Dogs need to erase memory of a woeful effort
Aaron Murray and Mike Bobo had one of their poorer games the last time Georgia took the field against an opponent. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
If you’re running down the checklist of things Mark Richt’s football team needed to improve from last year, many of the personnel needs seem to have been addressed and a new approach to strength and conditioning looks promising.
But what we won’t know until Georgia is facing adversity on the field is whether they’ll consistently play as hard as they can, something last year’s Dogs didn’t always do.
Richt talked during the offseason about how distressing it was to sometimes see his team outplayed and Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald recently followed up with the coach for specifics. “When you watch the film and you see another team played harder than we did, that’s sad, that’s my fault,” Richt said. “We had some games like that in my opinion. I can name one for sure and that’s the bowl game. It was most evident that game, maybe that’s the one in my craw and is the one I’m talking about the most.”
No argument there. But what I found really interesting was the response Weiszer got from Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who flatly said the lack of effort didn’t come from his unit. “It ain’t happened on defense. When you look at the Central Florida game, I thought the guys on defense were busting their tail. Now we didn’t finish the game the way that we wanted to, but to say that those guys outworked us, that ain’t right. That didn’t happen.”
Sounds like Grantham was calling out Mike Bobo’s offense as the laggards against Central Florida, which pretty much jibes with the way I remember that particular game, a low point for the program during the Richt era.
But that isn’t entirely a fair assessment of the 2010 Dogs. I can recall some times last season when the defense was guilty of arm tackling and diving at running backs’ feet, so you can’t pin the lack of effort completely on Bobo’s troops. In general, the 2010 team just didn’t seem to be the hardest working bunch ever to play Between the Hedges.
Richt’s right about one thing; ultimately, he’s the one who shoulders the blame. His teams have had a tendency in recent years to come out flat at times and to just plain not want it as badly as the opponents.
If the Dogs are going to turn things around — and turn down the heat under the head coach’s seat — that’s definitely going to have to change.
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291 comments Add your comment
LogicalUS
August 24th, 2011
8:23 pm
Ah yes, the recurring “UGA beat themselves” drivel from a typical UGA homer.
Face it Bill, UGA just wasn’t any good. UGA gave their best and it could not match what UCF had.
Get ready to hear this repeatedly this year.
joe taxpayer
August 24th, 2011
8:35 pm
CTG defense was horrible last year and he has the nerve to call out Bobo. I am no fan of Bobo either.
NOBODYYOUKNOW
August 24th, 2011
8:43 pm
I’m staying positive. The dogs are not rated high in the polls. Thats a +. They have a pretty light schedule, (after the 1st. two games) thats a +. They should be better on defense, the new scheme ant so new anymore.Another +. Crowell looks and sounds like he’s chomping at the bit. Another +.The bulldog Q.B is more experienced and rated high. Thats another +. Now lets go play the game.
ca dawg
August 24th, 2011
9:04 pm
someone draw fangs on bill king.
FLA DAWG
August 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
Not sure how this discussion transgressed into the UGA / UF Game but I guess it oftens happens. I’d have to agree with most of what I read though I would add the following that most Gator Fans will dismiss as meaningless;
In any close game a home advantage is worth 3 points. It is irrational for anyone to argue that UF plays a home game against The Dawgs every damn year. Laugh all you want but Vegas odds give points for home field advantage and The Gators get it every year.
Yeah, yeah, we owned them when they had crappy coaching (Hall) but when coaching was even (or better) then that homefield advantage can make a big difference in any close game.
I still support a Georgia Dome / Jacksonville on alternating years. What’s wrong with that?
The Diesel
August 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
Can’t wait uintil 9-3-11.Ready for the season to start.GO DAWGS!!!!!
FLA DAWG
August 24th, 2011
9:06 pm
I seem to have left out key words in my second paragraph above. Please enter the words “does not” after “UF”.
paul
August 24th, 2011
9:15 pm
UGA fans are so funny. What in the world gives you the right to say you will beat boise? Richt has produced only two 1000 yard rushers in 11 seasons and you expect people to believe that Crowell is going to come in and make a difference and pass block? You guys are going to get lit up by a much more sound and well coached team. Stick a fork in richt. He is done. Even with a favorable schedule uga will struggle all year. If you think a team takes on the personality of their coach I think the uga fans should take responsibility too. You guys are the most arrogant people and that also trickles down to the players and gives them big heads. There is no evidence you guys will be any better and losing green, a player that kept you in games is gone. Saying you think you should be 2-0 and already talking about winning the east is just laughable.
ca dawg
August 24th, 2011
9:24 pm
no way tide roll is a bama fan: he correctly spelled “epitomize.” he is, however, a racist buffoon and a sad character.
bill, a good way to start erasing the memory of the woeful effort against UCF is to stop bringing it up all the time. you’re the type who goes to birthday parties just to remind everyone that they’re one day closer to dying.
ca dawg
August 24th, 2011
9:29 pm
paul: i didn’t realize we needed your permission to be enthusiastic. i’ll be sure to consult you in the future about this kind of thing. however, that garbage isn’t going to take itself out, and you ARE on the clock…
LHarding Dawg
August 24th, 2011
9:33 pm
Paul – The worst thing about your miserable life is that your Mother wasted a whole day having you. But what is worst than that is that I wasted 12 seconds of my life reading your stupid post. It won;t happen again.
Return to Glory
August 24th, 2011
9:38 pm
The fire has been lit, the weak and bad apples have been discarded the 2011 DAWGS are ready to roll, Boise State will walk into a buzz saw on Sept. 3rd The Big Dawg will eat, and GEORGIA will return to Glory THIS year: GO DAWGS
UGA_85
August 24th, 2011
10:24 pm
“USC fan
August 24th, 2011
3:12 pm
the dawgs aint back!!! Those mutts are dead—they died in 1982″
So you guys can only win 9 times in 26 years against a dead dog? That IS sad.
paul
August 24th, 2011
11:10 pm
Shut up dawg fans. I speak the truth. You don’t need my permission to be enthusiastic, just trying to give you a dose of reality and to call your bs. How pathetic are you people talking about strength coaches and a better nutrition program? Ha. Now that is reaching. You guys are desperate. Desperate for any kind of respect but how can anyone respect a program that thinks the can win the national title every year while simultaneously ignoring you only have two conference titles in 30 years? I mean I will give you that you might beat boise in a close one but you guys will get tossed by the conference teams. Bunch of cowards. Hey we are uga, we cancel a home and home with oregon and schedule boise in atlanta. You want respect? You earn it, not by taking the sissy way out. Ahh uga fans, so funny, how does it feel to not have a national title like the others and have losing head to head records against every decent team in the conference. I asked you a fair and legitimate question about how uga has some issues and your answer is to call me stupid and operate with this “because we are uga” mentality. That’s exactly your problem. Until your fan base admits you are a mediocre program you will never rise up and win. Bunch of whiny babies with excuses every year. Groundhog day. Who will you blame this year?
paul
August 24th, 2011
11:28 pm
Dawgs return to glory? When exactly are the glory days? In 1980 before the conference was competitive? When you won your other national title during world war II when you fielded a team while half the country didn’t feild teams because their men were fighting battles like real men? Uga will go 8-4 at best and that is only bc you miss alabama lsu and ark. Otherwise you would be a six loss team. Uga will be looking for a new coach in three months.
icedawg
August 24th, 2011
11:56 pm
There were a number of games last season when the defense ran out of gas and allowed the opponent to score at will and win the game. Florida and Auburn game to name two. The offense kept putting scores up but the defense kept allowing the other team to do the same which indicates that they were worn down. They caved in.
Dirty Dawg
August 25th, 2011
1:18 am
Bill, you really are a ‘glass virtually empty’ aren’t you? I mean you seem to find fault with Bobo and Richt regardless of the situation. What are you, on Don Leeburn’s payroll or something…or it it Leon Farmer’s?
I don’t know how the game with Boise State will turn out but there are a bunch of, so-called, experts that’ll have some ’splainin’ to do if we win the game…and if we dominate them, then it’ll take more than explanations. I’m done predicting, guess we’ll just have to play the game.
Crime Dawg
August 25th, 2011
2:52 am
What is the death of Yasser Arafat related to the famous family members who raise UGA?
Find out by searching “scopolamine” and “island”.
Joe
August 25th, 2011
4:15 am
The effort was there on defense but their confidence in what they were doing was lacking. A new defense, learning what to do and being hesitant to react was a culprit of the defense.
FLA DAWG
August 25th, 2011
7:27 am
Ironic how the weakness of our O Line has been left out of the sportswriters coverage the last couple of weeks. All I read is how good we look except for yesterday’s scrimmage against the Scout Team.
I remain skeptical about Richt as a Head Coach and have even less confidence in Bobo as OC. Richt & Bob have proven themselves as failures at this level of SEC football in my opinion.
This is Grantham’s year to prove he is worth the money he is being paid or he’s out too.
So, despite improved talent this season we still have a weak O Line and below average coaching. This does not instill alot of confidence going into these first two games but it will hopefully result in a final answer about the coaching staff staying or going at the end of the season.
Let’s bring it on and get this season started!
I’m drooling like a Dawg for 9/3/11!!!
GoDawgs
August 25th, 2011
7:56 am
I agree that UGA needs to come out with more energy. I was at the bowl game last year in Memphis and from the moment we got there our fans had no buzz. The UCF fan base was loud with scripted chants an hour before kickoff and just wanted it more. It carried over to how the players played too. We have a huge advantage having 50,000+ tickets compared to the 6,000 Boise State has so the energy level should be great with Boise being ranked so high plus it being the first game with everyone getting a fresh start to have a great year.
RedandBlackDAWG
August 25th, 2011
8:01 am
Paul,
Break time is over. Get ready for school now and eat your cheerios. Perhaps your english class can teach you a couple of new words today. One would be respect, as in, to call fans of other teams dummies and stupid, is very easy to do behind a comuter screen, but only when one is really ready to confront those same people in the real world. Reality also is a nice word for you to learn. You are on a blog called the “Junkyard Blawg”. It is a UGA blog, so you should expect to see DAWG fans cheerings for their team. Although the journalist seems to go to great lengths most of the time to be negative about the DAWGS, the topics are still geared to have a decidedly slanted point of view about UGA. It is obvious that you do not care for UGA but the tech. blog is also available for you to cheer on your team. That is where you belong, not on a blog about UGA. And you might want to check in with the S and C coach over at tech. while you are at it. If you accidently use that mouth of yours to tell a fan of UGA that he needs to shut up and is stupid, out in public, you will need to know how to run or at least defend yourself and your point of view without the benefit of a protective computer screen to spout off behind. In other words, you might need to be a man and mature a little bit. Now go get your book bag and hop on the bus.
GO DAWGS and GATA
Columbus Dawg
August 25th, 2011
8:16 am
Enter your comments here
Demon Evans
August 25th, 2011
8:19 am
It’s the red panties. It’s always the red panties.
Columbus Dawg
August 25th, 2011
8:26 am
I was reading an interesting post from someone claiming “close to the Alabama program” who said that it was explained to him how Bama “legally” pays it’s players. Says that so called walk ons who are really just offspring of Bama boosters are paired up with big name players, (Julio was the example used), that provide cash, or credit cards for any expenses that player needs. Says that this particular booster was tied to the famous fishing trip, and spring break trips. There are no NCAA rules stating that a player cannot help another player, and that this has been going on for years at Bama. Don’t know that it’s true, but would not doubt it. They called it the “cash on the dresser technique”.
moonbeam
August 25th, 2011
9:51 am
Paul is bringin’ it…mostly right in his assessment…we need to look in the mirror boys. Uga is what it is…you are what your record says you are…
Ron Smith
August 25th, 2011
9:52 am
My predictions based entirely on nothing:
South Carolina wins the SEC East
Alabama wins the SEC West
Alabama easily defeats South Carolina
Alabama plays Oklahoma or Nebraska or FSU or Stanford for the NC
Dawgs finish 6-6, lose bowl game to Air Force
Richt is fired
UGA football continues to decline
Sad
(I hope I’m wrong!!!)
matt
August 25th, 2011
10:11 am
Fact is that the D can only bail you out so many times. It doesn’t matter how good of shape they were in; everyone has tank and eventually it gets low and eventually empties. You cannot coninually ask the D to bail you out over and over and over again. The lack of offense took it’s toll plenty last season. Was the O solely to blame, no but they were the problem more often than not.
dawgfacedboy
August 25th, 2011
10:12 am
Ron- Don’t worry you are wrong with most of those predictions.
Dirty Dawg
August 25th, 2011
10:20 am
Hey Columbus Dawg…not exactly unique to Alabama. Seems to me it’s exactly what happened with the carpet guy, his son and Day-Rick Rogers that ended up at Tennessee. In fact in that case the ‘dad’ may have gone so far as becoming Day-Rick’s ‘guardian’…now that would be, if not unique, at least a new low…see that way he can funnel all the money he wants to his ’semi-adopted’ kid, just so long as UT keeps his ‘other son’ on scholarship – no matter if he plays or not.
AltamahaDawg
August 25th, 2011
10:21 am
What 6 games will they lose Ron?
BMOC
August 25th, 2011
10:21 am
That’s a given..
schmeckdawg
August 25th, 2011
10:26 am
In my opinion, UGA’s offense quit on Richt and the team after driving the ball 97-98 yards and not being allowed to go for it on 4th and maybe 6 inches.
If everyone remembers, Richt made a comment in the paper after the game that several of the players were very upset that they didn’t go for it and Richt’s sophomoric response was that they should have made it on 3rd down.
Not exactly the point and a bs way to say things about your team. That is one time Richt should have either kept his pie hole shut or put it another way like he normally does.
Anyway, I’ll now pass the plate since I am on here preaching!
AltamahaDawg
August 25th, 2011
10:37 am
If they “quit” because they disagree with the coach going for a high percentage score (after they all spent the week in the paer talking about how important it was to score first)…..they needed to turn in thier uniforms as soon as that game was over. You don’t quit becasue you don’t agree with a play a call.
And That wasn’t his response “about his team” when asked, that was what he said directly to the players, to make a point to them. “I said to them, if you wanted to make the down, you should have done it there (2nd, 3rd) down, when we ran the play. Don’t get stuffed and then run over here wanting me to bail you out and go for it”. or to that effect. Richt has his fault, and perhaps you disagree that it was a point worth making, or in the timing, or even that he should not have shared that discussion when asked directly about it, but have you really ever seen him to act sophomoric?
Dirty Dawg
August 25th, 2011
10:47 am
OK, here’s the deal…we’ve got a ton of questions going into the season – running backs, O-line, replacing AJ, is the defense really that much improved, is Murray up to the ‘big’ games, etc. – most of us would like to believe that the answer to most, if not all, of those will be in the affirmative, in which case we should not only be competitive but have a very successful season. If not, then we’re in for some disappointments. What gets me is that there are way too many posters around here that hang ‘dawg’ on their moniker that chose to be negative in their thinking. What’s up with that? Is it that you have decided that if you lower your expectations enough you can’t be disappointed? Or even that you can have the satisfaction of saying ‘I told you so’? Is it that you possess all the football knowledge of the Western World and are convinced that Richt and his staff are not up to the task and want to see to it that you speed their dismissal? (That one strikes me as the same kind of thinking as Republicans working to tank the economy to ensure Obama’s being beat in the next election…in other words you’d rather see Georgia lose just so you can say ‘I told you so’ about Richt and hire ‘who the hell knows’) Or are you ‘dawgies’ just using the ‘handle’ as part of your ‘troll cover’.
Regardless, I’ve always felt that this was my team right or wrong and while I may get just as upset at things along the way, I recognize that open criticism of the coaches, players, program – anything associated with the team and the school – only serves to hurt morale and recruiting and encourage the Techies, the gaytors, the barners and all the other ‘orange-clad’ enemies…so why the hell do it? Oh yeah, so you can say ‘I told you so’.
Get behind the guys. There’ll be time enough for ‘I told you so’s’ later, but only if needed. Fact is I’m looking forward to rubbin’ some ‘doom-sayers’ noses in the biggest pile of Dawg-do I can find before this season is over – and hopefully after the first two weeks.
RedandBlackDAWG
August 25th, 2011
3:43 pm
I agree with you Dirty Dawg. I will go to my grave being a UGA fan. It is more than just football to me. It is a source of pride to me. And I really don’t care what other fans of other teams say. CMR is and will remain a source of pride for UGA and a symbol of how to treat kids the right way. I would bet you can’t find one player on that team now that doesn’t have respect for CMR.
GO DAWGS and GATA
Instant Dawgma
August 25th, 2011
3:46 pm
Miss the junkyard dogs….where’s that mentality
paul
August 25th, 2011
4:08 pm
Redandblackdawg….yeah you don’t care what other fans think; that’s why you just wrote me a thesis. Go eff yourself. I could learn nothing about respect from a uga fan. I’m not a tech fan either, now go back to your trailer in winder and keep ignoring your dawgs fate.
RedandBlackDAWG
August 25th, 2011
4:40 pm
Gee Paul,
A little upset are you? A trailer in Winder (?) no less. Never been to Winder by the way. Get you little feelings hurt there little man. Get over it and go blog for your team if you even support one. And that “GO EFF YOURSELF”, shows a real mans behavior for sure. No doubt in my mind that you are a loser, but hey, way to show that maturity little man. I am done with you, just like I dispose of trash, so don’t bother to reply unless you feel you need to make yourself feel better.
GO DAWGS and GATA
loose some weight "D" boss
August 27th, 2011
6:43 pm
problem is before your house is clean—dont point fingers—————and try jeeny craig
——————————you too B.K.—————–
bitter vince dooly
August 27th, 2011
6:47 pm
6 SEC titles and 1 national title——————-you can whinn ga coach staff when you win a national
————–now back to planting rose’s—————————go dawgs