Georgia Bulldogs: Reaching Desperation Mode?

(Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

For the Georgia Bulldogs, this past Saturday was the worst display of football played during the Mark Richt era.

The offense looked lethargic, mustering only 89 yards rushing, 152 yards passing, and a field goal in a 45-19 loss to Tennessee.

The defense was even worse, making another quarterback look like a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Jonathon Crompton, who had been mediocre at best all year, exploded for 310 yards passing (a career high) and four touchdowns.

The one thing to be said for the defense is that it outscored Georgia's offense with an interception returned for a touchdown by Bicarri Rambo.

Special teams seemed to be the only bright spot on the day, as Brandon Boykin returned his second 100-yard kick-off for a touchdown and the Dawgs were able to block a punt out of the end zone for a safety.

That means the Dawgs' special teams unit outscored both the offense and the defense.

But was Saturday finally a wake-up call? Have the Dawgs officially reached desperation mode yet?

At 3-3 on the year, the Dawgs have got to wake up, or a 4-8 season would not be out of the realm of possibility.

To finish out the year the Dawgs play Vanderbilt, Florida, Tennessee Tech, Auburn, Kentucky, and Georgia Tech.

Other than the Tennessee Tech game, which one of the remaining games is an easy win for the Dawgs, based on what we have seen so far this season?

Vandy always plays the Dawgs tough, Florida is the No. 1 team in the country, Auburn is 5-1, Kentucky is playing everyone tough, and Georgia Tech is starting to roll with its triple option attack.

Joe Cox showed me something this past Saturday after throwing his second interception of the game. He came off the field with the look of “I cannot do anything right.”

That is a major problem.

Coach Richt needs to sit Cox this week against Vanderbilt so that he will have two weeks to get his head back together for the biggest game in his career in Jacksonville.

It will also give Richt a good look at Logan Gray and what he brings to the table with his duel-threat ability.

The defense just simply needs to play better. It has been put into a lot of bad predicaments with short fields to defend, but it also has shown poor tackling and bad fundamentals.

Coaching also needs to improve on both scheme and play-calling, and that is something coach Richt addressed in his Sunday press conference. “We’ve got to get better period, on offense, defense, and coaching,” he said.

Coach Richt also stated, “We have to motivate them, these are all the things that coaches do. The point I’m making is where we are, it’s a culmination of everything and I’m not pointing at someone individually, we all have to improve.”

It all begins this Saturday with Vanderbilt. Will the Dawgs get back on track like they have in the past?

For that we will have to wait and see.

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