
Georgia's defense had difficulty handling Jonathan George and other Kentucky runners. (Associated Press)
Some more thoughts and observations from Georgia’s win over Kentucky and looking ahead to the showdown with Florida …
Mark Richt’s Bulldogs have a lot of problems that need addressing before the game in Jacksonville, but the three biggest ones are a continuing problem defending the run, the deteriorating performance of the offensive line (and its effect on Georgia’s own running game) and the disaster that is UGA’s special teams play most of the time.
I’ve heard a lot of discussion in the past 24 hours over whether it was another faulty Todd Grantham game plan that was responsible for the Georgia defense’s terrible showing right out of the gate against the Wildcats, or whether the blame lies largely with the players, most of whom haven’t yet lived up to their preseason press clippings and have failed to put together a complete half (let alone a game) playing as a team.
I’m inclined to think it’s a bit of both. We’ve seen too many first-half offensive surges by lesser teams this season (not to mention an outright offensive blitz by the one good team we’ve played) for Georgia’s highly-paid defensive coordinator to be let off the hook. Even if it’s not the game plan itself that is lacking, Grantham appears to be doing a very poor job of getting his troops ready.
But, yes, the bottom line is the players aren’t getting it done. Even after Grantham made adjustments in the second half to slow down Kentucky’s suddenly potent running game (which the rest of the conference probably would tell you must have been a mirage), it appeared the Cats temporarily losing Jalen Whitlow to a migraine had more to do with Big Blue getting off track. When Whitlow returned in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were able to grind out another long touchdown drive.
True, the Dogs still won the game, as the Georgia coaching staff was repeatedly reminding everyone Saturday night. And there were individual efforts worth applauding, including those of Jordan Jenkins and Kwame Geathers.
But the larger picture is what has the Bulldog Nation disturbed: A Bulldogs defense that gives up 206 yards on the ground to the worst rushing offense in the conference doesn’t look well-positioned to halt Florida’s not-flashy-but-effective grind-it-out ground attack.
And the defense’s poor showing when the Cats had third-and-long was so disturbing that even amid all the positive spin emerging from the Georgia locker room Saturday night Grantham noted, “I didn’t think we played the third-down runs well and we need to clean that up.”

Todd Gurley and the rest of Georgia's rushing attack was largely ineffective against the Wildcats. (Associated Press)
On the other side of the ball, Aaron Murray and Georgia’s passing game looked sharp, but that was against a secondary that can’t hold a candle to Florida’s. And the continued poor play of the offensive line, after some encouraging performances against midlevel opposition earlier in the season, is distressing. Georgia simply hasn’t had an effective rushing attack the past two games, and that largely falls on the blockers. Throw in three sacks of Murray and several false-start penalties and Will Friend’s unit just barely rates a passing grade for its effort in Lexington.
And then there’s the clown car of college football known as Georgia’s special teams. Saturday night, even Richt was cracking wise about placekicker Marshall Morgan’s continuing troubles, noting: “He’s hit the upright more than anybody in the nation, I would think. He probably set a school record for that.”
The Dogs’ dire kicking game is no joking matter, though. Since Richt has chosen not to even have an overall special teams coordinator, much less a special teams coach (or to take the job on himself, as some head coaches do), there’s no one to work with Morgan on solving his problems. Maybe someone should at least get him on the phone with Georgia kicking legend Kevin Butler, who noted on the Saturday night and Sunday Bulldog call-in shows that bad form in how Morgan approaches the ball is likely to blame.
And then there’s Georgia’s apparent inability to come up with a plan for fielding punts. After finally settling on Rhett McGowan as the deep man receiving punts for the Dogs, Richt and company still haven’t been able to get the message through that whenever possible you have to actually catch the ball, rather than let it hit the ground and take your chances on where it’s downed.
With the Dogs facing one of the nation’s best punters this coming week in Florida’s Kyle Christy, fixing this should be a top priority for the UGA coaching staff. On this matter I’ll again defer to Butler, whose son Drew just finished a terrific stint as the Dogs’ punter and is now making a living punting in the NFL. The elder Butler thinks Georgia needs to once again start putting two deep men back on punts to make sure the ball is caught.
The one bright spot in Georgia’s special teams play Saturday was Connor Norman’s Johnny-on-the-spot recovery of that on-side kick by the Cats. If he hadn’t pounced on that ball, the Dogs probably would no longer be in the SEC East race.
What’s especially alarming is that Florida’s special teams play has been as terrific as Georgia’s has been lacking. Against South Carolina the Gator special teams helped produce points by forcing turnovers and making long returns.
So much to fix and so little time. Should Georgia simply run up the white flag and concede the Florida game? Of course not. Lesser Richt teams have somehow managed to pull off upsets of highly rated opponents (if you go back a few years, admittedly).
But as Georgia QB Murray put it, “We know we have to play an unbelievable game offensively, defensively and on special teams if we want to have a chance to win that game.”
Even then, it’s probably going to take the Gators finally stumbling and turning in a poor performance to make Bulldog fans’ dreams of two in a row in Jacksonville come true.
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244 comments Add your comment
T-Dawg
October 22nd, 2012
1:12 pm
On this quote:
Georgia QB Murray put it, “We know we have to play an unbelievable game offensively, defensively and on special teams if we want to have a chance to win that game.”
Poor coaching is the only reason a statement like this is made. Players should not have to be concerned with what is going on outside of their control but in a Mark Richt coached team….everybody worries about everything. This causes players to feel like thier job is to do more than be perfect at THEIR OWN job.
Desert Fox
October 22nd, 2012
1:13 pm
right on track about GA’s special teams and lack of coaching, Bill. FL planned well for clowney and the SC defense right from the start. they weren’t even a factor. Took CMB and Friends 2 qtrs to react to the same and they still couldn’t stop SC from sacking and harrassing Murray. FL knows this and there’s no chance GA’s OL can hold off FL’s pressure for the long routes GA runs unless they counter the rush w/short slants and quick outs throw in a draw or two to Gurley. However, bobo has yet to come up w/plays and is so predictable to be nausiating.
have to be realistic, most of us know, based on GA’s overall past performances (years!) they don’t really have a chance beating this FL team and out coaching them. its just not in their genes.
on conner norman. I’d trade ten rambo’s for one more norman. another Sailor on special teams would help tremendously. If mitchell returns a punt of KO I predict he’ll fumble one or the other. for some reason he doesn’t hold onto the ball in either situation.
bottom line another loss to FL and continuing trend of losing to ranked teams by cmr and this now clearly inept coaching crew.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
1:13 pm
Will AltamahaDawg support the University when we fire Richt, then?
HammerDawg
October 22nd, 2012
1:18 pm
Nothing will change until a new coaching staff is brought in…… If you want to avg 8-9 wins a season keep Richt and staff….
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
1:20 pm
Altmaha Dawg
Ive had it figured out since the 2008 embarrassing loss to Bama and me and you have been arguing about it since that time
Richt loses 2+ games a year cause he cant coach in big or close games
Hopefully we win against FL cause its been quiet on here since you havent had much to post about this year
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
1:25 pm
The bottom line: Our alumns/fans are either too scared, or too apathetic to do what’s necessary to win a title. This is not the case at Florida, Bama, LSU, Ohio State, USC…which is why those schools win them. It’s simple.
Our problem is not Richt, it is not McGarity…it’s us. We put up with it.
JAXDAWG
October 22nd, 2012
1:26 pm
@ Mark 8:34 am
I think Fla is very beatable. They scored 21 pts with 29 yds of offense. 173 of total offense. Get in front of them early and force Driskell to throw it. Protect the ball and GET PHYSICAL. Yes, we can beat Fla. Play lights out
Mark Thank you for a sensible post.
These fans act like we are 1-6. Did not UGA defeat UF last year. UF does not have a great offense and they don’t have a great pass rush. UGA can throw the ball on UF and we can run on them. SC gave them 21 points. Lattimore was out, so he could not be used as neutralizer. That’s why UF was able to tee-off on Conner Shaw once they were ahead by 3 scores. The DAWGS will defeat the Gators!!!!! GO DAWGS!!!!
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
1:27 pm
As if anybody actually believes you would be pulling for Georgia to win this weekend.
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
1:33 pm
And by, do what is necessary, you mean hire a new coach when the last one quit and left the program in trouble? They really had no choice did they?
JAXDAWG
October 22nd, 2012
1:34 pm
You guys are starting to sound like Gator fans. I’ve never seen a fan base get down on their team like the Gators when they loose a game. However after reading the posts in this blog is causing me to re-think the above statement.
Come on UGA fans let’s get behind our team. I’m a life long Floridian and I love the DAWGS. The DAWGS can and will beat the Gators!!!!
Skokie Dog
October 22nd, 2012
1:38 pm
Don’t forget these two key facts:
1) Coach Richt says, “I know what the hell I’m doing.” (Translated, that means, “What, me worry?)
2) Coach Donnan drove the program into a ditch, and Coach Richt and staff are dealing with resurrecting the program that’s in the worst shape since the Depression. (Hey, it may work in the political arena; why not try it in the sports world too?)
JAXDAWG
October 22nd, 2012
1:38 pm
I’m a supporter of Coach Mark Richt!!!!!
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
1:41 pm
“Florida, Bama, LSU, Ohio State, USC”
Not a single one of those school have ever fired thier coach for (situation Georgia is in right now) nor would they.
Mrs. Richt
October 22nd, 2012
1:41 pm
FIRE MY HUSBAND…….I AM READY TO START GOING ON MISSION TRIPS WITH OUR CHURCH!!!!!
John
October 22nd, 2012
1:43 pm
I knew that something was wrong from the very beginning of the season after having huge visions in the off season. I told everyone that I thought UGA had the returning players and the schedule to contend for an SEC Championship and possibly a NC. However, Georgia yielded 23 points to Buffalo and that game was closer than the final score….To put that in perspective, Buffalo is 1-6 and in 5th place in the MAC East. Buffalo has managed to lose to Northern Illinois 45-3 and was held to 7 points by Kent State.
I don’t hate CMR. I have, however, made up my mind that a good coach would win big with this level of talent and that our players are unprepared, undisciplined and out of position. If Muschamp beats CMR in year 2, that would be 4 Gator coaches (including the Zooker) that have outcoached Richt. We haven’t only lost to every ranked team since 2009, we haven’t even showed up and that is a reflection of the HC. That ass whipping we sustained on National TV by USCe and Spurrier was embarrassing. If you want a “nice guy” for a coach and you are content winning 9-10 games a year but losing big to all contenders, he is your man. If you want a true leader and a game manager that can make critical adjustments during a game, we need a new coach.
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
1:46 pm
Altamha Dawg
I really was hoping our team would have a magical season and Richt would prove me wrong as you remember I said many times before; that if I was wrong you could come on here and call me out and say I told you so
I know you remember those posts
Anyway after the SC loss once again Richt showed me a team that was not prepared to play as usual ( Richt has lost 9 blowout games in the last 4 yrs) why has he lost so many blowout games and cant beat top 10 teams; cause he is in over his head
UGA is going nowhere under Richt; even if we happen to beat FL which is not going to shock me we lose to bama and possibly the bowl game
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
1:53 pm
We are now in the exact same place that Florida was before Steve Spurrier came. We have tons of talent, but no coach…we are are sleeping giant.
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
1:53 pm
Altmaha
Actually Ohio St fired John Cooper cause he lost to their main rival Michigan almost every year even though he won 10 games many times
Swami Sez
October 22nd, 2012
1:55 pm
like i said HIRE CHAD MORRIS….FIRE MARK RICHT……
Skokie Dog
October 22nd, 2012
1:56 pm
Does anyone here know what the over/under is on points scored by Florida off Georgia special teams gaffes this week?
Scott Young
October 22nd, 2012
1:56 pm
By my count, our D Coordinator has averaged 2 bad games to 1 good game in his 2 1/2 yrs at UGA. My guess is that he, like Al Groh, have a lot of knowledge from being NFL guys and veterans but are overloading their players. What isn’t a guess is that UGA could find a better D Coordinator. Half of our players on D will play or get a shot in the NFL – some of them will be 1st rounders. If properly coached, disciplined and motivated, UGA could reach its expectations. It would be expensive, but do we want to reach our potential?
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
1:59 pm
Ohio State fired Cooper (very, very similar to Richt) to hire Tressel. Florida didn’t wait around for Zook to win a title…because they knew he couldn’t (he could beat Richt, though. 2-1 against him). Bama fired Shula…and a host of others, until they found the right man. (they do not settle for mediocrity there…Shula didn’t have a losing record) USC…same as Bama, really. They’ll fire this guy in a heartbeat if he doesn’t win a title. LSU alumns call for Miles’ job every other game, and he actually HAS accomplishments.You could not be proven more wrong.
Skokie Dog
October 22nd, 2012
2:01 pm
Many of you have asked, “who will U.Ga. possibly find as coaches who could get better results than our current group?” My reply is that it won’t be difficult at all to find a different set of coaches who could get results as good as the current group–AND FOR FAR LESS MONEY. Much of my gripe with Richt’s staff is that these guys are being paid enormous sums of money for what they do and that they seemingly are not held accountable for results on the field. Unless the money supply to the athletic association begins to decline, I don’t see much hope for change.
Swami Sez
October 22nd, 2012
2:02 pm
Kool Aid Galore!
T-Dawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:02 pm
pruss
October 22nd, 2012
1:28 am
Ill take an average of 10 wins a season ….. 12 Years of Donnan (40-19) AND Goff (46-34-1) …. TOTAL: (86-53-1), 0- SEC Championships, 0- Division Titles. ————- 11.5 years of Mark Richt (111–39) 2- SEC Championships, 5- Division Titles and possibly a 6th this season. Do you really want to fire Richt?
YES! Where do people like you come from? UGA has as much if not more talent than any other team in the country yet we underperform every year under this coach. Seriously, what planet do you live on? What games are you watching? When UGA wins, its because our talent is THAT superior. When talent is matched….well…I would say make your own conclusions but it seems like you wouldn’t be ab;e to do that. ZERO wins against legit top 10 teams in 5 years. ZERO…as in NONE.
Go Gatauh
October 22nd, 2012
2:04 pm
Its gonna get UGALY!
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
October 22nd, 2012
2:05 pm
Even the guy who use to coach at Happy Valley would run up and down the sidelines, but then he never wore a headset, neither does the guy at Michigan and WVU.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
2:05 pm
John Cooper was 111-43-4 in 13 seasons at Ohio State, with Three Big 10 titles. OSU alumns actually wanted to win a championship (unlike ours), so they made it happen…two short years after they fired Cooper. That’s what Georgia could be…if only you people would allow it to happen.
ApopkaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:07 pm
Bill:
You rightly point out many of the main concerns regarding our beloved Bulldogs; however, your missing the biggest fix…The biggest fix should have come back in Spring. Why are we throwing together fundamental fixes 7 games into the season???? The other RED ALERT is by your own admission the lack of effort. Are you kidding me??? Your playing football for one of the most storied programs in the greatest conference in college football. You are playing in some of the oldest rivalry games in the country, not to mention playing in front of 90-100,000 fans AND YOU STILL NEED MOTIVATION? Sounds like we need a bit more “foot-in-ass” and a little less “days off”.
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
2:10 pm
James K. Polk
Too many fans like Altamaha, DawginLex, Columbus, Brainiac Lobosolo Truth?? etc believe Richt is the UGA program instead of UGA being a separate entity
John
October 22nd, 2012
2:11 pm
In my opinion, the problems began around the 2006 Sugar Bowl where UGA came out flat and was down 28-0 one minute into second qtr. They looked unprepared and shell-shocked. The next flat showing in a big game came in 2007 in Knoxville with a very talented team that wound up #2 in the nation that year. A win would’ve solidified an SECG birth and probably a NC. Remember, LSU won the NC that year with less talent than UGA. A UT team that finished with 4 losses beat UGA 35-14. The next big-stage flat game came against Bama in 2008 when UGA was ranked #1 and had Stafford, Moreno and Greene (all first rounders) and found themselves shockingly down 31-0 at halftime during the “blackout.” That same year, UGA was beaten 49-10 by UF in Jacksonville and was embarrassingly non-competitive with tons of NFL talent on the team. 2009 and 2010 were just plain bad seasons all together. In 2011, UGA brought a very talented team to the Dome to face LSU in the SECCG and completely fell apart in the second half, ultimately losing 42-10 on a National Stage. In 2012, UGA has faced one decent team on a big, national stage and the result: a 35-7 whipping with no adjustments, no pregame scheming and no emotion from HC. This appears to be a pattern. If UGA gets beaten bad this weekend by UF, you have to wonder if this coaching staff will ever turn the corner again in big games.
Swami Sez
October 22nd, 2012
2:12 pm
We need a culture change in Athens and and that goes for some of our kool aid sunshine drinking fans who accept this mediocre crap from this coaching staff.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
2:18 pm
I knew our problem during the 2002 Florida game. We came out flat in that game, if you remember. How? How in the world could we have been flat that game? I knew who Richt was at that exact moment.Of course, it’s taken many years of being an island to myself before I had any company. The sad thing was that we had the perfect opportunity to get rid of him in 2009, but no one cared enough to do it.
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:20 pm
Not a single one of those school have ever fired thier coach for (situation Georgia is in right now) nor would they.
As I said.
You pointing out completely different situations when somebody got fired (or in the LSU case, that people grumble….really, that’s your point?) is hardly “proof”. Georgia has also fired coaches in different situations.
Ed
October 22nd, 2012
2:23 pm
John, President Polk: right on.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
2:25 pm
The John Cooper situation is a mirror image. What “completely different situation” are you talking about? Is it that those schools aren’t located in Athens? I’m pointing out the differences in the alumns/fans at these schools compared with ours. 10 wins gets you fired at Bama, Ohio State, and Florida…and it gets people wanting your head on a platter at LSU. BUT, it gets you a million dollar raise and all the loyalty in the world at Georgia. It’s simply the difference between winners and losers.
CC
October 22nd, 2012
2:27 pm
Take away the 21 points Carolina gift wrapped for UF and the Gators wouldn’t look so good. How many total yards did the Gators gain? I will tell you it was less than 200.
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:27 pm
BTW, Cooper got fired (not just because of the Mich series) but after the program was clearly in decline, not even making a bowl before that last year. He was also 3-8 in bowls. And there were academic issue and player troubles that were mounting.
But yea, Lets do whatever Ohio Sate did 12 yrs ago.
AltamahaDawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:31 pm
10 wins gets you fired at (fill in the blank). Sure, ok.
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
2:33 pm
AltamahaDawg
The situation UGA is in right now is…..
We’ve lost 16 of the last 18 games against teams making the top 25
We’ve lost 14 of the last 17 games against teams making the top 10
Mark Richt for 7 consecutive seasons’ now has not beat a single SEC team who put-up a winning SEC Record
UGA hasnt beaten a top 20 team in 4 yrs
UGA is 0-10 vs the top 10 in 4 yrs
UGA is 2-14 vs the top 25 in 4 yrs
UGA cant beat its main rival FL unless they are just a bad team
Umm Im afraid those teams did fire their coaches with performances that werent as bad as ours have been the last 7 years
Once again you should do your research
Ohio St LSU FL USC Bama etc didnt wait years to fire their coaches that didnt even have such terrible stats
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
2:34 pm
Altamaha
The above mentioned is worse than John Coopers and Richt hasnt won his last 2 bowl games either to lousy competition btw
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
2:35 pm
10 Wins against who
who
who
who
who
who
who
John
October 22nd, 2012
2:42 pm
When you recruit in the top 20 in the country every year; and often in the top 10, the expectation is to at least be motivated, positioned and competitive in every game you play in. We all know that you cant win them all. But if you are content getting killed in big time games and looking shocked and overmatched on the biggest stages and beating all of the bad teams you face, then support CMR. You won’t find a nicer, gentler man in this business. If you want a true leader that simply wont tolerate half-ass and undisciplined efforts, CMR is certainly not your man.I am not an experienced HC but I would’ve lit up some asses in that SC game – including some coordinators.
fishook dawg
October 22nd, 2012
2:45 pm
This team has more talent on it than any team CMR has had since he’s been here. I’ve defended CMR for the last time after that sorry effort I saw at Kentucky. These coach’s work about as hard as their head coach does, which is not much any more. Most of these guys should have been out recuiting all week on a by week but CMR decided they must have enough players already commited and they want to leave some more scolarships for walkons. That is the easy way out. I’m so tired of not being able to set down and enjoy a UGA game anymore, because CMR doesn’t try to put any body away early no matter how weak a team is. All of UGA’s games the last 2 years go right down to the wire and the schedule has been pretty weak during that time. I’ll always be a UGA fan, but since these coaches seem fat and happy and can’t seem to coach these guys up, I’m ready to clean house. Fire them all after this season Including even Scott Lost Howard and get a fresh start with some people with a little fire in their gut.
Flat Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
October 22nd, 2012
2:50 pm
Altamaha Dawg
My question to you is should Richt be paid a top 10 salary with the above mentioned results;
I dont want your stupid come back of thats what the administration decides and not you; or you just answered your own question garbage that you think is so brilliant of a come back
Ed
October 22nd, 2012
2:59 pm
6-1 this season, good overall record. So why are fans like me not happy with Richt right now? I think it’s the combination of a team that appears to be as talented as any Georgia has had in recent memory and possibly the easiest schedule that I can recall in 35 years following UGA football.
Getting reamed (and appearing to be unmotivated and outmatched in the process) by a South Carolina team that went on to lose to the two REAL contenders it’s played this year doesn’t inspire much confidence. Struggling to hang on against a terrible KY team with two weeks to prepare doesn’t help any. And the feeling that it would take some luck and an usually flat performance by UF to have any chance this week is the icing on the cake.
Sorry, just not content knowing that we’re probably going to beat Tech yet again this year, and we take care of business against the cupcakes and down SEC programs like Vandy and (probably) Auburn. While that’s nice…is it too much to ask for UGA to put it together against a top opponent instead of looking like they don’t want to get hurt?
Is it too much to ask for Richt to, just ONCE, beat a Florida team that appears to be championship caliber rather than getting his rear handed to him every 3-4 years or so before picking off a UF team that’s rebuilding or coming off a coaching change?
I don’t think so, but to Richt KoolAid drinkers, our demands seem outrageous and out of line.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
3:01 pm
Richt and Cooper are joined at the hip. They are the same person, but one happened to coach at an institution that cared about winning, the other doesn’t.
James K. Polk
October 22nd, 2012
3:10 pm
Richt: 112-39 in 12 seasons…2 SEC titles
Cooper: 111-43-3 in 13 seasons…3 Big Ten titles
…both deserve to be fired.
Ed
October 22nd, 2012
3:11 pm
I’ll amend part of my last comments: forget beating Florida. If Georgia comes out looking prepared, disciplined, and motivated, and ends up losing to a better team, I’ll come on this board and praise the coaches for getting them prepared and the players for a great effort.
Just don’t embarrass us. No more games like South Carolina. No more games against UF like the ‘08 and ‘09 games. Play and coach like you have a pair.
Perspective
October 22nd, 2012
3:13 pm
You know what, we’re 6-1 and I’ll take it. Can we at least let them play the game before we write them off? Honestly, with a freshman offensive line, 2 great but still freshman running backs, Jarvis Jones out, where do you expect us to be?