While much is made of the explosive Boise offense, their D is pretty darn good-well, again, you have to take a couple things in mind when thinking about the Boise D. First, the competition of course. Second, when your offense is scoring like their offense does, early and often, it disrupts the offensive gameplan and thus gets a team out of its planned attack and more one dimensional-that would explain how Boise led the nation last year in sacks and I think was in the top 5 in total defense. They had 9 of 12 games where the opponent scored 20 or less points, including 3 shutouts.
Boise runs a nickle defense, which amounts to a 4-2-5 alignment, the 5th defensive back of course being the nickle.
DE-Tryone Crawford 6'4" 276 SR
DT-Billy Winn 6'4" 295 SR This kid is very highly touted
NT-Chase Baker 6'1" 296 SR Think Ben Jones will be relieved after blocking our two NT's.
DE-Shea McClellin 6'3" 258 SR
LB-Byron Hout 6'0" 240 SR
LB-Aaron Tevis 6'3" 232 SR
CB-Jamar Taylor 5'11'' 194 JR (the only listed JR starter on defense)
DB-Hunter White 5'11 206 SR
CB-Jerrell Gavins 5'9" 175 SR
S-Cedric Febis 6'3" 202 SR
S-George Iloka 6'3" 216 SR
Of course the first thing that jumps out at your, experience. WOW, 10 of 11 starters are seniors, that is hard to believe. On their two deep, they have 7 JR's or SR's out of 12 total listed (second string). This just tells me, this group will not be lacking in knowing what to do come Saturday. That being said, they are certainly not the biggest guys in the world but instead I am sure rely more on quickness. Looking at the DL for example, those guys are going to be giving up a LOT of size against our massive OL. They also have some small DB's but TALL safety's. I would imagine a Marlon Brown against the 5'11 or 5'9 corner would allow us to pick on that. I would also imagine a kid the size of Orson Charles against either of those LB's or safeties, huge UGA advantage. Bottom line, with our size advantage combined with their high powered offense, I imagine our coaches would LOVE to establish the run early and stick with it often. Makes sense to me. Now take a look at our offense.
OT-Cordy Glenn 6'5" 338 SR
OG-Kenarious Gates 6'5" 328 Soph
C-Ben Jones 6'3" 316 SR
OC-Chris Burnette 6'2" 313 Soph
OT-Justin Anderson 6'5"242 SR
TE-Orson Charles 6'3" 241 JR
WR-Tavarres King 6'1"192 JR
WR-Marlon Brown 6'5" 222 JR
FB-Bruce Figgins 6'4" 272 SR
TB-Richard Samuel 6'2" 238 JR OR Isaiah Crowell 5'11" 215 FR
QB-Aaron Murray 6'1'' 211 Soph
Like I say, just take a look at that OL size against the Boise DL. A big, strong OL against an undersized DL, if we can control that LOS, those guys will get worn down in the second half. As I pointed out yesterday, the Boise OL that these guys go against in practice, if you average the height and weight of those guys, just about 6'2" and 288lbs. UGA offensive line, 6'4" 327lbs. Like I say, Boise might have the quickness EARLY but after those big boys push you around for a while, I would imagine you tend to get pretty tired. That is why we need some LONG extended drives, run the ball, short passes, just keep the chains moving to serve two purposes, wear down that D and keep their O off the field.
I have heard Coach Richt talk about this before and you certainly can't discount it. Boise is a VERY experienced team and not only are they experienced, they are experienced in winning football games. This team expects to win each and every week. They are 61-5 under Coach Peterson which regardless of what league you play in is outstanding. I think the key to this game is the first quarter as much as anything else. This team likes to come out and seize control early. If we can avoid letting them do that, I think we stand an excellent chance to wear them down as the game goes along. That being said, they jumped VaTech last year early, only to see the Hokies come back to take the lead. Then Boise got the ball back and marched down to win the game in the last minute. That is what I am talking about-they are used to winning so if you give them that chance, they have proven they can do it. On the flipside, UGA of late has NOT proven they can win games late and that is what we need to strive to get back to doing. Of course another factor will be noise. I am aware Boise played in a packed Hokie stadium-well, it was in DC but still, very much like the Ga Dome will be for us this Saturday, a neutral game but certainly one team is clearly the HOME team. Unlike last year though, they will play in a domed stadium. The noise factor in a dome IS different than in an open stadium so I do believe noise can be a factor-but only if UGA is in the game and stays in the game.
So there you have it, comparing the starting units for both teams. Not much more for me to say about this game, I will have some closing thoughts and my prediction either Thursday or Friday. Speaking of Friday, that is when DL recruit John Atkins is supposed to announce his college decision. As I have mentioned before, my recruiting sources have indicated to me he will be saying UGA this Friday. Let's hope so.
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