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| Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara/AP |
But as Blair Walsh's final kick in a Georgia uniform bounced off the hands of a Michigan State player, sending Mark Richt's club to the locker room with their second straight bowl loss, I started to wonder what 2012 will have in store for a team that saw improvement but, arguably, not as much progress in the eyes of those who still remain unconvinced that they can play with the "big boys" of the BCS.
Will this last loss be for the better or the worse where this off-season is concerned?
While the offensive line will continue to receive a fair share of the criticism for their inability to protect Aaron Murray, open running lanes, and consistently perform up to expectations in general, it's silly to lay all the blame at their feet for what went wrong against the better competition this season.
For one, inasmuch as Aaron Murray is the leader and the heartbeat of this offense, he is in his third year of this system so why is he still so prone to making elementary mistakes? Mistakes that aren't just attributable to his "being human", but rather to a guy who's in his first-year and still learning?
Poorly thrown passes, ill-advised decisions in the pocket that often led to sacks and lost yardage, mistimed routes, etc., are all things that you don't expect to see done by an experienced quarterback with three seasons of study under his belt—particularly with the frequency that Murray has done it this season.
I love Murray, I do, and I'm not willing to say he's not the best fit for this team, but I do question how much individual attention he's getting on the fundamental side of things given his grasp of the playbook.
Sure he was statistically better this season, he did improve on his numbers, but how much did he actually progress?
Second, what's wrong with the veteran receivers on this roster that a freshman (Malcolm Mitchell) has the ability to step in and be more of an impact player than any other receiver on the depth chart?
Michael Bennett was more effective in year two than Marlon Brown or Rantavious Wooten (Wooten ended up being granted a medical redshirt after missing the majority of the year due to a head injury) have been in all three of their years combined.
Georgia was supposed to be the deepest at wide receiver this year, yet beyond Bennett and Mitchell and, more recently King, who else has stepped up? Who else has progressed?
Last, what about the running back situation at Georgia?
Bryan McClendon is one of the best recruiters in the conference, of that there can be no doubt, but his charges have not fared well this year and all of them can likely absorb some of the blame for not only the team's last two outings but sketchy games against Florida, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky as well.
I'm not about to pick on Crowell here because he contributed mightily to the success of this season. That said, it's clear he needs to toughen up and get in better condition—physically and mentally—for 2012 and that will progression will, at least partially, lay in the hands of McClendon.
It won't matter who Georgia signs in 2012—Keith Marshall, Mike Davis or Todd Gurley—if there isn't some progression on the part of McClendon in the coaching department. He's already proved that he can bring in the talent for Georgia, now he has to show that he can do something with it once it gets here.
Furthermore, while strength and conditioning improved this season, was any one else a little concerned about how well this team would handle competition that was on par or better conditioned than they—particularly with a depth chart that wasn't nearly as deep defensively as it needs to be for Grantham's 3-4?
By the fourth quarter, against Michigan State, there wasn't a body on this team (on offense or defense) that wasn't sucking wind. Every guy was tired and feeling the pressure of having to perform and they didn't look like they were ready to go one round against the fired-up Spartans—much less three.
Joe Tereshinski's plan did much to flush out the wanna-be's from the gonna-be's, but he needs more help if he intends to see progression to the level of an Alabama or an LSU.
Finish the drill. Isn't that the mantra we all so mightily held to this season? Yet, in the end, in every loss this year, it's basically been about an inability to finish the drill and deal with adversity when a quality—and please note the use of the word "quality" as there is a marked difference between finishing against Kentucky and closing out against Michigan State or South Carolina—opponent takes his best shot.
Now, before anyone mistakes me for being a disloyal Bulldog fan, I need to make this one thing clear, I do feel that improvements were made in key areas this season and I would be lying if I didn't say that I am cautiously optimistic about what this team can do with the personnel they have returning in 2012.
That said, coach Bobo needs to start earning his paycheck. He's been doing this job for five years and has yet to have a signature win on offense that he can point to and say, 'that's all me right there'. His plans should become so fool proof that Richt can plug-and-play guys with little drop-off in the outcome.
The days of "playing not to lose" need to go the way of the black jersey, 'bye-bye', because teams that are capable of going toe-to-toe with any team in the nation don't employ such a strategy. They play to win and nothing else.
Even more, Aaron Murray needs to get better and start playing smarter. Yards and points on the board are great, but they are easily overshadowed by game-changing mistakes and poor decision-making in the pocket at critical points in the game.
Progress is being made at Georgia, not all of it is surface-clear but, it is being made. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement and much of it will begin and end with how this teams goes from being the hunter to the hunted in 2012.
Will they be ready for that next step?
Improvement is always a good thing for a team to make, but it's also about progress, and that has to be the next step for Georgia if Richt, or his team, are going to become the upper-echelon team they hope—and still feel confident—they can be in the near future.
