Richt happy to return home

By Andy Johnston

For the AJC

ATHENS -- Count Mark Richt among the folks who are happy that Georgia will play at home the next three weeks.

The Bulldogs haven’t played at Sanford Stadium since a 20-13 loss to LSU on Oct. 3, winning at Vanderbilt and losing at Tennessee and to Florida in the past month.

“I like being ‘Between the Hedges,’ ” Richt said. “I like being with our fan base. I like it when we don’t have to go through all the travel. If you’re home three or four games in a row, sometimes it’s not bad to get away, and when you’ve been gone a long time, it’s certainly great to get back home.”

Georgia had a similar stretch late last year, playing at LSU, against Florida in Jacksonville, and at Kentucky and Auburn, before returning home to end the regular season against Georgia Tech.

The Bulldogs, who are 4-3 in their past seven home games, dating to 2008, will play host to Tennessee Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by home games against Auburn and Kentucky.

“I’m looking forward to just being with Georgia people,” Richt said.

Under Richt, Georgia is 44-10 at Sanford Stadium and 32-6 in opponents’ home stadiums. The Bulldogs are 10-10 at neutral sites.

Pointing fingers

Nobody is immune from the finger pointing these days.

With Georgia sitting at 4-4 and having lost three of its past four games, some of the blame is trickling down to strength-and-conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger.

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and defensive coordinator Willie Martinez also have received plenty of criticism this season.

“Everybody wants us to win, everybody wants to find some kind of angle, where they think we’ve got issues,” Richt said. “If everybody is going to start chiming in on what they think we need to do, then it’s obvious every single part of our program is going to be looked at and questioned. I think it’s pretty much falling in line with offense, defense and special teams, as far as everybody trying to figure it out.”

Van Halanger was the strength coach at Florida State and came with Richt to Georgia in 2001.

Preparing for the next step

Former Bulldogs quarterback Matthew Stafford, who starts as a rookie for the Detroit Lions, recently attended a Georgia practice and told Richt that his first NFL season has been helped by what he experienced at Georgia.

“I was just talking to Stafford when he was here and he said, ‘Coach, you’d be amazed how similar what we’re doing and what Georgia’s doing. Every concept we ever did at Georgia, we’re doing [in Detroit]. There’s a little bit of a different language, but [the similarities] are amazing,’” Richt said.

Stafford is 93-of-172 for 1,062 yards, three touchdowns and seven interceptions for the Lions, who are 1-6.