Seth Emerson does a Q & A with three beat writers who covered Georgia’s new offensive coordinators at his previous stops, and damned if it doesn’t come off sounding like much of what we we’ve been used to lobbing at Georgia’s offensive coordinators over the years.
In Pittsburgh, they had to live with losing a stud running back and working the offense through Nathan Peterman… and the verdict was “unexciting”. Never mind the loss of James Conner or an “unspectacular” offensive line.
At Arkansas, they bitched about this: “One of the biggest frustrations I heard was if the Hogs were built to be a hardcore, power-running team, then why were there so many short-yardage run failures?” But the fans are unhappy about losing Pittman.
And, from Tennessee: “Tennessee didn’t have great records during the Chaney years, but that usually had little to do with the offense and much more to do with the defense. They put points on the board, and at times they were prolific, creative and fun to watch on that side of the ball. They just couldn’t get enough stops. Georgia fans will remember that from a couple of Vols-Dawgs games.”
There are only so many ways to run a pro-style offense, I guess. It’s good to know we’ll still have things to complain about.
Get The Picture 
Enough bitchin’, it’s time to move on…to more or less the same offense and defense we were running. Wait, what??
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I don’t know about the same offense but it certainly wont be the same defense. We are already letting recruits that don’t meet Kirby’s physical requirements sort of find another school. Malek in FL Was one of them and I fear that Laguins in Oconee County is next to fall. Kirby doesn’t want 5’8-5’9 corners and 6-1 210 lbs linebackers. Pruitt was about speed all around. It appears based on who is getting his attention the most on D that he wants big boys in his front 7. All of his starting backers at Bama are in the 240 range. He is not kidding about stopping the run.
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Yep, I’ve read that. Still, it’s basically the same (Saban) scheme, from what I understand.
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That’s mostly the weakness of 2015 defense.
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It sounds like the same offense, just with a new focus on the OL…which is a breath of fresh air.
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I’ve been watching too long and been burned too often to expect consistent, dominant OL play. If just that, and that alone, happens, I’ll be berry, berry happy. Sh*t, now I’m getting my hopes up…..
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My only question is…. are we going to get 70+ plays off per game like Alabama is doing these days? If not, I don’t think we can compete on a national stage.
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I am very concerned about Chaney’s play calling. Lets do a list of plays he should call and send the list to him so we can quell some of the bitching in advance.
Here’s my contribution of the play list.
Toss sweep to Herschel on any down, any distance, anywhere on the field.
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A few don’ts I’ve put together from comments I’ve seen over the years:
Don’t run up the middle with anyone weighing less than 200 pounds
Don’t run wide with white guys
Don’t throw a play-action fade or fly pattern on first down
Don’t run out of single back sets in short yardage situations
Don’t call play-action passes near the goal line on first down
He avoids those, and we’re golden.
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Also don’t pass three time if your inside South Carolina’s 5 yard line and you have someone with a name that rhymes with Bodd Curley in your back field.
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Not to beat a dead horse, but threw it on first down to catch them off guard, which is almost what every NFL team does. On 2nd down we handed it to Gurley for 3 yards, and on 3rd down we tried to throw it to Gurley from the 11.
It wasn’t a bad call! You’re thinking if it’s incomplete you hand it to Todd 2 straight (maybe 3 straight) from the 4 and win the game. You don’t plan on a 10 yard penalty!
Rant over. My point here is that with good OCs, like Bobo, people tend to complain about individual calls. This is natural because not every play works, even if the thinking behind it is sound. With bad OCs, like Schotty, you look at an overall flawed scheme and mentality. It’s such a big difference.
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I still say it wasn’t the right call for the situation and probably will be one that haunts Bobo for years. The execution resulting in the penalty exacerbated the effect of the play call. The play action is a 2nd or 3rd down call, but you have to give the best player on the field the ball in that situation on 1st and goal in a sudden change situation.
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It wasn’t the throwing that pissed me off. It was putting Hutson on the move vs. an unblocked defender. Why? That play should have never been in the playbook that week because Hutson wasn’t beating that guy to the edge no mater how hard he bit on the fake.
I have also wondered whether that the decision to pull it was on mason. We do have a lot of RPO’s.
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Never run the draw on 3rd and long.
Never squib/pooch kick.
Never take a FG inside the 30.
Never sit on a lead.
Never send a spread QB to Jax to run the Pro set.
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Don’t play your third string quarterback wire-to-wire in your biggest game of the year.
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This in spades … it was a terrible move. I don’t know if Lambert or Ramsey could have done much against the UF defense, but Bauta was in over his head. That night was the first time since 2010 when I thought, “CMR is in trouble and doesn’t know what to do about it.” It reeked of desperation to find a spark on offense.
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I think Richt knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to lose the Florida game. He knew if he beat Florida, he wins the East and there would be no way he would be fired. He probably had the Miami job already lined up and knew if he resigned, he didn’t get the millions in the payout he gets if he’s fired. By putting Bauta in and having him run the drop back/pro set offense, he pretty well insured there would be little if any scoring. He knew another ugly loss to Florida, in another game where they were playing their backup qb who could not throw the ball, would likely get him fired and that would solve all of his problems.
I know this sounds crazy, but it is the only explanation for what Richt did.
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That’s a pretty big accusation, JC (and not the first time I’ve heard it). I can’t go there that he threw the game to get the buyout.
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Oh boy. Brace yourselves for this onslaught.
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C’mon man. I was off the Richt bandwagon as of the UT game, but I’d never accuse Richt of something like that. If Richt mailed it in after that game, that would be one thing. But I haven’t seen Richt as engaged and animated as he was in those last 4 games in a long time. I’d argue that if he had been that engaged (and what I mean by engaged is “hands on”, not that he wasn’t trying before) all along, he’d still be our coach. But those last 4 games were a man clearly coaching for his job, and wanting to keep his job.
Lots of us, myself included, wanted a change. But please don’t insult Richt’s integrity. That’s one thing that he’s never given us reason to doubt. It was a horrible decision in the face of desperation to play Bauta. Unfortunately, desperation causes bad decisions sometimes. And it was truly a bad decision to play him without tailoring the offense to him, but attacking the man’s integrity is just wrong.
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Good post as usual, Rev.
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That was my take as well. Desperate people make desperate decisions. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Amen!!! His integrity is unquestionable.
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I can think of no other explanation for why he kept Bauta in for the whole game. Once Michel was injured and we were down to Douglas as our #1 tailback, what was the logic behind having Bauta stay in and run the pro style offense? Bauta’s strong suit is/was running the read option yet Richt kept him in running the same plays Lambert ran. Bauta threw 4 interceptions and played every snap. As Richt has pontificated to his critics, I have never “been in the arena”, but even a novice like me could see the Bauta experiment wasn’t working and a change needed to happen. I know everyone thinks Richt’s integrity is above question, but I think he’s human like everyone else and likes money as much as everyone else. I can’t say for sure he threw the game, but he sure didn’t do much to stop the bleeding once it became obvious the Bauta decision was a mistake. A man being paid over $300,000 per game owes to his employer to do his best to win every game. Richt didn’t do that in the Florida game.
Richt gave an interview in November where he said he and Katherine were “…digging our heels in…” in Athens. He was interviewing, through his agent, for the Miami job when he made that statement. The interview statement seems less than fully honest to me considering that fact. At his post firing press conference with McGarity, he seemed so calm and “classy” and talked about taking time off and “maybe” coaching again one day. The reality was; he was hours away from taking the Miami job. It is no wonder that he was relaxed, he had a job lined up and a $4 million going away gift from Georgia. I think any one of you would be relaxed and classy in that situation. That seems like another example of not being completely honest since major college coaching job offers don’t pop up overnight and we know now he had been negotiating with Miami since October.
I don’t think Richt is a bad guy, but I don’t think he’s a whole lot better than most other people when it comes to money and doing what’s best for himself. $4 million is a lot of money, I can see Richt scheming to get that money. He is human after all.
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This is simply not true.
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The term is “Move On”, LOL.
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That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
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He’d still have a year of eligibility, wouldn’t he? We don’t need no stink in’ NCAA badges. He’s ready to hit something… let’s get him in here and give him a chance!
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Would love to have had Arkansas’ or Pittsburgh’s 3rd down conversion and redzone-TD percentage this year.
No bitchin’ about that coming from me.
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This year, I had more faith that we would make a 3rd and 7-8 than I did we would convert on 3rd and 1. I have never been so frustrated with watching what should be a high percentage play turn into an almost automatic failure.
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A few quotes that jump out at me, both positive and negative:
Some fans thought he was a little antsy to get fancy, with a halfback pass by Jonathan Williams that got blown up against either Ole Miss or Mississippi State in 2013 — when the Razorbacks were powering down the field on a drive — a prime example.
This is one of my pet peeves of playcallers. They’ll be flying up and down the field with their standard offense, then all of a sudden for no reason run some random trick play that puts somebody throwing the ball who doesn’t normally throw it – next thing you know, turnover, lost momentum, and the game changes. Hopefully this isn’t a trend with him. Trick plays have their place – but that place is not when everything in your standard offense is working anyway.
Chaney’s biggest strength, in my opinion, is his ability to be creative and unconventional in order to get his best players the ball. Maybe the best example I can give you is current Minnesota Vikings All-Pro Cordarrelle Patterson, who spent only one season at Tennessee before declaring for the draft but broke some records and was one of the most exciting players the program has had in the past decade. Patterson struggled then (and still does) with some of the finer points of the wide receiver position, and most coaches would drive themselves crazy trying to improve his route-running and timing and spacing and all that. Chaney did all those things, but he also wasn’t afraid to stop and basically say, “Why don’t we just hand the ball to him.” He used jet sweeps and reverses and even occasionally lined up Patterson and tailback and either handed or tossed him the ball. Problem solved. Points. This can be a simple game sometimes, and I think Chaney understands that.
Sorry, couldn’t really pare this down. I liked all of this – especially the last sentence.
The biggest weakness Chaney showed during his time at Tennessee — and it certainly was a problem at times — was his tendency to abandon the running game when it didn’t work well in the first few possessions. If you back Chaney into a corner, he’ll try to pass his way out of it.
RUN THE DANG BALL, CHANEY!!!!!!! 🙂
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RTDBC?
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“If you back Chaney into a corner, he’ll try to pass his way out of it.”
Dear God, no.
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Nobody backs Chaney in a corner.
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Are Chaney/Pittman the largest coaches Georgia has ever had on the sidelines? Just curious.
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This is going to be a fun offseason. 🙂
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Friedgen wasn’t available.
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Weiss is 🤔
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Combined together again for the second or third time they are almost half of one metric ton
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+1
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We know from his past that Chaney likes to bomb and work with the shotgun.
Wait…Chaney or Cheney?
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https://twitter.com/BySteveIsrael/status/598583020195545088
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@dog in Fla :plus infinity.
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https://twitter.com/BySteveIsrael/status/598604225736744961
https://twitter.com/BySteveIsrael/status/598579795027501056
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How quickly will the people behind me say, “Run the damn ball, Richt!” or “Short passing game, Bobo!” next year? I can’t wait for someone to say, “Bobo has put on some pounds and aged in the offseason, hasn’t he?”
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Anyone hears anything about Hocke? Is he sticking around? I hope so with Cochran staying at Bama.
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I kinda hope so too. If we can’t land a big name like Cochran or Turley, I’m on board with keeping Hocke around. I do think the S&C program went too far with slimming the guys down this year, but I’m also certain that Hocke was just doing what he was told. Or maybe the plan was to slim them down in year one, then bulk them back up with “good” weight going forward. Regardless, I think he was just carrying out a plan, and did it well – perhaps TOO well. Ha!
But I think if given the direction to get the guys on the lines bulked up more, he’ll be able to follow through with that directive as well. And the team seemed pretty well conditioned.
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In the pregame warm-ups he was done on the field with lots of energy I hope he stays.
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But Kirby may be waiting for Cochran to get his vested years in Alabama then hook him to Georgia. That may be a why everything is so quiet in that regards. Probably no new contract pending, we just have to see.
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I remember when we went to Fayetteville in 2013. Arky started off well and were running the ball right at us. Then they threw on first down at our 35 or so and missed. I think they lost like 30 yards on the next two pass attempts thanks to 84 and the rout was on. I remember saying at the time, WTF were they thinking?
Who knows? I’m the undying optimist when it comes to UGA. A defensive coach fighting with an aggressive OC has worked fairly well in T-town, right?
Personally, I think that coaches can fuck up talent, but they can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit. A balanced, flexible and physical offense is the way to go given our recruiting capacities. Its not about stats, its about W’s.
If we can lock down those two 5-star athletes from Bowman and Savannah, CKS could get off to a fast start at UGA.
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2014, sorry.
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So what you’re sayin is that he is gonna throw sometimes when we want him to run and run sometimes when we think he should throw? Why won’t he consult us???
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A great idea. Every coach should tweet the fans to find out what play to run.
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Perhaps a tweet poll would work.
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If its 3rd and 8, send the WRs a minimum of 8 yards downfield. That is all.
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You can do that, but when your QB’s first reaction is to check down to a back because he doesn’t trust his protection, it doesn’t matter how far down the field the wide receivers go. That frustrated me this year with Lambert (among other things).
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I watched the Pitt vs Notre Dame game on you tube the other day. Chaney is similar to Bobo (Stop that) in several ways. He may be in I back field one play, shotgun the next. He ran a lot of 2 and 3 TE sets. I like his general philosophy.
Now the possible negative to what I saw…. One drive they were moving the ball on the ground at will and he tried a double pass that was blown up for about a 15 yard loss. Why go to trickeration when you are physically winning the line of scrimmage? That is also a complaint in that article by the Arkansas beat writer.
AND… all of you who hate a draw on 3rd and 15… get ready. He seems to also be of the philosophy that punting is better than a dumb interception. I agree with that now and when Bobo did it but the fans sitting near me did not seem to.
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A draw on 3rd and 15 can be a good call, depending on field position, score, clock, and how many times you have done it before. The problem was Bobo often called the draw on 3rd and more than 8.
Hopefully Smart will override some of the trickeration. Saban seems to have pulled in Jr into calling more runs.
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Then there’s this…
http://www.redandblack.com/sports/kirby-smart-offers-insight-on-coaching-hires/article_abbca8ee-a357-11e5-bb68-d3921c8eee03.html
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