Mark Richt’s patience wearing thin on line of questioning, and actual line
ATHENS — Georgia coach Mark Richt, under fire since the Bulldogs’ loss on Saturday, found himself on the defensive again during Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference. By the time he met with beat reporters at the end of Wednesday’s practice, he had resorted to sarcasm.
“I can only guess what I’ll be asked today,” he said with a smile.
When he got a somewhat loaded question, Richt decided to have some fun with it.
The question: “After the game on Saturday, was your response more encouragement and trying to be positive or have you reached a point where you’ve thrown chairs and really tried to light a fire?”
His answer: “Everybody want me to snap? Is that what they want? You all want to see me snap, is that what it is? Yeah? Well, we don’t discuss what happens in the locker room. But if you guys want me to throw a table or something I’ll do that, maybe smash a camera, if that makes everybody feel better.”
Reporters laughed and Richt did, too. But he has encountered a similar line of questioning for much of the last four days. In fact, six questions during Wednesday’s teleconference had something to do with his coaching status or the mood of his team or the fanbase.
“We’re just coaching ball, OK?,” Richt said. “You guys want to make things bigger than they are. The bottom line is like anything in life, you’ve got to control what you can and that is my attitude and my effort and our team’s attitude and effort. That’s true every season. . . . Everybody’s locked in, everybody’s working hard and everybody’s confident we’re going to have a good ballgame.”
Offensive line issues continue
Richt pointed to third-down pass protection as the Bulldogs’ biggest breakdown after last Saturday’s 35-21 loss to No. 4 Boise State in the Georgia Dome. Four days later, he was seeing the same problems on Woodruff Practice Fields.
“Some things just got in my craw,” Richt said after the Bulldogs practiced in full pads for a rare second day in a row in a game week. “Third-down pass protection was just not very good today. You’ve got to win the possession downs, third-and-short, third-and-medium, third-and-long. You usually pass more than you run and we just didn’t protect very good, not good enough to beat anybody.
“Our boys better get it going or Murray is going to be on his back. That’s what made me the most mad.”
Sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray was sacked six times and pressured another 10 times against the Broncos.
Enter South Carolina, which is believed to have one of the best defensive fronts in the SEC. The Gamecocks are particularly strong at defensive end, where junior Devin Taylor (6-7, 248) is a first-team All-SEC and Jadeveon Clowney (6-6, 250) was the No. 1 freshman signee in America.
The key for Georgia, senior center Ben Jones said, is being better on first and second down.
“That’s what happens when you get in third-and-long,” Jones said. “If we had been in third-and-short they couldn’t have brought those blitzes because they would have known we might run the ball. So that’s what we’re focusing on, getting into third-and-mediums and third-and-short so they have to guess run or pass.”
Kwame Geathers still sidelined
Starting nose guard Kwame Geathers was unable to practice with the No. 1 defense for a third consecutive day. The 6-foot-6, 350-pound sophomore from Georgetown, S.C., suffered a neck sprain (aka, “stinger”) in the opener. Nonetheless, Richt believes Geathers will be ready to play on Saturday.
“Kwame is from South Carolina and he wants to play in this ballgame,” Richt said. “I don’t think you could keep him out of this one. We’re just trying to be wise. We don’t want to light him up again and set him back.”
The good news is junior college transfer John Jenkins has been getting almost all the repetitions in practice with the first team. And he needs them.
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said this week he believes that Jenkins and Geathers together can help Georgia defend the zone-read dive play up the middle the Gamecocks ran with such effectiveness last year. Tailback Marcus Lattimore had 182 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns on 37 carries in South Carolina’s 17-6 win in Columbia.
Etc. . . .
Richt said the Bulldogs will make a decision on the starting Mo linebacker on Thursday. “We will after we watch the film and discuss what happened today,” Richt said. Georgia is having to replace starter Alec Ogletree, who suffered a broken foot last week. . . . Wide receiver Marlon Brown practiced but was did not participate in contact. His left ankle was heavily wrapped. . . . Georgia practiced on the artificial turf fields Wednesday afternoon in hopes of it being lightly warmer than on the grass fields.
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465 comments Add your comment
hunker time
September 8th, 2011
9:02 am
I want to see those Dawgs hunker down, for a change.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
9:02 am
Snoop,
DawgInLex has been a LOUD vocal critic of Richt all week. Not for sure why the blind homer call on him. He turned on Richt fairly quick.
Old School
September 8th, 2011
9:03 am
Beat the Chickens and all is good in Athens
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
9:03 am
I think you are wrong that they just flat gave up in the third quarter.
——————————————–
Yea, it was just the fans who had given up as they were filing out.
hunker time
September 8th, 2011
9:03 am
Georgia has the players,
coaching not so much.
Snoop
September 8th, 2011
9:04 am
OK, I’ll give him a break. Deathbed conversions do happen…
Boise State
September 8th, 2011
9:04 am
What ranking is Boise this week? #4
Why all the shame to losing to the Broncos?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
9:04 am
The guy operating the new scoreboard on Saturday better not make a mistake or he will find himself on the hotseat. Brand new scoreboard these fans have high expectations on how it is to be operated.
hunker time
September 8th, 2011
9:05 am
One thing I do know,
East Carolina is no Boise State.
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
9:06 am
On a lighter note, I am hearing that both the SC and Ga bands will perform together during halftime for a Sept. 11 tribute.
Should be very nice.
The Man
September 8th, 2011
9:07 am
I agree with supporting the Dawgs but with a poor coaching performance and a loss the fans that donate money to the school need to write formal letters to the President and AD to ask for a change at head coach. The problem with GA is that this program has gone down hill since the Alabama Blackout. If boosters like what they see then keep Richt and say nothing. People who post on these forums do not mean anything.
WDE
September 8th, 2011
9:07 am
@Snoop if we won 14 games straight by 100 you wouldn’t be happy with UGA..your a troll you have always been a troll and that’s that.
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
9:08 am
East Carolina is no Boise State.
————————————————-
Georgia is no East Carolina.
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:08 am
Read the Carolina message boards and they are as nervous as a banny rooster. They have a weakness on defense and it was exposed big time Saturday( them admitting it, not me). One DB got burned three times for TD’s pretty quick. They KNOW they will score. They are worried about the Dawgs figuring out a way to dink pass them to death and move the chains. The are confident they can keep us from rushing for any scores. Just reporting what I’m reading.
StatesBurr
September 8th, 2011
9:08 am
No, we are not a house divided. If you belive this blog is the consensus of the UGA nation then I say don’t worry. Most of these morons that spew negativity have never played and probably have never been involved in a team environment. Its their opportunity to strike out at others in a cowardly manner. If they said those things in person and they may wake up wondering WTH…
Snoop
September 8th, 2011
9:08 am
Folks, Richt can’t even attract good assistants these days. Look at Will Friend. Here we are, a flagship SEC university with one of the finest traditions in the country. Richt hires some recent GA from UAB. Ponder that for a second before you decide whose fault it is that the offensive line didn’t distinguish itself last week. The good young coaches know that Richt is an imposter and is not a master of collegiate football coaching. They don’t want to hitch onto a loser. Richt cannot improve his staff over what it is because within the coaching ranks he’s been outed for several years now.
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2011
9:09 am
of cource we do JB. I was commenting on a very specific thing, not making generalizations about the state of the program.
gdawginkalamazoo
September 8th, 2011
9:10 am
JB, Amen to that 8:56 post.
Snoop
September 8th, 2011
9:11 am
WDE, if I looked into your ear I could see out the other ear. You are the loser here. So go sign up with Zombie Univerity. UGA is a winner and demands championships. You do not fit in.
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2011
9:14 am
Well actually snoop, if you were being honest you would say that I usually don’t comment for a day or so when we WIN either. Aside from being away from my comp. doing family stuff this holiday weekend until Monday night when I offered up my first post.
Is that OK with you?
But no. I don’t enjoy ready 16 pages of comments 90% of whom were glad Georgia lost, so I don’t. I still have control of why I do this. I blog for my own enjoyment, and not to prove my manhood to you. I’m guessing you couldn’t get to the keyboard fast enough Saturday night.
Now: have you any actual disagreement of something I have said to offer?
Say When
September 8th, 2011
9:15 am
Man we’re going to get destroyed Saturday…
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
9:15 am
East Carolina’s passing offense is more impressive than Ga’s.
Orson will produce.
Everyone else looks like scrubs.
1eyedJack
September 8th, 2011
9:17 am
One thing about lean times is that you can really find out who your friends are, and the same thing can be said of these blogs. I have been able to ascertain who’s comments I should read and who’s are a waste of my life.
You’re either with us or against us. Get on the bus or go worship at the feet of Fishfry or Peterson, or Spurrier, or Saban or who ever is the Coach du jour.
14-0 or 1-11, I’m still a Dawg, and I’ll wear my Georgia shirt and BullDawg hat to Walmart Saturday and blow my nose on any GT or SC or UF or Bama gear they may have in stock. So there!
Dream Weaver
September 8th, 2011
9:17 am
South Carolina will tell number 12 ranking goodbye and UGA will inch back in at number 25.
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:18 am
finer…….keep believing that.
Say When
September 8th, 2011
9:19 am
@Dream Weaver
In your dreams.
Snoop
September 8th, 2011
9:19 am
Altamaha, your blog was reasonable. Reasonable people can always agree to disagree. What really irks me are these idiots who cannot acknowledge the facts and through personal attacks to legitimate criticism. I do not believe that it is constructive to ignore the state of UGA football and talk about what a nice man Mark Richt may be. That is irrelevant. He is getting paid more than most Middle East royalty for proven incompetence. To ignore it is about like these Democrats talking about how they hate the war but love the troops. I am disgusted that Richt has been allowed to remain at the helm so long that we have been ground down into complete chaos.
Rooster
September 8th, 2011
9:20 am
Hurry up offense aint worth a sh*!. Richt and Bobo are the biggest idiots in Athens. Run off your leading rusher and joke about during the offseason. I knew things were not going to be good this year and it is nobody’s fault but Mark Richt’s.
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
9:20 am
finer…….keep believing that
——————————————–
I will, I guess, until your players quit talking and start playing.
SEC Reality Check
September 8th, 2011
9:21 am
Mike Bobo has the entire offense totally confused.
This is unacepptable.
Say When
September 8th, 2011
9:23 am
The only UGA player I saw in Boise’s backfield was Jarvis Jones.
Alphare
September 8th, 2011
9:23 am
“You guys(meaning reporters) want to make things bigger than they are”.
Actually it’s the UGA fans that make things bigger than they really are.
UGA fans, it’s just a game. It’s no good to be too emotionally attached to it. It hurts your health and make you lose your perspective in life.
Some dawg fans call for coaches’ jobs, some ridicule coaches’ intelligence, some even profane against coaches.
Just now watching Georgia-Boise game - Page 2 - VolNation
September 8th, 2011
9:24 am
[...] Mark Richt’s patience wearing thin on line of questioning, and actual line | UGA sports blog __________________ Duuuuude!!!! [...]
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:27 am
I know it’s hard to think about College football coach’s this way, but I know of nowhere in America a person earning 3 mil a year, accountable to others, can fail at his job for 2-3 years and keep it. I don’t believe the argument could be made, well, we made money 4 years ago.
Mark makes a lot of money to do one thing. Being a good role model is just a side bar. I know other football schools howl when they hear the argument on here ‘what a good man he is”. He is, but that’s not what is #1 job is. The whole conference loves him. I want them to hate Dan Mullen.
McDawg
September 8th, 2011
9:27 am
move Jarvis Inside for this game
i see alot of two tight end sets in this game
Restore UGA
September 8th, 2011
9:29 am
I support the players. (I wish they would cut the dreads and stop tweeting and facebooking) I also would love it if the coaches could turn things around and become the best in college football.
Unfortunately, I have no faith in the offensive play calling after last weekend. I think we have switched places with Mississippi State. They used to expect to loose on the weekend, and we expected to win. Now, it is the opposite.
When our coaches don’t anticipate crowd noise on the first position and elect to have the no huddle without and planning for crowd noise in the dome, that is dumb. Not having quick outs and having zero yard slow running plays up the middle time after time, that is dumb. Blaming the OL instead of working with what you have, that is dumb.
CDAWG
September 8th, 2011
9:32 am
I have watched the game a few times now and have tried to analyze each play and came to the conclusion that Bobo and Richt are catching a lot of unfair flack; now I didn’t say they were perfect. It’s not either of their fault that we had some dropped passes which would have kept drives alive and kept our O on the field. It’s not either of their faults that we missed the FG. Bobo caught a lot of sh&% for running the draw on 3rd and 15. He did that one time and it was not that bad of a call with Boise secondary sitting back expecting the pass. It wasn’t Bobo’s fault that we threw an INT. Moore was just deadly accurate and they have a more mature, experienced, disciplined team with 25 seniors. Now we do have a player on D that we should take a look at for his lack of tackling abilities.
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:33 am
If you couldn’t see the difference in Boise and Georgia, how they handled the game and played, show me where you parked your space ship. One well coached and managed. One in fire drill mode running down the stairwell.
roughrider
September 8th, 2011
9:33 am
After SC beats us, Richt and staff need to do the honorable thing and offer their resignation effective in December.
GtBook
September 8th, 2011
9:36 am
As a Tech man I would like to say that its sad to see how uga fans treat their team and coach after losses! I guess this is what makes me hate yall so much! Yall have to be the most obnoxious and unrealistic fan base in college sports! If I was a high school recruit and followed uga blogs or attended games and had to be around some of the foolishness yall pull before, during and after games I would never go there! I guess people can only do better when they know better!!! Uga get top 5-10 recruting classes almost every year, therefore one may be forced to wonder why these players fall off once at uga!!!! I for one know that its not always a coaching issue! Have any of you fools ever thought that there 4 & 5 star recruits are over hyped??? Some of these so called studs that yall are getting might look the part but they have no heart to go with all that talent! A coach cant make a player have whats not inside of him! Coaches are blamed all to often by fools who either never played or really dont know the game! Im a believer in the fact that coaches dont forget how to coach, but players often make it appear as though thats the case. On saturday I way a team that looks like they could compete with a NFL team……..that was until the ball was snapped!!! Just food for thought for yall fools!!!!!
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:36 am
CDAWG…….reading your observation of the game, the NCAA ought to eliminate the score board………It’s really all that counts………Telling me how well people swam as the boat sank before they died is not a good story.
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:38 am
GtBook………The 200 goons on here daily don’t represent the “fan base” 99% don’t even know this blog exist.
JB
September 8th, 2011
9:40 am
GtBook…….one more thing….Do you want me to re post some Tech fan comments from Gaily’s last year. Brutal I tell ya.
I-DOG
September 8th, 2011
9:41 am
This may SOUND unfair, but I think our program has gotten so bad that the coaches no longer recognize what well played football is.
Between week 1 and week 2 the head coach is concerned that we can’t beat anybody with the way the offensive line is practicing. Two weeks ago, we heard that the offensive line was playing very well and as long we don’t have a lot of injuries… we only have to play 5 so we should be fine.
Is it that we have sunk so low that we no longer have a way to measure how the team looks in pre-season?
This is a business, like it or not ...........
September 8th, 2011
9:42 am
Big Boy football pays a huge salary to their coaches. That is why the SEC is always near or at the TOP. This is also why there are schools begging to join the club and one is not GT.
CMR is paid a fine salary with perks. UGA for going on THREE ( 3 ) years has been dreadful. This will not continue. Frankly, if we lose to SC CMR should be fired on the spot and just have anyone come in ( TG) and manage the rest of the year. This way, McGarity can look for and interview top caliber guys for the job next year.
Bring in the right guy AND STAFF and have him sign about 8 JUCO boys for the UGA O line, and with the core skill players …………………UGA could begin to resurrect our fortunes back to the 9-2 or 9-3 or 10-2 seaons that we easily should achieve ………………year in and year out.
Goooooooooooooooooooo Dogs.
1eyedJack
September 8th, 2011
9:42 am
I’m not too sure those delayed handoffs out of the shotgun are helping our O-line either. I-formation and let Crowell follow Figgins through the 3-hole all day long. Bump it to the outside from time to time.
Call some pass plays that allow Murray to get rid of the ball quick or tuck it and run for the sideline and 5 yards. Roll him out from time to time so the defense can’t zero in on him.
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
September 8th, 2011
9:42 am
Please tell us this game won’t be on National TV!
gdawginkalamazoo
September 8th, 2011
9:43 am
I think we should play the game before we give up. These kids never quit in that Boise game and they won’t quit this weekend. No shame in losing to the #4 team in the country. I’ll call it an adjustment game.
GtBook
September 8th, 2011
9:47 am
Ok JB, that may be true! But what about the 70K that acts an ass on game day! Ive been following yall since I played for Tech in the mid 90’s and I can honestly say one of the main reason I hate uga so much is because of the obnoxious fans! They cant win or loose with class! And if ur a realist and not drunk on saturdays, just sit back and observe their behavior in a win or loss! I guess somewhere in their minds its ok to try and fight or bark at opposing fans just cause ur mascot is a dog! Come on dude, thats is crazy! Being a jackass is not confused with being a fan!
dtanner
September 8th, 2011
9:47 am
just pray mark richt and everything will be fine won’t it