I gotta agree I didn't like the move. To me it's just not good sportsmanship. Justifying it by citing other past examples doesn't exclude it either. That's the old "if your friend jumps of a bridge..." saying. I'm much more of a fan of the guy/team who scores and hands the ball to the ref so maybe I'm just a bit boring. I'm just always more impressed by the teams that win quietly with class. They kick your ass up and down the field and then shake your hand and look you in the eye afterwards.
There's one thing I agree with Corey about... "Florida had their chance to do something about it". I also can't help but wonder what Spurrier would've done if he were on the sideline? He would smirked a grin and fired his team up by handing UGA a whipping. Maybe this shows UM isn't quite the coach Spurrier is? No disrespect at UM, I don't think anyone alive is in the class of Spurrier.
TB, Apologies for taking issue with you about your own team, but as an outside observer who watched the game, it looked to me like GA simply refused to lose this game. They went hard at each other, but GA was not to be denied. It was their day and their game. I don't know what Spurrier or any other coach could have done to change it.
dont get me wrong fellas <t>Im not saying you are wrong. Im not saying that I dont teach the 'old school' method to my teams.<br/> <br/> <br/> But my point remains:<br/> <br/> This was nothing more than a strategic tactic used to motivate his team for their big rival that has owned them for more than a decade and a half.<br/> <br/> It worked, end of story.<br/> <br/> Personally, I think its a punk move to run up the score. I think Heisman poses in the end zone are lame. I think dancing in the end zone is fruity as hell and I can't stand flying chest bumps. I can't stand stomping on team's logos or planting flags on the field.. I dont like guys who stand there and watch their HR in the box.<br/> <br/> Then again, I am one of those card holding members of the pitchers union that JOCO referred to earlier and every pitching staff I've been associated with played the game by Union rules.<br/> <br/> As a coach, all I know is that I am responsible for my team...its conduct and success. No one does stuff like that to my teams without paying for it, most usually in the loss column..<br/> <br/> Mark Richt is responsible for his team. His kids responded to it.</t>
Sid, You might be right there. Donnan beat Spurrier once and there was nothing he could do about it that day. It didn't mean Spurrier was any less of a coach. He responded the next year though! The question is what happens in this series in the next few years. Does UGA turn the series around? This coaching move by Richt will be answered in time and will be interesting to see what happens. It may be what defines Richt career? One things for sure, there will be no over looking UGA next year.
MCG, I don't think 4 arms would've kept Tebow off the ground so he could make his throws. The UGA defense played pretty well.
The Ga defense did play well TB but they didn't have to deal with the threat of Tebow tucking the ball and running out of sacks. He had been sacked maybe once all year and he clearly had a different approach to that last Sat. as he tried to throw or hold the ball when pressured instead of running. In spite of all that and two costly TOs deep in Ga territory UF scored 30 for the game...24 on offense and moved the ball well all day. An unhealthy Tebow was not shut down so I don't see what would be to Georgia's benefit if he had been healthy. In any event re: the celebration this is one Gator who has never been bothered by what happened and right now I don't see the fascination with it. It was amusing and seemed to fire up both squads actually. The only drawback was UF got a little aggressive on defense after scoring the tying TD and then picked up a 15 yard PF on the "last one to get caught shoving back" B/S that so often happens. After that the Florida defense was not the same the rest of game and Georgia seemed to stay fired up.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/10/30/richtreax_1031.html You guys should enjoy the link. Current and former coaches express their opinion of Mark Richts call.
MCG him being healthy or not had no effect on stopping Knowshon Moreno. Unless Tebow was playing LB'er Tebow couldn't have changed the outcome.
I kind of equate this celebration to the basketball coach taking a technical to fire up his team or the baseball manager getting himself thrown out of the game on purpose. It was a calculated call. I too would love for every player to hand the ball to the ref but even then the player was mobbed by his teammates, but that doesn't happen much anymore. I think this was Richt's way of telling his team he was with them and it didn't have anything to do with showing disrespect to Florida. The other point is that all of the announcers and even some of the Florida fans make such a big deal about Tebow being 70% of their offense and it is true. That's the good news. The bad news is that if something happens to Tebow, Florida just lost 70% of their offense. While I would have loved for Tebow to have come to Alabama, I would hope that we would have developed a more balanced offense around him. Just saying.
Well let me say a couple of things. First I think it was a bush league move that could have had bad results for both teams if a fight broke out. Having said that I don't think it was the reason Georgia won, they won because of Moreno and a team that just wouldn't be denied. I don't agree that the Gators couldn't have won because of Moreno, we could easily scored 3 more times in that game and won a high scoring game. But we didn't and Georgia won. The best team on the field Sat was Georgia. Does that mean the series has turned around? Not in my mind, at least not yet. It did however put some fire back into the series.
No doubt UF fans including me will have more of a sense of anticipaion before the Georgia game next year and that is good for the rivalry. I remember in 1997 when Ga pulled a similar unsuspected win over Fla and then in 1998 I actually attended my last Ga-Fla game and it was so sweet getting the 38-7 victory and seeing Florida right the ship again. Maybe this is sort of a repeat of that kind of blip on the screen. Given Georgia's 2008 schedule and UF's youth it wouldn't surprise me.
LMAO ..... actually, Richt controlling his players, keeping them on the sidelines where they belong (by rule), then arguing with an official and getting flagged, then tossed, from the game would be like .... "the basketball coach taking a technical to fire up his team or the baseball manager getting himself thrown out of the game on purpose". What Richt did is .... well ..... what we expect from people like Schnellenberger, Bowden, and Dooley.
And BTW ... not at all surprised by any of the positions taken, opinions expressed in this thread RE this matter. Not at all. 8)
You Gator fans seem to forget the Spurrier years and all his smart comments? This proves Mark Richt is just like all the rest of these coaches, He'll do anything to win.
Tailback When did Spurrier instruct the UF sidelines to "storm" the field after a TD to celebrate and taunt the opponent? Maybe I missed it .... just having watched almost (if not) all of the UF games he coached? He may have verbally poked and prodded the competition ..... off the field, before and after the game ... but I don't recall him sanctioning team behavior like the abhorrence planned by Richt and the UGa staff. Attempts to rationalize such on field behavior ....... is fubar.
I didn't see UGA players taunt the Florida players. They were celebrating with other UGA players and made a attempt to keep themselves separated from the Florida player while they did so. You guys got lots of chuckles from Spurrier over the years at others expense. You never once heard me complain about SOS putting 50+ on UGA at home. Some say that was classless? Now the shoes on the other foot... Deal with it is all I'm saying.
You see TB....that's where I disgree as far as the "shoe being on the other foot". A 7 point lead and a "taunt" or a 12 point win that was contested until the end doesn't equate to the beatdown in Athens or even the Ron Zook led wins that came over Georgia squads that were better teams than Florida was in those years. To me this was a blip led by circumstances more than anything else and Richt's unusual ploy was a passing occurrence.....not a series changer. If Tebow plays healthy next year and Georgia pulls out a win I will get more concerned.
Spurrier would have said, "if you don't like the way we celebrate after a touchdown, don't let us score." This morning ESPN has a fans poll on whether the celebration was a good idea or not. 68% or respondents say it was as did Herbie the Wonderbuck. Neither am I.
I'll stand by my statement that it was bush league. Having said that, it's no big deal to me, as I said above Georgia was the better team Sat and won the game. The Gators had their chances but came up short. Also, it's kind of a tribute to the Gators that teams care this much about beating us. Teams tearing down their goal posts and now this where it comes to the Gators. I actually take that as a complement and expect the Gators will have a long memory come next year. Tailback, as far as Georgia not taunting that is not correct. If you recall Georgia got 30 yards of penalties for that display. 15 yards for excessive celebration and 15 yards for taunting. CBS showed the player who got the call. But as I say, it's a complement that teams have to resort to things like this when it comes to the Gators. Frequently the week after an emotional win over the Gators the team has trouble in their next game. Although I thing it was bush league, I still think Richt is a very good coach and that Georgia is lucky to have him. I don't think he will ever do that again.