UGA: What Happened To Our Football Team, and How Can We Fix It?

I’m angry, very angry.

As a senior at UGA, I’ve had the gross misfortune of watching my team fall from perennial SEC contenders to hopeless losers.  This seems harsh, but after loyally supporting my team for the past four years, I’m sick of losing.

During my freshman year in 2007, we finished a sensational 11-2 season with a convincing 41-10 destruction of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. 

As we returned a high-octane offense featuring Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and Mohammad Massaquoi, the media nominated the 2008 Bulldogs as the preseason top team in the nation.

Our team initially responded well to the pressure, dominating Georgia Southern before (literally) leaping over Central Michigan.  We survived the perennially difficult challenge from South Carolina before convincingly defeating preseason ranked Arizona State.

Then on Sept. 27, 2008, the Alabama game happened.

I say the game happened because I don’t think anyone on our side fully understands what occurred that infamous evening.  Perhaps our team was too accustomed to winning. 

After reeling off 11 consecutive wins dating back to 2007, we could not fathom a team which would dare challenge us on our home turf, especially during a blackout.

We were wrong.  Alabama waltzed onto our field entirely unaffected by the apparent hostility of the environment.  They played confident football, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. 

Capitalizing on every opportunity, they amassed a ridiculous 31-0 halftime lead.

Our team recovered respectably, outscoring Alabama 30-10 in the second half, but the damage had been done—we suffered a devastating loss from which we have still not recovered.

Proceeding to lose to rivals Florida and Georgia Tech, we finished 10-3, far short of the anticipated 14-0 BCS National Championship season.  We finished 8-5 in 2009 and 6-7 this season. 

Since this infamous loss, our team has amassed 12 SEC wins compared to 10 losses.  If you subtract our 5-1 record against SEC cupcakes Kentucky and Vanderbilt, our SEC record falls to seven wins and nine losses.

This question that naturally arises from this loss is, “what happened?”

Quite simply, Bama stole our swagger.  No longer the once-great program of Bear Bryant, Nick Saban’s Alabama has since played in two SEC Championship games, two BCS games, and captured both an SEC and a BCS National Championship title.

During the two and a half years following their glorious victory, their record is 31-5.

This momentous event is not without historical precedent.  In the 1991 NBA Championship, Michael Jordan and the Bulls defeated Magic Johnson and the legendary Lakers in only five games sparking a glorious run of six championships in eight years.

Similarly, in the 2001 Super Bowl, the New England Patriots somehow defeated Kurt Warner and the heavily favored St. Louis Rams marking the first of their three Super Bowl titles in four years.

I now wonder which path we will follow.  Will we rebound from this devastating loss like the LA Lakers and recruit new coaches and players to return our team to its former glory? 

Or will we follow the path of the St. Louis Rams and gradually fade into irrelevance, consistently failing to find a winning solution for our program?

According to Athletic Director Greg McGarity, we are committed to the latter approach. 

Our administration appears willing to retain Mark Richt as the head coach until perhaps donors refuse to contribute or fans begin to wear brown paper bags to cover their faces at games.

As I previously mentioned, the past three seasons we have finished 10-3, 8-5, and now 6-7.  Following this natural progression, we should finish next season with a 4-8 record (considering we wouldn’t be playing in a bowl game).

Losing our only trusted receivers, AJ Green and Kris Durham, and our only successful pass rusher, Justin Houston, our team appears destined to play even worse next season than they did this season. 

I guess Green and Houston could stick around for another season, but why would they risk NFL first-round money for another season with a team that won’t even contend for a division, let alone a conference or national title?

At this advanced stage in my frustration, I just want my team to win games consistently.  Watching other top teams such as SEC champion Auburn, I realize we currently lack both the conviction and creativity to accomplish this goal.

Auburn apparently fields an awful defense, but they aggressively pursue the ball carrier and tackle exceptionally well. 

Facing a 24-0 deficit to arch rival Alabama, Cam Newton’s vaunted offense could not have scored enough points to win unless the defense demonstrated the conviction to completely stuff Bama during the second half. 

Fortunately for Auburn fans, their much-maligned defense rose to the challenge.

On the offensive side of the ball, Auburn is so successful because of their creativity. 

Unlike Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo who seems content with unsuccessful toss sweeps to Washaun “Fumbly” or deep heaves to Green, Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has the guts to dial up ridiculous plays such as the fake screen, fake statue of liberty, 60-yard toss from quarterback Cam Newton to receiver Darvin Adams on only the third play of the SEC Championship.

Even equally unsuccessful Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson had the sense to intentionally allow Ealey to score late in the fourth quarter while his Yellow Jackets trailed by a point. 

With only a minute remaining and Tech out of timeouts, Ealey should have picked up the first down and then knelt, allowing our team to run out the clock.  Seemingly lacking the creativity to fathom such idea, no one in our coaching staff told Ealey not to score. 

Instead, we inexplicably gave the ball back Tech with a chance to tie the game. 

Envisioning a repeat of the 2009 loss to LSU and the 2010 loss to Arkansas, I was justifiably worried.  Fortunately, Tech’s passing-challenged quarterback tossed a pass right at Houston, so we our managed to escape our own coaches’ incompetence.

The best way to address the current coaching deficiency is to replace our staff with a more competent one. 

Sure, Richt did a fine job of representing the university for the first nine of his 10 seasons at UGA, but this season has convinced me that we need a new leader if we hope to return to the ranks of the SEC elite.

Boise State head coach Chris Petersen represents an interesting possibility.  Building his team with two-star recruits, he somehow manages to consistently victimize elite BCS programs including Oklahoma, Oregon, and most recently, Virginia Tech.

Petersen insists he is happy at Boise and Georgia maintains they are happy with Richt, so this move seems unlikely to transpire occur anytime soon. 

Nonetheless, I hope Richt realizes the incredible opportunity he has against Petersen’s Broncos in next season’s opener. 

Having only lost two games in the past season, Boise has cruised past nearly all of their opponents.  A one-sided victory might just reverse our fortunes and resurrect Richt’s fledgling career.

Optimistic?  Sure, but when you’re a Georgia fan, next year is always our year.