Mark Richt Admits Staff Never Told Players To Knock Ball Into Ground

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
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You know what's kind of interesting to me. This same kind of play happened at the end of Nebraska-Northwestern, and then a couple of times on one Sunday in the NFL a couple of weeks ago. In every case more than one defender tried to intercept rather than simply knocking the ball down.
What hasn't been mentioned much though is the biggest fundamental flaw that all the defenders made, which is---When you're playing a prevent defense you keep everything in front of you and you never, ever let the receiver(s) get behind you. Tackle him if you have to, take the 15 yard penalty, whatever--anything is better than what can happen if they get behind you. So to me, what Richt and his DC should have emphasized during the time out is "Back up and make them throw it in front of you".
I never see one of these that I am not reminded of the play that sealed the USC win over Bama in 1978. The only blemish on that NC team. Pass was underthrown by at least five yards. Would have been incomplete if there had been no Bama defender. Play went for 40 yards and a TD.
 
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mittman

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Jun 19, 2009
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I never see one of these that I am not reminded of the play that sealed the USC win over Bama in 1978. The only blemish on that NC team. Pass was underthrown by at least five yards. Would have been incomplete if there had been no Bama defender. Play went for 40 yards and a TD.
Thanks a lot. I had finally blanked that from my memory, and was living in southern California at the time.
 

uaintn

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Aug 2, 2000
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I agree with those who think this is something that a starting defensive back in the SEC knows and has been taught for years. Why these two didn't do that, I can't fathom.

I don't think Richt or Grantham should be fired over this little episode. But I do think most coaches with that timeout would have emphasized the fundamentals -- don't jump offsides and give them an extra play, don't let anyone behind you, knock the ball down, if you get it somehow, take a knee immediately. Part of the coach's job is to remind the players of what they already know to do -- especially in exciting circumstances. Whatever.

I feel pretty confident that if we were in that situation, Coach Saban or Coach Smart or someone would have mentioned it, just as a reminder.
 

JIB

Suspended
Nov 2, 2011
1,431
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Sterrett
Other headlines:

"Mark Richt admits staff never told players to beat Vanderbilt"

"Mark Richt admits staff never told players to avoid injuries"

and my favorite: "Mark Richt admits staff never told players to win a national championship"
 

hotwillz33

BamaNation Citizen
Nov 7, 2012
30
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I can't blame that loss on him.....take the selfish act of making the interception and its a win. Peewee youth football players know on 4th down and long, last play of the game....knock it down. Interception means nothing!
 

Ole Man Dan

Hall of Fame
Apr 21, 2008
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SO... The Georgia boys wanted to be a hero. Wanted an Int....
turns out they were the Goat... BTDT.
Yrs. ago on a 4th and 17, I got an Int., tackled on the spot, and it cost us 22 yards.
(Sophomore in High School... Coach assumed we knew what to do... He was wrong...)
 

Special K

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I can't blame that loss on him.....take the selfish act of making the interception and its a win. Peewee youth football players know on 4th down and long, last play of the game....knock it down. Interception means nothing!
Sure, but the kid trying to make the interception didn't cause the tip to Louis, the other guy did. Even if the first guy had tried to bat it down, his own player tipped it backwards over his head towards his own goal. Both players should have batted it straight down, but at least the first defender was trying to do the next best thing. What the second guy was thinking is beyond me.
 

B1GTide

TideFans Legend
Apr 13, 2012
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Sure, but the kid trying to make the interception didn't cause the tip to Louis, the other guy did. Even if the first guy had tried to bat it down, his own player tipped it backwards over his head towards his own goal. Both players should have batted it straight down, but at least the first defender was trying to do the next best thing. What the second guy was thinking is beyond me.
I assumed that he was just looking at the ball and was not aware that it was a teammate about to catch the ball.
 

UAME

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I didn't bother to read all the responses to this thread. Surely someone has pointed out that having to instruct a DB on the sidelines what to do on that play is a classic case of TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

Next summer in preseason camp, when the UGA team is frolicking in the olympic pool and Richt is jumping off the high dive, maybe he'll have a epiphany "HEY! We could be using this time to cover hail mary technique with our DBs, instead of playing Marco Polo!"
 

DocCrimson

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Jan 3, 2010
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Blame Richt for not previously pounding deflection vs. interception on 4th and long into their heads. Blame him a little for not mentioning it. But if your DBs don't know that by heart, you've got a bigger problem than having a Les Miles-esque brain fart.

You should NEVER have to tell an SEC DB what to do with a Hail Mary on 4th and miles with 25 seconds left in a game. That doesn't make it a bad idea to say the obvious anyway, but realllllyyy?

Firing a guy for that is silly compared to some of the idiot coaching moves we've seen over the years. He's not the best coach in College Football, but he's far from one of the worst. A lot of the Dawg fans who are calling for his head now were calling for his head before, hoping for Will Muschamp. Well, is that still who they want?

Sorry, I get frustrated at the utter lack of respect Richt gets from his own fans and ours. He's not the best coach, and perhaps they could do better. But he's a lot better than a lot of other coaches in College Football, and there are very few sure things when it comes to new coaching hires. How many coaches did we go through before we got CNS? If they fire him, who comes in? I love CKS and don't want him to leave for UGA, but even he is not a sure thing (See: Muschamp).

He's not a great disciplinarian or teacher. But most of their player suspension issues are because he actually suspends players (See: LSU, *U) for infractions. He's one of the few coaches who preaches faith and humility who actually tries to follow his own advice (as best as I can tell). He loses on a lot of good recruits, but he gets a lot of great players too. His biggest problems are from unreasonable expectations by Georgia fans. We have the best coach of the past generation plus, and they don't. That doesn't mean he'd be easy to replace.

He's a notch below Les Miles, Spurrier, and possibly Sumlin. But having the 4th best coach not named Saban in the SEC ain't bad. Personally, if I was a UGA fan, I'd be more upset about my OC and DC than my HC.


/rant.
 
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Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
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Ocean Springs, MS
One thing you have to remember is that these players are great because they have great instincts, and they're instincts say, "Make a great play".
It's like the Georgia guy who caught the deflected pass in last years SEC Championship Game. He caught the ball because that's what receivers do and are supposed to do. In his mind he was thinking, "Catch it and run into the end zone".
So to blame Richt here for not telling his defenders to knock the pass down is basically the same as blaming him for not telling his wide receiver, "If they deflect the pass and you're not in the end zone, don't catch the pass".
All the "Richt should be fired" talk amazes me. Simple fact is, if the youngster had indeed simply intercepted the pass, Richt would be receiving rave reviews for conducting an incredible come back and Georgia would be right in the thick of the SEC East race.
 

Bad Pony

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BupYlM0POs

2 hour, 26 minute mark...... final play of the game.... how to properly defend a haily mary.
Announcer: "Look at that, it's like a volleyball kill"

Too many players want to make the highlight reel @ ESPN... congrats to the jawja DB's....they certainly did just that. This is a no-brainer....knock it down and not only do you get the ball turned over on downs but you get it 50 yards back up field. Pathetic coaching...
 

Bad Pony

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One thing you have to remember is that these players are great because they have great instincts, and they're instincts say, "Make a great play".
It's like the Georgia guy who caught the deflected pass in last years SEC Championship Game. He caught the ball because that's what receivers do and are supposed to do. In his mind he was thinking, "Catch it and run into the end zone".
So to blame Richt here for not telling his defenders to knock the pass down is basically the same as blaming him for not telling his wide receiver, "If they deflect the pass and you're not in the end zone, don't catch the pass".
All the "Richt should be fired" talk amazes me. Simple fact is, if the youngster had indeed simply intercepted the pass, Richt would be receiving rave reviews for conducting an incredible come back and Georgia would be right in the thick of the SEC East race.
I don't think he should be fired 'sip but I agree with others in "state the obvious" always has a place in a situation where emotions can run high. In this day and age I think their instincts scream "Get on Sports Center" more than they do "play football-smart".
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
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Birmingham, Alabama
One thing you have to remember is that these players are great because they have great instincts, and they're instincts say, "Make a great play".
It's like the Georgia guy who caught the deflected pass in last years SEC Championship Game. He caught the ball because that's what receivers do and are supposed to do. In his mind he was thinking, "Catch it and run into the end zone".
So to blame Richt here for not telling his defenders to knock the pass down is basically the same as blaming him for not telling his wide receiver, "If they deflect the pass and you're not in the end zone, don't catch the pass".
All the "Richt should be fired" talk amazes me. Simple fact is, if the youngster had indeed simply intercepted the pass, Richt would be receiving rave reviews for conducting an incredible come back and Georgia would be right in the thick of the SEC East race.
Backing this hard. I just can't blame Matthews or Wiggins for trying to make a play. If the pass had been into the endzone, the criticism would be valid, but to accuse these kids of "selfish play" is downright silly.
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
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Blame Richt for not previously pounding deflection vs. interception on 4th and long into their heads. Blame him a little for not mentioning it. But if your DBs don't know that by heart, you've got a bigger problem than having a Les Miles-esque brain fart.

You should NEVER have to tell an SEC DB what to do with a Hail Mary on 4th and miles with 25 seconds left in a game. That doesn't make it a bad idea to say the obvious anyway, but realllllyyy?

Firing a guy for that is silly compared to some of the idiot coaching moves we've seen over the years. He's not the best coach in College Football, but he's far from one of the worst. A lot of the Dawg fans who are calling for his head now were calling for his head before, hoping for Will Muschamp. Well, is that still who they want?

Sorry, I get frustrated at the utter lack of respect Richt gets from his own fans and ours. He's not the best coach, and perhaps they could do better. But he's a lot better than a lot of other coaches in College Football, and there are very few sure things when it comes to new coaching hires. How many coaches did we go through before we got CNS? If they fire him, who comes in? I love CKS and don't want him to leave for UGA, but even he is not a sure thing (See: Muschamp).

He's not a great disciplinarian or teacher. But most of their player suspension issues are because he actually suspends players (See: LSU, *U) for infractions. He's one of the few coaches who preaches faith and humility who actually tries to follow his own advice (as best as I can tell). He loses on a lot of good recruits, but he gets a lot of great players too. His biggest problems are from unreasonable expectations by Georgia fans. We have the best coach of the past generation plus, and they don't. That doesn't mean he'd be easy to replace.

He's a notch below Les Miles, Spurrier, and possibly Sumlin. But having the 4th best coach not named Saban in the SEC ain't bad. Personally, if I was a UGA fan, I'd be more upset about my OC and DC than my HC.


/rant.

Totally agree with this - Richt probably should have done differently at times, and there's a lot to criticize about the way he runs his program. But in terms of results, there are very few programs out there who wouldn't kill for UGA's stability over the last twelve years.
 

Tidetwin

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May 15, 2006
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I didn't bother to read all the responses to this thread. Surely someone has pointed out that having to instruct a DB on the sidelines what to do on that play is a classic case of TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

Next summer in preseason camp, when the UGA team is frolicking in the olympic pool and Richt is jumping off the high dive, maybe he'll have a epiphany "HEY! We could be using this time to cover hail mary technique with our DBs, instead of playing Marco Polo!"
Funny and true.
 

TideMan09

Hall of Fame
Jan 17, 2009
12,189
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Blame Richt for not previously pounding deflection vs. interception on 4th and long into their heads. Blame him a little for not mentioning it. But if your DBs don't know that by heart, you've got a bigger problem than having a Les Miles-esque brain fart.

You should NEVER have to tell an SEC DB what to do with a Hail Mary on 4th and miles with 25 seconds left in a game. That doesn't make it a bad idea to say the obvious anyway, but realllllyyy?

Firing a guy for that is silly compared to some of the idiot coaching moves we've seen over the years. He's not the best coach in College Football, but he's far from one of the worst. A lot of the Dawg fans who are calling for his head now were calling for his head before, hoping for Will Muschamp. Well, is that still who they want?

Sorry, I get frustrated at the utter lack of respect Richt gets from his own fans and ours. He's not the best coach, and perhaps they could do better. But he's a lot better than a lot of other coaches in College Football, and there are very few sure things when it comes to new coaching hires. How many coaches did we go through before we got CNS? If they fire him, who comes in? I love CKS and don't want him to leave for UGA, but even he is not a sure thing (See: Muschamp).

He's not a great disciplinarian or teacher. But most of their player suspension issues are because he actually suspends players (See: LSU, *U) for infractions. He's one of the few coaches who preaches faith and humility who actually tries to follow his own advice (as best as I can tell). He loses on a lot of good recruits, but he gets a lot of great players too. His biggest problems are from unreasonable expectations by Georgia fans. We have the best coach of the past generation plus, and they don't. That doesn't mean he'd be easy to replace.

He's a notch below Les Miles, Spurrier, and possibly Sumlin. But having the 4th best coach not named Saban in the SEC ain't bad. Personally, if I was a UGA fan, I'd be more upset about my OC and DC than my HC.


/rant.
You make a valid point..Richt is a descent HC, it's obvious he's never going to take The Dawgs to the next level, I hope they keep him for another 10yrs & lets the sleeping giant that could be at Georgia continue to sleep while Richt is their HC..
 

LagunaBama

BamaNation Citizen
Oct 6, 2013
66
0
0
I give the blame to clemons. The other db had the ball. He was just oblivious. Prob severe add. Knocked it out between his hands. genius. lol
 

NoNC4Tubs

Hall of Fame
Nov 13, 2010
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"Obviously at the end of the game, you've got to know to knock the ball down in that situation," Richt said at his Tuesday news conference. "We had a timeout prior to that. I'm in there. [Defensive coordinator Todd] Grantham's in there. We're all in there. I could have easily said, 'Hey guys, if the ball's launched deep, bat it down.' I could have said that.

======================

He needs to be fired over this one. How long has he been coaching?

No kidding! :cool2:
 

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