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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Teleconference Notes (11/1)

A few bits of info from today's interviews, though nothing particularly intriguing came of them...

-- Spoke with Nick Williams. He left the game Saturday with cramping but said he's fine.

-- Mark Richt did not have injury updates on the other Bulldogs who went down in the second half Saturday -- Justin Houston, AJ Green, Clint Boling -- but said that it was his understanding that none of those injuries were particularly serious.

-- Richt said he'll be evaluating all positions but would not elaborate on any potential changes that might be made. He said there may be more evaluation than normal of personnel at tonight's practice and that he may have more changes by Tuesday.

-- Richt pointed out that, while the offensive turnovers have been a huge problem, the lack of turnovers created by the defense have been just as problematic. Some of that, he said, has been a lack of players making plays, but pointed to the Bulldogs having recovered just 1 of 10 forced fumbles as an example of how the ball simply hasn't bounced Georgia's way very often either.

-- Richt said he did not see any footage of the Brandon Spikes' eye-gouge of Washaun Ealey but said he was informed of it by someone else. He refused to comment directly about that play, but said that in any case in which he feels there is a question or problem regarding a rule, he does report them to Rogers Redding.

Spoke with Aron White, too, and he said he thought the incident with Spikes was a matter of a player's emotions getting the best of him during the game and did not think Spikes was a malicious player.

-- And speaking of White, he had stiches under his left eye, courtesy of Arthur Lynch. The freshman tight end was apparently a bit too excited after White's TD and managed to gash White's eye celebrating after the play.

-- Regarding Aaron Murray, Richt said the freshman QB has no serious injury issues at the moment and that he scrimmaged live with the team during the open week, moving around well.

-- And finally, regarding any potential personnel changes, Richt said they will all be determined by what will help Georgia win its final four games. Looking ahead to 2010 will have no bearing on the decisions he makes regarding who plays against Tennessee Tech this week.

-- I had planned to ask about the Florida field goal where Georgia had too few players on the field, but Richt had to cut things a bit short for a meeting. I'll ask about it later this week.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richt apparently didn't even know if Justin Anderson played! How can a head coach not know that? Anderson has the potential to be one of our best. How can a coach be so indifferent? Florida's offensive front should be a model for ours, and Anderson seems to be of that calibre. It's so wierd over there.

Will said...

"...but pointed to the Bulldogs having recovered just 1 of 10 forced fumbles as an example of how the ball simply hasn't bounced Georgia's way very often either."

I am getting so tired of this excuse. How many times will we hear about the way the ball bounces before we hear about heads rolling? Richt needs to join the party here in reality and realize to no certain extent you make your own luck with disciplined play and talented players. If the coaches can't discipline the talent, we're losing on two levels.

GATA Damon.

The Watch Dawg said...

I'm glad that neither the coaches or our players are getting into a war of words in regards to Spikes' dirty play... but I seriously hope that somebody in the league office is taking it seriously. Spikes deserves to be suspended and I hope his NFL draft stock takes a hit. NFL teams don't want a media-disaster waiting to happen.

Anonymous said...

Will, you beat me to it. The ball not bouncing our way comment is symptomatic of what is wrong with this PROGRAM. Players are not held accountable for their on-field performance. No one ever gets benched for stupid penalties (guys get caught up in the emotion according to MR). Searles makes the last caught on the line. Are you kidding me? MR needs to man up and take charge of his coaches and players. He has become a free reign leader when an autocrat is needed.

Finally, Les Miles is much better off not that he burned Jefferson's redshirt last year. If Murray or Gray don't start this year, we might as well anticipate a similar season next year. Murray could get 4 starts plus a possible bowl game and bowl practice. Enough experience to justify burning a RS.

Anonymous said...

Excuses, excuses. Ray Goff could have done better than 4-4 with this level of overall talent. Joe Cox is not our problem and I've heard enough of blaming him and the coordinators for the poor preparation. When you can go to interviews from more than one week and coaches admit to not knowing if a guy played, there's an unacceptable level of indifference and vacancy at the top.

Canning or demoting Willie Martinez/Mike Bobo and crucifying a guy like Joe Cox is like trying to cure a disease through pain management.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the fumbles...

Did Coach Richt think the wind was a factor?

...or did we just have too many young guys lined up next to each other?

...or did we just get caught up in the emotion of the moment?

...or did we just not execute?

This is so sad it is embarrassing.

UGA69Dawg said...

David,

UGA fans are in mourning and with any mourning process we have to go through the 5 stages. I've managed to arrive at the final stage "Acceptance". We are not a good football team. Why, apparently nobody knows. The coaches don't or surely they would take action to fix the problems. If they know what the problems are (and they should) and are not changing the way they address the problems then they are crazy and have just given up.

I am ready to accept that my school has had a good run of 8 years. Now we will return to our regularly scheduled number 3 place in the East for the next 20 years or until Mark goes into the ministry.

Army Dawg said...

I hope the coaches and players have more heart and fight in them than most of the 'fans' do. I guess it is to be expected that the unhappiest among us will be the ones to take the time to write and voice their opinion. It is easy to be a fan during the good times, not so easy to be a fan during the tough times. I have faith that Coach Richt will make changes, he deserves to have an opportunity to do that.

Jon Martin said...

Everything rises and falls on leadership! Very evident in our approach to cleaning up the penalties this year! What a joke! I hope the HEAT is being turned up on Coach Richt. This is his ship and he needs to step up and finish the drill!

Mike said...

I am ready to accept that my school has had a good run of 8 years. Now we will return to our regularly scheduled number 3 place in the East for the next 20 years or until Mark goes into the ministry.

What a loser you are. Unreal.

Mike said...

I hope the coaches and players have more heart and fight in them than most of the 'fans' do. I guess it is to be expected that the unhappiest among us will be the ones to take the time to write and voice their opinion. It is easy to be a fan during the good times, not so easy to be a fan during the tough times. I have faith that Coach Richt will make changes, he deserves to have an opportunity to do that.

Well put, Army.

It's funny how top 10 finishes are just expected by the "Richt sucks" UGA "fans". If we have top 10 teams and win SECCs, hey, that's what he's supposed to do, etc. But when he has a bad team, as even the best coaches do once every 10 years or so, well, fire him, he should fear for his job, etc, blah blah blah...

So pathetic. Pretty comical too as it happens at every single team's CFB boards, including teams with coaches these people consider their model coaches. Hilarious lack of knowledge of the game beyond their own idiotic tunnel vision and irrational expectations.

Mike said...

Thanks for the recap, David.

Not holding you to it, but what's your guess... Does Murray play this week (or any point this year)?

Ozam said...

The problem with the Dogs has nothing to do with whether we are loyal fans. Mark Richt gets paid $3 million per year to put a quality product on the field and anything short of that IS a failure.

Unfortunately, 2009 is not an anomaly. Since the last game of 2005, the team (with the exception on a nice late season run in 2007) has failed to perform well and in many areas have regressed. If someone wants to debate this fact then they have their head in the sand.

Obviously we cannot win every game, but failing to compete on many levels is unacceptable in my book.

yeahbud said...

Your right Army. CMR deserves the chance to right the ship. We'll see what happens after the season. If he chooses to keep things the same, he then is putting himself in front of the bullet.

In the mean time, it's very frustrating to hear some of the reasons/excuses we're being fed. How does a head coach not know if a guy played or not? It's not like JA is a walk-on! Reminds of earlier in the year when the coaches didn't know if Marlon Brown played.

I agree Will, "the ball simply hasn't bounced our way" What? Even the things we can control, i.e. stupid penalties, throwing into 3-4 man coverage, not having enough players on the field, the list goes on and on...., is not getting better either. That starts at the top. It's time to send some people to the bench. If I keep making the same mistake over and over at my job, I'm gone. There is no, "I'm sorry I'll do better next time" or my boss isn't gonna say, "Well, the ball just hasn't bounced your way". I still can't believe we played that way coming off a bye week. We had 3 penalties in the first 6 min. (2 personal fouls,false start). The one on J. Davis was just DUMB. Instead of 3rd and 1 we had 3 and 15 b/c he decided to yank Spikes helmet off. We tackle a guy 5 yards out of bounds on a kick return when the runner pretty much gave up and ran out of bounds. I still have faith in Richt, but if nothing changes the next four games and into the off season, my faith in him will start to erode.

I say let Murray play. A lot of good it did to redshirt Knowshon. We could be looking at the same reflection next year if we don't put him out there. Like Anon said, 4 starts, possible bowl game practice, and then the bowl game. Obviously, Gray isn't much of a QB or he would be seeing a lot more action. Murray is our future. Let him play.

Had to get the frustration out. My wife keeps giving me the blank stare when I start venting. Somebody else can have a turn.

Will said...

And another thing I haven't seen pointed out...

Searles is the Oline coach and the running game coordinator, right? Well, both of those areas are amazingly bad this season. Discuss amongst yourselves.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

Mike said...

Unfortunately, 2009 is not an anomaly. Since the last game of 2005, the team (with the exception on a nice late season run in 2007) has failed to perform well and in many areas have regressed. If someone wants to debate this fact then they have their head in the sand.


This is just an unbelievably stupid talking point.

We finished #2 in the 2007 season. As much as you don't want that to count (really bizarre though, fwiw), it does. Sorry to break that to you.

And 2008 may have been disappointing but it was still a team that finished 10th in the country despite a lot of injuries.

You clearly have an agenda but it's certainly not caring about what's best for the UGA program going forward.

Anonymous said...

They don't recover fumbles because the defense doesn't swarm and get enough players around the ball. Every time Richt makes an excuse I lose more faith in him.

Dawgy1 said...

What is very concerning is that this team has shown absolutely no improvement through 8 games. We still have costly turnovers and penalties. The defense is still bad with what is one of the worse looking secondary's that I've ever seen at the college level. Heck I'm not even sure the front 4 are any good?

Someone please help me understand how this coaching staff is going to right this ship. They seem lost.

Matt said...

I am like the 5th person to say this but, "the ball not bouncing our way" come on! No wondering the players play undisciplined and uninspired. We have to resort to parlor tricks to create false hype before a game, the stupid black uniforms. May be they should be playing harder to get to the ball, or maybe if they worked more on gang tackling so there is more than one guy around the ball when it does come out. I am tired of the staff deflecting all the blame to a bunch of young men. The coach's are the ones making the big bucks, MAN UP and take some responsibility. A real leader takes the heat on him self and does not deflect it to his players. CMR does not have what it takes! Maybe if he brings in a real SOB to coach the defense we will have a chance, if not he needs to GO!

Anonymous said...

at least Washaun is starting to look pretty good. Actually, our ground game started looking pretty good, even against Florida. That is a positive at least.

Brandon Spikes...hate to see people wishing his draft status would drop and he should be suspended. If any of you played football in the dirty south you would know that 91.793% of defensive guys are going to give you an extra knee, elbow, finger to the eye or butthole, or fist to the chin. Just the sad nature of the game at the bottom of the pile that most people don't see. Funny thing is that he did it on top of the pile where the whole world could see it. IDK.

Logan Gray looked stellar (sarcasm). Of course he didn't really have much time to get into a rhythm, but man, he looked pretty pathetic out there.

I think we should bench Prince Miller. He has a Napoleon complex out of this world. Dude is always trying to start some crap with somebody. If someone is starting with him then he always reacts. Either way, the kid is too emotional and not really a good player along with it.

Advice to coaches: Never recruit Byrnes HS. If you are in SC, recruit Summerville....we've had better luck.

Anonymous said...

You clearly have an agenda but it's certainly not caring about what's best for the UGA program going forward.

That has to be the drama queen comment of the year.

His "stupid" talking point acknowledged the backed-in "success" of the 2007 season; if anything, it illustrated that the true anomaly since the 2005 Sugar Bowl was the 2007 season, not the 2009 season. The2009 season is the continuation of a trend of bad performances where we are more apt to give up 30 or more points than not.

Richt has earned his chance to make a change at the end of the season, even if it should have occured at the end of last year. He deserves one more chance, but he's rapidly running out of capital.

Ozam said...

Texas_Dawg...

With all due respect (and I have followed many of your posts on many sites), you should recognize that you are in the minority with "true" UGA football fans.

The issue right now is not wins.....rather the quality of the product. If you think UGA program is heading in the right direction then you probably also think the socialist agenda of our current president is good for the country. At best, we are a middle of the pack SEC team.

I like Mark Richt....he is a good person, but make no mistake about it ....Brian Van Gorder saved his job the first four years... Can Richt save himself now is the question...