Missouri’s Sheldon Richardson apologizes to Mark Richt after Georgia’s win (UPDATED)
Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson apologizes to Georgia coach Mark Richt after the Bulldogs 41-20 win in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday. (AP photo by L.G. Patterson)
FIVE MORE THINGS
Wrapping up this past weekend and looking forward to this one.
The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off a 41-20 win over Missouri in the SEC opener for both teams. The Bulldogs are now 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the SEC as they head into Saturday’s game against visiting Florida Atlantic (1-1, 0-1 Sun Belt).
1. Last thing on “Old Man Football, Hopefully forever. I do want to give credit where credit is due. Sheldon Richardson, the Missouri defensive lineman who infamously coined that phrase for Georgia, came up to Bulldogs coach Mark Richt after the game to apologize. Pretty impressive considering how easy it could have been for him to just slink off to the Tigers’ locker room.
For what it’s worth, Richardson was not made available for interviews after the game and is not available today, as a Missouri beat writer tells. That’s why you haven’t seen him quoted anywhere. But Missouri coach Gary Pinkel addressed on Monday and said Richardson’s apololgy was “not orchestrated by us.”
“People make mistakes, you know, and get second chances,” Pinkel told reporters. “That’s all part of maturing. I think that’s a good statement on his part.”
Below is a video that shows the on-field celebration by the Bulldogs after the game. Obviously everybody was pretty pumped after the game. . . .
2. Georgia remained at No. 7 both in The Associated Press writer’s poll and the USA Today coaches’ poll. The Bulldogs, of course, started the season at No. 6 but dropped a spot in both polls after a ho-hum 45-23 win over Buffalo in the opener.
By the way, South Carolina moved up to No. 8 right behind Georgia after its 48-10 win over East Carolina and a really bad night for previous No. 8 Arkansas. The Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) play host to UAB this Saturday, then get Missouri at Williams-Brice on Sept. 22. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare against the Tigers, who seemed like a pretty game club to me. Mizzou, by the way, plays host to Arizona State on Saturday.
3. As I mentioned, UGA has Florida Atlantic — or FAU, as they like to call themselves — coming into Athens this weekend. The Owls are members of the same Sun Belt Conference as Louisiana-Monroe, which pulled off a shocking upset of eight-ranked Arkansas 34-31 in overtime. Certainly that victory has made believers out of everybody in the Sun Belt and will give the Bulldogs’ coaches plenty of fodder for team motivation. But from what I’ve seen I don’t think FAU is quite on par with their conference brethren.
The Owls this past weekend lost this 31-17 to Middle Tennessee State. Apparently ball security is an issue for them. They’ve had six fumbles in two games, including four in the 7-6 win over Wagner. Meanwhile, La-Monroe continues its tour of the SEC. Next stop: Auburn on Saturday.
4. Kind of lost in the late-game heroics displayed by Jarvis Jones in Georgia’s win over Missouri on Saturday was the spectacular play of split end Marlon Brown. the big senior from Memphis had a career-best 8 catches for 106 yards and caught two big TD passes for the Bulldogs. He was asked afterward if he thought it was a “break-out game” for him.
“Yes, definitely, sure,” he said. “It feels pretty good but there’s always room for improvement. I’m going to go back and watch film and see what I can improve on and try to get better every week.”
That’s typical of Brown. He’s an incredibly humble kid who has had to overcome a lot of injuries — not to mention high expectations — since he’s been at Georgia. He was more excited to talk about how the Bulldogs finished Saturday’s game. They scored 24 unanswered points to put it away.
“We came in at halftime and heard a great speech from Coach Richt,” Brown said. “He said the last two ballgames we didn’t finish the drill. After that, we were like, ‘Man, he’s right. Let’s finish the drill like Coach Richt said.’ And we did.”
5. Other news items from Monday, Georgia’s Sept. 22 home date against Vanderbilt got picked up by ESPN2 for a 7:45 p.m. broadcast, Jones was named Walter Camp national and SEC defensive player of the week. And don’t forget “Russ” gets his official sworn in as Uga IX on Saturday.
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341 comments Add your comment
GTBoob
September 11th, 2012
9:29 am
What’s it like to have a 1/2 filled stadium with Comicon dorks, even though you are located in the downtown area of the largest city in the state, and you offer free food to attend?
chirp chirp…….
GTBoob
September 11th, 2012
9:31 am
When will your stadium construction be complete?
It is complete at 55,000 (no joke). We can’t even fill that.
Rick James
September 11th, 2012
9:34 am
@GTBob
Well, to be fair, if you include FCS games then Paul Johnson is well ahead of Richt. CPJ has also won at three different schools now. I would love to see how Richt would do at Navy.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Yeah,and I would like to see how Paul Johnson would do in the SEC.I doubt though that he could ever find an SEC school that would hire him.
roebrt
September 11th, 2012
9:42 am
“Sheldon Richardson did a decent job blocking up the holes against that I-formation.”
No he didnt, he didnt even play in the 2nd half….
Who Cares?
September 11th, 2012
9:46 am
Sorry GTBob, but as a lifelong Tech fan, I can’t agree with you on this one. Sheldon Richardson showed class and respect by approaching Coach Richt after the game and apologizing. I don’t know what was said between the two, and you probably don’t either, but I’m betting is was respectful from both sides. My daughter attends Tech as an engineering student, and I’m a proud dad and committed fan. Again, I’m a lifelong fan of the Jackets, but what’s right is right.
ATLien
September 11th, 2012
10:27 am
He doesn’t need to be apologizing to Mark Richt. As nice and classy as it was. He really needs to be aplogizing to his teammates, his coaches and the Mizzou fans, especially the ones that travel on the road with them. It wasn’t just UGA he foolishly insulted, it was the entire SEC. There’s a giant red target painted on all their backs right now. Think it was bad this week when it’s opening day in your own stadium and you get spanked. Wait till it’s week 5 or something and you’re on the road in some place like Baton Rouge and see what happens.
St Simons
September 11th, 2012
10:33 am
holy crap, let this go already. He’s a kid.
think of all the stupid things you said before you were 22.
Missouri’s a good team, a fine addition to our league. Lets move on.
A look at UGA’s next opponent: Florida Atlantic | UGA sports blog
September 11th, 2012
10:36 am
[...] Missouri’s Sheldon Richardson apologizes to Richt, Bulldogs [...]
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
September 11th, 2012
10:47 am
@ Rick James:
You are probably right about no SEC school hiring CPJ but don’t rule out Ole Miss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Most of their coaches in recent years don’t even get completely unpacked before U-Haul is backing up to the front door!!!!!!!
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
September 11th, 2012
10:50 am
Now who went out and exhumed St. Simons(for Game Chikuns and War Chikuns exhumed means “dug him up”).
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
September 11th, 2012
11:10 am
@ Kingdaddy:
I forgot to mention Snake Killings among my recent activities!!!!!
One of my grandsons was trying to pick up a wounded bird in some pretty thick stuff but we had to “Bruise The Head” of a Cottonmouth before he would let us pick up the bird and Rattling Snakes are moving amongst my bush hogging areas. I speeded up trying to ‘Bush Hog” a big Rattler and was gaining on him/her when it turned around and tried to get up on the front part of my tractor.
Guess I’ll have to explain to my neighbor why I Bush Hogged a 6 foot wide strip through his Soybean field!!!!!
Ed
September 11th, 2012
11:24 am
That’s sportsmanship on the side of Richardson. I’m sure he caught it from his coaching staff last week. It was a good game and they have no need to hang their heads. Georgia was the better team and showed it in the second half. I am really proud to see that their are guys who are willing to admit they made a mistake he will go far in life with that type of demeanor. I hope Richardson has a great rest of the year and will be hoping they beat all of the othe SEC teams they play.
Jimmy Crack
September 11th, 2012
11:42 am
He may be an outspoken player, but good for Sheldon with his showing of sportsmanship and accountability. Welcome to the SEC, young man. Now go take care of Spurrier’s QB in 2 weeks.
SEC Class?
September 11th, 2012
12:03 pm
Sure, it was “classy” that the MO player apologized for a bone-head quote. But the worst case of total lack of class this weekend was the Arkansas coach not shaking the hand of the Louisiana-Monroe coach after the game. He and most of this team went straight to the locker room and then a few players came back out after the crowd was booing them.
Losers in more ways than one!
Devildog
September 11th, 2012
12:10 pm
When I went there, FAU meant Find Another University. I guess it’s grown since then when the only athletic program was golf.
Gary
September 11th, 2012
12:17 pm
That was a very nice gesture by the Mizzu player. I hope some of our players can learn from that as well. I don’t think he expected the firestorm that occured after what he said, but I think he handled it was class. Franlky, we were the ones who looked bad for throwing it back in thier face after winning the game. It was one player and not the sentiment of the entire team and fan base. While good motivation and entertainment, we could have been a little more humble in our win. We are number 7 and they are unranked. We were supposed to win and look better doing it. I know the boys were happy, but celebrate on the bus and act like it is business as usual on the field and shake hands and walk away. It was the first game of the SEC season and our guys were acting like they just won the SEC.
Rick James
September 11th, 2012
12:26 pm
@Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life)
@ Rick James:
You are probably right about no SEC school hiring CPJ but don’t rule out Ole Miss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Most of their coaches in recent years don’t even get completely unpacked before U-Haul is backing up to the front door!!!!!!!
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I think Ole Miss would hire Bobby Petrino before CPJ..If CPJ gets another coaching job it wll be at a mid-major or FCS
Rick James
September 11th, 2012
12:27 pm
~oops~ FCS school.
pops
September 11th, 2012
12:35 pm
Sheldon Richardson played an excellent game and showed class at the end. Hats off to a good Missouri team and fans that gave us a great SEC opener.
asdga
September 11th, 2012
1:07 pm
GTBob…. YOU”RE LAME !!!
drego
September 11th, 2012
1:52 pm
I’m glad when Georgia get back all of it defense starters. Then I know Bulldogs would be in the top 3 teams in the nation. Good job defense for holding the Bulldogs down. Defense won that game Saturday by allowing Murray to taking his getting the offense rolling.
welcome to the SEC
September 11th, 2012
1:56 pm
Richardson may have been encouraged by Pinkel to apologize. But either way, that’s cool. Apology accepted. But he’s still gonna have to deal with AL and others in schedule for his entire comment.
Might be a long season for Richardson.
momof4greatboys
September 11th, 2012
1:57 pm
sheldon looked like a old man comming off the field in the 3rd quarter.
welcome to the SEC
September 11th, 2012
1:59 pm
Yes, we’ll only be getting better with 2 – 3 more players coming back this week….and a full squad after next week….in time for tennessee.
welcome to the SEC
September 11th, 2012
2:01 pm
Like the commercial says “we’re gelling” the more we play.
bob
September 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
class act regardless
icedawg
September 11th, 2012
4:02 pm
No harm done. In fact we should thank him for calling us out and giving us an honourable catch phrase! Old man football. That Dawg’ll hunt!
Reality Check
September 11th, 2012
4:12 pm
UGA does that gay thing where they get set on the line then everyone stands up to look to the sideline for help. That is not “old man football”. It’s more PAC, Big East, or FCS school football. Pretty pathetic of UGA.
Sanders Commings: ‘Missing games probably easiest part’ | UGA sports blog
September 11th, 2012
4:14 pm
[...] Missouri’s Sheldon Richardson apologizes to Richt, Bulldogs [...]
Wrecker
September 11th, 2012
6:50 pm
Who comes back for FAU and is everyone back by the Vanderbilt game?
Just Saying
September 11th, 2012
6:51 pm
@Reality Check
Sounds like you are the one who needs a “reality check”. You obviously don’t have a clue…..you idiot!!!!
Woofy One
September 11th, 2012
6:55 pm
GTBob, Let’s play ball, hopefully root for our in State rivals then strap it on when we compete and are bitter enemies for another 4 quarters this year. The banter is just good old smack to me after many years of watching both teams play.
Just Saying
September 11th, 2012
6:58 pm
I love the photo…..the non-verbals really show sincerity by Sheldon and it looks like CMR is being a totally class act. We are really lucky to have such a great man as our coach….and Missouri has a pretty classy guy in Richardson!!!!
John Mc
September 11th, 2012
10:55 pm
Richardson is a man not a kid. The picture shows a lot of sincerity in his face. Everyone makes mistakes, men admit to them and apologize. Kudos Mr. Richardson.
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life/J.Jpnes for Heisman))
September 12th, 2012
10:44 am
@ Wrecker:
Commings and Vasser back for FAU.
Rambo and Ogletree won’t be back until Tennessee
Brainiac (CMR/UGA Fan For Life/Jarvis Jones for Heisman))
September 12th, 2012
10:46 am
Where are the proof reader police???????????
I can’t even spell JARVIS JONES correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!
Junkyard Dawg
September 12th, 2012
12:37 pm
GTBob, We’re gonna beat that ass worse than VT did. Just like we do every year.
Junkyard_Dawg
September 13th, 2012
12:13 pm
One day…maybe…GTBob will be able to write something with substance, like how his techies won a game, or maybe something about his honeycomb helmets. Until then, trolling is all he has to share. I appreciate his consistent observations of something he will never have…a winning older man football team!
TexasDawg
September 13th, 2012
5:36 pm
Not often in this day and age of “it’s not my fault” do we see any one with the decency to apologize, and do it face to face. Kudo’s to Sheldon Richardson.
Dawgs 32
September 13th, 2012
7:01 pm
Remember when Jesus said “don’t cast your pearls to swine”? They will stomp all over them. I know this really isn’t what He meant by that, but you get the idea. GTBob is swine and all he wants is your response so He can feel better about his obviously miserable life. What do you want us to say GTBob? That we are sorry that UGA smashes GT’s face every year? Because I for one I’m NOT! Go Dawgs!
Dawgs 32
September 13th, 2012
7:02 pm
GTBob equals trolling swine. Remember that people.