Home / Hotline Reports / Bulldog Hotline - Sept. 22, 2008
Bulldog Hotline - Sept. 22, 2008
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Scott opened the show with the announcement of Munson’s retirement, then recapped Saturday’s game. AJ Green was named SEC freshman of the week for his performance at Arizona St.
Scott opened up talking withCMR about the trip west. Richt said the travel was more of a factor than the heat. When the team got on the field it was noticeable that shade was already on the field.
Scott was stuck that visiting teams are in the shade earlier. CMR said the UNLV coaches had mentioned that.
Richt thinks we’re closer to playing the ideal game. We made some strides against a quality opponent. We put the ball on the ground too much. We’re +3 in turnover ratio but part of that is falling on our own fumbles. Stafford played a fine game. Protection was better but still not what’s needed. Curran is way ahead of everybody. And we kicked off better. Penalties are still a major issue though a few were “interesting.” Richt laughed and said he can’t wait to see SEC refs again.
I asked Richt to make sure the team stays focused on the task at hand, even with ESPN Gameday (the traveling circus, as I called it) coming to town. Richt says we’ll be able to maintain focus. The guys will really be excited for this game. Richt is pleased knowing that motivation won’t be a problem this week. The trick is to channel the energy and excitement into our performance on the field.
Richt went on to comment on Munson’s retirement. What do you say when a legend or icon decides to stop doing what that person has been doing. Richt just thanked Munson for being his friend and for everything he’s done.
Scott: Dawg Walk 6:00, kickoff 7:45, don’t forget to wear black.
Aaron in Brunswick asked about Florida. Richt said cheering for FSU is easy except when he’s playing us. That Sugar Bowl when we played them was hard. Midway through the first quarter when they took the lead Richt just decided he wanted to win it pretty bad – especially looking over and seeing Mickey Andrews on the other sideline.
David in Grayson asked about the defense, and how Uga VII fared on the trip. Richt said the seniors sit in first class on trips like this. And Uga was up there part of the time.
As for the defense, the first four teams were interested in throwing the ball first. They weren’t interested in running the ball much and we made it difficult for them to run. We’re not panicked over the passing yards since these teams have wanted to throw but have also been behind. Numbers get skewed that way some times. Bama is the top rushing team in the SEC and they try to run in the traditional zone, power style.
Brent in Adrian asked about Stafford. Brent thinks a player in his position should look to get better in any way. Is Stafford staring down WRs too much? Richt thought Stafford played well Saturday then thought it was even better watching again on tape. Stafford made some good throws when people coming after him pretty good. Stafford understands how DBs play in zone or man. When opponents are in man, its more important to throw on time than to look at DB off. Stafford is more apt to stare down a man situation than zone. He does a great job of looking off when he recognizes zone.
Scott asked Richt about the blackout. They were getting ready to do it for Tennessee. Richt didn’t want to do it in September. Once they found out the Bama game would be at night and Gameday was coming. Richt thinks it can make a difference. He didn’t think so at first. But our fans made it happen by showing up in black. The place went crazy and everyone had energy.
William in Dublin congratulated CMR on the big win in the desert and asked about shoring up our kicking game this week vs. Javier Arenas. Richt said if we kick the ball high enough and allow our coverage to get down there, we should be able to handle most any return man. If you do that, they mostly have to fair catch it. If we try to kick away from a guy we end up shanking it. We might have to think about a bloop kick or something on a kickoff.
Steven in Ringgold encouraged the fans to get in the stadium early Saturday night and asked how the guys recover from the trip. Richt hopes the blackout is highly successful and the Dawg Walk is as crowded as ever. And whomever isn’t at the Dawg Walk gets in early to make noise during pregame, especially students. And when we come out he wants the decibel level really up there.
Also, the players seemed fine today. We gave them yesterday off. Knowing we have an open date next week makes it easy to lay it on the line this week.
Bert in Roswell mentioned the last time Gameday was in Athens, we came out flat. Richt said he had not been aware of what happened then, and that he would be shocked if we came out flat for this one, especially with the blackout.
Dan in Canton said even Pac 10 fans were impressed with us going out west and winning. Why did we leave our two franchise players in the game in the last two minutes? When our last drive started, there was more time. We just wanted to get a first down and make sure the game was over. We grinded down the clock a lot on our last drive. And we didn’t get TD out of it. Scott wanted us to get another TD. Richt mentioned on the previous drive the players were upset when we kicked a FG on the 1 yard line. He saw a lot of sad faces, but said you had your chance to score and now we’re going to secure this victory.
Scott: tailgate show 4:30
Barry in Sawtillo, MS wonders how we can approach controlling the lines against Bama. Richt – Bama is really outstanding up front, both sides of the ball. When they’ve thrown the ball – when they want to, not when they have to. Their D has made everyone suffer. Clemson has those two great back, and all they had was Spiller’s kickoff return. Hope our guys are excited about this challenge and the coaches can find a scheme to give us a chance.
Michael in Adel asked about an empty backfield, a la New England. Richt said the problem is you’re very dependent on the OL to get the job done. You can get the ball out quickly. We need our backs to chip a rusher on the way out, there are times we need to slide our protections and sometimes keep a TE in. When this line is mature, we might be able to do that.
Brandon in Warner Robins said he was one of the lucky 25,000 or so who could make the trip and asked what the players thought of seeing so many UGA fans out there. Richt said the players loved it. There were a couple of times when Arizona St. was at your end trying to operate. It seemed like y’all were training the Pac 10 fans how to cheer. Brandon said we showed the Pac 10 how college football really is.
Scott: once again, blackout in effect and Dawg Walk at 6:00
Tim in Warner Robins asked about a block Israel Troupe laid on one guy. Richt said that was actually Tony Wilson. It’s legal to bring a guy in motion like that and he really tagged their #58, Dexter Davis, who is an accomplished sack man. Davis didn’t have many tackles against us. The key to a play like that is timing up the guy coming in motion and the snap count.
Jeff in Louisville (Bama grad) hopes we’ll have a great game Saturday. Jeff talked about a friend of his son being a huge Georgia fan. What about AJ Harmon and Jonathon Owens? Richt: Harmon is working really hard. He will likely redshirt but we have high hopes for him. Owens had knee surgery (cartilage) not long ago. Both guys will be outstanding players down the road.
Chris in Little Rock, AR says he’s heard a lot about Julio Jones, Bama’s frosh WR. Are we looking for anything? Richt says he’s very talented, similar to AJ Green – fast, great leaper. Their stats were about identical until last game when we threw it to AJ a lot. Richt thinks the media will make a lot of this since they were the top two WRs coming out of high school last year.
Eddie in Statham wonders about playing Saban with a young OL. Is Saban running some of the same blitz packages now at Bama? Richt says some are the same and some are different. Back then, he was so supremely confident in his cover men he would bring more than you could block. They’re not showing as much man coverage as he used to.
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