This is why I love the Internet. Brace yourselves. You’re about to learn something regarding Georgia’s 2007 season you never knew before.
Georgia’s kicking luck sucked last season.
Exactly what in the hell, you ask, is “kicking luck”? Well, according to Statistically Speaking’s Matt Melton, it’s the difference between how many points a school’s opponents scored in field goals versus the national average.
… multiply the average field goal percentage by the number of field goals a teams’ opponents attempted. Subtract this number from the field goals their opponents made and multiply by 3 (the point value of a field goal attempt). This resulting number is the number of points the team allowed above or below the national average.
In Georgia’s case, the Dawgs’ opponents connected on a remarkable 20 of 22 field goal attempts, almost a 91% clip. As the national average was 71.7%, that meant that over the entirety of the season the Dawgs allowed almost 13 more points than the national average accounted for. Thirteen points!
Just so you know, the only teams that whiffed on FG attempts against Georgia last year were Kentucky and Georgia Tech.
Here’s what the national average will get you when things are going your way. Just sayin’.
Get The Picture 
Any stats for, say, 2005? Perception’s everything, but I remember everyone and his cousin being freakin’ money on FGs against us that year.
And I maintain that Vandy and Kentucky almost *relished* blowing those games against UT.
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Amazing, three wins that could have very easily been losses had the opponent been able to kick a field goal. The sec east was practicly handed to them. No excuse for georgia though. Had we handled our business on the field it wouldn’t be an issue. To quote our illustrious host “Just sayin'”
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D.N., ’05 was pretty mundane from a percentage standpoint. But two of those three misses were big ones.
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I wonder. . . did we give up an unusual number of shorter attempts or somthing?
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Good question, pd. I wondered the same thing myself.
From the SEC site, here are Georgia’s defensive red zone field goal stats for the last five seasons:
2007: 13/14 (1 in SEC)
2006: 9/12 (T5 in SEC)
2005: 8/8 (T8 in SEC)
2004: 7/10 (T8 in SEC)
2003: 9/12 (T7 in SEC)
So, yeah, it looks like shorter field goal attempts were more prevalent last year than before. Good catch.
Of course, I should point out that Dawg opponents made 7 of 8 FGAs outside of the red zone last year, which is still way above the national average.
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Like I said, perception’s everything. Only 12 FG attempts that year; strange.
Hey, we only gave up one FG in the Sugar Bowl! Looks like we really clamped down on D.
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Yeah, that’s definately not enough of a difference to explain it away. Maybe we should sacrifice a hecatomb to the Field Goal Fairies before this season.
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And then there’s this: http://www.cfbstats.com/2004/team/257/kicking/defense/gamelog.html
I remember a lot of things from that Tennessee debacle; the Vols missing three FGs isn’t one of them.
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IIR, a couple of those UT missed were pretty long (50+ yards).
On the other hand, I seem to remember that Andy Bailey missed a late, makeable FG which would have made a fourth quarter comeback a lot easier in that Georgia could have driven for a FG to win instead of a TD.
All water under the bridge now…
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Yep, that’s true. Missed it after we had a TD taken away on one of that day’s 1,457 questionable calls.
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Bailey missed 2 FG at least, and I think an extra point. One of the FG was a chip shot he pulled like 20 yards left.
Was the other miss after we ran that sneaky PA play where Green held the ball just a *little* to long, hit Brown for the TD, but Brown was whistled out the back of the end zone?
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Not to keep bringing up a really really really crummy game, but I think you’re making a composite memory, peacedog…says on that site that Bailey missed his only FG try of the day and was perfect on extra points (his only miss was the GT game that got him benched).
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Yeah, I went and looked it up. It must have been another game. Still, I wonder if the one he missed against UT was the really awful shank.
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You’re right about the pass to Reggie Brown, pd…
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