re: Haters Said UT Didn't Have A Chance In Hell.......

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Agreed. If there is any such thing as a good loss - that was it. Especially the way it was lost - on a high effort play that went bad because of the high effort.

I'm old enough to remember the '9 in a row' . Our sea-change happened at UT in Richt's first season when Green tossed the ball to the fullback in Richt's first year and we won in the last few seconds. We only won 8 that year, but it helped the players, fans and program start to believe.

I think UT's moment happened on Pig's herculean effort/fumble. Of course, 30 new stud recruits won't hurt.

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Nine in row had to suck. It certainly sucks to be there with Florida having 9 on us right now, although this past year's loss to UF didn't feel so bad because both teams played so sorry it was as though the game being played between the teams was 'who can force the other team win.' Neither team wanted it and both played the most godawful football they could. It became quite comical.

That said, I always felt UGA was competitive during our streak. Only a few games were out of reach. That's pretty damned good considering the time frame and talent we had back then. UT-UF often seems out of reach. We've been completely outgunned and overmatched by Florida before the game even started for at least the past five.

And I definitely agree about 2001 being a turning point for UGA. I also think anyone who loves college football would put that game on their list of great SEC games/great college football games. I know the AJC thinks highly of it but even UT Sports lists that one as one of the great games in the series (the only other UGA win we list is UGA's 1973 win). LINK

Says a lot about the quality of that game that both schools cite it as one of the series' best since UGA broke UT's streak the year before.

And yeah those stud recruits are definitely going to help -- a lot of them were OVing at this years UT-UGA game. And getting 14 EEs may help us win more games than most fans, analysts, and others think. Right now we're still thinking 2015 is the year we finally return but some of those EEs are ready to play now and most all of them are upgrades and the practice reports give reason to believe that we have some diamonds.

I definitely see 2014 as a year we could be a darkhorse team that surprises everyone including our own fans (but hell, our own fans are often more negative and cautious than others).