UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 14
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Richt: Polls won’t change his style
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m assuming that most of you out there were like me and not all that surprised that Georgia dropped yet again in the polls and now is No. 3. Tim Tucker, Jeff Schultz, Tony Barnhart and I were all talking about it as soon as we finished writing our stories after Saturday’s game in Columbia.
It’s just kind of the nature of the beast nowadays that pollsters treat their votes like a weekly beauty contest. Ralph Russo, who manages the Top 25 football poll for The Associated Press admitted as much.
Technically this latest setback does mean that Georgia could effectively be locked out of the BCS Championship game even if it escapes the regular season undefeated if Oklahoma and Southern Cal also remain unbeaten. But both Russo and coach Mark Richt were doubtful that could happen. As Richt said, he’s just trying to win the next game.
Anyway I wasn’t able to use most of what Richt had to say about it in my Sunday reportings so I’ll share the fully unabridged version of it with you here in Q&A form. As always, let me know what you think about it after you read through… .
Q: Were you surprised or disappointed that you dropped again?
Richt: “I’m really not worried about it. We can’t control it. We can control trying to win the Eastern Division, I said that way back. When you set goals you have to set goals you can control. That’s the only thing we can really control in this whole thing. You can control whatever game you’re playing. Like this week it’s a non-conference game. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not we win the East. But we want to win everygame we can and put ourselves in position to possibly be there in the end if we’re able to win the league. But so much time has to pass. So many games have to be played. We all know we have the type of schedule that will put us back in business if we’re able to take care of business. The question is, are we going to take care of business. But that’s everybody.
Q: Did you expect it?
Richt: “I’m not surprised that it could happen because you see that before. Everybody kind of wants to settle in and see where everybody thinks everybody belongs. It’s hard. Shoot, I’m a voter, too. It’s hard to know where to put everybody. You’ve got to play a few games. Once the games get started you get a little bit better taste but you still don’t know. You have people playing all over the place, different regions, different conferences. Some teams start with tougher opponents than others. It’s just very difficult to get a gauge on where everybody else is. Think about last year. How many Top 5 teams got beat last year? Everybody kept moving up by default.”
Q: Since the pollsters are so fickle, would you change your approach to games in which you’ve clearly gotten a team beaten in the fourth quarter? Would you leave in starters longer or kick an otherwise meaningless field goal?
Richt: I don’t think so. If it’s the 12th game of the year, maybe. But not before then.
Q: Are you concerned your players may feel the need to earn style points during games?
Richt: “They better worry about winning.”
Q: Has all the poll talk been a distraction in the locker room?
Richt: “It’s not been that bad in the locker room. It’s been harder outside the locker room with fans,” Richt said. “Like I told the team, the preseason polls are just kind of an arbitrary stab in the dark. As the season rolls on, everybody has a better idea who they want to vote for. There’s still an awful lot of football to be played. Our goal is just to continue to win.”
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