Tomorrow of course is the next biggest game of the season and it truly is a HUGE game for many reasons which I will discuss further in this blog post. But first, lets take a look back at the game last week which became HUGE win the Gators stomped on the Gamecocks, putting UGA back in control of their destiny.
I am old enough to know that UGA does NOT typically play well in Lexington, Kentucky, especially at night. Take a look at these scores from over the years in Lexington, starting with games in the 70's which is when my UGA history as a fan began.
1970 19-3 W
1972 13-7 W
1974 24-20 W
1976 31-7 W
1978 17-16 W
1980 27-0 W
1982 27-14 W
1984 37-7 W
1986 31-9 W
1988 16-10 L
1990 26-24 L
1992 40-7 W
1994 34-30 W
1996 24-17 L
1998 28-26 W
2000 34-30 W
2002 52-24 W
2004 62-17 W
2006 24-20 L
2008 42-38 W
2010 44-31 W
2012 29-24 W
It is clearly obvious that we have had some close games up there, sure we have blown out the Cats a few times here and there but most games have been very tight. That being said, this year was different. Kentucky is a HORRIBLE football team. They are playing most FR and SOPH's they have lost their top QB and RB for the year, they are a below average offense and defense. We were coming off a bye week, we got beat badly the week before that bye, we knew before KO that Florida had beaten SC and thus given us new life, all that and yet we still came out, let UK go 80 yards running the ball primarily right up the gut and they scored a TD, their first opening possession score since 2010!! Luckily for us, Aaron Murray in particular came ready to play, tossing for 4 TD's and over 400 yards of passing. Our run game was ineffective, but we did give Murray time to throw and he picked the Cats apart. But our OL's run blocking, and continued bad play of our DL, well, that is a cause for great concern this week against a team that has a power run game/more of zone read but they will pound the football on a defense. I simply can't figure out what the problem is with our D but I have a few thoughts.
First of all, our DL is underachieving in a big way. The injury to Abry Jones doesn't help matters, but our play at NT and DT, well, those guys are not getting much push it appears to me. I thought Geathers actually played a pretty good game against UK, but John Jenkins did very little except almost pickoff a pass. Jones was not doing all that much before his injury but needless to say, these guys get ZERO pass rush and then can't get off blocks to make stops in the run game-leaving it to LB's or even safeties to make the first contact with the RB, 5-10 yards down the field. The DL play is making it hard for us to ever generate ANY pass rush from our LB's, or DL, becuase one OL is able to block one DL-they have 5 OL to our 3 DL, 6 if they have a TE in the game-this means OL a free to pick up blitzing LB's.
Second, our guys just seems confused on the field all the time-they seem out of position or appear to be yelling at each other after plays are over, like you were supposed to be in this spot, why were you not where you were supposed to be. This was voiced during the bye week with players saying, we have to communicate better and we have corrected that now.
Our secondary is not very good in coverage. Whether it be because they are not doing what they are supposed to do-communication, or they simply are just not that good in coverage-which honestly no secondary is very talented when the pass rush is as bad as it has been, especially if Jarvis Jones is not playing, as he was not last weekend.
Grantham is also a problem, I don't buy into him being controlled like a puppet by Mark Richt or Greg McGarity. He still has PLENTY of fire when I see him on the sideline, but the man has yet to figure out how to stop a QB that can run, which is a great fear this weekend of course. Honestly, the D this year looks a LOT like his first defense at UGA in 2010, dreadful in most cases, unrealiable to make a crucial stop when you need it. Our offense put us up 29-17 in the 4th qtr, what happens next, the D let's UK drive straight down the field to make it 29-24 and set up what was almost a succesful onside kick. IF UK gets that ball, I can tell you I would have had NO CONFIDENCE we could make that final stop and win the game. For all the Bobo bashers this year and years past, I don't hear enough people on Grantham. He just got a contract extension and raise, he returned almost his entire defense, plus some key reserves and this unit looks like it is made up of true FR and Sophs, it just beyond disappointing to me and I am sure a lot of UGA faithful.
So, this Saturday is the big game against the Gators, with the winner in great shape to rep the east in Atlanta against likely Bama, although if LSU beats Bama, they likely will go. If UF wins, they clinch a spot. If UGA wins, we still MUST beat Ole Miss next week at home, and then at AU on November 9th. Both should be wins but with how this team has played this year, NO GAME is a win until the scoreboard has triple 0's. A lot of people simply look at scores and believe this is an easy win for the Gators. But I really look at this a lot different-here is why.
UF is a pretty one dimensional offense-granted, the zone read/QB option is an offense we have struggled with since Grantham has been here, but I am hoping the Shawn Williams call out of the Dogs, will inspire this defense. UF can throw it but they prefer not to, that being said, I bet they try early on us because we will expect the run. We need big games out of Williams and Rambo, along with Smith and Commings-all seniors, all leaders of this D-we need the safeties as both help to cover the WR's but also help to contain the QB Driskel and his runs. The D really needs to get the ball back to our offense because I think a key to this game for us to win is keeping the UF defense on the field and getting them tired. Because UF is a ball control offense, their D is fresh and ready to go, creating turnovers and then of course the UF punter is great at flipping the field. The better our D is early in getting 3 and outs, the better shot we have later in this game.
Our offense HAS to have some balance. Granted the UF defense is very good, but I don't think they are any better or as good as the SCarolina D we already faced. Keep in mind that SEC teams in general this year have been MUCH MUCH better at home than on the road-just look at SCarolina, looked great at home against us, not so much against LSU and UF on the road. UF struggled on the road at A&M, were tied with UT at the half before sprinting away in that game, only up by 7 against Vandy in the 4th qtr on the road. This game being neutral takes away the huge edge UF has enjoyed playing in the swamp. Back to our offense, we completely stopped trying to run against SCarolina, despite a few early good runs by Gurley. Course when you are down 21-0 in the first qtr, it does take away from your gameplan. But, to beat the Gators we have to have balance and keep them guessing. IF we can do that, Murray can have some success throwing the ball. UF has been a STRONG second half team so I think it is very important we have some early success and even take the lead early, we need to force UF to play our style game rather than them dictate to us. This will be the second BIG game in row for the Gators, 3rd in the past 4 weeks, can they get up and stay up emotionally the entire game this Saturday.
I think this game represents a big moment in time with Coach Mark Richt. I firmly believe if we get blown out in this game, there is a good shot we lose another game this season, could be either of the next two SEC games. I think this team is fragile emotionally right now, they expected to be playing BETTER than they are and are getting frustrated. This is a game where I see the ship heading two different directions, a win can right the ship and get us headed toward what could be a very successful season, a loss could really sink the Mark Richt ship. I honestly believe if we lose this game badly, and struggle down the stretch, Mark Richt MIGHT resign, or be fired. I think McGarity is going to give him the ability to resign rather than get fired, but I just get the feeling reading quotes from Mark lately, that he has had enough and is ready to move on. The expectations he had for this team, and for sure the fans had for this team, have made this a win at all cost type year and if we come up short, he might very well just walk away and not look back. Let me also say I HOPE this does not happen because I still and will always want CMR to have the ultimate success in Athens because he is a good guy, a nice guy, a Christian man that does things the RIGHT way. The old saying, nice guys finish last, I HATE that because I too am a nice guy. I am cheering for Richt to win one for the nice guys, to say yeah, many times nice guys do finish last but sometimes, nice guys finish first. I think UGA can and will win this game, I am not sure why but just a feeling I have in my gut. I will say Dogs win 24-17, pulling ahead early, and then holding off the Gators down the stretch. This group of Dogs/Gators have played close games the last two years, UF winning in OT two years ago, and UGA winning a tight game last year. I expect it to be close either way.
Finally, a report on the 8 year old Grayson Rams, we won our first playoff game last week, 33-7 over Mountain View. It was our best effort of the year without question. This week we take on the #1 see Dacula Falcons, our boys get to play on the Grayson HS football field which will be a really special treat. This Dacula team has not lost on the season and has only give up one TD or less in all games except one, in which they gave up one TD and one KO return TD. Our offense is going to have trouble moving the ball because Dacula has so much speed. Our D is going to have to play sound football, do their jobs and tackle well as this team has the top RB in the 8 year old division-just a very tough, talented and VERY FAST back. I am going to call for the upset here picking with my heart, but honestly, if we come to play we can beat this team, they are only 8 and you just never know-this team has yet to be behind all year so if we can jump them early, we could stun them. I say Rams 13-12 over the Falcons. If our season does end, it has been a great ride and we will be playing in a post season tourney in a couple weeks so football is still not over for me regardless of the outcome on Saturday.
Hope you all have a great weekend and as always, Go Dogs and Rams.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
UK in Lexington up next, eye on UF/SC, 2013 schedule released
So after a week off to ponder the what if's, or maybe the why or how the 35-7 loss to SCarolina happened, we finally have that next game to look forward to. By the time the Dogs get a good sweat worked up Sat night in Lexington, they will truly know if they have a very legit shot to get back to Atlanta this year, as the Gators and Gamecocks play Saturday at 3:30 in Gainesville, Fla. SCarolina came back down to earth last week in Baton Rouge, losing 23-21 to LSU. Now, normally that would be considered SCarolina playing a very good game and just coming up short, but this year, with how good SCarolina looked against UGA and how bad LSU has played recently, that to me is a game that SCarolina probably wishes they could have back. Here is the deal though, for all those folks that were raving about SCarolina's play against UGA, it is funny to hear those same people failing to mention a big key to the events of the past two weeks-playing on the road in the SEC, against good competition is BRUTAL. It is tough to win on the road in the SEC, thus all those people thinking SCarolina was a real national player this year, you only need to look to a couple games this year, at Vandy and at LSU, heck even their game at UK where they trailed 17-7 at the half to see, SCarolina is a MUCH MUCH better team at home than on the road. Same goes for UF, they struggled at Texas A&M and also struggled at UT and even at Vandy last week, but they have played well at the Swamp. This brings us to the games that matter this week in the SECe. First is our game, plain and simple, our team SHOULD be very mad and ready to play this week against a beat up and less talented UK team. Even with this game on the road, it is easy to see why UGA is a 28 point favorite I truly expect us to win by at least 28 points. This is a game that is on the schedule falling at a time where our team needs to get their confidence back. Typically, games at night in Lexington have been tough for the Dogs, but this year is different. As I mentioned before, by the time the first quarter is over, you can beat the announcer or the scoreboard in Lexington will let the Dogs know the outcome of the UF/SC game. I expect that if our players know that UF won, that will charge their batteries even more than before, and the game could get VERY UGLY by the half. Even if SC wins, I still see us winning this game in big fashion. Back to the game in the Swamp, SCarolina has played UGA, LSU and now UF, back to back to back, and you see the impact it has had on them-Lattimore is doubful with injuries, several other players are doubtful to out for the game, meanwhile UF is getting back a handful of key players for this game. SCarolina without Lattimore is a very stagnant offense. Connor Shaw looked like a world beater, like Joe Montanna against us, but that was because our defense was so concerned about stopping Lattimore, they didn't take him seriously. If they don't have Latt to hand the ball to, Connor Shaw is very similar to Joe Cox, except he CAN actually run while Joe couldn't. But, Connor trying to run against a defense like UF's, he is risking a serious injury. UF is NOT in my opinion a great offense team. The most points they have scored on the year was against UT up in Knoxville, 37. In case you haven't noticed, UT gives up a fair amount of points to every team they play. They scored 31 against Vandy, one TD came on a fake punt. 24 against Bowling Green, 20 against A&M, 14 to LSU, ok here you go, 38 against Kentucky!! They are a solid team but I don't see them being an explosive offense against a solid SCarolina D. But, UF has a VERY good defense, most points they have given up this year is 20 against UT-which has a pretty solid offense. 17 to A&M and Vandy, 6 to LSU, 14 to Bowling Green and zero against UK. This game matches two solid defenses against two average offenses in my opinion. But, you take away SCarolina's best offensive playmaker and there is no doubt who should win the game at home. A win by the Gators, UGA taking care of its business in Lexington, next week becomes the SECe play in game for a shot at Bama more than likely. SEC games left for UGA after this week-Ole Miss and @Auburn. Either of those teams COULD beat UGA but you have to like our odds. SCarolina's remaining SEC schedule-home games against UT and Arkansas. UF will only have one SEC game left after us, at home against Missouri.
The 2013 SEC schedules were released yestereday-UGA will be tested EARLY and often next year. I do like the fact that regardless of if Murray comes back for his SR year, we will have an experienced OL and solid RB's next year. Ball control offense will be a big factor in our early success with a lot of new faces on the defense. The game at Clemson starts it off-and against a high powered offense like they have, it will be very important that we control the ball and keep our defense fresh. South Carolina is back to week 2, let's hope we avoid the usual suspensions for next year. North Texas is a good lead in for LSU, then the two Tennessee trips are split up with a home date with Missouri. I like the open date before UF, also like the Appy State between UF and AU-and we play AT Auburn two years in a row which is very odd. Getting UK at home before GT is also good. Like I say, the first 4-5 games of next year, we will know if we are a contender or pretender.
2013 Georgia Football Schedule
August 31 - at Clemson
September 7 - vs. South Carolina
September 14 - Open
September 21 - vs. North Texas
September 28 - vs. LSU
October 5 - at Tennessee
October 12 - vs. Missouri
October 19 - at Vanderbilt
October 26 - Open
November 2 - vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
November 9 vs. Appalachian State
November 16 - at Auburn
November 23 - vs. Kentucky
November 30 - at Georgia Tech
Finally as usual, an update on the Grayson 8 year olds. We LOST badly last week to Peachtree Ridge, not the way you want to close out the regular season and head into the playoffs. That being said, the playoffs are here and now it really doesn't matter what happened in the regular season as it is one game at a time, lose and go home. Ridge beat us last week 19-0 in a game that was really dominated by former UGA and Dallas cowboy star, Randall Godfrey's son. The kid was just all over the field, making tackles, running the ball, he certainly has a lot of talent for an 8 year old boy. He is probably the fastest kid for that age that I have seen. One play, (keep in mind we play on an 80 yard field), he took a handoff, cut into a hole in the middle of our DL, then split three defenders and raced 72 yards for a TD. Once he broke through the LB's, he just left our boys in his dust-and we have some FAST little guys but he got moving and just pulled away. He scored two TD's on the day for Ridge. The other TD was the first score of the game, we tried to throw a screen and our QB didn't get his feet set, also we had two boys lined up outside and the lined up incorrectly, the boy blocking was supposed to be in front of the boy catching the pass so he could hit the corner and spring the play. Well, the boy that was supposed to catch it lined up in front, the corner for Ridge jumped in front and when the pass sailed out there, EASY pick 6 and the early 6-0 lead. Our team does NOT handle being behind, our boys are so used to being in front they panic and there you go.
Anyway, our playoffs start Saturday against Mountain View-a team that we have never faced before, they are like us, 6-2 on the regular season. They are a very well coached, disciplined team but they don't have a ton of speed. If, an this is a big IF when talking about 8 year old boys, our team will just do their jobs this week, on offense and defense, we will win this game by two TD's. I will predict a final score of 19-6. IF we win this week, we are the #8 seed, waiting for us next week would be the #1 seed Dacula who finished 8-0 and just dominated every team they faced-the Alabama of the GFL if you will. We will worry about them after we beat Mtn View but needless to say, that will be a very BIG challenge.
All for now, hope you all have a great weekend. Go Dogs and Rams!
The 2013 SEC schedules were released yestereday-UGA will be tested EARLY and often next year. I do like the fact that regardless of if Murray comes back for his SR year, we will have an experienced OL and solid RB's next year. Ball control offense will be a big factor in our early success with a lot of new faces on the defense. The game at Clemson starts it off-and against a high powered offense like they have, it will be very important that we control the ball and keep our defense fresh. South Carolina is back to week 2, let's hope we avoid the usual suspensions for next year. North Texas is a good lead in for LSU, then the two Tennessee trips are split up with a home date with Missouri. I like the open date before UF, also like the Appy State between UF and AU-and we play AT Auburn two years in a row which is very odd. Getting UK at home before GT is also good. Like I say, the first 4-5 games of next year, we will know if we are a contender or pretender.
2013 Georgia Football Schedule
August 31 - at Clemson
September 7 - vs. South Carolina
September 14 - Open
September 21 - vs. North Texas
September 28 - vs. LSU
October 5 - at Tennessee
October 12 - vs. Missouri
October 19 - at Vanderbilt
October 26 - Open
November 2 - vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
November 9 vs. Appalachian State
November 16 - at Auburn
November 23 - vs. Kentucky
November 30 - at Georgia Tech
Finally as usual, an update on the Grayson 8 year olds. We LOST badly last week to Peachtree Ridge, not the way you want to close out the regular season and head into the playoffs. That being said, the playoffs are here and now it really doesn't matter what happened in the regular season as it is one game at a time, lose and go home. Ridge beat us last week 19-0 in a game that was really dominated by former UGA and Dallas cowboy star, Randall Godfrey's son. The kid was just all over the field, making tackles, running the ball, he certainly has a lot of talent for an 8 year old boy. He is probably the fastest kid for that age that I have seen. One play, (keep in mind we play on an 80 yard field), he took a handoff, cut into a hole in the middle of our DL, then split three defenders and raced 72 yards for a TD. Once he broke through the LB's, he just left our boys in his dust-and we have some FAST little guys but he got moving and just pulled away. He scored two TD's on the day for Ridge. The other TD was the first score of the game, we tried to throw a screen and our QB didn't get his feet set, also we had two boys lined up outside and the lined up incorrectly, the boy blocking was supposed to be in front of the boy catching the pass so he could hit the corner and spring the play. Well, the boy that was supposed to catch it lined up in front, the corner for Ridge jumped in front and when the pass sailed out there, EASY pick 6 and the early 6-0 lead. Our team does NOT handle being behind, our boys are so used to being in front they panic and there you go.
Anyway, our playoffs start Saturday against Mountain View-a team that we have never faced before, they are like us, 6-2 on the regular season. They are a very well coached, disciplined team but they don't have a ton of speed. If, an this is a big IF when talking about 8 year old boys, our team will just do their jobs this week, on offense and defense, we will win this game by two TD's. I will predict a final score of 19-6. IF we win this week, we are the #8 seed, waiting for us next week would be the #1 seed Dacula who finished 8-0 and just dominated every team they faced-the Alabama of the GFL if you will. We will worry about them after we beat Mtn View but needless to say, that will be a very BIG challenge.
All for now, hope you all have a great weekend. Go Dogs and Rams!
Friday, October 12, 2012
We are back to 2010 and 2011 again
Yes, that was an UGLY performance in Columbia, SC last Saturday. It reminded me of many of our recent MELTDOWN games to be honest. When Richt was hired, the last impression that most of us had, Jim Donnan's team getting whipped by perhaps one of the most nerdy looking QB's and players I have EVER seen in my life-George Godsey of GT. I will never forget Godsey, I am pretty sure the slowest non OL on the field sprinting about 30 yards untouched for a TD in what was a dreadful day inside Sanford Stadium. Richt in the early years NEVER had a loss where we just looked horrible, looked ill prepared to play, even the SEC championship loss back in 2003 was not a total blowout until LSU scored 10 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to win 34-13. That would be a 21 point loss, two years later we had an 18 point loss to what ended up being the SEC champ AU. Course in 2005 in the Sugar Bowl, we started out 21-0 to WV, but battled back to only lose that game 35-28. So, between the years 2001 and 2005, our biggest margin of defeat was 21 points in the SEC title game to eventual national champ LSU.
Starting with 2006, here is where things start to go downhill-
Against UT that year, we led the Vols at half 24-14 only to lose 51-33, getting outscored 37-9 in the second half-yes, we gave up THIRTY SEVEN points in one half of football at home. We also lost to Vandy that year at home and at Kentucky.
2007
Perhaps the team that finished the season playing the best football in the country, how can we forget that trip to Knoxville. 7-0 after one qtr, 28-0 at the half. 35-14 final score. That was a game that I felt MUCH the same as I did watching the game this past Saturday in Columbia. I felt like the players were not prepared and once down, just didn't seem to give much effort at all.
2008
The famous blackout game against Alabama, down 31-0 at the half, did manage to make it 41-30 at the end but that was only because Bama let us. Later in 2008, UF EMBARRASSED us 49-10, in the Urban Meyer get even for the celebration game. 14-3 game at the half, UF outscored us 35-7 in the second half.
2009
At UT, down 21-12 at the half, UT outscores us 24-7 in the second half to win 45-19. Against UF, down 24-10 at the half, UF outscores us 17-7 in the second half for an easy 41-17 win. Oh yeah, Kentucky beats us in Athens this year as well.
2010
No specific loss was by a large margin but we managed to lose SEVEN games this year, including horrible losses to Miss State, Colorado and Central Florida.
2011
Boise beat us by 14 points, they were up by 21 late until Malcolm Mitchell scored his first career TD with a 51 yard catch and run. This game was very disappointing since we had all summer to prepare. Finally, LSU in SEC title game, 10-7 at the half only to get destroyed in the second half 35-0. Also Michigan State in the bowl game, up 16-0 at the half only to lose in OT by being outscored in the second half 27-11.
2012
Of course that brings us to last week, down 21-0 at half, 35-0 until the last two minutes of play. I think what gets me the most upset is losing by these big margins-because I honestly don't think UGA should EVER get blown out of football games. Every now and again, I can see it happening-the perfect storm so to speak, but it has been happening at least ONCE every year now since 2005.
I have been one that has supported Richt and company through thick and thin, why, because he is a class act and a pretty darn good football coach. He averages about 10 wins a season, which is better than Vince Dooley, who has a statue on campus. Thing about Richt, he wants to do things the RIGHT way and our university requires that we do things the right way. This means, our kids have to qualify at higher standards than every SEC program save Vandy for the most part, More than that, our school requires the kids GO TO CLASS, very strictly monitored. Also in place is the toughest drug/alcohol policies in the SEC, we also have a police department that doesn't play, they don't care if you are a star athlete or not, you break the law, you get the punishment. Also, UGA has to deal with media that tells it like it is-as much as the local Athens paper might try to paint a positive picture, the AJC covers the UGA progam exactly like they cover a pro sports team-the good, the bad and the ugly. Most SEC schools don't have to deal with ANY of that stuff and if they do, their coaches will speak up and get things changed-see Saban and Spurrier in dealing with media members, Spurrier dealing with the admissions office at South Carolina. I think so many UGA faithful that complain about Richt simply are the younger folks in the fanbase, they came along with Donnan and then Richt, those guys were 8-9-10 wins a year. Course it also doesn't help that Bama, LSU, AU, and UF have been winning national titles lately either. We all want what they got, that is the way of our society today.
Here is the thing though, you get rid of Richt, who is going to come to Athens, GA. YES, it is a great job but with it comes the issues I mentioned above, do you think a Saban would come to a place where he has the issues Richt has-where he can't run his COLLEGE football team like a pro team. I think not.
In summary, I am sick and tired of the lopsided losses and Richt is NOT doing a good job of getting this team prepared, the players are not doing their part either, and this needs to be fixed sooner than later. It has been an issue now for years, you can count on UGA wetting the bed at least once a year. We are not beating teams equal or greater than us, only those we SHOULD beat. This has to change or else but assuming it doesn't change, those that think we can and will get a guy in Athens that will do better, well, I will just have to wait and see. Based on our track record of hiring coaches, you have to be skeptical of the results. Back to the hear and now, a few things I see that need to change-
First of all, something is wrong with this defense. We all blamed missing players for teams moving the ball on us early. Against Vandy, we looked pretty stout again, then got out last two back against UT and had a 27-10 lead, things looked great. THEN the offense did their part to help UT but the point remains, this defense has for years had problems HOLDING teams to FG's instead of TD's, that game against UT was no different. Last week, the DL got no pressure, the LB's were so content about stopping Lattimore they seemed to ignore Connor Shaw-the secondary again was in stop the run game mode, and did a HORRIBLE job in coverage. This defense has a LOT of NFL talent, but have these guys checked out and now are just concerned with staying healthy for the upcoming draft? I am not sure but hopefully this week off, everyone being healthy again, we will see what we thought our defense would be all season down the stretch.
Second, our weakness coming into the season was thought to be the OL, RB's and kickers. The OL got exposed on Saturday, they just got flat out destroyed. I read this week where the players say they learned a lot playing those talented SCarolina defenders. Yeah, they learned they are not good enough and need to get better. We have one more very good defense to go against this year in UF, let's see if those guys did indeed learn anything.
Our coaches have to do a better job of making adjustments. This goes for both offense and defense. It was pretty obvious early on that SCarolina was going to use our aggressiveness to stop Lattimore against us, why not try something else to see what might happen-course I still say if Rambo makes that INT early, the game completely changes. On offense, it was OBVIOUS Gates and Theus could not block the DE's why not go to a ball control quick passing game, or try some tosses outside, let the DE's crash but attack the edges of the defense, essentially use their aggressiveness against them which is what Spurrier did with Jarvis Jones and Shaw running the read option. Let Murray scramble a little bit, the kid HAS wheels, in fact I bet he is every bit as fast as Connor Shaw-as a RS FR, Murray used to scramble quite a bit but now any longer. We have got to do a better job of making in game adjustments, not waiting until the half, or not waiting until that game is over and saying, well I guess we could have done that.
This leads us to the coaches, it is pretty evident to me that we have some pretty talented players-we win recruiting battles with all the big boys for pretty much EVERY player on our roster. Now, how is it that our talented players can play against a group that recruiting wise is considered less talented and get our butts beat. COACHING, that is the reason. Our coaches are not dumb and I am not saying they can't coach, but what I am saying is they are getting outcoached by the opposition, Steve Spurrier REALLY is outcoaching Mark Richt, three years running beating us. He has won 4 of his last 5 against Richt. Hmmmmm......
I hope our team and coaches use this off week to rest up, study up and come back with an attitude of that 2007. There is still plenty to play for this year, we have one really quality opponent left on our schedule, win that game, go 11-1 and potentially get back to Atlanta with some help. I think anything less than 11-1 this year, Richt will indeed be squarely back on the hot seat, and next year doesn't look as promising as this year.
Update on the 8 year old Grayson Rams, back to our winning ways last week 30-6 over Duluth. Now, let me explain what happened here. We led 30-0 at the half and the Gwinnett Football League, or GFL for short, has a rule in place that you can't beat a team by more than 32 points or the head coach has to pay a $500 fine. SO, we decided we would allow Duluth to score so that we could run more plays and be free to score again. Little did we know that it would take Duluth nearly two full quarters to score on us, with all our backups in and with our LB's dropped 10 to 20 yards off the ball. Our offense got the ball back with less than 2 minutes to play and got down to about the 5 yard line before the clock ran out. This week is a HUGE game for us, divisional title at stake in our last regular season game before the playoffs start next week. We play Peachtree Ridge, coached by former UGA star and Dallas Cowboy Randall Godfrey. He also has on his staff Rodney Harrison the former NFL player with the Patriots and now works on NBC's Sunday night football studio show. Both those men have pretty solid 8 year old boys with a lot of speed. Godfrey's son has scored a bunch of TD's this year, has returned about 3-4 kickoffs for TD's, he is a very good player. Ridge enters the game 5-2, both losses coming to teams that have not lost this season. They beat the team that recently beat us, so needless to say this game will be tight and tough. All that being said, I have to go with Grayson this week. We have more overall talent and we are due for that breakout game and our boys are fired up for this game. My prediction is for Grayson to whin this game 13-6.
Hope you all have a great weekend and as always GO Dogs and Rams!
Starting with 2006, here is where things start to go downhill-
Against UT that year, we led the Vols at half 24-14 only to lose 51-33, getting outscored 37-9 in the second half-yes, we gave up THIRTY SEVEN points in one half of football at home. We also lost to Vandy that year at home and at Kentucky.
2007
Perhaps the team that finished the season playing the best football in the country, how can we forget that trip to Knoxville. 7-0 after one qtr, 28-0 at the half. 35-14 final score. That was a game that I felt MUCH the same as I did watching the game this past Saturday in Columbia. I felt like the players were not prepared and once down, just didn't seem to give much effort at all.
2008
The famous blackout game against Alabama, down 31-0 at the half, did manage to make it 41-30 at the end but that was only because Bama let us. Later in 2008, UF EMBARRASSED us 49-10, in the Urban Meyer get even for the celebration game. 14-3 game at the half, UF outscored us 35-7 in the second half.
2009
At UT, down 21-12 at the half, UT outscores us 24-7 in the second half to win 45-19. Against UF, down 24-10 at the half, UF outscores us 17-7 in the second half for an easy 41-17 win. Oh yeah, Kentucky beats us in Athens this year as well.
2010
No specific loss was by a large margin but we managed to lose SEVEN games this year, including horrible losses to Miss State, Colorado and Central Florida.
2011
Boise beat us by 14 points, they were up by 21 late until Malcolm Mitchell scored his first career TD with a 51 yard catch and run. This game was very disappointing since we had all summer to prepare. Finally, LSU in SEC title game, 10-7 at the half only to get destroyed in the second half 35-0. Also Michigan State in the bowl game, up 16-0 at the half only to lose in OT by being outscored in the second half 27-11.
2012
Of course that brings us to last week, down 21-0 at half, 35-0 until the last two minutes of play. I think what gets me the most upset is losing by these big margins-because I honestly don't think UGA should EVER get blown out of football games. Every now and again, I can see it happening-the perfect storm so to speak, but it has been happening at least ONCE every year now since 2005.
I have been one that has supported Richt and company through thick and thin, why, because he is a class act and a pretty darn good football coach. He averages about 10 wins a season, which is better than Vince Dooley, who has a statue on campus. Thing about Richt, he wants to do things the RIGHT way and our university requires that we do things the right way. This means, our kids have to qualify at higher standards than every SEC program save Vandy for the most part, More than that, our school requires the kids GO TO CLASS, very strictly monitored. Also in place is the toughest drug/alcohol policies in the SEC, we also have a police department that doesn't play, they don't care if you are a star athlete or not, you break the law, you get the punishment. Also, UGA has to deal with media that tells it like it is-as much as the local Athens paper might try to paint a positive picture, the AJC covers the UGA progam exactly like they cover a pro sports team-the good, the bad and the ugly. Most SEC schools don't have to deal with ANY of that stuff and if they do, their coaches will speak up and get things changed-see Saban and Spurrier in dealing with media members, Spurrier dealing with the admissions office at South Carolina. I think so many UGA faithful that complain about Richt simply are the younger folks in the fanbase, they came along with Donnan and then Richt, those guys were 8-9-10 wins a year. Course it also doesn't help that Bama, LSU, AU, and UF have been winning national titles lately either. We all want what they got, that is the way of our society today.
Here is the thing though, you get rid of Richt, who is going to come to Athens, GA. YES, it is a great job but with it comes the issues I mentioned above, do you think a Saban would come to a place where he has the issues Richt has-where he can't run his COLLEGE football team like a pro team. I think not.
In summary, I am sick and tired of the lopsided losses and Richt is NOT doing a good job of getting this team prepared, the players are not doing their part either, and this needs to be fixed sooner than later. It has been an issue now for years, you can count on UGA wetting the bed at least once a year. We are not beating teams equal or greater than us, only those we SHOULD beat. This has to change or else but assuming it doesn't change, those that think we can and will get a guy in Athens that will do better, well, I will just have to wait and see. Based on our track record of hiring coaches, you have to be skeptical of the results. Back to the hear and now, a few things I see that need to change-
First of all, something is wrong with this defense. We all blamed missing players for teams moving the ball on us early. Against Vandy, we looked pretty stout again, then got out last two back against UT and had a 27-10 lead, things looked great. THEN the offense did their part to help UT but the point remains, this defense has for years had problems HOLDING teams to FG's instead of TD's, that game against UT was no different. Last week, the DL got no pressure, the LB's were so content about stopping Lattimore they seemed to ignore Connor Shaw-the secondary again was in stop the run game mode, and did a HORRIBLE job in coverage. This defense has a LOT of NFL talent, but have these guys checked out and now are just concerned with staying healthy for the upcoming draft? I am not sure but hopefully this week off, everyone being healthy again, we will see what we thought our defense would be all season down the stretch.
Second, our weakness coming into the season was thought to be the OL, RB's and kickers. The OL got exposed on Saturday, they just got flat out destroyed. I read this week where the players say they learned a lot playing those talented SCarolina defenders. Yeah, they learned they are not good enough and need to get better. We have one more very good defense to go against this year in UF, let's see if those guys did indeed learn anything.
Our coaches have to do a better job of making adjustments. This goes for both offense and defense. It was pretty obvious early on that SCarolina was going to use our aggressiveness to stop Lattimore against us, why not try something else to see what might happen-course I still say if Rambo makes that INT early, the game completely changes. On offense, it was OBVIOUS Gates and Theus could not block the DE's why not go to a ball control quick passing game, or try some tosses outside, let the DE's crash but attack the edges of the defense, essentially use their aggressiveness against them which is what Spurrier did with Jarvis Jones and Shaw running the read option. Let Murray scramble a little bit, the kid HAS wheels, in fact I bet he is every bit as fast as Connor Shaw-as a RS FR, Murray used to scramble quite a bit but now any longer. We have got to do a better job of making in game adjustments, not waiting until the half, or not waiting until that game is over and saying, well I guess we could have done that.
This leads us to the coaches, it is pretty evident to me that we have some pretty talented players-we win recruiting battles with all the big boys for pretty much EVERY player on our roster. Now, how is it that our talented players can play against a group that recruiting wise is considered less talented and get our butts beat. COACHING, that is the reason. Our coaches are not dumb and I am not saying they can't coach, but what I am saying is they are getting outcoached by the opposition, Steve Spurrier REALLY is outcoaching Mark Richt, three years running beating us. He has won 4 of his last 5 against Richt. Hmmmmm......
I hope our team and coaches use this off week to rest up, study up and come back with an attitude of that 2007. There is still plenty to play for this year, we have one really quality opponent left on our schedule, win that game, go 11-1 and potentially get back to Atlanta with some help. I think anything less than 11-1 this year, Richt will indeed be squarely back on the hot seat, and next year doesn't look as promising as this year.
Update on the 8 year old Grayson Rams, back to our winning ways last week 30-6 over Duluth. Now, let me explain what happened here. We led 30-0 at the half and the Gwinnett Football League, or GFL for short, has a rule in place that you can't beat a team by more than 32 points or the head coach has to pay a $500 fine. SO, we decided we would allow Duluth to score so that we could run more plays and be free to score again. Little did we know that it would take Duluth nearly two full quarters to score on us, with all our backups in and with our LB's dropped 10 to 20 yards off the ball. Our offense got the ball back with less than 2 minutes to play and got down to about the 5 yard line before the clock ran out. This week is a HUGE game for us, divisional title at stake in our last regular season game before the playoffs start next week. We play Peachtree Ridge, coached by former UGA star and Dallas Cowboy Randall Godfrey. He also has on his staff Rodney Harrison the former NFL player with the Patriots and now works on NBC's Sunday night football studio show. Both those men have pretty solid 8 year old boys with a lot of speed. Godfrey's son has scored a bunch of TD's this year, has returned about 3-4 kickoffs for TD's, he is a very good player. Ridge enters the game 5-2, both losses coming to teams that have not lost this season. They beat the team that recently beat us, so needless to say this game will be tight and tough. All that being said, I have to go with Grayson this week. We have more overall talent and we are due for that breakout game and our boys are fired up for this game. My prediction is for Grayson to whin this game 13-6.
Hope you all have a great weekend and as always GO Dogs and Rams!
Friday, October 5, 2012
BIG game tomorrow night in Columbia
You know it is a big game with the ESPN crew shows up, and that will be the case this week when Gameday broadcasts live from Columbia, SC. I personally am NOT a big fan of UGA drawing that crowd because we have performed pretty badly over the years when they have been at the site of UGA games-the good news, we have done our best for them when playing on the road as I believe we are 4-3 or 3-4 when on the road, 0-3 at home, and 0-3 at neutral sites (JAX) (sorry don't have the exact numbers in front of me but read that earlier in the week). Of course having those talking heads at the site of our game shouldn't matter a bit.
The game last week against UT was very interesting in the fact that from the beginning I felt UGA would run away with the game with how it started. 27-10, I had to leave to go to watch my daughter cheer, and felt secure in the fact that this game was headed towards a Vandy type outcome. Of course UT has a much better offense than does Vandy but still, I figured we would score about 50 points and UT would score maybe 24, MAYBE 31. On the car ride over to Duluth, UT scores to make it 27-17 late second quarter, I am still feeling fine because with how our offense is playing, I figure we will go right back down and score yet another TD, making it 34-17 at the half. THEN the South Carolina game happened all over again it felt like to me. Last year we led SCarolina 13-7 in the second qtr when Spurrier faked the punt, their big DL ran 68 yards basically untouched for a TD. UGA to that point was pretty much dominating the game-with the exception of having to settle for two FG's, and Walsh missed another chipshot but yet we were moving the ball constantly against SCarolina and they were struggling. Yet, we go to halftime trailing the game 14-13. Last week, I couldn't believe my ears as Aaron Murray-who had already thrown a pick 6 (again SCarolina also had a pick 6 of Murray last year), fumbled a ball at our 8 yard line (he fumbled and it was returned for a TD against SCarolina last year). UT scores but misses the extra point-of course we missed yet another one as well, and the score is 27-23. I figure well we will have the lead at the half at least and we have been a second half team this year so they will go in and get settled and come back strong in the second half. WRONG, a few plays later, Keith Marshall fumbles and UT then scores again to take 30-27 lead. I was in disbelief. I think a big key to this game though was the fact that Aaron Murray-as well as Mike Bobo/Mark Richt decided with less than a minute to go, let's drive down and try to get more points and not take a led. Sure enough, Murray hit Lynch for 16 yards, Bennett for 7 and Wooten for 6, Marshall Morgan makes up for missing the extra point earlier by kicking a 50 yard FG at the buzzer and we are tied.
Another key to this game was the second half, UT certainly was on a roll going into the half-but of course if you stop and look at it, they scored 6 points off an INT, they had an 8 yard TD drive and also an 18 yard TD drive. Their longest TD drive in the first half was 50 yards. Again though, to start the second half, UGA D forced a punt after 5 plays and 17 yards, UGA immediately comes back and scores a TD to take a 37-30 lead, next drive 5 plays for 11 yards, UGA scores another TD and it is 44-30, a little breathing room. UT then scored on its longest scoring drive of the game, the the Patterson reverse covering 46 of the 78 yards. The last scoring drive for UT covered 60 yards.
I am not trying to make excuses, but this was just a strange game. UGA had two backs go over 100 yards, Murray other than the pick 6 was very efficient with the ball, 19-25 for 278 yards 2 TD's and 1 INT. The defense forced 4 total turnovers-I guess the true difference in the game was that UT forced 3 turnovers which led to 21 points, while our 4 TO's led to only one TD for us. I think what alarmed me the most was allowing UT 197 yards on the ground, 4.9 yards per carry. Everyone knew UT could throw the ball around the yard a good bit with a solid QB and two NFL WR's, but to allow them to run the ball on us like that, knowing what is coming this week, that has to worry most everyone. That being said, SCarolina does not have the passing game threats that UT does, but they DO have a RB that is MUCH better than anything UT ran out there against us.
Now we move to the game in Columbia, seems strange to be playing SCarolina in week 6 instead of week 2 but it is interesting that we still played in Columbia in week 2, just a different state. SCarolina is a very solid football team-of course they have beaten us two straight years and the biggest reason for victory both years, Marcus Lattimore. I do NOT like the Gamecocks in the least, but I DO like Lattimore. He is special back, he is going to make a very good pro RB, I do think he is still not back to 100% yet, but he is getting close and I still say Lattimore at 80% is better than most backs at 100%. Carolina has beat us two years in row and has never in school history beat us 3 years, I sincerely hope that streak continues this year. I do believe we SHOULD win this game because I firmly believe across the board we have more talent. SC lost their top WR Jeffrey that made them a two dimensional team last year, granted when we played them Garcia was still the QB, and now they have Connor Shaw. Maybe Shaw will impress me this week, I hope he doesn't but honestly, I have watched him the last couple years and I have never really come away thinking wow, that kid is a great QB. What he is though is a TOUGH competitor and he is not afraid to do whatever it takes to get a first down, to make a play. I admire his competitive nature, but again, I am just not sold on him as a great starting QB-but the head ball coach obviously is, Shaw reminds me a lot of Spurrier in that he is a gamer and almost cocky-how appropriate that is playing for the Gamecocks.
The SCarolina offense is pretty much in the hands of Shaw and Lattimore. Shaw has been very accurate for the season at 78% completion percentage, while throwing 5 TD's and 2 INT's. He has thrown for 571 yards on 50-64 passes. For comparison sake, Aaron Murray for UGA, stats are 88-129 68%, 12 TD's and 3 INT's. Rushing, Lattimore is the leader 92 carries for 440 yards, 4.8 yards per carry and 8 TD's. Meanwhile our dynamic duo looks like this-Gurley 68 carries for 536 7.9 ypc, and 9 TD's while Marshall is not far behind at 52 carries for 428, 9.2 ypc, and 5 TD's. Now, we all know that stopping the run game will be crucial for both teams but UGA will also have to try contain Shaw's running ability out of the pocket, he is the second leading rusher for the Gamecocks this season-not sure if that is the plan Spurrier had in mind but he already has 50 carries for 203 yards with no TD's, considering he is not a big kid, I think that is way too much for him to be running around. He did get hurt against Vandy in game one and had to sit out game 2, so I would love for UGA to try to really punish him when they get the chance.
Now let's talk defense, where for now, there is no doubt SC is playing MUCH better defense. Let's take a look at the two common opponents first of all, Missouri and Vanderbilt-in both cases, both school at one home and one away, just flipped the opponent.
Missouri offense against UGA-242 yards passing, 113 yards rushing, 355 total yards. Missouri's first home SEC game.
Missouri offense against SC-146 yards passing, 109 yards rushing, 255 total yards. Missouri's first road SEC game.
Vandy offense against SC-214 passing, 62 rushing, 276 total yards
Vandy offense against UGA-231 passing, 106 rushing, 337 total yards.
If you factor in all season, SCarolina is averaging allowing 77.6 yards rushing per game, while allowing 211 yards passing. UGA on the flip side, is allowing 150 yards per game rushing, 217 yards per game passing. I think certainly SCarolina has NOT faced an offensive as explosive as we are this year but we for sure have not faced a defense of this caliber this year.
As for how this game plays out, I do believe UGA has the advantage in that we have already played in a very hostile Columbia earlier this year, we are a veteran team and most of our kids have already played in Columbia, SC before. Our offense has different ways to beat a defense, both quality passing and running game, but I do think our FR backs and our OL will need to establish some sort of running game in order to help give Murray time to pick apart a somewhat suspect SC secondary. For our D, the goal is what it has been the last two times, stop Lattimore and force Shaw to beat you throwing the ball. If we can contain Lattimore, that will go a long way towards beating SCarolina. Of course we lost Michael Bennett to a torn ACL and he is out for the season, but we do have quality depth at WR so hopefully those guys will pick up the slack. One big key though on defense is Ogletree coming back at LB to help stop Lattimore-Tree is maybe one of if not our best LB against the run and he has never played against Latt. The combo of him and Herrera at MLB positions, gives me hope that maybe we can at least slow this kid down. My prediction for this game is that we will score some points and put the pressure on SC to match us. I think initially it will be both team feeling each other out but eventually the Dogs come out and take it to the Gamecocks. It will be tough but we will win it, 27-21 (missed PAT yet again).
Finally, an update on the Grayson 8 year old Rams. We lost our first game of the season last week to a talented Mill Creek team, 19-6. Plain and simple, this team knew we had an explosive offense, they also knew they had a good enough OL to play ball control on us and that is what they did. They simply controlled the ball and kept it away from us. We ran 8 offensive plays in the first half, we trailed 7-6. In the second half, we turned the ball over to start the second half and again they wore on us and wore on us, eventually scoring to take a 13-6 lead. Our offense was stagnant all game and eventually MC stopped us deep in our territory and scored yet again for a 19-6. This week we play at Duluth, a team that is winless on the year, a chance for us get our confidence up for our divisional title game next week with Peachtree Ridge, coached by former UGA great, Randall Godfrey-his son is an amazing athlete. We will crush Duluth this week and get ready for that huge game next week, Rams 30-0.
Hope you all have a great weekend and as always, Go Dogs and Rams! Special shout out to my daughter this weekend as her 8th grade cheer teams competes in the Cheer off competition at Gwinnett Arena. This is her last year to cheer in the GFL rec league so hope she and her teammates go off with a cheer off championship.
The game last week against UT was very interesting in the fact that from the beginning I felt UGA would run away with the game with how it started. 27-10, I had to leave to go to watch my daughter cheer, and felt secure in the fact that this game was headed towards a Vandy type outcome. Of course UT has a much better offense than does Vandy but still, I figured we would score about 50 points and UT would score maybe 24, MAYBE 31. On the car ride over to Duluth, UT scores to make it 27-17 late second quarter, I am still feeling fine because with how our offense is playing, I figure we will go right back down and score yet another TD, making it 34-17 at the half. THEN the South Carolina game happened all over again it felt like to me. Last year we led SCarolina 13-7 in the second qtr when Spurrier faked the punt, their big DL ran 68 yards basically untouched for a TD. UGA to that point was pretty much dominating the game-with the exception of having to settle for two FG's, and Walsh missed another chipshot but yet we were moving the ball constantly against SCarolina and they were struggling. Yet, we go to halftime trailing the game 14-13. Last week, I couldn't believe my ears as Aaron Murray-who had already thrown a pick 6 (again SCarolina also had a pick 6 of Murray last year), fumbled a ball at our 8 yard line (he fumbled and it was returned for a TD against SCarolina last year). UT scores but misses the extra point-of course we missed yet another one as well, and the score is 27-23. I figure well we will have the lead at the half at least and we have been a second half team this year so they will go in and get settled and come back strong in the second half. WRONG, a few plays later, Keith Marshall fumbles and UT then scores again to take 30-27 lead. I was in disbelief. I think a big key to this game though was the fact that Aaron Murray-as well as Mike Bobo/Mark Richt decided with less than a minute to go, let's drive down and try to get more points and not take a led. Sure enough, Murray hit Lynch for 16 yards, Bennett for 7 and Wooten for 6, Marshall Morgan makes up for missing the extra point earlier by kicking a 50 yard FG at the buzzer and we are tied.
Another key to this game was the second half, UT certainly was on a roll going into the half-but of course if you stop and look at it, they scored 6 points off an INT, they had an 8 yard TD drive and also an 18 yard TD drive. Their longest TD drive in the first half was 50 yards. Again though, to start the second half, UGA D forced a punt after 5 plays and 17 yards, UGA immediately comes back and scores a TD to take a 37-30 lead, next drive 5 plays for 11 yards, UGA scores another TD and it is 44-30, a little breathing room. UT then scored on its longest scoring drive of the game, the the Patterson reverse covering 46 of the 78 yards. The last scoring drive for UT covered 60 yards.
I am not trying to make excuses, but this was just a strange game. UGA had two backs go over 100 yards, Murray other than the pick 6 was very efficient with the ball, 19-25 for 278 yards 2 TD's and 1 INT. The defense forced 4 total turnovers-I guess the true difference in the game was that UT forced 3 turnovers which led to 21 points, while our 4 TO's led to only one TD for us. I think what alarmed me the most was allowing UT 197 yards on the ground, 4.9 yards per carry. Everyone knew UT could throw the ball around the yard a good bit with a solid QB and two NFL WR's, but to allow them to run the ball on us like that, knowing what is coming this week, that has to worry most everyone. That being said, SCarolina does not have the passing game threats that UT does, but they DO have a RB that is MUCH better than anything UT ran out there against us.
Now we move to the game in Columbia, seems strange to be playing SCarolina in week 6 instead of week 2 but it is interesting that we still played in Columbia in week 2, just a different state. SCarolina is a very solid football team-of course they have beaten us two straight years and the biggest reason for victory both years, Marcus Lattimore. I do NOT like the Gamecocks in the least, but I DO like Lattimore. He is special back, he is going to make a very good pro RB, I do think he is still not back to 100% yet, but he is getting close and I still say Lattimore at 80% is better than most backs at 100%. Carolina has beat us two years in row and has never in school history beat us 3 years, I sincerely hope that streak continues this year. I do believe we SHOULD win this game because I firmly believe across the board we have more talent. SC lost their top WR Jeffrey that made them a two dimensional team last year, granted when we played them Garcia was still the QB, and now they have Connor Shaw. Maybe Shaw will impress me this week, I hope he doesn't but honestly, I have watched him the last couple years and I have never really come away thinking wow, that kid is a great QB. What he is though is a TOUGH competitor and he is not afraid to do whatever it takes to get a first down, to make a play. I admire his competitive nature, but again, I am just not sold on him as a great starting QB-but the head ball coach obviously is, Shaw reminds me a lot of Spurrier in that he is a gamer and almost cocky-how appropriate that is playing for the Gamecocks.
The SCarolina offense is pretty much in the hands of Shaw and Lattimore. Shaw has been very accurate for the season at 78% completion percentage, while throwing 5 TD's and 2 INT's. He has thrown for 571 yards on 50-64 passes. For comparison sake, Aaron Murray for UGA, stats are 88-129 68%, 12 TD's and 3 INT's. Rushing, Lattimore is the leader 92 carries for 440 yards, 4.8 yards per carry and 8 TD's. Meanwhile our dynamic duo looks like this-Gurley 68 carries for 536 7.9 ypc, and 9 TD's while Marshall is not far behind at 52 carries for 428, 9.2 ypc, and 5 TD's. Now, we all know that stopping the run game will be crucial for both teams but UGA will also have to try contain Shaw's running ability out of the pocket, he is the second leading rusher for the Gamecocks this season-not sure if that is the plan Spurrier had in mind but he already has 50 carries for 203 yards with no TD's, considering he is not a big kid, I think that is way too much for him to be running around. He did get hurt against Vandy in game one and had to sit out game 2, so I would love for UGA to try to really punish him when they get the chance.
Now let's talk defense, where for now, there is no doubt SC is playing MUCH better defense. Let's take a look at the two common opponents first of all, Missouri and Vanderbilt-in both cases, both school at one home and one away, just flipped the opponent.
Missouri offense against UGA-242 yards passing, 113 yards rushing, 355 total yards. Missouri's first home SEC game.
Missouri offense against SC-146 yards passing, 109 yards rushing, 255 total yards. Missouri's first road SEC game.
Vandy offense against SC-214 passing, 62 rushing, 276 total yards
Vandy offense against UGA-231 passing, 106 rushing, 337 total yards.
If you factor in all season, SCarolina is averaging allowing 77.6 yards rushing per game, while allowing 211 yards passing. UGA on the flip side, is allowing 150 yards per game rushing, 217 yards per game passing. I think certainly SCarolina has NOT faced an offensive as explosive as we are this year but we for sure have not faced a defense of this caliber this year.
As for how this game plays out, I do believe UGA has the advantage in that we have already played in a very hostile Columbia earlier this year, we are a veteran team and most of our kids have already played in Columbia, SC before. Our offense has different ways to beat a defense, both quality passing and running game, but I do think our FR backs and our OL will need to establish some sort of running game in order to help give Murray time to pick apart a somewhat suspect SC secondary. For our D, the goal is what it has been the last two times, stop Lattimore and force Shaw to beat you throwing the ball. If we can contain Lattimore, that will go a long way towards beating SCarolina. Of course we lost Michael Bennett to a torn ACL and he is out for the season, but we do have quality depth at WR so hopefully those guys will pick up the slack. One big key though on defense is Ogletree coming back at LB to help stop Lattimore-Tree is maybe one of if not our best LB against the run and he has never played against Latt. The combo of him and Herrera at MLB positions, gives me hope that maybe we can at least slow this kid down. My prediction for this game is that we will score some points and put the pressure on SC to match us. I think initially it will be both team feeling each other out but eventually the Dogs come out and take it to the Gamecocks. It will be tough but we will win it, 27-21 (missed PAT yet again).
Finally, an update on the Grayson 8 year old Rams. We lost our first game of the season last week to a talented Mill Creek team, 19-6. Plain and simple, this team knew we had an explosive offense, they also knew they had a good enough OL to play ball control on us and that is what they did. They simply controlled the ball and kept it away from us. We ran 8 offensive plays in the first half, we trailed 7-6. In the second half, we turned the ball over to start the second half and again they wore on us and wore on us, eventually scoring to take a 13-6 lead. Our offense was stagnant all game and eventually MC stopped us deep in our territory and scored yet again for a 19-6. This week we play at Duluth, a team that is winless on the year, a chance for us get our confidence up for our divisional title game next week with Peachtree Ridge, coached by former UGA great, Randall Godfrey-his son is an amazing athlete. We will crush Duluth this week and get ready for that huge game next week, Rams 30-0.
Hope you all have a great weekend and as always, Go Dogs and Rams! Special shout out to my daughter this weekend as her 8th grade cheer teams competes in the Cheer off competition at Gwinnett Arena. This is her last year to cheer in the GFL rec league so hope she and her teammates go off with a cheer off championship.
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