I was fishing around in cfbstats.com’s splits for Georgia’s offensive and defensive scoring stats last season, hoping to glean some random insight from the statistical mess that marked Georgia’s 2010. It was a fool’s errand, of course. But I did come across another weird nugget of data about the regular season.
Given the blame that’s been laid at the feet of last year’s strength and conditioning program, it will probably not come as much of a shock that defensive scoring rose on a month-by-month basis:
- August/September: 19.8 ppg
- October: 21.6 ppg
- November: 30.0 ppg
But would it surprise you to know that offensive scoring did the same thing? It did.
- August/September: 24.3 ppg
- October: 37.2 ppg
- November: 42.7 ppg
I don’t want to read too much into this, although the total yardage numbers pretty much back up that picture.
How much of this should we attribute to a defensive line that physically wasn’t up to playing its role in Grantham’s 3-4? Enough to be optimistic about what Jenkins and Geathers may bring to the table this season?
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UPDATE: Maybe so.
… The word out of Georgia’s off-season strength and conditioning program this summer was that Jenkins showed up in shape, motivated and, in fact, has proven to be the fastest lineman the Bulldogs have on campus. His impact is expected to be substantial. . . .
Get The Picture 
Offensive scoring might have been just a reaction to defensive breakdowns. Bobo had to loosen the playcalling and take more chances knowing the defense couldn’t stop anyone.
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That was my thought, too. We scored more because we had to. Plus, we figured out that Murray could play, and we had AJ.
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Don’t forget maturing freshman QB the return of AJ Green = points
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One reason scoring went up was the return of AJ
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The offensive numbers might be because Murray ‘arrived’. Strength and conditioning might factor into some of the 4th quarter fading we saw on offense.
John Jenkins, the fastest lineman. Whoa. And he has running back experience. We could have ourselves a freak. Not to slight his role on defense, but instead of having him jump over the dog pile like William Perry, how about sending him wide and sealing off the guys in the box who can tackle him? If Jenkins gets up a head of steam and lowers his head, the cornerbacks and safeties will be running away. They’ll also be going for his ACL, but he’ll get that on defense too.
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aka Charles Grant @ tech ’99. No thanks.
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Don’t run him on a toss sweep.
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I was going to ask Hogbody is he’d ever heard of Charles Grant! Thanks for doing it for me.
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I don’t remember. They tried Charles Grant on offense and he caved a knee? Concern noted and understood, but there’s also ‘life is uncertain.’
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yeah Grant went wide on a toss and some little shitty Tech db came in and took his right knee out – dirty as hell tackle since you can go low on a big guy w/out destroying his knee. It was a bitch move but not as bad as Sank’s fumble-not-a-fumble which solidified his infamous status.
May Tech rot in hell with Florida right next to them.
I saw Grant on campus the next year while in graduate school as he sat on the steps of the library (believe it or not) and asked him how rehab was going. He was just as pleasant as he could be and said “it’s going good, ready to get back out there”.
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That play with Grant carrying the football going wide was maybe the single stupidest call ever made by UGA OC (and it was made by the HC–Jim Donnan).
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The defense struggles can be attributed to the lack of personnel as well as conditioning but credit should also be given to opposing offensive coordinators for taking advantage of our short comings.
Offensively I think you can credit the improvement to a few of things:
1) AJ’s return. He missed about all of September.
2) Bobo’s confidence in Murray, which enabled him to open up more of the playbook.
3) The defense’s we played against in October and November weren’t exactly juggernauts.
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+1 for your cogent explanation.
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8 td’s in 5 games against ranked opponents while averaging 15.8 pts/gm over that stretch. That includes the AU game (whose defense was like swiss cheese). If you look at the other 4 games against ranked opponents, whose defenses were more in line with what you think a defense for a top 25 team will be, the offense averaged 13.6 pts/gm and 1 td/game.
Senator, you have officially confirmed what I’ve known was true since half way thru the 2nd qtr of the SCU game last year.
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think we would have kicked a field goal on 4th & goal in Memphis if we had Jenkins in the backfield last year (blocking or toating the rock)? I would think not
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Playing Auburn helps your offense’s numbers and hurts your defense’s.
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Faster than Cordy Glenn (who reportedly ran a 4.8sec 40)? I hate summer stats.
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Jakar had the hype this time last year
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Ouch!
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His hype was that he could hit. Also know one was hyping him as the best coverage guy, the fastest, the strongest, or nething beyond that his “hit hard.” Unfortunately he had more face masks calls then big time hits.
I would rather see a freshman getting burnt then a senior getting burnt and getting face masks. Big hits are nice when you can do it enough that it makes the receivers scared of you, but we do not have anyone who does that atm. Also…if Rambo is going to play scared he can ride the pine with Hamilton. If I recall Ogletree was as good or better then either Rambo or Hamilton, and he only played half the season.
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I agree Tim. All this preseason hype makes me nervous. Let’s get Big John on the field. What if he isn’t even big, Or fast,or any good. My heavens no!
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Geez folks…Let’s get Big John on the field vs. BSU and our SEC schedule in the nose tackle position first and create some defensive intensity this team sorely needs before we go moving him around on offense. If he’s the real deal, we won’t need him to crash the line as fullback on short yardage plays. Figgins will have that down.
Big John anchoring the D a’la Cody and Fairley is probably the biggest key for us this season.
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I know Aus, but this is a blog, where everybody’s an expert, and I’m a nationally recognized expert on half baked, cuckoo ideas.
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Is that really you coach Bobo?
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Good thing December splits weren’t included..
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LOL. Good lawd!
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Think Richt might have gone for it instead of kicking a FG in the Bowl Game if he had any confidence in the Defense? Bobo & the O was better than Grantham & the D. Methinks this might be different this year.?.
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