This Dawg's View

Not to bag on an old point...

2012-01-12T09:14:00.001-08:00

But I was watching ESPN this morning, and Kiper has us as his #5 team coming back. The reasons? A Defense that loses one starter, and Aaron Murray.

Now...just a little realism.

Our defense, while stout at times, did give up big points against Boise and LSU (probably the two best teams we faced all year).

And Aaron Murray, well....we lost 4 games. In three of them, he had a pick-six and a crucial fumble. Yeah, he throws a bunch of touchdowns against not-so-excellent teams. But, he's really going to need to mature in his decision making over this off-season if he hopes to lead us back to Atlanta and beyond. And sorry, you can't argue on that. He is talented, he is athletic, but there is one thing he isn't - Clutch.

Let's put it this way.... No one is calling the fourth quarter (or overtime) "Murraytime."

More later.

Go Dawgs.

Caleb King to play for Vikings

2011-12-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's official - Caleb King is better than a one-legged Adrian Peterson. Peterson tore both his ACL and MCL this week, and former Dawg Caleb King has been signed to take his roster spot.

Good luck, Caleb.

Go Dawgs.

Merry Christmas, Dawgfans!

2011-12-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Sending a hearty Merry Christmas out there to all of the readers who stop by the page. Thank you so much for giving me a forum in which to express my thoughts, and for being responsive to them as well. I feel blessed to be a contributor, and honored that you continue to be entertained and informed by what I do.

Merry Christmas, and may the Dawg New Year be a very very happy one!

GO DAWGS!

For Mr Sanchez, who doesn't believe I am Me...

2011-12-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

Mr. Sanchez has now suggested that I am an internet fraud, that I am holding myself out to be "Ben Dukes" while in fact, not being who I say I am.

Now, while it's true that I could grab photos of "Ben Dukes" from the web, from "his" facebook (facebook.com/countrydawg53), from "his" website (www.bendukes.com), from "his" youtube (www.youtube.com/bendukes); and while I could do research on "him", and maybe get a few facts wrong and thus do a poor job of pretending to be "Ben Dukes" while not being "Ben Dukes",

I doubt I could find this picture posted anywhere unless I made it myself:

oops. Guess that's me.

Go Dawgs.

A note on blog censorship...

2011-12-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, my lil blog was visited by good ol "Mr Sanchez" of Sports and Grits infamy. Now, he apparently took some offense to my mention of their blog in a recent post, when I "implied" that perhaps their blog sometimes utilizes catchy headlines and then fails to deliver with a quality post, or indeed one which even has any real bearing on the title.

I didn't mean to imply this...I meant to say it outright. There's no secret that the S&G boys and I don't see quite eye to eye on many things. Mainly we don't see eye to eye on their apparent thought that it is best to be incendiary as opposed to sensible. Then again, I've been waging the war against idiocy in sports-fandom for some time now, and am fully aware that it is a war that can not be won.

Anyway, I have received a few emails and texts about the back-and-forth between myself and Mr Sanchez, mostly because a few of his posts are missing, having been deleted by the author (Mr Sanchez himself). Now, I was unaware these posts had been deleted, as I am informed via email when posts are made, but not when they are removed. So, I was a bit shocked to learn that he removed them. I don't like censorship - even self-inflicted. So, for those who care...here is the back-and-forth, in its entirety (posted as Comments to my blog, "All 21 of Georgia's Missed Opportunities":

So many clicks. I guess your headline writing still needs work Fat Rudy.
Posted by Mr. Sanchez to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 9:38 AM

[Ah, the term "Fat Rudy" - I'm 6'3, 230 lbs...and have less that 12% bodyfat...not sure where the Fat term comes in...but the Rudy part I take as a compliment. Though, it is a bit inaccurate. Rudy didn't dress for a game until the last game of his senior year. I dressed and played in games my first season with the program, and lettered as a Senior while winning team awards as a Junior and a Senior.]

Mr Sanchez - professionalizing irrelevance since 2010!

Posted by Ben Dukes to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 9:47 AM

To be irrelevant, we wouldn't matter enough for you to take cheap shots. But then, that's something people learned at UGA when they didn't have the benefit of athletic tutors and ideal scheduling.
Posted by Mr. Sanchez to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 5:07 PM

[Deleted, and replaced by]

Maybe that bevy of tutors and easy schedules you get as an athlete made the difference man, but "professionalizing irrelevance"? For a college graduate, you seem woefully ignorant of the meaning of both words in that phrase.
Posted by Mr. Sanchez to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 5:09 PM

Took two tries for that one, huh? Nice. A couple of quick things for ya, genius...

1) I know well when I am inventing terms...the usage of that one was quite intentional.
2) Never needed a tutor. AD honor roll, Dean's List every quarter, Academic All-SEC as a senior, and an Honors Program graduate of the Terry College, with a degree in Management Information Systems. So yeah, the brain works just fine thanks.
3) Easy schedules? Sure. If, by that you mean up at 4am for training, in class by 845, early lunch around 1130, then class, then meetings at 2pm, then practice til 6, and then labs, additional class, or campus activities (such as Professional Fraternity, honors society, etc) in the evening. Yeah, thank God I coasted by on that one.
4) You're right - your blog is completely relevant. The complete lack of competent writing is right up the alley of the ignorant masses who would follow you.

Not so long ago, your blog was trumpeting the cause of hiring the likes of Gary Patterson and Dan Mullen. Now, you back Coach Richt and hope readers will forget. You are as fickle as the fanbase and thus will receive no respect.
Posted by Ben Dukes to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 6:10 PM

Or the first one went a bit farther than I wanted. Unlike you, we're a little more respectful than you've ever shown to be.

1) Maybe you need to learn what the word "inventing" means too. Since you didn't "invent" anything, those words already existed. With meaning that is almost at complete opposite from how you attempted to use them.
2) Clearly, from the words you use here. So smart you can't even spell the name of your own teammate in the post before this. Academic All-SEC just the once? And playing offensive line, right?
3) I'm sure you did that year round too. With no help, no tutors, nothing, you super Rudy you. Did you have to walk up Baxter hill, both ways, too?
4) For lacking relevance, we sure get plenty of attention from know-it-all sunshine pumpers like yourself.
Your intelligence shows in that ignorant final paragraph too, that completely abandons reality of what we say or how we say it.

Don't get your respect? I'm devastated, however will we proceed.
Posted by Mr. Sanchez to This Dawg's View at December 12, 2011 6:32 PM

I think my favorite part about this last one is #4. I mean, he is absolutely correct with #2 - I did misspell Jon Stinchcomb's name by adding an "h" to his first name. Damnit if I don't screw that one up all the time. And I'm not sure what he's saying about "year round" in #3...is he suggesting that the schedules in the off-season are drastically different? I don't know...from what I recall we had offseason training, followed by spring practices, followed by voluntary workouts after spring practice concluded. I guess in the summertime it wasn't quite as strenuous. Of course, there's the obvious inaccuracy with me playing "offensive line." Then again, I believe this was probably just him being ironic. That, or moronic, but whichever. No, it's #4 that sticks out to me the most...simply because he's either A) Denying that his blog was all for Gary Patterson coming to Athens and delivering his hard-nosed take-no-shit brand of football or that his blog called out Dan Mullen as a quality offensive hire; or B) implying that they were saying all of that tongue-in-cheek as a way of supporting the present regime in Athens. Well, to that I say: Horseshit. The first option is an outright fallacy, and the second would be backpedaling at its best.

On my blog I have theorized and postulated many things over there years. At times, I have been incorrect. In those instances, I have owned up to being wrong. This is called being a "man"...not a "cold-blooded sausage-maker" (whatever that means). Do I expect the "cold-blooded ones" to do that? Nope. I don't. I don't expect them to come out and say, "Hey, maybe we were wrong about Coach Richt." They call me a "sunshine blower", but the fact remains that I take an objective look at the way our team plays football, and the way the program is run. Coach Richt runs a damn good program, and our boys played some damn good football this season. That, my friends, is the uncensored truth.

GO Dawgs.

All 21 of Georgia's Missed Opportunities

2011-12-09T10:34:00.001-08:00

Oh man, did that title get you to click? Oh, how tricky of me! I should start writing for Bleacher Report or Sports and Grits! I don't have the missed opportunities here...so you're out of luck. HA!

Seriously, though...I was inspired by a video that is spreading quickly throughout the Dawg Blawgs. The video shows each of Aaron Murray's 33 touchdown throws. I can only imagine the one we'll see in 2014, after his final bowl game (and yes, I mean 2014...because that follows the 2013 season), depicting all 120+ touchdowns from his career. That video will probably sell for 29.95 on EBay. Yay, fans!

But, the video got me to thinking...how close were we? I mean, perhaps it's a video compilation that would have served us better in 2010, when the fanbase en masse was angry with a team it believed to be horribly mediocre, and showing no signs of hope for the future (fanbase was wrong). Still, I'd like to see video clips of every single dropped touchdown, missed field-goal, dropped interception, fumble, interception, etc. I'd like to see someone put together THAT video.

Why?

Because we'd see where we missed. We'd see that if this moment or that moment went the other way, things could be different. This is how teams learn, and it should be how fans do as well. When we were entering the 2nd half of the SEC Title game, my friends were excited about the prospect of possibly shutting the LSU offense down for another half. But, as I've said many times before, the hardest thing for a dominant defense to do is come out and keep that dominance in the second half. The reason for that is the offense is going to make adjustments. As a defense who has held their opponent without a first down, it's going to be very difficult to make adjustments. When nothing goes wrong, what do you change? The question always becomes whether or not you can make your adjustments quickly enough to prevent damage.

In that game, our defense had only 25 yards in which to make adjustments because we fumbled the ball to LSU on the opening possession of the third quarter. That's asking alot. Then, we forced the Defense to attempt to hold ANOTHER short field after a 3-and-out and a huge punt return. We asked too much.

As fans who love our team, it's easy to get very frustrated...but when you go back and look at that game, we didn't lose it in the second half. We lost it on two dropped touchdowns, and at least one dropped interception, all in the first half. But, we forget that. We think only about the way the game was blown apart in the second half....not how we blew it in the first.

So, who's the amazing youtube guru out there with every single game stored on his hard drive? Who wants to compile this very helpful video for us? Anyone? Anyone?

Go Dawgs.

Oh, and if you missed it, I made this post late last night, but it didn't seem to hit all the sites that aggregate Dawg Blawgs. Give it a read.

Crowell and Marshall: Shoulder To Shoulder

2011-12-08T19:13:00.000-08:00

In my years on the UGA football team, I met a lot of young men. When there's over 120 players on your team, and there's turnover every season, you're greeted by new faces in the locker room every few months. Some appear in the fall, some appear in the winter...some show up for the first time during the summer. It's not an every-year thing...it seems to be an every-season thing. I met guys my first spring at UGA who were gone before school let out. Some went to greener pastures in places like Oklahoma. Some went to smaller schools to begin working towards a coaching career. Some just gave the sport up altogether. I made some friends in those days, a few that I keep up with. We talk on facebook, we chatter on twitter...and on the rare occasion that I return to Athens, I am always sure to bump into someone at a bar, or at the stadium. I've even run into one or two in Los Angeles from time to time.

We aren't the best of friends. A few of these guys, in fact, may have absolutely hated me. But, when we see each other, we do have the common bond of Bulldog Blood that will always run through our veins. It's more than attending the University, though I don't want to discount the love that so many of the fans hold as a result of that. It's more than simply playing the sport, though playing it at any level definitely gives you perspective on what goes on. No, there is something special about the sweat that drips from you in Butts Mehre. There's something remarkable about the blood you shed on the Woodruff fields. There's something forever changing about your whole self the first time you run from that tunnel in Sanford Stadium and are hit by a wall of sound from over 90,000 screaming fans.

These are the things that MAKE a Georgia Bulldog. You put your heart, your soul, your body on the line - and the guy next to you does the same. John Stinchcomb had a nickname for me - he called me "Duke Nukem"... it was because I was the annoying walk-on who tried to blow him up on every snap in practice - whether we were "full contact" or 3/4 speed. It didn't matter. The way I saw it, I had to go all-out: I was a 230 lb DE. He and some of the other linemen surely tired of it...but I kept pushing. I felt like they hated me.

But, when I trotted onto the field against Ole Miss my senior year, to play some mop-up fourth quarter downs, John yelled at me, "Hey Dukes....Nuke 'em." Funny how that's something that sticks with you. Even those who appear to be your adversaries can be your greatest supporters.

Now, I am not writing this entry to tell you about me. Honestly, my experiences at UGA probably did very little to progress our program. But, I am writing this so that those out there who have already written off Isaiah Crowell and are looking to Keith Marshall as the only possible future for our TB position will take heed. Marshall is going to enroll in January. He and Crowell will go through their first off-season workouts together. Sure, Samuel and Harton and Thomas will have been through it, and will offer their leadership...but I think the relationship between Crowell and Marshall will be the most compelling story of the winter. These guys, who will be in competition for not only a job, but also the admiration of a fickle fanbase, will be shoulder-to-shoulder in drills. They will have to run together. They will have to lift together. They may have to monkey-roll together, I don't really know. What I do know - is they will have plenty of time around one another. This time will be valuable. They will come to learn that when the chips are down, they can count on one another. At some point during the 2012 season, it's going to come down to a moment when one of these guys has to look the other in the eye and say, "Hey - this is why we went through all that pain in January and February. This is why we got up at 4am. This is why we took pictures of all our meals. This is why we worked ourselves to exhaustion - to be right here, right now, with this opportunity. Now, YOU get out there and finish this thing off. I'll get the next one."

The fanbase is creating a competition in its collective mindset, and it is already beginning to suggest that Crowell will crumble under the pressure and leave town. I don't see that happening. I see Crowell fighting to keep his job. I see him working hard in the weight room and on the practice fields. I see him working to become the back he believes he can be...because what he believes he can be is an NFL back, and there's not a better place to be if you want to prove that. Even our third-stringers end up with Super Bowl rings (no, seriously...look it up you'll be impressed). I also see Marshall coming in with the mindset that he can play right away. He wants to split carries, and he wants to be in an offense where he can use his skillset to its greatest potential. He has this at UGA. The fanbase wants to set these guys up as adversaries. In reality, they're teammates - shoulder to shoulder.

Adversaries? They'll face 14 of them - and I'm willing to bet they'll Nuke 'em.

Go Dawgs.

We Won't Be Any Better Next Year

2011-12-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a few comment threads and message board posts around the interwebs, and what I'm seeing is that the rabid anti-richt crowd from pre-season is still very much in existence. Yes, they are licking their wounds after a ten-game win streak...but the 2nd half humiliation against LSU gave them just the ammunition they need to feel relevant here at Season's End. The primary Meme they chirp today is, "10 wins against nobodies, 2 losses to good teams, and one loss to SOUTH CAROLINA. Richt Has To Go."

1st off.... idiots.

They believe the 2011 Georgia Bulldogs were not a better football team than the 2010 Georgia Bulldogs. Now, these are the same people who amid a 6-7 season claimed that the ONLY WAY to determine a team's worth is in WINS AND LOSSES.

So, by their own definition, the 2011 team is better. The 2011 team is 4 full games better, with a bowl game to go.

Idiots.

Now, let's look at it all a little deeper. Let's look at the common teams we faced in 2010 and 2011.

South Carolina - 2010: L 17-6 , 2011: L 45-42

Mississippi State - 2010: L 24-12 2011: W 24-10

Tennessee - 2010: W 41-14 2011: W 20-12

Vanderbilt - 2010: W 43-0 2011: W 33-28

Florida - 2010: L 34-31 2011: W 24-20

Kentucky - 2010: W 44-21 2011: W 19-10

Auburn - 2010: L 49-31 2011: W 45-7

Georgia Tech - 2010: W 42-34 2011: W 31-17

With the exception of South Carolina, every single common opponent we faced in 2010 and 2011 scored fewer points against Georgia than they did the year before. With South Carolina, you take off a punt return for a touchdown, an interception for a touchdown, and a fumble return for a touchdown, and you find that their offense scored 24 points...only one touchdown more than in 2010 (and that touchdown was on a 9-yard drive after another fumble return).

Now, here's another angle - our offense also scored fewer points in all but three of the contests - the loss at South Carolina, the Win at Mississippi State, and the Win at Auburn.

Some would say this was a result of scheming - the "Let the defense hold the line" ideal where we play ultra-conservative to maintain a lead and not give the game away (probably made all the more necessary after the South Carolina Debacle). Others would say it's a performance issue due to lack of real game-breakers with experience, and some erratic play by others. Still others would find fault in the offensive line, saying that if they could block, we would score at least two more touchdowns in every game.

But here, my friends, is what I find so interesting:

A team that lost its most potent playmaker and its most solid go-to 2nd man, a team that had to rely on a group of untested and shaky runningbacks, a team that had to use no less than 8 offensive line combinations - this team finished the season at 10-3, with an SEC East OUTRIGHT Title. This team had to break in young linebackers in a hurry as the corps was quickly depleted by injury. Still, they played on. This team had to use a former walk-on runningback as its primary ball carrier for a stretch due to injuries and suspensions. This team had to do all this while being constantly told they were playing for a lame-duck coach who was past his prime and could not bring them to the Dome again.

But he did. They played on. They fought. They won - in bunches.

To say that you think next year's team will be no better than this year's team is to echo the refrain we heard at the end of that dismal 2010 season. You were wrong before, and if you continue to sing it, you will be wrong again. Do you know why this year's defense was so much better? Because it was full of guys who were veterans of their 3-4 scheme. They weren't confused. They were flying around, making plays. For the first time in 9 years, an SEC offense was held WITHOUT A FIRST DOWN for the first 30 minutes of play. Yes, it fell apart after that...but you can't look at that and not be impressed. You can't say these guys aren't solid players. They need more behind them...and they will be there. Grantham and Co. have developed a lot of young talent this year, and that will pay dividends next fall. I point that out, because a good number of the playmakers in the offensive side of the ball were pretty new to the game this year as well. Malcolm Mitchell, Isaiah Crowell, Michael Bennett - these are guys who hadn't been on the field in 2010. Dallas Lee was very good on the offensive line, and he hadn't had a snap in 2 years (get better, son!) Chris Burnette and Kenarious Gates are also young (not Freshman, but young). Another year with Will Friend will do all of these Dawgs good.

And then there's Aaron Murray. He's been sacked more this year, he's thrown more interceptions, and has a lower yardage total than last season. However, he has thrown the most touchdowns in the SEC and sits just below 60% completion. Outside of the stats, you can tell Murray had a better grasp of the game in his second season. He did cost us possessions and points at times by trying to make plays when he could have been safer. He did take sacks when he should have thrown the ball away. But he also gave his team someone to rally around - someone to have faith in. The third year in an offensive system is often when the light comes on for a quarterback. The first season is often a "trial by fire"- you have to get used to the speed of the game, and just remembering the plays can be a struggle. In the second season, you know more about diagnosing defensive calls, and where your options are going to be. In the third season, you really get a sense of knowing what the defense is doing before the ball is even snapped. In fact, you often have a good idea before you break the huddle, because you've seen every situation hundreds of times (except for maybe 3rd and 57...that doesn't happen too often). Good quarterbacks will take a big step forward in year three.

I haven't even mentioned the possibility of impact players joining the roster and coming off redshirts next season. And there are people who thing UGA won't be better next year?

idiots.

GO Dawgs.

Another #1 Tailback

2011-12-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

So, Keith Marshall just Verbally Committed to UGA. Always nice to have a good new RB coming in, especially to a team that proved it can win games without a strong running attack. Of course, we can't win the "big ones" without a strong running attack (See: Boise State, SECCG). I'm excited that UGA brings in another top-rated RB recruit with Marshall, but I'm also hesitant, as I always am, to annoint him until he's played a few games. For now, bask in the glow of a big recruiting win, Dawg Fans....and just hope we can hold him for the next two months.

Go Dawgs.

"Big Game" Aaron Murray

2011-12-03T16:56:00.001-08:00

You can attempt to blame this game on Mike Bobo if you wish, but here's the cold, hard fact - when we absolutely could not afford a mistake, Aaron Murray fumbled the ball. In junk time, when we needed one yard for a first down, Aaron Murray threw a pick-six. All day long, Aaron Murray threw very bad deep balls. On a first quarter drive, Aaron Murray thew behind Malcolm Mitchell, and then threw high to Tavarres King, and we ended up with a field goal.

I'm not an advocate of sitting Aaron Murray, but I have been cautious about anointing him as an excellent quarterback. He is certainly good...but he has absolutely not proven that he is a go-to guy in Big Games.

Let's be real - Georgia, for all our excitement over the now-over 10-game win streak, has not faced any Big Games since the South Carolina matchup, until today. Sure, you can count the game against Kentucky, when we had to win to take the East - and Murray played poorly that day as well.

We had drops today, Mitchell should have scored a touchdown in the first.

We had bad luck (2-missed blocks in the back and a kid tossing the ball out of the endzone on the same punt return), the fumble, etc.

But, THE player who had to play absolutely lights-out today, absolutely did not.

He improved between his Freshman and Sophomore years, and hopefully will again. Still, the question remains...when it all comes down to the wire in a big game, will we be able to trust Aaron Murray? Will he become a "Big Game" Quarterback? I guess only time will tell. For now, he's a guy who won 10 games in a season, took an East title, and threw his way into the Record Books.

Is that enough?

Go Dawgs.

How Georgia Absolutely Can Beat LSU.

2011-11-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

All we gotta do, is score one more point than they do.

Right, Ben Jones?

Go Dawgs!

But What if Georgia BEATS LSU?

2011-11-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone keeps talking about LSU and Alabama. They're obviously the two best teams, no one's touched LSU, and the only team that Bama lost to IS LSU. So many people believe LSU and AL should be national title game, whether or not LSU is able to win the SEC Title Game on Saturday.

But allow me to interject this...

What if, just WHAT IF...UGA BEATS LSU? I don't mean "what if" Georgia wins the game...I mean "what if" Georgia puts up 35 points, and LSU puts up 14? What happens if Georgia forces three turnovers, jumps out to a big lead, and holds on the whole way? What if Georgia is the team that the locker room believes it is, and they stomp LSU?

Then what happens?

Well, I think there are a number of possibilities. First off, I think that the College Football World will implode. Shortly after that, the AJC writers will begin to claim that Mark Richt has the team on the Steroid Bus and that is the only reason for the turnaround because, you know, the guy can't coach.

After all of THAT is over, the pollsters just might be tempted to admit that Georgia is certainly the best 2-loss team in the nation. As we discussed yesterday, the issue with Georgia is that we don't have a "quality" win on our schedule, margins of victory be damned. A win Saturday, however, would change that in a hot second. Georgia, by virtue of its own win alone, would leap to no worse than #8 in the country. Then, however, we have to really start to look at those one-loss teams. Personally, I couldn't rank a team who didn't win its conference higher than the team who won that conference, provided the Champion had proven itself to be a quality team. Case in point...even if UCLA wins the Pac-12 somehow, there is no way I could rank them higher than Stanford or Oregon. On the other hand, Georgia was slow to start, but with a win over LSU, will have won 11 games in a row - capped off with a victory over the team everyone has agreed is the hands-down best team in the country. That's quality.

If Georgia beats LSU, I have to rank LSU behind the Dawgs. So, that puts Georgia at no worse than 7th, with the Tigers being 8th (I don't see how the pollsters allow their Annointed to fall that far...so that could be good for us). Then, you look at Alabama. They've been pretty impressive, too - but their one loss was in an all-evens OT battle to LSU. Again, in our fantasy here, Georgia has just dominated LSU. As a result, Bama would have to be ranked below Georgia. That pushes Georgia to no worse than sixth (and there's just no way the pollsters can drop AL AND LSU that far can they?).

Stanford, I believe, would get leaped by any conference champions at the end of the season due to their lack of a title, and lack of quality wins (UGA moves to 5th). So now, you have Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Boise State and Houston.

If OSU and VaTech win their conferences, and UGA has stomped LSU, I wouldn't be shocked to see OSU and VT in the National Title game. However, should one of those teams lose, that team would end up BEHIND Georgia as UGA is definitely the best 2-loss team in the country as evidenced by the win over LSU. So, Georgia is no worse than fourth. Should BOTH OSU and VT lose (a very strong possibility), Georgia should sit at no worse than 3rd.

So, then you have to ask yourself - are the pollsters going to put Houston and Boise into the National Title game....or would they even be able to, based on the computers? I do not know what all the numbers are, nor how they will be impacted by a Georgia Whipping of LSU. Many people would say, "we can't rank Georgia over Boise when Boise beat Georgia" - but the season that Georgia has had FOLLOWING that loss is much stronger than what Boise has done since that game - especially when you add beating LSU to the list of accomplishments. Boise's final automatic-win game this weekend won't do much to pad the resume' either.

So, I could see how a combination of the pollsters and the computer rankings could slide UGA into the #2 spot for a shot at the title.

Yes, I know this is all ridiculous.

But, if this weekend is one of the craziest in College Football history; if Georgia dominates LSU; if the one-loss "would be" champs lose their final games; if the pollsters finally get over the fact that UGA dropped 2 games at the beginning of the season (don't they always say - if you're gonna lose, you gotta lose early?) - then you could quite possibly maybe see the 11-2 Georgia Bulldogs playing in the BCS Title Game.

I really need to stop getting drunk on Tuesday Morning.

Go Dawgs!

The Non-Believers are Justified

2011-11-28T09:06:00.001-08:00

I've been reading over some of the other blogs out there, and the guys are doing good work trying to disprove the meme that Georgia hasn't beaten anyone of significance. They're working feverishly to show that our schedule isn't that dissimilar from those of Alabama and LSU. The Dawg Bloggers are pushing the concept that UGA is an elite team and can compete with elite teams.

The problem is, the world ain't havin' none of that.

I've watched Georgia's ranking stay very stagnant over the recent weeks, and even I have to admit I'm a bit surprised at the national media's reluctance to move us up. They say that in the college football world today, you have to lose early. Well, Georgia did that. Georgia lost both of its games at the onset of the season, and hasn't been too well-challenged since. The two "top" teams (AU, GT) we've played since starting 0-2 were both full-bore blowouts. Still, because we lost to Boise, no one wants to give this Georgia team any credit.

And that's fine.

Look at yourself honestly and ask if Georgia DESERVES credit right now. We don't REALLY deserve more than we're getting, based on our record and opponents.

Being a two-loss team, the highest we could possibly be ranked this week would be #8, behind all the undefeated and 1-loss squads. This means we would have to be ranked above 2-loss Arkansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas State, South Carolina and Michigan State (And if you're a fan of the AP poll, USC). Now, I know that most Georgia fans out there believe that we're the best 2-loss team in the nation. And well, conventional wisdom would state that we lost our two games early and have only progressed, while many of the other 2-loss teams have had their troubles very recently and deserve to fall behind us.

However, when you start to break things down and compare, you find this:

Arkansas is 10-2, with losses only to the #1 and #2 teams. Both losses were absolute blowouts, but in Voters' minds, that doesn't matter. They beat 5 teams that we beat, and one that we didn't...and the box scores on those games look better than our box scores. So, they'll still be ahead of us.

Oregon is 10-2, with losses to the #1 team, and perennial media golden-shower recipient USC. They have also completely dominated the other 10 teams they've faced, including number 4, Stanford.

Oklahoma is 9-2 with a game to play and a "quality' win over 2-loss KSU. They also hold wins over Texas and FSU, who were preseason top-15 teams, but now have 8-4 records. I still don't understand the hype machine still pushing Oklahoma, especially after the first-ever loss to Baylor. Wow. That's like Tennessee losing to Kentucky (oops).

Kansas State is 9-2 with a game to play and holds losses to both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (top 10 schools). Still, it took 4 OT periods to dispatch a 6-6 Texas A&M squad. This is another head-scratcher. They're getting love for love's sake.

South Carolina is 10-2 with losses to Ark and Auburn, but they hold a victory over us...so we really can't be THAT upset about them being ahead of us in the polls. Remember, most voters don't watch football games.

Michigan State is 10-2 with a loss to ND and a blowout loss to Nebraska. Sparty also holds victories over two top-16 programs in Wisconsin and Michigan. So, they get the edge over us.

To be real, you could make the argument that Oklahoma and Kansas State should be ranked behind Georgia and Michigan State, but that really only moves the Dawgs up two spots. All we've done since the third game of the season kicked off is win, that's true. But we don't have a single top-25 quality win to show for it. As a result, the voters aren't moving us anywhere. In their minds, we simply aren't the best 2-loss team in the country.

Unless, of course, we do what #2, #8, and #9 have failed to do - Beat LSU...

Go Dawgs.

What's there to be afraid of?

2011-11-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today, I visited the Grit Tree to learn about Corbindawgs "biggest fear" coming into this last stretch of season. What I read did not sit well with me, so I posted a comment stating as much. Some came to his defense, and Corbin himself asked me to expand on what I did not like. My response became a bit of a diatribe, so I decided to not only leave it on his board, but to repost it here. Basically, it touches on something that many of my readers know is a peeve of mine, and that is the Georgia Fanbase's steadfast desire to be cynical and negative. Below is the answer I left Corbindawg (with an edit-added question to kick it off)

____________________________

[Whatever happened to fans believing their team would always win in the end?]

"I want to believe, but I've been let down in the past...so...so...PLEASE don't let me get let down again."

I don't get that. I don't understand your own line, "Being a Georgia fan has made me somewhat jaded?" For what purpose? The team is there to entertain you, and bring home wins. For the VAST MAJORITY of its existence, the University of Georgia football team has done just that. Do they win 'em all? No, they don't. But, for the past decade and a half, UGA has fielded good, competitive teams.

AND YES - I'M INCLUDING 2009 and 2010 in that.

Those were ugly seasons. But the teams involved were pretty good teams. Georgia made too many mistakes from which it couldn't recover last season, and the defense was one in transition. The mistakes became coaching points and the defense has solidified. This is what has resulted in higher wins this season.

Either way, what bothers me about this post, and about Georgia fans in general, is the overwhelming NEED to be negative so that you don't get your hopes up. It's like the entire mass of you was brainwashed by Vince Dooley and Larry Munson, and you can't enjoy success when you have it. Even in 2005, the most common thread I heard in talking to UGA fans was that it was a "good" year, but not a "great" one because we lost to Florida and missed out on a National Championship berth.

I'm glad I didn't grow up a Georgia Fan, because I'd have to wallow in that same mysery, apparently. No, I became a Georgia fan the first time I stepped on campus as a student, and I've never looked back. In that time, I've seen us go bowling every single year. I was a part of some great games, including a win over tennessee that ended an 8-year drought against the Vols, I've seen my own friends hoist SEC Championship trophies, I've seen the team climb to the peaks, suffer through the valleys, and now begin a climb again.

Is that anything to be scared of? Hell no. It's something to look forward to.

Go Dawgs.

You're NOT the reason the Dawgs turned it around.

2011-11-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

I received an email last night from a friend who is not "sold" on Mark Richt as our coach. Mind you, this friend is not someone who jumped on the Georgia bandwagon in '05 or '07. He's not even a fan who's been around just since my time donning the red and black and has thus seen a quick rise and fall in a coach. This is a man who attended college with Vince Dooley. He's seen ups, and downs. He's seen a coach who struggled and then found prominence. He's seen that at least twice, in fact. In his email, my friend stated proudly that he is not a passenger on the Mark Richt bandwagon which is "straining with the weight of fans jumping aboard." To quote:

"...when it comes to a Mark Richt coached team, I make haste slowly to climb aboard as I have not seen consistency yet. And once burned, twice shy."

Wow.

Over 100 victories in 11 seasons, and there's no consistency. At the cusp of UGA's 4th SEC East title in 10 years, and no consistency. Series dominance over every rival outside of Florida, and there's no consistency. And this man calls ME delusional. (It's funny that "delusional" is nearly always used in conjunction with optimism, while the term for unbridled pessimism is "realistic")

He goes on to say,

"...keep in mind that people like me caused the famous "hot seat." And the hot seat caused Richt to get off his butt and coach after a semi-furlough of six years. For without me and my brethren, Richt would have stayed fast asleep and the downward tumble would have continued."

Now THERE is someone desperately clinging to a need for importance. What's frightening about this point of view is that it is a shared one. There has been plenty of Anti-Richt sentiment over the past few years, and now that the team is good again, there is similarly a good deal of chest-thumping by those who "made obvious the fact that changes were necessary." Still, even the guys over at Sports And Grits don't go so far as to say the steaming piles of excrement spewed forth on their pages were the de facto cause of Richt righting his ship.

Of particular annoyance in all of this is the concept that Richt had no idea his teams were faring poorly. In calling Richt "asleep at the wheel", as my friend has done numerous times, he implies that Richt has been perfectly happy keeping things at a status quo, making no changes, making no moves, just praying for the best, and being ok with the worst.

What Mark Richt has he been watching?!?

All along, Richt has acknowledged the team's failures, and has maintained his position that the coaches, as a staff, were working to correct the problems. Some of those problems lay in the talent department - both in coaches and in players. In the past two years, there has been a very high amount of turnover in both areas. It appears that turnover has been for the best. I've been through the entire "Why Martinez lasted as long as he did" debate, so if you're hoping to make a point that Richt waited too long on that one, go elsewhere.

By suggesting that the "fan uproar" over the results in the past two years is what caused Richt to fire coaches, to release players, and to take a different outlook on how he prepares his team for games is a disservice to the man. In fact, it's blatantly disrespectful. Mark Richt knows how to win ballgames. Does our fanbase actually believe that in the face of NOT winning ballgames that he wouldn't sit down and diagnose what's going wrong? Do the other bloggers out there actually think that he scours the inter-webs hoping to find some kind of football rosetta stone that will explain these newfangled x's and o's that have so obviously passed him by? I for one loved it when Richt told that fan "I know what the Hell I'm doing." I can only imagine the frustration he must feel, when he's working hard to fix a problem, and still getting stuck in some areas, and then some Jack-Hole Know-It-All fan gets in his face with his opinion of the job Richt is doing.

When we were in the throws of loserdom, I told people to be cautious about abandoning Richt...if for no other reason than to save themselves the feelings of foolishness when they returned to his coattails. When you've seen as much football as I have, when you've been (oh crap, he's gonna say it) "In The Arena", you start to understand that the Ws and the Ls do not tell the whole story. Over a career, there will be many of both. You don't play football in a vacuum, and just as you change what you're doing, your opponents are going to be changing what THEY are doing as well. Your team may be great, and still lose four games due to bad bounces. Your team and coaching may be horrible, but get lucky enough through good bounces, or limited stellar personnel that you end up hoisting a crystal trophy. Over the long-run, though, you're gonna be what you're gonna be. With Richt leading the way, the Dawgs are going to be a solid program.

As it stands today, the Dawgs are poised for an SEC Title-game berth. They're ready to go 10/11 against GT. They're ready to fight for a BCS bowl. And no pessimist, no blogger, no "hotseat hothead" had one damn thing to do with it.

GO Dawgs!

So if we make it to Atlanta...

2011-11-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

A win Saturday gives UGA the outright Eastern Division title. That'll send us to Atlanta. It'll also be the fourth time in the past ten years (2002-2011) that Mark Richt has taken the Dawgs to the title game. Know what other coach has taken one team to the title game that many times in the past ten years?

If your answer is NOBODY, then you are correct!

Should LSU make the title game, it will be the Tigers' fourth appearance in the past decade. But, the first of those appearances was under Nick Saban.

Should Alabama make the title game, it will be Saban's fourth go....but only his third with Alabama.

Should Arkansas make the title game...well, there will likely be looting in Fayetteville.

Urban Meyer, Mark Richt and Nick Saban have all made the game three times, and won twice. Still, many consider Meyer and Saban to be far and away better coaches than Mark Richt, because they have also claimed BCS titles to go along with the SEC titles. Splitting hairs, I believe.

I'm still in awe that there were those who wanted him fired (and some who still do). Damn glad to have Coach Mark Richt guiding this program. Glad he took out the trash in the offseason. Glad he made the hires he needed to make. Glad he stopped taking guff from pundits who accused him of not knowing how to coach a game that had "passed him by."

Damn Good Dawg, that MR.

GO Dawgs!

Continuing the Bobo Insanity

2011-11-14T09:41:00.001-08:00

Though our team continues to win, and we continue to put up points, there are still many detractors out there who want to point at Mike Bobo as an inefficient playcaller. They do not believe he has what it takes to be an offensive coordinator at the level that UGA needs him to be. They believe his offense is too predictable, too easy to scheme against.

I think they should talk to Ted Roof about that. He said that they prepared all week against what we came out and did - they simply could not stop us. THAT, my friends, is what you want in an offensive football team. There is nothing more demoralizing to a defense than seeing exactly what you prepared all week to stop.....and having no ability to stop it. Now, to be fair, I've said all season that Auburn is pure garbage. In fact, I had an open facebook argument with a former High School teammate who played at Auburn while I was playing at UGA about that very fact. After their whooping at the hands of LSU, he told me that they aren't a bad team, but rather that LSU will make many teams LOOK bad this year. It was nice on Saturday to send him a message telling him not to worry, and that UGA is simply going to make a lot of teams LOOK bad this year.

Anyway, I've taken fire as of late for supporting Mike Bobo. I've been told we're only succeeding because of our schedule...that he wouldn't look good if we weren't playing crap teams. Sure, you can say that...you can also look at the combined W-L totals of AL and LSU's opponents, and say the same thing. So, I decided to do another quick look at the stats for this season. I looked at 9 of our games, excluding Coastal Carolina because they're not D-I. I used ONLY the offensive stats from those games, and compared them to each opponent's adjusted season average. When I say adjusted, I mean that I removed the effects of the UGA games on those averages so that I could get a good picture of what our opponents' defenses have given up against EVERYONE ELSE. Below is a table of my findings.

As you can see, Bobo's offense has been outperforming the average offense against our opponents in the vast majority of instances. Only twice have we failed to score as many points as the opponent surrenders on average - and those were both wins. Of particular note is the success our offense had against the defenses in the first two games. Yes, those were both losses. However, our offense scored 25 more points against South Carolina than they surrender on average. We were only a field-goal better than average against Boise, but better all the same.

Against the 9 opponents we've faced, our offense averages 70 more ypg and 9 more ppg than the defenses we face surrender. Exactly how is that bad?

Go Dawgs

The Genius of Gus Malzahn

2011-11-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I'll take Bobo's 38 points over Gus's 7. Nice trick plays, though. Cute.

Go Dawgs!!!!

"Big Game Bobo"

2011-11-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

A challenge was placed in front of me by someone who calls me a homer, insisting that I simply have a case of "Former Coach Love" for Mike Bobo. I guess I should first say that yeah, Mike was a grad assist while I was a player at UGA...but I don't know how that would create "Former Coach Love" from me. If anything, I should be dedicating this blog to Rodney Garner (my coach) and talking about what a wonderful job he's done putting guys into the NFL over the past decade.

Nah, I just look at the games.

Anyway, he challenged me to look at what Bobo's offenses have done in "Big Games"

Ok.

2006

UGA v VT, Bowl game...VT's Scoring defense ranked 1st in the nation. We scored 31 points...nearly 3 full touchdowns more than their average of 11.

2007

Hard to really pick the "big games" in this one...I mean, we opened with OKSt, and put 35 on them...beat AL in overtime with 26 points, smacked AU to the tune of 45 (I think only 31 were by the offense) I'd say the Sugar Bowl was kind of a big game. 34 points in that one. (Admittedly, Hawaii wasn't a great defense). In hindsight, most people would call South Carolina and Tennessee the "biggest" games on the schedule, primarily because winning either of those games would have put us in the SEC title game. We did not perform well in either game.

2008

Alabama was a pretty big game. We didn't win. We did score nearly 10 points more than the average surrendered by their defense. TN had a top-10 defense in 2008...and we bested their average surrendered by nearly 10 as well. We fell short in the FL game...and despite hanging 42 points on Georgia Tech, we lost that "big game" due to the inability of our defense to stop the option (or the inability of Reshad Jones to knock someone out of bounds - take your pick).

2009

The 2009 offense could be called the "Awfulfense". Honestly, it was garbage. It is worth noting that we faced only one top-10 defense (FL), and we bettered their average points surrendered by 4.5 points. However, we also failed to do that four times (OSU-L, ASU-W, LSU-L, TN-L). I think many would agree, on the other hand, that when your Quarterback consistently makes bad decisions (as evidenced by 17 interceptions), it is tough for any system to be effective.

2010

I do not have the data on all the defenses as I write this post, but I'll take a quick look at the games...We were definitely dogged out against South Carolina. Against Arkansas, we scored 24 and lost. Against Colorado, we scored 27 and lost. Against Florida, we scored 31 and lost. Against Auburn, we scored 31 and lost. Against Georgia Tech, a game we HAD to win in order to reach a bowl game, we scored 42 points.

2011

Ok...which ones are we calling the "big" games this year? Surely Boise is a big game. We only scored 21. Their opponents are averaging 16.8. Exactly one opponent has scored more than us against them. South Carolina is a big game. We scored 42 points and lost because our players made too many mistakes. Want to hang that one on Bobo? I'd say the Florida game was a big one. We scored 24. They average giving up around 19.

So, I'd say that in retrospect, Bobo's offenses really haven't done that poorly in the big games.

But what do I know? I'm just a homer, with a bunch of data to support what I say.

Go Dawgs.

i Blame Bobo

2011-11-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

We shoulda scored 100.

Idiots.

Go Dawgs!!!

Things Bad Teams Don't Do

2011-10-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

1) Come back from down 17-3 in a stadium where they've won three out of the last 19 games.

2) Score touchdowns on 4th and long - twice - to climb back into the game

3) Hold Florida to 32 yards of offense in a half of play.

4) Ice the game with a run up the gut on 4th and 4

5) Have a top 10 defense

Look, this Florida team isn't the best we've faced in recent years...but once again, I think it's worth noting that our Georgia team was down by two scores and came back to WIN. We didn't come back to make it close...we came back and WON THE GAME. Richt showed some serious balls on fourth-down calls - two for touchdowns, and one for a game-icing run down to the one.

Last year's team would not have done this.

2009's team would not have done this.

I dare say 2008's team would not have done this.

Others can harp on Bobo all they want...but his scheme was sound in this game. The play of the quarterback was not. I said it numerous times (much to Gary Danielson's dismay, I'm sure) - Aaron Murray is the best in the nation at missing wide open receivers. The playcall of a play-action reverse fake to Orson Charles was a thing of beauty - the execution was excrement. Calling routes into the endzone instead of to the first down marker (or a yard or two short of it) on fourth was inspired. People who don't get that, don't get football.

So many people were calling for Richt's head early this year....now we're 6-2 and tied for the East lead. We'll be 7-2 when we face an Auburn team which isn't as good as the team we should have beat in 2010 - when we weren't as good. 10-2 is a very real possibility.

Oh, and 10-2? That's another thing bad teams don't do.

Go Dawgs.

A Challenge: Beat Bobo

2011-10-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

To all of those who hate Mike Bobo and his "oh, so predictable" playcalling, I issue this challenge:

1) Study football.

2) Study film.

3) Start a blog.

4) During the UGA-FL game, update your blog prior to EVERY SINGLE UGA OFFENSIVE PLAY

What I want to see is this: I want you to call formations and plays before we run each offensive play. I'd like to see what all the armchair geniuses can come up with. Oh, and don't try to explain every single detail of how you THINK the play will progress, because you don't have time for that. I want to see this:

1st and 10: Shotgun sweep to Crowell. (POST) then, watch the play Bobo calls. As soon as you see the next down and distance, make your next post.

2nd and 2: I-Form Play Action deep. (POST) then, watch the play Bobo calls. As soon as you see the next down and distance, make your next post.

Remember, we sometimes go no-huddle, so you're going to need to be quick.

Now, you can try to either guess what Bobo will call next, or you can call the game you'd like to see called. Any takers?

Go Dawgs

A note on "conservative" playcalling.

2011-10-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

I did not get to see the UGA-Vandy game, and from what I hear, I don't want to watch it on the replay. Luckily, my time is so preciously short this week, I don't believe I'll really have to make the decision on whether or not to suffer through. Still, I understand that we got the ball on an interception with a little over a minute to play, and couldn't grind the clock out.

This is where all the "conservative playcalling" from those big wins should come in.

I know people want to see Georgia hang 50 points on our opponents when we have the chance. I know Georgia fans are envious of Alabama and LSU and want to see our offense keep clicking against weak opponents in the fourth quarter. But, there is something more important in those possessions, and last night we found out that there is still work to do.

In the fourth quarter of a game dominated by Georgia, the opposing team knows what we're going to do - we're going to run it. We're likely going to run it between the tackles. The same can be said for the end of a close game led by Georgia. We're going to run it, and we're likely going to run it between the tackles. Now....at which point is it more important to have success? The answer: The close game. But, you know when you're going to get that kind of game-speed practice? In the blowouts. If the fourth quarters of blowouts consists mainly of air-mailing touchdowns against weak secondaries, and then bringing the 3rd and 4th stringers in to run-run-run-punt, your first teamers aren't getting the reps they will need in the close ones.

Don't get me wrong - Vandy shouldn't have been a close one. We had breakdowns in many more areas than simply our final drive offense. Six field-goal attempts against Vandy just shouldn't happen. We have to be good enough to finish drives against Vanderbilt. I know the 36,000 fans in attendance were screaming so loud that a baby could barely sleep, but still - we have to be able to concentrate better. I went back to check on our 3rd and short successes, imagining that with so many field goal attempts, we must have been failing on short third down attempts a lot - but we didn't. We converted all but one. Perhaps some of that "conservative play calling" was paying off in those situations. It's hard to say.

On thing can be said, though: even in a win as ugly as this, we can say this - we won a close one. When was the last time that happened? September 26, 2009. That's right - Joe Cox led the last close-game victory for UGA. Have the Dawgs turned a corner? Quite possibly. We won ugly yesterday, and sometimes, that's just what you have to do.

Go Dawgs.

Hey, 60-year-olds...shut up about what a 20 year old says.

2011-10-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm getting increasingly tired of people talking bad about Hutson Mason because he expressed frustration in an interview. The kid has a fighting spirit, and some pretty good talent. He's sitting the bench. That's a tough row to hoe - ask Tom Brady. Now, that's a glaring comparison for a kid who hasn't had meaningful snaps...but you really do never know what you've got til you see it on the field. Any young man who believes he can play is going to be frustrated when not even given the chance. ESPECIALLY when the coaches are giving so much lip service to him.

When I was at Georgia, it drove me absolutely mad that I was never sent in to attempt a punt block. There wasn't a single practice in which we had a Punt Period where I didn't block a punt. There were few things I did better than most of the guys on that team, but I could flat-out block a punt. Still, the only time I ever came close to getting the chance was when I was called to the coach's side during the 2000 UGA-UT tilt (who remembers that one?? AW YEAH!) and was then told I could take my helmet off because the coach had decided to go for a return instead of a block.

But I didn't have the talent Hutson Mason does. I didn't throw for thousands of yards and buckets of touchdowns in high school. I didn't get a late scholarship offer when the Quarterback situation suddenly thinned out. I didn't throw a touchdown on my first play at UGA (If I recall correctly, I was stoned away on an inside twist during a pass rush against Kentucky).

So yea, I understand his frustration. I'm tired of people saying "He's not a team kid" or "His attitude hurts the team." You know who was a Team Kid? Joe Cox. You know who was a Gamer and just wanted to play? Matt Stafford. Which one is fishing this weekend and which one is leading an undefeated team in the NFL?

Don't get me wrong - nothing in this blog has anything to do with Aaron Murray. For me, the jury is still out on Murray. But, I know this - if the coaches are all saying Mason deserves playing time, then damnit, he should be getting playing time. Competition at every position - isn't that what we said we wanted? Isn't that what we said Championship Teams have? Don't you think our LBs are better because they have to fight every week to keep a job? Wouldn't you say our NTs have been good because they push each other?

I'm not saying I want to make Murray look over his shoulder and be worried about losing his job - but the biggest question mark for Murray in my mind is his response to pressure. Both on a play-by-play basis, and in a "big game" sense, he doesn't seem to consistently respond well to pressure. Maybe if he had a bit more pressure to keep his job, he could develop a bit more ice water in those veins.

Either way, quit over-analyzing the statements of a kid who just wants to play football.

Go Dawgs.

Don't be confused - I'm not giving up the blog!

2011-10-14T18:14:00.001-07:00

I think some have misunderstood my previous blog. I am not going to quit blogging - I simply won't have the ability to do my film study series. Do not fret. The Voice of Reason will continue to scream at the top of its cyber-lungs!

UGA Film Studies: End of a Blog Series

2011-10-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

Hey folks;

Some of you may have noticed I didn't break down the fourth quarter as I had planned. Sorry about that. I've been busy this week, and couldn't put the extra hours into that last night. What I have to say today is a bit sadder still. I will not be doing film study breakdowns for the remainder of the season. I am going through some transitions right now, and will not have access to my beloved Dish network for quite a while. As such, I won't have the games on DVR to breakdown.

I know there are many of you who have enjoyed reading the details included, and I hope to be back next season doing the same kind of writing. However, for the time being it appears I will have to return to simply raising my highly opinionated voice on the goings on in UGA football, and avoid the in-depth analysis.

Go Dawgs.

Why are my blogs not showing up on the dawgbone??

2011-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm just saying, seems like my posts aren't all showing up anymore. Here's the link to the Third Quarter Breakdown.

I posted that one this morning instead of late last night...Don't know why its not showing. But hey, read it. It's great.

Go Dawgs.

UGA - UT Film Study: Quarter Three

2011-10-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Starting the second half at a 6-6 tie is a far cry from what's been going on for the past few weeks...but I was actually glad for the first half struggles. I had said in the past two victories that it's difficult to make adjustments when everything's been working so well in the first half. Well, in this case, everything didn't go nearly as smoothly as we'd like in the first half. So, it was a good bet that we'd come out with some adjustments...and I think y'all remember how it went down.

UGA 6 - UT 6 Kickoff. Touchback.

1st and 10 Tennessee at UT 20. 3-4. They try a quick pitch-out to the left, we snuff it out. Loss of two. 2nd and 12. 3-3-5. We send 4, they go max protect (7 blockers) Bray completes an out route for 4 yards. 3rd and 8. 3-3-5. Snap goes over Bray's head, he falls on it at the 7. 4th and 23. Punt. Smith falls as he looks to catch the punt, it bounces and is downed inside the TN 40.

UGA 6 - UT 6.

1st and 10 UGA at TN 38. I-Formation Twins Left, TE right. Crowell in backfield. King comes in motion, ends up as Wing Left. We run what looks to be a Lead Cutback play to the week side. This is similar to a Counter, but there is no one pulling. Basically, the FB and HB take steps to the right, and then bend it back. Cordy Glenn seals off the LBs who first read the run to the right, then get out of position to defend the cutback. Crowell gets about 12.

1st and 10 UGA at TN 26. I-Formation Normal. TE Right. Lead Play to the weak side. We get decent movement on the line, but no gaping hole. Crowell gets 3. 2nd and 7. I-Form Normal, TE Right. They have 8 in the box. We go play-action, they rush 6 and our pocket holds. Murray hits Charles on a drag for a gain of 10.

1st and 10 UGA at TN 13. I-Formation Normal. TE Right. HB toss left. Good blocking, but we only get 3. We ran this one to the short side of the field, and Crowell ran out of space. 2nd and 7. Shotgun Twins Right, TE left. Crowell set to the right. We run the same sweep as in the first half. Lee and Jones make good blocks, but they don't knock the guys to the ground this time. They get bunched up, and Crowell only gets a yard or so. 3rd and 6. Shotgun Twins Right, TE left, Crowell left. Mitchell, on the left, comes in motion, so now we're in Trips Right. When he does, the Corner comes with him, showing Man-Man coverage. This dictates Murray's throw, as Charles runs a corner route into the endzone. Because the Corner is gone, Murray knows he has him 1-1 and can throw the ball to the boundry side of him without too much danger. The pass is incomplete, but the LB interferes with Charles, and we get the flag. Watching this back, the pass scares me. If the LB were a little more aware, that ball might have been picked. I know it would have if it were me playing NCAA12 on PS3. Still, it wasn't.

1st and Goal UGA at TN 2. Ace Formation - Twins Right, TE Right. Crowell gets the handoff on what looks like a Power 0 to the right. There's a big pileup, and he only gets a yard. 2nd and Goal. Power-I Tight Right (TE on each side, 2nd fullback set right) We run the toss left, and the hole is there. It looks like Figgins just doesn't get there fast enough to put a block on #40, who stuffs Crowell in the hole. No Gain. 3rd and Goal. The commentator called for the PA on 2nd and didn't get it. Now he's adamant about it. He says the crowd has the defense to "geeked up" to run against them. (foreshadowing - we're gonna run it). I Formation Tight - FB Wing Left. FB comes in motion, now we're in a Power-I Tight Right. We run a great Lead play up the middle for a TD. I love the blocking on this play! Jones and Burnette block down to the backside. Figgins picks up the man coming off the end. Dallas Lee pulls around into the hole, and Zander leads Crowell as well. It's just a beautifully blocked play. Crowell cuts right behind Dallas Lee's block into the endzone. Damn that was pretty. TOUCHDOWN GEORGIA!

UGA 13 - TN 6. Kickoff. They take it at the 5, get it out to the 27.

1st and 10 Tennessee at TN 27. 3-4. They go Shotgun Empty. We rush 4. Tyson makes a good move, but it takes him too long to get there. Bray misfires out of bounds. 2nd and 10. 3-4. They go shotgun empty. We rush 5 and they do a good job blocking us. Bray hits Da'Rick on a drag, Herrera in coverage - just a bad matchup for us. Boykin and Sean Williams in on the tackle after a gain of 13.

1st and 10 TN at TN 40. 3-4. Everyone reads their run out of the I immediately. We could have been in trouble, as Tyson rushed hard inside, but Rambo came down quickly, turned the runner inside, and Vasser cleaned it up for a loss of 1. We're really fast on defense. 2nd and 11. 3-3-5. They try to fake a quick screen and run a draw. Nobody bites. Jones whips the TE and makes the stop for a loss of 5. 3rd and 16. 3-3-5. We send four, and no one gets home. Bray completes it to the HB on a drag route, and he's tackled after a gain of 7 by Gilliard. The HB rolls over Gilliard and keeps running all the way to the endzone, but replay shows his knee clearly was down. 4th and 3. Punt. We're in a punt-safe alignment. (Yay - no sneaking a fake on us!) Boykin takes the fair catch at the 7.

UGA 13 - TN 6.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 7. I Formation Normal, TE Right. Play-Action deep to Mitchell, caught at the 50...he tries to kick it into 5th Gear, and comes up lame. He's tackled near the 20. First and Bomb...I know how y'all hate that. Me too. Gains of 63 yards - just awful. (That's sarcasm, kids).

1st and 10 UGA at TN 22. I Formation Normal, TE Left. Play Action, Murray feels pressure at the top of his drop, and takes off. He gets 5 before running out of bounds. 2nd and 5. I Formation Normal TE Left. I think this is a Zone-Read play to Crowell. I say this because the line doesn't fire off, but instead stands up, and blocks whoever comes. Crowell then reads the hole between RG and RT, and blasts through it. He takes it 17 yards for the score!! TOUCHDOWN GEORGIA!!!!

UGA 20 - UT 6. Kickoff. They take it a yard deep, and return it to the 50. Special Teams still not quite there - also...Walsh appears to be a little shallow on his kicks tonight. I wonder if that's by design, or if he's just off.

1st and 10 TN at Midfield. 3-4. They go Play-Action and we get no pass rush. Jarvis Jones chicken-fights with a blocker for a moment...he may have had a man-man assignment, and didn't want the guy to release. I'm not sure. He doesn't generally do that, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. 2nd and 10. 3-3-5. Jones steps offside. We knock Bray's pass down, so he doesn't get anything cheap. 2nd and 5. 3-3-5. Lane takes it up the middle for about 4. 3rd and 1. 3-4. They try that same quick-pitch, and the refs whistle it dead. Woulda been really bad news for TN if they hadn't, as Jarvis had whipped their TE's block again. False Start TN. 3rd and 6. 3-3-5. Jones makes a great inside rush move on their Tackle, but that allows Bray to escape the pocket to the right and extend the play. He fires downfield to the TE who can't make the catch as Boykin dives in to slap it away. 4th and 6. Punt. We go punt-safe again. They down it on the 3.

UGA 20 - TN 6.

1st and 10 at UGA 3. Shotgun Twins Left, TE Right, Thomas Left. We run a little Gut play to the right. It looks to me that this one gets stuffed when the LB stones Aron White at the line. If Aron gets any movement, then Burnette (coming on the pull) will have a better shot at his man, and Thomas will be able to follow him to the second level. Instead, the hole gets jammed up. Many Fans say "Why are we running a draw on 1st and 10?" We aren't. It's not a draw. 2nd and 8. Shotgun Twins Left, TE Right, Thomas Left. We run a play-action of the Sweep that we had so much success with earlier. That action pulls the Linebackers. Murray throws the bubble screen out to Bennet, who gets about 6 on a whirling leap. 3rd and 2. Shotgun Twins Right, TE Left, Thomas Right. We run a quick curl to Marlon Brown for a gain of 7. YAY!

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 18. Shotgun Twins Right, TE left, Thomas Right. Murray throws deep to King, but overthrows him by only about one yard this time. (Even the commentator mentions that the deep ball has been open all night.) 2nd and 10. Shotgun Twins Right, TE left, Thomas Right. Murray hits Chris Conley on a deep slant for a gain of 17.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 35. Shotgun Twins Right, TE left, Thomas Right. We run a counter. Glenn pulls to lead block, but it looks like he gets lost. Thomas runs right by him, through the hole, and down field for a gain of 21.

1st and 10 UGA at TN 44. We're happy just to let the quarter run out on that one.

So, we had the ball twice in the third quarter, and scored TDs on both. Can't hate that. We came out of the locker room with a solid game plan and flat out got it done. TN gained a net 7 yards in the third quarter.

You got that? They got 7 yards, we got 14 points. I'll take it.

Hey...I know you know about the amazing 3rd and 57 coming up in the 4th Quarter, so come on back and read about it!

Go Dawgs!

About that Taunting Rule

2011-10-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Just a little self-back-patting here.

April, 2010 - The new taunting rule for 2011 is announced. Subsequently, I wrote a blog telling everyone how bad of a rule it is, and how it can change the outcome of games. If you weren't reading me back then, click on that link and give it a read. I just re-read it again and there's something that really stuck out to me:

Dave Parry, the NCAA's national coordinator of college football officiating (Or, NCCFO as he's probably never called), had this to say about the rule:

"If it's close to diving into the end zone, most likely it would be ruled that the act ended while in the end zone. We'll be lenient. It's really if it's really bad, for example, if a guy flips the bird at the 10 or high-steps backwards into the end zone or starts a forward roll at the 3-yard line."

I wonder if the good folks at Louisiana State University believe the ref was being lenient when he flagged a PUNTER for spreading his arms at the 9 during a 60+ yard run for a touchdown.

Once again, NCAA - You Suck.

Go Dawgs.

Explaining Some Football Formations...

2011-10-12T09:01:00.001-07:00

Hey Dawgfans;

It occurred to me last night as I was breaking down the 2nd quarter of the UGA win over UT that when I give my formation and defensive alignment descriptions, some people may not know what in the hell I'm talking about. Now, I don't know the UGA playbook. I don't know what Richt and Bobo name their formations, and I don't know that I'm naming them properly. There is very likely a different name for every RECEIVER alignment out of a specific formation. For instance, in a Twins formation with two receivers set wide to the left, the formation is likely called one thing if the outside receiver is on the line of scrimmage, and another if the inside receiver is on the line of scrimmage. However, I do not know UGA's terminology for it - and I really don't understand how it's going to help anyone out there get a better understanding for me to describe the formations in that degree of minutiae. So, I'm going to keep it simple. Very simply, this is how I will describe formations from here on out (I am abandoning calling every shotgun-single-back formation "Shotgun Ace"):

An ACE formation is one where the QB is under Center, with the HB behind him.

An I-Formation is one where the QB is under Center, with the FB and HB behind him.

A Power-I Formation is an I-Formation with an additional FB in the backfield.

A Split Formation is one where the QB is under Center, with two backs split to either side of him, and generally set 5 yards off the ball.

A Shotgun formation is one where the QB is in the shotgun, with one back set to one side.

A Shotgun Split Formation is one where the QB is in shotgun, with two backs - one on either side of him.

A Shotgun Empty Formation is one where the QB is in shotgun, and alone in the backfield.

These will be the basic Formations you will see from me.

I will give further information regarding the receivers.

Normal - This means there is one receiver set to each side of the ball.

Twins - This means there are two receivers set to one side of the ball.

Trips - This means there are three receivers set to one side of the ball.

Quads - This means there are four receivers set to one side of the ball.

Doubles - This means there are two receivers set to each side of the ball.

Then, I may also give more specific information like:

Offset I - This means the fullback is not directly behind the QB, but instead is lined up to either the weak or strong-side.

Tackle-Over - This means we have one guard and two tackles on one side of the ball, and a guard and tight-end to the other.

Wing - This means a player is lined up at the outside of the formation, but in the backfield, with his hand on the ground. This is generally a fullback or additional tight-end in our offense, but it may also be a speed player used for a sweep.

When it comes to defenses, I'm not getting incredibly specific, partially because the angle of the camera makes it hard for me to tell exactly what the alignments are. I can tell in general if a player is covering the guard or the tackle, but whether he's playing a 3,4 or 5 technique is a bit more difficult. So, I'm going to base my calls purely on personnel and positioning.

3-4 - We have three down linemen and Four standing linebackers. In this, we will have 4 DBs.

4-2-5 - We have four down linemen and two standing linebackers. I don't care if Ray Drew or Cornelius Washington or whoever is actually a linebacker, and we're therefore "technically' in a 3-3-5. If he has his hand in the dirt, the guy is a down-lineman for the sake of this blog.

3-3-5. We have three down linemen and three standing linebackers.

2-4-5. We have two down linemen and four standing linebackers.

These are the basic formations I've seen us in. It's hard for me to know just how well we're doing on each defensive play since I don't know the calls or the responsibilities, but I will do my best to offer explanations of why things work/don't work when I can.

Hope this helps y'all understand what I write a bit better.

Go Dawgs.

UGA - UT Film Study: Quarter Two Re-post

2011-10-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the second quarter breakdown didn't seem to post to the other blogsites around the net...so I'm reposting it now.

___________________________________

So, here we are...starting out the second quarter with a 3-0 lead, and facing a 3rd and 7. Tennessee has been able to lsow us down, but never really stop us as we are on our second possession of the night. Can't believe the whole first quarter was swallowed by one possession on each side of the ball. That's terrible. So much for the no-huddle allowing us to get so many more plays in.

But I digress.

UGA 3 - TN 0

3rd and 7 Georgia at the UGA 48. Shotgun Twins Right. Carlton Thomas at HB, Murray motions him to the right. Designed QB draw. Motioning Thomas out to the right opened the lane as TN was in man coverage, and the LB followed Thomas outside. It looks like this was a Draw-option-to-throw - Thomas and Charles both appeared to run routes while the wideouts went straight for blocks. That's an interesting play design if that is in fact what it was. Gain of 8. First Down Georgia!

1st and 10 at UT 45. Shotgun twins right. Thomas at HB. We slide protection to the right, rollout right pass to Tavarres King on a short out. The pass is incomplete, ruled that King's foot is out of bounds. He was dragging his back foot, but I guess his front foot came down out of bounds before he had the ball. 2nd and 10. Shotgun Twins Right. Play-Action deep for King, overthrown by 4 yards - again definitely open. 3rd and 10. Shotgun Twins Right. Pass over the middle to Marlon Brown, Brown didn't haul it in. 4th and 10. Punt team comes on. Fair Catch at the 10.

UGA 3 - UT 0.

1st and 10 Tennessee at TN 10. 3-4 alignment. We rush four, but the pocket holds pretty well. Bray completes a pass for 15 yards.

1st and 10 at TN 25. 3-4 alignment. They try to run an I-form Power 0 to the right, but we clog it. Gain of 1. 2nd and 9. 3-4. They run a guy in motion, then swing it out to him. Branden Smith fights off a block and gets enough of him to trip him for a 9 yard gain. But, there's a flag on the play - offsides on Georgia. 2nd and 4. 3-4. We rush 4 and blitz Herrera from the Right side of the defense. Gilliard and Jones both read no receivers in the middle, and turn to the outside. The TE, who had faked a block releases into the empty zone and snags the pass from Bray. He gains about 16. This will be a coaching point - be sure to make a solid read on that tight-end before turning your back to the middle of the field. More reps will make this less of an issue.

1st and 10 at TN 48. They're playing Rocky Top again. ugh. 3-4. They try to run the power again, and again we stuff it. 3-4. We run a twist with Jones, who doesn't come close, and Bray hits the TE wide open on the drag. I'm not certain of our coverage. It looks like Robinson got confused on his assignment and was covering the back coming out of the backfield instead of the tight-end. Gain of 15.

1st and 10 at UGA 37. 3-4. They run a toss-right with pulling linemen. Herrera knifes through and gets a shot on the ballcarrier. Gain of 6. 2nd and 4. 3-4. They try a toss left, but Jarvis Jones fights through his block and stops the runner in the backfield. loss of 3. 3rd and 8. 3-4. Timeout Georgia. Looks like Jones and Robinson may have been confused on their coverage responsibilities, but that's pure conjecture on my part. 3rd and 8. 3-4. We rush 4, again running the twist with Jones without success...Robinson hangs in the middle. I can't tell if he's spying the QB or the tight-end, but my guess is Tight End because I doubt we expect Bray to be running for it. If he was spying the tight-end, then good on Grantham for fixing that issue quickly. Bray can't find a man and throws incomplete out of bounds. 4th and 8. They decide to go for it. 3-3-5. We rush 5 and they go max-protect, so we don't have a shot at getting in there. Bray hits Da'Rick Rodgers for about 11 yards and he gets STUCK by Branden Smith. First Down TN - but I'm so glad to see Smith - our "Small" corner - make a hit like that.

1st and 10 at UGA 23. 3-4. We rush 5 on their playaction. Lane releases late, and no one picks him up. Bray hits him and he gains all the way to the UGA 7.

1st and Goal at UGA 7. 3-4. They try to toss it wide, but Williams and Vasser cut it off. Lane attempts to cut it back, but there's a host of Dawgs there. Loss of 4. 2nd and goal. 3-3-5. We run the twist with Jones and Tyson, and Tyson comes very close...even gets a piece of Bray after he lets it go. The pressure forces an overthrow out of bounds. 3rd and Goal. 3-4. We rush 5, Bray lobs one into the endzone, but his TE falls down. The officials try to say it's a missed PI. Oh well. 4th and Goal - fieldgoal unit comes out and knocks it in.

UGA 3 - UT 3.

Kickoff. Boykin takes the ball a yard deep and runs it out to the 17 where he's taken down by the head. Refs miss an obvious facemask.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 17. I-Form Normal TE right. Crowell back in. We run what looks like an ISO or Stretch Lead to the weakside, but Isaiah hesitates just a bit too long in making his cut. He gets only 1. 2nd and 9. Ace Formation, Twins Right with TE and Wing to the left. Playaction bootleg left, Murray hits a wide open Malcom Mitchel for 12 yards.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 30. I Form Normal, TE left. Lead to the right. Terrible blocking on this play. I can't decide if they blitzed the corner, or if our Wideout just didn't block him, but he went straight at Crowell. Bean whiffed on the DE, then Zander whiffed on both that same DE and a LB. All three of these defenders were in on the tackle. A bunch of minus in blocking. 2nd and 10. Shotgun Twins Left TE right,Thomas set to the left. We run a sweep right with Jones and Burnette pulling. Both guys make great blocks, pancaking the defense. Thomas cuts it up and picks up 5. 3rd and 5. Shotgun doubles. Thomas set right. Murray tries to hit Marlon Brown on a slant, but the TN linebacker hits him early. Pass Interference.

1st and 10 at UGA 38. Shotgun Twins left, TE right, Thomas Left. We run the same sweep as before, Burnette and Jones both nail their blocks again, and Thomas gains 7. 2nd and 3. I Form with Aron White at Wing to the left, Samuel at HB. Murray sells the fake toss to the left so hard, that all three linebackers take a full step in that direction. Aron White slips out to the right and Murray hits him for a gain of 4.

1st and 10 at UGA 49. I Form Normal. Play-Action deep strike to Malcolm Mitchell. 43 yard gain to the 5. But, Mitchell has to slow down for the ball. This is a touchdown if Murray hits it right. But, he had overthrown King twice, and took some off this throw. Reps. Reps. Reps. The guy HAS to learn the speed of his receivers if he wants to break games open.

1st and Goal at TN 7. ESPN misses the play. Samuel carried for about 2. That's all I know. 2nd and Goal. I Form Twins Left. Play-Action, they rush 5 but the pocket holds. Murray wings one up for Bennett (double covered) but it's out of his reach. Murray put the ball where he had to in order to give only Bennett a shot at it. It looks like Bennett was the second read, and he went there after noticing King was in too much traffic. 3rd and goal. Shotgun twins left, TE right, Samuel left. Timeout Georgia. 3rd and goal. Shotgun Doubles, Samuel left. Murray sends Samuel in motion to make it an empty set. Murray hits King in the hands over the middle - but he drops it. Don't know that it would have been a touchdown. It looked like King's route was much more like a drag than a slant - and had he caught the ball, he would have been at the 4 - with three TN guys nearby. I have to think that route was supposed to take King into the endzone for the catch....at least I hope so. 4th and Goal. Field Goal. Good.

UGA 6 - UT 3. Kickoff. taken at the 5, upended at the 27.

1st and 10 UT at the UT 27. 3-3-5. We rush 4, looks like the same twist with Tyson and Jones again. Bray throws long out of bounds. 2nd and 10. 3-3-5. Draw play. For once, we DON'T run the twist with Jones...and it hurts. Just bad luck on that one. Lane weaves for 8 yards. 3rd and 2. 3-3-5. They go max protect - 7 guys to block our 5. Bray tosses one up to a leaping receiver who catches the ball in open space at our 47 and is immediately planted by Rambo. I'm confused about the coverage on this one. Smith, Boykin, and Rambo have two receivers to cover. Smith starts dropping with the receiver who ultimately makes the catch, but he leaves him to cover the flats. Boykin never gets much depth, and Rambo comes over the top but can't get there in time to break up the play. Must have been a zone - but I don't understand the specifics of it.

1st and 10 UT at UGA 46. 3-3-5 alighment again. Drew and Jones make good upfield rushes, but can't get there. Still, Bray wings it out of bounds. 2nd and 10. 3-3-5. Bray completes a pass to Lane underneath, but Ray Drew is choke-slammed and the refs throw the flag. Personal Foul for hands-to-the-face. 1st and 25. 3-3-5. They run a screen and it sets up very well for them. Lane stiff-arms Rambo after gaining 15, and gets 12 more.

1st and 10 UT at UGA 34. 3-3-5. We rush 4 but get nowhere. They throw to Lane out of the backield for a gain of 8, but there's a flag. Illegal Formation on TN. 1st and 15. 3-3-5. Clock play. 2nd and 15. We blitz both Boykin and Rambo. Bray gets the throw off and hits Da'Rick Rogers at the 27. 3rd and 2. Field Goal unit is on and the kick is good as time expires.

UGA 6 - UT 6.

So, that's the half. Neither team did anything great, and neither did anything disastrous to itself either. A couple of things I noticed -

Tennessee loves shifts and motions. I haven't noticed that any of it has given them any kind of competitive advantage. We haven't been fooled by it, that's for sure.

Also, it looks to me that when our DBs blitz, they're not coming off the edge at full speed, and we're not getting great pressure. We get some pressure, make Bray a little uncomfortable, but we're really not killing them up front. Our blitz packages don't seem to confuse them very much. We haven't had a guy run free yet. That'd be nice to see in the second half.

Our Run D is still just crushing it.

We all know the second half is much more impressive on offense, so come on back to read about the breakdown of the third and fourth quarters tomorrow!

Go Dawgs!

UGA - UT Film Study: Quarter Two

2011-10-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

So, here we are...starting out the second quarter with a 3-0 lead, and facing a 3rd and 7. Tennessee has been able to slow us down, but never really stop us as we are on our second possession of the night. Can't believe the whole first quarter was swallowed by one possession on each side of the ball. That's terrible. So much for the no-huddle allowing us to get so many more plays in.

But I digress.

UGA 3 - TN 0

UGA 3 - UT 0.

1st and 10 Tennessee at TN 10. 3-4 alignment. We rush four, but the pocket holds pretty well. Bray completes a pass for 15 yards.

1st and 10 at UGA 23. 3-4. We rush 5 on their playaction. Lane releases late, and no one picks him up. Bray hits him and he gains all the way to the UGA 7.

UGA 3 - UT 3.

Kickoff. Boykin takes the ball a yard deep and runs it out to the 17 where he's taken down by the head. Refs miss an obvious facemask.

UGA 6 - UT 3. Kickoff. taken at the 5, upended at the 27.

UGA 6 - UT 6.

So, that's the half. Neither team did anything great, and neither did anything disastrous to itself either. A couple of things I noticed -

Tennessee loves shifts and motions. I haven't noticed that any of it has given them any kind of competitive advantage. We haven't been fooled by it, that's for sure.

Our Run D is still just crushing it.

We all know the second half is much more impressive on offense, so come on back to read about the breakdown of the third and fourth quarters tomorrow!

Go Dawgs!

UGA - UT Film Study: Quarter One

2011-10-10T19:22:00.001-07:00

I have to say, getting ready to watch the first half of this game again isn't exactly something I'm in love with. I remember what happened - two whole field goals. Six Points. But, at least I know it gets better in the second half. I'm watching the pre-game guys right now, talking about how Tennessee has one of the better offenses in the country. At least Cunningham believed in us and our easy schedule. He just said something that makes my skin crawl. In talking about Isiah Crowell Cunningham said, "he's really changed this offense for Georgia. They've gone from more of a spread against Boise State to now being a power running team."

Haven't we ALWAYS been a power-running team? Ugh. What the hell was that Boise game all about? Ok, enough of that. Quarter One.

Kickoff, Touchback. UGA ball at the UGA 20.

1st and 10 Georgia at UGA 20. I Form, twins right. We go play-action to Tavarres King. Bean lets the DE straight through, and he blows up Isiah. Great Fake. King picks up 11.

1st and 10 at UGA 31. Shotgun Split TE left. TN sits in zone, Crowell can't handle the swing pass. It was a good pass. The first time, I thought it was too far in front, but if it was, it was by 2 inches. Just bounced of Isiah's hands. If he catches it, it's at least 5 yards, maybe more as the LB was late getting outside. 2nd and 10. Shotgun Bunch Left. Tavarres King mishandles a 7 yard pass from Murray. It hit him square in the hands. 3rd and 10. Shotgun Twins Left. King runs a curl at 9 yards. You'd think he'd go 11. He went 9. Tackled immediately. 4th and 1. TN calls timeout before Murray snaps it and sneaks for the first. Instead, we wait. 4th and 1. Tackle Over Power-I Strong Right (man, this alignment suggests we are DEFINITELY running to the right...then we don't. Sneaky.) We run a weak toss. The blocking scheme on this play is great, and everyone gets his man. Zander's block springs Isiah to the outside where he runs through two guys after picking up eleven yards. First down. By the way, after the game, no one will talk about how great of a play design or a playcall this was - this is a piece of great playcalling by Bobo that no one will mention. They'll talk about Richt being a "man" and going for it on 4th and 1 from inside his own 40 on the opening drive. But, they won't talk about a play that set everything up to go to the right, and then shot around the left end for 11 yards. So damnit, I'm talking about it.

1st and 10 at TN 49. Shotgun Doubles. Branden Smith at HB. Swing pass out to Smith. This was a one-man route. All the other receivers were blocking. He didn't look too comfortable getting after the catch, never really got going. Gain of one. 2nd and 9. Shotgun Twins Left. Smith still at HB. Sprint Sweep left. Smith has the corner, but Tavarres King "Chicken Fights" with the DB instead of blocking him. Cunningham says "got a good block from his wide receiver". I disagree. The only good thing about this block is that he didn't get called for holding. I want our WRs to block like Hines Ward. If King puts a hat on that man, and turns him, Smith is off to the races. At is stands, gain of 17. Not too shabby, but we don't put Smith at HB just to get a first down. He's in there to break a big play for a score. We missed on that one.

1st and 10 at TN 32. Shotgun Twins Right. Crowell back at HB. Murray hits Crowell on a drag out of the backfield for five yards. TN was playing what looks to be a deep cover-3 or cover-4, and every route except the drag was 10+ yards (according to what I can see on broadcast). The checkdown was the only option. 2nd and 5. Ace Twins Right. This looks like it may have been a weak zone running play to the right. Unluckily, TN had a corner blitz (I think he's a corner...or an undersized LB) on. He blew it up immediately. Also strange, was the penetration by the DT at the "1" technique. Both Jones and Dallas Lee basically whiffed on him. This prevented Isiah from having any kind of cutback option. He didn't have much opportunity to cut back, but it looks like Jones put one arm on the DT, and then Lee just didn't get a body on him. Everyone else seemed to cover their guys up. Loss of 1. 3rd and 6. Shotgun Twins Right. Designed QB Draw. Ben Jones bellyflops at the feet of the MLB instead of blocking him. It does trip the LB, but he's able to stay up enough to force Murray into an ill-advised jump over him. Murray trips and falls just shy of the first down. 4th and 1. Tackle Over Offset Power-I Strong Right. The play is basically an ISO...no pulling, nothing fancy - just line up, knock the piss out of the guy in front of you, and let's get a first down. Which we did.

1st and 10 at UT 21. I-Form Normal TE Right. FB Fake, HB pitch weak. Crowell picks up three before fumbling the ball out of bounds. This is the play where Crowell hurt his wrist. 2nd and 7. Shotgun Twins Right. Branden Smith back in at HB. Sweep Right to Smith. This play was just plain not good. First, that same CB, #24, was either Spying Smith, was on a delay blitz, or had responsibility for the HB in pass coverage, because he was watching Smith all the way and came straight upfield at him. Smith evaded, but was bottled up immediately by the LB, #40. The strange part is, I don't see anyone who would have had a blocking assignment for #40. Some plays will leave a man unblocked and force the ball-carrier to go one-on-one against him. However, I've never seen a play that leaves two men unblocked to the playside. Dallas Lee pulls around, and it's possible that he's expected to get to the LB...but I doubt it, because there's a DE right there as well. Lee gets a good block on the DE, but since nobody blocked the LB, the play was done for. Could be that they called this play at the perfect time just like before, or, it could be that they are on alert for any Corner in the backfield. Smith picks up 2 on the play. 3rd and 5. Shotgun Twins Left. Carlton Thomas in at HB. Tennessee drops seven. Murray hits the top of his drop, and immediately goes to run. Chris Burnette had been beat by the DT and Murray must have thought he could pick up the 5 on his own. Instead, he was sacked for loss of 2 yards. It sucks, because one guy got beat, and that guy cost us the chance at points. But, I have a bigger problem with this play. At the onset of the play, We have twins left, and they have two guys lined up over top of them. The CB lined up on Tavarres King is playing 7 yards off the line of scrimmage, and a full 10 yards away from TK. How is there not a hot-route call that gets the ball into TK's hands very quickly? More importantly, at the snap, the CB DROPS. That means he's playing even further back. That makes a quick 5-yard hitch a LOCK and a first down. I don't know if that's not one of the reads on that play or what, but if we need five yards, and the DB is playing that far off, I'm gonna give my receiver a chance to play some ball. King does run a 10-yard curl. But, by the time he turns around, Murray is on the ground. 4th and 7. Walsh in for the fieldgoal, and the Dawgnation holds its breath. The kick is Good. 14 plays, 6:13 off the clock.

UGA - 3 TN - 0

Kickoff. Very high, taken at the 5. First man to him trips him up, down at the 18.

1st and 10 Tennessee at UT 18. 3-4 alignment. 4-man rush (Jones) with Zone behind it. They throw a Swing pass to Tauren Poole. Herrera and Boykin overrun it at the LOS, and he picks up 7. 2nd and 3. 3-3-5 alignment. We send 2 LBS and Boykin. Boykin takes a bad angle and doesn't make the play in the backfield. Gain of 3 - an inch short. 3rd and inches. They sneak it for the first.

1st and 10 at UT 30. 3-4 alignment. Jarvis Jones blows this one. He pursues straight down the line, and the ball comes on a reverse. He ignores the FB coming his way to block him...just doesn't read the play well. Neal takes the ball 11 yards, then fumbles. Herrera appears to recover the ball, having both the ball and Neal's leg securely in his hands. But, apparently because Neal had one hand on the ball that was under his ass, it's his. Official review says the ball belongs to TN - even in so much that it was "Confirmed." They play "Rocky Top" after the review. What an awful song.

1st and 10 at UT 41. 3-4 alignment. They run an ISO and find out why it's hard to run up the middle on us. They have to double Jenkins, so Gilliard is free to take the FB on man-man. Gilliard stuffs the block, Poole has to cut. Chase Vasser hits him in the hole, and he bounces off into the arms of Abry Jones. No Gain. 2nd and 10. 3-4. They try a quick slant but it's dropped. 3rd and 10. 2-4-5. We blitz both MLB in the A gaps and the safety as well, but get no penetration. We run a zone behind it, and they throw a quick-hitter to the TE, who had slipped between Robinson's and Gilliard's zones. Gain of 19 on the play.

1st and 10 at UGA 40. 3-4. We call a safety blitz from the weak side of their formation, but they toss it strong-side. Still, they can't string us out and we stop the run for a short gain. 2nd and 8. 3-4. We run a twist with Jones, but it doesn't get home. Bray throws over the middle, knocked away by Herrera. 3rd and 8. 3-3-5. They run a draw, and it works perfectly as Jones gets caught rushing upfield. Lane cuts back to wide open space. Pick up of nine.

1st and 10 at UGA 34. 3-4 they try a reverse again, but we blow it up for a four yard loss. 2nd and 14. 3-4. We run that same twist again with Jones, still gets nowhere. Jones then drops, and bites on a pump-fake by Bray. This doesn't hurt us, but if he'd kept his eyes towards Bray, he may have been able to pick off the dump-off Bray attempted to Lane. Instead, Gilliard knocks it to the ground. 3rd and 14. 3-4. Bray misses his TE on an out-route that would only have gotten them a closer field goal try, as he was about 6 yards shy of the first down. 4th and 14, field goal attempt NO GOOD. Turnover.

UGA 3 - UT - 0

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 34. Shotgun Twins Right, TE right. PA rollout right, Murray rushes for 2 yards, out of bounds. 2nd and 8. Shotgun Twins Left, TE left. We sweep it, but it's read immediately. Their safety was playing downhill all the way. Loss of 3. 3rd and 11. Shotgun Trips right. Carlton Thomas at HB. Deep out complete to Tavarres King for a gain of 11. 4th and inches. Ace Twins left. Murray takes a designed QB run around left end for 1st down.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 45. I-Formation Normal. TE Left. Play-Action deep to Tavarres King. Overthrown by 4 yards. Commentator says Murray missed a wide-open Charles for about 15 yards. The angle isn't good on it...looks like the Safety is there, but had Murray made that read in time, he probably could have made the throw as well. But I can't speak to the route he should have thrown, I can only say that he needs to get a better feel for the speed of each receiver. He needs to know where to throw for Mitchell, and where to throw for King and where to throw for Bennett, because they all have different speeds and abilities. When are we going to have a QB again who truly knows how to place a deep ball? 2nd and 10. I Formation Twins Left. ISO weak for a gain of 3. Commentator says something about bulldogs bumping into each other in the backfield. That didn't happen.

End of 1st Quarter. UGA - 3, UT - 0

Well, 3-0 isn't exactly how I'd want the quarter to go, but I'll take it. Let's look at the positives - we picked up three 4th down conversions. We didn't give up any points. We stiffened in the redzone when we needed to. We moved the ball well with both the run and the pass. We did not punt.

These are good things. And, as the second quarter begins - we're near midfield and facing a 3rd and 7. Even though you know the ultimate outcome, you know you want to read the breakdown. So, come back for Quarter Two!!!

Four Game Winning Streak, No Reason to Rank Us.

2011-10-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

I watched the UGA-TN game with a couple of friends and the subject of what it would take for UGA to get back in the top 25 came up. I basically said, when we beat Florida, we'll be back in. My friend said, if we win today, we'll be back in.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but I will just for a little patting-on-the-back of my own,

We won, we aren't in the top 25. Georgia dropped 2 games to start the season (one of which was a three-point loss to a team Currently ranked #15 whose only loss is to an unranked team). Since then, all we've done is win every game quite handily. Sure, we aren't hanging 50 points on every team, but the other teams have never really been in the ballgame. That's dominance. Still, we aren't in the top-25. Auburn has two losses, and has had to suck-out against bad teams (Utah-State, Mississippi State) to get two of their 4 wins. They have not been dominant in a single game. Auburn is in the top 25 in one poll. We aren't.

We won't likely be in the top 25 with a win over Vandy either. "Why?" you ask...well, I'll tell you.

We haven't done anything. Yes, we've won 4 games in a row, and one was in Neyland Stadium. But, the other victories came against a community college, a team that plays simply so that the co-eds will come hang out in the Grove, and an also-ran who everyone was hot about until they started playing football games. Vandy is no different. Georgia should always beat Vanderbilt. We don't - but we should. So, being 5-2 after playing decent competition only twice (and losing both of those games) will not get us much clout with the voters.

As the polls shake down this week, Georgia was listed as "others getting votes" in both. In the AP poll, we were 4th among those. In the Coaches' poll, 8th.

What does this mean? It means that we not only have to beat Vandy, but we have to beat Vandy more convincingly than any of the teams in front of us, AND someone in the 18-25 range has to lose. There are currently two 2-loss schools in that range - Auburn in the AP, and TA&M in the Coaches' poll.

A&M plays Baylor next - and could easily drop that one to all-world Qb Robert Griffin III, while Auburn plays Florida. What I hate about the AU-Florida matchup is that neither loss helps UGA in the polls. If Florida wins, then they beat a top 25 team, and likely just switch places with Auburn in the rankings (UF fell out this week). If Auburn wins, well, they win.

The rest of the teams from 18-25 and their matchups are as follows:

ASU plays Oregon, and will be expected to lose. A loss should not drop them out of the top 25 to be replaced by a UGA team that beats Vandy.

VT should beat Wake (WTF FSU?)

I like Baylor to beat A&M. If they don't, UGA faces the same no-win situation as with FL and AU.

TX - OSU is a tougher one to call, but the way Oklahoma beat up on them through the air, I'd say it's a likely loss. Then, though, their wins are very suspect. Texas COULD fall from the top 25.

Mich State takes on Michigan, and is likely to lose. They could potentially fall from the top 25.

Houston will beat Marshall.

Penn State - Purdue is a tougher call. If Purdue is able to pull one out against State, State will fall out. If State wins, but not convincingly, they could be jumped by someone behind them...but not likely by a team with 2 losses.

THEN

We have to look at the other teams who can slide UP into the rankings. UNC is 5-1, and plays Miami this week. A win would make them 6-1, with their only loss being a one-score defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech. UNC would move up before UGA.

Washington should beat Colorado to move to 5-1. Again, their only loss is to a top 15 team.

Notre Dame is idle this week, but at 4-2 they have a win over a top 15 program. They could still get the votes.

A South Florida win over Connecticut wouldn't be more impressive than a UGA win over Vandy, but it would put the Bulls at 5-1, a 1/2 game better than UGA's 5-2.

Simply put, we lost all the voters in those first two weeks. Georgia had two marquee games to open the season, and did not take advantage. If we split those games, we're a top 15 team right now. We didn't. We don't have many marquee games left, either. No one will care if UGA destroys Vandy, because we're supposed to. So, don't be shocked if we win 55-0 and still aren't in the top 25.

No, our opportunity comes in three weeks down in Jacksonville. God Willing, Florida will defeat Auburn, and we'll roll into Jacksonville facing a top-25 team which has beaten us in 15 of the last 18 contests. Win that one, and some people will take notice. Win that one, and the momentum will really be moving, and the Coaches and AP will have to pay attention. If we beat Vandy and Florida, we will widely become known as the "Best 2-loss team" in the country. By week 8, that's enough to get you into the top 25.

Go Dawgs.

Richt gets win 100, Dawgs fail on 3rd and 57

2011-10-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ok....I'm going to actually do a real blog later, but I just wanted to put those two things up in the headline, because they seem to be two of the biggest talking points in the game. Richt gets win 100 - a season later than many fans wanted, but still a great milestone for a great, and YES, DAMNIT - I said GREAT coach. Oh yeah, and the Dawgs had a 3rd and 57.

Here's what I don't get about the playcall on third and 57 - why did we even run a play? Why risk an injury?

Think about that for a while. I'm going to a friend's birthday party. Great to be 4-2, Great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

Go Dawgs

"Must-Win", "Hot Seat", I used buzzwords, so read this blog.

2011-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Some of you (one person) have been asking me to be a bit more prolific in my writing. I do apologize that my posting rates have slowed a bit. However, I've been dealing with a few personal issues and as such haven't devoted myself to reading everyone else's blogs so that I can complain about what they say and offer a self-righteous and indulgent commentary on why they're wrong.

That being said...

I'm becoming increasingly annoyed with the overuse of phrases such as "Must-Win" and "Hot-Seat" and anything alluding to the one surefire way to championships being the firing of a head coach.

The University of Georgia plays in the Southeastern Conference, and has a fanbase that is unduly arrogant, prideful, and extremely die-hard. This is why I loved playing there, and why I continue to write about the football team eleven years after playing my finals downs in the Oahu Bowl. Still, playing in the SEC makes EVERY GAME a "Must-Win." Why? Here's Why:

The Fans Believe the following:

1) Out of conference games are automatic "W"s. If they don't play in the SEC, they aren't as good as Georgia, because the SEC is the best conference, and all teams outside of the SEC are set to a lower standard.

2) Vanderbilt is a team of slightly athletic nerds, and should never offer any competition to any team outside of Kentucky or the Mississippi schools. They were only brought into the SEC to increase our academic standings and none of their players would even make the 3-deep at Georiga.

3) Kentucky is only better than Vanderbilt. This is why they plant the ridiculous bluegrass in their stadium - they need any edge they can get because they'll never compete athletically with "real" SEC teams. They are in the conference to aid in Basketball standings.

4) The Mississippi Schools do not recruit quality athletes from out of state because the state is a poor one, and the Universities are massively underfunded. This means the out of state recruits end up filling the benches at LSU, AL, AU, and any 1 of the 700 texas schools. Also, all the good athletes in Mississippi want to go out of state to college because honestly, who would want to stay there?

5) South Carolina Sucks.

6) Tennessee is a lost program which showed glimpses of glory but has since returned to the dregs in which it was meant to toil. Besides, checkerboard endzones and burnt orange? You should NEVER lose to that. Ever.

7) Arkansas is full of hicks and rednecks, and produces politicians like Bill Clinton. In short, nothing good ever came out of Arkansas.

8) Auburn Sucks.

9) Florida, Alabama and LSU are the upper-echelon of college football and as such, we have to beat them in order to be considered Championship Caliber. They recruit at or above Georgia's level. No title will ever come to Georgia without first going through at least 1 of these schools. (1980 - beat FL in season) (1981 - beat FL in season) (1982 - beat FL in season) (2002-beat AL in season) (2005-beat LSU in SECCG).

10) Championship Games and Bowl Games are always must-wins.

So, since this is what the fans believe, EVERY game is a must-win. We're supposed to go undefeated every season and we're supposed to win the national title every season. Every season that we don't (which has been the VAST MAJORITY of the 100+ seasons of Georgia Football) is a slap in the face to all the die-hard fans who pour their lifeblood into Georgia Football.

It's ridiculous. Also - What's the repercussion of losing a must-win? Does losing a "must win" automatically result in the firing of the coach? I'm gonna go with "no" on this one. Why? Well, Richt is still coaching at UGA. But, he's lost a few "must wins" over the years. So, I guess they weren't really "must wins." Unless of course, what we're saying is -

"You MUST WIN this game, or...well...we're gonna be mighty upset... and we're gonna call radio shows and complain... and we're gonna blog about it... and...and...and you're gonna hear from us gosh darnit! So you better win it. You better."

And the same goes for "Hot Seat." Shut up about "Hot Seat" already. There's no such thing as a "Hot Seat." A coach has a job, or he doesn't. "Lame duck coaches" (working in the last season of their contract, without any hope of extension) are not on the hotseat....they know they're done. A head coach's job is packed with pressure on a daily basis. I hate to tell you guys (read: I love to tell you guys) but your opinions on how well he's doing his job really don't factor that much into his life. Simply put - he has bigger things to worry about. The Hotseat is a buzzword created by the media in order to entice people to read articles, watch sportscenter segments, etc. It's not a real thing. But, like moths to a flame, the masses will be drawn to these articles and reports about which coaches are or are not on the hotseat. And then, a couple of wins later, the coach suddenly ISN'T on the hotseat anymore...until the quarterback fumbles the ball in the fourth quarter, and they lose a game they wanted to win. Then, OF COURSE, the coach should again be fired.

The fact is - if a coach fields a competitive team, one capable of winning games and competing for titles, he's going to have a job.

Readers - do yourselves a favor. When you see an article or an upcoming segment regarding this week's "must win" game or how Richt's seat is really "Heating Up"...instead of reading that article or watching that segment, go hug your wife - or play catch with your kids - or cook a really good steak. All of these will do your life a greater amount of good than losing the fifteen minutes forever over some bull that doesn't exist.

Go Dawgs.

Oh, no - we went conservative!!

2011-09-25T18:28:00.001-07:00

I've already tired of the blog-based idiots who are angry about Bobo's decision to go more conservative in the 2nd half. The team we were playing was one we obviously overmatched. They weren't going to pull trick plays all day with success, and they certainly weren't going to come out with a sustained gameplan that would beat our defense. So, we played the following game:

DO NO MORE HARM.

And yeah, many of you think that's a weak way to play. And yeah, many of you think it lacks "Killer Instinct." But be honest with yourselves - haven't we seen enough mistakes by Georgia Teams in recent years to think that protecting a lead is just as important as extending it? Just two games ago, we killed ourselves with turnovers. In this one, we limited that possibility. Yes, we scored less points than we would have liked - but we won the game plenty convincingly.

We could tell it wasn't gonna be the day when Walsh would kick a game winner. And, if you get cute or play too risky, and turn it over, you give them a chance. By playing run-and-kick, we controlled the field, the clock, and won the game. The W is far more important than Fan excitement, just ask Paul Johnson.

Also...for those of you who say "That kind of playcalling wouldn't beat Bama or LSU"....

That's not the kind of playcalling you'll see against those teams if we're fortunate enough to get to Atlanta. We don't overmatch them at every position like we do Ole Miss. Ole Miss simply isn't potent enough to mount a come back. Those teams can score 14 points in 40 seconds. Don't expect to see Coach Bobo back off if we get a lead on a quality team.

Go Dawgs.

About a QB Competition

2011-09-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

I've already read one post today vehemently denying the need of a QB competition in Athens. The author cites statistics praising Aaron Murray and discounting the work that Hutson Mason has done. I have a problem with this. I have a problem with it only due to the fact that Richt has high praise for Mason, and says he has earned more playing time.

So why didn't he receive it against Ole Miss?

I understand the coaching ideal of keeping players in the game to get more practice, build up game stamina, etc. I understand the thought that you don't really play reserves until you have a "Comfortable" lead, and a 2-touchdown lead doesn't always qualify. Still, here's something I don't understand - why are you running your star TB with 2 minutes remaining in a 2-score game? Why do you need to have your starting QB handing him the ball?

Now, these snaps do not always mean a hell of a lot in terms of experience. But, it's another GP for Mason if he gets in there. It's another team's defense to which he's had exposure. It's another bit of confidence for a kid who, by all public accounts, is simply doing everything expected of him. The fact is, Richt, Bobo, and Murray all say the kid could run the offense in the event of Murray going down with injury. So, why not put him in, at least in the tail-end of a game we've dominated?

Here's the argument against - any mistake: a fumbled snap, handoff, audible into a pass becomes an interception,etc...any mistake like that could result in Ole Miss having a chance to win.

We played "preserve the win" football late in the fourth. I understand that, too...as the team needs wins - both in the SEC and out. I'd like to think, though, that a Mason-Thomas or a Mason-Harton handoff would be just as effective at killing clock as a Murray-Crowell handoff. In fact, it may be even more so, as Crowell quite obviously was not trying to do much at the end of the game. Maybe he was told, "Just don't fumble." If so, he did that job admirably.

I don't know that Hutson Mason is actually in position to compete with Aaron Murray. If he were, I'd like to think Richt would give him opportunities. Why? Because Richt wants to win games - which means fielding your best 11. So, Murray must be a better option. We don't see practice - we only see Saturdays and read clippings. This is where for many people, being a fan is maddening. You have zero control over anything, and always glorify the unknown. The potential of a kid on the bench is, in the mind of the fanship, nearly always better than the performance of a starter who isn't wowing us. It's a dumb point of view, but it's one that many share.

Still, Gary Danielson said something during the Alabama-Arkansas game that stood out to me. It was a statement that very simply put in perspective just why Alabama is seemingly always in the mix for a title. He said, paraphrasing - 'There is a lot of competition all over the field for Alabama. If you don't play with intensity, you might not be there long, because there are kids on the bench who want your job just as much as you do.' Does this attitude exist at Georgia? Does it exist at the QB position? Competition can be healthy.

I'm not suggesting an open QB competition. But, putting Hutson in for a possession or two in the game, I think that could be good for Murray - if for no other reason than just to help him understand that he needs to stay on-point. We had what, 5 or 6 drives which resulted in no points? Surely one of those could have been a Hutson Mason drive and we wouldn't have suffered much worse of a fate. Just Sayin.

Go Dawgs.

Game Film Missing - UGA v Ole Miss

2011-09-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

For readers of my blog who were looking forward to this week's breakdown, I apologize. Here in LA, the game was carried on an unusual channel, and a DVR issue caused me to not save the Dawgs' victory. I will do my best to rectify the issue next week against Mississippi State. As much work as it is, I do enjoy breaking down the game film...I always love an excuse to watch more Georgia Football.

Quick Thoughts:

1) Good to see the pass rush finally get home. With the exception of Kellen Moore, the Dawgs had made every quarterback they've played against uncomfortable. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for many Dawg fans who believe the only stat indicative of effective pass rushing is SACKS. Well, we got 4.

2) These DBs are becoming very very good. Part of the reason our Pass Rush could hit home was that the receivers were very well covered. The QB couldn't find open men, had to hold the ball, and the result was drive-killing stops. Rambo continues to be a ball-hawk, and there may not be a player who has improved so much in his understanding of the coverages in this defense since a year ago. Now, that may be because he had the farthest to come, but he's really looking good these days. Also important, did you notice how many passes were well-defended in this game? Our corners did a great job of playing the ball in the air and knocking passes away. Up until this game, I hadn't been sold on Boykin as a "Shut down" corner. It seemed that passes didn't come his way often, but when they did, they were often caught and then he'd make the tackle. He also has a tendency to drop INTs. But, if he plays the ball for the remainder of the season as he did on Saturday, his draft stock and our defense will continue to improve.

3) Some Teamers are what we've been Dreaming of - Herrerra doesn't look like a freshman. He just doesn't look like one. His size, speed, and pursuit are above that of most recent HS grads. Malcolm Mitchel is the next in a line of great Freshman Receivers. We all remember the first seasons of Terrance Edwards, Fred Gibson, Mohamed Massaqoui, AJ Green...it just seems like every time we lose one of these guys, the next one is right there to wow us. I don't need to say anything about Crowell. No disrespect to Caleb King or Washaun Ealey, but THIS is an SEC tailback. Ray Drew? Jury's still out on him. The shoulder injury no doubt slowed his progress, but I'd like to be getting more reps out of such a big recruit. It appears the gap between him and Jadaveon Clowney was quite significant indeed. This could, of course, be attributable to the difference in defensive systems in which they play. A 4-3 DE has much less to learn than a 3-4 OLB. Still, I'd like to see 47 really step up in the next quarter-season. (Then again, 83 [C. Washington] had a much improved performance)

4) Murray is a workable QB - but he definitely lacks the WOW factor. We fell in love with him as a freshman, not because he won big games or led comebacks or destroyed his competition. We loved Murray as a Freshman because he was a freshman and didn't kill our team. He was a decent protector of the football, and we all loved his potential to grow. Thus far in 2011, he hasn't appeared to grow as much as we'd like. Sure, the kid's only a Sophomore. But in that, you have to compare him to David Greene in '02 and Matt Stafford in '07. The bar is high. He can't throw a swing pass that becomes an 11 yard fumble, he can't overthrow Figgins (a MONTSTER fullback) by five yards when no one is around him. He can't look to run so quickly - especially when the pocket is holding. Murray appears to be a little "antsy" this season.

5) Blair Walsh - What the hell, man?

6) Rugby Punts - I hate them. They've been creeping into more and more college football games, and they take away the chance for some really exciting plays. Of course, this bothers me as a UGA fan because Branden Smith is a particularly exciting returner, and the Ruby Punt is taking him out of the game. I do like that one way to defend this has been to add Boykin as a second returner. The strategy here is that they each cover 1/2 the field. As a result, one guy doesn't have to be ready to run to either side...we get a man to the ball more quickly. Still, I'd like to see them catch these low-line-drives on the run, and have the other man ready to throw a big block. It's time to turn this offensive strategy against them!

7) Gameplan - it was effective. After a few weeks of a much more spread-out attack, Bobo was much more content to dominate the Rebels on the ground, and I was glad to see it. We were a little beat-up on the OL, and didn't want to subject Murray to more risky plays if not necessary. Now, there are those who will say UGA should have won this game by 40 points - and maybe we should have. We left 13 points on the field when Walsh missed 3 FGs (9pts), and both Mitchell and Bennett dropped TD passes on our opening drive (7pts-3for Good FG=4pts). Still, we were able to use all of our RBs effectively (even RS) and relied more on tight-ends than we have in recent weeks. I'm sure that made all the "REAL GEORGIA FOOTBALL" blowhards happy. As for the defensive gameplan - excellent. They scored once on offense, on a trick play. I worried about that play, because with as many reverse-action plays as they had been running, I thought surely they were setting something up. Sadly, one part of having an aggressive defense is that it leaves you susceptible to some trick plays. But, there's a risk-reward to it. No offense can score all day on trick plays. I'll take our defense being dominant all day and giving up a trick score over playing soft and letting the other offense drive up and down the field all day, with more good opportunities to score.

That's about all I have for now. Good Win. Go Dawgs.

Game Film Missing - UGA v Coastal Carolina

2011-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, I'm not doing a breakdown of this one. There's a few reasons for this:

1) I did not DVR the game.

2) The game was on ppv, so I went to watch it at Barney's Beanery where I could drink beer and hang out with friends instead of paying to watch it at home.

3) The Chanticleers are nowhere near the talent level of the Georgia Bulldogs, so, breaking down the successes would give us no clear picture of why we dominated.

4) The breakdowns I saw were rather easy to diagnose -

A) Murray still misses too many easy passes.

B) Rambo made a great play, then a boneheaded mistake

C) Penalties cost us points (Branden Smith and Brandon Harton had TDs called back)

I sent a text to a friend a few hours before the game this morning. It read simply: UGA by 60. I'm a little upset that we didn't hit that mark - especially since we had every opportunity to do so. But, Richt is a "classy" coach - he does not tack on late field goals for three extra points, when there's no need. Instead, he's content to run on 3rd and very long, just to see if a kid can break a big one and keep the ball. I'm not against that. If we do kick the field goal, we then have to kick the ball off - and kickoffs are known to be dangerous plays in terms of injury probability. There's really no reason to kick that field goal - unless you want me to be right about the 60 point margin of victory (and in 11 years, that has never seemed to be a concern).

This game was what we thought it would be. We blew out a team who had no reason to be on the field with us, and then ratcheted down the offense. I was glad to see that our backup defense still didn't allow a score, or even a bunch of big gains. We slammed the door shut on a bad team, which is what good teams should do.

I would have liked to have seen a few more big runs...just seems like we can't quite get that one to go very often. Against a lesser team, you should have a few big burners.

It's nice to get the W, but have to keep it in perspective. It gives the kids confidence, gives them something to feel good about...but now they have to prepare again for an SEC foe in 7 days. After the way Ole Miss lost to Vandy today, they'll be out to prove they're still a decent program. Time for Georgia to stand up and prove that they may be that, but we're just plain better.

Go Dawgs.

Just where does UGA Rank during "The Slide"?

2011-09-14T11:39:00.001-07:00

My "friend" BuLLDawg likes to post the total number of victories for the teams in D-I football frequently, so that he can show us the fall of the Georgia program. As a comment to one of my recent blogs, he posted his findings, listing Georgia as ranking #29 in FBS for wins from 2006-week 2 of 2011. However, I submit that there are some teams that get by a little easier than others. So, I did my own quick tracking of these wins.

What I decided to do, was count wins against BCS Teams. That's wins against teams in BCS conferences (at the time of competition) and Notre Dame, which is the only independent BCS school.

(I will note that I did this in two ways - for teams IN BCS conferences, I went through the schedules and reduced the number of victories from BuLLDawg's work by the number of victories over non-bcs schools. For teams NOT in BCS conferences, I went through the schedules and counted wins and losses against BCS schools.

Here are my results:

Yes, Georgia has only 44 wins in the last 5 years + 2 games. That is not an incredibly encouraging statistic, when you compare it to total wins by many of the nation's programs. HOWEVER, when you look PURELY at BCS conference schools, Georgia ranks #10 in wins over that time period. Also important to note, is that UGA has the 3rd lowest number of wins deducted from its schedule. USC (3) and Oregon (9) are the only teams with fewer "inflating" wins.

Of the schools vying to become AQs, Boise State definitely looks to be at the Head of the Class, boasting a 7-1 record against BCS schools over the past 6 years. Of course, that means that in the past 6 seasons, they haven't played one season's worth of BCS schools. Well, I guess they've played a conference schedule's worth...and they're 7-1. Not too bad. TCU's 9-3 record is pretty good as well. Of course, TCU becomes a BCS school next season.

Anyway, I did all of that to say this...in what some people are considering the end of the world, the destruction of the program, the worst time imaginable for Georgia Football, we're the 10th winningest program against BCS competition. (PS...that's higher than our All-Time Wins ranking of 13th)

Go DAWGS

**** I will admit that I was surprised NOT to see Alabama on BuLLDawg's list. I do not know why he left them off. After completing my work, I went back to check on Bama....they have 37 wins since 2006, and therefore should be listed above UGA, pushing us to #11. I now wonder if BuLLDawg was selective in his research, or if it was on oversight when publishing his findings.

Leather Helmet Blog: Challenging Your Fanship

2011-09-14T09:22:00.001-07:00

A friend texted me this morning, "Leather Helmet Blog is calling you out."

My response: "I Don't Care."

And in actuality, that's true. I don't. I don't care, because I generally respect the opinion of ecdawg, and I don't know him to be a malicious sort. So, I was certain that whatever challenge was being tossed out was benign, and meant purely for conversation. So, I checked out the blog. He seems to suggest that I don't believe in critical opinions of coaching.

This is not true. If you are a reader of my blog, you know that I go to extreme lengths to examine the performance of our team and its coaches. I've done statistical analysis of YEARS worth of coaching, I've done play-by-play analysis of player performance and playcalls. I am a big fan of true critical discussion.

What I am NOT a fan of is the ridiculous and asinine nature of the growing Anti-Richt population which is, naturally, the most vocal of the fans on these boards and blogs. I keep reading things like "Bobo Draw, Bobo Screen, Bobo Draw, Punt." I implore people who write that kind of sensationalist garbage to go back through my breakdown of the last two games, and show me where anything resembling that playcalling series exists on a consistent basis. It doesn't.

And THAT is what this blog fights against. I don't just sit and say "Coach Richt doesn't win, but I don't care, I think he has a great haircut and a nice tan, and he should be our coach." That's idiotic. I'm not here to be the Champion of the "Save Richt's Job" cause. However, when I see that so many people are piling on a movement against him, and that it can cause a negative air to exist around our team, I have to speak out against that. My biggest issue with this is that it's GAME FRIKKING TWO, and the crowd isn't into the game in the first half....and then, they're leaving with four minutes to go, and us getting the ball down only by ten. That is NOT fan support. It's childish. It's "I'm not getting my way, so I'm taking my ball and going home."

That's what I can't stand. I remember fans leaving my last game in Sanford Stadium early. Yeah, we got our asses handed to us by Georgia Tech, and the fans bolted on us. It was a cold, rainy day, and they didn't want to watch it. The last time I left that field as a player, it was to a 2/3 empty stadium. I don't want any of the players on the team to experience that garbage, and when Richt came in and started winning titles, I never thought I'd see it again. But fans have a short memory, are a fickle bunch, and believe they are somehow "entitled" to more than a good day's entertainment.

So, no, I don't mind contrary opinions to my own. I don't mind people being critical of Bobo, or Grantham, or Richt or anyone. But I do ask that you at least educate yourself on the facts before you run around attacking them loudly and crying out for peoples' jobs.

We're 0-2, and that's not the way any of us want to start a football season. But, here's what we know:

We came out with the wrong game-plan against Boise. We looked a bit timid to pressure Kellen Moore, and when an injury forced us to play a less-experienced and less-talented player at a key position, this compounded the ease at which Moore would be able to slice us up in the air.

Our Rushing D came out better than most people thought they would. In the fourth quarter against USC, there were holes which didn't exist earlier in the game. People jumped on this saying conditioning was poor. This is a fallacy. Our line wasn't suddenly getting run over - but we did miss a couple of key assignments allowing for big holes.

Against USC in 2010, we scored 6 points. In 2011, 42 points. I'd say that's a healthy amount of improvement.

See, what bothers me isn't that people are upset with losing. I hate losing. There is honestly nothing on this planet that I hate more than losing. Show me someone who is ok with losing, and I'll show you someone who's done far too much of it. What bothers me is the outcry of "the sky is falling" over a loss in which we show 1) Significant improvement over a year prior and 2) Significant improvement over a week prior.

You want to be critical of the staff? Fine. Be Critical....but before you go crying for a retooling of the staff, see what these coaches do with this season. Why? Because no coach is going to come in and make this year better than Richt will make this year. You won't find an interim coach who is going to come in and suddenly turn this season on its ear. You won't find an interim coach who is going to come in and suddenly make us 2-0. We're 0-2. You have to deal with that, and move on. Be a FAN. Go out and be FANATICALLY SUPPORTIVE of your team. Give them a REASON to play for YOU. Right now, they're playing for themselves, and their coach. Those players love these coaches. That's why they devote themselves to the coaches for their careers. They trust them. They believe in them. And many of them, right now, don't care too much for alot of you.

Now, this is NOT to say that players don't care about fans. And this is not to say that ALL FANS are bad fans. I know that some people will read this and think "F&*! this guy. I cheer hard! I love this team. I stay till the last second of the game." Well, genius, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to those who show up late, leave early, bitch about Bobo the whole game (while he's busy putting 42 points on Carolina) and then call the post-game show saying Richt should be fired. Players appreciate the true fans...it's the fair-weather know-nothings they get tired of. The problem is, again, those fans are the most vocal.

I don't ask people to blindly support everything our coaches say and do. Hell, I don't do that. Why would I expect you to? What I do ask, is that you actually support your team. Show them that you are with them, and their coaches. Some people believe that the following is supportive:

"I love Coach Richt, and I want him to do well, but (insert one or more of the following): we've lost too many games for me to believe he can do it anymore. We just don't seem to recruit the right athletes. Our program has fallen apart in the past four years. Everyone else wins titles, we beat Vandy. Elite players go to Bama, thugs and "projects" come to Georgia. He's just doesn't have it any more. He cares more about mission work than winning football games."

That's not supportive. Just because you say "Honey, I love you" doesn't mean "but your butt is the size of a houseboat" is supportive.

And some fans will say, "But Dukes, we've just been through so much, we've lost too many close games, we haven't won a title, it's been so hard to be a fan...I just don't know how much I have left in me." You're not a player, you're a fan. Your job is to be as LOUD as possible IN SUPPORT of YOUR TEAM at ALL TIMES. That's your job. You want the players and the coaches to do their jobs? Do yours.

GO DAWGS.

Hey, Idiots..the Defense didn't give up 45 points.

2011-09-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Interception for TD - 7 points

Fumble return for TD - 7 Points.

Fake punt for TD - 7 points.

45 - 21 = 24.

The defense gave up 24 points. That still ain't great, but it was good enough to win with an offense that scored 42 points itself.

Some will say, "they also had to defend the goal-line from the 5 when the offense fumbled, and you can't expect them to do that!" Yes, I can. I can expect them to force a fieldgoal, or a turnover. If the defense had forced a fieldgoal, that puts the defense's surrender at 20 points. That's definitely easier to swallow.

But, they didn't.

Still, 24 is NOT EQUAL to 45. Stop trying to hang this one on the defense.

GO Dawgs.

Fans cost the Dawgs a recruit.

2011-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Way to go, "fans" of UGA football. All of your whining and clamoring and posturing against Richt and Co have cost the Dawgs a stud DT recruit.....maybe.

Jordan Watkins said that he has a great relationship with Georgia's coaches, and couldn't imagine attending UGA if they weren't there. All of the fan fervor against the coaching staff caused him to pick Stanford over the Home school. Now, if UGA goes on a 10-game run, shuts all the petulant fans up, and finishes with an SEC crown...maybe that will give Watkins a good reason to change his mind.

But, as it stands, the fans are beginning to hurt the program more than Richt could. Richt's Dawgs lost 12 games in 2 seasons, and he signed one of the best classes in program history. Apparently, those KIDS believe in Richt and his ability to rebuild this program.

Maybe our fans could learn a thing or two from these kids.

Go Dawgs.

Oversigning is great if....

2011-09-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Much reading about oversigning today. I'll put it very simply: Oversigning is great if the important thing is winning titles, and not the welfare of the athlete. As long as these kids are just cogs in a wheel for winning games and somehow satisfying some internal need of the fan to be able to talk trash to everyone wearing another school's colors, then yes...oversign away! But, if we want to take care of student athletes. If we actually care for those who come into the program and want to see them succeed, then oversigning is a practice that should come to an end.

Sorry, I'm not cynical enough to support it. Sure, scholarships are one-year renewables...but when you sign a kid, you are expecting him to give to your program for a series of years, not be ready to get rid of him if years one and two aren't what you expect.

If we had cut at DJ Shockley at any point during his injury-plagued career, UGA would not have 2 SEC titles in the 00's.

Go Dawgs.

2nd half play-by-play recap....

2011-09-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know why these two blogs didn't post to TheDawgbone...maybe his servers don't download feeds between the hours of midnight and 5am. I really don't know.

Still, the film-study blogs are up. Click on the links to the right to see them!

Go Dawgs!!!

UGA - USC Film Study: Quarter Four

2011-09-12T23:57:00.000-07:00

Final Quarter. I know what happens. I know how we lose. I can't envision it. We've been too damn good. Gonna be interesting to see what happens.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 47. Shogun Ace (Boykin) Fake sweep to Boykin, quick screen out to Mitchell. Decent cut-block by King but their DB gets off the ground quick and makes the tackle at 8 yards. 2nd and 2. Shotgun Ace (Boykin) They show blitz, it comes, Murray hits a quick slant inside to Marlon Brown at the 38, and he fights down to the 31.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 31. Shotgun Ace (Boykin) They only rush four, we hit Malcom Mitchell on a 5-yard curl (or hook or stop or whatever...you know, in that area where our playbook holds no routes). Gain of 8. 2nd and 2. Ace Formation (Crowell) basic HB slash to the left. Line gets good hat-on-hat movement. Gain of 4.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 19. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) They rush 6, Murray fires a quick slant to Bennett who weaves his way into the endzone. Touchdown Georgia!!!! We line up for the 2pt conversion. Shotgun Ace (Samuel) They rush four, Murray looks off the safety and fires to Tavarres King in the back of the endzone for the 2pt conversion!

UGA 28 - USC 28.

Kickoff. 8 yards deep - touchback.

1st and 10 USC at USC 20. 3-3-5 look - We stone them in the center, Jarvis Jones gets reached by the Tackle, and Jordan Love jumps too far inside, doesn't keep containment. Jones and Love combine for the stop, 9 yards downfield. 2nd and 1. 3-3-5 again. We call a corner blitz. Now, I don't know if Washington is supposed to rush outside the LT when the blitz call is on or not, but I'd say he probably is. It looks like John Jenkins has the A gap, Robinson the B, and Washington has outside contain, with Love coming on the blitz. The problem is, Washington rushes so hard upfield, he makes the tackle's block for him. This opens the B gap too wide, and though Robinson hits it, the FB can take him on and allow Lattimore to bounce it. Had Washington stayed at home, this play would have been a short gain, maybe even stuffed. Instead, Lattimore quickly gets to the second level and the result is a 24 yard gain.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 47. 3-3-5 Lattimore makes a great play. Initially, I thought Robinson made a bad read, but he didn't. He read the pulling guard, which should have taken him to Lattimore. But, John Jenkins exploded the Center so much, that Lattimore had to make a quick decision, and bounced the ball out, against his blocking. Motion before the play had taken Love to the other side of the field, and the secondary was in Man coverage, meaning our outside Corner had his back to the ball. Jenkins gets a hand on Lattimore, but doesn't slow him. Rambo makes the stop after a gain of 7. 2nd and 3. 3-4 look. We run a LB stunt with Jones and Tyson. Geathers gets great push. We plug the hole. Lattimore pushes forward for a yard. 3rd and 2. 3-4 look Timeout USC Now we come back in what looks like a 2-5-4. We stone their hole line. Lattimore finds no room whatsoever. Loss of 1. 4th and 3. (Crowd isn't nearly as loud as it should be). Timeout USC. 3-4 They run the short drop quick slant to Jeffrey who makes a great catch. Looks like Boykin outthought himself. Coverage looks to be zone...maybe man-zone, not sure. Boykin takes his eyes off Garcia just long enough to not be in position to intercept the ball. I'm not sure if his responsibility would have enabled to make that play, I'm just stating that if he hadn't looked out to Jeffrey, but instead remained focused on Garcia, we probably come away with that ball....or at least a tip.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 32. 3-4. They try to run off-tackle, but we crush it. Sean Williams flies up to make the tackle. 2nd and 9. 3-4 We run a blitz up the middle with Jarvis, who gets to Garcia just as he throws incomplete toward Ace Sanders. 3rd and 9. 3-4 We blitz Sulek and Commings, drop Abry Jones into short-zone coverage. Garcia throws an errant pass toward Jeffrey - knocked away by Rambo....nearly picked. 4th and 9. Field Goal Unit comes out - 49 yarder good.

USC 31-UGA 28

Kickoff. Boykin takes it at the 6, hurdles a man at the 25, gets across midfield down to the 37. Holy crap this kid is amazing. He made one bad cut, and it prevented him from scoring.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 37. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) Sweep right, 9 yard gain. 2nd and 1. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) They rush 6, Murray gets that same 4-yard hook pass (you know, the one we don't have) off, but Mitchell drops it. 3rd and 1. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) They rush four, Murray throws a slant low-and-ahead of Bennett - complete for a 3 yard gain and a first down. Just a great throw and catch - great ball placement, great concentration by Bennett.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 25. I Formation - Play-action flare to the Fullback, Figgins. 9 yard gain.

2nd and 1. I Formation. Looks like a HB Cutback play. This isn't exactly a counter, but it's the same philosophy, you get the whole defense moving in one direction, and allow the HB to cutback against the grain. The difference between this and a counter, is that a counter is generally drawn up with pulling blockers. The HB Cutback requires full run-action to one side, and then a backside seal which creates the hole. It is then completely up to the HB to make a move against an unblocked defender who has the responsibility of filling that hole. Crowell puts an arm out against the only guy close enough to make a play, then outruns everyone to the endzone. 16 yards, TOUCHDOWN GEORGIA!!!!!

UGA 35-USC 31

Kickoff 5 yards deep, brought out to the 25.

1st and 10 USC at USC 25. 3-3-5 Jones gets a good outside rush, but gets washed. Garcia throws a swing pass out to Lattimore, who picks up 6. We had no one in the flats. This looks to have been by design, as Commings had depth instead. 2nd and 4. 3-4. We blitz all four linebackers, and Robinson takes Lattimore down in the backfield. 3rd and 4. 3-4 very wide. Looks like we're playing pass rush all the way. Incomplete pass towards Ace Sanders. Pass Interference called immediately on Jordan Love. In replay, there's really no argument.

1st and 10 USC at USC 32. 3-4 They go Max-Protect, 7 guys to block 4. We can't get there. Garcia extends the play by rolling right, Ace Sanders comes open running through and behind the zone of Sean Williams.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 38. 3-3-5 This next one hurts - it hurts because our guys played responsibility well, but just got out positioned. The pulling guard on this play served his purpose well. Washington doesn't crash in from his end position, which is good assignment football. The problem is, he's now on an island with the backside OT - useless. Kwame drives the center back, but the center gets good position. Abry Jones gets swallowed up by a doubleteam, and the pulling guard puts a hat on Christian Robinson, who was filling the hole. This means there's no one there to tackle Lattimore. Lattimore squirts through, out into the secondary. Somehow, no one sees Alshon Jeffrey shove Boykin down from behind at the 15. This gives Lattimore the edge. Commings is able to track him down at the 3.

1st and Goal USC at the UGA 3. Timeout USC. 3-4 Geathers at NT, Jenkins at DE. Jenkins crashes through, stuffs Lattimore behind the line. 2nd and Goal. 3-4 They shift to unbalanced line right, we do not get into position on the flank quickly enough. They snap the ball and make the blocks on the edge. Lattimore drives in. How could we have prevented this one? A better angle by Amarlo Herrera might have gotten him to the point of attack. Boykin could have charged up into the line. Really, we were just out positioned on this one. They made every block they had to make. Touchdown USC.

USC 38 - UGA 35

Kickoff. Boykin takes it at goalline, returns it to 29.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 29. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) This play was going to be a screen to Crowell. Clowney jumps inside, and nobody tries to put a hand on him. Cordy Glenn doesn't even seem to notice. Murray sees Clowney too late and doesn't tuck the ball away. Clowney spins him like a top, the ball pops out, and Ingram takes it in for his second score of the day.

USC 45 - UGA 35

Kickoff. Boykin takes it at 22, returns to UGA 38.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 38. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) Murray reads man coverage, takes off on a run of 17.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 45. Shotgun Ace (Crowell) Pocket holds, Murray throws to Crowell on a drag, but he drops it. [FANS ARE LEAVING THE STADIUM?!?!?!?! Dear God, you guys SUCK! I can't believe that with a ten point game, us on their side of the 50, we've already proven we can field an onside kick, we've already proven we can score on them at any time...AND YOU GUYS ARE LEAVING?!?!?!?! I swear before all that is Holy, this team owes NOTHING to YOU. You want them to play their asses off because for some reason they OWE you something and you won't even stay in the stadium for the final three minutes of a close rivalry game? It's a wonder recruits want to come and play ball for you good-for-nothing sorry sacks of $#&*. Did I sum up my feelings on this issue? Good. I'll move on.] 2nd and 10. Shotgun Ace - They send four, and spy Murray. pocket holds. Murray hits Malcolm Mitchell on a short curl. The play gains 12.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 33. Shotgun Ace - Murray unleashes one deep to Tavarres King, who outjumps the USC Corner. TOUCHDOWN GEORGIA!!!

Yeah, and all you jackholes who left the stadium are probably trying to race back in now. Idiots.

USC 45 - UGA 42.

Kickoff - Onside Attempt - Fielded by Ingram. Kid's a great athlete.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 40. 3-4. They bunch us up, and use the pulling blocker to give Lattimore room. Gain of 7. 2nd and 3. 3-4. We crush them at the line and allow pursuit to get there. 3rd and 3. 3-4 They line up in the same unbalanced Ace formation they did on the goal-line. We have to know what's coming. Not surprisingly, Lattimore gets the edge when we run a twist and can't get to him.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 24. Kneel.

Ballgame.

Formation Count:

Shotgun - 11

Under Center - 3 (2 I-Form, 1 Ace)

22 points scored in quarter. In the end, we did better in this game when we were consistently in Shotgun. Sorry, Anti-Bobos...but he seems to know what he's doing.

I'm glad to have watched that game. I will defend this team to anyone who attempts to say a bad word about them. Any no-good fan who decided to leave his/her seat and head for the gates, go ahead and turn in your season ticket packet. You're a Grade-A DB, and don't deserve to wear Red and Black. This kids are playing their hearts out, pushing themselves to the limit, and you repay them by walking out early. RIDICULOUS.

As for the "Fire Richt" camp - anybody who watched that game, and thinks this coaching staff can't coach a team to another Title should have his head examined. This team is going to do some big, big things. Watching them play, they're the best unit we've fielded since 2007...maybe since 2005. I believe Crowell is better than Moreno. I believe our receiving corps (as a whole) tops any that we've had at UGA in a long time. Our Defense has some serious playmakers, and the explosiveness of Boykin and Smith is unrivaled in recent history.

Do not be surprised if this team finishes at 10-2. Stranger things have happened.

Go Dawgs.

UGA - USC Film Study: Quarter Three

2011-09-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad to finally be seeing this. I've been looking forward to it since Saturday. Let's get to it!

Kickoff. High kick taken by Boykin at the 20, returned out to UGA 38.

1st and 10 at UGA 38. I Formation - Murray fumbles snap, falls on ball for 2 yard loss. The play would have been a straight drop-back pass, no play-action. 2nd and 12. Ace Bunch. Jet Sweep to Tavarres King. King makes a move, picks up about 3. 3rd and 9. Shotgun Ace - 5 man rush (double LB blitz, DE drop to mid-zone) picked up. Murray hits Mitchell on a deep curl for a gain of 11.

1st and 10 at midfield. Shotgun Ace - Murray floats a high one towards Crowell downfield, nearly intercepted. Good play by Gilmore not biting inside on the curl. Bobo wanted him to bite since we'd just hit that play for a first down. On the previous play, Samuel had been in the backfield, and stayed in to block. On this one, Crowell was in and released. Gilmore saw it, and made a play on it. 2nd and 10 - I Formation off-tackle right. Blocking is decent in the line, good double teams, but the edge is sealed. Samuel cuts back, completely reversing field and runs away from a gang of tacklers. 18 yard run. Block in the back is called on "#10" (we don't have one on offense, but Wagers is referring to Orson Charles, who definitely shoved a guy in the back when he didn't need to). 10 yard penalty. 2nd and 19 - Shotgun Ace (Boykin at HB) - quick screen to Bennett. Bennett fumbles, but he's ruled down - and upheld on review somehow. 3rd and 18. Shotgun Ace (Boykin) - Sweep to Boykin - gains 10. He could have picked up more, but Dallas Lee dove at the feet of Linebacker #54. Boykin saw the missed block, and had to cut outside. Then, Ben Jones did the same thing at the feet of the same backer. Jones' effort is more effective, but because Boykin has to cut outside, he's cut off just past the original line of scrimmage. 4th and 9 Punt by Butler - 36 yards, out of bounds at 13.

1st down USC at USC 13. We appear to be in a Nickel 3-3-5. Our line get good push...but again, it appears Washington is taking his man on with the wrong shoulder, allowing Lattimore to bounce outside. Jarvis Jones has great backside pursuit though, and slams Lattimore to the turf after a 3 yard gain. 2nd and 7. Now back to the straight 3-4. High snap, looks like a designed QB run to the right but Garcia feigns a simple rollout until both Robinson and Herrera commit. Jones has outside contain, and sets his edge. Looks like it was a blitz call all the way, and Garcia just did what he needed. He cut it up inside of Jones, and past Herrera and Robinson. Basically, it was a poor angle by Herrera that hurt the most. Gain of 22. Flag on the play. Holding? At any rate, 2nd and 11. 3-4 Look again. We blitz all LBs. Either Tyson or Robinson busts here. It's a draw play to Lattimore, but looking at the scheme, Washington is rushing outside, Tyson is on the G, and Robinson takes on the Center. This wouldn't be an issue if Tyson played to the outside shoulder of the G, but he tries to rush inside...most likely it's because he read "pass" and was attempting to simply beat his man. This is why Draws are effective. You get the DL to make a move they shouldn't, and put themselves out of position...then you hand it off and hit them when they're off-balance. Robinson makes the tackle, but Lattimore picks up about 15.

1st and 10 at USC 25. regular 3-4 Abry Jones gets a great jump off the snap, but gets stoned. Still, their line gets no movement on us. Tackle by Chase Vasser and Robinson (Jones and Geathers join in). This play is actually a great representation of what run defense should look like in this alignment. Vasser seals the TE, Tyson and Geathers fit in on either side of the LT, Robinson steps up into the gap between LG and C, Abry Jones fills the gap between C and RG. Herrera has the gap between RG and RT completely shut down, and Jarvis Jones stands the TE up, and has the edge on his own side. This is a single-gap responsibility run defense. They get nothing. 2nd and 10. Regular 3-4 again. Basically a carbon-copy of the previous play by our Defense. They squeeze three yards out. 3rd and 7. Spurrier plays some substitution games, including a kid with no helmet jumping onto the field momentarily. Garcia is out of the game, "wildcat quarterback" in. Nickel 2-4-5 Defense. We give absolutely no respect to the thought of a pass out of this alignment. Robinson blows straight through the line at the snap, is taken on by two blockers, leaving Sean Williams free on the edge. He sets the edge hard against a pulling blocker, forcing the runner inside, directly into Abry Jones. No gain. 4th and 7. Smith takes it at the 25, makes some great moves, but needed one more. 47 yard punt, 32 on the return.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 43. Shotgun Ace - They run a CB blitz, we run a screen to Crowell...great playcall. 23 on the play.

1st and 10 at USC 20. Shotgun Ace - We run a sweep to the left. Crowell starts to outrun his blockers, but cuts it back up inside them. He may have gotten a little more if he had cut up sooner, but he didn't see it. He'll learn to be more patient. (funny enough, the commentator mentions him being a very patient runner moments after I type that last line - and he was patient...just not at the outset) Gain of 3. 2nd and 7. Shotgun Ace - They rush 7, we have 5 in protection. Murray gets this one off cleanly (thank God we didn't call a PA on that one). Pretty good pass out to Wooten across the FDL on a ten-yard in (maybe a dig..I wasn't a receiver) but he drops it. 3rd and 7. Shotgun Ace - Screen again - They rush 5 (DE stunt inside...death when the call is an outside screen), but we block it well (Dallas Lee - BIG BLOCK, son!!). Crowell dives to the pylon, touchdown Georgia!!!

UGA 20 - USC 14

Kickoff. Walsh gets it about 4 yards deep, but they bring it out. Gain out to the 20.

1st and 10 at USC 20. Call it a 3-3-5 (because Washington has his hand in the dirt) We get good push upfield...but the big play comes from Sanders Commings on the CB blitz! SACK! Commings took a great angle, the FB didn't see him til too late, and he brought the WOOD! We benefit from the play-action, where Garcia never gets a backside read. He has to trust his FB to pick up any pressure. Oops. 2nd and 17. Flags fly. False Start. 2nd and 22. (Crowd is finally making some noise. Welcome to the game, kiddies. Glad to have you.) 3-3-5 look again. We get great pressure off both edges, and bring a delayed rush by Robinson. Garcia scrambles and tosses one underhanded towards Lattimore. Incomplete. 3rd and 22. 3-3-5 look. Great pressure from Jarvis Jones, rocks Garcia in the mouth. Garcia gets the pass away to Ace Sanders, but Sanders is out behind the 20. 4th and 12. Punt downed at the UGA 43.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 43. Shotgun Ace - Crowell takes handoff - looks like some kind of Read play. I'm confused, because I see Dallas Lee pull and kick out to the right, but the rest of the blocking doesn't look like any kind of power-right or sweep. Anyway, decently blocked..just not enough space to really get anything going. 2nd and 7. Shotgun Ace - They blitz 2 LBs, Murray gets the throw off - incomplete to Michael Bennett, and the refs call PI.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 42. I Form - Fumble on the handoff to Crowell, ball gets kicked forward, and rolls straight into Gilmore's arms (you've got to be kidding me) Huge return all the way to the UGA 5. Great tackle by Bennett to give his D a chance.

1st and Goal USC at UGA 5. 3-4 look - Robinson is either assigned to spy Garcia, or just makes a fantastic read, as he knifes into the backfield off the edge and wraps him up at the 8. 2nd and Goal - 3-3-5 look. Jones jumps offsides, flags come out. Garcia takes off and makes it into the endzone. The offside killed us. It put Jones far out of position, and opened a huge hole for Garcia. Wow. I'm not certain we would have stopped the play had Jones not jumped, but he would have been in better position to take on a blocker and make it more difficult for Garcia to get through. As it played out, there was one man between Garcia and the endzone, and that man was blocked by Lattimore. (Rambo got a nice shot on Garcia at the goalline...but that's totally moot).

USC 21 - UGA 20

Kickoff. Boykin takes it at the 2, bottled up at the 25.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 21. I-Formation PlayAction - protection "broke down" quick...but it didn't look like the wild scramble by Murray was necessary. We get 2, then lose 10 because of a hold on Chris Burnette. 1st and 20. I Formation - Play Action Max Protect (we have 7 blockers) they bring 6 pass rushers. Pocket holds. Murray throws a wobbly pass toward Orson Charles and Antonio Allen undercuts it, picks it off, and takes it home. The worst part about this play? Israel Troupe was wide open on a 15-yard out route. He fooled Gilmore with a move inside, then cut out. By that time, Murray had already decided on his throw, and wouldn't have seen it. Instead, he tried to squeeze a pass through tight man-coverage, and didn't throw a good enough ball to get it done. The ball was wobbly, and behind Orson, allowing the pick. If Murray had put the ball about three feet more to the left, Allen would not have been able to get to it, and we either would have had a big play, or a second-and-long. Instead, touchdown South Carolina.

USC 28-UGA 20

Kickoff. Taken by Boykin at the 2, returned to the 12.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 12. Shotgun Ace. Short pass over to Tavarres King on what looks like a short hook route of some sort. It's a little interesting...he runs the route, then just does a few little crow-hops inside as their DB moves to the flats. (By the way - this is the kind of pass many Bobo-haters say doesn't exist in the UGA playbook) Gain of 7. 2nd and 3. Shotgun Ace - Simple post to Malcom Mitchell. 12 yard gain.

1st and 10 at UGA 31. Shotgun Ace - they rush 5, Murray floats it out quick to Marlon Brown in the flats. 3-yard pass, Brown turns it into an 8 yard gain. 2nd and 2. Shotgun Ace - quick pass out to Samuel in the flats. 7 yard gain for a 1st down.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 46

End of 3rd Quarter, USC 28-UGA 20.

Ok, I've now watched three quarters of this game, and I have absolutely no idea how anyone can say that South Carolina is more talented or has outplayed us on either offense or defense. On Special Teams they had a huge play, and we had a great play nullified, so give them the edge there on execution, fine. But our offense is beating up their defense, and our defense has surrendered 2 scores - one on a 5-yard drive. So...yeah, I'm not buying it.

This is terrible - it's like the Kentucky game two years ago. I know the outcome, and I still can't believe it. Watching this game, I simply can not believe we don't end up winning it.

Formation Count -

Under Center - 6 (5 I-formation, 1 Ace)

Shotgun - 13

The only score we have in quarter 3 comes on an all-shotgun drive. Out of I-Formation, we give up a fumble that goes back to the 5, and a pick-6. For all you Bobo-and-Richt haters out there, I don't think that's "REAL GEORGIA FOOTBALL."

On Defense, we're doing a great job of mixing in blitzes and confusing the hell out of Garcia. The offense is asking alot of the the D in this game by giving the ball up. The score of this game could easily be 27-14 at this point, in favor of UGA. Unbelievable. Moving into the 4th quarter...

For those interested in Dan Mullen...

2011-09-12T09:34:00.001-07:00

I submit this: For 59:30, the MSU gamplan had been to run a shotgun-based read-option game. They had racked up enough points using that offense to be only one score back of Auburn in the waning moments. They had picked up first down after first down, and scored touchdown after touchdown out of that offense.

With the ball on the two yard line, and a time out remaining, Mullen goes to the I-Formation and attempts a power run which is stuffed and MSU is forced to call their final timeout with 10 seconds remaining. They're on the 2 yardline. They have 10 seconds. Conventional wisdom says, you can get two plays in if the first is a pass. I mean, if you want to bang it in, fine...but you could try something else FIRST and then resort to the run after...because if you run the ball, the game is over...win or lose. If you throw it, you can bail yourself out.

Mullen calls an I-Formation Option play which is stuffed at the goal-line, and time runs out.

This is the coach that people think could do a better job running the Georgia Football Program.

I mean, so many folks hate Bobo for not adhering to what works...but at least he does his experimentation throughout the game. You're not gonna find him "trying something out" on the 2 yard line, down by 7, with 10 seconds to go. Mullen tried to "Man Up" and "Get Tough" against Auburn....a team whose D-Line is much more accustomed to that style of play than MSU's is.

Playcalls like that definitely don't win you titles. I'll keep Mark Richt, thanks.

Go Dawgs.

2nd Half Film Study still to follow

2011-09-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Dawgfans! Sorry for the delay in getting the film study of the 2nd half up. I still haven't seen it...and even though I know the sour results, I'm really looking forward to the avalanche of points we put on the board. If you haven't had a chance to view the Film study of the first and second quarters, click on the links to the right and check 'em out.

It's funny how many comments I've read after this game talking about Bobo's abandonment of the I-Formation. The Under-Center to Shotgun ratio was about 50/50 in the first half. Now, like I said, I haven't seen the second half yet....but I don't get the point-of-view given what I've seen.

It is odd that we were heavily in the I in the first quarter, and then heavily in shotgun in the second....but you can also say that we scored a touchdown out of shotgun in the second, and that was the only TD we scored in the half.

Anyway, I'll post the third and fourth quarters this evening. You East Coast folk will probably have to wait til tomorrow morning to read 'em since I'm in Los Angeles.

'Til then (or until I see something else that fires me up and inspires another post today),

GO DAWGS!

UGA - USC Film Study: Quarter Two

2011-09-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, we didn't get all we wanted out of the first quarter, but we do have a six-point lead, the ball in their territory, we haven't turned it over, and we've bottled up their offense. I'd say most Georgia fans right now feel pretty good about progress made in week 2. We've seen some explosive plays, more "REAL GEORGIA FOOTBALL" playcalling (in quotes because it's a dumb term, in caps because I've heard and read this dumb term too many times to count) and much improved run-blocking from the O-line. Most probably believe that we're on the verge of flipping the lights on and really running away with it.

SO WHY IS THE STADIUM SO QUIET??!?! Seriously, on USC's third downs, I've hardly heard anything out of the fans. I can't believe Sanford isn't rocking. So many fans are ready to call out the manhood of the players, and they themselves aren't willing to get up and make any noise? That is the saddest commentary on the state of the football program at the moment - the fanship is lackluster. There, I said it.

Now, on to quarter 2.

3rd and 3 UGA at the USC 31. Shotgun bunch formation with Crowell taking the snap. Crowell runs it right, leaps for the 1st down across the 25.

1st and 10 UGA - I-Formation - Figgins motions to make it Weak-I right. Crowell takes handoff makes the read inside and gets 3. 2nd and 7. Shotgun Ace. Handoff to Boykin. He gets 8, but it looks like while Lee and Jones are pulling, Jones doesn't get his head around fast enough to see a man he could block on the inside. I don't know the exact assignments, but it appears that Jones should have blocked the LB coming from the inside, to allow a cutback lane. 3rd and 2 at USC 16. Shotgun Ace, Boykin in at HB. USC rushes 4, pocket holds. Murray throws into double-coverage and behind Marlon Brown. He locked in on Brown the whole time. Ball is tipped and nearly picked. Boykin was open on a swing-pass dump off for the first. Send out the FG team. Walsh shanks it. 33-yd FG no good.

1st and 10 USC at USC 20 (by rule, after a missed FG from inside the 20, ball gets placed at the 20) Toss-sweep shut down by Mike Gilliard for a gain of only 2. 2nd and 8. Penalty USC, 2nd and 13. They try a screen, Jarvis Jones blows it up. Gain of 1. 3rd and 11. Garcia escapes pressure, picks up 10. 4th and 1. Teams swap timeouts. USC calls another. Jesus. Punt team comes on. Huge kick. Fair Catch at 12. 60 yard punt.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 12. Shotgun Ace - Sweep Left, Crowell gets strung out to sideline, gain of 1. What happened here is that Charles picked up a hard inside rush by the DE, and did it well...but in the wash, Jones couldn't get out and onto the linebacker. If he had, Crowell would have been able to cut upfield. Instead, LB #45 strung the play out. 2nd and 9. Shotgun Ace - Playaction-sweep Bootleg screen call. 7-man rush by USC. Glenn gets beat bad inside by Jadaveon Clowney, but this play never had a chance. In actuality, it's the blitz by #21 that kiss the play. Had he not blitzed, Murray had room on his boot, and no one was watching Crowell on the screen. Still, five guys to block seven on a slow-developing play, not a chance. Good playcall by USC, as they had not blitzed often. Murray gets leveled by Clowney at the 5. 3rd and 16. Shotgun Ace - handoff to Crowell for a gain of 5. Crowd boos the playcall. Shame on all of you. 4th and 11. 46-yard punt, Sanders is bottled up after a 3 yard return.

1st and 10 USC at USC 47. We blow up their line, but Commings misses a tackle in the backfield. He trips Lattimore, who gets 6. 2nd and 4 at UGA 47. Center snaps it without Garcia being ready. 3rd and 3 at UGA 46. We crash inside, again it's Cornelius Washington giving up the outside containment when the LB is already filling the gap. As a result, Lattimore has a free run outside. He gains about 9.

1st down USC at UGA 38. We stuff the middle, Lattimore bounces it outside for about 3 yards. Again, Washington appears too quick to jump inside. 2nd and 7. Four man rush. Washington beats his man, but can't get to Garcia who rolls right. He throws a high one up for Jeffrey, and Brandon Smith falls as he defends. Touchdown South Carolina.

USC 7 - UGA 6

Kickoff. Boykin takes it a yard deep and breaks a few tackles on a 36 yard return.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 36. Shotgun ace. Mitchell in motion. Jet Sweep to Mitchell. Strung out to sideline. Richard Samuel leaves his feet on an attempted block and falls to the ground. This trips Bean, preventing him from getting to his block. All in all, our linemen couldn't get out and get on the blocks that would have opened this play up. No gain. 2nd and 10. Shotgun Ace - Bean leans back before the snap, 5 yard penalty. 2nd and 14 - I Formation Play-Action, pocket breaks down immediately because of hard speed rush by both DE. Murray tucks it and runs for 23 yards.

1st and 10 at USC 45. I Formation. Looks like a Power off-tackle to Samuel. Linebacker follows pulling guard to the ball and cuts him down after gain of 3. 2nd and 7. I Formation - ISO play right. Samuel rumbles for a ten-yard gain.

1st and 10 at USC 35. I Formation. Handoff to Samuel. Blitzing LB misses him 3 yards deep. Decent blocking at the onset, but Samuel runs into Dallas Lee, then gains 2. 2nd and 8. I Formation. Ogletree Motions into Weak-I. Handoff to Crowell. This play fails because of Anderson and Burnette. It appears that Bean and Burnette don't get their call together, and both try to block the same DE. As a result, Zander is forced to pick up the OLB, and no one blocks Gilmore. This forces Crowell to cut up, and Taylor, the DE, is able to make the play. 3rd and 6. Shotgun Ace with Boykin at HB. Four-man rush, pocket holds. Murray goes deep for a wide-open Wooten, 26 yards for the TD!

UGA 13 - USC 7.

Kickoff. ONSIDE KICK RECOVERED BY UGA!!!!! It's called offside. I've run this play back about 12 times, and it does not look like he was offsides. If anything, too close to throw the flag. Penn Wagers can lick my *(#* %Y*(# and then U%() my *%(Y(% and of course, he should also &Y*(% my (*)&*()% and stick his %&()$ up a horse's %*((&()$ and &Y(*)%()#&*)($*(&^finger &%*()&()# until he's too tired to continue.

Kickoff. Returned to USC 29.

1st and 10 USC at USC 29. Garcia tries the quick-out again, dropped. 2nd and 10. Corner blitz by Boykin. Garcia is able to get it away, but gets dragged down. 3rd and 10. We blitz heavy - Sulek and Williams off the left side. Williams just misses getting there. Garcia gets a short completion off to Ace Sanders. 4th and 7. They run a fake punt. There has been much rabble about this. "How could we give one up after the Sugar Bowl against WVU?" Well...let's see, 4th and 7 at their own 33, and we know there's no way they can stop us from that close. No one would have seen it coming. It was a great play call. That being said, we were in position to make the play, and didn't. Derrick Owens made a terrible play at the ballcarrier. He dove straight at the big man's feet instead of taking him, or a blocker on. He took himself out of the play, and effectively cut off two Dawgs who were in pursuit. This happened BEHIND THE LOS. If he even slows #6 down at all, the play fails. He didn't, it succeeded - big time. Then, down the field, Boykin does the same thing. TD South Carolina.

USC 14 - UGA 13.

Kickoff. Fair catch at UGA 32.

1st down UGA at UGA 32. Shotgun Ace - Screen is set up very well, but Murray floats the ball too high for Crowell, it falls incomplete. 2nd and 10. Shotgun Ace. Murray tucks and runs, gains 2. Didn't look like a designed draw, but he had green. 3rd and 8. Shotgun Ace. Timeout UGA. 3rd and 8. Shotgun Ace. Checkdown to Samuel dropped. 4th and 8. Punt. Fair Catch at USC 24.

1st and 10 USC at USC 24. Delayed handoff to Lattimore. Jarvis on a twist, runs right past Lattimore. Gain of 16.

1st and 10 USC at USC 40. Fake the delay, attempt a screen. Cornelius Washington knocks the pass down. 2nd and 10. We run a double-twist with a QB spy up front. Sack by Christian Robinson. 3rd and 13. Three-man rush, zone coverage. Sulek can't match up with Alshon Jeffrey.

1st and 10 USC at UGA 43. Clock play. 2nd and 10. Garcia under duress, throws a bomb. It's tipped around at the line, intercepted by Brandon Boykin who immediately kneels it at the one. It's probably a smart play, and probably too much to ask that Boykin try to run it back...but darn it, that woulda been cool to see.

Halftime Score: USC 14- UGA 13.

Formation Selection:

Under Center - 6

Shotgun - 13.

So, we scored an actual touchdown in this quarter, and it came out of a shotgun formation...after five straight I-Formation plays in a row (two of which had resulted in first down, but the last two of which had been stuffed). So, what we have here is an OC who changed from what wasn't working to something else, and a touchdown was the result. We also had a missed fieldgoal from a guy who should be "automatic" inside of 40 yards. Is Blair Walsh suffering from the ol' "Senior Slump"? There was also a big special teams breakdown, and a big special teams success nullified by an offsides call which was very marginal. (In all fairness, you could really argue that call either way. It certainly looked like Walsh's foot struck the ball before Rambo's foot touched the grass, but I can't know for sure.) Such is life...and unfortunately for the Dawgs of recent, such is repetitive.

Back with 2nd half film study later. For now, I'm gonna eat!

Go Dawgs!

UGA - USC Film Study: Quarter One

2011-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

Opening Kickoff: We win the toss (hey, we're 2-0 on that this year) and elect to kick (always my choice...wtf against Boise State?) Touchback.

USC 1st and ten at the 20. Inside run to Lattimore - Our D-Line gets good movement, stop Lattimore for 3 yard gain. Geathers with the stop. 2nd and 7. We bring safety blitz, force Garcia to dump ball off. (Lucky he did, as Vance and Herrera both get sucked in on Play Action and leave a man open over the middle. 3rd and 1. Bad camera angle to start play... Tyson gets good penetration, but Washington gets stoned by tackle. Lattimore starts right, but Tyson cuts that off. Lattimore is able to squeeze the play back to the left and get the first.

1st and 10 at USC 32. Four man rush. We run a twist on the line, but it's too slow to develop. Washington is the last man off the ball - not something we want to see out of a speed-rusher on the edge. Garcia has time, misses Ace Sanders on the out. 2nd and 10. Four man rush again. Washington makes an inside move and gets washed. Garcia rolls out right, throws on the run and misses - looks like a throw-away. 3rd and 10 - Georgia runs a blitz, bringing Commings from the corner, and sending Sulek around his outside. Sulek is redirected by RB, can't get to Garcia in time, but Garcia misses badly. Incomplete. 4th and 10. Punt - Smith attempts to field the rolling ball, bobbles and falls on it.

1st and 10 UGA at Georgia 18. I Formation - Our line fires off, crushes their D-line. Huge hole. Samuel rushes for 12 yards.

1st and 10 at Georgia 30. I Formation - Weak-side toss to Samuel. Dallas Lee pulls, doesn't make a great block on the DE. Looks as if he was off-balance. Samuel has to redirect, backside pursuit is able to catch him. The rest of the OL is on the other side of the LOS. 2nd and 11. I-Form playaction. Max protect fake - meaning it's a 3-man route to start. All 3 are covered, as USC has 7 in coverage. HB and FB escape late, Murray looks to run, pulls up and throws a check-down to Figgins. Gain of 2. 3rd and 9. Shotgun, single back. Bean gets beat on an outside rush at the snap, Murray is lucky not to get sacked. He scrambles for one yard. The basic problem for Bean on this one is that he doesn't really move at the snap - he takes a small step with his outside foot, but doesn't get any depth, or any lateral movement. This allows the DE to blow past him. Easily could have been a holding call. 4th and 8. Punt. Butler knocks it 53 yards - fair catch. Butler is run into, but it looks like the guy was blocked into him. No call.

(Russ looks sleepy)

1st and ten USC at USC 15 - Deep handoff to Lattimore - we beat them at the point of attack, but Washington gets turned inside. The issue here is that in Grantham's 3-4, each man has 1 gap to take care of. At the snap of the ball, Christian Robinson makes a read and flies into the gap between G and T. That means Washington is responsible for outside contain. He gets forced inside, Lattimore is able to make the read and the cut outside. Lattimore gets 12.

1st and 10 at USC 27. Our D stands them up at the LOS, Lattimore is able to get about 3. 2nd and 7. Play-action. Four-man rush with another twist at the Nose. Garcia hits Jeffrey over the middle. Looks like we were in a man-under cover 2 - both ILBs stepped up to defend runningbacks, Commings turns his back to the line and runs deep with the wideout, Boykin stays with Ace Sanders. Williams and Rambo are playing deep 1/2s. If that's the case, I don't understand why Smith didn't go with Jeffrey when Jeffrey made his cut. Watched it 10 times. Definitely a bust by Smith. Still, Rambo makes a sure tackle.

1st and 10 at USC 44 - Fake HB sweep left, toss R to WR (nice playcall). Commings makes great play on the block of Jeffrey, blows the play up at LOS. He saw it all the way. 2nd and 10. Shotgun - quick pass. Their whole O-line cut-blocks our Dline. Garcia's pass is too high for Jeffrey. 3rd and 10. Shotgun. Washington almost jumps offside, but stalls, then blows past their OT to force another bad throw by Garcia. 4th and 10. Punt - fair catch at 15. Antonia Allen runs into him, 15 yard penalty. Penn Wagers has to call the penalty, and you can see a little piece of him die inside.

(That litter of bulldog puppies is too cute!)

1st and 10 UGA at UGA 30. Ace formation - We blow them off the ball, Crowell makes a couple good cuts, gets 15 yards.

1st and 10 at UGA 45. Ace Formation - Same play, Crowell breaks a tackle, cuts it back, picks up close to 30.

1st and 10 at USC 26. I-Formation - We run a lead play to the weak side. The hole is there, but the LB cuts Figgins' legs out from under him - Figgins didn't get low enough, they pile up in the hole and Samuel is unable to hurdle them successfully. He sommersaults to the ground after a gain of 3. 2nd and 7. I-Formation. We snap it before they're ready and drive the whole line backwards. Pickup of 4. 3rd and 3. Shotgun-single back (?) Bean gets beat, this time on an inside move and Murray throws a poor pass as he his hit. Murray double-clutched this one. If he had thrown it when he initially wanted to, it's most likely a first-down to Wooten. Instead, he's hit, it's incomplete, it's 4th down. We send out the fieldgoal unit. 37 yard FG good.

Kickoff. Touchback. Love it.

1st and 10 USC at USC 20. - Zone-read fake, quick pass out to Alshon Jeffrey. We had a Corner blitz on. They get 8. 2nd and 2. Garcia rolls out right, Tries to hit Jeffrey on the come-back, but Bacarri Rambo picks it off!

1st and 10 UGA at USC 42. - Ace Formation - Ben Jones gets destroyed at the snap, driven back 3 yards. Crowell has nowhere to go. Makes his first move 3 yards in backfield, carries a few men across the 40. 2nd and 8 - Shotgun Ace - sweep to Crowell, gain of 13.

1st and 10 at USC 27. - Shotgun Ace - Murray throws over the head of TK. Slight pressure by DE, but Samuel blocked him pretty well. 2nd and 10. I-Formation - Right side of line doesn't get much movement. Samuel gains 1.5, but runs into the LBs there. He may have had a little crease to the left, but didn't see it. Call it 3rd and 9. Shotgun Ace - Draw to Crowell. Backside LB comes on blitz, is able to track Crowell down and trip him. Nothing but green in front of him. Frustrating gain of 5. 4th and 4. Send out Walsh. 39-yd FG good.

Kickoff. Touchback. Can't get much better.

1st and 10 USC at USC 20. Our D-Line stones them, stuffs Lattimore at LOS. 2nd and 10. Garcia throws high, Boykin drops a pick-6. 3rd and 10. Cornelius Washington misses a tackle in the backfield, but Robinson and Smith bring Lattimore down before he can reach the 1st. 4th and 2. Snapper rolls the ball to the punter, fair catch called.

1st and 10 UGA at UGA37. I-Formation play-action to Figgins, gain of 29.

1st and 10 UGA at USC 38. I-Form, Iso Handoff to Samuel, Nose-tackle gets into the A-gap, either Jones doesn't chip him, or Chris Burnette doesn't cut him off. Otherwise, play was there. 2nd and 10. I Form - run the Iso to the right. Samuel loses his balance when he tries to avoid an oncoming defender. Down at 31. 3rd and 3.

End of First Quarter. UGA 6 - USC 0. Russ looks ready to nap.

Formation selection -

13 snaps under center, 9 from I-Formation.

4 Shotgun plays

Someone said to me that Richt is too conservative, that we should have gone for the 4th down plays instead of kicking field goals. I disagree. Neither of those 4th down-and-distance calls were close to a "lock" as a first-down, and neither time would failure have given the opposing team terrible field position. If it's 4th and 3 at the 5, maybe you go for it....but at the 25, you don't. At the 31, you don't - especially if you got the ball on a turnover. You ALWAYS want points after a turnover. 30-40 yard kicks should be gimmies. The shorter kicks can actually be harder depending on the angle. This is why you see coaches less likely to go for it on 4th from between their 20 and 30 yardlines if the distance to gain is 3 yards or more.

UGA-USC Film Study...Opening Thoughts

2011-09-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me go ahead and put this out there - I have not yet seen one second of the UGA-USC game. I was at work while the game was played, and I have not watched any sportscenter. If it weren't for the fact that I received zero texts complaining about our uniforms, I wouldn't even know that we'd gone with the classic red hats and red-on-silver. All I know is that once again, we failed to get it done.

However, I can say that our team definitely played better this week than last. Our defense gave up 24 points, and while that is not the mark of an elite group, that's eleven points better than last week. And, in actuality, it's markedly less than our offense achieved, 42 points. Still, the job of the defense is to prevent the other offense from getting into the endzone, and three times they failed at that job....and the "most costly" of those came in the fourth quarter. I put that term in quotes because in actuality, a first quarter td hurts just as much as a fourth quarter touchdown, though the perception is always different.

For whatever reason, Georgia just isn't a team that gets the job done right now. That pains me as a former player, and it pains me as a fan.

But, it will not prevent me from saying we'll go 10-2 this year. Glad we went ahead and got those losses out of the way.

Go Dawgs.

I'm not going to predict a USC victory.

2011-09-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to. I know that right now, that's the "in" thing for the UGA bloggers to do. Right now, it's hip and cool to hate on Mark Richt and this team. Right now it's very "trendy" to pick against the Dawgs because at the end of the day, what matters isn't whether the team wins or loses, but how much face you can save as a prognosticator, right?

Idiots.

Morons.

Turncoats.

I won't do it. I'm not going to pick South Carolina. And, I'm not going to "not" pick South Carolina just to not pick them, I'm not going to pick them because I think Georgia is going to win. What's more - I'm going to think Georgia is going to win every game from now until the end of the season. I can promise you, if we are 0-8, I'm gonna pick us to win the 9th...and if we lose the 9th, I'm gonna pick us to win #10. Why? Because I understand one very simple, very fundamental thing that too many bloggers today are forgetting.

We don't know $#!t about the future. I can line up all kinds of reasons why South Carolina should bowl over us, and I can hammer out in-depth analysis on games in the series, games by Georgia after a loss, Mark Richt's record when there's a light rain on Friday evening, and his left shoelace is untied. (Ok, maybe I don't do THAT much research) I could also spout off numbers about how successful this defense has been against the run, and how terrible the USC secondary has appeared. I could use every tool at my disposal, and be just as wrong as if I threw a dart at a wall painted in Garnet and White on one side, and Red and Black on the other.

So, I'm gonna side with Georgia. I'm a Georgia fan. I'm a Georgia man. I'm not going to let one stupid loss to Boise, or a terribly played bowl game, or successive years of backsliding pull me from that. And I am DAMN SURE not going to root for us to lose just so we can fire Mark Richt.

At this point, it has nothing to do with faith or belief or any of that. The Georgia Bulldogs are not a supernatural being who will forgive my Sins. They are not a dust-sprinkling fairy who needs me to clap. The Georgia Bulldogs are a football team, and I for one hope they win every game from here on out. I hope they smash AL or AU or LSU or MSU in the SECCG, and then win whatever bowl. And then, I hope that the first words out of Mark Richt's mouth at the podium afterwards are:

"I told you I knew what the hell I was doing!"

Go Dawgs.

Did Mark Richt lose his hairbrush in 2005?

2011-09-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know many of you are very puzzled as to the subject line of this one. But, I had a very strange thought earlier....

2005 - The last of the "Great" seasons under Richt (I've explained previously why 2007 is not included...and if you haven't been a longtime reader of my blog, hit the navigation bar over on the right and do some research!). The team drops a close Florida game (due to DJ's injury) en-route to an SEC Title game appearance against LSU.
We beat Lester Miles and Company, and earn a berth to the Sugar Bowl. Is it possible that this simple fact was the undoing of Mark Richt as the Head Coach at UGA?

I offer you this: At some point during the week leading up to the Sugar Bowl, an operative in the team hotel (and an LSU fan to boot) absconded with Mark Richt's hairbrush, or perhaps just a few locks from its bristles. The hair was then air-freighted to Baton Rouge, fashioned into a voodoo doll of some sort and a curse was levied against Mark Richt for the remainder of his tenure in Athens.

You may recall, the Sugar Bowl was displaced due to damage at the Superdome sustained during Hurricane Katrina, and was played at the Georgia Dome instead. This means that the Dawgs had to return to the scene of their victory over LSU - and the place where the cosmic spirits would be most surely aligned against them - "Returning to the scene of the crime", as it were. During the first half, the Dawgs came out and laid a fat egg on the field at the Georgia Dome, but against all Creole odds, fought back to within striking distance. Then, the curse took hold, and the Dawgs somehow allowed a fake punt to beat them when everyone who'd ever heard of the sport of football could tell you the fake was coming.

2006 - The team plays like a group of kids lost in the wilderness. After enough damage is done, they storm through the end of their schedule, giving the UGA faithful hope for a renewed glory.

2007 - Georgia uncharacteristically loses to South Carolina and follows that up with a complete dismantling at the hands of a not-very-great Tennessee team who uses a cunning deployment of play-action rollouts (sneaky sneaky) to dominate. Again, Georgia storms back at the end of the season, but is looked over in favor of ...wait for it....LSU when the BCS ballots are counted. Still, with Richt in charge and the strong finish, Fans believe 2008 will be a year they've all waited for.

2008 - The Dawgs begin the season at #1, yet after winning 4 straight games, slide in the polls before being crushed by Alabama at home. Surprisingly, the Dawgs are able to beat the Death Valley curse, and whip the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. Some would go on to say that this was purely because Jarret Lee himself is the most cursed player in college football, after he bookends the game with Pick-Sixes to Darryl Gamble. The difference in the game? 14 points. Early damage lasted, though, as the Dawgs drop two more games in the second half of the season (including Richt's only loss to Georgia Tech), and suffer through the kind of losses to injury usually reserved for undermanned batallions on the battlefield.

2009 - Newly annointed "Team Player" Joe Cox tosses the ball to the defense almost as often as the endzone, and the Dawgs are unable to muster any kind of true challenge in the SEC east. Notably awful is a loss to Kentucky whose 2nd half comeback is likely considered "miraculous" in Lexington...but looks awfully more like "accursed" in Athens. Even worse is a penalty levied against AJ Green for "excessive celebration. This penalty occurs during a game against...LSU...and defines what will become a forgettable season of mistakes.

2010 - The bad gets worse as Georgia loses its best offensive playmaker for four games at the start of the season to possibly the weakest NCAA investigation of all time. A spell appears to have been cast over the defense which makes receivers running wheel-routes completely invisible. A young quarterback looks amazing against low-level talent, but consistently falters against winning teams - call it a "big game" curse, if you'd like. Still, the young talent on both sides of the ball gives hope of a better future.

2011 - Well, it sure ain't started well.

I'm just saying...if there's some bad ju-ju floating around, we might want to find out who was working at the team hotel in Atlanta back in 2005.

Go Dawgs!

**** FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY - NOT TO BE CONSUMED BY THOSE WHO MIGHT THINK FOR SOME REASON THAT I ACTUALLY BELIEVE THIS. NOT EVERYTHING I WRITE IS FROM AN ANALYTICAL STANDPOINT. THIS ONE WAS FOR FUN****

Give Sulek his due.

2011-09-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Much attention has been paid to the fact that Jeremy Sulek, a walk-on, was called on to play in place of injured Alec Ogletree this week.

Let me explain something to you - first off, just because a kid is a walk-on doesn't mean he's not talented. The kid finished with 7 tackles on the day, and that's nothing to sneeze at. In fact, over in South Carolina, they're applauding the 7-tackle debut of Jadeveon Clowney. Also, throughout the entirety of Coach Richt's tenure in Athens, there have been walk-ons who have made good.

JT Wall, walk-on.

Verron Haynes, walk-on.

Tra Battle, walk-on.

Reuben Faloughi, walk-on.

There have been others, naturally...but these are four who have done much more than simply been "every now and again" guys. Sometimes a kid just slides under the radar. Coaches aren't known for just tossing in walk-ons for no reason.

Case in point...2000 - I was the fifth Defensive End on the team. Charles Grant, Josh Mallard, Bruce Adrine and Demetric Evans all played in front of me. Nic Clemons was a true freshman, as were Will Thompson and Arnold Harrison. Clemons, Thompson and Harrison were redshirting. I can promise you, without a hint of doubt, that if all four of the players in front of me had gone down with injuries, I would still have been on the sideline. I can promise you that. Redshirts would have been burned, or positions changes would have happened. Why? Because our team would have been better off with four defensive tackles, or with one of the highly-talented freshmen in the position than with me. The guys on the other side of the ball were simply far bigger, and though I played with a lot of passion and a lot of intelligence, I wasn't going to hold my own for 60 minutes against guys who outweighed me by 100 lbs.

I say all of that to say this - If Sulek is the guy who gives us the best chance to win, then what does it matter that the kid is a walk-on? "Sulek did not hold any scholarship offers..." who cares? Perhaps he didn't grow into his body until he was 20 years old. I have no idea. Now, is he as naturally gifted as Amarlo Herrera? Probably not. But, if Amarlo Herrera isn't running the defense we're calling, will his talent matter?

Counter Point: There were a few plays on Saturday when Sulek was a bit confused about his coverages. Now, is it possible that if Herrera had been the one making the mistakes, he could have made a better recovery? Sure, that's possible. But, I'll take the less naturally-gifted kid who's in the right place 85% of the time over the highly-talented kid who is only in the right place 50% of the time.

Of course, this will cause the fanbase to argue: "But Dukes! We're GEORGIA! We should never be in a position where an injury to a safety-turned-linebacker leaves us without another high-quality athlete ready to step in. Our talent-base, history, and resources should always produce enough high-level recruits to never deal with that kind of dropoff." To this, I have to agree. And, in an ideal world, America doesn't suffer 10% unemployment, a tank of gas doesn't cost me a month's rent, and ice cream is a perfectly acceptable diet food. The fact remains that we are in the position we're in. We lost two linebackers (Dowtin, Samuel) as a result of off-season moves, and we apparently don't do nearly as much cross-training as I thought we did in the linebacking corps. Still, we are in the position we're in. As such, it is the coaching staff's responsibility to find the answer. And believe it or not, they do know a hell of a lot more about this game and this team than any of us do.

So, I'll defer to them. Coach Grantham has said he is in the practice of fielding the 11 players who give us the best chance to win. If one of those 11 is Jeremy Sulek, then damnit, support the kid and cheer him loudly. Another walk-on making good - proud to see it.

Go Dawgs!

But why not just run right over Boise State?

2011-09-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is a thought that has haunted me since the opening snap (false start) against Boise. Why did we not just blow them off the ball and shove it down their throats? I don't understand it. I don't understand how we didn't line up, keep our pads low, and drive them backwards.

I play NCAA12 by EA sports. Now, aside from the game being horribly glitchy and an overall awful representation of what a finished product should be, it does a few things right. Namely, it does a great job of imitating Alabama's running scheme. The Alabama OL on that game is enormous, and they basically drive straight forward and pancake the defensive line. It's "video game football" at its best. My question - if we're gonna line up in Video Game unis, why not play video game football? Why would we not just pound the other team senseless?

Going into the game, I had a feeling we would pound the ball between the tackles, then, when the defense was tired, start firing it downfield to our speedy receivers. Doesn't that make sense? Would it be perfectly reasonable to expect our team to work to its strength and size, and then, only after we've tired the other guys out, start to beat them up in space? I think it makes sense. Apparently not. Apparently, the smart thing to do is come out in shotgun and try to run counters and traps, because the defense is "expecting" the pounding. This will catch them off guard and create success.

Ridiculous.

I believe I said in a blog last year that I believe in grabbing hold of a style of play, getting good at it, and then riding it until someone else can stop it. That's what the best teams do. You're not gonna see Oregon come out in a Power-I in the national title game because they've been running the spread all year, and Auburn would be ready for that. It's just plain dumb.

When you're bigger, stronger, and faster, be the bully. That's what I wanted to see - bully football. I didn't need pulling guards coming around and assisting on a block, only to completely avoid an untouched man in the middle of the hole. I didn't need to see a handoff six yards deep in the backfield instead of a dive where we rock guys off the line of scrimmage.

But, I don't make gameplans. No, I just complain about them.

To be fair to Mike Bobo, I don't think there's any way he could have imagined Aaron Murray would play so poorly. Let's be honest - the majority of Murray's mistakes were not due to a heavy pass rush. The majority of his mistakes weren't due to receivers letting him down. The majority of Murray's mistakes came as a result of his inability to produce under pressure. This game had a lot of hype on it. All eyes were on Murray. The gameplan was apparently geared toward letting him distribute the ball and make things happen...to take pressure off the tailbacks. But, the QB - supposedly the one absolute "sure thing" on the offense - did not hold up his end of the bargain. As an OC, you don't plan for that. You don't plan for your Freshman-All SEC and Pre-Season All-SEC QB to lay a fat steamer on the field at the dome.

That's the only explanation I have. Bobo must have built his gameplan around the wrong assumption - that when all else fails, Murray will deliver. He didn't. We lost.

Go Dawgs.

There's no reason to believe it will happen...

2011-09-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

But I began to think about something today. Richt is 2-9 in his last 11 outings against Ranked opponents. Provided this season spins on a dime, and the Dawgs smack USC in the mouth, and provided they get a real run going and make it through the SEC title game, we could face as many as 6 top 25 teams between now and the end of the bowls. Winning those puts him at 8-9. Still a losing record, but how much better would we feel at that point?

A guy can dream.

Go Dawgs.

Richard Samuel starts again, and the blognation goes stupid.

2011-09-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading about the Dawgs, generally speaking. I enjoy fan criticisms, generally speaking. But, I tire quickly of reading a culture of sheep following the most incendiary of talking points right off the cliffs of insanity.

Isaiah Crowell played well on Saturday, but please - don't annoint him. When I saw his statement after the game: "I couldn't have played any better," I began to question him a bit. I mean, I get it. He's 18, he's a bit arrogant, and he thinks the world is his. I understand that. I played with some guys like that. Of course, we didn't win championships at UGA back then, so I don't fly the "played with guys like that" banner proudly.

If Crowell honestly believes he couldn't have played any better, then he deserves to be ranked #2 in the pecking order, if for no other reason than to put it in his head that he in fact COULD have played better. I honestly don't know how many people read my blog, or bothered to check out the extensive work I did on the play-by-play recount of the game. So, if you didn't, let me give you a quick run-down - Crowell's vision was less than stellar. He did make some good reads, and some good hard runs. He also left some yards on the field. More than once he didn't see how blocks were setting up, and cut into the wrong hole, or cutback when bouncing outside was the better option. In the moment, it's hard to see everything, so I'm not knocking the kid too hard. Still, to say "I couldn't have played any better" is just plain stupid.

It sounds like he's saying with better blocking, he would have been vastly more successful. There are some instances where that is likely very true. There are also instances where the blocking was there, and he didn't follow it. Then there was that blitz on which he whiffed. I'm not certain that is was the same play...but it looked a whole hell of a lot like the Washaun Whiff versus Arkansas. There were other pass plays when he picked up his man quite well. He's definitely still learning and is an obvious talent, but there may be some attitude issues to work on.

So, Samuel will get the start. Maybe the gameplan versus South Carolina will be different. Maybe we're going to line up and try to play powerball. I still don't understand why we didn't do that against Boise. You're not going to sell me on "our RBs are unproven, so put it in Murray's hands." I'm sorry, I like Aaron Murray - I think he's got a ton of heart. But, he's 6-8 as a starter, and has won zero big games. He hasn't flourished against good teams, and he hasn't led the team to anything. He beat up on some bad teams, and had limited success against good ones.

Our line was a question mark coming into Boise....well, what is it now? Looks like an exclamation point, as in "Oh, Crap!"

Remember how excited we were a week ago at the prospect of the I-Formation combo of Samuel and Figgins running behind a mammoth line? Maybe we'll actually see some of that this week.

Or maybe we can line 4 DBs in the backfield and play "who wants to run the ball"?

Go Dawgs.

PS - "Starting" really doesn't mean much when your backs are in a constant rotation.

It wasn't a reverse, it wasn't a counter...it was a basic sweep.

2011-09-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have seen so many things written about Boykin's run, ignoring completely what it was. People are trying to make it into some trick play, something that was completely out of the gameplan. It wasn't.

We lined up in Trips left, with a fullback and WR to the right. Then, Boykin shifted down to the HB position, where Murray waited only a moment to allow Boykin to set his feet before calling for the snap. Boykin immediately took the hand-off and ran to the right, led by his fullback, Bruce Figgins, who got on the edge and made the key block on the outside linebacker. Wooten had run his guy downfield. There was now no one left to make a play on speedster Boykin as he ran around the end. Then, he cut back inside of BSU CB #4 and was able to out-leg him to the endzone.

It was not a counter. There was no fake to the left.

It was not a reverse. There was a single handoff and the blocking was set up in front of him.

It was not an end-around. He came from the RB position.

It really wasn't even a Jet Sweep because he started from dead-still, instead of in-motion.

This was a sweep with Boykin at HB instead of Crowell or Samuel.

Now, I have also seen people question why, with the success of that play, we didn't go back to something off that sort of look. That's a question worth asking. For my money, I think sometime in the third or fourth quarter, we should have put Boykin back in that position, shifted him down to HB, and run a playaction to Mitchell or Orson Charles. There's no way everyone would have ignored the guy who popped them for 80 yards earlier in the game.

But, I'm no football coach.

Go Dawgs.

Breaking down the Breakdown - Quarter 4.

2011-09-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

So here we are, 28-14. I'm thinking...it's a whole Quarter. We've stopped them a bunch today. If we can pull off two more stops and get scores, we'll be in position to win the game. This is definitely possible. I think it's time to ratchet up the pressure on Kellen Moore...because what we CAN NOT do, is allow him to move them down the field like they did to open the third quarter. Shut that down, and we have a chance. This is what we preached all offseason - win in the fourth quarter. We're supposed to be conditioned. We're supposed to be mentally tough. This is what all the preparation was about. We need to shut them down on D, and out gas them on offense. We Have to win the Fourth in 2011!

1st and Ten Boise - Quick WR screen - only a 2 yard gain. 2nd and 8 - and the running QB comes in. Now, I personally say to my friends watching the game, "He's run it the last two times, so he'll be handing it off here, cause we'll be ready for the keep." At the snap, we win the line of scrimmage. But, Jarvis Jones blows too far upfield, and has to redirect. When he does, he's screened off by the man trying to block John Jenkins, who has also blown upfield. The result is just enough room for the Boise back to squirt through.Harper ends up getting about 18 on the play. The biggest issue was the failure of Jordan Love to maintain the integrity of the outside. He gave up contain, and we got killed for it. The hole was plugged. If Love keeps contain, it's maybe a three yarder.

First and 10 BSU - Moore gets flushed from pocket, throws what looks to be a pass deflected nicely by Love, but he's called for P.I. 15 yards.

First and 10 BSU - End around for 10 yards.We win at the point of attack, but our LBs over pursue down inside, and we lose contain again.

First and 10 BSU - Running QB hands off again, we stuff it for no gain. 2nd and 10 Pitch play...we get dominated at the point of attack. They simply get their guys out on the edge and in position, and we don't play through the blocks well enough to slow the runner down. First and goal at the 2. Easy pitch and score.

Boykin returns kickoff to 35.

First and 10 UGA - Roll the pocket right, throw deep over the middle to TK. Overthrown by five yards - and again closer to the DB than to our WR. 2nd and 10. Quick short pass to Malcolm Mitchell over the middle. 3rd and 5. Quick slant to Rantavious Wooten. First down Georgia at our own 49.

First and 10 UGA - Murray hits Malcolm Mitchell on the skinny post for a 51 yard TD. Georgia trails 35-21. I'm thinking "Ok, that was quick. Let's make a stop and we can do this." Forgive me, but I'm still believing. I'm still thinking that we can outlast these guys for some reason.

Kickoff - touchback.

1st and 10 Boise - Playaction middle screen. Ate up our aggressiveness. Gain of 16.

1st and 10 Boise. We win the line of scrimmage, but Martin picks up three on the ground. 2nd and 7. Moore throws the quick slant, gets 8 when he needed 7.

1st and 10 Boise - run up the gut, with a fairly gaping hole. Now, admittedly I didn't play under Grantham and don't know all the nuances of his particualr defense. However, as I understand it, it's a one-gap 3-4, meaning each man has a single-gap responsibility. Looking at this play, it appears that Christian Robinson had the B-gap (which is where the ball goes). Unfortunately, he steps in towards the A-gap and reads the play...then steps OUT to the B gap and is run over by Martin. He hangs on and makes the tackle, but we give up 8 yards. 2nd and 2. D-line crushes them, no gain. I found it interesting that there was then a shot of Murray on the sideline, mouthing "Please stop them." I will write more about Murray later, but I'll just let the "Jury's still out" label hang for now. 3rd and 2. Toss out to the left. Now, this time, there aren't a gang of blockers in front of him. We're supposed to have the all-world athletes. We're supposed to be conditioned in the 4th quarter. We have to WANT this play bad, right? Jones blew through the line, and it looked like he got held a little bit...but not enough to get the flag. (Just enough to prevent him from making a play) Branden Smith got chopped down on the corner, then run over by Martin. I thought that was why Commings originally took his spot.

1st and 10 BSU (so far, this drive is at about 4 minutes...btw, time is precious) - Pitch to right. Defense kills it at the point of attack, stops Martin 6 yards in the backfield. So, 2nd and 16. Middle screen for about 6. 3rd and 10. We blow pressure straight up the middle, and they try the middle screen. Incomplete. Punt fair caught at 9.

1st and 10 UGA - Quick hitch to Mitchell for 8 yards. We get up to ball, but it takes about 15 seconds to snap the ball. 2nd and 2 - quick pass to Richard Samuel for a gain of 19 (he fumbles it as he's hit out of bounds).

1st and 10 - End-Around to Malcolm Mitchel for a gain of 17.

1st and 10 - Absolutely no pressure, Murray scrambles and misses a wide open Mitchell, throwin over him leaping. 2nd and 10. Murray again plenty of time, and again throws too high for his receiver, this time Orson Charles. 3rd and 10. Murray hits Orson for a gain of 8 on a quick drag. 4th and 2, Murray throws way too high for Tavarres King. Turnover on downs.

1st and 10 BSU - Defense stuffs the run up the middle. 2nd and 9. They try the end around again, but Commings reads it, meets Burroughs at the line. 3rd and 9. Doug Martin cracks through a couple of tackles, but can't get to the first down marker. 4th and 2. Punt is a knuckle-baller and gets to the 9.

1st and 10 UGA - They run a twist, and no one touches the DE. Sack to the 1. 2nd and 18. Orson drops a six yard pass. 3rd and 18. we do the same play again, and this time Charles catches it. 4th and 12 - and I don't even know why we snap the ball. We snap it, Murray gets sacked as Cordy Glenn gets speed-rushed. Turnover on downs.

1st and Goal Boise - Kneel.

Absolutely unbelievable to way to go out of this game. We had a bunch of opportunities, and cashed in on basically none of them. The offense was a big-play offense. The problem is that we couldn't remain on the field consistently enough to create any more of those big plays. The defense looked confused far too often. The same problems consistently hurt us - we lost containment, we didn't get solid run support from the corner position. We couldn't create enough pressure - which appeared mostly to be by scheme. We took away the deep threat that Boise is known for...at least, they didn't go for it. But, we also took it away from ourselves by failing miserably to cash-in early on opportunities. In actuality, the defense didn't finish this game terribly, but they sure didn't play lights-out all game either. They'd play great for two plays, then get hit hard for three firsts-on-first in a row. That will kill a team. It's hard for me to call whether this is more a failure of gameplan or execution, but I'm really going to err more one side of execution. Upon watching it the second time, the runs that I thought were bad calls, weren't bad calls...but they were badly run. We did run better as the game wore on - perhaps that was Boise getting tired, perhaps it was Isaiah developing a better understanding of the game. I don't know. Still, when we needed playmakers most, they failed us.

Ugh.

Go Dawgs.

Breaking down the Breakdown - Quarter 3.

2011-09-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

We kickoff. They get it to the 24. Ok, that's one of the worst field-positions we've put them in. Let's see what we do with it.

1st and 10 - Doug Martin gets NOTHING. 2nd and 10 - Pass out to Burroughs. Jeremey Sulek misses the initial tackle, but is able to clean it up. 3rd and 2. They go play-action and confuse the hell out of the defense. I don't know if it was Commings or #52 who should have covered up the zone, but they get the first at the 40. 1st and 10 - quick out to the TE. Williams makes the tackle after a 5 yard gain. 2nd and 5. Martin stuffed up the middle. 3rd and 5. Sulek blows a coverage, steps out to the wideout (who is covered by the Corner) and leaves Burroughs wide open for the short first down. 1st and ten at our 46. We rush 4, get no pressure. The pass goes to Kirby Moore on a button-hook. I'm not getting a great look at the DBs, so I don't know what the coverage is...but it looks to be one where either Sulek didn't get over in time, or Smith dropped too deep and they just hit the empty hole. 1st and ten at our 36. We're not in position. Sulek can't make a play on a pass over his head, and it's a first down at our 24. We call timeout to avoid a 12-men-on-the-field penalty. Guys look tired. This is the first possession after the half. Where is the conditioning?

1st and ten - this one is a throw-back to last season's foibles. We get in his face, but he's able to toss a pass up to the tight-end on a wheel-route. We were in zone. Robinson and #52 step up to protect against the run, and end up getting beat. 1st and Goal at the 5. Martin stuffed for a 2 yard loss. 2nd and goal at 7. Toss-sweep to Martin, Branden Smith gets outplayed on the edge. Touchdown.

Boykin slips on the kick return. We get it at the 15. 1st and ten. I-Formation. Play-action for 11 yards to Orson. 1st and ten. Play-action to Orson, gets us to the BSU 45. 1st and ten. I-Form Isolation play. Our line really not getting any movement. We pick up only 3 yards. Ben Jones got out to #36, but wasn't able to move him enough. He fought off and was able to get to Samuel. 2nd and 7. Play-action to Aron White, gain of 14. 1st and ten at the 28. Cordy Glenn jumps early. 1st and 15 at 33. We go with the Sweep. Crowell outsmarts himself. Glenn was out in front of him, and in position to make a block. Crowell tries a juke to the outside instead of cutting it sharply upfield. The juke does aid Glenn in making the block, but the block was already set up. If Crowell cuts upfield, he gets more than the 3 yards he ends up with. The move slowed him enough for the cavalry to get there. 2nd and 12. Shotgun - twins right, Mitchell in motion from the left. They blitz, we pick it up fine. Tevarres runs a seven-yard out...Murray throws it three yards behind him. King tries to come back to it, but drops it. Murray's follow through looks strange on this pass. 3rd and 12. Line makes decent blocks initially....but one thing really worries me. Cordy Glenn dives at a linebacker (not the first time I've seen it). We try a double-move, and can't protect for 3 seconds. Then, we attempt a 55 yarder. No wind. We're in the dome. Walsh misses.

1st and ten they hit a wide-open five yarder. 2nd and five, they try a WR screen, get only 1. 3rd and 3, we snuff the quick-out, force a punt.

1st and 10. We try to go deep to Rantavious Wooten.....who is covered by #4. Murray overthrows both the receiver and the corner. I-Formation Lead play to the weak side. Figgins avoids the linebacker for some reason. The linebacker, of course, is the only guy who ISN'T blocked. Mitchell half-assed a chip on the LB as well. 3rd and 7. Murray gets 3 seconds then is forced out of pocket, and doesn't get rid of the ball. Result? Sack.

Punt.

We miss 4 tackles on the punt return and give them the ball on the 28. 1st and ten - Moore gets rocked as he throws an incomplete fade. 2nd and 10. Harper breaks 4 tackles during a seven yard run, but gets facemasked. Total gain - 17 yards.

1st and ten at 11. QB run to the right. LBs bite on the fake handoff again. Result - gain of 7. 2nd and 3 - stuffed on run up middle. 3rd and 2. Play-action sucks Williams into the hole, leaving Shoemaker wide open in endzone for TD.

Boykin returns kickoff to 44. First and ten at 44. Sweep to Crowell, breaks a couple tackles, picks up 11. 1st and 10 at their 44. Whole right side of line takes the play off, Crowell gets stuffed in the backfield. 2nd and 11. Murray playaction rollout. Fires to Tevarres King, who drops the first-down catch. 3rd and 11. Penalty on Glenn (and that was a horseshit call. I think his butt was itching). So, 3rd and 16. And, can anyone call the play with me? "DRAW". We pick up 8. 4th and 7. We line up to punt for some reason. I don't get that. I thought we ran the draw so that we could make it an easier 4th down to pick up...but apparently, no. Apparently we ran the draw on 3rd and 16 because we honestly thought we'd pick up the first down. I think that worked once back in 2003 or something. As it turns out, the punt call isn't completely awful, because BSU had a brain fart and lined up offsides resulting in us having a 4th and 2. This is a play that no one will give Bobo any credit for. Initially, we line up shotgun twins left. But, we motion Mitchell to the left as well. This pulls the safety more to the center of the field because he doesn't have to cover a wideout on the sideline. The corner stays in the flats to cover Crowell for the short gain. So, what happens? Orson Charles has an easy outside release past the linebacker, and because the safety is out of position, Murray can easily hit him for the 36 yard touchdown.

Martin returns the kickoff to the 25. 1st and ten. They're able to pick up 2 on a run. 2nd and 8. Jordan Love leaves his man-man responsibility, resulting in an easy completion on the drag for a first down.

End of 3rd Quarter. 28-14.

Breaking down the Breakdown - Quarter 2.

2011-09-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

We start the second quarter. I'm thinking "ok, maybe that first quarter was just rust." It was very ugly, with missed assignments and poor blocking...maybe this will be better. We start the quarter on our 46, with a second and ten. Shotgun. Great blocking. Murray hits Orson on a fifteen yard route, and he picks up 19 total. Perfectly run corner route. 1st and ten, their 35. Shotgun. Malcom Mitchel comes in motion, we fake it. We have six guys in protection. Initially, they bring four...then a LB comes on a delayed blitz. The problem? Bean turns inside when his DE rushes into the Guard. This allows the LB to come through untouched. Murray makes him miss, and breaks a tackle...but the defense converges on him for no gain. 2nd and 10. Sweep left with Crowell, 8 yard gain. Samuel comes in on third and 2. Play looks like it was supposed to be a shotgun-trap or a shotgun-counter play. I say supposed to be because it got completely blown up. Glenn pulled into the hole, which means Gates HAS to block the man on Glenn. The DE immediately crosses Gates's face, getting into the A-gap. Cordy Glenn's pad-level on his pull is awful, and he gets stuffed by a linebacker. This plugs the hole, and Samuel gets only one yard. Then comes the 4th and 1. I applaud Richt for having the WILL to go for it. That showed me that he's out to win more than just put 3 points up. And the execution was pretty dadgum great, with one small exception. NOBODY TOUCHED THE PLAYSIDE OLB! There is no way on God's Green Earth that the OLB isn't blocked in the play design. Either Charles was supposed to chip him, or Anderson was, or Ogletree was supposed to take the first thing that showed. I have no idea. It was an obvious missed-assignment and it resulted in the killing of our best drive of the game.

The D punches Boise off the field in 3 plays. To this point, the D has been playing pretty damn solid.

Malcolm Mitchell is back to return the punt, and nearly muffs it away.

1st and ten - We decide to move the pocket with a shotgun rollout. Zero pressure. He throws one far too high for Tevarres King...but probably more concerning was that he even threw to King on that play. King was between three players, but there was an underneath receiver running free. 2nd and ten. Shotgun handoff to Samuel. (At this point, Holly Rowe is interviewing Herschel in a split-screen and I may be the only Georgia fan who will say this, but I don't care anything about what Herschel has to say at this moment. I want the full screen devoted to the GAME ON THE FIELD) The play is blocked fairly well with the exception of nobody putting a hand on LB #36. I don't know the play design here, but from what I see, it looks as if the right side of the line was scoop-blocking, which is getting your face to the INSIDE of the player in front of you, cutting him off, and moving to the next level. #68 did not do this. Bean made the cut-off of the DE, which meant he was blocked. If 68 had run up into the second level, he would have blocked the LB, and Samuel might still be running tomorrow. Instead, He turned back and "aided" Bean, enabling the LB to make the stop. Gain of 5.

3rd and 5. My problem here is more with pre-snap than post snap. We line up in shotgun-trips right with the HB to the strong side. Then we send Mitchell in motion. Their corner slides inside our hash, looking to either be blitzing or faking the blitz. We need five yards. We have two receivers outside their closest defender, and no other DB within ten yards. I do not understand how Murray doesn't make a hot-route call there. There has to be some kind of check. The design of the play has one of the two receivers going deep, the other crossing to the middle of the field, with Mitchell coming back on the drag, and Samuel running a swing. All of this is long-developing. WTF?!?! Couple all of this with the fact that their Nose beats Ben Jones AND #68 with a simple spin move and the result is garbage. Murray avoids the initial pressure, then spins for no reason, and is tackled into the leg of Kenarious Gates...who misses the rest of the game with a high-ankle sprain. Awesome.

We punt.

Broncos run a slip-screen for 9. Boykin goes down with a cramp. 2nd and 1, We get no pressure and Moore throws a two-yard pass. Commings dives at the feet of the receiver, and they get about 20 more. 1st and ten, the D-line makes a good push, LBs stop Martin after a short gain. The running QB comes in and hands it off. 3rd and 7. We send heavy pressure, and Branden Smith intercepts a poorly thrown ball.

1st and 10. Shotgun handoff to Crowell. Play is blocked well (this is assuming our friend #68 was supposed to turn-in, and not block the LB), but Crowell can't make #36 miss. 2nd 5. Crowell runs to the left, makes one guy miss, but gets cleaned up. Gain of 2. 3rd and 3.

The interception.

Ok, on TV they kept talking about how this was the fault of Isaiah Crowell. For the rest of the night, they wouldn't shut up about Crowell being in pass-protection and about how he probably didn't know what he was doing because he was a freshman. This play is not the fault of Isaiah Crowell. There are other issues. #1. Orson Charles. The man lined up on Orson blitzes. We need three yards. There is no one in front of Orson save for the safety who is standing flat-footed 8-yards down the field. There HAS to be a hot read there. Orson has to know to stick a foot in the ground, make a sharp cut to the middle of the field, and pick up the first down. He HAS to know that. Murray's first read was in that direction. But, he can't throw to a guy who isn't on that page. Orson instead continues his route all the way to the safety before making a cut. At this point, Murray has moved on. Problem #2 - He makes the throw toward Mitchell. Now, Mitchell never had good position on #4 (remember him?). So, I have to wonder why the ball was thrown. Here, we could come back to Crowell's block. Murray was rushed a bit to make a decision. However, he has shown escapability in the past. He didn't try to avoid the rush. This makes me think he wasn't extending the play, but instead was trying to throw the ball away. I could be wrong. It could very well be that he thought he could somehow connect on that pass, even though Mitchell was never in a spot to make a play on the ball. No, I think Murray was trying to throw it away, but didn't get enough into the pass. Maybe I'm just being kind.

1st and ten, we blow up their running play. 2nd and 11. Christian Robinson makes a bad jab at their TE trying to jam him. As a result, the TE comes open and picks up a first down on an easy completion. 1st and 10 - they can't move our line. Martin picks his way to 3 yards. 2nd and 7 - Jordan Love gets beat on a slant in man coverage. First down and 10. The running QB comes back in. Rueben Faloughi gets sucked in by the fake handoff. QB bounces it outside for gain of 12. 1st and ten at 11. They try the direct-snap to Martin. Loss of 1.

2nd and 11 at the 12. Touchdown on a short pass-and-run. This one is either on Boykin or Jarvis Jones. We drop into zone coverage, and nobody steps into the short zone on the hash. It looks like that should have been Jones' responsibility. Jones is watching Moore's eyes, and gets pulled too far to the center of the field. Boykin looks to be covering the wide side. In this case, Jones has to know that there is only one receiver on the far side of the field, and there are multiple guys there to cover him. However, Boykin also bailed deep with the receiver in front of him, though there were two safeties there to take care of him. Either Jones or Boykin busted on this one, and that can't happen against a QB like Moore.

Kickoff - Boykin gets the ball to the 15. Jeez.

1st and 10 - shotgun - 4 wide. Screen pass to Samuel. Tevarres doesn't make much of a block downfield, and #68 is too slow in getting out on the Screen. Play gets blown up. 2yard gain.

Sweep to Crowell to close the quarter. We're down 14-7, and playing sloppy.

As they go into the half, the commentator says the Defensive line is getting whooped by the Boise State Broncos. This is a fallacy. The D-Line has been very strong for the majority of the day. We haven't sent much pressure, most likely because we're afraid Moore is gonna slice us up. When we have sent pressure, it has paid off. My thought going into the half - dial up the pressure in the second half. Overall, I'm not excited - but I've seen enough to know that we can play with these guys (Jesus, I can't believe that's my thought at this point).

I'm watching this game for the second time, and since I know the ending, I'm not as emotionally pained by what I see. My mind has switched to pure diagnosis - and the things I'm seeing are fixable by week two. I don't know why they weren't there in week 1...but they can be corrected.

Breaking down the Breakdown - Quarter 1.

2011-09-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

I had planned to fly back to Georgia to be at The Dome in person when UGA dismantled Boise and crushed their BCS dreams. I wanted to take in the game-day atmosphere and watch little children cry when we dashed their hopes. I was really looking forward to explaining to some ignorant WAC-turned-MWC fans what "Big Boy" football was all about.

Man, am I glad I had to stay in LA.

Last night was woeful. That's really all there is to say about it. Followers of this blog know me to be nothing if not honest - though often that honesty isn't as brutal as it could be. My scathing commentary has been tempered by hope and by a love for our team. Well, hogwash. Here's what I'm gonna do...I'm gonna go through this game and point out some obvious errors that need correcting. I don't know that any of YOU will care, but I know I'll feel better once I've studied this thing a little.

Opening kick - Sir Talks A Lot comes out of his shoe, nullifying any chance at making good on his "Dare" to Chris Petersen. Way to go, Nike Pro Combat.

First drive last night - absolutely horrible. Justin Anderson jumps early on UGA's first play from scrimmage. This gives us 1st and fifteen. On 1st and 15, we go with a handoff to Samuel - which doesn't anger me, because I want us to pound the ball. Why we decide to do it from Shotgun is anybody's guess. Still, the play lined up not too horribly. At the snap of the ball, I see high pad-level for our offensive line. We are met at the line, or on our side of it. We aren't driven off the ball, but we aren't driving the undersized line either. Initially, there is a large hole between RG and RT with the play-motion going to the left, because this is a Counter. Cordy Glenn (LT) pulls around and into the hole, where I expect him to block the oncoming linebacker. He doesn't. He piggy-backs another block, and Samuel makes an ill-advised cut into two defenders. We get two yards.

Then, the quick screen out to Tavarres King, who isn't going to out-speed many to the corner. Gain of 3.

Third and ten. Bean jumps again. Orson Charles let's Murray's pass go through his hands. We punt. The Defense comes out, and punches Boise off the field in three plays. Of course, Boykin drops an interception on 3rd and 11, and Georgia avoids what appears to be it's enemy - good field position.

Crowell's first play - We fake it to him, then hit Marlon Brown. The fake is so good, it fools two blitzers. The throw is so bad, it's nearly knocked away by the BSU corner, forces Brown to retreat to catch it, Brown slips, then has to struggle to pick up four yards.

2nd and 6 - Crowell's first carry - a slip to the turf. Had he not slipped, he would have been creamed. Boise's DE #90 crashes in on Bean, who isn't quick enough to get in his way, and simply rides him to the tackle. Also, we have #68 pulling on the play, and he flat-out misses their LB #94 who would have blown the play to pieces.

3rd and 8 - Orson slips coming out of his break, and Murray misses him. Orson was wide open.

We punt. Defense comes out humming again. 3 and out. We get the ball on our 19.

1st and 10, #90 whips a double team and stuffs Samuel. Second and 9, Brandon Boykin takes a sweep 80 yards to the house....but something else happened - something important to note. Their CB #4 almost catches him. #4 was running Boykin down. That's something Bobo and CO. have to file away in their collective brain. Boise's #4 is VERY fast. They need to know that. They don't seem to pay attention.

1st down Boise - Christian Robinson gets fooled on a Play Action, doesn't get depth. Pass goes for a first down.

They try a play-action rollout...Jarvis Jones is in perfect position. 2nd and 7, our defense doesn't get much movement, but makes a stop. 3rd and 3 - we run a LB twist, smack Moore in the mouth. Incomplete pass.

First down, I-Formation (FINALLY)...we go play-action, deep pass to Tavarres King (who is covered by #4). The pass is too long for King, and would have been intercepted, had King not knocked it out of #4's hands. So, again, we learn that #4 has speed....and now we add "He's good in coverage"

2nd and 10 - I-Formation - We get little movement on the line. This is an ISO play to the right, and it is stuffed because our play-side guard gets whipped. This forces Isaiah to cut to his left, into defenders. Gain of 2. Third and 8.

Both of our tackles get whipped by the defensive ends. Glenn gets speed-rushed, and Bean gets outsmarted by a guy who pretends to pull up, then blows past him. Our Center and two guards, however, do a good job of blocking one man. Best block? Crowell takes his man off his feet. We punt. Again.

We pressure Moore, but he moves just enough to buy time. First down. Martin runs a sweep left. Our D penetrates, but misses 4 tackles. First down. Ogletree doesn't keep up with Tyler Shoemaker on the post route. First down. Then, an inexplicable play. Boykin absolutely BLOWS a coverage, and it goes for a TD. You'd have to see this to believe it. He makes a coverage audible of some sort just before the snap, and you see him drop into zone. Smith steps into the flats. It looks like Boykin had a Buzz responsibility. He's watching Moore all the way, and actually steps back and AWAY from where the ball is thrown. My only guess is that Robinson was suppose to play a short hook-zone in that area, instead of covering his TE man-man to the endzone like he did. Still, it was an obvious bust.

7-7

1st and Ten, Bean Anderson gets blown up. This forces Crowell to again slow his cut and make a move he shouldn't have to. What happens? Their nosetackle, who had been blocked to the GROUND by Ben Jones, gets up and gets enough of Crowell to slow him. Crowell gets about 5. It also appears that Crowell does not see open space to his left. Had he gone that way, there was a bunch of green. 2nd and 4, we finally get some push on the line. Their guys cave in, and we get a first down.

At this point, I think maybe we're starting to get it. We go shotgun-handoff...it's being blocked like a sweep, but Crowell seems to want to cut back - directly into three guys. Glenn got beat by the linebacker on the edge, but this was after Crowell had already made the decision he wasn't going around the edge. Figgins should have chipped the LB as well. Still, I have to pin this one on Crowell. 1 yard. 2nd and 9. We go shotgun-trips-left. Man in motion, fake the handoff to him. Looks like we're trying to get some movement out of the LBs on that, based on Boykin's big run earlier. Problem with that....man in motion isn't Boykin, and Boykin didn't do his run out of motion. He shifted to the HB position then ran a simple sweep. The LBs don't bite. At the point of attack, we have a double-team on the nose, and then the guard leaves to block the Linebacker. This is designed. The idea is to get the nose moving to the left, then let Jones wash him out as the G covers up the LB. The problem? We get basically no movement out of the nose, and when the G comes off, he steps right into the hole and makes the stop. 3rd and 8. Murray throws a 2-yard out under pressure. Marlon Brown turns it into an 8-yard gain and a first down. Still, the offensive line was fooled and Murray had no choice but to get rid of the ball. If he had another second, he may have faked that throw, and hit his man coming open over the middle.

1st and 10 - we run a sweep to the right with Samuel. They bring a Corner blitz which kills the blocking scheme and blows the play in the backfield. Samuel is able to make a gain of two. The biggest problem I have with this play is our OG, #68. He dives at the feet of a corner. WHAT? He's pulling, he's running..if a corner shows up, he should blow that kid into the sideline. Instead, he makes a diving push towards him, effectively placing his 300lb body on the ground for Samuel to leap over. Basically, our Guard makes the play for Boise.

That's it for quarter one.

Quick thought on the Boise Debacle before I head to a movie

2011-09-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

If this is what 8 months of preparation for a game brings us, I shudder to think what we'll look like after only 1 week's prep for each of our remaining games.

I'll be doing more on this game later. Right now, I'm just angry. That's all. Angry. I'm not disappointed. I'm not in disbelief. I'm just plain angry. There is no excuse on the planet for us losing to Boise State, much less us getting beat like a bunch of third-rate pansies all night.

The positive side of me says, none of our goals are really ruined...and an 11-1 season will result in an SEC title game appearance.

The realistic side of me says there are a bunch of teams on our schedule who are more likely to beat us than Boise was...especially since we "prepared" for them for 8 months.

So, I'm angry.

Go Dawgs.

Don't buy into the Boise Hype.

2011-09-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

It’s been nine months - nine horribly long months. Somewhere, there is a child being born who was fathered during a drunken celebration of UCF’s victory over the Georgia Bulldogs. Message boards and sports news shows have been buzzing in anticipation of the return of the football season. The Boise State Broncos, the darling-est of the Media Darlings are poised to finally make that championship run, as they start the season against another BCS-conference Team. The Dawgs are looking to avenge the past two seasons of dedicated mediocrity. Georgia’s roster includes a former Boise QB. Boise’s roster includes a bunch of “Davids” playing “Goliaths”. The story lines are everywhere.

Don’t buy into the hype.

This is not a David V Goliath story. Boise is nobody’s little stepbrother. Georgia is no juggernaut. The entire pretext to the story is a sham. There aren’t many in the college football world who are claiming UGA has a real shot at this game. Outside of the blind SEC loyalists who believe that Georgia will win on sheer arrogance alone, most believe this game is Kellen Moore’s to win or lose.

Don’t buy into the hype.

I hate Boise State almost as much as I hate Southern Cal, and I’ve never even been to Idaho. In 2005, I cheered the loss of USC to Texas, because it finally proved what I’d been saying all season – USC wasn’t THAT good. Pundits everywhere were trumpeting that team as the best to ever play the game. It wasn’t only hyperbolic nonsense, it was just plain stupid. Boise State is a similar animal. They have looked mightily impressive against some absolute dirt competition, and fairly run-of-the-mill against better competition. Yes, they won that Fiesta bowl against an OU team who was disappointed to even be in the game, and they won it on trickeration at the end of the game. Hey, you do what you gotta do. Yes, they beat an Oregon team which was on the way up…but that Oregon team plays Boise’s game…spread it, zone it, read it, and find gaps – hardly a pro-style attack. Yes, they beat VT last season (a week before that same VT team dropped a game to James-Madison).

Don’t buy into the hype.

For all the things UGA did wrong last season, there were a number of things the Dawgs did right. The defensive coaching changes made a difference. You could see it in the play of the defense. Yes, there were breakdowns. Yes, there were instances when one more stop could have won the game – but there were also enough play-by-play victories to see that these kids were moving in the right direction. The offense found a true leader in Aaron Murray. UGA hasn’t had his brand of leadership at the Quarterback position in quite some time. Stafford was a talent, but he rarely seemed to lift the team when they really needed it. Murray seems to give them a spark, and that is incredibly important.

Don’t buy into the hype.

Boise is experienced, Boise has been there, Boise wants it. And Georgia doesn’t? Kiss my Bulldawg ass. I’m not falling in love with the “Devastating run defense” of Boise State. Yes, they have good players. Yes, the held their past few BCS opponent’s runningbacks to a less-than 100 yd average. But, they weren’t facing the line they are now, nor the scheme. Will Friend has brought smash-mouth blocking back to UGA, and that is something Boise hasn’t had to contend with. They haven’t lined up against 330lb behemoths who are there purely to blow them off the ball. I’m not buying into Kellen Moore as the savior of Bronco Nation. He is accurate, he is smart, he understands football better than most at his position. He is still fallible. Has he seen corners that can run like ours? Will his receivers have the top-end speed to let him out-throw coverage and lay the ball in for those deep scores? I don’t know. And…will he have the TIME to make those throws? Boise’s offensive line is a tad undersized, and UGA’s front 7 has only gotten bigger AND more athletic with the emergence of Geathers and the addition of Jarvis Jones and Ogletree to the linebacking corps. Any QB under pressure is going to have greater difficulty.

Don’t buy into the hype.

Boise suffered last year from one of the same maladies as UGA – late-game falloff. Against VT, had they not exploded to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, they would have lost the game. They DID lose against Nevada after squandering a big lead. UGA did the same thing. In the past 9 months, UGA has addressed that issue and the changes in the players’ physicality has been well documented. Will it produce results on the field? I certainly think so.

End result? I’m not buying this as a game when Boise finally takes that step and shows the world that once again they have slain a BCS team and are ready to take their rightful place in the National Championship debate. No, I’m sorry Broncos…I see this as a case of the Dawgs truly spreading the red…in Boise BCS-dreams Bloodshed. I’m not going to quote stats, because none exist for the 2011 versions of these teams. I’m just going with gut on this one. It won’t be 2005, It won’t be the 2007 Sugar Bowl….but it won’t be 2010 BSU-VT either. Get ready, Broncs…you’re coming back to the South, where football is King. Prepare to kneel.

Go Dawgs!

Dawgfans - Don't get ahead of yourself

2011-08-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Dawg blogosphere hit incendiary levels regarding this post over in Boise Town. According to the author, the Chick Fil A kickoff will be an easy win for Boise.

The resulting flurry of comments from irate dawgfans took me the better part of half an hour to sift through. The author is a bit indignant, and very sensitive to any criticism of his work - of which there was plenty! There were glaring inaccuracies in his piece, and many people pointed that out. The argument that the two teams are not who they were a year ago, improvements, attrition, etc...all were discussed. But, what I noticed on the grandest scale was the age-old SEC chest-thumping argument of "You guys don't play who we play week in and week out."

Now, I'm a dawg man all the way. I go into every season believing, quite honestly, that we can win every single game we play. I go into every season saying we have no excuse to lose a single game. And, I come out of every season believing that no matter what we've done, we can always do better next season. Still, I do not subscribe to the idiotic thinking that simply because we're in the SEC, we'll romp all over the Broncos.

Yes, BSU played a pathetic schedule last season, and it doesn't get MUCH better this year. They racked up high point totals against teams which placed in the lower 50 of all collegiate teams. They held weak offenses to no points. They did not do that when faced with quality competition. However, they were 2-1 in games against decent competition. That ain't bad.

The team we're bringing to Atlanta is not completely unlike any they've ever seen. Yes, we have big strong athletes who, individually, may be more naturally gifted than they've ever faced. But, Boise State has built its success and reputation on being a TEAM and it is in that area where we must find a way to beat them. Boise State has a history of rising to the occasion. In recent years, UGA has lacked that. We faced some cream puffs last season, and romped over them...but, we did NOT beat 66.66 percent of the good teams we faced.

Do we have arguably the best QB in the SEC? Yes we do. Do we have freakishly big, yet still athletic players on the defensive line? Yes we do. Do we have TEs who can create nightmare matchups for linebackers? Yes we do.

But, Boise has a bunch of talented players too. Don't be fooled into thinking they don't. Now...is it entirely possible that squeezing a pass between Sanders Comings and Brandon Boykin is a little different than doing so against Utah State? Yeah, I'd say it is. Might zone-blocking against a pair of 350+ double-team-splitters be a little tougher than against the 285lb tackles in Toledo? I'd say yes.

This is where the quandry comes in...if this 2011 team is the Championship team we believe they can be...this game could look much more like the UGA-HI Sugar Bowl than the BSU-VT kickoff. But, if there's any of the hangover from the past few UGA seasons left...it could be a scary night for Dawgfans.

I'm siding with the Sugar Bowl.

Go Dawgs!

There's no Web-MD for Bad Football

2011-07-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult things in life is to self-diagnose and then self-medicate effectively. In today's hyper-paced society, Web MD has come along and has made very hypochondriac on the planet exceedingly brilliant and simultaneously paranoid. However, simple afflictions such as the Cold, the Flu and Strep Throat are not the cause of much self-diagnosis trouble. No, it's much more complex maladies such as bipolar disorder and cancer which cause the average human to turn to a specialist for help.

The University of Georgia Bulldogs did not have a cold for five seasons. They were not suffering from the flu. The team was cancer-ridden, malnourished and suffered from bipolar disorder. On the outside, many could see the symptoms of trouble, but could not properly ascertain the problem. Kids were getting into trouble. Wins were declining. Overall attitude was poor. At the same time, the teams surrounding UGA were flourishing. So, it was easy for the excuse-making sick mind to think, "Hey, we were simply bested by a better squad." At some point though, it became obvious that this was not the case, or at least that it wasn't that "simple." Indeed, Georgia was bested by many "better squads" over the 2006-2010 seasons. But, it wasn't because the other squads were blessed with immunities to the maladies suffered by Georgia, or that they were granted Superpowers. No, these teams were simply better at going about the business of winning football games.

There's no Web-MD for bad football. No, it takes some serious soul searching and time in the mirror to realize that you have proceeded down a path that can not be successful. I wonder when it happened. I wonder when the "fog lifted" for Head Coach Mark Richt, and he had his moment of clarity. I have said publicly that I love Mark Richt, for all that he does and the man that he is. Still, it is hard to ignore the direction in which the team and the program digressed over the second half of his first decade at the wheel. He will even admit to it. What was that "defining" moment that brought him to see where he needed to go?

Richt was forced to get rid of long-time friend Willie Martinez and brought in an NFL mind with a new scheme and a firey attitude. Was this the first dosage of a cure? Richt then removed long-time friend Dave Van Hallenger from his post at the top of the strength and conditioning program. He turned to "old school" veteran Joe Tereshinski to whip the boys' bodies back into shape. Call it physical therapy. Then, player after player left the program for one reason or another. For the most part, the defections came from "problem players" who didn't want to get with the new system and "Fly right." Character shows in times of trouble. A 6-7 season isn't one you want to go through, and if you're not a strong man, you could buckle. Some did. But, there are many who did not buckle. There are many who tightened the laces on their cleats and pushed harder toward their goal. These are the "survivors" who would fight for a better day. They're the people who are told they have 6 months, and live on for a decade. They are GEORGIA.

Right now, the Dawgnation is embracing greater positivity than it has at any time that I recall since 2008, when the Dawgs were preseason #1. Many people across the college football media world are starting to claim that Georgia can make a serious stab at the SEC. Fans are listening. It's like a family "reunion" for an addict who's returned from a long stay at rehab. They WANT to believe that everything will be right again, and that everything will be gone. Still, deep down, there's that tinge of fear that what they are seeing is only a facade...that the demons still lurk within.

It is hard to ignore the steps that have been taken. Best friends have been fired. Greater discipline has been instilled. Bad blood has been removed from the system. New blood has been infused. If the 2010 season was that of the Dawgs learning how to walk again, perhaps 2011 is when they show they can run - all the way to New Orleans, and the BCS National Title.

GO Dawgs!

I love Mark Richt.

2011-07-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

There's really nothing else to say beyond that. I know people want statistical data to support that statement, given the recent 6-7 record, the loss of multiple tailbacks, the "talent mismanagement" of players like Brandon Miller, Kiante Tripp and Richard Samuel.

But, I'm not going to offer any stats today.

I'm simply going to say, that for a man who is coming off a 6-7 season, facing all kinds of fire and anger from a fanbase, and watching his players make team-altering decisions, his attitude is simply awesome.

“greater days are coming. The best is yet to come.”

For me, that's simply a fantastic quote. He didn't say, "Better days are coming" he didn't say "it's gonna be ok"...he said "Greater days are coming. The best is yet to come."

This is a guy who has coached players who will be known as all-time Georgia greats like David Pollack, David Green, AJ Green, etc....he's a guy who's won 2 SEC titles and 2 Sugar Bowls. Still, he feels Greater Days are coming. This speaks to only one thing, folks...The BCS. Despite all the hate and doubt swirling around him, he has basically just told you that he's going to bring the Crystal Football to UGA.

And I love that.

Go Dawgs.

Why Georgia CAN make it through the slate undefeated.

2011-07-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

So many people (mostly Georgia fans) are ready to Trash this year's version of the Dawgs. Naturally, the criticisms range from player ability to a coach asleep at the wheel, and people say the rest of the SEC has simply become too strong for the Dawgs.

I disagree.

Georgia lost 5 games in the SEC last season, and that's atrocious. However, these losses were not wholesale blowouts at the hands of teams which were vastly better than UGA. Let's consider the games a bit -

1) South Carolina - The loss in this game was a result of two things: 1)Our inability to stop the running of Marcus Lattimore, and 2) Our offense's inability to maintain possession of the football. With the score 14-6 in the 3rd quarter, Justin Houston forced a fumble on the SoCar 24, which we recovered. A few plays later, Washaun fumbled away the ball, and our chances to pull within striking distance. Georgia would force a punt, and then force two more before South Carolina finally kicked the field-goal that sealed the deal. Many felt during this game that the chains were held around Aaron Murray, and as a result, our offense was anemic. I am inclined to agree.

2011 Solution: We have to improve against the run. The BEEF we're adding this season along the line will go along way toward that. Now, South Carolina uses alot of 3 and 4 WR sets along with a single back in order to beat defenses by personnel. Simply put, they don't WANT us to be in a comfortable 3-4 where we can clog the line and let the linebackers roam free. They want to put us in Nickel Packages where we have more DBs on the field, and then take advantage with their big back. With the improvement along the line, this will not be as much of a factor. John Jenkins at nose is great....Jenkins and Geathers on the field covering up the Guards in Nickel is also pretty great.

2) Arkansas - you can blame the loss of this one on a couple things. First off, the wheel route. Seems like we didn't want to cover that all year. We were in a brand new defensive scheme with different assignments and somebody blew it. The missed block - the guy who committed that offense is no longer around, and I'm fairly certain that pass protection will be paramount for all backs, as it's generally been the route to quickest PT AND we'll be leaning on Murray's arm quite a bit. Poor effort - not many people mentioned this post-game...but we had a chance to tie the game at the end. Marlon Brown lagged toward the endzone and wasn't in position to make a play on the tipped-ball in the endzone. I was furious. The very next day, the Jacksonville Jaguars scored on a similar play when the receiver finished the play, and made the rebound catch.

2011 Solution - well, we don't play them again. We will, however, play Ole Miss who has a similar wide-open offense. I believe Ole Miss is lower on the talent totem pole, and I also believe the problems we faced against Arkansas have likely been repaired. A full year in the defense will mean coverages will be better. It wasn't ability, but rather understanding that hurt in that area last season. I've already said why I believe pass-pro will be better. And as for effort, well, the offseason record as well as last season's great decrease in penalties shows a more disciplined team.

3) Mississippi State - Our inability to stop the option was the main downfall here. You could also blame Georgia's inability to finish drives (Ealy fumbling in the redzone, Durham not hauling in a TD pass, etc). But, the primary culprit was the gaping holes on defense.

2011 Solution - again, the changes made on the defensive front will make a big difference. Linebackers were being blocked too easily last season as the OL could easily make it to the next level. This season, we'll have two guys who could legitimately draw double-teams. That causes trouble for blocking schemes, which causes real trouble for the option.

4) Florida - We lost this game due to Murray's worst game of the season. He threw three bad interceptions, the worst of which came in OT. On defense, we struggled against the multiple quarterback sets of Urban Meyer, and ultimately a couple of plays made by Brantley at clutch moments did us in.

2011 Solution - FL is in its own set of problems. I'm not saying this becomes an automatic win in ANY way, shape, or form. Muschamp made a smart hire in Charlie Weiss. The reason I say that is that Weiss is good at tailoring his offense for his talent. Sure, these guys were brought in as spread players, but Weiss will know who to play in what capacity in order to have some success. However, I do believe that a stronger, more experienced defense will be able to confuse Brantley, and I believe Murray will not repeat his foibles.

5) Auburn - We lost this game due to Cam Newton. That's the sum total of it. Cam's ability to get the tough yards, extend drives, etc - that's what beat Georgia. I also think the "myth" of Auburn played a hand in it as well. In the first quarter of that game, Georgia had their foot on the throat of the Auburn Tigers. 21-7 at the 1st quarter horn. Then, Cam began to turn it on, and the defense didn't answer. Was he in their collective head? It's possible. It's also possible that the Dawg's defense was just like every other collegiate defense faced by Auburn - simply outgunned by the NFL First-Rounder.

2011 Solution - Well, Cam is gone. More than that, Auburn's defense also takes a step backward this season with the loss of all-world Nick Fairley. I have no doubt that Auburn will still have a potent offense, but they will step down a bit from the juggernaut they were with Cam at the helm. Also, Auburn's defense wasn't a world-beater at all in 2010, and I don't know that they've made the necessary upgrades to be considerably better in 2011.

So, what about the other games? I don't think TN, KY, or Vandy have improved to the point where they will give the Dawgs a heap of trouble.

Coastal Carolina and New Mexico States are snoozers. Georgia Tech retreated back the L column where they've been for the past decade, and I don't think they're going to threaten again this season. Besides, despite the AJC's attempt to sweep the news of their troubles under the rug, it's clear that all is not well in Atlanta.

And then, there was BOISE. I'll get to them later.

Go Dawgs.

The Sky Is Falling! (I.E.Samuel moved to RB)

2011-07-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I bet you thought by reading the title that I'm one of the run-of-the-mill bloggers ready to attack this move as another sign that our coaches have absolutely no clue what they're doing and that they mishandle talent to an incredible degree.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that ain't me.

Truth is, I have a bit of a different point of view about the entire Samuel debate. First off, from a running back perspective -

1) Samuel adds experience. Ever since King's departure, the blogs have exploded with the fearful thought that our tailbacks have 86 collegiate carries and under 300 yards between them (because Carlton Thomas is the only scholarship back who's had any serious role in our offense to date). Well, putting Richard Samuel back at RB increases that number sharply. He adds 114 carries, and 528 yards. More importantly, though, he adds the experience of a BLOCKER in the passing game...something we all know to be quite important (remember that Arkansas game, Ealy?)

2) Samuel adds proven explosiveness. Ok, so it was only one play - one 80 yard touchdown - but no one could catch him. No one could come close. If, by any chance, he still has that breakaway ability...it's an ENORMOUS asset to a backfield that has been in dire need of some excitement.

3) Samuel adds BEEF. If he stays at his linebacker playing weight, holy crap. Could you imagine being a 180lb corner and seeing a 240lb bohemoth coming your way toting the ball? Samuel has always loved contact...much to the dismay of many Georgia fans. But, this is the kind of bull we're going to be looking for in a backfield that will be needed to get tough yards. Let's face it...Carlton Thomas and, Isaiah Crowell aren't likely going to pound out two yards on 3rd with a blitzing linebacker hitting the hole. But, it's very possible that Samuel will be able to use his size, power, and all-world shoulder-slamming ability to drive that linebacker backwards. Daddy Like!

As for the move FROM Linebacker, well, I have to say that I am only a little disappointed in that. I did love Samuel's speed and athleticism on defense. However, he wasn't set to be a starter, and we're not razor-thin at the position. In fact, we added a number of new LBs in the recruiting class, some of whom are likely to see PT. Also, the move of 'Tree down inside will provide the same athleticism, and a greater amount of experience on defense than having Samuel in the game there would provide.

To those who point to the problems Samuel had in his first two seasons at runningback, I offer this:

In his first season, he was behind Moreno, and was 17 years old. He was what I'd like to now coin as a Sub-Frosh. The fact that he lacked a true fundamental understanding of football at the collegiate level is no surprise (in fact, most of the 30-60 year olds who read this blog don't have THAT, and they've had quite a bit more time to soak it up). He was, however, a 5* recruit, and so everyone thought he should be a world beater. Somehow, people still haven't come to grips with the fact that a star rating measures POTENTIAL only. It has no real bearing on aptitude, nor TIME FRAME. In his sophomore season, Samuel showed flashes, but with a crowded backfield, making a few mistakes proved too costly, and BOOM - he disappeared from use in the 2nd half of the season.

His third year at UGA, he redshirted at Linebacker....and I think that may very well help him as he returns to runningback. He's bigger now, which is awesome. He's just as aggressive as ever (and Lord Knows we love aggressive power backs!). And, he likely has a better understanding of what he's going to be facing when he's in pass protection, or when he's running routes out of the backfield. It's very good to have that other perspective. The best pass-rushers in the game have a fundamental understanding of what the offensive line will try to do in order to stop them. The best runningbacks have the same.

Again, I am no prognosticator. I can not look into the future and say that he's going to be "the solution" at runningback. However, I have more than enough evidence to make me feel good about the move.

And as for those who see the situation with Samuel being akin to those of Brandon Miller and Kiante Tripp, I have to say - coaches must always do what is best for the team. If Kiante Tripp had been an incredible Defensive Lineman or Offensive Lineman, he wouldn't have been moved around so much. Had Brandon Miller boasted an amazing skill set at either DE or OLB, he would have lived at one position for 4 or 5 years instead of bouncing around. As a RB two years ago, Samuel was not the best on the roster. He was younger, more immature than those around him. He was moved to LB to shore up numbers there...but other roster moves (additions of transfers, moving players, signing new LBs) have increased the depth at that position greatly. So, the coaches have to do what is best for the team. At LB, Samuel could easily get lost in the shuffle. At RB, he may once again have a chance to be a real difference maker.

Go Richard.

Go Dawgs.

Who says we have to have a feature back?

2011-07-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

With the news that Caleb King is no longer a part of the UGA program came many bandwagon naysayers who believe this is the death knell of Mark Richt's tenure in Athens. They appear to believe that without King, our offense will sputter due to a lack of ability from Ken Malcome, and a lack of experience from Isaiah Crowell. Apparently, it will be nigh on impossible to run Mike Bobo's offense without a stud feature tailback and an experienced fullback.

I disagree.

My mind drifts back a few years to the last time we won the SEC, 2005. I thought to myself..."I don't remember DJ Shockley running an I-Form Heavy play-action based season. I just don't recall that." So, I started watching highlight vids on youtube (talk about brilliant research). Know what I saw? I saw a hell of a lot of 3 and 4 WR sets. I saw a great deal of split-backs. I saw DJ Shockley running PA QB Keepers. What I didn't see was our offense lining up and running a feature back into the line 35 times a game, and hoping for the best. In fact, over the past decade, we've only had 2 true "Feature" backs...and only one who people remember as a true standout. Though Musa Smith was a load, and very important to Richt's success in the early part of his career at UGA, he did not have the "wow" factor of great current-era SEC backs such as Mark Ingram, Darren McFadden, Knowshon Moreno, etc. Knowshon is arguably the only Prime-Time Feature back of the past 10 years at UGA. Generally, we get it done by committee.

I don't believe we can safely assume Crowell to be another Moreno. But, I could certainly see Malcome and Crowell being a tandem akin to Ware and Thomas. The question is...will they be used in this way?

Avid readers of this blog (is that even possible anymore with the scarcity of my posts?) will remember that I had similar hopes for King and Ealy last season. But, it was rare that the two were active at the same time. Moving into 2011, the team has had none of the disciplinary problems that have plagued us in recent years. What this tells me is that this team is going to fly right. In doing so, we will (barring injury) keep our boys on the field. You can't tell me that having two of Georgia's best running backs from the past two years in the backfield doesn't give us a shot.

I've seen posts recently questioning the ability of Ken Malcome only because twitter wasn't ablaze with talk of him during his redshirt season. This is leading people to think the kid sucks. It's funny...people are not only willing to crown Crowell as "The Next..." before he's taken his first fat steamer in a dorm toilet, but are equally willing to call Boo a "lame duck" before they've seen the results of a redshirt year. Malcome is known as a downhill power runner. I'm willing to bet he's learned a thing or two about blocking schemes and will be getting a majority of the snaps early. He'll get a chance to prove himself.

I think we have an interesting dichotomy in our backfield this season. On the one hand, you have the big, solid power back who came in and redshirted. He waited his turn, and now the crowd has cleared from in front of him. On the other, you have the flashy all-world super-hyped super freshman who just wants to play for three years, set the ground on fire, and then bolt to the NFL. Both are driven to succeed - and both can. Success need not be mutually exclusive.

For me, the greatest question is - will Mike Bobo find the plays in the playbook which will best utilize the tools in the shed? You see, Bobo wasn't at the reigns in 2005. I simply hope he paid attention to the notion of a split-back offense. Murray is a proven running threat. So, with him in shotgun and two tailbacks with him, along with three receivers (any combination of WR and TE), the defense has to account for a multitude of options. I think the battle-cry of many Richt-Bobo-Haters over the years has been the apparent lack of creativity in the offense. I still remember the J.O. who screamed out that HE knew which plays were coming at the Colorado game...right up until AJ housed that big one in the second (and the guy nearly passed out from surprise). I believe in Bobo. I believe in Richt. I believe in the Dawgs.

And I don't give a damn if you don't.

Go Dawgs.

An interesting note on discipline....

2011-05-13T11:32:00.001-07:00

For the past few seasons, many Richt-haters have been saying that he's gone too soft. They say he has lost the "disciplinarian" factor. In doing so, they point to things like turnovers and off-season arrests.

Thus far, 2011 has been a quiet off-season (with the exception of Ealy - now gone). And, looking back at 2010's penalties....

UGA was ranked 31st in penalization. That is the lowest in the last decade. In fact, in all penalty categories, the 2010 Dawgs were the absolute best-behaved of all Richt-coached teams.

68 total penalties beats the previous low of 77 in 2005.

5.23 penalties per game beats 2005's 5.92

545 yards penalized is 66 yards better than the 2006 low of 611.

41.92 ypg is 5.08 ypg better than 2006's 47.

The "good dawgs" were 6-7.

What is the correlation? There is none. You can point to yards lost by penalties as something that can hamper a team's chances at success, sure...but the 2002 team (well accepted as Richt's best) was 71st in the nation in penalties, with 101. Only 3 other Richt-coach teams topped 100 penalties in a season, and not surprisingly two of them were the '08 and '09 teams. In fact, the early years of Richt's tenure (when people like to believe the teams were at their best) were generally marred by penalization. From 2001-2004, the teams averaged 101 penalties per season with 101 in 2002 and 119 in 2003 (both East Championship seasons).

So, for those who believe Richt has lost the respect and discipline of his team, you can see that isn't the truth. But, don't look for wins and losses in penalty trends. Just like with turnovers, it's not how many penalties you have - but when they happen that matter.

Go Dawgs

Apparently my last post vanished?

2011-05-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I found out what happened to my post from yesterday. Apparently, blogger had some kind of issue and lost many many posts for users all across the blogosphere. So, if you didn't get a chance to read my post yesterday...sorry. It was EPIC.

Actually, it wasn't. I was just chiming in on the Ealy situation.

Short, short ver:

He had his chance. He couldn't live up to what he needed to do.

Like Danny Ware in 2007, he saw the writing on the wall and decided to do what's best for him. Danny ended up with a Super Bowl ring with the NY Giants (for whom he's still playing). Perhaps Ealy will earn a D-II rushing crown and get drafted. He wasn't going to straighten up and fly right at UGA, so why not get it done somewhere else?

I wish him luck somewhere else, and am glad that he'll no longer be a toxic ingredient in the dawgs' locker-room.

(It was better in long form).

Rumors of my demise are highly exaggerated. (Ealy Post within)

2011-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while - deal with it.

Washaun is gone.

(And there was much rejoicing)

Look folks all of you who are saying the departure of Washaun Ealy is yet another sign that Mark Richt has lost touch with his players (and thus is on his last legs) need to take big whiff of that stuff you're shoveling around. Seriously. Ealy is not a casualty of Richt's inability to pick a lead guy in the back field. Ealy's situation is not the result of a lack of focus on the part of Mark Richt.

What is Mark Richt supposed to do? Bend to the desires of a kid who can't get his discipline in order, has shown a general inability to accept responsibility and has underperformed in key situations? Negative. The relationship has grown sour, and it's time for Ealy to ride off into the sunset. Ealy says he wants to go to an institution where he'll have the opportunity to be the feature back. Does he really believe he hasn't had that opportunity at UGA?

In 2010, Washaun had a 2:1 carry ratio over the other "primary" back, Caleb King. That was up from a nearly 50-50 split in 2009. Washaun also carried for 11 TDs compared to Caleb's 2. So, the coaches were certainly giving him his reps. However, it wasn't the lack of PT in the past that worried Washaun - it was the possibility of a diminished role in the future.

This leads me to wonder - does Washaun Ealy understand far more about his own limitations than any of the scouts/coaches/fans ever did? Here's a kid who was the primary rusher at the University of Georgia last season. He carried for 5 TDs in one game. Still, he's worried about losing carries to a RSFrosh and a true Frosh. To hear him tell it, he believes that the coaches wouldn't be giving him a fair shake - that they'd be giving other people a chance just to give them a chance. Still, I have to think that perhaps he has simply read the writing on the wall - he doesn't have what it takes. We've seen this before.

In 2006, Danny Ware, Kregg Lumpkin and Thomas Brown split carries during a tough season for UGA's offense. Knowshon Moreno was redshirting, and no one was set to graduate. Lumpkin, the elder statesman, elected to stay in school for the 2007 season, hoping to get over nagging injuries and put himself in position to get drafted. Danny Ware, unhappy with the thought of splitting carries even MORE ways in '07 opted instead to declare himself eligible for the NFL draft. By the fourth game of the 2007 season, Knowshon Moreno had proven himself to be a solid back, and by mid-season, it was well-known that he was the future of the running back position. Lumpkin did little that year, and was signed to the Packers as an Undrafted Free Agent in 2008. The fall of 2007 for Danny Ware proved much more fortuitous, as Ware bounced from the Titans and Jets practice squads to the dress squad of the New York Giants (with whom he won a Super Bowl).

So, if we consider either Crowell or Malcome to be 2011's Moreno, and we know King to be like Lumpkin in regards to injuries slowing progress, and if we compare Thomas's pass-catching and play making ability to be similar to Thomas Brown (though without the "run you over" ability)....then we certainly can understand why Ealy would take a Ware-like approach, and get while the getting is good.

Many people have said "Good Riddance" to the kid, heaping ridicule on him. I won't do that. I do think he has some growing up to do, but I also understand where he's coming from. He wants to make a life out of football - and he knows that in the world we live in today, you don't need a big "G," a big "M" or a Tommy Trojan on your helmet to do that. You need to prove yourself as a viable commodity - and doing that at UGA seems unlikely for Ealy. Maybe his work ethic sucks, and he wants to go to a school where he can get by on talent alone. Maybe he feels that if he faces less competition, he'll be more of a standout. Or, maybe he simply feels that he's past the point of turning his experience at UGA into something that will be good for him in the long run. I can't fault him for that. Move on, start over, and do what's best for your career. Good luck with it.

In the meantime, thank you Washaun for making Bryan McClendon's job just a little bit easier. Maybe one of these young kids will step up and force McClendon and Richt to make HIM the primary ball carrier. That'd be nice to see.

Go Dawgs.

Punishment Run

2011-02-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know much about the Washaun Ealy situation. In fact, I've only just read about it in the past ten minutes. But, I certainly don't understand it.

February, 2000 - One frigid morning, at 4:30 am, my alarm went off. I should have jumped out of bed, grabbed my morning breakfast (a banana) and headed off to Butts-Mehre. That's what I should have done. What I did was hit snooze. Three times. By the time I actually got to the locker room, the team was already on the field, and any hopes of me sneaking in after stretching and no-one noticing was gone. I trotted down to the field and jumped in with my group. No one said a word. I went through the entire workout, pushed through every drill. At the end of the workout, Coach Donnan called the team together and praised us for what we'd done. Then he said, "Dukes, see Coach Fears about being late."

I hadn't gotten away with anything.

Coach Fears told me to come back in the afternoon, after my classes were done. So, I did. I put on my workout gear and reported to the weight room. He walked me out onto the practice fields and said, "Start Running." I asked "when do I stop?" His reply: "When I tell you to." I started running laps around the three fields. Now, these fields were stacked horizontally...meaning I was covering between 550 and 600 yards per lap. Sixteen laps in, I saw Coach Fears emerge from Butts-Mehre. As I rounded what I thought to be the final turn, he had a smile on his face. "Keep up the pace." That was all. I kept running. At lap 20, Mark Kirschbaum (and I know I'm demolishing his name) came out...and laughed. I was finishing lap 24 when Coach Fears came back out and said simply, "you're done." Sweating and exhausted I grabbed the water bottle he had in his hand. "You gonna be late again?" he asked.

Never.

And for the remainder of my career, I never was.

So, like I said, I don't understand Washaun's situation. How is it that someone can continue to screw up? Isn't that the whole point of punishment?

GO Dawgs.

Is he a tailback, or a feature back?

2011-02-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

Outside of Knowshon Moreno, Georgia hasn't had a "feature" runningback since Musa Smith. I'll hold to the idea that Musa was only a feature back because of lack of options. He was steady, strong, didn't fumble much, and was going to get the tough yards. But, he wasn't going to beat many in a foot race. Olandis Gary hit the backup-come-starter lotto in Denver (much like fellow Bulldog Terrell Davis) but neither was a dominant threat at UGA. Patrick Pass had success with New England but wasn't a homerun hitter as a Dawg. Jasper Sanks was a flameout. Musa was a good back, a serviceable one...and made a pro life in Baltimore. Verron Haynes was one of the hardest working guys I ever played with, and he was a third down man in Pittsburgh. Of the Ware-Brown-Lumpkin trio, it's Danny Ware who's made the biggest impact....and that's as a special teams man and late-game back, wining a Super Bowl with the Giants. King and Ealy? Again, serviceable backs...but not studs.

Simply put, Georgia has produced only two real prime-time NFL starting backs since Garrison Hearst - Robert Edwards (injury killed an All-Pro career) and Knowshon Moreno.

And we were somehow called "Tailback U" at one point? Of course, I guess that's the thing - Georgia has had a number of good tailbacks. GOOD tailbacks. What we need, well, what I want to see, is a GREAT tailback. I want to see the guy who, when you need the win in the fourth quarter, you can hand him the ball ten straight times, and he's going to carry your team to the finish line.

I watched last season, hoping we'd find him. When we tried it with Ealy, he fumbled. We lost. When we tried it with King, he fumbled. We lost.

Now, I don't know what will happen with Crowell...but I've watched him play a time or two, and there's one thing that he appears to have that I haven't seen out of many UGA backs in my 14-year association with the team - and that's touchdown-from-anywhere ability. That kind of ability smacks of "feature back." Still, he IS a freshman. But, Richt will not have the same mentality with Crowell that he did with Moreno. Crowell stated in his announcement that he wants to go to Georgia, be a freshman all-american, play for three years, and go to the league.

There is absolutely no hidden agenda there. The kid wants to play now, play alot, and then cash in. If he truly has that kind of ability, he won't be a tailback. He'll be a feature back...and we'll win a good many games.

Go Dawgs.

If you're 20 and you know it, shut your mouth...

2011-02-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've been reading some truly enlightened chatter by internet jackholes that really gets my grits cookin'. These geniuses say things like "Mark Richt can't win," "Georgia never does anything with its talent," "Mark Richt can't coach 'em up," etc. Then, when I look at the pictures attached to blogs, I see twenty year old kids who probably started loving Georgia two years ago when they enrolled in the school. I don't blame them...I didn't grow up a Georgia fan. I fell in love with UGA on a visit during my Senior year in high school. So, I get it...I understand that these kids don't know much beyond their own experience at the school.....BUT

DO SOME FRIKKIN RESEARCH!

Twice Richt has brought SEC titles to UGA. Three times, he's won the SEC East. All of that has been done with recruiting classes that may have been good, but none have ever been comparable to what Richt has brought in this year.

True, it's been six years since his last SEC title, and I don't make excuses for that. I believe, just as many of you do, that it's been too long. However, unlike the grand majority of people who are caught up in the ridiculousness that is the "Fire Richt" campaign, I understand that there are going to be years when you just plain miss. Stafford, for all his talent, and for all the coaching given him (and don't fool yourself for one second and believe he didn't get coached up like crazy), never got it done. He suffered by having an underperforming defense on the other side of the ball. Why does that affect him? Simple. Gunslingers are going to make mistakes. They are going to trust their arms too much, and they are going to throw interceptions. When they do, they need a strong defense that can bail them out of the mistake and not give up points. We didn't have that.

For a few years, Willie Martinez allowed our defense to crumble around us. Some sort of haze fell over the coaching staff as a collective (that's the only way I can dismiss it), and they lost their way. In the meantime, the coaching in the rest of the SEC improved, and wins became harder to come by. It took a season too long, but Richt made the tough choice and started firing defensive coaches. Then he brought in some high-quality guys. How do we know they're high-quality? Well, one of them just got poached to the NFL....been a while since THAT happened at UGA, huh?

So now, Richt sits on the most talented team he's had in Athens since "the good ol' days" when he was winning titles. He has a fiery defensive coordinator in his second year (as most of the starters will be as well). There is a level of excitement around the program that hasn't existed since the 2008 preseason when the Dawgs were ranked #1. There is a sense of urgency in the weight-room like none any of these kids has experienced before. There is a fire burning in Mark Richt that hasn't been seen since he was a wet-behind-the-ears head coach on the way to his first SEC title. I see very very good things on the near horizon, much to the dismay of many blog-commenters out there.

I gotta pull for the guy. I'm not pullin' for him simply because I know him and think he's a great man. I'm not pullin' for him because I believe he's great for the program that he revived, and I see that evidence in this recruiting class. I'm not pullin' for him because he's a Christian who believes in building the man as well as the football player.

I'm pullin' for him so that when he DOES take this team back to title town, the "other half" of Dawgfandom out there will finally have to SHUT THE HELL UP.

Go Dawgs.

He's 6'4, 265, and in the BACKFIELD.

2011-02-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Imagine for a moment that you're a 6'2 235lb linebacker. You see the center and guard part the d-linemen and you know what's coming. A runningback is coming straight up your gap. So, you drive forward, ready to plug that hole, and you come face-to-face with a 6'4, 265lb back who blows you up. Directly behind him? The sub-6' tall, 200lb runningback who no longer has to worry about a middle linebacker and can instead set his sights on outmaneuvering a safety as he sprints to the endzone. Even better...imagine being the same linebacker attempting to TACKLE that monster of a fullback on the goalline. What you now have, is a picture of the NY Giants' 2-back system. True, when Brandon Jacobs is in, he's generally in at tailback. But, the Giants are not above having him block for backfield-teammate Ahmad Bradshaw.

Why am I taking about the NY Giants?

Because I want you to understand what moving Bruce Figgins to fulltime full-back can mean. Bruce has had a tough career at UGA. After catching a TD on his first collegiate reception, he didn't see the endzone again for three years. That'll burn. An injury hampered his progress, and though he was one of our better blocking tight-ends over the past few years, he often lost playing time to the two better pass-catchers, Orson Charles and Aron White. Now, with Arthur Lynch set to be a big-bodied blocker and capable pass option, and with 5-star Jay Rome hitting campus, Figgins' playing time at TE would be sure to dwindle.

So what do you do? You throw him in the backfield at fullback where your two top options have just graduated. You're basically adding a sixth offensive lineman to the mix...but this one has the speed and athleticism of a tightend. Last season, UGA threw the ball to backs out of the backfield only 29 times...the lowest since 2005, a Richt era-low of 26. Can you imagine a full-back screen with Figgins toting the rock? Or, even better...a screen to Crowell or Ealy or King or Malcome or, dare I say it....CARLTON THOMAS with Figgins leading the charge?

This is an off-season move that I don't only support, I stand up and applaud. Fullbacks are generally known for being shorter, stockier guys...little bowling balls that get out and block like beasts. Figgins IS a Beast. At the end of the line, he's a guy who is fairly evenly matched against a DE. In the backfield, he's more likely to contend with a blitzing linebacker or DB.

I like his chances.

Go Dawgs!

"But can he pass block?"

2011-02-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

I saw that question in the comments section on the Bulldog Blog today. It references, naturally, newly-anointed "Savior" of the program, Isaiah Crowell.

First off, you'll notice I've placed "savior" in quotation marks. The reason for this is simple. I don't believe he makes or breaks our football team. I am a firm believer that a team is a TEAM first, and though stars may help the team reach its highest potential, no one player elevates a program from the dirt to the sky. I'm sorry, it just doesn't happen. For all the credit everyone wants to give Marcus Lattimore, that team has been getting consistently better for years, and he may have been the final piece of the puzzle. Cam Newton was a HUGE addition at Auburn...but without excellent play by Nick Fairley and Michael Dyer, I don't know that they win the title. Do I think Crowell has the potential to be a huge part of UGA and any success we may achieve in 2011? Yes. Do I think we should all be pinning all our hopes on him? Hell no.

Here's why:

As a sophomore at UGA, I was getting ready for my first spring with the team. We warmed up before our first scrimmage, stretched, and did some positional drills. On one particular drill, I fired off the line and locked out the Guard in front of me, Randal Kendrick. As I did, Josh Mallard did the same against center Curt McGill. Josh fought through Curt, slinging him to his right....directly into my knee. The pop was audible, and I hit the dirt, my MCL having suffered a grade 2 tear.

I wouldn't practice for the remainder of spring training.

Now, my injury was no big loss to the football team. They were suddenly a man short on scout-team defense for the spring, but I doubt it cost us any games in the fall. Still, I share this anecdote for one simple reason. In a single act on the most routine of drills, a player can be hurt and lose weeks of competition.

In no way to expect this to happen to Crowell....but it can. I am not saying this to put that kind of fear into anyone's mind. What I'm telling you is, we gotta wait and see. I watched Crowell beat my own LaGrange Grangers on ESPN in September. He looked incredible. Then again, the defensive linemen at LaGrange are smaller than some D-1 DBs.

All of that being said, let me also offer this:

If he's healthy, this kid will be playing. I don't care whether he can pass-block or not. In the past, that has been a reason why one player or another may not have played as immediately as expected. BUT, if you remember, that was because the HB position was hotly contested by multiple players, and the coaches wanted the best all-round back in there. How much difference, truly, is there between King and Ealy? I pose that question simply because I believe that if Crowell is far-and-away a better RUNNER than anyone we have, he'll be carrying the ball.

"But Dukes! Our Play Action game is DEPENDENT upon the defense believing the guy in the backfield will carry the ball. If we start pulling Crowell on passing plays, the defense will KNOW!"

Ok, fair point. However, it's not like we don't have other backs who CAN run the ball. All you're really saying is that when King or Ealy is in, the defense wouldn't bite on a fake....which could actually open running lanes for them in those situations if they were reading pass-all-the-way. Also, Crowell is a good out-of-the-backfield receiver....something that was sorely lacking in last year's offense. So, I highly doubt Crowell will come out in all passing situations.

In fact, there is something to be said for what could become a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude of, "Guess what...We're running straight at you. Deal with it." I like deception as much as the next guy, but I'm also a big fan of just being good at the things you're good at...and then crushing people with it. Now, in order to do that, we will need some greatly improved offensive line play. But, just as offensive lines can make runningbacks better, runningbacks can make offensive lines better. As an offensive lineman, it gives you a great amount of confidence to know that if that DE beats you to the outside, and you just keep riding him that way, the RB will have good enough vision to see his cut-back lane. Crowell has pretty great vision.

Anyway, ultimately, I think he plays right away - but only if he's willing to get in and earn it. Neither of the starting tailbacks is going to just roll over for this kid, and RFr Boo Malcome probably isn't buying into the hype either. So now, the question becomes...will Crowell actually elevate the play of ALL RBs? That's what truly elite players do.

Go Dawgs.

A random thought about distractions...

2011-01-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

Our team went 6-7 this season, and that is not good. Many people point to the off-field problems causing on-field distractions. I think that's a possibility. I can say that there were times in my days at practice when my mind would drift momentarily. Perhaps it doesn't help that the offseason workouts at UGA have lately been seen as "less-than" what is necessary. Without instilling mental toughness, it's hard to keep players disciplined and focused.

Now, let me share with you what has put me on this train of thought this morning. Last night, I watched a fifteen minute video about the new and improved Butts-Mehre Building. I'm going to go ahead and say that I had more than a few nostalgic moments while watching the video, but also a good bit of jealousy. When I was at UGA, I sometimes wished God had made me about 2 inches taller, 20 lbs heavier, and half-over as strong as I was....watching that video I wanted all of that, and about 13 fewer years of life under my belt. Man, what a different experience it would be to be on the team now than when I was there.

Of course, I imagine every former athlete has those moments.

Then, though, another thought started creeping in on me. I wonder if the renovation itself might not have been a bit of a distraction. It's been well documented that rainy days in Athens often result in a break from routine - that the team loads up on busses and heads over to Ramsey for practice. Having taken part in those practices I can tell you that they are definitely not on par with the normal practices...and how could they be? They are a distinct break from the routine. Routine is essential in the world of athletics. It's why a pitcher's windup and a quarterback's throwing motion are always the same. It's the order in which a player suits up - his wristband ritual, his kissing of his lucky pendant. It's why a month lay-off for a bowl game can often result in less-than stellar performances. I wonder if all the strange goings on, all the construction, different people coming and going, upsets in the routine, etc. had some kind of effect on the team.

I'm not saying that improving the facilities created a 6-7 record. That would be idiotic. However, I do recognize that some of the problems this team faced this year came straight from a lack of focus. Could it be that these added distractions did nothing to aid them in that?

Looking at the facilities we have now, and listening to reports coming out of the Tereshinski camp, I can't help but believe we will see a markedly different team in the fall.

Go Dawgs.

I'll take "Well, no $#*!" for $1,000 Alex

2011-01-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

What's more surprising...that AJ declared for the draft, or that seemingly every local newsdesk and blogsite feels it necessary to report it? I mean....was there any doubt? Were there actually fans out there who thought just maybe AJ would be somehow compelled to remain in school either by Mama or by some feeling of "I owe you" regarding the early part of the season? The kid is a top-10 pick in the draft. You DO NOT stay. You just don't. What's the positive? Your lifelong goal is to make a living playing professional football. That goal is right in front of you. If you return for a senior year, maybe you achieve some of the temporary collegiate goals you haven't met yet...but you risk losing the primary goal of making a livivng playing ball. Is it worth the risk?

AJ doesn't think so. Neither did Knowshon. Neither did Stafford.

"But Dukes...Andrew Luck stayed at Stanford!!!" Andrew plays a position which is a lower-risk position, and another year of development will not hurt. Plus, he may not want to play for Carolina...who was sure to draft him. AJ's decision was a no-brainer.

Now....Justin Houston....

GO Dawgs

A thought on Dowtin....

2011-01-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Marcus Dowtin has proven himself to be a pretty good linebacker. He's also proven himself to have some discipline and decision making issues. Many of us can be successfully charged with the same problem. Now, I'm not excusing knocking a man unconscious in a "bar brawl"...but I have to think there may have been some extenuating circumstances. I don't know too many judges who are lenient with violence of that nature, especially when there could be news to be made regarding an NCAA athlete. However, this case was basically "shelved" and will be expunged if Dowtin stays out of trouble.

So, I ask you...is it POSSIBLE that the bloggers and fanbase are making too big a deal out of this?

For me, the fact that nothing has come of it shows that there may have been another side to the story. Perhaps the guy struck Dowtin first, and Dowtin clocked him out of self-defense. I don't know. But, I do know that the case was brushed away by THE LEGAL FORCES AT HAND which tells me that it's apparently, from a legal standpoint, not the biggest deal in the world.

Do I think Richt makes some kind of disciplinary gesture here? Yip.

Do I think he kicks Dowtin of the team? Nope.

Do I think he SHOULD? Nope.

Our fanbase wants a coach who is full of piss and vinegar, who will go after the throats of opponents, who will slay their wives and rape their babies....but they want players who will kiss the hand that punches them in the face. I don't get it.

Go Dawgs.

Why can't WE do that?

2011-01-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

The subject line of this blog is a question I have asked myself about 30 times while watching the Capitol One Bowl. Alabama is a very very good football team- but their athletes aren't far and away better athletes than the ones at Georgia. Our receivers and quarterback are every bit as good as those at AL. Our LBs are on par. The DBs are geting there....but what I notice while watching this bowl is that the line play for UA is far above that of UGA. I hesitate to say their runningbacks are far far above ours. Ingram and Richardson are great talents, and I think they are a bit above Ealey, King and Thomas..however, I've been seeing GAPING holes throughout the whole game. I've been seeing a pocket that really doesn't collapse for Greg McElroy. After games when our coaches are asked why the runninggame didn't get going, they'll say that the blocking was basically there, but that we didn't do a good job of fitting in the holes.

Here's my problem with that:

Every man can block the man he's supposed to...but if he doesn't block him ENOUGH, there isn't going to be a very big hole. That seems to be the issue I see. When I watch NFL games, I see holes. I see big holes. When I watch AL play, I see holes. I see big holes. Usually, when I watch UGA play, I see small cracks of light. I don't know what that is.

People can talk about UGA crapping the bed against UCF because they weren't very excited about playing in the Liberty Bowl....well, let's look at Alabama. This is a team who was supposed to play for a second national title. Instead, they're facing a Big-10 co-champ in the Capitol One bowl...not even a top-tier game for the SEC. They are playing this game as if it IS the national title game.

Why can't we do that?

GO Dawgs.

Thank God we lost that game.

2011-01-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know that I could have stomached us winning that game at the end. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted someone to come down with that ball. I was hoping that this time Marlon Brown might be able to snag a defelected ball, score the winning touchdown and bring us the most inconsequential bowl victory in ages. Still, I wouldn't have wanted to read all the punditry surrounding how UGA finally "pulled out the close one" and how this would "springboard" us into next year. Even if we had pulled that one out in the waning moments, it wouldn't have been an amazing story of overcoming adversity, it would have been a story of us finally getting out of our own way.

That's really all the Liberty Bowl was. Central Florida was giving the Dawgs their absolute best. You could see it on the face of their all-world DE Miller (who didn't garner a scholarship discussion at any SEC schools), and the dawgs were sleep-walking. When the dawgs were granted one final play, the camera was on Miller, and you could read his lips: "I think I've got one more in me." He was ready to collapse. The Dawgs didn't look so expended. Perhaps that's why Miller was able to fly through the line twice in the three plays near our own goalline, once disrupting a run, and the second time putting a huge hit and sack on Aaron Murray. Maybe our line was just "saving their energy" for something. Are the Georgia players better athletes? Yes. Yes they are. There's no other way to explain facing a 10-3 conference champion who gives you their absolute best shot, and still walking away with only a 6-10 defeat. Simply put, even half-assing a game, the Dawgs were in position to win that one.

Now, that shouldn't make me feel particularly good about the game in any way. Murray was just plain off. He was throwing passes he had absolutely no business throwing. He very nearly had a third on the drive where we settled for our second field goal of the day. He tried to hit Orson Charles over the middle, but failed to see the safety tracking the entire play. I don't know how he didn't see the safety....he didn't stray more than two yards from his pre-snap position, and was right in the middle of the field. On another play, he nearly threw it directly to a corner when trying to hit Charles (whose route carried him very close to Green - odd). Murray's first pick looked like a miscommunication with Logan Gray. The second pick was an obvious overthrow of Ealey. But how do you overthrow that ball? Then there was the one he threw into the dirt in front of Durham - and the wobbly duck on 4th down that Durham was able to pull down. Murray seemed very confused by whatever UCF was showing him, and was having trouble working through his progressions.

Our offensive line once again could not dominate an undersized defensive front.

AJ Green couldn't get open on a route longer than 15 yards.

I thought Ealey ran very hard - and was HOSED on that call where they called him "down by stopping forward progress" even though he was still running, and picked up 9 more yards. Carlton Thomas looked good - but it's obvious we aren't utilizing him like we should be.

The defense, by and large, looked very good. There was the minor issue of their big tailback Murray hitting big holes for decent gains...but there were also a number of plays when our DL penetrated and stopped him BTL. Their QB was slowed considerably after Cornelius Washington (NOT Abry Jones as mis-identified repeatedly by Bob Davie) put a big hit on him early in the game. Ogletree was making good reads, though he did get sucked in once on PlayAction but luckily the pass was overthrown. Rambo looked good, the linebackers looked pretty good...I mean hell, the Dawgs gave up 10 points. That's the kind of defense we want to see.

On offense, the production simply wasn't there. Murray's two interceptions killed first-half drives. He also took a huge sack on a Play-Action bootleg and Georgia couldn't recover on that drive. Now, I don't know what the blocking scheme is, but often on that kind of play (a Naked Bootleg), the QB is responsiblie for the last man on the line of scrimmage. If he comes, the QB has to make him miss. Murray didn't do that. As a result, we had 2nd and 23. I don't recall the playcalling on 2nd down - I do remember that it wasn't a medium-range pass to get us into a manageable third down. But, this isn't going to become a post about Bobo's playcalling. I've gone on record as saying I believe he's good at his job.

Then again, perhaps that's problem-at-large at UGA. It's completely possible to have people who are good at their jobs, and yet not be good ENOUGH. The level of competition in the SEC is the highest in college football. Coaches are CLAMORING to get into this conference. Charlie Weiss, a Superbowl Champion coach, is going to leave an NFL squad to be an OC at FL? That HAS to tell you something.

What it tells ME is that the level of coaching in the SEC in 2011 will be just as high if not higher than it was in 2010, and certainly higher than it was in 2002-2005 (the "glory days" of recent past for UGA). This is why I say THANK GOD we lost that game.

Without losing that game, our kids and our coaching staff might have gone into the offseason thinking they were on the right track again. They could have played the whole "we won 7 of our last 9 games" idea in the media and in the locker room. They would have clung to the whole "a play here or there and we're 10-3" nonsense. But, at 6-7, there's just no way to gild the lilly. In 2010, UGA just plain stunk. Richt made a move in Strength and Conditioning, and that's good...probably overdue. Apparently Thomas Brown will join the staff today. That's a good move - he definitely knows a thing or two about strength and about motivation.

Richt is now entering his "evaluation" time. This is where, as he's told us, he sits down and evaluates the team's performance, evaulates the coaches' performance, and decides what changes need to be made in the direction of the program. This is a very important time. I don't know that UGA has seen a more important January in over a decade. In the next month, UGA has to lock down a strong recruiting class, figure out where its problems lie in the X's and O's arena, and develop a strategy to completely reverse whatever it was that we saw on the field in 2010.

That bowl game was the ultimate statement about this season. In 2010, our beloved Dawgs were Losers. We'll have to live with that. They'll have to live with that. Coach Richt will have to live with that - and he'll have to find a way to change it. That bowl game left about as sour a taste in the mouths of those players and that coaching staff as it possibly could have. There is only one cure for that kind of sour taste - absolute obliteration of everyone on the schedule next fall. What comes between is the hard part. What comes between is the coaches and players taking hard looks at themselves and admitting that they weren't good enough - that they didn't work hard enough - that they didn't do the things they had to do....and that they WILL change that in 2011.

We lost the Liberty Bowl in 2010. We're undefeated in 2011.

GO DAWGS!