Georgia playing at level we haven’t seen under Richt
Dogs accept Governor's Cup after the win, but they're after something bigger. (Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS – This is new ground. Or, more accurately, new air.
Georgia had never reached this elevation before under Mark Richt — not in BCS ranking at this point of the season, not in perception of championship potential.
It didn’t feel like this even during those two SEC titles early in Richt’s tenure, when Georgia already had been cropped out of the national pictured. It wasn’t this real when a Sugar Bowl win left the Bulldogs with a postseason ranking of No. 2, after they already had been leapfrogged in the BCS and left out of the national title game.
Never before in late November under Richt could we look at Georgia and legitimately think: That team can win it all.
Now we can.
Georgia didn’t just beat Georgia Tech on Saturday. It humiliated the Jackets 42-10. The tilt on the scoreboard would have been even greater if Richt hadn’t pulled starters with more than 10 minutes left in the game.
The Dogs led 7-0 after one minute, 14-0 after six minutes, 28-3 at halftime. They made touchdown drives look like wind sprints, ranging in elapsed time from 29 seconds to 2:42. They dominated the game physically. When is the last time Georgia played with that level of urgency?
Linebacker Alec Ogletree and Georgia's defense have had a lot of reasons to celebrate lately. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
This team is playing with an edge it hasn’t for years. It has beaten its last four opponents (Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgia Southern, Tech) by scores of 37-10, 38-0, 45-14 and 42-10. That’s a composite dismembering of 162-34, give or take a limb.
Please, don’t come back with: “But look who they’re playing?”
Georgia has seldom stepped on opponents like this, certainly not in November when everybody, fans and pollsters, are watching.
With the score 42-3 Saturday, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo still could be seen and heard screaming in the coach’s box when things didn’t go well, at one point yelling into his headset, “Get your [bleep] off the field!” after the offense went three-and-out and players walked (not ran) to the sideline.
“Yeah, my dad texted me,” Bobo said later, somewhat sheepishly. “I guess he heard it on radio or TV. But you’re playing in Sanford Stadium. You should at least run off the field.”
Does this seem like the same Georgia team to you?
It was apparent after the win over Auburn: The Dogs are good enough to beat Alabama for the SEC championship. They are good enough to win its first national championship since 1980. They can pass: Aaron Murray has 14 touchdown passes, zero interceptions since the fourth quarter against Florida. They can run: Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall combined for 163 yards, four touchdowns and no carries for losses against Tech, and continue to look more like veterans than freshmen.
Most important, the defense, which had been expected to carry the Dogs all season, only to struggle early with suspensions and injuries and maybe a little bit of day-dreaming about the NFL, now is playing up to expectations.
This isn’t the same team that suffered so many hiccups in the first eight games. It’s certainly not the same team that lost at South Carolina 35-7, which prompted an egg assault on the home of some players and attacks via social media.
“At the end of the season, we might say that game helped us,” Marshall said.
“It was definitely an eye-opener,” linebacker Jarvis Jones said.
“This team is different. This team has something to it,” linebacker Christian Robinson said.
And then this: “I’m just glad my house is safe right now.”
This is the not same defense that was called out as being “soft” by senior strong safety Shawn Williams. Most agree he was on target with his comments, even if he was wrong to throw selected teammates (like Robinson) under the bus.
Richt said his team’s defensive leaders, most of whom passed up the chance to enter the NFL after last season “had a vested interest in his this season went.” He then added, “When Shawn Williams saw it slipping away, he felt he had to say something about it. He challenged everybody. He couldn’t stand what he was seeing. But I think everybody respected him for what he did. They may have not liked what he did but I think they agreed with it.”
Last year, Georgia reached the SEC championship game against No. 1 LSU. They led 10-0 after the first quarter, then gave up the next 42 points.
“We’re a different team,” Jones said. “We feel like we can beat anybody.”
They certainly look the part.
By Jeff Schultz
Post-Thanksgiving blog blowout sale
• Short takes (UGA): Rambo’s ascent, Gurley’s comfort
• LIVE: Bulldogs, Jackets vie for more than bragging rights
• Upsetting Georgia would give Tech needed boost for future
• Weekend Predictions: Georgia will win on Red-and-Black-Saturday
• Vince Dooley: Joy from Georgia’s resurgence, pain from son’s firing
• Wonder why SEC is on top? Look at other conference finals
• Falcons win — but run before somebody changes their mind
• Short takes: Ryan awful, defense great, win important
• Georgia’s new reality: From on the brink to BCS title possibility
• Upsets launch Georgia into BCS title picture (updated game column)
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802 comments Add your comment
Dawggy
November 25th, 2012
7:45 am
What’s great is the tide have to hear about ND AL matchup all week. Dawgs will be hungry and focused. it just sets up very well. GO DAWGS.
Neutral
November 25th, 2012
7:46 am
Did anyone notice how the SEC EAST did against the 3 best teams in the ACC + WF?
Won all 4 games by an average of 3-4 TDs……and in 2 of the games the starters were being pulled in the 3rd qtr. I guess they found out how tough Vandy and the rest of UGa’s schedule is!!!
Neutral
November 25th, 2012
7:46 am
Did anyone notice how the SEC EAST did against the 3 best teams in the ACC + WF?
Won all 4 games by an average of 3-4 TDs……and in 2 of the games the starters were being pulled in the 3rd qtr. I guess they found out how tough Vandy and the rest of UGa’s schedule is!!!
Just Saying
November 25th, 2012
7:48 am
Good point Neutral and the ACC didn’t have to face any of the SEC WEST teams yesterday! Imagine what Bama, LSU, A&M, etc would do to them!
Jeffro
November 25th, 2012
7:48 am
Uga is “playing at a higher level”? I thought their schedule was just getting weaker.
Could have fooled me. Only those without critical thought or trying to gain readers would think so
Thomas Brown
November 25th, 2012
7:52 am
The violations which began in the fall of 2008 when football student-athletes received cash payments and reduced cost/free tattoos from the owner of a Columbus, Ohio tattoo parlor. One of these student-athletes also received a loan and a discount on an automobile. These benefits were provided by the tattoo parlor owner in exchange for football awards, apparel and equipment issued to the student-athletes by Ohio State.
Of great concern was the fact that the former head coach became aware of these violations and decided not to report the violations to institutional officials, the Big Ten Conference or the NCAA. Specifically, in April 2010, the former head coach received email notification from a local attorney that football student-athletes received preferential treatment by selling their athletics awards, apparel and/or equipment to the tattoo parlor owner, a convicted felon. However, the former head coach failed to report the information to athletics administrators at that time, and had several other subsequent opportunities to report this information, but chose not to. The former head coach’s failure to report this information violated NCAA ethical conduct.
Ohio State ALSO had numerous impermissible benefits provided to football student-athletes by a well-known representative of the institution’s athletics interests. Ohio State University failed to monitor the representative. The institution did not contest either the numerous impermissible benefits nor their failure to monitor the well-known Ohio State University representative.
A football program who has NEVER produced 1 meaningful football player who has ever done one damn thing ever, instead finds this is now the institution’s fifth major infractions case, with the institution having been put on NCAA Probation in 2006, as well.
This SHAMEFUL BEHAVIOR, agreed to by Ohio State University is being PUNISHED 2012 and there is no way in hell that Ohio State is going to be ranked # 1 by the AP Poll for beating NOT 1 MEANINGFUL TEAM, and getting to play 2 fewer games than the top teams in all the polls.
It ain’t happening. CHEATERS.
You wanted a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.
You got the competitive advantage.
You took advantage of the COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, and you are not being
REWARDED FOR IT.
I don’t care what Seth Emerson votes. He’s an idiot to vote Ohio State as high as he has. He states he is told he is NOT to consider the CHEATING nor the weak schedule of NO TOP TEAM BEAT.
If he is an example of the type of voters the AP Poll has, my respect for the AP Poll ends with 2012.
They had better get it right.
Alabama beat Michigan, an also-ran in an ALSO RAN sorry conference.
Michigan 14 Alabama 41
Michigan 21 ohio state 26
NO # 1 for ohio state university.
Easy
November 25th, 2012
7:53 am
What happened to GTBob!
Thomas Brown
November 25th, 2012
8:01 am
gtBOOB is around.
He still thinks Georgie tek doesn’t have fewer ladies than Asians.
Mary Lou
November 25th, 2012
8:06 am
Thank goodness for coaches like Mark Richt who produce a steady supply of garbagemen, fast food drive-through workers, and welfare recipients. Well, that and providing full employment for a lot of Athens jailers, lawyers, and probation workers.
Vladimir Sonovabitch
November 25th, 2012
8:18 am
The SEC East and West are two completely different animals. I honestly don’t think UGA is of the same level as Alabama. I look to see UGA get embarrassed and then come on these boards asking for CMR’s head.
SEC Fan
November 25th, 2012
8:25 am
CMR has his 10 wins. He’s not going anywhere.
USMC DAWG
November 25th, 2012
8:26 am
I try and stay above the fray on these blogs, but I find it ironic that Tech Fans have the gall to come on these blogs and put down the SEC LEast when the SEC LEast just went 4-0 against the ACC including FSU and Clempson and their beloved TECH.
I respect Tech and their fans, but grow up. Some of the Georgia fans need to grow up as well and act like we “have been there before”. Show some class. We beat an inferior GT team yesterday that has NO defense. Jackets will be back. ( I hope it is no time soon though.)
Go Dawgs!
Joey
November 25th, 2012
8:26 am
Haha Techies still can’t give UGA its due. That’s ok. We know what we are.
UGA dominated Tech. UF dominated FSU. UGA beat UF.
Pippa's Meaty Backside
November 25th, 2012
8:28 am
I’m a moderate UGA fan having lived in ATL for 5+ years. I avoid any unsupported hype until ‘my teams’ are challenged when it counts and they prevail. They have not stood up to elite competition at crunch time as long as I have followed them. I have little confidence–based on experience–that UGA will handle Alabama and any rational UGA fan is expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Too bad the SEC title game effectively knocks one of the best teams in the country out of national title contention.
5150 UOAD
November 25th, 2012
8:32 am
Tech Played terrible.
We knew it would take a Great game to win, but we just don’t have the D to compete right now.
We have missed on recruiting some much need Defensive players but MAYBE we can get a Good D coach/recruiter to turn it around.
Didn’t expect much from WAKE but Vandy killed them more than I thought.
FSU was really disappointing. FLORIDA shows how good a team can be with an Average O but a Great D. TECH has to really work on the D side of the ball.
CLEMSON was a let down too. They couldn’t play D either.
Pippa's Meaty Backside
November 25th, 2012
8:32 am
“Thank goodness for coaches like Mark Richt who produce a steady supply of garbagemen, fast food drive-through workers, and welfare recipients. Well, that and providing full employment for a lot of Athens jailers, lawyers, and probation workers.”
Have to admit this is funny…..
Just Saying
November 25th, 2012
8:34 am
Hey Vladimir,
LSU was very close to beating Bama and definitely looked like the better team. That is the same LSU team that lost to Florida, barely beat Ole Miss and beat auburn 12-10 ( all teams UGa beat soundly). Of course there are some comparisons that give Bama an advantage, but I like the DAWG’s chances in this game.
osberver
November 25th, 2012
8:39 am
It is very clear that UGA is looking very good. However, it’s also true that so far this season, UGA only beat 1 good team. Either way, it wil be interesting to see what happens saturday.
11 out of 12
November 25th, 2012
8:46 am
My handle says it all, bugs. Shew, shew.
Jeff, this is a late response to your article, but you used two words I have been dying to see associated with the Dawgs: “urgency” and “edge.” Teams used to hate coming to Athens because they left beat up. For this year, anyway, it is good to see that again. The urgency comes from the fact these boys know this defense will be gone after after this year. They finally realize that if UGA does not give an opponent 60 minutes of hell they know they will have not played to their potential. Those plays that some guys took off against Buffalo are a memory. Get after it boys, show heart, and GO DAWGS!
Tech Sucks
November 25th, 2012
8:50 am
Tech is such a joke. Enjoy beating the nerds every year. It’s so fun.
Envy is Ugly
November 25th, 2012
8:50 am
Mary Lou, you sure sound bitter. Can’t get a date?
redandblack
November 25th, 2012
8:52 am
Tech was in this game up until they crossed the Clarke County line…….after that it was all UGA.
Where Are They Now?
November 25th, 2012
8:55 am
Where are ALL the “Fire Richt” “Fire Bobo” comments now? Amazing how the fair weather fans disappear when a team does well!
redandblack
November 25th, 2012
8:57 am
@ Envy is Ugly
The only way Mary Lou could get a date…..would be to pay for one…
North ave. faithful
November 25th, 2012
8:59 am
I feel sure our running back named Godhigh had to call a cab to get to the bathroom this morning after some of the hits he took yesterday. Hats off to the dawgs, just 4 quarters away from going to the big show. Buckle up and GATA, Oh yea, GO JACKETS!
GT runners were lil rag doll tpys
November 25th, 2012
9:00 am
I never viewed such a physical whupping of Tech “men” being thrown around like a child’s toy.
UGA is just now hitting their stride, attitudinally on D. Time will tell.
Go Dogs.
redandblack
November 25th, 2012
9:01 am
Correction…..I have been told that Mary Lou can get a date…..in fact I understand she and her brother have been going steady for several years now…….My bad!!!!
Honey boy
November 25th, 2012
9:01 am
Thomas Brown… The usual from you… Lots of stats that are, for the most part, relevant and well received… But for gads sake , get off your self righteous horse, will ya? You make great points and the
n become “King of this useless blog” !!! Have you nothing better to do? Eight less cups of coffee over the last fifteen minutes might be a start….
Freehawk
November 25th, 2012
9:01 am
What do Aaron Murray and Tahj Boyd have in common? Gamecocks are not impressed.
Honey boy
November 25th, 2012
9:03 am
Mary Lou, go back to your single wide, shave your back, brush your tooth and crawl back from whence you came.. We’re talking football you mutt…
Birdhair
November 25th, 2012
9:05 am
CPJ might do well in the colonial league where the talent on each team is nearly at the same level.
As a UGA fan, I look forward to the days when GA State and Kennesaw State start beating the nerds. Heck, GA southern would probably beat them at their own gimmicks.
Lastly, I wish more of the media would produce articles explaining why Notre Dame is so overrated and shouldn’t be granted a BCS invitation until they join a conference. Hand-picking your schedule every year is a nice handicap. Come join the S.E.C. You will face the best coaches in the country. The coaches will learn your schemes and you will have to adjust. You won’t be able to go 12-0. Ever. This year, Notre Dame would likely have 4-5 losses in the S.E.C.
zeke
November 25th, 2012
9:06 am
Dogs may have made the Atlanta game, but, definitely not the best team in the East! THAT IS THE USC GAMECOCKS! RIGHT UGA? I would bet Murray is still trembling, crying, having nightmares about facing Clowney and Taylor! If the dogs had to play LSU, or BAMA in the regular season, you mutts would be crying!
GOOOO COCKS!! Darth visor rises again to kick the doggies behinds!!!!!!
Some Guy
November 25th, 2012
9:11 am
“Georgia playing at level we haven’t seen under Richt”.
Thank you, Sean Williams, from the bottom of our Bulldog hearts.
redandblack
November 25th, 2012
9:11 am
To Steve Spurrier……just exactly how does it feel to once again be on the outside looking in?
Old Dog Class of 80
November 25th, 2012
9:12 am
I will be happy if next weekend the Dawg show up and play some GOOD football. If Murray does good and throws no picks and the offensive line protects the way they should and the defense is good and there aren’t a bunch of dumb penalties, I will be happy, whether we win or not. I have always said I just want to see good football, and if it is a good, competitive game, I will be happy (of course if we WIN, I will be ecstatic!)
What I hope does NOT happen is that we fold like a house of cards and get trampled like the SC game.
Go Dawgs!
Old Dog Class of 80
November 25th, 2012
9:16 am
“LSU was very close to beating Bama and definitely looked like the better team. That is the same LSU team that lost to Florida, barely beat Ole Miss and beat auburn 12-10 ( all teams UGa beat soundly). Of course there are some comparisons that give Bama an advantage, but I like the DAWG’s chances in this game.”
That logic doesn’t hold. Remember – SC beat the pants off of us, and Florida beat the pants off SC, so Florida was supposed to wipe up the floor with us handily. Same comparison.
Swami SEZ
November 25th, 2012
9:17 am
Bama will score Style Points! Bama 45 – Dawgs 16. Book it!
Tampa Gator
November 25th, 2012
9:17 am
Dawgnole……
“FSU will walk all over the Gators”
Those were the words of Noley, Noley, Noley……but I clumped you in there with him because you have been telling me all year that FSU would easily beat Florida again this year…..and how much better FSU was than Florida. That is no lie!!!
Bruce
November 25th, 2012
9:21 am
If I’m a betting man, I’m not betting against Alabama. I would bet for Georgia against Notre Dame who is a fraud.
I rarely agree with TV announcers but yesterday one commentator said Aaron Murray must beat the top teams to make a name and he has not done that. I would love to see him beat Alabama, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
Joey
November 25th, 2012
9:23 am
Damn, now I wish Richt didn’t have such a big heart, and woulda turned his offense loose in the 4th Q.
I guess the nerds will haul ass to the Wal Mart and exchange their Tech outfits for Bama colors for this week . . .
53½ arrests in four years
November 25th, 2012
9:23 am
As much as I would love beating Georgia, the reality is that a school like GT with its very high academic requirements is usually going to lose on the football field against schools like Georgia that admit players who can barely read and write, and are prone to being arrested for all manner of criminal acts, including drug use, driving while drunk, beating up women, and urinating in public places, just to name a few of their crimes. Not so long ago, it was schools like Miami and FSU who were infamous for this kind of behavior, but with 53 arrests in the last four years, and a Fulmer Cup win, it’s Georgia and Mark Richt who have become the NCAA’s poster child for everything that’s wrong with college athletics.
Georgia Tech proved in 1990 that it’s possible to win championships with players who are intelligent and have a strong moral and ethical character. Unfortunately, since that time, the rise of football factories like Georgia have made it much more difficult for quality schools like Tech to overcome the inherent advantages that these win-at-all-costs factory schools have.
As long as there are coaches like Mark Richt who will do anything to keep his fat paychecks coming in, the situation will only worsen, especially since the school’s administration and fans have abandoned any semblance of demanding excellence both on and off the field. Winning is the only thing that matters now, and the fact that most of their players are functionally illiterate no longer upsets anyone.
It’s a shameful and disgusting situation at UGA, and I have no doubt that the school’s earlier ethical coaches like Wallace Butts and Harry Mehre are spinning in their graves at the thought of what slimy self-serving coaches like Mark Richt have done to their school.
Tampa Gator
November 25th, 2012
9:24 am
Folks comparing games is meaningless…….if you did that…..both Louisiana-Lay and JAX State….would be considered better teams that FSU….based on the games with Florida. But those games do tell you that games against those kind of teams have little or no meaning…..other than the fact that much better teams like Florida take them very lightly and often do not play well against them.
But….if you go strickly by the eye and talent level….and depth…..it will tell you that the Bama vs. Georgia game is going to be a good one….and Georgia has a very good chance of winning that game. I think they will win.
And that eye test tells you that Notre Dame has a decent defense and it will keep them in the game vs. Georgia or Bama….but that same eye test tells you that they do not have the depth to play four quarters with Georgia or Bama…..or Florida for that matter. The four best teams in the country right now….in no particular order…..are Texas A&M, Bama, Georgia, and Florida…..all SEC teams. LSU is probably #5…..right ahead of #6….South Carolina…..although SC might be better than LSU right now. Notre Dame….at best….would be #7 in the SEC.
Swami SEZ
November 25th, 2012
9:24 am
The “FIRE Richt ” crowd will be back after the beatdown in the dome Saturday night. Book It!
UGADAWGS
November 25th, 2012
9:25 am
@zeke
You’re not in the game in Atlanta….you have no chance to play for a NC…..you lost 2 games…you did however give UGA what was needed to change their mindset, and start to play like they’re capable of playing…. for that is what was needed to wake UGA up.
And thanks for not wetting the bed against Clemson and keeping the SEC where it rightfully belongs as a premier conference….Most of us thought you would screw that up like you do everything else.
Somehow the words COCKS and SUCKERS just sound so right…..
Incoming Tide
November 25th, 2012
9:26 am
The harsh reality: Alabama 52, Georgia 10
Joey
November 25th, 2012
9:27 am
Ole zeke (9:06) is still happy about SC’sbest game of the season – too bad y’all shot your wad vs UGA. Spurrier and Co looked horrendous vs UF, which by the way, we held to no TDs.
So I would say that SC is still the 3rd best team in the East – the season is not 1 game, zeke.
F22
November 25th, 2012
9:27 am
SOME GUY
Game Cocks = CHOKE
The only tradition they have is CHOKING.
The beat the dawgs and played out of their mind and deserved to win.
Season is longer than 12 games, all they do, spurrier, is cry and make excuses.
Congrats on a good season and another year of the CHOKE.
F22
November 25th, 2012
9:28 am
UF beat SC worse
than SC beat UGA
UF destroyed SC
F22
November 25th, 2012
9:30 am
EXUSE me….meant for zeke..not some guy
my bad
Spurrier = choke
Ask the NFL redskins
Vladimir Sonovabitch
November 25th, 2012
9:31 am
First off, I’m not a tech fan. I’m an an Auburn fan, so I know what it feels like to be at the bottom of the port-o-potty. We’re worse than horribly terrible. No denying that. We just suck!!…. BAD!!! What I’m saying is that UGA played a mediocre schedule this year. You had two games against two teams that were of worth; SC and FLA, of which you’re .500. And the win against FL was one of those “Any given Saturday” wins. It wasn’t an ass whooping like the one SC put on UGA. Alabama played three, maybe four teams of worth. Mississippi State actually has a good team this year. Michigan, LSU, Texas A&M and they won ALL of those games convincingly except for the 29-24 loss to Johnny Football and Texas A&M. I think of those games, LSU and Texas A&M would have defeated UGA easily. Michigan would be a toss-up. Put those games into your schedule and your maybe an 8-4 or 9-3 team with no chance for a BCS title game. Just looking at this discompassionately. SEC West > SEC East.
The SEC is looking at possibly two more teams joining it, one being Virginia Tech. I’m sure they will fall into the east, so look for it to be much harder to get to the Georgia Dome in the next few years.