The B.S. Report: Bulldogs washed away by Crimson Tide

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – It was seven years ago – 2008 – when I came to the conclusion Mark Richt would never lead Georgia to a national championship. That night the Georgia Bulldogs were down 17-0 to Alabama. I actually walked out of Sanford Stadium – just to take a break – and when I walked back in it was 31-0 Alabama.

That game convinced me there was something missing about this coach. He was a good coach, and a good man, but that loss to Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide made me believe that Mark Richt would NEVER be a great coach. Okay, you don’t have to be a great coach to win a national championship – Gene Chizik proved that at Auburn a few years ago. But even Chizik proved how mediocre he was when the Tigers fell apart just two years after he won it all. So yeah, maybe to be in charge of a great program, you do have to be a great coach.

But Georgia is not a great program. Georgia is not an elite program. The problem is some of Georgia’s delusional fans believe they are elite, and that’s why they worship – YES, worship – Mark Richt. So this past Saturday night… there I was in Athens once again watching Georgia and Alabama. And what happened? Well, it was like I was back in 2008 all over again. Alabama was blowing Georgia out. It was amazing. All week I believed Georgia might win, that they might be ready to beat the mighty Crimson Tide and their phenomenal coach. But once again, the Bulldogs flopped – choked, or whatever you want to use to describe that massacre.

Georgia cannot beat ranked teams. Since 2008 – that same season when Alabama and Saban first embarrassed Richt – the Bulldogs have gone 14 and 22 against ranked opponents. Now think about that for a moment. In the last 36 games when Georgia has played a ranked team, they’ve won only 39% of the time. Is that acceptable, Georgia fans? We’re not talking about a head coach that is in his first few years of a program. We’re talking about a guy that has been in charge for 15 years.

Someone tweeted me Monday night that on Richt’s radio program he made the comment, when talking about the loss to Alabama, that “…it takes time…” to get the program where he wants it to be. How long do Georgia fans have to wait? It’s been a decade since Richt won a conference championship, and to think Missouri has won the SEC East the last two years is embarrassing.

But it wasn’t as embarrassing as Saturday night. This has happened before, and perhaps that is why some – not all, but some – Bulldog fans accept this. They love Mark Richt so much they’ll forget how they felt when they were walking out of Sanford Stadium Saturday to avoid watching the nightmare that was coming true. This wasn’t just a loss. I would probably be talking about something else if this was just a loss.

This was a dumpster fire of a game. This was humiliating.

What other fan base, what other administration accepts a record like 14-22 against ranked opponents? How would Alabama’s fans think about that? What about LSU? Again, Auburn fired a head coach that had won a national championship two years later because he fell off so drastically. But once again Georgia lost a big game – against a tough opponent. Why accept that Georgia fans?

Well, maybe that’s just become THE GEORGIA WAY.