Just a random thought I had – would you say there’s an eerie similarity to the way West Virginia’s and Georgia Tech’s wins over Georgia in the Richt era have been perceived in the aftermath?
The quote in the header, by the way, is from the 2006 Sugar Bowl.
Get The Picture 
Also, I’d say the 3 point margins of victory for both get forgotten as to how close they actually were.
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And both of those losses turned a good looking season on paper to a season with a bad aftertaste for the fans, even with the SECCG win.
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Both losses were painful, but we may never live down that sugar bowl loss. Losing to the bee’s is embarrassing, but nowhere near as damaging to long term perception.
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I’d disagree. That win was a lot more embarrassing at the time than it ended up being in hindsight. Their win signaled the arrival of WVU as a national player. If not for one of the biggest fluke losses ever in 2007, WVU probably beats Ohio State for the MNC a mere two years after that game.
Georgia Tech has nowhere near the talent that WVU team had. Paul Johnson would orgasm on the spot if he had the opportunity to use Pat White in his offense. Tech just ins’t a respectable name since Dodd left and losing to them is worse for the perception of our team even than losing to Vandy.
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The fact that both teams had their coming out parties against us is what really hurts our peception (similar to Alabama ’08). I don’t think I have ever seen a team get more mileage from one win than WVU.
And Tech has basically arranged their entire sales pitch for this year around 45-42. Call their ticket office, get put on hold and you’ll see what I mean…it is a continuous loop of highlights from their win over us. Wonder where all the CFA Bowl highlights are?
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“I don’t think I have ever seen a team get more mileage from one win than WVU.”
This. Everyone seems to forget that, once it was 28-0, D.J. Shockley went into Destroy Mode all over WVU’s crummy defense.
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Has Georgia been able to stop an option-oriented offense in the last 5 years? The answer to that question is one reason UGA shouldn’t assume the defense is going to be able to handle the OSU offensive because “we’ve recruited better players.”
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When did Oklahoma State start running an option offense?
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You’re right. I thought OSU ran the spread option, but they run the spread, not the spread option. So I’ll amend my remarks to ask when has UGA been able to stop the spread in the last 5 years.
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2005 vs. Boise State. 2007 vs. Oklahoma State. 2007 vs. Florida*.
* Yes, I know they scored 30 points, but 1) We had to kick off once from our own 7; 2) Penn Wagers refused to grant Georgia a TO before a missed FG, giving Florida decent field position; and 3) Penn Wagers called a patently bogus illegal procedure penalty on a big pass play, eventually resulting in Florida getting decent field position. Take out that mess (and yes, I know the first one was our own doing) and Florida scores 20, maybe. And do recall that they spent the entire second half alternating between being one score and two scores down, and obviously the offense opens up that way. No one faults Bama for giving up 30 to Georgia last year, do they?
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And don’t forget re: UGA/Florida ’07 that one UF TD was scored on a pick-six by their D.
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Yup. Had forgotten about that.
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Yes, they stopped Tech’s option oriented attack in the first two quarters last fall, and they stopped WVU’s spread option after the 1st Qtr in the Sugar Bowl. Many attribute those point outbreaks to lousy coaching/preparation, I feel it was sorry effort from players. They don’t get a pass from me so that some can hang a coach out to dry because they don’t like his sideline demeanor. UGA was prepared for both those contests, you still have to execute. In watching replays of last year’s season recently, I was still stunned at the missed tackles in the 3rd Qtr of the GT game. I think our guys put that one on ice at halftime because they had dominated the 1st half. Sloppy. They were in position (except Ellerbe) to make those plays, but just whiffed. Nothing great, or magical from GT, just a gift from our players in Q3.
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Tech did not run its offense to perfection against UGA. That Navy blogger showed that. Tech’s interior O-line played poorly which is why most of Tech’s rushing yards were on the outside. And Nesbitt missed a lot of reads. Plus Nesbitt was playing on 2 gimpy ankles and was at half speed.
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I can’t believe I am going to say this, but was the coach responsible for being prepared for a fake punt the same coach that gives us the directional kick-off?
I shall now go flog myself
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Having been at the 06 Sugar Bowl, Georgia played TERRIBLE the 1st quarter. However, once the Dawgs got their heads on straight, DJ was unstoppable. I can’t believe that we fell for a fake punt, that had we gotten the ball back…DJ would have lead the game winning drive, no doubt about.
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In the ’07 Florida game, we had to kick off from the 7 and a 1/2 twice in the first half. We got blasted for taunting again by Penn Wagers when Massaquoi mockingly did the gator chomp while scoring our second TD.
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I just remember WVU coach talking about how focused his team was for the Sugar Bowl. I also remember Richt talking about how dissapointed he was with UGA’s focus prior to the Sugar Bowl. I figured we were in for a ride after I read that.
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Yes, I remember that along with many UGA fans decrying how lousy it was we stuck with an inferior opponent (similar to what I hear about OSU from many fans, despite the fact they are higher rated than us.) Not to excuse the players, but I also remember it didn’t feel like a big-time Sugar Bowl because it was moved from New Orleans due to Katrina to a location where many of our players hung out with family and friends. This should not have taken away from their focus, but with GT, the SECCG, and the Sugar in Atlanta, it was our 3rd straight game in Atlanta. No way to tell, but I think we would have fared better in Nawlins.
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