SB Nation - Israel Troupe

Georgia Bulldogs 31, Auburn Tigers 24

T Kyle King — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:30:06 -0000

Games between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers are not always close---see 2004 and 2007---but, historically, this has been a series hallmarked by tight ballgames, as befits a rivalry as ancient and storied as this one. Of the 113 clashes between these two teams, 49 have been decided by seven or fewer points. On average, more than two out of every five meetings between the Bulldogs and the Plainsmen have been nailbiters. So it was in Sanford Stadium last night.

Georgia recorded eighteen first downs and Auburn recorded eighteen first downs. Georgia converted five third downs and Auburn converted five third downs, which is baffling to me, since it seemed like the Tigers converted at least a dozen third-and-longs. Georgia ran the ball 38 times and Auburn ran the ball 38 times. Georgia tallied 342 yards of total offense, a mere 33 feet shy of the mark attained by Auburn. Had the Tigers held the pigskin for 47 fewer seconds, the time of possession would have been exactly even, which is remarkable, given the decided advantage the Plainsmen held in the early going. Despite the similar endings of the respective contests, this game, unlike the South Carolina game, was every bit as close as the score indicated.

It didn’t look that way from the get-go, though. Half an hour before kickoff, I entered Sanford Stadium accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread, assured of the doom that awaited the ‘Dawgs, and nothing I saw in the opening period disabused me of my dour preconceptions. Auburn opened the game with a nine-play, 74-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. Georgia responded by going three and out on an opening drive that lost four yards and included a Bulldog false start penalty. The Plainsmen proceeded to go 82 yards in eleven snaps to take a 14-0 lead and the Red and Black answered by picking up two yards in three plays before punting. In short, it was exactly the contest I anticipated it would be. After fifteen minutes of clock time had elapsed, the hedges were in jeopardy and the Tiger faithful were getting ready to party like it was 1999.

Joe Cox looked like Joe Cox at his worst . . . which is to say, he looked like Brandon Cox. Potentially big plays came up just short and the Bulldogs’ increasingly predictable menu of sweeps and screens routinely failed to gain. Willie Martinez’s defense played the way we have come to expect it to play. Seemingly one play out of every three went well for the Georgia D until the inevitable completion to the open receiver behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties. My 56-7 prediction wasn’t looking quite so outlandish as the second period got underway.

When we looked up at the scoreboard as the first half unfolded, we saw few statistics from which to take heart, but there were a couple for those among the Bulldog faithful who were willing to squint and search for them. Georgia had incurred fewer penalties and had shown at least a modicum of discipline, as when the defender very deliberately turned loose of the Auburn ballcarrier he had ridden out of bounds before drawing a flag for administering a late hit. The ‘Dawgs hadn’t moved the ball, but they hadn’t turned it over, either. It was, as my uncle has been known to remark, bad, but it wasn’t so bad.

Then Cox connected with Israel Troupe on a 50-yard touchdown pass to put Georgia on the board and allow the Classic City Canines to go to the locker room at halftime down by a single score. A 51-yard Blair Walsh field goal cut the deficit to four points and Washaun Ealey capped off a four-and-a-half-minute drive spanning 82 yards in eight plays with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs the lead. Son of a gun, we were in this thing! It had taken a decidedly lucky bounce on a would-be interception that turned into an Orson Charles reception, but the Bulldogs were out in front in a game that had appeared as though it might get out of hand.

Auburn wasn’t done, of course; the Tigers’ turnaround has been too genuine, and the spirit of the rivalry is too strong, for us ever to expect the Plainsmen to curl up into the fetal position at the first sign of adversity. A doinked field goal by Wes Byrum---whom Orson Swindle had told me at Tent City earlier in the evening that he would run down with his automobile if given the opportunity---sent the contest to the final quarter tied at 17.

Tavarres King redeemed his earlier drop of what ought to have been a touchdown pass by snagging a 47-yard reception on the first snap of the fourth stanza. One play later, Caleb King was in the end zone and the hometown heroes had retaken the lead. The Georgia edge lasted only as long as it took Demond Washington to take a pretty decent kickoff at the one yard line and weave 99 yards downfield for the tying touchdown.

The Bulldogs got the ball back and punted. The Plainsmen took possession and Reshad Jones intercepted a Chris Todd pass. A personal foul penalty against---wait for it---a team other than Georgia set up the Red and Black inside the Auburn 40 yard line. Three Ealey carries gave the ‘Dawgs a first down inside the 25 and Caleb King covered the remaining ground for a touchdown.

Once again, the Tigers refused to run and hide. Auburn held the ball for the next fourteen plays, running almost six minutes off the clock while marching 40 yards downfield. The Plainsmen picked up five first downs in the course of the drive, the last of which came on a fourth-down conversion that carried the visitors to the Georgia 22 yard line.

On first down, Ben Tate was halted for a one-yard loss. On second down, an electrified Sanford Stadium was given a severe scare when Bacarri Rambo went down after delivering the touchdown-saving hit that separated the intended receiver from the football. There were two more downs to be played, but, truthfully, the game was over when Rambo, strapped immobile to a backboard and lifted onto the cart upon which he would be whisked away to receive medical attention, raised his right arm and gave the crowd the thumbs up that signaled to us that he would be all right. There would be no 2005-like fourth-down heroics by the Tigers this night.

Inevitably, the Alabamians moved backwards. Cornelius Washington dropped Todd for a seven-yard loss on third down. Back-to-back Auburn time outs could not stop the roaring crowd from inducing perhaps the most flagrant false start in the history of college football. Todd’s final desperate toss on fourth and 23 fell incomplete, and all that was left was what my father calls "the prettiest play in football": your quarterback taking a knee to bleed the final seconds from the game clock.

I have yelled that loudly for that long, cheered that lustily and that elatedly, and applauded that strongly and that sincerely, in Sanford Stadium more than once before, but it’s been a while---actually, it’s been exactly two years, since the last time our guys beat these guys in this venue, in a game that yielded a victory only slightly more stirring than this one---and, despite what my head shrewdly tells me, there was no convincing my heart in that moment that there has ever been anything wrong with being a Georgia Bulldog that beating the Auburn Tigers couldn’t fix.

Oh, I know this doesn’t cure all our ills; a loss at historic Grant Field in two weeks appears all but certain, and a victory over the Kentucky Wildcats is far from a sure thing with Rambo and fellow injury victim A.J. Green sidelined for the duration. Nevertheless, for all the faults that fairly might be found with the Bulldogs’ performance between the hedges last night, I defy anyone to deny the truth of this statement: Georgia’s win over Auburn last night marked the best all-around performance by a Red and Black team since the win over Hawaii in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

The foregoing statement probably is more of an indictment of the 22 games that preceded last night’s triumph than a praise of this latest Bulldog victory, but, at this point, I’ll take it, warts (which admittedly and undeniably were there) and all. Maybe it was a "dead cat bounce" and maybe it was the start of a 2006-like stretch run, but, either way, it was a fourth straight win over our oldest and biggest rival for the first time in my lifetime, and that, in my book, is cause for celebration, no matter what the occasion.

After the game, I went into the Tate Center to use the facilities---in the course of a tense game against a major rival, I become so focused that I essentially experience a cessation of all bodily functions, so I tend to come down from the rarefied air of game day by exiting the stadium and realizing, "I have to go to the bathroom and get something to eat, stat!"---and I found myself in line behind an Auburn fan. Since we both were standing there, I thought the civilized thing to do would be to extend my hand and say, "Good game," so I did.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and sarcastically snorted, "Yeah, ‘good game.’" He refused to shake my hand. I didn’t say another word to him; he took care of his business at his urinal and I took care of my business at mine, but it was a satisfying exchange that confirmed the basic correctness of my prejudices against his kind and reminded me why this rivalry matters, why this victory matters, and why I hate Auburn.

Go ‘Dawgs! Auburna delenda est!

Dawg Sports Discusses Georgia Bulldogs on ESPN Radio in Gainesville/Ocala

T Kyle King — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:00:36 -0000

For the benefit of those of you who were unable to hear the show live, here is the audio clip of the segment on which I appeared, brought to you with the generous assistance of "The Morning Drive" team and Rocky Top Talk’s Joel:

Aside from almost referring to Willie Martinez’s offensive philosophy (which may have been a Freudian slip), I don’t think I made too much of a hash of this interview, but feel free to point out any other errors in the comments.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Kyle Gets Contrary: Why Mark Richt is Wrong About Moving the Georgia-Florida Game

T Kyle King — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:00:15 -0000

I trust it goes without saying that I am a huge Mark Richt fan. I believe he is, and history will bear him out to be, the best head football coach my alma mater has ever had. However, this does not make him perfect, and there are certain subjects about which I respectfully disagree with Coach Richt. Inasmuch as I intend to address one such subject, it is time to introduce the latest installment of the popular series of postings in which I get contrary.

Senator Blutarsky thought Coach Richt was kidding, and I hope he’s right, but this is what Coach Richt said:

I don’t know what’s going to happen. But when people ask me the question, "Do you really think [Jacksonville] is a neutral site?", I say, "No, it’s not neutral." When you play in the state of Florida every year –- we fly, they drive; it’s hotter for us, it’s cooler for them. It’s played in a stadium that [used to be called] the Gator Bowl. But what the heck? If nothing else, we’ll make Jacksonville pay more to keep it there. . . . I wouldn’t feel bad having a "neutral site" game in Georgia – in the Georgia Dome.

In Coach Richt’s defense, he was speaking to the Columbus Bulldog Club, so it’s entirely possible he was cutting up with the home folks. I know quite well from my professional life as a lawyer that reading a transcript is by no means the same thing as hearing the words as they are spoken. Vocal inflections, facial expressions, and hand gestures are missing, and these form an integral part of human communication. If Coach Richt was joking, and he may have been, then it’s the fault of those of us who read his remarks but did not hear them for failing to get the joke.

However, since none of the other answers quoted in Tim Tucker’s article sounded like they were said in jest, and since the question whether to keep the Florida game in Jacksonville is a divisive one in Bulldog Nation, and since Coach Richt is on record as wanting to move the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party from the Gateway City, I am operating from the understanding that the remarks were intended sincerely and that, therefore, C&F is right when he writes:

With all due respect to Mark Richt, this has got to be the lamest reason for moving the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party Cocktail Party Cocktail Party away from Jacksonville that C&F has ever heard. For one thing, it's factually untrue -- the temperature in Jacksonville is precisely the same for both teams. Funny how that works. Second, the game is played in late October or early November. It's not usually snowing in Jacksonville that time of the year, but it's usually not blazing hot, either. Is it relatively cooler for Florida players than Georgia players? Perhaps. But -- let's be serious.

While I left a comment in response, the point deserves amplification, so I wanted to iterate what I wrote there and add an extra note or two, as well:

1. It’s not played in a stadium that used to be called the Gator Bowl. The last Georgia-Florida game to be played in the Gator Bowl was in 1993. I know; I was there, sitting in the miserable drizzle while the rain ran down the grooves of the old metal bleachers and seeped up through the seat of my pants until I was drenched from the bottom up rather than from the top down. The old Gator Bowl was built in the late 1940s and replaced Fairfield Stadium. While the 1994 demolition did not take down the old venue in its entirety, the west upper deck added in the early 1980s is the only part of the Gator Bowl that remains in the new N.F.L. arena called Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (nee Alltel Stadium).

For what it’s worth, Cale Conley’s War Between the States reports that Georgia played Florida in the stadium known as the Gator Bowl from 1948 to 1993, a span during which the Bulldogs went 23-22-1 against the Saurians. The Red and Black have gone 3-10 against the Orange and Blue in Jacksonville since the Gator Bowl was demolished. Maybe, just maybe, having the name "Gator Bowl" on the building didn’t have much to do with which team won.

2. The fact that we fly and they drive undercuts one of the most frequently-asserted arguments against keeping the game in Jacksonville. When we discussed the Cocktail Party in a recent installment in this series, Year2 made these reasonable points against the canard that distance is significant:

A) Both teams spend the night before in a hotel
B) 17-21 years olds aren’t affected in the least by a 6 hour bus ride
C) There are plenty of Georgia fans in Jacksonville (and it’s close to all the South Georgia Bulldogs)
D) The stadium is split right down the middle 50/50
E) The stadium is all of 30 miles from Georgia soil

It’s as close to a true neutral site as there is in college football. The only "advantage" Florida has is that its team bus ride is shorter.

To those arguments, I responded:

All good points, but I’m not even sure about the bus ride

Don’t the ’Dawgs fly from Athens to Jacksonville?

I’m pretty sure they do, and, if they don’t, we need to quit complaining about the venue and start asking why one of the most profitable athletic departments in America doesn’t pony up for a charter flight.

Coach Richt has answered my question: Georgia flies and Florida rides. The argument that our team has a longer bus trip to take is false. One of the central tenets of the anti-Jacksonville position has been refuted by the testimony of the most highly-placed proponent of moving the game.

3. It isn’t cooler for the Gators, not even relatively. It gets plenty hot and humid in the Classic City, so I’m not buying that Bulldogs who didn’t wilt on the day of an early afternoon kickoff in Athens in late August are going to wilt on the day of a mid-afternoon kickoff in Jacksonville in early November.

Even if we assume (falsely) that North Georgians can’t take the heat, though, that shouldn’t affect such Red and Black players as these:

Bryan Evans (Jacksonville, Fla.)

Aaron Murray (Tampa, Fla.)

Bacarri Rambo (Donalsonville, Ga.)

John Knox (Statesboro, Ga.)

Vance Cuff (Moultrie, Ga.)

Israel Troupe (Tifton, Ga.)

Carlton Thomas (Frostproof, Fla.)

Kalvin Daniels (Eastman, Ga.)

Nick Williams (Bainbridge, Ga.)

Justin Houston (Statesboro, Ga.)

Shaun Chapas (St. Augustine, Fla.)

Darryl Gamble (Bainbridge, Ga.)

Jeremy Longo (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Tanner Strickland (Nashville, Ga.)

Geno Atkins (Pembroke Pines, Fla.)

Blair Walsh (Boca Raton, Fla.)

Kevin Perez (Miami, Fla.)

Justin Anderson (Ocilla, Ga.)

Michael Moore (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

DeAngelo Tyson (Statesboro, Ga.)

Jeff Owens (Sunrise, Fla.)

Once again, it may be the case that Senator Blutarsky is right and Coach Richt was just kidding. However, even if he was, his words will be taken seriously by an element of the Georgia fan base which I believe to be devoted and well-meaning, but with whom I must respectfully and vehemently disagree. I believe there are arguments for moving the Georgia-Florida game from Jacksonville which, while still falling short of sufficiency, nevertheless are better than these. Coach Richt is a great coach and a good man who is right about many, many things, but, if he intended these points to be taken seriously, he is, in this instance, quite wrong.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Georgia 56, Central Michigan 17

T Kyle King — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:20:15 -0000

Now, that was more like it!

It’s not that last week’s performance was bad; quite the contrary. It’s just that the win over Georgia Southern seemed to fall somewhat short of the hype. Saturday’s victory between the hedges, though, represented both a step up in the weight class of the opposition and a step-up by the Bulldogs, who looked yesterday like what they will be on my BlogPoll ballot tomorrow . . . namely, the No. 1 team in the nation.

From the booth, Mike Bobo called one of the best games of his brief career as his alma mater’s offensive coordinator, methodically building a 21-0 lead before Demarcus Dobbs’s 78-yard interception return appeared to break the game wide open. After the Chippewas clawed back to within two touchdowns on their first drive of the third quarter, Georgia did not hesitate to go for the kill; two plays, 62 seconds, and one 52-yard Knowshon Rockwell Moreno run later, the Red and Black had resumed a comfortable 35-14 lead.

From there, it was all Bulldogs. Central Michigan managed only a 30-yard field goal as the Classic City Canines pounded out three more touchdowns. An inopportune fumble on a poor center-quarterback exchange to second-stringer Joe Cox probably deprived Richard Samuel of his second score of the game, but that was one of few flaws exhibited by the ‘Dawgs on this day.

On the other hand, one of the flaws exhibited by the officials was their apparent ignorance of the fact that this is holding.

Much-ballyhooed double-threat signal-caller Dan LeFevour got his passing yards because Willie Martinez gave them to him in a swap the Georgia defensive coordinator was happy to make in the course of holding C.M.U. (Coach Martinez’s last stop on the road to Athens, incidentally) to 59 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per carry. Matthew Stafford, not hitherto known in these parts as the second coming of Fran Tarkenton, ran for more yards (25) than LeFevour (19), including a 22-yard scamper on third and long deep in Bulldog territory to sustain a scoring drive.

Stafford’s run produced one of 25 Red and Black first downs and represented one of the nine conversions the Athenians managed on a dozen third-down tries. The Chips, by contrast, saw their high-powered offense limited to 17 first downs and a mere half-dozen conversions on 15 third downs. Four of Central Michigan’s first five drives failed to produce so much as a single fresh set of downs.

The Bulldogs racked up 552 yards of total offense and demonstrated impressive balance in the process, throwing for 289 and rushing for 263. Moreno could do no wrong, averaging over nine yards per carry, collecting 168 yards and three touchdowns in 18 rushes, and at one point causing me to wonder whether Larry Munson was up in the booth yelling, "He’s jumping over people!" Moreno added 30 receiving yards on three catches for good measure.

Samuel made the most of his eight touches, racking up 44 yards and a score . . . which, based upon the third-string tailback’s reaction to the late turnover, was one touchdown too few in his book. When Caleb King’s 4.0 yards-per-carry average brings up the rear among the Bulldog backs, the ground game has had a good day.

(Obligatory shot of Knowshon Rockwell Moreno.)

Let’s not slight the passing attack, though. Cox came into the game late and the offense barely missed a beat. The backup quarterback threw five passes for five completions and 76 yards. Aside from a drop by Kris Durham over the middle, the ‘Dawgs looked sharp through the air all day. A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi lived up to their billing and both Michael Moore and Israel Troupe had good games.

No, the game wasn’t flawless. Georgia was set back 70 yards on nine penalties, although much of Central Michigan’s limited success came on some questionable no-calls by the officials. The special teams were not as strong as we have come to expect, as the directional kicks Blair Walsh has been instructed to make yielded more and bigger returns than are acceptable. I agree with the always insightful SG Standard: if we can put it out the back of the end zone, why don’t we?

These, though, are decidedly minor quibbles. Georgia closed the deal in dominant fashion, producing a game which was fun not only for the fans but (judging by the dancing on the sidelines during a T.V. timeout and by the good-natured ribbing dished out by Dobbs during the postgame show) also for the players.

On a day on which Southern California and Louisiana State both took the afternoon off (the latter, by necessity; the former, by design), Ohio State struggled mightily with overmatched Ohio (Ohio) in the national game of disinterest, and Florida led depleted Miami (Florida) by six points after three quarters before classlessly leaving Tim Tebow in the game to tack on trash (and trashy) points at the end, there appeared to be no genuine challengers to Georgia’s standing atop the sport outside of a couple of strong performers in the Big 12. (No, Texas and Texas Tech, I’m not talking about you!)

Nothing personal, coach, but . . . a 28-13 halftime lead over U.T.E.P.? Really?

Beyond that, here are a handful of other random observations regarding the Saturday just behind us:

I have attended both games this season as one-half of a father-son outing, but, because I went to the Georgia Southern game with a five-year-old and to the Central Michigan game with a 65-year-old, I was able to stay all the way to the end this time. When the Redcoat Band struck up "Krypton Fanfare," I was reminded how right my wife is when she says that, rather than own the fourth quarter, she would rather own the first, second, and third quarters and leave the fourth period to the scrubs. Better that than sleepwalking through the first 15 minutes or more and needing to turn it on late like some teams I could name.

Speaking of the Saurians, does Tim Tebow not see the cognitive dissonance between being the sort of football player who writes Bible verses on his eyeblack and being the sort of football player who plays for Urban Meyer? Can the Gator Golden Child quote me chapter and verse on the part where Jesus said, "Blessed are they who leave their starters in during the final minute of the fourth quarter so they can run it up, for they shall inherit the earth"? Who knew that Florida would one day hire a coach that made us long for the graciousness and dignity of the Steve Spurrier era?

While we’re on the subject of running it up, I hope no one thinks Georgia did that by hanging half a hundred on the Chippewas. As I pointed out earlier, breaking 50 on C.M.U. is hardly novel for a B.C.S. conference team playing at home and the fourth-quarter offense was pretty much straight up the middle; it only got out of hand because Samuel came to play (which is to his credit) and there’s only so long Michiganders can be expected to hold up in Georgia humidity. Here’s how much the ‘Dawgs weren’t trying to run it up . . . by the end of the game, we had a ~~white guy~~ "possession-type receiver" out there returning punts!

Here’s how the postseason coaching dominoes are going to fall: Tommy Bowden will be fired; Bobby Johnson will replace Coach Bowden at Clemson; Skip Holtz will replace Coach Johnson at Vanderbilt; Steve Spurrier will replace Coach Holtz at East Carolina. Hey, it’s bound to yield better results than the last time he replaced a Coach Holtz at a directional Carolina.

No, I’m not talking trash to South Carolina. The Gamecocks always bring their best game to the confrontation with Georgia, and they will have two extra days to prepare, a strong incentive to right the ship after losing to Vanderbilt, a very stout defense, and a home field advantage that no Bulldog fan could deny is genuine and daunting. The good news is that this is likely to be a defensive struggle in which the first team to 20 wins. The bad news is that, the last time the ‘Dawgs scored 100 or more points in a two-game span was against Vanderbilt and Kentucky in 2002. The next week, Georgia lost to Florida by a 20-13 final margin. The Red and Black will have to be extremely wary heading into Columbia.

I always enjoy seeing national championship Georgia squads from other sports being honored at halftime of a football game, but it’s a little odd to see what other Bulldog teams look like. The men’s tennis team looked like any eight guys selected at random from a fraternity block of seats in the student section and, as a guy sitting in front of me pointed out, the equestrian team must be second only to the football team as the Georgia squad having the most members. "There’s 40 girls out there," the fellow in the row before me noted, "and that means there’s got to be 40 horses, too."

I was disappointed in the presentation of the football lettermen holding their reunions. The groups were introduced by team year without further embellishment. Between the 1998, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1968, 1958, and 1948 teams, there were some accomplished squads out there, but only the "Wonderdogs" received special mention. There were two S.E.C. championship squads, a ten-win Cotton Bowl championship squad that narrowly missed out on a national title, and Vince Dooley’s final team out there. Those guys deserve more credit than they were given on Saturday.

I was mildly nonplussed that the televisions in the Tate Center were showing Boston College-Georgia Tech and Auburn-Southern Miss before the game. At the time, Ohio State was locked in a real battle with a M.A.C. team nowhere near as good as the one the ‘Dawgs were getting ready to throttle. We need to start thinking of ourselves as a national program. The Tate Center televisions ought to be showing us the Buckeyes’ and the Trojans’ struggles. Do you think U.S.C. fans are following U.C.L.A. games more intently than, say, L.S.U. games?

In week one, the preseason favorite to win the A.C.C. was manhandled by an average or slightly above-average S.E.C. squad on a neutral field. In week two, the successor squad to take over the position of A.C.C. frontrunner needed a last-second 41-yard field goal to avoid being upset on its home field by a below-average S.E.C. squad. Is the S.E.C. that good or is the A.C.C. that pitiful? Is it fair to treat the A.C.C. champion as this year’s "B.C.S. buster"?

If you even thought about being impressed by Florida’s 26-3 home win over Miami in a game in which the Gators managed seven offensive points in the first 45 minutes of play before cheaply pouring it on at the end, I would remind you of the following outcomes from the Hurricanes’ previous dozen outings: Oklahoma 51, Miami 13; Virginia 48, Miami 0; Virginia Tech 44, Miami 14. Pouring it on in the fourth quarter to beat the ‘Canes at home by 23? Please. The only thing remotely impressive about last night’s game in Gainesville was Erin Andrews.

It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

Go ‘Dawgs!