Miss State D vs. UGA offense, another two leaving the program

Ok, so still recovering from the series choke that just happened in the ATL, I LOVE the Braves and always will but geez, that was bad. Now that they are out, I can 100% focus on football, except I will be cheering for anyone playing the Phillies. Great club but they certainly did everything in their power to knock the Braves out, leaving starters in the game etc. Compare that to the Yankees against the Rays. Like I say, it would be very fitting if the team the Phillies helped make the playoffs ends up beating them-I would LOVE IT!!!

Two more UGA players are leaving the program and neither are that big of a suprise. CB Derek Owens, who played mostly on special teams and Ken "Boo" Malcome, the RB that could never seem to stay healthy. I think both figured they had very little chance to see any playing time and decided to move on. A lot of UGA faithful, or maybe I should say some, think this is not a good sign. I say, nonsense. If the kids don't want to stay and compete for a spot, we don't need them. What it says is they see guys in front of them that are younger players and BETTER players and thus they see the writing on the wall. Such is life when you have such a great recruiting class. And, let's not kid ourselves, the dream team class IS most certainly to this point living up to his billing-and could be even better in time. You have two of our best offensive talents in Crowell and Mitchell, Jenkins is seeing a lot of time at the nose, Herrera is making good progess at LB, Swann was making a big push at nickel before his injury. A couple OL have been able to provide some depth, Ray Drew figures to make a difference at some point or another. Here is a list of players per the AJC that have left the program in the last year-if you notice, besides Benedict and Logan Gray, all have transferred to small schools, left for the NFL or medical reasons. Gray went to Colorado where his brother attend school and is much closer to home there. Benedict, well, obviously he would be getting PT with us but because he didn't like the way JT was running the strength program he bailed. Bottom line, with the kids listed below, I think the program is overall better off now and this just means without question, class of 2012 will have a full 25 and if Richt can turn the ship around we have all the makings of another great class.

1. OL+Brent Benedict+RFr.+Transferred to Virginia Tech
2. LB+Marcus Dowtin+Jr.+Transferred to North Alabama
3. TB+Washaun Ealey+Jr.+Transferred to Jacksonville State
4. FS Jakar Hamilton+Sr.+Seeking transfer
5. TB+Caleb King+Jr.+Academically ineligible
6. WR+Logan Gray+Jr.+Graduated w/ eligibility, transferred to Colorado
7. WR+A.J. Green+Jr.+Early entry into NFL draft
8. FS+Jakar Hamilton+Sr. +Transferring. Destination unknown.
9. OL+A.J. Harmon+Jr.+Transferred to Alabama State
10. LB+Justin Houston+Jr.+Early entry into NFL draft
11. DE+Jeremy Longo+Jr.+Medically disqualified
12. RB+Ken Malcome+RFr+Seeking transfer
13. CB+Derek Owens+So.+Seeking transfer
14. OL+Tanner Strickland+Sr.+Graduated with eligibility remaining
15. OL+Trinton Sturdivant+Sr.+Knee injury, career over
16. DB+Nick Williams+Jr.+Transferred to North Alabama

Ok, so now we take a look at the Miss State D against our offense. First of all, last year Miss State pushed us around on both lines of scrimmage. Also, the DC was Manny Diaz, who many thought was a strong candidate to take our job because Richt knew him from his Florida State days. The guy did a great job last year at Miss State and moved on take the DC job at Texas. Miss State lost a lot of starters from last year-including several on the DL, and all 3 starting LB's. The secondary returned pretty much intact and all those guys are good players, especially the corners. State runs the standard 4-3 D but many times will shift into a 3-3-5 alignment.

DE Sean Ferguson 6-3 255 SR
DT Josh Boyd 6-3 295 JR
DT Fletcher Cox 6-4 295 JR
DE Kaleb Eulls 6-4 280 FR
LB Matthew Wells 6-2 215 FR
LB Cameron Lawrence 6-2 230 JR
LB Brandon Wilson 6-1 240 SR
CB Jonathan Banks 6-2 185 JR
S Charles Mitchell 5-11 205 SR
S Wade Bonner 5-10 195 SR
CB Cory Broomfield 5-10 180 JR

Stats wise, this D falls in the middle of the conference for the most part. They appear to be slightly better against the pass than the run. Thanks to the 41 that AU put on the board, their scoring D is not as good as it might-but they did hold LSU to 19 points a couple weeks back. Last week they didn't play their best against LaTech but found a way to win-course that they had to got to OT to beat a team that was 1-2 entering the contest, only win against Central Arkansas, that is enough to have fans of both schools wondering what is up with Miss State.

I expect UGA to be able to move the ball on this defense but balance is going to be the key. I suspect more of the same from last week in regards to using the TE. Miss State doesn't have LB's or safeties capable of covering our TE's, simply put. This is a D that likes to play aggressive football-take some chances, make things happen. They have a solid secondary that has 5 picks in 4 games, but they also have giving up some passing yardage, especially the last couple weeks. Their DL is a bit undersized and they have a couple FR starting on the D. I expect that Crowell has the potential to have another solid game-maybe not quite on the level of last week but we should be able to move the ball, IF we can be balanced and keep them guessing. Interesting stat, Miss State is 14-0 in games under Mullen where they win the turnover battle but only 2-13 in games where the tie or lose in turnovers. As we found out against SCarolina in our previous home SEC game, turnovers can wreck your chances to win a game, regardless of how well you might play otherwise. So, to me the name of the game this week more than anything, balance, limit or eliminate turnovers, and we should score in the mid to upper 20's in this game, possibly reach up to the 30's.

Tomorrow I look at the UGA D against the Miss State O.