Spring Break
Dogs win overtime close call at 'Bama
Bulldogs look for more wins in the SEC East
PHILLIP KISUBKIA
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Sports
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The Bulldogs' head coach is now 23-3 in SEC road games in six-plus seasons at Georgia, but if you ask him what his secret is, he'll tell you he doesn't know.
"It's unbelievable," Richt said. "I wish we could say the same about neutral sites. When we go into other peoples' homes, especially when we're in that 'us against everyone' mentality, we've been able to withstand that pressure."
Though those games in Jacksonville still give the Bulldogs trouble, Georgia (3-1, 1-1 SEC) showed enough poise to go into "Sabanation," where the Tide was so high, and make the plays to get the win - its first conference win since last November.
Much of that poise came from the Bulldogs' young offensive line, which started two true freshmen who had to grow up a lot in front of more than 90,000 Alabama faithful.
"For those young linemen to fight their guts out like they did - that was tremendous," Richt said. "(Offensive line) coach Searels is a great coach. We did the plays they could handle, and they could handle the pressure."
That's not to say the offense was totally in sync. The crowd and defense of the Crimson Tide (3-1, 2-1) gave Georgia all it could handle, forcing multiple turnovers and pre-snap penalties, including a delay of game in the second quarter when quarterback Matthew Stafford forgot the team was out of timeouts.
"It's the SEC - it's like the NFL," Stafford said. "Anybody can win every week. That's why guys come to play here. It's so competitive."
But the Bulldog defense stepped up and kept the Alabama offense in check for most of the game, holding the Tide to only three of 15 third-down conversions.
"It was all about being physical on defense," defensive end Roderick Battle said. "It was either them or us."
While Georgia now has won its last five games against SEC West opponents, the Bulldogs have to win games against East division opponents, a task that has been tough recently.
"Being 1-4 in the East last year was not very good. Thankfully we won every game in the West," Richt said.
"We needed a win and we still need a win in the East."
A chance for that kind of win will come in two weeks, when the Bulldogs travel to Knoxville to take on the Volunteers, but the Ole Miss Rebels (1-3, 0-2) that come to Athens next Saturday should not be overlooked.
The Rebels took defending national champion Florida to the brink in their last game before falling to the Gators at home 30-24.
"Ole Miss is a great team. You see what they did to Florida," defensive tackle Jeff Owens said.
"We need to put this game behind us."
Though the show must go on, Richt said wins like this one make it all worthwhile.
"Rings are fun, and trophies are kinda good," Richt said.
"You usually end up putting them in a drawer or on a shelf. But the memories we made here are going to last us a lifetime."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Neil Thom
posted 9/24/07 @ 8:46 AM EST
Good article. One thing, though: you picked up ESPN's mistake of citing Georgia's road record under Richt as 23-3 at SEC opponents' home fields. It's actually 19-3 since the start of 2001. (Continued…)
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