{"id":1907,"date":"2009-12-29T07:57:04","date_gmt":"2009-12-29T12:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/12\/29\/georgia-upends-texas-am-43-23-to-claim-the-2009-independence-bowl\/"},"modified":"2010-02-26T06:30:20","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T11:30:20","slug":"georgia-upends-texas-am-43-23-to-claim-the-2009-independence-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/12\/29\/georgia-upends-texas-am-43-23-to-claim-the-2009-independence-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia upends Texas A&M 44-20 to claim the 2009 Independence Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

At times it was not pretty, and the game certainly did not play out how I expected, but a win is a win. Besides, when was the last time the Bulldogs won with such an inspired special teams performance? You could say that A&M imploded, but I like to think that the difference came done to coaching.<\/p>\n

If you look at the statistics<\/a>, it is clear that Texas A&M had a great offensive performance, but Georgia\u2019s defense managed to get some key third down stops. Of course there was the special teams play and in a rare occurrence this year, Georgia actually won the turn over battle.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN<\/a>, next up is finding a defensive coordinator:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means: Georgia (8-5) can go into the offseason feeling better about itself after knocking off Georgia Tech in the regular-season finale and winning its fourth straight bowl game. It\u2019s not what anybody in Athens wanted or expected, but the Bulldogs showed their pride as a program by not completely unraveling after that bitter home loss to Kentucky back on Nov. 21. The next step is for Mark Richt to settle on his defensive coordinator. It\u2019s obviously a huge hire for Richt and a huge hire for the program.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s all well and good, but the big question for the program is going to be the next QB. I still think it is unfortunate that this team did not get some of the younger QBs some playing time; nothing beats real experience on the field. I can appreciate that Coach Richt did not want to burn a Red Shirt (or two), but they don\u2019t do you any good if one of the QBs turns out to be a stud and leaves after two years.<\/p>\n

[Edit:\u00a0 Oops \u2026 how embarrassing!\u00a0 Not only did I give A&M 3 extra points, but I short changed UGA a point.\u00a0 Score in title corrected.]<\/p>\n

SEC Predictions<\/em><\/strong>
\nThere are no SEC teams in action until New Year\u2019s Eve; next installment forthcoming.<\/p>\n


\nRegular Season Record: 46-41
\nSEC Championship: 0-1
\nSEC Bowl Record: 1-1
\nFinal Record: 47-43
\n\u2014
\nSEC Bowl Record: 1-1 *Actual, not my predictions<\/em><\/p>\n

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