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.
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1,679 comments Add your comment
firemarkricht.net
October 10th, 2009
8:07 pm
Coach Smith…what has ALA actually won? How about they won LAST YEAR’S GAME HEAD-TO-HEAD?
How about they came into Athens and smacked UGA in the mouth!
Maybe you’re into that. But I’m not. Get new coaches.
Courage
October 10th, 2009
8:07 pm
CMR = Coach Mark Richt! Willie – you ain’t right in the head boy!
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:08 pm
thanks macho man. i guarantee florida won’t hang 75 on us.
Tired of Being a Dawg Fan
October 10th, 2009
8:09 pm
Fire the whole freakin staff. CMR has no idea what he is doing, and it shows. Having CMR coach our team is like having a Ferrari and never taking it out of second gear. You know it is a great car but the driver is a tard. I did not believe we could regress to the Goff Era but looks like we have. I will not give another G@d D@mn red cent to UGA until they get a football coach who has a sack of marbles and wants to win.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:09 pm
thanks courage. is the water girl that gal i have a crush on?
River Mill
October 10th, 2009
8:10 pm
Coach Richt has the ability to be a good coach. He has shown a good mind for the game. It just seems that somewhere around the time we got shellacked by Alabama while dressed in black, that his heart stopped being in the game. That may be too harsh. Maybe distracted is a better description. Either way, the team has been poorly coached for the last dozen or more games…..maybe all the way back to the start of last season. Very poorly coached – not ready at the whistle, not prepared for what the other teams have shown. When was the last time we had a good first half in an SEC game? Whether the distractions are personal or he’s just lost his shine, I sincerely hope the coach does a gut check, a program check and, win or lose, fields a team prepared to play the game.
Michael McClure
October 10th, 2009
8:11 pm
We need a “Head Coach” an offensive corrdinator and a defensive coordiator. All of these assistant head coaches titles and money need to go. Stacy is a joke…wag my name around during off season and make me over the running game…joke. Willie gone…now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This AD we’ve got is a joke. I refuse to donate one more dollar to this program or the Univeristy until a wholesale house cleaning is done and that include Richt. WE HAVE NO COACHING…NO CARING ABOUT THIS PROGRAM…ALL WE HAVE IS EXCUSES…INJURIES…SCHEDULE…MY FOOT IS HURT. THIS IS NO GEORGIA FOOTBALL….NO BALL…NO MONEY…………….
A JEFF FAN!
October 10th, 2009
8:11 pm
Willie Martinez you are doing a Great Job! We Gator fans, see’s something Ga fans don’t see, you work for The GREAT Coach Meyers
Law Dawg
October 10th, 2009
8:11 pm
“I’m not advocating Richt be fired because if nothing else he deserves at least 1 bad year before the administration considers that…”
That, along with 95% of these comments, is a sad commentary on both Georgia’s fan base and modern college sports generally. Under such standards, Coach Dooley would have been fired while Herschel Walker was still in grade school.
We play 8 games a year in the toughest conference in the country, by a large margin, and road games in some of the toughest venues in the country. You’re going to have down years. We haven’t had one, a sub-8 win season, in 13 years at Georgia, and we don’t know where this season is headed. Keep in mind that, two years ago coming home from Knoxville, it looked worse for us than it does tonight. A couple months later, and we were a popular pick as the best team in the country.
We’ll have to find a RB threat and a pass rush to make that happen this year. But a 6 or 7 win season shouldn’t put a coach with a 75% win percentage anywhere near the hotseat. Remember that the year before the 1980 season, we were a 5-6 football team.
Hairy dawg is stupid
October 10th, 2009
8:12 pm
hell he from ga. what do u expect.
Dog-gone TIRED OF IT
October 10th, 2009
8:12 pm
As a Ga. grad (84), I wish all dawg fans would look at the real picture. We have one National Championship in 115 years.
We should be thrilled to average 8-10 wins a season with a solid coach and good man like CMR.
We have a program to be proud of except for the moronic multiple arrests. Coach is a great man and a lifelong leader of my dawgs if he wants to be.
let’s be happy for what we have. Go Dawgs—I support and love you.
Ed
October 10th, 2009
8:12 pm
For those of you who think that Richt is unassailable, keep in mind that Bobby Bowden and Steve Spurrier were once great coaches, too. Coaching is like business – those who can’t adapt and change eventually go out of business. Whatever Richt is doing ain’t working, so the question is will he adapt and make changes necessary to get this program on track. So far he shows no inclination to do so.
LoyalDawg
October 10th, 2009
8:12 pm
Over the last 15 games we have given up 41 pts to Bama, 38 to LSU, 49 to Florida, 38 to Ky, 45 to GT, 37 to SC, 41 to Ark, and now 45 to TN. 8 out of 15 games we have given up 37 or more points! Horrible.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:13 pm
a jeff fan: that i work for mr myer was supposed to be our secret.
River Mill
October 10th, 2009
8:13 pm
Coach Richt has the ability to be a good coach. He has shown a good mind for the game. It just seems that somewhere around the time we got shellacked by Alabama while dressed in black, that his heart stopped being in the game. That may be too harsh. Maybe distracted is a better description. Either way, the team has been poorly coached for the last dozen or more games…..maybe all the way back to the start of last season. Very poorly coached – not ready at the whistle, not prepared for what the other teams have shown. When was the last time we had a good first half in an SEC game? Whether the distractions are personal or he’s just lost his shine, I sincerely hope the coach does a gut check, a program check and, win or lose, fields a team prepared to play the game.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:14 pm
loyal dawg: you think you could have done any better? go back to flipping hamburgers at macdonalds.
Michelle
October 10th, 2009
8:14 pm
I’ve never jumped on the fire the coaches band wagon…. but when you get paid that much money and your program has yet to achieve what other coaches’ have within the first couple of years of their hiring, you’ve got to be man enough to fire your staff and bring in people who can win or the athletic director has to be man enough to fire you for not doing your job.
I love Coach Richt, but I do think it’s the coaching, not the talent. It’s time he’s show us that he’s capable of handling the program.
Dogtired
October 10th, 2009
8:14 pm
Vol Fan
I’ve been to your stadium and I’ve always wondered who “that guy” was. Thank you. Now I have a name to go with the description.
Vol Fan: non-graduate who appears on Saturdays wearing hunter-safety orange cut-off overalls and bears a smile revealing the same number of teeth as points scored by UGA’s defense today.
Keep your sarcasm and “encouragement” to yourself.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:15 pm
Enter your comments here
Flounder
October 10th, 2009
8:15 pm
I suggest we all start drinking heavily. I know what I’m talking about. I was once pre-med. I am seriously thinking about getting a life… my sacred Saturdays have turned into a Hellish nightmare… Spurrier is 5-1 and Florida has already been awarded the national championship according to ESPN… dark times indeed. I wonder if my ex wife will let me back in the house. She can have the remote as long as she stays away from college football games. Those lifetime movies aren’t so bad…Oh the agony… it is the curse of Larry… things turned south when he was no longer in the booth.
Mike
October 10th, 2009
8:16 pm
The potential “fix” could be Chris Petersen at Boise State.
Pi$$onatechie
October 10th, 2009
8:17 pm
watch this and start crying because you will realize that Georgia is full of boys compared to our 80s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpm7L-6sOR8
A JEFF FAN!
October 10th, 2009
8:17 pm
Willie we gotta tell the truth and stop taking their money, so the GA program can afford a new staff.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:17 pm
any of you folks that got a problem with me let mark know.
Paul's Johnson
October 10th, 2009
8:18 pm
Kirby Smart is not going to leave a program that is in contention for a NC to come to, I hate to say it, a program that is spiraling in decline.
Maybe, if the compensation package was right.
Jborodawg
October 10th, 2009
8:18 pm
Just a sickening loss. What’s hard to fathom is Tenn appeared to be getting better…but the Bulldogs regressed. It seems every week the opposing QB has a career day. Every week it’s some unit of the team not having a good game; except for today when Joe C, the O AND the D just weren’t up to the task. I’m not a big believer in blaming it all on the QB, but Cox just isn’t improving week to week.
Early Curly
October 10th, 2009
8:19 pm
where is dawgGirl 32 at? we were going to smoke some crack tonite.
Snuffy Smif
October 10th, 2009
8:19 pm
This was the worst prepared Dawg team I’ve seen since the last trip Donnan took to Columbia, SC. Dawgs have been morphed into a middle of the pack ACC team.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:20 pm
a jeff fan, no way i can stop taking the money. so many mouths to feed and my reputation as a football coach is at stake.
Courage
October 10th, 2009
8:20 pm
2 years ago – we had talent. We had Stafford and Moreno.
Great Talent + average coaching may equal above average results – because of talent alone.
Poor coaching + above average, not great, talent = can and may equal poor results!
Do the math and you see who is responsible for the sorry state of this team today!
Nighttrain99
October 10th, 2009
8:20 pm
has richt already committed to the fsu job and has mailed it in for his last year of coaching at UGA? there are few other explanations for a team with this level of talent being 4 plays away from 0-6. if so, damon evans needs to move him out. if not, he needs to step up with an explanation and resolutions.
A JEFF FAN!
October 10th, 2009
8:21 pm
Willie, you know Mark work’s for the Gators. Mark can’t do jack until he get’s permission from Meyers.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:21 pm
i wish all you folks out there would quit reading them lying atlanta newspapers. if you want the truth, go toe gadogs.com
Dusty
October 10th, 2009
8:22 pm
2001- the journey begins
UGA- 27.6 point per game
Opponents- 19 points per game
2002- if only Edwards had caught that ball!
UGA- 32.1 points per game (up 17% from 2001)
Opponents- 15.4 points per game (down 20% from 2001)
2003- Defense even better, offense not as good
UGA- 28.6 points per game
Opponents- 13.8 points per game (down another 9% from 2002)
2004- Still good!
UGA- 27.9 points per game
Opponents- 16.5 points per game
2005- Willies first year was okay!
UGA- 29.5 points per game
Opponents- 16.3 points per game
2006- The slip begins on D
UGA- 25.2 points per game
Opponents- 17.6 points per game (up 8% over 2005)
2007- Defense gets worse… offense gets better.
UGA- 32.6 points per game (up 30% from 2006)
Opponents- 20.2 points per game (up 14% over 2006)
2008- Defense is as bad as it can be, right??
UGA- 31.5 points per game
Opponents- 24.3 points per game (up 21% from 2007)
2009- It’s all bad and we are closer to 1-5 than 5-1!!!!!
UGA- 25.8 points per game (down 18% from 2008 despite 2 ST TDs and 1 D TD)
Opponents- 30.7 points per game (up 26% from 2008 and 86% since 2004)
JIM DONNAN HERE!!
October 10th, 2009
8:23 pm
Hello there ,all of you CMR lovers out there .Coach Richit liked useing my recruits to make himself look good and ride out some little sucess after that. But you are seeing the TRUE CMR.He can’t make it on his own recruits.
“I wound be willing to come back to Georgia only if it’s before he totally runs the program in the ground.I have to give CMR credit is on a roll.He is makeing Ray Goff look good.”
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:23 pm
a jeff fan: not exactly the truth; i funnel money to mark. urban was pissed because i didnt warn him about the end zone celebration. i think after last year he’s ok about it now.
Reason
October 10th, 2009
8:23 pm
Poor-tackling, High Penalties, Out-Dated Schemes… This is exactly why UT has Kiffin now. That is all.
Courage
October 10th, 2009
8:23 pm
Flounder – Drunk, fat and stupid is no way to go through life. Keep the remote, stay single and don’t give up on UGA. Things will change- When I can’t say, but they will!
DO NOT GO BACK TO THE EX-WIFE! Lifetime movies suck!
Courage
October 10th, 2009
8:24 pm
Hey Willie M!!! I got a problem with your no tackling, no covering, nothing D! So I guess I have a problem with you! LMAO!!!!!!
Ed
October 10th, 2009
8:26 pm
Example of adaptation – Urban Meyer at UF in ‘05 and ‘06. He ran a spread offense that relies heavily on a running quarterback, which Chris Leak was not. Year two he wins an SEC Championship and a mythical national title with Leak throwing and his back-up true freshman quarterback leading the team in rushing. It took two qbs to run his offense his way, and he worked Leak and Tebow into the offense flawlessly. It also helped that he had a great defense, but if he didn’t, you can bet that the necessary changes would have been made to address that problem.
Contrast that to Richt at Georgia. He runs the same offense (minus some of the sprint draws, but also minus some of the innovation) with diminishing results, and the same defense that has been getting torched – with the same coordinator at the helm – since 2005. Also, the “Finish the Drill” mojo from the early years has been long gone, and he doesn’t seem to have a clue how to get it back. The black jersies gimmick (which has apparently been abandoned after the Alabama meltdown) seems more like a desperate ploy than a serious attempt at motivating his 4-star studs to get up for key SEC games in front of 90,000 fans. Which begs the question: why would this be a problem in the first place?
Something is very wrong with the culture of Georgia football right now, and if you don’t see it you are either a shameless homer or in denial.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 10th, 2009
8:26 pm
Law Dog:
“We play 8 games a year in the toughest conference in the country,”
Really? The 2nd best team in the SEC East lost to the middle-of-the Pac 10 UCLA. Other than Florida and Alabama (but not LSU), the SEC is full of decent (LSU) to mediocre (UT) to garbage (UGA) to dumpster (Vandy) teams.
I’ve had enough of this “SEC is so tough” propaganda, and so should everyone else.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:26 pm
dusty: where did you get all them numbers from?
VolFan
October 10th, 2009
8:26 pm
Dawg fans, as a Vol fan I am super pumped by this win but if I were a Georgia fan, I wouldn’t read too much into this. Having lost the likes of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, Georgia’s regression was inevitable. I’m not 100% sure I agree with the author’s assertion that LSU and Bama are boat racing Georgia. The Gators are a notch above the competition but Bama and LSU? LSU is a goal line stand and a ridiculous celebration penalty away from being the Raycom game today. Alabama got waxed by Florida and, uhm, Utah after their so called return to glory. They’re a good team on the upswing but I am not sure I am consider them to be dominant by any means.
Also, I’d steer clear of blaming the coordinators for everything. The Randy Sanders saga went on for years at UT and things got no better when we ran him off. Next thing you knew, he was coaching Andre Woodsen to record setting years at Kentucky.
I’d take a deep breath before the Dawg fans create a cr*p storm of gloom and oom that does nothing but create a bad vibe and drive recruits away and on-team talent (AJ) to the NFL early.
‘
oldbrave
October 10th, 2009
8:26 pm
I am 56 and have been a UGA fan my entire life and this the most uninspired Uga team I have ever watched makes me very sad and very pissed off if you cant play with hussle and fire stay on the damn bus as my coach used to say
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:27 pm
courage: you got a problem with me and i will get bryan evans to whip your tail.
Courage
October 10th, 2009
8:27 pm
Ray Goff for President!
Seriously – Hire Cowher or Gruden! Bring an NFL guy here to bring some toughness and ‘tude to this team!
Hate to say it again! CMR has got to go!
How many wait till next years can there be? How many more excuses must we endure?
Out played
October 10th, 2009
8:28 pm
Would like to go ahead and congrat GT for their upcoming win against Georgia – it appears GA has lost any desire to win this season and their coaching staff is M.I.A. -
Go VOLS!!!!
October 10th, 2009
8:28 pm
Come on Tenn Fans let’s win with some class. Although we killed the vols today (didn’t see that one coming) We can hardly gloat. Crompton played very well today like against WKU, but was abducted by aliens for four games and came back today. He could decide to go on vacation again and we have Bama next. Now GA knows what we have been going through the last couple years with inconsistency. GO VOLS.
Good Ole Rocky Top
savdawg
October 10th, 2009
8:29 pm
Finally Jeff! Come on over to FireMarkRicht.net where we’ve been making this case for 2 years.
Willie Martinez
October 10th, 2009
8:29 pm
just wanted to let everyone know, i have a new tv show: willie’s histories mysteries. first episode will be how i found out smoke and mirrors really do work. catch it on lifetime channel.