That is all.
Daily Archives: November 4, 2014
Coach every game as if it may be your last.
Boy, Groo really nails a feeling I had watching the first quarter unfold on Saturday.
In 2011, with the weight of Florida’s dominance in Jacksonville still weighing on the program, the Dawgs scored two touchdowns on difficult and risky fourth down passes. Back then it was Mark Richt supposedly coaching for his job, and it showed in the decisions that were made. “I know it was just a ballgame, but it seemed like a lot more than that,” Richt explained. On Saturday the Dawgs faced 4th and at most 3 yards to go on three occasions in the first quarter with field position near midfield or better. They punted twice and attempted a field goal into the wind. And why should they risk it? The last thing you want to do against a struggling offense is to help them out with good field position. If this was the Florida offense and Georgia defense of several weeks ago, it makes sense to take no chances with the offense and wait for the Florida offense to shoot itself in the foot. Florida made the bold and desperate moves this year – at the macro level by changing quarterbacks and the offense as well as the micro level with the fake field goal call. When Florida stepped it up after the fake field goal, Georgia couldn’t muster much of a response either on the field or on the sideline.
You just knew as Richt left so much on the table with his conservative decision making in the first quarter that it was going to come back and bite him in the ass. And it did.
The thing is, doubting Florida’s offensive ability cut both ways. Sure, helping the Gators out with field position is a decision not without risk. But if you’re skeptical they can move the ball anyway, isn’t that also a reason to chance it? This year’s team has responded well to aggressive coaching in several games – a lesson I hope Richt takes to heart as he preps his guys for a pivotal game in Lexington this week.
Filed under Georgia Football
And you guys think I troll.
Chip Towers and his editor have a question for you.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Talk about your decided schematic advantage.
No wonder that Auburn offense kicks ass.
Not sure why the refs think Gus needs any more help, though. That rabbit’s foot is formidable.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands, SEC Football
‘Oh he’s more worried about that than he is winning.’
For those of you who have been chomping at the bit to get into a discussion about whether Mark Richt deserves to remain head coach at Georgia, this Seth Emerson piece strikes me as an excellent jumping off point.
“That’s what people misunderstand sometimes: I’m highly motivated to win the national championship,” Richt said. “But just because I care about them beyond football they think, ‘Oh he’s more worried about that than he is winning.’
“No, that’s not true at all. Not true at all. I want to win, and we’re gonna do the best we can to try to win. But I feel like we truly are educators and we truly have a responsibility to help these guys.”
When Richt says things like that, and acts out on it tangibly with the Paul Oliver Network, Georgia fans say they’re proud he’s their coach.
But when his team gets thumped the way it did last Saturday by Florida, probably closing the door yet again on a national championship, many of the same fans bring the invective.
There is a divide between the Georgia fan base and the people who run the program, from Richt to his bosses.
The fans live in a world of championship or bust.
The program does not.
In the interest of debate, we’ll skip past that last point, which relates back to my post from yesterday about where some of you need to start pointing fingers, and focus on the coach. Seth sets up the parameters as follows:
… There’s a lot to be said for being good enough to at least be in contention on a consistent basis.
There’s also plenty to be said for winning a championship, no matter what else.
The question is, where do you fall? What do you want from Georgia’s head coach, no matter who it is?
Filed under Georgia Football
Mumme Poll, Week 10
Well, well, well… looks like the interest level has peaked. Big surprise, there.
Rank Team Votes 1 Mississippi State 45 2 Auburn 44 3 Oregon 43 4 Alabama 42 4 Florida State 42 6 TCU 36 7 Kansas State 34 8 Michigan State 30 9 Mississippi 14 10 Baylor 7 11 Ohio State 6 11 Notre Dame 6 13 Arizona State 4 13 LSU 4 15 Marshall 2 16 Duke 1
That’s a pretty credible top eight, IMO.
Duke with a vote? Didn’t realize Spurrier was a participant.
Filed under Mumme Poll
Get The Picture 