Tigers show Dogs half a win isn’t better than nothing
Malcolm Mitchell contemplates what might have been after dropping a sure touchdown pass. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
Is there such a thing as half a moral victory?
If so, you could probably chalk up Georgia’s first-half showing in the SEC title game as something along those lines.
Of course, the cold, hard truth is that moral victories are just losses in which you can find something to make it hurt just a little less. And that’s where UGA fans are left after running into the Honey Badger and Co.
Yes, the Dogs were soundly beaten by LSU in the Georgia Dome in what turned into a very ugly rout in the second half. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Georgia defense played a remarkable first half, holding the No. 1 team in the country to a mere dozen yards of offense and absolutely no first downs.
I can’t remember ever seeing that before in a game against a major opponent.
Unfortunately, while Georgia came out initially with an aggressive game plan that included a flawlessly executed onside kick at one point, the rest of the offensive execution left much to be desired, thanks to several dropped passes (including two sure touchdowns) and continued special teams miscues. And playcaller Mike Bobo suddenly reverted to a conservative approach that took all the wind out of Georgia’s sails.
In the second quarter, neither team could move the ball, as Georgia continued to stuff LSU’s running game but the Tigers defense adjusted to the fact that the Dogs had no running game and they could turn loose and just go after the quarterback.
So instead of leading LSU 21-0 at halftime as they should have, the Dogs had a mere 10-7 advantage.
And then the wheels came off.
I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be a good half for Georgia when Bobo opened it up trying in vain to run little Carlton Thomas up the middle twice, putting his quarterback in just the sort of third-and-long situation you don’t want to face against the ferocious Tiger defense. Aaron Murray’s resulting fumble as he scrambled gave LSU a short field — and one of their patented scoring spurts was off and running.
At that point, you pretty much knew it was over.
Murray had a pretty lousy night, completing just 16 of 40 passes with two interceptions on top of that fumble, but some of the blame for that should go to Bobo, who put his QB in bad situations. Admittedly, though, Bobo was hampered by not having a running game.
You had a gimpy Isaiah Crowell, the anti-Lattimore, who was ineffective running the ball, averaging just 1.5 yards per carry, but who managed to draw a penalty running his mouth. Then there was Thomas, who wasn’t well used by Bobo before leaving the game with an injury. And Ken Malcome, who had some tough runs late in the game when it was already decided and who probably should have been the starter, as he was against Georgia Tech. A curious decision on the part of Bobo and Mark Richt.
No wonder a testy Richt didn’t want to talk about the tailbacks this week. LSU had four pretty interchangeable backs and Georgia couldn’t come up with one consistent threat, which is the difference between pretty good and great.
Keith Marshall, come on down!
Still, Georgia fans shouldn’t get so down in the dumps over our Dogs being throttled by what may well turn out to be one of college football’s greatest teams ever that we lose sight of the 10 wins in a row that secured UGA the SEC East title and a trip to a January bowl game.
Richt’s program isn’t yet back in the SEC elite with LSU and Alabama, at least not for a full 60 minutes.
But Saturday’s first half showed the Dogs aren’t all that far away.
Feel free to share your own views of the game against LSU and what Georgia needs to pull even with Les Miles’ program.
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498 comments Add your comment
Honky Talkin
December 5th, 2011
8:51 am
@DawginLex: Your 10 game win streak was against only 2 teams with a winning record. What’s to be proud of?
Mike Bobo 17 INT
December 5th, 2011
8:52 am
In response to DawginLex
I’m not going to stay on here off and on all day and argue with the idiots:
1) UGA played a very weak schedule
The next few years are going to be rough, because Texas A and M and Mizzou are moving over, thus there is a good chance we are continue to get drilled.
2) CMR did just enough to keep his job
3) UGA could not beat a real ranked team (Auburn does not count)
4) UGA hung with LSU in the fist half, then Miles stepped on their throats
5) UGA does not have a bright future, because they do not have the coaching staff to get them there
6) UGA’s AD is worthless, because Adams makes the decisions not the AD
7) UGA cannot win road openers (i.e. OSU)
9) UGA is too busy expending too much energy with trying to start fights on the field and penalties, that we forgot about how to play the game
10) UGA forgot there are 60 minutes to a game
Honky Talkin
December 5th, 2011
8:54 am
@DCLee: UGA is 0-3 against currently ranked teams.
James
December 5th, 2011
8:56 am
Hornblowermg
The badger did not score on Instant replay. He handed ball to official before he crossed the goal line. KB stated on radio program after the game that the official should not be allowed to officiate another game. How much do you think not having a game clock or play clock hurt our offense?
Dogs Smell
December 5th, 2011
8:58 am
You “Homers” are so full of excuses. Can you never admit you’re not the better team? You played 3 quality teams this year and lost to all 3. You went on a win streak that against the same teams GT would have won 10 but then again so would half the teams in the country and you brag about it. Next year is not so bright. You may or may not have Crowell and you lose 5 off the line. No Geogia 2012 will not be a 1980 rewind.
Corn Dawg
December 5th, 2011
9:00 am
I was just hoping that Les Miles would make the mistake of saying that Georgia had played a good game. Then we could claim another win – just like with South Carolina.
We would have won anyway if the Refs hadn’t cheated us out of it. Oh well… That’s Georgia football.
DawginLex
December 5th, 2011
9:02 am
Excuse me for continuing to support the Dawgs
It’s called loyalty
If McGarity fires richt, I’ll support the next coach and continue to support the team.
Richt had to do something very difficult: Start over and still stay employed. Most folks would have folded after 0-2 start.
Jury is still out long term but I still believe the future is bright because he did make changes and the players responded.
We will continue to disagree.
And I could care less what SSIGator thinks.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
December 5th, 2011
9:09 am
Honky Talkin
Hit the nail on the head, they get all excited about nothing. LSU ran the table on Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, West Virginia, Florida, Auburn, then throttling UGA in the SEC title game. There is no way in hell UGA could have even come close to running a table, much less finishing .500 with that sort of schedule.
LSU opens on on the road in Texas against Oregon and drills them with a backup QB (Lee). In my book LSU has already won the title, because this is one of the most talented teams in college football in a very long time.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
December 5th, 2011
9:11 am
Supporting your team often means being the teams worst critic. Employees may have liked working for Enron, but if you see issues within the company, then even their own employees need to drop the hammer.
Honky Talkin
December 5th, 2011
9:16 am
At least the conversation of “If” Georgia beats LSU is over. Dawg fans should accept their mediocrity and admit to being a 2nd tier SEC team for years to come.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
December 5th, 2011
9:20 am
DawginLex
In all fairness there have been vast improvements on the defense side of the ball, and Grantham has done a good job implementing the 4-3. Todd has also made a dent on reducing the number of penalties and has brought some degree of discipline to the defensive side of the ball.
However, the problems remain on the offensive side of the ball and the lack of intensity on behalf of UGA fans to elevate this program where it needs to be, which has always been the crux of my argument.
I really wish you could win a bunch of national titles, and I would tip my hat, but it is frustrating to see everyone in Athens sleep walking while CMR takes you to the bank.
gafans
December 5th, 2011
9:20 am
DawginLex
December 5th, 2011
8:35 am
I’m not going to stay on here off and on all day and argue with the idiots.
You mean the “other” idiots.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
December 5th, 2011
9:21 am
Correction, Grantham has implemented the 3-4 defensive scheme.
WDE
December 5th, 2011
9:23 am
Lets review shall we we won 10 games we are 2011 SEC East champs we beat our arch rivals UT,Auburn ,Ga Tech and the gators…that folks is always a good time…a lot of angst and envy won’t change that and its all driven by UGA resurgent…we are getting better and the trolls know and fear it. Just like every college team we will have holes to fill next year, but I like our returning core. Go Dogs!
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
9:28 am
James: what’s the call on the honyman tossing the ref the ball before he crosses the goal line?
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
9:30 am
Did crowell turn his back on richt? I missed that 1! He NEEDS to be disciplined, go recruit some power backs, then he will get the message. I don’t think he’s that good.
BAMA will payback LSU for stealing the game from them, that is, if saban doesn’t make thoe same BONEHEADED decisions!
old dog
December 5th, 2011
9:30 am
Summary: While it ain’t the total problem, Crowell would not set foot on a UGA field of any kind again. A heartless mouth-running nut who can’t back it up. Lack of a running game and LSU’s depth got us. Crowell does not deserve all the blame, but he is just a typical “nothing”! Let Boo run the ball, for goodness sake. And if I.C. ain’t the sorriest excuse of a team player to show up in a while, he definitely is in the running!
Larry
December 5th, 2011
9:31 am
Boy, this is right on. Why would you change what is working for you. BoBo has got to go. At least two of the touchdowns were on his head. When you start running when you don’t have running backs, hurt and too little, and go away from a great passing game you don’t need to be calling plays. Let’s see, run on 1st and 2nd down and pass on 3rd down, what imagination ! You can really fool the defense with that one.
boohoo
December 5th, 2011
9:33 am
I 95 AND GA GRAD you guys are right on , the talent that has come thru athens should have produced at least 4 natl chmps however richts 12 yr tenure has ONLY PRODUCED TWO SEC CHMPS. LSU toyed w/GA giving them a glimmer of hope only too slamm the door crush their face and kick them with a hobnail boot and bring to reality that ga still is not the caliber the bandwagon fans think they are again HOW LONG IS TOO LONG FOR CMR
Larry
December 5th, 2011
9:35 am
Cut Crowell now. Smart mouth, hurt and can’t take hits in this league. Don’t recuit any backs under 230 and six feet. Where is the beef?
Joe Bob Thibodaux
December 5th, 2011
9:39 am
To the credit of UGA, LSU played the worst first half game I have ever seen. No first downs, Wow! Time to move on: Whip Michigan State and end your season well.
JBT
boohoo
December 5th, 2011
9:47 am
I keep hearing next year two years how many years do you need, hell we can say that for any freakin team out there how long is too long
d1reality
December 5th, 2011
9:48 am
What a tail whuppin…..must have been those adjustments Grantham made at halftime.
SEC Whiners
December 5th, 2011
9:51 am
Bad calls, block in backs, all the excuses.
If we only scored 33 more points.
gafans
December 5th, 2011
10:01 am
We won the first half! We won the first half! It was REALLY 21-0!!! Why didn’t they count?!?!??!
I Crowell
December 5th, 2011
10:03 am
I don’t have to listen to CMR…I’m special. Now, where my weed?
Honky Talkin
December 5th, 2011
10:05 am
@WDE: Yes, you got 10 wins. Only 2 of those teams had a winning record and are no longer ranked. UGA is 0-3 against currently ranked teams. New bumper sticker: “Honk if you beat Florida this season”.
SEC Whiners
December 5th, 2011
10:18 am
Junkyard dawg defense – 122 points given up in 3 losses against ranked teams.
DawginLex
December 5th, 2011
10:20 am
gafans
December 5th, 2011
10:01 am
We won the first half! We won the first half! It was REALLY 21-0!!! Why didn’t they count?!?!??!
*************
Prime example of an idiot
RxDawg
December 5th, 2011
10:28 am
“the Tigers defense adjusted to the fact that the Dogs had no running game and they could turn loose and just go after the quarterback.”
EXACTLY!!! Now will you bozo’s quite blaming Bobo for that. I knew coming into this game that the key was our running game. If we could run, we could win. Well we couldn’t run diddily squat so there was just no way we could win. UGA hasn’t had a reliable back since Moreno and Brown. We just wiffed on recruiting morons and head cases. All we can do is realize how close we are and look to the future. Santa bring this Dawg some RB’s!!!
DelServDawg
December 5th, 2011
10:31 am
Richt got out-coached again. I agree with 01Hawk, he’s never going to take us to the championships. I gave up on Richt during the Florida game in 2009 when he had the gators on the ropes and, because of stupid play calling, lost the ball game. Georgia might not have ultimately defeated LSU in the SEC Championship game, however, when Richt and company went away from what was obviously working in the first half and tried to run our small backs up the middle, it sealed our fate. The spread passing attack by UGA had LSU off guard and was working. I’ll never understand why they went away from it. I feel we need a coaching change at Georgia if we are serious about becoming an elite program. Otherwise Richt and company is just right for mediocrity.
RxDawg
December 5th, 2011
10:34 am
“he’s never going to take us to the championships.”
He’s only done it 4 times in 11 years!? Sigh… ajc posters. Time to go to another site.
gafans
December 5th, 2011
10:42 am
DawginLex
December 5th, 2011
10:20 am
Prime example of an idiot
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
10:43 am
power rb is what you NEED!
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
10:43 am
MAMA is where its at because of power running…….it wears on the defense
Bill Clinton
December 5th, 2011
10:43 am
It all depends on the meaning of “take us to the championships”. If you mean getting to a conference playoff game, then Richt’s your man – so long as the East Division is down. If, on the other hand, you mean a shot at a National Title, then no… It’ll never happen.
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
10:46 am
BAMA can compete because 1) stout defense 2) power running 3) enough passing to keep the defense honest GA needs to do the same, then they will compete. And to think GA could’ve won the game on what they had…….no consisitent rb crowell was injured even if he was healthy he isnt strong enough
James
December 5th, 2011
10:47 am
PAUL7
Honey Badger pitched the ball to the official before he crossed goal line. TV announcers talked about it during the game. Said every play is suppose to be reviewed and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t. TV also siad it could have been a big penalty. May not have changed outome of gamebut would not have given them momentum as it did.
robodawg
December 5th, 2011
10:47 am
We had a few series where we ran twice for nothing and got stuck in third and long. We needed to be more aggressive there. But Murray was in trouble a lot when we tried to pass as well, so I don’t know. Wasn’t much left in our bag of tricks except to block better and play perfect.
Bottom line is we need a deeper offensive line. Gary Danielson commented that you could see our OL was tired from being pounded by their front seven. It should be the other way around. I don’t know how we’re going to get there next year either. We lose three starters after this season, we get Dallas Lee back, and we’ll have to fill in the rest with redshirt freshmen and true freshmen.
PAUL7
December 5th, 2011
10:50 am
James ok thanX Iwonder where the ball would’ve been placed?
robodawg
December 5th, 2011
10:54 am
We didn’t get outcoached, we got outplayed. First quarter shows we had the right game plan. Second half shows we don’t have the depth to win the SEC. There’s a lot of youth on the depth chart. More coaching and off-season conditioning will do them some good. Biggest losses will be three OL starters and all our kickers.
James
December 5th, 2011
10:55 am
Gary Danielson made it sound like it would have been a mojor penalty but don’t recall him saying where it would have been placed. Kevin Butlet made comment on the post game show that replay official should be removed from his job.
DawginLex
December 5th, 2011
10:58 am
It’s over and we can’t change the result and make Mitchell and King catch those 2 TD passes.
We have 9 starters returning on defense and a ton of young players returning.
We need to recruit 3 JUCO offensive linemen and make sure Dantzler, Lee, Andrews, Burnette and Gates are in the weight room.
I hope our new FG kicker has the goods to make kicks in the clutch
Need to sign at least 3 running backs too.
Dogs Smell
December 5th, 2011
11:01 am
James ,
Did your parents produce any children that lived? Georgia got spanked, stop with the excuses.
James
December 5th, 2011
11:05 am
Our problem is at running back. We have signed RB’s with talent but they don’t have the heart and are not team players. Lately they seem to be the players with all the other off field problems. Knowshon Marino was a walkon or he rode a train down from NJ so coaches could see him. What coach is responsible for looking for RBs?
James
December 5th, 2011
11:08 am
Dog Smell
They did and I saw you mama at a party one night and I could be you daddy.
He Hate Gator
December 5th, 2011
1:54 pm
Double talk…”We didn’t get outcoached, we got outplayed. First quarter shows we had the right game plan. Second half shows we don’t have the depth to win the SEC. There’s a lot of youth on the depth chart.”…..recruiting and depth is part of a head coach’s job and, therefore, is part of “coaching” at this level. What kind of coaching do you call that outstanding decision to run the ball with no running backs against the #1 defense in the country, when you already had been successful spreading the field with a shotgun?….
He Hate Gator
December 5th, 2011
1:57 pm
Only losers find moral victory of any sort in a 42-10 shellacking…