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September 27, 2009

Burying the Devils and Looking Toward LSU


(Image: georgiadogs.com - John Kelley)
I'm not going to get too in depth, but let me start with the good stuff.  First and most importantly, a pass rush was apparent last night and our defensive linemen showed their potential.  Justin Houston had Georgia's only sack, but the line harassed and penetrated all night.  The stats show nine tackles for loss, setting the Devils back 26 yards.  (The official stats also say no QBHs, but that can't be right.)  Willie used a variety of blitz packages, but even when we rushed four, it seemed the Dawgs were getting the best of the line of scrimmage.  Kickoff coverage looked pretty solid. 

Next, A.J. Green will go down as the second best player ever at UGA.  He essentially won that game by himself last night.  He scored on a gorgeous catch and run in the first, should have had another TD on an absolutely impossible catch at the beginning of the fourth quarter, blocked the potential go-ahead field goal for ASU, and saved the game by out fighting an ASU DB in the final minutes. When Marshall had Randy Moss, I used to wonder "why don't they throw to him thirty times a game?"  I'm starting to say that about A.J.  The dude IS our offense.

Now the bad.  The Stillwater offense showed up again, except this time we remembered we had A.J. on the team in time to win.  We didn't run the ball well.  Samuel couldn't break tackles.  Caleb fumbled.  We had a couple of screen passes that weren't thrown competently.  Cox threw two picks.  We are as inconsistent on offense as is possible.  The timing of this really concerns me, because of our next opponent.

LSU hasn't looked particularly impressive this year.  They do, however, have a very important weapon.  Patrick Peterson is as good a corner as exists in college football.  If Peterson slows down A.J., what do we do that can win a game against a solid SEC opponent?  I'm not sure I have a good answer to that question. 

Quinton

50 comments:

Andy said...

Agreed. I guess we pray for Old Lady Luck.

Anonymous said...

Plain and simple someone else has to play big. It can't be like last year when we waited for KM and MS to do something.

Remember 14 points off defense at LSU last year?

HVL Dawg

Rick said...

We need to get our sh*t together and beat LSU next week. With them ranked #4, this is the perfect opportunity for us to get in the top 10. Let's try not to f*ck this up.

Agreed, Green won this game by himself, he needs to get the ball more. And although Caleb King fumbled, I did think he ran the ball really well and consistently. He was getting positive gains even on broken plays. His shiftiness reminds me of Moreno. Samuel just doesn't impress me at all, especially since he can't seem to hold onto the ball.

Anonymous said...

AJ becoming multi-purpose reminds me of one my favorite Dawgs, Hines Ward.

Anonymous said...

Wooten the ballcarrier!

Anonymous said...

Let's not overlook Michael Moore, who repeatedly came up big in high-pressure situations in Arkansas.

Also, for those of us who couldn't make it to Athens for the game, please do a follow-up story on the outcome of the anti-trash crusade that was conducted this past weekend. Since our offense played like garbage, I presume there wasn't much left on North Campus, but I could be wrong.

JT said...

Marcus Dowtin also had a sack that was negated due to penalty.

SCdawg said...

offenses are inconsistent. defense should never be.

the D finally played decent but will need to play even better against lsu.

willie still must go.

richt, its not the offenses fault when the other team scores off a turnover! ur D should stop them anyway! im sick of hearing that the turnovers caused the points (not refering to pick 6)

why is prince miller still returning punts? is the primary job not catching the ball?

remember guys, its arizona state. they are in the pac 10. we must play much better next week or we will get kicked in the face.

Smitty said...

If it wasn't for AJ we may be winless so far this year.

Will said...

SCDawg, you may be right a minority of the time, but so far this season the offense is the reason that roughly 50% of the points against us have been scored. Even when we gave up points, however, at least the D did a good job of limiting teams to 3 points. Now, I'm not going to say that Willie's redeemed himself with one game, but at least the defense finally showed up this week. I mean, if the defense of the Arkansas game had been playing last night, ASU walks out with a victory.

SCdawg said...

but az st's qb couldve been blind for all we know. he was terrible. and we didnt do well stopping the run. i do agree that they played better but erk's D never needed excuses. richt is just covering for willie. i miss van gorder and as bad as i think the D is, i hope we get better and win saturday. ill sure as hell be at the game makin some noise for them. go dawgs!

UGAfanINclemson said...

Unsung heroes here:

Drew Butler - Kid is a freak, 50.1 yards per kick average - 16 punts for 801 yards. Glad to have him aboard.

Blair Walsh - Freak #2, has hit from 50 and 53 thus far... 13-13 XP and 8-8 FG.

Special teams is averaging 23.9 yards per kick return as well....

Really, special teams is pretty much been 99% on point. Hats off.

The Watch Dawg said...

Erk Russell is dead, people. Let's stop pretending that firing Willie Martinez would result in another Erk Russell being hired. I don't see anybody offering up any alternatives other than "Brian Vangorder," who isn't going to come back to UGA, despite what some delusional people may think.

The Watch Dawg said...

If there's one consistent thing about the Dawgs, it's that they usually play up or down to the level of their opponent. I hope we step up big. This is their chance to redeem themselves for their 1 loss.

Jman781 said...

There are plenty of question marks on this team; however, I am starting to be the most concerned with turnovers on both sides of the ball. I believe that we are now -9 on the season with 12 on offense and only 3 takeaways on defense. Of the 12 TOs on offense, how many seem to be on our own side of the field? If we do have a struggling, bend but don't break type of defense, giving them the ball in scoring position is tough. I believe we are 4-0 with convincing victories if our turnover margin was anywhere near 0. What needs to be done to either force more turnovers or stop shooting ourselves in the foot? Who knows? To be 3-1 at this point is a miracle.

SCdawg said...

watch dawg,
yes i know that erk is dead and that van gorder isnt coming back. and if you took my comments that way, you are the delusional one. im simply comparing to show what we could be.

i also know our defense embarrassed us vs sc and ark.

we could get anyone if we offered them enough money and you know the athletic dept. has plenty.

would muschamp not come home if offered enough dough? i believe he would.

you act like no one wants to coach defense at uga. we can and should do better.

Will Q said...

I agree that it's the D's job to stop the other team, no matter what. But when EVERY FREAKING TURNOVER has been on our side of the field (yes, every one), you need to cut the defense some slack. Not Willie, but the D.

Anonymous said...

Muschanp has been promised the Texas job when Brown leaves/retires. It's a no go for him. Az State had 204 yards which is pretty good against any major conference team. Willie's not out of the woods and doesn't deserve to be, but you critics need to tell me how much better any defense can be.

My complaint is with our supposed strength, even after Trinton went down. Time after time we got stuffed in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 1 or 2. The O-Line has to get better. Also, I noticed that AZ State seemed to be jumping our snap count perfectly many times. Several of those times I notice we were down to only 1 or 2 seconds on the clock, the others I didn't notice. Do we know if we are varying voice inflection and snap counts. Anyone else notice that?

Aladawg

Anonymous said...

SCdawg: I was in school in 1977 when Erk's defense lost 6 games and in 1979 when his defense lost 5 games. All of this happened without the incredible number of turnovers our 2009 offense is giving up. We don't need a second coming of Erk.

NRBQ said...

Despite that goal-line stand, LSU was lucky to win. They needed four turnovers by MSU and a huge touchdown return to get it done.

Without looking back at the exact numbers, I'd say MSU's offense dominated.

On the other hand, their mistakes seemed eerily similar to our own so far this year.

And, taking that fabulous end-zone catch away from A.J.? Just Damn! I had to watch the game with a Clemson-grad neighbor because I don't have ESPN(P)U. My fury over that call almost got me run out of his house.

UGAfanINclemson said...

Anon 8:04

It would be nice to not be nestled between Akron and LA Lafayette in terms of total defense....

There is a problem when the talent is there for a top 10 defense, but you have the worst in the SEC.

Jean Grey said...

There was no trash on North Campus only because it was raining so hard. Most tailgaters were gone early and there was very little activity on campus.

God intervened with the rain and put a stop to the garbage.

Go Dawgs!

sUGArdaddy said...

SCdawg...we held them to 88 yards rushing and 116 yards passing. Man, I guess that's called not stopping the run...

D bailed us out in this one.

When did we dawgs stop appreciating a win.

F. I. D. O.

Forget it...Drive On.

that's all you can do.

AJforHeisman said...

Time for an AJ Green for Heisman campaign

Anonymous said...

Watch Dawg,
You sir are not very bright. Willie's inefficiency has been documented over numerous years. Watching the Arkansas/ Bama game yesterday put a BIG exclaimation point on our defensive weakness. We have a Dawg under Saban's guidance right now that we can go after and that man is Kirby Smart. We should fire Willie after the season and go hard after Kirby.

Anonymous said...

"Watching the Arkansas/ Bama game yesterday put a BIG exclaimation point on our defensive weakness."

Our offense >>>>> Bama's offense against Arky.

Additionally, the Hawgs shot themselves in the foot against Bama's D. Nick Saban sure is a genius, using his mental lasers to make wide open receivers drop the ball.

"If Peterson slows down A.J., what do we do that can win a game against a solid SEC opponent? I'm not sure I have a good answer to that question."

LSU isn't a solid SEC opponent. They suck. Should have lost to freaking Mississippi State. Will lose to Georgia.

Sam said...

Anon 8:48 step away from the crack pipe. LSU is pretty good. Every team is going to have a game or two that they could lose in conference. Conference teams know each other very well; Mullen prepared for Miles so he knows LSU well.

LSU and UGA are similar in that both have won some close games that could have gone either way. UGA could be 0-4.

Anonymous said...

Hire Bob Van Gorder!

Anonymous said...

scdawg,
you are correct about the d.
This team is bad. We are lucky not to be 0-4. If ASU had even a mediocre QB we would have been toast. Yeah they failed to score twice on our side of the field. There recievers were open and either dropped the ball or there QB put the ball in the wrong spot. ASU has a vastly inferior offensive line but they looked average against us. Look at ARK vs. Alabama if you want to know where our defense is in quality.
Having said this, I would rather be lucky than good any day.
Go Dawgz

Largemouth Dawg said...

GEAUXTOHELLELLESSEAUX!!!

The Watch Dawg said...

SCDawg;

If you would go review the game film, or perhaps just take a look at the game summary, you might stop being so harsh on the defense. Our offense and special teams have put our defense in terrible spots in both games where we gave up a lot of points. Does it say nothing to you that 50% of the points given up came off of turnovers inside our own 50 yard line? I don't care WHO your defensive coordinator is, when you fumble punts on the 7 yard line, or fumble it on the 25, you are going to get scored on. Even if your d-coordinator is Rex Ryan.

Anonymous said...

Haha..Bob...I was wondering if anyone else caught they. Watching it was some friends and got a good laugh out of that.

Anonymous said...

I think I am in agreement on AJ possibly being on track to be the 2nd best UGA player ever.

It seems if we just throw the ball anywhere near him, he does what is needed to make the catch...and on those times he doesn't, we get the yellow flag.

This all being said...each game so far this season there was some area that we looked REALLY bad in...so I am happy to be 3-1 at this point...and I never thought I'd say that.

Unknown said...

WatchDawg,

Kirby Smart and Ellis Johnson. You could never have a conversation with BVG again. You just can't count on the guy not to flake out again. And that's the most important thing. You have to trust a guy not to do something stupid with his career and blow you up.

That said...there's no point in talking about this right now because the D wasn't the problem on Saturday.

10 points allowed by the D is solid.

PWD

Anonymous said...

The D did save us on Saturday night.

And are SEC officials the worst in the entire country?

Irishdawg said...

To me, guys like Smart and Muschamp are no-brainers for the DC job (although Muschamp is likely to stay at Texas); both are accomplished coaches, former Dawgs, and perfect candidates to replace Richt when he retires.

Anonymous said...

I thought the game turned out good for the sloppy conditions that we had. We played some young guys on the Defense and they performed. A win is a win.

gumborue said...

LSU cant run the ball. oppts have loaded the box and the passing game has been pedestrian until MissSt.

LSU is inconsistent in stopping the run. If Peterson can limit Green then UGA has to run well or hit Charles.

LSU fans are pessimistic but hoping that LSU has been playing to the level of competition and will continue to get used to new D. But I think the biggest issue is running the ball. LSU has to be able to connect downfield to keep Ds honest.

Sam said...

I saw a post that said Kirby Smart burned bridges. Could someone elaborate and maybe with some sort of evidence from a journalist?

Muschamp is not likely an option. 1) As I understand it, he gets the UT job when Brown leaves. While Brown has a contract through 2016, I cannot see him finishing it out.
2) I am sure the buyout for Muschamp would be large.
3) UGA gets him and after a year or two at the most, he leaves for a HC job. Then where are we? Granted the same thing could happen to anyone you hire and is a compliment to any program really even if that coordinator does not succeed as a head coach--some folks just are not good HC's or select the wrong job.
4) The defense is not forcing turnovers, but as someone else noted, the offense and special teams are not helping the situation at all.
5) I would rather be good than lucky any day. Luck runs out.

Anonymous said...

"SCdawg: I was in school in 1977 when Erk's defense lost 6 games and in 1979 when his defense lost 5 games. All of this happened without the incredible number of turnovers our 2009 offense is giving up. We don't need a second coming of Erk."

I was there to and it was the lack of offense that allowed us to lose those games not the defense. Dooley didn't know what a forward pass was.

Russ Fortson said...

Agreed, Dooley's "offense" back in 77 and 79 was offensive, to say the least. We certainly didn't lose due to Erk.

BTW, what were the players doing dancing on the sideline to music right after the offense imploded to give ASU the lead? If we're up by 3 touchdowns, then I guess it's okay, but certainly not when we're in the process of giving the game away! What brainiac in the booth decided to play that music then anyway?

Unknown said...

RE: Kirby Smart

We have a loud mouth drunk of a fan who posts that stuff about Kirby burning bridges all the time...on message boards. He's said it so many times that it's treated as fact.

He posted it before Richt re-hired him, and he posts it still.

Kirby is a Dawg, and he's a tough competitor on the recruiting trail. Fans get their panties in a bunch when former coaches beat them for players. Coaches usually respect you for doing it as long as it's clean.

Kirby is the greatest flag football player in the history of UGA athletics (ie...couldn't tackle a lick) but he's turned out to be an excellent coach.

I'm not campaigning for him. But we could do a heap worse.

PWD

Chuck said...

Paul, Anthony Dasher has also made reference to the burned bridges, doubtful that his source is the drunken ghoster that you cite. There may be something to it.

Anonymous said...

How about Muschamp for Head Coach at UGA???

Sam said...

Chuck, then can you elaborate on this supposed bridge burning?

Paul, thanks.

The 31st Floor said...

Is there anyway that we can get AirTran to stop with the freakin Wes Durham ads during the radio broadcasts? Every commercial break during that freakin game I had to hear that worthless Tech announcers voice. I want nothing to do with that terrorist harboring blight on our great state. Anyone else highly annoyed by this?

Anonymous said...

Kirby did throw a friend of mine threw a window at Mayflower around 1995. But I'm pretty sure my buddy doesn't post scurrilous posts about Kirby.

He also threatened to throw another friend of mine out of his car b/c he referred to "E's" as "Eggs".

Those two stories indicate to me an agressive and intense personality that's doesn't stand for BS. If you add a mustache, I think you end up with BVG or Bill Cowher.

What would we want with a coach like that?

Anonymous said...

CWM and his defense played very well.I think it is time to ask about ol play,rb play and the turnover/penalty problems.The defensive staff gets alot of crap they don't deserve.CSS should be "asked" about the run blocking,short yardage, penalties....

Anonymous said...

CWM and his defense played very well.I think it is time to ask about ol play,rb play and the turnover/penalty problems.The defensive staff gets alot of crap they don't deserve.CSS should be "asked" about the run blocking,short yardage, penalties....

Anonymous said...

double post. my bad.

 
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