Dogs’ bowl showing pretty much sums up the season: Lousy
Aaron Murray saved his worst game of the season for the Liberty Bowl. (Associated Press)
A mediocre season came to a pathetic end for the Georgia Bulldogs Friday as a talent-loaded SEC offense that had prided itself on regularly scoring 30 or more points a game failed to even score a single touchdown against Central Florida of Conference USA.
Unlike most of the rest of the year, Aaron Murray, wearing gloves in a game for the first time this season, looked every bit the freshman in the Liberty Bowl, throwing two interceptions and nearly throwing two or three more picks.
An offensive line that had underperformed most of the season turned in one of its worst outings, especially in the second half.
And playcaller Mike Bobo made no sustained attempt to establish a running game, allowing the Knights to blanket the Dogs’ receivers for much of the day when they weren’t blitzing Murray as he searched in vain for an open man.
Of course, maybe Bobo was taking a cue from his boss, Mark Richt, who in the first quarter apparently had such little faith in his ground attack that on fourth and inches at the 2 yard line he elected to kick a field goal rather than go for the first down and potentially the touchdown.
That capped off the Dogs’ best drive of the day, which featured a pretty nice mix of run and pass. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the day Georgia rested its hopes mainly on the passing of Murray, who never looked comfortable. The Dogs did manage a decent drive to open the second half but it bogged down, resulting in another field goal.
And that was pretty much it offensively for the Bulldogs.
Most of the pre-game talk had centered on the two teams’ freshman phenom quarterbacks, but thanks to rusty-looking offenses and a pair of turnovers each, the game settled into a defensive struggle.
The Knights, however, persevered with their efforts to establish a running game and eventually were able to wear down a Georgia defense that occasionally was guilty of poor tackling (how many times did Bacarri Rambo dive into the dirt at opposing players’ feet?).
Overall, though, Todd Grantham’s defense played well enough to win.
It was the offense that stunk the place up. Yes, UCF has a pretty good defense, coming into the game ranked No. 18 in the country, but Georgia’s uninspired play made them look even more formidable.
The day was summed up pretty well by the drive the Dogs began with a little over 7 minutes left in the game. A good run by Washaun Ealey was negated by an completely unnecessary chop block on the other side of the field, and then on first and 25 Ealey was stuffed. Next play, the woeful line play allowed Murray to be sacked. And then on third and 32, Murray threw the ball out of bounds trying to hit A.J. Green, who probably was playing his last game as a Bulldog.
On that depressing note, I’ll open it up for discussion of the Dogs’ dismal showing in Memphis. I’ll be back Sunday with more thoughts on the game and where the Georgia program goes from here. Until then, I hope everyone has a safe New Year’s celebration.
Oh, one more thing: Aaron, lose the gloves.
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908 comments Add your comment
Chase
January 1st, 2011
12:14 am
Things just need to change, we all get our hopes up and are harshly let down. Oh well..
UGA Times
January 1st, 2011
12:17 am
News flash: 22 UGA players were arrested for impersonating SEC football players. They have all pleaded guilty except for A.J. Green, who could only keep screaming “Show me the money!”
Russ, the Interim Mascot
January 1st, 2011
12:21 am
Bruce, glad to fill in for you, but all in all, I rather have been in Savanna, or anywhere. I did have fun at Graceland and chasing the Ducks in the Peabody Hotel Lobby. Almost caught one by my arthirus has me slowed down. Hope you feel better and good luck next year. You will need it.
warhawk
January 1st, 2011
12:22 am
STATE of Florida………is 4-1 this bowl season…..should be 5-1 after tomorrow
big bad BRUCIE (UGA VIII)
January 1st, 2011
12:28 am
Russ, you might as well be the first to know. Unlike Richt (4th and inches on the two yard line, kick a field goal) I have balls (I admit I lick them occasionally) and so I QUIT!
Smokey
January 1st, 2011
12:28 am
Bruce- get out while you can. you don’t want to experience what is about to happen in the next couple of years. Take it from a fellow canine, the previous 2 years in knoxville were unbearable. the fans will blame it all on you. thankfully i can run pretty fast and hide in the smokies when it gets to be too much. what will you do? You can’t run very fast and there is no good hiding placing in Athens. again, get out while you can.
big bad BRUCIE (UGA VIII)
January 1st, 2011
12:33 am
I like my men to be butch and when I took this job they told me I would be working with a group of junkyard dogs. I am tired of being around a bunch of wussies. so I QUIT, I QUIT!!!!!!!
big bad BRUCIE (UGA VIII)
January 1st, 2011
12:38 am
Good night, and Happy New Year to all
Sick & Tired Of Being Sick & Tired
January 1st, 2011
12:39 am
WOW….UGA lost…..what a surprise….NOT!!!! The UGA Football Program has been exposed for the sham that it is. Hopefully now the obnoxious fans can get down off their soapbox and take a multiple choice reality test….TEST QUESTIONS RESULTS???…YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM IS NOT REALLY ALL THAT GOOD!!!!
Joey
January 1st, 2011
12:49 am
I’ve always been a huge Mark Richt supporter, and still am. But even I have to question not going for it inside the five yard line on 4th and inches against a defense that hadn’t slowed you down the whole drive. I think that sucked a little juice from the offense and probably made them think that the coach had no confidence in their ability to get two inches. But that was only one mistake for Mark. It’s up to the players to perform, and for the rest of the game, they had plenty of chances. Games aren’t won or lost on one mistake. There is 60 minutes of play and each team gets ample opportunity to make plays. Give credit to UCF. They had nothing to lose and were ready to play. One other point that I think Georgia has to improve on…You have to get the ball to your best player. And that didn’t happen tonight. A.J. Green has to get the ball. He has to. Throw to him. Throw to him. Throw to him. Go deep. Do something. But get A.J. the ball. Very disappointing. I give Mark one more year to turn it around. But even I would have to search for a coach if things don’t get drastically better in 2011.
Go Dawgs….in ‘11 !!!!!!
dawg1967
January 1st, 2011
12:50 am
enough of the woe and misery and excuses, need leadership change NOW, buy out CM and just fire BooBoo, find a CEO with vision and motivation, find some GREAT former uga players with heart and desire for the NEW UGA.
We steal ruin this state
January 1st, 2011
12:54 am
Joey,
You said “Get the ball to AJ…”
I got bad news for you pardner, AJ is gone.
KB
January 1st, 2011
1:00 am
Does anybody actually think Richt takes pride in UGA and cares about UGA?
LoganvilleDAWG
January 1st, 2011
1:02 am
I am very disappointed with the outcome, but all anyone is wanting to do is fire Coach Richt. He has the best record of all the past coaches at UGA in a 10 year period. Yes we should of gone for the 1st down, it could have set the tone for the game. We DO NOT have a true stud RB, our OL had flashes of success but it was not what it was suppose to be. No matter what all the so called coaches on these blogs say about our defense, it did show improvement in certain areas, against the run it was very BAD. In order to have a good 3-4 you have to a 350lb NG & 2 or more 300 plus tackles. There does need to be some changes, OC is a good start. But if the OC is gone, who could and/or get. Also I would like to talk about noise(less) at Sanford stadium, in the 70’s & 80’s opposing teams did not want to play BETWEEN THE HEDGES. Now they look forward to playing there, NO NOISE. I started going to games in the early 60’s & went to school there in the 70’s, with less seats in the stadium it was louder than it is know. Our players feed off the noise, it gets the coaches pumped & the recruits hear it & they want to play in Athens. Other schools in the SEC make a whole lot more noise then our fans do. All our fans want to do is complain about CMR & our players. Well I hope Coach Richt is back & I am ready to get hammered about my comments.
Lou Vales
January 1st, 2011
1:06 am
You don’t give a darn about your football team because all you morons care about is how this Botoxed Boca Raton clown comes across at an FCA meeting. He is a missionairy that is what he wants to do.That is a WONDERFUL position but you certainly don’t take millions away from your primary employer while fulminating on bigger issues in the World.
What does this made up clown have to do before you say “ENOUGH?”
SOS DAWG
January 1st, 2011
1:07 am
Fire These Clowns NOW !
matthew
January 1st, 2011
1:12 am
fire richt bobo and grantham get a clean house hire jon gruden and then we should have somethin goin
Screwball Willie
January 1st, 2011
1:15 am
First off, GOO DAWGs sick em woof woof. That goes withoutvsaying. I tip my hat to where tipping is dew. That means I tip to CG’OL because he gave us an arse whoopin plain and simple. Our players (they dont deserve to be called dawgs) were UNINSPIRED bunch of NAMBY-PAMBYS who wouldn’t know a JUNKYARD DAWG if it bit them in the arse! Fire CMR. Fire CMB. Long live CWM. And give me some of that real authentic Mexican restaurant style cheese dip that they talk about on the radio show. Screwball Willie OUT.
Dawg R
January 1st, 2011
1:23 am
will bobo / richt be receiving big bonuses for “getting to a bowl” game? It’s part of their contracts and they want their cash, ASAP.
bhumpdawg
January 1st, 2011
1:47 am
I will say it, we are terrible because we have recruited badly. First to go Rodney Garner, second, tony ball third….Brian Mcclendon….on notice..Stacy Searles.
Fair and Balanced
January 1st, 2011
1:48 am
The most boring game I ever saw. The spiral downward is at least 3 years in the making. Looked pretty good when we beat Hawaii and expectation soared for the next season, but you could tell at the open of that season that GA was not what it was cracked up to be. Bama put an exclamation mark on that and then we lost to Tech. All these highly touted players and highly ranked recruiting classes and no real chance at an SEC title, can’t beat FL, and now we are down to this awful loss to UCF. Hard to believe. Hard to believe. And now we have an AD that schedules Boise St ……. I think I get it now: McGarity is trying to get Richt to resign so he doesn’t have to fire him. Don’t hold your breath on that my friend. People don’t resign from jobs making 2.8 million $. There is no silver lining in this finish last night unless it is that Richt is closer to being fired.
thekitster10
January 1st, 2011
1:55 am
My comments are directed to Bill –always want to know how the folks @ the AJC and other rags have the answers to the needs of the UGA Athletic program–currently in Memphis and have too much to drink but know the Dawgs will get it back and hope all you fence sitters and Nerd/Gayturd/All-Barners go find a school to live with and depart the UGA Nation–you are not wanted and probably not a contributor just a punk! If you need an ass kick’en just let me know–I’ll be there All In for you!
SOS DAWG
January 1st, 2011
2:00 am
You Blind Homers have gonads as big as CMR. Wish you all were gamechicken fans. Go support mediocrity please !
The Truth
January 1st, 2011
2:17 am
Fire Mike Bobo, excuse me Bozo.
Dogs’ bowl showing pretty much sums up the season: Lousy – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Dog Store Blog
January 1st, 2011
2:20 am
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
wins-by-a-link
January 1st, 2011
2:24 am
Good bye Mark, You were a good coach for a while until you ran out of Donnan’s recruits, You picked players and coaches based on some recruiting service that said these were the best available, Look at the players UCF had from the state of Ga, Players that you did not recruit and they kicked your ass, I will always remember the forth and 2 inches from the 2 yard line and you decided to kick a field goal, What a mistake, You did not have enough confidence in your offense to make 2 inches on 4 th down and it cost you the win, Well I hope you do better at your next position at a division 2 school we don’t need you in Athens.
gadawgs
January 1st, 2011
2:24 am
Bill-Can you please provide me with McGarity’s email address (or anyone for that matter)?
UCF Dawg
January 1st, 2011
2:39 am
UCF Grad, Dawg Fan here…bitter sweet game for me. O line really blue it allowing two back-to-back sacks by THE SAME player in THE SAME SERIES! Aaron Murray….you’ve gone all year WITHOUT wearing gloves….DON’T START IN A BOWL GAME! Who on the coaching staff thought that was a good idea? Washaun Ealey has not legs…the boy can’t keep his motor running and doesn’t have half of the balance Knowshon did. Defense played a decent first half, but were man handled in much of the second half. The 2007 or even 2008 UGA team would have hosed this UCF team.
I’m glad we lost. This way it forces the weakness of the program into the spot light so substantial changes have to be made. I hope those changes occur and next season is drastically different. Go Knights! But more so….GO DAWGS!
nobody
January 1st, 2011
2:59 am
Resolution: henceforth, no team shall become “bowl eligible” unless they win at least 8 games and lose no more than 4 games
Anne
January 1st, 2011
3:08 am
Oh…..saw some Dawg players crying on tv. Wonder if they’ll be on a poster about there being “no crying in football”?
Brian
January 1st, 2011
3:08 am
( ( ( 10 – 6 ) ) )
mu ha ha ha ha ha ha..
That seems to be the phrase that matters now doesn’t it DogNation??
ha ha ha
Footballannie
January 1st, 2011
3:11 am
I find it hilarious that college football fans all sound the same, whether they are winning or losing. In the past, you’ve praised Richt and his staff on winning and being the best, but one bad season and he’s satan. Hilarious!
uga-brave
January 1st, 2011
3:26 am
anne, yeah saw chris durham shedding some tears tonight.
could come back with a witty comment for you but that young man has more class to dignify it.
NavyDawg
January 1st, 2011
3:38 am
Can you spell Van Gorder for Head Coach?
Big D Dawg
January 1st, 2011
3:54 am
I hate to say this but… I was done with the game when Coach Richt and Bobo gave up on the offense on the first drive and elected to kick a field goal. From the friggin 2 yard line, 4th down and less than a foot?? Are you kidding me?? That has to be the worse call of the year!!! I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1980 and my dad started taking me to games in 1965. I have to say that’s the worst call I’ve ever seen by Mark Richt at UGA and the worse bowl game since 1969 vs Nebraska. No, it wasn’t a beat down however, it was the most uninspired game I’ve seen under Richt. Unfortunately, it reminded me of the last couple of seasons under Goff.
Time To GO
January 1st, 2011
4:08 am
All I have to say is that it IS TIME that CMR goes away. No emotion – just a Stoic look and saying his usual “well, we are definitely disappointed…”
Old Dog
January 1st, 2011
4:43 am
Mark Richt has to go. That simple. q9w27580-13495871[2340598[11111111111111111111111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kreskin
January 1st, 2011
5:33 am
Unless the Dawgs do not fire Richt in the next two weeks…….
I forsee another frustrating season ahead
You Do Not have to be a physic to predict this one
ZinoDawg
January 1st, 2011
5:46 am
What a pathetic embarrassing loss. Richt needs to be fired. Today.
MM fom Lilburn
January 1st, 2011
5:51 am
Why kick a field goal with inches to go ? That was the game, early on. I’ve never seen this call before – very stupid move.
ugagnothing
January 1st, 2011
6:10 am
Next year will be the beginning of the end for the mutts. Tech will dominate in football for the next 10 years.
ugagnothing
January 1st, 2011
6:12 am
ugag played who in the bowl game. What a joke!!!
dawgmeister
January 1st, 2011
6:17 am
As a fan of Georgia football it is a crying shame to lose to a mid major team like Central Florida. Mark Richt do the fans a favor and resign and take Mike Booboo with you. Our first losing season since 1996 and first 7 loss season since 1990 when Ray Goof was roaming the sidelines. Our program needs a coach that will get things done and get the best effort out of our players. 14-12 over the last two seasons is unacceptable. If I was the AD I would give Mal Moore (Alabama AD) a call and ask to speak to Kirby Smart about becoming THE NEW HEAD FOOTBALL COACH AT UGA!!! In other words Mark Richt hit the road and don’t let the door hit you where The Good Lord split you on the way out.
Blahblahblah
January 1st, 2011
6:40 am
Pain
Boobie Bowden
January 1st, 2011
6:48 am
Holy crap, batman. The North Avenue School has become Georgia Institute of Technology and Florida North. We are doomed.
jackyldo
January 1st, 2011
7:00 am
Kicking the field goal on a 4th and inches they could have made a 1st down btw is SETTLING.
SETTLING for 3 iso of 7.
SETTLING to be MEDIOCRE.
Bobo’s game plan was again exposed when he ran 3 straight times in the 3rd and punted, then passed 3 times taking a grand total of 10 SECONDS OFF THE CLOCK on another.
SETTLING FOR BOBO is saying we will be average – we won’t use our weapons.
Congrats to UCF on a great season and a great win..
Call Charlie Weis and see if he’ll take $250,000 more to come to Athens.
jackyldo
January 1st, 2011
7:03 am
Come to think of it where is Richt’s brain ???
Did he think it’s 4th and goal and we are at the 3 ? Did he not know we had inches for a 1st down and at least on that drive we were running and the horse up front were blocking.
To see Murray scrambling in the 4th Qtr – and the O line all on their feet while UCF chased their QB down let em all go pro early. This bunch showed little fight.
59bulldawg
January 1st, 2011
7:10 am
We’re in a hell of a situation now with the apple dumpling gang for a coaching staff, an annually underachieving and undisciplined (and I might add coddled) football team, a Georgia fan base seemingly content with mediocrity, and our hope of signing targeted and much needed recruits quickly fading. Next season, unless there are major changes, will be a disaster. I can’t take another season like this. For the love of God McGarity make a change now. Richt must go and the sooner the better.
Integrity
January 1st, 2011
7:28 am
One of the biggest concerns that I have with our football game plans is that there never seems to be evidence of “back-up” offensive strategies. When you are getting “whipped” on the offensive line, why do you not try something like throwing screen/shuttle passes to offset the aggressiveness of the opposing defense? More of the same, does not seem to be a good idea when it has not worked the entire game. I really don’t know of a quarterback in America who could be successful with so little time given in which to operate. (Going into the season, I thought our offensive line was suppose to be our biggest strength.) As for our defense, I don’t believe I have ever seen a team that has such poor tackling technique. It seems like a strong recruiting point for our coaching staff should be that you will be able to “play immediately” if you come to Georgia. In watching the Central Florida defensive players, it was apparent that when they went for one of our players, they were determined to not just try and slow them, but go for the sure tackle. It really appears that our defensive players have the idea that they are dependent on someone farther down the field to complete the job. But the biggest mistake I saw last night, was the lack of confidence exhibited in our offense by not going for it on fourth and very short when they have driven the ball all the way down the field on a beautiful sustained drive. I really feel that sent a strong psychological message to our offense that their capabilities were doubted from the beginning.
Tom Jones
January 1st, 2011
7:48 am
Fire away everyone. There isn’t a thing we can say to defend ourselves. Hopefully these dark days will make the future GOOD days all the more sweeter.One bright spot, we still have the best looking girls on the planet living in Athens Georgia.Hurah