UGA heads to Jacksonville having left Kentucky in the dust
These were six of Washaun Ealey's 30 points. (AP photo)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — On the morning of Oct. 9, the Georgia Bulldogs were 1-4. We mention this because … well, because it’s Oct. 25 and they sure as heck aren’t 1-4 anymore.
They’re a robust 4-4, having won three SEC games by the aggregate score of 128-45. They’re 4-4 headed to Jacksonville in a better frame of mind than the hated Gators, who’ve lost three in a row. They’re 4-4 and maybe they haven’t beaten the Who’s Who of BCS Bullies, but it wasn’t so long ago Georgia couldn’t beat anybody anywhere.
And now you’re asking: Is this apparent resurgence the real deal or just a red (and black) herring? And the answer is …
It’s real for this simple reason: Georgia was far too talented to have been 1-4, and we’re finally seeing what happens when that talent is brought to bear. The Bulldogs won big in a place where South Carolina lost just last week not only because Kentucky messed up — though the Wildcats did more than their share of that — but because some big-time players made big-time plays.
Brandon Boykin took another kickoff back 100 yards. A.J. Green rose up a couple of times and reminded us that he’s the best receiver among collegians. (Also that he was sorely missed throughout September.) Justin Houston did a Lawrence Taylor all over the Big Blue — sacking the quarterback, recovering a fumble, coming within a step of making his own Kroy Biermann deflect-catch-and-score memory.
And Washaun Ealey, whose fumbles on the goal line and misadventure in the parking garage became the symbol of that staggering start, came to the Bluegrass and rewrote his bio. He’s no longer Washaun Ealey, the man who cannot be trusted in the red zone. He’s now Washaun Ealey, the Bulldog who nearly outscored Kentucky by himself.
Five touchdowns for Ealey and one for Boykin and three early Kentucky fumbles made this easier than it should have been. (And a cosmetic fourth-quarter rally made the final score closer than the game itself.) Georgia got way ahead — it was 28-3 after 23-plus minutes — and buttoned it down. Aaron Murray threw only 12 passes, and that wasn’t because the offensive minds Mark Richt and Mike Bobo got stupid; it was because they got smart.
The first rule of politics also is the first rule of football: When your opponent is in the process of destroying himself, get out of the way. The ‘Dogs applied enough early defensive pressure to discombobulate the ‘Cats, and the rest was simply for form’s sake.
Yes, there were too many times when Houston and the rushers didn’t put Mike Hartline on the ground, and the Kentucky quarterback found unencumbered receivers. But we saw clearly here that Todd Grantham’s 3-4 can deal with a multi-faceted offense that’s cleverly constructed, and it’s unclear we can say half as much about Florida’s shockingly inept attack.
Simply put, Georgia goes to Jacksonville with a chance to stamp itself as the only real challenger to South Carolina in the SEC East, and who among us saw that coming after the losses in Starkville and Boulder? If you’re asking if this defense looks capable of derailing Cam Newton’s run to the Heisman at Auburn on Nov. 13, the answer frankly is no. But it could come a monsoon that day and Georgia might win 3-0 on a 60-yard field goal by Blair Walsh.
What’s important is that the Bulldogs have given themselves a chance to right a season going wrong. Sure, the schedule has had much to do with it, but the early schedule was tougher than calculus. (Especially without Green for Games 1-4.) A youngish team has gotten better the more it has played, and these past three weeks it has been pretty doggone good.
The Tennessee and Vanderbilt games were in Athens. The Kentucky game always loomed as the pre-Jacksonville obstacle, and Georgia came to Commonwealth Stadium and stacked 44 points on Kentucky and never let the hosts have a sniff at victory. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it came at a perfect time.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
286 comments Add your comment
rincon dawg
October 24th, 2010
1:14 am
i agree crap sandwich why the heck is ogletree not out there the kid is a beast. Cuff is just terrible. Rambo gets blown up on every team that throws. Front seven will do fine but the secondary needs a lot of work.
Fort Worth Dawg
October 24th, 2010
1:20 am
Auburn looks scary.I don’t think dawgs can hang with them, especially at Auburn. We will win 3 of 4 and have a ‘pitty’ bowl at 7-5. I hope Tech wins the rest so out win over them will be our ‘bowl’ and have bragging rights…again! I see us in Memphis, unfortunately. I see us in the Sugar next year if AJ stays and no arrests in the off season…
ThugDawgs back Right
October 24th, 2010
1:20 am
MB states “Georgia goes to Jacksonville with a chance to stamp itself as the only real challenger to South Carolina in the SEC East” – yea, only because the SEC East sucks this year – what WEAK teams they are. UGA will get its chance to beat Florida this year – only because Florida totally sux – as does TN, KY, and Vandy. But yet, the ever cocky UGA fans think “We are back” only because they beat-up teams that are less than minimally impressive. The ONLY teams that UGA has played that may be much good is SC and Ark. So, go ahead and BARK or WOLF or what ever it is that UGA fans like to do – but still, you haven’t beat ANYBODY of any substance. Just look how TN, KY, and Vandy look in their national statistics – about the bottom of the Nation is most categories.
UGA heads to Jacksonville having left Kentucky in the dust | Mark … medical university
October 24th, 2010
1:20 am
[...] the rest here: UGA heads to Jacksonville having left Kentucky in the dust | Mark … By admin | category: KENT, KENTUCKY | tags: auctions, florida, KENTUCKY, lexington, line, [...]
» Blog Archive » Finally, Dogs run away with a win thanks to take-aways - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
October 24th, 2010
1:23 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
bigcalidawg
October 24th, 2010
1:27 am
I love bein a DAWG, but dang we make some dumb remarks on here.
Kentucky was down 28-10 at the half last week and won. S.C. lost cuz they did not have Lattimore for the end of the game (injury). We continued to score on the ground and that is a good thing.
Really, I would rather have Washaun rush for 150 than Aaron pass for 300 any day, cuz it almost gaurantees that we won.
Not only that, we have Sturdivant and Gates now starting on the O-Line. That unit needs to bond, and ain’t nothin’ better than a drive blocking party to bring 300 pounders together. We played intelligently and that’s why we won.
Why try to get into a pissin contest with a dynamic offense, when we can keep the ball away and burn clock?
Dawg 555
October 24th, 2010
1:31 am
Amen bigcali. Amen
Uuugh...
October 24th, 2010
1:31 am
Kentucky should not be a test….but they have better coaching now and ours is the same. Good win but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Turnovers mean we don’t have to open up the playbook. Beat UF like we have beaten the last few teams and I wonder why can’t we beat Auburn. Beat Florida and I think we beat Auburn too. We always beat them both when it doesn’t matter…to us.
Monkey says
October 24th, 2010
1:33 am
This week is going to be very interesting. UGA has won against 3 teams in three weeks all with losing records in the SEC, while Florida has lost three straight to teams in the top 25.
The Gators have internal issues and a week off to find their MOJO. Georgia got beat up pretty good tonight physically at times, and without the ability to substitute early did not do Georgia any favors. While the Gators were at home (maybe not too drunk) to pay attention to the UK/Georgia game.
The Gators quarterback issue has not been resolved, their running game is lacking a physical bruiser of a back, they must rely on the return of Chris Rainey if he is allowed to play along with the speed of Jeff Demps to make plays on the outer perimeter. Brantley has to throw the ball with confidence and the wildcat play with Burton has to make a few plays.
UGA will give up some big plays, just as they did tonight, but the real question is how many and how often do they give up these plays. UF has a very strong defense and if Murray can not stretch the field the fast linebacker will walk up to the line and force UGA into 3rd and Long all night.
There are alot more questions than answers on both side, we do not expect another Auburn/LSU but we do expect some big plays, trick plays, fake plays, and of course a boat load of penalties on both sides of the ball. UF is young and undisciplined, UGA is just undisciplined.
Have fun you UGA and Florida fans talking trash all week. See ya Saturday at 3:38 for kickoff.
crap sandwich
October 24th, 2010
1:37 am
The key to us beating UF this week is a mental thing. Looking at how the dawgs have played even with their lousy weakside secondary of Cuff and Rambo? There are no other apparent weaknesses from the last 3 games. One has to like the Dawgs chances in Jacksonville.
But can we get over the mental thing? UF just seems to have year after year great fortune and we do not. The challenge this week is not the x’s and o’s, but the psychology of a clear mind.
Bill King
October 24th, 2010
1:53 am
JUST WIN BABY !!!!!!!!!
Monkey says
October 24th, 2010
1:57 am
This should be a great week. All the trash talk, all the bragging, all the questions.
UGA has won three teams with losing records in the SEC. UF has lost three in a row against three ranked teams. UGA got beat on physically by a Kentucky team. UF had an off week to find some answers.
UGA has done a good job of making a run in the SEC East, while UF has fallen back to the rest of the SEC. But the 3 game playoff is still on. The real player still in control is USC. UGA will still need some help and who knows if they will or will not get it.
UGA has a good young quarterback, a O-Line who at one time was the strongest unit on the Dawg squad. UGA has had some suspensions, had some fumble issues, had some major holes. Playing 3 inferior teams has allowed UGA to experiment, and find a few answers. UF has lost three games and in all three flaws were exposed. While in others they were a bounce away from a win. But the football is shaped differently to get those odd bounces.
UGA played a hard nose Kentucky team, and took a physical beating compared to what UF had with an off weak. It would have gone a long way if UGA had been able to substitute more freely tonight, but they were only able to minimally substitute. While UF sat(probably in an off campus bar) and nursed some wounds from the first 8 weeks of the season.
UGA will have 6 days to develop a game plan, UF will have 13 days to develop a game plan. UGA is on a winning streak, UF is on a losing streak. So common thinking would be if you are winning you want to keep playing, and if you are losing you need a break. Well both teams will get their wish.
UGA has a strong running game with some power(not much, but some). UF has zero power running game. UF gets back Chris Rainey, UGA gets back Caleb King. UF gets some guys well, UGA will have a training room full of nicks and sprains.
UF has a very good defense, UGA has a below average defense. UGA has proven they can win on the road, UF has won on the road, but that was before the losing streak and against a poor Tennessee team who was still in the game going into the 4th quarter.
UF has a quarterback who was originally thought to be a top tier SEC quarterback, but those predictions have not been very accurate. UGA has a freshman(redshirt) who many thought could be a liabilty, he has held his own.
UF has a defense that for the most part has been pretty good, UGA has a defense who is hot and cold and really needs the opposition to turn the ball over on unforced errors. UF has been turning the ball over and that may be a problem for The Gators.
The biggest unknown is the IDLE week by UF, did they regroup, and if they did will they come out with a completely new package that may take a half for UGA to make adjustments to? Does UGA have anything left in its bag of tricks( it will be Halloween weekend)?
This should be a great week with all the smack talk, and name calling.
LSU falls to Auburn, but LSU gave Ole Miss a better idea how to slow Auburn( maybe a little) and can Auburn keep it up for 5 weeks in a row?
Alabama gets a week off to prepare for a poor offense LSU, but good defense LSU.
USC slips by Vandy on the road, and now has to keep their heads in the SEC East race.
Gonna be fun guys…
DIZZY DAWG
October 24th, 2010
1:57 am
Firrrst!!!
Awww, I think I pulled something.
Statesborodawg13
October 24th, 2010
2:08 am
Fantastic job, Ealey! Great ball protection, great downhill hard running, great finding holes.
You carried the Dawgs tonite, made the $24.99 I spent on PPV worth every penny. Keep it up!
Go Dawgs, beat the Gators.
JTH
October 24th, 2010
2:19 am
HOW BOUT THEM DAWGS!
2010 5th Best Running QB
October 24th, 2010
2:29 am
Nesbitt for Heisman?
BWWAAAAAAAA!!!
Pet Society fans » Blog Archive » Live from Lexington: Fur sure to fly as Dawgs and Cats meet! – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
October 24th, 2010
2:33 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
JTH
October 24th, 2010
2:34 am
UGA is going to destroy Tech this year. Again.
rkglsu
October 24th, 2010
2:34 am
Mark,
I guess those in the BCS rankings are bullies only because UGA isn’t among them.
MDAWG24
October 24th, 2010
2:42 am
Have to say that the turnovers helped spark us tonight – we are usually the one’s that shoot ourselves in the foot. That being said, Florida has always been a good team and if we don’t change our mentality against them, we may lose this game. Celebrate the victory tonight but we must change our mindset heading into Jacksonville. We have to, I mean HAVE TO go into this game with the mentality that we are the better team thus producing a fighting chance to leave with a victory.
Yellow Fuzz's Dawg
October 24th, 2010
3:03 am
Joker Phillips-“It’s the best pass rush team we’ve seen, no question about that” (includes Auburn, Florida and South Carolina). Congratulations Coach Grantham for doing that with Willie Martinez’s players! He certainly would not have. Not here anyhow.
Wonder how Oklahoma fans feel about Martniez’s defensive backs allowing 308 yards in the air against Missouri? Glad he’s there and not here. Hope his “prevent defense” works out for him out there.
Read all about it: Georgia’s third consecutive victory | UGA sports blog
October 24th, 2010
3:13 am
[...] Mark Bradley’s column, which starts with how much difference a few weeks have made for the Georgia team: LEXINGTON, Ky. — On the morning of Oct. 9, the Georgia Bulldogs were 1-4. We mention this because … well, because it’s Oct. 25 and they sure as heck aren’t 1-4 anymore. [...]
ugakev
October 24th, 2010
3:33 am
Good gawd there are alot of drunk tech fans on here tonight, bottom line is the dawgs have found their identitly and the sky is the limit now!….GO DAWGS! auburn only beat kentucky by three points and got lucky!!
bilbo
October 24th, 2010
3:42 am
Strong perfomrance. Unfortunately, BOBO MUST GO.
mark
October 24th, 2010
3:48 am
From the entries here I would think we lost a game today. I must assume most people here dont know anything about football, unless it involves a joystick and a couch and potatoe chips. Why do we need pessimists here? I think the tech nerds should complain on their own blog. You complaining jerks must have a lousy empty life so you cry here. Get a life. Great win bulldogs and coach Richt. GO DAWGS
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 24th, 2010
3:49 am
UGA lost to Colorado.
The SEC is weak, apparently.
Pray the Crimson Tide destroys Auburn, otherwise the “War Eagle” will be embarrassed by the Ducks in the championship game.
Smiling Jack
October 24th, 2010
4:37 am
Great win last night! Fun to watch. Teams played hard and gave it their best shot. Georgia won! Going foward, the Bulldogs have an other opportunity against the Gators. Go Dogs!
SKB
October 24th, 2010
4:39 am
“We’re 5-3 and 2nd in the ACC Coastal division and you couldn’t even beat South Carolina.”
Dude you just lost to Clemson, your like in the bottom of the ACC, before you criticize, learn about your own team.
Fred in Columbus
October 24th, 2010
4:47 am
UGA 44 UK 31
A lack of focus, a lack of experience, a lack of strength, a lack of big plays … many reasons were given by Georgia Tech to explain its 27-13 loss to Clemson on Saturday.
Hehe
hop
October 24th, 2010
6:13 am
great win for the dawgs who played an offense in kentucky who have many weapons.
the kentucky qb heartline is the reaL deal just ask carolina. for the most part defense played well,but they need to stop giving up big plays especially on 3rd and long.
gators can be had and with king back,uga will have a very good one,two punch that willl help us control the line of scrimmage.
lastly… what a great turn around, as the dawgs are really focus now. we should win the next three out of four games,and maybe… we can catch auburn on a down day.georgia always plays well at auburn.
DOCTOR DEATH
October 24th, 2010
6:53 am
RoswellDawg:
Score over 40 points and some idiot still has a bone to pick…Go back the Yellow Jackets and get off this blog…Your not a real Georgia fan….Bobo had a great game plan, and the guys did a great job of executing it….
ugaalumn81
October 24th, 2010
6:57 am
great job, Dawgs! But still do not think Richt & Bobo are the great coaches UGA deserves.
DOCTOR DEATH
October 24th, 2010
6:58 am
Pop Tarts National Champions ‘90:
HATE TO HAVE TO GO BACK TO NOVEMBER 28TH OF LAST YEAR, BUT FOR YOU I WILL…JACKETS HAD ALL OF COACH GAILEYS RECRUITS AND GEORGIA BEAT THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU AT THE JOKE BY COKE (45000 SEATS) IT WENT DOWN THAT DAY IN A GAME IN WHICH THE JACKETS WERE FAVORED BY 17 POINTS….EALEY AND KING WARMING UP FOR THAT POROUS D YALL GOT UP THERE IN THE BIG CITY….
Neal Perry
October 24th, 2010
7:00 am
I hope some of you fair weather LOYAL fans are perhaps a little ashamed of yourselves for knocking the Bulldogs earlier and not taking stock of the circumstances of the team. New QB, new defensive scheme and all you can do is knock the coach and the team. This is a rebuilding year and just give the team a year to get into the flow, pick up a few big boys to bang on the front three, and they will be just fine. As for you idiots that enter this blog, just to make idiotic and childish remarks about UGA, go find a blog that might really need your comments. Giving up yards to a Ken. team that that was either first or second in most meaningful offensive categories is not a real big deal. It of course would be nice to have a shutdown defense but it will come. The defensive honcho will get them where they want to be in time. This team is a complete reversal from the first four games simply because they are getting into the scheme of the defense and the offense has more experience now. They can and should beat Florida, Iowa state and Georgia Tech. And if they can take advantage of the poor Auburn Defense, they might be able to outscore them as well. LSU,s defense showed the “Bend, not break”, mentality and had they had a better offense, would have beaten Auburn yesterday..
DOCTOR DEATH
October 24th, 2010
7:01 am
bilbo:
YOUR THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO GO…BOY, YOU DON’T HAVE WALKING AROUND SENSE….OFFENSE SCORES OVER 40 POINTS, AND BOBO MUST GO…BY COMING ON THIS BLOG AND POSTING, YOU HAVE LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT AN IDIOT YOU ARE….
Top Dawg
October 24th, 2010
7:06 am
The season started in September. Why wasn’t this team READY to play football then?
Bitter bammer nation
October 24th, 2010
7:07 am
? how do you stop 6′6″ 250? if you find out let the football world no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bitter GAY"tard nation
October 24th, 2010
7:08 am
we are in big trouble yaaaaaaw, them mutts woke up, god help us!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bulldog Joe
October 24th, 2010
7:14 am
Florida has a great Defense; Kentucky has a sorry Defense.
44-31 that’s great.
We needed that. Florida down there waiting on us to show up and us 2-7.
4-4 with no win over any good team.
Colorado LOST AGAIN. We have that BAD LOSS, horrible LOSS in addition.
Kentucky’s Scoring Defense is ranked # 98 in the country.
Florida’s Scoring Defense is ranked # 26.
Georgia’s Scoring Defense is ranked # 30.
Georgia’s Total Offense is # 62.
Florida’s Total Offense is even worse at # 89.
Since he has already played 3 plays this season, that we see Mack Brown.
Aaron Murray had a solid yeoman’s effort game for us last night.
Washaun Ealey put it in the end zone 5 times in 1 game.
He had 2 touchdowns total in the previous 7 games this season.
We sat on a lead again and as good as Kentucky’s passing game is, they really handed us the game with all their turnovers and sacks in the passing game. This really was the key to the game last night that our Defense is far superior to Kentucky’s Defense.
That will not be the case in JAX.
Our Offense, on paper, against these very poor Defenses we’ve beat this season is better than Florida’s. In the meantime, Florida has played better opponents than we have played.
Alabama and LSU are 2 teams we will not even play, for example.
After us, Florida plays Vandie then South Carolina at the Swamp.
Tweets that mention UGA heads to Jacksonville having left Kentucky in the dust | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
October 24th, 2010
7:22 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Go UGA Football!!, Go UGA Football!!. Go UGA Football!! said: GoDawgFootball says UGA heads to Jacksonville having left Kentucky in the dust: LEXINGTON, Ky. — On the morning of… http://bit.ly/b03UXI [...]
Jesus is the answer
October 24th, 2010
7:31 am
see what happens when CMR prays to his savior for help….Jesus made Eaely hold onto the ball and the had KY fumble. now which side will that littel devil Jesus be on next week?
Bulldog Joe
October 24th, 2010
7:36 am
“Robust 4-4″ what in the living hell does that mean Mark Bradley you idiot.
4-4 is bottom half of The SEC.
It is unranked.
It reflects NOT 1 WIN over ANY good team.
Smokewagon
October 24th, 2010
7:38 am
I think most everyone knew that we would be slow to start this year with a new quarterback and defensive scheme. I feel the Dawgs are like a steamroller this year starting slow and gaining monemtum with each game. Grantham’s defense is definitely tackling better and forcing turnovers. Those guys are really going after the ball. Offensively we are getting comfortable with Murray and gelling as a unit. Blocking is much better on the line and in the backfield. Last night we were able to win using our running game but A.J. and Durham are still there waiting for next week. Going into a bye week losing 2 at home does not do a lot of good for the Fl. psyche as negative thoughts will permeate their minds during the time off. Looking forward to next week in Jax.
The Exterminator
October 24th, 2010
7:46 am
Hope you are right, Mark. KY moved the ball very well on our D last night. And Meyer has 2 weeks to prepare. But our offense took advantage of the short field in the first half, our game plan in the second half (run, dummy) was sound, and UF’s offense has an identity crisis because the QB Meyer wanted this year wears an Auburn jersey courtesy of his fondness for lap tops. Can’t argue that momentum is a factor, though, and we have it. If Houston and the boys can keep the pressure on Brantley next week then there is no reason this team cannot beat UF.
GO DAWGS!!!
P.S. Hey, bugs, how’d y’all do yesterday?
Furman Bishop
October 24th, 2010
7:46 am
3 points to consider: 1) Bobo still needs to go at the end of the season. 2) Urban is still Urban and Richt is still Richt. 3) Finally, beating KY does not a season make. Wait and see what happens the remaining games before making reservations to Pasadena or New Orleans. Selah.
BobbyDawg
October 24th, 2010
7:47 am
GREAT WIN! I don’t think the defense played as good in the second half. The last TD that Kentucky got was totally uncalled for. Kentucky scored enough points to win most games. Lets all just hope we can keep on racking up enough points to come out on top especially against a fresh Fla. team and of course an ever tough Auburn team. “GO DAWGS”!
scaredgator
October 24th, 2010
8:01 am
We are shaking in our cleats down here in Gainesville!!
Football Bat
October 24th, 2010
8:03 am
NOW WE’LL NEVER GET RID OF BOBO. Sigh..
What the hell were they trying to do with Ealey in the 4th? Run up the score just for his stats??? That would be a twist.
reality
October 24th, 2010
8:05 am
Good win for the Dawgs. Looks like the program is headed in the right direction.
Football Bat
October 24th, 2010
8:05 am
PREDICTION: If the game gets tight, Urban Meyer will take a delay of game on first down so he can get a 2nd/3rd and 15 situation against us.