For starters, I think Richt is RIGHT here, and what's funny is that some of the folks mocking him here would consider this a stroke of genius if Saban did the same thing. 2012 has NO BEARING AT ALL on this game - none. It will make for some interesting historical reference but only the freshmen who have not gone on to the NFL (or the fifth-year seniors) were even involved with that game. Odds are that next to nobody playing in this game Saturday made any consequential contribution to that 2012 game.
Referencing the 2008 game is even more ridiculous - given that even the oldest players on either team would have been in maybe the 8th or 9th grade when it happened. There will be plenty of those, however, because that game in all honesty was the seminal 'Bama is Back' moment.
As long as Richt doesn't resort to the Butch Jones references to 'the red team' (complete with Baghdad Bob memes), there's nothing wrong with this.
Keep this in mind: Saban took a team that wasn't his own (Shula's players, virtually none his own recruits) into the 2007 game against UGA, a team picked to win the SEC. UGA had manhandled an average Okie State, lost to an average South Carolina, and rolled WCU while we were 3-0 and our only impressive accomplishment was actually pulling out the Arky game in the fourth quarter.
UGA beat us in overtime. We won the turnover battle (2-1) and JP Wilson was unspectacular but steady. UGA had two big guns in the backfield that year, Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown, and their QB was the very accomplished Matthew Stafford.
Now, I know the objection will be, "But you're referencing the 2007 game," but my only point is this: Saban has a proven track record through the years of getting more out of a team than they're capable of (insert 2001 LSU reference here). This is NOT a bad team and is HIS team. My only point of reference is the COACHES, which are the same; I wouldn't use a reference to the game in terms of 'revenge' or any such nonsense.
I think Richt is right. I also think the game comes down to this as always:
1) Run the ball (we need big games from the O-line, Henry, and Drake)
2) Stop the run (we MUST stop Nick Chubb - can we?)
3) Win the turnover battle
If we do those three things, we will win. That is the benchmark of success. Go back and look at ANY game from any time and this will tell you the winner 99.9% of the time. Go back to Ole Miss. It can be argued we stopped the run, but we didn't run the ball BECAUSE we lost the turnover battle - badly.
This is why I suspect the entire plan for ULM was to rest Henry and Drake for an attempt to reprise the second half of the 2012 game this week. Granted, our O-line is not as good as that one and it is highly doubtful that Henry and Drake are as good (combined) as Lacy and Yeldon - but the concept is the same.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this game, but I'll also admit I have not been this nervous about an upcoming game since the 2009 SEC title game. I only hope the result is the same.
RTR
