5+1 reasons UGA’s loss was even worse than it seemed
Here's the first of Joe Cox's several interceptions. (AJC photo by Bob Andres)
1. With Georgia within 14 points and still 10 minutes to play, some 10,000 Georgia backers up and left. Think about that. You’ve paid for tickets, parking, food, hotel and gas/airfare to come watch your team, and your team still has a theoretical chance. (One tipped pass and it’s a one-score game.) And you have so little faith in your team that you walk out. And your program has won 10 or more games six times in the past seven seasons. This would seem to say, at least to me, that Mark Richt is losing his constituency.
2. When Georgia pulled within 14-10, it did its huddle-up-and-jump-around thing on the sideline, and I typed on the live chat, “I smell a late hit coming.” It came on the kickoff. Michael Gilliard, late hit. It is uncanny how this team cannot play by the rules.
3. Florida scored 41 points without doing anything extraordinary. No Gator rushed for 100 yards. No Gator had 100 yards receiving. Tim Tebow’s longest completion was for 29 yards. Not until the game’s final drive did Florida gain 30 yards on a scrimmage play. And the Gators didn’t throw a fourth-quarter pass (though Tebow was sacked once). And a merciful Urban Meyer had John Brantley take a knee with the ball on the Georgia 20. Think Spurrier would have?
Loading ...4. Joe Cox was supposed to be a game manager. Instead the fifth-year senior has been wilder than Matthew Stafford was as a freshman. Stafford had 13 interceptions in 2006 and didn’t start every game. Cox has 12 interceptions in eight games. And the second interception Saturday was just sad: Pressured, Cox tried to throw the ball out of bounds but couldn’t sling it far enough. The exact same thing had happened in Knoxville. Which brings us to …
5. Tennessee. It’s coming fast. If Georgia didn’t figure to finish ahead of Florida in 2009, neither did it seem any other SEC East school posed an imminent threat to the Bulldogs’ hold on second place. South Carolina is ensconced as a 7-5 or 8-4 team, and Kentucky and Vandy are Kentucky and Vandy. But Tennessee has now beaten Georgia and South Carolina and has played Florida and Alabama close, and that’s a scary sign. Because if Tennessee in Year 1 under Kiffin can have the same overall record as Georgia in Year 9 under Richt, what happens in 2010?
6. The black helmets. Just embarrassing.
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1,240 comments Add your comment
dawgdude
November 1st, 2009
3:44 pm
I am just sick….the state of Ga football is horrible. Undisiplined, just terrible. I doubt a coaching change will be made. Best we can hope for is assistant changes. Just reminds me of when UT made Fulmer change assistants and stuck with him….at least they came to there senses last year. Ridicule me is you want but I would love to have a young, brash coach that would spark enthusiasm like Kiffin has. Guys something has to give. We are losing ground and the ship is sinking.
rainbow
November 1st, 2009
3:46 pm
Ted Striker, you big hunk….didn’t I see you at the Pride Parade this weekend?
bigstack19
November 1st, 2009
3:48 pm
People want Richt fired. Fine, but who do you bring in to replace him? The coach at Boise State? The last “great” Boise coach who left there for greener pastures is currently sucking at Colorado. We already have a coach who sucks. Kyle Whittingham at Utah? Maybe, but would he want to leave an easy job at Utah for Georgia? Doubtful. Will Muschamp? He is next in line at Texas. Why would he leave there? Face it. Richt will be here for awhile and he will probably keep Willie and Bobo the clown too.
doubledip
November 1st, 2009
3:50 pm
Ted is a stud, gives and receives. And so knowledgeable about UGA football. What costumes do you like the UGA team wearing best Teddie?
firemarkricht.net
November 1st, 2009
3:53 pm
Mr. Thomas Anthony “The Taxman Cometh”Jones,SR :
I hope you aren’t an attorney, because that is a terrible argument. Wait ‘ til next year? They’ve been saying that for two years now!
Hogan
November 1st, 2009
3:54 pm
Typical performance for UGA thugs.
k483
November 1st, 2009
3:55 pm
Remember CMR came from FSU, the original thug-ball team.
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
3:56 pm
LOL. I went to this game and 95% of the dog nation bloggers on here did NOT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r62hP7BQmRg&feature=related
Hogan
November 1st, 2009
3:56 pm
SUPERFLUOUS BANTOR…Is that a villain in a saturday AM Cartoon? B A N T E R, you overpaid undereducated UGA gradumate.
gaFan
November 1st, 2009
3:57 pm
I’m a UGA fan and I don’t like Ted’s comments. They seem scary and threatening.
Sorka
November 1st, 2009
3:58 pm
If UGA loses to Georgia Tech in a few weeks – and if the Jackets win by a sizable margin – the Dawg fans will be calling for someone’s job for sure. If not Richt, then certainly his assistants. And that game is being played in Midtown Atlanta, not in Athens. Stay tuned.
Abilene
November 1st, 2009
4:02 pm
Pathetic.
RxDawg
November 1st, 2009
4:03 pm
“And you have so little faith in your team”
And that Mark is why the bulldog fans are so sick to their stomachs. I have lost all faith in this team.
Ben Dover
November 1st, 2009
4:04 pm
Hey Hogan, how did you like it when your wife hooked up with that teenager? HA, HA
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
4:05 pm
This just in. New AP Poll
1 Florida (38) 8-0 1448
2 Texas (13) 8-0 1408
3 Alabama (8) 8-0 1390
4 Cincinnati 8-0 1212
5 Boise State 8-0 1211
6 TCU 8-0 1147
7 Oregon 7-1 1130
8 Iowa 9-0 1127
9 LSU 7-1 1036
10 Georgia Tech 8-1 949
Hogan
November 1st, 2009
4:05 pm
The same way you felt when you got it unlubed in the KLINK
GT For You And Me
November 1st, 2009
4:06 pm
Thanks for the AP post Yellow Fuzz!
kd4uga
November 1st, 2009
4:07 pm
Yes indeed Spikes tried to claw at Ealey’s eyes. Richt should point that out to the league. I’m sure he won’t and Spikes won’t be disciplined. Did you notice how they showed it over and over on TV but Danielson and Lundquist never mentioned it?? Reckon why? They’re Florida and Tebow homers!
Spikes is a thug. And you don’t have to be a college graduate to figure that one out.
kd4uga
November 1st, 2009
4:08 pm
Mark, do you read posts six pages deep in your blog???
Oh No!!! We Suck Again!!!
November 1st, 2009
4:08 pm
Honestly, who is to say that the AD didn’t authorize the money to purchase the uni’s. I like the idea of the uniforms. No the way they are used is pathetic, but if they are used as far as for homecoming or incentive reasons for the team, then I think we can roll with it. Hell, its just like in the NFL, they have alternate jersies, let these guys have the same fun, well when they deserve it! Get off the topic of the uniform. Coaches…thats another blog topic that has already been visited. We know what we…well, what CMR has to do and I’m sure he knows it, but it would be the right thing to go ahead and finish the season and then replace him, but he should be using this time to sit and see who would make sense and a difference. As far as the fans, lets be realistic here, if the team doesn’t show, you are lucky enough to have the fans to actually show up. The fans aren’t the problem and everybody wants to put the blame other than where it belongs. Offense fills seats and the lack there of, UGA is lucky to see the support that they are getting. If the Football program goes downhill, all we have left is Gymnastics and they will never lose their fanbase because they get the job done! I actually hope that we lose out from here on so that we get rid of who we need to! Be a man CMR & Clean house!
Jsday
November 1st, 2009
4:09 pm
Jamal is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees…..
Question….What color panties did the UGA players wear under their black pants?
a) red
b) black
c) silver
d) pink
Final answer?…..
FLA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
4:09 pm
Yellow Fuzz & It’s Tech’s Time
Thanks for proving my point – keep it up. Though your time might be better spent trying to sellout your highschool stadium during a winning season.
TROTTINGHOME
November 1st, 2009
4:11 pm
Finally told it like it really is. It is the adults responsibility to guide. At this level if You aren’t doing better than what Georgia is doing You have to go.
GT For You And Me
November 1st, 2009
4:14 pm
FLA DAWG: Our stadium doesn’t win football games…….. Our football team does………
TROTTINGHOME
November 1st, 2009
4:14 pm
We need someone who bleeds red and black.
Who could that be?
FLA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
4:15 pm
Hey Mark,
Any word out of Athens?
Biggest GA FAN
November 1st, 2009
4:15 pm
Hey Yellow Fuzz,
Remember starting next Saturday, UGA will never lose again, and polls like the one you displayed will become obsolete. I dont care if its AP, Harris, BCS, el al. any poll anywhere will be UGA 13-0 until the end of time. Just you see!!!! I’ve got inside information.
Flatsdawg1
November 1st, 2009
4:16 pm
I honestly have never seen college players play so stupidly. When you are a mediocre team with potential to be better, how can you keep letting players essentially run you out of a job. I’m afraid a good coach ’s loyalty will ultimately be his demise. I almost can’t bear to watch. I love them win or lose but in a rebuilding year ; well it seems the construction site has been abandoned.
Mark Bradley
November 1st, 2009
4:18 pm
There won’t be big news out of Athens until after the regular season, I would guess.
FLA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
4:19 pm
Bees can’t fill their stadium even when they are rated in the Top 10 – NOW THAT’S WORSE THAN THE DAWG’S SEASON!
GT For You And Me
November 1st, 2009
4:19 pm
Biggest GA FAN: That’s pretty strong ESP you got there…………
Mark Bradley
November 1st, 2009
4:21 pm
To answer your question, kd4uga, yes I do.
RedMan
November 1st, 2009
4:22 pm
Temple got 1 vote in the polls. T-E-M-P-L-E ! This has got to be an all-time humiliation.
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
4:23 pm
FLA DAWG
You’re welcome and I will. Like I told you I have been to 5 georgia home games the last 3 years and each time, they have had “a lot more empty seasts” than Tech does. A LOT MORE. You might want to go to a game at each place before your stick your foot in your mouth again dude. But, YOUR time might be better spent trying to watch your highschool program salvage a winning season.
LOL.
womensweardaily
November 1st, 2009
4:23 pm
I personally like the black pants…black is always chic and can be slimming for the weight conscious woman.
GT For You And Me
November 1st, 2009
4:25 pm
FLA DAWG: If GT doesn’t fill their stadium,that is worse than GA’s season. If you think that,I will call your Shrink,in case you forgot his or her phone #…………..
Delbert D.
November 1st, 2009
4:29 pm
FLA DAWG – The stadium should be sold out on Nov. 28. UGA has returned only about 3,500 tickets so far, and they are expected to be distributed to local Greater Atlanta high schools.
Herschel Talker
November 1st, 2009
4:29 pm
MB:
Please answer my question from 12:47PM. I am repeating it below:
Why do you say that Richt is a good coach? How could this possibly happen to a good coach? Are you defining a “good coach” by X’s and O’s? Even then, it is dubious the Richt is a good coach. But even if we assume that his X’s and O’s are stellar, what about the other coaching aspects? I don’t see other “good coaches” (e.g., Saban and Meyer) harping on uniform colors so often. I don’t see other “good coaches” obsessing about ways to motivate their teams when playing their biggest rivals. I don’t see other “good coaches” surrounding themselves with mediocre assistants and then putting up with their obvious mediocrity. I don’t see other “good coaches” having teams that EVERY GAME play without discipline and then go on to tell us in the halftime interview and postgame interview that they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Has it ever dawned on you that Richt’s poor coaching has been covered up in the past by having natural born leaders on his team (e.g., Greene and Pollack) and having assistants who had enough fire to make up for Richt’s lack thereof (e.g., Van Gorder) and that without those, Richt has been exposed as the emperor with no clothes?
So, please tell us, what is it that makes Richt such a good coach, other than your supposed comparison to his predecessors Goff and Donnan (and to tell you the truth, I don’t remember any Donnan team underachieving as badly as UGA has done the last two years, 2000 included).
FLA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
4:30 pm
Hey Yellow Fuzz,
Pull the slide ruler from your pocket protector and calculate there are three times the seats in Athens than Atlanta.
Please don’t tell us you’re a mechanical engineer – working for one of Barak’s Shovel Ready Projects perhaps?
Ashamed
November 1st, 2009
4:30 pm
I am certain that coaches (Mark Richt, Mike Bobo, Willie Martinez) to their shame have failed to motivate the team to play with consistent effort and real pride. It seems that the gimmicks used have instead encouraged poor sportsmanship and a defeatist attitude. I offer as evidence the ugly black helmets (breaking the Georgia Red Tradition), the sideline stomp celebration, the constant bad-mouthing by players of opponents on the field, the cheap shots taken (many after the whistle) and the excessive personal foul penalties. It is also embarrassing to see the team give up so easily and quit on the field.
Although there were more losses than any Bulldog fan wanted with Coach Donnan and/or Coach Goff, fans did not have to feel ashamed of the lack of dignity or lack of effort as we do with this team week after week…with no correction by coaches. I never thought I would see a Georgia team full of sore losers and quitters.
FLA DAWG
November 1st, 2009
4:31 pm
Let’s see, what’s a typical name for a GT Grad? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ……………DELBERT!!!
winner
November 1st, 2009
4:32 pm
I chose d) pink,…. with adorable little ribbons
Big time?? Not
November 1st, 2009
4:32 pm
Four tickets, four hot dogs, four cokes
drbasic1
November 1st, 2009
4:33 pm
This kills me to say…..i live about an hour from shreveport…and i am getting excited that i might actually get to attend a game with the dawgs………..sad indeed.
Anglo
November 1st, 2009
4:34 pm
I hope we’ll see reports on the Brandon Spikes eye gouge on Ealey caught on video (see youtube). Spikes should be suspended for that act by the SEC. That was not football but intent to permanently injure someone defenseless on the ground. If that was Tebow the media would be all over it.
Low Dawg
November 1st, 2009
4:35 pm
GEORGIA’s OFFENSE WAS BORING and always the same plays week after week.
I am sorry to say but it is TIME TO FIRE the WHOLE STAFF after two weeks to prep and play and look like a HS team.
ACME HANDYCAPPING CO.
November 1st, 2009
4:38 pm
Current Line: Tenn Tech -3 vs UGA
We’ve upgraded the game to the 50,000 Star Lock of the Century
Put everything you got on it!!!
xdawg70
November 1st, 2009
4:39 pm
The loss to Florida was disappointing, as was the need to resort to uniform gimmicks for motivation against anyone, much less Florida, which has beaten us in 17 of the past 20 years. That should be motivation alone. In the future, please leave the uniform gimmicks to the likes of a Clemson. Not Georgia.
Black shirts or black pants, if you must, but Georgia should never, ever, dress in anything but red helmets, which are an icon of Bulldog football. Against Florida our football team looked like some desperate, college football fringe dweller. And the gimmicks did nothing to disguise deeper problems on the field.
Herschel Talker
November 1st, 2009
4:39 pm
Ashamed at 4:30PM:
Amen! Very well said. No Donnan year, including 2000, was nearly as disappointing all around as last year and this year have been. They have been a complete disgrace with the lack of preparation and discipline. Richt should be considered a thief for collecting a paycheck the last 2 years.
Yellow Fuzz
November 1st, 2009
4:39 pm
1 Florida (38)
2 Texas (13)
3 Alabama (8)
4 Cincinnati
5 Boise State
6 TCU
7 Oregon
8 Iowa
9 LSU
10 Georgia Tech
11 Penn State
12 USC
13 Houston
14 Pittsburgh
15 Ohio State
16 Miami (FL)
17 Utah
18 Oklahoma State
19 Notre Dame
20 Oklahoma
21 Arizona
22 Virginia Tech
23 California
24 Wisconsin
25 Brigham Young
26 South Florida
27 Clemson
28 Auburn
29 Texas Tech
30 West Virginia
31 Rutgers
32 Boston College
33 Central Michigan
34 Oregon State
35 Tennessee
36 Idaho
37 Richmond
38 South Carolina
39. Temple
40
41
42
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76 georgia.