Can you call yourself a Florida Gators fan this week?
Dawgs fans find themselves pulling for turncoat Will Muschamp's team this week. (Associated Press)
So, I’m getting on the elevator at work yesterday and a colleague who attended that school in Gainesville, Fla., asks me, “Can you call yourself a Florida Gators fan this week?”
My reply: “No, I wouldn’t go that far. But would I prefer for Florida to beat South Carolina? Yeah.”
He said he thought I finessed that question pretty well.
Let’s be clear about this: It’s strictly self-interest that has UGA players, coaches and fans pulling for that hated team in blue and orange to continue its unlikely 2012 rebound under former Bulldog Will Muschamp this week. Another loss for Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks would pretty much eliminate them from contention to win the SEC East.
And that would put the Dogs’ destiny back under their own control: Win out in the rest of their conference games, including beating Florida, and Georgia would be back in the Dome.
Of course, that would make the annual tilt in Jacksonville even more of a huge game for the Dawgs this year than it usually is, and considering Georgia’s recent record in big games against Top 10 opponents, that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
But back to this week. Rooting for an arch-rival like the Gators doesn’t come easily for most of us in red and black. Asked if he was pulling for Florida this Saturday, the Dogs’ Amarlo Herrera demurred, “Yeah, something like that.”
Aaron Murray was more emphatic in saying he’s “definitely” rooting for the Gators, but he is, after all, from the Sunshine State.
Still, as Murray said, “I think everyone gets a free pass this week who’s a Georgia fan. I’m not saying to deck out in Florida gear, but you can definitely be a little happier if they can come out with a victory Saturday.”
Actually, his head coach went a bit farther than most in Bulldog Nation are comfortable with on Monday night’s “Bulldog Hotline” call-in show.
“I’ve actually got a little bit of orange in my shirt today,” Mark Richt said. “I don’t have anything that has pure orange but I’ve got one has red and orange stripes. I wore it today in honor of the Florida Gators, but that’s it.”
“I can’t believe you just said that,” was host Scott Howard’s candid response.
Richt laughed. “I’m a Florida fan this weekend,” he said.
Well, I’m not. I’m a Georgia fan who hopes Florida beats South Carolina for no other reason than it’s good for Georgia.
But wear orange, even a little bit?
Never.
What about you?
GOOD TIME FOR A PEP RALLY
UGA is holding a pep rally at Legion Field in Athens at 8 p.m. Thursday for students, faculty and staff.
The football team and coach Richt will be on hand to greet fans and sign autographs and the athletic department promises the appearance of “a famous surprise guest.” Prizes and entertainment also will be provided.
Coming at midseason and after a dispiriting loss, I’d say this is a prime time to get the UGA community fired up behind the Dawgs again. I hope there’s a large turnout to send the team off to Lexington.
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219 comments Add your comment
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2012
10:42 am
Ed and John are correct…
The best scenario of UGA is to win out, not play in the SECCG and make it to the BCS as a at-large team. A guaranteed loss in the SECCG puts us in the pathetic Outback Bowl playing Michigan State. I am rooting for USCe this weekend unlike the UGA homers.
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2012
10:45 am
Correct Altamaha Dawg… I am rooting for USCe. UGA is not going to win the SEC East this year nor deserves to. However I do think we are good enough to play in one of the BCS games. That will not happen if we get trounced in the SECCG like last season.
And we all know how CMR gets blown out in big, nationally televised games!
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
10:48 am
I’m sure all your buddies on the team appreciated you looking out for them, when you told them that.
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2012
10:55 am
Did you not see us get trounced 35-7 on National TV? Did you hear Musburger make fun of Richt for lack of desire? And you think we have a chance in Atlanta vs Bama?
You need to stop being such a homer and become a realist! CMR should be a man and say that he doesn’t care who wins the game in Gville… all I am focused on is UGA winning all of our games… but no he doesn’t.. he just keeps begging to back-door into the SECCG again!
Surely you must realize he is desperate and it shows.
John
October 19th, 2012
11:00 am
Mark Richt is one of the best guys in the business. If you appreciate a decent, moral Christian man, it doesn’t get any better than him. He is also one of the best recruiters in the business also. That being said, he is obviously not a great gameday coach these days and often gets outcoached by good coaches under big spotlights. It’s sad. I recall him coaching UGA to some great wins in the early days (AU ‘02, Hobnail Boot)and UGA was always competitive when they lost.
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
11:27 am
No , I don’t think we have a better team than Alabama, and most likely would lose the game. But ALL grown men Dawgs fans that I know, want to go to the SECCG irrespective. But then again, I hang out with all old school guys. We don’t revised our decades long tradition of wanting our team to be in the best position to play for conference title, untill its over.We all have thicker skin than to to pee our pants about what Brent Musberger or XM radio said. I guess we just don’t get this Hope and Change generation.
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
11:36 am
He doesn’t talk about winning the rest of the game………..he has said that ad naseum.
He “keep begging for (uf to lose) “……….he was asked specifically about it for a quote on that specific topic.
“Back door”….how would beating the leader in the division be back door? The results of the UGA/SC game would be irrelavant at that point.
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
11:39 am
Do you seriously believe that the LSU fans are NOT pulling for whoever plays Alabama now.
Do you seriously believe that the Alabama fan were NOT pulling for whoever played LSU last year?
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2012
11:42 am
Bama lost a nail-biter last year! We lost in a blow-out. Totally different scenario.
Stop being a homer! CMR has lost it and it’s time to move on.
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
11:52 am
Oh I see, if its close, its NOT a back door? ok
And lets just be perfectly honest here. YOU were saying just 2 weeks ago that (based on your insider perspective)………Mark Richt had this team at “near national championship caliber”. That was YOU. Not me. We will finish this year just about exactly where I have thought from the beginning. 10 plus wins, and around top 10. Some what better than last year, which was better than the year before. Which is what I have always said. So spare me this “homer” crap. When they win a few, you turn into the biggest homer there is. When they don’t , you flip.
YOU also managed to go from being “ashamed to be a Dawg fan” to thinking we had the best defense in the nation, to losing 5 games, to winning them all in the cource of 3 month. NOW , appearantly wanting Mark Richt fired. So spare me ther lecture on realistic, too.
beanster
October 19th, 2012
11:56 am
Champions of the East trumps a Sugar Bowl invitation (assuming it isn’t the BCS champ.), IMO. The potential for an embarrassing loss is nearly equivalent in either the SECCG or the bowl game. I’d rather take a beating from Alabama than Notre Dame or Kansas State if that’s what’s in the cards. And say a miracle were to happen and UGA were to win, I’ll take the SECCG over a bowl game any day.
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
12:14 pm
Let it be known, that from now till the end of the 2013 season (the first realistic opportunity that we would make a coaching change), The Poster known as UGA Insider, will be sticking to his guns and only making comments that line up with his well thought out view that Mark Richt needs to be fired. Any post in support of the Dawgs winnning any of those game would certainly be hypocritical.
John
October 19th, 2012
12:23 pm
I could win 10 games as Head coach with this schedule. If I did, I’d be dissapointed though. If UGA wins only 10 games, it means they beat all of the bad – mediocre opponents and lost to the good – decent ones. As of now, UGA is 3-1 in SEC play. the 3 teams we have beaten have mustered one victory combined in SEC play (Vandy beat Missouri). Assuming UGA beats lowly KY, the Conference teams that UGA will have beaten in 2012 will be a combined 1-14 in conference play. This was a NC schedule and sadly UGA has NC talent.
Rich
October 19th, 2012
12:34 pm
AltamahaDawg, try to be a little more over the top and dramatic, will ya?
John
October 19th, 2012
12:34 pm
If I’m a fan of Vandy, KY, Ole Miss, Miss St, Texas A&M or Missouri, I would consider the mythical “SEC Division Championship” to be a great, historical accomplishment. At UGA, we expect SEC Championships and occasionally playing for the NC! We get the 4 Star and 5 Star recruits year in-year out but always underachieve. UGA fills the NFL with talent and often times, the ex-UGA players perform better in the Pros than in college. Let’s get our expectations up as fans….
Sam
October 19th, 2012
12:36 pm
Who was the special guest at the pep rally?
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
1:13 pm
well typically not Rich, But you know, you have to gear the presentation toward the audiance. Over the top and dramatic is the native language for that one, trust me.
DawgNole
October 20th, 2012
10:33 am
AltamahaDawg
October 19th, 2012
10:19 am
Every fan of every SEC team that did not enter the SECCG game undefeated has always a rooting interest in what the other teams in thier division do. Good to know some of you have such pristine lives that THIS is what you find humiliting. Good grief. Grow a pair, how bout.
_____________________
Exactly. Don’t know what’s so hard to understand about that. We want what’s best for the team–and that’s the opportunity to play the best with a championship (SEC in this case) on the line. If it takes another team beating another team, so what?!
DawgNole
October 20th, 2012
10:36 am
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2012
10:45 am
Correct Altamaha Dawg… I am rooting for USCe. UGA is not going to win the SEC East this year nor deserves to. However I do think we are good enough to play in one of the BCS games. That will not happen if we get trounced in the SECCG like last season.
And we all know how CMR gets blown out in big, nationally televised games!
__________________
What a dolt. You don’t think the BCS bowls are “big, nationally televised games”?