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Whew – That was a Close One

Posted by mdr on September 14th, 2008 under Football

Ok, its been more than 24 hours and I have had time to collect my thoughts and come to grips with the fact that my Georgia Bulldogs nearly blew it against the Gamecocks. The same Gamecock team that has lost consecutive games to Vanderbilt nearly toppled the nation’s number 2 ranked team. Of course, we’re number 3 now, but that’s neither here nor there.

The fact of the matter is, this should not surprise anyone. Georgia historically has trouble with SC-east. Take 2002 as just one example. In route to a 13-1 record and an SEC championship, the Dawgs needed a miracle interception/touchdown from David Pollack to pull off the victory in Columbia. The Dawgs, despite holding a huge advantage in the overall series, always seem to struggle with the Cocks. Especially in Columbia.

So this result of this game alone is not enough to cause panic in the Bulldog Nation. However, there are some real concerns at this point.

First and foremost is the lack of a consistent pass rush from the Georgia defense. The scheme yesterday was clear, shut down the run and force the Carolina QB’s to beat us. The fact that South Carolina only managed 18 rushing yards and 7 points over four quarters shows this plan to be a success. However, there was almost no pass rush to speak of from the Georgia front four. Last year, and for quite a few years before, the Dawgs have had defensive ends and tackles that could get to the quarterback without the need for a blitz from the linebackers or secondary. That is obviously huge for a defense to be able to rely on its front four for pressure and allow the other seven players to cover the passing lanes. This year we don’t have those guys that can get in the backfield and disrupt the passing game on their own. South Carolina’s quarterbacks are simply not very good. When facing a more accurate passer, Willie Martinez and the Georgia defensive coaches are going to have to figure out a way to get some pressure in there or we may be in trouble.

Second is the kicking game, specifically kickoffs and kickoff coverage. It is amazing, but no matter how good Georgia’s field goal kicker is year in and year out, we never seem to have a guy that can consistently put the ball in the endzone and force a touchback. Now this may simply be a matter of scheme. Defensive ends coach Jon Fabris also coaches the kickoff and punt teams. He seems to favor the directional style kicks that go high and deep to around the five. In theory this can be better than a touchback because it gives the coverage team more time to get down the field and forces the returner to start from a corner without much room to wiggle. The problem is, Georgia does not seem to have the kicker or the coverage unit to pull this off successfully. Yesterday South Carolina started three possessions from the 30 or better after a Bulldog kickoff. This is unacceptable and will surely come back to bite us against the better teams on the schedule.

I also have a major issue with us playing nine different receivers when two of them are head and shoulders above the rest. Not having AJ Green and Mohammed Massaquoi in the game in crucial situations is mind boggling to me. Also, I don’t know what the coaches see at practice, but the last three Saturdays, Richard Samuel has not shown himself to be a better number two back behind Moreno than Caleb King.

Of course, with all that being said, it was still a win. It was a win, on the road, in conference, against an opponent and a coach that live to beat us. All in all, I can’t complain too much.

On a positive note, despite the lack of impressive stats, Matthew Stafford continues to show himself to be a warrior and the unquestioned leader of this team. He made several key checks at the line of scrimmage yesterday and also completed a pass on a rope to AJ Green on 3rd and 31 that maybe only 4 or 5 other quarterbacks in college football could’ve completed. The kid is going to be very wealthy someday soon, but selfishly I hope that is still a couple of years away.

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12 Responses

  1. coach Callahan said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 7:17 am

    So the headline Sunday should have been “Bulldogs almost choke on cocks”?

  2. lowery said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 8:38 am

    Actually Stafford almost cost you that game a few times. He missed WIDE EFFING OPEN wrs a few times. By “missed” I mean that he didn’t see them Touchdown open. One time he got nailed and lost the ball. I’m still not sure how UGA got the ball back.

    If I were you I’d be very scared by what is left on your plate for this season.

  3. mdr said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 9:13 am

    Stafford most certainly did not almost cost us the game. The five drops by our receivers in the first half combined with the ridiculous amount of penalties and our inability to rush the passer without hitting him late is what almost cost us that game. Not to mention the great starting field position that Carolina had every time they got the ball. We have issues, QB is not one of them.

    Also, the fumble you referred to was on a blind-side blitz that wasn’t picked up by anyone. The defender had a clear shot at Stafford’s back, running full speed. There are very few people who could’ve held on to that ball. The pass protection was not up to snuff yesterday and Stafford didn’t have time in many cases to run through his progressions. That is why it seemed he was “missing” wide open guys downfield. He didn’t see them because he wasn’t being protected well enough.

  4. Scipio Tex said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 9:25 am

    Why are drops such a persistent problem for your Bulldogs?

  5. mdr said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 9:44 am

    I wish I knew.

  6. mws said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    For all of Richt’s recruiting acumen, he has never been able to sign a WR with speed AND hands.

    It’s always been burners with stone hands, or guys built like TE’s with DT speed who hold the ball like it’s a baby kitten.

  7. mdr said:

    September 15th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    AJ Green is that guy.

  8. mws said:

    September 16th, 2008 at 7:26 am

    I hope so, because your last good WR was half-korean.

  9. mdr said:

    September 16th, 2008 at 8:06 am

    First of all, Hines Ward was the fucking man at UGA and is a Super Bowl MVP. I don’t quite get the half-Korean remark. I suppose it was a joke, but it wasn’t funny.

    Secondly, we have had a couple of other guys that were good since then. Its just that none of them were great. Even Hines didn’t become a great wideout until he was in the league. Injuries forced him to play QB and RB at Georgia as well as WR.

    AJ has the potential to be great. Time will tell, but I have a feeling he will be in the running for freshman of the year in the SEC by the end of the season.

  10. HenryJames said:

    September 16th, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Would it be funny if I said that Ward must really like fried chicken?

  11. hiphopopotamus said:

    September 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am

    Yes, it definitely would.

  12. mdr said:

    September 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am

    Yes, now that is funny.

    Don’t misunderstand, I am far from PC. I just thought his attempt at humor was lame.

    The only thing that offends me is jokes that aren’t funny. And Jimmy Clausen’s hair.

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