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Monday, September 27, 2010 | The Red * Black
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Coaches account
for team troubles
By NICK PARKER
The Red & Black
Mark Richt is suffering
through a lot of firsts this
season.
First time starting 0-3 in
the Southeastern
Conference. First ever
3-game losing streak. First
time losing to Arkansas
and Mississippi State. First
time the hot seat has been
undeniable.
As if the problems on
the field weren’t bad
enough, the problems off
the field have been worse.
That’s not exactly surpris
ing as arrests have been
par for the course during
Richt’s tenure, but it’s only
gotten worse recently —as
in the worst in the nation.
Asa result, fans are
actively beginning to ques
tion the direction of what
once seemed like the most
stable program in the
nation.
And in a conference of
impatience, four consecu
tive SEC losses won’t cut
it.
“I never would have pre
dicted it, but that’s where
we’re at,” Richt said.
Over Richt’s last nine
SEC games, he’s just 2-7.
Even Richt, in his Sunday
teleconference, couldn’t
deny this is the toughest
stretch he’s endured dur
ing his 10 seasons in
Athens.
“There's no doubt it is,”
Richt said. “It’s obvious
that it is, because the bot
tom line is we’re 0-3 in the
league, and we’ve never
been there. And we have
had enough issues off the
field that it’s been a big
distraction ... so there’s no
doubt that it’s the tough-
RICHT: Teams’ poor play puts coach in hot water
► From Pag* 1
enthusiasm and intensity
overshadowed Georgia’s.
The teams were evenly
matched. But the other
Bulldogs got after it on
every play.
That Bulldog head
coach wanted to prove his
team was no longer the
laughing stock of the con
ference.
And Dan Mullen, in his
second year at the helm,
gladly handed that title
over to Richt, in his 10th
year with his Bulldogs,
after hanging 24 points on
Georgia.
“They played better
than us,” Richt said.
These Bulldogs couldn’t
finish drives.
These Bulldogs couldn’t
get key stops.
This Bulldog head
coach is on the verge of
leading his program into a
fatal tailßpin with inconsis
tent play and off-the-fleld
issues being the main cul
prits.
“We’ll play hard at
times and then sometimes
we will let up, and they
scored every time we let
up [Saturday],” linebacker
Justin Houston said. “We
just have to learn to play
hard the whole 60 min-
INSTANT REPLAY
SPORTS ANALYSIS
est bit of adversity that
we’ve faced since I've been
here.”
Richt did say he remains
confident that he and his
staff will be able to turn it
around.
But for the first time in
Richt’s tenure, Bulldog
fans don’t seem as confi
dent.
As Richt begins his soul
searching, he should start
with the problems in the
red zone.
Against Mississippi
State, Georgia had the ball
three times in the red zone,
but added just six points
to the scoreboard.
The inability to capital
ize on opportunities has
been a theme of Georgia’s
last three losses. Just like
the South Carolina loss,
Washaun Ealey continued
his fumbling ways, cough
ing it up on the one-yard
line in the first half.
Later, Kris Durham
caught a pass and made
numerous guys miss on the
way to diving in the end
zone for a touchdown.
But a holding call
brought that touchdown
back, and three quick plays
later, Blair Walsh trotted
onto the field after another
blown opportunity to take
the lead.
“You can’t turn the ball
over, and you can’t have
penalties,” offensive coor
dinator Mike Bobo said.
“That’s coaching. It’s our
fault.”
It’d be hard to put the
blame anywhere else but
coaching.
The Mississippi State
defense showed few signs
utes.”
Motivating players to
play well for all four quar
ters of a football game
starts at the top —with
Richt himself. It starts
with the head coach, who
is 2-7 in his last nine SEC
games dating back to last
year’s loss to LSU in
October.
Whether Richt can lead
the Bulldogs out of this
potentially career-killing
tailspin will make or break
their season and spirits.
“[The coaches] just
gotta make sure every
thing we're doing is the
right thing to do and that
we're doing it well,” Richt
said. “That’s part of my
job as a head coach. I’m
responsible for everything
that happens. I gotta
make sure every part of
our football program
starts to do the things we
need to do to win."
That’s a good game
plan.
But the team’s list of
problems doesn’t include
any unusual amount of
adversity.
Yet it seems Richt’s
boys aren't getting any
better from week to week
like the head coach keeps
saying in his Tuesday
pres* conferences.
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of resistance in the open
field, as Georgia frequently
drove at will through the
short passing game. But
each time, the result
remained the same:
Georgia unable to’ get in
the end zone.
Besides a meaningless
touchdown pass to
Tavarres King with the
game already decided,
Georgia’s offense produced
just six points, despite
compiling 387 yards of total
offense over the course of
the game.
“I wish I could answer
[our red zone issues]
because we could have won
the last three games if we
knew what our issue in the
red zone was,” quarterback
Aaron Murray said. “We’ve
been doing fine driving, the
ball, I feel the past three
games, all three losses, and
then we’re just going
through this little spell we
can’t get over inside the
red zone. We have to figure
out something because
we’re doing the hard work.
We’re getting there. But
we’re just settling for field
goals, which you can’t do.”
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▲ Much like in 2009, penalties were an Achilles heel for Georgia
even causing Kris Durham’s lead-clinching touchdown to be called back.
“If you go by watching
the film down by down,
you’d say we’re not maybe
as far [from playing well]
as some people might
think,” Richt said. “But if
SPORTS
PHOTM BY WES SUNKENMI,
▲ (Above) Mississippi State swarmed the
Georgia offense the entire game Saturday,
holding them to six points. (Below) Falling to
1-3 on the *2OIO season has many players and
coaches visibly frustrated and looking for
answers to the problems on and off the field.
you look at the record, posting Its second win of
we’re pretty far off from the season,
where we wanna be.” And Richt sitting down
Pretty far off is right. in a rapidly-warming chair
The same problems are won’t guide Georgia back
preventing Georgia from into familiar territory.
GAME
REWIND
PLAYER OF THE
GAME:
Chris Relf, Mississippi
State quarterback
The 6-foot-4 junior
accounted for 232 yards
of total offense 97 on
the ground and 135
through the air. Relf com
pleted 62 percent of his
passes and managed the
Mississippi State offense
well enough to get a vic
tory over Georgia, proving
he can carry the load
himself as he has been
splitting work with fresh
man Tyler Russell alt sea
son.
OVERLOOKED PLAY
ER OF THE GAME:
Fred Munzenmaier,
Georgia fullback
The senior was one of
the few consistent bright
spots for the offense,
catching five passes for
36 yards. Munzenmaier
blocked well and provided
some offensive spark
when the team couldn't
find anything to get it
going on most drives.
KEY MOMENT:
The Washaun Ealey
fumble/the Kris Durham
touchdown being called
back
Again, the sophomore
running back coughed
up the ball near the goal
line, costing Georgia the
opportunity to tie the
game at seven on Geor
gia’s second possession
of the game. Though he
was clocked pretty hard
on the play, another
Georgia drive was killed
because of a costly mis
take. And at the start of
the fourth quarter, Geor
gia committed a holding
penalty, which resulted
in Durham’s touchdown
being called back, yet
again killing the Bulldogs'
momentum.
KEY DECISION:
Dan Mullen’s play call
ing on Mississippi State’s
scoring drive to go up
17-6
Mississippi State put
the final nail in Georgia’s
coffin after driving 93
yards in 10 plays while
taking 5:45 off the clock
for the score.
Every play Mullen
called caught Georgia off
guard, making for a per
fect drive on a night his
team simply outplayed
its opponent. Mark Richt
tipped his hat to Mullen,
and this drive defined the
win for the second-year
head coach.
QUOTE OF THE
GAME:
Offensive coordinator
Mike Bobo on the
Mississippi State loss:
“(The coaches] didn’t
do a good job of getting
us ready to play. Didn’t
do a good job of execut
ing and that falls on me
as a coach. Moved the
ball well but didn’t finish.
And you can’t finish, you
can’t win in this league.
And that’s about how
we've been in three
games in this league,
basically ... I didn’t think
they slowed us down in
the first half at all, and to
only get six points was
disappointing. You can't
have turnovers and you
can't have penalties, and
that's coaching. That’s
our fault."
BY THE NUMBERS:
Georgia’s total offense:
387
Mississippi State’s total
offense: 314
Georgia's penalties: nine
for 63 yards
Mississippi State's penal
ties: four for 30 yards
Georgia's tackles for
loss: 2
Mississippi State's tack
les for loss: 5
Rachel G. Bowers