Georgia Bulldogs: 10 Most Painful Losses Since 2008

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I remember the Georgia Bulldogs going into Tiger Stadium the year before and winning in arguably the most hostile road environment in college football. Even with former QB Matthew Stafford leaving a year early and getting drafted by the Detroit Lions number one overall in the 2009 NFL Draft, I still thought that Georgia could beat LSU at home in 2009.

I felt like the hard part of the home-and-home series with the Tigers was over. Winning in Death Valley in 2008 against an LSU team that had an ever-rotating carousel over quarterbacks seemed like it should continue even with first year starter Senior QB Joe Cox under center.

Even though LSU had arguably the deepest defensive back group in the SEC, I liked Georgia’s chances to win at home for one reason: the Dawgs had sophomore sensation WR AJ Green. In my seven seasons as a Dawg, I’ve never seen a more dominant receiver in Athens and possibly all of college football. If the ball was in Green’s vicinity, he was coming away with it.

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Though LSU came to Athens ranked #4 in the country, Tigers HC Les Miles had still yet to defeat the Georgia Bulldogs since taking over the Bayou Bengals in 2005 when Nick Saban departed to the NFL to coach the Miami Dolphins. I knew that the game would likely be decided by one score.

Georgia didn’t score in the first half, trailing LSU 6-0 into the third quarter. But Georgia crawled back and took a 13-12 lead with 1:09 remaining in the 4th Quarter on a leaping grab by Green over LSU’s Patrick Peterson. And then the refs ruined everything, calling an ‘excessive celebration’ on Green and Georgia received a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff.

Just the untimeliness of the penalty and the free yardage gained by LSU was good enough to give Miles’ Tigers a strong road victory over the Dawgs. I still don’t know why the flags were necessary on the Green touchdown catch. To me, this loss was the exact opposite of the elation I feel when I watch re-runs of the Hobnail Boot Game against Tennessee in 2001.

I remember seeing two of my dumbfounded fraternity brothers looking absolutely deflated in the stands on SportsCenter that evening. Believe me that was a real gut-punching loss. For some reason, I feel that this loss set the tone for Joe Cox’s lone season as a starter. Though the Georgia Bulldogs had lost to Lane Kiffin’s Volunteers in Knoxville earlier in the year, Tennessee was still very good and Georgia might have gone 10-3, finishing the season ranked, not 8-5 playing Texas A&M in Shreveport for a meaningless bowl game.

Next: The Bad Joe Cox Game

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