"You can't win if your QB Can't Complete Passes."

The overriding theme of the Georgia "Faithful" following yesterday's 17-point SEC Road-Win is that the Dawgs are not going to continue to succeed with Greyson Lambert at quarterback.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Sitting behind the more experienced (in college, albeit not at UGA) starter is a prized recruit whom the fanbase believes is the rightful heir to the Signal Caller's Throne.  He has shown flashes of brilliance that far outweigh obvious shortcomings, and UGA will be all the better if his era starts in earnest immediately.  We know this, because the guy currently in the driver's seat just isn't getting it done.

...

But he is.

...

(pause added for you to continue cursing me out)

Look, Lambert is by no means "lighting it up" right now.  Some of his throws were just out and out awful.  In the first half, the kid looked like a straight up dumpster fire.  But, he did deliver some very nice throws at timely moments.  Sometimes, that's what it takes.

Lambert was an unconvincing 11/21 with 0 Touchdowns yesterday.  But, he had 0 INTs as well.  Yes, he should have had 1 INT, save for the worst pair of hands I've seen on a DB since Bryan Evans. Still, the ball fell harmlessly to the turf.  Through 2 games at UGA, the guy has not turned the ball over, and has "done enough" to maintain his position.  Now, that's not an overwhelming endorsement of him, but based on what we've seen of Ramsey, it's not a reason to shuffle him to the back of the deck either.

Lambert's 52% completion rating yesterday was better than Murray's 44% in a win over FL in 2011. (incidentally, that same year Murray had only a 57% completion rate in Nashville).  We went to the SEC title game in 2011.  In 2009, Joe Cox had a 51.6% completion rating in a win in Nashville.  In 2013, we Lost in Nashville, and Murray's completion rating was again 57.  Stafford's was 51.6 in 2007.  In '05, Shockley was 15/30..50%.  Maybe there's just something in Nashville that affects our QBs, because they haven't played well there in over a decade.

...

"BUT DUKES!  YOU CAN'T WIN GAMES IF YOUR QB CAN'T COMPLETE A PASS!"

That's probably true.  I'd think that over the course of a game, you'll need to complete a pass.  Hell, just ask Buck Belue.  He completed exactly ONE pass against Notre Dame in 1981.  He had missed 11 straight before completing his first and only pass with just over two minutes to go in the game.  We got lucky in that one, sure... but with a QB so awful, there's no way that 1980 team could have been any good, right?

...

(this pause is for the combined effect of some of you thinking "hmm, maybe I'm overreacting" and others of you thinking "Greyson Lambert is no Buck Belue!!!  This team ain't the 1980 team, because Hershel").

All of this being said, Schotty and CMR make the calls, and if they're sticking with Lambert you just have to have FAITH that it's the best move for the team.  The coaches have no moral responsibility to give him the starting nod or the lion's share of playing time just for transferring in and "helping with competition."  They didn't bring him to Georgia to "light a fire under Ramsey."  They brought him to Georgia because Ramsey wasn't getting it done and they needed a guy who could start and win football games.

So far, the guy's 2-0, and hasn't put us in bad positions.  We'll learn more as the Defenses get better (and this week's defense was far better than last week's).  But the fact remains... as the QB at UGA, your job is not really to WIN the football game as much as it is NOT TO LOSE it.  That's been true for a long, long time.

Do you need to be able to complete a pass to win football games?  Probably.

Luckily, Lambert's completed 19 so far.

Oh, and BTW ... Aaron Murray never started a season without a pick in his first two games.



Go Dawgs.