Imagine that, a Dooley is trying to beat the Georgia Dawgs...this time around

Vince Dooley will take in a Georgia home game from his couch, just a few miles away, rooting for the Vols where no one can see. "I’m going to sit down and just watch the game on television," he said in a telephone interview Thursday. "It’s really a lot easier in a lot of ways." Dooley coached the Bulldogs for 25 years, leading them to six Southeastern Conference titles and the national championship in 1980. After retiring as a coach, he continued to serve as athletic director until being forced into retirement by university president Michael Adams in 2004. Now 78, Dooley is still a popular figure at Georgia and that’s where his loyalties remain. But his son Derek was hired this year to coach at SEC East rival Tennessee, making it inevitable that one day out of every year Vince would be favoring orange over red and black. "I pull for my family. If I don’t pull for my family, I won’t be married very long," he joked. Georgia coach Mark Richt said he understands why the man who hired him nearly a decade ago and usually attends every home game wouldn’t want to be around for this one.

"I think that was a smart move," Richt said. "He doesn’t want to go into Sanford Stadium and root against Georgia. And he doesn’t want to ever root against his son. So he can’t win."