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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Fleeting Thoughts: Tennessee Edition

Part of me thought that the best way to post a "Fleeting Thoughts" for this week would be simply to write:

-- Georgia isn't very good.

And leave it at that. What more is there to say after a game like that?

Well, in truth, probably a lot. It's just a matter of how much you really still feel like hearing it. But let's give it a whirl, and if Georgia loses to Vandy next week, we'll go with the one-line synopsis.

-- No one 'fussed up to it, but it's hard not to wonder if there was a lingering hangover effect from last week's LSU loss. It's obviously no excuse, but despite all the other problems, Georgia has played with a ton of heart this season through five games. Saturday, I just didn't see a lot of fight.

-- I've covered Mark Richt for five years now, and I think today was the angriest I've seen him following a game. The problem, I think, is that he was preemptively angry at the media, not the folks who are actually responsible for that debacle. I get he doesn't want to air his laundry in public, but he has to understand that there is going to be legitimate criticism following a game like that.

-- Three turnovers or more in five of six games. No touchdowns in 10 of past 11 quarters of football.

-- Georgia picked up a few garbage yards on the ground in the fourth quarter, but through three quarters, they were averaging 2.9 yards per carry and had a whopping 41 yards on the ground.

-- Joe Cox played awful, no doubt. But there just wasn't much there for him either. He hit his first six throws -- all dinks and dunks -- but that's all he had. His receivers did him few favors either. Tons of drops on very catchable passes. Still, none of that excuses some absolutely awful decisions. You have to know how much time is on the clock at the end of the half. You have to be able to get a ball into the third row if you're gonna toss it up for grabs to avoid a sack. You've got to stop staring down receivers. These are the things Cox was supposed to be good at.

-- Another note on the drops, courtesy of Jim F.: Before the drop by A.J. in the second quarter, Cox was 11-of-13 passing. After, he was 9-of-22 the rest of the way. Take away the 4-of-5 throwing during garbage time, and Cox went 4-of-17 (29%) following A.J.'s drop.

-- OK, I owe jferg an apology. Why did I think Zach Renner had graduated? I'm dumb.

-- Of course, as dumb as I am, I've been saying for the past month that Georgia is overplaying the run and can't handle play-action. Tennessee dominated using play-action and bootlegs. Here's what Willie had to say: "We’ve got to look at the tape and obviously when you’re running a lot of play-action pass or you’re defending the run and you’ve got to convert that to pass, we’ve got to do a better job with that.”

-- I know we all were aware that Johnathan Crompton was awful, but here were his career numbers in his previous starts against BCS-conference teams: 116-of-238 (48.7%) for 1,220 yards (152 per game avg.) with six TDs and 11 INTs. His numbers vs. Georgia? 20-of-27 (74%) for 310 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT.

-- Mike Gundy, Les Miles and Lane Kiffin have severely out-coached Mark Richt's staff this year. That's not exactly a MENSA crowd.

-- Prince Miller played one of the worst games I've seen from a corner in a long, long time.

-- I'm not going to tell Richt what decisions he needs to make, but clearly some tough decisions need to be made. It's what head coaches do. In the Colorado-Texas game Saturday night, Dan Hawkins pulled his own son from the game to insert a true freshman quarterback. On the field, it needs to be all business.

-- Georgia had 18 tackles for a loss in its previous two games. I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want to seem like I was trying to find negatives, but I had a feeling that sudden success of the D line had more to do with the lackluster play by the opposing O lines. A no-sack, three-TFL performance against the patchwork Tennessee line Saturday seems to provide some evidence that all is not well for the pass rush after all.

-- Walsh seems to be able to kick deep pretty well. Kicking directionally didn't seem to work out very well. I feel like I've typed these words before.

-- I watched all of the LSU-Florida game. I think the announcers made fun of Georgia about 9,463 times.

-- Tennessee was only 5-of-11 converting third downs, but it sure felt like more. Georgia was 3-of-13 and it felt like less.

-- You can argue the chicken or the egg here, but here are some numbers for Cox that should give you an understanding of how hard it is to succeed without a running game: In the two games when Georgia rushed for more than 100 yards as a team, Cox is completing 70 percent of his passes, averaging 288 yards passing and has seven TDs to go with two INTs. In the four games when Georgia has not rushed for 100 yards as a team, Cox's numbers drop to 53 percent completions, 195 yards per game passing with four TDs and six INTs.

-- As for that chicken-or-egg argument, Tennessee didn't give Georgia anything deep. They didn't stack the box and beg Cox to throw long. It was the opposite. The underneath passes were open. There was nothing downfield.

-- I know you guys were angry and frustrated, but I give you all a tip o' the cap on some excellent comments. Lotta humor, which is probably the best way to handle a situation like this.

-- And along those lines, I now know what FML means.

-- I know it was a small sample size, but Logan Gray and Marlon Brown didn't do anything to make me think Mike Bobo was wrong in not giving them a ton of playing time.

-- If Gray isn't the answer next year, Georgia really needs to think about getting Aaron Murray some snaps. And from the sounds of it, Mike Bobo hasn't ruled it out. "With Aaron missing three weeks, it's a little difficult to factor him in right now," Bobo said, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. "I wouldn't rule out anything right now with where we are as a football team offensively, trying to find something to give us a spark."

-- Georgia had 12 drives. Six ended with three-and-outs. So far this season, Georgia has 20 three-and-outs and 16 turnovers. That's 47 percent of the Bulldogs' offensive drives this season that have ended with either a turnover or three plays and a punt. Sixty-eight percent of all of Georgia's drives have been for five plays or fewer.

-- Those numbers lead to these numbers: Time of possession for the season -- Georgia 166:30, Opponents 193:30. Georgia has won the ToP battle just once this season.

-- I've heard the name Ray Goff way too many times today. That can't be good for Mark Richt.

-- Here's a good quote from Rennie: “We can’t keep on with the same mistakes and the same mentality the way things are going. We’re working hard, but we’ve got to work smart, too. We’ve got to play hard and smart with our hearts and our mind.”

Think he might be getting a bit frustrated?

-- Ohio scored one more offensive touchdown against Tennessee than Georgia did. Congrats to Frank Solich.

-- Georgia has allowed 37 points or more in seven of its past 12 games. Since the start of the 2007 season, the Bulldogs are allowing an average of 24.5 points per game. Against teams that ranked in the top 80 in scoring offense in FBS, that number shoots up to 33.5 points per game. And to be honest, Michigan State (13 points) and Arizona State (17 points) probably don't belong, but they make the cut statistically.

(*note, winning record following its game vs. Georgia)

-- It's not just that Georgia's passing D is allowing big plays this year. The vast majority of Crompton's completions Saturday -- and this is hardly a new trend -- were to WIDE OPEN receivers. There isn't coverage within 10 yards. The worst example, of course, was on the touchdown throw to Marsalis Teague in the end zone. When there are only 15 yards worth of field to work with, and no one is within 7 yards of Teague… I mean, how do you explain that?

-- It's one thing to have a team that's rebuilding, but there's just something so un-Georgia about a team that can't run and can't play D.

-- Georgia has been outscored this season 184-155. They've been out-gained 2,263 (377 per game) to 1,994 (334 per game).

-- In the "just saying" category, this comment was left on the blog Saturday: Donnan (97-00) 35-13. Richt (06-09) 33-12.

-- The pass blocking was brutal Saturday. Cox wasn't sacked, but he was constantly under pressure. Carlton Thomas did an OK job pass blocking, but it seemed like Georgia missed Caleb King a good bit.

-- Quote from Lane Kiffin after the game: "I told the guys last night that I don’t know all the Tennessee history and tradition, nor do I intend to. I know there are a lot of great teams in this conference. But I told them, to me, this is the biggest matchup, Georgia. Because of what we do recruiting, for this staff, this is the biggest matchup."

-- As bad as this was for Georgia, things are worse at Vandy, where the Commies lost to Army. So next week SHOULD be a win for Georgia. Assume the Dawgs can get by Tennessee Tech, too, and you're at five wins. But look at the rest of the schedule: vs. Florida, vs. Kentucky, vs. Auburn and at Georgia Tech. It wouldn't be surprising to see the Dawgs go 3-1, but after watching that game Saturday, would it shock you if they went 0-4? And 0-4 means a 5-7 record and no bowl game. I can't fathom the reaction if that happened.

-- Next week in Nashville should be nice. I'm looking forward to the trip.

35 comments:

Embarassed said...

What's disgusting is that the players are out there beating their brains out "working on the same mistakes" and the real elephant in the room is that we have the worst coaching staff in the SEC. Yet, today, the players will shoulder the blame and Cox will get demoted. Meanwhile, the coaches will just cash another bloated paycheck for a job poorly done.

We aren't prepared to play on Saturday. We cannot adjust during the game. We are consistenly outcoached on gameday. We aren't physical and the guys look lost on the field on both sides of the ball.

That's on the coaches and it starts with the guy at the top. The trend over the past two seasons can only described as pathetic, inexcusable, and after yesterday, fireable.

Mark Richt is paid a LOT of money to do this job. Despite his cavalier attitude, he and his staff is NOT above being replaced. If he can't do his job, then Damon Evans may have to help him.

Anonymous said...

On the radio, there were about a dozen times when they said "wow there are white shirts knocked down to the turfball over the place."

do you see a strength and conditioning problem as well?

Fl Dawg said...

1. Why wait for Evans to get burnt before you but Rambo in? UT went after #3 on the first play. DUH Sorry but Reshad is not much better than Evans , better suited for linebacker.
2. UT dominated our oline on almost every single play , with a depleted dline. Worst Oline play I have ever seen at Georgia.
3. Get the ball to Carlton Thomas
4. Play Logan. And Mike if you do just let the kid play. No more of the hb fake -qb draw gimmick play, everyone knows it.
5. Three and outs. David can you see how many 3 and outs our offense has had over the past two seasons compared to the rest of the SEC????
6. UT was a stronger tougher team, and a whole lot meaner. Kiffins staff has made them tough and from what i hear Orgeron gets them fired up. Who does that for the DAWGS?????
7. Kiffin's offensive staff made our "devensive staff" look silly.
How do recievers get so open! Lots of high fiving and laughing in the UT press box.
8. Butler is the MVP man can he kick the ball.
9. Play another qb some
10. We have gone from pre season #1 last year to the whipping boy of the SEC. We are on everyones highlight real even espn and CBS pregame.

Silver Dawg said...

My Fleeting Thoughts on Sunday morning:

A good night's sleep, a clearer head.

Richt can and will do what needs to be done. There is no doubt in my mind about that.

This season is akin to finding out that your wife is not as faithful as you thought. But, you still love her with all your heart and passion. The better man forgives the regretful wife he loves and moves on. Hopefully, into a stronger marriage, made stronger by living through and working through an overwhelming crisis.

Just a thought.

(Mea culpa to anyone that I offended yesterday here. I vented when I should have just continued mumbling to myself).

Anonymous said...

The "faithful wife" analogy shows why we will continue to accept Richt's mediocrity.

When your wife isn't faithful, you show her the door. Not hope she's stop screwing the neighbor.

So, who thinks Meyer will delight in scoring 70 on us? Richt won't mind--he'll just blame it on the players.

bnwdog14 said...

NO DOUBT, the debate as to whether changes will be made at the end of this season is officially over. I just hope the fans can be the bigger man and let things play out. We all know Richt is not going to throw any player/coach under the bus. Richt's experiment to promote from within was a noble one and one most of us in the real world implement in our professional lives as well. Didn't work, the goal now should be to find replacement coaches with a proven track record and a history of winning. I have all the confidence in the world that Richt will do just that. Anyone commenting that Richt needs to go has absolutely lost their mind. Some of the posts on your journalistic competitors’ articles are just foolish. Additionally there should not be some expection that coaching changes will yeild immediate results. We as fans must accept the ebb and flow and have faith in our coach when we have a good one. Richt is a DAMN good one! I could quote the stats over the last 9 years, but by now I am sure everyone has seen them.


Here are some Vince Dooly records that some might find interesting. Definitely some ebb and flow here!
'69 - 5-5-1
'70 - 5-5-0
'71 - 11-1-0
'72 - 7-4-0
'73 - 7-4-1
'74 - 6-6-0
'75 - 9-3-0
'76 - 10-2-0 SEC
'77 - 5-6-0
'78 - 9-2-1
'79 - 6-5-0
'80 - 12-0-0 MNC
'81 - 10-2-0 SEC
'82 - 11-1-0 SEC

Anonymous said...

I don't think UGA is going to beat Vandy in their house.

And of course FL is going to destroy UGA.

TN Tech? Don't be putting a "W" on your calendar just yet.

AU will come in with revenge and will put up a score similar to the TN game yesterday. Maybe even worse.

KY will come in with upset on their minds and they have just enough in their tank to do it too.

by the time the dawgs hit the final game of the year against our ugly Atlanta rival the season will be long over. I hope they have enough pride and inner strength to win that game on their own because they sure won't have coaching to help.

Logan Gray didn't look good yesterday either. He's yet another victim of the coach-down-syndrome at UGA. Good ole Mike Bobo, QB coach, strikes again with his ineptness. If Logan was at Bama or FL he'd look like a heisman candidate.

In 2008 Richt got an $800K payraise. $800K! For a total of $2.8M. At the start of this year, all his buddies got a bump in salary. Here's the ABH article on who got what:

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022809/foo_399405625.shtml

Merry Christmas, Dawg Nation, cause all that money has produced us is to be the laughing stock of the NCAA.

ChicagoDawg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

The last Anonymous that posted:

Laughing stock of the NCAA after we are 3-3 this season? Give me a break! We're not losing to Vandy, Tenn Tech, or Kentucky. Chill.

ChicagoDawg said...

I have been slow to come to this point and could arguably be labeled a Richt apologist. However, yesterday was the tipping point that the Auburn Saturday night debacle was for Jim Donnan. The difference in this case is that I am not ready for the HC to go. Richt has been great for GA and I believe he has more than earned his bad year(s), but he needs to arrest this deal and it needs to happen fast. These things have a way of unraveling fast and once it becomes okay to entertain discussions about firings among the masses, the pool of good will is pretty shallow.
Watching UT run bootleg after bootleg after bootleg was nauseating to say the least. It wasn't that they were just hitting passes, they were hitting wide open receivers as though they were running against cones trying to install their offense. It was beyond poor. We made Jonathan Crapton look Ben Leard. Those of you who remember the Donnan Auburn debacle will know what the Ben Leard reference is about. Where we made Leard look like Dan Faust. It was beyond bad.
The OL play is almost as bad as the DB play. Really, I don't know which aspect is worse at this point. This team is so fundamentally broken at this point. There is no identity. What can this team hang their hat on? Special teams? Having a strong ground game? Stopping the pass? Stopping the run? Stellar special teams play? Usually, you can say..."we know we can stop the run, we can throw on anyone and we will be play great special teams"....or "if nothing else, we know no one will run on us and we can get our ground game going, grind the clock, etc.," You cannot say that about any aspect of this team's strengths (sic).
Lastly, while it is hard to complain too much about kick/punt returns, as it is the one area that has produced points, they continue to make poor decisions with respect to fielding punts/kicks that would be better left as touch backs. Of course the same can be said for the INT against LSU. It is just indicative of the poor decision making that has come to characterize this team. Sadly, it is not limited to the youth -- see Cox' poor INTs that have resulted from bad decisions at bad areas of the field.
Ugh....at bit of a stream of consciousness post here, but it is just hard to focus on a few specific areas of frustration when there are so many to choose from.

JRL said...

Let's assume CMR sees the problem and implements change (haven't we heard "Change" from someone else that is driving us over the cliff but I digress). So who does he go after? Looking at the number of blue chip recruits (I know - I know) I would think some truly talented coaches would be licking their chops to move to Athens.

CMR appears smart enough to realize the CWM - CMB experiment is a complete failure. We have a defense that is offensive to watch and an offense that is so pitiful it remains indefensible.

I have visions of BoBo sitting in the press box with a big red ball affixed to his nose -never looking down at the field - never considering the package - surrounded by "Crazy 8 Balls" and “Ouija Boards”. At least with CWM we can see he is blinded by the lights and we have no need to conjure up visions.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I think Richt has earned the benefit of the doubt. I trust he will do the right thing in the off-season.

Second, I've had my fingers crossed all year we'd put it all together against Florida and pull the upset like in '07, but honestly, now I think Meyer could sit Tebow AND Spikes and we'd still lose by 4 touchdowns

Billy Barou said...

I am sick of all the turnovers! They are ruining Drew Butler's chances of breaking the all-time single season punt yardage record!

Unknown said...

I think the conditioning and 'toughness' issues are temporary, probably the result of so many injuries. Recall when CMR announced the hiring of Coach Van Halanger. http://www.georgiadogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=299986

I remember Bobo's first season calling plays. He was very good. Today it seems our offense lacks innovation and we don't seem to be able to adapt to circumstances. I'm thinking we've been throwing out plays instead of adding them.

I know we have a lot of talent and a lot of heart. It looks like we have some succession issues in the coaching staff. Martinez replaced Van Gorder, and I think this was a net loss. Martinez was the secondary coach; who replaced him? The secondary really struggled yesterday...

John Sobasky said...

Thoughts on the Game

Offensive Struggles

Where to begin? Samuel can't run with his head up. When he does, he turns into an indecisive back, taking away from the speed and power he possesses. Ealey is a true freshman and he looked better than Samuel(even though I think Ealey might even be older haha). Washaun follows his blocks, similar to the recently departed #24. I've been saying all year that Carlton Thomas needs playing time. I feel the same about Logan Gray. I feel Gray has shown us that he can effectively throw the ball and he can escape the inevitable pressure GA QB's will have to deal with this season due to the loss of Sturdivant. Orson Charles is pretty darn good if you ask me. He needs to keep his head up....WHERE IS THE BLOCKING?

Defensive Woes

I'm going to tackle our defense now cause lord knows they couldn't tackle it. I've supported Willie Martinez since VanGorder left because we use the same philosophies he did, but how many times can you see a bootleg and not recognize that they are using a short middle route to get open between two soft LB zones. It's happened repeatedly and I'm sick of it.
We couldn't get a DE off the edge to contain and pressure. We need Cornelius Washington out there in situations like that(ran a 10.9 100 meter in HS).
Then there's the DB's...ugggh We have as much TALENT at the DB position as almost any team in the SEC barring Florida and LSU but our coaching is bottom of the barrel in that department. Defensively, we have one player we can almost always count on and you know who that is...Rennie Curran. Although, he did miss a tackle that ended up resulting in 6, I'm sure he gets tired of being the only tackler on the team EVERY GAME!
Finally on defense, we are still thud tackling. This has to stop. I watched the FLA/LSU game and I saw both teams were very well coached in that department. Now broken tackles happen but they continuously happen to us(primarily the secondary..uhhhm Evans). Even some of our D-linemen had problems tackling. Well that about wraps up(no pun intended) the defense, or lack thereof.

The Good News:

Special Teams!!! We are amazing on special teams and that showcases the talent and speed we have on our team. We also have Drew Butler, who is without a doubt the best punter in football. Complimenting Butler is Walsh, a superstar kicker himself. Walsh has been confident and consistent, even on the 50+ kicks. BRANDON BOYKIN! What can you say about this young man? He is absolutely one of the best return men in the country. True enough, he had good blocking but u have to be smart enough to use that blocking to make it effective (uhhmmm Samuel). I don't like the idea of Smith being back there sometimes but giving Boykin a break is a good thing, especially with all the kickoff returns we've had this year.

Maybe things will get better like in 07, maybe not.
Maybe Martinez will get his act together or his bags together cause this isn't Georgia defense by any stretch of the imagination. I've never been all that critical of Martinez until last nights game. I figured it was a personnel thing, you know, players not knowing the system...but at some point you have to make adjustments for what you have. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't VanGorder recruit all of his players to tailor suite his scheme. That seems to be the problem now. Outside of Rennie and a few others, I don't see that same group of Junkyard Dawgs on the field the way I did under VanGorder.

Well thats all the venting I'm going to do for today. If you have any questions, Email them to me at jsobasky@uga.edu

Anonymous said...

To Silver Dawg and to those I may have offended. I have been a Dawg fan for many, many years and was just asking a question based on someone who knows the person and the program. I know how long CRG has been at Georgia and according to recruiting services he has done well recruiting. Coach Garner (forgive my spelling yesterday) played at Auburn and was recruiting coordinator for Tennessee when they had a lot of success so it’s not like I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just questioning whether are not we are recruiting ALL defensive athletes be red, yellow, black or white. Just because a player is 6’2 and runs a 4.4 does not necessary make him a winner. Just because Rivals says he is a 6.0, 5.9 or so on does not make him a winner. (I know what you are thinking) No, just because a player is white does it make him a winner. It concerns me whether we are recruiting all. I don’t care what color, creed or nationality and should have not just mentioned white. But looking at past recruiting years, and I’m talking specifically about defensive recruits (David Pollock was a offensive player turned defense), their seems to be evidence to my point. Are we recruiting ALL and are we recruiting WINNERS!!! We may be, but evidence in defensive recruits over Garner’s tenure shows a big disparity. That is not racist - it’s fact. I’m sorry if I offended you. I love the Dawgs, even if we were playing with pygmies.

Anonymous said...

Like I said on a previous post, I know what the captain of the Titantic must have felt in it's fianl moments. Mark Richt, you will too if you don't make changes to the coaching staff!!! And we want real change not some switch of RB coach to WR coach and co-defensive coach label. Wake up CMR!!!

Anonymous said...

I don't think you can judge Logan by one play when it was still a game , and then at the end when we were getting killed.

Dawgy1 said...

When you're ranked close to last in the entire nation in turnovers and in penalties you are not a well coached team! This program has significant issues and, I predict that they can not be fixed in a few weeks. The talent level has prevented us from being winless.

Anonymous said...

Dave-
I am not a coach and I have never played a down of football. I am trying to figure out whether its lack of talent or poor that leads to Georgia's troubles.

The Georgia defenses from 2002-2005were known for swarming the ball. When you ran the ball, first the line would hit you, then all the backers and then the safeties or even corners like Asher Allen. Our entire team seemed to play downhill. Now everyone plays tentatively and if one person misses a tackle, it is usually a large gain. Where is the rest of the unit? Also, did anyone see the hits the Florida defense was putting on the LSU running back, even when he was running full steam. Against Georgia, I dont remember him ever falling backwards, even when we got him at or behind the line of scrimmage. If I was an opposing OC, all I would need to do was block the front four and Rennie and then attack, since the rest of team will wait and watch.


There are four potential reasons: 1) Bad scheme that prevents players from swarming the ball or be easily blocked, 2) Poor decision by individual players on practically every play. Sit and wait instead of attacking that quarterback or the ball carrier 3) Lack of talent (maybe true with safeties by not with front seven) and 4) Lack of strength as compared to other teams (David, you mentioned previously that you have heard something from former players in the NFL regarding this, though off the record).

If we beleive that it is not 3 (I would bet at least 50% of our defensive starters will play on Sunday's),then it is either poor coaching/conditioning (1,4). I cannot beleive that the scheme is good, but our players blocked or make bad decisions on every play (2).

At least using my non-expert reasoning, I beleive that it is bad coaching and probably poor conditioning. I beleive that Thomas Davis alluded to this, when he said that our defense doesnt seem to attack any more, as it used to.

Your thoughts, Dave?

Anonymous said...

As bad as the Defense was, the Offense was the real problem. Couldn't get a first down, Oline out played, no running game (again), Tenn LBs were sprinting into the secondary at the exact moment Cox had the ball in the stomach of our RB on play action. They were not fooled. Our Offense must be that predictable to papa kiffin. Their D knows what to do just based on formation and personnel. We have serious coaching issues.... 17pts off turnovers. Defense played poorly but the offense has collapsed now that the opposing teams have figured our 5-8 plays out and are doubling AJ

Anonymous said...

I have not seen anyone on the blogs mention yet the play where Prince Miller - a senior - fielded a punt on his own goal line. In all my years of watching football, I have never seen this, not once. If this does not show a total indifference/disregard for the coaching staff, what does? The staff has lost the team.

Also, does anyone know how the 11 for the kick coverage team are chosen? Surely, Coach Fab is not looking at our 105 guys and saying "I need these 10 plus Logan Gray", is he? Do guys volunteer/try out for this unit? I just can't picture any scenario of how Logan ends up on this unit - and he was there again yesterday - that isn't a bad scenario.

Pete

Anonymous said...

David,
Did you notice that after we pulled into the 24-19 score that our next defensive set, arguably a chance to KEEP the momentum shift, that Rennie was not in on a single play. I also think that Gamble was out for that set for the most part. I can hear Willie saying that at that point Rennie and Daryl needed a blow. Thus Marcus Washington and Chris? Robinson played while Tennessee blew down the field.
What is Damon Evans saying these days???

Aladawg

UGA69Dawg said...

David

This game was in the bag for UT from the kick off. We play vanilla Pro-Style O and a weak Cover 2. We were going up against a great Pro DC who could have defended our O from a phone both in the next county. I stated on several blogs that we would not score on the UT D and I was only off by 3 points. This was too easy for the old man. Monty Kiffin v Mike Bobo who's going to win, Mike Tyson v Mickey Mouse LMAO.

On the D side Lane Kiffin might have been bad in the Pro's but even a bad Pro OC could destroy a very bad cover 2. Lane schooled Willie on the way to beat a cover 2 especially one that would not adjust at all.

UT may lose every game it plays from here on but don't come at them with a weak Pro-style.

Anonymous said...

I can't add anything to the calls for coaching changes in the OC/DC rands but will add one philosophical point...In the military accountability comes with leadership..the worst career ending comment was "a failure of leadeship". You led with the help of a good staff, usually put together by you, the principal leader. They did their jobs with you giving the help they needed..if they seemed to stumble you gave corrective guidance..if they failed to resond you replaced them and moved on...if you failed to take action your leadership was deemed a failure..and your boss(s) replaced you. Your success was the missions' sucess..your failure was reflected by the missions' failure. End of lecture. Mark, you owe us..the Dawg family..an explanation of what you intend to do to right the ship..don't brush us off by saying they don't understand the problem..we do recognize how we win or lose. Man up! Talk to us..if we're wrong show us where we're wrong. If you're wrong tell us what you intend to do. David, you represent us..pass this along..you, too, have a responsibility!

Anonymous said...

FIRE MARK RICHT!!!!

That indignant and obstinate putz will not step up and make the difficult decisions to fire his incompetent buddies that are dragging down the entire program....

He doesn't have the decisiveness or big picture perspective for this job....

As long as he's here, so will Willie, Fabris, and Bobo. Time to address the problem at it's source.

Anonymous said...

I think you're wrong about CMR being mad only at the media and not the ones responsible for the debacle. Sometimes when I'm mad at the kids it's the dog that gets kicked.

Muckbeast said...

CMR needs to stop blaming the fans and the media, and start blaming his crony friends who are ruining everything he built.

Anonymous said...

David,

Is there a way to find out the starting field position for our opponents for the past couple of years? IF you include turnovers, kick coverage, kicks out of bounds, penalties on top of that, etc. I bet our opponents start near midfield.

On the other hand, I bet we start aroudn the 25...

Anonymous said...

Hire WILL MUSCHAMP!!

Anonymous said...

I have played college football and I saw no heart from these guys yesterday. No I didnt play D-1, but I have played in some 50-60k fan venues and once in Commonwealth Stadium. Our coaches are just too layed back. When our coaches jumped in our faces screaming we responded. It wasnt always a victory but we fought like our lives dependended on it. And no run or pass game will work atall untill we decide to block somebody.

Anonymous said...

Who the hell is "CMR"?

Oh, okay, I see. But the man's first initial is not actually "C", is it? Or do people get their names legally changed when they are hired as coaches?

This crotchety comment started as simply venting a pet peeve; but I think I've got an actual point here too. To wit:

Richt and the gang are not part of a special priestly caste with titles that get permanently rolled into their given names. They're not part of a gnostic elite with secret knowledge inaccessible to mortals--knowledge that would cause the inexplicable aspects of our suckitude to make sense, if only it could be shared with peons outside the charmed circle.

No, they're just men doing a job, same as anybody else--albeit a difficult and high-profile job, at a very high level. If Mr. Richt and Mr. Bobo and Mr. Martinez and the rest of them produce acceptable results, they may enjoy hearing people continue to call them "Coach". But they've got to continue to earn that title and their positions week after week.

Despite what Richt's mentor may believe, no one is entitled to be a football coach as long as he damned well pleases, regardless of the outcome; to be accountable to no one but himself; to arrogate to himself a lifelong title as if the Queen dubbed him Coach. No more than any of the rest of us are entitled to keep our jobs when our unit's performance collapses.

Anonymous said...

Tom says:

Since we can't clear the gene pool of our coaching staff at mis-season, what can be done at this point?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Work on the running game.

Run goal line and short yardage drills in practice to determine who wants it most along the line and in the backfield. Then work on fundamentals, keeping the pad level low, firing out on the linebackers, and drive blocking. Tackling and ball-stripping skills can be developed here for the defense. Backs can learn how to finish runs like their predecessors did.

Skipping these drills to avoid injuries will only add to this team's soft reputation.

2. Run skeleton drills.

Teach the defense how to read keys and routes, and play the ball. It is amazing at this point in our players' careers, how poor they are in recognizing play action and staying at home at the end position.

3. Practice special teams.

Learn where and where not to field punts. If this statistic were kept, we may lead the nation in fielding punts inside our own 10 yard line.

4. Challenge our coaching staff.

Their careers are on the line. Whether next year for them is in Athens or elsewhere, their ability to make adjustments in the second half of the season will open more opportunities. Make changes this year in their responsibilities to get out of the "Phillip Fulmer" rut we are in.

5. If Aaron Murray is healthy, get him considerable playing time this year. Let him learn the speed of the game and make his mistakes now. 2007 was set up by doing the same with Matthew Stafford. Since Joe Cox is not practicing during the entire week, there should be plenty of practice reps available. Give Joe the opportunity to build his coaching skills by working with him.

The next two weeks provide time to work on these things as there are no major schemes to be learned from our opponents.

These simple things should build confidence and momentum for next season.

Go Dawgs!

Anonymous said...

Hey, David. Will there be a Sunday afternoon teleconference report today? Very curious what the mood is in Athens.

Anonymous said...

David- I think the point about the team being hungover from the LSU loss may have had more to do with their performance this week than any other factor you mention. There was very little effort from the team and the heart that they had consistently played with had vanished. Unfortunately, I think the coaches were also hungover. The coaches just did not get the kids mentally ready to play. I'm sure it didn't help that the whole celebration penalty debacle was talked about just about as much as Tebow's concussion all week.