Georgia’s problem is direction, and that falls on Richt
Here's a common sight: A Tennessee receiver (Gerald Jones) making a catch in front of a Georgia defender (Bryan Evans) Saturday. (AP photo)
KNOXVILLE — The problems just became big picture.
This isn’t just about the quarterback looking overmatched or the coordinators looking lost. It’s not about the schedule or the injuries or maybe some conspiracy theories about SEC referees having an agenda because the team got too excited with an end-zone celebration in Jacksonville two years ago.
Plug in, folks. Georgia just lost to Tennessee like no team should lose to Tennessee (45-19). The offense didn’t score a touchdown. The defense just made Jonathan Crompton look like Jonathan Unitas. Lane Kiffin just schooled Mark Richt.
Six games and they’re going backward. Six games and they’re 3-3, their worst start in 13 years. And you begin to realize: If not for those late wins over South Carolina and Arizona State and surviving mayhem against Arkansas, we could be talking scorched earth at midseason.
This is when you wonder about direction. The same coach who two years ago we were toasting for finishing the season with a No. 2 ranking is now walking off the field and into news conferences looking like toast.
On Saturday, Richt was asked a question one never could have imagined two Januarys ago: “Are you worried about the state of the program?”
His answer: “We didn’t play very good today. We haven’t had a game this season where we played a really solid football game. So I’m concerned about that.”
Is it just me, or did he not completely shoot down the premise of the question?
Let’s make this clear. This is not a “Fire Mark Richt” column. His body of work speaks for itself. But Florida and LSU and Alabama have boat-raced Georgia in the SEC, and of maybe even greater concern is the lack of separation between the Bulldogs and everybody else.
This isn’t a former No. 2-ranked team that has maintained its level of excellence. It’s a program that has regressed. Significantly. Whatever Richt was doing before is not working now. Either the wrong players are being recruited, or the right players are being coached the wrong way.
Blame Mike Bobo for the offense. Blame Willie Martinez for the defense. Blame Stacy Searels, the vaunted offensive line coach, who, by the way, hasn’t done bupkis. Blame anybody you want.
But it starts with Richt. It’s his program. He sets the tone and establishes direction. He is the one coaching at a school that hadn’t started a season so poorly since Jim Donnan’s first year in 1996 (3-5 on the way to 5-6). Richt is the one whose team committed three more turnovers against Tennessee and ranks as the worst in the conference and among the dregs nationally with 16 giveaways and a minus-11 turnover ratio.
Volunteers quarterback Jonathan Crompton threw touchdown passes on three consecutive possessions in the second quarter and finished with four. He had been largely lampooned in Knoxville and had never thrown more than two in his career. Well, with one exception. He threw five against Western Kentucky.
So that’s where Georgia’s defense belongs: in the Sun Belt.
Asked what he would think if he was a Georgia fan watching this game on television, Martinez said: “Well, I am a Georgia fan. I’m not happy. We just got whipped.”
Things are no better on offense. The Bulldogs have failed to score an offensive touchdown in 10 of the past 11 quarters. Against Tennessee, the offense (field goal) was outscored by special teams (nine points, off a kickoff return and a blocked punt for a safety) and the defense (interception return).
Didn’t Richt make his bones in offense at Florida State?
He somewhat came to Bobo’s defense: “I like his play calling.”
When asked if he felt quarterback Joe Cox was regressing, he said: “I’ve got to look at the film before I start making comments like that.”
Just as well. This isn’t the time to be throwing anybody else under the bus.
“We’ve got a long way to go before we become a good football team,” Richt said.
And he should know. He’s the one driving the bus.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,679 comments Add your comment
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:03 pm
GATraitor/Gator
You have a severe coaching problem, and things won’t get any better until CMR gets a new staff.
Isn’t that what most of the commentary in the last
15 pages of this Blog have been about?And you think you have laid some new revelation on us. Go back to bed.
Georgia sucks
October 11th, 2009
4:04 pm
everybody knows it except you dumb redneck georgia fans. 30 years of sucking and still counting.
reebok
October 11th, 2009
4:05 pm
tech fan here. i was not thrilled w/ my team’s “performance” on defense last nite, but we made the halftime adjustments needed to win and my jackets played w/ trememndous passion. your dogs, with all respect, look confused and…well, whatever the opposite of ‘passionate’ is. if i were a georgia loyalist, i would be livid about the lack of emotion shown by the players and coaches alike.
anyway, good luck next week, and we’ll see you on The Flats in November!
Vol Navy
October 11th, 2009
4:09 pm
Its great to be a Tennessee Vol!
Babs Dooley
October 11th, 2009
4:11 pm
Ok Dawg fans. Suck on it. And when you’re done sucking on it, suck on it some more. Crompton for Heisman!!
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:13 pm
Lowly Tennessee??? That’s why most fans of other teams LOVE to see UGA lose
Hate us if you will. Before yesterday Tenn had nO SEC
victories,got there butts handed to them vs UCLA,Florida
Auburn and ya’ll sat up all last night singing Rocky Top
because you beat the Dawgs.Had the sitution been different ya’ll would be hunting heads too.Matter of fact I think ya’ll just come through that.As far as fans of other schools loving it when the Dawgs lose,I know alot of fans of other schools that love it when TN gets whipped.Yeah we considered the Vols inferior.
Ray
October 11th, 2009
4:14 pm
Who is CMR? Code word for Richt, like you are ashamed to use his name? Pretty weird.
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:16 pm
Its great to be a Tennessee Vol!
Oh yeah ya’ll pulled even with the Dawgs at 3-3
Babs Dooley
October 11th, 2009
4:18 pm
Mike T. – I was at the game. The Vols D manhandled the GA O line. The UT O-line was good enough to open some holes to let Hardesty expose how bad the dawgs are at tackling. The Vol ocashing staff figured out Crompton was way more comfortable with play-action and that Willie Martinez had no answer for it.
UT 45 – Dwgs 19 SUCK ON IT FOR A YEAR!!
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:19 pm
your dogs, with all respect, look confused and…well, whatever the opposite of ‘passionate’ is
Thanks for telling us, we would have never known it.
barneyb
October 11th, 2009
4:21 pm
This is the beginning of the end of the Richt era, and I am devastated to say that. A fine man, tremendous human being & Christian. But not a great head coach. Play calling, clock management, and staffing decisions have relegated him to this point. Time to clean house from the top down. Start fresh. This is not working, and will never work. Unless they are all gone, this will continue into next season and beyond. UGA has been reduced to a sad charicature of itself.
GaGator
October 11th, 2009
4:21 pm
Mike T. I was talking with Mr. OMG, and you pulled one sentence of the entire post.
I guess history staring you right in the face hurts. But not to worry, it is always darkest before the dawn.
Hokie in waiting
October 11th, 2009
4:22 pm
Dogs still rule, or you Techies wouldn’t be blogging about them
Babs Dooley
October 11th, 2009
4:22 pm
Mike T. – quit your bitchy ass whining – $50 UGA loses to FL, Auburn, KY and GT and ends up the season 7-5.
Hey Phil Fulmer’s available. He could easily steal Randy Sanders from KY. Then your offense could gain 7 yards before punting each series instead of 4 under Mike Booboo.
Hokie in waiting
October 11th, 2009
4:23 pm
MNC rematch, us vs Bama, mark my words!
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:24 pm
Well Babs, bless your little pea picking heart,
you’ve told me nothing I didn’t see probably better
on my own TV.It’s amazing how ya’ll keep telling us
after sixteen pages of blog, what we knew before the game ended yesterday.
CGATECHfan
October 11th, 2009
4:25 pm
Hey Dipstick,
If TECH is running a so-called “middle school offensive scheme” as you say, then what type of offense is UGA running? What ever TECH is doing, it is certainly more productive than anything UGA is doing at the moment. TECH’s offense scored more points last night than the entire UGA team has scored in two weeks! Call it what you want, but it sure is working a whole lot better than anything UGA is doing at the moment.
Fiddycent
October 11th, 2009
4:27 pm
Hokie in waiting – u r a dreamer. Texas has a powder puff schedule and will probably end up undefeated. Besides, no one wants to watch BAMA kick your ass twice in the same season.
This just in
October 11th, 2009
4:28 pm
Tennessee scored again! UGAly
Gainesville Dawg
October 11th, 2009
4:29 pm
We suck, the season is toast, put a fork in the dawgs
Mike T.
October 11th, 2009
4:31 pm
Mike T. – quit your bitchy ass whining – $50 UGA loses to FL, Auburn, KY and GT and ends up the season 7-5.
Uh IF WE LOSE TO FL, AUB, KY AND TECH it’s impossible
to finish 7-5.
#60!
October 11th, 2009
4:32 pm
awesome, congrats puppies, think the pollsters are being kind giving the dawgs the 60 slot.
can u say E M B A R R A S I N G
GaGator
October 11th, 2009
4:35 pm
Mike T. lighten up a bit, this is just clean fun. BTW I didn’t know they had cable in trailer parks.
Fiddycent
October 11th, 2009
4:35 pm
Mike T. – you must have graduated from UT because you can do the math. Congrats, and here’s your gold star. Now don’t go and spend it on a new UGA recruit.
PS – I hear Crompton has a younger brother!
GaGator
October 11th, 2009
4:41 pm
Mike T, she is just slightly dyslexic and just transposed her figurers. She meant say 5 and 7. But I think it will be 6-6.
delusional dawg
October 11th, 2009
4:41 pm
hear the dawgs are favored in nashville, puppies will forget UT and get all excited about this coming weekend. p a t h e t i c
Eric A Dawg Fan
October 11th, 2009
4:42 pm
Richt, has a major problems on his hands. Right now, Richt has to take the horse by the reins and do it himself because there is absolutely NO CONFIDENCE in those COACHES….. This is the absolute worst that I have seen the Dawgs perform since Jim Donnan days…. If Richt likes his coaching that much and he does not want to replace them then Richt has to go. Bring a NFL Coach from out there is is not coaching right now to take over the Dawgs….. This season is definitely headed for a disaster.
DogBiscuit
October 11th, 2009
4:42 pm
“Hokie in waiting”? What are you 12, or are you about to marry a turkey?
HeyMarlonBrown
October 11th, 2009
4:43 pm
Hey Marlon…nice decision buddy. Way to think this one through. You and granny enjoy the next 3 yrs while CLK dominates you. Memphis Thugs….you fit in well!!!
Dawg 79
October 11th, 2009
4:44 pm
I just don’t get it. Poor tackling, poor covering, poor running game, poor schemes, a team that looked like they quit, poor clock management (you can’t spike the ball with 1 sec left, run your FG team out), a QB picked off throwing out of bounds, so many personal fouls, so many penalties on KOs, so little effort……………. what has happened?
Some of the above is lack of talent, but most is poor coaching and fitness. Do we have strength and conditioning? Do we teach fundamentals?
Let’s see if UGA packs it in the rest of the year. If it does, then CMR might resign. At the least the OC & DC must be replaced.
Jeb
October 11th, 2009
4:48 pm
Can’t wait to Hip Hop all over the Vandy V again. Yeee Hawwww
jason
October 11th, 2009
4:49 pm
rainmaker, Yes while there are alot of passionate and well knowledgable UGA fans, we do have our idiots as well. Alot of those idiot UGA fans are jealous over the situation UF as going, as well as how fast Saban has made UA a National contender. I am jealous too, but will not resort to name calling and the other BS.
Now from my standpoint, I don’t see it getting better with CMR at the helm. Nevermind the discipline and penalties, yes I know they are important, But I am looking at what he does as the HC. They system out in, and the players being brought in for the system. Tell me how this makes sense… You can’t start a a player young because the system is to complicated that it takes four years of being in the system to have a firm handle on what to do. Yet it takes an opponet’s DC a matter of a week to diagnose said system and hold you to 1, YES 1 first down in a half of football. How does that make any sense.If your Frosh RB is the best you have, then you start him. If he sucks at pass blocking and picking up blitzes, you take him out in obvious passing situations usaually determined by down and distance. People talk alot about red shirting Moreno and rightfully so, but does everyone realize that Curran sat on the bench his Frosh year right up until the UF game. Curran led that game in tackles with like 13. That is the stupidity that rains down in UGA.
CMR put Bobo and CWM in as coordinators. He leads the way in the players being recruited. When your systems are not working regardless of whether it is the coordinators or the players, or hell even both. It all falls on the man in charge. I think simpily put CMR is making things whole lot more complicated for his players. When a player cannot get a system in whole for 4 years, but a DC can in a week…. That says alot on CMR and his staff being able to teach and develope players. Remember UGA does not recruit football players, they recruit ATHELETES.
DogBiscuit
October 11th, 2009
4:49 pm
I suppose you could be both.
MRZIP
October 11th, 2009
4:52 pm
iF THE COACH IS NOT GOING TO CALL THE PLAYS,WHY HAVE HIM TO BEGIN WITH??
the QB LOOKS LIKE HE WAS PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL,uga should have know long ago they did not have a QB,WHY DON’T THEY TRY TO FIND ONE??ALSO YOU NEVER SEE THE COACH UPSET ON THE SIDE LINES,WHY SHOULD HE??DRAWING ALL THAT MONEY HE HAS TO DO NOTHING TO BE HAPPY!!!!!!!
jason
October 11th, 2009
4:52 pm
Can’t wait to Hip Hop all over the Vandy V again. Yeee Hawwww
And with a win, again the Vandy game will be UGA’s defining game of the season. What another endzone celebration after a touchback in the WLOCP in JAX in 2 weeks.
David M
October 11th, 2009
4:54 pm
can’t disagree with jeff’s assessment here ..the coaching or lack thereof is evident to everyone except CMR. see no reason to support this mediocrity anymore.
Denver Dog
October 11th, 2009
4:55 pm
The only thing worse than being a dawg fan now is being a dawg fan in 30 degree denver weather.
Buck in Valdosta
October 11th, 2009
4:57 pm
Ok, dawgs suck
Dogfan
October 11th, 2009
4:57 pm
Here is what ESPN has to say:
Stormy times for Richt: Walking in Mark Richt’s shoes wouldn’t be a lot of fun this week. He’s got an average football team that doesn’t do anything particularly well with any consistency. It looks like it’s going to be a long season in Athens given what we saw in Knoxville on Saturday. The most indicting thing for Richt and his staff is how much better prepared Tennessee looked and how much more the Vols were into it emotionally in their 45-19 shellacking of the Bulldogs. Hey, this is a beating that would have been a lot worse if Georgia doesn’t get a deflected interception for a touchdown and if Tennessee had any clue about how to cover a kickoff. Richt has been too good, too consistent and too classy for any reasonable Georgia fan to call for his job. But unless there’s a dramatic turnaround this season, he’s going to have to make some major changes on his staff … or he’s going to be the one in trouble.
cantondawg
October 11th, 2009
5:03 pm
I have no doubt that Coach Richt will make the necessary changes with the offense and defense. He gave Martinez a second chance this season and it’s not working out. Under Martinez direction Tennessee has score 51, 35 and 45 points in three of the last four years. That’s completely unacceptable for Georgia to give up that many points. Offensively, i don’t understand why Bobo calls a passing play on 3rd and 1 and a running play on 3rd and 10…I can never remember when Georgia has run the ball so poorly
Carl Spackler
October 11th, 2009
5:03 pm
There’s an article by Tim Tucker in the AJC where Bobo states he may be looking for a “spark” for the team (do ya think) and that Murray and Met may be in the running…now, which one keeps their redshirt…
Hire a Real coach
October 11th, 2009
5:04 pm
Richt is not a championship coach, and UGA needs to be moving him out soon. He lost twice to the incompetent Ron Zook, when Richt had twice the talent. He just can’t win big games, and is not losing to lowly teams like tennessee, with the idiot lane kiffin running the team. Evans and Adams need to get out the UGA checkbook and spend whatever it takes to bring in a big time coach who can recruit nationally, not just in 1 or 2 states like Richt. Two names: Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher! They can both be had for $4-5 mil per year, plus a ton of incentives, benefits, etc. Adams needs to get with it, or he’ll be fired too.
Miller lite
October 11th, 2009
5:04 pm
can’t disagree with ESPN’s assessment of the dogs.
Gator Fan
October 11th, 2009
5:05 pm
It was the ref fault this week after all! The puppies found a way to avoid celebration penalties – don’t score. LOL
TGT
October 11th, 2009
5:07 pm
Going back to the Alabama game last year Georgia is surrendering an average of 30 (29.87) points per game. Their record over that time is 9 and 6. I would say that it is lucky to be that.
HairyDawg
October 11th, 2009
5:12 pm
It aint coaching. Its the players. We just got stinky players right now. We have to bring up some from Hargraves and juco, and we need to send some of them with the sorry butts packing. If players can’t win then they need to hit the road along with Adams for not letting us recruits the gooder players to win in the SEC.
alum 96
October 11th, 2009
5:21 pm
Go Dawgs! Loved that smart, aggressive game Richt! Loved the spread option offense! The frequent completions! The brilliant man to man pressure defense! The Blitz! The apparent game player and opponent analysis! I loved that our HC and team stopped praying and started playing!
Oh forgot. That was just a dream.
I will not be watching any more Georgia Football until Richt et al are gone. He is just terrible.
Tenn 45-19
October 11th, 2009
5:22 pm
Since UGAY has no highlights to watch from yesterday’s beatdown, out of compassion for the poodle nation, here is a clip of Herschel Walker running over Bill Bates in 1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nc2XsimM90
Enjoy. It’s all you have for the next 12 months.
45-19
Dog Poop
October 11th, 2009
5:22 pm
Fire CMR, WM, Bobo, the cheerleaders, fire “UGA” the bulldog. Change the mascot name to the UGA POLECATS, better known as “skunks” because they STINK.
Observer
October 11th, 2009
5:24 pm
I’ve read several posts over the past few weeks lamenting how young and inexperienced the UGA team is. For the life of me, I can’t understand how a team that consistently gets a top-5 recruiting class – year in and year out – can have such a lack of depth. How is it possible that there is no 5-star quarterback waiting to replace Matthew Stafford? How is it possible that there is no “heir apparent” to replace Moreno at RB? Clearly, Caleb King was never the answer.
The primary functions of the head coach are to bring in quality recruits on a consistent basis (something that Mark Richr has done well) and coach that talent up to the point where the two-deep depth chart is loaded with talent and experience (this is where Rich has proven to be totally inept).
It seems to me that the problem starts and stops with Richt. He is insanely loyal to an incompetent defensive coordinator and he applauded the play-calling of an offensive coordinator whose offense didn’t produce a single point! The man is walking around blind without a dog or a cane.