Bulldogs can punch their ticket to Georgia Dome with win over rival Auburn
Gene Chizik will coach Auburn against Georgia on Saturday amid reports that the school has already decided to dismiss him at the end of the season. (AP photo)
AUBURN, Ala. — The line of Georgia’s detractors could probably wrap around Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday and Steve Spurrier would probably be at the front of it.
“They lost to us by four touchdowns,” the South Carolina coach would shout. “They didn’t have to play Alabama or LSU from the West; they got Florida the week after the Gamecocks had softened them up.” And so on.
But all the squawking won’t change this fact: No. 5 Georgia will be the Eastern Division representative in the SEC Championship game if it can get by a troubled Auburn team Saturday on The Plains. And for the Bulldogs, who would be playing in the Georgia Dome for the second year in a row, that accomplishment is not one to be diminished.
“I don’t think the average fan realizes how tough it is every game,” said Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who was sacked five times just last week against Ole Miss. “I’m not belittling other conferences, but this isn’t the Big 12 or Big Ten or Pac-12 or whatever they are now. This is SEC. It’s tough to win the East or the West.”
First things first. The Bulldogs can’t do anything until they’ve renewed their spot in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry. Georgia and Auburn will play a football game for the 116th time since 1892 Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN2. And that’s not some minor obstacle.
The Bulldogs (8-1, 6-1 SEC) are two-touchdown favorites, understandable considering Auburn (2-7, 0-6 SEC) is winless in conference play and coach Gene Chizik’s dismissal reportedly already is being planned. But the series wouldn’t be as tight as it is – Auburn leads 54-53-8 – if the underdog didn’t trip up the favorite every once in a while.
In fact, the Georgia-Auburn rivalry has decided the conference fate of the respective teams, whether for a division crown or an overall title, 20 times since the first year of SEC football in 1933. The Bulldogs are 11-8-1 in those games, and the trail of heartbreak is well worn and littered with unclaimed hardware.
In all, the Tigers have denied Georgia an SEC title of some sort nine times. It started that very first year in 1933, when Auburn won 14-6 in Columbus to knock the Bulldogs’ out of the first-ever SEC championship.
It has gone the other way as well. As recent as 2006, Georgia brought a 6-4 team to Auburn to face the fifth-ranked Tigers (9-1), who were still in the national championship picture. But a freshman quarterback named Matthew Stafford and a defensive back named Tra Battle led the Bulldogs to a 37-15 victory and Auburn’s SEC hopes were ruined.
That’s why Richt laughed out loud when asked this week whether there was any danger his 8-win Bulldogs could overlook the 2-win Tigers.
“Oh, no,” he scoffed. “Are you kidding me? There’s no chance. No chance.”
Adding yet another wrinkle to this year’s proceedings is the behind-the-scenes maneuverings at Auburn. According to news reports citing high-level sources, Auburn president Jay Gogue has already made the decision to fire Chizik at the end of the season.
If that’s the case, it would be one of the fastest falls from grace we’ve seen in college football. Less than two years ago, Chizik was hoisting the crystal football symbolizing the BCS national championship. But on his radio show Thursday night, Tiger Talk, Chizik sounded resigned to that fate.
“Our team really feels a responsibility to go out there and play extremely hard for our fan base, the rivalry and for Auburn,” Chizik said on the air. “With the circumstances of the season, and us understanding we have three opportunities left and we’ll never be together again, I think that’s another case in point for our guys to go out there and have a blast.”
Therein lay the question: How will Auburn play amidst all its internal adversity? Richt and the Bulldogs think they know the answer.
“We don’t expect anything different,” Richt said. “We’ve been recruiting against Auburn for years; we know they’ve got great players. We know that they have outstanding coaches and we have a lot of respect for them. We know that the rivalry certainly brings the best out of both teams. So we’re expecting quite a challenge and quite a battle.”
If Georgia wins, there are many who will say it beat yet another bad team and “backed into” the league championship yet again. But you can be sure the Bulldogs won’t see it that way.
“I just don’t think people know the blood, sweat and tears that goes into it all year long,” junior defensive tackle Garrison Smith said. “All the practice hours, the meeting hours, the workouts, and you’ve got to balance all that with school. There’s just so much that goes into it behind the scenes. It’s not just showtime on Saturday. It’s hard.”
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269 comments Add your comment
disaster in Columbia
November 10th, 2012
9:16 am
you know times are bad in Auburn when your best QB isn’t even as good as Jordan Jefferson…
Joey
November 10th, 2012
9:18 am
UGA is all in the news this morning:
http://www.macon.com/2012/11/07/2241271/georgias-defense-and-the-nfl.html
Possibly four 1st rounders on our D, not counting Rambo.
How did we get beat by SC again?
General Mills
November 10th, 2012
9:24 am
It has come to my attention that the mighty ole ball coach has not won a game in three weeks.Cry me a river chickens.
Mike Franklin
November 10th, 2012
9:25 am
I put Spurrier into the same class as Petrino. The only difference is that the old ball (or maybe, bull?) coach hasn’t fallen off a motorcycle with his g/friend yet, lol.
Auburn isn’t gonna roll over for us… they are playing for pride now and you can be sure there isn’t much of that commodity in having the Dawgs come into their house to clinch a division title. They will play us tough… count on it.
Dawg89
November 10th, 2012
9:26 am
I can’t wait to hear Steve Spurrier gripe. I find it to be very entertaining. Most of the time he makes some good points. This year he will have to get creative in complaining about UGA. It’s not like SC had a perfect SEC record the only year they played in the title game.
Joey
November 10th, 2012
9:29 am
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1398640-what-georgia-can-learn-from-lsus-game-plan-vs-alabama
Joey
November 10th, 2012
9:44 am
SC beat UT on Oct 27th, General Mills.
I don’t get the put-downs of Spurrier by some UGA fans. If he had been our coach all those years he was with UF, winning 7 SEC Titles, and National Title, for the Dawgs, and talking smack, y’all woulda loved him.
Now he’s beaten us 3 in a row at SC, and still in position to match his 11-2 record of last season. He still is a great coach.
When’s the last time we won 11 games, by the way?
NCDawg
November 10th, 2012
9:46 am
Spurrier couldn’t stay in the Pros because he was deprived of his life’s goal. Beat UGA. He lost his shot at an SEC championship and maybe more to the Dawgs back in 1966. Ever since then he has schemed every way he can to get even. Yet here are the Dawgs on the verge of going to The Dome for a second straight year despite losing to Spurrier’s Clucks. After literally using up his team in his quest for vengeance, the chickens lost back to back games and once again Spurrier is playing 2nd fiddle to the Dawgs. How fitting. I wonder what his whine-fest will consist of this time? I wonder if he will stoop so low as to suggest that UGA bribed the league office to get Bama and LSU off their schedule to clear the way? Oh that would be so Spurrier like.
Hey Stevie boy! Would you like some cheese with that whine?
Big Crimson 75
November 10th, 2012
9:56 am
It’s apparent the Barn is gonna clip Chizik at seasons end.
In his first 3 seasons at Aubie, 3 bowl wins, a SEC title & a national title.
This year has been a mess, butt firing Chizik after 4 years proves they never should have hired him.
Who made that decision?
Shouldn’t they be whacked also?
It’ll get ugly tonight, UGA wins by 4 touchdowns.
Classic Trap Game for the Tide today!!
We’ll see what Johnny “Football” is all about.
Discount DoubleDawg
November 10th, 2012
10:00 am
Crimson- I can’t wait to see Jonny football today… Bama will slow him adown and win like they should but he is fun to watch either way. Hopefully we will take care of business and you see you guys in ATL.
Big Crimson 75
November 10th, 2012
10:03 am
Mike Franklin
9:25 am
I put Spurrier into the same class as Petrino. The only difference is that the old ball (or maybe, bull?) coach hasn’t fallen off a motorcycle with his g/friend yet, lol.
—–
Petrino is no where near Spurrier.
Like him or not, Spurrier is the 2nd best Coach in the history of the SEC.
He changed the Conference. He changed the way football is played in the SEC.
Petrino is nothing. Over-rated. Terrible human-being.
Mike – I know your a Falcons fan….you know Petrino is a weasel!!
Discount DoubleDawg
November 10th, 2012
10:07 am
Someone is going to hire Petrino… Who is going to pull the trigger? I would get as far away as possible from that guy but someone will stoop that low.
NCDawg
November 10th, 2012
10:08 am
Joey, Spurrier is a great coach but he is also a d*ck. I wouldn’t have liked him as our coach. I wasn’t overly fond of Donnan. I especially do not like the fact that he is a terrible winner and an even worse loser. If he could keep his mouth shut it might be possible to admire his coaching ability. But as it stands, he is a coach that I love to hate.
RunninWithTheDawgs
November 10th, 2012
10:16 am
Chuck Dowdle on WSB Bulldog Gameweek just announced that the Dawg’s ultimate goal this year is to somehow get into the national championship game. I think that’s something he made up in his own mind. The Dawgs are going at this one game at a time, and we haven’t even clinched the East yet. Trust me. The national championship game is not even in the radar scope at this time. Talking heads always try to blow things out of proportion. GO DAWGS !
I need a towel
November 10th, 2012
10:22 am
Trooper and Chizk prancing on the AU sideline and waving towels during the second half made me ill in 2010.
Las year and hopefully today, UGA fans wave the red flags in their faces.
Go Dogs. WHUP EM!!!
D-MAN
November 10th, 2012
10:24 am
Buckeye=Dumbass yankee Obama lover!
UGa and SC
November 10th, 2012
10:31 am
UGA will never consider SC a rival, with Steve coaching them or not.
UGA has basic, long, long standing rivalries with GT, Auburn, UT and Florida. Alabama and then LSU.
I define rivalry as a series over maybe 75-100+ years. SC is a step child in the SEC and YES, they whipped UGA but good and 3 years running. UGA WILL BE in the SEC CG if we win tonight. SPURRIER knows this fact and it is eating at him.
UGA, not SC will win the east, IF we win tonight in this HUGE RIVALRY GAME !!!
GO Dogs
Seriously?
November 10th, 2012
10:44 am
Cheese it was a curious hire in the first place. He’d been on staff at Aub, true. He had a losing record
as a HC. This does not always mean anything (see Belichick’s record per Patriots) but often it does.
After Cam and Nick Fairley left, we found out that in cheezy’s case, his record per AllBarn did in fact, mean something.
Dogs roll. Petrino, amid tears and declarations of ‘I have sinned and I’ve changed my ways’ reminiscent of the performances of Tammy Baker and William Clinton, becomes the next coach at
Alabama Cow College. As an Athenian, a 35 year season ticket holder and all around Dog, I’ll hate to see Petrino slime his way back into the SEC against a team we play every year.
Imwould prefer they hire Paul Johnson.
Seriously?
November 10th, 2012
10:45 am
Or…I would prefer they hire CPJ. Sorry, blog police.
Joey
November 10th, 2012
10:48 am
I hated him too, NCDawg, but my point is, we would have loved him had it been UGA he was leading to all those wins and championships. I can understand the GatorNation loving him, after Dooley had their number for so many years.
I bet we both would have forgiven him for his “mouth” because, he won, with never a hint of wrongdoing of any kind. Period.
And I still have to go back to reading Mark Richt’s own words, that when news of Kathryn Richt’s cancer got out, Mark’s first call was from none other than SOS.
That’s why I take offense to the comparison to Petrino.
BulldogMike
November 10th, 2012
10:56 am
Okay, let’s get this thing squared away one last time about that Carolina coach over there. Last season Gamecocks had the east wrapped up with a win over a sad Auburn team. AND this game was played at Columbia no less. They ended up getting smoked. This was the same Auburn team the Dawgs dismantled in Athens by 4 TDS. Okay, now we fast forward to this season. Once again, the ole ball coach can beat Gators and win the East. What happens? Once again they self destruct. Beaten badley by a team that didn’t score a touchdown against UGA. So Gamecocks, we are all pretty tired of this crying about schedules. You only played one game against LSU that we didn’t play. Everything else was dead even. Bottom line is you all chocked season away Again !
Joey
November 10th, 2012
10:56 am
UGa and SC,
I imagine you are alone with that “rival” reasoning. The fact is, a border state, SEC team who has beaten us 3 straight times, is a freaking rival.
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November 10th, 2012
11:02 am
Bama will murder UGA in the Dome, but the idiots will keep Richt.
Another Name (required)
November 10th, 2012
11:05 am
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Another Name (required)
November 10th, 2012
11:06 am
UGA wil murder Tech in Athens, but the idiots will keep PJ.
vince drooley
November 10th, 2012
11:18 am
Final Score:
Chizik — 1 National Championship
Richt — 0
I-DOG
November 10th, 2012
11:20 am
Fair and Balanced: You said that Richt will win a national title soon. When is soon? What gives you such confidence that it will happen soon. I think it is more likely that UGA will win a lot of games against the 2-3 cupcakes, tech, Vandy, KY, MO etc… with wins every now and then over top 20 teams over the next 2-3 years.
Next year we pick up LSU and Clemson and lose 9 starters from the D, I don’t think it will happen next year. That will be 13 years at the helm. Do you think if we double that amount of time it will happen if we extend his contract to 26 years total? or will it be sooner than that?
I have become a vegan and cut out high fructose corn syrup from my diet so as to increase my life expectancy so that I may witness Richt’s glorious national title year. It is just around the corner… I can feel it.
BILLY JACK
November 10th, 2012
11:38 am
Spurrier is not like Petrino-Petrino is probably the 5th or 6th worst person on the world.Spurrier gets his smart comments in but I dont think there is anything sinister about him or his comments-I think Spurrier is funny most of the time.Most Georgia people do not hate Auburn like they hate Georgia Tech for instance.Georgia and Auburn actually have alot in common and Auburn people are not vile and gross like tech folks are.I think Georgia is peaking at the right time and will not look past AU-too much on the line for that.
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
November 10th, 2012
11:41 am
@ Merbert Moover:
Don’t kid yourself!!!!!!!!
Auburn would hire Osama bin ladin IF he was available and they thought he would be competitive in the SEC!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joey
November 10th, 2012
11:48 am
I-DOG, you didn’t read Fair n Balanced right – he didn’t say Richt would win a NC “soon.”
He said, “Just wait.”
Unlike you (and me), those Richt-fan-boys are v e r y v e r y p a t i e n t . . .
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
November 10th, 2012
11:52 am
@ I Dawg{
I will name you lots of schools that have NEVER won a MNC for everyone you can name that has won. a MNC UGA finished No. 2 in the Nation in 2007 and those decisions are made by a bunch of so-called Sports Experts. Only the illinformed and immature think good coaches must win a MNC in order to be defined as a “GOOD COACH” but I realize you and your ilk probably still believe in Santa Claus, The easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and that Obama is not a BIG A$$ LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dawgsgone
November 10th, 2012
12:00 pm
Control the game with defense and running game. Very intense rivalry and you never know what may happen “over there.” Dawgs have to be prepared to start at the kick off and play there a–es off till the clock runs out. Margin of victory does not matter, just win AND THEN start to work on SECG plans.
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
November 10th, 2012
12:11 pm
@ Vince Drooley:
Year 2013 ———————Chizek = Unemployed!!! —————-Doesnt have a winning career record——————Auburn Dollars bought him/themselves a QB that won them a MNC—————NCAA has moved a permanent office to AWBARN
************************************************************************************************************************
Year 2013——————— CMR = Only 3 active coaches in AMERICA with a better won/loss record –
——————–Won 2 SEC Championships & 6 SECe Championships in 12 years————–Guaranteed to never get UGA into big trouble with the NCAA —————an OUTSTANDING man of character———————Still drawing that ZILLION DOLLARS/Year——————shares his wealth with his staff that are underpaid————-Will be at UGA as long as he likes!!!!!!!!!!!!
ANY QUESTIONS ????????????????????????????????????????????????????
RunninWithTheDawgs
November 10th, 2012
12:13 pm
Vince Drooley — Sorry, but you got it wrong. Goes like this:
Cam Newton — 1 nat. championship
Mark Richt —- 0
But that’s ok. Newton’s NCAA career is over. Richt’s is NOT. GO DAWGS
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
November 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
@ Billy Jack:
You are precisely correct. If Spurrier(Property of Bill Stanfill) was our coach he would be a great comedian and a hero although he has peaked at USCe and will retire in 2 or 3 more years. You will never see MNC and USCe mentioned in the same sentence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thomas
November 10th, 2012
12:21 pm
You gotta respect Garrison Smith’s comments! GO DAWGS!
Joey
November 10th, 2012
12:27 pm
Brainaic, 100% agree with you about the LIAR . . .
Mike Franklin
November 10th, 2012
12:29 pm
Big Crimson 75 – Talking character and moral compass… not wins and losses. No doubt both are gifted coaches and field tacticians but… this is college ball and style points mean more than that. Spurrier and Petrino are cut from the same cloth in that respect.
alpharetta alice
November 10th, 2012
12:35 pm
Texas A&M’s etry into the SEC has knocked UGA solidly into the realm of “mid-tier SEC program”, the territory of UTenn, MissState, Auburn, and now UGA.
Douglas
November 10th, 2012
12:41 pm
Hey Buckeye…who are u to talk? You cheated your way to victories and would not be undefeated if it were not for a dishonest blind referee against Purdue. Go back and hide under a rock.
DawgNole
November 10th, 2012
12:48 pm
Joey
November 10th, 2012
10:48 am
I hated him too, NCDawg, but my point is, we would have loved him had it been UGA he was leading to all those wins and championships. I can understand the GatorNation loving him, after Dooley had their number for so many years.
I bet we both would have forgiven him for his “mouth” because, he won, with never a hint of wrongdoing of any kind. Period.
And I still have to go back to reading Mark Richt’s own words, that when news of Kathryn Richt’s cancer got out, Mark’s first call was from none other than SOS.
That’s why I take offense to the comparison to Petrino.
______________________
SC certainly has forgiven him–even after all those lopsided whuppin’s he put on the gamechickens while he was coaching the gators.
TNDawg
November 10th, 2012
1:01 pm
After all the beatings and trash talk over the years from him, I’m looking forward to hearing Spurrier cry about it almost as much as playing in the SECCG. I hope UGA wins and I hope Spurrier whines about it a lot.
Dawg '88
November 10th, 2012
1:03 pm
This talk about “others” will say that Georgia got there by beating another bad team or backed into the SEC championship game as stated by Chip Towers….sounds more like Chip Towers saying what he thinks.
Stuff it Towers….suck it up pal. We will win the East whether you like it or not. Get over it….blowhard.
DawgNole
November 10th, 2012
1:05 pm
BulldogMike
November 10th, 2012
10:56 am
Okay, let’s get this thing squared away one last time about that Carolina coach over there. Last season Gamecocks had the east wrapped up with a win over a sad Auburn team. AND this game was played at Columbia no less. They ended up getting smoked. This was the same Auburn team the Dawgs dismantled in Athens by 4 TDS. Okay, now we fast forward to this season. Once again, the ole ball coach can beat Gators and win the East. What happens? Once again they self destruct. Beaten badley by a team that didn’t score a touchdown against UGA. So Gamecocks, we are all pretty tired of this crying about schedules. You only played one game against LSU that we didn’t play. Everything else was dead even. Bottom line is you all chocked season away Again !
______________________
“This was the same Auburn team the Dawgs dismantled in Athens by 4 TDS.”
Better make that SIX TDs (45-7)–strictly in the interest of accuracy, of course. Otherwise, your observation of SC’s whining is valid.
kingdaddy
November 10th, 2012
1:07 pm
Alice
The GT game too hard to stomach???
NCDawg
November 10th, 2012
1:08 pm
Petrino is in a league of his own as far as scum go. No way can you group Spurrier in with him in any way. I hate Spurrier but I loathe Petrino. I am a Falcons fan so you can see where that comes from but his actions in Arkansas buried the needle on the human slug meter. I can’t think of anyone in the game that comes close… from the past or present.
GIGO
November 10th, 2012
1:12 pm
Spurrier has no one to blame but himself…he gets his team hyper-psched for the UGA game every year…without a doubt, the cocks consistently play their best game of every year against UGA…then, SC and Spurrier come down from their all-consuming focus on UGA…and lose…multiple games. It happens every year. So congrats, Spurrier on beating UGA…might want to work on bringing the same intensity and focus to your other SEC games. Enjoy watching the SECG on TV.
DawgNole
November 10th, 2012
1:12 pm
Joey
November 10th, 2012
10:56 am
UGa and SC,
I imagine you are alone with that “rival” reasoning. The fact is, a border state, SEC team who has beaten us 3 straight times, is a freaking rival.
____________________
Mostly what it takes to develop a “rival” is to have them start beating you repeatedly. Regrettably, that’s exactly what has begun to happen with SC.
NCDawg
November 10th, 2012
1:16 pm
Alice, did you include Florida in that list? If they are elite how come the Dawgs beat them in a straight up slugfest? How about throwing LSU in there because UF beat them and while you are at it might as well throw SC in there too. Hell anyone who isn’t Bama is mid tier, right?
kingdaddy
November 10th, 2012
1:16 pm
I think we give too much credit to Lil Stevie, and not enough blame to an unprepared UGA team that didn’t play up to their potential…not even close…