I know a lot of people are encouraged to see signs of life from Georgia’s practices this week. The key bit of news has been a return to harder-hitting practices with greater emphasis on contact. Richt explained how things got to that point:

A lot of it had to do with the one season when we had 32 guys hurt going into the year. You start out with camp and another one goes and another one goes. There are different schools of thought. One is you have to block and tackle to block and tackle well. The other one is let’s get everybody to the gate healthy and let’s kind of play our way into this game and pick our shots when we do those types of things. We did the least amount of that in camp than we’ve ever done. Is it biting us in the rear end right now? Probably so.

Fair enough. I get the once-bitten-twice-shy factor at work here. 2008 was pretty brutal in terms of injuries, and it’s clearly affected how Richt approaches practice. Better late than never to recognize that and correct it, right?

But in some obscure corner of my head, this all sounded very familiar. And, indeed, it’s an evaluation from Richt that we’ve heard before. He talked about it following the win over Michigan State that closed the 2008 season:

After the regular season, Richt mentioned how injuries took a toll on the Bulldogs starting with their approach in practice. During bowl workouts, Georgia opted for more contact and it helped, according to Richt.

“We practiced different this year, and it was attributed to the number of injuries in camp,” said Richt. “We addressed that in the way we practiced for the bowl. We tackled more in our bowl practices than we did all season long. I think our defense improved in that time frame. They tackled better, had more of a swagger in that game. That’s part of it, practicing the way we need to practice.”

He reiterated the need to change entering spring ball in 2009:

“When a lot of guys get hurt and you’ve got bodies on the ground, you start thinking, ‘If we lose one more guy, our game plan is shot,’” Richt said. “Then you have to re-invent the wheel on Wednesday or Thursday. You start making decisions based on that. It affected our defense in particular. Defensive players need to practice with an edge. When you don’t do that, you can lose some of that team speed and attitude. We had three scrimmages in the fall. But by the second scrimmage we weren’t going at full speed.’ That’s just not football.

“You make those calls in the interest of the team. But in hindsight it probably wasn’t the right thing to do. It’s time to go back to old school.”

So we’ve heard this reflection and pledge to change the approach at the tail end of the 2008 season, going into the 2009 season, and now again in the 2010 season. There’s a difficult balance between practices at full speed with violent contact and being able to field a team on Saturday. It seems to be a balance that the coaches struggled to find for the past three seasons. The pendulum has swung back (again) this week, and eventually we’ll see if it sticks this time or if we’re back here in 2011 reading more quotes about the need to get more physical in practice.

Blutarsky had a post the other day about Georgia’s best chance of the year to get a good pass rush. Tennessee’s offensive line is young and thin, so it’s not a surprise that they lead the league in sacks surrendered. Can Georgia take advantage of that fact? The situation seems tailor-made for Grantham’s aggressive defense, but that aggression has bit Georgia about as much as it’s helped them so far.

The Dawgs shown an uncanny ability to get into the backfield and just miss making the play. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Houston and Gamble just about lived in the Colorado backfield on Saturday, but the enduring memories will be the plays where Tyler Hansen getting away. It happened on the first drive when Hansen scrambled to convert a third and six and followed that up with a planned QB draw to set up the Buffs with first and goal. It happened when Hansen got a weak pass away just in time to draw a questionable roughing penalty from the oncoming pressure. It happened yet again in the fourth quarter when Hansen got loose to the left on a 3rd and 13, drew in the safety, and hit a wide-open receiver.

Of course bringing pressure accepts a certain amount of risk. It’s not just a question of what happens if the quarterback evades the pressure. You can look at Colorado’s first touchdown. Or the swing pass to the tailback that set up another score. Or the touchdown run following the roughing the kicker call. In each case, an outside linebacker was put in a spot to have to make a decision. Utility back Matthew Bahr was able to slip behind inexperienced reserve Reuben Faloughi for the first score. Cornelius Washington lost the tailback on that long gainer. On Colorado’s final score, the linebacker got caught moving with the play to the left while the pitch went right.

In a lot of these cases, you’re talking about guys who were capable defensive ends but who are now being asked to make these quick assignment vs. coverage vs. pursuit decisions as outside linebackers. It’s probably the biggest adjustment in Georgia’s transition to the 3-4, and that adjustment is still ongoing. You’re starting to see better play around the line of scrimmage, and more traditional linebackers like Dent are cleaning up. One of the next steps in the improvement of the defense has to be better awareness from the converted defensive ends now playing OLB. If Georgia is going to be multiple and aggressive in its pressure, these guys are often the ones left to pick up the tailback out of the backfield or the tight end in the flat that can serve as quick reads for the QB under pressure.

Tennessee QB Matt Simms isn’t as mobile as Hansen, but he’s not a potted plant either. Tennessee called several designed runs for him at LSU, and one of them resulted in a touchdown. He’s not going to be a stationary target. Georgia will be looking to pile on to Simms’ sack total, but they’ll also likely be faced with several more plays where the pressure breaks down and the improvisation skills of both Simms and the Georgia defense are put to the test.

Boulder is a lovely place. It was a great trip…right up until about 5 minutes after kickoff.

A lot of credit has to go to the Colorado Dawgs. They went above and beyond looking after those of us coming in for the game. The huge tailgate party held in partnership with the Alumni Association was a tremendous success. If you can keep 3,000 tailgating Dawg fans well-fed, entertained, and not come close to running out of beverages (fermented or otherwise), you’ve done an exceptional job. Our hosts and everyone involved in the event were prepared, efficient, and professional. Even with a 1-3 team coming to town, the Colorado Dawgs still had an enthusiasm about and pride for their University and their current home that should be a model for any Georgia alumni group.

While we’re talking about fans, I was impressed with the spirit of fans of both teams. Colorado has suffered through several seasons worth of what Georgia is getting, but they (eventually) just about filled their stadium with a good crowd. Their cheers were loud and coordinated whether filled with profanity or not. It’s too bad that I can confirm vineyarddawg isn’t exaggerating the problems with individual Colorado fans. Anyway, the unusual proximity of the seats to the field made the smaller but vocal crowd very effective. What can you say about the Georgia fans? They made a surprisingly good showing for a team off to a 1-3 start (more on the “yeah, but” of that in a second) and made just about as big of an impact on Boulder as they made on Tempe two years ago.

The Georgia fans are already part of the story for the Tennessee game. After consecutive losses to ranked teams earlier in the year, fans could coax out a halfhearted pat on the back. It was still early, the defense was still new, and Murray was still a freshman. Is it fair to say that a lot has happened since the last home game?

The Senator is right to be concerned about how things could turn. Richt’s worry shouldn’t be with the ugly minority that have mocked him and his personality for years. The problem is that he’s losing the rest of the fans. That displeasure won’t manifest itself with ugly message board posts or confrontational call-in shows. Many will just stay home. The disappointment and apathy is already having an impact in Athens. If the crowd for the Tennessee game doesn’t tell the tale, wait for Homecoming. I don’t know how many people I ran into in Colorado who lamented that the trip was already paid for, so why not go?

It would be different if Richt were some jerk that we never liked anyway. Even Jim Donnan was abrasive enough for some to make evaluating his career a lot less of a personal and emotional task. Other than that minority Richt talks about, most of us really want him to succeed and remain at Georgia as long as he likes. So after the initial anger over some of these losses subsides, there’s just a sadness and regret that it’s not working out.

Tony Barnhart is spot on in the observation that it’s to the point that “the team needs to lift its fans.” Most still want Richt to succeed. He’s good for the school in so many ways. A man whose faith is such a part of his character finds himself in the center of a crisis of faith of a different sort. One game won’t end that crisis, but those holding on to some hope that Richt is the man to turn this around need something.