Just when I had about given up...

You tore up our hedges, I'll tear up your endzone. (Photo: AJC)

...on the Dogs, they now have me making bowl plans.

I am absolutely ecstatic over last night's win at Tech.  My feelings remind me of the ones I had following Auburn in 2006; I had basically given up on the team but it won impressively, and now my passion is restored.  I know, it sounds somewhat fair-weathered.  Too bad there's only one game remaining this season and it is not until a month from now.

This morning I started to write a piece on how a presumed loss to Georgia Tech, which I and many others had accepted, followed by an unexpected victory, was reminiscent of a particular call by a legendary play-by-play broadcaster.  That is, until I read the Athens Banner-Herald and saw that David Ching beat me to the punch.

I'll put together something else later and have it posted by Monday night.

Until then, a few of the game's facts and stats got me thinking/digging.  Last night's win over the Jackets was certainly a rarity...

• Only six other times in Georgia football history had an unranked Bulldog team defeated a team ranked as high as No. 7 Georgia Tech: 2006- #5 Auburn, 2001- #6 Tennessee, 1991- #6 Clemson, 1974- #6 Florida, 1966- #7 Florida*, and 1965- #5 Alabama*. * In 1965 and 1966, the AP Poll only ranked the top 10 teams, not 20 or 25.  Entering the Florida game of 1966, although unranked, Georgia was one of nine "others receiving votes" and there for was among the AP's top 20 teams.
• Only seven times since 1973 had Georgia defeated a bigger favorite than the nine-point favored Yellow Jackets: 1997- 20.5-point favored Florida, 2006- 11.5 Auburn, 1973- 11 Tennessee, 2001- 11 Tennessee, 1975- 10.5 Florida, 1986- 10.5 Auburn, and 1996- 10 Auburn.

Georgia's powerful running game against Tech's defense was extraordinary and remindful of some of Coach Dooley's offenses.  Speaking of which...

• The Bulldogs' 339 rushing yards were their most not only in the Mark Richt era (as I have already read/heard several times in less than 24 hours since the game), but since the William & Mary game of 1988 (Coach Dooley's last team) when Georgia rushed for 372 yards.
• Georgia had two players rush for 100+ yards in a single game for only the third time since 1988.  In 1992, Garrison Hearst and Mack Strong rushed for 100+ against South Carolina and, in 2004, Thomas Brown and Danny Ware did so versus Vanderbilt.
• Joe Cox's 14 pass attempts were the team's lowest since D.J. Shockley completed six of only 12 passes against LSU in the 2005 SEC Championship Game.
• Georgia AND Georgia Tech did attempt a single punt.  I have Georgia's game punting statistics on hand dating back to the late 1970s and found just one instance each for the Bulldogs and their opponent when they did not punt--Georgia against Duke in 1986 and Kentucky versus the Dogs in 1997.  Based on this and the fact that, until the 1960s, football teams punted often and routinely before facing fourth down, I believe last night was likely the first time in 116 seasons and 1,177 games of UGA football, Georgia AND its opponent did not both punt in a game.