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
1lovefalcons20
November 22nd, 2012
10:50 am
overated why does the ajc give this man st riieht sso much credit they have beat ony 1 team the rest were cupcakes…ALABAMA52 GA 3
Pete
November 22nd, 2012
10:52 am
I’m a DAWG fan, but the schedule this year was a tremendous benefit to UGA. I just don’t see us being the #3 team. I suspect Bama will beat us by double digits. Richt has been coach for 10 years. Look what Saban has done in less time than that. Richt is a good coach, but not a great one. I just don’t see us winning a nationai championship with him as head coach. I really hope I’m wrong.
Dawg Talk
November 22nd, 2012
10:55 am
Cry a Yellow Jacket Ribbon around the Old Oak Tree…….Lol! Happy Thanksgiving to all of DAWG NATION !!!
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)
November 22nd, 2012
11:01 am
@ ATLIEN:
You can BITCH for the rest of your life about CMR but just rest assured that he will be there AS LONG AS HE LIKES!!!!!!!!!!
The huge majority of Dawg Nation is HAPPY with CMR(Especially those with greater than Single Digit
IQs) so you may as well get used to having CMR around or “Flip” your commitment to another team!!!!!!!
MAY I SUGGEST AUBURN???????
The most wonderful part is GOD loves CMR and you better be careful saying such derogatory things about CMR. You and your ilk would jumping around like Grasshoppers on a hot griddle trying to dodge those lightning bolts!!!!!!!!!
Dawg Talk
November 22nd, 2012
11:03 am
Pete….No need to try & pin everything on CMR, afterall, it is his job to get you in a position to win & at some point the players have to execute. Was it CMR’s fault last year in the 1st half of the SEC Title game when 3 GA receiver’s dropped TD passes from Murray & UGA had to settle for field goals? CMR winning percentage is .748, the top 5 in the nation & you say, he is not a great coach? Who should we get then as a coach….& ball catcher, who will do both in the “Big games?”
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)
November 22nd, 2012
11:06 am
@ Pete:
Just “FLIP” your commitment to Saban and Company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please understand that CMR has a better won/loss record than Saban and this is CMR’s 12th year as UGA HC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)
November 22nd, 2012
11:12 am
@ Dawg Talk(11:03 am post)
EXCELLENT POST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best post of the day but keep in mind that you are dealing with some on here that think all you got to do is wave that wand and “NC here we come” but you can expect such from Single Digit IQs and Santa Claus believers
MT
November 22nd, 2012
11:24 am
1lovefalcons20
overated why does the ajc give this man st riieht sso much credit they have beat ony 1 team the rest were cupcakes…
Kinda like the Falcons eh.. One superbowl loss in how many years of existence? since 1966. Smith only had to win 40 or so games to be the winnest falcon coach ever. Gez
MT
November 22nd, 2012
11:32 am
Richt is a good coach, but not a great one. I just don’t see us winning a nationai championship with him as head coach.
Hey I.m not a Richt koolaide drinker, that he can have the job as long as he wants no matter what he does,but dude cut the man some slack right now, at least he has us on the cusp, get behind him wholeheartly and support him and hope the dawgs can do it for UGA and the Dawg Nation.I think if you call yourself a Georgia Bulldog we owe him that much now. Go Dawgs!
Dawg Talk
November 22nd, 2012
11:33 am
Brainiac……..Well said!!!!!! No matter what anyone says or anything else, CMR has coached his players into a position that alot of teams would love to be in, now it’s time for the UGA players to put-up or shut-up. You want a NC, then go get it! No excuses, go get it! UGA players know everyone thinks that the Tide is going to beat them, they also thought the same way about Texas A&M. I think this is exactly the kind of motivation that UGA use to win the SEC & let the world know, we are great too! It’s not like a CMR Team has not beaten Saban Team before (in Tuscaloosa), so we will see who wants to prove what!
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(CMR fan for life)
November 22nd, 2012
11:33 am
@ Wet Willie:
Glad to have you back after quite a few days of silence!!!!!!!!!!!
Bammy fans(half-a$$ Bammy fans like you and Whiskey Breath) have apparently had “Computer Problems” since the Texas A&M game!!!!!!!!!! Hope it is fixed!!!!!!
Don’t let it bother you all that much. Kinda like the USCe/UGA game!!!!!!!!!!! Sh _ _ happens but it doesn’t have as much impact when one hasn’t been running off at the mouth like you and your ilk. It is great to see the REAL Bammy fans come on here with class but you and your ilk survive by extolling how unbeatable Bammy is playing and recruiting and how dreadful and hopeless UGA is while having no idea your rug could be jerked from under you at most any time. Nobody wins ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We at UGA are having a little success recently but common sense tells me it could blow up most anytime and I won’t have to hide from others on here because, unlike you and your ilk, my mouth wasn’t writing checks my a$$ couldn’t cash but hang in there Sunshine. GOD and Brainiac loves your miserable a$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 22nd, 2012
11:57 am
He’s at the wrong house.
skeptic
November 22nd, 2012
12:24 pm
Wrong. Great teams don’t lose 35-7 and certainly don’t struggle to beat buffalo and kentucky.
Keep trying to spin it Bradley. You’ll come back to reality when bama wins something like 34-17
ATLIEN
November 22nd, 2012
12:33 pm
Brainiac 6-15 against ranked teams. Forget talking about national titles. He doesn’t beat good competition enough given UGAs consistent level of top tier talent you Mark Richt loving stupid bootlicking LOSER!!!
You should really change your handle b/c brainiac doesn’t fit at all. You don’t even have basic comprehension skills.
dawginduluth
November 22nd, 2012
12:47 pm
I’ve always said no NC with Richt. Never.
I hope he proves me wrong.
MT
November 22nd, 2012
2:26 pm
skeptic
Ever heard of some teams getting bettter as the season goes on. If you hate all things Georgia what the hell you doing here?
Cdpridg
November 22nd, 2012
2:44 pm
Atlien…keep it low…its Thanksgiving…hopefully there is something you are thankful for in your life….
gt75
November 22nd, 2012
4:32 pm
Destroyed by a decent SC team, given the game by a self destructing mediocre Fl team, played a bunch of other bums and expect to be national champions? I haven’t seen a team with a weaker schedule than the BYU national champs or the Boise teams that UGA fans always say are undeserving of a national championship. Let’s hope GT can expose them, if not surely Al will.
TJ
November 22nd, 2012
5:16 pm
Dawgs need to beat gnats like they own them…which they do.
TJ
November 22nd, 2012
5:17 pm
gt75…spoken like a true loser.
whatfor
November 22nd, 2012
5:57 pm
Mr. Bradley – I believe you wrote a very similar article about the “verge of greatness” that Mark Richt and UGA was headed about 9 years ago. But once again – who has UGA REALLY played this year??? What are the combined SEC records of KY, TN, Aub, MO, and Ole Miss (all of hum GA played)????
Is it like 4-31?? WOW – 4 and 31. on 5 of UGA wins – and then there is Buffalo, Georgia Southern, and Florida Atlantic – that right there is 8 of UGA games – all against LOSERS.
And then there is SC – wow kicked your arsess – and then there is FL wow is vastly overrated – which FSU will prove.
So – I ask once again – WOW has UGA REALLY beat of any significants?? One game – Florida – which is, once again overrated.
Bad Dawg
November 22nd, 2012
6:00 pm
And what quality teams has Bama played in the SEC? LSU, who they barely beat, and A&M, who beat them at home. For all the talk about UGA not meeting the top three of the SEC West, the Tide managed to avoid 10-1 UGA, 10-1 Florida, and 9-2 South Carolina, the top three of the SEC East. Seems to me they got a little lucky, too.
kingdaddy
November 22nd, 2012
6:51 pm
I wonder if Middle Tn. St. could expose us???
KilroyDawg
November 22nd, 2012
7:06 pm
@gt75
Okay, if we were upset by Tech and beaten by Bama, then yes maybe we are overrated. But what you say when UGA handles Tech easily and then takes care of Business by beating Bama in SEC Championship. Will you eat your words and acknowledge that this team has gotten better as the year went on and is deserving!
GO DAWGS!!
beebee
November 22nd, 2012
7:12 pm
GT Bob is busy with Thanksgiving!
He asked me to tell all you fine Georgia fans to have a GREAT Thanksgiving.
He will be back bashing the Dogs, as well as I, next week!
Gene
November 22nd, 2012
8:48 pm
Alabama will slam that door.g
C'mon-man
November 22nd, 2012
8:59 pm
Yes, the dawgs have ARRIVED baby! We have made it and it feels so good. Gonna roll Bama
Discount DoubleDawg
November 22nd, 2012
8:59 pm
like they did with A&M?
zbulldawg
November 22nd, 2012
9:19 pm
LET THE BIG DAWG EAT
Boring to yawn
November 22nd, 2012
9:23 pm
Yawn…you are boring…sigh….GA 41 Tech 14
Now…onto basics….Alabama is vulnerable…no question about it. After GA beats Tech, once again (oh, yeah…let’s not forget…P Johnson has lost 3 straight to GA-DAWGS…this will be the 4th straight)…Alabama appears vulnerable. GA is right now, at #3 in the country. Alabama should, not necessarily will, but should be Auburn….
Next..GA plays Alabama…#3 vs #2…and Notre Dame should beat USC. ND should end up in the Sugar Bowl…playing, possibly GA..and the last time they played? GA vs ND? The year of GA’s only national championship led by HW…and won 14-10…
Hmmm, looks like a repeat of something here…who knows?
Georgia could win…that one …and get National Champtionship recognition…
GOOOOOO, Dawgs!
Somebody has got so say it
November 22nd, 2012
9:23 pm
Comparing Murray to Johnni Manziel is just ludricrous. Murray gets pressure, he throws picks, Manziel gets pressure he runs for Touchdowns. Murray is not the big game players he pretends to be.
dawgfan
November 22nd, 2012
10:51 pm
Tech fans have never had any problem padding the W column against ACC cupcakes week in and week out, but if Georgia isn’t playing top 10 teams every week we are clearly overrated and not worthy of any positive commentary whatsoever. Its been this same song and dance for years out of these clowns. Pleases don’t waste your time arguing with a brick wall. It gets you nowhere.
Thanks
Played much?
November 23rd, 2012
12:00 am
Have any of you ‘we played poorly vs Buffalo and Ky so we are overrated’ types ever play any sport at all? Teams start slow and get better throughout the year all the time, and as a coach that’s what you want. You don’t want to peak early. If you want to be a Dawg fan, be a Dawg fan. Stop with the
fair weather fan stuff, you sound like th
Played much?
November 23rd, 2012
12:03 am
to finish…y’all sound like the Bama fans during the Shula years who now tell us ‘I’ve always been a Bama fan’ when back then they were wearing Auburn t shirts. Be a fan, or get off the bus!
Under The Bleachers
November 23rd, 2012
12:04 am
One would say at this point due to the history of the UGA/Richt-Donnan-Goff -Dooley era the more correct word is OVERRATED.
This is not to dismiss UGA but to place it in context of where it finishes based on pre-season, recruiting rankings. As well as the extraordinary amount of talent that has played at UGA to never win it all since 1980.
Ty
November 23rd, 2012
12:58 am
I will be thanking Georgia Tech this Saturday for giving my Dawgs a potential bid to the national title game.
Donald
November 23rd, 2012
3:01 am
@ Chris S,
“The rationale was actually that a team that didn’t play in its conference championship shouldn’t be able to play for title. The not-winning-your-conference objection had been blown up some time earlier.”
Alabama did not play in the conference championship last year either. Truth is, Alabama got a pass for the same thing Georgia got penalized for. Alabama justified it by winning the title but I felt Georgia or any other team in the top 5 could have easily beaten Ohio State that year. They chose to knock us down to 5th in spite playing lights out football the last two months of the season to make way for LSU that had lost just two weeks before that.
Rudy's Back!!!!!
November 23rd, 2012
3:19 am
The DOGS will choke again as they always do. Notre Dame will kick the SEC’s BUTTS!!!! The IRISH are back!!!!! Get over it!!!!
South Carolina DAWGS
November 23rd, 2012
3:38 am
Great article Mark – this is why you are the BEST
harleyman
November 23rd, 2012
6:52 am
You people kill me acting like every team that ever won a national championship was some juggernaut that rolled through the toughest schedule in college football. Especially the one’s like Old Dog Class of 80 who obviously didn’t see that team escape a few close calls against some unranked opponents, then beat a # 7 Notre Dame team. I was there, saw every game, and the only juggernaut on that team was Herschel Walker. Give this team and CMR some of their due. I really don’t see any other team in the top ten that deserves to be in this position more than the top three as it stands. Remember, it’s as much not if you lose, but when you lose. So if your a DAWG fan, sit back and enjoy the ride. GO DAWGS!
LET THE BIG DAWG EAT
November 23rd, 2012
7:13 am
To all who wanted to fire Richt !!!!!!!!!! Who do you replace him with . I have said this all along .Bear, Dooley,Pat Dye, All had loosin season’s.Kirk Herbstriet bad mouth Richt during the USC loss our D shut them out for twoo qaurters it wasnt as bad as he made it sound. Don’t no what team everybody thinks Alabama is this year . DAWGS ROLL THE TIDE THEN THUMP NOTRE DAME AND WE GET TO WATCH LOU CRY AND SPIT EVERYWERE .HOPE MAYDAY SLAPS HIM. GO DAWGS!!!!
juice sourcer
November 23rd, 2012
7:19 am
Play an absurd cupcake schedule and any team will be 2 games from knocking on greatness.
you can't fix stupid or Democrats or bulldogs
November 23rd, 2012
7:42 am
Drinking the Koolaid again MB and dawg fans…….UGA had to have six turnovers and one “save” the game at the end. UGA is way, way over rated…..
ryan p
November 23rd, 2012
7:45 am
Greatness? No. Softest schedule in uga history? Possibly. Especially in the bcs era. Great teams don’t get blown out by 28. Do you ever see bama or lsu in contention for a nc lose that bad? Noooo
All this will be proven when ga plays bama. murray will choke as he always does.
Buckeye
November 23rd, 2012
7:55 am
Morning dogs,
Any tom brown sitings?
SEC: Arkansas hoping to end bad season on a sweet note | John Clay's Sidelines
November 23rd, 2012
8:17 am
[...] Mark Richt is right, says Mark Bradley of AJC. [...]
Escaped from Email Purgatory
November 23rd, 2012
8:18 am
“Twelve years on the job, Richt finally has Georgia in position to play for a national championship…”
Or stated another way, one victory over a ranked opponent, coupled with the softest 2012 schedule of any SEC team, combined with losses incurred over the last month of the season by half of the six teams in front of you in the polls who were playing tough opponents…..
…and UGA has a chance to play for a national championship.
Bradley, you’re giving Richt way too much credit for where UGA sits right now. Most of what has placed the team he coaches in the position they now occupy was totally out of his control.
And anchoring your premise by leapfrogging ‘Bama to place UGA in the promised land is downright dishonest.
It’s the softest of soft schedules and events totally outside UGA’s control. Richt has had very little to do with where UGA now sits.
harleyman
November 23rd, 2012
8:36 am
And the talking heads continue……….
FAtDOg
November 23rd, 2012
8:40 am
Saban will leave alabama soon for an nfl job–when he does, Richt/UGA will dominate the SEC for years. Look for a BCS title run in 2013-14 with all the 5 star talent Richt has built at UGA! Mark this down–Dogs upset Alabama and will beat Notre Dame!
whiskey breath
November 23rd, 2012
8:45 am
I don’ t blame you Mark for wanting to get rid of WB. When you are sucking up to the Ga fans and Richt, WB just might slow down the slobbering.