Roster News -- John Miller leaves the team

Wanted: Strong, fast, smart, healthy offensive linemen.
This Dawgs now have NINE non-senior wide receivers on the roster, and we have four non-senior tight ends on the roster. Next year, two more WRs and two more TEs on committed.

Unfortunately, the Dawgs have only 1 non-senior offensive tackle on the roster yesterday after true freshman John Miller walked away from football (Ugasports.com premium).

Miller's departure adds even greater frustration to the offensive line recruiting problems of Callaway's tenure. Ted Kian has a solid take on the situation. My thoughts below.

So where are the tackles? The answer...apparently we didn't recruit any.
-- Josh Davis, redshirting, is the kid whose high school coach commented after learning that he commited to UGA that he didn't see Davis contributing for 2-3 years.

-- Highly regarded offensive line prospect Kiante Tripp is redshirting this year as a defensive end.

-- Chris Davis, also redshirting, is practicing at Guard. Last I heard, he weighed about 270 lbs.

-- Alleged 5 Star OT prospect Clifton Geathers (Hargrave) looks to be more of a promising defensive end prospect for Georgia, and that's what he's playing in prep school.

-- Elite OL prospect Justin "Bean" Anderson (Hargrave) says Georgia wants him to play Guard.

-- That means we're banking on JUCOs (that haven't committed) or True Freshmen to play at least one offensive tackle spot next year. The other OT spot will likely be manned by Chester Adams (who can't possible be a downgrade from Inman).

Well surely we recruited OTs in the past few years right?
-- In 2005, we signed one offensive lineman. Center Ian Smith.

-- In 2004, we signed two offensive linemen. Chester Adams (OG/OT) and Seth Watts (OG)

-- In 2003, we signed several offensive linemen. But the only tackles we signed were Tommy Gainous, Ken Shackleford (who we promptly wasted his Redshirt year so he could protect on extra points), Trey Chandler and James Lee. Lee never visited Athens during the recruiting process. Is it any wonder that he got homesick or restless and left after 18 or so months? Gainous and Trey Chandler were ruled physically unable to perform within a year.

-- So...in the face of obvious and critical needs for offensive tackles that had existed for more than two years....we signed in 2006:

• 3 offensive linemen with grades that would get them no where near Athens for at least a year (Anderson, Geathers and Ben Harden). Currently, it looks like none of those kids will be playing tackle. Hopefully, that will change.
  
• A kid barely over 16 years old with a bad shoulder in John Miller.
  
• A potential "project" in Josh Davis
  
• 2 promising guard prospects that weighed around 260 lbs each.
• A promising OT that is playing defensive end. A position where we do have depth.
  

It's maddening. Especially since we offered Inman (the son of one of Callaway's former players at ECU who's only other offer was ECU) instead of Marcus McNeil (4 year starter at Auburn). Especially since Paul Duncan wasn't good enough for Georgia to recruit despite being good enough for Michigan and Notre Dame. Especially since we signed Gainous instead of a 3 year starter at FSU in David Overmeyer. Especially since we apparently didn't pursue Duke Robinson very hard...a potential 4 year starter at Oklahoma.

We're not in the position we're in with offensive linemen because we're unlucky.

We're in it because some combination of Neil Callaway, Rodney Garner and Mark Richt have been doing a lousy job of evaluating talent, transcripts and health of Offensive Tackle prospects while doing a questionable job of managing scholarships allotment.

The good news
Callaway does a good job of coaching up what he gets CONSIDERING the quality of the talent that he has brought on. And, Richt/Garner and the rest of the staff do a very good job of recruiting at all other positions.

That said, you can't look at the allocation of scholarships across the wide receivers, tight ends and even fullbacks and say that our recruitment of offensive linemen -- particularly offensive tackles -- makes any sense whatsoever.

Recruiting does look promising for 2007. Particularly at offensive tackle. But you can't fix the mistakes of the past 3-4 years in one year. Next year's team looks really interesting...except at OT where it'll take a White Knight Juco to save us. If you're a high school offensive lineman, Georgia has an opening for you.

PWD

CBS Uses Six-Day Selection Option on Nov. 11 Games

Image: Georgia Sports Communications

Source; SECSports:

CBS Sports has elected to use a six-day selection for games of November 11, 2006. The following four games are being held: Tennessee at Arkansas, Georgia at Auburn, South Carolina at Florida and Alabama at LSU. CBS will televise one of these four games at 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. ET), while ESPN will televise one of these four games at 7:45 p.m. ET (6:45 p.m. CT), ESPN2 will televise one of the four games at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) and Lincoln Financial Sports will televise one of the four games at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT). The selections should be made by Sunday afternoon based on the outcome of the Saturday, Nov. 4 games.

The remaining SEC game on the schedule for Nov. 11 will have Vanderbilt visiting Kentucky at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT).

If I were ranking the games right now, I’d go:

1. Arkansas at UT (#12 vs. #8)
2. UF vs. SC (Spurrier returns home with the chance to wreck #7 UF’s season)
3. UGA at AU (#6 AU hosting a bad UGA team in a great college rivalry game)
4. Bama at LSU (#13 hosting a horrible Bama team)

However...
LSU plays at UT this weekend.
Arkansas plays at South Carolina
UGA plays at UK

By Sunday, it could look more like this:
1. #11 Arkansas at #7 UT
2. #6 Florida playing a 4 loss Gamecock team that still has the Spurrier story
3. #5 Auburn vs. a rebounding 6-3 UGA team
4. #20 LSU hosts a boring 6-3 Bama

OR

1. #25 South Carolina vs. #6 Florida with a great storyline
2. #17 Arkansas at #13 UT
3. #5 Auburn vs. a rebounding 6-3 UGA team
4. #11 LSU hosts boring 6-3 Bama

God bless the Atlanta TV market, our ace in the hole. The wildcard in all of this...LSU doesn't want to play anymore day games. If they throw a fit about playing on LFSports at 11:30 am CST, they'll put the SEC in the position of trying to decide who to screw.

PWD

Note from Dawgnoxious: All things considered, I think I'd rather take my chances with a half-asleep AU team at 11:30 CST than a jacked AU team at 7:30.

PWD NOTE: LSU is the host team vs. Bama. I had it listed both ways above.

UGA vs. Auburn Tickets Available

Buy or Sell Georgia vs. Auburn Tickets
Stubhub.com has Georgia vs. Auburn tickets for sale, and they guarantee that you'll get your tickets in time for the Game. They have lower and upper level tickets available for what looks to be reasonable prices. Fans with extras can also use Stubhub to sell their tix to other fans.

For more on the Georgia Sports Blog's relationship with Stubhub.com check here.

Go Dawgs. See you at Jordan-Hare.

PWD

What This Saturday's Game Means to UK

Image: Augusta Chronicle
Saturday is everything to the men in big blue. Kentucky is 4-4 with games remaining against:

Georgia (Lexington)
Vanderbilt (Lexington)
UL-Monroe (Lexington)
Tennessee (Knoxville)

With a win over Georgia, the Wildcats would only need to beat UL-Monroe to gain bowl eligibility with Vandy still on the horizon for them to upgrade their bowl situation. To put things in perspective...

Kentucky hasn't been
to a bowl since 1999.
They have only been to three bowls in the past 22 years and five bowls in the past 30 years. In the 55 year period since winning their only legit SEC Championship in 1950 under Bear Bryant, Kentucky has only attended six bowl games.

This Saturday is huge for the Wildcats. Rich Brooks would lock in his job security, and Andre Woodson would become the conquering hero. It would also be the opportunity to finally tear those goal posts down. Something they've been DYING to do for years.

It darn well better mean everything to us, or we are in for a long day. A Georgia team that struggles to beat a 1-8 Colorado team, a 2-7 Ole Miss squad and a 2-7 Mississippi State team can't walk into Lexington feeling sorry for itself, or it will get beat. That's just a fact.

We better get it together and shake the Cocktail Party Hangover because the Bowl Picture looks like a steaming pile of poo if we lose on Saturday.

PWD

Thoughts on the Florida Game

Offensive MVP. Image: DawgPost.com

I'm always prone to hyperbole, and it may have been the bourbon talking. But before the game, I said, "This will be one of the greatest days in American History, or it will be exactly what I'm afraid will happen."

Actually it was neither. We played better than I thought we would, and we kept it close while losing.

Some positives:
-- Our defense only allowed two touchdowns to Florida. That's fewer than the defenses of LSU, Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee allowed in their match-ups with the Gators.

-- Our offense scored two touchdowns on the solid Gator defense. That is more than the offenses of Auburn (0 offensive TDs), LSU (1 offensive TD) or Alabama (1 offensive TD) scored versus the Gators. And it's the same as UT managed.

-- Chris Leak got a concussion in the game. WAIT -- BEFORE YOU FREAK OUT. I don't wish injury on anyone, and I've got no beef with Chris Leak. I want him to live a long healthy life. However, for Chris Leak to get a concussion we had to actually hit him. That's something we have not done often in three of the prior four games against the Gators. In fact, most QBs this season that UGA has faced -- not named Blake -- haven't even experienced grass stains much less violent collisions. The Dawgs knocked Leak around several times. Hopefully, it's just a headache and he heals up nicely. But it was nice to see us get some pressure on the QB for a change.

-- We didn't roll over and play dead. Down 21-0 I was afraid it was about to get risickulous. But the Dawgs battled back and played well.


Ouch. Image: ABH

Some Negatives:
-- Martez Milner tries hard. He's a good dawg. He's overcome so much to just be eligible to play this final season after starting out as a partial qualifier. The Colorado game should've been the moment that turned his career around. But it doesn't look like that will be the case. Can we see what Tripp Chandler can do in a broader role? He certainly made some critical plays vs. MSU.

-- Receiving in general. We could improve so much in this area. Right now, we have a team that couldn't catch syphilis at a Rockdale County prom. And we don't block well either. Whatever we've been doing the past six years doesn't seem to be working. Maybe it's time to try something different in our approach...beyond the tennis ball thing.

-- Tackling, while much better than the past three weeks, still needs work. Primarily, we need to work on our tackling at the spot manned by the 170 pound walk-on safety who starts over the bigger, faster, stronger, better tackling, well rested and younger player named CJ Byrd. Is Tra Battle so critical to our defensive scheme that he can't come off the field more than a handful of plays on defense per game? How is Byrd going to get better on the bench?

-- The turnovers. You don't beat anyone with 5 turnovers. The Kelin Johnson turnover was horrific luck. The Stafford INT in the endzone was horrific decision making. The others sort of ranged anywhere in between. If we had committed just one fewer turnover, we have a shot to win it.

-- Why on earth does Danny Ware return kickoffs? Why not try Mikey Henderson back there? Or Bryan Evans. Or Remarcus Brown. Or someone else with breakaway speed?


A face mask penalty that wasn't called. Image: ABH

Overall:
-- I think the defense played pretty well, and Martinez made some nice adjustments to the Gators misdirection game. We also hit hard enough to cause some of the UF drop balls, which were a big asset in slowing them down. It was our best defensive game since South Carolina way back in Week 2.

-- Dropped passes, inconsistent line play and turnovers continue to plague the offense. If we can just cut the silly drops and turnovers in half, we would have an entirely different view of the season.

-- No coach looks like a genius when faced with a consistent string of 3rd and 10. I'd love to see what Richt's offense would look like with consistent OL and WR play.



PWD

Possible Bowl Scenarios for Georgia

Just please. Not Shreveport
UGA announced today that ticket order forms for Georgia's possible bowl destinations will be mailed Monday. They will accept orders via mail or internet. The details are on UGA's site, and more info will probably be available in the mailer. Yes the timing sucks, but there's no way around it.

The scenarios as I see them:

Beat UK and not GT -- Music City Bowl
As far as bowl cities and venues go, Nashville knows how to throw a party. In a rebuilding year, this is OK. We could also face Miami there, which would be an interesting game. Getting stuck with Wake Forest would be demoralizing, but Maryland wouldn't be so bad. Starting this year, the Music City and Liberty Bowls pick at the same time by submitting an order of preference to the SEC. If they have the same preference, the teams get to pick their bowls.

Would the Music City rather have a struggling 7-5 Bama team in disarray tettering on the brink of firing their coach in a rematch of the 1992 National Title Game? Or a struggling UGA team where Richt plays his alma mater as a possible story line? Who knows. If the Gamecocks beat Arkansas or Clemson, they would strongly be considered ahead of us.

Beat UK and GT and hope for the best -- Peach Bowl
CBS Sportsline still has us going here to play Clemson. GT is almost a lock for the ACC Title Game after their win over Miami. The Peach now gets the 2nd pick of available ACC teams. The prevailing theory being that they wouldn't want GT (local) or Boston College (small traveling fan base). If Clemson is in the Peach, that means South Carolina is out of consideration to avoid a rematch. Bama is struggling as badly as UGA is. UGA would sell its allotment of tickets if Clemson were in the game, and Clemson would generate greater excitement for the game as well. If we somehow found a way to win out including Auburn, we'd end up here.


Please. No.

Lose to UK and GT (scenario 1) -- Independence Bowl
The Independence has a strong preference for SEC West teams. Last year, they only took South Carolina because there weren't enough SEC teams bowl eligible. The only other SEC East team that they've ever taken was UGA in 1991. HOWEVER, the problem here is the bowl pecking order. The Independence now gets the 8th SEC selection. This bowl probably doesn't want us given that Athens is 666 miles from Shreveport, and there's no easy way to fly there. BUT they may have no choice. If Bama, South Carolina and UK end up in some combo of the Peach, Music City and Liberty Bowls we end up at the Weedeater Classic. Period. If we lose to UK, that not only possible. It's very likely.

Lose to UK and GT (scenario 2) -- Liberty Bowl
The SEC has a tie-in with the Liberty Bowl this year. The SEC team plays the Conference USA champ. UGA vs. Tulsa would be totally unappealing, and I'm sure the Liberty knows that. Geograpically, the Liberty would probably rather have Bama than UGA. Frankly, they could probably sell more tickets to a UK fan base that was 7-5 than UGA fans. They could certainly sell more tickets to a 6-6 or 7-5 Gamecock fan base than a 6-6 UGA fan base. We could wind up here, but it's a winding convoluted series of events.


It's never Vegas when you want it to be.

The True Nightmare -- Destination Unknown
There is one scenario worse than all the above. That's the scenario involving two SEC teams not making the BCS. In that event, everyone ahead of us is pushed down a notch. A 7-5 Georgia team would be battling South Carolina, Bama and Kentucky for slots in the Music City, Independence and Liberty Bowls. One of us would be shipped off to Detroit or some other ungodly Georgia Tech-like destination in the freezing cold to watch us bang heads with some half assed MAC or MWC team. That is the true nightmare. That's why we have to beat UK this weekend. To take a DefCon 1 disaster off the table.

PWD

15 of 17 and counting

Image: Georgiadogs.com

Since '90...
Mississippi State has beaten UF more times than we have.
Vandy has beaten UGA more times.
UK has beaten us the same number of times.

It's mind boggling to put your head around. We had our shots in...
-- '93 - Timeout Florida
-- '00 - McMichael's drop and Lito Sheppard's pre-half INT return
-- '02 - Terrence's drop
-- '03 - 200+ yards rushing for UGA, but Leak brings 'em back
-- '05 - We lose our QB and lose by 4
-- '06 - 5 turnovers and we lose by 7

It's crazy that the streak is what it is. But it is.

Anyone that thinks it's because of the bye week or the location or any other reason beyond our own bed wetting ineptitude once we hit the Florida state line, is just making excuses for what we've done each and every year since we narrowed the talent gap around '99.

Congrats to the Gators. They are clearly the better team. My beef isn't with the game. It's with the streak in general.

More thoughts on the game later.

PWD

Property Destroyed Tomorrow?

PWD

Go Dawgs

I'm in Jax. Doubt there will be any posting from here out.

For Dawg stuff check:
Dawgbone.net

For Gator stuff check:
EverydayShouldBeSaturday.com

PWD

Florida Week Notes III

Image: AJC.com
Stafford gears up for the Cocktail Party -- DawgPost

EDSBS Gives the Pro-Gator Fark of the Year -- Orson Swindle

EDSBS Gives Us Top 10 Reasons Georgia Owns Florida -- EDSBS

Richt unsure what to expect from Stafford - Macon Telegraph

Ware Looking to Contribute in Jax - Ugasports.com

Meyer Knows Dawgs Could Put it Together -- GatorCountry.com ($)

Kicking Balls His Whole Life - David Ching

Florida Press Conference Recap - David Ching

Rivalry in Reverse - ABH

Personally, I like the fact that most of the articles are either not talking about the 14-2 streak OR they are talking about not talking about the streak. The pressure of the streak doesn't seem to be on this team as much as the pressure of getting our act together overall.

Not sure if that's better or not, but I'm glad to not read as many articles about 14-2.

PWD

DawgBone.net Old School Pic of the Week

Buck Belue walks up to the line

Think happier thoughts.

Photo from Dawgbone.net

PWD

Best Halloween Costume for Your Kids

Hat tip to GatorsWearJeanShorts. The best site for this week.

pwd

Save the Cheerleader. Save the World

Realizing that the Heroes reference in the headline will be lost on many of you....Many of you who are missing out on the best new TV show in quite some time....I give you this update on a UGA cheerleader that needs your help. (BTW -- judging from all the exclamation points in the email snipet below a very excited cheerleader wrote this).

One of our very own UGA Cheerleaders, Tiffany Gillespie, was selected for Round 3 of the Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest to represent the UGA and the SEC!


Tiffany will compete in an online poll against 7 other cheerleaders (one from each BCS Conference, and one from a non-BCS Conference). Round 3 will go "live" October 14th at 12:00 AM and will last for 3 weeks.

The last day to vote will be November 3rd at 11:59 PM. PLEASE VOTE EVERY DAY FOR TIFFANY!!! It’s easy, just go to www.athlonsports.com and click on the link for the Sideline Spirit Contest, located in the middle of the page. The winner of Round 3 will go on to compete against the winners of the other rounds for the chance to be named the 2006 Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest winner!!!! Please support Tiffany and the SEC by casting your vote often!! Thanks for your support and as always, GO DAWGS!!!

PWD

Florida Week Notes II

Welcome to Mo's

Gordon Ely-Kelso is getting snaps at place kicker. Andy Bailey thinks it's more than just insurance. My answer to this move...THANK YOU.

David Ching has his unposted notebook from the Columbus-Ledger. These are always gems. One of his topics is the start of the third quarter, which is something Josh Kendall talks more about. Stop blocking in the back on kickoff returns, stop throwing INTs and feed Lumpkin the rock from the I formation in the third quarter...problems solved.

DawgPost.com talks about the players dealing with the reality of being underdogs. The AJC covers some of the same ground.

Lastly, Ugasports.com talks about the need for sacks.

Around the Dawgosphere:
-- JMac of The Cover Two weighs in on the lunacy of Mo Mass getting booed.

-- Kyle King has incredibly harsh words for Willie Martinez. I'm not in that camp. I'm still of the opinion that if our LBs could tackle ANY scheme would look much better. Other than the WVU debacle, I don't place all of the defense's woes at Willie's feet over the past 10 games.

-- Doug at HeyJennySlater has posted a novella/tome about the team that even Kyle King can envy in terms of it's total lack of brevity and pound for pound value per word. (This was somehow meant as a compliment but certainly sounds otherwise...so just go with assuming something nice)

Tickets Available for the Cocktail Party

Buy or Sell Georgia vs. Florida Tickets
Stubhub.com has Georgia vs. Florida tickets for sale, and they guarantee that you'll get your tickets in time for the Game. They have upper, club and field level tickets available for what looks to be reasonable prices. Fans with extras can also use Stubhub to sell their tix to other fans.

If you feel that all tickets should be traded between people at face value, then maybe Stubhub isn't right for you. But if you want tickets to an event or you have extras for an event, the site might help you. For more on the Georgia Sports Blog's relationship with Stubhub.com check here.

Go Dawgs. See you in Jacksonville.

PWD

Best Gameday Sign of the Year

Will Collier's "From the Bleachers" brings us the best ESPN Gameday Sign of the year. Check the upper left of the screen.


Somewhere, JD Stokley is laughing.

PWD

Florida Week Articles

Click to see or buy the T-shirt with this design

Did you know that UGA is a 14 point underdog against the Gators? I thought this was our biggest underdog game of the Richt era, but we were 19 point dogs to the Gators in 2001. We were 20 point dogs in 1997, and we won by 20 points (37-17). I personally think you have to go bcak to the 1996 game to find so little optimism among the Dawgnation for any game. The low expectations are almost an asset at this point.

Dean Legge of DawgPost.com posts his 5 keys to the upset. My #1 key to the game is turnovers and my #2 would be tackling. If we make the plays we're physically capable of making on offense, limit our mistakes and suddenly start tackling well, we can give them a heckuva a game. The concern is the tackling issue. You can't just flip a switch and start tackling well. Amazing stat from Legge, Leak has never thrown an interception against Georgia. Unreal.

Speaking of tackling, Willie Martinez says the players have to step up in this area. What else can he say I guess.

The AJC says Martrez is likely out for UF while Chester Adams and Remarcus Brown are likely back. Having Chester back is the best news of the week so far. Massaquoi has been demoted for Goodman, but Harris is still second team to Bryant. I find that odd.

The networks says they won't call the game the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Pointless. That's what the fans will call it. The AJC is looking for alternative names. My favorite from the list would be "Dockside Debauchery." Orson Swindle's EDSBS has a t-shirt that offers a title of "World's Largest Outdoor Coke Orgy."

Just guessing this isn't what Adams has in mind.
Depressing factoid. "Johnny Rauch in 1945 is believed to be the last Georgia freshman starting quarterback to beat Florida." (Source: ABH)

And UGAsports.com talks about Stafford and the Dawgs getting ready for UF.

PWD

Pat Dye nails his commentary on Tebow and Stafford

Leave it to ol' Pat Dye to nail it in an article in the AJC.

Freshman Tim Tebow has done no wrong. Gators coach Urban Meyer hasn't let him. Through controlled runs and carefully timed passes, Meyer has whet fans' appetites for what is to come after senior Chris Leak.

"He is a hybrid," CBS broadcaster Tim Brando said of Tebow. "Just a freakish athlete."

But he's still a freshman.

"[Tebow] didn't make any difference when he played against [Auburn]," said Pat Dye, the Tigers' former coach. "He had one run, but then the next three or four times he ran it he never got across the line.

"If Tebow is playing the whole ballgame, he would be making the same mistakes [Georgia freshman Matthew] Stafford is making."

That's been my point. So far, he's a helluva a fullback, and I sure as heck don't want to see him rolling out there on 3rd and 1. But he's only thrown 14 passes so far this year, and nine of them were versus UCF in mostly garbage time.

He's a whale of a talent, but the hype as a QB vs. what he's actually done throwing the ball is way out of whack. He's a weapon, but not for throwing the ball. At least not yet.

Oh...and Meyer says we'll see a heap more of Tebow this weekend.

PWD

Photos: MSU vs. UGA (Southerland in action)

Brannon Southerland was making plays all over the place. All images by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.

Southerland = Playmaker. This ball was behind him, and he one armed it to set up a score. HUGE play.



Southerland dives for the final UGA score.


Southerland on the move.


PWD

Facebook apology and Support note to Massaquoi

I've been told the name of the Facebook group is:

"Mohammed Massaquoi = Amazing"

If you're a student looking to show you're support for Mohammed, please register. If there are other similar groups, please let me know. For more thoughts on the losers who booed Mo, click here.

PWD

Photos: MSU vs. UGA (Offense)

All photos by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.

Massaquoi scores a TD on the fade.


Kenneth Harris had a monster day.


Tripp Chandler makes a big time play


PWD

Monday Morning Table of Contents

After days and days of posting light, I've got several things to start your morning.

-- MSU Game: Thoughts on the Offense
-- MSU Game: Thoughts on the Defense
-- Photos from Jim Hipple of the Defense in Action
-- Commentary on the Douche Bag fans that booed Mo Mass

More photos coming after lunch. Enjoy.

PWD

MSU Game: Thoughts on the Offense

Brannon Southerland makes plays. Image: Jim Hipple

After watching the offense show fits and spurts vs. MSU, you can't help but wonder what would've happened if Richt had picked Stafford sooner. Like 5 minutes after the UT game was over for instance.

The three INTs are an unavoidable part of the growing process with a true freshman QB. Even the Gators with Super Hype All-World Tebow are bringing him along slowly. Did you know that Tebow has only thrown 14 passes this year, and nine of them were in garbage time vs. UCF. We don't have that luxury so what you get is what happened on Saturday. By comparison, Matthew Stafford has thrown 125 passes this season.

Regardless, what we got to see vs. Mississippi State was some of the prettiest deep balls that we've seen in Athens since the Boise game last year with Shockley. The 40 yard corner route to Harris on the second drive was particularly nice.

The Playbook:
Richt went to the shotgun and 4 WRs most of the game. When we were in the I formation, we were mostly in a 3 WR set with no TEs. That makes sense given that Stafford is more comfortable in the gun, and Martrez Milner was out for the game.

It's hard to watch the offense we saw on Saturday and say that Joe Tereshinski works with a fatter playbook than Stafford does. What we saw was closer to the old FSU sling it around offense than anything we've seen under Richt in years (if ever). It was nothing like the 3 yards and a screen pass into the dust that we saw the past 3 games.

My only beef with play calling is the continued under utilization of Kregg Lumpkin. He had 15 carries for 80 yards. When you've got a back that consistently gets 5 yards per carry or better, why not give him the ball more?

One can't help but wonder if our third quarter offensive disappearing act the past three games has anything to do with Lumpkin not getting many carries in the 3rd period. Lumpkin carried the ball on UGA's first two plays of the second half, but he didn't get another carry until roughly the 9 minute mark of the 4th quarter. The result was a 16 yard run. FEED THE BEAST.

The Turnovers:
All three INTs were totally and completely on Stafford. He actually could've thrown another one. The flip side is we entered the redzone 4 times and we scored 4 TDs with him at QB. The fumbles are a lot less understandable given that it wasn't freshman doing the dropping.


Tripp Chandler's TD on 4th and 1. Click to enlarge. Image: Jim Hipple

The Playmakers:
Brannon Southerland, Tripp Chandler and Kenneth Harris had superb games, and Nick Jones is a walking pile of guts surrounded by awesomeness. Southerland's one arm grab of the pass thrown behind him (Photo at top) was as athletic as any play you can make in football. Harris went over 100 yards receiving, and he was money all day. Tripp Chandler's grab on 4th and 1 was just a case of him wanting it more than the MSU kid did.

Pass Blocking:
Dan Inman continues to register offsides, holding and unsportsmanlike penalties at a staggering rate. This week he pulled the offsides hat trick resulting in Dawgnoxious' comment:

"On Senior Day when they call player names. Dan Inman will come out too early."

That said, the pass blocking with a make shift OL was pretty solid. Stafford had some time to let plays develop downfield, and even his INTs weren't a result of being rushed. He just misfired.

Run Blocking:
We run block pretty well for Lumpkin. Not so much for anyone else. I did like the zone read keeper for Stafford from the gun. It makes the draw play MUCH more effective if there's at least a CHANCE that the QB keeps it.

Richt's Comments:
Richt finally said what most of us have been thinking. He went for it on 4th and 1 inside the MSU 20 because "I just got tired of punting and kicking field goals." It's comforting to know we're on the same page. I'm tired of being Field Goal U as well. I loved the play call.

Overall:
We should be further along than we are on offense. Frankly, we would be further along if the QB with all the upside had gotten more snaps at this point. But we are where we are, and it is what it is. We need Chester Adams and Nick Jones to be healthy for the Cocktail Party, or it's going to be an exceptionally long day.

PWD

MSU Game: Thoughts on the Defense

Charles Johnson bats down a pass vs. Miss. State (Photo by Jim Hipple)

Defensively before the game I was hoping to see:

More pressure on the QB - check
More blitzing from the LBs - check
Using Ellerbe and/or Dewberry on obvious passing downs - check
Better tackling - nope. way, way, way off

The good news is that we tried some new things vs. Mississippi State. Unfortunately, our linebacker coach hasn't taught our young LBs to shed a block or wrap up on a tackle any better than he taught our older LBs to do it. So the blitzes weren't all that effective. That said, Tony Taylor had a very good day with the exception of some horrific arm tackles late in the game. It was also good to see both our Defensive Ends have a very productive days.

Why so many points?
The Drive Chart tells the story, and it's awfully hard to blame the defense when the offense gives up five turnovers.

MSU had a 2 play 13 yard scoring drive resulting in a touchdown. They also had a 4 play 8 yard drive resulting in a field goal. Those were the gimmie points that we served up on a silver platter. Even the world's most inept offense can score in that situation. We also gave up another TD after a turnover.

The Bizarro Dogs had only 1 drive of more than 51 yards on the day. That's it.

The DBs:
Bryan Evans played like a redshirt freshman corner generally plays in the SEC. Some good, and lots of bad. On Tuesday, when they show the replay on CSS you'll see that he was the victim for most of MSU's big passing plays. The good news is the upside. He looked no worse than Paul Oliver, Tim Jennings or Tim Wansley looked as freshmen in their first start. Byrd still didn't get a ton of minutes, but Tra Battle had a solid game with a huge INT return to set up Georgia's first scoring drive. Hopefully, Remarcus Brown will be back for UF.

The LBs:
Worst tackling linebackers at Georgia since at least Marion Campbell's early 90s squad. If that group tackled better than this one, then we either have to go back to the 4-7 '90 team or some group coached pre-Dooley in the early 60s. They tackle at a level only Hal Mumme could appreciate.

The good news is that Tony Taylor really stepped his overall game up. He still missed some tackles, but he had a variety of big plays all over the field. He has a case of the want its. And it's obvious.

The DL:
As I said earlier, Moses and Johnson had a huge game. Richt said after the game, "They made a difference in this game and I was thankful for that. I was proud of them for that." I agree 100%. We're going to need a bunch more of that in Jax.

If you're mad at Willie Martinez after this one (other than the tackling with I personally put on the position coach) you're barking up the wrong tree or you didn't watch the game. An opinion that David Ching shares with me. The turnovers put us in the position we were win. The offense must protect the ball better.

As someone else said this weekend, every scheme looks better with great effort, pressure on the QB and great tackling. I think we got 2 out of three. Still room for improvement, but I thought it was progress given the field position.

PWD

Most retarded fan moment in 7 years

Damn Good Dawg.

I still can't get over the absolute whiny bitch move some of our fans pulled on Saturday when they booed Mohamed Massaquoi and then followed that with a bronx cheer when he was benched.

That's the lowest moment since the 1999 Auburn Implosion. That night in 1999 we lost EVERY SINGLE RECRUIT that visited campus.

Is that the type of program you want to be a part of? The type that has so little tolerance for any failure or bumps in the road whatsoever that you boo? The type that eats its own and runs off quality players and recruits?

Those fans don't deserve to watch success on the field. Mo Mass has been busting his ass for Georgia, and he's in a slump. But he won't be in a slump forever.

You don't boo the kid that works hard, is trying to make plays, never runs his mouth, never gets in trouble off the field, and has made HUGE plays for you in the past. Personally, I don't think you boo any college athlete. But even if you're a horse's ass big enough to boo someone in college...you sure as hell don't boo THAT guy.

If anyone was going to get booed, it should be the pot smoker who constantly commits penalties, doesn't give full effort and has been a loafer for 5 years who's toughest moments seem to come when he injures his own teammates. But even he has a G on his helmet. Even he deserves better than what Massaquoi got on Saturday.

There's a FaceBook group of students putting together an apology to Massaquoi. It's called something like We Love Massaquoi. I lost the email with the exact details. If you have the name, publish it in the comments field.

The students talked about showing "Solidarity" with the team on the Black Out. You want to show that you're really behind the team? Stop BOOING. You're making yourself look like chumps.

PWD

Photos: MSU vs. UGA (Defense)

All photos by Jim Hipple. Click to enlarge.

Kelin Johnson tackles an MSU wideout.


Johnson after the fumble recovery to end the game.


Johnson goes for the strip


Coach Fabris gets his freak on.


More Photos tomorrow.

PWD

FINALLY - I was beginning to feel like Preston Burke

Good grief. So I had to perform open heart surgery on the blog today. On Saturday, I blew up the blogger.com template somehow. Definite user error.

To make matters worse, it turns out that I hadn't backed up the template in about a year despite the addition of a store, a stubhub integration and google ads. That makes me a dumbass.

Several hours and a total hack job later, I think I'm back fully funct