The Bulldogs didn’t just outplay Tech – they outcoached it, too
Give that Bulldog a hand, if not a great big kiss. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
This time a year ago, it was possible to wonder if the Georgia Bulldogs would ever again outsmart an opponent. On Saturday they outsmarted Georgia Tech. And there, if anyone still wondered how 0-2 became 10-2, was the answer.
It wasn’t just that these Bulldogs have good players — Georgia always has good players — or that the schedule eased after those first two games. It was that Georgia, which hadn’t played to its gifts since 2007, coalesced around a coach and his staff.
Back to 0-2. “That was when we closed the door,” said tight end Orson Charles, “and we said, ‘We’ve got to stop playing for ourselves.’ We need to play for this guy.”
By “this guy,” Charles meant Mark Richt, who has done in his 11th Georgia season something that’s difficult to do in contemporary college football. Richt has fought off the doubt accrued over three underachieving seasons and hoisted his Bulldogs back to eminence. They have two championships in the bank — the SEC East was clinched last week against Kentucky; the state title was secured Saturday against Tech — and will play for a third next weekend against LSU, the finest team in the land.
“We’ve got the best coaches in the SEC,” said center Ben Jones, and on this day his boast carried some weight. Georgia beat Tech as handily as Tech under Paul Johnson is ever beaten, and the difference wasn’t so much manpower as brainpower. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo had one of his finest days, and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham capped a stellar second season by keeping Johnson’s prized option-based spread from doing nearly enough.
And let’s be honest: There were those among us, this correspondent among them, who weren’t sure we’d see such a day. Johnson’s first bunch of Jackets went to Athens and beat a Georgia team that had entered the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, and last year Tech amassed 512 yards behind its backup quarterback against a Grantham-coached D. (To be fair, Richt got the better of Johnson in 2009, when Georgia used power football to upset the team that would win the ACC.) But it must be said: When last the Bulldogs beat Tech this bad, Chan Gailey got fired two days later.
The key was that Georgia got ahead early, and it did because Bobo cogitated like a young Steve Spurrier on a caffeine jag. Isaiah Crowell, Georgia’s best tailback, didn’t play, and Richard Samuel, his injured backup, hasn’t worked since the Florida game. Carlton Thomas, the No. 3 man, was coming off his third suspension of the season and didn’t start. And still Bobo conjured up 17 first-half points.
Of Georgia’s first six running plays, only one involved a player listed as a running back. Branden Smith, normally a cornerback, carried twice. Quarterback Aaron Murray carried twice, and the niftiest moment was a double-reverse to receiver Malcolm Mitchell. Said Bobo: “We were trying to mix them up, give them something different … Our base plan for the game was to be balanced, but as the game went on I thought the best way to win was by throwing.”
Murray complied, completing 19 of 29 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns. Nine different receivers caught those 19 passes. Said Richt: “Mike did a great job … Mike dialed up some beauties.”
As for Grantham: His defense yielded a touchdown at the end of the first half and another near the end of the second, but never did the Tech ground game appear as dangerous as in Georgia games past. Even in the first half, Johnson was forced to call inside handoffs to his A-backs — a play the Jackets seldom use — to approximate an up-the-gut push. “And once we took that away from them,” Grantham said, “we were back to controlling the game.”
Down two touchdowns in the third quarter, Johnson got antsy. His Jackets didn’t look capable of sustaining a series of long drives — they’d managed one seven-minute surge in the first half — and he called for Tevin Washington to throw, which isn’t a Tech strength. The resulting two interceptions killed all hope.
And that, in surprisingly simple fashion, was that. Georgia beat Tech and its coaches trumped Tech’s coaches and, after 10 consecutive victories, the matter of Richt’s job security has been tabled. He has his Bulldogs back where they’re supposed to be: Atop the SEC East, playing for the conference championship, shrugging off Georgia Tech.
“I didn’t celebrate as much after this one as I did last week,” Richt said, and there was no real need. In this state, order has been restored to nature. Why celebrate a given?
By Mark Bradley
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961 comments Add your comment
MDawg
November 26th, 2011
8:32 pm
The maroon dog hype didn’t pan out. And to think of all the knuckleheads wanting us to hire Dan Mullen earlier this year. glad all that crap is over for now.
Dawg48
November 26th, 2011
8:33 pm
Well 5 things now
4 OLine
5 QB cause of O Line
Brantly just got floored!
Jack
November 26th, 2011
8:33 pm
Another year of a Tech defense that can’t defend the pass, can’t defend the run …. can’t defend ….
*sigh* ….
Chris
November 26th, 2011
8:33 pm
stop calling the tech fans nerds! i hate people stereotyping or being stereotyped. most tech fans aren’t “nerds in their mom’s basement” and all uga fans aren’t dumb obviously because its tough to get into uga and tech. so just keep the trash talk towards football
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:33 pm
I’d think so, Joey. Imagine if he’d lost to Vanderbilt, too.
Jumbo
November 26th, 2011
8:33 pm
MB…I meant 1984….this multi-tasking of trying to type and watch SC/Clemson is harder than I thought it would be.
DawginLex
November 26th, 2011
8:34 pm
Mark
Matt Roark is why i love college football
Hid it from Tenn that he was going to play QB and ran the option and only threw it 3 times
UGA grit landscaper
November 26th, 2011
8:35 pm
Nice. Glad to see the ajc allows all the uga goobers bash Tech without censure. Too bad it’s not a 2 way street.
1. I hate Johnson’s offense, his style of play, and his comportment.
2. uga is a yankee school. The “school” fight song is the Battle Hymn of the Republic. That’s as yankee as you can get. A proper southerner would not stand for it.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:35 pm
Since I’ve been covering football, Kentucky has beaten Tennessee five times — 1976, 1977, 1981 (Curci’s last game), 1984 and 2011.
MDawg
November 26th, 2011
8:35 pm
But will Gator nation give Will and Charlie the 3 years they need to get the type players they need?
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:36 pm
And those UK teams of ‘76 and ‘77 were very good. The ‘77 Wildcats beat UGA 33-0, as you know, but couldn’t go to a bowl. Probation.
jw
November 26th, 2011
8:36 pm
Now – the Nation needs to enjoy the rest of the year – a championship game, pretty good bowl game and all because of some hard work with a team – unfortunately, not the Nation. You owe your coach a bunch of “I’m sorries” for the way you guys ran him out on the plank like you did – if he were any other type of man, he tell each of you to ram it where the feathers are thinnest – fortunately, you have someone with class who bit his tongue and let the work on the field do his talking.
Start trusting your coach – try real hard not to make him walk the plank 2 games into the season anymore. There is no other person out there that can handle the DawgNation like Richt. Become the Nation of old and let the dome know who is going to win that game Saturday – take it all in – and stop fretting – ENJOY THIS SPECIAL YEAR – IT’S THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD AT UGA!!!!!!
The bumble bees are finding out that they are a mediocre team, in a mediocre conference, playing at a mediocre level – as long as they are in the ACC, 7-5 and 8-4 is the best it gets for them. Time to go to some Class A level schools and find you an option quarterback!
Joey
November 26th, 2011
8:36 pm
Boy if it wasn’t for that pitiful SEC East team (UF) behind at the moment, the ACc would be seriously having a bad day.
Even Vandy got in on the action . . .
Dawg48
November 26th, 2011
8:37 pm
Dooley has a young team and had a lot of injuries…..
We better be careful barbara Dooley may be patrolling the blog!
We don’t want to get mark B in trouble!
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:38 pm
I’m telling you: Vandy’s James Franklin is going to be very good. Which means he probably won’t be at Vandy long.
And how about Maryland? Franklin was the coach-in-waiting but thought Friedgen was going to be kept around, so he left. And then Maryland dumped Friedgen, hired Randy Edsall … and just went 2-10 after blowing a huge lead today against N.C. State.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:39 pm
I think Derek D. will be OK for next year. But he’d better win in 2012.
TCFATL
November 26th, 2011
8:39 pm
Georgia simply demonstrated – again – that Georgia Tech is unworthy of Division I. Georgia Tech needs to move to a conference where it can be competitive – perhaps Division III vs. Augustana would likely be an even match. It was the War of the Worlds, the Dawgs kicking intergalactic arse with lasers emitting from Aaron Murray’s arm, rendering the Nerds to ashen skeletal remains. The only hope the Gadflies had was to hide amongst the rocks until their conquerors caught a virus, or evolution ultimately equalized their milquetoast existence. What will the AJC Sports staff do for another year? They have no sunshine to pump from Midtown, printed news is a dying model, they themselves being even bigger Nerds, writing angry things from lofty heights – perhaps they return to the AV Club from which they sprang, destined to click filmstrips forward at the sound of a bell for the rest of their careers? Look at the Glory falling from the sky! Look at the ice cream vendors that comprise the Georgia Tech student body quaking in our mere existing! How dare they yell “To Hell with Georgia” during the Larry Munson tribute! None of you will even have the dignity of having your jobs outsourced to distant lands, because your student body has already been outsourced to the point they don’t even understand what football is. We f@rt in your general direction. We are the knights who say “need”. You are not worthy of our shrubbery, dear Nerds. Baa Haa Haa. Wallow another year in the swill that is your mere existence.
Beeeeg Boy
November 26th, 2011
8:40 pm
I think the 77 Kentucky team had a defensive tackle named Art Still, who completely dominated the UGA game..
Super Committee
November 26th, 2011
8:40 pm
IMO Muschamp nor Dooley will last more than two years… both of those programs are a mess right now and I don’t think either one of them is up to the task… like hiring Ray Goff..
Your Friend on FB
November 26th, 2011
8:40 pm
Paul Johnson proves out to be a fat arrogant pig once again.
bonesaw
November 26th, 2011
8:41 pm
Open receivers all day. All day long to pass. Will GT ever get a defense that can defend the pass? Johnson says after the VT game-we couldn’t stop them all night. Well we couldn’t stop them again, and we could’nt stop them against Duke in the 2nd half. Is is the scheme, or the players, or the coach. I don’t know but something needs to change down on North Avenue.
Dawg48
November 26th, 2011
8:41 pm
James Franklin is a poor mans lain kiffin!
He would not even go shake dooley’s hand after the game.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:41 pm
Still was a defensive end, and a great one. He and quarterback Derrick Ramsey were from Camden, N.J.
So was DE David “Tuffskin” Stephens, who lived in my apartment complex when I was in school at UK.
North Ave
November 26th, 2011
8:43 pm
Congrats Dawgs. Good luck against LSU.
BIG MIKE
November 26th, 2011
8:43 pm
Mark—————Considering recent history……I understand the Florida pick. But the “maroone Bulldog hype” thing is indicative of what is wrong with the college system of determining a “Champion” (but not officiallya a champion). It’s all about spin and hype. If a team stats the season at #1 without playing a game and loses 2……they have a leg up on a better team that started outside of the the top 25 and finishes with 2 losses only because they were a more popular pick before the first game was ever played. I personally think that a poll (since that’s what is used to judge the best team) should not be released until the 6th game. That gives sportwriters…and networks (i.e., ESPN)….time to evaluate a teams true strength.
Summit Dawg
November 26th, 2011
8:43 pm
This must be the first time another coach has been out coached by BooBoo and Richt!!!!!!
Thank goodness for this one…..go DAWGS!!!!
Ernest T Bass
November 26th, 2011
8:43 pm
PJ you are one big Dumbass!!!Who are you fooling with your first play of the game???
Dawg48
November 26th, 2011
8:44 pm
If the ESPNCCAA wants a LSU BAMA rematch then that’s the way it will be!
Your Friend on FB
November 26th, 2011
8:44 pm
The only question is Paul Johnson’s perception.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:44 pm
I know, Big Mike. The rankings shouldn’t be that important, and the writers’ poll isn’t. It’s not part of the BCS formula anymore.
UGA grit landscaper
November 26th, 2011
8:44 pm
uga needs to move to the Big 10 with the rest of the yankees.
Battle Hymn of the Republic?
Idiot Dawg
November 26th, 2011
8:45 pm
Careful Mark about D. Dooley hot seat talk. His mama will be all over you.
Additionally, no hot seat talk for Muschamp either. I want him to be there a bit longer.
BulldogGirl
November 26th, 2011
8:45 pm
Can I just say how much I’m enjoying reading all the sour grapes comments from the Tech fans?! As an entire school – you are the WORST fans ever. Beating you (10 of 11 . . .) never gets old nerds.
Beeeeg Boy
November 26th, 2011
8:45 pm
Dooley went back to basics after 77 season. Much like Richt this year.
JAWJeRDAWG
November 26th, 2011
8:45 pm
Dawg48
You’re being too kind in your assertion of James Franklin!
UGA Grad
November 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
This game is becoming an after thought to Georgia’s season, under Mark Richt the Dawgs have won 10 to Georgia Tech’s one. One is a lonely number and Tech slides way behind Florida as a major threat to the Dawgs.
GTRAMBLER
November 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
It was really amazing to me this was at Bobby Dodd Stadium, in the heart of Atlanta, and the biggest Tech game of the year and 60% of the crowd was in Georgia Red. This is embarrassing to Tech and it’s players. Next year I imagine season tickets will drop since all the UGA fans won’t be buying the cheap season tickets for just the Georgia game.
Coming from a Tech alumnus that was at the game and couldn’t believe it.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
Yeah, but I understand Franklin’s thinking. Vandy has to believe it’s not a doormat before it can become not-a-doormat.
thUGA
November 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
Just end the D$mn series. TECH CANNOT WIN. Period.
jack handy
November 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
just got off at WalMart. Yoohoo! Go Dawgs!
MDawg
November 26th, 2011
8:48 pm
I bet Tenn. fires Dooley. They shouldn’t. but I bet they do.
Idiot Dawg
November 26th, 2011
8:48 pm
I used to live next door to Franklin. Helped him put a sheet metal patch on his house once.
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:48 pm
I have to say today’s was the heaviest Georgia crowd at BDS I can remember, and I’ve seen all but two Tech-Georgia games played there since 1985.
GT Fan...
November 26th, 2011
8:49 pm
Congrats to the Dawgs, and all their “loving” fans. Big win today over a team so many of you say is hardly better than teams in 1-AA. But a poor showing of class by the 2 UGA players in the photo holding the dry-erase boards.
I know it’s easy to become optimistic after your 10-game winning streak (see GT fans after GT’s 6-0 start), but here’s the skinny for next week … the winning will be snapped, and snapped in a big way. Why do I know this? The reason is in the W-L records of your SEC opps & GT in this supertastic win streak.
Currently Ms St is 21-0 on Miss, and FSU is 14-0 on UF, so I’m putting those down as Ls for Miss & UF.
SEC opps Overall, 37-47 League 14-42. Wait, 14 WINS is all they have, 14!?!? NOT A SINGLE SEC TEAM UGA BEAT FINISHED THE SEASON WITH A BETTER THAN .500 RECORD. Only Auburn (4-4) finished .500 all others where under .500, with UT posting its worst ever SEC record (1-7). Miss will be an 0′fer then there are UK, Vandy, and Miss St all finishing with whopping 2-6 records. UF’s 3-5 record is its worst since the 60’s? or is it the 70’s?
UGA’s BEST win was today over an 8-4 (5-3 ACC), 1-AA GT team.
Again, congrats on the win today, really. The game was played, and the Dawgs won.
However, it was their last win of the season.
GTRAMBLER
November 26th, 2011
8:49 pm
This game was not on embarrassing because of the results, but I couldn’t believe that Bobby Dodd Stadium was 60% Red today. Tech fans should be embarrassed and I feel for the team that this was a UGA crowd in the stadium today.
Herschel Talker
November 26th, 2011
8:49 pm
MB:
It appears to me that after watching this Tech game that we Dawgs still haven’t played anyone. This Tech team is just wretched. Paul Johnson is a disaster.
HT
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! SUCK ON IT NERDS!!!
Dawg48
November 26th, 2011
8:49 pm
Mark
If LSU wins sat, and it’s a bama rematch, is their any chance of uga or arky going to the sugar?
And have three sec teams in the bcs bowls?
Voice of Reason
November 26th, 2011
8:50 pm
Mmmmnn….I’m pretty sure the Jackets have had a national football championship much more recently than Georgia….and there’s always basketball…and baseball…
Mark Bradley
November 26th, 2011
8:50 pm
Kind of weird: The game that changed the SEC East was Auburn prevailing in Columbia. That game got Georgia really believing again.
Bobbie Dodd
November 26th, 2011
8:51 pm
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GT, DON’T EVER GET RID OF PAUL JOHNSON!