How much patience will the Bulldog Nation show this season?
How hot will Mark Richt's seat get if the Dogs open with two losses? (Associated Press)
Much of the preseason talk about the Georgia Bulldogs has centered on the high-stakes nature of the first two games against Boise State and South Carolina and how much this ratchets up the temperature under Mark Richt’s seat.
Winning both games would be huge and would probably make the Dogs the early-season Cinderella of the national polls and media pundits, but not too many folks are predicting that.
Most fans I’ve talked to would be pretty satisfied to come out of those opening two games with a split, especially if the win was over the Gamecocks, giving Georgia an edge in the SEC East.
But what if the Dogs lose to both highly ranked opponents?
I’ve lost track of how many observers from outside the Bulldog Nation have put forth the idea that if Georgia starts out the season 0-2 that Richt’s fate will be sealed. I’ve even seen predictions that losing the two opening games would mean he wouldn’t last out the season.
I don’t think that’s the case, however.
Starting out 0-2 would not make fans and alumni happy (especially if the games are not close), but I don’t believe it would be cause for writing off the season. After all, as Richt pointed out Monday night at the Bulldog Club gathering at the Cobb Galleria, Georgia opens with what appears likely to be “the two best teams we play all year.”
Oh, I’m sure the “fire Richt now” crowd would be much in evidence on the blogs and discussion boards, but I think the majority of UGA’s supporters would recognize the high difficulty factor in those two opening games and the fact that, at 0-2, Georgia still could have a pretty terrific season.
But if Richt’s Dogs go 1-4 again, like last year, that would be another matter entirely.
That would mean losses to both Mississippi schools, including Ole Miss, which is expected to be the SEC West’s celllar dweller. At that point, the wheels might well come off the bandwagon and Greg McGarity would be under a lot of pressure to do something about it.
I really don’t think it’s likely to come to that, though. I will be surprised if the Dogs don’t go to Knoxville with a winning record.
How about you? Would 0-2 have you on the ledge, or do you think Richt can “withstand all the stuff that will come,” as he put it, if the Dogs lose to both the Broncos and the Gamecocks?
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433 comments Add your comment
Paul Garmon
July 26th, 2011
9:04 pm
Every one has forgotten about the Tennessee and Miss State games. Georgia could very easy have 4 losses after the Tennessee game. Not to mention the whopping we will get by Fla. again. CMR is finished in Athens and he has the Circus Clown BOBO THE BOZO to thank for it. CMR will be the next coach at Clemson. Dabo will be gone after this year.
Mobile Dawg
July 26th, 2011
9:14 pm
Paul, don’t be fooled by the kool aid krowd. Most “real” Dawg fans know there are only three “gimmies”. It all depends on the preparation. We could honestly lose 6 or 7 games, we could honestly win maybe 11. That’s the problem we’ve been facing the last several years. We don’t know what to expect. Whatever happens, it’s going to interesting, and fun.
slydog
July 26th, 2011
9:55 pm
@ Columbus, so you are happy with the way things are going currently, am I not correct? Fine then. This issue seems split right down the middle to me. Which just tells you one thing: CMR must go. Half the fans are scared to sleep in the bed without a woman. The other half would rather wait it out until they get something better. An almost perfect analogy. I and others like me clearly see a coach who is doing less with more. We see a team and a program regressing even from the low standards CMR bloviators are touting. Period. You can spin it anyway you want it. If a conference championship in some years, a sub .500 record against your biggest rival, and not winning National Titles is ok with you, then fine. As I remember, CMR was hired to win National titles, not SEC East division trophies. Ok, let me ask you this: Is missing the last 5 SEC Championship games enough? How about that pre-season #1 ranking that hasn’t been sniffed since? The absolute majority of the fans on here who want CMR gone are people, like myself, who have made fools of themselves seeing no reason why UGA can’t run the table at least once. There is no excuse for letting Saban, Meyer, Miles, and Chizik come out of nowhere and move UGA to the side of the road. We look like Ole Miss out there: A lot of NFL talent but not a good team. That’s coaching. How can a man of faith leave the fans so polarized? Everyone should be solidly behind him and this team. It’s just not reality. Even the AD and President Adams are not fully behind him unless significant progress is made this season. It’s just business. Nothing personal. With this season’s schedule, no less than an SEC Championship appearance is necessary. Maybe all this bad mouthing will make this happen. All the fluffing these past ten years sure has not. UGA should have at least played for a NC once. No other way around it. Even Auburn has finished undefeated twice in a decade. It would be nice if a good man such as CMR could pull it off at least once. He should know what it feels like.
JOT
July 26th, 2011
9:55 pm
Where did you put my post?
HardTruth Soldier
July 26th, 2011
10:55 pm
SSIgator, Not Red and Black just a Redneck, and I 95 in Jacksonville, Get ready to bow down to HARD TRUTH,this is about to be the beginning of a dynasty. Georgia is for real and it’s gonna only get better. The #1 running back in Fla has already committed to the dogs for next year, and the kid in North Carolina is coming to. But enough about that, Richt has got talent galore down there. How many teams do you know that’s got two NFL caliber TE’s AND THE #1 TE in the country coming in. A #7,10, and 13 wide receiver, a #3 D.E. AND THE #1 Noseguard out of Juco? They are bigger, faster, and stronger due to there new S&C coach. So you boys laugh now, I’ll take my LSD Sugar cube, get on the little bus, and watch you call your self stupid( please personalize it, and say H.T.S. your the man) this is the beginning of who’s your Daddy calls for the Dawg pound. You can start now by retracting your comments and not looking stupid.
Pago Pago DAWG
July 26th, 2011
11:02 pm
Years ago UGA was “expected” to win the East, things have sure changed.
Sad….If we get beat again in JAX, CMR has to go.
And…would some of you guys learn what a “paragraph” is..gessh.
falling down..cannot get up
July 26th, 2011
11:08 pm
Hard Truth…
take your pills….you are off your rocker….
ApopkaDawg
July 26th, 2011
11:34 pm
Lets face it guys, 0-2 does not get Richt fired immediately. What is DOES do is open him up to have every move he makes for the rest of the season scrutinized and ridiculed if it doesn’t go right, which will get him fired. He cannot afford that amount of heat right out of the gate. It will make for a long, ulcer driven season for Richt and the Dawg Nation. By the way Bill, Dawg fans should expect to win the first two games because in order to win big, you have to think big. If the Dawgs go into the first two game “hoping” to come out 1-2, then that is exactly what they will get. Its a mind set Bill. You can’t hope for mediocrity! You have to strive for greatness in order to be great.
laserbuddy
July 26th, 2011
11:41 pm
No, no, no. Patience was last year. Patience is all used up.
Josh
July 26th, 2011
11:46 pm
BILL!!! Are you ever going to find something positive to write about? You call yourself a fan? All you are doing, and dare I say attempting to do, is stirring the pot. Find something else to do in your obviously otherwise dull life. I get on here to find out what’s going on with the Dawgs and your waste of space articles always appear on my screen, which by the way I only clicked on to write this post. Why don’t you write facts instead of the hypothetical “what ifs”?
UGAKev
July 26th, 2011
11:49 pm
It’s pretty bad when some of the UGA faithful are satisfied with starting 1-1. I am not accepting any split! We better start 2-0 because we in the bulldawg nation should NEVER be satisfied with losses on our schedule.
UGAKev
July 26th, 2011
11:50 pm
AMEN Josh
AltamahaDawg
July 26th, 2011
11:56 pm
Bill, give it a couple of days and put up the question: what affect would Boise State and SC scoring more points than thier opponents in thier first 2 games have on the Bulldogs? There can’t be too many more ways left to ask this same question.
59bulldawg
July 27th, 2011
5:20 am
The heat will definitely be on if we go 0-2. I am definitely not an eternal optimist and have fairly criticised this staff in the past. But with that said, I believe we are going to win the first two games. SC may have beaten Alabama last year but they are most definitely not Alabama. They are a talented and dangerous team but we can beat them if we are properly prepared, play hard, and don’t get fatigued like we did last year in Columbia. We’ll beat Boise by 14. The rest of the schedule won’t be as easy as some think but I believe we will be 2-0 and in the top 12 heading into week 3.
Rick S
July 27th, 2011
6:50 am
When the majority of your fan base accepts medicority and no championships then expect the same results! Mike Bobo still the Offensive Coordinator after an offense scoring only 6 points that featured AJ Green against a much weaker Central Florida. WOW! Hey but Mark Richt is such a nice guy! The rest of the SEC hopes Georgia maintains the same attitude.
All things considered
July 27th, 2011
7:48 am
A few comments:
1. Four different SEC teams have won the last five BCS championships.
2. UGA was not one of those teams.
3. During that period, UGA did not win the SEC championship.
4. During that period, UGA did not even win its SEC division.
5. Red panties.
In other words, UGA has sunk into total irrelevancy both regionally and nationally.
So why is UGA paying Mark Richt millions of dollars a year?
Burma Shave
July 27th, 2011
8:05 am
It’s time for Richt
To get out of town
Not much longer
For this clown
BURMA SHAVE
RedandBlackDAWG
July 27th, 2011
8:19 am
BURMA SHAVE,
A loser like you,
It is always said,
Has an obvious birth defect,
You were born, brain dead.
MCDAVIDDAWG
July 27th, 2011
8:23 am
How low our expectations have become that a split with two teams that aren’t even on the charts in recruiting would accept 1-1. It should tell you how far we have fallen.
NewnanDawg
July 27th, 2011
8:25 am
A loss to South Carolina effectively loses the SEC East. No excuse to lose to SC at home, but Richt will come up with one.
Let’s face it, we have a mid-tier coach at UGA. He’s coaching against better coaches than he was when he came here a decade ago.
Whiskey Breath
July 27th, 2011
8:27 am
Under normal circumstances, Ga would beat both teams on talent alone. However, over the last 4 years Ga has figured out how to lose these types of games. Richt used to get wins by talent alone. It just doesn’t work anymore and he is lost when it comes to winning. Meanwhile the Ga nation let’s him get away with it. Being a competitor, I really don’t want Ga to change a thing. However, they do need a new coach.
RedandBlackDAWG
July 27th, 2011
8:44 am
The season start Sept. 3rd, for all of you historians of anything UGA out there. Why don’t we just wait and see how this team does on the field.
For all of you fans(?) of other schools; IF CMR is so bad and the UGA team so horrible, I should think the only thing that you would need to say is,”Don’t change a thing, with coaches or the team”. Therefore you are assured of your team beating UGA. Otherwise, it appears to me, that you are darn worried CMR’s team is going to whip your hineys.
slydog
July 27th, 2011
8:59 am
instead of me always dissing, let me offer a few suggestions for the staff:
1. Demote BoBo to QB coach
2. CMR needs to call the plays himself; it’s his playbook
3. Stop believing that fans do not know anything. Fans have watched thousands of hours of game film. Not practice film, actual games. I dare say fans have analysed more tape than UGA coaches. Why? Because we look at all the teams, not just the ones UGA plays. We know a winning team from a losing one, a tough team from a soft one.
4. Play a little more zone, although that’s not necessarily a 3-4 defenses forte. For three seasons in a row, we have wide open receivers running down the middle or the sideline untouched. Clearly this crop of players can not play bump and run or press coverage. Maybe the new ones will
5. Emphasize pounding the rock more this year than in the past 9 years. Focus on getting 2000 yards from running backs as a group. This involves making a team have a tough mindset and a take no prisoners approach. Pretty boy play-action does not work without other team BELIEVING you are committed to the run.
slydog
July 27th, 2011
9:05 am
@ RedandBlackDAWG You are right about waiting until the season starts and letting it play out. 10-2 and losses to Tennessee and UF should be all that’s acceptable. However, I have some words of caution. Do you seriously believe in this current environment, CMR will coach this team to its full potential? 10-2 or 9-3 is fool’s gold. This is not Miss St., Ole Miss, or Arkansas, where they expect to just compete and hopefully catch lightening in the bottle once every 5 years. This is UGA, and we should be better in today’s environment than Alabama or Florida. That’s how much I believe in the potential of UGA football.
JB
July 27th, 2011
9:17 am
We do need to be careful….we could end up like Tech with their new coach and have OUR team a train wreck going into year 4, just say’n.
ATrain
July 27th, 2011
9:24 am
Mark Richt has got to step up his A Game from a LEADERSHIP standpoint, and start BEATING SOME RANKED TEAMS. So do the two appointed, but UNEARNED LEADERS Murray & Robinson. Murray & Robinson are leaders, IN TITLE ONLY. There’s no TEAM CHEMISTRY YET because no one has won a BIG GAME. If you can LEAD, your FOLLOWERS DO what you aks them to do. NO LEADERSHIP LAST YEAR ON THIS TEAM. NONE.
RedandBlackDAWG
July 27th, 2011
9:37 am
SlyDawg,
Yes I beleive that CMR and the rest of the coaches can get a 9-3, or 10-2 record this year. I think that this team is coming together and I do beleive CMR has a renewed vigor in coaching this team. We have a fvorable schedule with the exception of the first two games, and I believe we have the team players we need to go a long way this year. We might only be able to win one of the first two games, unless some of these young men learn at a faster pace than normal, but the ingredients are there for success. I believe in the coaches and players this year, and if that makes me a homer, and in some folks opinions, not thinking realistically, I can live with that. If it is one thing I have learned after watching some of the teams from last year, it is to not count out anything, and stay positive.
GO DAWGS
NOBODYYOUKNOW
July 27th, 2011
9:50 am
The “FIRE RICHT” people are sitting on ready. The SEC is a big, strong, competitive, conference. If you can’t stand the pressure of the job its time to move on. Personally I like the man, but most SEC fans are demanding and impatient. I just hate to see the program go through what others programs have gone through. No one knows how a coach is gonna do at any university. CMR has a good attitude and strong character he will be OK.
ATrain
July 27th, 2011
10:10 am
Last year Richt beat L Laf, Vand, Tenn, Kent, Ga Tech, and Idaho St. Not an impressive win against a winning team in the 6 wins.
Last year, Richt lost to SC, Miss St, Colorado, Florida, Auburn, UCF, and Arkansas.
0-6 against winning teams, 0-5 against ranked teams.
Over 2 years, 2-9 against ranked teams.
If Richt doesn’t step up his coaching game and get some big wins against ranked teams & winning teams this year, Richt doesn’t deserve to coach at Georgia.
schmeckdawg
July 27th, 2011
10:31 am
Why is everyone so freaked out about South Carolina? Hell they went 8-5 last year. It’s not like they were 12-1 and looked like world beaters. We could have/should have beaten them up there last year except for the fact that Washout fumbled on the 2 yard line.
We start 2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Senator Blutarski
July 27th, 2011
10:31 am
0-2? 0-2? Why not consider 2-0! 2-0! Let’s do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
schmeckdawg
July 27th, 2011
10:34 am
Senator Blutarski
July 27th, 2011
10:31 am
0-2? 0-2? Why not consider 2-0! 2-0! Let’s do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See my post @ 10:31. I’m with you 100%!!!!!!!!!!!
DawgTrue
July 27th, 2011
10:44 am
If you’re a Bulldog and are critical of the Bulldogs, SFU. If you’re not a Bulldog and are critical of the Bulldogs, why do you care so much? Go ‘Dawgs!
RedandBlackDAWG
July 27th, 2011
10:45 am
ATRAIN,
Do you think you are adding anything constructive by quoting the same old statistics that everybody on here is aware of. Perhaps you can come up with something new to say. I doubt it though. What school is it you support anyway?
Columbus Dawg
July 27th, 2011
10:50 am
Where are all of the mouth running Bama rednecks when you need them? Looks like Bama will get to forfeit the crystal football after all. T Town clothier was sideline pass holder in 2009 and 2010 seasons. Article shows Ingram being photographed in late 2009 as he tried on suit for Heisman appearance. Ingram gave autographs to said pos, sideline pass holding clothier. Said pos, sideline pass holding clothier deleted said photos from Facebook page. Distinguished University of Alabama Compliance Department says no benefits found, nothing to see, or er write about, er be worried about. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
Columbus Dawg
July 27th, 2011
10:52 am
Distinguished University of Alabama Compliance Department says “Football program pure as driven snow”. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Tom Stoval
July 27th, 2011
10:59 am
Lose the first two game and CMR won’t make it.
Buck Blew
July 27th, 2011
11:25 am
0-2 and he is toast
Starring William Conrad as Frank Cannon
July 27th, 2011
11:29 am
Mark Richt will be enjoying lunches together at seasons end with an old friend Tommy Bowden. Buh Bye Mark Richt!
?
July 27th, 2011
11:33 am
?
?
July 27th, 2011
11:34 am
Enter your comments here
ThweetyPie
July 27th, 2011
11:47 am
1) Patients is good. Ask any hospital.
2) ‘Affect’ is a verb. ‘Effect’ is almost always a noun.
3) There is no ‘fence’ in ‘defense’. De fence is what you paint.
4) There is no ‘fence’ in ‘offense’. Off fence is what your neighbor tells you.
Ed
July 27th, 2011
11:56 am
I’ve lost faith in Richt as Georgia’s head coach, and that won’t change if we start 2-0. After 10 seasons and a 2-8 record against Florida, I just don’t think he’s the right man for the job. He looked awfully good earlier in his tenure when Tennessee, Florida and Alabama were down at the same time, but even then he couldn’t beat Florida. Unless Georgia does something special this year, I hope the admin. has the courage to make necessary changes. Georgia has recruited too good for too long to be mediocre.
Ed
July 27th, 2011
12:01 pm
And another thing that annoys me about Richt – gimmick uniforms, the latest being “combat” uniforms. I thought we already had combat uniforms – red shirts, silver britches, and red helmets, trimmed in black and white.
Bottom line, Richt has had trouble motivating his team, the bowl game against UCF being the latest example. He’s resorted to uniform gimmicks before, with mixed results. Not a good sign.
DawginLex
July 27th, 2011
12:25 pm
Ed
McGarity made the call on the uniform change, not Richt.
Boise is not going to be allowed to wear blue uniforms at home games this year so they have to change their uniforms too. Is Peterson going to get ridiculed too?
Dawg Gone
July 27th, 2011
12:25 pm
@Ed the uniforms in this case is the school’s and the AD’s decision not CMR’s .
YAYA
July 27th, 2011
12:37 pm
I was dissapointed with Mark Richt’s effort last year.
Should have won the Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, UCF and Mississippi St games.
South Carolina & Auburn were terrific last year, those 2 losses were understandable.
Colorado???
UCF????
If that 7 loss season was Mark Richt’s best effort, we’re in big trouble.
Snoop Dawg
July 27th, 2011
12:40 pm
Why wait until we lose the first two games. Fire Mark “Marjoe” Richt today and we’ll have more time to fix things before next season…
YAYA
July 27th, 2011
12:56 pm
You get the feeling other coaches are just outworking Richt. Studying game film more, outscheming him. Georgia just didn’t look prepared last year.
It was embarrassing to lose every single game against teams who were good enough to win more games than they lost. 0 for 6 against winning teams????
These other coaches have been hungrier, have worked harder, have put in more study, and Richt has no answer.
Still@theBAR
July 27th, 2011
1:07 pm
Have to wait and see what the O-Line can be. Not much patience if they running game doesn’t look good early.