Ad Disclosure
Richt keeps focus on Southern, avoids early talk about Alabama
By John Hollis
Published:
The looming showdown with Alabama is all that many Georgia fans have on their minds these days, but Bulldogs coach Mark Richt would have none of it.
“I’ll talk about that next week,” he said when asked a question about the Week 5 showdown during Tuesday’s press conference.
Like most coaches, Richt is singular in focus during the season, devoting all of his attention to the immediate task at hand. That just happens to now be Southern University, the Football Bowl Subdivision team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference that will be facing the seventh-ranked Bulldogs (3-0) on Saturday.
Richt has long spoken of his wish to provide a financial boost to FBS teams, while also making sure his team lands as many home games as possible.
That, perhaps more than anything else, is why the Dawgs have scheduled a game of this kind just a week before playing Alabama in the regular season for the first time since 2008.
Richt noted that Georgia loses a potential home game as a result of meeting against rival Florida in Jacksonville every year.
“We like to have as many home games as possible for our fans and for our team,” the coach said, “and sometimes that means getting out of conference people to come play us.”
But Richt made sure to stress that his team never overlooks any opponent. He made a point of heaping praise on several Jaguars starters that the Dawgs will see on Saturday.
In other press conference news:
• Richt said he liked the offensive balance his team showed during last Saturday’s 52-20 victory. The Bulldogs ran 63 offensive plays in that game, with 38 rushing plays to 25 pass attempts. Richt particularly liked the run/pass balance on first downs called by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. “We absolutely don’t want to get away from running the ball. We’re good at it. We’ve got good backs.”
• Richt spoke of the two unusual transfers from 4-year schools who are making big impacts for the Dawgs in quarterback Greyson Lambert and linebacker Jake Ganus. Lambert is a graduate transfer from Virginia who enrolled in school this summer, while Ganus arrived in Athens this spring after Alabama-Birmingham shuttered its program.
• The Georgia coaching staff will be wearing Coach to Cure MD patches on Saturday to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
