The offense may be a black hole, but the defense is doing its level best to compensate for that.
2015 UGA Defensive Stats Through 11 games
Total team points given up- 196 (Ranks 13th in the NCAA)
Defensive points given up- 168 (Would rank UGA 8th in the NCAA)
Total Defense- 4.7 yards per play (9th in the NCAA)
Passing Defense-151.9 yards per game (2nd in the NCAA)
Red Zone Defense- 65% (3rd in the NCAA)
3rd Down Conversion- 30.7% (11th in the NCAA)
First Downs Allowed- 156 (3rd in NCAA)
Rushing Defense- 148.1 yards per game(46th in the NCAA)
All that while breaking in youngsters at every level of the defense, starting a transfer at ILB, not to mention having to carry a heavier load as the season wears on as a result of the offense being retooled in a more conservative fashion.
Pretty decent showing, if you ask me.
Get The Picture 
The defense has been good to great since the Tennessee game. There are still the occasional frustrating plays where they blow contain on the edge and give up a big run, and they’ve benefited from not playing any passing teams (does Kentucky count as a passing team?). Still, they’re good.
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Really damn good. I’d love to see this defense with competent special teams and a productive offense. We’d be pretty nasty.
Even against UF and Bama the defense held its own until the entire team collapsed under the failures on O/ST.
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If we had Pruitt or someone with his level of skill we could have won the MNC in any or all of 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012.
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I mostly agree, but with the note that for 2012 to happen, we’d have needed Pruitt in place for a few years, otherwise that whole “no depth, playing only 2 350 lb NGs snap after snap vs. Bama’s line” thing would have happened again.
The coaching decisions that hurt in the 2012 SECCG didn’t happen in the game itself, but the self-imposed, needless scholarship reduction years prior to it, that led to no depth.
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I’ve got a close family friend who was a high school DC and HC for many years. He won the state championship in a couple of different places, he unequivocally blames Grantham’s in game refusal to adjust for Bama running it down our throats in the second half. I can’t duplicate his x’s and o’s speech but basically he says that we were being repeatedly outnumbered at the point of attack because Alabama caught on to the fact that we were going to keep doing what we were doing regardless and that as a result we were asking the impossible of Jarvis and the other linebackers, but nonetheless we were almost good enough to do it anyway. He likes Pruitt and to add to his credibility he originally was very upset when Van Gorder left and said it was a huge loss then even though many poo poo’d its importance at the time.
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These stats are a good indicator of the future offseason. Pruitt leaves and Schotty gets a raise and extension
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Sad day when he leaves
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BTW..he came to UGA because of CMR..how about some credit there? You rant about CMR and his bad hire (Schott) so how about saying somethng positive here..if you’ve got it in you, Chili?
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I give Richt credit for everything. Literally. The good and the bad. It’s you and your ilk that want to credit him with the good stuff and blame everything that’s gone wrong on someone else.
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^^^^This right here.
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With a post script that I’m not advocating CMR’s firing or his retention. Merely that as the head coach, it’s all on him. And that, as you rightly state, a lot of folks only want to lay the good stuff on him.
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I’d venture to bet that the negative comments on this blog far outweigh the positive ones…Chilidawg by himself probably has more negative comments than any ten of us (and I’m in the middle..I think CMR is a good coach, certainly not a great coach nor a poor one).
Could we get a better coach on the first hire? Yes we could.
Would we get a better coach on the first hire? Most likely not.
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There is a lot more negative to talk about Richt right now than positive, and it’s been that way going on six years.
The chances that we get a better coach on the first try are better than the chances of Richt ever getting us back to Atlanta. There is zero doubt , we ARE going to wander in the wilderness. That’s happening now. We’re just in denial about it.
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Me and my ilk? Didn’t know I had an ilk. Is that a good thing? I need to know so I can be thankful for my ilk on Thanksgiving this week.
chili, I have a challenge for you. Find where I have ever blamed everything that goes wrong on someone else. Now my wife does that and the “someone else” is usually me.
You can’t just say stuff (well, you CAN and do, but you know..if you want to be taken seriously) without it being at least kind of true. I’ve blamed CMR for a lot of stuff..but I’ve given him credit when it’s due. More often than not, over the years, credit has been due.
I don’t think we blame every good thing or every bad thing on any one. It gets spread around…I don’t blame CMR for a fumble and I don’t blame the team when he goes conservative and takes away opportunity. It’s a football game. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you win. Life, ya know?
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Sorry dude, but I don’t agree. In the past decade Richt deserves more criticism than credit. He was outstanding from 2001-2005, but has since underachieved and settled into a comfortable cycle of failing goals. That “aw shucks, it’s life, sometimes you lose” attitude is the same one that’s keeping Richt from being a successful football coach in this league. He just doesn’t want it enough. Football isn’t and will never be his #1 priority, and that’s fine, but it’s not what UGA needs. Just my opinion.
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But is he a chef? That’s the real question here.
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Pruitt’s not going anywhere. Schotty is toast after this season. And we’ll pick up Cam Cameron as OC. (laughs)
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Are you sure about that?
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Richt wanted to keep Grantham after the worst defensive points per game average since 1990. He got lucky when Grantham quit and made a good choice with Pruitt. Hopefully he has learned from that experience and will get a new OC. My guess is the worst case of Pruitt quits along with the entire defensive staff, Richt and offensive staff stay, and Greg Macgarity gets a lifetime contract with a huge buyout.
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Another clueless post about the CTG situation and supposition about what Richt said/meant/felt. Truthfully, none of us know exactly how that transpired but to state what you did as fact is a deliberate attempt to slant the discussion and negative value.
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What is not clueless is that CMR made a public statement of affirmation about CTG’s status after the 2013. He said he felt there would be no staff changes in the off-season in direct response to questions about CTG. Now, if you, like me, feel CMR is an honest man, then we don’t have to guess. We know what he said/meant/felt. He wanted CTG to stay. End of story.
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Or, his boss told him that he wasn’t going to pay to fire a guy that had only been here a couple of years. We just don’t know.
I took Richt’s words as typical “all’s well” speech, which you’ll hear from pretty much every leader until a change is made. What else was he going to say?
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Exactly. The tension between CMR and CTG seemed obvious to me long before the end of that season. If you aren’t able to make the change, what purpose would it serve to trash the guy who will led the defensive recruits the next season? Some of these folks just ignore the obvious need to not throw current employees under the bus publicly.
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By stating “everyone should be back”? I don’t have any knowledge to dispute the veracity of that statement – or the man – but it’s really difficult to interpret in absolutes what he said/meant/felt by that singular statement. I do indeed think he is honest with the media but it is possible he didn’t care to share the whole truth at that juncture – things could be going on behind the scenes that needed to play out, it’s during a key recruiting time period so concern with how recruits could interpret comments, etc. Kind of the didn’t lie but didn’t tell the whole truth thing. And he did pull off the Pruitt coup in relatively short order which could suggest he wasn’t totally caught off guard by Grantham’s move to UofL.
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If you can show me that CMR pulled off the Pruitt coup, then you would be the first. I don’t know how Pruitt was brought to Georgia right after Richt’s public affirmation of Grantham, but I have never been shown that Richt was the primary instigator.
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Pruitt said he applied because he knew what a great coach Richt was and wanted to be the part of something big at an SEC school going forward. It sounded as if Pruitt picked up the phone and said, “I’m available!”. Anyway you want to screw that, he has backed Richt in everything I’ve read and Pruitt got into it with B-M because he knew that not having the IPF that had been promised for years was hurting recruiting. End of story.
Now rumors swirl about both Richt and Pruitt not getting along and I’ll bet some word twisting has gone on compliments of B-M who see that they may get two birds with one overdue IPF. Other than rumor that B-M is mixed up in a falderal with the two, I haven’t seen one vetted or validated statement about the two that is written in AJC innuendo language.
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I know there were a lot of rumors that Pruitt had burned his bridges with Richt and McGarity, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Richt could rebuild those before the year’s up. And Richt should try. Pruitt’s the best thing UGA has going for it. I know Pruitt has had bad games over the last two years, but the direction of progress seems undeniable.
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I think the rumors of Richt and Pruitt are exactly that … rumors promulgated by people who want the old order restored. I don’t have or claim to have inside information.
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Unfortunately, they’re not, at least some of them aren’t. The question is whether the situation can be salvaged.
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Then Richt as a leader and Pruitt as his best assistant need to bury the hatchet and get this program where it needs to go. Pruitt has done a damn good job this year, and Richt needs to set aside his ego if the problems can be fixed. He did enough to give the team a chance in Knoxville and his guys were absolutely worn down in Jax. His guys held one team to a field goal when a turnover put them there on the 1. If this team had the offense of the last 3 years with this schedule, it would be a playoff contender. All of this team’s problems are there plus a couple of big errors from the special teams.
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If this team had the offense of the last 3 years we’d get the privilege of being curb stomped by Alabama twice.
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I would take our healthy ’12 or ’13 offenses and take our chances with Alabama ’15.
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Yeah, I’m pretty sure the 2012 Bama team is a little better than this Bama team, and we know how that UGA-Bama game ended.
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It’s not about Richt’s ego.
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Senator, “Not being able to work with Mark Richt” is not a bright spot on a resume. I’d be willing to bet Pruitt has begged for forgiveness and Richt has seen enough football to know what’s working and not working for his team.
It’s in BOTH their best interest to work it out and win together. If Pruitt can’t work with Richt, no AD in the country is going to touch him for a HC job for a long, long time. And if Richt can’t keep a solid DC around and turn-around this program on the other side of the ball, then he’s a short-timer as our head coach. They’re both smart enough to know that.
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I don’t argue with that. But it’s a complicated situation, from all I’ve heard.
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Do tell. Of course everything you say here will stay here.
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Of course. 😉
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I pinky promise. In all seriousness I have heard it is a complicated situation as well. The person I trust does think that cooler heads may prevail in the end. He seemed to get the impression that both men realize that they need one another and really could benefit from learning from one another.
My hope is UGA wins out GT & bowl game, keep what could be an amazing class together and set UGA up for a run no matter who the coach is.
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Pruitt is a grade A “dick” as a co-worker which can be forgiven b/c he produces. However, he crossed the Rubicon by showing his ass and being insulting to CMR. The relationship is over and I would expect him to leave quickly for another job after Tech.
In divorce filings, it would be called “irreconcilable differences”
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If this is truly the case they are both doomed, I hope you are wrong because one can’t survive without the other.
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What have you heard? Can’t you drop enough info to take the pressure off anyone where it may now be unfairly applied?
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sUGArdawg’s right about the win-win nature of rapprochement. But still, there’s the (rumored) rift with McGarity, et al, to contend with. That’s why I think one of Richt’s most important moves has to be healing that rift. And Richt strikes me as just the kind of person who could pull it off.
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Pruitt worked just fine with Jimbo and Saban. Further with a dozen FBS HC jobs open at the moment with more to come as HC move from one place to another, who is to say Pruitt does not get a nice offer as a HC or DC at another big program? He will be popping in conversation for some job this silly season. Given the rumors I find it hard to believe Pruitt will not listen. I will be surprised if Jimbo does not leave especially without a new bigger contract.
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*Pruitt does not leave
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He worked so fine with Jimbo that he lasted one year and didn’t stay after winning the national championship and a heisman winning QB returning…really? There were enough rumors coming out of Tallahassee when he came that there could be ‘issues.’ This is a talented coach that needs Mark Richt. And Mark Richt needs a talented coach. Let’s hope they figure it out.
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I believe Pruitt confronted Richt about not holding the offense (Shotty) accountable for their failures and the total chaos on that side of the ball. I also believe many people will see that as a positive for Pruitt. Richt has spit the bit at times in the past when changes were needed. Maybe that was the kick in pants needed to get Richt more involved. My personal hope is that Pruitt stays and Richt does the right thing (gets another OC after the season ends). Granted, I’m not a football expert, but I just haven’t seen any signs of Shotty being able to get it done.
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Not a bright spot on the resume? This is college football Sugar. You produce, you stay employed. Look to grade a dick #1 Petrino, who has lit his way forward in his career by the bridges he’s burned. Pruitt will be just fine.
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I don’t care who’s feelings he hurt Pruitt needs to be retained at all costs.
This has been the most Richt season ever. We finally have a defense and it gets absolutely torpedoed because our previously explosive offense completely regresses thanks to another bad coordinator hire.
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I’m not sure it is so much the OC as the absence of a Crowell, Gurley, Chubb in the backfield. UGA has thrived with great RB play and struggled when the RBs didn’t get yards. 06-08 went up and down more less with Moreno.
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Sony is on pace for 1,000+. If you want to point the finger, it’s the guy taking snaps and the men blocking (and also some head-scratching play calls from the sideline).
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And the doofus with the main headset
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Somebody get McGarity out of the way, please.
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I second that!!
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Let him fire/hire as he sees fit.
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McGarity? He isn’t going to do anything without consulting his little blue and orange notebook he brought with him from Gainesville.
If he gets his fee-fees hurt because Richt sends the DC out in public to carry water for what the program needs, then he’s not up to the task.
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Those are great comparisons with the rest of CFB. Kudos Pruitt!
My big fear was about the D secondary, but they have looked bad only in two games. When it came to putting the pedal to the metal and stopping both the rush and the pass – that’s been accomplished. It’s been done with a lot of Freshmen who looked the part earlier in the season and explained a few things to us about what was happening. Now that the O has gone south, they have picked up the slack and D-only accounted for a couple of wins.
The last game looked great and I’m sure Paul is gazin’ at film to change plays so that our newest heros on D don’t look as good as last game, but their message is still there that he can’t stop them.
I’m a happy camper about D and Pruitt has banished my fear(s). I will give him plenty of slack on mistakes because he didn’t whimper about the Freshmen when they made gross errors earlier in their training. Take a look at the positions that Seniors are leaving on D and that’s our weak link for next year. Many of the players are familiar with his signal calling now and have a better head for reading offenses. I expect them to get better for those reasons and am looking forward to the summer crop learning early.
I believe that Pruitt still has something to prove at UGA and will be here for the next two years at least. He and Richt can get us nearer to where some think we should already be quicker than anyone else in their business.
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What Cojones said in that last paragraph! Let it be.
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Some good thoughts Cojo, but you are right about your concerns about our vulnerability to a good passing attack. The stats are misleading due to how bad the passing attacks are that we faced. We have a long way to go in that are. Pruitt’s staff has done a fine job with improving the run defense this year but his work with the secondary and applying pressure on the QB is far from a finished product. I would like to see him back next year for continuity’s sake but he is replaceable, and especially so if the rift among the staff is more his responsibility.
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That is amazing. In the face of objective data, you find a way to nit pick and complain about CJP. You want to look at those stats again? And “replaceable” is how you describe him. He is the only coach with a competent unit on the field this year. He is the least replaceable coach on our staff, based on performance. Heaven forbid, a man like CJP ruffles feathers and causes a rift. Gasp! We may have to actually change how we do things!
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There is nothing “nit picky” about vulnerability to the pass in CFB, and that is my opinion and could care less how a guy like you feels about it. Your comments already show me enough about what you know regarding football, and organizational skills in regards to personnel so I could care less how you see this. Take your opinion and sell it to those who are also struggling with this area, you are actually in the majority for a change.
And note, I said it would be better if he stayed assuming he can get along, but in now way is “irreplaceable” as some would have people believe. He may be in the top 20, but that could be stretching it, don’t care to take the time to go over the whole list.
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I wonder if there will be a dropoff next year losing Jenkins and Floyd, the 2 biggest playmakers. And Ganus, the leading tackler (I think)
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Were you worried about the LBs with Herrera and Wilson graduating? Don’t worry about Pruitt. He’ll have the D ready.
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I do think the UGA schedule lends itself to producing positive defensive stats considering UGA has played just three good teams in 2015 – Bama, Florida, and Tennessee – all losses where the defense was nothing to brag about. On the other hand, the offense and special teams have put the defense in tough spots much of the year, so it’s good to see that side of the ball look fairly good despite adversity around the team.
I don’t know how the defense will be next year as we replace much of the LB and DL core, but if it remains about the same, it’ll be good enough to win with assuming we have a much better offense. (And hey, all we need for a much better offense is for a new offensive line to successfully block for a true freshman QB throwing to at most ONE proven receiver (is Godwin proven??) under what appears to be an ineffective head coach and offensive coordinator). 2016 National Title? Yeah, totally dudes!!!!
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That last bit is pretty funny.
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Sorry, the defense wasn’t at fault in Jacksonville. A special teams blow and an interception returned to the 5 were the difference. The last TD was due to the fact the defense was worn out because the offense was awful.
The defense pretty much gave us the lead in Knoxville. Once again, the offense didn’t consistently give the defense a breather and they were exhausted in the 4th quarter.
The only game where the defense could have been at fault was the Bama game. Even then, they forced a turnover on the first possession, and the offense didn’t move it. They stopped the Tide on multiple 3rd and shorts. Once again, they were exhausted because they got left on the field the entire game.
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I understand that our offense has been the bigger problem, but did you see what the Vandy defense and Florida Atlantic defense did to the UF offense? Totally neutered them. And those teams weren’t getting any help from their offenses either.
I see the stats, but the SEC East is an offensive wasteland this year, and our non-conf schedule is nothing but patsies thus far.
I give the defense a B- for the year at best.
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Agree that the Def has been great since the Tennesee game. Have we played a team with an offense in the Top 50 since then? Offensive ranks for the teams on our schedule have to be abysmal. Just looked at NCAA total offense stats. We haven’t played a team in the top 50 all year. Not even Tennesee which I was little surprised about.
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Based on S&P+, which I prefer to raw yardage numbers, Georgia’s only faced a handful of offenses all season in the top 50, and Alabama’s is rated highest at 32. It really is an awful offensive year in the SEC.
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Until CJP states he’s returning, I’m of the opinion he’ll be elsewhere next year. And although I think it’s great CMR is getting face time with some of our top recruits, I get the feeling it’s because he knows Pruitt won’t be back and wants to retain as many commits as possible.
But with the final game upon us, I suppose we’ll see how the future is going to develop in the next couple few weeks.
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Oops. ‘couple’ or ‘few’ – probably the former.
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Why can’t we have at least a competent offense when our defense is good? Why oh why?
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I hope Coach Richt can teach Coach Pruitt how to deal with adversity with class and how to work with people when expectations are not met. Reading between the lines is hard but it sounds like Coach Pruitt needs to learn how to work on a team. I believe if anyone can do that it is Coach Richt. I am not privacy to any inside info.
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Yeah, Richt should teach Pruitt how to be as complacent a loser as he is. That sounds like a fine plan.
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Chili you would not understand because you have a one track mind with a one set solution. All is not black and white. Coach Richt is looked up to by his coughing peers for a reason. You need to put your hammer away.
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Coaching not coughing
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looked pretty good lately.
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God I would love for you to be the guy doing my annual review.
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Couple things I’d have to disagree with you on. All 8-3s are not created equally. Nobody we have beaten even has a pulse and we lost to the only 3 teams on our schedule that have had one. I would take Mason over Lambert any day of the week and twice on Sundays. He got benched at UVA for a reason and now we all know why. Schottenheimer has made some good calls that we didn’t execute, and a lot more very poor calls that we didn’t execute. The combination of Schotty and Lambert this year has reverted our Offense light years in the wrong direction and fast. Losing Chubb didn’t help but it can’t all be blamed on that.
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“Nobody we have beaten even has a pulse and we lost to the only 3 teams on our schedule that have had one”
I asked my dudes at the tailgate what would you say was the defensive signature game in 2015? Kent, Mizz, (both 5-6) or Auburn (6-5)?
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I would say Mizz, just because of that goal line stand from first and goal at the one saved our asses
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If Pruitt leaves, it will be because he knows the Georgia football program is never going to do anything but win a bunch of meaningless games. He has a coordinator job at a program with a lot of exposure and is doing a good job. Those two things are great for getting looked at for a head coaching job. If he thought staying would build his resume for the future by being a coordinator on a conference championship team, he would stay. He has probably been here long enough to see that this program is soft and the head coach and the BM crowd are perfectly fine with being “almost good”.
Pruitt wants to move up in the coaching world and he might have seen that he hitched his wagon to the wrong horse. He probably expressed that to Richt and Richt didn’t like being told the truth.
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I peg all 3 losses on Pruitt. We should have beaten TN they ran all over him. Bama did too. UF too.
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Then who gets the credit for our wins? Scotty? Richt? Anyone but Pruitt?
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Well, I can’t imagine where we’d be without Pruitt. But by Christmas you probably won’t have to worry about him. Just the moon-size crater he’ll leave in his wake.
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The only problem here is that he had all of that before he got to Athens.
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