Georgia football: Not gonna phone it in for 2009

Part of me thinks, "Good." And part of me wants to punch 2008 in the face. From David Hale:

It's been a common refrain in Georgia's locker room this offseason, but everyone seems to agree the team is working a lot harder than it did a year ago. Cox said the new focus has been obvious during seven-on-seven drills, when even the young players have stepped up to show their skills.

Not just harder. A lot harder.


Follow me, everyone. Let's go make an effort.

It really was "the perfect option."

Think about that for a minute.

I have a confession to make: This loss to tech doesn't bother me that much.

Oh, I mean, it bothers me. But I knew we didn't have the fortitude to break something like that drought record. That's too much mojo for now.

“I really don’t (expect coaching changes),” Richt said. “We’re going to get better, and we’re going to do a better job next year, I can promise you that.”

Good enough for me. I suggest you address the not tackling first, if I may be so bold.

What's that you say? “I’m not sure we tackled enough,” Richt said. Agreed.

Congratulations to Georgia tech. They deserved it and they beat us.


We interrupt this post for additional recovery through music.

I have heard some say that the crowd was unimpressive. I might say uninspired. At times, given the size of the crowd, the rain, and the noon kickoff, I thought there was good participation.

But perhaps we grew disinterested, too. To me, it felt like the expected simply coming true, despite a very well-played first half. We should be glad Florida wasn't there.

Somebody needs to kick that attitude in the face.

*****
Kid, once I was the very best.

Image: Athens Banner-Herald.

The Munson honoring went very well. There were so many cameras down there I couldn't believe they all could get a shot. Larry seemed much more than pleased. Did we force a tear out of that guy? That'd be something. I was surprised they tried to do a Dooley ceremony at halftime.

How awesome was that Knowshon-is-going-score-no-matter-what touchdown?

How crazy was that Matt-Stafford-is-a-pinball-and-then-he- just-missed-Massaquoi play?

How many tackles did Rennie Curran have? Elleven. He led the team, obviously.

Massaquoi had 11 catches for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Knowshon got 17 carries for 94 yards after an on-fire opening. He caught 4 balls for 74 yards. The team rushed for 81 yards total.


Tech attempted 0 passes in the second half.
Image: Jason Vorhees, The Telegraph.

For those wondering, we pick up Arkansas, at Arkansas, next year from the west. LSU comes to Athens. That opener at Okie State looks like a potential doozy.

There's a bye week before the Florida game and we play Tennessee Tech before the Auburn game, which is at home.

Home games in bold:

Sept. 5, at Oklahoma State
Sept. 12, South Carolina
Sept. 19, at Arkansas
Sept. 26, Arizona State
Oct. 3, LSU
Oct. 10, at Tennessee
Oct. 17, at Vanderbilt
Oct. 31, Florida (at Jacksonville)
Nov. 7, Tennessee Tech
Nov. 14, Auburn
Nov. 21, Kentucky
Nov. 28, at Georgia Tech

I saw on ESPN that Texas overtook Michigan (CORRECTION: I meant Notre Dame) on the all-time wins list on Thursday.

This was the top 10 before the 2008 season started, according to Wikipedia. Our media guide has us 11th on the list with 693 before this season started.

Was I pointing to 2008? I meant 2009.

The 2008 season will eventually be defined by how we react to the roots of this disappointment and what it means for 2009. For starters, I suggest we learn to tackle and develop some awesome defensive ends.

No offense, Demarcus Dobbs. You and the other guys doing your best are the man.

If the tech loss leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, if it affects decisions to go to the NFL, if it recommits everyone to success, it will have served a purpose.

Plus there's no way we lose to tech next year now... right?

The wheel goes round and round. If it comes up winner next year, we’ll look at 2008 as a character builder. If not, it will have been a heart-aching waste of talent.

UPDATE: "Waste" is too strong a word, if only by a little bit.

If'n you don't know by now

2008 season, it just never worked out between us.


We never did too much tacklin' anyway.

End of the show

Dan: This is the whole season.

Joe: I'm willing to sacrifice The Varsity.

Me: The end of the season is not about hating tech. It's about enjoying beating tech.



Weather ;) Report.

Stafford: "Not sure" about next year

This is the first piece I've seen (surely I've missed some) quoting Matt Stafford directly on whether he'll declare for the NFL draft next year. From The Augusta Chronicle:

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but if it is the last time, hopefully I'm going to leave on top. But there could be another year to come. I'm not sure yet."

Picked it up off of Dawgbone.net, which provides an excellent clipping service, among other things.

So far the word on Knowshon is that he's not thinking about it.

If you want them to stay, you might as well go here. It couldn't hurt. You might write a little message to Jeff Owens and Asher Allen while you're at it.

Freaking tech, etc.

It's not the first time it's happened, but it's always disturbing. I'm afraid of Georgia tech's football team. Georgia tech the entity continues to make me laugh and shake my head in disappointment that the word "Georgia" is in their name.

Except for those astronaut guys. They're probably at least a little badass.

Plus my grandfather (by marriage) and about four other tech grads I know. They're alright. I mostly feel sorry for them.
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Check out the chart David Hale's got here. We are so profitable. The next time we make the BCS, I'd love to see the Athletic Association give long-time season ticket holders a little break on donation or ticket prices.
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You gotta figure it won't make much of a difference. But you also don't want Matt or Knowshon to stop by and not see a whole bunch of people signing this thing.

So visit Don't Go Dawgs and leave Stafford and Moreno a message. And I wouldn't mind see Jeff Owens added to that, either.
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Man, look at all these injuries. This season may end up being a testament to our depth, Stacy Searels, Matt Stafford, Knowshon, our inability to tackle and the dangers of relying on freshman kickers and shaky special teams play in general.

"You know we've won the last two games. I don't know if anybody's noticed that"

- Coach Mark Richt tonight, at the Macon Touchdown Club.

You can tell this season has been tough on Coach Richt. He was in Macon tonight and, though he almost seemed his normal dinner-speech-circuit self, you could tell he was tired.

And maybe a little defensive, though he belied it with humor. I think he said "9-2" about a dozen times. He noted that his teams are 30-4 in opponent's stadiums. He talked about how Auburn hasn't given up a touchdown in the 1st quarter all season.

He acknowledged that it's "really been tough" for fans the way we lost to Florida and Alabama. But he seems... I don't know. Like he wants something more from us. Some understanding that we haven't been willing, or able, to give.

Maybe we feel that way, too. We'll work it out like a family, but David Hale did a Q & A with Coach Richt before the event, and it made me want to respond:

Q: What about all the fan reaction to the past few games? Has it been hard for you to hear some of the criticism?

CMR: The thing that is interesting to me is that everybody wants to – I think people are missing the fact that we've won nine games so far. We're 9-2. We lost to a No. 1 and the No. 3 in America. That's not too shabby. It's not perfection by any means, but I'm proud of this team. I'm proud of how they've battled and fought. The coaches, too. We've had some games where we certainly didn't finish the way we wanted to or play the way we wanted to, but it's like life. You get some disappointments and you could certainly just sack your bats and go home, or you can get back up and fight. We've gone that, and there's a lot to be said for that.

Q: How different do you think people would view this year if you had started the year ranked No. 24 instead of No. 1?

CMR: They'd be doing cartwheels right now.

Coach, do you think we should have started the season ranked No. 24?

Beat tech and get us to 10-2. Ten-win seasons are nothing to sneeze at, and every fan I respect knows this. We remember the 1990s. We appreciate you. Hell, we love you.

But we don't set our expectations by the media, or the voters. And even when things were low, 10-2 was not the goal. I hope it will always be a stepping stone, however a lofty one.

Please make the defense remember how to tackle so it's noticed. And fix the special teams. And crush Georgia tech.

You have my trust, and the expectations that go with it.

State of the Nation: How satisfied are you in 2008?

Bye week discussion. When I forced myself to put a number to it, the number was higher than I thought...

On a scale from 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with The Dawgs in 2008?

I'm going to say 8, though the bottom drops out of that if we lose to tech in 2 weeks.

Ten, for me, would have been a National Title, though in years past that high achievement wasn't necessary for my ultimate satisfaction. Nine would have been qualifying for and/or winning the SEC Title Game.

We've definitely disappointed this year with poor defensive and special teams play. The loss of fire and death-dealing on the defense is of particular concern, because I don't understand it. But this was a young, injury-riddled team, and our expectations were too high.

Plus, Alabama and Florida are freaking good. I'd prefer not to have been embarrassed by them, but in my heart I can't go lower than 8.

UPDATE: Westerdawg says 7.5, which I toyed with myself. And he notes how badly Michigan's season has gone, which I can relate to.

I've got several friends who went to Virginia Tech, and they can't manage to challenge for an ACC Title, so it's all relative.

But this is supposed to be our time, these years. And I want "our time" to be everything it can. Right now, it's not. But, if we beat tech, I'll consider myself generally satisfied by the season of 2008.

Another win in 2008. And yet...

If you wanted to understand the Bulldogs' 2008 football season in 15 minutes, all you'd have to do is watch the first quarter of Auburn game. With the exception of spotty offensive line play (Stacy Searels deserves a medal), it was all there.

We racked up 158 yards on offense, averaging nine yards a play. We scored no points.

We muffed a punt. We had guy named Bagby on the coverage team.

We gave up a touchdown in frustrating fashion. When our 5-star safety should have hit someone so hard that it disrupted time, we blew it instead.

Playing down to competition, and winning anyway, has been something of a hallmark in the Richt era, and for Georgia in general. But now we're doing it with higher-ranked recruiting classes and, this year, against a very strong schedule.

The quality of the 2008 season will be decided by the tech game. And if we don't start doing the little things right on special teams and defense, things may go from mildly disappointing, but strong in the record books, to ridiculous.

The Tuesday convesation: Now on Thursday, with another character, and referred to as a discussion

My buddy Dan steps in for Joe this week to prove the obvious: If we're talking on the phone, I might be taking notes.

DAN: You going to the game on Saturday?

ME: I don't know. I kind of want to stay in Macon, but then I think about Knowshon going for a buck-80 at Jordan-Hare and I don't think I can resist that. What do you think about this game, man?

DAN: I don't really know. Still, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we beat them like 43-0.

ME: You think the defense has really taken this change of attitude to heart?

DAN: Yeah, I do. But I don't know if it's gonna make a difference. Is that going to make them tackle anybody? I don't know. Are they gonna be angry when they miss tackles now?

DAN: We've got three more games in the Matthew Stafford Era.

ME: You think so?

DAN: Definitely.

ME: If he leaves, he didn't accomplish much in my book. A lot of talent and a Sugar Bowl victory.

DAN: Maybe The Joe Cox Era will be better for Bulldog fans.

ME: Name three words that strike fear into the hearts of Bulldog fans.

DAN: What?

ME: The Joe Cox Era. Wait. That's four words.

DAN: Matt Stafford is less likely to stay than Tubby Smith. He's a top 5 pick. They're going to give him $30 million. You can go get yourself a Testarossa. Would you even consider staying and eating at Bolton? Knowshon's a possibility, but I don't see either of them staying.

We'll see. Funny how I'm worried about 5-5 Auburn, but I think Stafford and Moreno come back next year and we win about 15 National Titles.

As for Joe, here's his Auburn prediction: "We're due for a good game. Although Auburn is that wildcard."

UPDATE: Oh, crap, now I feel even worse. The Senator says Tuberville sat three starters last Saturday, presumably to keep them fresh for us and Alabama.

We've got two games left this year, and it's safe to say both teams have had us circled on their calendars for at least a year.

UPDATE 2: And damn that David Hale:

Against Kentucky last week, Georgia had a punt blocked, shanked another punt that set the Wildcats up with great field position, muffed a punt return of their own that set them up for a drive at their own 3, and allowed two long kick returns, including a 96-yarder by Winston Guy that set up a UK touchdown.

That doesn't even mention the fact that field-goal kicker Blair Walsh has missed five of his past eight attempts, and head coach Mark Richt chose to go for it on fourth-and-6 at Kentucky's 33 rather than attempt a 50-yard field goal. Georgia ended up turning the ball over on downs.

That sinking feeling in my stomach

Granted, I worry before just about every game. And the boys over at Georgia Sports Blog are making fun of these Auburn players upset about all our dancing last year.

But the last time we pissed a team off with our shenanigans and they remembered it, it didn't work out so good.

So consider me gut-wrenchingly worried. You know, in a hopeful way.

The problem with the defense

I'm no Buddy Ryan, and maybe I can't identify a robber defense,
but I can tell you what the problem is on defense.

We don't kill people, we don't rush the quarterback very well and we don't control the line of scrimmage.

Here's hoping that players-only meeting, and the sentiments expressed afterward, make a difference against Auburn.

Because I don't want to lose to Auburn.

More on the Kentucky game

One of the great talents in this world is an ability to sum things up. From the Gentleman from College:

"This team still hasn’t played a complete game this year and time is starting to run out."

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I spoke to my Grandmother tonight, and eventually she asked me the score of the Florida game. And when I told her she said:

"I knew it was terrible, but I didn't know it was that bad."

That's the final word on the Florida game for me. My grandmother considers it surprisingly worse than terrible.
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Voicemail from my buddy Joe during the Kentucky game:

Stafford looks like a Mad Scientist out there, dude. He's just throwing shit all over the place. (pause.) Freaking me out a little bit."

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And this one's from my buddy Dan. It would prove to be a popular sentiment:

"Hey man, you feel like somehow we've gone back to the Jim Donnan days all of a sudden? I wonder if we'll wear our black pants to the Outback Bowl."

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Redemption, thy name is Mohamed Massaquoi.
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How did we manage to get a facemask penalty on 4th and hopeless without actually touching a Kentucky player's facemask?

I tried to actually answer that question, but the NCAA College Football rule book is 266 pages long and contains sentences like this:

The basic spot on legal kick plays before a change of possession is the previous spot, and fouls by the offensive team behind the basic spot are spot fouls.

Suck it, NCAA.

Dawgs beat Kentucky, baby

You know what? Forget all that stuff below. If the coaching staff wants to worry after a win, that's fine. But I'll be damned if I will anymore.

I enjoyed that win, heart palpitations and all. How bout them 8-2 Georgia Bulldogs!

ESCAPE! from Lexington. Now with lots of other words about the state of our program.

I am one happy, unsatisfied Dawg.
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When you look at it within the confines of this season, good enough for a win is good enough.

We're not winning any titles this year. All that matters is winning out, and Kentucky may well have been the best team left on our schedule.

At least, I hope so.

At any rate, I'm glad to have gotten a little practice against the option. Stafford played a gutsy game, and we over-matched them with offensive talent by a long shot.

In the larger context of the state of our program, I'm not sure where this victory, this season and the trends we've seen in strong relief this year leave us. I do know it takes a special breed of fan to worry in the face of our successes.

And yet the problems are there, despite the likelihood of another 10 win season in, if not the nation's strongest conference this year, at least home to two of its best teams.

There have been periods this year when the offense was downright unstoppable. And times when we ran plays and it was just like, "What?" And times where it was like, "Oh, yeah. The O-line's not very good. I forgot."

I'm inclined to attribute that to talented youth. And that goes not only for the line, but for Coordinator Mike Bobo as well. Remember, he hasn't hit the two year mark yet as a full-time play caller, having been promoted in late 2006.

Hopefully, that's all solvable by the passage of time. And don't forget how huge it was to lose Trinton Sturdivant to injury this year. We didn't just replace him, we shook up the whole offensive line.

And then there's the defense. You know we started a walk on at defensive end today? How does that happen for the pre-season No. 1 team in the nation?

I was talking to my buddy Dan today about the quality of our defensive ends. I asked if the problem is that we just didn't recruit studs to that position the last couple of years.

He said we were probably too busy recruiting offensive linemen to make up for our amazing inability to recruit and enroll quality linemen a few years back. I'd never thought about that terribly, terribly frustrating phenomenon affecting the team outside of the line itself, but it makes sense. You only have so many scholarships.

But it's not just a problem with the line in my mind. Ellerbe hasn't been the same since his injury. Rashad's just not bringing the wood like you'd expect from a 5-star, all-world specimen in his junior season.

Rennie Curran makes a lot of tackles, but my buddy Joe thinks "we need an Odell Thurman" to enforce things out there.

"We need a guy who might commit a crime on the field," Joe said. "Someone who can bring the wood AGAINST KENTUCKY."

It's no surprise that the defense lacked focus against Kentucky. I don't know about you, but I didn't have my finest days at work this week after the beat down that was the Florida game.

But we got owned by the Wildcat offense, man. Our offense might have killed the D with field position against Florida last week, but this week Kentucky Qb Randall Cobb killed it. (Albeit with a healthy hand from the special teams this time. Basically T. Kyle says you can't just blame the defense, but watch me.)

And how the hell does TE Maurice Grinter get wide open when Kentucky's got the ball and the game is on the line in the 4th quarter? Hell, I don't even think he was the only Wildcat open on that play. What was that, Auburn 2005?

Willie Martinez has some questions to answer, my friends. Someone called the local sports talk show the other day about the number of games Martinez's defenses have given up 30 points or more compared to the number of times the defense gave up 30 when Brian Van"I've got a new job again"Gorder was the coordinator.

That's a little unfair, because Martinez was there to help Van"Am I still with the Falcons?"Gorder. But in the four years Brian Van"Georgia Southern loves me"Gorder ran the defense, we gave up 30 once: the 2003 SEC Title game against National Champion LSU.

With Martinez calling the shots, we've given up 30 or more 10 times in less than four years.

2005 (SEC Title year): Auburn (31, loss); West Virginia (30, loss)

2006: Tennnessee (51, loss)

2007: Tennessee (35, loss); Florida (30, win); Troy (34, win)

2008: Alabama (41, loss); LSU (38, win); Florida (49, loss); Kentucky (38, win)

What happened between 2006 and 2007? Well, Mike Bobo became the full-time offensive coordinator in December 2006. I'm not sure where to look for average drive time statistics, but we do seem to be more of a quick strike offense these days.

At any rate, the points allowed by Martinez's defenses is something of a bottom line. I don't care how good the offense is, or isn't. I don't care if the special teams screw you on field position. I want a shut-the-door defense.

But there are other bottom lines, too. With this victory, Coach Richt has won 80 games in less than eight years. According to the Dawgs' 5th Quarter show, only six other coaches have done that.

And in your weekly context alert, I thought Penn State was pretty damn good, but they lost to Iowa today. Clemson was supposed to be good this year. Notre Dame is 22-17 since they extended Charlie Weiss' contract through 2015. LSU is struggling this year, mostly because they don't have a quarterback.

And consider how Kentucky feels tonight. They thought they could win.

So I'm willing to trust Coach Richt's thoughts on who should run Georgia's offensive and defensive squads.

So, basically, quit worrying about all that bullshit and watch us whip Auburn, beat Georgia tech and go to a reasonable bowl. Then tell Stafford and Moreno they need to come back to be legends, and win the Titles in 2009.

The humiliation of St. Richt

AKA: The blog most likely to offer metaphysical reasons for a loss...

Is it possible that Coach Richt got away from his core last year, goodness and humility, and that now he is paying for it?

We celebrated against Florida. We blacked out Auburn. And it boomeranged. That which was once our savior, now must kill us.
----

I continue to think that asking why you lost a football game is a lot like asking why God allows bad things to happen to good people. It simply is.

What if we hadn't had a penalty on that interception in the first half against Florida? Would that have been the butterfly flapping his wings in California and causing a cyclone in Japan?

Maybe. Or maybe we really do just go to sleep for some unknown reason under Richt. I'd like to see the phenomenon compared to other teams before I decide, but it's a reasonable question.

Maybe Florida and Alabama were just better, and it snowballed on us.

Or maybe we just can't block and pressure the quarterback very well. Those two things will lead to blow outs, I don't care who you are.

Maybe we started the season with the toughest schedule in the nation, relying on a freshman kicker, with question marks at defensive end, with a young offensive line, then lost our best O-lineman, and our best D-lineman, and still said "Oh, yeah, National Title - definitely."

Also, Saban and Meyer are probably in league with the devil.
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Our time will come, and quite possibly next year. But since other SEC powers (Florida, LSU, and perhaps now Alabama) were able to win a National Title so early in their current head coach's tenure, it makes things seem oh so very urgent.

But you don't have to look hard for butterfly effects in Richt's second year (2002) to see that year's National Title within our grasp. For that matter, imagine that Stafford doesn't overthrow that wheel route against South Carolina last year. How would that change the 2007 season?

Because of the 2008 squad's youth, or for other reasons, it has seemed to lack leadership. We seem unable to stem the tide of things gone wrong before the game gets out of hand. Even the players have commented on this.

But the fire of this season may forge the steel we need in years to come. And I think that, this time next year, we may be talking about the redemption of St. Richt, and a season won without any gimmicks.

Blow to the head

Succinct Saturday night analysis from my friend Jean: "Bottom line, there was no line."

Agreed. They beat us on the line and they made the plays. The rest hardly matters. But that doesn't mean I won't write it.
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One of my buddies: Will Florida win the National Title this year?
ME: Just one?
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As we shivered in a corner and hoped Tim Tebow wouldn't come back for one more go at us Saturday night, my buddy Joe noted that I, and a lot of other people, expected to lose this game.

"Who didn't think that we were going to get a beating today, who was an adult?" he asked.

True. But at the end of the first half, with little going our way and having shot ourselves in the foot repeatedly, we were in it. We saw that we could play with these guys, that we had the athletes. And it was like we decided to start playing terrible.

And maybe it was more about the cumulative effect of things; the constant pressure eventually causing turnovers, their speed just taking over, etc. But what it really felt like in that second half was that we just decided to suck.
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The illegal blow to the head call that nullified an interception. Kenneth Harris' drop. The "WHAT!?" onside kick. The interceptions. Knowshon's fumble. The ridiculous returns we allowed on turnovers. The missed field goals. Anything that happened in the red zone. The pass that went behind Chandler's back in the endzone. Percy Freaking Harvin.

Stafford keeper left in the Red Zone. Brilliant.
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ME: Did Tebow score touchdowns in any games yesterday besides ours?
JOE: He blocked a kick in the Tennessee game.
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Say what you will about last year's celebration. It was a desperate act by a desperate team. But when you look at the recent history of Gator football, with Steve Spurrier and now Urban Meyer at the helm, I think you can fairly say that tacking on points to belittle your opponent and calling time outs with less than a minute left in a blowout is "The Florida Way."

I can't imagine any one wanting to be involved in it. And, yet, there they are, kicking our ass.
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What do you figure Coach Richt and Coach Meyer said to each other when they shook hands at the end of the game?
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MEYER: So did Urban Meyer make his point? Did he make his point? Did he make his point? Because Urban Meyer wants to make sure you understand that he made his point.
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I was going to write a Pulpwood Smith rant to follow his Florida game prediction. It started with this: This is Andre Pulpwood Smith coming back at ya from Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, where I am currently seeking treatment for ass-pounding related injuries...

It also referenced Urban Meyer's "Weaselly little triangle face," but I let it go.
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This was all very, very disappointing, but you have to keep it in perspective. Auburn lost to Ole Miss yesterday. Tennessee is 3-6. Three and six. Joe said he was asking for a Tennessee / South Carolina score all day Saturday, and "Nobody cared."

Texas lost a heart breaker to Texas Tech. The way they played on those last two plays was about how we played the whole second half.

We weren't as good as our hype this year. And then we got hit by the injury bug, and on the lines of all places.

The season is, in some ways, over. We will not have a chance to win the SEC this year. As unrealistic as offseason National Title talk now seems, not being in the race for a conference championship is bitterly hard to swallow.

Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford are both eligible for the NFL Draft next year. The question of whether they'll leave school early will be a large part of the narrative for the rest of the season.

If they leave, they won't have much of a legacy here at the University of Georgia, I don't think. Theirs would be a story of talent, not trophies.

But that is for another day.

Beat Kentucky, Auburn and Georgia tech or quit the game.

Pulpwood: We gonna hit Tebow so hard we gonna knock the gel out of his hair

It's two clicks and there's TONS of rough language, but this is the best Pulpwood Smith preview yet.

Admit it, you've always wanted to call Mike Adams that, haven't you?

And did you know Pulpwood led the team in rushing in 1984? I looked it up in the media guide.

UPDATE: I had the wrong link. It's fixed now. Enjoy.

Don't worry, I'm having as many whiskey drinks as Tebow's jersey number

From today's St. Augustine Record:

GAINESVILLE -- There's a rumor going around that Florida defenders had to do 188 push-ups a day during offseason conditioning workouts, one for every yard Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno gained against the Gators last season.

"No comment," linebacker Brandon Spikes said when asked about the routine.

Joe: If that's true, Urban Meyer replaces me as the smartest man alive.