Georgia goes up 10-0, then goes down hard to LSU
After early success, it was a difficult night for Georgia's Aaron Murray. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)
(UPDATED: 9:20 p.m.)
This is when all involved with the Georgia program will tell themselves, “Well, we got here.”
They will cling to the fact an inspired defense allowed LSU only 12 yards and zero first downs in the first half. They will bang their heads against the fiberglass Uga’s throughout downtown Athens over the what-might-have-beens, if two dropped touchdown passes on their first two possessions hadn’t left the team with only a field goal. They will grit their teeth as they mold toy Honey Badgers out of Play-Doh, then crush them with their fists.
But in the end, the Bulldogs’ return to the SEC Championship game after six years resulted in an ugly tilt on the scoreboard. The final: LSU 42, Georgia 10.
That might not tell the whole story. But it reaffirms what we sort of knew: Despite the season’s 10-game winning streak and the remarkable resiliency we witnessed after a 0-2 start, the Bulldogs just aren’t there yet.
“It doesn’t seem real right now that our momentum stopped,” said tight end Aron White, whose first-quarter touchdown gave the Dogs a 10-0 lead. “It really catches you off-guard when all of a sudden the accolades and the wins stop. It’s definitely going to take a while to get over. But at the end of the day, I don’t think a loss to the No. 1 team in America from the best conference in America is going to take away from the season we’ve had. We can’t say we’re the best, but we can say we were pretty damn good.”
Hard to believe, the Dogs led 10-0. They would have rejoiced more if they didn’t believe that it should have been 21-0, the residue of dropped touchdown passes by Tavarres King and Malcolm Mitchell. They will wonder how a game in which they once held a 134-7 advantage in totals so completely spun out of control.
“Basically we lost the momentum, they gained it and we couldn’t slow it down,” coach Mark Richt said.
Three months ago, the Bulldogs left the Georgia Dome after a 35-21 loss to Boise State, leaving most wondering about their direction, their resilience and, most of all, Richt.
That shouldn’t be the case any more. But the sting of 42-10 losses tend to sting a while.
Following White’s touchdown, the Dogs’ next 10 possessions resulted in seven punts and three turnovers (all leading to LSU touchdowns). The Bulldogs saw a game that they were implausibly dominating get turned around by a gravity-defying punt returner known in the swamplands as the “Honey Badger.” Sophomore Tyrann Mathieu returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to give LSU what the offense couldn’t: points. Then he brought back another one 47 yards early in third quarter – unofficially breaking seven tackles along the way. That set up a second touchdown and gave the Tigers a 14-10 lead.
Richt on Mathieu: “I’ll be honest: I enjoy watching the guy play football, other than when he plays against us.”
Soon, it was like somebody pulled the stopper out of the bathtub.
A fumble by quarterback Aaron Murray led to another touchdown. The Dogs’ wore down on both lines. LSU then ran them into the ground. The SEC championship was theirs, and the Dogs’ 10-game winning streak was over.
By midway through the fourth quarter, a Dome crowd that was two-thirds Georgia fans was two-thirds empty with a decidedly purple-and-gold tilt.
The Dogs will have a few weeks off before their bowl game. They’ll need it to recover — mentally moreso than physically.
About the what-might-have-beens: The Bulldogs’ defense forced six straight three-and-outs. But that success didn’t carry over to the offense. King dropped a third-down pass in the end zone on the first drive, forcing the Dogs to settle for a 40-yard field goal by Blair Walsh. Malcolm Mitchell dropped a third-down pass at the LSU 5-yard-line on the second drive, seemingly preoccupied with turning to run into the end zone. This time, Walsh missed from 45 yards.
A 10-0 lead against No. 1 just isn’t good enough when it should be 21-0.
“We wanted to have a better show then we ended up showing for 60 minutes,” Richt said.
It was a good show for a short while.
By Jeff Schultz
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1,203 comments Add your comment
smart dawg
December 3rd, 2011
11:37 pm
Les Miles, when interviewed by one of the female sideline people, always manages to take a look at their boobs.
Hy Ronatt
December 3rd, 2011
11:38 pm
Let the drunken wife beating begin as all 159 sheriffs departments will be stretched thin responding to calls from trailer parks.
Maggie
December 3rd, 2011
11:38 pm
Anyone know where Glenn is? I need some feminine hygenine.
GTBob
December 3rd, 2011
11:39 pm
Consider this…, I know it bugs you and it bugs me too, but GT wasn’t very hyped up for the UGA game. That doesn’t mean UGA wouldn’t have beaten us anyways because they probably would have but our team didn’t seem to really care one way or the other. Not as much as LSU tonight anyways.
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:39 pm
The official UGA montra…….”Wait until next year”
Dale
December 3rd, 2011
11:39 pm
Maggie I have your gun. Now come to my trailer
The Real Deal
December 3rd, 2011
11:40 pm
Honey Badger / Aaron Murray…. Its simple, first you take words then you make them into sentences and if your really good… you use things called punctuation! Then try to put a thought together! Take your time!
Les is more.
December 3rd, 2011
11:41 pm
…more than the dawgs can handle.
voice of reason
December 3rd, 2011
11:42 pm
Fair and Balanced, did good for a quarter and defense for a half is not good. UGA has been in the top ten recruiting classes for at least 5 years. Why all of a sudden did LSU become one of the best teams ever. We have probably at least if not more talent recruiting wise than LSU has. UGA is always growing, but next year never comes.
Aaron Murray
December 3rd, 2011
11:42 pm
@The Real Deal
Are you crying as badly as I?
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:43 pm
Georgia can’t handle the Big stage.
The Honey Badger
December 3rd, 2011
11:43 pm
@Aaron Murray
I believe he is.
The Real Deal's Mom
December 3rd, 2011
11:44 pm
He whines alot.
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:44 pm
They are not getting coached up like other teams in the conference.
The Real Deal's Mom
December 3rd, 2011
11:45 pm
My son is so ‘gay’.
Jan Kemp
December 3rd, 2011
11:46 pm
Damn boys, I’m all for de-emphasizing football, but not in the middle of a game, for God’s sake.
Ben
December 3rd, 2011
11:46 pm
Ehh. LSU is a GREAT team. No shame in losing although I wish we’d have kept it a little closer.
Still, it’s not like we’re the only team they’ve done this to this year.
We needed to be perfect today and we weren’t. LOTS of young talent coming back next year and, most importantly, Aaron Murray. Got to get more creative offensively though, shore up the drops, and focus on the RB position. I want IC here but if he needs a co-#1 to get through the season, then Keith Marshall…….COME OOOON DOWN. Carlton Thomas has the heart, but God bless him, he just doesn’t have the size to be an every down back.
Gonna be a very closely watched recruiting season for sure.
Dogbegone
December 3rd, 2011
11:47 pm
Voice of Reason, say it like it is brother. It may be time for a coaching change after all since UGA fans expect a national title every year. I think the players enjoy reading about how good they are only to lose touch with reality.
Let's talk about UGA!
December 3rd, 2011
11:47 pm
Mama just called.
She said the Honey Badger just ran by her trailer!
MARK FSU
December 3rd, 2011
11:49 pm
The Dawgs were chippy and trash talking at the beginning of the game. Just shows that you can take the coach out of FSU but you can’t take FSU out of the coach. Thuga Uga.
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:49 pm
Is Keith Marshall the 10th “next” Hershel?
Dawg Whisperer
December 3rd, 2011
11:50 pm
UGA dominated the #1 team in the country for the first half and exactly how many other teams could have done what the dawgs did? You can name them on one hand. After watching this game, I’m not particularly concerned with any of the teams that UGA whipped this year. It will happen again next year and that’s a comforting thought.
Yuck
December 3rd, 2011
11:50 pm
Well, at least the Dawgs didn’t disappoint. With the Braves, Falcons, and Dawgs…what else can be expected from major athletics in this state? Just when you think you have a chance….reality sets in, and you remember where you live!!
Dogbegone
December 3rd, 2011
11:51 pm
J Kemp, thanks, no more appropriate words could have been spoken tonight. How did it make you feel to give those boys C’s when you knew they couldn’t even write their own names?
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:53 pm
Ahhhh yes…….always “Next Year”.
athdog
December 3rd, 2011
11:53 pm
Georgia season ticket holder for 25 years plus, and I’ve always said that we have the most unrealistic
fan base in the nation.
Started 0-2 and end up 10-2. Lost the SECC to the best team in the country. Anyone with half a brain knew we had little chance of beating LSU. The coaches knew it would take a lot of luck to win. Why do you think they pulled out the reverse pass, the onside kick in the first half, etc..
We have a good football team. LSU has a great one. Sometimes you get beaten by a better team.
Tonight, the Dogs did. We’ll be back.
Bamajacket
December 3rd, 2011
11:54 pm
LSU is maybe the best team I’ve watched in 10 years. There is no shame in losing to this team. I still say Murray is a damn fine QB. Tech should have known, I certainly knew, we could contain the run. It was Murray, Charles, Bennett, King, etc. who would beat us. We put no pressure on him, and the kid killed us. Tonight you saw pressure. Nobody can throw well in that onslaught. Your running game I don’t see as the fault of the line. Thomas is what? 170 pounds? And Crowell the “dream” back? He needs to be gone. Useless. 24 is the only RB out there tonight with heart. I was really impressed. The first half was two pretty dominant defensive lines, and a few dropped passes. (Not Murray’s fault). It seemed GA ran out of adreneline against an absolute beast of a team. Good luck in your bowl game. And yes, you whipped our a** fair and square.
Boyz From North Ave
December 3rd, 2011
11:54 pm
This game is a perfect example of why there sdnt be e/w divsions..top 2 teams in league play. UGAGA didnt belong here tonite.
BraveFish
December 3rd, 2011
11:55 pm
Seems that we have BullPUPS right now! Who knows what can happen when those puppies become GROWN DAWGS!!!
Dawg Whisperer
December 3rd, 2011
11:55 pm
Ahh yes…UGA was in the SEC championship this year.
athdog
December 3rd, 2011
11:55 pm
Bamajacket.
Nice post, brother.
Happy Holidays
Ace70
December 3rd, 2011
11:56 pm
I just heard on wsb radio that the UGA Athletic Director is going to petition the NCAA to allow all Georgia games next year to be shortened to 30 min.
Cobb Dawg
December 3rd, 2011
11:56 pm
Beautiful job by the coaching staff getting the entire team ready for the start of the game. Horrible job at half time. You have to be smart to look at what a team’s doing, or think about what they might do, and make adjustments. CMR and Bobo are just simply not that smart. Neither was Goff and Donnan. Actually Donnan might have been smart, he was just not cut out to lead. LSU made changes at half and UGA did not, plain and simple. Crowell’s not a D-1 running back and will never play on Sundays. Murray has yet to prove to me that he is a big game QB. The jury’s still out on him. But UGA better sign some good running backs and teach the O-line how to run block or next season will be a repeat of this one.
voice of reason
December 3rd, 2011
11:57 pm
Just a question, how can Crowell limp as bad off the field the first three plays he got hit and then come back in the game and not limp again, until he got run over by a defensive player while Murray got smashed. He almost required assistance off the field again, Another miracle; he once again returns with no limp? Either we have healing trainers that I need, or he is a wuss. He could be great but me thinks he has no heart.
Dawg Whisperer
December 3rd, 2011
11:57 pm
UGA doesn’t need more than 30 minutes to beat the bumblebees.
Mr. Pibb
December 3rd, 2011
11:59 pm
This one really hurt. Looked so good in the first half, only to look awful in the second. The running backs suck, and the play calling was amateurish. UGA will never win big with this coaching staff.
Ace70
December 4th, 2011
12:00 am
I agree Tech is an average team year in and year out.
Dawg Whisperer
December 4th, 2011
12:02 am
Boyz… more than the GT football players according to progress report from NCAA.
srschirm
December 4th, 2011
12:02 am
I also like to hate on college athletes. You dawg fans can SUCK it. Now go check out my dating profile and help me find a date. http://www.okcupid.com/profile/srschirm
Fire Paul Johnson!
Ace70
December 4th, 2011
12:02 am
Hit the nail right on the head Mr. Pibb with that last sentence.
Realpissed
December 4th, 2011
12:05 am
is it just me or did the dawgs seem to be satisfied with winning the first half. It’s like the cheerleaders
Took the field in the second half. WTF was that all about?
Realpissed
December 4th, 2011
12:05 am
is it just me or did the dawgs seem to be satisfied with winning the first half. It’s like the cheerleaders
Took the field in the second half. WTF was that all about?
Dawg Whisperer
December 4th, 2011
12:05 am
Going to the SEC championship (4) times in (10) years with the same head coach is winning big unless you’re a GT fan. Winning big for GT is beating UGA once every ten years.
WnE
December 4th, 2011
12:05 am
I’ve been tell you guys all along how much our coaching staff sucks. We need new running backs who can compete in the SEC.
Rob Man
December 4th, 2011
12:05 am
Serious GT fan here…
You Dawgs should be proud – you outplayed and out-coached LSU for two quarters and, except for five dropped passes, you might’ve beaten those Cajuns. Remember, though, that LSU has coming storming back all year long and they might’ve taken UGA too lightly early on. They found out better…
Bamajacket
December 4th, 2011
12:06 am
Dawg Whisperer, how the hell did you figure out what Boyz was saying? I can make no sense of that?
GTBob
December 4th, 2011
12:06 am
Crowell had 15 yds on 10 carries. He also lost 15 yards with a stupid penalty. I’m not sure why you guys think so much of that guy.
Mr. Pibb
December 4th, 2011
12:07 am
Just saw where John Theus may make a visit to Flroida, based on today’s game. Wonder if there will be others…….
Ace70
December 4th, 2011
12:07 am
or beating Florida 4 or 5 times in 20 years…..*LOL*
Boyz From North Ave
December 4th, 2011
12:07 am
hey Dawg Whisperer…whats the over/under of Isiah staying eligible past next year……I want some of that action……LOl….Unk Boh mahnganie……ugga booga.