A soggy salute to the Georgia Bulldogs, SEC East champs
Branden Smith returns a first-half interception Saturday. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Athens — On the dark night Georgia lost to South Carolina to slide to 0-2, the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator went looking for spirits to lift. To his surprise, Mike Bobo found that spirits were unbowed.
“I’d tell them, ‘If we hang together and keep working, we’ve got a chance to be very good,’” Bobo said Saturday. “And every one of them said, ‘Coach, we’ve got a chance to be great.’”
As he spoke, Bobo sat in a chair in a locker room, the floor of which had been covered in plastic and doused with water. A nondescript game had ended with the Georgia Bulldogs champions of the SEC East for the first time since the distant year 2005.
“We grabbed water bottles and threw them around the room,” said wide receiver Marlon Brown, scorer of Georgia’s only touchdown this day, and even the 51-year-old head coach got in the soggy swing of things. Seeking to slide across the wet surface, Mark Richt made it only halfway.
“I thought it was going to be fun,” Richt said of his maneuver. “I can’t say it was fun.”
For Richt, the day’s overriding emotion seemed more relief than exultation. He arrived from Florida State in 2001, won the SEC in 2002 and took his Bulldogs to the SEC championship game three times in four years. Then, having set the bar high, Richt went five years without a return to the title game, and when this season began there was no assurance this coach would have this job come 2012. And then the 2011 Bulldogs started 0-2.
“When we lost to South Carolina [the second of the two losses], a lot of things go through your mind as a coach,” Richt said. “Sometimes you’ve got to make something up — you don’t want to lose your team. But [that night] I could stand there with a straight face; it was very easy to believe in them. And I said, ‘If we don’t spit the bit … if we keep grinding, we can do it.’ ”
On Saturday, his Bulldogs finished this latest drill. Yes, they were aided by a schedule that eased after the back-to-back whammy of Boise State and South Carolina, but it isn’t as if Georgia backed into anything. It has won nine consecutive games, beating Tennessee and Florida and Auburn en route, and it finished 7-1 in SEC play. (Let’s note that South Carolina took the East with a 5-3 record last season.)
Richt: “It’s hard to win nine in a row. We’ve done something special.”
The details of a forgettable Victory No. 9 — Georgia trailed Kentucky, which had lost by 30 points to Vanderbilt last week, after 29 minutes and led only 12-10 after three quarters — will soon be forgotten. The ramifications will linger long. Said cornerback Brandon Boykin: “I’ll definitely remember this game for clinching a championship on Senior Day. Everyone had so much riding on this game.”
Richt again: “I told the players this [East title] was the most meaningful to me. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it felt like it today.”
Here he laughed, but there was no comedic content in the job Richt and his staff did to keep this team buoyant after a start that might have sunk another bunch. “It wasn’t just 0-2,” Richt said, “but 0-2 coming off 6-7 [of last season] and with everything swirling around. We did a really good job handling all the noise.”
Said linebacker Jarvis Jones, the sudden star of a ravenous defense that held Kentucky to 13 yards and one first down after halftime: “It’s not how you drive; it’s how you arrive. We kept fighting, and look at us now.”
Said cornerback Branden Smith: “All [the 0-2 start] did was bring us together as one family.”
Said Brown: “We kept grinding.”
Even after 11 games and nine victories, it’s hard to know just how good Georgia is. The Auburn victory was the only time the Bulldogs thrashed an SEC opponent, and for long stretches Saturday they flailed against the worst Kentucky team of the new millennium. But they won. Since the night of Sept. 10, they’ve done nothing except win.
Said Richt: “I don’t know if we’re a great team, but we’re SEC East champs.”
In the grand scheme, that’s all that matters. Georgia headed back to the big game in the big city, back where it once belonged. Full credit to this team and this coach for taking it there.
By Mark Bradley
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710 comments Add your comment
Terry
November 20th, 2011
12:56 pm
Bama Mike, Then why bring it up?
Barry
November 20th, 2011
12:56 pm
No lengthy comments needed. Well deserved CONGRATULATIONS to Mark Richt and the Dogs! SEC East Champs.
davereaux
November 20th, 2011
12:56 pm
haters? No we did throw up in our mouths a bit.
RCB
November 20th, 2011
1:12 pm
Mr. Bradley, you have just witnessed Christian morality in action. Grace and truth. How does it feel to be forgiven?
11/20/2011 Morning Edition | collegefootballnewswire.com
November 20th, 2011
1:50 pm
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Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2011
2:02 pm
As soon as we find an Offensive Coordinator the better
Im tired of Mike Boneheads insconsistant offense every week and every year
SQUAT
November 20th, 2011
2:11 pm
no..crowell is not playing for free.he gets a free education and room and board and food. this would cost the average joe @ $250000. so he’s not playing for free.Give that to my daughter and I’ll suit her up and she can sit on the side line with our new jasper sanks….
ugahedges SAYS WRECK TECH!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 20th, 2011
2:23 pm
WAY TO CO COACH RICHT,THE STAFF AND OUR GREAT BULLDAWG TEAM,COME OUT ON FIRE SATURDAY AND NAIL TECH TO THE WALL.WE ARE THE BULLDAWG NATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bama Mike
November 20th, 2011
2:32 pm
Why do something embarassing so that folks like me will bring it up. Now see the discussion
Eating Crow.....
November 20th, 2011
2:36 pm
I didn’t think Richt had it in him…
He was directly responsible for the downturn this team took starting
in ‘06.
He is also directly responsible for what appears to be a turnaround.
The defensive improvement is the most exciting aspect. This is championship calibur defense. Shore up the o-line and find a consistent running back and this team can compete with anyone.
GO DAWGS! CONGRATS MARK RICHT ON A FANTASTIC JOB!
Skitty Fritty
November 20th, 2011
2:40 pm
All I know is you need to win your division to have a shot at winning the conference. Congrats to UGA for winning the East.
How’s Bama doing at winning the West? Whining, not winning!
Charlie Sheen
November 20th, 2011
2:40 pm
All I can say about UGA is
WINNER
No Sugar in the Sky
November 20th, 2011
2:44 pm
What a bunch of Richt apologists and kool aid drinkers on this blog. UGA wins the SEC East and falls 1 spot in the coaches poll. We are a laughing stock. Get Rid of Bobo or Get Rid of Richt because Im sick of this crap.
Bud
November 20th, 2011
2:48 pm
Coach BoBo, Try Rambo at tailback. Go back and look at his interceptiom run against New Mexico.
DS_CE91
November 20th, 2011
2:51 pm
Congrats from a GT alum on your SECE Division Crown. I absolutely think you CAN beat any of the teams you might face from the SECW. I’ll be pulling for you….. but not this Saturday.
Skitty Fritty
November 20th, 2011
2:51 pm
No Sugar in the Sky:
Turn in your Bulldog Nation card. What will you say after UGA beats Tech and LSU?
Sam
November 20th, 2011
2:54 pm
Amazing video of a high school senior who wants to go to Georgia Tech.
Watch for yourself…it is unreal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_JKwgwFY3g
Skitty Fritty
November 20th, 2011
2:56 pm
Sam:
GT will need him this Saturday
TampaGator
November 20th, 2011
2:57 pm
Dawgster….
After reading your post, maybe I was wrong about you. You seem to still be reading things that are not there and focusing on the negative. Enjoy your visit to the Dome! I hope you have tickets to watch what Bama and Florida got to watch close up…..and Ole Miss last night. If the Dawgs pull off a miracle, then every Dawg fan (negative and postive) has the right to bark at the moon forever. But I simply don’t see that happening…..but I did not see ISU beating OSU, Baylor beating Oklahoma, or USC beating Oregon. You just never know. But no way Baylor, ISU, or USC beats LSU this year.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
November 20th, 2011
3:07 pm
Is anyone awake in this town, or is everyone in some sort of denial? Go down the list and notice who UGA has beat to take 9 in a row….no one. They have played some of the weakest, if not the weakest teams in D-1 football.
UT, Ole Miss, NMSU, Auburn, Coastal Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida…oh yeal, and Vandy. These are some of the worst that the SEC and D-1 has to offer, and everyone is Athens is getting excited about playing for the SEC title game.
You might want to save your money on tickets, because LSU is going to totally disassemble the UGA program.
No Sugar in the Sky
November 20th, 2011
3:11 pm
I agree Mike Bobo 17 Int…
BiggDawgK
November 20th, 2011
3:29 pm
I would feel sorry for the sad wretched friendless Bulldog haters if I didn’t enjoy laughing at them soooo very much. They spend hours every day of their week pecking away in their trash covered hovels praying that the dial up doesn’t drop. The University of Georgia Bulldogs are the SEC East Chanps again and will destroy tech, edge out LSU to win the SEC Championship and throw the BCS into turmoil and then blow out whatever patsy they get in a Bowl game the first week in January.
What has your team done lately?
BiggDawgK
November 20th, 2011
3:31 pm
That’s what I thought. Your team has done nothing.
All I remember is
November 20th, 2011
3:41 pm
the Kentucky Wildcats put up a REAL hard fight.
All I remember is
November 20th, 2011
3:45 pm
Georgia won nine in a row.
No Sugar in the Sky
November 20th, 2011
3:49 pm
All I remember is Kentucky stinks and we barely beat them….
okfornow
November 20th, 2011
3:55 pm
Yea – UGA has really done something “special” – They only played and beat the worst teams in the SEC – Just look at the combined conference records of the teams UGA beat – and most those teams UGA just barely beat.
Ole Missy 0-7
Missery St 1-7 (only win against 1-7 KY Jellies)
TN 1-7 (only win vs 2-6 Vandi – in OT),
Vandi 2-6 (only wins against 0-7 Ole Missy and 1-7 KY Jellies
KY Jellies 1-7 (only win against 0-7 Ole Missy)
FL Fakers – 3-5 (only wins against 1-7 TN, 1-7 KY Jellies, and 2-6 Vandi)
The COMBINED SEC record of these 6 teams is a PATHETIC 8-39. And then top is off with your toothless non-SEC games against the “mighty (not) Coastal Carolina and NMS.
And you dawg fans are HAPPY and PROUD of yourselves for this???
You guys haven’t played anybody – and you nearly lost to all 6 of the above teams.
I would like to see what happened to your team if you had to play Arkansas (like SC had to) or AL or LSU. But of course you STILL LOST against SC and were embarrassed on national TV against BSU – who even TCU beat.
But the only reason you guys won the SEC East is because the other teams you beat sucked a lot more than you guys – it’s that simple.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
November 20th, 2011
3:56 pm
UGA has not hit their stress test yet (LSU)….beat LSU, then you might have something to talk about….and that is a big if…..
Mike Bobo 17 INT
November 20th, 2011
3:56 pm
okfornow
Thank you!!!
No Sugar in the Sky
November 20th, 2011
3:56 pm
All I remeber is that Mark Richt said it was hard to win nine in a row . Yep even against cupcakes. What a clown…..
bamaguy
November 20th, 2011
3:57 pm
and Georgia Southern scored three touchdowns on Alabama, more than any other team. Even LSU didn’t score a single touchdown. Everyone has a close game or two, Alabama’s most recent NC would had it not been for two blocked field goals against a vastly inferior UT team.
But UGA and Alabama have the same task this week. Keep you head out of the “championship clouds” and focus on your in state rival.
David
November 20th, 2011
4:15 pm
Congrats to UGA and Coach Richt. But the fans should not get too cocky- we have beaten a lot of bad football teams, even if they are name programs. Tech most always takes us to the wire, and the triple option has given the defense problems every time we’ve seen it. LSU is another story, exciting to think about, though. We’ll soon know if we’re really back.
GaCock
November 20th, 2011
4:56 pm
It is amazing how Georgia can win the SEC East, but winning the side is not based on wins of the side. It is based on wins from the teams Georgia drew from the other side. Maybe they should rename it SEC 1 and SEC 2 or fix a broken system. The SEC would be fixing this problem at break neck speed if Florida would have won all East games but lost their title shot because of their West schedule.
Eaassyy
November 20th, 2011
4:59 pm
Bobo 17 int is right. We didn’t beat any incredible teams. But you know what there aren’t many special teams in cfb this year. Oregon is mediocre, oh st is terrible, nobody from the ACC is good, ok/ok st are both mediocre, stanford is ok, wis/nebraska are ok, and UGA is ok.
They’ve improved. If you say they haven’t improved than you’re delusional. The old uga would have found a way to lose to kentucky, florida, and auburn. but they didn’t.
So uga is on par with just about every team in the country besides LSU and Bama. So what Bobo? Do any rational uga fans think uga is the best team in the country? NO. But we are improving and will continue to do so.
Hate on brother hate on
BILLY JACK
November 20th, 2011
5:34 pm
The boys sleepwalked yesterday on senior day no chance that will happen sat.The players hate tech nerds worse than the fans .
red&black
November 20th, 2011
5:54 pm
My guess is that the Tech trolls will be saying that the only we beat with any substance was them after next week. But then again they might vanish from this blog altogether. Nawww that’s just wishful thinking.
1eyedJack
November 20th, 2011
6:05 pm
Tech has a tickle-pile planned for December 3rd. Bring your own slide rule and Cheetohs.
richie
November 20th, 2011
6:30 pm
Lsu has a problem ,UGA…….ALA cannot win the big game and has to hope for someone to lose……AK will win it all.,They are playing the best…..Right now. Its going to be fun to watch……….
Wise Dawg
November 20th, 2011
6:51 pm
LSU has a very good defense… sort of like Alabama’s who beat Arkansas 38 to 10.. so I’d put my money on LSU…..the Dawgs need to focus totally on the bugs cause they can play and UGA brings out their best effort….
truedawg
November 20th, 2011
7:08 pm
All you haters..Shut up! We don’t care, The SEC was down last year when SC won. It’s down this year, but botttom line is we are the best of the EAST! 9 in a row is hard. I don’t care, but UGA had a big bull’s eye on there back Saturday and with their backs against the wall, they won! I don’t know who they’ll play in the Dome, I don’t know if they’ll win..but I know they’ll have a chance! If you hate CMR, Bobo or just hate the Dawgs, we don’t care. Buy if you hate the BCS…you’ll now cheer for the DAWGS to beat and I mean BEAT DOWN every team they play the rest of the season..it will cause total confusion in a broken BCS system and bring us one step closer to a play off.
Imagine a LSU team losing to the Dawgs by 35 points..SEC champs..and being left out of the NC game? then
Imagine a Sugar bowl, with UGA beating the other team by 35…it would make the UGA team look like it should have been in a NC game..and thus exposing the broken BCS.in the last 10 years we have seen Auburn get the shaft in 04 and UGA get teh shaft in 07…. GO DAWGS!!!
SEC Observer
November 20th, 2011
7:17 pm
LSU is favored by 14 over Arkansas.
Georgia is favored by 5.5 over Tech.
Do the math. Vegas obviously thinks LSU is a powerhouse while the Dawgs are considered a good not great team.
kerryb
November 20th, 2011
7:44 pm
Everyone knocking Bobo and the offense get a grip. They were down to what was their 4th and 5th string RB’s yesterday after the first series. We were not going to light it up after that. I would like for them to have gone to the TE in the middle more but they toughed it out on offense and still had over 300 yards. A win is a win.
kerryb
November 20th, 2011
7:45 pm
SEC Observer, who cares. Let’s just strap it on on Dec 3rd and see what happens.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
November 20th, 2011
7:58 pm
kerryb, I’d love for you to strap it on… call me!
Big Dawg
November 20th, 2011
7:59 pm
katherine,
Way to go girl “Give it to him” you are right he has an inferiority complex.
Go Dawgs
trey
November 20th, 2011
8:03 pm
From 0-2 to SEC East champs.
All yellow maggots please get in the line on the right for your free cuppa green envy juice. It’s free and on the house.
Next stop on our road to superiority: crime ridden N. Ave for our yearly Bug squashing event
Return to Glory
November 20th, 2011
8:04 pm
As my name says: Return to GLORY !!!
Great job CMR and dawgs.
Defense will give us a shot the next three games if the offense can put up some points anything is possible’ and yes I also mean we have a shot against the Tigers. HBTD.
PS it would be a lot better shot if Crowell would man up and play 4 quarters for once in his short pampered career.
cannondawg
November 20th, 2011
8:20 pm
I’m afraid we’ve hit a long, loud foul ball with Crowell. The next pitch is often a whiff, and the fleeting moment of cheers and promise quietly melt away into nothing. He’ll be okay at Jax State. Or if that doesn’t work, try Paris Island.
dawg forever
November 20th, 2011
8:32 pm
Just in IC has fractured amkle and is done for season
I own you
November 20th, 2011
8:32 pm
Haha. How much do those wins against garbage teams count? Oh, the same. Haters are stupid too. UGA = 9 in a row and SEC East champs. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Keep talking haters.