Richt Talks Defense

Anyone who might have expected Mark Richt to throw Willie Martinez under the bus for the defensive shortcomings the past three weeks can stop holding their breath. Richt isn't one to get angry, but the tension in his voice when talking about the defense -- and more to the point, his embattled D coordinator -- has been evident the past two days. Here's what he had to say about the situation during his Sunday teleconference:

"I think the bottom line is the coaches have to put the players in position to make plays, and the players have to make the play once that happens. Here's the whole thing for me: We're a team, and we're not going to point fingers, certainly not in the media. We'll always go back and look at things we've got to do better, whether it's a coaching decision or player execution. That's just how we handle it."

"It's the same basic defensive scheme we've had since we got here. It'snot like there's some kind of philosophical issue. The philosophy ofour defense hasn't changed hardly at all in eight years. But we haven'tbeen in this spot in the past."

"People don't get it. People think they know, but they don't. I'd love to say that if people really knew football, they'd know we'd been blitzing, they'd know we'd been playing zone, playing cover one, playing robber, fire zone. If they really knew football, they wouldn't be saying the things they say, but they don't."