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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > September > 20
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Bulldogs’ victory convincing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tempe, Ariz. — You wanted a Statement Game? Here it was. Two thousands miles from home, working in 99-degree heat, facing a team once considered second-best in the Pac-10, the Georgia Bulldogs cleared their collective throat and didn’t just bark. They howled at the desert moon.
You wanted some assurance that the Bulldogs belong in the upper tier of the rankings? Here it was. It was 21-3 at halftime and 27-10 at the end, and it coulda/shoulda been worse. “We were not here to make a statement,” Mark Richt would say, but his team made one anyway.
You wanted some indication that Georgia isn’t just Knowshon Moreno? Here it was. Matthew Stafford threw for 285 yards, 159 of them to the outrageous freshman A.J. Green, who looked like Lynn Swann in the Super Bowl this steamy night.
“So many playmakers on both sides of the ball” — that had been receiver Mohamed Massaquoi’s description of his team this week, and three time zones away we saw what he meant. Maybe there’s a better collegiate linebacker than Rennie Curran. Maybe not. The one time Arizona State threatened early, the peripatetic Curran threw Dimitri Nance for no gain on third-and-1 to force a field goal.
And Knowshon? He gained 149 yards, and his first touchdown was culled from the Reggie Bush highlight reel. He went airborne at the ASU 4, and by the time Moreno landed — for the record, two yards deep in the end zone — the game had changed not just in score but in tone. Seeing such a breathtaking maneuver, the gold-clad Sun Devil fans had to be thinking, “We’re in trouble.”
And they were. Georgia made the Sun Devils seem smaller and slower and weaker by comparison. If it wasn’t perfection — and it wasn’t, not with all those penalties yet again — it was powerful enough for a hot night in September in a foreign stadium ringed by cacti.
This was Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson, who won two national titles at Miami, on the Bulldogs afterward: “They’ve got great speed on both sides of the ball.” We saw Georgia’s defense rise up after Arizona State scored its touchdown and limit the Sun Devils to a total of one first down over the next three series, that on a penalty that nullified Asher Allen’s interception.
Justin Houston, a third-string defensive end, had a sack to blunt one drive, and Darryl Gamble and Andrew Gully shared another sack to quash another. And then CJ Byrd broke up a third-down pass, and then it was 27-10 with six minutes left and the gold shirts were filing out and the stadium was left to those 20,000 Georgia fans who’d made the trek West.
Those hardy travelers had gotten what they’d wanted — Georgia’s first really impressive effort of the 2008 season. Anyone doubting the defense after Georgia Southern or the offense after South Carolina can stand down now. This team was not overhyped. This team is loaded. This team, with a little more attention to detail, can play for the national championship.
Yes, Georgia again left some points on the field, and yes, 12 penalties is seven too many, but those flaws can be corrected. What cannot be discounted is the talent and the will of this team, which has spent the season’s first month mostly being criticized and has clearly ignored all the negative.
This doesn’t mean Georgia will roll over Alabama next week. The Tide will be the best team the Bulldogs have seen. But what we can say is that Georgia came to the desert and left with a 17-point victory. What we can say is that a really swift team is gathering speed.
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