I said it yesterday – if Georgia can’t set the edge, if the defense is constantly losing contain, Saturday is going to be one ugly, ugly day.
Last year, that’s why Florida was able to gash the defense with the run.
Georgia can’t afford to give up 418 rushing yards to Florida twice in a row. Last season, that led to a 38-20 beatdown in Jacksonville as the unranked Gators ran through No. 11 Georgia’s defense.
That loss can’t be far from the Bulldogs’ minds, although they don’t like to discuss it much. Understandable. In last year’s win, two of Florida’s tailbacks, Kelvin Taylor and Matt Jones, broke free for runs over 40 yards long.
“We all know that you have to set the edge in the SEC, and setting the edge is a big point in that,” outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said. “Because you never want the guy with the ball to keep running sideways like that, so we just know for us to win games we have to set the edge.”
And they know it.
“Stopping the run is definitely one of our biggest emphasis’s of the week,” Mauger said. “Just gotta stay locked in.”
Easier said than done, of course. And don’t focus so much on the run that you lose sight of the damage Treon Harris can cause throwing out of the pocket. Overcompensation can be a bitch.
Get The Picture 
Georgia can’t afford to give up 418 rushing yards to Florida twice in a row? I was under the impression they couldn’t afford to do it once.
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They had similar problems setting the edge against Tennessee, and to some extent against South Carolina. I can’t recall whether or not it was a problem against Alabama at all, probably because I’ve tried not to think about that game since it happened. We’ll see if they can correct it or not.
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I don’t know if I’d consider any problem “similar” to what we saw last year in Jax. 😉
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Heh. True.
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Same problem – UGA folds up facing adversity. That game was over after the fake FG, bama after the blocked punt, UT after the fumbled kickoff. Maybe it’s not lack of mental toughness, maybe it’s lack of a special …….no coach Richt said they have that covered along with a lot of physical practices.
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In general, I’d agree. However, the defense stepped up big at the start of the Mizzou game stopping their (dreadful) offense with a nice goal line stand.
But overall, yeah, we don’t handle adversity well.
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I don’t think it’s that they don’t handle adversity in general. There are certainly games where the team just seems to lay down, like the Alabama game. But they got off the mat multiple times in 2013: Tennessee, Missouri, Auburn, and Tech. They pulled it together to take the lead on Tech last year. I could go back further, but the main point is the shortcoming of Richt’s teams is not a general lack of resiliency.
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I believe a different #11 was the one leading them in those games.
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Having watched us the last couple of games, am I the only one who does not see very many ways for us to win this? I hate that I have that much Munson in me but God we have looked awful against good defenses. If I wasn’t a Dawg I’d take the gators and give 3 points in a heartbeat. Am I missing something?
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Doom Despair and Agony on me…deep dark depression is setting in on me.
Man up!!!
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Gators don’t have much in the way of an OLine (and practically nothing for reserves) & their placekicker has more problems than Morgan. Those are a couple rays of light!
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i’m with you Argon.
I’m pulling for the Dawgs but have zero expectations with this bunch.
Maybe CMR will prove me wrong and they’ll play with bad intentions. More than likely they’ll squawk and strut early then pucker up before folding like a cheap tent. But at least CMR will have shown them that life is more important than a football game.
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Not attempting FGs into a 35 mph crosswind and then not getting your pants pulled down on a fake into the same wind might be helpful too.
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I would like to see us use all four downs every time we get on the Gators’ side of the field. No FGs, no punts that net 20 yards. This will never happen.
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+Anybody heard that Bauta is taking snaps with the first string in practice this week? Lambert is working with the 2’s. Heard it from a UGA football player.
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That would be good news. And maybe put Quayvon at tailback and pound the ball up the middle? Time for that vaunted O line to show up big.
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Anyone, but Lambert. He is a head case.
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Boy don’t make me pull out my stat sheet!
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I really can’t imagine them throwing Bauta in there at this late stage. His chance of success against a solid Florida defense is handicapped now. Plus if he DOES manage to play well then the fan base will want to know why he has been riding the pine while Mr. Lambert was stinking up the place. My bet is that he won’t see the field Saturday.
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Setting the edge and stopping the run are about wanting to do it. We are Florida’s equal in their offensive line vs. our defensive line especially with Jenkins and Mayes back. This isn’t Alabama 2012 (or 2008 or 2015) against our d-line. We did a pretty good job against Alabama in the running game even during their run of points. South Carolina hurt us in the running game with triple option looks with Nunez (I don’t think we’ll see that from Florida). Tennessee was the inability to get the runner on the ground as the defense tired out in the 2nd half because the offense didn’t sustain anything.
Right now, I don’t think we have enough offense to win with our QB problems.
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Don’t know. If Gurkha (two or three posts above this) is correct that Bauta is taking snaps with first string..it’s going to be a whole new bag of tricks for the Dawgs. You never know..Bauta may be the kind of guy that plays lights out in a game situation…He would give Florida’s defense something else to consider…But if the offense Georgia has been bogged down with ain’t out of the bog by the second quarter, we’ll probably see it.
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Given we have Floyd and Carter, it baffles me why we can’t hold the edge.
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#84 has a real problem with this. Thought it was just “attitude” last year in Jax, but he was getting destroyed vs. UT, so there is a fundamental problem there I’m hopeful CJP has seen and addressed.
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I think Floyd’s problem is a lack of discipline. He would rather run around blocks than fight through them. I think that may be one big reason for his move to ILB. Last year, I can’t count the number of times the opponent would run a stretch play, Floyd would run inside the tackle to try to get the RB, then get pinned and give up big yardage on the outside.
At ILB, running around blocks is a good thing.
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I predicted a blowout win against SCU, a blowout loss to Bama, and a close/ugly loss to UT. With that said, I’m predicting a 10-13 point win on Saturday—I can’t put my finger on why I think we’ll win (somewhat) going away, but I’m not going to question my gut at this point.
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Could have easily been correct on all. As bad as we played at UT, we had’em…make another play or two and it’s a win. I will say that UT is not a bad team at all. They have come to play in all of their big games this year for sure.
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That pretty much means you are due to be dead wrong 😉
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Pruitt can’t abandon the LOS in this game even if Harris hits some passes. He is a bigger threat running and scrambling. Can’t get caught short handed up front. Floyd too tall and skin to take on blockers on the edge in a power run.
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Floyd isn’t strong enough to fight off an OT to make the tackle on a RB on the outside, but he’s plenty strong to maintain contain and force the RB to cut inside.
I’m afraid we’re going to miss Sanders in run support in the first half.
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This is an interesting position for us Dawg fans to be in.
While not many of us are expecting a big win for Georgia, we are curiously and almost without emotional expectations (after the dismal offensive display in the last 3), watching to see what CMR and Co. can accomplish and what adjustments have been made.
This is a “show-us game, I think.
The teams aren’t that far apart, although Florida has been playing better and should be favored..
I (hope) believe we will see a better Georgia team than we have…one good enough to pull off a win against Florida and maybe turn this season around enought to win out the regular season..
If I didn’t hope for this, then I wouldn’t bother…and I couldn’t hope if I wasn’t at least a little optimistic that it can be.
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Agree Ug. This season has not been rewarding at all. Last year at this point we had soundly beaten a good Clemson team and crushed a decent Mizz team. The only thing remotely rewarding was crushing a hapless SC team in what was more like clubbing a baby seal than a football game. That can all change this Sat. We beat a very good FU team and the season can still mean something. Having said that, our team has shown little that would make me think we can beat a good team. Hell, who knows what will happen. I’m starting to look forward to Sat a little bit.
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The way I see it is UF’s rush offense is worse than last year’s. They’re ranked among the bottom 20 nationally, last top 50. I think they will try and get the Qb loose but he’s only getting 3 1/2 a pop. I would be stunned if Pruitt lays another egg and decides again not to make the Qb pass to beat him. Pruitt seemed scared to death last time of getting beat on a deep ball, but I think if you can get enough pressure there quickly, they can’t complete a deep ball. LSU made Harris beat em, and they stuffed the run at 55 yards.
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