Image: Georgiadogs.com
Richt announced tonight that Mike Bobo, the quarterbacks coach, called all the plays during the Georgia Tech game. Richt said he didn't overrule any calls, but made a "couple of suggestions between series." He also said that Bobo will call the plays during the bowl game. He'll examine how to handle the 2007 season's play calling after the bowl game.
What does this mean?
- 1. I think it means Richt is much more willing to change than I or many others thought. There is a perception among many fans that he's too hard headed and stubborn to change certain fundamental things. His strength of conviction is one of his greatest assets. But it's also something that can drive you crazy. Richt addressed some of this topic saying that he had been praying about giving up the play calling duties (DawgPost.com):
"I get up and I pray every morning and I try to listen to what God has to say to me, and it just kind of hit me in my heart that it was something that I needed to do and something I should do,” he said. “I didn’t want to argue with Him."2. Dawgnoxious had told me previously that Richt could never hand off the play calling duties unless he did it from a position of strength. After the AU win, it made sense. Richt admitted as much in the press release saying:
"I had thought about it at times before the season and mentioned it to Mike around mid-season that I was considering it at some point," said Richt. "But with things not going so well at that time, I didn't want to put Mike in that position. But the thought kept coming back and I finally decided to do it this past week. I told Mike on Thursday he'd be calling the plays."3. FINALLY someone will be in the booth calling the plays. You can see the entire field from the booth, and you have the chance to see why something isn't working faster.
4. OJT - More On the Job Training. Ideally, we would be the ones going after a guy like Dirk Koetter, a seasoned college football offensive mind who doesn't need training wheels. Bobo isn't a Borges or Friedgen coming into the job with 10-20 years of experience as a play caller. HOWEVER, Richt isn't Tuberville or O'Leary. He isn't a career defensive guy in need of a more veteran offensive guy. Hopefully, he can mentor Bobo the way that Saban mentored Muschamp.
5. More Time - As Richt discussed in the DawgPost article, this gives him more time to focus on other things -- like the defense, officiating, player management, etc.
6. The GT Game - We only scored one offensive TD in the game. That said, the final seven minutes were a thing of beauty.
PWD
PS -- Who says God isn't a Bulldog. ;-)
9 comments:
We finally stuck with the run. its about time. even though it didnt seem to work, we just kept pounding it and at the end of the game it paid off. running is like chopping a tree. if you keep choping, sooner or later its gonna fall. in this game, it didnt work til the end because of the very good defense but it did so we were able to win!!
This is a HUGE (and positive) development for this program. It seemed like a natural transition to have Bobo start branching out to the play calling. It has (this past Saturday not withstanding) worked for GT and given them stability and freshness.
Our commitment to the run last night was rock-solid and paid dividends on the final drive.
Always a great day to be a Georgia Bulldawg!!
PWD: do you think Bobo is ready for this promotion?
I love Bobo, but don't want to see another Jeff Bowden type situation where Bobo is put in a position outside his abilities.
I knew the day would come eventually when CMR would hand over the reigns. Guess I was expecting a big-name, or at least more experienced guy to come in to play-call.
Thanks for any info - as always, love the site, man!
I think it is a good thing for him to hand it off. You made a great point about us only having one offensive touchdown, but I honestly think GT's defense was pretty good. And you sort of touched on how CMR always does stuff early in hopes that it will work later. Which is one of the few things I dislike about him, but when it works it works well. It's great to be a GA BULLDOG. Love the site.
He isn't a big name guy, but Brad Scott and Mark Richt weren't big name guys for Bowden.
Jeff Bowden's two problems are:
1. He's not good at his job.
2. His old man refuses to get his hands dirty helping/mentoring him/coaching him up or whatever you want to call it.
PWD
Might of had something to do with Tech's D, but I don't think we went deep enough last night. Or maybe I'm just crazy.
Dawgnoxious is a very wise man, even if he does run with a bad crowd.
I think this is the best we could have hoped for. As Dawgnoxious implied, there was some chance of things getting into a death spiral where the situation kept getting worse and every tightening of the ratchet made MR less likely to change.
It was never really in the cards for MR to publicly proclaim he wasn't worthy and hire some $400K/year offensive guru to save his bacon. This way, MR as a good/really offensive coach can mentor Bobo and focus on the things he does GREAT -- recruit, manage the program, deal with the media and especially, polish his status as the most popular person in the the great state of Georgia and a Fine Christian Gentleman.
I seriously question anyone who believes in a God who cares who calls plays for any football team, even the Bulldogs. On the other hand, I certainly understand that this kind of major life decision is exactly the kind of thing a believer like MR does pray over. One way or another, he figured it out.
I knew something was screwy when we got a turnover and didn't immediatly throw it deep, which is a Mark Richt signature call. I also noticed we kept running the same screen play over and over until Tech proved they could stop it, something Richt never really did much.
This is great news. I think the evolution of Bobo as a great playcaller will only accelerate by Richt's ability to defer to him. I would love to be a fly on the wall during the offseason meetings as the Dawgs install a high-octane Super-Turbo-Staffordcharged scheme for next year. Good times.
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