Mark Richt was actually a bit feisty today. When he was talking about how the notorious touchdown celebration after the first touchdown against Florida affected the season, he went on to discuss what that win meant in the rivalry. He made a crack about what heated up the rivalry was not the TD celebration, but that Georgia actually won.
He's heard so much about how poorly UGA has fared against the Gators that he kind of bristled while talking about the subject and said you can't just look at what happened in the last 15 years (which is a ridiculous thing to say, really, considering Florida dominated the series for so long and it's pretty clear the Gators were in the Bulldogs' heads for a long time), but that UGA's 2-2 against Florida in the last four and has dominated the series overall. It was interesting to see him be like that because he's usually Mr. Cool.
Here's his quote:
"I don't think there's any doubt it's intensified the rivalry. But what intensified the rivalry is that we won, okay? I mean, that's the reality.
"But, you know, people want to talk about streaks in that game. The way I see it, we won last year. We won two out of the last four. And if you want to start going back in history, you might as well go back to the beginning of the history of the series and see where Georgia is there.
"You know, I don't know why everybody wants to go just 15 games back. I mean, if you want to go back, go back to the beginning. If you want to talk about recent history, let's talk about last year, the last few games, you know."
10 comments:
David, as a lifelong bulldog fan I appreciated your coverage of UGA and will see what you have to say about one of our biggest rivals now. While I understand what you're saying about UF's dominance over the past 15 years, there is a little truth to what Richt is saying. The guys who are now at UGA haven't been exposed to a huge amount of losing to the Gators. The RS seniors this year will be 2-2 going in and everyone on the team aside from the freshman will know how it feels to beat UF. Something you might not have thought about, last year was the first time since 2001 that either team beat the other by double digits. This ain't Spurrier's Gators anymore and it sure as heck ain't Goff/Donnan's Bulldogs.
I don't understand your surprise/issue to Mark Richt's interpretation of the UGA/UF rivalry. His position isn't illogical at all, in fact it is the only sensible way to view any series record between two teams with decades of history. UGA has a large edge in the series, UF closed the gap during the 90s, but since Richt has been ay UGA, the series has gotten very competitive with UGA and UF splitting the last 4 meetings. It makes NO SENSE to slice a random piece of the series and say this is how it should be defined. Look at the total, then look at the most recent/relevant.
The same can be said for the Auburn/UGA series. Auburn is one of two teams that UGA plays regularly that has a series lead. It doesn't matter about any specific decade, the fact is Auburn leads the series overall. The only reason to take a specific slice to show one team being dominent is to attempt to distort the true picture. In both cases (UGA/UF and UGA/Auburn), neither side can say the series isn't generally competitive, and that the game is one they worry about every year. None of the teams can claim dominence legitimately.
So Richt is right, either take the total, or the most recent trend, but don't extract for the purpose of distorting. If you want to say the Spurrier years were Florida's high water mark, and the Goff years were a dark period for UGA, that is accurate. If you want to say SOS was the better coach, that would also be accurate....but both of those chapters are in the past and no longer relevant.
What's ridiculous is how the media and gator fans seem to have forgotten that the series didn't start in 1990. Georgia dominated the series so much so that even with the gators dominance over the last 18 years UGA still holds a 9 or 10 (can't remember off the top of my head) game advantage in the overall record. So I fail to see how it's ridiculous of CMR to remind the media of this fact.
It's just an opinion. My belief is that psychology has played a role in Georgia's failings against the Gators, even in the last few years when UGA was a better team and lost. I don't know that you can call the series "very competitive" between the two just yet in the Richt years. Last year, MIGHT have been a turning point, but Georgia was still 1-5 under Richt vs. Florida entering that game. We'll see what this year holds.
37-15
45-20
F AUBURN
David, as a UGA fan, I appreciate your perspective and have to agree with you. I may be a rarity among Dawg fans, but I actually like Auburn. It's my favorite rivalry, and that's because I respect Auburn like no other. If Georgia's not in the running, I actually pull for Auburn.
I have to agree with you... that Florida game was in our heads for the past 15 years. It put pressure on players that it shouldn't have and that dynamic affected those players. I don't see how anybody can deny that.
While the 04 win was pretty monumental for Richt, it was expected. That year, we were so much better on paper. The 07 win was so much more important.. we beat Florida when we weren't supposed to. That was monumental for the state of the rivalry. We may not start beating Florida perennially, like they did with us, but this series will no longer be so lopsided.
From 1989-1995 UGA was 1-6 under Goff vs. UF and there was a 20 point average differential in score per game.
From 1996-2000 UGA was 1-4 under Donnan vs. UF and there was a 15 point average differential in score per game.
From 2001-2007 UGA was 2-5 under Richt, not much difference in record. But the point differential was just 2.1 per game.
Maybe you didn't cover SEC football that far back, but as a UGA fan I can tell you there is a big difference between going to games and thinking you have absolutely no shot at winning and going in thinking you could win and still believing such late into the fourth quarter. Eventually, those games will go your way.
In the Mark Richt era, the UF scores have been:
10/27/2007 W 42 30
10/28/2006 L 14 21
10/29/2005 L 10 14
10/30/2004 W 31 24
11/1/2003 L 13 16
11/2/2002 L 13 20
10/27/2001 L 10 24
That is an average score of UF 21.2857 UGA 19....that is a grand total average margin of victory of 2.2857 points. In my book, that would be the epitome of competitive. What is your definition, since you say "I don't know that you can call the series "very competitive" between the two just yet in the Richt years.". Do you base the competitiveness of a series strictly on wins and losses? My take on being not "very competitive" would be UGA vs. UF during Spurrier's tenure, when we got our asses handed to us, quite handily at that.
He must be too busy pigging out at the lunch buffet down there in Hoover to respond. What a fat ass.
As Frank Robinson illustrated in his post with the scores of the UGA/UF games under Richt, every game except the one his first year, has either been a UGA victory, or a one score game. That is what I meant whn I said it was very competitive. An example of a non-competitive series might be TN versus Vandy (or Kentucky) because each team enters the season knowing the likely outcome and it usually isn't that close.
If Florida fans don't enter every year thinking the game in Jacksonville will require their best effort, they are either naive, or just don't know football. And if UGA reels off a few straight victories, I can tell you the team, staff, and fans still know it will be a competitive game.
The point CMR made was dead-on, to have selective extraction capabilities just isn't an intelligent way to view a rivalry. You either take the whole, or the most recent trend. Football didn't begin in 1990, although some UF fans convinced the weak-minded UGA fans amongst us that was the way to evaluate the series. It just doesn't make sense, and I am surprised you were surprised. The same canbe said for the UGA series evaluation with Auburn and Tennessee. Does the 9 game streak TN had over UGA mean anything other than a snapshot in time that doesn't reflect the competitiveness both fanbases feel as they look at the upcoming season. Should UGA approach games in Neyland as a lock because they have won 4 of the last five? I certainly don't think they should, or do. Same logic.
UGA has a commanding lead in the SC series, and had a significant advantage over them many times, but all UGA fans know SC will give us a tough game. The series is much more competitive than the record indicate, and Florida is as well, evenn though we have a double digit lead in the series. Heck, even GT is respected despite the series record, or the current streak UGA is on. So yes, UGA/UF is definitely competitive, and always has been.
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