Defeat

Let me start with the good. For those of you who didn't go to Stillwater, I have nothing but good things to say about OSU and their fans. I had heard Stillwater was the Starkville of the Big 12, but I found that was not remotely true. They had ample bars serving watered down beer and every Dawg I saw before the game was enjoying himself.

The Pokes were, without exception, courteous and good natured. Even after the game, they were respectful and gracious. The only knock I have on them, and I'm straining, is that they did the Orange Power cheer while Trinton Sturdivant laid on the turf with a season-ending (possibly career-ending) knee injury. The campus was surprisingly nice. Overall, OSU acquitted itself very well this weekend, both on and off the field. (Image: Athens Banner-Herald, Tricia Spaulding)

Now, let's get to the game. Considering the positions they were put in and the quality of the offense they were facing, the defense played well. They gave up only one score in drives of over thirty-two yards. Dez Bryant was held to only three receptions. His first TD catch was as good a play as you will see a receiver make all year. No shame in a great player making a fantastic catch to score. OSU ran the no huddle exclusively and, for the most part, the D held up well. The only complaint was that we dropped at least three balls that could have been picked off. Wasn't creating turnovers a emphasis in fall camp? We desperately needed one of those turnovers because after our first drive ...

The offense stunk. Turnovers. Sacks. Sacks with a turnover. Drops. Bad passes. No running lanes. We had it all. There's plenty of blame to go around. Cox didn't throw many good balls downfield and when he did, we dropped them. There was no apparent game plan. The offense tried several things, some of which succeeded, but stuck to nothing. Richard Samuel is a big, fast back, but he seems to find tackles rather than dodge or break them. I don't know if Caleb King is any better.

I do know that OSU was one of the worst defenses we'll face this year. The offense has to get much, much better. One thing that might help is to get the ball to our only playmaker more often. A.J. Green had four touches in Stillwater. If no other receiver is going to make opposing defenses play honest and take some coverage off of A.J., then give him some reverses and screens. He's the only real offensive threat, so build the offense around him.

Special teams were the usual mix of decent and terrible. Blair Walsh hit a career long FG, but kickoff coverage cost us seven points. Why we're returning kickoffs that are seven yards deep in the end zone is baffling. Even more baffling is that Okie State's kicker can kick it seven yards into the end zone and The University of Georgia can't find someone who can kick it there, despite three scholarship kickers.

While I'm complaining, the roughness penalty was absolute garbage. I doubt that it would have changed the outcome, but it was still a horrible call. The receiver had touched the ball and Reshad led with his shoulder into the receiver's chest. There was no helmet-to-helmet contact. It's a hard, clean hit. What was he supposed to do? Let the receiver go? (By the way, every official on the field thought that was illegal.)

I wasn't optimistic after last year, but over the summer I had managed to convince myself that the Dawgs would be competitive this year. I think I did too good a job of persuading myself. Every game on our schedule, except Tennessee Tech, is a potential loss.

I would have believed almost any final score, but I would have never believed that UGA would only score ten points on the Pokes. Nor would I believe that OSU would win comfortably after compiling a UGA-esque 15 penalties for 106 yards. Richt, Bobo, and Cox have a lot of work to do.

Quinton

P.S. Does every Big 12 school shoot off some sort of ordnance during their games? Piston Pete was firing off shotgun blasts at key points in the game. One of those came during game action as Cox rolled out on a play fake. I strongly urge Hairy Dawg to begin blasting a shotgun at our opponents during key plays. That might help restore an intimidating atmosphere in Sanford Stadium.

Also, I don't know when Paul will turn comments back on. (PWD: I just cut the comments back on. I stayed away from the internet after the game. Just remember if you are commenter, I'm deleting personal attacks on players and coaches, and I'm deleting excessive profanity. If you need to go that direction to express your feelings, try a message board.)

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