Mike Bobo wants an improved passing attack for the South Carolina game.
Hutson Mason invites the Gamecocks to load the box to force him to throw.
I’m detecting a theme emerging.
I think too much is being made about Mason’s anemic passing stats against Clemson. As Chris Conley puts it, “Unfortunately when you have talented backs like we do, sometimes when you run the ball, you have success…” Georgia’s offense in the second half wasn’t broke, so why fix it?
Mason has enough game to be a contributing factor in Columbia, if that’s what’s needed. Texas A&M’s shredded the South Carolina defense for 511 passing yards without a single pass going for more than 33 yards. Hill played a great game, but his passer rating was a fairly modest 161.37, because his yards per attempt were just 8.5. (Just a reminder – Aaron Murray’s passer rating against SC last season was 244.15.)
The point is that the Gamecocks were vulnerable to a passing attack that wasn’t based on bombing them deep, but rather on finding ways to slice and dice them with precise routes and accurate throws. (Take a look at Bruce Feldman’s analysis of one of those ways TAMU went after the Carolina defense successfully.)
There’s no reason to think Mason can’t hold up his end of the deal with that kind of approach to moving the ball. And Georgia’s got plenty of talent on the receiving end of things. The key to winning in Columbia is going to be whether the offensive line can build on its second half against Clemson.
Get The Picture 
If the gods are just, we’ll shred them with wheel routes this year.
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How much of this is “mind games” ? Spurrier may be getting a dose of his own medicine here…If he loads the box…he’ll get diced and sliced? How about bombed with a deep one or two? Georgia is now potent enough in every aspect of offense that they can send SOS a message inviting him to choose his poison. There may not be a formula to stop an offense this good.
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Unless he uses Davis and their passing game in the same manner that we plan. Outscoring us is the simplest workable method. And we have the edge there, for sure. Bobo can throw Isaiah in for pure friggin’ fun.
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“Georgia’s offense in the second half wasn’t broke, so why fix it?”
Why, for the sake of balance, of course …
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Reminds me of a fable when you try to please everyone (especially with “balance”):
A MILLER and his son were driving their Ass to a neighboring fair to sell him. They had not gone far when they met with a troop of women collected round a well, talking and laughing. “Look there,” cried one of them, “did you ever see such fellows, to be trudging along the road on foot when they might ride?’ The old man hearing this, quickly made his son mount the Ass, and continued to walk along merrily by his side. Presently they came up to a group of old men in earnest debate. “There,” said one of them, “it proves what I was a-saying. What respect is shown to old age in these days? Do you see that idle lad riding while his old father has to walk? Get down, you young scapegrace, and let the old man rest his weary limbs.” Upon this the old man made his son dismount, and got up himself. In this manner they had not proceeded far when they met a company of women and children: “Why, you lazy old fellow,” cried several tongues at once, “how can you ride upon the beast, while that poor little lad there can hardly keep pace by the side of you?’ The good-natured Miller immediately took up his son behind him. They had now almost reached the town. “Pray, honest friend,” said a citizen, “is that Ass your own?’ “Yes,” replied the old man. “O, one would not have thought so,” said the other, “by the way you load him. Why, you two fellows are better able to carry the poor beast than he you.” “Anything to please you,” said the old man; “we can but try.” So, alighting with his son, they tied the legs of the Ass together and with the help of a pole endeavored to carry him on their shoulders over a bridge near the entrance to the town. This entertaining sight brought the people in crowds to laugh at it, till the Ass, not liking the noise nor the strange handling that he was subject to, broke the cords that bound him and, tumbling off the pole, fell into the river. Upon this, the old man, vexed and ashamed, made the best of his way home again, convinced that by endeavoring to please everybody he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass in the bargain.
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+1. Appreciate the effort!
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+1
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I hope that we are able to throw the ball but that we don’t have to take too many attempts down the field. I really like the tunnel screen play that we ran to Sony. The play only went for 4-5 yards but he was a step away from turning up the field with it.
I think that he and McKenzie are going to be a big part of our offense this year even when/if JSW and Mitchell come back. I think that by moving some of these fast guys and putting them in motion all over the field Bobo is going to make it really hard for defenses to focus only on Gurley and the other running backs.
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You beat me to the punch. Never was a big fan of what I thought was our overuse of the tunnel screen, but seeing Michel and McKenzie line up where they did had visions of other teams loading the box against us and having one of those two take a quick hitter to the house dancing in my head.
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I’m a little fearful of Isaiah and the tunnel screen. He could get killed with timely, hard hit. And sometimes when that happens small players never get over it, their whole careers. They’re never the same player after that.
Just don’t think it’s a smart move to expose him that way. Now Sony, yeah. But in the past we haven’t executed it very well. Chris Conley’s long TD to seal a game several years ago was a beautiful thing to watch, but more the exception.
I’m not against the tunnel screen. But like you indicated, I don’t like over-using it, and hope we’re considerably more consistent in executing it this year.
~~~
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Bobo with Ward,Edwards, Bailey worked that ts to perfection. Bobo threw it 2x ….back to back against the gnats one year. Had us all hooting and hollaring. We were politely asked to sit down.– Of course I was so much younger then…I ‘m older than that now. 😉
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Physically, but not mentally… 🙂
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That back-to-back against Tech was beautiful. And that was pretty good Tech defense. One of several highlights of Donnan’s career.
~~~
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How about this play:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1837205-film-study-breaking-down-todd-gurleys-78-yard-td-vs-florida
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Don’t forget to give Quayvon Hicks some love and give him the rock! Remember last year?
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And B Douglas! He’s earned a few carries.
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I’m thinking of cornering the market on Kool-Aid, upping the price and selling it right here. Anyone want to go in on a sure investment? Just look at how much is consumed on a daily basis! And it will continue.
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Sounds like a plan. I’ll get started on the graphics and follow up with DIF on the jingle! Find preliminary sketch attached.
GO DAWGS!
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Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid®
It’s mixed with
a competing product, Flav-R-Aid®
Don’t do it
Wouldn’t be prudent
Except for Pruitt
http://www.ipglossary.com/glossary/dont-drink-the-kool-aid/
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I want to get this game behind us but I am also very curious to watch how it unfolds. Watching A&M shred them and SC having no answer, offensively or defensively, was almost like a fantasy, too good to be true. But I feel it was some sort of bait and switch operation manipulate by Spurrier to lure us in. In watching the replay, they truly seemed inept on defense and toothless on offense.
I know we will see something entirely different when we arrive but I can’t wait to see Act 2 this weekend against ECU. What will we see as their response? It is hard to believe that a similar attack will not enjoy similar success because you cannot correct that many mistakes in schemes in less than one week, can you? The wise guys have SC as 16 point favorites. I know there will be a big increase in energy from SC but I think I have to take those points. A&M not only put up 700 yards of offense and 52 points, they did so with the bus in neutral for the last 10 minutes of the game.
So yes, we should enjoy some offensive success ourselves and I don’t care if it is through the air, or on the ground. I strongly suspect it will be on Mason early but I hope we just shuffle dance through them with a mixed variety that dazzles them so much Spurrier surrenders early and doesn’t use his 2nd half timeouts again this year. Alas, I know I will be sweating out a low scoring, 3 point game again in a series where points in Willy Brice are hard to come by.
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You had us all Mac…and then threw ice water on us with that last sentence.
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Give me a 2 point win, no injuries, and I will vote we go all Idaho on them and not even travel to Columbia…accept their forfeit and rest some mo.
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Second… All in favor?
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Not me. I’d never pass up an opportunity to see Stevie rip something off his pointy head and throw it on the field. My wife likes watching SC games that don’t even include Georgia just on the chance she’ll catch one of those Spuroxysms.
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If running the ball is working, keep doing it. There is nothing more demoralizing to a defense than being run on at will. I like seeing passes thrown as long as they are caught by our players. If the offensive line can open holes for our stable of running backs, I see no need to risk interceptions and incompletions. When Bobo sees the safeties start cheating up on the line of scrimmage, then he should throw 10-20 yard passes and hope to break a long run after the catch. TAMU did not have many long passes, they completed a lot of 10 yard passes that turned into 20+ yard plays. The chicken secondary looked worse than ours did last season when it came to coverage and tackling, I’m sure they will get better but they are not going to become all conference by the time we get to them.
Until we get a legit deep threat at wr, there is no reason to try and force a long passing game, especially if our running game is effective. Even with a deep threat, why throw deep if we can grind out scoring drives and wear a defense down. No one is touting Mason for Hiesman, what difference do his passing numbers make?
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Your last sentence made me recall the guy that posted about six weeks ago that Hutson Mason was going to have 5,000 yards passing this season and win the Heisman. Wonder where that guy is now.
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Going back and changing all his old HM posts to say “Brice Ramsey” instead so he can re-post them as the season progresses.
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Keep running until they stop us. Easier on the O-line, tougher on the D-line.
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In the post game interview, Mason almost seemed defensive around his passing stats, saying something to the effect that stats don’t tell the whole story. Lets just hope that no one lets getting their fee fees hurt get in the way of a solid game plan that plays to our strengths and isn’t afraid to keep doing what is working. In words, the Bobo of late and not the early vintage Bobo.
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He looked pensive on the sidelines during the game. Perhaps he was just wound up and still in his game mode during the interview? In 2.5 games and mop up Mason threw for nearly a thousand yards. He can sling it. We shouldn’t be too concerned with that.
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I’m not sure Mason was defensive, Twist, except perhaps with his attitude that we won the game, and won it by 24 points, putting up 38 points on a good Clemson defense. We passed well enough to keep them honest, and sometimes that doesn’t require as much as other times, etc..
But he’s also said we have to get better throwing downfield. So to me, he seems to have a pretty balanced view of it.
Personally, I don’t care how we win. And with our Stable, we’d be crazy not to run a lot. But I also know we’re gonna have to go vertical to win some of our games.
~~~
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All Buck had to do was hand it off to Herschel. Until, that is, it was necessary to throw it to Lindsay. Do whatcha gotta to do win, that’s all.
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The chicken D will look better this week. ECU, while running a similar O to A&M, does not have their athletes. We better be ready for a war the following week.
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Hopefully, they will have the same D Coach.
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IMAC is a dose of Ace Sanders, Blaze a dose of Alshon Jefferies, Gurley a double dose of Lattimore, Floyd a dose of Clowney, and Herrera a dose of that LB they got out of GMC awhile back.
Will come down to the trenches if we are going to win. Get enough touches on O, we’ll be very tough .
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but wait! I have this t-shirt, and it has these letters on it, “RTDB!” and I really, really like the way it looks on me…especially after a few Blue Moons.
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Balanced or not, just go with what works. Don’t force something just to show whether or not you can do it. Certainly don’t take away from Gurley.
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Mason has played three games. Not sure he has or will settle in. He has never looked confident or comfortable in 12 quarters of play as a starter. He did ok, but I never look for him to do what a Murray did from time to time, ie, Auburn and Tennessee, but on the other hand it could be like Missouri.
In summary I am very reserved about his ability and performance. He might like uptempo but he needs to uptempo his passes.
SC defense. Just think they are better than the A&M game. But are their defensive coaches better than that. Still think SC will be in the hunt for a new defensive coordiantor regardless of the outcome of 09/13 game.
Key for me is how the Dawgs stop the rushing of Davis and plays the seam routes.
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I’m somewhat surprised Davis is going to play. Usually, bruised ribs don’t heal in a week, and if a RB or QB plays with them, even if you shoot’em up, and gets hit there, they’re in the same boat or worse the next week. And it’s not easy for RB’s to avoid those hits.
Spurrier must think they have to have him to win. And it’s not unlike Spurrier to lean on his best RB, no matter the circumstances. He’ll wear’em to the bone, and use’em no matter the cost to them.
One of the few things I don’t like about Spurrier.
~~~
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Another possibility is that Spurrier wants to sell the threat of Davis without having him carry the ball too much. Of course, if you don’t let him run the ball, sooner or later it becomes a much smaller threat.
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Yeah, could be. Don’t think I’ve ever seen Spurrier so firm and positive to the media about a hurt back playing, as if there’s no doubt whatsoever. And Davis was already hurt before the ribs, IIRC, and wasn’t 100% anyway for A&M.
~~~
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He’s uses up his running backs the same way the Braves use up their relief pitchers
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Hey. Not a bad analogy.
~~~
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Mason and Bobo both need to STFU, particularly Mason. Calling out the SCU pass D–that’s bulletin board material. I hope he doesn’t get his head torn off by an SCU D-lineman. Plus, Karma can be a beyotch. That statement is asking for the Football Gods to give him 4 INTs.
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Point well taken. I’m not sure it matters though. It’s not like he said I Could Beat them with one hand behind my back 😉
2012- uSC shredded the Dawgs 35-7 and we were all sure they could run the table. Their game in the Swamp (44-11 loss) reminded us all that this is the SEC. Any team on any Saturday is capable of winning the day.
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Take out the “I hope they do” and Mason responded with the exact things every football fan/coach/player already knows. No big deal, hit ’em where they ain’t. And do you think SC can possibly want to beat us any more than they already do? No harm, no foul….just want him to carry out his end of the bargain when the lights go on in WB.
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