UGA fans, what’s an acceptable result in Jacksonville?
Is it possible to lose to the hated Gators and still feel good? (AJC photo by Pouya Dianat)
Georgia heads to Jacksonville unranked, which it almost never is, and a two-touchdown underdog, which it never is. It will be met by a team that hasn’t lost since September 2008, a team tracking a second consecutive BCS title. (Know how many schools have won consecutive BCS titles? None.)
Put simply, Georgia is up against it in a way unaccustomed to Georgia teams under Mark Richt. It lost to Florida 49-10 a year ago in what seemed a coin-flip game going in. This one is no coin flip. This outcome seems foregone.
But hope springs eternal in the breast of every fan, and on the day before Halloween I want to ask Dawg fans this question: What would you deem an acceptable outcome Saturday?
A narrow and honorable loss? (Within a touchdown, say.) Or is actual victory the only satisfactory result? And here’s a twist: If beating Florida convinces Mark Richt he doesn’t need to make changes within his program, would you rather Georgia lose? Or would beating the Gators when they’re ranked No. 1 be worth another year of Willie Martinez?
I’d put up a poll, but I don’t think the parameters of a poll are broad enough. I’m interested in your thoughts. So rather that click on “yes” or “no,” I invite you denizens of Bulldog Nation to avail yourselves of the white comment box below. And I thank you in advance. And you’ll hear from me again Saturday afternoon from you-know-where.
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700 comments Add your comment
GMan
October 30th, 2009
12:25 pm
Dawg Day, I’m not following your reasoning about the rest and the Gators being tired. I wouldn’t think playing 3 games in a row since a bye-week would classify it as “tired”. Hardly when you look at what the defense has done during that timeframe. Granted, the Dawgs needed a rest but that in itself will not be enough.
George
October 30th, 2009
12:25 pm
The game will be neither Mark. It will be 28-7 florida.
JAMES HOLLAND
October 30th, 2009
12:25 pm
All of you know that Joe Cox is a Great QB when he is protected by his Offensive Line, and our “O” Line has been quite short since the Arkansas Game, after which Joe Cox was the named the Player of the Week by ESPN and everyone else, then we had a batch of “O” Line injuries. Hopefully our big guys can come back and support Joe like they did in the Arkansas Game. Sure, I would like to see Florida win the BCS Title two times in a Row, but our Bull Dogs come first, so I predict a Joe Cox and A.J Green pass show that will be unforgettable along with his other Receivers that includes his Fullbacks and Running Backs.
Coach BoBo will be showing his stuff as an Offensive Coordinator this Game I do believe, for they have had two weeks to work on their tricks.
Benjamin
October 30th, 2009
12:26 pm
Even though we’re unranked and playing the number one team in the country, there is no “acceptable” outcome for a Georgia fan in this one other than a victory. That seems (and feels) ludicrous even for me to type it, but it’s how I feel.
As Herman Edwards once famously said, “You play to win the game.”
azdawg
October 30th, 2009
12:26 pm
I’ve been reading of how FL is not the same (Offensive) team as years past but for some reason my gut tells me that will all change when they play CWM and his brand of D. How can one feel any different when UGA allows the likes of Compton to look like P. Manning and with one exception (Vandy) all our wins were very close. I feel this game w/FL will be no different from the other GA losses this season and the news mongers will again be writing that FL is back in form and score at will vs Willie’s D. I hope I’m wrong but I see no hope unless Willie does something different to confuse Tebow like MSU did last w/e.
As far as moving the ball vs FL D it’ll be difficult, maybe similar to the LSU game. A win would be terrific and make this season somewhat salvagable. However, winning would be a long shot and keeping it close may have to suffice. Either way, Willie will stay and if so GA’s woe’s will continue.
Benjamin
October 30th, 2009
12:27 pm
That said, Florida wins. My take is that it’ll be close for a half before Florida pulls away convincingly. I think Georgia will come out on fire, but it’s obvious the Gators are much more talented than we are and that’ll begin to show as the clock ticks down.
Florida 38, Georgia 20
Max
October 30th, 2009
12:27 pm
Cox a great qb? ROFL.
Dawg Pound
October 30th, 2009
12:29 pm
We’re going down there to win the game Jacksonville Mark you big goober. Stupid question. We’re going down there to hit somebody in the mouth!! End of story!! GATA Dawgs!!!
GMan
October 30th, 2009
12:32 pm
Benjamin, I agree with you except that Georgia will score 20 on the Gators defense. Florida gave Arky 4 turnovers and they still couldn’t muster more than 20. You can blame the refs all you want on the final score but spot a team 4 turnovers and it usually gets ugly.
EDGAR CAYCE
October 30th, 2009
12:37 pm
The DAWGS will win you idiots. You think Arkansas has a better defense than Georgia? Also, the suspended SEC refs are’nt back yet.
Dawg Fud
October 30th, 2009
12:39 pm
I love them Dawgs but, alas…
Florida 38 Dawgs 3
David C
October 30th, 2009
12:39 pm
Georgia will win this game. Dawg fans you have to have faith and you have to believe in this team, I trust that Georgia will do everything they can to make sure that the Red and Black wins tomorrow!
GO DAWGS!!!!
cantondawg
October 30th, 2009
12:40 pm
Unbelievable…UGA fans hoping that the dawgs will lose so that changes will be made…Pathetic..how about hoping that the dawgs will turn it around and win the rest of the games and vast improvement will be made…Personally, i can understand CMR reason to promote WM to DC aftr BVG left. He wanted continuity in the program. I can also understand him giving him another chance to redeem himself. I absolutely hate to see someone lose their job but this business is all about the numbers..The numbers don’t lie. UGA defense has slumped mightily under CWM and it is time to make a change. UT hast torched us 3 of the last 4 years scoring 51, 35 and 45 points. This is just plain unacceptable.
Ned Enfinger
October 30th, 2009
12:42 pm
i miss Larry…
Dawg Fud
October 30th, 2009
12:45 pm
Larry the cable guy?
kidding
Dale
October 30th, 2009
12:46 pm
It’s not the fact that Georgia’s defense is so lousy, it’s the fact that Georgia’s offense is so lousy.
Chris
October 30th, 2009
12:48 pm
You propose an interesting conundrum. I am extremely in favor of getting rid of Willie Martinez (not necessarily because of the defensive coordinator issues, but because he is the secondary coach of UGA’s horrible secondary). But the only acceptable result in Jacksonville is a win. I would gladly but up with another year of Wille “Bend (Over) but Don’t Break” Martinez to beat Florida any day. And even more so when Florida is ranked #1 and Georgia isn’t ranked.
King Gator
October 30th, 2009
12:50 pm
If you can’t run with the big dogs (the Gators) stay up on the porch pups! Go Gators – 41-13 and 3 NC’s in 4 Years! Go Gators!!
59bulldawg
October 30th, 2009
1:05 pm
The Gators don’t even have to plan for this game. Just run the same play that Tennessee had so much success with and Willie will never figure it out. Personally I’m sorta torn this year . . . I want to win the game but I also really, really, really want Willie gone and perhaps several others as well. It’s sorta like the mixed emotions you’d have if your ex-wife was teetering on the edge of a cliff in your brand new Ford F-150 pulling your bass boat and all your fishing gear. I mean no matter what the outcome of this game, there are bound to be both good and bad results.
David
October 30th, 2009
1:06 pm
Djawjuh you get it but I hope the dawg nation doesn’t listen to you. Richts the problem but it will take Ga 3 years or more to figure it out.
TheItaliandawg
October 30th, 2009
1:08 pm
there is no way we accept less than a convincing win!! after the insult of last year a win is the only thing acceptable. I dont care if Florida # 1, we have similar athletes and well rested!
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2009
1:11 pm
lol
Loran
October 30th, 2009
1:13 pm
This finally may do it for CWM. Thank God.
Supes
October 30th, 2009
1:16 pm
It looks like logic says FLA wins this game anyway you look at it. Therefore, if that is the way things go…THE ONLY good thing that may come from this is changes on the coaching staff..Free Willie and no imagination Bobo need to be REPLACED. CMR needs to take over the playcalling, or hire someone creative (young mind…like a Major Applewhite)…and we need to make a push for Kirby Smart as DC (assistant head coach).
It’s the only way CMR can “save his job” in Athens…if he doesn’t make changes…I see a 6-6 season at best in 2010…following by his dismissal.
Bangkapi Ajarn
October 30th, 2009
1:25 pm
Seems a little late in the season for accepting moral victories, or even “shows improvement”..
Of course, this was to be inevitably a rebuilding season, as Stafford and Moreno left (after a disappointing season, considering expectations going in last year).
Seems to me that Dooley’s famous approach of downplaying expectations as much as possible helped avoid the disappointment that seems to doggedly prevail across Bulldog nation like the cloud that bedeviled Joe Bfilspik. It isn’t so much that the bulldogs aren’t undefeated this late into the season, but perhaps that expectations yet again have failed to be matched by performance, creating the perception (perhaps justified this year) that the dogs have underachieved?…
Jimbo & Muschamp waiting room !
October 30th, 2009
1:27 pm
Richt is a darn good coach.
Delusional Dawgs
October 30th, 2009
1:29 pm
Only thing acceptable tomorrow will be a Florida beat down of the Daaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwgs.
Maybe 46-12 or something like that, woof woof.
Russ
October 30th, 2009
1:29 pm
Win, however unlikely, is the only acceptable outcome, however, it would not negate the 14 times that Martinez-coached defenses gave up 30+ points…unacceptable…
i know rennie personally
October 30th, 2009
1:30 pm
If Dawgs win in a shoot out, you get the best of both worlds…a Dawgs win and Willie’s still on the hot seat. With UF’s Defense, not a likely scenario. Regardless, we don’t play or root for moral victories at THE University of Georgia. We expect to win no matter if we enter the game winless! Go Dawgs!
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2009
1:30 pm
I am hoping that georgia wins by 2-3 touchdowns so Martinez and Bobo can keep their jobs so I can keep smacking down their biggest enemies (the spoiled rotten dog nation) here next year.
Ben
October 30th, 2009
1:31 pm
Obviously a win would go down as one of the biggest, if not THE biggest ever and we absolutely be welcome. BUT, it still wouldn’t make what has been happening this year and the previous 2 seasons acceptable. Why are we sitting here with 3 losses in the first place. Why did we get beat in every facet of the game against UT? The fact that these things keep happening year in and year out is a bigger picture problem. I would LOVE to beat those SOB’s but even with a monumental win like that, many questions still remain about the consistency of the program.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2009
1:33 pm
I also wanted to remind the dog nation that Yellow Fuzz predicted the following back in August:
1. georgia would start 4-4
2. Tech would play in the ACC Championship Game.
You can look it up
Willie Vanilli
October 30th, 2009
1:34 pm
My name is Willie and I’m a fake football coach at UGA. I love to watch touchdowns being scored and I don’t really care which team scores them. I also love to do chest bumps with our football players. Those are just way cool! I’m taking our football team down in flames but I’ll be damned if I burn by myself. I’m taking the head coach and offensive coordinator down with me. I’m going to do my part to make sure that the home schooled mama’s boy Tim Teblow breaks Herschel’s record tomorrow. I think I will let him score 3 touchdowns and throw for at least 3 more. Did I mention that I love touchdowns?
Hold Richt Accountable
October 30th, 2009
1:35 pm
ugaaccountant:
I respect your level-headed and conservative opinion of Richt. Have you considered approaching him about doing his taxes? With his huge salary, as well as the Ford and Carpets of Dalton gigs, it could be quite lucrative.
We seem to agree on the Martinez point, but I have a little less faith in Bobo than you. That’s cool.
You give Richt 2 losing seasons. What about 7-5 (possibly 6-6) this year, 7-5 next year (VERY possible), and 8-4 (or worse) the following? Not winning another SEC championship for at least three more years? It’s hypothetical, but just hear me out. How would you feel about that?
Do you think the fans (and the boosters) will take it?
In all, if Richt doesn’t make some significant changes, things won’t get any better, in my humble opinion.
JaxDawg
October 30th, 2009
1:35 pm
I love how all the self-appointed “REAL DAWG FANS” are always blasting TRUE DAWG FANS who simply want the coaches held accountable-period.
I don’t think anyone is truly hoping for a Dawg loss or ever would, but Mark simply brings up an interesting point. Would you sacrafice one game against the most hated rival if it would insure a much needed change and future improvement? That’s all that’s really asked.
To all the Blind loyalists if you can’t see that there are MAJOR problems with this coaching staff and their approach to games then you truly have your collective heads in the sand.
Just go back and look at each of the games that have been played, the defensive scheme has been EXACTLY the same in each game!!
J.Crompton wasn’t making a dig at UGA when he said, “We got the right play calls because we knew what they were going to do.”
Just because some of us don’t have our heads buried in the sand and just blindly follow, doesn’t mean we aren’t REAL Dawg fans!
GO DAWGS!!!
Roadrunner
October 30th, 2009
1:38 pm
Two possible acceptable outcomes: 1) Win or 2) Lose but don’t beat ourselves. Make Florida execute to win and go down fighting the whole way.
hamptonDawg
October 30th, 2009
1:40 pm
For me the two best scenarios are 1) Dawgs win (of course) and 2) Dawgs get drilled like an oil well. I don’t think winning will resolve all of our problems but it will help Mark Richt retrench and get back on track. Getting drilled means he will be forced to make the changes they need to make anyway. Moral victories are for losers.
Hawkfan04
October 30th, 2009
1:43 pm
All you that want Richt fired of crazy, Im tired of hearing it. As far as Willie goes, Richt’s gonna be loyal until the end of the season. And we are pullin of the upset. Remember 2002, we were undefeated going into the game and they were 5-3. We were favored heavily and we got Out-Zooked. Upset on Saturday…I believe. Thats what being fan is about, believing. None of yall are coaches, if you were you wouldnt be saying this stuff on message boards because its disrespectful. GO DAWGS
Hold Richt Accountable
October 30th, 2009
1:44 pm
JAMES HOLLAND:
I don’t know anyone, besides you (and you could very well be joking) who thinks that Joe Cox is a “great QB”.
Really? Great?
Oh, yeah…maybe at Charlotte Country Day or wherever he played high school ball.
Yellow Fuzz
October 30th, 2009
1:45 pm
How about a few apologies from the dog nation for all the abuse I took from them on those two predictions?
Lucy in Mayretta
October 30th, 2009
1:49 pm
“JaxDawg” asks: “Would you sacrafice one game against the most hated rival if it would insure a much needed change and future improvement?”
The answer is a resounding YES! The Dawgs are never going to contend seriously for the SEC and BCS bowls while Richt is the HC. It’s that simple.
It will be excruciating to watch the massacre tomorrow, but at least every Florida score, every UGA penalty, every UGA brainfart play, and a few more player arrests puts us that much closer to seeing Richt run out of town.
Harper
October 30th, 2009
1:52 pm
My prognostication:
Gators 38
Dawgs 10
Frank
October 30th, 2009
1:53 pm
I dont care what happens as long as Willie Martinez is fired at the end of the season. If a win means he stays then bring on the loss.
puppydawg
October 30th, 2009
1:53 pm
Yellow Fizz, don’t hold your breath waiting for an apology.
Hold Richt Accountable
October 30th, 2009
1:54 pm
Yellow Fuzz:
Regarding apologies, I’m sorry…that you had to go to college at Georgia Tech.
Espinelle
October 30th, 2009
1:54 pm
GO DAWGS! GO DAWGS! GO DAWGS! GO DAWGS! GO DAWGS!
EAT THE GATORS… YUM, TASTES LIKE CHICKEN!
GregoryB
October 30th, 2009
1:58 pm
“Regarding apologies, I’m sorry…that you had to go to college at Georgia Tech.”
Why do you make a moron statement like that? Tech graduates earn on average 2-3 times what UGA grads make. I’m sorry, but you just don’t make much money flipping burgers. Maybe you need a stimulus…
Delbert D.
October 30th, 2009
1:59 pm
Yellow Fuzz – Never doubted you, but there is the game tomorrow to finalize things. My presason statement was “Take 8-4 and run to a bowl”
Lucy in Marietta – That is the Stalingrad strategy, and it helped beat the Nazis
Marc
October 30th, 2009
2:04 pm
A win over the Gators is worth anything anytime. Knocking them off from #1 and a repeat BCS is better than sex. Take the win, and pray Willie gets the head coaching job at a competitor in the off season.
ugaaccountant
October 30th, 2009
2:05 pm
Hold Richt Accountable
With his huge salary:
In round numbers, isn’t Richt’s pay just average for SEC coaches, not including say Miss State and Vandy? I think his salary would probably rank like 7th-15th nationally. That’s also on average about how succesful he is.
We seem to agree on the Martinez point, but I have a little less faith in Bobo than you. That’s cool.
I agree, Bobo could be a problem. I saw major improvement against vandy though which in theory could be due to moving to the sideline.
You give Richt 2 losing seasons. What about 7-5 (possibly 6-6) this year, 7-5 next year (VERY possible),
I’d say that right there may get it done. I am more forgiving than most.
Not winning another SEC championship for at least three more years?
We’ve got very talented Freshmen/redshirt freshmen. These two classes seem to have clumped together. They should play for a title eventually.
Do you think the fans (and the boosters) will take it?
Right or wrong, I think it all comes down to seeing some kind of change in the coaching staff this offseason. Otherwise some boosters will be quite angry.
In all, if Richt doesn’t make some significant changes, things won’t get any better, in my humble opinion.
Noted