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
freddy
November 29th, 2010
11:57 am
Moble Dawg…you sound pretty smart, so what would you do if you was the uga AD…?
Dawgtards ruin this state
November 29th, 2010
11:57 am
Let’s start by not having a high profile married administrator arrested for DUI with a scantily clad sleazy chick in his car.
Steve
November 29th, 2010
11:57 am
Mark-
Excellent analysis. As a Richt supporter, he can always be improving. He has made improvements in over a dozen areas this season, but the running game, and the conditioning program need to be completely re-staffed. And Bobo needs to go study some edgy offenses in the off-season.
Also, Georgia’s achilles Hill has been scoring margin, and this must be addressed by emphasizing better 1st quarter play, and then getting and keeping a lead. To get better in the first quarter, you have to throw a lot of things at the opposition in the first quarter they havn’t seen on film. You have to emphasize 1st quarter stats. And reward coaches and players who get it.
DUMBO
November 29th, 2010
11:58 am
Mister Falcon….go home to Tech you loser. Richt 9 wins 1 loss against the Techies….now that is who really sucks…TECH.
RC in the ATL
November 29th, 2010
11:58 am
Mark,
I tend to agree with you on all three points. Here’s hoping that these changes are made, and soon!
By the way, congratulations on your Falcons prediction from months ago. You were spot on. 12-4 is looking more and more like a reality. When you first made the prediction, I was hoping you were right. Now, with the way they have played, and with the remaining schedule, I would be REAL disappointed if they didn’t finish at least 12-4.
Woodstock Dawg
November 29th, 2010
11:59 am
Absolutely agree 1eyedJack. Hopefully knowing the importance of that first game against Boise will keep us very focused next summer. We have had slow starts the last few seasons for whatever reasons. Green really hurt us this year by being out for four games. We can all look back and say “what if” but I think the outcome of at least 2 or 3 of those first four games would have benn different if Green was playing.
Mister Falcon
November 29th, 2010
11:59 am
Steve Spurrier built a champ contender out of a decimated mediocre program at SOUTH CAROLINA, that’s SOUTH CAROLINA, in half the time. And owned Georgia (along with the rest of the SEC). If our players weren’t busy staggering into and out of the Clarke County hoosegow under the tutelage of Richt and the gang (great strategy there guys, your defense is to coach the “choke” sign from the sideline) maybe they would even be conscious that 6-6 and having your butts handed to you by the entire SEC doesn’t mean you run anything but your MOUTH. UGA has turned into one of those programs of loudmouths and criminals. Richt truly BELONGS AT MIAMI where that is PAR FOR THE COURSE.
Steve
November 29th, 2010
11:59 am
Philosophically, I am not sure Bobo is capable of transitioning to a balanced run 1st offense, like Auburn, SC, and Alabama run. That’s a decision Richt needs to make.
with a 40-2 record when he gets a 100 yard rusher, it’s time to get serious about running the football.
option smoption
November 29th, 2010
12:01 pm
Mark. If Georgia must rise from mediocrity at what level of dante’s hell is tech starting? Didn’t they just lose. Why not write about that. Oh, now i remember. Because your Mark Bradley and you’d rather write about how bad uga is than report the obvious. Thanks again for all your insite.
DUMBO
November 29th, 2010
12:01 pm
TECH = LOSERS
TECH SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
TECH SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
David Granger
November 29th, 2010
12:02 pm
Can’t disagree with anything you say, Mark. Georgia has sure taken a long time to get started in most games. (Though we jumped out to a quick lead against Auburn…and then fell apart.)
I think the biggest problem at Georgia is that Coach Richt has…either through intent or through ignoring things…let the team get infused with that FSU-type lack of discipline that Bobby Bowden always excused. Every time FSU players would be caught doing something either on the field or off, Bowden would always excuse it with “Awww, they’re good boys. Just having a little fun, and got carried away.”
And in recent years we have seen Georgia players:
1. Get in all kinds of trouble off the field…many of the incidents being VERY stupid. (How much sense does it take to know that you don’t have a driver’s license, or have a court hearing scheduled?)
2. Commit all kinds of stupid penalties, often in very criticial situations that have either kept opponent’s drives going, or killed our own drives.
3. Dancing on the sidelines during the late fourth quarter of a game in which we were LOSING.
4. Running off the field at halftime, only to have to run back because the clock still had a few seconds on it.
5. Stomping around on the opponent’s logo at midfield after we needed a last-second field goal to beat….VANDERBILT, of all teams.
And Mark, I just don’t believe that…once a coach loses that team discipline…he can ever get it back Coach Richt does two things very well. He’s a clean-cut, nice-looking guy…says the right things and represents the university well. And he’s a good recruiter, which is probably the best single ability to have. And after that, the positives are about over. He’s not a good game-day coach, and I think your point about his being a finesses coach is on the mark.
Brandon
November 29th, 2010
12:02 pm
For all of you morons who say that I’m “living in the past” by comparing Richt’s record overall to the all-time greatest coaches in college football, consider this: His career winning percentage is BETTER THAN NICK SABAN’S!!!! Just face the fact that all of you who call for his firing after what he is done with the program are hand-wringing idiots who will be nowhere to be found when we win a National Championship…
Mister Falcon
November 29th, 2010
12:03 pm
Dawgs need to get busy looking for a coach. Too bad we missed on Saban when we had the chance. Somebody dropped the ball there. Gruden? Maybe. Honestly doesn’t matter. I and the rest of the dawg nation are just sick of all the players being in jail week in and week out. Get some players with some SMARTS and GOOD CHARACTER as well as skills and results will improve. Of course, gotta start with changing to a coaching staff with SMARTS and GOOD CHARACTER. That’s why Richt and the Chokesters just gotta go.
Tweets that mention The doctor is in: What UGA must do to rise from mediocrity | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
November 29th, 2010
12:03 pm
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LCDawg
November 29th, 2010
12:08 pm
Staff changes are good…all programs get complacent at some point. Strength & conditioning is an easy place to make a MUCH needed change. Van Halanger can hang around as a hand holder. Put him in charge of making sure everybody has a legitimate driver’s license. Problem solved.
Mobile Dawg
November 29th, 2010
12:09 pm
freddy, I would just do my job if I were McGarity. Simply put I would look at the body of work CMR’s done and identify the problems I see. I would have some help putting together a list to make sure I didn’t miss anything and to insure I was being objective. I would then give Mark Richt the list, tell him to come up with a plan to fix every issue on the list along with a time line, offer to help him if he would like, and give me a detailed, outlined, plan for a step by step fix to every problem on the list.
I would post the list, and the plan. Mark and I would go over this list, and plan, once a week to insure we were accomplishing our goals. If we were, the results would show. If not, I would go back to my 11:50 post and find someone who fit the criteria I outlined there. This process would not take long to produce results, or show his lack of comittment, or inability to perform at this level.
Bo
November 29th, 2010
12:10 pm
Mark, I have to take issue with your “Step: 3″. UGA has tried to have a power run game. The ‘run as a counterpoint’ philosophy has evolved from necessity. UGA’s line has been poor since 2006-2007 and mediocre for a few years before that. Yes, there were a ton of injuries and some young linemen playing for a few years but this was a huge factor in Georgia’s not being able to run with authority.
Also before Richt gave up play calling to Bobo, he liked to give all of the running backs a series. He would rotate them so that they were always fresh. However, I always felt like this kept a guy from getting hot. I’ve always thought that a really good back gets better as a game wears on. When Bobo took over, they started to use a couple of backs but let the ‘hot’ one stay in for several series at a time.
If this team had the offensive line that everyone thought they would have at the beginning of the year, it would be a power running team with a heck of a passing game. Al a Alabama’s offense.
OkefenokeeDawg
November 29th, 2010
12:10 pm
“College football is wonderful in that the previous year will have absolutely no bearing on the next year. We’ll have a different team, different players, possibly some different coaches, attitudes, chemistry etc.”
***************************************
Hate to pee on your excitement for next season, 1eyedJack, but:
1) Richt has already said there will be no staff changes
2) We are losing three of our four, best, big-play guys – Green, Durham, Houstin – leaving only Murray.
Wish I had your “glass half full” attitude, but I don’t want to even think of our offense without those two receivers.
x-dawgfan
November 29th, 2010
12:11 pm
UGA players character is the #1 reason I don’t pull for UGA. #2 is the UGA fans that think they can do no wrong..everyone else is bad are dirty. Fans always making excuses.#3 Coach is to good for his own good.
Andy in Blairsville
November 29th, 2010
12:12 pm
Just accept the fact UGA has historically been a middle of the road team in the SEC and let Richt go on about his business of trying to keep these kids out of jail and making sure they are in Sunday School if they want to play.
Mister Falcon
November 29th, 2010
12:15 pm
Vince Dooley’s teams were appropriately called the Junkyard Dawgs for their tenacious, tough play.
Richt’s teams are appropriately knowns as the Mad Dawg 20/20’s for equally obvious reasons. Or maybe Mad Dawg 6/6’s is more appropriate. Just read the embarrassing sign our 6-6 team is holding up in the photo. Says it all. Mark Richt’s Mad Dawg 6/6’s.
freddy
November 29th, 2010
12:15 pm
agree! Thanks Moble.
Steve O
November 29th, 2010
12:16 pm
No coach does less with good players than UGA. Top 10 recruiting classes every year. Both AJ and Houston will be first round picks. Best kicker and punter in the country. Other players who will be in the NFL. What does that all amount to? A 6-6 record.
Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
November 29th, 2010
12:16 pm
Mister Falcon is a joke. We had a chance at getting Saban? When?
And if we have a “mediocre” program, then why can’t we be next year’s South Carolina? They brought in a kid that is a game breaker. That’s all it takes in college. Hopefully Crowell will be our game breaker.
Quit saying you are a Dawg. You have no clue what you are talking about.
OkefenokeeDawg
November 29th, 2010
12:16 pm
Whoo hooo! There you go! “Richt’s winning percantage is better than Saban’s.” That won’t hold up long, cause Richt has lost 12 of his last 26 games.
Who gives a crap about winning percantage, anyway? Championships matter.
UGA isn’t even on the national radar anymore . . .
dean
November 29th, 2010
12:17 pm
Mister Falcon @ 12:03
Did you happen to catch the Auburn-AL game this past Saturday? Didn’t Auburn win? Weren’t they down 24-0? Didn’t Alabama blow it? Who is Alabama’s coach? Oh, THAT Nick Saban!
Just want to be sure about that.
jack bull
November 29th, 2010
12:17 pm
Wow, i wish i knew half of much as Mark Bradley…man, he has the answer for every sports team in the state. i kinda wonder why he is just a boring little ajc writer. shoot, he should be making that 4 million/yr coaching somewhere…lets see, we averaged 34.25 points a game, which should be enough to win in any league. we again gave up 30 points or more points a whole lot. i think what needs to be fixed is…
1)Defense–not good at all
2)Defense–wins championships
3)Defense–UF(who we all know we need to beat), scored 30+ against us, while scoring 7,10 maybe 14 against everyone else in the SEC, except maybe Vandy…K.I.S.S.
fire Richt!
November 29th, 2010
12:18 pm
at least Mark has some solutions (although it lacks the most important one: fire CMR), Jeff schutlz is just clueless
dean
November 29th, 2010
12:18 pm
Correction: The Auburn-AL game this past FRIDAY…
DUMBO
November 29th, 2010
12:19 pm
Mister Falcon…..if I had the wings of a Eagle, the A$$ of a big buffalo, I’d fly over North Ave and CRAP on you and the loser campus below!
High School
November 29th, 2010
12:20 pm
Saturday night looked just like a high school football game. Those two teams are poor excuses for major college football, coaching on both sides included.
bjohndawg
November 29th, 2010
12:20 pm
TCU is going to the Big East Conference? What the hell is that all about. You would think the Big !2 would be a better fit. Sorry but lately College football is getting screwed up. And most of it is a product of this BCS crap. TCU has to chase a BCS berth by locking in with a BCS conference. So they are going to do Home and Away with UConn!
If we had a real playoff system this kind of garbage moves would not be needed. As an FYI..I like TCU, nothing against the school. Just saying…
Bobo, Bobo, a pirate's life for me
November 29th, 2010
12:21 pm
Anyone else notice how when all the seniors had their names called, I was only sad to hear about 3 or 4 of them go out of all those names??? That is another big reason why we have not been to good these last two or three years, none of those players stepped up! Blame the coaches or the players….idk
schmeckdawg
November 29th, 2010
12:24 pm
DAWG fans remember that it took Dooley 16 years to win a NC and who knows if he would have ever won one without Herschel! I think that getting rid of CMR would be a huge mistake. We would just be starting all over again. Remember paranoid Ray Goff and underachieving Jim Donnan. Yes, there absolutely is plenty of room for improvement and if “we” know it, you had better bet that CMR knows it. Afterall, it is his lively hood at stake and I think he knows that if he has another year like the last two, he’s gone! 96-33, Playing in 3 SEC Championships, and winning 2, 7-2 in Bowl Games and 9-1 vs. The Joke By Coke gets him a pass in my book. Keep Hunkerin’!!
redandtrue
November 29th, 2010
12:25 pm
The Mad Dawg 6&6’s! ———– hahahah..thank you, Falcon, that is funny as hell and the perfect moniker for CMR’s squad! lol
Why we tolerate CMR is a mystery to us all. But, like a bad president, I guess he’s still good for the comedy and jokes if we can’t get him to move on.
Mad Dawg 6&6’s…probably soon will be Old Mad Dawg 6&7!
monty
November 29th, 2010
12:27 pm
Urban Meyer in his 2nd year, Nick Saban in his 2nd year, Gene Chizik in his 2nd year?,Mark Richt in his 10 years? Nope. We have had the talent, but not the coaching. MAybe Richt is a pretty good coach,or maybe he has benefited greatly from having great athletes.(you decide). THis league is extremely competitive. Florida NC two years ago and they get humiliated by the Noles. Bama NC last year and now Auburn is the pride of the state. Every Bama fan was talking about how they would be even better this year, but they weren’t. Lose a Tebow, gain a Newton and you get the picture.
We do need to get more physical(Tech’s fullback made our linemen and LB’s look pitiful, and we need to find a game breaker half-back(not sure why we can’t get a guy who has the speed to take it to the house if they get in the open, Ealy is slow and King is only a step faster. Then sadly we need recievers to replace Greene and Durham(not going to happen IMO). Every team has talent, it’s what you do with the talent that counts.
bjohndawg
November 29th, 2010
12:28 pm
If Auburn can go 12-0…then by God I expect the coach of the University of Georgia to be able to do it as well. Dont expect it every year…but once every ten.
No excuses Richt…fix it and finish the drill. Then do whatever you want if coaching is not in your blood. Need an example of in your blood? See Woody Hayes, the Bear, Knute,Bo, etc.
GT
November 29th, 2010
12:32 pm
Maybe they are waiting another year for Dooley over in Knoxville to ripen. You can almost see this if you look close enough. Lots of coaches have gone to other programs in the SEC, some were not even that good as coaches, just understood the SEC. Dooley is a little below the line right now but beating Kentucky helped. A few good wins, not even great wins next year may bring him into Athens. I would have thought it was a mistake after watching them get chewed up in Athens this year, but you have two great politicians in Vince and Mama Dooley lobbying right there in Athens at every gathering. He is on the radar, shouldn’t be but he shouldn’t be coaching at Tennessee either.
Xiaoming Hsu starring as Randall Smallwood
November 29th, 2010
12:38 pm
I don’t believe Bo Schembechler ever won a championship.
Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
November 29th, 2010
12:39 pm
If any of you people went to college and took a MGMT course, you would have learned that it costs more to replace than it does to retrain. We have had 3 chances to be in a NC game in Richt’s tenure. It requires alot of luck. If the cards fell our way we would have been in those games and won at least one of them. I’ll take that.
3 chances in a decade for a NC > two bad years.
Xiaoming Hsu starring as Randall Smallwood
November 29th, 2010
12:42 pm
I guess they want Mack Brown out of Texas after this year.
DUMBO
November 29th, 2010
12:43 pm
GT….I’d be worrying about Tech if I was you, I mean look at the QB, dang he can’t even underhand a pass 10 yds and for a Option QB he doesn’t look like he’ll break away too often. As for Defense, better find some real DB’s who know what pass coverage means
collegeballfan
November 29th, 2010
12:47 pm
The UGA offense scored 35 points against Tech. That should be enough points to win any football game by a comfortable margin. The UGA problem is not offense.
The UGA defense gave up over 400 yards rushing & 34 points to a 4-4 ACC team. The UGA defense let the Tech offense control the ball 38 of the 60 minutes.
Tech scored 34 points on UGA. Tech only scored more points than that against Middle Tenn, 42 and S. Carolina State, 41. Heck, Tech only scored 30 points against that ACC defensive powerhouse Duke. And take away the 7 points from the interception return for a TD and the Tech offense only gets 23 against the Duke defense.
Yet the UGA fans only complain about Bobo and the offense.
The UGA defense has been sliding downhill since Van Gorder left. The Dogs probably have the right guy in charge of the defense. But as Al Groh points out, it takes 2 full seasons to install the 3-4 defense.
The UGA defense will be jelly-like next season also.
Patience Bulldog fans, patience.
jarvis
November 29th, 2010
12:49 pm
There are more Tech fans on this blog than there were in Athens on Saturday.
jarvis
November 29th, 2010
12:50 pm
And Dooley? Seriously?
Our President hates Vince Dooley. You think he’s going to hire Vince’s son?
South Ga Dawg
November 29th, 2010
12:51 pm
Its a mentality problem in Athens! Talent there, coaching staff there, no edge to em. No nasty streak anywhere to be found.
Baddig
November 29th, 2010
12:52 pm
How about bringing in Goldberg and Pollack as motivational and strength coaches? Also Any kid that gets in trouble will have to wrestle Goldberg.
Charles
November 29th, 2010
12:53 pm
Bradley – if you can’t see that the Georgia defense has a talent problem, then there’s no helping you. Tech was gouging UGA’s D-line because we just aren’t that good there. Dobbs is too small. Jones is still a baby. Tyson’s too small to play the nose in a 3-4. As for backups, Geathers still isn’t ready. Anderson would’ve helped, but got hurt. UGA’s biggest problem in 2011 was that we were just undermanned on the DL. Teams that lined up and pounded us had success. Safety play was also down, and it was clearly a talent issue. None of them except ‘Tree were highly recruited…and maybe you could add Hamilton there.
We actually did a pretty decent job against clubs that played pro style or preferred to throw the ball…ie, Ark and UK. Now we need to get some stuffers to clog the middle and continue to improve the talent at safety. And it would help if Boykin stays.
Our guys are strong as hell. Combine #s every year prove that. VH is staying, but we’re likely going to add some bodies to the staff. The bigger problem with S&C has to do with the mindset the S&C staff instills over the summer and into fall camp. Maybe that’s what you mean by ‘edgy’. We lost almost every close game we played this year. That’s a bothersome issue for me, and is something that I’m not quite sure how to address.
CDAWG
November 29th, 2010
12:53 pm
Good article and points Mark, I have to agree with you!
Jackson
November 29th, 2010
12:53 pm
Dan Mullen- Put him in a talent-rich state to recruit + his UF connection to McGarity…