The seat was warm heading into the 2010 season for Georgia Bulldog head coach Mark Richt. Now after a loss to Arkansas and sitting 1-2 and 0-2 in SEC play for the first time since 1993, the seat will get very hot. And now it’s not looking like Richt will be coaching next season.

Expectations for the Bulldogs are always very high, especially seeing SEC rivals Florida, Alabama, and LSU winning national titles of late. Richt is 91-29 in nine seasons at the helm of the Bulldogs. But he has not won the SEC since 2005 and not played in a national title game during his tenure.

Expectations were high for the Bulldogs going into 2008. Coming off a demolition of the Hawaii Warriors in the Sugar Bowl. Loaded with offensive talent like quarterback Matthew Stafford, running back Knowshon Moreno, and receivers A.J. Green and Mohammed Massaquoi, they ranked number one in both the coaches and AP polls for the first time ever. The season, however, ended in the Capital One Bowl.

This season, even with freshman quarterback Aaron Murray, expectations were high again. Especially with the Florida Gators losing Tim Tebow to graduation. The new defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, installed the 3-4 defense to strengthen the Georgia defense. It has not been successful this season. Against South Carolina, they were gashed by star freshman Marcus Lattimore for 183 yards on 38 carries with two touchdowns. Against Arkansas Ryan Mallett threw at will for 380 yards and three touchdowns.

The offense has sputtered this season, especially with star receiver Green out due to NCAA suspension for selling jerseys. The defense has been tore apart in the air and ground.

It is not looking too good for Richt. It seems more and more likely that he will get the axe at the end of the season.

Read more Georgia Bulldogs Football news on BleacherReport.com

Best Offensive Play:

The crowd went insane, and the play was most likely a huge confidence booster for the young quarterback. Aaron Murray’s 16-yard touchdown run to end the first half was an outstanding play regardless of how ill-advised it may have been. Murray displayed his athleticism and ability to make something out of nothing.

Best Special Teams Play:

Although Branden Smith proved to be extremely effective as a punt returner, the best special teams play happened early in the third quarter on a Georgia kickoff. UL-L’s returner, Aaron Spikes, caught the ball at the one-yard line, and the Ragin’ Cajuns’ drive started at the seven. This play Bulldog Nation, was a result of fantastic kickoff coverage, something we have deeply missed the past two years.

Best Defensive Play:

Late in the third quarter, safety Jakar “Hit Man” Hamilton dropped what would have been an interception.With 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Hamilton got a shot at redemption, and he made the most of it. Hamilton returned an interception 17 yards for the final touchdown of the game putting Georgia up 55-7.

Most Outstanding Individual Performance:

No player is more worthy of this title than receiver Kris Durham. After a five-reception, 83-yard performance and a touchdown to go along with it Durham is the obvious choice. Two years without playing in a college game seems to have had no affect on Durham, who no doubt made up for the lack of A.J. Green on the field.

Helmet Stickers:

Offense -

This week’s offensive helmet sticker goes to third-string running back Carlton Thomas who was the Bulldogs’ leading rusher with 61 yards on 13 carries. Thomas showed what a low center of gravity and a great work ethic can do for you. Thomas was more than a sufficient replacement against UL-L in the absence of Washaun Ealey.

Defense -

This one has to go defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. He doesn’t have a helmet, and if he doesn’t want it he can choose the player to give it to because, honestly, the guy knows what he’s doing.

Special Teams -

Blair Walsh picked up where he left off last season, proving why he is one of the best kickers in the nation by nailing two field goals from 52 and 48 yards out.

Read more Georgia Bulldogs Football news on BleacherReport.com

Now that college football games finally are being played, we can stop thinking about the fashion police (and, hopefully, the actual police) and focus instead on the teams themselves and what they are achieving on the field. This brings us to the initial SEC Power Poll.

What follows is based predominantly on this weekend’s college football action, although expectations play a role, which is why the Big Orange didn’t rate higher following a 50-0 thumping of Tennessee-Martin. Here are the twelve teams of the Southeastern Conference, arranged in order from toughest to least tough:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide: The Red Elephants are who we thought they were, and nothing about their demolition of San Jose State suggested otherwise.

2. South Carolina Gamecocks: The Palmetto State Poultry have a history of spending their Thursday night openers monkeying around with an inferior opponent for 45 minutes before finally cobbling together a victory. This time, though, the ‘Cocks came ready to play and looked impressive on both sides of the ball in posting a convincing win over Southern Miss.

3. Arkansas Razorbacks: I hated to rate the Hogs this high, but they took care of business with a 23-point second quarter and a 21-point third quarter. I have to ask, though, why Arkansas was shut out in the first and fourth periods, and why the Razorbacks gave up three points to a team even Willie Martinez’s defense held scoreless?

4. Mississippi St. Bulldogs: I know Memphis is a shadow of its former self, but the Tigers have tended to play well against SEC competition, so Dan Mullen’s crew gets credit for building up a 42-0 lead after three quarters.

5. Georgia Bulldogs: Aaron Murray and the 3-4 defense both outperformed expectations against Louisiana-Lafayette, so why aren’t the ‘Dawgs ranked higher? Take a look at the teams I have ranked second through fourth, supra, then take a look at the next three games on Georgia’s schedule. Let’s not start getting cocky overconfident here.

6. Tennessee Volunteers: So far, I’m feeling pretty good about my prediction of an 8-4 record for the Vols. Derek Dooley’s inaugural Tennessee squad has many more daunting contests remaining on the slate, but it’s hard to argue with a 50-0 start.

7. LSU Tigers: Yeah, they won, but, honestly, there was a while there when I was worried the Tar Heels might have to call on me to suit up for North Carolina. If the Bayou Bengals were offered the opportunity to make a straight-up trade of Les Miles for Butch Davis, how many Louisiana State fans do you think would opt to keep their current coach?

8. Kentucky Wildcats: I know it was a road game against an in-state rival, but the Louisville program is an absolute train wreck. Winning this game by a single touchdown was bad enough, but being outscored 16-10 in the final 45 minutes is inexcusable.

9. Florida Gators: While I suspect that Saturday’s exercise in lulling the rest of the league into a false sense of security will be the wake-up call the Sunshine State Saurians need to begin blasting their way through the remainder of their slate, the Orange and Blue looked awful against an overmatched Miami (Ohio) outfit.

10. Auburn Tigers: Scoring 52 points on a patsy is about right, but giving up 26 points to Arkansas State is cause for concern.

11. Vanderbilt Commodores: I feel a little guilty about ranking Robbie Caldwell’s bunch so low, because they hung tough with Northwestern, but 0-1 is 0-1.

12. Mississippi Rebels: That part about 0-1 being 0-1? Yeah, 0-1 is 0-1, unless the loss was to a Division I-AA team, in which case it counts like it’s 0-1,000. This was take-down-your-sports-weblog-and-start-posting-pictures-of-kittens bad.

Naturally, there will be much reshuffling when teams start taking on actual opposition next weekend, but that is how it looks to me at this point.

Go ‘Dawgs!

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• SEC Football Week 1 Wrap Up: ‘Dawgs, Vols, and Tide Roll, Upset in Oxford (bleacherreport.com)

ATHENS, Ga. (AP)—Aaron Murray loves to flash his athleticism. Georgia coach Mark Richt just wants his quarterback to stay healthy.

“A couple of times when he was out of the pocket he could’ve just simply thrown the ball out of bounds,” Richt said. “When he decides to turn it upfield and try to dodge people, he’s going to get splattered if he does that over and over.”

Murray passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in leading No. 23 Georgia to a 55-7 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
AdChoices

Despite the absence of top receiver A.J. Green, Murray completed 16 of 24 passes for 194 yards in his first college game. Kris Durham caught two TD passes.

Murray ran four times for 41 yards. On a 16-yard scramble down the right sideline near the end of the first half, he reached out to hold the ball inside the front pylon for a 31-7 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs had 8 seconds left when Murray took the snap and saw his receivers covered. Instead of throwing the ball away and giving Georgia a chance for almost certain points with a short field goal, he decided to aim for the goal line.

“I need to work on making decisions,” Murray said, “that will always get us points at the end of the half.”

Cornerback Jakar Hamilton, who had one of three interceptions, returned a fourth-quarter pick for a 17-yard touchdown that made it 55-7. 

Georgia (1-0) visits South Carolina next week.

Louisiana-Lafayette (0-1) scored on Chris Masson’s 60-yard pass to Ladarius Green late in the second quarter.

Green, a junior All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection last year, watched the game from the sidelines as Georgia awaits an NCAA ruling to clarify his playing status.

The Bulldogs did not announce that Green would miss the game until a few hours before kickoff. The NCAA is investigating if he was one of several players from different schools to attend a party hosted by a sports agent in Miami. Green said he has never been to Miami.

Starting tailback Washaun Ealey, one of nine Georgia players arrested this year, missed the game, too. Richt held him out following police charges of hit and run and driving with a suspended license last week.

Richt indicated after the game that Ealey will play at South Carolina, but the coach declined to comment on Green.

Carlton Thomas rushed 12 times for 61 yards. Caleb King’s 20-yard run made it 7-0 late in the first quarter.

Blair Walsh kicked two field goals. His 52-yarder early in the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 17-0 lead.

Georgia unveiled its 3-4 setup under new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and had three sacks for minus-18 yards and nine tackles for minus-26 yards.

Louisiana-Lafayette finished with 14 yards rushing on 29 attempts.

“We left our defense out there for too long,” Cajuns coach Rickey Bustle said. “There’s no consistency in the way we played.”

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• Murray guides No. 23 UGA without WR Green (sports.espn.go.com)

ATHENS, Ga. (AP)—Aaron Murray loves to flash his athleticism. Georgia coach Mark Richt just wants his quarterback to stay healthy.

“A couple of times when he was out of the pocket he could’ve just simply thrown the ball out of bounds,” Richt said. “When he decides to turn it upfield and try to dodge people, he’s going to get splattered if he does that over and over.”

Murray passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in leading No. 23 Georgia to a 55-7 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
AdChoices

Despite the absence of top receiver A.J. Green, Murray completed 16 of 24 passes for 194 yards in his first college game. Kris Durham caught two TD passes.

Murray ran four times for 41 yards. On a 16-yard scramble down the right sideline near the end of the first half, he reached out to hold the ball inside the front pylon for a 31-7 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs had 8 seconds left when Murray took the snap and saw his receivers covered. Instead of throwing the ball away and giving Georgia a chance for almost certain points with a short field goal, he decided to aim for the goal line.

“I need to work on making decisions,” Murray said, “that will always get us points at the end of the half.”

Cornerback Jakar Hamilton, who had one of three interceptions, returned a fourth-quarter pick for a 17-yard touchdown that made it 55-7.

Georgia (1-0) visits South Carolina next week.

Louisiana-Lafayette (0-1) scored on Chris Masson’s 60-yard pass to Ladarius Green late in the second quarter.

Green, a junior All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection last year, watched the game from the sidelines as Georgia awaits an NCAA ruling to clarify his playing status.

The Bulldogs did not announce that Green would miss the game until a few hours before kickoff. The NCAA is investigating if he was one of several players from different schools to attend a party hosted by a sports agent in Miami. Green said he has never been to Miami.

Starting tailback Washaun Ealey, one of nine Georgia players arrested this year, missed the game, too. Richt held him out following police charges of hit and run and driving with a suspended license last week.

Richt indicated after the game that Ealey will play at South Carolina, but the coach declined to comment on Green.

Carlton Thomas rushed 12 times for 61 yards. Caleb King’s 20-yard run made it 7-0 late in the first quarter.

Blair Walsh kicked two field goals. His 52-yarder early in the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 17-0 lead.

Georgia unveiled its 3-4 setup under new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and had three sacks for minus-18 yards and nine tackles for minus-26 yards.

Louisiana-Lafayette finished with 14 yards rushing on 29 attempts. 

“We left our defense out there for too long,” Cajuns coach Rickey Bustle said. “There’s no consistency in the way we played.”