Two Quick Defeats Don’t Have Georgia Ready To Cry Uncle

First-year Georgia coach Jim Donnan sat in classic defensive posture, arms folded tightly over his red sideline sweater.

Center Brad Stafford chuckled slightly before talking about the Bulldogs’ sorry offense.

Mike Bobo, the quarterback with four interceptions and a fumble in two games, blinked through the hot television lights after Georgia’s 23-14 loss at South Carolina on Saturday night, repeating the same phrase, “We don’t have any quitters on this team.”

At Georgia, down and out has gone from a pass patter to an attitude.

“I guess we can expect a couple of Dawgs hanging for us when we get back,” Stafford said. “I know (the fans) are going to rip us real bad.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for Donnan and the Bulldogs, 0-2 for just the second time in 17 years.

Donnan was a sharp-minded, aggressive coach who led Marshall to four NCAA Division I-AA appearances and one championship the past five years.

The team returned running star Robert Edwards, an out-of-sight speedster who led the country in rushing last year before a season-long injury, and top passer Bobo, who completed more than 60 percent of his throws at Georgia until missing the final eight games in 1995.

Instead, players have struggled in Donnan’s schemes. Edwards, despite his 159 yards against the Gamecocks, banged up his left knee, and Bobo has shown the touch of a construction worker.

With Tennessee, Florida and Auburn still to go, how can this team recover?

“I don’t really believe it’s going to be tough,” Donnan said, “because I’m not one of these guys who gets caught up looking into the future.”

A look at the past wouldn’t be a good thing either.

In Georgia’s 11-7 home loss to Southern Mississippi on Aug. 31, Edwards and Bobo collided in the backfield. The offensive line missed blocks - Bobo was sacked four times - and the team was booed off the field.

Donnan promised the play would be crisper next time.

But there was Bobo mishandling a snap - “We practice that every day,” Donnan said - and leading to a South Carolina touchdown. And there was Edwards, slamming into teammate Juan Daniels and giving away the ball on South Carolina’s 23.

Finally, there was South Carolina quarterback Anthony Wright scrambling at his 11, breaking free from the wrestling hold of 305-pound Georgia lineman Jason Ferguson, and running for 16 yards on the Gamecocks last scoring drive.

“As I said after the first game, I wish I could say more about our execution,” Donnan said. “We worked real hard on it. We showed real flashes of good execution. But we also self-destructed.”

Edwards and Bobo, who the most has been expected, seemed the most shaken after the loss.

Edwards, who had only 24 of his 159 yards after halftime, sat with a bag of ice on his left knee, barely speaking above a whisper and mostly keeping to short phrases.

“We’re still making a lot of mistakes,” he said.

“We got to cut down on them.”

Bobo is ready for the heat that will pour down on him as Georgia’s quarterback.

While Edwards showed some sublime cuts and superior speed at times, Bobo badly overthrew receivers and during the second half, completed only 11 of 26 passes.

“I just have to keep doing what the coaches are telling me and keep working hard in practice,” he said. “Eventually it will come.”

Donnan is hopeful it comes next week at home against Texas Tech because if the boos for an 0-2 coach - something athletic director Vince Dooley didn’t do for 16 seasons and Ray Goff waited five - are loud, those for an 0-3 leader are deafening.

“I felt like we can build on some of this,” he said. “We did some better things in the second half, but nothing like we need.”