Hope floats.

I hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but this ain’t right:

Last October, a Tennessee team with a first-year head coach and lots of talent went head-to-head with Georgia before Georgia was irreparably broken.

Wait, what?  Georgia lost Keith Marshall early and then watched Michael Bennett and Justin Scott-Wesley fall by the wayside during that game.  Oh, and that was after Todd Gurley and Malcolm Mitchell didn’t suit up in the first place.  I guess all that wasn’t irreparable because Georgia still managed to win.

I give UT credit for making a game of it – and the injuries don’t excuse the pitiful performance of the defense and special teams that day – but the author notes that Aaron Murray was frustrated.  No shit.  That tends to happen when you’re handing off to two true freshman running backs and wondering where all your top receiving options disappeared to.

That game’s not close if Murray was playing with a full deck on offense.

52 Comments

Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange, Georgia Football

52 responses to “Hope floats.

  1. Bulldog Joe

    If I was looking for a rallying point from last season, I would have chosen Tennessee’s performance in the South Carolina game.

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  2. @gatriguy

    I’m a big believer in sports psychology and the role belief and confidence plays in a teams performance. UGA needs to bury UT this year. That ember needs I be stomped out, and I think it will be. We’re due to lay a serious whooping on them.

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  3. Plenty of hacks on the internet….agreed, that article is stretching things.

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    • The AJC

      We’re always looking for creative sportswriters to puff up our Georgia Tech customers.

      This guy has talent.

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      • uglydawg

        “cjanerun” is either an asshat or just an ass. People write shit with no research or digging..and believe because they have an emotional persuasion to a specific point of view..that it must be real. The dream seemed so real..but it was just a dream cjanerun had.

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  4. Dawg in Beaumont

    As someone who learned all about football during the 90s, it is insane what Tennessee has become. They are legitimately proud of almost beating Georgia two years in a row.

    I do think Butch Jones is a good coach, and that they will be solid in 2015, but their lines (OL and DL) are going to be bad this year and they aren’t loaded with talent at the skill positions either. 6-6 would be a success for them. We beat them by 20 in Athens.

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    • Puffdawg

      Indeed, that was pathetically sad to read.

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    • W Cobb Dawg

      “As someone who learned all about football during the 90s…”

      You get right to the truth. I learned about football a couple decades earlier, but the 90’s and fat phil are seared in my football memory….not to mention kiffin. Any day UGA walks out of neyland with a W is a beautiful day. The vols can have the ‘miss runnerup’ award. I hope we kick the ship out of em this year, – and every year.

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  5. Scorpio Jones, III

    I don’t look at the Tennessee game as a Georgia win, it was a Tennessee loss. If you look at what Tennessee’s defense did on three consecutive plays before we kicked the field goal, your attitude about the “win” may be altered somewhat.

    What this indicates to me as that Tennessee was a stroke of luck from being a very mediocre football team last year.

    Despite all the conversation about great recruiting classes, I don’t think the Vols will be much better this year and, for that matter, next year.

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    • Dog in Fla

      2014 will be the sixth season of misery for Vol fans after running off Phil
      (h/t Mike Hamilton)

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      • Scorpio Jones, III

        Hired guns have never done well at UT…firing Phil was a mistake that could follow them for many years…The Kharmic Bitches have UT on their list, note the Pig thingy, there.

        When Phil was there the Arkansas quarterback grounded the ball to send UT to the national championship…Bitches like fat guys.

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        • @gatriguy

          There is a feel of UT’s troubles being a bit of karma finally catching up to them. The mid and late 90s when they really made hay was when UGA couldn’t get out of its own way, SCU was still a joke, and Alabama was coached by DuBose. As those programs started getting it together, the sealed their borders back off and UT’s horrible in-state talent pool was finally exposed. As long as the surrounding states have a successful state school program locking down talent, UT is going to have issues.

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          • Scorpio Jones, III

            The Great Punkin did very well recruiting nation-wide, funny how that does not seem to work now.

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          • +1 – well said. If Tennessee can’t recruit nationally, they can’t win consistently. All the good high school football is really in Memphis, which is practically in another state compared to Knoxville.

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  6. John Denver is in Athens now!

    Never asked before, but, do we want that rule changed? I do…

    If you fumble it out of the endzone, shouldn’t you get the ball on the 10yd or 20yd line…giving it to the other team makes no sense to me…I was at that game and happy to walk with a win, but actually felt bad for the way it ended, genuinely. If it weren’t for A murrahh, I might had been willing to concede, but he was boss that day.

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    • Macallanlover

      I agree, bad rule that has too serious a consequence for the error. The call was right, but the rule sucks (although I did like it that particular play.)

      What I would take issue with is giving TN too much credit for how close the game score was. UGA was on their way to stomping a mud hole in them before the catastrophic series of major injuries hit us in rapid succession. They had laid it all out for that game (why they picked us I don’t know) with their pajama looking, strange unis, and amped up home crowd but it wasn’t working. Once the Mash unit toted the 3rd victim off, the remainder of the team looked like survivors in an airplane crash stumbling around in shock. UT players smelled blood and it gave them the 2nd wind against a team that had to minimize their playbook and change their game plan on the fly. That game ended it up being close, but the significance of it was losing the next two weeks (at least on the scoreboard. the Vandy game was out and out theft but it wouldn’t have been that close except for the injuries.)

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      • AthensHomerDawg

        UT came out of the gate wanting to show some pride and pushed us around a little early and late.. Butch had his side dialed up with a lot of attitude. If we aren’t hurt no way uT competes.

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    • Biggus Rickus

      I think it’s a fair punishment for being careless with the ball when you’re about to score.

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    • It’s a touchback. You have to control the ball going into the end zone. That rule should not be changed, period. That’s whether the rule helped us win a game last year or not.

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  7. rampdawg

    The embelishment of UGA having the ball first in overtime and failng to score.Takes the cake.

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    • Russ

      +100

      Everybody acts like if Pig hadn’t fumbled, they would’ve won. No…they would have taken the lead with the Dawgs yet to get the ball. The fumble hurt UT only because it allowed us to win with a FG. Revisionist history even among some of our fans. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though.

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  8. hassan

    Murray was a big game winner that day. That 4th down pass with time expiring to go to OT was clutch.

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    • And his almost TD run. Guys help me out here I need to watch this game again but it seems like when UT scored last they could have used more clock if I remember correctly. Again my memory is hazy but seems like they left time for Murray which was stupid but much appreciated.

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  9. Jim

    I’d suggest any UT fan that believes this to go look at Marshall’s stat line from the 2012 game and then consider he was well on his way to blowing it away in 2013 when he went down with that gruesome injury

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  10. D.N. Nation

    That was the “defensive stomping” of game recaps.

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  11. Irishdawg

    “Once the Mash unit toted the 3rd victim off, the remainder of the team looked like survivors in an airplane crash stumbling around in shock.”

    This is what I said the whole game. The injuries completely got in Georgia’s heads for a bit and they made crucial mistakes that Tennessee gamely took advantage of. I think without the cascade of injuries, that game would have been a comfortable victory.

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  12. Bob

    Was this written by a box of rocks with lips? Seriously, do your homework man. Forget the fact that Murray was shorthanded if you want. But at least get your facts right.

    He said that Georgia had the ball first in OT and failed to score and then Tennessee had the infamous fumble. That is garbage. UT had the ball first and then Georgia got the ball, played very conservatively as they should have and we kicked the field goal. That was the game. This crap about Georgia not doing anything with it in the first OT possession is BS. Did this guy actually look at the game?

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  13. DawgPhan

    It was so hot that day as well. Just really really baking hot.

    It was super enjoyable to watch the 4th and OT from Calhoun’s on the River.

    Place was packed full of Vols, boy did that place empty out in a hurry.

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  14. Jacob

    Murray sucked in that game.

    But Mason did good without his wr’s, 600 yards.

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  15. Jacob

    Only reason Mason lost a game was because the running backs averaged 2.2 ypc in the Bowl game.

    Murray got 6.43 rush ypc that game vs tenn,

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    • uglydawg

      Jacob…was Mason playing Safety or Rt. Corner when Nebraska won it with the long bomb? I can’t remember.

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      • Jacob

        My point is, you give Mason a 6.5 ypc and he’ll get you a “w”. Tenn better fear Mason, he don’t play. He almost pulleda out a “w” in the Bowl game solely on his arm, with no wr’s, and with a .2.2 ypc in that game. He’s friggin awesome, Tenn better watch out, that Mason freight train is comin down the track.

        This year, with Michel and Chubb, Marshall and Gurley, I don’t really expect Mason will ever have a 2.2 ypc game from our backs.

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  16. Jacob

    JJ Green replaced Gurley, got 129 yards, 7.5 ypc vs tenn

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  17. Jacob

    Good chance game would have been close if Murray’s starting at Qb, I think 5 of the starts Muray had in 2013 were decided by 3 pts, 1 by 5 pts

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  18. AthensHomerDawg

    Ga vs Tennessee win was sweet. OBC loss was sweet too!

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    • Dog in Fla

      Talk about a head ball coach whose team face plants, Tennessee last year, Florida 2012 and Auburn the year before that

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      • AthensHomerDawg

        Man the Auburn face plant was timely and awesomest! 🙂

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      • Not to pick at you personally but I’m so sick of hearing Spurdouche referred to by any variation of head or old ball coach or any of the abbreviations thereof that I vote we stop using these terms.

        Spurrier basically gave himself a nickname which only total asshats do and it has been perpetuated by the sycophants of two of the worst fan bases in the country and brainless sports writers and media ever since because their lazy asses love the dick for his easy quotes.

        I vote we come up with better names for spurrier and stop indulging the old attention whore.

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  19. McTyre

    Or if Colin “Molasses” Barber doesn’t gack a 5-yd punt block for TD.

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  20. JCDAWG83

    Sadly, this entire comment section is another example of Georgia football’s battle cry being “if only”. In this case, we managed a win. In most cases, we find a way to lose to a greatly inferior team at least once a season. However, our fans always find plenty of “if only”s to make themselves feel better. We should have beaten Tennessee AND Vandy handily, regardless of the injuries. James Franklin should send Mark Richt a nice Christmas present every year as thanks for giving him the win that got him that nice Penn State job.

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  21. RocketDawg

    Is it me or has EDSBS become virtually unreadable? The articles are terrible (this one in particular) and the comments make no sense and most of the time aren’t relevant to the article.

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