Glory, Glory...HALLELUJAH!!!!

My first trip to Jacksonville since the victory in 2004 proved to be victorious this time around. I guess that means I am going to have to make the trip every year. I don't care how ugly the victory was, it was still a victory. And in this series, that is all that matters.

I will only spend a little breath on the bads, because we all know them. Special teams...WTF. Blair needs to see a shrink or something. The kick coverage was horrible too, even though I noticed a few more starters like Ogletree and Samuel out there. Murray made some great passes, but missed a couple of easy wide open throws. No where near as bad as last year, but still. Everything else wasn't perfect, but we won, so they are forgiveable. Now, onto the bright spots.

• People can give Todd Grantham crap all he wants about being a hothead, but he is one hell of a defensive football coach. He has turned this team into one of the best in the country in just two years. After the first play of the game that went for 72 yards, Florida had a grand total of around 160 yards. That is phenomenal against ANY team. The blitz worked well and we did exactly what you are supposed to do to a quarterback with a gimpy leg, make him feel uncomfortable.
• Jarvis Jones has been in beast mode all season, but it really showed. Man, I wish he would have came to Georgia straight out of high school. Grantham gets a lot of the credit for the defensive improvement, but I think Jones deserves a little bit as well. He is the play maker we needed to make the rest of the scheme work.
  
• Ogletree. Bad ass. All I need to say.
• Crowell had another solid game but the injuries keep biting him. I was proud to see him come back on the final drive and pick up a huge first down. People seem to be a little down on him right now, but come next season, injuries and conditioning will not be a problem.
• Coach Richt and Mike Bob deserve a lot of credit as well. The offensive game plan was pretty damn good. If Murray had not been all over the place with a few passes (and Walsh could actually make 30 yard field goals) this game could have been very one-sided. The play calling was very good.
• Hello Christian Conley! A couple of huge catches and one key PI call. It makes me giddy to think about the wide receiver position next season. King, Mitchell, Brown, Bennett, Wooten, Conley, and 6'7'' Lonnie Outlaw. That's a lot of size an experience for Murray to throw to.
• My final nod of the week goes to the much maligned Richard Samuel. He may still fall over way to easy when hit from the side and may never live up to the 5 star recruit he was out of high school, but Saturday this kid wanted that game and it was his determination that keyed the strong second half from the Dawgs. He ran hard and put his head down on every carry and showed the kind of emotion that has been missing in the Georgia backfield the last few years. When he crossed the goal line to give Georgia the lead, his excitement made me finally believe we were going to win the game. 17 carries for 58 yards may not be an impressive line, but this kid had one hell of a football game. It has been a long time, but in honor of Samuel's first touchdown since September 19, 2009, I present to you the return of the RICHARD SAMUEL TOUCHDOWN PYGMY GOAT (for more info, read this)

This was just a great weekend. A gritty, gutsy effort for the Dawgs. This is the type of game that Georgia loses in this series, but we somehow found a way to win. The celebration was great and my favorite quote came from Georgia receiver Michael Bennett:

"I've never seen so many drunk people in my life. I jumped in crowd and all I could smell was whiskey."

And in victory, what a glorious smell that is!

GO DAWGS!!!

Bowling for Knights

It is official, the Dawgs will head to Memphis to take on Conference USA Champion Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl. For the second straight season, a team with the same record whom Georgia beat is getting a better bowl game (this year, it is Tennessee getting picked for the Music City. Last year, it was Auburn in the Outback). But a chance to play a conference champion may actually be a better stepping stone for Georgia headed into next season. Beating a 10-3 conference champion (as opposed to a 7-5 North Carolina team) and following that up with an opening game victory over Boise State next fall could definitely help point Georgia back in the right direction.

As we all know, Central Florida (or UCF as they preferred to be called) is coached by former Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary. The same O'Leary who was hired to coach Notre Dame and was fired a few days later for lying on his resume. O'Leary has done a good job in Orlando, taking a team that has only been in Division I for 15 years to conference championships in two of the last four seasons.

While short on history, Central Florida has had a few memorable players come through in recent years. Their most famous alum is Daunte Culpepper, who broke the NFL single season total yards record in 2004 with 5,123 yards. Asante Samuel and Brandon Marshall also played at UCF during the early 2000's. The Knights' most recent star was current Detroit Lions running back Kevin Smith, who in 2007 rushed for 2566 yards, just 62 yards shy of Barry Sanders' single season NCAA record.

Over the next few weeks, we will look deeper at the Black Knights as we preview Georgia's 2010 bowl game.

GO DAWGS!!!