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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > October > 11
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Championship aspirations? Hmm …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — Two weeks ago, they were on a high of a No. 2 ranking and coming off a dominating win at Arizona State. On Saturday, they walked into Sanford Stadium ranked 10th, with many wondering whether they could shake the humiliation of the Alabama game.
This must have been the average.
If nothing else, a bye week following their self-immolation on national television seemed to do wonders for the Bulldogs’ psyche. But if you were hoping for some sort of reaffirmation that Georgia is a BCS title team, keep waiting.
They’re good, but not great. They could leave the weekend ranked the same as they started it, and nobody would have an argument.
The offense? It moved the ball at will against Tennessee (458 yards) but managed only two touchdowns in seven red-zone possessions.
The quarterback? Matthew Stafford threw for a career-high 310 yards. But he had two red-zone interceptions — one from the 13-yard line and one from the 9 — that the Volunteers turned into touchdowns and 14-point swings.
The instinct that so many great teams have, knowing how and when to step on an apparent doormat like Tennessee? Sorry. Not this week.
“It’s hard to blow teams out in this league,” Georgia receiver Mohamed Massaquoi said.
And he is correct. But Saturday’s 26-14 victory over Tennessee, while not without its redeeming qualities, kind of went down like a generic light beer.
The thirst for a win? Satisfied. The performance? Eh.
When a team has championship aspirations and it is still at this point through six games, you wonder if it’s going to get any better.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating being in the red zone and not being able to get touchdowns,” said Mike Bobo, the Dogs’ offensive coordinator. “The most frustrating thing was the two turnovers [near] the end zone. We want to take care of the ball down there, and at least get three points. But the good news was it never really got us down. We kept playing.”
Yes, that counts for something, especially when a team is coming off such misery. The Bulldogs have had to wait two weeks while that loss to Alabama swirled in their craniums before playing again. They played hard. They played well on defense, creating pressure. As a bonus, nobody had any nervous twitches.
“You can’t change history,” said Massaquoi, who came back from a helmet-to-helmet hit and finished with five catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. “So there’s no point in dwelling on the last game. You just have to try to learn from it and move on. That’s what we’ve done.”
The Bulldogs certainly had the opportunity to melt down Saturday. And they nearly did. At one point, they led only 13-0 despite outgaining the Volunteers 159-20. After Stafford’s first interception and a 60-yard pass in the other direction that set up a touchdown, Tennessee trailed by only six points.
On the ensuing kickoff, Dogs returner Richard Samuel overran the ball, then had to backtrack and got buried at the 3-yard line. But two key passes by Stafford and a sequence of penalties against Tennessee led to an unlikely 97-yard touchdown drive in the last two minutes of the half, making the score 20-7. From that point, the Dogs never looked back.
“We needed to capture momentum there,” Stafford said. “They put seven on us, and that was tough. I feel like we kind of gave them all of their points.”
Tennessee was held to 209 yards in offense. The time of possession battle looked like a typo: 42 to 18. But this is not the same team that tattooed the Dogs for 86 points in consecutive upsets. The Volunteers’ only two wins this season: over UAB and Northern Illinois. So how much post-game strutting does this win really warrant?
“I’m so thankful for this win, I can’t even tell you,” coach Mark Richt said.
He is not into grading wins, just getting them. At this point, maybe nobody should expect more.
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