Time for Dogs fans to shake it off …
Caleb King should give the Dogs a boost both with his feet and his blocking. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
Midweek after the Dogs’ second straight SEC loss and with a tough night in the land of the cowbells coming up. Feels like a good time to get out of this funk and focus on ways in which things are looking up for Georgia.
Like, for example …
Caleb King is coming back. Really. Positively. Of course, King said the same thing last week, but he and running backs coach Bryan McClendon swear it’s true this week. And that’s a really good thing, not just because Georgia’s running game is stronger with the one-two punch of King and Washaun Ealey, but because the coaches say King is the strongest pass-protection blocker of their three tailbacks. Aaron Murray should be especially glad to see Caleb in the backfield again.
Murray now has three games under his belt. The kid is getting better each week. After six sacks last Saturday, he’s probably not going to be holding on to the ball too long much any more. Sure, we have one more week without A.J. Green, but Murray and Kris Durham are becoming a really dangerous combination. If Murray can just get the ball off a bit quicker and hit Durham in stride rather than making him wait for it, one of those long passes is going to go all the way.
And Murray showed against Arkansas several times how valuable it is to have a quarterback who’s a threat to run. Heck, he has the Dogs’ longest run from scrimmage so far this year. (Uh, let’s not dwell on that too long. We’re looking for reasons to feel good.)
Bottom line on Murray: He’s still a rookie but is developing at an accelerated pace. I think he’s going to be a terrific player before the year is out.
Overall, there are still a lot of games to play and plenty of chances for the Dogs to turn things around. Sure, there are lots of problems with this team. Until the line play improves, the offense is going to be hobbled. And the defense has got to learn not to give up those big plays.
But the Dogs have been competitive in both their losses and the schedule now turns a bit in their favor. Let’s think positive today.
Feel free to share your own reasons for being optimistic this week. It beats the heck out of all that handwringing. …
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
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
409 comments Add your comment
Real Bulldogs
September 24th, 2010
9:27 am
They were brought back just for you jerks.
Techster
September 24th, 2010
9:28 am
Please do not fire Richt. He has you right where you deserve.
how2fish
September 24th, 2010
9:42 am
Techster it could be worse hell a lot worse we could lose to Kansas…what am I saying no we couldn’t.
Mobile Dawg
September 24th, 2010
10:16 am
Altamaha, please mark me down with duluth as a “long time non believer” in CMR also. Remember, I told you 3, maybe 4 years ago CMR was a “work in progress” and had the chance to be a great coach. Nothing that has happened between then and now convinces me that’s still the case.
This team under CMR’s leadership is if anything is “consistently inconsistent”. The offensive line is just another indicator of that. Alt, have you seen or heard anything from “Ole Dawg”?
Mark Richt
September 24th, 2010
10:38 am
Poor, poor pitiful me.
AltamahaDawg
September 24th, 2010
6:17 pm
Oh absolutely hiring a guy to his first HC, especially having him learn it navigating an SEC schedule is going to be a work in progress. We didn’t have a mid major college and the NFL paying our dues for us. With very rare exceptions the best coaches in the history of the game, started having the most success of thier careers a good decade later than we expected it from Richt. Incl. Saban.
dawginduluth
September 25th, 2010
9:58 am
The ROI is not there with Richt. Keep rationalizing his mediocrity altamahadawg. If something isn’t working in business, you may have to get a new CEO. Well beyond the time for a new CEO between the hedges. Unfortunately, there is little chance they’ll catch CMR with red panties in his front seat. More misery to come.
AltamahaDawg
September 25th, 2010
11:10 am
Not rationalizing, I’m stating fact. Do you find inaccuracy with anything I said? The truth is that you are holding him to standards that other coaches historically were not capable of achieving either. That may not matter, you may not care. That’s fine, I can’t argue with that, its all opinion. But it’s factual. Now, do we need to take a different path as other programs have and go hire somebody who trained at other places and are just NOW hitting thier prime? Could be. My point would be that since UGA had already paid the price, would it be wise to reap the benefit going forward? I suppose that would only be true if somebody believes that Coach Richt, in the mold of other successful coaches would improve his game with time and experience. Common sense would dictate to me that a coach in his second decade knows more that he did in his first decade.
HardTruth Soldier
September 25th, 2010
11:29 am
This is a Little bit off the subject, but I’m getting so sick of the non-athletic human being swearing up and down they know how the kid feels that’s making the U in your state rich and they can’t get help. UGA IS STILL RAKING IN THE CASH FROM THE HERSCHEL YEARS, and will for years to come.A.J GREEN did nothing wrong, he seen a good Business opportunity and took advantage of it, and you same Bulldawg fans who want him to perform ( The Slaves on the field) want him to stay in struggle.I know what’s coming someone will say that he knew the deal, and he’ll make millions in the NFL. YES YOUR RIGHT AND YES YOUR RIGHT AGAIN! Problem with that though is BY THE TIME HE’S DONE MAKING UGA, Nike, and God knows who else rich, he’ll only get 10% of his worth. Yes I love Georgia, but as a former player I’d tell any player to get paid, because 20 years down the Line you’ll know you was part of the system that uses people up.