Maybe it’s just a coincidence.
I have to admit there are times when I wonder if Mark Richt would still be coaching in Athens if Bobo hadn’t left for Colorado State. Not that it matters at this point…
Maybe it’s just a coincidence.
From '11-'14 under @CoachBobo_CSU, #UGA offense averaged 2.54 points per offensive poss. From 2015-present, this number has dropped 41%.
— SportSource Analytics (@SportSourceA) September 29, 2016
I have to admit there are times when I wonder if Mark Richt would still be coaching in Athens if Bobo hadn’t left for Colorado State. Not that it matters at this point…
“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
I’ve wondered the same thing. I think the structural deficiencies we’re seeing now would still be present, but Bobo seemed to be adept at masking them. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure it is. Had Mike stayed, we’d likely have had more success last year, and maybe Ramsey would have made more progress. But I’m content to see the new staff focus on beefing up the LOS. Under Richt we rarely fielded “road-graders.”
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Ben Jones would like to disagree.
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Maybe you missed truck’s use of “rarely” in his last sentence.
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I think Bobo was leaving regardless and taking Friend with him. Richt’s big f up was Schotty.
It would have been a boring hire, but Lilly should’ve gotten the OC job and he and Richt should have found the OL coach they wanted instead of letting Pruitt have so much input.
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Yeah, I always wondered why he didn’t get it.
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Richt’s biggest failure was in balanced recruiting. If he’d had the same caliber lines as he had at skill positions, Georgia would have won a couple of nattys. A great offensive line with journeyman running backs is superior on a more consistent basis than a weak offensive line with great running backs. That what Georgia has now. This is why some say the cupboard was thinly stocked. It will always be a mystery to me…why a coach with everything else going for him would neglect recruiting offensive linemen. I suppose most everyone has an Achilles’ Heel.
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I don’t think he consciously ignored OL recruiting. After that 01 and 02 line (which in retrospect was freaking awesome), he just didn’t have enough OL drafted in the following years. That made it a tough sell. Plus, he initially outsourced a lot of that to Callaway and then Searles, neither of whom was a great recruiter. It just kinda snowballed.
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The ’01 and ’02 OLs were holdovers from Donnan. CMR’s greatest success came with Donnan’s players.
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Richt needed Calvin Johnson and we would have rolled everybody early on.
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The mess up was Schott and then Richt not taking control of the offense like he has in Miami.
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Good Poin
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Although “let the DC pick the OLine coach” does sum up the emphasis on the Oline (or lack thereof) under Richt, doesn’t it?
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Yeah, who knows. Everything associated with the program from the night of the 2012 SEC championship game up until Kirby was hired seems to have been highly toxic.
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Things didn’t get toxic until Keith Marshall blew out his knee on that cow pasture combined with an unnecessary, targeted shot in Knoxville in 2013. The following weeks’ losses to Missouri and Vandy started the decline that ended in Jacksonville last year.
Doesn’t everyone remember the 2013 offense was on a pace to blow the doors off the Georgia record books?
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No doubt about that offense. It was absolutely relentless.
That defense however was epically bad.
Ultimately I agree that season was the turning point, and if you’re arguing that the Marshall injury was the turning point of that season, I don’t suppose I disagree.
Though I can’t remember: leading up to signing day, wasn’t Grantham playing footsie with an NFL team? It just seemed like Grantham and Pruitt were both darker cups of coffee than the program was used to and they both contributed to the toxic culture.
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That defense was epically bad because that defense was pretty young and raw.
Grantham played footsie with someone every year. I hope Clemson beats the hell out of Petrino and Grantham tonight.
Everyone who thinks Jeremy Pruitt is going to become a head coach is crazy. The guy doesn’t have the people skills for the job. The rumors flying around last year will come up in every interview the guy does.
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Good, then maybe one day the whole story will come out. I’d love to know.
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I remember there was one of the Richt/Bobo years where we had the biggest O line in the country. When the lineman were just ok, Bobo made it work with zone blocking, mixed play calling, and making sure he had a good running back. Even with Mason and a mixed bag at receiver, we put up points. One thing for sure, with Richt/Bobo, offense was not a problem.
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Boise State in the dome. I think that was the year.
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They were on the SI cover in September of 2008 I believe. Could have been 2007 or 09, somewhere in there. The tag line was that they outweighed most NFL rosters.
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That was 2011.
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I’d like to have Bobo coaching Eason regardless of who is calling the plays.
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^^^^ this
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Yeah so he would throw a ton of picks like Stafford and Murray.
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Forget comparing things to Bobo’s offense, the only comparison for UGA’s offense thus far in 2016 is Shotty. I don’t put it all on the OL talent either, the change to man blocking, use of personnel, lack if diversity in sets and play calling, are all factors. We may not be able to be as prolific as 2010-2014 but we don’t have to be as constipated as we look so far. Hope we see a step forward tomorrow, TN isn’t great but their defensive front is the strongest part of their team.
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Bobo took his box of crayola’s with him and we haven’t been able to find a new one.
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There were times that Bobo’s play calling was absolutely infuriating. He would go conservative in the second half sitting on a lead. At times he appeared to try and outsmart the opposing defensive coordinator and get too cute. There were times he simply had no answer. The “crayon” meme is a thing for a reason.
Gosh, I miss that guy…
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UGA moved on…you should too.
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Which part of “Not that it matters at this point…” didn’t you get?
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How dare you ponder on hypothetical scenarios in the world of sports. That is simply unheard of in the realm of sports commentary.
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More like – how dare somebody discuss the current state of a program while acknowledging a major driving figure in its current configuration actually existed.
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We won so much over the last 10 years…damn shame to not have it for 10 more. Groundhog Day for middle of the road BOWLS.
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At this point I think we all would be happy with 8-9 wins and a middle of the road bowl. At this rate the absolute shit sandwich that is our team this year will be lucky to win 6. But all hail Kirby! At least we aren’t “settling for mediocrity” now….we are aspiring to it.
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I said yesterday, even if we win the East this year, we have no idea how this plays out in 3-4 years. Enjoy the ride.
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I have an idea and it is really ugly.
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Consider the Senator riled.
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More like amusingly puzzled.
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We need a win Saturday….would cure a lot of ills.
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Just think if we had Bobo ad Pruitt together.
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The arguments would be epic.
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and that’s just on the subject of balding!
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If Kirby does not make it And I believe that He will. Bobo
would be at the top of my list to replace him.. Still I
think Kirby Is the right Coach for the job. Time will tell.
Meanwhile both Richt & Bobo seem to be doing a good job.
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Bobo needs to do more at Colorado State than he has thus far before I’d have him at the top of any lists.
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^^^^ this
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I think the more interesting story is how Bobo saved Richt’s job the first time. After the 6-7 2010 season, Bobo went out to Palo Alto for a few days to talk shop with Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw. Without that trip and the corresponding diversity and improvement in the running game, I think Richt would have been out after the 2011 season.
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And it was by the second half of 2011 that Bobo got really, really good as a playcaller/OC.
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Folks: Give it time with the new coach. Bobo has made some mistakes at CSU, so has Smart at UGA. As someone who has become “agnostic” about Div 1 football and UGA football(it took 60 plus years to get here), it takes some time. being an observer, not a fan, is a lot easier on your stomach. My alma mater UWA is coming along and Petersen is in his 3rd year. Smart may make it or not, but this year and next are most likely process years. The days of bringing in 100 new recruits and cleaning house(see Majors at Pitt) are over. I do see a lot of transfers and such after this year though. It takes time and, as coaches are very stubborn people, can Smart adjust? Whether it works or not for Smart will be seen. Remember part of the problem with the previous head coach was being stubborn.
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I liked Bobo most of the time, which is good when talking football. Give me Richt, Will Friend, and Pruit and I’m a happy Dawg again. Kirby’s lack of experience is showing through as he tries to play Saban’s style without two deep mailers on o-line. His defensive prowess is being exposed some too without Saban overlooking his shoulder.
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Wonder how many point per possession we had from
07-14
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That such a stupid sentiment. If Bobo had stayed Ramsey would have been the starter. Two straight coaching staffs have determined that he is worse than the kid we got off of UVA’s bench.
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I don’t normally resort to sweeping generalizations, but anyone who misses Bobo, but wanted Richt gone is clueless about the sport of football. The mediocrity of Bobo’s tenure at OC is what out Georgia in the rut of average football that eventually got Richt fired. How is that not obvious. I feel like I’m personally getting trolled by the blog itself.
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Put*
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Heh. Trust me, I’m not that subtle. 😉
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