Georgia Bulldogs Football: Richt Needs a DC Like Todd Grantham to Be Successful

Richt is a conservative game planner by nature.  He likes to sit on leads and he prefers to grind the clock over the more aggressive and exciting fast score attacks.  That’s not to say that he won’t go for it when needed.  All you need to do is look at their many down the field bombs in last night’s game against Tennessee and his three attempts on fourth down. Once he gets a lead, however, he takes his foot off the gas rather than piling on the points. 

There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it requires a very aggressive and stifling defense to counter it.  With Coach Van Gorder he had that, and three trips to the SEC Championship game winning two.  With Coach Martinez, he has a conservative Defensive Coordinator, who didn’t get it done and his win total dropped like a rock.  This caused many to want Richt to be replaced by more aggressive coaches like Coach Patterson of TCU or the pirate himself Coach Leach. 

Georgia has never been an aggressive offensive type team and I don’t know that a hire like that would make sense for us.  We did very well with Coach Dooley and his three yards and a cloud of dust playing style.  We hold Coach Erk Russell up as the prime example of what a Defensive Coordinator should be.  His aggressiveness and GATA attitude defined him and defined Georgia football. 

Now that Coach Grantham is in his second year at Georgia, we see why Richt went out and dropped a stack of cash at his feet.  He’s the Yang to Richt’s Yin.  His aggressive style on the field is directly opposite Richt’s calm demeanor.  We are seeing glimpses of what Grantham is capable of and assuming that the season doesn’t suddenly go sideways, we will get to see even more of this in the years to come.

My only concern with Grantham is that he may be a little too aggressive in his attitude, not on the field, but on the sideline.  You see glimpses of it if you pay attention and it may start a rift between the two. 

In Saturday’s game against Tennessee there was one point where Coach Grantham was studying the field and Richt was trying to go in front of him to get to the referee.  Grantham pushed him to the side while he studied the field, and then let him pass.  That could cause a head coach to get a little miffed.  Hopefully Richt let it go.  I really hope that it does not become an issue because I like what he brings to this team and I think he’ll be very successful here. 

If those two can get along, I see a resurgence of what we’ve come to expect from Georgia football.  Expect us to contend for the SEC Championship and hopefully we can get to a level where we’re on par with Alabama and LSU who are clearly the cream of the current SEC crop.