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
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987 comments Add your comment
ugarph85
October 9th, 2012
9:00 am
The biggest mistake in CMR”s tenure was Nov.29,2009 the day after the TECH win when he gave the play calling over to Bobo, need I say more! Bobo has got to go and if CMR doesn’t see it maybe he should do the right thing and step down and take his staff with him. I think UGA needs to get Smart and go after Kirby after all he knows how to win. He has been taught by the best. Go Dawgs! It is just hard to cheer and go to games when you know the coaches don’t give us a chance to win!
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:06 am
Joe,
I agree. It was shameful and a disgrace.
Things have changed in Athens since I was there from ‘74 – ‘79 and not for the better.
I’m ashamed to be a UGA alum – especially for that act and our football program under Richt.
YO YO
October 9th, 2012
9:13 am
Did You Hear That?
That was the sound of the Florida Gator program zooming past the Dog program. One day and the perception changed.
Mobile Dawg
October 9th, 2012
9:13 am
DawgByte @ 8:50, your points are excellent and true. The falacy is that this was game six, the biggest game for Georgia since the Bama blackout. This team should have been competitive, win or lose. Our players came out looking unprepared for what they faced, they looked lost in their assignments, and we got our butts spanked like a little sister program. The most important thing is that this is a “REPETITIVE” happening. Mark Richt hasn’t prepared this team for a big game in half a decade.
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:16 am
YO YO,
If that’s the case it took a UGA guy to do it.
YO YO
October 9th, 2012
9:17 am
Seriously. When was the last time UGA looked Good on National Television? I cannot remember. Either way you need Gingo Bilboa to recall.
UGA QB and UGA HC are one and the same
October 9th, 2012
9:18 am
Neither Muarray or Richt have won a really big game in the last 4 years.
Both must go.
It is what it is.
UGA class of 71 & 73
GatorsforRicht
October 9th, 2012
9:19 am
Well dogs, what are you going to do? Fire Richt after a 10-2 season? I doubt it, you need to look at the bright side, at least now you can justify letting him go after his next 7-5 season, which should be either next year or the one after. See you in Jaxville, our defense will do pretty much the same SC did to you, our offense probaly won’t put up 35 so I see something like 21-10 for us.
YO YO
October 9th, 2012
9:20 am
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:16 am
YO YO,
If that’s the case it took a UGA guy to do it.
It doesn’t matter who did it, the issue was that UF was so far behind UGA and had growing issues…only to see the two programs move in opposite directions.
funny...
October 9th, 2012
9:22 am
Some of you need to do some research…
Georgia is 10th, TENTH, all time in College Football wins. So yeah, there is some tradition outside of the Herschel years. 2 National Championships, with a share in 4 others.
Georgia is 3rd THIRD all time in SEC Championships.
Only school with 4 Super Bowl MVP’s
Two Heisman winners.
Georgia is 4th FOURTH ALL TIME in bowl victories and 6th SIXTH ALL TIME in bowl appearances.
Do some homework idiots.
SecGuy
October 9th, 2012
9:22 am
Better late than never, Mark. Geez…
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:25 am
YO,
Must stick in your gut that it took a UGA man to clean up Myers Mess at UF.
Yo, just how DOES a UF fan cheer for a UGA Grad coaching their slimedwellers?
GatorsforRicht
October 9th, 2012
9:27 am
Coming from a school that has a U grad uncleaning their program, your comment is silly.
UGA lately
October 9th, 2012
9:29 am
To: Florida Dog
Sir, you are 100 per cent correct.
Go Dogs
observer
October 9th, 2012
9:30 am
Typical uga team; beat up on the cupcakes, then get blown away by the first real team on the schedule. Not to worry though; here comes another sec cupcake (KY) just in time to “straighten out” the uga problems (that is until they play another actual team). With this years crap schedule all they really have left to worry about is a pretty average FL team who may give them a little trouble. But hey, it doesn’t really matter since uga won another pre-season national title this year, and Richt has recruited another “dream team”.
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:31 am
funny,
Care to quote the more recent stats of Richt vs ranked teams?
Larry
October 9th, 2012
9:36 am
For several years I’ve said GA won’t win another SEC title under Richt. It would have been interesting to see what the team would be like now if Muschamp was in his 2nd season as the head coach at Georgia. I promise you they would be tougher and much better coached. I believe I have watched my last Dogs game for the year.
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:37 am
GatorsForRicht,
The Dawgs will lose to UF bigtime on Oct 27. You’ll be doing us a favor in getting rid of Richt – thanks!
UF will run into SC and probably lose but if you guys get a win out of it I look forward to watching Bama rollover you like a roadgrader.
robodawg
October 9th, 2012
9:38 am
Call it a partial turnaround. We’re beating the teams we’re supposed to beat (after a couple of really bad years) but not beating the teams we need to beat.
O line is indeed a weakness against top competition. (Relying on a true freshman says it all.) Murray is inconsistent. Defense is not quite as good as hoped for. Looking at where we thought this season would go before it began, the defense’s underperformance is the only big surprise.
SimpleDawg
October 9th, 2012
9:40 am
UGA deserves every doubt placed upon them by local and national media, as well as by its supporters and detractors.
Critical Question: What does the team do about it ?
Phil
October 9th, 2012
9:40 am
“Georgia will never compete with the top teams in the SEC until Richt is gone. Certainly, McGarity can figure that out.”
Apparently he can’t. McGarity is a buffoon. He will give Richt another extension after this season based on another 10 wins probably. But that includes a beatdown by SC and probably another one by Florida. Never mind those, just get 10 wins against cupcakes and McGarity is happy.
VeeJay
October 9th, 2012
9:41 am
Just no way on earth Richt’s fired if he wins 10 games again. That would be a 20-4 regular season record since 2011.
All the blog posts in the world won’t change that.
No AD listens to silly comments like that. 20-4 record? It’s winning 83% of your games. That’s excellent. And fun to watch 10 out of 12 weekends in the Fall. Very few teams have averaged an 83% win % since 2011. If Richt can rally the team to win 5 of the next 6, it’s a terrific season AGAIN.
Perfect? No. Room for improvement? Of course.
3 tweaks are needed now:
1- Drastically simplify schemes for offense and defense and emphasize EXECUTION-Spurrier is the master of this
2- Don’t give up long passplays on defense, make them grind it out 3 yards at a time to win vs. 4 man fronts made up of players like CWash, Jones, GSmith, Geathers, Jenkins, Drew, etc. Rotate until you find the best combos 2 deep. Jam WR’s at the line t help the dline rush. LSU and South Carolina are both doing this well.
3- Throw as few passes as possible, run a 2 TE set for power runblocking, get the fullback runblocking and use Murray’s legs and the talented backs to win games–Spurrier and Muschamp are both doing this.
joe jenkins
October 9th, 2012
9:44 am
You want to know why we cant win the big game anymore…..because richt would rather give a scholarship to some walk-on rather than give to a o-lineman…..thats why we lose to the big boys…because we get whipped at the line of scrimmage….and we have been for years under richt….Our o-line right now is pathetic….we cant block the better teams in the country….our last sec win over a tean that had double digit victories was aub in 2006….plus grantham is a damn joke…we let bufflao anf fla atlantic run up down the field on us….for god’s sake!!! and we thought we could stop tenn and sc? rambo and commings are so damn overated….they are defintley not first round draft material
FLA DAWG
October 9th, 2012
9:45 am
VeeJay,
That’s only good for a few years and then you get unsold games like our first one in years that happened last year I believe.
Ed
October 9th, 2012
9:45 am
“My god….when did going 10-2 became “underachieving” in college football?”
When you only play two teams that are worth a damn, Tampa Gator. This is by far the easiest schedule UGA has played since I was old enough to follow, going back to 1976. It’s a joke, really, and features 3 – count ‘em – 3 cupcake games.
joe jenkins
October 9th, 2012
9:52 am
I do agree with your statement we do need afour man front
Ed
October 9th, 2012
9:53 am
And 10-2 would be a best case scenario imo.
The team I saw Saturday night is likely to lay an egg against someone like Auburn or Tech, maybe even Vandy or UK. 9-3 is more likely, with a weak 8-4 a real possibility.
CMR
October 9th, 2012
9:54 am
I wish the fans would appreciate that I have the best tan and hair in the SEC. Also, I make the best truck commercials.
Mr Objective
October 9th, 2012
10:05 am
They beat the cream puffs and soft teams but can’t beat good teams. “Underachievers” is nowhere close to being an accurate descriptive word in this case Mr. Bradley.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
October 9th, 2012
10:10 am
Mcgarity is more of a joke than this current coaching staff
He must have cleaned bathrooms at the Athletic Department office during his tenure at FL cause hasnt learned nothing from Foley
Randy
October 9th, 2012
10:15 am
I am so sick of the apologist for Richt!
He is NOT a TOP TIER coach and everyone knows it…I am sick of hearing what a great man he is who the F$$$ cares we don’t pay him to be a good man we pay him to Win and I don’t know about ya’ll but I am sick of losing every big game we play in…Not just losing but just totally being out coached and out played!
FIRE MARK RICHT TODAY!!! Time for a NEW DIRECTION in Athens
oakwood dawg
October 9th, 2012
10:17 am
UGA made a BIG mistake last year when it extended CMR’s contract. I said at the time negotiations and contract extension should be put off until after THIS season. To get rid of CMR now will cost the University of Georgia a pile of money. If we win the rest of our games CMR’s will of course be retained.The bad thing is if he looses the rest of the games he will not be fired. Now I don’t believe we will loose the rest of the games but we will loose to the gaytors, Auburn and possibly Ole Miss.Under CMR we will never play for the national championship. Unfortunately, we will be stuck with CMR for another 3(?) years.
Mr Objective
October 9th, 2012
10:20 am
Bad Dawg, Yeck: at 2:29
“See Mark this is the problem with a 10-2 season. DAWGS DIDN’T PLAY ANYONE THAT MATTERED IN THE 10 WINS!!!!”
Mark, this is the reality
harold
October 9th, 2012
10:25 am
IT IS TIME FOR RICHT TO GO.
Katman
October 9th, 2012
10:27 am
They better watch out for Georgia Southern!!
myother
October 9th, 2012
10:30 am
The first quarter 21 points are a credit to Spurrier’s brillance. He know what the dogs were going to do before the dogs knew what they were going to do.
UGA Insider
October 9th, 2012
10:30 am
This season is OVER! Fire CMR!
Gene
October 9th, 2012
10:34 am
I was listening to the Bulldog talk show, driving back to KY after attending the Friday night goat dance at Tuner Field. Anyone who thinks that the outcome of the SC beat down would have changed with Rambo intercepting the pass is “not a smart man.” Under Richt’s leadership, Georgia teams have consistently rolled over when things don’t go their way. Black outs, red outs, and red panties will not win ball games. Nor will smugness of Georgia fans and delusional coaches who bury their heads in the sand.
AFDawg
October 9th, 2012
10:34 am
The only thing that the president of the university cares about is profits — UGA is one of the most profitable programs in the country. I’m sick and tired of the mediocrity, therefore I will be talking with my wallet. I will not buy anymore tickets or merchandise until there is a coaching change. Only when they see ticket sales start to fall will they do anything about this. I think McGarity had his suspicions, therefore only a three year contract deal. I’ll pay out more for tickets if it means buying out Richt’s contract. It’s time to act now!
Kool Aid is yummy
October 9th, 2012
10:35 am
Way to feed the wackos Mark.
Nick
October 9th, 2012
10:45 am
Mark Richt and his “teams” are a joke, and I am tired of getting my hopes up for this kind of crap. Until Mark Richt is gone, and we have a new staff running things, then I am done watching these morons choke every time they play anyone of consequence.
te29wr
October 9th, 2012
10:45 am
Mark
I like the way you work around a story, you have a good defensive posture when you are in a tight spot, you are kind of slow on some topics, with the top of the line lap top you are not as quick as you should be. (see David Paschel of the Chatt Times /Free Press) So why have you not won a Pulitzer Prize working with such great teams abound (UK ) and a very liberal large newspaper Just asking?.
kevin shapiro
October 9th, 2012
10:49 am
It’s time for Mark Richt to go. No one has chewed through more talent with out anything to show for it (well maybe Jimbo Fisher). Mark Richt had success until Les, Saban, Urban, and Spurrier came to or back into the SEC. It is pretty clear he is a below average coach (great recruiter though) and everyone knows it but UGA fans. It shows every time we have a big game, we get caught with our pants down. We are stacked with talent right now, arguably the best team since Stafford, Momas, and Moreno, and we looked like Ole Miss on Saturday vs. South Carolina. Mark Richt racks up wins against teams with lesser talent but anytime we play an opponent with equivalent talent we get dominated. It’s pretty clear Mark Richt will never be able to get the dawgs where they should be considering the talent, money, and tradition our program has. I thought Richt would be able to pull a Mack Brown and get a title because of the talent, but clearly this is never going to happen. Bring on the Kirby Smart era!!!!!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
October 9th, 2012
10:50 am
Mcagarity is a joke AD
Period
Mcgarity thinks he is big and bad firing the gymnastics coach
WOW
Alphare
October 9th, 2012
10:51 am
You guys are funny.
If UGA wins out the rest of the games, 99% of you guys will scream “I want coach Richt back”.
Or If UGA beat FL this year, another 99% of you guys will scream “I want coach Richt back”, even dawgs cannot get to SECCG.
Don’t believe me? just see at the end of the season, or better yet, at the beginning of next season.
kevin shapiro
October 9th, 2012
10:52 am
we need to get Kirby Smart before the Barn does!
old dog
October 9th, 2012
10:52 am
As I have stated in EVERY BLOG I CAN, we do not have the hosses up front to be SEC top-tier. this is a non-debatable point. Until we upgrade our o-line to the level of Alabama (or S.C., for that matter) we will beat the bad teams and lose to the good ones. We got torn up so badly Saturday up front that Murray could not pass, and Gurly, Marshall (and anyone else) could not run. We have to go back to getting top notch linemen. I know there is more to the story, but in the trenches, we got walloped.
BILLY JACK
October 9th, 2012
10:54 am
If the team that showed up sat night in columbia shows up in Jacksonville we wont beat Fla-we were beat on the line of scrimmage Friend and Garner are awful coaches and if you cant knock somebody off the line of scrimmage you cant win a championship in this conf-no way.I almost hope we dont go to the SECCG we had our chance and blew it-who cares about going 10-2 or 11-2 and finish 8 or 9 in the country.Anybody remember who came in 8th in the country last year???Thats what I thought.
Where is DawginLex?
October 9th, 2012
10:55 am
After reading his crap about the greatness of UGA and the 2nd rate status of Spurrier, Shaw, Latimore and company and how the Gators are down this year, DawginLex must be in a deep sleep.
Rick James
October 9th, 2012
10:56 am
@kevin shapiro
we need to get Kirby Smart before the Barn does
———————————————————————-
Kirby Smart has burned the bridge at Georgia in a couple of ways..Trust me if he were the savior that people this he is he would be a head coach and not still riding Saban’s coat tail..Great recruiter? Yes. Head coach? What has he done?