Another black day in Jax reveals UGA as second-rate
One is hunting a third BCS title; the other isn't bowl-eligible. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Jacksonville — The game was a total loss, but the lesson imparted need not be. After yet another lost Saturday in Duval County, this much is beyond dispute: Georgia is no longer a major player in its division, let alone the nation.
Mark Richt began his somber media briefing by saying, “Well, here we are again.” And there they were, lopsided losers. It was 49-10 last season and 41-17 this time, and for all the good work Richt did in the early part of this decade, he and his program have been lapped by Urban Meyer. And Richt, once so clever and driven, seems to have run out of ideas.
He tried the color-scheme gimmick Saturday, presenting his players with black helmets after they’d warmed up in the usual red headgear. The upshot of this was to make Georgia look like an Arena league team and to cow the nation’s No. 1 team not one whit. After 11 1/2 minutes, the guys in the orange hats led the guys in the black hats 14-0.
“It’s not the helmet,” safety Reshad Jones said. “It’s what inside the helmet.”
Well, yes. With an extra week to prepare, Willie Martinez seemed even more witless than usual. As bad as the Gators’ first two touchdowns were, the third was an affront to everything Red and Black. Facing third-and-3 at the Georgia 23 with 1:32 left in the half, Florida ran a simple option. Tim Tebow faked a handoff and burst up the middle. He scored the touchdown that put him ahead of the hallowed Herschel Walker without being touched.
“They’re a good team,” said defensive end Justin Houston. “But it seemed like every time we made a bad play, they capitalized on it.”
In the first half Georgia had eight penalties. In the second it had four interceptions. If it was to have any chance against the Gators, it had to play a clean game. Instead it authored another in a series of messes.
If we’re to believe recruiting rankings, the gulf between Georgia and Florida shouldn’t be so pronounced. But Saturday was another installment of men against boys, and it called to mind the barb Steve Spurrier sunk into Ray Goff in this stadium 18 years ago: “Georgia gets all these players — I don’t know what happens to them.”
Players go to Florida and get, to invoke another Spurrier-ism, coached up. Players come to Georgia and are left to their own devices. Martinez is a substandard defensive coordinator, and no other position coach can be said to have done fabulous work. (Unless you count Kevin Butler, who isn’t a coach but who did sire the prodigious punter Drew Butler.)
Said Richt: “We’re 4-4 this season. I don’t think it’s an indictment of the program. I think it’s an indictment of where we are this year.”
Except Georgia has underachieved three times in the past four seasons, and as Richt himself noted Saturday: “There’s no guarantee of a bowl. The question is, will we play a game when we don’t do something that hinders us from being the best we can be?”
The Bulldogs have never lost more than four games under Richt, but they’ve never been 4-4 under this coach, either. Regarding possible changes, he said: “It’s not good to make decisions within minutes of an emotional game. You’ve got to settle your mind and settle your spirit, and then see where you are.”
As darkness fell on Halloween 2009, Georgia was again where it has been too often. The program that has all the resources was left to wonder why it has fallen so far behind Florida. And the ugly truth has never been more apparent: Florida might or might not have better players, but it absolutely has better coaches.
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1,165 comments Add your comment
Big Jon
November 1st, 2009
8:08 am
I guess Mean Machine will be on our Jersy’s next week.
KISS
November 1st, 2009
8:10 am
Personally,when faced with such a season in turmoil, I would go back to basics. KISS – Keep It Stupidly Simple – not saying anything about the talent here. Just got to get back some much needed confidence.
Still a DAWG FAN !!!!!!!!!
BuLLdawg
November 1st, 2009
8:12 am
Be honest with yourself now.
When Coach Richt got hired here December 20, 2000 at 2 a.m., and he started announcing his “coaching staff” every one of you questioned them each at the time.
Chuck
November 1st, 2009
8:12 am
The person that real needs to go at Georgia along with the DC and OC is Michael Adams. He should have been fired years ago. However thanks to the good old boy system he remains. His hand picked AD does nothing but parrot what Adams wants. The reason they have such lousy assistances in key positions, the cheap ass Adams does not want to pay on a scale with other elite program. Watch Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Georgia Tech out recruit and continue to hire better coaches.
You Need to read the book “Behind the Hedges” Barnes and Noble carry it. Read it and afterwords tell me that Adams should still be in Athens. He is an egotistical self-adsorbed person who got ready of one of the best AD’s in football Vince Dooley and replaced him with a yes man. Until this person is gone you can forget about Georgia Football ever competing with the top tier members of the Southeastern Conference.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:12 am
How did you like your beating dogs? Black helmets and black jerseys are not the answer. What you saw was a real SEC power in action, and it was not you. The best part is Richt has been quoted saying he has no plans to change the coaching staff after this year which means next year will be just like this one. The Gators will beat you down again. It will be decades,if ever, before the dogs will be competitive, so get used to it dogs
jerry
November 1st, 2009
8:13 am
AJC: Did you forget to turn your clock back?
darrell starks
November 1st, 2009
8:14 am
How can a state so loaded with talent and uga get most of the talent never contend for a nationally championship, FIRE MARK RICHT NOW OR WW WILL CONTINUE 2 UNDERACHIVE.
GO DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!
BuLLdawg
November 1st, 2009
8:14 am
KISS is what we’ve got now.
It is what we have had for years.
What we need is someone at the top who understands football, and who either has college roommates and buddies who do know how to coach our kids, or who can determine that in fact 1 of them is not just his loyal buddy family member, but 1 who can actually figure out how to scheme an offense, special teams and defense.
Judge Jammer
November 1st, 2009
8:15 am
Joe Cox will be the QB coach by 2011. He’s already been quoted in the media that he wants to be an assistant coach at UGA. Richt rewards all of his water boys this way. Bobo began as a water boy and now he’s the QB coach (lmao) and OC (lmao)
This program is doomed.
Jake Pollard
November 1st, 2009
8:15 am
Lack of discipline and respect for the other players cost the Dawgs. Two very stupid personal fouls in the first half gave the game to the Gators. It’s not only the Dawgs but it’s all football divisions. You can start with Pop Warner. The players are in your face from day one. Make a play and act like an idiot. Think about it. Tebow runs the ball and is tackled. He tell the player nice play, extends his hand to ask for help up and the Georgia player just stepped over him. This is lack of respect and it comes around.
Chuck Doodle
November 1st, 2009
8:16 am
Watergirl wants to know why all a sudden the opponents are scoring so many points on Georgia ? Also why doesnt Joe Cox wear his cup durring photo opps with his silver britches ?
Judge Jammer
November 1st, 2009
8:16 am
Weevil, stfu.
24601
November 1st, 2009
8:16 am
Wonder if Darth Visor would consider a coaching job at UGA?
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:16 am
Maybe you dogs could bring back Ray Goff
zino
November 1st, 2009
8:18 am
Will Muschamp for new Head Coach/D Coordinator.
Show him the money and ask him to come back home.
Marvin Mangrum
November 1st, 2009
8:18 am
Right now ga is one of the most pathectic teams around, they need to fire all coaches, every one and then the need to fire the guy that is in charge of them. Now, not later, now. I have read for years how they have the best players in the nation. They do not even have a running back that can run out of the backfield, they have a tight end and a kicker. Two players, two of twenty two. Two winners, twenty losers. Now that is a change you can believe in.
Esoteric Dawg Fan
November 1st, 2009
8:18 am
“Mean Machine” LMAO
BuLLdawg
November 1st, 2009
8:19 am
80 percent of UGA fans say that our “coaching staff” is F.
Failing.
And, yes Gator fan, Coach Richt is 100 percent on record as having been quoted multiple times, including last night after the game that he is NOT ABOUT TO CHANGE HIS “COACHING STAFF.”
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:20 am
Muschamp would never come to the dogs. He knows first hand what a backwards redneck punk school it is. He will stay at a place he can actually win.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:21 am
Just imagine how many trailer park hos got beat up by their drunk boyfriends and husbands at the trailer park last night. Bad night to be a dog fan
Big Jon
November 1st, 2009
8:22 am
Mean Machine – A team of prisoners. That is what we looked liked. UF clean cut and good sportsman attitude. UGA, I aint shaking yo hand, I aint helping you up, F— you and yo mama. I do what I want. Watch I can dance. Yeah bitch, I am the man. CMR dont tell me what to do. I tell him where to go. He aint my daddy. My daddy lives in Jackson, Georgia….We really need a coming to Jesus at UGA. Let this be Rededication Sunday, not! Pollack was not recruited by CMR. Pollack is the face of what UGA should be. Hard working disciplined athlete. Man we got problems in Athens Town.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:23 am
Dogs second rate? That is giving them too much credit. Mark should not insult second rate teams by grouping them with Ga
JaxDawg
November 1st, 2009
8:24 am
When I woke up yesterday morning, little did I know the best football I’d see played by Dawgs in Jacksonville would come from the play of my 8 & 10yr olds in their flag football games!
I’m not going to waste time b**chin I am an Athens Native, life long Dawg Fan who’s lived in Jacksonville for the last 13yrs I think anyone who watched the game yesterday knows how I’m feeling.
Here’s Mark Richt’s To Do List to get things turned around and prepare to bounce back in 2010:
1. Fire Willie Martinez NOW! He’s had TWO WEEKS to prepare a game plan and still runs his “one-size-fits-all” defense out there. Florida prepared for it and if he has ANY kind of wrinkle it’s a different game. Arkansas and Miss St GAVE him the blue print on how to slow down the gatorrs. Blitz, Blitz, Blitz! Where was it yesterday? He coaches either out of fear of change or laziness/stuborness and not willing to change. either way he must go! Let Garner take over for now and let Damon start scouting and coming up with his short list so the trigger can be pulled right after the end of the season.
2. Bench Joe Cox. The feel good movie of the week is over. He’s thrown picks in EVERY SINGLE game this year!! of the 21 turnovers this year he is reponsible for 13 of them! 12 picks 1 fumble lost that I can remember, it may be more. The season is done, start preping for next year. turn the keys over to Murray and Gray. Rip the redshirt off Murray get him some quality playing time NOW so we aren’t breaking in a QB with little or no real game experience.
3. Move R.Samuel to LB NOW!! Ealy, King and Thomas have the running game under control. Why wait til after the season. Let him start working now so when spring comes he’s praciticing effectively and not trying to learn a new position. Let him learn now.
4. Throw out whatever punishment he’s been giving for penalties it obviously doesn’t scare the players. Bring in standard office sized waste cans with each players number on it and let the players know for every stupid penalty they get they will run stadiums until the can is full! If THAT doesn’t reach them nothing will. Have the whole team watch the first set of players that have to go through it and watch the penalties disappear. I would also use this policy for off field infractions as well. There is no discipline on this team and that is the fault of the coaches not the players. Time for The UGA Football Resort and Spa to be shut down.
5. Fire every defensive position coach under Martinez. (This does not include Garner who techincally is an Asst. Head coach)
6. Watch “Remember the Titans” & “The Junction Boys” for inspiration.
Memo to CMR: The Fans, Alumni/Boosters AND Players deserve better! Don’t wait until the offseason to do what needs to be done NOW. It’s like a cancerous tumor the sooner you cut it out, the less likely it is o spread.
GO Dawgs!
Sad Richards
November 1st, 2009
8:24 am
Well it looks like the season is OVA . Time to spank the monkey !
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:25 am
Clemson and Ga Tech, the new powers of the big 4. Ga and S Car are just yesterdays memorys, never will be competitive again
tommygun
November 1st, 2009
8:25 am
Might as well just start us out with brown pants. That’s how we played.
JAWJAW
November 1st, 2009
8:26 am
Why wait until the end of the season. That will not make any differance for this year. Show the players that we mean business and demand change now. Don’t allow this staff back in Athens. The seniors can player coach better than what they have now.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:28 am
Keep Mark Richt! Keep Mark Richt!
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:29 am
Breaking news! It has been reported there is a drug problem in Florida. Yep, they done drug them dogs up and down the field……again
GaGator
November 1st, 2009
8:30 am
Has anyone noticed that the AJC has not reset the TIME!
timt
November 1st, 2009
8:30 am
We do not need to fire CMR. However, he does need to drop some loayalties and remember that he is HEAD coach, essentially the CEO of an organization and it’s his job to do what’s best for the program. I agree, whoever is the QB of the future, well, the future is now. Offensive linemen, defensive players everyone should be looked at and if they’re underachieving play someone else. We were a dominant team at one time and I think we can be again but Coach has a lot of tough changes to make if we’re to get back there any time soon.
dgroy
November 1st, 2009
8:30 am
WHEW…….somethin’ stinks….and it’s not in Denmark
ABBA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
8:32 am
Dig that scene , Mark Richt is the Beatdown Queen!
Berry Zeigler
November 1st, 2009
8:33 am
As a UGA graduate, I have been following the DAWGS since 1967. For the first time in over 40 years, I turned off the UGA/FLA game late in the 3rd quarter. I am ashamed of what this team and last year’s team have failed to accomplish. Even last year with the best QB and running back, UGA could not produce. This year’s team is much worse. Even with great players, UGA seems unable to win on a consistent basis. This has to be coaching problem. Perhaps CMR is not leader we all though he was (is).
Certainly the offensive and defensive coaches seem unable to get results like the GA teams of the past.
This lack of performance will soon impact recruiting. It is time for CMR to make a statement re the future direction for the DAWGS..Living now in Tennesse, the DAWGS are an embarrassment.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
8:34 am
Ga Tech may hang 70 on that defense
Objective Gator
November 1st, 2009
8:34 am
First, recruiting rankings are misleading because they can’t account for position need differences from year to year. Florida is so heavily stocked right now that they may not even use their average annual scholarship allotment in a given year.
Second, Florida specifically recruits for intangibles, the biggest being the experience of having played in a championship high school program so you know what it takes to win it all.
collegeballfan
November 1st, 2009
8:34 am
“If we’re to believe recruiting rankings…”
Why on God’s blue/green earth would anyone believe recruiting rankings?
Florida dawg
November 1st, 2009
8:34 am
We are a laughing stock, the Florida newspapers are having a field day with us. It is time for some discipline and Willie and Bobo to go!!! YOU LEAVE NOW IF YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR THE PROGRAM………
Doc
November 1st, 2009
8:35 am
Florida defensive end Jermaine Cunningham played at Stephenson and LSU defensive players Perry Riley and Kelvin Sheppard played at Stephenson. Diod Georgia recruit these players? These players would have made a difference in this game.
Jack Lambert dawg
November 1st, 2009
8:35 am
Hey Mark Bradley I believe you are starting to buy in to all these imposters on your blog. Mark Richts record of 10 win seasons, bowl victories, sec titles and top 10 finishes speak for themselves. Don’t talk about national titles either. Until all subjectivity (ie espn and the bias journalism majors) are out of the equation, national titles are bogus. Just two years ago when Georgia beat Florida Tebow was quoted as saying that UGA was the best team he faced all year and oh yes, that included BCS National Champion LSU.
One down year does not make a coach or a program. Mark Richt doesn’t need affirmation from you or anyone else. Mark Richt is proven!!! His reputation speaks for itself and when you write articles like this, so does yours. To say Florida is that far ahead of Georgia is in my opinion, premature.
To all you outsiders you should only hope Mark Richt is fired. I’m 50 years old so I remember thinking Georgia’s dominance over Florida in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s would never end. Florida currnetly has a great program but so does Georgia. You gators should be thankful you don’t live in a small state where you have to listen to and read a media full of transplants putting the negative spin on your school at every opportunity. It’s really sad.. I only hope potential recruits have the common sense to differentiate between the truth and spin.
walter g
November 1st, 2009
8:38 am
JaxDawg, you hit it out of the park. The badly-flawed team we are now fielding is the product of a program in decline. I seriously believe Richt is so devout that he lacks the fire/desire to kick butt when butts – those of players and assistants – need kicking.
Someone needs to make sure Richt knows that UGA fans do not accept mediocrity and, right now, we have to upgrade to get to mediocrity.
ABBA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
8:38 am
You can Dance, You can Jive ,having the time of your life, Whoooo dig that scene, watch that scene, its the UGA HIP HOP team!
TampaGator
November 1st, 2009
8:39 am
I have been a secondary fan of Georgia for a long time. They have been my second favorite team in the SEC. What your coach walked out on the field yesterday was an embarrassment to your program. Your players acted without class or responsiblity. Lots of thuggery. Did they really think they could intimmidate the Gator players? Miss. State played with execution to play close to the Gators. Same with Arkansas. Georgia came out and thought they could beat the Gators with gimmics and thuggery. How did that work for you? And I am sorry to say, Georgia does not have the athletes that Florida has. The only player on offense of defense that could start for Florida is A.J. Green, and the Gators handled him just fine yesterday. Your program has dropped a long way in two years. It will drop even further under the leadership it has now, sorry to say. And I guess Florida did not win the last 17 out of 20 because of the off week and the refs!
mowreck
November 1st, 2009
8:39 am
I believe Candy Cain is spelled Candy Cane.
I believe 2 years ago, motivational trick was what all the Dawgs bragged about. What about those “black outs”?
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
8:40 am
Dear dog nation,
The Yellow Fuzz enjoys saying I TOLD YOU SO!
GaGator
November 1st, 2009
8:40 am
THANK YOU GEORGIA FOR GETTING THE GATORS BACK ON TRACK TO WIN ANOTHER
SEC AND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. I GUESS YA’LL WILL BE GOING TO FASHION ENSEMBLE BOWL.
Gator83
November 1st, 2009
8:41 am
Gator Bulldog Tickets $150
Black Georgia Helmets $200
Overpriced Food at the game $50
Hearing Georgia fans whining like we used to after a loss way back in the 80s: Eternal.
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
8:41 am
Dog nation,
Glad you guys are finally believing what I’ve been trying to tell you since August with 98% accuracy!
HoCoJo
November 1st, 2009
8:41 am
To me, Georgia accpted defeat after the coin toss. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why you would hand the ball to Tebow and Co. to start the game. Georgia deserved to lose.
Devildog
November 1st, 2009
8:42 am
Before every monday morning QB comes down too hard on Richt, let’s not forget that the great Vince Dooley (I’m a fan, he’s a fellow Marine) had some lean seasons, too– In years 6 & 7 (1969 & 1970) his teams were 5-5-1 and 5-5; they were 5-6 in 1977 and 6-5 in 1979.
I don’t have the resources available to dig up all Dooley’s assistants, but Erk Russell was his defensive coach in all those years. That’s not to defend Martinez, just spouting the facts that I can find.
I’m sure Martinez needs to go. Not as sure about Bobo, but why not? Calling plays isn’t the entire OC job. Teaching them to play better is just as important and right now they’re playing like they did in high school.
As for black helmets, gag, they should have added “He Hate Me” on the back of each jersey, too. Why not go for the old silver ones. Georgia teams won a national championship with guys like Frankie Sinkwich, Charlie Trippie, et al, wearing silver helmets.