A sobering night: Georgia is outclassed and overwhelmed
This forlorn shot is somewhat indicative of the night itself, wouldn't you say? (AP photo by Brett Flashnick)
Columbia, S.C. – Billed as a prove-it game, Georgia can only hope this was instead a case of false advertising. If the nation’s No. 5 team proved anything Saturday night, it’s that it shouldn’t be ranked that high, or perhaps at all.
South Carolina was primed to make a point. It took Georgia, which had averaged 48 points in its first five games, 58 minutes just to score a point here. To say the Bulldogs looked a step slow from the get-go is to suggest that “Ishtar” slightly underperformed at the box office. In the first 10 minutes, Georgia managed to get outclassed across the board — on offense, on defense, even on special teams. Not coincidentally, South Carolina had mustered three touchdowns before the visitors managed their second first down.
In a way, this recalled the infamous first half against Alabama in September 2008, the night the Bulldogs wore their black jerseys and trailed 31-0 at the half. But Alabama hit Georgia with a series of body blows. South Carolina was firing haymakers to the jaw: A 42-yard completion that should have been a Bacarri Rambo interception on the game’s second snap; an interception off a tipped Aaron Murray pass on Georgia’s third snap; two Connor Shaw touchdown passes to unencumbered receivers, and finally an outrageous punt return by Ace Sanders.
All the improvements Georgia has made over the past 13 months — or seemed to have made — were called into question in this wretched first quarter. South Carolina was bigger, faster, stronger, tougher and yes, better-coached. The Gamecocks knew what they wanted to do and did it with gusto. Georgia had no good ideas. South Carolina showed it could run the ball, pass the ball, stop the run and rush the passer. (And, lest we forget, return punts.) The Bulldogs could do none of the above.
Example: On Georgia’s only real threat of the first three quarters, Mark Richt chose to go for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal at the 2. Murray somehow completed a pass for one yard to Rantavious Wooten. “The ball probably should have gone to the [other] side,” said Mike Bobo, the offensive coordinator.
The talent Georgia had displayed against Missouri and Vanderbilt and Tennessee looked rather less impressive this night. Surely some of that had to do with playing on the road, but venue is no excuse for losing 35-7. South Carolina was ready, and that’s a function of coaching. Georgia wasn’t, and that’s a malfunction of same.
Even more distressing was that the big-name Bulldogs — Murray and Jarvis Jones and Rambo and the freshman backs — were rendered pedestrian by comparison. South Carolina’s offensive and defensive fronts exerted their will. The great Marcus Lattimore got all the tough yards. Shaw, who’s from Flowery Branch, made all the tough plays. The Bulldogs acted content to stand back and admire such excellence, and by appearing so passive in such a setting they left themselves open to all the old doubts.
Even in their division-winning season of 2011, the Bulldogs lost to the four best teams they played. This year they’d won five games without meeting anyone of real consequence, and this effort, if that’s the word for it, was so desultory as to make you wonder when, or if, Georgia will ever again beat anybody any good.
Surely they will. They’re too gifted not to break through against somebody. But a game like this made everyone who has attempted to paint these Bulldogs as smarter, tougher, better — and that’s my hand you see raised — feel a fool. When you’re beaten like this, there can be no disclaimers, no qualifiers: This was simply a horrid showing.
Said Richt: “I told the guys, ‘The bad news is that we took a whipping. The good news is that we all took it together … They whipped us pretty good.”
This was worse than the 42-10 loss to LSU in the SEC title game. Georgia wasn’t quite ready for such a game, and the Tigers were too good. But these Bulldogs were older and presumably wiser, and none of that wisdom was brought to bear here. And if Georgia, after all its staff changes and glitzy recruiting, remains incapable of competing on the big stage, whose fault is that?
Todd Grantham’s defense was superb much of last season but seems misdirected now. Bobo’s offense had run up boxcar numbers against lesser lights, but against South Carolina it had but 149 yards through three quarters. And Richt, who’s in charge of this whole operation, used to be able to take teams anywhere and beat anybody. Where did that mojo go?
No, the season isn’t over, and yes, it’s still possible for this team to win the SEC East and play for the conference title. But the season changed Saturday night. Georgia was exposed on national TV as undeserving of its hype, and it can take a program a long time to recover from such an indignity. The Bulldogs’ ceiling got lowered here. When they arrived, we wondered how good they really were. We have a clearer idea now.
By Mark Bradley
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1,090 comments Add your comment
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:19 am
hey we stomped and i mean stomped buffalo
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:20 am
RTR22
August 19th, 2012
6:46 pm
TampaGator it will only get worse this Friday when the stud DE Walker committs to the Crimson Tide. Right out of your backyard. Roll Tide home of 22 SEC Titles.
RTR22……..Mr. Walker was sitting in THE SWAMP yesterday with his Florida commit buddies from Jacksonville. His recruitment is ongoing……..
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:20 am
we showed miszou who the beast in the east is!!!!!!!!!!
MrDan
October 7th, 2012
9:21 am
Whew. Glad it’s not me writing that big check to UGA anymore!
GEAUX may-retta
October 7th, 2012
9:22 am
look in the bright side, puppy fan, richt I’d still a “good Christian man”.
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:22 am
tenn dont want anymore of us we took them to the woodshed!!!!!!
Big Dog 89
October 7th, 2012
9:22 am
This was a complete embarrassment. You can’t blame all of this on Richt. The team just chocked.
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:23 am
hey we beat vandy!!!!!!
Jimbo
October 7th, 2012
9:23 am
Last night was the proof, the wake-up call was last week and we missed it.
MarshDawg
October 7th, 2012
9:23 am
TO QUOTE THE “OLD BALL COACH”…..
GEORGIA GETS ALL THESE GREAT PLAYERS AND THEN….. WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM?
Democratic Plantation Dweller
October 7th, 2012
9:23 am
Isn’t our President doing a wonderful job!
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:24 am
commit to the g …..g must stand for garbage
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:24 am
Dawg-Gawn
August 19th, 2012
7:01 pm
The pendulum has swung at the University of Florida… Gators were on top for a long while, but I’m afraid it will be sometime before you experience that high feeling again.
Dawg-Gawn………you were right……it took forever……about one and one half months…..to experience that feeling again. That is much less than none out of 10 times in big games….for how many years now?
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:25 am
im telling the bulldawg nation rite now …..ga southern will feel our wrath
GEAUX may-retta
October 7th, 2012
9:25 am
gurshal? Herschel should go MMA on the 790 jackass that came up with that. Shapiro, “gurshal is the best rb tandem in the nation, bottom line”. Gurshal is overrated trash just like puppy football.
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:26 am
Plantation…..
A lot better than the previous one…….(Bush with his Haliburton buddy, Chaney)
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:26 am
we are the state champs of tennesee!!!!!!!
Maxwell the free-range chihuahua
October 7th, 2012
9:26 am
It wasn’t that long ago some of you dawg fans were actually wanting CTG to take over the program after CMR wins the NatChamp and retires. How about now? ESPN completely trashed the UGA program and product on national tv. Guess Herbie and Brent are officially “TROLLS”!
chase
October 7th, 2012
9:27 am
I think they were overwhelmed by the SITUATION….I am still not convinced that SCAR is “the better team” may sound crazy BUT
to me Last night’s game reminded me very much of 2007 game vs TENNESSEE…UGA had more talent and was the better team BUT went on the road and laid an egg – that team went on to a #2 final ranking and should have played for the National Championship…We’ll see if THIS extremely talented team can respond the same way! GOOOOOOOO DAWGS!
angry mangy mutt
October 7th, 2012
9:27 am
How come so many of you are so upset? Did you not see this coming? CMR is too soft and that softness saturates the program. LOS play is pathetic. The OL I expected to be poor, the DL I cannot explain.
hit a single
October 7th, 2012
9:28 am
I wish the suspensions had never ended. We were better off. Players need to look in the mirror, because you are not as good as you think you are. Matter of fact I don’t know if UGA has a player that could start on SC’s defense. Our offensive line got destroyed.
Lawrence Gibbs
October 7th, 2012
9:28 am
I have supported Georgia for 60 years ,This staff cannot coach with the best staffs in the country we can only compete with second class staffs in ncaa.Saturday night was a case in point.
Escaped from Email Purgatory
October 7th, 2012
9:28 am
UGA’s problem is bigger than one issue (coaching), but it makes you wonder, other than an inflated won/lost record, about the value derived from playing all these patsies.
You’re proving nothing – most importantly to yourselves. Beating up on inferior out of conference opponents doesn’t test your competitive mettle. There’s gotta be some doubt in your mind that you can meet the challenge presented by the top competition within your conference. After last night, that doubt has been replaced with the certainty that you can’t.
UGA got away with a soft regular season conference schedule last year. Some used that as proof CMR had regained his coaching mojo. The conference championship game and the Outback Bowl indicated otherwise – at least to some.
But blessed with another “soft” conference schedule (so much for that), and as many glorified scrimmages as McGarrity could arrange (and still sleep at night), UGA began this season with an undeserved place in the Top Ten.
As of now, it looks like the Bulldogs are no better than the third best team in the SEC East. You expect also, that the pollsters will evict them from their position as fifth best team in the country with extreme prejudice. Number 15 or 16 sounds like a reasonable landing zone.
CRM’s been re-upped for another tour. McGarrity can’t / won’t replace him. But UGA’s gotta decide if they want to look like they’re an elite program or actually be one.
Georgia hasn’t beaten a elite program in over four years.
How much longer will this nonsense continue?
Honey Boo Boo
October 7th, 2012
9:28 am
Honey Boo Boo says Go Dawgs Sick Em woof woof woof
redneckcognize
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:29 am
Dawg-Gawn
August 19th, 2012
7:01 pm
UF should of hired Chris Petersen, a proven head coach…. looks like UF may have been duped!
:roll”
Yeah boy……Dawg-Gawn
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:29 am
good thing we had a bye week before south carolina we need it to rest our top 5 defense!!!!!!
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:31 am
LakeDawg
August 20th, 2012
4:57 pm
Muschamp has too much Ray Gump in him. I’m glad he’s at UF
Me too, Lake Dawg……..and that Richt is in Athens.
Roman Dawg
October 7th, 2012
9:33 am
I love the dawgs to death and Ive defended Richt for a long time but something has got to give. I’m not going to be too quick to say lets get rid of him because I do not want to seem like one of these people who are quick to say off with his head after just one game. Quite frankly, Richt has been one of the best coaches UGA has ever seen, however, in this day and age in the SEC the fans expect a real chance at a national championship and more than luck getting your team in the SEC Championship game. He just isn’t getting the job done, TG’s Defense is paling in comparison to the Defense of yesteryear, Bobo is still Bobo, and as you said RIcht is in charge of them all. I do not know what goes on with the players at practice and how the way they are treated at Georgia is different from how they are treated at other schools of dominance but something has got to give at some point. Gene Chizik could take one star in Cam Newton and a mediocre team surrounding him and win the National Title, why on earth can Mark Richt not do the same with Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall, Jarvis Jones, Bacarri Rambo, and all the other future NFL talent and create a team everyone in the nation fears. For a program that produces the most NFL talent (Tied with LSU the last time I checked) in the SEC we should be contending for championships left and right. I am finally incher closer to saying get rid of Richt, keep whatever recruiting mechanisms he used (because he pulls some good talent), and completely remake the coaching staff.
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:33 am
gator hater
August 20th, 2012
3:31 pm
Funny…..sounds like Florida’s doing what they accuse UGA of….. living in the past. It’s over for the Lizards and they know it.
Yeah boy….we know it…….gator hater
elistoned
October 7th, 2012
9:34 am
UGA is a team that plays bad teams and becomes a bad team when UGA plays a good team. How can you not be ready to play Spurrier ? I guess I will hear it again from the Gators!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you see the Gator db strip the ball from the Tiger receiver ater the completed pass ? UGA needs to play with that kind of intensity.
.
SWDAWG
October 7th, 2012
9:34 am
0-10 against ranked opponents since 2009. DISGUSTING! Good thing we got that extension signed before the season started. Anyone else tired of looking for the next great thing for the last 30 YEARS? We need the passion, discipline, expertise, and fire Kirby Smart would bring. Maybe the team full of NFLers would perform then. RICHT STILL NEEDS TO GO
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:35 am
hey i have bullpup clothes free to a bad home they will make great grease rags!!!!!
Woofy One
October 7th, 2012
9:35 am
We played poorly. Get ready for next week and do not focus on the past. We need to step back up on all levels.
DT
October 7th, 2012
9:36 am
The difference in last night’s games and previous television appearances, professional sports commentators were there last night. CBS and Gary Danielson are always making excuses. Like they are reading a UGA press release. These ESPN commentators just called it like it was. Thank you, ESPN, for being professional and providing quality feedback.
robertussen
October 7th, 2012
9:36 am
we suck. and are the 3rd best team in the east
Maxwell the free-range chihuahua
October 7th, 2012
9:36 am
Don’t worry dawg fans, your top 5 defensive players, are probably now practicing jumping up and down and prancing after a big hit late in a blowout win versus Kentucky.
Tampa Gator
October 7th, 2012
9:37 am
It was loud in THE SWAMP yesterday……very….very…..very….very…..LOUD!!!!! The Swamp is back…..
To all you Georgia fans…..who have quit on your team and blasting your players and coaches……Georgia can still win the SEC East and play for the SEC title…..if the Georgia players do not have the same “I quit” and “fire everyone” approach that so many of you have. But most of you will jump right back on the bandwagon if the Dawgs win their next game.
hit a single
October 7th, 2012
9:37 am
Where can we find another David Pollock, the last UGA player to play with the heart that is needed?
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:37 am
ole miss look out you are next
Dawg Tired
October 7th, 2012
9:38 am
Mark – I for one, have no desire to see this team somehow luck out and win the east only to be humiliated on national TV by Bama, a real football team. It is time to put an end to this charade. Clean house; start over; be willing to wait the 3 to 6 years it takes to fix a program in such a mess. If CMR was really the fine man I always thought he was, he would resign, especially if he really cares about the University of Georgia. He has proven by his actions that he is like most of the rest of us, more concerned about himself than others.
Vance
October 7th, 2012
9:38 am
There is no question that this loss comes down to coaching. I think Richt has tried everything he can to give us a championship team. He brought in Grantham and has recruited. The players have worked hard. This finally comes down to being outcoached. He’s a good man and sets a good example; however, I believe the Dawg nation will lose its patience now that we know he cannot produce the big game victories, especially against Spurrier. It’s just so sad.
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:39 am
joker phillips will save his job next week in lexington …im just saying
Arcibald Hole Broke
October 7th, 2012
9:40 am
hope you flea bags enjoyed your beat down
Tommy
October 7th, 2012
9:40 am
Cheer up, Mark. At least UGA got hammered by a bad ass top ten SEC team. You could be an FSU fan, beaten by an unranked ACC team wearing pink socks.
Big D
October 7th, 2012
9:40 am
One of the few times I have agreed with one of Marks columns. The fall wouldn’t be so bad if the expectations were more realistic. It begins with recruiting. Georgia recruits good players and one or two great players. The AJC exagerates the quality of the recruiting class. Dawg fans think the team is stocked with great players when it is not. Most teams that Georgia schedules have lesser quality players but the top teams have better atheletes than Georgia and it shows on the field year after year after year. Improve the recruiting and the record will improve as well.
Honey Boo Boo
October 7th, 2012
9:41 am
Don’t worry Dawg fans, I will represent this state with pride. Honey Boo Boo style!!!!!!!
RNB
October 7th, 2012
9:41 am
Here is Greg McGarity’s email use it Dawg fans. I am convinced we will never compete with the big name coaches. We need to get Petrino before Tennessee does.
hit a single
October 7th, 2012
9:41 am
Boy, you got to give alot of credit to the SC crowd. You talk about intimidated!
RNB
October 7th, 2012
9:41 am
ad@sports.uga.edu
wastedyears
October 7th, 2012
9:42 am
can we just phone in the jax game just tell them were not feeling well