For the past few weeks, wise drivers in the state have been keeping an eye on overpasses, looking to see if anybody walking on them was wearing red.
Be careful, and that warning stands until further notice, which could end around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Reach out to a Georgia fan. Keep them away from bridges, certain aisles of hardware or garden stores.
The Bulldogs are 1-4, and that just can’t be.
It’s as if Georgia fans have turned masochistic, with almost a joy in the venom and anger obliterating context or perspective. It’s possible to be passionate and realistic, yes?
Do not rile them with “it’s not 1980 anymore” or that nobody genuflects at the mere sight of red and black, just as they don’t at orange, crimson, burnt orange, maize or anything.
Ignore college football’s huge parity and that we discuss the national title trophy in Boise or Fort Worth or Salt Lake City. That Tennessee, LSU and Alabama — national title holders since 1980 — have gone through struggles in the past decade is irrelevant, as are the sudden issues at Texas.
Hush up about bragging of the SEC’s toughness, which changes when one’s team loses a conference game. It seems the conference is only tough when it wins a non-conference game or sends the yearly contingent of eight teams to a bowl.
None of that matters. Good grief, man, Georgia lost to Colorado, which lost 52-7 to California, which isn’t exactly Washington State or North Texas. And that road loss, contrary to wide belief, is not as bad as losing to an FCS team (as have Virginia Tech and Mississippi).
Why does Mike Bobo keep calling plays that people fumble on or jump too early or drop passes?
What most Georgia fans won’t acknowledge: The Bulldogs are this close to being 3-2, 4-1 or — and this is hard to stomach for even the objective — 5-0.
Sorry if you spit coffee onto the paper or computer screen, but it’s true. If Georgia played a little bit better, not much, in every game, we’d be talking about a team winning ugly, but winning. A little bit. A smidge.
Don’t fumble early inside the 5 against South Carolina or convert one or two more third downs, change the game. Block a defensive end and go out in the flat against Arkansas and kick the game-winning field goal or play eighth-grade fundamental defense in the final minute and go to overtime.
Don’t have a touchdown erased against Mississippi State in the second quarter with behind-the-play hold in a four-point game, take momentum right before halftime. Make a stop and/or finish a simple handoff at Colorado, kick a game-winner.
And, of course, stop anybody from scoring on the opening drive.
Georgia is, yes, barely missing: Georgia is better in total offense than Florida, LSU, Texas and Penn State, and tops LSU and Penn State in points per game.
OK, that’s still not good, but those teams have winning records. Winning ugly is winning, and no, Georgia isn’t. One could argue that the Bulldogs are losing more than they’re getting beat. Semantics, perhaps, but arguable and extraordinarily frustrating for all involved.
Forget all that. If Georgia’s defense did one of two things in the losses, the Bulldogs would be above .500. Either tackle somebody or cover somebody, either one, just adequately. One or the other. Don’t even need to do both.
That problem has nothing to do with an alignment change, and going to the 3-4 isn’t going from the run and shoot to the wing-T. For the love of the Steel Curtain, a scheme change no matter how drastic has little to do with fundamental football. But yes, that goes back to recruiting smarter and coaching smarter.
Then there’s the debate about Mark Richt calling plays again, as if his first stint doing so at Georgia was a rousing success. It wasn’t and don’t underestimate his input since “giving up” playcalling.
The debate about changes is at a peak and should quiet a little until we see what happens (like 7-5 or even 8-4). Don’t be surprised if the second half is substantially better than the first, which would certainly muddy the waters.
Richt’s seat becomes flammable if the action on the field doesn’t substantially improve. Yes, the program is digressing, but it’s not the perceived Titanic.
Take heart. When was the last time your team won a game, and then lost it because it had 13 men on the field?
Contact Michael A. Lough at 744-4626 or mlough@macon.com
