Where Does Mark Richt Go From Here?

Preseason number one to good but not great team.  A team with seniors who believed they were in their final push for greatness.  A team that was not even competitive with the SEC elite.

Unfortunately for Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs, all these statements are applicable to this year's team.

So where does Richt go from here?  Having good teams won't keep you employed in the SEC when the fans demand more.  Just ask Jim Donnan, the last Georgia coach.  Even winning a national championship won't keep you employed.  Just ask Phillip Fulmer.

Richt has established himself as a good recruiter and a good coach.  Those labels can be the kiss of death in the SEC without at least an occasional great season.  How many more times will the fans allow a "close but no cigar" season to the man that early on looked like the man who could win it all?

Fans might not be wondering if Georgia's losses to Alabama and Florida had been close, with the game in doubt near the end.  Instead, both came out, punched the Dogs in the face, and took their lunch money while they lay on their backs helpless.  Both were on national television for the entire fanbase to see too.

There's no denying that the Bulldogs have talent.  There's no denying that they can be impressive.  Look how they completely ripped up the defending national champion LSU Tigers.  What no one knows is, why can't they be consistent?

Talent is talent.  If Stafford can throw a 40-yard out pattern on a frozen rope against one team, why can't he against another?  The same could be said for the Dogs' talented runner Moreno.

Some point out that Richt spent more time talking about black jerseys against Alabama than he did in working on an actual game plan for that team.  Has Georgia squandered its best chance in years to win it all with such a talented squad in Athens?  For the first time, many fans are beginning to quietly grumble. 

Do you even consider running off a coach with more than a 75 percent lifetime head coaching victory percentage?  Well, they just did at Tennessee—but not before Fulmer drug the program down much further than Richt has allowed his Bulldogs to wander.

However, the vultures are at least aware of the discontent in Athens.  They haven't started circling yet, but after they finish the hefty carcass of Phillip Fulmer, they may just leisurely start the journey to Georgia.

Who knows?  By the time they finish digesting Fulmer, and that may take a year, they'll at least be nearby to watch before they actually start circling.