A 255.1 passer rating is nothing to sneer at, even against a cupcake. Against a SEC foe on the road – with a credible pass defense, mind you – it’s damned impressive. Even more than that, when you look at UK’s game log and realize that Mason shredded the Wildcats’ pass defense at a rate about 120 points higher than its second-worst performance of the season…
Which gives me a little bit of hope that this isn’t just happy talk after a big game:
“Hutson anticipates throws,” Conley said. “On both the touchdowns that I caught today the ball was in the air before I looked. And that’s not something we’re completely used to, Aaron didn’t really throw the ball like that. I like to think when Aaron threw the ball I could see it all the way. So it’s something you have to adjust to, but it also tells you to be patient when you run your routes. Run a great route, because when you get your eyes back the ball’s gonna be there. You have to create space. Hutson is great in that aspect, and he threw some great balls today.”
One consequence of having a studly run game is that Georgia hasn’t felt the need to make Mason throw too much. He’s thrown 25 or less passes in six of Georgia’s nine games, and less than 20 in four of those. If eight games in he and his receivers are still adjusting to a different approach than what they were used to in the four previous seasons, perhaps that’s because they hadn’t gotten enough in-game touches to work all the kinks out. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that Mason has a career game after getting the chance to throw the ball over 40 times in his last start, but, then again, maybe not.
All I know is that, while Georgia is going to pound the rock against Auburn, that Tigers’ secondary is way shakier than UK’s. Georgia’s passing game is going to have its opportunities this Saturday. Mason and his receivers need to make the most of them.
Get The Picture 
Welcome back, Todd Gurley.. Now GATA!!
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Nice to see Mason smiling on the sidelines
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I have a feeling Gurley is going to go apeshit on Auburn
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That was a hoot. Too bad Jackson went to Auburn, though.
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Shirley, shirley, a fifth year senior can do to AU’s secondary what a true freshman did last night.
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Mason’s throw to Blazevich for the TD is the best pass he’s made that I can recall. perfect. and the catch was great, especially for a true freshman.
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The throws to Conley were not slouches on the uber chart either. He positioned himself with full confidence that the passes were dead on target – and they were. This team has a helluva lot more going than some of you (and us) imagined. The receiver’s confidence in Hutson wasn’t made up juice. Together they are for real as a deadly combo.
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In fairness, Mason has also had games where he was paralyzed in the pocket. Glad he had a great game but this Jekyl and Hyde outfit also lost to two teams not curretly even ranked, so I have yet to see the hidden power in the 2014 Dawgs that you do, my friend.
Would love to see such a DGD like Mason have a great finish to his career, but it’s not like he’s been slinging it like that all season and everyone was just pickin’ on him. But has not gotten enough credit for what he has done well, either.
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What we have seen and heard from the negatrons about this DGD all year has been disgusting. He is a first year starter following the best/most productive QB we have ever had at UGA so everyone knew there would be a falloff in numbers, but what more could you expect him to do? He has been working without his best downfield receivers all season but has been extremely accurate and delivered when needed, or allowed. I thought we should have utilized the pass more in a couple of games so his numbers are suppressed but the venom from know-nothings filled the airwaves and interweb sites about “noodle arm”, gutless, etc.
The insinuations that Richt and Bobo would have selected a starting quarterback for the season who couldn’t throw the ball 40 yards were among the dumbest ever here. As you look around the SEC, how many QBs are better than Hutson Mason as a passer, or field general? The two in Mississippi, and Marshall, and maybe a tie with another? So a first year starter is the 4th best QB of the 14 schools thus far, surrounded by the best stable of runners, and an offense that is averaging around 45 points per game, and some want to roast him daily? The same guy who stayed with UGA for this one year shot? Seriously? Better look at other areas to whine about, the UGA offense is one of the best in the SEC, and doesn’t have to back off from many nationally.
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Word.
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Well said, Mac. It’s good to see Mason at a point now where he feels like he can cut it loose, and that his protection will hold, his receivers will run the right routes, and the play will work as designed. And it was just as good to see Rumph and Mitchell finally making some catches. Getting them back on the field, not to mention having #3 back, gives me hope for a strong finish.
We just might have a little something for Auburn.
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Thanks for posting Mac. DGD who sacrificed at lot over 5 years and may get little to show for it due to 2 losses that were NOT on him. Yet even yesterday on some game threads I continued to see very begrudging acknowledgements of his performance and continued criticism. Better still were the “Ramsey could do more” comments, belief that Ramsey’s TD was “great” because how hard he threw it, and my all time favorite…”Hell, even I could make those throws HM is making with all the protection the line is giving him”.
I think a lot of this has come from a younger crowd. Maybe Hutson rubbed somebody wrong on fraternity row one day, but it’s been unreasonable and relentless that I have seen directed at a Dawg player since Isiah Crowell. How does that happen?
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Mason had a great game against an improved Kentucky team. Well done Hutson. At-a-boys deserved. No need to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
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Perhaps, but that didn’t stop many attackers from making a canyon out of a footprint and challenge his manhood for several weeks. Just saying that he may not be capable of putting the team on his back every time we need it but for a guy the detractors said no one wanted out of HS and UGA shouldn’t have wasted their time, you have to acknowledge that he has worked hard to develop into a pretty capable QB under the developmental eyes of CMR and CMB. That may be too hard for you to spit out, but them is the facts, or at least closer than what I have been hearing from the negatrons who whine continually over every single detail that doesn’t go perfectly.
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Kick’em again for me, Mac.
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Actually, I may blame Bobo for not getting Mason into a quicker paced offense – it seems to me the kid prefers it because he is too cerebral.
As for receivers….well, it stunk not having MM and JSW, but our competition has been.fairly weak and we have other options there, including two outstanding seniors.
Which brings us back to.the need to recruit full classes.
Not all of the naysaying about CMB and CMR and HM is unfair, Mac.
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Oh, expressing legit concerns isn’t unfair Cos, it is the imbalance of comments to only focus on the flaws versus the reality of results/options and the very personal way it is done. I am not anointing HM, just feel he it isn’t that he is a detriment, or hasn’t helped produce 45 points per game with few mistakes. Has he been indecisive and too conservative at times? Yes, and I would prefer that to having a loose cannon firing into crowds from a first year starter.
I know the SEC isn’t loaded t QB this year, but with the other 13 teams only Prescott and Marshall are well ahead of him, and at least one of those wouldn’t be a great fit for UGA’s scheme if we had him. So yes, I would rather have Hutson than Wallace. Where is the big issue, and exactly how are we disadvantaged? I agree, this is the 2nd time the QB rotation hasn’t worked favorably with “class rotation”, but I am thankful HM stayed with us and waited his turn. Unquestionably, he deserves better than the treatment he has gotten from many here.
We have all heard that Mason would like to run more up-tempo but before you assign blame to Bobo for not playing his hand that way, ask yourself, if you had a very green group on defense, like we do, would you want to increase their time on the field and reduce the time for coaches to tweak the scheme or show them pictures of formations and how to play them?
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Agree with most of what you write, but as for the last question – I am about to bore you with the same thing I wrote on yesterday’s game day thread –
If the goal for both offense and defense is to win games, then with very, very few exceptions, imho the offense should be white hot focused on a combination of two things – efficiency+scoring touchdowns – for four entire quarters.
That’s it. Not running clock. Not resting the defense. Not getting cute trying to play chess with field position. Not “keeping their offense off the field” (what does that even really mean, anyway? Do your opponents’ offenses get 10 points when they score a TD but you only get six?)
The goal, every time you touch the ball, has to be to score a touchdown and only accept a punt or field goal when making a 4th down would be very, very unlikely.
There’s some really interesting research (actually done by economists, I believe) on how coaches are way, way too timid on 4th down, and, statistically, it costs them points and ballgames. And consider what 3rd and 5 starts to look like if you know you have two downs to make a first down, not one.
It doesn’t matter if you score quickly or slowly. You use the weapons that work the best, and don’t screw with your system out of some misplaced fealty to a clock or strategery. If you have a three score lead in the third quarter, but your passing game is equally as efficient as your run game, you KEEP PASSING and KEEP SCORING.
To your specific point about resting the defense, to turn Erk’s saying on its head, if you score touchdowns every time you get the ball, you can’t lose. Your tired defense will appreciate the points, and chances are if your aim is efficiency, you will move the chains and stay on the field. If your aim is to burn clock, you’re not using all your weapons and you’re going to be less efficient and put them right back on the field anyway.
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True it is actually each unit’s responsibility to excel at their accountability so the offense should go with whatever gives them the best chance to accomplish their mission, scoring TDs. But this is one of those where the overall missions needs might trump the individual unit…maybe. I like your side of this generally just always want the defensive guys to have some time correcting flaws, but as you say, scoring a TD guarantees you cannot be any worse off, whether quickly org round out over 15 plays.
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Mike Bobo needs a raise, a big one.
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We should hit him again with no hesitation and let him know that he is totally in our future. That was the perfect time to say that, Char’.
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Hard to believe, but I think we will open a slight favorite to auburn. I’ll guess -3.5.
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We may fight and claw our way to a win on Saturday, the football gods owe us, but that seems a stretch given their offensive production against our defense. We did little this weekend against KY to make me feel comfortable about our front 7 facing team that can run as explosively as Auburn can. Of course, we are capable of scoring with them, and have a better kicker. Just seems an over reaction for a team that was rated #3 in the country two days ago I think Sanford is considered a 5 point home field edge stadium so it will be close to a Pick’em late week if the line opens with Auburn getting points, bettors will jump on AU because of the FU debacle.
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I’m not too sure of that, Mac. I see the oddsmakers looking at Aub as a team that can be outscored and we are the ones to do it better than anyone else. Sure they can run on us, but the O has twice the weapons now than we have had in two years together again on the field and “Zo” had a great game with a stupid moment thrown in. I think the O and D are better going forward than we or Vegas expected and you can add extra talent going forward. We have never seen the choices at receiver as good as in the Ky game (Two tall and big monsters racing down the sidelines that can’t be stopped except by double-team). Marshall and Rome are backups to this team, more or less. Who would have ever thunk it?
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Yeah, I am not selling us short in a shootout, in fact the emotional edge still favors UGA strongly Saturday. What I was saying is that the betting public will likely bet AU more heavily because of their continued positive exposure in the past 12 months and discount UGA for the bad showing against Florida thus, if the opening line favors UGA, I expect it to move back toward an even match by late week.
I had hoped we would catch them coming in over confident but that probably changed with their loss against the Aggies. They have led such a charmed life with several miracle wins we don’t really know how they will handle adversity yet, let’s hope they lose their focus. My interest in betting this game would be an over so I am hoping the O/U comes in around the mid to lower sixties….but I rarely get what I want when I go against Vegas.
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How’s this for an analysis: Auburn lost to A@M because they were looking forward toward UGA and spent time practicing against us before the A@M game.
In other words, after playing us we may be able to say they lost twice because of us.
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Fire malzahn for not having his boys focused! You know, I didn’t see that on the AU board.
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How did Andrews finish up? Is he OK going forward? He and his line take incredible punishment while winning and losing on plays. One thing – Hutson’s ability in a protected pocket was able to come through. The line is as responsible for the good pass game as the WRs and QB. They are the “Sic’em” in our Dawgs.
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UGA=very good offense AU=very good offense
UGA=average defense AU=bad defense
UGA @ home +3
Think Vegas ,as usual, knows what it is doing. If not the line moves
Query; Does UGA have the best 1st string tailback in America?
probably
Does UGA have the best 2nd string tailback in America?
without question
Does UGA have the best 3rd string tailback in America?
stone cold lock ,yes. I could go on . This is fun.
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Mason is a fine QB…and he had a career day! Having said that, I hope we run, run, run, run, run, run, the ball down Auburn’s throat and keep their offense off the field. I want to see them gasping for air and dodging Gurley, Chubb, Michel, etc. by the middle of the third. They’re hoping for the same thing against us. Meanwhile, Auburn’s defense has been weighed in the balance and found lacking…while Georgia’s defense is suspect but improving. Neither is Bama or LSU, but Georgia gets the nod…and Georgia’s offense gets the nod with that battalion of running backs.
Also, at home esp…I give Georgia the nod on special teams and fgs.
If the Dawgs win this one, they can surely win the SECCG.
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I’ve been his worst critic this season. But yesterday, his arm looked strong and the playbook reflected it. Great game Hutson and I’m glad you made me look like a fool.
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“…won’t start the Auburn game” look familiar? Never understood the venom, nice to see at least one of you come clean.
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Nice on you, Ron.
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Game plan by Bobo has kept Hutson from throwing very much. The reasoning when throwing a pass hasn’t changed since forever: “When the football is in the air, three things can happen and two of them are bad.”.
We have the hosses to run the ball, we only pass to keep our hand in and to keep the WRs and QB from getting rusty.I think Bobo just wanted to show everyone how good Hutson is called a passing game plan mostly. Hutson just took advantage and went Alpha Dawg on their ass.
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I was at the game and it was a blast. I generally only get to see the Dawgs in person once every 2 years when they come to Lexington, and I’m glad they made this year special.
I will admit I got a little bit nervous in 2nd quarter, but looking back I kinda wonder why. We were never stopped on offense.
Anyway, great game!
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Glad to see us going downfield with some moderate length passes. This aspect of our offense seems to disappear for long periods. When the opposing safeties move up to defend our awesome running game, we should be making them pay with those longer passes.
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Loved hearing the announcers talk about Mason not being able to throw a long pass and then as I said to my husband he will now he did it and shut them up.
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