During month without games, Bulldogs try to put SEC title game defeat behind them
By Ryan Black
For the AJC
One month.
By the time Georgia takes the field for the Capital One bowl on Jan. 1, exactly one month will have passed since it lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship. On Friday, the Bulldogs had their last practice in Athens before they head to Orlando to continue their bowl preparations in the Sunshine State. All the while, Christian Robinson knows people are unsure how the Bulldogs will respond to their crushing, 32-28 loss to the Crimson Tide. Doubters’ questions are grounded in Georgia’s bowl results the last two seasons, falling to Central Florida in a humiliating 10-6 loss in the Liberty Bowl in 2010 and a 33-30 triple-overtime defeat to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl last year, a game the Bulldogs led 16-0 at halftime.
Despite that evidence, Robinson assured he and his teammates are motivated to end the season on the right note.
“We all realize we came up a little short and that’s really disappointing,” the senior inside linebacker said of the SEC Championship game loss. “It was kind of sad around here for a little bit, but getting back out there and practicing we realize that we have a lot to show. We can still go down as one of the best teams in Georgia history. Just because you’re not playing for the national championship doesn’t mean you can’t be a special team. We have those types of players here and that type of leadership that hopefully we’ll show up and not give the (bowl) game away like we did last year.”
Robinson acknowledged the gap the Bulldogs have to fill between their last game and the next could derail some teams. However, he was confident the leaders on this year’s edition of the Bulldogs will make sure they give their best effort in Orlando. But if Georgia shows up lethargic and still thinking about its SEC Championship loss, Robinson said it won’t be hard to tell.
Just see how many big plays the Bulldogs give up.
“That’s usually what shows up when you have a long break — hustle plays,” he said. “Plays you normally didn’t have. You might have people loafing a little bit more, but coaches have done a great job conditioning us and honing in on those things more than X’s and O’s, because those are what win (games), especially with the type of talent we have. If we show up and do what we’re supposed to do and play physically, (we’ll) make plays.”
More than any conditioning the game planning or conditioning the month-long gap will allow, the bigger question is whether the time off will help the Bulldogs cope with their loss to the Crimson Tide better than playing the next week might have. Coming up just short against Alabama will always haunt Arthur Lynch. Even so, the junior tight end admitted he’ll have to “get over it sometime.”
All he and the Bulldogs can do now is look forward to playing the Cornhuskers.
“It’s just like anything else,” he said. “If you don’t do as well as you’d like in school, you’ve got to move on and take whatever is given. Right now for us, it’s the Capital One bowl. We’re grateful for the opportunity. Did we reach our goal? No. But are we sitting there dwelling on the fact we didn’t reach our goal? No. We’re going to prep the way we do and we’ll go in there and hopefully execute and come out with a win. That’s all you can ask for. There’s no going back.”
Being an impatient person, though, Lynch would have preferred to have the bowl game played the week after the SEC Championship.
“I don’t like any bye week. I want to get into it and get into the game, because practice can get pretty tedious,” he said. “But bowl practice is a necessity. It’s kind of like spring ball. You get 15 practices, and for the young guys, it helps out a lot. I think that’s a big deal, but I’m ready to play.”
As disheartening as the loss to the Crimson Tide was, senior cornerback Sanders Commings said it was much easier to stomach than the other one the Bulldogs suffered this season, a lopsided 35-7 defeat to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Oct. 6. Georgia’s showing against South Carolina was inexcusable in Commings’ eyes.
“You never want to get blown out by anyone, so I think we’re more proud of the way we played in that Alabama game,” he said. “Even though we lost, we were right there. You never want to get beat the way we did against South Carolina.”
Robinson couldn’t have disagreed more with his fellow senior. Losing by four touchdowns and getting thoroughly beaten was something he could easily expunge from his memory bank, the type of “bad game” nearly every team is bound to have once during the course of a long season.
But having everything in front of them — an SEC title and a chance at the national championship — and not finishing the job was too painful for Robinson to be able to forget.
“Just because, if you take any play back anywhere before getting to that, it could have been positive,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons that no one blamed anybody. It’s not like people were pointing (fingers) and saying, ‘It was this guy,’ because literally we were five yards away. If you take any play that would give you that distance before on offense, defense or special teams, it would have won the game. I just think we ran out of time, and the last play, we just weren’t able to make it. If the defense would have helped out sooner, they would have had more time. It’s no one’s fault.”
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274 comments Add your comment
Buckeye
December 26th, 2012
12:03 pm
Can I still get free tattoos?
Joey
December 26th, 2012
12:04 pm
Buckeye, head north!
Haha. Be careful.
ARdawg
December 26th, 2012
12:05 pm
Buckeye
Your logic basically says, “hey, let’s cheat so we don’t have to go to a bowl game and get beaten by the SEC”
What a loser
Neutral
December 26th, 2012
12:05 pm
Dondog
You are trying waaaaaaaaay toooooooooo hard!!! And no Dawg fans are listening because you are a Techie which means you are a clueless loser!
ARdawg
December 26th, 2012
12:07 pm
Imp Buckeye
No, because I had an OSU jersey I wiped my azz with and they wouldn’t give me a tattoo for it
Buckeye
December 26th, 2012
12:07 pm
joey,
I am North as we speak. 4-8″ of snow. Winds gusting to 35!
Neutral
December 26th, 2012
12:08 pm
@buckeye@11:57
I don’t know…….it is easier to keep up with times when THE osu is NOT on probation since those seasons are few and far between!!!
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:10 pm
If I were a Techie, I’d want murray to leave UGA. I’d be touting to the NFL, via blogs, how great Murray is.
I wouldn’t put “Dog” on the end of my name.
You make no sense.
If Murray stays, Mason goes. Lemay goes no matter what Murray or Maosn do, he’s had enough. So if Murray stays, it will be down to Murray and Ramsey.
Neutral
December 26th, 2012
12:11 pm
ARdawg @12:05
That was a good one……I think you have figured it out!!!
The Bear
December 26th, 2012
12:12 pm
@Jborodawg Try and read my posts before you go popping off and “Anyway, to characterize all of Dawg Nation over comments by two, or three, or four, or five people is putting you at the same level of ignorance and inaneness”(Sp). And yes to clarify UGA folks blame the refs and anything else they can dream up to deflect the truth about losing to anyone. Just read the posts on here and in the past blogs. “A hit dog always barks”.
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:12 pm
Anyone hoping Murray continues to start against ranekd teams, with a 1-11 record against teams that finish top 25, and Murray’s 98th place QB ranking nationally against ranekd teams, HAS to be a South Carolina fan.
bubba4dawgs
December 26th, 2012
12:14 pm
Hey Buckeye, which Bowl are you playing in? Oh, that’s OK, we all know…..the toilet bowl! Enjoy but be sure to keep your mouth closed, the taste might be bad!
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:16 pm
Murray has 6 turnovers in the last 2 Bowl games, and an 0-2 record in Bowl games, why does Richt keep starting Murray in Bowl games?
Neutral
December 26th, 2012
12:17 pm
@dondog
What are you smoking? All morning you have been begging CMR to get rid of Murray….and then you made your 12:10 post. Also, if you were a UGa fan you would spell your name DonDawg….not Dondog. You ARE a Techie for sure…..no doubt!!! And you forgot your morning meds!
Truth
December 26th, 2012
12:18 pm
Here is what you folks seem to forget. Had Saban been wise with the use of his timeouts at the end of the first half, AL goes for a touchdown instead of a fieldgoal and is up by 8 points at the end of the game. Woulda, coulda, shoulda never works. JUST DO IT!
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:19 pm
The outcome against ranked Bama, should have come as no surprise to UGA fans.
After all, Murray as a starter, was 1-10 coming into that game vs. teams that finished top 25 ranking.
10% chance Murray would win the game as a starter.
Murray has done one thing well, he has taught the team how to lose 9 out of 10 games against teams that finish top 25.
That will be his legacy.
“Starting QB Aaron Murray: Loser of 90% of big games.”
GB's Hamburgers
December 26th, 2012
12:20 pm
I keep reading on here that the refs cost us the Alabama game. Bama had two players over 150 yards rushing. The game seemed close only because a couple of our excellent athletes made some excellent individual plays …. not associated with coaching or scheme. Overall we got whipped on both sides of the ball. We have a ways to go to match up with them especially on the line. You have to realize that Bama really didn’t play that well but still won.
Columbus Dawg
December 26th, 2012
12:20 pm
Alabama has NEVER beaten a ranked Notre Dame team, and as a matter of fact, Alabama has lost to Notre Dame EVERY time they have played except for one win that Bama got in 1986 over an unranked Notre Dame team. Bama won’t get it done this time either, as the Irish will once again get a National Championship at Alabama’s expense. Personally, I can’t wait to see that crybaby QB that Bama has after the game.
Bad Dawg, Bad Dawg
December 26th, 2012
12:21 pm
Are you guys still talking about the could’a, would’a, should’a game? Geez, next you’ll be talking about the glory days and sugar falling from the sky.
Buckeye
December 26th, 2012
12:21 pm
bubba4dogs
Nice name, Bubba.
You must be a great credit to yo mama.
The Bear
December 26th, 2012
12:21 pm
Here is a dose of reality: Bama against Texas A&M. Bama got beat. No excuses. No crying. What Bama did was learn from that game and got grounded and went back to basics.
Roll Tide
Joey
December 26th, 2012
12:23 pm
Damn, DonDog, why do you think Hutson Mason redshirted this season?
To put at least one year of seperation between himself and Murray – he ain’t going anywhere, and if Murray stays, Mason will have ‘14 to be the starter.
But you are right about Murray – when we play ranked teams, Murray can’t run-block, or pass protect worth a hoot. And Murray’s run defense SUCKS – you see how many tackles Murray missed vs ranked teams?
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:24 pm
In Murray’s 12 starts vs. teams that finish top 25, he has only 1 win,
That was Florida, 2012, where the defense forced 6 turnovers.
Murray even played poorly in that game, throwing 3 interceptions.
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:27 pm
Why did Mason redshirt and wasn’t named starter?
The same reason Joe Terishinski was named starter over Matthew Stafford.
WDE
December 26th, 2012
12:32 pm
Buckeye while your tossing around insults of peoples names Buckeye your first,middle or last name ?
DonDog
December 26th, 2012
12:37 pm
Chuck “The King” Oliver, still deserves an aswer to his question he asked Mark Richt after the 11th loss in 12 games against teams that finish top 25.
“WHY IS GEORGIA 1-11 VS. TEAMS THAT FINISH IN TOP 25 DURING THE MURRAY-RICHT ERA?”
Rick James
December 26th, 2012
12:39 pm
@DonDog
expected Murray to execute better on the last drive. To have it end the way it did, with Murray, AGAIN, imploding in a big game, I don’t know, it just gets old. We’ve seen it so many times. All he had to do was spike it, and throw up a jumpball with a nice arch on it so it doesn’t get tipped to 6′6” Lynch for the win. And you would have had 2-3 chances to win a jumpball. Instead, Murray opts to not spike it, and throws a ball 5 yards short of the end zone, as time expires. If he throws the ball away, you get another chance. If Murray puts an arch on the pass, you give Mitchell a chance to make a play. We’ve seen Murray crumble SO many times in big games, still, you never get used to it, you always think he’ll snap out of it someday, but he never does. We’ll always wonder what might have happened if Hutson Mason had started that day, which given Murray’s propsensity for choking in big games, would have been a smart move.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Obviously you’ve had too much egg nog
Buckeye
December 26th, 2012
12:44 pm
WDE,
You can call me Johnny Buckeye
Dum-Bass
December 26th, 2012
12:52 pm
Is anybody really going to watch this game? I mean, seriously? It is just another irrelevant bowl game and means absolutely nothing, even if GA wins. After all didn’t Wisconsin lay about 70 on Nebraska?
I have better things to do with my time. Like count my blessings and marbles.
UGA vs. Ohio State and Kirk Herbstreit
December 26th, 2012
12:52 pm
UGA whipped Ohio State in the GOFF YEARS. UGA stomped Ohio State and whipped them like a rented mule around 1992 or 1993 in the Citrus Bowl. Ohio State only scored 7 to UGA’s 21 or 24.
UGA owns most Big 10 teams, less MSU last year. We whipped Michigan in Ann Arbor, Wisconsin and Purdue, we own. We will defeat Nebraska 32-26 in a very sloppy game.
Go Dogs
Joey
December 26th, 2012
12:56 pm
“Like count my blessings and marbles.”
**********************************
Surely you can count your marbles on one hand . . .
Erin "spike the ball" Murray
December 26th, 2012
1:00 pm
dawg fans are obnoxious pompous losers. all they can do is talk, there team never wins.
Gamecockrock
December 26th, 2012
1:16 pm
Still thinking about SC. Man, Spurrier owns the dogs.
TIM BUCK
December 26th, 2012
1:16 pm
Gawgee had plenty of opportunities to win the game against Alabama.
1- INT IN THE EZONE
2-TIPPED PASS THAT WASN’T
3-SABAN NOT CALLING TIME OUT RIGHT BEFORE HALF (2-3 XRA PLAYS)
4- NOT COVERING UP ON THE FAKE PUNT
5-CUDDA BEEN 42-21..GAWGEE ONLY SCORE 21 PTS ON OFFENSE AND THE FG BLOCKED WAS A GIMMIE BECAUSE OF THE PASS INTERFERENCE ON THE NON TIPPED BALL. GAWGEE REALLY NOT DESERVING OF A BCS BOWL.
He Hate Gator
December 26th, 2012
1:21 pm
One of Richts best teams, but if loss to Nebraska, will have 3 losses and another under performing non-Top 10 finish….another….
WDE
December 26th, 2012
1:23 pm
TIM BUCK I think you get the new troll of the day award….here’s your sign…
WDE
December 26th, 2012
1:24 pm
Gamecockrock guess what we own the SEC East….stings don’t it?
Whiznot
December 26th, 2012
1:29 pm
Only idiots fail to understand when to SPIKE THE BALL.
Joey
December 26th, 2012
1:31 pm
You are right, He Hate Gator, gotta beat Nebraska.
11-3 ain’t anywhere near great.
12-2 ain’t either, but it gets UGA back on a winning track in bowls, and sets us up nicely for next season.
Rick James
December 26th, 2012
1:44 pm
@Gamecockrock
Still thinking about SC. Man, Spurrier owns the dogs.
——————————————————————————
That’s like bragging on a car you have that wont run.I’ll take a loss to SC any day if it means playing for the SEC title.
AltamahaDawg
December 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
12-2 aint nowhere near great? Nowhere near? Not even “near”? Pretty high regard for the term great there, Joey?
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 26th, 2012
2:18 pm
You also have to realize that it has been a whole month and there is still motivation after last year’s loss to come out strong in the bowl game. Some of the younger guys are going to play really hard to show why they should play more next season. On top of that, Nebraska is not that good. They ran the ball well in the Big Ten, but they are now playing an SEC defense. Nebraska is not bad, but their defense gave up FIVE HUNDRED yards rushing to Wisconsin. I think Todd will enjoy plenty of success in this game, along with Murray. Nebraska has trouble throwing the ball against decent teams and their defense is weak.
AltamahaDawg
December 26th, 2012
2:21 pm
I personally think “great” is a highly watered down term and based on what sort of “great seasons” that so many bowl team will be indentified with, 12 win teams certainly will qualify.
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 26th, 2012
2:22 pm
Like I said, Nebraska is a good team, but they played in a down Big Ten conference and still lost three times. They surrendered over 500 yards on the ground to the Wisconsin rushing attack. They are good at running the ball, but they just are not good at throwing the ball downfield and their defense is going to have serious problems stopping Gurley or Murray.Georgia 38 Nebraska 21
Tony
December 26th, 2012
2:23 pm
Yeah, I don’t see any way that Nebraska will stop the Bulldog offense. The Huskers are weak on defense.
My-Guy
December 26th, 2012
2:32 pm
We have to let this LOSS go, I know it was painful, 5 yards away from a NC championship, the criticism we’ve been through, the fact we haven’t won a national championship since 1980. I know it hurts.. but we have to move on… For the last time, it was NOT Aaron Murray’s fault that we lost this game, we have to look at what happened throughout the 1st-4th quarters. Remember all the penalities we had throughout this game which got us out of field goal range several times. The mistakes we made on defense by not stopping the run, by the way which is the #1 reason we lost this game! The fact is, Saban out coached us again, before halftime he said, “Whoever’s gonna run this ball better is going to win this game.” What did he do during the 3rd & 4th quarters, he ran the ball on us, it’s Todd Grantham’s fault on that issue, we couldn’t stop the run, plain & simple. Too many people are focusing on those last 15 seconds “spike the ball”, besides, Aaron Murray wanted to spike the ball but Mike Bobo didn’t want to, we wouldn’t have even been in that situation hadn’t we stop the running game better! If Aaron Murray comes back next year, we could have another shot, however, it’s going to be a hell lot tougher because of Clemson, SC, & LSU being in September, we can’t afford any suspensions for the 2013 season or there’s no SEC championship next year…
AltamahaDawg
December 26th, 2012
2:35 pm
What a fantastic attitude and comment from Robinson. ANY play can change a game, even back in the first quarter. They certainly had some 3rd and long situation earlier that would have stopped Bama from taking the lead back in the first place.
AltamahaDawg
December 26th, 2012
2:39 pm
Actually, MIke Bobo had nothing to do with spiking the ball or not. He just called the play.
The Bear
December 26th, 2012
2:39 pm
@My-Guy I stand corrected there are some UGA fans that can look at a game and give an honest assessment! Refreshing!
AltamahaDawg
December 26th, 2012
2:40 pm
Actually , there is a SECCG next next year.