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Mississippi State, September 21, 2010

From the editor : vance leavyWell Bulldog fans we have now entered

a phase of Georgia football that we haven’thad to deal with in almost 20 years. Yes ourteam is now 0-2 in the SEC for the first timesince 1993. It wasn’t pretty then, and it ain’tpretty now.

Unfortunately being a student at Geor-gia from 1990-95, I had a front row seat formediocre football at its best. During that time,our Dawgs were a perfect 0-10 versus Floridaand Tennessee. We got smoked by Vander-bilt on Homecoming in 1994. It was brutal.

Because of that suffering, the success thatMark Richt brought to our program whenhired in 2000 was oh so sweet. In 2002, ona cold November night in Auburn I wit-nessed one my best friends shed tears assomething we never thought possible was ac-tually occurring … a trip to Atlanta for theSEC Championship. It was magical.

Richt, his staff and players would winthe SEC that year and post a awesome 13-1record. The sky was the limit for our pro-gram.

They returned to the Georgia Dome thefollowing year, but a red-hot Nick Saban LSUTigers team wouldn’t be denied in that game.One month later, the Tigers would win a na-tional championship that many Georgia fansthought could have been theirs.

Despite the dejection of losing that SECchampionship, the getting was still good forour Dawgs. You just knew that Mark Richtwas a play here or a play there from possiblyplaying for a national championship.

That was definitely the case in 2005when D.J. Shockley was leading our Bulldogteam. Unfortunately, he would miss the

Florida game becauseof injury and we suf-fered yet another lossto the Gators in Jack-sonville. The nationalpicture wasn’t lost thatday, but it would betwo weeks later whenAuburn came intoAthens and won a 31-

30 thriller.I bring up that game in particular be-

cause to me that is when Mark Richt’s armorbegan to show some real kinks. On thatevening, our defense could never make a bigstop despite having opportunity after oppor-tunity given to it by our Shockley led offense.It was also on that night, that the home fieldadvantage Georgia had enjoyed under Richtbegan to tether.

Yes an SEC championship game ap-pearance did occur a month later after ourDogs backed into it courtesy of Steve Spurrierupsetting his former alma mater, Florida. GiveRicht and company credit though as theytook full advantage of their luck and blastedLSU in Atlanta bringing another SEC cham-pionship back to Athens.

However the season would not end ona high note, as a more motivated West Vir-ginia team would strike early and often inprobably the only Sugar Bowl game that willever be played in Atlanta. D.J. almost broughtus back for a victory, but unfortunately theDawgs fail short because Rich Rodriguez out-coached us by executed a fake punt that ourcoaching staff never saw coming.

The beginning of the 2006 season wasfairly ugly even though our Dawgs openedup the season 5-0. But reality set in duringthe second half of the Tennessee game inAthens, when the Vols went off putting a totalof 51 points on the Sanford Stadium score-board. It was brutal and showed that our pro-gram was no longer peeking. That waspunctuated the following week when Van-derbilt came into Athens and won 24-22.And then Kentucky’s fans would tear downtheir goal posts two weeks later in Lexington.Memorable, but forgettable stuff indeed.

Despite that, Richt and freshman quar-terback Matthew Stafford would finish thatseason strong posting wins over rankedAuburn, Tech and Virginia Tech. It was a greatfinish to a tough season that surely would goa long way for the 2007 campaign.

The 2007 campaign was a mixed bagearly on with a devastating home loss to

South Carolina and a throttling in Knoxville.But Richt and company would find magic ina bottle and not lose again that season andfinish ranked number two in the country afterblowing out a severely overmatched Hawai’Iin the Sugar Bowl back in New Orleans.

The Dawgs would enter the 2008 sea-son ranked number one in both preseasonpolls. However that only lasted a week as theyopened the season with lackluster winsagainst Georgia Southern, Central Michigan,South Carolina and Arizona State. And thenNick Saban rolled into Athens and showedeveryone in the Bulldog Nation who was thecontender and who was the pretender. AndUrban Meyer would teach us a lesson with a49-10 thrashing after our goal line teamdance the year before. And unfortunately thatregular season would end on the worst notepossible as Tech came into our stadium andsent our team home with a loss on SeniorDay.

And then we all know the struggles thattook place last season. Before the seasonended, Coach Richt cleaned house on his de-fensive coaching staff and a better brand offootball was promised for this season.

Well here we are and the record certainlyisn’t showing that. And naturally the BulldogNation is more restless than I’ve ever seen it.

I just took you the reader through mostof the Mark Richt era as I wanted you to re-call both the triumphs and struggles. It’s beengreat most of the time, but not so good in oth-ers. For this reason, Mark Richt rightfullyearned himself a little leeway while he’s beentrying to change the course. However the factof the matter is that he has now reached apoint where no more slack should be given.It’s time for his players to make plays for theman they have so much respect for. Other-wise, the scene in Athens will probably getugly.

Are Richt, his staff and his players readyto step up Saturday night in Starkville? I hopeto see as many Bulldog fans there as possibleto support them in reestablishing what Geor-gia football is all about. Go Dawgs!

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It’s back on the road for Georgia,and some of the Bulldogs biggest winsof the Mark Richt era have come awayfrom home. From 2001 through2005, the Bulldogs lost only twice inopposing teams stadiums. Over thenext three years, even though a fewmore losses mounted on the road,Georgia was able to secure morememorable triumphs.

Georgia’s first signature win ofRicht’s regime came in his first sea-son, as the Bulldogs pulled off an in-credible 26-24 upset victory overheavily favored Tennessee. The lastsecond hook-up between DavidGreene and Verron Haynes, set up byan incredible grab from RandyMcMichael, sent the immortal iconLarry Munson into joyous hysterics.That victory, and the winning play,will always be known as the “HobnailBoot” game. Tennessee was 10-1heading to the SEC ChampionshipGame, where a loss to LSU cost theVols a shot at the national title. Geor-gia finished that 2001 season at 8-4,but the stage was set. The followingseason the Bulldogs won the SECChampionship and Sugar Bowl, fin-ishing the 2002 campaign rankedthird with a 13-1 record. And not tobe forgotten in 2001, the Bulldogs,behind the powerful running of Ver-ron Haynes and a big “pick six” fromTim Wansley, dominated Tech in a31-17 victory on the flats.

That 2002 season was a history-making one for Georgia, and that in-cluded a rare one-two pair of roadvictories. The Bulldogs became justthe second team in college footballhistory to beat both Alabama inTuscaloosa and Auburn in Auburn.

In five previous trips toTuscaloosa, the Bulldogs had come upshort, including near-misses in 1991and ’94. Georgia controlled thegame, but a couple of big Bama playshad the given the Crimson Tide a 25-24 lead. That’s when the Dogs re-sponded and Billy Bennett knockedthrough the game-winning field goalwith under a minute to go. ThomasDavis came up with a clinching pickand the 27-25 lead announced thatGeorgia would be a prime SEC con-tender. The Dogs followed that upwith a win over Tennessee the nextweek to vault to the top of the SECEast standings and to No. 5 nation-ally. The biggest win of the Richt eracame on the Plains that November.Auburn dominated the first half andled 14-3 at intermission. Were it notfor the sensational play of Sean Jones,the Bulldogs would have been blownout by halftime. But Georgia foughtback and trailed 21-17 in the closingminutes. Greene then famouslyhooked up with Michael Johnson fora 19-yard touchdown on fourth –and–15. The defense held and the Bull-dogs were unleashed, dominatingTech 51-7, bashing Arkansas in theSEC Championship Game 30-3 andwhipping Florida State 26-13 in theSugar Bowl. The Greene to Johnsonhookup is one of the three greatestplays in Georgia football history. Andthat long-awaited SEC Champi-onship, which had eluded the Bull-dogs for 20 years that includednumerous near-misses, was finallyGeorgia’s. And the two signaturewins came on the road.

In 2003 Georgia posted an his-toric 41-14 pounding of Tennessee,highlighted by Sean Jones unforget-table 92-yard fumble return for atouchdown on the final play of thefirst half to push Georgia’s intermis-sion advantage to 20-7. In the regu-lar season finale, with a secondstraight trip to the SEC Champi-onship Game awaiting, the Dogs beatdown Tech 34-17.

Georgia’s most recent Southeast-

ern Conference crown came in 2005,and it featured a pair of signature per-formances away from Sanford Sta-dium.

On the strength of Thomas Flow-ers punt return for a touchdown, theBulldogs won again in Knoxville, asthe Bulldogs prevailed 27-14 overTennessee. The Vols were actuallyawarded a touchdown despite a re-ceiver getting tackled on the two yardline on the final play of the game. Athird straight win in Knoxville madehistory. Richt joined Paul “Bear”Bryant and Gene Stallings, both obvi-ously from Alabama, as the lone visit-ing coaches to post wins in Knoxvilleon three consecutive visits.

In the regular season finale of2005, the Bulldogs, who had suffereda pair of devastating losses to Florida(14-10) and Auburn (31-30), but hadsecured a spot in the SEC Champi-onship Game. A talented Tech gamecertainly got Georgia’s attention theweek before the big battle in Atlantawith a win at Miami. The YellowJackets jumped to a 7-0 lead, but theBulldogs battled back and grabbed a14-7 lead. With the game on the linein the final minute, Tim Jennings cutin front of a Tech receiver, intercept-ing Reggie Ball on the goal line andreturning it 36 yards. The Bulldogsran out the clock, then the followingweek won the SEC Championshipwith a 34-14 victory over LSU.

In 2007, the Bulldogs suffered aheart-breaking 16-12 loss to SouthCarolina in Athens and headed toTuscaloosa with a 2-1 record. Ala-bama, rejuvenated by the hiring ofNick Saban, was coming off of athrilling 41-38 victory over Arkansas.The Crimson Tide, confident and fa-vored, fell behind Georgia in the firsthalf. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to20-10 in the fourth quarter, but Bamabattled back to tie it. All-SEC kickerBrandon Coutu just missed a game-winning field goal as the clock struckzero, but the Bulldogs would prevailin overtime. Bama had the first pos-session and settled for a field goal.Then on the Bulldogs first play fromscrimmage in the extra session,Matthew Stafford hit Mikey Hender-son for a game-winning 25-yardtouchdown. The victory was Geor-gia’s second straight in Tuscaloosa.

Over the last couple of seasons,even though the Bulldogs had disap-pointing records, Georgia did registera pair of important victories.

Georgia won a wild 52-38shootout over LSU in Baton Rouge in2008. Darryl Gamble intercepted aTiger pass and returned it for a touch-down on the first play of the gameand Georgia never trailed. The Bull-dogs have had good success in BatonRouge, one of the toughest places inthe country to play. Georgia bet LSUin Tiger Stadium in 1948, 1978, 1998and 2008.

A disappointing season con-cluded in fine fashion a year ago, asthe 6-5 Bulldogs upset once-beaten,ACC-Championship Game boundTech 30-24. The Bulldogs bludg-eoned the Yellow Jackets with a pow-erhouse rushing attack, givingGeorgia a fifth consecutive victory onthe flats.

These are tough times for Georgiaafter a pair of disappointing losses.The Bulldogs will be back. It mightbe this year, next, or even furtherdown the road, but Georgia will re-turn to championship caliber. Thereis tradition, an incredible in-state tal-ent base, and loyal alumni and sup-porters that provide one of collegefootball’s premier support systems.

The big picture is what is mostimportant, but all that this team canfocus on now is Mississippi State. It’swhere the road back can begin.

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Dogs need a road win in a big way

jeff dantzler

A football team can have excellentplayers on both sides of the ball but if itdoesn’t have an effective kicking game,championship seasons are normallygoing to be difficult to come by.

Fortunately, for the Georgia Bull-dogs, they’ve almost always producedoutstanding place-kickers and punters,guys who with a swing of their foot haveaccounted for many joyous victories forthe Red and Black down through theyears.

After detailing in this space lastweek the very best Georgia offensive anddefensive players I’ve been privileged toobserve and cover over the past 45 to 50years, let’s today look at the greatest ofthe Bulldog kickers these eyes have wit-nessed in action.

When it comes to Georgia’s best-ever field goal and PAT kicker, one namehas to rank at the very top and that ofcourse would be Kevin Butler. AlthoughButler, who performed for the Bulldogsfrom 1981-84 and went on to achieveAll-Pro honors with the Chicago Bears,presently stands second to ex-Bulldoggreat Billy Bennett (2000-03) in numberof field goals made in his UGA career –77 to Bennett’s 87 – the fact is that But-ler (98 kicks) attempted 12 less fieldgoals than did Bennett (110) in the timethe two players kicked for Georgia.Going further, the most field goals But-ler attempted during a single season was28 in 1984 while in 2003, Bennett at-tempted 38 three pointers … which wasboth an NCAA and SEC record.

Butler, who is the only kicker in-ducted into the Collegiate Hall of Fame,continues to hold the record for thelongest field goals in Bulldog history, the60-yard kick of beauty which enabledGeorgia to beat Clemson in 1984 andwhich tied an SEC record and a 59-yarder that came against Ole Miss in1982.

Butler booted 11 field goals for theBulldogs that sailed more than 50 yardsthrough the uprights with Allan Leavitt,Rex Robinson and Brandon Coutu rank-ing a distant second in that category,each with six over 50 yards. Butler alsoranks tops on the all-time Georgia listfor highest percentage of field goalsmade from 50 yards or more, going 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) on those attemptsduring his storied career.

But certainly Billy Bennett, with allthe Georgia kicking categories he con-tinues to lead, deserves to be mentionedin the same breath with the great KevinButler.

As mentioned, Bennett converted87 three-pointers in his UGA career toestablish new NCAA and SEC records.He also set new national and SEC marksin the 2003 season by kicking 31 fieldgoals, and Bennett’s school-record sixfield goals against rival Georgia Tech in2001 also tied an SEC record. Bennett’s148 career PAT kicks also stand as aGeorgia record and the 131 points he to-taled in 2003 are the most points everfor a Bulldog player in a single season.Bennett’s 409 career points (SEC record)also tops the Georgia scoring list withButler’s 353 total ranking second.

But the Bulldog B’s, Butler and Ben-nett, are only two of the brilliant place-ment kickers who have performed inSanford Stadium over these last fivedecades or so.

Brandon Coutu, who kicked forMark Richt from 2004-07, is the all-timeGeorgia leader in career field goal per-centage, firing true on a whopping80.30 percent of his attempts. Coutu isalso the only Bulldog kicker who nevermissed an extra point in his career, con-verting a remarkable 114-of-114 at-tempts during his time in Athens.

But, as I’ve mentioned, Georgia hasturned out one All-America type kickerafter another down through the autumnseasons. Indeed, guys like Rex Robin-son, Kanon Parkman, Allan Leavitt, Hap

Hines, Steve Crumley, John Kasay, ToddPeterson, Bobby Etter and Kim Braswellwere all superb at their craft and whenthey came on the field, you always feltconfident three points were about to goup on the scoreboard for Georgia.

And now the guy presently kickingfor the Bulldogs, one Blair Walsh, hascertainly moved into the elite realm ofthe greatest UGA place-kickers ever. En-tering the Arkansas game this pastweekend, Walsh was 39-for-49 in careerfield goal attempts and had converted all99 of his PAT tries. Walsh had con-nected on seven field goals from 50yards or more.

Moving to the all-time greatestGeorgia punters I’ve been fortunate toobserve, you don’t have to go very farback to find the best-ever UGA boomerof footballs. Fact of the matter, you don’thave to go back any time at all becausethe Bulldog at the top of the record listresides right there on the 2010 Georgiateam.

Junior Drew Butler, who has apretty well-known dad by the name ofKevin, ascended to the top of the all-time Bulldog punting list in 2009 whenhe went out and averaged a spectacular48.1 yards a kick. With that perform-ance, Butler not only earned All-SECand All-America first team honors butwas the recipient of the coveted Ray GuyAward, presently annually to the nation’smost outstanding punter. Butler’s 48.1average per kick was tops in the nationand he also had a 75-yard punt (at Okla-homa State) and had 19 kicks downedinside the 20-yard line. When Butlergets his foot into the ball just right – andthat’s most of the time he kicks – it’s athing of beauty as he hangs ‘em high anddeep while usually backing Georgia’s op-ponent back into the shadow of its owngoalposts.

And you know Butler has to be atruly great punter to surpass all the leg-endary names that have kicked forGeorgia this last half century.

Following Butler on the best-aver-age-for-a-season list are four othertremendous Bulldog punters: Chip An-drews (45.4, 1984), Bobby (Big Toefrom Cairo) Walden (45.3, 1958), CrisCarpenter (44.1, 1986) and BrianMimbs (44.0, 2008). Andrews presentlyholds the best Georgia punting averagefor a career, 43.2 yards a kick in 1983-84, and one would have to think that ifhe continues on his present track, Butlerwill easily climb to the top of the heap inthat category also.

At the same time, however, DrewButler is going to have to post a tremen-dous one-game performance to becomethe all-time leader in that area. In 1958against the Texas Longhorns, BobbyWalden averaged an astonishing 63.0yards a kick on three punts. But, mostcertainly, that record is in Butler’s rangeas he already stands second and third onthe single-game punting average listwith the 57.0 average he accumulatedon six kicks against Oklahoma State lastyear and the 55.2 figure he compiled onfour punts last season against Arkansas.

And if you’ve watched Georgia foot-ball through the years, who could everforget the way that such guys as GordonEly-Kelso, Jonathan Kilgo, Spike Jones,Scot Armstrong, Jim Broadway, MikeGarrett, Don Golden, Jimmy Orr, JoeComfort, Knox Culpepper and ZekeBratkowski boomed the football longdistances? All of those kickers averaged40.0 yards or more a punt during theirbest seasons.

Yep, just like all the great runningbacks, quarterbacks, wide receivers,tight ends, offensive linemen, defensivelinemen, linebackers and defensivebacks that have worn the Bulldog red,this football program can also hang itshat on the many outstanding place-kick-ers and punters who have suited up forol’ Georgia down through the decades.


Father-son duo tops all-time kickers

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poole shotsBy Murray Poole


efore the season began, the consensus was that ifGeorgia beat both South Carolina and Arkansas,the Bulldogs could be in for a special season. Theway the schedule sets up, a split with the Game-

cocks and Razorbacks would give Georgia time to recoverand still have an outstanding year. Lose them both andthe Bulldogs would be at a low point unseen since theearly to mid-90s.

Well, the worst case scenario has hit. After being soundly defeated 17-6 at South Carolina,

the Bulldogs lost a 31-24 heart-breaker to Arkansas inSanford Stadium, falling to 1-2 and 0-2 in the Southeast-ern Conference. The last time Georgia started a seasonwith an 0-2 league mark was 1993. That’s also the lasttime that the Bulldogs fell to both South Carolina andArkansas in the same year.

Championship dreams have been dashed. On theheels of the worst season for the program, a respectable 8-5 record that included wins over Auburn and Tech, since1996, a promising 2010 season has gotten off to a disas-trous start. In Georgia’s last three SEC games, dating backto last season, the Bulldogs have lost to Kentucky, SouthCarolina and Arkansas. Clearly, that is well below Geor-gia’s standards. As is a 2-6 SEC mark in the Dogs last eightconference games.

The loss to Arkansas was particularly distressing, asthe Dogs fought back from a 24-10 fourth quarter deficit.Georgia tied the game at 24-24 and had the ball late in thefourth quarter. After a 10-yard run from Washaun Ealey,quarterback Aaron Murray was sacked. Carlton Thomasthen ran for 10 yards and Georgia called time. Murraywas then sacked again and Georgia was forced to punt.

It was shades of Mike Shula leading Alabama back tovictory over the Bulldogs in 1985.

All-American candidate Ryan Mallett needed onlythree plays to take the Razorbacks 73 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

Since 1997, Georgia has won at least eight gamesevery year, the longest such streak in the country. In noneof those years was Georgia ever 1-2 after three games.

Now comes Mississippi State, which hasn’t beatenthe Bulldogs since 1974. Georgia has won nine in a rowover the Bulldogs from Starkville. Then again, Georgiahad won six straight over Arkansas, four straight in Co-

lumbia and hadn’t lost to Kentucky in Athenssince 1977.

Mississippi State has had a tough start inSEC play.

After an impressive season-opening vic-tory over Memphis, State lost a heartbreak-ing 17-14 nationally televised Thursday nightaffair with Auburn in Starkville. An enor-mous dropped pass cost State an opportunityto tie the Tigers or win.

This past Saturday, turnovers doomedthe Maroons as LSU won 29-7 at Tiger Sta-dium at Baton Rouge.

Both Georgia and Mississippi State sit at1-2 and 0-2 in SEC play. Both obviously arein desperate need of a win. There’s no doubtthat State sees an opportunity to pick up arare win over the royal Bulldogs, who havestruggled mightily of late against programstraditionally in the league’s second to bottomtier.

Here are some key match-ups that will determinewhether Georgia can get perhaps start to get its seasonback on track:

Secondary vs. BumphisOpposing receivers have gotten the best of Georgia’s

defensive backs the past two weeks. Arkansas standoutJoe Adams topped the century mark in the Razorbacks31-24 win over the Bulldogs, while Alshon Jeffery had abig day for South Carolina in the Gamecocks 17-6 victoryover Georgia in Columbia. Chad Bumphis is an out-standing athlete who can make the big plays. Expect forMississippi State to try and get him the ball on the movein a variety of ways. The crossing routes that Arkansasused with such great success could be dangerous forGeorgia with Bumphis.

The TrenchesAfter last season’s 30-24 demolition of Tech in which

Georgia put forth a dominating rushing attack highlightedby 183 and 166 yard performances from Washaun Ealeyand Caleb King, the Bulldogs came into the 2010 seasonwith high hopes for a veteran offensive line. But the front

has struggled this season. Georgia has had a tough timegetting a push and establishing an effective and consis-tent running game. And in the loss to Arkansas (thoughGeorgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo says some of theblame goes to quarterback Aaron Murray for holding ontothe ball too long), the Razorbacks came up with the afore-mentioned big sacks to deny the Bulldogs a shot at victory.Georgia’s offensive line has not lived up to its promise thusfar in 2010. State has strength on the defensive front, sothe Bulldogs will again be tested.

Kicking GamePrior to the season, Georgia’s greatest strengths were

viewed as the offensive line, star receiver A.J. Green andthe dynamic kicking duo of Blair Walsh and Drew Butler.Well the line has struggled, Green is serving the fourthand final game of his suspension, and Georgia’s specialteams has been outperformed at several important mo-ments. Both South Carolina and Arkansas were able toswing field position with big punts. Georgia doesn’t havethe firepower of years past, so that fine margin for error ofthe SEC is even thinner. The Dogs have to win the kick-ing game to win in 2010.

Dogs vs. MsuA battle of downtrodden teams will end with onefeeling better, while the other will be on life support

By Jeff Dantzler

B

Photograph by Ryan Scates

DOGS MSU

TEAM STATISTICS MS OPP SCORING 70 53

Points Per Game 23.3 17.7 FIRST DOWNS 61 46

Rushing 26 27 Passing 30 17 Penalty 5 2

RUSHING YARDAGE 466 398 Yards gained rushing 530 474 Yards lost rushing 64 76 Rushing Attempts 118 106 Average Per Rush 3.9 3.8 Average Per Game 155.3 132.7 TDs Rushing 5 2

PASSING YARDAGE 617 451 Comp-Att-Int 46-78-7 42-69-3 Average Per Pass 7.9 6.5 Average Per Catch 13.4 10.7 Average Per Game 205.7 150.3 TDs Passing 5 3

TOTAL OFFENSE 1083 849 Total Plays 196 175 Average Per Play 5.5 4.9 Average Per Game 361.0 283.0

KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 13-255 11-287 PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 5-53 4-14 INT RETURNS: #-Yards 3-15 7-115 KICK RETURN AVERAGE 19.6 26.1 PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 10.6 3.5 INT RETURN AVERAGE 5.0 16.4 FUMBLES-LOST 5-1 3-2 PENALTIES-Yards 10-95 17-158

Average Per Game 31.7 52.7 PUNTS-Yards 13-532 14-634

Average Per Punt 40.9 45.3 Net punt average 39.8 40.1

TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 30:19 29:41 3RD-DOWN Conversions 18/40 14/41

3rd-Down Pct 45% 34% 4TH-DOWN Conversions 2/3 1/1

4th-Down Pct 67% 100% SACKS BY-Yards 4-27 5-28 MISC YARDS -20 0 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 10 5 FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 0-1 6-9 ON-SIDE KICKS 1-1 0-0 RED-ZONE SCORES (5-5) 100% (7-8) 88% RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS (5-5) 100% (3-8) 38% PAT-ATTEMPTS (10-10) 100% (5-5) 100%

Score by quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Miss. State 21 7 35 7 70 Opponents 10 19 14 10 53

TEAM STATISTICS UG OPP SCORING 85 55

Points Per Game 28.3 18.3 FIRST DOWNS 47 46

Rushing 19 19 Passing 28 24 Penalty 0 3

RUSHING YARDAGE 384 256 Yards gained rushing 458 336 Yards lost rushing 74 80 Rushing Attempts 104 104 Average Per Rush 3.7 2.5 Average Per Game 128.0 85.3 TDs Rushing 4 3

PASSING YARDAGE 638 659 Comp-Att-Int 48-79-2 41-74-3 Average Per Pass 8.1 8.9 Average Per Catch 13.3 16.1 Average Per Game 212.7 219.7 TDs Passing 5 4

TOTAL OFFENSE 1022 915 Total Plays 183 178 Average Per Play 5.6 5.1 Average Per Game 340.7 305.0

KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 10-204 14-246 PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 7-80 4-25 INT RETURNS: #-Yards 3-42 2-0 KICK RETURN AVERAGE 20.4 17.6 PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 11.4 6.2 INT RETURN AVERAGE 14.0 0.0 FUMBLES-LOST 2-1 2-1 PENALTIES-Yards 18-108 17-118

Average Per Game 36.0 39.3 PUNTS-Yards 16-713 20-892

Average Per Punt 44.6 44.6 Net punt average 39.2 37.6

TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 30:45 29:15 3RD-DOWN Conversions 17/43 16/42

3rd-Down Pct 40% 38% 4TH-DOWN Conversions 2/3 1/2

4th-Down Pct 67% 50% SACKS BY-Yards 8-48 9-60 MISC YARDS 0 0 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 10 7 FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 5-5 2-3 ON-SIDE KICKS 0-0 0-0 RED-ZONE SCORES (10-11) 91% (4-4) 100% RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS (8-11) 73% (3-4) 75% PAT-ATTEMPTS (10-10) 100% (7-7) 100%

Score by quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Georgia 17 24 23 21 85 Opponents 14 24 7 10 55 Photograph by Rob Saye


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Record: 1-2 (0-2 SEC) after 49-7 win over Memphis,17-14 loss to Auburn and 29-7 loss to LSU.

Mascot: Bully

Why Mississippi State could win: The Bulldogscould beat Georgia Saturday night because MississippiState always plays foes tough when at home on a Sat-urday night (ask the Florida Gators last year). Indeed,if State can come out of the gate fast against the Bull-dogs from Athens and get those cowbells ringing, Georgia may have a problem in getting the game momentum to swing its way. Too,Mississippi State’s two quarterbacks, redshirt freshman Tyler Russell and junior Chris Relf, while being erratic thus far, are both capableof compiling good passing games against a Bulldog secondary that struggled mightily against Arkansas standout Ryan Mallett.

Why Mississippi State could lose: The State Bulldogs could lose to Georgia because they have yet to achieve upper echelon statusin the SEC and year-in and year-out, can’t equal the talent and depth that Mark Richt’s team possesses. And, like Georgia, the Missis-sippi State offense has yet to find an identity, putting up only 14 points in the loss to Auburn and a lone touchdown in the setback atLSU Saturday night when the State QBs threw five interceptions. This would seem a good opportunity for Todd Grantham’s 3-4 Bull-dog defense to fashion its best showing to date.

What Mississippi State’s coach is saying:“We’ll be out on the practice field tomorrow, we have a lot of things we have to clean up,” said MSU coach Dan Mullen immediately fol-lowing the loss to LSU this past Saturday night. “We have a tough opponent in Georgia coming in next week and we’d better have agreat attitude on the practice field tomorrow. If we do we’re going to get ourselves right back on track to where we want to go.”

What Mississippi State’s players are saying:“We just have to find a way to win,” said Bulldog senior linebacker K.J. Wright after the loss in Baton Rouge. “The defense has got tojust hold our opponents and give the offense better position to score. We know what we’re capable of and we just have to execute asa team. We’ve just got to get ready for Georgia this week.”

What Mississippi State’s fans are saying:“It was a bad loss to LSU but, bottom line, it’s time to move on and focus on Georgia, which is currently a struggling team that can behad and on our home turf,” said one Mississippi State fan following the 29-7 loss to the Tigers. “We will struggle to be a bowl team thisyear and anyone that had us winning more than seven games this year was unrealistic. We could easily win only five but be a muchimproved team.”And, from another: “We should beat Georgia at home but if the play calling doesn’t improve then we won’t....simple as that.”

Noteworthy:Georgia has reeled off nine consecutive wins over Mississippi State and holds a 16-5 lead in the overall series. In fact, State’s last winover the Bulldogs came way back in 1974 when MSU walloped Georgia in Jackson, 38-14. Mark Richt is 2-0 vs. the State Bulldogs. Bothteams are in the midst of two-game losing skids and should be a bit hungry for victory Saturday night and that elusive first SEC win.

Mississippi State scouting reportDan Mullen’s team looking for a big home win and astruggling Georgia team represents a great opportunityBy Murray Poole

By Jeff Dantzler

#1 Chad Bumphis, WR5-10 195 Soph. Tupelo, Miss.One of Dan Mullen’s talented young skill play-ers, Bumphis is that big-play threat on theperimeter that Mississippi State has beensorely looking for. Bumphis really madeAuburn sweat in the Thursday night nationallytelevised Southeastern Conference opener inStarkville. He’s a big play threat out wide andis dangerous on punt returns. One of Missis-sippi State’s greatest ever players was 1990’sreceiver and returner extraordinaire EricMoulds, who went on to a stellar NFL careerwith the Buffalo Bills. The Starkville Maroonsare hopeful that Bumphis could play his wayinto that class by the time his career is doneat State.

#90 Pernell McPhee, DT6-4, 285 Sr. Pahokee, Fla. You talk about a stellar defensive lineman, thekind that every coach would love to have onhis front, Pernell McPhee certainly qualifies.Mississippi State has been known through theyears for developing a lot of big and talentedtrenchmen, and picking up the highly toutedJunior College All-American from Itawamba(the same JUCO that former Georgia and NFLstandout Jason Ferguson attended) helps theMaroons continue that legacy. McPhee is big,strong, has great feet and hands and will be aload for the Bulldogs to handle.

#17 Tyler Russell, QB6-5, 225 RFr. Meridian, Miss. One of the most highly touted recruits thatMississippi State has brought in over the lastdecade, this four-star prospect from Meridianwas a huge pickup for Dan Mullen. Amongstthe other schools that offered the Parade All-American were Alabama and South Carolina.Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier wanted him.Mullen energized what had been a stagnantMississippi State offense and it jumped theexcitement level in Starkville a great deal.You’ve got to be good at quarterback to havea shot in the toughest league in the land, andthe Maroons hope that Russell fits that bill.

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JD’s five keys for a must win1. Accuracy from Aaron –Georgia’s redshirt freshman quarter-back has a lot of talent and showedgreat poise in his first road test atSouth Carolina. Of course the Dogslost in Columbia, but Murray wasperhaps the brightest spot of thatsetback. After hosting Arkansas, itsback on the road and the crowd,though not as big, will be rockingwith Georgia making a rare visit toStarkville. Mississippi State’s de-fense has a tough defense, head-lined by an outstanding front. TheBulldogs need some big plays to winat State, and it starts with Murray.

2. Bottle up Bumphis – Missis-sippi State has been looking for thatbig play punch to spice up the of-fense, and they’ve got it in Bumphis.He’s shown against both Auburn andLSU that he’s a threat against thetoughest of defenses in the bestleague in the land. Bumphis can go deep or take short passesand score. Where he could be just as dangerous is on punt re-turns. Drew Butler will have to boom them high and Georgia’scoverage unit will have to be at its best. Dan Mullen won’t hes-itate to call his number in any situation.

3. Defensive Dominance – Without a doubt, MississippiState’s offense has improved dramatically. Dan Mullen did a fan-tastic job helping engineer Florida’s powerhouse offenses withUrban Meyer and Tim Tebow. A year ago, he oversaw one ofcollege football’s top offensive turnarounds in Starkville. Missis-

sippi State lost Anthony Dixon, one ofthe top tailbacks in school history, to thedraft and replacing him has beenMullen’s top priority. Mullen hasweapons, but Georgia’s defense shouldbe able to play an outstanding game.It’s not going to be easy in Starkville,but the defense should be able to keepState at a relatively low point total,maximizing Georgia’s victory potential.

4. Rugged Running – In the sea-son-opening win over Louisiana-Lafayette, the Bulldogs had troublegrinding out tough yardage betweenthe tackles. In the 17-6 loss at SouthCarolina, the Dogs were dominated inthe running game. Mississippi State hasan outstanding defensive front andGeorgia will be put to the test. TheBulldogs offensive line has done a bet-ter job pass-blocking than on the run.Washaun Ealey is a good tailback and ifthe front comes out with a nasty atti-tude, Georgia should have success run-

ning the football.

5. Special Teams Superiority – Drew Butler and Blair Walshhave the ability to swing the field and their scoreboard with theirtalented right legs. As mentioned above, Bumphis is very dan-gerous on punt returns. The Bulldogs will have to be en guardewith State’s star. Of course accuracy from Walsh is a must. Hegives Georgia a big lift offensively and lessens some pressure.The Bulldogs are definitely in scoring range once they get insidethe opposition’s 40. With these two, Georgia should win the kick-ing game every Saturday.

im Ellis, longtime Mississippi State broad-caster and SEC observer, gives us histhoughts on the Bulldogs match-up with Mis-

sissippi State.

How big was it for MSU to get Tyler Rus-sell ?

Coach Mullen has said one of the keys to suc-cess for MSU was to own the state in recruiting. TylerRussell was the most high profile high school recruitin Mississippi in 2008 and his signing a great 1st stepfor Mullen’s in state recruiting. He also has potentialto be the kind of big time quarterback that Missis-sippi State has lacked for the last decade.

Talk about the strengths of MSU’s de-fense.

Manny Diaz, the defensive coordinator wants anattacking defense. He has some key veteran playerssurrounded by a lot of youth. The front 4 led by Per-nell McPhee is a talented group but McPhee is theonly SR the rest of that rotation will be three sophs,two juniors, and a freshman. Veteran LB’s ChrisWhite and KJ Wright are talented Seniors but thereis little other experience at linebacker, one ofthinnest positions on the teams. The secondaryleader is Junior strong safety Charles Mitchell, therest of that group is sophs and Freshmen. For theattack style defense to be successful the young sec-ondary must be much better at not giving up the bigplay than last year.

Playing three straight games against Auburn,LSU and Georgia is quite a task, but it says a lotabout the program that MSU is right there with achance to win each Saturday.

State proved in games with Florida and LSU lastyear that they can compete with the top echelon SECteams, now they have to prove they can win againstthose opponents. Auburn was another good exampleof close but no cigar. It’s a tough stretch but its whatSEC football is about. Coach Mullen says there is nopride in playing good teams close.

What’s your takeon Georgia?

Georgia despite theearly season loss toSouth Carolina has achance to be in the huntto win the SEC east thatlooks wide open to me.Georgia like MSU has aninexperienced quarter-back behind a veteranoffensive line. It willhelp to get AJ Greenback. The running gamelooks like a work inprogress. Georgia is al-ways salty on defenseand the kicking gameshould be one of theSEC’s best. No reason tothink Georgia won’t wintheir share of big gamesagain this year.

What does MSUneed to win?

State’s receivers must catch the football. 6 dropsvs Auburn. Must hold their own in special teams play,and must win the turnover battle. The defensive keyis to not give up big plays.

Who plays for the SEC ChampionshipGame?

Right now I would guess Alabama vs South Car-olina.

Dan Mullen woke up the offense and en-ergized the fan base, just how popular is hewith the State faithful?

He is very popular. He is energetic, articulate,confident, and determined. His teams have begunto play that way. Now he must start to win big

games to keep the momentum. Beating a good Ole Miss team last year in

coach Mullen’s first year had to be huge forState.

The Ole Miss win was huge for the players be-cause it reinforced what the coaching staff has beenpreaching. It was huge for the fan base because itwas Ole Miss. It was great for the program becauseeveryone had a positive feeling going into the offseason.

Does coach Mullen and the team look atSaturday as a chance to secure a signaturewin?

I think Coach Mullen feels his club is at the pointthat they should have a chance to win every week-end. I’m not sure that he is so much looking for sig-nature wins as a signature season.

A view from StarkvilleEven with Georgia’s struggles, longtime MSUannouncer still respects Mark Richt’s team

By Jeff Dantzler

J

Photograph by Rob Saye



Close, but agonizingly – no cigar!Just when it appeared the Georgia Bulldogs were about

to complete a valiant comeback and thereby avoid going 0-2 in the SEC, Heisman Trophy candidate Ryan Mallett tookover the game for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Not about to allow the Hogs to lose a second consec-utive shootout to the Bulldogs, Mallett took the Razorbacks72 yards on just three passes, his final throw being a 40-yard touchdown strike to ace receiver Greg Childs with only15 seconds to play. The scoring pass lifted 12th-rankedArkansas (3-0, 1-0 SEC) to a 31-24 thriller over the BulldogsSaturday in a game where Georgia had rallied from a 24-10fourth-quarter deficit to tie the contest at 24-all with underfour minutes to play.

The heart-wrenching loss came on the heels of a 17-6loss to South Carolina and marked the first time the Bull-dogs have started conference play at 0-2 since 1993 and, ob-viously, the first time in Mark Richt’s 10 seasons at Georgia.

After watching the 6-6, 238-pound Mallett riddle theBulldog secondary for 380 yards (on 21-of-33 completions)and three touchdowns, Richt said he was pleased with theway his team battled back but noted the Bulldogs’ inabilityto finish was the difference in winning and losing the foot-ball game.

“We got better today, but we just didn’t finish,” saidRicht. “We got back into it, the crowd got into it. We had allwe could hope for with time offensively, but we didn’t getany points on the board. We had a chance to stop them,but we didn’t. We punted them down and they had a longway to go, but they got it done and we didn’t.

“It’s not like we’ve played two soft teams,” Richt added.“Arkansas is very good. They got the job done and we did-n’t. We made a lot of progress, but we’ve got to finish.”

“It was a tough loss,” said senior tackle Clint Boling. “Atleast we didn’t quit. We were down two scores in the fourthquarter and didn’t give up. We fought back hard but it justwasn’t enough … this loss really hurts.”

Both teams struck for touchdowns on their first pos-session. On a third-and-one at the Arkansas 43, Mallettfaked a handoff into the line and found tight end ChrisGragg running by himself behind the Bulldogs’ secondary.The play covered 57 yards and with the PAT kick, the Ra-zorbacks were up 7-0 with still 12:27 to go in the first quar-ter.

Then Bulldogs then came right back, driving 73 yardson eight plays with Murray rolling left on a fourth-and-goalat the Hogs’ one-yard line and diving into the left corner ofthe end zone. Big play on the march was a 47-yard strikefrom Murray to Tavarres King, which placed the ball at theArkansas 10. Blair Walsh’s kick knotted the game at 7-7with 7:49 to go in the initial period.

But the Hogs would then tack 10 points on the boardin the second quarter to assume a 17-7 halftime advantage.Arkansas went 71 yards on seven plays for its second touch-down, with Knile Davis scoring from the one. The Hogsthen moved to a 48-yard Zach Hocker field goal, whichcame with only four seconds left in the first half.

A 43-yard field goal by Walsh late in the third periodpulled the Bulldogs within 17-10 but Mallett came back totoss a 22-yard scoring strike to Ronnie Wingo to make it24-10 with eight seconds left in the quarter.

Georgia then went on a six-play, 62-yard scoring drivewith Murray and King hooking up on a 10-yard touch-down pass. Walsh’s kick brought the Bulldogs to within 24-17 with 7:52 remaining. A 46-yard strike from Murray toKris Durham had positioned the ball at the five, setting upthe touchdown pass.

The Bulldogs were finally clicking on offense now andon the next possession took only 1:33 to drive 52 yards forthe tying score. Again, a 35-yard Murray-Durham hookupgot the ball to the 17. Three plays later, Ealey ripped threeyards up the middle for the touchdown. Walsh’s kickblinked the board to 24-24 with just 3:55 to go.

And Georgia had its chances to put the game awayafter taking possession at its own 34 with 2:18 to play but

the Razorback defense sacked Murray twice to force a Bull-dog punt.

Taking over at its own 27, Arkansas then quickly wentthe distance for the win with Mallett and Childs hooking upfor the clinching touchdown … a score that broke the Bull-dogs’ collective hearts and left Georgia at 1-2 overall head-ing to Starkville to face Mississippi State Saturday night.

What WorkedGeorgia did show a lot more fire and improved tack-

ling ability over the lackluster performance a week earlier inColumbia but, again, an inability to put points on the score-board for three quarters put the Bulldogs into a comebackmode they really don’t need to be in entering the late stagesof a game. Trailing 24-10 after three quarters meant that theBulldogs had tallied only 16 points over their last seven pe-riods of play … before notching the two scores in the finalquarter.

The UGA defense did limit the Razorbacks to 53 yardsnet rushing and the Bulldogs’ offense, while struggling toget on the scoreboard most of the afternoon, did come onto compile 392 total yards.

What Didn’t WorkGood as he is, your defense can’t let Mallett pass for

nearly 400 yards. Too many times, the Razorback receiverswere running open in the UGA secondary. And though thetackling was admittedly better than it was at South Carolina,a missed tackle by safety Shawn Williams on Arkansas’ win-ning touchdown allowed Childs to take the ball to thehouse. “We showed a lot of heart, we kept fighting to getback in it but we’ve got to minimize the big plays and con-tinue to get better,” said senior linebacker Akeem Dent.

And, again to be successful in the SEC, the Bulldogssimply have to rush for more than the 139 yards they man-aged Saturday, and the O-line can’t allow Murray to besacked in the crucial moments of the game … the way theHogs poured in on the Georgia QB when the Bulldogs hada chance to maybe put the game away in the waning min-utes Saturday.

Top PerformersMurray was 15-of-27 for 253 yards and one touch-

down with one interception. Durham snared five passes for101 yards while King showed four receptions for 91 yardsand the score. Ealey, with Caleb King sitting out his secondstraight game, rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries. ShawnWilliams and Bacarri Rambo each had seven tackles for theGeorgia defense while Dent followed with six stops butsophomore outside linebacker Cornelius Washington hadthe lone sack of Mallett the day long.

“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” saidDurham, his face showing the effects of this very bitter de-feat. “Arkansas made a great play right there at the end to putit out of our reach. We had opportunities, we just didn’tcapitalize at the end. But I think we showed our character.When you face adversity, it’s how you pull through and howyou fight afterward and I think we showed character andthat we have fight. Unfortunately, today, we just got beat bya better team,” said Durham.

Next Up, Those Other BulldogsIt will be a pair of 1-2 teams meeting Saturday evening

in Starkville and while Georgia is reeling at the moment, theBulldogs say don’t count them out just yet.

“It’s still a long season, we can’t cash anything in rightnow,” said Dent. “We got to continue to step up. That fightwe had at the end, we got to bring down on the field thewhole game. We just can’t give up big plays and things likethat – we’ve just got to finish.”

“We’ve lost two games, two of the most importantgames in the SEC that we’ll play,” said senior cornerbackVance Cuff. “But we’ve got a couple more to go, we’ve stillgot a couple more great teams to play. We could definitelyget our ranking back by beating two top ten opponents.SEC is going to have the best teams. We’re definitely behindthe 8-ball with these two losses but I say if we go out andplay like we’re supposed to and win out, we can definitelyregain control.”

Game rewind: Georgia 24 Arkansas 31

By Murray Poole




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Kevin Butler, former University of Georgia legendary kicker and a member of theGeorgia radio broadcast team, will each week during the 2010 football season se-lect his offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week for BulldawgIllustrated. Here are Butler’s selections and reasons why for the Bulldogs’ 31-24loss to Arkansas.

OFFENSE – Sophomore wide receiver Tavarres King, who caught fourpasses for 91 yards including a 47-yard catch that set up Georgia’s firsttouchdown and a 10-yard touchdown reception that pulled the Bull-dogs within 24-17 in the fourth quarter.“With A. J. (Green) being out for the extended four games, we needed some-body to step up on the offense besides (Kris) Durham and a couple others in thereceiving category,” said Butler. “Tavarres’ touchdown sparked a comeback andgave us an opportunity to see a receiver make a play after the ball is in theirhands with second effort and determination to get into the end zone. And thatneeds to spread through our offensive players. When you get the ball in yourhands, use your athletic ability and determination and effort and turn a regularplay into a big play.”

DEFENSE – The Bulldogs’ entire rush defense, which limited the Ra-zorbacks to 53 net yards on the ground Saturday.“Since we didn’t really have an individual standout on defense, I’m doing this bycommittee this week with our run defense,” said Butler. “Our challenge on de-fense going into the Arkansas game was not allowing them to balance their of-fense, and the way to eliminate that was not allowing Arkansas to establish a rungame. The ability to eliminate their run game allowed us to focus on their pass-ing game. We made them beat us with their best player throwing the ball and,unfortunately, they did. Ryan Mallett had 380 yards. He put it in the air on theirwinning scoring drive, and we just gave up too many big passing plays.”

SPECIAL TEAMS – Instead of a player this week, Butler goes with an-other Georgia unit, the Bulldogs’ kickoff coverage team, for a fine per-formance against the Hogs’ kick returners.“Our kickoff coverage team really made improvement in this game,” said Butler.“They’ve had to focus on not only getting better as individuals but getting bet-ter as a unit as well. But they were improved and gave our defense good start-ing field position. You never want to give Ryan Mallett a short field to play with.Making them go 75 yards is the key to beating Arkansas. Of course, they did thaton the winning drive.”

Compiled by Murray Poole

Kevin Butler’s players of the game



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UGA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

HOMECOMING BARBEQUE

2010

October 15, 20106:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Wray-Nicholson House

(706) 542-2251www.uga.edu/alumni

Join fellow alumni and friends at the Wray-Nicholson House following the homecoming

parade for food, fun and entertainment!

ance Cuff has made significant contribu-tions to the Georgia football program allfour years he’s been in Athens. Now in

his senior season with the Bulldogs, the 5-11, 177-pound Moultrie native has accelerated his gameeach year and following an outstanding springpractice performance, has taken over a startingcornerback slot for the Bulldogs. Cuff, who hasbeen clocked at a blazing 4.24 seconds in the 40-yard dash – fastest on the Georgia team – appearedin 12 games during his freshman season in 2007,played in 10 games in 2008 and then appeared innine games, with one start, during his junior cam-paign last season. In the 2009 season, the formerColquitt County standout recorded 21 tackles,two pass break-ups and one QB pressure whilenotching a career-high eight tackles against Ken-tucky. In this question-and-answer with Cuff andhis mom, Barbara Palmore, Georgia fans get a real in-sight into the player who wears No. 25 for the Bull-dogs.

What do you view as the most important quality inbeing a leader for the team?

To me, a leader is someone who leads by example. Any-body can go out and talk big but if you don’t practice whatyou preach, if you don’t go out and work, the other guys willsee you and think, “he may want to win but he’s not backingup what he’s saying.”

Who do you consider to be the most important mentorin your life so far, and why?

It would have to be my father, Vance Cuff, Sr. He’s defi-nitely shown me what it is to be a man. He didn’t motivate meinto sports – he never played sports himself but enlisted inthe Army when he was 18 years old. It was my uncles thatmotivated me into sports. But my dad definitely played a bigrole in my life and has motivated me in all areas of life. Hisfavorite saying is, “A man without his word is not a man atall.”

What fellow player on the team motivates you to be thebest you can be and why is that the case?

I would definitely say Akeem Dent. He definitely is aleader in my book and if he steps up to the plate, I woulddefinitely follow him anytime. Akeem does the job on the

field and has pushed and motivated me the most since we’vebeen at Georgia.

What is the best play or game you’ve had while atGeorgia and why?

No question, the best game for me was in my freshmanyear in ’07 when we beat Florida. With guys like Knowshon,Matthew Stafford and Massaquoi on that team and beatingthose guys my first year here was special. I have never likedthe Gators and wanted to go to a school that would be play-ing Florida every year.

When you leave Georgia, what do you hope folks sayabout your contribution to the program?

I just want everyone to say that I was a man of my word,that I was a hard worker and would play whatever positionthe coaches wanted me to play. And that I always did my best.

What regular Georgia opponent do you enjoy playingthe most and why?

Like I say, it would definitely have to be Florida. It wouldbe so great if we could beat them this season, in my last yearhere. I’ve got a good amount of my family coming up fromthe Miami area to see our game in Jacksonville this year, oneof them being my grandfather. They’ve seen me play on TVbut never in person, so beating Florida with them therewould be great.

Bulldawg leader: Vance CuffSenior cornerback still relishes 2007 win over the Gators and would like one moreBy Murray Poole

V


Parents names: Vance Cuff, Sr. and Barbara Palmore

Siblings names:Eric Lamar, 27.

Main attribute that makes Vance a leader:Vance leads by example. Even when he was a kid, hewas a great leader. He’s just always been a leader, nevera follower.

Best childhood story:I remember one Christmas when Vance was three yearsold. We had a family reunion at my mom’s house andVance had a rocking horse that bounced up and downand he just loved that thing so much. Well, that particu-lar time, Vance was on it so long he went to sleep and felloff. But the good thing, he wasn’t hurt.

Best thing about his time at Georgia:Vance really has matured a whole lot since he’s been atGeorgia. I remember in high school, when we would losea game, he’d get off to himself and all. But now at Geor-gia, he understands that winning is not everything. Oh,Vance wants to win badly but he just accepts things bet-ter.

Nicest thing he’s ever done for you:I’ll never forget the Christmas when Vance was in the10th grade. He wanted to give me something but toldme, “Moma, I don’t have a job or anything.” Well, hemade me a set of earrings. That was very special and Istill have them to this day. Vance is just a giving person… he gives his best to everybody.

A few things about Vance outside of football:He enjoys coming home to be with his family, he reallydoes. And he loves being with his son, Vance Cuff III,who will be three in December.

Most entertaining story about UGA fans:I went to all of Vance’s little league games and his gamesat Colquitt County but I’ve never seen fans like we haveat Georgia. They really love each other and they love theteam. They’re just a rowdy bunch.

What has Coach Richt meant to Vance?I think Coach Richt is a true Christian. I met him on twooccasions before Vance signed with Georgia, one timewhen he came to my apartment. Coach Richt listens toyou, he understands where you’re coming from and isjust a very nice person.

His Foundation: Mother, Barbara Palmore

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The big boys flexed their muscles again on Saturday, as Alabama and Ohio State put up big numbers in easy wins.The SEC West is loaded. Bama will face a stiff challenge from Arkansas, Auburn and LSU, but the Crimson Tide is stillthe best team in the country. The top of the Big XII is strong with Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Oregon Statecould do the country a favor with a win over Boise State.

1. Alabama – Heisman trophy winning tailback Mark Ingramreturned in fine fashion, topping the 100-yard mark in the firstquarter! Alabama absolutely blasted Duke 62-13 in Durham, andnow comes a big one with Arkansas in Fayetteville. Bama will betested by the Razorbacks incredible signal caller Ryan Mallett.

2. Ohio State –The Buckeyes are rolling. On the heels of asignature victory over Miami of Florida, it was no problem againstOhio U. Atlanta native Cameron Heyward is one of the country’sbest defensive tackles

3. Oregon – The Ducks are putting up some incredible num-bers. Yes it was Portland State – alma mater of Neal Lomax – but69 points is impressive. Oregon has rolled up 72, 48 and 69 in itsthree wins this season.

4. Oklahoma - Coming off of an absolute pasting of FloridaState, the Sooners got a not so surprising still test from Air Force.It was a three-point escape for Oklahoma. The big showdown withTexas is on the horizon.

5. South Carolina – Coming off of an enormous win overGeorgia, the Gamecocks eased past in-state foe Furman. Up nextis a highly anticipated showdown with Auburn on the plains.South Carolina can run it and throw it. Steve Spurrier has quite ateam.

6. Texas – The Longhorns got a big time gut-check win inLubbock 24-14 over Tommy Tuberville’s Texas Tech Red Raiders.Texas was in front 14-0, but a pick six helped the Red Raiders tieit at the half. But the Horns defense dominated the second half.

7. Texas Christian – The Horned Frogs put up a big time winover Baylor to push the record to 3-0. Andy Dalton has reallytaken a step this year. He struggled in the Fiesta Bowl loss to BoiseState, but is one of the country’s best this year.

8. Florida – The Gators topped Tennessee 27-13 in Knoxville,pushing Urban Meyer’s record against the Volunteers to a perfect6-0. Florida’s offense is still a bit sluggish, but the Gators have abig time big play threat in super speedster Jeff Demps.

9. Nebraska – In what shaped up as a potential upset, theCornhuskers put a beat-down on Washington in Seattle. Bo Pellinihas restored the pride in the Big Red, and Nebraska’s offense is re-ally cooking.

10. Auburn – The Tigers have put up a couple of clutch threepoint victories to roll their record to a perfect 3-0. Auburn fell be-hind Clemson 17-0, but battled back and pulled it out in overtime.Now South Carolina comes in for a big time showdown betweenteams that have met only four times since the Gamecocks joined theleague in 1992.

11. Arkansas – Ryan Mallett is one of the best quarterbacks toever play at Arkansas. He had another incredible performanceagainst Georgia with 380 yards and three touchdowns. The Hogsare good but stepping to a completely different level this week asBama comes calling.

12. Boise State –Kellen Moore is a standout quarterback and oneof the country’s most accurate passers. Boise State has its secondhuge game of September, as the Broncos take on Oregon State.With a win, though Nevada still looms, the Broncos could be boundfor another perfect season.

13. LSU – Patrick Peterson is the best player in the SoutheasternConference, and showcased his abilities with an incredible inter-ception and return in a 29-7 win over Mississippi State. The Tigersare flat out loaded with talent. But there are some big picture ques-tions.

14. Miami – The Hurricanes have one of college football’s mostdifficult schedules, including the trips to Ohio State and Pittsburgh.The Hurricanes half of the ACC is far and away the tougher side inthe league.

15. Stanford – Jim Harbaugh has done a great job on the farm,and despite losing Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhardt, theCardinal offense is putting up big numbers. But the defense hasbeen outstanding to. Stanford could be Oregon’s biggest challengerfor the Rose Bowl.

16. Utah – The Runnin’ Utes are mighty strong and Kyle Whit-tingham has done an outstanding job keeping the program goingstrong. When Urban Meyer left for Florida, it figured that the Uteswould fall off, but they obviously have not.

17. Arizona – Mike Stoops has slowly been building Arizonaback up. The Wildcats got into a bowl game last season while going8-5, and got a signature win to improve to 3-0 with a monster vic-tory over Iowa in the dessert.

18. Wisconsin – Talk about a scare, the Badgers dodged a bigtime bullet at Camp Randall in a 20-19 win over Arizona State. TheSun Devils had drawn within one, but missed the extra point.Ouch. Wisconsin is at the top of the Big Ten’s second tier.

19. Southern Cal – The Trojans haven’t been looking sharp thelast couple of weeks, struggling to beat Virginia and Minnesota.Matt Barkley is a stellar quarterback. The Trojans won’t feel theprobation effects for a couple of years.

20. Florida State – The Seminoles, after getting demolished byOklahoma, can now turn their attention to the chase for the ACCChampionship. Florida State is in the easier division in the ACCand is the favorite to make it to the conference championship game,though Clemson is better than anticipated.

21. Michigan – Dennard Robinson is some kind of player andhe gives Michigan that big play threat that the program has beensorely missing. The Wolverines had a letdown but were able to sur-vive another I-AA upset, as UMass fell 42-37 in the big house.

22. Iowa – The Hawkeyes fought back late, but were outclassedby Arizona in Tuscon this past Saturday. Ohio State appears to bethe class of the Big Ten, and Iowa is in the mix fighting to challenge.

23. Penn State – After Alabama totally beat the Nittany Lions, itfigured that Penn State would slump emotionally, and they did.Penn State was able to push through and top Kent State.

24. Oregon State - Most of college football will be rooting hardfor the Beavers, as they take on Boise State. Jacquez Rodgers is anoutstanding tailback and could certainly hurt the Broncos defense.

25. Clemson – The Tigers are better than most people thought.Clemson jumped in front of Auburn 17-0 in the first half, but hadit slip away. The Tigers battled back after falling behind 24-17, butlost in overtime on a missed field goal.

Jeff Dantzler’s Top 25


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Man, oh man. What a disaster in Athens.Columns like these are tough to write. Start-ing points are so difficult to find. The boys inRed and Black are not in a good place rightnow. Even worse, we can not help but won-der exactly what the adults are doing. Thoseare not easy words to pen, our friends. But,honesty is always the best policy and we shalladhere.

We will save our thoughts on the overallstate of the program. Clearly, it is not good butthat is a column for another day. Instead, wewill focus on the game past and the next one.It is the best way for us. There is a lot of foot-ball left to play and, though our confidence insome of the coaches has been shaken to thecore, our hopes are high. Mathematical possi-bilities are all we have. Mathematics say cham-pionships have gone the way of the wind. Asa wise man said, it is still 95 degrees outsideand the chance to be special has all but evap-orated. That is not a good thing. It makes ussick. Though, mathematics also say we could

salvage something decent, regardless of whatwe really believe will happen.

The team showed great effort this week.That was a very welcomed change. Of course,we have yet to review the film and we do real-ize that is the only way one can truly gauge ef-fort, apparently. We assume when Coach Richtreviews this film he will agree the effort wasthere. Maybe he will even find the effort wasimproved. That is a good thing.

Straight from the Ray Goff quote book,the head man says we got better. Well, that’s arelief to all of us, we feel certain. Gonna goback to work now. Chop some wood. Keepgriniding. Find out what we are made of. Youknow, we are gonna do all the things teamsdo that lose to teams they were not planningon losing to.

Please excuse our fits of sarcasm. Theyare born of a coaching staff that seems to haveall the answers within the arena when it comesto the microphone but they can’t seem to putit together for sixty minutes on the field. CoachRicht deplored his troops to answer the callwith about eleven minutes left in the fourthquarter. They did seem to pick it up and wenearly pulled it out. Wouldn’t it be great ifCoach Richt could find a way to illicit this typeof energy and play from our team for an entirecontest? We sure think it would. What areyou waiting on coach?

There is a mighty struggle within us to tryin any way shape or form to understand ex-actly what our offensive philosophy is. We tryto find a single unit on this offense that is per-forming well and we are left with mere bits andpieces. As we dig up the past, we must reiter-ate that our offense still has the appearance ofcreativity of that of a stick figure. That is di-rectly from several of our articles in the past. Aunit that returns nearly every starter is failing tomuster much of anything. The line play is justabysmal. The running game is inconsistent atbest. Of course, we wonder if the guy whoseems drunk with the headset on calling playsas if he is playing a game on Xbox has anythingto do with that. Washaun ran for a pretty goodclip when he did tote it. Aaron Murray wassacked six times. No doubt about it, some ofthose were his fault for holding the ball thatlong. We wonder why Coach Bobo puts himin those spots, however. What does he thinka freshman is going to do? When we leave ourdog in the house overnight, we pretty much

expect she will use the floor as the bathroom.

We have an offense whose biggest ques-tion mark coming into this season was thefreshman quarterback. The real problem isthat quarterback is outplaying nearly everyplayer, to a man, on this offensive team. It isapparent we don’t have many playmakers onthe offense. Kris Durham is playing very well.Taverres King seems like a player. We knowwe have great tight ends but we haven’t seenthem hardly at all.

Back to the play calling. What’s the pointof anything? Does anything set up anything?Is there a new rule that we have to be in the Iformation on nearly every snap? Is there a rulethat we are not allowed to run a two tight endset, thus allowing two of our best players onthe field at the same time? How about cross-ing routes? Are we not allowed to run these?They are unstoppable against man coverage.They can not be defended. Yet, we never runone. Why do we run three deep passing

routes, only, on a 3rd and 4 and a 3rd and 1?Do we really have someone on our sidelineswho thinks four defensive backs cannot coverthree wide receivers running straight down thefield? Why do we have a quarterback who hasproven he can run and move and make plays,yet, we won’t run any type of roll out plays?Why don’t we move the pocket with this guyand run some of those crossing routes? Hon-estly, this offense is one of the worst, from ascheme point of view, that we have everwatched. It really is. It is painful to watch.And, it has been that way for a long time. AllAJ Green would do is cover up this fact.Granted, we sure wish he was here to do so.

As for the defense, you can’t imagine howpumped we were to see the fast start. We werevery worried because Arkansas has a very, verygood offense. Their coach is one of the bestoffensive minds in the game. They have a studquarterback and some really good playmak-ers. So, we grabbed a coke and settled in witha big ole smile as we came out and jumped allover them on the first couple of plays. Thatsmile was wiped right away when we jumpedoffside and setup the perfect situation for a bitof foolery for the Hogs first score. All in all, wethought the defense played okay. The defen-sive backs left something to be desired. Ourcoke spilleth over on one occasion as wejumped up to cheer a tackle behind the line,only to see the opposing running back breakthe tackle and bust on in the end zone.

But, we digress, the defense has much tolearn. We were impressed with their fight, justas we were with the fight of the offense. Wewere impressed a little more with their coach-ing. They made some great adjustments againat the half. In the end, too many big plays didus in.

Up next is the mighty Mississippi StateBulldogs in Starkville. It should be a good one,unfortunately. We refuse to dig into the detailsof it out of pure principle. What’s the point?That’s not who we want to be, is it? Get thistrain back on track, Coach Richt. Tell yourprotégé my niece knows all the plays now.Typically before the ball is snapped. We needy’all to give these guys a chance. Quit tellingus the problems after the final whistle blows.Find us some solutions during regulation.

Please. Please do this. The Dawgnationis growing rather restless.

Go Dawgs!

It’s bad, but salvageable

Gruff & GrumpBy Chad White and Al Hickson


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