Stroud, Darrell and the Disgusted Dawg Diehards

My neighbor, Stroud, is a mild-mannered guy. He loves to play the guitar and sing. His favorite afternoons are spent in his fishing boat with a line in the water.

He and his wife, Jan, live across the street from our house in a community south of Birmingham, and red and black colors are often prominent around their property. Stroud is a Georgia fan — a big Georgia fan — and right now he’s not too happy, at least about football.

“Discouraging, embarrassing,” that’s the words Stroud used to describe feelings of Bulldog fans after Saturday’s demolishing beat-down at the hands of the heated rival Florida Gators. “There’s a danger that fans could start losing their passion, losing their interest.”

There’s another red and black flag on the house next to ours, across the street from Stroud. That flag shares a pole with one that’s crimson and white. Those belong to Darrell, the Georgia fan, and his wife, Denise, who pulls for Alabama. Darrell feels a lot like his neighbor, but even stronger.

“Georgia has so much potential. It needs leadership, but it just doesn’t have it,” he said. “Watching the game, looking at the sideline, you couldn’t tell if the coaching staff even had its mind on the game or if it was somewhere else.”

Most Georgia fans would have preferred to be somewhere else. After the inept performance by the Dawgs in the annual showdown in Jacksonville, critics of the program and its head coach Mark Richt are coming out of the woodwork, not that they were hard to find before last Saturday. They don’t call that match-up the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party anymore, but Georgia fans may still be putting down the cocktails, trying to forget what happened.

In case you didn’t see it, the Bulldogs, playing its virtually unknown first-time starter Faton Bauta at quarterback for the entire game, had only 223 yards in total offense, succeeded on just two of 14 third- and fourth down conversion attempts, and had the ball for only 23 minutes. (By the way, the Bulldogs haven’t scored a touchdown — offense, defense or special teams — in eight consecutive quarters.)

This season was supposed to be a possible title year. Things laid out so well for Georgia. No team in the SEC Western Division looked invincible, and all except Mississippi State had quarterback questions.

As for the SEC East, seldom had things looked as promising. South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt were all supposed to be mediocre or rebuilding or both. All of them have fulfilled that promise. The combined record for the Gamecocks, Wildcats, Tigers and Commodores is 14-18 and not one of them has more than four wins.

Tennessee, supposed to be the SEC Eastern Division dark horse, disappointed from the start, unable to hold fourth quarter leads four times, including blowing double digit leads in three games. The only bright spot for the Volunteer season … they did beat Georgia.   And then there was Florida, picked near the bottom of the league, rebuilding with a first-year head coach … they massacred the Bulldogs.

So, what’s the problem?

It can’t be blamed on lack of talent. In the past five years, Georgia has been ranked among the top eight signing classes in the country four times by 247Sports.com. A dozen players ranked with five stars have signed to play in Athens since 2010, and another has already committed for the 2016 class, if he doesn’t change his mind.

It’s not that Georgia isn’t winning … and winning big. During the past 12 seasons (2003-2014), Georgia has won an average of almost 10 wins per season – more than Florida, Auburn or Alabama. Only LSU among SEC teams won more than the Bulldogs during that dozen years, and that margin was less than one more win per season.

They’re winning big … just not winning the big one.

The comparison between Georgia and the other traditional SEC powers during those years is what frustrates Dawg fans the most.     Since 2003, at least one of four SEC teams has been involved in every national championship run except one (2005 when Texas defeated Southern Cal for the title). LSU won the championship in 2003 and 2007, plus lost in the title game in 2011. Florida won the championship in 2006 and 2008. Auburn won the title in 2010, came within 13 seconds of winning it in 2013, and had an undefeated season in 2004, finishing second in the polls. And, Alabama won the title in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and was among the Final Four teams in 2014.

The comparisons don’t improve if you go back further. Alabama won another national championship in 1992. Florida won the title in 1996 and played in the championship game in 1995. The 1984 Gator team was recognized by eight outlets as the national champion. Auburn had another undefeated season in 1993 and its 1983 team was named national champion by six outlets.

You can also throw in Tennessee for good measure. The Volunteers won the first BCS national championship in 1998. That was 18 years after Georgia won its last national title. The only time that the Bulldogs have come close since then was when Dawgs receiver Chris Conley fell at the 5-yard line against Alabama after catching an Aaron Murray pass with few seconds remaining in the SEC Championship Game in 2012 in a narrow 32-28 loss. With a win, Georgia would have played an inferior and outmanned Notre Dame team, and would have likely brought the national championship to Athens.

To many Bulldog fans, that play symbolized the program’s fortunes over recent decades … looking impressive, but falling just five yards short of the goal.

Who knows what’s next for Georgia this season? The Bulldogs will beat Georgia Southern at home and should beat Kentucky there, too. They play disappointing Georgia Tech in Grant Field to end the season and play at Jordan-Hare Stadium in two weeks. Auburn’s invisible defense can make average runners look like Bo Jackson or Hershel Walker, and can make average quarterbacks look like Heisman Trophy candidates. But, after Georgia’s last two games, even a win in Lee County can’t be considered a sure thing.

It looks like another eight- or nine-win campaign, another New Year’s Day bowl game and another season not contending for the championship. In other words, another typical Georgia season.    So now, what should Georgia do? Is it time for a change at the top of the program?

“You always hear that Coach Richt is a strong Christian man and I have no doubt about that,” Darrell said. “But what about the ability to coach the team. How long will this go on? There’s no excuse for it.”

Stroud shared Darrell’s thoughts on the head coach, but with a different conclusion.

“I respect Mark for his integrity,” he said. “His record proves that he can be a winning coach. I think he should be given another year to prove his heart is really still in the program.”

Another perspective came from Jim, a longtime friend and Georgia fan from Atlanta.

“There are a lot of open coaching jobs right now,” he pointed out. “It might be time for Coach Richt to take one of those positions. That might make it easier for everybody concerned.”

With the retirement announcement from Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech and the firing of Norm Chow at Hawaii, there are at least 10 coaching vacancies as we head into November. Would a return to South Beach to take over the Miami program be a good fit for Mark Richt? How about the fun and sun of Honolulu? Either of those places, or any other for that matter, would make a lot of longtime Dawg fans happy. And, at least one media voice has already said that the Georgia coach will be gone at the end of this season.

But as my fellow Baptist friends often say, “Be careful what you pray for … ‘cause you might get it.”

Just ask Ole Miss after it fired David Cutcliffe or Tennessee after Phil Fulmer was encouraged to head out of Knoxville. How has that worked out in Austin replacing Mack Brown with Charlie Strong? Many other high profile programs – Oklahoma, Alabama and Southern Cal to name a few –  suffered through mediocre years after head coaching changes.

Many teams could do a whole lot worse than having Mark Richt as its head coach. One of those could end up being Georgia. But, it seems like the time has come that something needs to be done. Either accept that this is the program’s status or make it change.

I need to go ask my friend Stroud for his thoughts about that, but I think he’s just gone fishing.