A big month in Bulldog Nation
It’s been an interesting month in Bulldog Nation, I’d say. So before moving on to February, let’s revisit January.
THE MONTH’S TOP FIVE UGA SPORTS STORIES:
1. The defensive coordinator search: For some reason –- maybe the Internet/information age in which we live, or maybe the widespread exasperation with two years of declining defense -– Mark Richt’s search for a defensive coordinator drew more attention than any assistant-coach hiring I can recall. Kirby Smart’s rejection of the job roiled Bulldog Nation, which was calmed four days later by the hiring of Todd Grantham.
2. Big basketball upsets: Entering the month, the Bulldogs had not beaten a ranked opponent in men’s basketball in almost three years. But they beat two this month, first Georgia Tech and then Tennessee. The second came in front of a sellout crowd, of all things, in Stegeman Coliseum.
3. Lady Dogs over Lady Vols: Georgia’s women’s basketball team upset No. 3-ranked Tennessee in Stegeman Coliseum, the Lady Dogs’ first victory over the Lady Vols since 2004. The win gave credence to a resurgent season for Georgia’s program.
4. Early exits: In what has become a rite of January in Athens, two Georgia players left school early for the NFL draft. Linebacker Rennie Curran, the team’s MVP last season, and safety Reshad Jones decided to skip their final seasons of college eligibility. The departures, while unsurprising, add to the rebuilding job on defense.
5. Start of a new era: Georgia’s 10-time NCAA champion gymnastics team began the Jay Clark era, opening a season without Suzanne Yoculan as head coach for the first time in 26 years.
AND IN THEIR OWN WORDS . . .
Notable quotes from the Bulldogs beat this month:
Todd Grantham, speaking on his first day on the job in Athens:
“I have always believed -– and I believe to this day -– that if we took the best players in the state of Georgia and within a five-hour radius of our school, if they come to the University of Georgia, then we can win the SEC championship and compete for a national title. And I think you can be better than Florida, you can be better than Texas, and you can be better than Southern Cal if those players came to the University of Georgia.”
The chants in Stegeman Coliseum late in the men’s basketball victories over Georgia Tech and Tennessee, respectively:
“Just Like Football!”
“Lane Kif-fin, Lane Kif-fin.”
Georgia safety Jakar Hamilton, a JUCO transfer who enrolled at UGA this month, on his aggressive, hard-hitting approach to football:
“I’m one of those players who just don’t care. I’ll throw my whole body even if I have to break something to do it. . . . If I have to catch a concussion, I’ll do it.”
A Mark Fox tweet on Twitter:
“My 9yr old asked why DAWG fans don’t do the right/left/right … sit down cheer when an opponent fouls out. I said, we need ‘em 2 foul out 1st.”
And, of course, Alabama coach Nick Saban’s comment that was widely interpreted as pointed advice to Kirby Smart that he shouldn’t leave the Crimson Tide for the Georgia DC job:
“I’m not pleased when guys make lateral moves because it’s a little bit human nature to think, like my dad used to say, the grass is always greener on top of the septic tank.”
YOUR THOUGHTS . . .
So what has jumped out at you about UGA sports in the first month of 2010? Or what do you see ahead for February?
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82 comments Add your comment
Coach Saban
January 29th, 2010
1:23 pm
Don’t sit in a wicker chair when you’re naked.
Señora Weeb
January 29th, 2010
2:34 pm
It’s UGA. Who… [YAWN]… cares.
Tiger Woods
January 29th, 2010
2:36 pm
Don’t leave your cell phone on the dresser after you take ambien.
Downtown Gator Brown
January 29th, 2010
2:57 pm
We love what we see in Corch Fox so far.
ga gator
January 29th, 2010
2:59 pm
JC, isn’t you’re Strength and Conditioning coach a personal friend of CMR’s also?
Gratefuldawghead
January 29th, 2010
3:09 pm
Senora Weeb ..You must care to be on this UGA Blog!
GO DAWGS!
LarryDawg1
January 29th, 2010
4:23 pm
ringthebell, SHUT UP!!!!!! No one on this blog who calls themselves a Dawg Fan should be protecting this fool. I guess if UGA beats Ala. You’re gonna feel sorry for Kirby, “it may hurt his chances at a HC job). He decided to stay with the enemy. Let him take his lumps. I hope it gets worse for him every time he coaches against UGA. We gave you a chance to play and progress to where you are now boy!
burton
January 29th, 2010
4:53 pm
funny that Sab thinks Ga is a sh– hole when he lives next to us in the summer months on the lake in north ga mountains. Alslo he got drunk fell off dock and was saved by all our dumb a–
cwm
January 29th, 2010
5:00 pm
BREAKING NEWS NASH NANCE FATHER SIGNS WITH TENNESSEE
Jeff
January 29th, 2010
5:18 pm
Fox is the biggest story.
Jon Fabris
January 29th, 2010
6:25 pm
Are there any N. Fulton HS’s looking for a B team D co ordinator? How bout them 8th graders in middle school? I can defend that itty bitty middle school attack known as the triple fumble, um, I mean triple option.
“Slap em in the face” screamed CPJ when Iowa blew away his bees. “Slap me”, he screamed when Biff skipped out on him and Groh tried to recruit while speaking about Johnny Unitas and Tommy Nobis, of his NFL era.
mark
January 29th, 2010
6:30 pm
Jakar, I don’t think you can “catch a concussion”. Maybe you have already had one too many. More likely, you will fit in well at UGA. Good luck in Shreveport next year….
Looking for Louie
January 29th, 2010
7:01 pm
What will Louie’s incoherent, immature comments be tonight? I await in anticipation for his stupid ramblings.
longDawg
January 29th, 2010
7:20 pm
NEWS FLASH tornado hits alabama and does 2billion in improvements
burton
January 29th, 2010
7:26 pm
yeah the drunk sab fell and hit his head on the dock. we should of left him floating in the water
Septic Tank
January 29th, 2010
7:35 pm
Scott Brown winning Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Mass. is the biggest story of Jan. Everything else is secondary. The stop Obama express is in full force.
Grantham being hired by Georgia is the second biggest story of Jan. It’s a huge hire for the Dawgs.
Clyde Suckfanger
January 29th, 2010
7:38 pm
I think Richt hired a brilliant DC in Grantham, however I’m a little surprised that Grantham hasn’t immediately secured a guy like Whitake, who could flourish in a 3-4 scheme being coached by a NFL guy. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Recruits should be drooling at the opportunity to play in state for an NFL coach!!!
DILLIGAF
January 29th, 2010
8:23 pm
From the AJC.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.
Read the entire article here:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/apnewsbreak-federal-gov-t-286970.html
Shouldn’t these morons be worrying about real issues nationally and globally. The Great Leader will impose his will upon the NCAA as he is attemting to do to this country. This administration as the one before it is a joke.
I have long believed that we need a system that determines who are truly, the best teams in college football at the end of the season but the government surely needs to devote it’s time to more pressing issues and not waste more of taxpayer’s money by giving us their two cents worth on college football, being that the majority are probably not even fans.
Louie
January 29th, 2010
9:03 pm
Well where do I start. Hot topic, mutts to talk about being turned down by Smart, then FINALLY getting (or begging) someone to coach a poor defense.
And, the BB program wins a big game (what, once every TEN frigging years) then gets lapped up by your DADDY (Florida) like always.
STILL L M F A O
MESSENGER
January 29th, 2010
11:09 pm
The facts are that UGA continues to get its teeth kicked in against Quality Opponents because our Offense sucks, especially the play calls.
Gator boy
January 29th, 2010
11:22 pm
Louie, yes we are UGA’s daddy, but they are your daddy so you shouldn’t be talking trash. Georgia tech wouldn’t even win the WAC.
Dawgs 2010
January 29th, 2010
11:27 pm
Hey Louie, how about that Georgia Tech run defense?? Or 62th ranked SOS. Tech blows. WE RUN THIS STATE.
Mikey
January 29th, 2010
11:28 pm
30-24 Louie.
Dick Sexton
January 29th, 2010
11:32 pm
Anything is better than Cox and Martinez!
bugsquacher
January 30th, 2010
12:41 am
craig james is a big baby
Louie
January 30th, 2010
7:47 am
Well, where do I start.
Good morning num-mutts.
Like I said last night, your HOT TOPIC is being turned down and used and abused by SMART people that realize when they see a program in a decline. Our run defense will be much improved this year, the hiring of Coach Groh a major move, probably vaulting us in the top 10.
Where in final polls will the mutts land?
Look where you were last year. GOOD INDICATOR .
You people can’t keep your car running, much less run this STATE !!
STILL STILL STILL STILL L M F A O
MESSENGER
January 30th, 2010
8:21 am
30-24 Louie
Louie
January 30th, 2010
9:47 am
Let’s make it a TOP 11 list.
Let’s talk about who got arrested on DRUGS, etc.
Louie
January 30th, 2010
9:47 am
STILL, STILL,STILL…
MESSENGER
January 30th, 2010
11:34 am
NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate
Penalty Summary
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Date of Report: 05/01/2009
Page 4 of 4
This report is based on data submitted by the institution.
This report provides a summary of the teams identified at your institution that are subject to a contemporaneous penalty and/or historical penalty and their multiyear APR. The historical-penalty structure has a cumulative effect that continues to apply each year as a team progresses through the structure. Each year a team fails the historical-penalty review another stage of penalties will be added.
Sport
Multiyear APR Contemporaneous Penalty Historical Penalty -
Men’s Basketball 914 Limited to awarding 11 athletic scholarship renewals
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2008/255_2008_apr.pdf
Bill B
January 31st, 2010
12:42 pm
LOUIE: 2008 was the beginning of years of G Tech dominance over UGA. 2009 – 30-24 little bug buddy. And in the real world (vs the world of pocket protectors)one year in a row would not be considered “years of dominance”.
We lost in 2008 because Stafford was already in the NFL and picking out his new Ferrari and Willie Martinez knew defense like a rabbit being thrown into a snake pit.
UGA OWNS Tech. Proof – UGA’s mediocre 8-5 team shut down Tech’s nationally ranked #7 unstoppable run offense and beats them – running the ball. Live with it bug buddy.
mark
February 25th, 2010
9:51 am
Saw where Knowson was in town pickin on freshmen. Ya know, New Jersey is your home and you got the millions for leavin early so why dont you just stay out of Athens. You wanted so badly to leave so just stay gone!