It’s Georgia-Florida week. Will Jarvis Jones, Abry Jones play? Here’s the latest …
Florida’s easier-than-expected win over South Carolina and Georgia’s tougher-than-expected win over Kentucky combined to raise the stakes for Saturday’s annual showdown in Jacksonville.
“We know what this game means for us and for Florida,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Sunday night. “Our guys are excited about the opportunity to play this game and have it mean as much as it means right now. … I don’t think we’re going to have to sit here and try to figure out a way to motivate anybody.”
A win by Florida (7-0, 6-0 SEC) would clinch a berth in the SEC Championship game for the Gators, while a win by Georgia (6-1, 4-1) would put the Bulldogs in position to reach the league title game with victories next month over Ole Miss and Auburn.
On paper, a number of factors seem to favor Florida, including:
- The difference in the teams’ national rankings — Florida No. 2 and Georgia No. 10, according to this week’s BCS standings;
- The teams’ disparate performances over the weekend — Florida a 44-11 winner over South Carolina (6-2, 4-2) and Georgia a 29-24 winner over Kentucky (1-7, 0-5);
- The teams’ contrasting results against South Carolina — Georgia a 28-point loser Oct. 6 to a team Florida defeated by 33 points two weeks later;
- Georgia’s recent record against top-tier opponents — 1-9 since the start of the 2008 season against teams ranked in the nation’s top 10 at the time of the game;
- And the Bulldogs’ record against the Gators over the past 22 seasons — 4-18 despite a Georgia victory last year
“At the end of the day, it all depends on how we play,” Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said. “We know we have to play an unbelievable game offensively, defensively and on special teams if we want to have a chance to win that game. We just have to be ready to go.”
Florida is the SEC East’s only unbeaten team and would clinch the division title outright with a win. A Georgia victory would give the Bulldogs the tiebreaker in the East if they and Florida finish with one league loss apiece.
Richt had mixed news Sunday on two key defensive players with ankle injuries. He expressed optimism that linebacker Jarvis Jones, who sat out the Kentucky game, will be able to play, but indicated that end Abry Jones, who left the game early in the first quarter, probably won’t be available.
“My hope is [Jarvis Jones] will be able to practice as early as Monday. That’s what I hope, but whether or not that happens, I’m not sure,” Richt said. “He’s definitely been making progress. I think there’s a very good chance he’ll play, but if he’s not healthy enough to go, then we’re not going to do it. I think there’s a good chance he will [play].”
Richt said Abry Jones suffered a different injury to the same ankle that he sprained earlier this season. “Right now he’s out, and we’re going to learn a little bit more tomorrow when he sees some doctors,” Richt said. “But at this minute, I’d say there’s a good chance he’ll be out.”
Georgia hasn’t won back-to-back games against Florida since 1988-89. The Bulldogs won 24-20 last year and lost 34-31 in overtime in 2010.
Etc.
Punter Collin Barber, helped off the field after being run into by a Kentucky player, “will be fine,” Richt said. … Ray Drew is “going to get more opportunities” at defensive end with Abry Jones injured, Richt said. … Because of South Carolina’s back-to-back losses to LSU and Florida, the damage done to the Bulldogs by their Oct. 6 loss to the Gamecocks was quickly erased, at least in the SEC East standings. “We knew [after the loss to South Carolina] that there was a lot of football to be played and if we get back to work and start trying to take care of our own business, there would be a good chance we would be back in the race,” Richt said. “As it turned out, it happened relatively quick. The reality was that when we were playing South Carolina we were in control of our destiny. And then the very next game we played was Kentucky, and by the time we kicked off we were actually in the same spot we were going into the South Carolina game.”
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229 comments Add your comment
DirtyDawg82
October 22nd, 2012
6:30 pm
At some point we as dawg fans need to understand that no part of the prior 7 games is an aberration. It is a pattern of play. We are soft on both lines and cannot sustain any momentum on either side. I love this University and always hope for the day when we can be respected for being a tough minded team, but that is not our mentality now. The elite teams of the SEC all share one characteristic, they are physical, tough, relentless teams with discipline. We are not and that make us second tier and will always be the case until that changes.
DawginNY
October 22nd, 2012
6:40 pm
Amen to Dirty Dawg’s comment. And we will continue to be soft as long as our head coach is happy to escape with a victory against the worst team in the conference. Our DC sux and our recruiting and developing of OLmen suck too.
LVDawg
October 22nd, 2012
6:44 pm
Hope they can make it a game. Here in Vegas we have UNLV. Now you talk about a terrible team. Holy cow they are bad. GO DAWGS!!!!
DirtyDawg82
October 22nd, 2012
7:00 pm
Thanks DawginNY. I believe the best and most successful team’s attitude reflect the attitude and aurora of their coach. Bama, LSU, Florida, and yes, even USC have an attitude and mindset as a team and how they play that mirrors their coach. All four do not accept mistakes, have a low tolerance to indifference and their animated approach to coaching is infectious to the players. CMR is a wonderful man, but he has lost his edge to require perfection from his team and players.
Bitter tur_d ferguson
October 22nd, 2012
7:06 pm
trolls—-this blow out may hit 65 points———28-0 in the first quarter
—–this is the game where muray gets hurt and is taken off on a shooter
——–sorry fellow dawg fans—–this may final be the end for st. richt
—-the defence problems dont fall on coach grantham—they fall on the seniors
Bitter confussed
October 22nd, 2012
7:11 pm
—-What happend to todd—-friggen—–GURLY—-NOW he gets hit and falls down
———and he is running east and west———–REALLY?????
AceDawg
October 22nd, 2012
7:56 pm
Mark Richt is a fool for two reasons beyond his X’s and O’s coaching issues – For one, he thinks you don’t need to motivate UGA to play in big games. That is ridiculous! Big game or not, you need to berate and punish and rally and bring the pain against your team the week leading up to a big game. If you don’t, you fall flat like UGA does against top competition.
2) Richt thinks losing is fine and that competing for the SEC East is good enough. That is BS. You should be playing to go undefeated, and when you lose, you should be angry and distraught. None of this “we hope to win to control our destiny, but it’s fine if we lose since our competition might lose too.” I’m sick of somebody getting $3 million to care about UGA less than fans that actually spend money to care about UGA. SAD.
Anyway, that all needs to take a back seat to hating the Jean Shorts this week. Go DAWGS!
Go Dawgs
October 22nd, 2012
7:57 pm
Ray Drew gives us a much better chance than Abry Jones or Garrison Smith! Hopefully, he gets the start at DE this weekend.
unhappydog
October 22nd, 2012
8:50 pm
ga football has fallen off the map,they do not compete. i love cmr as a person but he is not getting the job done.year after year same old bs.ad lets bring ga football back or u can get the hell on 2.faith without work is useless,these guys r just getting paid ¬ producing.just win baby win.fla-52 ga-3
Jlp39
October 22nd, 2012
8:54 pm
please put Richard Samuel in on defence. His stop on the Missouri fake punt is the only defender that has shed a block all year. Please put malcome in to make the tough yards or to pass block.
Dawg89
October 22nd, 2012
8:59 pm
Barber is a pretty good actor. Sooner or later he will draw a flag for the act.
Rick
October 22nd, 2012
9:03 pm
From many of the comments above one would not have enough evidence to convict them of being Dawg fans at all! I’m over the UGA vs. USC game with this, they are not 4 TDs better than the Dawgs. There. I’m over the UGA vs. UK game with this, the Dawgs are better than the 4 or 5 points over UK. There. I don’t think UF is 5 TDs better than USC, so I believe the Dawgs will “being it” Saturday and merge victorious. GO DAWGS! (Anybody want to get behind the home team with some positive with me)?
UGA Alumni Sigh
October 22nd, 2012
11:22 pm
Yeah, it would be nice to beat Florida except for the fact that it’s hard to beat ANYBODY with such a piss poor defense.
We need a new coaching staff since we rarely ever beat Florida in recruiting. End of Story.
monty
October 23rd, 2012
12:15 am
What no one is mentioning is that Fla now has a QB who can hurt you through the air. A good friend of mine is a Fla diehard and he keeps telling me that this guy is better than Murray. We’ll see. But one thing for sure he will get more time to get set and survey the field than Murray will. GA and stopping the run game is an oxymoron.
monty
October 23rd, 2012
12:19 am
Fla is tougher than the Bulldogs. CMR’s teams are sissies. THey don’t lineup and knock you off the ball, hardly any tackles for loss and hardly any sacks since 1st 3 games. CMR teams beat lesser opponents with better athletes in skill positions. Equally recruiting teams beat the dog-doo out of us by coaching the talent up.
Real Dawg Fan
October 23rd, 2012
12:24 am
I can’t wait to hear all the CMR haters after we win this game, they will still have some dumb reason to fire the most successful coach we’ve had in 50 years (thats right Dooley included)\
With a little patience and dare I say ’support’ we will achieve everything we all want. Not to mention we won’t have to worry about sanctions, probations, or just being bad 2 years later (i.e. Auburn)
Lets go DAWGS, beat those Gaytors
flo-ri-duh
October 23rd, 2012
12:55 am
Aubrey Jones is a big loss if he does not play. The experienced depth at DE is thin. UGA needs to try a more controlled offense this week. Murray does not roll out that much but that could give him the time he needs and they should throw more to the RB’s on 1st and 2nd down and also get the TE’s involved. Good luck Dawgs.
flo-ri-duh
October 23rd, 2012
12:58 am
Dawgs cannot afford to be to conservative in this game. Throw more high percentage passes on 1st down. Bubble screens and draw plays to slowdown the pass rush. UGA needs a mistake free game. Play loose and play to win.
flo-ri-duh
October 23rd, 2012
1:04 am
Lattimore was injured and only ran 3 plays against the Lizards. UGA should be able to get 4 or 5 yards passing on 1st down and then run the ball. Mix it up.
babs
October 23rd, 2012
1:11 am
even without jarvis, the Dog D can shut down fla’s offense, which is terrible. they were just flat against UK, looking ahead to fla. Dogs 30 fla 19—east champion!!!
loel
October 23rd, 2012
8:31 am
Someone mentioned the slowness of the GA defense. I mentioned that to my wife for several games. They appear water-logged, heavy legged and drop-dead slow.
UGA safety Shawn Williams rants that Dogs’ defense is ‘too soft, playing wrong players | UGA sports blog
October 23rd, 2012
10:30 am
[...] Georgia-Florida week: Will Abry Jones or Jarvis Jones play? [...]
JarvisRules!
October 23rd, 2012
11:14 am
Jarvis will be on fire against fla like last year! The dogs were holding him back for this game—look for 3-4 sacks of Driskel and tons of pressure. Jarvis will be the game changer—the Dogs pull the upset: 27-16!
Tyler
October 23rd, 2012
11:55 am
I would like to see Richard Samuel play some defense this game. He made one of the best tackles of the year in the Missouri game on that fake punt. Samuel is a very good tackler and is one of the leaders on the team. He knows the viewpoint from a tailback and from offense because he has played offense. Let him get some time at linebacker/defensive end. See what happens. He’s a clutch player, especially against Florida. Remember last year?
john
October 23rd, 2012
12:53 pm
PLEASE GET RID OF MIKE BOO BOO PLEASE
WE WILL NEVER WIN A BIG GAME.
I TALKED TO A RECRUIT FROM TUCKER HIGH
HE SAID HE LIKE GEORGIA BUT SAID COACH RICHT
IS TOO NICE AND HE LIKES HIM BUT WILL NOT GO TO GA. BECAUSE
CMR CANNOT WIN BIG GAMES BEING SO EASY ON HIS PLAYERS.
James Collins
October 24th, 2012
3:44 pm
Dear Mark: The past 6 years I’ve lectured on SEC campuses to parents of those football teams and several of them have said over and over – because Georgia runs no misdirection, the defenses just watch the Georgia O-line and move in the same direction the O-line moves – and it gives them the advantage. They are on to your game coach – you need to add some mis-direction plays, naked boot legs, reverses, shuffles passes, more fakes, play action, screen variations. Do you think these kid’s parents are lying to me? Why would they do that? The DAWGs run about one misdirection play a game on purpose (six three years ago against tech). They have almost always worked, and when the backs cut back against the rain, that works well too – because this is also mis-direction. Coach, I know you are high on your big O-line, but 4 can’t block six…and if you know the Gator D is going to mimic the o-line, that gives you an advantage with mis-direction. Good luck.
Notebook: Georgia’s offensive line will be shuffling again against Gators | UGA sports blog
October 24th, 2012
9:19 pm
[...] Georgia-Florida week: Will Abry Jones or Jarvis Jones play? [...]
T'VILLE DAWG
October 24th, 2012
10:55 pm
Brother Mark, Richard Samuel has done everything any one would ask. Please let him get the reps in the game to show at least potential NFL scouts what he can do, at least if he wants that for his early career.
Georgia gets yet another shot at Top 10 opponent; that it’s Florida is just a bonus | UGA sports blog
October 27th, 2012
1:59 pm
[...] Georgia-Florida week: Will Abry Jones or Jarvis Jones play? [...]