I guess this is what you do when your team wins an early game on Saturday.
Have at it in the comments.
Daily Archives: November 15, 2015
“No it wasn’t a great coaching decision or anything like that.”
https://twitter.com/UGAfootballLive/status/665618360801996800
Aww, Coach, don’t be so modest about it.
Actually, after reading the background behind the decision to insert Isaiah McKenzie into the game yesterday as a punt returner, I realize Richt wasn’t being modest, just accurate.
Richt told reporters afterwards that McKenzie, who was in the dog house due to his decision making, was returning the punt because freshman Terry Godwin made a couple of mistakes earlier in the game.
“When Terry got in there, he wasn’t alerting everybody when the ball was kicked short…,” Richt said. “And after the first time, he didn’t do it and we coached him up. And then the second time he didn’t do it and we put Isaiah in. And that was a good thing.
Let that sink in for a moment. McKenzie was in the dog house due to decision making, but seeing as he hadn’t fielded a punt in weeks, where else could that have happened?
Freshman Terry Godwin fielded Georgia’s earlier punt returns. Head coach Mark Richt said he decided to start Godwin in that role because McKenzie had made bad decisions during punt returns in practice.
I’m going to pass on the obvious snark about Reggie Davis’ decision making and focus instead on the wisdom of keeping a kid who walked off the field yesterday tied for Georgia’s all-time mark in returns for touchdowns and punt returns for touchdowns – in less than two seasons, mind you – on the sideline because you don’t like the way he practices. At some point the reluctance to deploy a major weapon, in a season in which you don’t have too many of those, is insane.
Put it this way: I’ll bet Logan Gray was one helluva practice player. I don’t remember his punt returns being much of a game changer, though.
Don’t watch McKenzie field punts in practice, if that lets you sleep better at night. But get his ass on the field.
Filed under Georgia Football
Goose egg
Against Auburn, Georgia was 5-14 on third down conversions and 1-2 on fourth down conversions. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. Georgia’s offense faced four one-yard conversions in those situations. Somehow, it managed to whiff on all four.
That’s not easy to pull off. But it’s how you manage not to beat a bad team more convincingly.
I can’t wait to hear the explanation for lining up in the shotgun on third-and-one, especially after it had flopped the first two times.
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UPDATE: Just to finish connecting the dots, consider some of Georgia’s seasonal conference rankings.
- Third down conversion rate: 14th
- Opponents’ third down conversion rate: 3rd
- Red zone conversion rate: 12th
- Opponents’ red zone conversion rate: 2nd
Gosh, don’t you wonder sometimes what Georgia football would be like if they managed to get good play on both sides of the ball? In the same season, I mean.
Filed under Georgia Football
“What a week, huh? …,”
Good on ‘ya, Gary Pinkel. Nothing hurts worse than having to walk away from something you love, and while Missouri’s win yesterday won’t erase that hurt, I hope it makes the pain at least a bit more tolerable.
Filed under SEC Football
Is Richt’d the new Croom’d?
So, how funny a year is this one turning out to be? Two head coaches that Georgia has beaten in 2015 are out of jobs before the end of the season.
Filed under Georgia Football
What losing to Vanderbilt sounds like.
You think we’re frustrated with Georgia’s red zone offense? Well, imagine you’re a Kentucky defensive player who watched his offense start twice inside the Commodores’ five-yard line and come away empty handed in a four-point loss.
Actually, thanks to defensive tackle C.J. Johnson, you don’t have to imagine it.
Filed under SEC Football
The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.
One of my favorite bits from Dan Wolken’s “Dysfunctional Georgia” piece from a couple of weeks ago was this stellar list of worthies that “Georgia could and should pursue, according to multiple people in the industry”: Jimbo Fisher, Dabo Swinney, Mark Dantonio, David Shaw, Jim Mora, Gary Patterson and James Franklin.
This is how one of those coaching studs reacted last night during a loss to Washington State.
I would pay good money to see/hear Greg McGarity’s reaction to a coach trying that on him.
Maybe Wolken needs to find some new insiders.
Filed under Georgia Football, Pac-12 Football
Jordan Jenkins is a national treasure.
He’s been hurt and Georgia’s been down, so it’s made Jenkins less of a quote machine of late, which is a shame, because he’s one of my favorite Dawgs in that department.
Fortunately for us, his team won and he played great. Was he happy? Yeah, I think he was happy.
“It’s just an overintoxicating feeling,” he said. “You just have so much joy, so much excitement and so much energy with the way we played. It makes up for some of the pains we’ve had throughout the season.”
“Overintoxicating”? I think Jimmy Williamson’s ears just perked up. He probably had one of UGA’s finest on hand to greet the team bus to make sure Jenkins wasn’t driving.
But that’s not even close to Jenkins’ finest hour yesterday. We have Trigga Tray to thank for that.
But Jenkins admitted it was weird to see Matthews in the other uniform. They started together for a season in Georgia’s defense. When they spoke after Saturday’s game, Jenkins said he didn’t mention the Prayer in Jordan-Hare.
“I mentioned the Leonard Fournette hit though,” Jenkins said.
That was in reference to the move the LSU tailback made, causing Matthews to flip over him.
“I love the kid to death,” Jenkins said. “He’s a knucklehead, and I’m just praying for him to get healthy.”
Classic. Keep rollin’, Jordan.
Filed under Georgia Football
“Ekeler can steamroll somebody.”
A metaphor for the season, or just a reason to put a lock on Ekeler’s Red Bull refrigerator?
Discuss.
Filed under Georgia Football
Throwback Saturday
Georgia doesn’t do tribute jerseys. It does tribute games.
Some of Saturday’s offensive stats are just appalling.
Georgia’s 243 yards was its second lowest output of the season. The Bulldogs had 223 against Florida.
“We actually have tried to realize that who are right now is a team that’s got to grind it out,” Richt said. “Part of it is field position, part of it is chewing up the clock and helping the defense on that end as well.”
Nobody on Georgia had more than 20 yards receiving. Receiver Malcolm Mitchell had two catches for 20 yards and fullback Christian Payne one for 20. Jeb Blazevich led with three catches for 19 yards.
It was the second-lowest offensive output of the season for Georgia and fourth of under 300 yards this season. Greyson Lambert started and went the whole game at quarterback, finishing with 97 yards on 12-of-17 passing. Sony Michel logged 77 hard-earned yards on 26 carries.
This against the SEC’s lowest ranked team in total defense.
But the Dawgs came away with the win, and they did so for two reasons. Going +3 in turnover margin can make up for a lot of offensive anemia, for one thing. And for another, they were lucky enough to play a conference opponent with a worse quarterback situation than theirs.
I’ll take it. Happily.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Get The Picture 