Excessive celebration... No. Excessive inconsistencies...YES!

The call on A.J. Green was terrible! No argument, there. It did not cost us the game, but it did change the game to the point where it made it easier for LSU to come back because it fueled their hope while at the same time, dampening ours. To go from sheer elation to total amazement and confusion was just too much to ask our young men to overcome. The LSU team had the opposite happen to them. They went from bitter disappointment when A.J. made the TD catch to jubilation knowing that we would have to kickoff to them from our 15 yard line, which would, based on our previous kicks put them, at worst on their own 40 or better. It would have made more sense to kick it out of bounds at that point, but hindsight is what it is.

The fact remains that if Joe Cox had been “on his game” in the 1st half, we might have been able to get up on them early, as our defense was playing very well. Joe was missing his receivers by a step or two the entire 1st half. He was just off on his timing. So much for us putting together a “complete game”. The O-line was giving him time to throw, but he just could not connect. Also, as good as our O-line was at pass blocking, they were about as bad at run blocking. It’s hard to have a good day passing when you can’t run, and vise-versa. I have been as staunch a supporter of Richard Samuel as anyone, but I think it’s time we put him on the defensive side of the ball and let him be what he is...a linebacker. I have never seen a more rigid running back in my life. He has no ability to shed tacklers or out maneuver anyone. He is constantly tripped up at the line of scrimmage trying to simply navigate the terrain there. There was one play, in particular, I believe it was the same play he ran for 80 yards against Arkansas, where the hole was there, but he tripped on someone’s leg or something because he just fell face first like someone threw a broom stick into the spokes of his bicycle. It’s no wonder we didn’t see him in the 2nd half. By the way, did anyone else notice how Washaun Ealey runs like Knowshon? Good vision, good feet and that burst through the crease? Caleb nor Richard has shown that this year. That was refreshing to see, and I believe it’s what sparked our comeback and near-win.

If we can ever put the pieces of this puzzle together, we can be scary good. When the offense clicks, the defense sucks, and when the offense sucks, the defense clicks. Our special teams, aside from Drew Butler and Blair Walsh (for the most part) are horrendous. Maybe a trip to Knoxville will help cure our ills. It is well-publicized that we have a better road record than home record. Tennessee has already lost 2 games in Knoxville and not looked very good doing it. Their offense is not playing well despite being a pretty good running team, but their defense is. Old man Monte Kiffin has proven, once again that you might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but an old dog can teach some new ones a few. I figured before the season started that Tennessee was going to knock off a team they weren’t supposed to. I just hope that team is not my beloved Dawgs.

If we sulk around in practice all week, blaming the officials for the LSU loss and feeling sorry for ourselves, we will lose. I would prefer to think that we come out pissed off that we allowed LSU to win “our game”. It’s a sure bet that “Diddy” Kiffin will have the defense dialed-up to stop A.J. Green, so let’s get some other folks involved this week, while making sure A.J. gets “his”. I’m just afraid that we will attempt to go to A.J. one too many times and that the surface-to-surface missile, otherwise known as Eric Berry will try to decapitate him. We can ill-afford to lose A.J. at this stage of the season. Let’s let Orson Charles (sans the celebrations) play a bigger role. I don’t care who it is, or whose redshirt we need to “burn” to win this game, let’s just win it!! This is not your older brother’s Tennessee. They are vulnerable. They are ripe for the plucking. We cannot allow them to make their statement this year using UGA as the piñata.

Deep down, this game scares me to death. However, with all of our success over the past 8 years and the fact that I still believe in our coaching staff and roster full of high quality recruits I have to believe that we will, at some point in the season pull it together and become what we are capable of becoming. What better week than this one?!

UGA by 10.