.jpg "UGA (non sports)")
ONE IN A MILLION? SO, YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S STILL A CHANCE?
Pardon me as I butcher this quote from Dumb & Dumber but as asinine as this line sounds, it's the only thing keeping my heart beating as I limp into this year's Florida game. Am I physically limping? Nope, but I am crawling into Saturday's game with little hope and a lot of emotional hurt. I thought this team was going to be better than what it has shown and yet I face another season where the Cocktail Party not only looms largely as another defeat, it looks like this one could be a repeat of last year's pathetic result. If you're a Dawg fan, right now you are looking through the philosophical annals at the Carter Library, praying to your respective Higher Being, or perhaps just watching Rudy with Dorito breath on Peachtree TV - all in an effort to find any proof that sometimes the world decides to revolve backwards even for just a nanosecond.
What you're not doing this week is playing Mega Millions, as this is the week where luck always seems to run on empty in this state. Exit Vanderbilt, enter Florida. Same story, same dance - and the Bulldogs don't seem to lead in this one very often.
So, is there any hope this year? We've had some good teams come to Jacksonville with high expectations in the last decade. From 2002-2005, Georgia was the best team on the field and came away with a 1-3 record. In 2007, I'm not sure if we were the best team on the field but we played like it and won. Although this series has certainly shifted into Florida's favor in the last twenty years, the unexpected has come our way a couple of times (see 1997 and 2007). That's enough to make me trust my heart more than my head. Believe me, I'm not taking this foolishness to Vegas but as long as the Dawgs put eleven guys on the field, there is a Lloyd in me that will always say, "So you're saying I've still got a chance?"
Insert definitive statement: Talent for talent, Georgia actually does match up well with Florida!
Insert reader response: (cricket...cricket...cricket).
Seriously, they do. I think the talent is better for Florida in key positions such as quarterback, and most likely every position on defense, but besides one position, it's very close to even going into this game. Georgia does have extra time to prepare from the bye week and Florida hasn't played like the 2006 and 2008 national title teams going into this game. Tim Tebow also hasn't been the same quarterback since his concussion against Kentucky a month ago and the running game is back to being a one-man show. Florida's defense, on the other hand, has been light's out with only five touchdowns given up all year. Points will be hard to come by and Willie doesn't seem to have a knack for creating three-and-outs. But if sloppiness, lack of motivation, and an unexplainable act of nature reminiscent to M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening where Florida gets suddenly confused, stops, walks backwards, then kills itself on both sides of the ball, Georgia could pull off the upset. Granted, this won't be a Georgia win as much as it will be a Florida loss but I think every Dawg fan will take it at this point.
But what about the turnovers? Oh yeah...that. And the disappointing offensive line? Hmm, good point. Or, the inconsistency at quarterback? Didn't think of it. Turnovers? Got me. Nonexistent running game? Forgot about that one. Defenseless defense? Whoops, minor oversight. Lack of passion? Apparently not important before I decided to write this blawg. What about one game this year that involved a complete effort on both sides of the ball? Nope, but they will need that in order to win. Am I clinically insane? Only if the voices in my head tell me to stop taking my medication.
This year's matchup will be a daunting task for Georgia but I will never count them out as long as I can still count. Does this team have the ability to add a third "unexpected" to this series? I don't have a clever game plan or an insightful quote like "The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations" (wait, maybe I do, thanks Eli Khamarov). They have the talent, they have the rest, and they have nothing to lose. So, why not?
If you need me, I'll be singing "The Flower Girl" just like Lloyd did and dreaming all week about another Georgia win near the Landing.
Dumb, huh? Oh well, GO DAWGS!!!
What you're not doing this week is playing Mega Millions, as this is the week where luck always seems to run on empty in this state. Exit Vanderbilt, enter Florida. Same story, same dance - and the Bulldogs don't seem to lead in this one very often.
So, is there any hope this year? We've had some good teams come to Jacksonville with high expectations in the last decade. From 2002-2005, Georgia was the best team on the field and came away with a 1-3 record. In 2007, I'm not sure if we were the best team on the field but we played like it and won. Although this series has certainly shifted into Florida's favor in the last twenty years, the unexpected has come our way a couple of times (see 1997 and 2007). That's enough to make me trust my heart more than my head. Believe me, I'm not taking this foolishness to Vegas but as long as the Dawgs put eleven guys on the field, there is a Lloyd in me that will always say, "So you're saying I've still got a chance?"
Insert definitive statement: Talent for talent, Georgia actually does match up well with Florida!
Insert reader response: (cricket...cricket...cricket).
Seriously, they do. I think the talent is better for Florida in key positions such as quarterback, and most likely every position on defense, but besides one position, it's very close to even going into this game. Georgia does have extra time to prepare from the bye week and Florida hasn't played like the 2006 and 2008 national title teams going into this game. Tim Tebow also hasn't been the same quarterback since his concussion against Kentucky a month ago and the running game is back to being a one-man show. Florida's defense, on the other hand, has been light's out with only five touchdowns given up all year. Points will be hard to come by and Willie doesn't seem to have a knack for creating three-and-outs. But if sloppiness, lack of motivation, and an unexplainable act of nature reminiscent to M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening where Florida gets suddenly confused, stops, walks backwards, then kills itself on both sides of the ball, Georgia could pull off the upset. Granted, this won't be a Georgia win as much as it will be a Florida loss but I think every Dawg fan will take it at this point.
But what about the turnovers? Oh yeah...that. And the disappointing offensive line? Hmm, good point. Or, the inconsistency at quarterback? Didn't think of it. Turnovers? Got me. Nonexistent running game? Forgot about that one. Defenseless defense? Whoops, minor oversight. Lack of passion? Apparently not important before I decided to write this blawg. What about one game this year that involved a complete effort on both sides of the ball? Nope, but they will need that in order to win. Am I clinically insane? Only if the voices in my head tell me to stop taking my medication.
This year's matchup will be a daunting task for Georgia but I will never count them out as long as I can still count. Does this team have the ability to add a third "unexpected" to this series? I don't have a clever game plan or an insightful quote like "The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations" (wait, maybe I do, thanks Eli Khamarov). They have the talent, they have the rest, and they have nothing to lose. So, why not?
If you need me, I'll be singing "The Flower Girl" just like Lloyd did and dreaming all week about another Georgia win near the Landing.
Dumb, huh? Oh well, GO DAWGS!!!