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
rivercard
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
Tim – Erin more obvious but something bout Traci makes her the choice in my opinion.
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
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.
*******
best money can buy ole cheating Nick!!
Just like a Dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
Poor baby’s but this is GROWN MAN football not patty cakes. Now stop crying man up and try and play with the BIG BOYS.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
True,
But it was kinda fuzzy but we got the drift
Eric C.
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
This one is feeling too much like last year when the LSU run game got cranked up in the 2nd half. The only difference is the Dawgs are down 10-7 instead of up at the half. I’m hoping UGA can somehow get into the fourth within a score…will need the OL and Gurley to pull off some big runs. A big key is this first drive…last year, Murray fumbled on the first drive and the flood gates opened…need to have a good drive to start the half.
Russa
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
well in terms of not looking like 2011, in the first half Alabama has played better than LSU did. Georgia had 154 yards of first half offense compared to 158 in this game (though both Georgia teams missed a FG on their second possessions which is kinda funny).
To open the 2nd half last year: Georgia received the ball; fumbled and LSU would turn a 3 pt halftime deficit into a lead and that as they say would be that
Big Time Georgia Fan
December 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
If you folks are really Georgia fans, I’d hate to hear from their enemies.
Pulaski dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Enter your comments here
GTJohn
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Someone please send PJ a game film so he can observe how defense is played – either D is a great example.
vesaversa
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Neither team have a outstanding QB’s but i believe Murray is the weakest of the two .Both team seam equal on defense this game is a long way from being over . Go Dawgs
NORRIS CHUCK
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
DOGS PLAYED THAT HARD BUT ONLY TO BE TRAILING AT THE HALF!
aaron ashmore
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Bama needs to come out and put this game away
True_Crimson
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
I have to say that this is a very good Georgia football team. I will feel honored if the Tide wins this game.
Ric Flair
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Come out smoking on the 2nd half? Isn’t that usually reserved for the offseason?
Woooooooooo!
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
True Crimson,
Sure some calls are missed.
Just seems like too many are missed against Bama.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:59 pm
dogs,
You’re right. Lousy no call.
That said, quit crying
no dawg
December 1st, 2012
5:59 pm
I feel a beat down
phil
December 1st, 2012
5:59 pm
Oh, we’re a guaranteed 3 and out on first possession.
Booooooooo!
Time for a Christmas cake Little Debbie!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
5:59 pm
dogs fav commercial
Na Na Na Napa Know How
Al Bundy
December 1st, 2012
5:59 pm
We’ll trade you Paul Johnson for Mark Richt… EVEN!!!
Tim Brando
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Spencer Tillman…is he wearing Cover Girl, or maybe it’s Maybelline?
vesaversa
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Geoegia would have done better if they had just drafted a all american
Prometheus
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Half time game says no 90 for Bama will be suspended if Bama goes to NC game.
nodefense
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Well my fellow Georgians looks like another one of our sport teams will let us down.
Roy
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Georgia is very good. Need a bigger, stronger O-line in order to truly compete with a team like Bama. We may very well win this game, it’s only 10-7, but we need an O-line that can stone defenses.
GTJohn
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Vesaversa, I hate to tell you but Murray is a very good QB and hevwill be playing on Sunday next year!!!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
dog men have left the room and joined the women to discuss the latest on E news
vesaversa
December 1st, 2012
6:01 pm
-QB instead of all those outstanding running -Backs .
Tim Brando
December 1st, 2012
6:01 pm
Ric Flair
December 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
Come out smoking on the 2nd half? Isn’t that usually reserved for the offseason?
Nice…
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
6:01 pm
Alabama outgained Georgia 246 yards to 157
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
6:01 pm
We need to come out with passion.
Emotion.
creekwolf
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
CBS just encouraged the League to look at the hit on Murray so that the Alabama player has opportunity to be witheld from the National Championship game should the Tide hold on to beat the Dawgs
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
Hmmm?
Who’s coach is ripping his team a new one?
Win With?
Doubt it.
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
Our D smokin a few big ones at the half….
We’re good now.
vesaversa
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
This is not 2011 the Dawgs will pull this game out.Go DAWGS
Eric C.
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
As a Dawg fan, I’m not complaining much about the no-call…think Bama still ends up with a FG even if it is called. However, it was a cheap shot.
Russa, and LSU only had 12 yds at the half last year.
Under The Bleachers
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
Tim Brando is the BIGGEST overhyper in the business and on the radio.
The last three years it was the BCS and his tirades daily.
Yeah the Hit was helmet to helmet, but anyone on the field who has played, coaches, ref’d will tell you that there are plays every game that are just as bad, from hands to the face, gouging, leg twisting, ear hole hits, and on and on.
The game is too good for a guy like Brando to hijack it with his hyperbole.
Good luck to your teams in the second half.
Kennesaw Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:02 pm
Why so many anti dawg clowns trolling this blog? Why don’t you all go upstairs and get mommy to fix you a grill cheese sandwich, you bunch of losers.
Ghost
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Buckeye , Where is your cheating team playing this weekend? Which bowl game ohio playing in?
DawgFan
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
C’mon Rawgs GATA. 30 minutes, the world hanging in balance
oldfart
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Neither QB hit call/no-call were game changers. Just an indication that the refs are not calling it both ways. The talking heads are saying it should have been called and suggesting that 90 should be suspended for the next game by the SEC. I would give the proverbial snowball a better chance than that happening.
Left Coast Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Spencer Tillman says Keith Marshall was in the official’s line of sight on that hit to Murray’s head but the league would likely suspend the Bama player for the next game based on a similar play earlier this year.
Jimmy Crack
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Paid refs, we’re doomed. The dude was looking right at him.
Strat Cat Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Alabama doesn’t just roll over- Georgia is a second half team but its going to be an uphill fight.
Prometheus
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
No 90 should be ejected asap.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Hit on Murray.
Run of the mill SEC! SEC!
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
And now all the whining and complaining about the refs. They already have their excuses lined up. Notice I didn’t whine over that clear clip in the back on that punt return. Regardless though a 15 yard penalty just means our kicker would have kicked that ball another 15 yards farther. It was straight down the middle and would have been good from 40. So all the whining about the non call on Murrays hit is without merit.
Roy
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
I think UGA will win this game.
Al Bundy
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Paul Johnson for Mark Richt… Anyone? Anyone?
Pulaski dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Officials calls. Are you kidding me?
Obvious wrap around holding on scoring play.
Murray’s hit???really. No ref saw that?
The call on Georgia on replay appears to be shoulder. Not helmet.
I really don’t Like the tone of officiating. Looks predetermined.