Once Bitten, Twice Shy

I don't think it's a secret that I've been a frank pessimist regarding the Dawgs since about midway through the second quarter of the 2008 Alabama game.  That doesn't mean I don't desperately want to be an unbridled, unabashed optimist about the Dawgs.  My problem is a lack of evidence to make the turn.  In the last two and a half seasons, there's only been one sound defeat of a legitimate team (Tech 2009).  Even inferior teams have given the Dawgs problems (and more than a couple of losses) during that span.  And then, there's been two epic beatings in Jacksonville.

This year's team, left for dead in the Flatirons, has suddenly appeared competent with three straight convincing wins.  While I'm not yet ready to start beating my chest until it's red and black, there seem to be a lot of us who are.  Vegas likes us this weekend.  The experts, if you call Mark Bradley that, are for the most part picking the Dawgs, despite our recent historical difficulties in Jacksonville. I can't remember this much objective enthusiasm about UGA's chances in Jacksonville since Zook was fired or that suicide-inducing 2002 game (I apologize for bringing it up, **PUKING**).

The experts are picking us because we are the "hot" team.  Three straight convincing wins will evidently make you forget two atrocious efforts earlier in the same season.  But, it looks to me that our relative hotness and the Gators' relative coolness is simply a matter of timing.  UF beat UT and UK badly, just like us.  UF lost to Mississippi State in embarrassing fashion, just like we did.  These results, however, have just come at opposing times.  UF got UT and UK early and we played them this month.  So, we're essentially the same team against common opponents.  They've looked like a bunch of turds lately, but we looked turdtastic early.  

Even with the experts on our side, there's something of a lingering dread about this game that keeps me from complete confidence Saturday.  I'm having a problem turning myself into a bubbly fountain of hope because I've been burned so often and so badly in this series, but am I just not getting it this year?  Should I be more confident?

Given the recent history of the series, I feel like the Dawgs have to show me they can beat the Gators without endzone celebrations, lame duck coaches, or goofy alternate unis.  I want a straight up win over the Gators with no frills.  It's something I haven't seen in thirteen years.  I don't want to hear how we're going to do it.  I want to see it. Let us have it, Dawgs.  Please.  My capacity for hope in this series could be at stake.

Quinton

Quick Hoops / Stegeman Update

Player News:
Trey Thompkins continues to get positive press following his nomination as preseason SEC Player of the Year. One of my favorite articles so far comes Andy Katz talking about Trey's status as the best big man in the league. It's a very encouraging read.

Recruiting News:
On a separate note, I noticed Nick Jacobs committed to Alabama yesterday. It's unfortunate that Jacobs didn't give us a longer look given that we have so much playing time available, and his connection to the program via David Jacobs (former football player). The biggest issue with the 2011 recruiting right now is simply that the signing period is BEFORE what should be our breakout season. I hope to sign one more big man in the Spring, and we've got offers out to one more guard/wing for the Fall in Devin Langford and Dai-Jon Parker (Nov. 5th announcement scheduled).

Facilities News:
I dropped by Stegeman on Friday to check out some of the renovation work, and I came away incredibly impressed. The all glass facade completely reshapes the look of the place from the exterior. Interestingly...to me at least...hanging each piece of glass properly is quite the ordeal. I counted 1 crane, 3 cherry pickers and 10-13 men required to install one panel of glass. Oh..and each panel looked to take about 25-30 minutes to get in place with two separate crews doing the work -- one on each side of the building . This photo from the Red and Black shows the work pretty well.

On Friday, it looked like they had 4 panels left on the Carlton Street side and about 10-12 panels left on the practice field side. I would imagine they are probably pretty close to finished on that aspect of the work. Anyone who wants to drive by the building and post a comment about the progress is welcome.

Interestingly, I talked to one of the guys on site who was supervising. He said they install a rubber connector of sorts to connect the top row of glass to the concrete roof of Stegeman. The connector has to allow for the expansion and contraction of the concrete. They've measured Stegeman's roof height during temperature variations as much as 50 degrees and found almost 4 inches difference in height as the concrete reacts to external temp swings. The roof "moves" less when the building is closed off to the outside temps...in other words when they finish they'll be able to regulate the internal temps much better and reduce the movement of the roof.

The crews are basically working around the clock to finish in time, and it looks like all the major work will be done in time for the Nov. 4th exhibition game. However, I would expect quite a bit of cosmetic work regarding the graphics and visual extras to be completed closer to the official home opener.

You have to hand it to Damon Evans. This is a high value investment in our basketball facilities.

One negative in all of this...I do have to say that it's a real whiff to have the exhibition game on Thursday, Nov. 4th instead of the originally announced Friday, Nov. 5th. There are lots of folks...me included...who just can't make three separate trips to Athens in one week. One trip for the exhibition game, one for the football game and one separate athletics related trip. We need to get that exhibition game next year moved back to the Friday before the home opener to help our fans.

That's all. Overall...momentum continues to build around basketball.

PWD

Random UF Humor

Urban Meyer talks to his offensive coordinator Steve Addazio. Ht - lowcountrydawg via the Vent



PWD

About the Bye Week

Image: DawgPost.com '07
Obviously, Florida isn't going to just roll over and play dead for us, but you wouldn't know it from reading some of the message board posts or reviewing the betting line.

Think back to 2007. Georgia was coming off a bad 2006 season, and it entered the 2007 Cocktail Party in a very flaccid fashion. The South Carolina loss was bad followed by the 28-0 halftime Volunteer lead in Neyland. All followed by barely beating Vanderbilt in Nashville. The only legitimately positive sign that season was the big win at Bama.

But Georgia took advantage of the bye week to get its act together and beat the defending national champs senseless.

There's no reason to think that Florida...despite all their problems...can't do something similar. It's not like they are without talent. They just have to pull their heads out of the sand in order to give us a war.

And to clarify...This post isn't some subtle pre-game excuse making way of saying "Florida will win because of the bye week." That's a bullshit excuse on par with bitching about the weather (as Blutarsky mentioned on Monday). The Dawgs had the bye last year before UF and in 2008 before the Tech game, and it did them no good. It's simply to say that the Gators are probably tired of hearing how much they suck, and they will play their best game of the year against UGA. Much like UT did in 2007 after their bye week.

Also the Dawgs should be very thankful we didn't have the bye week this year. Georgia needed the extra week to build more momentum and confidence. Plus, Caleb King would've been suspended for the Gator game if we had the bye on Saturday.

Derek Dooley on the Germans

There's a lot of message board and twitter buzz about Derek Dooley's comparison of the Vols to the WWII Germans. The sound bytes read like a lunatic was talking, but if you actually watch the video...it's quite funny and lucid.



I'm all for mocking Precious and kicking the Vols when they are down, but this actually had me busting out laughing with him. Not at him.

Imagine Les Miles' socially awkward self trying to pull this off. Now that would be comedy.

PWD

That's Mr. Houston to You

Houston on the tackle vs. UT (Image: Hipple)

Yes. He's a badass. The SEC Defensive Player of the week now is now tied for the lead nationally in Total Sacks with 9.5 according to CFBStats.com.

The only thing missing from his game is an inside spin move. He's so fast rushing up field past the OT that teams often call the inside draw play to run inside his attack route. If he could vary his approach a little with an inside spin, he could further disrupt the opponent's play calling.

Houston is currently on pace to record 15.5 sacks this season. Although, that number will be almost impossible to hit with GT throwing the ball so infrequently and Cam Newton being so super human difficult to sack.

UGA single season sack leaders:

14 - David Pollack (2002)
13 - Mitch Davis (1993)
12.5 - David Pollack (2003)
12 - Richard Tardits - (1988)
12 - Jimmy Payne (1981)

SEC career sacks records:

52 - Derrick Thomas: Alabama '85-88
49 - Billy Jackson: Ole Miss '80-83
37 - Ben Williams: Ole Miss '72-75
36 - David Pollack, UGA '01-04
33 - Alex Brown, UGA '98-01
32 - Reggie White, UT '80-83
29 - Richard Tardits, UGA '85-88

For his career, Houston currently has 19.5 sacks. He would need to stick around for his senior season to have a shot at the UGA career mark. And it would take one helluva a season to knock that record down.

PWD

One Prerequisite Is Fulfilled

Have you ever heard that UF has a really good record lately against Georgia?  Usually, it's the ONLY thing the national media discusses in previews of this game in recent years.  As I've said before, we aren't the only team who's struggled against the Gators in the last twenty years.  Despite that, it seems we're the only team that consistently gets the recent series record dangled in our face.

So sure, we've had our issues in Jacksonville.  In every UGA victory in that twenty year span of futility, though, UF came into the game with a loss against LSU (1997, 2004, and 2007).  An LSU victory over the Gators doesn't signify that the Dawgs will win because LSU has beaten UF a few more times in the last twenty years than we have, but we haven't beaten them without LSU doing it first.  At least that one tiny omen favors us.

Quinton

Third and Grantham

Much like their prior two games, the Dawgs were workmanlike Saturday. They scored on a couple of long, bruising drives that were reminiscent of the Tech game last year. The run blocking was much better last night, resulting in a record five rushing TDs from a tailback benched earlier in the year for ball security issues. Then, when UK made a big mistake with the fumble on their own five, the Dawgs were there to cash in some easy points. The turnovers that killed us the last two years are suddenly bouncing our way. The Dawgs got four Saturday, three fumbles and a Sanders Commings INT in the UGA endzone. Oh yeah, Boykin had another 100 yard kickoff return. Ho-hum.

Overall, I'm not going to complain about much of anything, considering I left both Starkville and Boulder utterly convinced that the 'Cats were going to beat us for the third time in five games. So, I'm excited that we've got a shot at a bowl game, something I thought utterly unimaginable on the flight home from Colorado.

With that said, Saturday's game illustrated a worrisome defect in our defensive play. UK converted nine of fifteen third downs. That's sixty percent and two of the unconverted third downs were late in the fourth quarter when UK was in desperation mode. Even counting those last two, UK outperformed their season third down conversion rate by 15%. Georgia's now allowing opponents to pick up third downs at a rate of over 42%. We're very likely to be last in the conference in third down conversion defense when the stats are updated Monday.

A bigger problem Saturday night was the way our third down defense allowed all those conversions. Generally, the defense performed well on first and second downs. That set up several third and longs, the goal of every defensive coordinator. We just couldn't take advantage of those third and longs. UK converted nine third downs. All but one were third and more than five yards to go. Three were third and really long (10, 12, and 15). We just can't keep that up. So, either our coverage skills have to improve or we have to get better pressure on third downs. With those kinds of numbers, it shows our third down pressure ain't working. When the blitz comes, it's ineffective. When we don't bring pressure, our zone defense is still full of the same holes that were there last year.

"Third and Grantham," a comment of derision among Dawg fans, must turn into a term feared by opponents. So far, we're a long way from that.

Quinton

Georgia vs. Vandy Photos: The Offense

All pictures by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.


Carlton Thomas on the carry.


AJ Green in the open field.


Great photo of AJ Green snagging the ball.


Ealey on the run.


Orson Charles with the stiff arm.

All images by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.

Uga VIII's Debut

A couple of photos from Uga VIII's debut in Athens against Vanderbilt. All images by Jim Hipple.

Georgia vs. Vandy Photos: The Defense

All images by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.


DeAngelo Tyson chases down Vanderbilt's QB


Dobbs pressures the QB.


Dowtin with the tackle.


Ogletree prepares for impact.

All images courtesy of Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.

PWD

Tennessee State Champs

Not much mystery to the 43-0 homecoming victory. Georgia was surprisingly dominant against an inferior opponent for the second consecutive week. Vandy was just outmatched all day and their own mistakes didn't help them either. Despite the shutout, I'm not yet convinced that our defense is completely ready for Kentucky, UF, Auburn, and Tech (well, maybe UF). Our run defense was good and there weren't a bunch of broken tackles, but Vandy also dropped a bunch of passes. We still have some work to do on pass defense.

Otherwise, I thought Aaron Murray just kept on chugging. You can see the guy getting better every week. This week's lesson was throwing the ball away in the red zone with the clock ticking down. Good veteran move. (Why did he need to do that? Because we used all of our time outs in the first six minutes of the first quarter. Does Richt need to consult Homer Smith again?) I thought I saw an open A.J. Green outright drop a pass and Blair Walsh miss a 31 yard field goal, but I know both of those things are impossible.

Overall, Vandy was the perfect homecoming opponent. There's little about the Dawgs' play one can legitimately complain about.

It's not about the game per se, but I do have a very legitimate complaint about what I heard during the game. Dave Neal and Andre Ware made a few of the most stunningly boneheaded comments during the game that I can recall a broadcast crew saying. First, on the botched Vandy snap, Dave Neal said a possible result of the review could be that Vandy would get the ball on their 20. Uh, how? It was either a Georgia touchdown or a safety. How could Vandy get the ball in that situation? Please explain to me. Next, when Aaron Murray almost got his face knocked off on a scramble, Andre Ware says something like "that was close to helmet-to-helmet contact." Close? The Vandy D-lineman, using nothing but the crown of his helmet, attempted to knock Murray's facemask up his nose. The ONLY contact was helmet-to-helmet. Lastly, I just chuckled when Ware said Georgia might have been flagged for "roughing the passer" when they sacked the Vandy quarterback. At least "Nomar Morano" didn't make an appearance.

When I watch games, I can push the SAP button to hear the Spanish announcers. Why can't I push the same button to turn off any commentary? I want to hear the crowd and the band, but I don't want to hear anyone talking to me. Can someone help me here?

Quinton

Urban Meyer is a bad guy

Gregg Doyel, CBS Sportsline National Columnist and Florida Gator Alumni, eviscerates Urban Meyer for the reinstatement of Chris Rainey.  Per the article:

Rainey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stalking after sending the following text message to his girlfriend: "Time to Die B-tch."

Is Chris Rainey back at practice this week if he'd sent that to Meyer's daughter?

We'll never know, and good for that. I don't wish ill will on Meyer or his family, but I do wish the single most visible man at Florida -- my alma mater, if you didn't know -- would stop embarrassing UF grads like me who wonder why he's considered such a strong leader when in reality he's weak. Soft. Pathetic.

Meyer cares only about winning games, and if he'd stand there and tell the world, "I care only about winning games," then I could live with it. I'd still be embarrassed that a dangerous cretin like Chris Rainey was allowed to represent my school so soon after telling a woman that it was time to die, b-tch -- but I could live with Meyer being true to who Meyer is, which is a cutthroat coach concerned not with his players or his university, but with his career winning percentage and the $24 million contract that comes with it.

The article is an interesting read.

PWD

On the Bright Side

I spoke with a member of the UGA Marketing Department last night, and he said Georgia Basketball Season Ticket Sales are up 20% over the same period last year.  The enthusiasm for the basketball team's start is extremely high. 

If you want to continue to be excited, check out Sportsline.com's Gary Parrish as he discusses Mark Fox's work at UGA so far.  The next big date for the Dawgs is Thursday as I think Julian Royal will announce between Georgia, GT and Wake.  Most of the pundits think it's either UGA or GT.  If we can sign an elite power forward like Royal to complement Kentavious Caldwell on the wing, it would be a huge building block for the roster.

PWD

Caleb King Suspended for 2 Games

I think the punishment is too harsh for the individual act that Caleb committed.  Ultimately, he's guilty of being stupid.  However, at some point Mike Adams, Greg McGarity and Mark Richt have to say enough is enough.  Ultimately, it stops being about 1 arrest.  You have to look at the big picture.

If you're a UGA football player you know that unpaid tickets result in suspended licenses.  You also know that suspended licenses result in jail time, and you know that Richt, the administration and the fan base have had just about enough of the arrests.  You've been warned that subsequent arrests will be dealt with more harshly.

So you can't be pissed or shocked that you get whacked for two games for essentially being dumb.

Eleven arrest this season is complete and total non-sense.  I recognize that there's a MASSIVE disconnect (as Blutarsky called it) between the UGA Administration and the surrounding police force for this to be an issue with Caleb.  I also recognize that at many other schools this never results in an arrest. But it doesn't matter.  Eleven arrests is eleven arrests.  And it's not all paperwork and boys will be boys stuff. 

It's already hurting us with recruiting as Bama is using our arrest problem to help sway Crowell.  And that's why I care the most.

I also care because I think it speaks to the leadership of the program at the player level.  The team needs a gigantic kick in the ass, and it has needed one for a long time.  At some point, that kick in the ass has to come from a guy like Shockley, Pollack, Greene, Gilbert, etc.  There's a black hole in terms of leadership within the team that's existed since the 2007 season ended. 

Don't think so?  We were in a four game losing streak without a players only meeting being called. That's incomprehensible to me. As a point of comparison, LSU was 5-0 and had a players only meeting after almost losing a game.

Teams with great leaders have fewer off the field problems, and they win more on the field. 

Until our Mark Richt and our Strength and Conditioning program get back into the business of producing real leaders, I don't expect that our on the field discipline or our arrest record will improve.  And yes...that's what the S&C program used to brag about the most. Not the size of our players or fictitious 40 times, but the program's ability to develop true leadership.

PWD

Georgia at Kentucky - Kickoff Time Announced

The SEC announced their kickoff time for Oct. 23rd, and UGA will face the Kentucky Wildcats at 7:30 pm ET on CSS.  The complete SEC TV schedule for that weekend includes:

12:21 pm Ole Miss at Alabama (SEC Network)
3:30 pm LSU at Auburn (CBS)
7:00 pm Alabama at Tennessee (ESPN)
7:00 pm UAB at Miss State (ESPNU)
7:00 pm South Carolina at Vandy (FSN)
7:30 pm UGA at UK (CSS)

The Georgia vs. Florida game is at 3:30 pm on CBS the following week.  It's expected that Idaho State will be at 1:00 pm, although the ISU start time hasn't been confirmed yet.

PWD

Brutal but funny

The AJC's Mike Luckovich weighed in on Coach Richt earlier in the week. Gotta love the dark humor.

PWD

The Rave Is Over

From this morning's Athens Banner-Herald:

"Student representative Trey Sinyard told the board that the timing of some commercials being shown on the Sanford Stadium videoboard during the game result in 'killing the atmosphere.'

McGarity said after the meeting that Georgia is 'taking a hard look,' at some of the presentations, including 'canned music.'

'I’m pretty much a traditionalist, a conservative,' McGarity said. 'If the bands there, I want to hear the band playing. I think our fans do too.'"

Thanks you, Jesus.  When I went to Starkville, I was unsure how the State athletic administration managed to turn Davis-Wade into a dance party, complete with techno music before every kick off.  Look, if I wanted to go to a dance club with blaring techno music, I'd buy Hawks tickets.

Good luck, Greg McGarity.  Let the band play.

Quinton

to add to that last post

..the one about the call in show and more physical practices.

To answer a question all of us should be asking..."No. I have no idea what took him so long to do this."  But it's directionally right so I'm going with that.

Rays of Hope

I sincerely hope you had the opportunity last night to listen to Coach Richt's Bulldog Hotline Show.  I found it to be the most refreshing, honest and genuine conversation with Richt in a long time.  JimFromDuluth has a recap, but it's impossible to capture Richt's tone.  Here are some highlights from my recollection in addition to the full recap from Jim:

1.  Toughness -- Richt openly and candidly addressed the issue of toughness on the team. He talked about our need to be more physical at the point of attack on both sides of the ball and to tackle better.  To that end, he reshaped this week's practice schedule.  Typically, Monday is a day for lifting, reviewing Saturday's mistakes with the players and doing a shorts and pads walk-thru.  However, the team went full pads and full speed yesterday and did 1's vs. 1's work. 

It's extremely rare and incredibly frustrating / baffling to me why Richt does so little 1 vs. 1 work.  Typically, it's first teamers vs. second teamers or 1's vs. Scout teamers in practice.  So yesterday was uncommon.  He said the practice was incredibly spirited, and the guys had fun competing.  I also liked that the losers for all the drills had extra running.  He said the team got better, and that they'll be going the same speed today.  He also said that toughness and physicality are two of the biggest areas of emphasis for him right now. 

2.  Play Calling -- He addressed the play calling on 1st and Goal from the 4 yard line vs. Colorado.  He said in retrospect that we absolutely should've pounded those guys four times.  However, he said the real mistake was not telling Bobo when they got down there that he was going to go for it on 4th down.  If Bobo knew he had 3 whacks at it after they got to the 2 yard line following Chapas' run on first down, he felt the play calling would've been different.  He didn't address the idiocy of having AJ Green on the bench for the disastrous 3rd down pass, but he at least admitted that they completely bungled that possession.

He also said that as a result of that nonsense on the goal line much of Monday's 1 vs. 1 practice session was focused on a Goal Line Possession called "1st and Goal from the 4"...where the offense wasn't allowed to pass. 

3.  Vance Cuff's 3 Penalties -- He was basically asked how in the heck Cuff could get a third personal foul in that game without being benched.  Richt candidly said that he badly wanted to bench him.  But with Branden Smith out with a concussion, they didn't think that Cuff's back up was experienced enough to play better.  Richt would rather have pulled him, but didn't think it would work.  Now...you can agree or disagree with that reasoning, but at least he had valid logic.  I've felt in the past that they screw up...and it's never even considered to pull them.  (No word on why Jakar Hamilton still sees the field, but that's a topic for another day)

4.  Visible Leadership -- A woman called last night and asked him about visible leadership. She said that Nick Saban and others lead their team out onto the field pregame, but Richt is the last one out of the tunnel.  She acknowledged that typically Richt has said he wants that moment to be about the players, but she wants to see him lead the program.  He said she had a valid point, and he will lead the team out this week.  Most of you won't care about this at all.  But it's been a source of annoyance for me and a few friends for years.  Same with the Dawg Walk.  His excuse about not doing the Dawg Walk but once a year has never made a lick of sense to me.  Is it why we're losing? No.  But it's part of a bigger issue about leadership.

5.  Being a Nice Guy -- Richt routinely gets calls on the show about being a nice guy and a good Christian man.  Last night, he said (paraphrased heavily) that he appreciates that praise.  He also recognizes that being a head coach is about more than wins and losses.  It's about developing young men, seeing them graduate, etc.  But he said the wins and losses are the biggest and most visible thing.  More importantly, we're no where near where we need to be, where he expects to be or where the fans wants to be in that regard.  We have to improve.  Again, that's heavily paraphrased, but his general tone (that I interpreted) was that he knows it's not enough to be a Nice Guy or Rev. Richt.  Which I appreciate.


You can read everything I wrote about last night, and not think any of it matters or will fix anything.  Maybe you are right, but I can tell you that I'm an extreme skeptic related to the rhetoric from our coaching staff.  I was incredibly encouraged.  Richt sounded passionate, and he sounded sincerely humble. 

For the first time this season including before the ULL game, my optimism and hope for the season is based on something other than a weak schedule and a belief that "Murray can't be worse than Cox / Grantham can't be worse than Martinez." 

Don't get me wrong...he still has to beat UT or we move into DEFCON 1 PANIC.  But for one night, I finally heard most of what I wanted him to say about the big picture stuff.  Get us tougher, and many other things will fix themselves.

PWD

Lessons from Ray Goff's Tenure

Well...we've lost four games in a row for the first time since Ray Goff's 1990 team went 4-7 overall. If we lose to the Vols, it would be the first five game losing streak since the early 1950s when UGA was by far at it's absolute lowest historical point.

Given that you have to reflect back to Goff's tenure to find failure of this scope, it makes sense to look at some of Ray's good and bad moves in times of crisis.

Positive Lessons Learned from Goff:
An offensive turnaround can happen quickly. UGA lost 13 games from 1989 and 1990 on the strength of a dramatic collapse in the talent base and an offensive philosophy that was wildly out of date. Offensive Coordinator George Haffner's play calling was straight out of the stone age. Our QBs in 1990 were Greg Talley, Preston Jones and Joe Dupree, and the 1990 recruiting class which was ranked #1 in the nation with guys like Hearst and Hastings was still in diapers.

So how did Ray turn around the offense? He brought in Wayne McDuffie with an innovative wide open passing attack, and signed an elite QB in Zeier to run it. The improvement began immediately as the Dawgs went from 4-7 in '90 to 9-3 in '91 and 10-2 in '92.

Negative Lessons Learned from Goff:
Goff kept his "hunting" buddies on staff for far, far too long. His inability to hire a competent defensive coordinator to complement McDuffie on the other side of the ball created an imbalance he could never overcome. (that and being stupid and lazy...but that's another topic)

He also struggled with personnel utilization issues on both sides of the ball. Even McDuffie and his brilliance had issues here. Reflect back to the 1994 game at Alabama. The Tide went undefeated in the regular season, but the Dawgs were a whisker from beating them. Unfortunately, we had Hines Ward (Super Bowl MVP WR) at Running Back, Robert Edwards (Top 10 NFL Draft Pick RB) at defensive back, and Terrell Davis (Super Bowl MVP RB) on the bench.

Lastly, he let the strength and conditioning program fall behind the times. When Donnan came to UGA in 1996, he commented (paraphrase) that his Marshall offensive line was stronger than his UGA line when he arrived.

Where are we now?
Richt is shockingly making mistakes right out of Ray Goff's play book. He waited too long to replace Martinez. Our strength program may produce great "stats" but our guys up front are getting mangled at the point of attack.

We have a former WR coaching RBs who should've gotten his "big break" in Div I-AA. We have a RB coaching WRs who was a much better RB coach for us. Our offensive coordinator refuses to sit in the press box where he can have a complete view of the field.

Granted, Richt isn't watching soap operas in his office instead of game film unlike one of the really depressing Goff rumors. But holy hell the ox is clearly in the ditch.

Where Next?
This is STILL very fixable. There are innovative offensive minds all over college football who would KILL for a chance to coach Aaron Murray. They would kill to coach in the SEC. And it doesn't have to take forever to turn things around.

OR..Mike Bobo could prove that he's one of those people and this season has been a wacky mix-up of some variety. Which I'm fine with...but skeptical.

In the Shortest Term
At a minimum, Bobo should be back upstairs where he could see the entire field better...with instructions to get AJ Green the ball at least twice per offensive possession. We should make sure our best players are in the game -- like Kwame Geathers getting more snaps on defense. And Branden Smith should have more offensive touches than Carlton Thomas. Because...you know..that simply makes sense.

As for the defense...it takes time to implement a completely new system. However, it would probably be a shorter process if the playbook wasn't 12 inches thick. These are college kids with 20 hours to learn and absorb a scheme. Right now, it looks like the only team that's confused by our defense is our own. The brilliance of Bill Oliver, legendary defensive coordinator at Bama, wasn't his complexity or his aggressiveness...it was his ability to put guys in the right spot and tackle well. That's why he was the first defensive coordinator to handle Spurrier in the early 90s.

It's all still fixable. But...it's been fixable all season.

PWD