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
You people are idiots!
October 31st, 2009
9:48 pm
Enter your comments here
Bernie Matt
October 31st, 2009
9:48 pm
Mark Bradley,
BE A MAN AND NOT A POLITICIAN, SAY WHAT ALL THE OTHER SPORTS WRITERS AND RADIO GUYS IN THIS TOWN ARE SCARED TO SAY, MARK RICHT IS THE PROBLEM. I AM AMAZED AT ALL OF YOU WHO WANT TO KEEP QUALIFYING YOUR CRITICISM OF THIS PROGRAM BY SAYING IT’S HIS STAFF AND NOT HIM. THAT’S LIKE SAYING ALL THESE BANKS AND CAR COMPANIES THAT NEEDED BAILING OUT WAS NOT THE FAULT OF THE CEO’S BUT RATHER THE PEOPLE THEY HAD WORKING FOR THEM. THE MAN AT THE TOP IS THE ONE THAT LEADS AND GIVE DIRECTION. DAMN MAN, ARE YOU GUYS JOURNALIST ANYMORE, OR JUST A BUNCH OF GUYS WHO ARE AFRAID OF OFFENDING THE KING, SO YOU CAN STAY ON THE INVITATION LIST FOR THE SOCIALITE PARTIES!
Terence O'Doulh
October 31st, 2009
9:49 pm
Maybe Richt will do the right thing and resign, but I doubt it.
Cuz
October 31st, 2009
9:49 pm
Mark I am right with you on the negatives. But why did you not point out that seven teams scored a total of four touchdowns against the Gators D before today. We scored two, not grand nor great. But four times better than any other team that played the Gators. Throw this Dawg one bone for goodness sakes.
Cuz
October 31st, 2009
9:50 pm
Richt do the right thing and resign, take another hit off the crack pipe dude.
jason
October 31st, 2009
9:51 pm
If CMR resigns then he want get the buy out if he is fired. Noway, CMR is more about the money than you think. His sorry A$$ and his cronie coaching staff all need to go.
alpharetta
October 31st, 2009
9:52 pm
People, it’s not the coaches, it’s the players. They cannot tackle. They cannot cover. They cannot run routes. I mean, you really have to coach those stuff? the players should be able to figure those out by themselves, don’t you agree? So my 2$ is Georgia recruited the wrong players.
senoiadawgs
October 31st, 2009
9:52 pm
Great UGA, score two TD’s against the Gators. Should have scored a lot more but thanks to our wonderful QB and coaches we managed only two. Two TD’s and a FG with a Willie D doesn’t get it done. It talkes a lot more.
Spikes draft status should go down at least 1 round if the media will actually play this. The AJC should take the lead and make certain this gets out there.
Alabama faithful just called
October 31st, 2009
9:52 pm
And said to never accept mediocre coaching…..
We may look crazy trying to fire a well-intentioned coach, but the SEC is a nuclear arms race and the last couple of seasons have done 5 years of harm to the program. Cut bait!
HappyDawg
October 31st, 2009
9:53 pm
I hope Richt will not change Martinez, he is one of the Best DC in the country. The problem is the players, not the coaches.
jason
October 31st, 2009
9:53 pm
I saw that you tube hit on Spikes. Well, what can you say? He just knows how to hide his intentions. He doesn’t do it out in front of the Ref like the DAWGS do. And yes this is a DAWG fan, one who is tired of all the PF crap.
You people are idiots!
October 31st, 2009
9:54 pm
Murray now. We need hope for the future. Richt is not the problem.
Doug
October 31st, 2009
9:54 pm
Now, ya’ll be nice. You know it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. And we got the nicest coach in the entire Southeastern Conference. He is just a nice young Christian man.
bridges34
October 31st, 2009
9:54 pm
A complete lack of discipline is always the head coach’s fault. After 9 years if a program is going backward it is time for changes. I do not know who we need to hire but CMR needs to go. This is not a 1 year thing it is a pattern of the last 3 years.
Yellow Fuzz
October 31st, 2009
9:54 pm
((((( 90-27 ÷ 2 ))))) Hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha
jason
October 31st, 2009
9:55 pm
alpharetta, good post, but one problem. The players recruited are the ones CMR wanted. He set the agenda on recruits for Garner to go after.
Sonny Clusters
October 31st, 2009
9:55 pm
Maybe they should run on the field next week in superhero capes. That would shake up some folks more than those silly black helmets did.
rj
October 31st, 2009
9:55 pm
As a Georgia fan I was embarrassed today. Not so much by the second rate effort by the second rate athletes but by the lack of sportsmanship and poor attitude. Georgia has lost control of their program. We need to look at what happened to Georgia basketball and learn. Now that I mention it looks familiar huh?
Sad Fan
October 31st, 2009
9:56 pm
And somebody explain to me again why we’re going to Jacksonville through 2016? Some have commented that Richt has put his friend ahead of the team. I suggest some alumni have put their cocktail party ahead of the team.
Mitch
October 31st, 2009
9:56 pm
BUG KILLER I agree with you.
Here is something that will work.Let’s send the school a meseage they will truly understand.KNOW ON SHOW UP FOR THE REST OF THE HOME GAMES.!!!!!!! Let CMR , CWM ,and Dameon Evans play grab a#** with each other the rest of the home football games.
Chuck
October 31st, 2009
9:57 pm
Undisciplined players, clueless coaching. Week in week out what is it going to take for before Richt wakes up and get some coaches that have a clue how to coach. Why do these same players who make senseless mistakes are left on the field? One of the highest penalized Division one teams with the highest turnovers. Changing uniforms seems to be the only thing they know how to do, and that isn’t working. This Georgia team is an embarrassment to the school, to the tradition of Georgia football.
jason
October 31st, 2009
9:57 pm
I for one am tired of hearing how good a man CMR is. I really don’t care. I just want UGA to win and stop embarrassing themselves every freakin weekend. CMR and all his “Goodness” doeas not make up for the fact that he is a horrible HC, talent evaluator; both coaches and players. I don’t see an out for his Goodness. He has made just to many boneheaded mistakes for anyone to actually believe that he can just right things in the offseason. Didn’t he make that promise last offseason?
bridges34
October 31st, 2009
9:58 pm
And the Grambling helmets are blasphemous
curious
October 31st, 2009
9:58 pm
And why are we staying in Jacksonville until 2016? So alumni can have their cocktail party while we enter a third decade of the away and away series with UF.
Ed N.
October 31st, 2009
9:59 pm
Again, I have never been more embarrassed and ashamed than I was today when I saw the black helmets. I almost cried to see our traditions disappearing!
Duston
October 31st, 2009
10:00 pm
All you people are retards!!!
jason
October 31st, 2009
10:00 pm
Guess we know what UGA was working on the past 2 weeks, and it sure wasn’t UF. Way to coach ‘em up CMR.
BiggestDawgintheWoods
October 31st, 2009
10:01 pm
I have never been more embarrassed by a Georgia football team than today. Not only have we coached these kids to a ridiculously low level… but now we’re dressing them like some hack high school program.
Mark Richt is a successful coach when Florida, Tennessee and Tech do him the great favor of hiring knuckleheads and wallow through the requisite two or three years of weeding them out. All three programs have moved on (and up) and it is due time that UGA follow suit.
Richt is a fine man… but he is not the future of UGA football.
AJ Green for QB!!!!
October 31st, 2009
10:01 pm
Fuzzy, your team is giving Vandy way more points than they should be scoring
they’ve only scored above 30 twice and that was against teams whose combined record is 1-15
Sane Tech Fan
October 31st, 2009
10:02 pm
Charleston Dog – seriously, get a grip… nice CapitalOne Bowl last year… nice Sugar Bowl game against Hawaii… nice Sugar Bowl loss to WVU … nice Chick-fil-a Bowl win over Clemson… nice CaptialOne Bowl win over Purdue Univ…. you people kill me… delusional doesn’t even begin to describe your perception of reality…
Yelloe Fuzz
October 31st, 2009
10:02 pm
Way to take advantage of that off week dogs!
alpharetta
October 31st, 2009
10:03 pm
jason, that I agree. The coaches need to learn to recruit the right players. But recruiting is not Willie’s job though. Coaches are responsible for game time strategies, if players cannot tackle/cover, it’s not coaches’ fault, don’t you think coaches told players millions of times they have to tackle/cover?
jhol
October 31st, 2009
10:03 pm
look the Ga football team is not a church, Opie, they do not have to be converted to
the Lord, they are there to learn in school and play football, it seems they have not been doing either.
They are awful at learning the game and have proven by the off and on the field actions that they are undisciplined. This goes back to recruiting and coaching, dumb thugs recruited and badly coached….that equals all the penalties called in a game… FSU all over agian
out of bounds
October 31st, 2009
10:03 pm
what can you expect from a program run by a corrupt president and AD. they are to blame for the whole mess by allowing CMR to retain wille and bobo. now the end of the season will come and changes will be made. just three years late…
shortcircuit
October 31st, 2009
10:03 pm
WHAT A BUNCH OF DUMB BUTTS. THE D IS NOT GOOD BUT THE PLAY CALLING IS NOT BAD. WE DO NOT HAVE A SEC QUARTERBACK WHO CAN GET THE BALL WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE. IF THE PLAY WORKS THEN THE OC IS GOOD IF NOT HE IS BAD. I BELIEVE THE OFFENSE, PENALTIES AND TURNOVERS HAVE PUT TO MUCH PRESSURE ON THE DEFENSE,WHICH IS NOT TO GOOD ANYWAY, WE MUST HAVE A NEW DC. LET’S DON’T FORGET WHERE WE WERE WHEN CMR CAME HERE. WHY ARE ALL YOU DUMB BUTTS CALLING FOR HIS FIRING. WHERE DID YOUR LOYALTY GO?
Chuck
October 31st, 2009
10:03 pm
Undisciplined players who week in and week out make the same stupid mistakes and the coaching staff seems as clueless as the players. This Georgia team is an embarrassment to Georgia Football. The Georgia Football program stinks.
Dawg 1
October 31st, 2009
10:04 pm
Lazy, Mark Bradley. Predictable and lazy. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Go ahead and jump on board with this idiot folks. CMR will win again and he’ll be singing his praises (just like you will).
Pathetic.
Yelloe Fuzz
October 31st, 2009
10:04 pm
AJ Green for QB:
Maybe vandy studyied film of us. Maybe you guys should try the same thing when you prepare for a game. Especially when you have 2 weeks to prepare. lol.
EW
October 31st, 2009
10:04 pm
To make a blanket statment that UGA is a second rate progam is about as assinine as saying GT is a powerhouse after one freakin year!! Bradley you say a lot of ignorant things but krap like this pretty much kills credibility as a sports writer.
UGA has had 8 or more wins in 12 straight seasons and are like top 3 in win totals over the last 8 or 10 years. Is this year a bust? yep Do changes need to be made? yep Is UGA still a national player next year? yep
BTW Your beloved Tech is currently losing to the SEC celler dweller Vandy. Have a nice night explaing that away if Vandy pulls it out.
Salty Dawg
October 31st, 2009
10:05 pm
Out-recruited, out-coached, and out-played. Nothing else needs to be said about it. Now something needs to be done about it. I like CMR as a person and he had great results in years past, but in recent years he has woefully underachieved. The fans and alumni pay for that program and they deserve better. If CMR isn’t willing to make personnel changes it will not improve.
UGA86
October 31st, 2009
10:06 pm
Mark:
Who do you think would be good choices for defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator? I do think the UGA ship is off course, but I can’t see the administration firing CMR at this point. Who do you think would come to UGA at those positions? Thanks for you thoughts.
bridges34
October 31st, 2009
10:06 pm
Time to get a new coach period. anyone who says otherwise is blind.
defactodawg
October 31st, 2009
10:07 pm
Dawg 1, Richt will NOT be winning again without some changes on the staff. The team has been headed downhill for nearly two years now, 10-3 notwithstanding.
Somthing has to change or Richt is coaching for his life in 2010.
You people are idiots!
October 31st, 2009
10:07 pm
Richt obviously said something about the personal fouls at half time… And it was what he needed to say all year. Start Murray now.
jason
October 31st, 2009
10:07 pm
alpharetta, what I was saying is that it is CMR’s fault. This is the type of players he wants. Atheletes not football players. That’s what I am saying. If the players are stubborn, hard headed, stupid, whatever. It is those players that CMR recruited. I agree though that the coaches main responsibility to game plan. Hell, maybe that is why CWM cannot make adjustments during games. He is to busy trying to reteach fundementals. Wow, a coach who cannot do more than one thing; guess he like CMR is not a multitasker.
rabiddawg
October 31st, 2009
10:08 pm
look, every coaching regime runs its course. Some take four years, some 15 and some 20. It appears as if MR has lasted 9. i mean this has gotten sad. I think its time for new blood and someone to inject some life into this sleeping giant. i mean we can not let Fla, bama lsu, and it appears Tenn to distance themselves from us.
DawgsWin
October 31st, 2009
10:08 pm
Dawg1, you are delusional if you think Richt will turn this around.
2-7 against Florida
Not good enough.
You people are idiots!
October 31st, 2009
10:09 pm
Yellow Fuzz,
Vandy didn’t study you last week. Your offense is okay. Your D is worse than UGA’s.
Richt is going nowhere
October 31st, 2009
10:09 pm
You morons act surprised Florida beat the crap out of you. What did you expect? Just a bunch of Drinkie McStupids. Keep up the brilliant commentary, dumbasses.
War Eagle
October 31st, 2009
10:09 pm
THE SEC WAS HEAD LIGHTED BY TUBERVILLE, RICHT AND FULMER FOR A DECADE, TODAY ITS MILES, MEYERS AND SABAN, THEIR HAS BEEN A GUARD CHANGE IN SEC,IF YOU CANN0T STAND THE HEAT, JUMP OUT OF THE FIRE, AS IN TUBERVILLE,, FULMER, RICHT COULD BE NEXT??