Georgia Bulldogs: Trip To Knoxville Will Tell The Tale For 2017
By W. M. Lawson
The Georgia Bulldogs (4-0) put a straight thumping on the “other” Bulldogs of Mississippi State Saturday. It will be this next game, however, that is the benchmark.
You might think it strange for someone to write that a resounding and reverberating win against a Top-20 team on national television, like the one Saturday against MSU, would not count more than one over a team threatening to fire their Head Coach before September is over. But the Georgia Bulldogs go to Knoxville Saturday to play the Tennessee Vols, and it is that game that will decide 2017.
Look, this in no way takes away from the win in Athens Saturday. The real Dawgs played like Dawgs from the jump. The stifling and suffocating Defense, and outright creative play calling and almost perfect execution on Offense and Special Teams, all created a symphony of winning for the sold out Sanford Stadium.
The Notre Dame game was an eye-opener and eyebrow raiser for the way the fans showed up and the True Freshman QB showed out. It had been a few years since the Georgia Bulldogs faithful could truly be proud of their boys in red and black. Notre Dame ended that.
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MSU was a statement home game. The kind of game that good teams win. It was the kind of show that great teams make in front of an assembled talent of future players that UGA had never seen before at a game. It will be looked back at as a turning point. A fulcrum for coming success.
But this Tennessee game is more than either of those. The Vols are red hot about the way they lost to Florida. The fans are in almost public mutiny and meltdown. Ask them. They’ll tell you. They looked awful Saturday against awful UMass. One would think that this coming game would be a walk for UGA, based on the way each team has played, thus far.
No way. This game is always close. Knoxville is always a tough place to play. UGA hardly ever goes up there and makes a statement. A good statement, anyway.
Unless something has changed. And that is what I am referring to. With all love and respect due to Coach Mark Richt, this is the exact type of game he would’ve lost. After a statement win at home, and with the seemingly better team, we would go up there and lose inexplicably. It’s part of the reason he didn’t retire in Athens.
If Head Coach Kirby Smart really and truly has changed the culture of this program, inserted a new identity, one that doesn’t buckle or lose focus, and has moved the needle, this is the game. This would be the game where UGA goes on the road and shows that the old identity is gone. That any recall you have of what Georgia might do this year is null and void.
The UGA Dawgs showed everyone in the country that they are more physical the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Now they have a chance to show that they have the mental acumen and mental strength to go on the road and win an SEC East Divisional game it is supposed to win.
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Saturday will tell the tale of Kirby Smart’s Dawgs. If they handle business on Rocky Top, as my Dad would say, “Boys, business just picked up”.