When Georgia transitioned to the 3-4 defense last fall, head coach Mark Richt knew there would be some bumps in the road. As the Bulldogs prepare for year two in defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s scheme, Richt said he expects last year’s issues to start to be a thing of the past. “I’m excited about it,” Richt said. “I think we all know that when you learn something new, it takes a while to get good at it; it takes a while to understand it.”
Although Georgia ranked a respectable fourth in the SEC in total defense (328.5 yards per game) and fifth in scoring defense (22.1 points per game), the Bulldogs were inexplicably dead last in the conference in opponents third downs as foes converted 41.9 percent of their attempts.
“We played pretty darn good. Where we didn’t play good last year was third-and-long,” Richt said. “I can’t tell you how many time we got people to that moment of truth where you want then, and teams were getting those third downs converted, then we ended up staying on the field another down or another series.”
Richt hopes a year’s experience will make a difference in that regard.
“Usually when it comes to football, the first thing you’ve got to understand is learn what to do. Our guys spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do, what is my assignment and how do I perfect my technique,” Richt said. “This year we’re spending a lot more time perfecting technique than figuring out what to do, so that’s really healthy for us. We’ve also had a chance to take an entire recruiting cycle to recruit towards the type of guys we need.”
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