June 17, 2011 · 11:51 AM

Another straw to grasp

I tell you what, if Edward Aschoff is correct about the pecking order of offensive line quality in the SEC this season, I’m a bit more optimistic about Georgia’s chances, with the caveat that Lattimore is Moreno-esque in his ability to make his offensive line seem better than it is.

17 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles, SEC Football

17 responses to “Another straw to grasp”

  1. fuelk2
    June 17, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    Lattimore flat out embarrassed us last year. We can only hope that the defense is motivated by that this offseason in the way that UF’s defense was motivated going into ’08 by Knowshon’s ’07 performance.

    Though I’m not suggesting that any of our defenders attempt to make love to Lattmore like Spikes did to Moreno in ’08.

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    • WH
      June 17, 2011 at 2:10 PM

      Lattimore is certainly talented. (How many times in that game did guys connect, try to wrap him up and hit the ground holding air?) Still, many a running back last season–talented or not–waltzed right up the middle for two big reasons: personnel and competency. 1) We were missing the big space-eater component in the middle of the DL, and 2) everyone was adjusting to the reads and assignments in a 3-4 system. It will be a job to corral him, but if those two issues have been corrected, he won’t have the wide open gaps to run through like last year.

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    • AlphaDawg
      June 17, 2011 at 2:25 PM

      Tackling was horrid that game, but I believe Bobo and the offense shares part of the blame too. We had 5 or 6 three and outs in that game, several back to back (3?)in the 2nd half, our D never got a chance to catch thier breath.

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      • Puffdawg
        June 17, 2011 at 2:39 PM

        Didn’t you really get the feeling Bobo held in the reins to protect his freshman QB? I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and it feel like we never even tried to get out of first gear. I understood that game plan in the first half, but I thought maybe we could’ve opened it up a bit more in the second half. Then again, the formula almost had us tied late in the second half if not for Washaun fumble. Granted I am not in the arena and that’s just my buzzed perspective from the stands…

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  2. Zdawg
    June 17, 2011 at 12:17 PM

    So we are behind Kentucky, Tenn, and Miss State and we are optimistic about our O-line projections? Looks kind of mediocre to me. Hopefully, our O-line will surprise us this year. Its been a while since I’ve seen visible running lanes.

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    • Senator Blutarsky
      June 17, 2011 at 12:46 PM

      It is mediocre. But Georgia’s two main rivals in the SEC East are described as even more so.

      By the way, that UT projection looks awfully rosy to me, based on what I saw last year.

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      • Zdawg
        June 17, 2011 at 1:58 PM

        Did they get some amazing recruiting class this year or last year that will come to roost? Who knows…

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  3. 69Dawg
    June 17, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    If our new OL coach can get them to run block he will be the first to do it in a long time. Our OL is a pass protect first line. If you spend all of your practice going backward to protect the QB then it’s real hard to fire out and do it right. What I’ve seen is that we usually just fire out and get piled up and the runners lately have just run into the pile. At least KM would cut away from the pile. We also with some exceptions miss our down field blocks. Our receivers are by and large good at blocking down field but the OL guys just can’t seem to hit someone down field.

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  4. OKDawg
    June 17, 2011 at 1:30 PM

    Not to sound overly dramatic (too late!), but I think our OL will be the key to our entire season at this point (barring unforeseen complications re: injuries, suspensions). The offense will live and die by the OL – given many new skill position players and the importance of a healthy Murray. But it will likely prove to be the key to our D as well. If we cannot sustain drives and control some clock, our D will suffer. Simplistic? Yes. But the OL seemed to cause most of the unraveling of last season. I expect this coming season will also rest primarily on the big boys ‘ shoulders on O.

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    • Zdawg
      June 17, 2011 at 2:03 PM

      Not overly dramatic at all. Pretty much spot on.

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      • Dawg 39
        June 17, 2011 at 4:12 PM

        I agree completely. The entire season rests on run blocking by the Ol. Everything else can be remedied, tweaked, or improved on.

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        • Charlie Goro
          June 17, 2011 at 8:06 PM

          If that is the case we are in real deep sh!t. Remember last year when all the “experts” said the UGA O-line was the best in the SEC East?

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          • Macallanlover
            June 19, 2011 at 10:33 AM

            Even worse, it was rated the #1 OL in the NATION by Steele. Along with the prior two years of mediocrity, last year was the final straw for me with Searles. Thankfully others agreed. CSS came in and dazzled in the first two years with little talent, bombed when he had quality depth. Strange, very strange. Here’s to new beginnings…cheers!

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  5. Reptillicide
    June 17, 2011 at 4:42 PM

    The way I see it, we’ve had veteran, solid groups at OL the past couple of years and they’ve played like shit. So forgive me if I don’t get too concerned about our projected mediocre group. Just the fact that Searels ain’t coaching them gives me optimism.

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