For the 10th time in 11 years under Coach Mark Richt, the Georgia Bulldogs defeated in-state rival Georgia Tech by a score of 31-17 on Saturday. The margin of victory was 14, but like many other Georgia games this year, the game was really not that close. People were concerned that Georgia would be looking ahead to the SEC Championship. They were wrong (I'm looking at you, Corso and Herbstreit). Once again, we played without our starting running back and Georgia Tech took out our best defensive tackle with a cut block on the first play from scrimmage. Didn't matter. The Dawgs put "Boots to Asses". Here are my thoughts on victory 10 of the 2011 season:
Dirty play by Georgia Tech knocks Tyson out and what happens? Garrison Smith comes in and play lights out all game. Paul Johnson calls a timeout to try and ice Walsh and Walsh gets a second shot and makes it. Karma bitches!
John Jenkins is every bit the player we hoped. His presence made the difference in how we defended Tech last year and this year.
Tech still seemed to be able to pick up too many yards on the sweep play. Why can't we stop it when we know they are going to run it on third down.
Bad game for Christian Robinson, but he is definitely the emotional leader on defense. I am very glad he is a part of our team.
Shawn Williams vs. Mike Gilliard for biggest surprise play on Georgia this year. Both were after thoughts in the depth chart pre-season.
I thought Brandon Boykin was going the distance.
When you get a big running back near the ground, fall on him. We can't let LSU backs keep their feet this week.
Murray looked sharp like he did against Auburn. The only bad pass was missing a receiver wide open in the end zone (can't remember if it was King or Mitchell).
Speaking of Mitchell. Can you think of a better freshman trio than Mitchell, Bennett, and Conley? I sure can't.
Orson Charles could have had 10 catches at least if we kept throwing to him. Tech had no answers for him.
I am proud of Ken Malcome. He made sure we held the lead with his hard running in the fourth when Tech knew we were trying to kill clock. If Crowell is still hampered and Samuel is 100%, I would keep Malcome for LSU.
Overall, a great day for Georgia once again. After the 0-2 start, nothing feels better than getting win 10 against Georgia Tech. Now, it is the Dawgs' turn to upset someone.
The Dawgs take on Tech tomorrow for state bragging rights. Georgia has won 9 games in a row and has bigger fish to fry with the SEC Championship next week, while Tech has had a nice season at 8-3, but for every good win (defeating top 5 Clemson) they have a stupid loss (against Virginia). Georgia's defense is awesome, especially against the run. Tech's option attack is a well-oiled machine in year 4 under Paul Johnson.
Here's what I think will happen. The Dawgs will be able to move the ball effectively on Tech. Who ever runs the ball will have big holes like we saw when Georgia played Auburn. Success in the run will lead to success in the passing game. Georgia Tech, on the other hand, will also be able to move the ball. Their offense is very tricky and despite superior athletes on the Georgia side, Tech will break off a few big plays like they do every game. The difference will be Georgia keeping Tech out of the end zone. While Tech will move the ball, I think the Georgia D will step up on their own side. The key for the Dawgs is to get an early lead. If they can build it to 2 touchdowns in the third quarter, Tech will be in trouble. The Dawgs win a the game that will be a lot closer than the score will indicate.
As ugly as it was, damn it feels good to be bowl eligible. As Tech was driving to try and tie the game at 35 in the fourth quarter, I began to imagine how long the wait until next season was going to feel without a bowl game to look forward to. It made me feel sick to my stomach. But the Dawgs were able to salvage a victory to close what has been the strangest football season during my years as a Georgia fan. In the coming weeks, I'll take a look back at the 2010 season and examine what needs to be fixed before the Boise State game next fall. But for now, here are my thoughts on the victory over Tech.
- One of the biggest responses from Tech fans I have seen is that if Tech had Nesbitt, they would have easily won the game. In most cases, I would agree but Tevin Washington actually played a great game. He was perfect at timing his pitches and turned a couple of broken plays into long runs. He is certainly not the reason Tech lost but actually one of the main reasons they almost won.
- The only thing that could stop the Georgia offense from continuing to score points was Georgia. Georgia had 11 drives in the game, six resulting in touchdowns, one ending with a fumble inside the Tech 10, two turnovers on failed fourth down attempts, and two punts. Both of the fourth down failures were inside the 25. even if we only get field goals on those and the fumble, that is 9 more points on the board.
- The efficiency of the Georgia offense was amazing. Despite running about 50 plays less than Tech, the Dawgs racked up over 415 yards. Aaron Murray continued his brilliant season completing nearly 80% of his passes and adding 3 more touchdowns. With one more touchdown pass, he will tie the Georgia all-time record for touchdown passes in a season. He is now ranked 9th in all of college football in passing efficiency. Pretty damn impressive for a kid that some Georgia fans were questioning after G-Day (and calling for Mettenberger as starter before he was booted).
- If Caleb King and WashaunEaley could fix the fumble issues, they really could be an amazing duo in the backfield. Both run extremely hard. Caleb can make special things happen, but continuing to put the ball on the ground makes him a liability.
- AJ Green and Justin Houston - if this is it, what a way to end it. Both were beasts.
- Grantham, you get a pass for this season. When we roll into Tech next fall, this better not happen again. 500 yards against a Tech team with its back up quarterback is unacceptable. When they run a fullback dive, they should not get 6 yards every time. And one more thing, when they run an option to one side, don't leave a corner back alone on a wideout as the only person to cover the pitch man.
In the end, the Dawgs won and that is what really matters. Thought I just say, WashaunEaley running into the end zone when all the Dawgs needed to do to take a knee might have been the worst play I have ever witnessed. It is unacceptable that Richt got out coached by Johnson on that play. I have never had any doubt about Coach Richt's decisions on the field, but that was horrible.
Memphis, Nashville, or Birmingham here we come! In honor of Samuel L Jackson being on the sideline Saturday night, I leave you with this:
The Auburn game is over. It is time to set our sights on our final opponent of the 2010 season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While it is always fun to beat up on the nerds, this year's game is even more important because of the struggles the Dawgs have had this year. Here's what is at stake:
- A bowl game. While some people would say that going to a low tier bowl is pointless, I completely disagree. A bowl game means you get an extra 15 practices. It also one more chance to appear on national television, which is always important in recruiting. Playing Central Florida or East Carolina may not be who we want to be playing to end our season, but it always better than ending the year against Georgia Tech.
- A winning season. Georgia has not had a losing season since Jim Donnan's first year in 1996. A win against Tech will send us to a bowl game against a bad opponent, meaning the Georgia should be able to keep this streak going. Think about it this way, Auburn went 5-7 in 2008 and they are now undefeated. Finishing above .500, while not that big of a deal, could mean a lot to the teams' confidence heading into next year.
- A losing record against our rivals. Since I started at Georgia in 2000, we have never finished with a losing record against our 4 traditional rivals (Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, and Tech).
- The best 10 game stretch against Georgi Tech...ever. Georgia has never won 9 of 10 games against Tech (though we have won 8 of 10 a few times). This would mark the best decade ever against NATS. While Coach Richt has struggled with Florida, he certainly has owned Georgia Tech.
I know a lot of people have given up on this season. Everyone is just ready to get it over with and move on to the offseason, where hopefully some answers will be found. But I ask all Georgia fans to show up on Sanford in two weeks because despite the bad season, this game still has an awful lot of meaning.
I also can't say that any of us should be worried. As if any Techie is really going to have a success at attempting to beat up a Georgia fan. They'd be afraid of their pocket protector or calculator getting smashed.
It is also hilarious that the AJC writer in the story answers Johnson on exactly what we have done to define Tech. 2 SEC Championships, 3 BCS bowls, and 8-1 against the bumble bees during Mark Richt's tenure. Considering you are the other school in the state, you will be defined by how you measure up against us, and it's not pretty.
Johnson's attempts to down play any loss to Georgia is comical at best. He's the one who drew the line in the sand when he was hired by stating that beating Georgia was his main goal that first year. He put the emphasis on this rivalry and made it a defining element for Tech last season. He accomplished his goal last year, but that doesn't mean the significance of this game is lessened from that point on. Johnson's overreaction to getting bested this year only proves that, and I'm sure he would have had a much different tune had he won Saturday.
At the end of the day, this just proves that our victory gets under his skin. Thanks for the confirmation, asshole.
He's asking for it. Maybe I can take him on in the Publix parking lot in Vinings.
While this season will still be marred as the year of multiple epic failures, Saturday night's victory over Georgia Tech makes this season hurt a little less. While I thought we had little chance to win going into the game (notice I did not even post a prediction last week), I did point out five things I thought we needed to do to win.
1. Run the ball - we sure as hell did that. Over three hundred yards on the ground, both our running backs over 100 (each averaging an amazing 9 yards a carry), and two touchdowns. Perfect game plan by Bobo and Richt. Caleb's answer to Tech's long touchdown was a thing of beauty:
2. Don't throw it deep - We threw exactly one ball that was over 20 yards and it was dropped by Wooten (it would have most likely been a score had he caught it). With the running game working, there was no need.
3. Make solid tackles - Vance Cuff's complete miss on Demaryius Thomas aside, the Dawgs tackled great. Reshad Jones made up for his performance last year with arguably his best game all year. Oh yeah, Rennie Curran was everywhere and made 15 tackles.
4. Kick it deep - At least we did in the first half when we built the lead. I'll take a game with 3 touchbacks, one out of bounds, and one decent return over what happened against Kentucky any day.
5. Play smart football - The running game was working and we did not change our game plan, even when Tech made a comeback in the second half. I'm glad Coach Richt sent Walsh out for the field goal in the fourth. It showed the defense that he had enough faith in them to let Walsh try a 55 yarder with the risk of giving GT a short field.
Overall, it was a great night for the The University of Georgia football team. We ended another regular season with a winning record and improved our chances of playing in a decent bowl (Attention Chick Fil A guys - a rematch between us and Virginia Tech would be a great match up. Make it happen). We have won 8 of 9 against Tech. Now I am starting to know how Florida feels when they play us.
