UGA slides in 2010

Georgia's season overshadowed by arrests, suspensions, and the Bulldogs struggled on the field to a 6-7 record.

A year saturated with bad news yielded a bad bottom line.

The Georgia Bulldogs entered 2010 expecting to bounce back from an 8-5 season that ended with a victory over Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl. They wound up worse, finishing 6-7 after an emotionless 10-6 loss to Conference USA champion Central Florida in Friday's Liberty Bowl.

"We're all disappointed," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said after experiencing a losing record for the first time in 26 years of college coaching. "We didn't want to finish with a loss. We didn't want to finish with a losing record. No one probably would have predicted that. It is what it is, though, as they say."

Georgia's desire to atone for its '09 season came into question several times this past year, as 11 Bulldogs were arrested from March to October. The top two tailbacks appeared on the police blotter, with Washaun Ealey getting charged for hit-and-run of a parked vehicle and Caleb King for skipping out on a court date to address a speeding ticket.

Yet the biggest setback of all occurred after the opening win over Louisiana-Lafayette, when the NCAA suspended junior receiver A.J. Green four games for selling his Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000. A stretch of contests at South Carolina, Arkansas, at Mississippi State and at Colorado awaited the Bulldogs, and they lost all four.

Green returned for the Colorado game but left with second-half cramping, and the Bulldogs lost a 24-14 lead in falling 29-27.

"While everybody is disappointed right now, I think we showed a lot of resiliency throughout the year," junior cornerback Brandon Boykin said. "Starting the year 1-4, not many people expected us to get to .500 or 6-6, so for us to even have a chance to be in a bowl was a blessing. It showed that we never stopped fighting."

The Bulldogs got on a midseason roll, waxing Tennessee (41-14), Vanderbilt (43-0) and Kentucky (44-31) to get to 4-4, but they blew an opportunity to beat the worst Florida team in the six-year Urban Meyer regime. Redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray surpassed all expectations this season but threw three interceptions against the Gators, including one in overtime as the Bulldogs succumbed 34-31.

Georgia got back to 5-5 by drubbing Idaho State and took a 21-7 lead at Auburn before Cam Newton rallied the Tigers to a 49-31 victory. The Bulldogs had been 0-6 in games still in doubt at the start of the fourth quarter until topping Georgia Tech 42-34 in their regular-season finale, a win that gave the program bowl eligibility for a 14th straight time.

"It wasn't the season we wanted," senior receiver Kris Durham said. "It was a roller coaster and there were ups and downs. We had some good wins, good moments like beating Georgia Tech and making a bowl game, so we did accomplish some of our goals."

The Bulldogs strung together a program-record seven consecutive games scoring 30 or more points, a streak that ended rather abruptly against UCF. Murray struggled against the Knights but set a Georgia freshman record by throwing for 3,049 yards this season.

Murray threw for 24 touchdowns and was intercepted eight times, and his 28 total touchdowns (including four rushing scores) tied Georgia's single-season mark that D.J. Shockley set in '05. He came up short in trying to surpass Matthew Stafford's single-season standard of 25 touchdown passes and Mike Bobo's single-season efficiency mark.

"I learned that I can play in the SEC," Murray said. "Before you get here, everyone tells you different things, that the speed will be different, and obviously it's an adjustment, but I think Coach Richt and Coach Bobo prepared me for that. They had me watching film and making sure I was mentally prepared for each game."

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Defensively, the Bulldogs collected 26 turnovers after getting 12 in 2009. They were last in the Southeastern Conference in third-down defense, however, and they gave up 30 or more points five times and allowed the 29 at Colorado.

Georgia switched to a 3-4 scheme this year under new coordinator Todd Grantham, who gained 15 minutes of fame by flashing a choke sign at Florida kicker Chas Henry in overtime.

"We did hold South Carolina to 17 points, which I believe is the lowest total they had all year," Grantham said. "We did shut out an SEC opponent, and at the half, we were tied with the No. 1 team in the country on the road. We got our rival Florida to overtime, and if we had been able to get a few more turnovers, that could have changed, too.

"We were fourth in total yards. It's Alabama, LSU and then Florida. Now, by no means am I saying that we're there, because we're not. We are a work in progress."

A work in progress that went 6-7 and has the college football world wondering if 2011 will be Richt's last in Athens.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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