Dawgs Facing 0-2

I am not sure if I am more surprised, disappointed, or dangerously growing towards apathy. Or maybe some combo of all three …

  • Surprised that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
  • Disappointed that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
  • Apathetic that the Dawgs continue on a downward spiral.

 

As a lifelong Bulldog fan, this trend makes my stomach churn. Something has to give … but there appears to be a glaring lack of progress during the fall camp. We read article after article about how the Bulldogs were going to be better conditioned. Didn’t see that show up on the field as the defense was often gasping, and at one point had to call a timeout because they were unable to stop the Broncos march towards another TD.

And it’s hard to say how much credit the Broncos will really get for beating Georgia, even if it was essentially a true road game. The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-7 finish in 2010, which ended with an ugly 10-6 loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

Frankly, the Bulldogs didn’t look much different, aside from their Power Ranger-like jerseys and helmets. They committed untimely penalties and couldn’t run the ball effectively. [Source: ESPN]

It’s not that the Dwags lost, it is how they lost; more on that in the second quote from DawgSports, which sums up exactly how I feel.

UGA head coach Mark Richt is the nicest guy; all indications are he is a Christian, family-man, with great intentions. A real leader of young men. Unfortunately, of late, Richt seems to have lost his team. Richt loyalty to his staff, in this case offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, may ultimately be his undoing. The 3-4 experiment led by defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is clearly not working.

Is it time for a change? Things don’t get any easier for the Bulldogs, as they host the Fighting Chickens next week. 0-2? You bet, unless there are significant week-over-week changes, which is highly doubtful.

I am not going to go all brass balls on you and call for the ouster of Richt; it’s just that things have to change. Meaningful change. As in being competitive. There is no shame going down to a better team.

This article from DawgSports really sums up how I feel about the state of the program.

Please do not mistake this for excuse-making on my part; it is not. Boise State was the better team, they fully deserved the win that they got, and they won the game more convincingly on the field than the scoreboard suggested. The Broncos in many ways made the Bulldogs look so bad, which is to BSU’s credit. They are who we thought they were, and, even if Georgia had played well, Boise State still would have earned the win and gotten the win. I take nothing whatsoever away from Boise State.

The problem, from our perspective, is this: Boise State came into the game as a top five team, and the Broncos looked like a top five team, but Georgia came into the game as a top 20 team, and the Bulldogs did not look like a top 20 team. Again, a large part of the credit for that goes to Boise State, but our issue isn’t that the ‘Dawgs lost, it’s how they lost.

Nothing has been fixed, and few things have improved. While the defense probably played a bit better than the Broncos’ 35 points suggest, and the offense certainly played much worse than the Bulldogs’ 21 points indicate, essentially every problem that plagued this team before plagued this team still. This was the Liberty Bowl on a larger stage against a better team, which is why this game likely will mean much less to Boise State three months from now than it means to the Broncos tonight. Though the Broncos are as good as advertised, the Bulldogs remain less than the sum of their parts.

The focus has to turn 100% onto the coaching staff. Put together a solid game plan next week, put the players in a position to successfully execute on the plan, and the Dawgs will be competitive. Will they win? It’s hard to say, but starting the season 0-2 may just be the final straw in Bulldog Nation.

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