Mike Bobo and Mark Richt aren’t why Georgia lost to Auburn
Auburn might have had more sacks had it not been for Aaron Murray's scrambling ability. (Associated Press)
Some more thoughts on Georgia’s loss to Auburn. …
As I mentioned briefly Saturday night, you can quibble with some of Mike Bobo’s calls in the game against the Tigers, particularly when he tried things (I’m thinking Branden Smith in the wildcat or screen passes to the short side of the field on third-and-long) that seemed to have much less of a chance of working than simply throwing it in A.J. Green’s direction.
And while Auburn hitman Nick Fairley (I feel the need for Purell hand sanitizer after just typing his name) is more than a handful to block, the Dogs’ pass protection faltered a bit too often Saturday. The Dogs only gave up four sacks, but that amount might have been close to doubled had it not been for Aaron Murray’s elusiveness and scrambling ability. And besides taking a lot of late hits, Murray was hurried on some key plays, like the too-high pass to Kris Durham in the end zone late in the third quarter when one of the backs missed his block.
And, yes, you can question Mark Richt running out the final 50-odd seconds of the first half rather than trying to get some more points. Perhaps he also should have been a bit more forceful in warning his kickoff return team about the possibility of an on-side kick to open the second half. And, frankly, I think he blinked in the eye-to-eye confrontation with Auburn when he called for a field goal at the end of the third quarter. When you’re in a shootout with an offense that eats up clock, you have to make the most of every possession you get.
But overall Bobo and the Georgia offense were what kept the Dogs in the game, and with the exception of the on-side kick I don’t think Richt and company got outcoached by Gene Chizik.
The reason Georgia lost against Auburn was pretty much the same reason the Dogs have lost five other games: The defense just isn’t up to current SEC or past UGA standards.
And this isn’t a complaint about Todd Grantham’s schemes. It didn’t matter what signals he called Saturday against the Tigers defense, the players on the field simply weren’t capable of stopping Cam Newton and company. The lack of a nose guard able to take control of the line of scrimmage has pretty much submarined Grantham’s attempt to install his 3-4 defense this year and unless Georgia manages to scrounge up a big JUCO player, I wonder how much better it’ll be next year.
Of course, nobody has really stopped Newton, so I’ll give them that. But as a frustrated Justin Houston lamented after the game, the Tigers did a lot of damage with players other than Newton running the reverse, including gashing the Dogs for 31 yards one time and 48 yards another time. Houston blamed “blown assignments” and defenders not being “where they were supposed to be,” adding, “Some guys weren’t as focused as they need to be and it hurt us. It’s been hurting us all season.”
Indeed it has, especially in the secondary, where Georgia’s safety play has been consistently poor. Bacarri Rambo may have snagged a key interception on a tipped ball Saturday, but otherwise his play was tentative much of the evening. And while I suppose it was to be expected that Georgia would be keying on the run since that’s Auburn’s bread and butter (that’s all they did in the third quarter), the Dogs defenders seemed to completely forget that Newton also can throw the ball. He ended up completing 12 of 15 passes (80 percent) for 148 yards and two touchdowns, and that was with a couple of drops in the first half by wide-open receivers.
Come to think of it, on just about all Auburn’s completions the receiver was open. You expect that sort of thing early in the season after a new defense has been installed. But when it’s still happening in the 11th game, you have to conclude the folks out on the field mostly just aren’t capable of getting it done.
Finally, a couple of observations on the way our so-called “country cousins” at Auburn handled this major rivalry game. Afterward, Chizik might have declared himself “disappointed” and “not happy” about two of his players getting ejected when tempers started to flare late, but as I noted in my previous blog he seemed to be doing anything but trying to keep his players’ emotions in check on the sideline.
And then there was the reaction of the Auburn fans when Georgia linebacker Reuben Faloughi went down with a leg injury in the fourth quarter, resulting in the Tigers’ hurry-up game getting slowed down momentarily.
They booed the hurt player.
Really classy. War damn eagle, indeed.
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636 comments Add your comment
Auburn/Delta
November 14th, 2010
11:19 pm
Hey Dirty, who are the War Eagles?
TOOMERS CORNER
November 14th, 2010
11:21 pm
How about the dirty classless UGA fan who set fire to Toomers Corner? No word on him and his actions that were very dangerous to familes who were celebrating at the Corner.
I am happy to report he is still in the Lee County Jail with several felonies pending.
What?
November 14th, 2010
11:22 pm
I actually had a UGA fan tell me today that UGA was 6 plays away from being undefeated. It was so ludicrous, that I was speechless.
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:24 pm
Check out TomDawg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGnXszHYXko
Bill King is a moron
November 14th, 2010
11:24 pm
King get a job that you know how to do.
VInings Dawg
November 14th, 2010
11:25 pm
Mark has lost control of thevteam. Perfect example was at 9:30 left in the 1st qtr and Mark confronts Tavarious Jackson on the personal foul. Tavarious rolls his eyes and talks back to Mark while he is fussing at him.
Chizik jumps all over his player Eric Smith for the stupid play early in the game and Eric Smith sat there and listened.
Mark has lost control.
Auburn/Delta
November 14th, 2010
11:26 pm
Fairley was practically on the ground when he hit Murray. How does he pull up? He is a big dude. He beat his man and got to the QB. The QB’s got to move, I’m sorry, protect yourself from people that are almost on the ground. There are a lot of injuries that occur from your own teammates rolling on the ground.
But man, Nick Fairley is one tenacious player. Glad we have him on our side.
What?
November 14th, 2010
11:26 pm
I will give the AJC one thing…they give UGA fans exactly what they want – justification for excuses and whinning. and UGA fans don’t even realize it. It’s hilarious.
hdbgatech
November 14th, 2010
11:34 pm
Wow, what a bunch of cry babies. We’re going to destroy the dawgs in 2 weeks.
Fairley had one hit where he was a step late, and he was rightfully penalized. The rest were just hard hits. I know you dawgs want your QB to wear a skirt, but getting “driven to the ground” is legal. The helmet to the knee happened when he was getting shoved to the ground, for pete’s sake. You train every DL to keep their momentum driving toward the QB whenever they are being blocked to the ground.
What everybody else but dawg fans saw was Georgia playing dirty. You want to see a dangerous, dirty play, how about those chop blocks? Then Georgia started the fights on the last 2 plays with dirty shots. The whole country saw one sideline stay put, and the other rush out like gang members, looking for a fight because they lost.
We also saw the injured player make it to the sidelines, then get told by the coaches to stay on the field, so they could get their defense a breather. That deserved to be booed, not the injury but the coach making him stay in the field of play when he obviously was about to make it off.
Your team commited the most egregious act of poor sportsmanship in years, when the staff sent the whole team onto the field. Until you get rid of that coach, you have no right to criticize any other team.
We will beat you bunch of pansies by 3 TD’s. I can’t wait to see the excuses, you crybabies.
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:34 pm
UGA = The whiner and excuse capital of the world.
NOBODYYOUKNOW
November 14th, 2010
11:38 pm
I don’t have a favorate team in the Ga. Auburn game. But I gotta say it was so obvious the Auburn defensive player was after the UGA QB. Why in the world he didn’t go to Miami is beyond me. They love that thugery type player. Alot of coaches go after that big, hard hitting, cheap shot hoodlum. Remember Lyle Alzado? Bill Romanaski? (spelling?) The Oakland Raiders had two defensive players that would bet each other as to who would be the first to put a player out of a game. One wrote a book titled “THEY CALL ME ASSASSIN”. Can’t remember his name, but he hit one of the N.E. Patr. players so hard his neck was broken.(in the 70’s). And from what I understand he never called the injured player to apologize or find out how he was doing. Its a rough game but some players go overboard.
katherine
November 14th, 2010
11:40 pm
ATL
November 14th, 2010
7:30 pm
I feel bad for pointing out all the ways that UGA sucks. You do have way better bars in Athens and the girls are easier. Those Auburn girls usually want to drag you to church with them.
LOL are you trying to say that the girls that go to auburn don’t party hard they just want to go to church LOL LOL omg i needed a good laugh
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:42 pm
All the crying Dawg fans have stopped blogging because they know we are right. All they do is cry.
Or maybe it is because they can’t be late punching that time clock tomorrow.
katherine
November 14th, 2010
11:42 pm
The owner….yes people have jobs. Especially cam…he already got paid though.
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:47 pm
Katherine, AJ Greene got paid and so did Murray.
Mo surprise that even the Female Dawgs whine.
What is it that we call female dawgs?
AFan
November 14th, 2010
11:47 pm
Not sure the dumb a** that wrote this column was actually at the game- the fans were booing the “hurt” player because he was RUNNING to the sidelines and only went down after one of the UGA coaches told him to do so.
katherine
November 14th, 2010
11:47 pm
very classy…but that’s to be expected.
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:50 pm
All they do is cry, cry, cry
They never smile
And when they walk up in the club
All the dawgs in the room go…. Whah!
And they stay there
And they staynthere
Freddie G
November 14th, 2010
11:52 pm
I agree that Bobo and Richt did not cause us to lose to Auburn, but I could not stop cursing last night when Bobo stupidly placed Branden Smith under Center in the wildcat, when Auburn could not stop our offense.
You mentioned that Grantham has done a good job, but I have to disagree.
At the time when he was introduced he promised that the defense would be aggressive, that he would play an attacking style, but in the second half of this game they all stood around and reacted to Newton. If you are to look back at the game you would see how often Newton got the ball and stood there before he started his run. We have seen several games played by Auburn and should realize that Newton is going to be more than 50% of their offense i.e running the ball, yet he did nothing to counter that. In the first half we were successful when we attacked them albeit there were some drop passes by their receivers.
I will not even mention the name of that Auburn D.tackle who seemed bent on hurting Murray.
The Owner
November 14th, 2010
11:53 pm
AFan, you have to get used to the crybaby Bulldawgs. They just make stuff up. Hey Dawg Nation…you stink! Keep crying Dawgs!
Florida Dawg
November 14th, 2010
11:56 pm
After I saw how dirty Auburn defenders play football…. their classless fans and coach, I’m a Bama fan.
Roll Tide.
I will say this…the Refs share alot of the blame for what happened on the field. They should have called the LATE hits and they didn’t until it was too late.
Fire them.
War Eagle Girl
November 15th, 2010
12:02 am
War Eagle yall Dawgs are just wussies. We just out played you. GO JACKETS!!!!
DFWdawg
November 15th, 2010
12:08 am
We should have just given Willie Martinez a raise!!!!
War Eagle Girl
November 15th, 2010
12:12 am
Bring back the those thugs yall had like Musa Smith, Odell Thurman, David pollack,K Moreno
DFWdawg
November 15th, 2010
12:12 am
Them Dawgs are just a plain ole’ sorry, god awful, piece of duke. They can’t cover, tackle, shed a block, or basically, do a damn thing right on defense. Grantham needs to do some serious recruiting this year! About the only thing these boys are good at is crapping the bed!
11-0
November 15th, 2010
12:32 am
man how does it feel to be 11-0 and headed to the SEC champ. oh thats right UGA is 5-6 im sorry and don’t talk about class when you have had more players arrested in 1 year than auburn has had the past 10
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
12:35 am
All of you loser AU fans are a disgrace to college football. Go read Barnhart’s article then go to bed. AU football is over and done with, and for good reason. I say kick their butts out of the SEC; give them the death penalty. Congrats to the Dawgs on the win yesterday.
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
12:36 am
I’m not surprised by all the whining from the UGA faithful….unfortunately that’s all they have left to do…and I’ve been a fan of Mark Richt, think he’s a good guy, but last night he was totally out of character….I was at the game and in the FIRST quarter, Auburn had a penalty after a running play, and Mark Richt went 5 yards onto the field, pointed at Cam Newton, then pointed down at the flag, and starting waving his arm to back ‘em up for the penalty yardage….I think he set the tone from the beginning (he seemed desperate last night)….and of all the schools in the country to be talking about no good players, UGA with 13 arrests should probably not be pointing fingers….just stop the whining and accept the beat down you got last night….
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
12:41 am
Words that ring true from ESPN commentary during halftime: AU is a “disgrace to college football.” Nuff said.
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
12:45 am
Who exactly at ESPN said AU was a disgrace to college football”? Another unnamed source told them? It is hilarious to see all the whining, totally expected and typical from the UGA crowd…and if you cry baby’s think that hitting the QB too hard isn’t fair, then go to the ACC or better yet, lobby for a rule change to have the pansy QB wear a green shirt in the game….take the beat down and move on…
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
12:48 am
AU can’t win clean like everybody else in the SEC. No, they gotta cheat, and play cheaters to win. Newton was not eligible to play in yesterday’s game. Just like Green wasn’t eligible in our first four. We sat Green, you play Newton. Enjoy it while it’s official.
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
12:53 am
Oh, we’ll enjoy it, believe me….because there’s nothing to it…NCAA cleared him to play on Saturday, otherwise he wouldn’t have played (and Dyer would have had 200 yards to make up for Cam being out)…you guys sat Green because he sold his jersey (Personally I think that was terrible to sit the kid when you could buy 5 different AJ Greene jerseys from the UGA website)….and I’ll give it to you with AJ Green, he’s the best in the SEC and maybe the nation, and everybody in the conference is glad to say adios amigos to the guy….my main point was that Richt seemed totally out of character last night from the opening kickoff….and also your #38 was out of his mind too, from the start….
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
12:57 am
My question is when they make the movie, will it be a feel good story or will it be tragic, and ends Cam flipping burgers. Epic sanctions are headed AU’s way and books and long magazine articles will be written. And all these AU fans are so pleased with their team but it’s fools gold. FOOLS GOLD!
MikeP
November 15th, 2010
12:57 am
The “Hurt player” was running off the field until the coaches gave him the “down” sign, at which point he got down on the ground and got a well deserved booing. Cheap way to get a free timeout.
I see you didn’t bother to mention the nice applause Murray received when he had to be helped off the field.
Richt’s players clearly show Saint Mark’s background, they act just like the hoodlums at FSU did while he was there. At any rate, 49-31 is a pretty good whuppin’. See ya’ next year in Athens on Shug Jordan field. Auburn owns the place, you might as well name the field after an Auburn coach.
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
1:00 am
And I’ll give it to Cam, without him, you guys would have lost the game. A player like him is all a program needs. Too bad it’s tainted, cause the guy was looking at surpassing Tebow.
a classic dawg post from August
November 15th, 2010
1:01 am
AltamahaDawg
August 24th, 2010
9:47 pm
Why is it assumed SC has its best team in years? based on what?
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
1:01 am
Cam won’t be flipping burgers no matter what happens with this whole thing….he’ll just leave early for the NFL and sign a $45million contract, and be done with it…..I hope not, the lockout is about the only chance of him returning, but for the SEC’s sake, they better hope the lockout doesn’t happen…..
a classic dawg post from August
November 15th, 2010
1:03 am
AthensHomerdawg
August 25th, 2010
10:27 am
Mallet sucks on the road …..has trouble with competent secondaries- I think he must have trouble making his readsl. The Porkskins d is porous and no better than the gnats were last year. Has everyone forgotten the yardage the Dawgs managed after getting things settled on that O line and the RB’s broken in? South Cakalaky o-line is thin and still not very talented. Wonder why that is? Don’t care if those RB are good they can’t run and block for themselves. Garcia lead the SEC in total passing attempts for a reason…..that O line can’t run block!
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
1:05 am
And regardless of how things turn out, I told my son that we’ve witnessed on 6 occasions (and hopefully three more) a guy play football this year that only comes around about every 25 years or so….it’s been a blast watching him, just hope that all these allegations turn out to be smoke with no fire….
MikeP
November 15th, 2010
1:07 am
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
12:41 am
“Words that ring true from ESPN commentary during halftime: AU is a “disgrace to college football.” Nuff said.”
They didn’t say anything like that and the game wasn’t on ESPN. No need to tell lies, just take your whippin’ like a good mutt should.
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
1:11 am
I don’t think you’re paying attention to what everybody is saying: The NCAA did not “clear” Newton to play. It’s up to the school to impose a suspension, not the NCAA. The NCAA reinstates them. AU is rolling the dice on an all or nothing run for a National Championship, but I think the NCAA will step in before they make it. It really will be exciting to watch. And after the dirty play dawgfans will be giddy w/ excitement as AU gets hammered. You take the dirt out of the game, and I bet Dawgfans would have been a lot more sympathetic, and telling AU fans we’ll be rooting for you, but5 you cvan thank Fairley for that.
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
1:15 am
It’s a classic “he started it, no, he started it” argument, when clearly #38 from UGA started the taunting on the FIRST drive of the game….and got his a** handed to him all night….maybe Richt was fired up for one last SEC game before heading to Colorado? Pretty strong rumor that he’s headed that way…..
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
1:17 am
Oh please, the halftime commentor blasted AU’s decision to start Newton. And added that this decision send the wrong message to college players throughout the countyr and represents what is wrong with college football today. Hello! I know you’re ignoring everything, but mainsteam sportswriters are slamming AU right now. And it won’t stop either. More to come next week! I love it!
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
1:20 am
Players decide games on the field — 49-31 and it’s only gonna get worse the next few years, UGA is in turmoil, the alumni want Richt gone, a 5-7 season, and the promotion of Bobo to Head Coach will go over like a ton of bricks..tough to be a Bulldog fan these days…ouch…
Dawgfan
November 15th, 2010
1:24 am
I’d rather be a anything but a Damn Auburn War Eagle Tiger right about now. If I were an AU fan, I’d be hiding under a rock.
aualum87
November 15th, 2010
1:25 am
jealousy is a very transparent emotion….and Newton is from ATL to boot…peace, out
Tallahasseedawg
November 15th, 2010
1:40 am
Dawg fans Auburn is winning for a reason,there coach has a swag about himself. Call him what you want but he is winning, in which we are not.The SEC is a cut throat league.CMR is not that type of coach,its like he is holding back for something.His georgia way is terrible.I really believe he and his coaches believe scheme beats out talent, and will eventually prevail.Negative.Uga is to talented for this crap.We have know identity.What do we do good? (NOTHING)!!!!.Thats coaching.CMR needs to give fans hope,but he want.He will say lets do it the georgia way and smile.
InkyD
November 15th, 2010
2:11 am
Wow, it is amazing reading all these comments about classless Auburn and dirty play and what am I reading in the way of a solution? Talk about repeated chop blocks and “I’m glad our O-line tried to rough up Fairley”. You prove yourselves to be no better than that which you self-righteously say you hate. You can’t lay last night’s ugliness solely on Auburn – Richt continually came out on the field, continually whined to the officials, including his little show after the second altercation. It was UGA players who cleared the benches, not Auburn players. It was UGA players who played dirty after Fairley was blocked into the QB – Richt’s behavior opened that door, not Chizik’s. And it was Auburn fans singing “Goodbye” to the classlessness of an undisciplined, dirty-playing Georgia team. Goodbye and good riddance. War Eagle, baby.
Travis McGee
November 15th, 2010
3:50 am
The truth of the matter is that Georgia got it’s butt kicked and then was bit@h slapped and the indignity is eating them alive.
It was a tough game. Georgia played valiantly — but just doesn’t measure up to SEC standards — and that has to be laid at the feet of the coaching staff.
SEC is smash-mouth football and has no room for whiners.
And, to talk about Auburn thugs — how many Auburn players have been arrested in the past couple of years? I think the total for Georgia is somewhere around 16.
And, again, that lack of discipline is to be laid at the feet of the coaching staff.
Georgia was sent back across the Chattahoochee with it’s tail between it’s legs and needs to man up!
has got a great young quarterback that can take you into a more successful future if you’ll quit whinning like a bunch of school girls.
75-76-DAWG
November 15th, 2010
4:10 am
Bill
You are dead on when you say the problem is the defense but nobody can blame Grantham . Everybody following UGA football knew 3 to 4 years ago that Willie Martinez wasn’t even close to being even a descent defensive coordinator. I don’t care who UGA hired to replace him it will take two or three years for our defense to play good enough for the SEC. Grantham hasn’t even had one recruit he can say that he recruited. The 2011 recruits will be his first.
The blame go’s to our old AD, Evans and CMR. They finally admitted what everybody else knew 3 – 4 years ago that Martinez had to go. We may have six losses this year but nobody has blown us out and we have been in every game we lost. You have to blame Bobo for some of our defenses problems because our offense does have a marque running back that can grind out three or four first down , let Walsh kick a field goal when they don’t score a touchdown and run the clock for five to seven minutes. This keeps your defense fresh. His play calling for the most part after eleven games get no better than a C- or D+, which has caused us to lose time of possession in all of our losses and some of our wins, making for a tired defense.