The season was summed up in one half of football. 30 minutes of 1st half satisfaction was abruptly replaced with 30 minutes of disgust as the Dawgs allowed a 20-6 halftime lead evaporate on the way to a bitter 34-27 defeat at the hands of the Kentucky Wildcats. Really....???? Kentucky....??? Yeah, really.
This loss cannot be attributed to the defense, which (to its defense...in defense of the defense) has shown improvement over the past 3 weeks. Not that 3 weeks makes up for 2 plus years worth of solid disappointment, but the defense has played a little better. The loss Saturday can be chalked up to youth and inexperience. The youth is in the forms of supremely talented freshmen Branden Smith and Washaun Ealey and inexperience in the form of 5th year senior Joe Cox. The former can be more easily rationalized and even excused than the latter. The fact is that Joe has, in more than one game this year, melted down when the team needed him the most. Joe was just not ready for prime time this year, plain and simple.
As I sat in believable disbelief watching the Dawgs fumble and stumble their way to one of the worst losses I have seen in quite some time, I was reminded that this was supposed to be a year of rebuilding. Would I have imagined a 7-5 or 6-6 season, even after losing almost all of the prior year’s offensive weaponry? Nope. The fact is that even though the team has recruited very well over the past few years, the coaching and the ability to “coach up” those recruits has declined. Truth be told, after last year Coach Richt should have dismissed a couple of assistants, but stuck with his friends and we have seen the end result of that decision. If the head coach lacks the fire and desire to make tough decisions and continue to compete with the likes of Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Houston Nutt and even Lane Kiffin, then perhaps he’s not the right man for the job. I say give him one more year to prove himself.
Having taken myself off “the ledge” of rabid fandom a few weeks ago (if you’ll recall from a prior post), I have been able to sit back and make decisions based more on logic than emotion. I still love the Dawgs and will follow them until the day I die, but I can now remove the emotion and gain some objectivity that I was “blind” to before. Richt’s even keel served the Dawgs and their fans well in the first few years, but his loyalty to his assistants and his seeming lack of fire have made me realize that, unless he can get the fire back next year UGA may need to seek another head coach. UGA is one of those “cream of the crop” jobs that deserves a coach who can act as the CEO and make the tough decisions if it helps the team compete every year. This team/coaching staff has not been competitive when and with whom it needs to be for 2 years, now and when we can’t slam the door on a Kentucky team that was all but left for dead at halftime, the issues abound.
I believe Richt will right the ship and make the decisions he needs to make, or Damon Evans and the boosters will make the decision for and without him. He is a great man, a very good coach but loyal to a fault. He has earned the right to get things turned around and the future looks very bright with all of the young talent they have coming back. We’ll see if they are able to do anything with them. He has earned that chance, in my opinion.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South
The UGA/Auburn game this year marks the 113th time the two teams have played. "The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South", as it is commonly referred to has been extremely competitive over the years (as shown below) but this years' game does not carry the normal "national attention" as it usually does since both teams are in somewhat of a state of flux or transition and the game holds no BCS or other major bowl implications, yet.
Over the past 112 meetings, Auburn holds a 2 game series advantage (53-51) and there have been 8 ties. Out of 3,445 points scored by both, only 49 points separates the two (1747 for UGA, 1698 for Auburn). Also, the visiting team seems to win this game most of the time, which makes picking a winner even more challenging. 25% of Auburn's roster comes from the state of Georgia which always adds to their motivation to do well against their home-state school. UGA has only 2 players on their roster from the state of Alabama.
Auburn's strength is their unique offense, coordinated by well-traveled Gus Malzahn.
Being one of the originators of the "wild (fill in the blank) offense", Coach Malzahn is a legend in the state of Arkansas and was a very successful high school coach in that state. In the college ranks, he has coached at Arkansas and Tulsa, bringing a twist to their offensive schemes and has been called, "one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, not just in the college ranks, but in all of football". If there's one thing these Bulldogs have trouble with, it's a twist or even a "surprise" from the other team, such as the bootleg pass. (See the UGA vs. UT meltdown of 2009). Auburn's defense, normally a strength has been less than spectacular this year and is suffering through injuries as well as playing people outside of their normal positions. If that sounds familiar, think back to UGA last year. They are fairly solid in areas, but because some players are playing "out of position", they have been prone to give up a big play or two per game.
UGA comes into this game as healthy as they have been for a while. A.J. Green returns from the lung bruise (that even sounds painful) that he suffered while reaching for one of Joe's patented "over the head into triple coverage" throws across the middle of the field against Florida. Auburn has decent cover corners, but they are a bit undersized, as are their safeties, so that might be an area of attack for the Dawgs. I'd like to say that UGA has found their running game and that they have a feature back now in Washaun Ealey, but I have to remember that the most impressive game was against Tennessee Tech. No disrespect to Tennessee Tech, but they are not the Auburn Tigers.
I think UGA got a good confidence boost last week, and will come into this game motivated to, at the very least become bowl eligible (oh boy...game 10 and they are still not bowl eligible...ugh!). I would hope that Mike Bobo and Joe Cox have seen some areas that they can attack and that they will do so early and often. It would be nice to get up on them early in this game, get the crowd into it and put it in the "W" column. These games are typically pretty close, so picking a margin of victory is difficult.
UGA by 12.
Over the past 112 meetings, Auburn holds a 2 game series advantage (53-51) and there have been 8 ties. Out of 3,445 points scored by both, only 49 points separates the two (1747 for UGA, 1698 for Auburn). Also, the visiting team seems to win this game most of the time, which makes picking a winner even more challenging. 25% of Auburn's roster comes from the state of Georgia which always adds to their motivation to do well against their home-state school. UGA has only 2 players on their roster from the state of Alabama.
Auburn's strength is their unique offense, coordinated by well-traveled Gus Malzahn.
Being one of the originators of the "wild (fill in the blank) offense", Coach Malzahn is a legend in the state of Arkansas and was a very successful high school coach in that state. In the college ranks, he has coached at Arkansas and Tulsa, bringing a twist to their offensive schemes and has been called, "one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, not just in the college ranks, but in all of football". If there's one thing these Bulldogs have trouble with, it's a twist or even a "surprise" from the other team, such as the bootleg pass. (See the UGA vs. UT meltdown of 2009). Auburn's defense, normally a strength has been less than spectacular this year and is suffering through injuries as well as playing people outside of their normal positions. If that sounds familiar, think back to UGA last year. They are fairly solid in areas, but because some players are playing "out of position", they have been prone to give up a big play or two per game.
UGA comes into this game as healthy as they have been for a while. A.J. Green returns from the lung bruise (that even sounds painful) that he suffered while reaching for one of Joe's patented "over the head into triple coverage" throws across the middle of the field against Florida. Auburn has decent cover corners, but they are a bit undersized, as are their safeties, so that might be an area of attack for the Dawgs. I'd like to say that UGA has found their running game and that they have a feature back now in Washaun Ealey, but I have to remember that the most impressive game was against Tennessee Tech. No disrespect to Tennessee Tech, but they are not the Auburn Tigers.
I think UGA got a good confidence boost last week, and will come into this game motivated to, at the very least become bowl eligible (oh boy...game 10 and they are still not bowl eligible...ugh!). I would hope that Mike Bobo and Joe Cox have seen some areas that they can attack and that they will do so early and often. It would be nice to get up on them early in this game, get the crowd into it and put it in the "W" column. These games are typically pretty close, so picking a margin of victory is difficult.
UGA by 12.
Monday, November 9, 2009
I'm baaaack! Did you miss me?
Okay. So I took a week off after the loss to Florida. Big deal. Who didn't know that the Dawgs would go to Jacksonville and lose the game, right? Why write about it or even care very much about it. This season is what it is and no amount of wringing hands or gnashing of teeth will change it, at this point.
I'm not going to lie to you; I watched the entire Florida game. This gave me the chance to really look at the team with more scrutiny and more objectivity than I had before. I knew going in that the Dawgs were going to lose the game. That was pretty much a given. The team had not played up to its potential all year. The closest they came was against a terrible Vanderbilt team, but even that "easy" win left me with a lot of questions.
Going into the Florida game, especially after seeing the team come out on black pants and black helmets, I knew the coaching staff had all but given up. Thankfully the team didn't and actually played a pretty good game. The exception being Joe Cox who completely lost his head in that game. The 2nd half would reveal that the wheels had, indeed come off the wagon and when they put Logan Gray in an impossible situation where he predictably laid the proverbial egg it was clear that not only did the wagon not have wheels, it had lost a couple of its drivers as well. Good teams don't need to resort to gimmicks (the uniforms) or tricks (Logan Gray in at an awful time of the game). So it just confirmed what I had already decided midway through the Tennessee game - this is just not a very good team.
So in comes Tennessee Tech. A team who had actually inquired about me when I was playing high school football back in Macon, Georgia. I was going to a small private school (our graduating class had 50 people in it) so me being a 6' 00", 225 lb. offensive and defensive tackle was not that strange. I held my own back then. Enough so that even only having played one year in a league where kids typically grow up in that league I garnered honorable mention for all-state honors. Tennessee Tech was one of 3 schools who gave me a look, only to decide that I was too small to be a lineman and too slow to be a linebacker. But enough about me...
Anyway, Tennessee Tech came to town for UGA's homecoming. It was expected that the team would perform well against a much-inferior opponent from a lesser football conference and division. The Dawgs did not disappoint and dismantled the Golden Eagles, just as they should have. The game was as much about boosting confidence, as anything else. In the years pre-Damon Evans, the team would typically schedule a couple of lesser teams to allow UGA to get their feet wet and find a groove. They were not allowed that luxury this year. In those same pre-Damon years, the fans got tired of hearing about the weak out of conference schedule so they put pressure on the Athletics Dept. to schedule tougher games, which they have done. I guess the fans should be careful what they wish for, huh? The team performed well, except for those dadgum, ever-present penalties and UGA coasted to an easy win.
This week, the Tigers/Plainsmen/War Eagles come to town with a revamped offense and a pretty good defense. I'll have more on the game as the week progresses, but suffice it to say that when a team UGA plays uses an offense that is a departure from the norm, under Willie Martinez, UGA struggles. I can remember times when I would wonder if Willie had even taken the time to review any film or do any game study on the opposition the week before a game. In a year where his fate is uncertain, why should we believe he would do anything differently than what he has done in the past?
More to follow...
I'm not going to lie to you; I watched the entire Florida game. This gave me the chance to really look at the team with more scrutiny and more objectivity than I had before. I knew going in that the Dawgs were going to lose the game. That was pretty much a given. The team had not played up to its potential all year. The closest they came was against a terrible Vanderbilt team, but even that "easy" win left me with a lot of questions.
Going into the Florida game, especially after seeing the team come out on black pants and black helmets, I knew the coaching staff had all but given up. Thankfully the team didn't and actually played a pretty good game. The exception being Joe Cox who completely lost his head in that game. The 2nd half would reveal that the wheels had, indeed come off the wagon and when they put Logan Gray in an impossible situation where he predictably laid the proverbial egg it was clear that not only did the wagon not have wheels, it had lost a couple of its drivers as well. Good teams don't need to resort to gimmicks (the uniforms) or tricks (Logan Gray in at an awful time of the game). So it just confirmed what I had already decided midway through the Tennessee game - this is just not a very good team.
So in comes Tennessee Tech. A team who had actually inquired about me when I was playing high school football back in Macon, Georgia. I was going to a small private school (our graduating class had 50 people in it) so me being a 6' 00", 225 lb. offensive and defensive tackle was not that strange. I held my own back then. Enough so that even only having played one year in a league where kids typically grow up in that league I garnered honorable mention for all-state honors. Tennessee Tech was one of 3 schools who gave me a look, only to decide that I was too small to be a lineman and too slow to be a linebacker. But enough about me...
Anyway, Tennessee Tech came to town for UGA's homecoming. It was expected that the team would perform well against a much-inferior opponent from a lesser football conference and division. The Dawgs did not disappoint and dismantled the Golden Eagles, just as they should have. The game was as much about boosting confidence, as anything else. In the years pre-Damon Evans, the team would typically schedule a couple of lesser teams to allow UGA to get their feet wet and find a groove. They were not allowed that luxury this year. In those same pre-Damon years, the fans got tired of hearing about the weak out of conference schedule so they put pressure on the Athletics Dept. to schedule tougher games, which they have done. I guess the fans should be careful what they wish for, huh? The team performed well, except for those dadgum, ever-present penalties and UGA coasted to an easy win.
This week, the Tigers/Plainsmen/War Eagles come to town with a revamped offense and a pretty good defense. I'll have more on the game as the week progresses, but suffice it to say that when a team UGA plays uses an offense that is a departure from the norm, under Willie Martinez, UGA struggles. I can remember times when I would wonder if Willie had even taken the time to review any film or do any game study on the opposition the week before a game. In a year where his fate is uncertain, why should we believe he would do anything differently than what he has done in the past?
More to follow...
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