Georgia will wear black for Alabama showdown
For just the third time in modern school history, the Bulldogs won’t wear red.
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — There’s no great mystery this time. Georgia will definitely be wearing black jerseys for its showdown with Alabama.
Still, the choice of colors is telling.
The third-ranked Bulldogs know how big this game is, even though the calendar hasn’t even flipped to October yet. This is their chance to start shaking out the hierarchy in the brutal Southeastern Conference, which has four of the top eight teams in this week’s Associated Press rankings.
The No. 8 Crimson Tide routed Clemson to start the season and blew out Arkansas last week in the SEC opener, giving every indication that second-year coach Nick Saban has this storied program back on track after a few seasons lost in the hinterlands.
Hoping to turn back the Tide, Georgia decided this was as good a week as any for a “blackout.”
For just the third time in modern school history, the Bulldogs will be wearing black jerseys instead of their traditional red, and they’re urging all their fans to don the color as well for Saturday night’s nationally televised game.
“I’m a style guy,” cornerback Asher Allen said. “I like the black [jerseys]. I like how they offset the red helmets. The red jerseys are more traditional, but the black just gives us a little extra spice. I like it. I really do.”
Coach Mark Richt isn’t concerned with making any sort of fashion statement. He just remembers what happened a year ago when he finally gave in to his players’ persistent appeals to wear black jerseys.
Heading into a crucial game against Auburn, Richt vaguely passed along a supposed request from the players that Georgia fans come dressed in black. When asked if the Bulldogs planned to wear the color as well, the coach kept saying the team had not ordered any such attire that week.
While he wasn’t lying, the straight-laced coach definitely fudged the truth. Richt had ordered the jerseys over the summer, but he only told his staff and the seniors. During the warmups before the game, the Bulldogs came out in red. The ruse continued when the captains came out ahead of the rest of the team, still dressed in red.
But they actually had on black jerseys underneath, and when the remaining players popped out of the tunnel in black, ol’ Samford Stadium rocked like it’s never rocked before.
“It was wild,” safety Reshad Jones said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
The underclassmen had only learned of the ploy minutes before the game. After warmups, they returned to the locker room for their usual routine of praying or meditating in the dark. When someone flipped the lights back on, the black jerseys had been placed on the back of their chairs.
It might have been the greatest motivational tactic of Richt’s career. There was no way the Bulldogs were losing that game. Even after Auburn surged ahead 20-17 early in the third quarter, Georgia responded with four straight touchdowns for a 45-20 victory.
“We were riled up,” Jones recalled.
Even without the element of surprise, the Bulldogs are still counting on the alternate jerseys to give them a little extra bounce in their steps. They wore black again in last year’s Sugar Bowl, a 41-10 rout of Hawaii that pushed Georgia up to No. 2 in the final AP poll.