SEC discipline likely forthcoming for Georgia, Vandy players, coaches
ATHENS – Georgia expects to hear back from the Southeastern Conference sometime this week regarding possible disciplinary action against coaches and players in the wake of last Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.
UGA and Vanderbilt were each asked to submit reports about the post-game skirmish that took place following the Bulldogs’ 33-28 win over the Commodores. After the game concluded, Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin and Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham ended up in a shouting match at midfield. Both coaches could be subject to fines, suspensions and/or reprimands from SEC Commissioner Mike Slive for showing a lack of sportsmanship with their finger-pointing, obscenity-laced exchange.
Meanwhile, there is a very good chance discipline could be forthcoming for players based on their actions during the game. Georgia noseguard Kwame Geathers was flagged for a personal foul for punching Vanderbilt center Logan Stewart at the end of of the Commodores’ second offensive play of the fourth quarter. Geathers’ punch was retaliation for a late-hit by Stewart in which he intentionally clips the back of Geathers’ left knee, an extremely dangerous angle that could have resulted in serious injury. Stewart was flagged for clipping on the play and could be disciplined for the hit.
Georgia senior center Ben Jones was flagged for a similar penalty in the 2010 Mississippi State game and was suspended for the first half of the Bulldogs’ next game against Colorado. Georgia’s next game this year is against Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 29.
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen,” Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity said Tuesday. “We’re at the mercy of the SEC. We don’t know if anything is imminent or not. Our only experience is with Ben Jones last year.”
Jones’ discipline was not announced last season until right around kickoff of the Colorado game. At the time it was stated that both Georgia coach Mark Richt and Slive had reviewed tape of the Mississippi State game and agreed that a one-half suspension was warranted.
Here’s the release UGA sent out that day:
University of Georgia center Ben Jones will sit out the first half of the Saturday game against Colorado as a result of a late clipping penalty he incurred in the closing minutes of last week’s game at Mississippi State.
UGA head coach Mark Richt and SEC Commissioner Mike Slive both reviewed game tapes and conferred during this past week. Both agreed the half game suspension was in order.
“It was poor judgment on Ben’s part,” said Richt. “He feels very badly about the incident and has sent a note of apology to the Mississippi State player. I have talked with (Mississippi State Coach) Dan Mullen and he appreciated the concern and Ben’s apology.”
Meanwhile, McGarity does not believe Georgia is an undisciplined team. He pointed out that the Bulldogs entered last Saturday’s game as the SEC’s fourth-least penalized teams. Georgia has been flagged for five personal fouls in seven games this season and all have come in the last two games, two against Tennessee and three against Vanderbilt.
“That’s not a reflection of our team this year,” McGarity said. “The Vanderbilt game hopefully was an aberration. We had a bad second half against Tennessee and lost our composure against Vanderbilt.”
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532 comments Add your comment
FedUp
October 19th, 2011
8:57 am
UGA has been a dirty team for years…nothing new about that. Go back and watch games from the last 10 seasons. They are also a bunch of hot dogs, emphasised by their antics at the Florida game a few years ago. The fact they dragged Vandy into the fray is something new however. I wish these so called “student athletes” would just play the damn game for a change without all the show boating and late hits.
BlueMoon
October 19th, 2011
9:00 am
More one sided reporting by the AJC. I have absolutely read the last article on UGA by the AJC. This is type of reporting is obviously and deliberately slanted and there is no place for it in my eyes. Honesty and integrity used to mean something…with the AJC deliberately only showing one side of this argument they have lost ANOTHER reader. Like they can afford to lose many more.
The AJC
October 19th, 2011
9:03 am
@BlueMoon
Bye.
BullDogMike
October 19th, 2011
9:06 am
Vandy needs to go ahead and jump into all this conference re-alignment that is going on. I believe they would fit in quite well in the Mountain West or Big East. That way they could go ahead and post their 5 and 7 record every year and not be too embarrased about it.
St. Mark
October 19th, 2011
9:06 am
Now, now, boys will be boys. Everything is under control and peaceful. Keep the faith. Keep the faith.
LOL@Gawga
October 19th, 2011
9:16 am
Todd Grantham…
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
All In
October 19th, 2011
9:30 am
Ahh UGA hah what a joke. Team wins a few games against 5 straight scrubs and they think they can go punching people. I am almost positive a few 5AAAAA Georgia highschool teams could contend for the SEC East. That division is straight garbage. The SEC is not a good conference as a whole this year besides BAMA and LSU. I think the SEC is losing its merit slowely but surely. UF is down, UGA is down, UT is down, Auburn is down but we have an excuse to be down for a few more years bc oh wait did we win the Championship last year? I think so.
Aunt Bea
October 19th, 2011
9:31 am
UGA fans sound like little kids. “But, but, so and so did it”. Does that make it right? NO. Make a childish response and get an adult answer. Get over Nick Fairley. He was penalized for the shot in the back. Move on. The Georgia player was wrong and so was the Vandy player. And the Georgia coach was wrong.
BG
October 19th, 2011
9:35 am
AJC=TMZ
BG
October 19th, 2011
9:36 am
All In the ACC is the joke.
george
October 19th, 2011
9:45 am
Tim- can you really be that dumb? Slive also turned the other way when 32 uga players and coaches stormed the field to fight last year in auburn. This has become a uga tradtion the class folks y’all are.If you know how to read then read the bylaws and you will see that those 32 players should have been suspended for the tech game. Do you hear anyone else crying about that? I didn’t think so. Fairley was flagged for a late hit but no bylaws anywhere call for anything more for a late hit. Get over it and learn how to block next time.
Bazooka Joe
October 19th, 2011
9:49 am
The fact of the matter is that the trenches is not a place for the weak. These are big, mean full grown men in there battling it out – it can get downright nasty in there. I never played the line (too small) and didnt play past 9th grade (not big enough, not good enough) but even in 9th grade ball it got testy in the trenches. Any of you play on the line and maybe played college ball ? If so, you know more than 99.9% of the rest of us what goes on and we’d love to hear about it.
I agree this needs to be a non-issue. Players do things, players retaliate. The coaches probably should have held back more than they did (both coaches) but its not a big deal.
Kwame just messed up by retaliating out in the open for everyone to see it – kind of like when Spikes from UF gouged our RB’s eyes – you dont really think that he just did that for the heck of it do you ? Something happened earlier to him and he retaliated. He also messed up by doing it in the open.
DawgGrad94
October 19th, 2011
9:49 am
Maybe we should abandon the SEC and go play in the ACC where we could win the championship every year…
Only kidding – but the SEC should drop this now. It pales in comparison to other infractions on the field that I’ve seen already this season alone!
dawg girl
October 19th, 2011
9:57 am
Why is ok for Franklin to yell at another teams player? From little league up to the pros NO coach should EVER yell at another teams player. This is what started it. Why is Gratham being made out as the bad guy. He did the right thing. It was a NASTY game buy both teams. No one was in the right so Franklin should have been yelling at his team NOT UGAs!
chicken boy
October 19th, 2011
9:59 am
its ok to get paid 200,000 from Auburn to your family—–but dont yell at anybody. Ok, whatever you bunch of crooked no goods. The NCAA is a bunch of idiots who act like they have police power but they dont. And that is why they want to pick on UGA—–they cant stop payoffs but they mess someones next game up for em——————-isnt that special—mmmmmmmmmm.
Dawg Fans Whine
October 19th, 2011
10:00 am
Georgia gets no respect because they deserve no respect. I am reading here about Nick Fairley a year removed. I am hearing how everyone is against Ga. Georgia, their fans, and coaching staff need to get over themselves. Richt isn’t a NC winning coach. Georgia isn’t a National Championship school. It is what it is. Get over yourselves. Richt does a good job for the school. Grantham, Franklin , and Richt could have handled it differently. Richt could teach his players to play with class. They also need to lose with class. Ga fans accept it. You are a middle of the road school. It is what it is. It gets old to hear a fan base whine so much and so often. I watch 80% of the SEC’s games each year. Georgia is the only team I see taking cheap shots and pulling stupid moves to prove team unity. You guys ought to unite and play a good football game and walk away respectfully win or lose.
chicken boy
October 19th, 2011
10:02 am
Go you bunch of crazy mean as you know what Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kill em all and let God sort em out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gtfanfrom1951
October 19th, 2011
10:14 am
Will Bama and Auburn move to the East? Georgie will be at best Bama,Auburn, Fla. USC, UGA, Tenn, Vandy. Poor puppy.
gtfanfrom1951
October 19th, 2011
10:16 am
Grantham could not stop the fat man in the NFL how can he stop him now.
James Franklin
October 19th, 2011
10:20 am
My ovaries are killing me today and i think i have a yeast infection too!
ugab
October 19th, 2011
10:26 am
This is typical MR football. Now our top DL and DC are going to possibly suspended for the most important game of the year. It was a very dangerous and dirty chop to the back legs of Geathers by a Vandy player. No Doubt. Geathers did throw a punch. We have to have discipline on this ga football team. We need Grantham to call the defense. We need Geathers to rotate out with Jenkins. Our Defense lost their composer. Safeties are going to cost us the game
Dawg Tired
October 19th, 2011
10:50 am
I hope CMR does not agree that Geathers should be suspended. His eaction was a natural reaction to very dangerous chop block from behind. CMR needs to defend his player on this one.Will he is the question! If not, he needs to move on.
Reality
October 19th, 2011
10:53 am
I just watched the video of Kwame and Stewart. Are you kidding me? 1) If I was Grantham, I would have decked Franklin for that. What a dirty football team Vandy is. Chip, I know you guys are trying to get hits on your articles for advertising but you know UGA is not going to get punished. Your never going to get real stories that folks want to read from UGA because of your slant on UGA. This is why I have to go to the Macon and Athens paper sites…
we beat vandy
October 19th, 2011
10:56 am
The state of Georgia football… you have to laugh!
Comment
October 19th, 2011
12:09 pm
I do not want Georgia to be known as a “Dirty Team” but I am glad to see that we have a little “back bone” and stand up for ourselves. Go Dawgs!!!!!
Biggest Dawg
October 19th, 2011
12:16 pm
Regardless of what happened in N.Ville,we are the same ole undisiplined dogs….Thanks Mark. Wait and see, we will be so jacked up in Jax,we will have a severe penelty that will cost us…wait and see.
Oledawg
October 19th, 2011
1:16 pm
Grantham would be given a medal for sticking up for the players. MR is a great coach and man but I like the fire and passion that Grantham has for the team. As for Geathers the Vandy player took a cheap shot and needs to be kicked off the team.Geathers had was only reacting to a cheap hit.
Herman Came
October 19th, 2011
1:40 pm
UGA will lose to Vanderbilt next season!!! Book it! Mark it down! Type it up!
Herman Came
October 19th, 2011
1:44 pm
During the Florida game, I predict that a UGA defensive player will dance and beat his chest after making a simple tackle! Book it!!!
JARROD
October 19th, 2011
5:22 pm
Hey AUBURN TIGERESS…GO PEE ON YOUR DEAD TREES
Jordan
October 19th, 2011
7:46 pm
http://isportsweb.com/2011/10/19/geathers-and-williams-out/
JB
October 23rd, 2011
6:21 pm
If someone goes after my knees possibly ending my career in football, yes I’m gonna punch them too. And likely I’d find them off the field one day and punch them a few more times too.