Georgia not shying away from title talk

[JohnDeere 0]

AJC

Georgia not shying away from title talk

National championship is the goal and can be accomplished, says DB Allen

By CARTER STRICKLAND

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/24/08

Athens — Two years before Don James hugged the national title trophy the pressure was squeezing him.

The former Washington coach knew what he had way back in 1989. It was then, at the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, Calif., the coach first started to allow himself to think of the possibilities of the title and then talk about them.

"The plan was to come right back here, stay in this hotel the next year, play in the Rose Bowl and see what happened," James said.

Washington finished fifth in the final AP vote after a 46-34 win over Iowa in the Rose Bowl.

That led to a preseason No. 4 ranking in 1991 — the year the Huskies went on to win the championship. The pressure was evident throughout.

"We all felt it," James said. "We all knew it was there."

Everybody.

"You had to try to make it fun," said James' wife, Carol. "It was fun."

Perspective has given her that much.

Dogs relishing title talk

Now Georgia is about to be in the thick of it. It is the calm before the storm. Georgia may be No. 1 in some eyes. But the season is still eight months away. Spring practice is two months away. The hype should start somewhere between the two.

The players are ready to accept the title talk and, in fact, have stoked it. Georgia coach Mark Richt, characteristically, has been more cautious. Some others who have been through it have advice for both as Georgia starts its quest to be No. 1.

"That's our goal," said cornerback Asher Allen. "It's something we know we can accomplish."

Such talk is not customary around Georgia. Maybe in the depths of the locker room the players talk about the possibility of winning it all. But in Richt's program bold statements are few and predictions rarer still.

"To think that you can predict being in contention at the end is pretty brash," Richt said. "And I'm not going to do that. But I do think that we're going to have a more veteran team than we've had in a while, and I think we'll have some good depth, and I think we'll have a chance to make a run at it. But so there's also about six or seven others in our league."

Richt said all that but then again this is a team he has allowed to become brash. Florida, anyone? Even the coach, who at first said it was boys being boys when talk of a possible national title in 2008 started to percolate, has softened his stance.

"If guys want to start talking about it out in the open then they have got to understand there is a lot of responsibility that goes with it, mainly work," Richt said. "(National championships) happen because people pay the price. If (title talk) helps our guys work even harder, that's great."

With that comes the price of pressure. But that is not all bad, said Dr. Stanley Teitelbaum, a renowned clinical psychologist with a background in sports.

"It can be very positive talking about and feeling such dedication toward a powerful goal," Teitelbaum said.

That, in turn, can bring about a team cohesion, a solidarity for one goal that pushes the players to achieve more, he said.

"Staying focused but not too focused, that is the key," said John Robinson, whose Southern Cal team won the UPI title in 1978. "Our motto was 'What is the big deal? We are always in big games. Let's just understand what it is we need to do to win.'"

Both Robinson and James said keeping a light, fun atmosphere and keeping in touch with players is the key.

"The biggest problem are the external things," Robinson said. "The things that are out of your control. We had an advantage in Los Angeles, being an inner-city school because of all the stuff that went with it. It was every day for us, the press and everything, it wasn't like we were going to be overwhelmed like we were some school in a small town with two beat writers."

It's a little too early for the national media to start making trips to Athens. No photo shoots have been scheduled. No camera crews are roaming the Butts-Mehre Athletic complex.

Bulldogs' back now featuring target

In a few months, as the hype starts to sizzle, that may come. What undoubtedly are already in place are the targets on Georgia's back. The Bulldogs, despite not making it to the national title game, finished the season as the hottest team in the SEC. They return 17 starters. They are a lock for a preseason top five poll spot.

It all sounds familiar to former Georgia coach Vince Dooley.

"You become the hunted," Dooley said of the 1980 championship season. "That can be a challenging to say the least. I always told them 'It is not my fault, it is your fault because what you have done, so you better be ready.'

Dooley's team always was that season and that he said came from within the players.

"It is more self motivation," he said. "They know what the goals are. What I was pointing out was the challenges of getting there."

One of the greatest challenges — aside from the schedule that has Georgia at LSU, Arizona State, Auburn, Kentucky and Florida — is keeping everything in perspective.

"They have to order their priorities and put that in perspective," Teitelbaum said of the players.

If the national title becomes a singular obsession it has the ability to take over one's life, he said. That can lead an athlete down a destructive path. See UAT boosters

This is where the coaches come in.

"You have to keep them focused on what they are doing at that time," James said. "You think about the national title. You know it is there. It is always there in the back of your mind when you start the season and stays there until you lose.

"But you can't just talk about that all the time," he said. "We didn't push it. We talked more about what they could do that day."

Doing that finally allowed that day to come for James in 1991.

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The players are ready to accept the title talk and, in fact, have stoked it. Georgia coach Mark Richt, characteristically, has been more cautious. Some others who have been through it have advice for both as Georgia starts its quest to be No. 1.

"That's our goal," said cornerback Asher Allen. "It's something we know we can accomplish."

Such talk is not customary around Georgia. Maybe in the depths of the locker room the players talk about the possibility of winning it all. But in Richt's program bold statements are few and predictions rarer still.

"To think that you can predict being in contention at the end is pretty brash," Richt said. "And I'm not going to do that. But I do think that we're going to have a more veteran team than we've had in a while, and I think we'll have some good depth, and I think we'll have a chance to make a run at it. But so there's also about six or seven others in our league."

Richt said all that but then again this is a team he has allowed to become brash. Florida, anyone? Even the coach, who at first said it was boys being boys when talk of a possible national title in 2008 started to percolate, has softened his stance.

"If guys want to start talking about it out in the open then they have got to understand there is a lot of responsibility that goes with it, mainly work," Richt said. "(National championships) happen because people pay the price. If (title talk) helps our guys work even harder, that's great."

See nothing wrong with any of that. LSU's players said the same thing last off-season and it worked out well for them.

Setting your sights on the NC should be everyone's goal

[kwagoner 214]

I think that UGA is very capable of being a NC contender in 08. They should have some confidence and set the goals high. However, they are just as likely to be the equivalant of the 2003 Auburn team if they let the confidence swell too high. It is a thin line that I'm glad I don't have to walk.

[ssgaufan 0]

The players are ready to accept the title talk and, in fact, have stoked it. Georgia coach Mark Richt, characteristically, has been more cautious. Some others who have been through it have advice for both as Georgia starts its quest to be No. 1.

"That's our goal," said cornerback Asher Allen. "It's something we know we can accomplish."

Such talk is not customary around Georgia. Maybe in the depths of the locker room the players talk about the possibility of winning it all. But in Richt's program bold statements are few and predictions rarer still.

"To think that you can predict being in contention at the end is pretty brash," Richt said. "And I'm not going to do that. But I do think that we're going to have a more veteran team than we've had in a while, and I think we'll have some good depth, and I think we'll have a chance to make a run at it. But so there's also about six or seven others in our league."

Richt said all that but then again this is a team he has allowed to become brash. Florida, anyone? Even the coach, who at first said it was boys being boys when talk of a possible national title in 2008 started to percolate, has softened his stance.

"If guys want to start talking about it out in the open then they have got to understand there is a lot of responsibility that goes with it, mainly work," Richt said. "(National championships) happen because people pay the price. If (title talk) helps our guys work even harder, that's great."

See nothing wrong with any of that. LSU's players said the same thing last off-season and it worked out well for them.

Setting your sights on the NC should be everyone's goal

Worked out real well huh? Two regular season losses, and a college season for the ages with only one one loss team. They got lucky as hell and you know it. If all of that talk during the off season really worked out, then I wonder what they were saying after UK, and Arky walked off the field with a win. Just accept it SouthLink, your team is a bunch of classless jerks.

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Worked out real well huh?

SEC Title and NC....I would say so

Just accept it SouthLink, your team is a bunch of classless jerks.

And as long as they are SEC Champs/NC classless jerks, I will be completely happy