Basically, it wasn’t pretty.

More thoughts, observations, reflections from Sattidy night’s disappointment:

• I find myself in agreement with Spurrier’s observation that the result wasn’t a shock. I think the Dawgs are a more talented bunch than the Gamecocks, but talent was trumped by experience and the obvious fact that Nix was better prepared for the game than was Bobo.  South Carolina deserved the win.
• Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that makes five straight losses for Georgia to SEC East teams – something that never occurred under either Goff or Donnan.
• One good thing in Georgia’s favor is that the Dawgs won’t see a dominant defensive line until late in the season, when it’s time to play Auburn and Georgia Tech. One bad thing is I’m still not sure the offensive line will be molded into a functioning unit by that time.
• Most of the questioning I see with regard to game decisions is focused on Richt’s call to kick the last field goal. I didn’t have a problem with the call. At that point in time, Georgia had converted only two third down opportunities for the entire game. The odds of pulling off fourth and fifteen were slim, especially given the fact that the offense sputtered on that drive the moment it reached the SC eleven.  There was still about four and a half minutes left in the game at that point, more than enough time to regroup and take another shot at the endzone (especially considering Spurrier’s strange playcalling on SC’s previous drive).
• Far more questionable was Richt’s decision to go for it on fourth and two on the SC 33 in the third quarter – why not let Coutu try a 50 yard FG in that spot? As it turned out, the play called was a disaster and gave the ‘Cocks the ball almost at midfield and set up a short field for their second FG. Even a punt that went in the endzone for a touchback would have been a better decision.
• I don’t know what’s happened to Bryan Evans, but it looked like his coverage skills have regressed significantly. Spurrier saw something there and exploited it successfully. The sad thing was that Mitchell’s throw on the 31 yard completion was pathetic and had Evans looked back, he’d have been in a position to break the pass up.
• Stafford had a frustrating game: not only did he overthrow receivers, but he missed seeing open ones. He rarely looked comfortable, as his completion percentage indicated. He never ran, although I saw a couple of occasions when he could have picked up a few yards. He was also lucky in that he had two INTs dropped. On the other hand, he still managed to throw for 213 yards (forty more than Mitchell) and his completion on 3rd and 23 to Massaquoi was jaw dropping on both ends of the play.
• I think it’s safe to say that the old saw about team improvement from the first to the second week took a serious hit to its credibility last night.  Along the same line, this team continues to exhibit a disturbing tendency under Richt to follow up a dominant performance with an unfocused one.  They seemed surprised by South Carolina’s emotion at the start of the game.  Why I’m not sure, as the home crowd seemed pretty geeked up as well.
• I know it’s only one game and one loss, but the reality is that it’s going to be extremely difficult for Georgia to win the East at this point.  It’s true that Georgia misses LSU, unlike SC and Florida, but so does Tennessee.  Winning in Knoxville is mandatory just to maintain a pulse.  Saturday night’s loss also makes it necessary for Georgia to lose one less conference game than SC in order to pull it off.  In essence, it’s likely that Georgia can’t lose another SEC game.  I don’t see that happening, frankly.
• As playmakers, Moreno, Brown, Henderson and Massaquoi continue to impress.  Bailey was good, but not as good as he was in the opener.  I am curious why Stafford went to Wilson and Moore as much as he did, as Massaquoi appears to have regained his freshman mojo.  As I mentioned above, the catch he made to convert the third and 23 was nothing short of stunning.
• Georgia won’t win ten regular season games in ’07, and it’s not because the SEC is overwhelming this year.  Every team in the East struggled at least part of the day on Saturday, and Auburn was upset at home by USF.  Assuming Florida holds serve in the Swamp next week, it looks like the UF-USC game in Columbia would be for the East – and don’t you think the OBC will pull out all the stops for that one?  That’s a tough choice for Dawg fans.

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Now is the winter of HeismanPundit’s content.

The man is probably feeling positively giddy right now: the Pac-10 picks up two more solid wins on its resume with Oregon’s humiliation of Michigan and Washington’s victory over Boise State (which has probably had its “Gang of Six” membership revoked with the loss) and the SEC is starting to look like LSU and a cast of thousands – in other words, a tad overrated.

Speaking of LSU, it’s starting to look like the Tigahs and the Sooners may be the class of college football this season. Two very impressive wins for those schools yesterday…

Not so cocky this morning…

I can’t help about the shape I’m in
I cant sing, I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin
But don’t ask me what I think of you
I might not give the answer that you want me to

Oh well

Now, when I talked to God I knew he’d understand
He said, stick by my side and I’ll be your guiding hand
But don’t ask me what I think of you
I might not give the answer that you want me to

Oh well

Fleetwood Mac – “Oh Well”

Oh well, indeed.

I want to reflect on what happened last night a little more, but if I’m a DC game planning Georgia, I’m selling out and doing everything I can to disrupt the line of scrimmage in order to affect the timing and rhythm of the Dawg offense. You simply can’t allow Stafford to get comfortable – not with the defense and return game Georgia has. As long as the offensive line lacks consistency (which, judging from what we’ve seen in the first two games, will be a while), it’s a working strategy.

I expect that Bobo is going to get a lot of heat for his play calling, and some of it, like taking the ball out of Moreno’s hands when Georgia had a first and ten on the SC eleven late in the game, is probably deserved. But the two plays that I think are going to haunt this team when it looks back at this loss – the illegal shift penalty that nullified the fumble recovery on the punt near the end of the first half and Stafford badly missing a wide open Moreno on the wheel route that would have been an easy TD – were all about execution.