From the UGA locker room, post-Cocktail

[Carter]

The last question of Mark Richt’s postgame press conference was a simple one: How do you beat these guys?

“You win a game like this,” Richt said. “But we didn’t do it. We’ll be back.”

Georgia, as you doubtlessly know, is now 3 for its last 21 against Florida, and 2-8 under Richt.

Richt started with the perfunctory credit-giving to the opponent. Then he added one for his own team.

“I thought they fought valiantly. I don’t think anyone could question their effort, or question their competitive spirit. It was just one of those games where somebody had to lose. Unfortunately, it was us. But I’m proud of the players and the coaches, and our fans and the band, and everybody else.”

Still, Georgia is now eliminated from contention for the SEC East, which is now a two-way contest between Florida and South Carolina.

So now the goal for the Bulldogs would seem to be getting to bowl eligibility.

“I’m sure that’ll come up,” Richt said. “What have we gotta do, win two out of three? I’m sure we’ll be fighting hard for that.”

Richt said his message to the team now as to “just keep fightin’, just keep grinding.”

“We’ll come back home, and we’ll get back to work,” he said. “We’ll play Idaho State, play as hard as we can for the Georgia people, and then we’ll hook it up the next week.”

A few other postgame notes:

- Aaron Murray, who threw a pick on his first throw, said he may have been a bit too excited to play in his home state.

“I might have been a little bit amped up,” Murray said. “But that’s no excuse.”

-Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said the play-call on Murray’s overtime interception (which was tipped) was a dig over the middle to A.J. Green.

“We’ll have to look at the film on what happened on that,” Bobo said.

Bobo said Florida blitzed on almost every down, and agreed it was the most pressure Murray has faced all season. But he felt Murray dealt with it well most of the game, with the obvious exception of a few plays.

- Richt said Murray’s second interception, which went off tight end Aron White’s outstretched hands, was “catchable.”

- Washaun Ealey, whose health was a question entering the game, said his knee wasn’t “100 percent,” but was close.

“I tried to fight through it,” Ealey said. “Just go out there when my team needed me and try to make plays.”

Read more: http://dawg-extra.blogspot.com/2010/10/from-locker-room_30.html#ixzz13yUg7Lza

Thought it was pretty obvious that Murray was excited and letting his nerves get the better of him early on. I think he'll definitely learn from every facet of this game and improve from it.

Really hope this team maintains its attitude and fight after this loss. It was a tough one and the players especially took it hard when the game was over. Having Idaho State at home next week should help with moving forward from such a mentally and physically draining loss. I really hope to see the Dawgs motivated to try ending Auburn's Cinderella season.

Pretty bummed about this loss still... imagine I will be for a while. But it was nice to see this team refuse to back down. We had one heck of a 2nd half and honestly a heck of a game... it's just hard to win when we spot the Gators 14 points from turnovers and fail to gain possession on two of Florida's fumbles.

[Threepac Daddy]

florida got complacent in the second half, never get complacent in these type of games, never.

[Mr Pickle1]

florida got complacent in the second half, never get complacent in these type of games, never.

Dude, call a spade a spade. Florida got whipped in the 2nd half. There's zero reason to get complacent up 2 scores at halftime, and only an utter tard would let his team get that way. To suggest that they were is an insult to the gators coaches and players. UGA outplayed them quite thoroughly in the 2nd half, just as UF had outplayed them thoroughly 1st half. The game was basically a wash, and UF won OT convincingly UF deserved to win that game, because of the win in OT, but to suggest that UGA wasn't legitimately competing head to head with them is a falsity.

If you wanted to say a team was lacking mental focus, it had to be UGA with the 4 turnovers.

[sdogg]

Georgia, as you doubtlessly know, is now 3 for its last 21 against Florida, and 2-8 under Richt.

Unacceptable! No excuse for this at all, except poor coaching.

[Mr Pickle1]

Georgia, as you doubtlessly know, is now 3 for its last 21 against Florida, and 2-8 under Richt.

Unacceptable! No excuse for this at all, except poor coaching.

Murray pooped his pants in this one, and so did A. White. Can't coach them not to make those plays. That's why we lost.

[sdogg]

Murray pooped his pants in this one, and so did A. White. Can't ctoach them not to make those plays. That's why we lost.

Richt is 2-8 vs UF. Different players...same coach...same results....a loss.

Edited November 1, 2010 by sdogg

[Mr Pickle1]

Richt is 2-8 vs UF. Different players...same coach...same results....a loss.

So what? I get what you're saying, but that's just how it is at UGA. He's won 2 against UF, and put us in a position to win a couple more. He's tried very hard to make improvements this season, and I SEE THEM. THis game we lost. We didn't get outcoached, we didn't get outhustled.

You ARE willing to admit that you can lose games despite having a good coach, right? Yes, Richt has had coaching problems in the past, but he's working to improve. I see improvement. We saw the process of improvement in the 1st 3-4 games. We see improvement in the last 4, winning 3, and losing the turnover battle badly against UF, and losing in OT. I fail to see a massive coaching issue.

W. Martinez was an issue the past few years. He's gone. Grantham's defense is better than Willie's, in his 1st year. Is it as good as we'd like it to be? No, not by a long shot. But he needs a couple season until we can have a truly honest assessment of his work.

[capologist]

So what? I get what you're saying, but that's just how it is at UGA. He's won 2 against UF, and put us in a position to win a couple more. He's tried very hard to make improvements this season, and I SEE THEM. THis game we lost. We didn't get outcoached, we didn't get outhustled.

You ARE willing to admit that you can lose games despite having a good coach, right? Yes, Richt has had coaching problems in the past, but he's working to improve. I see improvement. We saw the process of improvement in the 1st 3-4 games. We see improvement in the last 4, winning 3, and losing the turnover battle badly against UF, and losing in OT. I fail to see a massive coaching issue.

W. Martinez was an issue the past few years. He's gone. Grantham's defense is better than Willie's, in his 1st year. Is it as good as we'd like it to be? No, not by a long shot. But he needs a couple season until we can have a truly honest assessment of his work.

We scored 34 points on that defense and we are horrid offensively. I'm still not impressed with the defense yet then again, I'm not impressed about anything on our side of the fence either. Time will tell on that one...

[sdogg]

So what? I get what you're saying, but that's just how it is at UGA. He's won 2 against UF, and put us in a position to win a couple more. He's tried very hard to make improvements this season, and I SEE THEM. THis game we lost. We didn't get outcoached, we didn't get outhustled.

You ARE willing to admit that you can lose games despite having a good coach, right? Yes, Richt has had coaching problems in the past, but he's working to improve. I see improvement. We saw the process of improvement in the 1st 3-4 games. We see improvement in the last 4, winning 3, and losing the turnover battle badly against UF, and losing in OT. I fail to see a massive coaching issue.

W. Martinez was an issue the past few years. He's gone. Grantham's defense is better than Willie's, in his 1st year. Is it as good as we'd like it to be? No, not by a long shot. But he needs a couple season until we can have a truly honest assessment of his work.

You play to win the game. I'm tired of all these excuses. Guess my standards are higher. Hopefully the new AD's are as well

Edited November 1, 2010 by sdogg

[kingjamez]

Richt is 2-8 vs UF. Different players...same coach...same results....a loss.

Thanks for stating the same thing again. As if we hadn't seen it enough.

[Threepac Daddy]

Dude, call a spade a spade. Florida got whipped in the 2nd half. There's zero reason to get complacent up 2 scores at halftime, and only an utter tard would let his team get that way. To suggest that they were is an insult to the gators coaches and players. UGA outplayed them quite thoroughly in the 2nd half, just as UF had outplayed them thoroughly 1st half. The game was basically a wash, and UF won OT convincingly UF deserved to win that game, because of the win in OT, but to suggest that UGA wasn't legitimately competing head to head with them is a falsity.

If you wanted to say a team was lacking mental focus, it had to be UGA with the 4 turnovers.

this coming from a person who the entire week just kept posting TIME TO DIE, (insert word here).

uga battle to get back in it, but the gators relaxed for a quarter and uga took full advantage of it. it almost cost them the game, florida had uga by the throat and instead of going for the kill the let off the throat and uga did what every team should do, get right back in the game.

[Mr Pickle1]

We scored 34 points on that defense and we are horrid offensively. I'm still not impressed with the defense yet then again, I'm not impressed about anything on our side of the fence either. Time will tell on that one...

Of course you did. Aided by 4 offensive turnovers. And OT. In 60 minutes, after an off week to tweak the offense, you scored 31 on UGA in their first year of the 3-4.

How many points did you score last year against an established Willy Martinez with at least 8-9 guys who are currently or will be playing in the NFL on his defense? 41 points.

2008? 49 points, with a similar amount of NFL players on the field for the UGA defense.

I see maybe 4-5 pro guys on the current UGA defense who receive regular playing time: Houston/Dent/Boykin/Abry Jones/Sanders Commings, and they are all adjusting to a new scheme and techniques.

Admittedly the UF offenses sucked. But after a week of working on it, it really didn't look that bad. I didn't see a ton of "WTF" calls from Addazio. Was a nice mix of run and pass.

[Mr Pickle1]

this coming from a person who the entire week just kept posting TIME TO DIE, (insert word here).

uga battle to get back in it, but the gators relaxed for a quarter and uga took full advantage of it. it almost cost them the game, florida had uga by the throat and instead of going for the kill the let off the throat and uga did what every team should do, get right back in the game.

I'd ask you to explain the relevance of your first comment, but I suspect it is beyond your capabilities.

Show me how UF relaxed. How do you relax in a rivalry game at half time, with the game substantially in doubt? UGA outscored UF 24-10 in the second half. Certainly, after UGA made it 21-14, there should have been no relaxation, but UGA continued to outplay UF. Please quit making ignorant posts.

[Mr Pickle1]

You play to win the game. I'm tired of all these excuses. Guess my standards are higher. Hopefully the new AD's are as well

Result of firing Richt:

Bust of a 2011 recruiting class, the best in the last 10 years or so, in state.

Complete overhaul of coaching staff, probably resulting in a 2-3 year window where we are straight garbage. The contacts around the state Richt and co. have built up with recruits: gone.

MAYBE, with a very good coaching hire, and some luck in recruiting, we'll be back up to the level Richt had us at in 2002-2007, in 3 years.

Result of keeping Richt, and seeing if he can turn it around:

Very good recruiting class.

Our current coaching staff(defensively) actually gets a chance to put more of their own guys on the field, and solidify the techniques and playbook for our players. One year is simply not enough time, although there has been substantial improvement.

MAYBE, with luck on our side, the changes Richt has made start to gel, and we get back to the 2002-2007 level NEXT year, or at worst the year after(if we haven't by then, I agree, he should be and WILL be gone).

Which seems like the best option to you, as a guy who just wants to win, and is only concerned with the bottom line(not like, say, expressing your frustration towards Richt in a way that wants him to be gone, instead of what is in the absolute best interest of the program)?

My vote is for the 2nd option, and I can all but guarantee that is what McGarity's will be as well. Richt is a proven coach who'd gotten in a rut. Everyone wanted changes. He made them. This is the 1st year, and I already see improvement. It's not as much as we would like, but it IS there. Our current record is largely a result of turnovers at innopportune moments(which is largely uncoachable) and Green missing 4 games, and being unable to play all of the Colorado game(which again, isn't really coachable). You change those things around, and we're sitting here probably on track for a 10-11 win season. And those are things which are largely outside his control. I'm all for firing people who don't perform, but not when the reason for non-performance isn't something he can really affect.

[SacFalcFan]

florida got complacent in the second half, never get complacent in these type of games, never.

you guys didn't relax and get complacent, you guys were dominated. uga made adjustments and you guys had back to back 3 and outs and UGA fought back into the game.. if you weren't given those turnovers the game would have been much different.

[SacFalcFan]

You play to win the game. I'm tired of all these excuses. Guess my standards are higher. Hopefully the new AD's are as well

yep you do play to win the game which is exactly what our coaching staff did.. our qb had his freshman game of the year at the worst time.

[capologist]

Of course you did. Aided by 4 offensive turnovers. And OT. In 60 minutes, after an off week to tweak the offense, you scored 31 on UGA in their first year of the 3-4.

How many points did you score last year against an established Willy Martinez with at least 8-9 guys who are currently or will be playing in the NFL on his defense? 41 points.

2008? 49 points, with a similar amount of NFL players on the field for the UGA defense.

I see maybe 4-5 pro guys on the current UGA defense who receive regular playing time: Houston/Dent/Boykin/Abry Jones/Sanders Commings, and they are all adjusting to a new scheme and techniques.

Admittedly the UF offenses sucked. But after a week of working on it, it really didn't look that bad. I didn't see a ton of "WTF" calls from Addazio. Was a nice mix of run and pass.

Any of those 2 offenses you mentioned would have yielded 50 points or more this year, no question in my mind...

[Mr Pickle1]

Any of those 2 offenses you mentioned would have yielded 50 points or more this year, no question in my mind...

Too many variables for you to say that. For you to have "no question" means you have "no mind."

No question, UF wouldn't lose Miss State this year. No question, Bama will beat South Carolina. NO QUESTION, John Brantley is going to be a great young qb. I heard stuff like this all year long. You can question almost anything, legitimately.

How good was UF's offense after the bye week? How much did having the clearly and obviously talented Chris Rainey back help the offense? Very difficult to say.

Given the fact that UGA's defense has been substantially better this year than the prior 2, the idea that the UF teams from those years would score substantially more points against a statistically MUCH better D this year seems borderline irrational.

Care to share how you reached your view?