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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2006 > October
October 2006
Richt’s right: He’s done a poor job
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can’t expect to beat any team better than Mississippi State when you turn the ball over five times, much less a good team. And, like I said yesterday, poor officiating aside, we certainly helped the Gators out with those turnovers and our awful offensive showing in the first half.
If you want to take a moral victory out of Saturday’s results in Jacksonville — and for a proud program there’s certainly not much satisfaction in that — it’s that we were still in the game as the fourth quarter wound down, Florida’s offense only managed two scores (and only one on a sustained drive), and, minus the defensive touchdown given to them by Kregg Lumpkin’s third-quarter fumble, the game might well have had to go into overtime.
But at the same time, both of Georgia’s scores resulted from Gator turnovers. On our own, we generated … nothing.
Nine games in, the fact remains that every single aspect of Georgia’s game has been in need of improvement for most of the season, but aside from the defense finally mixing up its schemes a bit against Florida, little to no progress has been seen. In fact, in most areas we’ve gotten worse.
Our offensive line play has been lousy, with seniors Daniel Inman and Michael Turner deserving dishonorable mention for some of their lame attempts at “blocking” Saturday.
Tackling was still extremely poor and we got no sacks.
The Dawgs still seem incapable of covering a kick properly. At times it looked as if we’d held a competition to find the slowest, worst tacklers we could assemble and then put them on the coverage team. In general, special teams play has been awful.
Our running game was pretty anemic, due to both poor blocking and lack of concentration by the tailbacks.
We’re still killing drives by dropping passes that hit receivers in the hands.
Our third-quarter meltdown continued — Dawgs, whatever they’re passing around in the locker room at halftime, don’t drink it!
And in our ninth game, Matthew Stafford had progressed only about what you’d expect in the third or fourth game for a freshman, so he was still making bad choices between flashes of brilliance.
Richt said after the game that “it starts with me. I did a poor job,” and I’m more than inclined to agree that he and his staff have done a pretty lousy job this season. Yeah, the players haven’t executed, but they haven’t gotten any better and their fundamentals (tackling, catching) are extremely poor. True, some players aren’t as good as perhaps they were expected to be, and our recruiting on the line and in the secondary has been unproductive, but we’ve got plenty of talent in other areas that isn’t being developed and in fact seems to be regressing (especially the receivers). For that, you have to blame Richt and his coaches.
MORE GOOD AND MOSTLY BAD: Brannan Southerland showed great hands and made some tough runs. He’s easily the standout player so far this season. … Martrez Milner already has earned his degree (for which he should be congratulated), but he obviously can’t catch. So why were we still throwing to him on a drive where he’d already dropped his second pass of the day? Why was he even in the game still? … Our woes at linebacker are well-documented, but a bright spot continues to be the play of Tony Taylor. … When Tim Tebow ripped off that long run on his first play, it looked like the Dawgs were going to join all the other SEC teams that have acted like they didn’t know what was coming when he enters the game. But from that point on our defense contained Tebow better than any other Gators opponent has done. … Georgia again botched a screen pass. … If Kregg Lumpkin’s blocking in pass protection is bad, Danny Ware’s isn’t much better. … Richt is still too quick to abandon the running game. He just doesn’t get it. … Richt and Bobo really need to work on getting it drilled into Stafford’s head that he can’t hold on to the ball as long as he’s been doing, and that if nobody’s open, he needs to throw it away. At the same time, why does Richt keep calling those slow-to-develop plays when he knows how bad our offensive line is? … What did Daniel Inman think he’d done to earn the right to mockingly do the Gator chomp after the Dawgs’ first score?
Served up on a silver platter!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I guess the SEC officiating crew was feeling bad about that call against Florida in the Auburn game, so they made it up to them with some of the most blatant bad calls and noncalls we’ve seen in a long time.
The fact that the Bulldogs were even in the game still late in the fourth quarter after five turnovers was amazing, and a testament to how resilient the Georgia team was and how underwhelming the Gators were.
Yes, Georgia’s offense was horrible in the first half, but they turned it around. However, the deck was stacked against them by the guys in black and white stripes. UGA should file a formal protest of the pass interference call not made on that last drive, and that was only one of several egregious cases where the zebras blew it.
Damn, how huge was that fumble at the start of the third quarter? Once again, Mark Richt was trying to run that sprint draw we all hate out of the shotgun with an offensive line that was typified by Daniel Inman, who didn’t even bother to try to keep his man out of the Georgia backfield, leading to the fumble.
And just wondering, how many passes does Martrez Milner have to drop before he gets benched for good?
Like I said, we shouldn’t have even been in the game still after that many turnovers, and full credit to Willie Martinez and the defense for adjusting after that first drive and controlling Tim Tebow.
More tomorrow.
What would it take?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So, the Gators have been installed as a two-touchdown favorite Saturday in Jacksonville, and with the Dawgs having shown little progress over the past month, most Georgia fans are in a pretty pessimistic funk.
As Mark Richt himself noted this week, most of the Bulldog Nation is just hoping UGA can keep it close. The more wildly optimistic among us figure if we do somehow manage to keep it close (a pretty tall order), there’s always a chance of an upset.
Frankly, with the terrible defense we’ve been playing, the inconsistency of our offense, the fact that our special-team play has been poor, and Andy Bailey being anything but a clutch kicker, that’s not an outcome many Dawg fans would be willing to bet on.
But, heck, stranger things have happened. So let’s play what-would-it-take. What would it take for Georgia to win this game?
I’ll throw this out: If the Gators have an off day, we do somehow pressure Chris Leak, the Dawgs can establish a running game to keep Florida’s offense off the field, Stafford and his receivers can connect when needed, and we do keep it close, what should Richt do if it comes down to kicking a field goal? Go with Bailey, who missed three out of four tries in practice Tuesday, or instead send in punter Gordon Ely-Kelso, now the backup placekicker, who made field goals from every distance Tuesday, including a 50-yarder into the wind?
I think it’s a no-brainer: Go with Gordon.
Basically, there’s no way Georgia wins this game without gambling — whether it’s in an all-out blitz or sending someone unexpected into the game.
What do you think, what does it take for the Dawgs to upset the Gators Saturday?
Good, Bad and Really Ugly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, no question which game I got the biggest kick out of Saturday— the Trade School’s humiliation on ESPN. I never would have thought I could enjoy rooting for a team that looked like it showed up for the game wearing purple kiddie PJ’s.
I wonder if UGA’s coaching staff will take any lessons from the way the Junior Bowden ran the ball down the Jackets’ throats and how the Tiger defense managed to rattle and contain Reggie Ball with incessant pressure. Not to mention make “Heisman candidate” Calvin Johnson irrelevant.
Wait a minute. I forgot for a second which coaching staff I was talking about. That probably stands the same chance of happening as Georgia’s blissfully-in-denial coaches learning anything from Auburn getting in Chris Leak’s face, or for that matter Arkansas running it on Auburn.
Of course, Clemson’s Thunder and Lightning and their buddies do have two obvious advantages over the Dawgs in using the strategy that stifled “Heisman candidate” Johnson and company — an effective offensive line and a defense.
Which brings up Saturday’s UGA game against Mississippi State, which I suppose I can’t put off discussing any longer. No matter how much I’d like to. Really.
OK, here goes. The game-saving play by Charles Johnson at the end, as great as it was, belies the larger, more disturbing fact about that drive: We let one of the worst offenses in college football fly down the field in less than 30 seconds and get in position to potentially win or tie the game. Thanks to Charles, they didn’t get the chance. But the reason realistic Dawg fans are upset with the MSU game, even though it goes in the books as a win, is that it doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the season, when we’ll be facing GOOD offenses, as opposed to the ridiculously poor one that almost beat us Saturday. Georgia’s defensive schemes were predictable, and the play sloppy (our tackling seems to be getting worse as the year wears on).
That isn’t to let the offense off the hook. They certainly did the defense no favors with five turnovers. And our special teams were even worse, giving Mississippi State a leg up (pardon the dog pun) in field position much of the second half.
At least special teams coach Tony Ball has indicated that he WILL be changing schemes and/or personnel to get things straightened out. Too bad that attitude isn’t more widespread at Butts-Mehre this season.
MORE GOOD AND BAD STUFF: Brannan Southerland gets my vote as the most valuable player so far this year. There are guys on the team with twice his talent who don’t play half as hard as him. That catch he made on Georgia’s last scoring drive was particularly impressive, since the ball wasn’t well-placed. (Did you notice that Matthew Stafford was throwing slightly behind his receivers all day, forcing them to turn and reach for the ball? Certainly a contributing factor in some of the drops. And one of the interceptions seemed to result from him badly side-arming the ball. Some more quality time with Coach Bobo definitely needed there.) … Even when Martrez Milner’s toe heals up, I hope Tripp Chandler keeps the starting TE spot. He was also impressive Saturday. … Kenneth Harris had a big day receiving. I think he and Stafford show signs of becoming a really potent pairing. … Finally, a fade that was perfectly thrown and caught! Kudos to Stafford and MoMass on that first score. … OK, so MoMass’ play has been maddeningly inconsistent and his drops and fumble Saturday showed a definite lack of focus. But booing him and then cheering when he’s taken off the field? Definitely not a shining moment for elements of the Sanford Stadium crowd. … THREE false-start penalties on senior Daniel Inman? He wasn’t holding his blocks very long, either. If we weren’t so thin on the OL, some time on the bench would be well-deserved. … More needlessly burned timeouts Saturday. Considering he’s such a bright guy, how is it that in his sixth season Mark Richt still hasn’t figured out how to manage the clock? … What can you say about Andy Bailey? On WNGC’s “Fifth Quarter Show”, UGA kicking great Kevin Butler said the problems seem to be “between the ears,” in that the kid can’t handle pressure kicks. Butler suggested putting more pressure on him in practice by giving him certain assigned kicks, and if he doesn’t make them all, the entire team gets extra running. There’s no pressure like peer pressure. … I don’t care if Kregg Lumpkin is the worst blocker on the team. He’s the BEST runner, and he needs to get the ball consistently. Throw it to Danny Ware, but we need to give the ball to Lumpkin A LOT more. I mean, why are we asking a true freshman quarterback to do so much? … Maybe Lumpkin and Ware would be better choices for kickoff returns, too. … Whatever Georgia’s doing at halftime, it ain’t working. We keep coming out for the third quarter as cold as ice. As Richt said after the game: “I don’t know why we can’t get out of the gate in the second half, but we’ve got to get it straightened out.” Sounds like changes are afoot, which is definitely a GOOD thing. … Three quotes from Richt, Master of Understatement: 1. “We tend to keep ‘em in the stands until the last second.” 2. “To turn it over five times and still win is always a blessing. It doesn’t happen very often.” 3. “We’re not as good as we’ve been. And we’ve got to get better.” … The video games music was kinda bizarre, but it was cool that MSU brought their band. But how come their team didn’t incur a penalty when the band played straight through a play on the field? Meanwhile, it was the North stands’ turn to be the primary audience for the Redcoats’ Athens-themed show and folks showed their appreciation by starting to stand and applaud halfway through the last number. … Did you see those FSU black uniforms? Man, they were Oregon-ugly. That’s not even one of their colors!
Shreveport, here we come
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bowl eligible, by the skin of our teeth, against the worst team in the league.
If Mississippi State can move down the field like that against our pathetic defense … well, no wonder most of the Georgia fans I’ve talked to who have Jacksonville tickets are looking to sell them.
When’s the last time a win made you feel this bad?
More tomorow.
Needing to believe again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s hope this is as bad as it gets.
It’s been a while — the latter part of Jim Donnan’s last season, in fact — since I’ve detected a lack of faith and wavering of hope on the part of many in the Bulldog Nation. But this week there’s no getting around it. Quite a few die-hard Dawg fans not only have given up any dreams of making it to the Georgia Dome this year, they don’t really BELIEVE the team can beat any of the Big Three without a lucky break or two.
That’s not being fainthearted or less than true fans or jumping off the bandwagon. Unfortunately, that’s just being realistic.
While the knock on UGA fans from some corners is that we’re hopelessly unrealistic about our team’s chances and start every season expecting a national championship, those of us who actually follow the team know that’s far from a Georgia tradition. For many years, we didn’t even dare hope for an SEC crown, having seen the program settle into a rut as the third-best in the Eastern Division.
Full credit to Mark Richt for changing that mind-set. Thanks to his taking three of his teams to the SEC championship in five years, winning it twice, Georgia fans had begun to believe this was how it would be from now on.
The 2006 season has shaken that belief to a greater degree than you would have expected with a 5-2 record. We knew this would be a rebuilding year, but we didn’t expect what we’ve seen at times this season: Richt and his team floundering, threatening to implode like last year’s Vols. Even in some of the Dawgs’ wins we’ve seen a team that doesn’t seem to believe in itself (the fourth quarter against Colorado with Joe Cox rallying the troops being the lone exception). And, worse, a coaching staff that doesn’t seem to have figured out how to get the kids to believe in themselves again.
Sure, there are many UGA fans who refuse to concede any game remaining on the schedule, but this week their defiant stance has come off more like whistling past the graveyard. And, for me at least, that’s the biggest difference between 2006 and the past four seasons: From 2002 on, I always felt that Richt and the Dawgs were capable of beating anyone they faced if the team played to its full capabilities and the coaches played it smart. (OK, I’ll admit I didn’t really expect us to win in 2004 against undefeated Auburn, but other than that I always thought we had a chance.)
But this year, with the obvious step down in talent in several areas, the largely uninspired play, the stubbornly wrongheaded game plans and continuing indecision on the part of the coaches, and the fact that no obvious game-changing playmakers or team leaders have emerged, that belief that the Dawgs only need to pull it all together in order to have a chance at winning out just isn’t there.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the team can’t undergo some miracle transformation (unlikely as that seems at this point). Maybe finally settling on a starting quarterback — along with the cold, hard slap of reality that ANYBODY on the schedule can beat them, as Vanderbilt proved — will spur the players to kick it up a few notches.
And while, like others, I’ve been very disappointed in how the UGA coaching staff has blamed lack of execution on the players’ part rather than considering any shortcomings of their own, I hold out hope that within the confines of Butts-Mehre there’s been a realization that Georgia has quite frankly been outcoached several times this year, and a determination not to let it happen again.
I believe that Mark Richt is the right man to lead Georgia to the level where dreams of a national championship every year don’t look silly. I think he has a potential superstar in Matthew Stafford, and that with some tweaking of his staff and more productive recruiting outside the skill positions, Richt can make those dreams come true.
As for this year, a convincing win against Mississippi State Saturday in Athens would certainly be a step in the right direction. What what a lot of us would really like to see though is some evidence that Richt is adaptable enough to get a mediocre team to play over its head and with enough heart to beat somebody that they really shouldn’t be able to beat.
If that happens, I think this momentary lapse of confidence on the part of the Bulldog Nation will be replaced by that across-the-board optimism that others think is our trademark.
When does the ‘rebuilding’ start?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, now that we’ve hopefully flushed out all the bile and anger and “Fire Mark Richt” nonsense engendered in the Bulldog Nation by Saturday’s sorry Homecoming showing, let’s all take a deep breath and take a look at where the UGA football program stands.
We can’t say we got beat by the better team this time, that’s for sure. Vandy did their best to give that game away like they usually do, but the Dawgs refused to win it.
Willie Martinez and his “read and react” defense have drawn a lot of the flak. And deservedly so. Martinez seems out of his depth as a defensive coordinator. His game plans are poor, and he’s slow to adjust. Even when we weren’t playing “prevent” defense (and we all know the truism about that), our so-called man coverage Saturday saw us giving Vandy’s receivers a ridiculous cushion. And we never got to their QB. (Brian Van Gorder’s Georgia defenses were so overly aggressive that they sometimes drew needless penalties; we’re playing the exact opposite of that now.) When you can’t stop VANDERBILT from converting fourth-and-five with the game on the line, the prospects for the rest of the season don’t look too good.
We’re not just talking about the past two games, either. Going back to last season, the Georgia defense’s performance against top teams since Martinez took over has been lacking, the only exception being the SEC championship game against LSU (which, of course, had the weakest offense among the conference’s upper echelon). Sure, our defense put up some impressive numbers early this season with a couple of shutouts, but that was misleading because it was against weak opposition. And that’s the most devastating thing about the Vandy game; now our defense is coming up short not just against top offenses, but against a bad one!
But Martinez and his defense by no means get all the blame for UGA’s loss Saturday.
What we’re looking at over the past couple of weeks with the Dawgs is a complete systemic failure. Richt and his coaching staff and players saw every aspect of their game fail Saturday: The special teams were awful (there’s not much we can do about Andy Bailey, but surely we can do a better job covering kickoffs!). Despite a couple of key interceptions (attributable mostly to the Vandy QB’s poor decision-making), the defense failed, particularly in the red zone. (Or, as Richt understated in his post-game press conference, “Our red zone defense was not what it should be.”). And the Dawgs’ offense was mediocre at best and mostly ineffective, particularly in the red zone. Again, some of Richt’s playcalling was pretty suspect, but the major problem seemed to be familar problems: dropped passes and lousy blocking by the offensive line.
Can we get a group rate if we send Martinez, Neil Callaway and John Eason all out of Athens?
Looking at Joe T.’s numbers, you might agree with Richt in his post-game assessment that the starting QB didn’t look bad. But if you were there, you saw a quarterback whose much-vaunted senior leadership was pretty invisible and whose physical talent just isn’t going to produce many points. It’s obvious Matthew Stafford is the future, even if he’s still green, so why delay any longer? Play him now so we can reap the dividends NEXT season.
As for Richt, well, the honeymoon obviously is over. Yes, he’s won two SEC championships, but that was with more talented teams and with a generous assist from other teams losing key games. So far, he doesn’t seem to know how to win with a team of middling talent. As my son said Saturday, UGA’s current season — with its muddled QB situation and the team floundering — is beginning to resemble Tennessee’s last year. Can Richt bounce back next year, like Phil Fulmer has this year? Sure. But Fulmer was willing to fire someone to turn things around. I’m not sure Richt will act that decisively. And if he doesn’t, well, we got rid of poor old Jim Donnan because eight wins a year wasn’t enough (and Jim Donnan NEVER lost to Vanderbilt!).
If Richt has an overriding weakness (besides his insisting on calling the plays), it’s that he doesn’t seem capable of lighting a fire under players who are underperforming. I’ve never been a fan of Tommy Tuberville, but I must say his candor in telling the ESPN interviewer how awful his defense had looked at the end of the first half against the Gators Saturday night was refreshing. And the lambasting he gave his team at halftime appeared to work wonders. It’s hard to imagine Richt doing that.
Obviously, we’re still in the demolition stage of this “rebuilding” season. While this is obviously not a great (or even very good) Georgia team, there are individual players on it of the highest caliber. Maybe some of them will rise to the occasion and the Dawgs will not only beat the two teams we should be favored over, but upset one of the Big Three.
As a fan, I hope it happens. But right now, with injuries starting to take their toll, the odds look kinda long.
A Plea to Richt: STOP THE BLEEDING!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fire Martinez NOW.
Start Stafford.
A Tale of Three Quarterbacks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three hotshot high school quarterbacks have made their debut as true freshmen on SEC teams this year, and how it’s gone for them so far pretty well sums up why many UGA fans fear the Bulldogs’ season might come down to: Peach or Music City?
Florida’s Tim Tebow has had the benefit of backing up a senior QB on a talented team and not being asked to do a whole lot — mostly running the same quarterback draw behind left tackle over and over, though last week he caught LSU flatfooted by faking the draw and throwing to a wide open receiver for a TD.
Arkansas’ Mitch Mustain initially looked to have the hardest row to hoe in that he was made the starting quarterback on a team coming off back-to-back losing seasons. But thanks to the emergence of a strong running game (including SEC-leading back Darren McFadden), Mustain hasn’t been asked to do that much, taking the pressure off him. As the Hogs racked up 279 yards rushing in upsetting Auburn, Mustain threw only 10 passes.
And then there’s Georgia’s Matthew Stafford. So far he’s backed up a shaky fifth-year senior, suddenly been promoted to starter when that senior got hurt, then found himself backing up a redshirt freshman after being ineffective, and now again backing up the senior, who looks even shakier. Along the way, Georgia’s offense has been mediocre at best.
Part of the problem, of course, has been the spotty play by the Dawgs’ offensive line. Part has been the difficulty a true frosh faces in mastering the various check-downs of Mark Richt’s offense.
But a bigger problem in Stafford’s development, I fear, has been Richt’s admitted lack of comfort dealing with a true freshman QB and the coach’s reluctance to rely on his stable of talented (if not league-leading caliber) running backs.
Every time the Dawgs seem to be establishing some rhythm in the running game, Richt pulls back and tries to pass. Let’s face it, Richt sees the running game as something necessary to set up his beloved passing game, not a way to win in itself.
Unfortunately, that puts more pressure on his quarterbacks, and until last game, the Georgia receivers weren’t helping matters by continually dropping the ball (especially when hard-throwing Stafford was at QB).
Throw in the complication of Richt not being able to rely any more on his defense to keep the Bulldogs in big games, and you’ve got trouble that belies Georgia’s 5-1 record and Top 20 ranking. With Florida, Auburn and the Trade School down the road, things ain’t looking too bright.
Like I said Sunday, a lot of us feel that Richt should give up on trying to make Joe T. into anything more than a backup QB who throws dying waterfowl and should play Stafford (or Joe Cox if Stafford falters too badly) so that our quarterback of the future can get plenty of real-game experience and mature.
But whether the head coach does that or continues to go with a mix of Joe T. and Stafford, the best thing he can do to help is quarterbacks is to RUN THE DAMN BALL. And not that stupid ACC draw out of the shotgun, either. That’s been proved not to work for Georgia time and time again, while the running game actually has clicked (when it’s been allowed to) out of the I-formation.
Poor blocking and all, Kregg Lumpkin still looks like the most effective back for Georgia with its less than imposing line (though Thomas Brown seemed to be picking his holes better against Tennesee and, consequently, was more productive). Danny Ware can continue to spell them, barring a return of his fumbleitis.
But whichever back it is, Georgia needs to establish the run to help out its inexperienced quarterbacks. The sooner Richt comes to terms with that fact, the more likely we’ll be looking at a possible 9-3 season insteady of 8-4 or worse.
DOG BITES: If you noticed the UGA student section primarily clad in black last Saturday, that was a result of a campaign by some students on the student-socializing Web site Facebook to “blackout” Sanford Stadium. The cheerleaders also were in black, and other fans must have gotten wind of it, too, because there was a lot more black sprinkled throughout the rest of the stands than usual. I thought it was a great idea. After all, our colors are red AND black, as I’ve said here before. … You also might have caught the shirtless guys in the front row of the UGA student section with their chests painted black with red letters spelling out “GO DAWGS!” Those were members of UGA’s Ultimate Frisbee team, of which my son is a member. A special woof! goes out to them. … The UT band may not know a lot of numbers besides “Rocky Top,” but you got to admit they’ve got guts, as they marched through the UGA campus on their way to Sanford Stadium Saturday. Of course, they didn’t go through the heaviest tailgating area on North Campus. … I doubt there’s a more productive fullback around than Georgia’s Brannan Southerland. … Spotted on campus before Saturday’s game was UGA basketball coach and renowned clotheshorse Dennis Felton. Surprisingly, he was just wearing a UGA shirt and slacks. Guess he saves the Italian suits for courtside.
Where to from here?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are no easy answers facing the Bulldog coaching staff after the breakdown in Athens Saturday night that saw a 17-point Georgia lead turn into a thoroughly embarassing 18-point deficit (and the feeling that the Vols probably could have scored one more time if Phil Fulmer had wanted to take away Steve Spurrier’s Sanford Stadium enemy scoring record).
Let’s look at some of the areas of concern and/or uncertainty:
QUARTERBACK: With Joe T. under center, the Dawgs moved the ball well in the first quarter and a half, chiefly due to the receivers suddenly remembering how to catch the ball and our offensive line doing a good job (most of the time) of protecting Joe and opening holes for Kregg Lumpkin and Thomas Brown. (Danny Ware appeared not be dressed out in pads — why, I haven’t heard.) But on closer examination, Joe got away with at least a couple of bad balls in the first half that should have been intercepted. And, of course, come the second half, he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble (though I still think that was a bad call and review; looked to me like his arm was moving forward when the ball came loose). Joe does, indeed, seem to have a firmer grasp on Mark Richt’s offense than the backups. But as has become painfully clear, he just doesn’t have the physical talent to execute it properly. I’ve heard the phrase “wounded duck” more than once to describe his passes, and it fits.
So what to do? While Richt’s first inclination probably is to keep starting Joe T. and use Matthew Stafford in relief, what will that really accomplish? Joe T. doesn’t appear to be good enough to beat the heavyweights remaining on our schedule. As green as Stafford remains (and he certainly didn’t impress anyone with his brief appearance in the UT game, ending in our third interception), he probably can’t do any better.
But I’m coming around to what I’ve heard a lot of fans (including my son last night) say: Write off any dreams of backing into the Georgia Dome this year and look to next year. In other words, if Stafford is the QB of the future, play him now and let him get the experience he needs. If Richt sticks with Joe T. for the remainder of the season, we’ll start out next year in the same boat we’re in now: No experienced quarterback.
RUNNING GAME: When we were in the I-formation Saturday, it clicked (except for the occasional breakdown in blocking from our improved but still inconsistent OL). When Richt persisted in trying to run out of the shotgun, it mostly didn’t click. Lumpkin remains the most consistent, reliable ground-gainer, even if his blocking sucks. Our best solution probably is to stick with Lump, work on improving his blocking (but for pete’s sake get him off the punting team!) and QUIT TRYING TO RUN FROM THE SHOTGUN!
SPECIAL TEAMS: The highlights of Mikey Henderson and Thomas Brown’s tremendous returns Saturday night were canceled out by our terrible kickoff game and our third blocked punt in two games. Surely SOMEONE on that team has enough leg to put the ball in the end zone. I know Richt has some fantasy about high and short, but that only works if you’ve got great coverage. We don’t. As for the punting team, we need only our best blockers in there and the coaches need to light a fire under Gordon Ely-Kelso about the urgency in getting the kick off quickly. As for PATs, Joe T. looked horrible on our try for 2 (completely missing two open receivers) and Andy Bailey’s extra-point kicks definitely need work.
DEFENSE: My son had felt I was being too hard on Willie Martinez, arguing that his schemes and calls weren’t as suspect as I’d been maintaining since late last season. He changed his mind last night. Sitting back in a zone defense that’s being picked apart by a precision pocket passer and not making a serious and sustained effort to blitz (despite the fact that Erik Ainge obviously hurried throws the few times we did apply real pressure) showed Martinez is flatly in over his head. And our secondary just looked pitiful some of the time. (Hard but true comment I heard in the crowd in the second half Saturday: “They should make Tra Battle buy a ticket.”) Martinez makes bad calls and is too slow to adjust to what opponents are doing. He needs to be gone.
COACHING: It was pretty obvious which staff made the successful halftime adjustments Saturday night. We’re seeing a disturbing trend of Georgia getting outcoached in big games. It needs to stop.
I’m not one of the cut-and-run members of the Bulldog Nation urging Richt to head back to Florida. I think he’s the right man for the job in Athens. But his success up to now has gotten fans kind of spoiled, so it’s not easy to witness the Dawgs looking completely unimpressive, even if this was widely considered from the start to be a rebuilding year. What concerns me is that I don’t see progress in resolving some of the problems we have. I hope Richt proves to be the head coach most of us think he can be, and that he takes corrective action, even if it means doing necessary things he’d really rather not do — whether it’s running more, benching some folks or lopping off some heads at Butts-Mehre.
After further review …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
… The evidence on the field confirms what many had thought (or feared): The key to Georgia’s 5-0 record before tonight, and the Dawgs’ status as the nation’s top defense against the score, was: Play sucky teams.
Tonight we found out what happens when we play a good one. And it was ugly.
Of course, the Dawgs’ offense and special teams didn’t do the defense any favors Saturday, consistently giving Tennessee a short field to work with.
More tomorrow.
Even millionaire coaches can be wrong
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No, I don’t get paid $2 million a year to coach football.
But you know what? Just because you get paid millions of bucks to do something doesn’t make you infallible. (Witness: “Gigli”. Martha Stewart’s version of “The Apprentice”. And Saturday night in Oxford, Mark Richt trying to run the fullback out the shotgun. Like the Ole Miss fan sitting next to my friend J.P. put it: “What in the hell was that?”)
And just because you don’t get paid millions to do something doesn’t mean you can’t make valid observations about it. Otherwise there’d be no movie or music critics and certainly no sports columnists.
Now, the Bulldog Radio Network’s Neil “Hondo” Williamson, in trying to defend that particular call on last Sunday’s “Bulldog Brunch” call-in show, said that we fans in the stands don’t spend hours studying film and don’t know what all went into the call, in terms of personnel on the field, etc.
No, we don’t. But maybe the view from the stands occasionally provides a little perspective that the million-dollar coaches lose down there on the sideline, all wrapped up in their X’s and O’s. Maybe occasionally they’re wrong (gasp) and the rest of us are right! You don’t have to be a millionaire to figure out that if you’ve got the wrong personnel on the field for a particular play, you probably shouldn’t call it.
And you don’t have to be paid millions to know that when you need to kill the clock, throwing low-percentage passes isn’t the best way to do it.
So with that justification for us unschooled amateurs analyzing college football, here are some thoughts about this Saturday’s Georgia-Tennessee game:
Tennessee no doubt will put eight men in the box to try and slow down Kregg Lumpkin, and dare us to throw it to our unreliable receivers. We need a receiver to break away from the pack and start making some catches. But we shouldn’t just rely on that. Increase the odds by throwing lots of quick 10- to 15-yard dink passes. They may not be as pretty as those longer passes Richt prefers, but they’ll move the chains, and they make us less reliant on our poor offensive line. It also would build our quarterbacks’ confidence and should loosen up the UT defense and make more room for running Lumpkin, which the Dawgs should do early and often. Richt himself said this week that “we’ve just got to feed him the ball a little more,” so let’s hope he does it. And like I said a few days ago, we need to use Thomas Brown as a receiver, not a running back, and throw it to him in the flat, where he can use his speed.
Our defense has been the strength of this team (and should keep us in this game), but what’s been wrong with our defensive effort mainly is the play of the linebackers. Tennessee hasn’t had much of a running game so far, and it’s up to the linebackers to make sure that doesn’t change, because their quarterback will keep our secondary plenty busy.
So there it is. The view from the stands. Free of charge.
MORE ON TAILGATING: Blawg correspondent Graham Coffey visited the famed Grove at Ole Miss last week and reports: For those that don’t know, the Grove is a large oak-filled grassy space on Ole Miss’ campus a short walk from Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium. At Georgia, the administration is slowly trying to kill tailgating. At the University of Mississippi, they cherish it. Even Georgia fans, which there were plenty of, couldn’t help but be impressed by their opponent’s setup. Travis Dean, 24, an Athens native and Georgia graduate, said, “Tailgating at Georgia doesn’t compare to this. We have the championships, team, and stadium, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.â€? Mark Wyatt, a sophomore at Ole Miss said, “This is what we do. Some of these people won’t even go into the game today because our team is down right now. Georgia has the better program, but this is what we do right.â€? And who can argue with him? The sight of tents as far as the eye can see mixed with the aroma of perfume, bourbon and barbeque is a wonderful thing for anybody who loves tailgating. And don’t worry, even if you drink too much, the portable Hotty Toddy Potty, named after Ole Miss fans’ favorite cheer, is right across the street.
MORE ON ACADEMICS: With all the talk about how poorly the Georgia athletes who entered 10 years ago ended up doing, I thought I’d just remind everyone about an item that ran in the AJC a few weeks ago. It said UGA’s 489 athletes (the ones enrolled last spring, not a decade ago) combined to post a 2.91 grade point average, the best in the SEC. It’s what’s happening now that counts the most.
Offensive in the wrong way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I like Mark Richt. He’s a good man, a classy guy. There’s no doubt he’s elevated the level of the UGA football program in winning two SEC championships since he came here, and he’s a fine head coach. Good recruiter, too, at least for quarterbacks and running backs (the verdict is still out but leaning toward the negative when it comes to his recruiting of wide receivers and offensive linemen).
Richt’s a smart guy, too. Which is why it’s so frustrating that he’s one of the most stubborn play-callers around.
Too often, Richt refuses to take what the other team gives him and continues to call plays that plainly aren’t working. That was the case again in Oxford Saturday night, especially in the first half. Everyone and his brother, including Wake Forest, has shown you can run on Ole Miss, so what does Richt insist on doing? Throwing the ball, despite the fact that he’s using two young, inexperienced quarterbacks and has perhaps the most badly underperforming corps of receivers in Division 1-A.
So far this year, the play of Georgia’s defense (which again started slow but finished fine) and the woeful level of our opposition has allowed Richt to slide through undefeated leading up to the Tennessee game. But if he thinks Georgia can get away with pulling the same stuff against the Vols, well, he’s probably the only one.
OK, I know that an offense balanced between run and pass is the ideal, but we’re not dealing with ideal circumstances here. The only quarterback who fully knows Richt’s offense has been sidelined with an ankle sprain, and his frankly more talented backups still aren’t there yet. While Demiko Goodman made four nice catches Saturday night (one setting up a TD), our receivers generally have been just awful. The deterioration of Mohamed Massaquoi, who dropped Matthew Stafford passes on two consecutive plays in Oxford, is particularly alarming. He used to be our sure-hands guy! What the heck has John Eason done to him? And when will A.J. Bryant begin to live up to his potential?
So the situation at Ole Miss called for Georgia to run the ball, run it again, and then run it some more. But Richt refused to do that. Every time Georgia’s running game (chiefly Kregg Lumpkin) started to get on track, Richt would call for another pass on first or second down (which usually wasn’t caught), putting us at third-and-long. As Chip Towers pointed out in Sunday’s AJC, after rushing three times for 20 yards on the Dawgs’ opening series (that’s 6.7 yards per carry), Lumpkin didn’t get another carry in the first half!
Even in the fourth quarter, when kindergarten-level students of the game knew what the Dawgs needed to do was run and kill the clock, Richt continued to call passes. So it was that Ole Miss got the ball back and might well have won the game had not clutch player Paul Oliver stepped up with an interception.
And then there’s that shotgun thing. In the first half, even when Richt called a running play, it was too often that misbegotten draw out of the ’gun where our back gets handed the ball while he’s standing still and defenders are bearing down on him in the backfield after racing through our ridiculously porous offensive line. So, what with the bad calls and lack of a passing game, Georgia’s offense ended up averaging just 2.75 yards per play in the first half. Against Ole Miss!
Sorry, that just ain’t gettin’ the job done. With a back like Lumpkin on the roster, not running out of the I-formation is practically a sin!
Richt is known for his occasional use of irony in his post-game comments and that showed up again Saturday night when he was talking about Georgia needing to catch the ball. “Maybe we can pound it every down,” he said. “We may try that, I don’t know.” But you knew that what he really meant was, “No way I’m going to run every play. I’ll keep slinging it until our guys finally start catching it.”
Before the see-no-evil crowd weighs in asking if I’d like to dump Richt and return to the Weedeater and Peach Bowl days of Goff and Donnan, let me make it clear: I’m glad Mark Richt is our coach. He’s been remarkably successful, and I think he’s capable of leading UGA to bigger and better things. But in a number of cases over the past few seasons, the Dawgs have won in spite of the coach’s tunnel-vision play-calling, not because of it.
And with success comes increased expectations: OK, many in the Bulldog Nation say, you’ve won a couple of SEC titles, now when are the Dawgs going to challenge for the national championship? Maybe that’s unfair, but that’s the way the game is played these days on the level Georgia aspires to.
Richt has indicated repeatedly he’s not likely to delegate the play-calling to someone else. But if he’s going to continue to do the job, he needs to become more adaptable and more comfortable sticking with the run when that’s what the game calls for. Might not look as pretty, but as Tommy Tuberville advised him a few years ago, it’s a key to winning big in the SEC.
MORE GOOD AND BAD: While our defense is the strength of this team — and that’s despite spending way too much time on the field after our anemic offense’s frequent three-and-outs — there’s still plenty of room for improvement on the defensive side of the ball, particularly against the run and defending mobile quarterbacks when they roll out. And there have been too many missed tackles. As Richt himself said in his post-game news conference, “I just saw a lot of yards after contact, and I didn’t like that much.” … The fact that Georgia’s OL played as poorly as it did when they outweighed Ole Miss’s DL by an average of 62 pounds should be one more contribution to buying Neil Callaway’s ticket out of Athens. … Right now, kickoff returns are the best use of Thomas Brown, as he showed Saturday night. I’d like to see us stick him in the flanker’s spot and throw it to him more, too. … While Goodman was the best of our receivers Saturday, he could have been even better. Stafford threw an absolutely beautiful Ball to him that Goodman allowed the defensive back to chop out of his grasp. … My son noticed that one reason Lumpkin has been our most successful running back is that he’s more prone to cut back and improvise when the blocking isn’t there. He isn’t as likely to let the blocking determine his fate like our other backs.
Wake-up call!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tonight’s first half was the sorriest half of Georgia offense I’ve seen since … last week. If Georgia can’t figure out what it needs to do until halftime next week (hint: run Lumpkin out of the I formation!), the Dawgs may wind up facing a three touchdown deficit at the start of the third quarter the way Eric Ainge is playing.
And will someone PLEASE explain clock management to Mark Richt!
More tomorrow.
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