I blame Munson. We spent all week coming up with reasons how the Auburn game could go wrong – Georgia always plays down to their competition. It’s a rivalry game, so you can throw out the records. Auburn has 457 player from the state of Georgia, so they’ll play us better than they’ve played anyone all year. Remember what happened in 19 aught 7. Every time we’d see a pundit take this outcome for granted, we’d shake our heads and remind ourselves that they just don’t understand Georgia football or this series.
So the big news from Auburn Saturday night is that things went…exactly to plan. Auburn really isn’t all that good. Georgia really can get out in front of and put away a weaker opponent. The defense really is on to something. There wasn’t even the awkward start of the FAU or Ole Miss games to gripe about, and there wasn’t going to a repeat of the comedy of errors that let Tennessee back in the game. From start to finish, it just went as it would have if you had let your most delusional Disney Dawg buddy draw up the script. Shutout? Check. Gurshall going for 100+ each? Check. Murray in complete control? Yep. The Auburn stands empty by the fourth quarter? Can’t blame them.
Though Auburn’s season means that Georgia shouldn’t and won’t move the meter much by dispatching the Tigers, Georgia fans can at least appreciate a job well done. The win might’ve been all but a sure thing, but the plan and execution on both sides of the ball showed that the team approached and prepared for the game with the right focus and the goal of a divisional title in mind. On the night that the Dawgs claimed a championship, they looked like a champion.
With such a complete win, there’s not much to dig into. Just a few notes…
Welcome back, Gurshall. I was a little surprised to see that Marshall hadn’t had a carry for more than nine yards since the Tennessee game, but that explained why he had only run for a total 92 yards since. His third quarter 62-yard sprint put him back over the century mark and finished the scoring. But my favorite Marshall play came on the final drive of the first half: facing 3rd-and-20 after a sack, Marshall took a draw from the pistol and scurried for 21 yards to erase one of Auburn’s best defensive plays of the first half. I’m sure my section wasn’t the only one who had a few people referencing “third and Willie.”
No stat is going to be the factor in a game that lopsided, but third downs say it as well as anything else. As Georgia build their lead in the first half, they were 5-of-6 on third downs. Auburn was just 1-of-6 on third downs in the first half. The Dawgs were only able to build a quick lead because the defense just did manage a three-and-out on Auburn’s first possession. A conversion there wouldn’t have done much to change the outcome, but Mason coming up a few inches short gave Georgia the opportunity to take control early.
The receivers were challenged with the loss of two top contributors, but the unit stepped up at Auburn. King did #15 proud and had his best game since Kentucky – that touchdown catch was as good as it gets. Mitchell’s reputation is built on his athleticism, but his reliability is even more important. With a catch rate pushing 80%, Mitchell has become (or still is?) the guy you look to when you need a catch. I’m not surprised that Conley made some plays. Georgia’s other receivers didn’t record any catches, but this wasn’t going to be a pass-heavy game after Georgia established a lead.
Murray didn’t spread it around as much as he did against Ole Miss, but, again, there weren’t that many catches to be had. A third of receptions still went to tight ends and backs, and there would have been at least two more without drops by Lynch and Hicks. Rome now has five catches over the past two games after recording only two receptions in the first eight games. Murray again showed a willingness to use his speed and get yards on the ground. We like that, but you see Murray get hit hard (on a standard pass play) and head to the bench, and you remember why he doesn’t and shouldn’t leave the pocket much.
I’ve seen a bit of talk about leaving the defensive starters in so long. Yes, there’s the risk of injury, but that would be my only concern. If you have an opportunity for a shutout, I’m not going to complain about making a little extra effort to keep it going. But there’s a more important reason for leaving them in. If Georgia has a chance in the SEC championship game, it’s going to be a physical game every bit as demanding on the defense as the Florida game was. The defense needs to be conditioned to play at top form all four quarters, and it’s not helping them to sit. I expect we’ll see them play longer than we’d expect against Georgia Southern also. If you want to see an excellent defense not used to finishing games, look at Bama over the past two weeks.
I can’t end without acknowledging the special teams. Yes, the return game was pretty much neutral. The kicking was outstanding. Morgan wasn’t challenged by range, but his placement was perfect on all extra points and a tricky short field goal from an extreme angle. He’s been solid on extra points over the past three games, and we hope that’s a sign that his earlier adventures are behind him. Barber has just been great lately. He (and we should include Erickson with his spot-on pooch punt) was on his game at Auburn as any element of the team. Kickoff coverage was as good as it’s been all year. It was the best performance of the season for Georgia’s most maligned unit.
Marc Weiszer catches up with the biggest Auburn-killer of the early 2000s. Michael Johnson is a high school coach in his home state of Oklahoma now, but he’ll always be known and revered by Bulldog fans for one play.
Johnson’s 13 receptions that day are still #2 all-time at Georgia. Johnson caught all but six of Georgia’s receptions on that cold and windy day. He finished with the game of his life: 13 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown that clinched Georgia’s first-ever SEC East title.
Johnson wasn’t finished with Auburn. A year later, Johnson again led the team with 5 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown in Georgia’s 26-7 win. In two games against Auburn, Johnson accounted for 18 catches, 232 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Over a quarter of his career catches and yards and half his career touchdowns came in those two games.
Georgia went into that 2002 Auburn game needing a win to clinch the SEC East. They were also without two important receivers: Damien Gary and Terrence Edwards. Those two storylines apply again as we head back 10 years later. Florida, as they did in 2002, will be watching the scoreboard to see if Auburn will redirect the divisional title to Gainesville. Michael Johnson stepped up to replace two injured teammates with the game of his life to make sure that the title went home with the Dawgs. Will they need another heroic individual performance this time, and who will deliver it?
The Bulldog offense made history in September for its streak of games scoring 40+ points, but they haven’t reached that mark in four games. Things got back on track against Ole Miss as Georgia’s offense had one of its more balanced and productive games in over a month. It won’t be quite the same offense that Georgia takes into the final three games of the regular season. Here’s what’s changed and what might change over the next couple of weeks.
Running
Georgia’s outstanding freshman tailback duo took the conference by storm in September. The tandem combined for 964 yards during the month with Marshall contributing well over 40% of the total. The “Gurshall” meme was established. No one ran particularly well at South Carolina or Kentucky, but Gurley has bounced back with consecutive games with at least 100 yards.
Marshall’s production continues to lag though. He averaged an incredible 8.2 yards per carry in September, and it would be tough for anyone to sustain that pace. It wasn’t all the Tennessee game either – Marshall averaged at least 4 YPC in each September game other than Missouri. But since Tennessee, Marshall hasn’t had a 4 YPC game. Over the past four games Marshall has had 33 carries for 92 yards – a 2.48 YPC average.
The difference has largely come from a lack of big plays. Marshall has never had more than 10-12 carries a game. His carries tailed off against Kentucky and Florida, but he was right back there with 11 carries against Ole Miss. During the stretch from Florida Atlantic through Tennessee, Marshall ripped off gains of 28, 52, 75, and 72 yards. Since Tennessee he hasn’t had a run longer than nine yards.
Whether it’s blocking, defensive adjustments, or just a regression to the mean, the disappearing big play changes Georgia’s running game, and it’s seen Gurshall give way to Gurley. With Kentucky stacking the line and Florida’s stout run defense, the more physical Gurley was the choice to pound at those defenses. Marshall’s skills in space aren’t going to be as effective when a defense throws additional numbers at the line of scrimmage.
It’s reasonable that Georgia’s remaining opponents will place an emphasis on stopping the run. Georgia has lost some punch at receiver, and I could see defenses taking their chances to put Murray in longer-yardage situations with a diminished receiving corps.
Passing
The loss of Marlon Brown on top of the earlier season-ending injury to Michael Bennett leaves Georgia without two productive receivers and relatively thin at the position. King and Mitchell are set as starters, and we know what they can do. It’s difficult not only to replace Brown’s production, but Brown’s size also gave him advantages with blocking and matching up against coverage. The Dawgs will look first to a couple of known reserves. Chris Conley has had his moments during his first two seasons, but he’ll be more than a situational guy now. Rantavious Wooten is playing with more confidence and has particular skill catching the deep ball. Next on the list is Rhett McGowan who’s made some nice catches when called on. Speedy redshirt freshman Justin Scott-Wesley will also see more time.
The two remaining starters will have to carry most of the load though. Mitchell is already just one catch off the team lead despite devoting the first month of the season to defense. Since Tennessee Mitchell has at least three receptions per game. Tavarres King must become more consistent. As a senior starter, King’s reliability is that much more important now. He’s had two big games: 6 catches for 117 yards and a TD against Buffalo and a spectacular 9 catches for 188 yards and 2 TD at Kentucky. But King has had two or fewer receptions in six of Georgia’s nine games. The Kentucky game is an outlier during a stretch in which King had a total of two receptions against South Carolina, Florida, and Ole Miss. King still leads Georgia in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, but Georgia needs him to come up big in each of the final three games.
One takeaway from the Ole Miss game was the noticeable difference in Aaron Murray’s decisions. 11 different players recorded a reception. Nine of Murray’s 21 completions went to backs or tight ends. He rarely forced the ball even in the face of early heavy pressure and a shaky line. As a result, Murray had no turnovers and completed 75% of his passes. Of course doing that against the Ole Miss defense is not the same as doing it with Matt Elam prowling the secondary, but many of those same alternatives to forcing bad passes were available to Murray against Florida. If the distribution of passes against Ole Miss continues, it will help loosen the coverage on the remaining receivers and slow aggressive defenses looking to stop the run.
Offensive Line
After a nice outing against Florida in which Aaron Murray wasn’t sacked, the offensive line took a step back against Ole Miss. Gurley still got his 100, but Georgia’s 149 yards on the ground were only an average performance against the Ole Miss rushing defense. Pass protection, especially at tackle, was worse. Protection issues were a big reason why Georgia’s first half success was basically limited to a trick play and a 40-yard heave at the buzzer (after Murray had to scramble away from still more pressure).
The line might also face some adjustments due to injury. Starting guard Chris Burnette is questionable after a shoulder contusion last weekend. The Dawgs might go to a lineup they’ve used a few times this year when Mark Beard comes in at left tackle and Kenarious Gates moves to a guard position. Usually Gates has been replacing Dallas Lee at left guard, and it’s uncertain whether Georgia would continue to plug Gates in at left guard and move Lee to Burnette’s spot or keep Lee where he is and move Gates to right guard.
One of the more interesting matchups in the Auburn game will be Georgia tackles against outstanding defensive end Corey Lemonier. Almost everyone has trouble against Clowney, but even Ole Miss found ways to create problems off the edge. Lemonier doesn’t need much help to create problems. We’re more than familiar with Brian VanGorder’s aggressive style, so expect him to test Georgia’s protection right out of the gate – especially if Georgia has to shuffle its usual starting line.
Though Aaron Murray had a banner day, the defense was what I wanted to see. The thin and young Ole Miss secondary made their pass defense a known liability. Their offense, and QB Bo Wallace in particular, was playing well enough to win consecutive SEC games and nearly knock off Texas A&M. Things might’ve looked shaky down 10-0, but the defense only got better. They began creating turnovers, getting pressure, defending long passes, and soon adjusted to the short swing passes designed to get Ole Miss skill players into space. A decent running game was held over 130 yards below its season average, and when the backup QB is a team’s second-leading rusher, you’ve done well against the run. With the run held in check, Georgia’s defense became more and more suffocating and gave nothing back once the offense claimed the lead. Even with the game more or less in hand for the entire fourth quarter, the defense allowed just 20 yards of total offense in the final period.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, who’s done a very impressive job this year bringing the gutted Ole Miss program to the brink of bowl eligibility, admitted that this game was the “first time this season that I felt like we were zapped of our passion.” Georgia’s relentless defense had a lot to do with that, and that’s exactly the kind of follow-up performance you love to see after a physical and draining experience like the Florida game. We were hopeful after one game, we can be much more confident after consecutive outstanding defensive games, and we can declare the defense back if they can keep it up as the Dawgs attempt to clinch the SEC East this weekend.
No one can accuse Murray of being incapable of learning from his mistakes. A week after some poor decisions led to three interceptions and a rough three quarters against Florida, Murray was noticably better at checking down and finding open receivers. His touchdown passes came on big plays, but his successful day was made possible by spreading the ball around to 11 different receivers. His 21 completions included four to tight ends, three to tailbacks, and two to the fullback. Two of the three passes to tailbacks were for first down yardage, and a nice swing pass to Gurley against a blitz went for a long gain that set up the scoring chance at the end of the first half. Murray also pulled the ball down and got positive yards on the ground a couple of times. Even with the pressure he faced early on, these small adjustments helped Murray keep his composure and made him deadly once opportunities began to present themselves.
More from a beautiful Homecoming afternoon:
Pointing to a turning point other than the touchdown at the end of the first half might be trying too hard. But there was another important moment just after halftime. Georgia faced 3rd-and-eight on its opening series of the half. A three-and-out there takes some of the edge off of Georgia’s halftime momentum and gives Ole Miss the ball down only four. Murray found Marlon Brown on a short pass still about seven yards short of the marker. Brown made a defender miss though and turned a minimal gain into a 17-yard play. The Dawgs moved the chains and scored three plays later to open up a double-digit lead.
If you’re able to defer the opening kickoff, there’s nothing better than scores that bookend halftime. We saw it at Tech last year where Georgia got a field goal right before halftime and a score on their first possession of the second half to turn a tight four-point game into a manageable 14-point Georgia lead without Tech having a meaningful offensive play. Georgia’s score to close the first half against Ole Miss gave them a similar opportunity. Brown’s third down conversion kept the opportunity alive, and Georgia was able to post 14 points without Ole Miss running a play. After the defense forced a 3-and-out, the Dawgs ended up with 21 points and had turned a deficit into a 17-point lead by the time Ole Miss ran four plays.
As much as the game was about Murray and the defense, Todd Gurley quietly had another 100+ yard game. He’s less than 150 yards from 1,000. He’d be only the second true freshman tailback at Georgia to reach that mark. (You can probably guess who the other guy is.)
While Gurley has cranked out consecutive 100-yard games, it’s been a quiet month for Keith Marshall. He’s not playing poorly…the long runs just aren’t developing as frequently as they did in September. He’s still a dangerous guy to play along with Gurley and will likely make more noise before the end of the season. Marshall showed some additional utility with a couple of receptions Saturday, and he had important blocks on a pass to Rome and the final touchdown to Wooten.
It wasn’t a great start from the offensive line, and the coaches put a lot of that on the tackles. Ole Miss was quick off the edge and frustrated Georgia’s ability to get drives going early on. This is one area of the team where “coming out flat” applies – center David Andrews admitted that the early troubles were “just not waking up and going out and playing.” The line could also be dealing with tackle issues against Auburn depending on the availability of guard Chris Burnette. If Burnette can’t go, Mark Beard will get his first start at LT as Ken Gates moves inside. Auburn’s best defensive player might be defensive end Corey Lemonier, so this matchup will be worth watching.
You don’t ask for a lot of production from the fullback, but it’s something that Zander Ogletree has just about doubled the season production by the position in just two weeks. Ogletree’s run was the last thing anyone would expect in that situation, and he finished off as if he were Gurley. Blocking is still job #1, but Georgia’s had a 100-yard back both times with Ogletree in there. It will be an interesting call if Hall is healthy enough to return, but my untrained eye thinks that Ogletree has done plenty to hold onto the start.
Turning to the defense, there’s plenty good to say about all three units. Garrison Smith continues to be an important piece of the turnaround on defense. Smith followed up a five-tackle performance against Florida with seven tackles and a sack against the Rebels. A good day by Smith and the rest of the line opened things up for the middle linebackers to close off the center of the field. Alec Ogletree had his best game since returning from suspension with a team-high 11 tackles, one sack, and one impressive interception. Herrera, Gilliard, and Robinson added another nine tackles for the interior linebackers.
As well as the front seven played, the secondary was outstanding. Williams’ near-miss of the early interception was the lone costly miscue, and he more than atoned for it. The cornerbacks were as visible as they’ve been all year. Swann made big plays in pass coverage and recovered two fumbles. Branden Smith broke up two passes and made some incredibly physical tackles. Aside from the early 51-yard pass that set up their field goal, Ole Miss had only one other reception for over 20 yards. The secondary did a good job of denying the long passes and cleaning up the intermediate completions.
It was a relatively quiet day for Jenkins and Jones at outside linebacker. Each saw an Ole Miss quarterback elude a sure sack, but largely their lack of productivity had to do with the Ole Miss game plan. The quick out passes attacked Georgia’s pressure off the edge, and they were intially effective. It didn’t take long for Georgia to adjust, and the passes and runs away from Jones put other defenders in positions to make plays. Jones still got his – with his pass rush limited, he became active containing the run and pursued well from the back side. He was instrumental in setting up the safety, and Ogletree and Smith did a great job finishing it off.
A week ago Georgia held Florida’s top receiver, Frankie Hammond, Jr. without a reception. Against Ole Miss the Dawgs shut out the opponent’s best receiver once again. Donte Moncrief had 18 receptions over the past three games and has 39 receptions on the season, but he doesn’t appear in Saturday’s box score. (In case you’re wondering, Emory Blake is Auburn’s leading receiver.)
Malcolm Mitchell has returned nine kickoffs this year. Georgia’s average starting field position (excluding penalty yardage) after those returns is just over their own 25-yard line. So it’s a wash versus a touchback, right? Not exactly – those returns include four kicks that didn’t reach the endzone, so a touchback wasn’t an option. On the five kicks Mitchell has decided to bring out of the endzone, only one – a nice return to near midfield at South Carolina – went past the 25. The others went to the 16, 19, 17, and 16-yard lines. Even when you include kicks fielded short of the goal line, only three of Mitchell’s nine returns have been returned past the 25.
The new kickoff rules have changed the decision process for returns. Not only do returns begin deeper, but the coverage unit is starting five yards closer and is on the returner more quickly. Richt is correct when he admits that “I’d like just to take the 25-yard line” as a starting point for drives. There’s always the chance you could break a longer return, but Georgia’s results this year show that a touchback is optimal on a kick into the endzone.
So if a touchback is better than the typical result and it’s fine with the coach, is that being communicated to the returners and Mitchell in particular? If not, that’s a whole other coaching problem. If the players are being coached on the “new math” of kick returns, why does Richt continue to put someone back there who still has that itch to bring it out and won’t get to the 20-yard line 80% of the time?* That’s not “a little bit of gray area sometimes” as Richt puts it. It’s become a reliable way to lose field position. Short of making Jarvis Jones the guy who tells the returner to take a knee, I’m not sure what Richt expects to change.
After the Tennessee game, we were exasperated enough to count exactly how many yards Georgia cost itself due solely to the decisions of its kick and punt returners (the answer was 25 yards in that game). These decisions continue to cost yards: Mitchell’s two first-half returns from the endzone against Florida were nine and eight yards short of the 25-yard line. That’s a total of 17 yards lost just on kickoff returns – as good as another personal foul.
I’d have a lot less to say about this if Richt didn’t double down again on Mitchell and put him in to field two second half punts against Florida. Mitchell continues to prove how valuable and gifted he is as a receiver, but his decisions fielding punts handed the job to Rhett McGowan a month ago. Now McGowan let another punt bounce earlier in the Florida game, so I can understand if there was frustration there. I can also see Richt looking to the return game for a spark in a close game dominated by defense. It seemed like a dangerous call though to put in a punt returner who hadn’t fielded punts in a month and who was still making questionable decisions on his returns.
* – No, I don’t know what happened to Gurley either. He hasn’t returned a kick since that debacle on the one-yard line against Tennessee. I can see an argument that a fresh Gurley at tailback is more important than having him return kicks, but it didn’t seem to affect his play earlier in the season.
Occasionally the SEC schedule sends Georgia on an extended road trip in October. Usually that includes the Tennessee-Vandy circuit, but the shuffled 2012 schedule meant an intinerary that began in Columbia, visited Lexington, and ended in Jacksonville.
A lot has happened in the month since September 29th, Georgia’s most recent home game. The Dawgs were undefeated, a top five team, and had scored at least 40 points in every game. Georgia’s goals of divisional, conference, and even national titles were still intact. An explosive offense and “Gurshall” led the way, and it was only a matter of time before the return of several suspended players rounded the defense into its expected form.
We return home a little more sober about the Dawgs’ place in the college football world. Georgia is still a top 10 team with most of its goals attainable, but they’re not among the pack of four undefeated teams currently atop the polls. The team’s impact freshman tailbacks have been slowed somewhat, though Gurley’s performance at Florida tells us that September wasn’t a flash in the pan. The defense – well, the defense spent the month going through an identity crisis. Its showing against Florida was promising, but November and beyond will tell us whether more permanent changes have taken root.
Home field has played a big role in the SEC this year. Georgia’s biggest road test of the year was a flop at South Carolina. The Gamecocks, who weren’t exactly dominant in earlier road game at Vanderbilt and Kentucky, saw their hopes dashed in two of the conference’s toughest venues. Florida rose to #2 on the back of two impressive home wins over LSU and South Carolina but barely escaped Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
Georgia has had their shakiest moments of the year on the road, especially on offense. They finished with 41 points at Missouri, but we remember how long it took things to get going. Things never got going at South Carolina. Only the passing game looked functional at Kentucky as the running game and defense weren’t much help.
Sanford Stadium has been much more kind to the Bulldog offense. They’re averaging 49.5 PPG and 288 yards rushing per game in home SEC games. Though the defense has been hit or miss home and away until the Florida game, the offense has come out firing in nearly every home game so far. Ole Miss is on a bit of a roll right now and, at least from the Georgia side, you like that that this game is in Athens.
Ole Miss has somewhat bucked the trend of faltering away from home. They’re 2-1 on the road this year with a win at Tulane and an SEC win over Arkansas in Little Rock. The Rebels’ lone road loss to date was at Alabama, and it was no poor showing. The worst Ole Miss loss of the season came in Oxford against Texas – a defensive disaster that saw the home team give up 350 rushing yards and 676 total yards.
That Texas game was a cleansing of sorts. Since that blowout loss on September 15th, the Rebels are 3-2 (2-2 in the SEC). Those two losses were a respectable 33-14 defeat at Alabama that was 27-14 after three quarters and a narrow heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M in which the Rebels led by 10 halfway through the fourth quarter.
It’s Homecoming, but this isn’t a typical Homecoming situation. It’s a national TV appearance against an underdog gaining confidence and gunning for a bowl bid. The Georgia team will be trying to build on the Florida win and make the most of their second chance to claim the SEC East. They’ll need alums and students to leave the Homecoming tailgates a little early and give Sanford as much juice as it had for the Vandy and Tennessee games.
Saturday’s win over Florida put Georgia back in control of the SEC East. The team managed to prove, if for one game, that criticism of its soft play was both correct and correctable. Aside from a tougher approach, Georgia improved in a few key areas and found some players that might make a difference in the final four games.
“Next man up”
“Next man up” wasn’t just a slogan in Jacksonville. At least three starters had to be replaced before or very early in the game. While grumbling about the fullback position last week I wondered if we had seen the last of Zander Ogletree. It took injuries to Hall and Hicks, but it didn’t take long to find out that Zander still had something to contribute. He caught a big pass right away on Georgia’s first scoring drive. We won’t go overboard about Ogletree’s impact, but on a day where Gurley went for over 100 yards and Murray stayed on his feet, we have no complaints either.
Chase Vasser, though announced as a starter, missed the game with a shoulder injury. Freshman Jordan Jenkins had seen plenty of action as a reserve, but he shone in his first big-time opportunity. Jenkins was of course helped by Jarvis Jones drawing attention on the other side, but Jenkins had a very sound game. He was effective at forcing runs back inside, he was disciplined enough to stay in position on misdirection plays, and he was second only behind Jones with 3 hits on Driskel. Jenkins’ best play didn’t show up in the stats: late in the first quarter, Jenkins took on two blockers and drove his way to Driskel. Jenkins was able to wrap his arm around Driskels’ head, but Driskel managed to escape. But while Driskel attempted to recover, Jarvis Jones cleaned up and forced a fumble. Jenkins is only going to get better, and it’s going to be fun watching he and Jones play opposite each other the rest of the season.
Abry Jones was the only known starter out for the game. Georgia turned to Garrison Smith as they did a year ago when Georgia Tech took out DeAngelo Tyson. Smith responded with seven tackles and helped the Dawgs neutralize the important dive play. He was equally effective against Florida. Smith finished with five tackles but also got to the quarterback three times. We remember Shawn Williams’ early fourth down stop, but that fourth down came after Smith recognized and made an athletic play to stop Driskel on a designed keeper.
We don’t quite yet know the extent of the injuries to Vasser and Hall, but Georgia should be in good hands if these three continue to be called on and respond in the same way.
Defensive ends
DE play has been a sore spot all season – from filling run lanes to pass rush to containment, the defensive line has been, well, disappointing. The Florida game wasn’t a complete turnaround; Driskel managed an important run to set up Florida’s third field goal by exploiting Washington on a read option. But that was one of the few breakdowns up front, and it doesn’t diminish what was probably the line’s best performance of the season.
As we noted above, Garrison Smith had a lot to do with improved line play. Washington deserves some credit also. He was the leader in the locker room making the impassioned pregame speech, and he was more effective than I’ve seen him since his move to defensive end. As with Jenkins, Washington’s best play won’t be on his stat sheet. Early in the third quarter, Washington pulled off a textbook bull rush. He drove Florida’s right tackle backwards and into Driskel, altering a pass that settled right into the hands of Damian Swann.
Georgia’s base line of Smith-John Jenkins-Washington wasn’t the only combination we saw. Grantham mixing up his fronts is nothing new, but the variety was impressive. We had various three and four-man fronts joined occasionally by linebackers or defensive backs at the line. We saw Jarvis Jones on a three-man front with a tackle and an end. We saw Jenkins and Geathers in there together. Georgia’s front seven did well to generate pressure, but it also did a great job of keeping Florida’s running game inside where they’d rather not be.
Defensive backs
Florida was never much of a threat to go downfield, and Jordan Reed showed us why a tight end is their leading receiver. Florida still only completed four passes to wide receivers. You can quibble about the classification of guys like Omarius Hines, but the distribution of Florida’s passes tells you what they were and weren’t able to do through the air. One name conspicuously absent from the box score was Frankie Hammond, Jr. – one of Florida’s top three targets and second on the team in receiving yardage. Hammond was held without a reception for the first time this season.
Even considering the tendencies of Florida’s passing game, it was a solid performance by the defensive backs. They increased their interception total for the season from three to five, and Commings recovered Reed’s fumble. The group’s biggest mistake was one of aggression: Branden Smith went for (and probably should have had) an interception in the second quarter, and Florida was able to move the chains en route to their first score. Without a strong downfield threat from Florida, the Georgia defensive backs were asked to help out in everything from run support to pass rush. Perfectly-timed blitzes by Swann and Rambo were significant moments in the game.* Williams walked the walk after his challenge to the team and was fantastic cleaning up the few runs that got to the outside – most importantly the early fourth down attempt.
Georgia might not face a player like Reed again, especially now that the career of Auburn’s Lutzenkirchen was unfortunately cut short. Florida’s short passes did expose a few problems as Ogletree in particular continues to struggle. He was targeted as Florida began to move the ball. He missed a couple of good chances at interceptions that might’ve been returned for touchdowns, and he whiffed badly on a third down draw that kept alive Florida’s drive in the final minute of the first half. I don’t mean to get down on Ogletree since these weren’t issues with effort or playing soft. He was still all over the field and was second on the team with 6 tackles. This is just an area where Georgia can get even better as they head down the stretch.
* – Seeing a pick-six develop (a la Wansley at Tech in 2001) is one of the great joys of watching a defense. The game itself seems to slow down as everyone begins to see the inevitable break on the ball and the offense powerless to reverse its mistake. Not far behind is watching a good blitz unfold. Our seat was roughly near the line of scrimmage for both Swann’s first quarter blitz and Rambo’s early fourth quarter blitz. Rambo was going full speed from his safety spot, but it was crystal-clear. This blur of red commanded your attention, and he didn’t change speed from the moment he started forward until he had consumed Driskel.
Shawn Williams made certain last week that the Florida game would be all about toughness. It was a fitting theme because Georgia’s willingness to match Florida’s toughness has had a lot to do with their success in Jacksonville recently. We all remember the Celebration in 2007, but that touchdown came after a drive of nothing but runs. Georgia showed right away its intent to run at Florida, and the Dawgs finished with 196 yards on the ground in their 2007 win. A year later Brandon Spikes crushed Knowshon Moreno just minutes into the game, and Georgia never rose to the challenge. Last season Georgia wasn’t able to get much going early on, but eventually the Dawgs found their toughness in the form of Richard Samuel whose strong runs up the middle first gave Georgia the lead and then sealed the win in the final seconds.
Even with Williams’ challenge to his teammates, Florida would be a test of any team’s toughness. The Gators have re-made themselves over the past two seasons and finally showed some results after a trying first season under Will Muschamp. Their formula for success isn’t complicated: they run well, play solid defense, and thrive on turnovers. They’re not a complete nor a flawless team, especially when they have to throw the ball, but their strengths and style figure to keep them in most any game.
We all have different things in mind when we say whether a team is soft or tough. To get past Florida, Georgia had to come at their lack of toughness in several ways:
Strength
Raw, brute strength. There are few tests of this toughness more visible than the running game. The Gators came into the game rushing for over 210 yards per game. The power running of senior tailback Mike Gillislee was augmented by the running threat of sophomore QB Jeff Driskel and an effective wildcat package. Seven Gators have at least ten carries this year, and Georgia would have to account for everyone from the quarterback to flankers in the running game.
On the other side, Georgia’s running game had all but stagnated. Made irrelevant by South Carolina’s early lead, the Georgia ground game that looked so potent in September was kept to a feeble 77 yards by Kentucky. The Dawgs averaged under 100 YPG on the ground in their first two October contests, and they were going up against one of the SEC’s top 3 defenses.
Georgia’s ability to flip the script in the running game is the biggest story from the game. Florida’s potent ground game was held to just 81 total yards – a paltry 2.0 YPC average. We saw how dangerous they could be in the fourth quarter when a Driskel keeper got enough yards to set up their final field goal and when Gillislee began gashing the Georgia defense on their final drive. But on the whole Georgia was tremendously effective stopping whatever Florida tried on the ground: the power game up the middle, the zone reads, the few wildcat attempts, and even the sweep that Shawn Williams shut down on Florida’s early fourth down attempt.
The Dawgs didn’t exactly rewrite the record book with their rushing offense, but Todd Gurley’s 118 yards were more than enough to outgain the entire Florida team, and he became the first back this year to break the century mark against Florida. His touchdown run was typical Gurley: great vision to cut back and then power to finish it off. Florida, as they’ve done so often this year, adjusted well to limit Gurley as the game wore on, but the freshman was able to seal the win much like Samuel did a year ago with a long run that allowed Georgia to end the game in the victory formation. It was a great job not only by Gurley but also the offensive line that led the way and kept Aaron Murray largely on his feet.
Endurance
As Georgia found out in the 2011 SEC Championship, playing tough for one half isn’t enough to beat the conference’s best teams. Florida’s season-long ownership of the second half began in its first contest of the year at Texas A&M and had grown to near-mythical proportions by the time they went to Jacksonville. The Gators had been in close games, or even trailed, at halftime in five of their seven previous games. They won all but one game by at least eight points. With a halftime score of just 7-6, Florida seemed to be in a very familiar and comfortable position. From a similar spot they had held off Texas A&M, blew past Tennessee, and stymied LSU. There was no reason to think it would be different against Georgia.
Georgia wasn’t able to separate, but the Dawgs also didn’t wilt against a confident team used to dominating the second half. The defense maintained its pressure on Driskel, continued to force turnovers, and kept the Gators out of the end zone. Georgia’s offense didn’t take over, and their inability to cash in on several instances of great field position in the third quarter nearly cost them the game. The biggest difference for the Georgia offense was that Aaron Murray finally began to settle down. After poor decisions led to three interceptions in the first half, Georgia didn’t turn the ball over after intermission. With Florida’s defensive adjustments successfully limiting the running game, Georgia’s coaches put the game on Murray’s shoulders with a pass-heavy series midway through the fourth quarter.
Georgia’s defensive endurance was tested on Florida’s final possession, and Florida began to have success both running and passing. Jordan Reed in particular was able to find mismatches against Georgia’s linebackers, and a few completions opened things up for four straight runs that gained 30 yards. Jarvis Jones did many, many things in this game. His final play might have been his best: he started rushing the passer, recognized when it was time to bail on the rush, and chased down Florida’s top receiver from behind to force the game-saving fumble. That would have been remarkable enough in the first quarter, but to have the stamina to pull off that play late in the fourth quarter after playing nearly every snap of an intensely physical rivalry game is what toughness is all about.
Mental toughness
Toughness and aggression without discipline is, as anyone who remembers the 1999 Auburn game can tell you, a disaster waiting to happen. Georgia’s results in this aspect of toughness were mixed. There was plenty of good. Murray was able to put aside his rough start and make big passing plays on Georgia’s last scoring drive. The defense was put in a tough spot several times by turnovers and special teams and never allowed more than a field goal. As heated as the game got, the defense rarely took themselves out of plays with overpursuit or losing contain. Someone, even (and especially) a freshman like Jordan Jenkins, was usually in position to spoil a misdirection or option play.
The entire team was able to get an early lead and fight tooth and nail to keep it by the slimmest of margins. Instead of letting Shawn Williams’ pointed and personal assessment tear the team apart, they accepted responsibility for the state of the team and did something about it.
But the team lived on the edge of controlling their emotions. You sensed trouble as soon as Georgia’s run out of the tunnel intersected Florida’s. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the talk and pushing to start, and even some staff members got involved. That was harmless, but it set the tone for a chippy game on both sides. Whether most of what went on merited a flag is secondary. The refs were consistent and made it clear that they’d call it close in an attempt to keep the game under control.
If that’s what it takes to get Georgia to play an inspired game against the #2 team in the nation, so be it.
Going forward
The challenge now is keeping it going without some sort of provocation from the opponent or a teammate. The challenge is making the attitude of the Florida game a permanent mindset regardless of the opponent. That will be an even bigger test of mental toughness than the Florida game was. Defenders should come to practice looking to “knock the $!@& out of someone” without the need for a personal kick in the pants. It has to be a lot more fun stuffing an offense, causing turnovers, and watching your highlights on ESPN than it is watching inferior opponents put up yards and points on you.
The other challenge is to refine this toughness and distinguish the productive actions from those that cost the team. Of course the offense and special teams are as culpable as anyone in this area. Resisting the natural urge to push or talk back is probably one of the greatest signs of mental toughness, not a sign of weakness. As Tavarres King showed, a wide grin and a walk 15 yards down the field as the other guy gets the flag does a lot more for the team. As good as the outcome was, imagine the possibilities for this group if they can maintain the attitude regardless of the opponent while avoiding the penalties and turnovers. If the Dawgs are able to advance to the SEC Championship again, they’ll very likely face a team that’s mastered doing just those things.
If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a hurricane making its way north from around Jamaica. If the current forecast holds, the storm should be a few hundred miles off the Florida coast by gametime. We won’t be playing in a hurricane. Whether it even rains during the game is still uncertain and depends on the exact track of the storm. One thing that’s fairly certain though is that it will be windy. As the storm passes to the east, we can expect a strong and gusty offshore wind. With the stadium’s north-south layout, that means a crosswind generally blowing from the Georgia sideline to the Florida sideline (because Florida sucks).
A windy day lends itself to humor like this, but wind could be even more of a factor any time the ball is in the air than it was last year. Shorter or erratic punts will affect field position. If either team is able to stuff the run and force the other side to throw the ball 25+ times, will the conditions allow for much success?
The wind is just one element Georgia’s kickers will be battling. For all of the outstanding kickers that Mark Richt has had, Jacksonville has been consistently humbling. After last year’s game, Richt’s kickers are a combined 7-of-16 from inside of 40 yards in the Cocktail Party. Under 50%. Walsh himself was a career 4-of-8 from all distances against Florida including a 1-for-3 performance last season.
Whether it was a loss of faith in the kicking game or the realization later in the game that field goals weren’t going to cut it, Mark Richt kept Walsh on the bench at the end of two Georgia drives. Georgia’s touchdown passes on a pair of fourth down conversions helped Georgia turn the game in 2011. Morgan has been fairly reliable on field goals this year, but given the conditions, the importance of the game, and the trouble his kickers have had in Jacksonville, Mark Richt should again think twice before calling on the field goal team.
PS…the best kicking performance I’ve ever seen on a windy day was Auburn’s Damon Duval against Florida in 2001. There was drizzle and easily a gusty 20-MPH wind, but Duval stuck 3 out of 3 field goals including the game-winner from 44 yards out. Duval basically played the wind as a golfer would and hooked his kick to let the wind take it back through the uprights. It was incredible skill and a big reason why Auburn upset then-#1 Florida.
“I don’t care who they have running the ball. We’ve just got to stop playing so soft – the D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties, everybody. I don’t know what it is,” Williams said. “It’s frustrating because I’m sitting here giving it all I’ve got and I feel like we’ve got some guys in a whole other different place.”
That’s the kind of thing that can either galvanize or severely test the “one team” part of the motto that’s been on the team’s lips since summer. I’m optimistic, but I thought we had already reached this point during the bye week:
“People got what was on their chest out, said what they had to say,” Williams said (a week ago). “We’ve got to be accountable for our actions, eliminate the big plays, and just come out and play hard every game.”
This is kind of what I was getting at yesterday. Everyone seems to agree on the problems, but that hasn’t led to much action. Maybe Williams ratcheting up the tone will have that effect, and it’s needed for a game that will be all about mental and physical toughness.
One of the most interesting comments Williams had was about the linebackers. It’s been an issue for a few weeks, and we talked about the trade-off that comes from using certain people at middle linebacker in certain situations. Williams’ opinion had some pretty strong implications for a couple of his fellow seniors and guys who might also be seen in leadership roles on the defense. That’s a potential rift, and it would take some pretty strong character to hear that from a teammate without a very negative reaction. Williams, whose personal fouls and coverage mistakes have cost the team points this year, also needs to recognize and acknowledge his own role in the defense’s current state.
When I try to process what we saw at Kentucky, I keep coming back to this image.
That’s Coach Richt leaving the field at halftime and sharing a brief moment of levity with his GSP detail. For all I know, it was exasperated bewilderment at the dumb luck of a field goal banked in off the upright. I just know that there wasn’t much worth smiling about going on. I can’t imagine being anything but spitting mad about a such a first half just hours after the team was given new life in the SEC East. I couldn’t crack much of a grin over a kicking game that had already cost the team an important point and nearly saw a short field goal pulled left. I just couldn’t believe that a friendly upright was all that separated Georgia from a halftime deficit to a 28-point underdog.
Richt’s not aloof – his interview coming out of halftime was spot on. Defenders were out of their gaps, playing soft, and giving up back-breaking runs on third and long. But it’s another thing to get that across to the team. And surely they’ve been taught the proper gap assignments and run fits. Return men have been taught time and again the correct decisions when to field a punt or take a kickoff out of the endzone. If the message is clear – and these are largely veteran players who have heard it a time or two – it’s now either being tuned out by a bunch of guys who already know their likely draft status, or it’s being disregarded in the pursuit of personal glory. It’s a stretch to tie that back in with a single image like the one above, but who was going to get the rest of the team to match the focus of its quarterback?
And what a game by Murray. He’ll surely hear the “big game” talk again this week, but there’s something to be said for taking your team on your back in any situation. His decisions were spot on, his execution was sharp, and you had faith in him to keep the Dawgs out front if the defense could just get a stop. His record-setting night would’ve been even bigger if not for a few costly drops. Georgia needed every bit of it because as good as they were in the passing game, they were that poor on the ground.
More things I’ll be telling a therapist someday:
If Richard Samuel’s play against the fake punt was the special teams highlight of the first half of the season, Connor Norman’s alert recovery of Kentucky’s onside kick is the clubhouse leader for the second half. Kentucky did a lot right on that play and blew up the Georgia players who usually would have recovered the kick. But while the kicker waited for the ball to roll its final yard, Norman came from near the sideline and dove at the feet of the kicker before Kentucky had a chance to pounce on the ball. You had to be a little nervous about Kentucky getting the ball back down less than a score after such a big momentum play, but the Wildcats wouldn’t get the ball back until the game’s waning seconds.
Good job by the offense to kill those final few minutes and remove the defense as a factor in the game’s outcome. Against Tennessee the Dawgs couldn’t put the game away with the offense, and the defense had to create three late turnovers. At Kentucky a second down pass to Marlon Brown gave Georgia a first down and got them going on a drive that ate up all but a few seconds of the last four minutes. Ken Malcome did his part by moving the chains with a few nice runs.
The coaches also made a very smart call on the 4th down Murray bootleg at the end of the game. Mississippi State faced the same situation a week ago, and we talked about their decision. Georgia didn’t get points there – Lynch has to make that catch – but the decision to run a play rather than kick was the correct one.
Watching Murray on that bootleg couldn’t help but make me wonder why we don’t see his mobility more often. Certainly the coaches are protecting him to some extent, and he takes enough hits on traditional pass plays. They’re not going to stick him out there like Connor Shaw, but Murray is no less capable running the ball. If the line is going to be an issue, rolling Murray out should be an option.
Going back to Samuel, Georgia continues to miss production from the fullback position. If that’s going to happen, the blocking had better be something special, and it hasn’t been. If Samuel (or even Malcome) can’t get a shot, is it time to see what the freshman Hicks can do? And has Zander Ogletree played his last down?
I don’t know if it was too-cute gamesmanship or a genuine issue, but I lost count of the number of times receivers, especially Brown, held their hands up as if they didn’t get their assignment while the play call came in from the sideline.
That was a minor issue, because it was a very good night for the receivers. There were drops, sure. I like this group even with Bennett out of action. My favorite play of the night might’ve been on a fourth quarter scoring drive. King, already with a great game under his belt, executed a textbook block on the edge for Marlon Brown. Brown, meanwhile, got his initial yards and showed his strength as he shed a tackler and fought for four or five more yards. Great example of senior receivers working together to get nearly ten yards from a play that could’ve easily gone for no gain. And great to see Conley back in the endzone. He made a significant play in Jacksonville last year and will hopefully come up big again this week.
Collin Barber has had some Oscar-worthy moments trying to draw a flag, but the penalty he drew in the early fourth quarter was legitimate. And what a big turning point. Georgia ended up turning that penalty into their final points of the night.
Georgia’s at a tough spot going forward at defensive end. Abry Jones, if he can go at all, is hobbled with an ankle injury. Washington continues to struggle with containment and penetration as a converted OLB. The defense needs Garrison Smith to step up as well as he did at Tech last year and for younger guys like Ray Drew to embrace the “next man up” mentality.
It’s amazing how quickly an overpursing and soft defense can have you skipping right over the Martinez era and reaching for Kevin Ramsey comparisons.
The same undisciplined play that saw Kentucky gash Georgia on several third-and-long runs also showed up in penalties. Georgia was flagged eight times, including several false starts, two completely unnecessary personal fouls, and a facemask.
The Dawgs were also flagged both times they attempted trick plays. Both plays were executed well, but a fake punt was whistled for an illegal formation, and a direct snap to Marshall was attempted with two men in motion. The plays seemed to be sound, but if you’re not nailing down basics like gap assignments, special teams, and offensive line play during the bye week, can you expect sharp attention to detail on a trick play? In fairness, though, I’m having a tough time seeing the penalty on either of those plays. Murray was the only man in motion on the direct snap, and the only way you could call an illegal formation on the fake punt is if you claim that Lynch, at “quarterback” lined up so tight as to be considered part of the line.
You learn something new every game, and now we know that David Bowie is a redshirt freshman defensive back for the Dawgs.
That Georgia is 5-1 isn’t a big surprise at the halfway point. 6-0 would be preferable, but we knew the South Carolina game was going to be one of the biggest challenges of the year. What’s unexpected is that we’re halfway through the season and talking about Georgia’s defense as a crisis. The offense, though not consistent, has at least been enough to carry the team to its record and has left the team in a position to still compete for the conference title. With the expected strength of the team faltering, there has been no shortage of articles over the bye week looking into some of the bigger problems facing the defense. They seem to fall into one of three areas:
Pass Rush
It’s true – the defense with as many as three potential first-round picks in its front seven is right there at 11th out of 14 SEC teams in sacks. Aside from Jarvis Jones’s big day at Missouri against an injury-riddled offensive line, Georgia’s pass rush hasn’t been a game-changing weapon.
Injuries have played their part. Jarvis Jones was bothered first by a groin pull and now by an ankle injury. His agility was limited enough that South Carolina was more or less able to steer him behind the play while Connor Shaw escaped. It’s still questionable enough that he might miss the Kentucky game. Abry Jones also had ankle problems.
Personnel has been in flux. The move of Cornelius Washington from outside linebacker to defensive end has had mixed results. The team has tried a line with both Geathers and Jenkins in at the same time, but Georgia’s giant nose tackles have no sacks and only three tackles for loss between them. Garrison Smith, who answered the call off the bench against Georgia Tech last year, has also seen time – though not as much as he should. If Jones is unable to go in Lexington, freshman Jordan Jenkins should get plenty of opportunities to develop as a pass rusher. Jenkins, coming off the bench, is still the only other defender besides Jarvis Jones to record more than one sack so far. (Jenkins has three.) In fact, apart from Jones, only one starter – Washington with 0.5 sacks – has been credited with a sack this year.
Containment has been an issue since the season opener when Buffalo QB Alex Zordich rushed for 83 yards at nearly a 6 YPC clip. The Dawgs did a better job against the rushing threat presented by the Missouri and Vanderbilt quarterbacks, but South Carolina’s Connor Shaw ran for 78 yards on 14 carries – several of which were broken plays where the Georgia defense allowed Shaw room to scramble. Florida’s quarterback isn’t RG3, but he has made some huge plays running the ball both in scramble situations and, last week at Vandy, on zone read plays.
It seems incongruous that a defense returning so much experience would have communications issues. Even granting the adjustments due to the suspensions, everyone was still involved with preseason and offseason preparation, right? There has been one subtle change that could be at the heart of some of these issues.
The linebacker position has seen some subtle shifts this year. Cornelius Washington has moved to defensive end, freeing up an outside linebacker spot occupied primarily now by Chase Vasser. There’s also a change at middle linebacker: Amarlo Herrera, who came up big as a freshman early last year when Ogletree was injured, now starts. During Ogletree’s suspension over the first four games, Herrera was joined at MLB by Michael Gilliard, a more experienced senior. When Ogletree came back, Herrera’s shift from “Mo” to “Mike” didn’t just mean he was standing over a new patch of grass. Herrera’s responsibilities also changed.
The return of Alec Ogletree to the Georgia defense pushed Amarlo Herrera over to the other inside linebacker spot….At “Mike,” (Herrera)’s asked now to signal the plays to the defense and identify formations.
So as the quarterback of the defense (to use a clumsy analogy), Herrera’s still getting a feel for reading the offense and getting the defense lined up. Combine that with a typically hectic sideline and a pretty complex scheme, and you can start to see some of the sources of the confusion even with so many returning players. It presents the coaches with a decision: other middle linebackers like seniors Gilliard and Robinson might do a better job of “quarterbacking” the defense. But Herrera might be the best pure player – he leads the team in both solo and total tackles.
No area of the defense has been lights out, but the biggest issues so far seem to be focused around the middle. You start with the push from the down linemen. You have the supervisory role of the middle linebackers. You can also add in coverage issues at safety. Whether it’s Rambo’s missed opportunity for early momentum at South Carolina or Williams biting on underneath routes and play fakes, we have another unit with problems to work through. Williams and Rambo combined for 12 interceptions in 2011, but no safety has recorded one yet in 2012.
Problems up the middle can lead to difficulties defending the run. Georgia is currently 10th in the SEC against the run, and every opponent but Missouri has had a player rush for over 80 yards. The problems in rushing defense have been more acute in the past two games with Tennessee and South Carolina combining for over 425 yards on the ground. With Florida’s relentless running game ahead, the improvement of the defense against the run might be the most critical factor in Georgia’s chances of remaining in the SEC East picture.
If you buy Jeff Schultz’s, um, interesting reasoning, you can expect to see some version of this quote in about nine months:
“We had a bunch of guys not sure of what they were doing and playing for themselves. This year, we’re all on the same page and working for each other.” Georgia lost a number of players to the NFL after the 2012 season, but (rising senior) isn’t worried. “When you have All-Americans, sometimes you get caught expecting them to make all the plays. We know we can’t do that anymore. There are no stars on this defense, so it’s up to us to make the plays.”
It was a perfect day outside for the bye week – which, of course, meant 12+ hours of football on TV.
I was just thinking that Les Miles hadn’t been all that Les Miles-ey lately, and the gambles you anticipated in such a close game never materialized. It was a fairly conservative and close-to-the-vest game on both sides, actually. Miles didn’t disappoint though with the quote of the night: “That was Death Valley. That was the place where opponents’ dreams go to die.”
The home field was definitely big for LSU as it was for South Carolina a week earlier. It’s not that the Gamecocks were overwhelmed by the Tiger Stadium crowd, but they didn’t have the tidal wave of energy on which they thrived in their win over Georgia. With home field playing such a large role over the past couple of weeks, I was reminded that Georgia only has two true road games remaining, and those come against teams with some pretty demoralized fan bases. It’s hard to imagine running into a buzzsaw of a crowd in either of those games.
Aside from home field, line play was the biggest difference in South Carolina’s games against Georgia and LSU. The Gamecock offensive line isn’t as good as Georgia made them out to be, and LSU was often able to get good penetration with just a four-man rush. On the other side, LSU’s makeshift offensive line performed better than expected. South Carolina was still able to tip countless passes at the line, but Mettenberger largely stayed upright, and the Tigers eventually found some success with the run. Georgia fans couldn’t have been happy with the relative success of both LSU lines.
LSU also had success running to the outside. Georgia had a nice outside run by Gurley on their first play a week ago, but we didn’t see much of it afterwards. The Tigers hit on a few screens too which reminded me how much trouble the Dawgs have executing that basic play. I’m not talking about the quick passes to receivers that we saw too much of last week or the plays where a back flares out. Just your garden-variety screen. The backs seem to have trouble separating, and the throws are rarely in a good place. I can’t explain it, but for all Murray does well, the screen has never been a strong point with him as the starter. It’s unfortunate because LSU showed how the play can counter South Carolina’s aggressive defense.
There have been far too many comparisons of Texas to Georgia on the air and around the Web since Saturday. I can’t find much to disagree with though.
Stanford got screwed. Usually that wouldn’t bother me so much, but that blown call was all that stood between us and more “WAKE UP THE ECHOS” nonsense for a team whose most successful passing plays were pass interference calls.
At the same time, Stanford got what they deserved. They stubbornly advertised the intention to line up and run it straight at a good rushing defense. The Irish got penetration each time because they could afford to sell out on a play they knew was coming. It’s a shame that a game with such bad offense was one of the most-watched games of the weekend.
Ole Miss had a drive against Auburn similar to Georgia’s quick field goal drive against Tennessee just before halftime. Auburn had shaken off a disaster of a 14-0 deficit to take the lead. The host’s field goal right before halftime tied the score and calmed things down. Ole Miss wasn’t quite able to put Auburn away until the final minutes, but the Ole Miss defense in the second half was more than enough to keep a weak Auburn offense at bay.
But, man…Auburn. You almost feel for quality, likeable players like McCalebb and Lutzenkirchen. Almost.
Smart move by Dan Mullen to run a play on his final fourth down. It’s gravy that the play resulted in one of the best catches of the weekend for a touchdown. Even if the play had failed, the Vols still would’ve started around their 10-yard line down by three with just enough time to run about two plays. A field goal there gives you very little, and Cordarrelle Patterson demonstrated on that last kickoff (as he had already done earlier in the game) that Tennessee’s best chance for late points was from the return game.
Along with Lattimore, I’m hoping that Tennessee’s Hunter and Patterson have long and successful NFL careers beginning with the 2013 season.
Not much to say about Kentucky-Arkansas, but congrats to the Wildcats for playing the role of Savannah State in a weather-shortened blowout. I hope they at least got a check out of it. Is Arkansas starting to get some things together? Wins over Auburn and Kentucky aren’t necessarily a sign of greatness, but they were solid and convincing wins. And they still have time to make some noise in the conference…
Smith then makes note of another scheduling issue if Georgia does play at Auburn in 2013. The Bulldogs currently play at Georgia Tech in odd years and may not want to play both late-season rivalry games in that manner….The Yellow Jackets could be in favor of switching their 2013 game to Athens.
So it’s possible that Georgia could offset consecutive trips to Auburn by hosting Tech in consecutive seasons. Before you dismiss the thought as crazy talk and say Tech would never go for it, Kevin Kelley hasn’t lost it. It’s actually along the lines of an idea Tech brought up last year.
Remember back when Georgia was rearranging its schedule to drop Louisville and add a Georgia Dome game against Boise State for 2011? That matchup with Boise was about the fourth option considered by Gary Stokan when he was lining up teams for the 2011 opening game in Atlanta. One of the other options was trying to move the Georgia-Georgia Tech game to the opening week of the season and playing it in the Dome.
The catch of moving the Tech game, other than the tradition of the Thanksgiving weekend date, was that Georgia would have given up its 2012 home game against Tech. The 2011 game would have been in the Dome, and the 2012 game would have been on-campus in Atlanta while returning to home-and-home. You can see why Georgia would balk at the idea. But why was Tech so gung-ho over moving its home game with Georgia to even years?
Tech’s current home schedule in even years stinks on ice. Look at it. What’s the best home game there? Virginia? Miami? BYU? There’s nothing close to what you’d consider a rivalry game. There are few, if any opponents with large groups of road fans. Now look at an example of an odd-year schedule for Tech. Carolina. Virginia Tech. Clemson. Georgia. From a Tech perspective, that’s relatively loaded and a lot easier to sell.
It makes sense for Tech to really want to move one of its big odd-year games to even years. The ACC schedule is more or less locked in, and going to a nine-game conference schedule once Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC won’t change things much. Notre Dame might make an occasional appearance, but so far there’s not much talk of Tech’s base conference schedule changing. That leaves Georgia, and the Dawgs aren’t going to be charitable with a valuable home game.
The issue then is how badly Tech wants to balance its schedule. The Georgia game is sure to be a sell-out in any year, and the additional season ticket sales would provide badly-needed and consistent revenue in the down years between more favorable ACC schedules. Would Tech bite the bullet and give up another year without a visit from Georgia? They’ll still have a respectable home schedule to market in 2013, but it would still be realistically an economic sacrifice and certainly won’t be an advantage for their football team. If the Jackets are willing to pay this price to gain their optimal schedule, expect Georgia to be receptive to the idea should the SEC force the Dawgs to alter their own series with Auburn.
Georgia 38 – Auburn 0: By the book
Comments
Dawg Media
RSS 2.0