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
tommy brew
November 19th, 2011
8:46 pm
> “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.’”
Everyone of them said that? Was he meeting with them individually or as a group? Did they say it in unison? I’d imagine that sounded kind of weird.
If not, did they each give that response one after another. It was probably kind of inspirational and witty the first few times, but after the 3rd or 4th one said it, it had to get tiring to hear and lose much of it’s meaning.
That, or it’s just BS.
Boo Boo The Magnificent
November 19th, 2011
8:46 pm
UGA BUGA BOO in two weeks its Richt waterloo!
Brad
November 19th, 2011
8:47 pm
People want to jump on Murray today. We had no running game and UK was dropping 8 into coverage. 55% in 8 man coverage is pretty darn good.
Logan
November 19th, 2011
8:47 pm
Only 1 win against a team above .500 SEC record, the wins wern’t by much, LSU & Bama have annihilated.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:48 pm
and 8:37…..
Florida is a very good defensive end, a very good wide receiver, and a couple of good backup OL…from being very good. Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskell are young but have the innate QB skills that Brantley always lacked….plus the athleticism Brantley never had. The Gators will be much better next year and really good the year after. Georgia is better right now and probably will be better next year……maybe.
DanTheDawgFan
November 19th, 2011
8:48 pm
Boo Boo the Magnificent is an idiot too!
ew ew Bucky Blew
November 19th, 2011
8:49 pm
Its LSU and UGA too. Another Beatdown near the Atlanta zoo!
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:49 pm
Brad…..so of like Brantley against Georgia? Difference is……Murray played on two legs today.
Logan
November 19th, 2011
8:49 pm
this offense, 4 to’s against KentucKy??? rEALLY?
West >>>>>> SEC Least
November 19th, 2011
8:50 pm
What a joke. Squeak by a pitiful Kentucky team. You will get crushed by whoever we put in the championship game.
Brad
November 19th, 2011
8:50 pm
Logan UGA totally different team from the first two games. UGA beats both of those teams if they played today.
Mark Bradley....
November 19th, 2011
8:52 pm
lets see… Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee ??? Are you still living in the 90’s? These three teams ARE NOT good teams this year… .. who else you got to impress us with this win streak?
Roll Tide !
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:52 pm
evil empire….
Georgia is going to be a top 5 team at the start of next year. I would imagine SC will be up there with them. And I think Florida will start the year out of the top 25 but will soon move into it. And Tennessee, with Bray and Hunter back, are going to improve greatly. And Vandy is really being coached up. Now…Kentucky….well not so much.
wally
November 19th, 2011
8:52 pm
CLEMSOM JUST GOT THE SOCKS BEAT OFF THEM. WAY TO GO NCSTATE HA, HA, HA, THIS OLE BOY LOVES IT. TO HEAR THEIR FANS SAY IT THERE WAS NO NEED TO PLAY THE 2012 THEY HAD ALREADY WON THE ACC. LOOK WHO GOT BEAT CLEMSON HA, HA, HA,
I DO NOT LIKE STEVE WHAT’S HIS NAME, BUT I WILL TAKE A VICTORY OVER THE TIGER KITTENS ANY DAY. MAYBE A LOSS IN CHARLOTTE AND A LOSS IN THIER BOWL GAME AND SEE WHAT DABO HAS TO SAY.
Vern
November 19th, 2011
8:52 pm
If Techs beats UGA, the Richt lovers of today will want Richt fired……again.
Brad
November 19th, 2011
8:53 pm
Hey TampaGator your right and Murray won today……..and Gator going to the Papa Johns pizza bowl
Brad...
November 19th, 2011
8:53 pm
you have had too much to drink !! Georgia barely beat Kentucky today… what makes you think they would win the first two games if played today…. put the crack pipe down !
West >>>>>> SEC Least
November 19th, 2011
8:53 pm
To the dumba.z.z Brad. LSU beat Oregon, WVU & Bama. You beat Kentucky, Coastal Carolina & New Mexico. Yep, Georgia had a REAL hard schedule
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:54 pm
Brad….
Why do you think that? You might beat SC without Garcia and Lattimore…..but not with them. And I don’t think you beat Boise either. But that is just my opinion based on watching you play Florida and Kentucky….two very bad teams right now…..to the wire.
ddawg
November 19th, 2011
8:55 pm
Tech ran up the score on 6 High Schools. The only decent team they have beaten this year was losing by 31 to an unranked NC Sate team last today. And by the way…Boise State was ranked higher than any ACC team last week.
Birmingham Jacket
November 19th, 2011
8:55 pm
They suuuuuuuuck,,,,
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:55 pm
Brad….
That would be the Gator Bow….not the Memphis or Shreveport Bowls of Georgia’s recent past.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
8:58 pm
Ole Miss looks like a high school team against LSU…..did they look like that against Georgia? Not so sure. There is just a big difference in the talent on LSU and Georgia right now…..and….I must say….in coaching.
Brad
November 19th, 2011
8:59 pm
Will gents thats why they play the game. We will see in 2 weeks
LOL @
November 19th, 2011
8:59 pm
ddawg….you dont sound very bright to me!
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:00 pm
Brad….
Vegas will welcome your money for that game! Just how brave are you?
GT Kings of the All CLown Conference
November 19th, 2011
9:00 pm
Georgia definitely showed today that they can win without the offense. Murray choked his way through the game much like he has in most pressure situations with poor passing selection. I wish Ritch would start checking the RBs for “feminine” product usage before the game and playing guys who have a little guts out there like Harton as starters. I swear Crowell is digressing into one of the cheerleaders. Never seen a player laughing and cutting up after an injury. How many times has he sandbagged the dogs this year? I am counting 4 separate games now.
Overall, dogs just need to maintain the same focus that they had with the AU game and I see a potential SEC trophy coming our way.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:01 pm
ddawg…
Clemson was ranked 7th and Boise was ranked 10th….and I believe Clemson is in the ACC.
gators are going down
November 19th, 2011
9:02 pm
whats was up with the refs today it was like the ref were trying to give the game to KY but the dawgs won, an ugly win but they won. the dawgs will be back to playing like they did with Auburn. I think not having our 3 top backs did not help. we will be fine and beat tech everyone needs to just leave remember it’s a game and bad games happend…. they will come out and play their hearts out and beat tech and LSU even with Ref that wanted them to lose.
Eric C.
November 19th, 2011
9:03 pm
Tampa Gator, you stated, “Opening game….LSU dominated Oregon at their home”
This proves you are a fraud of a CFB analyst…that was played on a neutral field and Oregon actually outplayed the tigers aside from the stupid turnovers. Go back to your cesspool swamp gator fanatic and pot stirrer
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:03 pm
GTKings of…….
You can do that against a lousy team like Kentucky….a team Florida completely dominated when Brantley was 100 percent. You play like that against LSU and you will lose by over 40 points or more. And LSU can make you play like that on offense.
Logan
November 19th, 2011
9:03 pm
tHIS JUST IN.
Murray is like GRCIA, A 1 GAME WONDER.
Had 1 good game against Auburn, like Garcia did against Alabama.
Eric C.
November 19th, 2011
9:04 pm
TampaGator, furthermore, ole miss is basically minus a HC…the team has packed it in for the year
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:05 pm
Eric C…….
That field out there was their “home” and the Dome in Atlanta was Georgia’s “home.” LSU went West and Boise came East. Dude…..that pool is the one you need to climb out of.
Prince
November 19th, 2011
9:05 pm
Tampa, I think most would agree LSU is more talented, but UGA earned a chance to play them for the title so hopefully UGA will have thier best game of the season and LSU will have their worst.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:06 pm
Eric C….
Most teams come out and play hard for their soon to be gone coach……see Ron Zook vs. FSU and in his final bowl game at Florida. I think you got that one backwards.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:07 pm
Prince….
They deserve to be in Atlanta. They earned it. But it will take that and much more for Georgia to beat LSU, Bama, or even Arkansas for that matter. I am just being realistic.
Brad
November 19th, 2011
9:09 pm
Ok ok one thing I think we can all agree on. Watching USC v Oregon………Kiffin looks like douchebag on the sidelines
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:10 pm
Eric….
Yes, Oregon outplayed LSU to the tune of 22 to 40, I believe. And that is what makes LSU so great….multiple turnovers forced by their truly wonderful defense. Bama too. Arkansas does it with offense….and that is why they are the third best team in the SEC. Georgia is the 4th best.
GT Kings of the All CLown Conference
November 19th, 2011
9:10 pm
TG I agree. I guess we were lucky that UK was not able to capitalize on our flat performance. Just about every other team in the SEC would have sent us home with our head in our hands. A win is a Win though, I hope the dogs learn something from this. Maybe it is out of there systems. If we play flat like this next week, I think we will be hearing about this for another year and the bugs will be buying rings again….
Dosta Dawg
November 19th, 2011
9:11 pm
@TampaGator
Hope you get well soon. Your posts are usually better thought out than most I see on here.
Agree about Brantley’s toughness. The kid has been on one leg most of the year, but he keeps getting up and coming back for more.
Great to be a Georgia Bulldog. Found out yesterday my daughter got accepted to UGA for next year. One proud papa.
Who cares?
November 19th, 2011
9:11 pm
McGarity doesn’t need to get too excited. He may be in for a real disappointment. He needs to chill and wait until after the bowl game to make any decisions he and others may shortly live to regret.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:12 pm
Eric C……
I just try to have intelligent, reasonable, logical conversations with people who most operate on emotions. I guess that does stir that pot, doesn’t it?
Old Branch Cock
November 19th, 2011
9:12 pm
Dont get too full of yourselves bandwagon rejoiners. Congrats to Georgia, but make no mistake they benefitted from the weakest schedule in the Division, and still struggled. SC ran the table in the East, including a win over Georgia (2nnd in a row, 3rd in 5 years). If you play like you did any other game than Auburn, it will be a blowout.
ddawg
November 19th, 2011
9:15 pm
TampaGator
I said last week … Boise was ranked #5. Glad to know that Clemson is in the ACC. Didn’t they lose by 30 today?
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:15 pm
GTKings…..
I am not sure why Georgia came out so flat today….or Florida for that matter. So much was on the line for them. But I think the yellow jackets will inspire a different attitude and effort next week…and I think Georgia will win by at least 2 or 3 TDs……they are just too fast and big for Tech.
crusher dawg
November 19th, 2011
9:15 pm
Thank you for a sweet victory………..
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:17 pm
ddawg….
So you go back two rankings ago to justify your reasoning….and not the current one…..very interesting approach to logical thinking. Did you learn that at Georgia?
GT Kings of the All CLown Conference
November 19th, 2011
9:17 pm
TG I sure hope so. We have to suffer through Christmas with the relatives if the bugs do get lucky.
TampaGator
November 19th, 2011
9:19 pm
LSU’s offensive line is very impessive….and they just keep rotating one in to replace another…and that is another reason they are so good…..3 deep everywhere…..with a lot of very talented players. Georgia can match them fairly much with first teamers…..but the talented depth will tell the story in Atlanta.