ATHENS — Georgia coach Mark Richt sees himself as more of a messenger than a motivator. So he said he hasn’t prepared a great speech to fire up the Bulldogs before Saturday’s game against Kentucky.
“I wouldn’t claim that I’m a great inspirational speaker, but I try to have a message that will resonate with them,” Richt said of addressing the players before today’s 12:21 p.m. kickoff at Sanford Stadium. “I just want them to be thinking about the right things and focusing on the right things. If you say the same things enough times they start to remember what you’re thinking about.
“So I’m more for consistency and trying to drive home the same message enough that they take ownership of it.”
With many of Georgia’s students having headed home for fall break and the 14th-ranked Bulldogs (8-2, 6-1 SEC) a 30 1/2-point favorite over Kentucky (4-6, 1-5), there may seem a need for inspiration. But then there’s that SEC thing.
Georgia — in the midst of its longest in-season winning streak since 2002 — can clinch its first SEC championship game berth since 2005 with a victory, and they can do it on Senior Day. No speeches necessary, thanks.
“If you look at it, this is our biggest game,” junior outside linebacker Jarvis Jones said. “Personally I think it’s the biggest game we’ve had, period. It’s for a championship, and we know nobody is going to roll over and give it to us.”
Said sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray: “This is something we’ve been working for since January. We took a little hit [from South Carolina] in the second game, but we never lost confidence in ourselves, our teammates, our coaches. We’ve been chipping away, chipping away, chipping away, trying to make it back to Atlanta. Now we’re one game away from getting back there, and it’s pretty exciting.”
Kentucky on its own certainly wouldn’t provide much motivation. The Wildcats are struggling through one of their worst seasons in years. They’ve lost their five SEC games by an average of 33 points, including 38-8 to Vanderbilt in their previous outing.
It already was a transition year, with the Wildcats having to replace quarterback Mike Hartline and playmakers Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke, among others. Then injuries hit and took out quarterback Morgan Newton and tailbacks Raymond Sanders and Josh Clemons. Just this week Kentucky found out it will be without defensive starters Ridge Wilson and Martavious Neloms because of injuries.
Nevertheless, UGA senior center Ben Jones said, “We’re focused on [Kentucky] just like they’re No. 1 in the country. We’re going to come out here with the same mentality as if we’re playing LSU.”
There are recent cautionary tales Richt could point to. The Bulldogs have lost two of their past five games against Kentucky, including the previous time the Wildcats visited Sanford Stadium, in 2009. The average margin over the past five games — 7.8 points.
“We know we’ve had our struggles with them,” Richt said. “We’ve had many of them kind of go down to the wire. Anytime we play Kentucky we know they’re good enough to beat us. We know that hasn’t changed.”
It might have in this particular year.
In the 2011 Georgia football team, the Wildcats will encounter one motivated pack of Dogs. Particularly persuaded are 24 seniors who will play between the hedges for the last time. To this point they’ve been labeled the underachievers of the Richt era. They came limping into this final season dragging a 24-15 mark and the only losing record under their coach’s watch.
To go out hoisting a trophy is almost too much for them to take.
“Knowing what’s on the line, the SEC Eastern Division title and getting to the SEC championship game, that’s huge,” senior punter Drew Butler said. “We’re going to take it for everything it’s worth and put everything on the line.”
