Georgia Football: Don't Blame Mark Richt for Loss to Georgia Tech

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt won't shun responsibility for his team's disappointing loss at home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but he should not be blamed for the setback.

According to Seth Emerson of The Telegraph, Richt confessed that his decision to kick a squib with just a few seconds remaining in the fourth quarter was a mistake.

But that kick didn't cost the Dawgs the game any more than the ensuing play, a 21-yard scramble by Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas, which set up a game-tying field goal from 53 yards out.

In some regards, that sequence of events was a microcosm of the game itself and the disconnect between what Rich should and should not be blamed for.

In hindsight, perhaps Richt should have kicked the ball into the end zone.  That's easy to see now.  But even in real time, Georgia's defense should have been prepared for Thomas, Georgia Tech's leading rusher by a long shot, to scramble on the next play.  After all, his big-play receiver was already out of the game.  

But the Bulldogs defense did not execute in that situation, which was a theme of the second half, and Thomas ran untouched up the middle of the field and jogged to the sideline for a long first down as Georgia defenders gasped for breath.

That's how things went for Georgia on Saturday, and while credit is certainly due to Georgia Tech for putting the Bulldogs in precarious positions time and time again, it was a lack of execution by players on the field that ultimately cost the Dawgs.

Richt's squib kick call will be questioned for months, but truth be told, it wasn't even the ugliest squib kick of the game for the Bulldogs.  A few moments prior to that, Georgia Tech kicked a short ball that fullback Quayvon Hicks watched without reacting to, and the Yellow Jackets recovered.  Hicks struggled fielding kicks against Kentucky a few weeks ago, but his lack of instinct in this instance was still stunning.

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Freshman running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel showed brilliance at times, but both fumbled the football while approaching the goal line on critical first-half runs.  To blame Richt for those two mishaps is to assume that he and his staff have never told the talented halfbacks to protect the football.  Such a presumption is nothing short of ignorant.

Defensively, Georgia Tech wore out a Bulldogs defense that had proved to be susceptible against the run at times this season.  And yet it merits clarification that Georgia Tech's variation of the triple-option is a wrinkle that the Dawgs see just once per year.  So while the end-of-game rushing totals of the Yellow Jackets may seem reminiscent of the gashing the Florida Gators handed out to Jeremy Pruitt's defense, the yards were gained in a very different way.

Whether those defensive shortcomings were a reflection of poor coaching or poor discipline is debatable.  But the level of execution declined steadily for the Bulldog defense as the unit wore down physically after spending nearly two-thirds of the second half on the field.  That trend was in direct conflict with the late-game reputation Pruitt's defense had developed.  Accordingly, blaming Richt for the defense's inability to get off the field is a bit of a reach.

Dave Tulis/Associated Press

Even the final dagger, a Hutson Mason interception in overtime, seems more indicative of a miscue by a player than a shortcoming by the head coach.  At best, Mason's short throw was ill-advised, which is to say a coach would have advised against it.  Mason zeroed in on his target immediately and telegraphed a pass into double coverage.  As a result, Georgia Tech was able to make a play.

The loss to Georgia Tech is frustrating to fans, and in some regards, that frustration is understandable.  But this was never Georgia's year.  The ugly loss to South Carolina after a weather delay, atrocious officiating and missed chip-shot field goals should have told the Bulldog faithful as much.  The suspension of Todd Gurley and the injury that followed weren't positive omens for Georgia's 2014 campaign, either.  

In light of those events and the disappointing way in which Georgia missed out on the SEC Championship Game, the frustration of Bulldog loyalists is now amplified.  And as seasons wind down, fans have a tendency to seek resolution and closure.  The easy answer is to blame a coach, and the most satisfying answer is to extrapolate those feelings and to conjure up thematic problems.

But for Georgia fans, the easy answer is not the right one in this instance.  Mark Richt probably made some mistakes Saturday.  He probably makes some every week.  But when he says (as tweeted by Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald) that this particular loss is as upsetting as any in his career, that's not necessarily a self-indictment.

It was a collective effort that resulted in a Georgia loss Saturday.  But given the bevy of uncharacteristic shortcomings—a blocked field-goal attempt, 14 points left off the scoreboard due to fumbles, a defense that got worse as the game went on, a quarterback's first interception in 162 attempts, an unfielded squib kick—it's hard to blame Richt for the total sum of Georgia's broken parts.

And if history is any indicator, Richt, the most tenured coach in the Southeastern Conference, will be the man making repairs leading up to the bowl game and through the offseason.

Don't place your frustrations on Mark Richt.  Instead, express some confidence in his ability to further refine this team.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained first hand and all stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.