Poor Georgia, always a bridesmaid... Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Bob Parks, LLC 1517 Hunt Club Blvd Gallatin TN 37066 615-972-4239 615-826-4040 Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 30, 2012, at 9:45 AM, Helen Huntley <[email protected]> wrote: > The Miss Congeniality of the SEC > Georgia, Often Good but Rarely Great, Takes Its Shot at Glory > Article > Comments (6) > MORE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL » > smaller > Larger > facebook > twitter > google plus > linked in > EmailPrint > Save > ↓ More > By RACHEL BACHMAN > > > Associated Press > The Bulldogs celebrate a touchdown on the field early in their 2007 win over > Florida. > Georgia is a power football program. The Bulldogs play in the powerful > Southeastern Conference. They have a power running game. They even call their > helmet logo the "Power G." > > But there is one area in which the Bulldogs have been weaklings lately: > winning the national championship. While SEC brethren Alabama, Auburn, > Florida and Louisiana State have combined to win the past six national > titles, Georgia's last came in 1980 behind chiseled (and now 50-year-old) > running back Herschel Walker. > > The drought isn't because the Bulldogs are lousy: Over the last 10 years, > they are the third-winningest team in the SEC. A typical Georgia season is a > top-20 ranking and a nice, irrelevant bowl game. Put another way: Georgia is > the Miss Congeniality of the SEC. > > All of that could change Saturday, when the third-ranked Bulldogs face No. 2 > Alabama in the SEC title game in friendly Atlanta, just 70 miles from campus. > A win likely will vault Georgia into the Jan. 7 national-title game against > No. 1 Notre Dame. > > Enlarge Image > > > Sports Imagery/Getty Images > Former Georgia star Herschel Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner > So Saturday's showdown is the biggest game in decades for a program that is > often good but seldom great—although Georgia folk don't want to hear that. > > "Since I've left, people keep saying, 'What is Georgia after Herschel?' " > said Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1982. "But I'm like, 'Guys, look > at Georgia after Herschel. They put so many great guys in the NFL and they've > been winning games.' " > > For better or worse, the Bulldogs' virility has been a theme throughout their > history. In 2001, a last-second Georgia touchdown to beat Tennessee birthed a > legendary call from late Bulldogs radio announcer Larry Munson: "We just > stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose! We just > crushed their face!" Before the 2002 Georgia-Alabama game, former Bulldogs > All-American (and ex-Auburn coach) Pat Dye said on a radio show that Georgia > wasn't "man enough to whip Alabama." The Bulldogs won. > > Enlarge Image > > > Getty Images > Uga IX, Georgia's mascot > But despite being the flagship program in a talent-rich, football-mad state, > Georgia has just one undisputed national title—1980. (The 1942 team also was > named No. 1 by several polls.) That 2002 Bulldogs team finished third. In > 2008, Georgia was the preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll but > finished 13th. > > "When they were preseason No. 1, that was a spot that I think they should > have relished. And they just succumbed to the pressure of being No. 1," > former Georgia and NFL running back Terrell Davis said. "When they play a > team of a higher rank…they tend not to play as well. They have a great > opportunity this year to really just wipe all that away." > > Among Georgia faithful, anticipation for Saturday's game began building Nov. > 17, when undefeated Oregon and Kansas State lost, clearing a path for Georgia > to win the national title if it won out. On Thursday tickets to the > Georgia-Alabama game were reselling for an average of more than $480, > according to secondary ticket-market aggregator TiqIQ. > > Onetime Georgia student Ryan Seacrest, host of the "American Idol" TV > program, has been talking up the game on his Los Angeles-based radio show. > "Everyone in Georgia, especially in my hometown of Atlanta, has been waiting > a long time for this game," he said in an email. > > Enlarge Image > > > Associated Press > Coach Mark Richt gets doused after the Bulldogs' 2002 SEC-title game victory. > And this isn't just any opponent the Bulldogs are facing Saturday. This is > Alabama, the defending national champion, with whom Georgia has a neglected > rivalry punctuated by a bizarre, long-ago scandal. > > In 1963, a story in the Saturday Evening Post accused Georgia athletic > director Wally Butts and Alabama coach Bear Bryant of conspiring to fix the > 1962 game, won by 17-point favorite Alabama, 35-0. Butts and Bryant sued the > Post—Butts winning a $460,000 judgment and Bryant a $300,000 settlement—in > what became a landmark libel case and helped hasten the magazine's decline. > Georgia and Alabama have played just 17 times in the 50 seasons since then. > > In recent years, Georgia has played a secondary role in the giant, > live-action menagerie that is the SEC. There is frowning, flawless Alabama > coach Nick Saban, mad-genius LSU coach Les Miles, explosive, overachieving > Florida coach Will Muschamp and snide, smiling Steve Spurrier of South > Carolina. Lost in the madness is mild-mannered Mark Richt, the 12th-year > Georgia coach most publicly criticized for not punishing players harshly > enough. > > "Maybe we're not as flashy as some of those other places," Georgia president > Michael Adams said. "But I think when you put the combination of our academic > standards with our athletic success, we have a pretty good record." Indeed, > only Florida outranks Georgia among public SEC schools on U.S. News & World > Report's best-colleges list. > > Georgia wasn't always the strong silent type. In the 1980s, iconic college > football TV announcer Keith Jackson popularized the greeting, "How 'bout them > Dawgs?" said Vince Dooley, coach of the 1980 title team. The correct > response, Dooley said, was "How 'bout them Dawgs!" > > Today Georgia football enjoys a massive following. The 93,000-seat Sanford > Stadium regularly sells out. Last year Georgia ranked eighth nationally on > the Collegiate Licensing Company's list of top-selling merchandise—one spot > ahead of Notre Dame. > > Some fans see a chance for symmetry with a looming title-game matchup against > the Fighting Irish, whom Georgia beat in the Sugar Bowl to clinch the 1980 > title. "We've got two games left," said Doc Eldridge, former mayor of Athens > and the current president of its chamber of commerce. "If we win both of our > two games, we'll be the king. Of course, Alabama can say that, too." > > Write to Rachel Bachman at [email protected] > > Corrections & Amplifications > Only Florida outranks Georgia among public SEC schools on U.S. News & World > Report's best-colleges list. An earlier version of this article incorrectly > omitted the word public. > > > > -- > Helen Huntley > (727) 823-3801 > www.helenhuntley.com > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
