Bulldog Hotline - Nov. 9, 2009

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendTonight’s show follows Georgia’s 38-0 homecoming win over Tennessee Tech, in which TT mustered only 55 yards total offense and failed to cross midfield. Most callers tonight were positive following the shutout win. However, the Dawgs still committed 11 penalties (9 in the second half – mostly procedure penalties) and again lost turnover margin. The Dawgs are 0-7-2 in turnover margin on the season.

It’s now Auburn week – 7:00 kickoff Saturday night in Sanford Stadium for the The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. ESPN2 will televise the game.

Scott is live from Hotel Indigo. Frosh DE Montez Robinson was named SEC defensive lineman of the week for 5 tackles vs. TT, incl. 2 sacks. (Those were his first five tackles of the season.) Also, kickoff vs. Kentucky on Nov. 21 will be at 7:45 on either ESPN or ESPN2. Second hour guest tonight is Andy Landers.

Scott congratulated CMR on the win. CMR was very pleased with the number of 3 & outs early on, followed up by touchdowns by the offense. Scott commented on the great weather, and Richt noted he normally waits until the QBs take the field to go out during warm-ups. But since the weather was nice he went out early in warm-ups – and ran into Watson Brown who had done the same thing. They stood around and shot the breeze for a good 30 min. That doesn’t happen much with SEC coaches.

Injuries – came out fine. We also get AJ Green and Justin Houston back. AJ practiced Sunday night and Houston is ready also.

Scott mentioned Montez Robinson being named SEC DL of the week. Richt – he has been learning his trade and getting a little playing time. He has been on our kickoff return team and been a part of those 100 yard returns. He got a chance and did well; he pursued the ball well. Scott – with Robinson, C. Robinson and Houston coming back the DE position is starting to build depth. CMR – those guys are starting to generate what we want. Houston 5 sacks, Dobbs 3 sacks and Robinson has a couple.

Night games? Richt likes the night games. He likes the atmosphere though doesn’t like if it’s a hardship to the fan base. This week is a huge game vs. Auburn, one of our big rivals. Richt wants to encourage the fans to get out early and strong. The players are ready to turn this thing around and finish strong.

Tim from Bonaire – great game Saturday .. he and his son Noah made it up, got to see Munson and had a great day. Tim noticed other teams sometimes stop in the middle of their cadence and turn to their bench and look for signals. CMR – it would take awhile to explain fully. It’s very difficult to know what a defense will do every time. What they do is get into their cadence. If you’re at the line, the defense will show what their intentions are. They start with a generic look. But they’ll start to roll safeties into the deep third, show a blitz or whatever. Teams who look to the sidelines have a coach in the box and then send a signal whether to go with the play called or change to an alternate play. We do this too but train our QB what to look for then make the change. Richt then used an example of possible running plays to different sides. Teams that are really effective will also use a quick count because it forces defenses to tip their hand.

Jeff in Athens – any win is a win to thank God for. CMR agreed. Jeff feels there is way too much negativity around right now, and that the players and coaches are doing their best. He thinks if the fans want to make a difference they should be praying for the coaches and players – by name, and let God decide from there. CMR – very important point on very positive support. When they go through the Dawg Walk he wants the guys to feel the love and positive vibes from the fans. When things go well, go crazy, but when things don’t get well don’t start booing. There will be recruits and parents there who want to know how their sons will be treated not only in good times, but in bad.

Jonathon from Ky. – agreed with what the last caller said. When people say they’re praying for you sometimes it means things aren’t going too good. But its unconditional prayer. Jonathon is a HS hoops coach and asked CMR about character education. He also thinks we should wear ALL black vs. Tech (on the day after black Friday). CMR laughed and said no.

CMR – we have a course that was put together from a center for ethics in Idaho. There is a different set for each class level. You start with basic stuff then eventually move up to stuff for seniors

This past week we had Scott Rigsby, who is the first double amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon. He did a great job talking about the opportunity he had and the positive vision. He decided to fight and scratch, and train for this. He had to complete the triathlon in 18 hours or it wouldn’t count – and he made it with 12 minutes to spare.

Keith in Macon Co. thinks we should add a dawgbone cross for stuff like spending time with kids in hospitals. He thinks the defense’s problems have to do with team, not just the defense. CMR – for a shutout it takes more than just the defense playing well. If you throw a pick-6 they score or if you fumble inside the 10 they’re already in FG range. Or if they run a kickoff or punt back you can’t have a shutout. It is mostly defense but all phases have to play well enough.

With all the positive callers tonight, the Kia Drive of the Game was late tonight (8:40 pm). Scott picked UGA’s first drive of the game, 9 plays, 69 yds., 4:22, capped by Ealey’s 7 yd. TD run. Then, the SunTrust solid halftime adjustments. CMR said we didn’t need to make adjustments. We opened with our starting units. The offense opened with another TD, the defense continued its stellar play, and lots of guys got to play for the first time in their careers. Every TD in the first half was scored by a freshman (Ealey 2, Charles, B.Smith). Not only did Montez Robinson have a big day, but C. Robinson had a sack and Arthur Lynch had a couple of catches.

Billy from Monroe thinks we deserve better than to have a team like Tenn. Tech given the cost of tickets (and was cut off). CMR said some SEC teams play four teams like that. This year we are playing three BCS teams out of conference in addition to the SEC games. CMR understands how the caller felt but it was a beautiful day and the fans wearing red and black enjoyed it.

Jason in Thomson, GA asked about redshirting. Richt – a guy could play early in the season, perhaps up to four games now. Then if he gets hurt and is out for the year he can get a medical hardship. Tavares King is an example. If a guy played this late in the season, even for one play, he would lose his redshirt.

Dale in Cornelia asked if we could get Ealey and C. King in the backfield with Logan Gray, and can we have Branden Smith on offense all the time? CMR doesn’t see the first combination. We’ve tried getting two TBs on the field at the same time. Only one guy can get the ball. Do we want a FB blocking? We don’t see B. Smith on offense full time. You have to win games. Even Champ Bailey only played some time on offense when he was at UGA. We need Smith on defense learning everything. Then as he does he can be freed up to get more involved with offense. He would also have to get conditioning good enough to be able to play 100 plays per game like Champ did.

Eric in Augusta said one thing it has been tough for us fans to watch is penalties. He said CBS was almost mocking Richt during the Florida game over previous quotes about cutting down on penalties. Once again we’re near the bottom in college football in penalties. Eric thinks there is a discipline factor. Richt – not sure exactly what he said before in the ABH. One of our missions in the offseason was to work on penalties. There is never a time where a penalty happens in practice that doesn’t get disciplined. If we have more than five in a game everyone pays a price. Last week we got to the point where if a guy commits a penalty he came out for a play.

They do keep a stat on opponents’ penalties. Our opponents’ penalties are the most in the SEC. So in games we play flags are flying everywhere. You can’t take a kid out for the rest of a game and you can’t make guys so afraid to make a mistake they lose their aggressiveness.

Brent from San Jose said he watched a GXtra video with Coach VanHalanger today and was so fired up he was ready to hit someone. CMR said VH has a great voice and has always been a great motivator. Scott added VH did a great job at Lunch with the Dawgs this past Friday.

Scott asked about Auburn. Richt said let’s just show up, get excited, and have an awesome Saturday night Between the Hedges.

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