re: If Georgia fouls up the Richt firing by leaking it two weeks in advance...

No. Clearly UGA decided at some point that they were moving on from Richt regardless of the replacement. Now maybe that's because they already had a commitment from Kirby Smart, but I don't think they would have changed their mind either way. This isn't the first time people seriously questioned whether UGA would fire Richt

On the other hand, this is really the first time people with the ability to do so (not just fans with a lot of LSU t-shirts) seriously discussed firing Les Miles. I think LSU was willing to let Miles go if they could get someone who they felt very strongly could perform better than Miles (i.e. Fisher). However, I don't think any of them wanted to get into a coaching search. The only thing that kept LSU from getting Fisher is Fisher turning down LSU's offer.