The Uggers are gonna learn the hard way. They're gonna piss and moan about their coach having his first truly down year in the 9 years he's been there and call for his head.
He went 8-4 in his first year. Ever since then, his biggest "down" year was a 9 win season in 2006 with a true freshman QB. That's 10+ wins 6 of the last 7 years, or 9 wins for 7 straight years.
From 2002 to 2008 he's 74-18 (.804 winning %) overall.
From 2002 to 2008 he's 43-16 (.729 winning %) in the SEC.
From 2002 to 2008 they have finished ranked every year, including the top 10 FIVE times (#3, #7, #7, #10, #23, #2, #13).
From 2002-2008 he's won the SEC East 3 times and the SEC Title two times (for reference, Vince Dooley won the conference 6 times in 25 years, but only two times in his first 12 seasons, and one was shared).
From 2002-2008 he's 29-15 (.659 winning %) against Alabama (3-1), Auburn (5-2), Florida (2-5), LSU (3-2), Georgia Tech (6-1), South Carolina (6-1), and Tennessee (4-3).
From 2002-2008 he's 6-1 in bowl games. (for reference, Dooley was 8-10-2 in 20 bowl games, including 1-4 in Sugar Bowls).
Fans these days just can't get the big picture. Sure, they are struggling this year, there may need to be some changes. But the same guy that just won 80% of his games and two SEC titles in the last 7 years didn't turn stupid. He didn't forget how to coach and recruit.
They could have their next Dooley if they aren't too stupid and impatient to hold on to him. From 1972 to 1979 Dooley went 59-32-2 (.645 %). Those 8 years included 3 seasons of 9+ wins, but also 3 seasons of 6 or fewer wins. But then 1980 to 1983 he went 43-4-1 (.906%) that included 3 SEC titles and 1 national title.
Just like I wish we would have stuck with Tuberville after 5-7 (assuming he was willing to break up the staff a bit), I see Georgia fans calling for Richts head and then wishing for the "good ole days" after 3-4 years of Charlie Strong going 8-4 just like Ron Zook did at Florida.
They know what they have, they'd be stupid in my opinion to run him off after a single bad year. (and I know this won't happen because the AD will be more patient than fans).