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
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
nodefense
December 1st, 2012
6:00 pm
Well my fellow Georgians looks like another one of our sport teams will let us down.
*******
they ALWAYS do….nothing new.
DawgnSeattle
December 1st, 2012
6:04 pm
Well, Dawgs have usually been better in the 2nd half. Let’s hope so, we’ll need it. GO DAWGS!
ShowMeYurTD's
December 1st, 2012
6:04 pm
Saban’s brilliance plus Murray’s poor choices equals GA loss. I’m sick and feel the beat down coming…..
Hmmmmm
December 1st, 2012
6:04 pm
This game in no way feels like last year. THis team is much better.
Cheap shots by ALA leave a really bad taste. Hope Karma see better than the refs.
Left Coast Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:04 pm
27-24 UGA
no dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:05 pm
Murray is a stud
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:05 pm
It is predetermined….
No question the NCAA wants bama vs ND.
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:05 pm
Georgia is a 2nd half team??? They weren’t last year in this game.
LDawg
December 1st, 2012
6:05 pm
What the kid needs is an O-line. GO DAWGS!!!!
GTJohn
December 1st, 2012
6:06 pm
The announcers need to understand that they are announcers and nothing more.
Stevo
December 1st, 2012
6:06 pm
I thought Bobo said we would ride Gurley. Why hasn’t he done it?
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:06 pm
Saban’s “brilliance” just cost em 4 points most likely…..
Al Bundy
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
These announcers stink!!!
Left Coast Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
Yeah Phil and they’ll lose by 3.
rivercard
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
GTJohn- so true. I am trying to figure out if Danielson is dumb or just unprepared.
GTJohn
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
Why are you guys so down on Murray? We will trade TW and throw in PJ for him.
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
Saban is a turncoat and liar….
Great coach, pathetic man.
Under The Bleachers
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
Folks need to remember that Tim Brando is a LSU fan through and through with a daughter at Ole Miss. He lives in Shreveport and if this were his radio show he would not let the other guys speak and would be bad mouthing Alabama and Georgia, that is his real M.O.
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
Phil if Georgia rallies and wins this game are you still going to say the ncaa wanted Bama?
SouthGADawg
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
UGA will win the 2nd half of this game. The deep pass is open Murray underthrew the ball and was intercepted. The receivers are open. Florida is better than this Alabama team. UGA just needs to GATA, GO Dawgs, Sickem…,,,,,,,,,,
Lonnie
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
Alright dawgs lets finish the drill!!!!!
Roy
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
@ Tide Rising, UGA isn’t the same team from last year either.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
Aaron Murray leads Georgia on to the field for the second half. He’s warming up.
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
The Elf on the Shelf has us winning 24-21.
He knows as much as any of these doofs on TV.
Under The Bleachers
December 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
Saban is a turncoat and liar….
Great coach, pathetic man.
phil, are your feeling hurt? Wow, let it go man. This is big boy business football, who cares about feelings?
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
Geez. Its like some of you dawg fans have already up and quit and thrown in the towel with all the complaining and the excuse making about one noncall. We still have a full 2nd half to play.
we steal ruin this state
December 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
Turner for about a yard. Sorry, wrong blog. It just slipped out.
Paul in NH
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Alabama is starting to get rolling – 141 yards on the ground in the 2nd quarter.
Paul in NH
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Alabama is starting to get rolling – 141 yards on the ground in the 2nd quarter.
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:08 pm
Phil if Georgia rallies and wins this game are you still going to say the ncaa wanted Bama?
********
yes. It does. You’re Alableepinbama! Of course they want you.
Georgia had a cupcake schedule
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
just like 2011 schedule.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
I was baited
Under The Bleachers
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Wouldn’t the Falcons love to have a crowd like this at their games each week? This is why College Football wins over the NFL in the south.
Prometheus
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
If you don’t conclude. That Bama is stouter team, you must be watching a different game tan I.
Left Coast Dawg
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
The Elf lied Phil……at least about the UGA final score (27-24).
Tide Rising
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Roy, Well the have the 2nd half to prove you right. Hopefully you are right and we’ll see a great game and they won’t just roll over like they did last year- or this year against USCeast.
Mark Bradley
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
Attendance is 75,624 — fifth-largest in SECCG annals
WPWW
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
The (th)UGA BlackDawgs are gonna get their tails handed to them in the 2nd half against the Ebony Tide.
aaron ashmore
December 1st, 2012
6:11 pm
@GT John
Well said. Gary Danielson is the WORST ever. I hate when he does big games. He puts to much of his personal feel on every call. Just shut up and call the game.
Jimmy
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
This is our time to shine baby.
Let’s come out and play like there’s no tomorrow.
SouthGADawg
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
Everyone including the NCAA have tried to give this game to Alabama. Refs are calling everything on UGA and nothing on Alabama. Even the announcers are trying to make excuses for the crap. Bring on the second half I so hope UGA smashes AL in the mouth and shuts up everyone. Nobody has given UGA the respect they deserve, now they will take it….
Lonnie
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
Murray has played fine this game!!!! One under throw!!!! But a good game!!! Against the best defense!!!
1969 Graduate
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
It is half time. 10-7.
The Dawgs are playing very well, people. As is the Alabama team. The score is essentially tied, and would be except for the terrible non-call.
We are very much in this game. Neither team is playing with perfection, but does perfection ever happen in football. I am very happy we’re in a position to win the game if we continue playing well. And, we deserve a major break to make up for the terrible non-call.
I did not like our non-interception. I think we should defend against the pass more and attempt sometimes dangerous interceptions less; still, I’d bet we get an interception or two if we can put Alabama in position to have to pass.
We’ve got to improve a bit against the run, but we’re not doing bad in that department. Also, I’m not so sure we should be running up the middle so much; what about some pitch outs to hit the outside? A lot of what has to happen now involves coaching staff identifying vulnerable points.
It’s time for Bobo to make a quantum leap. Dude, don’t give CKS – your brother – bragging rights.
Being down by a field goal should get our guys even more fired up. What can we do to hurt the Tide?
At the half, it is a very close, and very much winnable game. All we have to do now is win the 2nd half, and we’re fully capable of getting the job done.
Go, University of Georgia Bulldogs!
aaron ashmore
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
What is the name of that song for the UGA commercial.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
The fact the the dogs have not played Bama since 2008 is a joke. And the dogs claims SEC! SEC!
#Joke
I'm 1-10 against ranked opponents...and you think I will beat Bama?
December 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
blaming refs and announcers…actions straight out of the “losers handbook”…and that stupid “bell ringing” UGA ad is the worst in all of America…
Jimmy Crack
December 1st, 2012
6:13 pm
We need some turnovers!!!! Cmon D!!
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:13 pm
Under The Bleachers
December 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
phil
December 1st, 2012
6:07 pm
Saban is a turncoat and liar….
Great coach, pathetic man.
phil, are your feeling hurt? Wow, let it go man. This is big boy business football, who cares about feelings?
*********
not my feelings, doofus. Big boy business football. You’re bright.
Good luck with that job search.
rivercard
December 1st, 2012
6:13 pm
It was a cheap hit but why are they carrying on about this hit? Zero effect on game.
playmeortrademe
December 1st, 2012
6:13 pm
Saban knows. Look for Alabama to pound the ball because UGA’s D has worn down.