Same old story: Turnovers doom Dogs against Gators
Aaron Murray finally had a game where he looked like a redshirt freshman, but he also led a remarkable comeback by the Dogs. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
I had a sinking feeling as they broke for the half in the Georgia-Florida game when Urban Meyer told CBS’ Tracy Wolfson, “You look at the history of this series, turnovers win the game. That’s gonna be the key to the second half.”
At the time, his team was leading 21-7 largely because the Dogs had turned the ball over and missed on at least one take-away. As it turned out, Georgia battled back valiantly in the second half to tie the game up twice and send it to overtime. But in the end, Meyer proved to be the seer, as a tipped ball on third down of Georgia’s first OT possession was intercepted by the Gators, giving them the ball and the chance to win it with a field goal by their backup kicker.
I guess you can say that losing a thriller by 3 points in overtime certainly marks some sort of progression over the past two years, when the Dogs were hammered by the Gators, but when you consider that Georgia was favored this year over a Tim Tebow-less Florida team on a three-game losing streak, the end result doesn’t hurt much less than the two previous losses.
The Gators got off to a slow start in the scoreless first quarter, as has been typical of them this year, but then it was all Florida in the second quarter as the game looked to be headed toward a repeat of the same old tired scenario that has plagued Georgia most of the past decade. Despite their talk this week about approaching the Jacksonville showdown as just another SEC game, it was obvious that the Dogs were playing extremely tight, and the turnover problem that had largely disappeared over the previous three games returned with a vengeance.
It wasn’t just the times Georgia turned the ball over. It was the Dogs’ inability to accept the gifts that Florida tried to give them. It wasn’t a case of the ball bouncing wrong; it was Georgia not covering. One fumble Sanders Commings tried to pick up and run with instead of just jumping on the ball, and the Gators ended up getting it back. Another time the Dogs recovered a fumble only to immediately lose it. And with 24 seconds left in regulation Bacarri Rambo had a potential interception hit him in the hands but couldn’t hold on to it.
The tendency might be to lay the blame for this loss on the fact that Aaron Murray definitely had his worst game. I remember back during the depths of the Dogs’ four-game losing streak someone noting that the play of Murray had been the lone bright spot and wondering, “Imagine how it would be if he had a bad game and played like a redshirt freshman.” Well, that happened in the first half, as Murray was frequently off in his passes (a 63-yard scoring strike to Tavarres King in the second quarter being the main exception) and coughed the ball up on a sack.
But Murray looked sharp most of the time in the second half as he led the Dogs back and Georgia outscored Florida 24-10. One thing you can say about this group of Dogs is that they don’t give up. As Mark Richt noted after the game, even on that interception in OT, they could have just let the Florida defender run it back for a score but the last two Georgia players finally managed to force him out of bounds at the 1-yard line. In the end, the Gators still prevailed, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort on the part of the Dogs.
Not much consolation, though, considering this was the year Georgia looked best positioned to come out of Jacksonville with a win. Facing Trey Burton another three or four years isn’t a very heartening prospect.
I’ll be back Sunday afternoon with more thoughts on the game. Until then, feel free to share your views of the latest loss to the Gators.
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425 comments Add your comment
Harold
October 30th, 2010
9:26 pm
Georgia came out as flat as could be in the first quarter. Just no energy. Really didn’t seem to wake up until the 4th quarter, and it was too late.
Let's Talk About UGA!
October 30th, 2010
9:26 pm
All you people pontificatin’ ’bout Vegas Odds?
I bet we whoop the tar outta Idaho State!
Go Dawgs!
Anybody want a beer?
Turtle Track Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:26 pm
Ifeel like I just got a prostate exam.
dawginduluth
October 30th, 2010
9:27 pm
We used to win these – before CMR.
Michael
October 30th, 2010
9:27 pm
Georgia just cant’ develop players.
still a dawg fan
October 30th, 2010
9:28 pm
1) Hey,will someone please tell Bobo that we do have top 10 draft pick playing wide receiver for us. AJ touched the ball 2 times until our final drive & then Bobo decided to go to him & he makes 2 great catches & the the CBS announcer’s keep saying all day that AJ was running wide open down the field & they couldn’t understand why Bobo was not calling his number.Florida mean while kept feeding the ball all day to both Demps & Rainey & our defense made Brantley look like an All-American QB today. Hard to understand how a struggling Florida offense that has had a hard time scoring any point this year can put 34 up on us. I guess the only thing you can say is–HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF FOR AN AILING OFFENSE —U-G-A-D-E-F-E-N-S-E.
2) CMR needs to bench the next player who tries to pickup a fumble instead of falling on it.Saunders Cummings cost us 3pts or 7pts when Florida fumbled on the five yard line.It ended up being a 14pt swing because Florida ended up going 95yards after that for a TD.
3) Will someone please fix our 3rd down defense—IT IS TERRIBLE & it has been going on all year.
RECRUIT BETTER & WE WILL WIN & THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY
Mobile Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:29 pm
CHDawg, I’m not dogging Murray. The kids a freshman, he played like one at times and played brilliantly at times.. These coaches haven’t built an environment in Athens which fosters playing at a championship caliber. I don’t understand why AJ wasn’t more of a part of the game plan. This loss alone, the way we played and fought back would be acceptable. The package as a whole this year stinks beyond description. I’m tired as “heck” of the results. I’m glad some of you find solace.
Still waiting on some of you “kool aid drinking, blind homers” to explain the go for two decision.
Tman
October 30th, 2010
9:30 pm
I enjoy these blogs but let me give you dogs a spelling lesson- “definitely” not “definately”
and “offense” not “offence”
Tman
October 30th, 2010
9:32 pm
The reason A J didnt get the ball is because he was smothered by the Gator All SEC safety Jenkins – you idiots
Mobile Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:32 pm
While your at it Tman, how about lose, instead of loose.
Carl Pelini
October 30th, 2010
9:32 pm
The answer is Yes: All you have to do is make the call.
Mobile Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:33 pm
Tman, just refrain from the name calling buddy ! ! ! What purpose does it serve?
tim
October 30th, 2010
9:35 pm
Enter your comments here
Stick With Richt, Bobo Gotta Go
October 30th, 2010
9:38 pm
Enter your comments here
Let's Talk About UGA!
October 30th, 2010
9:39 pm
If anyone comes over, please bring beer in cans not bottles.
We’re ‘going green’ here. Mama says our home is made from recycled beer cans.
If you don’t want to watch a re-run of the 1980 game, then we can watch some REM
music videos.
Oh, and bring friends. Mama says she’s lonely.
Go Dawgs!
Stick With Richt, Bobo Gotta Go
October 30th, 2010
9:40 pm
wow, most of you people really do suck. once again, you prove that UGA has some of the worst fans in the country.
Mobile Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:40 pm
Good night Dawgs, somehow, someway, we live to fight another day. Bruce and I are retiring to lick our wounds. Fortunately there’s a Gulf of Mexico full of Red Snapper waiting to cure what ails me….
CHDawg
October 30th, 2010
9:41 pm
Mobile,
He has made remarkably few mistakes this year. Think about a lot of other all time great QBs and most of them didn’t do nearly as well in their first year of starting. It is easy to get frustrated and look for somebody to shoot when you lose, but that is part of life. Winners learn from their mistakes and they get better, and we are getting better. The turnovers neutralize good play. Personally, I thought we played better in the trenches today than we did against UK. We got all of the turnovers vs UK, and we lost most of the turnover opportunities today. We would have easily won today had we converted even a fourth of the turnover opportunities. Improvements, though, were run blocking, penalties, pass D; we had over 300 yds through the air, and should have had 400. So think back to some of the early losses and we have improved. I’m not happy with the losses, and I guarantee you the coaching staff isn’t happy either, but this is one of those trying years–we have to press on and get better, and have a great recruiting year. Not wait till next year–start getting better this week.
Stick With Richt, Bobo Gotta Go
October 30th, 2010
9:42 pm
Funny these Tech fans on here talking smack. UGA still owns you.
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October 30th, 2010
9:42 pm
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3-18
October 30th, 2010
9:42 pm
If UGA would just wrap up they would be fine. Need to wrap a paper bag on the head until Richt is gone and the damage has been assessed and rectified.
Pass The Ball
October 30th, 2010
9:43 pm
As Georgia fans we expect a lot. However, we don’t have a program that backs it up-1 NC in the modern era?
I wonder how we got such inflated views about our team? I can’t say that I am immune- I feel the same unrealistic views on the team.
DarkJuice4U
October 30th, 2010
9:45 pm
Just wait till next year! We will win it all!
sdb92
October 30th, 2010
9:46 pm
What a great comeback to get to OT. It is all about turnovers. Dawgs will regroup and stay the course. We were not out coached.
I enjoyed seeing my school’s head coach calm and cool on the sidelines.
Urban looked herky, jerky all night.
I felt it was our game to lose. UGA lost because of the turnover margin.
I like the coach, the D, and A. Murray is a talent.
GO DAWGS!
SOS Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:46 pm
We can forget about A J staying another year. He was so frustrated of not getting the ball. Mark Richt going for 2 with over 10 min. left in the game was idiotic. Bone headed mistakes.
j$dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:47 pm
All the posters who are ready to get rid of Richt must be yech fans.
Yes, the go for 2 was a poor decision.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20.
UGA will still put a beat down on Yech.
F the bowls this year.
dawgster
October 30th, 2010
9:48 pm
the dawgs played great, never gave up unbelievable play calling in OT…don’t neccessary disagree with the first call, but the next two were mind boggling at best..don’t think we will ever get it done with Bobo as OC..of course its not his fault that we threw interceptions and fumbled or that we didn’t make plays on defense when we had opportunities..as far as Coach Richt…i know everyone is going to be calling for him to be dismissed…we may never beat the gators with this coaching staff, but let me ask you, who could come in here that could get us over the hump or at least win a few of these…we had Goff, Donnan, neither one of them could be the gators with any consistancy, so atl least things havent changed..i still think Coach Richt is a fine coach, but right now Saban, Meyer are better…i hate saying that, but it is what it is…its not the dawgs talent, its that the gators have gotten in our head and we need to change that mindset..but other than winning some of these games i don’t know what you do..realistically we play timid at times against the gators as we seem to be afraid something bad will happen as it seems the case…I do knwo this…it should be a priority for our AD to find a way to get our team a bye week before this game…i know that is one thing that Coach spurrier did when he came to fla…any help that we could get should be looked into if we want to turn this series around..absolutely no reason at all that we should be looking at a loss this year against this gator football team…I’d like to see Coach Richt turn this thing around, but i don’t know if the dawg nation will give him anymore time…still proud of the dawgs, you did your best and thats all we can ask of the players…go dawgs
Jake the Snake
October 30th, 2010
9:48 pm
Associated Press is reporting that Coach Richt will be released on Monday at 2:00 p.m. press conference. To quote the late President Gerald Ford, “Our long national nightmare is OVER!”
SOS Dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:49 pm
Maybe Richt needs to be herky jerky. We would have had two more Nattys.
tim
October 30th, 2010
9:49 pm
you people are all idiots…just plain crazy for wanting richt fired. the past three weeks everyone has been so happy, everything is just great in athens We’ve showed composure and poise. Murry is the reincarnation of David Greene and the d is coming around. Now all of sudden the coach has to be fired, again. That’s just plain stupid!! If you think Murry didn’t throw during the week of if AJ wasn’t part of the game plan you’re crazy. it was obvious from the first play that AJ was part of the game plan. it’s just unfortuante that murry had his first real case of the nerves. The d played pretty well, I know, still a victim of the big play but still we’re in position to win the game. Showed great poise in coming back from 21-7. it boiled down to the freshman qb looking like a freshman sometimes. We may very well end up being 6-6 and this season. Ok, deal with it. but I tell you this, we have the makings of a very good team next season. Murry will get better each week just like he has all season. The defense will improve and be even better when he gets more of the type of players he needs for this defense. it’s been a tough couple of years for sure but richt IS righting the ship. I’m glad the AD has more sense than any of you people.
DawginTX
October 30th, 2010
9:49 pm
I was actually very pleased with the way the team played, as I was the previous 3 games. I’ll just give Florida’s ball-hawking defense (#1 in NCAA in interceptions) credit for converting their TO opportunities, while we didn’t ours. Besides the TOs, remember the 2 false starts that were called after the play was over–we stopped them on 3rd down once, but the play was blown dead and they converted the next play, then scored a TD. The other was a sack which would have left them 3rd and 20 instead of 2nd and 14. They got the breaks. We didn’t. I don’t care what their record says–Florida is one of the most talented teams in the country, and they used the off-week to put it together. If we keep playing like we have the last 4 games, we’ll definitely beat Tech and have a great shot against Auburn. I just hope Richt can keep them positive.
Stuart Johnston
October 30th, 2010
9:49 pm
The Georgia team reminds me of our Florida Gators when I was a boy. They played hard, but not smart. They played close. Yet, that was not enough. Sadly, most of my Florida friends don’t care much about this game anymore. It is certainly not a heated rivalry anymore because that assumes a level of parity and Florida has much bigger games. Gators should be proud this evening because they beat a decent team after experiencing so much turmoil since just prior to last season’s SEC Championship game. We lost our defensive coach, our offensive coach, our best QB, our two best defensive players, and a lot of experience. I would not want to play Florida next year when the boys have even more experience. Florida is a very young and inexperienced team. Horrible Georgia play-calling helped the Gators tonight. That is the truth. I respect every Bulldog player because they refused to lay down and quit. Perhaps it is time for a coaching change in Athens after all. Richt is a super human being who will land on his feet. He should be an offensive coach in the pros??
DAWG knot
October 30th, 2010
9:50 pm
Send richt to URBAN MEYER coaching clinic beside the one he gets at UGA expense
Mike
October 30th, 2010
9:50 pm
Boy this is getting old…time to quit wanting it more than the team.
Let's Talk About UGA!
October 30th, 2010
9:50 pm
OK,
I’ve tried to be positive but I’m crying on the inside!
Will somebody please come to Mama’s trailer?
I need a man-hug and a Snickers.
I’m wearing red panties for pete’s sake!
Go Dawgs!
BiggestDawgintheWoods
October 30th, 2010
9:53 pm
If you can’t beat this Florida team… then which one are you planning on beating?
In ten years and ten recruiting seasons… five losses is your product?
Not sure what the question is… but the answer is no longer Richt.
TxDawg
October 30th, 2010
9:54 pm
This game was lost in the 2ndqtr. Will someone tell me why we cannot cover a wheel route or the tight end. When the A gap gets gashed half a dozen times in a row why don;t we adjust. Murray started slow but he did not loose the game.
R U Kidding Me
October 30th, 2010
9:54 pm
Tough loss and UGA’s season is officially over. Hey, at least the weather is nice….
crap sandwich
October 30th, 2010
9:56 pm
Voodoo was again cost the dogs. Back 21 years ago the Haitian boat people arrived in Florida. Look at today, mysterious fumble bounces the other way, Bobo’s playcalling in OT only having to protect the ball, but he had a mind freeze, Aaron Murray passes deflected and way off the mark. Yes the voodoo happened again, did you not notice the Witch doctors? They were the ones wearing Jorts.
Jake the Snake
October 30th, 2010
9:56 pm
Associated Press is reporting Coach Richt will be released on Monday at a 2:00 p.m. press conference. Our nightmare is finally over!
Macclenny_dawg
October 30th, 2010
9:56 pm
Going for 2 was dumb until we got it the next time. But that didn’t cost us the game!!!! nd a 10 and we run the ball like we always do on 2nd and 10!!! That put us in 3rd and long and Murray just tried to make a throw!!! He should have been told on 3rd down to throw it high to the back of the end zone to Green if he misses it we kick it!!! 2nd down play calling cost us the game!!!
DOGMAN III
October 30th, 2010
9:57 pm
Fire Richt NOW!!!
Since Vince
October 30th, 2010
9:57 pm
Wow the kool aid drikers are out in full force.
beat Auburn ?….. now thats comical.
SickandTired
October 30th, 2010
9:57 pm
2 and 8 against Florida. Enough said. Fire the head coach.
Ed
October 30th, 2010
9:59 pm
Nothing unrealistic about expecting to beat Florida, at least half the time. It’s not like they were never good before Spurrier. If fact, they had chances to win quite a few SEC titles in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. One of the reasons they never could is because DOOLEY BEAT THEM.
2-8 doesn’t cut it. Does he need to get to 2-10 before the UGA brass figures that out? I can’t support a coach who can’t beat UF. Richt must go.
Since Vince
October 30th, 2010
9:59 pm
This Season is now OVA !
NOBODYYOUKNOW
October 30th, 2010
10:00 pm
Well, here we go again. Same old moaning and crying by dog fans. “Our play calling was terrable”, “fire BOBO” “fire CMR” “fire Willie Mart”. (oh, he’s already fired.) People you are having an off year. You just are not that good this time. I promise you if CMR is let go you guys are gonna go through some bad seasons. Some new coach with a whole new system comes along and has to start all over again. All you are doing with all that new coach talk is scareing potental recruits away. Hang with CMR, he’ll get the job done.
damon evans
October 30th, 2010
10:01 pm
I think they should give Richt a drug test. How can you stay that calm during a game, and that 2 point conversion call was a brain fart.
Pretty Boy Richt
October 30th, 2010
10:01 pm
The Pathetic Punk is 2-8 against the team its alums consider their biggest rival. The BotoxedBoob could not even beat this pitiful Florida team. Could we please send his silly ass off to some African nation that cares little about collegiate rivalries and let him maintain a permanent MISSIONAIRY PosBocaition—Missionairy Positions are what the Boca Raton Beach Boy does best, AND get Chuck Dowdle’s ugly mug off of national television!!
CMR Titanic
October 30th, 2010
10:01 pm
This ship is still sinking slowly. the deck chairs have been rearranged………