Is this the best defense of the Richt Era?

Todd Grantham has done an amazing job with the Georgia defense. The idiots on television can say what they want about weak schedules, but the improvements we have seen this year speak for themselves. You don't have a top 10 defense in the country by luck. My question is whether or not this year's defense is the best of the Mark Ricth era, even better than the Van Gorder units. Take a look at this comparison of the national rankings for Georgia's defense during the 2002 SEC season, the 2003 SEC East Champion season, the 2005 SEC Championship season, the 2007 #2 final ranking season, 2009 (Willie's last stand) and this year:


Of the 9 major defensive categories I examined, the 2011 squad had the best national ranking in 5 of them. Arguably, this is the best defense since 2003 when the unit featuring David Pollack, Odell Thurman, and Thomas Davis helped the Dawgs win 10 games despite an offense that struggled all year. What sticks out even more is the deterioration under Martinez and the rebound under Grantham. Georgia finished second in the nation in 2007 because of the strength of the offense and the ability to get sacks, not because of their ability to cover receivers.

Can I honestly say this is the best defense of the Richt era? I don't know. But what I can say is Coach Grantham has returned us to the defense glory we once had and I don't see that changing with the very experienced group we having coming back in 2012.

Willie, Fabris, and Jancek Gone: Let the wild replacement rumors begin!

The rumors became fact today as Mark Richt announced that Willie Martinez, John Fabris, and Jon Jancek would not return for the 2010 season. Georgia fans (myself included) have wanted Willie replaced for a while now, but the question now becomes who will be the replacement. Let's forget the wild names being thrown out there (Tubberville, Strong, even Zook) because I don't see any way that any of these guys are coming to Georgia as assistants.

So, who would be on the top of your wish list? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Willie, Willie, Willie

All season long I've been listening to the "Fire Willie Now!!" contingent of our fan base and this includes others that post on this blog.

Sorry, but I am not on this bandwagon, and as of now do not imagine myself joining it.

I'm also not posting this as a means to engage in a discussion on the merits of Willie Martinez.

I do want to say that I am tired of hearing about Van Gorder and Muschamp. Ever since people started calling for the firing of Willie, these names have come up with how we should bring Van Gorder back or hire Muschamp.

I hadn't heard much of that this year until after Florida, but it was still very limited. After this weekend, I've heard a large spike in these sentiments and they need to stop. They're tired, old, and bordering on stupid.

Why would you want Van Gorder back? Yes, he did a great job here, even better than Willie, and he is a great defensive coordinator. However, HE CAN'T DECIDE WHAT JOB HE WANTS! Why in the hell would you want a guy back who has spent his time burning bridges and has been almost incapable of staying in any job for more than a year since he left our program? Personally, if I were a coach anywhere I would not hire Van Gorder for fear of him jumping ship three weeks later. He's not coming back and even if he were, it would be a bad idea to bring him back.

I had barely heard anything about Muschamp this year, most likely due to the fact that people have resigned themselves to him taking a head coaching job at some point. However, since this weekend I've heard people mention his name. Typically, it has been in the form of, "We should have fired Willie and gotten Muschamp when we had the chance."

First off, I'll go ahead and assume we "had a chance" to hire Muschamp for argument sakes. Why would you want him? When serving as defensive coordinator against UGA, Muschamp is 2-3. In his two years at Auburn, he was dominated by our offense.

Muschamp's a Dawg and a really good defensive coordinator, but you have to take the emotional aspect out of it. The notion that we should fire our defensive coordinator to hire someone who couldn't beat us in the most recent matchups (and I realize Brandon Cox made the situation worse for him), just doesn't make any sense.

You can say you want Willie fired, just don't make absurd points about Van Gorder and Muschamp. It de-values your argument severely, and it shows that your opinion of Willie is rooted more in emotion than reality.