Alas, fixing UGA will require more than a few Richt ‘tweaks’
"How the heck did we win that goshdarn thing, anyway?" (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Looking lousy against Boise State was one thing. Looking good but losing anyway was, in its way, worse. After the Georgia Bulldogs congratulated themselves on their Great Effort against South Carolina, the thought occurred:
Does Nick Saban congratulate himself after losses?
There are two ways to regard the bizarre doings of Saturday night. Mark Richt’s sunny-side-up stance was to speak of his team having “all the ingredients” and just needing “to tweak a couple of things.” The burnt-toast way is to reference the scoreboard and note that, once again, Richt’s team did whatever it took to lose.
You don’t go from losing half of your past 30 games to winning championships by tweaking. If anyone should know, it’s Richt. The march to the 2002 SEC championship was fueled by the desire — Richt’s words — to knock the lid off Georgia football. (The Bulldogs had gone two decades without a title.) Knocking implies force. Tweaking implies rather less. For contemporary Georgia football, less cannot yield more.
Optimists among us will point to Isaiah Crowell and Malcolm Mitchell and Aaron Murray and Orson Charles and laud, as Richt did Saturday night, Georgia’s “talent base.” But the Bulldogs haven’t lacked for talent — not under Richt, not under Jim Donnan, not even under Ray Goff. At issue is whether Georgia again can learn to win, and that’s a whole ‘nother matter.
There’s a troubling label for what Georgia has become, and that label is “South Carolina.” For more than a century the Gamecocks would try very hard and stir deep passion but never quite get it right. How many times did Carolina play the Bulldogs off their feet and lose at the end? It happened in 2002, the David Pollack sack/snatch game that also featured two Gamecock fumbles on the goal line; happened in 2004, when Carolina led 16-0 but lost 20-16; happened in 2009, when it outgained Georgia by 119 yards but lost because Brandon Boykin returned a kickoff to score and because DeAngelo Tyson blocked a tying PAT.
There was no reason for Georgia to lose Saturday. Indeed, losing required real doing. More than just being fooled on a fake punt, Georgia couldn’t intercept a defensive end as he thundered 68 yards to a touchdown. It was bad enough that nobody blocked Jadeveon Clowney, far worse that Murray waved the ball and left it unsecured, thereby turning a sack into a sack, strip and score.
“We’re going to shake off the mistakes and become a very good football team,” Richt said, and maybe Georgia will. But I’m more skeptical after South Carolina than after Boise State. More and more, Richt bears the look of one of those coaches who can take his’n and lose to your’n and vice versa.
Loading ...Did the coach order Murray and Crowell to botch a handoff at a time when Georgia was poised to take a 27-14 lead? Of course not. But the worst possible play at the worst possible moment has become a Bulldog signature. Georgia should have beaten Colorado last season, but Caleb King fumbled. Georgia could have beaten Florida, but Murray threw into a throng in overtime.
Mathematically speaking, Richt was correct in saying: “We’re still in the Eastern Division race.” Having watched Richt’s team contrive to lose a game that would have been far easier to win, I can’t summon up much enthusiasm for math.
Sure, it’s possible Georgia could win the next 10 games and take the East. It’s possible Richt could not only keep his seat but cement himself in place. It’s also possible Georgia will continue to do as Georgia now does — lose most every close game — and Dan Mullen will be tapped to coach the Bulldogs in 2012.
Speaking of Boise, Richt had said: “When you play a team that’s used to winning and that knows how to win, it’s hard.” Georgia has become the kind of team that’s easy to play. An opponent needn’t do all that much — just hang around long enough for the Bulldogs to mess up.
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
639 comments Add your comment
nobody
September 11th, 2011
4:45 pm
it would be nice to hear Bradley talk favorably about somebody, anybody…but he has found a poison pen…don’t reckon we could reasonably expect him to write anything but vicious attacks… expect Ga Tech’s Johnson is holding his breath…. his time is coming…just wait and see….truth be known, if nobody responded to Bradley’s vicious attacks, he would become irrelevant….and shrink to nothing, just like the size of his print newspaper
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 11th, 2011
4:45 pm
JB
Are you a dawg fan?
firemarkricht.net
September 11th, 2011
4:46 pm
http://www.firemarkricht.net
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
September 11th, 2011
4:48 pm
These kids are 18-24 years of age and they need someone to keep their azz toeing the line!!! Mark Richt is not that person and they like him but don’t repect nor fear him. You have to be apart of he easy button crowd not to understand that. A football coach is not your Buddy!!! You UGA fans have a fuzzy memory about your program it appears. You have never been all that and your trophy case has a different view of how you folks see the program! I will give you a B+ and I am being kind. You best plan is to take up an offering for the 5 million you owe Mark to send him packing or try and work a Mike Shula like deal that will have him getting 500k per year until the contract is complete. Crowell is/can be good but he like so many others you have are nothing but ghetto punks and that is Rodney’ Garners specialty. He knows how to get those kids because that is the Pat Dye way! The NCAA is just about ready to enlighten the world on the Pat Dye plan.
B. Bob Alula
September 11th, 2011
4:48 pm
Hey wait ! I haven’t heard ANYONE blame Penn Wages (?) and his crew of officials for this loss. Unbelievable !!! How about it, Dawgs fans ? Where’s your usual outrage ?!? And how about the ESPN agenda ? What have you people sunk to ? Let me hear some CONSPIRACY THEORIES !!!!
Bdawg53
September 11th, 2011
4:49 pm
Mark Richt is a very good man with the highest morals and teaches the same to his players. Nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact I love that part of Ga. Football. The other part of Ga football I love is when we marched into Jacksonville, Fl. And kicked the mud out of those slimy gators. I loved it when you turned on the TV and you heard someone say oh we got to go down between the hedges omg…. And I loved it when you looked at that same TV the next day and you heard Ga. 28 Florida 7. Run Lindsey run!!! What happened to the days when we were respected by the whole college football world (sports commentators, players, coaches, it didn’t matter). I want it back and UGA has a responsibilty to it’s fans, players, allumni and the whole college football world to bring it back. UGA administrators listen to the people that were here long before MR and make the proper changes to put us back in the game with or without MR. Go Dawgs. Get that swagger back.
Delbert D.
September 11th, 2011
4:51 pm
Lattimore gained 94 of his 176 yards rushing in the 4th quarter.
Wricky Wrong
September 11th, 2011
4:54 pm
We Sux Again!!!!!!
ugafan13
September 11th, 2011
4:58 pm
We haven’t beat a ranked team in how long. How satisying to beat the bottom dwellers and lose to the top teams. Maybe we belong in the WAC? We just don’t play with the same fire as Bama or LSU. Our so called star players just aren’t stepping up. It all boils down to FUNDEMENTALS and that comes from good coaching. I leave it to you where this team is lacking!
Delbert D.
September 11th, 2011
4:58 pm
The UT-Florida game next week should will be very interesting.
Delbert D.
September 11th, 2011
4:58 pm
should will, right….
SEC Fact Finder
September 11th, 2011
5:03 pm
In two week I have worked two games, the first being USC and E.Carolina. The second being UF and UAB. I have watched replays of both UGA games, and I will be the first to say, being at a game and watching a game on television replay does not give the true picture. However, I can say that the confidence exuded from Spurrier and his staff at USC and Muschamp and his staff at UF explain a great deal to how their players react in games when facing adversity.
I am not saying that USC and UF are better teams than UGA each week, but I am saying is that the coaches of those schools seem to have that “it factor” on saturdays. As I was watching the replay this morning of USC and UGA, just after USC went ahead in the fourth quarter by 3 there was Mark Richt telling his players “do your job, do your job” to each player. My first reaction was, he is trying to keep his players calm and under control, my second thought was , does he know how to coach his players to win? Who am I to know? No one, just another guy around the sport who sees a ton of games each week and forms opinions.
Coach Richt and his staff may go out and finish 9-3, hope he does well. But the fear among UGA fans should what new paradigm will he bring into the equation to change the mental state of his program? In all my years working in and around the league, I have witnessed some programs making the rebound to good play, however on most occasions it has taken a coaching change, or several coaching changes to change the mental make up of a program and create some excitement inside the program and with its fan base.
Michael
September 11th, 2011
5:04 pm
Having Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Nick Saban come to the SEC didn’t help. They weren’t around when the Dawgs were “good.”
toooo funny.....
September 11th, 2011
5:04 pm
sometime since 1990 we tech fans have heard that same phrase…..
game after game… season after season…. year after year we would lose games at the end when we were leading or had a change to win. we would lose in the most inane ways…. to teams we should have dominated.
And our coach would invariably say…… “we only need to tweak a few things. we are close to being a championship team.”
the only difference between mark richt and paul phewitt now is that paul had a trillion kazillion dollar buy out but hey mark richt is a fav of the religious right.
lmao.
it is only now after he is with a different team does he acknowledge that he was doing the wrong thing.
toooo funny.....
September 11th, 2011
5:05 pm
mark richt = paul phewitt
FLA DAWG
September 11th, 2011
5:05 pm
Mark,
You hit the nail squarely this time in my opinion.
The Dawgs seem to keep less talented teams in the game.
Who cares if we beat Coastal Carolina or several of the other teams on the schedule.
UF, Auburn, Miss State, UT are very likely losses. GT, KY are possible losses.
At 0-2 The Dawgs look alot like last season and I don’t see things getting better.
But Richt, Bobo and Grantham seem to be loved by McGarity and Adams so I guess this situation will be with us for awhile.
UGADawg83
September 11th, 2011
5:10 pm
100% behind my team, my coach and my university. We’ve got ten games left. Lets strap ‘em up, play the games and then take stock when the season is done.
OleBallCoach
September 11th, 2011
5:11 pm
LoganvilleDAWG quote – “I was at the game & UGA should of won but when you give up 28 pts in 61 seconds its tough to win…”
Your childish logic is priceless….
joe
September 11th, 2011
5:13 pm
I think it would be retarted to get rid of richt.he is realy starting to turn things around.minus that bull$!!t trick play and the turnovers we win by 4 touchdowns.i havent seen our offfense that successful running the ball in years. Richt will rite the ship.
underdog
September 11th, 2011
5:14 pm
I love the bulldog. But many times our love for something blinds us to the reality of the situation. Thanks Mark for keeping it real. I caught myself today saying “at least we played better” Is that we this has come to…?
Beast from the East
September 11th, 2011
5:14 pm
I can’t believe some of you are STILL defending Richt. He’s 6-9 in his last 15 games. 6-9!!!! He’s 14-14 in his last 28 games. 14-14!!! You are THE University of Georgia…..not the University of Montana. You folks should petition to change your names to the Georgia Settlers if you want to continue to settle for that kind of production. It would not be tolerated at UF, Bama, LSU, Auburn or UT. Heck, I’ve seen MSU, Ole Miss and Kentucky run off coaches with similar records. His time has passed. The longer you put it off, the longer you have to wait for a winning program. He’s a great person, but he is now in over his head.
Seer
September 11th, 2011
5:15 pm
Steve Surrier’s best year at South Carolina has been 5-3 in conference play. Spurrier will lose to Florida, miss St, and aRK.
Mark Richt has gone 6-2 in conference play 6 times in 10 seasons.
Florida: they still have to play Bama, LSU, Aub, UGA, Tenn.
JB
September 11th, 2011
5:16 pm
A disgruntled one flat tire.
John
September 11th, 2011
5:16 pm
SC goes 5-3, UF too.
UGA goes 6-2 wins East, beats Bama by 3, and finishes in the top 10.
dawg4u
September 11th, 2011
5:16 pm
Maybe we need to “tweak” the coaching staff starting with Richt, Bobo and Grantham!
Eric
September 11th, 2011
5:17 pm
Spurrier will ose to Tenn, Florida, Mississippi State, and Arkansas. 4-4 in SEC.
Dirk
September 11th, 2011
5:17 pm
1 or 2 tweaks, and we win by 3.
Bradley picks Badley
September 11th, 2011
5:17 pm
Whatever you say or believe, they should do the opposite. Everyone knows that you are always wrong. Richt’s fate depends on the play of Aaron Murray, who has not looked good this year. The tweaks that need to be done are- move the LB playing RB back to LB, let Crowell, Malcome, Thomas and Harton play RB. Also, insert G.Smith at DE instead of A. Jones who has made very few plays in two years.Please, please stop playing that zone defense CTG.
Beast from the East
September 11th, 2011
5:17 pm
“SC goes 5-3, UF too.
UGA goes 6-2 wins East, beats Bama by 3, and finishes in the top 10.”
Foolish. What have you seen in the past 12 months that would leave you to believe that’s true? Nothing!
The big difference
September 11th, 2011
5:18 pm
Why don’t you just look over 1 state. Ask Bill Curry how many losses before he is fired? Look at Tubbervile…once he lost to Bama he was gone. But you guys settle with losing to Florida what 19 out of 21 years. AMAZING. Go back to what you refer to as winning years and you will find a padded schedule. Heck for the month of September you basically played no one! I love the young and inexperienced excuse….how many years of top 10 recruiting? Some tems win and some just make excuses…great moral victory Saturday!
Soloshot
September 11th, 2011
5:18 pm
I got Dawgs 6-2 in SEC play, SC & Gators 4-4.
JB
September 11th, 2011
5:18 pm
Beast……………It really concerns me we’ve got supporters on here who are happy we looked better in losing. They act like the last 28 games didn’t happen at 14-14 and that we are 1-9 in our last 10 games against ranked teams. Happy !
Seer
September 11th, 2011
5:19 pm
Anyone thinking Spurrier will go 6-2 in SEC play is irrational.
Chris
September 11th, 2011
5:19 pm
Richt said in the press conference that we would be an outstanding team this year. You think?
In my book, outstanding would be winning the rest of our games, finishing 10-2, relying on South Carolina to loose two SEC games since they own the tie breaker with us, and we would then have to beat a power from the west in the SEC championship. I really don’t see that happening.
We lost the first game because of coaching. We lost the second game because of turnovers, and idioitc plays by Murray. The point is, you should never loose ANY game because of coaching. When that happens, the coaches need to go.
We will loose to Auburn, Florida, Miss. St,, and possibly one more along the way. That is a 7-5 or 6-6 team. Not an outstanding team.
TTY
September 11th, 2011
5:19 pm
Richt’s getitng better. so close. 10-2 baby.
Cold Hard Truth
September 11th, 2011
5:20 pm
Michael
September 11th, 2011
5:04 pm
Having Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Nick Saban come to the SEC didn’t help. They weren’t around when the Dawgs were “good.”
It is important to consider what was happening to the other top-teir teams in the SEC during Coach Richt’s “good” years. Also important to consider that he’s never had an undefeated regular season.
Georgia played better than I expected yesterday. This could still be a 9 & 3 season. For Coach Richt, that’s another “good” year.
Sam Robards, Dawg Fan
September 11th, 2011
5:20 pm
I don’t know how to feel about the Dawgs at this point. Coaching blew the first game, and the players blew this one.
Thank goodness we get a body bag game next week: we need it before going in to Oxford.
Ok, so why does EVERY article MB writes now reference Saban? If Saban was so great, Bama would’ve won the BCS last year instead of losing the three biggest games on their schedule after being a preseason #1 pick (ala UGA in 2008). Whoops, why mention that when we can just worship at his bronze idol in Tuscaloosa?
I’m still not convinced that Richt isn’t the man to right the ship. Seriously, if we throw him out, who’re we gonna get that’s anywhere near as good?
Kirby Smart? All he’s proven is that he can lurk in Nick Saban’s shadow. That, and he burned his bridge when he didn’t come to UGA as the DC after ‘09. Chris Peterson? Even with Kellen Moore leaving after this year, I don’t see him wanting to play teams of consequence week in and week out when he can pad his win percentage with garbage teams. Dan Mullen? Why would he leave Mississippi State to come to Georgia? Also, I hate the spread and don’t want it anywhere near UGA football. An “unknown up-and-comer”? That’s just what people say when they want to complain about the current coaching staff for the sake of complaining.
And the East is still within reach because, for all their press, South Carolina just isn’t that good. They could easily be 0-2 right now and they’ll lose at least 4 or 5 in typical SC fashion. They play Auburn (who is equally as lucky as SC), @ Miss St. and @ Arkansas (who WALLOPED them last year) in addition to their annual games against Tennessee (in Knoxville) and Florida. Heck, with that defense, they could easily lose all five of those games.
That’s not sour grapes, that’s just facts.
As for the Dawgs, I think we will get better and, more importantly, SMARTER over the next few weeks. And I’m still excited to see how it plays out.
Go Dawgs!
Beano Cook
September 11th, 2011
5:21 pm
You cannot give up a TD on a fake punt and a TD by virtue of a sack/fumble recovery and win football games. UGA perfomed as expected; flashes of brilliance, but fundamentally unsound (turnovers, protecting QB, kicking game SNAFUs). UGA is a good team, not a great team. No question Bulldog fans want a great team, but if fans want to root for a great team, they need to move to Tuscaloosa, Norman, maybe Boise. And while it is true 14 of USC’s points were not scored against the starting D (the fake punt gets charged against the D); I’m not sure Mike Bobo is the Coordinator who needs to be replaced.
Prog
September 11th, 2011
5:21 pm
I like Richt’s chances in the East this year, I really do. Spurrier will blow it, he always does, too busy golfing. UF has a brutal schedule, this isn’t their year. We’ll win the East. Easily.
Moral Victory
September 11th, 2011
5:21 pm
We lost to two top ten teams, so that makes it OK? Never thought I’d see the dawg nation use this as an excuse for losing. If you want to be considered a top tier team, you better beat top ten teams. But it looks like GA has become #1 in the “Moral Victory Division”
45ACP
September 11th, 2011
5:22 pm
The Dawg house/fan base must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Provides for more elbow room on the band wagon.
Granitedawg
September 11th, 2011
5:22 pm
NERD ALERT !!
Beware there seems to be a big group of NERDS lerking and posting on here today!!
SufferingFalcondawg
September 11th, 2011
5:22 pm
Pooperdawg,
Names ok, your only stupid if you defend the undefensable, or keep doing the same thing with the same LOSING results. How much does BOBO pay you? Make it personal and you will join your loser friends. Keep it objective if you can or write a colum for AJC. We all can have opinions, I say based on what I saw the offensive play calling is horrible, as is the staff ability and desire to join the top tier teams. Look at our record and results…….or we can live in you world until we move to the ACC.
Beast from the East
September 11th, 2011
5:24 pm
JB,
I can’t either. Although a Gator, I grew up watching UGA play in Jax every year and while I despised them for the annual whipping, I grew up respecting UGA football. If they keep a coach that has let the wheels fall off, then I have lost respect for the program. Those defending him deserve to watch a loser. Sadly, that’s the current state. It’s bad for the SEC East when UGA is like this. And least UT is on the rise and so is SC. SC will need to take UGA’s place as the annual East contender.
Sorry that I sound like I’m bashing UGA, but I just cannot believe that some still want more of this crap. Richt has become all talk and excuses.
JB
September 11th, 2011
5:25 pm
Keep this in mind my fellow Dawg fans. richt’s team always…I mean always have a lot of injuries. How much did we miss Ogletree Saturday. Crowell and Samuels were hurt and and wanted to sit. Robinson At LB said he played the whole second half hurt, but knew there was no one to come in. Let two lineman go out. We’ll be missing 5 starters by the time we get to Jacksonville, just by looking at history.
Whopper Dawg
September 11th, 2011
5:27 pm
I think they will become good enough to win 7 to 8 with this schedule. They do have talent, and the talent and the schedule will probably save Richt.
The problem with all that is we are comparing ourselves now to improvement over getting beaten by UCF, getting our rears handed to us by Boise St, being competitive with Carolina by still getting beat.
We are so far away from the conversation on winning the SEC much less NC and this staff will not get us there.
Beast from the East
September 11th, 2011
5:27 pm
“I like Richt’s chances in the East this year, I really do. Spurrier will blow it, he always does, too busy golfing. UF has a brutal schedule, this isn’t their year. We’ll win the East. Easily.”
Can you hear what you’re saying? Pinning your hopes on the failures of others? That’s what LOSERS do. Winners create their own destiny and could care less about the failures of others. That is not what I grew up to know UGA football was about.
Herschel[Chipper] Van Note Jr.
September 11th, 2011
5:27 pm
Had my weekend all set.Braves bury the Cardinals Dawgs get back on the winning track Falcons begin their super bowl run.How’s that working out?NOT TO GOOD!!!!!!
SufferingFalcondawg
September 11th, 2011
5:28 pm
Hey PooperDawg,
You want to resort to name calling then join the Ga coaching staff. saw horrible play calling and another loss. Stupid is doing the same thing with the same results, so keep drinking the kool-aid and Lose! BOBO needs to go and now with our good enough fan base, so does Richt, before so so is our motto……Mybe we need to quit name calling and listen to the voices of change, or follow you to the ACC………
JB
September 11th, 2011
5:29 pm
Beast, McGarity is our only hope. He Sat next to Foley the last 10 years and watched this staff and program up close. He knows the problems. His biggest problem will be a President who doesn’t get to excited about football and a ball-less Athletic assoc. board with their nose up Prez. Adams butt. And that’s the truth.