How many of you were as impressed as I was watching a fast, well coached TCU defense play its collective ass off last night?
I’ve got Frog envy.
- Bloviation for the Dawgnation
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Quote Of The Day
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
Oh I figure when we go back to scoring 20 to 24 points a game, the coaches are going to be more concerned about defense. Like a fine wine, it will just take time.
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Since he was able to do with what he had to work with this season, I would say give him a different title and pay him what ever is needed to keep him.
With all the injuries this year including OL, he did a remarkable job. Give him the money.
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SE – who are you talking about? Willie or Searles?
You got into the nog a little early this morning I see 😉
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With TCU’s D and our O, we would be the one’s playing for the crystal football, not UF. I do think that Willie should get one more year to prove himself, but CMR should make it clear to him that he needs to coach his a** off next season or he’s gone!
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It was pretty impressive Senator, but not as impressive as the well-coached defense UGA showed against Hawaii last bowl season (and I believe that Hawaii team beat Boise worse than TCU did.) What I saw was some healthy, disciplined athletes that were prepared through film study for the many nuances of Boises’s offense. It was the first time I have seen Boise shut down since they came to Sanford in 2005 though.
In addition to good health, I would really like to have their LB and, especially, that DB, #29 I believe. Boy, that kid was everywhere and played a heckuva game last night.
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Boise ’08 is a much better team overall than was Hawai’i ’07.
TCU’s defense held Oklahoma’s offense to a season-low 35 points. While the Horned Frogs didn’t look that great on offense, their defense is major-conference worthy.
When you figure how they have to recruit, it’s damned impressive.
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Macallanlover,
UGA did look impressive against UH last year. But our athletes were orders of magnitude better than theirs. I’m not saying that Martinez didn’t scheme well against their spread, but his schemes haven’t looked as impressive when playing against major conference teams with better athletes.
Boise and TCU are similarly matched athletically. That makes TCU’s effort in holding the #12 scoring offense in the country to 16 points that much more impressive.
I would sure love to trade DCs with TCU. I think we can make it worth Bumpas’s while without breaking our bank.
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I know TCU’s coach’s name gets brought up some for coaching jobs, but I am amazed someone hasn’t plucked him for a major program yet (thinking orange). Maybe the whole Coach Fran thing left a bad taste in the mouths of everyone in the state.
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I was thinking the same thing last night. But what kept bothering me was TCU’s scheme. Most of the night they played a 4-2-5, CWM’s defense of choice against the spread.
So if the scheme is the same and our athletes are better, WTF?!?
I think is comes down to discipline – in the weightroom, at practice, in the film room, on the field and off the field. That will only come from coaches accepting nothing less than excellence from the players and themselves.
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Coastal, do you think we have a ‘blind spot’ with our talent? Are they really as talented as we think or maybe, as I think you are suggesting, some of our coaches are not developing potential talent into realized talent. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
Nonetheless, that was a great game last night and I hope our guys watched TCU’s defense. Maybe watching great defense’s like that will get them pumped up. Hell, I ran outside and tackled a snowman.
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I don’t really buy that the same defensive coaches who developed Pollack, Grant, Moses, Sullivan, Blue, Davis, Jennings, etc. have suddenly forgotten how to develop talent. I also don’t buy that Garner, who has been in charge of recruiting the entire time, suddenly rates 3 star athletes as 5 stars and brings in kids that nobody else wants.
I think that the main issue with the defense is the discipline of the players. And I’m not talking about a bunch of kids getting caught drinking a beer in Athens during the off season. I’m talking about during practice and during games, taking plays off, not playing fundamentally sound, and missing your assignment.
I think TCU has that in spades.
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Preach on Hacker. I’m still of the opinion that the players weren’t the only ones not fully focused at critical times during this season. WHAT caused this institutional focus blur?
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“I think that the main issue with the defense is the discipline of the players.”
-Exactly.
Keep your head high. Stick to your assignment. Get off the block. Wrap up! No “shoulder nudges.” GATA. Lay the wood.
It’s that simple. What loses games?
Giving up 31 in a half to Bama. Giving up 21 in one quarter to Florida. Giving up 26 in one quarter to the N.A.T.S.
At the beginning of the season I really didn’t think that our defense was going to our weakness.
I just think losing Jeff Owens really weakened the DL tremendously. Owens and Atkins had hit their stride last year in the Sugar Bowl and could have caused havoc this year in the SEC. It seemed like every other play down the stretch, one of them was in the backfield quickly.
The lack of DL pressure all season was sad. I think after that first quarter against GSU, it was all down hill for the big men.
Maybe next year I’ll be right about the defense.
Hunker down. Merry Christmas.
Go Dawgs!
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I fully agree with what Robert said above. The defense had a zero pass rush consistently and for some reason forgot what it was like to properly tackle someone. The intensity level hopefully will be higher next year with Owens leadeing the way. No one really did that this year on the field from what I noticed. It seemed the defense didn`t have someone to rally them together when things got tough out there. There truly is nothing more beautiful than 11 wild, crazed dawgs flying to the football, making the other team realize they are in for a long day from the first snap. Hopefully we will see this in Orlando on Jan 1st, and next season to come.
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I guess it just comes down to me feeling too many UGA fans put too much off on the coaches and give the players a pass, or ignore the talent differences in certain positions. I am not happy with UGA’s defense this season, but I don’t think the coaches should get 80-95% of the blame like I read on several Georgia sites. Owens was a huge loss that allowed blockers to get to our LB’s most of whom were hurt, or inexperienced, and also allowed more blocking help on our DEs who were also very thin and inexperienced. I wouldn’t put more than a third of the problem on our staff, but that is just me. What I saw was players in the correct position missing chances to deliver, and way too many costly penalties at critical times. Is some of that coaching? Sure, but but less than 50% I think. You have to have backups to be able to sit someone who makes mistakes. We were patch-worked all year at LB, DE, and DT. As for our DBs, I just don’t think they are as good as advertised. Recruiting isn’t an exact science.
Boise in 2008 is pretty much the same athletically as they were in 2007 when they were beaten by Hawaii, and when they beat OU in 2006 in the Fiesta. TCU has the same defensive coaches that returned 7 players from a 2007 team that gave up 36 points to Stanford and 33 to San Diego State. Teams just jell at certain times, and some years you get lucky with injuries rather than crushed by them. Bama was extremely fortunate with injuries this year, and they lacked depth, next year the same coaches could struggle to make New Year’s Day. Probably won’t happen as their depth gets better, but let them lose the numbers we lost and see how it pans out. Take their best offensive lineman, their best defensive lineman, McClain out at MLB, and their blocking back and how would hey have fared against us? That is what we were missing, and they had every player ready for us. Sure, there are other factors, but I would take my chances with the roles reversed.
There are just too many examples of 2-3 star players playing on Sunday, or rising up in big game situations in CFB to ignore. The talent difference isn’t that great between mid-majors and BCS teams, it is the depth that makes the biggest difference. Injuries can weaken a powerhouse by robbing teams of their stars and their leaders making the gap so small that a lesser team playing with intensity can knock off a highly rated team. We see it all the time. I just don’t put all of that on the coaches. If you have children between 17-22 you should know that even the best of parents are totally dumbfounded at what some of them may do from day to day, or situation to situation.
It is the public lynchings that bother me about UGA fans. I have no problem with constructively expressed concerns and reasonable dialogue, but I am now leaving one site I have paid to belong to for years simply because it has become so infested with haters who view themselves to by “realists”. Where here is the reality; they are only hurting what they purport to love. All the posts (and many of them are obsessed, consumed with this one topic) will not be the reason anything changes, or doesn’t change. Marl Richt will make those decisions, and he is the only person qualified to do so. He has also earned the right to be entrusted with this responsibility. I am just not sure our fanbase is deserving of him. I once thought UGA fans were the best around, and maybe the ones I know best truly are, but this “new” fan I am seeing is just lousy, and I don’t want to be associated with them. I am not referring to this blog because there seems to be some balance and civility here, but there is certainly some of that unappealing element here. I am fully aware they have a right to that opinion, but will always maintain my opinon rights too….the right to call them the type of fans we don’t need, and believe them to be detrimental to our program’s future. Enough, we will not change our opinions about this, but I am silent on that other site so I had built up a little steam.
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Mac,
I think your last paragraph is what PWD was trying to convey on his site and got a lot of flack for it. Most of us are upset and I don’t think anyone is satisfied, but it is the hate and rage that has gotten old. That doesn’t make us soft, it just means we hope something happens instead of staying bitter.
I don’t know if recruits read teams’ sites or blogs, but I figure a few do. It may have no effect on their decision, but I would be wary if I read a ton of articles that were filled with hate, mistrust and constant bashing. Why would I want to go to a school like that? Maybe that is a stretch, I don’t know.
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Sorry Ally I was talking about CSS, plus I commented in the wrong section for the story. Hope you have a Merry Christmas or do I have to be politically correct and say Happy Holidays. Either way have a good one.
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From today’s action…
Hawai’i is a flippin joke. 49 points to Notre Dame *in* Hawai’i. Unreal.
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Mac & Jason C –
If bashing coaches and/or players in a systemic, public fashion were really a problem, Florida would be in ashes. They are hyper-criticized by their fanbase and perform in spite of it. The flip side is that their fans are irrationally possessed and believe they are the best no matter the facts on the field. They also encourage and relish in “classless” ball (running up the score, keeping starters in late, etc.). What should be our priority or having “class”?
As to Mac’s second point, the fans certainly do hold power over decisions over personnel and coaching changes. If you don’t believe me, check out what happened at Auburn and Tennessee this year. You may impart full faith and credit to CMR, but you are the exception to the rule. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I’m just saying…
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If you look at the defensive players, you are looking at a group of athletes who were heavily recruited. If you say there is a lack of talent on defense I can’t buy it. This means all the other coaches who recruited them were wrong and that ain’t the case believe me. Take the offensive line, they had an excuse to throw in the towel , but due to great coaching(Searles) they performed admirably. As Boling said, “as long as we have five linemen we’re are okay.” This is what Searles instills in them, the desire to succeed, truly not the case with Willie. If you want to talk about desire when has the defense had a stop inside the red zone? It just doesn’t happen
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When folks are being compensated at the six figure level, no matter the industry, they are held liable for their production & effort. In my industry, results are the measuring stick and ones’ contract always hangs in the balance.
Sorry Mac but it sounds like you’ve never been in the position of being King before and thus you simply don’t have a frame of reference for the outrage and angst the fan base has for this season past. Not a win of note and three bad losses will turn what is typically a very optimistic bunch into sour grapes throwers and place those trying to put icing on the turd cake directly in the line of fire.
Injuries occur but the ones which struck the Dawgs didn’t factor into the three bad losses which the excuse makers so terribly wish were true. Zero DE production doomed the ’08 D to mediocrity and that goes back to recruiting and to evaluation. No scheme or amount of Coaching can substitute for production and when all the parts are not working harmoniously, you simply cannot expect premium results. Though most of the Dawgs whining don’t know why, they do understand being behind 31-0 at the half and squandering a 16 point lead in less than 10 minutes.
Hopefully a measure of respect will be regained on NY’s Day and optimism will be renewed come the Spring. What with both AU & UT headed South, focusing on the lizards can now take on a new sense of importance and urgency.
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Sorry Papa, you should have remembered the old axiom of “better to have people think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”. You don’t have a clue about who I am, and what I know, and I won’t waste my time responding or debating with you. Suffice it to say it is highly unlikely your opinion is as informed as mine, but I will say again, you are entitled to your opinion on UGA’s situation just as much as I am. We don’t have “kings ” in this country, but you don’t want to match credentials with who or what I know in the world of sports, or what I have achieved.
I am sorry about your myopic viewpoint of where things stand. I admitted my comments weren’t going to switch guys like you, just wanted to say enough is enough of the whining and cowering, and there is just as many of us that waited patiently for your group to grow up. After months of listening to the same posters saying the same things over and over and over, it has reached the point of being pathetic. Didn’t mean to post again on this, and i hope this is my last, but your unfounded assumptions just couldn’t go unchallenged. Ready! Fire! Aim!
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