So fall practice begins. And how could you have a first day of practice without somebody throwing up?
Georgia’s offense was having its way with the defense eight periods into the opening football practice on a humid Thursday afternoon, but left tackle Kenarious Gates was not celebrating.
After a second successful drive operating a no-huddle attack during 11-on-11 drills, Georgia’s offense raced back to the sideline. Which is where Gates lost what he had consumed for lunch.
“Hey, Gates!” Bulldogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo shouted as he raced over to the doubled-over 6-foot-5, 327-pounder. “I said period seven, and you went to period eight! Congrats! You won!”
Bobo already had berated players for bending over during the third of 20 scheduled periods, essentially announcing to all within earshot that this indeed is a new season.
It’s silly to read too much into the first day, but you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t obsess, so if you’re looking for a round-up of observations, here you go: Weiszer, Emerson, Towers and Legge. Thoughts?
Get The Picture 
Any injuries other than puking?
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I like Legge’s breakdown of the defense. Good stuff.
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It worries me when he observes that the secondary will get big hits, but the pursuit and/or interceptions may go lacking due to inexperience.
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Me too. I liked his summary and his quote “Orsen Charles protective covering” pretty funny.
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We hear preseason sunshine pumping every year. Right now every team looks great.
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Never would have pictured Bobo reaming someone out. I can see Grantham in a player’s earhole. Funny stuff.
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I don’t understand why not. Just because the guy is disciplined enough (like Richt) to be calm in front of cameras and writers does not mean that he lacks intensity in the appropriate forum for it, i.e., practice.
I’ve never understood why people make assumptions on that.
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Like Boom?
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You forgot the “MF”.
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If there were no video evidence, the same assumption would be made. “Too nice to win the big one!!”
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Thx Senator, those articles were better than 2 cups of coffee to get me going this a.m. 😉
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Which one to worry about? Coaching? Offense? Defense? Special Teams?…..I’ll take Special Teams with the defensive (safties esp) a distant second. I’m really excited about this team. It may be the one we all remember for the rest of our days.
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As long as Grantham is here, Bobo’s offense is going to HAVE to score a LOT of points in games like Clemson and South Carolina. Grantham’s defense gave up
30+ points vs SC, Bama, and in the Bowl game.
Add in you got an inexperienced defense that Boyd/Watkins + Spurrier will exploit, you have to assume, unless Bobo’s offense can unload 40+ in these two games, we’re gonna lose them both.
Bobo has the right words. It’s not last year for this offense. They can’t score 7 against South Carolina again or they’ll lose the game, and with South Carolina’s schedule, likely the season.
This ain’t last year.
Marshall has got to start showing up in big games, Murray needs to cut down on turnovers in those games. The oline needs to show up. The tight ends will be big in those games. And the WR corp will have to be at the top of their game.
Probably the best plan would be to ride Gurley as far as he can take this team.
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Um, no. There was a punt return for a TD in the SCar game and Nebraska’s D scored on a pick-six.
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Point is, gave up WAY too many points in the big games, Grantham can’t be counted on to win big games.
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9
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UGA is 11-1 in 2011/2012 when the offense scores 40 or more points.
Only loss was South Carolina 2011 where offense turned the ball over too much.
HAS to be the mentality.
MUST SCORE 40 OR MORE POINTS AGAINST CLEMSON AND SOUTH CAROLINA, and yes, PROTECT the ball in big games on offense.
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I am absolutely shocked that a team would have a great record when it scores a bunch of points and a not so great record when it doesn’t score a bunch of points.
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So by definition, Florida wasn’t a big game last season.
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Florida has not been good offensively. Not a big test for the defense.
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Florida was 12th in total offense in the SEC, last in passing.
Too 1 dimensional.
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They did pretty well against Florida the last two years. Were those big games? I forget.
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Come to think of it, looking back to 2011, Grantham’s defense got a bunch of points scored on them against Boise, South Carolina, LSU, and Michigan State.
Since Grantham’s defense has given up 30 or more points 7 times, in the big games 2011/2012, Bobo’s offense has to go back into Willie Martinez mode,
MUST SCORE 40 EVERY BIG GAME.
Just can’t rely on an inexperienced defense. Score 40+ against SC, Clemson, and you win those 2 games, regardless of how many points the defense yields.
By the Florida game, you hope the defense will be in its’ stride, but the OFFENSE needs to carry the team EARLY and against CLEMSON & South Carolina.
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I didn’t know trolls woke up this early.
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Actually, Florida held South Carolina to 11 points last year, UGA held South Carolina to 35 points.
South Carolina score 45 in 2011, and 35 in 2012.
Offense better come ready to score a LOT of points.
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If this offense doesn’t score a lot of points, they did something wrong.
And, South Carolina held South Carolina to 11 points last year vs. Florida. They treated the football like cancer and gave it to Florida as often as they could. I am glad they did. It gave UGA the East, so more power to them.
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Marshall has got to show up against good rush defenses like UF & Bama. 1 ypc vs UF, 1.5 vs Bama, not good.
But impressed with the way Gurley ran against Florida and Bama. He’s very, very reliable in big games.
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Please don’t start some worthless meme that the O has to score 40 pts to win, and if they don’t, they are responsible for a loss.
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There are specific games where the offense has to carry the team. Clemson was 6th in offensive scoring last year.
South Carolin has lit the scoreboard up against Grantham in 2011/2012, Spurrier has his number.
Offense needs to score 40 in both games, and maybe more.
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You ARE a troll!
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No doubt. No problem with fans of other teams voicing a different perspective, healthy to have other viewpoints, but they should identify their bias so we can factor that into why his view is so equally distorted against the Dawgs. We all have reasons for understating, or overstating, our opinions….Will just might be a “friend of Will”. Whatever he is, I hope their coaching staff and players also feel UGA can be taken lightly in 2013. We all need every break we can get. UGA certainly isn’t without questions on defense, but me thinks our defense will be better than expected. And they don’t have to be great with the offensive firepower that is almost certain to be available each game. I wouldn’t get too comfy Mr. Will, regardless of which game you are sweating.
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Bejebus but you are an idiot Will! Were we missing some starters against Boise? Carolina’s offense didn’t score a bunch of points against that year, their special teams and turnovers did; LSU didn’t get a first down in the first HALF! Go ahead and keep trolling, but you don’t know a damn thing about football.
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We get it Will, you don’t care for Coach Grantham, but you also don’t account for the missing starters from the first 4 games last year. You want to go back to Willie? go ahead. I think the rest of us are willing to give Coach Grantham some credit for a defense that is finding its fire.
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Grantham’s defense gave up a TON of rushing yards last year, 300+ rushing yards in some games. Don’t recall Willie Martinez’ defense doing that too often.
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If you are just now noting this, perhaps you should redial the Buffalo game comments to see how long ago that was noted on gtp. This is a new year and you ,as well as the rest of us, don’t know shit about this D and game performance.
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The stuff I think but can’t say….thank you!
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Will,
Do you have two thumbs??
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Think it was Weiszer’s photos that have one of Jenkins and Matthews togother on the sideline. Whooee!
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Bobo can definitely be intense. I remember when I was in school i refereed the basketball team’s 3 on 3 tournament. The coaches had a squard and made it to the championship game against (I think) Odell Thurman, Tim Jennings, and one other guy. Anyway, Bobo screamed at me the entire game. Nobody else complained about calls really. Surprising thing what that Richt just sat there on the bleachers and didn’t looked phased at all by his assistant coach berating a volunteer referee.
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Maybe Mark was hoping someone would deck him
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The defense Will Show Up just you wait and see!
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I enjoys the articles but it seems like one of the AJC trolls followed the link over here. I was reminded how much I don’t miss reading there.
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Agreed. Those blogs have just been flat taken over. It’s really a shame and quite painful to read if you want to actually see anything valuable mentioned about football. Honestly, that’s their goal. to ruin it for someone else. Truly sad.
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Defines them as losers. Just ignore, let them wallow in their misery and never drag you down with them.
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For me, GTP’s appeal is equal parts wit and insight from the Senator and (usually) sane discussion from the commenters. There’s no place like it.
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Damn I’m confused. Who is it we need to fire!?
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I know y’all are annoyed by Will’s lack of a bedside manner, but so far I haven’t read much fact-wise to dispute his larger point (yes, some ST’s mistakes) that Grantham’s D’s have not always held strong at key times, despite great talent, and that the gulf between Grantham and Martinez does not appear to be as large as we would have hoped a few years ago.
Calling him a troll is inaccurate, because I think he pops in here fairly regularly, and a little bit unfair…
As far as not being allowed to criticize this D before they’ve ever played a game, that is fair enough, but the coach has, in fact, coached before. And if we’re getting excited about players like Matthews, who have never played a down of college ball, then it’s okay to temper our predictions with some facts about our D that have held true under this coach.
(returns to secret stash of kool aid)
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I have often expressed concerns about CTG, specifically the 3-4 scheme against power running teams, but when you read Will’s comments they lack balance and are intentionally intended to harm. UGA isn’t a total wipeout/disaster, there actually are positives. The point everyone is expressing is simply, you ain’t one of us, stand up and announce your presence by registering as a rival. You can respect the enemy who wears a uniform and meets you on the battlefield, but cowardly enemies (terrorists) who sneak around and ambush will never be anything but scum. It is their role in life.
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Different Will.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I don’t have a problem with the negativity. Just the boring repetitiveness of a point that’s already been made here by others… including me.
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I don’t see it as “negative” to lay out a positive path for my Dawgs to win those 2 games.
It’s delusional and epic homerism to not think that Clemson and South Carolina will be the two best offenses we face.
Clemson whooped the LSU defense, which is impressive, very few scored 25 on Chavis in 2012, not Spurrier, not Bama, not Manziel.
If you’ll check, Spurrier AVERAGES 30+ points a game these days overall,and Clemson AVERAGES over 40 points a game.
My positive plan is for the offense to outscore Clemson and South Carolina.
Don’t want to start out 0-2 again. Rather be 2-0.
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He does tend to go on. I just thought he was getting a lot of flak for the specific (and interesting to me) point – a legit suggestion that our offense might need to prepare / gameplan with 40+ as the threshold. I think his previous noxious postings and dead horse beating have understandably given people a shorter fuse w/ him.
So we have Will (The Other One), Will Trane (also salty), and Will.
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I don’t think it takes a huge amount of original insight to figure that Georgia needs to score a boatload of points to win the opener. But maybe that’s just me.
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Grantham’s defense yielded these rushing yardage totals in the last 4 games of 2012 with a roster full of a roster of players on defense who got drafted by the NFL:
302 yards Georgia Southern
306 yards Georgia Tech
350 yards Alabama
239 yards Nebraska
To put that in perspective, Willie Martinez led defenses only gave up more than 200 yards rushing in 4 games between 2007, 2008 & 2009.
Grantham did it 4 times in a row in 2012.
And only one team gained more than 300 yards rushing in 3 seasons against Willie Martinez.
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To be fair, two of those teams probably had next to zero passing yards and the book on the triple option seems to be bend but not break. You can’t cherry pick rushing, you have to consider Willie’s total offense against, and you also have to figure in number of turnovers, special teams points, etc. It’s not as simple as you have posted here.
Beyond that, it should give you and all of us heart that they made a change at the d-line coach position and we’re now looking at rotating in more guys and – it appears – more athletic / fit personnel there rather than just giant hole-filling dudes. They are making changes to try and improve, have a seat and drink some of my kool aid, it is double strength this year.
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1) Alabama was held to under 175 yards rushing by LSU & Texas A & M. They ran for 350 against Grantham’s defense. 12 yards short of season high.
2) Willie Martinez held Georgia Tech to 136 & 205 yards rushing in 2007 & 2009. Grantham has given up 411 in 2010, and 306.
3) Willie Martinez held Georgia Southern to 102 yards rushing in 2008, Grantham gave up 302 in 2012.
As for the new Def Coor, Chris Wilson, jury is out there to say the least, his defense at Miss State ranked in the SEC last season:
13th in sacks
13th in tackles for loss
11th in rush defense
Don’t believe Grantham’s issue is rotation, more about poor technique and poor scheme execution. The defense lost 8 starters and is very inexperienced.
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Wilson is the new line coach, not DC.
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