ESPN’s crack stats team wants you to know that this is, according to them, Georgia’s most daunting metric:
Quarterback play: Former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray left Athens in 2013 as the SEC’s career leader in completions, passing touchdowns, passing yards and total offense. In the two seasons since, the Dawgs have struggled to find Murray’s replacement. Georgia averaged 192.5 pass yards per game the past two seasons, which ranks 11th in the SEC and 79 YPG fewer than in the four seasons with Murray. Freshman Jacob Eason, the No. 13 overall player and No. 1 quarterback in the 2016 ESPN 300, might be leaned on early in his career to rejuvenate the Bulldogs’ passing offense. Matthew Stafford is the only Georgia quarterback commit ranked higher than Eason in the ESPN 300 era (since 2006).
Not trying to be one here… okay, maybe I am, but the year after Aaron Murray left saw Georgia average more than 41 points per game, good for first in the conference and eighth nationally. I’m pretty confident that the only folks who saw that production as daunting were opposing defensive coordinators.
Yeah, things fell of the table last season, but I’d be willing to bet there’s more than enough blame to go around for that than just struggling to find a decent quarterback.
Bottom line, give me a full slate at tailback, some decent offensive line work and an offensive coordinator who’s at least competent and the passing yardage should take care of itself. But thanks for the warning, ESPN.
Get The Picture 
And an OC not afraid to throw to the TEs in a game…
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Yeah, last year hurt. There was an offensive coordinator who didn’t seem to have a clue, a superstar running back with only one leg, a starting quarterback with happy feet, and an offensive line that was partially responsible for those happy feet. Not a good recipe for success.
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Thanks for giving the stats. Mason did a great job for us. We were explosive with him there (and Gurley/Chubb!).
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Mason was one of the best qbs in the past decade at Georgia. He never lost a game for us.
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Throwing a pick to end a game is losing the game isn’t it?
The article is exactly right. Our qb play has been horrendous since Murray graduated. The fact that we’ve been able to win 10 a year in spite of it speaks to how much we’ve improved in other areas.
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YPG isn’t the only way to measure QB effectiveness. Mason was more limited in his abilities than Murray, but Bobo maximized what Mason could do (high completion %, limit turnovers) vs what he could not (throw the deep ball). Plus with two high end RB on Gurley and Chubb, we had our own set of explosiveness there.
Sad to say our coordinator in 2015 did NOT do the same with Lambert or any of the other QB
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and I loved Murray. Wish we had a great defense to go along with him
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Exactly.
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Bobo held Mason back. Mason did rather good job once he was allowed to throw against Florida.
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I think Richt thought the defense would suffocate Florida’s offense, and then the offense would wear down the Florida defense. Alas, our defense looked like they never even got out of the bed that morning, and Pruitt made zero adjustments or personnel changes. The worst game he coached during his 2 years in Athens (followed by the ’14 USCe game where we made Dylan Thompson look like a #1 draft choice).
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Hold him back? That’s crazy talk. I think we all should be at the point now to understand that Bobo had a knowledge of what Mason could and couldn’t do…I mean, Brice still had planned reps during the Vandy game so there were clearly some limitations.
It’s a fair point that the QB position hasn’t been the strength it was while Murray was at UGA…both Mason and Lambert have limitations with arm strength…but I think the issue was that Bobo was able to work around those in 2014 while Schotty couldn’t find a way to work around those in 2015.
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Exactly right regarding Bobo – I would also say the offensive line played a whole lot better in ’14 than it did in ’15
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The bottom line is that Lambert and Mason’s seasons played out quite the same in the stat that matters: W’s. Mason had Gurley or Chubb and Lambert went most of the year with neither. Both went 10-3 and lambert didn’t lose to the bugs….at home….with Chubb… That’s not to say that I think lambert is equal or better than mason, I think they’re both awful. It may be that they are a broke clock, but ESPN got this right. Our qb play is what left us short of Atlanta the past two seasons.
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definitely would like a QB that can make plays vs one you have to scheme around
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Mason was not a “put the team on your shoulders” kind of QB; he was an excellent game manager and did is job nearly perfectly. “Horrendous” or “awful” he was definitely not.
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There is one thing that every SEC game lost by a Mason or Lambert led team has in common: The team gave up 38 points. Every single time. If you want to blame Pruitt’s defense giving up 400 rushing yards to a UF team that didn’t have a passing option on Mason, you are retarded.
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Defensive stats are very damaging but the offense also only had 2 drives that were over 3 minutes in length.
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Baylor had few drives that lasted more than the arbitrary value of 3 minutes while leading the country in scoring offense. Do you blame that on poor QB play?
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He lead us down the field for a last minute game “winning” drive in regulation.
CMR’s biggest brain fart…ever? Is what sealed the deal in that one.
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Getting 3 points on 3 trips inside the 5 was what sealed the deal in that game. Fumble lost by Chubb after he was gassed, fumble lost by Michel when he tried to stretch the ball over the goal line, and FG after we pulled off a great fake left 18 points off the scoreboard. The tech game should have never come down to that final possession or the pooch kick.
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But it did. And Mason had a RPO called and threw a pick instead of handing it off. Game over.
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I get it, but that game was a team loss. I didn’t even mention Pruitt’s failure to make adjustments against the option.
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I blame Bobo. I have no idea if he would have taken the CSU job if we had opened up the checkbook and paid the man to stay. I’m sure he’ll never say one way or the other, but I would have liked to have seen him give Ramsey an opportunity to win the job.
41 PPG with a QB who was limited at best in Mason …
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Give me Mike Bobo and I’ll be fine.
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Sigh
ESPN – thanks for making it possible to see all our football games, I guess. But damn the price is steep, and I’m not talking about cable fees; it’s the BS like this that you like to stir pots with.
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Every time I read Aaron’s name the first image in my mind is Nick Fairley. The second image is Trooper Taylor waving a towel. The third is a large Donkey shaped Mexican pinata with hard candy, Fairley and Taylor stuffed inside.The dream is completed with a room full of 12 year-old hungry Mexican boys with baseball bats and no blindfolds. ‘Heeeeat it again, Miguel, otro tiempo’.
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All wins and losses are attributable to “team” performances, not individuals. But the magnitude of our offensive falloff last season was more a response to the difference between Bobo and Schotty, imo. I realize the QB talent was a hurdle but I think Bobo would have made some chicken salad.
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