Richt says Georgia will be ‘knocking on the door’ of greatness
"Hot seat, huh? A little cold water will take care of that!" (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Tampa – Back in July he was being asked if he could turn it around. On the first day of 2012, Mark Richt was asked if Georgia had turned it around. And he said …
“I think so. I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re in a good place. We won 10 games, and when you win 10 games you’ve done well.”
Here he smiled. “Though 11 is better.”
Richt’s team can win its 11th game of a rebounding season by defeating Michigan State in the Outback Bowl on Monday. It won’t be easy — the Spartans rank fifth nationally in total defense, two spots behind Georgia — but being paired against a ranked opponent here beats the heck out of spending the holidays in Memphis readying to lose to Central Florida, which is where Georgia was 366 days ago.
A year ago we wondered — and by “we,” I mean “me” — if Richt was still the man for Georgia. Calendar 2012 begins with Richt negotiating a contract extension, which tells us Georgia believes he is. (About which Richt said: “We haven’t said anything [publicly regarding his contract] since we said we love each other.”)
The Bulldogs have been saying that the Outback is really the first game of 2012 on more than just the calendar, that it could propel them to a Top 10 preseason ranking, that the season ahead could be bigger and brighter than the one about to conclude. And it just might. Seventeen starters are scheduled to return, and some key figures among the Dream Team recruiting class haven’t made their collegiate presence felt.
Said Richt, speaking at a Sunday news briefing: “Some people believe in momentum. We have good positive momentum. In the future, we’re going to be in good shape. We had a taste of playing in the SEC championship game. We need to be able to finish, but we got the taste.”
A bit later, Richt was asked how he handled the criticism that stemmed from Georgia finishing 8-5 in 2009 and 6-7 last season. “As the leader of the program, I can’t act like I’m fretting or I’m mad about something,” he said. Then this:
“We’re going to be knocking on the door of the greatest success you can have in college football, and if you knock long enough you’ll eventually break through.”
There was a time when a national championship seemed Richt’s manifest destiny. He came close in 2002, when his 12-1 Bulldogs missed the BCS title game only because Miami and Ohio State finished unbeaten, close again in 2007, when Georgia was excluded from the championship tilt but finished No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. The Bulldogs entered the next season ranked No. 1 but lasted only one week there, and the thrashing they were dealt by Alabama on Sept. 27, 2008, marked a watershed moment for both programs.
Alabama started playing for SEC and national championships again. Georgia went from the Sugar Bowl to the Capital One to the Independence to the Liberty, and Richt, once a hot young coach, was suddenly neither. He was on the far side of 50 and hadn’t won the SEC since 2005 and hadn’t taken his team to the BCS title game ever. The SEC is about to annex its sixth consecutive national championship, and Georgia has had no hand in any part of the run.
But that, too, could be changing. It’s true that Georgia didn’t play the most testing schedule — it won’t next year, either; is Richt living right or what? — but it’s also true that the Bulldogs began to win the sort of games they’d come to lose. They even gave LSU a go for a half. They weren’t quite ready to win such a game, but next year they might be. All things considered, you’d rather be Georgia than Florida or Tennessee or even South Carolina today.
“We’re in good shape going into the offseason,” Richt said, and Georgia undeniably is. But it wouldn’t hurt to beat a Top 25 team to round off this turnaround. (Though Georgia is favored by a field goal, Michigan State is ranked higher in the AP and USA Today polls.) Winning 10 games in a row was nice. Winning an 11th would be better still.
By Mark Bradley
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351 comments Add your comment
Ken
January 2nd, 2012
12:05 am
V O M I T
Ken
January 2nd, 2012
12:05 am
JUST 31 YEARS REMOVED FROM GREATNESS, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK WITH THAT LUNATICS
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:06 am
Richt can scale back his dreams.
How bout just beating 1 team that finishes in the top 25? Went 0-5 vs. good teams in 2010, and 0-3 so far in 2011.
National Championship? No way, Murray has a strange way of turning the ball over 3 or 4 tmes a game against good teams.
jj
January 2nd, 2012
12:06 am
you idiots think he is the 2nd coming or something? what a bunch of morons
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:07 am
By the way, the team, or Murray, didn’t improve in 2011.
In 2010, lost to all ranked teams, beat the bad teams
In 2011, lost to all ranked teams, beat the bad teams.
Murray got worse in accuracy, yards, and passer rating.
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:08 am
Richt is 0-8 vs. top 20 teams since 2009.
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:10 am
Combined SEC record of SEC teams on 2012 schedule is 18-36.
Wow, some impressive teams there.
Only good team is South Carolina, and Richt is 0-2 there since 2009.
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:11 am
Richt hasn’t beat a top 20 team since 2009.
Don’t like the direction.
No improvement in 2011 over 2010.
NONE.
Pluto
January 2nd, 2012
12:14 am
Murray’s best win so far is Auburn, currently #25 ranked, will probably drop out after Bowls. Murray has never beat a top 20 team.
0-8 record there.
Vampire Bill
January 2nd, 2012
12:38 am
I hope for the best for my dawgs and agree that better things are to come but I have to offer my doubts of the current coaching staff ever bringing a true NC contender to Athens. With all of UGA’s potential you simply CANNOT lose 42-10 ever, Not even once every 10 years.
GoDawgs
January 2nd, 2012
1:25 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yXPpZOu1v-w
Bad Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
2:57 am
What is funny is that some of the people on this blog think they know anything about how schedule’s are made in college football. If you think UGA dropped Alabama for Missouri you need to do a little more research. The schedule is very favorable but the fans or coaches did not make the schedule. Go complain to McGarity and the AD at Alabama.
Columbus
January 2nd, 2012
3:58 am
Murray is fine. EVERYBODY must keep improving. Murray cut out the turnovers early and there is NO shame losing to LSU.
That being said Bradley and many ignorant others looked at this black and white and not with ALL the facts and did not use wise logic is bashing Richt, TRYING to RUN Richt out of Athens! You ALMOSt DID! Schultz did too! The decline at UGA was understandable to anyone who took in ALL the facts. Richt is one of the best coaches in college football but also had to go through somethings to learn some things. This was his FIRST head coaching job! UGA lost so MANY players to the NFL early, INJURIES, leaving scool, getting kicked off the team, etc. and what was left explained the decline. It was NOT the coach, it was the ATTRITUTION! That and a damn good new DC! UGA lost so many OL it was crazy! NO QB after Stafford. Freshman QB, new DC in 2010 and NO RB”S or OL depth EITHER year! I mean ALL of you running off Richt and his HEAD COACHING ABILITY, LOL…..
You all showed your knowledge of college football. Especially Bradley and Schultz…..and 1000’s of young and dumb and ignorant UGA fans who have not been around enough to know what they are saying or doing or talking about! UGA fans who ran off recruits and stressed out and pressured the team in the first of the season and ALL of the off season! How about ALL of you just shutup and learn something in 2012 instead of making ignorant uncredible comments the media hype up? I PRAY you ALL learned something during the 2011 season and that was that you dont know jack!
Are you STILL hard-headed or can you grow up and admit you were wrong? You cant LEARN nothing if you are hard-headed or always doing the talking!
I told all of you igmos BEFORE this season started that UGA was about to go on a run starting in 2012 and that we MIGHT win the East this year which would be a bonus. UGA DID win the East which is going to play HUGE dividends in 2012 and beyond by getting that experience. SO…did you finally learn something Bradley? Are you onboard? Do you still need to learn more? Here let me tell you how things are going to go with UGA the next 5 years….they are going to be VERY GOOD! Richt is a GREAT coach…..He is about to have his BEST teams YET! How does a bad coach do that? Hmmmm…he dont! He runs the WHOLE chow and this show is going to be on the big stage and sold out for several years. I told yout this a year ago! But you are so much wiser than us fans who have been following the school for 30+ years arent you? And to all of you fans that have been around since Dooley coached and you wanted Richt gone…you should be ashamed like Bradley and Schultz and the rest of the young and dumb ones WHO wanted Richt out and who dont even know who Dooley is really much less seen him coach!
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU SO-CALLED DAWG FANS!
GO DAWGS!
p.s. I told you Bradley and Schultz that Richt would be coaching at UGA for the next 15 years unless he got fed up with taking crap from idiots…….!
Stinger2
January 2nd, 2012
4:09 am
Does any UGA fan know for sure when, where,why, who or any or all of the above came up with “Dawgs” as a nickname? I am a GT fan but have followed the UGA teams for many years and do not “hate” them. Just curious.
waytogoricht
January 2nd, 2012
4:14 am
Richt, you’ve fooled me more than than once with your inexplicable bravado talk. Just show at the end of the Michigan State game Richt, you can finally match results with words. Of course you haven’t been able to do that with Spurrier, Saban and Miles lusting to step on your tanning bed face if you met them on the field. Of course you were lucky, very lucky, in that your schedule only required you to meet one of these field proven coaches in 2011 and we know how that worked out. Saved your job as a result of that powder puff schedule with no Arkansas, Bama or LSU. Oh wait, there was LSU in that big championship game in Atlanta, to verify where both programs are.
Since your 2012 schedule is akin in difficulty, or lack there of, you are undoubtedly basing your puffing on that, knowing with your ability that you are not going to run the table. But you’re figuring since you’ve fooled the Nation before, why not again. After all, you figure people aren’t gonna know you couldn’t do it until another bombed, excuse ridden 2012 season is complete. I don’t think you can even hang with Michigan State, but there will be more excuses about that one from you and your defenders. Just keep on collecting the 3.2 mil annually Richt and leave most true UGA fans wondering WTH.
Stinger2
January 2nd, 2012
4:15 am
Why do UGA fans spell their team name wrong. I thought it is Dog(s) not Dawg(s). Dog is a first grade spelling word.
Stinger2
January 2nd, 2012
4:17 am
I just had two post that had no ugly words but did not get past the filter Why?
waytogoricht
January 2nd, 2012
4:19 am
Richt sucks!!! But keep drawing the 3.2 mil annually Richt, which is fantastic given your ability to get things done.
waytogoricht
January 2nd, 2012
4:29 am
Paul Johnson @ 5:20 p.m. on Jan. 1st
Most certainly Paul, you’re marvelous! Most Techsters are impressed with high school offense, knife thru butter defense and most of all your results.
Vince Dooley
January 2nd, 2012
5:41 am
Will soft schedules lead to greatness?
SEC East Conference
January 2nd, 2012
6:23 am
Greatness, lmao…..He must be talking about his Ford truck they gave him to do the commercials….
huffsleeper
January 2nd, 2012
6:36 am
There are plenty of examples of Bobo’s playcalling incompetency but opening up the second half against LSU with two straight runs up the middle was the most recent. He goes in a shell and is going to protect a 3 point lead against the #` team in the country. Not an Alabama or LSU start to the second half. Bobo’s terrible and Richt is an enabler (and a poor special teams coach)
Snake Doc
January 2nd, 2012
6:53 am
For a team that beat one team with a winning record, who beat on other team that finished .500, for a team that lost to every team ranked higher than them, for a team that got destroyed by one of the elite of the SEC, the brain damaged orange CEO talks about his team of miscreants being great.
By Gawd! Thats funny and I don’t care who you are!
Snake Doc
January 2nd, 2012
6:55 am
Great teams pay all phases of the game. apparently the CEO does not understand Special Teams are a part of the game.
The spray on orange man CEO is brain damaged!
Ckgator
January 2nd, 2012
6:56 am
3 interesting SEC / Big Ten bowls today. None of the teams involved are playing at an elite level, but should be fun to watch. Too bad all games are on at the same time!
Buckeye
January 2nd, 2012
7:11 am
Win With must have also penned “on the edge of glory” for Ga Ga.
Buzz2011
January 2nd, 2012
7:21 am
Knocking on the door of greatness!!! Well the Dawgs are knocking off all the top teams for sure.. They are a powerhouse for sure.. Can they get South Carolina off the schedule for 2912? Ga. Southern wants a shot!! They will have a greatness type season in 2012 by winning at least 8 games..Dream Team… 42-10
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
7:24 am
Snake Doc, did you get that name in your all male dorm? What a moron.
Anyway, moving on to what’s important, rumors are again kicking up about Crowell’s grades. I had an in the know booster tell me that the rumors are true, and that he will have to have a good winter and spring in the classroom in order to remain eligible for 2012. Richt gets Mike Davis and Todd Gurley, so this won’t be the problem everyone will make it out to be when the story hits about Crowell’s grades.
Coach Richt knows what he has developing in Athens for 2012. I do not know who will be the “starter” at the tailback position in 2012, but Richt will have a running game next season, you can bet on it. He will also have improved special teams play.
The same stupid, hating posters on these blogs will be one of two things in 2012, gone or will have changed their tunes about the Dawgs. The Tech folks will always post their B.S., but you will see the evaporation of these idiot , redneck Bama folks, and Florida is drying up on the vine with the “Mediocre Muschamp” at the helm. They probably win two or three more games in 2012, but will not be in the hunt. This will lead to hotseat talk for Muschamp going into 2013. Their comments will become tempered as well.
The Dawgs will be legit in 2012!!!!!!!!!
All Saints
January 2nd, 2012
7:31 am
This is a reminder that we’ll be having our regular tribute and moment of silence today for Saint Jan Kemp, the courageous martyr who exposed UGA and Vince Dooley’s “remedial studies” fraud, a shameful scam that Mark Richt carries on today, almost thirty years later.
Please approach this special moment with awe and reverence as we honor her sacred name.
Scorecard
January 2nd, 2012
7:34 am
MSU 42, UGA 12
Buzz2011
January 2nd, 2012
7:34 am
Dawgs will lose today… Remember they are no better than the 2010 team and Central Florida handled them easily.. They will win next year though at least seven games..Do they have any quarterback;s other than that little Murray?
All Saints
January 2nd, 2012
7:36 am
Just a little reminder that we’ll be having our regular tribute and moment of silence today for Saint Jan Kemp, the courageous martyr who exposed UGA and Vince Dooley’s “remedial studies” fraud, a shameful scam that Mark Richt carries on today, almost thirty years later.
Please approach this special moment with awe and reverence as we honor her sacred name.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
7:39 am
I think Georgia will be rated the #1 team in the SEC East going into next year…….but exactly how good a “taste” is a 42-10 drubbing by LSU? I guess it makes you want to go back for more….against LSU…..next December.
Atticus
January 2nd, 2012
7:40 am
One question Mark: If Bobo was so good, why do 0 colleges come to try and hire him like every other major college assistant at some point? He is good but he isn’t elite and we need elite.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
7:42 am
Buzz2011….
Bet you didn’t lay any money on that prediction. Didn’t Tech just blow a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter against Utah? I think I would not come on ripping Georgia right now……not good form…
georgiadawg70
January 2nd, 2012
7:48 am
Atticus,It appears Richt has taken a more active role in the offense. It has been a little more creative
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
7:48 am
It is funny to read a lot of these posts……I guess some Georgia fans have a crystal ball concerning Florida next year. I wish I did. Florida literally could be 11-1 or 7-5 next year. That is a very unclear crystal ball to me. Another easy schedule and returning talent for Georgia creates a much clearer crystal ball.
P.S. It is going to be in the 60s and very windy at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa today. Not good for passing…..or kicking FGs. Very good for a running game. This will help MSU in the game….and hurt Georgia.
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
8:03 am
Did you even WATCH the SEC Championship game, moron? UGA held LSU to it’s lowest yardage totals, 0 first downs, and Aaron Murray did his part to insure 21 first half points. The dropped passes were not Murray’s fault. The receiving corps that has seen the most playing time this year other than King, are first year players in the SEC. Looked to have some butterflies in the first half, this is what Coach Richt means by taste of the SEC Championship. Getting that experience was exactly what the doctor ordered for this group of freshmen. When they return to the Dome in December 2012, they will not have forgotten the drops, believe me. Yeah, Gator, the last time we saw your team n the Dome, Bama was having their way with you for four quarters.
Haters beware of the DAWG in 2012!!!!!!!!!!
DAWGIN' DEM GREEN COW COLLEGE YANKEES
January 2nd, 2012
8:12 am
All Saints. LULZ. Our boys wish they could study Fiber Management and the like!
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:14 am
Yes…..I watched the game….final score was LSU 42, Georgia 10. Any moron knows what that final score represents…..and those 35 points LSU scored in the second half. Playing well for two quarters does not win SEC championships.
And…yes….I watched Bama win the 2009 title 31-13 (Bama scored 13 unanswered points…..not 35…..in the second half….when SEC title games are won or lost). And it left a different kind of taste than the one Richt spoke about. I guess losing is easier to take when you are not used to winning….which the Gators and Gators fans are.
David S
January 2nd, 2012
8:15 am
As a life fong jacket fan, most of the fan of the MUTTS make me sick, but not as sick as The Genius PJ has been making me lately.. I really hope that Coach Richt can go all the way next year and get the National Title. The story of how he was paying his assistants shows that he is a class act and not an ego jerk like PJ.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:19 am
…..and Columbus Dawg……
I think LSU went through the motions in that first half……,looking ahead to the NC game. Then they got serious in the second half. There was a big difference between those two teams…..and there will be next year when LSU plays whomever represents the East next year…..in next year’s title game….as LSU will be even better than they are this year.
But Seriously
January 2nd, 2012
8:22 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZZiIzZQC0c0
fan
January 2nd, 2012
8:30 am
To be the best, you have to beat the best! Not run and hide COWARDS!!!!
Dream Team
January 2nd, 2012
8:36 am
Kiss of death.
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
8:42 am
Gator, what you think about what the LSU football team was doing or thinking in the first half is of no consequence. My point is our receiving corps not playing up to the standards that it played with all season, coupled with the bogus punt return (if you watched you saw the two blocks in back that were not called by officials working for Slive who had way to much invested in an LSU win to call them), that drastically changed this game’s momentum. What would have been a 21-0 first half was negated by these events.
As far as LSU being better in 2012, LSU will have a first year starter at the QB position, no matter who they go with. Teams do not generally get better with first year QB’s, and LSU won’t either.
I know that having dropped to being an also-ran in the SEC, about like the Galen Hall years as a matter of fact, has you irritated Gator, Bobby Boucher’s mama says “Alligators are so honery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush”!
Joey
January 2nd, 2012
8:43 am
If we win THIS game, then I’ll agree with Coach Richt that the program has “turned around.” But winning 10 of 14 games is not that great, especially when you only win the games you are supposed to win. And according to the odds, we are supposed to win this game.
For me, it will take beating MSU to wash away that bad taste of UCF, Boise, and LSU.
I want to see Aaron Murray lead this team, and play mistake-free vs a really good team, for once. And I want to see some good blocking by the OL, along with some power running by our healthy RBs.
Go Dawgs!
Beaver Cleaver
January 2nd, 2012
8:50 am
I predict a sec east championship and another beatdown at the hands of the west champion
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:52 am
Columbus Dawg….
It is better to think with the mind, rather than the heart. The later will get you into trouble every time.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 am
Beaver….
I think it is a Georgia-South Carolina battle for the East next year……and….yes….another beat down by LSU. LSU will then beat down someone in the NC game.