An analysis of Mark Richt's tenure at Georgia

To the casual college football observer, Mark Richt is a respectable head coach.  He coached the Georgia Bulldogs for 15 years, and only had one losing season (a 6-7 mark caused by a bowl loss).  Nine of those seasons had 10 or more wins.

But one thing Richt always gets dinged for in a coaching discussion is his inability to get Georgia to the national title, and even the inability to win the SEC championship, even though Georgia was in the perceived weaker SEC East.

I thought I would take a look at Richt's tenure at Georgia just to see if any of those message board claims have any merit.



2001
overall record:  8-4
conference record:  5-3

2002 - SEC Champs
overall record:  13-1
conference record:  7-1

Lost to Florida, but won the SEC East due to best record.  Should have played Alabama for the SEC title, but the Tide was under a postseason ban due to NCAA sanctions, so they played Arkansas instead.  Did not compete for the national title since Ohio State and Miami were both undefeated in the regular season.

2003 - SEC East Champs
overall record:  11-3
conference record:  6-2

Losses came from Florida and SEC West foe LSU.  Georgia won out on tiebreakers against Florida and Tennessee to go to the SEC title game, where they received a second loss from LSU, easily keeping them out of national title contention.  Had they defeated LSU in that game, both teams would have been 11-2.  Georgia probably would not have been in national title contention, as USC and Oklahoma were both sitting with only one loss.

2004
overall record:  10-2
conference record:  6-2

The key to 2004 in the SEC was Auburn in the West, who beat everybody (but still didn't play for a national title).  Auburn also played both Tennessee and Georgia from the SEC East.  Therefore, they were destined to play (and defeat) the winner of the Georgia/Tennessee game in the SEC championship game.  In short, Georgia lost to both division champs.

2005 - SEC Champs
overall record:  10-3
conference record:  6-2

Georgia won the SEC East with best record, and then easily beat first year coach Les Miles and #3 LSU to claim the SEC Championship.  However, this was the season of the USC-Texas Rose Bowl, so there's no argument about the national title.

2006
overall record:  9-4
conference record:  4-4

Georgia finished 4th in the SEC East, and lost to the three teams ahead of them, as well as giving Vanderbilt their only conference win of the season.  It's a shame that VT couldn't beat them in the bowl game.

2007
overall record:  11-2
conference record:  6-2

Georgia and Tennessee both ended the season with a 6-2 conference record.  With Tennessee having won the head-to-head meeting, they went on to the SEC title game against eventual national champion LSU.

2007 was a strange season.  Everything was in chaos all year.  If Georgia had won just one more SEC game (or if Tennessee had lost another), they would have been in the SEC title game.  There, they likely would have lost to eventual national champion LSU (whose two losses both came in triple OT).  But, if Georgia had gone 10-1, but still missed the SEC title game, they would have been in contention for the national title game.

2008
overall record:  10-3
conference record:  6-2

Losses this season came from Florida and Alabama.  Florida won the SEC East by having the best record of 7-1.  Had Georgia won that game, Georgia would have been in the SEC title game, with a rematch against Alabama.

In short, Georgia's two losses came from both division champions.

2009
overall record:  8-5
conference record:  4-4

Even at 4-4, Georgia still came in as second in their division.  However, this was a season where Florida and Alabama both went to the SEC title game with undefeated conference records.

2010
overall record:  6-7
conference record:  3-5

This was Richt's only losing season, with a bowl game loss being the tipping point.

2011 - SEC East champs
overall record:  10-4
conference record:  7-1

Georgia got to the SEC title game by virtue of best record in the division.  Even if they had beaten LSU in Atlanta, Georgia's 2 regular season losses would have kept them behind several one-loss teams (Alabama, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and hypothetically LSU).

2012 - SEC East champs
overall record:  12-2
conference record:  7-1

Georgia and Florida both ended the regular season with 7-1 records, and Georgia claimed the head-to-head.  They faced eventual national champ Alabama in the SEC title game.  Had Georgia beaten Alabama, they would have been in a pool with other one loss teams to face Notre Dame for the national championship game (Florida, Oregon, and K-State being the other one loss teams).

2013
overall record:  8-5
conference record:  5-3

Georgia was third in the division.

2014
overall record:  10-3
conference record:  6-2

Missouri won the SEC East with a 7-1 conference record, and that one loss came from Georgia.  Unfortunately, Georgia lost to Florida and South Carolina.  If they had won just one of those games, they would have gone to the SEC title game against Alabama.  Even if Georgia had won that matchup, they still would not have made the CFP, but they might have allowed Baylor or TCU to get in instead of Alabama.

2015
overall record:  9-3 (Richt did not coach bowl game)
conference record:  5-3

Georgia was third in the division, losing to both of the teams ahead of them (7-1 Florida and 5-3 Tennessee).  A win against Florida would have gotten them to the SEC title game, as both teams would have been 6-2 and Georgia had head-to-head.

The Florida Rivalry
One of Richt's biggest stumbling blocks at Georgia was Florida.  During his 15 seasons, he only beat the Gators 5 times.  Looking back at those 15 years, there were five times where a Georgia win over Florida would have given them the division, and yet Georgia was only 2-3 in those games.

The 2008 loss cost Georgia a trip to the SEC title game, although they likely would have lost to Alabama for the second time that season.  In 2014 and 2015, a win against Florida would have allowed Georgia to win the SEC East.  (Although, in 2014, if Georgia had beaten South Carolina, then the Florida game wouldn't have mattered.)

On the flip side, by beating Florida in 2011, Georgia stayed atop the SEC East, otherwise South Carolina would have been in the SEC title game.  Likewise, in hindsight, the 2012 Georgia-Florida game was a winner-take-all contest for the division.

Meanwhile, the 2002 loss to Florida was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season.  Had they won that game, then a 13-0 Georgia would have been in the mix with 12-0 Miami and 13-0 Ohio State for the national title. Who knows who the BCS would have picked?

Of Georgia's five victories against Florida, only two came in seasons where both teams were about even; two came in seasons where Florida was mediocre (7-5), and one occurred with Florida didn't even make a bowl game.

Overview
In 15 years under Mark Richt, Georgia won their division 5 times, and won the conference two of those times.  There were an additional five years where they were within one game of winning their division.

Other than the 2002 season where he went 13-1, Richt never had a season with fewer than 2 losses.  In the three seasons where he only had two losses, he won the bowl game in all three.  Only one of those losses came from the SEC title game.

I can see where some folks have some trepidation over Richt as a head coach, especially if the main concern is winning trophies.  From what I've read of Richt's character, I think he is a great addition to any program he is at, and is in a similar mold to Frank Beamer.  Heck, I think he's too nice a guy to have been a player for the U, and while I still don't like Miami for personal rooting reasons, I can respect them and their coach right now.  He might not get to the big game, or he might only get there a handful of times, but he can keep the team in the discussion for a while, and also be an excellent example to his players off the field.