In my last post from the past week I subtly hinted that Neyland Stadium might have less teeth than visitors (I believe it went something like "109,000 fans, 12 teeth). Having had a little over a day to digest the spicy smack-down that took place, I have realized the only toothless article in attendance Saturday was the UGA offense. Okay, that isn't entirely true; the UGA defense was pretty damn impotent as well.
I could sit here and type twenty pages paraphrasing everything that's been written in the past 24 hours about how the football program is in decline, HC MR is washed up and is no longer effective, about how the balance of power in the state of Georgia has permanently shifted to Atlanta, about how we are perennial under-achievers, how recruiting will never be the same and how all of our big-time recruits under-perform. But I'm not going to.
I believe it is what it is, a bad year. Mark Richt hasn't lost his edge, what he's lost is four members of last years squad to starting jobs in the NFL. The balance of power hasn't shifted, GT is having an above average year and we obviously are not. Five years of sub-par play is a decline, one year is an aberration. Some may still believe we are perennial under-achievers, but I think we are perennially a solid team that may have not lived up to legitimate expectations twice in the past 8 years. Recruiting will be the same, it always has been. Even Jim Donnan was able to land the biggest in-state recruits, and that isn't going to change.
I'm not even going to rant (too much) about how terribly we played Saturday, I don't have to, it was obvious. Ronnie Milsaps and Ray Charles could see how awful we were in pretty much all aspects of the game. The "strength" of our team, the offensive line, continues to disappoint. The running game is atrocious at best. Our QB still makes too many mistakes. The defense is flat out laughable. However, we do have a pretty good punter.
What I am going to rant about is how unprepared we appeared to be, how long we will continue to let the same mistakes keep occurring, and how our coaching staff as a whole can let our team quit like they did Saturday. If you watched the game, however painful it may have been, you would have sworn on your first born that nobody in a red helmet had seen a practice field in the last seven days. I understand what a last second loss can do for a teams morale, but the Dawgs of yester-year would have been angry about it, not flat. Big Red got his turn, and should be commended for waiting around for his opportunity, but he isn't getting the job done, time for a change. Ditto with the secondary. Unless we want a replay of this year in 2010, it's time to get the fresh faces some seasoning, starting under center.
The coaching staff, HC MR included, should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. When I say MR hasn't lost his edge, I mean I still honestly think he is one of the top 3 coaches in the SEC. However, I do think he is having trouble motivating his team without gimmicks (i.e. UF 2007). OC MB's play calling was as imaginative as a can of flat white primer. I know he's not physically on the field, but designing a drive that ends in points will get a team back into a game (literally and figuratively). And then there's Willie. Unfortunately, Willie IS on the field. I'm almost glad we had another poor showing so I can jump back on the fire Willie bandwagon. From the comments released in MR's teleconference Sunday evening, it appears changes are on the way, and let's hope they start on the defensive side of the ball. All in all, I would say this was one of the worst weeks I can ever remember for the UGA coaching staff, and I'm including last year's UA and UF games. They brought an unprepared team to one of the hardest places in the nation to play, and let them quit shortly after halftime. Saturday was an embarrassment to the University.
There will be no "need to knows" on Thursday in regard to the showdown with Vanderbilt, as I am going to be loving life far away from the rigors of work, and approximately 30 miles offshore. However, I will post my prediction and recipe, as well as any other pertinent news before heading South.
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