The Good:
- Joe Cox. His five touchdown performance was impressive (including 18-26 passing for 375 yards!). Early in the game, Cox rallied the offense to answer the Razorback lead. He kept the game from ever getting out of hand and prevented the Dawgs from having a hole too deep to escape. What was particularly impressive to me was the number of long passes he on which he connected. Each of Cox's five touchdown passes was for at least 21 yards (including a 50-yarder and a 44-yarder). Hats off the the Ginger Ninja.
- The Receivers. AJ Green is simply amazing. He may wind up as the best receiver to ever come through the program. His touchdown catch last night was another in what is becoming a tradition of athletic marvels. In the second half, Michael Moore stepped up and made clutch catches for to help secure the game. And Tavarres King shook off some miscues to haul in a beautiful 50-yard scoring strike.
- The Tight Ends. Aron White and Orson Charles gave Cox viable options to beat the Razorback pass rush. White and Charles each had a touchdown, as well as some big catches along the way.
- The Secondary. Georgia entered the game ranked 78th in pass defense. The defense allowed 41 points and 408-yards through the air. Will we even be in the top 100 this week? David Ching does a nice job analyzing the defense. I agree with him: but for the prolific display of offense, the post mortem on this game would be wailing and gnashing of teeth about our pass defense.
- The Penalties. With 194 combined penalty yards, both teams were pretty terrible in this department. I think nearly every offensive lineman had a false start, and there were way too many holding calls. This was allegedly an area of intense focus during during the off-season, but we appear to be getting worse in this area. We have to improve here.
- The Turnovers. This game would have been an Old Testament-style beatdown if we hadn't let Arkansas stay close with points off turnovers. The first three turnovers resulted in Razorback scores. When Boykin and Miller flubbed the first punt and wasted an impressive stop by the defense, I thought we were in for a long night. The good guys scored 17 unanswered after that, so credit the whole team for not letting early mistakes dictate the flow of the game. But still, we have to quit making it harder for ourselves than it has to be. If memory serves, we were ranked 116th in turnover margin before the game. If we turn the ball over 3-4 times against LSU or the Gators, they'll bury us.
- The field goal to end the second half should have been a touchdown. I can't believe the officials reviewing this play concluded Greg Childs didn't have possession of the ball when Vance Cuff returned his fumble for a touchdown. Childs had hauled the ball into his gut when it was knocked loose. Fortunately, these four pilfered points weren't needed.
- We may look back on this game as the pivotal game for Joe Cox's confidence. This is his team now. We've got a winnable game at home against Arizona State. We've seen a glimpse of what this team is capable of; now let's see if we can put all the pieces together.
- Friendly tailgating reminder for next week: Please clean up after yourselves.
61 comments:
Martinez' days are numbered. Richt was downright upset and his comments were not veiled about the poor defensive play. I don't think the coaches post mortem are going to be pleasant for Wille. I'm betting Richt's antenna's are up for staff changes on the D.
You forgot to mention how pathetic our special teams play still is. I lost count of how many times(probably due to the hysteria I was experiencing because we couldnt hold onto the ball) we kicked the ball OB on kickoffs, or how many times they returned the ball to at least the forty. On the other hand, loved seeing Cox prove he doesnt have a noodle arm.
How much better would the secondary have looked if we hadn't given that 7-foot statue all day to make his reads? With few exceptions, there seemed to be no pressure up front.
I thought about adding special teams and kick coverage to the "bad" list, but I didn't want the negative to outweigh the positive. I will say this: Blair Walsh has proven he has the leg to put the ball in the endzone on kickoffs. The only thing he lacks is permission.
there is no way that was a catch. he didn't have the ball longer than a second. even cuff himself stopped because he thought it was incomplete. what replay did you watch?
Fabris should be examined for a brain tumor. The directional kicks and whatever the hell that thing Bogotay did are a hallmark of a person that's insane. It doesn't work, yet Fabris keeps it coming.
At this point, I feel bad for Walsh.
Well, Dawgnoxious, as to your first "This and That" point - - the zebras taketh away and the zebras giveth.
What neither you nor any other Dawg source I've read this morning have mentioned is the Absolutely HUGE break we caught in the 4th Qtr. on the no-reverse of the official review of what was clearly a UGA fumble and Arky recovery. That would have been a big-time momentum changer, at exactly the time we did not need one. It would have sparked the crowd and the Arky O. We got so very lucky that the official review booth didn't have the ESPN angle because that was obviously a fumble. (The ESPN crew and the UGA radio crew both knew it.)
So we were on the receiving end of some of the officials' questionable calls too. (And, btw, Childs did not have possession of the ball on the catch you mention. Hate to disagree with a Dawggy brother, but just trying to keep on the right side of the honesty road.) We were much luckier with the officials last night than were the Hogs.
Dawgnoxious, I have to also disagree with you on the possession call. There's no way the Childs had possession. Wasn't he still in the air when he was hit? You made some great points. I'm really not sure what to think about the defense.
MetalSteelChair:
The huge break was the face that Samuel recovered his own fumble in the 4th quarter. The WWL did a terrible job of getting back from commercial, the Dawgs had already ran one play for no yardage and were lined up for 3rd and 10 when we came back. It took the crew a couple of minutes to get balanced, but they explained it was called a fumble and ruled that Samuel recovered it, and gave him credit for retrieving his own mistake. I believe that was Samuel's last carry of the night.
Metal-
I'm pretty sure that the announcers said that Samuel did fumble, but the angle they showed on TV also showed him recovering. He clearly had the ball on the ground after the fumble. Extremely lucky either way, that would have been real bad.
MetalSteel Chair, you are correct it WAS a fumble and was called a fumble. BUT, as replay clearly showed, Samuel recovered the ball.
That third down play-action pass for TD was so predictable. After we stopped the first two runs you could see the play-action coming from a mile away. Makes you wonder why #45 was so wide open for that score.
Oh, and AJ Green may not be 40, but he is definitely a (THE) man.
As for the no fumble call on Childs, his left foot touch while he appeared to have possession but the ball started coming loose before his right foot landed.
Yes it was "obviously a fumble" but it was also clearly recovered by Samuel as shown on the replay. Go DAWGS!
Can someone please tell me where I can find a reply OTHER THAN CSS.
I was stuck in the biblical flood in Auburn, updating ESPN on my Blackberry until it died a valiant death by refresh.
It was ruled a fumble that Samuel recovered. The announcers stated this clearly.
Beer goggles do tend to make things seem a little fuzzy.
Are we done with the "Joe Cox is a barely serviceable QB" comments? Stafford had 1? 300 yard game in 3 season?
Again Richard Samuel, other than the one long run, was ineffective with the ball.
Stafford had 3-300+ yard games (all last year: UT, UK, and GT).
But yes, we can stop with the serviceable QB comments. Although with the way we turn it over and how our D plays, those stats are going to be a neccessity, not a luxury. In the past, that was a luxury.
You are soooo wrong about the catch/fumble at the end of the 1st half.
You might have just lost all credibility. Jeez...
I will have to disagree with Dawgnoxious on that incomplete/fumble play at the end of the 1st half.
To me it didn't look like the receiver had established clear possession of the ball before it was knocked loose, but yes it was extremely close. I definitely think that call could have gone either way. My question is, since they ruled it a fumble on the field, did they really have enough irrefutable evidence to overturn it? That I'm not sure about.
Oh well, home cookin' or not, we were the better team and the final score showed that.
Go Dawgs!
In other news, how bout those rankings this week?
Wow Georgia actually moved UP two spots this week. I guess that game must have impressed a few people.
And wow Miami at #9? There's so much bias in these polls it's ridiculous.
And Georgia Tech dropped out of the rankings....hehehe.
Which poll has more credibility(if any at all), the AP or USA Today Poll? Cuz UGA is #17 in that one.
Moving on up!
Dawgnoxious - correction. This was always Cox's team. It's just taken until now for the media and some fans to believe it.
I would never have thought after OK State that this offense would be the machine I've seen the last two weeks (discounting the obscene turnovers). It's a shame our defense can't dominate the way our offense has.
Uhhh, upon further review - - I apologize, guys.
All y'all's comments make me think that maybe it Was the beer goggles (or my then-impending coronary) that made me see Arky recover Samuel's fumble in the 4th qtr. I am Glad to be wrong about that. (I'll still be interested to see the CSS replay of that play - b/c the UGA radio crew (who didn't go to commercial during the review) seemed very worried.) (And, yes, I am a big enough dork that I was both listening to the game on radio and watching it on the WWL.)
Like my own children, I love this team - - but they are killing me.
ESPN is replaying the game Wed night around 3AM
I would argue that the AP poll, which is the media poll, has more credibility than the USA Today poll, which is the coaches' poll. That one is usually done by SIDs or some assistant, and it's the one in which Spurrier gives a No. 25 vote to Duke every year.
You can make the argument that coaches know more about the game, but how many games do you think Mark Richt watched yesterday?
However, the USA Today poll is the one that factors into the BCS, so while it lacks a degree of credibility, it makes up for it in relevance.
Anyone who wants to watch the game again....
ESPN360 online allows replay at your convenience, including control to fast forward, rewind, etc. yes, it's your computer screen, but convenience and control are pretty high.
1) Count me in the "it was not a catch" category. In fact when it was live, I did not think it was a catch.
2) I at first thought we caught a break on Samuels' fumble. I did not see him recover it.
3) The TV coverage and at times the announcing were not very good.
Fun game--I say that only because of the outcome.
I am going to be cautious in terms of Cox. Was it his being very good (which he was, the INT was his only mistake as near as I could tell) or Ark being a bad defense? He did throw some pretty passes. I will wait to see what he does against Tennessee (whose defense was pretty darn good against FU).
How many times was an Ark receiver WIDE OPEN? Some of the throws Mallett made were very, very good. He should be giving UA fans smiles for this and next year (then I think he is gone). The kid is very talented and poised.
Penalties...they kill me. Yes, I remember the numbers on how they do not seem connected to wins, but I think that UGA wins easily with a reduction of 50% (75% would be better!).
Now to avoid a letdown or overlooking Arizona State.
I stated several times last night that this is the Zeir era all over again. We have an offense that is clearly capable of racking up points, yet we are not able to stop anyone on the planet! Our DE's are flat out garbage! There is no hiding the fact that CWM is unable to make adjustments during the game. I thought that SC was a blip on the radar, now it appears our entire schedule will put up 30 plus points. Our kickoffs are laughable at this point. The short kick by Bogotay was completely nuts. CWM and CJF need to get their resumes in order! Thank goodness we scored a million points last night!
Why is it I wonder that our precious DC can not even make one adjustment at half time? Their WR's were wide open by 10-15 yards on some plays and we never got any pressure at all until the last couple drives of the game. We need to run some more man-man coverage and blitz or just run some zone blitz coverages. Our whole defense is fast and we have two of the best Safeties in the SEC right now.
Dawg4Life:
While I'm not sure that Bryan Evans can be labeled as one of the best safeties in the SEC, You are right about the overall speed and talent of the defense. I have always been very cautious in regards to the "fire WM" bandwagon, but I think it might be obvious that the guy simply can't get it done. I mean, with the natural talent we have in the secondary, there is no reason ANYONE should throw for 400 yards against us. The pressure up fron wasn't awful; our corners just looked absolutely lost out there. Martinez has not shown that he knows how to coach guys up. With Boykin's ability, there is no way he should be getting beat like that all night. There are some major defensive issues. Fire willie, pay Tubs how ever much he wants and get him to turn us around. What would you do to Will Muschamp back home...
Add me into the category that there's no way that receiver had possession, the officials made the correct call of overturning the ruling. I immediately texted my buddies that there's no way it would stand, it wasn't even close in my eyes. I'm honestly surprised Dawgnoxious saw it the other way.
I totally agree with the officials overturning that call also. I was watching the game with some friends and said the same thing that it would be turned over. He did not have control of the ball long enough for it to be considered a catch. 10 out of 10 times that will be called an incomplete pass.
We moved up in the polls and that is about where we belong as we scored a lot yesterday but look at the points we gave up , the turnovers, the penalties...we better be glad Cox had a great game. Love my Dawgs but they have got to resolve these issues or some of these teams we play this year will bury us.
BTW I think Florida looked beatable yesterday, not sure who will do it but it can be done.
Call should have been overturned , he did not have control of the ball ...
But we won and should enjoy this win...and yes they need to evaluate the defense and make changes before it is too late.
Kirby Smart for DC.
Saban Knowledge, Secondary Experience, Alumni Bonus.
I totally agree that UF looks beatable. They really have almost a one man offense in Tebow and the defense did not look like a unit that returned all 11 startes from a National Championship team. They will not go undefeated this year.
feel free to look at my blog about UGA the link is
http://dawgsopinion.blogspot.com
We all need to apprciate the 3 years of artisry that A.J. is providing us. He is such a beautiful athlete to watch. And I would dare say that he is already the best WR to have come through the program.
Hey guys, how good was Butler last night? That last punt has to be included with all the other big plays of the game for us.
Stan,
Go to secsports.com and you can watch the game online for free.
I don't see anyone rolling this team. We may need to score in bunches, but we have more O talent than our foes. You guys just wait.
@JasonC
You're right, www.secdigitalnetwork.com is great for watching full games.
For some reason the only SEC game missing is the UGA/Arkansas game. Hopefully it'll be up later today.
Crane---you obviously don't follow uga football much. Smart burned his bridges big time when he left---there is a zero % chance he returns as long as CMR is here. Kirby is unprofessional and a disgrace of a former player at UGA.
I would say we should go after Tommy Tuberville or Dick Bumpass from TCU hopefully when CMR finally fires Martinez
Glad you said it but I agree.
I'd take Tuberville as DC, although I have to admit I don't really follow our defense enough to say Martinez is the problem. I do like our athletes and their being out of position isn't entirely a coaching thing. Boykin is either in the right place or completely out to lunch. Smith will be a good one.
As far as Florida one thing in our favor is that throwing the ball isn't their strength. If it was we'd be toast. I think we'll be able to score on them. I'm approaching this year's game like 2005 when we almost beat them even without DJ playing. That was a ground game where this one hopefully won't be. We also only had 3 penalties in that game. That would be a pipe dream this year.
I am not familiar w/ Dick Bumpass, but I feel I must endorse him off of the strength of the name alone.
The penalties have been totally ridiculous this year. I do not understand how this is an experienced OL we have and we are still getting called for false starts. I can accept a pass interference call or offsides for defense that is just aggressive play. But all these offensive penalties have got to stop. We went for one instead of two one time due to a false start and almost had to do it again, but Richt opted to go for two anyways.
Here is a name for you...Ed Orgeron for DC. He is intense and has a long history on the defensive side of the ball including the NFL.
PTC Dawg...I sure hope you are correct in stating that no one will roll us. However, I am afraid that we will run into a defense that shuts us down (LSU, GAYtors etc.) or we simply have an off day. If either one of those happen, we very may get drilled. Last night was a great example. If not for Cox have a career night, we would all be crying in our bourbon today. Who knows, maybe a brick will fall on CWM's head and the defensive light will actually come on!
Anonymous 6:55 PM
I follow Georgia Football... inconsistently.
It would not surprise me that Kirby burned his bridges. From a Cogs in the machine point of view it would have been nice. You have difficulties replacing Martinez from a number of point of views, the most obvious being Richt hasn't really fired anyone. One might have you'd coach Callaway him to a smaller school.
Secondly, Richt would most likely promote from within. The last time that happened on Defense you got Willie Martinez.
If you don't promote Rodney Garner you probably lose him to sore feelings. If not you might lose Garner as well, which in this day of Super Recruiters is nice to have for your program.
We should temper this talk with the knowledge that everyone and there mom knew the db's would be young and inexperienced. It just looks really ugly lately.
Side note, It would have been nice to have picked up Greg Reid. He took some mormons to the house. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Oh yeah, and Tuberville will never be a DC again, or Doug will run down Ponce naked.
He's head coach.
Five things we learned after this past win over Arkansas:
1. As mentioned by me after last week's game, Joe Cox is an SEC-caliber QB. His throwing mechanics and play fakes were phenomenal Saturday night. His receivers made some clutch catches, specifically Michael Moore on a fourth-down toss. And the O-line was solid in protection.
2. Georgia's secondary is the weakest point of the whole team, primarily safeties Reshad Jones and Bryan "Toast" Evans. I'll give some of the young corners a pass because they, of course, are young and inexperienced. But Jones has been at Georgia for three years, Evans for four. I know Evans played corner most of his UGA career, but he's lost in coverage most of the time. As for Jones, his athletic talent has never matched his on-field performances in coverage. This, of all things, is where I get aggravated with Willie Martinez. In three years, Jones has barely developed and that's a huge problem when Martinez's "expertise" is in the secondary.
3. Caleb King wants to be the starter again based on his performance. He ran hard and blocked even better in pass protection. Coach Richt has a helluva battle between King and Richard Samuel on his hands right now to be the starter. Who cares, though? Both guys are coming into their own and can both help the offensive cause.
4. Drew Butler has turned into a major weapon for Georgia's special teams. Check out what he's done against the first three opponents. Unbelievable stuff from Kevin's boy.
5. Finally, if Georgia doesn't shore up its pass rushing deficiency and pass coverage issues, a blowout is inevitable. If not LSU, then it's Tennessee (even Crompton would look like Montana against this unit right now). If not Tennessee, then definitely Florida or Auburn or both.
In sum, Georgia fans gotta be optimistic about what's to come the rest of the season. If the defense can catch up to the offense (and the flipping, silly turnovers subside), then this team is going to be tough down the road. Everybody's pointing to LSU as the only team which can upset Florida this regular season? Me thinks Georgia might be Florida-haters' only hope.
@PTC Dawg,
We may have more talent on the offensive side of the ball than any of our opponents, but we also have Mike Bobo calling the plays. I couldn't believe how many times he went to the sprint draw and the toss sweep Saturday night when they weren't working. And, in my opinion, neither of those plays was setting up a pass because we never really ran play action out of either formation. I would love to see our running stats this year out of the I formation compared to the other formations. I bet it is night and day. We have the one of the best FBs in the nation and it shows when we line up and pound it down their throats. With Samuel running hard behind Chapas and with our experienced OL, I honestly believe we could go old school style (read vince dooley) and run it every down and beat every team we play. Especially when Cox can raise up and hit Orson or White down the seam.
Also, does anyone who's been watching practice know if we have any kind Pro Style formation with a combination of Samuel, King, and Thomas in the backfield?
Yes, yes. Richard Samuel is coming into his own, isn't he? Why, if you remove his one 80 yard run when he ran through a huge hole the line created that any back in the country could have run through, and then made no one miss, his stats against Ark look like this:
15 carries, 24 yds, 1.6 ypc, 2 fumbles.
I bet if he continues to fall down after the first hit everytime he gets the ball, we will do great.
Then, he could mix in a little fumble every couple of carries (like 1 every 8 in the last game).
At that rate, we could lose games in no time. Oh wait, I forget the GT game last year. Remember losing by a field goal. Then remember Samuel handing them points on the ko return?
Lets face it, he is a beast of an athlete. But running back? No. He is only there because king is a headcase and the others are too young or too small to play every down at the sec level.
Did anyone notice that both DC's yesterday were named "Willie"? Coincidence? Hmmmmm....
BTW, if Fabris and Martinez are still coaching at Georgia after this season, it would be insane. Almost like our pass (non)coverage and directional kickoffs.
Finally got in from Arkansas. I-20 is a MESS.
If you've never gone to Fayetteville, I couldn't recommend it more. Time to crash.
Brian Van Gorder – DC for 52 games (including both of our SEC titles this decade). Opponent scored 30 or more points only 1 time (34 points by LSU in 2003 SEC title game, the year LSU won the national title).
Willie Martinez (current) – DC for 55 games. Opponent has scored 30 or more points 13 times. (Auburn 31 pts. and West Virginia 38 pts. in 2005); (Tenn. 51 pts in 2006); (Tenn. 35 pts, Florida 30 pts., and Troy 34 pts in 2007); (Alabama 41 pts., LSU 38 pts., Florida 49 pts., Kentucky 38 pts., Georgia Tech 45 pts. in 2008); (South Carolina 37 pts., Arkansas 41 points in 2009).
Fabris has got to go......His DE's are MIA and special teams are a joke. Even my wife who doesn't know a touchdown from a homerun was asking what the hell are we doing on kickoff's!
To add on to the stats given by Muckbeast: That's 37 or more points we've given up in SEVEN of the last 12 games.
I'm done with CWM apologists. Enough excuses. He isn't doing what needs to be done.
I've been watching Boykin and Evans in the replays since they seemed to be getting burned the most. On many of the failure plays, they're trying to read the QB. That's a very instinctive thing to do but it's fundamentally wrong. It's a bad habit that hurts you in the long run. Taking a bad habit and getting it out of the player is 100% a COACHING issue. Either player could easily keep up with those receivers if he weren't standing there staring at the QB for the first 3-5 seconds after the snap. I know coaching time in college is short but someone is going to have to get them both out of that habit. It's better to be near the receiver and have no idea what the QB will do than the receiver be 10 yards down field and know exactly what the QB will do.
the receiver be 10 yards down field and know exactly what the QB will do.
Hey. At least they knew their asses were burned before the catch.
i hope everyone realizes cox is the man and he was sick against ok st.
willie has got to go. im thinkin im gonna call richt tonight and say it and i invite anyone else to also.
georgia will not win a championship until. CWM is gone.
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