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
