Some thoughts on the Positives:
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- Danny Ware ran harder and better than I initially thought. There were a couple of plays where the OL just absolutely screwed the pooch with assignments and Danny got clobbered before he got started. This was especially true on the misdirection delayed draw from the gun that we ran with ZERO success in this game. Our OL didn't block worth a damn on this play.
- Mo Mass - this kid is going to be a stud. Between the thigh bruise and all the running plays, I can understand not playing him more in the second half. He's coming along very nicely.
- Brannon Southerland - he was absolutely CRUSHING people all night. Before his time at UGA is up, he could end up being our best true fullback since Mack Strong.
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- Bryan McLendon - Clutch. The catch and throw on 3rd and 22 basically won us the game. BMac has been there every time we've needed him so far.
- Special Teams Play - Dramatic improvement in special teams. The kickoff coverage team FINALLY kicked it into the endzone. The results = a couple of touchbacks and a start inside the 15. Punt returns still need some work as Flowers is still bobbling them. But progress is progress. Coutu is money so far.
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- Bottom line Results: Martinez held Spurrier's offense to ONE touchdown. I'll take that any day of the week.
Now for the not so good.
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But the 3 man rush was an absolute disaster. Blake Mitchell could've changed jock straps and played a game of Jenga in the time he had to throw the ball vs. our 3 man rush. I could go for seeing a heap more blitzes. I really don't understand why we blitzed so rarely given the success UCF had in the second half vs. SC last week.
[Photo: Mitchell's Jenga tower was impressive, but not his 2 pt conversion throw]
- In consistent OL Assignment blocking -- Don't get me wrong. The OL did a great job with the run. Especially out of the I formation. BUT, in the passing game and even in the shotgun, their play was very inconsistent. Some of this is attributed to the unusual formations that SC showed us defensively. You'd see 3 guys blocking 1 guy and no one blocking 1 or 2 more guys. Regularly. Most of our disaster plays (INTs, Sacks, lost yardage runs and near INTs) were plays where the OL blew the blocking and things when downhill from there. The only exceptions to that were the incredibly bad / unrushed INT that Shock threw to end the 1st half, and....
- Our Centers got manhandled at times - the plays where the big SC nose guard tossed Tanner or Schnetzer like rag dolls several times. (Note: Mahelona is going to eat those two for breakfast. Thank heavens Max will be there to help them out).
The truly bad:
- Shock's INT at the end of the 1st half. Wow. He couldn't have made a worse decision, and he had time. Some of his other bad passes, he was under pressure and should've thrown it away or found a check down/made up his mind faster. But that one play is that type of play he CANNOT make if we want to maintain our Top 10 ranking.
- Ken Shackleford - without throwing this kid under the bus and saying what I really think let me just say that anyone who still thinks he should be starting over Roland or Inman needs their head examined.
- The 4th and 1 Call - Not stupid b/c it didn't work. But stupid because were were averaging about 9 yards a carry at the time. Every so often Richt gets cutesy when just bowing up and blowing the other guy off the ball would work much better.
Conclusion:
It could've been a bunch better. It could've been a bunch worse. We caught some breaks, but so did they. If 3 plays go their way, they win by 3 or 4 points. If Taylor gets credit for the strip, doesn't throw the ball in the air after the strip, and if DJ doesn't throw the 2nd pick, we win by one or two TDs.
There's very little that can't be corrected before Knoxville. We beat Spurrer, and held the "genius" to 1 TD and 1 FG on offense. If you offered me that a year ago, I would've taken it in a heart beat.
