A tale of two seasons: UGA rights itself; Tech is going wrong
Florida usually wins this game. But maybe not this time. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Seasons can be confounding things. Georgia lost its first two games and its coach was thought by some to be a goner. Now Mark Richt stands one game from solidifying his position once and for all. (Well, at least until 2012.) The game will be played in Jacksonville, the place where Richt fares worst, but still: If the Bulldogs win Saturday, they’ll surely finish no worse than 8-4 and they could well win the SEC East, and either way significant improvement will have been shown.
Consider, on the other hand, Georgia Tech. The Jackets won their first six games and rose to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll. They’ve since lost to two unranked opponents and figure to be underdogs in three of their remaining four games. What appeared to be a bounceback season could become something far less, and a 7-5 record wouldn’t satisfy anyone. Not after the 6-7 of 2010. Not after starting 6-0. Should Tech prove unable to arrest its slide, it would represent the first real reversal of Paul Johnson’s stewardship.
Here we pause for stipulations: Tech’s 6-0 start was largely a function of schedule, the same as Georgia’s 0-2 beginning, the same as the Bulldogs’ five consecutive victories. (Georgia’s four SEC wins have come against opponents that are an aggregate 1-15 in league play.) But you can only beat the teams you play, and you can only play the teams on your schedule. And football, for all its intricacies, is often a game of sheer momentum. Georgia and Richt have found it. Tech and Johnson have lost it.
There are moments where you’d swear this Georgia team is scarcely an improvement over last season’s, but this team — key difference — hasn’t fumbled away so many winnable games. (Only one so far, that against South Carolina.) A starving Bulldog Nation will take the thinnest of victories over the hated Gators and treat it like fiilet mignon. And even if Georgia somehow contrived to lose to Auburn and Tech, it would be hard to part with Richt after a season in which he finally negotiated his tripwire game.
See you soon. Paul Johnson with Clemson's Dabo Swinney. (AP photo)
Tech could lose every game from here until New Year’s and Johnson wouldn’t be going anywhere. He remains in high esteem among his constituency. But here’s a cold slice of truth: The man who beat Georgia in Year 1 and won the ACC in Year 2 has gone 7-7 over his past 14 games. Last season’s collapse could be attributed to the loss of quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, who broke his arm at Virginia Tech on Nov. 4. These past two losses have been far more troubling.
When all else failed, Tech under Johnson could always be counted on to do one thing as well as any team in the land — run the ball. Heck, the Jackets rushed for 411 yards behind a backup quarterback against Georgia last year. In the losses at Virginia and Miami, Tech could muster only a total of 406 yards rushing.
If you’re a Tech fan, that’s scary stuff. It suggests the Jackets’ talent has grown so thin it can no longer power an offense that has been proved to work. After the Miami loss, Johnson suggested Tech was getting the five-blockers-on-four-defenders looks that mandate running up the middle as opposed to pitching wide, but that “the four [defenders] are winning.” That’s not a schematic issue. That’s a failure of manpower.
Most all the players he inherited from Chan Gailey are gone, and in four recruiting classes Johnson hasn’t yet found a talent on the order of Nesbitt or Jonathan Dwyer or Demaryius Thomas. (Unless it’s freshman quarterback Vad Lee, who’s being redshirted.) And if Tech can no longer do well what it has come to do best … well, what hope is there?
But that’s another thing about seasons. Just because you look awful one week doesn’t mean the next will yield greater misery. Georgia stunk out the joint in its opener against Boise State, but here the Bulldogs are, back in the Top 25. Even if Tech still has to face Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia, all three games will be staged at Bobby Dodd Stadium, and Johnson is a fairly daunting figure as an underdog. (Ask Georgia.)
Tech could still make something of its season. Georgia could still find a way to mess up. Right now, though, only one team is on the upward trail, and that’s the one bound for Jacksonville.
By Mark Bradley
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363 comments Add your comment
PawleysIslandJacket
October 24th, 2011
7:03 pm
Good column, Mark. Tech is on a downward glide path and georgia is is at least straight and level.
I supported the Johnson hire and he needs another year or two but I fear he is going to be a failure.
10/24/2011 Evening Edition | collegefootballnewswire.com
October 24th, 2011
7:13 pm
[...] Hit JOSEPH: Missouri Will Miss Big 12 KRAGTHORPE: Utes Are Not Who We Thought They Were BRADLEY: UGA Rights Itself; Tech Is Going Wrong MEEK: Snyder Knows Sooners Will Be Stewing BARNHART: Anyone’s Guess Who Wins This Wild BCS [...]
Dawg48
October 24th, 2011
7:17 pm
The back up qb is the best player on the team! The next coach to come in is the best coach in the world! Bla bla bla!
GTBob
October 24th, 2011
7:23 pm
GTBob, man you used to offer objective debate about our team. Now it seems you just like to insult.
That’s too bad . . .
Ah Joey, don’t take things so seriously. I do stand by what I said though. If UGA had to play Bama, LSU, Clemson, Auburn, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Florida then there is a pretty good chance they would come out of that season with a losing record. At best they would go 7-5.
Patty Melt
October 24th, 2011
7:24 pm
One thing is certain. All of the problems were caused by the previous coach.
K
October 24th, 2011
7:26 pm
Just disappointing as a Tech fan. I keep thinking about what Mark Bradley wrote about Johnson being a 5 star coach. Maybe that 5 star coach will show up this Saturday!
Know Johnson and the players want better also.
But what can Johnson do?? He has been at this for many years.
Maybe he will come up with a new “scheme” this week. Maybe we will all get a surprise this week.
cattle dawg
October 24th, 2011
7:36 pm
Mark should have just said that both teams suck. That would have been quick an to the point.
sports
October 24th, 2011
7:36 pm
those yellow blowflys will get their a$$es handed to them big time this weekend. Reality is setting in on that bunch.
Chuck UGA
October 24th, 2011
7:36 pm
UGA rights itself? UGA has beaten only ONE SEC team with an SEC win, that being Vanderbilt (ver Ole Miss). Miss State, Ole Miss and Tennessee have zero SEC wins. Now am I being critical of Georgia? No, the schedule is being played out. However, if Georgia doesn’t win this game Satuday by at least a touchdown, I can steadfastly say that Georgia has NOT improved enough from 2010 to say they have “righted” the ship.
cattle dawg
October 24th, 2011
7:41 pm
For all the folks upset about dawgs weak schedule Alabama comes up next year, and have bama,lsu and clemson in 13.
Patty Melt
October 24th, 2011
7:41 pm
Tech could win. If they do, it will be huge – maybe bigger than beating Georgia. I don’t know if Georgia has had a team as good as the 2011 Clemson team in quite a while.
What some folks don’t understand about CFB these days is that the difference between the very best elite teams and the rest of the pack is only a few percentage points. The worst FBS school has talented athletes and qualified coaches. Play a point or two over your head and catch a better team on an off day and an upset will occur. They happen all the time.
cattle dawg
October 24th, 2011
7:42 pm
Dawgs add bama next year and have bama ,lsu and clemson in 13.
wastedyears
October 24th, 2011
7:44 pm
who is jan kenp ? uga iz horrible will loze at fla people stop drinkn da kool aid ….any way whoever goes iz a sacrific to da west there iz ala and lsu and da rest of da sec fire mark richt
Patty Melt
October 24th, 2011
7:46 pm
People complaining about Georgia’s schedule are only exposing their ignorance. The schedule rotation is fixed by the conference, and nobody knew how these teams would be playing this year when the schedule was made. BSU was a respectable OOC game.
That said, both Tech and Georgia got lucky on their schedules this year. It happens.
wastedyears
October 24th, 2011
7:50 pm
beer iz better cold and you need alot of it to watch both these lozers [ tech and uga ]
Florida just isn't very good
October 24th, 2011
7:56 pm
but Muschamp guaranteed Gators beat the Dawgs.
Unfortunately
October 24th, 2011
7:57 pm
Georgia isn’t either.
Delbert D.
October 24th, 2011
7:59 pm
Hel-lo…it’s blocking that is the problem with Tech.
yellow britches
October 24th, 2011
8:03 pm
Well Tech loyalists, welcome back to the world of football irrelevance. You have to wonder. CPJ had a decent run with Chan Gailey recruits. Now four years into his term, he is playing with his guys and guess what, they can’t get it done. Blocking five on four and we still can’t turn the perimeter. The kicking game and the special teams are beyond a joke. As Mark Bradley says, we are not in the arena of farce. I know this is ancient history for most of you, but Bobby Ross was able to get real players to come to Tech. What the heck has changed? I can’t blame the Dawg nation for gloating, but d— this is getting old real fast.
Apostle
October 24th, 2011
8:04 pm
Richt is on the hot seat as far as I’m concerned until we Dawg fans see how the while season turns out.An 8-4 record is not good enough.Richt should be gone soon after.
Tech Tony
October 24th, 2011
8:09 pm
When things are going well, there’re usually not as good as they seem. When things are going bad, they’re usually not as bad as they seem.
To that end, I say Tech, while beyond bad the past few weeks, is still capable. What I can’t figure out is: capable of what exactly?
Florida just isn't very good
October 24th, 2011
8:10 pm
Enter your comments here
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:14 pm
Mark, I don’t disagree with a thing you said about Tech, but how is UGA “righting” themselves, when, as you pointed out, their victories have come against teams with an aggregate record of 1-15? Did you really see anything in those games that would suggest that the dawgs are any better than they were the first 2 weeks of September? I didn’t. Hell, they gave up more yards and points to a pretty poor Vandy team, than any other team Vandy has played this year.
whatever
October 24th, 2011
8:14 pm
Yea – right MB – UGA ONLY”rights itself” because their cream-puff schedule. What is the COMBINED records of those wuzzy SEC teams that UGA “beat”?? 1-16?? WOW – that is REAL impressive (NOT).
In a way, I hope UGA DOES win the SEC-East – because then we will see the true, sucky, UGA against the likes of AL or LSU.
Trent
October 24th, 2011
8:16 pm
Let’s break down the next 5 games.
Florida- LOSS
New Mexico State- win
Auburn- LOSS
Kentucky- win
Ga Tech- LOSS
Richt finishes 7-5. Goes to the Shreveport Bowl again.
Trent
October 24th, 2011
8:19 pm
Let’s look at the 5 game ‘winning streak’
Coastal Carolina
Ole Miss
Miss St
Tenn
Vanderbilt
Those 5 teams have 0 SEC wins. Not impressive.
The only 2 games Richt played, Boise St & South Carolina were both LOSSES.
2 losses against 2 ranked teams
5 wins against 5 teams without an SEC win
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:22 pm
Trent, if I remember right, those are 5 wins against teams not only without an SEC win, but with losing records. Big Whoop !!!
LakeDawg
October 24th, 2011
8:23 pm
In my book, CMR doesn’t survive at 8-4.
St. Simon's Daddy
October 24th, 2011
8:29 pm
Lets say for arguments sake that GA beat FL this week. Are the naysayers going to say well FL is having a down year? If FL beats GA then they say I told ya so. You play your schedule. If you beat a team that is down then so be it. Tech played some really weak teams early on and plays Clemson, VA Tech and Ga down the road. Never judge a book by its color.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:32 pm
Win or lose FL IS having a down year this year. UGA played two good teams early on, and the rest of their schedule is either typical patsy opponents or teams having down years. Tech and UGA actually are probably pretty evenly matched this year, at least based on what we have seen this season.
Trent
October 24th, 2011
8:35 pm
All the SEC teams Richt beat, did have losing records, and will finish with losing records. Coastal Carolina does have a 4-3 record, big wins over Catawba & North Carolina A & M.
Florida, Auburn & Ga Tech have winning records, and will finish with winning records. They are the type of team Richt hasn’t beat since 2009.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:35 pm
I heard today that Brantley will play this week. Does anybody know if that is true?
Let's talk about UGA!
October 24th, 2011
8:39 pm
Is it wrong that I married my sister?
I think not. I’m a dawg fan.
Is it wrong that our 4 cross-eyed children wear dirty diapers and are covered in flies?
Not when the tickets are on the 50 yard-line. I’m dawg fan.
Is it strange that all of my FaceBook friends are ex-cons?
Certainly not. I’m a dawg fan.
Every morning, as I brush my tooth, I look in the mirror and see a dawg fan.
Then, I contemplate suicide.
Go Dawgs!
Sic ‘em!
Woof! Woof! Woof!
The hot seat....
October 24th, 2011
8:43 pm
Can we at least put the “Washington for Heisman” nonsense to bed?
Had enough
October 24th, 2011
8:47 pm
No more talk about what and It’s time to club the gators,No more excuses for Richt.
Richie
October 24th, 2011
8:48 pm
You know, even the wins this year have NOT been impressive. BARELY beat Vanderbilt. Tenneessee was a close game throughout. Ole Miss, MSU, all 4 games were SO CLOSE, Hutson Mason didn’t get a SINGLE SNAP.
Think about it, Richt can’t dominate a team like Ole Miss or Vanderbilt or Tenneessee.
Dawg- at the drive threw
October 24th, 2011
9:00 pm
I’m sorry SUPER SIZE
We are all out of spots in the top 25! Next window please!
Ron
October 24th, 2011
9:04 pm
just let them play-there’s no such thing as a curse-grow up!
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
If Tech didn’t deserve to be ranked after our weak opening schedule, then why the hell does UGA deserve to be ranked now, since they haven’t beat anybody? At least Tech did beat one ranked team in the early going—-UNC was 25 when Tech was 24. The mutts haven’t even beaten any team with a winning record.
The hot seat....
October 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
Richie
October 24th, 2011
8:48 pm
Riiiiight, we just don’t dominate like we used to. Check out the 1980 season below. Which of the teams we “dominated” were worth a salt that year?
UGA 16 – Tennessee 15
UGA 42 – Texas A&M 0
UGA 20 – Clemson 16
UGA 34 – TCU 3
UGA 28 – Ole Miss 21
UGA 41 – Vandy 0
UGA 27 – Kentucky
UGA 13 – South Carolina 10
UGA 26 – Florida 21
UGA 31 – Auburn 21
UGA 38 – Georgia Tech 20
Sugar Bowl
UGA17 – Notre Dame 10
Hamburger
October 24th, 2011
9:06 pm
Brantley will probably dress for the game. Whether he plays probably comes down to a game day decision, but I wouldn’t expect him to play the entire game.
Dawg- at the drive threw
October 24th, 2011
9:07 pm
I said next window PLEASE!
The hot seat....
October 24th, 2011
9:09 pm
Let’s talk about UGA!
October 24th, 2011
8:39 pm
And you are a tech fan……nuff said.
Hamburger
October 24th, 2011
9:11 pm
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
The voters will bump a team up in the polls if the have an upcoming game against a ranked team that could beat them. That’s why they bumped UNC up for the one week that they played Tech. Georgia got a bump because they have a winning streak (for what it’s worth) and they now have to play Florida and Auburn. Any team will get a bump up right before they have an ample opportunity to get knocked back down. That’s the way the polls work.
Herschel Talker
October 24th, 2011
9:11 pm
KBP:
Yes, Saban blew a 24 point lead (or whatever it was), but that was ONE TIME. Richt’s first time getting monkeyhammered like that was against WVU in the Sugar Bowl after the ‘05 season. We weren’t calling for his head then because it was only once. It has since become a trend.
HT
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:11 pm
The hot seat….. NONE of the teams you beat in 1980 were much to write home about, especially including Notre Dame, who had to come from behind just to tie Tech that year.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:13 pm
Hamburger, based on that logic, Tech should still be ranked because we have Clemson this week. Afraid that doesn’t fly
Dawg- at the drive threw
October 24th, 2011
9:16 pm
Next window sir we are out of top 25!
JB
October 24th, 2011
9:16 pm
My Dawgs usually becomes bumbling fools and misfits every time they step on that grass in Jacksonville. Lose to this sorry Gator bunch, and I won’t know what to think. Evening suprsize.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:17 pm
“Drive threw”??? Boy, if nobody realized you were a mutt, they sure do now. LOL