Here’s a way to make your defense look better.
That’s impressive. Damned impressive.
Basically it’s the product of good field position management (the Gators are first in Brian Fremeau’s FEI Field Position rankings) and favorable turnover margin (the Gators lead the SEC, at +9). You know, the kind of things Georgia was hoping to do, but has fallen woefully short of accomplishing (81st in FEI Field Position; minus-5 in turnover margin).
That’s also how Georgia can be more effective than Florida on keeping opponents from scoring on longer drives, while having less to show for it.
Get The Picture 
This stat is exactly why Alabama is going to beat Florida senseless in Atlanta. Other than the anomaly that was the Ole Miss game, Bama doesn’t give up cheap field position. No way that Florida offense can drive the length of the field against the Tide’s defense consistently to stay with Bama.
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Let’s hope you are correct. I hope the Tide curb stomps UF. That’s assuming Bama doesn’t spit the bit on the way to Atlanta.
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I hate Florida. But I hate when we lose to Florida even more, if that makes sense. To think, if we’d beaten them, we’d be one win away from going to Atlanta ourselves!!! (….and talking about how ‘Bama was going to beat US senseless…..again…. haha)
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Jared, that’s some good gallows humor there. I would have liked to have had another shot at them …
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Yeah, I would’ve liked another shot. I was one of the dumb schmucks who thought we’d beat Florida (and KY and Auburn) and get that chance to compete for the SEC Championship again….. I was really hoping to play Bama because I knew we’d do better the second time around. But I “knew” Chubb was gonna win the Heisman, and I “knew” Lambert would be at least as good as Hutson Mason…. so I guess it turns out I don’t know much. =P
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Hitch up your pants and have at it for the “Boys”. Your confession smacks home with a lot of us, but the team doesn’t want us to stop supporting them because they aren’t the championship team we perceived at the season’s beginning.
You should be humbled about your opinion by now if you participate in the Fabris Pool. It shouldn’t come from team losses when we surmised they would win and didn’t. If we all can’t understand that we have false monikers, aren’t very insightful about coaches and teams and just generally are entertaining ourselves along with others here, then you should step back, relax and have a cookie.
If you think you should be better than others blogging here then a good dose of introspective honesty will do you a world of good and bring you to the conclusion that we all are sinners in the eyes of Uga. At least he keeps showing up each week to support the team, no matter win or lose. Yeah, he can go into his house and lie on an icebag when shit starts flying and things get tough, but what’s your excuse?
It’s time we all started acting like Dawgs, enjoy the effort that the team makes and enjoy life more else you’re going to die from those vapors you have after every game that doesn’t suit your particular scenario that was incorrect to begin with.
Sic’em Dawgs! for all that you are worth.
Anyone seen a very high horse around here? Several of us are sitting ’round on Shetland ponies leftover from the last raid, jus’ waitin’ to heal from our case of stilted equinosis.
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Wagon Ho! 🙂
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You’re over my head, bro.
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Shoot Low Boys –They’re Riding Shetland Ponies
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+1 Grizzard reference.
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I will stop reading this blog if positive affirmations about the Gators continue 😉
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Urban Meyer spend 5 minutes a day on ball security in practice.
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Excellent post and analysis Senator.
If our coaches could just focus on field position and turnover margin, we likely would win out.
But sometimes they focus on the wrong stuff. So you never know.
I sometimes get the impression Coach Richt isn’t so good at cause vs correlation.
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Build a pocket passing game plan around a 3rd string QB with 4 career completions plus build a return game around a returner with a long history of poor, game-changing decisions, AND expect to win the field position game?
No one does it like Georgia.
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As the 5-21 record since 2008 against above .500 SEC teams suggests, we almost always lose to teams with comparable talent. Dumb coaching decisions, dumb mistakes/penalties (lack of discipline), dumb luck….we aren’t outcoaching anyone with a pulse. Same crap game after game after game after game. We win the games we do because we have better players…a lot better players. And we still lose plenty of games against teams with lesser talent – see all 3 losses last year. So frustrating to watch this team play. These last 5 games have been painful to watch. The two we’ve won were only because of the terrible play of the opponent. Fortunately, our last 3 games are against average, at best, teams, just like all of our other wins this season. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we laid an egg and got whipped by AU and/or GT. I’ll hope for the best and expect the worst based on Richt’s past decade of mediocrity. Some of our fan’s blind faith in him amazes me.
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Hard to disagree with that.
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The number of unforced errors given to our opponents on and off the field continues to amaze.
Imagine what it would be if The Georgia Way actually cared about winning?
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I looked up what those 5 wins were:
2012: Vanderbilt (5-3) & Florida (7-1)
2013: South Carolina (6-2) & LSU (5-3)
2014: Missouri (7-1)
If only those 5 could have been strung together into a single season along the way…
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Stats are fun when being selective, but your point is a fair criticism of missed opportunities. However,
Since 2008 – 2014 only Bama (.884), LSU (.750) and Florida (.692) by the slightest of margin (having played two less games) is better than Georgia’s 18th best winning percentage (.688).
Shift the timeframe to 2012 – 2014 and Georgia is #13 in the country with Bama being the only SEC team ahead of us.
Stats are fun. Football in the SEC is hard.
Do we have anything to show for this? No. Is this ultimately the responsibility of the HC. Yes. Could reasonable people feel CMR still represented the best chance for Georgia to win the SEC in the next few years going into this season? Yes. Does that make a person have “blind faith”? No. Will it be possible to continue a rational discussion about this on GTP?
Clearly not, particularly if the usual hammers and trolls jump on this comment for which I am not going to respond.
Have a good day.
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I’m not sure, based on numbers below, that football in the SEC East is hard. I think it’s pretty easy, actually. (Or should be)
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GTP Lexicon says:
“Likes the challenge(v.) – irrationally attempting to justify unjustifiable, quasi-insane decision-making; frequently accompanied by eventual loss of employment.”
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At Georgia, “eventual” can mean decades as long as the money keeps rolling in.
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I think I need a new hype video
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Here you go:
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I feel better already
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You should double down on the “dumb luck” and use “snakebit”. It has had a lot more to do with the game outcomes than is ever discussed here. We are headed to Ala to take one of those snakebit games back and we should act like that’s why this team is taking the bus ride. If they go over with any of our defeatist attitudes, then they surely will lose.
If you can’t man up to cheer for your team by now, what in hell are you doing here? And go find a team that will fulfill your expectations for what that team should play towards and forget this terrible thing that breaks your spirit so easily.
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+1
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East is 1-11 vs the West so far this year. What a JOKE the East has become…and we are 3rd.
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That is an amazing statistic. I think it has been almost that bad for a number of years now. It has become like two separate conferences. The West is the best in NCAA football. The East is about like the weaker of the two ACC divisions this year. Florida and Tennesse may change things over the next few years, but not this year. ATL will likely be another disaster for the East. CMR, IMO, has had his career extended most of all by our playing in the East.
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Well, maybe. South Carolina, who no one is mistaking for a good team this season, still beat ACC division favorite UNC on a neutral field this season.
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That’s true. Not sure that SC won’t give UF a game this weekend as well. We will see how they both do against Clemson and how the season finishes.
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SEC Best vs. SEC Least
Longtime football powerhouse Missouri took the East for past two years. This year an unlovable bunch of misfits with a lovable new coach thumped us and took the East before November. I like Mark Richt but
(a.) LOLwut?
(b.) wut?
(c.) Pruitt r-u-n-n-o-f-t because he must have been looking for answers?
(d.) it’s contract extension time?
(e.) all of the above.
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Urban Meyer in his book Urban’s way talks about the big 4 in Chapter 2 as his plan, whihc he says works guaranteed 100% of the time if followed:
1- play great defense—this means field position, longer they have to go, less chance of scoring. this really is about field position.
2- take care of the football–by this he means no turnovers on offense and get at least 2 first downs. again field position.
3- score in the red zone
4- win the kicking game–by this he mans on punts, pin them deep, on kick returns, limit return yards. again, field position.
3 out of 4 of the pieces of his plan, that he says is 100% guaranteed to work, are about field position.
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Funny. Turns out Urban was slightly wrong. Only win 72% when you win field position, not 100%. if you win red zone scoring, goes up to 75%, win points per play (explosion plays) you win 86%, win 3rd downs conversions win 83%. win turnovers win 73%. So 4 things are more important than field position, still, it’s one of the big 5.
Imagine a coach just focusing on either winning explosion plays or 3rd down conversions, that coach would win 83-86% of their games.
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Quoting the Crier is a sign that your priorities aren’t straight. Quoting that pabulum means your head ain’t right and believing his simplistic answer that you think is original and answers all your problems in football is downright disgraceful.
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know thine enemy.
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Agreed! What self-respecting UGA fan would read a book “written” by Meyer? Much less purchase it!
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Other reviews:
Corrine Brown: “TL DR”
Mark Richt: “He’s Already Gone…Isn’t He?”
Nick Saban: “No Time for Losing to This Guy or BGB”
Cojones: “Pablum”
Walter: “Over The Line”
The Dude: “I Hate the Eagles”
Rommel: “Field Position? I Invented It”
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Macallanlover:
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Gangham Style Mac! 🙂
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Today’s winner for excuse of the day is….drum roll please………SNAKEBIT!!!! Cojones is the winner!!! That’s right, Cojones believes that Georgia’s lack of SEC championships for the entire decade can be attributed to bad luck. Hoo Boy…what a doozy! As if other teams don’t have unfavorable bounces and injuries. (audience laugh). Thanks for playing old chum. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the apologist excuse of the day.
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Mac will arrive soon with another blistering rant, blaming fans for the failures of the program on the field and the recruiting trail.
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