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Finally the moment has arrived where all the talkcomes to an end.

All the gurus from ESPN to the AJC have anointedthe Mighty Gators rulers of the earth in 2009. All theother teams in the country are simply playing for secondplace if you believe folks like Kirk Herbstreit and MarkBradley.

And I guess, if you’re a realist, you must admit thata program that has won two national titles in three sea-sons, that also has most of its starters returning, is cer-tainly deserving of the high accolades and praise. Andbecause of that, Florida must be considered the fron-trunners this season.

Bravo Sir Urban and Timmy T. Let me tip my hat toyou and your colorful orange and blue faithful. Your runhas been exceptional.

However my kudos stop there because like everyonein the Bulldog Nation, I’ve had enough of you. And in afew months, I look forward to a rubber match of Ali-Frazer proportions.

Round one went to those dancing Dawgs in 2007,which was rightfully paid back last season, with a twotimeout Urban Meyer cherry on top. Oh won’t Hal-loween be fun by the banks of the St. Johns River?

However that clash is many moons away and nowit’s time to get ready for a rare opening game on the roadfor our boys in red and black.

Go west young man. Come Friday, the team will board jets heading to a

place where certainly almost none of them have everbeen. However they won’t be alone, as tens of thousandsof fans in the Bulldog Nation aren’t going to miss a chanceto see what a Big 12 conference school and its fanbase isall about.

I know one thing is for sure, Okie State must bemighty proud of themselves to be charging an astro-nomical $100 per ticket to enter the newly renovatedBoone Pickens Stadium.

Speaking of the ultra-billionaire energy tycoon, Itried earlier in the year to secure an interview with himfor this issue of Bulldawg Illustrated. I do believe in whatPickens is preaching and thought Georgia folks wouldenjoy some space not only dedicated to his plan, but alsohis love of Oklahoma State.

However Pickens gave BI the snub, so now I’m hop-ing the Dawgs return the favor by spoiling his stadiumdedication. It’s time for some T. Boone for the BulldogNation as our cover displays.

Without question, Coach Richt and company willhave their hands full with the Cowboys. They can throwand run the ball with great success. However as Jeff Dant-zler points out, it’s the Cowboys special teams that couldcause the most problems.

However much like the Georgia D, I think last year’sfailures will prove to be an awesome motivator once theball goes in the air for the Bulldogs’ special teams unit. Iexpect nastiness in all phases and can’t wait for that firstbone-jarring hit or spectacular play that will signify whatthis 2009 team is all about.

Now normally in this issue each year, I make a sea-son prediction. However this year, I have decided to letmy actions speak for themselves. I stand by my predic-tion that the Dawgs will lose one of the first three games.However that didn’t faze me enough from making hotelreservations in Pasadena beginning on January 6, 2010.And I won’t be checking out until the 9th because I don’texpect to get much sleep on the 7th or 8th.

Perhaps I truly have finally lost my mind.

But for whatever reason, I think this team is going todefy what all the experts say about their talent level andprove that a championship is won when an entire groupis united on all fronts.

On this page is a photo I took of Rod Battle at Pic-ture Day a few weeks ago. To my dismay, Battle held upthe number one sign, which is always the kiss of death asfar as I’m concerned. However I loved that he stood byhis statement, when I asked him whether he was reallythat confidant. I then told him I had made reservationsin California and demanded that he and his defensivebrethren not make a fool out of me.

There you have it. The 2009 season begins on Sat-urday. Can’t wait to see how it all unfolds. Will I fall onmy fanatical sword or ride the dream-season donkey allthe way to Cali?

FYI … 61 days until kickoff in Jacksonville!

— Vance Leavy

BULLDAWGIssue 6 - Oklahoma State

From the Editor

FOR ADVERTISING: call Andrew Miller - 706-248-8053 or [email protected] TO SUBSCRIBE: www.bulldawgillustrated.com or call 1-877-456-4624

6 Sigma Nu opens new houseBoth student and alumni brothers showed up in drovesto celebrate the fraternity’s return to River Road.

8 Georgia-Oklahoma State previewJeff Dantzler sets the stage for what it will take for aDawgs’ victory in Stillwater.

11 Expanded gameday coverageSeveral more hours, including The BI’s Jeff Dantzler.

13 Greater Piedmont Touchdown ClubAnother full season of doing nothing for this catfish eating, football loving crew.

15 JD’s Top 25Like most, Dantzler has the Gators leading the pack. Andhas the Dawgs at #24.

18 Hartman Fund football kickoffAlways a great crew each year at the Athens Country Club.

21 Bulldawg Leader: Joe CoxMurray Poole returns with his annual season series featuring top Dogs and the foundation in their life.

22 Gruff & GrumpThese guys are always upbeat at this time of the year.Here’s to hoping it continues all season long!

BIcontents

66 21

PublisherCha Cha Cha Publishing

Editor Vance Leavy

Editorial & Ad DirectorCheri LeavySports EditorJeff Dantzler

Public Relations DirectorAndrew Miller

Sales & MarketingKelley BlantonJeanne DoddAustin KeebleAndrew MillerHolly Stanfill

SportsMurray PooleLayout/DesignVance Leavy

Student InternsMary Boyce Hicks

Ryan Scates

Ad DesignCheri Leavy

Andrew MillerTech Support

Chris LeeCover DesignVance Leavy

ColumnistsCarlton DeVooght

Al HicksonReg MurphyEddie RocheRob SherrellChad WhiteWeb MavenCheri Leavy

Issue 6 - Oklahoma State, September 1, 2009 - Credits: Chris Collins Photography, Georgia Sports Communications, SEC Sports.com

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Most of Georgia’s greatestteams have opened their seasonsagainst a quality, big name oppo-nents. There are different theoriesfor different coaches. Some likePete Carroll of Southern Cal andFlorida’s Urban Meyer like playinga lightweight before taking on atough foe. Other coaches preferplaying a quality foe. Georgia’slegendary hall of fame coach VinceDooley always said “you know alot more about your football team,win or lose, when you play a qual-ity opponent in the opener.”

That thinking certainly goesfor the Bulldogs in 2009.

Leading off one of nation’smost challenging schedules isninth-ranked Oklahoma State, ledby a sensational trio of skill play-ers with All-American honors lit-tering national awards watch lists.Mark Richt’s sterling 30-4 roadrecord at the Bulldog helm will beput to one of its sternest tests. Inaddition to Georgia’s eight annualSoutheastern Conference affairs,the Bulldogs play three teams (theCowboys, Arizona State and Tech)from BCS leagues – a first for anSEC school since college footballexpanded to a 12-game regularseason slate. It’s a schedule filledwith landmines, and a victory inthe opener would be a huge firststep for the 13th-ranked Bulldogs,who enter this season with far lesshoopla than a year ago when Geor-gia was the consensus preseasonNo. 1.

If the Bulldogs do beat theCowboys, that’s no guarantee of aBCS bowl and trip to the SECChampionship Game – after allFlorida returns one of the greatestcollege football players ever andits entire defensive two deep. Butif Georgia can cry victory in Still-water, it’s certainly a good sign.

Georgia’s national and SECchampions of 1942, led by Heis-man winner Frank Sinkwich,Charley Trippi and GeorgePoschner, nipped Kentucky 7-6 ina game played in Louisville. TheBulldogs would famously go 11-1,rout Florida 75-0, pummel sec-ond-ranked Tech 34-0 and thendown UCLA 9-0 to win the RoseBowl.

Trippi, Johnny Rauch, JackBush and Joe Tereshinski led WallyButts second SEC championshipteam, as the perfect 11-0 Bulldogswon every game by double digits,capped with a 20-10 Sugar Bowlvictory over North Carolina.Georgia, named national champi-ons in one poll, rolled Clemson35-12 in the season opener.

In 1948, the SEC championBulldogs didn’t play a big namefoe in the opener, but nippedtough Chattanooga 14-7.

It would be 11 years until theBulldogs would win another SECtitle. Georgia opened the 10-1campaign of 1959 with a 17-3 vic-tory over Alabama, headed by sec-ond year coach Bear Bryant.

Year three of the Dooley eraopened with a heart-stopping 20-17 win over conference foe Missis-sippi State in Jackson. The 1966season ended with a 10-1 record,SEC title and No. 4 national rank-ing.

In 1968, star-studded Georgiatied Tennessee in Knoxville 17-17and went on to win the SEC titlewith an 8-0-2 record. The Bull-dogs should have won at Neyland

Stadium. It was the first year thatthe clock stopped after firstdowns, and with the Volunteersdown 17-9 on the closing drive,Tennessee got a bunch of extratime then scored on a controver-sial TD and tied it with a two-pointer.

With Andy Johnson leadingthe way, Georgia went 11-1 in1971. The Bulldogs opened witha 56-25 romp over Oregon State ofthe PAC-10 and their 300-poundcoach Dee Andros, who lookedlike a giant pumpkin in the BeaverOrange.

Another SEC championshipcame in 1976, as the JunkyardDawgs enjoyed a stellar 10-1 regu-lar season that began with a 36-24victory over Cal and the GoldenBears high octane passing duo ofJoe Roth and Wesley Walker.

Georgia just missed out on theSEC title in 1978, going 9-1-1.The Dogs opened the year with a16-14 win over Baylor, led by All-American linebacker Mike Single-tary.

The 43-4-1 Golden Era of theearly ‘80’s featured season openerswith Tennessee, Tennessee, Clem-son and UCLA.

Herschel Walker burst uponthe scene in Knoxville, leading the1980 national champions to a stir-ring 16-15 victory over the Vols.

Georgia began its SEC title de-fense with a 1981 season-opening44-0 pounding of Tennessee.

The most highly anticipatedopener in Georgia annals came be-tween the hedges on Labor DayNight 1982, with the 1980 na-tional champion Bulldogs topping1981 national champion Clemson13-7, despite Walker forced tolimited duty wearing a cast pro-tecting a broken thumb. Georgiawould go 11-0 and win a thirdstraight conference title.

In 1983, Georgia went 10-1-1,opening the season with a thrilling19-8 victory over UCLA and quar-terback Rick Neuhisel. The Bull-dogs wrapped up the campaignranked No. 4 in the land.

Georgia’s great 13-1 SECchampionship team of 2002opened the season with a 31-28victory over Clemson. The Bull-dogs of Mark Richt finished No. 3nationally.

The following year, Georgiafell in the SEC ChampionshipGame, but went 11-3 and finishedNo. 6. Georgia began its seasonwith a 30-0 pasting of Clemson inDeath Valley.

Capturing its last SEC title in2005, Georgia opened the seasonwith a 48-12 mauling of highlytouted Boise State between thehedges.

This season’s opening game foeOklahoma State kicked off the2007 campaign in Athens, and theBulldogs rolled 35-14. Georgiawent on to finish No. 2 nationallywith an 11-2 mark.

Again, nothing is exact, buthistory clearly indicates that a vastmajority of Georgia’s SEC champi-onship campaigns and elite sea-sons have begun with victoriesover big time, name programs.Oklahoma State certainly qualifiesfor the part.

Now it’s up to the Bulldogs of2009 to try and continue the trendby starting a treacherous trail witha signature victory.

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Without question, Mark Richtis facing the toughest season-open-ing opponent in his nine-yeartenure at Georgia when the Bull-dogs tangle with the 9th-rankedOklahoma State Cowboys Saturdayin Stillwater.

Not only in Richt’s time inAthens but the matchup with OSUat newly-renovated Boone PickensStadium will be the first time Geor-gia has opened the season against atop-10 ranked team on the roadsince way back in 1968, when theBulldogs tied No. 9 Tennessee 17-17 in Knoxville.

So the intensity level on theOklahoma State campus this Satur-day should be off the chart as the13th-ranked Bulldogs attempt toslow down a Cowboys’ offensive at-tack that appears to be as explosiveas anyone’s in the country.

This game, in fact, looks so at-tractive on paper that it has trig-gered my mind to recall some ofGeorgia’s greatest-ever victories onthe road … at least, the ones I wasfortunate enough to be able to at-tend.

First of all, let’s throw out theBulldogs’ big wins down throughthe years in Jacksonville. That’ssupposed to be a neutral site forGeorgia even though the Bull-dogs’ record against the Gators thepast 20 years might indicate other-wise and isn’t played on the op-posing team’s campus.

It surely doesn’t take me overone second to recall the game that Iunequivocally make the Bulldogs’greatest road victory ever.

That would be on Sept. 6, 1980when a freshman tailback namedHerschel Walker rallied Vince Doo-ley’s eventual national championBulldogs to a come-from-behind16-15 over the host Tennessee Vol-unteers before 95,000-fans inKnoxville … then the largest crowdin the history of Southern collegiatefootball.

And the most intriguing thingabout that game for me personallywas that, 24 hours prior to thekickoff at Neyland Stadium, I didn’teven know that I would be attend-ing it. But on the Friday evening ofSept. 5, as I was covering the GlynnAcademy-Brunswick High seasonopener as sports editor of TheBrunswick News, I encounteredFrank Inman upon entering thepress box at Brunswick’s old LanierField. Inman, the former RichmondAcademy head coach and offensivecoordinator and recruiting coordi-nator under Dooley at Georgia, hadonly the year before assumed theathletic director position for GlynnCounty Schools.

“We’ve got an extra seat on theplane to Knoxville tomorrow if youwould like to go,” said Inman tome. Of course, I didn’t have tothink about Inman’s invitation verylong to reply in the affirmative.Since I had been on the sidelinesnearly a year earlier to witness thefinal game of Herschel Walker’s glo-rious high school career at JohnsonCounty, I thought what could bebetter than to see his collegiatedebut with the Bulldogs at NeylandStadium.

So after hastily arranging to se-cure a working press pass with theTennessee sports information de-partment, it was off to the land ofthe Smoky Mountains and themuch anticipated opening-gameclash with the Vols.

Needless to say, every Bulldogeye in the stadium was on Herschelas he went through the pre-gamewarm-ups with the rest of the team.Wearing his new No. 34 jersey -- hewore 43 in high school but that

number was taken at UGA Walkercertainly looked the part of a futuresuperstar, what with his 6-2, 220-pound physique. And everyoneknew of the sprinter speed his mus-cular legs harnessed.

But for a good portion of thegame, it looked as if the anxiousUGA faithful were only going to seeHerschel in the pre-game warm-ups. But after seeing action on onlya couple of plays in the first half,the third quarter was truly toevolve into the coming-out partyfor Herschel Walker.

When the Bulldogs fell behindthe Volunteers 15-2 in that quarter,things were getting desperate forthe University of Georgia and I’msure Dooley and his assistant staffhad this collective thought: “Heck,what have we got to lose, let’sthrow Herschel in there!” The rest,as you know, is college football his-tory. Herschel ran flat over futureNFL star Bill Bates to score his firsttouchdown on a 16-yard thing ofbeauty (leaving Larry Munson toscream his famous call into themike, “My God! a freshman!”), andthen Herschel came back early inthe fourth period to tie the game ona 9-yard run. Rex Robinson thendrilled his second extra-point kickto complete the Bulldogs’ amazing16-15 comeback win.

Just the dramatics of Georgia’sthrilling win that night coupledwith the introduction of likely col-lege football’s greatest-ever runningback, has to always put the 1980Tennessee game at the top of thelist when you’re talking about theBulldogs’ greatest-ever road victo-ries.

But other sterling road tri-umphs I’ve witnessed while cover-ing the Bulldogs have to bementioned here as well. Such as:the 27-24 win at Georgia Tech in1997 (Mike Bobo-to-Corey Allen inthe corner with 8 seconds left); the24-21 win at Auburn in 2002which launched the Bulldogs to-ward their first SEC title in 20 years(David Greene-to-Michael Johnsonin the corner on 4th-and-15 withjust over a minute to play); the 13-7 victory in 2002 at South Car-olina when David Pollack literallytook the ball out of the quarter-back’s hand in the end zone); the30-0 season-opening win overClemson in 2003 at Death Valley,memorable just because of the Bull-dogs’ unexpected total dominationof the Tigers that day in their ownbackyard, and last year’s disman-tling of LSU when the Dogs hung52 points on the Tigers at their fa-bled Tiger Stadium.

And just three spine-tinglingroad wins I wasn’t able to attendwould have to be the 28-24 1971win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta(Andy Johnson’s heroics and JimmyPoulos over the top with 14 sec-onds to play); the famous “hob-nailboot” 26-24 win over Tennessee in2001 (Greene to Verron Hayneswith 5 seconds left), and the stir-ring 26-23 overtime win over Ala-bama at Bryant-Denny in 2007(Matthew Stafford to Mikey Hen-derson for 25 yards on the Bull-dogs’ first offensive play of OT).

Heck, there were so many nail-biting Georgia wins on the roadunder coaches Butts, Griffith, Doo-ley, Goff, Donnan and Richt downthrough the years, you could makeyour own lengthy list without in-cluding a single one of the gamesI’ve mentioned above.

Let’s hope, come late Saturdayafternoon on the Oklahoma plains,we can throw another huge UGAroad win onto these lists.

www.bulldawgillustrated.com 5

Will Saturday join other great road wins?

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By Jeff DantzlerBULLDAWG ILLUSTRATED

In one of the most highly anticipated openers of the Mark Richt era, No. 13 Georgia takeson explosive Oklahoma State, ranked ninth, as the Cowboys christen their newly renovated sta-dium before a nationally televised audience. Las Vegas has Oklahoma State favored by six points,marking the first time Georgia has opened the season on the road as an underdog, since the mis-erable 1990 campaign that began with an 18-13 loss at LSU and ended with a 4-7 record.

While the Bulldogs open arguably the most daunting schedule in the country having to re-place Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford, the first tailback and quarterback selected inthe NFL Draft, Oklahoma State returns one of the nation’s most potent trios of skill position play-ers.

Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant are a premier aerial duo and Kendall Hunter is one of thecountry’s top tailbacks. Robinson, a senior, was overshadowed by Big XII South rival signalcallers Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Colt McCoy from Texas, both Heisman finalists. But themobile, strong armed quarterback was every bit as impressive last season, breaking the schoolsingle season passing record and moving into the top spot for career total offense at OklahomaState.

Bryant is Robinson’s favorite target. The consensus first team All-American’s 19 touch-down receptions ranked second nationally, and Bryant was in the top three of the NCAA sta-tistics in four statistical categories – including receiving yards, punt returns and scoring.

Hunter was an All-American a year ago, joining the ranks of Cowboy greats Barry Sandersand Thurman Thomas, after compiling 1,555 yards a year ago to lead the Big XII.

Georgia’s defense faces a stiff challenge out of the gate. Defensive coordinator Willie Martinez’s stop unit took a lot of criticism for its performance

down the stretch last year. The Bulldogs surrendered 49 points to Florida, 38 to Kentucky and45 to Tech. But the special teams, which also horrible in a squeaker win at Auburn, was everybit the equal – if not greater – culprit, in addition to a pair of critical interception returns againstthe Gators and Yellow Jackets. An incredible rash of injuries struck Georgia last season. Bothlines of scrimmage were hit particularly hard and the nearly two dozen season-ending injuriesclearly had an enormous trickledown effect on the special teams.

So while the offense faces the daunting challenge of replacing Stafford, Moreno and star re-

ceiver Mohammed Massaquoi, a second round selection, the defense and kicking game mustshow marked improvement if the Bulldogs are to contend for the Southeastern Conference titleand/or continue the nation’s longest streak of 12 straight seasons of eight or more wins.

Tackles Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens, lost in the first quarter of last season’s opener, anchorthe middle of the defense. Outside linebacker Rennie Curran is one of the nation’s top defend-ers and combines with the strong group of tackles to give Georgia a potentially strong frontseven. The biggest question mark will be at defensive end, where for the first time in the 2000s,the Bulldogs didn’t have an all-star performer.

One of the most respected coordinators in the business, Martinez has coached the sec-ondary since 2001 and littered the NFL and all-star lists with standout players. But last season,the secondary struggled. ReShad Jones was the only defensive back who had an interception.Wounded pride and an infusion of young, hungry talent could key a 2009 defensive turn-around.

But what about the offense? The line could be outstanding. Stacy Searels was an outstanding hire by Mark Richt and

he’s done an outstanding job with a young unit the last two years. This season’s front has tal-ent, depth and experience.

Led by the phenomenal sophomore A.J. Green, Georgia should, despite the loss ofMassaquoi, be strong at receiver. But the question marks abound at quarterback and tailback.

Veteran fifth-year senior Joe Cox steps into the leading role behind center. His careerhighlight came as a freshman in 2006, directing a thrilling last minute victory drive over Col-orado. If the Bulldogs can establish a strong running game, Cox should be strong throwing offof play-action. Richard Samuel won the starting job at tailback after a strong preseason camp.The young 18-year old sophomore will be backed up by shifty 5-8, 170 redshirt sophomoreCarlton Thomas. Behind Cox is sophomore Logan Gray and true freshman Aaron Murray.

This Georgia team has more question marks, primarily because of the loss of offen-sive firepower, than any in the Richt era. This could be the toughest opener and most challengingschedule of his nine year tenure.

Last season the Bulldogs were under the intense glare of the preseason No. 1 nationalranking. A year later, Georgia is a six point underdog in Stillwater. Richt, one of college foot-ball’s winningest coaches, knows how to get it done on the road. Under his watch, the Bulldogsare 30-4 in opposing teams’ stadiums.

Georgia-Oklahoma State Preview Bryan EvansBryan EvansOrson CharlesOrson CharlesPhotos by Chris Collins

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By Murray PooleBULLDAWG ILLUSTRATED

The Georgia defense may not face a team all season thatpossesses more offensive weapons than do the Bulldogs’ season-opening opponent Saturday, the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Yes, that includes the defending national champion FloridaGators, whom the Bulldogs encounter on Hal-loween in Jacksonville.

The No. 9-ranked Cowboys of MikeGundy (he of the “I’m a Man” tirade) sportedthe most balanced offense in the country lastseason when they rushed for 3,191 yards andpassed for 3,149 en route to a 9-4 record andwith eight starters returning on offense, Okla-homa State appears poised to better thosemarks in 2009.

In senior quarterback Zac Robinson, jun-ior wide receiver Dez Bryant and junior tail-back Kendall Hunter, the Cowboys have threeof the very top skill players in the nation tothrow at Willie Martinez’s Georgia defense Sat-urday (3:30-ABC-TV) in Stillwater. Robinson(6-3, 218) threw for 3,064 yards and 25touchdowns last season while completing 65 percent of hispasses. The nimble-footed quarterback also ran for 562 yardsand eight scores last season. The high-jumping, sure-handedBryant (6-2, 220) pulled in 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19touchdowns in 2008, and Hunter (5-8, 197) rushed for 1,555yards and 16 touchdowns. The Sporting News has labeledRobinson and Bryant, who also excels as a kickoff and punt re-turner, as the top quarterback-receiver combo in the nation thisseason.

In addition to those three, another force the Bulldogs mustcontend with Saturday is senior cornerback Perrish Cox (6-0,198), a superb kick returner who had 895 yards in kickoff re-turns last season while averaging right at 30 yards per return. Inhis career at OSU, Cox has taken back four kickoffs for touch-downs, one more than Heisman winner Barry Sanders did dur-ing his glorious career with the Cowboys.

Defensively, Oklahoma State doesn’t look quite as potent.But after yielding 267.7 passing yards a game in 2008 (which

ranked 109th among 119 Division I-A teams) and surrendering28.1 points per game, the Cowboys are coming in with a newmindset this season under new coordinator Bill Young, who wasat Miami last season. Behind the play of shutdown corner Coxand fellow DBs Terrance Anderson, Lucien Antoine and VictorJohnson, the OSU secondary, at least, promises to be muchstingier this season. Increased blitz packages installed by Youngshould greatly help the OSU defense’s performance.

It’s no wonder that Oklahoma State fans,aware of their team’s explosive offensive arse-nal, are feeling pretty confident yeah, evencocky about their team’s chances against theDogs on Saturday.

“We’re going to beat Georgia within aninch of their lives,” one Cowboy fan boldlypredicted.

Said another, “If we start blowing UGAout, should our team treat them how Floridadid last season and just start toying aroundwith them or should we be classy? Not sayingwe are going to blow them out. Just asking ifit were to happen.”

“Georgia fans have no idea what is wait-ing for them in Stillwater,” exclaimed still an-

other long-time Oklahoma State supporter. “Georgia may notplay better when at home, but OSU does, and this year the Cow-boys are doing it with a top 15 team. Many Bulldog fans like toshout, ‘We heard all the same stuff from Hawaii.’ Guys, OSU isn’tHawaii. They are a BCS team ranked well inside the top 15 in thecountry, and you are headed to their house.”

One Cowboy fan was confident the much-maligned Okla-homa State defense will step up to the plate against the Bulldogsthis weekend.

“I’m feeling optimistic about our defense,” he said. “I thinkwe will surprise everyone. I foresee us causing disruptions withtheir passing timing, especially with a new quarterback. My pre-diction is that we hold Georgia to 17 or less.”

The Bulldogs and Cowboys will be staging only their fourthmeeting Saturday, with Georgia having won all three previousmatchups, including a 35-14 win over OSU in the 2007 seasonopener in Athens.

Scouting report

Rowdy Cowboys#1 Dez Bryant, WR6-2, 220 Jr. Lufkin, Texas Teaming with Zac Robinson to give Oklahoma State one of

the most dynamic passing attacks, Bryant was a consensus firstteam All-American selection a year ago, ranking in the top threenationally in four statistical categories. The speedy phenomhauled in 19 touchdown passes a year ago, the second best totalin the country, while averaging 113.9 yards per game, placingthird in the final NCAA statistics. Doubly dangerous on specialteams, Bryant averaged 17.9 yards per punt return, third best inthe land. His 9.69 points per game was the country’s second besttally. Bryant has scored 27 touchdowns in 25 career games. Oneof the most accomplished players in Cowboy history, Bryant wasa freshman All-American in 2007, a Biletnikoff Award finalist in’08 and was the Big XII Special Teams Player of the Year.

#24 Kendall Hunter, TB5-8, 197 Jr. Tyler, Texas

Over shadowed by Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant and the Cow-boys powerful passing attack, Hunter had a monster 2008 cam-paign, and rounds out one of college football’s top trio of skillplayers. Oklahoma State has a great history of standout tail-backs, highlighted by Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas.Hunter is arguably the ‘Pokes best since those legendary All-Americans. Hailing from the same hometown as the “TylerRose,” all-time Texas Longhorn legend Earl Campbell, Hunterled the Big XII in rushing a year ago with 1,555 yards, earningAll-American honors by the Football Writers Association. Hunteris tough to bring down and boasts serious quicks. Like Sanders,his diminutive stature allows Hunter to “hide” behind the Cow-boys big linemen. He’s tough for tacklers to find.

#11 Zac Robinson, QB6-3, 218 Sr. Littleton, ColoradoHe plays in the same division with reigning Heisman win-

ner Sam Bradford and Heisman finalist Colt McCoy, but ZacRobinson takes a backseat to no one as one of college football’selite signal callers. A 2008 Manning Award Finalist and DaveyO’Brien Award Semifinalist, this gunslinger became OklahomaState’s career leader in total offense after throwing for 3,064 yardsand running for 562 a year ago. Robinson is the NCAA’s fifthranked career active passer and ranked fifth nationally in pass-ing last season. Robinson is a big time big play threat,. WithBryant as his star target, Robinson completed 24 passes of 30 ormore yards and three runs that covered more than 20. He head-lines one of the top skill position trios in all of college football andis the trigger man for one of the nation’s deadliest attacks.

- Jeff Dantzler

OSU coach, Mike Gundy


By Jeff DantzlerBULLDAWG ILLUSTRATED

Dave Hunziker, the voice of the Cowboys, took some time to talk with Jeff Dantzler about theBulldogs and Cowboys.

How does this trio of skill position players compare to some of the best that Oklahoma Statehas had (like Mike Gundy, Thurman Thomas and Hart Lee Dykes)?

It's very difficult to compare players from different eras because the game is so different and be-cause I didn't see Gundy, Dykes, and Sanders every day as I do these players. Zac Robinson and MikeGundy are very different...Robinson is a run/pass quarterback where Mike was a fine drop backpasser. Sanders is as good as any that ever played the game, but Hunter is a shifty back that's sneakyfast. Bryant is the best I've ever seen anywhere. He can catch anything within a zip code of his body,has amazing body control, and huge hands that allow him do make plays that leave you shaking yourhead. Bryant appears to be on his way to becoming a big-time NFL receiver.

How does Zac Robinson compare with Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy?Zac Robinson is a very different player than those guys. He's a true dual threat as he can hurt

you with his arm and his legs on every down. He doesn't have the arm of Sam Bradford, but he'svery, very smart and makes the correct throws. He doesn't try to do things that he's not capable of.His presence in the running game really complicates an already difficult situation for opposing de-fenses as they try to stop the run and give extra attention to Dez Bryant.

How important is this opener for Oklahoma State on a national stage?This opener is huge for Oklahoma State on all fronts, national and local. It's being called the

biggest non-conference home game in school history and I agree with that assessment. Last year, theCowboys beat Missouri in Columbia when the Tigers were ranked #2. But that was a good matchupfor the Cowboys in that Missouri was a spread team that relied on speed. The Cowboys were beatup in the bowl game physically by Oregon, a loss that stung the squad not because of the opponent,but because the Ducks really took it to the Cowboys physically. The players have vowed never to letthat happen again. So Georgia, with its tremendous tradition and national profile, will bring a teamto Stillwater that is an almost polar opposite of Oklahoma State: a big, physical team that comes rightat you. A win over a very good and very physical Bulldog team would give the Cowboys enormousconfidence and credibility nationwide, because this is the type of team that has typically given OSUtrouble.

How important is the Georgia game in terms of building the Cowboys confidence for the big-gies later in the year with Texas and Oklahoma?

See the answer to number three. OU and Texas are different that Georgia in terms of philoso-phy, but to beat a powerful squad in week one would certainly help the Cowboys down the line. IfOSU beats Georgia, there's a very good chance that the Cowboys will be 7-0 when Texas comes toStillwater on Halloween. That could result in the toughest ticket ever for an Oklahoma State foot-ball game when the Longhorns visit Boone Pickens Stadium.

How important is this season for Oklahoma State? To use a poker reference, it's not all-in, but it's close. The Cowboys went heavily to the junior

college ranks two years ago (Feb. 2008 signing class) because they knew that 2009 could be a hugeyear for Oklahoma State. At least six of those JC transfers will play prominent roles, primarily on de-fense. They've continued to recruit well and have a very strong list of early committments for next

February. But there could be as many as 14 senior starters on the field for the opener against the Bull-dogs. Two of those are lock first-round NFL draft choices (Russell Okung, senior OT, and Dez Bryant,junior WR, assuming Dez leaves early). There are two or three other seniors that will probably bedrafted. The point is: this is by far the most talented team that the Cowboys have had in my eightyears here. Mike Gundy has done a tremendous job in raising the talent level. For example, just fourCowboys have been drafted in the last four years, and only one has been taken higher than the fourthround (TE Brandon Pettigrew, 1st round this year to Detroit). It's probable that at least four Cowboyswill be selected next spring, and that's a conservative estimate.

The Cowboys will have talent next year, but it won't be the proven, high-level talent that theyhave now. There are eight home games this year, and Oklahoma State will probably be favored inall of its road games except the regular season finale at Oklahoma. All four non-conference gamesare in Stillwater. So this is the year everyone has been waiting for. The problem is, Texas and Okla-homa will be national title contenders, which means that the best team in OSU history could finishthird in its division. And you can hear the groan from Cowboy fans all the way to Athens...

Do the Cowboys need to beat Texas and/or Oklahoma this year? The fact is, beating OU in Norman will be tough, regardless of what is on the line. The Cow-

boys have a better shot at topping Texas in Stillwater. It's been the series of heartbreaks for OSU. Lastyear, the Cowboys had a last second throw to the end zone fall incomplete against the then top-ranked Longhorns in Austin. It was Oklahoma State's first loss. Two years ago, OSU led Texas 35-14 entering the 4th quarter and lost 38-35 in Stillwater. The Cowboys led 35-7 in the second quarterin Austin in 2004 and lost. One could argue that the Pokes are due to beat the 'Horns.

Is Mike Gundy, who was a great player in Stillwater, held in high regard by the fan base?Mike Gundy is certainly a favorite son here. He had a reputation as a tough, confident un-

dersized quarterback who wouldn't back down from anyone and had the skills to back it up. Hehas coached in the same way. He wants to offer the best of everything to his players but expectshigh performance in return. He still has a presence in the OSU record books, but current quar-terback Zac Robinson has surpassed many of his marks. The fans appreciate his loyalty to OSU,and his attitude that this is his "New York Yankees job" with no intentions to leave. It used to behard for Oklahoma State to retain top coaches (both head coaches and assistants), but that'schanged in recent years. Boone Pickens generosity has helped change the landscape of Cowboyfootball and OSU athletics as the football program now has the resources it needs to succeed.

What has T. Boone Pickens meant to Oklahoma State?Boone Pickens has forever changed Oklahoma State and the way that Cowboy fans and

OSU alumni perceive their school. There was a serious inferiority complex here several years agowhen the entire athletic department struggled financially and the stadium was an eyesore (the jokewas that you needed a tetanus shot to go in the stadium because of all the rust). Boone Pickens'gifts have resulted in a total transformation of the football stadium and support facilities, and foot-ball experts say that the OSU facilities may be the best in all of football, both college AND PRO.The fact that Mr. Pickens gave the money immediately, and not over a long-time span, allowedOklahoma State to immediately build its facilities and do so without the massive debt that otherschools endure for the sake of renovations. OSU fans, because of Boone Pickens, now believethat great things can happen here. No one felt that way 10 years ago. Mr. Pickens has been very,very generous to his alma mater and hopes to see high-level success in football in his lifetime.Thanks to his gifts, the resources and facilities are in place for that to happen.

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A view from Stillwater



Go to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France and you’re liable to run into fans of the Georgia Bull-dogs. Visit Fairbanks, Alaska in the summertime and you’re apt to see several guys wearing redand black caps that sport the big “G.”

It seems, these days, the Bulldawg Nation goes world-wide and now, thanks to a uniquepartnership of the University of Georgia Athletics Association and North Carolina-based ISPSports, Bulldog fans from everywhere will be getting increased exposure to not only Georgia foot-ball but, all the other sports on campus as well.

The deal hashed out by Georgia and ISP (International Sports Properties) is an extremelylucrative one for the university as ISP Sports will pay $92.8 million over eight years for a widerange of UGA marketing and media rights.

“The overall deal is a fantastic deal for Georgia,” said Alan Thomas, UGA’s associate athlet-ics director for external operations, “but the great thing that goes with it, beyond dollars and cents,is the creation of this opportunity to tell more stories. We want at times to be able to control ourown messaging but also to be able to tell the whole story of our athletics program.”

With the new arrangement, there will be an expanded football radio broadcast, beginningthis coming season. On game days, the Georgia Tailgate Show on the Bulldogs’ network will runfor four hours, instead of three, and a two-hour post-game call-in show will also continue. Join-ing play-by-play broadcaster Scott Howard, color analyst Eric Zeier, and Tailgate Show co-hostsLoran Smith and Neil “Hondo” Williamson on the new broadcast team will be veteran radio per-sonality and Bulldawg Illustrated columnist and writer Jeff Dantzler, former Bulldog All-Amer-ica and All-Pro placekicker Kevin Butler, former standout Georgia quarterback David Greene andWSB-TV sports director Chuck Dowdle.

Dowdle will conduct the post-game locker room interviews, Dantzler and Butler will co-host the new first hour of the pre-game show from the new Hotel Indigo in downtown Athens,and the two will also host the post-game call-in after home games. For the road games, Dant-zler will team with Greene on the pre-game and post-game shows. Smith will continue with hissideline reporting. In related programming, Dantzler and Butler will also host the Sunday morn-ing Bulldog Brunch radio call-in show, which will now run an extra 30 minutes from 10 a.m.to 12 noon and be available to all Georgia network affiliates. Howard will continue hosting theMonday Night Bulldog Hotline show with Georgia head coach Mark Richt, and Dowdle will con-

tinue as host of the Sunday “Inside Georgia Football” television program with Richt which willbe aired on Fox SportsSouth at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and be available to all the over-the-air Foxaffiliates.

“This all started with our deal with ISP,” said Thomas. “They have a plethora of experiencein broadcasting and this is just a unique situation which enables us to get more Georgia athlet-ics out to everyone.

“Georgia football has listeners all over the state,” said Thomas, “but one of the best marketswe have is on Game Day because people are right here on campus. We’ve got 92,000 people wait-ing for Georgia to play and we want to give them as much Georgia football as we can. Like I said,this campus turns into one of the biggest markets in the state that day.”

Thomas said he’s extremely excited about Georgia’s newly-revamped broadcast team andsays the Bulldawg Nation should be as well.

“When Eric came in, it was the first time we’ve had a former Georgia player in a long time,”he said. “Eric played for Coach (Ray) Goff and nobody has a better perspective of a game thana former quarterback. Kevin Butler is a guy who played on some of Georgia’s great teams in the‘80s and had a fantastic professional career,” said Thomas. “He’s seen football at all levels. David(Greene) brings to the team a different perspective in that he is the first former player underCoach Richt to join the broadcast … he’s been in that locker room and again brings that quar-terback’s perspective. And Jeff (Dantzler) is a guy who maybe knows the most about Georgia foot-ball history, right in there with Dan Magill and Claude Felton. Jeff will be a really good pairingwith Kevin and David. And Chuck Dowdle will do the post-game interviews in the locker room.Chuck is always there doing his TV interviews and Coach Richt’s TV show anyway.”

“I’m really excited about it,” said Butler. “I think my working with Jeff is a good mix, for bothof us.”

“A lot is new but also, a lot hasn’t changed,” emphasized Thomas. “Loran and Hondo willstill be there for the pre-game show and Eric and Scott will be on there, too. And with the en-tire broadcast, we’re only expanding an hour from what it was before on Game Day.”

What Thomas is extremely proud of in the new broadcast arrangement is the Georgia ath-letic department’s newly-launched, revamped Web site, georgiadogs.com

“It will be much more video coverage, everything from how the volleyball team is doing tofootball practice updates, comments from the coaches and so forth. In other words, all thingsGeorgia. It will be like a ‘Georgia SportsCenter.’ And there will be a significant amount of freecontent on there.”

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Jeff Dantzler’s Top 25This is a royal ranking with big boys littering the top five to 10 in all the polls. Florida is trying to

win a third national title in four years. Southern Cal is aiming for an eighth straight trip to the BCS.Oklahoma and Ohio State have played for a combined seven national titles (winning a total of two) inthe 2000s. Texas plays an embarrassingly easy schedule. It’s pretty good odds that the two teams thatplay for the national title will come out of this group.

— Jeff Dantzler1. Florida – The Gators have won two of the last three national

championships, and they return Tim Tebow and their entire de-fense. Florida has never had an undefeated season, so this is thelast big hurdle for the program to clear and end a second straightdecade of amazing excellence. Remember, Florida had never won an SECTitle before Steve Spurrier’s arrival in 1990.

2. Southern Cal – If the Trojans can win at Ohio State, thenall they’ll have to do is take of business in the PAC-10. WithoutMark Sanchez and with solid teams at Oregon, Oregon State andCal, that won’t be a gimme.

3. Texas – The winner of the Red River Shootout will be rightin the mix for the BCS Championship Game, as was the case lastyear, when the loser actually played for it. Can Texas find a tail-back to compliment Colt McCoy?

4. Ohio State – Terrell Pryor should be the best offensiveplayer in the Big Ten (11), and much like USC in the PAC-10, theBuckeyes recruit the top material in their league year after year. IfOhio State can get past USC, a return to the BCS Championship Gamecould be in the cards.

5. Oklahoma – Like McCoy and Tebow, Sam Bradford choseto return to school. Like Texas and Florida, the Sooners are re-joicing. Oklahoma must retool its offensive line, but the backfieldis dynamite and the defense should be very good.

6. Ga. Tech – Paul Johnson has the Yellow Jackets and withthe ACC and what is not a typically daunting Georgia on the sched-ule, Tech has a chance to make a BCS run. Johnathan Dwyer andMorgan Burnett are two of the country’s best players.

7. LSU – Buoyed by their blowout win over Ga. Tech in theChick-fil-A Bowl, the Tigers carry some momentum in 2009. LSUhas been dynamite in odd numbered years. The Tigers won the SECin ’01, the national title in ’03, played for the SEC Championship in’05, and won the national title in ’09. Getting Charles Scott back greatlybuoyed their championship chances.

8. Alabama – Nick Saban has the Bama faithful in a frenzy. The12-0 start had the Houndstooth Elephants reliving the glory days ofthe 1960s and ‘70s. Losing Andre Smith and having to work in anew quarterback probably means a run at the big prize won’t happen,this year. But the Tide will be right there with LSU and Ole Miss in the fightfor the SEC West. Freshman tailback Trent Richardson could be great.

9. Oklahoma State – Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant will put upa lot of points and a lot of yardage. How good will the defense be.The Cowboys gave up an average of 44 points over its last fourgames. They’ll know a lot more after opening the season with theDawgs in Stillwater. It’s too bad for Oklahoma State and Texas Tech that theyplay in the Big XII South with Texas and the Sooners.

10. Penn State – Thanks to the kid from Iowa for making thatkick so Penn State didn’t give the Big Ten (11) another sham ap-pearance in the national title game. Joe Paterno has his quarterbackDaryll Clark and tailback Evan Royster back to lead the way for theleague’s likely runner up.

11. Virginia Tech – The Hokies are thinking that if they go un-defeated, they need quality non conference wins to get in the na-tional championship game. Virginia Tech opens the season withAlabama in the Georgia Dome and hosts Nebraska.

12. Oregon State – Florida and Oklahoma are both big fans ofthe Beavers, who handed Southern Cal that September loss, keep-ing the Trojans out of the BCS Championship Game. JacquizzRodgers has some juice at tailback.

13. Ole Miss – Can the Rebels handle the hefty expectations? Andthey’ll have to do so after losing two of the best linemen in the nation, firstround picks Michael Oher (left tackle) and Peria Jerry (defensive tackle).Houston Nutt and Jevan Snead have the Burgundy Room, City Grocery andGrove rocking!

14. Boise State – This is as safe a top 25 pick as you’ll find. No mat-ter who the coach, quarterback or proposing tailback is, the Blue TurfBroncos always seem to win 11, 12 or 13 games. It’s too bad they aren’tin the same league with Utah, BYU and TCU.

15. Brigham Young – When BYU has a four year senior starting quar-terback, the Cougars are a great bet to win the league. The last four timesthat’s happened, BYU has won the WAC or Mountain West. Both Utahand TCU visit Provo.

16. Oregon – Mike Belotti moved upstairs and is now Oregon’s ath-letic director. Chip Kelly takes over as head coach and he has a talentedteam to work with. The Ducks used to be a laughing stock, but sinceRich Brooks took them to the Rose Bowl following the 1994 campaign,Oregon has been one of the PAC-10’s best programs.

17. Nebraska – Bo Pellini has the Big Red faithful hopeful and ex-cited after nine wins and a Gator Bowl victory over Clemson. Keep inmind, ten years ago, that would have been the Cornhuskers worst sea-son in three decades and the sky would be falling.

18. Utah – Twice in the last five years, the Runnin’ Utes have postedan undefeated season and won a BCS Bowl. No other school can saythat they have done both of those in the same year on two occasions.Expect Utah and BYU to battle for the Mountain West with TCU in thepicture.

19. Florida State – As always the Seminoles have a lot of talent. Thelegendary Bobby Bowden would love one last run at glory, and it’s toobad that again the school has NCAA issues to deal with. A decade ago,who would have ever thought that Florida State would be looking up inthe ACC.

20. Cal – The Golden Bears have shown the propensity to havemediocre seasons when they’re expected to have good ones. The tophalf of the PAC-10 is very strong and Cal figures to be one of the topchallengers to USC’s run of seven straight conference championships.

21. Houston – The Cougars figure to put up a bunch of points ledby quarterback Case Keenum. Conference USA always gives a prettygood team to put up a great record, especially if they’ve got a standoutin the backfield.

22. TCU – Gary Patterson just churns out 10-win seasons. He’s rightthere with Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Mark Richt, Urban Meyer and JimTressell when it comes to chalking up double digit victory campaigns.TCU is a team that is always a threat to bust the BCS, if the Horned Frogscan handle BYU and Utah.

23. Arkansas – The Razorbacks have a very difficult schedule, butBobby Petrino’s team made big strides down the stretch last season andshould be improved in 2009 thanks in large part to highly touted Michi-gan transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett.

24. Georgia – One of college football’s best programs of the last 12years lost a great deal of talent to the NFL and faces arguably the tough-est schedule in the country. In addition to the SEC grind, the Dogs getOklahoma State in Stillwater, Arizona State and Ga. Tech in Atlanta.

25. Louisiana Tech – Derrick Dooley is a tremendous coach – youcan take young out of it. His Bulldogs beat Mississippi State and toppedNorthern Illinois to win the Independence Bowl. Watch outAuburn, La. Tech visits the plains to open the season.


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Jeff Dantzler’s five keys to stampeding in Stillwater 1. Limit Big Plays – Oklahoma State is one of the nation’s most explosive of-fensive teams, picking up yards in big chunks with the pass and run. Zac Robin-son completed 24 passes of at least 30 yards a year ago and his favorite target DezBryant is a weapon through the air and on punt returns, rankingthird nationally with an average of 17.9 per. Kendall Hunter ledthe Big XII in rushing in 2008, chalking up 1,555 yards,meaning defenses can’t just lay back and worry about thepass. Plus Robinson moved well, though he has beenplagued by a tweaked hamstring in the preseason. ForGeorgia to win, the defense must make Oklahoma State“work” for their scores. Often times, teams that score bigpoints on big plays get impatient offensively whenthey’re slowed down in tight games. That’s whendefenses can turn the tables and produce game-changing plays.

2. Pressure Zac Robinson – This one’sobvious. If Robinson has plenty of time tothrow, then the Bulldogs are in big trouble.Throughout the 2000s, Georgia had beenable to generate a pass rush with a bevy ofstandout defensive ends – until last sea-son. The Bulldogs defensive interiorcould potentially be one of college foot-ball’s best. But the ends remain a questionmark, particularly since potential sopho-more star Justin Houston must sit out the firsttwo games. Jon Fabris has done a terrific jobcoaching the position, and he’s pushing for im-proved pressure from the edge. Senior Rod Battlehas had a good preseason camp and fellow seniorMarcus Washington moved to end from middle line-backer, as the Dogs hope to find another Marcus Howard.But that move and verbal commitments from five defensive ends should cer-tainly send a message to players at the position. The Dogs don’t want to haveto blitz too often, so obviously pressure from up front is the key. Plus Robin-son is dangerous with his feet, so the ends will have to contain.

3. Lead with the run – Georgia’s offensive line should be a primarystrength, and they’ll be leaned on heavily as the Bulldogs have a huge transi-tion in the backfield. The hard-running Richard Samuel is the starter at tail-

back, and a physical ground attack will open up the play-action passing gamefor Joe Cox and Georgia’s talented receiving corps led by super sophomoreA.J. Green. Carlton Thomas could be a multi dimensional weapon out of thebackfield. The Southeastern Conference is the fastest and most physical leaguein the land. If the Bulldogs can take the fight to the Cowboys will a power-

ful running game, the fourth quarter should belong to Georgia. UnderMark Richt’s watch, the Bulldogs are 37-3 when a tailback runs for over

100 yards.

4. Conquering the Kicking Game – Good kickoffs,punts, coverage, quality returns, not turning the ball over

and making field goals … the Dogs need to do it all.Down the stretch, after a slew of injuries had beaten

down the Bulldogs depth, Georgia struggledmightily on special teams. Drew Butler, son of thegreatest college football kicker ever, takes over asthe full time punter. He’ll be angling for serioushang-time to limit Bryant’s effectiveness on punt

returns. In season openers, special teams mis-cues can make the difference. Richt has said

that most every true freshman will play,largely to give the Dogs more

punch and speed in the kickingthe game.

5. E m b r a c ethe Atmosphere –This is one of the mosthighly anticipated

games ever played inStillwater. Yes, Texas and

Oklahoma have rolled in for some big ones, but this is aroyal program from the Southeastern Conference to open

a promising season for the Cowboys. Georgia has shownthe ability to rise to the challenge in hostile environments,

while compiling a record 12 season run with at least eight victories. One ofthe most staggering statistics for college coaches, Richt’s Bulldogs are 30-4 inopposing teams’ stadiums. The newly renovated stadium, funded by billion-aire oil tycoon and energy pioneer T. Boone Pickens, will be raucously rock-ing. But the Bulldogs won in Knoxville in 2005, Auburn in ’06, Tuscaloosa in’07 and LSU a year ago. This would be another nice pelt to add to the im-pressive collection of road victims.

Rennie Curran

photo by Chris Collins

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Q: Other than Herschel, who is your favorite Bulldog and why?A: Jon Stinchcomb # 78. My kids are his cousins on their dad’s side and he was an amazing lineman!Q: Who is your favorite player on the current UGA roster and why?A:Rennie Curran because he is a truck!Q: What makes you a true Bulldog?A: I’m an alumni and my family all went to UGA – even my grandmother. I own a white English Bulldog named Walker and I have a UGA tattoo.Q: What is the most memorable play you have experienced in person?A: David Greene and his play action ball fake against Auburn.Q: Which one of our rivals do you enjoy beating the most and why?A: Florida because it is great to be a Gator Hater!Q: What makes your tailgating scene so special?A: Good friends, food, tunes and spending a few hours getting ramped up for the game!

FANS OF THE WEEK

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TRIVIA CONTEST

Last issue’s TRIVIA question and answer:Q. Which players are wearing the # 7 and # 24 jerseys in 2009?

A. # 7 Orson Charles, # 24 Washaun Ealey.

AND THE WINNER IS...Jason Wood of Augusta, GA

This issue’s question:Q. Georgia’s 2007 win vs. Oklahoma State?

Have the answer?Go to www.bulldawgillustrated.com, click the TRIVIA tab,and post your answer for a chance to win a copy ofThe 50 Greatest Playsfrom theUniversity of Georgia Bookstore

Christy Campbell of Fairburn, GA

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Q: Other than Herschel, who is your favorite Bulldog and why?the tiny number 30 lined up behind the ball he put me at ease in intense situations. Kickers are overlooked so much in football, but if I was to put the game in any Dawg’s hands (or foot) it would be Billy Bennett!Q: Who is your favorite player on the current UGA roster and why?A: A.J. Green. He is going to be an impact player in the coming season of rebuilding where a lot of people are counting us out.Q: What makes you a true Bulldog?A: To put it simply, I’m not a bandwagon fan. It doesn’t matter if we go 0-12 or win it all, I’ll be bleeding red and barking loud!Q: What is the most memorable play you have experienced in person?A: In 2007 the only seats I could get to the cocktail party was in the FL student section. When buddy Chris cheered loud in an extremely hostile territory.Q: Which one of our rivals do you enjoy beating the most?A: I think every dawg fan gets the most enjoyment out of beating FL. I don’t think an expla-nation is in order.Q: What makes your tailgating scene so special?A: As a business owner, I cannot make it to as many games as I used to. So most of the year now days I get together with 200 of my closest friends and make Kippers Sports Grill the biggest Dawg House in Warner Robins!!!


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In a new Bulldawg Illustrated feature, Dantzler will spotlightsome insightful commentary from his various shows and we’ll pre-view some of the major games and top stories of the week.

Word on the RadioTalk on the Net

Since 1998, the SEC has produced five quarterbacks who havebeen the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft: Peyton Man-ning, Tim Couch, Eli Manning, JaMarcus Russell and MatthewStafford. This quintet started at their schools for 14 years and wonone SEC title (Peyton Manning led Tennessee to the 1997 confer-ence championship).

Since 1998, the SEC has produced five national champions. Ofthe five primary signal callers – Tee Martin (Tennessee, 1998), MattMauck (LSU, 2003), Chris Leak (Florida, 2006), LSU (Matt Flynn,2007) and Florida (Tim Tebow, 2008) – the highest pick was Mar-tin, a fifth rounder in the 2000 draft. Obviously, this could changegreatly as Tebow is back for his senior season.

Hall of Fame coach Jim Donnan Donnan’s take on this stag-gering stat:

“Go get yourself a mobile quarterback. The defenses are so fastin the SEC, it’s a huge plus to have somebody who can movearound. A mobile quarterback makes it very tough for defenses toplay man coverage. When those corners have their backs turnedor are covering a deep route, a good running quarterback can re-ally hurt a defense.”

960 the Ref co-host, Chris Brame’s take on the Fighting Irishand the possibility of a great record:

“For all of this talk about Notre Dame’s schedule being soft andthat’s why they’re going to win 10 games, they’re essentially play-ing the same schedule they did a year ago when they went 7-6.This would be an easy schedule if Oklahoma or Texas was facing it,but this is Notre Dame. And this is not 1977 Notre Dame.”

Marquee Match-ups

Premier SEC ShowdownAlabama vs. Virginia TechFor the second straight season, Alabama kicks off its campaign

in the Georgia Dome against one of the ACC’s best. A year ago, theCrimson Tide served notice and crippled Clemson’s season out ofthe gates with a 34-10 thrashing of the Tigers in Atlanta. It figuresto be a tougher assignment this year. Even though the Hokies losttailback Maurice Evans for the season with a knee injury, FrankBeamer’s club still figure to right there with the other ACC Tech asthe top challengers for the conference title. Bama meanwhile mustreplace its super All-American left tackle bulldozer Andre Smithand quarterback John Parker Wilson. In Nick Saban’s third year atLSU, the Tigers lost the 2002 season opener to the Hokies inBlacksburg. It probably won’t be easy, but Bama should pull thisone out in Atlanta. Keep an eye on Crimson Tide true freshmantailback Trent Richardson, who could be one of the SEC’s best.

Will they be back in the ACC?Miami vs. Florida StateFor two decades, this was often the biggest game in the coun-

try. But both Miami and Florida State have fallen a couple of rungson the latter. The primary beneficiaries have been the rest of theACC – Virginia Tech, Boston College, Wake Forest and Ga. Techhave all been in recent conference title games – and Florida. TheGators have dominated the sunshine state in recruiting, capturingtwo of the last three national championships and earning the No.1 spot in this year’s preseason poll. Florida State appears closer tobeing back in the top ten than the Hurricanes, but both teams stillhave plenty of athletes who can run, especially on defense.

SEC Upset AlertAuburn vs. Louisiana TechGene Chizik had better have the Tigers ready. Derrick Dooley

has Louisiana Tech sky high after leading the Bulldogs from Ruston,La. to an 8-5 record that included a win over Mississippi State andbowl victory. Auburn should be good on defense, but the Tigershave some serious question marks at the skill positions. Expecta-tions in the loveliest village on the plains haven’t been this lowsince the Doug Barfield era.

Jeff Dantzler on the air throughout the football season: *With Chris Brame, hosts a show from 4-6 every Monday through

Friday on Athens SportsRadio 960 the Ref, www.960theref.com. •BusterSports.com, hosting a series of shows with hall of fame coach

Jim Donnan, legendary broadcaster and former coach Mike Gottfried andthe highly successful former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.

*Hosts pre and postgame shows, as well as the “Bulldog Brunch” onSunday’s following Georgia games from 10 a.m. until noon, Georgia Bull-dogs Radio Network.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL CONJECTUREBy Jeff Dantzler

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Joe Cox thinks back to his high school days at Independence Highin Charlotte, N.C. and when, during his junior season in 2003, he tookthe field as Independence’s starting quarterback for the first time.

“It was my first high school start and I really was just excited,” saidCox. “It was my first chance to play after Chris (Leak) had left and Ithink our whole team really just wanted to show that we could still bea good team without Chris Leak.”

That, the Independence team did. After Leak went on to futuregreatness at the University of Florida, Cox performed so superbly at theQB position the next two seasons that his team went a perfect 31-0 andcaptured the school’s fourth and fifth consecutive state championships.Teaming with former Georgia standout Mohamed Massaquoi, Coxthrew for a North Carolina state record 66 touchdowns during his sen-ior year.

But after Independence’s two Parade All-Americans signed withGeorgia, Cox found himself fighting a game of patience rather thanplaying in a game against the Bulldogs’ Southeastern Conference rivals.He was redshirted during his true freshman season in 2005 and thenwith highly-touted and also Parade All-America Matthew Stafford as-suming Georgia’s starting quarterback reins in 2006, Cox would seeminimal playing time as Stafford’s backup over the next three football seasons.

But, then, there were several exciting moments for this likable redhead in the times thatCox did come off the sidelines and replace Stafford. In 2006, with the Bulldogs trailing vis-iting Colorado 13-0 in the fourth quarter and the Georgia offense going nowhere, Cox camein to spell Stafford and promptly drove the Bulldogs to two touchdowns in a thrilling 14-13comeback victory. After hurling his first touchdown pass, a 23-yarder to fullback BrannanSoutherland, Cox then led the Bulldogs on the winning five-play, 43-yard drive which wasculminated by Cox’s 20-yard scoring strike to tight end Martrez Milner with just 46 secondsremaining.

For that sterling performance, in which he completed 10-of-13 passes for 154 yards andthe two touchdowns, Cox was named The Sporting News College Football Player of theWeek and SEC Freshman of the Week.

And one week later, Cox was to draw the starting assignment for Georgia as the Bull-dogs traveled to face Ole Miss. But after the sharp performance against Colorado the previ-ous week, Cox struggled a bit against the Rebels, leaving it up to Stafford to spark theBulldogs to a 14-9 victory in Oxford.

Cox admittedly looks back on that start during his redshirt freshman year with mixedemotions.

“The Ole Miss game, I knew I was starting but then, knowing we (he and Stafford) were

going to rotate every two series, I really didn’t even consider it astart,” Cox said. “It was just a situation where you’ve got to takeadvantage of what you’ve got.”

But now, as we flash forward to Joe Cox’s senior season atUGA, comes the start this Saturday afternoon that is overshad-owing all the previous moments that he has jogged onto the fieldas a starting quarterback.

Cox has waited five years for the national collegiate spotlightand at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla., he will have it asCox leads the No. 13-ranked Bulldogs against the No. 9-rankedOklahoma State Cowboys in an ABC-TV attraction.

Joe Cox has to almost pinch himself when he contemplatesthe moment he has been waiting for ever since he set foot inAthens has finally arrived.

“I expect it to be an awesome experience … my last season,my first start (as the Bulldogs’ full-time starting QB), my bigchance coming in my senior season … I just want to make goodmemories of all of it this year,” he said.

With the Cowboys re-dedicating their newly-expandedBoone Pickens Stadium in the opener against Georgia, Cox fullyknows the stage he and the Bulldogs will be walking onto Satur-day.

“It’s going to be the same thing like we face every Saturday (inthe SEC),” said Cox. “Especially it being an away game, it’s always a loud, crazy atmosphere.We just need to be able to communicate with each other on offense and deal with it. This issomething we always practice for and we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “It will be an ex-citing place to play.”

Cox, aware that all the preseason talk has centered around Oklahoma State All-Amer-ica candidates Zac Robinson (QB) and Dez Bryant (WR), is expecting a very tough chal-lenge from the Cowboys’ defensive unit. “I expect them to be jacked up,” he said. “Theyknow people want to talk about their offense all the time, and I’m sure they have somethingto prove. They’ll be playing with a chip on their shoulders and be out to show the nationthey play defense out there, too.”

Looked upon as Georgia’s top team leader this season by all of his fellow Bulldogs, Coxknows what he wants to accomplish during the course of the 2009 season and, it’s not abunch of individual statistics for himself.

“When this is over,” Cox said, “I want people to just remember my name and say I wasa good Dog. The main thing, I want to be a good leader for this team and leave the programin good hands for the next group of seniors. Our object is to win ball games but, at the sametime, I want coaches and the younger guys to be able to pull on to what I did … what I andthe senior class did together. Then as they’re getting ready for their senior season, they willhopefully look back and say, ‘we’d like to accomplish the same thing’ as our group did.”


The most excited and anxious Georgia fans sit-ting in the stands at Boone Pickens Stadium in Still-water, Okla. this Saturday will be Buster and DeirdreCox, the parents of Bulldogs’ No. 1 quarterback, JoeCox. The Coxes know better than anyone all thework their son has put in, the patience he’s shownthese past five years while waiting to assume the reinsof the Georgia offense. Here, in this question-and-answer with Bulldawg Illustrated, Deirdre Cox givesthe Bulldog Nation a special insight into the Georgiaplayer wearing the No. 14 jersey:

Parents/Guardians names:Buster and Deirdre Cox. Siblings’ names and ages:Allison, 30; Charlie, 28.In your opinion what is the number one attrib-

ute that makes Joe a leader?I don’t think Joseph expects anything from any-

one else that he doesn’t expect from himself.What was your nickname for Joe growing up?Oddly enough, Joe is his nickname. I’ve always

called him Joseph, and his brother and sister do a lit-tle of both. But most of his aunts and uncles still callhim Joseph.

Best childhood story?There’s probably not a special story that stands

out but rather something he said to us when he wasabout five years old. He told his dad then, “I’m‘borned’ knowing how to fish.” And he started fishingin a little creek back of our house. Joseph went backthere with a little Snoopy fishing rod about three feetlong … that’s where he started dropping a line in thewater and has been doing so ever since. Joseph saidyears later, “y’all didn’t let me use a real hook.” At 2-years-old, we were not going to give him a real hook.We just gave him one with a little rubber weight onit.

What do you think he has gotten most out of histime at Georgia?

Aside from his great education, I think the No. 1thing is that Joseph has made wonderful friends atUGA, and he has talked to us several times how greathis teammates are, how they’ve become such greatfriends and all the experiences he’s had with them.

His single best football play ever as a Bulldog?You know it has to be the Colorado game (in

2006) when he came in when they were behind. Hethrew that pass to Brannan Southerland who took itin and then threw to Martrez Milner in the end zonefor the winning touchdown. I remember the Georgiaplayers then had that big pile-on in the end zone and

Joseph didn’t quite know what to do. He really had-n’t practiced it and sort of just fell into the group. Wetold him it was a wimpy pile-on, and we still laughabout it to this day.

Can you tell the Bulldawg Nation a few uniquethings about Joe outside of football?

Everybody knows about his passion for fishingbut what everybody doesn’t know is that Joseph wasquite an artist growing up. Initially, he would comehome and watch cartoons and draw in front of theTV. Initially, it was sports figures, college or profes-sional, and he then moved on to designing athleticshoes. He always thought that what he could designwould be one step above Nike … at least in his mind.The style they would come out with, Joseph wouldtweak it and customize it.

Can you discuss the pride you have in Joe at-tending and playing football at Georgia?

Great pride! I guess the biggest thing for us isthat we’re glad Joseph didn’t mope when he wasn’tplaying but continued to work hard for the day hewould play. I think he thought that day would comeand that he’d be ready for it. It’s always been his de-sire to play for a top-notch college program and now,Joseph is living his dream.

What is the nicest thing he has ever done foryou?

Joseph has always been a fun child to be around.He wasn’t a child that gave me a hard time as ateenager, and has always been respectful of me. And,as a parent, you couldn’t ask for much more thanthat.

What is your most entertaining story involvingthe passionate Bulldog fan base?

As a freshman, Joseph met a passionate youngfan, a little fan who was about 6-years-old from Adel.His name is Ryan Fitzgerald. Ryan came up to us atthe Dog Walk and introduced himself and told us hewas looking forward to Joseph playing at Georgia.And ever since that day, he’s been at the Dog Walkand always finds us and waits for Joseph to comethrough and gives him a high-five. It’s the most heart-warming fan story I know. Ryan decided he was goingto be Joseph’s No. 1 fan early on, even when he was-n’t receiving any playing time. That’s pretty loyal asfar as I’m concerned. Ryan has sent Joseph letters andpictures he has drawn.

What has Coach Richt meant to your youngman’s life?

Mark leads by example and as a parent youcouldn’t ask for a better mentor for your child thanthat. When Coach Richt visited us in recruitment andwe had a chance to talk with him, we felt real com-fortable trusting Joseph to him for the five years hewas going to be at Georgia.

Bulldawg Leader: Joe Cox

The Foundation: Deirdre Cox


Can you be that team? We say yes

GRUFF & GRUMPBy Chad White and Al Hickson

The 2009 football season opens upin grand mid-west fashion as theDawgs travel to Stillwater for the open-ing of T. Boone Pickens’ state-of-the-artstadium for the Oklahoma State Cow-boys. This is a big game for bothschools in one of the few marqueematchups across the country with a na-tionally televised audience tuning in tosee which team just might be legit.

This is a critical season for theDawgs. Are we the perennial power wewant to be or are we something differ-ent? Do we reload when stars gradu-ate and players leave early or do wehave to wait a couple of seasons formore superstars to come along? ComeJanuary, those questions will be an-swered. Today, it is anyone’s guess.

Oklahoma State has the mosttalked about and supposedly potent of-fense in the entire country, anchored byreturning QB Zac Robinson and ar-guably the nation’s most gifted WR DezBryant, a near-certain NFL firstrounder, who has game-breaking abili-ties. These two hooked up for nearly1,500 yards through the air with 19 TDpasses last year and will be looking toexpose UGA’s pass defense. The Cow-boys also feature a stud RB in KendallHunter and a large offensive line whoaverage over 300 lbs and will look toattack the Dawgs.

Our defense will certainly havetheir work cut out for them.

As much heat as our defensive co-ordinator has caught over the yearsthroughout the Bulldawg nation, mediaand certainly here within these lines,he has a chance to answer back thisseason with a strong stable of defensiveplayers and a number of tough games.

The three interior D-lineman of JeffOwens (returning from a season end-ing injury last year), Kade Weston andGeno Atkins are the best trio since Mar-cus Stroud, Richard Seymour andJonathan Sullivan and should eliminaterunning lanes up the middle and beable to put pressure on the oppositionand get the ends freed up for a betterpass rush, which was virtually non-ex-istent last year for the defense. JustinHouston has looked like a new manthroughout the preseason and seems tobe the missing link for a DE crew thatstruggled last year to pressure oppos-ing quarterbacks. Unfortunately, hewon’t be suiting up against the Cow-pokes due to some off-season issuesand we will be leaning on Rod Battleand Demarcus Dobbs to step up thefirst two games.

Our linebacker corps is solid withexperienced vets Darius Dewberry,Akeem Dent, Darryl Gamble and fieldmouse Rennie Curran, who can coverfrom sideline to sideline, holding itdown. The starting safeties also haveplenty of experience with Reshad Jonesand Bryan Evans getting the majority oflooks with talented redshirt freshmanBacarri Rambo also getting thrown intothe mix. The tools are in-place on thedefensive side of the ball. It’s now up tothe execution of the players and thestrategy of the coaches to get back tothat defensive swagger that onceroamed the sidelines. Do we have whatit takes? We are certainly more thantalented enough. The rest will be up toCoach Martinez and the other coacheson his side. Can these coaches leadthis superstar talent to the results weneed? Time will tell.

The question at running back forthe Dawgs seems to have been an-swered well by Richard Samuel in thepreseason. He has separated himselffrom the other competitors. Caleb Kingis still nursing a hamstring injury fromthe preseason which should createmore opportunities for backup fresh-man Carlton Thomas and DontaviusJackson to get some experience. TheDawgs should be able to run the ball

against the Cowboys as they match-upwell against their defensive line.

But Joe Cox has to make someplays through the air for the Dawgs towin in Stillwater. The passing game hasto get going since this game might endup being a good-ole fashionedshootout. Cox should be ready and hasshown good form with his past per-formances and has plenty of options tospread the ball around to. AJ Green cer-tainly is the go-to guy with a combina-tion of great speed, hands and jumpingability. And a number of other targetsincluding veteran Mike Moore, IsraelTroupe and freshmen Tavarres King,Rantavious Wooten and Marlon Brownalso likely will see some action. Thetight end position is a bright spot withan exciting freshman Orson Charlesgetting in the mix with Aron White.Once again, the tools are here for a suc-cessful offense.

We’re hoping that the specialteams can get their act together withbetter overall kick coverage and theability to put kickoffs into the back ofthe end zone on a consistent basis.These seasonal worries sound like theymight be fixed with Coach Richt de-ciding to put studs on the special teamswith an emphasis on future freshmanplaymakers and the possible emergenceof Brandon Bogotay, who has shownpractice ability to send the ball deep.These little intangible things can paybig dividends in terms of field position.

The schedule doesn’t get any eas-ier after this week, with a tough stretchof games against the Gamecocks, whoalways play us close, Arkansas, who weplay on the road after a likely physicalgame, Arizona State and LSU. Gettingoff to a good start in Stillwater shouldgive the Dawgs a blast of confidenceand set up well for this run. The eyes ofthe nation will be square on the Dawgsopening weekend. Time to make ourmark on the mid-west.

No excuses. We can’t stomach an-other season of Coach Richt explainingall the nuances of difficulties arisingwhen certain things don’t go our way.“We don’t like to make excusesbut….(excuse)” is just that, an excuse.Please, no more of that. We can’t stom-ach watching plays happen with ourplaymakers looking on and not gettingthe ball. Put the best team on the fieldat all times. Snap the ball, or kick it,and see what happens. We feel goodabout our chances if we can find ourtoughness. Toughness is something wesorely lacked last year.

Time to answer boys. Are youtough enough? Are you tough enoughto handle things when something goeswrong? Rest assured the season won’tgo exactly as planned. Are you toughenough to get through it? Will youbow up when the pressure mounts orwill you crumble and cower and tellMark Bradley and DawgPost and theothers how hard it is?

Are you going to fly to Jacksonvilleand handle Tebow and his band ofclowns or will you get mauled becausehe is the greatest college football playerin two decades and you just aren’t goodenough? Will we talk about slaying thebeast the first Monday of November orwill you force us to discuss moving thegame out of Florida because you can’tget it done in such an unfair environ-ment?

If you think this is a challenge toevery piece of football player and manyou are, well, it is.

It is up to you now. What will itbe? Be tough. Be proud. Be the Dawgswe all pine for and dream about, theones that used to play in Sanford earlierthis decade. Are you that team? Canyou be that team? We say yes. Whatsay you?

GATA Dawgs!

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