Game Film Missing - UGA v Ole Miss

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

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"?

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

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.

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.

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....

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.