AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2005 > November > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGive Spurrier some credit for Gator victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Spurrier did a lot of impressive things during his 12 years as the head coach at Florida.
He won 122 games, an average of 10 per year. Not bad considering that when he took the job, Florida had NEVER won 10 games in a season.
Until he got there, Florida had never won an SEC championship. He won six.
He won a national championship (1996) and became the single most dominant SEC coach of his era.
Still, all of that pales in comparison to what Spurrier did to the psychology of the Georgia-Florida game.
Florida just beat Georgia for the 14th time in 16 years. Think about that. Nobody should beat a top drawer SEC team 14 out of 16 years. But that is what Florida has done. And they won last Saturday’s game, I believe, because of the mindset created by Spurrier.
When Spurrier was hired back in 1990, the Florida people wanted the Georgia game out of Jacksonville. Vince Dooley had just retired after going 17-7-1 against the Gators. Ray Goff won his first game against Florida in 1989. The Gator fans wanted the game back on campus.
Spurrier’s reaction to that idea went something like this: “Shoot, the game is played one hour from our campus. It’s in the state of Florida and it’s played in a place called the Gator Bowl. Let’s go play.”
And play he did, winning 11 of 12 games against Georgia. More important than just winning the games, Spurrier changed the entire mindset of Florida to the point where every year the Gators went to Jacksonville expecting to win. Now they have won three out of four since he left.
Mark Richt has done a remarkable job at Georgia, but the record shows that he is 1-4 against the Gators. Turning the psychology of the series back toward the Bulldogs may be the toughest obstacle he will face in his tenure in Athens.
Comments
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By Geechee
November 2, 2005 04:14 PM | Link to this
Running QB draws on 3rd down and play action on 4th won’t help. Richt is a stud, but he tightens up for this game every time. Can’t figure it out.
Tech sux.
By Northwest DAWG
November 2, 2005 04:23 PM | Link to this
I agree but not only the Gator game but unless he changes there will be many other games he’ll lose. The past 5 seasons have proven that MR is not a game day coach. The next game is fittingly enough is Auburn. Tuberville was on his way out the door and what happened? The mess about the under cover effort to get rid of him isn’t what I’m talking about. he hadn’t been winning so what did he do? Admmited his mistake and went out and hired the best offensive coord. he could. The he got out of the way and look what took place. Richt, I don’t believe will ever admit he’s been wrong and make the same move. As long as Richt thinks of the field goal as a the equal of a TD. he will never go over the top and win. I know what his won-loss record is, but of those defeats check out how many were big games. How many times did he play for the FG. Better get use to it Ga. fans because that’s the way it will be as long as he’s on Ag Hill
By dave
November 2, 2005 04:56 PM | Link to this
Northwest Dawg you make it sound like its a bad thing that Richt’s losses were in big games. What would you prefer? Losing games where the Dawgs were favored to win by 30? Richt has gotten us to two SEC champ games, that’s two more than Donnan and Goff. He wins the games he should win (no more surprise losses to Vandy). He has on course to compete for the SEC championship every year. Remember when you could pencil us in for the Peach Bowl by November? Richt is a godsend.
By GW
November 2, 2005 05:15 PM | Link to this
If Richt can coach UGA to 10 wins a year forever I like our chances of winning some big games. Nobody’s going to win every big game in the SEC. He’s the head coach. Playcalling/playcaller is his choice. He, not the fans, have to answer for that decision.
By Chop Chop
November 2, 2005 05:27 PM | Link to this
I’m no Richt apologist, but the Dawgs have only lost three games by two TDs or more during his tenure in Athens, and two of those losses came to eventual national champion LSU (SEC title game) and Auburn (undefeated season). I think I can live with that.
By Northwest DAWG
November 2, 2005 05:47 PM | Link to this
Dave, being a bleeding Red & Black Dawg, I appreciate what MR has done for the program: however, I reserve the right to ask intelligent questions and get some answers from somewhere. I’m not the only one asking these same questions. Just re-read Bradley’s Sept. column.
By Leroy Rogers
November 2, 2005 06:17 PM | Link to this
Now that Phat Phil Fulmer’s knowledge of the game finally surfaces, we expect him to be down the line of SEC coaches in the future. Example: 1998 Fluke national championship: Now hear this: 4th down pass interference call against Syracuse..then a winning field goal. Next: FL. back fumbles in UT end zone and they finally lose…UT makes field goal in OT and FL. misses but UT doesn’t block the kick. Next: Arkansas is a story on its own. and lastly, FL. ST. loses to UT without Heisman winner, Weinke…by playing backup Outsby, who was never heard from again! So, Mr. Fulmer’s buyout at UT is 4.3 million…so we are stuck with the Pillsbury doughboy.
By Dawgbeater
November 2, 2005 06:29 PM | Link to this
Tony- You have bit a very salient point that runs in the undercurrent and psyche of the Dawgs….hard to prove maybe, but it’s got to enter into it somewhere… Now that Meyer has adapted the scheme to the players and gotten back to good ol’ Flawrda football, it is gonna make for a nice run the rest of the way….Go War Eagles!
By GidgetJo
November 2, 2005 06:50 PM | Link to this
First of all I’d like to say that I agree with everyone’s comments as a whole, however, I’m not so sure I do with Northwest Dawg. Sure you ask some good questions but when it comes to saying that Richt is satisfied with (and even more outrageous, considers it as good as a TD!) just a field goal(s) is preposterous. Richt has said himself that they need to do more than just kick field goals and that it’s unsatisfactory. Yet, the fact that the Dawgs haven’t done so well in the Red Zone is still well known. The playcalls definitely weren’t up to par for the FL/GA game either, which Richt did say he was going to work on calling for plays that were better suited for JT3. I’m a diehard GA fan and it gets worse every year, which also expands my interest in having knowledge about the team, the past, and the entire SEC in general. Yes, I haven’t been a diehard fan my entire life, but I definitely am a true GA fan because I loved them even before we were a winning team. Mark Richt is a Godsend! I told everyone, just give him a couple years to get really comfortable with the UGA program and the Dawgs will be winning more games. Then what happened? It didn’t even take Richt that long!
As far as the column itself, I couldn’t have said it better! Yet another thing I’ve always said is that “UGA is just intimidated by UF!� It’s not that they are a better team per say, it’s just that UGA is so intimidated & want to win SO bad that their psychology of the game and playing it just gets in the way. I even said it last year and they won, yet I didn’t this year and they lost. These are all the things that just add to what makes the annual game SO good. I don’t know WHAT can be done to change the mind set of the team and the GA fans, but something needs to be done. I don’t want to have to hold my breathe so much when it comes to watching the annual game, or talkin’ smack. I don’t like the fact that I do either, but it’s the whole mind set and intimidation thing. I HATE the Gators, and I hate them for rubbing the salt in our wounds EVERY year way more than they should have, because their team in general doesn’t deserve it! So SCREW all you Gators out there! This game means a WHOLE LESS than everyone makes it (in some respects). You won the game, GREAT, but take a look at your team all year long and then a good look at ours. GA IS A BETTER TEAM! Oh, and JT3, don’t feel like crap. You played an AWESOME game & you should be able to look back at the ENTIRE game and be proud of your game as a starting QB. I’m not sure that it’d be any different with Shockley, so no worries. We would have been duped when it came to the Nationals anyway (I hate to say it), but we’re still on top of the SEC East & on route to the SEC Championship. And if a team has to lose, you sure as heck don’t want it to be a team that you were expected to whoop up on. Only a sorry team loses an easy game (even though, there are those few times…), and at least we only lost in big games.
GOOOOOO DAWGS!!!!! SCREW THE GATORS!
And in case anyone wants to mention it: Bitter? Somewhat, YES! But UGA will get over it, UF however will not (when we win the SEC Championship, or even just the SEC East)!
Did I mention, this is why the SEC is SOOOO GREAT and why I LOVE it!
I’m a GA gal that grew up a UNC fan (thanks a lot, dad! Just kidding – I’ll always have a place in my heart for them. And thanks Bro for introducing me to UGA and why keeping up with & watching sports, ESPECIALLY college football [I’m a junkie] can be so interesting and so much FUN!), but my interests have really only ever been with UGA.
Lastly (I swear!), I apologize everyone that I talk to FRIGGIN’ MUCH!
By GidgetJo
November 2, 2005 06:53 PM | Link to this
I did, however forget to mention that I may not have kept up with football before 1990, but do the Gators not know that there WAS SUCH A THING as football BEFORE then! Look at the numbers! Screw you Gators! The next streak is OUR and we’re gonna run with it, PROUDLY for a MUCH LONGER TIME. Just you wait!!
By Homerville23
November 2, 2005 10:30 PM | Link to this
Best Weekend of the Year!
GATORS over puppies for 14th time in 16 years!
The ol’ Head Ball Coach gettin’ another victory up in rocky top!!
Good guys like Meyer and Spurrier have monumental wins over two of the worst rogue football programs in the land with Wrong and “Phat Phil”!!!
By Dawgbeater
November 3, 2005 05:13 AM | Link to this
My, MY, GidgetJo, what a mouth on you!Scre You?Pretty harsh stuff, especially for a …lady?Qut worrying about what we did or didn’t know, about football before this decade or so….what we DO know is that the Dawgs are our beeyotch over the las 16 plus years(tes, you can have the time before that if you want to wallow in history….we are talkin NOW…recent facts, and you better just deal with that tough Gator meat and swallow hard…
By Dawgbeater
November 3, 2005 05:15 AM | Link to this
Oh….we’re waiting alright….have been for the last 16 plus years…..chomp on that
By Greying Dawg
November 3, 2005 08:56 AM | Link to this
So you are saying this series is becoming like Bama and Tennesse? Does this mean Bama’s win is just a fluke?
By Reality Check
November 3, 2005 09:32 AM | Link to this
One huge change in the Florida/Georgia series is that Georgia used to have a bye week before the Florida game and they made good use of it. Now the shoe has been on the other foot and Florida has made good use of it.
When Spurrier was there Florida just plain had a better team than Georgia, but since he has left I believe the bye week has had a bigger impact than the psychology.
By Tom
November 3, 2005 10:24 AM | Link to this
Richt is racking up 10-win seasons just like Spurrier did. Enough said.
By Paul
November 3, 2005 10:33 AM | Link to this
Bottom line: If DJ Shockley plays the bye week makes no difference and the Dawgs win their second in a row and there is an article in the AJC about how the phsycology of the game has changed. It was a factor in 02 and 03. Those were the only two times in 15 years where UGA has clearly had a better team and lost. Florida had a huge winning streak over South Carolina in the 90’s also but phsycology did not play into it. It was the better team and the better coach.
By wcoastjere
November 3, 2005 11:10 AM | Link to this
definitely the ghost of spurrier remains in the georgia-florida game…the bulldogs play like they are in some kind of trance in that game for 14 of 16 years….have to give ol bawl coach credit for win at u.t. and close game with georgia in first year with leftovers at s.c….he somehow seems to inspire them to overachieve…if mark richt can solve the gator riddle the bulldogs will really be the toast of the sec east
By DawgByte
November 3, 2005 12:29 PM | Link to this
Memo to Northwest Dawg:
You have every right to express you opinions and questions, however moronic they may be.
Let’s just review some of your incredibly ridiculous statements:
“The past 5 seasons have proven that MR is not a game day coach.”
“Richt, I don’t believe will ever admit he’s been wrong and make the same move.”
“As long as Richt thinks of the field goal as a the equal of a TD. he will never go over the top and win.”
“I know what his won-loss record is, but of those defeats check out how many were big games.”
“How many times did he play for the FG. Better get use to it Ga. fans because that’s the way it will be as long as he’s on Ag Hill.”
By Marcus Boone
November 3, 2005 01:02 PM | Link to this
Say what you will about the play calling and the ability of the UGA coaches, but the pivotal mark in the change of the outcome of the UGA/UF series was Spurrier changing the UF schedule to insert a bye week before the UGA game. Having two weeks to rest and game plan for the UGA game has done wonders for UF. Change the scheduling of the game and you will see the series return to being more even.
By Red Mo
November 3, 2005 01:16 PM | Link to this
Well, I just want to say this, Florida is not and will no be as good as the 90’s, 90’s is over. If you think Myer will have the same success, sir I just want to till you that you have a crack in your brain. I really admire the way that Georgia has played, I’m a GA fan but I dint expect them to win for many reasons the most important is D. J Shockley, If D.J had played I wouldn’t have any doubt what so ever that we won’t win, losing your starting QB has a tremendous effect, if Texas lose their QB they won’t be even top 20 and the same for VT (but for some reason people downplayed this effect). We lost our QB and we lost the heart of our D and we were very close to win that game not mentioning Gators were well rested. Florida couldn’t score for 3 and half quarters, they got GA by surprise and then they couldn’t do anything.
All bulldog nation should always talk about having a bye week before Florida, lets do our best to change this, I mean we going to Jacksonville which is 6 hours away while its 1 hour from FL campus and hey have bye week its totally unfair and unacceptable.
Go Dawgs
By ClintDawg
November 3, 2005 02:16 PM | Link to this
GidgetJo, you talk too much. But, I love a gal who loves college football. Will you shut up and go out with me?
Also, here’s the real problems:
Tony is right, we are terrified of Jax. It should be obvious by the way we looked last week. We acted like we didn’t know what football was until it was too late to fix it. I’m old enough to remember when it was a cocktail party and we kicked butt, but think about it, 14 of 16 losses in 16 YEARS, The players are only 18-22 years old, all they have known their entire life is losing to Fl. It is gonna be very tough to break that mindset. As bad as I hate it, we do need to bring it back to Ga, either Athens or Atlanta, for at least a while. Jax is no more a neutral site than Knoxville or Auburn. Its in Florida for Heaven sake.
Dave, yes I woulld rather lose to KY, Vandy and maybe even Boise St. than lose to FL. again. I remember the old Fl, they were ok losers its when they win they become so noxious and yes I’m too the point I’d rather lose a few games that we’re supposed to win than to always lose to Fl!
I love Richt. He’s a helluva guy both on and off the field but he does need a shake up of some kind. In my opinion, on the offensive side of the ball. I don’t know if it’s his play calling or a Neil Callaway problem, but we have struggled offensively for a long time. He needs to take a good hard look at that offense and the scoring vs scoring potential.
Joe T did good but he didn’t have any help, don’t blame him! Again, those receives who usually have glue on their hands acted like they were being asked to catch a burning porcupine.
It was just a mess and a looooooong ride home.
By gdawginkazoo
November 3, 2005 03:19 PM | Link to this
All you opponents bad mouthing Richt are just jealous. We have one of the best (if not the best) guys running our program. I would keep Richt and go 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 every year. You see problems at Tennessee. They had a great run there, supposedly they have top 5 recruiting classes EVERY year but look at the wasted talent. Depth shouldn’t be a problem but it is. Why? Because you have a coach that won’t make a commitment to his players and stick to it. Case in point, QB position. Ainge or Clausen. Ainge is clearly the better QB but needs solid game. Why does Clausen play? Because Phat Phil wants baby Clausen to sign on in a couple of years. How well does this work? Ask C J Leak. How does Richt handle players? D J Shockley could have been a three or four year starter for most of the top 25 teams in the country. What did he choose, 1 great senoir year @ UGA and the chance to LEARN how to be the best QB without complaining or being bitter. Coach Richt gave his WORD and kept it. Kinda like the way you need to live life.
By John Thomas
November 3, 2005 03:22 PM | Link to this
Jacksonville is not a neutral site…..it’s in FL, we spend more money than UFL does for motel,food etc…..I’m not talking about winning or losing there…..we should change this unfair game site…. Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend!
By geebee
November 3, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this
This year’s game, without the Dogs’ starting QB, came down to the Dogs making one play or 2 FG’s. There was no mystique to the Gators, but give ‘em credit - the Gators have won one in a row now. Let’s look to the future not the past. Spurrier and Dooley are long gone.