Ok, so after watching the first of the big 3 Georgia games last night, GT losing to VT, it is time to move to our big game on Saturday. First of all, after watching the genius that is Paul Johnson coaching Georgia Tech, it makes me even more thankful we have a man like Mark Richt on our sideline in Athens. WOW, the foul language, the arrogance, the stupidity that is Johnson, he is a "perfect fit" at Tech.
Auburn presents us with the best team we have played since our last loss, against South Carolina back in early September. In fact, offensively they remind me of South Carolina in one way, they have an elite level RB in Michael Dyer. Now, they do NOT have a WR in the category of Jeffrey but they do offer a very solid TE in Lutzenkirchen. Their passing game has not been very good at all, regardless of what QB they put in the game. I think we can rattle Moseley with some early pressure and crowd noise, he has two starts so far and he has been at QB in Death Valley so this will not be his first rodeo so to speak but his performance at LSU was not anything earth shattering, 12-20 145 with one INT. He is NOT mobile and thus there is no doubt what Auburn wants to do offensively, RUN the ball. Now, a big part of what made AU so good last year was the QB-Newton was a better passer than Moseley for sure and running wise, wow, you can't compare them at all. But, with Dyer and McCalebb, AU offers two different style backs that are fully capable of breaking off some runs if we don't do a good job of tackling. They also will probably try to run their no huddle hurry up offense to try to wear out our D so it will be important that we continue to do well on 3rd downs. We have got to get them off the field and obviously our run D is going to have do a great job. For as much as we talk about how good our run D has been this year, and they have, we have not really faced a good running team since, you guessed it, South Carolina. Remember, they rushed for 253 against us, Lattimore going for 176 of those yards. Course, also Melvin Ingram had 68 yards on the punt return as well-but point being, Lattimore shredded us pretty good. Dyer is the same type back-not as big or fast I don't believe but very physical, low to the ground-hard to tackle so we must gang tackle him. I still remember his run against Oregon in the national title game, everyone thought he was down but he was not and kept on running. It will all come down to how well our run defense can handle that AU running attack. On offense, I believe it will come down to having a balanced attack, no turnovers and finishing drives. Without the automatic Walsh, we need to score TD's. We also really need to get off to a fast start, get our crowd going and use that 12th man to help us out.
Here is a look at the starting O and D for the Auburn Tigers/War Eagles/Plainsmen or whatever else you want to call them.
Defense 4-3
DE Corey Lemonier 6-4 229 Soph
DT Kenneth Carter 6-4 290 Soph
DT Jeffrey Whitaker 6-4 312 Soph
DE Nosa Equaee 6-3 258 Soph
LB Daren Bates 5-11 205 Jr
LB Jonathan Evans 5-11 225 Jr
LB Eltoro Freeman 5-11 221 Sr
CB Chris Davis 5-11 188 Soph
S Demetruce McNeal 6-2 193 Soph
S Neiko Thorpe 6-3 191 Sr
CB T'Sharvan Bell 6-0 182 Jr
Offense Spread
OT AJ Greene 6-5 295 Sr
OG Chad Slade 6-5 320 Fr
C Reese Dismukes 6-3 285 Fr
OG John Sullen 6-5 333 Jr
OT Brandon Mosley 6-6 302 Sr
TE Phillip Lutzenkirchen 6-5 250 Jr
WR Quindarius Carr 6-1 185 Sr
WR Emory Blake 6-2 197 Jr
RB Michael Dyer 5-9 210 Soph and Onterio McCalebb 5-11 174 Jr
QB Clint Moseley 6-4 213 Soph
A few things jump out to me as I look at their starters, WOW, are they young on especially defense, also how much bigger our lines of scrimmage are compared to their guys. Now, for their OL against our hefty DL, that could indeed work to their advantage if they are able to keep us on the field with the no huddle, but that DL, being small and inexperienced, over time that should bode well for us. I am also amazed at how small their LB core is-that spells to me huge day for Orson Charles and Aaron White. I think it is going to be VERY important that our OT's Cordy Glenn and Justin Anderson get off the ball fast because they will be trying to block DE's that are nearly 100lbs lighter than they are. I would look for us to run between the tackles quite a bit with our massive guards, center and Figgins at fullback. I also would hope our OL can give Murray very good protection here, that will allow him to pick that D apart.
My keys to this game are as follows-
-Special teams, we must limit any long returns in kickoff and punt returns. Avoiding a special teams disaster this week is crucial because that is a way AU can stay/win this game as bad as we have been there this year.
-Limit turnovers, again, this is a great equalizer when one team appears more talented, experienced, bigger, stronger and playing at home. If we win the turnover battle, our chances of winning this game go WAY UP.
-Be strong on 3rd down both offensively and defensively. Especially for our D, we must continue to get off the field on 3rd downs. We are one of the best in the nation in this stat category, AU is not the best at converting. Fact is, stop the run and make them pass the ball and take our chances there.
-Tackle well, which goes along with the 3rd down conversions. We need to gang tackle Dyer, when they do pass the ball, we need to tackle their guys immediately. We can't have the missed tackles in this game to prolong drives and give AU life.
-Establish a running game. Granted, we have to be balanced but with our huge size advantage along the LOS, we SHOULD and NEED to run the ball effectively. Our OL needs to come out ready for the challenge, the AU DL manhandled us a lot last year, which in turn nearly got our QB killed. We have to control the line and run the ball.
-Create some easy scoring opportunities-this would be great early on-we need to jump on this team early and pile it on. This team is not designed to throw the ball around and play catch up, they are much more suited to play in a lower scoring, ball control type game. This is certainly NOT the AU offense of a year ago.
I have been skeptical of this line all week. I know this series history and I know we have a lot riding on this game. Honestly, I think unless we gift wrap this game, like we did our last loss nearly two months ago, we should have enough to beat AU. Hopefully with all we have riding on this game, coupled with what happened last year, we take care of business and with some help from the hated Gators, could really celebrate come Sat night. All that being said, I predict a UGA win but they will not cover the spread. Dogs 31 Tigers 20.
One last note, the mens hoop season tips off tonight at the Steg. The game is also on CSS at 8p. I will be watching Grayson HS play Collins Hill so I will have to DVR the game but want to see what we got. We open tonight against Wofford, a team that lost most of their best players from last year, same as us. Still, we have two SR guards in Dustin Ware and Gerald Robinson. I want to see improvement from Marcus Thornton and Donte' Williams, really excited to see Kentavious Caldwell-Pope play, also been hearing a LOT of high praise for our EURO player, Nemanja Djurisic as well as several other newcomers in the post. Of course I also like to watch Connor Nolte play as well. The team will also play Bowling Green Sunday night at 6p, that game is on ESPNU I believe so busy weekend for the hoop Dogs.
One the hoops recruiting front, we signed 3 players this week all Georgia kids and all very good prospects. In case you missed it, here they are-
Kenny Gaines, Charles Mann and Brandon Morris.
Mann is the PG of the future, Gaines and Morris are more wing type players, good shooters with range. We could use another big and have one spot left. Everyone thought we would get Shaq Goodwin but he committed to Memphis. Now, he has NOT signed yet so there is still a chance he ends up in Athens. He of course wants to play football and basketbal in college which is really tough to do, certianly can't do both full time and from all indications, Goodwin is a much better hoops prospect than football prospect.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Go Dogs on the hardwood and between the hedges.
No comments:
Post a Comment