A day later and I’m still not sure what to make of the game.  Georgia never trailed by more than 11 points, and they spent much of the game within a single score.  Still, the challenge to come back seemed as steep at times as it ever did in the blowout losses of the past two years.  Credit to South Carolina for taking it right at Georgia, and credit especially to a freshman tailback that had one of the most impressive SEC debuts you’ll ever see. To have a chance Georgia needed a spark on offense, and it wasn’t going to come from the 2005 Georgia/Florida gameplan. 

Spurrier and Lattimore can cackle about the zone read as if it were some sort of brilliant strategy, but Georgia had the players in position time and again to challenge Lattimore, and that first contact often came at or behind the line of scrimmage.  Lattimore’s more important observation was one that’s sure to be repeated and stewed over by disgruntled Georgia fans:  "Our offensive line was in better shape than their defensive line." Georgia was pushed around on both sides of the ball, especially on the lines.

It wasn’t just the defensive line.  Georgia, from the line to the secondary, put on the worst display of tackling since the 2008 Georgia Tech game.  Even a safety who came to Georgia with the nickname "Hitman" was among the many leading with their shoulders and bouncing off a more physical freshman tailback.

The lack of physical play wasn’t limited to the defense.  Georgia had trouble running between the tackles for the second time in two games.  Again the line had much better success on outside running plays and in pass protection, but the push just wasn’t there – especially in the second quarter when the game began to get away.  It’s interesting that Richt singled out the guards on Sunday.  The guards of course are key to those interior running plays.  It’s hindsight now, but I wondered how much Cordy Glenn, a solid All-SEC lineman, was knocked down by a preseason bout with mono.  He’s recovered the weight, but it takes a lot out of you. Key I think to this problem is the return of Trinton Sturdivant.  If Sturdivant is able to contribute, Boling becomes another option at guard and can really beef up the rotation there.

Yet with all of the negative things that were going on, this was a one-possession game for much of the second half.  You’re not going to win many games scoring six points, but you stand a fair chance of winning many games giving up just 17.  We’ve spent the past two years tearing our hair out over defensive meltdowns that saw opponents put up 30 points in a single half.  We can debate whether it’s better to get lit up or suffer death by a thousand cuts, but the defense did at least keep things from getting out of hand waiting, waiting for the offense to finally get going.

More positives? I liked the pass coverage. Yes, there was a longer pass completed and a few others just missed.  Generally though Garcia was at his most uncomfortable in straight passing situations, and there were even a few coverage sacks.  The Dawgs didn’t give up the big play.  For all of Lattimore’s success, South Carolina only managed around 100 yards of second half offense, so there were some adjustments. Adjustments, fewer penalties, turnovers, all of the things we’ve asked for were there, but it wasn’t enough as the basics of tackling and any consistency on offense eluded the team.

Then there’s Murray.   

Without getting into the details of the game, Murray’s effort was good enough that coaches "think he’s prepared to just run the system as we have it." In other words, opening up the offense and putting more on Murray’s shoulders.  Now much of that depends on the supporting cast.  A team that can’t run the ball effectively is going to be inconsistent no matter who’s under center.

It’s good that the staff has come to that realization about Murray, and maybe it took two games of actual experience for them to see what he can do.  But if Richt and Bobo ever end up on any kind of hot seat, their hesitancy in situations like this will prove to be central.  A friend last week joked that Bobo should be told that A.J. Green was playing anyway, referencing the Israel Troupe play against Auburn last year.  South Carolina felt more than comfortable putting the game on a freshman tailback, and I doubt they cared very much how well he pass-blocked.  I’m glad to see Murray ready to take on more, but it’s not as if he showed up on campus this August.  He was an early enrollee in 2009 and has been through two spring practices and spent over a year and a half with the team. It took an unproductive loss at South Carolina to understand his capacity for running the system?

The comments about Murray and the interior line do make me wonder if this team will struggle with an identity crisis.  Bobo put it plainly: "we were gonna play to our strength: The play-action pass and the running game." It wasn’t just the fans who anticipated a good running game to develop behind a veteran offensive line.  I don’t expect the Dawgs to go 5-wide for the rest of the season, but the promise of a more involved Murray does make me question if we, the media, and even the coaches have the strengths right.

There’s a lot of football between now and the October 2nd game at Colorado, but residents of Boulder have a lot more on their minds this weekend. The largest wildfire in Boulder County history is currently raging in the highlands to the west of Boulder. The town itself and the CU campus itself isn’t threatened yet, but the fire has displaced many residents and has captured the attention of everyone in the area. As many as 9,000 residents are on standby for possible evacuation. At least 169 homes have been destroyed, and the fire currently affects nearly 6,500 acres in the hills and canyons west of Boulder. Westerly winds have pushed smoke across the town, and strong winds make it a difficult fight.

I had heard during the summer that the full Redcoat Band wasn’t making the trip to Columbia. That seemed strange because 1) the Athletic Association isn’t hurting for cash and 2) the full band typically makes all trips that can reasonably be made without an overnight stay. That includes the Alabama schools, Tennessee, South Carolina/Clemson, and of course Tech.

Sure enough, the Red and Black reports that just a pep band will be supporting Georgia at South Carolina. Did Georgia suddenly come up short of cash? Did a greedy athletic department want to sell those seats to fans? Nope. It all has to do with other SEC schools and some contrived notion of fairness:

“The rest of the athletic associations in the SEC are hurting a little bit, whereas ours is sitting on a budget this year so we are all right…So to be fair to everyone, they cut one of our band trips because all the other band organizations cut their band trips by one.”

Are you kidding me? Because some other SEC programs have to cut back band trips, the school will voluntarily hold back its loudest group of supporters in a key SEC opener on the road. South Carolina will have enough of a homefield advantage without keeping 3/4 of the Redcoats home. Why have a successful program and a budget in the black if you’re not going to use that advantage? Georgia isn’t going to cut back its recruiting budget or its facilities plans because some other SEC school can’t keep up, so why do it here?

I know UGA has made kneecapping itself into an art form, but this is ridiculous.

They might run the state of Georgia, but can King and Ealey run the Palmetto State? Georgia’s biggest win without A.J. Green was last year’s upset of Tech in Atlanta, and the Bulldogs compensated for their missing star by leaning on a nasty running game that made fans of old school I-formation football all warm and fuzzy. Will another heavy dose of the running game be the strategy in Georgia’s first trip to a hostile stadium since that memorable game last November?

The running game was fair last week, but the stacked line used by UL-L resulted in a lot of ineffective runs. It wasn’t the best day for the line or even King himself. Mark Richt reminded us that, between injuries and Cordy Glenn’s bout with mono, the starting line hadn’t worked together much, and it showed. There were two false start penalties, Murray was scrambling a lot more than we’d like, and Georgia generally had trouble running straight ahead. Georgia’s most successful runs were plays to the outside – the end-around to Smith that started the second half or tosses to Thomas that allowed he and the athletic offensive line to get away from the traffic jam in the middle.

It’s reasonable to expect Georgia to lean on the running game this weekend – both to make up for the absence of Green as well as helping Murray along in his first road start. So King’s 47 yards in the opener are a bit concerning. Georgia didn’t fare particularly well on the ground against the Gamecocks a year ago either. The Dawgs tallied just 107 yards rushing, and 65 of those came on Branden Smith’s jaw-dropping run. The cast of characters has changed a great deal in just a year though. Neither King nor Ealey played, and the offensive line was still coming to grips with another season-ending injury to Sturdivant.

But Ealey is back now, and King and Ealey, like Hall and Oates, are much better as a duo. The two battled injuries during the first half of last season, and neither was as effective without the other at full strength. King’s best effort without Ealey was a 59-yard contribution at Arkansas. As Ealey started to emerge midseason, his best effort was 71 yards at Vanderbilt while King was limited by a broken jaw. The turning point followed the Florida game when both were finally healthy. Ealey was averaging 48 YPG following the Florida game. King was averaging just 31 YPG. As a tandem down the stretch, both improved. King averaged 88 YPG over the final five games with no game lower than 60 yards. Ealey’s averaged shot up to 105 YPG over the last five games with 77 yards against Kentucky as his low point.

I was surprised to see that the Gamecocks allowed just 67 yards on the ground to Southern Miss last week because it seemed like it was much less. USM just got nothing from their rushing game. We’ll carry the standard disclaimers about it being Southern Miss and their woefully inexperienced offensive line. Still, you’d expect South Carolina to be solid against the run: their competent secondary allows the front seven room to take some chances. Georgia has averaged just 114 yards rushing against South Carolina over the past three years, and not even Knowshon could help much. Will the team of Ealey and King make the difference this time? The Bulldogs will be hoping for a result more like 2006 when they put up 198 rushing yards in support of another freshman quarterback making his SEC debut in Columbia.

If you were on the fence about heading over, there are still a handful of tickets available to Saturday’s game. The “best available” are in the 900 level, so it’s getting closer to a sellout.

Georgia junior wide receiver has been suspended for four games by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff for violations of NCAA agent benefits rules. What exactly happened?

According to the facts of the case submitted by Georgia, the student-athlete sold his Independence Bowl game jersey to an individual who meets the NCAA definition of an agent. Green has repaid the $1,000 value of benefits to charity.

The ruling is consistent with NCAA guidelines for reinstatement following the receipt of improper benefits:

(a) Value of the benefit ranges from greater than $100 to $300 = 10 percent withholding condition and repayment.
(b) Value of the benefit ranges from greater than $300 to $500 = 20 percent withholding condition and repayment.
(c) Value of the benefit greater than $500 = 30 percent withholding condition and repayment.

UGA can and almost certainly will appeal. It would be interesting to see why Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus received only a two-game suspension after receiving benefits totaling $1,787.17. Green’s infraction involved a smaller dollar amount, and he’s already repaid the money. Hopefully the resolution of the appeal will be as speedy as Jeremiah Masoli’s was last week. If Green’s suspension is not reduced, the Oct. 2nd Colorado game would mark his 2010 debut.

For now, Georgia must prepare to play its next three games without Green. The receiving corps will benefit from the return of Tavarres King this week, but otherwise it’s the same group that took the field for the opener. Georgia had to play much of the end of last season without Green, and they had mixed results. Georgia defeated Auburn, Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M without their star, but they fell to Kentucky.

The biggest changes for many of us will be the new tailgating rules that were announced back in the spring. The Banner-Herald has a front-page story today as a reminder of the new rules. Many expect the rules to all but kill off tailgating on North Campus, but it will be a while before the impact is felt. With the first two home games kicking off before 12:30, tailgating will be subdued anyway. Any evaluation of the new rules made before the Tennessee game will be very premature.

For those tailgating elsewhere on campus, they’ll still be affected by several new rules:

• No pull-behind items (trailers, cookers, etc.)
• No golf carts or ATVs
• No parking on sidewalks (expanded to include Carlton St.)
• The ban on setting up tailgates (tents, tables, etc.) in parking spaces will be reemphasized, to include those areas controlled by the Athletic Association.

Fans with any questions about tailgating rules, parking, or traffic plans should visit the Gameday Gameplan site.

Construction will affect two permitted campus lots. Hull Street will be temporarily closed from Baxter Street to Florida Avenue, and the Baxter Lot can only be accessed through the East Hull lot. The Physical Plant lot is being repaired, but no spaces will be lost…you’ll just be in a work zone.

Once at the stadium, fans on the north side won’t be able to miss the new Reed Plaza. We’ve talked about the Reed Alley project many times here over the past couple of years, and now this facility eight years in the making is finally available for fans to enjoy. Access to the stadium from the Gate 2 area around the curve of the north stands will be improved.

Regrettable vendor choices aside, the new Reed Plaza and its 30,000 square feet should be at least as big a shot in the arm to the north side of the stadium as the reconstructed Gate 6 project was a few years ago. It’s just more of everything – more space, more restrooms, more concessions options, and did I mention more space? Though the project will be dedicated on Friday, sources in Athens are telling us that some finishing touches might not be in place in time for the opener. Regardless, the plaza will be open and usable on game day.

Once inside the stadium, fans will have access to a new text message system to deal with everything from unruly fans to medical emergencies. If you need help inside the stadium, text DAWGS, the issue, and your location to 69050. There was an interesting post on the DawgVent a few weeks back about enhanced cell coverage inside the stadium from many of the major providers…I’ll believe it when I can send a text out.

There are a lot of good ideas going into the improvement of Sanford Stadium, but this isn’t one of them: 

Other newcomers to the Sanford Stadium concessions partners include southern-favorite Sonny’s BBQ. Offering a range of options such as pulled pork, BBQ chicken and many others, Sonny’s BBQ will be available in the Gate 7 Plaza and the West End lower level.

First of all, with all of the great BBQ in north Georgia, Sonny’s? Was the McRib on the short list?

But is Georgia’s marketing department that desperate for cash or just oblivious to the fact that their latest concessionaire is the spawn of Gainesville? Sonny’s founder Sonny Tillman isn’t just a casual fan of the hometown team either.  He’s a Bull Gator – one of Florida’s highest circle of athletic boosters.  He’s also endowed a scholarship for the university. That’s extremely generous of him, and he’s long since sold the company, but how tone-deaf are the decision-makers at Butts-Mehre for even considering this deal?

Aaron Murray

How will he overcome the whole freshman QB thing? There’s enough coming out of practice to make any on-edge Georgia fan that much more nervous. Murray’s talking about his nerves and being too amped up. Richt is downplaying expectations. All this to remember that, yeah, the guy’s a freshman. You don’t want to read much into scrimmage stats, but it’s encouraging that he’s cut down on (or cut out even) the interceptions. What remains seems to be a little accuracy problem. We don’t know it it’s nerves, drops, the new defense confusing things, or a combination, but the numbers are there. He’s had one impressive scrimmage throwing 12 for 21, but most of his scrimmages so far have been around or on the wrong side of 50%. That said, I’d gladly take accuracy issues starting out if he continued to avoid the turnovers. A few incompletions might kill the occasional drive, but you can punt your way out of that situation.

Waushaun Ealey, Caleb King, A.J. Green

Can they stay healthy for the entire season? The big question is the same for all three of these standouts. An injury delayed Ealey’s debut until the season showed signs of slipping away. King earned much respect by playing with a freaking broken jaw. The Murray-doesn’t-have-to-do-much line counts on a solid running game carrying much of the load, and the Georgia running game is much better with both Ealey and King able to go. Green’s season was cut short after the Florida game, and it’s hard to imagine Georgia losing to Kentucky with him in that game. With “when in doubt, throw it to #8” as the default instruction for young Murray, #8 needs to be on the field.

Josh Davis

What the heck got into him? No one, and probably not even Mark Richt, would have told you at this point last year that we’d owe a lot of Georgia’s late-season success to Josh Davis stepping in at right tackle. The first step in finding a successful line was Clint Boling moving to left tackle sometime around the Florida game. Vince Vance and then Justin Anderson were supposed to be the answer at right tackle. But it was Davis who got the call and started the final six games at right tackle. The line finally solidified around a Boling-Glenn-Jones-CDavis-JDavis group that coincided with (or led to, if you prefer) the emergence of the running game late in the season. Two healthy backs didn’t hurt either. The question for 2010 is whether Davis can keep up that level of play as Sturdivant is eased back in. If so, a nice tackle rotation of Boling, Sturdivant, and Davis will let Aaron Murray sleep well.

Aron White

Can he make strides at a crowded position? Orson Charles deservedly gets plenty of press, but guess who’s led Georgia tight ends in TD receptions in each of the past two seasons? While the world waits for Charles to take a big step forward as a sophomore, White’s entering his junior season. I doubt we’ve seen his ceiling, but opportunities could be limited unless Georgia uses more multiple tight end formations. That possibility has been floated by the coaches, and it makes sense – White can make plays and has more receiving touchdowns to his credit than anyone on the team not named A.J. Green.

Shaun Chapas

Can he finish his career with a strong season? Chapas showed promise as a freshman in 2007 and added some receiving yards in 2008. But injuries slowed him last year, and his role in 2010 is uncertain. Fellow fullback Fred Munzenmaier is the one named as a possible third option at tailback while Ealey is out. If Georgia increases its use of a 2 TE set to maximize the production from that deep position, the fullback is usually the odd man out. The Dawgs aren’t going to forget the I-formation any time soon, so there will still be plenty of playing time for the senior.