GEORGIA FOOTBALL NEWS – 9/17/08
September 17th, 2008 ║ Posted By: Jarred Amato ║ Permalink ║ Tags: Georgia
Georgia coach Mark Richt was reading up on Arizona State’s Dennis Erickson, and didn’t like what he saw.
As a coach, Erickson has been responsible for beating three teams that had win streaks of 10 or more, including Notre Dame (23) and Florida State. The Bulldogs have won 10 in a row, the second longest active winning streak in Division 1A, trailing only BYU (13).
Expect more of the same from Georgia’s defense this Saturday. Since ASU quarterback Rudy Carpenter excels against the blitz, the Bulldogs will play a lot of 4-3 with two-deep, zone coverage.
“If you have a quarterback and a system that he understand real well, blitzing might be the worst thing you can do,” Richt said.
Playing a nationally televised game against a non-SEC school will appeal to fans and recruits, according to quarterback Matt Stafford.
“I’m from California, I might not be interested in Georgia-Auburn or something like that, but if it’s USC-Arizona State or UCLA-Arizona State and we go play them, they might want to watch,” he said.
While Georgia prefers to recruit “inside-out,” focusing their attention on players from Georgia and bordering states, it has no problem going after marquee players from across the country. For example, Stafford is from Dallas, while Knowshon Moreno hails from New Jersey.
Richt added that players who go across the country to play do it after watching that team on television.
Richt said Georgia “will probably experiment a little bit” on the offensive line after the Bulldogs averaged just 3.0 yards per rush and allowed four sacks against South Carolina.
“I’m not exactly sure how it will end up,” Richt said. “What could change — and it may not change — is who ends up starting.”
Within this notebook, there is word that Georgia could be well-equipped to handle the heat because it’s already been rotating in a lot of players. The Bulldogs used 61 against South Carolina, and almost all of them saw time in the first half.
“That’s got to be our plan again to make sure we’re substituting heavily in the first half,” Richt said. “That’s the biggest plan to beat the heat.”
Knowshon Moreno has one small request: more punt returns, please.
“I wouldn’t mind being back there catching a couple more punts,” said Moreno, who’s lone return went for 32 yards on Saturday.
