Not trying to relive any pain here, but this came up in the comments yesterday and thought it’d be a good talking point for a Friday Fodder.
What if Georgia had won the 2012 SEC Championship Game? What changes? What stays the same? My thoughts from yesterday…Grantham and Bobo both get instant credibility that they’ve never had. Richt probably wins a National Championship. Derrick Henry, class of 2013, maybe signs with Georgia instead of Alabama…ditto with Reuben Foster. Maybe Bobo becomes the head coach of Texas instead of Charlie Strong in 2014.
Discuss. What do you think would’ve/could’ve if the ball bounces a different way that day?
Maybe Watson and/or Lawrence stay in state?
Maybe Saban goes to Texas? That was close to a done deal anyway.
Maybe Missouri doesn’t win any East titles?
Maybe we don’t get destroyed at home in the rain in 2015?
I know CMR can’t be forced out in 2015 even if the subsequent seasons after 2012 are identical.
Dawgs win the whole Enchilada!!
McGarity wanted to get rid of Richt from the time he stepped into Athens. I had a feeling after that game that the bad luck there would eventually lead to CMR’s end. All I can think of is this … it took 3 years.
https://youtu.be/fDek6cYijxI?si=4IMWrmCnn7V0Mmr5
Am I glad with where we are now? Absolutely. Does it mean I liked what happened to get us here? No way.
I still wonder what happens if Kirby comes home in 2010 to build a defense and the effect of that on Alabama. Does Richt eventually retire in 2015 or 16 to hand the reins over to Kirby? Does Kirby have the opportunity to hone and shape the Process to his advantage?
As much as I dislike Saban you can’t argue with success. I don’t feel like Kirby would be the Kirby he is today without that extended time under Saban. Saban may be an asshole, but he does know how to get results. If Kirby had come sooner, would he have learned enough to be the coach he is today.
IMO – We only win one National Championship instead of TWO – Back to Back National Championships with Kirby and being in a position to win it ever year!
We score, but there’s time left on the clock. Then we pooch kick it and bama returns it.
I’m sorry, but I remember a lot those days as finding new and creative ways to screw up, a la the Harvey-Clemons tip, or AJ getting flagged for celebrating. Conley’s catch was just par for the course.
That about describes the 1995 Peach Bowl.
But we didn’t pooch it.
He brought it back 100 yards
Richt wins the natty, hangs on until his health catches up to him, Mama Calls and Kirby arrives a year or two later in this timeline to Bama Way the Georgia Way.
This is probably exactly what happens, and we get Kirby with a year or 2 of experience at South Carolina.
SI or somebody did a story like this tracking all the implications of the Ole Miss player “pissing” in the Miss State endzone, getting flagged, kicker misses EP, both coaches fired. Etc, etc.
It’s amazing how these decisions and games ripple through the football force.
I love historical counterfactuals. “For want of a horseshoe nail . . . “
Nope nope nope. Not going there…
For all the games that time and copious alcohol have blurred this one stands out. Alabama was the best team on the field that day. The score made it look closer than it was.
Would Georgia have beaten Notre Dame? Without a doubt. But… Wouldacouldashouldaisms are for losers.
We out coached them to death that night. That was a roster mismatch. Stole a couple of possessions including scoring on a blocked fg. Kept it close.
The play that torments me is 3rd and 1 with about 6 to play from our 17.
I thought it was a great time to put the ball up when they were thinking run. At least get 11 on the edge in a run pass decision. Maybe have a guy run behind the safety and chuck it if its there to go up 10….
We went right up the gut with Gurley, got stuffed, punted and they hit Amari down the sideline to take the lead.
With us up 3 I couldn’t understand playing clock there. Play to win there. Not unless you’re going on 4th too. Which I may have endorsed. “Hey, guys two plays to get a yard or lose. Up to you.”
We were a couple of plays away from punting them deep and if bama was in “must pass” mode Jarvis was unstoppable.
I would love to see how many times a team lost a game after returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown. That SEC championship game is the only game I can think of where that happened.
The short yardage play you mention, Derek, is heart-wrenching.
For the people who are saying it doesn’t matter now, feel free to go get in a time machine to tell your 2012 self that. As Dumbledore would say about time:
https://youtu.be/lqTLETOYkQg?feature=shared
I finally got around to Googling “Dumbledore”. Now I know! 🙂
I agree. But a wise coach told me once: “A good big man will beat a good little man every time.” That advice was what I walked away from that game thinking. That and fucking alabama was going to get what’s coming to them one of these days….
All I know for sure is I wouldn’t want anything to take away the glory that was B2B. It was worth all the crap we had to go through to get there. Things seem less certain now with unrestricted free agency but I believe Kirby will figure it out.
I like Richt and all but it was never going to be what it has become under Kirby as long as Richt was there. I think Richt himself would tell you that.
^^^ This. Well said.
I agree. However, the game has changed a lot since CMR left UGA. And THAT is something I’m not sure he could’ve navigated nearly as well as Kirby.
Nothing was worth climbing through that 41 year long sewer of shit.
I suffered far too much. If we get to 10 natties maybe Ill feel better.
You’re a candy ass.
I have little doubt your expertise in the area of candy asses is only surpassed by your expertise in twink-life.
Damn straight. I read your pussy mouthed bullshit enough to know all about it. Sweet dreams, shit hook.😆
I was a big Richt defender but I watched us too much then and now to think that we would have just rolled Notre Dame. The best the team played in 2012 was in the Bama game. We looked like shit against Kentucky, struggled mightily with Tennessee and got whooped by South Carolina.
It sucks that we lost but I believe that that loss plus the next 3 season are what prepared us for Kirby. I don’t think that the seas part for him in 2016 (or whenever on the “What if”) timeline had Richt won doing things the “Georgia Way.”
I also do not believe that we would have won it all in 2002. We would have beaten Ohio State but not Miami. I can get there on 2007 with the caveat that we would have handled LSU or Ohio State (the two teams that played for the championship) but would have had a much tougher assignment against USC who were number 3 or number 4.
In 02 the refs beat Miami. If not for an extra play awarded by the refs tOSU loses that game. I do agree we probably wouldn’t have won against the U. I sure do wish TE catches that pass and scores. 2002 was a special season. 2007 we should have won it.
In 2012 on that final play. Was it Gurley who didn’t step forward to attack the Bama rusher allowing the ball to be tipped? If not tipped it probably a TD game over play. I agree we probably beat Notre Dame. It honestly wouldn’t have surprised me at all for a CMR team to blow that opportunity. I’m also big CMR supporter. His teams just always seemed to have an annual let down game.
I really didn’t like how he was fired. It was time for a change. McGarity should have been fired too. He never wanted or supported CMR.
I am certain it worked out great. Kirby is the best there is right now.
I agree with you on all points. I don’t remember exactly what Gurley was supposed to do but that game really cemented to me what kind of talent he was, by running for over a 100 yards against that Bama defense with that OL.
Yep. I think the whole bama D was riding on Gurley when he scored the TD up the middle.
Meanwhile, Keith Marshall kept tripping over his panties.
The weird thing about that game was it both proved what a good coach Richt was and also proved how in over his head he was.
If I remember correctly Georgia had sixty four scholarship players on the roster. Alabama of course had the entire eighty five allowed. Impressive that Richt could be that badly outgunned and come one play from winning. But it also put a spotlight on the fact that Richt had undersigned for years while Saban, Meyer, Miles, and even Spurrier were over signing. Then Richt had to overcorrect and sign that huge class in ‘13 that almost completely evaporated within two years. I think less than ten guys out of that class were still at Georgia when Richt was fired.
I know some people go too far criticizing Richt. But a lot of his problems were of his own making.
You’re right. And it was frustrating. Seems like every season we had more suspended players for smoking weed than anyone (cough.. cough… Stephen Garcia.. ahem. Excuse me.) He always seemed to be handcuffed from a roster management perspective.
Re scholarships: The year before when we had outplayed and out coached LSU until Honeybadger returned that punt for a TD. You saw LSUs athletes on special teams while we had a bunch of scrubs and walk-ons (and not Stetson Bennett’s or Tra Battles but more stereotypical Georgia walk-ons) out there getting knocked out and outclassed.
When we intentionally kicked to Honey Badger I all but stopped watching. How shit all stupid was that?
Il Duce and his flunkies Red Panties and McEars had something to do with us tying one arm behind our backs from the mid ‘00s to 2014. CMR brought some of it on himself as well.
Pingback: What a Difference a Decade Makes | GTP Refugees