Post-Thanksgiving shopping has kept me from watching this game which was a blessing despite the fact that my alma mater lost pitifully. 45-42, a Georgia loss. Wow! We loss to the techies who lost to a bad Virginia team and a mediocre North Carolina team (although I have great respect for the UNC as a whole). What an embarrassment! This is the first time I've seen UGA loss while scoring more than 40 points! We knew that GT was going to run their pansies off and we can't stop the run? This defense has been the worst I've seen since I entered UGA from 2002 to 2005, and I thought those few years were the Golden years for the Georgia football team. This is a defense nightmare! Someone has to be accountable. For all of us who wanted Willie to be fired including myself, I'm afraid he's not going anywhere. Coach Mark Richt most likely would not let that happen for now. Ole Willie will be back next season for us to potentially see Georgia lose more games when we score 30 or more points.

This year by far has been one of the worst years I've experienced, and we're not just talking football. Bad economy, rising unemployment, high energy and food prices, and now, Georgia loss to its little brother. Looks like everything is coming together! Thus, the fact that we loss to our biggest rival was no surprise. To make matters worse, I'm not looking forward to the 09 season for three reasons.
1. You think our schedule was tough this year. Our schedule next year will be even tougher. We have OK State to start out the season followed by a resurging SC team, LSU, and a bitter Auburn team for our home games. Don't forget we have to play Florida as well as GT again. Realistically, if we don't fix our problems, more chances for UGA to lose AT HOME which in my opinion is a big embarassment and for us to lose more games! Optimistically, I see a 8-4 season next year, but if we play as childishly as we played today, I see a 5-7 season and no bowl game.

2. We might have another quarterback controversy, and I'm not surprised if we see another true freshman at the helms again. However, I do have some optimism that the next guy, I think his name is Aaron Murray, will achieve more success than what Stafford did when he was a true freshman.

3. Our team next season may be as unfocused and undisciplined as this year's. Clearly, discipline is one of the big reasons for our embarrassing losses this year. Erratic plays, unfocused mentality, too many personal fouls, can I go on any further? When BVG ran the defense, the only time I saw the defense gave up more than 30 points and we lost was during the 03 SEC championship game. Now, its almost like an every week occurrence. As far as special teams, we clearly have one of the worst special teams in the SEC right now. Somehow, we haven't allowed any touchbacks or forced any opponent behind their own 20 yard line this season.

What can we do to solve the problem? 3 possible ideas.
1. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SCORE. I don't know why but somehow, we just can't score enough points. After we scored 28 points at the half, we were shutout during the third quarter. Yes, we did put up a good offensive performance overall, but we need to put the game away by continuously scoring. I'm not asking that Georgia should convert to the spread offense and rack up 100 points by halftime like Florida's offense does, but we need to keep scoring to make up mistakes down the road (botched punt, interception, fumble). To extend this further, we have not scored a single touchdown in many times during the first half during the past three years. (Ex. Mississippi 06',  SC 07', Florida 08', Alabama 08' to name a few). The offense has to find ways to move the ball, and I don't care if we throw in trick plays or have an A11 offense for a play or two. We need to CONTINUOUSLY score points.

2. Have better DISCIPLINED defense. The defense has not been spectacular at all since I left UGA in 05. In fact, I didn't think UGA's defense in 05 was that superb even though we won an SEC championship. We have been digressing, not progressing, and it will cost us. Ole Willie has had good games defensively, but he can't do it every single game like BVG did. The fact that we lost games during the 2001-2004 era was that we couldn't score points, not that the defense played badly. Sadly, I predict Ole Willie to be the defensive coordinator next year. If we lose more than 5 games, he may as well be fired.

3. Play each game as if it matters. Look at Florida and Alabama right now! I hate to mention The "F" word and the "A" word on this blog but that is the way we should play football. Don't put all the blame on Florida or Alabama when they hanged 49 points and 31 points at the half respectively on us this year. Don't blame them when we couldn't even score a frikkin' touchdown against them. Give them all the credit in the world but Florida and Alabama was ready to play and they made the most out of our mistakes when we couldn't execute properly or come up with a better scheme. You can't argue with a Florida team that scores more than 46 points and only gives up an average of no more than 12 points a game or an Alabama team that will go undefeated at home this year and play in the SEC championship game. The difference between a championship caliber team and an average Joe is that one plays the game as if it means something or it is their last and the other team that plays just to get by and wipe their butts off. I would let you decide but what type of team is UGA's this year?

It was a hard fought battle and GT beat us when we didn't see it coming. We were too focused on trying to get to 11-2 and forgot how we should play sound football. In the end, there's always a next time to make amends, but the next time may not be what we expect it to come out to.

Patrick L.
UGA alum class '06