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.
MORE COVERAGE
,
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
465 comments Add your comment
GoDawgs#1
September 8th, 2011
3:48 pm
Ceaser STAFFORD,MORENO,MASSAQUOI,A.J. GREEN. and then before that DAVID GREENE AND POLLACK WHOS # SHOULD BE RETIRED AND SHOCKLEY c’mon he’s had chances to win NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS it’s because he’s letting Bobo call the plays and let him call play when we had that preseason #1 team that why.
Dawg Tired
September 8th, 2011
3:49 pm
Okay lets go over this again…Georgia Fans are the most loyal patient fans in the SEC…when the team is giving max effort, has heart and hustle and the coaches are passionate we understand and will give props…nobody who has watched the Dawgs loose SEVEN of the LAST EIGHT games to ranked opponents has seen any of that…I would love to see Mark throw a visor/chair/fit or any expression of concern or passion about the state of disrepair the team is in…all that being said he came from the Bobby Bowden school of spectator coaching while I tend to my social/church obligations and broad brushes the lack of discipline with a “we’re building boys into men” ministry statement. I watched the Coach Chris Petersen (we all remember him) show last night just to see what Boise State is about…very interesting… he recruits based on whether the athletes are good students, good character and will fit into their blue collar culture…they are very concerned about their culture and emphasize working harder and smarter as a unit…as a team…I noticed a complete lack of self promotion after any tackles much less routine ones…his team was in shape organized and well coached (i.e. nobody frantically looking to the sidelines just before ball snap)…The football culture at Ga is shameful in comparison…is that my fault as a fan for noticing?
GoDawgs#1
September 8th, 2011
3:50 pm
@Troof
I agree
beebee
September 8th, 2011
3:50 pm
Seems like EVERY DAY there’s some blog story about Richt and Georgia, followed by a dozen or so pages of comments. It’s really about time for the Bulldogs and all their DRAMA to GO AWAY!
Georgia, you’re now playing for a midle-tier bowl game.
No SEC East title. No trip to Atlanta. Certainly no BCS Bowl.
We no longer care what happens to Richt coaching-wise or whomever you may want to replace him with.
Sorry, but this SAD little story has become quite BORING!
bee
And yeah…. GO JACKETS!
jr
September 8th, 2011
3:54 pm
Richt has had #1 pick quarterbacks, first round NFL draft backs and receivers. Richt’s problem isn’t lack of luck with talent…quite the opposite. Richt has been lucky to have the talent he has.
I’m sure Richt is a nice guy and a good coach, but he’s not in the category of coaches who brought NC trophies back to their schools even when they didn’t have first-round NFL talent.
GoDawgs#1
September 8th, 2011
3:55 pm
@beebee
every year your sorry ACC honeybees are ranked above us we kill them in Atlanta or Athens. UGA record against you guys 61-39-5. under Coach CMR were 9-1 against you guys so just zip it beebee.
GoDawgs#1
September 8th, 2011
3:56 pm
@jr Thank you
JD
September 8th, 2011
4:06 pm
Several of us are wondering if Richt truly hasn’t lost control of this team. The discipline just doesn’t appear to be in place. Georgia makes a first down and the players are juking around and high fiving themselves like they did something…but were two touchdowns behind. At some point this GA. team needs to start dancing on their opponents head and smashing some mouths instead of running theirs. The play calling truly sucks by the way….
bigdog
September 8th, 2011
4:06 pm
GET RID OF BOBO. RICHT CALL YOUR OWN PLAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!
ATL Nole
September 8th, 2011
4:09 pm
It’s time for a new coach. We went through this with Bowden. You hope things will get better but they will not. The game has passed him. Stop the bleeding before it gets worse!
dawginduluth
September 8th, 2011
4:10 pm
Richt – the Jimmy Carter of college coaching.
Why do we tolerate these losers?
Bob in Sandy Springs
September 8th, 2011
4:11 pm
Well, I guess there’s always next year……
GtBook
September 8th, 2011
4:11 pm
@Joey you are probably one of the fools im referring to! A idiot with an opinion that has never played the game nor seen the inside of a film room! I dont care if at some point they quit makinig mental mistakes and mature into an NFL player…thats was not the point of what I posted! So ill break in down in dummy form since you cant seem to get it in any other form. When players/coaches review the film from game day, each position and player recieves a grade on each play! Often times one or more players makes mental mistakes that cause plays to fail or allows the other teams play to succeed! When the game is broken down by the average stupid, such as urself, they wont look at the mistakes made by players because that takes too much knowledge of the game! Therefore they blame the overall failure on the coaches whom often has called the perfect play to combat what the opponent is trying to do! This has nothing to do with players making it to the NFL idiot! And for all those 4 & 5 star recruits yall get it should be alot more mutts goin!
JD
September 8th, 2011
4:17 pm
To Dawg Tired…Amen. Have certainly noticed the class other teams display allowing their play to be the only statement needed. That is coaching, plain and simple.
I’m not sure if the Dawg’s would rather be dancing with the stars or playing football.
JuliusCesaer
September 8th, 2011
4:23 pm
Everyone knows that the last three years his bulldogs have not been as competitive as his previous seven years in college coaching. That being said, i think that although Richts COLLEGE WINNING PERCENTAGE COACHING RECORD IS AN UNGODLY over .700%, which is completely unheard of, the only way that Richt will ever gain back his fan support and get the respect that he deserves is for him to lead his georgia bulldog team to a national title. OK we lost the first game and we are 0-1. But lets say georgia wins the remaining games and finishes 13-1, winning the national championship. Then Richt will re-gain the respect and glory that he once had. He is the same person, but a brighter more sharper mind than he had when he first came into coaching. Richt is also a very talented coach. Lets hope he can finish this year with a blaze of glory, coach with both guns blazing and lead georgia to puting up a BCS championship banner as yet another notch on his belt, SOMETHING THE GUY DESERVES AND SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN YEARS AGO. Also, if Richt is the Jimmy Carter of coaching, then Barrack Obama is the Jimmy Carter of modern day presidents.
todd
September 8th, 2011
4:25 pm
the only ones who benefit from all this are the needy kids of the world because richt will have plenty of time to dedicate to them once he is fired. don’t worry kids, uncle richt will be with you soon, probably before the end of the season.
Nick Saban
September 8th, 2011
4:25 pm
Hey Mark,
Keep doing what you’re doing there in Athens, Oh and thanks in advance for the recruits from Georgia I plan to keep cherry picking in the coming years.
See you and the Dawgs next year! It’s going to be fun…..at least for us! LOL!
Nick
Obama
September 8th, 2011
4:26 pm
Change is coming!!!!!!!!!!!
USC GAMEC0CK
September 8th, 2011
4:26 pm
USC folks know this game is a big deal and USC could end up on the short end of the stick….so USC fans and team are highly focused on getting the WIN….this could be the year USC does not have to say that whole next year crap…USC needs this win in the worst way and we have faith the ole ball coach will get it done in Athens. When USC wins, the nation will finally start to respect USC.
I can’t believe how much publicity USC is getting this year; it has been over the top and we love it. USC is stepping out from under the rocks that have been piled on us and Spurrier is leading us to the promised land. USC will be shocking a few folks this year and the first one will be georgia on Saturday. This is the best time of the year and USC is making it the best year EVER.
Nick Saban
September 8th, 2011
4:27 pm
Caesar,
When you and the rest of your Dawg fans are in Tuscaloosa next stop by and I’ll let you see what a BCS crystal football looks like. It’s the closest UGA will be to one for many years to come.
Nick
Nick Saban
September 8th, 2011
4:28 pm
Barry O., change may be coming but probably not much hope.
LorneGreen
September 8th, 2011
4:30 pm
when you are thinking of richt horrible bad luck, think of all the recruits who signed a letter of intent to play at georgia who were #1 all-american, blue-chippers who changed their mind at the last minute before the season began to play instead with either Florida, Oklahoma or Florida State. Richt has missed out on a bunch of players who lied to him and said they were committed to play at Georgia, just to change their minds later right before signing day or prior to the start of the opening game. MARK RICHT HAS HAD ALMOST AS MUCH BAD LUCK AS HIS FORMER QUARTERBACK D.J. SHOCKLEY.
dawgs are dogs
September 8th, 2011
4:32 pm
Y’all gonna lose!!
Calhoundawg
September 8th, 2011
4:42 pm
Go Dawgs !!!
Paul "Bear" Bryant
September 8th, 2011
4:44 pm
Lorne Green: YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT! That is why Richt has had so much trouble beating Florida over the years. Why had Richt gone UNDEFEATED against Florida for his entire coaching career at Georgia, the Bulldogs would have won at least two national championships under the MIGHTY MARK RICHT.
USC GAMEC0CK
September 8th, 2011
4:45 pm
Actually, georgia gets almost every recruit they want and are ALWAYS rated in the top 5 nationally. If they happen to miss the top 5 then they are top 10 but no less. USC is lucky if they crack the top 20; getting in the top 10 is front page news in Columbia.
USC GAMEC0CK
September 8th, 2011
4:47 pm
You can bash Richt or defend Richt but don’t using recruiting as a way to defend him…there is an old saying in the country…
That dog just won’t hunt.
JuliusCesaer
September 8th, 2011
4:50 pm
Folks are BASHING Mark Richt becasue the Georgia program is in decline and there has to be a scapegoat for which to place the blame. The blame doesnt lie at the feet of Mark Richt. There should be nothing but PRAISE for Richt. Look how many players Richt has had who have gotten arrested by the law and ended up in jail. A WHOLE BUNCH OF GEORGIA PLAYERS HAVE GONE THAT ROUTE. Richt can only play poker with the hand that is dealt to him after all the dust settles and the smoke clears.
USC GAMEC0CK
September 8th, 2011
4:53 pm
Hey Cesar dude….you dont make any sense….before folks tag you as a complete idiot, try doing a little proof reading before hitting submit.
CHDawg
September 8th, 2011
4:57 pm
Chicken Lips, just got off of Garnet and Black–was reading what they thought of our offense: basically, they think you will kill us–I mean seriously, we don’t stand a chance. According to them, your line is among the best in the nation, far better than Boise’s, and our offensive line couldn’t even block Boise little players. Also, we don’t have anything to replace Green and Durham…read, our receivers stink. Finally, Crowell didn’t look to good to them. It could happen. We’ll see. (they weren’t ugly, they just think you will blow us out on both sides of the ball). I’m thinking they would guess 48-7, or some lopsided score, but I didn’t see one mentioned. If SOS can beat us by >40 Saturday, it could be a long season for CMR and UGA. Go Dawgs anyway. See you Saturday!
GatorEatDawg
September 8th, 2011
4:58 pm
Richt is sorry, heck he’s an FSU Seminole Grad, not to mention that the UF Gators will be Spankin them Dawgs yet again at the annual beating against UGA on 10/29.. Ha ha ha ha! Richt would make a good recruiter, but not head coach.
CHDawg
September 8th, 2011
5:00 pm
Boise’s and too good to them.
Patrick
September 8th, 2011
5:02 pm
UGA is toast on Saturday. Coaching at UGA reminds me of a Forrest Gump comment: “Stupid is as stupis does.” That is a short definition of the UGA coaching staff.
Bob
September 8th, 2011
5:02 pm
Memo to Rodney Garner: Forget about inner city Atlanta and just give scholarships to the starting 22 at Wesleyan HS…see what BS did with their athletes?
USC GAMEC0CK
September 8th, 2011
5:22 pm
I am sure the GAMEC0CK Nation is crowing on whatever website you visited and frankly, USC is due to lay some wood on UGa to get a little payback over the years…but USC football players know this will be a drag out fight down in the trenches and we hope that our skill players will execute the plan and hold on to the freaking BALL (we had 4 fumbles last week)…so am I over confident? No. Do I believe… Yes! Will USC win?…we both know they will because THIS is our year (FINALLY)…dude.
CHDawg
September 8th, 2011
5:37 pm
Good article on Jarvis Jones and his helmet on ABH. He did play great. I would expect SC to go up the middle; let’s hope our big NT can slow Latt down! Jones pointed out that it was a problem with the Nike uniforms and his lid would stay on with the regular uni. BTW, I did not like the fact that the names were left off, and you couldn’t see the number due to the poor contrast. Had a hard time figuring out who was making the plays. Go Dawgs!
Road Runner
September 8th, 2011
6:06 pm
Those uni’s sucked! Who ever made them was probably a dog hater and laughed his a$$ off the whole game!
Road Runner
September 8th, 2011
6:09 pm
I agree with some of you guys about Aaron Murry. He has yet to prove himself a contender. To his defence though he was running for his life the whole game. If dogs don’t block this weekend thier
relaly gonna get it handed to them. It sounds like Richt doesn’t have alot of confidence.
Road Runner
September 8th, 2011
6:13 pm
I’m sure Stevey is fealing pretty confident about wipping some tail. Please somebody tell Crowell to quit premping his stupid dreads the whole game.I went to picture day and he was doing the same thing. Why do grown men want to look like women?
Road Runner
September 8th, 2011
6:20 pm
I love when you spend ten minutes typing and it doesn’t post.
Road Runner
September 8th, 2011
6:21 pm
Prediction- Dogs by 7. Have to pick ‘em. Good Night!
Pierce CO Dawg
September 8th, 2011
6:49 pm
CMR lets put the smurky smile on spurriers face. I want to see him kick the dirt. What about it BULLDOG NATION?
Gdawg
September 8th, 2011
9:00 pm
Jeff Fisher in 2012. Give him the checkbook! Any takers?
Thomas Brown
September 9th, 2011
6:36 am
CHDawg,
“Had a hard time figuring out who was making the plays.” That was because there wasn’t anyone for us making the plays, not the uni.
Spectator
September 9th, 2011
7:59 am
I wish all College teams the best, we must remember that these kids are here for an Education. From others in my town they were stating how the UGA players looked like little Transformer’s on the field with their uniforms, Really? The Classic team look seems to be preferred by the Alumni. To all the Players, play hard and with Heart, Boise did.
Bobby Bulldog
September 9th, 2011
9:43 am
When UGA fans speak disparingly of Ole Miss and Miss. State, they should remember that Miss. has about one fourth the population of Ga. and that their colleges have to compete with UA and LSU, both less than fifty miles from their border, not to mention Auburn and UT and that other Miss school USM, which the only is the only college to ever beat both Auburn and UA in the same season. No Miss coach ever made half of what that great man of Athens makes. Know personally a lot of fine assistants who have been around the league and they speak openly of Richt being such a tight wad with his assistants doing his first six years, meaning those who served him well, but he didn’t appreciate what they contributed to his success so they left, even though they loved Athens and didn’t want to uproot families. My problem with friend Friend when he was hired is that no one else was even considered for the job and that he spent five years as grad asst. without obtaining a MS degree–three years at UA and three at UGA Let’s not hear that no one else wanted the job.. FACT__ Even though friend Friend makes less than half of what CSS made at UGA, more capable and more experienced OL coaches applied but were not considered because friend Friend was BObo’s phone buddy. For the sake of the players, let us hope that he does better.
Wasp
September 9th, 2011
10:15 am
I hate Spurrier more than I hate Georgia, but I can’t see much hope for the woof-woofs given that they are a bad team coming off a mediocre season and a frustrating loss to an overrated school from the middle of nowhere.
Wasp
September 9th, 2011
10:17 am
JuliusCesear: all those dawgs in prison are Richt recruits, so it takes a UGA grad to explain why that’s not his fault.
vesaversa
September 9th, 2011
10:26 am
Richt have over stayed his welcome his time have come and gone . The Dawgs look like a high school team . It dosen’t matter if the dawgs win the rest of thier game Richt should be fired !
USC GAMEC0CK
September 9th, 2011
10:46 am
Road Runner – when you post that “dogs by 7″ silliness… that is not a prediction dude…that is just a fan yapping his gums….USC will fix the gum problem that many a dog fans have….after the 3rd quarter, you will only hear crickets from the georgia people …but the USC crowd will be crowing and having a blast…I CAN’T WAIT for GAMEC0CK SATURDAY!!!