LIVE from Dogs-Gators, and everybody’s feeling the heat
Georgia's Mark Richt and Florida's Urban Meyer greet each other before the game (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
JACKSONVILLE — Time to play.
Was thinking last night — while Tim Tucker and I strategically avoided “The Landing” area — about the enormous pressure on certain individuals in today’s Georgia-Florida game. It’s odd only in that both teams are unranked going into this contest for the first time since 1979. So much for national ramifications.
But think about the pressure on . . .
♦ Mark Richt: Georgia has won three straight but you can’t just wipe out a 1-4 start. If the Dogs lose, they are absolutely, positively dead in the SEC East (I think) because they would lose tiebreakers with both Florida and South Carolina. They also would need to win two of their final three games (Idaho State, at Auburn, Georgia Tech) just to become bowl eligible.
♦ Urban Meyer: Think he’s not feeling some heat? Here’s a guy who appeared to have a serious health issue, suddenly retired, then even more suddenly unretired. He explained his chest pains as “esophageal spasms” and some immediately wondered about truthfulness. We can’t know if Meyer’s heath has affected the way he’s gone about his job this season but we know this: The Gators have lost three straight and they rank 89th in the nation in total offense. Florida can still win the East but if they lose they’ll be 2-4 in the East and all but cooked. For those Dogs’ fans looking for a possible omen, here you go: The last time Florida lost four straight was in 1988. The fourth loss in that streak came to Georgia 16-3.
Uga VIII was out on the town. (Kidding. It's not him.)
♦ John Brantley: It can’t be easy replacing Tim Tebow, but the Gators’ quarterback was expected to be better than this. In his defense, the offensive line and running game have been awful. But nobody could have expected these numbers through seven games: six touchdown passes, five interceptions, 10 sacks. Brantley had four touchdowns and zero interceptions against Miami (Ohio) and South Florida so you can do the math on the five SEC games.
♦ Aaron Murray: He has been great this season. But he never has played in this stadium or a game of this magnitude. Richt planned to talk to the freshman during the week about trying to maintain his composure. Also, Florida’s defense is still pretty good.
♦ Chris Rainey: Not too much pressure on him, huh? Mr. Time To Die Guy shouldn’t even be in this game (my opinion) but Meyer believes he has paid a big en0ugh price for texting a death threat to his estranged girl friend. He won’t have his phone during the game so he’ll actually have to speak his threats.
One last thing on Rainey: If you have no problem with him coming back because you believe he deserves another chance, that’s fine. But the worst — and most prevalent — excuse I’ve heard is that athletes used to do these dumb things all the time and we never knew about it. The point? I have no doubt that star athletes got away with things before that they can’t now. But that doesn’t make what happened before right. Fact is, that was wrong. Coaches never should be allowed to go pick up his star player from the sheriff’s office and say, “I’ll take care of it. He’ll run steps.” Pretty sure the science teacher isn’t doing the same thing for his students. (”Oh, he’ll just do extra experiments.”)
♦ Caleb King: He’s coming back from a two-game suspension after being arrested for failing to appear in court for a speeding ticket. The fact Washaun Ealey has a sprained knee may necessitate King taking on a major role. By the way: Funny line this week by Richt. He noted the Dogs are undefeated this year when they have a running back suspended (3-0 during King and Ealey suspensions). When asked Tuesday if any player has been suspended yet this week, Richt cracked: “It’s early.”
Fortunately, everybody made it through the night without handcuffs. One less thing to worry about. I’ll be back later with a few shots from the stadium and any updates, but I figured I would post a blog early.
Meanwhile, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie provide an appropriate tune …
♦
Our photographer, Brant Sanderlin, took a little video of the scene in The Landing last night and stumbled on this unsanctioned fight between Georgia and Florida fans:
♦
Catching up on Georgia-Florida week
♦ Weekend Predictions: Dogs go down to Gators again
♦ Urban Meyer slammed again for Chris Rainey decision
♦ This is the week Georgia’s defense needs to step up
♦ Dogs’ key to beating Gators: QB, defense or something else?
♦ Early Georgia-Florida primer (and why Meyer is catching heat)
♦
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2,829 comments Add your comment
Mr Charlie
October 30th, 2010
10:51 am
Billy Joel “Pressure” video is better.
Aaron Murray
October 30th, 2010
10:55 am
Today is the beginning of my journey to 4-0 against the Gayturds!!
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:00 am
TommyJack
October 30th, 2010
9:49 am
For a day, ol’ TJ becomes a huge dawg fan. Let dat big dawg eat.
Hahahahahaha. I could never say that. Not even for a day. But……. dat big dog did eat last night. Twice!
.
Mr. Tony Geinzer
October 30th, 2010
11:05 am
If Georgia loses, my free advice is Fire Richt!
LIVE from Dogs-Gators, and everybody’s feeling the heat – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Dogs Online Shop
October 30th, 2010
11:07 am
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
DIT
October 30th, 2010
11:09 am
GADAWG 88 – Happy Birthday!
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
October 30th, 2010
11:09 am
agreed Joey- Mett should’ve been suspended for a year or banned from 1A teams. now you have bama, lsu, and few other top notch schools that will reward a young man for sexual battery. when does it end?
Delbert D.
October 30th, 2010
11:09 am
Queen nerd alert! Guitarist/vocalist/composer Brian May has a PhD in Astrophysics. See, nerds *do* rock.
NXS
October 30th, 2010
11:10 am
Yellow hairball,
Your high school team lost to a (now) 2-5 Kansas team. For someone pulling for a team that sucks as bad yours does, posting your Tech smack here is pretty delusional. Let’s see how mouthy you feel after the Hokies wax your a$$es next week. Oh yea, and even with our worst start in decades, Georgia STILL generates more fan interest than Tech can- even when they are (or were) ranked. I believe your regular presence on Georgia blogs demonstrates that… really, get a life dude!
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:14 am
Where are all the hardcore dog fans?
DawginLace
SugarHillDawg
JB
How2Fish
RedBull 77
WTF?!?!
BOOGIE MAN OF HARTWELL
ryan
Altahoma Dawg
Hershal Talker
buLLdawg
coach smith
kral
ED
Hit a Single
Formerly Cingular
October 30th, 2010
11:14 am
Chris Rainey just texted “Time to die, Dawgs.”
And they will.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:15 am
NXS:
45-42
Stay focused on the Gators little man
LakeDawg
October 30th, 2010
11:15 am
UGA 31 UF 14
Daisy Mae
October 30th, 2010
11:16 am
Are the red panties falling from the sky yet?
Delbert D.
October 30th, 2010
11:17 am
Kansas plays Colorado in 2 weeks. We ought to get a premonition one way or the other from that.
Law and Order
October 30th, 2010
11:19 am
Did the probation officers okay it for the crime dawgs to leave the state?
Mulk
October 30th, 2010
11:23 am
“pretty funny that this blog is about Ga-Fl but a tecch nerd is the first one on here”
Bird$hitdog,
If you have ever read an article by Shultz with UGAG in the title, then you know any Tech fan will come away from that article with a smile on his face. He does have a humorous way of pointing out the obvious sometimes. And, as far as you never being on a Tech blog, I’ll just call bird$hit on that.
Mulk
Mr Charlie
October 30th, 2010
11:23 am
Teams look evenly matched, although Dawgs have shown more explosiveness on Offense. I look for AJ to have a big game, get drafted 3rd and get 22mil guaranteed.
Nate
October 30th, 2010
11:24 am
From a Tech fan, good luck to the Dawgs today. Put Florida back in there place.
Buzzzzzzzzz
October 30th, 2010
11:25 am
Hey, NXS: you Dawg fans who keep bashing Tech 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 moron-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.
Now sit back and watch your beloved thugs lose to a real team.
UGABugKiller
October 30th, 2010
11:26 am
Yellow Moron, you DO realize you LOST LAST YEAR, RIGHT?
Why are you quoting the score from two years ago? Aren’t you supposed to be smart?
And if you want to deal with scores from more than a season ago, here are some for you:
31-17
15-12
14-7
19-13
34-17
51-7
31-17
How about 15-5? That’s the record between us in the last 20 seasons.
Go away, stupid Bug, and stop obsessing with Big Brother.
DIT
October 30th, 2010
11:27 am
Just ignore the tech people on here. They are on here to see if you will react to their comments. Some are and that makes them very happy. Remember, they don’t have any true outside rivalries, outside of UGA, and this frustrates them. I get it. Not being much of a going concern would make me upset as well I guess.
Uga has UT, UF, Auburn and might as well throw in SC as big rivalries. tech………… uga, that’s it.
Still I want them to win the rest of the games except the last regular season game. I’d rather beat a good tech team, like last year, than a lousy one, like most years!
GO DAWGS!
LIVE from Dogs-Gators, and everybody’s feeling the heat – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Best Dog Store
October 30th, 2010
11:28 am
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
Gatormeat
October 30th, 2010
11:29 am
dogs, you have no chance today, you are outclassed so much by the Gators it is humiliating to you. We will score early, late, and often. georgia should be embarassed that they have a team full of thugs that still can not win a big game. We do not have to stoop to that level, we win with class. You get the beating you so deserve today, I predict a 30 to 40 point margin and the dogs will be yelping all the way back to athens. Florida owns you and always will, we mock your efforts because they are so lame and weak, just like your football. Go Gators!!!
Delbert D.
October 30th, 2010
11:32 am
Yellow Fuzz thinks I’m a Georgia homer. Somebody straighten him out, because I can’t seem to, after repeated attempts. Anyone? Anyone?
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
October 30th, 2010
11:33 am
love the fact that tech fans copy & paste the 45-42 from 2008 & the “expose” that Jan Kemp came up with. please, come up with something original or just wait until we play each other.
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……….YET YOU ARE ON A UGA BLOG ACTING LIKE A LITTLE BROTHER WHO LIKES TO TEASE HIS OLDER BROTHER.
.....
October 30th, 2010
11:35 am
Yellow Fuzz…..
last comment has been reported to AJC. Expect to be banned very soon for use of vulgar language, which is directly in violation of the ajc.com user agreement.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:36 am
(((((((((((((((((((( 45-42 ))))))))))))))))))))-Gators
ratherBgambling
October 30th, 2010
11:36 am
Run Rainey Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UF 31
Mutts 27
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:38 am
“…..
October 30th, 2010
11:35 am
Yellow Fuzz…..
last comment has been reported to AJC. Expect to be banned very soon for use of vulgar language, which is directly in violation of the ajc.com user agreement”.
…..:
My appologies but did not use vulgar language.
Sanford Drive
October 30th, 2010
11:39 am
What i find sad, is that Tech fans really fo live vicariously through the Gators.
Tech never has, nor will have a run against us like the Gators are having.
Expect, if we lose today, to see a TON on new Gator themed blog handles, which are actually Tech fans seeing what it’s like to talk smack to us about “owning us”
Steve
October 30th, 2010
11:39 am
“Yellow Fuzz” are you REALLY still posting the Tech/UGA score from TWO years ago? Pretty pathetic little man. Trust me, every UGA fan knows about the jealousy Tech has for UGA. UGA has the better team, stadium, campus, women, tailgating, atmosphere, and tradition. Get over it.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:41 am
“…..
October 30th, 2010
11:35 am
Yellow Fuzz…..
last comment has been reported to AJC. Expect to be banned very soon for use of vulgar language, which is directly in violation of the ajc.com user agreement”.
…..:
hahahahaha. Both of those words are in the Bible little dot.
Bill Stanfill
October 30th, 2010
11:43 am
Jeff,
My 19 y.o. son is roaming around down there with his buddies–how ’bout keeping an eye on him for me and make sure he’s walking the line.
Thanks,
Bill
Hairy Dawg
October 30th, 2010
11:45 am
Dawgs is goning to turn series back to dominants as commenerating Belue-Scott in annual beating down of Gaytors that stinks this time. Then we makes them pay bad.
Sanford Drive
October 30th, 2010
11:46 am
What do Georgia Tech and Marijuana have in common??
Both are extremely immature, and both are frequently smoked in bowls.
Peach Basket
October 30th, 2010
11:48 am
Yellow Fuzz……
Can you give us a HONEST answer to a simple question. But the key here, is you MUST tell us the truth……
you ready? can you do this for us?
Alright…… Here it goes….
“How old are you?”
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:49 am
The anniversary of “ The Wedges between the Hedges” game (45-42) is in 4 short weeks. If you guys have butterflies over possibly losing today’s game with Florida wait until then. Hahahahahaha.
F
O
R
T
Y
F
I
V
E
T
O
F
O
R
T
Y
T
W
O
Joey
October 30th, 2010
11:50 am
Look, fellow Dawg fans, cut Yellow Fuzz some slack. You know most girls don’t really know Xs and Os, so they just resort to cheerleading. I bet she has some sweet little fuzz, alright.
Anyway, she’ll be gone in a few minutes, cause she’s got to fix her 17 year old boyfriend a sandwich.
Dasher
October 30th, 2010
11:51 am
Yellow Fuzz…..
have you and your Techie roommates “Iced” anybody recently? Y’all are SO FREAKIN’ COOL when you do that.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:51 am
Peach Basket:
How old are you?
Steve
October 30th, 2010
11:51 am
Yellow Fuzz is 15, turning 16 next week. He will also be a virgin for life. That is why he is so upset. I would be also if I were him. How have those bowl games gone lately Nerd fans?
DIT
October 30th, 2010
11:52 am
Just don’t respond to yellow fuzz!!! Good grief! Let’s talk about today’s game instead!
Peach Basket
October 30th, 2010
11:53 am
27.
UGA Class of 2005.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2010
11:53 am
Are you dog fans obsessed with a Tech fan? Better focus your attention to the Gators before its 18 out of 21
Bottom Line
October 30th, 2010
11:54 am
Penalties and turnovers will decide this one Jeff. Catch any of the FSU game Thursday? Seminoles clearly the better team athlete wise, but dumb penalties and turnovers got them beat. At this level of play, it always comes down to those to things.
Joey
October 30th, 2010
11:55 am
Butterflies? Girl, we Dawg fans wake up with a smile on our face on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, cause we know we have an acc patsy instead of a SEC team to play.
You are so cute, girl . . . Why don’t you send us a pic of your cheerleading outfit?
SOUTHGADAWG88
October 30th, 2010
11:56 am
TampaGator today is the day we can settle that Brantley or Murray argument from the spring.I told you there was a huge gap between mop up duty and being a starting QB in the SEC.
Corch Meyer
October 30th, 2010
11:56 am
Go Gator! Corrine Brown would be so proud.
Delbert D.
October 30th, 2010
11:57 am
Numbers to pretend about:
If John Brantley has a breakout game, say 24 for 36, 280 yards, 3TDs, no INT his passer rating would improve to 124.0.
That would move him past Jeremiah Masoli into 10th place in the SEC.