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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 22, 2018
COLLEGE FOOTBALL I No. 5 Georgia vs. Georgia Tech
Last hurrah for seniors
CURTIS COMPTON I Associated Press
Georgia wide receiver Terry Godwin breaks away for a 37-yard touchdown catch and a 20-10 lead over Auburn during the
second quarter on Saturday, Nov. 10, in Athens.
Georgias senior class prepares for final home game vs.Tech
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
When No. 5 Georgia takes the field
inside Sanford Stadium for the last time
this season Saturday, it will be a final
chance for a highly decorated crop of
seniors to check one more box on their
collegiate to-do list — win a rivalry
week game at home.
“I want this. I know everybody on
the team wants this,” senior Jonathan
Ledbetter said. “Like I said,
2012 was the last time we won
at home.”
The Bulldogs’ series against
the Yellow Jackets has been as
heated and tightly contested as
ever over the past four match
ups, with the road team winning
each time and all but last year’s
game being a one-score affair.
On Saturday, Georgia will
look to buck that trend.
“I’m excited for the senior class,”
head coach Kirby Smart said.
“You always remember your last
game at Sanford Stadium. I certainly
remember mine.”
Smart’s final home game as a player
also came against Georgia Tech, a 21-19
loss at the hands of the Jackets that
came on a last-minute field goal.
Smart and the rest of the Bulldogs (10-
1) will hope to produce different results
in this year’s home finale.
“Coach Smart talks about it all the
time — his senior year he left with a bad
taste in his mouth,” said Buford gradu
ate and Georgia tight end Isaac Nauta.
“That’s something that we want to
make sure the seniors don’t have. We
want them to go out on top.”
If the Bulldogs pull off the win, the
senior class will be in rare air in terms
of success at the school. A Georgia vic
tory would put the group that arrived
four seasons ago at 42 total wins, good
for third-best among four-year
spans in program history.
Only the class of 1983, which
left with 43 wins, and the class
of 2005 (44 wins) had more. If
the team can run the table —
win in the SEC Championship,
playoff semifinal game and
college football championship
— it would be enough to make
the class the most successful
Georgia has ever seen.
“They’ve done a great job for our
program, and certainly me personally
and our staff personally, this is kind
of the group that we came in with as
freshman, rising sophomores, and now
they’re heading out,” Smart said.
“So I’m proud of what they’ve been
able to accomplish.”
Of course, this rivalry game carries
implications beyond just sending the
seniors off on a high note. The Bull
dogs need the win to help solidify their
No. 5 Georgia vs.
Georgia Tech
When: Noon, Saturday
TV: SEC Network
chances of playoff qualification, should
they beat Alabama a week later in the
SEC Championship.
The visiting Jackets (7-4) would like
nothing more than to be the team that
knocks Georgia out of the running.
“We don’t really like them, and they
don’t really like us,” Nauta said. “It’s
just rivalry week.”
Things will be extra personal for
Nauta, who said he’s looking forward to
playing against one of his best friends
and a fellow Buford grad David Curry,
who plays linebacker for Georgia Tech.
“We’re gonna get after each other, no
doubt,” he said.
Personal storylines aside, the mem
bers of the Bulldogs acknowledged that
the most important thing come Satur
day will be winning the game.
The seniors going out on top in their
last-ever game inside Sanford Stadium
would be the cherry on top.
“I’m not just playing for me,” senior
wide receiver Terry Godwin said.
“I’m playing for the other seniors and
my other brothers. But to send this
senior class out with a win at that last
home game, it would mean the world.”
SEC BANTER
Prevost asks simple favor for Thanksgiving
How often have you been
asked recently about your
Thanksgiving plans?
It’s unavoidable. At the
water cooler, kids’ sporting
events, casual encounters
with neighbors or friends,
the dogged question persists:
“What are you doing for
Thanksgiving?”
Please do me a favor. Don’t
ask about my Thanksgiving
plans.
You don’t care what I’m
doing; you care about your
self. Your question about my
Thanksgiving plans is shallow
and I doubt you’ll meaning
fully listen to the answer.
Let’s just call a Thanksgiv
ing truce, dispense with the
question altogether and talk
about something else — or
better yet, not talk at all!
Problem is, if you inquire
about my Thanksgiving plans,
social norms dictate that
I return the question (and
if I don’t, you’ll probably
launch into your grand plans
unprompted).
Congratulations on your
trip down to the beach for the
BEN PREVOST
SECbanter@hotmail.com
week. Pack sunscreen.
Driving to Tennessee to
visit Aunt Ethel? Sure hope
she’s doing well.
Staying home this year?
Terrific, enjoy that.
Visiting an ostracized fam
ily member Thursday morn
ing for a “pre-Thanksgiving”
event, then doing real Thanks
giving later with the rest of
the family? Sounds swell.
Here’s the thing: I don’t
care. And it’s okay to admit
the feeling is mutual.
Same goes for Christmas.
Please don’t ask what I’m
doing for the holidays and
for heaven’s sake, don’t ever,
ever utter the most hollow
statement of all: “Let’s get
together after the holidays!”
Listen, pal. We didn’t get
together before the holidays;
why pretend we’ll get together
after them?
Instead of empty small
talk, let’s do what we do best:
watch football.
Heaping helpings of our
iconic American sport abound
during this uniquely Ameri
can holiday. (See, I’m not that
grumpy!)
Dare I say one could even
venture outside the SEC
and the collegiate game to
find excellent football over
Thanksgiving and into the
weekend.
We’ve got the Redskins
vs. Cowboys on Thanksgiv
ing afternoon, a classic NFL
rivalry that just feels like
Turkey Day. Only thing we’re
missing is Pat Summerall and
John Madden in the booth,
donning their CBS Sports
blazers.
The Saints host the Falcons
tonight at the Superdome, and
I’ll be in that number with my
oldest daughter!
The weekend has a full
plate of rivalries to comple
ment your Thanksgiving
leftovers.
Michigan at Ohio State is
license to sit down and watch,
gulp, Big 10 football.
Back home in the South, I
hear Auburn/Alabama gets a
bit intense, as does Georgia vs.
The Nerds. We’ve got South
Carolina vs. Clemson, Tennes
see and Vanderbilt battling
for a bowl berth, and LSU at
Texas A&M for a nightcap.
And, don’t forget to load
the 1987 Thanksgiving classic
“Planes, Trains & Automo
biles” into your VCR, kick
back and enjoy a masterful
performance by Steve Mar
tin and the late, great John
Candy.
Family, food, football, fun
and lots to be thankful for.
So, what are you doing for
Thanksgiving?
Ben Prevost writes SEC Banter
during the college football
season. He can be reached at
SECbanter@hotmail.com
LOCAL GOLF
Photo for The Times
Third-place finisher Ethan Unverzagi (left),
tournament champion Evan Thompson (center)
and runner-up Sam Patterson of Gainesville High
(right) holds their Gold Pan trophies following the
Thanksgiving Junior Classic at Jordan Arnold
at Achasta Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 20, in
Dahlonega.
Gainesville High’s
Patterson takes 2nd at
Thanksgiving tourney
Gainesville High golfer Sam Patterson carded
rounds of 75 and 74 to finish second behind Gray
son senior and North Georgia commit Evan
Thompson at the Thanksgiving Junior Classic on
Tuesday at Achasta Golf Club in Dahlonega.
The Red Elephants were well represented at
the two-day tournament as Ryan Davidson tied
for fourth and junior Zayne Hilderbrand finished
inside the top 10.
Times staff reports
NFL
Falcons
hope to slow
a red-hot
Saints unit
BY BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The latest chance for
Saints fans to show Drew Brees their gratitude
for the many memorable, triumphant moments
he’s brought them comes tonight.
The Saints (9-1) are riding an NFL-high, nine-
game winning streak as the rival Atlanta Fal
cons (4-6) land in New Orleans, so don’t expect a
sleepy crowd in the Superdome, no matter how
well-fed.
Some 13 seasons after Brees embraced the
challenge of resurrecting a downtrodden fran
chise in a disaster-ravaged city, his level of play,
at age 39, appears as high as ever.
He is on pace to break his own single-season
record completion rate of 72 percent. His touch-
down-to-interception ratio is 25-1. And the Saints,
averaging 37.9 points per game, are threatening
to score more points in a season than any team in
NFL history.
“He’s been as challenging a
guy to go against over the years
as you can imagine,” Falcons
coach Dan Quinn said, add
ing that he’s been particularly
struck by Brees’ accuracy and
decisiveness. “To say he’s doing
it better than ever — he’s been
doing it pretty well for a long
time, but I’d say he’s certainly
doing it as well.”
With the luxury of a strong offensive line and
running game — not to mention playing with a
lot of leads — Brees has been able to throw selec
tively and efficiently. He has also benefited from
receiver Michael Thomas’ monster year, but
demonstrated in a 48-7 win over
Philadelphia on Sunday that he
can connect, to prolific effect,
with younger, lesser-known tar
gets as well.
“There’s a lot to be said
for experience,” a grinning
Brees said as he reprised an
old expression about wisdom
trumping youth and skill. Brees
“When we step on the field, I
feel like I can see it before it happens, and it takes
a lot of work to get to that point. That doesn’t
mean there’s not surprises.... but I feel good play
ing the game right now.”
The Falcons aren’t feeling so good about their
season so far. Their last-second loss to Dallas last
Sunday dropped them five games behind the
NFC South-leading Saints with six games left.
“We’ve got to get the bad taste out of our
mouth,” Atlanta receiver Julio Jones said. “It’s
going to be a great game. We’re going to have
fun. People are going to fly around. People are
■ Please see FALCONS, 3B
I Falcons at Saints
When: 8:20 p.m. today
TV: NBC
Quinn
