If nobody kept score, UGA did well. Someone did, and it lost
His teams used to win these games. What happened? (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Athens – It was there for Georgia, the second-biggest game of Mark Richt’s stewardship, same as the biggest game this coach has worked had been there that cold day at Auburn nine years ago. His Bulldogs needed one drive to win. On Nov. 16, 2002, the prize had been Georgia’s first SEC East title. On this warm and frenzied Saturday, the prize was ….
A sliver of job security? Yes. A hushing, even if only a temporary one, of a roiled Bulldog Nation? Sure. A leg up on another SEC East title? Absolutely.
One drive to win. At Auburn, it had come down to fourth-and-14, to 70-X-Takeoff, to David Greene throwing and Michael Johnson leaping over Horace Willis. That was the victory that made us believe Richt’s Bulldogs could win any game, degree of difficulty be hanged.
But that was then, and this, sorry to say, is now. And now we can say of the same coach — the same but different — that his team can manage to lose almost any game, the excellence of its effort notwithstanding.
With one drive to win, Georgia couldn’t even make one play. This on a day when it would outgain South Carolina and amass 23 first downs to the Gamecocks’ 15. This on a day when the Bulldogs seemed the more gifted team. One drive to win, and here’s what happened.
Nobody blocked Jadeveon Clowney, the No. 1 recruit of 2011. Clowney burst up the middle, grabbed Aaron Murray and shook the ball loose and watched as Melvin Ingram gathered it up for the touchdown that made this a 10-point game with 3:12 remaining.
More would happen — Georgia would score a quick touchdown and Richt would botch the calling of his next-to-last timeout and the Gamecocks would run out the clock — but that sack-and-fumble-and-touchdown was the moment. These Bulldogs and their coach had the chance to grab a game they weren’t expected to win, and they wasted it.
There might well be better days — great days, even — ahead for these Bulldogs and their coach, but what we saw Saturday was what we’d seen all last season. Given the chance to Step Up, Georgia takes a seat. It hasn’t lost the capacity to make inspired plays, but it no longer makes winning plays.
So much had gone right. The defense had played far better than it had in the deflating loss to Boise State. Murray had steadied himself. The offensive line had blocked, finally, and Isaiah Crowell had rushed for 118 yards in his second collegiate game. If nobody had bothered to keep score, you’d have scored this a Bulldog victory. That said …
This is big-time football, and a score is kept. And Georgia lost.
We can look at this game and say, as Richt said afterward, that this is “going to be a fine football team.” But there was a time when Georgia didn’t need to traffic in moral victories. There was a time when Georgia went out and won these games.
A strange sequence in an exceedingly strange first half was telling. Richt ordered an onside kick after Georgia had taken a 13-7 lead, and it worked — almost. Bacarri Rambo, who recovered the ball, had been a hair offside. Undaunted, the Bulldogs forced Carolina to punt — almost. The Evil Genius in the trademark visor called for a fake punt, and Ingram took it the distance. Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks were back in front.
As Ingram was fleeing up the sideline, Richt flung his play cards and his headset 10 yards onto the field. All week he’d had to parry the question of whether this was a must-win, but here he gave us the answer. The famous stoic was throwing things in exasperation.
“Georgia outplayed us,” Spurrier said, “but we won the game. Sometimes it happens like that.”
Sometimes it does, but it no longer happens that way for Georgia. This has a program that has the requisite talent and resources but has lost half of its past 30 games. There’s still an opportunity for these Bulldogs to make hay of this season, but at this moment it’s hard to see beyond 0-2.
As for Richt: The end is not yet at hand for this coach, but we’ve reached the point where every loss nudges him a bit closer toward the door. He now presides over a program that could and should win big. It has, alas, forgotten how.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,658 comments Add your comment
browndog
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
The team is going to be fine……..the fans suck!
rosezeee
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
All that preseason hype and the season is toast in week two
Wait til next year!!!
LakeDawg
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
I think my post was blocked because Mark is going to use it for his next article.
kennyg
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
How many empty seats next week?
Richt is gone
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
Richt has a good record, but it’s his time to go. Bad play calling and he shows no sense of urgency or will to win. His face is always a notorious blank slate with no emotion. We also got out coached. Spurrier’s balls are way bigger than Richt’s. He’s not afraid to take chances unlike Richt and Bobo calling more draw plays on third and fifteen.It is time for a new era.
BIG MIKE DAWG
September 10th, 2011
10:26 pm
JB Blakely… R u mike Bobo… awwwe , well if u aint then maybe u have been riding on his short bus ufreakin retard…
afan
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
i called the fake punt 3 punts before they did it. how could no coaches see that coming with the way our defensive front runs to set up for punt return. the first priority is stay home to see the punt leave the kickers foot. duh.
poor coaching
shaun
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
Bradley and AJC have beat the fire cmr drum long enough. We will likely lose a great coach and a better man soon and its a damn shame.
Top 10 Recruiter
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
Wow, what happens to all of those great recruits when they go to UGA? The ones that aren’t suspended or arrested lose to USC!
Bulldawg Nation
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
Nobody stops to think about how many leaders this team has lost the 3 prior years to graduation and people leaving early for the draft……………we got rid of some bad elements over the offseason and some of those bad elements were good players but as a team we will better without them in time. People have to realize that rebuilding does take some time, and I am as guilty as the rest, there are alot of young players and players with limited playing time on this team and they fought hard against
the 12th ranked team in the country and should have won but there will be some growing pains people these are kids………….they will make mistakes but we as fans should support them better
I am ashamed of how are fans have not shown the team respect but leaving early, do you sore *ss losers think they enjoy losing
short man
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
murray is too short to play QB in this league—Ga needs to get the second team guy in the game soon.
Thug U
September 10th, 2011
10:27 pm
Boykin’s just a little punk.
Richt's Resume Writer
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
Man……Where have all the UGA Jailbirds gone? Sure needed them today. See what happens when you “clean up your act” like ALL of you told Richt to do? Now all the felons are gone and they took your manhood Mark Richt, along with the W’s the UGA football program needs to save your pitiful job.
Richt is out by mid-season or they storm the Admin Bldg with torches & pitchforks. So sad when a good man goes down in flames. Last year was the year of Hewitt…..This is the year of Richt.
FLA DAWG
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
I don’t even care anymore.
Fla Dawg,
Class of ‘79
Unicorn Lover
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
“I have a whole litter of unicorns in my back yard to sell ya.”
Do you have any in white and gold?
1-10 Against ranked teams (formerly BeerDawg)
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
Formula for winning for the next UGA coach…..go out and recruit a BUNCH of hardnosed, big lineman (offense and defense), redshirt ‘em all, put another 30-40 lb of muscle in the weight room, and start blowing the opponents off the line….
and a few star skill players would be helpful too
StinkyPinky
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
Tell MB, what is wrong with this comment since you keep blocking it? It’s sad that a DOVE (Christian) of a man (Richt) is basically now a LAME DUCK for the rest of the season because he lost to a CHICKEN HAWK (named Spurrier) and his CHICKENS (Gamecocks) and his GOOSE (UGA coaching Job) is cooked because now the VULTURES (so called “UGA Fans” & Alumni) are screaming to have his head chopped off like a Thanksgiving TURKEY and they want (his career) to go the way of the DODO (extinct). It’s a sad day at UGA!!!!
Gotta beat the traffic
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
Yeah, I was one of those thousands of fans who left after Murray’s fumble.
Beat the traffic and made it home at a reasonable hour to watch the end of the race.
afan
September 10th, 2011
10:28 pm
no i think coach richt’s face said it all after we lost. you could see that he knows he is in big trouble.
Jimmy
September 10th, 2011
10:29 pm
Return to Glory:
This loss did hurt. According to Spurrier, UGA outplayed his team.
The answer is to keep supporting these kids.
Let them know we are behind them. Keep playing hard.
The Mark Richt situation will be dealt with at season’s end.
Let the morons who come here because they think they can influence recruiting have the blogs.
Just keep supporting these young men.
George P Burdell
September 10th, 2011
10:29 pm
Bulldog nation: lighten up on your team and Coach Richt. The number of you that left before the end of the game was disgraceful. Your team and your coach are winners. You are losers.
Loren Smith
September 10th, 2011
10:29 pm
As I said yesterday you people are a bunch of idiots. This rag of a newspaper has one headline “Georgia Tech posts another dominating performance”. They’re playing fricking high school teams. Mark Richt opened up with the #5 and #12 teams in the country. You people don’t deserve a man like Mark Richt. It’s no wonder Atlanta is considered one the worst sports cities in the country. Maybe you people believe everything you read in this rag newspaper. Mark Bradley would be lucky to get a job delivering a newspaper in most cities. We all know he’s there because he works cheap and noboby buys that paper anymore.
Augusta Dawg
September 10th, 2011
10:29 pm
The team is sub-par and and reflects on the coaches…….How many more close losses will it take to fire CMR and Bobo………..Look for a 6-6 season…………
Call It Like I See It
September 10th, 2011
10:29 pm
The best part of the past 2 weeks? Bradley or Schultz (can’t remember which) ranking the Dawgs #11. As Mr. Hand would say, “What are you people, on dope?!?!”
StinkyPinky
September 10th, 2011
10:30 pm
How about this comment: Mark Bradley suxx!!!!
Let’s see you block that one. LOL!!!
Reality
September 10th, 2011
10:30 pm
UGA is a mediocre program. Say all you want about why and how. Fact: UGA is no longer relevant in football.
how come
September 10th, 2011
10:30 pm
How come you dont every see hardly any white boys on the field?
honestly…
1-10 Against ranked teams (formerly BeerDawg)
September 10th, 2011
10:30 pm
Thug U….I completely disagree……Boykin has lived up to his own hype…..I may not like it…..but he has backed it up.
As for not tackling that runaway freight train that weighs 100lb more that he……it showed intelligence. I’d rather give up that TD than lose Boykin for the rest of the year……he was not gonna bring him down anyways
Soccer Dad
September 10th, 2011
10:30 pm
Hey Mark, they don’t keep score in my 5 year old’s soccer league, maybe UGA should try their luck there?
kerryb
September 10th, 2011
10:31 pm
Georgia haters. Why the hell are you on a UGA blog and why do you think we care one bit about what you have to say? Auburn fans. Why are you on here? You get lucky 2 weeks in a row and think your something. UGA will go back to beating you four years in a row again this year and ALabama and LSU are going to kill you. Tech fans? play someone and try beating us more than 1 time in 10 years before you start talking. The ONLY team that can talk right now is Alabama because I don’t think anyone is beating them this year.
Bye bye dawgs
September 10th, 2011
10:31 pm
@Thug U: Boykin’s just a little punk.
I was going to say smartass little punk, but you pretty well covered it.
StinkyPinky
September 10th, 2011
10:31 pm
Or this one:
“Terrence Moore was an @$$h0l3 but he still is a better writer than Mark Bradley!!!!”
headley lamar
September 10th, 2011
10:32 pm
Bulldawg Nation – how long does this rebuilding thing actually take? All those players that are gone that you said we were better off without were all part of the national recruiting championships we keep competing for. Doesn’t all that fine recruiting actually have to pay off some time? Or could it be that we are just badly overrated and people like you are just kidding yourselves?
witness
September 10th, 2011
10:32 pm
The dawgs just have lost the art of putting a game away when they have it won. Take away the 3 TD off T/O’s nand we win. Murray’s and IC’s fumbles killed us. Didn’t help coming away w/only 6 points when you’re down in the SC 20-30 yd line three times in 1st qtr. Then when you need the D to make the game winning stop thay cannot and SC scores.
Plenty of blame all the way around. A hair away from recovering an on sides and who knows what happens. At times, especially in 1st qtr play calling again wasn’t up to speed to get into the end zone. Instead have to settle for FG’s. This team cannot afford to settle for 3’s when it use to get 7’s in the good old days. Time management at end of game was horrible. CMR has lost his magic. He cannot count on his coordinators to pull games out anymore. We will lose to MSU, AU, TN, FL and possibly GT. Who knows, one of those other teams we play we could lose too very easily.
Regardless what happens the rest of this season if GA wants to get the most out of its current talent, and it is there, there needs to be new coaching staff.
Dawg77
September 10th, 2011
10:32 pm
Sad to see the Bulldog nation is in a bloodlust for Mark Richt’s head. It wasn’t the coaches’ fault tonight.
BobbyDodd
September 10th, 2011
10:33 pm
Kerryb- Your team is 0 and 2 and blows. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
South Georgia Boy
September 10th, 2011
10:33 pm
Georgia offense scored 42 for Georgia and 21 for Carolina.
Festus
September 10th, 2011
10:33 pm
The winner of the SEC East will be the winner of the Tennessee Florida game. UGA will finish ahead of Vandy but behind Kentucky. South Carolina doesn’t have a QB who is consistent enough. As long a CMR owns GT he can could until he’s older than Joe Paterno.
God
September 10th, 2011
10:33 pm
Mark, I can’t help you…….
Call It Like I See It
September 10th, 2011
10:33 pm
kerryb
because we have to listen to your sh*t year in and year out about how good you are…..you were – 31 years ago…….you are 2nd tier at best, how hard is that to accept? no MNC and you have 2 wins in bcs games – 1 against hawaii – and got curbstomped by west virginia in the loss…woof f’ing woof.
Dawg Tired
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
# 10 Love is the prime example of whats wrong with Dawg D…light hittin no wrapping …showboatin 2 weeks in a row hanging all over receiver on critical plays ,,,jumps up with the big “not in my back yard hand wipe” and kills us on penalties…speed kills the team…no heart no hustle..get Boykin out on goal line D he can’t wont (probably shouldn’t) put his head in there on tough tackles…speaking of Tackles put a foot up our right tackle he can’t remember a snap count to save his life..Mark Richt doesn’t believe in rushing kickers and we are now 9 and 1 against ranked opposition …AAAARRRGGHHHHHHHH!
money talk
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
which auburn players are on the take this year? they better pay more money — they barely beat lowly utah state and miss state. Alabama will blow out auburn on their way to another title–I’ve lost count.
1-10 Against ranked teams (formerly BeerDawg)
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
Jimmy….I COMPLETELY agree with you. Keep supporting these kids….we do have some real talent here.
This is where McGarrity needs to DISCRETELY reach out across the nation and start making some contacts about a potential replacement. He needs to start that process NOW before other programs have vacancies open later this year……as the saying goes….early bird gets the worm
Whaddya Got Loren
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
Well whaddya got Loren?It’s sad that a DOVE (Christian) of a man (Richt) is basically a LAME DUCK for the rest of the season because he lost to a CHICKEN HAWK (Spurrier) and his CHICKENS (Gamecocks) and his GOOSE (Job) is cooked because now the VULTURES (UGA Fans & Alumni) are screaming to have his head chopped off old school style like a Thanksgiving TURKEY and they want (his career) to go the way of the DODO (extinct)……………….Back to you.
Stan
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
Funny how Gator fans are on here talking smack. Last year you squeaked by us and won against our 6-7 team (the one that got beat by UCF) as you like to remind us. Think this year will be a cake walk? The Dawgs are improved and showed what they are capable of today. Yeah mistakes were made & we should have won the game. Sorry but the Gators have showed me nothing by playing 2 cupcakes. Last season we started off with Louisiana-Lafayette and won 55-7. You saw how the rest of the season panned out didn’t you? Hope the Gators don’t think they have a chance against Bama, LSU, SC, or Florida State. Those look to be sure losses for the Gators. Dawgs have been down for a while but are slowly improving. May or may not get the Gators this year but next year could be a break out year for the Dawgs.
Jimmy
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
afan:
I saw his face as he hugged that kid after the game.
I don’t know if he thinks his tenure at UGA is over or not.
Perhaps he realizes the hell he and the team will have to endure
as people question them about “must win” games all season to save MR’s job.
Like I said, people who do that are not UGA fans and don’t care about the team.
It serves no good purpose.
Wins and Losses–and how they got them–will determine MR’s future.
Not people on this blog.
Vote with your feet
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
The only way to cause change is to vote with your feet and keep your wallet shut.
GaMarine
September 10th, 2011
10:34 pm
Mark has a put together a great team, they’re just young right now…Boise had a pile of 5 year seniors…tonight was just tough love….They are rebuilding and will pull it off…Remember, God always blesses most when the faithful are down…
dawg alumni
September 10th, 2011
10:35 pm
It is true, Aaron Murray played like your grandma’s box after a ten mile run
Boise State Dawg !!
September 10th, 2011
10:35 pm
You guys gave it your all and I noticed that you ran a couple of our pass plays (Boise State) The diffrence is we have Kellen Moore and Coach Pete. I think Crowell is the real deal (he is bad !) Bobo needs to study the tape against us and really break it down. We (Boise State) only run a few plays,its the different formations that puts other teams to sleep and by the time the team figures that out…….The Game is Over !!!!!