Richt: ‘I think we’re a team that is on the rise, but we’ll see’
After losing two games to highly ranked opponents, then winning one over an out-manned opponent, Georgia now enters the grind of its SEC schedule.
Saturday’s game at Ole Miss will start a stretch of four SEC games in four weeks for the Bulldogs, all but one of them on the road.
It should be a revealing patch of schedule.
“The thing I like is, we’re a team that is getting better as we go,” UGA coach Mark Richt said Sunday evening. “We do have a lot of room to grow yet. The last couple of performances, minus the huge mistakes, four or five plays that really got us [against South Carolina], I felt we were making a lot of progress. As you watch tape, it’s still pretty obvious we’ve got some youth and inexperience that still needs to improve.
“Overall, I think we’re a team that is on the rise, but we’ll see,” Richt said. “We’re going to play that first SEC game away from home and get a better feel for what kind of progress we have really made.”
That game is at 12:21 p.m. Saturday in Oxford, Miss., against an Ole Miss team that has the same record as Georgia (1-2 overall, 0-1 SEC) but is coming off a particularly dismal defeat.
While Georgia reveled in a 59-0 victory over Coastal Carolina in Athens, Ole Miss suffered through a 30-7 loss at Vanderbilt -– the Rebels’ ninth loss in their past 10 SEC games and the Commodores’ largest margin of victory over an SEC opponent in 40 years.
Ole Miss’ starting quarterback, Zack Stoudt, was poorly protected by his offensive line and threw five interceptions. The Rebels’ defense allowed Vanderbilt to rush for 281 yards.
For Georgia, the trip to Ole Miss is followed by league games at home against Mississippi State on Oct. 1, at Tennessee on Oct. 8 and at Vanderbilt on Oct. 15. Then, following an open date, the Bulldogs face Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 29.
“There’s a sense of urgency in that if we want to stay in this Eastern Division race we’ve got to win,” Richt said. “Right now we’ve lost control of our destiny in this thing [because of the loss to South Carolina], but there are so many more games to played. Our goal is just to win our first Southeastern Conference game this year, period; that’s all we’re worried about right this minute.”
His players’ confidence seems high despite the losses to Boise State and South Carolina.
“I think we’re ready to get back into SEC play and get going again,” quarterback Aaron Murray said. “We have a lot of guys playing great football right now, and we think we can play with anyone.”
The confidence, Murray suggested, stems not so much from the rout of Coastal Carolina, an FCS opponent, but from the 45-42 loss to South Carolina the week before and the Bulldogs’ belief they would have won handily if not for three turnovers and a fake punt.
To succeed in SEC play, Georgia will need to minimize turnovers and, according to Richt, improve defensively inside its 20-yard line.
“The one area where we’ve just got to get better as we get into more of the Southeastern Conference play is red-zone defense,” Richt said. “We just have not done a great job there yet, but that’s going to be a point of emphasis to see if we can force some field goals instead of some touchdowns when people do happen to get in there.”
Except for the continuing absence of starting inside linebackers Christian Robinson and Alec Ogletree with foot injuries, the Bulldogs appear to be relatively healthy.
Richt said Sunday that he hopes backup tailback Richard Samuel, who sat out the Coastal Carolina game with a heel injury, will be able to play this week. Richt also expects wide receiver Marlon Brown and offensive guard Kenarious Gates to return from ankle injuries and possibly defensive end DeAngelo Tyson from a strained back.
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400 comments Add your comment
Beast from the East
September 19th, 2011
2:30 pm
just a fan,
Never said we didn’t want Mr. Jones. Just said Charlie might want to re-think his position on the smaller backs with sub 4.4 speed. They are deadly in open space.
Terry
September 19th, 2011
2:32 pm
GT Joe, Tech beat a Very, Very, Bad Kansas team that Northern Illinois score 42 points on, the same Northern Illinois that Wisconsin beat 49-7. GT Joe, A Kansas team even Coastal Carolina could have beat.
Energy Vampire
September 19th, 2011
2:47 pm
Quit thinking and start doing CMR ! Be like Dabo and his real Dream Team!!!!!!!
JB
September 19th, 2011
2:48 pm
Somebody hopefully will beat Tech. We can only take that smug look on Johnson’s face so long. He could pose for a Russ the mascot portrait.
Georgia | MrSEC.com
September 19th, 2011
3:01 pm
[...] team has shown improvement each week following its opening night loss to Top 5 Boise State.For Richt, there are some positives to be found:“The thing I like is, we’re a team that is getting better as we go. We do have a lot [...]
I-DOG
September 19th, 2011
3:02 pm
GT Joe:
I went back to the 80’s and 90’s because those are the only tech players I know (last time tech had good teams).
So, your answer is that tech only takes great students (NOW!), but all through the 80’s and 90’s if you could fog a mirror you were accepted to tech and STAYED ELIGIBLE if you were a great athlete and NOW it is different. This despite the two RECENT academic scandals. Not much of an answer.
Plenty of examples of marginal students on tech teams the last 10 years, I just don’t remember many tech players names.
TampaDawg
September 19th, 2011
3:57 pm
GODAWGS75 – “PS we did not score in the 4th against the high school team.” .. didn’t really pay much attention to the game huh? They didn’t score because in the 4th, nothing but 3nd and 3rd string players and they wouldn’t even try a field goal. They kept going for it on 4th down.
TampaDawg
September 19th, 2011
4:02 pm
Washon
September 19th, 2011
1:54 pm
As you watch tape, it’s still pretty obvious we’ve got some youth and inexperience that still needs to improve.
“Overall, I think we’re a team that is on the rise, but we’ll see,” Richt said
Still Blaming his Players! What A leader!
——————————————–
Either you’re too dumb to know how to spell Washaun and too lazy to look it up or you just want to play on a guys name that wasn’t mature enough to buy into a system that could have put his name up there with Knowshon. As for CMR, he just did what EVERY coach in the nation does and points out where improvements need to be made. Way to stretch and bend the statements for your own agenda.
bubba4dawgs
September 19th, 2011
4:04 pm
I love the Dawgs! Living in Knoxville, the home of the Vols, doesn’t make it very easy at times. The sports writers and radio blowhards around here are picking the Vols to be 6-6 or even 7-6 this year with a definite win over the Dawgs! The have a poor offensive line and practically no running game and now one of their best receivers, Justin Hunter, has an injured knee, The Vols are a very young team! Jacques Smith is a beast on defense, somewhat like Javedon Clowney at South Carolina!a. Surely, with all the talent UGA has, please don’t let these hillbillies beat you!!!! They’ve already marked their calendars as a win!!
DawginLex
September 19th, 2011
4:18 pm
The bulldogs defensive sets are really beginning to bother me. I believe we need to go to a more pro style of setup with bigger ends and WAY faster corners. We don’t blitz half as much as we should. On the offensive side of the ball lets turn Murray loose, not on the field , but from UGA period. Hutson Mason could be the man to lead the red and black back to it’s glory days. Did you see the way that guy played against a solid team with only a thirty five point lead? If all this fails just wait for MENS TENNIS to start. Now they kick butt, count their national titles.
Buck Blew
September 19th, 2011
4:19 pm
the dawgs will be playing the sooners in the national title game at the end of this season. book it.
Dan MAAgill
September 19th, 2011
4:23 pm
Three cheers for the tennis team, They rule. Yes I said it and it’s true. The truth is UGA is a TENNIS SCHOOL, tennis is number one look at the stats!!!
GT Joe
September 19th, 2011
4:45 pm
I-Dog: college recruiting in the 80s and 90s are very different from today, at EVERY school. Cremins would offer anyone who could spell his name (but they sure could ball). When you recruit one and dones, you are not that concerned with how the kid will do in Calculus.
GT Joe
September 19th, 2011
4:48 pm
Yes, we have played noone, Lex. At least no one at our level. Kansas is probably a bowl team this year. MTSU barely lost to Purdue, so they are far better than Coastal Carolina (not to mention, an FBS team, not FCS).
We have played no one, but we also destroyed everyone. If the wins were 35-14 or 28-10, I wouldn’t be that excited. But we are talking about complete dismantling of teams, two of which are FBS teams. We lead the country in scoring and total yards, and rush yards when all the big schools are ALSO playing creampuffs.
Stinger
September 19th, 2011
4:49 pm
Vandy would be 3-0 if they played UGA’s schedule too and 4-0 if this included UGA. No way Vandy could stop our offense. I doubt the Ravens could stop us.
GT Joe
September 19th, 2011
4:49 pm
Contractor: if you are so smart and have an MBA etc., why are you a “contractor”? LOL. Get a real job, or own a business.
GT Joe
September 19th, 2011
4:53 pm
Hey contractor, you know all the guys in silicon valley? High SAT scores. The inventors? high SAT scores. CEOs of companies? High SAT scores. Stanford, Harvard, MIT grads? HIgh SAT scores.
But you just keep thinking that you are all just as smart as the others. LOL.
GT Joe
September 19th, 2011
4:55 pm
Classic headline:
http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/georgia-bulldogs/2011-09-18/story/georgia-ole-miss-face-battle-avoid-sec-basement
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 19th, 2011
5:04 pm
GT Joe September 19th, 2011 12:33 pm
“Reggie Ball has a degree from GT; which is more than any UGA fan can say.”
Yeah, boy. I am sure glad to say that Reggie Ball has no UGA degree. He was, however, the best player we had for 4 years here at UGA. (Idiot cannot even count to 4.)
Let’s see now, Georgia tek fans want to talk about Reggie Ball ? About your football players getting DEGREES ? You graduate 49 percent of your football team, while we Graduate with Degrees 57 percent. Or, was it Reggie Ball we are discussing here, specifically and by name ? Help me out.
Maybe this is BETTER (somehow unmentioned) than talking about the 1-9 record Georgia tek has against our coach on the hotseat you came in here to discuss ?
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 19th, 2011
5:20 pm
GT Joe September 19th, 2011 12:45 pm
“Tampa: hard to get good grades at GT.”
Make up your mind GT Joe. 1st you said that Georgia tek football players have the highest high school SAT score in 2007 and provided us to the URL link dated 2008 about 2007 SAT high school scores. 2nd you tell us that you didn’t offer to the # 1 RB in the NATION because he was an idiot, you said and a special project you added about Isaiah Crowell specifically. That you only take the top students at Georgia tek for football. 3rd you reply to the grad rates at Georgia tek at 49 percent (less than half all the football players at tek) and said that’s about the same in your view with UGA at 57 percent grad rates – both current the latest release available on the teams from the NCAA itself, which doesn’t track SAT scores in 2011 from 2007.
The question I have is, with us trying to talk about Mark Richt and at the same time keep up with the blog you DOMINATE with this B.S. answering you instead of fussing among ourselves about how Mark Richt doesn’t beat the top teams and loses to the bottom-feeders at the rate of 1 a season too, what happens to these brainiacs at Georgia tek in football that they are against said coach 1-9 and all of them FLUNK OUT ?
What happens to the football players once they get there to Georgia tek ?
(1) they don’t graduate and none of them are engineers (mgt majors)
(2) they lose to us every year but 1 of this coach we are all fed up with after 11 years
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 19th, 2011
5:33 pm
WAR CHICKEN! September 19th, 2011 12:48 pm
“Let’s see ………. except for fumbling the ball twice, a pick six, no protection on a fake punt – and a missed 29 yeard field goal – heck – we should have won the game!!!!!!!”
That’s the funniest post of the whole day. Might have left out some other coaching blunders such as not teaching our kids how to fall on fumbles, let alone how to carry it. And, that we have 4 NFL TE on the roster and threw all of them a grand total of 0 for zero yards. And, that your QB is known to get rattled, and that you therefore saw 0 sacks. Good game strategies, all of them. Let’s see now, did your QB fumble the football 3 times 2 for instant TD, throw a pick for a TD and get thrown to the turf like a rag doll to end the game on that play – for all of us to get up and walk out ?
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 19th, 2011
5:37 pm
Who was the better QB on the field of play in the South Carolina UGA game ?
Who was the better QB on the field of play in the Boise State UGA game ?
Kepping a running count here…
Big Mike Dawg
September 19th, 2011
6:31 pm
MURRAY STILL LOOKED LIKE POO POO AGAINST THAT JV TEAM THEY PLAYED SAT!!!! HE’S A SURE LOCK IN TO RIDE ON BOBO’S SHORTBUS THIS WEEK.. AND CMR???? IF A PLAYER IS HURT DOESN’T THAT RING A BELL THAT THIS WILL DRAMATICALLY SLOW THEM DOWN AND HURT THE TEAM SPEED??? SO WHY DON’T U PULL PLAYERS OUT WHEN THEY HOP BACK TO THE HUDDLE… LETS REMEMBER MURRAY’S POOR HANDOFF SKILL TO CROWELL, PLAYING HURT!!! COUD MOVE OR PIVOT QUICKLY HUH??? USE UR BRAIN….
Big Mike Dawg
September 19th, 2011
6:34 pm
ONE THINGS FOR SURE WE WILL HAVE NEW COACHES NEXT YEAR.. I LIKED TO SEE JON GRUDEN COME IN AND RUN THE SHOW.. WE WANT HAVE ANY SISSY’S THEN..
Dawg Tired
September 19th, 2011
6:36 pm
See UGA Alumnus @ 9:01 on 9/18 – at When a life-long Auburn fan who is graduate of UGA and still pulls for an arch and hated rival starts telling me how bad the UGA fan base is, I’m forced to call BS. There is no way you can really be an AUburn fan and a UGA fan and actually have a grasp of what football in the SOuth is about. Bottom line – you have zero credibility.
Now to this season. By all logic, we should easily beat Ole Miss. However, based upon recent history, there is simply no way to predict how this game will actually go. I am reasonably sure that we will give Ole Miss at least 14 points as absolute gifts. Based on the Boise and USC games, the only certainty is we will do several stupid and undisciplined things both before and during the game. Therefore, what should be an easy victory against a clearly inferior opponent could end up ugly. We are poorly coached, lack intensity, and seem to be more concerned about showing off rather than winning the game. Over and under on players asking to come out of the game is 25.
Big Mike Dawg
September 19th, 2011
6:38 pm
I WONDER IF CMR TAKES UP A OFFERING DURING HALFTIME??? OR IF HE MAKES THEM REPENT OF THE SINS AFTER USING STRONG LANG….WE NEED A COACH TO KICKEM IN THE REAR AND PLAY SOME ACDC,
Dawg Tired
September 19th, 2011
6:44 pm
JB – Don’t count on somebody beating Tech anytime soon. Of course it could happen, but they at least have some coaching and they do play in the ACC, plus I think their players actually care about winning the game rather than dancing before the game. Whenever half your team is auditioning for Dancing With The Stars during pre-game warm-up you are in serious trouble.
WhopperDawg with fries
September 19th, 2011
6:46 pm
Headley would be proud! Go Dawgs!
Doug
September 19th, 2011
8:53 pm
On the rise? As long as Richts here, there will be no NCs or Sec titles. He doesnt understand and never will. Time for a change.
tug
September 19th, 2011
9:12 pm
Not sure how a team that started the season 0-2 is a “team on the rise” as Richt put it…or how Murray claims that “guys are playing ‘great’ football.” Talk is cheap…actions speak volumes. Right now, and for a quite a while, UGA has been all talk.
Snoop Dawg
September 19th, 2011
9:26 pm
Get real folks. Nothing’s on the rise until we get rid of that idiot Mark Richt.
Chance are about even that Ole Miss will beat UGA in Mississippi on Sunday.
Those who are supporting Richt and his clowns at this point need a urinalysis.
They are nothing less than coenablers to such all the Glory out of Georgia’s football program.
Snoop Dawg
September 19th, 2011
9:27 pm
when you are lying so low that you are with the whale $hit, then I guess really there is nowhere to go but up.
But Richt is definitely rising, like hot air filling the Velvet Glove….
Snoop Dawg
September 19th, 2011
9:29 pm
Funny….
someone mentioned that Florida was overrated and thinks UGA can beat them.
What’s worse than being underrated? Er uh, that would to be unrated. Vanderbilt actually got more points than UGA on both AP and USAToday polls.
Get real…
Snoop Dawg
September 19th, 2011
9:31 pm
The good thing is that Richt is a dead man walking.
The sorry season is a small price to pay to exorcise us all from Marjoe Mark Richt and his Clowns…
Good riddance!
Red
September 19th, 2011
10:31 pm
The wills wheel fall of the Boise Potato Cart, Flarda gonna whoop Sporrier, and then them Dawgs is goin to the National Champeenship this yer after beat everbody else!
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 19th, 2011
11:47 pm
DJ Dawg September 19th, 2011 12:51 pm
“War Chicken- Even your own coach said yall should have lost the game! At least he has the guts to admit who the better team was.”
DJ Dawg
What kind of hogwash is that ? Were you even watching the same game as the rest of us ? We GAVE 28 points to South Carolina, handed to them by all the players YOU SAY are our best players. Our QB, by himself handed the game to South Carolina. And, our kick-off returner – turned his special teams’ Garo Yepremian Super Bowl VII impersonation of his flailing pass with his flailing tackle on the punt return team.
Notice, if you will – who the 2 players were prior to kick-off the prior game who BOTH went running to their Twitter account, Aaron Murray to brag before kick-off how he was going to go to the Georgia Dome where I already was at that moment and kick him some Boise State a** and — — —- Brandon Boykin goes and runs to his Twitter account to brag pre-game for the # 1 best coach in America 2-time Bear Bryant Award Winning Coach Chris Petersen and says I dare you to kick-off to me.
Mark Richt ?
Oh, that’s ok. You will just have to go out there and back it up now. UGA has the better football team ?
DJ Dawg ?
Dawgs Beat Ole Miss!
September 20th, 2011
7:38 am
UGA will blow out Ole miss and Miss State—neither team is that good. Tennessee lost their best player and didn’t look that good against Fla, so Ga can beat them too!
Ohio State - not ranked either poll
September 20th, 2011
7:58 am
Exactly. There isn’t another team as good as we are.
Therefore, we lose 2 more games, as always.
Joe
September 20th, 2011
8:51 am
Fotget all this Nation bull and be dawg fans. We are Americans not UGA Americans nor other team nations that divides too much even within the fan population. Get over it and forget the Nation stuff. Whoever came up with that just copied someone else.
ha
September 20th, 2011
8:58 am
I will show CMR’s wife a rise.
ha
September 20th, 2011
9:00 am
It is amazing how pathetic you all are. I had a low opinion before but now you are like little children…oh uneducated little children.
jr
September 20th, 2011
9:45 am
The only really difficult team UGA will face the rest of the year is Florida, and UGA has always done well v/s the gators when they have a bye week before the game.
If Georgia plays like they did against USC the rest of the year without turnovers getting turned into 7 points each, I see no reason they can’t run the table.
Move Fla Game
September 20th, 2011
1:10 pm
Georgia needs to demand that the florida game be moved to home and home or to atlanta. It’s not fair that Ga has to take a long bus and plane ride to Jacksonville, when fla just takes a short bus trip. Fla has all the advantages, and that is the reason Ga loses every year. I’m tired of going down there and seeing Ga lose every year!
Bataan Death March II
September 20th, 2011
2:17 pm
All CMR has to do to stabilize his program is to just win his next game and his next and his next and do that for maybe two more seasons in 012, 013 and he will have solidified his job and then, maybe we can cut him another 4 or 5 year deal.
What is not to understand here? Yes, over two years, he can afford to lose one or two, just not right now. He is a competitor ……………he knows well how this BIG TIME COACHING game is played.
Go Dogs
Class of 71 & 73
TheFriar
September 20th, 2011
2:46 pm
The Rev. Richt will make a good team chaplain. Keep him for that. Fire every one of his church buddies and hire a blood thirsty coach and let him form a new administration. I wonder how many BBQ fund raisers and mission trips Nick Saban has been on in the past six months? ha ha
TheFriar
September 20th, 2011
2:47 pm
Re: “Move Fla Game”
No thanks. I’d as soon not have the lizards up here beating our asses between the hedges.
Gatormeat
September 20th, 2011
3:02 pm
Kudos to Friar, he or she is correct to say that playing the game in athens would not matter, the Mighty Gators would still knock the dogs all over the field as usual. Really the dogs should thank us, we will be the team that finally puts an end to richts career. The dogs will already have at least three losses coming into the game, and combined with the humiliating whipping that the Gators will give them in Jacksonville, it will be the day georgia decides to let richt go. Then you can get another coach and we will beat up on him to. See you in Jacksonville dogs, as usual you will be talking smack before the game and making excuses afterward.
Saban
September 20th, 2011
4:45 pm
MIssissippi 55 Dawgs 3
PT
September 20th, 2011
5:09 pm
On the rise, you think. I’m excited
Runnin With The Dawgs
September 24th, 2011
10:22 am
I think we’ll handle Mississippi with ease, BUT this is not Costal Carolina so we’ve got to play hard. The Dawgs look like a different team than the team that started the season, but it seems like this has become the way the Dawgs are. Why can’t we be ready at the beginning of the season? What ever they’re doing in pre season training ISN’T ENOUGH!
“GO DAWGS”!