- 1. AJ Green is basically unstoppable.
2. The defensive results do not match the defensive talent. I'm a Willie Martinez apologist by almost any yardstick, but at this point...excuses or not...they have got to tighten up.
3. They don't quit, and they believe in Joe Cox.
4. Directional kicking still doesn't work.
- Joe Cox - Dean Legge nailed it. If Joe Cox's shoulder is injured, it should be injured every week. 375 yards with 5 TDs is amazing. Hale says Cox's performance didn't surprise the Dawgs. Do you realize he was about inches on the missed bomb to T. King from 6 TDs and about 425 yards? Where's the love asks Blutarsky? UgaMummra has all 5 TDs on Video.
- OchoDos - Es mas pesos en el tercero oportunidad.
- Drew Butler - Holy crap. He's good, and it's not just lucky bounces at this point. He kicked the leather off the ball at Arkansas. Although, we were close to getting one blocked. We either have to block a little better or get it out of there faster or the Gators might block one.
- Ryan Mallett - Is much better than I expected, but that slide to the turf on 3rd down inside the 10 yard line late in the 4th quarter was about as big a wuss move as I've seen in a while. That was exactly the sort of dumbassery I was expecting to happen all game. If you're 6'7" and 240 lbs, you lower your shoulder there and make something happen. Not slide. He ignored some easy underneath stuff to force bigger plays (a la Stafford) that cost them. But overall, he was exceptional for a guy in his 5th start. They are very lucky to have him.
- Branden Smith - The kid has outrageous ability, but this was the first game where it looked like he may be overwhelmed by the breadth of responsibilities. It's asking a lot for a freshman, who by his own admission didn't watch much film in high school, to learn offense, defense and two special teams units (kickoff return and field goal block). He looked positively lost on offense. They need to find a way to focus him a little so he can be come great at something as opposed to a fast, novelty at lots of things.
- The Razorback PA System - As Bulldog in Exile points out, the Hawgs were cheating their balls off with the PA System playing piped in music on 3rd down when UGA was at the line of scrimmage. It was most over the top in the 4th quarter.
- The Defense - They only gave up 20 points after the Dawgs stopped turning the ball over, but a few more field goals following the first three turnovers was a reasonable expectation. I re-watched the game on TV after we got back from Fayetteville, and the camera angles didn't do justice to how open the Razorback receivers really were. If you're looking for hope for the season, the best UGA cornerbacks of recent note (Oliver, Minter, Jennings, Thornton, Bryant, etc) didn't come into their own until mid-way through their second season. So Boykin should start to click somewhere around UT or UF if he follows the prior trends.
- Play Action Defense - Play Action passes weren't invented this off season. Why do our LBs and Safeties seem so bamboozled and frozen by that most basic of fakes?
- Is the Offense "Enough" - Yes, the Razorback defense is truly awful, but South Carolina's defense is pretty good. We moved the ball pretty effectively on the Cocks. I believe that we can score on anyone we play...including the Gators. Not 40-50 a game, but we can score some serious points. The kickoff return team should give us good enough field position and the punt return unit at some point has to return to last year's SEC leading unit production. If we trim the turnovers, we can score enough to be in any game.
- Is the Defense "Enough" - Right now...they are enough to beat mediocre teams, and I think they are enough against the run to look above average against teams with bad QBs. Luckily, the QBs at LSU, UT and GT aren't scaring anyone right now, and I like the run defense in all of them. Unluckily, Douche 3:16 is still the Gator QB and AU is passing better than they have in a long, long time. It's going to be a wild ride for the rest of the season
BTW -- If you google "Mitch Mustain" do you get his mom's blog?
See Also:
-- Wooten the Ball Carrier - Bulldawg Blawg
-- Tickets: Arizona State at UGA
PWD
42 comments:
There are no excuses for this talented, yet underperforming, defense.
Once again, 2007 appears to be an anomoly and we're back to stats not seen since the Kevin Ramsey project of 1999.
I don't know what Willie Martinez and his coaches are not doing, but I know that our D is an porous as an Earl Campbell tearaway jersey.
Get it fixed, or get someone else. It's that simple. This has gone on for too damn long.
---And recall how many Defensive starters from the 99-00 teams eventually became NFL starters.
Talent is NOT the problem.
"Once again, 2007 appears to be an anomoly"
Why?
I'm also an apologist for CWM in that he doesn't have a slew of legit NFL talent. But wouldn't a coach have his safeties much deeper in light of the huge "grenades" they were landing and the overall inability to run the ball consistently?
Two things on offense (Does Bobo read this blog?):
(1) Carlton Thomas should never run b/w the tackles. This guy has wheels, but he takes contact like Deion Sanders. Why are we still having him take it up the middle (even once is too often).
(2) Why do we try to outflank an slightly inferior opponent? This was true at OSU and Ark. Bama, Auburn, UT, etc. line it up and go straight at the lines of weaker teams. We spent too many plays running on the perimiter, where their overall speed could best be realized.
Post Script: Cox has got to let it go if nothing is happening. Game 3 is enough time to learn that a costly sack is devastating.
True, the Razorback defense was horrible in defending the pass, but Georgia was just as awful. We had a kid at QB in his first SEC game and a very young secondary (that will be much better after this game).
Go ahead and believe what you want, but Georgia is not a good football team and Arkansas is a team on the rise. The Hogs WILL win in Athens next year.......guaranteed as Arkansas is 1 year a way from being a top five program! Watch and see!!!!
Anon 10:06....
You are as full of sh@t as a Christmas turkey.
I want to invite Anon 10:06 to come back at the end of the season when Arkansas once again fails to make a bowl game.
The UGA game was Arkansas' best chance to "steal" a win this season. The rest of the SEC has taken notice, and they will use their superior defenses to lock down on the Hogs receivers. Once they make it a ground game, Arkansas is in trouble.
Like the rest of the Dawgs, I'm rooting for you guys to upset one of the juggernauts. Just don't your hopes up.
Good luck, you're gonna need it.
I'm very happy about the win. Looks like Cox throws a more "catchable" ball than Stafford especially on the deep routes. But can we stop running the sweep to the short side of the field every time Bobo??? Give these guys room to run. The scary part about the secondary was that they were out of position all game. I can understand that happening early but not all game. Thank god we have Rennie to bail us out.
I'm still worried about the secondary. At some point Boykin and Evans need to stop trying to read the QB and just get on the receivers. Knowing exactly what the QB will do is no good if the receiver passed you up 5 seconds ago while you were standing still trying to read the QB. At least two of Mallet's long passes were due to receivers being wide open thanks to that bad habit. And that is ENTIRELY a coaching issue.
I was really impressed by the run D. That makes me hopeful for the Tech game this year.
Martinez sucks.
There is nothing else to say.
I think that a lot of the secondary's issues stem from a total lack of a pass rush. QB has way too much time.
Arkansas fans are as delusional as Cackalacka fans although Mallet is head and shoulders above Garcia.
The soft zone coverage in the secondary is going to be the death of us. Please stop leaving receivers wide open...
Yes we have problems but stopping the turnover is the most important one. We are 116 out of 120 teams on turnovers.
I do hope that our defensive coaches watch the Tenn - Fla game and steal Tenn's plan for when we paly the gators.
The "lack of NFL talent" argument is BS to me for the CWM apologists. We aparently have tons of talent on defense. And even if we don't have 1st round NFL talent, that still isn't an excuse for me. Good coaching and scheming can make average players look great (and does anyone think our players are only average?).
The guys aren't in position, for whatever reason. I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of defensive schemes, but all I can see is results. Whatever we're doing is not working. If we're blitzing, then the blitz packages are ill-timed or poorly put together. If we aren't blitzing, then whatever else we're doing isn't working either. Our schemes are poor. I'm just tired of excuses or rationalizations.
37 or more points in seven of the last 12 games is just poor.
you're not a willie apologist, pwd: you're a willie enabler.
I can't believe I'm making excuses for Martinez, but seriously, Arkansas has been preparing for this game since literally last calendar year. Their last game was against LSU in Little Rock on Nov. 29th.
As much as I absolutely hate to admit it, these past few teams have had enough time to sink our battleship 10 times over. Arizona State may also have our number unless you count games against Idaho State and La.-Monroe.
I am in no way justifying how badly out of position our cornerbacks and safeties were and the lack of mid-game adjustment. But the first opponent that will most likely "only" have a week to prepare is the Gators.
husky: We have 2 NFL ready players starting (Owens and Atkins). And quite honestly, Atkins does not play to his ability.
While not a guarantee of performance this is a good indication of the talent of players. Some of the young guys might ultimately develop (Rambo, C-Wash, Houston), but they'r not there yet.
Van Gordor was gifted (by Donnan) the most talent on defense we've had the entire Richt era (Grant, Spoon, Boss, Gilbert, Sullivan, Clemons, Harrison, Curry, Jones, Bryant, Thornton, Wansley, Jermaine).
He also had a couple lucky gets in Odell, TD, Pollock (none of whom were top recruits).
Except for Rennie, our LB's are avg. Our Ends stink (the worst we've had since mid 90's) and our starting safeties are a drop off from Keilan and Tra (who were a huge dropoff from Blue & TD)
Face facts, a # of our JR and Sr recruits haven't lived up to the hype.
Let's assume for a second that we lack the talent Van Gorder had. I disagree completely, but let's assume that's the case......
We finished between 10th-12th last year in our league in every meaningful defensive category. Do you think there are 9 defenses more talented than UGA's? This year, we've gotten WORSE, in spite of the fact that we've gotten Jeff Owens back, whose absence we were all told was the reason for the abysmal performance of the '08 unit.
Again, are there 10 units in the SEC more talented than UGAs?
C'mon. Get real.
Reshad Jones will be drafted in the first round. He has taken his play to another level this year. Curran and Gamble are definitely NFL players.
Cornelius Washington has the look of a young John Abraham, and he will be getting the bulk of the snaps at DE as the season goes along.
Look, the defense is not good by any measure, but our offense and special teams are KILLING our defense.
We got a 3 and out right off the bat and dropped the damned punt.
We have turned it over inside our own 40 yard line 5 or 6 times this season. I would dare say that most teams in the SEC have not done that at all this year.
Mallett looks like a top 10 draft pick. The throw he made to #85 in the end zone that the kid laid out for, and the other TD to #85, when Boykin threw him into the endzone, there aren't 5 QB's in the NCAA who make those throws.
Our DB's were right there and just got beat by a superior throw.
Ark's run was shut down, and they did not do anything on offense in the 4th quarter.
If I have a criticism of Richt, and that's a big 'if,' it's this: He is sometimes too afraid to move away from what he knows will be efficient to take the chance on something that could be fantastic.
Example: Joe Cox vs. Logan Gray. Arkansas notwithstanding, we know what we're getting with Joe: a safe, reliable quarterback on whom we can count for about 225 yards with two TDs and maybe an interception. That's pretty much a sure thing. He'll have a game or two that's much better, and a game or two that's much worse, but all quarterbacks do.
Now, Logan Gray. We have no idea what the outcome will be, whether we use him for a play, a series or even as a starter (though that road's probably closed by now). He could bust an 80-yarder for a touchdown on a zone read. He could make a well-timed pitch for 30 yards and a first-and-goal. Or he could throw an interception. Or fumble. We don't know.
But we have a fairly good idea that the upside is probably higher than Cox's. But with that upside comes an increased range of possible outcomes. Cox's range is narrower, which means less on the negative end, but also less on the positive end.
Same with juniors and seniors on defense. They're known quantities. That quantity may not be much, but it's known. The younger guys? We just don't know. Again, it's a risk.
I hate to suggest that we do anything that CUM does. It pains me to the depths of my soul. But the guy takes chances on the young kids.
He played the Baby Jesus as a freshman (and Chris Leak was the ultimate safe option).
He plays all those speedy freshmen.
And remember how he returned all 11 on defense this year? What does that mean? His starting 11 on defense LAST year didn't include a senior.
I have to agree with Brian. The fact that we are ranked 97th right now in the nation is totally unacceptable. We always have a top 10 recruiting class every year, there is not reason we should not be the top 15 every year in defense. The schemes that we run are not be executed and the overall game planning for our opponents is pretty much non existent. Martinez never makes adjusts at half time and it shows every game.
Watched the game with a Bama friend who typically wears obnoxiously colored glasses (crimson of course). I mean, this guy would argue that Bama had as much talent as us during Mike Shula's tenure, if that gives you any idea what I'm talking about. Anyway, during and after the game, he said our D looks extremely talented and that they definitely pass the eyeball test...but they seem to be poorly coached and certainly didn't like CWM's game plan. The only player he wasn't much impressed with was Evans.
Overall, he basically said, "As bad as your D looked tonight, ours isn't any more talented than y'alls, but without question I feel ours are better coached." I told him I agree 100%. He went on to say that if UGA had even a decent D and stopped turning the ball over so much, we could be scary good, and nobody would want to play us. He said for Bama's sake he hopes we keep CWM, as replacing him might mean Bama facing that scary UGA team he alluded to in the SECC game.
Anyway, the guy really knows his football and always has been able to peg pretty much every SEC team accurately, so I thought I'd share them with you all. I agree would could be scary good, but as long as we have CWM at the helm I'm not confident in that happening.
"Now, Logan Gray. We have no idea what the outcome will be, whether we use him for a play, a series or even as a starter (though that road's probably closed by now)."
Richt isn't choosing blind. We do have an pretty good idea of how the QBs will do: it's called practice. If Logan wants to start, that's where he'll have to excel. True, he may be better than his practice indicates but a QB suddenly lighting it up during the game after mediocre practices is pretty rare.
Your friend may be right but forgive me if I don't put much stock into what some "random bama fan" says. After all, he's a BAMA fan!
If our highly regarded recruits on defense aren't "living up to the hype," then couldn't that also be blamed on poor coaching?
"Two things on offense (Does Bobo read this blog?):
(1) Carlton Thomas should never run b/w the tackles. This guy has wheels, but he takes contact like Deion Sanders. Why are we still having him take it up the middle (even once is too often).
(2) Why do we try to outflank an slightly inferior opponent? This was true at OSU and Ark. Bama, Auburn, UT, etc. line it up and go straight at the lines of weaker teams. We spent too many plays running on the perimiter, where their overall speed could best be realized.
Post Script: Cox has got to let it go if nothing is happening. Game 3 is enough time to learn that a costly sack is devastating."
Georgia scored 51 points Saturday. Joe Cox was named national offensive player of the week.
Complaining about our offense seems a little silly, no?
Eh, 52 points.
WTF? Herschel Walker fighting MMA?
http://mmajunkie.com/news/16258/strikeforce-signs-47-year-old-former-nfl-pro-bowler-herschel-walker.mma
"But we have a fairly good idea that the upside is probably higher than Cox's."
I love it. We're saying this after a night when Cox passed for nearly 400 yards and 5 TDs.
If only our staff were talented enough to bench Cox, like I'm sure Urban "Lane Kiffin outcoached me" Meyer would do.
Let's see:
At OSU: Thomas takes a hand off up the middle and fumbles on the 10. Cox holds the ball and is sacked or runs out of boudns for a loss.
We lose so we don't want that to happen again.
At ARK: Thomas takes a hand off up the middle and is decleated (no fumble). Cox takes a deep drop, sees no opening and is sacked on a key 4th qtr drive (Moore later makes amazing catch for first down).
That's ok. We won so no need to expect or hope 4 improvement.
Maybe we should tell Samuels & Prince to fumble the ball since we won despite.
Anon 12:02 and D.N. Nation -
Thank you - I can't believe I got on here and saw people with complaints about Joe Cox and Bobo on Saturday. I guess the Falcons should start Redman next week since Matty Ice threw a pick on Sunday. Cox is gonna make mistakes, but when he throws 5 TDs and 400 yards, give him some props.
The defense - that's a different issue. For the "we don't have the talent" argument, here's our recruiting rankings in the nation by year on Rivals:
2009 - 6th
2008 - 7th
2007 - 9th
2006 - 4th
2005 - 10th
2004 - 6th
2003 - 6th
I know Rivals isn't the end-all of how good a player actually will be, but come on. You can't believe that we've misjudged talent this poorly for the past decade. And if you want to say WM doesn't have the talent, then start getting on Rodney Garner's case b/c he's the one bringing these guys in. I've never been on the "fire Willie" bandwagon, but these last two games are the straws the broke the already weighed down camel's back.
Anon 12:02, that should read "Urban 'MONTE Kiffin out coached me' Meyer".
NTM: every game you ever watch will find a player making an error. QBs tend to get sacked in this type of offense (a run-shoot or spread QB tends to get short passes and dump the ball).
Sorry, but Logan Gray is not going to get much playing time until maybe Tennessee, Tennessee Tech that is. (Assuming Cox does not get hurt).
Stafford got sacked; I think I remember Herschel fumbling once.
"At ARK: Thomas takes a hand off up the middle and is decleated (no fumble). Cox takes a deep drop, sees no opening and is sacked on a key 4th qtr drive (Moore later makes amazing catch for first down)."
You've successfully found 1.5 bad offensive plays in a game in which we scored 52 points. Congrats. Fire Bobo!
And I say .5 because you're apparently discounting a good catch made by OchoDos. He's kinda good. He makes good catches by design.
Face it guys. There is a huge group of Cox haters out there who dug in early and are not going to change their minds.
5 TD's and 400 yards just ain't gonna get it. Not as long as Gray is over there sitting on a potential 6 TD's and 500 yards.
Jeeezus
NTM- I ran right at the UT defense and made a huge fumble yesterday. Clearly Corch Meyers hasn't taught me enough, and should thus be fired.
wAr wIlLiE
Though PWD will disagree, CWM is lost. He must go. Everyone has (for the most part) played “Nice Dawg fan” and tried to give Willie the benefit of the doubt. We are bigger, stronger, faster than ever at UGA and yet we are getting abused. SEC coaches MUST drool when watching UGA on film. Here are 10 common things read on the UGA Defense scouting sheet every week.
1. #3 can’t cover anyone! If he gets in the game throw it right at him!
2. They always set up in the same formation!
3. Their corners are 7 yards off the line of scrimmage!
4. They are trying to play freshman and other guys who aren’t ready! (#2, #1, #25) Throw deep on them…
5. #9 only wants to take someone’s head off! He won’t cover….
6. #23 is cocky, but he can’t cover deep.
7. They have no DE’s…
8. If we run a no huddle, they will try and substitute and will become flustered.
9. Aside from #35, they have no linebackers.
10. They don’t wrap up.
wAR wILLiE
So far two SEC coaches have drooled their way right into the shit house.
And Arkansas had been drooling for over a year.
BTW -- If you google "Mitch Mustain" do you get his mom's blog?
Thank you soooo much for that. I needed a good belly laugh and that really hit the spot.
get real people.
Bobo- when bobo took over play calling the offense IMMEDIATELY got better. hes the best thing thats happened to the offense in the richt era. dont complain cuz he made one bad play call.
Martinez- hes GOT TO GO!! we have so much talent to be this bad. no excuses for the ark game. why cant we stop anyone even if they have a short field? we did all the time under vangorder. willie should be telling them to go show how badass they are instead of "well, if they score its the offense's fault"
Cox- how in the world can you STILL call for logan after this game??!!! unbelievable.
CALL RICT TONIGHT AND TELL HIM WE ARE SICK OF TERRIBLE,EMBARRASSING, AND WEAK DEFENSE!!!
quote from rennie curran in the red and black, "They didn't run anything we hadn't already seen on film."
Wow. If thats the case, then what the hell was the defensive game plan based on then...
DN and Tebow:
Thanks for the skillful "straw man" argument. These work well with the Pinckneyvill Middle School debate team. I hope that you're still "taking your lessons" at the University cuz your mastery of Language Arts is suspect
Criticizing a corch or player is not the same as calling for his job. Saying "we ought not to hand it off to Carlton Thomas b/w the tackles" is a fairly cogent statement w/ little doubt for error. Saying Cox ought to unload the ball a bit quicker if he's in trouble is not an indictment of his character.
NEWSFLASH: Last yr people on this site would often criticize Stafford for his penchant for throwing the high risk/reward pass over a safe checkdown on occasion. It didn't mean he should be drawn and quartered.
What was the black dust that was always flying up when the ball would hit the field, or someone would get tackled, etc?
Is it some kind of rubberized material to help with impact or something? It looked like artificial turf.
@Muckbeast - yeah, they put ground up tire rubber on the field to give it a little "give". I guess it allows you to slide a little, and allows your foot to give a little (instead of the knee).
I don't like artificial turf, but I thought Arkansas' turf looked pretty good.
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