The first step in fixing a problem is recognizing you have one, so at least the Dawgs are past that with their special teams.
And I know Seth’s being fair with this observation, but, oy, what a classic “other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln” moment is this?
Georgia’s special teams overall haven’t been that bad, other than the three glaring mistakes.
Get The Picture 
Regression to the mean for the rest of the special teams season.
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The schadenfreude over at Stingtalk is just pure gold this morning
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I know we love to pound on the special teams but did you see the onsides kick against SC? They are obviously getting some coaching. Players still gotta make plays. Catch the long snap for the punt and don’t overcommit on the kick coverage.
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“Things are seldom as they seem,
Skim milk masquerades as cream;
Highlows pass as patent leathers;
Jackdaws strut in peacock’s feathers.
GATA
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Do I get points for recognizing Gilbert & Sullivan?
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And points for you for remembering the lyrics to the song.
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That’s not a Butch Jones slogan that Scorpio stole from his neighbor?
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Absolutely….hopefully the Dawgs will pay you Saddy.
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It is all an illusion.
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Look, let’s just be brutally frank. The Dawgs don’t have a Special Teams coach. Most programs do. Some of the most successful CFB teams historically a have been those where the Special Teams coach has been the Head Coach. Beamer at Va Tech is one that comes to mind immediately. Until we start treating special teams for what it is–one third of the 3 elements of a football team-we will continue to have this problem. How many games do we have to lose because of special teams mistakes before CMR either takes over special teams himself (which I favor) or hires a Special Teams Co-ordinator? This is a huge blindspot for CMR and he needs to wake up. Special teams play at the University of Georgia has never measured up to the quality of play of the O and the D and has been a sore spot for YEARS!
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yeah, our D is so good.
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I disagree. Our ST seemed to be a strength in the early richt years followed by a slide in coverage skills during the 2008-2010 slide but the kicking remained as strong as ever. Now, Marshall Morgan hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like but Colin barber has been very good with he exception of 2 punts. Additionally if you read Seth’s article you saw where richt IS the one overseeing all the snap, hold, and kicking data. So I’d venture to say he’s already taken one of your pieces of advice in taking on major responsibilities himself.
While the situation certainly sucks and they had better fix it I’m not ready to declare that the sky is falling.
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Uh, MOST teams DON’T have a special teams coach. Most teams have the same coaches we do
LB
DE/OLB
DB
DL
QB
RB
WR
OL
TE
NCAA allows you 9 coaches, so which one should we cut? Look, I get as frustrated as anyone at KO returned for TDs, but as a fanbase can we please get educated about the realities of addressing the situation. A special teams coach is NOT going to happen.
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Why not have a player coach?
Obviously Hutson Mason would be our first choice.
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Is Mayor being sarcastic or is that a legit statement? Most big time programs don’t get to elite status because of a special teams coach rises through the ranks to prominence. And Frank Beamer was a defensive coordinator, not a ST coach….and almost no programs have a ST coach. See Sugardaddy’s response for legitimate reasons why.
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Frank Beamer was a DC before he became the HC. He is also functioning as the Special Teams Co-ordinator for Va Tech and has for years.
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I SPECULATE that Richt has not designated a ST Coordinator because the guy would catch the same hell that Bobo catches. Every position coach would still have to fill a ST role even with a coordinator. Naming a coordinator might change kickoff philosophy but will never prevent high snaps. I do think the kickers and snappers need more supervision. They don’t even stretch and warmup with the team before games. They seem to be on their own.
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I can’t tell you how many places I’ve seen the comment “if you take out the one 99 yard return our kickoff coverage has been pretty decent.” As my dad used to say, yeah, and if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass so much.
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I dont know if this is the entire story, but I think that special teams is a function of depth, just like everything else. But you need to be pretty deep(and very close to 85) to have a solid special teams because you need good bodies out there and we typically dont put out 1st string guys on special teams.
I think that the thing that Richt whiffed on the most is gaming the scholarship numbers and leaving us very undermanned. That seems to be getting corrected and I bet that special teams improves as well.
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I understand the glaring 3 errors, they each hurt us no question, but I feel the concern on STs is out of proportion. We have had a couple that were very positive, but no doubt we need to improve…got that. But the reason we lost to Clemson was OL play, and improvement in that area is why we beat SC. That area is what will determine tomorrow’s game result. Give our offense some time/holes and no one will outscore this team, and that includes Florida and Bama. We have had 75% of the posts on concerns related to STs, the needs on OL and defense should be weighted much heavier, probably close to the 90% mark…not 25%. Just an opinion, not blasting anyone but the snap at Clemson would have been lost in the celebration if our OL had not gotten blown up and/or negated several drives with penalties. Or if we had not missed tackles, or lost contain.
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True that. And we all know we aren’t getting a dedicated special teams coach no matter how much we whine. However, it is frustrating for issues like this to linger for multiple seasons before our staff will acknowledge there is problem that needs to be addressed. At least we talk about our line play. We work on it. We tinker with the lineup. No on shies away from these subjects. Special teams? Not so much. I think that’s why you see such hand wringing. The Clemson and North Texas games were simply the cracks in the dyke that opened up the flood. Especially North Texas.
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“We spend a lot of time and effort on it. Things just went wrong.”
a/k/a “I’ve made a huge mistake…”
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We have to consider that we have had some really good moments on STs as well in the last few games:
> Blocked FG and fake punt vs. AL
> Onside kick and fake punt vs. SC
It’s easy to only focus on the negative.
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+1
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Yeeeeep. It’s such a mixed bag. It’s getting to be mysterious. The fake punt was actually against Clemson, not SC.
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OK, I want my cake and eat it, too! I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again … Why do we not have a kicker that can consistently place the ball deep into or through the end zone? Is that really too much to ask of a program of our stature? Decreasing the number of kickoff returns attempts should decrease the potential to give up a long return. Kickoff touch-backs may be boring to some people, but I’d rather give it to them on the 25 versus the unknown … especially with the way our defensive return team(s) have looked so far this year. Like the AT&T commercial says … “It’s not complicated, we want more!”
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Because most teams don’t have kickers who can consistently kick it deep into the end zone, because there aren’t that many guys who can do it? But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe our coaches just don’t understand that kicking it through the end zone is good. Maybe they’re recruiting kickers who can only get it down to the goal line on purpose. That seems logical, now that I think of it.
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Also, for what it’s worth, Georgia has had a higher touchback% than its opponents every year since 2008. This year the difference has been dramatically different so far, but it’s still early.
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Biggus … thanks for the percentage of touchback info. I was wondering about that as I was typing my original comment. Maybe it’s that I (and others) have gotten spoiled by traditionally having good/great kickers. I’m not trying to knock what our kickers are doing because I assume they are doing their best. Just wish we had someone to drill it through the end zone every time.
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The KO return for a TD should not have ever happened. There were two blatent out in the open blocks in the back on the return. How this wasn’t called is beyond me. The bad snaps and bad blocking on punts IS concerning.
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Penn Wagers
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Threadjack Alert: Well, I see our Ol’ buddy Chip Towers felt the need to throw Gurley under the bus. It seems that Gurley didn’t talk to him and his journalist buddies this week, so he wrote an entire blog entry whining bout it because he says he felt the need to explain why there were no quotes from Gurley in his latest story. This isn’t the first time Towers did something like this, either.
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He is a total fat loser.
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That is why I no longer read AJC.
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If you don’t read them, don’t comment either, clicks is clicks, ya know?
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I don’t comment there either.
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Never doubted you were too smart to read, or participate, with that sleazy rag. Not sure where their base is, but they are one of the reasons I want to see newspapers continue their decline and go the way of the dinosaur.
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It’s very hard to read the AJC, it never stops so you can read it. What’s wrong AJC?
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