The doctor is in: What UGA must do to rise from mediocrity
Yes, but being 6-6 shouldn't ever be cause for celebration. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
This is the week, Mark Richt said late Saturday night, to recruit in earnest. And it’s true that one of the teams that played in Sanford Stadium on Saturday needs a talent infusion, but it’s not Richt’s Bulldogs.
Georgia Tech has a clear idea of what it is but insufficient manpower to get it where it wants to go. Georgia has, and has long had, enough players — not that it couldn’t use more — but has come to lack direction. As these middling-by-definition teams head into December and then 2011, we address their respective needs. First, Georgia’s.
Step 1: Get stronger. It has long been suggested that Georgia’s conditioning program has gotten soft, and we saw striking evidence again Saturday night. Tech ruled the line of scrimmage. Dave Van Halanger, Georgia’s strength coach, had a hand in building SEC championship teams here — those were his offseason mat drills, transferred from Florida State, referenced in “Finish The Drill” — but the Bulldogs have come to look comparatively peaked. (And not just against Tech; Auburn scored touchdowns on six of its final seven possessions two weeks earlier.)
The issue: Van Halanger is Richt’s best friend. Willie Martinez might have been Richt’s college buddy, but it’s Van Halanger with whom Richt goes jogging. Richt waited long — too long — to sack Martinez as defensive coordinator, but finally he did it. He needs now to make an even more difficult personal decision and upgrade a position that has become substandard.
Step 2: Get edgier. An acronym born under Erk Russell is still written on the board before every Georgia game — GATA. (Loosely translated, “Get After Them Aggressively.”) The Bulldogs, however, have become slow burners. They didn’t take a lead against an SEC opponent until the season’s fourth conference game. They trailed Florida 21-7 in a game they might have won easily had they built a two-touchdown advantage. When they responded to Auburn’s opening touchdown with three of their own, the question asked itself: Why don’t do they do this more often?
As we say in hockey and figure skating, Georgia football has lost its edge. Some of this has to do with preparation, but not all. Which leads us to …
Step 3: Get an idea. Richt is a finesse coach. Georgia runs the ball as a counterpoint. Its staple running play over these 10 years has been the sprint draw, and a draw is by design a fake pass. There’s no reason for Richt to change what he believes and become Woody Hayes reincarnate, and that’s fine. Where Georgia errs is in seeking to be both finesse offense and power offense. Artificial concerns over “balance” need to be tossed in yonder trashcan.
When Georgia fans rage at Mike Bobo for “going conservative,” they have half a point. Running isn’t a bad conceptual idea, but Bobo/Richt seem to feature the run at moments when all running can do is slow Georgia. The top two teams in the BCS standings have gotten there by playing fast and attacking for four quarters. Time for the Bulldogs to join the fun.
Have a seat in the waiting room. Dr. Bradley’s Rx for Georgia Tech can be found here.
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601 comments Add your comment
Coffee Bluff DAWG
November 29th, 2010
9:30 pm
We’ll need to recruit some solid players on D, with Houston likely leaving. Our DBs had a hard time with pass coverage this yr and the D line was exposed by GT getting pushed around for much of Sat night.
Not sure with AJ and Durham gone next yr we’ll put up big #’s on O next yr even though Murray is an awesome talent.
Clean House
November 29th, 2010
9:35 pm
Hire Kevin Steele at Clemson and Fire that clueless clown Grantham. Demote Boo Boo Bozo the clown to QB coach. Hire a new OC and a Fire Von Van Halanger. Fire Rodney Garner and Fire Chuckie Doodle the clown too. Give Richt one year to show big improvement and if not send him packing for missionary work.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
9:38 pm
@Joseph OMG, let me get this straight. The OFF field problems at UGA are coaching and yet you say that TN is well coached. Say it again outloud and see how that sounds. What a moron.
@ Delbert AR lights Stanford up for 45+. Stanford is a .500 SEC team period. Those teams you put up that Oregon played are ALL sub .500 SEC teams. Just because someone is ranked high does not mean that they are talented when so much of the ranking has to do with win loss records. It does not take into consideration the actual talent on the team or the level of the opposing teams talent. ie Boise State and TCU. If they had got to play each other in a bowl AGAIN that would be two years they have gone without ever playing another team with more talent than the GA AAAAA state high school champions.
@ Bo Weevil that was a good stat on the SOS for those teams, but on the Murray thing you spun the stats to make your point. You picked and chose those that made your point look good. You didn’t include all the stats about the best performance by a Freshman QB at UGA ever. That’s dishonest. You should run for office.
Clean House
November 29th, 2010
9:39 pm
While we are at it ….Fire ISP Radio network too. Mark Fox is already starting to look like a bust hire too.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
9:45 pm
@ joetaxpayer Why do you clowns keep comparing teams from other leagues and saying that this coach her or that one there from there from the Big Mountain conference or the Pac East conference did this or that when Mickey Mouse could coach in those talent poor conferences??? Before you are able to comment on the intricacies of running a D-1 college football program you should have to know the difference between ‘there” and “THEIR.” If your IQ isn’t as big as your shoe size, if you have no actual hands on experience with a college football program you shouldn’t be allowed to comment anything besides “I love the team I pull for.”
Douglas
November 29th, 2010
9:47 pm
It does not matter if Bobo’s team has averaged over 30 points a game. He screws up on his playcalling at crucial times. UGA will be running the ball well and then all of a sudden, he throws the ball 3 times and out. When you run the ball first, you wear down the defense. Passing doesn’t wear down the defense. As Tuberville said after they beat uga: Richt has got to learn that to win an SEC championship, you have to run the ball first. Richt will be at UGA one more year..and then he will be gone.
Eat and Tweet
November 29th, 2010
9:52 pm
Like David Pollock told big fat Jeff Owens that he needed a better diet while playing at UGA and UGA obviously hasnt stressed nutrition to their players in the S&C program. Spurrier stresses nutrition at SC and it has really paid off for his team.
wildbill
November 29th, 2010
9:53 pm
Most of us played high school football and have watched (in person and on tv) a LOT of football games. Most of the comments have merit and are well intentioned. What irks me are people like ‘boog’ who disses bloggers like he knows everything and everybody else is stupid. People are not stupid, so the bloggers like boog who ‘dis’ people for their comments may very well be the lowest on the IQ ladder. Take that boog, whoever you are.
just a fan
November 29th, 2010
9:55 pm
Dave
I thought Charles and White would be HUGE this year and they were MIA for a lot of the season
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:02 pm
Dear Phil unless you have done something one can not comment on the said subject. So, I have never served in the army can not comment on the war on terror, not a chef can not comment on food at a restaurant, never been in politics can not comment on that either. My point that you missed was the 3-4. That Texas AM had no trouble implementing it. Maybe if you could stop name calling and checking my grammar we could discuss football. I don’t believe you can since other than name calling and spelling you have made no other point. BTW what is her or that. Do you not have spell check. Somebody needs to tell sport talk shows blogger,hosts,etc. etc if they have never played the game to find other line of work.
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:08 pm
BTW Phil please you more punctuation your run on sentence is starting to look like CTG defense, CONFUSED.
Snoop Dawg
November 29th, 2010
10:09 pm
You can analyze the sad state of affairs until the Dawgs come home, but the bottom line is that Mark Richt has lost whatever touch he may have had and needs to go. His first years were built on Donnan’s recruits. His record each of the past in general was worse than the year before. The UGA needs to get rid of da Preacha Man and his entire staff. Let’s pull out the bucks, hire a proven head coach (no not an OC or DC with UGA ties), and pay for him to hire a world class staff. Any fool could win championships with all the talent in this state.
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:14 pm
If you have never played D1 college football and can not use proper grammar on a blog, forum, or message board you should not be allowed to comment. Life and wisdom according to Phil.
just a fan
November 29th, 2010
10:14 pm
Joe Taxpayer
A&M did do a good job installing the 3-4 but they may have had better personnel to run that type of Defense whereas UGA would have been better off installing it last year when we had those 3 huge D linemen here. I think Grantham is doing a good job and we will be better next year
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:15 pm
Good night Phil. Have sweet dreams about Mark Richt.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
10:17 pm
@joetaxpayer that is exactly what I am saying. You have no idea what you are talking about. Just spout it off like it’s a fact.
@ KaliDogg while that might be all sweet and nice for him to say publicly, he knows it’s not so and he knows he will never ever be fired from UT. Do you really believe that that Defensive genius Muschamp, whos’ defense just sucks, just forgot how to coach when less than a year ago they were playing for the national championship? Really? It’s coaching at Texas? Really?
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:18 pm
just a fan, great point I am glad you said may. I don’t know.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
10:19 pm
EAT AND TWEET That’s what I thought the problem was all along, it’s gotta be the ice cream that’s missing all those tackles and fumbling the ball. Gotta be it.
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:21 pm
Phil you got me. I have no clue to what your point is. Texas AM defense is improved. They hire a new DC when we did. He installed the 3-4. All facts.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
10:22 pm
@ Douglas, it doesn’t matter how many points you score?? Really? It doesn’t matter that we just set an all time record for points scored by a UGA team. Really? It doesn’t mean the OC is doing a good job? An all time record with a pitiful OL. Really?
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:25 pm
Phil, Sarcasm is suppose to be funny. Yours is dumb and spiteful. Just admit you are a CMR supporter.
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:28 pm
Again Phil thats not the point Douglas is making. His point is Bobo gets away from what is working.
CaneGrrl``
November 29th, 2010
10:30 pm
@ Dawg H8R – you’ve clearly got your history a little mixed up. Richt was backup to Jim Kelly at Miami and graduated before Miami’s 1983 title and long before the trash talking started. He was coached by Howard Schnellenberger who had no “thug” problems during his tenure. Whatever led to him allowing 10+ arrests in a single season and not doing anything about it is his own making, not Miami’s.
PHIL
November 29th, 2010
10:32 pm
joetaxpayer what is YOUR point? While it is pathetic, the UGA defense “improved” on the number of points scored against it while also limiting almost everyone we played to less than their average points per game. And that include the fact that our QB gave Florida most of their points.
My point, is that you, along with the legion of slobbering idiots that have never been associated with a football program, most never having even been on campus at the University of Georgia feel free to go beyond criticizing those that administer the program at UGA when you have no real knowledge or experience to criticize from. You wouldn’t know a football from a flying saucer. Now do you get my point?
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:39 pm
Wisdom from Phil. My point, is that you, along with the legion of slobbering idiots that have never been associated with a football program, most never having even been on campus at the University of Georgia feel free to go beyond criticizing those that administer the program at UGA when you have no real knowledge or experience to criticize from. You wouldn’t know a football from a flying saucer. Now do you get my point? How do you know this o wise one? Let me see only you can speak of these things. I can tell you are sooooo knowledgeable about whats happing at UGA.
another dog fan
November 29th, 2010
10:40 pm
Phil has CMR pj’s.
joe taxpayer
November 29th, 2010
10:43 pm
Lay off of Phil. His hero is taking heat and he is lashing out in anger.
Cornelius Washington
November 29th, 2010
11:03 pm
Talent is the missing element at UGA….compare NFL draftees from 2001-2005 to 2006-2010…..yes, part of coaching is developing talent, but I do not see the kind of talent the earlier teams had…..”stars” from Rivals and Scout do not mean a whole lot.
Joe Cox
November 29th, 2010
11:14 pm
Some of you people are way off. With AJ Green, Aaron Murray, Orson Charles, and Kris Durham any OC in college football could average way over 30 points. Just because UGA scored some points dosen’t mean they came anywhere close to reaching their potential. With Bobo’s undying affection for the play action pass in situations where everyone knows it is a pass is ridiculous. Simply put Bobo is the most predicdable and unimaginative OC I have ever seen on any level.
san diego dawg
November 29th, 2010
11:18 pm
UGA is not the only team in the south in need of a new strength & conditioning program. The Braves have basically been without one for years and it really has showed the past few seasons. Look at a picture of JJ from 2 seasons ago when he pitched lights out and compare it to current picture. The current bloated nature of his physique is equal to his bloated ERA. I don’t know what the answer is at Georgia if Richt is not going to fire his buddy. I do know that Urban Meyer makes strength & conditioning several orders of magnitude higher priority than what we see at UGA. You can’t beat em’ in the 4th quarter if you can’t at least match their strength & conditioning. It is insane that we even have to discuss this. Strength & conditioning are fundamentals just like blocking and tackling.
Roger
November 29th, 2010
11:21 pm
UGA needs new fans.
Sleeper Service
November 29th, 2010
11:30 pm
Roger, Roger
Joe Cox
November 29th, 2010
11:52 pm
Some of you people are foolish. With AJ Green, Aaron Murray, Orson Charles, and Kris Durham any OC in college football could average way over 30 points. Just because UGA scored some points dosen’t mean they came anywhere close to reaching their potential. With Bobo’s undying affection for the play action pass in situations where everyone knows it is a pass is ridiculous. Simply put Bobo is the most predicdable and unimaginative OC I have ever seen on any level.
Fire Bozo now
Iceman
November 30th, 2010
12:01 am
Very well said! I have total faith in Coach Richt, he is a young coach who has showed us he can change. The best coaches have always surrounded themselves with people who know more than them in certain areas. Your best coach is the position coaches. The head coach manages!! Brian Van Gorder leaving UGA has killed our defense. We have not played with that much swagger since. It cost us a National Championship in Stafford’s last year!!! Along with weakness upfront! If you don’t block you will never win! We have been whipped upfront! Championships start on the o-line and d-line. We will always have skill players and always have! This is a fact to my beloved Dawgnation!
Roy Wood
November 30th, 2010
12:09 am
One suggestion hire Johnson.I could not stand to watch UGA run that crap all yr long sorry.
DIZZY DAWG
November 30th, 2010
12:09 am
FUUURRRSST! Ouch ! I think I pinched my sack. My bad.
joseph
November 30th, 2010
12:30 am
PHIL:
i never helps to call anyone names, everyone has a right to there opinion. i have not watched all of tn games this year, the ones i have watched i thought the coaching was good. i have watched all of ugas games this year and i never felt like the coaching was good. i did not like cmr when he was hired, but i did thank he was a good coach with the potential of becoming a great coach. i no longer believe that, i thank he has made poor decisions in the hiring of asst coaches, and i just thank he has went backwards i don’t thank he is as good a coach now as he was 7-8 years ago. thats my opinion
off field problems for uga and any other school, may or may not be the head coach’s fault but they are his responsibility, you cannot change that, the head coach is responsible for everything his coaches, and players do, or don’t do.
now do i thank they will fire cmr no, i thank he has got two maybe three years.
RANDALL
November 30th, 2010
12:36 am
1. UGA AIN’T MEDIOCRE
2. RICHT’S WIN % IS TOP 5 IN THE COUNTRY
3. RECRUITING IS TOP 10 EVERY YEAR
4. TOP 10 IN PROFITS
5. TOP 10 IN APPAREL SALES
6. 14 STRAIGHT BOWL APPEARANCES
7. 4 CONSECUTIVE TOP 10 FINISHES
8. 1 OF 7 COACHES IN HISTORY TO WIN 90 GAMES IN FIRST 9 SEASONS
9. 18, TOP 10 FINISHES, IN HIS 24 YEARS AS A COACH
BUT HOW TO GO FROM TOP 10, TO #1?
YOUR DEFENSE MUST SHOT EVERYBODY DOWN
OR
YOUR OFFENSE MUST OUTSCORE EVERYBODY
FIGURE OUT WHO YOU ARE AND BE #1 AT IT.
RANDALL
November 30th, 2010
12:38 am
UGA IS KNOWN FOR OFFENSE.
SO BE #1 IN SCORING & RUSHING OFFENSE
RANDALL
November 30th, 2010
12:51 am
RECRUIT CROWELL AT RB–
DOMINANT RUNNING BACK, 100+ A GAME, IS THE MISSING LINK.
GO GET A LATTIMORE.
tex dog
November 30th, 2010
1:08 am
Contrary to MB comments, UGA does not have the players. Blame recruiting for lack of
offensive line and defensive line depth. However, I bow to MB as he is a journalist and they know
all. Get up to 1,000 blogs so he can get another raise.
jasonthadawg
November 30th, 2010
1:21 am
All We Need is one Key to the Cog to make the wheels spin. The engine is there, just got to get power to the ground, We NEED ISAIAH CROWELL!!!
BoWeevil
November 30th, 2010
3:07 am
When Richt does ANY ONE of these, he almost ALWAYS LOSES :
1- Plays a good team in game 1 with all suspensions / arrests
2- Doesn’t prepare his QB for the next season, the last season
3- Plays a legit Top 10 Final AP Poll team that season they are Top 10
4- Plays a SEC East team, no matter how sorry they are
5- Plays a cupcake not Top 25 Final AP Poll team 1 a year he loses to
6- Doesn’t have Jim Donnan recruits left on team to still play
7-Lets players get off scott-free for transgression if not arrested for it
8-Plays any Florida team coached by any Florida coach in JAX
9-Tells fans he is going to keep obviously horrible hire on staff
10-Tells knocked Lid off # 11 all-time 1-A win team beating # 4 vols, lost 4 games
Loses 90% of these games, when he does any one of these.
He is 3-10 vs Top 10 Final AP Poll teams all 10 years
He has 10 inexplicable losses to not Top 25 Final AP teams 10 yrs
He Lost 4 games 2006 5 games 2009 6 games 2010 – no QB prepared
He was missing key pieces vs Okie State & will against Boise State
He is 52-13 his first 5 years & 44-20 his last 5 years
He waited until lost 5 games 2009 to fire Willie, told us keeping him
He has waited until lost 6 games 2010 to fire Bobo, told us keeping him
He is 2-8 vs Florida in JAX COMPLAINS about playing there EVERY YEAR
His 3 best wins # 4 vols 2001 Lost 4, # 6 LSU 2005 Lost 3, # 9 Auburn 2006 Lost 4
patrick
November 30th, 2010
3:22 am
Who is a better replacement….name another coach that has had his team finish ranked top ten 6 of last nine years with 2 BCS bowl wins and a winning record against every single team he has faced except Fla…..name one or shut the F up
patrick
November 30th, 2010
3:25 am
he has a winning record against every team he has played more than once except Fla. No one else can say that. He has finished top ten 6 of last nine years….no one else can say that (in the SEC). Shuit up…he had a wierd yer were 4 fumbles cost him 4 games (his ave points difference in his losses…7) If not for those 4 untimely fumbles UGA is ranked to 5 with 9 or ten wins already.
BoWeevil
November 30th, 2010
3:49 am
Dave
November 29th, 2010 8:57 pm
“I thought King was a Senior. Even better. They work decent as a tandem, and with injuries and suspensions, it’s good to have 2 good backs. Ealey has scored 11 td’s to King’s 2 td’s, but King’s been solid this year on ypc, and is devastating at Pass Pro and excellent on screen passes.”
Caleb Darnell King, now that regular season 12 games are complete, has 2 catches all season for 8 yards and no TD and 430 yards rushing with 2 TD (equaling his number of arrests with 2.) He has been here 4 years and next season is his 5th season here; how in the living hell Dave could you possibly not know that ? He has played the last 3 years in a row. These have been the worst 3 years of this football program and he has been coddled as our FAVORITE player, yet he has done NOTHING in any big game, thus we have NOT beat 1 single Top 10 Final AP Poll team the entire time he has been on our Campus, stinking it up
BoWeevil
November 30th, 2010
3:52 am
He has done NOTHING in any big game, thus we have NOT beat 1 single Top 10 Final AP Poll team the entire time he has been on our Campus, stinking it up, acting entitled and saying oh Coach Richt, please don’t suspend me, please Coach Richt I don’t feel good, and oh Coach Richt I cannot play I am injured. 2008 we lost to every team we played started # 1 in the nation only to find 21 players out carousing Athens the very night we were ranked # 1 ended up # 13 Final AP Poll and had we Started out # 13, we would NOT have been ranked at all and didn’t deserve to be except for the hype giving up consecutive points of 31 to nothing, 42 to nothing and 29 to nothing against the ONLY 3 teams we played 2008. 2009 again we were hyped and lost 5 games, and to top that off 2010 we have lost 6 games already with a bowl game remaining I hope we get to play against some team who is well-coached because we ALWAYS LOSE THOSE GAMES TOO against any team well-coached, no matter how sorry they are as a team with poor talent but well-coached that game.
Caleb Freaking King :
16 catches for 126 yards and 1 TD his ENTIRE CAREER
1,271 yards rushing for 10 TD his ENTIRE CAREER
indianman
November 30th, 2010
6:19 am
firing coach richt will be bad ideal
GT/GS
November 30th, 2010
6:36 am
I do not see it as Georgia winning as much as I do Tech losing. At the end of the game the Georgia linemen were gasping for air, and stopping no one, and with two fumbles and three interceptions to only win by one point, the other was a gime to get the ball back, doesn’t speak highly of the red defense. You keep bringing up 9 out of 10 what about 18 out of 20 Gator Bait.
Uga beats GT a lot
November 30th, 2010
6:46 am
Running the ball itself isn’t a bad idea, but if you only run the ball up the middle or off guard. it ain’t gonna get no where.