Ending Dogs’ drought against Florida starts between ears
Mark Richt and Dogs celebrated after 2004 win over Florida, but celebrations have been few.
ATHENS – It was the Tuesday of Florida week, and Mark Richt took the expected route for a coach who has been on the losing end of too many of these things. Downplay the history. Downplay the emotions. Downplay any suggestions that the other team is in Georgia’s heads.
Like that first play of the game last year when Aaron Murray threw an interception to Janoris Jenkins? It wasn’t about Murray being overcome by the moment, Richt said. “I think it has a lot more to do with the fact [Florida] just played well. A guy breaks on the ball and he makes a play. I don’t think it had anything to do with emotion. It’s more of an execution issue, really.”
Here’s the problem with execution issues: An athlete’s body parts can do only what the head tells them to, and sometimes there are all of these things that get in the way. Nerves. Atmosphere. Confidence. The general dread of, “We’ve been here before.”
This was Murray’s answer to the same question Richt was asked: “There were definitely a lot of nerves, a lot of jitters, and I definitely didn’t start out the way I wanted to.”
Georgia plays Florida again Saturday. A case could be made that this is the most important game in the series during the Richt era. There are potential ramifications for both this season (SEC East race) and the big picture. Theoretically, the Bulldogs could lose to Florida and still win the East. (Richt: “This wouldn’t bury us, the way things are happening in this league. It wouldn’t count us out, [but winning] it wouldn’t count us in.”)
But a loss would drop Richt to 2-9 against Florida. That would be a difficult thing to sell to the administration after this season, especially since the Gators carry a three-game losing streak into this game for the second consecutive year (and won last season 34-31).
Richt must win this game. The Florida game is simply that important to the season and to the program. Florida matters more. It follows that it has caused the most misery.
The numbers are dizzying: three consecutive losses, 11 of 13, 18 of 21.
Vince Dooley went 17-7-1. His 25-game winning percentage: .700. Since then, Ray Goff (1-6), Donnan (1-4) and Richt (2-8) have gone 4-18. Their 22-game percentage: .182.
How can players and coaches not think of that history, even if they weren’t here for most of it?
Some players weren’t even born yet. Murray? He actually was born Nov. 10, 1990 — the day Steve Spurrier’s Gators tortured Goff’s Dogs, 38-7. That’s when this 21-game stretch started. So it’s all Murray’s fault.
When one signature program loses 18 of 21 games to another, it’s not just about talent. At some point, it’s between the ears.
Georgia’s starting quarterbacks in the past three meetings have thrown nine interceptions. Florida’s, one. The Dogs have committed 12 turnovers. Florida, one.
That not about athleticism. That’s one team being calm and the other having a meltdown.
Richt has tried different ways to prepare his players. Twice, he brought in former players and coaches who had previous success against the Gators to speak to the team during the bye week.
“One year we won, one year we lost,” he said. “I think we might be better off just focusing the things that truly matter: What’s your job? What’s your assignment? What are you going to do if this happens? When we get there, I don’t think we’ll have any problem with emotions.”
Easier said than done. Defensive back Sanders Commings said, “It’s hard not to get caught up” in the hype and surroundings. Early in last year’s game, Florida’s Trey Burton fumbled at Gators’ 14-yard-line. Commings had a chance to fall on the ball. Instead, he tried to pick it up and run for a touchdown. But he failed, and the Gators kept possession, eventually driving 91 yards for their first touchdown.
“It was early, but it could’ve changed the game,” Commings said. “Next time I’ll just fall on the ball.”
That’s the way it has gone for most of the past 21 years. Richt made history in Athens, winning two SEC titles early in his tenure. But this is one part of history he hasn’t been able to change. And as much as he wants to try to play this off as being just another game, it isn’t.
By Jeff Schultz
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347 comments Add your comment
BobDawg
October 26th, 2011
8:57 am
..Well, I’ve been waiting for this article for 2 weeks… Maybe now we can get ready for the game????!!!
Schultz the psychologist has visited Dawg Nation and we are “heeled”!!!!
Gatormeat
October 26th, 2011
9:03 am
Jeff Schultz is too good to be writing for this bunch of homers. He is trying to keep you dumb dog fans grounded in reality, but you guys are living in some fantasy world. He knows Florida wins Saturday and that richt is through. If you can’t face reality that is your business, but like usual you will be crying and making excuses coming home from Jacksonville Saturday evening. Again
Dap01
October 26th, 2011
9:10 am
Wow, the venum and dumbness is flowing with this blog.
Tailback U
October 26th, 2011
9:11 am
Jeff of course this game is huge for the Dawgs and especially CMR.
CMR MUST win this contest. But I would argue that winning this
game would not give a true evaluation as to where the program is
under the coach. The true evidence on real progress is whether the
team can win out an relatively easy schedule and have at least a
respectable performance in the SEC championship game assuming SC loses
like most of us think they will. Anything less and there will be a
lot of grumbling if CMR is retainded. And God knows even the some
like HT will never be satisfied. So we’ll see , as for me there had
better me more than a field goal squeaker to feel good at the moment.
Having made the long walk back to the car a few times amongst Gator
nation I want and expect sweet revenge.
Mako Shark
October 26th, 2011
9:36 am
Finish The Drill Richt !
Over & Under
October 26th, 2011
9:38 am
Jeff, Richt is a snake oil salesman. He never says what he really thinks. Why even interview him ?
Over & Under
October 26th, 2011
9:40 am
I can see Walsh missing two early field goals and Dawgs losing by 3. UGA needs a new kicker !
Moves like Jagger
October 26th, 2011
9:53 am
Are we ever gonna see Nick Marshall on offense?
The Beginning of the End
October 26th, 2011
10:07 am
One has to love the folks who come on these blogs and repeat the old slogans and mantras such as
“finish the drill”. “play four quarters”, ” play to the whistle”. So while you guys are at and persuading yourselves that UGA is going to be a dominant commodity with this new revised Mark Richt, here are some slogans you can add to your football sayings…” Where’s the Beef”, ” I wish I has not ate the whole thing”, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”,”be all you can be”,”eat mor chikin”, “have it your way”, “I walk a mile for a camel”, “is it live or is it memorex”, “i want my MTV”, AND probably the one that best fits the Florida Gators playing the UGA bulldogs ,,,”It takes a licking and keeps on tickin”.
JaxDawg
October 26th, 2011
10:08 am
If we can’t beat Florida we are not deserving to play in the SEC championship! it is that simple. Can Georgia beat Florida? Georgia has the athletes to beat the crap out of Florida! will they do it? I doubt it because BoBo is our play caller and he is very inconsistent? Florida on the other hand has pretty good players but the offensive personal do not match the system. To be fair, in many games in the past Mark Richt came very close to beat pretty good Florida squad except in 08 and 09, add to that Florida almost always had a bye week before Georgia. This game should be very interesting and even can’t wait! I know Florida lost to Bama and LSU who they destroy everybody, but Florida did not even compete with them except the first half against Bama. It will be neck to neck but at the end I think Georgia will prevail
St Simons - we're on Island time
October 26th, 2011
10:11 am
I don’t see even one unhappy face down here.
Either way, win or lose, something good is going to come of it.
The Beginning of the End
October 26th, 2011
10:21 am
St Simons – we’re on Island time
October 26th, 2011
10:11 am
I don’t see even one unhappy face down here.
Either way, win or lose, something good is going to come of it.
Your Answer on why you do not see unhappy faces:
94.3% of Drunks are happy Drunks
5.7% of Drunks are mean and fighting Drunks.
RCB
October 26th, 2011
10:27 am
AJC Scalp Richt 1.0- Georgia was embarrassed by Boise St. If UGA doesn’t beat USC, take Richt’s scalp.
AJC Scalp Richt 2.0- Georgia has lost to USC. Take Richt’s scalp (again).
AJC Scalp Richt 3.0- If Georgia doesn’t beat UT, take Richt’s scalp (again).
AJC Scalp Richt 4.0- If Georgia doesn’t beat Vandy, take Richt’s scalp (again).
AJC Scalp Richt 5.0- If Georgia doesn’t beat UF, take Richt’s scalp (again and again).
I can almost hear the promos for the newer versions… UGA must beat Auburn. UGA must beat Tech. UGA must beat Alabama or LSU. But why stop there? UGA must win the national championship.
Did Mr Richt forget to send the AJC a Christmas gift last year?
ga gator
October 26th, 2011
10:35 am
Tailback U, I am not sure how old you are but I am almost 59 and there were a number of years in the 70’s and 80’s when I made the same miserable treck to my car surrounded by boistrous and loud mouth UGA fans; they are equal on both sides. For me I keep my mouth shut no matter what unless it is towards a fowl Gator fan that says something to my Mother in law or Wife who are diehard UGA fans. Keep it clean because the paybacks are never sufficient.
Jax Falcon/Dog Fan
October 26th, 2011
10:39 am
To Leonard’s Loser –
I am an old Leonard’s Losers radio fan as well. Those descriptions of each SEC game were almost as good as listening to a certain Georgia Bulldog announcer later on in the day. I miss Larry every year imploring Lindsey to Run Lindsey, run!! And who didn’t like the end of Leonard’s predictions with him saying, “Get me out of here, Percy!”, as the fiddler took the stage…..
Big D
October 26th, 2011
10:41 am
Most years Florida has had better players. This year, Florida has QB problems and the DAWGs should win. Football teams make mistakes. Talent over comes mistakes. This should be our year.
ga gator
October 26th, 2011
10:58 am
Big D I agree 100%; UGA 24-UF 17 if Brantley plays and UGA 34-UF 12 If Brantley does not play.
David Granger
October 26th, 2011
10:59 am
Have mixed emotions. Always want to beat Florida, but that would almost certainly guarantee us that we’d have Mark Richt for ten more years of underachieving.
James
October 26th, 2011
11:20 am
Jeff’s right.
According to rivals, UGA was No. 2 in recruiting for the decade.
All that talent, and 2-8 vs. Florida?
Schultz is right, can’t play the “Florida has more talent” card.
St Simons - we're on Island time
October 26th, 2011
11:27 am
The Begging rear End – congrats, you can add to 100, but you don’t even see how ironic your trollpost is. That’s why we will always be your bosses, techboy.
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(Richt fan for life)
October 26th, 2011
11:30 am
Russ_TTM:
What the HAIL?
I’m a massive FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Russ_TTM = Dumba$$
Who died and left you DAWGNATION spokesperson?(How do you like my poetic talent?)
GG
October 26th, 2011
11:32 am
I believe UGA has the talent to win out but the questions remain: Does their coaching staff have it between their ears to call a game or has the idea of FLorida dominating them gotten to the coaches as well. If UGA wins out and SC wins out, obviously SC goes on to play either Alabama or LSU int he SEC championship. Think about this, wouldn’t it be better for UGA to not go to the Championship game and get blown out, which will irk all of us getting blown out yet again in the Dome. Instead UGA would get a very good bowl game if they won out and could finish the season in the top 10 or even top 5. it could happen…but it all comes back to coaching, coaching and coaching. UGA should beat florida, should blow out New Mexico State and Kentucky which leaves Auburn as a toss up and Ga. Tech.
Brainiac(Dawg for life)(Richt fan for life)
October 26th, 2011
11:36 am
James: I guess you and Schultzie place all your bets on which team has the most 4 or 5 star recruits. Works for me. I have never seen a National Championship team without a 5-star player at every position. Even Special Team players. Your brilliance underwhelms us/me.
BullDogMike
October 26th, 2011
11:39 am
I fear the special team play will be the achilles heel again. According to CMR’s media interview, he did not seem to think they needed much tweaking. Herein lies the problem with our coaching staff. We only won against Vandy because they simply are not Florida quality players. We will not get away with shoddy ST play this time around. Nor can we survive another mediocre performance by Murray.
dawgfacedboy
October 26th, 2011
11:55 am
Despite what some people think, this game is HUGE!! It’s HUGE every year, especially in a year where a win would put you almost in the drivers’ seat and a loss would once again kill any chances you might have. It’s HUGE for Richt’s job too. 2-9 shows you can’t win with any sort of consistency. If you can’t beat an SEC East opponent with any consistency then you won’t compete for championships on a consistent basis. Great teams compete consistently.
harold
October 26th, 2011
11:59 am
3-18 AGAINST THE GATORS IN THE LAST 21 MATCH-UPS? RICHT HAS WON TWO TIMES?
Hanz
October 26th, 2011
12:18 pm
According to rivals.com, Richt has been #2 in recruiting at UGA and finished in the top 10 every year.
Richt’s the only program to finish in the top 5 in recrutiting for the decade, and NOT win a National Championship.
All that talent, and 2-8 against Florida, and no National Championships?
http://uga.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1238729
Really Haters???
October 26th, 2011
12:24 pm
harold…..all caps make you look like a tech fan….GO DAWGS!!!!
Really Haters???
October 26th, 2011
12:26 pm
The Beginning of the End….You should be writing for yech…They are at that point…UGA is on the up swing, my boy…now wipe your nose and go study!!!!
Black Out!
October 26th, 2011
12:30 pm
To fire up the dawgs, Richt needs to order another blackout this Saturday!!! All black helmets and pants and black numbers! The dawgs will be on fire and beat fla easy!!!! this fla team is one of their worst ever—dawgs win big–bet the house!
Hanz
October 26th, 2011
12:37 pm
The flaw in the “execution” angle is, why does Georgia “execute” well against Auburn, Tenn, Alabama, SC, but go 2-8 vs. Florida?
Obviously, it’s not execution.
Or talent.
It’s the inability of coaches to get players to perform their best in the most important games.
Send in the (UGA) clowns...AGAIN!!!
October 26th, 2011
12:37 pm
Florida 31, Georgia 17
The usual humiliating beatdown.
Big Dawg
October 26th, 2011
12:38 pm
What if
First the Dawgs have to beat Florida and they haven’t done that much lately as in the years they should have beat the Gators they found ways to lose— last year is a prime example. So your what if they make it to the SEC Championship game is NOT relevant at this point.
Go Dawgs
Steig
October 26th, 2011
12:40 pm
Perhaps the dawgtards should have another go with with their Nike Pro Combat clown uniforms.
Hanz
October 26th, 2011
12:48 pm
‘Execution”.
It’s more Richt’s dufus strategery skillz.
Ok, when Richt gets a 100 yard rusher, he’s 2-0 vs Florida, when he tries to win throwing the ball, and doesn’t get a 100 yard rusher, he’s 0-8.
Whoever wins the 1st quarter, has a 100 yard rusher, and has the tigh end with the most yards in the game, wins 9 out of 10 times.
That’s strategy. And that’s the only 3 part game plan that’s been proven to work 90% of the time in the series.
dbc
October 26th, 2011
1:02 pm
I’d like to see UGA win out and possibly have a rematch with Boise in a bowl game. I think the outcome would be a lot different. But then again, it would be vintage UGA to have USCe lose to Tenn. and have the Dawg’s get creamed by Fla. All we can do is watch.
Miamidawg
October 26th, 2011
1:15 pm
First we get coaches who can coach. THEN you worry about the rest. We dont have the first so even if we do beat a weak Florida team, it means NOTHING. Want to contend, have to play contenders. Beating Vandy 13 times a year wont get you a NC, just ask Boise State., or TCU, or Utah.
GatorBait 18-3
October 26th, 2011
1:32 pm
Sorry Jeff, it’s not between the players ears, it’s in Richt’s head———-that and poor coaching
is a reciept for disaster.
harold
October 26th, 2011
1:33 pm
GEORGIA 31 FLORIDA 17
beat florida!
October 26th, 2011
1:59 pm
go out there finish the drill and whip the gators tails!!!!!!!!!!they put there pants on like you do so go out there and kick tail, FINISH THE DRILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
beat florida!
October 26th, 2011
2:00 pm
GEORGIA 28 FLORIDA 12
Ricky 4
October 26th, 2011
2:03 pm
I’m tired of hearing about 18 of 21. As stated in the column we won 17 of 25. Keep calm, keep your head & JUST WIN SATURDAY!
AFDawg
October 26th, 2011
2:24 pm
What if — I guarantee it won’t be 45-3 if UGA is in the SEC CG.
AFDawg
October 26th, 2011
2:27 pm
With IC the Dawgs will take inspiration from Moreno the last time thwy did in the Gators. The O-line will work their butts off to give him a few creases. Richt should have the entire team watch a replay of that game — that game was a work of art and that script should be followed again.
No Worries
October 26th, 2011
2:45 pm
Ga wins this game, easily. This fla team is terrible and couldn’t even score 1 TD against lowly Auburn. Ga’s O will light up that average D and Grantham’s D will shut them down cold. Bet the house: Dawgs win by 20+!!!
db
October 26th, 2011
2:54 pm
Regarding one of the first posts after this article, “The same thing can be said for Tech and Uga”.
There is one blatant difference.
It’s the talent level.
Georgia has consistently had a top 5 or top 10 class as in the Gators. GT usually ranks much lower than that with their draft classes.
So, there’s the difference.
Chuck
October 26th, 2011
3:04 pm
db, you make a compelling case to discontinue the UGA/GT series
News | MrSEC.com
October 26th, 2011
3:05 pm
[...] as they try to improve upon UF’s 18-3 mark against UGA since 1990.3. This writer says the Dawgs will have to be calm to tame the Gators.4. Rather than put all the focus on Florida, Mark Richt continues to talk [...]
db
October 26th, 2011
3:16 pm
No, no discontinue. Even though they may not be that frequent, it’s still a wonderful thing.
DawgByte
October 26th, 2011
3:31 pm
Jeff -
FWIW I agree with the premise of your article. All we have to do is look at the UGA vs. Georgia Tech “rivalry”. We are so far in Tech’s head that we can be winless and they can be undefeated and our players would still expect to win that game and the Tech players would no doubt experience insecurity going into the game.
Florida is in our head, plain and simple. When I was at UGA, we owned Florida, which is why this current losing streak is so hard to swallow.