An inspired UGA goes to 2-4 and ponders ‘running the table’
The Alpha Dawg: Mark Richt leads Georgia onto the field. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS — The best 1-4 team in the land was so excited to be 1-4 no more that it did a victory dance in the locker room. Chief among the celebrants was the head Bulldog.
“Coach [Mark] Richt was the main one,” said Demarcus Dobbs, the defensive end. “He loves to get crazy after games.”
The past four Saturdays had yielded only a crazy sorrow. Indeed, as tailback Caleb King noted, the Bulldogs reacted with such fervor to Saturday’s thrashing of woebegone Tennessee team because their dancing had been so long deferred.
“It’s a silly dance,” King said. “But we hadn’t been able to do it for a while.”
Dobbs again: “It’s a lot different when you win. When you lose, everybody’s hanging his head and people are asking what went wrong. Today everybody’s vibrant.”
Not since Sept. 4 had the Georgia Bulldogs won a game. Not since Nov. 21 had they taken a lead against an SEC opponent. And the worst part of being 1-4 (and 0-3 against conference brethren) was that these Bulldogs knew, just knew, they were way better than that.
Here’s the redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray, who was as good Saturday as most redshirt seniors ever get: “We feel like we can definitely run the table these last six games.”
Got that? From 1-4 to 2-4 … clear to 8-4? (Which would mean beating Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech.) As presumptuous as it might sound, there’s nonetheless something tangible backstopping that belief. That something is talent.
It took a lot of (mis)doing for a team this gifted to get to 1-4, and it took some effort for Richt to keep it from going totally south after the egregious losses in Starkville and Boulder. To his credit, the coach of 10 years’ standing changed some things.
The Bulldogs practiced in full pads Monday. (Richt admitted Saturday his light-contact approach to summer camp “backfired.”) The team dressed at the Butts-Mehre complex, doing the pregame Dawg Walk in full gear. Prompted by a caller to his radio show, Richt even led his Bulldogs onto the field.
And the result? Said Richt, speaking of his men: “They played beautifully.”
He also recalled what he had told his team after the full-contact Monday session: “If you guys will play like you just did, we’re going to be all right.”
Whatever has ailed Georgia — and when you’re 1-4, you’ve ailed — can be fixed. We saw Saturday the difference between a team with a bad record and good players and one with a bad record and bad players. This game was over after a quarter. Tennessee kept handing the Bulldogs the ball, and the Bulldogs kept taking it and scoring. And the best player on the field was the player Georgia hadn’t had for four games.
“We’re not going to give up,” said A.J. Green, the great receiver. “We’re all we’ve got.”
At peak capacity, Georgia has a lot. That was the message Richt sought to send with his Monday-in-pads decree, a message seconded on Friday by the former UGA linebacker Boss Bailey, who served as honorary captain for this game. Said Richt: “He felt like he needed to tell them that they weren’t playing ball the way ball should be played here at Georgia.”
On Saturday they did. They beat Tennessee by 27 points and spent the fourth quarter coasting. It would have been unseemly to embarrass Derek Dooley, the Vols’ coach and the son of Georgia’s greatest coach. (For the record, Vince Dooley watched the game from his home on Milledge Circle. His wife, Barbara, was in attendance wearing red slacks and an orange sweater, a look even the stylish Mrs. D. couldn’t quite pull off.)
By then, Richt’s team had long since proved its point: Georgia may have a bad record, but it isn’t a bad team. And now six games remain, time enough to do some damage.
Said Richt: “I never lost hope. I never lost faith. I never thought we had a significant amount of problems.”
Except for the losing. The losing was an issue. On this Saturday, as opposed to the past four, Georgia did not lose. It won and did its silly dance. It will dance some more before this season is done.
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797 comments Add your comment
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:24 pm
MattMD, the Japanese subs were a continuing harrassment thruought the war. a sub sank the USS Indianapolis which had delivered an atomic bomb to Tinian.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:24 pm
Langley and Cowpens were light carriers launched in May 1943. Essex was a heavy carrier, based on the Yorktown but heavier and launched the Essex class, 14 of which served in the Vietnam war. The Essex was launched in July 42.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:25 pm
Coach, i thought Kamikazie meant breaking wind.
Joe Turner
October 9th, 2010
6:25 pm
will you guys just please bring me in? i just read books!!
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:26 pm
You should be proud of your Uncle Beauregard coach, I am sure that you are.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:27 pm
Japanese called it Devine Wind because a typhoon destroyed the invading force of Kubla Kan in whatever century ago.
RAID
October 9th, 2010
6:27 pm
Is Carolina really this good?
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:28 pm
Touchdown SC. Nick Saban looks like he just had a big dose of prune juice.
St. Clarkston
October 9th, 2010
6:28 pm
Let’s concentrate on a winning season right now. Vols are awful but THIS is how I expected the Dawgs to play all year.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:29 pm
Cuz, actually to be truthful i have a great uncle Jim who was in the Marine invading forces on Roi Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. Won the Silver Star in fact.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:29 pm
Thirteenth Century from just recollecting there coach.
ryan
October 9th, 2010
6:30 pm
Ha HA were are Bama and Vols fans now .
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:31 pm
like so many vets, its only been in the last 10 years or so he would tell his family about those experiences in the Pacific.
Brandon
October 9th, 2010
6:31 pm
FIRE NICK SABAN!!! This game against SC is unacceptable… Look at how much money they pay him! And they are losing to a team that lost to Auburn. He’s the worst coach in the history of football. Nick has lost his mojo… You can tell the players have just given up, and that’s a reflection of the coach. They should fire him and hire Boise State’s coach…
jawjuhboy
October 9th, 2010
6:32 pm
Brandon (see above). You’re the idiot. One win does not a season make over a baaaad team. Keep in mind that the Las Vegas crowd had us an eleven point favorite.
And, why? Why did the first string play the entire game? How do we ever season players who have no playing time? Stupid plan IMO.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:32 pm
oh, were you there cuz?
Harry the Hat
October 9th, 2010
6:32 pm
AJC headline: Zaxby’s is hoping that free chicken will convince thieves to return its missing infloatable mascot.
“Big Zach” was stolen from the front lawn of a University of Georgia building.
The restaurant chain is offering $500 in Zaxby’s gift cards for the safe return of “Big Zach,” the 15-foot tall inflatable mascot.
The fowl float was taken between 11:30 p.m. Monday and 4:30 a.m. Tuesday from the front lawn of a University of Georgia building.
Any bets on the thief being a football player?
Joe Turner
October 9th, 2010
6:33 pm
did you send the mailman?
Joe Turner
October 9th, 2010
6:34 pm
the girl? just at random.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:34 pm
My best friends father won three silver stars directing a tank for Patton coach. we found out about it at his funeral. He told us he drove a truck for Patton. He did for one month before he transfered to tanks. In their youth’s, their heart’s were touched by fire.
dawgfan
October 9th, 2010
6:35 pm
We aren’t running the table, but even if we did there would still be a not so fresh feeling about this season. The question would then be, why in the good holy hell weren’t we playing like that to begin with?
Anyway, Tennessee is awful. I’ll take the W though.
SEC Champ has multiple losses this year and won’t play for a national title.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:35 pm
Mark, you must be headed for sunny, unfashionable south Cobb.
aarh
October 9th, 2010
6:35 pm
Mark Bradley- That’s what I thought about Mason, but they said on the post games show after the game that theere was a chacne he could still be redshirted. Someone asked that question, & that’s what they said. So, I didn’t know if they knew something I didn’t about the possibility that that could still be done. It just seems like those guys should know if that is still a possibility, but I don’t know.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:35 pm
Nah coach, just a history nutt. definately a nutt.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:36 pm
i meant in the 13th century cuz
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:37 pm
But we are pondering running the table. Pondering is a big thing when you are a young player on a college team.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:37 pm
I got it coach, just having fun like you.
layinlow
October 9th, 2010
6:38 pm
Not to piss on the parade, but why didn’t Richt start coaching this team in the spring? Just think how different things would have been if our defensive and offensive lineman had been going at it since spring ball ( and I mean full contact hitting). No darn wonder our “soft” offensive line has underperformed and our defense got ran all over by Lattimore. Richt needs to walk thru the front door on the first day of spring ball every year and announce that by gosh were going to be one tough friggin football team. Then let the hitting begin and every single position is up for grabs. Let Grantham be fiery and tough and don’t take that away from him. If a player is arrested they sit 3 games and a second arrest leads to being kicked off the team for good. Any questions?
ryan
October 9th, 2010
6:38 pm
This should shut some of these Bama fans up who think going to get everyone.
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:38 pm
Michigan State is hammering Michigan. My heart breaks for Rich Rod. Okay, not really.
Joe Turner
October 9th, 2010
6:39 pm
Higgins, who is Leonard Atwood? what’s the matter? aint we pals anymore?
Beast from the East
October 9th, 2010
6:39 pm
The heffalumps stomped the mudlizards, but it appears they’re choking on the chicken.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:40 pm
ok cuz
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:41 pm
layin, I belive now if you get arrested you get kicked off the team period. It happened to our scout team linebacker and Richt said he told the team that the next guy that got arrested was going to get “it”. Well, he did.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:42 pm
if that score holds, the entire state of south carolina will be destroyed tonight. a net loss of about $50 or so. heh, heh
aarh
October 9th, 2010
6:42 pm
Sheila- I really don’t think those guys did anything more wrong recently. It looks like they were just all put on probation as more punishment for past transgressions from earlier in the season. They’ve already seerved suspension time for their earlier troubles. When it was reported that they were all put on probation…no recent offense was mentioned.
Rich
October 9th, 2010
6:43 pm
what the hell does leading the team on the field have to do with winning – typical Richt kindergarten motivational crap rather than any coaching…..they won today because Tennessee sux
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:43 pm
Enter your comments here
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:43 pm
does bama have another miracle finish?
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:44 pm
coach, please give your uncle my thanks. My Grandfather was a CPO in charge of the galley of the Potomoc. He got transfer papers for the battleship Washington. FDR or someone else cancelled those papers cause he did too good a job with the food. My Grandmother and Mom were greatful.
ramma jamma
October 9th, 2010
6:45 pm
Chicken Hammer
Fold Tide Fold!!
Cuz
October 9th, 2010
6:45 pm
Rich aint you a buzzkiller.
Beast from the East
October 9th, 2010
6:46 pm
todd grantham,
The short answer is no.
You guys have a great evening. I’ve got to watch my Gators and see if they can score more than 6 points this week. The rumor is that Brantley won’t play due to a rib injury. We’ll find out shortly.
Go Gators!
layinlow
October 9th, 2010
6:47 pm
Cuz, next season I don’t think a one arrest and you’re out policy will be carried forward. I think that was because of the ridiculous amount of arrest in 2010 and all the losing we were going thru. Next season, a 1 strike and you sit 3 games and two strikes your out policy would be a good way to curtail this problem.
Canadian Vol
October 9th, 2010
6:48 pm
Congrats to the Dawgs, ya’ll were a better team today and wanted it a LOT more. AJ does wonders for you guys.
On another note, the people early on asking of LSU was that bad because of our performance against them compared to our performance today, we looked deflated. I think we’re still reeling from that loss last weekend, and it contributed to our looking flat and quite frankly, like crap all game today. Good luck the rest of the year, and please beat FL.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:49 pm
Cuz, thanks. I’ll sure pass your kind words along to him.
todd grantham
October 9th, 2010
6:51 pm
saban looks like a whipped puppy. or elepant
aarh
October 9th, 2010
6:53 pm
Rich- It may not have an affect, but someone asked him to do it & he did. I think if I was having that bad of a season…I would listen to what people say as well. Especially considering when so many people have been talking about firing him. Tenn. does seem to be bad, but they beat them worse than FL. did, & about as bad as Oregon did. So, doesn’t that count for something? Running the table may not seem likely, but UGA had a tough early season schedule, & it seems to be softening a bit. The only games that UGA should be not favored in should be FL & AU. FL has looked vulnerable, & has played a weak schedule thus far, & UGA has played good against AU recently. Not saying it will happen, but just that you never know.
Harriet
October 9th, 2010
6:56 pm
Oh goody, the dawg turds are 2-4. Give Mark Richt a big raise.
Party school
October 9th, 2010
6:58 pm
So, what surreal path allows UGA to win the east now Mark?