But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct and the roads… what has Mark Richt ever done for us?

Yes, times have been lean as of late and there have been plenty of reasons to express frustration, but sometimes in doing so it’s easy to lose some perspective of the man’s overall track record.  Like this, for example:

… But even for some of the best teams over the past 20 years, stringing together 10 wins every year has been rare.

Under Steve Spurrier, Florida won 10 or more games for six straight seasons from 1993-98. That’s the longest such streak since the league expanded in 1992 and split into divisions.

Georgia did it for four straight seasons from 2002-05, and Tennessee also won 10 or more games from 1995-98.   [Emphasis added.]

Even LSU, with all of its success the past decade or so, has never had more than three straight seasons of 10 wins or more since the 1992 expansion. During Saban’s five seasons at LSU, the Tigers never won 10 or more games in back-to-back seasons. They won 11 or more in 2005, 2006 and 2007 under Les Miles and remain the only SEC team to win 11 or more games for three straight seasons since the 1992 expansion.

Florida won 48 games in four seasons under Urban Meyer from 2006-09, but the Gators never went more than two straight seasons under Meyer with 10-plus wins.

Spurrier’s win streak is off the charts, especially when you consider it was compiled during the era of eleven-game regular seasons.  But that aside, Richt is in some pretty exalted company there.

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Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.

Shorter Dennis Dodd:  Frank Haith getting screwed by his peers in the Big 12 Coach of the Year award vote is proof that Nick Saban cheated to get Alabama in the national title game.

Roster management hindsight

For those of you who indulged in hand wringing over all those slots that went unfilled with signees in Georgia’s most recent recruiting class, take heart from recruitnik Kipp Adams’ assessment of how the 2013 group is shaping up:

“… With eight commitments so far, Georgia has already pieced together an outstanding collection of talent, and what really gives them a chance to be special is that seven of the eight commitments currently plan to enroll early.”  [Emphasis added.]

Hmm… maybe there was some method to Richt’s madness.

Justin Houston’s mea culpa

Actually it was more of a “I so did not say Coach Richt needs to be outta there”, but it’s what he had to say about Grantham that’s more interesting.

Q: How about watching the Bulldogs last year and how the Grantham defense did in Year 2?

Houston: “I’m in love with his defense. Coach Grantham, we still communicate, I still talk to him. I know he told the guys: ‘I talk to him more now than when (Justin) was here.’ But I had fun watching the Dogs this past year.”

Q: This defense prepares you for the NFL?

Houston: “It does. It teaches you, especially the way coach Grantham does it, what everybody is doing instead of what you are doing individually. That helps out a lot, when you know what everybody else is doing it helps you do your role.”

Lot of enthusiasm there.  It gives you an idea of what Grantham pitches to recruits.  It also gives you an idea about how Georgia’s defenders have bought into what he preaches.