The Agony of Defeat

I've been trying to think of what to say after the debacle that was the Georgia/Miss State football game. It would be easy to come out and call for somebody's head and to blame players and coaches but honestly I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with this team. The biggest issues right now are the offense having no idea how to score inside of the red zone (and Washaun Ealey's knack for fumbling at the opponent's goaline), the offensive lines refusal to live up to expectations, the defensive line not playing consistently and blown assignments on the defensive side of the football. Georgia is 1-3 and 0-3 in the SEC (Georgia has lost 3 games in a row for the first time since 1990). ESPN blogger Chris Low notes that Georgia is just 2-7 in their past 9 SEC games.

Georgia hasn't been blown off the field by any of their opponents. South Carolina controlled Georgia on the lines of scrimmage but Georgia was within a fumble on the goal line of bringing that to a 1 pt game in the 3rd quarter. Arkansas beat Georgia on a last minute drive where they probably only had the football because of a poor play call on 3rd down by Georgia and poor blocking in pass protection. Despite the score, Miss State didn't run Georgia off the field either and if Washaun Ealey doesn't fumble on the two yard line again it might be a completely different football game. That being said, with all due respect, we are talking about South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi State here. This isn't Florida, Alabama and LSU. Georgia has lost to 3 consecutive teams (that while improving) have spent the better part of their SEC history being middle of the pack and worse teams. The fact that Georgia has just lost to all of these teams is very troubling and perplexing.

One third of the football season has passed. I'm no math major but that means that we have 8 games left to get this thing turned around as much as possible. Mark Richt is feeling the heat more than he ever has as a coach or player. He understands that his team is in a worse position than it's ever been with him at the helm. The Georgia coaching staff and players have a lot of soul searching to do. The next game is at Colorado this Saturday. At this point Georgia has to take it one game at a time, one drive at a time, one play at a time. This year has quickly turned into a nightmare. The upcoming schedule is favorable (at Colorado, home versus Tennessee and Vandy and then on the road at Kentucky). It's time to step up and be men or be left behind. In all my years as a Georgia fan I've never looked so forward to the start of the college basketball season.