Since I will be taking plenty of shots at Georgia and the SEC in general over the coming months, years, decades, millennia, it would be beneficial to take a look back at last season and see what the Bulldogs accomplished, and didn't accomplish as the case may be. Here are a few fun facts about the 2007 Georgia Bulldogs.
The 2007 season was a tale of two halves for UGA. The first half featured a very young and mediocre Bulldogs squad that dropped two games before catching fire in the second half. No team finished the season stronger then Georgia.
The first half went like this:
- Beat Oklahoma State 35-14. Clearly this wasn't a Cowboys team operating at their peak though. This was months before the "I'M A MAN!" rant. Everyone knows Okie State was infinitely better after that nonsense.
- LOST to South Carolina 16-14 at home. The Gamecocks finished the season 6-6 and home for the holidays. Spurrier could have taken his team to Vancouver for the Albatross Bowl but decided a round of golf at Augusta was the better option.
SIDE NOTE: Just as a basis of comparison, we should note that the Buckeyes caught a lot of shit last year for losing at home to an Illinois team that ended up 9-3. Georgia only lost to SEC teams though so I guess those aren't even really losses. But I digress...
- Beat Western Carolina 45-16. Three demerits to anyone pathetic enough to know the WCU mascot off the top of their head.
- Beat Alabama on the road by three points. The Tide were another team that would go on to finish the regular season at the .500 mark. I guess $4 million doesn't go quite as far these days as it used to.
- Beat Ole Miss 45-17. Zero SEC wins for Mississippi last season. "S-E-C! S-E-C!"
- LOST to Tennessee 35-14 in Knoxville. The Volunteers were the SEC runners up behind LSU. This game wasn't as close as 35-14 indicates though. At one point UGA was down 28-0.
- Beat Vanderbilt 20-16. You would think that after getting pounded by the Vols the Dawgs would want to "get right" against the lowly Commodores. That didn't happen. The Bulldogs escaped Nashville with a win, but they were down 16-14 going into the fourth quarter. Vanderbilt finished the season 5-7. Ole Miss' 3-9 effort was enough to boot Vandy out of their customary SEC cellar position.
- Beat Florida 42-30 in Jacksonville. This clearly was the turning point for the Dawgs. Florida was favored by more then a touchdown and the Bulldogs smacked them in the mouth, took their lunch money, and introduced the world to one of the most ludicrous endzone celebrations we'll ever see. If you didn't love watching Florida get their brains beat in while the Bulldogs basically threw it in their face, check your pulse. Florida's Charmin-soft defense was exposed as Knowshon Moreno gouged the Gators for 188 yards and a 5.7 per average. Moreno is diminutive yet powerful, like a young Mikhail Baryshnikov.
- Beat Troy at home, 44-34 .
- Beat Auburn at home, 48-20.
- Beat Kentucky at home, 24-13.
- Beat Ga Tech, 31-17 .
Of course, with the two losses, the Bulldogs failed to win their division, much less their conference. While Tennessee would represent the East in the SEC Championship game, it was Georgia who was rewarded with a BCS bowl game for their strong finish.
Lucky for the Bulldogs, it was the Sugar Bowl that selected them so they could continue their time honored tradition of never, ever playing football games anywhere outside the southeastern United States. A short two hour flight to New Orleans was all the travel that was necessary.
Meanwhile, their opponent in the Sugar Bowl, the University of Hawai'i would travel over 3000 miles by plane, bus and refrigerated rail car to reach the Superdome. The Warriors were undefeated and had the requisite ranking to reach a BCS bowl. They got there by coming from behind late against titans like San Jose State and Washington University. Not exactly battle-tested and practically in a different hemisphere, it was not all that surprising what happened next.
- Beat Hawai'i, 41-10 (Sugar Bowl). The undefeated Warriors were so highly regarded that they were 10 point dogs in the Sugar Bowl.
This impressive yet fairly unremarkable resume was enough for UGA President Michael Adams to proclaim the Bulldogs officially "dissed". Nothing like beating up on a mid-major to ratchet up the feelings of self-importance. The ever classy President Adams could barely contain himself for 24 hours following LSU's win in the national title game before proclaiming the whole system a sham.
That's what you've got to love about the SEC and its supporters. They'll scream from the mountain top how outstanding their conference is. In the next breath they'll badmouth the fans of another SEC school and undermine its achievements. Their ability to completely disregard what they said ten minutes ago is unparalleled.
Clearly Mr. Adams is on top of the hot-button issues as far as his university is concerned. Let's not worry about improving our educational institution which is currently ranked 59th by US News and World Report. They're tied with Rutgers and Pittsburgh for what it's worth (Ohio State is 57th). Let's cry about playoffs to the great minds of our time like James Carville on satellite radio.
My first question is why in the hell is James Carville complaining about anything? Or at the least agreeing with this nut? Carville's Alma mater just became the first school EVER in the BCS era to get to and win the national title with two regular season losses. The Tigers jumped at least five other schools in the final poll to get to the BCS Championship game. And should we point out that another SEC school (Florida) managed to jump #2 Michigan at the end of last year and go on to win the national title as well?
Somehow in the opinion of distinguished educator Michael Adams, his school and his conference are being screwed by the evil Big Ten and PAC-10. By the way, one of the more bizarre aspects of President Adams' campaign is the fact that he holds TWO post graduate degrees from THE Ohio State University.
You have to laugh at that don't you? Every day this fuckball walks into his office and has to look up at those two OSU diplomas on his wall and be reminded of how the Buckeyes "screwed" the UGA football team. What a fucking asshole this guy is.
His timing is impeccable by the way. You know how coaches never complain about the refs after they win a game? Well no one ever complains about the BCS after they win the national title either. They also don't complain about it after they lose an also-ran BCS bowl game either.
It's rather interesting that Michael Adams and his multiple Ohio State degrees didn't have much to say about the BCS after they got beat by West Virginia in their own backyard two years ago. You win seven games in a row and now the BCS is an atrocity? Get the fuck out of here. It's no wonder the United States is ranked about 36th in the world when it comes to education. When you've got leaders like this guy worrying about FOOTBALL instead of classrooms and research grants, well, the terrorists have already won!
While it is undeniable that college football is incrementally more important in the southeastern United States then it is anywhere else in this great nation, it is also sad that the leaders of our youth would spend time and resources arguing about such frivolity.
Congratulations Michael Adams! Your football team had a great year and you managed to hijack the spotlight from their accomplishments!
We'll see how the Dawgs fare with the bullseye on their back this year. My guess is we won't be hearing much bullshit from Michael Adams at the end of this season.
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