D.J. Shockley: ‘It sounds weird to hear Georgia called underdog’ vs. Boise State
Former Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley said the Bulldogs were motivated by being called the 'upset special' against Boise State in 2005. (UGA photo)
D.J. Shockley couldn’t help but chuckle at the question.
“Yeah, I think I may remember that Boise game just a little bit,” he said sarcastically. “I think I might be able to recall a few things that happened that day. I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
Shockley was being asked about the last time Georgia and Boise State played. It was Sept. 3, 2005, and Shockley was a fifth-year senior making his debut as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs. And there’s good reason he might be able remember a thing or two about that game.
Shockley accounted for six touchdowns that steamy afternoon in Athens. He ran for a 14-yard touchdown on Georgia’s first possession of the game, then passed for five more TDs as the Bulldogs rolled to a 48-13 victory.
Shockley finished as Georgia’s leading passer (16-24, 289 yards) and rusher (5-85) and the Bulldogs went on to win the SEC Championship that season. But he said his most profound memory came from the days leading up to the game.
The Bulldogs, ranked 13th and coming off a 10-win season, were the vogue pick to go down to 18th-ranked Boise in an upset that day.
“That was a big part of that game,” Shockley said. “Out of every college game that weekend, we were the only ones everyone was picking to be upset that day. They were calling it the ‘upset special.’ We were like, ‘why us? We’re a good team. We’re playing at home.’ We didn’t get it. That fired us up.”
Georgia certainly played as if it was motivated. Tony Taylor intercepted Jared Zabransky’s first pass of the game – the Boise quarterback would throw three more picks and fumbled twice before being benched at halftime – as the Bulldogs bolted out to a 24-0 first-half lead.
“You couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” said Shockley, who is currently playing quarterback for the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL. “That got the jitters out for everybody. I know it did for me.”
It was a nightmarish day for the Broncos, then led by head coach Dan Hawkins. They had just begun to forge their reputation as the little BCS Buster from out west. They had come to Georgia determined and confident they could record their first victory over an SEC opponent.
“I knew how that position needed to play that day and it just didn’t happen,” Zabransky told the Idaho Statesman this week. “I felt like I needed to almost have an out-of-body experience and be some unbelievable quarterback and make every play. . . . You’re tryng to make birdie when you should be thinking about hitting the next shot.”
Exactly exactly six years later, Georgia and Boise are set to do battle again and the the roles are practically inversed this time. The Broncos – who are 61-5 in the six seasons since – are coming in ranked No. 5 to Georgia’s 19 and a lot of national analysts are saying the Bulldogs have a decent shot at pulling off an upset.
“It sounds weird to hear Georgia called the underdog in this game,” Shockley said. “Georgia is one of the most prestigious programs in the country. I mean, I know they’re 5 and we’re 19. But Georgia is still Georgia.”
While that may be true, Boise is a vastly different team. The Broncos have won their last four against BCS opponents, knocking off Oklahoma, Oregon twice and Virginia Tech last year.
They also have one of the best quarterbacks in college football history. Fifth-year senior Kellen Moore, who has a career completion percentage of 68, needs eight victories to become the winningest college quarterback of all time.
“Nothing happens fast,” said Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, who was offensive coordinator when the broncos came to Athens. “I think slowly but surely we have just continued to build. And we’ve had good continuity on our staff, and maybe the recruiting has upgraded a little bit. Nothing seems dramatic. It just seems like it’s been going on for a while, and each year we’ve maybe made a little bit of progress.”
“Don’t expect the 2005 Boise State team to show up,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said during a Bulldog Club Tour stop this year. “They did not have the physical ability to hang with us on that day. They’re different. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster, they’re more physical, they’re more confident, they’re tougher. What they do, they do extremely well on both sides of the ball.”
That will have to prove sufficient motivation for Georgia.
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144 comments Add your comment
DawginLex
September 2nd, 2011
2:01 pm
Relief is one thing, starting all year is another
Relief vs Clemson in 2002-good
Relief vs Florida-Pick 6, huge momentum swing, only loss of the year
Start vs Tech in 2004-Lousy-Greene came in and saved the day
Now listen, DJ was a DGD for waiting and he got rewarded for it. But to say he should have started over Greene is wrong.
Delbert D.
September 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm
TampaDawg – All 3 of those suspended players are very important to Boise St. A starting safety, a co-starting WR, and a productive big guy in their D-line rotation. Looks like the have to either start a RS freshman at safety or move over the Sr. backup from the other safety position (who was mostly a special teams guy).
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:05 pm
And now starts the conspiracy theories out west. Richt turned them in, The NCAA is out to get them.
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:06 pm
Absolutely Delbert .. and the D lineman is one of the only guys on that line with any size. Hurts them badly. Their starting NT is under 300. And for those who don’t think that makes a difference, see 1995 Miami/Nebraska game with Warren Sapp getting worn down by two Husker O-lineman all game (I was a big Sapp fan too). You can render that heralded D-Line ineffective by the start of the second half if you just keep putting big bodies on them.
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:08 pm
Altmaha, funny though, it’s for academic violations. How many trolls come on here and talk about all UGA recruits being idiots and why would CMR recruit guys who can’t even hack it in college, blah blah blah. This is why BSU’s graduation rate is in the tank! Much lower than CMR’s.
dawgman
September 2nd, 2011
2:08 pm
DAWGS HAMMER BOISE IN THE DOME TOM NIGHT!! BOOK IT!!!!
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:09 pm
Or it Could be that since it just occured to them to hire somebody in compliance this summer, that he is just doing his job.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm
The report from Boise says it specifically NOT academics or team rules. Which I interpret as eligibility issues. Can’t be a pure coincidence that they all came from the Netherland and went to high school at the local Boise high school.
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm
Strike that on the academics .. looks like it’s over something else related to all three being from .. get this .. Amsterdam. Who knew that place was a hot bed for talent.
The Dude Abides
September 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm
Sounds like Shockley is laughing at the people who think Boise will win. I’ll take his word for it.
Noisy St vs Nevada?
September 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm
Who was the better team last year, UCF or Nevada?
I realize that’s a reltively weak argument but the UCF loss is brought up constantaly as a reason we can’t possibly win. That may be true, but if so, how is Noisy St excused from choking against Nevada with EVERYTHING on the line. They blew a huge lead and their kicker couldn’t make a chip shot to send them to a BCS bowl. Sorry but doesn’t sound like the juggernaught they are made out to be.
Noisy St. is a good team and we’ve seen enough sloppy, uninspired play from the dawgs over the past 3 years to temper expectations. I just don’t see the outcome being a foregone conclusion because of last year.
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:14 pm
BSU blogs are FREAKING OUT!!!! And yes, the conspiracy theorists have raised the red flags.
invictus mon
September 2nd, 2011
2:14 pm
I’d care what he thought if he hadn’t taken money to throw the game against Carolina. The dawg nation doesn’t forget that stuff Shockley.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:15 pm
What do they call a big mac?
Milledge
September 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm
Why’s that Altamaha?
Delbert D.
September 2nd, 2011
2:19 pm
This is interesting. Southern Cal’s defensive coordinator resigned yesterday.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:22 pm
Because of the metric system.
Madman
September 2nd, 2011
2:24 pm
If it means anything… I go to UGA and I seen B. Smith without a boot! He appears ready to go.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
2:26 pm
It means we are all jealous of you right now.
Murphy
September 2nd, 2011
2:50 pm
Boise has never beaten a SEC Team and Saturday wont be any different. We are to fast,to big and to athletic for them. UGA wins.
JDawg1785
September 2nd, 2011
3:03 pm
I hate it for Boise, but if Kent Turene can’t play, these Dutchmen have to sit as well.
greg
September 2nd, 2011
3:08 pm
DJ was one of my favorite Dawgs of the CMR era. If he were not hurt we would have beat the snot out of UF that year. He waited his turn with no complaints and delivered when it was his turn. I was more happy for him than anyone on that team when we one the SECCG.
A moment of silence, please
September 2nd, 2011
3:17 pm
Attention, everyone. We will now observe a moment of silence in memory of Saint Jan Kemp, who exposed the shameful practices at UGA that were initiated and carried out by slimeball Vince Dooley. Dooley’s image as a coach and a nice guy were forever shattered during the trial, not to mention the one million dollars that dawgtards had to pay Saint Jan. These practices of recruiting morons and coddling them for four years, them tossing them out like garbage, are still going on, but at least the world knows what’s happening in Athens now.
And now, the moment of silence…
.
.
.
.
Thank you, you may resume your normal activities now.
DawgInaTruck
September 2nd, 2011
3:21 pm
@ A moment of silence, please
What? Dude, that makes no sense.
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
3:24 pm
You know, it’s funny, the same exact post from “A moment of silence, please ” keeps popping up. No mention of what this ignorant trolls school allegiance is either because we all know that whatever Georgia Tech school it is has been guilty of crap like that too. Go figure.
Mad Dog One
September 2nd, 2011
3:41 pm
Sure she was a saint that went to jail for non payment child support may she rot in hell. In it for the money.
Mad Dog One
September 2nd, 2011
3:42 pm
Sorry but I put her in with jane fonda both bi&@%es
Smokewagon
September 2nd, 2011
3:45 pm
Moment- Man you are way way out there dude. The Jan Kemp fiasco happened in the 80″s.Can you say 30 years ago??? UGA has changed and paid their price. You keep the moment of silence. Hey how about a lifetime of silence from you?
BigTimeTechFan
September 2nd, 2011
4:14 pm
I agree with Shockley, how could any NCAA team be favored over UGA, they got the “Dream Team”. No way anyone should be favored over the “Dream Team”
That would be like favoring the 80’s Hawks over the Olympic Dream Team.
horseherd
September 2nd, 2011
4:22 pm
Dawgs are going to get destroyed in the dome. Richt wont last the season. Know one FBS coach ever to get out of the hotseat? Don’t think so. Garbage coach = garbage squad.
Dirty Dawg
September 2nd, 2011
4:39 pm
Look you troll-a$$es, all Jan Kemp did was to ‘go public’ that the University of Georgia used the remedial studies program to keep certain players in school, and eligible to play…and did so for longer than they did certain non-athletic scholarship students. Yes, ‘remedial studies’ was available to all students that were judged to need it in order to ‘make up’ for any shortcomings they may have had due to any ‘less than stellar’ high-school academic foundation said student possessed. Fact is every school in the SEC at the time – yes, even Vandy – was using that program for some of their students. That Athletic Departments were ‘over-using’ it was what Ms. Kemp wanted the public to know. As a result Georgia ended it’s use/misuse of it immediately while others continued until they could come up with something else. I mean how else do you explain how, say, a Georgia Tech can continue to have kids that complete their playing eligibility while falling way short in their academic progress? It has happened, and will continue to happen just so long as there’s money to be made in fielding a superior football team.
I don’t know what’ll happen tomorrow night – I know what I hope, and think, will happen, but I sure don’t ‘know’ – then again, neither does anybody here…you can say you do but until it happens, one way or the other, you can’t ‘know’…guess?…yes…but not know
On the one hand I’m concerned that if we come out conservative, aka – ‘timid’ (kinda like Central Florida) – then all we may do is keep them in the game long enough for one of us to win it at the wire. Then again, if we come out aggressive and over-play everything in the belief that we can overwhelm them early, we just might play into their hands with their mis-direction and, so-called, trick plays. So yes, I’m nervous…by the way, you guys notice that Miss State and Tech put up over ‘half-a-hundred’ last night? Damn!
RedandBlackDAWG
September 2nd, 2011
4:46 pm
A moment of silence.
Have you not gotten tired of that same old B.S. you keep typing on here about Jan Kemp. You my friend are in need of a life. I would bet you are a tech. fan and somehow think you are being even the slightest bit witty. News Flash, you aren’t funny, witty and the only person you are entertaining is yourself. Go play with your pocket protector and leave football talk to the big boys. Take horseherd with you. But first, let him clean up behind his horses. Wait, maybe that is from him and the horses are innocent.
GO DAWGS and GATA
TampaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
4:48 pm
hey horseherd, garbage coach? Really? Your program was being investigated for 3 years by the NCAA. Has UGA? No. CMR has won 2 SEC championships. Has BSU even won a game against any SEC team? No. Destroyed in the dome? Just like your previously heralded QB came in against first year started DJ Shockley in 2005 and, not unlike this year, was picked to be the big upset and whip the Dawgs at home. Did that happen? NO!!!
Ace
September 2nd, 2011
5:09 pm
UGA has looked good last three season with AJ, what now ?
ugab
September 2nd, 2011
5:21 pm
GOOOO DAWGS!!! BEAT BOISE
monty
September 2nd, 2011
5:37 pm
How many top 10 recuiting classes has Boise State had in the past 5-6 years? Any? We have one every year. So , if the best recruits in the country can’t beat Boise’s recruits, then it’s the coaching, right? And if their coaching beats our coaching, then fire the whole lot and hire theirs and let’s see what their coaches could do with the best recruits in the nation. Time to coach em up Richt.
Gator Man
September 2nd, 2011
5:38 pm
Ok so Bois State beat Oklahoma, Oregon twice and Virginia Tech last year, how many times has OKl been trounced by a Sec Team?
Auburn beat Oregon last year so beating those losers means nothing to the SEC””
BSU-421
September 2nd, 2011
5:38 pm
I have no idea who will win this game. It’s very hard to predict. Too many variables. You can be sure, though, that neither the Broncos nor typical Bronco fans think of Georgia as an underdog in this game. Nobody in his right mind thinks the Broncos will roll over the Dawgs. In any case, I’m here in Atlanta and expecting an exciting and entertaining game. We’re happy it’s indoors on artificial turf.
Tennessee Dawg 4 Life
September 2nd, 2011
5:44 pm
Going to be a long evening in the dome for the smurfs. Murray will exploit the inexperienced safety with play action passing and boykin and smith are licking there chops for a pick six. Mark It down 34-14 Dawgs
Bob
September 2nd, 2011
5:54 pm
Thanks Shock, for all your numerous contributions at UGA and for your loyalty. Too bad about all the injuries…I know you would have beaten the gators, and you absolutely would have outplayed John Sarah Jessica Parker Wilson.
Simpson
September 2nd, 2011
5:55 pm
Anyone notice Boise has a week off after playing UGA? Gotta rest up for…Toledo. Dogs win if we shut down the run and make them one-dimensional as with just about any game.
supertonyman
September 2nd, 2011
6:00 pm
well guys we will have to see what the score is at the end of the fourth quarter, won’t we? My guess will be 38 – 24 Broncos win.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
6:16 pm
“I wonder how”
I wonder how the players at SC will react to Spurrier selling them out to win with Gracia, to realize he ’s not even starting material.
AintThatAmerica
September 2nd, 2011
6:18 pm
Ok guys and gals – Boise State has made strong headway and is able to recruit higher level players (although they got the job done before). So after this Bronco victory (my prediction) y’all will, no doubt, not give proper credit to the Broncos.
Simpson
September 2nd, 2011
6:25 pm
Point being, Dogs have to spend practice time on USCe while Broncos have focused solely on UGA for 6 months. Will give the Broncos a big edge with that good coaching staff.
AltamahaDawg
September 2nd, 2011
6:51 pm
NCBF? care to cut and paste my post and follow with something snappy?
nega dawg
September 2nd, 2011
6:55 pm
Cant wait for the dome tomorrow. Super pumped
BiggdawgK
September 2nd, 2011
7:49 pm
I can’t wair for kickoff
HardTruth Soldier
September 2nd, 2011
8:33 pm
Boise State this is the SEC, not the PAC 10, not the Big 8, and any other conference in football, This is the SEC, and tomorrow you run into a wild pack of Bulldawgs that are hungry, desperate and at home. …. Shockley we love you in Bulldawg nation and lets be honest John Parker Wilson and Chris Redman aren’t better QB’s than you, and you should be at worst a back up at QB in Atlanta. Love you man!…… Oh and for you true football lovers, somebody please explain why is Jim Tressel getting Big money to be a “consultant” to the Colts, who clearly don’t need one, and These young boys he left behind gets there names tarnished! Fifty plus year old man walks away with a nice settlement, and a new job, but young boys hung out to dry. College Football and the NCAA.Killing these AA young men year by year!
DawgNation
September 2nd, 2011
8:41 pm
A moment of silence, please will post that cut and past blurp he composed a year ago on every Georgia blog for the rest of the year. He took the summer off as his mother had him busy cleaning his room but now he is back in school he has nothing better to do than post his saved Word Document master piece. Once he post it he leaves so anything you have to say to him is wasted as he never stays long enough answer for his stupidity.
Not long now Bulldog fans. Been a LONG wait but campaign 2011 is on it way.
Go Dogs….. Sic em…… Woof Woof Woof!!