Isn’t Georgia-Florida motivation enough?
Can we call a timeout on cheap motivational ploys? (Associated Press)
The dueling insults story is easily the most predictable aspect of coverage this week leading up to Saturday’s Georgia-Florida game.
Mark Richt thought his 2007 team was flat, so he challenged them to get an excessive celebration penalty after their first score against the Gators that year. The whole team danced in the end zone and Georgia went on to win the game. The special attention SEC officials have given the Dogs since then has made some question Richt’s move, but at the time many hailed it as a great motivational ploy.
Urban Meyer didn’t think so. He told the world that it was a “bad deal” and would be “forever in the mind of Urban Meyer” (why is it humorless prigs always like to refer to themselves in the third person?). So he used it as a motivational tool all during the offseason, and in 2008 his Gators took it out on the Dogs.
That wasn’t enough for Meyer, of course, so he childishly extended the game with a couple of unnecessary timeouts, just to rub some salt in the wound and thumb his nose at Richt.
And nobody is surprised to read that Georgia has pictures of Meyer calling timeout and the score of last year’s game posted in its locker room and weight room.
A.J. Green says the pictures are “motivation for me” because the timeouts were “a sign of disrespect. So I’m going to play my heart out.”
Meanwhile, the Gators are still trying to milk some motivation out of the 2007 dance, with defensive tackle Terron Sanders telling the Orlando Sentinel it was “a sign of disrespect” and “a slap in the face. We can’t just let it be a one-year thing where we feel like we took care of it. We always have to look back at it as disrespect.”
What’s ridiculous is that programs of the caliber of Georgia and Florida need to look for signs of “disrespect” and motivational gimmicks in order to get their players up for the annual showdown in Jacksonville.
Why is all this posturing and bulletin-board stuff necessary? Would A.J. not play his heart out if the Gators hadn’t disrespected the Dogs last year? Of course, not. He plays his heart out every week.
But especially in a game like this, that should be the norm for all the players on both sides.
As Richt said in his Tuesday press briefing, “I don’t think this game needs anything extra from the past to get anybody excited to play.” If anyone on either team doesn’t “respect” the other program, you have to question whether they even belong on the field.
After all, this is Georgia-Florida, a storied rivalry. The crowd is split 50/50 so the noise is almost constant. In most years, the game decides the SEC East. The two programs battle over the same recruits in each other’s territory. That ought to be enough to get the players pumped to the max for this game without the coaches having to resort to the old “remember what they did last year” bit or on-field stunts or cheap-shot attempts at showing up the other team.
It’s the Dogs and Gators, so shut up and play!
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211 comments Add your comment
takedowndawg
October 29th, 2009
9:03 am
Snoop and your dooky, one would hope that your apparent persona is strictly being a clown and not a punk. If you are not an act you would appear to be one of the lower life forms we share on this planet. Something that would slime across the dirt and is allergic to SALT!!!!Grow up.
AWJ
October 29th, 2009
10:35 am
If these guys can’t get up for this game with all that has happened over the last couple of years in this rivaly (series really..because we have done squat) then we are in deep trouble for the game and the rest of the season.
I jump back and forth from being patient to extreme, but right now I feel like if we do not have a new D-coordinator next year, then CMR has drawn his line in the sand (friendships/relationships more important than UGA football/what the numbers say) and put his own job on the line. There are plenty of good people out there and I am sure he could convince one of them to relocate to Athens.
My .02c
mad as hell and I ain't gonna take it anymore!
October 29th, 2009
11:00 am
I’m tired of Richt and all the undelivered promises and all the excuses. Beginning in January last, Richt promised that we were working on reducing penalties and turnovers. PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES.
Richt is a first class guy, so we’re told, and I respect that. He’s far from a first class coach. And I don’t respect that. The fall began with the 2005 season especially the WVA Sugar Bowl game where we gave up 38 points! THIRTY-EIGHT POINTS! Never beat Florida and won the SEC E in the same year! Alabama leads at the half 31-0. Florida destroys us 49-10 last year. We lose to Tech in Athens although we are leading by 18 points in the third quarter. IF Y’ALL LIKE THAT, THEN YOU CAN HAVE IT. IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE DEFENDING.
I DON’T LIKE IT, I HATE IT. Talk all about the great w/l record. We ain’t won the big one and haven’t even gotten to the final two in 8 plus seasons. While Miles, Saban and Meyer have all won national championships in half the seasons that Richt has been coaching at Georgia. You like that? I HATE IT. YOU LIKE THAT, THEN YOU KEEP ON LOSING UNTIL THE BODY IS BLED DRY.
This will be the fourth successive year that we will not represent the East in Atlanta. Next year is likely to be the same unless the QB is a phenom like the one at USC in Los Angeles. We’re in triple digits in several categories. I submit that those categories go hand-in-hand with defining a bad team. DEAL WITH IT, WE’RE A BAD TEAM WITH AMATEURS COACHING WHO CONTINUE TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. WITH A HEAD COACH WHO HAS DONE NOT VERY MUCH TO CHANGE HIS STAFF SINCE 2005 EVEN THOUGH EACH SEASON IS WORSE THAN ITS PREDECESSOR. WAKE UP! WAKE UP!
The only way to get rid of this joke of a coaching staff, including CMR, is for them to lose Saturday to Florida and then to Tech. I’m a long, long time Georgia fan, a two-time UGA graduate, a native of Athens, a top notch recruiter for the DAWGS when that was legal years ago. I bleed Red and Black and take no second seat to ANYONE in that regard.
Saban has changed DCs and OCs twice in the two plus years he’s been at BAMA. They’ve not lost a game this year. Us? We win against ASU as the clock expires. ASU? Yep, a second tier PAC 10 team. You know the answer.
We need to lose to get rid of the slop. It hurts me deeply to say this: Go Gators, Go Tech. Go STAFF!!!!!! IF YOU THINK THAT IS DISLOYAL, THEN MAKE THE MOST OF IT! If that’s disloyalty which some of you think of it as, then ride the ship down with CMR because going down it is. See any signs this year of the ship not going down? Please, if you do, tell me what they are.
I want US to resume our rightful place in college football not to be embarrassed time and again on national TV giving up 30 or more points. EXIT RICHT AND COACHING STAFF.
CMR is a stubborn, bull-headed coach, loathe to make changes, loathe to give up play calling (he stll calls most of the plays is my bet) loathe to bring in coaches that might outshine him. He is an unmitigated disaster. IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE AND THE TIME IS NOW (AFTER THE SEASON, OF COURSE). GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS. From a man that hates what is happening with UGA football.
AND IN YOUR HEARTS YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT!
dawgdays (the other one)
October 29th, 2009
11:44 am
Twisted Sister – you are not far off the point but I could never say that I want to lose to UF and GT.
JacketFan
October 29th, 2009
11:51 am
This blog is nastier than I have ever seen.
To Dawg fans:
Chill out! Just ignore all the bs and talk your game. I don’t, for the life of me, know why you pups always get so riled up and angry? You’re having a tough year. It happens (trust me, I’m a Tech fan … we know about tough years). It’s to be expected. Richt has been great for the past 7 years. He needs to make some adjustments, and he will. Next year will be better. Just calm it down, will ya?
Go Jackets!
To Hell With Georgia!
Darrin in Elberton
October 29th, 2009
2:19 pm
“mad as hell and I ain’t gonna take it anymore!” writes very eloquently, but more importantly, he’s spot-on with his observations. RICHT HAS TO GO!
Darrin in Elberton
October 29th, 2009
2:22 pm
Another player arrested yesterday. That’s the problem, half our goon players are wearing those heavy ankle monitors they put on parolees! And Richt doesn’t think the arrest records have anything to do with what happens on the field.
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October 29th, 2009
7:12 pm
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Kenny G
October 29th, 2009
10:32 pm
we’re still the dawgs folks.It’s time to take care of business
Kenny G
October 29th, 2009
10:47 pm
I also think the folks who bash Richt but then talk good about him in the same breath need to find out where they stand…..quit talking out of both sides of your mouth man ! Hate to act like Rome but say what you mean and leave it ! That said,I think Richt still has the hunger in his belly to win a championship ! When i feel like it’s done i will tell you and there will not be a “BUT” that ends the conversation.
Kip
October 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
Florida:Georgia::Hammer:Nail
This “rivalry” is laughable.