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Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Richt making Georgia SEC’s standard bearer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
If Georgia beats Auburn, the Bulldogs will have all but qualified for the SEC Championship Game for the third time in four seasons. (Since nobody any good ever loses to Kentucky, let’s assume Georgia won’t lose to Kentucky on Nov. 19.) If Georgia beats Auburn, the Bulldogs will have clinched a tie for the East title after being the preseason pick to finish third. If Georgia beats Auburn, the Bulldogs will cease being an up-and-coming program and will have become something more:
The SEC’s new flagship.
And that would make Mark Richt the fleet admiral.
He mightn’t be the greatest offensive coordinator and he might be a spotty disciplinarian, but there’s no question that Richt is a splendid head coach. He has taken Georgia into the Top 10 every year since his first, and nothing suggests the string is about to run out.
Three months ago, it was possible to wonder how much of Richt’s success was due to Brian VanGorder’s handling of the defense and David Greene’s oversight of the offense. Those concerns have been rendered moot. VanGorder and Greene have moved to the NFL, and Georgia is still atop the SEC East. More than that, Georgia has stamped itself as the most consistently good team in a league in conspicuous transition.
Nick Saban is gone. Steve Spurrier has relocated. Urban Meyer is struggling to beat the likes of Vanderbilt. Phillip Fulmer hasn’t won a game in a month. Auburn nearly fired Tommy Tuberville two years ago. Yes, Alabama is undefeated, but this is the Tide’s first winning season under Mike Shula. Richt is winning big every year now, winning in a way Georgia hasn’t won since the era of Herschel and Hoage ended with the Cotton Bowl victory on Jan. 2, 1984.
Georgia has stopped losing to bad teams — Ray Goff lost twice to Vanderbilt — and has taken to beating enough of the big boys to placate Bulldog Nation. There are no wild mood swings about the Georgia program anymore, no week-to-week wooziness. The Bulldogs take their lead from Richt, who’s nothing if not even-tempered, and they play hard for him every time out.
Three months ago, we asked how Georgia would look with a new quarterback. We’ve learned that it looks essentially the same as it did in Greene’s four seasons. Three months ago, we asked if VanGorder was irreplaceable. We’ve learned that there’s only one indispensable Bulldog, and that’s the head man. He won’t be the SEC’s coach of the year — either Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson or Shula will be — but Richt has turned in another impressive round of work. He filled his team’s holes and made it seem as if nothing needed filling.
With Tennessee in disarray and Florida in transition, Georgia has emerged as the gold standard of what used to be considered the most difficult division in college football. It took the Bulldogs 10 years to reach the SEC Championship Game, and now they’re positioned to get there for the third time under Richt. (And they missed last year only by way of a tiebreaker.) The Bulldogs haven’t quite reached the point where they’re playing for a national championship, but they were excruciatingly close in 2002 and they would have been close again had D.J. Shockley not hurt his knee.
Not so long ago, Georgia seemed locked in as the third-best program in the SEC East. Now it looks like the best of the bunch. If it wins Saturday, there’ll be no doubt. If it doesn’t, it will regroup and be favored to win the East next time. The figurative lid that Richt and his men dislodged when they won at Auburn in 2002 hasn’t been allowed to re-form. That was the year the Bulldogs got going again, and they’re still gathering speed.
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Just say N.O. to T.O.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Just in case those who run the Falcons didn’t get the message after the 3,154 times I’ve said this, I’ll say it again:
N.O. to T.O.
Period.
With the Philadelphia Eagles finally coming to their senses by telling T.O. to just G.O., he’s on the verge of becoming available — along with his chemistry-killing tongue — for any NFL team. Thus my need for the 3,155th time to plead with those who run the Falcons to say N.O. to T.O.
Let’s just hope that those who run the Falcons remember that tongue thing involving Terrell Owens and not all of those other things.
About those other things: Owens lives in Atlanta, and he played for the 49ers when Falcons coach Jim Mora and Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp worked in San Francisco. Not only that, the Falcons need a big-play wide receiver, and did I tell you that T.O. can play a little?
All of those other things can make those who run the Falcons lose their minds and take a chance with T.O.
If that happens, the Falcons will become a mess in the locker room and DOA as a potential championship team.
Permalink | Comments (116) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
