Upon further review, Georgia-Florida

I finally got around to watching the replay last night.  A few things caught my eye:

  • Wow, I didn’t realize how dominant the offensive line was in the first quarter.  Lee got much praise from Danielson, but I was impressed with Theus, who had some crushing blocks in the run game and generally held up in pass protection.  I think it’s safe to say the Kolton Houston experiment at right tackle is at an end, barring injury.
  • I sensed as the second half wore on that Grantham dialed up more blitzes, but in retrospect he was blitzing pretty much out of the gate and on almost every play.  Yeah, he got burned on it a couple of times, most notably the two-point conversion, but you can’t say he wasn’t trying to bring pressure as much as he could.  Given the amount of time his defense was on the field in the second half, and how well his players did on Florida’s last series, maybe strength and conditioning isn’t quite the issue some of us think it is.
  • Also, overall that may have been the most substituting Georgia’s done on defense all season.
  • His final numbers may not show it, but Murray was sharp all game.  Drops, bobbles and receivers not always running the correct routes cost him.
  • I have to admit the replay official did well.  I wouldn’t have overturned the Wooten bobble or the Lynch lateral either.  Not because the calls on the field were spot on – I think Wooten secured the ball with his left hand while still in bounds and I don’t see how the line judge had the proper angle to make the lateral call – but because they were so close and there really wasn’t anything clear on the replay to overturn the on-field rulings.  I wonder how the reviews would have been decided if the initial calls had gone the other way.
  • Todd Gurley really gutted it out for his team in the fourth quarter.
  • Those three key personal fouls on Florida looked even dumber on TV than they did live.  Solomon Patton must have been saving up all year since he got taken out of last year’s Cocktail Party with the busted arm.
  • For all the flagging that officials do, it really amazes me how much holding by offensive linemen is tolerated these days.  At one point, Drew had each of his arms held out wide by two Florida players and… crickets.
  • I thought Verne and Gary did okay.  Sure, they made some mistakes – although the most egregious of the day came from the production crew with the stat about the series leader – but they corrected most of those and overall did a good job tracking the ebb and flow of the game.  Danielson did a very good job showing what Georgia’s offensive line was doing well and both did nicely sending some deserved love McGowan’s way on that last drive.
  • Boy, those Morgan field goal kicks looked solid.

26 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

26 responses to “Upon further review, Georgia-Florida

  1. Hogbody Spradlin

    Brendan Douglas is a throwback to Larry Cszonka and Bronko Nagurski. I love watching him freight train people. All he needs is a crooked nose.

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  2. HahiraDawg

    Moore and Swann had their best games. But I’m convinced Ramik is poor in coverage just so he can have his man thrown to so he can pad his tackles stat.

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  3. Rock and Roll Rebel

    One of my many “what ifs” for this season. Can you imagine where we would be if Douglas has no fumbles? The guy is a beast.

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  4. Bulldog Joe

    UF’s cheapshots gave Gurley even more incentive to deliver in the fourth quarter with the tank on empty.

    Way to go, UF.

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  5. Lee M

    Of course they aren’t calling holding, they’re too busy looking for any oncoming possible targeting penalties to throw a flag on.

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  6. Nate Dawg

    Funny to me 2 of the biggest ref calls of the year came from refs waaay down the field or away from the play. The Ramik target – kept vandy alive in a game we loose. And the lateral which brought fla back to life. I actually agree w the lateral call. These things are just funny, odd, strange to me where they originated from.

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  7. Ubiquitous Ga Alum

    Agree on the lateral call too … Watched it again last nite & told the wife that had it been completed Aaron would have been credited with a pass … So it was one of those calls that could go either way

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  8. Piper

    only thing about the lateral call was that replay “confirmed the call on the field”, not “the call stands”. they’re very deliberate about differentiating, so in essence the replay official said it was a lateral.

    totally agree on the holding. it’s ridiculous.

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  9. Brandon

    If Lynch immediately picks it up and starts to run, however, I believe it gets whistled an incomplete pass.

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    • David

      Not sure I agree here, the line judge who made the call immediately called it a lateral. You can see his arm go out that it was.

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  10. Griff

    One of Murray’s best plays of the game was holding onto the ball on the sack/safety.

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  11. AusDawg85

    OL play seems to feed off of their RB’s success. When missing Gurley and Marshall, they seem pedestrian, but when they get rolling they become the key to winning the game even with Douglas and Green behind them. That’s an inconsistency that hopefully matures to be dominant all the time (and then you start to look like Bama). Maybe Mason will be the ultimate beneficiary of this next year and end up looking more like AJ McCarron than Murray. (Meaning he’ll be a talented game manager and not have to rely on guts, skill, and his own broad shoulders to win like Aaron has had to.)

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  12. No One Knows You're a Dawg

    As bad as SEC officiating can be, I thought this group did a good job. It was refreshing to see.

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  13. 69Dawg

    About the penalties being called by officials away from the play. All the officials have area’s of responsibility and that’s why the Umpire never calls a TD because that’s the line officials job. The difference between good crews and bad crews is that good crews will communicate and get the call right even if the official that is suppose to call it got it wrong. Bad crews, like most in the SEC will not go against a call even if they are in a better position to make the call. Some examples Jasper’s fumble, clearly the Umpire knew he was down but would not say anything to the Ref to change the call. If you watch the Pro crews sometimes on a pile up at the goal the line officials will look at the Umpire for a nod or a head shake before making their call. In the Wilson matter the ref on the spot Umpire did not throw a flag because he saw the play correctly. A back official who has a different angle but is too far away throws the flag and the Umpire says nothing to make it right and have the ref wave it off. Why they gave the SOB’s headset is a mystery to me because they aren’t using them. It’s just another attempt by the SEC to give the illusion of competence.

    By the way I agree that the lateral was close but I also agree that had Lynch picked it up it would have been ruled incomplete.

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  14. rampdawg

    If Lynch would have caught the lateral, he might still be running. Their was no one in front of him for miles, except Dawg blockers. No wonder he grabbed his hat in disgust.

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  15. Dawg19

    Sterling Bailey nearly had a huge pick, too.

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  16. Spike

    Can’t argue with any of your points except one. The catch made in the end zone sure looked like a TD to me. The official did not have good angle on it, IMO. And the last drive was a beautiful thing!! Watching the Gators take that!!

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  17. Cousin Eddie

    1. My 7 yr. old knows to cover the ball. After the play with Lynch I explained what happened to him and he said, “our coaches always tell us to cover the ball, he should know that too.” I just thought it was funny.

    2. Why weren’t the uf player that came on the field from the sideline ejected during the flag for the horse collar tackle. I thought if you entered the field during an altercation it was an immediate ejection. Or was it not considered an altercation just a couple of personnel fouls?

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