Notebook: King’s return, Green’s absence and, oh yes, cowbells
For a complete roundup of the AJC’s coverage of Georgia’s loss to Mississippi State, please click here.
(Updated 11:45 p.m.)
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Georgia got a number of players back on the field from injuries Saturday night.
Tailback Caleb King, who had missed the previous 2 ½ games with a sprained right ankle, entered the game against Mississippi State late in the first quarter.
He was the third Georgia tailback into the game, following starter Washaun Ealey and Carlton Thomas. King entered the game on Georgia’s next possession after a goal-line fumble by Ealey thwarted a scoring opportunity. King broke free for a 12-yard gain on his first play since the season opener, but that proved to be the highlight of his night. He finished with 23 yards on nine carries.
Meanwhile, Branden Smith, Shaun Chapas and Marcus Dowtin returned to action after missing the previous game with a concussion, sprained ankle and shoulder stinger, respectively.
Smith started Saturday at cornerback. Chapas entered at fullback, in relief of Fred Munzenmaier, on the first play of the second quarter. And Dowtin came into the game at linebacker early in the second quarter.
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Football games here have a unique sound: cowbells.
Before Saturday night’s game, messages played on Davis Wade Stadium’s video board, imploring fans to “respect the bell” and “ring responsibly.”
The SEC has a rule against artificial noisemakers, but the league in June passed an exception on a one-year trial basis to officially allow Mississippi State fans to continue their decades-old tradition of ringing cowbells. The catch is that the bells are supposed to be rung only at certain times -– pregame, between quarters, halftime and after MSU touchdowns. The school will be fined by the conference for violations of the policy.
Early-arriving fans started ringing the bells two hours before kickoff Saturday. During the game, the upper right corner of the video board offered a constant reminder of whether it was time to “ring” or “yell.”
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Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green was not allowed under NCAA rules to accompany the team to Mississippi State. He was serving the final game of his suspension for selling his Independence Bowl jersey to a person the NCAA considers an agent, former North Carolina football player Chris Hawkins. Green is scheduled to return to action next Saturday at Colorado.
He has played in only two of Georgia’s past nine games, missing three of the final five last season because of lung and shoulder injuries and the first four this season because of the suspension. In one of the games Green played late last season, he left with a shoulder injury early in the second quarter against Auburn. So his only full game out of Georgia’s past nine was the Independence Bowl victory over Texas A&M.
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Georgia has more former players currently serving as captains of NFL teams than any other school.
That’s according to this report by the Dallas Morning News, which counted the colleges of the 124 players who were elected full-season captains by votes of their teammates on 26 NFL teams. The other six NFL teams have captains appointed weekly by their coaches.
Six of the 124 permanent captains are former Georgia players: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey, Saints offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb, Bills defensive tackle Marcus Stroud and Panthers kicker John Kasay.
Stafford was quoted by the Dallas paper as attributing his captaincy to this: “We have a great coach, a great leader at Georgia [in Mark Richt]. It probably rubs off on us.”
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Davis Wade Stadium is the nation’s second oldest Division I-A on-campus football stadium. It was built in 1914, making it one year younger than Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. But Mississippi State’s old stadium has a new-age feature the largest high-definition video board in the SEC and the second largest (behind Texas’) in college football. The screen is 111 feet wide by 47 feet high. In square footage, it is slightly smaller than Turner Field’s video board.
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308 comments Add your comment
Rouge Agent
September 26th, 2010
9:29 am
I want to pre order signed Liberty Bowl Jerseys now!
Mustangdawg
September 26th, 2010
10:20 am
OK People Lay off Ealy, He got his bell rung on that play if you watch the replays there was some helmet to helmet contact(that “duh” knocked his helmet off) which the refs did not see. He didn’t even know he had fumbled did you notice how when he got up his mouthpiece was sticking out of his mouth crooked and he grabbed it and tried to put it in his face mask but it wasn’t there. He was out of it! But they did play like crap and not defensive adjustments is weird for a run based team like MISSSTATE!
MSU FAN
September 26th, 2010
10:27 am
To UGA fans;
will trade two tickets to Liberty Bowl for to tickets to Music City Bowl!
EricADawgFan
September 26th, 2010
3:52 pm
I am a TRUE Dawg Fan. Win or lose, I would still support the Dawgs. But I must say that Coach Richt had better get a lot more assertive with his players, and coaching staff. He has to get very tough on the Coaches, and the players as well. As mush as I am a rivalry with Steve Spurrier, (being anywhere and playing against the Dawgs) I have to admit that Coach Steve Spurrier make champions out of his players. He also has absolutely no tact when it comes to his players, and his coaching staff. If there is something wrong with either of them, he will definitely make it known to them, and to the public. Last night, against Auburn, he took out Garcia (Quarterback) and benched him. In Garcia’s replacement, he put in a freshman quarterback without any hesitation. You see, Coach Steve Spurrier, says what he means, and he mean what he says. Being quiet, and passive with your players, and coaching staff without holding each, and everyone them accountable for their actions, and performance, is unacceptable, and it will get you in the hot seat to be fired. Coach Richt appears as if he does not have control of his players, and the entire team. Coach Mark Richt had better wake up, and get total control of his players, and coaching staff.
If the players are not performing up to his potential, Coach Mark Richt have a duty, and a responsibility as a Head Football Coach to bench that player. If your Offensive Coordinator is not performing to your standards, and the team is not responding well to the play calling, then you need to take over the play calling, and terminate the Offensive Coordinator. The time is now Coach Mark Richt to take control of your team before your team, and coaching staff take control of you. Food For Thought.
87RxDawg
September 26th, 2010
5:30 pm
Boweevil, lighten up man, it was a joke. In case you didn’t know, we don’t pay our players. That would be against the omnipotent NCAA rules and would even be worse than driving your suspended Licensed car into a pole and leaving. Even worse than selling you jersey for a thousand bucks. Not even enough money, by the way, to buy 1 spinner for your Escalade. But to give Ealey some credit, I think he did get his clock cleaned on that hit. He looked like he just woke up from a bad dream.
It’s called sarcasm but they may not have taught you that.
Go Dogs!
87RxDawg
September 26th, 2010
6:32 pm
GeorgiaGirl, you are a voice of reason. I suspect you’re a real Georgia Peach and you know your football! What a girl!! Richt must make major drastic changes. He and only he should do any play calling. He should work on getting a fire in his gut and instill that in his totally unmotivated players. We hear about all these great replacements for Richt: according to the considerable Ga Southern alum I talk to Van Gorder ruined their program. Derek Dooley hasn’t proven anything except that his name is Dooley. Muschamp and Smart appear to walk on water, but, fact is, they work under coaches that do walk on water from a football prospective. Boise State, Utah and similar schools mentioned here, are good teams and have good records, but are glorified high school teams when compared to SEC schools, or at least most SEC schools. Before we storm out with pitch forks and torches we better seriously think about what we are doing. Most coaches would kill for Richt’s overall record and stats. It’s his record to shatter let’s give him a little time to see if he shatters it.
What is so sad as a proud UGA alum is I see people saying we lost to the worst team in the SEC, well folks, that officially makes us the worst team in the SEC. Who would have ever thunk it (yes BoWeevil, I know it should be “thought it”, that joke thing in case you missed it again).
As for beating up on Aaron Murray he is basically doing it alone, he has no protection from his Oline. He, Durham, and kicking team are all we got and definitely only ones that want to win. Murray may not be a David Greene but he is only a freshman, give him some time he can’t do it all.
87RxDawg
September 26th, 2010
6:40 pm
There sure is a whole lot more leg and elbow room on the band wagon in the last couple weeks. Has anyone else noticed that?
And GeorgiaGirl, if I weren’t happily married, I’d stalk you. If you got a GeorgiaBoy, he’s a lucky guy.
87RxDawg
September 27th, 2010
1:07 am
All you people that have jumped off the bandwagon and are hating on Richt so bad why don’t you huddle your upset masses and start your on team?? I hear the plant is going to be giving 1 and 1/2 percent raises this year. With that kind of money you may lure Lane Kiffin away from his dream job. You’ll have the kind of team you want and can really kick some @&$?//&$$!!!!! A$$ES then. Even if you don’t have the money for ole Lane, you can get a payday loan on the truck and I hear you can get a second mortgage on the trailer from the company store.
Yeah, we got our problems, I’ll admit it as fast as anyone. But, you fair-weather, bandwagon jumping rednecks need to go pull for Tennessee or Southern Cal or some other low rent team. I’d like to see you tobacco spittled, camping-in-walmart parking lot rubes do any better than freshman Aaron Murray or Mark Richt.
You’re either a bulldog or you’re not in good times and bad.
Go Dogs!!!