No missed playing time for Georgia players’ actions in SEC Championship game
ATHENS — Georgia coach Mark Richt said he has disciplined freshman cornerback Sheldon Dawson for an incident in the SEC Championship game in which it appears Dawson tried to poke the eyes of Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner. But he said Dawson won’t miss any playing time and no other UGA players are being punished for their actions in that game.
Richt also declined comment about the SEC’s decision to not suspend Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial for his illegal hit on quarterback Aaron Murray. Richt addressed the situations at the end of the Bulldogs’ practice Friday afternoon.
“Dawson, I did (discipline), yes,” Richt said. “I’m not going to give detail of it. But, yeah, and Dawson saw it. He realizes it was a bad thing and a bad image for him and for Georgia. He understood why I needed to discipline him. It won’t be any playing time.”
Video shows Dawson sticking his fingers in Milliner’s facemask after a scrum for a loose ball following an Alabama kickoff return early in the fourth quarter. Milliner was actually flagged for unsportsmanlike contact when he responded by shoving Dawson.
Dawson claimed after Thursday’s practice he wasn’t trying to “gouge” Milliner’s eyes but said he apologized to Milliner on the field later in the game.
“We talked about it a couple of series later,” said Dawson, a 5-11, 181-pound freshman from Memphis. “I just went to point and my hand just went straight through his facemask. I heard people say stuff about eye-gouging and all that. I wasn’t trying to grab his eyes or something like that. It was just a mistake.”
“To me it looked very bad,” Richt said. “It’s just not Georgia. And I think when he saw it, he said, ‘Coach, I saw it and I don’t blame you.’ He didn’t even make an excuse. He just said ‘I’m sorry.’”
Georgia junior linebacker Alec Ogletree was flagged for hitting Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron high on a second-quarter play. But Richt indicated the SEC did not bring up that situation and that there was nothing malicious about it.
“I think he was just playing hard,” Richt said. “I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody. He got penalized and the team got penalized for what happened. I think that was appropriate.”
While Murray was technically a defender on the play he was hit, Dial appears to be targeting Murray’s head on the play. Protecting players from intentional helmet-to-helmet contact has been a point of emphasis in the SEC this year.
“There’s a helmet-to-helmet hit almost every play,” Richt said. “How many times does a running back run the ball and he drives forward and here comes a tackler and they hit? I don’t want to get into that right now, but I think everybody’s trying to do what’s right by the rules.”
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60 comments Add your comment
SEC Headlines 12/15/2012 – Arkansas – Razorbacks News
December 16th, 2012
6:51 pm
[...] 12. Mark Richt: “There’s a helmet-to-helmet hit almost every play.” [...]
Tide/Dawg
December 16th, 2012
7:08 pm
Come on Dawg Fans! Let it rest! Foget about the Dial/Murray hit, the last 5 yards to glory, and the SEC hates Ga., blogs. Alabama was on probation for 4 years. Does that sound like bias. You want bias?? Look at the national media and the way they treat the SEC. First of the year they voted USC no. 1, then after USC got embarrassed they got on the Oregon St. bandwagon, then Kansas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio St. etc. During all of that voting the SEC had 5 teams that were undefeated.They continually say the SEC is overrated. I don’t see any of those teams jumping at the chance to come play SEC teams. ESPN analysts Millen, Mays, Holtz, Herbstreit etc(jumping jocks with concussions). Somebody voted 6 SEC teams into the top 10, but only two can go to a BCS game. After some of the bowl games you will truthfully be able to say”They ain’t played anybody”. Unless Fla. has been drugged before the game, Louisville will probably need an ambulance to get their players back to the hotel. Tell them to come down heah and play in our yawd then go back and brag. And we already know who will be voted the preseason Number 1. Of course, it will be Notre Dame and it doesn’t matter the outcome of the game in Miami. Go Tide! Go Dawgs!
Yak up a dry bone
December 16th, 2012
10:11 pm
flo-ri-duh
December 15th, 2012
12:11 am
Dial passed up two UGA players he could have blocked on the way to Murray. When he got there he left his feet and launched himself helmet first right in to Murray’s head. It was intentional. I have spoken – now you can shut your yap and go back to mama.
___________________________________________________________________
It sounds like you are the one whining, and needs mama to put the bottle, teat back in your mouth so you would stop whining and grow a pair.
LogicalUS
December 16th, 2012
10:32 pm
Why should the UGA players be suspended for conducting Bible School classes and distributing candy to the babies?
Opps, what they were poking players in the eyes and taking cheap shots? Wait, what?
Say it ain’t so, not the choirboys from Athens who only lost the game because they were mighty concerned that the celebration would keep them from Sunday school and their appointment to run the local soup kitchen in Athens. And don’t forget the babies!
Spike 80DF
December 17th, 2012
10:48 am
I’m just glad that our fans don’t kill trees or molest other dudes after games. Bama fans are a disgrace to humanity, not just the SEC. They are why the South gets stereotyped as ignorant and backwards. They are the outcasts of the SEC, just as dentists are in their “state”.
Spike 80DF
December 17th, 2012
10:59 am
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it:
“And the Falcons have been exposed.
Georgia sports! HA!”
What’s the name of that pro team you have? Oh yeah, you don’t have one; because you bamatards can’t afford pro sports. I’m sorry that the GDP of Georgia outpaces your 3rd world output, and no pro team would ever consider starting the Tuscaloosa Tree Killers or the Selma Sack Munchers, or other team you might propose. Trailer titles and Spike 80DF reserves are not acceptable collateral for PSLs.
Tide/Dawg
December 17th, 2012
11:14 am
Spike 80DF…Evidently you don’t read the blogs that are written by Ga. fans. Shear intelligence doesn’t exactly discribe what they write. That doesn’t make all Georgian fans ignorant and disrespectful. Didn’t some Ga. fans egg Murray’s house after losing to SC?? Oh Yeah! That was a humanitarian effort and showed a lot of class. Looks like you just put yourself in the same class with the fans that write that trash.
bdbrooks
December 17th, 2012
12:29 pm
some inappropriate plays on both sides of the ball for sure but the game is over..wish the AJC would let it rest….a lead story in the Sports section about what happened in “the last `15 seconds of the game”….seriously? Weeks after the game and they won’t let it go? The AJC seems to have a love affair with UGA and not GT or any other SEC team…There are many other SEC team fans in Atlanta and Georgia by the way and there are always two sides to the story…Georgia played a very good game….Bama made some major mistakes but was of course very fortunate to pull out a win despite 3 turnovers…..UGA will have its day some other day…Roll tide!
http://bamahammer.com/2012/12/15/atlanta-media-dials-up-hypocrisy-over-quinton-dial-hit/
rawdawg
December 18th, 2012
5:30 pm
Both plays ought to have resulted in 15 yards. Neither ought to have been a suspension. IF Murray hadn’t been a defender on the play after the interception on the play he took that hit, it’d be a different story. Nothing to see here, really.
aladawg
December 20th, 2012
2:54 am
Hey Georgia fans, all these remarks from Alabama simpletons are just that hell, its Alabama ignorant stupid snuff dipping morons. Nuf said.