A powerful performance by a suddenly powerful UGA team
Did this guy outcoach Paul Johnson? Yes he did. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
There have been times lately when we’ve wondered, “Who are these guys?” Because they weren’t the Bulldogs we’d come to know and admire. They were undisciplined and undercoached. They were always reacting to an opponent, never forcing the issue. They were a finesse team, and a team devoid of force doesn’t win big in the broad-shouldered SEC.
But on the final night of an underwhelming regular season, Georgia played as if it remembered its breeding. It acted like an SEC team. It ran the ball with fury and blocked like the crack of dawn and played big-boy football. And at halftime we were saying, “Who are these guys?”
Because these weren’t the Bulldogs of recent vintage. These were tougher, stronger, meaner. They had come into the stadium of a team looking to solidify its hold on a rivalry and a state, and they’d been the aggressor from the first. Indeed, they were the aggressor from the coin toss. Georgia won it and, rather than do as every coach does in modern football, Mark Richt didn’t defer his choice. He wanted the ball and he wanted it now.
And when his men got it, they pounded Tech in a way Georgia never pounds anybody anymore. Ten plays, all runs, Caleb King and Washaun Ealey taking turns, the unassuming offensive line blowing massive holes in the Tech line. Ten plays, all runs, and just like that Georgia was ahead in a game it was supposed to lose.
Give Richt credit: All week he had to answer questions — one from me on the Wednesday SEC teleconference — about the need for change in his program, and in this game he did change. He and Mike Bobo eschewed the fancy stuff and just Lombardi’ed the game plan, and it was beautiful in its brutality. Three Tech defenders had to be helped off the field in the first half, and after 30 minutes Georgia had outgained the nation’s No. 7 team by 141 yards and had outscored it by 14 points.
But it was only a year ago in Athens that Georgia had led by 16 points at the half, and within seven minutes that lead was gone. Everyone knew Tech would again come out flying, and sure enough the Jackets scored on their first possession. But Georgia needed only one play to answer, Caleb King taking a handoff and fleeing 75 yards. And from then on Tech was chasing, and in the end the fleet Jackets couldn’t run fast enough.
It came down to one possession. Georgia up six, Tech with a chance to win. The Jackets moved across midfield but unaccountably stopped running the ball. Four consecutive passes, the first three nicely defensed, the fourth simply dropped. (The second and third passes were defended by Reshad Jones, the Georgia safety who’d spent the last year answering questions about his missed tackle of Tech’s Roddy Jones.) And suddenly Georgia was the second-best team in Georgia no longer.
Richt and Bobo and Willie Martinez had outflanked the new genius Paul Johnson and had done it without A.J. Green, their best player. And the guys who did play outfought a Tech team known for its pugnacity.
And now we have issues galore. Does one blissful night off North Avenue override the worst season under Richt? Probably not. But for the Bulldogs and their coach and all his coaches, it had to feel good to reclaim state supremacy and to mar what has been a glorious Tech season. (To say nothing of wrecking the ACC title game.) What happens with Martinez and the other assistants can wait until another day. What happened Saturday night was a slice of deliverance 365 days in the making.
Back to our question: Who were these guys? They were the Georgia Bulldogs, only they weren’t the Georgia Bulldogs that contrived to lose five games this season. These were Bulldogs from a different time, a time when Georgia football was power football. (The Bulldogs rushed for 339 yards, the highest total under Richt.)
And if this is the way Georgia football it to look in 2010 and beyond … well, maybe the future isn’t so grim after all. Maybe the future is big and brawny thing.
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1,342 comments Add your comment
RED DOG 77
November 29th, 2009
12:31 am
Mabe i will change my name to crap on a bee…………naaa, But oh hell yeah!!! Beat those suckers , we did and , damn it feels good!!!!…In keeping with my recent posts I am sure glad to see UGA fans come on home and support our GEORGIA BULLDOGS once again……Prediction: next year will be a little better folks ,but not nearly as good as 2011, 2012 and so on. We have a solid base of DOG fans that support the red end black win or lose, we need you other marginal DOG fans to stick with your DOGS!!!! It helps with recruiting, motivation, and all that is RED and BLACK …….Congratulations to Ga. Tech on a good year, and good luck next week against Clemson,but look out next year,we want 9 out of 10 bad and by golly we gonna get ya, because we are the GEEEEEORGIA BULLDOGS!!!!! GO DOGS!!!!
AYY Bebe, you dropped the ball
November 29th, 2009
12:31 am
Enter your comments here
willie martinez
November 29th, 2009
12:31 am
Mark, the answer is 2 words: willie martinez
O. W. Shaddock
November 29th, 2009
12:31 am
Hey, Coach? Is it alright if me and Jo Bob have a couple copies of that poem?
JAXDAWG
November 29th, 2009
12:31 am
Sprockets when we dance!
Steve
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
Got to give the offensive line the credit for this one, they opened holes anyone could have run through, except the Ga Yech running backs.
MyView
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
Another knock against the BCS. Tonight just shows that teams playing in their own conference can appear to be “championship caliber”. But when you settle it on the field they are proven to be “pretenders”. Cancel the ACC championship game.
Florida Dawg
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
>>>>>>>30-24<<<<<<< where is St. Simons? HaHaHaHaHaHa!
Anyway, I would trade two loses to the techies for one win over Florida….gotta beat Florida.
SteelerDawg
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
I’m just glad we won’t have to see the nerds on our boards for another 7 years!
Jo Bob
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
Yeah, we’d appreciate that Coach Martinez.
1 trick Pony Exposed
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
If PJ learns how to pass look out. Otherwise, the “triple option” ain’t that scary.
JB
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
We didnt play that way because we didnt get the chance to run the ball against such a bad D.
HBTD!!!
Jeff
November 29th, 2009
12:32 am
Mark Bradley you have kicked Georgia all year so you can go and suck your thumb now!!
Manny
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
Weshaun is the 4th best RB in the SEC now next year he will be the 2nd behind Mark Ingram.
What a back.
Mark Bradley
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
I’ve got to go to Mass early tomorrow, Coach. Then to the Falcons game.
Marco11222
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
Helpful tip to Tech fans, you have to win more than one in a row before you can claim a change in power. Think about that for the next 365 days!
Go Dawgs
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
UGA has great athletes on Defense and it showed tonight. But the corners and safeties cannot tackle and take terrible angles on plays. I don’t think that is the coaches.
SlimG
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
Ouch, kinda smelled this one coming. Not crazy about coaching decisions late by either schools.
Boo Radley
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
Mark — I just went back and read the first 3 or 4 pages of your game blog….you should go back and read you comments yourself and you will see how smug and condescending you were. You showed up expecting and hoping to see a car crash and someone flipped the script on you. Perhaps you will learn a lesson in all of this, but I doubt it. You and Jeff S. can go back to writing the same recycled columns about how cool Paul Johnson is and how football in the state of Georgia was changed by last year’s Tech victory. Of course, this year’s GA win means nothing, as you told us on Friday. Actually, a GA victory is a bad thing for GA, as you see it. What does it mean for Tech and Paul Johnson?
mcbdawg
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
Sweet! Looks like Be Be is their new Reggie Ball!
willie martinez
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
the dogs won the game tonight
tech is now in a fright
nesbitt hit the ground
with a thud of a sound
and me i said outta sight
JDM
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
@ Russ: Not sure how solid your rush game has been all season, but I wouldn’t invest faith in its overall quality vs how it fared against our defense… especially tonight. Our defense is extremely weak against passing games which is why I expected to see you guys keep it in the air- even without Green!
The fact that our DC doesn’t have the wit to start plugging the middle after you guys took it up the gut over, and over, and over, and over is probably not gonna be commonplace against other defenses. (Methinks Wommack is getting senile) Not to take away from the doggies’ performance tonight. Y’all figured out we weren’t gonna stop the run game so you stuck with it. That’s how you win games.
Matt
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
Nice column, Bradley. Good to hear you say something nice about UGA for a change.
One thing, though. You shouldn’t use “defensed” as a verb.
Flo-Ri-Duh!
November 29th, 2009
12:34 am
UGA showed some guts for a change. The middle of the d-line shut down Dwyer. The “D” is starting to come together and if they can find d-tackles for the graduating seniors they should be good on “D”. What? Cox had “0″ interceptions and UGA won. See how it works?
chemdawg
November 29th, 2009
12:35 am
The reason georgia hasn’t played so well, brad, is because they played better opponents. It’s obvious to anyone who follows college football that the ACC is soft. How many legitimate teams has Tech beaten?
Rick
November 29th, 2009
12:35 am
How pathetic are the losers who post “first”, get a life, loser……
willie martinez
November 29th, 2009
12:35 am
is that your selah?
MyView
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
The offense got a DNP tonight. DID NOT PUNT!!!
O. W. Shaddock
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
That has to be one of the most inspiring poems i’ve ever heard.
Where's Saint Simons?
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
Four straight incomplete passes = (((((((( 30 to 24 )))))))))))))) ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NC_DAWG
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
Burgess… Because it was open all 4 times… It was one on one four times in a row and I (and CPJ) cannot believe they didn’t catch any of them…WE WERE VERY LUCKY… BOUT TIME WE HAD SOMETHING GO OUR WAY THIS YEAR!
Matt Daddy
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
HAHAHAHA TAKE THAT NERDS! 8 out of 9!!
The Grinch
November 29th, 2009
12:36 am
yesiree, that ACC (almost competitive conference) championship game will be a highly anticipated matchup. a rematch between two non-top-10 teams that got popped today by middle of the road SEC teams. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Preston
November 29th, 2009
12:37 am
30-24!
Dan
November 29th, 2009
12:37 am
TO HELL WITH TECH!
Preston
November 29th, 2009
12:37 am
where are you saint simons? 30 – 24!
GATA RUSS
November 29th, 2009
12:38 am
PJ said we were not the main game. heard that drivel from Goff one time.
Bad Karma.
We could win the conference next year the ACC–on second thought
I think we just did.
and to heck with georgia tech
November 29th, 2009
12:38 am
this one is for “jekyl island”!!! ((((((bibbidy bobbidy)))))
Preston
November 29th, 2009
12:38 am
a whole year of 30-24! I love it! YEAH!!!!
deebo
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
Eat crow Mark Bradley and tech fans
Macon Insecticide
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
St Simons you are personally responsible for making #60 that much sweeter.
willie martinez
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
i’m willie and now i beam
i just beat the ga tech team
with a boot hobnail
we kicked their tail
and all’s right in the world
it now would seem
MattRyanforPrez
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
Espn.com – “Georgia took a page out of Georgia Tech’s playbook, rushing for 339 yards to upset the seventh-ranked Yellow Jackets 30-24 Saturday night and put a real damper on the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.”
DamntheButcher
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
Yes. Great Game but Willie needs to be packing his bags.
Mark Bradley
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
Headed home now. Thanks to one and all for hanging with me the past seven hours. It has been, as ever, a lovely experience. I appreciate your patronage.
OrlandoTopDawg
November 29th, 2009
12:39 am
How in the Heck does a #5 and #6 SEC Team knock off the #1 and #2 ACC Team???
WOW .. that’s pathetic, imo!!!
Dangerous
November 29th, 2009
12:40 am
First things first, Bobo got too predictable. He set up everything with the solid run game and hardly ever pulled the trigger on anything. No slant ( when everybody knew the blitz was coming) and no Orson Charles down the middle. Now ,with that over with ,what kind of championship is the ACC playing for. I mean your two teams just got blitzkrieged by two middle of the pack SEC teams. What kind of champ game is that? I guess all is really well in the world, two SEC teams playing for something meaningful and two ACC teams going after nothing………and possibly a game that was going to sell out…to one that will most likely not now.
BillyBob, Billy Bob
November 29th, 2009
12:40 am
eat this Saint Simons. <<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
ugaking
November 29th, 2009
12:40 am
Who is this Mark Bradley? This isn’t the same Mark Bradley who has exalted tech and hammered Georgia at every possible turn. Well maybe if this is the new more powerful Mark Bradley, then maybe I’ll start reading his column / blog again. Just maybe. 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 cokes. Ha Ha Ha! GO DOGS!!!
SaintSimonsLimpNoodle
November 29th, 2009
12:41 am
Paul Johnson tries to pass 4 times on the last drive? Did The Old Ball Coach get in his ear at the end there? Johnson you are one ugly MFer and you are an arrogant prick too. Welcome to Georgia where you get you a$$ handed to you 8 out of every 9 times you POS!