Riding a 6-0 start in SEC play, the Lady Dogs have climbed to the #20 spot in this week’s AP poll. That’s as high as the team has been ranked since they were #18 during the first week of the season. The young team with only two upperclassmen had its ups and downs at the tail end of 2010, but they’re gaining confidence and experience in early SEC play. An infusion of freshman guards has given the team a shot of energy, and the Lady Dogs are finding a specific – but fragile – formula for success.

On paper, the Lady Dogs had about as easy of a week as you’ll get in the SEC. Alabama and Mississippi State are a combined 0-13 in conference play. Of course those could have been dangerous games: both opponents were hungry for their first SEC wins, and Georgia’s young squad could have easily overlooked the lesser opponents. We saw some of that in Thursday’s win at Alabama. Georgia built up an 18-point lead, but the homestanding Tide cut it to 6 and made the last few minutes interesting. Sunday’s game was much less in doubt. Georgia led by 20 at halftime, built a 35-point margin, and emptied the bench before winning by 20. It was a far cry from the Mississippi State team that bounced Georgia from last season’s SEC Tournament.

With few interesting storylines from either of those games, the we’ll spotlight the development of a few players:

• Khaalidah Miller has settled nicely into her role. After hitting a minor scoring slump, she’s bounced back with games of 12 and 13 points. Miller has become a serious threat to hit open perimeter shots – a huge need on this team – and she’s one of the best finishers in transition that the team has had in years. As her defense improves, she’s proving to be as big of a shot in the arm to the program as Jasmine James was a year ago.
• With center Jasmine Hassell struggling, Tamika Willis came off the bench to make the most of her playing time this week. Willis looked solid in 18 minutes against Mississippi State scoring 8 points, pulling down 6 rebounds, and blocking 2 shots.
• Freshman guard Ronika Ransford likewise had an impressive Sunday in relief of a starter. Jasmine James re-injured her wrist in morning shootaround and was limited to 11 minutes. Ransford stepped in and posted her first double-double: 12 points and 10 rebounds.
• Anne Marie Armstrong struggled for most of the Alabama game. Her shot lacked confidence, and there were some bad misses during an 0-for-8 start. Andy Landers took the occasion of a second half timeout to focus on Armstrong and her shooting technique. Whatever was said during that timeout worked. Armstrong finished the game hitting 4 of her last 5 shots and tallied 8 points to go along with 8 rebounds. She followed that up with a 6-for-8 performance against Mississippi State and a team-high 17 points. Her size and athleticism makes her able to contribute in several areas – rebounding, steals, and even assists. But with a more consistent and confident shot, she’s a very dangerous player to have out on the court.

The Lady Dogs take their undefeated conference mark back out for consecutive road games. Georgia has already faced South Carolina in Athens. The Lady Dogs built a big lead but had to withstand a furious second half comeback from SC. They’ll be heading to Columbia on Thursday for a rematch with a team that won’t be scared. On Sunday they’ll face LSU in Baton Rouge in a nationally televised game. LSU isn’t as strong as they’ve been, and they’re very young after a lot of turnover in the past few years. But they’re still talented and well-coached, and they’ve had some impressive results against common opponents.

The departure of offensive line coach Stacy Searels to Texas is official. The timing isn’t the best – coaches are full on into recruiting mode. In the meantime, the staff has to work to keep the commitments of five offensive line prospects. Most, if not all, seem to be firm in their commitment, but you can be certain that they’ll be hearing from the competition.

I can understand the perception of this news as rats-off-a-sinking-ship, but Georgia still doesn’t have a lot of voluntary turnover relative to its peers. Unless I’m mistaken, it’s the first lateral move by a Georgia assistant under Richt. One guy leaving for a lot more money isn’t a sign to man the lifeboats.

The reaction has ranged from indifference to don’t-let-the-door-hit-ya . You’re not finding many tears shed over Searels’ departure, and in a way that’s more than a little sad. No one blames him for the disappointing 2010 season, certainly not in the way that the defensive coaches took the fall for 2009. But, yes, there was a lot of head-scratching going on over the performance of the offensive line of which a lot more was expected.

I won’t deny anyone their opportunity to think that this isn’t bad news for Georgia. The line did underperform last season. If you want to put that on the position coach, fine – it makes sense. This was also a line with some real issues and injuries that affected their play. There are a few things keeping me from joining those offering to help Searels pack.

First, if you believe some of the scuttlebutt out there, Searels was one of the first to blow the whistle on slippage in Georgia’s conditioning program. Searels, if you recall, was one of the first big external hires by Mark Richt. There had been some shuffling at running backs coach, and the underwhelming John Jancek was brought in following the departure of Brian VanGorder. But in large part the staff had remained intact. That’s good in terms of continuity and synergy, but there are always the temptations of complacency and insular thinking for a group kept together that long. For the first six years under Richt, there hadn’t been a strong outside perspective brought into the program. Searels was just that, and I hope that we’re not losing that challenging perspective.

I think four years later people have a vague sense of what Searels inherited, but let’s recap exactly what the offensive line looked like entering the 2007 season:

LT 77 Trinton Sturdivant 6-5, 286, Fr.
72 Vince Vance 6-8, 330, So.

LG 63 Chris Davis 6-4, 292, RFr.
54 Tanner Strickland 6-5, 318, Fr.

C 75 Fernando Velasco 6-4, 328, Sr.
74 Kevin Perez 6-3, 274, RFr.
64 Ian Smith 6-3, 295, So..

RG 70 Scott Havercamp 6-4, 310, Jr.
78 Josh Davis 6-6, 293, RFr.
73 Micky White 6-3, 320, RFr.

RT 67 Chester Adams 6-4, 330, Jr.
79 Justin Anderson 6-5, 335, Fr.

The biggest change on that line came as Havercamp washed out and Clint Boling came along quicker than expected. Searels earned his reputation as a miracle worker who pieced together a line starting three freshmen. Georgia, behind that line, was able to win 11 games, finish #2 in the nation, and produce the single best individual rushing performance from a Dawg since Herschel Walker.

The situation was even more dire in 2008 when Vance became the single upperclassmen on the line. Sturdivant was out with his first knee injury, and Searels’ spent most of the season rotating players just to fill the gaps. Kiante Tripp was even brought over from the defensive line to provide whatever he could at tackle. The results weren’t as great as they were in 2007, but Georgia still won ten games, and both run and pass blocking were good enough to launch the pro careers of Stafford and Moreno.

In a way, Searels earns a grade of “incomplete” for his time in Athens. This season saw only the first big turnover in the line he began constructing in 2007. The 2010 edition was disappointing, but the 2011 version also has a lot going for it now that Sturdivant and Glenn are coming back. Searels did enough just to get Georgia a funtioning line to begin with, and he also did a lot to make sure it’s a long time before the Bulldogs have to face the nightmare scenario of 2007 again.

The University’s Student Government Association voted Tuesday to propose changes to the year-old controversial tailgating restrictions affecting North Campus.

The key changes recommended by SGA include allowing tables and tents back into the North Campus area. Tables under four feet in length were already allowed under the new rules, but more substantial tables and tents were prohibited. Even if this proposal is adopted by the University, and there is no guarantee or even a hint that it will be, the following would still be banned in that area:

• Kegs
• Generators
• Televisions
• Amplified music
• Grills or cookers of any type
• Household furniture (folding chairs not included)

Whether due to the number of early kickoffs or the new tailgating rules, North Campus was more or less vacant on game days last fall. It’s debatable whether allowing tables and tents would bring more people back to the area given the remainder of the restrictions, but it would at least allow those who do set up there the option of getting out of the sun.

Dean Legge reports that Georgia junior offensive guard Tanner Strickland will not return for his senior season. Strickland will graduate following spring semester.

Strickland played quite a bit in 2008 as a redshirt freshman, but shoulder surgery kept him out for the better part of 2009. Though he played in all 13 games in 2010, those lingering shoulder issues were enough cause for Strickland to move on after graduation.

The loss of an older lineman like Strickland is softened somewhat by the decision of Cordy Glenn to return. Strickland might have been a candidate to start or at least contribute at right guard, but the staff at least has other options to consider with Glenn holding down his guard spot. Faced with a similar choice this year, the staff instead turned to true freshman Kenarious Gates.

The biggest concern with the departure of an experienced reserve is the possibility of injury elsewhere on the line. Depth at guard becomes a little thinner and younger, and it’s time for the next wave of linemen to start making an impact. You also hate to lose good seniors for their leadership and experience value. If nothing else, Strickland’s decision gives the staff another scholarship to work with this year.

Tennessee 59 – Georgia 57

I’m just not going to dwell too long on the no-call at the end of the game. Refs swallow their whistles at the end of a game, and you’re not going to get any call other than a clear hack on the guy shooting the ball. Barnes knows that, and next time he’ll box the guy out to the halfcourt line. The offensive rebound that led to the game-winner was the second time in the final minute that Georgia couldn’t grab a Tennessee miss, and the Vols got three possessions over that final minute while Georgia had none.

I have to admit to my judgement of the game being clouded by annoyance at the ESPNU crew. Rob Stone and Jay Williams could only have prepared for this game by watching the Vandy-Tennessee game and then interviewing Hopson. Their nonstop gushing over Hopson, who was pretty well matched by Travis Leslie, completely missed the bigger story going on inside. Hopson only scored six points in the final 30 minutes of the game, but on they went. Meanwhile, Georgia’s explosive offense was struggling to do what they do best. Holding Tennessee to 59 points was a good job by the Georgia defense even with good nights from Hopson and Harris.

The key to the game, and it’s not just because he hit the game-winner, was Brian Williams. It wasn’t so much his production, though he did put up ten points. It was more his effectiveness on the other end and his physical style of play. He had help from Fields and Harris, but Georgia’s frontcourt was frustrated on offense all night. Thomkins only got eight points from the floor and shot only 30%. Price, thanks to some poor decisions with his foul discipline, was not a factor. Barnes held his own on defense but was never a threat to do more than the occasional put-back on the other end. Freshmen Thornton and Williams were simply overmatched in such a physical environment. Without Price holding it down inside, Tennessee had an easy time pushing Thompkins outside, choking off passing lanes on penetration, and keeping Georgia off the offensive glass.

It’s not an exact science of course, but you can generally tell how things are going for Georgia by looking at Price and Ware. The trio of Leslie, Robinson, and Thompkins are almost sure to get their double-figures even in a lethargic low-scoring game like this one. At Vandy, we noted that Price, Barnes, and Ware combined for a paltry five points. The story was exactly the opposite on Saturday at Ole Miss. Ware put up one of the best lines you could ask for from your point guard: 15 points on 3-of-4 shooting, 2-of-3 from outside, a perfect 7-of-7 from the line, 1 steal, and the topper…9 assists without a turnover. Price likewise had an efficient and productive day, and it came at a time when Georgia needed him. He was perfect from the line, led the team in rebounding, had a couple of nice blocks, and was able to hang around for his most playing time since the St. Louis game.

Last night, things looked a lot more like they did against Vanderbilt. Price spent most of the game on the bench in foul trouble and never scored. Ware had that huge three-pointer to tie things up and had another turnover-free night, but he still ended up with only six points. At Vandy, Price, Barnes, and Ware had five points between them. Last night it was ten. Georgia’s trio of stars will only carry the team so far – the other half of Georgia’s top six players have to produce every time out.

All that said, it was still a game decided in the last second against a good team that’s held their own against some of the nation’s best. Tennessee has been wildly inconsistent this year, but we saw one of their better efforts last night. That’s no consolation for the heartbreaking loss. If something good can come from a game like that, maybe our guys saw what’s possible if they come into a game with a little more energy and determination. Georgia missed a good opportunity to claim some ground in the SEC East after Kentucky lost again, and it’s never a good thing to drop a conference game at home. The Dawgs will get another chance to defend their home turf against a turbulent but talented Mississippi State team on Saturday.

If Georgia wanted to build on their upset of Kentucky, the SEC schedule wasn’t going to make it easy. Georgia’s first SEC road game of the year was at one of the league’s most difficult venues, and the recent winter storm meant that Georgia would have to make the long bus trip rather than the short flight to Nashville. There are more specific reasons why Georgia lost, but they never looked all that sharp and fresh. Vanderbilt jumped out on the Dawgs, withstood several comeback attempts, and held on for a 73-66 win in Nashville.

Georgia found themselves with three big problems:

• After a quick 4-of-7 start from behind the arc, Georgia hit just one of their next 14 three-point attempts. Mark Gottfried was exactly right calling Georgia’s early success from outside “fool’s gold.” Once the outside shots stopped falling, Georgia’s only remotely consistent offense was Robinson’s penetration or Leslie’s mid-range game.
• The Dawgs got only 5 points combined from the point guard or post positions. For a team as strong up front as Georgia is, it’s stunning that Barnes and Price could only have two points between them. But that’s what happens when you have more combined fouls (9) than shot attempts (8). Neither could stay in the game long enough to establish a presence, and Vandy was able to focus most of their defense on trapping Thompkins (with great success). It also wasn’t Dustin Ware’s best game. No Bulldog attempted more three-pointers, but Ware could only knock down one late in the second half.
• Georgia only got 7 points from the bench. That in itself isn’t a sign of trouble (Vandy only got 5 bench points), but when 40% of your starting lineup isn’t producing points, the scoring has to come from somewhere.

And yet this was a seven-point game. A lot of that had to do with Leslie and Robinson playing some of their better ball of the season, but Vandy also left the door open. They only shot 42%, and Georgia had several chances to make the ending interesting after Ware’s lone three-pointer cut the deficit to seven with under four minutes remaining. But Leslie and Robinson could only carry the team so far. Thompkins was frustrated by the doubleteam, and he had no help inside thanks to the foul situation of the posts.

The disparity in fouls is going to draw some attention, and it should. But Georgia came by a lot of those fouls honestly. Whether it was the long bus ride, the unfamiliar arena, or just an off-night, the Dawgs were often a step slow on defense whether it was on the initial move to the basket or rotating over to help. That left the Dawgs in plenty of situations where they were out of position, and that’s when fouls happen.

There’s a temptation to bring expectations down to earth now that the winning streak is over and point out that any team can get up for the big home games. I don’t know that last night was so much of a letdown as it was a case of some very specific things going wrong against a decent opponent. They were knocked from the top of the standings, but none of that matters two games into the conference schedule. Conference road games are tough – just ask Duke. Georgia might not have impressed many people last night, but they can by bouncing back in another big road game on Saturday. The posts will have to be smarter about their fouls, the outside shots will have to be more efficient and timely, and Georgia will have to a better job on Chris Warren than they did John Jenkins.

Marc Weiszer reports that junior left tackle Trinton Sturdivant will remain at Georgia for his senior season. Other than kicker Blair Walsh, Sturdivant is the only Bulldog junior to announce his intentions one way or the other. Sturdivant’s senior season will be his fifth at Georgia, and it will be his second full season following a return from two knee injuries. His return gives the Bulldogs another veteran presence up front on a line that is losing three seniors.

Record: 11-2

November and December went about as well as you can expect for Mark Fox’s team. They might have liked to win another game down in Orlando, but getting through the rest of the schedule unscathed was a good accomplishment. There were several close calls against arguably lesser teams giving plenty of cause for concern, but 11-2 is the important thing right now. Georgia survived nailbiters on the road at St. Louis, Georgia Tech, and Mercer, and they can expect to be in plenty more tough road games during conference play.

Personnel

Trey Thompkins has been as advertised. He’s been slowed in terms of both actual playing time and conditioning by that preseason ankle injury, but he’s still every bit the scorer the team needs him to be. The rest of the frontcourt has had a positive early season. Jeremy Price has become a nice, strong scoring option inside, but he can’t avoid foul trouble. Chris Barnes has been able to step in off the bench, but there’s a slight drop-off in production. Though he won’t have a huge impact this year, I like what I see from freshman Donte Robinson. He’s a very good leaper and shows promise as a shot-blocker and rebounder. He also has a nice touch on short jumpers.

Gerald Robinson and Sherrard Brantley have had their moments as shooters, but with each shooting under 31%, neither has been a consistent scorer from behind the arc. The team overall shoots 31% from outside – not great, but decent enough to be a threat if someone gets hot on a given night (see Ware against Tech). Robinson has made more of an impact in the role we came to love from Sundiata Gaines – that driving, creating guard who can do amazing things going to the basket.

Dustin Ware and Travis Leslie are the veteran guards and have played like it. Ware has a solid 3/1 assist/turnover ratio and can provide occasional help with his outside shot, but it’s a bit unusual that the point guard doesn’t lead the team in assists. That honor goes to Robinson, and it makes sense when you consider the frequency with which Robinson attacks the basket. That aggressive play has a cost: Robinson’s team-high 43 turnovers go with those team-high 61 assists. Leslie has had another solid year with a 13.8 PPG average. But if you’ve been looking for Leslie’s game to take a big step forward this year, it just hasn’t happened. He still does what he does – great leaper, rebounder, and even a solid shotblocker for a guard. The dunks are as good as they ever were. His jumper is still inconsistent though and almost nonexistent from outside. It’s unreasonable to expect him to duplicate the progress he made from his freshman to sophomore seasons, but he’s more or less the same player he was a year ago – only with a lot more attention from opposing defenses.

Despite so much firepower on offense, Georgia has had plenty of frustrating stretches on that end of the court. When Price is in foul trouble or Thompkins is out of the game, points can be tough to come by. The stats tend to smooth out and look fine, but most every position, except for Thompkins, has gone quiet for long stretches. Finding a way to keep the points coming and preventing big runs the other way when the key starters are on the bench will be a big factor in SEC play.

Defense hasn’t been a strength for this team. Opponents are shooting nearly 35% from outside, and relaxed defense has led to the erosion of some early big leads. The Dawgs have an impressive 78 blocks already, but post players are also quick to pick up fouls. Mark Fox has a preference for man defense over zone, but the zone has been more effective at times this year, especially in the comeback at Mercer.

What to expect in the SEC

What we’re really asking of course is “can Georgia get to 9 wins in the league and 20 wins overall?” The conference isn’t terribly strong this year, although the East looks to be healthier than the West. Kentucky stands out, and then there’s a thick layer of inconsistent but potentially dangerous teams. Tennessee and Florida have some standout wins and puzzling losses. South Carolina and Vandy aren’t all that good, but they aren’t putrid.

In the SEC West, it’s a mess. Preseason favorites Mississippi State already have six losses and some alarming internal issues. Ole Miss and Arkansas top the division, but they really haven’t been tested all that much yet. Arkansas’ win over a pedestrian Oklahoma team is about it for decent wins. LSU and Alabama don’t really scare anyone, and Auburn is going to struggle. But even Auburn is on a four-game winning streak that includes a home upset of Florida State, reminding us that life on the road in the SEC is never a sure thing.

Ideally, to get to 9 or 10 wins in the SEC, Georgia would win 4 or 5 games against the West and break even against the East. In a best-case scenario, the Dawgs would do well against the West and sweep the season series against at least two teams from the East. Georgia must travel to Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Alabama from the West – all traditionally tough venues but teams no better than others Georgia has defeated this year.

Georgia’s season could well come down to the final three games of the year: they host South Carolina and LSU and then wrap up at Alabama. All three are winnable, but they will come after a stretch of 3 out of 4 games on the road including back-to-back trips to Florida and Tennessee. If Georgia can come out of that road swing at or close to .500, they’ll be set for a strong three-game push into the postseason.

Record: 11-3 (1-0)

Andy Landers intentionally structured this year’s nonconference slate to avoid the big name opponents that usually fill up a Lady Dogs’ schedule. With so many freshmen and sophomores still adjusting to the college game, this wasn’t the year to be taking on all comers. Still, the nonconference schedule featured a couple of interesting challenges. Unfortunately, Georgia wasn’t up to many of those challenges. There are only a handful of quality wins, and the comeback at TCU was the lone big road win. Road losses at Georgia Tech, USC, and a neutral-site loss to Louisiana Tech knocked Georgia from the polls and kept them from posting any other high-profile wins.

The Lady Dogs actually already have one conference game under their belt. They erupted for 40 first-half points last Sunday and held on to beat South Carolina 61-51 despite only scoring 21 in the second half. With two very important road games coming up, it was essential that Georgia start off SEC play the right way, and they came away with the home win.

Personnel

There’s something to like about each of the players on the court. You can highlight Phillips’ rebounding or Mitchell’s poise or Miller’s offense and so on. But what stands out is the lack of the consistent playmakers that Georgia usually seems to have. Jasmine James will often give Georgia double-figures, but she’ll do it by taking a lot of shots as the ball is usually in her hand when the shot clock winds down. Merideth Mitchell can be a difference-maker if her shot is falling, but it can be spotty. Anne Marie Armstrong has hit some big outside shots, but her offense is inconsistent, and she’s a step slow on defense.

Georgia’s freshmen guards show a great deal of promise. Khaalidah Miller just earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for a couple of strong recent outings, and she led Georgia with 15 points against South Carolina. Ronika Ransford is a quick, tough guard who shows good skill on defense and getting to the basket. Her shot needs work, but she’s played well enough to earn more time. Ransford and Miller will be a solid tandem down the road, but they’re not quite to the point of taking over games the way Jasmine James did a year ago.

Post play has been a relative weakness. Porsha Phillips is a fine player and an outstanding rebounder but is more comfortable working around the elbow rather than banging inside. Armstrong and Mitchell likewise have the size to play forward but just aren’t comfortable in traditional post roles. Jasmine Hassell hasn’t exactly fizzled at center after a promising freshman campaign, but she’s struggled enough to be challenged for her starting job. Tamika Willis and Ebony Jones are able to give minutes off the bench, but neither has shown much punch on offense.

What to expect in the SEC

The SEC is typically the strongest conference in women’s hoops, but this isn’t an especially strong crop of teams. Tennessee is a national contender, and Kentucky is as strong as they’ve ever been. After that, it’s a toss-up. Arkansas is stronger than expected. LSU and Vandy are in transition seasons. There aren’t a lot of bad teams, and most anyone can pull off a win at home against all but a couple of teams.

Because the women don’t play a divisional schedule, Georgia will face Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama twice. They’ll only face traditional powers Tennessee, LSU, and Vanderbilt once. In most years, that would be a favorable schedule, but Kentucky and Arkansas look to be two of the better teams this year. The Lady Dogs will find out immediately where they stack up: their next two games are on the road against those strong Kentucky and Arkansas teams.

The nonconference schedule has taught us a few things. 1- Georgia’s not likely to light up the scoreboard. 2- they struggle on the road. Georgia’s scoring woes extend across the board. They aren’t get a ton of production inside, they shoot under 30% from outside, and they shoot just over 60% from the line. What this means for Georgia is that they’re likely to be in a lot of close, low-scoring games – and that’s a best-case scenario. If the defense or rebounding effort isn’t there on a given night, they’ll likely lose. It also means that Georgia’s prospects in SEC play are widely variable. They’re good enough to contend for one of the top spots in the league if enough of those close games break their way. But their margin for error is so thin that a handful of points across a few games could plunge them into the bottom half of the conference.

This isn’t one of Georgia’s stronger teams, but the potential is there for a good season and another trip to the NCAA Tournament. Georgia’s biggest unknown the rest of the way is what they’ll get from their post players. If James remains a consistent scorer and the freshmen continue to come along, the backcourt should be OK – but not great.

Think about the layers of people that take care of everything you need to do your job. Everyone from the IT staff keeping the bits flowing to the assistant who takes care of office supplies and keeps the coffee stocked to the HVAC guys who are outside working on the broken heat pump. Every second you have to spend thinking about these things is time spent away from what makes you productive and valuable to your company. If your company doesn’t have people and systems in place to abstract away those functions, I probably don’t have to tell you how frustrated you are about the constant interruptions and crap you have to deal with before you can even do what it is you do.

We’re trained to think of management in top-down terms: orders and direction are given and followed, policies are imposed, and so on. But the best managers get that one of their most important roles is to create those abstractions and make them as transparent as possible. If a salesperson is constantly dealing with IT issues, management has failed.

So it is with athletics or any profession, and Mark Richt is just another guy with a job. So it makes sense that his manager, Greg McGarity, is helping Richt to clear some of those distractions away. Whether you disagree with Richt’s assessment that “we are very close,” the one takeaway from yesterday’s season-ending press conference was that Richt would be more available to “study the game of football.”

“I’m just spending less time messing around with things that Greg wants to be able to help take off my plate from an administrative point of view,” Richt said. “Things are being put in place that are going to help free me up to spend more time doing the things that I love the most, which is study the game of football and be an expert and be on the cutting edge.”

It might seem obvious to the point of “what took you so long,” but there are reasons why coaches sometimes get bogged down in the peripheral stuff. Going back to the role of management, what’s changed in that area over the past year? We know that this move was undertaken with the cooperation of McGarity, and we don’t know what level of administrative support was available from McGarity’s predecessor.

It can also be a difficult balance because those non-football areas can derail what you’re trying to accomplish on the field. Take the emphasis of this offseason: the restructuring of the conditioning program is the one major change made since the 2010 season. The emphasis on toughness and attitude has nothing to do with schemes and cutting-edge football, but Georgia has decided that they can’t win without it. It’s a similar story for academics. They’re in good hands with Dr. Eason, but it’s an area that can sink your program if it gets out of control with a head coach whose head is mostly in the Xs and Os. Richt will still need to have clear communication with these areas while he studies the game, and that’s something that a good manager like McGarity will have to keep an eye on.

Is this a good or even an important move? I don’t know. On one hand, I don’t see the shuffling of some administrative duties as key to the survivial of Richt’s program as some much-needed upgrades on the conditioning side. On the other hand, Georgia, especially on offense, isn’t exactly what you’d call a cutting-edge program. Teams like Stanford showed that you can still win, and win big, with a conventional I-formation and pro-style offense, but Georgia’s offense heavy on sprint draws and play action isn’t actively being copied in what has become a very copycat business. If it takes some reorganization for Richt to have the time to study those areas and make the changes that are implied by that reflection, at least that’s taken care of now.

The last offseason was spent discussing and for the most part shooting down the notion that Mark Richt was on the hot seat. I don’t think we’ll have that discussion again this year. Mark Richt will be Georgia’s coach next year – teams not named Maryland don’t willingly try to put a new staff together a month before Signing Day. The outlook beyond next year is what has changed: we won’t throw out ultimatums for 2011 (as if it were our place to make those demands), but it’s clear that the recent track record isn’t cutting it. With a third of the conference playing for national titles since Georgia last won the league, the expectations are high but unmistakable.

There’s a lot of talk about the program being at a crossroads now, but we’re a season past that point. Talking about a “crossroads” implies that the possible paths facing the program lead to roughly equally likely outcomes. Mark Richt, on the other hand, is trying to keep things from going off a cliff. If changes need to be made on offense, that would make an overhaul of both sides of the ball, special teams, and the conditioning program within two years. What’s left after that?

Bad losses have a way of clearing things up. The 2009 blowout in Knoxville wrapped up any discussion on the need for a new approach on defense. The Liberty Bowl did a good job of shooting down the idea that 2010 was mostly a story of with A.J. / without A.J. Without Green, the Dawgs were 1-3. With him, they were 5-4. Better, sure, but only the 2009 season generated more losses for a Richt team than the shortened nine-game stretch of 2010 during which Green was available. The availability of A.J. Green is an interesting footnote on the season, but it’s noise when it comes to the current state of the program.

Mark Richt has already indicated that toughening up the program will be a priority for the offseason. We’ve seen progress in that area with the developments in the conditioning program, and we’re assured that even more work in that area is on the way. But toughness starts at the top, and what we’re talking about is illustrated in a contrast Kyle makes nicely in this post. The new conditioning staff can get its ducks in a row, but it won’t matter if that attitude isn’t carried through all elements of the program from nutrition and academics up to playcalling and execution.

The Boise State game staring us in the face around eight months from now couldn’t be a bigger moment for the future of the program. I’m not really talking about the game in a must-win sense, as a loss in a game like that isn’t necessarily the end of the season (right, Hokies?). But that game, and the South Carolina game after it, will be immediate and legitimate tests of the ability of Mark Richt to right his program during the offseason. Wins also won’t necessarily mean that Georgia is set for an SEC title and beyond, but those wins are necesaary to keep next season from becoming one long and extended march towards the inevitable.

In 2005, Boise State came to Athens intent on measuring itself against the eventual SEC champion. When the two teams meet in Atlanta later this year, the roles will be reversed: this time, it will be Georgia looking to (re)establish credibility by beating one of the nation’s most successful and highly-ranked programs of the past five years.

Can Georgia score over 30?

It’s the stat you’ve been hearing about since late October: Georgia hasn’t scored fewer than 30 points since their trip out to Colorado.  It’s impressive that the streak has occurred during the meat of the SEC slate, and it’s been a result of the rapid development of Aaron Murray.  That production hasn’t always been enough for a win, though.  Georgia has dropped two of the seven games in which they’ve scored 30+.  They’ll go up against a UCF defense that could be better than most Georgia fans expect.  They’ve held both of their other AQ opponents, N.C. State and Kansas State, under 30, and they stifled June Jones’ SMU offense in their conference title game. UCF leads their conference in most defensive stats, and they’re top 20 nationally in both scoring and total defense.  They haven’t always been consistent, though.  They gave up at least 30 in three straight games to some sub-par conference opponents during the middle of the season.  DB Josh Robinson will be key in keeping A.J. Green from having a big day.

Can Georgia keep UCF under 30?

The flip side of Georgia’s productive offense is this: the Dawgs have given up at least 30 to their last three FBS opponents.  Giving up 30 to Auburn is no indictment of a defense, but the other two games aren’t feathers in Todd Grantham’s cap. Steve Spurrier mentioned yesterday that he had watched Florida try to rotate three quarterbacks this year.  “I think it worked in one game,” he said.  We all know which game that was.  Georgia Tech’s option offense can be explosive, but Duke did a better job keeping the Yellow Jackets in check.  Central Florida presents a familiar style of play that has caused Georgia problems: a mobile quarterback and an effective running game.  They don’t have the scheme of Mississippi State or the power running of South Carolina, but they can move the ball on the ground, move the chains with an efficient passing game, and their quarterback can scramble and turn third down stops into frustrating and drive-sustaining first downs. Georgia’s defense will have to focus on finishing off those third downs and getting off the field – something they’ve struggled with for much of 2010. 

Which freshman QB will have the better day, and will it matter?

The showdown between two of the nation’s best freshman quarterbacks is one of the big storylines of this game. Though the two have similar attributes in terms of a good arm and great mobility, their roles differ. Murray has become the unquestioned centerpiece of the Georgia offense.  Thanks to A.J. Green and a solid receiving corps, Murray’s development has turned an offense that was supposed to lean on the running game into an offense whose identity starts with the pass.  The numbers back it up:  Murray is on track to break 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns passing for the year.  He’s not just breaking records for Georgia’s freshman quarterbacks; he’s flirting with team records.  UCF’s Jeff Godfrey is also a productive passer, but his role is more about efficiency.  He’s the nation’s leader among freshman quarterbacks in efficiency, and he completes 68.4% of his passes.  He’s only thrown 13 touchdowns, compared with 24 for Murray.  That matters less because UCF can run the ball.  They’re 25th in the nation with 192.46 yards per game on the ground.  Godfrey doesn’t have to throw for 300 yards and 3 TDs in order to be effective; he just has to be efficient in those situations when he’s asked to pass, and he has to use his mobility to create yards on the ground or get out of trouble.  That’s just what he’s done this year, and it’s why UCF is where they are.

What impact will the weather have?

Storms are forecast for Memphis this afternoon, and rain can turn the best intentions of a game plan into a muddy slugfest.  There’s no end of discussion whether rain would help an offense or defense or slow everyone down, but it looks as if a wet track and a strong southerly wind will be a factor in this game. 

Can we expect the unexpected?

We’ve seen everything this bowl season from fake kicks to flea-flickers to the surreal ending of the Music City Bowl.  And that was just yesterday.  That’s not unusual; teams often pull out all the stops for their bowl game.  Big turnovers or special teams plays can either blow a game open or keep an underdog’s hopes alive.  Last year a series of plays from the return game and punting miscues turned the Independence Bowl from a nail-biter into a rout.  In a game with no turnovers and relatively benign special teams, you like Georgia’s chances in this one.  But what are the chances of ending up in that kind of game?

There’s no sense in having a schedule conflict if it can be avoided, so I’ll join the chorus of approval for moving G-Day a week after Masters weekend. At the very least, maybe we’ll miss the early April cold snaps that have been brutal the past couple of years.

But something tells me it wasn’t the Masters keeping D-Day attendance down under a half of Sanford Stadium’s capacity. This change will surely matter to a handful of people, and, again, there’s no use of having a conflict just to have one. I just think that any increase in attendance will be incremental rather than substantial. It’s still a vanilla and heavily-scripted scrimmage that also happens to be on TV.

At the 2010 football gala earlier this month, UGA used the occasion to name the Team of the Decade to coincide with Mark Richt’s tenth season as Georgia’s head coach. Over 37,000 online votes came up with this group:

DEFENSE

DE: Charles Grant and David Pollack
DT: Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins
OLB: Rennie Curran and Boss Bailey
ILB: Dannell Ellerbe and Odell Thurman
CB: Tim Jennings and Asher Allen
FS: Thomas Davis
SS: Greg Blue
P: Drew Butler

OFFENSE
C: Ben Jones
OG: Fermando Velasco and Max Jean-Gilles
OT: Jon Stinchcomb and Clint Boling
TE: Ben Watson
WR: Mohamed Massaquoi and A.J. Green
FB: Brannan Southerland
TB: Knowshon Moreno
QB: David Greene
PK: Blair Walsh

Not bad. A little heavy on more recent players, but that’s to be expected. Subjective lists like these are always fodder for discussion, so here’s who we would have selected. No real criteria other than that they have to had played at least one season for Mark Richt. I considered of course raw production at Georgia but also NFL draft status and even some intangibles.

DEFENSE

DE: David Pollack and Quentin Moses
DT: Jon Sullivan and Geno Atkins
LB: Rennie Curran, Boss Bailey, Odell Thurman
CB: Tim Jennings and Bruce Thornton
S: Thomas Davis and Sean Jones
P: Drew Butler

OFFENSE

OL: Jon Stinchcomb, Max Jean-Gilles, George Foster, Fernando Velasco, Clint Boling
TE: Ben Watson
WR: A.J. Green and Terrence Edwards
FB: Brannan Southerland
TB: Knowshon Moreno
QB: David Greene
PK: Billy Bennett

While we’re at it, might as well do a second team:

DEFENSE

DE: Charles Johnson and Charles Grant
DT: Jeff Owens and Kedric Golston
LB: Will Witherspoon, Tony Gilbert, Justin Houston
CB: Asher Allen and Tim Wansley
S: Kentrell Curry and Jermaine Phillips
P: Gordon Ely-Kelso

OFFENSE

OL: Alex Jackson, Ben Jones, Dan Inman, Ken Shackleford, Chester Adams
TE: Leonard Pope
WR: Mohamed Massaquoi and Fred Gibson
FB: Verron Haynes
TB: Musa Smith
QB: Matthew Stafford
PK: Blair Walsh

I can anticipate some disagreements. Stafford over Shockley? Edwards over, well, everyone but AJ? I was surprised by a few names of some very good players I had to leave off. McMichael. Roland. Oliver. Jacobs. Chapas. Coutu. Blue. Gary. The DE position alone was really tough: no Marcus Howard, Will Thompson, or Robert Geathers. I struggled with putting Justin Houston at LB over someone like Tony Taylor. In the 4-3 Georgia used for nearly all of the decade, would Houston have to be considered with the linebackers or the DEs?

Anyway, feel free to leave your own Dawgs of the Decade in the comments. There’s no shortage of great players who deserve recognition.

It might be a little early for the Airing of Grievances, and this isn’t exactly “I got a lotta problems with you people” stuff.

“Pretty damn good”

This is probably a better post for the long off-season, but the short attention span summary of the 2010 Georgia season is quickly taking shape as a tale of Georgia righting the ship and recovering from a poor start and the absence of A.J. Green.

Mark Richt suggested that “we played pretty damn good” after the team’s 1-4 start. There’s no question that the 5-2 finish was better than the start of the season, and the team did play well in certain areas – primarily on offense as Aaron Murray developed at quarterback. The accomplishment of consecutive games with 30+ points is significant, but so is the point that 30 is just an arbitrary benchmark. If your offense is capable of scoring more and needs to do so in order to compete and win, 30 points is meaningless. We’ve heard plenty about the seven straight games with 30+ points scored. We’ve heard less about the Dawgs giving up 30+ in their last four games against FBS competition.

That 5-2 finish included a 3-2 SEC stretch. Above-average, but hardly what I’d call “pretty damn good,” and not up to the standards of what we’ve come to expect from a Mark Richt team. None of those wins were over a ranked team or anyone with more than six wins*, though there were three bowl-bound teams in there. Losing to Auburn was no shame this year, but there was a huge missed opportunity against a Florida team whose late-season dive was put on hold for one productive afternoon in Jacksonville. It’s to Georgia’s credit that they didn’t lose games to teams with similar records like Tennessee, Kentucky, or Georgia Tech, but that’s setting the bar pretty low.

I don’t take Richt’s quote to mean that he thinks everything is just fine. We’ve already seen changes with the strength program, he’s noted the need for a team that’s physically and mentally tougher, and he realizes that the defense has a ways to go.

I still don’t know that the team I saw down the stretch had improved to the point that I’d say the South Carolina, Arkansas, or even Mississippi State games would have turned out differently. Those teams improved a good deal themselves.

* Bowl game result pending

Pining for Muschamp

I caught this line from Mr. SEC in a post over at Get the Picture. The hiring of Will Muschamp at Florida might have the effect of tweaking more than one program, but I have my doubts that Muschamp coming to Florida really bothered Georgia fans all that much (other than the obvious: he’s still Florida’s coach, after all).

There are probably a lot of Georgia fans who are upset tonight. As a Georgia grad, Muschamp was viewed as a “someday” coach of the Bulldogs. You can bet the folks who wanted to blow out Richt and hire Muschamp this offseason are bummed.

Oh, I’ve seen some of what he’s talking about, but it’s nowhere near the reaction of “a lot” of Georgia fans. If anything, the typical reaction from what I’ve read seems to follow along these lines: first, mild amusement (as opposed to being “bummed”) that Florida turned, of all things, to a former Georgia player and, second, a small sense of excitement – even if misplaced – that Georgia won’t have to face Meyer or Mullen or Stoops in Jacksonville for the near future. Muschamp is (or was) a Bulldog in good standing whose progression from walk-on to starter to co-captain to rising coaching prospect is admirable, but let’s not pretend that this was a beloved icon like David Greene heading to a rival’s sideline. Most of us couldn’t pick him out of a team photo without a cheat sheet.

Frankly, I’ve found the whole Muschamp-as-prodigal-son meme to be much more a creation and fantasy of those outside the program rather than of those who follow the Bulldogs. It’s the same connect-the-dots logic that had Dan Mullen as the all-but-announced successor to Urban Meyer. Once you get to the small subset of fans ready to “blow out” Richt after this season, Muschamp was about as informed a choice as Gruden, Petrino, or any other name that usually comes up when fans play athletic director. If you anticipated that this offseason would include the firing of Mark Richt and the pursuit of Will Muschamp, you deserve to be bummed.