Bama’s runners, Saban’s gaffe and a classic SEC title game
Georgia's Marshall Morgan's toe meets leather to start the SEC title game. (AJC photo by Ben Gray)
This post is an adjunct to the game column, which can be found here.
1. Alabama shattered the SEC Championship game record for yards rushing. The Tide ran for 350 yards, with two backs — game MVP Eddie Lacy and backup T.J. Yeldon — each going way over 100. (Lacy had 181, Yeldon 153.) And it was, almost inevitably, the fear of the Alabama ground game that spawned the Tide’s winning touchdown. AJ McCarron threw deep to Amari Cooper, who had run past Damain Swann, for the winning touchdown with 3:15 to play. But Alabama couldn’t run out the clock inside the final two minutes, and it nearly cost the Tide the game.
2. Even the best in the business sometimes whiffs. Alabama coach Nick Saban waited until five seconds remained in the first half to use his first timeout. After converting on third-and-2 at the Georgia 39 with 42 seconds left, the Crimson Tide allowed the clock to tick under 30 seconds before snapping the ball again. AJ McCarron’s 22-yard scramble to the Georgia 5 came too late for the Tide to do anything but kick a field goal, which put Bama ahead — but by three points, not seven.
3. This SEC Championship game matchup was one of the best in the event’s 21-year history. The 1994 pairing of No. 6 Florida versus No. 3 Alabama has always been considered a high point by conference insiders, given that it was the first time the game had been staged in the Georgia Dome and the game itself — Florida won 24-23 — was a stone-cold classic. The two No. 1 against No. 2 games between Alabama and Florida — the Gators won in 2008, the Tide in 2009 — are likewise high points, but this game featured No. 2 against No. 3 in a BCS play-in, and it also featured two storied programs that had never collided in such a setting. No wonder tickets were reselling for crazy money. Gary Stokan of the Chick-fil-A Bowl spoke to an Alabama booster club in Atlanta on Thursday and witnessed four tickets for Saturday’s game auctioned for $7,000. (Oh, and the game itself: The best SEC Championship ever.)
By Mark Bradley
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323 comments Add your comment
Tired of the same Dog
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
Buckeye,
Your team sucks. Have a tattoo on me.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
dogs,
HA! HA!
How many poop bags do you need?
I crack myself up.
Keith
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
G tech, You have a lot of room to talk. GT might put up 3 points against Florida State tonight.
Eastpoint
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
Great game by GA and Bama…UGA fought hard, but came up short..2 things that I noticed in the game which was huge…UGA defensive line was steam rolled and gashed for 350yds against the run..misclock management at the end of drive by UGA at 5 was horrible..with no timeouts, design a play for your quarterback to throw the ball in the endzone and give your receivers a chance to win..UGA need to work on stopping the run next year, but uga fans should be proud of the doggs for a winning season…there’s always next year.
dawg
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
I dare any UA fan to say anything to me to next week. You cheating unbelivable B*STARDS. You know there were calls that were missed that should have gone UGA’s way. Sure we should have spiked the ball, but we actually should have been in victory formation based on the TD the refs gave bama on the phantom interference call. And also, if I ever meet Gary Danielson I promise you I will be in jail for a long time….happily
tick tock
December 1st, 2012
8:37 pm
Finish the dri… 0:00 .
JSS
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
And you folks call me a troll? This mess is epic, thanks for the laughs!!!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
dogs,
Life sucks, then you die.
Just Sayin'
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
Pretenders…..always have been……always will be.
Steve "The King" Spurrier
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
DAWGS!! Fall on your knees and worship your subjuGATOR.
LifetimeTider
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
@Screw off, didn’t your daddy tell you not to crush his cigarettes when you were topping him? Geebus, give your mother a break and let her catch her breath for God’s sake.
WillinRoswell
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
Great game, but the better team won.
BamafaninGA
December 1st, 2012
8:38 pm
Hey Georgia!
Hey Georgia!
Hey Georgia!
We just beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give ‘em hell, Alabama!
Orange12
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
Maybe Tech can pull a rabbitt out of their hats.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
dogs,
L
B
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
Should have spiked the ball. fire Mike Bobo. like i have been saying for the past 3 years. i know they had a play called. but you have to stop the clock and get everyone ready to take a few shots to win. and does anyone want to talk about the tons of holding Alabama was doing that the refs were not calling. and the pass interference calls that were not called. some how i think the sec favors Bama in every way possible.
MANYHAHAS
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
Screw off Inbreds
December 1st, 2012
8:35 pm
That’s it…blame the refs—–LOSER!
Dawgs Suck
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
To Wabe: A triple negative? Wow. Such a grasp of the English language.
Wabe
December 1st, 2012
8:31 pm
And don’t take any comments from Alabama folks so seriously…
A state that don’t have a pro team ain’t worth nobody’s time.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
dogs,
O VA Rated
Just Sayin'
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
Just wait till next year …… and the next……and the next……and the next.
Steve
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
Dawg, you want some cheese with that whine too? LMAO. Your team is nothing but a bunch of thugs. It caught up with you.
villedog
December 1st, 2012
8:39 pm
If you spike the ball with 15 sec. left you probably have time for 3 passes to the endzone or maybe 2 and a draw play to Gurley. The player did play their hearts out. I also think the coaching staff did a good job until the last 15 sec.. UGA needs 4 and 5 star defensive and offensive lineman.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:40 pm
dogs,
Cry to Slive
Steve "The King" Spurrier
December 1st, 2012
8:40 pm
It was a close game!! The Dawgs was robbed by the Refs!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:40 pm
dogs,
Share the cupcakes on next year’s schedule
Dawganator
December 1st, 2012
8:40 pm
When you win you always put somebody down like Roll Turds do just now..so learn from it …focus on next year it is always revenge time….Turds are laughing now..there is time for them to feel crap…it will come…so Dawgs dont worry about that just let em say, now that it is time for us to pull for Notre Dame.
Turds have the right to brag..so they might get beat by Notre Dame. go back to work tomorrow and let em turds brag..it is what it isTurds time so let it be.
Buckeye - Not
December 1st, 2012
8:41 pm
Texans have home field against the Falcons……you know the reference putz.
menlobrave
December 1st, 2012
8:41 pm
What a collection of no-nothing fans. The last play was a back shoulder throw to a receiver in the end zone, and it looked open. Unfortunately for UGA, the ball was tipped at the line and wound up being caught by the receiver in the flat. Maybe he shouldn’t have caught it. Maybe UGA should have spiked the ball. That’s football. As a non-UGA, non-Bama fan, I just want to thank both teams for playing their hearts out. What a great game. No one needs to hang their heads over this one. As for the Georgia Tech trolls, go watch your pathetic team get their butts kicked again. They never play hard. They roll over and play dead when they get challenged.
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:41 pm
dogs,
Turn in your “built ford tough” tees
Tired of the same Dog
December 1st, 2012
8:41 pm
To All,
The reason you spike the ball is that the clock stops on a first down in college football, and oh, by the way we had no timeouts. It is called situational football. If you were paying attention, CMR allowed the same thing to happen two plays prior and it cost us 9 more seconds. This is a hallmark of a CMR-coached team. It is inexcusable that CMR did not have his team ready for the situation. It was the BEST chance his team had to take a shot at the win. Those are the facts. CMR blew it!!!! Say what you want, but I am tired to the mediocrity, so go ahead and make excuses and we will have another lost decade of UGA football. By the way, you know who spikes the ball with 13 seconds inside the 10 after a first down? AJ McCarron and Nick Saban. Good night.
Boring to yawn
December 1st, 2012
8:41 pm
We didn’t blow it…end of story, etc., as Hairy Dawg states it.
We simply ran out of town. the last play…pass was deflected. received caught it. The only way to stop the clock was to get it back to the line of scrimmage, get into formation…Murray to spike the ball. Remember, we used up all of our time outs when we stopped Alabama. Thus, we had no TOs left…It was a very hard-fought, tough game. i am a die-hard Dawg fan…feel for GA right now…and all I can say is GO IRISH and beat BAMA… GA has had one helluva year…now…
PERIOD…END OF STORY!
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
December 1st, 2012
8:42 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:42 pm
dogs,
Johnny Football on your schedule?
Thought not
Just Sayin'
December 1st, 2012
8:42 pm
Blame it on the refs? Seriously? Stop the run first and then complain about the refs.
we steal ruin this state
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
Hey dwags, by April all of you will be convinced that you are the unanimous preseason national champions. Happens every year.
Before you criticize me for “dwags”, this is how it was spelled on a typical fan’s poster last year in
Athens
Jackson
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
At the end of the game, It wasn’t a flair pass to the five yard line. AM was trying to throw to the outside shoulder of MM at the edge of the end zone. Unfortunately CJ Mosely tipped the ball.
Great great, just wish the results were different. Could have gone either way.
MANYHAHAS
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
and does anyone want to talk about the tons of holding Alabama was doing that the refs were not
calling.
but, pleeeease don’t talk about the hold not called on ga’s last td!!!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
dogs,
G Y M
go dogs
Steve "The King" Spurrier
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
It was so close.
Dry up those alligator tears and hold your dawg chins up.
Damn those refs!!
Dawgs Suck
December 1st, 2012
8:43 pm
Three things that Georgia will not get this year: 1) An SEC Championship. 2) A 12 win regular season. 3) A BCS Bowl berth. Have fun in the chicken sandwich bowl Dawgs!!!
dawg
December 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
I do hope you beat nd. I hate them much worse than ua. I predict AJ McCarron officially comes out after winning the NC. homo
Rick
December 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
God, their bowl game will be a huge let down. It will be tough to get them to play well. A two-game losing streak to end the season looks likely. Even if they win their bowl, the pain will linger.
Smitty
December 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
Big Gator….I think Dawgs kicked your team’s a$$ right???
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
dogs,
travel well to the Cap One
Jones
December 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
Will Ga ever field a championship team, braves one and out, falcons one and out, hawks irrelevent-wouldn’t go if you paid me-and once again, UGA-2nd place, first place loser. I am a fan of all but enough is enough, fire richt…..can’t win the big one. A season long build up for yet another let down. I don’t care how good the game was, a loss is a loss, they can play their hearts out as they take the bus ride back to Athens. Oh and Bama Girl……you probably have 2 teeth in your mouth and the other one in your pocket. How are you going to celebrate….by throwing a trailer leveling party. Oh, if your still in Atl, there is great sight seeing on hallowell pkwy and Bankhead hwy. the walking tour starts at 2am. Bring all the money you have for souvenirs.
Buckeye - Not
December 1st, 2012
8:45 pm
How’s that middle management job treating you that took you out of your rustbelt homeland down here to the promised land. You know, you can always go back. That giant sucking sound otherwise known as Michgan, Ohio, Indiana, still awaits……wonder why you are here! We won’t miss you.
stendek
December 1st, 2012
8:45 pm
Hi Mark. Regarding Mark Richt, Mike Bobo and Aaron Murray…once garbage…always garbage. Four points or 400! Still heartless loss. Still unacceptable CHOKE job!
Buckeye
December 1st, 2012
8:45 pm
dogs,
With a 3rd loss in a bowl, still think you outrank the Buckeyes in the AP OR the pre-season 2013.
Thought not.
LifetimeTider
December 1st, 2012
8:45 pm
@dawg, Trust me, little man, I’d say anything I wanted to say to you, then I’d beach slap you and make you like it. You hear??? Bleeve dat! Roll Tide, and Georgia can’t hold our jockstraps. Never could, never will. Own it, loser.
Dawganator
December 1st, 2012
8:46 pm
Anddd i might just pull for Buck eyes too…as long as they have chance to stomp on Turds..Bama next year..We just can’t let have their way every year you know. Btw Dam Dick Satan is going to Kansas City it is not going be any quarterbacks from Roll Turds anyway, it is going be Aaron Murray who will get draft first round, just want you to know that Turd fans.