Those of you who sit in front of your keyboards and proclaim you’re in touch with the inner feelings of Georgia’s fan base and are positive that your pessimism and anger about where the program is at after those two rough losses is a very common attitude (I had one commenter claim last week that it extends to more than half of everyone), perhaps you didn’t notice that Sanford Stadium was very close to full capacity last night and that those who were there were very much into the game, as unglamorous as it was. But such was the case.
There is little doubt that the 2015 season has been a disappointment so far, but the idea that the peasants are this close to storming the castle with torches and pitchforks is… well, not particularly realistic.
Those of you who express yourselves in a blog comment thread or read message boards to get your impression of how your fellow Georgia fans are feeling these days need to remember that the college football corner of the Internet is merely a hot house, and Georgia’s is a fairly exotic one at that. There are a huge number of people out there who manage to follow Georgia football passionately without ever using a drop of bandwidth.
Georgia is still in a division race. Recruiting is going well. The money hasn’t stopped coming in. What that all means is that the level of dissatisfaction isn’t at an apocalyptic level.
Keep it real, fellas.
Get The Picture 
All true.
Let me ask you a question, what do you feel has been Pruitt’s largest contribution in his time in Athens? It’s easy to forget how much talent he was working with at Alabama and FSU.
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I’d say his take on roster management. It will take a couple more years to see the results. All those freshmen running around last night will be juniors then.
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Appears you are right about roster management/recruiting (slightly different but related closely…kissin cousins?) For most of the second half we played at least four freshmen. That many young players on the field won’t always be pretty, but sure makes for a quick “grow up cycle”
As I have said before, Pruitt looked a lot smarter with Bama and FSU players. We are not there yet, but working on it.
Two years is what I have been saying for a while.
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Two years? For what?
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I’m not sure if his schemes are similar to Saban’s, but if they are there are certain positions that appear to be extremely talent-dependent.
In particular, your nose tackle, cornerbacks and nickel back need to be special players. It also doesn’t hurt to have a alpha dog (no pun intended) MLB.
We had a series of pretty special nose tackles over Saban’s first few years, starting with Mount Cody. Also, the corners and nickel are asked to do a lot so they need to be ballers that can be trusted above the neck.
Is Saban the kind of coach that can take yours and beat his? To me, it doesn’t seem that way. His schemes are very talent-based, it appears. Accordingly, if Pruitt is a true disciple, his schemes need a load of talent as well.
Have a good day,
BD
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Thank you for the post. It is good food for thought. I tend to agree , after reading it, that Saban is not the kind of guy who could take someone else’s talent and win championships.
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Good question. He seems to be an excellent recruiter. He also seemed to be able to give McGarity insight into why he should spend more on the program by giving him Alabama’s perspective on UGA’s AD’s commitment to the program. That is a significant contribution .
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Talent is developed by a good SC program. Our recruits are just as talented, but they need to work harder in the offseason. That’s all. The FSU and Bama players knew what it took. Apparently we don’t.
And the only reason this team will be better in a few years is because of better leadership. Look, the seniors now are great, but the fact is they all don’t have much experience. Now, when Thompson, Briscoe, McGraw, etc, are juniors they’ll be able to provide better offseason guidance for the younger players. They’ll know what what works, in terms of leading, organizing, and what doesn’t. Plus, Sanders, Davis, Parrish, will be seniors. I don’t think they leave early. In 17, this defense will be great. 18, there might be a dropoff because Thompson and some of the other D-liners leaving early.
Look at 2005. We had 44 kids in the Class of 05 and 06. That’s maturity and direction. It’s also an SEC title.
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W is greater than a L….fuck the Gators
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Thanks for the chuckle this morning and the reminder there are certain constants in this universe.
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But Senator… There were vocal fans in my section who want Bobo fired.
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Lol, really? Or just (some good) snark on your part?
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A little of both. Vocal ahole was screaming for Pruitt’s head after their first first down. Later accused Bobo of phoning in Schotty’s plays.
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I just want to know if he would be willng to loan Schotty his crayons.
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I love it. Hopefully we didn’t have them bronzed.
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Thank God only one person booed in my section yesterday. I turned and gave him a dirty look as did others. The only other booing I heard was at the refs when they upheld the call against Sanders. The crowd stayed and stayed in the game. I was worried it would be ugly when we were intercepted in the drive but the fans there were there to enjoy the game. Has anyone see the Facebook post by Rex Robinson. It is powerful.
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Could not agree more, Senator!
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Anybody booing?
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There were boos for the last couple of bubble screens.
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Screaming projectile diarrhea shits for the lot of them, then.
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The mental picture of that is quite funny.
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We all need a batch of Cojone’s cookies right now.
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Res, what’s the deal with our resident cookie maker? Anybody know?
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He’s being held hostage until Richt puts another QB in the game.
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ah…uh…look man, I like Cojones, but ah…well, I have seen Ramsey, and, well I hope Cojo is having fun wherever he might be. 🙂
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Any other QB. Can’t be much worse.
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Oh Res, I would beg to differ on that there thing, there.
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He posted yesterday.
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As long as Malcolm is playing his heart out
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There’s a level between give the coach a lifetime contract and fire the coach that many in the fan base fail to realize exists. It’s where most programs are at most times.
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You mean this is college football? Where the term “shit happens” was invented?
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9 wins a year and and the disatisfaction level remains where it is now. Throw in a SEC East title and it remains where it is maybe a little less because the 2 years away syndrome will kick in.
No worries because the savior arrives in January, plenty of time for him to learn the system we go 9-3 his first year with an inexperienced 0 line then the cries wait til next year when our defensive Freshmen will be Juniors and our 0 line will have a year together blah blah blah….Groundhog day
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The Realists just need to work THAT much harder, amirite?!
But seriously……the Realists are passionate about firing CMR, so there’s only so much logic and reason can accomplish. Somehow, Someway the two sides of CMR need to figure out how to coexist.
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Its called apathy
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I especially agree with the ‘college football corner of the Internet is a hothouse’ idea, and add the corollary that the Internet blog corner of college football fans are the most vocal and opinionated. There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds if thousands, of loyal Dawgs out there who don’t carry our strong opinions. They just enjoy the Dawgs, like I wish I could.
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“enjoy the Dawgs, like I wish I could” Amen, I have spent a good bit of time recently thinking about how one transfers from where I am now, to where I can dial it back in importance. Between the lunatic fringe, internet groups on every Dawg site, and the disappointment of seeing none of our questions answered positively this season, this has not been as much fun as the past.
I have watched so many programs go through the up and down roller coaster rides that I do understand it is a part of the CFB game so I do have some perspective that helps but dealing with it is more difficult as a grumpy old man. There are more important issues in life than fighting the inevitable slumps that come with the variable performances of 20 year old athletes and letting them effect my attitude. It will be hard, but I am going to dial it back for my own good, and those around me. I spend way too much time on it and my effort and good wishes does not change anything at all.
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^ I can identify with your comments, Mac. I just wonder how useful it would be to utter on my deathbed the words, “Dammit to hell, we should have won another national championship.” Not that I’m wishing for the deathbed and no longer wishing for another national championship, but there is an element of perspective that comes with the accumulation of many football seasons.
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Mac, good perspective. I’m trying not to allow 85 18-23 year olds either ruin or elevate my weekend. It’s hard to do but I’m trying. I compare now to the late 80s and 90s, and there’s no comparison.
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Are we the Cubs of CFB? Great fan support despite occasional close calls and otherwise under-achievement. Glad it’s just been 35 years.
Growing up a rabid Braves fan, one of the great stories in baseball was how long suffering Boston and the Cubs were. For some reason, The White Sox were usually not given the same consideration. I actually root against the Cubs so that Baseball keeps that story….because what is baseball without the history, stories, and stats? A slow plodding game that is fun to watch in the stands but horrible on TV.
If the Cubbies actually win one this year or next, who’s next up for long-suffering fan base story? Probably the Knicks, and I’m fine with that. But in CFB, the meme that it’s UGA is slowly gaining steam.
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I have tickets to the Kentucky game and will be there cheering on the Dawgs. I am also in favor of shit-canning Richt. These are not mutually exclusive.
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Agreed
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Agreed. Looking at the attendance and extrapolating support for Richt is about as reliable as a blog poll. If I weren’t 3,000 miles away, I’d still be at the games, even though I desperately want Richt to go away. But the Senator is clearly feeling pretty good about that 9-6 thrashing last night and I guess it’s the sunshine pumpers’ turn to say “I told you so,” even if we looked like fresh ass.
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To paraphrase a great philosopher, “Nobody goes to the games anymore, because it’s just too crowded and loud.”
We are due a miracle in JAX. That is what it will take.
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Less so than the rabbit they pulled out of their butts last year. We clearly need to play better than we have been but rivalry games sometimes bring those kind of surprises. That game last year will be fed down their throats for two weeks, and Pruitt would love some revenge. Many of these players had to live with that, it may have cost them an SEC ring. Gators struggled with Mizzou, Kentucky and TN, it isn’t like they are a national title contender. If our defense plays with the passion they did last night, we are in it. The work priority for us between now and then is finding what is out of sync with our offense.
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I could practically hear the eyerolls of the “realists” last night when Richt said in the postgame interview that a player’s worth is judged not by his performance but his value as a human being.
“This is football, not a campfire singalong, Richt!” [grumblesnortfart]
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I have to own up to rolling my eyes. Whether or not I’m one the “realist” untouchables in the GTP society is up to those who cast people in such rolls. Doesn’t matter to me.
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It worked. Kid made the kick. That should be the end of the story.
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He’d make a great youth pastor.
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team chaplain?
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And apparently a pretty good SEC football coach.
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No, he’s not.
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Not even “pretty good?” How about mostly good, somewhat good, better than average, above par or not bad?
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Mediocre would about sum it up
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1) what’s the difference, iyo, between mediocre and pretty good?
2) how did you arrive at that because it can’t be from SEC records which are better than mediocre?
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How about pretty mediocre
Happy now?
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Yeah I’m pretty happy. Thanks for asking? And you?
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Always happy after a win. Even ugly ones.
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Mark Richt…World Class human being…great recruiter…pretty average coach…completely unable to hold anyone accountable for failure, coaches, players, or himself. Thus the same problems over and over. That’s my opinion on him, he makes $4 million a year to recruit and create good young men. There are worse things in life than that, but if your looking for an absolute competitor and titles of any kind, you have the wrong man at the helm. It is what it is, and I frankly don’t care at this point. I hope Georgia wins every game, know in my heart that they won’t, and don’t let it bother me in the meantime. CMR is never going anywhere unless he chooses to, so there is no sense in getting my blood pressure up about the inevitable faceplants. My two cents, which are probably worth less than that.
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MDWM.
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I would say he’s average
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He already is a great youth minister and a great chaplain, and one of the 5 winningest coaches in college football today. Think Senators post is right on. Think those “wishing” for coach to be gone is probably gon be wishing for many years to come. Believe he will break VD win record before deciding to hang it up, and he will do it in a professional manner, no quit in this man.
And yes the stadium was packed with some very passionate Dawg fans last night, while others were sitting with their keyboards wishing and whining.
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Two “I told you so, idiots” posts from the Senator this morning. I’m not sure what to take away from that but I sure don’t feel as saucy as he does after watching that game last night. I find myself in an area of the fan base that hasn’t really been defined in terms of how big it is. Im still watching the games and hoping for wins. But I watch without much confidence. Im not calling for Richt’s firing. But I don’t have a lot of faith in things ever getting beyond the nine or ten wins stage as long as he is coach. I hope the same old problems don’t continue to plague us but I feel pretty confident they will. I personally feel like most of the fan base is willing to keep waiting for Richt to put it all together. I guess I’m willing to do that too but the difference is, most of the fan base seems to still believe he will or can do it. I don’t. Again, I’m not talking about a NC although that would be nice. What I’m talking about is getting beyond the way we always seem to have a pretty glaring weakness at some position or position group every year. Getting beyond the lack of mental toughness which leads what we saw against Tennessee and causes us to lose games we should win. Getting beyond shooting ourselves in both feet and having such a great aim. Mostly Wold just like to see us get to a point where every week we show up and play hard and look prepared without obvious areas on the roster where we clearly don’t have the right guy or guys. But I don’t believe that will ever happen under Richt. After our third meltdown in Knoxville (with the 2015 installment it’s a trilogy now) Richt has lost me. I hope he shows me I’m wrong. I’ve got serious doubts. And please spare me all the reasons you think Richt is the greatest and will still be at UGA forty years from now and we can’t find anyone as good as him. thats fine if that’s what you think but no amount of typing is going to convince me at this point. The only thing that will is seeing it happen. I hope he does it but at this point I’m pretty sure I know what I can expect from him.
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I don’t feel saucy at all.
Indeed, my Lambert post is all about what a mistake it was to feel saucy about the QB situation.
And I’m not calling anyone an idiot, Mike. I’m just saying people on both sides of the argument about Richt and the team have been guilty of jumping to conclusions. Maybe everyone needs to be a little less hasty, you know?
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I’m not sure how anybody could be accused of being too hasty at this stage in regards to their opinion about Richt. Frankly I can’t even believe you’d say that.
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So you think Richt’s one step away from being shown the door? Or that it was silly to have misgivings about Lambert being named the starter?
I guess you don’t believe me when I keep describing the season as a disappointment, eh?
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I must have missed something because all the comments I’ve read here from people who think like I do have no illusions about him being fired anytime soon. At best, if we were to have a horrible year then maybe, maybe at the end of the year. But how is it jumping to conclusions to say Richt is losing support among the fan base? I don’t get the pulse of the fan base exclusively from this blog. I do know quite a few UGA people personally, you know. And I know even the most devout Richt supporters among them have grown tired of him. So I’m not sure why your observation about the number in attendance last night says more than my anecdote.
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I’m not claiming Richt hasn’t lost any support. I’m saying those who say he’s this close to being run out of town are doing so more as a matter of projection than actual knowledge.
With your extensive experience on this, you are obviously an exception to that. You can assume that any future GTP post you deem to be supportive of Richt has nothing at all to do with you.
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Lol, I’m not claiming extensive experience in anything, I’m just saying I haven’t seen the posts that he’s “this close” to being run out of town, that’s all. Seems like even the most fervently anti-Richt people are skeptic that he’ll get canned anytime soon. Like I said, I must have missed it.
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Then you’re right. You have.
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Here’s an example of the attitude I’m referring to that’s less than a couple hours old.
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Ok , so it’s out there somewhere. I concede. But isn’t that the guy from the dawgvent? I think most of your commenter ers here are more reasonable than the average dawgventer, you might disagree though. ..
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It’s all over the place. Some here, some at message boards. I’ve seen it with some of the Q&As the beat writers host.
I’m not tarring everyone with the same brush, and I’m definitely not accusing people who are tired of Richt being the head coach of reaching a hasty decision in that regard.
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Must of missed the “canned real soon or run out of town” comments.
Think Richt is here as long as wants to be here. After all it is all about the money at BM.
As far as the “I told you so”, that should at least wait until the next SEC title is securely in hand not after a 9-6 win.
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It has occurred to me that Morehead’s effort to fill in the “blanks” with whatever Richt’s and the staff’s little hearts desire is the equivalent of administrative leverage, i.e., there can be no blame placed anywhere but on the coaching, now. This would enable the president to be able to see where the problem really lay, and who exactly to get rid of–coach or AD.
If this is in fact the strategy (I’ve seen it done before at other universities), Richt is perhaps one more season like this away from hanging himself, if precedent holds form.
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My use of the words “saucy” and “idiots” were just a joke. I wasn’t GAYA at all. It just translated poorly over the wire.
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MC, this indicates that you, at least, are in touch with the inner feelings of at least a small sample of the fanbase–because your comments about Richt pretty much = my own thoughts. At least re: winning an SEC championship, he’s lost me, too. And the primary reason isn’t that we lose several games a season. It’s that the same stuff just keeps happening. Surely it’s not unreasonable to expect to see clearly identifiable problems solved. But, at best, recurring tendencies are only temporarily curbed. I don’t put this year’s poor QB play in that category–I feel pretty confident Eason will be another great Richt era QB. And equally confident that we’ll all end up feeling he deserved something better than dates to the Outback or Belk Bowl.
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“After our third meltdown in Knoxville (with the 2015 installment it’s a trilogy now) Richt has lost me”
So even thought CMR is 10-5 against UT, you are disappointed b/c three of those losses stink. Last time I checked, UT played SEC ball too.
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FWIW, I didn’t have tix and din’t plan to attend but I took my 8 year old to campus to walk around leading up to the game and enjoy the atmosphere.
On the bridge 20 mins prior to kickoff, some guy offered me two tix fo free.
I’m sure it has happened, but the last time I was offered free tickets by strangers on the bridge was 2000 the week after Quincy’s 5 int’s at USCe (New Mexico game?).
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The scalpers took a bath on this one. One said he couldn’t even give them away. I saw many offers of free tickets. In my section, anyone not sitting on their hands around me was critical of everything that happened in the game. They were dumb as shit and their asinine comments were obnoxiously loud, but they were echoing a familiar refrain that you hear here and there. I don’t know that attendance is an accurate measure of fan’s support of Richt, but it is an accurate measure of BM’s support of Richt. As long as tickets sell and the stadium is not embarrassingly empty, Richt has the full support of the shot callers.
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Recruiting appears to be going well. Roster management & talent levels
have been a problem that is possibly being taken care os. I believe Richt
\does a good job with what he has, But his teams have not had the
talent that a lot of fans have given him credit for. Still I Am A Fan.
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We scored 9 points and won. Watch out SEC
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LSU did that a few years ago and wound up winning the SEC and playing for a natty.
I can’t say I’m looking forward to losing the rematch to Mizzou in the national title game, though.
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I’ve watched and listened to the dawgs as a student, parent and fan. The continued under achieving and average ability of this coach is becoming more obvious to people with each season and game. One can not say the Internet had anything to do with only 2 SEC Championships in 14 years and not winning a historically weak East division the last several years. Maybe, CMR was surfing the web too much when we under signed for 2 years.
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Close to full capacity? It was home coming.
Next you can be pessimistic about the program but still support the kids. I have had more than one offer for WLOCP tickets at face value, and thought about going.
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I’ve been to plenty of HC games with smaller crowds. Some of ’em didn’t start at 7:30 PM, either.
BTW, if you decide to go to Jax, feel free to come by my tailgate. Win, lose or draw, it’s always one of the most enjoyable days of the CFB season.
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Even the student section was close to full at game time. That had nothing to do with Homecoming. I wish our administration would figure out that we have a decided home field advantage for night games as opposed to the snoozer noon slot that apparently GM thinks everyone wants. I know TV dictates starting times, but LSU has certainly managed to get more than their share of late starts even with crappy opponents.
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