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
long-time dawg
October 17th, 2010
10:52 am
Both this week and last were big improvements but much more(improvement)is needed. Don’t rest on your “laurels”, Dawgs, keep working…hard!
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 17th, 2010
10:54 am
Typical UGA fans looking backwards to teams they lost to and attempting to justify the season. MSU looks strong, so now UGA is looking better. You are in soft stretch in a weak conference this year, give me a break.
The only teams that count in the SEC this year are Florida and Alabama, and the jury is still out on these teams.
Resaca
October 17th, 2010
10:55 am
You Dawg fans who keep repeating “30-24″ like a mantra enjoy yourselves all you want. The thing is… Tech alumni and fans have lives that don’t depend entirely on what a bunch of kids does on Saturday afternoons. College sports are fun to follow, but the biggest reason for going to college is to get an education.
UGA fans don’t seem to care about anything but football, and they don’t care if their players are enrolled in silly majors that no parents who are paying the bills would send their kids to UGA for. The very few football and basketball players who graduate have no job opportunities and end up unemployed or working in menial jobs that hardly require a college degree.
Georgia Tech is a real school with serious academic standards, and that includes scholarshipped athletes. UGA has a long history of being a party school, where parents send their kids for an easy degree, even if the degree itself is practically worthless.
Jan Kemp exposed the crap going on at UGA with athletes being enrolled in courses a ten-year-old kid could pass. That was almost three decades ago, and nothing has changed. If anything, the abuses are more blatant today. Way too many illiterate morons are being recruited, and the very high arrest rate shows clearly that Richt does not care if his players have any morals or self-discipline.
The bottom line is that most Tech fans have very good jobs and productive lives that don’t depend on Tech’s football record for their happiness in life. It would be great to beat UGA more often, but when you put scholar-athletes up against dummy-athletes, it’s usually no contest.
It’s pretty pathetic to see UGA fans who typically have never been within miles of a college classroom and who live or die with UGA’s weekly results on the football field.
So keep on posting your “30-24″ all you want, especially since you’re home with plenty of time on your hands. I wish you well, maybe you’ll get lucky and get your old job back at the Waffle House before your unemployment checks stop coming.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 17th, 2010
10:56 am
Just keep writing those checks to the UGA Booster Foundation, we suck, but we need your money. Enjoy the game.
MWC
October 17th, 2010
11:00 am
What if?
It was only Vandy for Christ sake!
tell me again
October 17th, 2010
11:13 am
Resaca – you obviously don’t have a clue about how bad Tech is both academically (when about 12 players were ruled academically ineligible at once) and thug wise (drug dealing and cartels operating out of the locker room and bombs in the student quadrangle) – you have no business talking about UGA’s blips or Jan Kemp. You’d better worry about walking down North Avenue and not being raped, killed or shot. Athens is a GREAT town and anybody who went to school there loves it – and we don’t need police escorts to get to class safely.
tim
October 17th, 2010
11:19 am
in jax 2010……….UGA 38 UF 13 this the the absolute worst coached offense I have ever seen at UF, and I’m an old Gator. Last night the entire team on offense, and sometines on defense looked like they didn’t know they were playing football. They looked lost, bewildered and had blank stares. Either use Brantley correctly or sit his ass down and play Burton who BTW was the only Gator that was into the game…….jeez you puppies will get out the last couple of years of beatdowns…Meyer needs a wake up call…kick his ass
Realistic DAWG
October 17th, 2010
11:23 am
DAWG NATION: Lets all be happy for the last two weeks, however we need to be realistic and realize that we are not that good this year.
On one hand the effort and enthusiasm on the field seems to be trending in the right place. The coaching has been better, although Bobo to me is still out of his league. The players and coaches need to be appluaded and lets hope it continues.
On the other hand; we beat TN and Vandy. TN had a game at LSU where they played over their head and almost won, but they are not the TN of old. Vandy, well they are just Vandy.
We must be realistic but hopeful for the remaining games on the schedule.
6 and 6 after our start would be a moral victory. Anything more would be great end to a dreaded start.
Go DAWGS. Keep your heads up. Criticize when it is warranted, but NEVER waiver on your overall support and applaud when it is deserved.
PEACE
John
October 17th, 2010
11:23 am
Resaca,
Funny that you trash UGA fans and Alumni, but you are sitting on a UGA blog, really?
You forgot a few things, UGA alumni are very successful. The state of GA is run by….you got it UGA alumni. Tech is nothing more than 1 major school, people go to Tech to be engineers. Those who attend UGA, which has a highly ranked Vet, Law, Business (Terry College), and Journalism (Grady College) schools, make a difference in a variety of fields. Last time I checked, UGA is a top 50 school. I am very proud of my UGA degree, the experiences and friendships I built can’t be replaced. Oh yeah, and I get payed rather well.
Is envy a sin in the Quran? (Only a Techie would know that)
The reason the state of GA roots for UGA is because it’s the states University.
Enjoy your Tech degree and everything that comes with it……..lonely nights and a lack of a social life
Mr Charlie
October 17th, 2010
11:37 am
If we run the table, does Bobo and Richt keep their jobs? Can we hold them accountable for a record compiled under the “Russ reign”?
Dean Tate
October 17th, 2010
11:51 am
Good column, Jeff, but I wouldn’t rule out South of Shreveport just yet, as in Tampa or Orlando. North of Shreveport – as in Atlanta or Nashville – look like realistic possibilities at this point, and that’s something none of us would have pondered two weeks ago.
Russ
October 17th, 2010
11:58 am
30-24
tulevol
October 17th, 2010
11:58 am
Crazy SEC east this year. GA would be in top 10 if they had a coaching staff worth anything.
82Dawg
October 17th, 2010
12:05 pm
@Mr Charlie …no matter what Richt keeps his job, Bobo as O.C. is still questionable if we run the table though
Larry
October 17th, 2010
12:14 pm
If Richt had his team ready to give 100% and play with emotion in the early losses, Georgia would be leading the East and ranked in the Top Ten. Plain and simple.
Wreckmaniac
October 17th, 2010
12:21 pm
Impressive past two weeks. I suspect a win over KY as well as I can’t see them sustaining the intensity they have over the past two weeks ( the Cat’s). But you know they are a quality team. If the dawgs shut out KY Grantham should get a new contract
azdawg
October 17th, 2010
12:29 pm
Mr. Schultz. Even if it was vandy it was a confidence builder not only for this team but for us fans. It was the way they won and played w/o those drive killing penalties, dropped passes or fumbles. THE DEFENSE, a weak and sore spot during the 4 game losing skid looked good from the 2d qtr on not giving up those huge chunks of yardage and tackling a heck of a lot better. Granted, the win was over vandy, but this was a convincing win, one that left fans clapping and not shaking the heads in disbelief like they did so many times during week 2-5.
If they can duplicate their play against a good KY team and win in convincing fashion then we can say the wins over TN and Vandy were not over lesser teams but rather a good team finally playing up to their potential. Win out this season and CMR ought to be SEC coach of the year.
Someone call security...
October 17th, 2010
12:42 pm
HEADLINE: 38 UGA FOOTBALL PLAYERS ARRESTED FOR IMPERSONATING STUDENTS.
It was bound to happen. Their dorm rooms were searched, and no textbooks were found.
But none of the culprits showed any sign that they could read anyway.
KY Jelly
October 17th, 2010
12:44 pm
Kentucky will slaughter the dawgturds.
SOUTHGADAWG88
October 17th, 2010
12:45 pm
I’ve never seen TampaGator and GaGator this quiet.
He Hate Gator
October 17th, 2010
12:57 pm
Great post Realistic Dawg…
Fat Matt Wilson
October 17th, 2010
1:14 pm
We best team! We should be ranked. Refs make us lose all games.
ICEMAN 1960
October 17th, 2010
1:25 pm
I just heard Kevin Butler & his sidekick ” Homer Hondo the Scalawag Yankee Fan ” trash Boise State for trying to claim a right to the National Championship game because of their poor schedule and lack of tough opponents. This is like calling the kettle black. Did they not get word that UGA just dropped a home and away series with a top notch Oregon program so they could pick up a couple of homecoming opponents lower then Vandy in the future.( sounds like they are trying to avoid potential defeat ) Did Butler already forget that he has a National Championship ring by not defeating the best opponent in the 1980 Sugar Bowl but by beating a average Notre Dame team. Give Boise credit for being smarter then the rest and figuring out a way to give themselves the best chance for success in our current college football system just like teams have been doing for years. Until we have a college playoff system in place I appalled Boise for giving themselves a chance to be National Champions. I don’t know many DAWG fans who wouldn’t want to be where the Broncos are right now. LOL
TampaGator
October 17th, 2010
1:50 pm
SouthGADawg88….
Posted on page 4. Also we do not come on here and want to fire our head coach during one down season like Dawg fans do (and not all is lost yet in the SEC East for the Gators with a two weeks to get healthy and hopefully find someone else to call offensive plays…I have had it with the inept calls of one Steve Addazio…he was horrible last year with one of the best QB in college football history….and he is even worse this year calling plays for a QB who can’t run the spread…and pulling the one who can and calling his typical swing pass that cost the Gators the game. Losing Andre Debose (the Gators only big play player on offense right now with Demps hurt and very limited) on offense and Jaye Howard (one of the best DL in the country) on defense in the first quarter did not help the Gators much last night. But…you can’t win close games when your FG kicker can make FGs of 40 yards or less. With Celab Stugis not hurt….the Gators are 6-1 right now. But they are 4-3 and still have a shot at the East….and how pathetic is that for the SEC East this year. Not one great team in the division….not one. How did SC lose to KY after beating Bama? Georgia better be ready to play KY next week or your big comeback will turn into sour grape fans once again.
UGA grad here ...........from here on out
October 17th, 2010
1:51 pm
UGA has for several years lacked SEC caliber physicality. This is why UGA is no longer an upper tier SEC school with the LSUs, the Bamas or the Floridas of the world. UT used to be in that group and over the long haul, so was Auburn.
This year, SC with a SMALLER O and D line shoved and slammed and pushed UGA all over the field. So did MSU and so did a weak D Arkansas team. Colorado did too. We are too small and our D backs are slow intelectually ………it seems. Maybe Safety # 9 Alec Ogletree will have some impact going forward.
Now, UT and Vandy are the weakest SEC teams maybe beyond UGA. Watch the game with KY on Saturday ………… they really like physical play AND they will SPREAD UGA all over the Commonwealth field. It will be a shoot out and I hope that UGA can hang tough …………I really do not like our D line. They are simply too small to play big boy ball and it might take two years or more to develop some starters that have BULK and talent. This is UGA’s weak, weak link in football right now. Really bad it is too.
Florida is so down this year vs the last 20+ years of Gator teams ………….BUT I still think that they will spread UGA all over the stadium.
Auburn is KY with a better O. KY does have a top notch, high octane O, but so does Auburn.
GT?? They are horrible in big boy ball , especially on D but like Ky and likely Floirda and Auburn, they can spread UGA with their middle school offense and they will be watching how GA plays KY’s triple option. We are so weak up the middle. See the SC game. Ugh !!!
I love the Dogs …………but Richt has put UGA in this spot with his $$ induced complacency and his divided attention span between his faith based endeavors over UGA football.
We must STILL make a coaching staff change. If we run the table …………maybe he gets one more year ………otherwise this time next year will be a carbon copy of 09 and 10. One year or other, our recruiting will just have to take it on the chin.
Gooooooooooooo Dogs.
TampaGator
October 17th, 2010
1:53 pm
And the entire SEC should be glad that Cam Newton had that computer “incident” in Gainesville or the Gators would be 7-0 and #1 in the country right now. Of couse, he said he was planning to transfer anyway if Tebow came back for his Senior season anyway…..
I knew Newton was a potentially great player…but I had no idea he would be this good. Right now….he is better than Tebow was.
Clear Blue Easy and KY
October 17th, 2010
1:53 pm
Dawgs slide will start back up this weekend…. Bank on it !
jumbeauxtiger
October 17th, 2010
1:58 pm
Tough loss TampaGator, Beast, Atlanta Gator, G8R, etc. Addazio seems to be doing a really poor job with the talent you have on offense.
Congrats to Auburn on a big win. Cam Newton looks like the real deal. The Bayou Bengals will have a tough task next weekend. I just hope the Plainsmen don’t fix their swiss cheese D by then and we certainly are going to have to be able to take down Cam when he’s first hit. Of course that’s easier said than done.
Just curious if anyone knows what the tiebreaker formula(divisional record?)is for a 3 way tie between SC, Fl and UGA at 4-4. Yes 4-4 is a possibility.
TMC DAWG
October 17th, 2010
2:59 pm
Well 2 winsaganist celler dwellers is nothing to crow about. When CMR starts beating the teams he is suppose to beat and be COMPETITIVE aganist the powerful teams,then I will start to feel better. The season has already been lost,so to prolong the pain of a choaching change we need to start now. 7 or 8 wins is medrocity, I want a shot at a national championship. Not going to get there with CMR
Mick Jagger
October 17th, 2010
3:02 pm
Just one nit to pick – no punt return game at all.
Common Sense
October 17th, 2010
3:12 pm
I think that the SEC officials have become “comfortably numb” when it come to making calls. The advent of instant replay marked the point at which all the officials should have been let go and re-hired. This would have the league train new officials HOW to make calls within the new dynamic of replay.
It can’t be that hard to find better officials.
(AND FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR THE REPLAY OFFICIALS HAVE HI-FREAKING-DEF MONITORS. I HAVE 5 ALREADY)
Common Sense
October 17th, 2010
3:15 pm
Yea, the SEC might be the best league, but clearly the worst officials.
Yea, Mike Slive, you employee the worst set of refs.
Besides the blown Ark/UA call, AJ Green was robbed of another TD yesterday
My Old Kentucky Home
October 17th, 2010
3:57 pm
Kentucky 31, Georgia 21.
Enjoy the hobnail boots in your face, dawgturds.
AFDawg
October 17th, 2010
4:29 pm
Jeff, So have the “Trembling Chihuahuas” upgraded to the “Barking Jack Russells” in your mind now? Your inconsistency as a journalist makes your columns laughable. Also, I don’t think you’re giving Kentucky enough credit — they play a very physical brand of football and would take GT or any other ACC opponent to the woodshed. Lastly, the bowl in Shreveport no longer has a tie-in with the SEC. I get very amused because all of the Tech people think UGA ending up in Shreveport last year was based on the team’s performance when it had nothing to do with that. The Outback Bowl picked Auburn over UGA based solely on a business decision. UGA had a better record than Auburn last year and beat them head to head. The Outback Bowl thought Auburn would sell more tickets is why they picked them — they figured the Outback Bowl was starting to get somewhat stale for UGA fans. I hope UGA fans reject any future offers form the Outback Bowl — I’ll certainly never return to that bowl game again.
AFDawg
October 17th, 2010
4:32 pm
The Dawgs D looked pretty tough yesterday. Did everyone notice we did much better against the option when the DE took out the quarterback hard and fast (almost like blitzing from the corner). I hope Coach Grantham continues to perfect that technique in practice this week. Also, our kicking teams still need a lot of work.
Dylan
October 17th, 2010
4:51 pm
You UGA haters just can’t handle a UGA win. You really think UGA fans are trash talking?! We’re 3-4 and every fan knows that. There’s hardly any trash talking. And yes it was only Vanderbilt, it’s not that we beat them, it’s the way we beat them. We outgained them by over 400 yards, defense was playing lights out, the recievers were catching the ball, the running backs held on to the ball and the offensive line blocked, FINALLY!! Yes, Georgia is getting better, but the fact is we’re still 3-4. Still lots of season left. Go Dawgs! Beat Kentucky!
Gen Neyland
October 17th, 2010
4:52 pm
Common Sense : You’re so right. Can you believe the Zebra that was standing on the back goal line no more than 4 feet away when the Dawg defender recovered that fumble and he called it a TD..? Man, my Seeing Eye dog from Nashville was howling…
NOBODYYOUKNOW
October 17th, 2010
4:57 pm
I’m no big dog fan,however my SEC friends they seem to be getting their act together. Iknow, I know,those last 2 teams were not power house teams. But UGA has some good talent and I don’t know about running the table but they are sure capable of kicking the gators tails. (and I hope they do!) They’re way past due for that. And as we have seen in the past weeks the mighty gators CAN BE HAD. Auburn is the team this season. and yes the Auburn QB is as good as anybody I’ve seen this season. Cameron Newton deserves to be considered for the Heisman.
rebuild
October 17th, 2010
5:16 pm
I’m all for a feel good end to our season if it’s underclassmen that are getting us there. We need to use this season to develop our boys that will be back in Athens next year. No offense to the seniors but they blew their shots with the pathetic performances in MS and CO this season. Leadership could and should have gotten us Ws in both of those games.
Murray is a stud and will need some toys he can rely on next season. As much as I love Green…he won’t be around next fall when optimism exists again in Athens. The coaches need to hit the recruiting trail hard and get a 5star toy at WR or RB.
The defense is looking soooo much better than Martinez’s nightmare last season. Kudos to them for making steady improvement all season long. Could anyone have imagined we were capable of a shutout last season??? Grantham has it working on that side…with youth nonetheless.
just facts
October 17th, 2010
5:20 pm
hands down, no contest….”Time” wins this weeks asinine post of the week with this little gem of wisdom….”And I’d bet my money that had the stupdity of the AJ Green saga not happened, UGA would be sitting pretty right now as a undefeated team despite it’s many current weaknesses”.
Delusional and out of touch uga fans are a never ending source of humor.
honestly, the dawgs should be rated number 1 with an asterisk. if only they hadnt lost four games they would be undefeated!
Yellow Fuzz
October 17th, 2010
5:24 pm
“Forget the BCS. Right now, it’s about cleansing, winning and landing somewhere north of Shreveport”
Yellow Fuzz likes this.
KY coal miner
October 17th, 2010
5:33 pm
Come up and tailgate early dawgs. We can play that corn hole game with you.
Whatever
October 17th, 2010
5:38 pm
So what. They beat Vandy and Tennessee. Who cares?
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 17th, 2010
5:38 pm
Enjoy it while you can, because it it coming to a grinding halt in the next few weeks. All glory is fleeting, and UGA’s glory has fleeted like an enema since 1980.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 17th, 2010
5:40 pm
The last 2 weeks for UGA has been nothing more than a scrimmage against a scout squad. UGA will not be able to hang with the big boys like AU and UF, and this is where .500 comes into play. Drop one more and UGA is looking at less than . 500. Go Dogs!!
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 17th, 2010
5:41 pm
Why does UGA continue to pay such large sums of money for a losing coaching program, and also a program tha thas not had a shot at a title since CMR has been on board? Where is the logic, oh that’s right, this is the UGA program that has tanked and everyone laughs at.
Common Sense
October 17th, 2010
6:22 pm
Rambo is out of position on nearly every pass play and Kentucky will throw the ball 40+ times to take advantage.
If the Dogs are able to run the ball for 150+ from the RB position, we will win.
If not, this game could be really tight.
I’ll call it now.
UGA 27, UK 20
patrick
October 17th, 2010
6:22 pm
UGA grad here ………..from here on out
October 17th, 2010
1:51 pm
UGA has for several years lacked SEC caliber physicality. This is why UGA is no longer an upper tier SEC school with the LSUs, the Bamas or the Floridas of the world. UT used to be in that group and over the long haul, so was Auburn.
======================
another idiot……….2007 UGA was ranked number 2 in the nation. Dayum go away. UGA had a ton of injuries in 2008 and still won 10 games, a bowl and finished top ten…2009 was bad and this year aint over…….S.T.F.U
Dont understand
October 17th, 2010
6:41 pm
SO WHAT – that is what I have to say about Georgia ThugDawgs so-called “beat-down” of Vandy. Yea – Vandy is a “real” powerhouse alright. Vandy ranks 102 (out of 118) in offense and 82 in defense – and you UGA fans are “proud” of this win??? The cockiness of UGA fans and players continues to surprise me. Let’s see you beat someone who really matters.
Reggie
October 17th, 2010
7:05 pm
Leave it to Jeff to call a Georgia win OR loss a ‘laugher’. Predictible.
If Georgia beats Florida, Jeff will write about how it was only because Florida had a down year.
Always the negative cynic.
Meanwhile, Georgia has the longest winnign streak in the SEC East and much to Jeff’s chagrin, is very much alive to get to Atlanta.