Like I said, Vanderbilt’s been checking out the Missouri tape.
After watching film of Missouri’s 41-26 win at Georgia, in which Murray threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions, was sacked twice and lost a fumble, Woestmann said the Commodores will have chances to make an impact in the Bulldogs’ backfield.
“(Missouri) did a good job just pressing the pocket, kind of pushing the guards and center back into Aaron Murray’s face, and the ends did a good job collapsing the pocket and forcing him to step up right into the pressure,” Woestmann said.
“We have a good opportunity to exploit a couple of guys on their O-line that have struggled with some pass rushing moves. … That was the first time I think I’d ever seen Aaron Murray flustered. He was a little off-target and he was feeling the pressure coming. I think that’s something that we could easily do.”
I’d say Georgia’s noticed the same thing, because a change is coming on the line.
… it appears John Theus will get the start at right tackle, supplanting Kolton Houston in the starting lineup. The two have been alternating the past four games, but Houston has started and gotten slightly more snaps. Houston was beaten on several sacks in Saturday’s loss to Missouri, while Theus seemed to play error-free.
“Theus played well. He practiced well last week and played well last year. He deserves a chance to start,” Richt said.
One of the ESPN guys noted that Houston’s technique left his susceptible to Missouri’s outside speed rush getting inside him, and, indeed, he appeared to get beaten in just that way. The puzzling thing is that Friend kept sending him out there. I assume it’s been hard to motivate Theus to play better, because he clearly has more upside at the tackle position than Houston does. It would be nice to see Theus grab hold of the job and keep it Saturday.
Get The Picture 
Ahhhh…..”was sacked twice” “Houston was beaten on several sacks” ???
I thought several was more than two….but whatever.
If Theus deserves the start, he should start…I hope he has had a good soul session with his brother about his brother’s enthusiastic long-snapping.
Houston seems the better run-blocker, but that could be an illusion. I would also posit that Murray’s “nervousness” could have been as much due to new receivers (which Murray has alluded to) as a collapsing pocket, but whatever the reason it is obvious Misery was gettin after they ass.
Hard to believe they could do that with such inferior players.
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C’mon, Scorp! They teach you the intricate mathematical relationship between “several” and “two” in journalism school. If you’ve never been in that particular arena, then you should probably just be quiet and leave that stuff to the professionals.
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Tru dat.
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I think Houston was beaten for 1-2 sacks that will go down on the stat sheet, but two others (by Houston?) were negated by defensive off-sides penalties. The OL performed worse than the stat sheet will show.
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I can get a sack if I go offsides. That’s not on OL.
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+1000. Makes you wonder if the sacks were on uncalled defensive offside.
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Kolton got worked the entire game while he was in. Just an embarrasement the coaches didn’t see this and have Theus at RT.
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This injury problem is, in large part, a function of CMR’s under-recruiting for the past several years until the most recent recruiting class. Yes we have a full roster now, but 35 or so of them are freshmen signed last year because CMR let the total number of scholarship players drop to under 70. That’s why the backups and the replacements for those who graduated on D are mostly freshmen. Ever wonder why there seems to be a crisis at some position every year? One year it’s O-line, the next year it’s RBs, the next it’s some other position. It’s because CMR has no clue when it comes to roster management. When does Bama have this problem? Never. When does Georgia have this problem? Every damn year, only this year it is worse because of the injuries. Hold on to your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride in Nashville.
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Are you saying you would prefer him to oversign and greyshirt like Saban does?
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Actually if you’re upfront with recruits about your practice, no, i have no problem with that at all. In fact I think there was an instance where Richt had to rescind a scholarship offer because more guy(s) committed at a position than he intended. At the very least we need to stop undersigning.
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+1…and Mayor, aren’t you just being a little testy when you say CMR has no clue about roster management?? We’ve lost several prospects that sign and fade away, Bnendict, Love, et al, but I think we’re doing all right on recruiting. A couple David Sharpes will make a difference this year. Coach Friend, who everyone likes, needs to light a fire under his group…let’s see Kubalov (sp) given a chance to show wome aggression.
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“One year it’s O-line, the next year it’s RBs, the next it’s some other position.”
I saw Bama’s backup RBs against VT. If the first two stringers went down for the Tide, then they’d be in deep poop too.
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Bama has a lockdown D. The 2 backup RB’s could run headfirst into the line all day and bama would still likely win.
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Looked real lock down vs TAM to me
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They’ve signed 8 RB in the last 2 years, two 5 stars and six 4 stars. I think they’ll be OK. And for what its worth, VT has a pretty good defense with a DC that Richt interviewed before TG.
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I think one of the biggest problems with freshmen RBs is in pass-pro. Not every FRB can step in the way Gurley/Marshall did last year and run like a beast ANF pick up on pass-pro the way they did. Shut down D or not, you let the other team find a weakness in your pass-pro and force a bunch of short series and these fast-break offenses will start to wear you down.
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*AND
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I don’t think Foster interviewed and even if so, there was little chance he would have left Beamer and VT…nor Chavis from LSU. There are many fine, innovative DCs out there..not all at BCS schools but their teaching skills are still there and they’d love to move up and try their hand with the Dawgs’ talent pool.
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Speaking of recruiting and the subject of this post…how about we recruit and develop some legitimate SEC offensive tackles? Given the elite defensive ends that we see every year against our SEC rivals and our pro-style offense, you’d think this would be a recruiting priority EVERY year. But we only seem to try to address this need every three years (with mixed results) when we’re desperate and make due in between. Right now it looks like we have 12 decent offensive guards and 1 legitimate tackle, who only occasionally plays the part (Theus).
And it’s not looking better immediately down the road–Out of last year’s class of 32? After the Tunsil fiasco, we end up with ONE three-star 260 lbs offensive tackle. Terrible. And neither of 2014’s commits are over 275 lbs.
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Our recruiting issues were tied to the loud part of the fan base calling for Mark Right’s jobs. Kids want to play for the same coach and that hurt us bad.
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I envision another nail biter. At least it’s not a night game. We need our receivers to step up and use both TEs more.
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Remember the raves about Ward from spring practice. Word was he had beaten out Theus but we haven’t seen Ward. Is he hurt? Theus somehow got himself in the dog house it appears.
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It seems Ward has chronic knee issues. Good talent, great work ethic, but knees won’t hold up.
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Gee, where have I heard that before regarding our offensive linemen?
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It’s amazing how much focus Georgia fans put on Offensive issues when a dumpster fire is raging on the other side of the ball. The OL was bad against Mizzou, no doubt about it, but when the offense knows, FOR A FACT, that scoring 30 against any team with a pulse isn’t enough, that’s a strain.
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Yep. An even mediocre defense would solve a lot of these problems.
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I totally agree….But, last week the defense stepped up and played solid 3rd qtr and the offense failed to capitalize.
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Defense needs to play more than a solid quarter every game. The problem is the defense. Can’t get around it.
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The offense scored 16 points and was a dropped two-point conversion from tying the game during that stretch. They capitalized. They just couldn’t finish, and the defense eventually broke down.
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We were a dropped 2 pt conversion from tying it up, the D promptly folded vs a backup QB.
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I SO want to burn these guys so badly. I mean, we are Georgia. Who the hell are they?
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No shit. Let’s go up there and kick their asses like we did last year and get some confidence back going into the bye week and Florida.
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they are the team we are playing, Gene, since we apparently have a defense that mostly just hopes to clog up running lanes and pass routes rather than hit somebody (snark).
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How is their band? At least things are getting cheeky at Tennessee
http://www.tennessean.com/viewart/20131014/NEWS21/131014009/UT-relieves-band-director-duties-after-bitter-battle-athletic-department
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I sincerely hope that our Oline (and our entire team for that matter) is reading all of the gum flapping coming out of Nashville. When the hell did Vandy get so freaking cocky? I guess a nine win season and two consecutive bowls for the first time your pathetic history will do that to a team. For a team that hasn’t beaten a team with a pulse all year they sure are a confident bunch.
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Whoa!. Thought all the issues were on the defense. Where and why has the shift come now. that is why some of us had concerns about the O, W/Os getting deep and out in a zone coverage. and no outside perimeter speed running game. Without those an experienced D will force issues on the line and the QB.
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Granted there are issues on the O line, but you can not have a QB hold the ball while waiting for W/Os to get open and allow a D to form a pocket against your QB and shutter his passing lanes.
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OC has to work in plays that hold the D line and the LBs. Look at Carolinas line of scrimmage late against Arkansas, those formations, and sets. It allowed their QB and RB to get to the edge and to throw down field. Look at what LSU did against UF. Game plan against Mizzou was very poor and I think the sqaud slowly realized it during the game.
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The OL is a distant problem after the D and STs. OT Theus will likely be playing in the nfl after leaving UGA. I think he just needs to be coached better.
I’d like to see the return of our vertical passing game. Problem at ut was we got ahead 17-3 and didn’t keep our foot on the gas. Bury vandy early and demoralize them. To heck with ‘dinking’ it up the field. We can and should score 50+.
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THIS
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Pingback: DawgsOnline » Once more into Vanderbilt
Questioning the OL issues is fair to me. They laid an egg at Clemson and again last week, our two losses. Doesn’t mean it is our biggest issue, but it is the one that can get better in games this year. The defense has been bad for years and I have no hope of a solution before next year, but the OL looked good against SC and LSU, two pretty solid defensive fronts so there is hope.
The discussion on OTs is a good one. Given UGAs history of talented RBs and recent success at QB you would think an OL recruit would want to be associated with our offensive success, especially while running a pro style offense. Major generalization here but I like the offensive line blocking I see in the Midwest and Northeast better than the SE. Maybe we need to fish in new waters.
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You know, considering how badly we whipped their ass last year and how poorly they’ve fared against decent competition this season, you’d figure Vandy would have a hard time licking their chops for anybody, let alone Georgia.
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Things our coaches didn’t do last week:
1. Take Swann out
2. Increase theus’ reps
I haven’t watched the mizz film but Theus was flawless against Tennessee (unless he missed an assignment I don’t know about cause I don’t have the play book). He didn’t get best that I saw against mizz.
He may lack the Rudy-esque passion of Kolton and sure doesn’t have the backstory. But this isn’t a movie. Put the best player in for fucks sake.
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If Mizzou doesn’t force the turnovers last week, we would have taken care of business. I don’t see the Dore-mats forcing the turnovers necessary to keep themselves in the game like Mizzou was able to do.
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