2015 Georgia Bulldogs football team

2015 Georgia Bulldogs football
TaxSlayer Bowl champion
TaxSlayer Bowl, W 24–17 vs. Penn State
Conference Southeastern Conference
Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches No. 24
Record 10–3 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer (1st season)
Offensive scheme Pro-style
Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt (2nd season)
Base defense 3–4
Home stadium Sanford Stadium
2015 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 25 Florida x   7 – 1     10 – 4  
No. 22 Tennessee   5 – 3     9 – 4  
Georgia   5 – 3     10 – 3  
Vanderbilt   2 – 6     4 – 8  
Kentucky   2 – 6     5 – 7  
Missouri*   1 – 7     5 – 7  
South Carolina   1 – 7     3 – 9  
West Division
No. 1 Alabama x$#^   7 – 1     14 – 1  
No. 10 Ole Miss   6 – 2     10 – 3  
Arkansas   5 – 3     8 – 5  
No. 16 LSU *   5 – 3     9 – 3  
Texas A&M   4 – 4     8 – 5  
Mississippi State   4 – 4     9 – 4  
Auburn   2 – 6     7 – 6  
Championship: Alabama 29, Florida 15
  • # – College Football Playoff champion
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • * LSU and Missouri vacated all wins due to NCAA violations.
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2015 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium. They were members of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. This was head coach Mark Richt's 15th and final season leading the program. Richt was relieved of his duties at the end of the regular season. Richt was originally slated to remain head coach for the team's bowl game, but he was replaced after he reached an agreement to become head coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team. Wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon was named interim head coach for the TaxSlayer Bowl against Penn State.

After starting the season ranked in the top 10, the team completed a second straight 9–3 regular season, finishing third in the SEC East Division after losing to division rivals Florida and Tennessee, as well as a cross-division matchup with Alabama. After the Florida game, the team ended the regular season with a four-game win streak that included road wins over rivals Auburn and Georgia Tech, though it needed overtime to defeat Georgia Southern, a Sun Belt Conference team playing just its second season at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

Coaching changes

Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo left his position to accept the head coaching job at Colorado State at the end of the 2014 season. Offensive line coach Will Friend joined Bobo's Colorado State staff as offensive coordinator.

Bobo was replaced by Brian Schottenheimer, who was the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator the previous 3 seasons. Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets from 2006 to 2011 and also coached Quarterbacks for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins. Schottenheimer started playing college football at Kansas before transferring to Florida to play for Steve Spurrier from 1993 to 1996. Rob Sale was hired to coach the offensive line. Sale came from McNeese State where he coached the offensive line the previous 3 seasons.

After wide receivers coach Tony Ball took a position with LSU, Thomas Brown was hired from Wisconsin. Brown, who played running back at Georgia and coached the position at Wisconsin, replaced Bryan McClendon as running backs coach, with McClendon moving to coach wide receivers, the same position he played at Georgia.

Personnel

Coaching staff

Name Position Seasons at
Georgia		 Alma Mater
Mark Richt Head coach 15 Miami (FL) (1982)
Brian Schottenheimer Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks 1 Florida (1997)
Bryan McClendon Wide receivers/Recruiting Coordinator/Passing Game Coordinator 7 Georgia (2005)
John Lilly Tight ends/Offensive Special Teams Coordinator 8 Guilford College (1990)
Thomas Brown Running backs 1 Georgia (2008)
Rob Sale Offensive line/Running Game Coordinator 1 LSU (2003)
Jeremy Pruitt Defensive coordinator/Secondary 2 West Alabama (1999)
Tracy Rocker Defensive line/Will Linebackers 2 Auburn (1988)
Mike Ekeler Inside Linebackers/Defensive Special Teams Coordinator 2 Kansas State (1994)
Kevin Sherrer Sam Linebackers 2 Alabama (1996)
Buddy Collins Special Teams Coordinator/Quality Control 3 MidAmerica Nazarene (2010)
Dan Inman Offensive Graduate Assistant 3 UNC–Pembroke (2012)
Doug Saylor Offensive Graduate Assistant 3 Georgia (2011)
Kelin Johnson Defensive Graduate Assistant 2 Georgia (2007)
Reference:

Schedule

Georgia announced their 2015 football schedule on October 14, 2014. The 2015 schedule consisted of 7 home games, 4 away games and 1 neutral game in the regular season. The Bulldogs would host SEC foes Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina, and would travel to Auburn, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Georgia would meet for the 93rd time with Florida in their annual neutral site rivalry game in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Bulldogs would host three non–conference foes: Louisiana–Monroe, Southern, and in–state rival Georgia Southern. Finally, at the last game of the regular season the Bulldogs would travel to Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance
September 5 12:00 p.m. Louisiana–Monroe* No. 9
SECN W 51–14 92,746
September 12 3:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt No. 10
CBS W 31–14 37,185
September 19 6:00 p.m. South Carolina No. 7
  • Sanford Stadium
  • Athens, GA (rivalry)
 ESPN W 52–20 92,746
September 26 12:00 p.m. Southern* No. 7
  • Sanford Stadium
  • Athens, GA
 SECN W 48–6 92,746
October 3 3:30 p.m. No. 13 Alabama No. 8
CBS L 10–38 92,746
October 10 3:30 p.m. at Tennessee No. 19
CBS L 31–38 102,455
October 17 7:30 p.m. Missouridagger
  • Sanford Stadium
  • Athens, GA
 SECN W 9–6 92,746
October 31 3:30 p.m. vs. No. 11 Florida
CBS L 3–27 84,628
November 7 12:00 p.m. Kentucky
  • Sanford Stadium
  • Athens, GA
 SECN W 27–3 92,746
November 14 12:00 p.m. at Auburn
CBS W 20–13 87,451
November 21 7:15 p.m. Georgia Southern*
  • Sanford Stadium
  • Athens, GA
 ESPNU W 23–17 OT 92,746
November 28 12:00 p.m. at Georgia Tech*
ESPN2 W 13–7 55,000
January 2, 2016 12:00 p.m. vs. Penn State*
ESPN W 24–17 58,212
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game
  • All times are in Eastern time
Schedule Source:

Game summaries

Louisiana–Monroe

See also: 2015 Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football team
Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks vs Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Warhawks 0 7 7 0 14
Bulldogs 14 21 9 7 51

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

  • Date: September 5, 2015
  • Game time: 12:01 p.m. EDT
  • Game attendance: 92,746
  • Referee: Hubert Owens
  • TV announcers (SECN): Dave Neal (Play-by-play), Matt Stinchcomb (Color) & Kayce Smith (Sideline)

Vanderbilt

See also: 2015 Vanderbilt Commodores football team and Georgia–Vanderbilt football rivalry
Georgia Bulldogs vs Vanderbilt Commodores – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 7 10 7 31
Commodores 0 6 0 8 14

at Vanderbilt Stadium • Nashville, TN

South Carolina

See also: 2015 South Carolina Gamecocks football team and Georgia–South Carolina football rivalry
South Carolina Gamecocks at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Gamecocks 3 10 0 7 20
Bulldogs 3 21 21 7 52

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

Southern

See also: 2015 Southern Jaguars football team
Southern Jaguars at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Jaguars 0 6 0 0 6
Bulldogs 17 3 28 0 48

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

  • Date: September 26, 2015
  • Game time: 12:01 p.m. EDT
  • Game attendance: 92,746
  • Referee: Brad Rogers
  • TV announcers (SECN): Tom Hart (Play-by-play), Andre Ware (Color) & Laura Rutledge (Sideline)

Alabama

See also: 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
Alabama Crimson Tide at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Crimson Tide 3 21 14 0 38
Bulldogs 0 3 7 0 10

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

Tennessee

See also: 2015 Tennessee Volunteers football team and Georgia–Tennessee football rivalry
Georgia Bulldogs at Tennessee Volunteers – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 17 0 7 31
Volunteers 3 14 14 7 38

at Neyland Stadium • Knoxville, TN

Missouri

See also: 2015 Missouri Tigers football team
Missouri Tigers at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 3 3 0 0 6
Bulldogs 0 3 3 3 9

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

Florida

See also: 2015 Florida Gators football team and Florida–Georgia football rivalry
Georgia Bulldogs vs Florida Gators – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 0 0 3 0 3
Gators 6 14 0 7 27

at EverBank Field • Jacksonville, FL

Kentucky

See also: 2015 Kentucky Wildcats football team
Kentucky Wildcats at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 3 0 0 3
Bulldogs 10 0 14 3 27

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

  • Date: November 7, 2015
  • Game attendance: 92,746
  • TV announcers (SEC Network): Dave Neal; Matt Stinchcomb

Auburn

See also: 2015 Auburn Tigers football team and Deep South's Oldest Rivalry
Georgia Bulldogs at Auburn Tigers – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 0 3 7 10 20
Tigers 7 3 0 3 13

at Jordan–Hare Stadium • Auburn, AL

  • Date: November 14, 2015
  • Game attendance: 87,451
  • TV announcers (CBS): Gary;Verne

Georgia Southern

See also: 2015 Georgia Southern Eagles football team
Georgia Southern Eagles at Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 OT Total
Eagles 0 7 7 3 0 17
Bulldogs 7 0 7 3 6 23

at Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA

  • Date: November 21, 2015
  • Game attendance: 92,746
  • TV announcers (ESPNU): Clay Matvick; John Congemi

Georgia Tech

See also: 2015 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team and Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Georgia Bulldogs at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – Game summary
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 0 3 3 13
Yellow Jackets 0 0 0 7 7

at Bobby Dodd Stadium • Atlanta, GA

  • Date: November 28, 2015
  • Game attendance: 55,000
  • TV announcers (ESPN2): Beth mowins; Anthony Becht

Rankings

Further information: 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final
AP 9 10 7 7 8 19 RV RV RV — — RV RV RV RV RV
Coaches 9 9 8 6 6 16 RV 25 23 — RV RV RV RV 25 24
CFP Not released — — — — — — Not released