In the 2009 college football season, there is a lot left to be decided. One thing that’s for certain is that the SEC defenses don’t look nearly as dominant as they have in the past few years. We talked with Legend Vince Dooley and put his former team, No. 20 Georgia under the microscope.
The Bulldogs have had two wild games in a row, defeating South Carolina 41-37 in Athens, and then going on the road and beating Arkansas 52-41.
What is your impression of Georgia after the last two weeks?
Dooley: “Well, I think those were the two wildest games I’ve ever seen Georgia play back-to-back. They scored 93 points in two games. Arkansas has a quarterback (Ryan Mallett), everyone knows, that can throw the football. They had one easy game and an off week, which might have helped them with preparation. But I think it might have hurt them in the long run, because in the fourth quarter, they were not, in my estimation, tournament tough.”
What is going on with the SEC defenses that are usually so good?
Dooley: “I think Arkansas has some serious defensive problems. Joe Cox, Georgia’s quarterback, threw five touchdown passes, which is amazing. I think he’s a much better quarterback than people realize, and he’s capable. But Georgia has a lot of problems on defense as well. One thing that’s obvious is that they have good intangibles, they have good leadership, they’re spirited and they’ll fight like hell to hang with you. In both cases, (against Arkansas and South Carolina), they came back to win. And in the Arkansas game, they dominated the fourth quarter and were able to sack Mallett a couple of times. “
Georgia seemed to incur an awful lot of penalties. What gives?
Dooley: “Well, they’re very undisciplined. They were the most penalized team in the conference last year. Coach Richt had really been emphasizing that discipline. But he’s gotten a little loosey-goosey with it, in fear of taking away that aggressiveness on the defensive side. I didn’t agree with him on that, but nevertheless, he got much tougher on it coming into this year. It looked like they were going to start out and not be as guilty, but right now, they’re probably leading the conference again in penalties.”
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| RK | Team | Record | PV RK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alabama (19) | 12-1 | 2 |
| 2 |  LSU | 13-1 | 1 |
| 3 |  Oklahoma State | 12-1 | 3 |
| 4 |  Oregon | 12-2 | 5 |
| 5 |  Stanford | 11-2 | 4 |
| 6 |  Arkansas | 11-2 | 9 |
| 7 |  Boise State | 12-1 | 6 |
| 8 |  Houston | 13-1 | 20 |
| 9 |  USC | 10-2 | 7 |
| 10 |  Michigan State | 11-3 | 12 |