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
santa cruz dawg
November 29th, 2009
7:46 am
Man I can’t wait to see next years offense, if we do what we did last night, all year long.
All of the o line will be back except for Vance, but we get Sturdivant back!
King and Ealey will be back and we will have an awesome recieving corps.
Play smash mouth and mix in the pass only when nessecary.
I pray that the right descisions will be made on the D, but I guess I will just have to trust Richt and support his descisions, on that front.
Man CMR was as intense as I had ever seen him during the entire game.
Great job guys!!!!!!
Lindsey
November 29th, 2009
7:47 am
Great quotes from Mark:
-”When they meet two days after Thanksgiving, Tech will win again.”
-”The Jackets are going to score points on Georgia, a lot of points. Maybe not 45 again, but close to it.”
The underdog is alwasy dangerous, GO DAWGS!!!!
Oh yeah I almost forgot, Saint Simons, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
Dear Mark Bradley
November 29th, 2009
7:48 am
Yes, our defense was terrible. What’s new? Truth is if Nesbitt is in the whole game it becomes a shootout like the FSU game. Maybe we wouldn’t have won, however we came withing 6 points of it after 2 terrible Jaybo Shaw drives (3 and out)and the “what we’re you thinking double coverage interception). I’m not surprised we didn’t stop UGA, but defense is not our strength. Secondly, the pass Stephen Hill got injured on at the end of the game was ridiculous. If the defender doesn’t start shoving him a half a second before the ball gets there he catches the ball in bounds. That was an obvious interference call and it wasn’t called. They call that play and we’ve got 1st and 10 at the 31, and we can return to running the ball. A whole different ball game. I’d also like to see some blame sloshed on our kicker. If he makes his 1st field goal of the game, and we would not have needed a touchdown in the last drive. We wouldn’t have had to try all of those deep plays. Finally, Georgia fans, you played well and you won the game. Isn’t that enough? Do you have anything insightful to say? This has to be the most obnoxious gloat fest I’ve ever seen, and no, I didn’t get on the blog last year and do what you’re doing after we won. It must be sad to derive your whole sense of personal worth from a win on a Saturday night, particularly when there have been so few of them.
AB
November 29th, 2009
7:51 am
NERDS GO IN FOR ANOTHER YEAR STREAK ENDS AT 1 CANT WAIT FOR THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 2 LOSERS PLAYING FOR ORANGE BOWL IF TECH WINS THEY WILL NOT SELL 10,OOO TICKETS
Freedawg
November 29th, 2009
7:54 am
Chan Gailey,
It took UGA man handling Yech all night long. We were missing some of our best players and still handed you nerds your heads all night long. We lost 3 NFL staters this year, and everyone knows we could be sitting here with only 2 losses had we not shot ourselves in the foot all year, and not gotten ripped off against LSU.
Yech sucks and so does the ACC! 30-24, eat it biotch!
santa cruz dawg
November 29th, 2009
7:54 am
Smash Mouth football =WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
Topp Dogg
November 29th, 2009
7:59 am
Ramble On why dont you ramble on this? 30-24 Bitches
Football Fan
November 29th, 2009
8:02 am
What? No Mark Bradley article about how the football power in Georgia has shifted to the Techies? That was ridiculous from the beginning because Tech can no more surpass Georgia than Memphis can overtake Tennessee.
DeeDawg
November 29th, 2009
8:03 am
GT couldn’t beat UGA during their worst year! LOL! 30-24!!!! Suck it, Tech Nerds!
water girl
November 29th, 2009
8:04 am
Water girl wants to know what’s all that yellow splat on the windshield?
Mississippi Bulldog
November 29th, 2009
8:04 am
Enter your comments here
Gator Daryl
November 29th, 2009
8:06 am
Way to go Dogs, you make all the SEC proud.
Dawg Nation
November 29th, 2009
8:06 am
Mark Bradley, is a idiot he has proven time and time again that he knows nothing about football. He just tries to please his Virginia Highland friends by over rating Tech. He should be a promoter for Techs athletic dept. Well I guess he is but he just uses the AJC. as his billboard. The AJC. should replace him with person that has actually played the game and not just watched it while playing in the band. The ACC is a joke!!!!!! Put any ACC team in the SEC for five years and they would not have a winnign season in any of the five years.
R.U. KIDDIN-ME
November 29th, 2009
8:07 am
WHATDAYAH SAY NOW “m”??!! STILL THINK THE “acc” CAN HANG WITH THE S.E.C.??!!
jerry
November 29th, 2009
8:07 am
UGA beat an academic ACC school. Time to crow, man, time to crow.
Mississippi Bulldog
November 29th, 2009
8:08 am
The SEC dominates the ACC in football (as usual). Way to go Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Georgia Tech plays the two last place teams in the SEC and survives both games and then plays a middle of the conference Georgia team and gets that tail kicked. From one Bulldog to another, good job GEORGIA BULLDOGS!!!!! Miss. State 41 Ole Piss 24
Lilburn Dawg
November 29th, 2009
8:08 am
Great job Dawgs! Where have that offensive line and the running backs that we had last night been all year!! Only would love to have that fumble, the beautifully thrown but dropped pass, and the missed field goad back……but otherwise a heck of a game! Let’s start a petition to keep Russ as the new UGA. Great job that he did too!
Oh No,,, St. Simon Sucks Again
November 29th, 2009
8:09 am
( 30 – 24 ) lol lol lol lol lol lol…
Everybody sing this with me ” Back to life, Back to reality”
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
takedowndawg
November 29th, 2009
8:11 am
Great job by our offensive line, led by Clint Boling. This was the type of performance by our line that we who follow what makes a solid team look for. When Sturdivant went down earlier in the year, I was calling for Boling to replace him but Searles waited until the last three games to make that move. Our offensive line now looks solid for an SEC team. Earlier in the year, it did not. Great jobs by Ealey and King hitting those holes hard and then breaking for open ground. Our defense is still OUR defense. Inconsistent and undisciplined in coverages. Great night for our DAWGS!!!Hope we will build on it quickly for next year. Go DAWGSSS!!!!!
ColumbusDawg
November 29th, 2009
8:12 am
Go Dawgs! Who was that team wearing UGA uniforms last night!? WOW! Way to show them little bugs what old school football is all about…………..run it down their throat!
jim
November 29th, 2009
8:15 am
Hey St.Simons – Come out, come out, wherever you are – 30-24. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. And you can count on hearing and seeing this for the next year. But do have a nice day.
mambo
November 29th, 2009
8:16 am
30-24! How does it feel jackets? Fabris and Martinez still need to go.
vince
November 29th, 2009
8:16 am
St Simmons: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
barneyb
November 29th, 2009
8:17 am
Congrats to the Dawgs on a lifesaving win! Now onto reality….I am a UGA Alumni and 30+ year fan, but face it…..the Dawgs aren’t that good.Talent is dreadfully undercoached, and they are still undisciplined. Stupid, needless penalties (albeit fewer tonight) just about killed them. They should have had it in the bag in the 3rd quarter, but took it down to the wire. Joe Cox still stunk the place up.
There MUST be staffing changes for next year. And don’t think next year will be much better with the QB situation. And lastly, UGA, “act like you’ve been there”! Taking pieces of the GT turf and running the field with the UGA flag was as classless as it gets. So don’t complain when opponents desecrate the hedges.
Todd
November 29th, 2009
8:17 am
how sweet it is. Now all you closet fans can put those tech jerseys back up and yes it will be another 7 or 8 yrs b-4 you can get them back out. The ACC is weak..The SEC dominates….SEE you nerds back on our blog in 2016……..HAHAHAHAHAHAHA—-30-24…….
browndog
November 29th, 2009
8:19 am
Was a very exciting and entertaining game. GT was not ready for the UGA power game(neither was I but a great move by CMR and Bobo). GT last possession was very strange with 4 passes! A great game to watch on TV. Good luck to GT in their championship game! A solid building block for next year for UGA. Now win whatever bowl game you get. Great effort by both teams.
adam mullis
November 29th, 2009
8:21 am
30-24 hahhahahhahahahahahahah…BRADLEY HAVE YOU SLEPT WITH YA BF CPJ YET OR R YOU WAITIN 4 HIM 2 CALM…MASSAGE HIS BACK YOU LOWLIFE AND TELL HIM ‘BOUT THE GOOD OLE DAYS IN THE 1930S…WE OUTMUSCLED AND OUNDED GT JUS LIKE YOU DO CPJ
D*** GOOD DAWG
November 29th, 2009
8:22 am
I just read a post on another blog about our interim bulldog Russ. I agree with the poster about promoting him go UGA VIII. What do the rest of you think???
blue
November 29th, 2009
8:22 am
Reailty@6:22 ask the orange bowl people how they feel about having to take a ACC team Tech or Clemson will just keep a team that deserves to go to a BCS from going Jerry@8:07 Tech is only a Academic school in its on mine
Old Gold Britches
November 29th, 2009
8:27 am
Congrats to the mutts on a great game! Too bad you didn’t put it together until the last game. All that talent wasted all year. Go figure. The lack of depth showed for the JACKETS. With the loss of Nesbitt for a lot of the first half really hurt.
Good luck mutts with your bowl game.
GO JACKETS in the ACC Championship game!!
n
November 29th, 2009
8:29 am
Hate to tell you m, but the ACC went 0-fer today against the “weakest SEC conference I’ve ever seen.” Just think, the two division winners of the ACC lost tonight to middle of the road SEC teams. Wow, the SEC is so weak….
TommyP
November 29th, 2009
8:31 am
Mark Bradley: I refer you to last night’s blog @ 7:01 on page 3: “Dawgs win IF we run for 175+ yards and don’t lose the turnover battle. Dawgs need to run the ball to keep it out of Tech’s hands. This is not a ball-control offense…it’s big-play.”
Of course, I never thought we’d run it for THAT much but that was the blueprint.
Herschel Talker: As much venom that you’ve spewed lately about Richt, whatcha got to say today? I’m not expecting much.
n
November 29th, 2009
8:33 am
Oh, and nice read, Mark.
jerry
November 29th, 2009
8:34 am
UGA should join the ACC. They could be the big cok in the horehouse.
chazzo
November 29th, 2009
8:34 am
Bradley,
YOU WERE WRONG!!!!!!!!
Jacket Dad
November 29th, 2009
8:35 am
I’m bummed about GT’s loss but wanted to give UGA credit – the outplayed us and won a tough game. I dreaded this morning because I knew the posts would be so harsh. Go ahead Dawgs, enjoy your moment. You won the game.
For GT, they need to beat Clemson and show strong in their bowl game. I’m still proud of them.
Fed DAWG
November 29th, 2009
8:35 am
RING RING RING 30 – 24 RING RING RING…and now the Tech fans go BACK INTO THE WOODWORK, not to be heard of for another 5 or 6 years…
Dap01
November 29th, 2009
8:35 am
How could they lose? I thought Paul Johnson invented football. Tech is the second best team in the state. They will be next year also. The football world is catching up to that prehistoric offense at Tech. Tech got manhandled.
Willie M.
November 29th, 2009
8:36 am
I’m baaaaaaack!!!!!!!!
WOW
November 29th, 2009
8:37 am
what a game!!! I hope some people have enjoyed their comments for the last year (yellow fuzz, POAD, Ramble On !!!, St. Simons). You reap what you sow. Just a quick thought, if the UGA – GT game was not that important to Tech then why did you guys get rings last year? If the Acc title game is more important to CPJ, then why did he put his best player (Nesbot) back in the game? I think this game was more important to GT than they admit. For the first and last time…………30-24 brhahahahahah…you get the idea
Dissappoint Dog Fan
November 29th, 2009
8:40 am
30-24 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I really don’t think this can get posted too many times!!!!!!!!!!
Dap01
November 29th, 2009
8:40 am
Tech and Clemson are the best in the ACC? Wow, that is sad!
WeLost
November 29th, 2009
8:40 am
Wow, after reading these posts…I guess we should be thankful that the leghumpers won, I had no idea that it was such a life defining moment for so many people.
Big Al
November 29th, 2009
8:41 am
Well SaintSimons, what do you think about the latest game? Tech is now out of the top ten and out of a BCS bowl game. Now Tech has to play Clemson in the ACC championship game. And both of them just LOST to middle of the pack SEC teams. Tech and the ACC are downers.
Mutt H8r
November 29th, 2009
8:41 am
Congrats Mutts. See what you could have been doing all year………….. BTW good move bouncing up and down on Josh while his leg was pinned back. It probably won you the game.
Big Rock
November 29th, 2009
8:42 am
News Bulletin – I just heard that GT just scored on that pass play this morning at 7:45 A.M. It shows that practice helps but the team is dead tired.
Blawgdawg
November 29th, 2009
8:42 am
Hey M, you’re a pathetic little nerd. You’re sherriff turned out to be Barney Fife. Get used to it. Its only the beginning, and glad it hurts so bad. Take your sorry little arse and crawl back into your nerd cave !
WHY DO MUTTS BARK?CAUSE BUMBLE BEES STING
November 29th, 2009
8:43 am
AT LEAST UGAY BEATING TECH MEANS THAT WILLIE AND BOBO WILL KEEP THEIR JOBS,IM GLAD UGAY WON SO THAT MEANS BOBO AND WILLIE ARE COMING BACK!
Acc sec
November 29th, 2009
8:43 am
If ga was in acc we would finish first
DAWGS RULE
November 29th, 2009
8:44 am
st. simons u r my BIAAAAAAATCH 30-24 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA