Mark Richt at his best: Five favorite games
Mark Richt has had a lot of wins worth celebrating at Georgia. Today we pick five favorites. (Associated Press)
In honor of Mark Richt’s 50th birthday today, here are the five games from his nine seasons at Georgia that I think are the Georgia coach at his very best.
Georgia’s 26-24 win over Tennessee in 2001. Forever hailed by Dogs fans as the “hobnail boot” game, it was Richt’s first signature victory and set the template for Richt at his most successful: Cool on the sideline, explosive offense moving the ball quickly downfield, superb call for the touchdown, beating the other guy on the road.
Georgia’s 24-21 win in Auburn in 2002. Perhaps the most important win of the Richt era in that it put the Dogs into their first SEC championship game. Another classic come-from-behind effort and another great call with the fourth-and-19 “70-X-Takeoff” pass to Michael Johnson in the end zone.
Georgia’s 37-15 upset win over Auburn in 2006. Richt later said that he was worried before this game that he had a terrible game plan. Not exactly. Georgia hit the No. 5 Tigers in the mouth from the first snap and never looked back.
Georgia’s 42-30 win over Florida in 2007. Was the dancing in the end zone call a brilliant gamble or Richt giving in to his dark side? Either way, this was a marvelous coaching job.
Georgia’s 30-24 win over Georgia Tech in 2009. Nobody expected the Dogs to have much of a chance in this game, but that’s when Richt is at his most dangerous. A great game plan running the ball down the Jackets’ throats.
Feel free to share your own favorite games under Richt. And happy birthday, Coach!
IN PRAISE OF BOBO
Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture offers some praise for oft-criticized offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. He notes that despite the Dogs losing their star QB and running back in 2009, running fewer offensive plays than the year before, having way too many turnovers and playing a killer schedule, Georgia’s point production dropped only about two and a half points per game this past season.
The obvious conclusion is that while Bobo’s playcalling might not always be a thing of beauty, he generally knows what he’s doing.
HALF-FULL BETTER THAN EMPTY
T Kyle King of Dawg Sports has been one of the more pessimistic Georgia basketball fans this season, not letting a few big wins go to his head. After Mark Fox’s Dogs again let a lead slip away last night against Tennessee and remain winless on the road, King offers a downbeat but fair assessment of the state of UGA basketball: “Coach Fox deserves time to remake this program into one that can win, but, in the meantime, while we are forced to wait patiently with our teeth gritted, what we have is a team that cannot emerge triumphant twice consecutively and cannot do anything other than lose on the road. The best that can be said is that the glass is half-full because the glass was completely empty when it was handed to Mark Fox. Only half-empty represents real progress for the program with the weakest roundball tradition in the SEC.”
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104 comments Add your comment
UGAgrad04
February 22nd, 2010
9:46 am
Looks like the usual suspects are on here. And considering how obnoxious some of these Crimson Tide fans are acting on this blog, I’ll put the 27-25 win over Bama in 2002 and the 26-23 OT win in 2007. 2002 was the Dawgs first ever win in Bryant-Denny and Stafford to Henderson was pretty sweet in OT. And just the look on those Bama rednecks faces after we stole vistory away from them in both of those games( and on their own turf nonetheless) was just priceless.You can put both of those losses in your Houndsooth hats and wear ‘em Bama fans!
UGAgrad04
February 22nd, 2010
9:47 am
Looks like the usual suspects are on here. And considering how obnoxious some of these Crimson Tide fans are acting on this blog, I’ll put the 27-25 win over Bama in 2002 and the 26-23 OT win in 2007. 2002 was the Dawgs first ever win in Bryant-Denny and Stafford to Henderson was pretty sweet in OT. And just the look on those Bama rednecks faces after we stole victory away from them in both of those games( and on their own turf nonetheless) was just priceless.You can put both of those losses in your Houndsooth hats and wear ‘em Bama fans!
dbaawmga
February 23rd, 2010
2:59 am
the Auburn game in 2006. Who would have thought a young Stafford would come alive like that. And what a game plan! Watched it in the rain in the Auburn student section, could not have been a better feeling.
joe robby
February 23rd, 2010
4:30 am
1) 2001 UGA 26 Tenn 24 – defeating top 5 team on the road gave instant credibility to Richt
2) 2002 UGA 24 Auburn 21 – winning a must have game on the road to clinch an SECCG berth
3) 2005 UGA 34 LSU 14 – destroying #3 Tigers for 2nd SEC title in 4 years
4) 2006 UGA 37 Auburn 15 – defeat of top 10 team on the road turned around Staff’s freshman year.
5) 2007 UGA 42 Florida 30 – 2nd win over Florida in a 4 year period
The win that felt the best was the 2006 win over GT. The Jackets were the favorites and an unexpected loss to the Dawgs seemed to throw them off the next week in the ACCCG. Seal clubbing Tenn. in Knoxville 41-14 was pretty sweet. We were up 41-7 in the middle of the 3rd and Fulmer thanked Richt for not making it worse than it was. 2002 Alabama was good but not because its the first win in Tuscaloosa (UGA has a good record vs. the Tide in Birmingham which is more impressive). Beating old rival Clemson in Death Valley 30-0 was special. 2003 over Bama was nice too considering that we were up 34-3 at the half. Blowing out LSU 45-16 was great and is part of the current 6 of 9 streak UGA has vs. the Tigers. What we’re missing is a big win over a top 10 bowl opponent (Hawai’i was #10, but……..).