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
Between the Hedges
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 am
http://www.facebook.com/BetweenTheHedges
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:55 am
And Columbus Dawg……
I guess that terriffic LSU defense and defensive backfield had nothing to do with Georgia’s poor offensive and receiving performance. It was all the refs fault….as usual.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 am
It will be very windy at Raymond James Stadium today……not good for the Georgia passing and kicking games.
Homepage | MrSEC.com
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 am
[...] Mark Bradley: “All things considered, you’d rather be Georgia than Florida or Tennessee or even South Carolina [...]
fan
January 2nd, 2012
8:59 am
Richt taking advantage of weak schedules to extend contract, and uga falling for it!
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
9:00 am
And Columbus Dawg….
When people get frustrated because they know they are incorrect or their arguement is being challenged by facts……they start calling people morons, idiots, Gayturds, etc, etc, etc, etc.
TigerinGA
January 2nd, 2012
9:07 am
Greatness??? They will most likely loose today to Mich State, not what most would say is the path to greatness!
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
9:07 am
I read a quote from Rambo in an article from Seth Emerson that states “Coach Grantham is always telling us that this will be the last time our defense will be together, so we need to go out and have fun”.
So is Grantham sold on a mass exodus of D players to the draft? Tyson and Boykin will be out of eligibility. With the new rookie salary cap in place, you would think that an underclassman jumping to the NFL would have to be guaranteed a second round minimum pick to make the jump worthwhile. Grantham knows this, and this is why I am wondering what he meant by his statement. He has also got to know that Rambo and Washington will fall short of the second round minimum argument. Rambo had one play with the hit on the Auburn back as a freshman that got notice of the Bulldog Nation, but made no more impact until this season. It takes more than one decent season to get into the top rounds of the draft. Ditto for Washington, he has underachieved his whole career at UGA, and will need another good season to get a high pick in draft.
It makes me wonder if these guys just want out of UGA so badly that they are willing to take whatever they can get to get out of there. If that is the case, then good riddance, as the positive pruning continues. We need players at UGA that want to be at UGA. Just ask Jarvis Jones. If a player is not part of the solution, then he is part of the problem.
sportzfan
January 2nd, 2012
9:10 am
Bad Dawg….you’re right, the fans or coaches didn’t have a say in next years schedule, but McGarity did, as did Slive. You’re an idiot if you think Alabama would have discouraged the league from scheduling UGA…..this is a great recruiting area for them and I just don’t see Bama being afraid of UGA.
Columbus Dawg…….the score in football is after four quarters, not at half time. Also, LSU doesn’t have to get better next year with a new QB……just stay the same and I think they’ll be alright.
With cupcake scheduling UGA won SEC east this year, but only one team in east went undefeated…..and it wasn’t UGA.
TigerinGA
January 2nd, 2012
9:10 am
Columbus dog is delusional like most “dawg” fans. LSU wasn’t playing in the first half of the SEC championship game. I think they bought into the fact that they didn’t need to win that game, but Miles woke them up at half time. First half scores and stats don’t mean squat in college football! The final score is what counts!
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
9:11 am
Michigan State was nearly good enough to be in the Rose Bowl…….and next to LSU…..this will be the best team Georgia has played. They have an excellent defense and a very good QB and running game. It will be a challenge for Georgia. But I think Georgia’s speed on defense will win the game in the fourth quarter.
SEC Title!!
January 2nd, 2012
9:20 am
Georgia is loaded heading into 2012—Alabama and lsu will be down and the Dawgs can win the title! Look for another easy SEC east title—fla and tennessee are terrible and Ga beats them easy. SC will not have enough to beat UGA. Ga in the BCS—book it!!! Dawgs—back on top!!!
evil empire
January 2nd, 2012
9:26 am
@ Columbus Dawg and SEC Title!!…please shut up! your stupid posts are giving me a headache…LSU and Alabama will be down??…not to worry, their second teams could beat the ugatards on any day…
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
9:26 am
Gator, I have not referred to you as anything other than Gator. I do not know why that would bother you. Just as I thought, you really did not watch the events that took place at the SEC Championship Game. I did not even say that UGA would have won the game without the events that I described, only that it would have been a different game. Anyone who WATCHED, and actually saw what happened on the punt return, knows that there was a blatent block in the back behind the thirty yard line that would have negated that run back. Now I realize that a Gator watching a Georgia game is not going to be unbiased in the events as they unfold, but rather to put spin on the se said events as to how THEY think they actually happened. The problem with this is that it makes you look clueless about the game of football, and only seeing what is “Good for the Gator”, so to speak.
If you want to get to where the rubber meets the road, Gators everywhere are about to jump off the bridge down there because they know that their SEC East reign is ova! They also know that their A.D. Foley has really messed his pants with the Muschamp hire, and that they will have to live through it before it gets better, kind of like the Ray Goff situation at UGA. You all had better hope they don’t leave him in there as long as UGA held on to Goff!
Live with it Gators, UGA has reclaimed the East, and will hold on to it for a while this time!
Ted M
January 2nd, 2012
9:27 am
Go Dawgs. Wish I knew something about Michigan St other then their record.
Stiinger
January 2nd, 2012
9:31 am
The chiwawa’s are going to get killed by Michigan State and you guys will be crying FIRE RICHT again.
Richt has claimed you are on the verge of Greatness. We all know what happens when you proclaim to be a contender. YOU TANK- Chokers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
all for one.....
January 2nd, 2012
9:36 am
This is a statement game. So let my Dawgs loose and make the statement, “We are one of the big boys, it takes a great team to beat us.” We have lost to 1, 7, and 9. 2008, We were 10-3, we lost to 1,2, and 14 by 3pts. Georgia and Florida 4 and 5 star players should be leaping onto the “G” team. Coach Richt can coach, he is the real deal. Offense is never a problem. As long as we have a great Defensive Coordinator as UGA should always have one of the best, Dawgs will be dominant. Enough with the weak schedule junk. Georgia will play any team, any time, anywhere. We take on all challengers. Period. We are The Gosh Darn “G” Georgia Bulldogs or Bulldawgs. Haters can kiss our grits.
all for one.....
January 2nd, 2012
9:41 am
SEC contenders and Champs 6 in a row. Big 10 pretenders, if MSU changed schedules with GA we would be undefeated and they would be 6-6 maybe.
all for one.....
January 2nd, 2012
9:43 am
MSU #5 defense against Lil 10. UGA #3 Defense against SEC. Period, nuff said
Columbus Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
9:46 am
So what is your team allegience evil? First of all I did not say that Bama and LSU would be down, I said in response to the post that LSU will be better in 2012 that teams generally do not improve with first year quarterbacks, and I stand behind that statement. Mett has a good chance to start next year, but I do think it will take him a year to make an impact there.
Besides a bunch of hating, ignorant people posting negatives about UGA football, it is hard to see any football knowledge in any posts. MOSTLY JUST PEOPLE THAT ARE SCARED TO DEATH OF WHAT UGA IS BECOMING! I know that LSU would be hard to deal with in 2012 in the SEC game, but I also know that UGA will be better equipped for the challenge. As for your headache, sounds like you need to go take a nap.
As far as Georgia people posting positives about the University of Georgia Football Team, this newspaper blog originates in the state of Georgia, and WILL have postings favoring the Georgia Football Team. If this offends any of you rivals, haters or just general dips, then why don’t you all go somewhere else to spend your time?
all for one.....
January 2nd, 2012
9:47 am
Georgia shores up OL, RB positions, gets some great DB’s and just fill needs with 2012 recruiting class Dawgs are on way to Greatness. l agree with CMR. 2013 Recruiting Class already shaping up to be #1 in nation. HOW ‘BOUT THEM DAWGS!
JB
January 2nd, 2012
9:48 am
Boy, the coverage for the bowl game today of UGA/MSU by the AJC is horrible
Bob-Bob Baran
January 2nd, 2012
9:48 am
UGA couldn’t beat a WAC team…..Greatness?? Huh?? With a QB that is just barely tall enough to not qualify for a “Munchkin” role in the Wizard of Oz….Huh??
Joe Bob Thibodaux
January 2nd, 2012
9:50 am
JBT is pulling for you Dawgs.
Whip them Yankees. Good luck! SEC Rocks!
JBT
JB
January 2nd, 2012
9:52 am
Gators are in a snit. We know it. They know it. They will lose to a very good Georgia team next year and 2 losses in a row will be more than they can take…..But for the old timers down there, it’s just back to normal….For the 80 years before the last 20, Florida was just average with a good team every now and then. Welcome back.
Joey
January 2nd, 2012
9:55 am
The AJC is still in mourning over yet another bowl loss of the local genius head coach, JB.
Furman Bisher is still weeping in his oat meal . . .
Bob-Bob Baran
January 2nd, 2012
9:59 am
GREAT victories over THE COASTAL CAROLINA U, Ole Miss, Miss St, Tenn, VANDY, Florida, THE NEW MEXICO STATE U., AU, KY, and GA Tech….I’ll give you MS St, Florida–BARELY, AU and GA Tech….so 4 wins out of 10….GREATNESS?? HUH??? BULLDAWG NATION BEEN DRINKIN CMR’S KOOL-AID……
JB
January 2nd, 2012
10:00 am
Joey…………Have the Tech people officially taken the “smartest coach in America” label off Johnson as of the latest loss?
JB
January 2nd, 2012
10:04 am
Bob boob Baran……………….Check out Florida’s schedule the last NC they won….I think the first 4 wins, the opponent arrived on church buses from the local area.
DawgVoiceofReason
January 2nd, 2012
10:05 am
The Dawgs need to win today to help validate what they accomplished this season. People are right who say we didn’t win against the 3 best teams we faced during the regular season. Given the rough start, what we did to get into the SEC Championship game was still remarkable and still exciting to watch. Losing today would take a little bit of the luster off. MSU has a very good team and a win against them will mean something.
Bob-Bob Baran
January 2nd, 2012
10:12 am
JB, you are right about UF and the Church buses….same as this season with UGA…Thanks for validating the argument!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
DawgVoiceofReason
January 2nd, 2012
10:13 am
It is amazing to listen to (i.e read) the posts of people who criticise Aaron Murray for not having won against “top” opponents. I’ll bet Auburn ends up in the Top 25 this year and last I checked Aaron Murray and his teammates blew the doors off them. Last year our defense was still not good and Murray was a freshman. This year he is only a Sophomore and shattered/destroyed/crushed the all-time UGA TD passing record, held previously by the Number 1 overall NFL draft pick. If two receivers hadn’t dropped sure touchdown passes, Murray would have had three touchdowns in the first half alone against the number one team in the country. You people have no perspective or judgment whatsoever!
PIERCE COUNTY DOG
January 2nd, 2012
10:15 am
SOME OF YOU JACKET FANS MAKE ME SICK. POOR ATTITUDE ALONG WITH YOUR POOR TEAM. GO DOGS. I USED TO PULL FOR THE JACKETS WHEN THE DOGS DID NOT PLAY THEM. BUT THAT HAS CHANGED. ALWAYS PULLING FOR ANOTHER TEAM TO BEAT THE DOGS BECAUSE THE JACKET CAN NOT FIINISH THE DRILL. GO DAWGS,WE OWN THIS STATE!!!!
PIERCE COUNTY DOG
January 2nd, 2012
10:18 am
STINGER YOU GT GOT BEAT AGAIN. YOU TECH FANS CRY ALL YOUR LIVES,YOU BIG CRY BABY,S. JEALOUSLY IS CRUELER THAN THE GRAVE. GO DAWGS GA 31 TECH 17
1969 Graduate
January 2nd, 2012
10:20 am
Why in the world is Mark Richt talking about knocking on the door of greatness?
We’re barely knocking on the door of mediocrity until we beat the good teams. I don’t mean the teams that are sometimes good – like Florida, like Tennessee – but aren’t good this year.
Beating the Little Sisters of the Blind is better than losing to them, and we did beat Auburn (which looked better considering Auburn’s bowl performance), and you do have to be in the SEC Championship Game to get your butt kicked in the second half and go on to a humbling loss, but – excuse me – isn’t it a bit premature to be celebrating our future greatness.
Mr. Richt has made some progress this year, I think. At least the sidelines don’t always look like a ghetto rap scene, and some of the players seem to have character structures better than the average Miami hoodlum of a few years ago. I said that’s progress.
Let’s beat Michigan State, and bring in an Offensive Coordinator, and figure out how to teach Special Teams play, and work more on Strength and Conditioning, and play every down for 60 minutes. Let’s do all that first.
Congratulations for mediocrity are bad enough, but celebrating future greatness just gets in the way of making it happen.
Go, Georgia Bulldogs!
Joey
January 2nd, 2012
10:21 am
Quite a few have, by the looks of what’s being said on their blogs.
You know, I thought PJ had scored, big time, when he hired Groh as DC. I don’t get it. Regardless
PJ’s gonna have to get that D back up to standard before he can challenge for the ACC again.
Bob-Bob Baran
January 2nd, 2012
10:28 am
The only thing CMR’s playing for is JOB SECURITY! Forget about the Greatness…
Old Dawg
January 2nd, 2012
10:29 am
Sorry Mark and others incluiding the Tech fans who see the 2012 schedule as “easy”. Remember that we know nothing about how improved Florida, Tennessse and Auburn might be and add to that the following fact. Georgia must win on the road against Mizzou and South Carolina. South Carolina on the other hand gets the Dawgs and Mizzou at home. How we fare in the two Columbia’s will determine if we make a return trip to the SEC Championship. If we win the East, we will certainly deserve the honor. Each year is different and to base it on last year’s performance is foolish.
HornbuckleDog
January 2nd, 2012
10:35 am
I didn’t see any improvement.
In the current AP Poll, we played three (3) teams this year:
Boise (Lost)
South Carolina (Lost)
LSU (Lost)
Beat a horrible Florida team with a bunch of coaches in the 1st year of installing their system.
Auburn isn’t ranked on the AP Poll, they wern’t good this year either without Cam Newton.
How long will Richt think going 0-3 vs ranked team show an improvement of going 0-5 the previous year against ranked teams?
HornbuckleDog
January 2nd, 2012
10:38 am
UGA is ranked #18.
Lose this game, and fall out of te top 25 rankings, and Richt’s contract isn’t renewed.
Joey
January 2nd, 2012
10:38 am
1969 Grad, wow!
Could have written that myself (tried to @ 8:43).
All we’ve done this season is beat who we were supposed to beat. They just happened to come along in a row. I’m tickled that we won them, but we still lost 3 games.
To me, Murray has a lot to prove, still. When he LEADS the Bulldogs to a victory over a great, or even a really good, team, I will give him his due. Until he does THAT, he is only slightly better than Matthew Stafford, who couldn’t even lead UGA to win the East. They both put up big numbers, but tended to shrink in the big games.
Knowall Moreno
January 2nd, 2012
10:39 am
Lets start 2012 kickin some Michigan butt, sic em Dawgs woof woof woof!!!!
Return to Glory
January 2nd, 2012
10:39 am
GO DAWGS, as my name states Return to Glory: the march towards Glory resumes today.
Georgia: 27 MSU: 17.
gt4ever
January 2nd, 2012
10:40 am
Good grief people, You continue to raise the bar…. The most delusional fans in the country…. How could any professional journalist even put this in print?? I guess we are just so ready to have a descent college football team that we will believe most anything… The bottom line, UGA has beat NOBODY, and when they get beat today by a good team, once again the seat will warm for CMR…
Bob-Bob Baran
January 2nd, 2012
10:42 am
If only we can figure a way to quit being the Gamecocks Girlfriend!!
Gamecockrock
January 2nd, 2012
10:43 am
Mark Dantonio is A Gamecock alum. Enough said. Sparty rolls.
Dennis
January 2nd, 2012
10:47 am
You will lose today and next year will mirror the fate of Miss St. You guys really need to take some meds and level out. You just got talked off the bridge from jumping and now you are in the Casino rolling for the big bucks with borrowed money.
HornbuckleDog
January 2nd, 2012
10:47 am
By Richt’s standards, Harvard will be knocking on the door. They won a bunch of games against bad teams too.
TampaGator
January 2nd, 2012
10:49 am
Horbunckledog…..
I think you underestimated the improvement of your Dawgs……but a lot on here are overestimating how good the Dawgs are based on the schedule they played…….clearly ignoring the facts that you posted. Georgia’s performance today will make a clearer statement about this year’s Dawgs’ team….as MSU is a good team…..but nowhere near as good as LSU or Bama…..or Arkansas for that matter.
HornbuckleDog
January 2nd, 2012
10:52 am
South Carolina was the best team in the SEC East this season. They’re ranked in the top 10 on the AP Poll and they beat UGA for the 2nd straight year. Should have the best 2 teams in the SEC playing each other in the SEC Championship, LSU/Bama, or Ark, but UGA? 42-10 loss was embarrassing.
2012 will be same ole stuff, no special teams coach, Murray melting down in big games, Bobo trying to win passing the ball, giving up 40 points against ranked teams. No changes have been made.