I finally sat down last night and cranked up the DVR to watch the Georgia-Florida game. I can’t say I came across any shocking revelations that changed my mind about what I saw live, but there were a few items of note:
- Jeez, they really were jawing from start to finish… or at least until the Dawgs went into victory formation. I still think Gurley’s behavior that drew the flag was fairly trivial, but given the context, I can see why the refs threw it.
- Loved the shot of the assistant coaches celebrating in the booth once the win was secured.
- I didn’t realize how generous a spot the refs gave Florida on that fourth-down play until I watched the broadcast. Boom should be embarrassed for arguing about that.
- Speaking of whom, it’s not a good thing when they’re making fun of you for chewing out a player. And it made for an interesting contrast with how Richt dealt with Mitchell after his stupid penalty late in the game.
- Rambo has clearly shaken the rust off from the suspension.
- Just as clearly, Ogletree has not. He had his moments, but Florida targeted him in the passing game with some decent success, including the Jordan Reed catch on Florida’s last drive that led to Jarvis Jones’ play of the game.
- Gary Danielson’s two best moments: catching Cornelius Washington’s inability to keep contain on the read option and correctly predicting that the Gators would exploit that later with success and his faith that Georgia would have to turn to Aaron Murray to win the game late, despite Murray’s struggles.
- And turning to Murray, that was as strange a game as I’ve seen from him. He started well, wasn’t amped up, wasn’t pressured once the Gators had to back off defensively to respect the running game… and went into a funk that lasted into the fourth quarter. Then, once Florida ratched up the pressure with constant blitzes, he goes on a final drive that’s 6-1 pass/run for the big score. His last two throws to Mitchell were as clutch as they come, both thrown perfectly at the very last second before the defenders could get to him.
- Mark Richt sure likes hugging players after a big win. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
- Very quietly, Garrison Smith had a good game stepping in for Abry Jones.
- Georgia’s offensive line played well, but showed there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
- I keep saying it, but I really like Jordan Jenkins’ game. I know Grantham said he started Jenkins so he could do more with Jarvis, but I don’t see how Jenkins doesn’t move into the starting eleven for good soon.
I was sorry to cut the TV off after watching – the game may have been sloppy, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t compelling.
Get The Picture 
I agree about Tree. He did not play well against Fl. Missed a lot of tackles, one quite badly, and looked lost on the pass to Reed near the end.
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Tree is a pretty big concern at this point. He’s playing very average football right now.
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Suck it, Boom. Sorry Senator, I couldn’t help myself.
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I noticed Smith had a pretty good game and was around the ball quite a bit. Kinda makes you wonder why the coaches had been so fixed on scheming him out of the game earlier in the season.
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I thought the same thing on Tree. Had a tough assignment with Reed, but just seemed like he was in a funk all night on wrapping up.
The penalty on Gurley was probably less to do with the Gator chomp and more to do with the slash like motion across the chest. If a mock chomp is going to be a penalty, then a chomp should be a penalty, right?
On the 4th down play, Williams showed why he is such a good player. He went high…and I was worried about a penalty…but on the replay it’s pretty clear that if he had gone for the tackle low, they would have advanced pass the marker. The WR was running upright and Williams took advantage to stop forward progress by tackling around the shoulders. Such a great, great play.
What’s happened to Branden Smith?
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Your last question is my concern IRF. I said once during the c-party that I’d rather see Mitchell in there, for Branden, than on O. Thankfully I was wrong bout that but still. BS is my concern, way more than Tree.
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Gurley’s slash-like motion across the chest was the Superman thingy that Cam popularized a few years ago. Totally harmless.
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Yeah. It was mocking the opponent that got the penalty, not doing your own cheer. You’re not allowed to mock–see Brad Wing.
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Good question about Smith. Has the talent level merely gone up around him to where he’s no longer standing out, or has he slipped?
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I slightly disagree about Tree. He is a phenomenal athtlete and probably our fastest linebacker and best tackler (just check the stats before questioning that). Here’s the rub. Against UF he was given a difficult matchup and asked to play in coverage against another, even faster, athlete. Its like they asked him often to go one-on-oneagainst Reed and take him out of the game. Well, that obviously didn’t happen. I believe Tree was overestimated and was our weakest link on the D. But he was overestimated and trusted with this assigment because he was, I believe still is, the best man for the job. I would have loved to see Boss Bailey in coverage against Reed. But there aren’t many who can cover him in space and not win some and lose some. Tree did win some and I bet he learned a lot from this competition. I hope the lessons he learns in film this week we will get to really see against ‘Bama.
A few years ago USCe played us and lost a close one but their only option on O seemed to be the TE. Can’t remember that big guy’s name but he consistently burned more of a zone coverage than what we ran against Reed. But that guys game was very different than Reed, who is thinner, faster.
We gave up 9 points. You make adjustments on D as you give things up. While yes Tree was the weak link, it never hurt us critically until it almost did on UF’s final play. But Grantham and Tree would scheme and play differently from this experience just like our O-line would play better if they had USCe to go against again.
Don’t panic about Tree, he is still special.
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I’m not in a panic about Ogletree. But he’s still rusty. He overran a few plays and I wasn’t as impressed with his tackling as you are. That’s not to say he didn’t make his share of good plays – he did – but when the other team’s offense is targeting you, which I thought UF clearly was, that’s generally not a sign that you’ve got a lock down game going for you.
The reason I’m not in a panic is that he’s improving week to week. It’s just that he’s not as far along yet as Rambo is.
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Yeah, he made mistakes. In addition to over-running, he peeked to the backfield a couple of times and that helped Reed gain separation. He looked like a linebacker in coverage against a good TE. He certainly wasn’t “lock down”. I think it was asking a lot to think that he could have been. But I am optimistic, not concerned, about his ever improving game.
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One more thought since I’ve virtually hijacked this thread, my apology…
Failing because of incapacity concerns me. Failing because of coachable errors (i.e. identifiable and correctable) concern me less. Really, look at the number of games he’s played due to missing so much last year and this. His peeking and hip mis-alignment creates space. Space exploited makes him play catchup to make a tackle. Playing that way creates momentum that is used against you (see overrun) when the receiver spins back.
Play fundamental coverage (eyes & hips & proximity) puts you in a better position to execute tackles, the opposite creates opportunites of vulnerability. Tree’s issues are more fundamental in coverage than physical/unable to cover or unable to make the tackle.
Rambo, he seems to make repeated errors in judgment that an experienced veteran shouldn’t make. And the speed that impressed us all when he was a freshmen seems to not quite be there. He gets beat often when the ball isn’t even thrown his way. A good team, with good o-line protection (see bama), will target him. Count on it.
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Good discussion from both you and the Senator. I also find Ogletree to be talented, but struggling more this year. Not sure if it can all be attributed to rust, but his tackling/timing has fallen off from last year. Coverage across the middle is always tough for a LB and Tree hasn’t been strong in this area at all. My question would be, given his struggles and lack of game time, will he fall back down the draft list? He certainly doesn’t seem to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick thus far. I like his lateral speed but he hasn’t really shut much down since coming back and that would seem to be a pre-requisite for a premier LB. Maybe I expected too much but the amount of running by the QB in the SC and KY games was concerning.
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The draft question is a good one that I have no idea about the answer. About spy play. I feel this is Tree’s strength, unlike coverage, and was surprised how frequently Washington even, among others, was given this assignment with Shaw. That is a mis-match. It wasn’t always on Tree. As for KY, work limited what I could see on the tube. Was this on Tree?
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Weirdly, against UF we didn’t play the spy game. We played philosophically a contain Driskoll (on run plays) blitz (on pass). We played more of an OLB contain game against Driskoll rather than a ILB or OLB spy, against Shaw.
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I agree with everything that’s been said about Tree’s play. He clearly had a tough assignment this game trying to cover Reed. If the concerns noted above were solely based upon his performance in the FL game, it might be an isolated situation, but it’s been a consistent trend that occurred in both the USC and KY games. Teams have been running right at him and he’s had difficulty sheading blockers, stopping the run or even pass defense (even though he started out as a safety). I was skeptical at first until ESPN highlighted several instances from the two prior games where this was very clearly the case. His play on the field seems to have regressed compared to last year. Yes, he’s making a lot of tackles (or in same instances RB’s are falling down into him as he’s being run over as ESPN showed several times), but I find it hard to believe that his performance is meeting or exceeding what all of us expected before the season began. I hope it’s just “rust” and not something else.
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I live in ACC country. I’ve been hearing all week from friends how compelling our game was on TV.
Clemson fans especially are disappointed that they are sitting outside the SEC watching a great party.
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PS Olgetree may be our star one day, but he was our weakest link on D this week.
And I really thought I’d hear Ray Drew’s name last weekend. I hope he breaks through next year.
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One thing I thought you would notice was the play of the other Ogletree the one on offense. I was very impressed with his play ecspecially the first TD run, he pancakes #34 which sprung #3 for the TD.
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I saw that highlight last night on the georgiadogs.com round-up. Didn’t catch the block during the live-telecast (bourbon consumption may have influenced that), but it was one heckuva block by him.
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I was blown away how well Gurley played. He was running hard and picking up blitzes like a maniac. I couldn’t understand why we went away from the run game early in the second as we neared their goal line. Gurley had carried us from the 50 to the 10. Maybe he got tired. Would have loved to see Boo get a shot at that point though.
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The problem was, in part, that we were gashing them because we had spread formations with multiple receivers. When we get down inside the 15 that isn’t going to work as well.
The question is why those 2nd quarter runs didn’t happen in the 3rd or 4th. Coach Boom adjusts and we don’t, so much?
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I was a little surprised that we didn’t see Keith Marshall more. I seem to remember one series where they used him in the first half, but the rest was all Gurley. Not that I’m complaining – Gurley played really well. Did any of you who watched the replay see him missing blocking assignments or sustaining injury that might explain this?
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Richt said in the post game that he wanted the more physical runner for this game. I think it was the right call.
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Jordan Jenkins is impressive and had a great game. I’ve been as excited about him as any of the freshmen this year. He will be a beast for opposing tackles the next few years.
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I love Gurley and Marshall, but I think we also need to get Malcombe on the field. He’s a big presence and he can wear out a DL in the fourth quarter. We need to keep him ready to go.
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Malcome does seem to be able to move a pile a yard or two.
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Always need play makers. Mitchell, Jones, Rambo, Williams.
It has been said about the legendary Valdosta High School and the football Wildcats. “Football is not a sport, but a required class.” Mitchell has been well schooled!
Do they teach the high five a Vandy now for their fans. The fans seem awkward when they do it after a big play or score. Very interested to watch them do that.
Let’s go Dawgs. Time to win another one at home. Make the home folks proud and loud!!!
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We lose a lot on defense after this year, but we do return 4 very nice pieces: Garrison Smith; Jordan Jenkins; Amarlo Herrera; and Damien Swann. That’s a really nice core to build around. And maybe, just maybe, Ogletree is smart and does what Jarvis did and stays one more year.
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Random thought. How many times was Jarvis COMPLETELY out of the play but ends up making the tackle? Even on the last fumble into the end zone. I swear he was in the back field but he ends up making the play…on a pass! And he’s not Deon Sanders fast; he just keeps running to the ball. Other guys on the Def…what can we learn from this?
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