UGA 70-player TD celebration

[agentrygraphics]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj_yqJtmE2w

Most of you have probably heard about this by now, but still I think it's an Interesting strategy. I'm not much for college football, but when I heard about this I thought the move by Richt was a smart one. Completely caught everyone at the stadium off-guard.

Supposedly Richt told his team that if they didn't get a penalty for celebration after their first TD, then he'd be p*ssed.

[Breakwood]

Well I guess it worked!

[infrared41]

I loved it.

[Drew22]

According to the AJC, if they didn't get a penalty they'd have to run at 5:45am today.

[kewp80]

That's football coaching right there!

[ROCHitman]

I'd even guess Richt told the officiating crew of this before the game.

Most of the officials don't look as if they were caught off guard at all.

One of them didn't even look up while the UGA team was running towards him and the pile.

[BlueSky]

Interesting local reaction here in Georgia. Most people are supportive of course, but had Florida done this to Georgia, no doubt there would be widespread angst, hand-wringing, and general condemnation of such a "bush league" ploy. Seems a bit hypocritical.

It's also interesting that Coach Richt was very upset when his players danced on the Vandy logo after beating the Commodores (quite an achievement!) but then encouraged them to swarm the field vs. Florida. He should make up his mind whether he wants to team to display class or not.

[rock55choc]

Skyaa1,

You took my words right out of my mouth. It makes no sense for Richt to bemoan his players for stomping on a midfield logo, then turn around and encourage the same players to rush the field when they score the first TD. Just because it was Florida and the stakes somewhat higher, doesn't mean the Bulldogs had an excuse to overabundantly celebrate. Richt seems really two-faced here. I'm waiting to hear an explanation from Richt on this one.

[TFoA]

Skyaa1,

You took my words right out of my mouth. It makes no sense for Richt to bemoan his players for stomping on a midfield logo, then turn around and encourage the same players to rush the field when they score the first TD. Just because it was Florida and the stakes somewhat higher, doesn't mean the Bulldogs had an excuse to overabundantly celebrate. Richt seems really two-faced here. I'm waiting to hear an explanation from Richt on this one.

1) It was disrespectful to Vandy because it was at their home, on their field.

2) There was no disrespect towarrds Florida. It was a neutral site, so that means that Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was just as much their stadium as it was Florida's.

3) If anything, it was done for psychological reasons. Georgia needed to loosen up, losing 15 of the last 17 to one team will tighten you up and make you play tighter. Thus, what's the best way to loosen up??? Get a penalty for excessively having a good time. That's just loosening up and treating the game like it's a game.

Now, disrespect would be if Georgia did this and they were up by 38, and it was in Florida.

[Milo Meningocele]

I also agree that this was bush league, and marvel that it took so many posts for someone to say it. I don't care if you're a college team or Chad Johnson--you gotta act like you've scored before and will again. If you've got to resort to that baloney, you don't deserve to win in the first place.

[BlueSky]

Have to disagree with TheFlameofAtlanta. What's the venue got to do with it? Again, had Florida done it the Georgia fans would be crying like a bunch of newborn kittens.

With that said, when I posted earlier I hadn't read the local paper. In it, Richt claimed he merely told the players that he wanted the whole team to celebrate the first TD they scored and that he didn't realize they'd rush the field. From what I've seen of Richt, that sounds credible.

[HedleyLamarr]

Interesting local reaction here in Georgia. Most people are supportive of course, but had Florida done this to Georgia, no doubt there would be widespread angst, hand-wringing, and general condemnation of such a "bush league" ploy. Seems a bit hypocritical.

It's also interesting that Coach Richt was very upset when his players danced on the Vandy logo after beating the Commodores (quite an achievement!) but then encouraged them to swarm the field vs. Florida. He should make up his mind whether he wants to team to display class or not.

A few points here:

1. As you just posted, Richt wasn't expecting the whole team to rush to the goal line. He was just expecting the 11 players on the field to celebrate enough to draw a penalty flag. As we all know, it's not too difficult to draw an excessive celebration flag in college football these days.

2. As for the jumping around on the logo at Vanderbilt, I've heard conflicting stories. (I was at the Thrashers game that night, and left to return to my seat as soon as the winning FG went through the uprights.) I've heard that the UGA players weren't intentionally jumping on the logo, but were swarming and jumping around the kicker, and just happened to be on the logo at that time of their celebration, and that Richt mistook that they were jumping the logo. At the least, I would certainly hope that winning at Vanderbilt isn't so big a win that jumping on the logo is necessary. I don't remember Vandy jumping on the G logo last year (not that I stuck around that long to see if they were or not)...

3. Being a former football player, I have a different mentality on celebrations than the media: The best way to prevent the other team from showing you up in celebration is to stop them from scoring/winning. Had Florida done the same thing, I might have been a little ticked, but I'd be more ticked about Florida scoring in the first place.

[rmackman]

I went to the game and personally I think Georgia was absolutely classless. On top of that they followed that crap up with a double facemask on one of the Gator players. That's completely unecessary to facemask a guy, be unsuccessful, then drag him down by his facemask a 2nd time. Florida played horrible, and they deserved to lose...but Georgia doesn't know how to win gracefully. To top it off, as I walked out out of the stadium I had several Georgia fans attempt to start a fight with me or other Gator fans. I had one guy yell "YEAH WE BEAT YOUR ASS NOW WE'RE GONNA BEAT THE FANS ASSES TOO! WOOOOOOO!" Come on...I know it's a big deal to you guys, but have some decency.

[rams80]

I went to the game and personally I think Georgia was absolutely classless. On top of that they followed that crap up with a double facemask on one of the Gator players. That's completely unecessary to facemask a guy, be unsuccessful, then drag him down by his facemask a 2nd time. Florida played horrible, and they deserved to lose...but Georgia doesn't know how to win gracefully. To top it off, as I walked out out of the stadium I had several Georgia fans attempt to start a fight with me or other Gator fans. I had one guy yell "YEAH WE BEAT YOUR ASS NOW WE'RE GONNA BEAT THE FANS ASSES TOO! WOOOOOOO!" Come on...I know it's a big deal to you guys, but have some decency.

Pot meet kettle.

[vicfurth]

I went to the game and personally I think Georgia was absolutely classless. On top of that they followed that crap up with a double facemask on one of the Gator players. That's completely unecessary to facemask a guy, be unsuccessful, then drag him down by his facemask a 2nd time. Florida played horrible, and they deserved to lose...but Georgia doesn't know how to win gracefully. To top it off, as I walked out out of the stadium I had several Georgia fans attempt to start a fight with me or other Gator fans. I had one guy yell "YEAH WE BEAT YOUR ASS NOW WE'RE GONNA BEAT THE FANS ASSES TOO! WOOOOOOO!" Come on...I know it's a big deal to you guys, but have some decency.

Not to discount what you said, but everything you said about Georgia came from an arch-rival's point of view. No offense, of course.

When I first saw the team rush the field I thought it was stupid. At the same time, 30 yards in penalties was excessive IMHO. Yeesh, I can't even put all the pros/cons of rushing like that. I'd end up taking all the bandwidth with useless drivel that would still leave the initial question unanswered: Was the celebration "classless". With this in mind, I'll sum it up quickly:

Excessive: Definitely

Necessary: Probably not, but it was a rivalry game

Classless: I don't think so

If you want classless, how about a few years ago when Texas Tech students tore down goalposts after beating Texas A&M and tried to parade them through the Aggie fan section, leaving many fights (also started by Techies) in their wake. Now, THAT is classless and forever made me hate Texas Tech (even more than UT).

[Drew22]

It was only 15 yards for the whole team rushing the field.

The other 15 were for Fernando Velasco was "taking pictures" of Knowshon Moreno after he scored.

[Sport]

The ball still ended up at the Florida 30 on the kickoff so I'd say it was a success.

Tim Tebow wears jorts!

[HedleyLamarr]

On top of that they followed that crap up with a double facemask on one of the Gator players. That's completely unecessary to facemask a guy, be unsuccessful, then drag him down by his facemask a 2nd time.

If you're referring to the play I'm thinking about, Georgia got flagged with 2 personal fouls on that play, so it's not like it went unnoticed. It didn't change the outcome of the game.

[rmackman]

I never said they went unnoticed, just that it was dirty. I also said the fans were just as bad as their team starting fights with Gator fans after they'd won.