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
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2,729 comments Add your comment
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
It wasn’t the most sporting of hits by the Bama man, but it was legal.
RunninWithTheDawgs
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
What in the he!! have we got Rambo for. He’s missing all of his assignments.
Russa
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
D starting to get killed by the run + the offence dying in the 2nd quarter = not a good combination for the 2nd half. They’re probably in trouble (think LSU last year)
Decatur Joe
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Thats funny Buckeye
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
Buckeye…
The Georgia hit was called. They should have called the Bama hit as well….they didn’t. It looked to me that the Bama player went after Murray and was trying to hurt him…..but maybe a payback for the hit by Ogeltree on the Bama QB. Hits are even…but the penalties are not.
Roll tide!
December 1st, 2012
5:45 pm
he was right there before..
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Bama kicks a field goal and leads at the half.
Orange12
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
I bet a lot of ND fans are watching this game
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Satan screwed up.
Knockahoma
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Maybe the defense can regain their legs at the half. I have a sick pit in my stomach that’s telling me that the Dawgs might have missed their opportunity.
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Roll Damned Tide, Baby!!!
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Georgia is very fortunate the Tide misused its timeouts.
Al Bundy
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Great first half, but Nick ain’t happy!!!
Left Coast Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Could have been unnecessary roughness though MB.
Orange12
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Points off of Murray.
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
I just love how some Georgia fans give up…..good their team does not.
Roy
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Georgia is playing very well so far. Let’s just hope we turn it around in the 2nd half. We get the ball to start the 2nd half and we have to go get points.
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
Stick it in your ear, tampa gator…
Days of Infamy
December 1st, 2012
5:46 pm
It’s common knowledge and an unquestioned fact that UGA head football coach Mark Richt has brought shame on the state of Georgia and made an embarrassing laughingstock of the state’s largest university. Even the most avid UGA fans understand this even when they won’t acknowledge it, bless their hearts.
The most embarrassing thing is the win-at-any-price mentality of Richt, which has effectively made UGA a football factory, with cheating, recruiting of low-intelligence morons who can barely read, and tolerating immoral and unethical activities by both players and coaches. Even with all this, he still can’t win the big games.
Richt is a product of the lawless environments of the University of Miami and Florida State University, where he learned well how to conduct himself in the most sleazy way, while pretending to the world to be a saint. Make no mistake about it – Richt is in coaching purely for the millions of dollars that have been wasted on him, and the millions more he will add until someone in Athens has the integrity and intestinal fortitude to run him out of town.
A truly shameful situation, especially since all Georgians, including UGA alumni and fans, have to live under this shadow of infamy.
dean
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
ND stands no chance against either UGA or AL
I'm 1-10 against ranked opponents...and you think I will beat Bama?
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
better check Murray for a concussion…better yet, save it for an excuse later…
Wow.
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
What about the helmet to helmet Mark?
CANWE?
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
I ,pray to the football goda that Aaron Murray will NOT be back at UGA next year–he is a choker, and will always be a choker
Wicked Witch of the WEST
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
Get reddy for the second half beatdown…. Dawgs D is so tired……….
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
Cheap shot cheaters up by 3.
harleyman
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
Well DAWGS. Looks like we are gonna have to beat Bama and the REFS!
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
This is not like 2011 yet.
We played well.
We are competitive.
That’s all I ask from my team.
We can still win this thing.
Mikey D.
December 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
And now the UGA fans will spend the whole offseason lamenting what could have been while their team slips back to mediocrity. Not a fan of either team, but it’s easy to see where this one is headed – Tide rolls in the 2nd half.
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
I will say this. The dawgs have certainly earned my respect for their first half play. They played hard and tough. I still think we just wear them out in the 2nd half but if the dawgs play as tough in the 2nd half as they did in the first half then they have a shot. I just think we have a substantial depth advantage, especially on defense.
Wicked Witch of the WEST
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Quit whinning about the Murray hit it was way after the interception…..
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
That was a hell of a first half……..looking forward to the 2nd one. Pull it out Dawgs.
we steal ruin this state
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Mark, that is an excellent point. You are correct.
CANWE?
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Hey Days of Infamy…&^%$ off!!!
nodefense
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Ala is to physical!
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
@Tampa Gator
There was an obvious block in the back against Georgia on a punt earlier in the game that wasn’t called. The officials don’t see everything. The replay officials can’t call fouls — they can only review what is called on the field.
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Bradley, your Bama love is showing again….
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
I think we’ve played pretty disciplined ball too.
This game doesn’t look like 2011
Tampa Gator
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Wicked….
Does not matter when the hit was…..it was where the hit was….to the head. Illegal hit.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:48 pm
Others seem to think the hit on Murray was a penalty, but not for roughing the passer. For a helmet-to-helmet hit
RunninWithTheDawgs
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
They get 10 points in 1:57. THAT is a bad sign !
I'm 1-10 against ranked opponents...and you think I will beat Bama?
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
get your tickets for Orlando ladies…this one is OVA!!!
CANWE?
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
what a shame–we’re gonna find a way to piss away this game
Roy
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
Georgia had so many missed opportunities in the 1st half. Turnovers, bad play calling, getting away from the run game….we cannot come out in the 2nd half pass happy. Gotta stick to the running game. We do not want to become one dimensonal vs. Bama.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
I have to admit I didn’t get a great look at the replay. I was typing.
Sam
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
The same ole georgia
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:49 pm
Win With is a boring interview
Wicked Witch of the WEST
December 1st, 2012
5:50 pm
All da way turnt up!!!!! in da Hunt? Notttttttt Crapital One Bowl for the dawgs!
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
December 1st, 2012
5:50 pm
We really need a big rb like Bama has!
FalconUGAFan
December 1st, 2012
5:50 pm
Good tough first half..DGDs
harleyman
December 1st, 2012
5:50 pm
True Crimson, you are mistaken. Block was legal. Better quit listening to Vern Lunquest.