re: So what happens to Georgia after Richt?

How do I know you're a USC fan? Because your post has no basis in reality.

Lets go step by step.

1). USC cannot slip back into mediocrity. They were never mediocre. You've always been much worse than mediocre. In the last 50 years you've had 9 coaches, only three of which had winning records during their tenures. Despite Spurriers improvement of the program you're still under .500 over the last 50+ years. Averaging a losing season and 2/3 coaches being losers since the days prior to color television is not mediocrity. It's called being terrible.

2). UGA has been solid the last 50 years. Since Dooley took over in '64, UGA has a 69% winning percentage, even when including the failure that was Goff. Goff is the outlier that brings us down, not the norm. UGA returning to its normal form would mean continued quality football. For comparison sake, other programs over the approximate same time span have the following winning percentages - LSU - 65%, UF - 69%, Bama - 73%, AU - 65%, UT - 67%. There's a reason these programs have battled for supremacy for the last 5 decades and are recognized as cornerstones of the conference. These are all good programs, not just occasional good players or an occasional good coach.

3). You didn't keep us out of the BCS title game in any of those seasons really. I guess that makes you feel good to say, but its not true. We beat you in 2002. In 2007 the loss that killed us was the 21pt loss to UT in the middle of the season, not the loss to USC. This past year, our loss to you meant nothing. We beat Bama and we play for the official title no matter what happened in our game.

4) Ray Goff, arguably our worst coach since 1910 was fired after winning 57% of his games. That's not good, but also clearly not the 4-6 wins a year you say. For reference sake, USC has had 24 coaches since 1910. Only 2 of them have more wins at USC than Goff had at UGA. Spurrier is one. Rex Enright who only won 64 games over 15 years is the other. In other words, Ray Goff would have been a coaching legend at USC with his same numbers so be careful who you bad mouth. Our worst coach in the last 100 years would be your 2nd best.

For the foregoing reasons, and many others, UGA does not have to be concerned with dropping off the map when Richt leaves. USC on the other hand should hope it finds a Goff like replacement for Spurrier.