Earlier this week, Dabo Swinney lit into his Clemson football team following what he considered to be a very poor performance in the scrimmage. While not nearly to the same decibel level, the head coach of the Tigers’ season-opening opponent went through some similar angst over his squad recently.
During Georgia’s second scrimmage of summer campFriday, Mark Richt watched as his offense tossed a pair of picks as well as lost two fumbles. Various penalties on that side of the ball as well as players not lining up correctly added to the frustration, which Richt wasn’t shy in hiding in the post-scrimmage meeting with the media.
“It was just frustrating, and I told them, too,” the coach said. "[T]he execution kind of deteriorated (after the first drive of the scrimmage). That’s not to say there weren’t good plays offensively, but we had way too many fumbled snaps or poor shotgun snaps. Too many guys were jumping offsides.
“There were just too many guys having to be babysat out there as far as getting lined up right.”
Hutson Mason, who is taking over for four-year starter Aaron Murray, tossed one of the interceptions that had Richt frustrated. The first-year starter did, though, bounce back from that hiccup to throw for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also completed nearly 71 percent of his passes.
Two weeks from today, Clemson will travel to Athens to take on Georgia in the season opener for both teams.