Reaction to Georgia/Tennessee

I had to work on Saturday, so I found out (through Tivo) about three hours after the rest of the world that Georgia embarrassed themselves in Knoxville Saturday. It's not embarrassing that the Dawgs lost to Tennessee. Tennessee is a good program, and they are very talented on defense. Neeland Stadium is a tough place to play, it would be foolish to think you can just walk into that stadium and win a game.

However, the Georgia loss to Tennessee was embarrassing because Georgia under preformed in almost every aspect of the game.

Let's start with the offense. 3 points! I know Tennessee has a good defense, but all we could manage on offense was 3 little points thanks to a 53 yard field goal? A 53 yard field goal! Georgia never took a snap inside the Tennessee 30 yard line. It wasn't that the offense didn't play it's best, or that we made some big turnovers in the red zone, we never got into position to score. The only reason we scored on offense was that Blair Walsh can kick the ball 3 miles.

Joe Cox didn't play well again, and at this point in the season you have to think that the Joe Cox we saw on Saturday is the real Joe Cox, not the Joe Cox that played so well against South Carolina and Arkansas. Washaun Ealey was a non factor, as was Richard Samuel. There wasn't even an attempt to run the ball in the second half. Don't forgot, this was a 24-19 game half way through the third quarter, and Georgia was lining up in the shot gun, throwing it around like we have a Heisman trophy quarterback under center.

The most telling play in the entire game for the offense was the fourth and 1 play with about 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. You have to go for it if you are Georgia, and Mark Richt made the right call to send the offense back out on the field and go for fourth and 1. Georgia lines up with 3 wide receivers, in the shot gun, with a running back set to the side of Cox. Joe Cox misses the tight end in the flat, and all hope of a Georgia win goes right down the drain. Now, please tell me where in the history of this great University we stopped having the ability to line up, man on man, power I formation, hand the ball off, and fight your way for one yard!? This isn't the PAC 10! This is the SEC! If you can't line up and get one yard in an attempt to save your season, you don't deserve to win! That is what is so sad about Saturday's game. After playing so well against LSU and coming up just short, Georgia deserved to lose, and lose badly to Tennessee.

The defense is a different situation all together. I wish I could say that I am surprised that Georgia's defense gave up all those yards passing to a quarterback who was on the brink of getting benched, but I'm not. This is what Georgia's defense is now. Forget the day's of Erk Russel. Forget the days of David Pollack. Even forget the days of Charles Johnson and Kellen Johnson. This defense is just bad. They don't tackle well, they don't get off of their blocks, and lord knows they can't cover a receiver down field to save their lives. Think back to the Arkansas game. How many times did you see the ball thrown to a receiver who didn't have a defensive player within 10 yards of them? Think back to Saturday. Didn't you just know, when Crompton dropped back and bombed that pass down field that you were going to see a receiver open, and an out of position Georgia defender running as hard as they can trying to catch up? Rashad Jones is not a good safety in coverage, and Brian Evans may be talented but he is out of position almost every time the ball is thrown deep.

You might be thinking that I'm being a little hard on the defense. We did return an interception for a touchdown on Saturday!

Look at the play again. The only reason Mr. Rambo was in position to pick the ball off after it had been deflected was that the defender was 5 yards away from him, and he had plenty of time to react to the deflection. He was out of position. He just got lucky.

The special teams obviously were one bright spot for Georgia. The blocked punt was nice to see, only because we haven't been trying to return punts or block them all season. Usually Georgia just sends the back up quarterback out there to throw a hand up.

So what does it all mean? Where should we go now?

Well, this season is over. I know we still have 6 games to play, but for all intents and purposes, it's over. Mark Richt is now a victim of his own success, and 3-3 is just not good enough in Athens. We are going to lose to Florida, we will most likely lose to either Auburn or Georgia Tech and we might just lose to both of them. We are looking at 8-4 at best and 6-6 is a very real possibility. Now the important thing is trying to build something for next season.

At quarterback, you have to make a decision. Is Logan Gray going to be your starter next season? If he is, then he should be playing starting this week at Vanderbilt. I have heard some amazing stories about Joe Cox. He said all that he ever wanted to be was the quarterback at Georgia. He told players in the huddle in 2006 against Colorado that if they couldn't score two touchdowns to win the game, they didn't deserve to put the "G" on their helmet. I can respect and admire the passion he has for the school and the program. But we can't let this season be a failure and then assure that next season will also be a failure. If Logan Gray is going to be the man, he needs to take his lumps now, so we can try to put together a bounce back season next year.

Here's the problem. Logan Gray is not going to be the man. Aaron Murry will be the starting quarterback next season, so Richt will have to take the red shirt off of him to get some experience this season. Some people might think that this situation is just like the 2006 situation with Matt Stafford. It's not. Stafford played in the first game of the season as the third string quarterback. His red shirt was lost from the start of the season. Murry has now sat out the first half of the year, so you would pretty much be cutting his eligibility by 6 games. I don't think Richt is going to play him at all this season.

So where does that put the program? Murry will start next season as a red shirt freshman, and he will play like a red shirt freshman. Remember that once Stafford took the starting job in 2006, we went up to Lexington and lost to Kentucky. On the other hand, we went to Auburn and beat the number five team in the country the very next week. Aaron Murry is very talented, and he is going to win some games, but in this conference, you have to take your lumps before you can win titles.

A lot of people want Mike Bobo gone. I don't think that is a good idea. He doesn't have the tools to work with this season, so you can't just put this at his feet.

However, Willie Martinez has to be fired at the end of the season. There are no more excuses. I know he is Richt's best friend, and I'm sure he is a good man with a good family. But none of that matters when it comes to his job. His job is to prepare Georgia's defense to win ball games, and he simply is not doing it. We have good recruits on defense, so either is defensive strategy isn't getting the job done, or he can't coach the talent he has. Either way he has to go.

If Mark Richt allows his personal relationship with Willie Martinez to play a role in his decision, then Mark Richt is not the leader Georgia needs.

Being in charge means making the tough decisions. It won't be fun for Richt, but its right for Georgia. Martinez has to go.