You know, Dawg fans like to talk about how loaded Jim Donnan’s 2000 defensive team was. Maybe it’s time to start seeing Richt’s 2008 offensive squad in the same way.
Here’s the starting lineup for that Capital One Bowl and where they were drafted.
SE Mohamed Massaquoi (second round) SE Kris Durham (fourth round) LT Clint Boling (fourth round) LG Cordy Glenn (second round) C Ben Jones (fourth round) RG Chris Davis RT Josh Davis QB Matthew Stafford (first round) TB Knowshon Moreno (first round) FLK A.J. Green (first round) FLK Michael MooreThat’s three first-round draft picks, two second-round picks, and three fourth-round selections. That doesn’t include two seventh-round picks–fullback Shaun Chapas (six starts) and Anderson (eight starts) who did not start the bowl game.
Both teams have lost opportunities in common. For the 2008 Dawgs, it’s pretty apparent what the Achilles heel was.
That Georgia team finished first in the SEC in passing offense, second in total offense and third in scoring offense, but finished 10-3, giving up 41 or more points in losses to Alabama (41-30), Florida (49-10) and Georgia Tech (45-42).
That defense wasn’t untalented – Weiszer notes that twelve players on it were drafted by NFL teams – but it was a huge disappointment. Two seasons later (and at least one season too late), Richt was forced to clean house with his defensive staff. But at least several of his kids from that team are earning decent livings today.
Get The Picture 
The ’08 team suffered under the tutelage of Willie Martinez, John Jancek, and Jon Fabris. By then, all of the discipline and toughness from BVG had been taken out of them. The offense did the job in every game except Bama and UF. No one should ever blame the offense in the Tech game that year except for a couple of turnovers.
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The 2008 defense was not as bad against UF as the score suggests. I have tried to excise as much of that game from my memory as I could, so I know my details are not accurate. I recall that theoffense gave up an interception return to our on 1, so our defense gave up a 1 yard TD drive. Didn’t our offense also turn the ball over another time inside our own 20?I also recall a punt’s return to inside our 10. My memory is Tebow and Harvin only hadtlmarcha total of less than 30 yards for3 TDs. My memory is that we had more yards and first downs that day against UF than UFhad against us. UF only drove for 3 TDs against our defense, and one drive was aided by a lousy spot when we stopped Tebow on a 4th down carry. Oh, I just remembered, our defense had to start a stand in our territory after we failed to convert an onsides kick.
I know that this will generate a bunch of responses about how I am a “maroon (sic)” for not seeing what a “maroon (sic)” Martinez was and I am not defending the performance against Alabama, Kentucky, or Tech that year. Just saying we did better on defense against a great UF oftener than the score suggested.
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Good points
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You’re more of a burgundy or deep purple than a maroon.
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Ox-blood, definitely.
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I’d agree with your points, but it should also be noted that FL didn’t have too much trouble moving it when they had to move it. That game never felt close, and FL really controlled it. If you think you can match toe to toe, why onside kick when it’s 10-3?*
*that might be the most disheartened I have ever been watching the dawgs.
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I agree with you here. I was (un)lucky enough to be sitting right on the split in the endzone where the touchdown would have happened had Stafford not thrown the interception that got returned to the 1. If I recall, we were putting up a good fight but that, coupled with Blair Walsh’s missed field goal, really ripped the wind out of our sails and we were never able to recover. I sat through the whole game somehow and the worst part is that we unknowingly parked on the Florida side and had to walk all the way back to our car amongst nothing but gators. God what an awful night.
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Also on that interception, I remember seeing that our receiver had their guy beat and got my hopes up that it would have been a touchdown. I remember the disgusting feeling I got in my stomach once I saw that there was a completely open field in front of their DB once he intercepted it too. Man, let’s change the subject to the 2007 original blackout against Auburn lol. That’d have to be the most fun I had at UGA my entire time there.
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Was that the interception where the DB pulled the receiver inside to make the pick? Seems like I remember some super shady DB play by Florida that game and in several whilst da Corch was at the helm (Always conveniently overlooked by our SEC officials).
–random aside: What do we have to do to make sure da Corch nickname follows him to Ohio State. I suggest we just it to THE Corch. Can I get a ruling?
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*just change it
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This was the year after the endzone stomping incident and the SEC ref crew lead by Penn Wagers as I recall were in full retribution mode for that game. Crookedest called game I have ever seen. Most of the damage was done by no-calls.
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Yep. Thanks for making me relive that. I was staying at a UF friend’s house in Gainesville where a bunch of my old friends from high school ended up living after they graduated UF. We all took some kind of huge, cheesy, jorts-wearing SUV limo to the game… which means my two other Dawg friends and I had to take that return trip with more than a dozen Gators. At least, two of us had seats on the red side. It was miserable.
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With that sort of tailgating plan, I’m not sure how it couldn’t end terribly.
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Yes, in the 08 UF game we outgained UF and had more first downs. It was actually still a relatively close game at the half even with a failed on side kick then our turnovers did us in. UF had close to 200 yards through special teams, fumble, and interception returns if I recall correctly. That game and you could say the season and each gut wrenching losses was a painful reminder of the importance of good defense as well as the impact of turnovers.
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So UGA has fine players, but we underachieve. Who knew!
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It was the coaches. Imagine that!
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For me, 2008 began and ended in Tempe. Not that the game was anything special, but that was hands down the best road trip ever. Everything else is erased from my memory.
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The good Senator writes;
“That Georgia team finished first in the SEC in passing offense, second in total offense and third in scoring offense, but finished 10-3, giving up 41 or more points in losses to Alabama (41-30), Florida (49-10) and Georgia Tech (45-42).”
The outlier in those three losses was the paltry 10 points the UGA offense managed to earn.
In taht game, the UGA offense also committed 4 turnovers, three of which were interceptions. And the UGA OL allowed 5 tackles for losses, two of which were sacks.
The UGA offense got beat to a pulp in that game and could only score 10 points. This with all those draft picks.
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Interesting to note how much Stafford shrunk in the moment in that game. After the pick 6 (Reggie Nelson?) he seemed like a broken man. Looking at his career up to that point and since, he seems to rise to the occasion more than shrink from it. But that 08 game he was like Costanza after a cold swim.
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What’s the announcement at 11:00?
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Its depressing how much offensive talent we wasted with horrible defense. After Stafford left I always felt sorry for Cox. It always seemed he thought he had to score 30+ to give us a chance to win.
On a seperate note, I view our special teams now in the same light as I viewed our D then. Hopefully we want wait 3 years to address those?
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