The View From Atlanta

At halftime, I was seriously considering a self-imposed bowl attendance moratorium. All my fears about the game were coming true. Matt Stafford looked like a freshman against the nation's top defense. The Dawgs had one good play the entire half, a long inside run by Kregg Lumpkin. The Hokie's weren't quite gashing us like Slaton and White last year, but they were certainly grinding out what appeared at that time to be a blowout win. There were even rumors of coaches fighting on the Georgia sideline. It looked bad and I was looking at another nine hour drive after an embarrassing loss, just like last year.

For whatever reason, and I have a few, the last twenty minutes of the game completely reversed course. Georgia was the one making big defensive stops. Charles Johnson looked like I was blocking him. Tony Taylor made play after play to set up scores. Matt Stafford was hitting his receivers in stride and some of them even caught the ball. Virginia Tech collapsed. Sean Glennon looked confused and rattled as he seemed to simply throw a few balls up for grabs and Tony Taylor grabbed them. As bad as the 31-24 final score should feel to Virginia Tech fans, it could have been worse. If Georgia receivers could catch the ball, they would have scored at least seven more points.

I was surprised by the UGA run defense. VT is a grinder team, good running game, good special teams, good defense. When they couldn't run, their offense sputtered. Most of their scores were over a short field where they didn't need to really drive the ball far. The Georgia defense came to play and the VT defense looked like a good defense, but certainly not the best in the country. Like I mentioned last week, they racked up all those great stats against terrible offensive teams and UGA's offense is better than most of VT's prior opponents.

Two Dawgs deserve special attention: Tony Taylor and whoever called the onside kick. Taylor, as he has done all year, demonstrated his almost supernatural ability to make a big defensive play. The guy is a witch and I wish him well. The onside kick was the play of the game. I don't know if that was a Richt or a Bobo decision, but it completely changed the game, switching momentum decidedly in favor of the Dawgs.

As for the atmosphere, it was a dreary day in Atlanta, but we still had a great time. We hung out with Paul and Dawgnoxious before the game and their hospitality was superior.

As I mentioned last week, I had a good impression of VT fans and that was confirmed. The ones around me were good fans, cheering their team and making noise. Even at halftime, I didn't get any trash talk from the Hokies. I do have one bone to pick with the Hokies, though. If you've never been to a Hokie game, on third down they all get out their keys and shake them to make noise for their defense. In the Georgia Dome, it sounded like we were in somebody's change purse. It was interesting at first, but quickly became annoying as hell. Call me old-fashioned or a purist, but I am against artificial noise makers, whether they be car keys or cowbells. Your voice is your instrument and is all you need.

I'll have some more bowl game thoughts later.