To no one’s surprise, the dreaded Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide won the 2012 national college football championship. They went 14-0 and crushed No. 1-ranked Notre Dame, 42-14, in the title game. But in the Southeastern Conference championship game just previous, they had prevailed only by turning away Georgia from four yards out of the end zone on the last play of the game. It seems the real championship two years ago was played in Atlanta.
Following the game, King Saban all but scolded reporters that apparently they didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of UGA’s accomplishment. (You can look it up.) Saban knew how good his own team was, and he was visibly impressed that Georgia had just matched them eye-to-eye.
To understand the Fire Mark Richt movement, you have to understand that, to these fans, the above scenario is not an endorsement of UGA’s coach but his professional death warrant. That Richt coached a physically inferior Georgia team to within one play of beating unbeatable Alabama isn’t the point.
What is the point? Not just that Richt “lost the big one,” but that this Alabama game proved once and for all that he can never win the big one. It’s not possible, apparently. It’s simply not in the man. And what does Nick Saban know?
What’s got the Richt detractors running for their pitchforks again was Georgia’s humiliating loss to Florida last Saturday. The Dawgs were heavy favorites and instead got spanked and sent home. Now their national championship hopes are dashed – again.
In truth, it may have been Richt’s worst game at Georgia.
The university could certainly make national headlines by firing Richt, and not just on the sports pages. Consider it news when the guy with the highest winning percentage in school history gets the boot without at least having a losing season in the recent past. UGA would be openly ridiculed.
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