Will Muschamp now lists SR QB John Brantley as probable for the game on Saturday. When he suffered the injury in the Bama game a few weeks ago, reportedly Brantley told Coach Boom (Mushchamp) he would be back for UGA. Well, it appears he will be back and honestly, I hope he is. Why, you might ask?? Well, first of all considering how much we have struggled the last two years with running QB's, I will take my chances with a quarterback that is coming off a high ankle sprain. He will not be any threat at all to run the ball. He will be more immobile than Mallett of Arkansas last year or Bray from UT this year. Now, Brantley IS a much better throwing QB than any of the others on the UF roster. If he plays, he allows the offense to have much more balance. That being said, I would fully expect Grantham and company to test out a rusty QB by bringing 6-7 guys in the box, bringing heat on him early and often to make him throw it quickly, force mistakes, or sack him-if he tries to move, it could hurt his leg injury as well. Bottom line though, we have to be prepared for any of the 3-4 different QB's they could throw at us. I trust that our defensive coaches will have a good plan in place. Of bigger concern to me, the report that Malcolm Mitchell might have retweaked his hamstring yesterday. Hopefully that is just internet rumor stuff but we need his speed/vertical threat in this game. What we need more than anything is to limit turnovers. For your benefit, I put together the turnover battle for the last 9 years. I could not find the stats for Mark Richt's first season against UF, 2001.
2002 UF wins 20-13, they also turn the ball over 4 times to our 3 times. The famous Edwards drop, also Gus Scott returns a DJ Shockley pass for a TD.
2003 UF wins 16-13, UGA 1 turnover, UF zero.
2004 UGA wins 31-24, UGA 1 turnover, UF zero
2005 UF wins 14-10, turnovers even at 1. This is the game DJ had to sit out due to injury. Joe T at QB.
2006 UF wins 24-10, turnovers UGA 5, UF 2. UF scores one TD on a 9 yard fumble return.
2007 UGA wins 42-30, turnovers UGA 1, UF 2, the one UGA turnover is a INT return for TD.
2008 UF wins 49-10, turnovers UGA 4, UF 0
2009 UF wins 41-17, turnovers UGA 4, UF 0
2010 UF wins 34-31 in OT, turnovers UGA 4, UF 1
So, if you look at the series since 2005 the turnovers have really gone WAY up on our side. Granted, 2002 we had 4 but otherwise turnovers were way down. One thing that really jumps out to me, 4 of the 9 years UF had ZERO turnovers against us. Also, in three of the games, UF not only forced us to turn the ball over but took that turnover back for TD's-a true double whammy and we all can remember the South Carolina game this year-we turned it over THREE times two of those were returned for TD's, another to our 5 yard line. Over this 9 game stretch, the turnovers would be as follows, UGA 25, UF 9. So, we average turning it over nearly 3x every game against UF over the last 9 years, UF 1x against us. Now it makes a lot more sense why we have only won 2 of the games.
I think the turnover battle is one that we should all keep an eye on certainly for this game. If you look at UGA games thus far this year, here is the breakdown on turnovers and results.
Boise State, both teams had one turnover. Boise win
SCarolina, UGA 3 SC 2, SCarolina win
Coastal Carolina, CC 3, UGA 1, UGA wins
Ole Miss, Miss 2, UGA 1, UGA wins
Miss State, both with 3, UGA wins
UT, both wins zero, UGA wins
Vandy, Vandy 4, UGA 1, UGA wins
Now take a look at the Gators schedule-
Fla Atlantic, UF 3, FA 0, UF wins
UAB, UAB 1, UF 0, UF wins
UT, UT 2, UF 1, UF wins
UK, UK 4, UF 3, UF wins
Bama, UF 2, Bama 0, Bama wins
LSU, UF 2, LSU 0, LSU wins
Auburn, UF 3, AU 0, AU wins
Granted, typically you can tell who wins a game based on turnovers-not rocket science there but I think it is VERY interesting to look at the past 3 games that UF has lost. 7 total turnovers for the Gators, ZERO for the three west opponents. I think our ability to avoid the turnover in this game is the single biggest factor to winning the game. When the turnover happens, it gets that mental block thing going again, it propels the Gators to ok, typical UGA dropping the ball against us, we are in their head and now we go for the kill. Our players are thinking, GREAT here we go again. The game last year is a prime example-our first play from scrimmage is an Aaron Murray INT. They ended up misssing a FG after that pick but it set a tone. We were down 21-7 at the half, only to make a very good comeback to tie the score at 31, all the momentum is on our side heading to the OT, and we immediately throw the INT and they kick the FG to beat us.
This year our D is going to have to play MUCH better than a year ago. UF rolled up 450 yards on us, with Brantley throwing for nearly 200 yards, Burton rushing for 110 yards, Rainey another 84. We moved the ball well on the Gators but primarily with Murray throwing the ball, he had 313 yards. If you really think about it, the UF game last year really mirrors the SCarolina game this year in so many ways. In both cases, Murray really did play extremely well but it was his costly mistakes that ended up killing us in both games. I guess we all have to hope Murray is finally ready to get over the hump and lead us to victory in a crucial SECe game.
I noticed Rivals have their early bowl predictions out. Just for the heck of it, here are some games of interest to UGA fans.
National title game-Bama vs. Stanford
Sugar-LSU vs. Okie State
Capital One-Arky vs. Nebraska
Outback-UGA vs. Michigan State
Cotton-Auburn vs. Texas
Gator-UF vs. THE Ohio State
Chick-Fil-a-SCarolina vs. VaTech
Liberty-UT vs. SMU
Music City-Miss State vs. THE U
SEC no bowls-Vandy, Miss, and UK. I actually think Vandy might have a shot to make a bowl as they have 4 wins and still have 3 games they could win, Kentucky, at UT, and at Wake Forrest. Win two of those three and they have the 6 wins needed.
Sun Bowl-GTU vs. Washington. Wow, how far the Nerds fall here but this is actually projecting them as the #4 ACC slot. I think if they lose the next two ACC games, they could slip further in the bowl lineup.
All for now, let's hope Mitchell is ok, let's hope we don't suffer any injuries in practice. This week to me is such an important game for our program-yes, seems every year the UF game is very important for us but this year to me just seems even more so. UF has lost 3 straight, they have a new coach that just so happens to be a UGA grad and former player, we have a legit shot to win the east, the stars seemed to have aligned for us, our coach has had trouble with one school during his tenure in Athens and this would be the one school. He has been battling a warm seat all season, his coaching future could be riding on this game-although I will say a loss here doesn't mean he is gone but certainly many will be asking, if not this year, when will we ever beat these guys-myself included in that group. Only a few more days until we get to see how this all plays out on the field.
No comments:
Post a Comment