Georgia has far better than ‘puncher’s chance’ against LSU
Aron White, Christian Robinson punctuate UGA's return with school flag . (Johnny Crawford)
This is the column that I didn’t think I would be writing six weeks ago, when Georgia fizzled and nearly self-destructed at Vanderbilt, and a five-game winning streak seemed like the furthest thing from Mark Richt’s mind.
This is the column that didn’t seem plausible three months ago when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw, “Boise State 35, Georgia 21” after looking down on the Georgia Dome field to see a Bulldogs team get beat physically by a Mountain West Conference team and play flat emotionally — the worst possible exacta for a hyped-up season opener.
This is the column that says Georgia can beat LSU.
This is not to diminish anything LSU has accomplished this season. How can one diminish an SEC team going 12-0? The Tigers have played and beaten seven teams that were ranked at the time they played. That includes No. 3 Oregon to start the season (40-27), No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa (9-6 in overtime) and No. 3 Arkansas (41-17). LSU is as legitimate and proven as any No. 1 team that has come along in years.
Which doesn’t mean it can’t lose.
No. I’m not drunk on the Kool-Aid. Something changed in Athens. Maybe the 33-28 escape at Vanderbilt was a wake-up call. Maybe it was just a case of a young team slowly gaining confidence. At the very least, we know players reaffirmed that they believed in — and would follow — their head coach. Because a team doesn’t just rally from a 17-3 deficit to beat its nemesis (Florida), destroy Auburn 45-7 and spin a 10-game winning streak after a 0-2 start because it’s suddenly getting bounces.
After the body-slamming of Auburn, when it became clear the Dogs would win the SEC East, many felt they would have a “puncher’s chance” in the conference title game against the winner of the West, LSU or Alabama. But that short-changes Georgia.
When I hear puncher’s chance, I think George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer. In 1994, when Moorer was the heavyweight champion, he won nine straight rounds against the unranked 45-year-old Foreman. Then he got stupid. Foreman suckered him in. He landed a concrete right hand to Moorer’s porcelain chin. When Moorer looked up from the canvas, he saw little blue songbirds circling above him.
Three months after the loss to Boise State, the Bulldogs return to the Georgia Dome Saturday against LSU. They don’t need to rely on one lucky punch to win. They have become that good. They are playing with a rhythm, a confidence and an edge that we haven’t seen since 2007.
A year ago, when I wrote that Richt deserved to come back this season because of what he had accomplished in Athens, there was a backlash. Many fans wanted him fired. I wasn’t ready to make that leap. But neither did I share the confidence of Richt’s defenders, particularly after the season’s first two games. An unraveling seemed imminent. So did a job change. Clearly, that’s not happening now.
LSU is rolling. But so is Georgia. Aaron Murray is the best quarterback the LSU defense will face this season, and in the last four games he has completed 68 percent of his passes for 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. The offense is loaded with receivers: Orson Charles, Malcolm Mitchell, Tavarres King, et al. (Just when Georgia Tech figured it had everybody covered Saturday, a freshman, Chris Conley, popped open in the end zone. Chris Conley? He’s UGA’s sixth-leading receiver.)
The assumption here is that with Isaiah Crowell being held out Saturday with an ankle injury, he and Carlton Thomas (who had only a few carries against Tech) will be ready for LSU and provide balance to the offense.
Defensively, the Dogs get better by the week. They throttled the Tech’s option offense Saturday and held the Jackets to 10 points until a meaningless touchdown in the final minutes.
Boise State and South Carolina combined for eight offensive touchdowns in the first two games. In the 10 since, Georgia has allowed only 12 offensive touchdowns. That includes one or none in seven of the 10 games. This is the second-best defense LSU will face this season. They managed only three field goals (one in overtime) against the only opponent with a better one, Alabama.
Georgia doesn’t have a mere puncher’s chance in the SEC championship. Georgia has a legitimate chance. The team that will play in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 3 is not the same one that played there on Sept. 3.
Some things you just don’t see coming.
By Jeff Schultz
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1,469 comments Add your comment
Buck Strickland
November 27th, 2011
7:10 pm
@Mike Bobo 17 INT
“3. CMR will do anything to keep his job, including squeaking out a small win streak to get a few more years, and a few more dollars”
10 game win streak is small? CMR is only winning to keep his job? Isn’t that what every coach does? I have personal experience of CMR visiting friends on their death beds and signing memorabilia for injured colleagues and veterans, so I can tell you he takes his job as more than a paycheck!. You sir need to get a life. You sir are a freakin idiot. Dismissed.
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:11 pm
Like i mentioned earlier,we own the state and the yellow flies. ENVY IS CRUELER THAN THE GRAVE. Get over it yellow flies,your midget football team $ucks. Guess you didn,t see how your other fellow acc teams faired against the sec. See the usc and clemson game. ACC sub-par league. Does not hold a candle to sec weakest teams. GO DAWGS AND WE ARE PLAYING FOR OUR LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP,MORE THAN I CAN SAY FOR THE YELLOW FLIES. Eat your hearts out losers!!!!
Vain Jangling
November 27th, 2011
7:11 pm
Stark reality:
If Georgia can’t run the ball any better than they did against Tech, there’s not much hope of beating LSU. And I don’t think anyone should expect Highsaiah to have his breakout game this weekend. The dude has a long, long way to go if he’s every going to be the kind of back Georgia folks thought he would be.
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:12 pm
Fire FG and Mark Richt!
5150 UOAD
November 27th, 2011
7:12 pm
Murray will be completing passes to #7 all over the field. Too bad it will be the Honey Badger #7 not Charles #7.
Chillahill43
November 27th, 2011
7:14 pm
Oh yea and another reason UGA will lose —- YALL ARE LOSERS!
jimnalph
November 27th, 2011
7:15 pm
Really?! Are you on drugs?!
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:15 pm
Phil you are a jealious tech fan. Grow a pair you nerd.
Book 'em, Danno!
November 27th, 2011
7:15 pm
I wonder if any of the books about UGA football include the perspective of someone speaking for the late Jan Kemp? The perspective that “student” athletes like Lindsay Scott were playing years without taking college level courses? That the proudest moment of the football program was earned by players who never earned a single college credit?
Dawgtards love to return to 1980, but their memories are really short when it comes to remembering an earthshaking event that happened a few years later that showed the world what a joke UGA athletes were and what a scam artist their beloved Vince Dooley was (and is). So for all those dawgtards with short memories or who think their athletes are actually taking real courses and trying to graduate, here’s the quote that broke the trial wide open and showed what a slimeball Dooley is:
O. Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for the defense, offered a justification for the favorable treatment accorded the athletes, citing a hypothetical player. “We may not make a university student out of him,” he told the jury, “but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbageman when he gets through with his athletic career.”
Nothing has changed at UGA, they just do a slightly better job of keeping things quiet, but that’s hard to do when almost 50 of your player-thugs have been arrested, isn’t it?
UGA: WINNER OF THE FULMER CUP AND THE CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH.
Adios a los perros
November 27th, 2011
7:17 pm
LSU 35, Georgia 3
Buh bye, dawgturds.
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:18 pm
Chillahill43 eat your heart out you useless yellow flie. Techie boy find another blog this one id for winners
truedawg
November 27th, 2011
7:18 pm
GO DAWGS!!!
We beat the bugs! we beat the hillbillies, the lizzards, and the lesser AL team. WOW! feels so good! The Dawgs can beat LSU..If LSU shows up flat and is looking ahead, Dawgs will destroy them. If both teams come ready for a war, it’ll be the best game anyone will see all year (even better than LSU/BAMA). UGA has to be reayd though. I think this game won’t be field goals, it’ll be ball protection. UGA has more weapons. LSU has more experience. One turn over could make the winner. I just hope everyone in the bayou and ESPN world keeps putting UGA down and keeps us a big underDAWG…”what does it benefit a team to win the National title, and lose the SEC?” Perfect tee shirt!! You saw it here first..lol GO DAWGS!!!
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:18 pm
Honey Badger will be no more effective on D than Calvin Johnson was for Tech his last 2 tries against us….
In other words, he’ll do nothing and whine and cry like a baby afterwards!
Go Dawgs!
miles from nowhere
November 27th, 2011
7:19 pm
y’all won’t be playing a 2nd rate acc team this saturday. a team superior in all aspects will come to stinklanta and show you why you belong in the weaker sec east
tell me again
November 27th, 2011
7:20 pm
Oklahoma favored by 30 at home against mighty Texas Tech – oops – THEY LOST! Nebraska predicted to crush Northwestern. OOPS The Wildcats put a scratch down on the Huskers! Iowa State win over Oklahoma State???? NO WAY!!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPS! THEY DID IT! We have no chance????????? THINK AGAIN, my friends! GO DAWGS! Gotta go – I love the naysayers! They have been wrong for 10 weeks in a row now – YOU’RE DOWN TO YOUR LAST CHANCE! I am not thinking about if we lose – I AM THINKING ABOUT WHAT IF WE WIN! Woo Hoo! Gotta go beddie bye………….It’s great to be a Georgia Bull Dawg! This is the blog of the SEC East Champions, baby. Who is the West Champion? LSU – what is Bama? NADA. what is Arkansas? NADA. There are only two teams that have squat left to say , baby AND WE’RE ONE OF THEM! Everybody else – go home and wonder what bowl will take you! Once a Dawg, always a Dawg -HOW SWEET IT IS! Saturday is for you, Larry! We may not win – but, BABY WE”RE IN!!!!!!
LSU4life
November 27th, 2011
7:20 pm
Keep dreaming UGAY…..SEC east = WEAK!!!!! See u in atl for a beatdown from a real team!!!!
miles from nowhere
November 27th, 2011
7:21 pm
ga. will score 10 after lsu pulls it’s starters in the 4th after a 62 point lead
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:21 pm
Book em danno….
Wow. What a sad and pathetic little woos you clearly are. No life, stuck 25 yrs in the past, grasping at straws….
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:22 pm
Our high school football team would whip tech. I love how all the techies get on this blog and post comments because the yellow flies is a sub-par team they are ashamed of and will not post a blog under a tech fan name. You all are as useless as the tech football team,you losers!!!!! 1 out of 11 wins. Dawgs are in another league
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:23 pm
We know full well our chances are slim…
Who cares.
Go Dawgs!
miles from nowhere
November 27th, 2011
7:23 pm
the cowpuppies played 2 quality teams all year and lost but lost will take on a new meaning sat. -embarassment will be more like it
Chillahill43
November 27th, 2011
7:24 pm
Sorry bro ( pierce county leg humper) read my words about that high school football team on North Ave! And that schizo coach they have. This is a Jeff Shultz article not a GA bull pup blog so you
My friend can kiss my rosey red cheeks! My $$ goes West of here to a school that wins and I was born and have spent 50 yrs in this town listening to yall tell me how goid yall are and Ive not seen any sign since the payout years – 79-83.
5150 UOAD
November 27th, 2011
7:24 pm
phil…………I am sure that is what you think. I am sure you said Crowell would be the next running back God at UGA too. UGA will need more than luck to beat LSU.
Go ahead and get the The REFS screwed us excuses.
ESPN & the SEC will make sure LSU will be unblemished going into the MNC game.
Vain Jangling
November 27th, 2011
7:24 pm
Tech “guys” post here because the only ongoing topic on GT blogs is the new xbox 360.
NoodlePro: “Did you hear; it’s got a 250GB console!!!!!”
MathMan: “No way!!!!”
NoodlePro: “Yes way!!!”
MathMan: “Would you like a slushy with that?”
NoodlePro: “Hehehehe!”
Special K
November 27th, 2011
7:24 pm
We got some people who need to get tested for drugs.
Idiot Dawg
November 27th, 2011
7:25 pm
Miles & lsuwho, go suck a crawdad head, bud
Passerby
November 27th, 2011
7:26 pm
Haters: Can you please post intelligent arguments to substantiate your points? Schedule weakness, “UGA sucks”, LSU will “destroy” the Dawgs, Fulmer Cup/Jan Kemp, “cesspool of the south”, etc. are played out diatribes. Perhaps you could use statistics, player match-ups, etc. to back up your argument as to why UGA does not have a chance in this game. Otherwise, your argument is moot, immature, and weak.
miles from nowhere
November 27th, 2011
7:27 pm
lsu gets a national championship warm -up game sat. all good teams should get to beat the snot out of some semi college team before the big game
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:27 pm
TRUEDAWG AND TELL ME AGAIN I AM WITH YOU. It FEELS GREAT TO BE A DAWG. We post who we are and are not ashamed of it. How many of these useless bloggers teams are playing for a league championship. Like i said,the weakest SEC WILL DOMINATE THE OTHER CONFERENCES. Who is the acc???
Dawg48
November 27th, 2011
7:28 pm
The guys on the tech blog are wanting to stop playing Georgia!
It’s depressing over their!
They are quitters!
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:28 pm
Nope.
I had IC figured as a bust the day he signed.
But i do think the SEC will do whatever it takes to mkae sure we lose. Not unlike letting Scam Newton play it out last yr….a pathetic joke.
miles from nowhere
November 27th, 2011
7:29 pm
passerby- do you dispute that you only played to quality teams this year? you lost both and lsu is far better than s. caro and boise st. —’nuff stats for you pinhead?
ugab
November 27th, 2011
7:29 pm
Great win against Tech!!!!!! I believe we can beat anyone in the nation. Just play mistake free football.
Chillahill43
November 27th, 2011
7:29 pm
Stay in Waycross with that 8-3 PC high school team . See your happy losing 3 with all them teams you pull for.. Of course for pierce county high and UGA football 8-3 yep we happy with that!!
5150 UOAD
November 27th, 2011
7:30 pm
Pierce County DAWG……………….how do you know everybody is a TECH fan? paranoid a little? I didn’t think Tech had that many fans. is one person doing all this posting? work hard and get that GED.
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:30 pm
Over their, dawg48?
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:31 pm
PASSREBY YOU DO NOT GO BY STATISTICS YOU GO BY THE SCORE BABY. yOU CAN THROW THE STATISTICS OUT OF THE DOOR. THE BEST I REMEMBER THE DAWGS ARE THE 3RD OR 4TH RATED TEAM IN THE NATION IN D. AND BY THE WAY THEY ARE ALL COMING BACK NEXT YEAR.
Coach Turkey Neck
November 27th, 2011
7:32 pm
Well I thought the SEC sucked and the acc was the same. BUT the walmart workers beat me for a third straight year. My triple options does look like a high school offense and we have no secondary. The SEC went 3-1 head to head against the acc this weekend. The big brothers of the state put the little sisters of the state in their place for 10 of the last 11 years. I wish I was a coach like Mark Richt.
Coach turkey neck
paul johnson
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:33 pm
Fire Paul Johnson!
Vain Jangling
November 27th, 2011
7:33 pm
I must ask that you please apologize to turkey necks everywhere.
angela
November 27th, 2011
7:34 pm
we have never believed marc richt is the right coach to win the national championship
but after the disgrace at penn state and miami and kiffin it is obvious that richt is a decent man which in this day and age of infamy in our government officials maybe is as good as we should hope for
as to LSU it really puzzles me as a life long bulldog why we are so naive to expect an upset
LSU is the deepest toughest team since the chicago bears who won the super bowl in the 80s
they do not have much offense but really we just need to stay close and make it respectable and we will have a wonderfull year given the horrible start and may i remind the readers that we also had a horrible start to the florida game this year which gives us great joy to say is horrible and no longer tebow worthy
it saddens us to think that mettenburger will be their guy next year —maybe we should have put him on probation for a year since he may turn out to be like ben roth at pittsburh stealers
we just hope the line can block for our qb and tiny running backs and if we have one question is why not use boo instead of thomas if samuel is not back
of course we would be in heaven if the dogs would win but dont you think it is too much to expect and we should savor what we have done —my dad up in heaven a fan from the 30s always made excuses for wally butts so i think he is satisfied with what we have done so far
please do not put too much pressure on our guys—LSU is not some cupcake
Passerby
November 27th, 2011
7:34 pm
@miles from nowhere: I am not disputing the weakness of schedule; I just want a fresh perspective of stats, player match-ups…you know points that are not copied/pasted or repeated on every other post. Can you accommodate this request? Doubt it since you bring up teams that were on UGA’s “weak schedule”. Go to bed boy, it’s obvious you don’t have the intellect to contribute any valid points at all.
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:35 pm
5150 LOAD AT LEAST I POST WHERE I AM FROM. YOU IDIOT I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE WHAT ABOUT YOU.CHILLA HILL HEAD YOU PROBABLY WAS A CHEERLEADER,AT LEAST I PLAYED FOOTBALL
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:35 pm
Fire angela!
Artie
November 27th, 2011
7:36 pm
Once again, the UGA fans are drinking the Kool-Aid. LMAO
This is going to be a beatdown worse than Boise gave ya!!!
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:37 pm
Passerby – lol!
YellowJacket
November 27th, 2011
7:37 pm
I think the UGA beats LSU. Why? Simply because they had the balls to schedule Boise State as their season opener. That was a game they couldn’t possibly win and didn’t. However, it was one hell of a wake up call.
Pierce County DAWG
November 27th, 2011
7:37 pm
PROUD TO BE A DAWG!!!!
5150 UOAD
November 27th, 2011
7:37 pm
48…………now you are stretching that a bit. One guys said he would rather not play UGA so he wouldn’t have to listen to dawg fans.
phil
November 27th, 2011
7:38 pm
Not this UGA fan! We have little chance…