Interesting contrast in this story and this story between the optimism of Georgia’s players…
“It’s definitely not the way you want to finish a season off and head into an offseason, but we’ve got to put it behind us,” quarterback Aaron Murray said. “I think the whole Dawg Nation is very excited. I know as a team we’re pretty excited about the future of this team and the direction we’re heading right now. We have to use this as motivation.”
“We’ve got a whole lot coming back,” said linebacker Jarvis Jones, who led the SEC with 13 1/2 sacks. “I’m really looking forward to the offseason and the season coming up. We’re definitely going to be better. We definitely are going to be bigger, stronger, faster.”
“I feel like the sky’s the limit,” King said, “and I feel like this team can do tremendous things.”
… and the caution expressed by Georgia’s coordinators.
“We kind of ran out of gas,” said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, whose depth in the Michigan State game was thinned by injuries which hurt the pass rush. “We have a good team; we’ve improved, but we’ve got to understand that we’ve got to finish people off when we can.”
Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was asked Monday night whether, considering everyone his team is expected to have back, if there was any desire to start the 2012 season as soon as possible.
“No. The season will start next month, with the offseason,” Bobo said. “There’s a lot of areas we need to correct.”
…
“We’ve gotta become more consistent in the run game,” Bobo said. “We’re not able to run the ball real consistently. But there are gonna be times when you have lost-yardage plays or get stopped, get 2, get 3. And you’ve just gotta keep firing away at it. We probably didn’t do that enough (Monday). We’ve gotta get some consistency at that position.”
Sounds like the perfect introduction for today’s reader poll.
I suspect some of you will want to add something in the comments. Let ‘er rip.
Get The Picture 
Where is the option for fair weather? Some GTP readers feel cheated.
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I’m impressed with your cleverness, Puff!
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“you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
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may need a compass, though.
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“pump don’t work ‘case the Spartans took the handles…”
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Was the comment by Mr. Coach Grantham, “We have a good team; we’ve improved, but we’ve got to understand that we’ve got to finish people off when we can.” directed at the players or the Offensive staff?
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Considering his defense gave up an 85-yard touchdown drive in the last two minutes to tie the game, I sure hope he’s not directing that at the offense.
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When they are keeping the defense on the field maybe he should direct this at the offense. They sure as hell deserved the blame in that game. D kept UGA in and the offense helped MSU grind them down.
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Considering the D provided a safety, an interception that placed the ball at the 10, and an interception that should have won the game in OT, I’d say the D played great.
You expect a shut-out from the D. But getting performance out of the bumbling Murray, or getting a first down from the offense to ice the win is unfair criticism.
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I think the D played great as well but when you’re talking about “finishing people off”, a defensive stop in the last MSU scoring drive would have done just that. There are many parties to blame here. Not just the offense.
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agreed, Ginny. Had any facet of the team (offense, defense, special teams) stepped up at the end of the game, UGA would have won. I dont think Grantham was pointing fingers at anyone; he was just acknowledging the obvious, which is that UGA, as a team, has work to do before it gets to the point we all want for it.
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I agree as well, Ginny. There have been plenty of games this season that could be laid squarely at the feet of the offense or special teams, but this isn’t one of them. All three phases had spectacular successes and equally spetacular failures against Michigan State on Monday. This was a tough game against an evenly matched opponent that, while disappointing, did not leave me with the same bad taste in my mouth as it did others.
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Count me as agreeable with both Ginny and you.
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Hate to say it, but this endless string of losing to teams that are ranked when we play them is getting old very fast. I wonder how many are aware that this loss (with its pusillanimous calls on our last series in regulation and our first series in OT) was our first against a Big 10/12 outfit in over half-a-freaking-century. That’s right. Since 1957. Bama, LSU, Florida had all been the Big 10’s bitch at least twice in the past 13 years. But not us. Not until this Monday. Sorry, to me this was not “just a bowl game.” Pardon me while I barf at the memory.
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I don’t know why people seem to have forgotten this, but Auburn was ranked No. 24/25/20 (AP/Coaches/BCS) when we kicked the crap out of them. Further, they are No. 24 in the BCS rankings right now and just won a bowl game, which virtually assures they will be ranked in the end, too.
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Is that what you want to hang your hat on?
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Guess it depends on how you define “endless.”
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All I did is correct a clearly false statement that I’ve seen twice today on this blog, that being that UGA didn’t beat a ranked team this year. People are already unhappy with how the bowl game went; there’s no sense in propagating falsehoods that make the situation appear even worse than it is.
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Exactly. Thank you!
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Nor having the good sportsmanship to congratulate MSU on a tough game and win.
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Cautious optimism, FTW!
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These are good quotes from the right sources. I want the players breathing fire and talking about making the next season more special than the last. I want the coaches tempering expectations and talking about how we’ve got a long way to go.
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Was just about to post this. Agreed. If this loss somehow keeps the guys motivated and the coaches focused through the off season, all the better. Regardless, until September, it’s all just happy talk.
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Couldn’t agree more with Rock and Chuck. These are the right people saying the right things.
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+1
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Can we really expect addition by subtraction along the offensive line?
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When it comest to the Georgia offensive line, I learned not to expect anything. One thing is fairly sure: We will be smaller on the offensive line next year. I can’t imagine having a bigger line than we had in 2011.
I do think we will be more talented but less experienced. Whether or not we’ll actually be better … I won’t venture even a guess. Based on recent history, strengths will become weaknesses and a few weaknesses will surprise us as strengths.
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In the case of Bean Anderson yes. Not since Inman have we had an OLineman that could not keep from jumping at least once a game but most of the time multiple times. He’s a nice guy but if he makes a pro roster I’ll eat my UGA hat.
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Number one reason CMR kicked on 3rd down. Look no further than last October in Boulder…1st and 10 at COLO 27 Caleb King rush for a loss of 3 yards, fumbled game over thanks for coming out. Although I believe we should have ran it 3 times, this all I could come up with on the reasoning by CMR. Thoughts?
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If that was his reasoning it was very flawed. As the Senator and others have pointed out, the statistics do not support that decision. The likelihood of a turnover is far less than the likelihood Walsh would miss from that distance. It was a gamble for him to go the Walsh route. I think in his heart he wanted Walsh to salvage his season by kicking the winning field goal. The problem was we didn’t even try to make it easier on the kid.
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I concur, just trying to find the logic in it all…better team lost just like the Carolina game.
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I’m usually a cautious guy but I’ll go with balmy. I also think Grantham’s point is on the money: real improvement but there are some things we’ve GOT to clean up if we want to take the next step. Since the latter part of this statement has been picked through ad nauseum let me address the former: namely whether we actually got better or we just played teams that suck, which is a valid question. Honest questions for readers, are you telling me that after last year(and we had an EZ schedule in 10 too) you wouldn’t take a 10-4, sec east champs, a 3rd ranked D and wins over every traditional rival as improvement? In our 10 wins and even in losses to USC, MSU, and hell let’s throw in LSU were there not stretches in EVERY game where this team played well if not straight up outplayed a great opponent even if they ended up tripping up at the end usually do to youth and inexperience? Why then is it inconceivable that these same players could mature and put it all together in 2012?just my 2 cents.
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Even with the schedule, I thought we’d be 8-4 this year with no chance of winning the SEC East. So I’ll definitely take it. But we left two winnable games out there-should have beaten SC and Mich State, but we couldn’t finish. That needs to improve. When the OL play improves this team will be good.
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By no means am I saying UGA couldn’t regress next year but I’m of the persuasion that it’s not unrealistic to think that we could take a big step forward either
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Yup, at this stage either is a possibility. As a cautious optimist, I think we are a level, maybe two better next year. Until we see who is on board heading into August, and if there is some solution to the OL problems. I don’t think we can get any worse at OL, so I am feeling a wee balmy.
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I expect a carbon copy of this year for next season. Loss to Carolina, and another loss to a underdog(probably UF) in the last 2 minutes due to some bad game calling/time management by Richt. Get to the SEC championship due to the easier conference schedule than Carolina, get whipped by either LSU or Bama, go to the outback bowl again. Richt reminds me of Bobby Cox. Over the course of a regular season, the play it safe mentality used by both puts them with the opportunity to achieve championships but champions aren’t attained by only playing it safe. Cox’s play not to lose mentality would always cost the Braves in the playoffs where they would lose to a underdog who would throw caution to the wind. Richt has the same problem. With UGA’s talent, playing-it-safe should get you 8 wins a year but those other 4 games go down to luck and game-on-the-line coaching decisions. If Richt doesn’t have luck deciding those games than he has shown that unless his hand is forced by the situation presented in the game he will shrink up like a frightened turtle. So, with Richt at the helm and depending on the schedule I will always expect to see a baseline of 8 wins, 2 toss-ups, and 2 losses.
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Our schedule will set up for us to have a nice run to the SECC. I have no worries about the defense. Even if we had injuries, we have depth. The big issue to me is the offense.
This rotating of running backs in and out every few plays is just garbage. Malcome looks to be coming on strong and it makes you wonder why he was so far down on the depth chart to start the season.
Murray will be the starter for the next two years. Get used to it. He is a great kid for sure. It will be a pleasant surprise if he shows everyone he can get his skills to the next level. My personal feeling is that he lacks the ability to get there so we have to hope his athleticism overcomes his mental blocks.
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Eric Zeier – 24-16-1
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“ Bobo said. “We’re not able to run the ball real consistently. But there are gonna be times when you have lost-yardage plays or get stopped, get 2, get 3. And you’ve just gotta keep firing away at it. We probably didn’t do that enough (Monday). We’ve gotta get some consistency at that position.”
Allow me to parse this:
-We’ve gotta become more consistent in the run game, — Glad you noticed.
-There are gonna be times when you have lost-yardage plays or get stopped, get 2, get 3. — This understates the case. We were getting our asses handed to us in the trenches. 2 or 3 yards would have been a blessing.
-And you’ve just gotta keep firing away at it. — No you don’t. Why don’t we try something that works.
-We probably didn’t do that enough (Monday). — Seriously? So we should have run it between the tackles more. I didn’t realize you took so many hits to the head in college.
-We’ve gotta get some consistency at that position. — What position is that? Running back? I’d love some great backs, but not being able to get 3rd and 1 is an OL problem.
I have a friend who says, “People are telling us who they are all the time. We should stop ignoring them.” Mike Bobo is telling us (1) that, because we were not productive running the ball, he chose to run it less; and (2) he regrets that decision. He is telling us, in no uncertain terms, that his intention is to continue to do (and in fact do more often) what is not working. This is his philosophy.
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Its becoming more and more obvious that the men in charge of UGA’s offense simply are not that smart. Which of course is too bad since one of them is the head coach.
Its time to lessen expectations because UGA is never going to be more than they were this year as long as Richt is in charge.
He is not a modern football coach.
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Hopefully our recruits are following your comments here on GTP so they don’t make the mistake of coming to play for our stupid offensive coaches. Seriously dude, what are you trying to accomplish here? Are you a GT troll? The horse is dead. Stop beating it. You win. We all agree Mark Richt is a complete moron who lucked his way into winning nearly 70% of his SEC games over the last decade.
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He is certainly not the only person here that makes statements specifically designed to hurt UGA. At least another couple of dozen hit that same theme, 12 months a year. And then tell us they really love UGA and want the best for it. Comments like these, if needed at all, are handled differently unless you mean to harm.
Very impressive the recruits we have been able to land with all the negative Nellies posting all over the internet, and calling talk radio shows. You wonder how many we ran away because of not wanting to play in front of such a harsh group of fans…like the light house, you never know about anything but the ships that wreck.
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But here’s the deal: any school we’re recruiting against has the same number of bashers, trolls, and know-it-alls posting on the interwebs and calling radio shows.
I don’t know if Saban the rite man fer the job, PAWWWWWLLL!
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Any school we are recruiting against also has redneck whitetrash pieces of shit who have never attended a game nor ever set foot on campus nor ever given money to the school who have unfounded expections and are only fans because their local cable providers just picked up CBS, but that doesn’t make it right. I like to think our fanbase is better than those, but thanks for reminding me we are not.
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Go, Puffdawg! By the way, Raleigh IS a troll.
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It’s almost comical…Almost. Bobo is certainly a product of Richt’s philosophy and I usually consider our OC-related issues/successes an extension of Richt. Nonetheless, Bobo is frequently quoted in ways that indicate either (1) a poor understanding of that philosophy, (2) poor communication of that philosophy, or (3) his own non-sensical philosophy. Not to mention he frequently cites “execution problems” to explain questionable playcalls or strategic failures.
Seriously, friends of Bobo, what is he trying to communicate with this quote? He can’t really mean what he is saying about not “firing away” enough at the run, can he?
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I thought the source of ire for our more distraught fans (inlcuding Bluto) was that if we were going to go conservative in the first OT based on Aaron’s second half struggles, we could have at least “fired away” on a few more RB runs…?
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I don’t have a problem with Richt playing for the field goal. I do have a problem with him not trying to gain sufficient yardage to improve the odds on Walsh’s attempt. Whether that came by run or pass didn’t matter.
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You don’t feel that the “centering” play was also an attempt to pick up yards? And you don’t understand that the QB was getting the line penetrated to high hell by MSU during the play? For you, that’s almost a disingenuous remark, Senator.
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Go back and look at the play and tell me whether AM was attempting to pick up yards.
Just make sure you take off your red and black glasses first.
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Bobo’s gotta go. Predictable and stupid. Demote to QB coach at very least.
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New arrival from the Dawg Vent or an old venter/troll looking for shit?
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“But there are gonna be times when you have lost-yardage plays or get stopped, get 2, get 3. And you’ve just gotta keep firing away at it.”
This is starting to sound like Willie’s “we just have to do a better job at making plays on 3rd down”–then calling soft zones. I understand we’d like to run the ball, but into run blitzes? And into 8-man fronts? And when we’re averaging 9 yards per pass? Do we really have to “keep firing away at it”–even when we don’t have “consistency” at running back?
But then again, I appear to be from a different school. I expect the offensive coordinator to try to put the ball in the end zone. What I’m hearing here is that his job is to call the dogmatically appropriate play. Oy and amen.
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Dude, he had a receiver go for 200+ yards a couple of days ago, including a beautiful 80-yard TD bomb. Try a little context here.
Bobo’s problem isn’t that he doesn’t want to put the ball in the end zone. It’s that he doesn’t trust his better instincts to stick with what’s working.
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Exactly. Do you hold any hope of this ever changing?
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Sorry Brother Bluto, but that’s a bunch of b.s. What good are “better instincts” if you don’t have sense enough to follow them? CMB finds ways to screw up – its in his d.n.a. If you switched CTG and CMB, you’d find the offense getting much better and the defense getting much worse. It’s basic/fundamental coaching ability, not magic, luck or instincts.
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Senator, I think we’re agreeing here and I’m expressing it badly. You point out that we had a receiver go for over 200 yards. I’m looking at the rushing stats–39 carries for 51 yards–and wonder why THAT is what Bobo thinks we need to keep “firing away at.”
You call it a lack of trust in his better instincts; I say it’s irrational reverence for the rushing dogma. Either way, in about 6 weeks we’ve moved from converting to a West Coast attack on the fly against Tech to slamming backs into a 7 man front while our 200-yard receiver blocked. Funny thing is, we’re achieving the consistency Bobo wants–the iso run was good for at least -2 all game long on Monday.
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“-2 yd. avg. all game long” is sadly appropriate given the way the 4th quarter played out. I just wondered: could some of those nightmarish runs up the gut and into doom have been checks from the QB? Does he not have carte blanche to alter playcalls from the LOS? I’d like to learn more about the readsnhe makes at the line.
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I wonder about that too. And I wonder if we had any checks at the line that involved running plays outside the tackles. Hard to tell how much of Murrays in game decisions contributed to our tendency to go back to an iso play that wasn’t working.
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Thought when Murray looked to the sideline, we were switching to a play the Bobo called down after looking at the defense.
Which really makes those slow, shotgun runs into 7 and 8 man fronts even more confounding.
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True, but I assumed that Murray also checked at the line at times.
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He’s supposed to be a huge film guy. So, you’d think he’d be really, really good at changing us into a good play.
I just don’t get it. Always seems like we waste plays/downs on plays that have no chance of working.
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Well, then, maybe time to stuff him back in there with probes on his temples for a reading, because it seemed that the MSU D was in his head all game long. “Maybe” their DC is better than our OC!
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Why can’t any of you understand that the MSU D formations were disguised? And you can’t throw down the field at will until you set up the pass with a running game? What is going on with the short-sighted fault finding some of you leap on and stretch beyond what happened and how plays were called?
Man! Why do paranhas come to mind when a whiff of error fills the air? Some of you amaze me with the naive football sense. I think some trolls and others are taking advantage of your unplacated angst.
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Georgia rushed for a grand total of 51 yards. Despite that, AM passed for 288, averaged 9 yards per attempt and had an above-average passer rating of 146 and change.
I’m not getting your point.
MSU was selling out to stop the run all day. Their secondary was vulnerable. Bobo took deep shots in max protect and was successful with that strategy in the first half. He then abandoned it until Georgia trailed in the fourth quarter. It proved successful again.
The lesson I get from that is that you take what the defense gives you as long as you can.
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Glad I’m not the only one who found the Bobo quote to be… frustrating. At best.
I don’t think he gets it.
If we have a receiver go for over 200, maybe we should keep on throwing the ball. 9 yards per ATTEMPT passing and 1.3 yards per rush… And he regrets not running it more? Really?
The problem isn’t just tailbacks and the running game. You have to be able to adjust to what you have and what you don’t have. Good offenses know what they do well and utilize the talent they have accordingly. When we have no tailbacks and can’t run block (and we’re facing a defense who is VERY stout up the middle but having lots of trouble stopping our passing game) then it makes absolutely no sense to keep running it up the middle. 39 rushes! Really?!
The ESPN guys were amused when Houston hadn’t even tried to run the ball a single time and had thrown for like 350 in the first half. If it’s working, there’s no reason to stop.
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It’s working when you see their set for a running play. MSU disguised several D sets that they flipped after the ball was snapped. It all could mean that the D coach worked out exactly the right look to change the O into doing what they tricked us into. How do you smell out a disguised set by the D?
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As far as Bobo not getting “it”, I find that you don’t get shit. You just complain the same ole destructive way you always do. You don’t get it, appreciate it, or don’t want to get the fact that recruits have this negative shit shoved undr their noses by other schools. Are some of you just dense that you don’t get that FACT or are you just trying to help destroy this program. Either way, there are a lot of Dawgs who aren’t on here and some that are who will tell you to plant that where the sun don’t shine.
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I subscribe fully to the “rushing dogma.” Know why?
Because I have NEVER seen a pass-first college football team with a great defense. They’re mutually exclusive. And I think a great defense will lead us to more victories than a pass-first offense.
LSU and Bama offense are “vanilla” – and it seems to be working for them. Bobo and Richt strive to have an equally “vanilla” offense – and I love that decision.
We just need steady improvement of offensive personnel to fit that system. Keeps the focus on the D. That’s where the bread is buttered.
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I don’t understand how a rush first versus pass first offensive philosophy has anything whatsoever to do with defense.
Just because teams with good defenses tend to have rushing offenses doesn’t mean that the rushing offense causes the good defense. It’s correlation, not causation.
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No, it means that the passing game is served by establishing a rush, pic-wit.
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I’m not sure I see how those things are effectively different.
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That’s your problem.
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Replacing 3 starters on that O-line and with the running game still a question mark, I’d say………lukewarm?
If someone held a gun to my head today, I’d say 9-10 wins with another beating in the SECCG, followed by another matchup with Wisconsin.
Now, if Marshall is the 2nd coming of, not Herschel, but say, Rodney Hampton, all bets are off.
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I’m very excited about the returning defense. Unless a couple strategic players decide to turn pro early, I believe the D will be very tough – A+.
I have lost all regard for our offense until we get a real OC. They’ll be vanilla and will continue to screw up in clutch games.
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These are exactly the comments I want to hear. I want the players excited and looking forward to the next season. And I want the coaches to be concerned and looking for areas of improvement.
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Nice comment.
“The players excited, and the coaches concerned” could well be a mantra for 2012.
On second thought…. kinda sounds like 2011 or 2010.
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Those are the comments we’ve heard from this regime almost every offseason.
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Posted most of this in another thread, but his one seems more apropos.
I know it’s the annual prerogative of many Georgia fans to “wait until next year,” but please look at our offensive line. This is an area where Georgia needs significant improvement as evidenced by the last two ballgames. For those anticipating greatness next year: Is it your honest belief that players BLANK, BLANK, and BLANK, who will replace our three leaving OL starters (at the 3 most crucial positions), will be better than those starters? Do you really think that the 3 BLANKS, who (1) couldn’t crack the lineup of this year’s painfully thin OL or (2) will be a true freshmen, are going to lead to vast improvement on the trenches? Improvement that Georgia obviously needs against good defenses in order to produce the running game that sets up our passing game. Improvement that might actually allow us to effectively incorporate a power running game in 2nd halves as Richt and Bobo have shown they are committed to doing (effective or not).
When confronted with this reality most reasonable fans would conclude that we should not expect improvement and might even be worse. Uh oh. Because I do remember that the OL was a glaring weakness at various parts of the season? Because I do remember how it was a sieve two days ago and greatly contributed to our lack of production? Such a massive issue/problem doesn’t bode well for 2012–even though we look like we’ll be in good/great shape in other spots. Such is Georgia football–can’t put it together in any one year. Like this year, any “success” next year will have to depend on the mediocrity or ineptitude of our division and traditional rivals. On top of that, you have to consider the one or two losses that we’ll likely suffer as a direct result from game-mismanagement or an obvious coaching blunder.
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I fail to see how any of them could be worse than Anderson, but it’s certainly a question mark. I think it could be better, but it’s not like anyone knows one way or the other.
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Until we somehow get a somewhat dominant OL that plays consistently, I can’t see us ever getting over the hump. It’s so boring to say, but unbelievably true time in and time out…championships are won in the trenches and typically on both sides of the ball. I feel REALLY good about our D, but I just can’t imagine a stellar running game is going to appear next year with an even younger OL. And, unfortunately, with no running game and poor protection, it’s hard to imagine Murray’s critical turnovers will stop either.
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Hate it, but have to go with Cool here. And I’m not sure how Murray is handling his position of leadership with his “whole Dawg Nation is very excited” angle. Give us something to get excited about Aaron — just a bit of smarts and consistency.
Hoping like heck that this Theus guy can come in and deliver the goods, and that someone is in the wings for the RT slot. Murray may be developing a complex as protection breaks down around him.
We’ve seen how faulty decisions from the signal caller can hamstring a defense for the past three seasons, so I got worry.
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Is the header a reference to this song?
If so, then well played, sir. Love that song and love the two “Nuggets” collections.
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Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.
You are to be congradulated on your good taste, my man.
By the way, trivia fans, yes, it is that Mike Appel.
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All UGA needs now is Mizzou to supply the loss Scar would have. I can hear it from Columbia now.
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Two things about the Offense that really turns up the heat. First, if one goes back and looks at the first quarter of all the games we lost they will notice that we are mixing it up. Passing to the flats, wide receiver isolation plays, wheel routes, TE banging it up the middle. But when the 2-4 quarters come into play we do not do any of this. We simply become vanilla. While I understand the need for ball control in the Mark Richt we have a lead philosophy, there is some categorical denial when it comes to going with what is working.
Second, why is it CMB consistently refuses to go back to the those plays that worked when we are in danger. The defense adjusted for them but readjusted back away from them. The opposing defense is putting people in the box and blitzing LB which would be nullified by returning to what worked in the first quarter. I am speaking directly of the Outback bowl but look at SC, LSU and you will see the same pattern. I have not gone back to look at UF or GT but my memory seems to place this as being the case as well. The only one that stands out is AU. Bobo did not stop what was working in the first quarter. We did it all game long and we crushed them.
I really think that there is something fundamental about what is happening here. Either CMR is telling CMB to grind it out by running the ball. Or CMB has misinterpreted the way one grinds it out through ball control offense. It is one thing to focus on ball control and a completely other thing to be predictable based upon said ball control. Even when the ball control offense is not working CMB does not have enough sense to say I need to mix it up by going back to what we schemed for in the first quarter. They schemed for it based upon the tendencies of the MSU base defense. Why not use it. It boggles the mind to see such something or another. Whether it is idiocy, stupidity, or just plain dumb is important. Stupidity can be correct by education the others cannot. Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to point out two glaring issues which no one has pointed out that have me perplexed.
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Considering the offense did little in the first quarter against South Carolina, Florida or Michigan State…I guess I don’t see your point. Hell, the only offense they generated in the entire first half in the loss to Boise was an end around to Boykin.
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Gee, I wonder what half-time coaching by opponents has to do with the “vanilla” noticed ? Duh.
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At this point, I expect more of the same. Stout defense; streaky offense; untimely turnovers and penalties. Two or three losses, but still enough wins to get us to Atlanta. An ass-whipping from the West champion. And a disappointing bowl game.
I’m neither worried nor excited about the 2012 season. Just a hazy cloud of meh. For now, I’m just glad I went to grad school at a place with an elite basketball program.
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“At this point, I expect more of the same. Stout defense; streaky offense; untimely turnovers and penalties. Two or three losses, but still enough wins to get us to Atlanta. An ass-whipping from the West champion.”
Ditto. I don’t think we’re going to have the depth or the “it” to compete with the top of the SEC next season. Our OL will still have issues as the weaknesses there shift from talent to experience. Like Turd, I expect the O to remain streaky. The key question to me is whether or not the O remains turnover prone in critical situations.
All we proved this season is that we no longer lose to bad teams (Colorado, Miss State, etc). We still don’t beat good teams. In fact, we haven’t beaten a really good team in years.
Next season, we’ll probably beat most or all of the bad teams on the schedule. Then, we’ll lose to the good ones. Our defense was awesome this season and is responsible for bringing us back to life. If we could have that kind of improvement on offense, we’d be a solid team.
I wonder if Richt would have his job still if Georgia had LSU’s schedule this season. I’d love to believe that Richt can take us to the top of the SEC, but I really have no reason to believe that at this point. We’ll stay good, but we won’t be great anytime soon.
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“I wonder if Richt would have his job still if Georgia had LSU’s schedule this season.”
I wonder if Frank Beamer would still have his job if VT had Georgia’s schedule, ever.
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Well, that’s quite the red herring.
What does Frank Beamer’s position at VT have to do with Coach Richt?
The answer is nothing at all. You simply grew that out there to distract from the main issue.
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Where was all this outcry for perception on our strength of schedule in 2009 when we played the 7th hardest schedule in the country, per Sagarin USA Today? Or the 2008 team everybody loves to hate on, when we played the 11th hardest schedule. 2006 and 2007 were also top 25 schedules.
Just so you know, according to Sagarin, LSU played the 16th hardest schedule this season, while Bama played the 26th, UGA played the 30th, Arky played the 31st, and USCe played the 34th.
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What does that have to do with the fact that we still can’t beat good teams?
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It provides prospective as to the inquiry “I wonder if Richt would have his job still if Georgia had LSU’s schedule this season.” If Richt hadn’t faced as difficult a schedule as he did in 2008 and 2009, he probably wouldn’t have been on the hot seat to begin with.
Good is a relative term, but I think we’ve beaten some good teams this season. I don’t think we beat any great teams, but I think we made enough progress to warrant optimism heading into next season, despite the bowl loss.
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I can agree with the “enough progress to warrant optimism heading into next season” coming of the 2011 campaign.
However, the post-2005 era has shown me enough to warrant a counterbalancing pessimism heading into next season.
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“…but I think we’ve beaten some good teams this season.”
Is also seems you are more generous with the “good team” label than I am.
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Very Confident in a great season next year, although the Missouri game is going to be an extremely tough win to pull off.
Also, let’s not spread the propaganda of this “can’t beat good teams” meme. Our Dawgs grew up this year guys! Before this year, we all were wondering if we could even beat a bad team, and so they run off 10 straight before running into not “good” teams but “great” defensive teams in LSU and MSU. Did that expose some issues? Of couse. But, don’t forget what this season was suppose to be… Getting rid of the problem kids, mastering the 3-4 defensive, and getting these young kids to learn how to win. Be understandably cautious if you want, but there is no reason not to go into next year thinking we can’t be champions again.
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Somehow we got separated at birth, sir.
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Why don’t some of you stick to basketball and the rest of us will just have to watch and enjoy the football at Georgia.
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Dude, wait til 2013. Current schedule has Clem, Mizzou, SC, Ala, LSU, Fla, Aub & GT. Our asses will be handed to us…on a platter!
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Well Clemson doesn’t appear all that scary anymore. GT/AU ?
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I just don’t see the half time adjustments from the coaching staff, especially on the offensive side. It appeared that MSU did the same thing that LSU did in containing our TEs. Bobo does seem often to have a good offensive plan starting off the game however he does not seem to understand nor change his play calling when the other team adjusts to his original game plan.
Maybe once we have a few good running backs and more depth on the OL, this should help our offense which would obviously help the defense.
As far as being tired in the 4th QTR, now sure if this is conditioning or simply a lack of depth at key positions on both sides. We can’t put away good teams and there is no killer instinct and I believe this falls on the HC.
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Bobo does not adjust, we are what we are. Not only does he not adjust during a game I don’t think he studies the opposing D . We run the same O and hope like heck that our players are good enough to overcome the advantage the other teams D has in knowing what is coming. It has been that way forever. The good DC’s in the SEC could take the week off before UGA. They know what we will do, the only question is can their guys be better than UGA’s guys. Charlie Strong, Ellis Johnson and any other DC for UF, UA and LSU. That is why we win the games when we are better at the skill positions than the opposition. Look at MSU they knew that we would try to run and kill the clock once we had a two TD lead so they committed to stopping the run with run blitzes, turn out the lights the party was over right there.
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Georgia scored 42 on Ellis Johnson in 2011.
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Wow. Just a little oversimplification there isn’t 69? What does that say about any DC that has a bad game against UGA? I would expect to have seen numerous DC’s fired the monday after playing against us this year if Bobo is such the obvious play caller. Makes sense now why AU’s DC is leaving. Who else did I miss?
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The CMR/CMB offensive philosophy is to be effective with the play-action pass. This means having an effective running game, but not necessarily a pounding ground attack. They want just enough of a running game to keep the safeties tight, get man coverage, and allow us to throw medium to deep routes (see UGA circa D. Green era). This season, our depleted O line and inconsistency at the tailback position, especially (and somewhat coincidentally) in the first and last two games made us very one-dimensional and relatively easy to defense especially as injuries decimated our RB’s during these last two games.
The curious wrinkle this year was the desire to run more plays via the hurry-up from the shotgun. That is really more effective with a west coast or spread-option attack. Our pass routes, even in a 5 receiver set, really didn’t look like a west cost style attack…or Orson would have had a bigger year, as would have TK and/or MM. And Murray can be mobile, but certainly is not a spread or read-option QB.
Frankly, I don’t know what we are other than a classic pro-style offense that didn’t have the tools ready when most needed, with some new wrinkles tossed in. Yet there was no real cohesion, despite an amazing ability to score on weak defenses (especially with a sound rushing attack to set-up the PA) but no or little creativity otherwise.
To the Senator’s earlier post…if Richt can excel at most other issues we need out of the HC, then it’s becoming all the more clear that we certainly could improve with a new OC who can bring a more defined philosophy to our offense, use our strengths more, and dictate the tempo to other teams. CMB is good when he’s got the weapons working, but he is no further along at defining UGA’s offense than CMR is…and neither seem to be able to get us ready for BCS Bowl level competition.
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Accurate, reasonable, well-written post.
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How many receptions would be a big year for Charles? He had 45 receptions which one behind the team lead, was 8th in the SEC and led all SEC tight ends. There were individual games he didn’t have many catches but that all goes back to the OL. Fix the OL and the offense will be fine. Now on that note the OL is under Bobo so therefore he is responsible for his own problems. Hopefully without two guards being forced to play tackle like was done this year Friend will be able to put together a more consistent offensive line and we will get the type offense everyone wants. The recruiting was done last year and again this year to fix the problem. The bad thing is they will be young this year. The good news is the problem was seen and is being taken care of.
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I really don’t understand calling posters that are critical (of things they believe to be deficient in our program) trolls and GT supporters. One of my biggest issues with the Richt regime of late has been complacency turned lethargy. How does an apathetic at best, sunshine pumping at worst, fan-base not create complacency within Butts-Mehre.
Do any of you really believe a kid is going to sign a LOI with UGA based upon how sweet the comments are at GTP? Do you really think a kid that wants to attend UGA will go with his second choice because of a negative comment about Mike Bobo?
Perhaps it is time for another arena speech from CMR. We have no effect, one way or the other.
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I agree they aren’t trolls. They’re just annoying and illogical and often factually wrong in their claims about what Georgia does and doesn’t do vis-a-vis playcalling.
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Mike, I respect your position but I just disagree. The whole hot seat meme perpetuated by the media is partially derived from a reaction from the fans, including in internet commentary. And why do you think our recruiting for 2012 has been slow to gain any traction? It’s because kids are afraid our coaches aren’t going to be around next season. That is a direct negative affect on the program we claim to support. But what are the positive benefits of these negative rants? Mark Richt didn’t replace Willie Martinez because Raleigh St. Clair demanded it on GTP. He did it because Jonathan Crompton torched our defense in 2009.
How does this comment from Raleigh St. Clair, for example, do anything to help the program:
“Its becoming more and more obvious that the men in charge of UGA’s offense simply are not that smart. Which of course is too bad since one of them is the head coach.
Its time to lessen expectations because UGA is never going to be more than they were this year as long as Richt is in charge. ”
A random nobody on the internet is really going to make a claim like that? About a coach who has led us to the Dome 4 times in 11 years, with two near misses. After we didn’t go once the ten years before he got here. Really? There is so much disrespect in that comment it isn’t even funny.
Further, you read comments from our players that everybody gave up on them after USCe. That is extremely embarassing to me they think that, as a graduate, a contributor, and as someone whoattends all home games and most away games, including the bowl game al these expert armchair coaches watched on TV. But I am not surprised reading the comments on this and other internet forums. Frankly, the players are right. Every single week on GTP somebody declared that week’s game as a “benchmark game” and doubted our ability to win. And yet after every win, somebody else would say they’d be a believer after we won the next week. And we won every game for 10 stragiht games until we ran into the buzzsaw of two national top five defenses with no running back depth whatsoever.
Congratulating the team on the season they had without questioning the strength of the schedule – no – REFRAINING from ripping apart our coaching staff after a questionable overtime strategy is not complacency. It’s called support, based on the turnaround job they did this season with such a young team. Personally, I don’t find it appropriate to question the intelligence of a coach who has the highest winning percentage in the history of our program, and I think it’s detrimental to the long term success of the program.
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Puff, I understand what you are saying, I just don’t believe it to be the issue some of you make it out to be. Program prestige, playing time, geography, television,and coaching stability are all important factors in a kid’s decision. The “hot seat meme” didn’t create a 6 – 7 record, nor does it taint a 10 – 4 turnaround.
As for not having the high number of commitments at this point, that may be a good thing. It may mean we are competing for better players and not settling for the low hanging fruit. I really don’t know, but I am not sure filling half our classes 1 year plus in advance has exactly paid off.
Just my opinion.
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Do any of you really believe a kid is going to sign a LOI with UGA based upon how sweet the comments are at GTP?
Do you really think that being relentlessly negative online about the team you claim to support helps anything? What are you trying to accomplish? Newsflash for you. The media types base their opinions in part on the feedback they see from fans in forums like this one. So the negative comments become a negative ARTICLE. And the articles are read and remembered. Then they proliferate. So that’s real. What’s not real is the idea that problems are solved by the coaching geniuses on here who think that if only they could call the plays the Dawgs would never lose. The comments on here would have been a lot different if one thing and one thing only had been different about the game. If Walsh’s field goal had been good and the game won then all would be well, despite all the apparent coaching flaws. Bottom line, losing a big game sucks, especially when it was obviously winnable. Everybody is disappointed. But that hotseat crap compounds the disappointment and creates real problems. It’s not necessary.
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You are using extreme examples from a vocal minority. The ‘dream team” was signed coming off a 7 – 7 season at the height of anti-Richt sentiment, both on-line, over the air, and in print.
As an example, did any of the esteemed Senator’s post regarding Bryan Evans and his tenure based playing time cause Alec Ogletree to discount UGA? And that was both about coaches and an individual player.
Good, or bad, as long as it is not indifferent, the high interest in Georgia football makes it attractive to these kids. Any attempt to scapegoat a blogger, commenter, or any arena outsider (short of an NCAA violation) for a lack of recruiting (or on-field) success is far more demeaning to the football program than any amount of criticism.
Again, just my opinion.
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“The ‘dream team” was signed coming off a 7 – 7 season at the height of anti-Richt sentiment, both on-line, over the air, and in print.”
That’s because CMR and staff worked their asses off to convince recruits the hot seat meme created by crazy fans, picked up on by local beat writers, propogated by super regionals, and then breeded by nationals was complete and utter bullshit and they would win again if they could overcome undermining fans. Jon Theus admittedly took a visit to Notre Dame based solely on the fact he was convinced through negative recruiting Richt might lose his job after 2011.
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Shouldn’t we assume CMR and staff work their asses off in recruiting every year, regardless of the “meme.”
McGarity reeled off a list of issues in the paper, was he adding fire to the “meme” or simply acknowledging areas improvement is required if we are to compete with championships.
McGarity said laying blame and pointing fingers is a waste of time and energy. He did not say, what this team really needs is for the internet community to stand in solidarity.
If disappointed and over zealous fans had such an impact, how did Bama survive the ranker following their 2007 campaign?
I really get where you are coming from. It is far easier, and perhaps even more gratifying, to lay blame for any failures the Dawgs suffer at the feet of anonymous web folk.
I am not saying the criticism is right or wrong, I just don’t think “we” are as important in the grand scheme of Georgia’s gridiron success as some think.
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Mike, this linked thread furthers my point. When you are intentionally spreading lies to disparage you’re own team, you aren’t being constructively critical. You’re trolling.
(start with Vindex)
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I am sure Vindex loves the Dawgs and is just venting in, most likely, the most suitable environment. I don’t think it is constructive, but I also do not think it is destructive.
Ultimately, by saying we can hurt, you are attempting to portray our positive comments as having some power to help. Sadly, we are just spectators. No matter how hard we root, or how positive we are, we remain outside the arena.
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If we were in Montana, I’d agree with you, but Get the Picture has accumulated almost 10 million page hits in just over 5 years, with the number of daily hits increasing exponentially. I think it’d be shortsighted to think outsiders aren’t formulating their perception of UGA at least in part by coming to this website. After all, who knows a team better than their own fans. So when our own fan perpetuates a meme based on false information, it is destructive to the national perceptiuon of our program.
And a footnote I’d like to add is that an antonym for constructive criticism is destructive criticism.
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lol, thank you for that. My point remains, where is the equal and opposite reaction these comments can have?
Why are you not holding Blutarsky ultimately responsible for providing the platform these “hater” comments depend on?
I get the annoyance of it, I feel the salt in the wound aspect of it. I just fail believe random comments on a website have the power so many credit them with.
A team is what the record says it is, or at least that is how I believe it should be. I understand voting and opinion, rather than on field results, carry significant weight around here. 😉
My bottom line, nary a blog won or lost a game this year.
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Hey! Don’t give these guys any ideas. 😉
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“Why are you not holding Blutarsky ultimately responsible for providing the platform these “hater” comments depend on?”
Like Fox News, I find the Senator Fair and Balanced. 😉 In all seriousness, his platform does not include perpetuating falsehoods. I commend Blutarsky for his ability to debunk these nimrods without coming off like a sensitive asshole, like I do.
“I understand voting and opinion…carry significant weight…”
Which is exactly why it is crucial for our own fans to refrain from downgrading our acheivements from 2011 lest the voters discount them when considering where to place us beginning in 2012. Again, 10 million and counting on GTP…
“nary a blog won or lost a game this year”
Maybe not, but if McGarity would wise up and have Bluto add a resume submission section I’m sure we’d find some fine candidates for the next UGA football czar.
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You really know how to hurt a guy.
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Disagree with you, Mike, and that is unusual from me to you. I call many trolls because you can’t tell the difference the way some people won’t absorb criticism back. I criticize because it hurts us on other fronts, because most of the “criticism” is not criticism, but rather opinion and my opinion is better until they prove me wrong and lastly I criticize because most are trolls coming over to snatch onto our angst and divide the fan base. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t. But if you criticize those who criticize the criticizersd, you play right into their hands.
When some simply criticize and let it be instead of attacking staff and players’s character, I let it go, but I’ll go after anyone trying to undermine the staff that our players look to as mentors and coaching. Their judgemental attitudes are not necessary in order to point out deficiencies in field play. Some have egotistical “coach wannabeitis” that gets in the way of corrective criticism. Anyone can tell you what other play to run after one fails. You don’t even have to know football to show how smart you are after the fact, but you have to be close to a simpleton to accept corrected plays not run on the field and not performed at the temperature of the arena. If those are the “criticisms” that you refer to then we have major differences, Mike, and I don’t recall having them with you in the past.
Fans have to see that this “fire the coach(s)” crap hurts our program and is not rational in the sense that they would ever have the power to do that or by disregarding our administration whose jobs it is to hire and fire, they give ammo to our enemies. And that really fries my grits.
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