Community Corner

Georgia Football: Now What?

Is the season over for the Georgia Bulldogs? Or will a little adversity push them to great heights?

The Georgia Bulldogs have some time to lick their wounds after last week's loss to South Carolina, a game that was billed as a barn burner and turned out to be a tar-and-feathering.

The Dawgs have a bye week this Saturday (Oct. 13) to reflect on what could have been, and look ahead to visiting a hapless Kentucky on Oct. 20.

The now-No. 14 Bulldogs seem to be taking their humiliation in stride.

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"We've still got life. It's a long season. We've got more games to play," Malcolm Mitchell, a sophomore receiver, is quoted saying by the Macon Telegraph's Seth Emerson. "If we dwell on this game, we'll lose the next one, then lose the next one. We've gotta stay focused and keep pushing."

Emerson reports that head coach Mark Richt is holding steady amid the disappointment.

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“A year ago we’re 0-2, and everybody wants to decide that the sky is falling and it’s over for Georgia,” Richt said. “But what’d we do? We stayed firm, we believed in each other, we kept banging away, we began to win, and before you know it we won the Eastern Division."

After that 0-2 start in 2011, no small number of fans were calling for Richt's head. It didn't take long for that speculation to ramp up again after Saturday. A post by Bleacher Report columnist Christopher Connors on Sunday was headlined "Mark Richt's Job Future in Doubt..."

"In many ways, Richt is a great coach — as evidence by his stellar .740 winning percentage," Connors writes. "What matters, however, is that Georgia has been unable to win the really big games, which have plagued Richt's reign as HC of this storied football program. Last year, Georgia lost every big game that actually mattered."

RedCrake of SB Nation's Dawg Sports blog is convinced that Richt's job is secure for the moment. RedCrake is more concerned with another leadership post at UGA: Michael Adams' replacement as president. Among the suggestions: Former UGA gymnastics coach Suzanne Yoculan and former President George W. Bush.

Back to football for a minute, ESPN DawgNation's David Ching reports that the Bulldogs still feel an SEC East title is a possibility, just like it was after a worse start last year.

"They realize they also need a bit of luck in the form of a couple of losses by the Gamecocks," Ching writes. "South Carolina didn't look like a team that will lose anytime soon on Saturday, but Steve Spurrier's club has a fairly unappealing schedule in the month of October."

Later this month, Dawgs fans might find themselves rooting for Florida.

-- What do you think? Can the Dawgs rally and salvage the season? Tell us in the comments.


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