Notebook: Nick Saban believes Georgia deserves to be in BCS Bowl
From all indications, Georgia will end up in the AT&T Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, after losing to Alabama 32-28 in the SEC Championship game on Saturday. But Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said the Bulldogs should be heading to a BCS bowl.
Georgia's Mark Richt and Alabama coach Nick Saban embrace after Saturday's dramatic finish in the SEC Championship game. (AP photo)From all indications, Georgia will end up in the AT&T Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, after losing to Alabama 32-28 in the SEC Championship game on Saturday. But Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said the Bulldogs should be heading to a BCS bowl.
“I’m going to tell you what, I think it’s a crying shame if Georgia doesn’t go to a BCS bowl,” said Saban, who will take Alabama to its third national championship game in four years. “They should get to go to a BCS bowl game. They played a tremendous game out there today … and could have won at the end just as soon as us. It came down to the last play. So, I mean, it’s just ridiculous.”
Official bowl selections do not come out until Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. with the annual selection show on ESPN. But most projections have No. 4-ranked Florida, which finished the season 11-1 but to the Bulldogs, heading to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, one of the five BCS bowls.
But if anything, Saban believes the SEC should have three teams in the BCS mix.
“I watch these teams that are 7-5 that are talking about they might go to a BCS game because they won their championship?,” Saban asked incredulously. “Something’s not right here. I don’t know what people think of the SEC… . I just don’t think it’s fair to the Georgia players, coaches and their institution if they don’t go to a BCS game.”
Georgia coach Mark Richt was interviewed before Saban made his remarks in the main interview area at the Georgia Dome. He agreed, but was less emphatic in his stance.
“Well, it’s up to whoever is deciding and I’m not in charge of that,” he said. “But do I think we are worthy of a BCS Bowl? Yes I do. I do.”
Bowl destinations debated
Where the SEC Championship game loser lands is always a matter of great debate. The league put in safeguards a few years ago to make sure the its runner-up doesn’t drop below Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.
In this year’s scenarios, it was coming down to the Cotton Bowl and the Capital One Bowl for the loser. Based on the SEC’s bowl agreements, the Capital One gets first selection among the non-BCS teams. Late word Saturday night was that the Orlando bowl had decided to go with Texas A&M and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Johnny Manziel.
If so, that leaves the Cotton to choose between Georgia and LSU. The Chick-fil-A desperately wants the Tigers to come to Atlanta to face Clemson. That would be a much more favorable matchup for the bowl and for the Bulldogs, who open next season on the road against Clemson.
BCS or bust
Had Georgia punched its ticket for the BCS Championship, a huge contingent of the Bulldog Nation would have gone along for the ride.
According to Tim Cearley, Georgia’s director of ticket of operations, the Bulldogs had already doubled their BCS bowl allotment. Applications for Hartman Club contributors – aka, the Bulldogs’ renewable season tickets – for Georgia’s possible bowl destinations went out shortly after the win over Florida. By Friday’s deadline, more than 35,000 tickets had been requested for the Jan. 7 matchup against Notre Dame, Cearly said. Only 17,000 tickets are available for the respective teams.
Between the demand for BCS tickets and those for the SEC Championship game, Cearley and UGA’s ticket office have been pushed to the brink.
“It’s been pretty crazy, but it’s been a fun week,” Cearly said.
Georgia is expected to have tickets available for both the Cotton and Capital One bowls. Call 706-542-1231 or go to georgiadogs.com for information.
Last game heroics?
It’s considered a foregone conclusion that Saturday was Jarvis Jones’ last shot of winning an SEC championship or playing for a BCS title. Though he’s only a junior, he has been projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NFL draft by several analysts.
“I don’t, man; it’s not decision time for me,” said Jones, who had six tackles and two sacks Saturday. “Right now I’m going to focus on the rest of our season. We’ve still got a couple more weeks.”
There are a few other underclassmen that will have a decision to make between now and the NFL’s declaration deadline in early January. Chief among them is junior inside linebacker Alec Ogletree, who led the Bulldogs with 11 tackles on Saturday, and junior quarterback Aaron Murray.
“I’m not thinking about that right now,” Murray said afterward. “That’s too far in the future. I can’t get this game out of my mind right now.”
They said it
“Hindsight’s easy. I definitely would if I had to do it over have him spike it. We work on that a lot where we get in a formation and try to get a play called really quick and try to give us three chances to get the ball in the end zone. It just didn’t work out that way.”
– Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, taking the blame for the decision not to spike the ball after Arthur Lynch’s first-and-goal catch at the Alabama 8 with 15 seconds to play.
Etc… .
Alec Ogletree returned blocked field goal 55 yards for a touchdown to give Georgia a 21-10 lead at 6:31 in the third quarter. Cornelius Washington recorded the block; the second field goal blocked by Georgia this season and first returned for a touchdown against Alabama since Kentucky in 1997. . . . Georgia converted its first successful fake punt since 2005 early in the first quarter. Tight end Arthur Lynch, manning the up-back position, took the snap and threw a 16-yard pass to senior cornerback Sanders Commings for a first down at the Alabama 20-yard line. It was Commings’ first career catch… . Tight end Jay Rome caught his second career TD pass. … Murray moved past Peyton Manning into second on the SEC list for career TD passes with 90. . . . Former Georgia quarterback David Greene got the biggest ovation during the on-field introduction of “SEC Legends” shortly before kickoff.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
Game story: Alabama delivers BCS knockout of Georgia, 32-28
Bradley column: Five yards short in bitter defeat a winning UGA effort
Schultz column: Georgia earns respect in defeat, but loss not easy to take
The final drive and play: An agonizing ending for Georgia
What they said: post-game comments from players, coaches on both teams
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227 comments Add your comment
david kidd
December 2nd, 2012
6:43 pm
well, uga got the screws again. we get a chump bowl against a team that wisconsin just put up almost 3/4 of a 100 spot on after hanging with bama to the very end; all the while the lizards sit on their butts and do nothing and get to go to the sweet bowl. how unfair is that!! i will so glad when the bcs is over and done with. the sweet bowl should be uga’s after their battle with the tide. of course the reptiles think they earned a right to go to orleans. well, its just like the crap in washington, what can you do but sit back and suck on it!!
abnbamafan
December 2nd, 2012
6:44 pm
I was at the game and am a Bama fan. It was an absolute travesty that either team lost. That is the best college game I hve been to and I was at the 2011 BCS game against LSU. It is shame Georgia has been so good the last two years and made it to the SECCG only to face LSU then Bama. A few plays and eeryone would be talking about Georgia defending a NC. Great game, great fans and congratulations on a great year!
Now go take care of Bowl Business BULLDOGS!!!!
SEC, SEC, SEC!
harold
December 2nd, 2012
7:20 pm
Great coaching won this game for Bama and stupid coaching lost it for Georgia.
Take two shots at it…Spike the football or throw it into the end zone.
Those UGA dudes on the UGA defense will soon be making “big money” in the NFL.
And Saban is just so business like. What a coach Alabama has!
GEAUX may-retta
December 2nd, 2012
7:38 pm
gdawg……………where are you, buddy? I’m ready to talk sec football and let you educate me on the greatness that you think georgia football is. what is it, 7 or 8 national titles that the conference has since richt has been at the helm? How many of those belong to him and the pups?
Crimson Jarhead
December 2nd, 2012
8:03 pm
Georgia Fans….man, what a game! I had prepared myself several times to be pulling for UGa against ND but we just got a couple of breaks and won what might be the best football game I have ever watched! Congrats on a great effort and really think you guys are getting hosed in the bowl games. How any voter could drop you even one spot after that game is beyond me….congrats again on a great effort!
go Gator....
December 2nd, 2012
8:15 pm
BCS is a travesty……….. Looking forward to that NIU vs FSU matchup…. Can we get rid of this stupid system that punishes conferences that do well and rewards mediocrity? UGA, UF and BAMA all deserve BCS bowl games…. what a joke…
someone who knows
December 2nd, 2012
8:27 pm
UGA is a two loss team…what did you expect Saban to say? He almost got beat by a mid-pack SEC east squad, so he had to talk them up…did 1980 even happen? Is anyone alve still who remembers 1980?
someone who knows
December 2nd, 2012
8:30 pm
35-7 is why Florida is going to the Sugr Bowl and Georgia goes to some generic “not quite good enough” bowl in Florida, playing a team that just had 70 planted on them…the ultimate loser bowl…
Coffee Bluff DAWG
December 2nd, 2012
8:50 pm
go Gator…. Yes, the BCS is a joke. What a great gameI watched that was separated by the slimmest of margins.
I’m at least looking forward to a playoff in the future – should be more than 4 teams but at least that’s a start.
GEAUX may-retta
December 2nd, 2012
9:08 pm
I will say this…………after bama you can throw the other 5 top 10 sec teams in a hat and take whatever comes out and theyll roll whoever they play in a bcs matchup, save the irish. oregon? lmao! really? has everybody already forgotten what LSU did to all of that “speed” last year? its the sec and then everybody else. like the last 6 yaers.
GEAUX may-retta
December 2nd, 2012
9:08 pm
years. lol
football fan
December 2nd, 2012
9:18 pm
dont hate the players hate the rule makers. NIU did what they had to do, Wisconsin same thing.
The Big 12, SEC, PAC 12 and Big Ten should just set up their own championship at the end of the season. They dont need the NCAA to mess it up for them.
Bill Savage
December 3rd, 2012
12:06 am
This is the ultimate proof on how screwed up the BCS is, Florida rated ahead of Georgia and getting a B C S Bowl
av8rdawg
December 3rd, 2012
1:08 am
I guess all I can say now is Go all you great SEC teams !
I will watch them all, except the Sugar… no offense FLA, It’s just a hugely boring bowl mismatch against a no name team, I still hope you guys crush them 80-0 and the T.V.’s across the nation get turned off in the first 5 minutes!…..BCS is full of BS.
oh, & Roll Tide !
GATiger
December 3rd, 2012
8:00 am
I don’t get the logic behind Saban’s and Dawg fans’ argument that UGA deserves a BCS bowl game. It focuses on one game – Florida – and ignores a 28 point loss to USC. Yes, you lost to Bama by just 4 points. So did LSU. And A&M beat them – at their house. The Dawgs have one quality win and fans think that should translate into a BCS invitation. Preposterous.
Funtime 77
December 3rd, 2012
8:13 am
Georgia needs to be in the Sugar Bowl instead of Florida. Who won the game against Florida? Sorriest matchup of bowls ever. Northern Illinois, Louisville, should not be in these good paying bowls instead of Georgia.
wrong....
December 3rd, 2012
8:57 am
“Georgia needs to be in the Sugar Bowl instead of Florida. Who won the game against Florida? Sorriest matchup of bowls ever.”
can you even begin to start to see how flawed your logic is?? i’ll make it very, very simple for you. The SEC has 6 teams that are all very good and that all played a pseudo round robin tournament with each playing a minimum of 3 games vs the other 5 teams. Bama and Florida went 3-1 vs the other 6 teams, LSU went 2-2 and USC, TAMU and UGA went 1-2 vs the top 6. Does that make more sense to you? Can you now see why Florida would get a BCS bid over UGA? 3-1 vs 1-2? Its the BODY of work, not just one saturday. Now I can make an argument that UGA deserves a BCS bid but that gripe is against the BCS system. What you can’t make an argument on is that UGA deserves a BCS bid over florida based on one game and ignore all the other games that were played. Is this making sense to you?? Also notice that Bama and UGA actually got very lucky this year in not having to play any of the top 3 teams from the opposing division which gave both teams an advantage to get to that game in the first place?? Which is why Florida is 3-1 vs the top 6 and UGA is 1-2 vs the top 6 even AFTER playing the extra game. The top 6 of the SEC are all pretty similar this year and UGA had its shot to win the conference and play for the title. They lost. If anyone has a gripe its Florida at the scheduling that allowed a team like UGA to not play the top 3 in the west and virtually giving them a 1 game season to make the SECCG where UF had to go 5-0 to get there vs top 6… making sense now?? Body of work, not 1 saturday….
SEC Headlines 12/2/2012 – South Carolina – Gamecock News
December 3rd, 2012
10:29 am
[...] Late word Saturday was that Capital One wanted Texas A&M. Cotton Bowl to decide between Georgia and LSU. Are Tigers the [...]
SEC Headlines 12/2/2012 – Arkansas – Razorbacks News
December 3rd, 2012
10:43 am
[...] Late word Saturday was that Capital One wanted Texas A&M. Cotton Bowl to decide between Georgia and LSU. Are Tigers the [...]
Madoc55
December 3rd, 2012
10:55 am
Alabama and Georgia played a game for the ages. Agreed the Bulldogs should be playing in a BCS bowl. That said, blow the Cornhuskers back to Nebraska with the “SEC” logo on their fundaments. Go Dawgs!!!
GATiger
December 3rd, 2012
12:18 pm
If you really think Saban “believes” UGA should be in a BCS bowl, you’re naive. Saban doesn’t give a rat’s @$$ about Georgia, Richt or anyone but himself. It was a patronizing comment by a coach with questionable ethics and Georgia fans should be insulted by it. He’s only trying to make his narrow win look better.
Bamagrad001
December 3rd, 2012
1:08 pm
Great game…one of those games where both teams and fans should hold their heads high. I watched the game at the Roswell Taco Mac and Bama & UGA fans had the place rocking. To the UGA fans dogging Richt, your crazy. The guy is a top 10 active coach in my book. Secondly, if you fire him who would you hire?
Roll TIde ROll
UGA all day!
December 3rd, 2012
1:14 pm
@slim: Yeah, our NFL defense was being held and blocked in the back on every play so that Alabama could get all of those yards! The officiating in that game was the worst I’ve ever seen! They wanted alabama in the National Title game so they made sure it happened! If the refs would’ve been calling that game equally, GA would’ve beat Bama by 3 touchdowns!
Basspro2150
December 3rd, 2012
1:30 pm
Here’s to Coach Richt. Thank you for a great season. Wish you would have b&^%* slapped that reporter though. He must never have played the game. Thank you Coach Sabin for your coments after the game. I don’t dislike you as much now. Bulldog till death.
Game
December 3rd, 2012
2:35 pm
First off, YES, it was a great game. But Bam is not that good this year! Their defense is nowhere near what it has been in years past and they really have no passing game to speak of. Like UGA, Bama benefitted from not having to play ANY of the top 3 teams from the other division this year. And by all accounts UGA should’ve been blown out of that game by 2 touchdowns. They had a blocked FG for a TD which is essentially a 10 point swing. That doesn’t happen and that game is over. So STOP UGA fans talking about how great of a team you are because you kept it close against a decent Bama team that was beat at home by TAMU a few weeks ago. Your team went 1 and 2 against the top teams in the SEC. You benefited from the easiest schedule and 1 one game to get to SECCG. Give me a break! 1-2 vs top 5 teams in the SEC and one of those losses was by 28 points!! What else did you do this year?? WHAT?? Beat a decent Florida team that pretty much handed you the game on a silver platter and you could barely beat them? Please, every UGA and Bama, stop padding each other on the back at how great you are. You’re not, you both had easier schedules than LSU, TAMU, USC and florida. All 6 teams were pretty close this year and could have dropped any game. UGA slipped got EXTREMELY lucky in not having to play ANY of the top 3 teams in the west. That was the ONLY reason they made the SECCG.. and if you think otherwise you’re blind or dumb..
smlarsen
December 5th, 2012
1:04 pm
Someone who Doesn’t no obviously. Talk us up. Ha, are you kidding me? He said that because his ass hole was just settling back into place from being squeezed so tight during the whole game. It was a great effort by both teams and could have gone either way. I mean really guy talk us up. In case you forgot yall were 2 we were 3 (1&2 respectively because ND sucks). The only up we had to go was one place. come on buddy get with the program here
smlarsen
December 5th, 2012
2:26 pm
Game we were one and one agaisnt top five teams we beat florida and lost to bama good try though