Richt gives no reason to believe he can turn Georgia around
Mark Richt finished with his worst record at Georgia (6-7) and the Dogs had their first losing season since 1996.
MEMPHIS – Mark Richt says he is disappointed. He says he has to make changes. He says the Georgia football program is not where it needs to be, and when a once-respectable SEC program ends its season by failing to score a touchdown against a team from Conference USA, nobody is going to dispute that.
Here’s the only matter up for debate: Does anybody believe Mark Richt can still get it done?
It didn’t look like it this season, when the Bulldogs finished with a losing record (6-7) for the first time in 14 years. It didn’t look like it at Mississippi State or Colorado or in Jacksonville (again).
It didn’t look like it Friday night, because if the average Georgia fan considers it humiliating having to win in the final week of the season just to become bowl eligible — and then get stuck with the Liberty Bowl — what do you call it when the Bulldogs lose to Central Florida, 10-6?
This is what it looks like: Mark Richt has lost control of this program.
At the very least, he has lost the benefit of the doubt. The win totals in the last four seasons: 11, 10, eight, six.
Before Georgia’s game against Tech, I stated that Richt’s early success in Athens (two SEC titles in five seasons) earned him another year and the right to fix the problems. A part of me still believes that. But there’s mounting evidence that’s not going to happen.
The Dogs open next season against Boise State. Is there any part of you right now that says Georgia will win that game?
Ten days before Auburn will play in the BCS championship game, four days before Arkansas is in the Sugar Bowl and on the same afternoon a story broke that new Florida coach Will Muschamp is on the verge of hiring Charlie Weis as the Gators’ offensive coordinator, Georgia lost a bottom-tier bowl game to a team from Conference USA, which is a hiccup ahead of the Sun Belt.
If the damage from this was limited, it’s only because Uga VIII stayed home with a stomach virus.
Hopefully, the dog wasn’t watching on TV when Richt sent the worst possible message to his team on their opening possession. The offense had just driven from their own one-yard line to the UCF three. But on fourth-and-1 — and in the first quarter of the Liberty Bowl — Richt opted for the field goal. He defended the decision afterward.
Is that how Richt now defines finishing the drill?
The Dogs didn’t necessarily look emotionless. They just looked pointless.
Central Florida, coached by the familiar George O’Leary, smacked them in the mouth. Georgia didn’t look equipped to smack back. They couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t get tough yards. They couldn’t make a big play when they needed one. They were 3 for 14 on third-down conversions.
Aaron Murray completed his first seven passes. Then he went 14 for 31 with two interceptions. A.J. Green had eight catches but they covered only 77 yards (9.6 average, well below his 15.7 season average).
Say goodbye to A.J.: He didn’t make it official afterward that his next catch will be in the NFL but logic says that Liberty Bowl humiliation won’t be enough to keep him in college.
This is worse than Starkville, even worse than Boulder. It came at the end of a season, after a month of preparation, when Georgia should have worked out some of its problems.
Also, Colorado doesn’t play in a conference made by Fisher-Price.
In his typical postgame monotone delivery, Richt said: “We’re all disappointed. We didn’t want to finish with a loss. We didn’t want to finish with a losing record. Nobody would’ve predicted that. But it is what it is. There’s reasons why we ended up the way we did. We have to make changes. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future. We have to change how we go about our business. We’re going to improve. We’re going to get Georgia where it belongs.”
Do you believe him? Because from here, it looks like Georgia just turned into Kentucky – a school looking forward to basketball season.
Georgia loses almost annually to Florida. Now it loses to Central Florida. Get ready for 2012: Florida Atlantic is on the schedule.
Don’t laugh. It’s not that big of a step down. And things are headed in that direction.
– By Jeff Schultz
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2,265 comments Add your comment
Ruprecht
December 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
Congratulations UCF. You are one of the historic football programs in the Country and have once again proved your historic status. We salute you and hope to acheive your success soon.
still@the bar
December 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
T-Bagging the WATER GIRL just lost all its fun tonight. I almost felt sorry for CMR as I watched him on TV while the Water Girl was enjoying me T-Bagging her.
Kennesaw Dawg
December 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
As I said on the last blog:
1st bowl win for UCF, 1st season with 11 wins for UCF, 1st losing season under Richt, 1st time their conference has beaten a SEC team in a bowl. A pitiful state of affairs for us. I hope Richt is fired before he gets back to Athens. How can ANYONE support this poor coach and want him to stay another season???
If I were A. J. Green and wanted to stay at UGA next season………I wouldn’t stay because this team and the coaches are so bad. I would get the he^^ out of Athens and would not want to be associated with this bunch for even one more minute.
Ha ha
December 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
Valtool….don’t take it personally. UGA fans say the same thing about EVERY loss…it’s not just UCF.
You never beat UGA…they just somehow fail to beat you.
Dawg555
December 31st, 2010
11:43 pm
Jeff….thanks for the article. Hoping the big boys (aka….Adams and McGarity) will take heed that it’s not just a bunch of outrageous fans calling for the necessary changes. Thank God for your level headed rhetoric.
johnr
December 31st, 2010
11:44 pm
Now all you ga fans know why FSU let richt go
11 ARRESTS 6 Wins 7 LOSSES
December 31st, 2010
11:44 pm
Hilarious!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Keep those thugs and punks coming!
jvillebil
December 31st, 2010
11:45 pm
The problem with firing Mark Richt is that he’s such a nice guy. When you loose control of a situation and you know you have to make a major change to gain control again, you have to start with yourself. The second problem is I don’t think Mark is capable of of changing. He’s a great Christian man and I’m sure the players truly love him, BUT I doubt seriously if any of them fear him. If he walked in that locker room tonight after the game and picked up the cooler of gatorade and slammed it into the wall and yelled at his players, “I stunk, you stunk and our coaches stunk tonight but I guarantee you boys one thing, if I make it back for another year things are going to change. No more slip ups with the law, on curfew, with girlfriends or whatever. Gentlemen tomorrow we start basic training bootcamp for war next year. If you’re not ready to be on the practice field at 6:00 am tomorrow, you need to find another team!”
He then needs to slam the door and walk out. But both you and I know this is not in his personality and well it’s time he finds a losing team that just fired their tyrant coach and Mark would be the perfect fit. I think he’s a great guy, and he may not be able to admit it but the change would also be good for him. In the meanwhile if he does indeed stay, I say give him to the Florida game and if we lose, well I just hope we have our next coach lined up to be named after the game.
no respect
December 31st, 2010
11:45 pm
This is kinda like a haha michigan moment for these stinking mutts. (when michigan lost to Appalachian St.)
TechRedNeck
December 31st, 2010
11:45 pm
The Joke at Coke says Hi to the BUMPKINS on LUMPKIN St. Congratulations JAWJA on being a bunch of LOSERS. Yea; you beat our Jackets, so what? So did 6 or 7 others. ITS PLAY CALLING! FIRE BOBO! FIRE CMR! HIRE VINCE LOMBARDI! ( oh he’s dead). Every coach in the nation is falling all over themselves to be hired at DAWG TOWN. ITS GREAT TO BE A GA BULLDOG! JAWJA JAWJA JAWJA. The polecats of the SEC.
Delbert D.
December 31st, 2010
11:46 pm
Gdawg, it was an intended humorous comment, about starting 3 tight ends. Ha-ha. Maybe not.
Anyway, I played before there were tight ends, only ends. Offense and defense.
Paul in RDU
December 31st, 2010
11:46 pm
I don’t understand the comments about how UGA should have run the ball more – were any of you guys watching the game? Ealey had 60 yards on 16 carries. UCF has an excellent DL – they manhandled UGA’s OL when UGA tried to run the ball.
ECU and SMU were the only teams to score more than 30 on UCF and they both did it by throwing the ball.
Burdell90
December 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
Kennesaw Dawg…you said it. I would get the he^^ out of that sh^^ hole also! Too bad you dont realize, Richt is actually a very good coach, but you dumba^^ rednecks cant see that!
dawg4u
December 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
Let’s start getting ready for Boise State now and also start working on next year’s cliches. Somewhere Damon Evans and Willie Martinez are smiling if not LTAO. SIX (6) pts on UCF after putting up over 30 in the last 5 or 6 games. The immediate goal for next year should be to get the arrests down. As one poster said earlier, McGarity will probably feel that he hasn’t been in the AD job long enough to pull the trigger on Richt yet so now I’m feeling he’ll get one more year to turn things around.
5150 P.O.A.D.
December 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
DAWG555
Sorry for poking fun, but hey it was comong after all the HELL I taqke for being a Tech fan. Have a great new year and Kiss the wife and hug the kids. be safe and It Is Only Football! Right? AHHAHA be safe.
Gdawg
December 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
Valtool,
Please don’t tell me you think your school is on the same level as UGA in ANY category. What a joke! UCF is not close to being academically equal to UGA. The Business School at UGA is one of the best in the country. The Vet school is too. The Law School is respected as one of the best in the Southeast and our Journalism school is one of the best in the country. UGA in 2007 wanted to play Southern Cal but USC chose to play the rose bowl instead of playing in the Sugar Bowl. Get your facts straight. UCF was ranked 25th and was an underdog??? Really???
DawginLex
December 31st, 2010
11:49 pm
Everyone on these blogs know I have supported Coach Richt.
I no longer can support that he remain head coach.
It pains me to write this.
I will never pull for us to lose just to get rid of a coach.
Mark Richt is all about doing the right thing.
The right thing is to unite Bulldog Nation and resign tomorrow morning.
I will always admire and respect Coach Richt for what he has done for UGA and for the type of person he is.
He needs to resign tomorrow.
Valtool
December 31st, 2010
11:49 pm
Delbert, UCF didn’t exceed their allowed practices, they just had all their players at the practice while UGA had to allow their players time to call their bail bondsmen each day.
Delbert D.
December 31st, 2010
11:49 pm
Gdawg – Also, check Roberson’s blog. I posted my thoughts on what Ga. Tech needs to do for next year.
Glenn Mason
December 31st, 2010
11:51 pm
If Richt is out, I’ll take the job. No hell I won’t either. Athens sucks, the Bulldogs suck, even the Redneck Band suck. McGarity, stop calling me. Just like before, I don’t want a lousy job at a fourth rate school.
5150 P.O.A.D.
December 31st, 2010
11:52 pm
DawginLex
Tuff night. Hope you have a great New Year. It is fun poking fun back and forth. be safe. I guess we can tell some of the ages of the posters by the fact we are still posting and not getting DRUNK and Dancing the night away. HAHAHAHA
Burdell90
December 31st, 2010
11:53 pm
Gdawg…you can say that UCF was an underdog, but they were ranked 25, what were y’all ranked? Oh that’s right, you weren’t. You should check out UCF, it is actually one of the top schools in the south. Biggest school in FL and also had the most wins of a FL team. Your just pi^^ed that you are a dumba^^ redneck in love with a dumba^^ school!!
Lester Miles
December 31st, 2010
11:53 pm
All is not lost. UCF is not a bad team. Alabama recovered and won a NC after losing to UCF on it’s homecoming. The loss was a few years ago but being beaten by UCF is not as bad as losing to Ga Tech, Vandy. etc. UGA needs an improvement in running back. And stop handing the ball out to the RB where everyone can see who has the ball. what ever happened to faking to a lead back and handing the ball to the RB where no one can see who has it., The current practice is for the QB to run back and hand the ball to the back while he is standing still and the back must then take off with everyone knowing he has the ball. A little deception in the backfield can’t hurt and the back taking the ball while moving forward will help to hit the hole faster. What happened to the art of cross blocking? UGA needs to study Wisconsin’s running game and copy it. Our strategy on running the ball is not effective against good teams. And UCF is a good team. Have a great day. Oops too late for that. Have a happy and successful new year and season.
G-Dawg in Yankee Land
December 31st, 2010
11:53 pm
Whatever edge CMR used to have is gone…plain and simple. The UGA alumni and administrators will give him another year, but I fear that it may be simply putting off the inevitable. Fourth and inches on the two yard line, and coach elects to kick a field goal; kinda says it all don’t it?
Ruprecht
December 31st, 2010
11:53 pm
This just released from the post game newsconference.. do you mean we could practice for the game?
Dawg555
December 31st, 2010
11:53 pm
POAD….Tech fan or not…you amuse the hell out of me. Have a great New Year. My family is giving me crap for being on this computer….gotta pop the cork now. Have a good one
Chan Gailey
December 31st, 2010
11:54 pm
But We still best GT’s rear end!
5150 P.O.A.D.
December 31st, 2010
11:55 pm
55555555
hahhahahahhahahahhahahaha
JRW7
December 31st, 2010
11:55 pm
I hope our 5 STAR recruits did not see this game?
Corch Myer
December 31st, 2010
11:55 pm
When the comments turn to “my school has a better business school than yours” it’s pretty clear you have run out of ammo in explaining how you got your clock cleaned.
Gdawg
December 31st, 2010
11:55 pm
Delbert, no thanks! I don’t troll on other teams’ websites to see who I can pi$$ off for no good reason. Look, UGA had another rough year. Many of the posters on this site would love to have the teams UGA has fielded over the past 10 years. My donations to UGA will continue because it gave me an education that allows me to be paid well. I wish others on this site would get an education as well. Good luck to you in 2011.
Brucerugby79
December 31st, 2010
11:56 pm
Always been loyal to cmr-real loyal!! but now I just dont know makes me sick–recruits know one thing we will get it back-and the guys that are a part of it will be heros forever
Old Gold
December 31st, 2010
11:56 pm
Still a better coach than Paul Johnson! He too has lost control of the program!
Delbert D.
December 31st, 2010
11:56 pm
P.O.A.D. – Happy New Year, and be safe.
Ruprecht
December 31st, 2010
11:57 pm
To tell you the truth..Im tired of overrated 5 star recruits. I dont thing UCF had a one.
MuttH8ter
December 31st, 2010
11:58 pm
Whatever humiliation you A$$clown mutt fans get, you deserve. F U jerks.
Delbert D.
December 31st, 2010
11:58 pm
Gdawg – The best to you and yours for the new year. I comment on all the blogs, even-handedly.
Ha ha
December 31st, 2010
11:58 pm
It’s awesome how UGA fans want to stop recruiting 5 star recruits…I mean, I get the fact that you need to point the finger at something/somebody, and usually the coaches are the targets…as has been the case for many on this board…but going so far as to stop recruiting the best? ha ha ha ha
Gdawg
December 31st, 2010
11:58 pm
Corch Myer, your handle says more than enough about you. The loss we received today was not what any athlete would call getting “your clock cleaned”. Gayturds will get that by Penn State in a little while, though. Man! I don’t like seeing the SEC get beat by other conferences but other than Auburn, we may not win one this year.
jvillebil
December 31st, 2010
11:59 pm
All this Mark Richt talk has made me feel like big John Coffey from the movie The Green Mile. “Boss I kinda feels tired, I think I’m just gonna lay down now.”
5150 P.O.A.D.
January 1st, 2011
12:00 am
Delbert D.
The Encylopida of Knowledge in many fields told me Happy New Year. Damn I like that
Thanks DD and the same to you and yours. be safe and Blessed in 2011.
Happy New Year
January 1st, 2011
12:00 am
Not another arrest already – good grief
Uhhuh
January 1st, 2011
12:00 am
…this just in…Aaron Murray (who delusional GA fans compare to Drew Brees), just threw another incompletion.
YOGI2
January 1st, 2011
12:01 am
I always thought Mike Bobo would amke a good high school coach. But I have to admit I was so wrong, now Iam not even sue Coach Richt would.
Coach Bobo is more interested in Water Girl and the red panties than
the offense
Paul in RDU
January 1st, 2011
12:01 am
Happy New Year to everyone from Raleigh, NC
we steal ruin this state
January 1st, 2011
12:01 am
George O’Leary did it again.
An old coach’s way of praising his competition:
“He can take his players and beat yours, or he could take yours and beat his”
Congratulations Coach O’Leary
Top Recruit
January 1st, 2011
12:01 am
Since the 2008 season I said a lot of the Dawgs problems is on the offensive side of the ball. Even with Stafford and Moreno, Bobo could not get it done. But the past two years have been a joke with Bobo. Not a cent of improvement of offense. Bobo is in the coaches box calling plays the first half, but comes to the sideline in the 2nd half. Why in hell would you do that now at this part of the season. Bobo is the most erratice, lost, and substandard OC UGA has ever had. I heard Zier say that the offensive coaches expected the D they saw. After the opening drive CF shut Bobo completely down. Every pass play is so damn predictable. Today was the worst offensive line play in a long time. Now want someone to tell me Green and a few of those linemen are NFL material. If today’s game was their job interview and part of their resume, well, I doubt many would hire them. The issues with this program, the 2010 team is history, are legion. I’m to the point I do not think Richt can do it anymore. He let Martinez and Bobo destroy his resume. That is just plain dumb.
No running game. None in 4 years! After today I doubt if Murray will start next season. Today he stepped way back. He is gun shy. Why not. He was hammered all season by an O line that is totlly worthless. Frankly if everyone of those guys moved on we would be better off. They do not have the desire, strength, agility, technique, and power of a SEC line. When Donnan took over that was the question I had then These guys have to go… Bobo. Searels, McClendon, Lilly, and Van Halinger. I would hope the AD would call CMR to discuss their replacement.
DUB
January 1st, 2011
12:01 am
wow what a way to bring in the new year. That game was horrible, and very disappointing.
Gen Neyland
January 1st, 2011
12:02 am
Happy New Year : cloudodust
Valtool
January 1st, 2011
12:03 am
Burdell, thanks for the support. For clarity, UCF is now the 2nd largest university in the United States of America. We surpassed Ohio State this year by about 250. Only Arizona State is larger. We’re just over 56,000 and ASU is up around 72k. I respect certain elements of UGA’s establishment, for they have certainly improved from the time I was looking at colleges. In the late 80’s you only needed about 850 on the SAT to get into UGA and even their famous journalism alumnus Lewis Grizzard said you ha to be careful driving through Athens because if you did so with your windows down they would throw a diploma into your car.