I’m back. I’ve showered. I’m out of the frickin’ traffic jam on 129 (where my previous post originated from). So I’ve calmed down somewhat.
You’d either have to be blind or in serious denial to miss Georgia’s defensive issues. The coaches are certainly far from blameless, but as nobody’s going anywhere tomorrow, I’m more concerned about what, if anything, can be done now.
A few observations after six games:
- Grantham’s not blind to what’s happening on the field. Leonard Floyd was a huge liability in pass coverage, but is a beast when it comes to rushing the passer. So today, he was deployed on obvious passing downs and that was about it.
- The problem is that all of the linebackers are liabilities in pass coverage. And when teams go four- and five-wide, Georgia can’t hide. Ramik Wilson got victimized repeatedly in the first half by Missouri and the only thing Grantham had in response was to trade Wilson’s responsibilities with Herrera’s.
- What about safety help for the ILBs? It’s an idea. The problem is that Mauger and Moore don’t seem to contribute much. There’s a reason Norman plays ahead of Moore; he may not be as physically gifted, but he has a better idea of where to be and what to do on the field.
- Run defense continues to be serviceable, at least when the defensive line is able to stand its ground. Run support from the secondary is almost non-existent.
- There isn’t a reliable cornerback. Shaq Wiggins looked like a keeper for about three quarters, but looked like a Martinez defensive back as he gave up two big plays in the last ten minutes of the game. Eventually, he’s going to be steady, but he’s not there yet. Swann is the biggest mystery on defense. It’s stunning how much he’s regressed this season.
- The pass rush/penetration on the line comes and goes. When it’s there, as it was early and throughout the third quarter today, the defense thrives. When it’s not… well, let’s just say that there were long stretches where James Franklin looked like the most relaxed person in Sanford Stadium. That being said, the defensive line is far and away the strongest part of Georgia’s defense right now.
So what would you do? Me, I’d probably blitz even more, until I see signs that somebody in the secondary can cover. Oh, yeah, and pray that Norman and Matthews get back soon.
Get The Picture 
Defense started out with flaws and hasn’t gotten better. The question is starting to become “if” rather then “when” the defense might turn the corner.
That said, the defense was not alone in this loss. Remember, we had just 10 points in the first half. Not enough to hang with Mizzou.
Obviously the defense didn’t help at all with the -4 turnover margin, but to me that was the game.
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Thanks for the good analysis. With the struggles in the secondary I’m curious what is going on with Sheldon Dawson; he played more as a freshman than he has as a sophomore. And Langley started the first 5 games and now he is nowhere to be seen.
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Honestly Wiggins has been much better than Langley, even with the hideous play on the WR pass today.
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Agreed. Wiggins is showing promise, but the secondary is just terrible.
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Has any reporter asked the obvious question of whether he or any other serviceable DBs are suspended? I haven’t heard it ruled out yet.
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That is one of the things I’m wondering about
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I was hoping that we’d see some competence by now, in our sixth game. We had the first quarter and the third quarter, and the first 40 minutes versus Tennessee…but the other parts of those games have been so abysmal as to completely mitigate the good work done.
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Doesn’t your analysis beg the question “why”? Did the scheme change? The personnel didn’t and, say what you will, there’s talent there. I’ve watched six or eight teams tonight and I think we can play with most with out people. I hate to cast stones at coaches but read CTG explanation..did you feel the heat of smoke up your rear? There’s no media at the full practice so we have no idea what’s going on. I just know when I finally saw CTG on the sidelines yelling at the defense on the bench, I saw a bunch of cowed, baffled young men who weren’t saying anything..no questions, no feedback, no apparent motivation or instruction. I know that’s not fair but it looked bad.
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You had to know we would have an off day offensively & the defense wouldn’t be able to pull us out. We’ve been living on the edge too long, We seem to be unable to defend the pass, pressure the QB, or tackle very well. Three recipes for disaster. We had this coming. We have to be one of the softest defenses in the country. We’re definitely living week to week now.
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I agree. I did not expect us to win this game.
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I was completely unsure what to expect, but I wasn’t confident. You’re exactly right about the offense eventually having an off day, and this seemed like a prime opportunity with all the attrition. I feel bad for Murray. It would have been nice if he could have finished his career with a ring. They still can make the SEC title game if Gurley can return and stay healthy, but with Mitchell and Scott-Wesely gone a lot of the explosiveness is gone from the passing game. I don’t like their chances against anyone they might play in Atlanta.
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Davis could restore the explosiveness if he could do all the rest as well as he needs to. Gurley makes a ton of difference in favor of others’ “explosiveness” just by being in the game. Should we make Atlanta I wouldn’t be surprised to see something close to what we had the first 3 1/2 games if Gurley and Bennett are playing.
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“I don’t like their chances against anyone they might play in Atlanta.” Well, they just might get to play LSU again if LSU can get past Bama. The Dawgs beat LSU 2 weeks ago.
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At home with the offense mostly healthy.
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What can they do? Trade rosters with Florida? Given what I’ve seen this defensive staff would still give up 20 a game, but that’s better than 30.
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Give Grantham UF’s roster and we might have a defense as competent as say last year’s squad, but they wouldn’t touch what Florida actually is now, which is the only real defense in the conference at this point, unfortunately for them they are in as bad a shape on offense as we are on defense. Give UF our offense and offensive coordinator and they are unstoppable.
I agree we are week to week at this point, we are still fully capable of beating anyone on the schedule, especially once we get Gurley and Bennett. The flip side is that we will remain capable of losing, even getting blown out by anybody on the schedule as well except Appalachian State. CTG needs to go, but the Senator’s right that it’s not going to happen until after the season.
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I agree with your post. I hate it that we will be having to go through another coaching change on D next year when, if we had a competitive D, we might just be in a position to win it all–sooooo many good players coming back on O.
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Do people really think Richt will get rid of Grantham? I am skeptical of this given how long it takes Richt to capitulate on bad coaches as well as the cost of this buyout. I am curious to hear the Senator’s (as well as others’) take on this.
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I do. I think firing Martinez was a crucible for him. Think about it, if you fired your best friend wouldn’t you hold the next guy who took the job to at least the same standard. I’ve picked up the vibe from Richt that he is disgusted with the defense, he’s not the kind of guy to come right out and call another coach out publically. His comments this year have been light years away from where they were in 08 and 09 when you could tell he was rationalizing the defense’s failure and trying anything who could to avoid the consulsion that Willie had to go.
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D play calling is designed out of fear of giving up the big play. So rather than trying to enforce our will on the O, we are completely reactionary. I told you earlier this week that this was coming and you said I was all “doom and gloom”. We are a team built on out scoring the opponent and we cannot do that with all out O firepower hurt. Bottom line, Grantham is not a very good coach…couldn’t get a ridiculously talented team to play to their potential last year and we lost the two tough games we played in and now, he can’t coach up and scheme the young talent we have. Same dog, different fleas.
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Agree totally with your assessment of CTG.
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I really thought the D would have a solid game today. With the offense missing so many key players, today was the day Grantham and his D would make their mark. Obviously I was wrong. The front 7 is a good group (yes there are tackling issues with the LB’s at times, and yes the LB’s look lost in coverage at times), but the secondary is a complete train wreck. Swann continues to look lost, the safeties are no where to be found, but Wiggins will eventually be solid. Giving up 30+ points again is just sad. I am officially done with Grantham. He is simply overmatched. This team will only go as far as the defense allows them to go.
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Matthews will eventually be solid too. It’s such a shame…there clearly is talent. But such a mess.
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And that’s the rub. If there were zero talent on the defense I could understand the huge point totals this team gives up week in and week out. But as you stated, there is talent all over the field. And these kids are no longer “young” given the games the Dawgs have played to this point. As I see it, this is a Grantham issue. I just do not see it getting fixed.
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If Corey Moore is “talented” I haven’t seen it. His effort on the long TD run was embarrassing. There is a reason that the walk on plays ahead of him. Mauger may be ok some day, but he’s a true freshman. Our safety play today was just atrocious. Its hard to patch over the fact that neither one of your safeties can cover and one isn’t interested in tackling. I just don’t think this is a x’s and o’s issue, its a jimmies and joe’s issue on the back end. Were good enough to compete at the other positions but Moore and Mauger are huge liabilities.
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That falls on Grantham too. He’s in charge of recruiting his players and teaching them his system. Thus far he hasn’t shown a lot at doing either. Though I will say that Rodney Garner probably has been planning a big fuck you to us for a couple years now after he didn’t get promoted.
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Yeah. I think we are gonna really need to look out when we play Auburn.
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“Grantham and his D would make their mark”
well they left a mark. Well we did help out the east when Franklin was hurt. He makes their offense go and without him, they lose at least 3 more.
Sigh. Here we are “wishing” another team will lose and somehow our defense finds itself…
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Here’s the problem with blitzing more: They are only rarely successful, and with the complete inability to cover anyone it’s a recipe for big plays. There is no answer. They tackle poorly. They take themselves out of position. The free safeties just sort of wander aimlessly around the secondary. And it all goes back to coaching. Grantham is in his fourth year. There should be enough players with experience in his system to not be playing this many freshmen. Even playing this many freshmen, they should not look absolutely lost almost all the time. If they can’t learn the scheme, then simplify it. They are either recruiting kids who can’t be taught what to do, or they are bad at teaching it. I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.
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They’re already giving up big plays. The way this defense is now, I’ll risk two or three more big plays a game for the chance at as many or more sacks/turnovers.
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I just don’t know why you’d assume they’ll get turnovers. They are practically never near receivers and haven’t caused any fumbles when they’ve gotten to QBs.
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I’m not assuming anything. I said a ‘chance.’ But I KNOW we’re not getting them now.
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+1
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We literally HAVE to be in the bottom 5% in the country in causing turnovers. At this point you’d think someone would get lucky and have a ball get stuck in their facemask or jersey or something.
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Hell, we’re getting skunked when we drop 7 and 8 anyway, if we blitz more pressure can cause good things to happen. A QB under duress can make bad throws, might even get a fumble or an interception who knows.
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+1. This is the only answer in the short run.
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I’ve said this dozens of times the last couple of weeks. Just play balls to the wall aggressive…go after the QB…every play. The secondary is going to give it up anyway.
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I get the desire to see them “be aggressive”, but what I don’t understand is why anyone thinks it will be any more successful than the other things the defense can’t do properly. It seems more likely to me that the blitzes will be telegraphed and largely ineffective with what little ability they have to contain things on the back end gone. As someone who remembers Kevin Ramsey’s failed stint as a defensive coordinator, I have no desire to see poorly executed blitz schemes ever again.
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It’s done. The endgame is obvious.
Willie Martinez : Bryan Evans ::
Todd Grantham : Damian Swann
It’s over. Fly the excuses, the youth, the if and then maybe considering the fact that whatever, whatever. Grantham ain’t doing the job. Didn’t do it last year either. Eject button. Now.
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Sad thing is that Willie and Jancek basically at worst had a draw against Grantham last weekend.
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Grantham is just a more PR savvy version of Willie, he yells and talks shit, in a lot of people’s mind that made him a good DC as long as Bobo was there to bail him out 90% of the time.
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+1000
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What stands out to me is 1) our D can’t get a turnover to save their life, and 2) they tackle poorly. Who’d have thought the newbee coach, Wilson, is the only guy who’s coaching players up. Judging from CMR’s demeanor in his end-of-half interview with lugenbill, I’d say CTG’s days at UGA are numbered unless the D has a miraculous 2nd half of the season.
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And 3) they can’t cover anyone, and 4) they take bad angles, and 5) they don’t read their keys, and 6) they’re out of position all the time. Have I left anything out?
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(7) They get flagged a lot.
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I wish I believed that. But how many years did it take for Willie to finally get cut loose?
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That is my concern, per my comment above. Richt is notorious for being a softy on these incompetent boobs. Someone tell me why it will be different this time. Plus, cutting Grantham loose won’t be cheap.
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That’s what that fat reserve is for. Tech may balk at letting The Genius go because of its cost, but we’re not Tech. Eat the damn hit, get the best God damn DC money can buy, and let’s roll.
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And what of Richt’s past record on being slow to fire bad coaches?
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Pretty sure Grantham was not in Richt’s wedding or vice versa.
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To get a turnover, you have to at least be in the vicinity of the ball. That seldom happens with this defense, especially on a pass.
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Wilson has DC experience. But he was a 4-3 guy ?
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You raise an interesting point. I thought that you had to have a 350+ lb NG who eats up 2 blockers for the 3-4 to work. We don’t. I think that is one of the problems with the LB play. The other team’s guards get to them too easily. It seems our personnel is more suited to the 4-3, at least up front.
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And how come we never hear anything about Lakatos? He has to be the least mentioned coach in the nation who’S unit is such a train wreck.
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People don’t want to seem Lakatos intolerant? Sorry, guys.
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golf claps.
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What we saw today was inevitable. We have DBs that can’t cover and can’t/won’t tackle. The LBs can tackle but can’t cover. This D simply can’t stop a first rate offensive team. Therefor in order to win the Dawgs have to score 40+ points. Sooner or later that had to catch up to us. In this game, there were injuries to the first stringers on O and the replacements just aren’t as talented. It’s really just that simple. Add in the occasional complete breakdown by the O-line that gives up a TD and the once a game ST f#ck-up and there you have it–too many points for the not-as-good O to overcome. That said, if we get back Gurley and 2 receivers we’ll still be competitive. We’re 4-2 after 6 games. I think we can beat App State, Kentucky, Vandy and Tech in the second half. Thats 8 wins. If we can beat an Auburn team that is now obviously much better than everyone thought it would be and an FU team that has troubles of its own, we might still win the East–but no BCSNCG. I feel for Aaron Murray. He came back to drive a Ferrari in the big race ’cause he’s the best race car driver in the nation, and the coaches hand him the keys to a Model T, Everybody still expects him to win the race but he can’t because the engine sputters and the wheels come off at the worst possible time. I’m glad the fanbase and the media finally appear to understand this and are getting off Murray’s back when the Dawgs fail to win.
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As bad as the defense was, the game was imminently winnable. 2 offensive screw-ups and 1 defensive screw ups swung the game:
OFFENSE- Douglas’ fumble at the 5 took points off the board before halftime.
-the sack / return for a defensive TD for mizzou
=> 10-14 points to Mizzou
DEFENSE – the completely inexcusable roughing the passer by Herrera took a great defensive stop (and probably win) and flushed it. Subsequently, mizzou threw the winning TD.
=> + 7 Mizzou
Sigh…Badness
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Don’t forget the backup qb in the game that everyone in the stadium knew was going to run third down conversion.
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That to me was the nail in the coffin
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Jeez, Mayor, you give them a lot of credit. Re: “simply can’t stop a first rate offensive team”–I want to see the evidence they can stop any FBS offensive team.
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We’ll find that out when they play Vandy and UK.
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Hey Texas got rid of theirs – beats Okla – their biggest rival. Get him out now. We’ve still got 2 wks. Maybe CTG has gotta go.
Oh, & we should tackle. Just tackle. We are bad at tackling. Think @ that for a minute. We make some damn good motivational videos. But we don’t tackle well. I’d like to see us tackle better. Or just tackle.
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Did Chavis or Foster ever mentor anyone in their tenures as DCs?? Mac Brown got rid of Manny Diaz (who I thought was a good, young talent” and grabbed Greg Robinson (who?) who stopped the bleeding and Oklahoma. But CMR, God bless him, would never bite the bullet and fire CTG. And, he might no have to…a good back to Jesus talk might change his way..and our defense!!
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CMR will never do it. The AD will have to step in if this is to happen. Chris Wilson has been DC at Miss. State. He seems to have his unit in pretty good order. He would definitely be a good stop gap measure since he knows the system and maybe would turn out to be a good one since we are supposed to have “more talent” than he had at MSU
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CMR will do it.
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I think CMR will do it, too. But not until after the season.
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Ill believe it when I see it unfortunately. Between using the youth and injury excuse, how long it took him to get rid of Willie, and how cheap our Athletic Department seems to be despite being one of the most profitable in the country, I’d bet he gets another year.
Mcgarity is no Jeremy Foley. He seems fine with the status qho as long as the money keeps rolling in. Hell, it’s not like the football program is the biggest of the train wrecks. He hasn’t exactly done stellar work with the basketball or baseball teams.
To paraphrase the Great Sean Connery: losers try, winners do and then go eff the prom queen.
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It doesn’t seem to be and issue of being “cheap”. I don’t see Todd Grantham lining up for food stamps. He is HIGHLY paid, now if only he would “highly” produce. For what we are paying him, I’m sure we could bring a good DC in. The problem with the previous search was that CMR was on the hot seat and no one wanted to walk into that unstable situation. Now that CMR is pretty secure, I would venture to guess that a few of the ones who previously turned him down would be receptive to a conversation/offer.
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Oh I agree Richt won’t fire him mid-season, unless we get insane amounts of improvement though I think CTG’s gone at the end of the year.
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I’m a big fan of the time outs at inopportune times, too.
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We did seem to get lined up properly before the snap multiple times today, so there is obviously progress being made.
I have never seen a defense this incompetent on big downs . We are the opposite of bend but don’t break.
Why we continue to run combo man/zone coverages is beyond my comprehension.
we have out schemed an opponent on 1 single occasion this season, and Jordan Jenkins dropped the pick.
One has to feel terrible for Murray, and I can only hope that coach richt learned from the Martinez debacle that sooner is better when firing incompetent coaches.
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“I can only hope that coach richt learned from the Martinez debacle that sooner is better when firing incompetent coaches.”
I think the defensive coaching staff has ability and I think the defensive line has improved since day 1 for sure. Our problem is a freshman laden secondary…and our best freshman safety (Matthews) and our most experienced safety (norman) have missed the last 2 games. The question isn’t why are the coaches incompetent… It is that coaching up a 2 deep of true freshmen is a losing battle agains experienced SEC offenses. What I hope “Richt has learned” and Grantham has learned is to recruit more efficiently so that we don’t end up with 1/2 our defense starting true freshmen during a supposed SEC and national title run. That ain’t a recipe for success
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Exactly! Those who want to give a pass because so many freshman are playing should ask why so many freshman are playing. “Left early” isn’t an excuse.
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Where are the JuCo defensive backs?…surely they have some experience? And, after six games with all the practices, these are not truly “freshmen” players.
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For that matter where’s the Juco WR we sure could use?
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How much is it hurting us that Nick Marshall, Chris Sanders and the other secondary guy got kicked out? Plus Corey Moore and a few other safety recruits didnt pan out.
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Damn…was JJ’s name even called today? Didn’t think of that until now
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He seems to have become the invisible man
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The other teams have probably identified him as being our only capable player at LB and are making sure to either run away from him or he gets blocked on every play. Sorta like we did with Clowney.
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Sorry but what the hell made you think that today would be the day the D “made their mark”? You seriously think the offense being hampered was somehow the magic variable to spark a defensive turnaround? The article that Seth Emerson wrote Tenessee week was more damning than any game I’ve watched this D play in 4 years. The fact that multiple players admit that no one on the defense really understands the play calls after 4 games is freaking mindblowing. Sorry today sucked but it was by no means surprising.
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Yep. Agree. I didn’t expect to win the game today. I just didn’t believe our defense would get “one more stop”.
Feel for AM.
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Not sure what to do but we have to try something as what we’re doing now isn’t working. I think I would blitz more and play with more pressure. Yes we will give up big plays but maybe we will actually get a turnover now and then. Plus, pressure like that can wear on an offense over the course of a game. I’m tired of watching the defense sit around waiting to give up another 3rd and 15.
As for Grantham, think Richt is tired of the same old mistakes and might make a change. I don’t know who is out there, but that North Texas defense seemed well coached. They could at least tackle which is something apparently Grantham can’t teach.
I just hate it for Murray.
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I’m with you. I go blitz crazy if I’m Todd Grantham, especially on passing downs. What’s the worst that can happen? Big gains? That’s already happening.
This defense is not good, but it is effective when pressure is applied to the QB (every defense is), and we have above-average pass rushers all over the field (Garrison, Jordan, Leonard, Ray). We won’t see another QB or another set of WRs like that for the rest of the regular season.
It has been brutal, but the next 6 offenses are all worse than the one we saw today. Blitz and blitz again, and try to win enough series to win the game.
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Honestly, despite the ESPN announcers drooling over them all game, Mizzou’s offense is mediocre. Green-Beckham is the only WR they had we would have recruited and Mizzou got lucky b/c he stayed in state. We can make any WR corps look great. And the starting qb whose name the alcohol seems to have stolen from my brain sucked all last year. We made him look like a heisman candidate like every other qb we face.
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I RESENT THAT!!!
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What would I do?
I’d fire Grantham tomorrow and put Wilson in charge in the interim. I’d tell the others to polish up their resumes.
Then, I’d start a serious, professional hunt for a DC that actually knows what he is doing, unlike the one currently in charge.
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AMEN!!!
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Agree 100%.
Are we a championship school or not? If we want championships, we don’t tolerate failures like CTG.
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Thats the ticket. We need to take up a collection to make another pass at Chavis and Foster, but we haven’t been able to get an established DC to Athens since ever.
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Ellis Johnson. Also, don’t laugh but I still think Manny Diaz is a good DC–he just wasn’t used right By Mack Brown at Texas. Nobody can go from being that good to that bad without some sort of interference from his superior. Plus we know all that Mack is sort of a bumbling idiot. I blame Mack more than I blame Manny. Manny was just the scapegoat.
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For a definition of “getting right down to the nuts of the thing,” please see this post. Grantham will land on his feet. Shoot, even if he lands on his ass, he’ll still be OK. How hard a lick can it possibly be with the kind of buyout he’ll have?
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Kirby Smart>Todd Grantham. Bama never seems to have a “young” defense. They just win national titles. I believe since 1980, Bama’s won 4 titles, Florida 3, LSU 2, and even Auburn and Tennessee have won a title. Hey, there’s always a Tampa/Orlando bowl game against Michigan State, Wisconsin, or Purdue. I should quit aiming high as a Dawg fan, and just accept this program as is. It’s not like the State of Georgia is some kind of recruiting hotbed or anything.
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There’s the attitude you need as a UGA fan. A mid to top tier bowl game in FL where we play some Big 10 team that none of our fans want to see let alone impartial outsiders. But McGarity and Richt are happy with that as long as the bucks keep rolling in.
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Leave Richt out of it. Where were you when McGarity and the B of Rs decided to give Grantham a raise and gave Richt and Bobo a shove in the face? Were many of you trying so hard to get Richt and Bobo fired that you failed to analyse anything else happening? Now, having reaped the whirlwind that kept discerning eyes from evaluating the D for the last two years you now place Richt’s name in there? Grantham’s demise was taken out of Richt’s hands back when Mcgarity gave Grantham a raise when he had not proved himself and gave Richt and Bobo short shrift. That’s when the die was cut for this situation out of which the team is trying to claw itself.
Grantham’s stay is squarely on McGarity and the Bd of Regents.
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So you don’t think Richt had any say/input in the decision with Grantham? You can’t absolve Richts responsibility for the D situation, he is the head coach. Will he give him 6 years to learn his position like he did Bobo or will he make a change. Did he learn anything from the Willie fiasco? We’ll see in Dec/Jan.
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But does a move like that shift the dynamics in the coaches
office. How accountable does Grantham feel to Richt?
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I have serious doubts that Kirby Smart is the key to Alabama’s defensive success. Saban calls the shots, the D is what is in Saban’s wheelhouse as a coach, like coaching QB’s is Richt’s wheelhouse. Let Kirby go somewhere else and prove he can replicate his success on this own before we touch him.
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Is it Kirby Smart or Nick Saban that is responsible for the consistent defenses at Bama?
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“Kirby Smart>Todd Grantham”
Is Kirby Smart really the mastermind of the Bama Defense or is Saban? I tend to favor Saban, and by quite a margin. Who knows how Smart will fare on his own.
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Our corners are not as bad they seem. Our safeties are out of position more often than they are where they should be. Watching an early replay the announcer says Swann got burned for a TD. Break for commercial and when they come back, analyst says something like: I am sorry, I blamed Swann for that but… Then goes to show that Mauger was supposed to be providing support on that play and was just no where. Swann’s not perfect, but he’s pursuing everything and because he happens to be close by he’s getting blamed. Conner probably can’t run with the receivers, but he can read and communicate coverage. Pick your poison.
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Good post here
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Agreed. As bad as our secondary seems to be, I think they are worse when they’re in a zone, as there seems to always be miscommunication about the corner dropping someone and the safety picking them up, etc. Heck, I’d probably take my chances and rush five, or even six depending on the opposition’s formation, and have the rest of the D in a freaking man-assignment. At least then they could just try to use their supposed athleticism to keep up with their one guy, so just react instead of read-and-react, because our secondary can’t read, and they just play slower when they try to do so. Hopefully everyone would have to cover for less time because sending five or six would get to the QB. But that’s just desperation talking
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Add in the coaches could focus almost entirely on man coverage techniques in practice.
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Plus that way everybody would at least know their assignments. As it stands right now the DBs are all paralyzed because they can’t figure out what to do. Man coverage and blitz–on every passing down.
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Not making excuses for the secondary – they really stunk it up yesterday – but those were some damn tall receivers they had to cover.
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You’re assuming they covered them…I saw one, maybe two plays where the play was close enough that a receiver’s height made the difference.
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And why can’t Conner run with the receivers. Ya’ll gotta get over these stereotypes.
Ht: 5-10.5 Wt: 190 40: 4.39
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Well. I’m young and dumb. So with that being said….. These def players aren’t bad. Yup. I said it. OK. With the obvious question marks. Being everything but the line. They’re scared. I’ve never seen such a weak minded scared bunch of dudes. Besides the fact that jhc and pastor drew haven’t seen the field until this year. The pressure is killing everyone else. Damn Chinese fire drill. And man I’m trying to keep it clean here. Grantham has cometely lost control of these players. Did anyone watch LSU tonight?!?! Def looked pretty damn stout. And shit. Murray try all he can doesn’t have the support to just throw the ball around. Valiant effort on the come back. But the game isn’t 15 min long… So with that being said. With all the so called talent. I don’t see how you can’t say, hey Grantham, thanks douche. For under preparing for this season… You might have put all my thoughts for the past few years to rest. Its not the players. Its not the heart. Its the hiring of the coaches that put them in this position. Blame def all you want….. Agh…. I hate to say this, but. Meme this. Go away richt. God bless you. Good man. But it starts at the top. FIRE RICHT!!!! Drop the mic. I’m out
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You had me until your last 7 sentences.
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I’m not on the Fire Richt bandwagon and don’t think I ever have. But damn, with as much money as our program makes, the talent in the state, and the fan support, we should be demanding more. Hell, Mack Brown won a MNC and he’s feeling the heat. We have too many fans that care more about having a good churchgoer than a guy that will make the tough decisions to win championships.
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Mack Brown has been a far worse coach than Mark Richt for several years running. Lose 44-23 to Ole Miss and 40-21 to BYU this year, and 55-17 and 63-21 to OKlahoma in 2011 and 2012, and we’ll talk.
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I’d agree but he does have a natty championship. And he’s also willing to fire people when his seat gets hot.
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Granted he had Vince Young, but we had Stafford whose turned out to be a lot better player in the NFL, let alone AJ Green.
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Stafford Moreno Greene & Willie VS Murray Gurley Mitchell & Grantham
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He had VY and a weak Big 12 to go through. FIFY
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The pumkin King has a natty and he was by God willing to fire folks too. Fired Chavis . Your damn right he did. No primadonnas on that man’s staff. Cut loose that Sanders kid and was kind enough to let Cuttcliffe move on his own terms. Thank gosh they are not there to harm uT any longer. No! Chavis is over at LSU messing up their program. The kid is at FSU doing who know’s what to that crappy program. And Cuttcliffe is managing an ACC school. Yep Fulmer is a wizard and is a busy man these days. uT has them a real HC with top experienced coordinators. Took Georgia to overtime all by themselves!
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How about losing to Central Florida?
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Or Colorado, or Mississippi State, or a 7-6 UT team?
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And #5Stanford lost to Utah and Michigan got whipped by Penn State . The same Penn State that was taken to the wood shed by Indiana and lost to Central Florida.
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“last several years”–Brown’s last good year was 2009. Richt’s last bad year was 2010. It’s notable too that all of the Richt losses mentioned came in the same year. Brown’s had bad losses and bad teams for four straight years now: 2010, 5-7; 2011, 8-5; 2012, 9-4; 2013: 4-2, already with blowout losses to mediocrities BYU and Mississippi.
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Exactly.
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The defense is a dumpster fire. Grantham obviously has no answer. He and his staff simply can not get these players ready to play…against anyone. fire Richt? After back to back appearances in Atlanta. D’okay. Grantham wants to eventually be a head coach, so I’ve heard. He needs to tell his agent that he wants to go make his HC bones at a school like SMU or something. If he can’t make a serviceable defense when he doesn’t have prototype players, he doesn’t need to be a DC in college.
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Fact is, we made a bad hire. Grantham wasn’t even a particularly good DC in the NFL, let alone college. And yet he’s getting paid 750k a year or whatever and is getting schooled by guys who I can’t even name..ie..North Texas’ DC, Mizzou’s DC, and you could arguably say he got at best a draw with Willie and Jancek last weekend.
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I mean hell, we hired a DC from the Dallas Cowboys. Most teenagers weren’t born the last time the cowboys won a playoff game.
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He wasn’t a DC in Dallas. He’s mostly been the DL coach (which he was in Dallas). He was DC with the Browns from 2005-07, but that’s his only prior experience at it.
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So he had even less credentials than my alcohol addled memory remembered?
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Yep.
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Remember that the NFL coaches with extensive experience are typically not going to be available for the same coaching level in college–it’s seen as a step down. We wouldn’t have been able to get an NFL DC with extensive DC experience unless they’d been let go and out of the loop for some time–like Monte Kiffin was when Laner brought him in (look how well that worked out).
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Sorry to repost from another thread but this sums up my feelings about todays’s game:
Despite the gushing of Brian Griese and his buddy in the booth, we lost to a mediocre football team today. Yeah, I get that they have some decent WRs, but it’s not like our secondary hasn’t made virtually every WR we’ve played look like AJ Green combined with Calvin Johnson. The only WR they had that we even would have recruited was Green-Beckham and he went to Mizzou b/c they were lucky enough for him to be from the state. Their QB was horrible last year and we of course make him look like a Heisman candidate, and then proceed to do the same for his backup.
Yeah, I get that stupid f-ing turnovers put the D in bad positions, but regardless, when is this team going to actually make a stop on 3rd down when it counts. Oh wait they did have one but Herrera decided to take a dumb penalty. How can this defense not LUCK into more than a single pick all year? How can any level QB complete a third and long pass against it like it’s nothing?
I couldn’t even name Mizzou’s DC but I can tell you he did a better job than Grantham today. Hell, as someone said above North Texas’ DC did a better job and even Willie and Jancek gave him a run for his money last week. I actually was worried every time they made a decent play on second down to hold Mizzou to third and long because I figured we’d give it up. Hell, everyone in the stadium knew the backup QB was gonna run and we couldn’t stop him.
This crap is just pathetic and who has the over/under on how many more years Richt gives Grantham based on how long it took him to get rid of Willie? I’m now willing to eat my words from the past on Bobo. If Grantham was half as competent as Bobo we’d have won today. Are we ever going to win the SEC again when mediocre teams like Mizzou pass us by? Let alone a national championship. I guess Greg and Mark and co. are happy as long as the money keeps pouring in.
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Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but when they stuck the microphone in CMR’s face at halftime, he seemed none too happy with the D (maybe it was the refs lack of a measurement that would have stopped the clock). Maybe since he is not friends with Todd unlike he was with Willie, there may be a weeeee chance that he will do something. Then again I may get up and see the sun rise in the west in the morning.
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Yeah, I’m on the wishful thinking bandwagon on that too. But MR cares about uprooting families and that sort of stuff. That is the most pissed I’ve ever seen him though.
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So much for Mason getting some real game experience before next year. At this rate he will be lucky if he gets 25 snaps before the year is over. Hell, Parker Welch got more snaps than that last year and even threw a touchdown.
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But I’m sure for the umpteenth straight year we’ll have an experienced o-line for him to play behind that will basically get him killed..lol
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I’d say that the only positive I’ve had today is looking at the meltdown on Stingtalk that their 3 star ATH savior Vad Lee is being thrown under the bus along with the Genius Paul Johnson. Though I shouldn’t get too much pleasure since he will probably run all over our defense for 500 yards and 200 passing in November.
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I was over at the AJC as well, and all the NERDS and NATS are noticeably absent from all the UGA chats. That was rather refreshing.
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Pretty bleak when our only comfort is schadenfreude … but, thank Gott im Himmel for it!
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Number of 30 point games surrendered since the start of 2010 season:
Alabama – 2
LSU – 4
Florida -8
South Carolina -9
Vanderbilt – 14
Auburn – 16
Georgia – 18
Ole Miss – 20
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The numbers don’t lie. When you have been torched more then Vanderbilt…..Houston we have a problem!!
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We’ve been playing defense like Ole Miss and Vandy since 2006, but Aaron Murray and Bobo have scored so many points that no one noticed. What happens if they are both gone next season?. I understand that offenses have gotten better, but that’s no reason to throw in the towel on defense. LSU. Bama and Florida have performed significantly better than us. Surely, we recruit better than Vandy and Ole Miss. Even Auburn has played defense about the same as us the past few years. And Auburn probably has a better defense than us this year. The bottom line is that even when we were stacked on defense last season, all we could muster was a mediocre unit.
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Holy shit. Wow. 😦
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Killer stat. Even better if combined with number of defensive players to NFL over same period. I’d bet we are no worse than 4th.
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IMO we need moire scrimmaging and contact during the season. Mark Richt changed the practice routine during Willie’s tenure, and that is when the defensive slide began, We may get injuries and the benefits may not be felt until next year, but we will be better off in the long run, and then maybe these backups will actually have tackling skills and understand the scheme when they finally get on the field.
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Another horrible game from Swann. The worst part of his game: the lack of effort he appears to play with. Make the change to Langley for Swann.
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The thing is, we won the games vs LSU and South Carolina with this defense, so obviously, that’s a lame point.
Anytime Aaron Murray has three turnovers in one game, we have lost.
Defense can’t win when you short the field like that
Have to be blind not see what caused this loss.
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I think I’ve figured it out!!! The kid that used to hold up the towel to hide Grantham’s play calls from the other teams’ spotters or God knows who must have graduated. Now CTG’s call are out there for everyone to see!
That should have been our first clue to Grantham’s incompetence/douchebaggery that he actually thought that having some kid blocking for him with a towel was gonna help. Meanwhile any OC or QB worth half a damn uses pre snap reads to see his call and carves him up.
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“We’ve set this up for success. Good football people, knowledgeable football people would understand that,” – Brian VanGorder (2006). Georgia Southern HC.
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40 yd HB pass for TD. Now everybody is going to lay that on Wiggins and his size. And I have long been a proponent that DBs have to be 6’+. What happened on that play was what had happened all thru the game. Notice the time the Mizzou W/Os give the HB to get the ball out. Why could the LBs not get off their bloacks in this game.
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DBs “have to be” 6’+?
Like Tim Jennings? Like Boykin? Champ Bailey is generously listed as 6′ even.
I hear you on favoring taller corners over smurfs in general. But some guys just play big. Wiggins may be one of those guys.
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One problem on that play was an absolute dearth of safety help.
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LBs have not been there this season. MIzzou’s W/O dominated out LBs and DB on blocks. Can not take forever to get off the block and make plays. LBs are not playing with speed, techique, re hands and feet, do not react quick enough to play regonition [youth and experience]. Post those 30+ scores, but looks at the number of games those D players have had.
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The vast majority of those 30+ scores took place BEFORE this current defense hit the field. It is not meant to be an indictment of the players but rather their overpaid leader. He failed just as horrifically last year with a supposedly NFL caliber player laden defense. He has proven he is just as inept with Seniors as he is with Freshmen.
I realize we have a bunch of really young guys out there, but what many others have pointed out, they no not seem to have improved as the season has progressed. In the case of Swann, he has regressed. This is not on the players, this is on the ones in charge of teaching and getting them ready. The lone bright spot in all this mess has been the D-Line and Chris Wilson. He seems to have gotten much more out of a lot less than Garner did last year.
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Mizzou D front 4 beat the hell out of our O line all day. Will somebody tell Zier what a cover 2 and a zone coverage is. Also, Murray and his OC. Nizzou plays zone real well. O line and the lack of game plan + no outside perimeter running game played right into Mizzou’s plan and strength. Think Lyncy is a good blocker.
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When are we going to get an outside speed running game to break zone coverage? Want to look at a stat. Look at how the M’s front 4 lined up on the LOS. Which brings me to this. Where in hell was the FB package in this game and why was the FBs not used more closer to the LOS.
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To me defense equals HOPE. No matter how bad the offense was, or how bad special teams are as long as we had a defense we had hope. As a fan I have not had hope in a long time. I have no hope we will achieve what UGA is capable of achieving with CTG leading (?) our defense. Martinez = Grantham+cash. I hope Mark Richt gets this fixed proactively and gives the UGA fans a reason to have hope.
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When I watch a game, I keep waiting for our offense to pop the big one at any time. Conversely, when we area on defense I keep expecting the same thing to happen for the opposition, NOT our D getting a TO or making a big stop. That has become so rare (us getting a turnover or the big stop) that it should be put on the endangered species list.
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