“Making the BCS the best it can be…”

At least we see how Mike Slive intends to pay for Texas A&M’s entry into the SEC.

MSU-Georgia: two keys

Groo hits on something that’s bugged me since the second half of the South Carolina game:

… If Georgia showed a weakness on defense at Ole Miss, it was on the edge. The Rebels didn’t have the players or scheme to exploit it, but the next opponent does. I’m confident in the interior line to slow the dive plays and even the inside zone-reads of the MSU spread option. It’s when the outside defenders bite on the dive and the option develops outside that I get a little more concerned.

Ole Miss may not have had the personnel to do much, but as we saw, South Carolina did.  Cornelius Washington in particular got taken inside and walled off by the right side of the ‘Cock line, allowing Marcus Lattimore to take it outside several times for solid to big gains late.

Mississippi State isn’t as talented as South Carolina.  Vick Ballard’s a good SEC back, but he’s no Lattimore.  And the MSU offensive line has been banged up (although the Bulldogs get one player back this week).  That being said, they’ll be a big step up from the last two offenses Georgia has faced.  Chris Relf is a formidable runner and, perhaps ominously, MSU saw its best success last week running the ball outside the tackles.

The good news for Grantham is that Mullen’s offense has struggled throwing the ball, scoring touchdowns in the red zone and converting third downs.  So if the Dawg defense can get a handle on stopping the outside run, it may very well be able to control the MSU offense.

The second key for this Saturday is how Bobo game plans against that aggressive, physical Mississippi State defense.  Manny Diaz may be gone, but if you watched the MSU-LSU game, you saw a team that was still zone blitzing early and often.  They got their shots against the Tigers, but eventually wore down.  If Georgia had LSU’s offensive line, I probably wouldn’t be as concerned, but a comparison of the sacks allowed numbers illustrates that’s not the case.

That being said, Bobo’s task is far from hopeless.  For one thing, lost in the disappointment of last year’s loss is the fact that Georgia gained nearly 400 yards, outgaining MSU in the process.  For another, Georgia is loaded with the best weapon against a team that relies heavily on the zone blitz:  the tight end.  Aron White’s coming out party last week at Ole Miss has to be a concern for MSU’s defense.  Nor can they sleep on 344 fullback.

Certainly, you’ve got the general concern about Georgia shooting itself in the foot with dumb play.  They got embarrassed by that last week.  It cost them the South Carolina game.  And it killed them in last year’s MSU game.  But assuming that’s a bullet they can dodge this go ’round, watch to see how MSU’s outside running looks and how Georgia responds to the Mississippi State defensive scheme.

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Getting their mojo back

In a way it’s silly to talk about this Saturday’s game as the key to the season – with the 0-2 start, the Dawgs pretty much guaranteed that every remaining game would be a key – but after reading the comments in this article about last year’s loss to Mississippi State, I’m fairly certain the game is huge in one aspect.  These Dawgs need to feel confident about themselves and their ability to play physical ball.

And that’s definitely not how they left Starkville last year.

… Afterwards, head coach Mark Richt admitted it was the most adversity he had faced at Georgia, and then-senior defensive end Demarcus Dobbs said the loss was “like death.”

That’s what it felt in the locker room, according to White.

“The locker room after the game was probably the most pitiful scene that you could think of,” White said. “Everyone was just down on ourselves. People bickering. Nobody hopefully points fingers, but you get on the bus and guys start talking. We were just in a bad place.

“That really was something that might’ve been a turning point in our season, and that’s not something that we want to have happen again. We definitely were in a rut last year, and that game really could define our season.”

Maybe that explains the Colorado game.

This is even more disconcerting.

… Several players also said they were stunned at how they were beaten physically by Mississippi State in that game last year.

“I know I came here to Georgia because I knew they were a physical team and we had lots of tradition. But then Mississippi State definitely showed us we were not as physical as we should have been,” linebacker Chase Vasser said. “So I feel like this year we concentrate on being physical and play every play.  Because last year there were some games that we just took off and they gashed us.”  [Emphasis added.]

Yeesh.  Every time I think I’ve got a feel for how far the 2010 squad had their heads up their asses, I read stuff like this and realize it was worse than we thought.  So do they have a handle on it now?