Boise State deserves all its accolades, but UGA’s going to win
Mark Richt and Chris Petersen consider the old-school aesthetics of a helmet not designed by Nike. (AP photo).
Let’s be clear about this. I have the utmost respect for Boise State. This is a team, as Georgia coach Mark Richt said Friday, “that plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played, that plays as hard as any team I’ve every seen.”
Boise’s Chris Petersen might well be the best coach on any campus. (Take that, Nick Saban!) Kellen Moore deserves inclusion on all the Heisman shortlists. Pound for pound, this is the nation’s finest program. That said …
I still can’t get over Boise State being favored against Georgia — in the Georgia Dome.
Go ahead. Call me an SEC homer. I ‘d counter by saying I was rooting hard for Boise to play in the BCS title game last season simply because I enjoy seeing the BCS turn a Boise-esque blue in the face. But I’d also note that facts are facts: The SEC has the best players and plays the best football, and even coming off two down seasons Georgia has better players than the Broncos.
Doesn’t mean Georgia will win. (Although I believe it will.) The Bulldogs spent last season losing every lose-able game save one. The edge Boise has, even under the off-white roof of the Georgia Dome, is its reservoir of contemporary success. Richt again: “When you play a team that’s used to winning and that knows how to win, it’s hard.”
But here’s the thing: Winning Saturday night would mean more to Georgia than to Boise. The Broncos can lose and still point with pride to their cumulative record — they’re 61-5 under Petersen — and last season’s rousing victory over Virginia Tech in Washington, D.C. Boise can lose this game and still be Boise.
If Georgia loses, however, the questions will begin again: About Richt and his job and his program and its future, or the lack thereof. And that has made for a weird dynamic in this made-for-TV opener. The heavyweight has more to prove than does the welterweight.
At Friday’s news conference, Petersen was asked if he was surprised to be favored by a field goal. “Favored by who?” he said. “I don’t see it like that … I don’t know what they’re looking at.”
Yeah, this is Coachspeak 101. But Petersen also noted that he’d included Georgia in his preseason Top 25. “I don’t think I had the Broncos, though,” he said, perhaps even telling the truth.
The media session at the Omni hotel was so sugary-sweet as to induce cavities. Richt gushed about Petersen and his program. (”Coach Pete,” he called him.) Coach Pete alllowed that playing such an opponent in such a game was “always very scary.”
Just to clear the air, Richt mentioned Brandon Boykin’s Tweet. (The Georgia returner dared Petersen to kick to him.) “How ’bout that?” said Richt, glancing at Petersen and ducking his head.
Said Petersen, grinning: “I don’t know anything about it. We don’t have Twitter.”
Petersen even offered an opinion on Georgia’s infamous Pro Combat uniforms. “My boys think they’re awesome,” he said. “They say ours [Boise will also wear a Nike-designed kit] are all right but, ‘Did you see Georgia’s?’ ”
Richt on the uniforms: “The players like ‘em and we’re wearing ‘em.”
Loading ...But enough about clothing. Back to the game. Richt said of Boise: “They could play in our league and do well.”
And maybe the Broncos could. But Georgia has the chance to do very well in its league this season, and the proving begins Saturday night. It’s a game these Bulldogs have long awaited — Richt recalled announcing the Boise opener after a practice last fall and seeing the heads of all those who figured to be returning perk up — and it’s a game that could go a long way toward making Georgia matter again.
Let’s say it again: Boise State — great coach, great program. But there’s still a difference between the Mountain West and the SEC. In such a bout, a skilled and disciplined welterweight always has a chance. But most of the time a good big man beats a good little man. Georgia 34, Boise 24.
By Mark Bradley
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243 comments Add your comment
In Case You Forgot
September 2nd, 2011
8:21 pm
UCF 10
UGA 6
We keep talking about last year because you delusional dawg fans dont seem to have a realistic sense of the talent/ability on your team. Oh, your true freshman class has changed the team that much? Lol.I cant wait to see UGA get worked tomorrow night.
GT GRAD
September 2nd, 2011
9:01 pm
Boise State is OVER-RATED.
This team was very talented the past two years due to some very good Juniors and Seniors…….the Junior & Senior players that made Boise State the dominate team in their pitiful little conference are gone now. The media still ranks them high because everyone knows they play such a soft schedule except for 1 or 2 games. UGA happens to be one of the tough games this season.
They are ranked #5 becuse they play a weak schedule and all of the pundits know they will end the season with 10, 11 or 12 wins…………ANY & ALL wins against teams ranked out of the top 100 at the end of the season should simply not count in the BCS computation (people polls and computer polls). How many Top 5 votes would Boise State get IF they ended the season 2-1 against teams in the Top 100 and the voters were not allowed to consider the games against the 9 teams outside of the Top 100……….lets just say the team they lost to is ranked #21 and the two teams they beat were ranked 78th and 92nd? They would not even deserve to be in the Top 25, but we all know if they are 11-1 this team will be ranked #3 to #8 and end up playing in a BCS game. Come on; somebody needs to fix the BCS nonsense…….it has become a contest to see which teams can lock down the easiest schedule!
UGA should win easy.
SeminoleDale
September 2nd, 2011
9:04 pm
I am picking Boise, UGA lost to Central Florida in their last game. I am not impressed, same team, a few different players.
Delbert D.
September 2nd, 2011
9:06 pm
That helmet looks like WWII surplus. The leather helmet I once wore in the 8th grade was stiffer and didn’t have the long ear flaps.
DILLIGAF
September 2nd, 2011
9:14 pm
I’ve got a song for ya, it’s called “I’m So Blue”. It goes something like this….
http://youtu.be/Syu8jx_BA94
UGA/85′
GATA!
BroncoBlue
September 2nd, 2011
9:18 pm
This should be a good and entertaining game…..but the Broncos just have too much speed and athleticism for the BooDawgs. We’ll be rooting for the BooDawgs the rest of the season to keep our strength of schedule numbers up as we march toward the NC game….
All Dressed Up
September 2nd, 2011
9:20 pm
Imagine what Petersen could do with our talent! We’d win a National Championship!
Dr. Morpheus
September 2nd, 2011
9:37 pm
Boise State is a fine team from a great program- but Georgia should win this one on a number of factors including overall better talent, special teams, the home field advantage, and the motivational factor of being the underdog. Now, let’s see what happens on the field (if that durned clock would finally tick on down to zero!)
Bg
September 2nd, 2011
9:42 pm
Go Dawgs!!!!!!
DILLIGAF
September 2nd, 2011
9:45 pm
BroncoBlue:
“This should be a good and entertaining game…..but the Broncos just have too much speed and athleticism for the BooDawgs”
You’ve obviously drank the fool-aid for too long like most of your delusional compadres and have been confined to the cozy little insulated world of the WAC conference but tomorrow night reality will set in and you will come to the realization that your team’s aspirations of a NC this year has ended.
Nothing personal, BSU’s a good team and you’re great in your conference but this is big boy football.
For your viewing pleasure:
http://youtu.be/nbOlTIIeTUs
GATA!
Larry Munson
September 2nd, 2011
9:50 pm
Boise is gonna step on UGA’s face with a hob-nail boot. Reminds me of a time when………..
bardawg
September 2nd, 2011
9:52 pm
I just hope that Mark Bradley is the most. prodigiously accurate of all the prognosticators.Go dawgs, and do that voodoo that you do best,ride them little horsies and please let the big Dawg eat.
Robbie Gilder
September 2nd, 2011
9:56 pm
I think Ga,s defense will prove to be the factor.those big linemen ga has not includeing the line backers, Tree, JJ. and the best D-backs in a while . and the best thing is when Ga. can back Tree in the secondary and make it a 3-3-5 they will be much improved. and the offense will be just fine with murray leading the way. If the Dogs come out gunning and the defense holds then it will be a Great day to be a Ga. Bullbog
BroncoBlue
September 2nd, 2011
10:10 pm
@DILLIGAF: We’ve been playing “big boy football” for quite some time now…..consult with Virginia Tech, Oregon, Oklahoma, Oregon State. We’ve been beating Pac-10 teams handily…and the Pac-10 has owned the SEC over the past decade. Meanwhile the BooDawgs have been beating up on Vandy, Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Colorado….oops that one went the other way….LOL.
DILLIGAF
September 2nd, 2011
10:29 pm
BroncoBlue:
“@DILLIGAF: We’ve been playing “big boy football” for quite some time now…..consult with Virginia Tech, Oregon, Oklahoma, Oregon State.”
O.K., I’ll give you VT and OK but your schedule is weak and if you played UGA’s schedule…South Carolina, Miss. State, UT, UF, AUB and GT, yo would have at least 3 losses’
Put the fool-aid glass down and walk away.
And here he is!
September 3rd, 2011
12:32 am
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKK
Madley!
I wonder how much he’s paying for Uguh’s poop on Ebay? Maybe he put down on a bet on how many personalities Herschill has. Or the amount of Mailmen Doodley cruised through “college” in the 80’s?
Boise 31
Ugag 20
Augusta Dawg
September 3rd, 2011
1:45 am
Dawgs 34-14
Augusta Dawg
September 3rd, 2011
1:48 am
You heard it here. DAWGS 34 – 14
Heeldawg
September 3rd, 2011
5:22 am
@Bronco Blue:
Of all of the things you could say as an argument for why your team might win, the exact wrong thing is to state that Boise has “too much speed and athleticism” for Georgia. I’d give you credit for strategy. I’d give you props for coaching expertise. I’d give you brownie points for playing mistake-free football, for knowing how to win, and for having players like Doug Martin and Kellen Moore, both of whom could start for an SEC team. But we’ve got 245 pound linebackers who are as fast as your fastest players. We’ve got DBs who are faster than anything you have on your team, including your team bus. You do NOT have a speed advantage against us; on the contrary, that may be your biggest disadvantage, your lack of size being the other one. The SEC is not the Big 10. It is not the ACC. And it for dang sure is not the WAC, or the Mountain West, or any other conference filled with a slate of cream puffs for you boys to beat up on in between your twice-yearly tilts against teams that actually have a pulse. We Georgia fans have a great deal of respect for Coach Peterson and the program he has built up there in Idaho. You play football as it is meant to be played. That alone (and a healthy dose of Moore and Martin) should keep you competitive in a contest that raw skill alone would not normally allow you to stay afloat in. But to somehow concoct the delusion that you have “more speed and athleticism” than any SEC team (including Vanderbilt, by the way) and therefore should win this game is pure fantasy. If you win ( and that’s a big IF), it will be by virtue of playing error-free football. It will be by out-hustling Georgia and wanting it more than they do. It will be through superior coaching. But it will emphatically.not be because your players are more talented. Because they are not.
My prediction: Dawgs 34, Broncs 27. Line play wins the game for Georgia in the fourth quarter.
Should be a great game.
No more talk, time to see what 2011 Georgia Bulldogs are made of | UGA sports blog
September 3rd, 2011
6:06 am
[...] Mark Bradley’s take on the game [...]
Rgr
September 3rd, 2011
6:12 am
Mr. Bradley,
Georgia-really? They are terrible and will continue to be terrible for the near term. Bulldog fans need to face reality and get over their obsession with this team. They will have another losing season or ten.
CentralFLDawg
September 3rd, 2011
6:26 am
BS not happy this morning. Baylor lays 50 on TCU, BS’s only other credible opponent. Their weak schedule just became more laughable. UGA beats them and it’s over for them; may be over anyway. That’s what they get for playing schools for the deaf, dumb and blind. No amount of whining will do them any good now.
Lance
September 3rd, 2011
6:55 am
Its gameday! Just win! Losing is for losers.
Rgr
September 3rd, 2011
7:25 am
UGA=Losers
Homepage | MrSEC.com
September 3rd, 2011
7:57 am
[...] Mark Bradley:” I still can’t get over Boise State being favored against Georgia — in the Georgia [...]
Buh Bye Mark Richt
September 3rd, 2011
8:28 am
The Farewell Tour Begins!!!!! Clueless Richt with his power rangers and Bozo the clown!
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:35 am
Dawgs score early and often, and the college football nation will be shocked! LOVE IT UP HERE AT COLLEGE MOMA, SEND US DAMN MONEY!
LuckyDawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:36 am
Lots of Boise gals partying at Primal last night. There probably will be a lot of new little Dawg fans in Idaho come springtime. Great fun! Looking forward to a Great come from behind victory by my Dawgs 2nite.
www.firericht.com
September 3rd, 2011
8:39 am
Fire him two minutes after kickoff.
RedandBlackDAWG
September 3rd, 2011
8:40 am
Kind of looks like this is Boises only big game now for the year after TCU went down last night. This is going to be like a double loss for Boise. They lose in the Dome tonight, and then when they play TCU, the game is reduced to just another game. Can you say bye bye MNC. It is going to be a long bus ride home for those players in blue.
GO DAWGS and GATA
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:41 am
ah hell, don’t fire Mark Richt, after this season yall gonna be sucking his …………
frannie mae
September 3rd, 2011
8:42 am
UGA is in BIG BIG trouble…….
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:42 am
when all fails, hand it off to Herschel Crowell!
Good people
September 3rd, 2011
8:43 am
Get out those red panties and spread the red!
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:45 am
My red panties have big Black G’s on them hush
RedandBlackDAWG
September 3rd, 2011
8:46 am
Imagine a gomer and troll to boot, having the nerve to use Muson’s name and then spout garbage. At least have the originality to come up with something clever if you are going to troll on a blog concerning UGA. Troll grade for the day=D-. Now go back in the basement and come up with something unique.
GO DAWGS and GATA
P.S. Take your boyfriend “Buh Bye Mark Richt”, with you. Ask mom for your cookies and milk.
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:50 am
yall say what you want to, but, trust me on this one, after this game they are gonna wish that they never got on the plane
Barbie Doolies
September 3rd, 2011
8:54 am
I still have those red panties Herschel gave me. Oh Vince Im still in front of the TV screen!
Watsonone
September 3rd, 2011
8:56 am
I expect the DAWGS to win … just much more talent, speed, braun than BS. BS will play well and might be in it going into the second half but GAs size and strength will wear them down. BTW – congrats to GT on their win – maybe they have developed a passing game??
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
8:57 am
GO BOISE ST! AND TAKE THE BRONCOS WITH YA!
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
9:04 am
Its official, I just let the DAWGS OUT!
Mr. Peterson vs Bozo
September 3rd, 2011
9:10 am
Yeah we are gonna send the puppies back to “Get on the Bus” to Athens when it all said and over with.
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
9:11 am
lMAO
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
9:14 am
MR PETERSON, YOU WANT SOME OF THIS BEFORE I PUT IT UP? LOL
Barbie Doolies
September 3rd, 2011
9:15 am
My Gawd a freshmen!
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
9:16 am
LOOK AT THE BRONCOS FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!
Barbie Doolies
September 3rd, 2011
9:17 am
Oh Vince honey…… Herschel is into martial arts!!!!
yarddawg
September 3rd, 2011
9:22 am
After the game, they asked Isaiah, you don’t ever get tired running ball so much up and down the field? And he said, “No maam, it ain’t so heavy”
RedandBlackDAWG
September 3rd, 2011
9:34 am
TCU lost last night, so there goes Boises only other opponent in the top 100 this year. Then they lose at the dome tonight, so can you say, bye bye NC, after one game played. Oh well, they have two weeks to get re3ady for the Toledo game, so they can heal up after the beat down tonight.
GO DAWGS and GATA
Chain
September 3rd, 2011
10:13 am
Boise St. is garbage…they play in a high school football league…Georgia wins this one by 24 pts on a bad day, 34 on a good day…and today is a good day.