Richt: ‘We spent ourselves in a worthy cause…. You’ve got to kind of get over the heartbreak’
Georgia coach Mark Richt said his program is moving on from the “heartbreak” of Saturday’s SEC Championship game loss and “getting back to work.”
Mark Richt: "It was heartbreaking, no doubt." (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
“You know what? We spent ourselves in a worthy cause,” Richt said Sunday night. “We of course wanted to play for the national championship. We knew we were just a couple of yards away, maybe a couple of seconds away or a tipped ball away or however you want to say it. We were at least in position to win it.
“It was heartbreaking, no doubt. We were all highly, highly hurt by it. … We just came up short. It was one of those games where either team could have won. So you’ve got to kind of get over the heartbreak of that. And I’ve always had the ability to understand what the reality is and move on.
“We’re already out recruiting. We’re getting back to work.”
Despite the dashed dream of playing for the national championship, Richt said he expects his 11-2 team to be enthused about its trip to Orlando for the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl against Nebraska.
“We’ve got a new goal in sight: We’re excited to try to get 12 wins,” Richt said.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity acknowledged that the day after the SEC title game was a difficult one in Bulldog Nation.
“I know we’re all still hurting a little bit right now,” McGarity said. “But the sun came up … and there’s nothing we can do about it but learn from it and move forward.”
How coaches ranked Dogs
After Georgia’s 32-28 loss to Alabama, voters in the USA Today coaches’ poll ranked the Bulldogs everywhere from No. 2 to No. 11.
The highest vote cast for Georgia was by Vanderbilt’s James Franklin, who had the Bulldogs No. 2 (behind Alabama and ahead of Notre Dame).
The lowest votes cast for Georgia were by Baylor’s Art Briles and Washington’s Steve Sarkisian, both of whom had the Bulldogs No. 11.
Richt and Alabama’s Nick Saban voted Georgia No. 3 — ahead of Florida, which both put No. 4.
Coaches’ individual ballots were released for the first time this season, per customary procedure on the final poll before the bowls.
Overall, Georgia was ranked No. 5 in the coaches’ poll. In the other two components of the BCS standings, Georgia was ranked No. 5 by the Harris Poll but an average of No. 11 by the computers. That added up to an overall BCS ranking of No. 7.
Conference limit to be eliminated
The rule that kept Georgia from playing in any of the four BCS bowls (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange) will be scrapped when college football goes to its new playoff system in the 2014 season.
The current rule is that no more than two teams from a conference can go to BCS games in a given season. Alabama, of course, got one of the SEC’s spots this season with its berth in the national title game. Florida moved up to No. 3 in the final BCS standings, clinching the SEC’s second spot because of a rule that stipulates a team ranked in the top four automatically gets a BCS invitation unless two other teams from its league are ranked higher. Georgia is the highest-ranked team not in a BCS game.
McGarity noted that the SEC has six of the top 10 teams in the BCS standings — but only two of the 10 spots in BCS games.
“It’s obviously being corrected in 2014, so a number of individuals thought that was not a fair way to treat conferences,” McGarity said. “I think the way it’s set in 2014 will reward those conferences that have the ability to place teams in the top 10.”
Under the 2014 model, there is no specific limit on how many teams from a conference can make the four-team playoff and the other top-tier bowls, although various arrangements between leagues and bowls will still be a factor.
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who sharply criticized the inclusion of Northern Illinois in a BCS game (Orange Bowl), scoffed at the current two-per-league limit. “Who came up with this rule?” he asked on air Sunday night.
Herbstreit added: “To leave teams out like Georgia and … Texas A&M and Oklahoma, all of us want to see those teams in games that matter, and you’re going to give us Northern Illinois.”
‘They call themselves the CornDogs’
Georgia’s bowl opponent, Nebraska, brings back childhood memories for Richt.
“It’s kind of personal for me in that I was born in Omaha and my mom and dad grew up in Nebraska and all my cousins on that side of the family are big Husker fans,” Richt said.
“They like the Dogs, too,” he added. “They call themselves the CornDogs, actually — combination of Cornhuskers and Dogs.”
Richt said his family moved from Nebraska to Colorado when he was 7 or 8 and then to Boca Raton, Fla., when he was about 13. But “I still had Nebraska on my mind, really, up until the time I went to college at Miami.”
— Tim Tucker, AJC
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781 comments Add your comment
phil
December 3rd, 2012
4:27 pm
C from Marietta also appreciates losing….
I should have just been a Gator I guess.
mediocrity continues...
December 3rd, 2012
4:28 pm
Well, one tipped pass is the diff between the BCS Champ game and the Cap 1 bowl so do the math.
SPIKE THE EFFING BALL
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 3rd, 2012
4:28 pm
just a question…………..Do any of you think Mike Vick can pass his Concussion Test but he doesn’t want to? He can get a check and sit on the side and nobody can criticize his play on the field.
Back to the dog house.
December 3rd, 2012
4:29 pm
Ah I see we have come full circle here. Now we are starting to sound like GT fans and there isn’t a problem with it. The game wasn’t even as close as we thought, take away that FG block (because we all know that was pass interference on third down and not a tipped ball.) and it’s all the wider, it was like Bama was playing cursed, on the road nevertheless. So since it’s now okay to come in 2nd (or third or 11th of whatever we are ranked), I will be content with mediocrity like those guys in Atlanta every year when they lose to us and say “it was so close, if only. If we want to win we got to make changes, get rid of these mediocre coaches.
texasdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:30 pm
I am so sick of the press and so called fans propping up the Dawgs after this LOSS. WE LOST THE FREAKING GAME PEOPLE! Now I’m hearing the players say crap like “we matched up with them for 60 minutes”, or, “we were just five yards away”, or ” had there been just one more play”. IF, IF, IF! Richt and his softness have lulled all of us but particularly the players into thinking that we did something good on Saturday! That is such a crock. We lost. We lost. We lost. And it it doesn’t matter if it was by 1 or 100 points, we lost. When the players start feeling good about a loss, they will never achieve the level of success Alabama or Florida have experienced.
SickNtired
December 3rd, 2012
4:31 pm
Phil, I couldn’t agree more. 32 long long long years. It is unacceptable to have top recruiting classes every year and do nothing with it. It is no doubt the coaches. The irony in this is that Bama is playing with mostly freshmen and sophomores while we have mostly juniors and seniors in our rating units. That is more proof that the coaching for Bama far exceeds the Dawgs. Yes Bama said all the right things about the Dawgs but it was clearly demonstrated that they did not fear us and knew they could do the same run play the entire night and our subpar coaches wouldn’t adjust to what they were doing.
phil
December 3rd, 2012
4:31 pm
Apparently most of our “fans” are ok with losing….
it’s sad and sickens me greatly. I can’t even eat.
Former Georgian
December 3rd, 2012
4:32 pm
We live in Birmingham and all the Bama fans are still talking about how scared they were the last 5 seconds. No disrespect on their part!
phil
December 3rd, 2012
4:33 pm
well said, texasdawg and sickntired….
i just want to curl up with my blankie…
texasdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:33 pm
Had the ball not been tipped, there’s no guarantee of anything. The intended receiver was almost out of bounds and very well covered. There might have been another shot, but this game was not lost nor won on that tipped pass.
dawg4lyf
December 3rd, 2012
4:36 pm
To see my Dawgs play such a tough, hard-nosed game and give an effort every fan should be proud of – then have so called fans come on here and trash everyone or talk down to them…you are not Dawgs fans and never will be…herd your way to Georgia Tech – you can be fair weather all day long over there. Our boys played their hearts out, the coaches called a good game against a very, very good team and we were 4 yards away from pulling off what no one thought we could do…I am proud of my team and proud to be a Dawg. Have pride in this team or go the hell away. Now, go ahead and bring on your dumb-a$$ comments…
SickNtired
December 3rd, 2012
4:36 pm
That should read starting units
Joey
December 3rd, 2012
4:37 pm
UOAD, come on. What is wrong with respectful debate? You call yourself “smart enough to know.” Prove it. You always act angry and spiteful, wth?
And as for the UGA fans who get in the mud on Tech blogs, well, they aren’t on UGA blogs much are they? They get ignored here too.
texasdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:37 pm
@FormerGeorgian: So let’s all run out and celebrate! We scared Bama and their fans. Whoop-dee-doo. Is there a bowl for that distinction?
Ol Dawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:37 pm
The Dawgs blew it.Plain and simple. Could have been playing for National Championship. BLEW IT! All the poor effort tackling…OC blew it in the end…..Oh well, that’s Georgia.
Back to the dog house.
December 3rd, 2012
4:38 pm
dawg4lyf is just another enabler to this regimen that keeps us losing in the big show constantly.
docdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:39 pm
Truthfully, the lines did a good job for Ga, but credit the O line for Ala, they were as good as advertised. D line for Ga got fatigued by late second quarter and for good reason, their opposition was big and seasoned. Our linebackers and DBs missed alot of tackles in the second half, but so did Bama`s trying to stop Gurley. Credit all the RBs for that, Yeldon is shifty and quick and causes alot of cutback misses, Lacey a brute and Gurley a combination of both traits, probably the best of all 3 backes if he runs behind that Ala line. I didn`t think Ala could run that well, but was wrong, and didn`t think we would run well, wrong again. Great game all the way but thought the refs gave alot of holds and early hit lattitude on the Bama DBs that shouldn`t be seen in championship games. Let em play, no problem, but play the rules. No team superior in my view, both great efforts, and either would have fun against Notre Dame. Frankly, I`d rather see Ga play K State or Oregon, but think Pellini`s crew is a much better game than Louisville or Clemson would be. Be fun to watch Ga run over Fl again, have to wait till next year for that! Wish luck to all SEC squads in bowls.
AltamahaDawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:40 pm
What is on very obvious display is that we have a few folks with a computer, and some serious inferiority complexes that think they can rid themselves of, with thier feigned outrage over this football game.
texasdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:43 pm
@dawg4lyf: Well lets all get together and knit some doggie botties together and make hot chocolate. Awwwwwwwwww. You’re exactly what is wrong with UGA fans and the team, and you said it yourself: “we were 4 yards away from pulling off what no one thought we could do”. That’s right. You call yourself a true Dawg fan and you didn’t even believe we could win! And you’re telling me to go away? I have a lot of pride and that is exactly why I did believe and when that didn’t happened, there’s no good in trying to feel good. I don’t want the players or the coach or anyone to feel good.
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 3rd, 2012
4:45 pm
dawg4lyf …………….I don’t think the UGa fans that are mad are not proud to be Dawgs. They are Mad at the Staff for not doing better with the Talent you have.
Do you think Saban would have beat Bama with UGa’s talent?
I say Saban would have won that game no matter what sideline he was on.
It is the Staff.
The Mad Dawgs are Mad at Millions $$$ being paid to the STAFF for not delivering Championships or playing in BCS CG’s.
ARdawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:47 pm
Altamaha
Yup!
Kennesaw David
December 3rd, 2012
4:48 pm
Truth is this was a game for the ages, likely the best SEC championship game ever. Dawgs played their hearts out and left everything they had on that field. Nothing at all to be ashamed of. GO DAWGS! Go take it to Nebraska!!
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 3rd, 2012
4:49 pm
docdawg………….I think what you saw was the difference in Richt & Saban.
Saban was playing many 2nd, 3rd string players in games all year. Those Bama players are ready to be on the BIG STAGE because they get a taste of it all season. Richt’s teams don’t put people away early and put in young players to get experience.
SickNtired
December 3rd, 2012
4:49 pm
dawg4lyf, you are the perfect example of what I am saying. It was great effort, please get real. All teams give great effort but only championship teams win with determination to not lose. So we can keep giving great effort and know that we have fans like you who are satisfied with always falling short year after year. Do you think LSU, BAMA, FLA are satisfied if they give great effort, don’t worry I will answer that for you…NO they are not. What do they all have in common, well let me see MAYBE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. Keep that great effort crap to yourself. How bout you herd over to GT where they give great effort.
Mike
December 3rd, 2012
4:50 pm
Richt has been at the helm a long time. I’d like to see UGA give him a year to earn a championship, and if it doesn’t happen then replace the staff. I’d hate to see four complete decades go by without a championship.
Something is holding us up, and it isn’t just close calls or almost-there games.
We haven’t had a championship in 32 years. I’m 44. We last won when I was 12.
Iloveuga
December 3rd, 2012
4:50 pm
Former Georgian – the only disrespect you will see comes from the so-called Georgia “fans.”
That’s pretty much it – from their own fans. Nice support, don’t you think?
deca
December 3rd, 2012
4:50 pm
I’ve not seen anyone else mention this, but the game was really lost back when Alabama made the two point conversion following a touchdown. If they had not made that conversion, the score would have been 30-28 coming down the stretch and all we would have had to do was kick a field goal, which we could have done following that closing series of passes that easily put us in field goal range. Because we had to get a touchdown instead, we came up short. Saban outcoahced us with the 2-point conversion.
dawg4lyf
December 3rd, 2012
4:52 pm
I always have faith in my boys. I have been a fan since 1976 and watch my boys from all over the world – If I am not a true fan, there is no such thing as one. But I am not unrealistic…we are not going 14-0 every single year…and every single loss is not because a coach or player is a failure. Sometimes, one team simply does a better job of something than the other…to use the logic expressed here by others, you would have to say Georgia beat the teams on their schedule because those teams were failures – not because we played better. Make fun if you want but, apparently, logic comes with age…commence with the dumb-a$$ comments…
AltamahaDawg
December 3rd, 2012
4:54 pm
Phil? passing on the rational explanation? Tell me how clocking the ball would have made any difference in the game? I’ll even allow you the benefit of molding reality to fit whatever model you need where one thing leads to another..
Joey
December 3rd, 2012
4:54 pm
We knew before the season that depth was an issue – what with all the players kicked off, transferred, etc.
And anybody that didn’t think Bama would try to exploit that wasn’t paying attention.
I think our coaches, and especially the players, did an admirable job vs Bama, with that lack of depth.
If I wanted to pitch a fit about a 2012 UGA football game performance, it would be the one I still can’t get over – South Carolina.
But not the SECCG.
Moist Dawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:01 pm
Mike, you make me want to throw up in my mouth. How can you write that you graduated UGA and then finish with “go alabama”.
And that goes for the any of you other losers that are happy and even proud with “a good effort”.
I bet some of you were just happy that we didn’t get blown out would give the DAWGS a participation trophy if you could.
Sickening how some of you are worse than Benedict Arnold.
Hey Bob
December 3rd, 2012
5:01 pm
Are you complaining about other schools or UGA? I know UGA is oversigning to the total of 30 to 35 kids but its a result of kicking them off the team for various reasons. Can you give me examples of other SEC teams that are signing that many or have had to kick off so many that they are down to 70 scholarship players? It maybe hard to believe but some players want to play and would rather move to school that will afford them the opportunity. Be careful of what you accuse others of before taking a good, hard objective look at yourself.
Rick James
December 3rd, 2012
5:04 pm
@GTBob
As always you were wrong..The hit on Aaron Murry was not legal..
Steve Shaw, the SEC’s coordinator of officials, has already reviewed the play and determined that Saturday’s referees “missed the call.”
“By rule, you can’t hit a defenseless player above the shoulders,” Shaw told The Birmingham News. “What the determination needs to be is was this a defenseless player and was contact initiated above the shoulders? When we go through video review of it, that’s what we’ll have to determine. And then you as you break it down, did he lead with the head or lead with the shoulder? From game action, it was a personal foul regardless of how we break it down frame by frame.”
Rick James
December 3rd, 2012
5:05 pm
@GTBob
As always you were wrong the hit on Murry was not legal..
Steve Shaw, the SEC’s coordinator of officials, has already reviewed the play and determined that Saturday’s referees “missed the call.”
“By rule, you can’t hit a defenseless player above the shoulders,” Shaw told The Birmingham News. “What the determination needs to be is was this a defenseless player and was contact initiated above the shoulders? When we go through video review of it, that’s what we’ll have to determine. And then you as you break it down, did he lead with the head or lead with the shoulder? From game action, it was a personal foul regardless of how we break it down frame by frame.”
Don't Care
December 3rd, 2012
5:06 pm
As long as Richt remains at UGA, these are they types of results to expect. Poorly coached ballgame – no sustained drives to spell the defense, awful call on 3rd & 1 with 3 minutes to go, and an inexcusable decision not to spike the ball with 15 seconds left. The coaches stole that victory from the players – shame on them.
DarthDawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:08 pm
Since losing is not acceptable, what time are the press conferences announcing head coach firings at LSU, Florida, South Carolina, USC, Oregon, and Oklahoma?
All but 2 of those teams have won championships in the past 12 years or so but what have they done lately?
AltamahaDawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:08 pm
Well, I am not sure who IS 3 deep on thier D-line. I don’t know if Bama plan was to exploit that specifically, as much as they are just capable of pushing Whoever you put out there, with that O-line.
AltamahaDawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:10 pm
What year did you graduate from Georgia, Moist?
Sunny Purdue
December 3rd, 2012
5:10 pm
How are you going to play for the NC? Your best win was against UF, your second best????
Wait for it…..
Vanderbilt…..BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Elizabeth
December 3rd, 2012
5:10 pm
Joe Dawg….
You’re the devil in disguise.
AltamahaDawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:12 pm
Don’t care, may I assume that you are in line with the other folks who likes to repeat that “clocking” complaint, but can’t explain why?
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 3rd, 2012
5:13 pm
Rick James………..no it was not a legal hit. Not sure if Murray was Defenseless. He was Clueless for sure. He was looking at the Bama returning the INT and moving towards the sidelines so he could make a play if it was needed.He should have been looking to get hit. I think he has played football long enough to know the QB is a target on TO’s.
dawginduluth
December 3rd, 2012
5:18 pm
If heartbreak hadn’t been a common outcome for RIcht’s teams, I could see getting beyond this latest case of heartbreak. He is the master of heartbreak.
Every time I see or hear Richt, I think of what could have been. All that talent wasted.
No NC with Richt.
Never.
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 3rd, 2012
5:19 pm
AltamahaDawg…………….1 play with 14 seconds left or Spiking the ball and getting at least 2 more plays to get a TD.
Murray should have learned all he needed to know about STAYING at UGa or going to the NFL when the Multi-Million Dollar Head Coach didn’t know to spike the ball but Murray did.
Bama Dog
December 3rd, 2012
5:19 pm
Auburn is seaarching for a head coach. I nominate BOBOfor the job so the ‘Dogs can come up with an offensive coach that does not automatically call for off tackle on evey first down. time and time again he called to run straight at Bama and time and time again we got sent back on our heels. Did Bobo once consider that Gurley might just make it on an end run? Even if he didn’t he could havedone no better than what we had. Yep, send him to Auburn.
ARdawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:22 pm
The difference in the game as my friend and ardent Bama supporter discussed during the game was the Bama OL. They manhandled us in the 2nd half and we couldn’t stop it. It wouldn’t matter who we put out there or how fresh. Those Bama backs were gashing us. Was it expected, I’d say yes but, we didn’t prepare enough for it. We could have still overcome that bruising line if someone had kept an eye on Cooper. There was no reason for him to be that open, that deep and that late
Moist Dawg
December 3rd, 2012
5:25 pm
Yeah, if I were you I’d change the subject too, altahama. I think I remember you at UGA, you were the one smoking dope and protesting America.
read everyones lips
December 3rd, 2012
5:25 pm
This ‘CLOCKING THING” is gettin’ old with you dumb azz! if you are to f dumb to understand it, why should we waste our time with you? anything anyone say’s you have what “YOU THINK” is right as a come back, WE get it! Well you’re wrong and the whole sportswriting nation thinks you are wrong too. But you and yourself just keep believing what you want to.
dawginduluth
December 3rd, 2012
5:26 pm
Is Richt French?
Athens
December 3rd, 2012
5:32 pm
The Bama fans leaving the Ga Dome after the game were very gracious and repectful….classy. I suspect they were mostly educated alums and care how “Their” university is perceived ….