With Lattimore out, Dogs’ hopes rest on Florida game
Mark Richt didn't like what he saw at Vanderbilt but his team's in a good situation.
Not that anybody wants to see a great athlete have his season ended by an injury. But could anything more possibly go right for Georgia?
South Carolina has lost running back Marcus Lattimore for the season with a torn knee ligament. Lattimore was the key to the SEC East title last season. It was reasonable to think the Gamecocks might be able to overcome the personal and career meltdowns of quarterback Stephen Garcia and still win the division if they could get reasonable play from backup Connor Shaw. But losing Lattimore might be too much.
What does that mean for the Bulldogs? Just this: Beat Florida in two weeks and there’s a good chance they’ll be in the SEC championship game (against either Alabama or LSU).
Consider the top three teams in the East and the remaining schedule:
• SOUTH CAROLINA (4-1): The Gamecocks hold a tiebreaker edge over the Dogs for their win in game two. They probably will still win their game at Tennessee in two weeks, but sweeping the final two games at Arkansas and home against Florida will be difficult. Actually, they could lose both of those games. A split leaves them at 6-2. But minus Lattimore, 5-3 may be more likely.
• GEORGIA (4-1): If the Dogs sweep their final three conference games against Florida, Auburn and Kentucky – all at home – they’ll almost certainly win the division with a 7-1 record. If they beat the Gators, they’ll eliminate Florida and likely finish at least 6-2 (assuming a win over Kentucky). In that scenario, they would need South Carolina to lose to both Arkansas and Florida (assuming a win over Tennessee). If the Dogs to Florida, they probably would drop a game back, allow the Gators back in the race and lose tiebreakers to both division competitors. They could finish 7-1, 6-2 or 5-3.
• FLORIDA (2-3): The Gators need to sweep their final three games to have a shot in the East. That’s possible, particularly if injured quarterback John Brantley comes back from a leg injury. (Coach Will Muschamp said he hopes to get Brantley back for the Georgia game.) After Georgia, Florida’s only remaining SEC games are against Vanderbillt and South Carolina. They’ll finish 5-3, 4-4 or 3-5.
Most of the Dogs’ shortcomings were on display at Vanderbilt Saturday night. Mistakes and the lack of discipline upset coach Mark Richt. But they’ve won five straight and getting back to the SEC title game now may hinge on just beating Florida. Which, of course, has been a problem over the last two decades.
By Jeff Schultz
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374 comments Add your comment
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:03 pm
BobDawg, You are right. Who else is out there that’s won over 100 games? This was not all the head coach. I think UGA has lost several players over the last few years to career ending injuries and being kicked off the team. I can tell things are turning around. Look at the Falcons D today. That was the same defense Martinez ran at UGA. We had players playing a bend don’t break zone defense that were not very good. Now we have a real defense with great players playing it. UGA will win out to the title game. They may win or they may not but with most of the team coming back on defense, and Crowell, Murray Mitchell, and Jay Rome at TE we will start out in the top 15 next year.
BobDawg
October 16th, 2011
10:06 pm
So who does JB want to lead us to the promised land???
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:06 pm
JB says CMR should go somewhere else to mold young men because it is not important but will be the first to whine when we have one get in trouble saying they are thugs.
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:07 pm
kerryb, I would be happy if he ran the table, won in the dome and won a bowl. I’m just not seeing it. Way way too many of the same problems. Just watch us play a worthy team and see.
BobDawg
October 16th, 2011
10:09 pm
And if JB’s new head man brings the Spread, I’m gonna puke
Herschel Talker
October 16th, 2011
10:09 pm
Schultzie:
Please don’t tell me that even if we win the East that you’re buying into the Richt baloney. This guy has lucked into it this year with his garbage schedule. The team was pathetic yet again this past weekend and barely squeaked by a bad team. This is a joke. This guy needs to get fired anyway, no matter what happens at this point. This season is a mirage. We’ll be back in the crapper next year when the schedule gets hard.
FIRE MARK RICHT!!!
HT
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:09 pm
Never called any of players a thug or whine. You are putting words on this blog that i have not said. I have not attacked our players as individuals or called them such. Have defended them. I have called out this coach and staff.
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:10 pm
kerryb….see 10:09 post…………………………..The world is watching……
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:11 pm
I just see a team that won 5 games in a row. Dont really care how just that they found a way to win. Man, they win and no one is still happy about it.
Michael Adams
October 16th, 2011
10:11 pm
Winning 100 games just means you are old.
BobDawg
October 16th, 2011
10:11 pm
I think u can still mold men and win
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:13 pm
@kerryb
Take a hot shower and some Vitamin C – and stay away from the Kool-Aid!
When the haze clears up, you will understand that ALL college football teams are “young”, that they ALL suffer from injuries to their players and that not every recruit pans out.
Georgia doesn’t have a great defense. Georgia has been playing some real cream-puffs. Vandy lit your defense up, and Vandy hadn’t even scored a point or gained any yardage lately – until they played against your “great” defense last night – with their backup quarterback.
Georgia won’t even sniff a title game. You need to go ahead and disabuse yourself of that little fantasy, before you get your feelings hurt… again.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:13 pm
Now, Here comes Herschel Talker, The second most negative UGA fan.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:14 pm
SEC fan, get your a** off a UGA blog. No one cares what you think.
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:15 pm
kerryb……and those teams are 1-13 since our run. look it up yourself. Cupcakes. If Arkansas,Bama and LSU had played us, we would be playing under an interiem coach as of now. we would be 2-5…As Herschel Talker said above, the schedule has saved Mark so far, not our play. It’s just the truth.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:16 pm
Do you believe that people fear you kerryb?
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:16 pm
You think UF that couldnt score more than 6 points on an Auburn team with a bad pass defense is going to sniff a title game? NOT Maybe a SC team without Lattimore? NOT Tenn? get real. Who else?
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:17 pm
kerryb, SEC Fan is just telling us the truth, and yes it’s hurts.
BobDawg
October 16th, 2011
10:17 pm
kerryb… We need to open up a DAwg shrink practice . We make a killing on here
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:18 pm
JB, do you realize that the only team Bama has played that is any good is Arkasas and they gave away a game to Texas A&M. So, who has Bama played so far?
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:19 pm
BobDawg, you are right. I’ve never seen such wussie UGA fans with a complex.
LookOutBelow
October 16th, 2011
10:19 pm
Shouldn’t all of you people be standing on a ledge somewhere?
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:20 pm
I do know they have steamrolled everyone they have played, not hanging on in the last seconds to beat the worst team in the SEC.
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:21 pm
hey lookout, you are correct, I’m hitting the hay….Night kerryb and go dawgs.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:21 pm
@kerryb
Florida will win the SEC East. They have already been beaten by their West Division opponents. They will not lose another SEC game. Brantley only had a high ankle sprain. He will play. Demps and Rainey will both be healthy next week.
Georgia and South Carolina will both have 3 losses at the end of the year. You probably know as well as I do which ones they will lose. Florida will win the tie-breaker by virtue of having defeated both of the contenders.
JB
October 16th, 2011
10:22 pm
kerryb…………………..one last thing….are you and BobDawg blogging from the same house….Geez.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:22 pm
I’ve said this before. Just like Tony Barnhart says, ” Winning on the road in the SEC is like a knife fight in a ditch, you dont care how you win just that you do”. Like Loren Smith said in the pre game show. There are no pretty or ugly wins only that you win. We are winning and I dont really care how we do it.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:23 pm
SEC fan, now you really have me laughing. Florida? Ha Ha Ha Ha
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:24 pm
JB, Vandy is not the worst team in the SEC. That title goes to Ole Miss and Kentucky.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:24 pm
Hide & Watch you little dummy.
katherine
October 16th, 2011
10:26 pm
wow…looking at all the posts why even play the remainder of the season? its over right? the negativity from people who supposedly are fans of the dawgs is unbelievable. Can’t you all ever just enjoy a win for a few days before you start bashing the team and saying all hope is lost?
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:26 pm
SEC fan, who has UF beaten to make you think they will win the SEC east. TN? Not a very good team. Kentucky? That team is so bad that Ole Miss would probably beat them.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:27 pm
Georgia will lose to both Florida and Auburn. South Carolina will lose to Florida and Arkansas. Auburn already beat SC.
Georgia is lucky that they didn’t lose last night. They didn’t deserve to win. Vandy was the better team.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:27 pm
katherine, Amen to that
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:28 pm
@kerryb
Who has Georgia beaten?
Period?
Hummon
October 16th, 2011
10:28 pm
After getting caught up in hype and anticipation the last few years, only to be disappointed every time, I’ve concluded that these are our worst enemies. I just want to see them win the next play. Then we can think about the one after that.
UGAKev from Columbus GA
October 16th, 2011
10:29 pm
SEC FAN,
Son, forget the kool-aid, you are way past that. Put down the crack pipe because the cops are on their way to your house.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:30 pm
SEC Fan, the last 5 opponents which UF hasn’t done.
LoganvilleDAWG
October 16th, 2011
10:30 pm
Stendek , you are a dipstick!! I have been wondering where your dumb commnets had been. You think you know UGA football and Coach Richt is the problem…you are more than an idiot. You are saying this is not UGA football, then bring back Ray Goff, Jim Donnan or some of the Vince Dooly era. Coach Richt has the best first ten years of the other coaches I mentioned earlier. We have had some down years the last 2 seasons, but I promise you no one on this blog including myself have a great year, year in & year out, NO ONE.
So why don’t you support our team, our coaches & want the Bulldawg nation to be winners.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:31 pm
Georgia has become an embarrassment to the conference. Mark Richt has brought an ACC attitude to the program and I wish that they would just move to the ACC. I can deal with a losing record, but you guys just don’t know how to behave like civilized human beings. You wallow in excuses for your poor performance and bad behavior and you refuse to face reality.
UGAKev from Columbus GA
October 16th, 2011
10:32 pm
Kerryb, SEC Fan is probably a little kid just trying to get attention on here. If he is not a kid it’s all worse then we thought.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:33 pm
SEC Fan, just bite me
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:33 pm
Get off the UGA blog you moron
Buckhead Bulldog
October 16th, 2011
10:33 pm
kerryb – You seem to be obsessed with calling fellow Dog fans out on their allegiance to UGA just because they have a different viewpoint than you do. This is a AJC UGA blog where people come to let off steam and throw their two cents out there. You seem to be patrolling this blog as if you it was yours.
When did YOU graduate from UGA, and how many years have you been contributing to the Bulldog Club/Hartman fund?
I’ll go first so you will be comfortable in telling us about YOUR UGA hefitage….I graduated in ‘87 BA-Econ., and have been a contributing/season tix holder since ‘88.
Are you sure you are not the homer Dawg Stephen who refused to deal with reality last year on here? http://dawgstephen.blogspot.com/
Hairy Dawg
October 16th, 2011
10:34 pm
I tolds everyones that Dawgs was goning to run tables to GA Dome. The bad fans trying to hot sit Coach Richt was wrong and need to eat crows for being doubting Thomases of Big Dawgs winning out. Now we need to extends contract and get it done for winning East. Then we goes down Jax and parties on stinky Gaytors that not good any more cause stuck with Zookers Ghost of loosers in traitor Muschumps and flabby boy Wies. We put the wounded low class lizzard out of misery to get us a new pair of Gaytor skinned hobnail boots. Then we finish Gaytors season by getting them beat down into second rate programs they are. Dawgs is best and looking forward to expose real talent on Gaytors low life Okefenoke pond scums.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:34 pm
No Kevin,
I’m an old man who has been a fan of Southern college football longer than you’ve walked the face of this Earth. I know that you don’t want to hear what I’m saying, but someone needs to say it.
kerryb
October 16th, 2011
10:36 pm
Buckhead Bulldog, No. I”m just tired of going on the blog and hearing nothing but all these negative whiney idiots that need to grow a set that call themselves UGA fans. We just won 5 games in a row and they are still not satisfied. They have to focus on every negative thing they can think of and not look at any positives at all.
UGAKev from Columbus GA
October 16th, 2011
10:37 pm
SEC Fan, you would of been better off just saaying you were a kid. Wow.
Buckhead Bulldog
October 16th, 2011
10:37 pm
Oh yeah kerryb, and a huge UGA fan for 36 years.
SEC Fan
October 16th, 2011
10:37 pm
Tell ya what kerry. I’ll check back with you in two weeks and we’ll see what you have to say. Remember, I warned you.