Maybe Paul Johnson is a genius.

After all, it takes a special talent to render Mark Bradley speechless.

Observations from the 45: a wild time was had by all.

It was with the third failed extra point attempt of the day that I realized the game had lost its damned mind.

I mean, how many Georgia games have you seen with three blown extra points?  Later, I started worrying that Tennessee would tie things up and send the game into an overtime that would never end.  It was that screwy.  Momentum changes that were both so frequent and sudden they caused whiplash, hair pulling mistakes and killer play making – basically, you couldn’t afford to look away or you’d miss something big.  And the way it turned out, every bit mattered.

In thirty-plus years, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a crazier game between the hedges.  But in the end the Dawgs did walk away with the win.  It could have been worse.

And now, on to the post-mortem.

• Bobo saw what a lot of people saw Florida do successfully – attack the perimeter of the Tennessee defense – and went after that with a vengeance.  That first drive was masterful in making UT have to worry about defending the width of the field.
• I really wish Burnette hadn’t been flagged for a false start on Georgia’s next series, because I really wanted to see where that play, with a fly sweep run one way and Gurley going the other, was heading.
• The pure joy that Marc Deas, who quit the team earlier this year and then came back, showed after his punt block was great to see.
• Seventy or so passing plays and not a single penalty for offensive holding?  How is that possible?
• The increase in athleticism on Georgia’s defense with the return of Ogletree and Rambo was noticeable (that first interception, for example).  But so was the rust and uncertainty that comes with adjusting to the repositioning.  Way, way too many busted assignments.  And on Tennessee’s last touchdown of the day, Rambo was still facing the sideline looking for instruction when the ball was snapped.
• Yeah, take out the special team snafus and turnovers that turned the last five minutes of the first half into a nightmare and the defense doesn’t look so bad.   But that’s no excuse for the shoddy tackling I saw throughout the game.  And it doesn’t explain Tennessee’s success on third downs.
• I’m not sure Georgia ever successfully defended Justin Hunter.  Fortunately, Bray either ignored the short, easy stuff Georgia was giving him, or overthrew Hunter a few times.
• Catch the damned ball, Woot.  Especially that last drop.
• There was no excuse for that Patterson touchdown.  None.
• I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that Malcolm Mitchell’s career as a punt returner is at an end.
• I’m willing to cut Aaron Murray a little slack on his two turnovers.  The pick-six came on a tipped pass and the fumble came on a well-timed delayed blitz when the offense was in Predictable Bobo mode.  But the main reason I’m generous is that he played so well the rest of the time.  Outside of looking out of sync on a couple of throws intended for Bennett on one of those fourth-quarter series that went nowhere, he was totally in control of his game.
• Great play from the tight ends, both blocking and catching.
• I think people are more impressed with Tyler Bray’s arm than with Tyler Bray, the quarterback.  He loves the deep ball and you can count on him throwing a few balls every game that make you go wow, but he deserves his reputation for not handling pressure well.  Three straight series with Bray turnovers to end the game testifies to that.
• Sanders Commings, of all people, with two interceptions.  And both were tough catches.  If he can hang on to the ball like that, I like the secondary’s chances to do a lot more ball hawking this year.
• That being said, the most misleading stat of the night had to be Georgia finishing +1 in turnover margin.  All three of Georgia’s turnovers led to Vol touchdowns.  Only one of the Dawg recoveries led to a score.
• I’m running out of superlatives for Gurshall.  But I get a kick out of Marshall’s one-armed windmilling while he gets his balance.  And when it stops, look out.
• The o-line performed pretty well.  They dominated early, but got a little overwhelmed late when UT started sending the house.  And I didn’t notice any painful moments from Theus.
• I think Grantham was a little surprised by how well Tennessee’s offensive line played.  He almost waited a little too late to start applying extra pressure.
• And I also think that Tennessee’s pace on offense proved difficult for Georgia to handle.  That combined with some of the defensive rust that came from the rejiggering the defensive personnel left the Dawg defense on its heels in the second half too much for comfort.
• I didn’t like Bobo pulling in the reins when the field position went against Georgia.  He made it too easy for Sunseri to gamble by loading up the box.  But he deserves a lot of credit for pushing the drive that led to the tying field goal at the end of the first half.  That turned out to be a huge score.
• Speaking of which, how do you screw up two extra points (sure, one was blocked, but the trajectory on it looked low) and nail a clutch fifty-yard field goal?
• After the first drive, did Georgia’s offense ever hold the ball for three minutes or more on any series the rest of the way?

I said after the Buffalo game that the Dawgs bringing their “C” game could beat a MAC team by three TDs.  It looks like their “C” game was good enough to win a nail biter at home against a mediocre SEC opponent.  It’s obviously not going to get the job done against a top ten SEC team on the road.

When it’s not screwing up or pulling in the reins because of field position concerns, the offense looks pretty unstoppable.  But special teams are shaky, to say the least.  And while I think the defense will sort things out as things settle in, you wonder if that will happen quickly enough.  South Carolina’s offense presents very different problems from Tennessee’s and another week of getting up to speed could prove fatal.

On the other hand, it’s not like the ‘Cocks have faced a team with as many threats on offense as Georgia has, so they’ve got their own concerns.

I dunno, I’m starting to think that Columbia may come down to how many times Georgia’s offense has to start inside its own ten.

So much for defenses adapting.

There were 3,160 total pts scored in 52 FBS games Tue. (60.8 PPG). Elias says that's 2nd highest avg on single day since 1937 (min. 15 gms)

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 30, 2012

Maybe yesterday was an anomaly, but, damn, that’s a lot of scoring.

While I’m still trying to catch my breath from yesterday…

Enjoy this in the meantime.

Pulpwood wants you to enjoy this game day thread.

I’m about to hit the road for the Classic City, and wanted to leave you in good, but definitely NSFW hands.  I should warn you that alcohol enemas are involved.

Enjoy the game and share your thoughts.

“You’ve got to learn to enjoy playing in that kind of environment.”

One other thing about today’s UT game:  it’s the first time the Vols have been on the road this season.

Adding to Tennessee’s challenge is the environment, as the Vols will make their 2012 road debut today. Most of the Vols’ offensive players, excluding receiver Cordarrelle Patterson and left tackle Antonio Richardson, played at Sanford Stadium in 2010, when a 1-4 Georgia team pounded the flat Vols 41-14. Most of Tennessee’s defenders played at Florida, Alabama and Arkansas last season.

“I think the good news is most of our guys have been in these environments,” Dooley said. “It shouldn’t be as overwhelming as it’s been in the past. At least I hope it isn’t…”

Well, they’ve been in them.  They just haven’t won in them.

As for the overwhelming part, that’ll be up to Todd Grantham’s defense.  He sounds ready, at least.

“I think the matchup’s fine,” Grantham said. “They’ve got some good wideouts, we’ve got some good corners. We’ve just got to understand routes, alignments, what can happen to you and be ready to play. I think we’ll be fine in that matchup.”

And his players sound like they’re ready to get a little exotic on Tyler Bray’s ass.

“Some of the errors that he’s made recently had to do with him not seeing guys dropping out of coverage,” linebacker Christian Robinson said. “We are going to have to bait him into throwing some passes sometimes. If we can change it up while keeping sound coverage and don’t give up any big plays, then I think we’ll have a good shot at limiting them through the air.”

I’m guessing the defensive recipe involves a little heat, too.

The trigger man, Bray, is tied for first nationally with 12 touchdown passes and is ninth with 325.2 passing yards per game. But he has struggled at times against the blitz — he completed just 23 percent of his passes when Florida brought five or more rushers in the Vols’ lone loss — and Georgia knows it must pressure and confuse Bray to effectively defend the pass.

It all begins with stopping Tennessee’s running game.  That opens up all kinds of fun for Grantham.

You know you’re pretty good looking… for an SEC East team.

Even some of the guys who pitched in on last year’s SECCG shellacking think the East is stepping up this season.

Certainly, LSU has taken notice of how much tougher its schedule now looks with apparent improvement of the Gators and Gamecocks.

“The SEC is as strong as ever. The last few years it was in the West. This year, we have teams executing on both sides. That’s how it should be,” said LSU offensive lineman Josh Dworaczyk, whose six years (including two redshirt years) at LSU have spanned most of the SEC’s streak of national titles. “This year, it looks like the East is as strong as ever.”

LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo was a major part of the Tigers squad that blew out the Bulldogs in the second half of last season’s SEC title game. He said he would be surprised to see the winner of the West win that contest by more than four touchdowns this December.

“It definitely will be a real game in Atlanta,” Mingo said. “You have Florida, South Carolina, Georgia. Those teams are pretty good — really good, not pretty good.”

We’ll know soon enough if they’re right.  After Towson tonight, LSU faces Florida and South Carolina in the following two weeks.

Blame… somebody.

To those of you who’ve never understood why Richt canning Bobo would make little difference with the playcalling on offense, here’s an illustration of why I say that:

Bobo said Richt told him last year against Florida that, when Walsh missed from 33 and 37, Georgia would go for it on fourth down. That changed how he called third downs.

Bobo’s calling plays but he’s doing it within the framework of what Mark Richt wants, both structurally and tactically.  Anybody you’d bring in as a replacement would be operating in the same way.  It’s worth keeping that in mind, both during the good times and bad.

Sometimes, starting 4-0 is just like it used to be.

Over at the DawgPost, Ryan Jordan takes a look at this year’s Florida team and makes an excellent point.

2011:
41-3 over FAU
39-0 over UAB
33-23 over Tennessee
48-10 over Kentucky

2012:
27-14 over Bowling Green
20-17 over Texas A&M
37-20 over Tennessee
38-0 over Kentucky

Driskel is getting a lot of hype for putting up fewer points than Brantley did against very similar porous defenses.  They haven’t played a good defensive team yet and they are still like 65th in total offense.  He hasn’t thrown for more than 219yds in any game this year, and has been below 200 twice.

Against their best opponent (Tennessee), Driskel put up 219yds and 2 TD’s this year.  Brantley put up 213yds and 2 TD’s on them last year.

Florida went winless in their next 4 games of 2011 against Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia.  They’re about to play UGA, SCAR, and LSU in 3 of their next 4 and could be looking at similar results.

I honestly think a lot of people have forgotten they were in this exact same situation a year ago and that’s why I bring it up.  This is the same Driskel who couldn’t beat out a very poor John Brantley, and hasn’t shown any improvement on the scoreboard this year either.  They’re getting a ton of traction in the polls for 2 wins over what should be teams who finish in the bottom half of the SEC.

I’m not sold they’re any better… YET

I do think Driskel has shown improvement and he’s much more of a running threat than Brantley ever dreamed of being, but I admit my jaw dropped a bit when I heard Andre Ware describe him during the Kentucky game broadcast as playing as well as any quarterback in the SEC.  He’s not. The biggest improvement on UF’s offense from last year is the development of a legitimate running back in Gillislee.

Florida is better, but I’m not sure by as much as some of the swooning in the punditry class would indicate.

Seeing Red

With regard to Richt’s request for a “red out” at today’s game – generally, I’m not a slave to fashion, but after reading this, I’ve decided to make an exception. Hell, I almost feel like buying some red body paint.

If you’re going, feel free to indulge.