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Friday, December 7, 2007 | The Red a Black
Sugar Bowl sweet ending for Dogs
By PHILLIP KISUBIKA
The Red & Black
To realize where you’re going,
often you have to remember where
you’ve been.
Two months ago, Georgia coach
es, players and fans weren’t lament
ing the BCS system and how they
may have been unfairly treated. Two
months ago, they were wondering
whether the Bulldogs were good
enough to stay in the Top 25.
“After Oct. 6 after Tennessee
we didn’t think we would even make
it to a bowl game,” head coach Mark
Richt said. “We were hoping to get
bowl-eligible at that point, and to
kind of catch fire like we did was just
a tremendous thing for our program.
Now we get a chance to play the only
undefeated team in the United
States.”
Many would point to the Dogs’
42-30 win against Florida three weeks
later as the season’s critical moment,
but Richt said the tide turned for
Georgia in the game following the
Knoxville debacle, when the Bulldogs
had their own Music City miracle.
“The first thing that happened to
us was we played Vanderbilt the very
next week and we were down 10 at
the half. We fought back to tie the
game, and Vanderbilt was driving
down the field with just a few min
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utes to go and got inside the 20, I
believe, on a run. Thankfully, one of
our safeties and linebacker combina
tion knocked the ball loose and we
got on it.
“I think we got the ball on like the
7-yard line or something like that
and drove down, got position to kick
the field goal with just a couple sec
onds to go. We make the kick and
beat Vanderbilt. That might have
been the turning point of our season
right there that fumble recovery.”
After that win against Vanderbilt,
the Dogs had a bye week, then went
to Jacksonville and the rest is recent
history.
Six straight wins, a share of the
division championship and a flirta
tion with a possible national champi
onship game berth show how much a
little motivation and adversity can
help what was considered a young
team to start the season.
“Sometimes you need that (butt)
whooping,” cornerback Thomas
Flowers said.
Now the Bulldogs head to New
Orleans for the third time in seven
years to finish off their season and
put themselves in prime poll position
for 2008.
“I think the guys are going to be
extremely excited,” Richt said. “It’s
going to be a whole month before we
play, and that’s plenty of time to get
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FIRST & GOAL
"Jr*-'
CAROLINE KILGORE j The Red a Black
A Georgia running back
Thomas Brown carries the ball
in the first quarter of the
Bulldogs' Oct. 6 loss to
Tennessee in Knoxville.
jacked up about a bowl game.”
It’s pretty sweet when you remem
ber where the Bulldogs were just a
few short weeks ago.
BCS match-ups induce
sickness for columnist
This year’s BCS line
up is like drinking a
glass of orange juice
before realizing it was
made from concentrate:
it’s too watered down.
The problem isn’t that
the BCS didn’t take the
two most deserving teams
and throw them in the
title game (another day,
another column). The
problem is three of the
five BCS bowls have clear
favorites that don’t fea
ture a marquee match-up.
Georgia got screwed
because of where and who
it was rewarded to play.
Out of greed, the Sugar
Bowl elected to keep its
SEC host team for finan
cial security, knowing
Georgia fans will make
the trip. Since LSU
couldn’t fill the SEC
champion void left, the
Sugar Bowl committee
elected to keep Georgia.
This meant the Rose
Bowl would keep the tra
ditional Big Ten vs. Pac
-10 match-up by selecting
an undeserving Illinois
Jason Bun
▲
team from a junior varsity
Big Ten.
My problem is this: the
BCS should promote the
best possible games to
prove who the best teams
in the country are. The
bowls shouldn’t select
who goes to which bowl,
but a BCS committee
comprised of representa
tives from each bowl and
officials representing each
BCS conference should
vote on which at-large
teams play those with
conference tie-ins.
Here’s how I think it
would have played out
under this scenario vs.
what the lineup is:
► BCS National
Championship: LSU vs.
Ohio State (same)
> Rose Bowl: USC vs.
Georgia (USC vs. Illinois)
> Sugar Bowl: Missouri
vs. Hawai’i (Georgia vs.
Hawai’i)
► Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma
vs. West Virginia (same)
>• Orange Bowl: Virginia
Tech vs. Arizona State
(Virginia Tech vs. Kansas)
In the above scenario
we have the two hottest
teams in the country
(Rose), two of the most
prolific offenses in the
country (Sugar) and two
good defenses pitted
against each other
(Fiesta). Under the sce
nario we currently have, it
looks as if there will be
carnage in Pasadena
(Rose), Goliath getting
revenge on David’s under
sized nephew (Sugar) and
an embarrassment that
would make Dorothy Gale
wish she didn’t tap her
heels together and return
to Kansas (Orange).
Georgia will dominate
the Warriors. Virginia
Tech’s defense will smoth
er Kansas. Illinois stands
no chance against USC.
Instead of seeing the best
possible match-ups in five
bowls, we received three
diluted, top-heavy games
poised for blowouts.
In the words of
Oklahoma State coach
Mike Gundy, it makes me
want to puke.
Jason Butt is a
sportswriter for
The Red & Black.
47>n8,0K
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