I don’t know if 2012 is the year that will mark the end of the world, but it sure felt like it when the Michigan St. Spartans blocked a Blair Walsh field goal attempt at the end of the Outback Bowl. Fortunately, that was not the last University of Georgia sporting event of the week, which is why I now have occasion to bring you up to date on the latest developments in Red and Black intercollegiate athletics:
The Georgia Diving Invitational and Shootout took place at Gabrielsen Natatorium this week, highlighted by Owen Blank’s fourth-place finish in the men’s one-meter springboard on Wednesday and Ann-Perry Blank’s ninth-place finish on platform. The Bulldog swimming and diving teams will be back in action at Texas on Saturday.
Warning: What follows after the jump is not for the faint at heart.
On Thursday night, Andy Landers’s 16th-ranked Lady Bulldogs took on Pat Summitt’s sixth-ranked Lady Volunteers in Knoxville, where the Red and Black had won just four times in 21 tries. The end result was brutal, as the Big Orange bludgeoned the visitors, 80-51.
Partly due to seven first-half Tennessee turnovers, Georgia was within striking distance at intermission, when the Athenians trailed by a 36-27 score. However, the Lady Vols had outscored the Lady Dogs on the fast break (8-0) and in the paint (20-4) while draining around 50 per cent of their shots from the field (14 of 27) and from beyond the arc (3 of 6) in the opening 20 minutes. The second half was all orange, as Tennessee outscored Georgia, 44-24, in a final 20 minutes that weren’t that close.
Go ‘Dawgs!