I didn’t gain any huge new insights from watching a replay of the game yesterday. The only funny thing I did note was that the game seemed more under control live than it did on the tube. Whether that’s due to Andre Ware’s babbling or something else, I couldn’t say, but in the stadium, the trick plays that came after Georgia got up by three scores in the first half seemed to be little more than irritants because the defense was playing so well.
Hey, don’t take my word for it.
… Once Charles scored to make it a three-score game, he said the Bulldogs knew the game was theirs.
“The defense was playing amazing, and they’ve been practicing all week like that,” Charles said. “I knew when we scored, they weren’t going to score on our defense, because we have a hard time scoring on our defense ourselves. It was one of those things that was definitely a momentum change, and I’m happy it was on our side.”
Get The Picture 
Seems like Richt and Bobo went very conservative once UGA got up. To me it was like they didn’t want to pile on to a struggling program and coach. If UGA had won by 40 it would not have one bit of influence on Richt’s job but the Fire Nutt crowd would have had more fuel for the fire. I think Richt played safe with a comfortable lead and didn’t want to kick a friend, Nutt, while he was down. That is the take I got after re-watching the game.
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Another potential reason for “taking our foot off the gas” is that the last time we played an SEC school and kept our foot ON the gas, our offense gave them 21 points (two TDS and a fumble recovery to the 5) against the SCOCKS. Maybe with our D playing so well and Ole Miss’ very inept offense, Richt and Co. just didn’t want to take any chances that would give them momentum to get back in the game. . . just an idea
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That’s what I’ve always thought. Dooley was the same way.
Given the recent history with Sackerlina, I can see why Richt reacts that way.
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An alternate theory: Our offense just doesn’t ‘click’ without Crowell in there. So, with Crowell taking himself out a good bit in the 2nd half, our offense just didn’t have the same pep and couldn’t get the same production. When Crowell is in there, they are better. When Crowell is fresh, they are very good.
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The announcers were certainly cheerleading for Ole Miss when they scored twice. It’s their job to keep viewers interested.
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I had to stop reading the game threads. You would have thought we were losing by twenty instead of up by 3 scores. And yes, Andre Ware’s commentary was atrocious. Every time Ole Miss moved the ball 3 yards, he would say something to the effect of “Ole miss is really starting to get it going on offense now!” He did give me a good laugh though when he started slobbering on about how great a coach Tyrone Nix is…. I’d love to see him make that argument to a bunch of Ole Miss fans.
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I’m with the Senator in that it felt like one of those SEC road wins in the early Richt years of ’02-’05. We won sloppy games in Nashville in ’03, Arkansas in ’04 and Starkville in ’05. Were were also down at halftime in Lexington in ’02. Those teams had a very business-like approach in those games and never blew out middling opponents. We just did what we had to do and won. Then, we showed up and played our best ball against our best opponents.
I never worried about those slopyy, business-like wins because I knew when it came time to strap it on against the Tigers (either one), Vols, Gators, or Tide we were going to be ready to play. I’m hoping that’s what we’re going to see from this team. I actually bemoaned the fact that IC got so many carries. I don’t want him carrying it 30 times in Oxford. I want him carrying it 30 times in Knoxville and Jax. I’m hoping we can get by with him carrying it maybe 21-22 times this week.
Let’s hope this team starts looking more like those early Richt teams real soon. The bottom line is that simply winning that game and getting out of the Magnolia State w/ no injuries was really all that mattered. It’s almost like an NCAA tournament for us. We’re just trying to survive and advance. Win this week, then the game in Knoxville gets pretty big. Win that one, survive in Nashville, no matter how ugly it is, get to that off week, get #9 back, and see if we can show up down on the river.
Ugly wins against Ole Miss and Vandy don’t mean anything. A young, yet very perceptive, UGA fan said to me as we walked to downtown Oxford after the game, “There ain’t no pictures on the scorecard.” True dat. There is no such thing as an ugly win in this league.
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+1 on that first paragraph – my sentiments exactly while watching this game.
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Georgia 16, UAB 13; Georgia 13, Marshall 3; etc., etc. Agreed that this felt vintage Richt. Defense stout for the most part, offense controls field position and the clock. Settling for FGs. Sometimes missing them. Last time we played a team of Ole Miss’ badness on the road, we lost to friggin Colorado in a shootout. I like it better this way, no matter how suboptimal it may be.
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I’m hoping they got him that many touches to show him what is expected of him and to show him how hard he is going to have to work to keep up his intensity through an entire game.
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Another key about those early Richt games was the maddening ability to sit on leads of 2 scores. We’d get up 9, 10, 11, whatever and just pound away.
Got to give Bobo credit…I couldn’t understand the substitution pattern, but the pass plays to Samuel were well designed and perfectly timed. However, he and Richt need to watch the Bellichek documentary on NFL Network right now and see what he says about going for it on 4th down and short. There is absolutely no reason not to go for it on that first drive and then to go for it on the next drive. It doesn’t make any sense. Either you have confidence in your players to do it or you don’t. You can’t be scared. And I completely disagree with Richt’s analysis on it. You get 4 downs…not three…and if they picked up 9.5 on the first three, that is exactly the reason to go for it on 4th down.
FWIW- From my seat in Oxford, you never really sensed the game was in doubt (after we got the holding call on the first play, that is).
Big measuring stick game this weekend. This is the one you have to win to justify any chatter that this is a good team.
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I will have to say that the defense seems to have made some real improvement this year. That is great news. I have said many times on this blog that defense is the difference between 01-05 and 06-10, and that our offense has actually been a little better in the last 5 then the first 5, if we can get back to playing very good defense on a consistent basis, we’ll get back to winning big on a consistent basis. The next step is to contain a good offense. Let’s start this week with Miss State who despite their performance this past weekend with Dan Mullen at the helm qualifies, then let’s run the table to UF and stick it to the Gators. If that happens Richt’s quality of life increases exponentially.
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I disagree our D played well against Boise after 5 TDs and a passer rating of 170. I know, I know it was all Bobo’s fault.
Still the D does look better. I am really surprised by the DB play. Even with our patchwork LB corp, they have done pretty well the last couple of games. I think it has been a benefit to get those guys some experience before Tree and CRob get back. Our D line on the other hand has not lived up to my expectations or the preseason hype. I think they are improving.
We have played one good team to date. We are going to play three so-so teams in a row here. There is a decent chance we get to UF sporting a 5-2 record. This is the type of schedule we need to get our confidence back heading into Jax. I don’t think I can take another loss in Jax.
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Our D played great in the Dome. If the offense had played as well as the D in the first half we would have had a lead to start the 3rd quarted.
Yes, the D eventually game up big #s to the offense later in the game. That was after being put in impossible situations all night and getting little-no help from the other side of the ball. If you don’t think the D played well in the Dome, maybe go watch the game again.
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I think the biggest problem that Georgia has faced over the last few years is getting the idea that the game’s over well before it is. Orson’s comment is further evidence of that. It’s certainly understandable, but to me, that attitude is the only reason Georgia Tech has ever beaten a Mark Richt team. Ditto for some of our other late losses over the past few years. I’d like them to just start playing hard throughout.
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My concern with taking our foot off the gas is that the last “feeling” these guys have in this game is taking it easy and not playing their hardest. How does that NOT carry over at least a little bit into the next game? If you want to take your foot off the gas, do it by putting in your second string or third string, not by asking your starters to not play as hard. You might say, “we weren’t ahead by enough to put our second string in.” Well, then you should get ahead by enough before you take your foot off the gas. I’m afraid that mentality might come back to bite us.
Overall, though, I am excited about this team. Improving every week on defense and offense. And the special teams stuff is ALL correctable. So, i expect a big win this weekend.
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Is it possible that your perception of the game is wrong and Orson’s is right? After all, even if Georgia hadn’t scored again after it went up 17-0, it still would have won.
I never felt like Ole Miss’ offense could mount a sustained challenge.
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I don’t have any doubt that Charles was right, Ole Miss could only score on us with misdirection and tricks. I was at the game, and I never once thought that the game was in doubt, not even before that first touchdown was called back on the hold. Georgia wasn’t going to lose. But that’s not my point. I don’t like the fact that the players acknowledged the idea that Ole Miss couldn’t beat them. I don’t like the fact that they basically cooled their jets offensively, and having seen the game in person and on TV, I can’t be convinced that they didn’t cool those jets. Georgia should have won that game by 40. We don’t have to worry about making things look good for polls or any of that crap, but it’s just a continuation of taking their foot off the gas when the game should be over. Ole Miss couldn’t beat us. Other teams could and did. I want to see Georgia play hard for 60 minutes.
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“I want to see Georgia play hard for 60 minutes.”
My guess is, so does Mark Richt.
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I’m sure he does. I’m not sure what you do to make that happen, but I’d like them to figure it out.
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Where is it written that the Offense gets to take the rest of the game off but the Defense has to play their butts off to save the game. This is UGA football from the time of Dooley and Russell until today. I would love to see both of the sides of the ball play their tails off until the gun sounds for a change.
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You like style points. I like wins. 😉
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I think style points lead to a mindset of ” wantin’ to cut dey throat”. Put their ass away type of thinking. Border line wins against inferior teams puts doubts in the minds of the players.
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Did you see a lot of that doubt from 2002-4?
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To me, ‘taking our foot off the gas’ is a shift in offensive strategy where we burn time off the clock with high percentage passes and run plays. We avoid high risk time stopping plays that get us to three and out real quick.
‘Taking our foot off the gas’ does not mean that players try any less harder. I doubt any coach ever would say ‘just don’t try as hard this time and relax’.
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Thank you sir, well said.
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That makes a lot of sense. . in fact, even as I was writing what I wrote, I had the thought, “I doubt the coaches told them to stop trying so hard.” Should have conveyed my concern more aptly. Since the early Richt days (and by most folks accounts I am a full fledged Richt-o-phile) I have been displeased with a perceived unwillingness to stomp on the opponents necks and finish them. Perhaps it’s preference, but I would prefer the aforementioned quote from Bobby Bowden, “As soon as they stop trying to catch up, we’ll stop trying to get ahead.”
Or at least suggest that we were trying to work on our running game and our short passing game as the reason. . . i just don’t like the connotation that “taking our foot off the gas” has as it relates to our team. That’s all.
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Yea I’m there with you. Wouldn’t mind seeing a good old fashion curb stomp that you see from other teams in the sec.
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Since I like good D, passes to our talented TE’s, and an RB who racks up well over 100 yds, this game leads me to believe we’re headed in the right direction.
Next week – Offense better be prepared to put up some points, and put the D in good field position when we can’t score.
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I remember a few years ago, watching a game in Sanford when we built a good lead against TN before the half. We looked like we were taking a knee before the half ended. I’m screaming to the field, “it’s still $%^& Tennessee!” It turned out to be a very disappointing loss. That type of mentality has reared it’s ugly head time and time again through the last several years. I heard our head coaches mentor say years ago, “when they quit trying to catch up, we’ll quit trying to get ahead.” A little more of that philosophy over the years may have seen us with another SECCG or two.
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As long as this staff is in charge at uga, we will never have a killer instinct. Bowden called this 10 years ago
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Was that before or after Georgia became the best team in the conference and Bowden’s FSU went straight down the crapper?
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This past week it was Ole Miss, so no biggie; but didn’t we try to pull this off last year at Auburn? We throttled back, but didn’t have the defense. Maybe we do now, but it’s probably better to just keep scoring points in case.
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“It’s certainly understandable, but to me, that attitude is the only reason Georgia Tech has ever beaten a Mark Richt team. ”
I agree. I like wins more than style points, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like style points. Georgia needs to get comfortable leads for 2 reasons: back ups can get some reps against SEC competition, and we would be safe from bad bounces or special teams screw ups (See SC this year or almost any close win or loss in 2009)
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They lost to Tech in a shootout due to a couple of costly mistakes to start the second half. What did taking their foot off the gas have to do with it?
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My concern is that this team still has mental lapses which have (usc) and will continue to bite us in the ass if unabated. keys for the season are: offsense – stop turnint it over defense – getting needed stops st- just clean up your act. do that and we can run the table yes even jax. But that’s a huge if
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Who are you guys? Jones, Robinson, Commings, Williams, Gilliard, Herrera, Vavlas, Sulek, Washington, Smith, Boykin, Rambo, Love, Harrow, Jones, … Just maybe the rest of the SEC will start to answer that question for you. Just maybe you can there with Bama, LSU, Florida.
This weekend is a game, opportunity, to light it up and answer that question. Time to hit, hit, hit, take it away, take it away, don’t even bring it here, man. Time to start seeing every play MSU runs and stopping it.
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Does anyone know if they are going to have a replay anywhere of the broadcast? Apparently, my 4 year old son was on TV in the 1Q and my stupid DVR didn’t record (alternatively…the stupider DVR user didn’t set it up right).
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ESPN3.com
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Gracias!
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I’m always amazed to check out message boards after I go to a game in person. The perception of those watching from home almost never matches mine. My seats are pretty good, so it’s not like I’m missing a lot. With all modesty, I think I can hold my own with football knowledge, too. I’m left to conclude that the commentators on TV color A LOT of the perception about a game. Good or bad.
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One reason to take your foot off the gas is because your tank is almost empty. Just count’em off, short two starting LBs, two veteran WRs, very thin O line and a lot of freshmen playing. Then there is a much stronger team waiting in the wings. Maybe you try to save some people for next week?
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Word. I read in the AJC that the starting o-line played every down on offense. All of them. Every snap. Thank God for that conditioning program.
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You ask if anyone saw the lack of a killer instinct a problem in 2002-04. I did. I mentioned it a couple of times on the blog sites. Go back and look up Rhymerdawg to see what I said. Many times I stated that this lack of killer instinct will come back to haunt us. UMMM it has. So before you get high and mighty with the way back then machine take a gander at what some people were saying.
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They won, what, 35 games those three years? Whatever you want to call their instinct back then, I’d take it right now in a heartbeat.
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