Notebook: Bulldogs decline to enter into war of words with Missouri
By Ryan Black
Special to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATHENS — If Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson thought his comments about Georgia or the SEC would bait the Bulldogs into a war of words, he was sadly mistaken.
In fact, Georgia defensive end Abry Jones wasn’t even aware the comments were made by a player until the media informed him Monday evening. Jones initially “thought it was fans posting stuff,” and didn’t have a reaction to Richardson saying he turned off the Buffalo/Georgia game Saturday because “it’s like watching Big Ten football, it’s old man football.”
Jones was more interested in learning what “old man football” entailed.
“We play our football,” he said. “I don’t know what you’d classify as ‘old man football.’ This is college. I don’t know many people over the age of 23 playing football in college, so I don’t know what ‘old man football’ is.”
At Missouri on Monday, Richardson was held out of media day, with team spokesman Chad Moller saying that Richardson “earned himself a vacation.”
Coach Gary Pinkel said “I think he just got carried away a little bit, but I handled that internally.”
Wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley laughed at the characterization of his team playing a geriatric brand of football. He was more surprised that Richardson took a shot at another conference.
“He said it was like Big Ten football, and I was like, ‘Wow, he took a shot at the Big Ten,’” Scott-Wesley said. “[But] football is football. You can’t get caught up in all the hype. Any team can win any day. We’ve just got to go out and play ball.”
Other players said placing too much emphasis on Richardson’s sound bite takes away from the things the Bulldogs have to accomplish if they want to beat the Tigers on Saturday.
Rush defense, for one. If Georgia is to put a damper on Missouri’s SEC debut, slowing the Tigers’ dual-threat quarterback James Franklin is imperative. After allowing Buffalo signal-caller Alex Zordich to gain 89 yards on 14 carries Saturday, Jones acknowledged the miscues the Bulldogs committed against the Bulls.
“It’s not something we wanted to happen, but seeing the simple mistakes we made, we kind of presented an opportunity for him to do that,” Jones said of Zordich’s rushing success.
When pressed to define what he meant by the “opportunities” the Bulldogs gave Zordich, Jones replied, “Not rushing in the proper rushing lanes, and then he had an opening to step up, and then he had space to run.”
The problems Franklin presents aside, Jones knew his fair share about Missouri, rattling off Tigers of recent vintage — quarterback Chase Daniel, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, among others.
Jones relishes being able to welcome Missouri to the SEC.
“I think us playing Missouri doesn’t really take away any of the excitement,” he said. “I think it adds a little bit more, seeing that it’s their first year in the SEC. … It’s a different team, but I think the same atmosphere, the same excitement is still in it.”
Etc.
Running back Ken Malcome’s left hand was bandaged, but he practiced without limitations Monday. He said he expected to play Saturday. …. Wide receiver Marlon Brown (hamstring), cornerback Malcolm Mitchell (ankle sprain) and running back Richard Samuel (hip contusion) were all limited but practiced. … Those listed as “out” for practice included offensive linemen Watts Dantzler and John Theus with ankle sprains.
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138 comments Add your comment
CHDawg
September 4th, 2012
1:07 pm
32, it has been described in many terms, including spread by Michigan State last week. Chameleon is another favorite. They do a lot of weird stuff. Similarities are that they both throw a lot of high percentage passes out of a shotgun with 4-5 receivers. They do look conventional, too. My point was that I think they will try to do what BSU did to us. Moore was 28/34 last year against us, with Boykin.
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
1:50 pm
The guy we need out there more than anyone in my opinion is Malcolm Mitchell. We’ve got other good receivers if Brown couldn’t go, but after Saturday if it clear that without Mitchell and Commings our cornerbacks have a lot of work to do. They are listed as “out” because they couldn’t practice at all. That doesn’t mean they are out against Missouri… at least I hope not.
JvilleDawg
September 4th, 2012
2:04 pm
Richardson is going to find out that “Old Man Football” is actually “Grown Man Football”. Look if you go back and really look at Sat there are a few things that stick out about the defense
1. we ran very little if any Cover 2 and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think we ran and Zone Blitzes.
2. Grantham played 13 true or redshirt freshmen in the first half to try and build depth.
Our defense was very vanilla and while we still gave up way more than TG wanted, there’s nothing to panic about on that side of the ball. I think it was more about knowing we could out athlete Buffalo and come away with a victory without giving Missouri much to look at or game plan for.
AltamahaDawg
September 4th, 2012
2:08 pm
/
Shackille Oneel
September 4th, 2012
2:11 pm
Why won’t coach tell us if Rambow & Ogeltrees gonna play ? How you keep idots in suspense ?
North Georgia Hawg
September 4th, 2012
2:15 pm
The gut we need out there more than anyone in my opinion is Malcolm In The Middle. We’ve got 1 other good receivers if Brown couldn’t go home, but after Saturday if it clear that without Mitchell and Commings our quarterbacks have a lot of work to do. They are listed as “out” because they couldn’t practice at a mall. That doesn’t mean they are out against Missouri… at least I hope so.
Jvilledawggy
September 4th, 2012
2:20 pm
Richardson is going to find out that “Old Man Football” is actually “Granny Man Football”. Look if you go back and really look at Sat there are a few things that stick out about the defense especially in their pants.
1. we ran very little if any Cover 2 Up and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think we ran 6 and one Blitzes.
2. Grantham played with himself 13 true or redshirt freshmen in the first half to try and build depth.
Our defense was very vanilla and sweet while we still gave up way more than TG wanted, there’s something to panic about on that side of the ball. I think it was more about not knowing we could out athlete Buffalo and come away with a victory without giving Missouri our cheerleaders to look at or game plan for.
MizzouRah
September 4th, 2012
2:23 pm
UGA fans – prepare for the inevitible beat down. Mizzou has been playing good ball for years now and you’ll get a chance to witness it first hand Saturday night. I would be shocked if they didn’t win by at least 10. And whoever posted that to be successful in the SEC you have to run the ball – I suggest you check the stats. Mizzou runs plenty.
GTBob
September 4th, 2012
2:27 pm
UGA looked soft on Saturday. Bash me if you will, but I saw a lot of high priced talent loafing around. Guys not running to the ball; And by the way I don’t care how hot it was. Exceptional talent being coached by mediocre talent…never works. Bobo is not creative; throws the ball around via Murray like AJ Green is still out there somewhere. This year should be a bunch of ’set-ups’ for UGA but it looks like dopey, uninspired coaching and non-existent player leadership & hustle will be the rule not the exception for this season once again.
GTBob
September 4th, 2012
2:34 pm
MizzouRah-..be careful. UGA may be weak but quite a few others in the SEC will be coming to beat the stew of your people. The ‘welcoming party’ you guys are about to entertain will come in the form of multiple beat downs this season. The UGA is merely a tenderizing exercise…the slaughter is on its way.
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
2:47 pm
Bob
You really need to worry about your namesake team and not so much about UGA. We won easy using basic stuff. Nothing fancy. Not many blitz packages cause we wanted to save something for Columbia. It was vanilla-creme pie. Are you worried about what we do? Do you really want us to win, lol. Why don’t we talk about that great rushing game tech showed the world last night, lmaoff…
Dawg Haus
September 4th, 2012
2:48 pm
Good for the Dawgs for being classy old men. Let the goober talk and do your talking on the field. Sic ‘em, Dawgs!!
GTBob
September 4th, 2012
2:52 pm
kingdaddy is a cry baby…like most UGA fans cannot take a little criticism
MizzouRah
September 4th, 2012
2:53 pm
@ GTBob – No one called Georgia weak. I respect the hell out of Georgia and the rest of the SEC, as do all of the fans here. And I’m sure that Mizzou is going to get rolled by Bama… I was talking about this weekend. I think it will be a good game, but I think Mizzou will win their SEC opener.
GTBob
September 4th, 2012
2:55 pm
MizzouRah…you said get ready for a beat down; then predicted a 10 pt win. Are you backing off that now or just a wimp?
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
2:56 pm
sounds like a wimp
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
2:59 pm
Gtbob
Are you really concerned about UGA? You should be very concerned about GT. Horrible game last night. How about winning a game or two so people will stop saying all UGA plays is cupcakes. You make us look like we are playing a highschool team when we play you. Quit wasting your time worrying about the Dawgs, and worry more about beating someone you are actually getting ready to play. Tech should have wiped the ground with VT last night. What à laughable game and here you are worrying about us, lol…
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:02 pm
Whoever posted the 2:56, get a life…
MizzouRah
September 4th, 2012
3:03 pm
@kingdaddy…there you go; crybaby again
MizzouRah
September 4th, 2012
3:06 pm
crybaby…I mean, kingdaddy must be unemployed. Too much time blogging; too much time on his hands. If he graduated from college must have a degree from UGA…hence unemployed!
Mike Franklin
September 4th, 2012
3:07 pm
Good!!!
Let’s certainly decline the shallow war of words. Big mouths exist in every league and conference. We as UGA fans know this well as we tend to lose good talent every years because popular culture demands that people go out and screw themselves in the arse. HCMR has no choice but to cut them loose… like turd floaters in a cesspool.
Joey
September 4th, 2012
3:08 pm
I thought Branden Smith looked bad on several plays – WRs were blocking him easily on running plays,especially when the QB ran the ball.
He better get ready for a bunch of those plays Saturday.
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:17 pm
Is it Miss Zoorah or Mrs. Zoorah?
you like to play games little girl? You think beating UGA will be a slam-dunk, good. Good luck and try to have more class on the field than you do on this blog. You might want to win an SEC game before you crown yourself champ. Just remember, everything you say before the game will come back to you in spades after the game. UGA isn’t SELouisiana and its a long season. You might want to show a little class till you win something…
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:22 pm
Mrs.zoo
sounds like another nerd in drag, lol…how many names you blog under bug boy? I start talking to GT Bob and Mrs. Zoo attacks me. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm??? Bob, is that zoo, I mean you???
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:25 pm
Joey
Brendan made one tackle and I thought he wasn’t getting back up,, lol. Thought he knocked himself out but he shook it off and was lined up for the next play…
AltamahaDawg
September 4th, 2012
3:29 pm
Jville, we did run one blitz that I remember. (and JJ sacked the guy right on cue).
You are spot on. I don’t think Grantham was trying to set his guys up for any ego deflate, But he was for sure forcing them to simply beat the guy in front of them. He never “called” a thing to help them, and I’d bet he was privately very thankful he DID get to chew them out at halftime.
The first half showed Buffalo was capable of moving the ball, which to me…….. makes the starters giving up ONE 1st down in the entire second half a pretty impressive adjustment. And it’s not like they had to pull out page 14 of the playbook to do that.
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
3:36 pm
“Hawg” needs to get a life.
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:37 pm
Altamaha
I agree. You remember how we had a problem making adjustments in the second-half last year? I think we made improvments this year, just don’t have to show our hand yet…
JB
September 4th, 2012
3:38 pm
Richt and the coach’s main job this week. When both teams take the field, they will want it more than us. First SEC game. Sick of hearing about the SEC. Ramped up town and student body. Richt better not let us off that bus with puppy eyes and that mellowed out vibe he exhibits.
JB
September 4th, 2012
3:42 pm
Vassar’s uncle works with me. He told him the coach’s planned on keeping it as vanilla as they could last saturday. Didn’t want to open up the calls on either side.
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
3:51 pm
Vassar’s uncle works with me. He told him the coach’s planned on keeping it as vanilla as they could last saturday. Didn’t want to open up the calls on either side.
Do you live in Gainesville? I went to high school at Vasser’s rival school.
Dawg Haus
September 4th, 2012
3:52 pm
JB, I believe it. Just hope they open it all up on Saturday!
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
3:53 pm
It would make sense they don’t want to show all of their defensive looks on tape for Missouri, but it still worries me that our defensive players acted like they didn’t care out there. A lot of the offensive guys were all pumped up, like Gurley and King.
AltamahaDawg
September 4th, 2012
3:55 pm
Kingdaddy, I think what caught up to our (second half’s) towards the end of the year was the lack of a legit running game, and eventually the Defense ran out of gas, SO even though this was a different situation….it’s still having to make an adjustment to a physical situation. They did and I think that is a very good sign.
I can hear Grantham now: “Get over it, and just outplay the man. Line it up and just do it. Don’t be looking over at me to bring any help cause it ain’t happening!”
DIT
September 4th, 2012
3:57 pm
We ran a very, very non-complicated scheme. There was nothing to it. An average defense could have learned what they did in one week. UGA respects Mizzou and were not going to show them anything. I really don’t think that they were worried about the point spread of the game.
For those that want to think the same defesne will appear Saturday night with the SEC opener, go ahead. It will be a totally different look to the defense. Still, Mizzou will be ready and they will have many other wrinkles as well. This is going to be a nail bitter. Look forward to it. Go Dawgs!
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
3:59 pm
JB
Why would they want to show CGP anything? We will be working on things that we don’t want lil stevie crybaby spurrier to see too. We will break out a llittle more this week as we need it. Hope Bobo eats up the clock a little better this week to keep the Defense off the field and to keep their offense off the field as much. Buffalo held the ball over 32:00 mins. We had it a little over 27:00 mins. We should be able to control the clock better, but I don’t know if Bobo cares. He loves to throw the ball. I don’t want a shootout. I want to run the ball to set up the pass and keep their offense off the field…
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
3:59 pm
Altamaha, I think that’s a valid point. I also think our lack of depth wore us down as well. While our secondary clearly isn’t deep this year, I think our d-line should be deeper than last season. Also our offense wasn’t on the field long at times and therefore like you said, they ran out of gas. I kind of think this is why Georgia was able to have success later in the game against the Gators. They were on the field a lot more than our defense was and they got tired.
DIT
September 4th, 2012
4:01 pm
@kingdaddy –
I agree in running the ball as much as possible. With the possibility of 2 guys being out or at least not at 100% on the O-Line I have a rotten feeling this could turn into a shootout. That would not bode well for us. It will be about ball control.
DirtyDawg
September 4th, 2012
4:02 pm
Kingdaddy’s right gtbob…after last night’s performance I think I’d change my name if I were you…of course you probably would just as soon not think about it so I expect to see you around here for a while. Tell us, when Georgia handles Missou Saturday, are you gonna be here or just lie low?
I do think tat the flanker pass to Marshall was a wrinkle that I wouldnt have shown even if it didn’t ‘go’.
Steven
September 4th, 2012
4:02 pm
To state the obvious, Georgia’s running backs should be good this season, but to run the clock they’ve got to block better than they did last season. I don’t know how good Missouri’s defensive line is, but Gurley will have a tough time running if he doesn’t get much help. Go Dawgs.
JB
September 4th, 2012
4:03 pm
N Ga. His uncle lives here in Augusta. Pretty good code of keeping it in house up there. doesn’t tell him much…..and that’s the way it ought to be. I’m sure coach’s tell them don’t put our business on the street.
North Georgia Dawg
September 4th, 2012
4:05 pm
Bob will be here regardless of how Georgia plays, because he will always be ready to downplay our chances against any opponent coming up on our schedule. The other haters aren’t as persistent… they will shut up more if we beat Missouri and South Carolina. The Auburn fans shut up in a hurry when we beat them last season.
JB
September 4th, 2012
4:05 pm
Speaking of Tech….Their RB’s looked weak last night…and if they ain’t running with authority, they are toast.
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
4:07 pm
Don’t get me wrong. I think we have an awesome passing game and I love the pass. I thought when we had the lead,we could have played keepaway a little better with a running game that was working and a couple of under-utilized TEs.(where was J.Rome?) Lynch was a monster. So was our FBs.
AltamahaDawg
September 4th, 2012
4:10 pm
It’s also what LSU did to us. We had no running game, and LSU adjusted to the pass in time. Our best shot was to force the type of game it was, but when We didn’t convert those 10 more points in the first half, LSU was able to stick to running the ball. (as opposed to having to make up score) then Just wore em out.
gt4ever
September 4th, 2012
4:10 pm
Mizzo is going to get STOMPED….
Tweety Bird
September 4th, 2012
4:12 pm
Do the UGA coaches even have the sense to look at their recruits’ and players’ tweets? If they did, they might learn a thing or two about character and intelligence – or the lack thereof. Most of Richt’s guys are low-class jerks, and it shows in their tweets.
Across the wide Missouri
September 4th, 2012
4:14 pm
Missouri 34, Georgia 24
Big day of celebration in Columbia!
AltamahaDawg
September 4th, 2012
4:16 pm
I think Buffalo kept the middle of the field pretty crowded, so our TE didnt really have much room to operate. On the other hand Murray did a great job reading that and thats why there were so many shots downfield against the man converage.
I’m 2 RTs going down further defined the roles of the TE as well.
kingdaddy
September 4th, 2012
4:17 pm
NG Dawg
Bob’s a card. At least he’s got a set of stones. Got some in his head too, but it seems to be Dawg-envy. It’s the little termites that use your own blog name for juvinile insanity. No class, low class…