Georgia fans are passionate. Georgia fans are tormented.
Georgia fans look at a schedule before every season and think, “Win, win, win, probably win, win, uh-not-sure, win, win, oh-that’s-an-easy-win, win, win, Tech?-Hah!-win.”
Then they look back in December and scream, “I hate my life! Fire Bobo!”
So to the broken-down and emotionally scarred souls of Bulldog Nation, take this for what it’s worth: Things look really good for your team right now.
It would be understandable if fans, tired of being teased, exhausted of lucky T-shirts and socks because they were all burned in the front yard years ago, would balk at emotionally committing again. It’s easier, certainly safer, to sit back, say the serenity prayer 27 times and tell themselves, “Do NOT project an image of an SEC championship that hasn’t happened yet. Do NOT plan your New Year’s around a potential a playoff berth. Set the bar of expectations low, like the Liberty Bowl, then be joyous about anything better.”
But Georgia has played its best football of the season without its best player, and soon may be getting that player back. Things haven’t been this promising in Athens since Aaron Murray had a first-and-goal at the Alabama 8 in the final seconds of the SEC Championship game two years ago. (I know. Didn’t end well.)
Two weeks ago, Georgia suspended Gurley indefinitely in the belief that he had jeopardized his amateur status by allegedly signing sports memorabilia for money. On Wednesday, the school applied to have the player's eligibility restored with the NCAA. In short, Georgia's paperwork says, "We believe two games is a sufficient penalty for Gurley's actions. Please sign here and let him play in the Florida game."
Exclamations like, “Gurley is free!” covered social-media sites after the announcement. But not completely, not yet, even if many believe the school wouldn’t take the action it did Wednesday — nor go to the extremes of making a such a public declaration with a news release and a statement from Gurley admitting “full responsibility for the mistakes I made” — unless it believed the NCAA would sign off on this.
There also is the possibility the school hasn't been given assurances, but is trying to put pressure the NCAA to clear the junior running back before next week, especially given public sentiment on issues related to increased financial benefits for student-athletes has sided with players.
Also, Georgia officials might have wanted to make a public declaration, “See, we back our guys.” They’ve been unfairly beat up by a segment of fans for not choosing to play Gurley despite the allegations, as Florida State has done with quarterback Jameis Winston. But the Gurley and Winston situations are different in two ways:
- FSU officials appear to have no conscience. They have long enabled Winston and never have been proactive when it comes to either disciplining their quarterback or taking potential NCAA infractions seriously. FSU's inaction doesn't make Georgia's actions wrong. Georgia likely wouldn't have suspended Gurley unless it strongly believed an infraction had been committed, and, therefore, playing Gurley could have led to a forfeiture of games.
- In Gurley's case, an individual (Bryan Allen) claimed he had paid Gurley for autographs. That hasn't happened in Winston's case, as far as we know. There are items with authenticated signatures by both Gurley and Winston on a website for the company, James Spence Authentication. But that doesn't constitute proof of payment. (See: Johnny Manziel.)
It’s not what the NCAA believes, it’s what it can prove. The organization also needs to decide if continuing to punish a potential Heisman Trophy winner is worth it over this issue in a changing world.
For those reasons, it looks as if Gurley is coming back. If so, he would be coming back to a better team than he left. The Dogs won consecutive conference road games without him — 34-0 at Missouri, 45-32 at Arkansas (after leading 38-6 at halftime).
Notwithstanding the second half in Little Rock, Georgia is playing its best defense of the season. Nick Chubb has proved himself to be more than just a good backup. Most of all, players have evidence they can win games without Gurley. Maybe they said that out loud before, but experiencing it is on a whole different level.
With Gurley, the only way the Dogs take a step back is if they don’t play with the same passion they did without him. The schedule is favorable. The ceiling is high.
It’s like September all over again.
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