First things first: Gutsy win. Didn't have to be. Shouldn't have had to be, but gutsy. Second, give The Vols credit, they forced Bobo to do things differently than he otherwise would have wanted to. True, the injuries made things different from the get go, but with our offensive weapons Jones decided that they were going to either lose or win with Murray going over the middle and making Georgia trying to run in the middle.
It nearly worked.
- So much for the oline resurgence. Give UT credit, their front seven did an effective job of switching up rushes. I haven't watched the second half but even in the first, they had effective pressure on Murray too much.
- Give Douglas and Green credit. They ran the ball very well. My problems with the play calling is usage, especially the sprint draw with Green on 3rd down.
- Keeping in mind I didn't see the second half, I felt the defense played very well.
- If Bennett and JSW are gone for the season, will see a lot more Wooten and will need to see a lot more Conley.
- UGA: Putting the "special" in special teams since 2001.
- But the kickoff thing got solved.
- And MMs 56 yarder was as confident a kick as we've seen from an UGA kicker in a minute.
As I mentioned Friday, this is the kind of of game I was worried we might have. We didn't play great offense, we gave up the special teams touchdown, yet we went on the road and won. I was worried about style points before the game, now I am worried about winning out the season and playing in Atlanta. This might be the kind of game we look back on and regret the missed opportunity or maybe we'll look back on this game and thank God for fumbles into the end zone.
Its just too early to say.
TD
8 comments:
No chance you will think the defense played well after watching the second half. Also the o-line did a solid job overall -- there were definitely a few lapses in pass protection but we ran for 238 yards with our 3rd and 4th string backs -- both true frosh -- on the road in a hostile environment. The o-line deserves some credit for that.
Also, screw style points going forward. With our injury concerns all we need to do is win -- a lot of the national pundits were giving us a bunch of credit for toughing out a SEC road win sans our top 5 offensive playmakers.
I only saw the second half. I thought the OL played well and the D was wretched.
I think the second half play calling was scatter shot because they didn't know for sure or feel confident in what the healthy kids could do on offense.
Murray lead them. And Green did his best Otto the Mascot impression.
The defense was as bad as ever in the 2nd half. Blitz on 2nd down multiple times and it works. Then on so many occasions, we just sit back on 3rd down and make Worley look like Manning.
Grantham is a bad DC and its been the same crap his whole tenure. We had veteran guys last year not knowing where to line up and being confused. Same with "his guys" this year. 4 years and people are still making excuses for him. Wish he was in Philly.
Aaron Murray, btw, is the greatest QB in Georgia history.
The swing pass on 3rd and 4 to a freshman RB, who at that point had been targeted twice by Murray and had yet to make a catch, was brilliant. It was a guaranteed five yards (if he caught it) and it went for another 30+.
I'm not one to come to the defense of Bobo, but...give the guy a break already. Down to third string freshman tailbacks and had lost two go to receivers. Great game for our OC if you ask me.
Let's be honest, the defense is pretty wrenched. I know they're young but our young players seem to be stepping up on the offensive side of the ball. Yes, we've played some good teams. Tennessee was not one of them. And we didn't exactly shut down North Texas did we? Our players are saying publicly that they do not understand the calls. Announcers routinely point out that our defense is either improperly aligned or seems confused. Third and Willie has become third and Grantham. If our special teams weren't even worse (Morgan excepted) pretty much all we would be talking about is how bad the defense is. Truth is, we're playing Big 12 football right now. That might be fine if we weren't in the SEC.
Aside from agreeing with you main points, we did exactly shut down North Texas. We held them to -1.75ypp and nearly half their normal ypg.
We have plenty to parse through about Grantham's defense, but unless something has changed I don't know about, kickoffs and punts aren't his or his unit's responsibility.
Point conceded. Perhaps I'm still a bit raw after watching the game. But dang, we're supposed to be better than this on defense. And honestly, young or not, I think we can be. Generally speaking I believe the players and the skills are on the field. It simply hasn't come together yet. Unfortunately, we're nearly halfway through the season.
To be fair, there is plenty of blame to go around on defense, but I'd be satisfied with them just being lined up and ready to play every play. I get the sense that offensive coaches have figured out something about how we do things and Grantham and his charges are trying to relearn the defense each week.
Nothing I've seen to confirm that, but we have guys that have played 300+ plays this season still trying to figure out where they are supposed to be. I know that changes for each opponent, but Tennessee's offense is pretty much LSU's offense, without some of the weapons, particularly at QB.
I loved the pressure we got on Worley and looking over the stats, he didn't do anything particularly impressive, but damn we suck on 3rd and 4th down.
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