Petrino’s return, Sturdivant’s comeback, Murray’s progress, etc.
ATHENS – Saturday’s game in Sanford Stadium will be Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino’s first in the state of Georgia since he abruptly resigned as the Falcons’ coach with three games left in the 2007 season.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” Petrino said Wednesday of his return to Georgia. “This game is all about our players.”
Petrino, who bolted the Falcons for Arkansas, is 15-12 (5-11 SEC) as the Razorbacks’ coach.
++++++++++
Georgia offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant, who missed almost all of the past two seasons because of knee injuries, played just one series — three snaps — against South Carolina last week. It was his first action of the season after missing the opener with a stomach ailment.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo thinks Sturdivant will play more as he gains confidence in his surgically repaired knees.
“He’s healthy,” Bobo said. “Anytime a kid goes through two major knee surgeries, it’s something that is hard for anybody to understand what he might be thinking. But he’s out there practicing, he’s out there getting better every day, and I think it’s going to click sooner or later that, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go, I’m full speed.’”
++++++++++
Georgia beat Arkansas 52-41 last year in a game in which Bulldogs quarterback Joe Cox threw five touchdown passes and earned a national player-of-the-week award. So Richt was asked if Cox’s successor, redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray, has progressed to the point that he is ready for a similar shootout.
“We have to let him shoot a little bit more than we have lately,” said Richt, referring to Georgia’s conservative game plan the past two weeks.
Richt said he generally finds it impossible to predict whether a game will be high-scoring or low-scoring.
“Of course, Joe Cox had a heck of a game [against Arkansas] last year,” Richt said, “and no one would have predicted that, especially after we played Oklahoma State [two weeks earlier] and didn’t have much offensive production. Then it kind of flooded.”
Richt and Bobo made it clear after last week’s game that it’s time to open up the game plan for Murray. Bobo, of course, isn’t eager to disclose exactly what that means going into Saturday’s game against Arkansas. “Just allowing him to make some more plays, I guess, would be the answer,” he said in his weekly chat with reporters Tuesday night.
++++++++++
After the debacle of poor tackling against South Carolina, Georgia has made its practices more physical this week.
“It got ramped up a little bit more,” Richt said Wednesday night. “Our practices have been good [previously this season] but apparently not good enough in regard to simulating tackling without tackling, which is what we call ‘thud.’ So we tried [this week] to make something a little bit more intense than thud but still a little bit less than grabbing guys and throwing them to the ground. When you tackle to the ground all day long in practice, you tend to get people hurt. … I’ll just say it got intensified a little bit.”
++++++++++
A couple of freshmen who are impressing Richt on the practice field: safety Alec Ogletree and inside linebacker Demetre Baker.
On Ogletree: “He’s one guy that will strike you, there’s no doubt about that. He loves to hit. … Because of that, I’m anxious for him to learn what to do and continue to get work and hopefully get some scrimmage downs.”
On Baker: “I don’t know if it’ll turn into any kind of playing time right now, but one guy on the scout team that has really kind of ramped things up has been Demetre Baker. He is showing signs of being able to really run and strike. He’s been playing with a lot of energy, so when you watch him, you’re like, ‘That guy’s going to be pretty good one day.’”
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388 comments Add your comment
fayncdawg
September 17th, 2010
2:33 am
They’ve been recruiting players that average more than four-stars for the last ten years! Thus when you practice hard and one of these players (w/ four stars and thus should have NFL ambitions) gets hurt, you replace that player with another 4+ star w/ NFL ambitions and keep right on rolling! Quite simple IF you have an effective coaching staff!
5150 P.O.A.D
September 17th, 2010
2:36 am
WHY isn’t the NFL or other NCAA teams beating down the door to hire Richt or Bobo? UGA is as good as they can get and the rest of the SEC wants UGA to be what the dogs are. The dogs are just better than the Kentuckys, Misses, Vandys, USC, but are never going to be as great as the Bamas, Gators, LSU’s and Vols can be. UGA and Auburn are just above the bottom but can’t ever reach the top without the top making a bad mistake.
Kid Rock
September 17th, 2010
2:55 am
What waffle house is petrino going to be at after the game? I will take care of that scumbag!!!!
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
3:10 am
Enter your comments here
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
3:16 am
At least CMR admitted why his team isn’t game tough. They don’t hit hard or tackle all the way to the ground in fear that someone will get hurt. I’m sure that’s the way Alabama practices or most of the pro teams practice.
No wonder UGA had 42 missed tackles against SC, they played exactly the way they were taught in practice.
Doc
September 17th, 2010
3:23 am
Interesting how folks like Claire have such a keen memory of things that happened at UGA 25+ years ago but develop alzhiemers about their own school on relevent things in this actual century, only 5 years ago.
Wasn’t it Ga Tech who had 17 student atheletes (11 of them football players) who played, even though they were academically ineligable?
The thing is… my son who graduated High School with a 4.35 gpa now attends Ga Tech, and is struggling to maintain a B+ average while a guy who he played High School football with also attends Tech (on a football scholly) and promptly gave away all his “free books” because he said he wouldn’t need them… and guess what? He doesn’t need them. Having no struggles at all with grades. So Claire, STFU you don’t know what you’re talking about.
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
3:35 am
More than one football blogger took exception to the sh## that Claire had to say . I’m sure she was either drunk or is mentally unstable or maybe she didn’t realize that unless she wants to talk about football nobody cares what she has to say on this blog.
fayncdawg
September 17th, 2010
3:40 am
@76dawg
CMR has been admitting this the last three seasons! I’m tired of it! As aforementioned 4+ star player gets hurt, replace him with another 4+ star player and keep rolling! Teams with good coaching do just that!
fayncdawg
September 17th, 2010
3:43 am
Forget Petrino! Kid Rock may want to meet Claire at Waffle House!
Ansilex52
September 17th, 2010
3:51 am
We tackled harder in practice in College than most “Hard” hits that you would see in a good high school game. Most of you never played in college. Just imagine the one or two hard knocks that you took in High School multiplied by 10 and then get ready to play a game the next day. That is what we are talking about here.
Ansilex52
September 17th, 2010
3:55 am
Doc – I know what you mean. I had to have a spanigh class in college. I went into the final with a 48 average (No Hablo)and made a C in the class. However, I did go to class everyday and met with the professor once a week, did all my homework, all my labs, and honestly tried. That was all that was required to pass as a football player.
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
4:03 am
fayncdawg
I totally agree with you . I hope you detected a since of discuss in what I said. I had not heard CMR say that before. You have to practice the same way you intend to play.
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
4:19 am
Ansilex52
You have a good point. I got level in high school enough to know that I didn’t want any part of college ball. It’s been 40 years and I still remember what it felt like to get hit by a back or lineman wide open.Let’s say it’s like running into a brick wall without slowing down. I didn’t mean any disrespect to what the kids go through. But we are in the SEC and our Dawgs are not as tough as they need to be competitive.
Florida Dawg
September 17th, 2010
4:30 am
About the tackling issue..it’s simple. Do what ever Bama and Florida do.
76-DAWG
September 17th, 2010
4:38 am
CMR said that Alex Ogletree and Demetre Baker was very impressive in practice. Baker on the scout team. I would take the red shirt off Baker and play Ogletree every play . Learn on the fly. These two seem to be giving it all they have and I would reward that. Maybe it would inspire some other freshmen.CMR needs to play anybody that has the talent and desire.Maybe the freshmen want get everything right until mid year but they would learn like Murray should have done last year. CMR need to play the best people, I don’t care if half the team playing are freshmen. These kids are smarter than he is giving them credit for being. Most have been playing football since they were 7 years old and will get the job done. Look what Lattimore did to us last week.
gbal
September 17th, 2010
5:11 am
“I don’t know if it’ll turn into any kind of playing time right now, but one guy on the scout team that has really kind of ramped things up has been Demetre Baker. He is showing signs of being able to really run and strike. He’s been playing with a lot of energy, so when you watch him, you’re like, ‘That guy’s going to be pretty good one day.’”
Damit Richt, if the guy is playing with fire, put the guy in NOW. This is “timid” coaching and it rubs off on the players – Coach with some fire and you might get some fire out of the players…
Oh well he is ramping things up…But we probably cant just bump him up from the scout team…. He’s just kinda young….maybe one day…..Blah Blah Blah…. I call BS…. grow a pare Richt and pur the fire in the game…!!!!
HogDoom
September 17th, 2010
5:20 am
Strap on your seatbelts Dog Fans, we’re comin to get ya
Richard Tardits
September 17th, 2010
6:27 am
HogDoom, the only thing you’re coming to get is a good butt whooping and for you Bobby Petrino, you have proven that you are truly a pig. I hope you have to sneak out of Athens like you snuck out of ATL in 2007 you coward.
tell me again
September 17th, 2010
7:32 am
I see the coaching geniuses are at it again – trying to tell CMR how to coach – you all know so much more than the coaches – very impressive – why don’t you put your resumes in with the new AD and get hired and solve all of the problems with the Dawgs tackling? Let’s see, resume # 1 – “I played nose guard in high school and I sure know how to stop those elite running backs from getting any yards, yes sir”…..resume # 2, “Hey, I played ball in high school and college and if you play ball you also know everything there is to know about football – you know, like if you played in the band you can conduct everybody and play all of the instruments or if you eat in a restaurant you know how to cook or even better – if you drive a car you’re the worlds best mechanic!” Yep, I am glad to know all of the answers to all of our football problems are right there – sitting in the stands. Ya’ll just yell loud enough and maybe CMR will hear you and get the solutions! Do any of you people go to the games and actually cheer the guys on or do you just sit on your fat butts in front of your Walmart LCD screens and B**ch and moan all game? If you’re a fan you support the team – I bet all of you had kids in sports and when they didn’t do well or missed a play you called them over and told them what pussies they were or how they weren’t trying or how they should have started somebody else other than your kid, right? Look at what you are saying and think about it – quit being so pathetically stupid with your comments and making the Dawg nation look like a bunch of trailer trash living, fat bellied, beer guzzling, moon pie eating red necks.
T-Rex G.
September 17th, 2010
7:40 am
Georgia don’t win this one they can hang it up for this year—I mean –of course they will play the season out——-but as far as the chamionship game————————————–NOT!!!! I wonder if they make sure a player has a criminal past before they get him to play? How many 7-elevens have you held up? How many women have you beat up? When will you be hanging out with your bank robber friends next? Hmmm—-never mind!! Ever had any hit and runs?——-
Radly Dawg
September 17th, 2010
8:01 am
Well Said….NOBODYYOUKNOW! As a 12 year old Dawg fan….we listened to the Georgia Michigan game on our car’s am radio…with Ed Thelenius calling the game…..waaaay before ol Larry “Hob Nail Boot” came to Athens from Nashville! Dooley was a great coach in his time…not flasy….but very respectable and efficient….check those scores vs Florida and Tech in those years! We beat Florida 17 of his 25 years! Dooley was the biggest nemesis Florida knew! Vince was the man….along with ERK!!!! Gooooooo Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RADLY DAWG
Maybe we should be worried
September 17th, 2010
8:05 am
The last time a totally HATED Head Coach came to Sanford Stadium for the first time was the ol bawl coach back in 95 and that turned out kind of bad for Goff and the humpers.
Maybe we should be worried
September 17th, 2010
8:14 am
Claire “real scholar athletes”; come on idiot. I guess you have never seen illiterates like Nesbitt interviewed have you. Some of what you say is partially true, but 99% of my Tech friends love football, but don’t have a dominate team so they just dont watch. Read these blogs if Tech ever beats UGA as in 08 and they stay on here for a year until they get their behinds handed back to them.
Racer X
September 17th, 2010
8:29 am
“Real scholar athletes”..too funny.. I’m not going to mention names but I’ve seen resume’s from Tech football players who have left Tech or “graduated” that were truly sad. There were so many misspellings and errors that I truly couldn’t believe it. It’s the same at every institution except maybe Ivy League: If these kids weren’t football players, there is no way they would be attending the school. That being said, I think UGA wins Saturday by 10. I know we are are all worried about the defense but even with the horrendous tackling against SC, they only scored 17 points. Let’s hold Ark to 17 and we win going away.
dawgster
September 17th, 2010
8:36 am
Kind of agree with you “Monkey says’…i’ve been saying a long time that their are many other football programs that are having some of the same or similar incidents in behavior as the dawgs…that by no means is saying it should be acceptale…but as far as the gators if you go to many of the papers that write and cover them…and i have…you will see that alot of these incidents are hidden as compared to the AJC headlines..there are many players that are not even punished or at least not suspended…now thats not to say that there haven’t been any suspensions or players removed…there have been…but so much is made of the dawgs off field problems, but yet the Bama’s and Gators who do have these incidents seems to less in the public eye…Again let me be clear, not picking on these two teams and as dawg fans we should worry about our team, but just wanted to agree with the above posts on the disparity that exists…go dawgs…
sam clemens
September 17th, 2010
8:47 am
YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL COMPLETE MORONS. MY RIVERBOAT IS RUNNING OUT OF STEAM. MY PADDLES DONT WORK, MY CUSTOMERS JUST WANT TO GAMBLE, PLEASE GET SOME FORM OF AN EDUCATION BEFORE YOU WRITE ANYMORE, THIS JUST SICKENS ME TO KNOW OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM PRODUCES SUCH BAD ENGLISH. NOW GO AND READ ABOUT cricket A REAL MANS GAME. I SHALL NOW GO AND COLLECT MY THOUGHTS ON THE RIVER NILE.
Not a Home Dept Stooge
September 17th, 2010
9:10 am
Folks, get a clue. Hating on Petrino for leaving the Falcons is simply the result of being spoon fed by ESPN & Blank. Blank and his GM screwed up and built the whole offense around Vick (thug). The whole reason for bringing in Petrino was to try and develop Vick into a real QB. As anybody with a brain knows, this never had a chance to happen since Petrino didn’t get a chance to coach him. He ended up coaching an ill-designed team full of thugs. Does nobody on hear remember the team quiting on a TV game (MNF?) and showing their “Free Vick” t-shirts they had on under their jerseys? The only reason we can be proud of the Falcons now is that its a completely new team. Blank was successfully able to make Petrino look like the bad guy and disguise their failed strategy in building the whole thing around Vick…and you folks bought it.
Taurus
September 17th, 2010
9:16 am
About Petrino…flip the other side of the coin. He goes to the Falcons, and he’s hit with the Vick dog fighting thing and losses his starting QB, there’s so many distractions, DeAngelo Hall and Alga Crumpler, the offensive and defensive leaders on the team, turn against him because he start playing the younger players to evaluate their talent because the veterans were losing anyway. Lets add this up. You have a media circus full of distractions, loss your starting QB, and basically loss your team. I think the choice he made was a logical choice, but hey, we don’t say anything when owners fire coaches in the middle of a season, the same way Arthur Blank fired Jim Mora Jr.
5150 P.O.A.D
September 17th, 2010
9:21 am
Yes I stayed uop all night talking crap about UGA! What else do I have to do. I have been on this blog typing away. Thinking about taking a nap but I will be back soon. I live for this!!!!!!!
Bobby Knight
September 17th, 2010
9:26 am
I recall both Butts and Bryant holding scrimmages on Sunday after sloppy games. They would have been very amused at Richt’s “thud” program. Those old timers didn’t have many arrests either because their players were more frightened of the coaches than they were of the judge.
SOUTHGADAWG88
September 17th, 2010
10:24 am
I’m glad we have a game sat…I’m getting sick of people still looking for an excuse for losing to SC.Richt has lost it,Bobo sucks,we aint tough enough,we suck at S&C,we have no fire,guys are loafing,blah,blah,blah…good grief…how about Lattimore is a stud and SC has a pretty good team?It’s time to move on to the next game!!!
St. Richt
September 17th, 2010
10:28 am
This GT fan is a Dawg this weekend. Go Dawgs- hope you run Petrino out of town. Nobody wants him back in our state.
weatherdawg
September 17th, 2010
10:48 am
Vance Duuley—-you are a sad “little” person. I stopped reading after your ignorant post, because I did not want lose anymore brain cells. You are just the type person that makes reading these blogs a disgusting waste of time.
Done Dawg
September 17th, 2010
10:49 am
When I would Have a practice and really see a couple of players really playing hard and aggressive that really impressed me I woulf find them some playing time not evaluate them for another coup-le of years. CMR play the players that are giving the best effort, not that they are returning seniors. They sucked as juniors, now they are no better just a year older. Lets revamp the whole program and set our priorities right. Go Dawgs
Dirty Dawg
September 17th, 2010
11:14 am
If you haven’t been to a Georgia/Arkansas game, you’re in for an experience. I used to think that some of our barking was kinda lame until I was exposed to the Arkansas ’sooouuueeeepppiiiiggg’, or especially the ones that mimic two pigs fightin’ – that’s really a scream.
Heard a line once that struck me as funny, and insightful, and it still is: ‘I can’t believe those Arkansas people…they’ve got a pig for a mascot and are proud of it.’
Rocky Mountain Bulldog
September 17th, 2010
11:47 am
The Bulldogs really need a win tomorrow. And I believe they will get one.
Petrino did the Falcons a favor by leaving town.
Lets Get AJ back cut the reigns off Murray, and let the D GATA!
Wash-Out Ealey
September 17th, 2010
11:49 am
He’s a liar and a jerk…
Are you talking about Bobby Petrino or Mark Richt?
We will never really know, now will we?
September 17th, 2010
11:58 am
I suspect that about 95% of the real haters on these blogs, either directed at GT or Florida or UGA or UT or SC …………….that they ( the haters) are not college grads. In other words, they get on here just to blather………..blah,blah,blah. They all blather about mythical NCs and such. College is about far more than a MNC and when you see that ………..you know that they are just kids. They love the NBA and the NFL and the Super Bowl ………….it is all that they have, apparently. Grow up kids.
I am a UGA man, and my Dad a Gator. I despise losing to them ( I know however, that we still own them over all) and to GT ( my grand dad was GT man ) and to Auburn and to UT etc. I don’t hate them ………..do hate lsoing to them …………UT and Auburn especially. SEC matters more to me.
At the end of the day ……….. I usually pull for the other schools IF it helps UGA or the SEC, like in a bowl or in the final rankings. I will admit, I am not a fan of the ACC but that is only driven by the fact that they are not any good and they are pretenders ……….like the west coast teams are and a few others ……….like a Louisville or a U of Cincy.
Stop this nasty hate. If Richt needs to go ……..he will know it ……….and he will walk. Same is true of CPJ.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dogs.
dawgfacedboy
September 17th, 2010
12:00 pm
I think it should be simplified. Every week is an open competition to start on Saturdays. If it becomes a trend where a guy seems to be a “practice player” (anyone who played sports knew someone like this) then they will need to adjust.
Competition breeds excellence. Complacency breeds laziness.
dawgfacedboy
September 17th, 2010
12:02 pm
What time is AJ’s hearing? Anyone know?
Real Tech Engineer
September 17th, 2010
12:03 pm
Looks like Grantham may turn out to be a bust—$750,000 for that mediocre performance against USc, a 1 man team? Get real. Ga got hosed again. Bring back willie!
Rj Voorhees
September 17th, 2010
12:04 pm
WE have no creativity on offense that’s been or problem in the Richt era. It always seems that we run the ball on first and second downs and don’t get the first down and we are forced to convert third through the air with the defense looking for the pass. FIRE DUMBO, I MEAN BOBO
This is true
September 17th, 2010
12:04 pm
My wife’s mom is from Little Rock and my wife has tons and tons of Little Rock, Arkansas girl cousins. They all end up marrying MD’s, becase they are all 10s. One of her babe cousins was Miss America runner up at #2 spot. She did TV and commercials for awhile. She is a 12.
Y’all should see them all ( 10s) screaming suey pig …………..it is music. Some of my Dawg pals over the years have and they love viewing it ………..like listening to Bethoven. Now, most in their late 40s and mid 50s, they all still are babes …………fun group too. Taligating anyone?
Go Dogs.
Double A
September 17th, 2010
12:04 pm
Atlanta is a pathetic excuse for a sports town.
Get over it, Lou Holtz did the same thing as Coach Bobby Petrino.
QUAD A
September 17th, 2010
12:06 pm
@Double A, Atlanta is but Athens is the best of the best!
Razorhog
September 17th, 2010
12:37 pm
Only a man of great character would take a two million $ a year pay cut to make himself/family happier. Those of you that still cry over him wouldn’t know about character anyway. As a Falcon fan I’m happy as both teams are much better since the move. Now, back to the game in hand…you are going to hate him more after his Hogs rubs your noses in it.
dougdawg
September 17th, 2010
12:41 pm
to nobodyyouknow: i hope i misspelled your moniker, because if you spell ‘dooley’ ‘dooly’ you deserve it. you are not a georgia grad or a fan.
Vick=Dog killing thug
September 17th, 2010
1:23 pm
Richt needs to toughen up practice. If you don’t hit all week, How can you be effective come Saturday (or Thursday for GT) ?
I understand the thinking of keeping the players fresh and to limit the risk of injury. These are however football players. Light the fire CMR and release the dawgs….
gdawginkalamazoo
September 17th, 2010
1:25 pm
Razorhog, for all the midnight plane rides that Petrino likes to take I wouldn’t call him a man of character. Midnight plane to take his friends job at Auburn, midnight plane out of Louisville, midnight plane out of Atlanta. The team plane probably left at midnight last night? Just a bad scheduling habit by Coach P. I’ll bet his travel agent has “likes midnight flights or later” in his travel profile.
KaliDogg
September 17th, 2010
1:57 pm
Interesting tid-bit, on another no-tackle team….
Due to a rash of injuries, the brilliant coach of a rather high-profile football team, Southern Cal, didn’t allow his players to tackle at all in practice. Yes, they won their opening game, but their defense was very similar to the “Bump and (they) Run by You” practiced by UGA against South Carolina. They were horrible.
Uh… did somebody forget.. you practice what you do and you do what you practice (especially in times of stress, like a… uh, real game).