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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 05
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Whatever happened to “reloading�?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Blawg’s been in a pretty dismal state lately, but that’s reflective of the Bulldog Nation as a whole, I think. You’ve got the folks who reflexively launch into “Fire Richt!” mode at one extreme, and at the other extreme are the folks who think a discouraging word should never be heard, and that anyone who criticizes the program or the coach is a “fair-weather” fan.
Most of us are in the middle. We’re University of Georgia Bulldog supporters, win or lose, but we quite frankly thought we’d gotten past the days of losing to the Eastern Division’s bottom-feeders (sorry Dores and Cats fans, but that’s the way it is).
As a friend said a couple of weeks ago after the Vandy loss, a lot of UGA fans had thought Mark Richt had elevated the program to the level of the superprograms of the ’90s (like Richt’s former employer, FSU), where we simply “reloaded” every year and maintained our position as one of the SEC’s top two or three teams, rather than having to “rebuild.” Many fans expected Georgia to be a Top 10 mainstay.
It’s been painful to realize that isn’t the case, and that despite the high national ranking of recruiting classes under Richt (for what that’s worth), the program has slipped back this season below the good-but-not-great Jim Donnan level to the sorry, inconsistent play of the Ray Goff days.
Is it, like so many fans are saying (with more hope than conviction) simply a one-year hiccup? Let’s hope so. After all, Tennessee went through this last year (with plenty of “Fire Fulmer” rants), and the Vols managed to turn it around this year.
Of course, Phil Fulmer, like so many other coaches in the past, was willing to fire someone to get things back on course.
Many of us have doubts Richt is willing to do that, though it seems to be close to a consensus view (among all except the rose-colored glasses set) that the Georgia coaching staff hasn’t done a very good job (even going back to last year, when we had to back into an SEC championship, needing for other folks to lose when we couldn’t clinch it outright ourselves).
The personnel recruited either hasn’t lived up to expectations or hasn’t been developed properly. Game plans have been inflexible. Players haven’t always appeared motivated. Bottom line: The Dawgs have underperformed, and when that’s the case, the coaches usually shoulder at least a sizable portion of the blame.
The two spots that appear to be most in need of a change are defensive coordinator (where Willie Martinez has shown only brief spurts of competency) and offensive line coach (where Neil Callaway’s recruiting and player development have been abysmal).
Much has been said already about Martinez, who seems in over his head. Callaway’s methods have left us with hardly any offensive linemen, and the ones we do have are inconsistently effective at protecting the passer (which is what Callaway seems most concerned with) and aren’t very good at blocking for the run. The fact is that ever since the Donnan linemen graduated, the OL has been the weak spot of Georgia teams. Even last year’s veteran line played inconsistently.
Wide receivers coach John Eason also seems to have a knack for taking promising players and making them mediocre.
It doesn’t appear to be in Richt’s nature to clean house after the season, and perhaps it won’t be necessary. Maybe with the maturing of Matthew Stafford next year and the addition to the mix of the redshirts and incoming freshmen, the Dawgs will be able to turn it around quickly, without a staff housecleaning and without the program having to suffer through another “rebuilding” year.
Maybe Uga will start talking, too. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
POOCH KICKS: It’s encouraging that in his post-game comments a bruised and battered Stafford was willing to take the blame for Saturday’s loss to Kentucky (though it certainly wasn’t solely his fault). After previous losses, he seemed oblivious, sounding as he thought he’d played pretty good and his turnovers weren’t all that important. It appears he’s starting to grow up. … Again, kudos to Tony Taylor, the main bright spot this year on the Georgia defense. He plays like Georgia defenses of the past were known for playing. … There’s much more to be said about Richt’s playcalling and offensive strategy, but the main questions I wish someone would ask him about the Kentucky game are these: 1) Why, on Georgia’s first drive, after Kregg Lumpkin had led the team down the field, did we pull him and put in Danny Ware, who got stuffed, leading to a field goal attempt that failed? Why would you pull the hot hand in the middle of a drive? 2) With Lumpkin having run for 83 yards on 10 tries in the first half, why did he only get the ball three more times in the second half? 3) OK, you’ve made it clear that on that pass that was intercepted when the Dawgs were on their own 1 yard line, you think Stafford should have just thrown it away. But why were you calling for a pass in that position in the first place? Why put that kind of pressure on your freshman quarterback? … Richt said after the game that if he’d needed to use a placekicker again after Andy Bailey’s missed PAT, punter Gordon Ely-Kelso would have gotten the call. But the coach was still dancing around the question of whether Gordon will be the placekicker against Auburn. What’s the hesitation? He couldn’t do any worse than Bailey, and from what I’ve heard he was a better placekicker than punter in his days at Clarke Central. Just as he needs to come to terms with having to fire someone, Richt needs to quit worrying so much about hurting players’ feelings (see the whole Joe T. fiasco). … I realize that even if the Dawgs fall to 6-6, they aren’t going to turn down a bowl bid, no matter where it is. But I still don’t think ANY 6-6 team belongs in a bowl. I know, I know, that’s a quaint, old-fashioned notion.
