The State in Columbia SC Logo

SEC preview: Emotions fuel Bulldogs’ rise | The State

×
  • E-edition
    • Customer Service
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Archive Search
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Photo Posters
    • Sponsorships

  • Obituaries
    • All News
    • Local News
    • Crime & Courts
    • South Carolina
    • Business
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Military
    • State
    • Nation/World
    • Civil Rights
    • Charleston Shootings
    • Data, Weather and Traffic
    • Databases
    • Weather
    • Traffic
    • All Politics
    • The Buzz
    • SC Salary Database
    • All GoGamecocks
    • Football
    • Recruiting
    • Phil Kornblut
    • Baseball
    • Men's Basketball
    • Women's Basketball
    • Other Sports
    • Columnists
    • Josh Kendall
    • Sports
    • GoGamecocks.com
    • Clemson Tigers
    • High School Sports
    • College
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • NASCAR
    • MLB
    • Golf
    • Columnists
    • All GoColumbia
    • Entertainment
    • Celebrities
    • Contests
    • Events & Movies
    • All Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Midlands
    • Health
    • Home & Garden
    • Religion News
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Social
    • Place Announcement
    • Features
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Special Sections
    • Living Here Guide
    • All Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • Editorials
    • Opinion Extra
    • Columnists
    • Cindi Ross Scoppe
    • Robert Ariail
    • Business
    • National Business
    • Technology
    • Shop Around

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Virtual Career Fair
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place an ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Latest News

SEC preview: Emotions fuel Bulldogs’ rise

By SETH EMERSON - semerson@thestate.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

August 04, 2008 12:01 AM

Jeff Owens kept hearing about it when he was at home in Florida during the offseason. He was asked “a million-and-a-half times” about the incident in the Georgia-Florida football game — and sometimes the other person in the conversation had no idea Owens already knew everything about it.

“People who didn’t even know I played for Georgia (were like), ‘Did you all see the Georgia celebration?’ “ Owens said.

That moment, when Georgia exuberantly cleared its bench, changed the course of its season. It put the Bulldogs in the position they are in now: ranked No. 1 in the country, according to the preseason coaches poll.

Strangely enough, they’re not even picked first in their own division — that distinction belongs to Florida. So Georgia’s season once again is set up to be defined by how it plays in the game formerly known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The State

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Georgia has been here before, such as 2004, when it began the year ranked third in the nation. What is different this time around is the energy level, as shown by last year’s seminal moment, which was ordered up by Mark Richt, its formerly stoic and reserved coach. And “that Richt” is a thing of the past.

It happened about halfway through last season. Richt had given up play-calling duties in the offseason, but it took a while for him to realize he was “a little more free to let my emotions go.”

A humiliating 35-14 loss at Tennessee became the launching point. Richt recalled looking at his team and waiting for a player or assistant coach to rise up and start barking. No one did.

“I was getting kind of mad at them until I looked in the mirror and realized that they were basically reflecting me,” Richt said. “I said, something’s got to change. I knew it had to start with me.”

So Richt got going. Three weeks later his team beat Florida, spurred on by the double 15-yard penalties that resulted from Richt’s order to celebrate after the Bulldogs’ first touchdown.

That was a bit more than Richt wanted, and Gators coach Urban Meyer later wrote in a book that it would not be forgotten. Richt said he regrets the move and will not do it again. But the ends appear to have justified the means.

“We felt that we needed something, some kind of fuel just to get the guys on the right path,” Owens said. “That celebration helped us out. It didn’t help us win the football game. It gave guys motivation in order to work hard and get better.”

He also got a little more riled-up with officials. The old Richt said he was either too busy calling plays, or he figured arguments with officials would not do any good. He changed his mind on that too.

During one heated discussion, Richt said an official looked at him and said, “I thought you were a class act.”

“I AM a class act,” Richt yelled back.

The firebrand demeanor may seem out of character for Richt, but he claims to have always had a little bit of it in him. That won’t change this year, according to Richt, as long as it appears to still be working.

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.

  Comments  

Videos

Amicks Ferry Road school walkthrough

Looking for a good day care? Here are 13 things to consider

View More Video

Trending Stories

One metric has South Carolina as a top-20 team in 2019 … but that schedule

February 21, 2019 07:45 AM

Colorado ‘red flag’ gun bill passes first hearing

February 22, 2019 01:55 AM

Midlands teen killed, 2 others injured in crash on the way to school, coroner says

February 21, 2019 12:00 PM

More Bi-Lo grocery stores are closing in SC, reportedly two are in the Midlands

February 21, 2019 09:54 PM

Hootie & the Blowfish adding third session of Group Therapy Tour in Columbia

February 21, 2019 08:00 AM

Read Next

A $250 dog bowl, a turducken and $1,000 golf ticket among McMaster gift haul

Politics & Government

A $250 dog bowl, a turducken and $1,000 golf ticket among McMaster gift haul

By Tom Barton

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 22, 2019 03:53 PM

SC Gov. Henry McMaster accepted $26,500 in books, meals, art, hotel accommodations and other gifts during his first year as governor in 2017, and just over $4,000 in reimbursement for speaking engagements.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The State

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LATEST NEWS

New state charges filed against former SC Solicitor Dan Johnson, onetime top aide

Crime & Courts

New state charges filed against former SC Solicitor Dan Johnson, onetime top aide

February 22, 2019 01:34 PM
SC ‘Dark Web’ drug kingpin, who used Chinese narcotics and bitcoins, gets 14 years

Crime & Courts

SC ‘Dark Web’ drug kingpin, who used Chinese narcotics and bitcoins, gets 14 years

February 22, 2019 11:20 AM
Scores and schedule from SC high school basketball playoffs

High School Basketball

Scores and schedule from SC high school basketball playoffs

February 22, 2019 05:34 PM
Big innings power South Carolina to dominant series-opening win over Utah Valley

USC Gamecocks Baseball

Big innings power South Carolina to dominant series-opening win over Utah Valley

February 22, 2019 07:30 PM
Ivanka Trump endorses Nikki Haley’s daughter for Clemson student body vice president

Education

Ivanka Trump endorses Nikki Haley’s daughter for Clemson student body vice president

February 22, 2019 03:36 PM
Second Trenholm Plaza business closes

Local

Second Trenholm Plaza business closes

February 22, 2019 05:01 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

The State App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Rewards
  • Pay Your Bill
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Special Sections
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story