Mark May is an ass. He was born that way. He’s spent his whole life enhancing his ass skills. He shows them off to a national audience on a daily basis. He’s a worthless talking head.
Yet I can’t disagree with a single word of this.
ESPN’s Mark May was critical also on Saturday night for Georgia calling faking a bootleg play with Mason instead of just feeding the ball to Gurley: “Why are using him as a decoy? Why are you trying to run a boot there? Mark Richt, you’re the head coach. Mike Bobo, you’re the offensive coordinator, that’s the worst offensive play call of the season by far. You had a situation where you hand the ball to Gurley. First-and-goal at the 4-yard line. You hand it to him again and again and again until you score and take the lead.”
Just shoot me.
*************************************************************************
UPDATE: In the interest of fairness, I present Cory Brinson’s rebuttal. Although, in further fairness, the best defense he can muster up is that it wasn’t as bad a call as Mark May made it out to be.
Get The Picture 
See all the posts I wrote Saturday night and yesterday on the same subject. Another “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” moment from CMR and Bobo.
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How many TDs have we scored running that same play over the years? Dozens I would say. The problem was that the execution was so epically terrible that we lost 8 yrds. Mason’s PA was comical, their DE was left completely unblocked, Mason should have thrown it over the top out of the end zone (if he does that BTW, we pound it in with Gurley on the next 2 plays and nobody is talking about this play call).
I understand that there is the question of why you take the risk of throwing it there, but I don’t think this is the worst play call of all time.
P.S. You score 35 on the road in the SEC and lose, you have to hang it on the defense. Bobo has to be sick of taking the heat for losses when the offense definitely pulled its weight. The problem he has is that our expectations are so low for the defense.
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I don’t necessarily disagree with the call as the entire stadium and everyone watching on TV knew who was going to get the ball, why not change it up a little on 1st down ? We would have had 2, maybe 3 more chances to run Gurley. That was a really terrible (in the words of Charles Barkley.. turrible) throw by Mason, a freshman type of mistake, not something you should be seeing from a 5th year senior, but I guess his lack of playing time is showing….
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My feelings 110%…no one is bitching about the successful 2pt conversion or TD pass are they. Defense carries the most rightful blame
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Honestly…how does Mason not audible to the fade for the WR in single coverage up top? Even the DB is playing inside technique to cheat. A soft lob to the back corner is a guaranteed TD. Sighhhhhhh…..
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Radi Nabulsi? Puhhllease. And that’s a ridiculous premise. Look at Nabulsi’s pic again:
There are 9 Dawgs directly in front of Gurley. Where else would he expect the 10 Carolina defenders to be? Duh.
~~~
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Yeah. They’d be there in this situation even if it wasn’t Gurley in the backfield.
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this. +1000.
If we run Gurley 4 straight times and they stone him, everyone would kill Bobo for “running into a D that was keying on Gurley. RUN SOMETHING ELSE, BOBO!!”
The grounding call (whether it was right or not) probably wasn’t what you expect to end up with if no one appears open. I cant fault the play call. I remember in 99, at the end of the Tech game, we gave it to Sanks on a straight dive play to bludgeon it in for the winning score. What could be safer? If they stop him, then we kick the FG, right? Except he didn’t score and they called a fumble. UT was going to break our hearts in 1980, straight run from about the 3 after pounding us down the field the whole drive. If we stop them, they just kick the FG for the win, right? Except he didn’t score, and Pat McShea caused a fumble that Nate Taylor recovered for UGA.
Nobody knows what happens if we run something else. There are no guarantees in life. Based on the formation the D was in, and the success we had with short passes for TDs, it wasn’t unreasonable to try it on first down. It wasn’t like we suddenly lined up in the wishbone, or the wildcat with Quayvon Hicks at QB and flubbed it. Mason may not be the next Peyton Manning, but if everyone on our D and ST did their job as well as HM did his, we win that game going away.
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Guys, every TV/radio commentator in the country is saying the decision not to give it to Gurley in that situation (1) cost Georgia the game; and (2) was the worst play calling decision so far this season. But, you guys are right and everybody else is wrong.
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Emotionalism and hyperbole sells and there are so many morons on TV/Radio that I hardly see that as definitively confirming the position.
Basically, the worst outcome possible happened on the play (and may have been due to an incorrect call by the official at that) and so everyone thinks it was “the worst call of the season and cost GA the game”. Seems a little over the top to me given some of our other failures in the game defensively and on special teams.
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Everyone likes to compare this play to the Rome touchdown but, I think that the comparison should be the 4th down play in which we GAVE IT TO GURLEY. These were two must have plays…Agreed? I expect everyone to say yes to that. You trust the baddest man on the planet to handle the first one ( was there any doubt that he was going to make that yard…no!!!). You see the entire game that he is playing with more heart than anybody on the field. He will not be denied. Give him the ball!!! I’m not saying this in hindsight either. As soon as Swann intercepted the ball, I saw Gurley running the ball on the next play ( Everybody Did )…except Bobo. Four yards and a cloud of dust is what we are built on…hat on hat and overpower. It is imposing our will on the opponent. It’s demoralizing and very hard to overcome. I would have been perfectly fine with him taking four plays to get the TD…that could have meant almost 2:15 off the clock and as I said before is there any doubt that he scores.
I said that to say this
Horrible Play Calling!!!!!
This one hurts bad because there was no sense in it
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+1 PBR.
Exactly. They always hurt the worst. And we’ve made a habit of it.
~~~
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There wasn’t a single Dawg fan in America who wasn’t high fiving the room after the interception and yelling at the TV, now we just feed it to Gurley and if that doesn’t work, give it to Gurley again, and again… And then Bobo face plants into a puddle of shit.
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Constant criticism of playcalling is the drumbeat of the moronic fan.
When making the playcall the scapegoat, you have to be honest about it. You need to give the same intense criticism on the 1st-and-goal call from the 5-yd line that was a TD pass to Jay Rome earlier in the half. Just a horrible call in that situation, right? You have the best RB in the country. You have to run it in. Did May make that criticism?
35 points on the road with 2 missed FG’s. The guy making the playcalls isn’t perfect, but he ain’t 90% responsible for that loss as May and others want to believe.
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I really only have one play to critique this week, really. Only one.
You, you’re missing that the Rome call was not with the game on the line. THE GAME. ON THE LINE. You get the ball to the should-be-Heisman winner no matter what in that spot. Come on…you know that, right?
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Amen.
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As we learned in many a year in the military, all the “Atta boys” in the world can be erased by one “Ah Shit”….and so goes Bobo!
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When you’re down by 11 in the 4th quarter, I’d say the game is also pretty much on the line at that point.
If you’re only upset with one play call, then Bobo’s not really the problem.
Much larger fault lies with the refs or Mason. The refs for missing the deflection, and Mason for not doing a better job of throwing it away.
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I agree again.
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The game’s always on the line. A TD in the first quarter is no different from a TD in the fourth quarter. People apply too much situational importance to end of game scenarios without looking at the entire game.
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Come on.
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I overstated it a little, but every play matters, and points scored in the first quarter are ultimately every bit as important as points scored in the fourth. It just feels like you have time to overcome setbacks early. But I guarantee you that none of you would be so upset about this call if Marshall had made the chip shot and Georgia won in overtime, or if Georgia had gotten another stop and scored the next time.
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And I guarantee you if that had happened, Bobo wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
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Probably not. I just don’t think it’s as egregious a mistake as some of you.
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I’m with you. I seem to recall us doing a toss sweep and fumbling near the goalline one time, and the chorus erupted. There’s folks who second guess and use hindsight to back up their opinions; they’re tough to argue with.
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Wrong. Not this time. And it’s wrong to equate this situation with any other in the game, Rome’s TD or any other. They are not the same circumstances, not the same factors. AT ALL.
No hindsight is necessary, either (though it’s reliable in this particular instance). Most people knew before the play what the call should be. When you have a healthy Todd Gurley, anything else in this critical situation, especially a pass play, is an unnecessary risk and bad judgment.
Maybe people who use hindsight and morons who habitually question playcalls when they don’t really know what they’re talking about, are too plentiful and too vocal. But sometimes even they get it right.
That play is a well-designed goal-to-go play from that distance. But it’s not suitable for every circumstance. Far from it.
The right call in this situation is so clear-cut and obvious, for a number of reasons, that it doesn’t require much thought. And it didn’t require any Saturday night. Too bad for us it got it anyway. We took unnecessary risks with the game on the line, and paid the price. We outsmarted ourselves.
Sometimes things are simple.
~~~
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+1. At the very least you owe your best player– who has been working his arse off all game– to have a chance to win it.
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I disagree 100% with you. Everyone in the stadium knew Gurley was going to get it, they stacked the box accordingly. The play call was smart, 3 things were going to happen on that play-1) Mason runs it in for a TD, 2) Mason throws it to Hicks for a TD, 3) Mason throws it away and we get 3 more chances to score from the 4 yard line.
What actually happened was shitty execution from the Oline (suprise!), a shitty throw by Mason that wasn’t intentional grounding (he should have thrown it 10 rows deep in the back of the endzone but I digress…), a shitty call by the SEC officials (surprise!) and 2 and goal from the 14 where we had our hands tied.
It wasn’t the play call. If we run Gurley up the gut 4x and don’t score you are all bitching about how Bobo runs it up the gut everytime when the Oline can’t block.
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No problem, Rocket. I address your take in other posts here in the thread. Maybe you will see them.
FWIW, I don’t run Gurley up the gut. I get him on the edge, or out in some space, like we did against Clemson, where he is next to impossible to stop.
~~~
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Dad-gum right you do, Gastr1.
~~~
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You know, I’m the guy who still defends Donnan’s play call against Tech with Jasper Sanks, but I’m with you right here. I think it was a fine play call, and if it had worked it would have been, “Georgia has so many weapons, and they’re not afraid to use them.” It didn’t, and now everyone looks at our coaching staff like they’re fools.
Alabama loses two in a row to close the season, and that’s a result of poor coaching and preparation, and they still get the benefit of being considered at top-5 team. We battle back to put ourselves in position to win, come up short because our all-universe placekicker misses two FGs, and our coaches are a bunch of morons. It just doesn’t compute.
I’ll bet, though, that if we had been 1st and goal from the 8 (I still don’t get that “blocking penalty”), things would have been different. We’d never have fun that fullback pass, and we’d never have been penalized, and we might have even scored a go-ahead touchdown, only to put our porous defense back on the field with about 7 minutes to play.
It was a hell of a game, our boys never gave up, and sometimes you lose. It sucks to lose in Columbia, but it’ll suck a lot more if we lose to UT, UF, or Auburn.
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+1
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I wasn’t able to see the play on Saturday, and now that I’ve had a chance … it’s not a bad call. Using TG3 as a decoy should’ve is actually a really good idea — as long as your other players are ready to make plays.
The flub is on Hutson. “Naked boot” means that the DE is coming at you. Get the ball to Quayvon. Please stop talking about how the ball was wet — some guy named Dylan Thompson almost threw for 300 with a wet ball.
If I’m Bobo, I’m not questioning my play call. But I am questioning the ability of my quarterback to make rudimentary plays under pressure.
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Not to mention how awful Mason’s PA fake was. He might have gotten the DE to break toward the RB with a decent fake and bought himself a second to make the throw to Hicks.
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Not to mention we knew all week that it was going to be wet – if “Huston Mason” as that idiot announcer kept calling him all night) has issues with wet balls, why not get some time in working with a wet ball beforehand ? Boy that didn’t come out right did it……
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This. The offense put up the most points that is has in Columbia since 1920. Bobo overthought one series in a game where they should have put up 41+, and a bunch of morons want to blame him for the game? If you want to win games, don’t give up 38 points on defense. The film from this game has a lot of teachable moments for the defense. This team is still capable of a 10-2 regular season, a bowl win, and a Top 15 finish. Considering the circumstances at the beginning of the season, I think that would be a success.
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I’ll be shocked to see us 10-2. I think 9-3 is the absolute best we can hope for with losses to Missouri and Auburn. I think 8-4 is probably how it shakes out as we’ll lose to one of: Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky. Worst case 7-5 and the hotseat talk comes back in full force.
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I hope you’re right about worst case, David. This team could lose any game left on the schedule except the cupcakes. If we can just manage to split the SEC contests and beat Tech and win the bowl that’s 9 wins which I see as the ceiling for the team I saw Saturday. If things go bad–like an injury to Mason or Gurley……….(sigh)……
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I’m not saying the team will go 10-2, just that it has the capability. The defense will improve. The question is how much. If they can keep teams under 30 points, they will be fine.
Spurrier is the best in the business at exploiting zone defenders with high / low options. The D can be coached up to cover the deeper routes. If that gets cleaned up, I think we would have had better run fits in the second half. A 3 point loss on the road doesn’t mean that the sky is falling… just that there is work to do.
If Marshall Morgan hits the two field goals, would you still feel like this was an 8-4 team after a hard fought 3 point win on the road?
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I agree.
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2 missed FGs, and 2 TDs left on the field (marginal call taking the Gurley long TD run off the board, and John Atkins dropping a pass that almost embedded itself in his sternum that he could have walked into the end zone from the 10, had he just held on to it.) This loss isn’t on Bobo alone; it was a total team effort similar to the death of 1000 paper cuts. Just enough breakdowns spread across all phases at just the worst times to ensure we came up just enough short to lose.
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Maybe having the ball touched should have negated the grounding but look at the angle at which Mason they the ball there is no way it was thrown at Hicks’ feet. It may be where his feet were 4 yards earlier but not when the ball was thrown.
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Agreed.
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Couldn’t agree more with this. We knew we had a weak secondary and that we would give up points. We just thought our offense could make up for it. And when the defense came through with a pick, and put the ball on the four yardline, you have to capitalize.
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Threw the ball not “they”.
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I seem to be in the minority here, but I thought the call was not a bad one. Mason just should have thrown the ball out of the end zone. Everyone in 2 states thought we would run Gurley, and Bobo was trying to exploit that.
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agree completely. Throw it completely away. He made it look like a spike, which is going to get a flag every time. And NOT running Gurley, which a 10-year-old could have called, was the biggest mistake I’ve seen in a very long time. Mind-boggling.
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I have to agree. Looks to me that Hicks was a missed block from an easy TD.
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even in a typical season with, let’s say, the running back being the best player on the team – i would agree. however, it has been proven time and time again that Gurley is an absolute beast. he is a beast that everyone is aware of, keyed in on, and he STILL get his yards. he is, imho, the best college football player currently. other teams feel this way to. they stack the box and it doesn’t matter. he was churning out YAC all night. so yeah it was kind of a dumb playcall seeing as how no one can stop that man.
again, another year? another ‘great’ tailback? the fake wouldn’t be that bad of a call. but not this year. not with this tailback.
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If the pas was throw TO Hicks and CAUGHT it he would have been a genius for faking to Gurley and throwing to Hicks on a play that has worked 90% of the time, when the entire world knew it was going to Gurley. But when your 5th yr. QB makes a redshirt freshman mistake you look like a bubbling turd.
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Even my Georgia Tech alumni oldest brother asked if there was some reason not to give Gurley the ball the public didn’t know about. Was he hurt? Winded? Why wouldn’t you give your best player the ball in that situation? I have no answer. Other than the fact that Spurrier, true to form, is in our heads. When we’re up against the OBC we begin to doubt we can do what we do best. We over think and we end up screwing ourselves. Spurrier has been winning the mind game against UGA pretty much ever since he got into coaching. The only thing worse than having to admit Mark May was right is having to admit Lou Holtz was right.
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Got that right. I’ll take Mark May all day over that homer old woman snotnose Holtz.
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Seems like a valid criticism to me. Has Bobo explained his reason(s) for calling that particular play?
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Correct me if I’m wrong. It was a naked boot to the right with no one there to block the left end. Mason should have recognized this and at least called time out, if he can’t change the play.
So did a poor read lead to bad execution? Or, does Mason not have Bobo’s trust to change a play call at the line?
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EXACTLY. NO BLOCKING ON THE LE. He did not make a “great play.” He simply walked forward with no resistance. I am 48 yo and 50 lbs. overweight and I could have pressured Mason in that situation.
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And on the third-down pass that was tipped, we had Andrews and a guard standing there in front of the DL who ultimately tipped the ball. If they had been in contact with the rushing lineman, he would have had a hard time getting his hands up. As it was, he stood there a couple of yards away from the blockers and waited on HM to throw the ball. I know it was late in the game, but our OL should have been hustling with the game on the line to be won.
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Meh, we lost. Nothing really changes. We need to win a lot more games before the end of the season.
Hoping we can lay the wood to Troy and then get everyone some rest.
Even if we give it to Gurley and he scores, what are the chances that our defense was actually going to stop USC from marching down the field and scoring?
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I thought the same thing. As excited as I was with Swann’s interception. I instantly thought that there is too much time left to hold SC from marching down the field.
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I sure would have liked to have found out.
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You did find out. We couldnt stop them on 3rd and long. We didnt stop them on 4th and short. A 3 and out and we get the ball back with time on the clock to get into FG range. We couldnt stop them.
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‘We didnt stop them on 4th and short’
Yes, we did.
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You’re out of your mind. There’s no way on a qb sneak that he didn’t pick up the inch or two they needed. We got a pretty generous spot if you ask me to make it as close as it was. Unless the pile moves backward which it didn’t there’s no way they didn’t get it.
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Even if it worked it’s a stupid call that worked in spite of itself. Sometimes trying to prove you’re the smartest guy in the room leads to revealing you’re actually the dumbest.
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Are you talking about yourself with your last statement or Bobo? Unclear to me.
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Touche. LOL
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The more I think about this call, the more I am okay with it. My internal justification presumes a lot I can’t back up, but I’m okay with that.
Here’s how I see it: from a play calling perspective, Cory Brinson does a good job rationalizing why it made sense. For me, there is a second level that I suspect may have been involved. Because Bobo had the benefit of four downs and short distance, he has the opportunity to potentially provide a psychological boost to the passing game. The reason everyone is screaming about not giving it to Gurley is because TGII is a relatively sure thing. In spite of his high completion % and 0 int, Mason is raising doubts. Our receivers, without MM and JSW, are raising doubts. Why not take a statistically safe opportunity to give them a meaningful rep to build cohesion and confidence? If it fails, punch it in with Gurley on the next 2 or 3 downs. Seems very reasonable to me.
Some of y’all may see that as Bobo getting cute or overthinking the game, but I understand it. He has a responsibility to get all of the offense working and working well. Gurley bailed us out on Saturday more than once, but if we have the chance to diversify, we need to take it. While it might be easy to say that the passing play would fail (which is pure conjecture), it would have been nearly impossible to predict the grounding call. It was the right call because it was the exact situation where we could afford to try something else with little risk to the ultimate outcome.
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“When you throw the ball, three things can happen, and two of them are bad.” (General Neyland)
This was not the time for raising Mason’s confidence. It was the time to WIN THE GAME. Doesn’t winning boost team confidence?
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I don’t want to come off as obtuse on the subject and I would also have had no problem if he had just handed the ball to Gurley. I really am just trying to understand the call. I feel like the Neyland quote actually works in favor of the call, because one of the bad outcomes that Neyland references (incompletion) isn’t bad here. An incomplete throw just sets up 2 or 3 attempts to run it in. So, in this specific situation, I feel like it’s fair to modify the quote. When you throw the ball, 3 things can happen, one is bad and one is indifferent.
I’m not saying it would have been my call, but I also think that the “Bobo is an idiot” flavor of comments are… lacking in nuance.
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People seem to be misremembering Gurley’s play that night. 80% of the time we was his usual superhuman self, but he did get stuffed several times as well. It wasn’t a sure thing to run him three times, especially with the box stacked and the end zone line 14 yards away
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4 yards away
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I said “end zone line” on purpose. I know he was four yards away
My point is that the defense was stacked into a small space (see the pics above)
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Boy, that sounds like bending over backwards to rationalize a fuck-up. At that particular point in the game, nobody needed to be concerned about giving a “psychological boost to the passing game.” The idea was to score at touchdown to win the game.
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When we got blown out in Columbia two years ago it was miserable and sobering and brought all kinds of hand-wringing and calls for everyone’s head.. “How could we get beat so badly!?”.
Now we go to Columbia and lose in a very tight game… and all the focus is on the one play that may have tipped the balance. It’s always the way. There is no good defeat. Lose big and it’s why didn’t you have them better prepared. Lose close and it’s impossible to ignore the play or two that would have swung the game.
In our new playoff world, the result of this game is largely meaningless. If UGA wins 10 more games in a row they’ll be in the SEC championship with a chance to go the playoff. The only thing to take away from this game is how the team played and what that portends for their remaining games, and that demands looking at more than one play. If that play had worked, and Hicks had walked into the endzone, would it change our chances against Missouri or AU going forward? Would our secondary be any better?
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Well reasoned and honest analysis, but should the Dawgs and uSC remain tied in the SEC at season’s end I fear this result is tragically costly.
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+1 one game at a time.
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Gents,
we lost the game because our Defense could not stop them. You don’t give up 38 pts in this conference and expect to win.
2008 should have taught us all that.
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No shit, Jax. And I, for one, doubt very seriously that even had we scored with four minutes left, that we could have kept Carolina out of the end zone. But that does not matter, the nattering nabobs of bullshit have decreed that Mike Bobo made the wrong call.
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The defense deserves blame, no doubt. But that doesn’t change the reality of the moment when it’s first and goal from the four. The defense isn’t on the field and you’ve got a chance to take the lead late in the game.
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The defense had just forced a turnover and given the offense the opportunity to win the game.
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That’s certainly one way to look at it.
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Right.
Not only that, the defense had some rare momentum. And the correct call for the situation may have kept them on the bench, given them a good blow while they regroup with Pruitt, and taken a minute or two away from SC when they had to have a TD.
And the noose around Thompson’ neck, already tight, would have tightened considerably. As bad as the defense was at times, it had some moments and a little juice going right then. I like Pruitt’s chances of keeping them out of the end zone in that situation.
But maybe Gurley scores on the first play. There’s a pretty good chance he would have, IMO. Even then, it’s the right call for your team.
~~~
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You may have “liked Pruitts chances of keeping them out of the endzone” but I didn’t. And that next drive where their massive O line bull dozed us off the ball confirms that. You are all assuming that if we get a TD there we win the game and I just don’t see it. Our secondary has talent issues that aren’t going to be solved until we get one or two recruiting classes in here. The aren’t talented enough to play man so we can blitz more and they get picked apart in zone. Death by 1000 paper cuts.
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The wonderful thing about the Internet is that Cory Brinson can present information that gives us a different view of the bullshit artists’ attempt to be expert about something they watched on TV.
That grown men get paid a lot of money to second guess coaches and players is the worst part of the intrusion of TV into college football.
One of my friends was simply livid we did not give the ball to Gurley on the play where intentional grounding was incorrectly called, yet was blissfully happy when we scored on the same play earlier in the game.
I don’t understand how any rational person can ask why Mike Bobo, or whoever actually called the play, would not just give the ball to Gurley four times when the whole South Carolina defense is reacting like ants to every twitch of Gurley’s headgear.
The problem with the play call is not that we did not give the ball to Gurley, the problem with the play call, even with the benefit of considerable hindsight, is that the play did not work.
Sometimes the defense wins. All the bullshit from Mark May or Lou Holtz or whoever is not going to change that. But you can rest assured that if a key play does not work, Mark May will explain to us why it was the wrong play to call.
The solution is really simple. Don’t listen to the bullshit artists, people who get paid to create controversy by second guessing coaches.
Turn them off.
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SJ, I want to agree with you, I really do. But the problem with the playcall isn’t just that they didn’t give the ball to Gurley, it is the play Bobo called. A naked boot to the right with the left DE unblocked? Or even if he was supposed to be blocked by a back? A bad play for that situation and it cost us the game.
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Mayor, with respect, what cost us the game was not being able to stop South Carolina from scoring.
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It wasn’t the play call……it was the execution.
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Because he’s the best fucking player on the team. Because he wanted the ball. Because he had runs of 17 and 9 yards in the second half when he got absolutely no support from his offensive line.
Seriously, you can’t understand it? I can’t understand that.
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I certainly understand that YOU think Gurley should have run the ball four times.
If you are asking if I think that then no, I do not.
Should we have given Gurley the ball when when Rome scored? Or when Bennett caught the two point play? Same situation.
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What is driving most of this angst, and certainly not just from you is that Bobo did not do what you and others think he should have done.
I will take Bobo’s view, thank you very much.
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Oh, and if I may point out that South Carolina’s defense sure seemed to agree with the idea we would run Gurley four times.
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It may have been a similar location on the field, but it wasn’t the same situation.
By your reasoning, I guess they never should call a play for Gurley near the goal line.
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“but it wasn’t the same situation.” Oh, I thought we were on the 5 or so yard line and needed the score.
“By your reasoning, I guess they never should call a play for Gurley near the goal line.”
C’mon man, grasping at straws is non-productive, as is gnashing your teeth over a play call you disagree with.
Let’s see, we call the plays or Bobo calls the plays….hmm, who has the better track record….in the arena, if I may, ….I believe I will take….hmm let me think, now….Bobo?
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Are you not letting Mark May into your head there, Sen baby?
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You lost me there.
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“Mark May is an ass”….unless you agree with him?
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As the saying goes, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.
That I agree with him on this occasion doesn’t make him any less of an ass… did I do that poor a job of communicating my attitude in the post?
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Location and situation aren’t the same thing.
It’s late in the game. Even if you can’t punch it in with Gurley, at worst you’re going to leave SC in terrible field position with the hope of getting the ball back with a shot at a tying field goal.
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“getting the ball back with a shot at a tying field goal.”
Nuff said?
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Again, not getting your point. You don’t think that should have been a factor in the playcalling?
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I thought we had a shot at a tying field goal.
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We had a shot at a TD.
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I agree, there were much bigger plays than this one, the Gurley td holding for one–focus on Kublanow–that was the biggest play of the game. Also, the 2 missed field goals and game over if he gits those–kicker choked. Why not focus on special teams?
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Absolutely correct. Go with your strength. At least once or twice. But yes, also your QB has to be better with the ball and not ground it and if the ball is tipped your QB has to tell the ref and your HC and get it reviewed.
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Somebody made a good comparison. It’s like in the movie Hoosiers when Coach Dale says, “We’re gonna use Jimmy as a decoy”, and the entire team, including Jimmy, stands up disgusted. (I know it’s just a movie but it’s a good example of how teams think in crunch time)
When you’re on any sports team and you have a superstar at the end of a close game, everybody on the team wants the star to bring ’em home. It’s just known that he’s gonna win it for you.
I think even Mason was probably rattled at the notion that they weren’t feeding Gurley. It’s just totally against the grain in that situation and it showed. My two cents.
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(I know it’s just a movie but it’s a good example of how teams think in crunch time) Mary May agrees with you, every day.
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Whatever, Man. I’m just telling you how players think. When the game is on the line and you’re about to snap the ball, the last thing you want your team thinking is, “Why the hell are we running this?!??”.
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Yes, they do. Which is one of the primary reasons you don’t call that play, or another like it. With that kind of play, too many bad things can happen if it goes wrong. It’s TOO RISKY for that situation, even if you have just a serviceable SEC back.
When the best player on the field, by far, is your running back, it borders on stupidity.
~~~
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Verne also mentioned that our best WR, Marcus Mitchell, was out for the game. WHY DID HE NOT PLAY?? Fire Bobo.
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Oops….this reply is supposed to be a line below
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The biggest mistake was putting Hunter Mason in for that play.
Bobo should’ve stuck with Hutson Mason, hes’ been practicing plays with the team all summer and was in a better position to execute.
The same goes for Pruitt using Damian Swain instead of Damian Swann. That Swain caused the pass interference.
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Damian Thorn would have gotten the job done, one way or another — god forbid.
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For the love of all things Holy and un-, can anyone tell me when Virg Lungkiss will be put out to pasture? The man is beyond tedious now.
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Agreed.
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Had we run the ball in that situation, and NOT scored on 1st down we also could have chewed up some clock and/or forced SC to use timeouts. THAT should have factored into Bobo’s “strategy” as well. The defense for passing in that particular situation is very very thin.
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It was a great call, especially considering Mason had throw a td in the red zone to Rome earlier. Who missed the block so the defender ran free, call was good, execution was poor, not on Bobo.
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There was no missed block. The play was designed to not block that guy. The line blocks down to sell the run action, the QB is to boot around the DE who is supposed to bite down. He didn’t. And, with all due respect, Hicks was not open. He would have been open had Conley gotten away with the pass interference on the pick play, but SC defensed that play to perfection. Bobo tried to get cute and it blew up in his face. Plain and simple. There is no adequate defense otherwise.
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Maybe you’re right about the play was designed to not block the end, but you better sell the ballfake it that’s the case, and the execution on the ballfake, and that’s on Mason, Hicks and Gurley, was poor. So still, it was a good call, with only 1 defender to beat, if he bites, you score, if he doesn’t, you backpedal & loft it for the easy td. Not difficult.
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^^^ THIS ^^^ Burning the clock, pushing the pile forward, and THEN call the pass if you still don’t get it…
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Upon further and, ahem, sober review, Brinson makes a good point. Hicks was open,
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Yep, just as Rome was earlier in the game.
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Put some air under that one and he walks in, Mason didn’t seem to anticipate the defender coming through unblocked, someone missed an assignment. Next time, block the defender, and put some air on it, Mason and whoever missed the block will learn.
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I was surprised Clemson tried to force the run in the 2nd half, they should’ve thrown every down (or mostly) until we proved we could stop it. Instead they got in 3rd and long and we got to the QB. Spurrier saw that and exploited it right away.
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Which is why (it should be noted) that SOS is the 2nd greatest Coach in league history.
Dabo, ahem, is not.
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Just curious, not directing any comment….
Where have Fenteng and Parrish been, same with Kennar Johnson?
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I doubt we see Johnson, not sure he can play. But I suspect we’ll start to see some of Shattle and Parrish. Our corners are SO SOFT, particularly at the LOS.
~~~
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We provide the fodder for Steve Spurrier, Mark May, Lou Holtz, et al to take shots at us because we do stupid stuff often enough to make ourselves an easy target. Georgia has a well-earned reputation for not being able to get out of its own way in some of its highest-profile games, and the talking heads can’t jump on us fast enough. And why shouldn’t they? The opening’s there; why not exploit it?
I used to have the feeling in the Dooley era that we would somehow find a way to win a close game, even one we had no business winning. We didn’t whine about bad karma or the officiating, we just won close games far more often than we lost. I had that feeling early in the CMR era too, but no longer. I was as disappointed as anyone that we didn’t beat Carolina, but was I surprised? No, not really. Not anymore.
I just hope the players don’t have the same doubts.
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+1. Very well said, Cannon. I’m disappointed, too. In the whole team, and the coaches, especially Richt.
I was hoping we were getting back to the early Richt years, which were similar to the Dooley years, when we always seemed to find ways to win close games like this. Instead, we continued our ole ways and figured out another way to lose.
This loss is on everybody, primarily the whole coaching staff, IMO. We knew the secondary would have problems. But the rest of the team could have covered for them with a solid performance, and it would’ve been enough.
And you’re right about the 1st-and-goal. It’s very black and white really, even after you break it down 100 times. It was a stupid call that backfired. And when you do stupid things like that in big games you’re gonna get plastered.
This 1st-and-goal situation is just like it would have been in 1980 vs. South Carolina, had the situation been the same. A very tough, hard-fought game, and with four downs and a chance to win in front of the goal line. And we don’t give to Herschel because they are keying on him.
But this was nothing new for us. As you say, we have a long-standing reputation for finding some way to do it to ourselves. And it’s well-deserved.
~~~
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I also don’t understand why players get tired after a few plays? I understand its not the era of Herschel and carrying the ball 40 times but after a few plays?
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+1. They’re just not in the same condition anymore. The game has gotten softer, IMO.
~~~
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I don’t get the big deal with this play call either. I feel like everyone would be calling out Bobo if we had given the ball to Gurley 4 times and not scored also. A similar play to Rome worked earlier so why not try it again? Don’t we give Bobo grief for not sticking with what works?
He knew the Gamecocks were keying on number 3 so why not use him a decoy? There isn’t an OC on the planet who is taking a intentional grounding call into account when choosing that play. If that doesn’t happen most likely if we don’t score it is 2 & goal from the 4yard line and you can still pound Gurley for 3 plays.
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And, in clear fact, the intentional grounding call may very well have been a mistake by the officials.
I really just don’t understand the fixation with this particular play when any one of a dozen others on offense or defense could have won the game for us.
I think Mark May has gotten into heads that one would hope were more resistant to bullshit.
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Yes, because nobody before the play was called thought Gurley should run the ball. We only came up with that insight after the pass play flopped.
Honestly, I get your “in Bobo I trust” mantra. Still doesn’t make it a good call.
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Would it have been a good call if it had worked…had we scored?
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There is a difference between a call that works and a call that gives you the BEST chance. If this was an anomaly and different happen at several times during the last few years, you can just chalk it up to human error, but Georgia mysteriously seems to have a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Recruit some better DBs and hit your FGs and this play is an afterthought. But after firing 2 DCs and not winning the SEC in a decade your margin for error is much smaller and this kind of scrutiny continues.
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Correct, just like that 3rd and 16 that Gurley made an incredible play, that was a pathetic call.
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Yep, same logic as the SEC Championship 2 years ago. Nobody thought Murray would get a tipped pass. Twice it has cost us big games. Either your QB has to not get caught for grounding and throw the ball out of the end zone or if tipped he should’ve told the ref and his HC and had the play reviewed. 2nd guessing is not an issue if we had a defensive backfield but 2 years in a row it will cost us big. Kick Marshall and Sanders off the team and don’t sign any of he sam class to replace them so we had freshmen all over the place last year. Then we kick three more DBs off the team and the JUCOs guys (Johnson and Fenteng) haven’t seen the field….and we are playing more freshmen and average talent again. Solve that problem and we don’t nitpick every freaking play to death!
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One takeaway is to not call long developing plays in that situation, a guy can come through clean and blow it up. Need quick plays that happen before a rusher can come through.
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If Murray throws the ball in the ground (and the refs don’t blow the call) we might have a MNC. If Hutson tries to throw over the SCar DE and it gets tipped for an INT, the howling, teeth-nashing and self-loathing is even worse.
Maybe we just take that play out of the playbook until we better understand what to do when the DE doesn’t bite on the tackle’s inside move?
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Sure there are. They’re everywhere. Just about any high school in the South has one. Coaches don’t think that way. Rather, it’s the process of factoring in the risks, and matching it to the situation.
The thing you guys don’t see is, you RULE OUT intentional grounding, interception, pass-block holding, big loss from a sack, and such things, by making the right call and giving the ball to your back, if you have a good one. You take the risks, and the bad things that go with it, out of the equation.
If you happen to have the best back in the country, if not on the entire damn planet, you ……….
~~~
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HAZ BOBO LOST HIS IPAD?
Well it is a short trip back to the outhouse from the penthouse. Dust off the “Bobo Haz a Crayon” hats. Put away the “Give that Man a Raise” tee shirts and get ready for the renewed mockery of one Coach Bobo. Blog s that were dormant for so long that we had dismissed them are firing up the keyboard and changing the batteries in their wireless mouse. The last time we lost in Williams Brice stadium Murray had a YPA of 3.2.
We took a week off and then stumbled against Kentucky but were saved by a walk on. Imagine that. However, we managed to win the East anyway and play for the SECC. No matter… Bobo forgot to account for the 5 ft. vertical leaping ability of a linebacker and the ball was tipped. SPIKE THE DAMN BALL for goodness sakes some screamed! DAMN YOU MIKE BOBO!
DOESN’T MURRAY ALWAYS NUT UP IN THE BIG GAME?
We have a renewed “uT Brick Masons” team strolling into Sanford Stadium in two weeks Dawg Fans. Let’s stop finger pointing and put this game behind us. Let us return to the stat book and be comforted by the fact that the winner of the annual war between the Dawgs and Cocks hasn’t won the East in awhile.
“We win as a team, we lose as a team.”
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Thanks man, wonder if Troy will load the box.
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““uT Brick Masons” that’s good stuff Homey
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😉
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=400548392&period=4
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Is South Carolina going to use this fluky win to get to Atl and the playoffs hell no . This crew under the OLD head ball sack is going to screw up and we will get better, I’m with Scorpio, it is entirely possible to second guess every call of every game. Jez,analytically what idiot throws to a tiny freshman to start the game and if he drops the ball we are behind the chains ,don’t score ,go down 14-0 and get blown out . All these “what ifs” are utter hog twaddle,says I .Because Mckensie catches the ball Bobo is a genius. It is all lunacy to even play these type games of mental masturbation. Were all the “I know better than Bobo crowd” standing up and screaming when Q Hicks got the ball instead of Gurley(yes he did run for 26) precisely because Lorenzo Ward and everyone else knew we were going to hand it to a tailback named Gurley..Listening to Mark May on play calling is the functional equivalent of listening to a community organizer about foreign policy……..don’t do it it’s not prudent.
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I hope it is obvious I agree with you…especially the last sentence.
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No, wait, a community organizer may know more about foreign policy than Mark May knows about…..aw hail…Mark does wear nice suits, he must know something….about making money play a buffoon on TV.
“What did you do in the war, daddy?” “Well son, I was a shill for Lou Holtz.”
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Again, taking this to its logical conclusion, you’d never give Gurley the ball in crunch time.
Maybe I could understand this reasoning better if he wasn’t getting much done. But he had two of the best runs of his career in the second half with little to no support from his line.
Richt famously declared before the season that Georgia needed to feed the beast. Of all the times to ignore your best instinct…
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“You got to give Todd Gurley the ball”
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OK, I give up. I hope you and Mark May have a lovely lunch.
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Mark May is biased, he was an offensive lineman, so of course he wants a run there, but UGA’s calling card is the pass game, so UGA was being true to UGA. That run the ball thing would work for Arkansas on the goalline, but it’s just not who UGA is at least for now. You have to be true to who you are, and UGA is a pass team.
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BREAKING: the Senator and Mark May are pals!
You win the Internets today, Scorpio. I slink away ashamedly.
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” I slink away ashamedly.” Are you taking your blog and going home? 🙂
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The holding call on the Gurley td was a much bigger play.
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HUGE
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This was kinda large…
South Carolina at 14:55 GA USC
Marshall Morgan kickoff for 65 yds , Shon Carson return for 42 yds to the SCaro 42 28 31
1st and 10 at SC 42 Mike Davis run for 16 yds to the Geo 42 for a 1ST down
1st and 10 at UGA 42 Mike Davis run for 3 yds to the Geo 39
2nd and 7 at UGA 39 Brandon Wilds run for 15 yds to the Geo 24 for a 1ST down
1st and 10 at UGA 24 Brandon Wilds run for 24 yds for a TD, (Elliott Fry KICK) 28 38
SC DRIVE TOTALS: 4 plays, 58 yards, 1:54
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Not the reason we lost, but surprised nobody else has chimed in with this thought…Morgan made the tackle (pretty good form, but took a blow to the head) on the return mentioned above. Prior to said tackle, he made 20 FG’s in a row…afterwards, he missed two well inside his proven range. Correlation, causation, or is there any relevance? My 15 year old daughter and I commented to each other, “Glad he made the tackle, but hated that he took such a hit.” Didn’t seem like that big a deal at the time…Doesn’t change the fact that the defense did not play well enough to deserve to win, but they did put the team in position to win a tough road game without their ‘A’ game…Bad holding call causes a TD to come back, 2 missed makeable FG’s, chance to win late, bad spot / break on 4th down = all unlucky circumstances that lead to a team loss – not this one play call in my opinion.
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I wondered about his head and a concussion I sure hope not.
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How about the 3rd and goal on the 11 where the ball goes to a curl on the 5? Better to go off tackle to the left if they were playing for the FG.
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Absolutely. Have been trying to find the right spot to add this little note. We have three plays to score a game winning touchdown and not one of them has a good chance of reaching that goal. If you’re going to throw it on 3rd and goal, please throw the ball in the fucking endzone! Even if everything is perfect re protection and throw, Bennett NEVER scores on that 3rd down pass.
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I think narrowing it down to 1 play isn’t accurate. There were breakdowns on offense, defense, and special teams. The blame could easily be attributed anywhere. It’s naiive to try and pin the loss on Hutson Mason and one play when it’s a 3 point game.
That play was not the most important of the game. I’d vote for the holding call on Gurley’s td.
Would I have liked to have seen Hutson do a convincing ball pump to get the defender off his feet, or put a really high arc on that pass and go for broke instead of playing it safe, better ball fake by Mason to sell the run, better fake by Gurley to sell the run, a little half attempt to block the guy by the fullback disguising his intentions, sure, but hindsight’s 20/20.
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I think a point is being missed here. Nobody, including me, is saying that this was the most important play of the game. All we’re saying is that when you’ve got a true Heisman candidate who’s been getting it done, perhaps taking the ball out of his hands wasn’t the smartest thing to do in that situation.
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Ok, so we agree it was not the most important play of the game. I can only guess what Bobo was thinking when he called the play. He knew everyone would be keying on Gurley. That’s a given. He knew Rome had been open to the right for a td earlier in the red zone. That was certain. He hoped his guys would execute well and sell the ball fake, Gurley, Mason and Hicks, I believe THAT was the flaw. It was a poor fake by all 3. The defender didn’t buy it. So yes, the execution was poor, but the playcall itself was ballsy and should have worked if we sold the ball fake to Gurley.
What Bobo figured was he needed misdirection to get the best odds to score a Td. He knew a call to Gurley up the middle would be expected. There was really only one defender you had to beat on the play, and it was dependent on the ball fake, but he didn’t buy, and the play blew up.
Ultimately though, you get the ball into your playmakers hands there, Gurley, Michel, McKenzie on an end around, something. I agree there.
Still if Mason backpedals and arcs it, it’s a ‘W’, only one defender to worry about. Hard to fault Bobo completely.
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Gotta love Gurley, but he’s a poor decoy (and a worse blocker). He comes alive when he’s carrying the ball. You’re asking for misdirection from three players, at least two of whom have limited experience in such situations, on a complicated play.
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I do not buy Brinson’s comments about the play being good. It is not a good call. Hell, even Mark Richt made the comment it was not after it blew up. They should have called time or checked out once they saw the Caroliana alignment. First they outnumber us to the right side. Watch how the DE plays it once the right tackle takes his first step. He comments to block to the inside. His leverage is gone. The DE reads it right. Do not over commit because he sees the man in motion and the QB drop back. The DE has backside coverage. He is playing his responsiblity there. Appears to me the man in motion is too slow coming across and never drags the DE with him. FB never gets past him, he is contained. Timing is gone and Mason lost his throwing lane to the outside…it is all inside re player position.
Now why run the ball. First, in the second half Carolina’s D was getting blocked good. Four yards. Have the sets and the players to power in from 4 yards. Just by chance they complete the pass. Look at the time for Carolina to come down field. And they had had 4 drives of over 75 yards in the game. They had controlled the 4th qtr against ECU with an 18 play 75 yds 10 minute drive. Looking to score and burn clock.
Then when the play blew up Mason’s inexperience came to the fore. Either take a sack or throw it away. Not good choices. He had to ground it other because he could not get the ball out to the right. Grounding call gave their D big mo with just 3 plays to defend [2]. Wet field. A FG is not automatic that close in due to angle and field conditions.
Running play. Look at where the ball is set for the 1st down. On the left hash mark. Right side is the wide side, strong side. Make Carolina defend that space on first down. No Bobo puts in a set strong to the short side of the field. Dumb. That allows Carolina to cheat to the strong side as the boundary to the left is in essence a defender when you are in that close. Do not try to tell me with that a scheme like that is better than a set to the wide side with space and distance [four yards] with a runner like Gurley, or Chubb, or Michel to defend. Their D had trouble all game with Gurley in space with his strength, running style, determination
Run the ball. Burn clock. Score a TD. Go up by 7 with at most 4 minutes on the clock and now put the pressure on Carolina and Thompson to go the distance.
Sorry but I think that was a dumb ass play considering all the factors…weather, on the road, your D just gave you a big turnover on their goalline, the D was beginning to play with more confidence.
Do you know who was brillant in that game. Pruitt. Just a damn great call by him on coverage to steal a pick and a possible win.
Then comes the style of Bobo and Richt. Dumb as freaking hell.
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Mark is interviewing script writers…Lou Holtz fired them all.
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Too many F’s and S’s…
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I guess I’m somewhere in the middle on all of this. It was a bad play call because it introduced an unnecessary element of chance when giving the ball to Gurley was likely to net you a TD eventually. However, I understand Bobo’s thinking, and I’m stunned the end stayed home on the play. This gives people something obvious to point to late in the game, I guess, but there were many other reasons for this loss. And if Georgia had scored a TD, I would have had no faith that the defense would keep South Carolina from answering.
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Perfect is the enemy of good in this situation. The playcall may have been good. But, handing it to Todd Gurley would have been better. When the game is on the line, and you absolutely must convert an easy possession into a touchdown, do you rely on the best player on the field, or a noodle-armed, fifth-year senior, making his first SEC road start? Bobo chose poorly, but it’s our faces that melt off.
Spurrier would have run the ball. Saban would have run the ball. Les Miles would have run the ball. Malzahn would have run the ball. Meyer would have run the ball. D’antonio would have run the ball. None of those coaches have Todd Gurley. Our coach calls a pass.
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Texas A & M would have thrown the ball.
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That’s because their QB and WRs are the best players on their team. So, they would be playing to their strengths, unlike ours.
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But Texas A & M exposed South Carolina’s weakness, defending the pass. And the pass to Rome had gone for a td earlier, also to the right. UGA is not known as a running team, that might/should change if Richt & Bobo are wise, but UGA was being true to UGA by calling a pass there.
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Run-pass ratio Saturday night was 38/22.
Georgia is third in the conference in rushing offense.
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Senator, let me clarify, I don’t remember Mike Bobo ever finishing at the top of the conference rushing list at the end of any season since he’s been at Georgia. But he’s always there for passing. I think UGA being true to UGA is a passing team until you see run plays called on 1st and goal at the 4 yard line.
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UGA is not known as a running team? Since when? 62% of their playcalls in their first two games were runs.
But, there hasn’t been a truer statement ever written on the internet than when you wrote, “UGA was being true to UGA by calling a pass there.”
I think that is the point a lot of people are
makingtrying to make. UGA does this sort of crap a lot. It’s the reason they don’t reach their potential. UGA being UGA.LikeLike
South Carolina’s defense sho did seem to think we might run the ball.
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UGA has finished in rushing in the SEC since 2008
5TH, 7TH, 10TH, 7TH, 4TH, 11TH
But in pass offense IN SEC since 2008:
1st, 7th, 5th, 2nd, 4th, 2nd
Like I said, UGA is being true to UGA by passing on 1st and goal at the 4.
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Spurrier called a pitch on 4th and goal last year that probably cost him the game. I’m sure he took some heat for that…proportional to what is being directed at Richt/Bobo now?
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it was Davis right their “stud ” running back …..total bonehead call they (USC) should have fired him last year for that call…..o well ,maybe next year.
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We need to coach better the offense in red zone situations. More practice. More simulation of what could go wrong, and what to do if it does. If it’s a pass play, backpedaling buys you some time, it’s an old Joe Montana trick. You also have to really sell the ball fake on a misdirection and if things go wrong, then put some air under it, a la Peyton Manning.
Give your guy a chance to make the play, instead of a throw away, backpedal, and arc.
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What sucks about Saturday:
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If you count the Head Coach as part of the team South Carolina was not the inferior team. Even if you hate him you would have to admit that he is one of the greatest college football coaches in the nation.
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What sucks most about Saturday? Everything?
The sting of having it there for the taking outweighs the comeback. Just freaking brutal.
When was the last time we were undefeated going into October? Forget November. Just OCTOBER.
How long oh Lord. How long must my people suffer.
Hate everything.
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We knew going into this game our secondary was vulnerable.
The good news (and this is big):
There’s no one else on the schedule known for passing. Kent, Aub, Florida, Tenn, Ark, all rank bottom 5 in passing in the conference.
South Carolina was a bad matchup for us (top 35 pass offense), that should be it for the year.
Pruitt built this defense to stop the run, should be in good shape from here out.
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“There’s no one else on the schedule known for passing. Kent, Aub, Florida, Tenn, Ark, all rank bottom 5 in passing in the conference.”
One of these things is not like the other. You also conveniently left out Mizzou.
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Mizzou is ranked 87th in pass offense.
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Missouri is a throw-first team. Tennessee can throw it. Kentucky can throw it. And, I’ll believe they can stop Auburn when I see it.
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Mizzou is ranked 87th is pass offense. True, Kent is ranked #22 in pass offense, might be a loss there. But no one else on the schedule is ranked higher than #68 in pass offense, so should be good from here out, except for Kentucky.
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Look past the box scores. Mizzou is a pass-first team that has played cupcakes so far. Maty Mauk is All-SEC.
Kentucky and Tennessee aren’t great, but they are improving. I could see both of those teams giving UGA fits, just like Kentucky did to the vaunted Florida defense on Saturday night.
Tennessee is a nooner at home. Kentucky is on the road the week after the Cocktail Party. Missouri is on the road the week before going to Arkansas. The schedule hardly sets up like a cake-walk when the defense is this out-manned.
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Maybe, but going by the numbers, only have to worry about 2 passing offenses from here in Florida and Kent. No one else is ranked better than #68 in pass offense.
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You, sir, are obviously not a golfer…
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Whoa! DAN! I’m not gonna accuse you of MSU… but I believe you are crossing up your stats some. SEC vs National?
FIFU. Take a look at it… have a gander. 😉
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/911/team/offense/split01/category02/sort01.html
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You’re right, Iwas looking at 2013, oops.
Florida and Kentucky are both top 20 nationally in passing. But I don’t believe anyone else on the schedule is above #68 in pass offense nationally after that.
I’m not sold that Florida and Kentucky’s pass off is legit since neither have played a ranked team yet. I doubt either will end up in the top 50 for pass offense.
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We couldn’t stop the run, either, on Saturday night.
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We’re 8th in pass defense and rush defense after 2 games against ranked teams. We’re the only team in the SEC, besides South Carolina, who has faced 2 ranked teams.
Kind of skews the numbers.
Shocker?
UGA is ranked #11 nationally in rush defense AND #17 nationally in pass defense against RANKED teams.
Also, #3 in nation in scoring offense, and #9 in scoring defense against RANKED teams.
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Florida is ranked #12 in pass offense nationally, that’s potentially a matchup problem too if it holds up.
My point is Tenn, Auburn, Auburn and Arkansas are not ranked higher than #68 in pass offense.
Florida is #12, and Kent is #22 in pass offense, I don’t know if either will hold up once they get into the meat of their schedule.
Besides those 2 games, there arn’t a lot of matchup issues on defense.
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So you’re basing the season outlook going forward on Passing rankings after a 3 week sample size?
I mean, I get what you’re saying but that’s pretty weak. Not sure I’d make that the rock your house will be built upon.
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No, not just 3 games, lets’ take into consideration 2013 for a little larger sample size.
Mizzou was #42
Kentucky was #100
Auburn #108
Florida #109
Tenn #111
Arkansas #116
Georgia Tech #120
Probably why the UGA defense isn’t built to stop the pass. Just won’t face anyone except Mizzou who passes well.
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Okay, but I would argue that we lost 2 of those games you list and came within a eyelash of losing 2 more (UT, Tech, OT games). I’m just not seeing your optimism simply because of these rankings.
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And it’s done, over, fini. Don’t mean nuthin.
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Since we’re not even converting 50% of red zone opps into touchdowns, anyone want to see Faton Bauta in the red zone with some packages?
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Here, sir; I, sir.
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The stat that just jumps out is 3rd down conversions. Quick, without looking, was Richt correct in his halftime interview that “we’re getting killed on 3rd down conversions”?
UGA 5 for 12
SCar 2 for 9
I thought that was so wrong, the statisticians screwed-up. Watched the 1st half replay (not ready to handle 2nd half yet). SCar killed us on 2nd and long in the first half with those over the LB, under the safety throws. Hope our new meme isn’t 2nd & Pruitt.
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Nah, now it’s first and Bobo. I am not going to crucify the man for one bad call, there is enough blame to go around. I would have done things differently, handing off four times to Gurley and Hicks also if necessary. I would have called a timeout and had a talk with the offense on the sideline. Something like “Men, We haven’t played well enough to win this game but now We have a chance. We are going to ram that ball into the end zone and show those guys who We are by whipping their asses. Don’t be stupid, no holding, no personals and no celebration. We will celebrate after We win.” Some times you have to make a team stand up and be men, even if they fall short of their goal.
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Everybody in America, except for Dawg fans so true and loyal that they can rationalize anything, see a conspiracy or the hand of an evil god in every game, knows for damn sure that we screwed up totally by not giving the ball to Gurley or maybe even Hicks on a straight-ahead plunge from the 4-yard line.
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I absolutely hated the 1st and goal play call but if it had worked the talk of the weekend would have been how brilliant it was because of how everybody in the world just knew they would be pounding Gurley up the middle. I too am of the opinion that when you score 35 points and lose you have to be more critical of the defense than the offense. And if you are going to shit the bed it is better to do it early in the year rather than wait until late.
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We’re in good shape, them. Plenty of time to wash the sheets.
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Absolutely. We are just fine. We will still win the East. And somewhere, in a parallel universe, Gurley got the call and fumbled. The blogosphere blew up with, “WTF! The guy was tired. Why depend on him there when everybody was keying on him? Jesus Christ what was Bobo thinking? Is Gurley all we have???”
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I agree that we still have time. I agree that the D is to blame. However, I do not want Bobo to come up with a “brilliant” playcall on first and goal from the four. His cutesie playcalls have burned us too many times down the stretch. I want him to trust our OL and RBs to get 4 yards on 3 plays like everybody knows they can. Bobo shouldn’t have tried to win the game for us. We had the best player on the field.
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Not from me. Can’t speak for others, but I would’ve said we took an unnecessary risk and got away with it, and at the same time missed an opportunity to refresh our defense (who finally had some juice and momentum), and take some time off the clock, away from South Carolina.
~~~
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It’s as simple as this: there are a lot more things that can go wrong – and we saw at least a couple of them – running the boot that we called vs. turning around and letting the big dog(s) eat. We got cute and got burned.
I wish we had knowledge as to what was going through TGIIIs head when he broke the huddle – something along the lines of “you’ve got to be effing kidding me!!!!!!!!”.
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I do not blame Bobo or his play calling. I do not blame a kicker who had just hit 20 straight. I don’t blame a DC who is playing without his entire secondary.
The worst part of the loss was not Mark May or having to listen to Shamecock fans carry on like they are a real program. The worst part is this right here……….the reaction of Georgia fans.
We didn’t get screwed bad calls are part of life.
Kickers miss especially when the weather is not ideal that is part of life.
Bobo gagging on his own boogers and play calls is part of life.
I place the blame where it belongs….with Richt. Richt suspended those players in the secondary, Richt protects Bobo and Richt doesn’t have us ready despite having an extra week to prepare.
This has been going on for 14 years and half of our troglodyte fan base will let go on for another 14. We are going to win a lot of games this year and score a lot of points. When all is said and done we will be fine with another Capital One Bowl loss.
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Slooooooowwwww day over at Warts and Hominy huh? Don’t blame ya. Lotta good football chat taking place here. Pay close attention… you don’t wanna miss something.
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There are a lot of things wrong with this football team, the least of which is the running backs. Hutson Mason is not Aaron Murray and it is time Bobo either learns this or at least accepts it. He is not good on his PA fakes. Why do you thing the Refs called intentional grounding on him? He’s gotten the same call before. The ref’s actually look at game film and remember stuff that’s happened before. He panicked and threw the ball right at the DE. HM’s arm is suspect. One of his completions to the left side hung up in the air so long it was a miracle it wasn’t intercepted. If we have to depend on HM to win games we are 7-5 easy. Additionally, we have zero down field threat with our WR’s. Bennett and Conley are DGD’s but they aren’t going to scare most SEC DB’s going long. Until get Malcolm or Justin back the other team can double cover CC and MB because they aren’t worried about anybody else.
Why is it we suddenly got terrible at completing the swing pass to the RB’s. Now we have always sucked at the screen pass since Aaron was too short to see over the crowd but HM is what 6’3″ or more. We can’t just run the ball all the time but like I said above Bobo has got to give up on Hutson being Aaron and game plan his strengths. we also better pray for a drought for game days because Hutson is not real good in the rain.
And yes the defense sucked. We knew this and we knew we would be in a shootout. We were and the offense blinked.
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I have a dream
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LOL. Too funny, DiF.
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I just don’t understand how CMR and CMB can look Gurley in the face and explain why he didn’t get the rock there. Similar to the ’12 SEC championship game at the end. How can they look aaron in the face and say, “instead of clocking it and leaving time for two plays to score, we are going to run the clock and try to catch them by surprise.”? Why can’t one of the two, either Bobo or Richt, realize that these are not great ideas. I am tired of our coaches taking the game out of our best players’ hands and trying to get cute at crunch time. However…35 points should have gotten us the win. 2 missed FGs and some suspect refereeing clearly hurt us. We obviously lack the personnel to become a great defense this year as SC’s OL imposed their will all game long. However, we did turn them over twice, and we converted those into…3 points! We knew our defense would be suspect, so we have to take full advantage when they ARE able to make something happen. I place this loss on the defense, but our crunch time decisions and clock management HAVE to get better at some point….right? I just hope CMR and CMB learned some lessons and won’t make the same mistakes again. History says they will. I am very worried about our road trips to Mizzou and Arkansas this year. Our defense clearly struggles more when they don’t have our crowd noise behind them. Go Dawgs!
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Not much to add that hasn’t already been discussed, but for better or worse, I could have stomached the loss a little better if we’d have gone ahead with the conventional wisdom and tried to push the ball in 4 times with the running game and somehow didn’t convert. The difference is that instead of congratulating the cocks for an epic goal line stop, I’m left feeling like we gave the game away because we didn’t execute on what most would agree was a riskier play… no different than the 2012 SECCG in that we took a gamble by not clocking the ball.
The percentage play is called that for a reason.
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PS.
Our scoring offense 33 nationally aganst ranked teams
scoring defense #9 nationally against ranked teams
It’s gonna be allright.
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PS.
UGA scoring offense #3 nationally against ranked teams
UGA scoring defense #9 nationally against ranked teams
It’s gonna be allright.
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What’s not alright is that Spurrier STILL owns us. That sucks. And THAT is why this causes so much angst. We’re sick of it. We would like to see the team and especially the coaching staff act like they think it sucks too. We thought maybe we were on to something last year. Not so much.
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Paul- Get over it, we lost by a field goal and had multiple opportunities to win it and botched them all. Hardly due to a spell by Spurrier, all self inflicted dumb ass mistakes that can be cleaned up. Richt’s 4-3 against Spurrier at South Carolina, hardly owns Richt.
Dan- On Bobo:
Should Bobo continue to average 40 a game against ranked teams, he would finish in the top 5 in the nation–agreed, that’s about as good as it gets.
On Pruitt:
Pruitt is on track to finish in the top 25 in scoring against ranked teams, so he needs to step it up on pass defense is in line to end up top 45 against ranked teams, rush defense though looking like end up top 10.
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ps
Against ranked teams, Hutson Mason is
#5 in accuracy nationally
#16 in yards per attempt
#7 in passer rating
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DanM: I am going to invite you to read a book. It is a very good book. It is a book about college football. It will show you that box score stats can be misleading. Sometimes, there are things that can be discovered by looking past the surface to see if what your eyes are telling you match what actually happens on a play-by-play basis. The book is Study Hall: College Football, Its Stats and Its Stories. Please read it.
I recommend it to everyone else who thinks scoring 35 points on 8 trips inside the opponents’ 30 yard-line (including 2 that started inside the 30 which netted 3 points) and +2 in turnover margin was a great offensive performance. At best, it was an average offensive performance highlighted by one big play that was never seen again, a once-in-a-generation-type player making things happen when nothing was there, and then not giving him the ball when it mattered the most. That was the synopsis of Georgia’s offense in that game. Georgia would have had five three-and-outs out of ten drives, except UGA was given a free first down on the Gurley head-butt, and Gurley picked up 3rd and 16 on a short-side sweep BY HIMSELF. The offense scored 35 points because the SC defense is not very good.
Somehow, though, that offensive performance should have been enough to win, by golly. We want to live by 1980’s maxims like, if you score 20, the defense should hold. Just not the ones that say run the damn ball with your Heisman front-runner at tailback. Let’s have it both ways, so long as we don’t criticize poor Bobo. Throw any of the players under the bus for poor execution, just not our dearly beloved offensive coordinator for making
an obvious blundera brilliant call in hindsight. Criticize Pruitt and the guys we have left for not being up to snuff, but not Bobo for not having an SEC-caliber QB ready to play for the third time in the past nine seasons.LikeLike
Trey, that’s a friggin dumbass post. Only 5 quaterbacks finished with a 70% accuracy against ranked teams, and only 16 finished with a passing rating above what Hutson Mason has been after two tough games against two ranked teams.
Here’s the book you need to read:
STATS AGAINST UNRANKED TEAMS DON’T MEAN SHIT TREY
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Thank you for your insight. I would love to read that book. Have a link?
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What you miss is that Hutson Mason is playing out of his mind right now. You’re comparing him to lame ass unranked team stats, which don’t mean jack shit. Bobo was in a can’t go wrong there, Gurley is top 5 back in yards per game against ranked teams, but Hutson is top 5 in pass accuracy against ranked teams with 0 turnovers, both options were equally valid.
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So, that’s a no on the link to the book?
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Let me tell you where to find that link, right up your…….
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…..my what? Don’t leave me hanging.
I’m not even sure what point you are trying to make. Mason is all-world? He isn’t. He’s <a href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/911/player/split01/category02/sort01.html"hardly a top 10 quarterback in this league. That doesn’t mean he can’t have some measure of success. Joe Cox also had some success despite his shortcomings. But, Cox went 8-5… with AJ Green.
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Sorry for the html fail. That was a lot of code in there…
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Check out the link on the same website you referenced and you’ll Hutson Mason is the No 4 & No 7 best Qb in the nation kid in accuracy and in qb rating.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/player/split13/category02/sort02.html
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/player/split13/category02/sort03.html
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with AJ Green and the worst defense (up to that point) that we’ve had at UGA under Richt. Joe wasn’t that bad. Our D? It was that bad.
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The last team to average 40+ points per game against ranked teams (FSU was the only one in 2013) won the BCS in 2013. Bobo has this offense averaging 40 points a game against ranked teams and you want us to think he sucks? Only teams above him against ranked teams right now are Texas A & M and Oregon. Bobo is No 3 in the nation.
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With this, I have to agree.
~~~
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Gurley is running so well.
He’s on track to finish in the top 6 nationally against ranked teams in ypc, and rush yards, based on where guys ended up in 2013.
This is if he keeps up the pace.
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Obviously the D wasn’t great but they stepped up with the game on line and have us a great chance to tie or go ahead. Our kicker and offense choked it away. 2 TOs and great field position…3 points. Yards/points gained or given up was irrelevant when the game was 3 points with only a few minutes left. Served up on a silver platter and they choked…the Georgia way.
My silver lining is that I believe we have the talent and coaching on both sides to get better. Especially on D.
Dark lining? How many times have I had to repeat that silver lining in the past.
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Dark lining: We’ve been waiting four years or so for the D to get better…
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I hear you but I can’t put the past failings on the new staff. At least they’re playing better in the second half and making some plays which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for the last couple DCs.
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Oh and Theus is good for a couple false starts/game.
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I believe there were two where he stood up before the team was even close to snapping the ball. That’s hustle.
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Probably should given it to Todd, yeah. And the 50 other things that cost us the game. In a close one, any one of those is right.
People: there are at least 10 games to go. This thing is still wide open. Let’s do our melting down when or if we lose to UT or at the Cocktail Bowl, or choke again in the SECCG.
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I’m not certain that this comment is even relevant to the game Saturday night, but here goes: I follow some players on twitter, and discovered that during the bye-week a few players left Athens for the weekend (going home, etc.). Is this a common occurence among other (top-tier) programs? It seems that when a team is preparing for its first conference game (and against a tough opponent at that), the team should be practicing their butts off, studying film, and players forbidden to leave town to prevent distractions…but perhaps I’m missing something. Anyone aware of Richt’s policy for bye-weeks? Saban’s? Spurrier’s?
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“Anyone aware of Richt’s policy for bye-weeks?”
“Saban’s?”
“Spurrier’s?”
Bodysurfing with Bobby, golf and
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Well since they are only allowed 20 hours a week to practice and other football activities what would you have them do on Saturday and Sunday? The M-F week is structured to take advantage of all 20 hours so that doesn’t leave any for the weekends. These are also kids….not prisoners.
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“These are also kids….not prisoners.”
That technicality
http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/50622863-chain-gang-from-state-highway-camp-prison-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=OCUJ5gVf7YdJQI2Xhkc2QISLInuLGsA4agB0BiB9qsWCzbmZsLsCsyvZICQNCm3w
changes everything
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Once again UGA sucks!
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One thing’s for sure: this is the liveliest conversation since “SPIKE THE DAMN BALL!” in the SECC vs. Bama. I guess we can thank the Dawgs for that.
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Guess it is, Chuck.
One big difference I noticed, though. To this day, we’ve never heard Richt admit we should have spiked the ball. He hedged around it a little, but that’s all. Bobo did admit it, but then later supported Richt’s position.
This time, Richt admitted it we should have given it to Gurley right away, several times to the media after the game. Don’t know what he’s said since, but this one is really more cut-and-dry than the decision not to spike.
~~~
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Coach Paul Brown made the famous remark, “when you have the big gun, you pull the trigger.” Coach Bum Phillips said “when you have a big gun, shoot it.” (Earl Campbell)
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This one is going to take a while to get over. Losing to that smug prick Spurrier is always hard to take but this time it is so much worse because it just should not have happened. Yes, we expectdly got SC’s best shot. I don’t think anyone doubted that we would. But their best shot wasn’t enough. We beat ourselves. For all the Spurrier talk, this game didn’t go as it did due to so e genius bit of coaching by Spurrier. And he will never admit it but he knows he got damned lucky Saturday night to come out of that game with a win. There are so many different ways we could have won that game. If the long Gurley touchdown doesn’t get called back, everything else could have stayed the same and we still win. If Morgan makes just one of the field goals that he missed I think it changes things enough that we win. And yes, if Bobo had just made the obviously correct decision and let Gurley win that game for us we aren’t feeling like this today. I am not a Bobo hater. And he did his job Saturday night. Scoring 35 points should be enough. I’m not blaming the loss on Bobo. But it is still true that he screwed up on that last possession. spurrier didn’t do anything special offensively. Nothing tricky about what he did. The secondary is just awful and we couldn’t get anywhere near Thompson. That’s the ingest problem we have for sure. But even with all that we still would have won if Bobo had not outsmarted himself. I can guarantee you that he regrets that call. No matter how many people might argue that it was in actuality a smart call. I feel bad for Gurley. He played his heart out even when his line was doing nothing to help him. The third down run where he reversed the field was simply amazing. The stupid ass Gamecock defenders sold out against him and acted like their coach by running their fat mouths every play and they still had no answer for Gurley. He should have been allowed to win the game. And there is no way he doesn’t cover four yards with four opportunities to do it. Bobo screwed up there. And he has to look Gurley in the eye after that. The defense played pretty badly yet they still made the one play we had to have them make and we just would not take the win. Y’all may not believe this but the offense came to the line I said, “if we throw here we are out of our minds.” Never in a million years thought it would happen. Despite the bad defensive performance I can not understand the anger directed at Pruitt. Did y’all watch that secondary? Pruitt is being asked to make chicken salad form chicken shit. Moore and Mauger are awful at safety. Swann ,ay be the only player back there who could start for any of our rivals. There’s a lot of work to do. And if there is any justice in this world, when Spurrier finally decides to take his final tour of the battle field, we will hang 50 on him in a crushing defeat in his final game against us.
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What, to me, sucks the most about Saturday night’s loss is two things.
One that Mark May has entered the conversation, and two, that losing to South Carolina is almost, but not quite, as bad as losing to Ole Miss after kicking Bama back to the stone age. Wonder what Mike would have to say about that. “Ouch?”
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May is an asshat. Everyone knows that. He and the rest of them get no attention from me. Nothing that May or any of the others say makes a loss any more painful for me because I don’t watch them. Rece Davis is actually very good. But I can’t watch him because he shares a show with two idiots. Likewise, I think Chris Fowler, while occasionally smarmy, is very good. But he shares a show with a half whit, an egomaniac with an agenda, a former player dear to most of us who tends to try too hard to not look like an egomaniac with an agenda, and I’m not sure where Howard fits into it, the loss Saturday is painful on its own merits. Nothing that cast of dickwads has to say is relevant to me.
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It’s great to see so many of you guys standing up for Hutson Mason. I hope he becomes the QB you see to think he is right now. But, man, to be honest, I watch him float those passes in there to a guy 15 yards downfield. Joe Cox had a much better arm.
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