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
DawginLex
September 8th, 2011
10:30 am
Interception idiot
Muschamp and Smart said no to lateral moves. Smart on their part
If offered the head coaching job, either one of them would crawl through glass back to Athens.
Just because you hate us doesn’t make you smart or right.
You are stupid and wrong.
The coach coaches the players on the field. The coach recruits the players. You continuing to blame Dooley is idiotic but what should i expect, right?
CDAWG
September 8th, 2011
10:30 am
JB, I did see the difference and I think I mentioned that in my post. I said that Boise was more mature, experienced and disciplined. Furthermore, I mentioned that Bobo and Richt weren’t perfect but they are being tarred and feathered unfairly in this situation. Again they didn’t drop those passes and neither did the Boise receivers. Was it their fault that Boykin’s shoe came off in the end zone (maybe it was, they should have checked pregame to make sure everyones shoes were tied) was it their fault that Crowell slipped in the backfield? I am saying that if some of those things don’t happen to UGA maybe we have a different outcome. I am not saying that Richt and Bobo are the best coaches in the Nation, what I am saying in this game only, they are taking more heat than is deserved!
netflix
September 8th, 2011
10:31 am
Whats black and white and red all over?
uhhhhh AJC Sunday morning sports headlines SC 50 – UGA 16 ?
Coooooooooorrect! you just won a 1 year membership with netflix!
Dawg97
September 8th, 2011
10:31 am
I posted comments yesterday admonishing the coaching staff. After reviewing the game last night, I DVR’d it, I wil back off somewhat. There were several plays in the first half where players didn’t execute. Several times it was running backs. Right play was called had a lane but back didn’t folllow blockers or see the correct running lane. This happened with counter twice and sweep once. Those 3 times there were big running lanes that the backs couldn’t find. Also, first possession 3rd down pass to OC I believe was a catchable ball, #7 didn’t get his head around in time to make a play on the ball. Was it a perfect throw – no. Was it a tight window – yes. Should OC have made a play on the ball – yes. TK should be shown the sideline for a while, multiple drops that killed drives.
Murray’s INT was a product of an Ealy style block from IC. He picked the right assignment then through a lookout block. (Hey Murray – lookout) On that play Murray had man coverage on the outside, which is where he was going with the ball, except the couldn’t step into the throw and the caused it to be short and picked. Again Execution by a player was at fault.
Yes there were times when our OL got blown up and we must cut back on the times that happens but poor execution by players was a big problem. This also put our Defense back on the field, they got tired and this gave Moore more chances to score. Take 2 possesions away from BSU at the end of each haf and you may have had a 21 – 21 game. Poor execution gave them more possessions. Cant do that with a good team.
SO STAFF FIX THE PROBLEMS AND THINGS MAY WORK OUT FOR A GOOD YEAR AFTER ALL.
DawginLex
September 8th, 2011
10:32 am
How was Mark Richt a bad hire in 2001?
He won the SEC in 2002. Our first title in 20 years.
History tells us now we were probably the best team in the country and wiht the cheating of the 2 BCS teams factored in, we were.
Yet according to the interception idiot Richt was a bad hire?
Idiot logic.
excuse # 6
September 8th, 2011
10:34 am
Players didnt execute……..
JB
September 8th, 2011
10:34 am
Bradley and Schultz must be off today…or writing later from home…Too much going on for them not to be here. Doesn’t Schultz normally have his picks out by now. He does them on Thursday doesn’t he?
Tech '10
September 8th, 2011
10:35 am
Man, for a second there I was feeling sorry for CMR after 4 and 3/4 pages of hate spewing out over losing to a non-conference top 5 opponent. I’m a yellow jacket thru and thru,( we don’t even have red christmas ornaments, I do not have red clothes, I break all the red crayons and colored pencils, I hate dogs almost as much as Mike Vick… ok maybe a slight exaggeration.) but Richt has done a lot for you guys and a rebuilding season or 2 is to be expected every once and again. This talk of firing is a bit premature. Hewitt had 3 or 4 seasons to turn something around and all he ever acomplished was recruiting one and dones who then go on to the NBA then get kicked out and kill moms. Not a lot to write home about. It was time for Hewitt to leave based on both his record and the type of player he went after. I do not care how many Atlanta Celtics players we get if they all leave after a year and don’t help build a program. In the case of Richt, perhaps he has underachieved for a while, but this season is a new one and you guys have a good chance to be contenders for the east in a very very weak schedule. SC is really your only worthy opponent this year, though I would not be surprised to see UF pull something out of a hat.
My question is, if you fire CMR this season, who will you go after to replace him? Do you feel that there is a suitable replacement currently available or soon to be available? Mike Leech?
excuse # 9
September 8th, 2011
10:35 am
Murray walks a little tight in his britches sometimes.
DawginLex
September 8th, 2011
10:36 am
I’m through arguing with an effing moron.
Richt’s gonna lose Saturday and you will get your wish.
enjoy your happiness
what a pitiful existence you must lead
Vince Doodly
September 8th, 2011
10:36 am
Richts patience needs to wear thin with Mike Bobo. That fool needs to be run off.
excuse # 13
September 8th, 2011
10:38 am
Who can we get to replace Richt if he is fired?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
10:38 am
Some of you cats now seem to be coming of that anger fueled binger you were on for about three days. Amazing!
Joey
September 8th, 2011
10:40 am
Sure it was enough – probably will be enough this time around. My point was, SOS will ALWAYS score as many points as he can, and only a nut would predict 50+ by SC this season.
Lo and behold, yet another at 10:25 . . .
Mobile Dawg
September 8th, 2011
10:40 am
Good Thursday morning. I see not much has changed in the blogosphere. After last week I don’t have a lot confidence going into the game Saturday, but crazier things have happened. You’all have a good weekend, I think we’re going to the beach. If I get a chance I might watch, if not I will check back in on Monday and see how we did. Hope the trout are biting, boating over to Lulu’s for lunch might be in line too. Lowcountry, there was a poser on the boards last night, that wasn’t me insulting you, I’m sure you knew that, just fyi everyone, that’s now my MO.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
September 8th, 2011
10:40 am
Island bio…you sir are about stupid if you think UGA has more talent on defense than Alabama!! Bama will have 3 1st round draft picks from the defense alone this year. No wonder UGA is the best team in college football from March until August!!
Jeff Fisher
September 8th, 2011
10:40 am
I am available and ready to get back into coaching.
Happiness is
September 8th, 2011
10:41 am
Richt getting canned and hiring a real winner!
Mobile Dawg
September 8th, 2011
10:42 am
Meant to say NOT my MO, what fat fingers I have.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
10:42 am
Mobile,
No worrys we seem to always be civil towards one another even if we disagree. GOOO DAWGS!
TampaDawg
September 8th, 2011
10:42 am
Let me try this again .. for those of you who think USCe will put up 40+ on UGA, get REAL. They scored 17 last year and everyone heralded it as a blow out. The only time in the last 10 years USCe has scored more than 20, they still lost to UGA then. Won’t happen this year either. It’s not the style of that offense to be able to do that.
Bill Cowher
September 8th, 2011
10:44 am
I am available and ready to get back into coaching.
Jon Gruden
September 8th, 2011
10:45 am
I am available and ready to get back into coaching..
Restore UGA
September 8th, 2011
10:45 am
Lowcountry Bulldawg, we are just facing reality. We have a really bad OC and now expect to loose, but hope to win or make a good – not embarassing – showing.
Sort of like the Mississippi St. folks of past years.
JB
September 8th, 2011
10:46 am
Tech 10…….Interesting………I remember Gaily’s last year on here. Looking back, Gaily had some damn fine players in the Tech program. Kinda ironic that I thought if Gaily would hire a hot shot OC, because he was as lost as Bobo calling a game, he could turn Tech around. Stubborn I guess. If Richt would have demoted Bobo to QB coach last year and open the vault for say1 mil per year( as Auburn just did with that OC they have) and hired Ralph Frigen as OC and turned it over to him, he could be at Georgia forever. Stubborn I guess,
Funny
September 8th, 2011
10:48 am
@ TampaDawg SC sored 37 in 2009 w/o a Latimore…… stay off the kool aid bud…..
CDAWG
September 8th, 2011
10:49 am
Dawg97, I agree with you. Anyone who has ever coached or played can watch game film then evaluate. I thought the 98 Falcons could have won the SuperBowl but it didn’t happen. I think that Herschel should have won the Heisman all three years that he played but it didn’t happen, The Atlanta Braves should have won the 91 World Series, didn’t happen, my point is that you have to have some luck and Boise did! I think GTBook said it best in his 9:36 posts that you can’t make a player have what he doesn’t have inside.
Joey
September 8th, 2011
10:49 am
“Players know when they mess and and cause a play or scheme to fail, but often they get overlooked by the average fan because its looked at from a broad prespective”
****************************************************
GTBook, if UGA’s players’ “mess-ups” are the reason for 13 losses in the last 27 games, Richt needs to find some competent players, huh?
Somehow, a whole lot of those players manage to learn plays and execute plays when they go to the NFL . . .
Funny
September 8th, 2011
10:50 am
scored 37
JB
September 8th, 2011
10:50 am
Carolina is STILL Carolina. You don’t get rid of 100 years bad karma overnight. They will struggle with Saturday.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
10:51 am
Restore,
If you truly think that we are Miss St from 4-5 years ago then not much I can say to ya outside of feeling sorry for you in having that perspective.
Al Conner
September 8th, 2011
10:51 am
Ugly Uniforms, Ugly Game; Enough Said !!!!!!!!!!!
JB
September 8th, 2011
10:52 am
s/b struggle with US Saturday
JB
September 8th, 2011
10:53 am
They still gotta come to our house….and prove it on the field….and we ain’t E. Carolina
Dirty Dawg
September 8th, 2011
10:54 am
Hey ‘uga insider’ and ‘you idiots’, et. al….what’re your point(s)? You guys sayin’ that we shouldn’t have been optimistic about being better? That we shouldn’t support ‘our’ team just because ‘you’ don’t think that the coach(s) are ‘your kinda guys’? I got news for you, it’s people like you that have kept this program from being as good as it could have been, and can still be…at the top. Bandwagoners and folks that think they have some special insights into the ability and thinking of the coaches and team hurt the program far beyond any of ‘us idiots’…who knows, maybe that was your purpose all along. Just know something, I may be disappointed…I may even be, a bit, dis-heartened…but this is exactly when these guys need us. Understand something, many of usI won’t put up with those that openly criticize these guys just when they’re trying to dig out of the grave you people have, seemingly happily, been shoveling dirt on. Be careful what you say to a ‘Dawg’ you don’t know, cause you never can tell what ‘all in’ means to some of us. Richt may not be the kind of guy that throws something, but I am and so are plenty of others. There’ll be time enough at the end of the season to evaluate where we are and what needs to be done, meanwhile those of us that are standing with ‘our guys’ have got their backs – and that, sadly, means against the likes of too many, so-called, Georgia fans that I guess, love to be able to say ‘I told you so’.
dawgman
September 8th, 2011
10:57 am
oh no the sky is fallin!!
TampaDawg
September 8th, 2011
10:57 am
Also, I agree that if the program can’t be turned around after this YEAR, not one game, then we need to go in another direction. That’s not saying anything against CMR, it just means that a change of scenery may be in order for both him and the team.
I, as a Christian also, find it disgusting how some of you want to yell about his faith has nothing to do with football but you are the first ones to even bring it up and bash him about it. It shows a complete lack of maturity, character and class. The fact is, even if he is shown the door at some point, his faith will allow him to thoroughly land on his feet. But because the man prays to an almighty God is not for you or anyone else to judge him on.
He has never asked for mercy from the pathetic fair weather fans because of it. He has never used it as a way to seek your forgiveness nor does he need it. Why? Because there are a group of true fans on here that remember that his first 8 years were light years better than the previous 20. But the fair weathers are going to try to judge him on the previous 2 years and 1 game. I for one remember that Ray Goof and Jim Donnan hadn’t even a sniff of an SEC title but CMR comes along and we soon realize what it is again to win one.
Yes, could the coaching have been better? Of course. Could you fair weather fans do better at your job? I am sure you could but you still have one.
UGA AD McGarrity
September 8th, 2011
10:57 am
Mark, You have until 4 pm to have your office cleaned out.
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 8th, 2011
10:58 am
oh no the sky is fallin!!
————————————————
No, its just Clowney with a 100% chance of pain.
TampaDawg
September 8th, 2011
10:58 am
Funny – Scored 37
——————————–
and lost that game 41 – 37 .. what’s the point?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 8th, 2011
10:59 am
Carry on Tampa Dawg…..
Gator Mike
September 8th, 2011
10:59 am
JB, I agree with you on Carolina going to Athens. Good luck to your DAWGS. I will be pulling for you guys.
PMC
September 8th, 2011
10:59 am
I said it last year and I’ll say it again, for 4 years prior people have been talking about Georgia’s line being experienced and talented and “good”
There’s not a Max Jean Gilles in the building.
It’s time to stop saying that Georgia all this talent. They don’t. They are as good as most at QB; TE; CB; and special teams.
They have holes everywhere else and have for some time. They have recruited the wrong players and they have recruited guys that simply can’t play. The lack of experienced, quality, in shape talent are the main reasons they don’t resemble a top half SEC football team.
Tech '10
September 8th, 2011
11:00 am
JB: Gailey’s downfall was never his ability to recruit talent, it was indeed his stubborness, like you pointed out. He was too stubborn to pull Ball, who was ever teams favorite Tech player who could notoriously not count to 4, for 4 years, despite his awful play, his bad attitude, and his inability to develope as both a man and a player. Gailey could have saved his job had he hired an OC that had a clue. I enjoyed our defense under Tenuda except for the “having a terrible secondary” thing, so that side of the ball was always fun to watch and is usually what kept us in games. Soooooo what I am saying is, I agree whole heartedly with you and if CMR wants his job bad enough, he is going to have to make a decision on a new OC. With Richt’s ability to recruit, UGA would be dumb to get rid of him IF he puts people in place to develop that talent once it gets to y’all, otherwise you could have the best recruiting class or the 12th best and it wouldn’t really matter. Stubborn would be an appropriate choice of word here.
BirdDawg
September 8th, 2011
11:05 am
It does not make me feel good at ALL that our o-line couldn’t protect Murray against our defense which couldn’t get ANY pressure on Moore. We’re in trouble, big time. Not just the SC game, but every game. When you’re as bad as we are up front on both sides of the ball, you just aren’t going to win many games in the SEC. I’d say we should recruit better talent, but we had superior athletes compared to Boise and UCF and we know how those games turned out. Our new “Old School” conditioning program does not appear to have had any better affect than the Coach Van’s program. 2nd year in the 3-4, we still can’t get pressure on the QB or stop the run. New o-line coach-same sorry, soft play up front. We kick it like Gus the Kicking Mule, but you don’t win kicking punts and field goals. Something has to change in the players or we will continue to stink. Richt and these guys haven’t forgotten how to coach, but these players don’t appear to be very coachable.
Name witheld to protect the innocent
September 8th, 2011
11:06 am
Enter your comments here
Name witheld to protect the innocent
September 8th, 2011
11:11 am
Here’s an example of how other fans talk about football. It’s a little different:
http://forums.tigerfan.com/tigers-den/
See what I mean? There’s something different about LSU fans. What’s the word…ummm…Knowledgeable. Yes, that’s it.
DawginLex
September 8th, 2011
11:11 am
TampaDawg
Don’t think for one second that some of the criticism toward Richt isn’t because of his openness in discussing his Christian beliefs.
It is.
DawginLex
September 8th, 2011
11:12 am
Flashback to those LSU message boards the Monday after Stafford dropped 50 on them in 2008
Same as ours.
They just beat the preseason favorite to win the national title. They have nothing to gripe about
.
.
.
.
Until they lose
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2011
11:13 am
Snoop, I have no idea who in the world you say is “ignoring” anything. You seem to be mistaking how people behave about situations, with what they know or don’t know.