After last week’s fiasco, Mark Richt said he’s getting out of the business of updating Todd Gurley’s status.
“I’m not going to say anything again about this thing because that last thing got blown out of proportion,” said the Georgia coach, referring to last Wednesday’s confusion over getting a possible NCAA eligibility ruling. “It was mostly because I probably didn’t listen well and didn’t answer well. My answer’s going to be, ‘we’ll let you know if something is important enough to tell you.’”
As of Sunday night, there was still nothing important enough to share about Gurley’s availability. The junior tailback remains under indefinite suspension while UGA investigates his relationship with memorabilia dealers and to what extent it may have jeopardized his eligibility.
But as the Bulldogs have demonstrated in the two weeks of Gurley’s absence, they’re quite capable of winning without him. Georgia’s 45-32 win over Arkansas on Saturday improved its record to 2-0 without him, 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC.
The Bulldogs moved up one spot to No. 9 in both The Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls and now have a week off before resuming play on Nov. 1 against Florida (3-3, 2-3) in Jacksonville.
The reasons for Georgia’s ability to carry on successfully amid the swirl of controversy surrounding Gurley are many and varied. And they go beyond having Nick Chubb in the backfield.
While the players talk about having “a chip on our shoulder” and wanting to prove wrong the pundits that tabbed them a one-man team, Richt said neither he nor his coaches have used that for motivation.
“I never mentioned it,” Richt said. “The only time I mentioned anything about Todd was that Thursday right before we practiced when I announced to them he wasn’t going to be able to play. I really haven’t said a word about it since. I’ve just been talking about focusing on the opponent and taking care of business in practices, those kinds of things. Mainly just everybody making sure they’re focusing on what’s important and control what we can control.”
The main thing Georgia has been controlling is the line of scrimmage. While the freshman has been fantastic – 68 carries, 345 yards, 3 touchdowns – the Bulldogs offensive line appears to have taken its game to a new level. Georgia averaged 5.3 yards per rush against Arkansas and has 417 yards on the ground the last two weeks.
“I think the O-line definitely deserves credit,” Richt said Sunday. “They’re doing a good job. Fullbacks, tight ends, receivers as well. I mean everybody’s blocking, the quarterback’s trying to get us in the right play. Coach Friend’s our running game coordinator and him and Coach Bobo work very close together to get a plan and to try to get us into the best possible runs. All those things together have been why we’re having success.”
Chubb conquered with that following Saturday’s game, in which he average 6.7 yards per attempt. He also had an 8-yard pass reception.
“I was a lot more relaxed this game,” he said. “Our line played very good, very well. There were holes everywhere. I just ran through them.”
The question now shifts from, “can Chubb carry the load?” to “how long can Chubb carry this load?” In this past Saturday’s game, no other Georgia back touched the football until the final plays of the game. With victory in hand at that point, Chubb took a knee on the sideline as Brendan Douglas handled the final three carries.
J.J. Green, who moved back to tailback from the secondary, never got into the game. Meanwhile, Richt remains pessimistic about Sony Michel getting back into the mix before Florida. The freshman was Georgia’s No. 2 rusher before suffering a broken shoulder blade against Tennessee on Sept. 27.
“I don’t know if it’s that realistic or not,” Richt said of Michel being ready to play against the Gators. “We’ll know more by the end of this week. … I don’t see him practicing this week.”
Likewise, Richt said he doesn’t expect A.J. Turman (foot surgery) to be able to participate this season. But like everybody else, he has become a pretty strong believer in Chubb.
“We didn’t feel like we were wearing him out,” Richt said. “If you watch him, his body language and everything, he didn’t look tired. He didn’t look tired with the ball in his hands. So I think we were fine.”
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