Tonight’s show follows the 45-16 win over Western Carolina, with a crucial SEC game at Bama looming Saturday night (7:45 ET, ESPN).
College football season picked up a lot of speed and quickness last weekend. Also, lots of upsets – typical the first few weekends. Munson is extremely impressed with the speed LSU [4] and Florida [5] have shown thus far, and was impressed with the crowd that showed up for the WCU game.
Munson asked CMR if he was still satisfied. CMR said the OG situation is still up in the air. Boling, C. Davis and Haverkamp will compete for the starting spots and all will play.
Bama got a bit of cushion by beating a team in their own division and could probably stand a loss vs. an East team. We couldn’t stand another loss.
Jeremy in Memphis (CMR is surprised to hear from him) says he’s hearing from Bama fans they’ll be 7-0 going into LSU. Richt: when you play a game like that and win it, its so hard for people not to get excited and start looking to the future. It’s just like us after OSU.
Blake in Augusta wonders if we play to use Brown and Moreno in the same backfield. We do have a couple of sets with them on the field. It looks like Caleb King will redshirt though some things still could happen to change that. Lump and Jason Johnson are both close to coming back from injuries.
When I mentioned to Richt that Stafford seemed more comfortable behind the OL group that had both Haverkamp and Boling at OG, Richt went back through rotations and the plan for this week to work the 3 guys at OG and determine the starters based on practice.
Tim in Bonaire asked about the screen play, since it looks like we have good speed to run it. CMR thinks we threw 6-7 screens vs. OSU and a couple in the last game (Brown scored on it). Plus we threw a quck screen to Mikey Henderson for 8-9 yds., and one to Massaquoi. We didn’t have much success vs. SC. When people play zone certain screens are there but with man defense you have to make certain blocks. We won’t give up on screens with this OL.
Munson asked about the punter. CMR says we’ve settled on Mimbs. In two of three games we have had no return yards against us and vs. WCU we averaged 42.3 net yards punting.
Perry in Macon thinks we have Bama right where we want them, with no one giving us a chance. He has another OL question – overall, and Vance rotating in. CMR thinks the OL has come a long way. To think, before spring ball we had 6 OL on scholarship. Then several guys came in at mid year but these guys had never played together. We’re getting there, but we’ll only get better with experience. We’re about to do something with these guys they’ve never done before – go play in a hostile environment.
James in Athens asked how we might use Moreno now and in the future. CMR thinks part of the reason is because he got in after defenses weren’t quite as fresh. T. Brown has been starting and getting the wrath of guys when they were fresh. But Moreno has been rushing better early in games too. CMR thought Moreno got a little tired during one drive. We have to make sure no one is out there too long and keep a fresh guy
Ron in Covington wants to become a HS coach and dreams of coaching in college. Guys have gotten to become head coaches all sorts of different ways. The guy at ND never played college ball and CMR doesn’t think Bellicheck did either. Richt told the guy to remember coaching isn’t just x’s & o’s but dealing with young men. Also, work summer camps. Everyone has them, and needs help. It is a good way for college coaches to observe you working, and hopefully someone will remember you if/when they become a head coach one day.
Munson wondered if Bama is still a power running team. CMR said they’ve run it well, and have a veteran OL. When your OL can get after it, any good back can gain yards.
Bob in Conyers notes we’ve had miscues between QB & WR just about every game, had another muff on punt coverage and look porous on kick coverage.
CMR – one of the miscues was early; Stafford threw what was supposed to be an out route and the WR (Bailey) ran a go route. We were calling a play that calls for a 6 step out route. If the CB is up in press coverage, it converts to a go route. Just before the snap, the CB bailed out and the out route was supposed to be there.
We did have a poor alignment on the punt team this week. Last week we had two guys in motion and it cost us a fumble recovery. On a kickoff, we had not enough guys on one side of the kicker. That has already been corrected. Fans need to understand there will be better field position because of the rule change, but a couple of times we got out of our lanes.
Thomas in Athens asked more about Moreno. He’s getting up around 15 carries a game. We don’t want to use him up and we still have other quality back. We have a good, healthy situation at TB, as well as at FB.
Robbie in Alpharetta asked (again) about Caleb King. CMR wants him to have four fantastic years. With the situation now, it would be tough to get him carries. Next year, after Brown, Lump and JJ leave, that leaves us with Moreno and Caleb. It’s similar to Knowshon last year. He didn’t play, but kept working at blocking and learning the system. And we see how he’s burst on the scene this year.
Andrew in Toccoa frets over when the day comes Munson is gone and appreciates Richt for his leadership. CMR – it’s a tough business and people get emotional about their team. Be careful not to just be what we do, because when things don’t go well we can’t lose everything. We belong to the Lord and he loves us no matter what.
RG in Elberton asked about that “doink” play (middle screen to RB) and can Munson give the guys a motivational speech before they leave, since he won’t be there this week. CMR said we usually get good yardage out of that play and got a TD this week.
Carl in Bainbridge asked about Darryl Gamble. CMR – Gamble had a great week of practice, played well on special teams and got a couple of bones for special teams plays. He’s going to be a really good football player when he learns to turn it loose.
Tommy in Hartwell asked about Bobo after three games. CMR thinks he’s doing well. The coordinator job takes a lot of work all week long. He’s got lots of help from the other coaches. They all work together to put the game plan together. Then you’ve got to call the game where it gives the players an opportunity to succeed. We’ve scored a lot of points in two games and the game we didn’t we had opportunities but didn’t convert.
Kevin in Savannah thinks if we scored more points it would look better in the polls, instead of getting content when the game is won. If you score 45 or 52 CMR doesn’t think it will make much difference in a game like this. We get to play more guys and that helps morale. We probably could’ve kept the #1 defense in and stopped them from getting that last TD. If we do keep the starters in and someone busts their knee, everyone thinks we lost our minds.
Munson asked if a night game on the road is harder than a day game on the road. CMR thinks everyone enjoys a night game. They don’t enjoy waiting on a night game but once the lights come on they love it.
Munson also has gotten questions about Moreno’s weight. CMR says it is over 200 (or at least was when camp started). He’s pretty muscular when you see him up close.
During commercial, CMR called Moreno; Moreno said he weighed 206 after practice today.
Donnie in SC said we’d miss Munson Saturday night. Is there a reason we kick the ball around the 10 instead of going for more touchbacks. CMR says we’d love to knock it out of the end zone every time. We are trying to kick it with some hang time and would love to land it around the 5 every time. A couple of times we’ve let guys spit out, to the 45-50. You’ll see more returns with the rule change.
John in Villa Rica notes we have only 11 games currently set next year. CMR said we’re looking to fill the Sept. 6 slot. We’d have open dates before Tenn. & GT. In 2009 we have one open date – before Florida.
Don in La. – all LSU fans are pulling for UGA this weekend and asked about Searels. CMR said he’s doing great.
Doug in Cumming asked about out of town trips. CMR said we do not practice on Friday. Lots of teams do. (FSU never practice on Friday.) We used to spend time walking through the stadium but it’s a hassle to get everyone on/off the buses then have a team meal. When you’re on the road, its just us.
Brad in Milledgeville asked which of our CBs we’re most impressed with so far. CMR – Bryan Evans, when healthy, also Asher Allen is coming on. We’ve got lots of depth and are pleased with all of them.
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