Georgia’s new reality: From on the brink to BCS possibility
If Mark Richt and the Bulldogs win two more games they'll play for BCS title. (Brandt Sanderlin/AJC)
This is why we love sports. This is why it’s the greatest reality show we have going – unscripted and unexpected, with fluctuating emotions of fan bases from game to game.
Who foresees this? Who looks at a 0-2 Georgia team last season, with coach Mark Richt under assault by fans and media, with the program a non-factor in the SEC for more than two years, boat-raced in the conference by Alabama, Florida and LSU, and thinks: By the end of next season, those Bulldogs may have a chance to play for the BCS championship?
After some early hiccups in Athens Saturday, Georgia buried Georgia Southern 45-14. That’s one development that surprised nobody. What changed the landscape of college football’s national race is what occurred later that evening.
Kansas State, the BCS’s No. 1 team, got body-slammed 52-24 by Baylor (the same Baylor that was 1-5 in the Big 12 before kickoff). Oregon, the BCS’s No. 2 team, was upset at home by Stanford in overtime 17-14 (the same Oregon team whose point totals had ranged from 42 to 70 in its first 10 games).
These developments made happy people of everybody in the SEC office and a significant portion of the population in Georgia and Alabama. The losses by Kansas State and Oregon opened the door to the winner of the SEC championship game getting a pass into the BCS title game. When the new BCS rankings came out Sunday night, the top five teams were as expected: 1) Notre Dame; 2) Alabama; 3) Georgia; 4) Florida; 5) Oregon. Kansas State dropped all the way to sixth.
For the Bulldogs, it comes down to this: Win two games and they’re in. Yes, really.
Beat rival Georgia Tech at home next week (they will be favored) and Alabama in two weeks at the Georgia Dome (they will be underdogs) and the Dogs will play for their first BCS title.
Suddenly, residents of this state – at least those not associated with the teams on North Ave. – bark in unison.
Richt will have a difficult job trying to keep his players focused on a football game this week. That’s not the norm. Getting players to think about a game against their state rival shouldn’t be a chore. But the circumstances are extraordinary. Georgia’s last national championship came in 1980, and even if the Dogs need three more victories to win another one, nobody imagined they would get this close – not this year.
Just consider the reaction by some Georgia players on Twitter immediately following Oregon’s loss to Stanford:
• Quarterback Aaron Murray (@aaronmurray11): “Yesssssssssssss!!!!!! The Murray household just went crazyyyyy!!!!!!”
• Running back Keith Marshall (@truthh4): “Can’t lie. I’m excited right now.” But he followed that with: “Gotta focus on GT first.”
• Wide receiver Tavarres King (@TKUnoDos): “ALL SMILES!!!!!!!!”
• Cornerback Sanders Commings: “Thank you Baylor, thank you Stanford.” And Sunday morning: “And I wake up pinching myself. Yea it’s real. We control our own destiny.”
• Safety Marc Deas (@DatBoiDeas): “Show me the BCS!!!!”
Richt will try to ground them all this week. But one thing Georgia has done well is respond to adversity, whether it’s a loss (like getting pounded by South Carolina) or struggling early in against an inferior opponent (like Saturday against Georgia Southern). Maybe that grounding effect can work in high times, too.
“The one thing that’s different about this team is our composure,” wide receiver Chris Conley said following Saturday’s win. “We haven’t had guys freaking out on the sideline when something’s not going right.”
It follows that now they can’t freak out when everything is going right.
By Jeff Schultz
Recent ramblings from the digital jukebox
• Upsets launch Georgia into BCS title picture (updated game column)
• Short takes: Murray wakes up the offense
• Live: Georgia hopes for easy day against Georgia Southern
• Weekend Predictions: Dogs, Jackets, Falcons and the lust triangles
• Falcons’ flaws aren’t worse than any other NFL team
• College hoop kings provide rare thrills for Atlanta
• Falcons’ startling admission: Ray Edwards was a blunder
• Will SEC get team to BCS championship (answer below) (with video)
• Short takes: Murray, Georgia defense and angry Auburn fans
• Georgia wins SEC East, and looks like threat to Alabama
• Richt is coaching through pain (because he fell off a swing … honest)
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358 comments Add your comment
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
8:59 pm
When the Dawgs hoist the NC trophy it will be glorious.
++++++++++++++++++++
it will be the theft of someone else’s property! GO DAWGS!
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:01 pm
Georgia has played UCF once. UCF has won one time. GO DAWGS!
Ellijay
November 18th, 2012
9:04 pm
Breaking news: dawgs are winning it all this year.
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:08 pm
Thomas Brown, Arkansas was beaten by ohio state in a bowl game last year (or the year before) to end their winless streak vs SEC competition in bowls.
Ellijay
November 18th, 2012
9:13 pm
Ohio st had to vacate that win for cheating.
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
Aaron Murray has a Signature Win over # 4 Florida, the best win in the Mark Richt era. He took the ball to begin the game and game managed us in for a TD. In the 4th quarter, time running out on the clock, Florida trying to tie the score, Aaron Murray again tried to game manage us in for the TD, but Todd Gurley could not run against the Florida defense, so Aaron Murray took the game over. He put the team on his considerable shoulders and threw the 45-yard TD Pass to Malcolm Mitchell with a key block downfield by TE Artie Lynch.
For the game UGA had 123 yards rushing against Florida, who had 75 yards rushing against us, giving UGA more total yards against Florida than Florida had against us.
3rd Down Conversions ? In 2002, UGA was 0-11 including the over-throw by David Greene to a wide open Terrence Edwards, which would have won the game and sent us to the BCS NC Title Game. In 2012, Aaron Murray CONVERTED the 3rd Down opportunity for the 45-yard TD Pass, game on the line, time running down on the clock, when Aaron Murray the nation’s leading quarterback and soon to be the quarterback who sets all the touchdown records in The SEC All-Time, lead Mark Richt’s team to his 8th season of 10-Wins in 12 years.
This is NOT padding stats vs cupcakes; instead, this is the VERY ESSENCE of being a GREAT QUARTERBACK, and far better than AJ McCarron. Who is Alabama’s leading running back ? We have Todd Gurley 1000-yard rusher in The SEC, who had 118 yards rushing against # 4 Florida including a TD running on a day when Florida scored 0 TD. Todd Gurley also had 2 catches for 23 yards vs Florida. These are not running up stats on cupcakes.
These represent the best win by any BCS Championship Game contender over # 4 Florida.
There is NO OTHER TEAM WHO HELD FLORIDA TO 0 TOUCHDOWNS, thanks to Alec Ogletree and Jarvis Jones. Who has Alabama got to compare with them, either ?
I would not think that Alabama would want their rabid fans on our blog bragging what you’re going to be doing to UGA 2 weeks from now when you’ve only beat us 36 of 63 previous games, for the best record of any opponent against Alabama.
We Own You
November 18th, 2012
9:16 pm
Georgia will beat Tech like a rented mule. 223-0 is not outside the realm of possibility. People still ragging Bobo are IDIOTS! Georgia just scored more TDs than any other UGA team since football began–with a subpar O-line and two all-star receivers injured. Go Dawgs!
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:18 pm
To all the UGA haters that are whining about our schedule this year, just remember that we still have to play and beat Alabama to get to a NCG so shut up already. You won’t be able to say we’re undeserving if we beat Bama. Look back at some of the former NC’s schedules and compare. I know darn well UF has had some cakewalks to the big game before as well as ALL of the non SEC champs. SoCal, Oklahoma, and Texas are prime examples. They had very little trouble with their weak conferences but still got all the love from the pollsters. So get off UGA’s back. Beat tech and Bama and go play for all the marbles!
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:20 pm
Thomas Brown, your 9:15 post may be your dumbest post ever! GO DAWGS!!!
Bg
November 18th, 2012
9:20 pm
I love it. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:20 pm
Preston November 18th, 2012 9:08 pm
“Thomas Brown, Arkansas was beaten by ohio state in a bowl game last year (or the year before) to end their winless streak vs SEC competition in bowls.”
____________________________________________
Thank you for studying, however as Ellijay already pointed out :
“2010 was 12-1, but vacated the 12 wins due to playing ineligible players. Ohio State’s media guide claimed they vacated the loss as well, but the loss remains in the official NCAA totals.”
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/fetch-team.pl?team=Ohio_State
Vacated wins do NOT count.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:22 pm
The BCS, if forced to take a one loss team, and if it isn’t Bama, will take a one loss FSU team over anyone else. GO DAWGS!!!
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:25 pm
My apologies Mr. Brown. Forgot about that!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:26 pm
Georgia has scored more TD 2012 than any previous Georgia team when Georgia only played 11-game seasons in 1942 and in fact until 1979. And we only played 12-game seasons 1980 through 2001. These are 14-game seasons nowadays.
UGA 50 Georgie tek 9.
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
No problem Preston. I’ve enjoyed your posts.
Ellijay
November 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
We run this state.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
i don’t have a dog in this fight, I’m more nfl oriented. but reading this forum i have to agree the alabama game will be where the fat lady sings for georgia.
i mean murrays signature win was against an overrated fourth ranked florida and he had 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.
i don’t think you can do that against Bama and win.
and bama can not only pass but man they can pound the football. had they done so against a&m they’d won.
i haven’t seen many uga games except ut, uk, usc and uf. in three of those games uga’s run defense was bad. against y f it was good but uf is barely winning now so that game is looking less impressive.
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
The winner of the #2 Bama vs #3 UGA game will play for the crystal because of the high rankings between the two. And deservingly so. I just watched the BCS show on ESPN and FSU was like 9th or 10th. How could they move all the way to number 2 without literally everyone ahead of them losing?
Ellijay
November 18th, 2012
9:31 pm
Stick to watching the nfl dude. You don’t know crap about college football.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:33 pm
u gotta love that post , i don’t care who you are.. . when uga holds up the bcs trophy it will be because they stole it.
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:35 pm
# 20 UGA Total Defense
# 18 UGA Scoring Defense
“uga’s run defense was bad” What’s the matter with your Shift Key ? Think it’s cute ? I am not concise ? But, you are concise calling Florida over-rated with their wins over # 7 LSU, # 8 Texas A and M and # 12 South Carolina ?
I am to the point, and correct. Your posts are incorrect and miss their mark as a direct result thereof.
What do you mean UGA doesn’t have a good Defense ?
Who is your team, you are afraid to put in your handle ?
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:35 pm
Because Preston, no one outside Georgia cares about Georgia football. They are aware of UGA’s big-game choke history. See SC this season, 05 WVU, Blackout game for details. GO DAWGS!!
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
November 18th, 2012
9:38 pm
PMS Murray
Pad My Stats against crappy teams MURRAY is 3-9 against top 25 teams but he is going to win a MNC? Please spare me……..
Next somebody is going to say BOBO is going to get a head coaching job in the SEC.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:39 pm
Who is your team, you are afraid to put in your handle ?
+++++++++++++++++++++
What does it matter? What if he said West Georgia? or Tennessee State? IT DOESN”T MATTER! The subject matter is Georgia. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:40 pm
FSU has beat 1 team ranked in any top 25 poll, and that 1 team has beat no team ranked in any top 25 poll.
Who the bloody heck has Florida State beat ?
Florida wins over FSU Saturday even without Jeff Driskel, even as South Carolina beats the only team FSU has beat in any top 25 poll even without Marcus Lattimore – my hero.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:41 pm
uh… i didn’t know ellijay has the internet now. good for you guys.
but am i wrong? didn’t someone point out that against ranked teams murray is 1 td and 5 interceptions and a 74 passer rating? how does that beat alabama who didn’t even let lsu get past the 50 yard line and lsu scored how much against GA in the sec championship game? i don’t know but looks as if Alabama gets two weeks to prepare whereas GA will have only one.
i hate bama, that me, but they are still the best team by far and their one loss is a lot different than GAs drubbing.
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
November 18th, 2012
9:41 pm
UGa’s great Defense has amassed those numbers against teams with a 38-54 record. WOW I am impressed at those Total D #’s you are quoting THOMAS BROWN
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:43 pm
FSU has national appeal. Bama has national appeal. LSU has national appeal. Oregon has national appeal. UGA doesn’t. No one cares about Georgia. GO DAWGS!!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:45 pm
If the subject matter is UGA, and you run in here and say the # 20 Total Defense and # 18 Scoring Defense is no bloody good, I’d like to look up your team’s Defensive Official NCAA Rankings.
For example, Georgie tek is
# 61 Total Defense Georgie tek to # 20 UGA
# 76 Scoring Defense Georgie tek to # 18 UGA
If you run in here to post how lousy we are at something, the only possible reason for posting with multiple handles is to try to obscure how bad your team is compared to our team. Either that, or we have all taken you to the cleaners on all your earlier posts
TOO.
Or, you are a child.
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:49 pm
If nobody cares about UGA football outside of the state, how is it that we are in the top 5 nationally in merchandising sales? I’ve seen UGA plates, hats, shirts, etc. from here to California.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:49 pm
Even with two losses, LSU should be ranked ahead of Georgia. At least they played a legitimate schedule, having played 5 teams in this weeks BCS top 25. Georgia has played 2, and lost half of those games, including a 28 point trouncing when they quit on national tv. That alone should disqualify UGA from the NC discussion. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:49 pm
Georgia has a lot MORE national appeal than Florida State. We have a lot more national appeal than Oregon.
And, anyway, none of them are in a play-in game for the BCS NC Title Game.
Neither is LSU.
Alabama has more national appeal than UGA; but that has nothing to do with the BCS Title Game and how it is awarded.
It is awarded in this case, by Alabama beating us for the 37th time in 64 games. True Alabama fans want to play UGA less than anyone knowing how tough UGA always has been for Alabama. I know. I’ve been to the games.
Eaassyy
November 18th, 2012
9:49 pm
Middle Tennessee State runs N Ave. so does BYU.
Nuff said.
UGA 42 Gt 24.
Techs secondary might and d line are a couple of the worst combos in collegiate defensive football. UGA s backup qb Welch could throw for 250 and 3 td s against tek’s god awful defense.
Won any bowl games lately tek fans? Hahahahahahahaha
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:50 pm
I’m sure you have Preston. Mostly on truck drivers and white trash hitch hikers on the interstate. GO DAWGS!
Preston
November 18th, 2012
9:52 pm
License, you’ve now lost any credibility you were afforded. It’s probably past your bedtime kid. Go to sleep.
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:52 pm
LSU LOST to Florida whom we BEAT.
LSU also LOST to Alabama, who has only beat us 36 times in 63 games to-date.
LSU has LOST to Alabama 47 times in 76 games to-date.
Eaassyy
November 18th, 2012
9:54 pm
I am confident I could throw for 200 yards and a couple td s against that joke of defense at Tech. Y’all are pathetic
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:55 pm
LSU 42% of their schedule against top 25. UGA 17% of their schedule against top 25. Yeah, they deserve to be a NC contender. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
9:57 pm
No. Georgie tek has not won any bowl games lately.
7 bowl games in a row LOST.
6-5 Georgie tek 2012 will lose for 11th time in 12-year Mark Richt era to # 3 UGA; then Georgie tek will lose to Florida State in the ACC CHUMPionship game 7pm Dec 1 AFTER # 3 UGA plays # 2 Alabama at 4 pm. That will bring Georgie tek’s record to 6-7, then their bowl game 6-8.
Georgie tek has not won a Major Bowl game starting 1957.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
9:58 pm
LSU 42 UGA 10 GO DAWGS!
Truth
November 18th, 2012
9:59 pm
1980?
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:01 pm
yeah I’d say your defense is bad when you play good teams and is padded against bad ones. south Carolina rushed all over you, hapless ut b o asted your defense and even florida matched your total yards even after six or so turnovers.
what’s crazy is i just looked at your signature win stats… more penalty yards than you had rushing yards, and 1-10 on third down? signature win or biggest gift ever? there were nine turnovers? that’s insane.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:06 pm
doesn’t GT have a national championship within the past three decades?
doesn’t lsu have two bcs ncs? Alabama two of the last three? auburn has one. Tennessee has one and Florida has two, right?
and i should bet on Georgia to beat Alabama? not a chance.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
10:07 pm
@Thomas Not Concise Brown
Please don’t confuse us with facts. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:08 pm
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why did UGA beat # 13 AP Poll Georgie tek in 2009 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why did UGA beat # 4 BCS Poll Florida in 2012 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why did UGA beat # 4 AP Poll vols in 2001 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why did UGA beat # 6 AP Poll LSU in 2005 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why did UGA beat # 9 AP Poll Auburn in 2006 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why is UGA # 3 in every poll playing # 2 every poll Alabama for Mark Richt’s 3rd SEC Championship Win as the play-in game for the BCS Title Game 2012 ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why is UGA Top 10 All-Time Football Program in Wins with 6 (Six) National Championships listed in the Official NCAA Statistics College Football ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why has Mark Richt won 10-Win Seasons 8 of his 12 years here ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why does Mark Richt have more NFL Drafted players than any coach in America ?
If UGA only has big-time game CHOKE ability why are The Georgia Bulldogs # 3 in every single solitary poll this evening ?
No, you say sheet, only you are wrong every single time.
Aren’t you ?
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:08 pm
here’s the question, if you had a thousand floats to bet on sec championship, went would you bet on Georgia over Alabama? u can’t think of one good reason unless bama loses its QB against Auburn.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:09 pm
ha, a thousand dollars not floats.
I'm a Georgia fan. It's a license to be stupid.
November 18th, 2012
10:12 pm
Thomas, your 10:08 post was even dumber than your 9:15 masterpiece. You do have a gift for really dumb posts. GO DAWGS!
Thomas Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:13 pm
Georgie tek has 6 NC listed in the Official NCAA Records Book FBS, and Georgia has 6 NC by the very same polls who has Georgie tek with 6 NC. Only Georgie tek has NEVER won an AP Poll National Championship in football, and cannot accomplish that, either, this season at 6-5 fixing to be 6-8 for 2012. While UGA has every opportunity to be 13-1 and NC again for 2012.
That is what sticks in your craw.
You don’t even know what a craw is.
Thomas Not Concise Brown
November 18th, 2012
10:15 pm
isn’t uga like 1-9 recently against ranked teams?
and i think there is a strong consensus outside of uga land that Florida is overrated.