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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2005 > September
September 2005
Heaven Between the Hedges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was talking with my brothers, Jon and Tim, a while back about some of Georgia’s greatest games, and Tim pointed out that many of the Dawgs’ greatest and most important wins have come on the road or in Jacksonville. The great tradition of clinching the SEC at Auburn. Appleby to Washington and Run, Lindsay, Run in the Gator Bowl. Hobnail boots in Knoxville. And so on. Maybe we’ll add another one next week.
But in the 40 years we’ve been regularly going to games, there’ve been a lot of memorable wins we’ve been fortunate enough to witness Between the Hedges in Athens. So we decided to list the greatest ones we’d ever seen (which, of course, lets out any of the memorable games that took place before the mid-’60s).
So here’s the King Brothers’ List of the Greatest Games We’ve Seen Between the Hedges:
Georgia over Alabama, 18-17, in 1965: This is back during a period when Alabama was our opening game, and the last time the Dogs had won was during the 1959 SEC championship season with Fran Tarkenton. After that, the whippings by the Tide had become somewhat expected. And with Alabama the defending national champions, not many folks looked for anything different in ‘65, the beginning of Vince Dooley’s second season. But the Dogs were hanging tough and behind only 17-10 in the fourth quarter. I’d gone to get a Coke and was walking back to my seat when I heard a Bama booster say, “The Bear better do something, or we could lose this thing.” Sure enough, moments later came the legendary flea flicker from Kirby Moore to Pat Hodgson to Bob Taylor. And then, with the 2-point pass to Hodgson, Georgia had one of its most memorable victories ever.
Georgia over Alabama, 21-0, in 1976: The outcome of the game was never really in question, and the Sanford Stadium crowd smelled the Bear’s blood from the start. This was the loudest I ever heard a Sanford crowd over over an entire game until they enclosed east end of the stadium. Manhandling Bama, which was coming off five straight conference crowns, just wasn’t done in those days. My Dad, up to that point, generally never bought a ticket before he got to the stadium, even for sold-out games. He’d always find a way inside. Not that night, however. And he ended up on the bridge (you could still watch games from there back then) with, as he put it, “all the drunks and hippies.”
Georgia over Georgia Tech, 29-28, in 1978. Georgia had fallen behind the hated Jackets 20-0 when freshman quarterback Buck Belue was inserted into the game. With a little under 6 minutes left, Tech still led 28-21, but Buck led the Dogs 84 yards for a score and a two-point conversion and the Bulldog Nation fell in love with the player from Valdosta.
Georgia over South Carolina, 13-10, in 1980: Herschel vs. George Rogers. The undefeated Dogs against South Carolina’s best team ever. A national television audience (back when that still meant something). It all came down basically to two plays: Herschel’s 76-yard third-quarter run for a TD, and Rogers’ fourth-quarter fumble when the Cocks were threatening. Rogers may have won the Heisman that year, but the freshman from Wrightsville outshone him that day with 219 yards and a touchdown to Rogers’ 168 yards and a fumble.
Georgia over Clemson, 13-7, in 1982. The first night game at Sanford Stadium after the lights were put back in, this was a match-up of the two previous national champions — back when a rivalry didn’t get any bigger than Georgia-Clemson. Herschel, who was injured, was mostly a decoy that night. The game itself wasn’t anything all that great — except for the fact that we won — but the atmosphere was electric.
Georgia over Clemson, 26-23, 1984. The Dogs had battled back from trailing 20-6 at halftime to the No. 2 team in the country. Only 11 seconds left and the two teams were tied 23-23 back before the overtime rule. Then Kevin Butler kicks that 60-yarder so high and long that I think it went into orbit. One of the biggest ovations I’ve ever heard a Georgia score get.
Georgia over Georgia Tech, 51-7, 2002. Generally referred to as the ass-whipping of 2002. Total domination. The score says it all.
Georgia over LSU, 45-16, 2004: One of the best Georgia crowds ever and, again, total domination, this time over the defending national co-champion. Five touchdown throws by David Greene against an opponent that really mattered.
The 21-10 end of the losing streak against Tennessee in 2000 would be on this list, except that it wasn’t enough for the fans to take down the Sanford Stadium goalposts. They trashed our own stadium, ripping up the hedges in an act so mindless I still don’t understand it. So that one stays off the list.
What are some of Georgia’s other greatest home wins of the past 40 years?
Got them Red Zone blues again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I guess any time you make it out of Starkville, Miss., on a rainy Saturday night with a win, you should be pleased, even if it was one of those “ugly” wins that seem to be the hallmark of this current group of Georgia Bulldogs.
The score should have been a lot more lopsided than 23-10, but the old Red Zone Freeze-Up that has plagued Mark Richt teams in the past resurfaced in a major way, giving Brandon Coutu a workout at kicking field goals. And he missed two of ‘em.
I’m sorry, but first-and-goal at the 1 and you can’t punch it in and have to settle for 3 points? That’s not going to cut it against the Tennessees and Floridas and, yes, Vanderbilts! Watching Richt’s unimaginative and unproductive play-calling down there, you had to wonder: Did he ever watch any football when he was growing up? If so, does he remember something called the toss sweep? He should give Vince Dooley a call; it used to be the Dawgs’ bread-and-butter play in such situations.
On the plus side, D.J. Shockley had a good night and seemed to keep his cool in the pocket most of the time. Which was just as well, since the running plays when he called his own number didn’t work out too well against the Maroons’ stout ground defense. In fact, Georgia’s running game in general had an off night — though, again, those numbers would have been a lot better had we not had some big gains called back by penalties. Having the ball pulled back to the 40 instead of at the 5 makes a holding call a lot costlier than just 15 yards.
Still, on that drive we managed to get a TD thanks to the determined Leonard Pope, who definitely notched one for the pre-game highlight video when he dragged that MSU defender the last five yards for the score, plowing a furrow in Scott Field. More than made up for the easy pass reception he dropped later in the game.
D.J.’s passing wasn’t always on the mark — he missed a couple of open receivers in the fourth quarter — but he made some impressive third-quarter conversions. And the way he rolled away from pressure and found the wide-open Danny Ware for a 28-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter was a thing of beauty.
Defensively, it was mostly good news for the Dawgs. With the exception of two drives, they kept MSU bottled up, and most of the night our pass rushers were closer to QB Omar Conner than a pair of Mississippi cousins. But when he was allowed to scramble, Conner completed some long passes against a Georgia secondary that seems to pride itself more on hard hits than tight coverage. That could prove troublesome down the road.
But, hey, we got out of Starkville with a W and a 4-0 record. Whether the Dawgs are really as good as a Top 10 ranking usually indicates should be determined in Knoxville in a couple of weeks.
The true Bulldogs of the SEC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every eight years, Mississippi State comes back on our schedule for a home-and-home series, and sportswriters trot out that phrase “the battle of the Bulldogs.”
That always irritates me since I figure the team from the SEC West should still be going by the name they had officially until getting upgraded from college to university status in 1961 — the Maroons. When I was growing up in Athens, that’s naturally what the local papers called them, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what they’ll always be.
I could never understand why they even wanted to be Bulldogs. While the name had been applied to Mississippi State teams unofficially over the years, it was already firmly associated with another SEC school. Seems like a school would want a name of its own, not one that in most folks’ mind (outside of Mississippi, at least) brings UGA to mind. I mean, that’s like Duke or Wake Forest or some other ACC school deciding that from now on they want to be known as the Hurricanes or the Seminoles.
Yeah, I know there are other programs around the country that use Bulldogs, though only Fresno State immediately comes to mind. But that’s outside the SEC, and none of those schools are major programs anyway (though hats off to the West Coast Bulldogs for that Silicon Valley Classic win three years ago!). To have two schools in the conference using the same nickname seems kind of dumb.
So, anyway, the Dawgs make the long trek to Starkville for a late evening game against the MAROONS, and fans will be looking for the offense to find a way to get both the running game and the passing game clicking in the same week (while avoiding those costly yellow flags), and how the defense does against an SEC-caliber running game. On paper, Georgia shouldn’t have much trouble, but then again, Mississippi State knocked off Florida last year, so nothing’s a given in this conference. (Hey, how ‘bout them ‘Dores??!!)
GETTING PHYSICAL: I saw where one of our sports sages said after Bama’s pounding of the Gamecocks that the key to playing South Carolina is simply to line up and run the ball and be physical, “something Georgia was unable to do.” Wrong. Georgia wasn’t unable to do it, Georgia was simply UNWILLING to do it. Every time the Dogs did play smashmouth football, with Thomas Brown going up the middle, the yards were there. Mark Richt was simply too intent on outcoaching Steve Spurrier to exploit the Gamecocks’ obvious weakness against the run.
GETTING NOSTALGIC: I noticed that when the members of the 1965 team who had gathered for their 40th anniversary reunion were acknowledged on the field at halftime of last week’s game with other teams holding reunions, nothing was said of the ‘65 Dogs’ accomplishments, unlike the teams from most other years. While that team only ended up with a 6-4 record, it looms large in Georgia football legend. After all, they opened up the season defeating Alabama, the defending national champions, in the only game the Crimson Tide would lose that season in taking another national championship. The flea flicker has to rank as one of the Top 5 UGA plays of all time.
Then, two games later, they traveled to Ann Arbor as the supposed designated patsy for Michigan and instead upset the defending Rose Bowl champion. I think it was Sports Illustrated that noted what an unlikely bunch of giantkillers the Georgia Bulldogs were, with a coach who had a masters degree in history, a linebacker who was a Rhodes scholar and a tackle named Jiggy Ephram Smaha.
In Athens, you’d have thought the Dogs had won the national championship after that Michigan game. I remember the radio reporting the road to the Athens airport was backed up with traffic as hundreds turned out to welcome the team back that evening. As a paper boy for The Atlanta Journal, I had UGA safety/QB Lynn Hughes as a customer, and I didn’t want to cash his check until my banker Dad convinced me that wasn’t businesslike.
Unfortunately, injuries took their toll and a season of great promise saw the Dogs lose to FSU, Kentucky, Florida and Auburn, though they outlasted North Carolina in a high-scoring (for the time) 47-35 win, and they beat Tech again. They didn’t go to a bowl (like just about any team with six wins does nowadays), but the 1965 Bulldogs will always be one of my favorite teams.
Not a victory to savor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
17-7 over Louisiana-Monroe midway through the third period.
How embarrassing.
If you’re impressed at all with the 44-7 final score of Saturday’s game, you obviously weren’t there.
Until late in the third quarter, Georgia was an unfocused, undisciplined, unmotivated team that was impressing no one, least of all Louisiana-Monroe. That’s why the Indians — who, to put it kindly, are not a very talented football team — came out for the second half fired up by the unlikely possibility of actually MAKING IT A GAME when all they’d expected was a $590,000 designated-loser paycheck. So they recovered an onside kick from the slumbering Dogs and proceeded to march downfield for a score, pulling to within 10 points.
The Dogs didn’t seem to get fired up until they came out on top in the instant-replay review of a play where ULM thought they’d recovered a fumble. So then some points got tacked on to make the score respectable, and in the fourth quarter the bench finally got emptied. But keep in mind that Joe T. didn’t replace D.J. at quarterback until 8:01 was remaining on the clock.
Not only were the Bulldogs lackluster, they were sloppy, with 11 penalties for 99 yards — eight of them in the first half. That’s two games in a row where numerous drives have stalled because of stupid infractions. As a result, ULM had the ball nearly 37 minutes to Georgia’s 23 minutes. That’s ridiculous.
The Bulldogs’ heads were definitely not in the game.
Why is that? Other programs of UGA’s calibre mop up the field with teams like Louisiana-Monroe. Georgia, on the other hand, in recent years has developed a reputation for playing at the level of its opposition. If it’s a really good team, the Dogs rise to the occasion, as Erk Russell would say. But if it’s a really lousy team, UGA acts as if it would rather be anywhere else and can’t be bothered to play with any enthusiasm.
What do other coaching staffs know about motivating players that ours apparently doesn’t? Could this perhaps at least partially explain some of those offseason run-ins with the law?
Frankly, a lot of fans are sick and tired of the way the Dogs play in these lesser nonconference games. Georgia’s supporters jump through a lot of hoops to attend games, some folks rising way before the sun to drive for hours to get to Athens, find an overpriced parking space and sit in an increasingly expensive seat. The least they expect is for the team to act like they want to be there.
Coach Richt said after the game that he didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. If there’s any way he could be happy about what went on Saturday, maybe THAT’S the problem.
MORE ON PENALTIES: In his post-game press conference, Richt seemed to sort of shrug off the problem, noting that players are disciplined for penalties by extra running but adding, “I guess you can run run ‘em to death and it doesn’t seem to bother them.” Then he let the guilty parties off the hook a little more by adding that most of the penalties were a result of aggressive play, which he likes. That’s known as spin, coach. Most of the penalties were the result of lack of focus. Maybe if “running ‘em to death” doesn’t work, you should try benching them for the next game. That might get their attention.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS: Tyson Browning’s 16-yard run for a TD was a thing of beauty. He’ll never be that useful at tailback because of his lack of size, but he’s a superb open-field runner. The Dogs should throw more screen passes to Browning and turn him loose…. Three games in and the operator of tjat expensive new Sanford Stadium video board still hasn’t gotten the hang of it… Kregg Lumpkin got a touchdown, but still had only three rushes. Fifth-stringer Chris Burgett had four rushes. What’s the problem with giving Lumpkin more plays?… Letting Brandon Coutu go for that 58-yard field goal was a smart, confidence-building move on Richt’s part. But as Kevin “Mr. 60-Yarder” Butler pointed out on the “Fifth Quarter Show,” Coutu needs to make those short ones, too. (He missed one Saturday.) The odds are we’re going to need every point Coutu can score down the road.
No time for a letdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I guess games like this coming Saturday’s are a necessary evil.
The conference schedule that SEC teams play â€â€? particularly SEC East teams â€â€? already provides a slew of difficult opponents, and one of Georgia’s nonconference spots is permanently devoted to the intrastate grudge match with the Atlanta ACC team. Throw in another decent opponent for one of the other nonconference spots â€â€? well, Boise State WAS ranked at the time â€â€? and that pretty much means the last spot has to go to a designated patsy.
Enter the Indians of Louisiana-Monroe.
The problem with these games is that UGA fans aren’t the only ones who have a hard time getting excited about them. Where some other programs look at such match-ups as an opportunity to see how many points they can score, that’s not usually the Bulldog way â€â€? Ray Goff’s 70-6 pasting of this same school (then called Northeast Louisiana) in 1994 being a notable exception.
No, the Dawgs usually come out flatter than day-old Coke for lesser nonconference opponents (or even lesser conference opponents, unfortunately). That’s a problem I’d really like to see Coach Richt solve. How is it other comparable teams manage to enter these games hungry to show off, and Georgia usually just shows up?
As Kevin Butler pointed out last year on the FM 106.1 “Fifth Quarter Show,” if the Bulldogs aspire to be a perennial Top 5 program like Oklahoma and FSU, they need to win these lesser games convincingly. That doesn’t mean we have to try to break a scoring record like some schools do. But we need to put Saturday’s game away quickly and early enough that no eyebrows are raised when the halftime score is announced.
Of course, the other thing about these games is that you don’t really want to risk your star players getting hurt when you don’t really need them. (It’s understandable that Thomas Brown, nursing a sore shoulder, probably won’t play Saturday.) It’s also a good opportunity to let the second- and third-string players get some real-game experience, so we should see plenty of Joe T. and Blake Barnes on Saturday. It would be a good time to let Kregg Lumpkin sharpen up his game, too.
At the same time, UGA doesn’t charge any less for tickets to these games than it does for the big games, so the fans are owed at least a couple of quarters of decent play by the starters.
Let’s just hope they play with a desire to show WHY they’re the starters, no matter how lowly the opponent.
OUTSIDE THE STADIUM: With the size crowds Georgia football draws, the parking situation at home games was bad enough to start with. Then the city stopped fans from parking on sidewalks a few years ago â€â€? admittedly a safety hazard â€â€? and the university started gobbling up parking spaces for new buildings. They added a few parking decks, but those still don’t provide enough spaces and aren’t really a very good place for tailgating.
The result has been a jump in per-game parking fees charged by Athens churches, schools, etc. over the past several years, from $10 to $15 to a now pretty standard minimum of $20 per car within walking distance of the stadium (and some spots going for nearly $50). And that’s if you can get a space on an individual-game basis; some lots make you buy the whole season at a premium price in order to be guaranteed a space. Athletic association parking requires the really big bucks.
Now, with the stadium Skyboxes making UGA games another opportunity for big companies to wine and dine their clients, the parking is going corporate as well. The lot where I park recently sold 50 of its 106 spaces for the rest of the season to a company that holds big catered parties next door. That means some folks who’ve parked there in the past will be out of luck unless they show up at the crack of dawn.
For those of us still feeling like we got mugged in our annual encounter last spring with the Athletic Association â€â€? my required “contribution” enabling me to buy season tickets more than doubled â€â€? corporate types laying out big cash for the increasingly rare game parking spaces is not a good sign.
If you’re a season ticket holder,you’ve probably gotten flyers advertising fancy new season parking/tailgating accommodations at ridiculous prices. And things are even worse at some schools, where they make fans pay an additional contribution over the normal one in order to be allowed to buy tickets for big intersectional games.
If the day ever comes when attendance at college football games is beyond the financial means of the average fan, it no longer will be the sport we love so much. Let the corporations have the NFL; keep college football for those who really care.
What can Brown do for you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A win’s a win, especially in the SEC … an ugly win is better than a pretty loss … a win by a point (or two) is as good as a rout … it’s good for a team to triumph over adversity early in the season … yeah, all those time-honored clichés designed to make a team or coach feel good about barely escaping with a victory when they were favored to win by much more can be applied to Saturday night’s meeting with the Gamecocks.
What fans had hoped would be a spanking of Steve Spurrier turned, unfortunately, into your typical Ga.-South Carolina game.
But it didn’t have to be that close.
The major problem the Dawgs faced Saturday wasn’t what Spurrier and his troops were doing but our own coach’s aversion to fully embracing the running game.
For four seasons, Mark Richt has made it clear that he sees the run primarily as something he has to do to set up the passing game that he really prefers. And when you’ve got a QB who’s really clicking and a top-notch receiver corps, as Richt often has had, that usually works.
But when it’s not there, you have to take what you’ve been given, and Richt seemed reluctant to do that Saturday night. Finally, after three quarters of trying to ignore the obvious â€â€? what would work against South Carolina was running the tailback right up the middle â€â€? the coach finally went with an eight-play, all-run 71-yard drive led by the phenomenal Thomas Brown, who ended up with 144 yards on the night and averaged 7.2 yards per carry.
THAT’S 7.2 YARDS PER CARRY!
So then, after S.C. has closed to 17-15, we get the ball back with 6:52 and what we obviously need to do is to eat some clock with another running drive. What does Richt do? Throws the ball, and a holding penalty negates the play and puts us in the hole.
It’s not rocket science, coach. In case you didn’t hear the many exasperated fans calling to you throughout the game, what they were saying was RUN THE DAMN BALL UP THE MIDDLE!
Maybe it’s not as pretty as a well-designed pass play, but if it works, go with it!
GOOD STUFF: Another leaping, spectacular catch by Mohamed Massaquoi. That kid is going to really be something special! … The combo of Brown and Danny Ware. But why so little work for Kregg Lumpkin? … The third-and-22 completion D.J. Shockley threw to Bryan McClendon. A clutch play… . The defense already has surpassed last year’s total in interceptions… . The crowd really stayed in the game.
AND THE BAD: Some really questionable play-calling. One of several examples: You’ve got fourth-and-one and you’ve got great running backs and you call a trick play? What’s up with that? … D.J. reverting to the tuck-and-run-whenever-there’s-any-pressure mode. S.C. was ready for it and most teams will be, too… . Our experienced offensive line wasn’t giving D.J. much time, and even when he had it, he seemed to be locking in on his primary receiver, even in double coverage, rather than looking to dump it off to someone who was open… . Too many penalties, a quick way to kill a drive or give the opponent another chance. Let’s hope the coaches crack down on this quickly â€â€? running stadium steps, anyone? â€â€? and don’t let it develop into the problem it became last season.
Spurrier back Between the Hedges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For nearly 40 years, UGA and Steve Spurrier have had a special relationship.
We hate him.
And he hates us.
Of course, the old Ball Coach, as he likes to be called — along with such other nicknames as Prince of Darkness and Evil Genius — has never been too popular with any of the other schools that played Florida during his years there. Known for taking his shots, cheap and otherwise, at opponents on and off the field — just ask Bobby Bowden and Phil Fulmer — Spurrier seems always to have reserved a special brand of disdain for the Bulldogs of Georgia.
Remember Spurrier’s belitting of Ray Goff (always noting how Goff’s superlative recruiting never could produce a victory over Spurrier)? And while Steve Superior always has been known for running up the score on an opponent when he gets a chance, he seemed to take a special delight in doing it on the Dogs.
The ultimate was 1995, when construction on the former Gator Bowl brought the annual Georgia-Florida game to Sanford Stadium. I’ve heard two versions of the story. One is that a Florida assistant coach pointed out to Spurrier that no opponent ever had scored 50 points Between the Hedges. The other version — the one that rings more true — is that Spurrier walked out on the field at Sanford and asked what was the most points ever scored there.
Either way, the result was that he made a determined effort to pile it on and break the record. Ahead by 28 points with less than two minutes to go, Spurrier still went for another score to finish off the Dogs 52-17. (I didn’t see that touchdown. I’d already left the game because I refused to watch Spurrier make the victory trek across our field.)
Again, we’re not the only team he ever did that to. But I think with UGA maybe it’s a bit more personal for Spurrier, because it was the 1966 Dogs who spoiled his Heisman season on their way to the SEC championship. Spurrier probably still sees big Bill Stanfill bearing down on him for a sack in his nightmares.
So, anyway, now Spurrier comes back to Sanford Stadium. Only this time he’s not with his beloved Gators but rather the Gamecocks of South Carolina. Despite Spurrier’s obvious genius for the game, he appears outmanned this time and the Dogs are favored to win.
But as fans have been reminding Coach Richt, just beating Spurrier isn’t what we all really crave. Yes, coach, a one-point victory is as good as a rout. But we want Spurrier humbled at Sanford Stadium. Every opportunity to score should be taken. Run up the score? Hell, yes.
After all, it’s what Steve would do.
OPENING GAME POSTSCRIPT: Sanford Stadium is a first-class facility, one of the most beautiful in the country. And the improvements made in recent years have made it even better, for the most part.The new scoreboard and video screen look great and I’m sure they’ll soon figure out how to get the opening Munson video montage timed correctly! But there’s one area in which the gameday experience has always been lacking at UGA, and that’s in the stadium concessions. As long as I’ve gone to games, I’ve heard folks griping about the watered-down Cokes and the mob scenes at the too-few concession stands.
Well, it’s only gotten worse. I can only speak for the North side lower level, but in expanding the number of restrooms (alleviating the other chronic complaint fans had at the stadium), they took out the oldest concession stands. Sure, they’ve added more carts offering specialty items, but for your basic Coke and hot dog, there are now fewer options.
And, I’m sorry, but 30 minutes in line — and this is starting midway through the second quater, not at halftime — is entirely too long. I heard someone else complain their wait was even longer.
And then to be ripped off and forced to pay $5 each for what the sales people claimed were “jumbo” dogs but obviously were the regular-sized $3 dogs added insult to injury. Plus, they said they didn’t have change, so you either had to overpay or revise your order to make the price come out even.
This is ridiculous and not worthy of Sanford Stadium or the University of Georgia. The Athletic Association needs to step in and bring the concessions operation in line with the rest of a great program.
Reality-check, SEC-style …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Really, WHAT were we thinking?
Fans of SEC football generally never have thought much of the brand of football played in the WAC.
But with all the media hype about WAC champion Boise State going undefeated in the regular season, leading the nation in scoring and talking about how it should have earned a place at the BCS table � and some sort of six degrees of separation logic about how they just barely lost in their bowl to Louisville, who played Miami tough � we allowed the spinmeisters at ESPN and elsewhere to convince us that the boys from the Smurf Turf would provide the stiffest opening-day challenge the Dogs had faced in many years.
Most Georgia fans, in their heart of hearts, figured the Dogs would win, but thought they’d have to really work for it. And some openly fretted that the high-powered offense of the Broncos might prove too much for Willie Martinez’s suspension-hit defense. There was discussion over whether this “gamble” of opening against a ranked team was worth the possible downside of starting out 0-1.
Instead, what we got was a reality-check for the folks back in Idaho touting this as the most important football game Boise State had ever played: The WAC isn’t on the level of the SEC and a WAC champion that’s won two dozen games over the past couple of years ranks about with Vanderbilt on the difficulty scale.
No, wait, scratch that. Vandy usually gives us a much tougher game than did Boise, which played as ugly as its uniforms were. Hey, we had a stiffer first-game challenge last year from 1-AA Georgia Southern!
Boise rolled over so easily that you have to temper all the excitement generated by D.J. Shockley’s record-tying five touchdown throws and team-leading rushing and the defense’s half-dozen takeaways. After all, it was BOISE STATE! (Doesn’t that sound more natural?)
It was an impressive win, but with Steve Spurrier looming on the horizon, there’s still room for improvement. There were too many dropped passes, and D.J. threw a couple of balls that an SEC defense probably would have intercepted… . The run defense is a bit of a concern, though perhaps that can be chalked up to missing Kedric Golston… . We didn’t really get a good look at Georgia’s running game after the opening drive â€â€? it was just too easy to throw on the Broncos… . The special teams still looked awful, especially on kick coverage.
But Sean Bailey looks like he’s developing into a legitimate deep threat, and late in the game there was a preview of great things to come when highly-touted Charlotte freshman receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, who’s been hampered in camp by a hamstring injury, made a couple of nice catches, with one particularly impressive as he jumped up between two defenders to snag the ball.
Overall, a great night.
