Mired in Mediocrity

One loss does not make or break our season... If my memory serves
me corrrectly the mighty Gators lost 1 game last year to an
SEC team whom wasn't even ranked at the time and still pulled out
a NC.... DamABama wasn't even ranked last year when the season began
however managed to climb all the way to a NO 1 ranking before losing
in the SEC Championship game.

I'm not giving up on my beloved Dawgs because of one stinking loss.
I Love my Dawgs... I Love CMR and everything he stands for. I will
Love him even more once we win the next 13 games in a row and bring
home the NC.....

If we must lose, its better to lose early and to a ranked opponent on
the road than to lose later to an unranked foe at home.
My \"G\" Flag is still flying high and will continue
to do so...WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW.... Go DAWGS !!!!!!!!

We must put this behind us and get ready for the COCKS !!!!

dapolla wrote:

UGAUSFEngDawg wrote:

I want to have a rebirth of the Vince Dooley days where the #1 priority is a National Championship and the #2 priority is beating Florida.

Actually, CMR is following the Vince Dooley (and Georgia coaching model) to a T. He won two SEC Championships in his first five years, just like Vince did. Vince didn't win another SEC Championship for eight years after 1968. It took him 16 years and the greatest player in the history of college football to win himself a national title, and then he couldn't follow it up while fielding the best team in the nation for the next two years.

It is HARD to win the SEC and HARDER to win the National Championship. Hell, at this point I'd say it's harder to win the SEC than the national title. Give Richt credit; we're doing many things Dooley couldn't and didn't:

1) Winning bowl games. Dooley was notoriously bad in January. Richt has only lost two bowl games in nine years.

2) Beating Auburn. It's amazing how many SEC titles Vince lost because he couldn't beat Auburn. Off the top of my head I give you 1971, 1975, 1978, 1979 and 1983. He beats Auburn -- he wins ONE GAME in those years -- and he's looking at 11 SEC titles instead of 6. Say what you want about Richt, but he beats Auburn.

3) 10 win seasons. Even with all of Vince's wins he couldn't boast Richt's consistency. Vince Dooley had 201 wins in 25 seasons. In just nine years, Richt is halfway there.

I'm not saying any of this to denigrate Vince Dooley. I'm just saying that Vince had talent that was, by these definitions, \"squandered\" on no-championship teams just like the ones you accuse Richt of having. 2003, 2004, 2007 all should have been SEC Championship years, right? But that's the nature of the conference. It's a tough bear.

That said, there's no excuse for the way we played against Oklahoma State. But that one game is also not a referendum on Coach Richt. If it were, Vince Dooley would not have made it out of the 1969 or 1970 seasons with his job.

Playing Auburn now though is the equivalent of playing an emaciated Ohio State, it just isn't the same. The Auburn of our generation is Florida and we have been getting dominated by them consistently for over 10 years now. Dooley might have squandered talent, but he always beat the teams he was supposed to and yes he lost to the close teams quite a bit, but he would have never walked into a game where he was facing an opponent like Oklahoma State and lost. Nothing against Oklahoma State, but their defense is about as sturdy as a wet paper sack in a wind storm. The comparison between Richt and Dooley is there, but not in the way you put it out there.

dapolla wrote:

ugaa wrote:

Times chage the measuring stick has moved, SEC football has grown stronger yet we are supposed to be satisfied with 2 loss seasons?

I hate that it has come to this but with this talent level they expect nothing less than a NC. At the least he can get rid of average coaches. Yes ok state only had 24 pts but they put up almost 400 yards against us, what do you think LSU, UF, hell even UT will do? I dread all those games this year with our average D and terrible offense.

ugaa, this is a ridiculous, overreactive post. If SEC football is so strong, we SHOULD EXPECT two-loss seasons. The SEC proved that you can lose two conference games and still win a national title. That's how strong the conference is.

As much as I hate the loss, this was ONE game. We had a bad day. If we have a terrible year, there WILL be changes made, but think about it: how much can we get accomplished by firing Martinez or Bobo or Garner or Ball or anyone right now and hiring someone new? Who do you get to replace those guys? How do they win the locker room in a week?
So yes, I'm very happy with 2-loss seasons. The only thing that made last year a disappointment to me, given all the injuries coupled with how damn good Alabama and Florida were, was the loss to Tech. Period. End. Of. Discussion.

This isnt the 70s or 80s anymore, we are heads and shoulders better than those years as a conference.

The problem is that we are not even competitive in those two loses, in floridas lone loss they were in it until the end, in most of our loses we were out of contention in the 4th quarter, that is the difference.

We didnt have a bad day, they didnt make adjustments, cox wasnt doing a thing so he should have been rotated out heavily and our defense was average at best. The fact remains that willie should have been gone a while ago since his defenses sleep on at least one week a year and has cost us at least one shot at an SEC title and possible NC game. Im not saying fire him this week, he should have been gone 2 years ago when it was obvious he didnt coach his players up, they have talent but that needs to be supplemented with good coaching against bad teams.

Bama and florida loses were just against better teams, the tech loss was against a one dimensional team that came out and put almost 400 yards of running up on us in the second half alone after we stopped them in the first half then let willie go into his prevent mode against a QB that couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the atlantic. It was pathetic and against a inferior team that now thinks that they are NC contenders because they beat the mighty UGA. Its quite apparent that willie is not up to the job, richt is very loyal but there comes a time when that loyalty is severely tested, if you think otherwise then you havent been paying attention the past few years.

That is the end of the discussion.

Just a random thought........yes, its true that Florida was able to take a NC with one loss, and LSU was able to do it with 2 losses, but the difference is those teams had the media, especially ESPN, wedged way up their rectums. We all know that 2 years ago, UGA was the BEST team in the nation (at least for the last 3rd of the season, if only Kentucky could make a field goal). But LSU gets hooked up because they were the nation's darlings. In my opinion, the media is significantly less forgiving of UGA losses, and the way we blew our preseason rank last year, can you blame them? I love Bulldawg football, and I will always support them win, lose, or draw. I will always hope for the best, but it seems like we are fighting an uphill battle for any benefit of the doubt. But then again, it's gonna be so much sweeter when we finally do win it all, the hard way.

jhughes2466 wrote:

Playing Auburn now though is the equivalent of playing an emaciated Ohio State, it just isn't the same.

Is that why we blew them out last year 17-14?

You can throw records out when you play the rivals. Auburn found that out in 2006 against us, and we've found that out against them several times.

The point is, it's a game, and one week has literally NOTHING to do with the next short of injuries. The only bearing last week has on this week is Trinton Sturdivant's year-ender. I'm sick of talking about the Oklahoma State game, people. They beat us because, last Saturday, THEY WERE BETTER.

Oklahoma State's backfield = experienced quarterback, experienced tailback, best WR in the nation

Our backfield = unproven quarterback who hasn't started a game since 2006, three unproven running backs, and one potential star wideout who can't seem to get himself open despite his talent.

Willie Martinez had nothing to do with our loss on Saturday. Our offense was anemic and fumble-fingered. That's it. Now let's hope they got in some good practice this week and go kick South Carolina's butt.

Seriously. If you think you're upset right now, how do you think Auburn's felt the last couple of years, with the talent they have and the record they have? Chill.