Poll time: Who deserves most blame for Georgia’s offense?
Mark Richt, Aaron Murray and Mike Bobo are wondering what happened to the offense.
Before getting to the point of this blog, let me quickly weigh in on Georgia coach Mark Richt’s decision to kick Demetre Baker off the team for a DUI and underage drinking: kudos.
This isn’t to celebrate a foolish youth’s mistakes. Baker isn’t the first college kid to be involved in underage drinking and driving. But Richt’s only hope of getting through to players in his program — which has seen 10 arrests since the spring — may be a zero tolerance stance because clearly nothing else has been working.
Loading ...Baker will be fine. Public humiliation is a shock to the system but it can be good for one’s personal growth.
Now, about the Georgia offense: No kudos.
The Bulldogs were held to two field goals at South Carolina, smothered for a good part of the Arkansas game and were limited to two field goals Saturday at Mississippi State until a meaningless touchdown with 1:27 left in the game.
Pass protection has been erratic and run blocking has been poor, surprising given that the offensive line was supposed to be the strength of the team. Quarterback Aaron Murray has made typical freshman mistakes but for the most part he has been impressive. The running game has been disappointing and Kris Durham has been the lone receiver to make big plays in the absence of the suspended A.J. Green (who returns this week).
So who should take the most blame for this? Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has been the most criticized. He deserves some credit for falling on the sword in Starkville, saying: “You can’t turn the ball over, and you can’t have penalties. That’s coaching. It’s our fault.”
But by now, you should know where I stand on this: Issues always start at the top. To me, the problem is less play-calling (albeit, that’s some of it) than it is attitude and intelligence. That’s on the head coach.
Whom do you blame for the struggles? Here are some options:
♦ Richt: The Dogs did not look prepared to play Saturday in Starkville, nor have they looked well prepared in the past several SEC games (2-7 going back to last year). They often don’t play with a sense of urgency. They’re not committing as many personal foul penalties in the past but we still see too many mental breakdowns and times when they get beat physically. The head coach sets the tone.
♦ Bobo: He has been criticized for not using more high-percentage short passes in the game plan, and for a lack of creativity in the game plan. But as we’ve previously discussed in this corner, Xs and Os don’t work if a team isn’t knocking over the opponent.
♦ Stacy Searels: Either Georgia’s linemen have been way overrated or the offensive line coach isn’t coaching them up. Searels is in his fourth season in Athens. He was highly regarded when he arrived from LSU in 2007 and was believed to have been given a raise to not go to Auburn with new head coach Gene Chizik last year.
I’ll throw two other choices into the poll: All of the above and none of the above (which is a vote to blame the players).
So who takes the hit for this?
♦
SACK SCHULTZ: Dude, this contest is like totally ruining my street cred. Went 10-5 last week. At 31-14 overall. Two guys named Ills (Georgia) and Axmann (Wisconsin) lead at 39-6. I’m pretty sure they’re cheating. If you haven’t played, it’s not too late too humiliate me! Click here for details and then here to enter.
♦
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845 comments Add your comment
marine dawg
September 27th, 2010
3:59 pm
This teams efforts will go down in history.
People will point to the players for years at home games and say he was one of the worst teams ever to play football at Georgia.Never thought I would be looking forward to our Basketball season.
Footballs finished.
rincon dawg
September 27th, 2010
3:59 pm
Lemay got kicked off his high school team. we have enough criminals
Wreckmaniac
September 27th, 2010
3:59 pm
Oh Lord, please keep CMR at UGA
Bob
September 27th, 2010
3:59 pm
There is a difference between responsbility and blame. Richt bears ultimate responsibility for everything that happens on that team. That does not mean that he is directly to blame (as in, he is the cause) for the troubles. He may be, he may not be. It is difficult to judge that correctly without knowing a lot more information than we, the ignorant, have available to us.
He must take responsibility, though, even if (not saying this is the case) everyone on the team is going completely against all he is trying to do and running the program into the ground.
There is no one, no matter how good, that does not experience some bad times in what they may, overall, do very well. Richt needs to fix things, but this talk of his demise is idiotic.
Jan Kemp
September 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
Can I help?
Commercial
September 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
The fire in his belly is to make commercials for Ford to sell trucks. That and to not have the headset mess up his coifure while on TV
Beddles
September 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
A simple replay of that nightmarish excuse of a contest and you’ll see Richt with a playsheet in his hands for the entire game. You can only assume it was the offensive plays and he was either approving or disapproving of everything he heard from Bobo that night. So essentially, Richt more than likely called that game.
Wreckmaniac
September 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
Note to Paul Johnson: Please grab Willie Martinez to coach defense. You will have a better team.
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
Delbert — Donnan didn’t win 2 SEC titles. That buys a coach some credits.
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2010
4:01 pm
JB — I didn’t see that. But they were excited at MSU.
Paul in RDU
September 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
Jeff – I agree with you that there is a much deeper problem at UGA than play calling or even an underperforming offensive line. The attitude and intelligence of the players are obvious problems and that speaks to the overall culture of the program. UGA does not look like a team – more a collection of individuals (with the off-field problems, the stupid penalities, the chest beating after tackles, demonstrating their selfishness).
The high point of the 2009 season was UGA’s well-deserved win over GT – a solid team performance – but even in that high point you had the 2 starting RBs trying to make it all about themselves. By “We Run This State”, Ealey and King didn’t mean the UGA Bulldogs – they meant themselves.
rincon dawg
September 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
yeah jeff 5 years of credit. Done
Jamaica Dawg
September 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
Reality Check, so true, also,
Quinn, well said:
“Mike Bobo may one day develop into an adequate coordinator but to me that is why Coach Richt was hired in the first place, because HE was a great O-Coordinator at FSU. While I acknowledge that at times Richt was predictable in his playcalling it is CRYSTAL CLEAR that Bobo is overmatched much like Martinez last year. Not that he cant one day have success but I question how is it we are supposed to compete for championships when the coordinators at other top programs have far superior resume’s.” What is Bobo’s resume anyway other than being a former UGA quarterback? We need NFL level coaching talent with fresh, current strategic ideas (a la Grantham).
JeRrAnD tArRaNt
September 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
WaRe Da WhYtE wOmEnZ aT!?!?!
Delbert D.
September 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
Adams not only sacked Vince Dooley, he sacked Jim Donnan against Dooley’s arguments to keep him. Adams is the trigger man; Georgia is *his* university, and peons must never forget that.
ClarkeCountyCop
September 27th, 2010
4:03 pm
Hey, we have work realease programs so them boys who run afoul of the law, can still make it to practice. We can work something out on those away games too. Make sure you tape up the ankle bracelet so the refs don’t see em.
bamaguy
September 27th, 2010
4:03 pm
An avid UGA fan/alumnus coworker of mine said the offense started downhill when Richt quit calling his own plays. Any of you UGA fans agree with that?
Jaxdawg
September 27th, 2010
4:03 pm
Lovely timing – I just got my Florida tickets in the mail today from the UGA athletic office. In the Dooley days, even if UF was ranked #1 in the nation, I had faith that we could find a way to win. Now, I have NO faith – and who wants to go watch a game that will be like 45-13 Gators? Even in a down year for UF, they will kill us (as much as I hate to say that…)
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2010
4:03 pm
Alan — King I think has more pure athletic ability than Durham. I’d also like to see him utilized more. But Durham has been far north of what I think most expected.
Tide Rising
September 27th, 2010
4:04 pm
Jeff,
On the recruiting svcs I know a lot of people don’t give a hoot about what they say but a study was done on how high school recruits fared and it showed that these svcs were actually surprisingly accurate. A 5 star recruit coming out of high school had a 40% chance of going in the first 3 rounds of the NFL draft 4 years later, a 4 star something like 15%. a 3 star was around 5% and a 2 star had a less than 1% chance of going in the first 3 rounds of the NFL draft 4 years later. There will be 5 stars who are busts and 2 and 3 stars who excel and make it to the NFL but as a general rule the star rating system given by the 2 major recruiting svcs is fairly accurate.
Bo
September 27th, 2010
4:04 pm
Bob – well said.
Delbert D.
September 27th, 2010
4:05 pm
Jeff – Donnan was 5-6 in his only other year (his 1st). Richt had 5 other years in which he won his 2 titles.
coaching
September 27th, 2010
4:05 pm
it is the coach. i’ve seen it for 3 years now. lazy and chicken sh#t head tackling that draws big penalties. if you want to tackle like that you shouldn’t be playing football cause you’re a wimp. maybe baseball is for you. weak arm tackling and just too many stupid penalties that shot the team in the foot. these are things that are directly related to poor coaching.
finkle316
September 27th, 2010
4:05 pm
I will tell you who is to blame. Its the media for over hyping this Geogia squad yet again for another year. The fans for thinking that just because the staff has a new D – cordinator things where going to change on the defensive side. When in fact they have gotten worse. The Ex-AD for being to worried about wearing red lace panties around his neck and getting in the pants of a 20 something. The king of the SCREEN OC Bobo. This whole thing is eerily similar to the way Fat Phil went out in TN. Pay attention dawg nation, this could be happening at your school.
Nick
September 27th, 2010
4:06 pm
Hey Breakdown, I’m picking up what you’re laying down!
And Alan, ditto on the T. King deal. I already mentioned it earlier. The guy’s a play maker, but so is AJ Green. Hard to be a play maker if no one’s throwing you the ball!
I Hate To Say It
September 27th, 2010
4:06 pm
Coach Richt is a good man on that I think we all agree.
However, I think that being brought up, mentored and learning from Bobby Bowden has really effected Coach Richt negatively. His program at UGA is very closely beginning to mirror that of Bowden’s recruitment of a group of low characters and morals they had at Florida State often times. Except, that Bowden and his staff did coach them “up” and win. But no less, the same types of unsavory characters.
Secondly, Coach BoBo has really taken a beating and rightfully so. However, again it is Coach Richt’s responsiblity to insure that the plays called and the offensive game plans are compatible with the athletic capabilities of the players.
And lastly, Coach Richt in his early tenure at UGA did win with the players recruited by Coach Donnan. Least we forget that.
Who’s to blame? Plenty to go around from doaches to players. Take your pick. Like my Moma used to say, “put all in a tow-sack beat’m with stick and you wouldn’t hit the wrong one.”
DAWG FAN
September 27th, 2010
4:07 pm
Who do you replace him with? How long will it take for the team to turn around under a new head coach and a new system. We were calling for the DC’s head last year, and are we any better? We can replace the OC, which I think is to have MR call his plays again, or we can fire MR and start over. BUT…my question is, don’t most programs and coaches have down years. I look at the Vince Dooley years, and I see a TON of 7-4 years. I don’t remember people calling for his head. I don’t know. It’s a tough call, but I don’t think we throw the baby out with the bath water, not just yet. But I am VERY disappointed and VERY frustrated.
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2010
4:07 pm
Tide Rising — I didn’t see that study you’re addressing because most of the stories I’ve read basically painted them as a joke. Also, there’s something that “study” you speak of doesn’t take into account. Many times they will raise a recruits grade AFTER they find out major schools are recruiting the player. Several stories have exposed that in the past.
Delbert D.
September 27th, 2010
4:08 pm
Same way Les Miles got his BCS Championship.
Tired of Hype
September 27th, 2010
4:08 pm
I guess all future OOC games will be against the likes of Arkansas State and the Southern Alabama School for the Deaf and Blind.
Bobby
September 27th, 2010
4:08 pm
Can someone please explain why coach Richt didn’t ask for instant replay of State’s first touchdown? The lateral was an illegal forward pass.
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2010
4:09 pm
Delbert D — I’m not knocking Donnan. Just saying that Richt won 2 SEC titles in his first 5 years at a school that hadn’t won one in 20. So you’re going to get a longer life line when that happens, and deservedly so.
PonGT
September 27th, 2010
4:09 pm
I think it’s George Bush’s fault. He’s the reason! It’s all because of the inept republicans and ‘W’… If not for him (and them) we would have won the war in Iraq, the war in Viet Nam, the war in Korea, and the War between the States. It’s all on George.
SMITTYSTHEMAN
September 27th, 2010
4:10 pm
Elmer Fudd — Richt isn’t the one with the ridiculous haircut. Pretty boy Murray obviously spends a lot of time in the salon. That hair’s a joke and what an embarassment to the Dawg nation!
chbeyer
September 27th, 2010
4:10 pm
Its Richt who is the primary person to blame but it became clear to me watching the miss. state game that the play calling is just horrible. Lost in all the discussion is the fact that Murray had a terrific game and moved the ball when they were passing so why not stay primarily with the passing game. Too many runs on second and nine setting up long yardage third down and obvious ‘must pass’ situations occurred when the passing game was working. In general, an amateur could have called a better game than Bobo did. He clearly is not a premier offensive coordinator and play caller. As with Martinez, Richt has a sense of blind loyalty even after its obvious that better choices exist in the marketplace of assistant coaches.
@Tired of Hype
September 27th, 2010
4:11 pm
Hmmm…..all 3 losses have been to SEC teams. Nice try though, bug fan
rincon dawg
September 27th, 2010
4:11 pm
PONGT
we did win the Korean war
The Grinch
September 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
AtlJacket @ 3:55 pm, tech has a heisman caliber QB? You mean Josh Bisquick? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Good one. Tell me another one.
Enjoying this immensely
September 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
Boo hoo Dawgs. All the crimes over the years and the thugery on the playing field are coming back to haunt you. I remember a lot of instances where your players would do something to an opponent when the refs were not looking. The original “Longest Yard” was shot in Georgia. I guess that has become a training film for CMR’s choir boys.
Scott
September 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
I blame George Bush and Dick Chaney.
Mike Smith
September 27th, 2010
4:13 pm
The overall program is Richt’s responsibility, but Bobo is not calling plays that utilize his team’s strengths. The line is not blocking well, so what sense does it make to constantly either run up the gut or send receivers 20 yards down field. You never see him roll out the pocket for a very mobile Aaron Murray. TE Orson Charles is highly underused. RB Carlton Thomas is a speedster, but has not plays designed to get him in space. Screens are few and far between. Use of the FB is near extinct. Sorry, but the Dawgs have a lot of weapons that are just not being utilized.
Richt bares some of the blame because he handed the OC and DC jobs over to two guys with no experience at those positions. You see what it did for the defense, and apparently, the offense was only a year or so behind. Grantham was a good hire. I think the defense is looking a lot better and headed in the right direction. Now Richt has to address the offense.
Hyping a team up to play is not going to all the sudden mean the deep routes will be open, and the opposition wont blitz or stack up against the run.
Paul in RDU
September 27th, 2010
4:13 pm
A comment on recruiting stars – if a 5 star has a 40% chance of making it to the NFL and 3 star has a 5% chance, but there are 50x as many 3 stars as 5 stars, there will be more 3 stars making it in the NFL.
The Grinch
September 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
bamaguy
September 27th, 2010
4:03 pm
Richt stopped calling the plays about 2 years ago. You do the math.
rincon dawg
September 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
Heres a hint the one play where we spread out the 3 reciever set we gained over 10 yards rushing. We didnt call that play any more. Instead we kept calling plays that didnt work, its obvious its coaching.
Delbert D.
September 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
4 & 5-Star recruits? 16 of the Falcons’ current players were not from BCS conferences:
Falcons Roster by Conference
ACC_________13
SEC_________10
Big Ten_____9
PAC-10______8
Big-12______6
Big East____3
Big Sky_____3*
WAC_________2
CAA_________2*
C-USA_______1
MWC_________1
MAC_________1
MEAC________1*
Div II______2
*FCS
Tired of Hype
September 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
Right @ Tired of Hype. That way you can beef up your record since you sure ain’t doing it in the SEC this year, or even half of last year.
James T. Kirk
September 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
the mutts wallow in their misery while the Tech Nation grows stronger with each passing week. We are preparing to defend our conference world championship while you butt sniffers are just praying to make the All Feminine Products Bowl on Dec. 5th.
bufbox
September 27th, 2010
4:15 pm
Hate to say it cause I love the guy.. but gotta be Richt as the head coach. Two major reasons:
1) This one you see in business all the time (Blockbuster Video). Stand stubborn on your past success and the competition will pass you by. In business you have to be aware and cognizant of change within your industry… and willing to adjust … even if it means abandoning many practices you have grown comfortable with.
2) Slow to change even when the need became obvious (CWM).
These two downfalls have bred this lackluster culture in Athens which has been festering and is now a swollen pimple. I think to late to lance it… not sure Richt can get back to where he was… even less sure he will ever truly compete for NC. Sadly, amputation is sometimes the only answer.
Paul in RDU
September 27th, 2010
4:15 pm
Atljacket @3:55. Wait for Vad Lee to start playing before you annoint him as a future Heisman winner.
Delbert D.
September 27th, 2010
4:15 pm
Okay, the Big East *is* a BCS conference, so make it 13.