When asked the other day whether there would be a team “viewing party” for Friday’s Missouri-Arkansas game, Mark Richt said what any head coach would.
No. Georgia coaches and players were all about tunnel vision, Richt said. They would focus on Georgia Tech. They wouldn’t allow themselves to be distracted by another game, in another city, involving two other teams. Never mind that the result of the Missouri-Arkansas game would help define the Bulldogs’ season — which is why nobody believed Richt when he said …
“We are not going to be doing anything but focusing on these gentlemen from Atlanta. If you don’t, you’re cheating yourself, you’re cheating your teammates. This game means everything to us.”
It was a nice sentiment and plays well on the overcooked chicken circuit. But if the Tech game means everything to Georgia, it’s only because the chance to play the game that means so much more evaporated Friday night.
Georgia paid its SEC penance for losing to South Carolina and, far worse, Florida. Missouri — which the Bulldogs tore apart 34-0 in Columbia in October — won its last six regular-season games, including Friday’s come-from-behind, 21-14 victory over Arkansas. The win gave the Tigers their second consecutive SEC East title (and file that under things you thought you would never witness).
Feel free to make jokes about the Tigers. They had the weaker schedule. They were humiliated twice at home — first by 3-10 Indiana and then by Georgia. But you know what Missouri accomplished that Georgia couldn’t? It beat South Carolina and Florida.
So Georgia won’t play for the SEC championship. (Richt wasn’t available for comment Friday night.) Tech, meanwhile, will play Florida State for the ACC championship next week.
This sets up the obvious potential for two teams with contrasting emotions in Athens.
In theory, Richt is right. This game is big. Georgia vs. Tech is a state rivalry. Losing would be as crushing for the Dogs as it would be euphoric for the Yellow Jackets. But Tech still has a chance to play a conference championship and, at least theoretically, can still cling to longshot playoff hopes (if it were to upset No. 9 Georgia, No. 3 Florida State and then hope some other teams tumble).
The “Governor’s Cup” is big.
Conference championships are bigger.
Rivalry games are rallying points for fan bases before the game and a year’s worth of punctuation for the winner after.
But rivalry games are more about emotion than they are accurate gauges of a team’s season.
Everybody remembers that Paul Johnson took his first Tech team into Athens in 2008 and won. Afterward, when asked whether he grabbed a piece of the hedges as a keepsake like his players did, the head coach had his first drop-the-mic moment: “Naw. I figure I’ll be back. I mean, act like you think you’re gonna win, right?”
Tech fans ate it up.
But Johnson also will tell you that 2009 was a more important season. Even though the Jackets lost as a rare favorite that season to the Dogs, Tech won the ACC championship. They played in the school’s first BCS bowl.
“We get that it’s an important game,” Johnson said. “I also get it that it’s not going to destroy the year or make the year. It’s one game. It’s a goal every year to win the state championship and beat them, and if somebody else wants to define that as the be-all, end-all, so be it. If you ask (Georgia) would you rather win the SEC or beat Georgia Tech, I have a pretty good idea what the answer will be.”
Some Georgia fans might view that as some lame diversionary tactic for Johnson, given the Dogs have won five consecutive meetings and 12 of 13 under Richt. But Johnson’s pecking order is the reality for any head coach. This isn’t Twitter or sports talk radio. When Richt has coached his final game in Athens, what will be the first thing mentioned: How many SEC titles he won or what his record was against Tech?
Beating Tech is expected for Georgia. Beating Georgia is a bonus for Tech. But winning the SEC or ACC is what defines a coach’s tenure. Conference titles (and national championships) are what defines a program.
“You can’t win that debate (with some fans),” Johnson said. “So I avoid it. I think most of those guys who talk don’t even come to the games.
“Nobody wants to have to take crap at a water cooler. If you beat Florida State in the ACC Championship game, odds are you don’t run into their alumni every day.”
Both teams are 9-2 overall and 6-2 in their conference. Georgia (No. 9) is ahead of Tech (No. 16) in rankings. But the Jackets’ potential ceiling suddenly is higher. Who would have expected that after consecutive losses to Duke and North Carolina?
This game, Richt said earlier in the week, “gets our blood pumping.”
Neither team should be lacking for motivation. But the reality is that Georgia lost something in Columbia, Mo., and Tech didn’t. It wouldn’t be surprising if Georgia’s blood was pumping a little slower than Tech’s after Friday night’s game.
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