I’m not doing the regular version this week because… well, mainly because I don’t feel like doing it.
Instead, I think it’s worth taking a look at this Marc Weiszer article, because I think it identifies Georgia’s biggest problem on defense right now.
First, some telling stats.
The Bulldogs, No. 5 nationally last season in total defense, rank in the bottom half of the Southeastern Conference in every major statistical category.
Georgia is eighth in pass defense (212.3 yards per game), ninth in total defense (373.8) and pass efficiency defense (125.4), 10th in rushing defense (161.5) and scoring defense (24.2 points per game) and 12th in sacks (1.7 per game)…
Georgia’s defense has given up 14 plays of 30 or more yards so far this season. Tennessee is the only other team in the SEC to have given up that many, according to CFBstats.com…
Georgia gave up 232 yards rushing to a South Carolina team was content to move the ball via the ground game after building a 21-0 lead. The Bulldogs have slid from 11th nationally against the run last season to 68th this year. They are giving up nearly 100 more total yards per game than last season’s 277.2 average…
Next, a couple of Spurrier observations:
“We didn’t do anything special for Georgia,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. “We called our protections and went and played. Of course, we didn’t attempt a whole bunch of passes after we got that big lead.”
Spurrier said redshirt freshman offensive tackle Brandon Shell did a good job blocking Jones.
“He pushed him past the quarterback,” Spurrier said. “He’s sort of a wide rusher. He pushed him past several times. We didn’t have to do anything special as far as our protections to block the Georgia D-line.”
Finally, an award.
South Carolina center T.J. Johnson was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week on Monday. He had seven knockdowns and allowed no quarterback pressures.
This is not a great offensive line Georgia faced Saturday night. (Shell, in fact, had to be moved from the left side of the line after the Vanderbilt game because he was having trouble.) This isn’t even a line that’s been together for years and has some of its members being talked about as NFL draft picks, like Tennessee’s. It’s a functional line that looked like it didn’t even break a sweat.
Georgia’s defense isn’t getting pressure like it did last year. Outside of Jarvis Jones, there isn’t a consistent pass rushing threat. And Jones hasn’t been 100% for the last few games. They’re not disrupting the rushing lanes, either. Grantham is all about getting the quarterback out of his comfort zone. Saturday night was the equivalent of busting out the recliner and a bowl of popcorn for Connor Shaw.
Yeah, Rambo and Commings got beat on a couple of deep balls. But there isn’t a secondary in the world that’s going to cover everything if it’s facing an offense that gets zero pressure on its execution.
I can’t say why it’s happening, but if they can’t get it fixed soon, I can think of a couple of offenses coming up that are going to feast on Georgia’s lack of presence up front.
Get The Picture 
As Winston Churchill said;”This is the lesson..Never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing Great or Small, Large or Petty…never give in except to Convictions of Honour and Good Sense.”
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Last Saturday felt rather like Dunkirk to me, so I like the quote.
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It did indeed. TRUCE?
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Those stats, and Spurrier’s comments (whether true or not who knows?), paint a bleak, bleak picture. I can’t understand what has happened to Jarvis Jones. He’s been invisible the past 2 games. I almost hope he’s injured, because otherwise, I fear opposing coaches have figured out to completely neutralize him.
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He is … sprained ankle & he’s not saying but his lack of explosiveness makes me think something else is bothering him (groin?)
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I can’t think of another injury that would silently impact explosiveness other than the groin injury. It is an injury close to the center of your frame and impacts your speed and balance. We need these two weeks.
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I do think it is the groin he has not been the same since he injured it. The ankle is new. I agree our bye is perfectly timed. Hopefully they can get the chemistry going again. Chemistry was gone for the SC game.
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I know this is from an untrained eye, but his rush seems to take far too wide a loop in recent games. That make it easy for OTs to just keep riding him even deeper and out of the play.
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I’m still perplexed by the significant regression on D despite returning 10 out of 11 starters. You would normally expect them to get BETTER and would be disappointed if they stayed about the same, considering everyone should be a year more experienced and (hopefully) a bit faster and stronger because of S&C. To actually get WORSE is just beyond my comprehension. It makes me feel like maybe they were satisfied with last year’s performance and decided to party it up this offseason instead of focusing on getting better.
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Well, four of ’em were suspended weren’t they?
I haven’t seen any of the games, so I can only speak on what I’ve read, but it isn’t sounding good. Especially after the optimism of late last season (MSU not withstanding), and all of the “we’ll all be back together next year” talk.
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That’s how it looks like to me too. And they look like S&C did the opposite to them. Several times in this past game Robinson and other LBs look way to slow getting to Shaw as he is rolling out to his right and casually picking up a first down. During the TN game, there were several running plays where Jenkins and Geathers are being pushed backwards by a single O-lineman. They looked straight up weak.
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Is Grantham overthinking the defense? I don’t know but something is obviously wrong. Too much talent to be laying eggs like this.
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Grantham is a pro coach trying to coach 19 year olds like a pro coach. We need fundamentals (which are taught in August…oh well) and a simplification of things. Why are we still running around not getting lined up in time? This is mid-season. This should not be happening.
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Good Advice from Dr David Jeremiah for the TEAM and All of us. From Living With Confidence In A Chaotic World. “Stay Calm, Stay Compassionate, Stay Constructive, Stay Challenged, Stay Connected, Stay Centered, Stay Confident in God’s Abilities, Stay Consistant, Stay Commited, Stay Convinced and Stay in THE WORD.
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Florida is the only team left to play that can (and probably will) beat us. Seriously, I know we shit the bed against SC but look at the rest of this dreck we line up against this year. Ole Miss, Auburn, Southern, Kentucky, Tech? As GOB would say, “C’mon!” We are 5-1 and are perfectly capable of beating the hell out of the crappy teams we still have to play other than Florida. 10-2 and Outback bound.
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I’m not saying these teams aren’t beatable. But if the defense doesn’t start controlling the line of scrimmage and disrupting the passing lanes, teams like Florida, Ole Miss (!) and Georgia Tech which have offenses with a pulse are going to move the ball successfully.
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But none of them can stop us and we’ll outscore them like we did Missouri and Tennessee. Ole Miss and Tech won’t be able to blow up our OL and disrupt Murray to any degree to which SC did. If Murray has time then we’ll have huge offensive numbers like we’ve been showing all year. Our game with Tech will be similar to how Clemson played them last weekend IMO.
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oooh! Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State or Illinois! Oh boy! Whats your preference???
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Outback bowl with Cigar City Brewing Co sounds a lot better these days. I would be loading up smokey and the bandit style.
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Love the reference and visual. Thanks for making me chuckle on this bleak topic thread.
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I haven’t given up on beating Florida. If we do I think UGA is still in the SECCG.
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The only sane way to go into watching the Florida game is to expect the worst. Murray will implode and throw a pick 6. We’ll give up a kickoff return for a touchdown, maybe give up a blocked punt. Expect Gillislee to run all over us and for Florida to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. We’re going to lose. Get used to it. There’s too many trends and history to expect anything other that us getting our asses kicked. We NEVER play good against Florida. And we NEVER play good in big games where we need a win. We NEVER beat ranked teams. WE ARE GOING TO LOSE.
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I’ll be rooting hard for our guys. But based on the trends of this coaching staff and especially Murray. It’s hard not to see this outcome as an almost certainty.
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Definitely. I’ll be cheering my ass off. But I’m tired of getting up my hopes and thinking we’ll win only to be disappointed.
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Damn. You guys sure give up easily. Florida only got by A&M by 4 points. A&M is certainly not a world-beater. And LSU has issues that have now been exposed so the win over the Bengals is not as impressive as all that either. I think, like we now know UGA was, that Florida is over-rated by the polls. We can beat them.
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But Florida shows up and plays hard in big games. They aren’t a great team, I agree, but they’ll play their butts off and won’t make huge mistakes. We’ll look like a deer in headlights and self implode like we do in every other big game.
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It’s not a question of can we beat them. If we all knew we didn’t have the talent to compete with Florida, USCe etc. we wouldn’t be having this collective gnashing of teeth. It’s precisely because we feel we do have the talent to beat them and yet we all feel certain that we won’t that we are were we are as a fan base: Richt has built enough of a program that we all recognize it could be much worse, but we don’t have any faith that he’s the person to take it any further.
I think at this point UGA fans are collectively waiting for Richt to do something that will allow us to fire him without feeling bad about it. He’s probably not going to oblige.
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I agree with you Mayor. We can beat them and we should not give up! I have seen Georgia win the “Big Games” over the years. For this Season Florida is the “Big Game” Win and Win big DAWGS.. We support you!
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Review the FU/LSU game and you will see that FU never tired and committed 100% on every play. That’s what SC did to us. That is the major reason behind their wins and that is not out of our reach.
We have the talent to do the same and, with rest, will be prepared for high octane against us and to give the same in kind. Have all of you forgotten last year’s game? We won because we never stopped getting after them. It works and that is the big cog to be fixed with mental rest and then possibly two-a-days to build stamina. I know, two-a-days are frowned upon, but anything to keep our stamina up for max push each play (liberal subbing?) will get us back into things.
Other teams are getting better thru the year and so can we. We looked down early in a couple of games last year, but responded with strength. That’s what FU did after LSU pushed them in the nose. They responded. We didn’t. That’s mental differences and that can be overcome.
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The Dawgs can beat UF. Let’s remember that the Gators were playing at home in front of their fans. That helps to ramp up the intensity….The Chickens were helped by thier fans; and I can bet Death Valley will help the Bayou Bengals this week. Then the chickens have to go to the Swamp. I can honestly see them losing both games. The game in Jax will decide the East and the Dawgs can do it. Playing at home in the SEC is a major advantage.
Let’s get behind the Dawgs and let the season play out. I’m tired of hearing people say we would be backing into the SECCG. If we’re 7-1 in the SEC, that is NOT backing in!!!
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+1 AMEN!
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While my other reply was firmly tongue in cheek, I will say I partly agree. I don’t want to get my hopes up, and Florida’s front 7 sure looks on par with SCar’s so far (Gators have better LB play, Cocks have the edge on DE) I will say that, as bad as we looked Saturday, and even with renewed doubts about Bobo, we’re better on offense than LSU is.
(The problem and worry is we’re no where near in LSU’s league on defense quite yet.)
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Only one pick-6 and only one for-sure special teams issue? You’re being way too optimistic about this game.
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I don’t have any defensive wisdom to share that would explain this, but I can tell you I am pretty sure it does not have anything to do with Grantham going to his son’s football game.
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Whatever it is, I hope they get their mojo back and whip FU. I hate those Gators!
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Ok, so I kinda think we’re overthinkin this a little. We have a large enough sample on Grantham to know what it is: against good OLs, we have problems. We have no internal push, all our pressure comes from the outside, and good OLs can widen that path out to buy time.
On offense, Richt OL problems are inexcusable. We’ve been going through this for 10 years. Why in the world we didn’t pull an Auburn-esque JUCO raid of linemen given the scholarship shortage is beyond me.
This is hard to admit, but Richt’s biggest problem is that on a macro level, he’s a bad CEO. He does not do a smart job of managing the moving pieces of the program. Everything is reactionary, nothing is proactive or progressive. Remember his “cutting edge” comment? Does ANYTHING about the program look cutting edge?
I said for a long time that the fanbase has a “Richt fan” vs “UGA fan” problem. I wish I had faith in Richt to become more competitive against the better coaches/programs, but I don’t. A change of scenary would be best for both parties.
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It was put in Richt’s contract we weren’t suppose to go the JUCO route much. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t know.
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I agree with you that Richt is not a good overall manager. This failing manifests itself in a number of ways and it’s why there are chronic issues with the program..
The question is what can be done?
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“The money Georgia will owe Richt if it fires him without cause also will decrease during the length of the deal. It’s $4.8 million if he is fired after
the 2012 season, but that number decreases to $2.4 million after the 2013 season, to $1.6 million after the 2014 season and $800,000 after the 2015 season.”
“Richt will make a guaranteed $2,811,340 a year under his new deal, which is just about what he was making previously. His deal runs through the 2016 season as previously announced.”
“That was somewhat unexpected, but even more surprising was the news that Richt won’t have to pay anything to Georgia if he leaves during the length of the contract that runs through Dec. 31, 2016, after that buyout clause was completely removed. If Richt had left after this season in the old deal, he would have owed a minimum of $2 million.”
I am not an attorney although I have worked with them in real life. I have been asked not to play attorney. Read into that what you will. CMR’s contract is not a Pumpkin King style extension. McGarity is no Mr. Hamilton. Richt’s contract is a new deal….no? His has the tenor of a contract that is not a pay cut, pays for performance, and allows CMR to move on without penalty if things don’t work out—-his choice. It also does not place a huge fiscal burden on UGa if they decide to ……. go a different route.
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CMR has lost the fire in the belly to win, that he had when he came here, about 9 or 10 wins per year is all we DAWG fans are going to get out of CMR anymore. I don’t ever have any more hope of a NC with him as the coach.
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Can we talk about something else, please? Barbecue? Whiskey?
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American Royal was this weekend in KC. I am cooking a contest in Cumming the weekend of the GSU game. The National BBQ Cup, probably have 100 teams from around the country competing. I believe that there is a people’s choice and if you stop by my team on saturday you can sample competition bbq.
Whiskey, I think that Pappy should be hitting the ATL market soon. I am more a beer snob these days though. Big Hoppy Monster from Terrapin is out and is aged in Oak Barrels this year. It is a great brew and glad to have a couple of 4 packs in the “cellar”.
That is it for my bbq, beer, and bourbon round up.
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Do you prefer Makers Mark over Woodford Reserve or the other way around?
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Maker’s using wheat instead of rye is smother to me.
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I’m a scotch man myself–Glenlivet mostly. However, when drinking bourbon I too prefer MM for the same reason–wheat.
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My stand-by bottle (always on hand) is W.L. Weller which is also a wheated bourbon. It’s quite good and when you factor in price, it’s exceptional.
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Got some recently. Similar to MM. Very smooth and as you said, the price is right.
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What? Am I missing something? “smother”?
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Yes, son?
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I’d fall in the Maker’s camp on that one. I was just talking today with a friend that Maker’s is so ubiquitous that one forgets it’s actually quite good.
I’m not going to turn down WR, but I’m probably not going to buy it either.
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You guys need to try 100% agave sugar tequila and learn to roll a small dubie to be consumed before eatin’ yo bbq. Some people say the Q is so sweet and flavorful as to make you want to give the Bo hog a blow job for conceiving the meat. I’ll leave that up to them, but things do taste better.
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That sounds great . But make that a “fatty” with that tequila.
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Con cuidado. What sounds great? There are lesser men here of dubious character, perhaps not of Southern origin that may take advantage of that.
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The dubie with the Tequila.
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Can you recommend a wine that you use to go with this ….’emmmm…. ahhhhhh…. thank you notice to Senor Boar? 😉
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Woodford for me, though Maker’s is fine, too. Lately, I prefer Elmer T Lee over them both by a smidgen–has a nice bite. Wild Turkey’s “Rare Breed” is good stuff, too.
Got me some expensive as Hell black rum down in the DR last 2 years that absolutely kicks rear end, and I’m not even a rum guy. “Unhiq” is the name. Fire up a Cubano bad boy and a glass of that stuff (straight, or risk getting laughed out of the country) under the Caribbean sun and on a tropical beach and the world’s good.
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Wild Turkey how Fowl…
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Speaking of which, Snoop, ever tasted this roadkill they call Eastern Carolina BBQ? Spending some extended time near Raleigh and need to get to Lexington, at least, for some recognizable ‘q. Gosh, I’d even get teary at the sight of a Jim&Nicks these days.
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I’ve learned to stomach it after a decade in eastern NC. But my friend probably isn’t far off the mark when he says that pigs died in vain to make the stuff. Maybe my problem is that I’m not putting cole slaw on top of it like the locals.
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Thought they used mustard hot sauce on their bbq.
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No, thats South Carolina, and it is an abomination.
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NC seems pretty diverse in its BBQ styles. Vinegar-based in the east. Probably some mustard-based near SC. And I’ve heard there’s even some ketchup-based in the western part of the state. Still, I’m convinced that, like your climate preference, your BBQ palate is established early in life. So, I complain about the winters and the BBQ here.
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The difference between eastern-style bbq sauce in NC and Lexingorn-style (or western) is very minimal. They are both vinegar based. Lexington style simply has a little tomato sauce or ketchup in it, and sometimes a little sugar. It is still very thin and vinegary. As you go further west, it does tend to get more tomatoey and a little thicker, but its still a relatively thin sauce, with a vinegar base. Its all good.
I’ve never seen mustard based sauce anywhere in NC, but I suppose it might exist. If so, it came from SC.
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I know the Guy who took Jim and Nick’s from B’ham to Atlanta, and NY. Is he in Lexington too? We were Friends in the Restaurant Business in B’ham many years ago. Real nice couple. Started out with 20 or so Wendy’s and went from there. They use to eat at our Restaurant in B’ham .It was their favorite.
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The closest J&N is in Charlotte. For a chain, they do a great job. What was the name of your restaurant in B’ham? That’s a pretty good town for finding quality food, surprisingly.
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We had 4 Restaurants in B’Ham. They liked our Franchise Restaurant, Gyro Wrap, which is now called Great Wraps and is Mall Food Courts all around the Country. Michael bought the place that was The. Original Jim and Nick’s . I cannot remember his last name. He and his wife would come in and eat with us. When they opened the remodeled Jim and Nicks we were invited to a private party. The funniest thing they told us was about NY. They said those Yankee’s could not get enough of their Sweet Tea. Of course their BBQ recipes come mostly from the Original J & N.
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Jim&Nicks (corporate) has a Mexican start-up they’re calling “Little Donkey”. Nice concept and good food. First one is in Homewood, I think. Darn good food. If you see one now, you’ll know what it is.
FYI. This is a head scratcher. Florida is 7 point favorite over Vandy. Top five ranked program playing a 2-3 Commadore squad and only 7 points. Hmm..
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Yes it did start out with a Mexican Theme. My X told Michael he should go back to the BBQ because of the market and reputation in B’ham. That happened pretty quickly. They were very successful already with the chain of Wendy’s they had in Alabama.
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Oh, i did not know that Michael went back to that. The name is different. Also, Vandy’ not that bad this year. I’ll be taking that bet though!
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On the other hand, not meeting 6 of 7 benchmarks from “Dawg stat watch, Week 5” should have been instructive to those of us who thought we were going to win at South Carolina that we were just a little off.
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I’m not saying that my theroy is correct but I throw it out for some discussion. We had 9 guys on D come back that maybe could have gone pro. Some of them were sincere in wanting to come back but I think some of them just yeilded to peer preasure. Once the rah rah went away some of them may have regreted their decision. Now its the new season and I know I’m gone to the pros at the end. I sure as heck don’t want to do anything to keep me from my shot at the big show. So I am going to go through the motions but I am more aware of the posibility of injury so I am not going all out. I know this is not the case for all of them but if one or two guys are dogging it, we are going to get killed against the good teams. The only other explanation is that Boykin was the glue holding thid D together.
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I think you’ve spoken the absolute truth in your statement. Jones’ injuries have probably galvanized this stance as well.
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won’t a lackluster performance hurt their draft stock?
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Might be some truth to that. But if so, our coaches are terrible.
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One way or another, you get your downer, eh? Saying that starters are dogging it is not too bright. And I guess Richt isn’t performing because he is miffed at the fans? Cheez! Where do you guys buy into the irrational stuff to post? If players thought that way they would never have achieved college player status and wouldn’t be here.
I’m thankful that players and coaches don’t think that way.
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This is one of the things that amazes me about these post. How can one even believe they can know what someone is thinking. Learned along time ago that if you do that you will always be wrong.
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Yeah, you’re right. College athletes have never dogged it.
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Past couple of weeks got me thinking about the series the senator did a couple of seasons ago about “regression to the mean”. I remember the series being mostly about turnovers but the past 2 weeks makes me think about a similar mentality with the defense. Really not sure what to make about this season. Feels a little too much like 2008 for my liking.
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I wrote several times last year and over the summer that Grantham had taken his part of responsibility for last year’s losses. Many were too focused on their “Fire Bobo” memes to read what has been there all along. You promoted Grantham to hero status too early by not looking at what was there as evidence for this D. And they aren’t as bad as you want to paint them in this humbling defeat to our team.
Nothing has changed with Grantham as to attitude nor has he drunkenly forgotten how to coach. Blame yourselves for not knowing football or were unable to recognize it when placed before your eyes. Your overhype has caused your great fall, not the ability of players to play and the coaches to coach. By not viewing realistically what has been before you, you went a little bit beyond rational thought only to find now that the problem lies in our own perceptions as to the well being of this team.
Stop the bashing and start learning for yourself what we have in our team instead of taking everyone else’s opinion as your own. They hurt more deeply than you do now and could use a good word to help get back on course…unless, of course, you want to continue to curse the darkness.
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I love how you lecture everyone as being part of a collective whole, one in which everyone has the same opinions. And you, of course, are not in that collective b/c you’re the voice of reason.
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As much as we all like Richt in terms of his personality and religious convictions, I am just surprised on how he views these recurrent embarrassing losses in the last few years just in terms of numbers and mathematical probabilities of reaching a goal such as SEC champ. However, I have not heard him wholeheartedly apologize for any of these kind of losses, which may help mitigate some of fans emotions. He almost sound like a stoic North Ave mathematician still computing the winning formula in his slide rule for the rest of the season (whether the world is ending around him).
I must have missed it, but he seem to be just oblivious the supporting fan base frustrations. Yes it is only a game, but we know that fans (not only UGA but worldwide), and supporters bring with them their heart and emotions plus spending hundreds if not thousand of dollars for each and every game.
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I get there are more important things in life than football. But Richt saying it’s only a game holds as much water as me saying to my boss, it’s only a deal or it’s only a project.
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+ 1
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But it IS only a friggin’ game!
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+1
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A game that we pay Mr. Richt 3 million dollars a year to coach.
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+1
Um, wait a minute…now I’m agreeing with everybody…
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It’s just a game, dawg.
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The writing is on the wall. This team is a product of it’s schedule plain and simple. Last year was hollow as will be this year. I spent around $700 on tickets, room, gas, food, and drinks for me and my wife only to leave that game at the end of the 3rd. Why on earth should I keep doing that for ZERO payoff? (see also: every other big game I paid to go to over the last 3 years). BLECH.
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If we draw the schedule next year like many of us are expecting, we’ll have 4 losses or more. Bama, LSU, SC, Florida will all beat us. Then you also have a UT team that keeps getting better, Auburn that will be improving, Missouri getting used to life in the SEC, etc. Richt will be gone after 2013.
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Can’t wait to hear Skeptic Dawg crowing about how Richt should have the balls to toss Grantham to the road like Johnson did yesterday with Groh. You have provided stats, which we all know Skeptic loves, so now we just wait for Skeptic’s take. He’ll be as happy as a pig in slop.
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Well, you’re close:
Skeptic Dawg
October 8, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Say what you will, laugh at Tech all you want, but Johnson had the stones to say enough is enough. That is more than we can say for Richt. I just hope McGarity has enough stones (& the smarts) to do the same in Athens.
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Skeptic = Bill Shanks sympathizer
Course, this week a bunch of us are.
Anyway – I’m happy as long as Richt wins on every Saturday 🙂
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Meh, Bill Shanks is right and has been from he very beginning. When he first took over that show in Macon, he said Richt was not a smart coach, walked in to a situation LOADED with talent, and used his religion to shield himself from criticism. Pretty hard to find where he is wrong….
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I want this program to achieve incredible success. I want to see these kids (and the kids to wear the Red and Black in the future) to experience incredible success. I do not believe, nor have I believed for a few years now, that Richt is capable of delivering incredible success. Averaging 4 losses a season for 6 years, in addition to the fall-on-your-face losses, coupled with the perceived lack of motivation at time among the staff and players tells me Richt is not the guy. Is Grantham? It is not looking great right now. I pull for UGA, not the coach.
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The opportunity to have a very good defense is still there. This defense was in game 2 of its development while everyone else was in game 6. UGA’s short-sighted recruiting restrictions and suspension policies took its toll on the first half of the season.
I won’t go off on another rant on our self-inflicted suspension policies or the 18 scholarships being unused or held by unrecruited players. But I will highlight its effect on our D. We were forced to start a receiver at cornerback, an unrecruited walk-on at safety, we moved one of our inside LBs out-of-position to the outside, started a third teamer at inside linebacker, and disrupted our rotations at the linebacker, cornerback, and safety positions.
This went on for four games and not surprisingly, we have communication, coverage, and containment problems to resolve. Also, our largely unaffected front three positions have to do more than absorb blocks for our linebackers.
The good news is we have stayed mostly injury-free and have an extra week to get this resolved. Let’s see if this staff and this team can rise to the occasion.
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Keep it up, Joe. You may get through to them some day.
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+1000
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Listen, I’m not a Disney Dawg or a Doubter Dawg, but whose job is it to make sure Rambo and Ogletree get enough snaps with the D during their suspensions, are studying the playbook, etc, and make a plan for their return? I wonder how much of this confusion comes from the whole “anybody on the D can get moved to any other position” philosophy.
Also – both of those guys came back the day after Vandy – two weeks before the SC game. They have been in Grantham’s defense for three years now. I’m not buying that the suspensions were at fault. I’m also not saying we can lay the D meltdown entirely on Grantham – players in our secondary simply missed assignments – but at the end of the day, he’s got to drill the kids not just to know their assignments but to stick to them like religion. It may be that Jarvis should have just sat this one out – or gotten pulled early in the TN game when it was obvious he was not full speed…that is a coach’s decision, you can’t ask that kid to pull himself out, he’s not going to do it.
I don’t blame Rambo for that catch on him, really – that kind of thing is just going to happen. He was in place and the other guy just had better leverage and got the ball. But there were plenty of other issues that just seemed like we prepared to play another team. We had no answer – and it seemed, no prep – for Shaw’s scrambles, for instance. On O, we acted like Clowney was a surprise, last minute addition – HEY COACH, YOU MAY WANT TO PUT TWO GUYS ON THAT DUDE WHO KEEPS THUMPING YOUR QUARTERBACK…
My biggest frustration was – at least on TV, anyway – not seeing any of the kids working to get each other fired up, CMR and AM just keeping their cool, or worse, looking worried – and not seeing changes being made, ie sticking *senior* RSIV or Boo – who’d been in big games before – back there to help block and rally the others – not in the second half, but after the second series of the first quarter! And frankly thought Boo had earned a few more snaps over the last few weeks, anyway…
Otherwise, I just wanted to see anything – anything – to show we weren’t going softly into that night. Love my Bulldogs, but it did not *seem* they were playing with a lot of grit and pride last Saturday. Perhaps you guys saw a different scene – I hope so.
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And by the way, lest we forget, we may love these kids but saying “we had kids coming back from suspension” *does not* absolve those same kids of the issue. They are responsible for getting suspended in the first place, and if that lost the game for us, they get to wear that.
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I’ve been a big fan of CTG. I felt he rescued CMR’s program when it was at it’s lowest point. Sad to say, but as time passes we always seem to return to the term ‘underachievers’ when talking about any aspect of the team. Why should CTG and the D be any different.
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So our SEC counterparts are nobodies. I can’t believe what I am reading from some of you. Our recruits hear this and decide to look around. Part of the reason we have no depth is no one wants to sign with a coach who they are not sure is going to be around. You tie his hands and then complain about the results. There is no one that will satisfy you because you want perfect records all the time. Both Alabama and LSU had one loss last year.
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Thank you Kathryn.
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Unlike you I registered with my real name.
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How do we know that?
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look on facebook I didn’t think to use an anonymous name
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I’m sorry Debby, I don’t mean to pick on you personally but just that you’re the person that happened to say an opinion that I’ve noticed others saying in the past and has always bothered me. People being realistic or negative does NOT hurt recruiting. You can do a google search on 90 percent of the teams in college football and find five messageboards per team at least where people are saying all sorts of crap that makes even the most negative on here sound like Disney Dawgs.
I said last night, we all want this team to win. We are all UGA fans. We all want the team to win, even the negative ones. We just have different opinions and we can’t all be rah rah all the time. I’m neither a cheerleader nor a downer, but I can see both sides even if I agree with neither. But trying to censor the opinions of others just because they don’t agree with yours, even if for what’s in your mind a good reason, isn’t how things should work in the US, let alone the internet.
Again, I appreciate your positivity and your right to your opinion, I just take issue with the idea that we should all hold hands and sing and everything will turn out alright, just as I don’t think that Mark Richt should find a pink slip on his desk tomorrow morning.
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BTW, I should have made it clear that I don’t condone some of the outrageously negative and even stupid BS that some people post online about their sports teams or players. I’m just saying that if it appreciably affected recruiting then there wouldn’t be a team out there with a full roster.
In my opinion at least, people questioning the coaching staff and being negative after another stinker of a loss isn’t the reason we have the extra scholarships, that’s due to a combo of bad luck and bad planning.
I could just as easily say that kids don’t want to come play at a school that has a reputation for losing big games and it wouldn’t be any more or less true than saying it’s because we happen to have particularly negative fans…we don’t by the way.
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Kids who didn’t choose UGA two years ago stated that Richt’s hotseat lead them to choose other schools. Fans putting him back on the hotseat after only one loss does affect recruiting.
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The inability to win big games and play for championships will hurt recruiting far more.
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Dude get a grip, we have lost ONE GAME. You are so fatalistic.
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You have a wildly inflated view of the value of both your opinions and posts on here, as well as everyone else’s. None of what we say on here has any effect on recruiting.
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And to reply to the rest of the thread. I lived in SC for 5 years and the mustard sauce defiinitely takes some getting used to, though I can appreciate it now and then. I like a vinegary sauce with some ketchup in it. Like someone said, I guess it’s what you grow up with that forms your tastes.
As far as the bourbon goes, despite being a southerner for many, many generations, I’ve had to steer clear of the stuff as I’ve gotten older. Brown liquors tend to lead to a bad day for me the next day. Always liked Maker’s Mark though the few people from Kentucky I knew in my younger days always swore by Blanton’s I believe it was..not sure if they even make it anymore. Sucks to get old.
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Late post to this article.
Rodney Gardner, what are your position players doing this season. The 3-4 defense is one that I think Spurrier has in his pocket. No one doubled teamed Jenkins and Carolina’s Rb and Qb took it right between the ends. In fact no one will double team your nose player. They do not have too. Either they are tired or up to the play. If there are some D ends on this team, what are you doing with them re scheme. they are a nonfactor in two SEC games.. To use CMR’s words they were more physcial. I would agree they were more physical on offense than probably defense. This a defense with a roster history. Why not experiment and work more 4-2-5 or 4-3-4. Lately the 3 down lineman are not getting it done. UT had some success, and Spurrier knew at half time your down lineman and the 3-4 was not going to stop their run game.
Grantham and Gardner. You have seen these guys two years prior to Saturday.. They run the 1 Rb, ! Te, and 3 WR or the inside zone read. Nearly every guy on D has seen this team except Shaw, who is a solid performing QB, running and throwing. Went into Saturday night with a poor plan to stop these guys..Did not shut down the lanes quick enough and force shaw to throw more. If he had there would have been some picks because 2 out of those 10 came close. Then those other two for TD were players not reacting and seeing what was being run.
The 3 have to be physical with play and the 4 have to be more into the run game here out.
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