Mark Richt’s never been one to toot his own horn much, so I appreciate the subtle way he goes about reminding the media at today’s presser that his program has been a member of the SEC’s upper crust over the past decade:
“Since I’ve been at Georgia, LSU has been the winningest team in the Southeastern Conference. It just so happens that three of the four times we’ve been in the SEC Championship Game, LSU has been our opponent. We’re looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge of it.”
Nobody’s made more championship visits to the Dome in the last ten years than he has.
Get The Picture 
CMR.. GATA, brother!!
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It lso just so happens that we’re the only SEC team with a winning record against Miles’s LSU.
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Woot! Tell it like it is! Make them see the truth this weekend!
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What’s funny (or not) is how you NEVER have to remind anyone about Les Miles’ or Nick Saban’s amazing football legendary coach prowess because the ESPNs of the world continually spout their praises. I can’t wait to hear Herbstreit or Mark May excusing away this game AFTER UGA WINS because LSU was resting up for the MNC game and how smart that is and how Miles is the greatest trickster coach because he really pulled one over on everyone by intentionally losing to the Dawgs to be the underdog for the MNC game.
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Meh. Ask a devoted college football fan if they heard the one about Greene and Pollack were peewee football teammates, or if they knew that they were college roommates. When Georgia was bulldozing its way through the SEC and challenging for championships and such, the national media paid Georgia its due. Herbstreit spent several years as an outspoken fan of Mark Richt. I ran into him once in the summer at Butts-Mehre before the 2004 season. LSU and Alabama, etc. get a lot of media love right now, but that’s because they’ve been winning and they’re really stinking good this year. Georgia’s been under the radar since the Boise game. I’m OK with that. Find a way to win this game, and the attention is going to be ratcheted up next year. And it may be a little easier to win this game with the Honey Bear and Jordan Jefferson having to read scouting reports to learn the names of our stars, rather than having spent the last five weeks hearing about them on College Game Day.
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Honey Badger, not Honey Bear. Sorry, lurking LSU fans.
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Hopefully we turn this… http://tinyurl.com/dxqb83j
into this… http://tinyurl.com/d6367zr
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Honey Bear? Reminds me of Larvell “Sugar Bear” Blanks with the 1970’s Braves. 🙂
Back to the original conversation, I have to admit we got plenty of love 2002-2008. After we had a disappointing 10-win season in 2008, the press jumped off our bandwagon, and they’re still off of it. I think that’s why the only time we get mentioned in the press now is for everyone to dismiss us and our 10 game winning streak. If we win Saturday, I think we’ll get our press mojo back. Also, we’ll need to follow up next year with another strong year.
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That’s all right. You were preceeded by a highly paid tv announcer.
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There is no question but that there will be any number of rationales for explainining away an upset, should it occur. The story will be less about UGA and about the “what does this mean for the BCS?”, which sounds as thought it won’t mean much. Nonethelss, the story lines will about LSU, not UGA. Having said all that, until GA wins a MNC, you can expect that the lead stories and benefits of the doubt will continue to accrue to Bama and LSU. Even if UGA were to win it all one day, the media will still graviate to Saban and Miles as they are bigger personalities and provide an easier storyline.
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Maybe we should change to name to the Georgia Black Sheep instead of Bulldogs. 😉
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I can’t say I ever recall Richt getting the media worship Saban or Urban Meyer does, (or Pete Carroll did), even when he turned UGA into a consistent national power. He got his due, sure, as a good coach and a good man, but those attributes are undeniable. He was never spoken of in the hushed tones that ESPN saves for St Nick and crew.
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I’m a big Dawg but to be honest Saban(2), Meyer(2), Miles(1,possibly 2) & Carroll(1) all have something Richt doesn’t… It isn’t ESPN being unfair to CMR, they’re just giving the others their due….
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Richt’s 13-1 season was just as good as any of those guy’s seasons except Saban’s in 2009 so other than getting voted to the title game they have done nothing Richt has not.
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A-freaking-men. But the real shame isn’t the shallow talking heads don’t get that….it’s the number of UGA fans who have forgotten him and all he has accomplished, and the classy way he has done it. I like Les MIles, he is probably the best coach in the SEC, and if Richt were not here, I would love to have Miles on our sideline. But I wouldn’t trade what we have for another coach in football today.
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Irishdawg writes;
“I can’t say I ever recall Richt getting the media worship Saban or Urban Meyer ..”
Maybe that is because Richt has never won a national title, let alone more than one, as have both Saban and Meyer.
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I think it has more to do with the Florida thing. He’s still only 3-8 against them. Of course, the Florida thing cost him a national title.
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Or probably because he’s not such a huge jack-ass that craves media attention.
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this^
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My god you are a douche.
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He may well be, I don’t know him, but he is no dumber about this NC thing than so many others. There is no NC in D-1, and never has been. Neither coaches nor players have any control over that weird little BCS thangy. Win the SEC boys, it is all you can control, and it is right in front of you. Won’t be easily done, LSU is a helluva champion themselves, but let;s get #12 this weekend. Chances just don’t come around that often.
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Auburn fans used to say that too…Prior to 2010
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And that is the difference between me and Aubie fans, my positions aren’t just based on how it impacts one team. It was the same system that screwed them in 2004 that you now embarce? What does that say about you as a person who should be taken seriously? Reminds me of USC in 2003 when they accepted a split title from the AP while contractually committed to the BCS. Their fans were no better, perhspas even worse than The aU.
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It just so happens ………..that I’VE been here before!
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In the SEC, Only LSU has won more games & more conference games than the Dawgs in the last 10 years.
I remain in the minority that think winning the SEC is more meaningful & more difficult than winning a “MYTHICAL” National Championship. Note that the teams mentioned above did win the SEC so I am not knocking their accomplishments. Just more impressed with them winning the SEC than winning the MNC.
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2007 convinced me of exactly the same thing.
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This.
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If that is true, then why does the Georgia Media Guide list not one but two “Consensus National Championships” for Georgia football? This is on page 190, btw. The SEC Championships are not listed until page 300.
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Just a guess here, but it’s probably because the media guide is intended to be a record of things that have occurred as a reference which can be referred to by media when they are writing about a team.
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Indeed. And as such, the media tends to lead with their best foot forward.
Guys, underemphasizing a NC, mythical or not, is just plain silly. Especially in today’s ESPN world.
There is HUGE media exposure for the teams, the players and the coaches that compete for that title.
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There is no title, and I won’t allow ESPN to dictate, nor influence how I feel about this sport. I have been around college football much longer than they have, and I understand it better than people who live in Connecticut and long for the days Notre Dame was relevant just because that is the favored team of those in the Big Apple….who don’t give a damn about CFB at all.
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It’s is not just ESPN. EVERYBODY is interested in the game and everything that surrounds it.
And I will be willing to wager you and every other UGA fan would be thrilled if Georgia ever found itself in the game.
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Think back to the upset win over LSU in 2005. We were the darlings of the media and the SEC, then we stunk up the dome against West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl, In my humble opinion, it’s never been the same.
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In my opinion, the media hopped off the bandwagon in 2008 when Alabama opened up the halftime lead in the blackout game. Georgia had star power in Stafford and Moreno and ESPN was waiting to see exactly which team they were going to sit down next to at the bar to start buying drinks. Saban has been getting the hummers ever since. No ill will toward Saban and Bama from me, that’s just the way I see it.
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Your recollection of that Sugar Bowl is different than mine .Sure they jumped our butts early but it was a great comeback and but for that fake punt that took serious nerve on Coach Rodriquez’s part. we win that game . That would be a really bad reason to get off the GA bandwagon. I blame it all on losing CBVG and hooking up with Coach Martinez. That is when the press did and probably should have gotten off the UGA train. I do agree with 39Dawg that winning the SEC crown is the best thing a Georgi team can do. I plead guilty to having been brainwashed by Coach Vince but you win the SEC and everything else just takes care of itself. Who can reasonably argue that a team that wins the SEC crown is not the best team in America? Answer: No one if they’re being honest with themselves
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If we win Saturday, we will have the honor of being the last TWO SEC champions to not win the MNC.
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It’s a little trickier these days with the championship game, but I mostly agree.
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I think that if we win on Saturday, with what we return for 2012, the media may be hopping back on our bandwagon (assuming we win the Sugar Bowl, but whoever we play there won’t be as good as LSU).
Even if we don’t win the SEC this year, we should be pretty highly ranked going into next year. Then it’s just win, win, win. If Bama stays on the schedule, beating them will win everyone over. Otherwise, just win the first 7 or 8 (including South Carolina and Florida) and they’ll believe in us. We want media hype? All we gotta do is win.
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And we would tie Tennessee at 13 for second all time SEC Champs.
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…and Georgia could walk out of there holding the longest active win streak in the FBS.
It’s a great opportunity.
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Houston would still have us beat, but hey…
If we beat LSU, we may play Houston in the Sugar Bowl. If so, we control our own destiny for “longest win streak.”
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Coach Richt. Put a little more edge on the blade by winning this weekend.
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We haven’t won big when the spotlight on our program has been the brightest and we haven’t won a national championship, that’s really what it boils down to. Win the SEC a few times in the span of 3 or 4 years and I guarantee we’ll get the media love and BCSNC game shot as well.
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