Unless it beats the Gators, UGA will be a 10-2 underachiever
"Wait just a doggone minute! Isn't that the signal for the infield fly?" (AJC photo by Bob Andres)
At the absolute worst, Georgia figures to finish its regular season 10-2. Just last year, a 10-2 regular season yielded an SEC East title and bought Mark Richt a contract extension and was taken as a sign that Georgia football was on the ascent. To go 10-2 again, assuming this 10-2 includes a loss to Florida and the absence of another division title, would be taken as an abject reversal.
Here’s where the Bulldogs’ bunny schedule serves as both boon and burden. Georgia still must play Kentucky, Ole Miss, Auburn and Georgia Tech; the aggregate record of those teams is 7-16. The Bulldogs also will face Georgia Southern, which plays at a lesser level. If Georgia beats those five but loses to Florida, it will be described, oddly but accurately, as a 10-2 underachiever.
When the Bulldogs were going 8-5 in 2009 and 6-7 the next season, the question became: Would they ever win big again? They’ve since gone 15-5, which would seem to offer an answer, but in light of the drubbing administered by South Carolina we note there can be a difference between Winning Big and Winning Big Games. Georgia has come to occupy the space between.
Its last victory over a Top 10 team came when it defeated No. 7 Georgia Tech on Nov. 28, 2009. The Bulldogs last beat an SEC team ranked in the Top 10 on Oct. 27, 2007 (No. 9 Florida in the Gator Stomp game). Their last victory over anybody in the top five came against No. 5 Auburn on Nov. 11, 2006. Since Oct. 30, 2008, Georgia is 4-13 against ranked opposition, and three of those times the Bulldogs were the higher-ranked team.
Coming off their 2011 turnaround, these Bulldogs figured to have much working for them: A fourth-year junior at quarterback, nine defensive starters who are either seniors or juniors and, above all, the softest of schedules. But when you play so few games against opponents of comparable worth and you lose them all, that schedule turns against you. It makes you seem a team that is, as Lou Holtz once said, living a lie.
It would one be one thing if the Bulldogs were capable of no more, if the only thing enabling them to be ranked at all was the canny maximization of modest resources. But you cannot recruit at such an exalted level and then claim personnel bankruptcy. There aren’t 10 more talented teams in the land. So why, when it comes time to step up in class, does Georgia invariably flunk?
We cannot help but look to the coach. It’s his program. He hired these high-salaried assistants, recruited these star-spangled players. And isn’t as if Richt has never won a Big Game: From 2002 through Jan. 1, 2008, Georgia was 22-10 against ranked opponents. It is 6-14 since. It has become the classic bully: It terrorizes the small fry but turns tail when the big boys show up.
After winning the East last year, the Bulldogs faced No. 1 LSU and lost 42-10. After rising to No. 5 in the land this season, they played South Carolina in Columbia and lost 35-7. That’s a 60-point spread in prove-it games, and the latter loss was truly alarming. Georgia wasn’t ready to handle a team like LSU last season, but 1o months later it was even less prepared for what the Gamecocks unleashed. Isn’t experience supposed to be a teaching tool?
Maybe it can still be one. This year isn’t over. If Georgia can beat Florida, there’s a chance the Bulldogs can again win the East. South Carolina would have to lose twice, but its next two games are against LSU and Florida on the road. Even so, the sight of the Gators again on the rise is surely disquieting: Of the four times Georgia has won the SEC East, three came in Year 1 after a Florida coaching change, and the fourth was in Ron Zook’s final season. This is Year 2 for Will Muschamp, and Florida just climbed to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll.
Having lost three in a row to South Carolina, Georgia has already fallen behind the Gamecocks in both standings and hierarchy. If Florida jumps back ahead of the Bulldogs, the Richt renaissance will have been the briefest of moments. His program will be in danger of falling into the hole from which he once rescued it: That time in the ’90s when Florida and Tennessee owned the division and Georgia, under Ray Goff and Jim Donnan, was relegated to third place.
This looked to be the season Richt and his Bulldogs consolidated their hold on the division, and they might yet. But anything less than an East title would rekindle all those questions about Richt. There’s no way Georgia would move to fire a coach who wins 10 games two years running; there’s also no way the second 10-2 would feel half as good as the first.
At some point Georgia has to answer the question, “Yeah, but who did you beat?” And that answer cannot continue to be, “Well, there was that Tech game back in ‘09 …”
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
987 comments Add your comment
Stephen A. Dawg. Now That's a poor choice ...Gruden ?!
October 9th, 2012
2:30 am
@ Gruden: Hey guy, you gotta put down that mug of Kryptonite kool-aid and stop eating laced/loaded brownies. Gruden is fine where he is…. in a TV booth impersonating John Madden. I know he lucked up and “won” a Super bowl with Tony Dungy’s players at Tampa Bay, then proceded to destroy the Bucs before he was ran out to easy million dollar commentator status. Gruden doesn’t remember when he last coached in college as a graduate assistant. No that’s alright UGA will pass on him if they are smart. You’ve got to be delusional or even ignorant for even mentioning him. Things would go from bad to worst all Gruden would want is a million dollar buyout after his finishes where Richt left off.
JRW7
October 9th, 2012
2:38 am
CMR sucks as a coach! The best thing that can happen now is if we lose 2 or 3 more games this season and expose CMR as a soft coach, a coach with no real desire to win, a coach that thinks 10 wins per season will keep his job. I want more than 10 wins a year over below average teams. FIRE CMR NOW!!!!
Solution
October 9th, 2012
2:43 am
What a Monday for wanting to get rid of your coach. I have heard the same song now from fans of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, and Florida State. How about we just let them all trade jobs? Joker Phillips goes to Tennessee, Derek Dooley heads back to Georgia, Marc Richt returns to Florida State, Jimbo Fisher heads over to Auburn, and Gene Chizik moves on to Kentucky. Will that make everyone happy?
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
2:57 am
All of you guys singing the praises of McGarity ask yourself why he extended the contract in the first place instead of letting it expire.
We’d have begun a new program already.
I don’t think McGarity is that smart. He extended their contracts and gave them raises and look what we’ve got.
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
2:59 am
Solution,
Bama, Auburn, UF and LSU FIRED all of their coaches and within a very few years all won the SEC and / or the BCS.
Bobitro
October 9th, 2012
4:32 am
I really can’t believe UGA fans defend Richt. Your defense is bad every year, and you haven’t beaten a ranked contender in years and years. You run up the score on low end teams (although giving up 3 or 4 TDs in the process) and beat on Paul Johnson’s ridiculous experiment, but whichever of Florida, LSU (or USC, lol), etc. is any good kicks your rear.
Bobitro
October 9th, 2012
4:38 am
It amazes me that dawg fans think this team is good. It just got its rear end kicked all over the field. Richt goes 10-2 every year, but the 2 are the only games that count (all right, he beats Tech). The SEC has 8 BCS champions in the last 15 years – none of them UGA.
BigDawg
October 9th, 2012
4:39 am
Good article Mark—- I think you hit a nerve as I said Sunday this was another one of those games where I was embarrashed to be a Georgia Bulldog fan. Why because as I sat and watched the debacle Saturday night; games like Alabama in 08, Tennessee, in 06 and 07, GT 08 kept coming to mind. I saw a team that was unprepared and then the coaches failed to make in game adjustments to what was happening. Murray gets hit and he immediately reverts to chopping his feet instead of setting them and throwing. South Carolina stacked the block on us and dared us to throw over them. Then when we finally settled down a little and drove the ball to the 4 yard line with first and goal, we ran the ball 3 straight times each time the ball was mismarked by the officials so instead of having scored on 2nd down or 3 rd down we are 4th and goal at the 2 yard line then we inexplicably throw a 1 yard slant that gets stuffed when the receiver a 3rd year junior runs a route that is designed to be 1 to 2 yards in the endzone.
This goes back to Coach Richt and his team’s seemingly always being unprepared for the big games since 2007. Coach Richt has somemore hard choices to make as HE is not getting it done. He is not improving as a head coach, he stuck with Martinez 2 years longer than he should have and now he hires Will Friend as an OL coach and keeps Mike BoBo 3 years longer than he should have as OC. He reminds me of Bill Clinton- the buck never got to me always blaming others for what is clearly a problem with himself. Hopefully there are some leaders on this team that will step up and lead by example and this season that looked like it would be a special season 2 weeks ago can be salvaged.
Go Dawgs
Cal22
October 9th, 2012
6:00 am
FIRE CMR NOW!!!!
That way, you sorry Georgie fans won’t have anyone else to blame for the fact that your program just sucks. It always has and it always will, but you fans are just too inbred to see it.
I heard Aaron Murray’s house got TP’d after the game. No I didn’t do it, but I can understand why it happened. Someone was trying to clean up all the sh*t talking you Georgie fans were doing before the Carolina game.
BIG MIKE
October 9th, 2012
6:33 am
WHAT HAPPENS IF:
All three teams wind up with one loss….againste each other?
UGA loses to USC
USC loses to UF
UF loses to UGA
Who goes to the championship game??
Leeman
October 9th, 2012
6:38 am
Why doesn’t richt teach bobo how to run that awesome offense he pretended he ran at FSU?
Because he can’t and he didn’t
Buzz2011
October 9th, 2012
6:56 am
Galling!
Newnandawg
October 9th, 2012
6:57 am
Love the comments about how “It will take years to rebuild if Richt is fired.”
Good coaches have their teams turned around in the second year. It doesn’t take 10 years to install a new system.
FIRE MARK RICHT. This is UGA, not Ole Miss.
And, come on, you all know full well he can’t beat FL this year…. look at his track record.
graphite
October 9th, 2012
6:58 am
Cheer up puppies! They are giving discounts in Shreveport,Nashville and Boise.Reserve now!!! Your team plays with as much enthusiasm as that stupid dog.Doe’s he ever come out of house and join the fun? The funniest thing I ever saw was the shot at the Tn. game of a man half inside trying to get ol Russ out of the dog house.All you could see was the bottom of his feet and his butt.Another breed of dog would suit ya’ll better!…RollOn…
Rosezeee
October 9th, 2012
6:58 am
Aren’t screen passes (not wide receiver) and draw misdirection plays the answer for an over pursuing defense???? Didn’t see UGA try that once saturday night. And why didnt they put a tight end on Cloweny to help out their tackle???
Bozo and Richt – dumb and dumber
Harry Reid
October 9th, 2012
6:59 am
South Carolina can be beat. When Steve gets the big head like he does now…look for LSU to kick his butt! Same for Bama..they too can be beat! A football can bounce funny !
Ole Yeller
October 9th, 2012
7:01 am
Tech could only wish to win a few games!
uga1980
October 9th, 2012
7:09 am
I’ll take 10-2 anytime!!! Yes – it might not win the east, or might not get us into the SEC championship game, but it still makes us a very respectable, winning program. Not many programs across the country as say that. UGA has a better bowl record than Alabama, USC, and most of the SEC teams over the past 25 years. Got news for some… UGA has never been a national power with exception of 2-3 years in the early eighties. We ARE however, a winning program!!!
We got crushed this past weekend – plain & simple. USC played a perfect game – no turnovers & made plays when they needed to. The reactionary posts that followed are comical. I’m even more embarrassed by the idiotic fans who vented on Murray’s house. But I guess for some people, a coaching change is all that is required. Perhaps bringing back Donnan or Goff would satisfy their urge to “win at all cost”.
gbal
October 9th, 2012
7:12 am
As I said this summer….. AGAIN the media, including MB mis picked UGA as a top 10 team. With the OL comming into the season, the QB not showing he could win a big game, the same play caller as OC,….. I said the that UGA was a mid teens team but the media insisted otherwise. The schedule is not as easy as media predicted either. I think UGA is right where they should be be dissapointing how easily SC handled UGA. Media failed here… fire them all!!!
SEC: Isaiah Crowell catching on at Alabama State | John Clay's Sidelines
October 9th, 2012
7:13 am
[...] Bradley thinks Georgia must beat Florida to save its [...]
Phil
October 9th, 2012
7:47 am
uga1980,
Going 10-2 this year is not a great achievement. Winning 10 games against this cupcake schedule should be expected. It’s the embarassing beatdowns we have to endure every year when we go up against some real competition. Richt cannot get his teams ready to play in a big game. Either that or we really don’t have that much talent. Looking at all the players we send to the NFL I don’t think talent is the problem. Expect another beatdown we play Florida.
Charles Sallusti
October 9th, 2012
7:47 am
If you want a coach that can go 10 and 2 every year Richt is it
Tuesday Morning Update - Inside Ole Miss Sports with Parrish Alford
October 9th, 2012
7:47 am
[...] but down the road in Atlanta, the state’s leading newspaper says the Bulldogs will be a 10-2 under-achiever unless they beat Florida. Share this:ShareEmailPrintFacebookTwitterPinterestDiggRedditPress [...]
its time
October 9th, 2012
7:50 am
“We cannot help but look to the coach. It’s his program. He hired these high-salaried assistants, recruited these star-spangled players.”
Would the Athletic Association Board please step forward? 10 years, and it comes to this?
Tereza
October 9th, 2012
7:52 am
What’s the problem? It’s true that Spurrier has more coaching talent in his little finger than Richt does in his entire body, but in the things that really count – like having a great suntan and a nice hairdo – Richt is clearly superior.
Will someone please pass the brownies and Kool-Aid.
volsfan
October 9th, 2012
8:00 am
Georgia gave up 44 points against Tennessee and yall are surprised they got beat by the gamecocks? South Carolina was hungry and came to play. Yall are crazy talking like Mark Richt
is a bad coach, We Will trade yall Dooley for Richt all day long.
Beatdown City... also known as Jacksonville
October 9th, 2012
8:05 am
Florida 42
Georgia 24
Buh bye to Richt and the Dwags.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
October 9th, 2012
8:09 am
uga1980
Got some news for you
FL never won a conference championship in a 100 years until the 90’s
Miami was almost a canceled football program in the early 80’s
FSU was a joke too until the eighties
By the way
If you count National Championships like GT and AL do UGA has 5
UGA is 3rd in SEC championships
UGA is 5th in bowl appearances and bowl victories
You might ought to inform yourself
By the way
Do UGA a favor and go pull for Vandy where mediocrity is excepted
Phil
October 9th, 2012
8:11 am
Food for thought here:
Blackout game against Alabama in 2008. Our fans are pumped(much like the SC fans were), ready to explode. What did Richt do in the Alabama game? He DEFERRED to the 2nd half, Alabama takes the opening drive and goes down and scored. Result?? They took the crowd right of the game, grabbed the momentum and took charge of the game.
Fast forward to Saturday night. Another rabid crowd on hand. You’re the visiting team (like Alabama was). So you think silencing the crowd and grabbing the early momentum might be important??????
So what did Richt do? He DEFFERED to the 2nd half. South Carolina takes the opening drive, goes down the field and scores and now their fans are going wild. They grabbed the momentum and it was downhill from there.
Richt played right into their hands both times!! There is no doubt Spurrier would have taken the ball first had they won the coin toss because he knows the value of momentum and having a rabid crowd behind you.
Richt can’t even get the coin toss right!! So you think this Moron is going to lead us to a National Championship?? Hardly.
Escaped from Email Purgatory
October 9th, 2012
8:11 am
It’s a long season yet, but CMR has shown nothing since 2007 that indicates he’ll have have the team ready for the only big game left on their schedule.
CMR may be a fine man, but he’s received more reprieves than he deserves. He’s still the head honcho because the decision makers and influential alums want desperately for him to be the head honcho.
What’s called “progress” in 2011 is an illusion. The schedule was soft overall and Florida had an uncharacteristically bad team. The Dawgs still lost to South Carolina – the only truly good team on the schedule.
Seems UGA can now count two teams as nemesis opponents. UF has had our number for darn near 20 years. Now add South Carolina. So it seems the only way UGA can compete for the SEC East is for SC and UF to experience down years – at the same time – or for one of them to do our dirty work for us and eliminate the other.
If this is considered “glory” then the word has been cheapened beyond repair.
If I understand the premise of this article, CMR can redeem himself if we beat UF (and mop the floor with the remaining opponents who’ve accumulated a 6-17 record so far this year). Then all is well, glory is restored and CMR is retained.
What happens when UGA loses to SC and UF next year? Based on CMR’s record since 2008, the only thing standing between that eventuality and ontological certitude * is the laws of probability.
This prolonged, awkward dance between CMR and whoever occupies the AD chair has become farcical.
* used with the permission of John McLaughlin
bamaguy
October 9th, 2012
8:12 am
Losing a close game where your team played with enthusiasm and intensity is one thing, that mess on Saturday was an embarrassment. I think Richt is a very good coach, he is just not in the league with Suprrier, Miles and Saban and to claim a prize, that is who he has to beat.
TextMe
October 9th, 2012
8:20 am
ga has more talent than usc based on rankings, but has lost 3 in a row. How is that possible??? Hello???
Larry
October 9th, 2012
8:24 am
It is the same delimma that plagued Bobby Cox: the talent to win it all; the managing (coaching) that never could…save the oine hitter by Tom Glavine that saved Cox just once (1) out of his sixteen (16) total postseason oportunities.
Both good men; both at their very worst in big games.
SiceDawg
October 9th, 2012
8:25 am
mark this down—Ga beats fla, and usc loses to lsu and fla! Ga wins the east again and pulls the upset over alabama in the title game!!! Richt will get the dogs back to the top quick!
Real DAWG FAN
October 9th, 2012
8:25 am
CHRIS,
Since you and all your fellow “fire CMR” groupies want him gone.
Who do you think can do better?
Please do not say John Grugden. He would not come anyway, so you would it be?
Douglas
October 9th, 2012
8:27 am
Billy Ryckman: you must have your head stuck up your butt because you cannot clearly see what is really going on at UGA. The coaching is terrible and it is there job, not the players, to get the team ready for a game. They were not ready for USC. If anyone’s house needs to egged, it’s the coaches’ homes that deserve it, not the players. Matter of fact, why not start putting “For Sale” signs in their yards.
LogicalUS
October 9th, 2012
8:29 am
“lsu and fla will beat south carolina–book it!”
What will that prove? That UGA is the puny little sneak thief who rushes in while big brothers are distracting the neighborhood warden and steals the apple pie from the window.
SC is obviously the class of the SEC East, with a remaining possible challenge from UF, though their offense does not appear to measure up to their solid defense.
Does anyone really want for the schedule naysayers to be proven correct that UGA appeared in the SECCG solely because of the SEC office?
RM
October 9th, 2012
8:37 am
Georgia will lose to the Gators and another team during the regular season. 9-3 at best.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
October 9th, 2012
8:39 am
Real DAWG FAN
So if Mark Richt retires let me guess your response will be
Duh Duh so who are you going to hire
Smarticus
October 9th, 2012
8:42 am
UGA does not deserve to win the SEC East after Saturday nights debacle. If they back into it, it would be Ill-gained. What a bunch of losers.
The buck stops with Richt. He has demonstrated his incompetence enough. Fire him now.
Smarticus
October 9th, 2012
8:45 am
Richt and his Imposter Dawgs will lose big to Florida.
Fla is ranked. Richt cannot beat a ranked team. Simple statistics.
Richt is a scam artist and should be fired now, before the debacle.z
edawg
October 9th, 2012
8:47 am
Looks to me that UGA has not won the “Big Game” since CMR let BoBo start calling the plays. Also how many O linemen have left UGA and gone Pro but while in college they just get whipped all acroos the line?
Hanky Panky
October 9th, 2012
8:47 am
HIRE JON GRUDEN.
DawgByte
October 9th, 2012
8:50 am
Going into the season the following facts need to be taken into consideration before buying into both the media hype and condemnation.
1. The OL was suspect at best. If you attended the G-Day Game you know exactly what I’m talking about. We’re starting a redshirt Freshman at the second most important position on the field (Center) and a true freshman at RT. We have two C- Guards and a LT that should be playing LG. Not a prescription for a National Championship.
2. Starting and playing true freshman RB’s. Regardless of how good they are, that’s asking a lot.
3. Four starting defensive players suspended to start the season. Now that they’re all back the chemistry is totally messed up.
4. Recruiting depth and suspension attrition.
If you take just those four factors into account, anyone who thought this team was a National Championship contender needed to have their head examined. Facts are facts and they always come home to roost.
jerry
October 9th, 2012
8:53 am
To be the best you have to beat the best. None of the major sports teams in Georgia have ever done that unless you count the Great Flukes of 1980 and 1995.
knottpinetall
October 9th, 2012
8:54 am
Having a 10-2 record with this schedule is not the evidence of good coaching. Look at the facts that have been mentioned and the facts that: 1. Lost to Michigan due to coaching not to lose rather than coaching to win. Rather than try and move to field goal range and ice the game, play is “safe” run the ball, turn over to M. and get beat. 2. Same decisions made in the Tenn game, but Bobo got lucky and the defense saved him. 3. The SC game was not even a competition. Ga was so out played, out classed & it is obvious a. we do not have as good players or b. we do not have good coaches, or c. we do not have good players or good coaches. Everyone seems to agree we have the top players, so b. is the only answer. Georgia will never compete with the top teams in the SEC until Richt is gone. Certainly, McGarity can figure that out.
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
8:55 am
Bama hires a new coach and wins the SEC and BCS.
LSU hires a new coach and wins the SEC and BCS.
Auburn hires a new coach an wins the SEC and BCS.
Florida hired U. Myer and well, you get the idea.
We have put up with Richt and his crew far too long.
He is uninspiring and soft and this character is reflected in his players.
A good man to be sure but NOT an SEC winning coach.
FIRE RICHT – HIRE ANYONE ELSE
edawg
October 9th, 2012
8:55 am
Enter your comments here
Joe Simpson
October 9th, 2012
8:57 am
Egging and rolling, what an embarrassment to the Bulldog Nation.
debo
October 9th, 2012
8:59 am
Come on you Richt lovers, you can’t honestly look in the mirror and want to keep Richt after what you’ve seen the last 4 years. Just think how thoroughly we were just embarrassed at the hands of Carolina. Georgia got butt whooped in EVERY facet of the game…it was a disgusting effort. Georgia hasn’t beaten a ranked team in years (ranked at years end, none of that ranking at the time b.s.). Murray chokes in big games. What happened to one of the greatest defenses in the country? Why are folks still making excuses for this mediocre team? All you fans want 8-10 win seasons and never win a national championship? Well go ahead and root for Richt. Until I hear something different out of him I know one thing, we’ll never win one under his leadership.