HOOVER, Ala. - There were plenty of memorable moments for Georgia last season.
Winning the Sugar Bowl, an 11-2 record, a No. 2 final ranking and national title expectations are all up there, but one act has provoked even more discussion - the touchdown celebration in a win against UF.
The entire Bulldogs team rushed into the end zone after running back Knowshon Moreno's first score, drawing the ire of Gators coach Urban Meyer and adding a bit more zest to this year's showdown in Jacksonville on Nov. 1.
Meyer wasn't happy with the act and mostly avoided the subject at last week's Southeastern Conference Media Days, but did have some interesting comments about it in his soon-to-be-released biography "Urban's Way."
In the book, Meyer said, "That wasn't right. It was a bad deal. And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team."
Meyer added that he didn't want to display his anger in public and give Georgia bulletin board material, but said, "So we'll handle it. And it's going to be a big deal."
Georgia head coach Mark Richt admitted he told his players to celebrate and draw a penalty, but he did clarify how the situation arose.
Richt said he was concerned with his team's lack of energy, and that a similar ploy had worked when he was offensive coordinator at Florida State. After relaying the idea to his players, Richt said they started doing solo celebrations in practice, such as dunking the ball through the goal post.
Concerned that the in-game act would become a one-man show, he told the team before the game that he wanted it to be a team celebration.
"Now, I'm thinking in my mind, my little pea brain, that 11 guys in the game score a touchdown, 11 guys jump up and down and celebrate until the official throws the flag," Richt said. "That's my intention of what I had said."
Wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi backed up Richt's statements by saying his coach was surprised after the celebration.
"You know that they're going to be gunning for us after the celebration," defensive tackle Jeff Owens said. Then, after a pause, he added, "That we did not plan."
Richt saw a different reason for renewed passion in the rivalry.
"I don't think there's any doubt it's intensified the rivalry," he said. "But what intensified the rivalry is that we won, okay? I mean, that's the reality."
Then, Richt got on the subject of UF's recent dominance in the series, winning 15 of the last 18 meetings, compared to the Bulldogs all-time lead in the series, 47-37-2.
"People want to talk about streaks in that game," he said. "The way I see it, we won last year. We won two out of the last four. And if you want to start going back in history, you might as well go back to the beginning of the history of the series and see where Georgia is there.
"You know, I don't know why everybody wants to go just 15 games back. I mean, if you want to go back, go back to the beginning. If you want to talk about recent history, let's talk about last year, the last few games."
With all the pageantry that surrounds the matchup, Massaquoi admitted it's difficult not to look ahead, and it'll be even tougher to keep his mind off the game this season.
"That's one of the greatest rivalries around the country," he said. "That game's the one all the fans have circled on their calendars, but with that rivalry lately, Florida has won twice as many as we have, so we still have pride and something to prove.
"They took [the celebration] as a slap in the face."
