Richt's goal, but on Richt's terms

We've discussed before the fact that Mark Richt is as polarizing a figure as there has ever been in University of Georgia athletics. So you're either going to read this as him lagging behind his contemporaries, or you're going to read it as another great article on a great man.

Everything with Richt runs through his faith. And through his faith comes perspective and patience.

"Do I want to win a national championship?" Richt said. "Sure I do. I want to win. Everybody who has ever won a national championship wanted to win the national championship. Everybody wants to win it.

"But it is about a process. Doing things right, fundamentally, schematically and football-wise. But hopefully [it's also about doing it] morally, within the rules of the game, educating young men, educating them academically, educating them about life, helping them understand right and wrong, how to be a good husband, how to be a good father, how to function in this society properly.

"I'm in the business of doing that. And you do that well for long enough maybe you have a chance to win a national championship.

"I want to win," he reiterated, "but it's all important to me."

I get all that. It makes me proud of our coach and proud of my alma mater. And yet I still see other programs running by. I'm as patient as they come and I believe in staying the course more than gut reactions. But the fact remains that we're still waiting...

I also realize it's not all about the head coach. There are plenty of other reasons programs in close proximity have earned their crystal ball ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs. So in that sense, Wetzel's article only scratches the surface.

But it all still begs the question: Will Georgia's nice guy ever finish first?

Humpday Hilarity - a Barner's ball of energy

You see...it causes player....execution errors.

Jarvis' electoral college

Got to imagine this at least came close to coloring Alaska a red state.

via DAWGbrothers

Bulldog Hotline Redux - Ole Miss

I submit this without comment, except that I was wondering the same thing as I sat in my seat Saturday.

Christian Price wonders why Aaron Murray immediately takes a knee when a defense goes offsides and if that is a free play being wasted. Richt says under center sometimes we won’t even have a play called yet. If they jump we might react and try to get some free yards. If they don’t jump but start to show their intentions you can see some things that you can react to.  In shotgun this year we started to react with receivers running routes on the snap. And we launch it to them. Could we possibly throw a ball while we’re under center? Quite possibly in the future.

Flashback: the 1996 miracle marathon

Nama and I were reminiscing on this one just this weekend. It's one of those games in Georgia history that you'll always remember. Just a classic contest that's broken into three parts: the first half that sucked, the second half comeback and a historical and extremely tense overtime. If only Uga V had gotten a hold of Robert Baker's balls athletic cup it would've been even more picture perfect.

This video includes Munson's call and his comments. Classic game in a classic rivalry.

h/t Dawg19

There's a new kid in town

Or at least in the loveliest of villages. Jonathan Wallace is rising from the ashes of Chizik's dumpster fire. Granted this is based on snaps that mostly came against New Mexico State.

Wallace threw deep several times, and though he didn't connect on most of those attempts, he stretched the field to help tailbacks Tre Mason and Onterio McCalebb combine on 30 carries for 265 yards.

"It was a lot of fun," Wallace said after the game. "We had a rough start, but we put things together. I thought I did some good things and some bad things, but we've got a big game this week."

A three-star signee out of Phenix City, Ala., the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder is Auburn's third starting quarterback this season. Wallace made his debut in the fourth game against LSU in the Wildcat formation, and he remained in that role until playing the second half of the 63-21 debacle against Texas A&M on Oct. 27.

Wallace has completed 16 of 26 passes this season for 297 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. His touchdown tally equals the combined count of former starters Kiehl Frazier and Clint Moseley, who combined on 11 interceptions.

Wow. Yes, it's that bad. And working in the Dawgs' favor is that Wallace is similar to several of the quarterbacks they've faced this season in that he's a dual threat that should be contained while also being pressured. The Phenix City star averaged over five yards a carry against Texas A&M, but mostly helped opened things up for his running backs this past Saturday. Something his predecessors could not do.

Rewinding Ole Miss

It's getting kind of exciting. Coming off a win against Florida always elevates the heartrate, and now that we've handled Ole Miss the goals get just a little bit closer and within our reach. I eagerly cued up the DVR yesterday to check out the televised version of the game. Here's some additional observations.

• Special teams have taken a step forward: touchbacks and kickoff coverage are both good and getting better; punt return decisions are more sound; punting game was solid as Barber and Erickson averaged over 47 yards, including an absolute bomb by Barber that spanned 60 yards and the 49 yarder downed at the two that lead to the safety; extra points aren't tragically tense of late.
• Marshall Morgan had a very bad hook. I heard Kevin Butler post game talk about it some. His assessment was that he's too far over the ball. That says to me the kid needs two things: confidence and time. Would love for him to get a clutch kick here down the stretch. But file this one away for the off season, hope he gets some help that he's clearly not getting in Athens (I mean, just look at what Blair Walsh is doing since he changed zip codes).
• Despite the early protection issues that lead to drive killing sacks, I like the confidence Bobo showed in the passing game. The protection improved greatly after the first couple of drives and after the defense stopped the Rebels on their 4th down attempt Bobo took charge. Eventually the offense followed suit.
• Still, it was a curious touchdown drive there before halftime. The crowd was clearly unnerved with all the seconds dripping off the clock just to finally call a play and then lose more yards to a sack.
• Even still, it all worked out. Thanks to one of Murray's best throws of his career. I rewound that one and watched it several times. We all went from complete distress to complete elation in a matter of seconds. College football at its finest.
• I love passes to the tight end. Four receptions for 58 yards between them. Excellent. Jay Rome is slowly emerging as dependable target and Lynch is the dangerous weapon we figured he could be - blocks, blocks, blocks...then leaks out for a big gainer.
• I was wrong yesterday on my Alec Ogletree assessment. His play wasn't simply amazing, it was also spectacular. I know we frowned on all the talk about "rust", but he played Saturday as if the switch had finally been flipped.
• Also, Brother Zander proved that Jacksonville wasn't a fluke. Bobo clearly trusts him to do some things that we haven't asked Hall to do to date.
• Also notably improved, Branden Smith. Had a helluva game, coverage was spot on and continues to be one of our best tacklers.
• Overall, Ole Miss was who we expected: a fiesty young team that would make us earn our keep. They made things interesting early and we did our share to help them along. But the halftime adjustments coupled with our depth and talent eventually forced them to submit. Long was contained to 21 yards rushing, Moncrief didn't have a single catch.

It all sets up an even bigger weekend coming up. Beat Auburn, just like everyone else.

Brown ends career on a high note

On what may have been his best game, and undoubtedly during what was his best season while in Athens, Marlon Brown was lost for the year against Ole Miss.

“His career at Georgia is over,” Richt said. “We’re expecting a full recovery. That’s just an injury that people recover from well. We know he’ll continue on with his pro career. I think he was well on his way for having that happen for him.”

via Dawgbone

Brown, a 6-foot-5, 222-pound Memphis native, will undergo surgery.

“We’re very sad and sorry that it happened for Marlon and for Georgia,” Richt said. “He’ll recover. He’ll do fine. It’s just a hard thing to swallow right now.”

Brown set career highs this season with 27 catches for 469 yards and four touchdowns. He had three catches for 113 yards in the 37-10 win against Ole Miss, including a 66-yard touchdown from Aaron Murray.

There has been a lot of discussion as to how exactly the knee was injured and whether an Ole Miss defender twisted it maliciously after the tackle. I haven't seen anything definitive. I will say that on the play the tackle didn't seem to jar his knee in a way which one would expect to lead to this type of injury. As he walked off I initially thought it would be a deep thigh bruise or something relatively innocuous.

Regardless, Marlon's career at Georgia ends on a three catch, 113 yard performance during a season where he was finally standing out as the difference maker we had come to expect. Damn good Dawg! Wish him the best in his recovery and hopefully a pro career that picks up where this season left off.

Georgia-Ole Miss highlights

Sunday thoughts on coming home

Great day to hang in Athens. Great weather, great friends, great game. Let's talk about it.

• How cool was it to see Prez Adams LAST homecoming game? I nearly cried some happy tears!!
• Amazing game for Aaron Murray. Granted, a slow start. But really stood in there and delivered the ball even after getting treated like a crash test dummy for a while. That pass to T King at the end of the 1st half was a rope, perfectly delivered. Great field vision. Impressive night.
• While I'm handing out kudos, Tree deserves a couple. I called him out this week and he responded with an amazing game. That safety was a thing of beauty. #9 just exploded on the ball carrier. Finished with 11 tackles, two for loss, an INT and a sack. 
• Hope Marlon Brown is okay.
• The biggest stat/point of the day: 11 possessions and 76 yards. That's what Ole Miss got after they went up 10-0. The defense really throttled down and smothered them. Made the Ole Miss offense one dimensional and added pressure and intensity to the game.
• The pistol was back, but was only half cocked.

Ok, I was wrong on my Florida predicted loss. But it'll just make next week that much sweeter.