Live from the Dome: Favored Bama meets hungry Dogs!
That famous jokester Nick Saban leaves Mark Richt in stitches Friday. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
At the SEC Coaches’ Luncheon at the Hyatt on Friday, emcee Dave Neal asked Nick Saban if it was easier to keep a team motivated as a favorite, or if being an underdog was preferable. Whereupon Mark Richt said, “What does he know about being an underdog?”
Saban’s Crimson Tide is favored today by eight points over Richt’s Bulldogs, but an awful lot of folks — this correspondent included — are picking Georgia. Still, this matchup couldn’t have caught Saban unaware.
“Last summer I was at the lake (Burton, where every big-name college football coach has a summer house) and I was fooling around in the yard, and two guys rode up on JetSkis,” Saban told Richt at the luncheon. “One of them was your quarterback Aaron Murray and the other was your center (David Andrews). And they said, ‘We’ll see you in the SEC championship game.’ ”
And here both teams are, Alabama ranked No. 2 to Georgia’s No. 2, Alabama favored but not nearly a lock, Georgia trying to seize its biggest football moment in three decades. But you knew all that already. So enough of me talking.
I’ll be here until someone is the 2012 SEC champ, and I’d appreciate it if you’d join the fun and frolic. And I thank you, as ever, in advance.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2,729 comments Add your comment
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
Why does Murray do that…..very talented….but sometimes….he just isn’t
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
Tide QB throws it away on second and one. Big play now
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
Does Murray know where he is yet???
00mpa L00mpa dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
Stupid play calling anyway
Duck Soup
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
I can’t believe he got away with that.
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
I hope Aaron Murray is okay. Georgia doesn’t really have a backup quarterback, do they?
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Bama has now joined my list of despised teams…..
Punks just like florida, auburn, tenn, SC…..
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
No worries dogs,
“Tub” Jenks will get even for the non-call and get Personal Foul #2 for the dogs.
DawgnSeattle
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
How does that idiot not call that?
I'm 1-10 against ranked opponents...and you think I will beat Bama?
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Mr. Dial, meet Aaron….and the floodgates start opening…
john r smith HTTR !
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Fire that effing zebra–he was right in front of it –geeze
ibidGT
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Wow talk about a no-call…although the interception would have still stood?
Right in front of the referee…BS
aaron ashmore
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
I think the ref saw it as a “crack back”
Ric Flair
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Ric Flair
December 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
Georgia turnovers – BUILT FORD TOUGH
Woooooooooooooo!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Reminds me of a certain Nick Fairly stunt
SEC! SEC!
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Bama is dirty rotten cheap shot cheaters.
Tim Brando
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
Dawgs still whinin about Nick Fairley 2 years later…
Roll tide!
December 1st, 2012
5:41 pm
I didn’t like it…but be fair they missed one early on UGA.
oldfart
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
Ogletree was with only a step away from the QB before the pass. That one was two full beats after the pass when he was looking downfield. Very bad no-call.
Murray The Midget
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
yep shoulder to shoulder…just saying
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
@phil
Is everyone that defeats your team in the “punk” category?
00mpa L00mpa dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
Mark Richt always chokes
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
We have played well today.
I am happy with our effort so far.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
Yeldon for the FD. Inside 30 seconds.
JJ
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
Cheap shot Bama, reminds me of taints!!!
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:42 pm
Bama not managing the clock very adroitly.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
The dogs will have an excuse for all eternity,
The refs
rivercard
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
Saban go to Drew Bress clock management school?
Bama14
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
we should have used a TO…
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
AJ will stop the clock again on the next play. He’s a smart QB.
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
Cheap shot cheaters.
FalconUGAFan
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
Roll Tide…thats gots nothin to do with nothin…Ref was right there.
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
Sad.
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
phil….
you left out your brother, sister, mother, and dad
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
McCarron to the 5. But Bama will have to kick. Only five seconds.
Waited until 0:05 to call the first timeout. Poor management.
Roy
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
Defense needs to tackle and get the QB!
Ric Flair
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
Repeat after me: “we are getting beat by a better football team.”
Wooooooooooooooo!
Bama14
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
gotta kick the FG and get the lead…
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
“adroitly” Brads?
Remember your audience
Alabama and Georgia
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
Need to kick 10 in the head.
playmeortrademe
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
The defense is gassed. Alabama has adjusted. The second half may get ugly. A championship team HAS to take the opportunities the other team gives them.
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
Nope, true crimson….
But cheap shoting the QB like that does.
Wow.
December 1st, 2012
5:44 pm
This really blows. UGA 2011 all over again.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
That couldn’t have been roughing the passer on Murray. The ball was Alabama’s, and he was technically a defender.
Wicked Witch of the WEST
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Look the Dawgs are melting ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
AJ is very talented as well.
Please don’t become angry, Georgia fans. Your team is playing very well. It’s just that Alabama isn’t a cream-puff.
RTR!!!
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Very poor clock management. It ended up costing us 2 shots at a td. Poor special teams execution, poor clock management. No wonder UGA is still in this game.
kingdaddy
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Nick Fairly ain’t got nothing on #90…
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Ric Flair is an idiot.
Tim Brando
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Score tied 7-7, and the crying begins. Bunch of women on this blog…must be that “time of the month”.