Georgia needs to finish strong to avoid diminishing season
Mark Richt hopes his team can finish the season better than it has the last two years. (AP photo)
ORLANDO – The old comedian Steve Allen once said, “I used to be a heavy gambler. But now I just make mental bets. That’s how I lost my mind.”
He easily could have been talking about bowl games. As inexact sciences go, they fit somewhere between the “wheel of fortune” and “pick a number between one and 10.”
A college team’s best players often are upperclassmen who already have one foot and an entire head out the door. Some get lost in the vacation atmosphere of bowl week. Some can’t transition back from holiday break. Others just look, play and act like they would rather not be there. It’s why we are left with results like: Central Florida 10, Georgia Holograms 6 in the Liberty Bowl.
For Georgia’s sake, this next bowl needs to be different.
This isn’t some grand declaration that the Bulldogs’ program will be defined by whether or not they defeat Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. The turnaround coach Mark Richt has made in the last two seasons should be evidence enough that things are going in the right direction. But should Georgia lose to Nebraska after falling only five yards short of an SEC championship and a BCS title berth, it would take some luster off the season.
Think about last year. Losing to No. 1 ranked LSU in the SEC title game was expected, even after a 10-game winning streak. But losing to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl (blowing a 16-0 halftime and falling 33-30 in overtime) wasn’t so palatable.
Losing to Alabama 32-28 in the SEC title game four weeks ago was crushing for those in and around the program. But in many respects, the Bulldogs might have gained more respect in the defeat than in any victory this season. Losing on Tuesday to Nebraska – which was blown out by Wisconsin 70-31 in the Big Ten championship game and fell to 16th in the BCS rankings — would be a downer Richt would rather avoid.
Think of ending a really nice meal with Aunt Edna’s jello mold.
For a program that preaches, “Finish the drill,” the failure of just finishing the season would become an increasing concern.
Richt was 7-2 in bowl games before the last two losses. When the team started bowl practices, he told players to have fun when the schedule allowed for it. But practice meant practice and meeting meant meeting. For the most part, he liked what he saw.
“I think we did a good job of that,” he said. “Was it good enough? We’ll find out.”
And then later: “I just can’t imagine them not playing with great effort.”
I’ve seldom seen a talented team look worse than the Dogs did at the Liberty Bowl. But after a 6-6 season, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Sleepwalking in Orlando after going 11-2 and elevating the team’s fan base would be alarming. It also could leave a hangover returning players would have to deal with.
“We’ve got another opportunity to finish on a high note,” Richt said. “On a personal level, there’s always a scene in the locker room after the game where I’m going to be talking to the team for the very last time. I’ll address the seniors for the last time. You want that last memory to be a good one. That’s a motivating factor for me and I think it probably is for those seniors or anybody else who think this might be their last ball game.”
Quarterback Aaron Murray, who could be playing in his final game if he declares himself eligible for the NFL draft, maintains he and teammates are motivated. He pointed to his own inability to win a bowl game (0-2) and the possibility of the Dogs finishing among the top five ranked teams. “We have a chance to finish out on top, which is something we haven’t done in a couple of seasons,” he said.
The season deserves more than a season-ending face plant.
By Jeff Schultz
The last 10 from the digital jukebox
– Aaron Murray may be playing his final game for Georgia
– Progress pleases McGarity, but he’s still not ‘comfortable’
– Predictions: It’s time for bowls(!), contest (!) and BCS (ugh)
– NFL playoffs about QBs and coaches — and Falcons have a shot
– Falcons understand that wins, No. 1 seed only set stage
– Short takes: Matt Ryan back to MVP level in last 2 games
– Falcons respond as great teams should in win over Lions
– Live: Falcons seek No. 1 seed, AJC endures without D-Led
– If last week’s Falcons were for real, we’re about to find out
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168 comments Add your comment
sflanagan21
December 31st, 2012
9:58 pm
Without the obvious holding and Bama losses by 18-21 points! I swear some of ya Bama fans either didn’t watch the game or you have never played a down of football in your life! We made some mistakes ourself that cost us the game…
He Hate Gator
December 31st, 2012
10:03 pm
Lose this bowl game and one of RIcht’s best teams ever will wind up with 3 losses and yet another underperfroming non-Top 10 finish….need one here CMR….
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 31st, 2012
10:19 pm
I did not know that the Nebraska defense was number 1 in the nation against the pass. Georgia fans need to take note of this.
50 ways to leave your lover
December 31st, 2012
10:31 pm
Richt really knows how to spina loss,doesn’t he?!?
dudley dawg
December 31st, 2012
10:49 pm
But Wisconsin had rushed for 539 yards and put up 70 points on a Nebraska defense and gave up several big running plays. We’ll win this one on the ground!
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 31st, 2012
10:52 pm
Bobo will not run the ball that much. Bobo LOVES the AIR DWAGS too much to run it all game long.
Russa
December 31st, 2012
11:19 pm
Les … les … les
how do you lose to an ACC team???? You just shamed your program
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 31st, 2012
11:22 pm
SEC SEC SEC………………….Got beat by the ACC ACC ACC ACC ACC…………crying Cajuns in the ATL. The Saints lost to the Falcons and now Clem&Sons do it to the LSwho kitty cats.
Tony
December 31st, 2012
11:28 pm
Mettenberger should spend more time on the practice field working on his passing and less time in the bars assaulting women! Thank you, Clemson for not choking in the clutch for once. Good job, guys!
oh brother!
December 31st, 2012
11:34 pm
arent we glad mettenberger is not our qb? terrible qb and dumb coach!
Tony
December 31st, 2012
11:49 pm
Mettenberger stinks, badly. And while some of the Georgia-hating trolls will try to convince us we will lose for sure tomorrow because Alabama was overrated and Georgia “got lucky” to almost win (yeah right, look at Gurley’s stats), you forgot to mention that Nebraska lost three games in a down conference. 539 yards rushing??? Plus, they got hammered by Ohio State and gave up 63.
SpikeTheBallStupid!!!
December 31st, 2012
11:50 pm
Go DAWGS ……. Focus, Execute, and Finish!!! Play Smart in spite of your coaches.
Moist Dawg
December 31st, 2012
11:50 pm
What a great night!
My condolences to you fake UGA fans who root for your stupid conference over what’s best for the University of Georgia.
I know you traitors (you know who you are) are wiping your tears over lsu’s loss with your UGA t shirt you bought at Wal Mart.
ITS GREAT, TO BE, A GEORGIA BULLDAWG!
North Georgia Dawg
December 31st, 2012
11:51 pm
If Georgia wins tomorrow, I’m going to get on here and laugh at all the trolls. They probably will be moping due to the fact they can’t laugh at us for losing. Or else they will say that because we didn’t beat Bama, our whole program is a failure, etc. Idiots. I look forward to laughing at them tomorrow, unless Nebraska happens to pull it out.
North Georgia Dawg
December 31st, 2012
11:55 pm
Moist, I’m so glad LSU lost! Clemson deserves to win a close game over a good team for a change. Plus, we will finish with less losses than LSU if we win tomorrow. I can’t stand the SEC or die homers. Go dawgs!!
Flo-Ri-Duh
December 31st, 2012
11:55 pm
LSU loses to Clemson – upset! S.C loses to Tech – upset! Starting to feel like Bama may not be invincible after all – should beat an average (at best) Notre Dame team by 17 but could this be like when Bummer folded after holding a 24 point lead against Aubarn a few years ago? Starting to feel it!
David Granger
December 31st, 2012
11:55 pm
You’re absolutely right, Jeff. We need to play hard from the very opening kickoff, and get the game solidly in hand as soon as possible. We can’t pull that “take the whole first half to get going” crap that we do sometimes. Almost looks like the team shakes their heads and blinks their eyes in the third quarter, looking around befuddled as if wondering: “Huh? We’re playing ALREADY?”
SpikeTheBallStupid!!!
December 31st, 2012
11:55 pm
Glad mettenberger is not our QB and lane kiffen is not our coach….both numb nut tools!
SpikeTheBallStupid!!!
December 31st, 2012
11:59 pm
Happy new year!
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
January 1st, 2013
12:04 am
Happy New Year everybody……even Haters
Moist Dawg
January 1st, 2013
12:13 am
North Georgia Dawg, YOU GET IT!!!
Let’s not forget that lsu, bama, a&m, usce, etc getting beat have a definite effect on next years pre season rankings.
Stop rooting for your rivals Dawg fans and let’s go destroy the huskers!!!!!
A fans perspective
January 1st, 2013
12:28 am
Only bowl that matters is what we left on the table.
sflanagan21
January 1st, 2013
12:32 am
I’ve never pulled for other teams in the SEC, that would be like pulling for the Saints, Bucs and Panthers! Pulling for SEC teams is straight dumb especially when they are fighting for our home grown recruits! I want Bama, Fla, SC and A&M to get smashed in their bowl games so maybe all of our home grown 4 & 5 star studs will stop committing to those teams! Pulling for other SEC teams does NOT make sense to me at all. My brother is a Fla fan and my Mom and Dad are both lifer Bama fans and we all hate every other team in the SEC besides our team!
GO DAWGS!
trueblueeagle
January 1st, 2013
12:53 am
Stop the run and UGA win by 21+ …..If not it could be tight
North Georgia Dawg
January 1st, 2013
12:58 am
How do you castrate SSI? Kick his sister in the jaw.
GT_in_Ala
January 1st, 2013
1:08 am
Good luck to the Dawgs against Neb. I was hoping UGA would be playing the Domers instead of Ala but UGA came just a little short in the SEC Championship.
North Georgia Dawg
January 1st, 2013
1:08 am
Same goes for “50 ways to love your mother” and various unmentioned others. The AJC must have some of the dumbest readers in the nation.
North Georgia Dawg
January 1st, 2013
1:11 am
Good luck to the Dawgs against Neb. I was hoping UGA would be playing the Domers instead of Ala but UGA came just a little short in the SEC Championship.
I’m glad you guys won today! After Lane Kiffin’s cocky speech “As long as I’m here, you’ll never lose to Georgia again” I hope he loses as much as possible. He’s a cocky jerk.
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
January 1st, 2013
1:13 am
North Georgia Dawg………he AJC must have some of the dumbest readers in the nation.
==================================
It took you this long to learn that? All the Dwag Nation reads the AJC and post comments so I would think you knew that from the start.
North Georgia Dawg
January 1st, 2013
1:19 am
“It took you this long to learn that? All the Dwag Nation reads the AJC and post comments so I would think you knew that from the start.”
Please, I’m referring to uneducated members of all fan bases. Like the idiots who were saying Florida was going to score 50+ points on Georgia and how Murray was going to throw 15 picks this years, etc. Believe me, I’ve noticed it before, but it seems like the smart people are posting less. These morons jump on stats and say “well, since they barely beat Kentucky, Florida will beat them by 40!” Or “Georgia will lose to Auburn”, and it goes on and on.
Smitty
January 1st, 2013
1:21 am
put IN TIMEOUT….FIND YOUR TEAM BLOG……i am tired of hearing your comments
Say What???
January 1st, 2013
1:21 am
Um… Put in timeout, just based on your handle, it seems you spend a lot of time on the AJC… So if the AJC must have some of the dumbest readers in the nation, what does that say about you? Just sayin’…
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
January 1st, 2013
1:23 am
It has been an unusual season for a lot of teams. people love trashing other teams on the blogs but there are times when a real discussion happens.
Smitty
January 1st, 2013
1:23 am
Put in time out ….you are an idiot…. did you hear me?
Smitty
January 1st, 2013
1:25 am
Put in timeout….do you even have a team you pull for? just what I thought…
Say What???
January 1st, 2013
1:26 am
North Georgia Dawg, I think you are confusing fans of other teams with UGA Haters. Only UGA haters could watch the SEC championship and come on these blogs and crow about the Dawgs getting whipped. Every game these haters came on here and predicted UGA would get beat – Mizzu, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech, hell even Vandy and Georgia Southern. As it turned out, they were only right about South Carolina. Even when UGA wins, they come on here and brag about this stat or that stat. Again, they are nothing but haters. And you know what they say: Haters gonna hate.
Smitty
January 1st, 2013
1:29 am
Put in timeout….you are not an idiot…just a dumb a$$
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
January 1st, 2013
1:39 am
Smitty…………this is NOT a Team blog now is it? No it is Jeff Schultz’s Blog not a UGa blog.
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
January 1st, 2013
1:45 am
So if UGa wins they should have but if they lose then Murray didn’t get it done again I guess.
Thomas Brown
January 1st, 2013
2:00 am
There is nothing that can be done for this season, either way, playing a Nebraska team ranked # 23 who does not deserve to be even ranked that highly. Beat them, and they drop out of the Top 25, replaced by Vandie with their win today. Lose to them, and the season is shot. We played 3 teams this season, and lost 2. We won a game this season, for a change, but our Quarterback was not good in that win to be now 2-10 vs teams who made the AP Poll Top 25 in his entire career, with that lone win a game he wasn’t good in. He should have a top season his redshirt senior season, if you like stats run up on nobody teams – which I don’t. The Vandie win is a his 1 good game against the 12 teams who made the AP Poll Top 25 in his entire career. The Florida game was typical for him in these 12 games of his career.
OUT-RUSHED for the 2012 season, is what will be written about the season post-game today. We never got Keith Marshall out in space to take advantage of him. We went another season having not prepared our back-up QB again, leaving only DJ Shockley whom we’ve prepared in the 12 seasons to-date.
53 scholarship recruits plus
My-Guy
January 1st, 2013
2:09 am
Oh LORD…. We all know what happened at stunning Chick-Fil-A Bowl tonight! I went to the Georgia Dome to support LSU against Clemson, what a stunning comeback Clemson did…. One thing I noticed about Clemson fans is that they are LOUD! I was way across the stadium & when Clemson is on defense, their fans yell like crazy. Warning to all bulldog fans, we are @ Clemson next year in Death Valley, imagine how louder it’s going to be when we are trying to hear the play calling on offense! Mettenburger had no first downs the entire 4th quarter for only 11 yards! I have to give Clemson credit though they never gave up & played their hearts out & fought until the end. They deserved the win!
o1dog
January 1st, 2013
2:10 am
Ga wins this game easy–nebraska’s D is terrible—murray lights it up big: dogs 36-10—take it to the bank!
Thomas Brown
January 1st, 2013
2:15 am
53 scholarship recruits plus 1 transfer-in is all we have available for Nebraska today, a Top 10 All-Time College Football Program in Wins, like ourselves with our record against them 0-1 all-time.
I did not understand all the comments about the 2 who did not qualify last year and said they were coming in early, and then failed academically to meet the early requirements. Are they out now for the Fall too ? I didn’t read that.
And, what is this stuff Game Changer is stating about our Academic Casualty for the game today ? If you’ve got something to share on this, provide it. If not, why insinuate you do know and then not disclose it ?
Well, it’s a new year.
Happy New Year. Good party tonight, with lots of good friends, fireworks and fun.
LSU lost to Clemson ? What’s that all about ? Couldn’t be in 2 places at once.
Good heavens, I see Georgia Tech stopped the streak of losing bowl games at 7 in a row. Lame Kitten is not long for that program, losing to a 6-7 football team, to have lost now 5 of their last 6 games at 7-6 on the season they were ranked # 1 pre-season. Does Stanford get credit for beating # 1 in the nation to start the season when they beat Southern California ?
Mississippi State is playing New Year’s Day ?
Michigan is playing New Year’s Day ?
Obviously too many bowl games New Year’s Day.
The Falcons should have never played their starters in that game yesterday. I told you so. You could look at a loss like that then, having not played your starters, that it is because you didn’t play your starters. As it is, it’s just a downer. You were way wrong to say we should try to win, and playing our starters at the end of the 4th quarter was more of the idiotic BS we’ve always pulled here in Atlanta, now with more injuries to our team we could ill-afford.
I change my mind. We’re going to FLOP again. I looked at the faces of the dis-allussioned Falcons leaving the field, and this is a big downer.
tlaw23
January 1st, 2013
3:35 am
man can you bamers, catfish noodling, mudd slinging hicks PLEASE go to a board that is based in Alabamer or Tusclusum..or some other whack ass city in Alabaster,,,Hicks!
Stinger2
January 1st, 2013
4:35 am
Jeff: This GT fan believes that UGA will finish strong. UGA 42-17 Go Dawgs!
Whopper Dawg
January 1st, 2013
5:49 am
The real game is already lost, This one doesn’t matter.
Under richie florida bowls or less are our fate. Don’t sweat it, it will be the same next year.
Thomas Brown
January 1st, 2013
6:38 am
http://www.gifbin.com/985218
ACC RULES!!! YEAH BABY
January 1st, 2013
6:45 am
CLEMS@N TIGERS GONNA WHUP SOME PUPPIES NEXT IN DEATH VALLEY!!! BOOK IT BABY!!!
Buckeye
January 1st, 2013
6:55 am
Happy New Year dogs
ACC RULES!!! YEAH BABY
January 1st, 2013
7:03 am
SEC CHUMPSSSS!!!! Auburn Tigers…..LSU Tigers…. BOOKENDS AT THE DOME……HOW BOUT THEM CLEMS@N TIGERS!!! NEXT THE GEORGIA BULLPUPPIES IN DEATH VALLEY!!!!! YEAH BABY!!!
GO DABO!!! WE RAID THIS STATE!