LIVE BLOG: Georgia tries to avoid ‘trap’ against Tennessee
Bulldogs safety Bacarri Rambo goes through warmups at Sanford Stadium. (Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS – So is this affirmation week or trap week?
Georgia plays Tennessee today. Honestly, I was a little surprised when the Glantz-Culver line (adopted by the AJC and Weekend Predictions, Inc. as the official point spread ) opened with the Bulldogs as a 15-point favorite and it immediately dropped to 13½ (though it has inched back up to 14).
The Dogs are ranked No. 5, and look like legitimate
Alec Olgetree, along with Bacarri Rambo, returns from a four-game suspension. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
title contenders. Other than some first-half hiccups in the SEC opener at Missouri, they have looked strong defensively and leveled Vanderbilt 48-3 last week. Tennessee isn’t as bad as some people think – Derek Dooley inherited a mess and really isn’t doing a bad job – but for the Volunteers’ defense to give up 555 yards at home in a 37-20 loss to Florida speaks to where the program is.
The “trap” concerns come from the fact Georgia plays at No. 6 South Carolina next week, in a game that conceivably could decide the SEC East. And, fact is, Georgia has laid some eggs against Tennessee in the past: a 45-19 loss at Knoxville in 2009, 35-14 loss at Knoxville in 2007, 51-33 loss in Athens in 2006, 19-14 loss in Athens in 2004.
But I think it’s more about this: People are waiting for something to go wrong. Georgia is 4-0, including 2-0 in the conference. It hasn’t started this strong since 2008, when it was 4-0 going into the infamous “blackout” game against Alabama, only to be body-slammed 41-30 at home.
In fact, the Dogs have not won their first three conference games in a season since 2005, when they started 5-0 (7-0 overall). Quarterback D.J. Shockley was injured and they lost the next game to Florida 14-10, as well as Auburn the following week. But they still won the SEC title that season.
The biggest news going into today’s game is the expected return of both safety Bacarri Rambo and linebacker Alec Ogletree. Coach Mark Richt has played coy on the subject all week but it has been widely reported that both players had been suspended for four games.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Time to open the cyber-venting lines. I’ll be back to chat shortly.
What are you thoughts about today’s game?
By Jeff Schultz
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1,545 comments Add your comment
Patrick
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
Brownies—you are dead right…..disappointed and frustrated with mediocre football. A win but ugly,ugly, ugly.
MontanaDawg
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
GO DAWGS!! The offense overall looked impressive. The mental mistakes and unfortunate turnovers hurt us. Where was the defense when it counted? If it wasn’t for a couple of dropped passes by Tennessee this game could have been lost. I’d give the offense an A- and the defense a C+. We’d better tighten up and improve on defense – both run (TN ran for 197 yards!) and pass (way too much cushion). And where was the pass rush??? I think it showed up on one or two final plays but was nonexistent otherwise the entire game.
cooter
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
YEA WHAT ABOUT THAT HAND SHAKE …. JUST SAYIN
Not So Fast
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
Tampa Gator you should no better than to say that this game can give you any idea what’s going to happen when we play the Gators. I mean Missouri hung with UGA but manhandled by USC. USC struggles with Vandy, but UGA crushes them. This game looked an awful lot like the UGA/USC game last year except with the Dawgs winning. Plus, this is normally the type of game the Dawgs have lost in the past even in years they won the SEC.
Josh Smith for 3
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
Enough with this the-sky-is-falling garbage. A win is a win, and a game like this is the perfect practice field material. The SC-UGA game has virtually never seen a blowout, so don’t expect it to be any different this year. Take the win and move on.
Pope UGA XXIII
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
Forgetting for the moment, the final score which more closely resembles
a high school basketball game, these are the type of games that Vince would
usually win, while Richt has a history of letting get away. The fact that UGA
was able to come back and hold on is very encouraging. Good game Dawgs !!
Incidentally, if we go to the chikin coop next week and make this same # of
mistakes, we will come home with a 5 – 1 record.
Meanwhile, at Grant Field, Tech plans for their Housing Project bowl game
against Georgia State !!
Terry
September 29th, 2012
7:37 pm
01HAWK, I notice that too.
Tampa Gator
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
KDS….
Read your post and then tell me what it means……please.
evil empire
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
time for the” axis of idiocy”, aka kingdaddy, dawginlex, and altahamadawg, to flood this blog with their stupid comments….
Dawgz81
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
They’re “running” all over SC right now
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
Georgia is so good this season that we can’t even give a game way no more!!! GO DAWGS!!!
Russa
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
“CMR and Lil Dooley had a chilly handshake”
no reason for him to have an attitude show against the opposing coach for his own D’s poor play
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
away
NJDawg
September 29th, 2012
7:39 pm
Well…a win is a win but defense better clean some stuff up big time before next weekend. Zero pressure on the qb today.
BubbaGolf
September 29th, 2012
7:39 pm
Yeah, not much of a handshake…doew CMR watching his back for another Dooley…SC is looking a bit soft too early with KY. Go DAWGS!
Woofy One
September 29th, 2012
7:39 pm
The Dawgs need to hang on to the ball. Take away the turnovers and it is a different game but we seem to do that despite the ball handling drills. Hats off to Tenn. for a good game.
I still hope Barbara Dooley tells Derek to ditch the dang orange pants.
Papa Smurf
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
Lou Holtz is a babbling idiot!
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
Tampa Gator …Georgia should of won that game by 4 TD’s. Any other Georgia team would of lost that game. Not This one. Every game is different and it should be a good game in Jacksonville.
Bulldogs Defense Exposed
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
The Bulldogs seems more like pretenders than contenders for the east. This defense was just exposed by Tenneessee, so what will S.carolina and Florida do in the weeks to come. They were reading their own press clippings too much. I imagine that this performance should drop them from #5.
the silver lining
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
hey atleast we are not tech!
RunninWithTheDawgs
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
Our defense got tired — not enough depth, but our offense scored 51 points. SO — Is the glass half empty or half full ?
wheel moosebhump
September 29th, 2012
7:40 pm
@ TAMPA GATOR
GATURDS SUCK
Tampa Gator
September 29th, 2012
7:41 pm
Not So Fast……
I did not say anything about this game having anything to do with the Florida-Georgia game. I just said that Florida’s offensive and defensive lines dominated the Vols….in their house….and it also shut down a prolific Texas A&M offense. I think Florida has maybe the best D in the SEC this year….and the offense is also coming on strong. But we will find out for sure next weekend in the SWAMP vs. LSU.
dbc
September 29th, 2012
7:41 pm
We dodged a bullet, but it may catch up to us next week. If the D plays like this against SC, it won’t turn out well. I don’t understand how a UGA D that was ranked so high last year, can look so inept with almost everyone back. Maybe this is the bad game they have to get out of their system.
To Tennessee fans, I know moral victories don’t mean much, but you gave the #5 team in the country all it could handle and more. Dooley had them playing at a high level and they never quit. Be proud of that — I think you have the right coach and are very close to turning the corner. You didn’t quite get over the hump today, but it was a huge step forward. I honestly thought UGA would win by 21 and hold Bray and company to under 20. Congrats and chins up.
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:41 pm
How many games should Auburn of lost in 2010?? You got to win these type games. That is what champions do.
BubbaGolf
September 29th, 2012
7:41 pm
Yes, win is a win. But, they will need to play much better to beat SC or will SC need to play well to beat UGA….mystery………..lol. Go Dawgs!
Tampa Gator
September 29th, 2012
7:41 pm
wheel…..
You got that right……Gators really suck.
satxdawg
September 29th, 2012
7:42 pm
Our D plays like crap but some how its cmr fault right ? Smh I guess the legendary coach gratham should get no blame ? We put up 51…5th str8 game going 40+ but somehow bobo has no clue to running a offense right ?? Lol I wish some of yall would just stfu some times
Brownies for everyone
September 29th, 2012
7:42 pm
Good game UT. You guys deserved to win that game. Good luck for rest of season.
katherine
September 29th, 2012
7:42 pm
why dont you all wait to run your mouths until after the ga/sc game.
Dawgfan92
September 29th, 2012
7:43 pm
The real Georgia showed up today. Good offense with a suspect defense. Every team will watch this game and know how to beat the Dawgs. Spurrier has to be relieved. Sad, I really wanted a game where Georgia could make a statement that they were ready for the big time but they’re not. Tennessee played hard but not well. This game should have been put away in the first half and it wasn’t. Glad we won’t have to hear anymore Heismann hype out of Athens. This game took care of that. Only thing that makes this win remotely acceptable was the refs were almost as bad as the ones at my 7 year olds game today. How many missed holding calls. No joy.
JB
September 29th, 2012
7:43 pm
i think the gaytors are going to do the DAWGS up the butt with no lube in jville!!!
katherine
September 29th, 2012
7:43 pm
how did ut deserve to win? you are full of if brownies
bgtodd01
September 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
The offense is a blessing and a curse. They scored so quickly several times, then had deep turnovers, then the two 3 and outs in the 4th qtr. So the defense was gassed…that’s why they gave up so much.
Tampa Gator
September 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
Glory…….
Georgia was lucky to win that game by one touchdown….thanks to Bray’s fumble. That is the way it was today…..to say anything else…..is wearing blinders. And other Georgia teams have nothing to do with this Georgia team. And this week has nothing to do with next week. Georgia will be better prepared and more motivated next week….and Rambo and Ogletree will have one more week to get into the flow of things.
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
If your bashing the UGA D then you obviously know nothing about football. Turning the ball over has a huge effect on how a Defense plays. I guarantee you our defense is not bad. I give some credit to Tennessee for fighting hard.
bgtodd01
September 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
Sometimes the offense needs to have some long, sustained drives to eat clock and give the D a rest.
dawgmancw
September 29th, 2012
7:45 pm
I’ll take it …anyway I can…UT is much better than I expected, and could be a spoiler down the road…btw..anybody heard from GTBob today?
Terry
September 29th, 2012
7:45 pm
Teams get better, and they match up different, can’t go by one game, I’m going to ride this horse till it drops, a win is a win.
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
September 29th, 2012
7:45 pm
Well, it was fun to watch the # 3 and # 4.
katherine
September 29th, 2012
7:46 pm
thank you terry!
Tampa Gator
September 29th, 2012
7:46 pm
Kentucky up on SC 3-0……obviously SC is highly overrated and they should fire Spurrier and his entire coaching staff…..they totally suck.
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:46 pm
No Tampa,
Tennessee was lucky to even have a chance in that game. Your the biggest homer on this blogs. Come on, your not that dumb.
BubbaGolf
September 29th, 2012
7:46 pm
Worst performance for a Defense with 10 returning starters I’ve ever seen.
wheel mooseChump
September 29th, 2012
7:47 pm
@ JB: DESPITE YOUR SEXUAL PREFERENCES, I REALLY DONT THINK A GATOR, MUCH LIKE ITS FANBASE, WOULD HAVE THE REQUIRED ANANTOMY TO “DO THE DAWGS(OR ANY OTHER ANIMAL) UP THE BUTT” WITH OR WITHOUT LUBE. I ACTUALLY THINK THE GATORS ARE MORE PRIMED TO BE ON THE RECEIVING END AND WOULD PROBABLY GAIN MUCH PLEASURE FROM DOING SO
Glory between the Hedges
September 29th, 2012
7:47 pm
these*
DawgNole
September 29th, 2012
7:47 pm
Given our disgraceful performance against Bray, you have to wonder how we’ll do against Shaw next weekend–assuming he squeaks by Ky Jelly tonight.
Not So Fast
September 29th, 2012
7:47 pm
Tampa Gator I expect the Gators to kill LSU. LSU is extremely overrated, yes LSU has a great defense but their offense is pathetic.
BubbaGolf
September 29th, 2012
7:48 pm
I agree TN played well. Give them some credit.
katherine
September 29th, 2012
7:48 pm
lol tampa