In the SEC Least, know who looks hot? Mark Richt and UGA
As Vince Dooley once said: "We've got good depth at dog." (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Two weeks ago we wondered if Georgia would win another game. (I was pretty confident about Vanderbilt and Idaho State, but the way the Bulldogs were fumbling and getting arrested you couldn’t know.) Now we wonder if they can win the SEC Least. (It’s suddenly possible.) And we also wonder if their coach isn’t again the most stable guy in his division.
Mark Richt has gone from losing four in a row, a personal nadir, to beating two division brethren by the aggregate score of 84-14. In the SEC East, where every team has lost at least two league games, this qualifies as a surge.
How uninspiring has this division, once the class of the collegiate game, become? Consider: Should it beat Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday night, there’s a chance Georgia, which not so long ago was 1-4, would go to Jacksonville favored over Florida.
Because the Gators are awful. And South Carolina looks eminently capable of doing the South Carolina thing, meaning build up hopes only to send them crashing. And the other three East teams are a combined 2-8 in conference play. A closer look at the Least;
South Carolina: Even by Poultry standards, the past three weeks have been dizzying. The Gamecocks blew a lead at Auburn, beat No. 1 Alabama by two touchdowns and blew an even bigger lead at Kentucky. Steve Spurrier botched the endgame in Lexington and was summarily demoted from Evil Genius to the New Les Miles. And Marcus Lattimore, the great freshman runner, got hurt against the Wildcats.
Florida: Watching the Gators lose to Mississippi State and erstwhile lieutenant Dan Mullen, it really did seem as if the Urban Crier was about to cry. (Given that the last Florida coach who lost to MSU got fired the next week, Meyer might have had reason.) His famous offense had managed six points against Alabama and now seven versus State. In between he’d managed to get outsmarted by Les Miles. Retirement looks better with every week, wouldn’t you say?
Kentucky: Joker Phillips, the new coach, has a new slogan: Operation Win. This marks an improvement on the old UK mission: Operation Lose In The Most Painful Way Imaginable. And the Joker did just beat Spurrier — would that make the Ol’ Ball Coach the Riddler? — in a game of national significance. But the Wildcats have also accomplished two things that required real effort: They made Florida’s offense look good for one night, and they lost to Ole Miss, which had lost to Jacksonville State.
Vanderbilt: It was believed new coach Robbie Caldwell wouldn’t win an SEC game this season. Hah. He has beaten Ole Miss and might beat Tennessee. He also lost to Georgia by 43 points. It’s still Vandy, I’m afraid.
Tennessee: As ever, the Vols’ schedule eases toward the end. By then, however, they figure to be 2-6 overall and 0-5 in SEC play. And the hiring of Derek Dooley, which went over well enough at the time, has begun to be regarded as another in the series of Mike Hamilton whiffs. (Athletic directors never look good when their choice messes up worse than Les Miles, who has become the most interesting man in the Western Hemisphere.)
Loading ...And then there’s Richt: Calm, cool — if Georgia’s coach is nothing else, he’s calm and cool — and managing to collect his thoughts. The offense looks good. The defense looks better. After starting 0-3 in the conference, the Bulldogs are on the move.
To win the division, Georgia needs to finish a game ahead of South Carolina, which holds the tiebreaker edge because it beat the Bulldogs. (A three-way tie could reset the tiebreaker.) But the Gamecocks still must play Arkansas in Columbia and Florida in Gainesville; it’s possible they could finish 4-4 in the league.
To get to 5-3, Georgia cannot lose again. It must win at Kentucky, in Jacksonville and at Auburn on Nov. 13. I’m not sure about that last game — Auburn’s pretty stinkin’ good, to borrow a Richt-ism — but neither the Wildcats or the Gators are any better than the Bulldogs. This could still happen, people.
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435 comments Add your comment
dawgfan
October 18th, 2010
9:46 am
ryan, still butthurt over the excessive celebration? How many Gator players were at risk of permanent eye damage because of that stunt? We just hurt some itty bitty Gaytor feelwings. Pieces of trash like Brandon Spikes are out to maim.
LOL @ Gaytor tards still crying about that. My God. Have you seen the way the thugs on your team behave during games? Good grief what flippin hypocrites.
See you in Jax punks. Blood is on the water…
SadDawg
October 18th, 2010
9:46 am
Okay, Nick, we’ll see how bad the SEC East is when SC and UGA take on Clemson and Tech. You’ll probably have a different opinion by the end of that Saturday . . .again.
mwh6767
October 18th, 2010
9:46 am
Saddawg, I’ve never seen a DC not make a tackle and there where a lot of missed takles and arm tackles in the 2nd half and that is want.
Our attendance at one game
October 18th, 2010
9:46 am
dwarfs your attendance at two games
and we don’t get free food
30-24
harold
October 18th, 2010
9:47 am
GREAT ARTICLE JEFF. THE WORST TEAMS IN THE SEC ARE TENNESSEE, VANDY, AND OF COURSE GEORGIA. THE WORST COACH IN THE SEC IS DOOLEY.
But, mwh6767...
October 18th, 2010
9:48 am
…only one team in all of these entire United States of America is so obsessed with its “hated” rival that it mentions said rival at each and every time something of note happens, whether it be on the sports field on in the national spotlight…
JB
October 18th, 2010
9:48 am
Go to the Gator Message boards this morning…insert Meyer’s name for Richt and you can’t tell the difference from 4 weeks ago…..pretty funny…………They ain’t happy in Gainesville, and you know it hurts because they think of themselves as the best program in football………….I had to rub my eyes Saturday, I thought I saw Charlie Pell on the sidelines coaching them….LOL
The “chomping” is a little quiet this AM……
Dooley is Failing In Knoxville
October 18th, 2010
9:49 am
as much or more than the local dentists
Nice Hire
Gbal
October 18th, 2010
9:49 am
Ryan – Go read a FLA paper if you dont like what you read in a Georgia Newspaper….. In fact, Go to Fla why dont you.
Larvell Blanks
October 18th, 2010
9:50 am
The Gators really hosed us by losing to Miss State. If they had won, we would have had a simple path to the East title – (i) win out, and (ii) have Florida beat SC at home – that would have created a three-way tie, with UGA winning the tiebreaker with the best division record. Alas, the Gators refused to help, so now we have to win out and have SC lose two games (Florida and Arkansas?). And I can’t say I look forward to playing a Florida team coming off a bye week following a three-game losing streak.
SadDawg
October 18th, 2010
9:50 am
And who’s fault is poor tackling fundamentals, mwh6767? That same DC, who was also DBs coach.
Cuz
October 18th, 2010
9:51 am
I just want to concentrate on Kentucky and play Memphis in the Music City Bowl so I can make and sell UGA, 2010 Tennessee State Champs apparel for Two Idiots Marketing.
Snake Doc
October 18th, 2010
9:53 am
A win is a win – sure. And two in a row is nice.
Don’t think that UGA is now on the path to the national title. It ain’t happenin!
So, UGA has beat a heartbroken, down TN team. Then they beat Vandy and you’re ready to declare UGA world beaters again? Don’t make me laugh! At least wait until after the Kentucky and Florida games, two quality opponents, to start the NC talk. Those two games will prove where UGA stands in the SEC and nation. And don’t forget Auburn is lurking, along with GT.
This team still has issues, yet the blind homers can’t or won’t see it, and the bozo’s at the Al Jazeera Constipation that needs to sell papers will run this type of propaganda to appeal to those blind homers.
Tweets that mention In the SEC Least, know who looks hot? Mark Richt and UGA | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
October 18th, 2010
9:53 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SECSportsWire, SEC Coaches. SEC Coaches said: In the SEC Least, know who looks hot? Mark Richt and UGA – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) #SEC http://bit.ly/cAlN1L [...]
mwh6767
October 18th, 2010
9:53 am
You think saddawg that It was just a db who couldn’t tackle in the 2nd qtr of that game? It was the whole defense. They didn’t want to tackle in the 4th qtr. they quit. Is it grantham’s fault that the defense didn’t tackle for the whole usc game?
JB
October 18th, 2010
9:54 am
South Carolina….Florida…………………..Welcome to the club………..
mwh6767
October 18th, 2010
9:54 am
If you think that ga. tech is the only one who mentions a rival in a fight song or chant, etc. you better look around.
TommyJack
October 18th, 2010
9:57 am
One day a year I become a HUGE DAWG FAN…it happens in Jax.
JB
October 18th, 2010
9:58 am
Snake Doc………………………Go make a house call………………We know we’ve got issues………
But, since you are not a Georgia fan, I will tell you one fact about ALL Richt teams since he’s been there………………They ALL get better as the year goes on…………..Now, how much better this year….who knows………….But I like our chances…………..and Tech, looks like that honeymoon is over………….pretty close to playing like a Div. 2 team……….pitiful
kerryb
October 18th, 2010
10:00 am
Where is all the trash talking Gator fans today?
Athens Police
October 18th, 2010
10:01 am
Are you CRAZY Mark??? No way they win the East. We will arrest another dozen or so by the time the Auburn game comes around. Biggest bunch of thugs not in a penitentiary somewhere.
kerryb
October 18th, 2010
10:02 am
I thought Meyer was going to cry and a shot of the stands showed their fans crying. I guess Tim Tebow did leave his mark on Gainsville.
SadDawg
October 18th, 2010
10:02 am
SC scored 17 points on Grantham’s D, mwh6767. They’ve scored 31 to 41 points in all of their other games. And have you seen Marcus Lattimore play? He is pretty well known now for breaking tackles.
We can do this all day, but it’s just silly to say, especially with rivals, that one team “wants” a game more that the other.
But, mwh6767...
October 18th, 2010
10:02 am
…Tech is the ONLY one who mentions their rival in the original words of their fight song…
IlliniDawg
October 18th, 2010
10:03 am
Thanks for the optimism, Mark – a great read with my morning coffee.
I always appreciate your ability to look at things from a brighter perspective. Jeff Schultz could not have written such a column!
Larry
October 18th, 2010
10:04 am
If Richt and his staff had gotten the Dogs ready to play for every game, they could be 6-0 or 5-1 at the worst and ranked in the Top Ten !!!
Gbal
October 18th, 2010
10:04 am
dawg in lex —- Now I could really see that happening before I could see all the cards falling UGA’s way. Would rather see UGA there but….!!!
Dawg House
October 18th, 2010
10:04 am
mwv6767……..
you are the one obsessing over who obsesses over who the most…….
Go take down the flag on that ugly car of yours, and remove the official lyrics in your fight song, and then the playing field on hate will be level. IF UGA decided to put a “To Hell with Georgia Tech” flag on Uga’s doghouse, you Nerds would think it’s the most classless act in the history of college football, and would say it’s “proof we obsess over Tech”……. but we don’t have a flag like that, and you do.
I am a UGA alum, and come from a very large family of UGA fans/alums, and we truly do not care about Tech except for Thanksgiving weekend. But if you live near Tech, like I unfortunately do, you will see that I cannot wear my UGA hat to a local bar in the middle of the summer without some baseball without some pimply faced nerd saying “To Hell with Georgia” as I walk by.
It’s sad, and pathetic.
You are very, very right when you say “UGA hates Tech too”….. but we only make it a point of emphasis 1 day a year, as opposed to your 365 days a year.
d-vegas
October 18th, 2010
10:06 am
the mark bradley curse is upon UGA thank the lord
Richard Dawson
October 18th, 2010
10:07 am
FIRE MARK RICHT. I’m not fooled by this periodic resurgence against bad teams after losing to a bunch of mediocre teams. FIRE MARK RICHT.
Dawg House
October 18th, 2010
10:08 am
** to a local bar to watch some baseball without…….
Dave
October 18th, 2010
10:09 am
Larry, you need to put in the mix that they switched Defensive coaches, schemes and QB’s. It takes TIME to get used to things when the bullets start flying for real. Very few teams can pull this off. It seems like the DB’s are starting to react without thinking now, even if the competition is less than stellar. I like what I see and never thought we would be undefeated or world beaters at the beginning of the season. It’s like a head coach needs MINIMUM 3-4 years to see how he does when he gets his own recruits in. It’s called being a REALIST. GO DAWGS!
And, mwh6767...
October 18th, 2010
10:09 am
…the famous GT motto of “What’s the good word?”…they can’t even have a “good word” without thinking of UGA….
Snake Doc
October 18th, 2010
10:09 am
No JB – I am a Dawg fan! I am just not afraid to call’em like I see’em.
I’m not a Richt fan! He’s a good man, but not a great coach. You know it and I know it. His record was built when the SEC was down. Now that the coaching bar has been raised he is behind the curve!
0-2 against Spurrier when he was at Florida.
1-2 vs the Cryer
0-1 vs Saban
Petrino 0-1
1-1 vs CPJ and thats against an ACC team – Lets see how this year plays out.
Record last 2 to 3 years except against Surrier!
This team will never win a NC with MR as the CEO of this team!
Dave
October 18th, 2010
10:09 am
Ditto for Richard…..
RxDawg
October 18th, 2010
10:09 am
I can’t talk of such things yet. I picked Kentucky to beat USC, but it didn’t happen like I thought. USC is Marcus Lattimore. That said, UGA has been looking great against some inferior teams. This week they play of team of equal talent in Kentucky. Looking at the team as a whole, I can easily see us losing that game. However, if we continue to look good against Kentucky then I’ll have some of that kool-aid.
richtfan
October 18th, 2010
10:10 am
auburn’s offense is putting up the points, but their defense is non existent.
Gordon
October 18th, 2010
10:10 am
This is what is so fun about watching and listening to UGA fans. Everyone needed to be fired two weeks ago, and since then UGA has beaten two gawd-awful teams and suddenly they are going to win out and Mark Richt is a genius. The best thing that could happen to someone who doesn’t like UGA is for Mark Richt to do just well enough to keep hope alive. Get ready for another crash landing during the next month. You will go 1-2 at best against your remaining SEC opponents.
Shelley Meyer
October 18th, 2010
10:11 am
Get up Urban, I’m not calling 911 again! And make sure not to tell your daughter she’s getting her Daddy back this time.
mwh6767
October 18th, 2010
10:11 am
But. You are proving my point. You just like alot of you “friends” cite a phrase in a fight song. And you just can’t let it go. The phrase in a fight song, writtten a 100 plus years ago thats sung at an athletic event after touchdowns etc. Must mean that every tech fan secretly wants to a uga fan. It just really makes you blood boil doesn’t it. When I’m at a uga game and ive been to several where tech wasn’t the oppenent and I hear the “and to hell with ga. tech” but it doesn’t count according to you bc its not an “orginal lyric” . I may laugh and then I go on with my life. Most of the time I don’t even pay it any attention bc its sports and I DOESN”T REALLY MATTER OTHER THAN ENTERTAINMENT.
Score
October 18th, 2010
10:12 am
Can you imagine what the score will be in the SEC championship? The west by 35?
Shelley
October 18th, 2010
10:13 am
Get up Urban, enough of that crap!
if ands & buts
October 18th, 2010
10:13 am
never say never
Sanford Drive
October 18th, 2010
10:14 am
The GREATEST thing in the city of Atlanta, is without a doubt the sign that reads “Athens- 80 miles”
mwh6767
October 18th, 2010
10:19 am
If you guys are so high and mighty then why have I seen on post on uga blogs thru-out this season and the off season and in years past on non tech game weeks postings that end with “THWGT”. Come guys, everyone knows what it means. STOP WHINING!!!
HG
October 18th, 2010
10:19 am
score
yeah because sc lost to aub by 3 points and beat bama by 14?
same ole song and dance
October 18th, 2010
10:19 am
ok so let me get this straight by you hypocrite dog poops on here, when GT won at Miss St and at Vandy, you could not point the finger any harder playing down those wins as if they were Div 3 teams..but now u g a wins and loses one of them, and they are the best team in the world and heading for BCS greatness….once again, am I suppose to be impressed? I am not even impressed by Auburn or FL this year much less the trashy drunkyard dogbreaths
HG
October 18th, 2010
10:19 am
excuse me, aub by 8 points.
Dawg House
October 18th, 2010
10:20 am
mwh6767……
YOU sir, do not get it. You are under the impression that the “To Hell with Georgia” saying is ONLY in your fight song.
Let me point this out again, because you refuse to aknowledge it….. THERE IS A “TO HELL WITH GEORGIA” FLAG ON THAT UGLY CAR THAT PARADES AROUND TECH’S FIELD BEFORE ALL HOME GAMES”
I too, have been to Tech games that did not involve UGA, and you hear “To Hell with Georgia” from fans before, during, and after the game as a rally cry. You see on the Tech frat houses during homecoming week, signs that read out “What’s the good word?? To Hell with Georgia”…..
It’s everywhere, not just in your fight song you are trying to protect. It’s a TRUE OBSESSION amongst Tech Nerds. MUCH MUCH more than UGA finishing our song with “To Hell with {The weekly opponent}”, being Georgia Tech 1 time every 2 years.
Let’s put a “To Hell with Georgia Tech” f;ag on Uga’s dog house and listen to the Techies scream “Foul!”
You are hypocrites. Accept it. And come on to Athens in a mont and a half and accept another loss.
Stewart Mandel
October 18th, 2010
10:22 am
In all my travels, I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a fan base whose self-perception is so far from reality. Georgia fashions itself a national power in the vein of Ohio State, USC, et. al., based primarily off one glorious three-year run 30 years ago with Herschel Walker