Georgia Football: Embarrassing loss to Gators has plenty of blame to go around

The Georgia football program finds themselves in a place they rarely are – with nothing left for which to play this season – and having done what has happened far too often, disappoint fans and supporters.

The 27-3 loss to the No. 11 Florida Gators was much more than a rivalry loss for Georgia. It was much more than just a bad outing against a good team. It was much more than just the failed attempt at a desperate quarterback change.

This one went beyond the excuses of losing Nick Chubb for the season or of the offense not being used to a new system and coordinator. This was a wake up call for a team who may have bought into their own hype way too early this season, and a realization for some freshman that they still have a lot of work to do.

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There is plenty of blame to go around for Georgia’s second straight loss to Florida, and for a season that has become completely derailed.

The first order of business is to blame the fans and the media for heaping so many unfair and unreasonable expectations of the Georgia football team this season. With what was obviously going to be a bridge year in quarterbacks, and a season full of true freshman on defense and in key skill positions, crowning the Bulldogs as the preseason favorites to win the SEC East and to be a contender on the national stage was out of line.

This should have been examined as a team that would learn and grow, and could possibly (keyword, possibly) upset some teams and surprise a few folks. But Georgia being Georgia, and with Nick Chubb carrying the ball, everyone was quick to jump on board the bandwagon of hope.

Against Florida, even more so than Alabama, we saw just how far this team has to go, and fans have the audacity to feel indignant and angered when a team with so many obvious holes wasn’t performing like the 2012 Bulldogs.

The next piece of blame goes to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who in his first year on the job at Georgia has managed to take a well-oiled machine on offense and turn it into a broken erector set running on drained batteries.

The whole idea behind letting redshirt junior Faton Bauta start at quarterback against the Gators was to use his ability to run the ball to Georgia’s advantage. Instead, he was treated like just another pocket passer, given no opportunities through the play-calling to showcase his real skill set. No moving pockets, no bootlegs, no jump passes, just drop back and hope.

Schottenheimer’s predictability has reduced the Georgia offense to scoring just four field goals in their last eight quarters. A team who prided themselves on the power running game has gone 0-for-forever on 3rd/4th and short opportunities in the last two games, and a 6-foot-2, 220 pound Bauta wasn’t even given a shot at a sneak against Florida.

Oh, there’s more blame to go around. As long as we are talking about quarterbacks — Faton Bauta, Brice Ramsey, Greyson Lambert — lets be honest about these guys. None of them have played to the level expected, and none of them have been leaders to this team. Bauta and Ramsey were recruited by Richt and some other former coaches, and were expected to be ready to step up when their time came.

It hasn’t happened, in fact, Ramsey doesn’t even look as good as he did during his first season. Bauta has just stagnated, and Lambert (who was presumably brought in to help push the other two) has made matters worse. Never in all my years of covering Georgia sports have I seen a trio of quarterbacks this bad in Athens.

Of course, no head coach can escape blame when things go sour, and the same holds true for Mark Richt.

Richt has failed in a number of ways this season – in preparing his team, in finding ways to use what talent he has, and in lighting a fire under these boys to fight harder – but there are two failings of Richt which are the most egregious and have caused the meltdown we are seeing now.

It was Richt who failed to recruit the quarterback talent to keep 2014 and 2015 rolling the way they should have, and it was Richt who decided on the Schottenheimer hire, which has now proven (and I’m saying proven with as much conviction as I can) to be a disaster.

These aren’t hanging offenses. Richt brings too many other good things to the table, so don’t get your hopes up if you think this is the game that “finally gets him fired”. But if he’d had the foresight to start recruiting Deshaun Watson earlier and with more zeal, or to give Jacob Park the opportunity to really show what he could do (I’m still convinced he was the best QB in camp before Richt began courting transfers), then both 2014 and 2015 might have had a much different feel.

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Georgia has the next great QB of the future coming in next year in Jacob Eason, along with some pretty talented offensive linemen. This year’s crop of freshman will be more experienced and will know what to expect as these games unfold next year. 2016 is probably still too soon to hope for a title from the Dawgs, especially if Schotty is still around.

The season isn’t over. Far from it. But the loss to the Gators will sting for this team who still held out hope of making the SEC Championship game. They now have nothing to play for other than a mid-tier bowl.

And Georgia Tech.

A win over the Yellow Jackets, and much will be forgiven by the Bulldog Nation.

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