Even if Florida is ripe to be had, has UGA ripened yet?
In 2008 Florida scored at least 30 points in all nine games against SEC opposition, including the one it lost to Ole Miss. Its average margin of victory in those games was 30 points.
In 2009 Florida has scored 30 points against one SEC opponent, that being Kentucky. The Gators managed 23 against Tennessee, 13 against LSU, 23 against Arkansas and 29 against Mississippi State. Their average margin of victory in those five games was 13.4 points.
As silly as it sounds to say of the nation’s No. 1 team as led by the nation’s No. 1 player, Florida isn’t playing well. It was lucky to beat Arkansas in the Swamp — remember, Georgia scored 52 points against the Razorbacks on the road — and needed a phantom interception to escape Starkville with a 10-point victory. (Remember, Georgia Tech beat MSU by 11 points on the same field in a game that was only cosmetically close.)
Tim Tebow ranks 45th in the nation in total offense. By way of comparison, Joe Cox ranks 53rd. After the Mississippi State game Tebow didn’t meet the media, which was an utter shock. (He said later he wanted to spend time with MSU coach Dan Mullen, formerly Florida’s offensive coordinator, and family.) But Urban Meyer acknowledged this week: “Tim Tebow is not playing at his highest level.”
Tebow told reporters on Monday: “It’s kind of new and it is frustrating.”
Put simply, Florida is vulnerable. And looky who the Gators play this Saturday.
Georgia is coming off its most impressive game of 2009, albeit against Vanderbilt. It has had a week to rest and ready a new end-zone dance. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.) When last the Bulldogs had a bye before Florida, they beat the Gators and Tebow in a performance so stunning it rankled Florida for the next calendar year.
But let’s get serious. Georgia is 4-3. It needed a last-gasp pass breakup to beat South Carolina and a last-second field goal to subdue Arizona State. It lost by 26 points — the second-worst defeat under Mark Richt, topped only by 49-10 in Jacksonville last season — to unranked Tennessee. It led Vandy only 17-10 after 40 minutes.
Some team is going to beat Florida. Georgia, sorry to say, is not that team. It doesn’t defend well enough, and it isn’t going to score many points against Charlie Strong’s inspired bunch. (Florida ranks No. 1 in the nation in total defense; Georgia ranks 70th.) The Bulldogs will play hard and keep it close for a half, and then superior forces will carry the day/night.
It’s weird. Georgia hasn’t beaten a No. 1 team since it stunned Florida 24-3 in 1985, and these Gators don’t look nearly as impregnable as those Gators did. But this isn’t a vintage Georgia team. In almost any other year it would be easy to pick the upset. Not this time.
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563 comments Add your comment
Party at Joe Cox's to watch SEC Title Game
October 27th, 2009
1:50 pm
Joe Cox formally invites you to a party to watch the SEC Title Game
December 5, 2009
5 P.M.
2009 Loser Lane – Athens, Georgia 30605
BYOB
Corrine Brown
October 27th, 2009
1:51 pm
Just can not wait to see the SEC officials call this game.Tebow makes a first down and “call attention to myself”with no flag and AJ picks his nose and gets accused of inciting a riot
Ted Striker
October 27th, 2009
1:51 pm
I once had a girl from UF tell me she was “impregnable.” That word did not turn out to mean what I thought it meant.
Meatloaf
October 27th, 2009
1:51 pm
This is going to be a bad weekend for football – both UGA and the Falcons are going to get torched!! I feel like I’m back in the mid 90s with Ray Goof and June Jones.
Jeff2u
October 27th, 2009
1:54 pm
ALRIGHT… Enough is enough. All y’all Dawg haters, CMR haters, Willie haters get off. Georgia by 15. I’m proud of my Dawgs, always have been always will be. There is absolutely nothing in this world worse than a fair weather fan. If you can’t back us, get the he!! off.
PMC
October 27th, 2009
1:54 pm
Look what playing UGA did for Jonathan Crompton….
AthensBaby
October 27th, 2009
1:56 pm
Just get extra beer for the weekend, Meatloaf.
Tim Worley
October 27th, 2009
1:57 pm
With no running game, our chances are greatly, greatly reduced. If we could run it (and we can’t), I think we would have a decent chance against a Gator team that can be had. Frustrating, but Bobo won’t commit to the run, and our running backs (not talking about the fullbacks, who are decent) are as bad as I’ve seen since the late 1970’s.
Chris G.
October 27th, 2009
1:57 pm
Well I can see every thing falling in to place for Georgia for this game. Georgia has had time to rest while Florida has been living on the edge the past month. I keep tell myself that Florida is going to wake up and start playing the way they have the past few years. I mean for three straight weeks Florida has played with fire. Three weeks is a pattern and a concern if your a Florida fan. This is the SEC. They better have the Fire Department on standby because this is the week that Florida will get burned. Tebow is frustrated and looks very normal right now. Florida’s defense is also banged up. I look for A.J. Green to be unstoppable Sat. He will have a trademark game of 140 to 150 yards of receiving and at least 2tds. Georgia’s defense will bend a lot in this game but with Florida’s redzone issues, it will not break. I think special teams could be a big factor in this game. I think Georgia sets the tone with a big kick return. If Georgia does win this game they will not lose again this year. Georgia still has plenty of talent and it’s waiting to bust out. Mark I want you to know I said all this when Georgia wins. I plan on going to the game. Georgia has nothing to lose and Florida has everything to lose
Dawg Fud
October 27th, 2009
1:58 pm
I’ll be freaking shocked if Florida does not beat us by more than 25, much less 16.
Tennessee killed us. What do we think Florida is going to do?
This may get ugly early…
jakesdad
October 27th, 2009
1:58 pm
I’m a GT guy & about as big a non-dawg fan as exists but I also like to think I’m an objective football fan: I certainly would NOT bet on a pup win but Florida’s looked amazingly mortal the last several weeks, Georgia’s got athletes, a bye week and motivation. personally, I think calls for Richt’s head are moronic but if he doesn’t have his guys ready to play for 60 minutes (& possibly more) I may be wrong…
FsuNoleInDC
October 27th, 2009
1:58 pm
FSU, led by Christian Ponder will be the ones to pop that gator bubble..sorry dawgs, yall are worse than FSU imo…you have no offense at all…and a sorry defense nearly as bad as our’s, but at least we have Justin Mincey back and that should help us alot…
Charley Pell-Dooley
October 27th, 2009
1:58 pm
No.
Dawg Fud
October 27th, 2009
1:59 pm
…and to add insult to injury, Tebow will break the record on us.
NORRIS
October 27th, 2009
1:59 pm
Georgia needs to find some consistency in the back field. They also need to start getting another QB in the game. This is what has really bothered me. We are not making any effort to get a QB ready for next year. We have had games where the game was over and it was in the 4th quarter and we stil didnt bring in antoher QB. Go figure…
as far as the Defense. Well, Willie has got to put up or start checking out the job market for a cheap defensive coordinator at Duke.
Chris G.
October 27th, 2009
2:00 pm
Three weeks of poor play for Tebow is a pattern and patterns are hard to break
Where's my crack pipe?
October 27th, 2009
2:00 pm
Willie seals his fate this weekend….that is why I am looking so forward to this game.
FsuNoleInDC
October 27th, 2009
2:00 pm
Georgia will lose because they have Joe Cox at QB….he doesn’t play well against decent defenses….dawgs in for a long long day
Just gimme the damn Jorts
October 27th, 2009
2:00 pm
I hope brandon spikes breaks a toenail!!!!
Chris G.
October 27th, 2009
2:01 pm
No Percy Harvin is finally catching up to Tebow
Just gimme the damn Jorts
October 27th, 2009
2:01 pm
Willie Martinez and OBAMA for heisman!!!!!!!
CaliDogg
October 27th, 2009
2:03 pm
Just for fun, remember Steve Spurrier? LOL.
He was asked a few years back why he had such a thing (let’s call it chip in his shoulder combined with a vicious streak) about UGA.
His answer surprised me (because I didn’t know this). He said that several of his assistant coaches were players with him at UF when he was there and that, while he was at Florida, they NEVER beat Georgia. So, they had a special place in his heart and on his beat down list.
Florida never beat Georgia while Spurrier was playing? That seems like a VERY long time ago.
I’m afraid Saturday is going to show us, up close and personal, exactly how long ago that was. The gap has grown to ridiculous proportions.
IF UGA wants to rank up there with the best, they don’t have to look around the nation at Southern Cal or Ohio State (or in the past, Michigan), Notre Dame (not any more, maybe one day), Penn State or anywhere else. They only have to look across the line of scrimmage this Saturday in Jacksonville.
And to the UF sidelines.
Excellence. Accountability. Imagination. Coaching.
That’s what it looks like.
But, hey, I’m no Florida fan (yech — say next to the Florida band one year — do that once and you’ll never have a kind word to say about that school or its fans again), but I do give credit where it’s due. And, on the field, that’s where we want to be. And anybody who thinks we’re even in the same zip code with that program right now is smoking something only legal for medicinal purposes in Oregon.
I’ve got a suggestion. Let’s ask UF if they want to swap coaching staffs. What do you think they’d say?
Give it all you’ve got, Dogs. Every journey (even up the steepest hill) begins with the first step. Maybe Saturday can be the first for UGA to climb back up there. Where they should be.
AthensBaby
October 27th, 2009
2:03 pm
Don’t be a hater Dawg Fud, Jeff2u is reading this….
An Observation
October 27th, 2009
2:05 pm
The odds of UGA beating Florida this coming weekend it the same as the possibility of it snowing on Saturday. In other words….no way!!!!! This is just going to be one of the many beat downs that the Bulldogs will experience within the next few weeks.
WILLIE MARTINEZZ
October 27th, 2009
2:05 pm
My momma talkin to me tryin to tell me how to live
But I don’t listen to her cause my head is like a sieve
My daddy he disowned me cause I wear my sister’s clothes
He caught me in the bathroom with a pair of pantyhose
My basketball coach he done kicked me off the team
For wearing high heeled sneakers and acting like a queen
The world’s comin to an end and I don’t even care
As long as I can have a limo and my bald haid
And it don’t bother me if people think I’m funny
Cause I’m a coaching rock star and I’m making lots of money money money money money!!!
Ahhh haaa hhaaaa
I’m so bloody rich
I own apartment buildings and shopping centers
And I onlly know three plays
AthensBaby
October 27th, 2009
2:05 pm
Uh NORRIS, CMR told a recruit last weekend Willie isn’t going anywhere. Sorry.
Blackberry Cobbler
October 27th, 2009
2:06 pm
This is not quite the Florida of last year.
But this Dawg defense also has a nasty habit of making not so good teams look great.
Add to that, the fact that this UGA offense aside from AJ Green, couldn’t score on the town whore.
Florida by 20+.
Musa Smith
October 27th, 2009
2:06 pm
For some reason, I’m feeling like this year the Dawgs win.. and it’s the only high point on the otherwise-miserable season.
Florida turns it over a couple of times, Dawgs upset
UGA 24
UF 23
Hairy Dawg
October 27th, 2009
2:07 pm
We’ve got a shot to keep it close because of the extra week of preparation, but it will take a lot of crazy s*** for us to beat the Gators. By “crazy s***,” I mean, of course, that we won’t be turning the ball over, committing a ton of penalties, failing to run the ball effectively, and giving up big plays.
If, and only if, we somehow manage to pull off that kind of crazy s***, then we can win the game.
Note: I don’t think perfection is required, but seeing a game played in such a way by our players would be damn near perfection for this fan.
(And I think there’s about a 5% chance of this great result occurring. Otherwise, we’re looking at a 31-10 kind of ballgame.)
FireUga7.net
October 27th, 2009
2:13 pm
There is a cause for our concern, and it resides with a dog that just isn’t getting it done.
Gatorzone
October 27th, 2009
2:14 pm
Musa, you could be right. I would be surprised if UF is not up for this game and finally gets back to playing Florida football. Minus the turnovers this year, there would not be a single game that would have been close. Furthermore, the turnovers started early in the season in the Troy game before the concussion. Lots of pressure being #1 and expected to blow out everyone. Ask UGA last year.
GT
October 27th, 2009
2:15 pm
UGA better than slouch bobby patrenios team who gave the game to fla georgia wins by low score teabow continues to turn the ball over.
cox and the boy don’t turn it over becasue they play conservative like gaily…georgia wins by less than 3
Matt
October 27th, 2009
2:18 pm
Dog fans are seriously deluded and disturbed. The ONLY way FLA loses this game is if Urban Meyer and the rest of the coaching staff fall into an alcohol induced coma and even then there is enough talent on FLA that they still might beat the Puppies.
Dawgy-Stylin'
October 27th, 2009
2:19 pm
Come on – seriously folks . We are so undisciplined and take a TON of penalties (which Richt is fine with); our secondary can’t cover anyone, not to mention can’t tackle; when we do finally score, we act mindless and celebrate like we have never been in the end zone before (probably because we haven’t been very often). I just don’t see us suddenly playing well – changing these patterns.
Radio Listener
October 27th, 2009
2:19 pm
Georgia has NO SHOT period, just aint gonna happen. Georgia Football hasn’t looked this bad since the 1990 (4-7), 1995 (6-6) and 1996 (5-6) seasons. Georgia is what cures people of late and with all the struggles Florida has had the past few weeks will all be cured by 7pm Saturday night becasue Georgia will allow the Gators to get sharp. If you though 49-10 was bad last yr watch what happens this year.
Sanford Drive
October 27th, 2009
2:20 pm
Yeah, we’ll be lucky to beat Auburn. But beat UF? I think most of us would agree that’s completely out of the question.
dawgit
October 27th, 2009
2:22 pm
With the type of recruiting classes Georgia has every year they should never be 16 point underdogs to any team. Something is wrong with UGA football.
Ferndolin
October 27th, 2009
2:22 pm
Yep. Any other year the dawgs beat Fl. They’re finally vulnerable. So, what’s up with this year, besides disappointment for the second year in a row?
Dawgs73
October 27th, 2009
2:23 pm
I would like to put my “homer hat” on and say UGA has a chance, but I would be lying. The Dawgs have shown me nothing this year that would persuade me to pick them in this game. They are fundamentally unsound which can 100% be attributed to coaching. They will commit their standard dumb penalties, not block and or create any running lanes, get beat on play action & bootleg ALL DAY LONG (see Tennessee), make ZERO ADJUSTMENTS, look clueless on the sideline, and make excuses after the game…haven’t we heard this before??? Florida (as much as I hate to say this) is a MUCH better COACHED football team and they ACCEPT nothing but the BEST.
The final score UF 28 – UGA 7…don’t worry Richt has been praticing his “we played a great team today” or “they are a tough team” speech for the post game show. It would be refreshing to hear him say something like Paul Johnson would say (even after a win). “we have to get better otherwise we are going to get killed”…guess I can only dream.
Dawgy-Stylin'
October 27th, 2009
2:28 pm
CANNOT IMAGINE RICHT SAYING ANYTHING ALONG THE LINES OF PAUL JOHNSON…
Never thought I would say this because I can’t stand the boob – but maybe we should look for a tough, brash coach like a (gulp) Kiffin???
Sonny Martinez
October 27th, 2009
2:29 pm
Georgia’s defense has blown more leads than Linda Lovelace!!
DawgProblems
October 27th, 2009
2:29 pm
Obvious prediction and I totally agree. The dogs will need more than a miracle to even keep it close. Florida and Brandon Spikes will eat up the offense and our defense is an utter disaster. Plus, Florida knows this is the only game left on their schedule…they win against Georgia and the are in the national championship again. UGA should approach it like Tennesse, just look for some kind of moral victory, because even on our best day, we can’t compete.
Sanford Drive
October 27th, 2009
2:30 pm
I just hope we don’t get shut out. My predictions:
UGA scores 2 FGs.
UF scores 5 TDs and 1 FG. Refs score 1 TD.
UF 45
UGA 6
Herschel Talker
October 27th, 2009
2:33 pm
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T THINK THAT WILLIE MARTINEZ IS JUST THE MEDICINE THAT TEBLOW NEEDS, YOU SIMPLY ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION. FLORIDA WILL BE MOTIVATED AND HUNGRY. PERHAPS IT IS CLOSER THAN PEOPLE THINK, BUT NEVERTHELESS, IT IS WHAT IT IS – A DAWG LOSS. THE DAWGS WILL LOSE AND HOPEFULLY IT’S THE FINAL NAIL IN WILLIE’S COFFIN SO WE CAN MOVE ON TO A NEW DC. BOOK IT.
The reason ...
October 27th, 2009
2:34 pm
Enter your comments here
Johnny Test
October 27th, 2009
2:35 pm
As a long time Dawg supporter I have been trying to dream up a scenerio that has the Dawgs pulling off an upset. There is not one short of the Gators forgetting what day the game is and not showing up.
1. The Gator defense is too good for our offense even on a bad day.
2. We made J. Crompton look like a Heisman candidate so the clouds will probably part and Tebow will asend after he plays his best game of the year.
How have we praticed different to get ready for the Gators? We haven’t.
What different offensive and defensive schemes will we put in for the Gators? It probably won’t matter. It is a sad state of affairs when you can’t see any way to win and just hope you don’t get embarrassed. That sux.
Probably
October 27th, 2009
2:36 pm
Maybe this year Penn Wagers will just lay on one our players along with Spikes. Throwing a flag is, obviously, not an option. You know, set the tone early again this year.
The officiating should be interesting.
GATOR CHOMP
October 27th, 2009
2:37 pm
Bend over dawgies and touch your toes its time to take your medicine dawgy style.GATORS OR DIE!!!!!
Gatorzone
October 27th, 2009
2:39 pm
I agree that UF will finally be up for a game since this is the biggest rivalry (other than FSU) of the season, but I think this game will be closer than Dawg fans think.
UF has not blown out anyone since Kentucky, and has looked poor in ball control all year. I am not confident that this will be a gimme.
The reason UF played so poorly ...
October 27th, 2009
2:40 pm
…against MSU and AR is because Urban did not game plan for either game – he KNEW his team was better than those teams and has spent the last three weeks preparing for the beat down the Gators will again put on the Dawgs. He knew that UGA had the open week before the game, so he decided to spend 3 weeks preparing his guys.
And believe me, as many of you have already said, it is going to butt ugly come Saturday – the game will be over by the end of the first quarter, and the Dawg fans will have to endure another 2 1/2 hours of utter frustration as the D will not be able to slow down the team in blue and orange. You thought Crompton, Mallet, and Garcia looked good, wait until Urban unleashes all of Tebows frustrations.