“What If” 9
Aaaaand we’re back! (h/t to Ian Karmel of All Fantasy Everything iykyk). Remember when I said I was running out of ideas? I was wrong. I thought this was a good one since it’s about the second or third best RB in UGA history, considering who you ask. I’d probably put Chubb ahead of him just out of longevity.
The him I’m speaking of is Todd Gurley. As a freshman in 2012 he had almost 1,400 rushing yards and almost 20 TDs. In 2013 he was dinged up a little and didn’t play as much causing his numbers to dip. In 2014 he was primed to go on a Heisman run and lead UGA on a dark horse national title campaign. The margin for error was lost when Bobo refused to run the ball against Carolina. Regardless, he was on his way to 2K rushing yards until the BS about him signing jerseys came out. Instead of denying it like every Bama player in existence and playing on, Gurley served his four game suspension. Which leads us to…
“What if Todd Gurley hadn’t gotten suspended?”
Well first off, the Nick Chubb coming out party at Mizzou doesn’t happen. Sony Michel and Keith Marshall were both dinged up that year, but a 1–2 punch of Gurley and Chubb would have been lethal. Instead we rode Chubb to a 3–1 record in Gurley’s absence. That one loss? Florida…because of course. Our defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed in that game, but maybe if Gurley played they keep our defense off the field a little longer and just wear the turds out.
When Todd came back he tore his ACL against Auburn. That was a bummer. He was a junior and we all knew we had seen the last of Todd Gurley in a UGA uniform. It was a BS situation. Beating the dawg crap out of Auburn only helped a little. In six games, he had nearly one thousand yards. With another four and assuming he doesn’t get hurt he easily could’ve achieved 2K yards. I don’t think our team was good enough to go to the playoffs and win it all, but Gurley definitely could’ve been a Heisman finalist. If his numbers had been big enough maybe he edges out Marcus Mariota.
Actually, I think we would’ve won it all. Destroying Ohio in the playoffs and then beating Oregon letting Mark Richt ride off into the sunset a champion with Todd Gurley and Nick Chubb carrying him off on their shoulders.
