From an interview with three former West Virginia players (h/t The Wizard of Odds) comes this exchange:
RIVERS: I don’t even think about South Florida. But Pitt …Losing at home? To Pitt? A below-average team? There’s only so many things you can tell people in 10 years [when they ask about it]. At Michigan, everybody asked the same thing. They didn’t care about the Fiesta Bowl. They asked, ‘How’d you lose to Pitt?’
FINDER: How did you lose?
REYNAUD: That’s what I thought: ‘Man, we got this. It’s a done deal.’ How about all those people who lost money on tickets and stuff? No wonder they’re still mad. (laughing)
RIVERS: We came out slow as [crap]. It got to us.
REYNAUD: They had a game plan for us. They had nothing to lose. Going for it on fourth down. Doing crazy stuff. They did a hell of a job open-field tackling.
SLATON: Plus, they were fighting for it.
RIVERS: They were ready for us, and we weren’t.
REYNAUD: To this day, it still hurts. It’s still with me. I got back to Louisiana, and my dad was watching the tape …after the Fiesta Bowl.
SLATON: I still haven’t watched it. I won’t watch it. I refuse.
I bet you could have interviewed Shockley and Blue after the ’06 Sugar Bowl and gotten responses that would have been almost word for word identical. Funny how that works…
Get The Picture 
That’s why I don’t think the dawgs go undefeated this year (I hope they do but…). Even if we didn’t have the murderous schedule, it’s tough to get these kids up for every game. Although you’d think a chance to play for the MNC would be enough motivation. You never know where an 18, 19 or 20 year old college students head is at.
Still, I can’t wait to watch’em try!! Only 170 days.
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Dean,
The reason I think they can do it is because we have such high energy guys like Knowshon and Rennie. Those guys have tons of energy and enthusiasm every day and I think they pull everyone along with them. They are just contagious and you could see the difference on both sides of the both when Rennie started seeing a lot more snaps and Knowshon became the featured back. This happened for the first time during the Florida game and everybody started to play better. Those guys made everyone raise their game by their example. I think these guys personally had more to do with our success than any of the motivational ploys that got so much attention.
Guys like these, and Terry Hoage and David Pollock before, have an intangible value beyond their own great personal performances, but this is the first time I can remember having two of this caliber at the same time. We’ve had lesser players who tried to be emotional leaders but couldn’t back it up on a consistent basis on the field (Tra Battle comes to mind) but when you combine great performance and leadership you are a dangerous football team. And they are only Sophomores!
If you had to take a private and honest poll of all the Division I coaches and ask them: What team do you not want to play next year? I assure you that UGA would be the clear winner. I don’t see anyone who is better on paper and I don’t see us beating ourselves. The only thing that can derail us is injuries to the wrong people. Barring that, I’ll see you in Miami.
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I’would like to tell Derek that I feel the same way! How can anybody that has been made aware of the word (reality) be able to say that emotionally Georgia was as AC-DC would say, -NOW YOUR MESSING WITH A SON-OF -A B-TCH. I truly feel
that Richt has the personell to start making this offense click like the glory days of old for Florida State. The hair on my head wants to stand up just
thinking about next years season. As I think of
Georgia’s future, it makes me grin from ear to ear
sometimes. Enjoy the ride Dawg fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Derek,
I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I don’t want to sound like my cup is half empty but I’m a realist. Our schedule is one of if not the toughest in the country and as you mentioned the dawgs are very young. The youth is good for the future but for the present, well we just have to wait and see. I just don’t see the dawgs making it through the regular season and SECC game without 1 loss. Starting with the S.Car. game there’s not a real breather after that. Vandy has given us fits the last couple of years and while Kentucky will not be as good this year we still have to go there. Plus we are going to get every teams best because they will want to beat the # 1-3 team in the country. The good news about the schedule is we have 2 open dates.
Can the dawgs go undefeated? Yes they absolutely can. Anything is possible. But they’re going to need some breaks on the field and with the injury bug. If they can continue playing like they did at the end of last year then the chances are very good. However to sustain that level of play over a 14 game span is very hard to do. For now we’ll just have to agree to disagree but at the end of the season I hope you can say I told you so.
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