This one had it all: Richt outcoaching Saban and Muschamp (there’s a SOD cameo, too!), Uncle Verne slobbering all over David Pollack and David Greene’s monster game. Good times.
Too bad they blew the season the following week against UT.
This one had it all: Richt outcoaching Saban and Muschamp (there’s a SOD cameo, too!), Uncle Verne slobbering all over David Pollack and David Greene’s monster game. Good times.
Too bad they blew the season the following week against UT.
Filed under Georgia Football
“Those 13 jerseys are going to be around a long time.”-- Brock Bowers, The Athletic, 1/10/23
Awesome game. Georgia had this game circled on the schedule and it showed. The first of three consecutive blowouts against LSU.
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Best part of the game was Xavier Carter for LSU taking a kickoff and kneeling on the 1 yard line thinking he was still in the end zone.
Sanford was absolutely deafening that day. Only times I can remember it being that loud was probably the 07 Auburn blackout game.
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Without a doubt the loudest I can remember Sanford.
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What a fantastically one-sided game. I’m wondering which wins, if any, were more satisfying during the Richt era? UT 2003? AU 2011? Hawaii 2007? ARK (SECCG) 2002? UF 2007? AU 2006? It’s a short list for me, whatever belongs on it.
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I would add GT 2009. The nerds were ranked in the top 10 if I remember correctly and were still beating their chests about the 2008 fluke.
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That was a good one. Also, I was there for 2002’s 51-7 game–accompanied by a high school buddy who went to Tech, no less–and I’m hard-pressed to remember ever having a better time at a game. For his part, my friend vowed never to set foot in Athens again.
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My ranking of those, and it is an excellent list:
1. Arky SECCG for what it meant
2. AU 2011 because of the crap The aU pulled the prior year
3. UT 2003 because it was worse than the score indicated
4. AU 2006 because it was so unexpected at that point in the season
5. UF 2007 only because so many Dawg fans are negatrons about Jax
6. Hawaii 2007 just because it is on the list (I would put LSU 2005 as a better consideration) This game was only significant because the media made it that way. Congrats to the team for showing they were much more special than they will ever be remembered for. It is a very delightful and satisfying memory, especially Brennan’s total ass whipping, and the pre-game build-up and thuggery of the Rainbows.
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The Hawaii game was the 1st time I’ve ever felt sorry for an opposing player. The beating Brennan took was Tyson like. Pre-prison. I remember telling some friends they should pull him before he’s ruined for life.
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Mac, gotta disagree on Hawaii. We won the friggin Sugar Bowl. That is significant.
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AU 2007?
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Yep. When Knowshon got lathered up and took over that game in the 3rd and 4th quarter, it was beautiful to watch.
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2007 victory over Florida and it’s not even close for me.
I nearly drank all the beer in Helen, GA that night while celebrating and taunting gator fans…
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AOL BROADBAND!
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ALL THE FREE TRIAL CD’S.
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This game points to the problem I have with Richt. It has now been 4-6 year YEARS since the Dawgs have won a game of this magnitude. I can not remember the last big time W the Dawgs have had. Can you? And no, a 6-6 Florida team does not count. I am talking about a win against a highly (top 15 team) ranked team with something on the line. It simply does not happen any more. And it is not due to a lack of opportunities. Fans are still hanging on to memories of games like this. It is time to wake up and realize this will not happen again under Richt. Universities and coaches have windows of opportunities. Unfortunately, Georgia and Richt missed their windows (2002 and 2005). Please do not mention 2007. The Dawgs did not even win their division.
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They took a dive after that game, but ’08 LSU was pretty huge.
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LSU was 8-5 (3-5 SEC) in 2008 with losses to Ole Miss and Arkansas.
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I think the last time we beat a really strong and consistent team was Auburn 2006.
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And that’s not to say we haven’t had some great games since then — we’ve had some good teams and great memories, as listed above — but we haven’t beaten a truly top-shelf team in a while.
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Your original qualification, not mine:
“I am talking about a win against a highly (top 15 team) ranked team with something on the line.”
LSU was a Top 10 team at the time and the game was largely considered an elimination game for a BCS at-large.
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Additionally…
“Please do not mention 2007. The Dawgs did not even win their division.”
Neither did 2011 Alabama.
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Losses to 10-4 UT and 6-6 SC, versus an OT loss to an undefeated LSU team that demolished the Big East and P12 champions. These things are not the same.
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I certainly am not an attorney, but using logic here, Skeptic Dude claimed not winning your division precludes you from having a “window.” D.N. Nation cited an example whereby not winning the division does NOT preclude you from having a “window.” Georgia failing to win the division did not necessarily eliminate UGA’s “window” in 2007. They just failed to win the beauty contest Alabama won. But that isn’t to say they weren’t right on the cusp, which they were indeed. Any time the #2 and #3 team lose and the #4 team doesn’t slide into the #2 position, I think, based on precendent – or, more accurately, the pollsters failure to follow precedent – it’s fair to say they were close.
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Bingo! The system is poorly schemed and run. The inconsistencies are dramatic, yet many judge the worth of a coach on something this flimsy. Look at the comments about CMR because of the Crystal Trophy illusion. So Chizik is better than Richt? That is laughable because the criteria is so unworthy of such evaluations of job performance.
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If we want to classify “winning your division” as an absolute, then it holds. But in my analytical world, the quality of the division matters, as does who won it, as does the nature of the loss (es) for the team finishing second.
If Georgia and Tennessee ever find themselves in a similar position to Alabama and LSU 2011, then I’m going to be agitating for a rematch. (I don’t say Florida, because LSU played Big East champ WVU and P12 champ Oregon OOC, something Florida would never dream of attempting.)
As for Richt, Dean Smith had a wonderful response to a reporter who asked him moments after his first national championship if he felt validated. His response, paraphrased: I’m no better or worse than I was two hours ago. Same thing if we had lost.
I would look it up, but I’m too tired. But I think Richt is probably of a similar mindset.
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GT was # 7 when we beat them in 2009.
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Thanks! I completely forgot about that one. However, the Dawgs finished with 5 losses that year. So, I am not sure there was much on the line other than pride.
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“So, I am not sure there was much on the line other than pride.”
Well there you have it.
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You know, if you take out all the highlights, the last five years of Georgia football have been pretty grim. 😉
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On the other hand if you take out all the lowlights the Dawgs would have been undefeated.
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I would hate to meet Skeptic Jacket…
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As Dawg in Beamont said, the atmosphere was off the charts. There was blood in the water following the 2003 beatdown in the SECCG and the Dawgs rose to the occasion for an extremely satisfying win.
This game and the Blackout vs. AU are easily the 2 best experiences during my tenure as a 10 year season ticket holder in Sanford Stadium.
And, as you said, we crapped the bed in a major way the following week. THAT is easily the most miserable I’ve been leaving Sanford Stadium in the same time frame.
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Agreed. This was my second game in Sanford Stadium, I’ve since become a season ticket holder, and it ranks right up there with the Blackout game as far as the atmosphere and it was just a damn fun game to be at. Last year’s Auburn game was pretty fun, too.
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I’m with you on 04 LSU and The Blackout being the most fun games I’ve ever been to at Sanford. Such a shame to lose to UT the next week. That game and the 06 home loss to Vandy are two of the worst. The Bama blackout game was pretty painful as well.
But the 04 Tennessee game is the only football game I’ve been to where I got into a fight after the game because everyone was in such a bad mood.
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Xavier Carter’s kneel is still probably the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a football game, and I endured the Season of Cox.
Never did understand why the ’04 team couldn’t turn on the jets like that all the time.
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Bobo?
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Reggie Ball?
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Herschel did nearly the identical thing in ’81. he redeemed himself the rest of the day!
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Can anyone remind me why we got spanked by UT the next week? I’ve had that game cleansed from my memory (see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Was that the Erik Ainge super amazing trick play (a/k/a the bootleg) game?
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Yep.. never seen a shitshow like that.. constant bootlegs.. even after halftime. Sister got married that day.. I was a partial angry drunk for a portion.
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I tried to throw my TV off my balcony. My Tennessee buddy watching the game with me had to stop me. Low Point.
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56 yards rushing. 12 penalties. Went too high the previous week?
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That is what I have always felt. Our guys were floating and getting high fived everywhere they went. I think they felt invincible and just didn’t wake up for the UT game; that was a give away that still hurts.
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Mac, you wouldn’t remember 2004 Tennessee if we had an 8 team playoff. It would have merely been a speedbump on our trip to December Remember or January Granduary or whatever cathcy name the World Wide Leader decides to call your season ending tournament.
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No, I will never forget UT 2004, even if we had come back and won 3 straight MNCs. I was living in TN during the Aughts, you never want that group to hold the high ground when you have to listen to their myopic logic daily.
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There was also a brutal Andy Bailey missed FG. Hit that puppy and Georgia’s driving for a winning FG at the end, instead of needing to score a TD.
The holding call on the McClendon kickoff return also sucked big time.
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Made even worse by the fact it was on the other side of the field (Pope) if I remember correctly?
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No idea how many total yards he finished up with, but I feel like Gerald Riggs ran wild on us that day.
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I can’t recall such a swing. We had just crushed defending champion LSU, and were getting little Erik Ainge, as a true FR, on his first road game, leading an overmatched Tennessee team to our house. We couldn’t possibly lose, or so I thought. So disappointing.
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“We couldn’t possibly lose, or so I thought”
And it was at that very moment I first thought, hey, wtf is going on?
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We also had to use all 4 downs, and extra time, to score the first comeback TD when the SEC’s finest thought a UGA RB hadn’t broken the plane (he had).
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Yeah! Keep blitzing Nick! I’m sure David Green won’t smoke the corners another time!
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I blame Nick Saban.
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I was amazed that Nick stuck to his guns on that, especially after Richt demonstrated he was prepared for it.
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RAEG RISING but Bo Pelini used to do the same shit. He’d also do the exact opposite — spend all game rushing 3-4 and giving the QB all day when it was obvious pressure worked better.
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I had the choice of going to the Tenn game or the LSU game that year, as I couldn’t go to both. I chose Tenn. Still upset I missed the LSU game.
I had forgotten how good Ware looked running the ball in the first half.
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Former UGA punter Spike Jones gave me tickets to this game and it was of the best experiences I’ve had watching the Dawgs live.
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Sat by a pretty Georgia peach and her boy friend just behind the visiting fan section. Her boy friend acted as if would rather be somewhere else. By the 4 th quarter she was hugging my neck every time we made a play. Good game.
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Best home game during my tenure in school. Like some have said, only the blackout game compared. And this was an early start.
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Blackout game started at 3:30, same as the LSU game. It’s just the daylight of October vs. November that makes the 07 AU game seem like a later kickoff
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Can someone with a high football Q explain why Georgia D’s under BVG & CWM were so susceptible to the bootlegging QB?
Our other great Achilles Heel in that era was the bubble screen.
Thoughts?
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Just my opinion but…The front 7 were so quick and dominate off of the ball that they pinned their ears back. Being so quick off of the ball they were often caught flat footed with a bootleg. The bubble screen was successful due to the same speed.
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What an utter and complete ass-kicking that was. I see mention of this and Auburn ’07 as being great recent Sanford atmospheres; I’d like to add UT ’02 to that list as well.
Also, 2 notes from this game:
1. We were covering KOs with all 4 starting DBs.
2. Our offensive pace was plodding compared to what Murray is running right now.
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30:40 is the best Verne laugh I have ever heard.
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Good ole Uncle Verne chortle.
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If you’re fretting about what a colossus Alabama has become, consider that that LSU team had four current BCS coaches on its staff — Saban, Muschamp, Fisher and Dooley (none of whom are currently with LSU).
Saban had his machine built in Baton Rouge, and we clobbered ’em.
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I’d like to see Bowe hand the ball to the opposing team after a TD and get away with it in the ’09 UGA-LSU game. When he did that, I was looking for the yellow flag. I guess I am just used celebration penalties being called left and right.
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This game was a total blur. Moonshine and skybox seats will do that to ya. Picture this: Parking pass behind stadium 20 ft from skybox + Tix to skybox + open bar in skybox. Add in moonshine during the tailgate equals no recollection of the actual game. Watched CSS replay the next week and was like “when the F did that happen???”. I do remember pounding on the glass and NOT getting asked to leave. Bottom line, don’t be a cabron ; don’t drink shine in the skybox.
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