Well, hell, if I’d have known about the story Holly Rowe told during last night’s broadcast, that three practices in, the staff was threatening to bench some of the starters because of lack of effort, I would have worried a lot more about Georgia winning, let alone covering the spread.
Now, Kirby gave a half-hearted denial afterwards, but it makes little sense for Rowe to make up a story like that. Besides, what unfolded in the first half told you everything you needed to know about where the team’s collective head was at. If that wasn’t convincing enough for you, perhaps Solomon Kindley’s take on things will be.
“We just didn’t come out and play,” Kindley said. “I’m going to speak for my team and everybody, I feel like we had the big head and didn’t come out focused. We took Texas lightly, even though they were a very good team, and they showed us why doing all that others stuff, not knowing what you’re supposed to do throughout the week then coming on Saturday or whatever day it is and play football, you can’t do that.”
Throw in the post-SECCG hangover and a team that was sulking over not making the playoff field and you get rebukes from former players like this.
That is what the bust part of “CFP or bust” looks like.
Let’s hope that mockery is a good motivator for next season, because the Dawgs are bound to be on the receiving end of some industrial-grade mockery for a while. And deservedly so.
Get The Picture 
Good morning! Back to work today. Why was I sleeping on a towel??
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It appears the coaching staff wasn’t all that focused too.
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Kirby Smart first 3 years at Georgia: 8-5; 13-2; 11-3 = 32-10. Mark Richt: 8-4; 13-1; 11-3 = 32-8. Just sayin.’
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Yeah, but what about recruiting classes?? We are champions of recruiting, no doubt.
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Yep, I thought those kind of performances were behind us. A lot of Dawg fans repeat the mantra, “Mark Richt isn’t the coach anymore.”
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Bama has done this at leats twice in NOLA in the last 10 years. it sucks, but not a big deal and you cannot make conclusions on the staff or the program after yesterday. trust me, i wanted to win more than any, as i live in austin
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Bama shit the bed in that position far worse than we did: 37-17 loss to Utah after losing to UF in the SECCG in 2008 and 45-31 loss to OK after failing to get to Atlanta in 2014.
Otherwise, they’ve seemed to have done ok.
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And the Bama fans were beyond themselves with this. Now it seems like ancient history. I went to the OU game and Bama looked and acted like they did not want to be there. I think in the off season, some players, just up and transferred or got medical injuries. Time will tell what happens at UGA.
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JFC, this again?
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That’s exactly what I was saying last night.
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Well, the coaching staff and the team certainly affirmed my contention of this being a meaningless game with nothing to gain. Problem is/was the general public outside of bulldog nation will remember this only too well. I’ll say this again: “all the 5 stars in the world won’t win you games if they are not coached up”. Our schedule next year is no walk in the park and our entitlement attitude will lose us games if we don’t get it gone. A terrible way to “enjoy” the off season. We can brag about recruiting and say wait til next year. We’re good at that!
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SEC team gets Sugar Bowl as a consolation prize, loses to a B12 team.
Surprising
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That sucked. So much for boldly predicting. Today is a work day so I didn’t drown the frustration even though it really sucked having such a fun season end that way. Net-net? Texas showed up to play and UGA did not. Suck it, Dawgs. You earned it.
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Yea NOW it matters.
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I’m not going to draw any conclusions about the direction of the program after last night. I saw a team that looked distracted and unfocused. We were led to believe that wasn’t going to happen anymore because “Kirby’s on the mother.” Guess what? 18-22 year old men have minds of their own. This game is the type of game where you need player leaders to get the team with its head in the right place. When one of those leaders is hurt and another goes back on his commitment to play, this was the result you get.
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Kirby’s got a mess on his plate. Not only did the team fail to prepare, Kirby threw them under the bus w/ his comments to espn. Instead of keeping it in-house & trying to deal w/ it he put a spotlight on the team as being bratty & lazy. Leaders (head coaches) take the heat & handle things internally as the grown-up in the room.
And let’s not forget about whatever tensions may exist w/ the Fields transfer.
Welcome to the off season soap opera.
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Since I was at the game I didn’t hear the Rowe comments and I’m not going to watch it again, I don’t know what words Kirby used. Therefore, I can’t go as far as “threw them under the bus.” I agree he probably shouldn’t have said anything to her … probably a moment of the mask coming off when all we were hearing was “happy talk.” The real story comes out eventually.
If they weren’t prepared, that’s as much on the coaches as it is on the team regardless of the circumstances.
As I said last night, the team looked like it would have rather been at the tables at Harrah’s or in some seedy Bourbon Street strip joint than the Superdome last night.
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I’m not sure it came from Kirby. I though Rowe said that “talking to the GA coaches”.
Not typically, I would say that would only be Kirby, but during these bowl games, the media has access to coaches that Kirby can’t restrict; and since I’m fairly certain there are going to be some guys let go, I wonder if some of them decided to piss inside the tent a little on the way out.
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Who do you think is out? Just curious … Chaney is the biggest candidate. Tray Scott may be as well based on how the defensive line has played this year.
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Scott for sure. Fountain too.
Chaney is a mess. I’m ready to cut bait there, but not if it means losing Pittman. And I hate the idea of installing a new system. But last night was maybe the most frustrated I’ve ever been watching our offense.
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Also, I know Schumann is safe and is considered a raising star, but ILB were average at best this year.
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I think Chaney calls the plays the way Smart wants it done. Yeah, it’s vanilla, but that’s the way Kirby wants it. I do wonder how much of the shitfest at QB was Chaney’s fault.
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Coley is the QB coach & Chaney switched to TE’s this year & we had Jay Johnson (QB analyst) who went w/ Tucker to Colorado.
As for the Fields fiasco, that had to be Kirby’s call all the way. And it continued through bowl prep since he allowed him to stay w/ the team. Does a business allow an employee to openly look for a new job or do they show him/her the door?
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“Does a business allow an employee to openly look for a new job or do they show him/her the door?”
Well, actually yes. My spouse openly looked for a job after her boss screwed her over. She had a unique skill set that the company was going to have a really hard time replacing so keeping my spouse became her boss’s number one deliverable.
In the end my wife said “f all of y’all” and left, and the boss ended up fired. Perhaps there is something similar going on here?
Anyway, I hope Kirby and Co. learned a lot from this and will be on the mother next time.
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Texas came to play. The fact that the final score was 28-21 is shocking. We had every opportunity to get back in it and failed to capitalize. On a different note, the superdome sucks. The lack of sugar bowl swag and the slowness of the liquor bar servers would give the 4h club servers at Sanford a run for their money. At least we didn’t get smoked by a Utah or UCF.
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How did Holly Rowe scoop this while no beat reporter like Chip Towers (or anyone else) even picked up on it at all? The local media parroted Kirby’s company line for a month. Is that a indictment on journalistic reporting or a testament to Kirby’s control of information?
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The broadcast partner always gets better access before the game.
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The thing that bothered me the most was the failure to adjust offensively to what their defense was doing.
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The offensive line looked lost trying to pick up the Texas blitz all night long.
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To be fair, we reverted back to throwing nothing but deep, difficult throws down the sidelines. No slants, no screens, no rub routes, etc. It’s like Chaney has no blitz beaters in the playbook.
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Chaney has blitz beaters in his playbook. He has been calling plays for decades. The problem is either WRs failing to run the hot route or a QB that doesn’t adjust. Sure it’s on Chaney to not have solved that problem, but he definitely knows about blitzes.
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I’m sure. It just seemed like he got baited into doing things the hard way instead of just getting the ball to our skill guys and let Texas’s over aggression bite them.
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We don’t seem very good at audibling. Perhaps all of this Fromm is a student of the game stuff is BS, but it’s Chaney’s job to fix it no matter what.
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Gailliard played one of his worst games last night from what I could see. The tackles abused him last night.
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Yup. What we thought was going to be our biggest advantage didn’t get off the bus. Our offense was shit last night. Even with the drops and fumbles, thd game plan sucked. Chaney needs to go.
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The entire offense was out of focus. No run game, and Fromm was off too often. But, on the defensive side, no one set the edge all night. Texas ran up the middle fairly well, but every time they ran wide, there was no one out there until five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Plus, as is too often the case, very little QB pressure. Hopefully, next year, the front seven will be bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter. Also hopefully, this will be a wake up call for a team with enough lot of talent to win big next year if they’re mentally prepared to do so.
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5 star recruit Cox hasn’t shown me anything on the end all year, despite being given the lion’s share of opportunities. Doesn’t contain and forget about getting to the QB. Kirby’s recruits have a long way to go to match up with the players Pruitt left behind.
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I’d love to know who the players in question were, just to see if who think it was matches up.
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Damn we were unprepared and Texas was much more physical. I felt like their opening drive set the tone. Their Big 12 defense dominated our big bad all world offensive line in the first half. Was Jake nervous or were his hands just sweaty? Does this mean Florida ends up ranked ahead of us? Does the SEC revoke our man card this morning? UGLY
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Ok……I’m not one to normally post comments, but I gotta get this off my chest. First of all, I absolutely love Kirby and I am excited about the direction of the program. However, I believe we lost last night because of a number of factors. 1) Our players weren’t dialed in (as evidenced by the uncharacteristic mistakes). 2) The Justin Fields transfer talk was a huge distraction. 3) The Deandre Baker sitting out was a huge distraction (Although I completely understand Baker’s decision, how can we expect lower class men…..which comprise nearly 70% of our roster……to not mail it in when the leaders aren’t out there and finally 4) Chaney’s offensive game plan was simply awful. And by awful, I mean dumpster fire awful. Not sure how Kirby could have done much about item 1 because it’s sometimes hard to get inside the heads of 18 to 23 year olds, but items 2 through 4 are within the control of the coaching staff. Personally, I think we should have just told Fields, we appreciate your contribution, but if you’re not “all in” you’ve simply got to go. Same with number 3. Why have Baker on the sideline when he’s sitting out the game for his own reasons? (Again, I understand him not playing, but don’t understand him being allowed to travel with the team). As for # 4,………..Chaney’s and his staff gotta get it together. It was obvious that Texas was totally selling out to stop our run game AND that Fromm was having an off night. However, when we went up tempo, he seemed to do a bit better. Why did we not do what was working? Sometimes I think Chaney outsmarts himself. Do what the defensive gives you and what is WORKING………
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Dave, I think you’ve pretty much nailed this game.
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Great observations. I especially agree with the Baker comments.
WHY allow him on the sideline?
It just sends the wrong message to the team.
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I watched him coach up the layers who were in his position. He is a leader and was an extra coach this game.
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Dave, post more often.
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“lower class men”. That’s just great.
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I guess underclassmen would have been the more technically correct term, but after our performance last night “lower class men” did indeed seem appropriate. LOL
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“it’s sometimes hard to get inside the heads of 18 to 24 year olds”..
Maybe so, but when you’re paid more in a year than most people will make in a lifetime, you should find a way.
Kirby should have done the very things you suggest in regards to the Fields and Baker. He should have sent them both packing…not out of spite or unappreciativeness, but to get the team focused on Texas.
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I agree. I don’t have any ill well towards either, but the proper balance isn’t “whatever the kid wants is right.” Kirby and the staff have an obligation to the team.
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All good points. I may piss everybody off here.. but why take Baker on a free ride to New Orleans and all the perks that come with it and let him hang out on the sidelines? I respect his decision but, I would have told him to stay home and make room for someone else. Just a Get Off My Lawn comment.
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Baker could have skipped out on the team and gone pro after last season. He didn’t. UGA probably isn’t in the Sugar Bowl if he had.
If he wanted to go to NO and his teammates supported him, then I don’t see what the problem is. He earned the trip with his 2018 play.
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I think Baker is probably wise to take a knee, but I gotta agree with Spike…..you’re either in or you’re out. If it’s really about “skipping it to prepare for the NFL draft” (which is what they all say) then presumably he has big-boy things to be doing. Just sayin’—if you want one last hurrah with the boys, you’re either in or you’re out. Otherwise, there just seem to be so many mixed emotions and signals.
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Why so? Isn’t supporting your teammates a big-boy thing, too?
I gotta say the fan base, or at least a part of it, is far more butthurt over DB’s decision than his fellow players are.
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How do you know his fellow players are all ok with it? I suspect there are more than a few who are not. But, I’ll stick by my comments. YMMV.
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The idea of him talking to 3 and 27 in between series is just so troubling! I mean is THAT the guy you want them listening to?
I’m getting the vapors!!
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Well Senator, one problem is that we got our ass beat. Other than that, sure, no problem at all.
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This^
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I don’t think Baker being on the sidelines caused Swift’s fumbles, or LeCounte’s missed tackles, or Fromm air mailing throws. It certainly hurt the defense because he wasn’t out there locking down his side of the field, so I certainly agree that he should forfeit his paycheck for the bowl game.
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No one is saying that he doesn’t have the right to lay out.
He shouldn’t have been on the sidelines.
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The Rowe story was a surprise. Right when she said it you knew that the Dawgs were done.
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I feel it’s important to preface this with the disclaimer that I’m only 30, so I’ve got very little recollection of the pre-BCS era. That said, I don’t really care about the Sugar Bowl. While Munson never shouted “there’s bloomin’ onions falling from the sky,” I don’t see winning or losing this game as any different than winning or losing in Tampa, Nashville, or Shreveport. Accordingly, I’m not losing any sleep over the fact we lost an exhibition game.
It was pretty clear that my sentiment was shared by a good chunk of the UGA roster and coaching staff. The offensive game plan was simplistic and it looked like the coaches spent the bowl practices doing things other than scheming for Texas. (note: I’d much rather they use the practices to give more reps to younger guys and work on things for next year) The O-line mailed it in all night. Fromm – for all his talk about how he was excited and prepared for this game – put up an absolute dud. Swift looked thoroughly disinterested. Outside of Herrien and a couple of others, everyone on the offensive side of the ball looked like they’d rather be elsewhere.
The defense looked like they had some pride. It didn’t look like they’d schemed for Texas either. That may be a result of Tucker leaving. That may be a result of bowl practices being used for non-Texas purposes. That may be a result of injuries or missing players. I thought the defensive effort in the 1st half was commendable. They bowed-up when faced with bad field position after 2 punt mistakes and a Swift fumble and kept us in the ball game. There were mistakes, undoubtedly, but I’m not sweating them given the low stakes.
Again, maybe I’m just a spoiled millennial who doesn’t appreciate American institutions like cable television, house phones, and the Sugar Bowl. But we lost an exhibition that had zero stakes. That’s not worth raising my blood pressure over.
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That’s a good perspective and one I should adopt.
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No Ugly! Don’t do it! You’re better than that. Spottie is a soulless, lifeless excuse for a Dawg fan. Any real Dawg fan would rather super glue his dick to the space shuttle than watch that shit last night.
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If I’m “a soulless, lifeless excuse for a Dawg fan” why was I in the building last night? Just because I don’t wet my pants over what is – essentially – another G-Day game, doesn’t make me any less of a fan than you or anyone else.
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Let’s say we are eliminated from the east before Halloween- does Jacksonville matter at all or is it similar to G day?
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LOL..that’s the post of the day. OK..I’ll hold!
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Sorry but when the coaches are getting large bonuses for these games, we should expect that the team shows up to play their best. If you play your best and lose, fine. We should treat the Sugar Bowl as something beyond the other bowl games because the coaches’ contracts certainly do.
Otherwise, playoff or bust.
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So players should be motivated by the notion that Coach Smart is going to get a bonus? “Boy, I really want to win this game so Coach can afford that new gold-plated shark tank for his swimming pool!”
Once players start seeing bonuses for winning Sugar Bowls, you’ll see them care a little more.
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Then we should just cancel these games. (be careful what I wish for right?). The debate on worthy compensation has been hashed out before and is worthy of its own post, but I would say the players should be motivated because their fans spend $50million per year just on the price of tickets to watch them play which helps pay for their free college education and the cost of living. Also, it’s called school pride……you represent the University of Georgia. If that’s not enough, then there are plenty of young men out there going to UAB and Tulsa who would happily replace them.
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They won’t cancel bowl games. ESPN needs the live sports content for their various TV networks and streaming platforms. Conferences and athletic departments want the payout from bowl games.
Again, there’s a financial incentive for TV networks, chambers of commerce, athletic departments, and coaches. There isn’t one for the kids actually getting hit. The fact some alumnus or sidewalk fan shelled out a bunch of money for season tickets doesn’t matter one bit.
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And walk out on their Tulsa teammates? Screw that!! Does loyalty count for nothing anymore?
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I didn’t say that, but it is the coaches’ responsibility to motivate them for a game like this.
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Good take. However, being there was a shit show. Embarrassing doesn’t even cover how I feel. Dawg fans showed up. Team didn’t. We should always be jacked to play in the Sugar Bowl. Maybe this playoff or bust system has crept into our locker room.
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The secondary ticket market begs to differ on the notion of Dawg fans “showing up.” I went to the game – got family in New Orleans – and felt the buzz and energy in the fan contingent was several notches below where it was in Pasadena, South Bend, and Atlanta (both trips last year and the one this year).
Note: I’m not blaming anyone for failing to be excited by this game. I’ve already made it clear that I certainly don’t regard the Sugar Bowl as a big to-do. I appreciate that some folks are probably tapped out after all the worthwhile road trips last season. I appreciate that some folks probably weren’t overwhelmed with the need to go to New Orleans for a football game twice in the span of 3-4 months. But this was the kind of Georgia fan turnout and atmosphere I’d associate with an SEC East road game, not some monumental, life-changing event.
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I was there, too, in the Georgia ticket allotment section. There were a hell of a lot of Georgia fans who sold their tickets to Texas people. I hope those people lost their shirts on the price of those tickets.
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I don’t agree. If the game doesn’t matter, perhaps the team should do like Baker and decline the invitation. Tell that to the Florida folks and see how well it goes. You know that Florida team that’s probably going to finish ranked ahead of us? That’s the kind of shit that matters to me and should matter to anyone with a heartbeat. If not, why even watch this game called football? I’d be better off watching reruns of The View.
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…..or better yet, what happens when their peer group is the age of an ideal season ticket holder and just decides…..well, “it doesn’t matter.” If all that matters are the playoffs, this party is going to end sooner rather than later.
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I think the writing is on the wall. The Gator Bowl here in Jacksonville just had its lowest attendance total since the 1950s.
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I knew we were done after the 4th or 5th missed tackle against the Texas QB. That was the worst tackling I have seen from the Dawgs since Willy was still around. How on earth does a team regress back to that?!!
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That’s what happens when you are unfocused and think you can walk on the field and beat anyone just cuz “we almost beat Alabama and should’ve been in the playoff” n all.
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Texas runners were highly motivated and hungry to take it to the Dawgs. Georgia players were taken aback by the intensity (they were flat).
Because?? Texas was excited to be getting on a big stage while Georgia felt ho-hum to be there. That is a coaching failure on CKS.
Holly Rowe let the cat out of the bag and confirmed what we all suspected.
Kirby is trying to have it both ways…the minute a kid shows he is no longer a team player he should be off the field.
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During the broadcast, did I hear correctly that Lil’Jordan got his name because his older brother was named Jordan (after MJ) and that Lil’Jordan was the ‘compromise’? This is the only thing I want to remember correctly about last night.
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His brother wanted him named after Michael Jordan so mom named him “Lil’Jordan” as a compromise. That is his given legal name.
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Nothing like setting your child up for a successful future by naming him “Lil’Jordan”. That’ll work well in the business world.
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I agree. It is. His mother should be charged with child abuse.
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I think Kirby shot his emotional wad getting the team ready to play in the SECC… “It is time to fucking go!!!”
After that inspired performance and disappointing finish, they weren’t going to get back up and prepare anything near the same way.
Some other random thoughts:
I hate the CFP or bust shit.
Fields- get gone to Ohio and stay up there. I wish no ill will on the kid but I hope his name fades from Dawg circles asap. Perhaps the most hyped Dawg ever for as little production as he had.
Baker- him on the sideline is just weird . At least “go prepare for the NFL” on your own and skip the trip. How can you look a guy like Holyfield in the eye “go get em boys but I’ll be chilling right here with some Powerade so I don’t get hurt. I hope you don’t either. ”. I want the dude to make 10mm though .
Holly Rowe report – I’m glad somebody said it.
Overall- what a goat rodeo this has all been since the end of the 3rd quarter in SECC. Let’s pray some lessons are learned.
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I guess I’m not getting the Baker criticism.
I didn’t hear any of his teammates say a bad word about his decision and I would think if they didn’t want him at the game, he wouldn’t have been there.
Nick Bosa was on the Ohio State sideline and it didn’t stop them from showing up and winning.
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Plus I saw him going to the D and taking to them animatedly after plays. He was an asset on the sideline.
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His teammates/buddies aren’t going to say anything bad about their friend that they have battled with, like, and is about to make a ton of money. And, based on Holly Rowe’s report and what we saw on the field, it sounds like many players didn’t care about this game much anyway.
I am not blaming Baker for the lackluster performance, the loss, or even the decision to skip the game. Hell, he could made his decision based on him seeing not many give a shit about this game and just said “screw it, why should I risk it “ . Don’t blame him for that.
All I am saying it is odd -almost unnatural- for a perfectly healthy dude to sit in sweats on the sideline when other NFL minded guys are risking injury themselves and the coaches are asking everyone to bust their ass, practice hard, get up for the game, etc. Whether Baker’s decision was the cause or effect of crappy preparation, him making the trip wasn’t helping anyone’s mindset in my opinion.
Bosa has a bad injury and surgery and said weeks ago he was shutting it down so it’s not really comparable to a healthy guy that decided a week ago to not play in my opinion.
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Bosa is healthy again. He and his family made the decision not to come back this season. In other words, he was just one step closer to financial risk than Baker.
As far as what Baker’s buddies might say, it’s not like they’ve been shy about expressing opinions about each other, as Kindley calling out his teammates indicates. I didn’t see players ignoring or shunning Baker on the sidelines last night; you’d think if there was resentment, we’d have seen signs of it there.
In fact, if there were real resentment, do you think Baker would have made the trip in the first place? Or been allowed to?
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Senator, sorry if I’m not being clear.
I do not think that many players resented Baker for making that decision. What I am saying is when guys see a top player laying out it may make it tougher on the coaches to get the rest of the players to prepare and take the game serious. Baker being on the trip front could have helped contribute to the teams lackadaisical mindset or at least help keep it there.
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Again, Baker is hardly alone. Some teams in similar situations have won their bowl games. Others have lost.
I see a lot of mays and ifs in your comment. I don’t know any more than you do, of course, but I have a hard time believing Kirby would let Baker make the trip if it were an overall negative.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/Article/Players-skipping-bowl-games-draws-mixed-reaction-from-elite-recruits-127147554/Amp/
I am not alone in my thinking. Aside from Pollack and Herbstreit basically saying the same thing i am, scroll down and read the high school kids comments. It’s mixed. So I use the the word “many” because there are 85 dude on the team and not all are going to think alike .
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I have a feeling the opinions of some of those high school kids will differ 3 years from now when they’re staring at the possibility of being a top 15 pick.
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@spottieottie: Comment of the day. And some folks on here will still never get it. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ talks and especially in something where the average career is 4 years.
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No, you don’t get it. No one is saying he can’t lay out, we’re making the point that he shouldn’t have been there. It was a distraction, it was mismanaged, just like the Fields distraction and no one needs to look any further than the shit show that was last night to understand.
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Sometimes the proof is in the pudding. Perhaps the hope or expectation was it wouldn’t be a negative, but given how things unfolded it may have been.
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The negative was that he wasn’t playing, period.
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Spot on. Bosa is different. He had surgery and has been out most of the season.
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I think players can understand the difference between freshmen and seniors. Freshmen who skip games don’t go to the NFL. Seniors who have four years of tape and are projected to be first rounders do. So I doubt that the other players were confused about Baker’s actions. He is where they want to be.
You could just as easily argue that having past players come back and stand on the sidelines confuse the kids. Why should someone like Roquan Smith, who is easily capable of playing college football, stand on the sidelines to cheer on the team, yet not suit up and play? Because his days of playing for free are over. That’s why.
Baker sitting out hurt the defense because he’s the best defensive player. And when you have no pass rush, you need excellent coverage. So the team may have won if he had played. But him sitting out didn’t cause Swift’s fumbles, or Camarda’s shank, or the receivers’ drops, etc.
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For those who think 8 is great and will solve every problem of college football, last night is exactly what you will get from teams that lose a quarterfinal game. We lost a de facto quarterfinal on December 1 and then played a month later like no one cared.
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Lot of ‘Bama fans gloating over this. Their relief is almost palpable.
Some of them (see FB) are downright giddy because they believe the threat has subsided.
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Bama certainly collapsed as a program after shitting the bed in 2 sugar bowls.
News alert: Bammers are stupid.
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Going back to 2008, there have been 6 SEC title games where both teams went into the game with a legit shot at playing for a National Championship.
2008 – #1 Alabama lost to #2 Florida. Bama went on to lose the Sugar Bowl to Utah 17-31.
2009 – #2 Alabama beat #1 Florida. Florida went on to win the Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati 51-24.
2012 – #3 Georgia lost to #2 Alabama 28-32. Georgia won the Capital One Bowl against Nebraska. #3 Florida went to the Sugar Bowl and lost to #21 Louisville 23-33.
2013 – #3 Auburn beat #5 Missouri 59-42. Missouri won the Cotton Bowl. Alabama, which had lost to Auburn on the “Kick-6” and missed the SEC title game, lost the Sugar Bowl 31-45 to #11 Oklahoma.
2017 – #6 Georgia beat #4 Auburn 28-7. Auburn missed the playoff despite beating both Georgia and Alabama in the regular season and would lose the Peach Bowl to UCF 34-27.
2018 – I think we’re well aware of how that shook out.
That said, when the SECCG operates as a play-in game, the loser is 3-3 in their consolation bowl match-up. If you count Alabama’s 2014 Sugar Bowl appearance as another consolation prize after losing a play-in game (which, given the nature of that Alabama-Auburn game, it was) the loser is 3-4. Nick Saban is 0-2 in Consolation Sugar Bowls.
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Nick Saban doesn’t know how to motivate!
Bama must have really bad play callers!
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If we had played in 5 straight playoffs and had a bazillion National Championships, I might get that this game just doesn’t matter. I’m just not there yet.
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You’ll get there. In a post-mythical National Championship world it’s hard to get these kids locked in for exhibitions. These sorts of things are constantly happening in bowl games. The team that wanted to be somewhere else just doesn’t show up to where they are.
And if you aren’t “on” too get beat by good motivated well coached football teams.
We pulled a similar thing in 2005. We knew we should have been playing for a bigger prize but DJ got hurt before Florida and we lost on a freak play to Auburn. WVU ran circles around us after we’d locked in a month earlier and beat up LSU in the same building.
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“If we had played in 5 straight playoffs and had a bazillion National Championships”
That 2008 Alabama team that crapped the bed against Utah hadn’t won anything yet, it was Saban’s second year at Alabama. They went into the SEC title game 12-0 before losing to Florida.
The 2013 version was coming off back-to-back national championships and three in four years.
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If a player is in the transfer portal or cutting practice and playing, why have them sit in the classroom.
Have no trouble with them going to the bowl, but I do not see the “motivation” or “reasoning” in them being on the sideline with the team or players that are projected to play. No one has the prescience whether them being there re win or lose.
A head coach should clean up the clutter and drop players that are what I call “high maintenance”. Clean up the sideline. That includes over celebration when you are getting your ass kicked from the opening kickoff.
Been critical of Tucker, but now I am wondering how much he impacted the defense.
Because that was one of the worst performances I have ever seen by a defense in tackling.
Posted before this was a team that put nothing into a game plan or schemes going in.
Been better off just putting those practice periods into fundamentals like tackling and blocking.
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Will, perhaps you should submit your resume to McGarity. It sounds like you’re the key to winning that natty.
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Well you knew Saban wasn’t going anywhere when his team showed up not ready to play ok 1/1/09 in NOLA….and they did it again on 1/1/15!
Man, that’s jes coachin’ right thar!!
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Can’t disagree with much of what I’m reading this morning. It just didn’t look like the team I’ve been watching all season.
Defensively the scheme didn’t seem that bad. The defensive issues seemed much more about effort and desire. Did Lecounte attempt to wrap up once behind the line of scrimmage? The human missile attempt wasn’t working. Besides him though, how many times were our guys there, and just couldn’t finish the play? I saw very few easy TX offensive plays due to busted coverage.
On offense though… WTH.
Holyfield. When was the last time you saw him avoid hits. Hes normally the guy that seemed to want to hit the other guy, to punish them for attempting the tackle. Last night he hit the sidelines, and a few of those he could have put his head down and another yard would have been a 1st.
Nauta. Did we throw him a pass last night? I don’t remember seeing it.
It was obvious they were stuffing the box in an all out effort to stop the run. We seemed to do better on the perimeter with the RB’s than the interior, but they were still getting there too. Why not at least 1 or 2 jets to Mecole, hit that perimeter quickee, force them to spread out a bit.
Someone else commented also, regarding the blitz, but even on non-blitz plays they were committing LB’s to the run stop. Bubble screens, slants and crosses weren’t in the plan, yet it was a consistent LB press and zone behind defense. More underneath routes seemed obvious (and again, to the TE’s maybe??).
Perhaps a Sugar Bowl win or loss in the playoff era, to a team we probably won’t see again until 2028 doesn’t matter. I still find myself disgusted.
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They thoughts exactly. I spent half the game yelling at Richard LeCounte. I have not seen such poor tackling form by a Georgia player since the 2008 Georgia Tech game. There were also 3-4 drives that were extended (two of which went for TDs IIRC) where they had the QB dead to rights for the sack but attempted a shoddy high arm tackle allowing Ehlinger to scramble for the first down.
I was completely surprised that nothing was done to force Texas’ defense to spread out laterally to allow some running lanes. No jet sweeps, no bubble screens, no smoke screens, etc. We tried to go deep, but there were 3 drives that had open TD passes he overthrew. There was another that was dropped. They won’t back off unless you connect on the passes.
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Richard LeCounte is Rashad Jones’ tackling clone. If I hear one more thing about that stupid fucking hit stick from him, I’m going to throw up.
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Maybe this was a sign that the traditional bowl system is dying more quickly than we thought. If so, it shouldn’t be long before those bowl bonuses are removed from future coaching contracts. Given the current culture, so aptly described by our astute millennial poster above, future bonuses will be offered for making the greatly enlarged playoff field. The sugar won’t be falling from the sky any longer. Munson R.I.P.
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Hmm- yet another coaching flop to end the season. We should talk about Richt to distract us.
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“This is what the bust part of ‘CFP or bust; looks like.”
Funny you say that – it’s exactly the same thought I had about halfway through the first half when I realized we didn’t stand a chance of winning last night. Kind of a sad state of affairs, but this is what it’s come to in the CFP era.
Agreed Kirby’s challenge is to get his team to treat every game like it matters. Not sure how you do that in today’s climate.
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I don’t think it can be done quite frankly. It’s not one thing either.
It’s transfers. Its holidays. It’s “am I going pro?” It’s “should I play?”
When you’re getting ready for something important to you those distractions
fade to the background. When you sorta don’t give a fuck and you sorta think you can beat a team just by walking off the bus, the shit gets ugly.
That said, I think if 11 doesn’t completely fall apart in the 3rd we sneak out with a win. Bad luck, bad tackling and bad drops were survivable. You can’t mount a comeback when your QB can’t hit open guys.
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At the risk of going full Barnhart here, Fromm plays bad when the o line plays bad and the o line was BAD last night. Jake needs the o line to create a comfort zone or he stays out of sync.
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I saw him miss plenty with a clean pocket. He definitely isn’t good if he has to move though. That pick was awful.
He’s just a streaky passer for whatever reason. Most qbs struggle with getting hit in the mouth.
It’s one of the reasons you need a running game. You put it all on a qb and he’s not locked in, you’re stuck in the mud.
We got behind and they stayed ahead of us with their pressures and fronts knowing we had to throw to get in it. And too many times when the play was there we either missed the open guy or dropped it.
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Yeah, Fromm was BAD, no question about it. Probably left at least 2 easy touchdowns on the board just by wildly overthrowing his target. At least 2. In a game where we lost by 7. Against a Texas secondary that is…. not great.
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$7MM a year says it’s his fucking job to get them ready.
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Another rare commenter here: I’m more troubled about the number of players who are “exploring their options” than I am about a single loss. What is going on in our locker room that so many players want to bail on this program? It’s not like we have a roster of full of currently rated first round draft picks other than Baker. Ford’s situation is different, but we seem have quite the list of players who are not committing to finishing what they started, especially after hearing that starters weren’t giving full effort in practice. What did starting them anyway tell the ones who were busting their asses? How does that fit into the narrative of every position is won every week? Something is not right, and I sure hope that’s what we work on in the off season.
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Absolutely my concern moving forward. I’m praying we don’t regress in year 4 like the previous regime.
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Our current team is made up of 4 and 5 star recruits. Those kids don’t play for the glory of the red and black the way a 2-star who grew up in Athens might. Believe it or not, you would rather have Justin Fields on your team than Joe Tereshinski III.
But those highly rated recruits are playing to get to the NFL. And that requires getting on the field. So if a kid like Fields gets to Athens and sees that he’s going to be Fromm’s backup for his entire career, his best professional option is probably to go somewhere else.
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“Just and exhibition…”
If Wikipedia is your source of history lessons and dual streaming the game while playing a fantasy video game on your XBox is the norm, then you’re not going to be able to appreciate the significance of the Sugar Bowl to UGA and DawgNation.
Herschel over the top of line with a busted shoulder for our first National Championship in the modern era IN THAT SAME DOME makes NOLA hallowed ground for us. Prior to the BCS and playoffs, the Sugar is awarded to the #1 SEC team signifying our accomplishment for the season. Legends are confirmed and made in that game (just ask any UT fan 10 years from now about Ehlinger’s performance last night).
Last night was too highly storied CFB franchises meeting for the first time since a historic Cotton Bowl game over 30 years ago. Tradition, pride, history are not just words but inspiration to show up and play your best, representing yourself, your team, your fans, and your university. Players owe it to themselves to not waste one of the very, very, VERY few opportunities to play with the attention of the entire CFP country focused on you. This was PRIME time football.
Texas got this.
Kirby didn’t get that message through. Shame on him. Shame on the players for not getting it either. And shame on the fans who dismiss anything but “PLAYOFFS!!” as meaningful, because you are ignoring the spirit of what college football is all about in the first place. If you whine about playing UMass in late November, then how the hell do you not appreciate the damn Sugar Bowl against UT? You’d rather have that as a home and home series once a century?
It wasn’t an exhibition. It was a great opportunity to have a great game, great time, and establish the UGA brand even bigger and better. There are far more important things than college football in life…but we’re not talking about that comparison. Within the realm of CFB, this was still a big deal and coaches, players and fans owed it to themselves to treat it that way. Just 2 years ago were where in the Liberty Bowl for god’s sake. As long as Saban is alive, we’re not going to be a regular in the playoffs, but the Sugar is more than a consolation prize. If that doesn’t impress you, then those of us that get it simply feel sorry for you…you’re missing soooooo much about what UGA football has always been about.
Go Dawgs, and may the Sugar always fall from the sky.
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No one on the team was alive in 1981. Or 1982. Or 1983. The 2003 Sugar Bowl was a whopping 16 years ago. The guys lining up for us last night were probably too young to remember that game either.
I’m very appreciative of history. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in LeConte Hall. But 1980 is ancient history to a 20 year old kid.
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My diatribe was not aimed directly at you as others have expressed the same sentiment, but thanks for suffering through it. The history of the 2019 Sugar Bowl was determined last night and the coaches, fans and 20 year old players will remember that one. It could have, and should have, been different. Not to be extreme, but I wasn’t around for Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, but I can still appreciate it was a pretty big deal for us even today. In the micro world of importance of UGA football, every Sugar Bowl will have meaning to our history. I’m sorry, but it was more than an exhibition. I hope future teams don’t treat it that way.
Go Dawgs!
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I get that the trip to New Orleans is historically and traditionally more important than Tampa, Jacksonville, or Shreveport, but that historical import arises out of the fact that going to a Sugar Bowl often meant a shot at a National Championship.
Of our 6 pre-BCS trips to the Sugar Bowl, 5 of them had a direct bearing on the National Championship (I don’t think winning in ’69 would have allowed us to vault an unbeaten Ohio State team). The pre-BCS Sugar Bowl is equivalent to a playoff appearance today. It had actual championship implications.
We simply live in a different world today.
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You’re of course right about what the impact of winning the game today vs yesteryear means. Does anyone care if we finished the season ranked #3 with a win over Texas? But the Sugar Bowl is still the top prize for the best SEC team not in the playoffs, meaning the SECCG loser (unless you are Bama or the SB is in rotation for one of the playoff games). If winning the East is important, then so should winning the Sugar. We…coaches, player, fans….should always want to win it. For everyone who treats it like an exhibition, you’ll likely get last night’s results. If CFB has become only about the playoffs, we really have ruined the sport.
Question: If UGA and Texas finish 2nd in each conference again next year and are out of the playoffs (a likely scenario) and we got a rematch to play them in the Cotton Bowl (ignoring if the CB is in the playoff rotation or not), would it still be an uninteresting exhibition game? Jerry World, New Year’s Day, rematch, national audience…how can anyone not get fired-up about that?
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The game seemed to mean a lot to Texas.
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I noticed that.
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Good point.
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Texas felt like they had something to prove. We clearly didn’t.
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In addition to all the other distractions, almost all self-inflicted, let’s not forget the ESD’s impact. Short handed on staff already, KS had to oversee a game plan for the defense while directing recruiting, and managing the team as a whole. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the defense that killed us, they gave up 28 with depleted forces, even with Texas having the best field position I have ever seen an opponent enjoy in the first half. Yes, our tackling was horrible but I expected Texas to score a minimum of 28 anyway.
It was the OL that changed the entire direction of that game, and it was as healthy as it has been during the entire 2nd half of the season. Dropped passes and overthrows wouldn’t have been as significant if we could handed the ball to Swift/Holyfield/Herrien.
The Texas defense overpowered and outschemed us on both running and passing plays. Todd Orlando just became my #1 choice for DC (I know, we can’t get him now), although I doubt Kirby would let him call that aggressive a game. Our OL, and RBs never figured out where the Texas defense was deploying guys, even Fromm couldn’t get us into the right play with pre-snap reads.
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I would rather that the Rowe story was that the entire UGA team was out drinking on Bourbon Street all day and had just arrived at the Superdone at 8:00 PM and were still drunk. I can respect that as a reason for the shit play. That’s what happened to the ’68 team.
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Yep, and weren’t they pissed at Vince for taking the Sugar Bowl when the team voted for the Orange Bowl?
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What year was that?
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Yeah, 1968. We could have played for the NC in the Orange Bowl. Jake Scott was so pissed at Vince he left for Canada rather than play his Senior year. They just recently started speaking again.
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Looks like a lot of stuff would have had to happen for a Natty going into the game in 4th. Looks to me like the Rose Bowl winner was in pretty good shape since that was a 1 vs. 2 matchup.
Would we have played PSU or Kansas?
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gurkha: i remember that one. Hangovers galore for the players, and they flat out and admitted it.
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If you are going to play the (meaningless apparently) game, shouldn’t avoiding getting embarrassed in front of a national audience be enough motivation?
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Pro ball teams have the same problem. These guys are paid and sometimes they are simply not motivated. Coaches can only do so much. at least coaching staff was truthful: outplayed, out coached, etc.
Means nothing to most of you folks, but had just watched my alma mater get their asses handed to them by OSU. Then the Sugar Bowl.
Oh well, a bad day in hell.
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In the absence of a Playpen, I’ll simply make this observation here.
Georgia won the popular vote.
#NotMySugarBowlChamps
#OrangeTeamBad
😉
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