Okie State Addendum

A few additional thoughts after reading many of your comments:

-- A few people were angry about Logan Gray returning punts. Just as a clarification: He is only in to return when the opposition is punting on the short field. He's Georgia's most experienced return man in terms of deciding whether to fair catch or let the ball bounce into the end zone -- a crucial decision at that spot on the field. He is not a returner, per se, however, and is unlikely to ever actually field and return a punt, so there's virtually no chance of him getting hurt.

-- A word of caution on some of the coach criticism, particularly regarding the Marlon Brown/Rantavious Wooten stuff: As I said, I don't understand the decision, but that's not to say there isn't a valid explanation. I simply haven't heard it, and I have not been able to speak with Tony Ball yet to find out. I can only go by what I've heard from the players and Mike Bobo, and so far I've not heard a good answer.

-- A clarification on Gray playing QB: I think there's a good chance that one day Gray is a good QB, but that day won't be Saturday. As a true freshman, he got virtually no experience. Last year as a redshirt freshman, he missed significant time in QB meetings and reps while working on special teams. So this was his first spring/preseason to really get acclimated. He doesn't come close to having the understanding of the offense that Cox has, and his natural ability isn't anywhere near what Stafford had at his disposal in 2006. Until there's a lot more evidence to the contrary, I feel pretty confident in saying that Joe Cox is the Bulldogs best chance at winning this season. Rather than hope for him to be benched, you're better bet is to hope he looks a lot better without 48 hours of puking under his belt before the game.

-- When discussing coaching philosophy, there are a couple of things you have to remember. Fans have the luxury of Sunday morning quarterbacking -- we should have done this, we should have done that. But for the coaching staff, the most important thing is deveoping a philosophy you think can win and sticking with it. Because of that, I think it's tough to criticize a staff for not changing game plans in the middle of the game -- particularly in a game as close as Saturday's was. The Dawgs really were a play or two away right up until the end.

The problem I have is that there didn't really seem to be a philosophy, and that's concerning. Georgia's offense needs to find an identity, and I'm not sure how much closer they are to doing that than they were a week ago.

-- Having said that, as bad as the offense was, I don't think they were that far off. As I said at the end of my last post, there were about a dozen things that went wrong that, if fixed this week, could make Georgia a much improved offense. I'm not promising this season works out as well as many of you had hoped, but give it at least one more game before you abandon ship.

-- And the bottom line of all of it is this: The reality of the situation is, Mark Richt is not going to make any major changes because of one 14-point loss. Coaches won't be fired or demoted. Quarterbacks aren't being benched. Tailbacks aren't going to completely change their running styles. I'll be shocked if the kickoffs go in a different direction (like into the end zone, for example).

If this ends up being a 7-6 year, then we can discuss all this again at year's end. But for now, my advice would be to dance with the girl you brought, so to speak.