If nothing else, Georgia has ensured at least one thing about its season. Regardless of where the rest of the schedule takes them, whether its to an SEC championship, a BCS bowl bid or a national title, there will be no claims from outsiders that this team received too many breaks and escaped health issues, no suggestions that the road to success was lined with lollipops and unicorns.
Georgia didn’t so much win a football game in overtime Saturday as much as it willed itself to the finish line, falling across it with one final spasm. The Bulldogs won 34-31 in overtime over an opponent, Tennessee, that most expected it would beat easily. Strangely, that never seems to happen in Knoxville.
Mark Richt, the Georgia coach, normally is beaming after wins. Last week after the win over LSU, he got choked up and teared up and was so emotionally spent that he had little to say.
The first words out of his mouth Saturday?
“I’m thankful we won, and I’m thankful we’re leaving,” he said. “My bag is packed.”
He said this just after cutting himself on his folding chair, after which he held up his bleeding finger for the media.
Add that to the injury report.
Three of Georgia’s best offensive players, running back Keith Marshall and wide receivers Michael Bennett and Justin Scott-Wesley, were carted off the field with apparent serious knee injuries. It’s possible that Marshall and Scott-Wesley — who caught the winning touchdown in the final minutes of the LSU game — are lost for the season. Bennett’s situation doesn’t look promising either.
Richt didn’t have specifics.
“I don’t know what the carnage is right now,” he said.
And this: “I’m really not in a celebrating mood.”
Remember when we figured that Georgia had already endured the worst part of its season, with games against Clemson, South Carolina and LSU?
Remember when next week’s game against Missouri looked, you know, easy?
If Georgia survives this, it won’t be because of Todd Grantham’s defense, which allowed three second-half touchdown drives to the SEC’s lowest-ranked offense Saturday and probably should have allowed another in overtime (more on that shortly). If the Dogs come through and the season evolves into something pretty special, it will be because of the play and amazing cool of quarterback Aaron Murray (three more touchdown passes) and his team’s remarkable resolve.
Players fell like dominoes. The Georgia offense finished this game without it top two running backs (Marshall and Todd Gurley, who didn’t suit up because of a sprained ankle) and its top three wide receivers (Bennett, Scott-Wesley and Malcolm Mitchell, who suffered a torn ACL in the season opener). They also lost punter Collin Barber to a concussion. And they played without two injured safeties (Tray Matthews and Connor Norman).
That’s it. Except for Richt’s finger — and his aching hip.
The Dogs appeared on their way to an easy win. They led 17-3 in the second quarter. But then the defense collapsed, offensive players started dropping and the team had its almost expected special-teams catastrophe: a blocked punt and return for a touchdown that enabled the Volunteers to tie the score 17-17 in the third. That’s also when Barber got his concussion.
Murray led the Dogs back. He broke off a 57-yard run. He seemed like the best option since the rest of the team was in an air cast. That set up a touchdown. But Tennessee kept scoring. It converted three fourth-down attempts in the game and a few third-and-longs. The Volunteers took a 24-17 lead with 1:54 left.
“That’s an eternity,” Murray said.
What else do you need to know about the kid?
Ten plays, 75 yards and 1:49 later, he threw a 2-yard score to Rantavious Wooten to tie the score.
In the overtime, Georgia got a break when the Vols’ Pig Howard, diving for the pylon, fumbled out of bounds. Touchback. Exhale. That set up Marshall Morgan’s deciding field goal.
The kicker was one hero. Murray was the other.
“There’s a different calm about him this year,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “He’s in total control. He’s been a streaky guy in past years, but I don’t sense that now. It doesn’t matter what else is going on in the game. There’s a calmness.
A week ago, Murray delivered the finishing punch over LSU. He’s getting accustomed to these finishes.
“I told coach Richt I don’t know how much more I can take of this,” the senior said, smiling. “I’ve aged 10 years in the past two or three weeks.”
Murray says his growth and the team’s have enabled the Dogs’ to win games like this.
“We understand what it takes to come back from an 0-2 start,” he said. “We understand how to come back from a huge loss and how to come back in games. We’ve been through a lot.”
Nobody can dispute that.
