Tennessee Volunteers 45, Georgia Bulldogs 19: Hitting Rock Bottom on Rocky Top
by T Kyle King on Oct 10, 2009 10:35 PM EDT
in Football
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PrintIt was one thing to lose to the Oklahoma St. Cowboys. The Pokes are a rising program and it was a big deal for OSU to have the Georgia Bulldogs travel to Stillwater for a game.
It was one thing to lose to the LSU Tigers. The Bayou Bengals are a perennial SEC powerhouse and Louisiana State pulled out a last-second win in a hard-fought battle between the hedges.
It would have been one thing to have gone 7-5 and lost to five bowl-bound teams that ended up ranked in the top 25 at the end of the year.
However, even though the Tennessee Volunteers boast a storied history and have many things going for them, the current incarnation of the Big Orange is awful. The Vols are a terrible football team. Simply stated, they suck.
And we just lost to them . . . badly. They beat us worse than they beat the Ohio Bobcats.
They aren’t going to a bowl game. They aren’t going to beat anyone all year who’s any good. They aren’t going to look competent offensively against any team that’s the least bit decent. They’re coached by the class clown of the conference, who may recruit the players with whom the guy who replaces him is going to win, but who isn’t going anywhere.
And we just lost to them . . . badly. I haven’t seen an all-around effort that atrocious from a Georgia football team since the 1999 Auburn game.
Although I have read the fanposts, I haven’t seen the comment thread since the last comment I left early in the day, so some of this may be repetitive. If so, I apologize, but we are at a critical juncture in the history of our football program and it is important to assess our situation clearly and honestly. This, as I see it, is our situation:
Mark Richt is still the right man to lead this program and any calls for his ouster are nothing short of sheer lunacy. Even with today’s loss, Coach Richt is 85-25. His .773 career winning percentage is 58 points higher than Vince Dooley’s .715 and 158 points higher than Wally Butts’s .615. No head coach in Georgia history with more than one season on the job has won at a clip equal to Coach Richt. Anyone who thinks there’s a better head coach out there that Damon Evans could go out and get, I want the person saying so to name names. I’d be willing to bet that any coach you could name who even arguably would be an upgrade is someone who is entrenched enough in his present position that he wouldn’t leave his current billet. In any case, though, MaconDawg is absolutely right. Please bear in mind that there is a silver lining to the fact that this was Georgia’s worst effort in a decade; it means Georgia has been playing at a higher level throughout the Mark Richt era.
Nevertheless, it is necessary for changes to be made if the Bulldogs are to resume achieving at the high level at which they performed for the first five years of the Mark Richt era in Athens. "Business as usual" does not cut it in college football, particularly at the elite level. Change is a constant; look at how much Gus Malzahn has improved the Auburn Tigers’ offense, Bobby Petrino has improved the Arkansas Razorbacks’ offense, and Paul Johnson has improved the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets’ offense. Look at how Urban Meyer has continued to tweak his innovative offense during his years in Gainesville in an ongoing effort to improve what already was an effective scheme. It is not an attack on Coach Richt to say that doing things the way they have always been done will not continue to win over the long haul; even Bear Bryant found it necessary to adapt to changes in the game, which led him to adopt the wishbone in the early 1970s. How’d that work out for him?
Many of the gains made during the successful run from 2002 to 2007 have been squandered during subsequent seasons. In that six-year stretch, Georgia won two SEC championships, appeared in three conference title games, finished no worse than tied for first place in the Eastern Division four times, attended three Sugar Bowls, and finished in the AP top ten five times, including final rankings of No. 3 in 2002 and No. 2 in 2007. Cracks began appearing in the armor late in the 2005 campaign, became glaringly evident in the midst of the 2006 season, and reared their ugly head anew in the early going in 2007. The late glory run in the latter autumn papered over some of those problems, but embarrassing efforts in lopsided losses to the Alabama Crimson Tide and to the Florida Gators in 2008 and to Tennessee today made it clear that the Bulldogs simply are not competing at the elite level any longer. Quite frankly, the Red and Black’s last eleven games---during which the ‘Dawgs have gone 6-5, have not won impressively even once, have been routed by the Gators and the Volunteers, have struggled to win close games over weak teams, and have given up points in bunches---have looked like a throwback to the Ray Goff era.
Staff continuity has ceased to be a strength and has become instead a source of systemic complacency. In his fine book Top Dawg: Mark Richt and the Revival of Georgia Football, Rob Suggs made the good point that bringing stability to the Georgia program was one of Coach Richt’s early positive contributions. The Bulldogs ran defensive coordinators and offensive line coaches through a revolving door throughout the 1990s, which did not help the program. However, there is a point at which stability can lead to stagnation. Georgia has the same defensive ends coach, defensive line coach, quarterbacks coach, secondary coach, and strength and conditioning coach in Coach Richt’s ninth year that Georgia had in Coach Richt’s first year. In some cases, that consistency has been a good thing, but not all change is bad. The switches from John Eason to Tony Ball at receivers coach and from Neil Callaway to Stacy Searels at offensive line coach certainly appear to have been upgrades. If longstanding coaches’ established methods no longer are yielding acceptable results---and I think it is undeniable that they no longer are---changes must be made, either to the methods or to the men.
Georgia needs a special teams coach who is not also a position coach. The kicking game is simply too important a part of modern football to make special teams an afterthought. The kicking game once was a reliable asset of the Georgia football team; now, it is erratic on its best day. I understand that there is a limit to how many assistant coaches a team may hire. (I think that’s absolutely asinine---if we’re willing to pay for three dozen assistant coaches, we ought to be allowed to do so---but I get that such a limitation exists.) There are ways of shuffling staff assignments to make room for a dedicated special teams coach. Maybe, instead of having a defensive line coach and a defensive ends coach, we could have one guy coach the entire front four. Maybe, instead of having a receivers coach and a tight ends coach, we could have one guy coach all the guys charged with the duty of starting at the line of scrimmage and running forward to catch the ball. Maybe the head coach could assume direct responsibility for the special teams. Urban Meyer has taken such a hands-on approach to special teams; how’s that working out for him?
A program with Georgia’s institutional advantages has no excuses for playing this poorly. The Gators have become the league’s premiere program due to a variety of factors. They are a large university with a solid academic reputation in a populous, football-crazed state. They have a well-managed athletic department that is awash in cash, has top-notch facilities, frequently has its teams on television, and wins consistently in multiple sports. Their scenic campus is located in a setting with a pleasant climate and their student body contains many uncommonly attractive young women. Few programs in the country have all of those benefits; the Texas Longhorns and the USC Trojans share all of those advantages . . . and so does Georgia. Florida, Southern California, and Texas never lose 45-19, even to good teams, and certainly not to marginal opponents. Every program is going to lose a game sooner or later; programs with this much going for them should never lose a game like this to anyone, much less to a team as sorry as Tennessee is right now.
It simply is no longer possible to defend the proposition that Willie Martinez should be retained as the defensive coordinator of the Georgia Bulldogs. There remains room for argument about Mike Bobo as an offensive coordinator---in fact, I’d be willing to bet that most of the people who think Mark Richt should take over the play-calling duties anew were the same people who thought he should give up the play-calling duties three years ago---but this latest bump in the road has to have jolted everyone off of the Willie Martinez bandwagon. For those who still need convincing, though, here is the tale of the tape: Georgia allowed 31 points to Auburn in 2005, 38 points to West Virginia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, 51 points to Tennessee in 2006, 35 points to Tennessee in 2007, 30 points to Florida in 2007, 34 points to Troy in 2007, 41 points to Alabama in 2008, 38 points to LSU in 2008, 49 points to Florida in 2008, 38 points to Kentucky in 2008, 45 points to Georgia Tech in 2008, 37 points to South Carolina in 2009, 41 points to Arkansas in 2009, and 45 points to Tennessee in 2009. Eight of Georgia’s last 15 opponents have scored 37 or more points on the Red and Black. Coach Martinez is a good man, but opposing offenses have figured him out, and, if a quarterback as crummy as Jonathan Crompton can complete 20 of 27 passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns against your defense, you’re simply not delivering at a level that entitles you to keep your job in the SEC.
Win or lose, our team is still our team, first, last, and always. The young men who put on their silver britches and their red helmets every Saturday work hard, play hard, and want to win even more than we want them to win. The coaches whose careers are spent attempting to equip these young men for victory are devoting numerous hours to preparing their team. That does not mean that every player has earned the right to play, or that every coach has demonstrated sufficient competence to remain on the payroll, but it does mean that there is a right way and a wrong way of expressing our displeasure. Criticisms, even strongly-worded ones, are fair game, but our team is still our team, and we should be true to our school, even when addressing its faults and urging it to make changes when changes are required.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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To think that Tennessee
Is not going to win at least six games (with Memphis, Vandy, Kentucky on the schedule) — and therefor not make a bowl game, is complete lunacy at this moment, and was mostly complete lunacy to begin the day.
I got punk'd by UT's Athletic Department.
We shall see . . .
. . . but don’t kid yourself: Tennessee sucks. We happen to suck worse, but that’s our problem, and it won’t profit Tennessee in the slightest after today.
I congratulate you on the win, but it does not indicate that the Vols have turned a corner in the right direction; it indicates only that Georgia has turned a corner in the wrong one.
If Tennessee manages to scrape together enough victories to make the Liberty Bowl, I will stand corrected upon that specific statement, but the overall point will remain valid. We lost badly to a lousy team today. If the Volunteers happen to have scheduled enough bad opponents to rise as far as ostensible mediocrity, it won’t change that fundamental fact.
Y’all are bad. We’re worse. Any Georgia or Tennessee fan who says otherwise is lying to himself.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 10, 2009 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions
If it makes you feel better to think that
then more power to you.
This UT program is on the way up, and UGA will continue to spiral downwards even with a roster stacked with blue chip prospects. Once UT gets a good QB in the program, the rebuilding will begin in earnest.
Your remarks are immature and emotional. UT sucks? UT has few play makers and still took UGA to the woodshed today. The hobnail boot was on the other foot today.
Get real and stop bashing a rebuilding program that just smoked you.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 10, 2009 11:53 PM EDT up reply actions
I guess that's the difference between us, pound the rock
We think of 3-3 as failure. You think of 3-3 as progress.
Congratulations to Lane Kiffin on getting his first win over a BCS conference program halfway through his first season.
I’ll be happy to have this conversation with you five years from now, when Mark Richt will be the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs and Lane Kiffin will be a guy you roll your eyes about the way we roll our eyes about Ray Goff.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 10, 2009 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh, please
UT was 5-7 last year after showing extreme loyalty to Fulmer while he was letting the program slide into mediocrity. So to think that UT will show Lane anything but the same loyalty is sour grapes from a poor loser.
Left with almost no talent in the cupboard, Lane Kiffin has installed his system and is currently recruiting top players to fill many positions of dire need.
So 3-3 is progress, when you consider UT is on its 4th O-coordinator in 4 years and where the team started out this year.
It is a sad refrain repeated by many opposing fans- “Kiffin won’t be there long anyway.” Such wishful thinking is a waste of time. The way UT is recruiting now, coupled with the best D-coordinator in football, will have them back on top in 2 years. Your posts are ripe with Fear.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 11, 2009 12:10 AM EDT up reply actions
keep talking...
You win a your first SEC game under your new coach, and all of the sudden you are world beater’s that can smell fear…only bees and dogs can smell fear and this Dawg smells, well Sh^@. Typical Vol fan. What do they put in the water in that state.
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
Not world beaters
Just Georgia beaters. Not sure how you got the idea I think UT is world beaters. Thought I stipulated clearly that we are rebuilding.
See you next year to try and make it 4 wins out of the last 5. UT is getting better and UGA stays the same.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 11, 2009 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Well, to be fair when you are in the basement there is no where to go but up, so I guess tenn maybe on an up swing
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:21 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I'm not convinced you're a real Tennessee fan, pound the rock
Tennessee fans generally have the class that comes with knowing that theirs is a storied program with many advantages, even in down times.
You sound more like a South Carolina fan or a Georgia Tech fan to me . . . convinced that one win over a mediocre team (or worse) means you’re on your way to the mountaintop and more interested in taking jabs at opposing fans over their loss than celebrating with your own fans over your win.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Hey bud, you were the one saying UT "sucks"
So perhaps you can aim the class comment back at the person in the mirror.
Like I said, UT is a rebuilding program and this was a good win today. I really hope Willie stays as UGA’s defensive coordinator.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 11, 2009 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions
Try working on your reading comprehension
My point was that losing to this team proves that we suck worse.
I was criticizing my program. Your program just happens incidentally to have been the one that proved the point. It just as easily could have been South Carolina, Arkansas, or Arizona State.
By the way . . . don’t give me this crap that you were somehow just giving it back. You’re the one who was making the “little girl” comments before the game. You were a jerk before the win; now you’re just a jerk who thinks my team’s being lousy makes your team good. It doesn’t. If you think it does, you’re a delusional jerk, as well.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:29 AM EDT up reply actions
A good win?
Have you seen our defense this season? Have you seen our offense this season? Have you seen our special teams this season?
Will
Hey, now!
Be careful with those generalizations. I’ll wait to see if Georgia can beat Tech this year before taking any small but pointy jabs.
For now I’m perfectly content to just read and smile silently.
Present company excepted, of course
The analogy seemed apt, since I still haven’t stopped hearing about 45-42, even though I consistently resist the temptation to rattle off the scores of the seven games that preceded it.
Go 'Dawgs!
You just reminded me...
I do hate to go against T kyle, since this is his show and I’m just glad to be here, but here goes. I have a neighbor who is a UT fan who is a gentleman and a scholar. You sir, have reminded me that he is the exception and not the rule with your foul mouthed dim witted lot. Oh, and it should be a law that wearing that baby carrot poop tinted orange you all love so much should get you charged with a felony count of aggravated douche baggery. Yup that about does it.
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
Easy, AeroDawg
Let’s not let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.
Most of the Volunteer faithful are good folk who would rather celebrate their win than be nasty about our loss. I don’t want to tar the Tennessee faithful as a whole with that brush.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Agreed...
Every Tenn fan I know personally are awesome folks, but this guy just got under my skin on a bad night. So they aren’t all bad.
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
And how onearth
“the way they are recruiting now?”. You got some named recruits? It’s tiffins first year game 6 and you are already touting his recruits? This don’t make mo sense
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:19 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
#10 recruiting class last year with 3 weeks of work
We’ll see come February how high the class is then. Currently sitting at #5.
UT took Darren Myles from GA, and there will be more this year. I love the hate, though. Whatever gets you through the cold weather.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 11, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
We live in Georgia
It’s warm here.
You’ve had your fun and you’ve had your say.
Why don’t you get out of here and go celebrate instead of coming around here and showing your ass? You’re singlehandedly making a classy fan base look like a bunch of jerks.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions
You sound like a Vandy fan
UT shouldn’t be happy about their first SEC win because UGA is a terrible team? I mean, UT really sucks (right?) yet they just whipped the Bulldogs up and down the field.
But it doesn’t really matter because UGA sucks and everybody should beat them anyway? Hard to follow your logic.
Enjoy your season, you may go back to bashing the team that just took your hobnail boot away and used it on you.
Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
by pound the rock on Oct 11, 2009 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions
That's it, pound the rock . . .
. . . you’re banned.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:32 AM EDT up reply actions
And those were guys already committed under fulmer- man, your arguments are worse than just passionate hate
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:33 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
And how onearth
“the way they are recruiting now?”. You got some named recruits? It’s tiffins first year game 6 and you are already touting his recruits? This don’t make mo sense
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:19 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
kyle
Makes me laugh. His diatribe need not be dignified with a substantive response (and I am on a blackberry). But I am laughing. Heartily. Thank you, kyle.
_______________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.
by kidbourbon on Oct 11, 2009 12:31 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Whose diatribe would that be, kidbourbon?
If it’s pound the rock’s diatribe, you need not worry, because he’s just been banned.
If it’s mine, pray tell, to what diatribe are you referring? I don’t recall writing one that would be of much interest to anyone who wasn’t a Georgia fan . . . the Georgia Bulldogs being the team this posting was about, you will note.
In either case, if it need not be dignified with a substantive response, then don’t give it a flippant response, either.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions
I was referring to yours....
…as I thought your characterizations were likely fueled more by emotion than reason. But I regret posting here after the game. May have come off in bad taste. Sorry if it did. I should have put my blackberry away.
_______________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.
Don't worry about it, kidbourbon
We’ve had our run-ins in the past, but I know you’re good people and I respect that you’re an impassioned partisan of your team, just as I hope you respect that I am an impassioned partisan of mine.
I’m not a believer that a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch, and I stand by my oft-stated belief that the Tennessee fan base is by far the most decent and likable bunch of boosters among our annual rivals. You’re one of the good apples, and your team won, so you’re entitled to get in some jabs. I just wasn’t clear on who was on the receiving end of them. I just happen to agree with Winston Churchill: “In victory, magnanimity; in defeat, defiance.”
It’s all good.
Go 'Dawgs!
Gone in 2010
The smart money says Mark Richt wont coach a single Georgia game in 2010….unless it’s at Valdosta State. How much more can you Dawg fans put up with? On the other hand, up here in Tennessee we will miss him almost as much as we miss Ray Goff. I just hope we don’t start taking the wins over Georgia for granted, you know, like we do with Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
by Volunteer Orange on Oct 13, 2009 1:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Learn to count
That may literally be the stupidest comment ever left at Dawg Sports.
The next time you’re up that late and thinking of sharing your opinions, go to bed and sleep off the drunkenness.
Go 'Dawgs!
If you think this
You are even more desporate than we are this year. “woodshed”? Really? It wasn’t 50-3 and we are even more hoorible than you are “once we get a qb”? u just threw the guy that supposedly “smoked” us under the bus. UGA needs to make adjustments – we don’t need a team whereas apparently you do
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:12 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Pray tell:
How does a team that fields one of the stoutest defenses in the country (a defense that has allowed 7 TDs so far this year) against both the run and pass, along with a running game led by a RB who’s the 2nd-leading rusher in the SEC (thanks for going off, Ben Tate) count as a lousy, awful, terrible, no-good team? Typically adjectives of those caliber are reserved for teams who can’t do anything well.
Special teams and the passing game are both spotty at times, to put it mildly. But when you do something well, it’s tough to say that you don’t do anything well.
Eric Berry for sending the guy who wins the Heisman spinning 720 degrees in the air at the podium - or for intercepting it and returning it to where it rightfully belongs
by Chris Pendley on Oct 11, 2009 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions
That....
sums it all up. I think I’m less devastated by this week’s loss b/c it was such an incompetent performance. It’s the type of game that means a change is inevitable.
We’ve now lost 3 out of 4 to the Vols. Not one of those Vol teams was very good.
Florida had an iffy defense in 2007. The Gators’ defense have been absolutely amazing the last two seasons. They look great tonight.
Defense is the key in the SEC and frankly we haven’t had a full season of competent defense in a long time.
Well written...
Probably doesn’t matter much, but I second that. That’s a post that should be in the paper!
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
Most telling statement of the day was...
When the announcers said that after facing “high flying, varied offenses” Tennessee’s defense felt like they were playing the same offense they face in practice. It just works on so many levels.
Willie’s quote?
“I didn’t realize they were going to throw the ball like that”
That did it for me. I am officially firmly entrenched on the Fire Willie bandwagon. I don’t care if we get 10+ sacks a game from here on out.
What the hell kind of a thing is that for a coordinator to say?
On a final note, I appreciate Kyle’s point about the right and wrong way to offer criticism. So true and necessary right now. They are still our team… At least for those of us who’ve been fans for more that the last 3-4 years.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 10, 2009 11:18 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
It's worse than that. . .
My recollection was that they were speaking of their pre-game discussions with Kiffin the Elder and he told them he was relieved finally to be facing an offense that did things “the way he was used to seeing them done” because Georgia runs a staid “SEC offense” which is just like what Tennessee runs in practice. In other words, they knew what we were going to do before our coaches even came up with their “gameplan.” I’m nowhere near as eloquent as the principal authors and regular commenters here who have weighed in on the subject, but I will say it is clear UGA is not fielding a very good football team right now. The lone point of pride is Butler’s punting ability — which has been showcased a great deal in the first six games. I just hope Richt & Co. can do whatever is necessary to improve.
by College Buddy on Oct 11, 2009 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions
Don't short change yourself - well written
Although I would add “AJ” to your butler comment
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:14 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Red? He actually said that? I want to cry Again
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:15 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It's second hand info... but it sounds like something he would say
Came from a friend who is a grad assistant with the program… Not sure if it was in an interview, press conference, or behind closed doors though.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 1:23 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
he did throw his playbook up in the air though - which i still need a clip of
and its terribly ironic
I don't see Richt cutting Martinez loose,
I think the best we can hope for is that he is demoted. Then you have the whole issue of hiring someone for DC over Garner, but as I recall Garner was not an effective DC at UT. Richt’s in a tough spot, but surely he must see this cannot continue. So much for senior leadership on D. It is a sad day, with no end in sight this season.
BTW—- I am coming around on this Bama is better than UF thing.
And Go ’Noles.
Well put, Kyle
As I said earlier, I think that today represented the tipping point in the staff stagnation you mentioned. There are no signs that things are going to get any better. If losing games like this results in a new, innovative coaching staff that is not too stubborn to make adjustments or treat special teams with the care that it deserves, then such losses will be well worth it. Maybe we will look back on this game and this season like UF fans view the loss to Mississippi State that led to Ron Zook’s firing. Yes, it hurt at the time, but it ultimately led to great things.
While I wasn't trying to say that Tennessee is GOOD
It’s still silly to think that Tennessee, even before this game, wasn’t going to beat Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Memphis, which would put them at 6 wins and likely send them bowling. That was my only point. You’ll note the lack of “OMG UT NATIONAL CHAMPS 2011!!!!” in my post.
Also, the way the Vols played one would think we could beat USC at home, and at least give a fair showing to Ole Miss on the road.
I got punk'd by UT's Athletic Department.
Understood . . .
. . . and I believe I conceded that you may well be right that Tennessee could go 6-6 and get a bowl bid (as, for that matter, could Georgia . . . although whether a 6-6 team really deserves a bowl bid is open to debate).
My larger point, however, remains the same: Jonathan Crompton is a bad quarterback and Georgia’s defense made him look exceptional. This is a testament to the poor play of the Georgia D much more so than it is to the quality of the Tennessee O. The Volunteers likely will not beat a quality opponent all year. Tennessee is not a good team. Georgia is just worse.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Reading through the strand a couple of days after the emotional game
We can discuss whether South Carolina and Ole Miss are “quality opponents”, but Tennessee still has a shot at 8-4. Before you dismiss that as delusional, look at the remaining games…
Bama will almost certainly beat Tennessee. But, Ole Miss looked beatable as Snead looks more and more like Crompton as the season rolls on. If Crompton places his passes the way he did against GA (i.e. on target, instead of behind WR’s) then TN can beat Ole Miss because of our defense. South Carolina is not a scary good 5-1 team and they were a missed 2 pt conversion from OT at Kentucky. Plus, we’ve already agreed Memphis, Vandy and Kentucky are winnable. That means, we end up between 6-6 and 8-4.
By the way, you and Lane Kiffin agree on something;
Tennessee is not good yet and we have a long way to go.
Sadly, 3-3 is progress. While we are not satisfied, Tennessee is headed in the right direction (comparing this year vs last).
As for Martinez, he should have been surprised that UT passed like that. I mean, what in our prior body of work would lead you to believe Crompton could do that (besides WKU)?! Where he should be pilloried is the failure to adapt to the roll-out strategy.
You run a great blog, sir, and I have enjoyed being able to comment here with respectful dialogue back and forth. As much as poundtherock should have been more sensitive with his strident tone as a guest on your site in the aftermath of a disappointing loss for your side, it’s understandable that we would react strongly when you say that our team sucks while giving us limited credit for finally playing well (aside from miserable special teams). I hope you reconsider the ban.
You make a fair point in a reasonable manner, memphispete . . .
. . . as a result of which, you may inform poundtherock that the ban has been lifted.
It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.
Go 'Dawgs!
Beg to differ
While Tennessee’s record does not indicate a good team, they have been in a position to win in every game. That is the making of a good team. I think the win over Georgia was a decent win, but it wasn’t a great win. Everyone knew Georgia had/has a bad pass defense and was giving up a lot of points. Combine that with healthy receivers for Tennessee and the writing was on the wall. Crompton has played poorly at times, but hasn’t had a lot of help from his receivers…until Saturday. I don’t think anybody can beat ’Bama, but I have high hopes for Tennessee against Arkansas and Ole Miss…..Tennessee 8-4
by Volunteer Orange on Oct 13, 2009 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions
oops, no Arkansas
Didn’t realize we don’t play Arkansas this year……well anyway substitute South Carolina in my comment.
by Volunteer Orange on Oct 13, 2009 2:07 AM EDT up reply actions
No hate
But there is no way I would drop a Ben on a sweep against Vandy, T Tech and Kentucky. And Bama was conviently forgotten. And let’s get real – Tenn has a tremendous history, I wouldn’t be proud about six and abowl anymore than I am with UGA, and I HATE toilet bowls. Tenn may rise again, but let’s call a spade a spade and neither of us be too proud of this season
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 12:58 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
How the hell
can you diss my vols team so bad? We ARE going to a bowl game, we ARE good, and we DID just slaughter yall. Undestand, we have lost three tight ballgames. this was gonna happen, we were gonna snipe someone off. Too bad it turned out to be you guys crompdaddy went all crazy on. In short, yes you guys looked bad. But, thats because WE MADE YOU look bad. Understand, the Big Orange is BACK. and georgias in for a long year :)
Yep, you may go to a bowl
In Nashville. Is every Tenn fan going too show up and argue “we sure have sucked all year but we beat you so we are good.”
It’s great to be s DAWG when tenn takes such pride in beating us, speaks voles
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 1:06 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Us being in for a long year implies that we suck
No?
Your logic might improve if you lay off the moonshine.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 1:39 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Yall are not bad
you beat south carolina. took lsu to the wire. and gave okla st. a fight. this is a quality win..watch out bama!
I love this
“quality win” – the uga fans don’t think so when you would think we would argue that on our behalf. It is so interesting this win means so much to Tenn – it shows what a wreck they are.
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 1:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
watch out? are you insane?
my only worry is that we look forward to it so eagerly we overlook the threat USC poses.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Am I missing something here?
Do Tennessee fans have nothing better to do than jump onto Georgia blogs and wave their bare asses in the air?
Are there no Tennessee blogs on the interwebs where puke-orange-checkerboard-overall-wearing Vol fans can congregate and collectively gloat over their major, landmark, milestone conference victory over a team that sucks that will surely bring about a return to the glory of yesteryear?
Sheesh.
I wonder if Georgia fans went on Central Michigan blogs last year?
Cause the validity of the data sample is about the same.
That’s right… I just compared us to a MAC team.
Anyone who watched that game and thought beating us was any kind of achievement is clearly high.
Cocaine is a helluva drug.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 1:35 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
RedCrake
it’s called moonshine – spiked with anything else handy, Keeping it real in the UT!
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 1:44 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Having been to the greater Knoxville area
I’m guessing its spiked with meth?
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 1:51 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I think were a bit riled up to the fact of the ungracious comments about our team at the beginning of this post
Not here to gloat or rub it in anyones faces, but to say that Tennessee sucks and in the fashion it was said was pretty ungracious. Has Crompton been pretty woeful throughout most of the year? Yes.
But to outright say we suck, say that we shouldn’t have beaten you in any capacity because of how much we suck and to imply that we shouldn’t beat any of the number of teams after Georgia this year, is quite the overstatement. We’ve proven that we can at least go toe to toe with any team we play or will play this year. Proved it with the Gators, showed it in the Auburn game, and gave it away in the UCLA game.
This team could easily be 4-2 or 5-1 with a TO going our way or another 6 points on the board.
RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!
by Pride of the Southland on Oct 11, 2009 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions
I appreciate the effort at reaching consensus, Pride . . .
. . . but you misread what I wrote. Where did I write that Tennessee shouldn’t have beaten Georgia in any capacity because of how much the Vols suck?
My point was that the Bulldogs’ poor play could have been explained away as the result of playing good teams like LSU and Oklahoma State. We have no such excuse this time.
Tennessee was by far the better team yesterday and the margin was representative of the way the game unfolded. The Vols are a bad team, though; the fact that the game went as it did proves that Georgia is worse.
Honestly, this posting was about us, not y’all. I don’t get what y’all don’t get about that.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow, Kyle. Just...wow.
________________________________
I will give my shirt for Tennessee today.
by Holly Anderson on Oct 11, 2009 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions
We understand this post was about Georgia
But when you write this…
the current incarnation of the Big Orange is awful. The Vols are a terrible football team. Simply stated, they suck.
…you’re going to get a rise out of us. Tennessee has one of the best defenses in the SEC, one of the best running backs in the SEC, and one of the best defensive backs to ever play in the SEC. We’ve had some tough losses this year but using words like “terrible” and “they suck” to describe us is simply wrong. I like this blog a lot but I was very disappointed in your choice of words there.
"I can't hear you, Rocky Top is playing."
by Getoffmyvols on Oct 11, 2009 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm sorry I disappointed you
Would you prefer it if I praised Tennessee for having reached a level at which securing the Volunteers’ first win over a BCS conference opponent in the sixth game of the season is considered an encouraging sign?
Are you honestly going to tell me that, at noon yesterday, you weren’t ready to replace Jonathan Crompton with a fan in the stands? Do you think he suddenly woke up and became a Heisman Trophy candidate, or is it reasonable to suppose that, based on the past performances of each, Willie Martinez’s defense made Crompton look good because our defense is bad rather than because Crompton is good and has just been waiting for that breakout game?
Go 'Dawgs!
If you're judging a team solely based on QB play, then yes.
Of course, by that measure Arkansas is a national title contender.
The larger point that the Vol fans who wandered over here have been making is that focusing on QB play to the exclusion of a running game or a defense will give an incorrect impression of where Tennessee stands. Has Crompton blown this season? Yes, for the most part (WKU and yesterday excepted). Has the running game been solid? Yes. Has the defense excelled? Unquestionably. If you answer no to both of those questions, then you have a bad team.
If you’re answering no to those two questions, I’d be curious to know why.
Eric Berry for sending the guy who wins the Heisman spinning 720 degrees in the air at the podium - or for intercepting it and returning it to where it rightfully belongs
by Chris Pendley on Oct 11, 2009 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Fair points, Graysnail
I never said Tennessee was bad at everything; my pregame breakdown, in fact, explained that I had a bad feeling about the game precisely because the Vols were ahead of the ’Dawgs in many statistical categories. Again, though, this had more to do with Georgia playing poorly than with Tennessee playing well.
The bottom line, though, is that Tennessee was 2-3, had not beaten a team from a BCS conference, and struggled with Ohio (Ohio). Those are not the marks of a good team, even if that team plays well in some areas.
Yes, the Tennessee defense has performed well. It performed well last season under John Chavis when the Vols went 5-7. Defense is a prerequisite to winning, but it isn’t the only component.
Frankly, I think I think what most Tennessee fans thought prior to 12:30 yesterday, and (please note that this was my whole point) that reflects poorly on my team.
Listen, I hope y’all win out; I hope the Rocky Top Talk commenter whose signature file has said for months that the Volunteers would win nine games and beat Georgia proves to be true. I’d love it if the Big Orange finished 10-3 and ranked in the top 25, so that I would have the consolation of saying, “Well, we lost six games, but we lost to six teams that went to bowl games and finished ranked!” I don’t think that’s going to happen, though, and that’s why (which, again, is my whole point) I feel so dejected about this season.
Go 'Dawgs!
I don't think anyone's asking for you to concede Tennessee's a good team.
The objection was to the use of the word terrible to describe the Vols. Had mediocre,average, or some other equivalent been used instead, I don’t think it would’ve stirred up nearly the response it did. Right now, even I wouldn’t say the Vols are good; they have the potential to be – namely, if this game wasn’t an aberration and instead was an indicator of change – but right now, they’re not good. But just because they’re not good doesn’t mean they’re automatically bad; it just means they’re not good.
Prior to 12:30 yesterday, I think Tennessee fans felt like they had a shot against y’all; the question was how Crompton would perform. I’d say that was partially Crompton, partially playcalling, and yes, partially Georgia’s defense. But I can’t not give credit to Kiffin’s plan to roll Crompton out and simplify the reads for him (on rollouts and play action, he was 10-11 and picked up 3 of his 4 TDs, so he at least was able to hit what was available to him); I just don’t know if it’s an aberration. That’s what happens with a sample size of one.
And heck, I’d be surprised if we finished 10-3 – that, among other things, would mean beating Alabama, and that team scares the tar out of me. But 8-5 is a legitimate possibility now, which isn’t exactly a ranked team but not exactly bad, either.
Eric Berry for sending the guy who wins the Heisman spinning 720 degrees in the air at the podium - or for intercepting it and returning it to where it rightfully belongs
by Chris Pendley on Oct 11, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Understood, Graysnail
I regret it if my terminology was inexact. Although I stand by the sentiment—-I think yesterday’s result was due primarily to the fact that Georgia is worse than we supposed, not that Tennessee is better than we imagined, and I don’t believe Tennessee will beat a good team all year—-it was not my purpose to offend.
As I hope was clear from the thrust of the posting as a whole, my point was that this loss indicates systemic problems with the Georgia program that will not be solved by “more of the same.” Some changes are needed if the Bulldogs’ slide is to be arrested and corrected.
I will try to make the same point without using language that might rub anyone the wrong way:
Georgia has lost three games.
Georgia’s first loss was to Oklahoma State, which is 4-1 and ranked 16th. Although the Cowboys scored late to widen the margin, it was a close game for much of the contest.
Georgia’s second loss was to Louisiana State, which is 5-1 and ranked tenth. The Bayou Bengals won the game by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the final minute.
Georgia’s third loss was to Tennessee, which came into the game at 2-3, was 0-3 against BCS conference opponents, and won convincingly only against a team that was playing in Division I-AA two or three years ago. The Volunteers won by a comfortable margin.
The first two losses might have been explained away upon the basis of the quality of the competition. The third cannot. The third loss, therefore, indicates that there are problems with Georgia in need of correction, because a team as talented as the Bulldogs has no business losing in such a lopsided fashion to a team that had achieved as little beforehand as Tennessee had achieved in the first five games of the 2009 season.
I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
Go 'Dawgs!
Catching up on the strand
This is a much more balanced phrasing. It’s also very gracious in the wake of a difficult game.
It should be noted as well that the difference between Tennessee’s 3-3 and South Carolina’s 5-1 is not a tremendous gap. We were a yard away at UCLA but couldn’t get it done.
Of course, our argument that we are “as good as South Carolina” is, by itself, particularly damning. So, I’ll close there.
That's fair . . .
. . . and that last point really is where I was coming from in the first place. I understand why y’all didn’t like the first way it was phrased, but it seemed appropriate because “as good as South Carolina” is, in my experience, synonymous with sucking. :)
Go 'Dawgs!
I don’t see how you can say the jury is out on Bobo.
Look at what Bobo has done.
David Greene, as great as he was, never improved from 2002 to 2004. That’s on Bobo. He may have cost Greene an NFL career as well.
Our offense has been garbage since 2006. Great players have hidden that fact, but we have always been unimaginative and predictable. We have just often had such great players, it didn’t matter.
Auburn's offense! :)
Sometimes they just take a half to wake up :(
"You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer." - Jeff Francouer
by jd is legend on Oct 11, 2009 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Those are fair points, Muckbeast . . .
. . . and I’m not necessarily defending Mike Bobo, although I think he makes more good calls than he gets credit for making.
I’m just saying that Mike Bobo’s offense is inconsistent, which is better than being consistently awful, which is what Willie Martinez’s defense is. (That was some interesting grammar there, Kyle.)
As with the point that drew the ire of so many Tennessee fans, my comparison was chiefly designed to show how bad the thing I was criticizing had become.
Go 'Dawgs!
An offense that the other team cannot constantly predict, and is imaginative.
The words really speak for themselves.
For example, an offense that doesn’t bring Logan Gray in for a single play, 6 games in a row, to run the exact same play – and every time lose a yard and kill a drive.
An offense that doesn’t run countless weak side toss sweeps that fail every time.
An offense that in 4 down territory, can get a first down from 3rd and 2.
An offense that actually utilizes its talent, rather than just choosing plays with no sense of identity or offensive philosophy.
Part of my point is this...
if we run on 1st & 2nd then pass on 3rd – we’ve got a boring unimaginative predictable offense, if we pass on 1st it seems everyone asks why we didn’t run? So I have to wonder what the collective “we” want to see the offense actually do.
Based on your comments, I’d say you want a productive offense, by whatever means necessary, is that a fair assessment?
podunkdawg - fair point
yes, old school is running on 1st and 2nd. Nothing wrong with throwing on 1st. My problem is throwing the freaking bomb on 1st for nothing. then running on 2nd for nothing. Now we are in the shotgun on 3rd and long.
Or throwing 10+ yard passes on 3rd and short.
We dont run plays that set up a play action pass – yet, we are trying to establish a play action pass – which doesnt make sense.
its NOT the mixing up – its the distance and formations of the call.
I agree Beast....
I know y’all are getting tired of me bringing this up again ( & again) but to me the 1st drive in the Okie State game was very “imaginative & unpredictable.” Everyone knew coming into this season that Cox did not have the arm or “big game” experience that Stafford had but he was to be more mobile than his predecessor. I have yet to see Bobo call some the plays that are designed for mobile QBs to “open” up a defense. I know Longhorns/Pokies will hate me for saying this (but who cares), but I do not see Colt McCoy/Zac Robinson as having a “cannon” for an arm but they roll out/bootleg so that they can have vision to throw the ball down field (I do understand that both of these guys are faster than Cox-but as we saw yesterday Crumpton is not as fast as Cox but his mobility out of the pocket & our lack of consistent rush from the D-ends enabled him to look down field & square his shoulders to make a good throw). This also helps the O line (which was to be our strength this year) to eliminate certain stunts by the Defense (i.e. the slants/omahas by the D-line into the gaps & the LBs must make decisions on playing the run or the pass). We have yet to see any “surprises” by Bobo’s play calling since that 1st drive! We have considerable talent & speed that needs to be utilized more. There are no reasons that CMR cannot initiate a “hands-on” approach at this juncture. I like Bobo as a person but I agree with most Dawg fans that it seems he is becoming more predictable & really getting his butt kicked by the opposing DC’s on a regular basis! CMR was part of the FSU staff that were known for their liberal play calling & putting their play-makers in to make BIG plays! It’s time for CMR to step up & get back to calling the plays!!
Ooops sorry about the "salt in the wound" by my icon.....
but she is a good-looker! I was really hoping that after the DAWGS beat up on the Vols to be able to use this icon in more of a Kiffykin insult but that’s just not gonna happen!
I disagree about UT for the most part
because I do think Tennessee has some good players. Obviously they have one of the top DC’s in the country (Monte is probably 100 times better than Willie Martinez), Eric Berry, two solid, if not pretty good running backs, Nu’Keese Richardson is a good player. I also think people are underestimating Lane Kiffin. He has a great staff under him and as Georgia fans we should understand how incredibly important the coaching staff is that is under the head coach. I mean…that is our glaring problem.
I would KILL to have Monte Kiffin as our DC. Are you kidding me?
And it is a mixed bag on the recruiting. I don’t know which players were committed before Kiffin was there, but he managed to have his name attached to a strong class. There’s no doubting he’s a jackass, but I think he’s gonna be pretty good at Tennessee in the long run. And with the way Auburn is looking right now…and Bama’s continued rise to the top, Florida being Florida, LSU still going strong, South Carolina playing LOTS of young players and making some noise, heck, we’re on the fringe of becoming a middle tier SEC team.
But really I just wanted to post about the last point Kyle made. They’re still our team. Some boo birds came out against LSU and it pissed me off. I understand they were booing the offensive playcalling, but it is indirectly, and maybe directly in some cases, being targeted to college kids. They don’t get paid to play, they’re out there ’cause they love it. Just a request for those of you who feel the need to start booing when we get back to Athens, shut up and cheer for your team.
Now, if you want to sit in FedEx Field and boo the Washington Redskins…I might buy you a ticket.
i studied Monte a few weeks ago and kept my eye on him
and i think he is bad arse. Unlike me saying “fire CWM” he is someone that clearly knows more about X’s and O’s than I ever will.
Which raises the point: when you look across the SEC and the NCAA, why doesnt UGA have one of these phenom DC’s that are all over the place? Dang Kiffin went and got his dad. we cant pay 5 mil to get someone good?
I wonder if we could have possibly made a move for
Will Muschamp when he went to Texas.
But then again, I think that was the year we demolished a pretty bad Hawaii team and our D looked amazing (and was playing at a pretty high level in the second half of the season, to be fair).
But darn, think about that. I wonder if that demolishing of Hawaii bought Martinez some time.
by UgaBulldog14 on Oct 11, 2009 2:42 AM EDT up reply actions
i dont know all the politics and money -
but my god, i wondered why we couldnt get Muschamp. He is at TEXAS. That is not a small deal.
I think the time is bought buy the sporadic good playing. I guess the only way to fire someone is if they completely suck for years. which is sad.
One thing about our "stale" offense
Is that we run a pro style offense. That helps recruiting so much. Our system is the reason Stafford came here.
I do think the jury is still out on Bobo. When he gets in a zone, he can put up some massive numbers.
T Kyle
My apologies Sir. We (I) got so caught up in a little blog drama I needed to go back and read your post again, even at this late hour. Its a very fine synopsis that I completely agree with. As usual, ever since I first knew you, you more eloquently and completely describe what I am trying to say. This is a fine post about the state of affairs and deserves much more credit than the crap we all jumped into tonight.
The only point i would add, and only at the end – would be that this year is how it is. I am so, so terribly concerned about the future and desporate for some type of something to give me insight into the future. Like was posted by (sorry, a good poster here) someone else, CMR is not the type to throw people under the bus publically, so it’s maddening, but it is also classy. I concede this year, I just hope we make the changes we can make now, get the players the chances we can now, and then make the changes in the off season to get back on track for another decade of great UGA football.
And, honestly, I think we will. I dont like to be a “wait till next year” guy like UT is this year. But, the bottom line is this is a year to evaluate and refocus and sometimes that is what it takes. After all, even Pete Carroll loses to a nobody once a year. It’s how you respond to it that counts.
Thank you T Kyle for a wonderful blog, great posts and calm insight.
Changes needed****
Good post but without more stuff it is simple to see we are not doing well and havent for a few years. We hear a lot about Coach Richts choice of continuity of coaches, but is that always good. I wonder why other schools haven’t sought out Willie or Bobo, just to name a couple. Most of the attention has been pointed at the defense and that seems fair. I think it is laudable that Richt has given Willie a chance to correct things, but enough is enough. As many have said, we are now solidly in the second tier, not a place you want to become entrenched. Cullowheedawy
by Cullowheedawg42 on Oct 11, 2009 8:29 AM EDT reply actions
"The Vols are a terrible football team. Simply stated, they suck."
Everybody’s going to deal with this in their own way, of course (after our UCLA loss I’m pretty sure I was saying the same thing), but empirically I think you’re off base, although I’m still not quite sure what to make of this team. Before yesterday, we had a top-20 defense (that was a top-10 defense until f’ing Malzahn got ahold of it), and the SEC’s leading rusher, and a passing game that couldn’t sync up, ever. Today we have … a top-20 defense, the SEC’s leading rusher, and a passing game that got to play a little pitch and catch. Not a whole lot’s changed.
________________________________
I will give my shirt for Tennessee today.
So then what do you make of our team?
You’ve been really objective about the Vols all off-season through now and you watch your fair share of Georgia and have for a while. I know we’re going to get the snarky review of the game on EDSBS or your site (which is a good thing, that’s not a knock), but what’s your take on the situation as an outsider? Is it just the assistants? Richt? Talent? There are so many of us Georgia fans shouting different ideas, I just don’t know if we can see the forest for the trees…
Honestly?
My co-bloggers and I have talked about this several times this year: Is it just me, or is this the most baffling season in recent memory? Six weeks in and the numbers are what they are, but I can’t ever remember being this far into October and feeling like I know absolutely nothing. I couldn’t fashion a coherent Top 25 with a gun to my head.
It’s Georgia, so it’s really hard for me to believe it’s a talent problem. And I haven’t watched every game, but the one thing that’s jumped out at me this year and last year (and this won’t be news to you) is the tackling, and very lately, the penalties. And that comes down to coaching, right? Beyond that…you got me. This whole year has just been bat country, coast to coast.
________________________________
I will give my shirt for Tennessee today.
by Holly Anderson on Oct 11, 2009 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I'd agree with that, as an outside observer.
Tackling has been a serious issue on defense, as have penalties. The thing that would concern me more though is the play of the offensive line, especially in the running game. I don’t know enough about Georgia’s schemes, but if you’re of the mind that the talent everywhere is solid (which seems like a good assumption to make) then it comes down to execution and design. Moreno was a tackle-breaking beast for y’all, and that can do a good job of hiding line issues, so this may have been a problem for a couple of years and just nobody noticed until now.
Eric Berry for sending the guy who wins the Heisman spinning 720 degrees in the air at the podium - or for intercepting it and returning it to where it rightfully belongs
by Chris Pendley on Oct 11, 2009 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Just like last season, Tenn has looked like a pretty good team, with the exception of one position. Now, if Crompton’s performance yesterday wasn’t an aberration, it could be quite a solid squad.
Georgia is more difficult to assess, but it’s looking something like FSU a few years ago – the talent is still coming in, but it’s not being developed at the same level as before. The defence in particular looks shockingly unsound, and it has since mid-season last year.
Also, flagrantly off-topic at this point, but I'm starting to think this season makes sense. It's just not a model we've seen yet.
The explanation, unfortunately, is way too long to fit here reasonably. Short version: this season has a peloton.
Eric Berry for sending the guy who wins the Heisman spinning 720 degrees in the air at the podium - or for intercepting it and returning it to where it rightfully belongs
by Chris Pendley on Oct 11, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Coach Richt Can't Manage the Freaking Clock
After turning over play-calling duties to Bobo, the only think Mark Richt has to do is manage the damn game—that means clock management, timeouts and overal strategy.
Why can’t the man figure out how the clock works. At the end of the first half, with no timeouts and Georgia driving for a possible field goal, the Dawgs got a first down on the Tennessee 30 yard line with 1 second left. What should Richt have done? Had the field goal unit on immediate standby, ready to run out onto the field and hike the ball when the clock started for a last second try.
What did he do? Allow Cox to try and spike the ball? With 1 second left? A play takes a freaking second, and Cox and Richt were upset when the clock hit zero. Jesus. This isn’t basketball with a clock that has tenths of seconds. It’s a football game clock. A play takes a minimum of one second.
I can’t take this anymore. Richt does this every game—mismanaging the time and timeouts. It started in his first year when time ran out against Auburn with Georgia on the goal-line ready to score, and has continued to happen every single game. The man can’t do the only job he has on the sideline well.
The dynamic duo: Matt Ryan and Roddy White.
by The Troubadour on Oct 11, 2009 11:59 AM EDT reply actions
While I think Mark Richt's clock management improved . . .
. . . after his first season (as evidenced by games ranging from the 2002 Alabama game to the 2009 Arizona State game), you’re right that the clock management at the end of the half was atrocious. No one can snap it and spike it without a second ticking off the clock, and certainly not on the road. (Has anyone ever heard of Michigan State?)
Either the field goal unit should have been ready, or, when it was apparent that couldn’t be done, A.J. Green should have been sent to the end zone and Joe Cox should have thrown his way. A Hail Mary would have been better than a spike.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions
My perspective__
1. I never expected UGA to beat UT this year. Before the season started, I predicted a 6-6 record for Georgia, with one of the losses being to UT. I actually thought UGA would be 2-4 at this point with the other loss coming at the hands of USC east. (Please recall that a last play heroic pass disruption by Rennie Curran was all that saved us that game.
2. UT is an average to below average team with an above average defense__they went into the swamp and held Tebow and the Gators to 300+ yards. That’s pretty good D. It’s true they have been inconsistent, but who hasn’t.
3. I said last Friday that yesterday would be the first time all year that Joe Cox would enter the game as the best quarterback on the field. Unfortunately, the UT coaching staff reviewed their gamefilms and found out that Crompton ain’t too bad as a rollout passer instead of a dropback passer, at which role he stinks, and made the necessary changes to relegate Cox to his familiar role as 2nd best quarterback on the field. (Actually, I think he was better than the Arizona State QB, but can that really count?)
4. As I have repeately posted, without AJ Green, UGA would be winless this season. He is the only constant positive on offense, and Curran is the only constant on defense. Period, end of statement.
5. Bobo and Richt have absolutely no confidence in any quarterback on the team___they have lied to us repeatedly about why Gray is not used. Granted, i believe them when they say Murray is not ready and that Zach (?) is not ready. They simply don’t believe Gray can get the job done and they continue to give fabricated reasons for not playing Gray.
6. UGA’s starting safeties are the WORST tacklers on any team in BCS. They simply believe they can “block” down a runner instead of sticking him and “wrapping” up. Evans should never walk on the field again, and Jones is not far behind. I shudder to think what Tech will do again this year.
7. The offensive line is a joke . . . period.
8. The offense of the 90’s imported from FSU has been surpassed and needs to be changed dramatically.
I suffered through the last years of Wally Butts, the debacle of Johnny Griffith, the down years of Dooley and his depletion of the program foisted upon Goff, and the thuggery days of Donnan. This too shall pass, and I still love the Dawgs. Aloha.
This is going to sound like ...
… I’m jumping on some sort of Fire Richt bandwagon, and I’m not. I’m. Not.
But. You say that any coach we might want is so entrenched as to be unobtainable. Sorry, I just don’t see it.
The coaches of the two best programs right now are in their second and fifth years. The former is a guy who would jump off a moving tractor-trailer if he decided he wanted to go to Taco Bell.
In this day and age, with the money that’s out there, no one is that entrenched. Not even Saban. Not even Meyer. Not Mack Brown.
Am I saying we should hire Saban or Meyer? No, of course not. But the idea that we couldn’t? That I don’t agree with.
What we do need is a shakeup. We need to rattle the earth some. Getting Martinez out is one thing. Once we do, replace him with a name. Spend the money, and get a name. Tuberville. Muschamp. Someone with a proven track record.
I don’t care where he comes from. In fact, if he comes from one of our big rivals, ALL THE BETTER. That’s right. We took your defensive coordinator. What are you gonna do about it?
We were fantastic through the first half of this decade. But college football moved forward. New offenses came in, including that stupid gimmicky-ass spread. We haven’t adjusted. Even Michigan gave up on running the same offense they’ve been running for centuries.
What we saw in the second half of 2007 was a Mark Richt who wasn’t afraid to gamble. He tried things (the Celebration, the Blackout) knowing that the payoff was high, but the potential drawbacks were too. Now? We don’t get that. We get Joe Cox, because Joe Cox is safe. We don’t get Logan Gray or Aaron Murray, because what if they mess up? We get Willie Martinez, because we know Willie Martinez. We get a long pass on first down, a short run on second down and a third-and-8, because by God, we know that.
Unless
we’re willing to hire either Pete Carroll or Urban Meyer (and they are willing to come to Georgia) there is no one else with a BETTER records than CMR in 9 seasons. Bob Stoops has a better record after 11 seasons. No one else who is actively coaching (and that includes Saban, Bowden, Paterno & Spurrier) is better than CMR.
Uh, podunk,
your argument is based on overall record while others base their evaluation on such things as number of national championships. To say that Mark Richt is a better coach than everyone other than Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, and Bob Stoops is absurd! He is a decent man and a decent coach, and on some occasions, a good coach. When, if ever, have the expectations from Bulldog faithful been higher, year in and year out? I would say never__perhaps it is the expectations that should be adjusted. If fans are expecting to compete for a national championship at UGA every year, I would suggest they get a real life. Ain’t NEVER happened__and never will.
Perhaps we just disagree
I said among the active Div 1A coaches, only Carroll & Meyer have better records than CMR after 9 seasons. Bob Stoops has a better overall record after 11 seasons. These are facts.
My opinion is – other than Carroll or Meyer(and I might even go Stoops) we have the best coach of all active D1A coaches. You have a different opinion, fine.
I think the man’s overall record means something. Looks like you’re saying it doesn’t because he doesn’t have the NC?
Should we have played for the title in 2007? I think so. If memory serves the argument was we didn’t win the SEC – well my argument then (and now) was the same thing happened with OU not that long ago. They lost their conference championship game and still went to the title game. So what?
Again, not trying to say we should or shouldn’t do anything. But Bobby Bowden has the second-most wins of any coach in history. Doesn’t mean his team doesn’t suck this year.
CMR could have a couple of 5-win seasons and still be pretty high on that list. But for how long can you trade on previous successes?
What he’s done does entitle him to more latitude than other coaches would get. It’s why he can be 3-3 and Lane Kiffin can be 3-3, and they’re not seen as equals.
But the flip side of that longevity is this: There are problems within our program right now, and he’s got to take the blame for those. You can’t give him the credit for the good stuff and absolve him of the blame for the bad.
There are mitigating circumstances to be sure. But keep this in mind: Truly elite programs lose elite players all the time, with little to no dropoff. Pete Carroll wins a ton of games every single year (and loses one inexplicable game a year — sound familiar?). What’s the old cliche? Great programs don’t rebuild; they reload. If we’re a great program, then why is this our second rebuilding year in four?
My response is to the concept
that CMR should be gone. I disagree and at this juncture, my opinion is not going to be changed. Might it change in another year or two – maybe, but not today and not this season. It really is as simple as that.
Uh, podunk, part deux.
“No one else who is actively coaching (and that includes Saban, Bowden, Paterno & Spurrier) is better than CMR.” is a direct quote from your post. I accept the fact that Richt has a better overall record than everyone other than the ones to which reference is made elsewhere in your post, but that fact does not make Richt a better coach. I also pointed out that some fans, myself NOT included, measure a coach’s “worth” by national championships. I do not desire to see Richt fired but I accept the fact that UGA is NOT an Alabama, LSU, Southern Cal, Penn State, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas, or even a Miami__storied programs who are also media darlings. Those programs enjoyed prominence for decades prior to most posters’ dates of birth, and UGA will not enjoy the same status in most posters’ lifetimes. The answer to RJohn’s last sentence is found within it: “If we are a great program”__therein lies the answer: “UGA is not nor has it ever been a ’great program.” It is a middle tier or lower “upper class” program that occasionally has a banner year.
Florida
Media darlings-Yes
Storied Program-No
What you said about the status of Georgia’s program could have easily been been said about Florida circa 1991.
If Georgia will never be more than a middle tier program with occasional good years what’s the point of replacing Richt?
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 5:05 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
and that quote is the opinion as I noted above
I based my opinion on certain facts, notably the referenced record.
It is also a fact that UGA has not won a nat’l champ under Richt. We haven’t even played the game. I consider that to be a function of a seriously jacked system (IMO) – the BCS not a function of a lack of production on the part of our coaches or players.
You reference my measurement (which you disagree with), you reference others using NC’s, however, since you don’t mention it, I fail to see what measure you would use to judge our head coach.
Based on what you’ve said so far, you think CMR is not a better coach than everyone except Carroll, Meyer & Stoops, despite his overall record and you think UGA is a middle tier/ lower upper class program. What’s the basis for your opinions?
With respect to UGA's program status, my opinion is based on the level of success or lack thereof
which UGA has enjoyed or suffered over more than the last five decades. (I first became a UGA fan in 1956.) I simply don’t believe that a better record necessarily means one is a better coach___factors such as strength of schedule, ability to adjust to changing trends and rules, ability to win despite having inferior talent, etc. all enter into one’s “record”. Perhaps the greatest measure of a coach is his ability to surround himself with GREAT coaches__Dooley could win as long as he had Erk Russell as his defensive coordinator. Russell left and our program began its demise, although some periodic success returns. I do not consider VD a great coach although he won 6 SEC titles and 1 national championships in 25 years at UGA. Richt won’t exceed any of those marks, yet I am not asking that he be fired. I simply don’t expect more than periodically and fairly regularly competing for an SEC championship.
"Record" in quotes in the above post is used to make reference to one's
legacy and is much greater than one’s record in terms of wins and losses.
Fair enough.
I would argue that even most “storied” teams have had several seasons in a row of not competing on the grand scale over a 50+ yr period. Including OU, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Ohio St. & USC.
In some ways, College football is like the stock market – you’ve got your ups, you’ve got your downs and there is no secret 49 spice formula for winning.
I agree as posted in my response to Redcrake. It's just that those
programs enjoy lengthier and higher successes than most of us below them.
I am totally lost with your threads
CMR has already blown by Dooley at equal points at uga. Give cmr 25 years and I have no doubt he will equal or exceed VD. I simply don’t get how you compare 25 years to 9 when the 9 is ahead at equal points.
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 5:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Dooley took over a program in total shambles from
Butts and Griffith. Richt took over a talent laden squad from Donnan, who could not control the thug factor. Dooley’s teams played 10 game seasons for the first several years while Richt’s have played at least 11 games or more in regular seasons. I never said Dooley was a great or good coach. In fact, those who know me know that I called for his ouster years before he left. Your opinion is that he will win one or more national championships in his first 25 years at UGA (a tenure I doubt he will enjoy) and that he will win 6 or more SEC championships in that same time period or shorter. I simply disagree.
And CMR promptly recruited way better than
Donnan and continues to. And, well, if it was donnans recruits I’m the early years, at least CMR got more out of them thandonnan.
As far as a legacy record – I guess we will see in 16 years. I don’t think another few SECs in the next 5 years and a NC are a remote possibility – I think it is a reasonable expectation – an expectation only about 3 schools have nationally and an expectation UGA has never had since 1892.
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 5:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
"Way better"__nice measurement.
No doubt Richt got more out of them__a fact I have pointed out and certainly never disputed. I DON’T THINK RICHT SHOULD BE FIRED! Where the heck did you get that? I think he is a better coach than Donnan, Goff, Butts, and Griffith, all of whom were UGA head football coaches in my lifetime. As far as Dooley is concerned, Richt has yet to prove he can surround himself with the caliber of assistants Dooley kept, at least for the first 15+ years of his tenure.
Redcrake, I never said to replace Richt. Your comment
about UF not being a storied program prior to 1991 is correct, but that is almost 2 decades ago. The fact is that UF had superior talent to UGA’s for at least the 1970’s and early 1980’s, but couldn’t get the job done, primarily because of Erk Russell and some other UGA assistants who could, but that didn’t make UGA on a par with the Oklahoma or Penn States or whatever at the time. These things run in cycles and even the “best” programs have down cycles__they just are generally less severe. Personally, I think the best thing that could happen to UGA football is for the end zone seats to be demolished and fans returning to the tracks and the bridge for vantage points and being satisfied with winning the SEC on a fairly routine basis.
Just to point this out
but if you believe (and I do) that the SEC is the toughest conference in the nation then it stands to reason that winning the SEC will automatically mean contending for a national championship. No?
Under the current status the league enjoys,
winning the SEC almost always will mean contending for a national championship. In the not so distant past, at least to us old timers, that was not the case. I do not believe it will always be the case, however. Let’s say that USC goes undefeated and Penn STate goes undefeated and South Carolina wins the SEC championship game and is undefeated. No way Carolina goes in ahead of the other two__no way.
More confusion
The best thing for uga is to tear down the stands? No disrepect to your fond memories but is now the most insane thing I have heard. There us no corelation between sitting on the tracks and winning more SEC rings. And the cost alone would be a huge detriment to the school. Sir, apologies, but what arguments you may make I could see are destroyed by lest field comments like this that are both illogical as well as absolutely impossible.
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 5:34 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
A return to realistic expectations from UGA football
is what I have been advocating in this these posts. The reference to tearing down the end zone seats was symbolic reference to returning to realistic expectations. It is absolutely incredulous that anyone would think I was advocating such destruction literally.
It was your words - I didn't realize I was reading Faulkner
by tankertoad on Oct 11, 2009 5:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
That's what happens when one gets into a battle of wits
without any ammunition. Have a nice life, ’toad.
so
my reasonable agruments were turned into a personal shot. again – you lose all ground when you say something like that. And I have a great life.
GO DAWGS!
"Lose all ground"__ "personal shot again". What are YOU
talking about?
the "nfm" line
now seals it – i seriously doubt you are all that old – or even from UGA.
I regret debating a troll.
Ask T. Kyle if I am "from UGA" or "all that old".
And to what debate are you making reference?
Ok let's all take
a nice deep breath.
To be fair – Jujdog – you did specifically say, “Personally, I think the best thing that could happen to UGA football is for the end zone seats to be demolished and fans returning to the tracks and the bridge for vantage points and being satisfied with winning the SEC on a fairly routine basis.” It’s fairly easy to see that sentence taken literally and pretty hard to see any indication that it was meant as symbolism. That makes your shot at Tanker (getting into battle sans ammunition) a bit on the uncalled for side.
On the otherhand, Tanker, I take nfm to mean no further message. I bet I can guess how you interpreted it? If it does indeed mean no further message, your comments are also a bit on the uncalled for side.
Shall we all agree, shake hands and move on now?
I thought it was pretty obvious, even to me as a
62 year old, that “nfm” means “no further message” in computer-speak. With respect to the demolition of end zone seats being taken as literal, I point out that T. Kyle often uses sarcasm in his posts, or at least I take some of his comments as such. I certainly use a lot of “theater of the absurd” or sarcasm in my posts. See where I posted that drinking beer on dirt roads in south Georgia and listening to the Dawgs on radio produces a win__does anyone really think I believe that? This is about football___we should be able to joke about it and laugh about it___it’s no big deal if UGA never again wins a national championship. I certainly can move on.
Sometimes
things just don’t translate as well without tone of voice, body language and the like. I missed the sarcasm on this one (but understood it about the beer drinking) and I’m about as sarcastic as a person can be – it’s part of why I love this blog.
I never thought that you did...
My argument was that if Georgia is a mid-tier program with occasional banner years, then Richt is more than capable of achieving that. If we are an elite program he might be capable of meeting/exceeding expectations but not as assuredly as his ability to lead a mid-tier program to occasional banner years.
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 6:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
RedCrake, I concur fully in the first sentence of your latest post, and I cannot
say that I disagree with the premise of the second sentence. I just don’t think we are an elite program or ever have been or ever will be.
Fair enough
Behold, this year's College Gameday Sign:
"Joe Cox -- He circumcises ANGELS!"
by RedCrake on Oct 11, 2009 6:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
My apologies if this has already been discussed, but another reason we wouldn’t want to fire Richt is the effect it would have on recruiting. Having tough seasons like this one obviously hurts recruiting, but the one thing losing can’t take away from us is Richt’s masterful job of making young guys and their families feel welcome and appreciated. I’m sure you’ve all read the quotes from recruits, as I have, in which they say the deciding factor in choosing to go to UGA was Richt’s family-oriented approach. If we were to fire Richt after scuffling for a while, we’d only be hurting our chances in the long-run by compromising our recruiting approach, which seems to be quite effective.
"When life gives you lemons, just say 'F*ck the lemons,' and bail."
by Bravely going forward on Oct 11, 2009 5:36 PM EDT reply actions
Well, sure, but ...
That recruiting approach was what brought us the team we have today, which is 3-3 and just got a woodshed beating from a struggling rival.
If that recruiting approach is helping us get the best players in the country, then I’m all for it. I don’t think there’s much doubt that Richt is good at sealing the deal with the players he’s identified and targeted. The question is whether he’s identifying and targeting the right ones.
Or, put another way, Urban Meyer’s the spawn of Satan and that didn’t seem to stop Percy Harvin from signing on the dotted line.
RJohn, are you the one that the Mentalist is after?
Seriously, “the spawn of Satan” is hands down the best reference to any UF coach EVER! LOL.
To be fair
I think CMR makes a point of not going after certain players because of their overall attitudes. Not saying he passed on Percy because I honestly don’t know, but that he skips the thug-types and happily lets them go other places.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that a guy like Urban Meyer might not have as easy a time recruiting if his team were to struggle the way we are right now. It’s the old honey versus vinegar thing. As others have noted, right now it’s a matter of getting good coaching, but it all starts with good recruiting, and if you were to take Richt out of that equation right now, I’m not sure we’d continue to get the same caliber of raw talent down the line. We can still right this ship if we can continue to get good recruiting and make a few changes to the coaching staff.
"When life gives you lemons, just say 'F*ck the lemons,' and bail."
by Bravely going forward on Oct 11, 2009 9:12 PM EDT up reply actions
That's a good point
I don’t know that Urban Meyer is the best example, though. He and Nick Saban are top-flight recruiters despite being singleminded in their devotion to football (to an extent that probably doesn’t make them the nicest of fellows) because they win. Winning is the ultimate deodorant.
The bottom line is that being a nice guy will get you the benefit of the doubt when things go badly, to an extent that being a jerk won’t. Ray Goff got seven years on the job and Jim Donnan got only five, despite the disparities in their records, because Ray Goff was a likable guy who built up considerable goodwill and Jim Donnan made no friends.
The problem is when being too nice a guy impedes your effectiveness. Jimmy Carter is a fine human being, which makes him a good Sunday school teacher but which made him horribly inadequate when it came to dealing with the Soviet Union.
Sometimes it takes an SOB to get things done, and, when your head coach is a good person, he needs an SOB as his second-in-command. Mark Richt had that in Brian VanGorder; he doesn’t have it now, which is to the team’s detriment. Mark Richt’s “ice” has won us a lot of games, starting with the 2001 victory in Neyland Stadium. He needs the “fire” to go with it, or we’re going to see a lot more lackluster efforts like yesterday’s.
Go 'Dawgs!
Ahem....Posted here last week.
I have had many supervisors. Some I liked, some were just…eh, some I HATED. I gotta say the ones who made me better at what I do where the ones I was scared of and hated. They got me to produce because the fear I had of failing them was a very real motivator. I might have hated them, but I sure as heck respected them. When the game is tight, when it gets tough, thats where you find out what you are made of. When you are in the midst of feeling that “pinch”, there is no greater motivator than fear. It sucks, but it is true. I am sorry, but this team has no balls. There are guys who do, like our top three(Green, Curran, Butler). As a team overall though, we do not. If you were an LSU, Alabama, or Florida, would you be scared of our Defense or Offense, or dare I say Special Teams? No. Heck no. We tackle poorly (most of the time), we make dumb mistakes, commit bone head penalties, and just all around poop the bed with no fear of the consequences. There is no retribution at practice. There can’t be with the way it just keeps happening, and happening and happening. Inflexibility or ill advised calls from certain coaches don’t help either. Even I could figure out how to beat Martinez because of his inability to adjust. Take some risks Willie! Do you think soldiers liked Patton? Probably not all of them,but they all respected him. Believe that. Look at the results he produced. Patton ran through France like poop through a stinking goose until he out ran his supply line. Do you think they sang kumbaya around the campfire and had “I’m okay, you’re okay” talks? Heck no. We lack an edge, we lack a killer instinct. These guys face no consequences, and if they do, they have no teeth, no effect to generate fear. A lack of discipline exists from the top down. From Richt to the practice squad. I love this team, I love the University, win or lose. If we don’t make changes and make them fast, we will have more of the same. We must be vicious, we must be fast. Fleet footed and able, assassins of our opponents physical abilities and motivations. We need to be heart breakers and momentum takers. We need to be junkyard DAWGS! Cold and calculated, unforgiving in our precision. Big plays should not be celebrated excessively in shocked surprise, they should be expected based on execution and precision. Act like you’ve been there before, and walk away like you knew it was gonna happen all along. You break your opponents and walk away like it was nothing. No swagger or smugness to give them motivation for next year, just cold hard conclusive results. Take everything and leave nothing. Until we find a way to instill discipline and break our opponents. the Red and Black will not be feared, we will be beaten like we have been this year, over and over again. The team really has taken on Richt’s laid back Joe Cool persona. CMR is a great man, but he’s gotta find that guy with “Patton/Erk-esque” mentality that will make people more willing to let their own momma down than that man, whoever they may be. Someone to put some fire into this team. This post may be harsh, but I think it is exactly what his team needs. A kick in the a#@ that will turn out to be the shot in the arm we need. Go Dawgs!
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
I have a vision of AeroDawg standing in front of a giant, wall-mounted
American flag, pounding his hand with a riding crop as he delivers this post orally. Bravo! Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play. (Explanatory note: This post is meant as a compliment to AeroDawg and his thoughts as expressed in his post__please do not think I am being negative or criticizing him.)
Nobody ever won a football game by dying for his team
He won it by making the other poor dumb player die for his football team.
Figuratively speaking, of course.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2009 10:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Nicely put...
Saw Patton shortly after the game last week. Got me a bit riled up.
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
You forgot to add with a shiny steel pot helmet, then it would be completely in character. Too funny.
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
Yeah, I only mentioned Urban Meyer because RJohn made the point about him being the “Spawn of Satan,” which is pretty funny, though in reality I have no idea what the guy’s actually like.
"When life gives you lemons, just say 'F*ck the lemons,' and bail."
by Bravely going forward on Oct 11, 2009 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Donnan
The revisionist history going on there is insane. Was Donnan a prick? Yes. Could he get us over the hump? No. Could he recruit his ass of and recognize talent? The 2002 team with EVERY SINGLE STARTER recruited under Donnan would suggest YES!
To think Richt is the only coach that could come to the flagship university in a state that produces the forth most D-1 talent in the country and stock up on talent is just ridiculous. If Donnan, who had no personality and burned a lot of bridges with HS coaches, could load up, than anyone can.
Everyone here is concerned with curing the symptoms and not the illness. Richt is Fulmer at the end, Dye at the end, Donnan at the end. One day Saban and Meyer will be where Richt is. The ENTIRE conference plus Tech have rolled over coaches since Richt has been here. He’s the last holdout. His schemes, which were never complex to begin with, have grown stale. Either the ENTIRE staff has to be turned over so that essentially we are starting over with fresh blood, or Richt has to go before anything will change. Our problems require shock therapy, not just a simple tweaking.
If the entire conference has turned over
since he’s been here, doesn’t that mean hiring him was the FIRST of the turnovers?
Top 5
Why are we an “average” team this year and the last few years? It baffles me! CMR continues to be around the top 5 in recruiting. It has been this way for the last 5-7 years. If we cintinue to have “top 5” players how come we dont ever finish in the top 5 or play at a top 5 “level.” I think CMR should stay. I don’t want another coach coaching our team or recruiting for the future. Ask any great high school athelete in the southeast and UGA is on their short list. They want to play here and be part of this great tradition. With that said something needs to change beacuse a team who is top 5 in recruiting every year should not be out of the top 25 now!
Yes we need a defensive coordinator.....
it’s no secret that since CWM has taken over as defensive coordinator our defense has gone straight into the toilet……I truly believe this is not on our players (even though every time I see #3 on the field I get sick to my stomach!) I believe this is on our scheme and then the lack of adjustments made throughout a game! Watching Alabammie, LSU & Florida yesterday proved my point- Saban, Chavous, & Strong have their players’ thinking that “noone can beat me, not today!” I think that our players know that Willie is not about to change sooo they play as we will bend but try not to break (and we saw where that scheme got them yesterday!) We need a D-Coach that makes the players believe in a system!! CMR will get the talent-we just need a D-system that can work!! Now let’s go get ’em!
Here's the deal....
The entire conference has turned over since Richt has been here. New blood=new energy and innovation. We are stale and predictable. Richt either has to clean house and get a whole new “feel” to the team, or gotta go. It’s not easy, but he isn’t paid $2 million/year to be a good guy.
Ok State 'big deal'?
I can’t believe you said that it was a big deal for uga to go to Stillwater. Are you serious? It was a big deal for uga because it is, what, the second time that y’all have gone past the Mississippi River to play a game in the regular season since the ’40’s? Do you really think that Cowboy fans were unable to sleep the night before the game with anticipation of the bulldogs being nice enough to grace them with a friendly? That says so much about georgia. Yes, Tennessee is bad right now, and I won’t dispute that because it makes georgia’s loss that much worse, but don’t forget who you are. As good as the Richt era has been, will georgia be seen as the power of the SEC over those years? A big deal for Ok State, you have got be joking.
As a matter of fact ...
I do think that Cowboy fans were unable to sleep the night before the game with anticipation of the Bulldogs’ arrival. Their local headlines and message boards said as much. It wasn’t all about us, to be sure: much of it had to do with their relatively lofty pre-season ranking, the renovated stadium, and the anticipation of a season with their three-headed offensive monster, but they were tickled pink and downright nervously giddy to have UGA coming to town. And some fans repeatedly said they couldn’t sleep because they were so excited. A lot of that had to do with the fact that their fans and players said that they were overwhelmed by the venue in Athens a couple years ago and not “ready for the big-time”. So yes. Absolutely. It was a huge deal to them.
Were you there, blagojahawk?
Because I was, and I can tell you, yes, it was a very big deal for Oklahoma State to host Georgia in Boone Pickens Stadium in a nationally televised game. It was the Cowboys’ chance to cement their status as a legitimate program deserving of recognition, and they made the most of it.
As for the “passing the Mississippi River” bit, we share a geographic footprint with another BCS conference, the ACC, with whom we have two rivals (Georgia Tech and Clemson) and with whom we used to have a third before South Carolina joined the SEC. Georgia regularly traveled outside the South during the 50-year span from 1916 to 1965, and, once Damon Evans became Georgia’s athletic director, the ’Dawgs began scheduling aggressively again, playing at Arizona State last year and at Stillwater this year, with games upcoming in Boulder, Eugene, and Louisville. The critics need to get some new lines.
Go 'Dawgs!
I've got to stop re-visiting this thread...
… it angries up the blood something fierce.
Guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffin’ glue.
losers
why dont you all try checking the scoreboard and stop making excuses. TENNESSEE FREAKIN KILLED GEORGIA. and their only good plays were on a careless errors. Tennessee is just flat out better than georgia. MARLON BROWN GOT BOOED WHEN HE CAUGHT THE BALL. that was hilarious. eric berry jacked up joe cox and janzen jackson killed one of georgias recceivers. georgia sux. stop yalls excuses and take it like men wimps. this is insane. take it like men if your a real football team. this just shows how the whole georgia community acts. oh we just lost 49 tp 19. lets make exsuces. there is no way to make any excuses for that loss. if any of you wimpy georgia fans want to reply to this post I will never get back on this website again so you wimps might not even want to try to come back at me.
ERIC BERRY=DEATH
by govolsbeatgeogria on Oct 12, 2009 8:34 PM EDT reply actions
Well stated, govolsbeatgeogria
I wish Tennessee the best of luck in their upcoming game against Geogria. I hope you beat them 49 (or 45, you know, whichever) tp 19!
Since I’m replying to this post, are you never getting back on this website again? Oh, the horror . . .
Go 'Dawgs!
Wow...
First of all, I was pretty sure grammar and spelling hadn’t made it to Tennessee. Thanks for the confirmation. Second I see that algebraic equations are still a bit above your level. Love the try with Eric Berry=Death. If that is true, I would hate to be him. Being death, living in Knoxville and having to wear that baby carrot poop orange, sucks to be him. You just remember one thing, Georgia is still better than you. We just suck at proving on the football field right now. Go Dawgs!!!!
I think Erk Russell could have kicked Clint Eastwood and John Wayne's butts with a corn cob and one hand tied behind his back. GATA!
By the way, just out of curiosity . . .
. . . where did I make excuses? I placed the blame squarely on a defense that has performed consistently poorly for at least the last season and a half, which seems perfectly reasonable, in light of the fact that Tennessee’s offense hasn’t performed this well in a long time and Georgia’s defense has performed this poorly for quite a while.
I indicated that a program that recruits as well as Georgia’s and has all of Georgia’s institutional advantages should never lose 45-19 to anyone, particularly not to a team that was 2-3 coming into the game. I never said Georgia shouldn’t have lost to Tennessee; I said Georgia should never lose 45-19 to anyone. (For the record, a program that recruits as well as Tennessee’s and has all of Tennessee’s institutional advantages should never lose 45-19 to anyone, either.)
Georgia lost 45-19—-not 49-19; maybe you should learn to count before telling me to check the scoreboard—-because Georgia was the worse team. While reasonable people may differ over how bad the respective teams are, the argument seems to be over whether Tennessee is mediocre and Georgia is bad or Tennessee is bad and Georgia is really bad. I think the evidence suggests the latter more strongly than the former, but how is that an excuse? If anything, I’m placing the responsibility more squarely on the Bulldogs and their coaching staff for not fixing the problems that almost caused losses to South Carolina, Arkansas, and Arizona State, which finally caught up to them against Tennessee.
This really is a posting about us. I fail to see why so many people fail to see that.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Oct 12, 2009 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions
dont you find it ironic Tenn takes such great pride in this win?
again – i think it speaks volumes about the state of both programs.
I dont find it ironic
As of late, the Georgia – UT game has been hard fought and while Georgia has not been a traditional rival for UT fans, Georgia’s upswing in its program over the last decade has made it one to circle on the calendar.
The pride in the W is due to rivalry and not the state of our program. Or yours for that matter. A lot rides on this game every year, especially over GA’s hotbed of recruits.
If anything, it means respect from our program to yours.
RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!
by Pride of the Southland on Oct 13, 2009 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions
you are somewhat making my point for me, along with every other UT poster here. The point, the original point of this whole thread, is UGA is horrible this year. And, UT is taking it as a some mana from heaven that beating UGA means you are on an upswing. Beating UGA last Sat did not indicate UT was good, it merely showed UGA is bad. UT being good or on an upswing is yet to be seen. When you are talking about squezzing out 6 wins to go to a a bowl – that is not a program on an upswing, that is a standard basement level SEC team.
The irony is exactly what you said, the respect of UGA is greater than our team this year. UGA fans aren’t nearly as unhappy to lose to UT as we are everybody and there cousin and there cousin’s best friend saw this coming sometime this year and the coaching staff did nothing to help it.
Overall, Pride, you posted and disccussed calmly and didnt attack our dog or the hedges or song or something else – I appreciate your comments. As far as the rivalry – UGA and Tenn have so many rivalry games I am not sure what to make of it any more. Ultimately, to go to Atlanta, a team has to face some darn good SEC East teams every year, with UGA and Tenn being part of that mix.
Thanks Pride for your comments.
Also TKK, im sorry it appears you have drawn the ire of GVX - something I dont wish on anyone.
govolsbeatgeogria isnt even a RTT poster, so I hope you understand that RTTs commenters are at a bit more…civilized?
RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!
by Pride of the Southland on Oct 13, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for the precis
That thesis hadn’t come through clearly in your previous comment, so I appreciate the clarification.
I thank you for your intellectually cogent constructive criticisms, which were framed in a way that truly makes me want to better myself as a human being.
Please, govolsbeatgeogria, don’t leave in a huff . . . stick around and teach me how not to be “awful” and to be a suave, erudite, worldly gentleman such as yourself!
By the way, govolsbeatgeogria, since you’re obviously too stupid to understand it . . . this reply contains sarcasm. Ask a friend without a learning disability (if you have one . . . a friend, that is) what that means.
Go 'Dawgs!
"class clown of the conference"
“class clown of the conference”?! Nice alliteration … must have picked that up in pre-law.
U.T.‘s coach has picked up the reputation of running his mouth with nothing to back up his Tourette-like proclivity for making unfounded accusations and claims. But, according to the college football cognoscenti, lil’ Lane overachieved inside BHG versus the gay-tors, beat two teams he was supposed to beat, and got toasted by Auburn(a team that will come to Sanford in mid-November and emasculate that genetic anomaly known as Uga in mid-November).
But so far into this still-young season, Kiffin has taken an offense that was one of the worst in the FBS last season and coaxed 32 points per game and over 21 first downs per game out of it. And that’s in spite of possessing what is probably the weakest QB tandem the Volunteers have fielded in over 25 years. And to that, he set a game plan against your ’dawgs that delivered Crompton (yes … that Crompton) an SEC OPotW award. “class clown” might be a bit too harsh.
Defensively, Kiffin had the sense to bring his dad and Ed Orgeron to the staff. That has resulted in a crew that is playing very well , especially notable since the stop side returned only 5 starters from last year’s team.
“class clown of the conference” would indicate that Kiffin doesn’t know what he’s doing, or at least that he runs his mouth too much. Whether he talks too much or not is up to the listener. The great thing about SEC football is that it is a meritocracy. Winners keep their jobs, losers are shown the door. I believe that the term “class clown of the conference” is more appropriately used when describing bloggers who spout off about opposing teams when he has no apparent knowledge of what a good football team looks like.
Numbers, when taken over significant periods of time, have a way of clearing one’s senses. For example, the Vols have a winning record against the ‘dawgs throughout the years (21-16-2), both in Neyland (11-8-1) and between Sanford’s hedges (10-8-1). Taken over the past twenty years, Tennessee enjoys 13 wins over the ’dawgs. In more recent times, the Vols best the ’dawgs 3 of the last 4 and 4 of the last 6.
None of this is really that significant, but since you were throwing down on the Vols in the early paragraphs of this somewhat verbose blog page, I wanted to point out some things that show that you are not just disappointed that your team isn’t that great, you want to drag a better team down to your team’s level. Doesn’t look to good for you or your team.
You may have made some good points, Buck . . .
. . . but I’ll never know, because I quit reading after the moronic cheap shot at Uga.
Seriously, what is it with you people and being mean to our dog? We don’t take those kinds of constant jabs at Smokey, but Uga seems to be an obsession with you folks.
You really should seek therapy. Cruelty to animals is an early indicator of being a future serial killer. Get help somewhere . . . by which I mean, “somewhere other than here.”
Go 'Dawgs!
When a brand new coach
deliberately runs his mouth before he’s taken his team to the stadium for an actual game, yeah it makes him look like a class clown. And I didn’t even mention falsely accusing another coach of recruiting violations. Wait never mind, yes I did.
I think the point missed...
I think the point missed here in the back and forth is the ungracious nature in which T Kyle King conceded the victory to Tennessee.
It’s not unknown that Tennessee is an average team in the SEC this year. Considering the overall strength (either perceived or real) of the SEC and the week in and week out competition, in a Tennessee fan’s view the win over Georgia was a good win for them, and they should be proud of any win over a quality SEC opponent.
Statistically speaking, Tennessee shines nationally in certain areas, and is pretty average in others. Saying that they “suck” tends to equate them with the Mississippi States and the Vanderbilts of the conference, and that just isn’t so. It’s natural with Tennessee’s history and successes that we take any cheap shot saying that we “suck” to be a personal one when it just isn’t warranted and is very childish in nature. Our egos were bruised over the whole Fulmer ousting debacle, and we will cling on to our successes no matter how small in your opinion.
We are a storied program with a lot of pride, so the 10 year long slide to mediocrity has been hard on Tennessee fans. If the “suck” comment was in good-natured typical fandom fun, then I think most Vol fans would have just turned a blind eye and laughed it off. But it seemed to be a malicious attack to justify declaring your own team as “sucky.” It was an underhanded and backhanded cheap shot that you are trying to spin as a way to justify your own teams lack of productivity on a single Saturday.
I know Georgia fans have just as much pride in their program as any other, and considering the “Decade of Dominance” that Georgia has had under Richt, I don’t blame you for overreacting to your own team’s small slip back into mediocrity with the rest of us also-ran SEC teams. The fact is… Tennessee and Georgia are not at the level of an LSU, Florida, or Alabama this year. I don’t think you should be clamoring for regime change just yet… even if it’s just on the defensive side of the ball.
I don’t think anyone would say that John Chavis was a bad DC at Tennessee. He regularly put some of the best defenses in the SEC on the field over his career there. But there were certainly criticisms from within the Vol nation of his bend-but-don’t-break defense. Especially the “prevent Mustang” package that lost a lot of games that we should have won. But honestly… who would we have replaced him with that was any better? It took a complete house-cleaning and the luck of the coaching round-robin to convince someone like Monte Kiffin to come to UT.
A lot of UT fans are excited at the coaching change, but the stability that Fulmer brought to the program was comforting, even during our decade long slide to mediocrity. I think we were lucky to get the staff we have running things now. I don’t know if they can bring us immediately back to SEC contention anytime soon, but it does look promising. Georgia may not be that lucky if they decide that “Richt has to go because he’s too loyal.”
Ramble, ramble, ramble… anyway… Georgia fans… the sky is not falling. There will be up years and down years. Just take your lumps graciously.
this is a reasonable UT post, thank you
some points: the people talking about fire Richt are insane, and dont get much acknowledgement. The politics and money alone are something well beyond just Ws and Ls.
I also realized that Tenn is excited about their new coaches and I get that. That is a very fair and reasonable point. The problem is some posters seem to take this win over UGA as a hallmark win for your new coach. it isnt. Georgia is awful. That said, you are correct, SEC wins are always good no matter what – very fair point.
As far as the DC – this isnt new and thats the problem. Its been years and years of continual problems. Every stat gets worse every year on defense, and the losses are growing. And we play the same defense. UGA actually has had the oppurtunities had other good DCs and didnt even take a look ( I think Strong was a possibility once?). UGA has the money, and I am sure there are some fine NFL coaches that would be happy to move out of a sub .500 year in the NFL to being on a big SEC football team. YOu mentioned Chavis “regulary put some of the defenses in the SEC”, and well, thats just it, Martinez is not regularly putting forth any defense.
The “small slip to mediocrity” isn’t the issue. The issue is this started a while ago and nothing is being done to change it. We still dont blitz. We still seem to run off a script on offfense. We still cant tackle. We still are the most penalized team. This isnt new. But I appreciate what you are saying, and a good post.
Thanks for the compliments...
As was mentioned on the RTT threads, it may have just been the timing of pound the rock’s comments. I personally don’t think he was gloating, he was just defending the sucky comment.
I don’t claim to have an inside knowledge of the DC situation at UGA, and you are probably right, there may have been opportunities to get better… or for that matter worse coaches than Martinez in the past. Fulmer was criticized as a loyalist among the Vol faithful, and that may have had a small part in his ouster. I personally think it had more to do with him resting on his laurels after Spurrier left.
Could it be that maybe Georgia just hasn’t had the complete personnel on defense to match the high-powered offenses that UGA has put on the field in recent years? I think UT fans can relate considering we were in the opposite position with our rotating OC position the past few years.
I guess what I’m trying to say is be careful what you wish for in replacing Martinez, as the replacement may not be as pretty, and could lead to fans seriously calling for Richt’s head like they did with Tubberville and Fulmer.
Anyway, Georgia has 3 sure wins on the schedule left (Vandy, TennTech, and Kentucky.) The other 3 are always winnable despite what the outlook may seem like this week after a tough loss. After Tennessee lost to Auburn last week we were resigned to a “rebuilding” year effort, but after the surprising win over Georgia, we are actually looking optimistically at a bowl-bound season. And our heads don’t believe we can beat Alabama, but our hearts claim that we can.
I sincerely think that the Bulldogs can beat Auburn. I think Monte Kiffin opened a door on how to beat Malzahn if your offense can actually score on a semi-regular basis (a-la Arkansas). Plus, I think Monte opened the door on Florida’s offense and exposed it’s weakness, which is it’s over-reliance on Tebow. I also think UGA can beat Florida… they certainly have the personnel to do so. Maybe the loss to UT will wake some better effort on the part of the team as a whole. I’ll leave the GaTech game to the football gods. Who knows which GaTech team will show up? The one that looked pretty average against Miami? Or the wrecking ball that spanked FSU? GaTech’s defense looks equally suspect as Georgia’s… that should be a fun game to watch as an outsider.
Certainly 8 wins isn’t out of reach for Georgia. But I have nothing to offer on the penalty situation this year for that team. That’s almost as inexplicable as UT’s horrid special teams play.
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