Five yards short: In bitter defeat, a winning Georgia effort
The final moments of a fabulous game: Chris Conley catches the ball. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
There are people who say that only championships matter, that finishing second is the same as finishing last. To those people, we say this: Go away now. Go away while we honor — and yes, that’s the proper word — as gallant a runner-up as we’ll ever see. Go away and let us speak of the Georgia Bulldogs.
They’d waited 30 years for a game this big, and they came as close as you could come to winning it without actually winning. Three times they took a lead over the mighty Alabama, and even after what should have been a crushing Tide touchdown with 3:15 remaining, even after what seemed a clinching Bama interception inside the final minute … even then, these Bulldogs found themselves with first-and-goal and time flying.
That they fell five yards short, that a tipped Aaron Murray pass for Malcolm Mitchell was caught by a falling Chris Conley and the final five seconds ticked away, cannot take away from the effort spent and the excellence displayed. The Bulldogs arrived as a underdog, but they carried the fight to the reigning national champion and they left five yards shy of the most thrilling victory — apologies to Lindsay Scott — Georgia football has ever known.
This was easily the best of the 21 SEC Championship Games, and it was one of the finest displays of collegiate football ever witnessed. “Alabama’s a great football team,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said, “and we were pretty good, too.”
Has a losing team ever had more championship-caliber men and moments? From Sanders Commings intercepting an AJ McCarron pass in the end zone to the same Commings catching a pass from tight end Arthur Lynch to convert a galvanizing fake punt; from Cornelius Washington blocking a field goal and Alec Ogletree taking the carom the distance; from the freshman back Todd Gurley pounding the midsection of the nation’s best defense to Murray taking his team downfield in the final minute … has there ever, in the long and distinguished history of Georgia football, been a prouder loss?
Alas, the Bulldogs needed 85 yards, and they could manage only 80. Are five yards sufficient reason to characterize them as losers, to suggest that this four-point loss is living proof that Richt and/or Murray can’t win the Big One? No and no, and if you’re of such a mind didn’t you hear me when I said, “Go away”?
Contrary to popular belief, not every winning effort translates to winning. Alabama was just a bit better (and much stronger up front), but the Bulldogs spurned every opportunity — and there were many — to throw up their collective hands and say, “We’ve given it a go, but this isn’t our day.” And that fighting spirit nearly turned this into the Dogs’ day after all.
“They played well, we played well, the clock ran out,” Richt said. “What are you going to say?”
It was the game for which Georgia had waited since Herschel Walker left Athens in the spring of 1983, the game Richt had waited 12 seasons to coach. It was a game to win one championship and go play for another, and there can be no dishonor in the way the day played out. Quibble with the ending if you will — should Georgia have spiked the ball before Murray’s last throw? Probably not, for Bama was clearly rattled — but you cannot fault the Bulldogs’ skill or heart or pride.
If you claim to be a Georgia fan, you cannot be disappointed with the performance — only the result. How many teams could have stood in against Alabama after the Tide ground out 350 rushing yards? Alabama is the nation’s best program and has the nation’s best coach, and with 10 seconds left there was no assurance that regal Bama would leave the Georgia Dome as the winner.
“I shook every man’s hand,” Richt said, speaking of his crestfallen Bulldogs, “and if someone had his head in his hands I rubbed his head and told him I loved him.”
If you love anything about competitive sports, anything at all, you had to love this game. “That was a great football game by both teams, and they could have won today the same as us,” said Nick Saban, the hard-driving Alabama coach. “It came down to the last play.”
That the final play on this frenzied day was made by Georgia’s opponent in no way diminishes Georgia. If anything, the Bulldogs stand ennobled after falling to Alabama in a way that they hadn’t after any victory of the past half-dozen years. They didn’t win, but they didn’t really lose. “The clock just ran out,” Richt said, and there was no better recap of these stirring events than that.
Alabama played great. Georgia played great. And then the clock ran out.
Further reading: Bama’s backs, Saban’s gaffe and a classic SEC title game.
By Mark Bradley
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1,506 comments Add your comment
Flat Tire On Hwy 441 in Athens
December 2nd, 2012
10:10 pm
what’s really G
Perspective?????
1 victory against a top 20 team in 4 years
3-16 against the top 25
2-11 vs the top 10
Last signature win in a big time game 2005 LSU
UGA ” the upper eschelon of the college football world and have been for very many years”
Wow I didnt realize that by those numbers
what's really G
December 2nd, 2012
10:23 pm
I hope you have a flat tire on MLK. Go patronize a school that’s worth having a fan like you. You want to complain but have no solutions to offer (other than crucifying coaches) and no pride for a school that has dominated the SEC East as well as it’s biggest rivals year in and year out. You can spit out statistics and cry like a little girl all you want as long as you do it somewhere else. I’m so sick of fans like you who make our program look worse. I think you were switched at birth. Your real parents were Auburn fans.
After further review
December 2nd, 2012
10:32 pm
To all the “fans” calling for Mark Richt’s head: Yes, I believe the spike would have given you a better chance at the win and the NC game berth that went with it. That having been said, a quote or to seem in order (the second one actually builds on the first).
1) “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” Ben Franklin
2) “Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” Dale Carnegie
Bill
December 2nd, 2012
10:50 pm
Waited all season to see Georgia lose in SEC title game.
Hank
December 2nd, 2012
10:52 pm
32 years is a long time to wait.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
10:57 pm
Mark – I thought that this column was very well written. To the idiots who say championship or die, I say apply that to your own life and free us from your stupidity.
Re: Spiking the ball. Richt makes a good point. You have to line up to run a play to spike the ball. If the play is already called, why should you all the DEFENSE to get set? If you have a brain use it here just this one time: What receiver is going to catch a spiked ball? Nobody. It takes exactly the same amount of time to line up to spike the ball as it does to line up a run a play. (Now the play does take longer than the spike, admittedly, but who is going to catch a spiked ball for a touchdown? Nobody.). If you don’t like what the Bulldogs did this year and you don’t like Richt, go find some other team to be miserable with. We don’t want you as a fan. Go be a Tech fan and leave us alone.
what's really G
December 2nd, 2012
10:59 pm
I second that, Mr. Ticket Holder. Go Dawgs!
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
10:59 pm
Flat tire. Karma is tough isn’t it? Even think that your flat tire was G-d telling you that you are an idiot?
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
11:03 pm
Flat fool: Re: Lasti signature win versus a good team. Uh, seems to me that Florida was a pretty good team when Georgia beat them. Maybe your flat tire wasn’t an act of G-d but was from a true Georgia fan who knows what an idiot you are.
thwuga
December 2nd, 2012
11:04 pm
hey ‘…1986′, keep up the expectations of mediocrity. it’s what has kept UGA middle of the pack and irrelevant. Please don’t every change. at least at Gt, all our programs are in great shape except for the DL on our football team. and we’ll always have our academics which UGA will never have.
thwuga
December 2nd, 2012
11:06 pm
hey ‘…1986′ where do I send my ‘keep CMR’ check. We love him.
can’t wait to see you in ATL next year without all that underutilized NFL talent and with what should be PJ’s best team since arriving.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
11:06 pm
ANY GEORGIA FAN WHO CRITICIZES MARK RICHT OR THE TEAM AFTER THIS GAME, ISN’T. Period. End of sentence. Full stop. Go cheer for somebody else. We don’t want you to be a Georgia “fan.”
thwuga
December 2nd, 2012
11:08 pm
‘…1986′, last time I checked FL had 6 turnovers and you still barely won.
what's really G
December 2nd, 2012
11:13 pm
thwuga
it’s sad and pathetic that all you can do is root against UGA. Your program is a joke. Your conference is a joke. You can’t even sell tickets at two dollars and fifty cents at your conference championship.
The academics thing is pretty good stuff too. Probably coming from someone who jumped on the management bandwagon. Go post on a Tech column….oh, wait nobody cares to read or even write those.
DAWGFanStuckInAL
December 2nd, 2012
11:21 pm
Good column, Mark. It was a great game. Georgia could have won. But the bottom line remains that Georgia just didn’t play very well in the 4th qtr. The offense couldn’t get 1st downs when they needed them, and the defense appeared to be getting tired. I hate to say it, but Bama was the better team for all 4 quarters.
Sargent Carter
December 2nd, 2012
11:26 pm
Please explain to me, like I am Gomer Pyle, not Sargent Carter…Richt wins a few SEC championships, goes to the SEC Championship last two years…and we ought to fire him? Should we can Larry Grantham also? Trade Aaron Murray and Jarvis Jones to Kentucky for players to be named later? Methinks use guys who criticise so harshly a real success story are this way with your own self and especially your unfortunate wife and kids.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
11:42 pm
Where I’m from “Non-psychotic football fan land,” we actually call those things “takeaways” and not “turnovers.” Fool.
But are you really, really sure that your BEST argument is that a team took the ball away from the Number 3 team in the countrysix times and barely won is a bad thing? You, my friend, need to go back to remedial taunting school ’cause it sure didn’t take the first time.
Nobody
December 2nd, 2012
11:46 pm
Every chance it seems Richt is about to see the door dawg nation falls in love with him all over again. This was a very young Alabama team no where close to being one of the best under Saban. This should of been Georgia’s game with a tremendous amount of talent on defense (which will be seen in the upcoming draft) and a good enough offense. This georgia team was the perfect blue print of which Alabama has used to win its last two championship and hopefully their third in the last four years. If anyone believes this Alabama defense was better than Georgia’s their wrong. The question is,is their a better coach out there than Saban? If so georgia should do what it can to get him.
Drew
December 2nd, 2012
11:47 pm
Had to work all day, didn’t see one down of the game. My first and only question concerning the game was the final score. Isn’t that all that matters? Die-hard lifelong UGA fan. Yes proud to be a Bulldog, but aren’t moral victories for losers? Win the game and write about what it took to win. Don’t care about “respect” for a hard fought loss. “Respect” comes by winning football games and playing and winning Championships. Do you think there would be similar articles written in the Birmingham papers if the Tide had lost, no matter the manner in which it happened? Go beat Nebraska and work to win this thing next year and we can let the West champion get a moral victory by hanging with us!
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 2nd, 2012
11:55 pm
Drew – I don’t believe in moral victories but there are well fought loses in sports for which the losing team is due tremendous respect. There are 125 teams in FBS. Only 1 will be a “winne”r in your definition. All the rest are losers and should go home and fire their coaches and release all their players?! Hold yourself to that same standard at your job. You win it all every single day or you should be fired and quit your profession? Wow. What a miserable life.
Nobody – Good handle. Describes you perfectly.
james boyett
December 3rd, 2012
12:09 am
As an true Alabama fan a coach myself I thought UGA’s offense played pretty well, I had them scoring 17. Defensively, pretty pathetic, But, if Rambo had intercepted that pass with his mouth it may have been different. If UGA could win talking they’d be in Miami! Alabama kept u in the game with 4-5 major blunders or ur down 17 on the last drive. When u get 113 rushing and give up 350 you usually dont win
Prometheus
December 3rd, 2012
2:19 am
Being neutral, I maintain that it would have been sad (figuratively speaking) had UGa won, given how Bama overwhelmed UGa run defense. That said, UGa has an excellent team and coach. Only a fool could argue otherwise.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 3rd, 2012
2:22 am
1. How many receivers have ever caught a spiked ball for a touchdown? Zero.
2. Why in the world if you have the defense on their heels and you already play an up tempo game, would you ever spike the ball and let the defense get organized and catch their breath? You wouldn’t.
3. Who’s to say that if Georgia had spiked the ball, the next play would not have been an interception in the end zone? We’ll never know but an organized and rested defense is much more likely to perform well.
4. How many players need to know what the play is on a fade route? Two. The quarterback and the receiver.
5. How many football players in the history of the game would have known to drop that tipped ball? Only one. Norman Cromwell of the Los Angeles Rames. He was the most knowledgeable football player about the rules of football at game speed who ever played the game. (He was the first that I ever remember having the sense to punch an on-side kick out of bounds).
6. Why on earth if you specialize in an up tempo offense and it takes exactly the same amount of time to line up and spike the ball as line up and run a play, would you not run the play?
7. What should people do if they are angry at CMR and the Dawgs for coming up five yards short? Go away and don’t call yourself a Dawg fan. We don’t want you and we’ll have a much happier life without you. I’d much rather be rid of you than CMR. Imagine the fools on this site criticizing the number one passer in the country and the only passer to ever go over 3,000 yards in three consecutive seasons as being terrible. Just. Go. Away. Secede from Dawgnation. We don’t want you in Dawgnation.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 3rd, 2012
2:27 am
P.S. to all you CMR haters. Why don’t you stop posting on blogs, go get a job coaching and blind us all with your genuis?
Prometheus
December 3rd, 2012
2:28 am
Spiking the ball under those circumstances would in principle equate to a boxer having his opponent on the ropes and cease the pummeling in favor of waiting for bell to ring to develop a 12th round strategy.
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986
December 3rd, 2012
2:38 am
Prometheus. Not only did you do a really go thing with that “fire” or whatever you call that warm stuff that you brought down from the gods, you have nailed the spiking the ball analogy. Well done on both counts! Thank you.
trueblueeagle
December 3rd, 2012
4:35 am
UGA played a good game but lost the world will keep on turning and God is still in charge. Rebuilting next year 1/2 of starters gone to NFL and the DC.
lewisbuzzard
December 3rd, 2012
5:47 am
I have read all the comments about the poor officiating, blah, blah, blah…from the UGA folks but in reality UGA got the biggest gift of the game by the refereeing crew when they overturned the interception on UGA’s last drive. The replay rule says”indisputable video evidence” I can tell you from watching it several times from all angles there was not indisputable video evidence…yet they overturned the call on the field. Quit your whining. The best team won and UGA was fortunate their offense kept them in the game.
againstcorruption
December 3rd, 2012
6:15 am
Georgia will never win a NC with the coaches that they have, but will always win 9 or 10 games each year. They will always lose the big games and win the easy ones. This was the year that they should have won the NC because they had the best players. Want happen againg for several years because Texas A and M will win the next three NC’s.
JustMe
December 3rd, 2012
7:52 am
All you had to do was….Spike the ball. No brainer, except for those in charge.
All this other spin stuff….is BS.
JustMe
December 3rd, 2012
7:53 am
Spike the ball.
Spike the ball.
Spike the ball.
And win the game, the Conference and Play for the National Championship.
2_dawgs
December 3rd, 2012
7:58 am
Damn Good Dawgs!
Whiskey Breath
December 3rd, 2012
7:58 am
Look Mark, after the trash you Ga people said last week about Alabama, anyone has the right to stay.
But one question has to be asked. Is their an unwritten rule concerning the media that they NEVER ask
Mark Richt a negative question or suffer the consequences? All of you seem aftraid of him.
People are afraid of asking Saban negative questions, but they do anyway. You find out what kind of person a man really is, in bad times. Richt shows his real character in bad times. I have known it for years, I always wondered if I was the only one.
2_dawgs
December 3rd, 2012
7:59 am
Damn Good Dawgs !
Real DAWG FAN
December 3rd, 2012
8:31 am
I do not understand why we did not spike the ball with 15 second! and give ourseleves at least 2 shots at the end zone.
we where on the line ready to snap the ball with 15 seconds!
What happened ?
I love the effort, but sad to say it fell way short.
Real DAWG FAN
December 3rd, 2012
8:33 am
JUSTME,
I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY?
Real DAWG FAN
December 3rd, 2012
8:38 am
UGA Season Ticket Holder since 1986:
Get real dude, I do not care how long you have had tickets.
Does not make you a bigger dawg fans then anybody else.
Fact is CMR choked! Top rated passer or not should have known better.
Poor coaching at the end on basic football fundemetals
How sad
observer
December 3rd, 2012
8:48 am
UGA was lucky the game was close. Bama outmuscled UGA. Heck, this season, UGA was lucky to be there. That being said. It was UGA’s best shot for a title. To get an NC next year UGA will have to beat at least 3 ranked teams in the regular season. After that, playoffs. More ranked teams. If last few years are any indication, it’s very doubtful UGA will even get a whiff of the NC in the near future.
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
December 3rd, 2012
8:48 am
“In bitter defeat, a winning Georgia effort
HAHAHA!!!!!! Bradley gives UGA a moral victory.
Ron Burgundy
December 3rd, 2012
8:54 am
Funny how everyone was picking UGA before the game, then calls it a great game that they are taht close to such an awesome Alabama team. Johnny Football is laughing at your moral victory.
The Hammer
December 3rd, 2012
8:59 am
What happens after UGA loses to Nebraska in the Tangerine Bowl?
TechRon
December 3rd, 2012
9:15 am
Either Bama is nowhere near as good as I thought they were or UGA is a mile better than I thought they were. A noble effort by the Dawgs. I really respect what they did on Saturday. They really gutted it out down to the last man. I wish the Tech team would just watch that tape over and over. UGA was outmanned but they gave it all they had and then some. Tech, unfortunately and for some unknown reason, does not try their best. Well done, Dawgs.
No Dawg in the fight
December 3rd, 2012
9:47 am
While a native Georgian I went to a small private college and had no Dawg in this fight. From the perspective of a true neutral observer I am amazed at the vitriol and criticism being directed at Mark Richt. Some of you so called Georgia “fans” are unbelievable. That game Saturday night was an epic battle, a game that will be long considered a classic. The SEC Championship equivalent of The Thrilla in Manila. To criticize Mark Richt and his coaching staff is simply unconscionable. Mistakes were made on both sides (go back and look at the end of the 1st half, when one could argue that Saban’s poor clock management probably cost Alabama 4 pts as they had to settle for a field goal) that is what happens in the heat of battle. Both teams left it all out on the field and both coaching staffs as well as their players should be commended. From my persective Georgia just did not have the depth that Alabama had, and by the end of the game the Georgia defense was gassed. That game was essentially a fight to the death. Mohammed Ali would commend both teams and would have the God given sense to criticize neither.
Indydawg
December 3rd, 2012
9:53 am
Lot’s of people predicting demise on here today. To be clear we have nine days until the end of the world allegedly. : ) Here’s what I know:
UGA gets championship NC talent
UGA coaches have not been able to coach that talent up
UGA is sloppy-and Richt has done nothing to address it
BAMA and Saban are not sloppy this is why they win a lot of games
UGA player talent bails out these guys–the talent outshines the coaching
This shouldn’t be a shock as this is fairly similar to how Bowden coached at FSU in the 90’s
Depending on what happens in a month from now in Miami will determine how this game will be remembered. Right now, its pretty representative of Richt’s tenure good, at times great, but not good enough.
Here’s what I think I know:
UGA may have faced one of the greatest offensive lines in college football history
The exchange rate for 4 points in a big game is 2.5 million dollars comparing HC contracts (Saban to Richt)
If another school offers Richt a job, I think we should let him walk
Richt might be this generations John Cooper
Prayer is nice–talent is better, God really doesn’t care about sports because he has better things to do.
The correct call was to spike the ball
Gun control laws don’t fix people
I think we have reached the zenith with this coaching staff, we need a next level coach that has a killer instinct, that’s if we wanna run with the big boys…There is nothing inspiring about Richt
The same with Murray… hasn’t progressed at all and indicative of this staff. Lots of stats, nothing memorable.
Moral victories are for lhigh school kids and under — Close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades.
But then, I might know nothin…
DawgsDrool
December 3rd, 2012
10:03 am
UGA didn’t even deserve to represent the East, glad they lost.
William Eugene Jessup (J.D. 1977)
December 3rd, 2012
10:06 am
Thanks, Mark, for a fine tribute to a wonderful team. I have been a Bulldog supporter all of my life, and I have been fortunate to have season tickets since 1977. I have never been more proud of my team. It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.
Old S Ga Dawg
December 3rd, 2012
10:06 am
Yes we all wanted to win
Yes I think a spike would have been the call that was missed for what ever reason
Yes I think we got screwed by one ref in particular at least three times that I can remember
Yes I’m extremely proud of our team, the way they played their hearts and guts out every second of the game!
Yes I think ya’ll who are whinig, complaining and still calling for coaching changes are the real and ONLY LOSERS!
BamaGirl
December 3rd, 2012
10:08 am
If you’re not first, you’re last. Roll Tide!
CM
December 3rd, 2012
10:16 am
There is no way to sugar-coat what happened and the outcome of the game. Georgia had an opportunity at the end of the game and they failed. Therefore they lost. Alabama would not have received the “great effort” consoling had the score been unfavorable for them.
Proud Dawg
December 3rd, 2012
10:20 am
Tucker….what s stupid comment…you sir have no dignity, character or understanding of the game as a whole, and your comments are loathed among those who truly love the game……whether a Bammer or Dawg. You have only distinguished yourself as your comment…..”stupid.”