The Tigers like their offense and they ain’t backing down.
… While the Tigers have been asked if they can adapt, Yost wonders if the SEC can adapt. Not a lot of spread has been used in this league, and even Urban Meyer’s spread at Florida showed a lot of power plays with physical QB Tim Tebow. Auburn was much more spread out, but Yost said this will be different.
“We will be a spread team and we will try to give people fits in different ways than how other people do it,” Yost said.
“There’s not a lot of what we do happening in that league right now. It’s a change for us going against new people, but it’s also a change for them for what they’re going to see because we’re different and we’re different in how we do it.”
I like the bravado. And it may not be false, at least not based on last year’s split stats, which are remarkably consistent. More interestingly, Texas, which had a former SEC defensive coordinator in Manny Diaz running the show, did slow Missouri down somewhat, holding it about 140 yards under its season average, but the Tigers still averaged almost five yards per play.
That being said, it was just one game against the eleventh ranked defense in the country. The second best defense Missouri saw was 49th ranked North Carolina. This season, the Tigers will square off against three teams in their own division with higher ranked defenses than Texas had and a fourth in Vanderbilt that finished eighteenth nationally. That’s not exactly a walk in the park.
And that’s the thing. It’s the week after week grind that the Tigers haven’t experienced. We’ll see how confident a bunch they remain as they slog through the schedule.
Get The Picture 
Spot on assessment, Senator.The problem for the Dawgs is that we face Mizzou before the weekly grind takes its toll.
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Watch out Cackalacky. You have a challenger for the crown of “Most undeserved SEC ego”
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They don’t play defense in the Big 12. If Missouri thinks they’re going to torch SEC defenses (ones that have defensive backs, unlike the Georgia team they’ll face in the suspension game) just because they torched Big 12 defenses, I wish them luck.
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Really something to think about. What a time to have a bunch of DBs suspended.
I’m hoping that Mizzou’s biggest problem with Georgia will be getting to hold the football. This might be a game where you forget “hurry up” and run the clock…VD style football. But will Georgia have the OL to do that?
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I’m with ya, Senator. I don’t doubt that Mizzou’s offense will be an effective wrinkle in the SEC. But they need to grasp the reality that even Vandy’s defense (which isn’t particularly special when compared to the rest of the SEC) will be better than almost anything they saw last year.
Having said that, I also agree that I’d feel a lot better about that game if it occurred later in the year after some of their excitement about being in the SEC has been has been knocked out of them – oh yeah…and after the UGA defense becomes un-suspended…
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I’m actually pretty happy that we are playing Mizzou early given the injuries to their starting QB (possibly won’t play against UGA) and best RB (definitely won’t play). I also think that our pass rush is going to be pretty leathal.
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Their QB is back for Fall camp and the season. According to Mizzou, he definitely will play (and he’s a running QB). Hadn’t heard that the injured RB won’t play either. Are you getting confused with their Spring Game?
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The QB is “suppose” to be back, but no way to know for sure until this fall. As far as the RB they are already talking red shirting him next season as he definitely will not be back for the start of the season. He is having to undergo a second surgery.
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The unfamiliarity is gonna cut both ways. How many pro style offenses with Mack Truck linemen has Mizzou seen? How many sets of linebackers who can go east-west as fast as the running backs?
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well they’re not going to see Mack truck linemen from Georgia, more like light pick ups if that
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Lrgest OL in the nation last year including NFL.
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And I hear that they have a Mack Truck O line at Mizzou.
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If no one does it like you do, you may be ineffective not special. I for one hope this isn’t just bait. Wait, do they have a 6’5″ 250 lbs QB?
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I like their bravado, but I like our front 7 much more. I think they’ll have quite an introduction to SEC defenses when they meet us.
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Here’s hoping Geathers and Jenkins introduce them to what a real NT is, while Jarvis Jones helps the QB off the ground after his 6th sack.
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Against ranked teams, Missouri was ranked 9th in nation in total offense and higher than Georgia in offensive scoring. So, offensively, they’re a good team.
offensive advantage: Missouri
defensive advantage: UGA
Special teams: Missouri
Coaching: UGA
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Fair assessment.
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Except for Murray, Bennett, Crowell, Boo, King, Rome and a few other tight ends, fullbacks and WRs.
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Georgia will be favored on that game, and should win, but if Georgia loses, it will be because Mizzou somehow scores 33 points or more. That’s the formula for beating Georgia. It would have to be something like:
pick 6 + special teams return for td + offense scores 3 td’s.
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Intangeables? Home field advantage…Missouri
Pumped up?…………….Missouri
Let’s remember, however, that CMR has a very good record playing away.
And if Georgia can’t get pumped up with a golden opportunity to to win the SEC, I’ll be disappointed, since I believe TG is the second coming of ERK! He’s going to make sure this team is excited.
Also, I’ve got to give Georgia the nod on offensive advantage.
Let’s not forget that the Dawgs are ranked as high as number four in preseason polls. We can be excited that we have a very good team with a re-invigorated coaching staff to start 2012. Any more suspensions or roster calamities and all bets are off, though.
Call me a “Disney Dawg” or whatever, but I sure ain’t going to get on a blog and say I think the Dawgs will lose to Missouri. I don’t.
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Personally, I think the game with Missouri will be the tone-setter for us for the year. Our defense’s unfamiliarity with MO’s style of spread offense + our defensive suspension & being on the road make it a daunting task. It is a must have for us to win the division because I don’t think we can win the East this year with two losses in the division. Lose here and SC on the road is a must win.
Heck even if we win in Columbia W, we still might need to win in Columbia E to make it to Atlanta.
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USCe will lose some other SEC games, too. Even if they find a way to beat Georgia (which would be 3 wins in a row for them and has never happened before) USCe still won’t win the East.
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Senator, “almost five yards per play” is kind of lousy. Only 23 FBS teams finished below 5 yards for the year: http://www.cfbstats.com/2011/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category10/sort02.html
And though that number ranks in the top half of efforts vs. Texas’s fairly stout D (barely), the ‘Horns also faced a lot of lousy offenses. UCLA and Texas Tech both beat that number, and no one’s calling them world beaters.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2011/team/703/total/defense/gamelog.html
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Your chart shows 6.36 yd/Mizzou and 5.36 yd/Georgia. It’s possible that will be switched when Mizzou plays against some SEC D.
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Yeah, I looked at that. Should have been a little clearer.
The ypp number against UT isn’t great, but it’s serviceable (especially since UT only scored five points.
As for other B12 teams beating up UT’s defense worse, true, but I’d guess in the context of Missouri’s entry into the SEC with a novel attack, they’d probably argue it proves the point.
There are times when I wonder if I should just outsource this kind of discussion to last year’s Arkansas-TAMU game and extrapolate from there.
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Mizzou’s yards per play, ranked 14th in the country against ranked teams, HIGHER than ANY SEC team. A yard higher than Georgia.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2011/leader/national/team/offense/split13/category10/sort02.html
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Mizzou also averaged @100 yards per game more than Georgia on offense against ranked teams.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2011/leader/national/team/offense/split13/category10/sort01.html
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The problem with your comparison is that it begs the question. Missouri’s ranked opponents came largely from the B12; Georgia’s came largely from the SEC.
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Agreed, Georgia faced tougher defenses in its ranked games, but Mizzou’s offense is no pushover. 14th in the country in yards per play vs. ranked teams ain’t shabby.
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Then again, Boise State’s opponents wern’t very strong, and like Mizzou they had great offensive stats, and they had no problem putting up 35 on Grantham’s D.
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All the more reason to play keep-a-way. Eat clock. Kind of the same offensive plan as used against GT, which, by the way, is a good comparison because they also run a seldom seen offense which their coach has complete confidence in. GT stacks up a lot of impressive stats on offense too.
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Senator, I’m beginning to wonder. I think I’ve seen this chit-chat before and it involved MSU. You’re only as good as your last game? Maybe we should go over what happened to the D in that MSU game before we discuss Mizzou any further.
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UGA’s biggest concern will be their offensive line next year. And while I believe it to be true, UGA’s offensive line will be better than Mizzou’s D-line. This is UGA’s game on both Offense and Defense. If Mizzou had a true SEC defensive front, then I would be a little more concerned. Mizzou will score, UGA will score alot.
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in the MSU game (I was there, very frustrating) it wasn’t so much our D getting scored on but the turnovers (won’t call out names) in our own territory. Pick 6’s really hurt so do INT’s in our own territory added with a fumble in the same area. The D was still good in my opinion but the O couldn’t capitalize on anything in that game.
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