It sounds like Todd Grantham’s grateful for the extra preparation time he got for the Tech game.
The off week may have come a little late for the team as a whole, but for Georgia’s first-year defensive coach, it helped.
“It allows you to get a couple extra days to just teach your players the concepts,” Grantham said.
He knows what he wants them to prepare for.
“You’ve just got to be sound on those guys,” he said. “They’re gonna make you defend everything: They’re gonna make you defend the fullback, they’re going to make you defend the quarterback on the edge, and they’re gonna make you defend the pitch.
“And you’ve gotta be able to handle those and you’ve gotta understand that they’re gonna try to get angles on you different ways. And they’re gonna test your support system, and you’ve gotta be able to handle that stuff.”
If I’m Paul Johnson, there are three things I’m calling until Grantham proves he can stop them: (1) the dive play; (2) misdirection to whichever side of the field Justin Houston is not lined up; and (3) play action passing to whichever receivers draw safety coverage.
It seems to me that Tech will want to apply the same approach to this year’s game that Richt took in last year’s: keep the other guy’s offense off the field as much as possible. The Jackets’ defense has been less than stellar. Duke racked up more than 400 yards of offense last week. If Aaron Murray were magically transported to the ACC this season, he’d be second in the conference in passer rating.
So it looks like another tale of turnovers and time of possession as the keys this week.
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UPDATE: In one of the more strained uses of selective statistics I’ve seen, the AJ-C’s Tech beat writer makes the case that the extra week of preparation doesn’t particularly make a difference to Georgia Tech’s offense this season. To bolster his argument, he uses three games that don’t involve a full week (I’ll give him partial credit for the five days Virginia Tech had to prepare), the opener against a 1-AA opponent and Duke, because the Blue Devils played two other option offenses earlier in the season.
In other words, it’s pretty meaningless.
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UPDATE #2: Ben Dukes has some advice for us about the Tech offense.
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UPDATE #3: Patrick Garbin rebuts Doug Roberson’s analysis.
Get The Picture 
Luckily this year we have a couple extra defenders working for us:
1) The GT QB’s arm
2) The GT reciever’s hands
I guess we had that last year too, but even more so this go round.
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If you were CPJ, would you want to face these crazed and rabid fans after another loss to Georgia? I think not.
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If I’m Paul Johnson, I run the wheel route, until we can stop it. Hasn’t happened yet.
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The other thing about this for Grantham is that he is going to have to go looking for another job after this game if UGA loses.
The only unpardonable sin for a UGA coach is losing to Gtu, and this is a terrible Gtu team that we should crush.
If we don’t win this game, the Boise St. game will be the UGA coaching debut for Al Golden, Brady Hoke or Jim Harbaugh.
I hope that Gratham realizes the urgency of his task.
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Not Gruden, Kirby or Will?
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Just make it Chris Petersen and make the season opener really interesting next year.
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I expect Coach Johnson to go with the option all day long as I am not convinced our NFL guy knows how to stop a running quarterback. So far, the numbers don’t look good.
Georgia vs. running QBs this year:
Chris Relf 21 rushes, 97 yards, 4.6 ypc.
Tyler Hansen 10 rushes, 51 yards, 5.1 ypc.
Trey Burton 17 rushes, 110 yards, 6.5 ypc.
Cam Newton 30 rushes 151 yards, 5.0 ypc.
Total in 4 games (all losses): 78 rushes, 409 yards 5.2 ypc.
Keep in mind sacks are figured into these numbers and I don’t expect Georgia Tech to call many passing plays.
I hope Coach Grantham proves us wrong on Saturday.
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Those teams all run it differently than Tech, but that said, I don’t expect Georgia to completely stifle their option game Saturday. I basically just expect them to score 34 points and win by 10 or so.
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According to the D1 football statistics this is where the Dawgs defense stands.
1. Total defense: 4th in the SEC, 21st Nationally.
2. Rushing defense: 4th in the SEC, 23rd Nationally. Bama at 22, and Mississippi State is 24.
3. Scoring defense: 6th in the SEC, 40th Nationally.
4. Passing defense: 6th in the SEC, 31st Nationally.
Now if we can just get that offense which has had the same coaches and players for two year to show up.
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Tech has scored more than 31 points three times this season – against SC State, Virginia and Middle Tennessee. If Bobo and the offense can keep the six-game scoring streak going, the odds of a Georgia win seem favorable.
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Agree, as bad as our defense has played, Tech is even worse at stopping anyone. We will get burned by any misdirection,however minimal, and GT will break a couple of long plays that will make you want to throw up, but our offense is degrees stronger than theirs against as bad a defensive group. If their pass rush is anything like I have seen earlier in the year, Murray will be able to check down to his receivers twice on each passing play. Dawgs win, but it won’t provide any hope that our defense is good enough to help us make it through the off season without double doses of Prilosec everu time we look at the schedule.
I like what CTG says, and his demeanor on the side line, but we are hapless against any average offense we face. Usually don’t feel great about JUCO’s, at least more than 1-2, but we had better bring in a pick-up truck load of them this winter to get some help on defense.
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You mean the offense that has scored 30+ pts / game for the past 5 games? The one that has opened up nicely since the Col game? That one? Yeah, my guess is they’ll be there….
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That AJC article is sooooooo bad. #1- the hilarity of using this season as a sample size. #2- including SC State and MTSU and DUKE in the statistical sample.
Bottom line: Tech is 4-2 in games where the opponents had ‘extra time’ to prepare and only 2-2 when you take oout MTSU and SC State.
Look…Tech isn’t very good. In a lot of ways, their season mirrors ours right now. They haven’t beaten any good teams. That’s how you lose 4-6 games in a season.
I know nobody wants to hear this, but Saban’s first year at Bama, they were 7-6. That included a lot of close losses and a loss to ULM. But they used the extra prep from the Indy Bowl and a great recruiting class to jump start the 2008 campaign.
Georgia needs this game in the worst way. I hope everyone that is planning on coming Saturday is going to bring their “A” game…because this one is important.
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The magic number for the 2010 season is “41”. If we get above said number, I think we stand a chance.
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WOW..anyone following Cam scam, this is a must read in its entirety. It connects the dots to this whole story. I knew Auburn was in trouble but damn, this is the most systemic impending meltdown in recent history…
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=22778676
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You’re about 5 days old on this link.
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yeah maybe so but shocking none the less.
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Keep in mind all of the options available in the perfect option (according to the GTGs @ the 1:37 mark):
“We can run it to the left,
we can run it to the right,
we can run it up the middle
or we just might throw it, ‘yall”
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I was gonna reply, but screw it…I’m just gonna write a blog. Come on over and read it.
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I am sure our coaches will find a way to screw up and lose the game for us
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Seems so strange we have so many UGA fans with such an optimistic attitude about this game. UGA is 0-4 against running quarterbacks this year. I don’t see how GT is worse than Colorado.
This game will hinge on turnovers.
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If you’re gonna play that game, I don’t see how Georgia is worse than Kansas.
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Ok and that was a close game for Tech. So you are making my point for me? The basic point is that this is a coin flip game from my point of view. The turnovers will be magnified. Therefore, I am having a tough time understanding the enthusiasm coming from the UGA fan base if you were only to consider the two teams and their play to date.
If you are looking at the last nine years, then I can see where there is optimism and perhaps that is what I am missing. Perhaps as a whole UGA fans just feel that we own GT at this point. Very similar to how the Gators feel every year in Jax.
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Tech is 6-5 in the ACC, and statistically Georgia has been far better this year. Georgia should win the game pretty comfortably.
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I just don’t see how fans can honestly come on here and say such things. I don’t want to sound negative. I only want to point out logic. We lost to Colorado. We lost to a bad UF team. We beat three SEC teams that are at the bottom of the SEC (except for Ole Miss). We have not beaten a team with a running QB all year. Where does this confidence come from? What am I missing?
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Tech is a bad football team. Florida is vastly superior to Tech.
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And look, Colorado happened a month and a half ago. Georgia has played much better even in defeat since then.
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Well, for one thing, I suspect you’ve seen a lot more Georgia football this season than Tech football. Familiarity breeds contempt.
You’re a lot more confident about Tech’s chances than their own fan base is. Or Vegas, for that matter.
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What am I missing? Perhaps all of the glass above the very bottom. We are obviously not near as bad as you have somehow judged us. We are far from a really good team, but we are miles ahead of GT. You are so busy looking at the W/L record, you have missed the fact that we should have won several of those games, and wer in every one until late. No one has beaten us badly while GT hasn’t been impressive against anyone.
Could they pull an upset? Possible, but a long shot. We would have to hand them the game like we did in 2008’s 3rd quarter. When Vegas has you as a 2 TD favorite in a rivalry game you can bet it is a mismatch.
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“Seems so strange we have so many UGA fans with such an optimistic attitude about this game.”
That’s only because:
(a) we’ve got the bowl fever and there is no cure;
(b) we always beat Tech at home if you take out the 3rd quarter;
(c) a beatdown of Tech is our first opportunity to intimidate Boise; or
(d) we are perpetually optimistic.
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E. All of the above.
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