Richt was right: UGA is ‘knocking on the door’ of greatness
Noted critic Mark Richt gave Georgia's clinching of the SEC East two thumbs up. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Mark Richt called this shot. Speaking in Tampa on the first day of 2012, he said of his Georgia Bulldogs: ““We’re going to be knocking on the door of the greatest success you can have in college football, and if you knock long enough, you’ll eventually break through.”
Some folks tittered, noting that Georgia had just lost the SEC championship game by 32 points. A day later, when the Bulldogs (and Richt, too) messed up every which way in blowing the Outback Bowl to Michigan State, the tee-hees became hardy-har-hars. A team that had gone 0-4 against ranked opponents would go on to achieve “the greatest success you can have in college football”? Dream on, brother.
Eleven months later, the dreamer awakes and smells a heady blend of coffee. If the Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech on Saturday, they will stand on the cusp of the BCS title game. Granted, they’ll face a massive impediment in Alabama (presuming it beats Auburn, which it will), but still: For the first time since Richt took up residence in Athens, his team has a clear path to the national championship. Which only lends greater resonance to the second half of that January pronouncement: “If you knock long enough, you’ll eventually break through.”
In 2002, when the Bulldogs went 13-1 and took the school’s first SEC title in two decades in Year 2 under Richt, a BCS title seemed this reborn program’s manifest destiny. But LSU beat Georgia twice in 2003, and Tennessee upset the Bulldogs in Athens the next year, and Georgia’s 2005 SEC champs had two losses in a year when being undefeated wouldn’t have been enough, what with USC and Texas, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, staying unbeaten until they met in the Rose Bowl.
Manifest destiny hadn’t yet manifested itself, and after a decade on the job it wasn’t clear that Richt would take a team beyond an SEC championship. Which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but when five different SEC schools were taking BCS titles while Georgia was stuck on 1980, it was possible to ask if Richt’s moment had passed without ever arriving.
Twice his teams had come close. The once-beaten 2002 Bulldogs finished third in the BCS standings, behind unbeatens Miami and Ohio State. In 2007 Georgia stood fourth in the penultimate BCS rankings and saw No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia lose … but somehow the Bulldogs dropped to fifth. The voters’ apparent rationale: A team that didn’t win its conference shouldn’t be allowed to play for the national title. (Not that it stopped Alabama last season.)
The 2008 Bulldogs of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno and A.J. Green were ranked No. 1 in preseason but got little right. A slew of summer arrests left Georgia reeling before the team held its first practice, and the bubble burst on an awful night in Sanford Stadium that saw Alabama lead 31-0 at the half. That team would lose only three games, but they were epic failures: The drubbing by Alabama, the 49-10 flop against national-champ-to-be Florida and Richt’s only loss to Georgia Tech, a 45-42 game the Bulldogs led 28-12 at halftime.
The next two years were a clear retreat. Georgia went 8-5 , then 6-7. The program that once could beat anyone anywhere closed 2010 by losing to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl on a day the Bulldogs couldn’t manage a touchdown. The 2011 season began with losses to Boise State and South Carolina, and there was no guarantee Richt would be coaching this team in 2012. But Georgia started winning and, benefiting from a soft schedule, claimed the SEC East. Then it lost emphatically to LSU and egregiously to Michigan State, and it was hard to know what to think. Were the Bulldogs back? Or had they just gotten lucky?
Even this season, there were times we wondered. The 35-7 loss at South Carolina was one of the worst performances by any Richt team, and the halting victory at Kentucky wasn’t much better. But then Georgia went to Jacksonville and upset its nemesis, and everything changed. For the first time since 2007, this coach and this program had won a game against an opponent of consequence, and today the Bulldogs are 10-1, ranked No. 3 in the BCS standings with a date against No. 2 surely upcoming.
Twelve years on the job, Richt finally has Georgia in position to play for a national championship. All it has to do is win these next two games. Asked Wednesday on the SEC conference call how it felt not to need any outside assistance, Richt ducked the question: “I’m not going to make a comment on it. I’m focused on trying to beat Georgia Tech.”
It’s possible Georgia could lose to Tech, and the Bulldogs will be an underdog against Alabama. But even if this season doesn’t end with the Bulldogs hoisting the crystal trophy, the dreamer has already been proved a prophet. His team is indeed knocking on a door that has been closed to Georgia for three decades. His team is three games from glory.
By Mark Bradley
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441 comments Add your comment
Wutehvah
November 21st, 2012
7:06 pm
This page 3 gem sums it up:
David C- your Stupid!
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
7:06 pm
Noley- if you are in a job where you get ‘bonuses’ I promise you can take your yearly income add 1 digit to it and that is where I am… what an ignorant little man. C’mon little guy, be tough with your next response you can do it.
Go Dawgs!
Buzziswiser
November 21st, 2012
7:07 pm
UGA’s position at the moment is only a function of their weak schedule. Only two quality wins, UF and Vandy. VANDY! My how things have changed. GT would be a third, but marginal. You have to go down to FSU to find someone with a weaker schedule. You cannot control the conference schedule or the GT game, but to play 2 patsies on top of GSU, is a blatant dodge.
ND, ALA, ORG, KSU and even UF and LSU should all be ranked higher, leaving UGA about #7-9 with Stanford and OU.
All Saints
November 21st, 2012
7:08 pm
In tribute to our beloved martyred Saint Jan Kemp, let’s all bow our heads for a few moments of silent prayer. Thirty years ago, this courageous young lady risked everything to expose the corruption and academic fraud instigated by Vince Dooley, sleazy practices that continue to this day under Mark Richt. Gone but never forgotten, Saint Jan lives on in our hearts and minds as a guiding inspiration and as a symbol of resistance to the pervasive evil and corruption that dwell in Athens.
And now, let us all pray for Saint Jan…
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Thank you, you may now resume your normal activities.
Rooty Tooty
November 21st, 2012
7:08 pm
Com on, UGA is playing the softess schedule made up. They have not played the 4 best teams in the SEC West. Other than SC, who have they played. Fla is lucky to be where they are. GT is certainly not a great team. We’ll see how great they are in 2 weeks, maybe one week…
UGA is an average-good team
November 21st, 2012
7:11 pm
Pleeeessse! Uga beat Florida. Period.
Noley Noley Noley
November 21st, 2012
7:13 pm
SEC East
Florida
UGA
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
VT
North Carolina
Tennessee
Auburn
Miss St
West
Alabama
LSU
A&M
Ole Miss
FSU
Clemson
N C State
GT
Arkansas
Missouri
9 Division Games
2 or 3 cross division games
SEC Semifinals East 1 plays West 2 , West 1 plays East 2
SEC Championship
Beast from the East
November 21st, 2012
7:14 pm
November 21st, 2012
7:03 pm
Beast from the East
November 21st, 2012
6:59 pm
Well, it appears we have a clown sighting. Welcome to the blog, Noley, Noley, Noley. Did you graduate from FSU? If so, what circus are you currently working for?
UF fans are so funny….the suffering will continue this saturday….
———————-
No suffering here. Anymore wins will just be gravy. I expected us to be 8-4 this season so it has been fantastic. Any semblance of an offense and you Semis are toast. But hey, you still have a shot at winning the Almost College Conference and you get to play the Big Easy champ in the Orange Bowl. I’m sure y’all will fare much better than Clemson did. You know, keeping your opponent under 70 points.
AntoineFord
November 21st, 2012
7:20 pm
There’s just one thing between the bulldogs and greatness — heart. Once they get behind, it’s over. I saw it in Columbia. It’s easy to break that team’s spirit.
Noley Noley Noley
November 21st, 2012
7:20 pm
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
7:06 pm
Noley- if you are in a job where you get ‘bonuses’ I promise you can take your yearly income add 1 digit to it and that is where I am… what an ignorant little man. C’mon little guy, be tough with your next response you can do it.
Go Dawgs!
Unless you are in the Financial Business as I am then you have no clue. Add all the 1’s or 0’s to your checks, your bank account, it does not add up unless you are overcharging your customers.
One did not know that the Garbage business was so good, unless you are in the recycling business and so if you are please stop taking all that stolen copper from hard workng people.
Noley Noley Noley
November 21st, 2012
7:23 pm
Beast,
We can compare notes on Saturday afternoon, good luck to your gators, just do not see UF scoring enough points to win a game where we can score on that good Gator defense, and I have no doubt they are good, just not that good to stop us.
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)(J Jones for Heisman)
November 21st, 2012
7:24 pm
@ Discount Double Dawg:(3:01 pm post)
Congratulations on the BEST POST OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DDD = DGD
MT
November 21st, 2012
7:25 pm
Greatness Ha! Just don’t embarass the SEC in the Capital One Bowl.
Roll Tide!
Maybe it might be you Gumps in the Cap one Bowl. Go Dawgs!
F. Sinkwich
November 21st, 2012
7:26 pm
Buzz is a dink.
Bugs will never, ever achieve what UGA has this year with that loser coach and his academy offense playing in a minor league conference in front of a few thousand “fans” who only showed up because the Art Festival signs were misdirected.
Pathetic.
Bjohndawg
November 21st, 2012
7:26 pm
There are NO great teams this year
notre dame- strong on defense, weak offense
Alabama – offense above average defense weak on the pass
Georgia-the dr.Jekyll of 2013..which team shows up the egg layers against
Carolina and kentucky or the team that beat Florida if they put it together can play lights out both side of the ball. Or the can self distruct or play soft
Florida- strong defense- non existing offense
fsu- the acc version of uga
lsu- the west version of uga
Oregon- cannot close the deal, defense is average at best
Kansas state- Baylor dominated both sides of the line .soft up the middle
south Carolina- open to the long ball and do their consistent two hairballs a season act
just to few weapons on offense
Clemson offense strong-average defense
Texas am- explosive offense average defense
Ohio state- on probation but if not ot at purdue and Wisconsin
again NO great teams this year, just some good ones
again there are no great teams this year
anyone
Discount DoubleDoosh
November 21st, 2012
7:26 pm
What up rubes??
Some Saint
November 21st, 2012
7:26 pm
Give it a rest for crying out loud.
Good luck to both teams. I hope there are no serious injuries and it’s a competitive game.
Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the game Saturday. God’s blessings to all.
Noley Noley Noley
November 21st, 2012
7:29 pm
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
3:01 pm
I just love the opportunity we have right now… As a realistic Dawg fan who understands there are so many more important things in life other than football, I am happy with Richt and our program. If Richt averages 10 wins (with the occasional great -13 win- and poor -6 win season) I am more than ok with that. The obsessed bama fan on the other hand ‘would not tolerate’ such things. Give me a break. I love that we have the opportunity to make it to the national championship game. If we make it, great! If not, we will live to fight another day.
You must have either great employees, or sorry employees with an attitude like that in business.
F. Sinkwich
November 21st, 2012
7:29 pm
“Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the game Saturday. God’s blessings to all.”
Sez you.
Roy
November 21st, 2012
7:32 pm
State Power Rankings:
1. Georgia
2. Georgia Southern
3. Georgia State
4. Tucker High School
5. Mays High School
6. Buford High School
7. Grady High School
8. St. Mary’s High School
9. Cedar Shoals High School
10. Georgia Tech
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
7:32 pm
I have great employees and Inc. magazine agrees…
Noley Noley Noley
November 21st, 2012
7:35 pm
Happy Thanksgiving ALL! Be Safe and Enjoy your time with Family and Friends.
Just having fun with everyone…do not take anything I said personal..just joking around and pulling some of your chains to get you fired up.
Good Luck!
Roy
November 21st, 2012
7:36 pm
You know, I can see why Tech fans are always on the UGA board and site…there is NO coverage on games over on theirs. NONE. They have nothing to read so they come over on our site which has something new almost everyday.
MT
November 21st, 2012
7:36 pm
Rooty Tooty
Moron,
Georgia didn’t make up their SEC schedule. The non division oppenents are rotated except for Auburn.
Works that way for every SEC team. Not the Dawgs fault Tennessee and Missouri are not very good this year. Funny no one says anything about Florida not playing Bama this year,even more funny is none of you schedule Guru’s said anything about Georgia in 08 when we had Bama, LSU Florida,Arizona St. Auburn and Tech. Ranked by several publications as the most difficult in the nations that year.
What do you expect?
November 21st, 2012
7:37 pm
We will know more in two weeks. As of now, UGA has not played a very difficult schedule as the only tough teams they’ve played were UF (win) and South Carolina (blowout loss). Not much material to go on, they could lose the next two or win the next two. Then we’ll know.
They can’t hold a candle to the 2002 team, that team was just unlucky to have had such a great year when two teams ahead of them (one, the Miami Hurricanes, in the middle of a 34 game win streak) were undefeated. That doesn’t happen that often. UGA fans have never given the 2002 team the credit it deserved as it didn’t win the national title (they would have destroyed the 1980 Bulldogs).
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)(J Jones for Heisman)
November 21st, 2012
7:39 pm
@ All Saints:
There may be a BIGGER FOOL out there somewhere but until such is identified, you are No. 1 !!!!!!!!!
There are few, if any, men that rival CMR as a great human being and either you already know that or
you are so full of hate it clouds your brain………………if, in fact, you have one( Likely you are also the King of the Single Digit IQ club). UGA is second to none in running a squeaky clean program and will continue as such so long as CMR is the UGA HC. Fortunately he will be there AS LONG AS HE LIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
7:39 pm
Noley- same here… a little back and forth is ok every now and then… Happy Thanksgiving!
curious- what are your honest thoughts of the UF/FSU game? do you feel like it will be close or will FSU will take it easily? I don’t see the UF offense bringing enough to the table…
MT
November 21st, 2012
7:41 pm
Roy
Where is Camden County at? I know they rank ahead of Tech.
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)(J Jones for Heisman)
November 21st, 2012
7:43 pm
@ What do you expect:
Check the records dumba$$!!!!!!!!
No UGA team that Herschel Walker played on would be “blown out” by ANY TEAM you dredge up but thanks for playing along!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roy
November 21st, 2012
7:43 pm
Enjoy the Sun Bowl Tech!
DinoE
November 21st, 2012
7:48 pm
Mark this down—Ga will blow out tech and upset alabama for the SEC title and a BCS title slot. Ga beats Notre Dame by 10—book it. These dogs are the real deal. Alabama will not be able to handle the Ga D. Ga 27 alabama 16!
MT
November 21st, 2012
7:51 pm
In tribute to our beloved martyred Saint Jan Kemp…..Thirty years ago, this courageous young lady risked everything to expose the corruption and academic fraud instigated by Vince Dooley,
Just imagine what she could have accomphlished if she had been at Tech.
SEC Fan
November 21st, 2012
7:51 pm
Get real people. Georgia didn’t play for the NC in 2007 because they simply weren’t good enough. It’s really just that simple. They might be good enough this year. Time will tell.
Skeptic
November 21st, 2012
7:53 pm
I guarantee, come Sunday morning, that
- unless you won a bet on the UG-GT game, you will not have one more $ in your pocket
- whoever wins or loses, all this “we” which you folks refer to in regards to taking names, kicking butts, etc, will not involve any of you
- if the power goes out permanently, none of you will be able to feed yourself.
Rick James
November 21st, 2012
7:54 pm
@Buzziswiser
UGA’s position at the moment is only a function of their weak schedule. Only two quality wins, UF and Vandy. VANDY! My how things have changed. GT would be a third, but marginal. You have to go down to FSU to find someone with a weaker schedule. You cannot control the conference schedule or the GT game, but to play 2 patsies on top of GSU, is a blatant dodge.
ND, ALA, ORG, KSU and even UF and LSU should all be ranked higher, leaving UGA about #7-9 with Stanford and OU.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
People that root for teams that play in the ACC should never whine about any other team playing a weak schedule..Your entire conference weak!! Georgia did what they were supposed to do which was beat who they played and not lose to any team on the level of Middle Tennese St or BYU..
MT
November 21st, 2012
7:55 pm
I don’t pull for Florida against anybody, Go Noles.If we can’t get there I certainly don’t won’t the Gators
playing for the NC.
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
7:57 pm
SEC fan, if you believe that, I guess that’s ok as you are entitled to your opinion. Herbstreit and many others believed that no one was playing better than the dawgs at the end of that season. No one… If you are saying we didn’t deserve to play for the national title because of the system we play in you are correct. If you are saying the dawgs were not good enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone in college football at the end of the season you are alone in your assessment.
SEC Fan
November 21st, 2012
7:58 pm
@Rick James
That’s true, but Georgia hasn’t proven much yet. One sloppy win against an erratic Florida team isn’t a very thick resume. Vandy doesn’t count for squat — I don’t care if they are going to a bowl game. So is Duke.
short memories
November 21st, 2012
7:58 pm
When Georgia beat Florida it was the first top ten team in years. The only way it happened was that Florida played a worse game than Murray. One win over a decent team in a patsy schedule and everyone gets giddy. Lets see if for once Richt can finish the drill.
SEC Fan
November 21st, 2012
8:01 pm
@Discount DoubleDawg
I thought I made it pretty plain. They weren’t good enough to be ranked #2. I know you’re biased, and I understand that. Still…
MT
November 21st, 2012
8:01 pm
Georgia didn’t play for the NC in 2007 because they simply weren’t good enough. It’s
No in 2007 the consensus was, if you didn’t win your division, or your conference, you didn’t belong in the NC, HOWEVER last year, the rules changed for the dear Bama Gumps,didn’t matter if you didn’t win your division or play for the SEC Title,who knows if the Dawgs could have won it all in 07,thats why the game is played,to find out who is the best.
MT
November 21st, 2012
8:04 pm
Herbstreit and many others believed that no one was playing better than the dawgs at the end of that season
That is exactly right.
Sloppy
November 21st, 2012
8:04 pm
FSU will beat FLorida like a rag doll in the second half, close first half but too many athletes on the Noles squad for Florida to stop
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
8:05 pm
based on what SEC fan? please make that clear… you will be unique in your ability to do so, because no one else has successfully made that agrument with facts…
SmartestFan
November 21st, 2012
8:08 pm
Will you Dawg fans see who is the Smartest Dawg Fan? Geeez. http://www.smartestbulldog.com
SEC Fan
November 21st, 2012
8:09 pm
@MT
Nonsense. LSU’s two losses in 2007 were much better quality losses than were Georgia’s, and Ohio State had only one loss. You guys are wearing rose colored glasses.
SEC Fan
November 21st, 2012
8:11 pm
Discount DoubleDawg
November 21st, 2012
8:05 pm
“based on what SEC fan?”
How about we just be realistic and base it on the BCS Polls?
DP
November 21st, 2012
8:11 pm
“The voters’ apparent rationale: A team that didn’t win its conference shouldn’t be allowed to play for the national title. (Not that it stopped Alabama last season.)”
Mark Bradley displays once again why he is an intellectually dishonest Georgia loving Alabama hating hack writer. Georgia lost 2 games in 2007, one by 25 points to a 3 loss Tennessee team. Alabama lost one game in 2011, by 3 in OT to the undefeated #1 team in the country that pounded every other team it played, and Alabama pounded every other team it played. But Bradley persists in pointing at those 2 teams as if they were equivalents, and censors (”your comment is awaiting moderation”) anybody who dares to point out how ridiculous that is.
The 2012 Georgia team has played 2 top 25 teams. In one game they were blown out by 28 (scoring a garbage time touchdown or it would have been 35-0), in the other they managed to beat Florida in a turnover filled slopfest. It was the first game they’d won against a top 10 opponent since what, 2007? They basically were sleepwalking through the first half of their season, giving up over 20 points to Buffalo and barely beating a horrible Kentucky team. And now they’re “knocking on the door of greatness”, largely because of a soft schedule?
Bradley, why not just go ahead once again and anoint Richt’s Bulldogs once again as the “standard bearers of the SEC” once again, as you ridiculously proclaimed them somewhere in the middle of all the BCS championships won by Tennessee, LSU, Florida, Alabama and Auburn. No need to show any restraint, it’s not like you could be any bigger of a Georgia homer joke than you already are.
MT
November 21st, 2012
8:12 pm
. One win over a decent team in a patsy schedule and everyone gets giddy. Lets see if for once Richt can finish the drill.
Your right,I’m not a Richt hater, he has less than a stellar record against top 25 teams,but right now
I’m staying off his case we got a shot to win it all,and that’s more important right now than bemoaning Mark Richt.This is the closest we’ve been to getting to the NC in a long time and I’m ready to see us hoist
that crystal ball,reguardless of who is the coach.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
November 21st, 2012
8:13 pm
What does UGA know about greatness? 1980….that pretty much covers it folks. Tune in again tomorrow for another segment on One is the loneliest number you will ever know. Two …not!