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:
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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
Pope UGA XXIII
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Great play calling in OT, Bobo. By the way, I have a
hunch we wouldn’t have gone into OT if AJ’s number
had been called a few more times in quarters 1 – 3.
Have to face up to it; we were out coached & beaten
by a lesser team. There is no excuse whatsoever for
not winning this game given the level of talent UGA has.
By the way, go to hell, Jeff Schulz. You’re a 4 eyed nerd
with a rusted radiator belt wrapped around your chin. Just
seems like a good thing to say at times like these. There’s
really nothing relevant about this team any longer
JOD
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
JUST A LITTLE PAY BACK FOR THE REDNECK BOWL HAIRCUTT FAQS BEING ON OUR BOARDS LAST WEEK TALKING SMACK… NUTTIN BETTER THAN A GA LOSS!
Ga Dawg 97
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Richt must go!
sdb92
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
What a great comeback to get to OT. It is all about turnovers. Dawgs will regroup and stay the course. We were not out coached.
I enjoyed seeing my school’s head coach calm and cool on the sidelines.
Urban looked herky, jerky all night.
I felt it was our game to lose. UGA lost because of the turnover margin.
I like the coach, the D, and A. Murray is a talent.
GO DAWGS!
Swampdog
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
“THUGS R US” win out in heartbreaker over the better team. UF will live to suffer under Aaron Murphy’s tenure at UGA. Go Dawgs!!!
simplythetruth
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Hey A.J., how’s the “jersey money” feelin bout now?
bigstack19
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Play calling was great in the second half then on the OT possession you throw a fade on first down to someone who isn’t A.J. Green. On second down you run a dive play that failed when they clearly had the box stacked to stop the run and on third down you throw a pick. Florida has problems stopping the run. First and 10 from the 25 you run between the tackles with King and get 4 or 5 yards. On 2nd you have a choice. I might have run a screen or draw to take advantage of the blitzing. Chances are I have a first and goal. I give the ball to Ealey and he scores a touchdown. That is how you call a series of plays. Bobo clearly has no clue.
GR82BAG8R
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Trisha, I just look at Georgia’s team with all that talent, and at times they look like they could play for a title. If they put it together for a complete game, and their coaches don’t “strategize” it away, they can beat anybody. That could be Auburn, so if I were you I would not be so confident…
Timmy Dog
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
There is one thing you don’t do. Don’t throw a pic on third down in OT. We are bone headed idiots!!!
dawgfan
October 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
LMFAO @ Techies running their fat mouths. There isn’t a more cowardly fan base in all of sports. You would think it was their piece of sh!t team that beat us. See you in November nerds. And yes, beating your pimple faced punk azzes WILL make our season.
Who Cares
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
Heh…you didn’t actually think that Georgia was going to win, did you?
Alabama Jack
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
Dawgs made their bowl plans today. They’re gonna watch them on TV.
dandydawg
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
GT Dad…. Murray will always be from Florida. He was probably a Florida fan and was probably paid for the INT. Man the whole state sucks!!!!
Andy in Blairsville
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
So who do you fair-weather fans think is not only better than Richt, but who is also stupid enough to take his job?
Ga Dawg 97
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
Murray sucks, we let him throw it and he doesn’t take care of the football! Inconsistent and acts a little scared to me. Just sayin…
daughter at georgia
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
You have to be kidding me. Murray throws 2 interceptions and fumbles for 14 points off of turnovers and you blame the coaching??? 450 total yards on offense should get the job done. Don’t blame the coaches.
Michael
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
I bet if Dooley coached Kennesaw State they would beat Florida. GO DAWGS!
THWG
October 30th, 2010
7:54 pm
AJ…..OVERRATED…..OVERRATED…..OVERRATED….
GA 1980
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
let’s be done with it. Richt’s got to go; no discipline. Secondly can win the psyc game over florida. call Mayflower Mark Richt (please)
Swampdog
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
JOD
Too bad your self esteem lives by taking down others…
Michael
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
Murray’s picks were drops. GO DAWGS!
ARdawg
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
Murray played his azz off….yeah he boneheaded 3 TOs but he was going to sometime….hat it was this game….our Coaching is last in the country…if you optimistic weeners want to keep Richt and Bozo….have at it…I’ll not spend another dime on my beloved Dawgs until they are been dismissed
THWG
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
AJ’s arms = circumference of a stick
Party school
October 30th, 2010
7:55 pm
Even if UGA wins 6, and that’s not certain, you’ll be paying $500,000 per victory to CMR. Wow
He Hate Gator
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
“stay the course”….4-5, 2-9 is not a course I want to stay on loser…
Hairy Dawg
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
If Murray doesn’t make that bad decision in OT, maybe Walsh hits the FG and we’re still playing.
Regardless, you can’t turn the ball over four times in a game against the Gators and win. If we ever figure that out, we’ll be in good shape. Great effort by everybody, including Murray, to get the team back in the game. It just stinks that we turned it over in the OT. That’s the one mistake you generally can’t get away with.
Not a Techie
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
Butt-cut Richt blows another!!!
CHDawg
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
We beat ourselves, folks. Dropped passes that were intercepted, several easy but dropped interceptions, bad throws, dropped fumble recoveries. We had several excellent aspects to our game, but you can’t win when you turn it over like UK did with us last week. The dropped ints were particularly bad. The O line blocked much better on runs, I thought. D played quite well compared to previous games. Stupid mistakes will beat you and that is what cost us the game tonight. Unfortunately, we have a lot of talent. We just didn’t get it cranked up.
Georgia SEC East Scenarios
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
My suggestion, drain the pool before CMR’s preseason dive next year.
College Football Expert
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
awesome!
Ga Dawg 97
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
Swampdog, I don’t think we need to be calling anyone thugs. LOL! BTW, Murray sucks! He lost us that game!
TowDawg
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
Murray definitely hurt us, but scoring 31 on what has been an inept UF offense should have been plenty to win that game.
nwgadawg
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
Richt is outcoached by Meyer AGAIN. We lost to the worst team Florida has had in years. It’s time we all realize Richt is not the coach we need. Our program is getting worse year by year. The whole coaching staff needs to go. Grantham is no better than Bobo. We have better talent this year than Florida. There is no excuse for losing this game except for poor coaching. Fire every coach on the staff! Let’s get a coaching staff that will make the Dawgs a winner again.
Warhorse
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
So, that what you call a garden variety choke?
Andy in Blairsville
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
The Tri Lambs could beat UGA this season….by a landslide!
Swampdog
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
JOD
And talk about rednecks…..? “Nuttin better”? Where did you go to school, Boy?
George
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
Mark Richt should be fired.
Einsteindawg
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
Time for a good change…bye, bye coach Richt and your Ford, Carpets of Dalton, and whatever you prostituted yourself for the money. What a two-faced POS.
Party school
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
Can’t believe you guys fell for all of Bradley’s happy talk after beating UT, vandy and UK. Wow, you guys are gullible.
Michael
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
ARDawg’s support causes Dawgs to lose. Good riddance ARDawg! GO DAWGS!
Fuzzybee
October 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
Guys chill – UGA will be very good next year. I’m not happy about it but they are getting better every week.
stendek
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
If it takes the Dawgs losing out to ensure the departure of Mark Wretch then so be it! Go Idaho State. The other two are guaranteed defeats! Defensive coach gives a damn. Only UGA coach that does! STENDEK
War Eagle 30082
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
Trivia question for you Dawg fans…
Who’s the last team to beat the Gators the last two times they played?
I AM DONE WITH THE DOGS
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
It is time to BBQ UGA 8 and knock down our cesspool and give up football. We are the worst team in the SEC. I saw more RD PANTIES
He Hate Gator
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
Andy in Gainesville….a fellow out in Idaho…
patrick
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
nwgadawg
October 30th, 2010
7:56 pm
Richt is outcoached by Meyer AGAIN. We lost to the worst team Florida has had in years. It’s time we all realize Richt is not the coach we need. Our program is getting worse year by year. The whole coaching staff needs to go. Grantham is no better than Bobo. We have better talent this year than Florida. There is no excuse for losing this game except for poor coaching. Fire every coach on the staff! Let’s get a coaching staff that will make the Dawgs a winner again.
============================================
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The coached didnt overthrow the ball. He didnt fumble the ball and he didnt throw INTs
dawgwood
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
Lost because of first play in over time. With our kicker we put ourselves in hole on first down by going for it all. How does that make sense. How does that happen. I hate Urban, but he is tougher, meaner and wants to win more than our staff.
So tired of this!
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
So much for the best chance in a while to beat a crappy UF team. Coaches still cant get it done.
PS Hey all you 5 star recruits UGA coaches can make you a 0 star in one spring.
I am done until the re tard ed Dawg Nation figures out CRM and his staff will NEVER WIN a NC.
Gratz Gators for being prepared since that is what the game is about.
brown hornet
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
Playoffs? Playoffs? This is Division 1 football
GR82BAG8R
October 30th, 2010
7:58 pm
Chickenman, of course Georgia is “miles better” than Tech. Look at the difference in talent. Tech will not have Georgia’s level of talent until they decide to go after 5-star “academically challenged” atheletes. Until then, Georgia will always have better personnel.