Disappointed Dogs insist there will be no letdown against Nebraska
ATHENS -- There are few things more unpredictable than the emotional state of a football team heading into a bowl game. But there are reasons for Georgia to be on guard against a letdown in the Capital One Bowl.
The No. 7-ranked Bulldogs (11-2) are coming off a game in which they literally finished five yards shy from playing for a national championship. The SEC Championship ended with Chris Conley sitting with the ball on the 5-yard line in the Georgia Dome and Georgia unable to stop the clock. Time ticked away in a 32-28 loss to No. 2 Alabama.
Not only did the Bulldogs come up short in their bid for the national championship. They lost consideration for a BCS bowl. So now they head to a non-BCS bowl to face a 10-3 Nebraska team coming off a 70-31 loss as a double-digit favorite.
Add to that a looming threat of distraction. Twelve UGA defensive starters are expected to be moving on, nine due to exhausted eligibility and three others due to soaring NFL stock. Even junior quarterback Aaron Murray admits that he’s “definitely going to think about” the NFL draft. Perhaps having an eye on the future is understandable.
Final exams over, the Bulldogs reassembled Wednesday for their first of 15 bowl practices. Coach Mark Richt, speaking at the team’s Capital One Bowl Media Day, said he isn’t entirely sure yet where his team’s collective head is. But he believes they’ll be engaged and motivated in time for the Jan. 1 game in Orlando.
- “There are still things that are worth playing for,” Richt said, before enumerating them.
- “ Number one we get to play another football game. I think our guys enjoy playing football, so I think that in itself is going to be enough motivation.
- “I think landing where we landed as far as the Capital One Bowl, being in Orlando in a warm weather climate, knowing we were going to play on Jan. 1 against an outstanding football team – I think all those things have been positive.
- “I will be challenging our leadership to finish better than we did a year ago and to solidify the job that they’ve done, because I think they’ve done an outstanding job to this point. I think they need to put an exclamation point on it or at least finish strong in a manner worthy of the way they led the entire offseason from January until now. That will be a big part of it.”
- “I’ll be talking a lot to the younger guys – the guys who know they are going to be coming back – to honor (the seniors) with the way they play.”
There is evidence of Georgia’s not being terribly motivated for bowl games in the recent past. It could be argued the Bulldogs were not intensely interested — or at least lost interest about halfway through — in last year’s triple-overtime loss to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl. And Georgia definitely wanted to be elsewhere in the 2010 Liberty Bowl, when the Bulldogs lost 10-6 to a extremely motivated Central Florida team. The Bulldogs were similarly disinterested in the 2001 Music City Bowl, which ended in a 20-16 loss to Boston College.
But Georgia players insist there will be no hangover of disappointment.
“Me, personally, I just want to win a bowl game,” Murray said with a laugh. “I haven’t won one as a starter, so I know I’m going to be working extremely hard to win this game. And this senior class has just meant so much for this program, for bringing us back to where Georgia needs to be. I know myself and all the other underclassmen want to send them off on the right note.”
Said senior linebacker Christian Robinson: “Yeah, we were five yards away from being somewhere else. But let’s not show that we’re not worthy of it by not finishing.”
The 2012 Bulldogs have a chance to become just the third team in school history to win 12 or more games. The 1980 national championship team went 12-0 and the 2002 team finished 13-1 after a Sugar Bowl win over Florida State.
“Jarvis (Jones) and John (Jenkins) said after the (SEC Championship) game, ‘This feeling we have now, we need to take that out on Nebraska,’” freshman linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “I know the young guys and all the other guys on the team don’t want the seniors going out with a loss in a bowl game after going 11-2. We want to finish the season strong and finish the drill.”
MORE ON GEORGIA FOOTBALL
- Junior QB Aaron Murray ‘definitely going to think about’ NFL draft
- Notebook: Bulldogs hoping DE Abry Jones gets back for bowl
- Bradley: Georgia deserved better than Capital One Bowl
- Georgia prepares for total rebuild job on defense
- Junior OLB Jarvis Jones named permanent captain of 2012 team
- Mark Richt, Bo Pelini discuss Georgia-Nebraska matchup in Capital One Bowl
- Mike Bobo getting ‘long overdue consideration’ for coaching jobs
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
197 comments Add your comment
Disappointed Dogs insist there will be no letdown against Nebraska – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Ez Dogs Blog
December 13th, 2012
10:55 am
[...] webmaster@technorati.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
Disappointed Dogs insist there will be no letdown against Nebraska – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Dog Shop Blog
December 13th, 2012
11:00 am
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
FLA DAWG
December 13th, 2012
11:04 am
GT Bob,
Murray is a good, solid QB who has played behind a lousy O line for years. In the big games the opponents have had great D’s – like Bama, SC, UF (not GT of course). So, the worse for the O line the worse for the QB. The young man has made his share of mistakes but nothing that cannot be corrected in the NFL.
Man, I know you went to GT but you must know a little about football from tv!?
Spanky
December 13th, 2012
11:07 am
Joe, tell me when and where to meet you, and I’ll damn sure come out from this keyboard, son!
GTBob
December 13th, 2012
11:14 am
Man, I know you went to GT but you must know a little about football from tv!?
Here is what I know about Murray. He is 1-11 against ranked teams. In the one win he did get he threw for 150 yards and 3 INT’s. You can’t really give him much credit for that one. He was an honorable mention for the all SEC team. Not really a hard team to crack as a QB. He is ranked 79th in passer rating against teams with winning records. He has height issues. These are all facts. You say he has only struggled against great defenses. I hate to break it to you but in the NFL he will be seeing better defenses every week than anything he saw in college. The guy is a slightly above average college QB. Not an NFL QB.
FLA DAWG
December 13th, 2012
11:20 am
GTBob,
THE DAWGS lost the game as a TEAM.
Behind a weak line the O gets nowhere.
When Walker was here we had one of the best O lines in the country – he’d be the first to tell you that.
But why am I wasting my time writing to a GT fan?
When you can fill your stadium come back and blog.
Concerned
December 13th, 2012
11:22 am
Regardless of our strength of schedule we were within seconds of participating in the national championship game. Complaining about our schedule this year does not change that fact.
Half Century Dawg
December 13th, 2012
11:22 am
Joe Dawg
December 13th, 2012
9:56 am
Joe, it is possible for one to be proud of the teams performance and also not be happy about the loss. Cheers
FLA DAWG
December 13th, 2012
11:26 am
Murray is the SEC’s leading active player in total offensive yards (9,618, 10th in SEC history), completions (660), TD responsibility (99, fifth in SEC history), TD passes (89, which is tied for second SEC history) and passing yards (9,399). Currently, Murray leads the nation in pass efficiency at 177.2 and he was named honorable Mention All-SEC this past week.
DIT
December 13th, 2012
11:28 am
I’d would not be surprised if we came out flat against Nebraska. However, I believe they will wake up in the 2nd quarter and put about 21 points on the board. Second half will be the Seniors teeing off on defense.
UGA 38 Neb 17
The ones still pissing and moaning about the SEC CG, please go out and buy yourself a life. It was a great game and Bama was one play better than the Dawgs. I was so ticked off at the SC game because of the poor performance. I was mad as heck at the coaches and team. As for the Bama loss I felt for the players because they played a great game and left it all out on the field. I hated losing that game, but proud of the team for their effort.
I would love to see the Dawgs win a NC just as the next Dawg, but to sit there and bad mouth every part of the program for not winning… please. Hey, Spurrier has not even sniffed a BCS Bowl game or SEC CG(at SC) and you don’t hear SC fans trying to run him off.
GTBob
December 13th, 2012
11:36 am
THE DAWGS lost the game as a TEAM.
Great QB’s will their team to victory in tough games. Has Murray ever done that?
GTBob
December 13th, 2012
11:38 am
Currently, Murray leads the nation in pass efficiency at 177.2 and he was named honorable Mention All-SEC this past week.
Unfortunately he is ranked 79th when you only include teams with winning records. He has 4 TD’s and 5 INT’s in those games. He has done a quality job of padding his stats against bad teams. He isn’t very good against good ones.
Dr. Phil
December 13th, 2012
11:39 am
Georgia lost to a very good Mich. State team last year. Nebraska is not going to be a pushover, and UGA could easily lose. I hope Richt controls the smack talk this time, because it is always counterproductive.
bill arp
December 13th, 2012
11:43 am
Chip, or anyone that knows, what is the rule with taking the Redshirt off of Hudson Mason(or any other redshirt), as far as playing in the bowl game? Since it’s a new calendar year, can he play in the bowl game with no worries?
I’m pretty sure it’s a 10% of snaps thing, but wasn’t sure since it’ll be a new year…Thanks.
Dawglasville
December 13th, 2012
11:45 am
I sure miss the days when you could beat a barely ranked Nebraska team in a secondary bowl game and some how leap frog the the number one team in the nation who won a real bowl game with a second string quarterback and second string tailback just because my coach was popular with the other coaches. What was that, 22 years ago? Those were the days.
Aphare, you coulda beat Auburn last year and you coulda beat UF this year like we did and played in the SEC championship game. You didn’t. Your fan base has become your Coach. It’s all about beathing UGA and nothing else matters. Then you can thump your chest. In some ways you are becoming Tech. Stevie Wonder will be there a couple more years and hopefully you can build on the momentum. You guys never have but then again you’d never beat UGA 3 years in a row before so it is possible.
MaVDog
December 13th, 2012
11:49 am
nebraska’s not that good–Ga should blow them out and start reloading for a BCS run in 2013. with murray back the dogs should win the sec in 2013—book it!
Zoomie
December 13th, 2012
11:56 am
Disinterested? How could they be? The best statement they can possibly make to end this season is to put a non-stop beatdown on their bowl opponent. Draft stock goes up; morale goes up; the expectation for next year goes up; recruiting stock goes up; standards for excellence and perseverence are established in the under-classmen. It’s up to the coaches to communicate that, just like every other game they played this year, it is a win-lose situation.
Put a 2007 Hawaii-style whoopin’ on those boys from Nebraska and everybody (that matters) will be quite satisfied with this season.
Joey
December 13th, 2012
11:57 am
GTBob, you are making yourself look silly by insinuating the NFL cares about Murray’s record vs who-the-hell-ever, than they care about his actual QB skills. Mechanics, accuracy, arm strength, athleticism, and brains are what matter. How he displays all that at the NFL Combine matters. Not his college or high school win/loss records. The NFL does realize it takes a whole team to lose (or win) a game.
If wining college games was all that mattered, David Greene and Colt McCoy would still be putting Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers to shame in the NFL, right?
Murray has proven over and over he has those those skills, winning the Elite 11 as a HS senior, over the likes of USC’s Barkley, LSU’s Mett, and Texas’ Gilbert. At the Manning Bros QB Camp last summer, all of the Mannings, including dad Archie bragged about Murray’s arm strenth and accuracy, saying he “could make every single throw” at the camp. His arm strength was as good as anybody’s at the camp, including Barkley’s.
You don’t like Murray because he is UGA’s QB. Fine, but stop with putdowns of Murray. Did you watch Monday Night Football this past Monday? Do you honestly think Murray could not make those Brady-throws with all the time he had in the pocket?
Or let me word it this way, would Tom Brady win more games playing behind the O-lines Murray has played behind?
MurfDawg
December 13th, 2012
12:00 pm
Here are my big games and Murray’s record:
fl 2-1
AU 2-1
GT 3-0
And if Walsh had made a 42 yd fg he would be 1-1 in bowl games.
Glenn Ridings
December 13th, 2012
12:00 pm
Alabama is over, move on. We just need to go out and beat Nebraska. The whining, second guessing know it alls will never be happy. If we fired Richt and hired Saban as the next coach they would be complaining again after his first loss. Coach Richt is doing a great job. Murray has done nothing but play his heart out for UGA. Arm chair quarterbacking is great and everyone does it. Its part of sports. But, seriously….we just played for a National Championship and came up a fingernail short. These guys deserve a lot more praise than what they get.
MurfDawg
December 13th, 2012
12:06 pm
Who is the BEST coach quiz?
Coach A wins 61 games and loses 17 in six years. Wins two SEC championships and one Division title.
Coach B wins 67 games and loses 13 in six years. Wins two SEC championships and one Division title.
Name the coaches and tell me what the difference between the two is.
DIT
December 13th, 2012
12:06 pm
@Gelnn – Spot on my friend!
Though it is the techie “Sponge Bob” with his mindless dribble. What get’s me are the people that encourage this guy who knows nothing about football AND I doubt very much he even stepped foot in a classroom at tech.
If people would ignore him he would go away like techs football team.
Didn't they say that last year, too...
December 13th, 2012
12:07 pm
…yeah, I thought so…
sflanagan21
December 13th, 2012
12:08 pm
The boys will show up and take care of Nebraska I’m not even worried about that. We have too much pride on our team to not come in and make a statement! GO DAWGS
Unfortunately, GTBob...
December 13th, 2012
12:08 pm
…you are absolutely correct…
GTBob
December 13th, 2012
12:15 pm
GTBob, you are making yourself look silly by insinuating the NFL cares about Murray’s record vs who-the-hell-ever, than they care about his actual QB skills.
They do care about how Murray performed in big games against stronger defenses. It is an indication of how quickly he can make decisions and of the quality of those decisions. There is nothing special about Murray as far as QB skills go. There are plenty of QBs in college football with better physical intangibles than Murray. He needs big time performances to fall back on and he doesn’t have any.
Dawglasville
December 13th, 2012
12:16 pm
Murray’s height will be an issue at the next level. That said, I hope he comes back next year. Shatters all of the records. Stays in school, gets his PhD, and stays out of football. 80% of them end up with busted up bodies and busted wallets.
Preston Jones was on an NFL roster because he was tall with a big arm. How many games did he start for UGA? 3? They are looking for another animal in the NFL. That animal is not Aaron Murray’s body type. You’d better be pretty fast to play at his height. They would rather have a guy with a ten cent head with height and a gun, see Jeff George, than take a chance on a winner like a Joe Hamilton or an Aaron Murray.
I think the 4th quarter of the UF game and the Bama game showed that he is mentally tough enough. Maybe he turned a corner with that UF win after starting as poorly as he did, I don’t know. He is a DGD and would be very happy with him leading the O next year. We really will need to score a lot of points no matter who is under center.
DIT
December 13th, 2012
12:24 pm
Has nothing to do with Athens Sponge Bob! You bring nothing of intelligence to any of the UGA BLOGS you continue to spew on. If you truly attended tech, then you are a utter disgrace to that institution. AND yes, your opinion is right there as being stupid, you are entitled to it. We just wish you would go to the tech blog with your nonsense. Maybe, just maybe, you can impress those folks over there. Here, you’re just a joke!
Joey
December 13th, 2012
12:27 pm
You are entitled to that opinion, as stupid as it is. – GTBob
*****************************
Pot, meet kettle . . .
tom
December 13th, 2012
12:28 pm
Is mark richt still the coach? The softies coach in college sports? Yeah there will be a letdown, it is in his blood.
Spanky
December 13th, 2012
12:42 pm
I hope Murray goes to the draft for 2 reasons: 1) He has some potential, and the same size as Drew Brees, so he should be given the shot to earn playing time. 2) I’ve heard so much of Hutson Mason’s development, he’s gotta start!
DIT
December 13th, 2012
12:48 pm
Sponge Bob – I believe your the one that has to get over it. You just don’t get it. This has nothing to do with UGA Football. This has everything to do with your lack of intelligence about a sport. AGAIN, you bring nothing to the table when it comes to an intelligent conversation about football or anything in that matter. Please keep up!
Trust me, there is no way you could ever hurt my feelings. On the contrary, you are the most hurt and disturbed individual on these blogs.. Your are vocal on how much of a disgrace you are to tech. Even your fan base is embarassed about you. Your play on words and not keeping up with the conversations at hand show everyone that you did not step foot in a classroom at tech….. Well, maybe Dekalb Tech.
Mature enough…. Hello kettle!
Joe Dawg
December 13th, 2012
12:50 pm
Spanky your an idiot; Murray is not NFL material. He has none of the intangibles that Drew Brees has. Drew Brees has shown he can win big games (Super Bowl) and well we all know that Mr Murray has shown us he knows how to lose them. Its simple; Drew Brees is a winner and Aaron Murray is a loser. Some people have it and some dont. Its not a knock on murray; but he just doesn’t have it to win big games.
Old Dawg
December 13th, 2012
12:50 pm
Let’s see, Tech Trolls. Tech has lost 7 straight bowl games and has a 22-18 bowl record.
UGA is 7-4 in bowl games under Mark Richt and the Dawgs have a 26-18-3 bowl record.
Nuff said.
WDE
December 13th, 2012
12:50 pm
I expect the Dogs to come out and play a great game against a great program and beat them like rented mules…..we have had a great season up to this point and I look ror us to finish strong. Go Dogs!
Spanky
December 13th, 2012
12:51 pm
No, I believe Bob went to Tech! He’s been coming on these sites for years, acting as the consumate blog-downer, just because the rest of us get laid….it’ll happen one day, buddy! Never give up!!
Steve
December 13th, 2012
12:52 pm
DIT, that’s what happens when someone has no life, friends, woman, etc. There is a reason he lives on UGA blogs, even though he hates the SEC and UGA. Pure jealousy although he will never admit it. He is that guy who grew up without friends, got picked on, played dungeons and dragons, etc.
DIT
December 13th, 2012
12:54 pm
@Spanky & Steve – Good points my friends. I just need to follow my own advise and ignore the troll! Thanks for reminding me.
Joe Dawg
December 13th, 2012
12:54 pm
Didn’t have any luck at the playgroud today unfortunately. I’m a little sad about spending the day and night alone again
WDE
December 13th, 2012
12:54 pm
Joe Dawg I don’t know Spanky but he’s right your a moron…if Murray is a loser god help the rest of the QB’s in FSB…what’s his winning percentage ? Oh and stuff that 1 and whatever against ranked teams B.S. Murray and Co have knocked a number of teams out of the rankings by beating them…and no I’m not going to meet and beat up anyone…its a blog.
Lonnie
December 13th, 2012
12:55 pm
GTbob Murray will be a 5-8 yr pro with a few starts. After that he will become an executive in NFL. Possibly he will use his occupational psych degree in the lucrative venture of keeping athletes psychologically ready for the grind of NFL life. In other words he will turn his experience of SEC football into a very prosperous career. No he won’t be a star but I think he will be fine!!!!
“There are still things that are worth playing for.” | Get The Picture
December 13th, 2012
1:00 pm
[...] squad. That’s Mark Richt’s Job One over the next three weeks. The good news is that he sounds aware of it. “I will be challenging our leadership to finish better than we did a year ago and to solidify [...]
Spanky
December 13th, 2012
1:03 pm
Joe, compare Murray NOW to Brees when he was a senior at Purdue…go ahead and look it up! He wasn’t as good as Murray! That’s what I’m talking about, that Brees developed his pro skill…all I’m saying is that Murray should have a shot to do the same! Am I saying that he should start right away? Absolutely not!! Let him back up a seasoned pro, and (say it with me)…DEVELOPE!!
As for the idiot comment,…still waiting on when and where..remember? You invited me to come out from “hiding behind my keyboard”…..or is that what YOU are doing?
Kingsx7
December 13th, 2012
1:07 pm
JUST WIN BABY !!!!!!!!!!!!
Xavier
December 13th, 2012
1:14 pm
Depends. Is Nebraska ranked in the top 10? If so, then there’s a 33% chance they’ll win.
Mature GA supporter
December 13th, 2012
1:20 pm
There are six elite SEC teams this year.
Each of them played three of the other Elite teams.
Alabama and FLA went 2-1 and get the NC and BCS Sugar Bowl. Rightfully so.
The other four went 1-2. I rank them: Georgia, Texas A&M (for its win over AL), LSU and SC.
Most of the Tech students with fake GA names regularly beat down Coach Richt. Obviously they would love to have another coach at UGA that they might be able to beat once in a while.
I went through the Top 25 AP poll and looked at each HC. At least 6 are untouchable from the schools where they are (Saban, Kelly, Meyer, Muschamp, Miles,Spurrier etc). All of the rest have far less success than Coach Richt and none have won a NC.
So for those of you Tech students, who act like middle school kids, with GA handles, don’t demand a change without a legitimate replacement.
As for those who think Hutson Mason can easily replace Murray, you are very misinformed. Hutson is a great kid and a tribute to UGA, but he has never started a single SEC game. There is absolutely no way Hutson or any other QB on our roster can replace a QB with three years of starting experience. It’s not possible, but that’s exactly the reason the Tech guys with GA handles want Murray to head to the NFL. I’m for him either way and deeply appreciate the work ethic and integrity he has displayed in his career.
Mathew Stafford
December 13th, 2012
1:26 pm
Whats it lack of motivation that lost the South Carolina game? UGA got some lucky breaks to be in that game with Bama and now it sounds like the early excuses for (typically) the bowl loss.
SecFan
December 13th, 2012
1:29 pm
Murray’s height issues are overrated. They said the same thing about Eric Zeir and look how that turned out.
WDE
December 13th, 2012
1:38 pm
Mature GA supporter great post a voice of reason in the darkness as it were….
Steve
December 13th, 2012
1:51 pm
Easy on GTBob guys. Remember he has nothing in his life except for UGA (not Tech) blogs. Plus, I can’t imagine what it would be like to go years and years without a woman or even a friend.