It's tempting to say the sky is falling. It's tempting to say against our first real competition of the year, the Dawgs turned in a woeful performance against a team that lost to Vanderbilt on national television. I'm sure the score raised some eyebrows around the country and knocked a bit of the shine off of UGA's reputation. All of that is misplaced. (Image: georgiadogs.com)Was this a good performance from the Dawgs? The answer is unquestionably no. Carolina's run defense essentially controlled the game. Knowshon got his yards exclusively on hard fought runs where he was making things happen, rather than exploding through holes. Frankly, there weren't many holes for him to find. As a result, the old flaws of Richt coached teams came roaring back. The receivers dropped balls. The offense bogged down in the red zone and had to settle for field goals. The Dawgs amassed a frighteningly low 252 total yards during 35:13 of time of possession.
The Dawgs looked out of sorts on defense, too. The pass rush was completely absent, embarrassingly nonexistent. As a result, the pressure shifted to our defensive backs, who held, interfered, and had to watch Chris Smelley, Jared Cook, and the SC receivers sit down in zone dead spots and move the chains. The team looked undisciplined with a whopping 112 yards in penalties. Two of those were for questionable roughing penalties, but it seemed like everything else was for pass defense infractions.
But, to look exclusively at the negatives, is to do a disservice to Matt Stafford. I think everyone wondered what would happen if Knowshon couldn't get it going and Stafford had to win a game. That question got answered, in part, yesterday. I thought Stafford had a great game, despite his unimpressive numbers: no turnovers, a 60% completion percentage despite four drops (at least), and some nifty zone read runs. Plus, I don't remember him forcing a ball into a short or intermediate route. The pass to A.J. Green on third and forever was fantastic, a throw that will make Stafford a multimillionaire very soon. He still loves the deep ball a little too much, but all thing considered, that's nitpicking. Stafford answered the bell and it should provide some confidence.
To devalue Georgia based on that game, however, ignores the history of this series. In 2002, a future SEC championship team needed a miracle interception and another miracle fumble inside the UGA 5 to preserve a win in Columbia. In 2004, Carolina was driving for a big score before Greg Blue forced a fumble inside the twenty. Carolina makes those crucial mistakes and that's why they are Carolina. This game is always a hardfought slugfest and yesterday was no different. A win in a Columbia isn't for style points. It's the first test of a team during adversity. It's something to learn from and build upon (especially you, offensive line). Take the win and move on.
Lastly, well done, Brian Mimbs. You came through with the kick of your life at just the right moment.
Quinton
46 comments:
Great post. While there are glaring issues, this IS the first REAL team UGA has faced all season. SoCar had a classic "look ahead" game against an upstart Vandy team, which has played teams VERY close over the last few years. SoCar is a legit team with one of the BEST Ds in the country. Period. Our O-line, which is still a work in progress, got a good test of what it would be like to face a stout D, and it was on the road. They did well. If you take away some of those key drops, this offense scores 24+ plus points easily.
Defensively, our guys were simply gased. The D line definitely needs work, but this was an offense run by Spurrier. SOS always schemes well against us. Plus, at the end of the day, SoCar scored a whopping 7 points against us. I'll take THAT anyday.
Everyteam that wins, or hopes to win, a mNC must win these games. Show me a team who has not over the last few years. Just think if we had won the SoCar slugfest last year...
This game will build character and give the team the sense that they are NOT invincible. This is a good thing. They were hit in the mouth, but the Dawgs were still the last ones standing yesterday. Go Dawgs!
P.S. Dang ASU...Losing to UNLV...
Aside from Mimbs, special teams at this point are impotent - particularly on kickoffs.
Dead on about this game being tough each year. I kept shouting to my wife, "that reminds me of 2002, 2001, 2004, etc.".
Thank God for Rennie Curran - my favorite D player. We would have not won without him.
Lastly, having Battle back will help the rush.
I counted five Easons yesterday: 3 by Chandler, 1 by Durham, and 1 by T. King. (Yeah, I know only two of those are by guys Eason actually coaches but you get the idea.)
Improve on run blocking and pressure on the ends and we're a very good football team. If not then we'll be only average.
This should have given the coaches a good idea on what needs correcting and they better get it done quickly.
Stafford still throws the ball to the wrong place or seems like he's predetermined who he's going to throw the ball to prior to the snap. On one occasion, he threw the ball to AJ Green deep with two guys on him when Massaquoi had broken wide open on the other side of the field. Stafford also missed two cb blitzes by Munnerlyn. On one of those, he had T King WIDE OPEN for a TD because the Safety had gone the other way. Not a great game by Stafford by any means.
While on the subject of drops and misplays, let's not forget about Richard Samuel catching the screen pass and running right at the tackler in what should have been an easy TD and Samuel not catching a very catchable ball out of the backfield on another possible TD. He has shown nothing to make anyone believe that he's ready to handle those types of situations as a true FR. Go with Moreno and King. Samuel can play vs Vandy and UK...otherwise, it should be garbage time for him at this point. Those mistakes could have easily gotten us beat.
I don't get why Samuel was in before Caleb AGAIN only to have the same results. WTF?
Tripp Chandler needs to be benched. Period.
Willie Martinex is still the same old dumbass coach he's always been.
We knew we didn't have a pass rush when we played Southern, for those that keep saying, "well now we know the pass rush needs to be fixed" are just kidding yourselves. It hasn't been fixed because we don't have an answer for it.
ASU is going to carve us like a Thanksgiving turkey next week. Write it down. Oh, and newsflash: we don't deserve to be ranked in the top 5.
Q - are you blind??? You thought Staff had a great game??? WTF dude.
He missed wide open shots all day. He missed the blitz. He made hideous calls at the line.
This was one of his worst games running that offense that I can remember.
You're either blind or stupid. Judging from many of your most recent posts, I'm going with the latter.
Anon 1027 . . . Rudy "carved up" UNLV for less than 250.
I think we'll be ok.
anon@9:58 - on one of those cb blitzes our fullback stood there and watched Munnerlyn run by...I'm just saying there's plenty of blame to go around and its a bit unfair to pin it all on Stafford.
In any case, I'm sure there will be a lot of cringing in the film room this week, but thats how we get better, right?
Happy for the win, but...
Despite ASU's loss, without a pass rush and good coverage or adjustments, we will have a long day in the desert.
Furthermore, when we play teams like LSU, Bama, etc. with a good defense like SCar and a legit offense, we will be in trouble.
We have to get some of this stuff sorted out THIS WEEK.
I was really excited since HD installation was completed just as the game was starting (actually missed UGA's FG). Then I was thinking "I got HD for THIS?".
UGA looked terrible with flashes of brilliance.
If the D was gassed against SCar, they are going to be plenty tired next week as well.
I would love to chalk it up to "Scar always plays us tough", but I am more concerned.
While Rennie Curran made the play of the day, the D never figured out how to stop the Scar TE. If Scar had a decent QB, UGA would have lost.
I think that when the polls come out, UGA will drop again. Depending on how one views polls (a prediction of the season outcome or an evaluation of the teams week to week), I can see UGA dropping behind OU and narrowly ahead of Missouri. OU and Mizzou are destroying teams they should destroy.
Sorry, but I am not that impressed with the SCar defense on the whole.
I am holding out that UGA started out last season slow but lost games like this while this year UGA has won them.
Since I was sick, I went to bed early but saw 3 quarters of the USC-Ohio State game. Right now there is no team better than USC (saw bits and pieces of OU against Washington). USC might well lose a game, but I am not sure to whom.
USC has SEC type speed on both sides of the ball.
Totally agree with Anon 9:58...I'm not about to let Stafford off the hook after this game. I also think his vision is lacking on the field and when the ball is snapped he already has his mind made up who he is going to throw the ball to. The QB at the School for the Blind could've seen MoMass and TKing open on those plays.
Willie "Lucky I Have Talent" and "What's a Blitz" Matinez is going to make me lose my *#@!. A lab rat has more intelligence to adjust than him. Willie here is some suggested reading, Who Moved My Cheese.
Good lord people. You should have KNOWN this game was going to be tough. Yeah this exposed some area's that need work. But did we really think we weren't going to have a close game vs USC. All you can ask for is to come out of there with a win. What this shows me is that our team can have a terrible game and still pull out a win. This game was almost identical to 2007 except for one thing. We found a way to win. I'm not freaking out. Instead I'm glad to see us get hit in the mouth and keep fighting.
Stafford won that game for us. The guy had five real incompletions all day. On that corner blitz that he didn't pick up, who was he going to throw to? The only thing he saw was the Cap'n bearing down on him and the back of a fullback still running a route. He was our only offense while Knowshon was under the clamps of the Carolina DL. The keepers on those zone read plays were working perfectly in the first half, so I don't blame him for trying a few in the second half. On the MoMass play, that would have been a superhuman throw considering he was getting pressured from his left and would have had to throw it across the field and against that pressure.
He wasn't perfect (no one is), but did a fine job against a good D.
Also go to ESPN and vote for UGA on the Game Changing Performance...for the Curran forced fumble play.
As far as how we did yesterday, well, it was pretty bad. We really do need to look at the TE position and find someone with reliable hands...we don't need a TE that will catch it and run for another 20 yards...we just need someone who can catch it reguarly...I mean we do have 2-3 WRs that can get yards after the catch in Green, Mo Mass, and Durham. I know Chandler isn't terrible, but he isn't great either. The D was looking bad..not on the scoreboard, but on the field. I was sure that SC as gonna score on that last drive after the 30-40 yard completion when they were inside their own 20, but we lucked out. I think we will do better next week, but if these things don't get fixed by the bama game it could be ugly. ASU will make us pay for letting them sit back and pass, but they don't have a run stuffing D like SC...so we can take them in a shoot-out.
Ignore the haters, Quinton, that was a great write-up, and I agree. I'm confused and a little bit worried about how our secondary didn't cover any better than they did in the fourth quarter, but otherwise, I'm not wailing and giving away my possessions just yet. This game is traditionally an ugly, close contest, and yet that rarely has much of an effect on the rest of the season. We barely scraped by against the 'Cocks in 2002, '04, and '05 (and lost in '07) and still had terrific seasons; we dominated them in '06 and still couldn't stay out of a 1-4 midseason trough that nearly killed us. So there's no point in reading too much into this, only in having faith that the coaches can sand down the rough edges and make sure everyone is 100-percent prepared and focused for Tempe.
My thoughts are the same as last year. I swear BoBo tries to out Spurrier - Spurrier. WTF is up with trick plays and other Spurrier type nonsense? BoBo took us out of more drives than the SC defense.
Fans that are excusing Georgia are not helping. Mike Bobo is a horrible Offensive Coordinator. Last year the team won insisput of his ineptness. Bobo talent is more suitable for Class A high school football. Why does Martinez still have a job? He can't coach a the secondary or cooridinate the defense. Tripp Chandler should play on the practice squad. Matthew Stafford is no Peyton Manning and should stop trying to imitate him. He is just not that great at reading the defense. I like Samuel but the kid is not ready for prime time. If Georgia is in the Math Bowl he's our man; otherwise he needs to sat back and get a little more experience. Overall the dawgs looked like crap yesterday.
Anyone who expected us to blow out Carolina still has a price tag on their UGA shirt.
The coaches will adjust and we'll be just fine.
yeah, i gotta agree with the criticism of the mindless cheerleaderism that this blog is often guilty of.
what there is positive to take away from this game pales in comparison to all that sucked. and btw--the positive is that we have a really good punter, not that stafford had some kind of character-building game. after 24 starts, i'd don't see how any objective person could say that this game wasn't a step back for stafford.
Obviously, Walsh needs to work on the kickoffs, and our walk-on didn't do any better. At this point, try Butler or better yet, Mimbs.
Wow,looking at these posts one would think Georgia lost yesterday. Chill out. We have a great coach and a lot of talent. And, most importantly, WE WON. It wasn't pretty, and all of us have a few new gray hairs showing, but at the end of the day, we came back to Athens with a W.
On a side note, I really hope the players don't read blogs like this. I know I'd be thinking, "Sh**, I played my heart out, we won, and I still have people disgusted with me."
quinton mcdawg said:
"Stafford won that game for us."
That's either the silliest thing that's been said about that game, or it's the most cynical assessment of what kind of team we've got. And I haven't decided which it is. . . .
i'm so sick of hearing people say that we should just feel good to come out of there with a win. get real--columbia ain't baton rouge. by this metric, i guess we'll just be lucky to get out of tiger stadium with the same number of players who went in.
we're a good ways from being a contender, folks.
I watched as much of the UGA/SC game as I could before I headed to Tempe for the ASU/UNLV debacle. Many ASU fans, and likely some players, saw the UGA/SC final and started looking past UNLV.
The media here will probably skewer ASU for looking ahead, but as much as the coaching staff said this past week's focus should be on UNLV, the media was more interested in UGA than UNLV.
I get the impression from this blog that UGA maintained its focus on SC during the week and did not look ahead.
As for the struggles during the game, the observations of the folks on this thread echo the comments I've heard following ASU's loss to UNLV: Quarterback less than stellar, questionable coaching, line performance, etc.
Despite our differences in teams, geography and tradition, it is amazing how similar we are.
Safe travel for those of you making the trip to Tempe.
See you at the game!
anon 12:58 - our Secondary didn't play their hearts out and were lucky as shit to come away with a win.
I hope they do read this blog & the comments and realize what a disappointing and unacceptable performance they turned in yesterday. We're not SCU - we're better than that. They need to man up and play like it.
While I agree with much of your sentiment, Q, I must argue that Brian Mimbs won the game for us, with a hell of a kick. That 77 yard punt when we were in our own endzone late was a real emotional move that you could feel around the stadium. The cocky fans around us instantly deflated and sat down, while the Georgia fans got up and loud (at least in my section after I moved away from some particularly annoying Georgia alumni, I swear to God if I see more alumni complain about students who stand during the game, I'm going to petition the Athletic Association to stop selling them tickets. As I said to one lazy and mean b*stard who was yelling at my friends and I for standing and yelling, "I could sit at home and watch the game. I come to stand and yell!"). I agree Stafford stepped up, although it still wasn't as good of a game as I'd like.
He overthrew some deep balls, and either him or Massoquai needs to figure out that deep post route, because it would have been a roughly 80 yard bomb had it worked. Also, he needs to get with the timing if he's going to change every play. Granted the play clock wasn't working, but still he needed to figure out how much time he had. I was particularly unimpressed with Chandler's inability to hold on to what looked like at least 2 1st down completions.
All in all, I'm always happy to get a win, especially when it makes Spurrier mad. However, after watching USC dominate the lines versus Ohio St., I'm concerned with our future play. If we're to do anything special this year, SEC title or MNC, we're going to need to firm up those lines. Our Defensive Ends seem to be waiting for someone to step up, and nobody's actually doing it. I felt like our DT's were being double teamed all afternoon, and even with single coverage, neither of the DE's got to Smelley. Our O-Line is, similarly, looking for a leader. The blocking was decent at best, bad at worst. Knowshon can't run through non-existent holes and win us many games in the SEC, and the holes will be hard to come by in games outside of conference. Good news is, Richt is a great coach, and I can at least believe that he's more aware of these problems than I am.
Good points on the problems. This Martinez can't coach stuff that comes up every time we have an off game is hillarious. And dumber than dirt.
And this isn't just Spurrier. Go back to each of UGA's 9 SEC titles since 1960. Only twice in that span did we win by more than 8 points. Our 59 SEC and Orange Bowl Champs lost one game all year to you guess who. Dooley's first two SEC titles in 66 and 68 were both close games as was 76. Our National Champs beat them by 3 points Between the Hedges. We did better in 81 and 82. It has already been documented about the Richt era. THIS IS NOTHING NEW and anyone who predicted a massive blow out failed to understand the nature of this series. Imagine how Auburn must be feeling this morning.
We have issues and they need to be worked. Right now we are no USC or OU, but right now doesn't matter as long as we keep getting W's and we fix these problems.
Geez...all of you folks who think the sky is falling and that there is no way we are going to make it to the Peach Bowl, you can send me your tickets (if you even have any which I doubt). It was ugly, but it was a W. Like has been stated before '02, '04,'05 were all ugly close games and all three seasons we played for the SEC championship. Let's not forget the the "OMG best team EVAH" in the SEC (I am talking about our jorts wearing cousins to the South) only beat SC in '06 because of a blocked FG, and they won the MNC. Mark my words SC will beat UT or UF this year.
Willie Martinez has on games and off games just like every coach, OC, and DC. Let's not forget the Stanford and UCLA debacles of the last two years where Carroll and the USC staff are concerned just because the beat the snot out of tOSU and the pathetic excuse for a conference that is the Big 10.
I don't like his "Soft Zone" anymore than the next guy, but I'm inclined to believe that an early scare (which doesn't result in a loss by the way) may snap the D back into Sugar Bowl form - we have the talent. Would you rather blow out SCAR and have this type of bed crapping against Tennessee, Alabama, or Florida? I say this couldn't have come at a better time.
Thus, the win is a win commentary.
UGA number 3 in coaches, jumped by OU.
As for ASU, they are number 24.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex
Gameday is LSU/AU: http://collegegameday.com/
Anon @ 12:39:
We scored 40 points six times last year. Obviously something was done right.
Everybody needs to lay off Chandler...the first two "drops" could hardly even be called drops. The first one was high, hard, and behind him. Not necessarily a bad throw, because it was the only place Matt could put it in that situation, but it would have been a very tough catch. The second ball was tipped right before it got to him. So he had one real "drop," in my estimation.
"Lay off Chandler" ??? He dropped three balls all of which he should have caught! He needed to have his ass on the bench.
And a three man rush? We weren't getting there with four. The defensive ends in the second half were moving in slow motion.
The offense was poor. The defense was average against another SEC team that drops important passes like ours. The special teams other than one fantastic punt flat out sucked. The coaches called a ridiculous game on offense and defense.
When Wooten said that Georgia's offense was too simplistic he was right. What a crappy effort by the entire team.
I have jumped on Q a few times recently about his posts. However, I think he is on the money in this post in his assessment on Stafford. It might have been an ugly win but our QB led us big time.
Yes, he may have missed out on a couple of big plays but overall he was solid and took what that D gave him.
On a day when the Dawgs weren't at their best including the QB, at least he stayed cool and got the job done.
I'm excited about this year and one game is not going to take away my enthusiasm!
Also, I live in SC and if you think it pains us that we didn't blow them out of the water...just imagine how they feel today. :)
Go Dawgs!
Good grief. Is it 2007 or what?
"Waaaaaa, Tripp Chandler can't catch!"
"Waaaaa, Willie Martinez sucks!!!"
Much like last year, Georgia will end up figuring everything out. Except like last year, Georgia has a win after the South Carolina game... that was on the road... And we gave up 7 points. I'll take it.
It's the 3rd game of the season after playing two cupcakes. We might be blind cheerleaders, but at least we are consistent. All you fickle Chicken Little's will be back on the train once Chandler makes two big catches against ASU and Willie's D starts dominating.
I'm not worried about playing in Natl' Championship yet. It's a long season and UGA will peak at the right time. Give it time.
The thing I'm worried about is if we get knocked down to #3, even beating Florida 50-7 won't put us back up over Oklahoma or Southern Cal if they both run the tables, and we'll just wind up like Auburn '04
I am truly puzzled by the rage calling for Martinez's and Chandler's and Stafford's heads. This is college football. It's entertainment. That is, it's meant to be an enjoyable experience. Or perhaps there are those who find that milking their anger over things beyond their control is, in fact, entertaining. Yes, puzzling.
Great post, Q. We know there was crappy play. I am optimistic (which, to me anyway, is more enjoyable than fantasizing with clenched fists and throbbing temples about personnel decisions that I can't control) that our players and coaches will work on the problems that resulted in crappy play -- problems that they are able to identify with much more subtlety than any of us fans.
Strange things happen in the course of a season (as has been pointed out all over the place). Last year, UGA couldn't score against the Gamecocks and, weeks later, smacked Auburn's D (for example) all over the field. I believe our O line will get better with experience, like it did last year. If it does, Stafford will continue to lead the conference in pass efficiency (still in first place today, by the way).
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, friends. I raise my half-full glass with all of you, even the sad ones whose glasses are half-empty.
Wow, what a load of vitriol! For all of the 'anon' folks who are riding on the Dawgs' bandwagon for the moment, I guarantee you every one who watched (and played/coached in for that matter) the SC game last year would trade its outcome for the outcome we had yesterday: a WIN.
Richt said it best when asked to grade the Dawgs' performance: "I'd give us a . . . W." At this point, that's all that matters.
And if the coaching or playing is sub-standard in your opinion, I defy you to do a better job. Based on some of your comments, you'd think we'd lost 10 in a row rather than winning 10. But, then again, most of you wouldn't be commenting if the Dawgs were 0 for the last 10, you'd be cheering for SC, UF, or GT, instead.
And I fully agree with Q on Stafford, especially compared with his previous performances against USC: 2007-19/44 (43%), 213yd, 0TD, 1 Int; 2006-8/19 (42%), 171yd, 0TD, 3 Int.
And for everyone parroting Gary Danielson from the broadcast's on criticisms on the coach's, did you come up with that or your own or just spout what we all heard on the broadcast?
Finally, no it wasn't pretty, Quinton did a pretty good job of establishing that. Yes there are things to work on, and Richt & the coaches will address them. Let's get ready for the desert, undefeated, which is better than we could say after the SC game last year.
GO DAWGS!
"He still loves the deep ball a little too much??"
He ONLY loves the deep ball. Aside from screens, he HAS no other ball. What we saw yesterday was that when the deep ball isn't on, the passing game is reduced to nothing- and Knowshon has to scrounge for penny yardage. Until Stafford can find the short reads (or Bobo can create more), the Dawgs will find themselves scrapping it out for weak gains on the ground anytime MS misses on the long bomb.
In closing, of course AJ/MoMa are fast. But utilizing them only for +25yd plays hurts the dawgs.
I'm exactly with those who are happy with the W. The others need to realize the difference in our team's play in games like this. We came out with a win when we didn't play our best. No team plays lights out every weak. Those looking at Oklahoma or USC, or even Missouri, wait until they play real teams (and at least for now, Ohio State does not garner distinction as a real team, esp. with Wells out and Boeckman as their QB). This was a battle through and through, and looking at how we did in games like this the past two years to yesterday, I'll take this W.
Matinez is inadequate. I went on the SEC site and looked at the 2007 statistcs of his defense prior to S.C. game. Keep in mind these stats reflect playing inferior teams:
The rushing defense in 8th among SEc schools.
The scoring defense is 9th among SEC schools.
The total defense is 9th among SEc schools.
These kind of stats will not win you the SEc championship and most defintely not a MNC. I realize to some of you a win is a win but there are some of us who are tired of always being a brides maid but never a bride. Georgia will never get respect until fans stop accepting mediocre and demand excellence.
I think some of you who whine about a bad game in which we WON weren't around to see the 1980 national championship team. We didn't blow every team out that year either and a few of those games weren't pretty.
We had a qb who wasn't the most talented guy but could lead. Now we have a super talented qb who proved yesterday he could lead.
Take the W and move on.
And if you think Stafford HAS limited passing skills, then you are smoking some bad stuff.
Some 'ol boys need to get laid. Put me in the "I'll take it because it damn sure beats the alternative" crowd.
For whatever reason, no matter the season...some teams simply match up better with certain teams than they do others.
South Carolina just matches up well with us. Vandy matches up well with Florida almost every year. Kentucky matches up well with Tennessee. These games have been close a lot lately. It's the SEC. Ask Florida about its recent troubles with that powerhouse Ole Miss.
In we had beaten carolina by seven last year, NOBODY outside Georgia would have remembered the score or cared at the end of the year.
Those of you who are "fans" and on a ledge right now, whining and hating all of our coaches...I wonder...
How did you feel the two weeks after we barely beat Vandy last year?
Gee...I bet you felt EXACTLY THE SAME AS YOU DO RIGHT NOW!!
We're fine. Championship teams figure out how to win games like that.
honestly, I would have been feeling like the game was woeful for UGA until my buddy reminded me that the O-line is a bunch of freshmen. We are playing for the first time on the road against a tough D. The secondary is in the same boat; lots of new starters.
After this revelation I understood that the issues were minor and will be fixed next week.
However, the failure to cover the TE was horrible and our soft zone drives me nuts but in all we have to assess this according to the previously mentioned facts.
I am glad the freshmen and secondary got stomped because they know what it takes to win. This is why I think SoCal will be beaten. tOSU, as always, let their ego get the best of them and quit in the first quarter resulting in SoCal being able to coast for 35 points.
If you don't test your players then they learn very little. We did this and our learning curve sky-rocketed. Beat on it.
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