? And Boulder?
“Obviously it hurts, especially when you look at the way we’re playing now,” tackle Clint Boling said. “Where was this two or three weeks ago? But we just have to move on from it. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
“We just have to control what we can control,” Durham said. “Just get wins. That’s all we can do and hopefully get some help along the way.”
A two-game winning streak shouldn’t inspire parades. But it represents a breakthrough. Georgia hadn’t won consecutive games all season. They hadn’t won consecutive SEC games in 13 months — September of last season over South Carolina and Arkansas. Those were the same two opponents that started the spiral this year. Before the win over Tennessee, the Dogs were 2-7 in their previous nine SEC games. Now they will go to Kentucky with a chance to balance the season record.
Forget the BCS. Right now, it’s about cleansing, winning and landing somewhere north of Shreveport.
Durham again: “We were embarrassed the way we were playing before. We’re trying to get tougher as a football team.”
They are. We’ll soon find out where it gets them.
♦
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540 comments Add your comment
Hurt Kurbstreit
October 16th, 2010
9:52 pm
That is one majestic looking Dawg. I hope VIII can keep up the good work. Can we add a few more TN teams to the schedule for this year? How about MTSU or Tenn Tech.
Diggity Dawg
October 16th, 2010
9:55 pm
For the last time, Shreveport is now Tech’s albatross. Starting this year, the Indy Bowl matches Mountain West and ACC.
JP
October 16th, 2010
10:05 pm
UGAY still sucks!! Bunch of Thug Losers in life and football!
Johnny 5
October 16th, 2010
10:07 pm
WELL IT LOOKS LIKE THAT UGA ISNT THE ONLY LOSERS THAT FALL TO MISS ST
dawgdawgdawg
October 16th, 2010
10:08 pm
Attention all South Carolina and Florida fans that like to troll the UGA boards:
You may all now STFU!!!!!
hahahahaha
Happy Homecoming, Gators!
ryan
October 16th, 2010
10:08 pm
The Florida empire is crumbling Myer should have stayed retired after Tebo left .
Legend of Len Barker
October 16th, 2010
10:08 pm
That’s not Uga in the photo. Look at the ear. It’s Russ.
flagboy?
October 16th, 2010
10:09 pm
hum . .that loss to Miss St still hurts. . . but doesn’t look as bad now.
DILLIGAF
October 16th, 2010
10:09 pm
Gaytors lose…Dawgs are 2-3 in the conference and the loss to MSU doesn’t look as ugly, can’t pardon the loss to the Buffs though.
dawgfan38
October 16th, 2010
10:11 pm
I hope richt is gone after this season regardless of how the season ends. He isn’t the guy to lead us to a national championship and at the end of the day that’s what I want.
JSS
October 16th, 2010
10:14 pm
Hey Georgia fans, do still think you’re going to roll over UK next week? When is the last time UGA won a significant SEC road game? That is a serious question…
Schultz for brains
October 16th, 2010
10:14 pm
Jeff,
how bout your gators
tim
October 16th, 2010
10:14 pm
The Gators just got there asses whipped by Miss St…and looked awful. In 2 weeks you puppies will feast on my sorry Gator ass…..boy does UF suck this year…Brantley looks totally unprepared to play, and the O line can’t block anybody…If I was Urban I would fire the O coordinator TONIGHT…this is the most inept Florida team I have ever seen…talk about worthless 5 star recruits..we are loaded with them UF will lose to UGA, USC, Fla St…..and maybe Vandy.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:15 pm
dawgfan
WAR DAMN EAGLE, loser!
flagboy?
October 16th, 2010
10:15 pm
ga gator
September 26th, 2010
12:25 am
I have been saying this since I first heard about it. It was a STUPID decision to abandon 2 a days. It is not about getting in shape, cause these kids stay in shape. It is about toughness and this team has none.
____________________________________________________
Guess someone should have had 3 a days.
darren
October 16th, 2010
10:16 pm
Florida lost. South Carolina lost. Does 5-3 win the SEC east? Just sayin’.
Johnny 5
October 16th, 2010
10:18 pm
two weeks from now, suck fest 2010… Who will suck worse, UGA OR FL?
florida lost, 3 in a row
October 16th, 2010
10:18 pm
nice day in sports
uga wins
florida loses, again
congrats to war eagles, you guys look unbeatable
ryan
October 16th, 2010
10:18 pm
I have to give Auburn credit Gators look the fools for letting Cam Newton go .
florida lost, 3 in a row
October 16th, 2010
10:20 pm
yeah, i think auburn runs the table and has a shot at nc
florida lost, 3 in a row
October 16th, 2010
10:21 pm
funny how quiet the blog is now that florida lost. gainesville will be quiet tonight as well
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
October 16th, 2010
10:23 pm
unreal how the SEC East will end up this year. SC still has UT & UF. If UGA can win out it’s SEC games, there might be a chance we’ll be in ATL for the SECCG. who would’ve thought?
guydog
October 16th, 2010
10:24 pm
Auburn did look good today, but they are beatable. They struggled against Miss St. and SC. I hope they keep winning, though. At least until 11/13.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:25 pm
Where are the Bama tards?
When this offensive slugfest was done, the No. 7 Tigers had a mind-boggling 65-43 victory over 12th-ranked Arkansas on Saturday, the teams combining on a record for points in a Southeastern Conference game that didn’t go to overtime.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/gameflash/2010/10/16/42840_recap.html#ixzz12Zysygsj
guydog
October 16th, 2010
10:25 pm
It’s so nice to read a blog that isn’t full of Gator fans and “FireRicht” talk.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:26 pm
“Auburn did look good today, but they are beatable. They struggled against Miss St. and SC. I hope they keep winning, though. At least until 11/13.”
Miss State beat the crap out of UGA and just beat Florida. South Carolina beat the crap out of Bama and lost to KY.
Auburn beat every team above except for UGA………and the puppy dawgs are gonna get smashed as well.
Ed
October 16th, 2010
10:27 pm
It really pisses me off that the Mississippi schools have no fear of Florida (actually that applies to the entire SEC West) but Georgia wets its pants as soon as they run out of the tunnel. Win or lose, can we grow a pair and show up at the WLOCP this year?
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:27 pm
gaydog
Yeah, the only way Auburn is beatable is if your team can put up a ton of points. Just ask Arkansas who had the number one offense in the SEC. Oh, and we put Mallet on the bench.
dawgdawgdawg
October 16th, 2010
10:27 pm
You know Meyer is kicking himself for letting Newton go, hahaha
DILLIGAF
October 16th, 2010
10:27 pm
I think Ealey stepped today and redeemed himself. Durham is another special player and I wish we had him for another year. Carlton Thomas had a good day, it was nice to see him get some scores.
On defense, I think that the tackling has improved, the containment is better, evidenced by today’s performance and the linebackers are settling down. The secondary is still clueless when guys spread the field and run and that might be a problem next week and definately against AU.
guydog
October 16th, 2010
10:28 pm
My bad…Auburn can’t be beat…sorry. Good win today. Congrats.
florida lost, 3 in a row
October 16th, 2010
10:28 pm
hey war eagle – get some class or get off the board. your team has been complemented, don’t be an a$$
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:28 pm
“yeah, i think auburn runs the table and has a shot at nc”
The thing that makes this team great is the fact that they have nothing to lose. They have fun and play hard. Oregon, Boise, TCU and Oklahoma can have the number one spot.
We couldn’t care less.
Ed
October 16th, 2010
10:28 pm
Wow, if Auburn only had a defense. They might still win the SEC anyway.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:29 pm
“get some class or get off the board. your team has been complemented, don’t be an a$$”
Huh?
John Galt
October 16th, 2010
10:29 pm
All of a sudden losses to Arkansas, SC and Miss State don’t look as pathetic as they once did. A very strange season….
SadDawg
October 16th, 2010
10:29 pm
Just wondering, where are all the reptile (UF) and chicken (SC) fans we Dawgs have had to put up with all season. They, the reptiles in particular, are getting quieter by the week . . .
Katherine
October 16th, 2010
10:30 pm
War eagle…so you are bragging about giving mallet a concussion? I wouldn’t brag to much about that…karma is…well you know.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:30 pm
“Wow, if Auburn only had a defense.”
Our defense is terrible. But, we did prove we can put up points. Then again, Arkansas had the number one offense in the SEC.
ATLNOLE
October 16th, 2010
10:30 pm
0.o The Dawgz can win this division. Gators please stop losing so FSU’s win isn’t completely meaningless…oh who am I kidding, LOVING EVERY GATOR LOSS! XD
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:31 pm
“so you are bragging about giving mallet a concussion? ”
Nope. Just stating a fact.
John Galt
October 16th, 2010
10:31 pm
Must admit, AU looks scary.
dawgdawgdawg
October 16th, 2010
10:32 pm
also, War Eagle – you should probably take note of how overconfident and arrogant the Gamecock trolls were on this blog – your team is doing great, but don’t crown them quite yet.
ryan
October 16th, 2010
10:32 pm
The Wilson kid for Arkansas looked good in place of Mallet just no defence in that game at all .
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:32 pm
Just to clear things up. I am not bragging about Mallet getting hurt. I’m also not trying to degrade UGA at all.
guydog
October 16th, 2010
10:32 pm
If Auburn was beatable, which they are not, I would focus on the fact that their defense is a weakness….as noted above in record setting performance for points scored (or given up) in an SEC game.
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010
10:33 pm
“The Wilson kid for Arkansas looked good in place of Mallet”
Yep, and Petrino is known for not having good defenses with his teams.
Ed
October 16th, 2010
10:33 pm
Now that Florida has lost three in a row, you don’t see the Tech fans posing as Gators on this site anymore.
South Carolina’s loss was predictable. Spurrier’s been washed up for a decade. Funny thing is, they’ll probably end up winning the SEC East this year because everyone else is awful.
florida lost, 3 in a row
October 16th, 2010
10:33 pm
yes, it is a nice change. sick of other teams coming on uga blogs to talk tough.
i think we beat tech easily and have a great shot at uf. will be tough game, but
honestly, we should win if we can play like we have past two weeks.
i think cam is this year’s tebow. auburn can run the table. they easily win the sec ch. game.
Who is next?
October 16th, 2010
10:34 pm
Did that QB kid mason lose his redshirt today by playing??