I don’t mean for us (although it will). I mean I expect the players to get a lot of this:
Richt said, “Just because we had a victory doesn’t mean we’re a great football team by any stretch. We have a long way to go and we’ve even played an SEC game yet.”
He added, “I just walked out of the meeting room with the players a little bit ago. We talked about it. I keep saying thank God for film because if there was no film and all we could go by was how we felt after the game and what everybody is talking about us, we’d be in trouble. But when you turned on the film, we see the flaws. We know there are issues. We know there are certain things we got away with and if we don’t get them right we’re not going to get away with them in another game. Someone is going to make us pay.”
Hopefully by the time the coaches get done delivering that message early and often, the players will feel like they need to prove themselves all over again.
Get The Picture 
I imagine that one of the things they looked at was the ten defenders on the field on one of Clemson’s touchdowns. That’s something that can’t happen again, and I imagine that will get fixed. At least I hope it gets fixed…
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I read something of that as well. As I understand it, the Dawgs were using 10 men on the first TD drive down inside the 10-yard line.
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That was by design. Bobo asked Pruitt to do this to build Clemson’s overconfidence while withholding Gurley until the 4th Q.
#stupidmeme
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Just to be clear LS…the “stupid” is about thinking Bobo was purposely withholding Gurley until the 4th Q which seems to be a popular theory on some other sites, not your observation.
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I gotcha … but what I read was that on the first defensive drive when Clemson scored on 4th down the Dawg-D only was using 10 players.
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Oddly enough, a major useful aspect of the bye week, aside from the added preparation, will be time for the coaches to get in the players’ ears and tell them to tune out the media BS now that they’ve had a nice long weekend to enjoy it. Just yank them down out of the clouds and get them ready for Sept 13 in Columbia. Play round the clock video loops of our last visit there . Please please please no Tennessee 2004, Tennessee 2007, Alabama 2008…..
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2004 was the absolute worst.
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That one was on Richt. He just didn’t see it coming. He’s a seasoned SEC coach now, and that won’t happen again.
~~~
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Sounds like a firm reality check. Not poor mouthing for effect but the serious business of preparation. I wish critics of CMR would remember this quote when they start whining about how he doesn’t want to win. This viewpoint exhibits enough gravitas for me…..what else do you want?
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Also sounds ‘Saban-esque’……..which isn’t a bad thing. No one is more fanatic about preparation than him.
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Though we will be patted on the back for 2 weeks, I’m delighted with the off week. I can’t see anything but good coming from it, especially in regard to JSW. I like Richt’s demeanor lately. I like the secrecy. I like the edge. I like the angle he’s taking.
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Pingback: Opposite Reaction Than Normal | The Grit Tree
Good article Senator.
I want our boys to prepare just like they just got their asses kicked by a 21 point loss, then we’ll get better.
I saw way too many smiles from Richt during the 4th quarter.
But didn’t see any from Pruitt, so I guess he’ll be the one to bring the team back to focus on what’s ahead.
Unless we beat South Carolina, the Clemson win doesn’t mean a whole lot.
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Last time we went into South Carolina, they clubbed us 35-7.
We better be ready, Spurrier will be up for this must win and he’s likely been preparing for this one for months.
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Hopefully, no one gets suspended during the bye week break.
Come on team, we started well, we have momentum, don’t be “THAT GUY” that screws it all up!!!
Richt better be on their asses about staying out of the news.
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South Carolina is 18-1 in their last 19 home games, 10-1 in their last 11 SEC games at home.
BUCKLE UP!!!
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HBC will do anything he needs to do to get these boys ready to play us. I can only hope they blow East Carolina out, which may lure them into a slightly less edgy approach to our game. But, I don’t think that will happen. Ball Coach will pull out some offensive sets and trick plays for us and on us that humankind has never seen before. He does not intend to lose to us.
Buckle up, indeed!
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We beat a soft team with a first time starter at QB and 0 running backs. Get over it. Means nothing. Next week means something because we’ll get everything they’ve got.
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Going by your take, we will be playing a team who just lost a great starting QB and one of the best D’linemen of the last generation. Oh yeah, they also have an injured all SEC tailback.
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Somebody hand the Senator a can of bug spray please…
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+1
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Hmmm… wonder if the way to go is NOT to get in their ear for two weeks about how they’re not that great and put a time bomb of doubt in their minds that might go off in Columbia, but instead:
“Look, I don’t know how great we can be – you guys showed flashes of brilliance out there, but so did the 2012 team. So listen – ESPN might be right, you might have what it takes to get to the playoffs. Show me. Show the fans, show the rest of the SEC you can carry the weight of this hype. Don’t let up for a single day or a single down between now and January. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you how much you suck – I’m gonna tell you straight, you might be a championship football team. You have a chance. Don’t blow it. Let’s get to work.”
(Hey, Cosmic, get back to work yourself!)
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That is indeed the approach they need to take, and probably will. I am sure TG, as a team leader, well recalls the last time we rolled into Columbia. But you are right, if all it takes is the compliments of the national media to take their eye off the ball, then they are truly not ready for the limelight. The glare will only get more intense the further they go along this road, great teams let it roll off their back. I suspect we will handle preparation just fine but fear the intensity of a wounded animal will still surprise them in the beginning. We have a lot of starters who have never played in the scale of a hostile atmosphere they will be walking into.
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We were ranked #6 last year on Sept 29, 2013 and ended up going 8-5.
Typically, we don’t handle success or high expectations well at Georgia.
Sure hope Coach Richt figures out why.
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Our ACLs don’t handle it well either.
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Bulls eye, some commenters just embarrass themselves in their haste to take cheap shots.
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The team psychology/mentality/handling success part of winning has become an issue already. Today, we got two #1 votes in the AP poll. And we’re gonna have to deal with it the hype. We can see that it’s already front-and-center on Richt’s mind, and that’s somewhat comforting.
We know that he’s never been really good at team psychology, just like his mentor. But now, he’s been a HC for 13 years and he doesn’t have the culture problem interfering with his handling of it. I remember in 2005 when Richt talked about this, very much like he did yesterday, for 3 whole weeks before the Sugar Bowl game. And STILL, it didn’t take.
But IMO, by then the culture problem was already developing, and his message fell on deaf ears, and we didn’t take WV seriously enough, and didn’t show up. Richt shouted from the housetops for 3 weeks, and did everything he could to prevent it. And IMO it wasn’t his fault.
So this is a hump we’ve got to get over this year, if we want to get through this schedule without stumbling. No question about it. Maybe somebody beats us because they’re better than us that day. And that’s fine. It happens in this League. But that’s much easier to deal with than not handling yourself.
So we’re pulling for Richt to handle it all. I’m well aware of the past 9 years, but I like his chances of dealing with our mentality and handling of success, now that the culture problem isn’t hindering and we’re in the process of becoming a fundamentally sound football team.
~~~
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“It’s gonna be a long couple of weeks.”
Not as long as if we’d lost…….
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