UGA’s Murray: ‘We could have pulled out a couple more wins’
A Murray moment: Tavarres King snags a touchdown. (AP photo)
A note: This ran in today’s print AJC. I present it to you, our digital patrons, in the interest of full disclosure.
Tampa — Aaron Murray tried to put on a happy face, but it was a struggle. Georgia’s quarterback returned home for the Outback Bowl and will leave not as a conquering hero but as one of the causes of his team’s demise.
“I think the whole Dog Nation is very excited about this team,” Murray said afterward. “I know we’re very excited.”
The blare of a turnaround season was muted by the doings here Monday. Georgia led 16-0 but lost 33-30 in three overtimes, and the crazy game turned in the third quarter on two Murray interceptions. The first led to Michigan State’s first touchdown. The second became the Spartans’ second touchdown, and it marked the fourth time this season a Murray interception had been returned for a score.
On the first interception, Murray scrambled right and spotted Tavarres King open over the middle. He expected King to backtrack. Instead King turned and went deeper. Murray’s pass was intercepted by a diving Darqueze Dennard.
“There was a little miscommunication in the scramble drill,” Murray said.
The second interception, also taken by Dennard, was a product of a quick Murray read and a tipped throw to his left. “It got nicked,” Murray said, “and got a little off-course.”
Dennard’s 38-yard return cut Georgia’s lead to two points. Asked if he felt he’d let the grasping Spartans back in the game, Murray said: “I don’t think so. We were still up 16-14. We still kept playing. Our guys have shown all year they’re not going to fold.”
Michigan State took a 20-19 lead with 8:22 to play, whereupon Murray led Georgia’s best drive of a halting day. He threw four passes, completing three, for 83 yards and ultimately a go-back-ahead touchdown to redeployed defender Brandon Boykin. Then Murray found Malcolm Mitchell for a two-point conversion. Georgia led 27-20 with 6:44 to play.
But it wouldn’t hold. The Bulldogs couldn’t run out the clock, choosing to run up the middle to force the Spartans to use their timeouts, and were undone when Michigan State tied it with 14 seconds remaining in regulation. In overtime, three Georgia possessions lost a total of four yards. Murray threw four passes in the OTs, all incomplete.
Murray’s final numbers: Twenty completions in 32 attempts, 288 yards passing, two touchdowns, two interceptions, one lost fumble, four sacks. Not the worst day ever, but not good enough.
Asked about Murray, coach Mark Richt said: “Aaron’s future is very bright. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country in my mind and he’ll be one of the better quarterbacks who’ll be returning. He’s a guy we’ve got an awful lot of faith in. He’s human; he’s going to make mistakes.”
Speaking of 2012, Murray said: “As a team, we’re definitely excited about the future. But we definitely could have pulled out a couple of more wins.”
Someone wondered if this loss, coming as it did 4.6 miles from Plant High, Murray’s alma mater, hurt worse than the others. “It’s the same,” Murray said. “A loss is a loss.”
By Mark Bradley
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990 comments Add your comment
Texas Pete
January 3rd, 2012
4:53 pm
Listen, the question is whether or not Murray can win under pressure when he faces great defensive teams. I’ve watched him all this year and last year and I’m afraid the answer is … no, he can’t. He doesn’t have the intangible, the God given killer instinct to win at all costs. It’s a rare gift. It’s a Brett Favre, Aaron Rogers, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr kind of gift. Our own Matt Ryan doesn’t have it either. Are Murray and Ryan gifted QB’s? Sure. But their not killers. They panic when things go south, lose their poise, make dumb mistakes, and then lose winnable games. That’s just the way it is.
Joey
January 3rd, 2012
4:54 pm
Johnny (4:49), that make you feel better? Haha.
GT: Can’t win a bowl game.
GT: Beat their in-state rival 1 time in 11 years.
I don’t know what to call Ga Tech . . . loser?
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
4:55 pm
@ Johnny
more inconvenient truth….since you want to name players….who has placed more people in the NFL….? oh…ok……GO DAWGS!
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
4:56 pm
correction: *no name recognition*
chuck
January 3rd, 2012
4:57 pm
goodbye Blair Walsh its been good to know you. goodbye mike bobo its been good to know you. goodbye Aaron Murray its been good to know you. Mark Richt will never win a BCS title and probably not an sec title with Bobo and Murray, and thank goodness Blair Walsh is gone. Mr. Richt, don’t ever give anybody else a chance to play, they might do something great and we wouldn’t want that, would we? The second half swoon reared its ugly head again, and the defense could not stop the Spartans from going 85 yards to tie the game. What else is new for Georgia?
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 3rd, 2012
4:58 pm
Geez
Shut up Moron
If you had been on these blogs other than today you would know that people like Altamaha Dawg attack you when you make comments that dont agree with their opinion
I was on here weeks ago saying signing Richt to a contract extension was stupid and undeserved but I was attacked and called stupid for that
I said at the begining of the year with our schedule this team should only lose 1 game but Richt and Bobo would find a way to lose at least 4 or more and I was called a troll and hater because I bring realistic posts.
It just dont jive with Mr. know it all and President of the Kool-aid club Altamaha and the rest of his buds, like chazzo, LHarding, columbus, Dawg, True Dawg fan Tampa Dawg etc
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
4:59 pm
@ chuck
take it easy on the defense…….
AltamahaDawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:00 pm
Joey, why are you telling me what top 5 team “feel comfortable” doing? we aren’t that right now, so why would that apply? Is your point that we aren”t a top 5 team?
I can list a number of REAL things that clearly seperate us from them right now, without needing such hyperbole.
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
5:04 pm
@ Johnny
by the way….who’s blogging about GT whether locally or nationally?….oh that’s right…..NO CARES ABOUT GT!!!!
AltamahaDawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Let’s see, Flat………you saw me on and posted what? 5 times, smarmy, before I answered you finally, to shoo you away. So , yea. I think geez has read enough of the entire past to draw his own conclusion.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:05 pm
Yes Gator it was John McKay. I know that. Thank you though for being Catain Obvious.
2012 Title
January 3rd, 2012
5:06 pm
In 2012, Ga should be loaded from all these dream team classes and will win the SEC—mark it down! Richt’s building a machine in Athens—Ga will beat alabama next december in the ga dome!
football fan
January 3rd, 2012
5:09 pm
could have, should have, would have…..suggestion fans – start looking forward, yesterday is gone.
dawgcrzy
January 3rd, 2012
5:09 pm
johnny on one blog gttheo on another,just shut the hell up,nobody cares about about the ol piss and white
Wanderer
January 3rd, 2012
5:10 pm
I’ve been out of town for a few days. How bad did the dawgs beat Michigan State?
Guess that we need to
January 3rd, 2012
5:11 pm
knock a little louder on that door to greatness.
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
5:11 pm
@ dawgcrzy
AMEN!!!
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
5:13 pm
@ Wanderer
Get lost!!
Buzzzzzzzz
January 3rd, 2012
5:14 pm
Dawgs know this, but with their undeveloped minds, they tend to forget, so here’s a reminder:
Georgia Tech is a very highly ranked academic school that has a football team. Its alumni and fans have real lives and careers that don’t depend on the football team for their happiness.
Georgia, on the other hand, is basically a sell-your-soul-to-the-devil football factory that also gives diplomas – worthless as they are. They have sleazy coaches like Mark Richt who have no scruples or ethics, who recruit morons who barely got through high school, and collect huge paychecks, but still can’t win big games.
Now, can you remember all that?
Spokesman for the SEC East
January 3rd, 2012
5:18 pm
Buzzzzzzzz, I guess then you did not graduate from Tech because you are a moron.
Return to Glory
January 3rd, 2012
5:21 pm
Everyone is raising cain and cussing the coaches,
We lost 4 games:
Boise State and LSU beat us straight up.
South Carolina: if the players carry out the game plan and do not turn it over and allow special team scores we win easy.
MSU: 1st overtime defense forces a turnover, again if players do THEIR job we win,,thus the missed field goal and a loss.
Winners make plays, losers make excuses: PLAYERS have to make plays in order to WIN.
We could have won 12 games but we did not..GO Dawgs 2012 we will be proud.
Tech Hater
January 3rd, 2012
5:21 pm
Hey Buzzzz,
Can you remember coaches of such high moral and ethical values like GEORGE O’LEARY! Can you remember all that? You probably didn’t even go to Tech. It is also good that your booger eating alums don’t depend on football for happiness. They would be one miserable bunch.
DawgFan
January 3rd, 2012
5:21 pm
Johnny is a moron who obviously knows nothing about sports other than the crap he googles to post on these blogs
mountain man
January 3rd, 2012
5:22 pm
I have been a dawg fan sense way back in the late sixties. and all I have 2 say about this matter is 2 things…. BOBO has 2 go. and number1 I got hit and limps off the field needs 2 be told he might be better if he went 2 a junior college.
Just Saying
Buzzz = genius
January 3rd, 2012
5:22 pm
Exactly Buzz.
Where would the mail-order bride industry be without the support of Tech grads?
Look at all the advancements in sex robotics. This would NOT have happened without Georgia Tech and all the resources that Tech grads spend in this burgeoning field.
Spanx for Men? Again, it’s the Tech grad that created a market for the Bro.
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
5:24 pm
@ Buzzzz
Awwwww are you jealous because GT is irrelevant? Are you jealous that someone who “barely made it out of high school” has a bigger salary than you? You speak of not caring about football, yet you’re on a football blog trying to get 5 seconds of fame. What a crab….don’t start the year off hating!
Bill
January 3rd, 2012
5:25 pm
“It appears obvious that UGA is the “flagship” in name only.”
There’s some truth to this because a UGA education wasn’t exactly high in demand until the free HOPE Scholarship turned it into the University of Gwinnett and East Cobb back in the 90’s. UGA had been the butt of many jokes until 1000’s could suddenly ‘afford’ to go there back in 1993. Not many people longed for a UGA education in the 80’s.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:28 pm
Return—
Asked if he felt he’d let the grasping Spartans back in the game, Murray said: “I don’t think so…
You are right losers make excuses or you should add to it do not except responsibility for there part. AM gave the game to MSU and you brought up the USC game where he fumbled a TD and threw a pick 6.
Spokesman for the SEC East
January 3rd, 2012
5:31 pm
Anyone (def=Tech fan or graduate) who believes that Tech recruits are smarter than UGA recruits or any other SEC team only need to remember what Nesbitt sounded like when he was interviewed. And the deal about Tech graduates starting salaries out of college are higher than UGA’s (or any other non Engineering school grads) need to realize that Engeneering grads ARE paid more because the people who hire them to work for companies who build things don’t know squat about engineering so they are forced to hire them. But the fact remains that CEO’s are not Engineers they are business majors from schools like UGA. Engineers mostly work for non-engineers techie boys.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 3rd, 2012
5:31 pm
Johnny
GT Athletics 5 National Titles,
23 Conference Titles and has a losing record in every sport except basketball against UGA
UGA Athletics 26 National Titles 130 Conference Championships
UGA 62 GT 39 Football
UGA Athletics has way more money than Tech
And has put more players in the pro’s in all sports than Tech has
Do they teach students how to do research at that Sanitation Engineering School
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
5:32 pm
Mark Bradley,
Can you please start a blog for GT so they can feel special and appreciated. Cuz we’re tired of those tools creeping in on dawg blogs to ramble off stats that they spent hours to research and they still fall on deaf ears. Tech sucks!!! Get over it. While you guys are creating sex robots, how bout creating a police robot that can actually protect the campus?
alybar
January 3rd, 2012
5:33 pm
This game really showed that Bobo is totally inept as a offensive coordinator. I have always been an Aaron Murray fan, but it is obvious he cannot play in the big games. He goes to pieces. Why did we not utilize the abilities of Orson Chares, Chris Connely, and Aron White? Why did Carlton Thomas not make an apperance until the overtimes? Why did our defense quit rushing the passer? Our kicker has self destructed this year. Why did we not try to win in the last few seconds instead of taking a knee. There are many unaswered questions, bu it is most definite that dodo Bobo needs to gogo.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 3rd, 2012
5:34 pm
Johnny
GT Athletics 5 National Titles,
23 Conference Titles and has a losing record in every sport except basketball against UGA
UGA Athletics 26 National Titles 130 Conference Championships
UGA 62 GT 39 Football
UGA Athletics has way more money than Tech
And has put more players in the pro’s in all sports than Tech has
Do they teach students how to do research at that Sanitation Engineering School
I forgot
Tech has played in 1 BCS level bowl in 45 years
Get a clue bud Tech is a loser
Joey
January 3rd, 2012
5:34 pm
“The better team do NOT have wide open playbooks, they do what they do, and do it very well.”
*******************************************
I read that post, AD, and was just giving my opinion that those teams also do more than just conservative plays.
And really it’s not just “top 5″ teams that display aggressive offense – as we have seen up close and personal. SC, Ole Miss, and others in other lower-level bowls the past week are fearless with fake FGs and punts. Not us though. We go for the 10-15 point lead and hope the D holds. I despise that philosophy, but hey, we only have it for 5 more years, thanks to our “premature-negotiating”-AD.
Hey, we may not be a “Top 5 Team,” but our own Mark Richt said the Dawgs “are knocking on the door of greatness.”
Don’t hold your breath, UGA fans.
Roadrunner
January 3rd, 2012
5:42 pm
Players are going to make mistakes, the O Line actually pass blocked decently, we just didn’t pass enough, the stupidly conservative play calling cost us the game more than anything else. I was screaming at the TV when Bobo called for runs up the middle play after play. Was he not watching when we didn’t even budge their D Line, our poor backs were getting hit before they even got back to the line of scrimmage, just horrible play calling. And not even trying to move the ball closer when a FG wins the game in the first OT, whose brilliant call was that? Were they thinking we got a new place kicker for the bowl game or did they just forget Walsh’s consistent misses to the right the last season and a half. I don’t care where you put the ball for Walsh, its going wide right. So although he missed the FG, it was coaching decisions that put him into the position to lose yet another game for Georgia. As for the defense, I think we made tremendous progress this year, Grantham is a keeper! We did good this year, but we could have done so much better. Here’s hoping 2012 brings even more success. GO DAWGS!!!
Hairy Dawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:43 pm
Not happy about the loss, but it doesn’t really hurt much. It’s a second-rate bowl. We need to be in the BCS for me to get really mad about a bowl loss.
daddo
January 3rd, 2012
5:43 pm
I have three words for you: John Parker Wilson. He left Alabama with every q b record in his hands. But those were mostly stats against weak teams. And time after time after time in big games he fumbled, threw horrible interceptions or made plays that made no sense at all. And you have him for two more years. hahahahahahahahahahahaha…..
AltamahaDawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:45 pm
Joey, My point is that when you can’t even run the ball for any positive yards, or protect the QB, or any number of things………not having the confidence to run a trick play for a first down (which I see no reason to believe would have worked for the same reasons listed) is way down the list of things seperating us from being a top ( top 2 in your example) team. You are right that they CAN do those things, but only because they have teams than can run, and block, and stop, etc. Calling a trick play didn’t make better teams though.
Agian if you were pointing out we are not there yet, I would wholeheartedly agree.
LakeDawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:45 pm
Some things never change. One of those things is CMR will never take the next step. 11 years and nothings changed. Why do some on here continue to act like a championship is just around the corner? McGarity is getting ready to seal the Dawgs fate for the next 3-5 years.
The state of Georgia:
4th in D1 signees
4th in D1 signees per capita
UGA has had a top ten recruiting class the past 10 years
UGA has the 7th largest stadium in America
UGA has annually had the 7th best attendance in college football
UGA is annually in the top four for athletic department profitability
YET
UGA hasn’t sniffed the top ten in four years. Hasn’t beaten a ranked team in forever and is light years behind the elite teams in their conference. The writing is on the wall. CMR is a mediocre coach and always will be. UGA deserves an elite coach. By keeping Richt, UGA is telling the world that they don’t really care about winning championships. Being mediocre is fine by them. I think UGA is the only school in the SEC that has taken that stance. Even Vandy is trying to win now. Amazing and pitiful.
BamaDagw Red
January 3rd, 2012
5:47 pm
Was Orson Charles hurt or has BoBo become complelely brain dead
DWAG ON IT
January 3rd, 2012
5:50 pm
All hail the mighty Dwags, in only a few short months we can read the garbage about how great there gonna be this fall. The anticipation is killing me.
AltamahaDawg
January 3rd, 2012
5:52 pm
Lowcountry, absolutely not Murray’s best game. And very fair to hang the loss on him as a starting QB. For those Int’s. The second one seemed to be on him (although I see reports it was tiped), the first one was King’s fault I believe. But there were other things that would have changed the game, including failed sideline decisions. I think that might be as “collective” of a loss as we have had in a while, though.
Not sure we are in that Bowl without Murray this year though. Not sure he is really the legend we are waiting for at that position either.
Vince
January 3rd, 2012
5:53 pm
Georgia should have won this game. Every one is picking on Bobo and Murry. What happened to our defense? they made MS’s QB look like a super hero. They couldnt stop anything in the second half.
DawgFan
January 3rd, 2012
5:53 pm
Johnny…read this and tell me who the better school is
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/01/03/uga-in-top-10-list-of-best-values-among-public-colleges/
Hobbler
January 3rd, 2012
5:55 pm
Another year of top ten in recruiting but don’t finish in the top 20. Lack of quality coaching and play calling.
MARK RICHT PLEASE KEEP BOBO
January 3rd, 2012
5:57 pm
LONG LIVE BOBO AT UGA
GEORGIA TECH HAS 4 NATL TITLES,MUTTS HAVE 2
January 3rd, 2012
6:00 pm
JUST LIKE THE MUTT PROGRAM TO NUT UP IN THE END
alex
January 3rd, 2012
6:03 pm
richt will not take ga. to the “next” level, should be fired if ga. wants to take it’s thugs ( no, I did not go to tech) to a top 10 finish. Now, it could start to recruit STUDENT-athletes and accept it’s present position, but then what would the “CEO” alumni do ….. For the record,(see above) in the 70’s we, in atlanta, would say if you didn’t want to go to college, go to UGA!!
MM
January 3rd, 2012
6:05 pm
LakeDawg, dead on it. It’s a matter of attitude, Alabama EXPECTS to win a National championship every year, if they don’t it’s not considered a success. UGA on the other hand is happy with a winning season and beating Florida, Auburn and GT. How many times have you heard “this was great year we beat Tenn, Fl, Auburn and GT.” Getting over that hump and having a winning attitude is a hard thing to accomplish.
DawgFan1987
January 3rd, 2012
6:07 pm
@ alex
do you know what a thug is?