The game this past Saturday has to be the most impressive UGA performance, all around domination, since the Sugar bowl in 2008 against Hawaii. Probably the most dominating game at Sanford against a quality opponent since the GT 51-7 game. Some have mentioned the Bama game back in I think 2003, where UGA led 37-10 at the half (I was at that game), but Bama did manage 23 points that day to make it look more respectable. SO, I have to go all the way back to 2002 against GTU, another game I attended where we just simply steam rolled over them and it looked like they simply threw in the towel. I think AU threw in the towel basically at the half. It was VERY SWEET to beat Chizik, Trooper and company this year after what happened last year. Granted, I always enjoy beating Auburn but I was VERY angry after the game last year. Up until that game, I had always respected the rivalry and honestly, respected the AU program. BUT, after last year, I am not sure I will ever have that respect again. Of course right on cue, Fairley shows up this past Sunday getting flagged for slamming Jay Cutler into the ground. That kid is just quite frankly, a THUG-dirty player and he needs to be hit with some fines each and every time he does anything beyond playing football.
I think what I enjoyed more than anything in the game, the second half where it was boring yes, BUT, everyone in the stadium knew what we were going to do every single play-RUN the ball, run out the clock. Yet, AU still had trouble stopping us-in fact, we punted only one time in the game-that was a disaster but we survived. I was VERY impressed with Carlton Thomas. Crowell did play well in the second half but Thomas was the man on Saturday-course we ran him outsidet the tackle most of the time-loved seeing the toss sweeps. Aaron Murray, well, I think he was about as close to perfect as a QB could possibly be-and finally, in a BIG game, he played the way we all had hoped he would play. Check out his stats for this game-14 of 18, 224 with 4 TD's and zero INT's. He also picked up some yardage with his legs, the only negative for Murray is the fact he took a HORRIBLE looking hit near the sideline and you hate to see that especially in that the game was out of reach when he took the hit-he still needs to learn to slide more often. My thought is, if Murray continues to play the way he is playing right now, he gives us a REALLY good chance to be competitive with LSU or whomever in the SEC title game. Let's face it, neither LSU or Bama have offenses that can keep up with a team that can score points. Granted, it will be a TOUGH challenge for our offense to score a ton on either of those D's, but, if the OL can protect Murray, and we can remain balanced on offense, either of those two D's will be challenged in a way they have not really this year. Bama played Arky and handled them at home. LSU has yet to play Arky but other than UGA, Arkansas is the only other offense in the SEC that has our firepower. Difference between us and Arkansas, our D is MUCH better. If you look at the ARK game against Bama, they threw for 209 yards but only rushed for 17. That was the difference right there, Bama made them one dimensional which in turns makes it easier to defend that team. Game was 17-7 at the half though, then Bama exploded for 21 unanswered in the 3rd quarter, first TD was a pick 6.
Next up is the Kentucky Wildcats, a team we should handle. Out of 120 D1 schools, they are 118 in total offense, while we are 4 out of 120 in total D. Vegas has set the line with us favored by 29. Vandy just beat UK by 30 in Nashville, but will our team be totally focused knowing that this is a bad team, this is a 1-5 conference team, still feeling the high of beating up Auburn last week. I don't see that happening since we have to win this game, this game means a lot. I suspect we MIGHT start a little slow but the 2nd quarter has been magical to us the last few weeks. Matter of fact, if you look from the Vandy game on, you see the following scoring in the second quarter-20 against Vandy, 10 against UF, 42 against NMST, 21 against AU. I look for that to continue against the Cats, we might be flat early but in the second quarter, explode and then put it away. I would LOVE to be able to rest our guys in the second half and celebrate the SECe title. I have to admit, the following week against GT worries me in the fact that we have to be on our toes against that triple option knowing we have, as the great Paul Johnson would say, "bigger fish to fry the next Sat." Course that being said, the way our D is playing-having the mammoth guys in the middle, Jarvis Jones and Cornelius Washington playing OLB, Olgetree, Robinson, Herrera, Gillard at ILB, having safties and corners that can not only cover but tackle in open space, I REALLY like our D against that triple option-and, I really like Murray picking that D apart.
A lot of talk now about giving Mark Richt a contract extension. This of course is big because of the recruiting world-recruits LOVE Mark Richt, and families of recruits LOVE Mark Richt. Thus, knowing his job status is not up in the air, it makes recruiting much easier. I suspect assuming we beat UK and lock up the east, we will announce something the week of the SEC title game, beating GT yet again would also be an added bonus, 10 of 11 is just outstanding. I also know that Todd Grantham's agent has been quoted as saying that TG wants to stay in Athens but NFL teams have been asking about him, so have colleges-for NFL to be DC on that level, for college to become a head coach. Now, while I do think TG is a hot commodity right now, I doubt he is in line for a college job just yet, maybe the NFL DC. But, considering his two incidents last year with UF and this year with Vandy, not sure if he is college HC material YET. But, agents are known to throw stuff out there to get more money, and even though Grantham is making a TON and did get the multi year deal, I would certainly give the man a raise to keep him around. He is not only doing a great job coaching our D, but the man is becoming a recruiting plus for us because of the way his D is playing and because of his NFL experience. Granted, it is always a compliment to your program when your coaches are drawing interest from other teams/schools, but we need him to stick around and keep building us up-so therefore we need to make sure we are paying him enough to satisfy his needs in that area.
Later this week I will take a look at the Kentucky program. I know they are not a good team this year, I also know we threw away a game against them two years ago in Athens. I think that might have been one of the worst perfomances I have ever watched out of UGA. We had a 20-6 halftime lead and ended up losing 34-27. I do think we are far superior to the 2009 team and don't think UK is nearly as good this year as 2009-no more Randall Cobb thankfully. Still, this is one of those games we need to take care of early and get it over and done with, celebrate and then get ready for two HUGE games in Atlanta.
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