I think that the lesser team won today. Not only the lesser team based on talent, or on the day...but in every way. Georgia just didn't get the bounces. There were a bunch of fumbles today, and they always bounced WVU's way. Georgia had the better offense - but scored fewer points. They had the better defense - yet allowed more. In the end, it came down to a fake punt. I have very little doubt that, had WVU punted, that Georgia would have won (today, only Georgia could stop Georgia). But WVU's coach called a play that rarely worked. It was a sneak by the punter, in a situation, where not only does the punter seldom gain the 1st down - he usually loses yards. Rarely does he get that 1st down. It worked. Rich Rodriguez won, WVU won, Mark Richat and Georgia lost. It was a fluke. Seldom do I say that. I think that, generally, the winner deserves to lose...and the loser, regardless how talented he is...deserves to lose. I didn't care about either of these teams - at all. Yet the lesser team won today. They locked out in every way. WVU is an unworthy winner. Discuss.
Watched the whole thing. Georgia showed me nothing today that made me think they were the "better" team.
it seems quite likely the better team lost. when it seems like one team is holding on for dear life at the end and just praying time runs out before their lead does, they probably aren't the better team. which was the case with wvu today. they were better today, but that's why we have the word "upset," for cases when the lesser team is better for a day. having said that, i don't see that fake punt as a fluke. not that it occurred to me to run a fake punt b/c of it (which i guess is why i'm not a coach), but earlier in the game i noticed on a punt that georgia ran all of their men off the LOS and back to set up a return. it seemed odd and not something i had really seen much, if any, of this year. most people block at the LOS when returning. anyway, i guess wvu picked up on it (or most likely already knew of it from tape), and decided that if uga wasn't going to leave anyone around the LOS, they may as well just have the punter run where absolutely no defenders were. especially in a situation where they didn't have a tremendous amount of field position to gain w/o a great punt. i'm sure the punter was told to punt if they stayed or came after him but to take off if they all ran back to block like before. they vacated, he took off, relatively easy conversion. not exactly sure what georgia was thinking. there wasn't going to be much chance to set up a return as it was.
The RB for WVU was really amazing. I was impressed with his skills. Consider that he and the QB are both true freshmen...and I think we might be seeing WVU back in the Sugar Bowl again.
I disagree on this. That fake punt was easy to predict. You could see it with all their goofy punt formations and watching what Georgia did on previous punts. It was pretty clear that if they would fake punt, it would be wide open. I didn't think they'd actually have the guts to do it, though. And I don't know that the better team lost. Turnovers aren't necessarily flukes - good teams don't fumble as much. WVU lost their two starting wideouts and still won. Without even the threat of passing, Georgia couldn't stop WVU from running the ball all over the place. Certainly Georgia was better at the big play, but they got behind 28-0 not just by fumbling, but by not being able to stop WVU either. Georgia gave up 300 yards rushing in that game and gained 1 fewer yard of offense than WVU. The SEC just wasn't that good this year - lots of decent teams, but no spectacular teams. Good defenses that looked great because they played a lot of mediocre offenses. Two of their top teams (Auburn, Georgia) got flat out beaten in their bowl games, and Georgia was essentially playing a home game (LSU and Florida, however, dominated).
"There could be some furniture getting burned up in Morgantown tonight." -ABC announcer WVU is such a one dimensional team, but was effective last night. UGA is a better team. Scoreboard didn't agree though. Funny they were talking trash about introducing SEC football to WVU. The hillbilly OL dominated the UGA DL. Just embarressing.
I thought Georgia would be all over WV. I didn't think WV belonged in the Sugar Bowl because of their weak conference, but they proved me and a lot of other people wrong. Their offense is fun to watch.
that's what happens when you did yourself a 28 point hole. I don't kow, Georgia's defense looked suspect. I understand they hadn't seen that offense, but they should have done better.
I really enjoyed this year's sugar bowl and west virginia proved a few important things... 1. The spread option works incredibly well. Georgia had no clue how to read it properly and consequently would get burned every which way by WVU's running back and QB. Also, most people don't realize that west virginia consistently has one of the best OL's in the country year in and year out. This year they finally had a QB and RB that could run the system and stay out of the trouble off the field. Once Urban Meyer gets a QB that can run, Florida will tear up the SEC because they'll get top recruits at all positions and run an offense that most teams dont have an answer for. 2. Dont define a team solely by recuriting classes and talent. West Virginia just played much harder during the first quarter and consequently just blew up the Georgia defense. On the other side, DJ Shockley looked really bad in the beginning. Georgia simply bought into all they hype that this would be a blowout and fell apart. 3. I agree that if there were a few minutes left, Georgia might have caught up but that doesn't change the fact that WVU's offense was still fairly dominant and was incredibly hard to stop despite their one dimensional nature. Once their quarterback learns to throw the ball, this team could be really good in the next few years. Regardless of whether Georgia is the better team, they just didn't show up in the beginning and paid the price. The team that wanted to win more and played harder won and that's all that matters.
It looked like Rodriguez had a lot of junk plays that worked until Georgia recovered. But he saved the best for last.... WVA couldn't pass nor defend the pass. If I was holding that big lead in the 4th quarter, I'd just let Georgia rush and let them burn the clock. Great game.
