One of the frustrating things about how I watched the Colorado game was that it was impossible to see how Georgia’s last offensive play broke down. Via The Original Blawger, here it is in all its glory:
You’ve got an up-the-gut running play that sends the tight end on the right side out, I guess to block downfield. That leaves Josh Davis in no man’s land; he delays his block on the blitzing LB just long enough to make sure he can’t get in position to keep him out of the backfield. Top it off with a fumbled hand-off and voilà! – instant loss.
All of that after a time out, if I’m not mistaken.
Get The Picture 
May the God of Abraham and Iasac bless Arron Murray.
He was our question mark just a few weeks ago.
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Yeah, that wasn’t caused by the blitzing LB. That was all on Caleb: the ball is squirting out the bottom before the black shirt is in the shot.
Geez, and the kid had such a good game up til then. What is up with our RBs?
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They’re being coached up by a former WR-turned-graduate assistant for one thing…
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Coached up?!?
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I have watched and rewatched that play and a few things jumped out at me.
(1) Why do our lineman stand up as if to pass block on what appears to be a straight lead play. I thought at first it might be some sort of draw or sprint draw or whatever, but Murray never imitates pass at any point on the play. Maybe that explains or running woes: our O lineman either have terrible technique, or are being told to pass block on a run play. I’d bet on the latter, which says to me we are being entirely to cute in the situation.
(2) You’ll notice Josh Davis appears to be confused on who to block. Also notice just before the play the D line shifts one gap to their left, which appears to have caused the confusion. How does a fifth year senior still get confused on who to block. I am not blaming Davis here, because I don’t know the scheme and haven’t been in the arena, but it appears he is the one who is confused. And thus I am confused.
(3) In that situation, why is Aron White releasing, with a guy head up on him? I’m sure that’s what he was taught, but it just doesn’t seem to make sense there. And if he is supposed to release, then it would seem Davis automatically knows he has to pick up that guy. Why not have White block the guy in front of him.
Point 3 really irks me, and I think it is becoming clear to me why we aren’t winning games. Colorado didn’t beat us on that play. Hell, they didn’t do anything all that complex. We outschemed ourselves. The playcall, for whatever reason, was to complicated for our guys to run. If we line up on that play and call “handoff to Caleb up the right B gap. Lineman block the guy in front of you” we probably gain 3 or 4 yards and win the game. Obviously I’m being overly simplistic but when you see a play like that where your guys just can’t execute it properly, it makes you wonder whether we should just dumb it down and let our better athletes outathlete their athletes.
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Oh, and it is frustrating to see Caleb try to grab at the ball instead of letting Murray bring it to him. but again, if the blocking doesn’t break down like it does, he doesn’t panic.
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That’s coaching.
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I thought that SB, but don’t you think they do that in practice OVER and OVER and OVER again? We did that in peewees all through high school. It’s like not false stepping as a receiver or firing low on run blocking. At a certain point it becomes second nature. I just don’t get it.
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Which again begs the question: Why is an ex-receiver coaching running backs?
My car’s transmission is a bit dodgy…think I’ll take it to my dentist.
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It’s not the position he played that bugs me nearly as much as how thin his resume was before getting the job. Richt really couldn’t find an experienced RB coach for the position?
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But his dad played running back at Georgia. That’s got to count for something, right?
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…or Offensive Coordinator? Giving someone a “shot” at a coaching position is admirable…just not at this level of competition. Maybe Richt feels the need to “pay it forward” since Bobby Bowden gave him his big break after only a single season at East Carolina. There is a systemic problem with coaching on this team. Can it possibly be fixed in a single off-season?
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Salt in your Wound: Richt reports that this is our #1 running play.
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The play is a sprint draw. The O-Line is giving the look of a pass and White is flying off the line for the same reason.
White is looking for a man to block downfield and he engages him.
The end is Davis’ man and he whiffs … plain and simple. This wasn’t a scheme/technique flaw. Davis has to realize that his man is wide of the TE and the TE is looking to block in the secondary. He has to get over there and chip that guy.
If he does it, Caleb doesn’t spin and easily gets into the secondary.
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Correct UbGA…Davis is fooled by the tackle who shifts over him before the snap, but then stunts inside. Davis follows, realizes his mistake, then watches helplessly as the end is crashing the play. King fumbles by taking his eye off the ball in trying to see a way around the end who is about to smother him.
Davis looked terrible all game long.
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“The play is sprint draw.”
That was my first inclination as noted above. But I guess my problem with that play call is it is too cute. Considering the score, game clock, down and distance, why would we try to sneak attack them instead of give our lineman the best chance possible to just blow them off the line. Why call a run play with a pass blocking scheme, given the circumstances. On a deeper level, given the previous three games, why not take a knee three freakin times and give Blair a chance to win it. I know hindsight is 20/20, but jeebus. That playcall is some cute bullshit that screams of “we don’t think our players are better than their players straight up so let’s try to fake them out.” Which I guess goes back to the players not trusting the coaches and vice versa.
I understand it is a basic play call and Richt claims it is our best running play, but at the end of the day it is a deception play that asks your lineman to run block while standing straight up.
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Watching it one more time, I almost wonder if CK explodes ahead intead of slowing down to try a spin m0ve, he might’ve been able to cut it back to the left side for a positive gain.
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“We knew they were going to try and run the ball and milk the clock and kick a field goal. I knew I had the opportunity to come off the edge and maybe disrupt the handoff. … All I did was run at him knowing that he was going to get the handoff. He kind of flinched or botched his hands or maybe the quarterback hit [the handoff] in the wrong place.”
— Colorado linebacker B.J. Beatty’s view of the play on which he forced a Caleb King fumble late in Saturday’s game
We are not fooling anybody but our own linemen.
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One thing that jumps out at me are the 2 LBackers who are completely untouched until after the fumble. No one progresses on to the linebackers during this play.
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Josh Davis knew what happened. All you had to do was see him after the play.
It’s coaching, its execution, its bad timing, its Old Lady Luck all rolled into one play.
I think, Oh Lord, your faithful chilren have suffered enough.
This weekend we will play in the “Goddamighty Loran Miasma Bowl in Athens. May the least snakebit team survive.
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Yep, he’s definitely spinning away from the guy Josh whiffed on.
No question.
Josh knew even if nobody else did.
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Puffdawg…You nailed it…just Football 101. If you look at the Dawgs blocking schemes over last few years … it’s just bizarro world. What ever happened to blocking inside gaps with playside priority? Even HW couldn’t run over some of these unblocked monsters.
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The fix is simple…. We have seen Josh Davis get beat many times this year. Look at the replay, Trition S. is on the left side and caves in his man and clogs up the middle, if Davis made his block Caleb gets at least 10 yards. Move Boiling back to tackle and play Chris Davis or a cheeleader at guard. Sit Josh Davis until he can learn what to do. This speak of Willie M. that a guy starts just because he is a senior. What happened to the talk of the best person at the postions plays?
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To get an idea of why we have such a poor running game, stop the video at the 4-5 second mark and see the position of the players.
1. The LB coming off the left end is 3 yards deep into our backfield and gaining momentum while Caleb is still 7-8 yards behind the line of scrimmage and hasn’t moved forward at all. Can’t we just run a quick dive play sometimes instead of a read play?
2. Note that EVERY offensive lineman we have, at this point of the video is now 2-3 yards behind the original line of scrimmage. Not one OL made a block that would have done anything but lose yardage on that play even if Caleb hadn’t muffed the handoff. (Also interesting to note that only CU players reacted to the fumble, three of them to be exact.
What a disaster, and it happened so quickly it took a few seconds to realize it was over. I had not seen the replay until now, and I can see why I thought it was a trick play. That was an odd move by Caleb as he reacted to the CU player coming. I called 2 people from the stadium to see if the discussion on TV was about the flea flicker, I see now it was conclusively not that at all. D, JD.
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The alignment of the D just prior to the snap is key. What did they read to jump to that alignment. Notice the 23 and 12 come from the outside in a rush…see how far 12 comes. The 3 down line close the inside lanes as well as the 2 LBs. Why? The play call set indicates it is to the right. But is it a run or pass.
But this is what I saw at the beginning other than the set and personnel. Notice the difference in the head and pad level on each side of the center. No doubt it is a draw play to the right side. Their pad head and pad level gives it away. Also #78 takes the wrong step. And 53 read it all the way.
More to game than blocking…stance, footwork, pad level, and quickness…S&C is huge…but 53 knew he was coming in. Also, too much penetration.
You have the ball, at their 27, a very dependable FG kicker, do not have the scoreboard, but you do not want to score too soon because your D, like at MSU has been on the field too long and given up to many big play (ie, leave to much time they could score)…slowly punch it in.
Bobo did not attack them. He has to know that they know we want to run the ball in closer and eat more clock…have four downs.
They can call it “as base a play as we got”, but that does not mean anything. Simply line up in a power formation or set for 2 downs, force them to man up and make a tackle, you have a third to set for the FG.
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I think it’s a sign we need a new “base play.”
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If my tail was long enough, I would have tucked it between my legs right there.
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Caleb saw the guy coming hard off the corner and made a panic move before he had secured the ball.
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