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
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:52 pm
Auburn 38 Dogs 27
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:53 pm
Kentucky 31 Dogs 28
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:53 pm
Ga Tech 62 Dogs 31
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:53 pm
4-8
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
10:54 pm
the dawgs will always have a chance as long as richt and compnay are in charge..they havent let me down yet..
GTBuzz81
November 1st, 2009
10:54 pm
Don’t think you can give CMR and staff the credit for those guys making it to the NFL,they got there with their talent.CMR just didn’t mess them up on their way.Preseason #1 2008 to 4-4 in 2009,losses to Tech,Lsu,Tenn,Fla.LMAO!!!What a waste of talent.I don’t feel sorry for the Ugay fans,I feel sorry for all the talented players that believed enough in your program to come play for a bunch of coaches that can’t coach them up.Most of these guys never make it to the next level,their time is now and they are being cheated out of their chance to shine.These young men need direction,and they are not getting it from your coaching staff.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:54 pm
No bowl
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
10:54 pm
the dawgs will always have a chance as long as richt and compnay are in charge..they havent let me down yet..and dont see them any time soon
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:55 pm
Dogs and Richt, too much praying, not enough playing
Since the blackout game
November 1st, 2009
10:56 pm
Seems eery to think about it being halloween and all and with us getting whupped again wearing black just like in the blackout game last year that started a cataclysmic meltdown. When I think about it its like our whole program just got shattered when Saban and Bama came to town and destroyed us in the blackout game. We were unbeaten, we had started out the preseason #1, and then we just got beaten down in brutal fashion by the bammers. Since that beatdown we are 10-7. Anybody ever think about how psychologically damaging that one game was?
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
10:56 pm
81,,what do you know about talent and football anyways..your a tech fan…lmao all you know is that your team unis look like crap on blue turf..haha
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:57 pm
Anyone remember how many points FSU scored in Richt’s last game there as OC? 2
booger
November 1st, 2009
10:58 pm
tell your boosters to let cmr choose qb on his own.
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
10:58 pm
dawgs finished top 10 in the coaches poll last year again…with jr and soph and true freshmen..what did tech do last year..top 23…
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
10:59 pm
Wonder if the dog players have to check in with their parole officer before each game?
Orson :In The Sky With Diamonds" Charles
November 1st, 2009
11:00 pm
My name is Orson Charles. I’m proud to be in Athens because Coach Richt let me wear my high school #7. That was very important to me and that Coach Richt he just said “Sure, son, any number you want”, I played those Florida people for fools. I let them think I might put their hat on, but no way. Sure, they offer things like only 9 losses in last 5 years, 2 National Championships and maybe another But so what?? I get my #7 at UGA, get to play for a fine man of higher moral values than anyone else in this land. Maybe someday I’ll catch a pass from my good bud, Aaron Murray, another real good Florida kid. You fans make too much to do about this record stuff during the season, everyone in the South and especially those smart guys on CSS know the only thing that counts is recruiting rankings. Bet Coach Richt has us in the Top 10 again.
What did that old P. T. Barnum guy tell my great grandpa—You’ll never go broke overestimating the stupidity of the American public–think he was just talking about Georgia??
Da dawg pound
November 1st, 2009
11:01 pm
Since the blackout game,
I’ve thought about that too and I know what you mean. Seems as a program we were never the same after what Bama did to us but I didn’t know we were only 10-7 since that game. I just knew that since that game we never quite got our confidence back. Just another reason to hate Nick Satan.
Jack Dawg
November 1st, 2009
11:02 pm
If I were a UGA commit…I would UNCOMMIT!! Fire CMR NOW!!!!
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
11:04 pm
no doubt ..in 2 years tech will be back in loserville as uga will be top 5 competeing for a NC..just want to than pj for bringing that high school offense to tech so i can make fun of them when gailys players leave and i can read the blogs on firing pj
Tech 87
November 1st, 2009
11:05 pm
Richt must really sell these kids(and their mamas and grandmas)on the quality of his FCA Meetings. There is no other rationale for kids going to this school to play for that artifically tanned, possibly, Botox using, SOFTIE. He and Bobby Bowden really do go together.
I endorse what Orson said.
nochancedogs
November 1st, 2009
11:05 pm
Saban is the man Richt can never be. Even FSU was not interested in Richt, they knew he would make Bowden look like he was in his prime
Georgia=Irrelevancy
November 1st, 2009
11:06 pm
Program on the decline. Nuff said!
Mark
November 1st, 2009
11:06 pm
atl xmen…go back to bed and read a comic by flashlight before mommy catches you up on your acer.
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
11:07 pm
the program is fine..the bama loss didnt hurt anything other than our record..uga will do the same to everyone next year when uga has mostly seniors and jrs playing;;like bama and fla and lsu
The Dog Has Had a Vasectomy
November 1st, 2009
11:09 pm
Dear atl xmen, You ignorant, past dwelling piece of swill. You do realize you have not played for a Title since Ronald Wilson Reagan’s first year of Presidency. the Berlin Wall was still intact, The Soviet Union was STILL a Union, nobody had heard of William Jefferson Clinton or W, Brett Favre was still in grade school.
You are a delusional IDIOT!!
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
11:10 pm
uga will never be in decline as long as richt and comp are there…they will have uga winning at lesst 9 on a down year…thats not a decline just a down year which happens to every team from time to time..i think we are on the way up with all the new guys coming in and with the great young talent we have now getting better each game…
Mark
November 1st, 2009
11:11 pm
He’s ten at best…
Da dawg pound
November 1st, 2009
11:12 pm
nochancedawgs,
Sadly I must agree with you. Saban has a focused, intense, no nonsense football team. They are disciplined on and off the field and those guys are play and run their program with one thing in mind: winning. Richt runs a program with no dam discipline on or off the field. The stats tell the truth. All the dam penalties, the sloppy play with all our top 5 recruiting talent, the dam offseason arrests. Its ridiculous.
Speaking of that blackout game I remember our players jumping around, doing the look at me thing, even freaking dancing for petes sake befor the game. I looked over at the bammers and they were focused, listening to their coaches, they were there to play a game instead of doing the soulja boy dance. You would have thought we would have learned our lessons but aint nothing changed. No discipline, no sense of purpose, no demand for excellence.
I look at Satan and his program and I look at us and its like 2 ships that passed in the night beginning over a year ago. This whole thing makes me sick.
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
11:12 pm
richt is getting close and with some better timing and with the sec team getting in the national title game each year all uga has to do is beat fla and win the sec championship which richt has done twice already..except the next time he wins the sec it will put uga in the national title game…
atl xmen
November 1st, 2009
11:13 pm
mark..i just know football and know a good football team when i see one..
Da dawg pound
November 1st, 2009
11:15 pm
atl xmen,
Gotta disagree. Take an unbiased look at the bammers as just one example and then look at us. They are focused, intense, disciplined and have a single purpose in mind. Beating UF on their way to a national title. That should be us but instead we are a dam mess. And next year we start completely over again with who the hell knows who at qb. No one even knows. It’ll be worse than when we started over with Stafford and went 9-4
Mark
November 1st, 2009
11:17 pm
I don’t think you do…
Reggie Ball
November 1st, 2009
11:43 pm
I can give you directions to the Blue Carpet Bowl………….it was basically my home away from home.
beaufus
November 1st, 2009
11:43 pm
tech fans, what a f-ing joke. do you nerds remember reggie ball, or donnie davis, what about tommy luginbill? every once in a while you geeks have a decent team. it will end soon, johnson is a great coach who will move on, and you will get another bill lewis.
uga will be back.
the good thing about goff, he was great against tech.
Southside Drug Rep
November 1st, 2009
11:52 pm
Man what a beatdown! The good news is that my Gator friends are calling me about the “Grambling Helmets” instead of how horrid the team is. Oh well, time for another George Dickel. Hey Techies, I was a bit premature about the 28th. We’ll be in section 228 with my Tech father who will be very drunk and happy!
Cobb Dawg
November 1st, 2009
11:53 pm
atl xmen, you must have a lot of time on your hands pretending to be a UGA fan. Maybe you’re an unemployed graduate of the N. Ave Trade School? There are lots of you out there.
HairyDawg
November 2nd, 2009
12:07 am
Atlxmen is right on targets. The UGA coaches is top notch Christians and therfore wont be letting us downs.
We just need the better players. Some of the stinky boy players need to be put on wavers. Then we bring in real men with SEC and NFL talent from Hargraves. We just needs the testoteronies to tell the stinkies to get the heck out of Athens. The we win chanps again.
frustrated fan of forty years
November 2nd, 2009
12:42 am
Hey Mark Richt-lets try pink helments next week. And maybe you could wear an old Bear Bryant style hat or one of those little bennies with the propeller on top. And some wooden clogs and then dance around a maypole to fire the boys up. My perdiction-Tenn. Tech. 28-Ga. 13
jhol
November 2nd, 2009
12:43 am
I am so tired of ranting,,, make the coaching changes, concede that we will lose more games this year, most notably GT, and take it in the rear like we are destined to do…… I hate the way we have fallen the past couple of years, Richt has given up coaching or handing out any kind of punishment to these hired thugs, and his assistants are basically taking a paycheck.
Willie Martinez is basically a good buddy hire who has NEVER provided a good defense. Mike Bobo is a good feel local hire who was a barelly playable QB at best, not exactly national quality coaching to say the least…..Ga wants a caviar program at tuna fish prices..
Run these bums out of town and SPEND some real money for a GOOD coach and staff, and upgrade the facilities to a quality program, not just museums to Vince and Herschel, who by the way now, has been rendered irrelavent by mr. teboe.
Swamp Hawk
November 2nd, 2009
1:00 am
Don’t worry dawg fans—Richt has everything under control and the only reason florida wins every year is because UF “has all the advantages” playing in Jacksonville! Aaron Murray—the next UGA superstar!!! He’ll dominate next year and UGA will win it all!!!!
Dawg Gator--divided house!
November 2nd, 2009
1:32 am
LLDawgNC
Why the ’skinism’ remarks? Gators and other SEC teams field just as many whos’ skin is, most likely by your remarks,darker than yours. The Dawgs you are talking about do need to ‘rethink’ the character issue and then they will still find true athelets who’s skin will be darker than yours as black athelets seem to be ‘out doing’ white ones when given the chance on what is known as a ‘level field’!
What has saddened me, when going to Athens for “picture day with the Dawgs”, I have noticed that even though the tables are filled with negro Dawgs, those in attendance of the same color skin are few and far between. Why? Because Georgia–like other southern states–is still back in the civil war. When moving here in ‘84, based on the ‘attitude’ by whites and that at that time with the ’stars and bars’ as part of it’s state flag…..I expected to see the confederate army around almost any corner!
Hopefully, Georgia, and other southern states, will one day realize that a person’s skin color is not of any importance, esp. since if blood is ever needed, it is the blood ‘type’ that is of importance and NOT the color of skin it came from! Or, that there are MANY who have had an organ transplant from someone who’s skin color is different than their own!
What is so special about UF is that they have PROGRESSED past ’skinism’ and one reason why Chris Leak–remember him??–was advised by his brother to NOT go to Tenn. and to accept the offer from the Gators….GatorNATION, indeed!
C'mon Now...
November 2nd, 2009
1:50 am
C’mon Now! It’s not all about winning or losing. It’s about how you play the game….
AFDawg
November 2nd, 2009
3:29 am
Mark Bradley — you drive me nuts. Blah, blah, blah — always a bunch of nonsense and obvious dribble just to try and get a rise out of people. The Georgia fans get it — we need a change in leadership. Now let it go would you — geez. As for the fans leaving early — you obviously didn’t read about true dog fans cheering the Dawgs when they were so far down against Bama last year coming out from half time — that was a home game. Have you ver looked at who can afford the tickets for the UGA-FL game — they go for the spectacle. You’re just trying your best to create controversy over nothing. Note to Damon Evans: UGA, FL and TN will all be in the same boat next year with new quarterbacks. Let’s get ours a head start by playing them the rest of the season. How many games can a freshman play without losing his redshirt?
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Floater
November 2nd, 2009
5:55 am
Wally Butts had a great run in the early 40s, even a NC in ‘42. Some how the success didn’t stick and we wound up in the 50s with the 8 year drought. We need to move quickly to right the program before we become an also ran again and that rests on the shoulders of Evans and Adams.
jerry
November 2nd, 2009
7:00 am
It is not really surprising when you consider that the players were whored out to Jax for a few dollars.
Clearwater Dawg
November 2nd, 2009
7:00 am
Play by the rules? You Clown, look at spikes and the other missed cheap shots.
You are a total KooK.
jerry
November 2nd, 2009
7:05 am
Perhaps the players don’t like being w-h-o-r-e-d out to Jax for a few dollars.
Lamar Harden
November 2nd, 2009
7:43 am
Did anyone else see Brandon Spikes intentional attempt to do serious damage to the GA running back’s eyes? Saw it on national TV…
NativeAtlantan
November 2nd, 2009
7:57 am
“It is uncanny how this team cannot play by the rules.”
+1