I agree with much of Quinton's earlier take that the win lacked sizzle / excitement in some ways. But I have a different view of some things. I feel like Georgia had many issues before the game that we needed to make progress on, and we finally made some gains on a few of those issues today. (Image: Shaun Chapas - DawgPost.com)
Pre-game Improvement Needs:
- Offensive Line - The OL needed to be more physical and pound the ball when it mattered. An 11 minute drive to finish the game and steal Tennessee's manhood went a long way towards addressing this. The offensive line also protected Stafford well enough to avoid giving up a sack. That's progress.
- Defense - The D needed to show some pass rush, and we needed to be able to stop the run when it really matters. The pass rush was dramatically better in this game. The stat sheet only shows two sacks, but we pressured the QB more. The run defense gave up a staggering 1 net yard rushing.
- Fewer Points and More Stops! - Tennessee was held to 14 points, 1 positive yard rushing and 208 yards passing. UT only ran 45 plays from scrimmage (30 passing and 15 rushing) to Georgia's 81 plays. The Vols got 52 percent of their offensive yards on four passing plays. They averaged 2.39 yards per play on the other 41 snaps. That's incredibly impressive. As a side note: 5 of the last 6 Georgia wins in the series have come when the Dawgs held the Vols to 14 or fewer points.
- The penalties - As Quinton pointed out, UGA did a solid job in the first half. However, we had 9 penalties in the second half. The stat is a little inflated due to three intentional penalties to set up field position or milked clock. This area still needs tremendous work.
- Kickoff Coverage - Much, much better. Walsh's first two kickoffs were listed as touch backs. His third kick landed on the 1 yard line, and it was returned to the 23. Georgia then had two kicks returned to the 38 and 32 before the final kick went into the endzone with a respectable coverage stopping them at the 25. This was by far Georgia's best kickoff coverage of the season. However, more improvements are needed.
As Quinton alluded, we basically left 9-17 points on the field due to redzone blunders. The good news -- Bobo's offenses the past two years (before Saturday) were among the nation's leaders in redzone efficiency.
Regardless, Georgia has won 6 of the last 9 games against Tennessee. We're still beat all to hell, and the injury to Vince Vance doesn't make the season any easier. But the schedule looks markedly easier as Vanderbilt, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia Tech all looked much less impressive this week. Florida...well..we've got two games to improve and get healthy.
PWD