OK, so what happens with Richt if UGA loses in Starkville?
Quality-of-life-wise, it would behoove this man to win next week. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Not to say I’m smart or anything, but the Georgia season has played out the way I figured: Win, loss, loss. (No, I wasn’t so all-seeing as to know A.J. Green wouldn’t have played a down.) I also had the Bulldogs winning eight of the next nine games and finishing 9-3, which I do believe will occur. That said …
The Mississippi State game has long seemed to me the pivot point of Georgia’s season. It’s a game UGA should win, but it’s on the road in a different time zone, and strange things can happen in the realm of the cowbell. And today I pose the musical question: What happens if Georgia doesn’t win in Starkville?
Nothing much, I submit, but I’m willing to concede I might be in the distinct minority. Opening the SEC season 0-3 hasn’t happened under Mark Richt — to be accurate, the Bulldogs have never before been 0-2 in league play under Richt — and would loose all manner of outcry from the masses. Greg McGarity, the new AD, wouldn’t join the chorus, but even a new AD couldn’t help but note the furor.
I say again: I think Georgia is going to be fine. This is a young team with a new quarterback and a new defense that faced two very difficult early games without its best player. I find no dishonor in either defeat. And I expect these Bulldogs will tame the maroon Bulldogs on Saturday in Starkville. But I’m pragmatist enough to grant that this could get ugly if UGA doesn’t.
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992 comments Add your comment
Dawgs73
September 19th, 2010
10:49 am
“This is a young team with a new quarterback and a new defense that faced two very difficult early games without its best player.”
That’s every year under Richt. I’m sick and tired of excuses and the blind homers on here are always praising Richt for his inadequacies. It’s time for change and a new direction. This team has been in decline for four years now and it’s just not acceptable anymore. If you look at the level of competition in the SEC, UGA is getting passed by also rans and all I here is EXCUSES….enough is enough!
tell me again
September 19th, 2010
10:50 am
Let’s be real – several of the sacks were because a back or some other non line players flat out missed a block (see Ealey on DVR replay) on Arkie’s last TD our player and defense were in position to make the tackle after the caught pass – the reciever juked him out of his shoes and ran for the TD – these were not (in all fairness) defensive breakdowns – they WERE player breakdowns – all CTG can do is put the players in position to make the plays – the guys have to step up. Having said that – Bobo’s play calling was either very good or insane – he seems to be unable to maintain a consistent quality of play calling – it swings form near genius to totally clueless. The short passing game was totally missing yesterday – I guess Marlon Brown is either too frail or too mentally challenged to play. Why else would you keep a 6′ 5″ 5 star recruit off the field. But what really drives me nuts is this: Our recievers make a great catch and what happens next? THEY PULL THEM OFF THE FIELD! If somebody has a hot hand – especially with only a few minutes left – why would you not keep them on the field and run plays to them? Or as Tennessee’s Kiffin said last year “We were going to keep running that roll out until they stopped it” DUH…..And there is Bobo – if the running game is working – he stops going to it – if the passing game has opened up – he starts running it. I think Bobo needs to go back to QB coach and CMR needs to start taking over the play calling ….NOW! I am proud of the way the Dagws fought back yesterday but the simple fact is Arkie had better players on offense than we had on defense. This year is not going unexpectedly – New D / new QB / add suspensions, injuries and some bad luck – well, here we are. It’s painful to see the last two games on rerun and realize that we could just as easily be 3 – 0 as 1 – 2. SAtill, we are getting better – the D is improved over last year – Murray is learning and will only get better / hopefully, we will be playing with all of our starters soon.
Fire Paul Hewitt
September 19th, 2010
10:50 am
Man don’t complain about coachs contracts= GT is paying that stupid basketball coach $7 million roll over every year contract. If fired he has to be paid 7M.
GOP
September 19th, 2010
10:50 am
Heres why we need to get rid of Richt. In the past 5 years he is 27-14 in the SEC, but what’s worse he is only 14-11 against the SEC East!!!!!!!!! By contrast, Meyer at Florida is 27-14 and is 23-2 against the SEC East——-are you getting the picture and I don’t even want to talk about what Saban has done for Alabama.
troothsayer
September 19th, 2010
10:51 am
Bobo needs to gogo
Mulk
September 19th, 2010
10:51 am
Beer Dawg,
Financial issues? I thought the athletic program was rolling in dough and even donated money to the university? Putting money aside, who would UGAG hire that would be better than Richt?
The Spurriers, Meyers and Sabans don’t grow on trees. UGAG fans need to get realistic about their expectations verses results.
Mulk
Loran, whatdayagot?
September 19th, 2010
10:52 am
The SEC ‘ Game of the Week ‘ is
.
1-2 (0-2) Georgia @ 1-2 (0-2) Mississippi State
——————————————————————
TGT
September 19th, 2010
10:53 am
If I remember correctly, Vince Dooley had several subpar seasons of 6-5 or 7-4, and people weren’t calling for his head. So we aren’t going to be national champs this year. Let’s see what kind of resolve the players AND coaches have now. We had a chance to win both games but we didn’t. Hopefully, we can stomp MSU and move forward.
HitaSingle
September 19th, 2010
10:54 am
The NCAA has created a monster in college football. They have allowed these thugs to transfer and play, but they punish Green for 4 games and the Bama player on 2 games. Someone please explain that to me. I heard where we respect the decision on Green by the NCAA. That is fine but explain the difference in 2 games and 4 games. Other intsitutions would be respectfully disagreeing. UGA needs to quit being so agreeable. I watch the Tenn quarterback get hit 5 yards out of bounds by Fla and no flag, also Fla running back down at one yard line and reached ball over goal line and it was ruled a TD, there wasn’t even a review. Richt, Adams and MaGarity need to raise more Hell and be heard.
BeerDawg
September 19th, 2010
10:54 am
David, well said.
Da'Quan MindGap
September 19th, 2010
10:54 am
Mark -
I agree with you… well done. It’s not time to panic, but there are some programatic issues that need to be addressed. Anyone who thinks Grantham was going to get Willie’s players to learn how to play football in three games is out of their minds. I like Grantham’s scheme, he just needs quality players… which are in short supply at UGA.
Offensively Richt has a problem on his hands. Mike Bobo has never been the solution, he was a convenient choice. Mark needs to take over the playing calling, put Murray in the shotgun and let him do his thing.
It’s not time to throw the baby out with the bath water, but it’s time everyone realize we’re in for a long tough season. Outside of Idaho St. there’s not a single gimmie on this schedule. Miss. St.’s D is every bit as good as South Carolina’s.
GOP
September 19th, 2010
10:55 am
If you take away the 2005 season with Donnan’s players, Richt is 10-11 against the East–sad but true. I hope McGerity will save us from Richt.
Dawgs73
September 19th, 2010
10:55 am
Hitasingle + excuses = BLIND HOMER…Dude what are you smoking???
“I still believe in Richt and until we get franchise type players we are going to be average. Look how many balls we came close to intercepting and all could have been returned to the house.”
Until we get franchise players???? Do you forget that we had first player taken in the NFL draft in Stafford, first round pick in Moreno, late first round wide receiever Massaqoa, and yet manage not win the SEC east (out right) and didn’t get to the big game. If Richt can’t succeed with that type of talent that more can he really accomplish.
Please get your head out of your a!!! and be objective. It’s time to stop the rose colored Richt glasses and call it truthfully.
Been there done that
September 19th, 2010
10:56 am
Facts are this:
Richt has not had a solid team in the last 3 or 4 years. Yes, they ended up # 2 BUT beyond that it has not been good and that same year we were BLOWN OUT by UT.
Richt loses the big games now and even the medium big games like SC and Arkansas. SC barely beat Furman yesterday and Lattimore only had 67 yds. GT in 09 was nice but they too are lousy and from a lousy conference. GT in 09 had no D …………that alone is why UGA could run on them, not because we suddenly found a running game some some D a–es thought.
Richt builds good ACC 90s type of teams BUT he IS in the SEC. This is a huge part of our problems. We are built on an antiquated model ……….FSU in the 90s.
UGA is not now nor have they been considered a physical squad in years. See the above comment. Huge part of our problem because SC and Arkansas are NOT very physical squads but STILL they manhandled UGA .
MSU is a very physical squad …………their coach will make that part of their mental game plan …….to shove UGA around on both lines …………gets in their heads too. Watch the game and you all will see this …………physicality of lil old MSU vs UGA.
We are in trouble. I saw this same thing with Ray Goff and until the money alums call AD McGarity and Adams ………..it will continue.
Recruiting has been downturning for a couple of years ……….why we have NO running backs or NO LINEMEN. Period. This year ………..that negative will accelerate.
This is how it unwinds ………. mounting ugly losses, boo birds, fans leaving early and then, recruiting probs.
Go Dogs.
UGA class of 71 & 73
SentientDawg
September 19th, 2010
10:57 am
The team is leader-less. Some of the players need to step-up and start leading. The coaches aren’t correcting mistakes. The coaches have a poor game-plan, and are making incoherent decisions during the game. There is no creativity and logic in the offensive play calling. Other teams that watch the tapes of this game will be licking their chops, waiting for the game with the Dogs. This team is in trouble.
Athens, Georgia
September 19th, 2010
10:58 am
toothsayer is right.
Bobo needs to gogo, . . . and take GrantHAM with him.
Pitiful play calling and clock management in the final minutes
BeerDawg
September 19th, 2010
10:58 am
Mulk, I thought so as well. But apparently the football money is used to fund just about everything else in the university, even though UGA is the most profitable football program in the country.
I recently learned that Adams has told big donors that they are in no financial shape to buy out the remaining years of Richts contract AND pay the $4-5 mill/year pricetag that comes with a NC-caliber coach, not to mention the costs of all his assistants
john p
September 19th, 2010
10:59 am
I think Georgia should forget the season and play only to try and destroy Florida’s season! Florida is definitely not as strong as previous years but still as fast as ever! However, they are showing some vulnerabilities. Urban Meyer is one of the biggest A-holes coaching in the SEC, he had to cave in this week to media scrutnity to let a player go for a death threat, but it went against every bone is his body. He does not care if his players are criminals, he is a win at any or all costs type of coach. Georgia needs to win the GA-FLA game at any or all costs this year!
hey red panties
September 19th, 2010
11:00 am
lmao……
here is a fan base that pisses in its own library yet they cant take the truth about their intelligence.
have to wonder if all that ugag teabagging going on has deprived them of air and they have brain damage.
sometimes i kill me….. lmao
T Dawg
September 19th, 2010
11:01 am
We have the two worst safeties in the SEC, they jump every play fake and underneath route.
Ealy can’t block..period.
Off. Coord. is predictable…Off. Line can’t run block
Def. Line cannot get any pressure on the QB
We can’t stop a good running game or a good passing game.
This is a 6-6 team….mark it down!
HitaSingle
September 19th, 2010
11:01 am
Dawgs 73 – Just because a player is a first rounder doesn’t make him a winner. By the way who would you hire? When UGA won the Sugar Bowl there is no doubt that UGA should have been and could have been in the National Champ Game. Don’t get on hear and say Richt hasn’t done anything. There are problems and he is the Head Coach and it is his job to correct them. If not then a change must be made. I think our recruiting has been terrible. Our backs are too small and our receivers are too slow to get open. That is recruiting and not coaching.
Andy
September 19th, 2010
11:02 am
What happen to the 12-0 season and the National Championship?
Norman Cowins
September 19th, 2010
11:02 am
Crack is whack! Richt is whack! We just need to recruit Tyrone Biggums. Where’s my pipe? Anyone seen my driver’s license? I’m so angry I could hit and run somebody.
Flying Tigers
September 19th, 2010
11:02 am
These games just prove that Richt insn’t that great of coach. Hell, he has top 10 recruiting classes every year, and look where we are. I mean if you have top 10 recruiting classes every freaking year, how are you losing to the teams you are losing to over the past 2 or 3 years. Something is wrong, and the buck stops with the head coach. I would suggest he pick it up and get back into the game.
bill
September 19th, 2010
11:03 am
Idaho State is the only sure thing left on this year’s schedule…it would be sweet, though, to actually beat Florida with this team of underachievers…and didn’t we used to have some highly-publicized TE’s? Maybe we should call some plays for them…ya think?
DamntheButcher
September 19th, 2010
11:04 am
I don’t give a damn what happens at MS ST. I want Mark Richt’s azz fired!!!!! This happened in 2008, it h appened in 2009 and it happens again in 2010. Are people stupid enough to think it won’t happen in 2011? How long is it going to take these Mark Richt lovers to figure this out? The guy can’t coach. FIRE MARK RICHT.
bill
September 19th, 2010
11:05 am
And at this rate, the 2011 great recruit class is going to shrink…nobody wants to come to a program that doesn’t have direction or a HC that is facing the firing line.
DamntheButcher
September 19th, 2010
11:06 am
Hita Single………. The reason GA didnt play for the NC that year was because Mark Richt didnt have the team ready to play against SC. It wasn’t the TN loss that killed t hem that year. If GA had beat SC i n 2007 they would have played for the NC.
BeerDawg
September 19th, 2010
11:07 am
John P, True. It’s easy to hate on Urban Meyer. There’s actually an SEC team that has more discipline problems than UGA…and that’s saying a lot.
However, if Meyer was the UGA coach and we had 2 BCS trophies in our trophy case, I’m sure the fan base here would gloss over his deficiencies.
No matter how you look at it, whether it’s wrong or right….it’s all about winning the SEC and contending for the NC
Dawgs73
September 19th, 2010
11:07 am
Hitasingle- Kirby Smart, Will Muschamp, Chris Peterson, Gary Patterson, John Gruden
Gators 17 Dawgs 3
September 19th, 2010
11:08 am
john p
What do you want them to do———dance in end-zone. That worked once and Meyer as been beating Richt like re-headed step child ever since. Yea, the Gators are off to a slow start, but they are 3-0 and improving weekly, not so much for the dawgs.
maybe richt should
September 19th, 2010
11:08 am
get his panties in a was sometimes.
get it?
speakin of panties i have a question for you frawgs or goats or whatever you go by these days….
did those infamous panties have a uga logo on them? were they in the front or that back?
i am laughin so hard i almost crapped my pants.
and what is with richts hair? last time i saw hair like that was when i saw my butt crack in the mirror.
maybe i should go baaaaaaaaah to my blog now. baaaaaaaah baaaaaaaaahhh
Ponte Vedra Dog
September 19th, 2010
11:08 am
A loss to Miss. State and it’s time to take a hard look at our coaching staff, starting at the top. Something is missing and I don’t know exactly what it is.
Ted M
September 19th, 2010
11:08 am
Rambo played like crap.
shut up
September 19th, 2010
11:08 am
NOTHING should happen to Richt. He has done nothing to bring this program to where it consistently never been. We just have the worst fan base in america. we go to the game and do not support our team we sit there quitly and only get loud when we have something negative to say. More than 1/3 of the stadium left at the end of the third quarter, AND WE CAME BACK! So all you fans who come on to blogs and call in shows and say negative things we don’t need you shut the hell up.
AND ANYONE WHO THINKS KIRBY SMART WOULD BE A BETTER COACH OR EVEN A POSSIBLE CHOSE FOR THE NEXT COACH. YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Ted M
September 19th, 2010
11:09 am
Still if the Falcons lose today they will be in bigger trouble than the Dawgs.
Ponte Vedra Dog
September 19th, 2010
11:10 am
So it’s the fans fault? Come on…
Krogunner
September 19th, 2010
11:10 am
Chris Peterson, John Gruden, Bobby Petreno…these should be the first 3 phone calls.
Dawgs73
September 19th, 2010
11:10 am
Hitasingle – It’s not a “that is recruiting not coaching” is the coaches job. The b.s. that you just spouted is the reason that UGA is in this situation. It’s the coaches JOB to find the best talent and utilize that players skill while finding strengths and accentuating them. If you honestly feel that this is not the coaches responsiblity, then you are delusional.
HitaSingle
September 19th, 2010
11:11 am
Smart is as good as Saban, Muschamp is as good as Brown, Peterson would be a good choice. Patterson would be okay and Gruden let the Bucs go down hill with him. 2 out of the five aren’t bad.
gomdawg
September 19th, 2010
11:11 am
NO PRIDE , NO PRIDE, PLAYING FOR MONEY
Ponte Vedra Dog
September 19th, 2010
11:11 am
Florida is down yet they are 3 and 0. They know how to win the tough games, we don’t.
DamntheButcher
September 19th, 2010
11:12 am
This is how the SEC football programs rank in the SEC. Do any of you GA fans disagree? If you disagree then show me the facts.
Alabama
Florida
LSU
South Carolina/Auburn/Kentucky/Arkansas
TN, GA, MS, MS State
Vandy
Da'Quan MindGap
September 19th, 2010
11:12 am
I’ve got to laugh at all you idiots who think Richt can’t coach. Have you retards checked out his win loss record, or the fact he’s won two SEC championships, which is twice as many as Goff and Donnan combined. I’m not blind… we have problems, but you guys are morons.
HitaSingle
September 19th, 2010
11:12 am
Part of coaching is recruiting. That is my point, we have paid too much attention to these recruiting services and haven’t gotten the best players. Ones with heart and not this me attitude!
General Sherman
September 19th, 2010
11:13 am
This non tackling,under coached bunch needs to regroup and get going in another direction.The first three games were not impressive!
Ponte Vedra Dog
September 19th, 2010
11:14 am
We want better. Comparing Richt to Goff or Donnan is stupid. Compare him to Saban or Meyer. We are an average program. That’s not good enough anymore.
HitaSingle
September 19th, 2010
11:14 am
Ponte Vedra Dawg – What tough game have they won?
DamntheButcher
September 19th, 2010
11:14 am
I still think that Derek Dooley is going to be one hell of a coach.
Ponte Vedra Dog
September 19th, 2010
11:15 am
DamntheButcher, I would put Vandy ahead of Miss since they just beat them.