You should eat.
- And then there were 85.
- Derek Mason says Vanderbilt’s working on scheduling a game with Stanford. Good.
- New college football win totals posted at 5Dimes. Georgia’s listed at 9.5.
- “The Pro Football Hall of Fame elected Thomas as a member in 2009, yet college football had not honored him. The reason is simple: Alabama didn’t nominate him for membership until 2011.” What?
- No surprise here: “An SEC source said about four or five teams from each league [SEC and ACC] are discussing potential home-and-home matchups for some time in the next 6-7 years.”
- Georgia’s 2015 athletic budget checks in at $99,850,500. Think keeping it under a nice round $100 mill was an accident, or planned?
- Letitia Romero doesn’t need a union. And anyway, it’s all the NCAA’s fault.
- Which college football teams have championship-grade recruiting? Georgia just makes the list.
- Finebaum may suck, but at least the SEC Network will have one great thing going for it.
Get The Picture 
Would love to hear me some Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles …. Whoa, Nellie!!
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“Alabama didn’t nominate him for membership until 2011.”
Umm…Nick Saban didn’t have time for that shit?
Am I doing it right?
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That’s 7 million more than the last budget. Give it time …
The board approved a fiscal year 2014 budget of $93.2 million and $2.18 million for facility improvements, including to Sanford Stadium.
“This has really been a labor of love to see the growth in the program, to see the growth in the quality of the teams, the student-athletes,” Adams said afterwards. “Don’t get me wrong, we had a great program long before I got here.”
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I like MaconDawg’s stuff a lot, but not sure where he was was going with the title of that post. Makes it sound like we NEEDED to medically disqualify Burrows in order to get to 85, almost makes it sound like we are starting to get into the shady roster management tactics.
He concedes at the end that this puts as low as 83 (which sounds right, the consensus after signing day was we were at 89, and since then we have now lost Lemay, JHC, Wiggins, Bostick, Johnson, and Burrows), so why make it sound like the Burrows move is what puts us at 85? Again, I like MaconDawg and he does a good job over at Dawg Sports, just not sure where he was going with that. Unless he was just trying to say that this comfortably puts us under the limit/we can say it with full confidence now.
Anywho, here’s hoping for a holiday weekend free of scooter, boating, hang gliding, parasailing, and whatever else kind of incidents that can get more of our guys suspended!
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If you want your question answered, maybe ask him instead of the Senator?
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I’m afraid you guys might bite over there. 🙂
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K-State brings a player from the Canary Islands that can’t speak English and hire as a “Grad Assistant” the retiring Spanish professional player from Barcelona that found her. Now they are fighting her transfer.
Hmmmm.
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This exactly how to destroy a program: Get into a nationally publicized pissing contest with a former player (she ain’t coming back to you K-State–get over it) where the school comes off looking like a bully. Any top quality players going to be interested in K-State women’s BB now? I don’t think so. I think this exact type of behavior hurt Derek Dooley with recruits and was partly the cause of his demise at UT. But, hey–you get what you deserve when you do stuff like this, don’t you?
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Michigan seems high in that recruiting ranking, and Oklahoma seems low to me. I think we are about right, have always said those who say we “have it all” at UGA are inflatingt he Dawgs’ recruiting prowess and facilities. And that is before you add in the suspension policy discrepancy. We are among the top teams but are at a disadvantage to a few programs. Good list over all.
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+1. Agree re: UGA having lesser recruiting and facilities than many think and the suspension policy being a disadvantage.
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Not sure what you mean by “recruiting prowess”. And I don’t think the suspension policy really hurts us in recruiting.
I’m no expert on our facilities as compared to the rest of the League, but I certainly take your word on that. It always seems we lag a little behind the top level, like we do on a lot of things.
The point is, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be at the very top level in recruiting. We couldn’t be situated any better to recruit at the highest level. We just haven’t gotten it done, IMO. No excuse for it, really.
I wouldn’t disagree with those who say we have plenty of talent, but I would say it hasn’t been as good as it should be. Given who we are, and where we are, we should recruit with the best of them nationwide. No reason not to have a Top 5 class year in and year out.
And that’s with everything like it is – facilities, policies, everything else. I’m for making it all better. But we should be doing much better in recruiting than we have been.
The lack of OL in such a great in-state year is somewhat depressing. But maybe it was just too late by the time the changes were made earlier this year. I’ve said before, if we have to go to California to get top OL, then that’s what we should do .. go national, if that’s what it takes to recruit that position.
I’ve been saying the changes in our recruiting structure are good, and I believe they are. We’ll see if we can get it done from here. As big as the summer is for our players, so it’s also a big summer for our recruiting.
~~~
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My comment was that we aren’t a Top 5 recruiting school many years at all, so we don’t start with Top 5 talent. THEN you add the takeaway of how many scholarship athletes we have due to suspensions, injuries, and not over signing. We played Bama in 2012 SECCG with about 67 scholarship athletes. Plus we compete in the toughest conference in CFB. So people saying we consistently under achieve are full of it.
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Certainly true. And I hope that’s in the process of changing as well.
It’s difficult to plan for injuries, and you can’t close or open a slot for suspensions. But I’ve been pleading for us to more efficiently manage our roster for some years now. It does hurt without question.
And it can be solved without compromising any principles, whether institutional or personal. There’s reason to think we may have moved on it already, on several fronts, along with the other changes this year.
A lot of that attrition was Richt’s attempt at cleaning house and I agreed with that at the time. Still do.
But it IS tough, and that is why it’s so critical to manage the roster very efficiently. Every spot is precious if we’re going to maintain our standards and do right by the kids. There is very little, none really, room for not being smart about it.
If we do that, then we can still compete, talent-wise, with the top SEC teams, like Bama, LSU, & Auburn that oversign and cut. We just have to be smart and make sure we max-out every spot. We haven’t been doing that. But again, there’s reason to think we might be doing it now. We were over a little this year, I believe. But there’s other signs that recruiting is on the mend.
We don’t seem to disagree often, but here we do. Even with all we’ve talked about, factoring in all that, we have still underachieved. To me, both the record and the game film reflect that very clearly. There’s just no way to get away from it.
You don’t need consistent Top 5 classes to win in this League. Our recruiting hasn’t been what it should be, but we’ve had enough to be a lot better than we’ve been.
We have a national reputation for beating ourselves, and it’s well deserved, in my mind. In the SEC, we have a reputation of being soft, in addition to to consistently shooting ourselves in the foot. That too, I agree with. We HAVE been soft. It shows on the film. Pruitt saw it immediately when he arrived, and has embarked to change it, among other things.
I’ll stop there. But yeah, I’m excited about the possibility of getting away from all that, and getting back to being Georgia again, as I hope I’ve been making clear. To field a solid football team every week, one that no opponent looks forward to playing.
When that happens, and I hope it’s this year, the underachieving will stop. Get that ingrained in to the culture, and it’ll be gone for good, provided we keep a sharp watch for the wolves. I hope so. This has been going on a long time now.
~~~
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Yes, we disagree with the “reputation for underachieving” part, not to say we don'[t lose games we should win more than I would like. But when you look at the comparisons we measured against, there is a big playing field disadvantage that you must first ignore,
Our admissions policies have cost us recruits others could sign, we have played against some of those we turned down. The Jan Kemp fiasco put UGA behind our SEC brethren, and other southeastern power schools.
We have had about six top 10 finishes under CMR in his 13 years, and have played in the SECCG five times. This was all done at a time when both FU and SC had 2-3 of their best teams ever, and TN stole one from us in 2007. We are 2-3 in those title games and easily could have been 3-2.
It is an incredible record given the circumstances, yet our fans feed the ammunition to opposing fans/coaches and media experts that Richt isn’t getting it done and is on the hot seat for underachieving. So yes, I think that attitude is BS and the UGA fans who adhere to it is helping undermine the program’s perception which hurts us in many ways. This is the Golden Era of UGA football and we have a lot of whining that makes an already difficult task even more harder. Are there things I want to see improvement in? Absolutely, but criticism should be kept in balance for recognition of what has been very damned good. If the criteria is only “how many crystal footballs have you won?”. then CMR is a failure. But I consider that a really dumb measurement when we haven’t even been given a chance to play for one. I can think of 3 of those teams capable of winning that trophy had we been invited. Excellent given the uphill struggle we have with the unlevel playing field.
I like the way we do things and am sorry about the ethics of others, I don’t feel any of them would be any better if they walked in our shoes. JMO.
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You’re probably right that it’s overlooked, and it is certainly a huge advantage for those teams. But I haven’t overlooked it, as I was the one who first pointed that out (an extra class every four years) some 3 or 4 years ago and carried the torch against oversigning on other blogs.
This is the biggest difference, as those schools give themselves opportunities to recover from their recruiting mistakes by replacing them with another targeted athlete, usually at the expense of the kid they so heavily wined and dined when they were in high school. I gave up the fight, however, when the SEC caved in and instituted the 25 rule. That made it clear they didn’t really want to do anything about it.
That said, Georgia can still compete head-on with those schools, but there’s really no margin for error. Every spot has to be productive, to get that done. So far, we haven’t managed well – I’d say it’s been poor – but you have to like the signs of the 2014 change. There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with planning for natural attrition and signing several more than you have spots for in February. All you need do is be honest and up front about it with the kids involved, and that’s no problem in Athens.
I also think Garner leaving was a big plus, as he had gotten stale in the job, and our recruiting with it. I expect BMac to be much better, along with the changes that will help him.
The other things you’ve mentioned have some impact now and then, but not a remarkable impact. And Kemp was certainly real. But we’ve done well on those areas recently.
I would say it’s our lack of solid play on the field that has shaped our perception. As stated earlier, I think our reputation is deserved.
I have never called for Richt to be fired. But the reality is he was very close to being fired when we lost the first two in 2011, especially after embarrassing ourselves in front of the whole country in that poorly-prepared performance against Boise. I was really worried for him.
I want Richt to succeed because I know, beyond doubt, it can be done his way, the right way, the way he likes to do things. And that would be good, not just for us, but for college football in general, IMO. I suspect Richt simply hasn’t had the right combination of coaches for that to happen, especially on defense, the last 9 years. Before that, I would say his record was pretty “incredible, given the circumstances”.
And I suspect he may have now have the best staff combination to date. On both sides of the ball. His first 4 years VanGorder made the defense work, and Richt made the offense work. The offensive staff has steadily improved and really came together when Ball replaced Eason. Some complain about Lilly and Friend, but overall, it’s a very good staff, the best under Richt.
But the defense has been pretty much a disaster (considering we’re Georgia), with the exception of the latter part of the 2007 season, when BVG’s seniors on that team took over and became very, very good. But Humpty-Dumpty fell off the wall as soon as their final hurrah was over, and we’ve been trying to recover ever since. I’ve written volumes about all that. But no more, we’re now in a new era, I’m confident of it.
To some extent, the disadvantages you laid out are being diminished. And it will help us be more competitive, no question. But there is still no coubt that the players we played in those years underachieved, especially on defense. The film doesn’t lie. And we’ve touched on why, maybe covered it pretty well, to date this year.
I’ve pointed out Richt’s weaknesses, as I see them, and there may still be one or two. But I’ve always defended him. After all, he’s the same guy that won 2 SEC Titles in 5 years, and had a road record that was, without question, incredible.
Also, the lack of NC’s is silly, as you pointed out. We could have at least two, 2007 and 2012, even in this 8-year period of mediocrity, had we the same luck as some other SEC teams that won it. It’s the SEC Titles that count, because those are the ones you can control. In that regard, we’re in a drought, but that is to be expected, considering the way we’ve played.
That we’ve come so close, to both Titles, during this frustrating period of mediocrity, simply points to our overall potential in the today’s SEC, IMHO.
But te period of mediocrity and underachievement coincide exactly with the demise of the defensive staff and that side of the ball. That, of course, affected the whole team. I’d say it ‘infected’ the whole team. And again, both the record and the game film clearly show that. Watching defenses from 2002-2004 is night and day from anything since 2006.
And as previously mentioned, if we get this ‘change’ I keep referring to .. the underachievement, and the habit of beating ourselves will go down the toilet, instead of the team itself and maybe the program, which was headed straight down the toilet just a few short months ago.
But it’s a huge task. It won’t be easy. And I’m not even certain Pruitt can do it. It’s that tough, something that’s been ingrained for almost 10 years now. But there’s no other way. It has to happen first at the defensive side of the ball, because that’s where it originated.
So we’ll see. If Pruitt doesn’t affect change, and we don’t start playing defense like Georgia again (which will affect the whole team), then I’ll concede that it has to be Richt. But not until then.
Just the realistic possibility, the thought of being solid again, excites me, because Georgia was one fun team to watch Richt’s first 5 years.
~~~
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While we disagree with there being a “period of mediocrity” there have been a couple of weak seasons that we have all hated having to live with. Over the 13 years total, and the circumstances we have dealt with and this being the SEC at its peak, I think that is pretty acceptable, only LSU has been equal/better over that stretch. No doubt the defense has been the issue, but some significant injuries and a few bad eggs contributed to that. Do all schools have some of that? Sure, and that is why we stack up against others well although many of them would have been much worse if they had to lose players for the reasons we do….some don’t even test for drugs and only a handful have a zero tolerance policy. I recall one TN running back flunking 4 tests and not missing time and the Honey Badger says he failed 11. Don’t even think that Oregon, CU, etc. on the West Coast takes marijuana seriously, or that the Great Lakes area worries about a 20 year old with a beer.
But all in all, we agree with many things, I just feel your position has more of a glass half empty feel to it when you reach a conclusion. Over all we have much to feel blessed about and we certainly are a long way from “under achieving” unless you only count MNCs in CFB….which I never have, ever. We are getting close to having a title that is earned on the field though. After which I would say winning one every 12-15 years is where we should expect to be. Have a great holiday weekend.
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Nice post, and I certainly agree with the sentiment of it. But understand, my view of underachievement is based strictly on a cold analysis of the game film.
Also, it’s important to understand what I mean by “underachievement.” I don’t mean not achieving expectations. That is much more subjective. Simply put, it means playing to your talent level.
And that’s what the film shows we haven’t done, with some exceptions, for about 8 years now. It’s definitely a coaching thing, which is why Pruitt, with Richt’s cooperation, has a chance to institute the ‘change’ that can get us back to the way we played in the early Richt years, when we were playing the most exciting ball in the country.
I’ve never ask any Georgia coach to overachieve, and never will. We’ve had one or two in our history that did. But at Georgia in this modern day, recruiting top talent is vital to survival. We haven’t had the most talent, but it’s been generally good enough. The thing we haven’t done is play to the talent-level we’ve had. And that is what jumps out on film.
Our talent is good enough, and is going to get better pretty soon, IMO. Play to our talent level, and we’ll be in the thick of it every year, as we should be. And we’ll soon begin winning our share of everything.
You have a good Memorial Day weekend as well.
~~~
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Fair points all, there is certainly always room for improvement, and I want that as much as anyone in the Bulldog nation. I do think the only way to say we underachieve is to measure it against unrealistic expectations….but that is just my opinion. Few, if any, teams play a season “up to their talent level” in my experience; just a case of whether someone pulls their pants down on those “80” percent days.
One other point, if your earlier post you used the Boise loss as one of your illustrations of where we didn’t measure up. It was my position then, and is today, that Boise was the better team that year, especially in an opening game. They were very senior laden with, I think, the most returning starters in all of CFB that season and a QB that was as good as they have ever had at the helm of that offense. I would also give the motivation edge to them, simply because of the David/Goliath thingy as well as he major whupping their team/program took in Athens. We were very competitive in that game until Ogletree went down in the first half. I wasn’t that disappointed or surprised with that loss although the final score looked like it was a more thorough loss than I saw. The next week we played SC off the field and gave it to them with turnovers/ST mistakes. We were a better 0-2 team than I thought we might be going into the season, but no one really considered how we had played against two very good teams….just the record. I am more of the “backstory” than the headline guy so I was hurting but not in deep depression at that point.
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That’s not what I mean by “playing to your talent level”, Mac. I don’t mean ‘maxing out’ all the time because nobody does that. Even the best teams only have 2,3, maybe 4 games a year where everything clicks, it’s close to 8 cylinders firing all day. Even those teams have those “80% days” when you have to rely on your fundamentals, mental toughness, and discipline to hang in there, to stay sound and keep yourself from giving the game away, so you can win.
The best teams are able to do those things, most of the time, because they’ve been trained that way. Further, all teams make mistakes, even the best team in their best game. But the really good teams don’t make very many, compared to the mean, and that’s another big reason they win things.
Georgia was that way in 2002 and 2003. And for the most part, in 2004 and 2005, though there were a few games where it fell apart. It can be that way again, and that’s what I’ve been hinting at.
But the last 8 years Georgia hasn’t been anything like that. Quite the contrary. I’ve lost track of the games we’ve given away, games we’ve beaten ourselves. We really haven’t lost that many games where we were just plain got beat. And that’s because of the talent we’ve had.
Generally, and I repeat, generally, the record of the last 8 years is as good as it is, if you call it good (and I don’t), because we generally just overmatched people. When we’ve run into an equally-matched opponent, or close to it, we’ve struggled. Many of those games we’ve found a way to beat ourselves. I have no idea what the record is, but against ranked opponents it must be pretty bad over those 8 years. But regardless of what the record might show, I can assure you the film of those games, for the most part, is pretty ugly.
Foolish penalties, unforced errors, unforced penalties, missed assignments, wrong angles, being late, inexcusable missed blocks, I could go on. All kinds of things that solid football teams, with few exceptions, don’t do. Nothing our opponents did to us, just things we did to ourselves.
And Georgia didn’t do those things either, for Richt’s first 4 or 5 years. And because we didn’t we won a couple of SEC Titles, had an outstanding record, and played in some good Bowl Games. We were a team opponents didn’t look forward to playing, especially if we were coming to their house.
We were a team that played to our talent level. And save a few really well-played games, we haven’t done that since. And we haven’t done it at all throughout a complete schedule. And that’s the biggest, and most important measurement of a solid team.
We certainly haven’t been very good in opening games vs. a good opponent. In fact, we haven’t won one since Boise 2005. But this Boise 2011 game, we were just poorly-prepared. Not anywhere close to be being ready to play. That’s as nice as I can put it.
True, Boise had seniors, a senior QB, motivation, a good offense, great scheme, fiesty defense, all those things. But we knew all that 6 months before the game was played. And STILL, we were not prepared.
Boise was the better team, and may have won anyway, seeing how our OL was so big and sluggish they could barely get out of their stance. And the defense was, well, a Grantham defense.
So yeah, but my point is we were not properly prepared. That game was lost before the team ever arrived in Atlanta.
~~~
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Seems to me every year I’m glancing up at espn & mumbling “so-n-so is not in the CFB HOF yet?” when they post the new inductees (sp). From that article that responsibility appears to fall on both the schools & the Hall officials. Seems silly to me not to change some things up…they both seem a few steps behind to me.
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