There’s always something to play for.

It’s Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate Week, so I don’t want to hear whining from any of y’all this week about how the season is in the crapper so the Tech game isn’t a big deal.

It always matters.  Always.

If making sure that the Jackets don’t manufacture their first winning streak in over a decade doesn’t matter, if making sure that Georgia starts another win streak doesn’t matter, then how ’bout this?

More for the record book

The loss means, among other things, Tech will experience either the largest one-season drop-off in win total in school history or tie for the largest. The 1929 team followed the 1928 national championship team’s 10-0 record with a 3-6 season. If the Jackets lose to Georgia, they’ll have fallen from 11-3 to 3-9.

Sounds good to me.  Also, let’s try to beat ’em in regulation, fellas.  At least that way Georgia Southern can have some bragging rights about which team pushed the Dawgs harder.

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He must be good. Everybody wants him.

Okay, so the drumbeat closing out the Les Miles’ era at LSU grows ever louder.

But don’t worry, LSU fans.  Your savior is near at hand.

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher is the main target for many foundation members. Other names tossed around include Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, TCU head coach Gary Patterson and even former NFL coach Jon Gruden.  [Emphasis added.]

If Gruden could charge something for every time his name is brought up by a fan base looking for a new coach, he’d be the richest man in America.

“It just so happened on those plays he was turned loose.”

Normally, I’d save something like this for a bullet point in an Observations post, but Leonard Floyd played so well last night – calling his effort lights out almost doesn’t do it justice – that I thought he deserved a post of his own about it.

He was dominant on a night, sadly, when they needed him to be just that.

There’s no denying what Georgia did at the end of the game. The Bulldogs’ performance on the Eagles’ only possession of overtime was the stuff of legend, particularly for Leonard Floyd. The junior outside linebacker had a hand in on every play, including the final tackle for a three-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Georgia 16. Floyd and Jordan Jenkins combined on that one.

That wasn’t even my favorite moment of his.  What he did on the Eagles’ last play in regulation was incredible.  A third-and-eight play call that looked like it gave Upshaw a run/pass option, Floyd defended it by first playing Upshaw to throw, then, when it looked like he might run, taking that away, and then, incredibly, when Upshaw pulled up to throw it in the flat where there was some space (and where the play was designed to go in the first place), Floyd adjusted again to defend that.  The end result was that the pass was dumped inside where there was coverage help and the play was stopped for a two-yard gain.

All on a single play where Floyd’s name won’t even show up in the box score.  It’s hard to believe he’s the same player who once routinely bit on fakes and was as guilty of overpursuing a play as anyone.  It’s also scary to see how much he’s improved just in the last six or so games.

It’s a damn shame he’ll be moving on to the pros after this season, but for him, it’s definitely time.  Meanwhile, thanks for last night.  I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Offensive malpractice

This, in a nutshell, is what drove me crazy watching the game last night.

Kolton Houston knew the final play, or what proved to the final play, was in good shape when the Georgia left guard got to the line and saw Georgia Southern had bought into the three-wideout look, and had two safeties back.

“They were in the perfect look,” Houston said. “And I said: This play has got a chance to spit. And sure enough she went right down the pike.”

Sony Michel did indeed go right through the middle for the game-winning 25-yard touchdown on Georgia’s first play of overtime. The blocking on the play was perfect, and Michel did the rest.

But the rest of the game didn’t look so good blocking-wise for the Bulldogs, at least from afar.

It didn’t look that good up close, Seth.  But I digress.

The offensive line has struggled for a good part of the season.  To make matters more challenging, the staff decided to undertake a wholesale reshuffling of the o-line for Georgia Southern.  That, in turn, invited the exact response Georgia got from the Eagles’ defense.

“They definitely dialed up and brought everything but the kitchen sink at us,” Theus said. “They were twisting and bringing stunts and all kind of pressure. We had to respond to it, but we did a good job, had a good gameplan for it. And tried to make out adjustments as best we could.”

They blitzed.  They stunted.  But basically they loaded the box every opportunity they could.  And what was frustrating about that was that Schottenheimer had a very obvious counter at his disposal, which was to play out of three- and four-wide sets.  Especially with the latter, those forced GSU to play with six defenders in the box and that meant Michel had room to operate.  Add in that the Eagles’ secondary was nothing special in pass coverage, and it was an obvious tactic to stick with.

Unless you’re Brian Schottenheimer, I guess.

I’m definitely not someone who qualifies as having been in the arena, but it’s straight out of Offensive Coordinator 101 that your playcalling should start (and end) with taking what the defense gives you.  Instead of sticking with that, we saw a bunch of I-formation and twin-tight end sets that were nothing more than an opportunity to flood Georgia’s offensive line with more defenders than it could handle.  That’s exactly what they got, too.

Theus was honorable enough to deny that the personnel changes had an effect, but you couldn’t help but see that Long was overmatched and there were communication problems throughout the game.  Yet, Schottenheimer kept calling plays that left them susceptible to GSU’s scheming.

This, again, is part of a pattern I’ve seen this season of setting players up to fail that’s been the worst part of the coaching job we’ve gotten out of the staff this season.  It smacks of the approach they took with letting Bauta start the Florida game, while limiting his first team reps in practice and not altering the game plan from what hadn’t been working.

I don’t get it.

“I wouldn’t say we struggled moving the ball…”

Greyson, please.

In any reasonable world, this is struggling:

For starters, the offensive line play was inconsistent throughout the game. After the first drive, Lambert struggled to find time in the pocket, and the running game went nowhere. After his 3-for-3 start, Lambert went 4-for-9 for the remainder of the first half. Even worse, Georgia managed just 10 yards the remainder of the half, and all 10 of which came in the second quarter.

So is this.

Georgia was just 2-of-10 in third-down situations. Both of those conversions came in the first quarter, with Georgia going 0-for-7 from the second quarter on.

If you think about it, you might remember your contribution to the night.

Part of the problem was that Georgia’s average yards to go on third downs was 7.2. But Georgia still had five third-and-short situations and managed to convert just one. Overall, it was where Lambert struggled the worst, too, going 2-for-8 for 10 yards. Of Lambert’s nine incompletions, six were on third down.

Georgia is now 119th nationally in third down conversions.  That’s bad enough, but what makes it worse is that it’s compiled that mark even though two of its last three opponents rank 68th and 117th in defensive third down conversions.

So, yeah, dude, you’re struggling.

“And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. … So we’ll handle it. And it’s going to be a big deal.”

Man, if you can’t enjoy the Ohio State meltdown after the loss to Michigan State…

Contrast that to the Buckeyes, who pointed fingers after the game.

Tailback Ezekiel Elliott saw his Heisman Trophy hopes get washed away on a 12-carry, 33-yard night. He did not mince words, saying: “The coaching staff didn’t put us in position to win. … I’m disappointed in the play-calling. … I deserve more than (12) carries, I really do.”

He topped it off by saying there’s “no chance” he will return for his final year of eligibility. Quarterback Cardale Jones tweeted the same message, saying this had been his final home game.

Earlier, when quizzed by reporters, Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer called it a “very poor performance”…

… there is something wrong with you.

Had it all the way.

In a night filled with inexplicable happenings – I still can’t figure out what in the hell the officials were up to with the GSU muffed punt – the overtime period topped it all.

First, Southern decides to take the ball out of the hands of its most effective player by running the wildcat.  Twice.  (When you’re running the triple option already, what’s the point?)  It was as if the Eagles’ offensive coordinator looked across the field at Brian Schottenheimer and said, “You think you make dumb ass playcalls?  Buddy, you ain’t seen real dumb ass.”

Then came this.

On a night when it seemed like the offensive line couldn’t block its way out of a paper bag, everyone on the line made their blocks.  Hunter Long, who’d been used and abused all night, not only got his block down on the line, but managed to throw another one downfield that sprung Michel for the score.  Stunning, really.

And a welcome relief, because I was not looking forward to Mark Richt having to play another game of Marshall Morgan roulette.

Slouching towards ten wins

Somehow, Georgia has slogged its way into a three-game winning streak and an 8-3 record.  With a moribund Georgia Tech team next – and surely in that regard, this must be the season of Mark Bradley’s and Jeff Schultz‘ discontent – it’s not unreasonable to think the Dawgs have a realistic chance of notching another season with a double-digit win total.

But, man, has this been excruciating to experience.  The offense is both dull and unproductive, which means that any mistake tends to be magnified, because the team’s ability to manufacture points is so constipated.  And there’s no way that’s changing over the next two games. One of which, remember, is more than a month away from being played. Still, ten wins and all…

It’s sort of like being on the Bataan Death March, only the prisoners receive adequate nourishment, rest and medical attention.