Well, our defense showed up a little against a “suspect” Arizona State offense. I say “suspect” because, to be honest, they didn’t look that good to me. Their QB appeared almost overwhelmed and actually had that “deer in the headlights” look on his face for most of the game. He didn’t have that “glide” that you often see with a player who has confidence in his ability. Think about Joe Montana. Now, I am certainly not trying to equate Danny Sullivan with Joe Montana, but when Joe moved, there was a certain smoothness to his motions. Even when Joe simply dropped back to pass, his motion was smooth. The same can be said about athletes like Michael Jordan, Randy Moss and our very own AJ Green. Most athletes have a sort of “glide” to them, and poor ‘ole Danny Sullivan, by contrast was jerky, clunky and downright stoic. So, I am not sure our defense was that much better as much as Danny Sullivan is just not a very good athlete/QB.
As the old saying goes – “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, which really makes no sense to me, a win is a win and we should be happy about it. I am happy about it. I was very happy about it when we went up 14-3 in terrible weather. Our running game still leaves a lot to be desired, but we were moving the ball well in a downpour and weren’t making many mistakes. But then we seemed to take our foot off the pedal. It reminded me of when we played Florida State in the Sugar Bowl in 2003. There was a point in that game when it became obvious that we were the better team and that we were going to win, and we simply disengaged and coasted the rest of the way. I got the EXACT same feeling about mid-way through the 2nd quarter of this game. As it turns out, we would have done well to keep the momentum going and to have scored a couple more times, and then put it on cruise control. We came perilously close to losing a game we should have won, as they say “going away”.
That was then, this is now. This week, LSU comes to town. LSU, as you recall is coming off of a very disappointing (to them, normal for Georgia Tech) 7-5 season. So far, by all accounts, they have looked much like us, except they are undefeated and ranked #4. They have beaten a seemingly good Washington team and a resurgent Mississippi State team, both wins being fairly close. They appear to be in some sort of “talent limbo” like us, as well. We both have recruited well over the years, yet neither of us has been able to come out like the world beaters we should be and impress on both sides of the ball. Their offense is not firing on all cylinders and their defense has been so-so. They are struggling with their running game, just like us and both teams have a “stable” of capable talent. Their QB is a bit more mobile than ours and they have a good receiving corps, but I would give the edge to us with AJ Green. They hold the edge on defense, since they seem to be able to create turnovers while we have not shown that ability, to date. Just looking at this game, we appear to be fairly even across the board. That should mean that it will be a tight game. I mean, why would we want to break with tradition, right?!?!
However, something back in the cob-webbed, dark recesses of my mind tells me that this might be a “relaxing” game for one or the other of us. I hope it will be UGA, but it could just as well be LSU. Will LSU be yet another top-5 team to bite the dust? Will UGA actually play up to its potential and put together a complete game for the first time this year? Will LSU come in and utilize “super stud” Russell Shephard in the same manner that we should be using Logan Gray and make us pay for it? Was LSU looking ahead to us when they almost let Mississippi State win their game? Were we looking ahead to LSU with a lackadaisical win over a middle-tier PAC 10 school? Will LSU be looking ahead to Florida, who they play next when they come to Athens this Saturday? Will we be looking ahead to Tennessee? A lot of questions, but one thing is for sure – this game is always tough to predict.
Perhaps it is the eternal optimist in me that wants to believe in the Mark Richt system and in the coaching staff that averages nearly 10 wins per year, but I think UGA, at home will come out determined to win, hold onto the ball, gain a couple of turnovers in our favor for once and win the game. With all of the attention LSU is going to give AJ, look for someone else to make a statement in this game. Caleb should start and will hopefully get the majority of the carries early and then Richard can take over late in the game when we need to pound the rock and use the clock. (Nice, unintended rhyme, huh?).While I stated earlier that I had a feeling this game would be a comfortable win for one of us, logic tells me that the status quo for close games by both squads will prevail in this one, as well.
UGA by 4.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Welcome to Georgia, Sun Devils!
I certainly hope all of the Arizona State fans enjoy their visit to the University of Georgia, except for one aspect of the trip – that being the game. I’ll leave the “Devil went down to Georgia” fodder for others.
What worries me is that the Sun Devils are coming in way under the proverbial radar. No one really expects them to come to our stadium and go home with a win. NO ONE! I know UGA supposedly plays better as the under “dawg” but I am hoping our guys have not gotten the message that this Arizona State team is not up to their own standard. We need to play sound football on both sides of the ball and try to achieve some semblance of a balanced football team. Teams with all offense or all defense rarely win many games in the SEC.
I have given up on the precise predictions as I am typically not even close, score-wise. I might get a few prognostications with regard to plays or players close to reality, but my scoring has been abysmal, so no more of those.
I think we come into this game a little flat, honestly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the early lead (imagine that). The Dawgs have played in two very close, very long shootouts back-to-back, and their legs and minds are bound to be tired. My hope is that our defense will have something to prove in this game and get after Arizona State early and often. I also hope that we establish our running game and get that settled so we can begin to find our groove there before we get into the meat of our schedule. Caleb King showed better vision and balance than Richard Samuel did last week. This is probably because Caleb is a more “natural” running back, whereas Richard is more an athlete who can really run. Richard is a “downhill” runner as was shown on his 80 yard TD run. He hit that hole quickly and was gone. I hope we run more between the tackles with Richard and Caleb, and allow Carlton Thomas to get into space more. The little fella has a lot of heart, but he doesn’t have a lot of mass to justify running him into players twice his size. We’d do well to get him out on screens and sweeps and let him create.
On defense, I hope we become smarter with our recognitions and disciplined with our assignments. There were times last week when the coverage was there, but Mallett and his WR corps were just on their game. Of course, there were a couple of times where we just looked clueless. Here’s an idea; let’s get lined up before the other team gets to the line of scrimmage so we are not at “...set” (as in dowwwwwwn, ...set...hut) before we get where we are supposed to be. And another thing, let’s cover their players and not cover each other (Vance Cuff and Reshad Jones...). It’s not likely the opposing QB is going to choose one of our players to try and complete a pass to. Just a guess on my part, really.
There’s no logical reason that we should lose this game. That being said, logic is typically not a factor in college football, these days. We have the better players, and we are at home to a (hopefully) loud crowd. We can show them a little southern hospitality before and after the game, but let’s show them a lot of southern football between the hedges.
No score, but UGA by 17 points.
What worries me is that the Sun Devils are coming in way under the proverbial radar. No one really expects them to come to our stadium and go home with a win. NO ONE! I know UGA supposedly plays better as the under “dawg” but I am hoping our guys have not gotten the message that this Arizona State team is not up to their own standard. We need to play sound football on both sides of the ball and try to achieve some semblance of a balanced football team. Teams with all offense or all defense rarely win many games in the SEC.
I have given up on the precise predictions as I am typically not even close, score-wise. I might get a few prognostications with regard to plays or players close to reality, but my scoring has been abysmal, so no more of those.
I think we come into this game a little flat, honestly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the early lead (imagine that). The Dawgs have played in two very close, very long shootouts back-to-back, and their legs and minds are bound to be tired. My hope is that our defense will have something to prove in this game and get after Arizona State early and often. I also hope that we establish our running game and get that settled so we can begin to find our groove there before we get into the meat of our schedule. Caleb King showed better vision and balance than Richard Samuel did last week. This is probably because Caleb is a more “natural” running back, whereas Richard is more an athlete who can really run. Richard is a “downhill” runner as was shown on his 80 yard TD run. He hit that hole quickly and was gone. I hope we run more between the tackles with Richard and Caleb, and allow Carlton Thomas to get into space more. The little fella has a lot of heart, but he doesn’t have a lot of mass to justify running him into players twice his size. We’d do well to get him out on screens and sweeps and let him create.
On defense, I hope we become smarter with our recognitions and disciplined with our assignments. There were times last week when the coverage was there, but Mallett and his WR corps were just on their game. Of course, there were a couple of times where we just looked clueless. Here’s an idea; let’s get lined up before the other team gets to the line of scrimmage so we are not at “...set” (as in dowwwwwwn, ...set...hut) before we get where we are supposed to be. And another thing, let’s cover their players and not cover each other (Vance Cuff and Reshad Jones...). It’s not likely the opposing QB is going to choose one of our players to try and complete a pass to. Just a guess on my part, really.
There’s no logical reason that we should lose this game. That being said, logic is typically not a factor in college football, these days. We have the better players, and we are at home to a (hopefully) loud crowd. We can show them a little southern hospitality before and after the game, but let’s show them a lot of southern football between the hedges.
No score, but UGA by 17 points.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Letter to the kind folks in Stillwater Oklahoma:
Dear Oklahoma State Cowboys,
Please see if you can find and return our SEC defense to the University of Georgia. We seem to have left it behind in or near your fair stadium. We have asked Willie Martinez who was supposed to keep up with it where he dropped it, but he has no clue. It might be in the visiting teams’ locker room or perhaps we dropped it on the way to the buses after the game. The last time we actually saw it was last year during the first half of the UGA/GT game, but it got away at halftime. We got it back for the Capital One Bowl, and brought it back to Athens with us and had it during most of our game with your team on Sept. 5th.
Here’s a short description of what it looks like, to help you in locating it for us:
It’s very strong with visibly sharp teeth. It has a pretty mean disposition and does not like to give up the long play. It’s fast, so you might need to sneak up on it to snare it, but that is easier said than done because it is very alert and hard to sneak up on. It is always prepared. Its coverage skills are among the best in the nation and rarely out of position. It is extremely intelligent and can often outsmart its opponent by bringing pressure from multiple spots on the field. The ends are very physical and quick and are often able to overpower the opposition using fundamental technique and explosion. The safeties are decent in pass coverage and excel in stopping the run. The safeties are always in a position to make plays. There are NEVER 2 players running side-by-side 15 yards down the field as a tight end is underneath them wide open. The SEC defense is a thing of beauty and strength, yet is always mean and nasty at the same time. It normally doesn’t allow any more than 20 points per game, and certainly should never allow 78 points in a 2 game stretch against inferior competition.
Anyway, if you don’t mind looking around for it, we’d appreciate it! We have a couple of weeks before we will really need it, so there’s no rush. We might be able to continue playing Big 12 defense against the upcoming PAC 10 opponent, but we will certainly need it the week after that. We have our offense helping us look for it over here, just in case Willie brought it back with him and just misplaced it, again. Understandably, the offense is getting a little tired of having to work so hard to cover the ineptitude of our Defensive Coordinator, though.
Honestly, I think Mark Richt needs to find someone else to be in charge of keeping up with our defense. Someone who is a little better equipped to take charge of it and bring it out when we need it instead of letting it wander around, aimlessly. It’s really not good for our program to spend valuable time trying to find it when we should be preparing for the next game.
Thank you for your help,
The Bulldog Nation
Please see if you can find and return our SEC defense to the University of Georgia. We seem to have left it behind in or near your fair stadium. We have asked Willie Martinez who was supposed to keep up with it where he dropped it, but he has no clue. It might be in the visiting teams’ locker room or perhaps we dropped it on the way to the buses after the game. The last time we actually saw it was last year during the first half of the UGA/GT game, but it got away at halftime. We got it back for the Capital One Bowl, and brought it back to Athens with us and had it during most of our game with your team on Sept. 5th.
Here’s a short description of what it looks like, to help you in locating it for us:
It’s very strong with visibly sharp teeth. It has a pretty mean disposition and does not like to give up the long play. It’s fast, so you might need to sneak up on it to snare it, but that is easier said than done because it is very alert and hard to sneak up on. It is always prepared. Its coverage skills are among the best in the nation and rarely out of position. It is extremely intelligent and can often outsmart its opponent by bringing pressure from multiple spots on the field. The ends are very physical and quick and are often able to overpower the opposition using fundamental technique and explosion. The safeties are decent in pass coverage and excel in stopping the run. The safeties are always in a position to make plays. There are NEVER 2 players running side-by-side 15 yards down the field as a tight end is underneath them wide open. The SEC defense is a thing of beauty and strength, yet is always mean and nasty at the same time. It normally doesn’t allow any more than 20 points per game, and certainly should never allow 78 points in a 2 game stretch against inferior competition.
Anyway, if you don’t mind looking around for it, we’d appreciate it! We have a couple of weeks before we will really need it, so there’s no rush. We might be able to continue playing Big 12 defense against the upcoming PAC 10 opponent, but we will certainly need it the week after that. We have our offense helping us look for it over here, just in case Willie brought it back with him and just misplaced it, again. Understandably, the offense is getting a little tired of having to work so hard to cover the ineptitude of our Defensive Coordinator, though.
Honestly, I think Mark Richt needs to find someone else to be in charge of keeping up with our defense. Someone who is a little better equipped to take charge of it and bring it out when we need it instead of letting it wander around, aimlessly. It’s really not good for our program to spend valuable time trying to find it when we should be preparing for the next game.
Thank you for your help,
The Bulldog Nation
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Let the Big Dawg eat some Hawg!
The best pulled pork in the nation (to me) is right here in Eastern North Carolina. I love the smokiness and the vinegar-based sauce with a hint of red pepper flakes and topped with some good, old fashioned cole slaw. Man-oh-man, I do love me some BBQ pork. I’m hoping the “pork” in Fayetteville Arkansas tastes more like victory.
I read on Rex Robinson’s web page “roughingthekicker.com” where he called Arkansas, the other white meat and I added my recipe for some tasty Hog over in Ar-Kansas. I’ll repeat that recipe here –
Start off with a heaping helping of Rennie Curran
10-15 more touches by Richard Samuel
0 Directional kicks
2 WR (Brown and Wooten) added early in the “cooking” process
1 linebacker jamming their TE at the line of scrimmage
1 linebacker in coverage once the TE is released
Several doses of solid kickoff coverage
A pinch of positive turnover ratio
Stir in a little luck and season with mistake-free play to taste.
It is absolutely paramount to our efforts to get Richard Samuel the ball at least 20-25 times per game. We read all off-season how much stronger he gets as the time rolls on. We know he’s got speed. We saw last weekend that he has power. Why we are not giving him “the rock” early and often is a complete mystery to me. Okay, enough about that. We have to assume the coaches know what they are doing. They are intimately familiar with all aspects of the program and the players and for me, or anyone else to speculate is merely that – speculation.
In keeping with my “new way” of predicting these games, I have tossed and turned my thoughts in such a way that it may be what I write as a prediction, is a complete mess and makes no sense, but in the end will be closer to what happens than what I actually think might happen. Make sense? No? Good!!
UGA rolls into Fayetteville Arkansas fresh off of our first SEC win of the season. What made that even sweeter is that it was against the Evil Genius and the fact that our Georgia State Patrolmen executed a perfect fist bump in the ‘ole Ball Coaches face!
UGA has found a bit of offense since the debacle in Boone Pickens Stadium and knows it can move the ball. Joe’s arm looked plenty good especially on that rocket that Norwood returned for 6 points...but I digress. I believe we see some of the “new guys” come more into focus since, surely Arkansas’ defense will be paying a lot of attention to A.J. Green (a.k.a. Shakespeare). This will open things up for Tavarres King, Marlon Brown, Rantavious Wooten and especially Orson Charles. We have “toyed” with Charles over the past couple of games, but this guy is a STUD and we are about to start using him to take some pressure off our other receivers. BELIEVE THAT!
We should arrive with bad intentions and leave with a very convincing win. Our defense will dominate Arkansas with Houston and Washington coming off the edge. We should get 6-8 sacks in this game. This game will be reminiscent of the Sugar Bowl against Hawaii. There will be no doubt when we leave that the other teams will have to account for the fact that at some point, perhaps on that last play when Rennie knocked the ball away we figured out how to play GEORGIA FOOTBALL again!
Big plays and solid defense, along with a serious reliance on the running game puts this one in the bag early, and Mallett’s attempt to rally them back with long passes results in +5 turnover ratio as the Dawgs cruise.
UGA – 34
ARK - 13
I read on Rex Robinson’s web page “roughingthekicker.com” where he called Arkansas, the other white meat and I added my recipe for some tasty Hog over in Ar-Kansas. I’ll repeat that recipe here –
Start off with a heaping helping of Rennie Curran
10-15 more touches by Richard Samuel
0 Directional kicks
2 WR (Brown and Wooten) added early in the “cooking” process
1 linebacker jamming their TE at the line of scrimmage
1 linebacker in coverage once the TE is released
Several doses of solid kickoff coverage
A pinch of positive turnover ratio
Stir in a little luck and season with mistake-free play to taste.
It is absolutely paramount to our efforts to get Richard Samuel the ball at least 20-25 times per game. We read all off-season how much stronger he gets as the time rolls on. We know he’s got speed. We saw last weekend that he has power. Why we are not giving him “the rock” early and often is a complete mystery to me. Okay, enough about that. We have to assume the coaches know what they are doing. They are intimately familiar with all aspects of the program and the players and for me, or anyone else to speculate is merely that – speculation.
In keeping with my “new way” of predicting these games, I have tossed and turned my thoughts in such a way that it may be what I write as a prediction, is a complete mess and makes no sense, but in the end will be closer to what happens than what I actually think might happen. Make sense? No? Good!!
UGA rolls into Fayetteville Arkansas fresh off of our first SEC win of the season. What made that even sweeter is that it was against the Evil Genius and the fact that our Georgia State Patrolmen executed a perfect fist bump in the ‘ole Ball Coaches face!
UGA has found a bit of offense since the debacle in Boone Pickens Stadium and knows it can move the ball. Joe’s arm looked plenty good especially on that rocket that Norwood returned for 6 points...but I digress. I believe we see some of the “new guys” come more into focus since, surely Arkansas’ defense will be paying a lot of attention to A.J. Green (a.k.a. Shakespeare). This will open things up for Tavarres King, Marlon Brown, Rantavious Wooten and especially Orson Charles. We have “toyed” with Charles over the past couple of games, but this guy is a STUD and we are about to start using him to take some pressure off our other receivers. BELIEVE THAT!
We should arrive with bad intentions and leave with a very convincing win. Our defense will dominate Arkansas with Houston and Washington coming off the edge. We should get 6-8 sacks in this game. This game will be reminiscent of the Sugar Bowl against Hawaii. There will be no doubt when we leave that the other teams will have to account for the fact that at some point, perhaps on that last play when Rennie knocked the ball away we figured out how to play GEORGIA FOOTBALL again!
Big plays and solid defense, along with a serious reliance on the running game puts this one in the bag early, and Mallett’s attempt to rally them back with long passes results in +5 turnover ratio as the Dawgs cruise.
UGA – 34
ARK - 13
Monday, September 14, 2009
Who are U (GA)...who-who, who-who...? (just like the song)
I believe I am going to spend time thinking about how I envision a game will play out, write it all down and then post the polar opposite opinion in hopes that I will be remotely close to looking like I know what I am talking about. The Okie State game turns into a defensive struggle and the South Carolina game turns into a track meet....who knew?!?!?
UGA vs. SC - The Good, the Bad and the Unknown.
It's tough to look at a win as anything other than what it is....a victory. However, if we don't go back and review what we did right, we can't expect to remember everything and find some "builds" to make those things even better. And if we don't go back and review what we did wrong, how can we expect to not to repeat the same mistakes? I saw some good, and I saw some bad (some VERY bad), but all-in-all, I finally realized that we have no idea who we are as a team. And that may be the most disturbing thing to find out after 8 years with (essentially) the same coaching staff.
Okay, the Good -
- Branden Smith was possibly the fastest person in the entire stadium on Saturday. When he broke through the first level of the defense EVERYBODY watching the game knew he was gone! He may have been running as fast as he could, but it looked like he had a sneaky 6th gear he could have engaged, if needed. That run was very fast, but looked effortless for him. Gotta love speed!
- Brandon Boykin has been anointed (by me) to be the kick returner for his entire tenure at UGA. Can we see him in the backfield? He seems to have the vision that Samuel lacks (more on that later).
- Joe Cox played just like I think we all expected him to play this year. He managed the game well and made the plays that needed to be made. His arm looked fine to me and seemed to have decent zip on it when he needed it.
- My youngest son has nicknamed A.J. Green "Shakespeare" because anytime he goes for the ball, it is a silky smooth masterpiece. I'm just glad NCAA rules dictate that he has to be with us next year (must be 3 years removed from high school to be NFL draft-eligible) because he is only going to get better.
- Orson Charles is a "special" player. Anyone watching him and not able to see that is lacking in any functional reasoning ability. (Mike Bobo...Bobo...?....).
- We got a sack, we got a sack!!
- Our defense is really strong against the run. (See "The Bad" below)
Okay, The Bad -
- If Branden Smith is going to field a kick 5 yards (or deeper) in the end zone, he really needs to take a knee. That's 3 of these that I have seen, and this last one (hopefully) was a turnover that should have never happened.
- Joe Cox has been in the system for 5 years, now. He should know the offense well enough to call audibles. There was one play when we were driving, trying to use some clock and he looked completely lost and had to call a timeout. Timeouts in tight games are like having Tic Tacs leaving the smoking section of an airport...they are valuable. Don't waste them. Call any kind of audible that rhymes with "Richard Samuel in the gap between right center and right guard". The fact that he looked lost in that situation is scary.
- Turnovers against better teams will "kill" us this year.
- We WILL have to play Florida, eventually.
- Yet another game where we forget how to call a running play. Why-oh-why are we calling an out route to the sideline with @ 13 minutes left in the game with our defense basically on life support? We need Coach Richt to take back the "first right of refusal" on Bobo's play-calling. If that's not evident by now, well...see below in the "Unknown" section.
- We only got 2 sacks. Although we got 2 sacks, we had a few chances, but Garcia proved as slippery on the field as he apparently is off the field.
- Our defense really sucks against the short pass. These little dink and dunk passes to receivers doing quick, button hooks and big tight ends crossing the middle of the field, 6 yards off the line of scrimmage, uncontested has to stop! Garcia's average yards per completion was 5.6 yards per completion on 53 pass attempts. Imagine Florida's speed across the middle of the defense in the open field....did I already mention that we DO have to play Florida later this season? Can we sneak a linebacker out or a safety into the middle to at least present a presence there? South Carolina ran the same couple of passing plays over and over last night with great success. Willie....one word.....ADJUST!
- I still see way too many shoulder bumps and arms flailing to feel comfortable about our tackling.
Okay, The unknown -
Are we a good team or not? NC State held South Carolina to 7 points. They scored 37 on us. South Carolina held NC State to 3 points, but allowed 41 to us. We only scored 10 points on an Oklahoma State team that allowed 45 points to Houston and only scored 11 more points than they did on us. I live in Raleigh...NC State nor Houston are the UGA that I have spent the majority of my life loving and following!!
See what I mean?
Coach Richt has enabled Georgia to, once again become relevant every year. We average 10 wins per year, and have been to numerous SEC Championship games and major bowl games. It's hard to throw stones at something like that. There are about 109 other D-1 programs in the nation that would love to have our success.
That said, we have top-10 recruiting classes every year. We recruit as well as anyone in the nation and bring in top level talent every year. Some of those recruits realize their potential while at UGA, but most do not. One thing is pretty obvious, at least to me. The other teams in the country seem to coach their players up to a higher level than our coaching staff is able to do. We look unprepared for games we should be prepared for (Alabama, GT last year and Ok. State this year). We have had, in prior years, the better team in the UGA/Florida "rivalry" over Richt's tenure, yet we hold a 2-6 losing record to the lizards. Why???
In some games, heck, in some series' within a single game we go from "world beater" to "second tier" in our performance. How we can march down the field in the first 7 minutes of a game, only to spend the next 53 minutes looking totally inept?It is beyond logical reasoning.
Coach Richt has spent the last 8 years turning UGA into a perennial top-15 team, but can he (and his current staff) consistently take us to a championship level, like other teams with similarly gifted players do? I'm not so sure. Folks, we are not playing Georgia football, lately. Many of our on-the-field actions come across to the casual observer as "afterthought", or someone tossing a lifeline just before we go under for the final time. We have no identity on offense. We have no identity on defense. We finally kick the ball into the end zone a few times, but then spend time using the ever-wasteful directional kick, as if the field is Skeletor's (Fabris') own lab experiment. We bend to the point of breaking on defense and allow teams to score, in one way or another on almost every drive. South Carolina had 90 plays of offense and punted (not counting the fake) 2 times. Our #1 running back is running hard and picking up nearly 5 yards per carry behind what was touted as our best O-line since 2002, yet he only carries the ball 15 times, is absent in the middle of the game and is forgotten when we need to use up the clock. We have play makers coming out of our ears who might be able to take some of the double and triple team off of A.J. Green, but we either forget about them, or we don't put them in until very late in a tight game.
Who are we and what have Richt, Bobo, Martinez and Fabris done with our Bulldogs??
Coach Richt needs to take off the blind loyalty glasses and make some tough decisions. If we are going to reach that next level, like we should be capable of, there has to be some changes made.
Don't you think some prominent boosters are sending a similar message to Damon Evans? I'll bet they are and probably using a lot more colorful language than I just did and several more $$ than I am capable of.
Arkansas prediction (reversed, spun around, tilted and squeezed for freshness) forthcoming...
UGA vs. SC - The Good, the Bad and the Unknown.
It's tough to look at a win as anything other than what it is....a victory. However, if we don't go back and review what we did right, we can't expect to remember everything and find some "builds" to make those things even better. And if we don't go back and review what we did wrong, how can we expect to not to repeat the same mistakes? I saw some good, and I saw some bad (some VERY bad), but all-in-all, I finally realized that we have no idea who we are as a team. And that may be the most disturbing thing to find out after 8 years with (essentially) the same coaching staff.
Okay, the Good -
- Branden Smith was possibly the fastest person in the entire stadium on Saturday. When he broke through the first level of the defense EVERYBODY watching the game knew he was gone! He may have been running as fast as he could, but it looked like he had a sneaky 6th gear he could have engaged, if needed. That run was very fast, but looked effortless for him. Gotta love speed!
- Brandon Boykin has been anointed (by me) to be the kick returner for his entire tenure at UGA. Can we see him in the backfield? He seems to have the vision that Samuel lacks (more on that later).
- Joe Cox played just like I think we all expected him to play this year. He managed the game well and made the plays that needed to be made. His arm looked fine to me and seemed to have decent zip on it when he needed it.
- My youngest son has nicknamed A.J. Green "Shakespeare" because anytime he goes for the ball, it is a silky smooth masterpiece. I'm just glad NCAA rules dictate that he has to be with us next year (must be 3 years removed from high school to be NFL draft-eligible) because he is only going to get better.
- Orson Charles is a "special" player. Anyone watching him and not able to see that is lacking in any functional reasoning ability. (Mike Bobo...Bobo...?....).
- We got a sack, we got a sack!!
- Our defense is really strong against the run. (See "The Bad" below)
Okay, The Bad -
- If Branden Smith is going to field a kick 5 yards (or deeper) in the end zone, he really needs to take a knee. That's 3 of these that I have seen, and this last one (hopefully) was a turnover that should have never happened.
- Joe Cox has been in the system for 5 years, now. He should know the offense well enough to call audibles. There was one play when we were driving, trying to use some clock and he looked completely lost and had to call a timeout. Timeouts in tight games are like having Tic Tacs leaving the smoking section of an airport...they are valuable. Don't waste them. Call any kind of audible that rhymes with "Richard Samuel in the gap between right center and right guard". The fact that he looked lost in that situation is scary.
- Turnovers against better teams will "kill" us this year.
- We WILL have to play Florida, eventually.
- Yet another game where we forget how to call a running play. Why-oh-why are we calling an out route to the sideline with @ 13 minutes left in the game with our defense basically on life support? We need Coach Richt to take back the "first right of refusal" on Bobo's play-calling. If that's not evident by now, well...see below in the "Unknown" section.
- We only got 2 sacks. Although we got 2 sacks, we had a few chances, but Garcia proved as slippery on the field as he apparently is off the field.
- Our defense really sucks against the short pass. These little dink and dunk passes to receivers doing quick, button hooks and big tight ends crossing the middle of the field, 6 yards off the line of scrimmage, uncontested has to stop! Garcia's average yards per completion was 5.6 yards per completion on 53 pass attempts. Imagine Florida's speed across the middle of the defense in the open field....did I already mention that we DO have to play Florida later this season? Can we sneak a linebacker out or a safety into the middle to at least present a presence there? South Carolina ran the same couple of passing plays over and over last night with great success. Willie....one word.....ADJUST!
- I still see way too many shoulder bumps and arms flailing to feel comfortable about our tackling.
Okay, The unknown -
Are we a good team or not? NC State held South Carolina to 7 points. They scored 37 on us. South Carolina held NC State to 3 points, but allowed 41 to us. We only scored 10 points on an Oklahoma State team that allowed 45 points to Houston and only scored 11 more points than they did on us. I live in Raleigh...NC State nor Houston are the UGA that I have spent the majority of my life loving and following!!
See what I mean?
Coach Richt has enabled Georgia to, once again become relevant every year. We average 10 wins per year, and have been to numerous SEC Championship games and major bowl games. It's hard to throw stones at something like that. There are about 109 other D-1 programs in the nation that would love to have our success.
That said, we have top-10 recruiting classes every year. We recruit as well as anyone in the nation and bring in top level talent every year. Some of those recruits realize their potential while at UGA, but most do not. One thing is pretty obvious, at least to me. The other teams in the country seem to coach their players up to a higher level than our coaching staff is able to do. We look unprepared for games we should be prepared for (Alabama, GT last year and Ok. State this year). We have had, in prior years, the better team in the UGA/Florida "rivalry" over Richt's tenure, yet we hold a 2-6 losing record to the lizards. Why???
In some games, heck, in some series' within a single game we go from "world beater" to "second tier" in our performance. How we can march down the field in the first 7 minutes of a game, only to spend the next 53 minutes looking totally inept?It is beyond logical reasoning.
Coach Richt has spent the last 8 years turning UGA into a perennial top-15 team, but can he (and his current staff) consistently take us to a championship level, like other teams with similarly gifted players do? I'm not so sure. Folks, we are not playing Georgia football, lately. Many of our on-the-field actions come across to the casual observer as "afterthought", or someone tossing a lifeline just before we go under for the final time. We have no identity on offense. We have no identity on defense. We finally kick the ball into the end zone a few times, but then spend time using the ever-wasteful directional kick, as if the field is Skeletor's (Fabris') own lab experiment. We bend to the point of breaking on defense and allow teams to score, in one way or another on almost every drive. South Carolina had 90 plays of offense and punted (not counting the fake) 2 times. Our #1 running back is running hard and picking up nearly 5 yards per carry behind what was touted as our best O-line since 2002, yet he only carries the ball 15 times, is absent in the middle of the game and is forgotten when we need to use up the clock. We have play makers coming out of our ears who might be able to take some of the double and triple team off of A.J. Green, but we either forget about them, or we don't put them in until very late in a tight game.
Who are we and what have Richt, Bobo, Martinez and Fabris done with our Bulldogs??
Coach Richt needs to take off the blind loyalty glasses and make some tough decisions. If we are going to reach that next level, like we should be capable of, there has to be some changes made.
Don't you think some prominent boosters are sending a similar message to Damon Evans? I'll bet they are and probably using a lot more colorful language than I just did and several more $$ than I am capable of.
Arkansas prediction (reversed, spun around, tilted and squeezed for freshness) forthcoming...
Friday, September 11, 2009
I've come in off the ledge (for a bathroom break)
Okay, I have come back from the edge of despair. I, like many Dawg fans saw what happened last week in Stillwater and was left scratching my head (or other, less desirable areas) wondering where our offense went. When you go back and look at the game, I think it's not so much where our offense went as much as where our focus went. Anyway, enough about last week. I need to get to this week's prediction so I can "go potty" and open the window in preparation for stepping back out on the ledge, should our focus get lost against South Carolina this weekend.
This could turn out to be one of the ugliest games of the year. If both teams' offenses play like they did last week and both defenses play like they did last week, this game might come down to special teams. For anyone who has been paying attention to UGA's special teams the last couple of years (led by Skeletor Fabris) this does not bode well for UGA. On a positive note, it doesn't look like there was anything "special" about the kicker for SC, either, but when it's apparent we have no idea what we are doing on a simple kickoff, we open ourselves up for a plethora of unpleasant possibilities.
Their QB, Garcia showed more poise and "command" of their offense than last year, but still has a knack for giving up on a play too early. They didn't really show a running game to speak of, and since Garcia is often not willing to allow a play to develop before pulling it down and running, their passing game does not scare me, either. Heck, we were able to hold one of the most prolific offenses in the nation with more experience than last year to nearly 200 yards less than their average from last year. South Carolina's offense does not scare me.
On the other hand, South Carolina's defense is much better than Oklahoma State's, and the Pokes were able to hold us to 10 points....man, that's hard to write or even think about. 10 points....WTF?!?! (Whew...deep breaths....in through the nose, out through the mouth.....okay).
Eric Norwood has been a thorn in our side for a couple of years now and is a beast. Their backup defensive ends were the stars of their game last week. I don't remember even seeing our defensive ends in our last game, regardless of who was lined up there. They are young in the DB spot, but appear to be athletic with good coverage skills. You couldn't get one AJ Green out of 3 of the NC State receivers, but the coverage, for the most part was there.
If Bobo can call a complete game like he can call a 1st drive, we should be fine. If Joe C. can spread the field a little more, we should be fine. If Richard Samuel gets 10-15 more carries than he did last week, we should be fine. If our receivers can hold onto more of Joe's passes, we should be fine. If we can keep the pressure off of Joe, where he doesn't get sacked and if he holds onto the ball when/if he does get sacked, we'll be fine. If we can kick the DADGUM ball into or out of the endzone just once this season, I'll probably be hospitalized....but I digress...
Bottom line -
UGA, top-to-bottom has better players, is deeper in the right positions, is at home and should be VERY hungry after last week. As much as UGA lacked last week, South Carolina lacked more. SC didn't win their game as much as NC State let them have it. Two very good defenses, two very suspect offenses. We have the playmakers that they don't, they have a win, and we don't.
Edge goes to UGA in a tight, ugly battle royal to the finish -
UGA - 17
USC - 10
This could turn out to be one of the ugliest games of the year. If both teams' offenses play like they did last week and both defenses play like they did last week, this game might come down to special teams. For anyone who has been paying attention to UGA's special teams the last couple of years (led by Skeletor Fabris) this does not bode well for UGA. On a positive note, it doesn't look like there was anything "special" about the kicker for SC, either, but when it's apparent we have no idea what we are doing on a simple kickoff, we open ourselves up for a plethora of unpleasant possibilities.
Their QB, Garcia showed more poise and "command" of their offense than last year, but still has a knack for giving up on a play too early. They didn't really show a running game to speak of, and since Garcia is often not willing to allow a play to develop before pulling it down and running, their passing game does not scare me, either. Heck, we were able to hold one of the most prolific offenses in the nation with more experience than last year to nearly 200 yards less than their average from last year. South Carolina's offense does not scare me.
On the other hand, South Carolina's defense is much better than Oklahoma State's, and the Pokes were able to hold us to 10 points....man, that's hard to write or even think about. 10 points....WTF?!?! (Whew...deep breaths....in through the nose, out through the mouth.....okay).
Eric Norwood has been a thorn in our side for a couple of years now and is a beast. Their backup defensive ends were the stars of their game last week. I don't remember even seeing our defensive ends in our last game, regardless of who was lined up there. They are young in the DB spot, but appear to be athletic with good coverage skills. You couldn't get one AJ Green out of 3 of the NC State receivers, but the coverage, for the most part was there.
If Bobo can call a complete game like he can call a 1st drive, we should be fine. If Joe C. can spread the field a little more, we should be fine. If Richard Samuel gets 10-15 more carries than he did last week, we should be fine. If our receivers can hold onto more of Joe's passes, we should be fine. If we can keep the pressure off of Joe, where he doesn't get sacked and if he holds onto the ball when/if he does get sacked, we'll be fine. If we can kick the DADGUM ball into or out of the endzone just once this season, I'll probably be hospitalized....but I digress...
Bottom line -
UGA, top-to-bottom has better players, is deeper in the right positions, is at home and should be VERY hungry after last week. As much as UGA lacked last week, South Carolina lacked more. SC didn't win their game as much as NC State let them have it. Two very good defenses, two very suspect offenses. We have the playmakers that they don't, they have a win, and we don't.
Edge goes to UGA in a tight, ugly battle royal to the finish -
UGA - 17
USC - 10
Monday, September 7, 2009
Who knew. The Big12 CAN play defense...well, sort of...
Okay, so I have started my prognostication woes a lot earlier in the season this year. I thought we were going to see an offense come out onto the field, grab the early momentum and hold their high-powered offense down to well below their lofty output from last year. I was not entirely wrong, but I sure as heck wasn't very close, either.
As I watched our offense meticulously dismantle the Big 12 defense on that first drive, my heart swelled with pride as our SEC Dawgs showed those Cowboys how "we" do things down south. That drive could not have been much more impressive. A skillful mix of run and pass, Joe Cox commanded the offense with ease and Richard Samuel began to show us all what the "hub-bub" was about. Our line was dominant and we seemed to impose our will on the smaller defensive front for Oklahoma State. Before you knew it, we were up 7-0. Boy, was I feeling good about the rest of the game.
We all nervously watched the kickoff as it sailed to a corner of the field, but was closer to the 5 than the 35 of last season. Whew! Everything is looking good. Our defense comes out and pretty much shuts them down. I even told the guy sitting next to me at Sammy's Tavern, here in Raleigh, "They don't play defenses this fast in the Big 12", as I chuckled. True enough, this day it would not be the defense that would let us down, it would be the man up in the coaches box who would prove to be our ultimate failure, Coach Mike Bobo.
The next couple of series' saw the wheels come off of our offense. We, for some reason forgot how to call a running play, forgot how to catch and forgot how to hold onto the ball. After that first drive, we forgot how to play offense. We continuously put our defense into bad situations and simply expected them to bail us out. Coach Martinez' group was ready to play and did all that they could (save for 2 blown coverages) to help win the game. The defense played well enough to win, but their counterparts did not. Good teams follow up a first drive and defensive stop like we had by driving down the field again and letting the "other guys" know that we fully intended to win this game, and that this game will be played according to our wishes.
After all the off-season talk about how close this team was, and how we would play more like a cohesive unit, the defense far out shined the offense on this day. Even though we could not generate a pass rush to speak of, our defense held the Cowboys well below their average from last year. Of course, their defense held us, along with a little help from our poor play and play calling, well below our average from last year, as well. Their defensive coordinator deserves some credit for the adjustments he made as they took the game back from us.
Up next, South Carolina in what could be a very ugly, defensive struggle. Neither offense should scare anyone else on our schedules and it may come down to turnovers and who is able to take some advantage of them.
Until next week...
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