Bulldogs need ‘more of same’ to beat Ole Miss and make Florida win stand up
ATHENS — Georgia’s 17-9 win over Florida on Saturday was impressive on multiple levels. The Bulldogs overwhelmed the Gators defensively, got timely plays in the running and passing games against one of the nation’s best defenses and scored an elusive victory over a Top 3 opponent.
But it will all be for naught if Georgia can’t close the deal the next two weeks. Yes, the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 SEC) are in the driver’s seat in the SEC East. But a loss to Ole Miss this Saturday or to Auburn the next week would make for a gnarly wipeout.
“(The Florida) victory doesn’t mean anything unless we keep winning,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Sunday. “We know we’ve got to win. We know we’ve got to continue to play like we did this last game to give us the best chance.”
All Georgia did Saturday was give itself the tiebreaker over Florida should both teams finish the season with one SEC loss. South Carolina, which beat the Bulldogs 35-7 on Oct. 6, has since lost two games. Simply put, Georgia has to win out.
Enter Ole Miss, a name that might have brought forth a snicker in recent years but shouldn’t now. The Rebels are in the midst of a turnaround under first-year coach Hugh Freeze. After losing 16 consecutive SEC games over the past two seasons, Ole Miss (5-3, 2-2) just won its second in a row, 30-27 over Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Afterward the last-second win, Ole Miss players were talking a lot about “believing” and “winning out,” and they’re excited about testing themselves against a Top 10 team on the road.
“We’re just getting better and better every day,” Ole Miss wide receiver Randall Mackey told reporters. “We’re trying to go to a bowl game and that’s the main thing. But we’re trying to win out.”
Richt spent Sunday afternoon watching video of the Rebels and he can understand their confidence.
“They’ve got every reason to believe they can win out,” richt said. “They’ve got a really good team. They very easily could have won the (Texas) A&M game and it’d be three games (in a row) that they’ve won. That’s what happens when you start tasting success. You get excited and start believing and that’s what’s happening right now. When a team has a lot of momentum, they’re hard to beat.”
If Georgia is to maintain its own momentum, it will need to generate a defensive effort similar to the one it displayed in Jacksonville. The Rebels come into Saturday’s game averaging 32.4 points and 430 yards offense a game and the 6-foot-5, 210-pound quarterback Bo Wallace has proved masterful at executing Freeze’s fast-tempo, spread attack. Wallace, a junior college transfer, has passed for 1,649 yards and 10 touchdowns and is an elusive runner as well.
Florida’s Jeff Driskel brought similar attributes into this past Saturday’s game and was sacked five times and committed four turnovers. The Bulldogs need more of the same this week.
“We should have been playing like this all year,” said outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who accounted for 13 tackles, four sacks, two fumble recoveries and forced two other fumbles. “We just have to give everything we have in every game.”
This past Saturday’s ferocity may be tough to duplicate. On Sunday Richt called it “one of the most intense games I’ve ever coached from start to finish.” Georgia was penalized 14 times for 132 yards and Florida 10 for 95, many of those of the personal foul variety.
“You want intensity but you want intensity with discipline,” Richt said.
NOTES: Richt did not have an update on starting fullback Merritt Hall, who sprained an ankle on Georgia’s first offensive play against Florida and did not return. “We’re hopeful,” he said of Hall returning this week. But Richt praised Zander Ogletree was a “mistake-free” game filling in for Hall. . . . Richt confirmed reports that the Bulldogs prayed as a team after the Florida game for South Carolina tailback Marcus Lattimore, who suffered a horrific knee injury on Saturday. . . Richt said he heard but hadn’t seen anything on the pregame skirmish that resulted in Florida strength coach Jeff Dillman shoving a Georgia player. “I’m not really worried about that right now,” he said. . . . CBS picked up Saturday’s game for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. . . . Georgia moved up to No. 6 in the USA today/Coaches and Harris polls and 7th in The Associated Press rankings.
GEORGIA-FLORIDA GAME COVERAGE
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228 comments Add your comment
Left Coast Dawg
October 29th, 2012
7:15 am
@ Outer Banks – there is no Big 12 Championship game since Nebraska, Colorado, Mizzou & TX A&M defected.
JB
October 29th, 2012
7:17 am
SEC gotta laughing…..SC and FLA are the darlings this year……and THEY will be sitting at home watching the DAWGS in the SECCG……….How’s it going over there Sprurrier…….” I don’t know what happens to good coach’s when they get to South Carolina?”…..
Hotty Toddy
October 29th, 2012
7:35 am
Georgia won’t beat Ole Miss playing the kind of sloppy football that was played in Jax. You guys better put on your big-boy silver britches for this one.
Vampire Bill
October 29th, 2012
7:44 am
Kinda cracks me up that some are worrying about not playing for a NC. Despite the big win, Dawgs still have a lot of problems on both sides of the ball. Richt and Bobo are still the same coaches that most wanted fired last week. Hate to water down the kool-aid but there is still a lot of football to play.
I am happy we beat the gators. Go Dawgs
jd
October 29th, 2012
8:03 am
Georgia had their best game of the year and FL had their worst. Georgia will probably lose in the next two weeks but if not they will def. lose to bama. Let’s be real this is the team that lost 35 to 7 to USC.
NC_Dawg
October 29th, 2012
8:04 am
We’ll see how good Alabama really is this weekend when the play LSU. Nobody gave LSU a chance to beat Bama last year and look how that turned out.
Georgia has to continue to improve and win out. They proved to themselves that they need to play hard to win every game.
mambo
October 29th, 2012
8:06 am
Dawgs of late are very guilty of wallowing in their press clippings about how good they are and have shown a lot of quit in the bowls they have lost. This is a team that needs to be “coached” 100% of the time.
gomdawg
October 29th, 2012
8:08 am
jd , get a life , if Georgia was a their best we would have beat Gators 38-6.
LET GET READY FOR OLE MISS . GATORS IS YESTERDAYS NEWS
GO DAWGS , MURRAY AND COMPANY WILL BE READY AND OUR DEFENSE IS ALIVE.
DAMN WHAT A SHOWING BY OUR DEF.
RedandBlackDAWG
October 29th, 2012
8:17 am
Hotty Toddy,
You are right, they probably will not beat Ole Miss. playing like they did against Florida. They will slaughter them, if they play that way again. If UGA’s defense shows up like they did against Florida, Ole Miss. will not see the end zone.
The sloppy football as you call it, was the result of a pretty good Florida defense, but the UGA defense caused a lot more problems for Florida than Florida caused for UGA.
UGA found a way to win and showed they are a decent team when they play with intensity and stay aggressive. Ole Miss. has one quality win if you want to count the win over a very poor Arkansas team as a quality win. They have been crushed by the good teams they have played in the SEC and they are coming to UGA’s house.
Hotty Toddy
October 29th, 2012
8:19 am
NC_Dawg
October 29th, 2012
8:04 am
“We’ll see how good Alabama really is this weekend when the play LSU. Nobody gave LSU a chance to beat Bama last year and look how that turned out.”
Now I know that you are out of touch with reality. That was the Game of the Century, not because everyone knew who would win it, but because nobody knew.
Anyway, the Dawgs don’t have to worry about Bama until they finish the season without another SEC loss. You already saw what happened by counting your chickens against the Gamecocks.
JB
October 29th, 2012
8:21 am
What won the game Saturday…….A fired up group of Athletes who had heard enough…..or a great job by the coach’s getting the team ready to play………And like the guy posted above, the offense, which performs off coaching, looked horrible. I will say the OL played their best game of the year. We are really hurting at QB. Murray is Bi polar. I will say this looks like a typical Richt team from pre being bad era. They get better ans better as the year goes on. We ARE REALLY missing Micheal Bennett. Where was #12 King Saturday. Did they shut him down…..And please, TS Lynch can’t catch a cold. Great win but lot’s of football left. We have two wounded teams left to play in Auburn and Tech which scare me some…..And don’t overlook Ga. Southern. They will bring in problems for us. They are Tech, only better.
npgator
October 29th, 2012
8:23 am
Cograts to the Georgia Bulldogs on the butt kicking they gave my Gators on Saturday.
Hotty Toddy
October 29th, 2012
8:28 am
@RedandBlackDAWG
I’d be more impressed with Florida’s big win over LSU if LSU hadn’t finished 12-10 against Auburn the previous week. LSU has been decimated by losses to injury, suspension and academic ineligibility. They may recover as the season progresses, but they were not a very good team when they lost to Florida. Florida is highly overrated and that game in Jacksonville was the worst football that I’ve ever seen played by two supposedly Top 10 teams.
So, rest on your laurels and don’t worry about some little football team from Mississippi. We’re good with you guys having that attitude. See ya in Athens!
DIT
October 29th, 2012
8:29 am
Looking for last weeks Richt bashers. Hey, I admit I was even questioning his coaching after the prior 2 weeks. Why did it take to game #8 to decide to play defense. I’m convinced Murray is way too tight for big games.
I can easily see a big let down this Saturday in Athens. It could be a Kentucky type game. Let’s see how the coaching staff handles this victory. Ole Miss and Auburn will not be gimme’s with this staff.
DIT
October 29th, 2012
8:30 am
Thanks npgator – though I would not call it a butt kicking. It was either teams game up to the last UF drive. Florida has a good team and they will only get better. Next year will be y’all’s year. Good luck the rest of the season.
gdawginkalamazoo
October 29th, 2012
8:35 am
Congrats to the Dawgs on the victory Saturday. I loved how the defense came out and actually played lights out and like they wanted it. Got two more SEC games to win and neither will be easly. Ole Miss has a pretty good offense rolling. Our D needs to play like fire the rest of the way. I feel like we need some competition at QB though. Murray will never get better if CMR doesn’t show him that making stupid throws in the big games will get him pulled. Pull him and let Mason have a chance. Make Murray think about what he is doing out there.
Anyhoo, proud of the Dawgs whipping the Gators tail Saturday.
old dog
October 29th, 2012
8:39 am
Gotta stay focused…..there have been several occasions during a great run (’76 comes to mind) when we went to Ole Miss and got tripped up. D played great…..O was not so great but overcame. Stay focused!!
Murrat has to stay focused….he made some pretty poor decisions Saturday……
LoyalDog
October 29th, 2012
8:41 am
Ole Mis is the real deal too. They will challenge the Dawg D. Not too sure if the Dawg O line or D line will show up. The lines need to be relentless. They may not have it in them to play with intensity the entire ballgame.
SEC Fan
October 29th, 2012
8:46 am
What I have taken away from the past few weeks is that the SEC East is still the weak sister of the conference. I suspect it will remain so until Tennessee recovers. Florida is still rebuilding. They might be good next year. Jax was a mule’s war for a turnip.
Destin Dawg
October 29th, 2012
8:47 am
where IS Tampa Gator anyway ?????? he knows it ALL !!!!
CC
October 29th, 2012
8:48 am
GO DAWGS!
DAWGRX
October 29th, 2012
8:50 am
Dawg daze, just shut the hayell up. You are just another troll with UGA envy. You could go through any top school’s history and find skeletons in the closet. Are we proud of ours? No. But you learn from your mistakes and move on. UGA is doing well these days and doing the right things. Slip ups (SC game) happen, but I support UGA through it all. Go back to your Tech blog and lament the BYU game, whydontcha?
1eyedJack
October 29th, 2012
8:55 am
Great effort by the Dawgs on this past Saturday. This coming Saturday, for 1 day only, the State of Georgia should declare an open season on brown bears. Get some.
BYU says thanks....
October 29th, 2012
8:55 am
For the scrimmage tek!
DIT
October 29th, 2012
8:56 am
Saturday will be a big test for the Dawgs after this huge emotional and physical win.
Buckeye
October 29th, 2012
8:57 am
dogs won’t validate
gdawginkalamazoo
October 29th, 2012
9:05 am
The Ole Miss mascot will probably pull double duty this weekend, Dollywood in the morning and the game Saturday afternoon.
SEC Fan
October 29th, 2012
9:17 am
Ole Miss under Coach Freeze will play 60 minutes of football. Georgia should win this game, but it won’t be a cakewalk.
phil
October 29th, 2012
9:22 am
Ole Miss 38 – GA 21
We will collapse like the house of cards that we are…
We never handle success well.
phil
October 29th, 2012
9:23 am
Dawg Daze, you too have manure for your brains….
Clearly.
Chris Mike
October 29th, 2012
9:27 am
Great game, finally GA rolled up their sleeves and punch a bulley right back in the mouth. We are going to kill Ole Miss, we might start off sloppy on defense but on offense we should roll. A. Murray will bounce back. To me defense get all the praise, offense did not do nothing, so this week they would work hard on offense to help the defense after a emotional game.
phil
October 29th, 2012
9:34 am
“We are going to kill Ole Miss”….Chris Mike
And right there is why we will be lucky to escape with a win. It’s stupid statements and thinking like that which gets you beaten. Thousands, including the team most of the time, pay no attention to the details and the effort and the laser beam-like focus that it takes to succeed in sports.
We’ll come out Saturday flatter than a possum on 441 and will be very, very fortunate to escape with a win. Mark it down.
LowCountryDog
October 29th, 2012
9:48 am
Relax—ole miss is not that good. Ga’s D will shut them down cold. Dogs win easy by 20+ points and get ready for the only game that matters—Alabama!!!
RedandBlackDAWG
October 29th, 2012
9:50 am
Hotty Toddy
October 29th, 2012
8:28 am
If LSU had a dependable QB, they would be right there with Alabama. You can’t discount their defense, so Florida did a good job against them. LSU might still give a good game against Alabama if their QB can actually do the job. They still have a good ground game but teams have been able to focus on the running game, because they didn’t have to fear the QB.
Even if UGA has a little emotional let down after beating Florida it will not be enough for Ole Miss. to stay with UGA. I am not worried about the remaining two SEC contest, but am more worried about keeping the players healthy and rested as much as possible for the post season games like the SECCG and hopefully a good bowl game.
RedandBlackDAWG
October 29th, 2012
9:53 am
phil
October 29th, 2012
9:22 am
No doubt you are a tech. fan. Not a very informed one, but never the less, one.
Basspro2150
October 29th, 2012
9:54 am
I knew we could do it. I haven’t been this proud of those Dawgs in a long time. Jumping up and down all sfternoon Saturday. GrEAT JOB BOYS. Now for the blowout of Ole Miss.
BulldogMike
October 29th, 2012
9:56 am
Was that the Florida strength and conditioning coach out there pushing and shoving ? The one wearing the cut off jeans and mullet hair-cut ? I think it was !
McDawg
October 29th, 2012
9:56 am
Jenkins, Garrison, Swann will be a solid core for next years D-hopefully Geathers come back
Mad Dog One
October 29th, 2012
9:57 am
Chip, I know you are a reporter but you cover UGA how in the he!! can you say that a victory over fla is for naught? We may not win the east but to a UGA fan a victory over the lizzards is something to be proud of. It is something we havent done much of in the last 20 years. Phil I didn’t know tech was playing old miss this week and buckeye when you beat a SEC school without cheating you may speak until then stfu. as always GO DOGS & GATA
McDawg
October 29th, 2012
9:57 am
here is some pysychology:
A. Murray is afraid of success
Bazooka Joe
October 29th, 2012
9:59 am
Hotty… stop making excuses for your SECw bretheren. I’ll give you one to ponder…. UGA beat UF, who beat LSU, who beat South Car. who beat UGA. Can wer add another team to this merry-go-round ?
Here is reality…. if we (Dawgs) play like we did against Florida, we will win by 20+. If we play like we did against UK (and others) it will be too close for comfort. Auburn, while a train wreck will give us their best shot (or second best shot – saving their best shot for Bama), and of course Techs season would be made if they knocked us off.
As far as SECCG, that is a ways off and assuming we win out – not certain it will be Bama waiting for us (money says it will be Bama, but funny things happen in night games at LSU….). Personally I think we would have a better shot at beating LSU than Bama – Bama does everything well that we dont do well, and as soon as you make a mistake, they pounce.
Now, lets take it one step further… lets say we win out and win SEC (against whoever). I agree with some previous posters that we do NOT get a shot at Miami because of they way we lost to South Carolina. If it had been a close game, maybe if there was only one (or none) undefeated teams. But 35-7 will kill any chances (remember last year… Bama and Okie Lite. Bama lost a close one to LSU, Okie Lite lost to Iowa State – they were done. The same would happen to us in that scenario).
SEC Fan
October 29th, 2012
10:02 am
@RedandBlackDAWG
You obviously don’t follow SEC football very carefully. LSU lost to Florida and almost lost to Auburn because their offensive line was devastated. As if the injuries weren’t bad enough, they had already lost several starters to suspension and academic ineligibility. Yes, their new QB has been somewhat of a flop too.
Any way you look at it, you simply can’t explain LSU’s lousy performance against an Auburn team that had to go to OT to get their only win — against LA Monroe. That said, I do expect LSU to play their best game of the season next weekend.
Joey
October 29th, 2012
10:05 am
You’re right phil, if we revert back to a UK-type performance vs Ole Miss, we will get beat. They are on a roll.
NCDawg
October 29th, 2012
10:07 am
I see the Dawgs winning against Ole Miss. I think our offense will be too much for their D. I’m not making any calls on the D because I haven’t seen them play two good ballgames back to back this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they came out a smacked Ole Miss however.
The Bama-LSU game is huge. If LSU wins then the Dawgs chances of a BCS title shot are dead. Only beating a #1 would overcome the 1 loss. It will be the toughest game Bama has had all year and I wonder how they will handle it. It’s in Baton Rouge and that adds plenty to LSU’s side of the ledger. We’ll see.
The Dawgs need a new motto. “It’s no fun to play half-heartedly.” You would think they would be addicted to the awesome feeling that giving your all and winning brings. But human beings are by nature lazy…we always seek the path of least resistance. Someone needs to challenge their manhood again every week until playing with that level of intensity is a habit. But not the coaches. The kids will blow that off. No someone outside the program needs to bait them. We know now that they DO see, hear and read what is said about them. Maybe David Pollack could say something that would fire them up. Something like “we all know the Florida game was a fluke, these guys will throw their jocks on the field and expect to beat Ole Miss…” Something that continues the soft narrative.
Welll it’s just a thought…
Hotty Toddy
October 29th, 2012
10:07 am
@Bazooka Joe
If Georgia won the SECCG, then they would not play for a National Championship unless there were no undefeated teams at season’s end.
Georgia won’t go to the Dome unless they beat Ole Miss. Look past this game at your own peril.
Texas Dawg
October 29th, 2012
10:11 am
SOOOO Glad we finally beat a ranked team!!! The defense won that game for us…glad to see them back…lets hope they keep it up!!!!!!!
I was disgusted with Murry thru the first three qtrs. I’ll tell you he has this lost confused look whenever we play the big boys!!!!
That pick he threw when in the red zone….I was so mad…just knew that if we didn’t take atvantage of the turnovers we were doomed……but we held on….so glad….finally
If we do make it to the SEC champ…and we should…..Murry can’t repeat can’t.follow the same pattern of turnovers and the lost and dazed…or we lose Murry please finally against other than cupcakes have a good game at the QB postion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SEC Fan
October 29th, 2012
10:11 am
Georgia didn’t “win” the game so much as Florida “lost” it. Either way you look at it, neither team looked like a potential conference champion last Saturday. The entire game was a comedy of errors.
gdawginkalamazoo
October 29th, 2012
10:12 am
I agree with JB. Why the hell do we need anything to get our team up to play a football game. We shouldn’t need a D player calling out his teammates for the lack of effort, or special jerseys, or what not. We should be able to go out and kick arse like it is routine business for us. SHould play a full 60 minutes with every single effort to stop the other team and on offense to score as many points as possble. It would be nice to see that every game no matter the opponent. When we don’t play like that we end up with Ole Miss fans coming on here running smack.
BulldogMike
October 29th, 2012
10:14 am
Does anybody here ever watch ESPN ? Of all the teams in top 10, they would say we are number 11. Even if a miracle of biblical proportion happened, and we won SEC, Dawgs would not be allowed into the big game. I guarantee you a no loss or even a one loss Notre Dame would go before us. Let’s face it, ESPN has too much sway now days. So let it be written , so let it be done…….
Texas Dawg
October 29th, 2012
10:15 am
Kinda have to agree with SEC fan………but If our offensive effort equaled our defensive effort we win that game by 38…….we should have scored much more…..Murry does that in the SEC Champ game we loose……