Grind City Football: With Auburn on deck, No. 1 Bulldogs rising above skeptics to emerge as legit national title frontrunner
Michael WallaceBy Nubyjas Wilborn
Grind City Media CorrespondentATHENS, Ga. – The Tuesday before last was cause for a celebration nearly everywhere in ‘Dawg Nation’. Fans of the University of Georgia football program rejoiced as the Bulldogs were announced as the No. 1 team in the first rankings by the College Football Playoff selection committee.
The Bulldogs have only been in the rankings seven times since the playoffs started in 2014, and Georgia’s highest poll spot before now was when it was No. 9 in 2014.
It’s been over 30 years since the Dawgs experienced heights anywhere near this level. Back then, Herschel Walker ran over defenders and the Sugar fell out of the sky as Georgia won the 1981 National Championship. So, understandably, fans have waited a long time to feel this excited again.
However, for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his team, it’s business as usual.
“I haven’t talked about it, to be honest with you,” Smart said of claiming the top poll position entering the season’s stretch run toward the national championship playoffs. “We have a game to prepare for. I’ll be here until 11 p.m. and back here early. I won’t even watch the (weekly poll release) show. I’ll let the leadership group handle how to address the team. They do a good job of relaying the message that needs to be sent. We don’t really get into it.”
Georgia is 9-0 after last week’s 24-10 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. Now, the Dawgs face their latest, biggest test of the season when they visit Auburn on Saturday. The four-team playoff to crown a national champion remains about two months away, but each game the rest of the way will have the feel of a high-stakes elimination contest.
Smart was wise to take the Gamecocks seriously last week, and will obviously do so again this week.
“I worked all week to remind my team that the rankings are irrelevant to us,” Smart has repeatedly said. “We are still the hunters, not the hunted.”
Georgia freshman quarterback Jake Fromm (No. 11) has endured criticism throughout the season, but has passed for 15 touchdowns and just four interceptions in the Bulldogs’ ball-control offense. Photo Credit: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
In spite of the Dawgs undefeated record and number one ranking the team still has a chip on its shoulder. They’ve elevated themselves, have already clinched a spot in the SEC Championship game next month and have emerged as a legitimate threat to unseat perennial league bully Alabama.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Smart insisted. “There’s still a lot more to accomplish.”
It also hasn’t stopped opponents from trash talking along the way. Georgia embraces being a target, and has worn the responsibility well the past several weeks on the field.
Two weeks ago, it was Florida Gators safety Chauncey Gardner who sent a shot at the Bulldogs.
“Anybody can throw simple passes,” Gardner said about Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm “I get it, anybody can throw a slant. If you call him the best quarterback, so be it, but he has to play Saturday. We’re going to see what his best attribute is. If he can beat us with his arm, whoopty do.”
Fromm didn’t exactly throw the Dawgs to a win, but the team scored 42 points while the Gators barely mustered seven. Fromm went 4 of 7 for 101 yards, and the Dawgs were up 21-0 at halftime. They mostly ran the ball in the second half and didn’t need to pass.
It was another example of how Georgia’s play has spoken volumes this season.
“We hear it when people talk trash, and we mostly ignore it,” said Georgia cornerback Tyrique McGhee. “But I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t give you extra motivation. Coach Smart tells us to focus on ourselves and that we don’t need the other team for motivation. But we hear them chirping sometimes. Either way, we’re going to be ready.”
Last week, it was South Carolina safety Chris Lammons who declared Georgia’s passing game subpar. One of the rules at Georgia is that all freshmen and most sophomores aren’t allowed to talk to the media. So Fromm, a freshman, hasn’t addressed much of the criticism tossed his way.
His teammates, however, have had his back. “We prefer to run because we’re a gritty team,” McGhee said. “But our offensive can throw it too. We see those guys every day, trust me, they got it.”
Fromm proved Lammings wrong with two touchdown passes and 196 years on 16-of-22 passing. One of those touchdowns was a 20-yard play to Mecole Hardman. After the game, Hardman echoed the attack sentiments from Smart.
“We practice physicality all week,” Hardman said. “We make it so that practice is harder than the game. We’re the Dawgs so we are always ready to go hunt. We have to establish the tempo. We aren’t here to lay back and let teams come at us.”
Bulldogs cornerback Tyrique McGhee (No. 26) insists there is no lack of motivation for Georgia as the program pursues its first national championship since Herschel Walker’s 1981 title team. Photo Credit: Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
The win over South Carolina clinched a trip to the SEC title game. For the second straight week, Georgia had something to celebrate. Yet, for the second time in a matter of days, the focus remained on bigger goals ahead.
“I’m just ready to be done with this press conference so I can go talk to these recruits,” Smart said after last week’s victory. “I don’t have time to celebrate division titles. There’s work to do.”
The foundation of a culture change is settling into place for Smart in his second season in Athens. Players refer to practice as “clocking into work,” and the attention to detail starts with attire. Georgia players used to arrive at games in relaxed garb. Now they show up in suits.
“(Now) you walk in, and you’re all business,” junior receiver Terry Godwin said. “You’re coming here to take care of business. Whenever you come in there all swagged up and looking clean, that’s what’s on your mind, ‘We’re here for a business trip.’ That’s how you’ve got to get prepared.”
The goal for the players is to approach everything in a business-like manner. So far, it’s working. Saturday afternoon at Auburn will be another test of the business-as-usual approach. And taking care of this next bit of business starts with preparing Fromm for the most hostile environment he’s faced.
Georgia launched itself into national contention with an early-season win on the road at Notre Dame. But the Dawgs were relative upstarts then. Now, they’re frontrunners with everything to lose. Smart pumped in artificial crowd noise into the work environment at practice this week to create added adversity for Fromm, who has passed for 15 touchdowns and just four picks this season.
“Crank it up and get him used to it,” Smart said of Fromm. “We just can’t put too much on his plate to where he can’t communicate.”
If UGA is to have the type of season it wants, these are the tests they must pass. It appears the Dawgs are built for success. It’s a deep team with a hungry mentality.
“We are going to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Smart said. “We will practice hard and keep chopping. That’s who we are (and) that’s what we do.”
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Michael Wallace and/or Nubyjas Wilborn are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Published on Nov 09, 2016
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