Shorter Matt Hinton: there’s nothing about Georgia’s running game that can’t be fixed with a stellar defense.
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UPDATE: On a somewhat related note, sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the obvious.
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sure, it’s still all about the defense if uga football is going to turn a corner. all the offense in the world gets pretty neutralized if your d can’t get off the field on 3rd down.
that said, i’m still angrier about ol play the last two years than anything our rbs have done individually or as a unit. how the hell can anyone expect to run the ball when there are consistently defenders in the backfield between the snap and the exchange.? i’m still unable to comprehend why ol play has been so god-awful.
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i’m still unable to comprehend why ol play has been so god-awful.
Maybe the running backs weren’t the only position with “entitlement” issues.
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We had all 5 OL starters returning in ’10, and supposedly solid backups – and the blocking was still a fiasco. Our running game in ’11 is in the hands of the 2 assistants with the least amount of experience (Friend & McClendon). But I don’t see how they could do worse than last year.
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Don’t quite agree. The stellar defense doesn’t “fix” anything about the running game. It simply lessens its harm to outcomes. For example, if we get 2002’s numbers next season: who would describe 3.2 yards/carry (even with solid defense) as a rehabilitated running game?
Instead, I think Hinton’s saying that you can afford an anemic running game if your defense is great. I see 2 problems here. First, it ain’t 2002 anymore — a “stellar” defense could still expect to give up 24 to 31 against Petrino, Spurrier, Malzahn, Meyer/Tebow, McElwain, and (if he ever gets a stud) Mullen. Second, a stellar run game could equally save a subpar defense (see Auburn 2010) — wouldn’t it be more efficient to teach the OL to block than to revamp one half of the team?
In short, unless those 3.2 yards/carry are coming on 3rd-and-2.1, I see the D’s ability to bail out the run game as dubious.
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It’s the line of scrimmage period end of point. If your big uglies beat the heck out of their big uglies you win. It really isn’t rocket science.
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It’s the defense, stupid.
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They stats on HW are off slightly. He says Walker had 12 games a season, but back then they didn’t count the bowl games, so it’s only 11 games per season which makes it even more impressive.
As far as the defense, we need one….badly. I think CTG is the guy and am looking forward to this season’s version. OL would help too.
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