SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Georgia HC Mark Richt on the Hot Seat?
My, How Things Change
One week ago, Georgia was sitting pretty as the favorite to win the SEC East and, according to CG Technology (h/t CBSSports.com), the favorite to win the national championship.
Then the World's Largest Cocktail Party happened.
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The Bulldogs lost to then-reeling Florida 38-20 in a game in which the Gators ran 60 running plays and only six passing plays. It was one of the most demoralizing defeats in Georgia history.
It didn't sit well.
Bill Shanks of the Macon Telegraph called for an uprising against head coach Mark Richt—who has a 132-47 (.737) career record—from fans who are sick of the seemingly annual, mind-boggling letdown:
"People say, “Well, Mark will never leave. They’ll never fire him.” Well, maybe it’s time for the fans to let the administration know how unacceptable games like Saturday are. Maybe they need to be the ones heard, more loudly than the ones that talk about Richt and say, “He’s a good man, but…”
That act is getting tired. Losing games like Saturday is getting old. And it is becoming more and more obvious this coach will never get Georgia where most of its fans believe it should be.
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Let's take a step back for a second. For Georgia fans, this has got to be frustrating. In a division that has become more of a punchline than a power, Georgia has failed to walk doors that are wide open over the last two seasons.
Being frustrated is one thing, but calling for Richt's head is another—he has won two SEC titles, the program's only five SEC East titles and been on the doorstep or in the discussion for the national title in late November or early December on three occasions (2002, 2007 and 2012).
It's hard to win national titles, and Richt has gotten Georgia in that position several times during his career.
Is he Nick Saban? No, but he also didn't get the luck around the country that Saban did in 2011 and 2012 when the Crimson Tide won BCS National Championships after losing games in November.
Richt is a good coach who, at times, can be great. Is there a better available candidate out there? Nope.
Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart may be, but he'd be a risk. Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris will make some athletic director really smart when he gets hired, but he's still very much a risk.
The Florida game was awful, but it still was only one game. Georgia still has SEC East title aspirations, will get running back Todd Gurley back next week, has plenty of talent on the roster and will be in the mix in the division for years to come.
Relax, Georgia fans. It's only one loss.
The Curveball
When LSU and Alabama meet between the white lines, it typically looks more like an NFL game than a college game.
The pro-style, smashmouth approaches of the two SEC West juggernauts, combined with rosters that are littered with 5-star talent, make this the most old-school battle in what's becoming a new-school SEC.
LSU's defense will have a curveball thrown its way this year in the form of dual-threat quarterback Blake Sims.
For the first time in Les Miles' tenure at LSU, he'll be facing a Crimson Tide offense that features a quarterback who poses a legitimate threat with his legs. Sims has rushed for 250 yards and five touchdowns this season in offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin's offense—which is still a pro-style offense at its core.
He'll present a big challenge to an LSU defense that has played better over the last few weeks.
"It's not as routine, certainly," Miles said. "Quarterback mobility is an element you have to take into account when you're preparing defensively."
The beauty of Alabama's offense with Sims is that nothing has really changed, save for a few designed runs. The threat of Sims on the ground, coupled with his ability to tuck and run when protection breaks down, has added a new flavor to the Crimson Tide offense.
"Blake certainly has that ability and has picked the times he's done it extremely well," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said on last week's SEC coaches teleconference. "We're more of a pro-style offense and not really a quarterback-run team, but we have been able to utilize his effectiveness as a runner in certain situations that have been very helpful to us."
Keep an eye on Sims on Saturday night. A couple of key scrambles or missed tackles on designed runs could turn the tide in this classic SEC West battle.
Coker Hype Created by Media and Fans
Remember back in the summer when Alabama quarterback Jake Coker was supposed to slide right into AJ McCarron's role and become the next superstar in Tuscaloosa?
Yeah, about that...
All Sims has done is post the nation's third-best passer rating (172.68), score 20 total touchdowns and keep the Crimson Tide in the thick of the College Football Playoff hunt.
That hype, according to Saban, was driven by the media and fans.
"It wasn't really fair to Jake," he said. "[Coker] was new guy in the program, never been in the system and had a lot to grasp the offense not having been in spring practice. This was largely created by the media and fans, who always hope for the unknown to be better."
I guess he forgot about Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher.
"Including what they've had, he's much more talented than anything they've had," Fisher told D.C. Reeves of TideSports.com in the offseason. "I don't mean to discredit the previous guys, they were all great. But this guy is extremely talented. Arm and mind."
Was there hype from the media and fans? Absolutely.
However, had Coker's previous coach not publicly sold him to the point where reportedly pushed eventual Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston for the starting job for the eventual national champs, per The Afternoon Sports Drive on WNSP-FM 105 (h/t AL.com's Mark Heim), that hype wouldn't have been anywhere close to what it was.
Media and fans may have taken it and run with it, but Fisher started it. Plus, Saban had to buy it to an extent. Otherwise, Coker wouldn't be there.
The End of an Era?
At 4-5, the 2014 season hasn't exactly gone according to plan for South Carolina. The defense is a disaster, head coach Steve Spurrier is walking out of press conferences and the Gamecocks are at risk of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2007.
Is the "Head Ball Coach" considering walking away?
"When you have something like we've had this year, you think about it, "Spurrier said on the Dan Patrick Show on NBC Sports Network on Wednesday. "But like I told one of our writers here yesterday, the plan is to be back, and whatever we can do to fix the team, we'll worry about that after the season."
That's a pretty open-ended response and certainly leaves Spurrier with options to walk away himself or make some changes in the coaching staff—particularly with defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward.
The Gamecocks defense ranks 109th in the nation in yards per game (460.6), 122nd in yards per play (6.56) and 106th in scoring defense (34.1).
Ward told John Whittle of 247Sports.com that he isn't feeling any pressure about his job security.
Of course he isn't right now. The Gamecocks have come this far, and making a change now would be more of a public relations move than anything else.
Above all else, South Carolina needs to make a bowl game so that some of the younger players who have underperformed this year get much-needed practice time in a camp-like setting.
To get to that point, South Carolina needs stability. Firing Ward now would destabilize an already-shaky defense. That'd be bad for everybody.
Quick Outs
- If you haven't seen Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn dancing to M.C. Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This," stop what you're doing and do it now. Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze saw it. "I think I can take him in a dancing contest," Freeze said. Sounds like a challenge, and a perfect offseason programming opportunity for the SEC Network.
- Is Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen surprised by quarterback Dak Prescott's Heisman hype? Not really. "Before the season, If I were to tell you we were 8-0, I would probably have told you that Dak would have been a Heisman contender," he said.
- Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen got his first start against the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and it coincided with the Aggies going with a run-heavier approach. "There's a balance about what you, ultimately, want to do, and that young man can handle," head coach Kevin Sumlin said. Whether he can handle more or not, a similar game plan should be in place this week on the road at Auburn. The best defense against Auburn is a ball-control offense, and the last thing Texas A&M needs is its true freshman getting into a road shootout.
- With several coaches including Saban, Miles, Sumlin and Kentucky's Mark Stoops having Big Ten ties, the coaches were asked their opinion of the perception of the Big Ten. None of them took the bait. "The Big Ten is an elite league," Miles said. He didn't define "elite," though.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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