The tip, the tip, the tip, was one of the biggest plays in Tide history and simultaneously one of the worst moments, if not the single worst moment in UGA football history. Sure, the Penn State loss in Herschel’s last game was for a title and was a loss in a close game – but not as close. The UGA-BAMA game was a coin toss game, and it came up tails Tide. We were where we’d been with Richt twice before, close to a national championship game berth which never came.

In twelve years, Mark Richt has been quite near the top of the NCAA pyramid three times, while doing that 25% of the time is as good as it gets outside of Saban-land, mid-nineties Nebraska, Miami The U type runs. Richt has the best career winning percentage of any head coach in the SEC at an average of nearly ten wins per season. He is back near where he was, top five in that category nationally, after ten-win and twelve-win seasons followed his only career dip. It too should be noted that the ten-winner I mentioned started at 0-2, as the funk which began with AJ Green’s suspension Murray’s redshirt freshman year continued into the beginning of what would eventually become the first of back-to-back SEC East title runs in 2011.

How ya feelin’? GEORGIA is a very good football program and has been for a dozen years, save one campaign when we still made a bowl game (we were 6-7 only three years ago). Add up the short Donnan Era, which really was the donning of a new era after Ray Goff’s goofy head coaching career, and we have been strong for over fifteen years. It is time to take the next step.

Can GEORGIA whip the Gators again for three straight at the Cocktail Party? Will Spurrier and Carolina be a career thorn in Murray’s side (0-3) and win back-to-back Between the Hedges? Can Murray outshine Mettenberger in Athens? Is Clemson top dog in the old cats and Dawgs rivalry? Can GEORGIA get back to the Dome and win?

Will our new tooled, new personnel defense in the Classic City hold up in 2013? BAMA had an almost all-new D on the Capstone last year and won it all. Aaron Murray will be the SEC’s all-time statistically greatest, GURSHALL will boom big, and it won’t matter a lick unless we get at least an SEC ring in this campaign, something Richt has not done since DJ Shockley left campus. Realize this: the DAWGS have not won the title outside of our initial five-year run under Coach Mark Richt, and he is past due. Playoffs next year. This year would be a good one to get the vote: the final year of the BCS voting era, where we’ve felt snubbed before.

GO DAWGS!!!

Schedule Analysis: South Carolina and Clemson each won 11 games, with Clemson beating SEC power LSU in a bowl and Carolina blowing the Dawgs out in Columbia. LSU won 10 games and is annually a big, deep, talented team. LSU owns a slightly better overall winning percentage than UGA during the 12-year Richt tenure, and is the only SEC program to be able make that claim. Going undefeated in those three games with a rebuilt defense seems improbable, though it does favor UGA that both SEC match ups are played Between the Hedges, where Georgia was undefeated in 2012. The back half of the schedule could be another clean slate for the Dawgs, for a third consecutive season. The biggest challenge there is clearly 11-win Florida at the Cocktail Party, where UGA has won twice consecutively. Georgia also must guard against a midseason upset at 9-win Vandy, where some good UGA teams have struggled. BAMA-GEORGIA SEC rematch appears fairly likely, with the other true challengers to the conference throne in this order: South Carolina, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida. Only these six programs have a legitimate shot at winning the SEC in 2013.

Change in Our Big Four Rivals Ranking:

Auburn in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry; Florida at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party; our state rival in Clean Old-Fashioned Hate…and when those puke-ugly orange checkerboards began to appear on your TV screens more regularly, Tennessee. A geographic border but non-traditional rival, the Vols did not play the Dawgs as regularly as a real rival should until the SEC let South Carolina and Arkansas into the great conference. Divisional rivalry, suddenly, and a strong UT program – very strong – saw Fulmer lead Tennessee to a total 9 straight wins over our beloved Dawgs, over an 11-year period. Donnan broke through then went in the tank when Quincy was done midseason. Coach D got canned and then went into the pyramid business after brief unremarkable commentator work. Richt’s 1st big win period was the next year’s Hobnail Boot (RIP, Munson) in the aforementioned checkerboard. UGA had a big advantage suddenly, then resilient UT swung it back with some big wins. Lately, GEORGIA has won 3 straight and Tennessee is a non-factor nationally.

Since a year before Murray first said, “Please don’t Clown me” to Jadeveon, maybe a hundred feet from my face of utter disbelief, our QB ragdolled and flittering the ball away, Carolina has owned Georgia. It was 45-42 that year, but the year before we’d been on the road and ineffective, suspended-AJ-less and led by a frosh QB, and we lost in Columbia. This year, the team many consider to be the actual 2nd-best in the nation at season’s end, the team that pushed Bama to less than 5 yards of a dethroning and dynasty diverted situation, was soundly beaten at South Carolina 35-7.

So, Carolina has passed Tennessee officially as a big four rival:

Ranking Our Rivals:

1. Florida – #1 for the level of competition they pose. Georgia with 9 more total wins in series history. 18-of-22 seems so far away, as Dawgs go for 3 straight under former Floridian QBs Murray and Richt in Jacksonville.

2. Auburn – 6-of-7 for the Dawgs. Beating UGA has become like going undefeated: rare, unobtainable currently. This series is even between the 2 programs.

3. Georgia Tech – 11-of-12 for Dawgs in the Peach State. Advantage, UGA.

Our 3 biggest rivals have recently been bested (and so has our old 4th, now 5th).

4. South Carolina – The Cocks had won only 1-of-8 before winning 3 straight. Carolina has 17 wins ever versus UGA, with Dawgs winning 46 times. Even 30-game lead is an important goal for 2013 UGA fanbase, with the game set for 9/7 Between the Hedges. Carolina has beaten us while winning 11 games in consecutive seasons, while we have won the SEC East over them both of those campaigns. Let’s face it, we must perform better against them. Because GEORGIA-CAROLINA is a hot national rivalry right now.

5. Tennessee - “Go to Hell, Peyton.”

6. Clemson – Look who’s back on the schedule, y’all, our nearest geographic rival. Dawgs have won 70% of meetings and 5 straight, including 30-0 in our last contest, played near Howard’s Rock at Death Valley. They won 11 games in the 2012 season and bested LSU in what I’d love to still call the Peach Bowl. The Buy-Me-A-Sandwich-Bowl played in the ATL. Any game featuring an SEC team playing in Atlanta matters.

7. LSU – Back on the schedule in 2013. Dawgs have won 6-of-10 but only 1-of-3 SEC championship games versus Bayou Bengals. Big games create rivalry.

8. BAMA – That was a BIG game. Dawgs were right there in 2012. I’m glad we played them and know how we stack up against them, on a positive note. On a negative note, UGA should have won that football game, and we didn’t. UGA had won 3-of-4 over Alabama coming into the SEC championship game, where Richt is now 2-3.

9. Vandy – Kudos to little Vanderbilt for winning 9 games and moving up to 9 on this annual list. I can’t wait to visit Nashville again this year.

10. Ole Miss – We used to play them every year and just finished a home-home 2-year series, with the Rebs looking to be one of the more resurgent SEC teams in 2013, coming off a bowl win and strong finish to an up-and-down 1st campaign under a new head coach. Suddenly, they are a recruiting rival in the Deep South.

But, you know what, DAWGS, our biggest rival at Georgia is and has always been ourselves. Think on it.

9/1: Buffalo Bulls of Mid-American Conference – W (1-0)

9/8: @Missouri Tigers of SEC East – W (2-0)

9/15: Florida Atlantic Owls of Sun Belt Conference – W (3-0)

9/22: Vanderbilt Commodores of SEC East – W (4-0)

9/29: Tennessee Volunteers of SEC East – W (5-0)

10/6: @South Carolina Gamecocks of SEC East – L (5-1)

10/20: @Kentucky Wildcats of SEC East – W (6-1)

10/27: Florida of SEC East @JAX – W (7-1)

11/3: Mississippi Rebels of SEC West – W (8-1)

11/10: @Auburn Tigers of SEC West – W (9-1)

11/17: Georgia Southern Eagles of FCS – W (10-1)

11/24: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of ACC – W (11-1)

12/1: SEC Championship Game vs. BAMA of SEC West @ATL – L (11-2)

1/1/13: Capital One Bowl vs. Nebraska of Big 10 @Orlando – W (12-2)

*SEC East Champions, Capital One Bowl Champs, 12-2, Top 5

Bowl Show host Han Vance of Big Hairy Blawg and Wayne Gandy of CBS (Atlanta) SEC Pre-Show have broken down the NCAA action all year on The Sports Joc Show. Here they get a full hour to talk all the exciting bowl action for y’all.

http://www.mediafire.com/?rsdtv0yx5wvn6

Quarter two saw both Alabama and Georgia attempt fake punts. Bama let the clock tick to zero before the snap, negating what would have been a big first down. UGA’s special teams unit spread the field and quick snapped to up man Arthur Lynch. The tall tight end stepped up and threw an awkward completion to versatile Georgia DB Sanders Commings. With the Dawgs in business, Aaron Murray threw a touchdown strike to young tight end Jay Rome.

Alabama drove near the Georgia goal line after a long pass which Rambo had a shot to intercept. Bama was aided by a penalty on a high hit on the quarterback by physical linebacker Alec Ogletree. Then Sanders Commings came up with his second grab of the day, as he stepped in front of a back shoulder throw. Resilient Alabama held the Georgia offense and got the ball again. Big power runner Eddie Lacy broke through for a well-blocked 41-yard touchdown run. It was 7-7.

Georgia had an open receiver deep, but Murray threw the ball short and Bama picked him. Murray took a cheap shot to the head on a penalty the refs missed during the long interception return. McCarron had a long quarterback run, but Coach Nick Saban squandered an opportunity for the Tide to score a touchdown with notably poor clock management. The perfect-on-the-season Alabama kicker and Saban had to settle for three points, with two time outs left but only five seconds on the clock. Bama up 10-7 at the half…

I stopped the live Blawg here just to focus more closely on the game:

A dramatic shootout second half was dominated by the great blocking and strong backs on the Alabama run offense and the overall superior athletes of the excellent UGA program. It hurts too much for y’all to read or for me to write long when we lost like this, so I choose to use brevity for my final Blawg until a late December preview of the bowl game.

It came down to Georgia eight yards from a game-winning touchdown and perhaps the greatest win in school history, down by four with no timeouts and the clock running out. We had moved down the field after forcing Bama to punt on a three-and-out. Murray hurried to the line, motioning to the sideline that he was going to spike the ball. He did not, instead throwing an end zone throw to a somewhat covered but in good position Malcolm Mitchell.

An incompletion would have resulted in another attempt or two, but the football never arrived. UGA fans were left with a million could-have-should-haves and no answer, as the number one defense in the country made the biggest play of the day with a tip. The ball was redirected and caught in bounds inside the five. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

When the season started, BAMA was well prepared to face the program with the most wins in college football history: a Big Blue Michigan team with a good second-year coach and an exciting senior quarterback, coming off a big BCS win. Michigan was only a slight underdog to the defending national champion and SEC West runners up, primarily because Alabama had to replace the top drafted running back and seven stellar defenders. I watched that game very closely to scout Alabama for weaknesses which I knew had to exist on a team with that much turnover. Lost in that blowout was the fact that open receivers ran through the vaunted but rather inexperienced Alabama secondary all day. Denard Robinson just did not have the passing touch to hit them, and with Michigan’s running back out of the game his chance of unpredictability in running was less than minimal. Shoelace was totally shut down and stayed in the pocket and floated passes while the Tide rolled. Michigan would go on to lose four regular season football games playing in an unusually weak Big Ten.

Georgia’s schedule was viewed as much softer because virtually no one outside of the Sunshine State (besides me – on the record in the preseason on The Sports Joc Show – http://www.thesportsjoc.com) predicted top rival Florida would have a good year, and UGA missed last year’s #1 Alabama, #2 LSU and #5 Arkansas while playing in the SEC East. Conversely, Alabama had to play at LSU, and the Bayou Bengals were not predicted to struggle as much on offense as they have. And Bama played at Arkansas, but by the time the Tide got to Hogland that program was in utter shambles.

Miss State was undefeated and would be Bama’s first test. They blew Miss State out, and the Maroon Pups went in the tank, losing four games, including most recently, a blowout at the hands of the .500 Ole Miss Rebels in the Egg Bowl. They aren’t good.

So at LSU was to be the test. A rematch of both the national championship non-contest and the most overhyped regular season game in the history of the sport. Easy to forget the virtually unwatchable 9-6 LSU overtime victory on the Capstone, notable only for a lack of offensive production by either team and the shellshocked faces in the crowd when it was finally over. That game was like watching a good first team defense scrimmaging an inferior backup offense, at best. By the time Bama slightly won a popularity contest over league-champions-with-the-same-record Oklahoma State a few weeks later, Georgia’s Todd Grantham had exposed LSU in a complete first half shutdown in Atlanta. Georgia grad Kirby Smart was smart enough to do it for two halves, while mastermind Nick Saban was in control of all aspects of the game enough to able to convince his punter not to kick to the Honey Badger (Editor’s note: playing in his last game). Something Richt and UGA failed to do, with no accountability as UGA has no special teams coach. As Bobo had successfully schemed for UGA to do (before he got cold feet and Murray went into one of his big game shells in a horrible second half), Bama came out passing against LSU and found many open receivers. Again, the whole game instead of just in the first half. UGA actually helped Bama win it all. Before that first half, no one had any answer for LSU. Few recall that those Bayou Bengals were touted by the media as the greatest regular season team in the history of college football. They’d played the schedule and beaten all comers including the SEC, Oregon and West Virginia. Some said they had already sealed at least a split national title…and then they fell on their overhyped faces in 6 of 8 quarters and got shut out.

Bit of a tangent or two there, but heck if this ain’t my blawg, Dawg.

This year, UGA transfer Mettenberger was having an awful year, and the team had already been beaten by the Gators. He suddenly remembered how to pass and lit Bama up for 300 yards. Open receivers were there for him all game, and he had LSU in a position to win if their overrated defense could have made one more stop, at home. Bama won in what is now obvious as their only big win of the year. I have to wonder if LSU was good at that juncture in the season. They had not played well before that football game, and it was their second loss. Bama also yielded over 100 yards to an LSU running back, by the way.

Next up was two-loss Texas A&M, facing a road test against the #1 team in the WORLD. Bama could beat an NFL team, Spurrier said. Johnny Football shredded them for 345 yards.

Since then, Bama has beaten two far inferior programs by identical 49-0 scores.

Though he has finished no higher than national #2 (and #3, once each), Richt has quietly won more SEC rings (2-1) and more division titles (5-3) at Georgia than Saban has at Bama. Saban had success at LSU before, but Richt owns a better career winning percentage overall, trailing exactly zero coaches in the SEC and only three in all of the NCAA.

This UGA team is loaded with players who have played in this game before, while Bama finished second in the West last year and fourth two years ago. Georgia has the nation’s passing efficiency leader. Georgia has the best running back in the SEC. Virtually all of Georgia’s veteran defense would start in front of Bama’s current defenders were they on the same team, according to all of the top-rated NFL scouts. If the more talented team wins this football game, it will be GEORGIA. Yet, only one polled state picked the back-to-back SEC East champions to beat mighty Alabama in Saturday’s game.