In WSB's pregame show, Chuck Dowdle commented that this was the first time that the Bulldogs had played three games in Atlanta in one season. Actually, it's the second. In the 2005 season, DJ Shockley's team played the Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium, then, beat LSU at the Dome in the SEC Championship Game. That sent them to the Sugar Bowl, which was played at the Georgia Dome that year due to damage to the Superdome by Hurricane Katrina. The lost that one to West Virginia.
     The Dome had not been a good place to be for Bulldog fans this year with the season opening loss to Boise State. As with that one, this game had a decidedly home field look. Surveying the heavily red and black crowd, it looked to be 80% "Go Dawgs" signs to 20% "Geaux Tigers."
      The game had an odd start. Georgia's defense stifled any movement by LSU. But, the offense wasn't working, and the trouble didn't seem to be the fault of the vaunted Tiger defense, but more of their own doing. Aaron Murray was hitting wide open receivers who couldn't seem to hold on to the ball, some looking like sure touchdowns. Dropped passes by Tavarres King, Bruce Figgins and Malcolm Mitchell in the first quarter kept Georgia from really taking off.
      A text from a friend in New Orleans sized up the situation. "If you guys could catch, you'd win this game," he assessed.
      A missed field goal by Blair Walsh added to the frustration.
      But, despite that, Georgia ended the first quarter in the lead, 10-0. All of that was on the defense which shined, holding LSU to one three and out possession after another. First quarter time of possession favored UGA 10:31 to 4:39, with the Tigers getting only 11 yards to the Dawgs' 134 yards.
      The pattern continued through the second quarter. Through the first half, LSU had eight drives with no first downs and only 12 yards of total offense. The only scoring they did was on a 62 yard kickoff return by Tyrann Matthieu.
      But, the Tigers woke up in the locker room and came out a different team. The bubble burst early in the 3^rd quarter as Murray fumbled on the Georgia 26. Three plays later, LSU not only had their first 1^st down of the game, but their first offensive points as Kenny Hilliard ran 15 yards to make it 14-10.
      After all of the great work by the Bulldog defense in the first half, they suddenly found themselves behind by four.
      As Georgia began their next drive pinned in at their 15, the purple and gold fans, mostly quiet until now, began to smell blood and started to make noise.
      "You knew this was gonna happen," my friend texted. The nervousness within the red clad crowd seemed to be in synch with that sentiment.
     Three and out led to a kickoff to Matthieu, who took this one for 47 yards to the Dawgs' 17, setting up another quick score. And, just like that, the number one team in the nation was up 20-10. A review called it back but the relief was short lived as the Tigers crossed the goal line from the four on the next play. Back to 21-10.
     Special teams was making the difference. Drew Butler was outstanding for Georgia, but with Matthieu's great returns, LSU had great starting position. On the other hand, Tiger kickers repeatedly kept the Bulldogs inside their 15 to start drives.
     A deep sideline pass by Murray was intercepted by Tharold Simon at the LS30, basically being the equivalent of a Georgia punt.
     But, LSU's offense began to gain yardage, having only amassed a total of 50 to that point. Hard to imagine scoring 21 points with 50 yards of offense, but that's what kind of a game it had been. It became a different kind of a game from there on.
     "We haven't covered the point spread yet," the text came in, referring to Las Vegas' 14 point preference to LSU. A minute, later it was covered as the lead piled up to 28-10.
     The Georgia offense was handicapped from the beginning with an ineffective running game. Isaiah Crowell had not played in a few weeks and was obviously not at full strength, playing only as a gametime decision. It didn't help that they were facing probably the best defense in the country.
     The Bulldog defense at this point was clearly wearing down.
     "At least we can say we beat the future national champions for a half," a fan said as he hit the exits early with throngs of others in similar garb.
     That, they could. Unfortunately, in the second half, LSU had their turn at domination. From the 10-0 start, the Tigers ran off 42 unanswered points rolling to a 42-10 win and punching themselves a ticket to the national championship game on their turf this time on January 9 in the Superdome. Likely opponent for the first time will be someone in the same conference, #2 Alabama.
     So, halftime dreams of an unexpected New Year's trip to New Orleans themselves in the Sugar Bowl were rearranged to a more realistic third spot in eleven years in the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
     "Are you still having fun?" came the final text. "Yep," I said. "Like Mick Jagger said, I 'had no expectations.'"
     It was still fun being here, especially after the 0-2 start and the impressive subsequent 10-0 run. Overall, quite a season. And Tampa is not a bad place to be in January, much better than Memphis.