Home / Hotline Reports / Bulldog Hotline - Nov. 2, 2009
Bulldog Hotline - Nov. 2, 2009
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
Scott is at Hotel Indigo as usual. The Dawgs will be at home Saturday for the first time in five weeks. Other UGA news – the Auburn game will kickoff at 7:00 on either ESPN or ESPN2. Also, Brandon Spikes got a half game suspension by Florida and the SEC for gouging at Ealey’s eyes during the game last Saturday. Scott commented that Spikes’s wrist will really be stinging. Spikes will be suspended for the first half of Florida’s game vs. Vandy this Saturday.
Scott – it was a tough day Saturday and what are Richt’s initial thoughts. CMR – we went in thinking we could win and with a lot of preparation but it turned out not to be what was needed. We were not able to sustain what momentum we gained rallying to 14-10. We thought we could come out after halftime and put points on the board. But they tipped a ball and got a pick and another 7. Tebow’s fumble later in the 3rd was the 10th we’ve forced but not recovered. We lost the turnovers again.
Scott – injuries? CMR – AJ is out for this game. He had a bruise in his lung area. Boling hurt his knee but it was more of a hard shot as opposed to a sprain or ligament,. We hope to have him practice tomorrow. Unfortunately, Houston hurt his elbow and is doubtful for this game.
We will need some receivers to step up and make plays in this game instead of just trying to go to AJ when we need a play. In the long run maybe it will be a blessing.
Fred in Savannah opened the calls with a comment. He thinks a program like ours should have the best coaches coaching our players, and points out that Martinez had been demoted at UCF. The fans want CMR to stop putting relationships ahead of the players.
Sonny in Evans doesn’t want to dwell on Saturday, except to compliment our kickers and Ealey. He is concerned that the rash of penalties from last year has continued this year. We need to win the next four games to keep our nation-leading streak of consecutive seasons with 8 wins or more. CMR says we don’t like the penalties and have intensified the discipline from individual issue to team issue. They all felt the pain of that.
Butler has been amazing all season – leading the nation in punting and in net punting. Walsh kicked it off extremely well. Ealey ran the ball well. He needs to continue to get better in his pass protection. King has earned the right to start based on running and protection.
Scott doesn’t think Butler has been named special teams player of the week yet this season. CMR noted the Florida kickers also had great days.
Tim from Bonaire – the last game is behind us and hopefully we can pull out some victory. He also wants CMR to say Happy Birthday to his son, Noah. CMR – Ealey ran well and the line blocking improved. We moved Glenn to LG, Boling to LT, Vance to RG and J.Davis at RT. Coach Searels made a good move. They played with a lot of intensity, sometimes too much. Ealey is getting better but still needs to improve on pass protection. That’s typical of true freshmen.
Scott asked if Spikes got his hand all the way in there. CMR said he didn’t notice it in the film but heard about it later. CMR has been watching coaches film and has been watching last game, then
Brent in San Jose, CA loved the uniforms. CMR said those came from Nike. You can give them some color combination. We have other companies that do helmets. CMR complimented John Meshad and the other equipment guys for getting each guy’s helmet just right. They were there after pregame warm-ups for the black stuff ready for the players. We are red and black and we try to stay within that framework. Scott mentioned other teams have various uniform combinations – Miss. St. and Oregon.
8:36 – Kia drive of the game was the TD drive in the 3rd qtr. – 14 plays, 79 yards, 7:13, capped with TD pass to Michael Moore.
Scott mentioned we’ve had some mammoth long drives this year. CMR – we might be one of the few teams to score two TDs on their defense without running interceptions back. That play involved several possibilities, based on what coverage they were in.
I got in a comment on preparation looking more like picking bad Halloween outfits then got cut off after saying I hoped not to see the black helmets again.
Bob in Cumming – we recruited a very good class last year. He doesn’t see where all this talent is being coached up properly and sees a regression. CMR – we’re not playing the way we want. CMR wants to encourage the fans to support the players even if you don’t support the coaches. The best chance we have to do anything is for the fans to support the team, even if we don’t like everything we see. He hopes everyone will be positive and continue to support these young men.
8:44 – new segment – SunTrust solid halftime adjustments. CMR said those were to cut out the penalties – only 1 in the second half after 8 in the first half. We also wanted to continue to run the ball right at them and used more 2 TE sets to predict their fronts. We wanted to put more pressure on Tebow but to do that we had to get them in 3rd & long. One time (first half) we got them in 3rd and long and blitzed but they ran a screen and got the first down. So our plan was to rush 3 and drop 8 on 3rd and long.
John in Snellville says he hates the negative calls and supports CMR. CMR says he doesn’t blame people for being upset and wanting answers. No one likes being 4-4. Now we have to decide how we’re going to handle it. We’re going to keep grinding and keep trying to find answers. It’s happened before – 2006. We stayed together and found answers that year. We’re aiming to do that again this year.
Mitchell – again mentioned negative comments but talked about the shape we were in back in 2001. He thinks CMR can bring the program back again and just keep faith. CMR – we’ve had a lot of success in the past, but its in the past. We do want to get it back to where we’re championship caliber. You never know how close you really are. Even in the seasons we were SEC champs we had some nailbiters that went our way. But when you have a game like this where there was this differential in the points you know you have work to be done. What we have to do is focus on this game.
Jill in Hoschton doesn’t want to rehash penalties. But what about a guy pulling their guy’s helmet off early in the game? Why wasn’t that player taken out of the game? CMR said its not a bad policy to have. Again, he didn’t see TV copy, and that player’s helmet tends to fly off every fourth or fifth play anyway. Our guy was fighting hard at the end of the play and it was hard to tell.
Paul in Brunswick says its still great to be a Georgia Bulldog and great to be a gator hater. Richt laughed and mentioned he went to Miami, coached at FSU and now coaches at UGA.
Scott asked about Tenn. Tech. CMR – they have an accurate QB who is a pocket passer, and scatbacks who like to catch screens. On defense they like to make sure you can’t get the run started. With AJ out CMR is sure Tenn. Tech will stick with that philosophy.
Scott also asked about Cox. CMR said other factors figured into the interceptions and that Cox is our guy.
- 2484 reads