Tar and feather me, Bulldog nation. I was flat-out wrong.

I didn’t think the blackout would work. The idea was great. It fired me up as much as the next guy, but I was skeptical about convincing non-students.

Shows how much I know. Seeing the black-clad Dogs sprint through the banner into a sea of blacked out fans was truly the most inspirational sight I had seen since, well, two weeks earlier when the same white-clad Dogs threw their end zone dance party in Jacksonville.

Two brilliant and perfectly timed gimmicks. Period. But where do we go from here?

Kentucky rolls into town for what is now the final puzzle piece of Georgia’s must-win scenario. Short of the team running from the tunnel with the ol’ ball coach’s head held high on a bloody stake, I’m not sure anything can fire up the fans and team as much as we have been of late.

So here’s a word to the wise: let’s not go there again.

Make no mistake about it – we didn’t beat Florida and Auburn because of the gimmicks. We beat them because we are a young, talented squad that wanted to win more than they did. Now, it’s time to prove we want it more without the mask of any gimmicks.

Don’t be fooled by Kentucky’s recent return to the Kentucky football we always have known. These guys are dangerous.

Minus a gimmick, how do we keep the intensity level high? With simple, hard-nosed football.

Stick the ball between the two and four on Knowshon’s jersey and let him knock a Wildcat defender in the mouth.

Run Stafford’s gorgeous play action and find Massaqoui on a streak or toss up a jump ball and let Sean Bailey embarrass yet another flailing cornerback.

College football’s club of elite teams is a fickle world. Entering into it is only halfway about how good you actually are. The rest depends on how good people think you are.

The talking heads of the sports world only see highlights of celebration penalties and players in black jerseys “crankin’ dat soulja boy.” After a while, no matter who you are, gimmicks can start to look like masks for insecurities – something we don’t have with this team.

It’s time to sell the Georgia stock to the rest of the sports world with a no gimmick stomping of the Wildcats.

- Alec Wooden is the Out & About editor for The Red & Black