Alternate Headline:

When Midgets Attack.

(image courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

For one brief shining moment in time Tra Battle got in touch with his purpose in life. It's not to play run defense. It's not to play the saxophone. It is to make Brandon Cox's life unadulterated hell. Mission accomplished. If you dropped in from outside the SEC and I asked you which of the two quarterbacks playing in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday was the freshman coming off a three interception game which saw his team lose to a perennial division doormat, you would have picked the wrong guy.

Seriously, Tra Battle looked like one of the pygmies from The Mummy Returns. He was all over the place. Tra Battle had more yards on interception returns than any Auburn reciever had in receiving yards. Tra Battle had as many interceptions in a game as any UGA player has in 24 years. Tra Battle is the 170 pound hobgoblin who will haunt Brandon Cox until the end of his days.

What this game means for the rest of the season is hard to say. If we lose to Tech in two weeks and then stink it up in a third tier bowl game, I think we're right back where we were on November 10. But I don't think that will happen. In football you're almost never as good as your wins, nor as bad as your losses. I don't think we'll beat Tech 37-15. But I do think that what we saw on Saturday is what this team is capable of playing like. The question is whether we can do this consistently.

We have a lot of injuries to deal with, and a lot of people who played while dealing with injuries. Make no mistake, this was a gut-check kind of game. It's a starting point, not an ending. But damn, it's great to be a Georgia Bulldog.