Fourth and Wrong: Mark Richt, the Georgia Bulldogs, and the Difference Between the Plays That Win SEC Titles and the Plays That Lose Liberty Bowls
by T Kyle King on Jan 2, 2011 9:15 PM EST
in Football
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PrintMy initial gut reaction was to punt it, but we had two time outs. I just felt confident that we could get what I thought was about 10 inches.
Mark Richt (August 31, 2002)
With 103 seconds remaining in the Bulldogs’ 2002 season opener against Clemson between the hedges, the Georgia offense trotted back out onto the field holding a 31-28 lead. The line of scrimmage was the Red and Black 29 yard line. After gaining nine yards on their next three plays, the Bulldogs faced fourth and inches at their own 38 with 40 seconds left.
The Classic City Canines were 62 yards shy of the opposite end zone, yet second-year head coach Mark Richt called a play ordinarily reserved for goal line situations. The ball went to Musa Smith, who had been Georgia’s leading rusher (105 yards on 23 carries) and leading receiver (16 yards on four catches) of the night. Extending the ball as though attempting to break the plane for a touchdown, the Bulldog running back dived over the top for the first down that allowed the Red and Black to run out the clock.
Despite receiving a well-articulated invitation to do so, I am not inclined to froth at the mouth, although I understand and appreciate why some feel such a need. However, as I noted earlier, I keep coming back to that fourth down call from eight seasons ago. It showed confidence in the offense to get the job done, confidence in the defense to hold if the play failed to gain, and a commitment to "finishing the drill" and playing to win that produced an SEC championship that season.
I cannot reconcile that fourth down decision with the one in the Liberty Bowl about which the same coach said this: "Well if I’d known what the final score was, yeah. But I think it was the right thing to do at the time. I think a couple players were upset that I didn’t go for it at that time. But I was like, if you wanna make it, make it on third and one, don’t tell me you wanna go for it on fourth and one."
I am now essentially in the same place that I was before this game, recognizing it for its important implications but taking the view that (a) a head coach who won a pair of conference championships early in his career has earned the right to try to turn it around, particularly in light of the fact that the last two coaches to have been in this situation (Wally Butts and Vince Dooley) delivered additional SEC titles when given time in which to do so, and (b) it makes little sense to debate at this juncture what Seth Emerson stated plainly was the case: "I'm confident that if the powers-that-be feel Richt isn't the man for the future, they'd make a move now. The decision to go forward with Richt in 2011 was made months ago, and there's no sign that's changed."
With apologies for reusing the political analogy I offered before, it was one thing to debate whether to impeach Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton when the House of Representatives was considering whether to exercise the Constitutional power to accuse a president formally and subject him to trial and the risk of removal from office, but, even if you think George W. Bush or Barack Obama deserved impeachment, it is silly to argue over such things, since the possibility of such a thing happening is nonexistent. Mark Richt will be the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs in 2011. Debating whether he should be was rendered moot the moment Greg McGarity told us he would be, and we certainly have more pressing subjects about how the program might be turned around, given the givens.
From recruiting to the offensive line to play calling to the ability to win the fourth quarter, the program is plagued by many issues in need of correction, but, ultimately, the mindset underlying that fateful, and perhaps fatal, fourth down call may be the single biggest reason why I share the viewpoint Anthony Pace has expressed so well.
I want Mark Richt to be the Bulldogs’ head coach, but I cannot state the reality more plainly than this: Mark Richt must jettison the attitude of December 31, 2010, and resurrect the attitude of August 31, 2002, in 2011 if he hopes to be employed in Athens in 2012.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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The Liberty Bowl quote is very telling
I hate making this comment, because I know that it will sound like I’m calling for Mark Richt’s head. I really want him to turn it around, but I’m not sure if he can at this point. The fact that the players were lobbying to go for it on 4th and inches, and Richt’s response was to write-off their suggestion by saying they should have gotten it done on 3rd seems to show that he has doesn’t have faith in his players to make plays while the players don’t have faith in the coaching staff to make the right decisions. I don’t know. I’m probably reading too much into a post-game soundbite.
Sic 'em Dawgs
by ClassicCityDawg on Jan 2, 2011 11:16 PM EST reply actions
You might be right, CCD.
As I’ve mentioned several times, I think our biggest problem is lack of on-field leadership by the players. If the coaches are squashing the initiative that the leaders on the team are taking, that might be a significant issue.
by vineyarddawg on Jan 2, 2011 11:26 PM EST up reply actions
While in almost any other situation, I would understand his quote as one for motivational purposes... but things being as they are, I keep coming back to this:
If you are the head coach of the University of Georgia and you aren’t reasonably confident that you can advance the ball a few inches to a foot against a Conference USA defense, there is something terribly terribly wrong.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
Some interesting sentence construction there...
Must be all the binge drinking I’ve been doing since Friday night.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
It's exactly quotes like that that have me finished...
Colorado was the nail in the coffin, these quotes are just solidfying my feelings. I don’t think a good program loses to one as loaded with fail as Colorado was under Hawkins. But it’s quotes like these that pile on. We make mistakes, and then make them again. We didn’t learn from the 2003 debacle of an OL, as we were left with the same situation in 2007. Luckily, both turned out as SEC Champ game teams, but we had to get lucky with FR OL both times, where Richt said we’d learn from that mistake of an empty OL. We screw around with redshirts like Knowshon and Marlon Brown. We play Tyson too much and he’s weak late, say we won’t make that mistake. Then make it again, and again, and again. By the definition given from Albert Einstein, our coaches are a pack of fools, expecting different results from doing the same thing again and again.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
On an off-topic note,
I have a quandary for you Kyle… WildCard weekend… You must choose between failure for dubious Outback Bowl MVP Drew Brees and former Clemson QB and current filthy hippie Charlie Whitehurst… What do you do?
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
I don't know about Kyle...
… but I put on my “100 years of Georgia football” video.
by vineyarddawg on Jan 2, 2011 11:36 PM EST up reply actions
The answer is simple
you do what I’ve been doing for years – you refuse to acknowledge the existence of football beyond the college football level.
I can bake like a demon.
We have to at least acknowledge this
Sorry (I know this does nothing for you), but I need SOMETHING to look forward to.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
Oh come on now....
I’ll have you know at least one of those lovely ladies must be a University of Florida graduate! Where’s your sense of conference pride. For a minute I thought the one on the upper right was an Auburn alum, but then I realized she wasn’t actually a goat due to the conspicuous lack of horns.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
Fourth and always wrong....
There are countless things that occur on a football field on which I am not qualified to second guess a coach of Mark Richt’s prominence. This is not, however, one of them. Unless it’s late in the fourth quarter and a field goal will put you in the lead, it’s never a good idea to go for the FG on fourth and inches from the opponent’s two-yard-line. Never, ever. If you fail to get the first down, your opponent is buried near the goal line, and the odds are very high you will get the ball back in outstanding field position. If you succeed, you are gaining four net points, which can be important, as the margin of defeat in this game graphically illustrated.
No one would have second-guessed a decision by Richt to go for it in that situation. Why? Because the analysis I just went through has become almost a cliche. So we need to be asking not just why Richt changed his attitude since 2002, but why he made a decision that didn’t simply reflect a lack of confidence, but defiance of twenty-first-century football wisdom.
At the time, I defended the decision to take the points.
I think, however, I’ve now changed my mind. I argued that it was a strategic decision to take the points rather than risk getting nothing out of our first drive of the game.
As the game went on, however, we lost the field position battle in literally every quarter. Even if we’d failed on that 4th & Inches from the 2, UCF would have been buried back on the 2, which could have solved our field position issues before they even began.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but from where we’re standing now, it really does seem like a win/win situation to go for the 4th down there.
by vineyarddawg on Jan 3, 2011 12:25 AM EST up reply actions
At the time
I felt like I’d just been punched in the gut. I expected us to go for it, so when we didn’t, my disappointment became almost physical pain. Kyle took the same position you did, and I sort of kind of conceded the wisdom. As the game progressed however, I think everyone recognized the decision was incorrect.
I can bake like a demon.
As strange as it may sound,
when we did not go for it there, I knew in my heart the game was lost. And I STILL watched the remainder of the game hoping I was wrong. The only word I could come up with was gutless. There is NO reason you don’t go for it in that situation. NONE. As I said at the time, field goals are for ending games, not beginning them.
I felt the same way you did.
That hurt.
Richt’s decision sent the message that UCF was on par with us and that we needed all the points we could get to beat them. Traditionally, a team like UGA should beat a team like UCF 42-21, thus negating any need for an additional 3 points.
Unfortunately, Richt was so afraid of not getting those precious 3 points, he kicked a FG in an obvious "go for it" situation. Ultimately, points were far too precious to UGA that the sacrificed 4 points were the difference in the game.
After the FG, I felt the same way I felt when we fumbled going in against Miss. State, but for different reasons. A TD there sends a message that we were there to win convincingly. I honestly believe that a TD there (and in the Miss. State game) would have avalanched into dominate win by the good guys. The unnecessarily cautious decision to kick a FG, sent the message above: We weren’t there to dominate, we were there to potentially eke out a win.
I am tired of just barely squeaking by. Let’s blow the doors off some teams…
I am a fan of the Dawgs, Falcons, and Braves...oh...and tacos, but I like the other three more.
Waterloo, Pickett's Charge, Gallipoli, Dieppe, Bay of Pigs...
Have absolutely nothing to do with this post ;-)
Now, back to your regularly scheduled angst.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
If this team...
Spent less time worrying about Facial Hair and more time worrying about looking like bitches on the field…then maybe we would have had a winning record.
The bench INSPIRES...
I understand the call
We moved the ball rather easily down the field on that drive so I thought we’d have no trouble doing it again. However at that point what the hell do we really have to lose? We’re 6-6 and in the Liberty Bowl!
WRONG CALL
DeanPat….first qt. bowl game….a coach needs to insure his team he has confidence in them. That call doesn’t. CMR is a wuss. He’s on something. Walking in circles and offering NO motivation let alone solid coaching advice.
Think about this: 4 min+ official time out for commericals……back to the game and CMR calls a time out! WTF couldn’t he figure out in the 4 mins without calling another TO? Just sayin.
I think the decision and the quote evidences Richt's frustration with this team.
Why it has come to this point is anyone’s best guess.
Not the Only Failure of Nerve
or of confidence in the team. Remember end of 1st half? We got the ball back half with, what, about 30 seconds left?, decent field position and possibly the best WR in college football. Question: do you have any doubt that in this same situation, Steve Spurrier, Pete Carroll, Gene Chizik or Urban Meyer (or their OC’s) would have had Aaron Murray hurl the ball deep down field? We didn’t even try—just handed it to Waushan and let him run up field and run out clock. Our offense shows flashes of brilliance, our defense shows signs of improving, our special teams are now a true asset all the way around; but the will to win is inconsistent and that comes from such decisions made at the top and is manifested in fat linemen and RBs who crumble at first touch. Weirdly, I do think the team has improved over last year, despite the lesser record, but I’m more and more inclined to think that “a little better” is as good as it’s going to get under Coach Richt.
Positives?
In a sea of gloom, I’m going to make a valiant attempt to find some positives going into 2011. They are as follows:
1. More competition at QB with Christian LeMay already on campus.
2. Clint Boling and Josh Davis exiting the program. Neither would see the field on Bama’s OL. Kenarious Gates is going to be a big positive for this OL.
3. Jarvis Jones and Richard Samuel coming in to shore-up a weak middle.
4. Joe T. coming in as a Medieval Strength & Conditioning Coordinator. I want to see every Georgia player filling out his uniform. I want to see guns on our OL.
5. TJ Stripling coming back – hopefully healthy and ready to fulfill the promise he was showing prior to getting hurt.
6. Crowell coming in to give an instant infusion of talent at the RB position. I hope I’m right in my assumption
7. JUCO help at NG. Once again I’m being optimistic we can land Mount Cody Jr. from that Miss. community college.
8. Marlon Brown – he’s my early pick to be a break out star in 2011.
9. Discipline – McGarity and Richt are going to read the riot act to this team and they’re going to do it several times during the offseason. My guess is they’re going to institute a Zero Tolerance Policy during the offseason. The first guy to get the boot is going to be Marcus Dowtin. Expect that announcement any day.
10. Richt will not elect to kick a field goal on 4th and inches inside the opponents 3 yard line in 2011. Deep inside he knows that was a brain damaged call.
Murray is a stud
I don’t want a QB controversy… unless LeMay is guaranteed to be a Heisman winner.
Walter Cronkite wasn’t known as Kid Cronk for a fucking reason.
"Unfortunately, it won’t shut anyone up, but if (the Falcons) get a Lombardi, I’m going to spend all of 2011 not giving a rat’s ass what anyone says." – Dave Choate
I agree with Robert Downey, Sr.
Many changes undoubtedly need to be made, but replacing Aaron Murray is not one of them.
#6 with a bullet
Can’t wait for Crazy Eyes Stripling to get back on the field. Love that kid.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
Or #5.... reading is fundamental.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
On 2...
Boling is one of the more talented lineman in the nation. He would start for anyone and every other team in the nation.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
Coach of the future....
TKK I respect your position. Here’s the “but”….BUT, CMR is a coach without passion. If you were at the Liberty Bowl you had to see that. He has NO passion, energy or drive. How can we expect the team to have it if the head coach doesn’t?
Did you see him in the 4th qt when Bobo was in the middle of the offense and offering a play, a strategy, or a positive motivational speech and CMR strolled from his spot on the sideline…and proceeded to do a 360 walk around the huddled offense. Never said a word..never made a pat on the back…just strolled around like a lost soul. He has lost the plot and whether is 2011 or 2012 he’s got to go. Now’s the time in my mind. We will lose 4-5 of what remains of the best on the team to the NFL. Why would anyone think 2011 is going to be better than 2010? It is just not possible with this coach and his spacey attitude and the loss of more key player. Just my 2 cents.
"Passion" is one of those characteristics that's good or bad, depending upon whether you're winning.
When, say, a Mike Stoops or a Steve Spurrier is winning, he’s fiery and intense, and he knows how to keep his players motivated; when he’s losing, he’s childish, out of control, and unable even to discipline his own emotions, much less his own players.
When Mark Richt’s relaxed demeanor led directly to a win in Knoxville in 2001, he was a cool customer whose quiet confidence infused the team and whose self-control prevented panic; now that he’s losing, he’s detached, distant, and lacking in passion, energy, and drive.
I don’t buy it. Coaches, being people, are who they are. We interpret ancillary personality traits differently depending upon whether they’re winning. There are valid arguments against Mark Richt; I respectfully disagree that that is one of them.
Go 'Dawgs!
I have never been one of those calling for Mark Richt’s head the last two years. I always felt that he could turn things around. I no longer have that confidence and I fear that giving him another season is only delaying the inevitable. He is now going through the motions the same way Booby Bowden was a few years ago changing coaches to try to hang on.
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