Yes, I’ve already watched the replay once. No, it won’t be the last time.
A few observations, in no particular order:
- Christian Payne. Fullback’s gonna fullback, y’all. He had some devastating blocks Saturday night.
- D’Andre Walker. His blow up play on the kickoff was even more fun to watch on the replay than live.
- Tyler Catalina. His run blocking, for the most part, was fine. But he’s got a way to go in pass protection. I know I said that in my Observations post, but it’s even more apparent watching the replay.
- Maurice Smith. He was Georgia’s best and most consistent defensive back. Thanks, Saban!
- Terry Godwin. I get that having him and McKenzie out on the field together didn’t fit with the game plan, which was essentially run block first and let Chubb sort them out. But he’s got to play more — he’s too quick and his hands are too good to waste too much time on the sideline.
- RPO plays. Georgia’s defense struggled with those most of the night. North Carolina should have run more out of those. And, yes, the refs made a bad call with that illegal lineman downfield penalty, something I never thought I’d say about a penalty like that favoring the Dawgs.
- Aaron Davis’ overruled touchdown. On the other hand, I’m not so certain the replay official got that call right. Trubisky’s body language sure suggested he thought he’d fumbled the ball.
- Greyson Lambert. You can shoot me for writing this, but he didn’t play that poorly. It’s just that he didn’t play well enough to hold off Eason for much longer.
- Malkom Parrish. He had some great plays in pass coverage, but I have no idea what was running through his head on that fair catch. (Yes, even live, the signal was clearly made.)
- Lorenzo Carter. The replay showed he had a much better game than I thought. No sacks, sure, but plenty of pressures.
- Roquan Smith. Following his play that led to the safety showed how well coached that kid is… and how high his football IQ is.
- Brock Huard. Boy, did he sure sound eager to bench Lambert. He’s actually a decent color guy, or at least he’d be one if he talked a little less and kept a few opinions to himself.
**************************************************************************
UPDATE: Jason Butt’s review is worth a look. Some good catches there, like this:
Eason’s pros and cons: There was a lot to like about freshman quarterback Jacob Eason’s performance.
He was able to lead Georgia down the field on his first two series of the game, although the first ended in a Brendan Douglas fumble. The second drive resulted in a touchdown, which featured a shovel pass on a jet sweep to Isaiah McKenzie and four runs.
But of course, there were some freshman mistakes as well. One came on his third play of the game, which followed a short completion Terry Godwin took for 23 yards. Eason took too long to get his team lined up and almost drew a delay of game penalty.
The Bulldogs were forced to call a timeout as a result. Smart touched on that during his Monday news conference, saying that Eason still has to improve in this area. It’s one reason why a rotation will continue with Greyson Lambert, until Eason can be trusted to run the entire show.
Get The Picture 
The Parrish play was freakish. He looked up to spot the punt at the exact time the returner waved for the fair catch. He just never saw it. Just a freakishly timed play b
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speaking of, do you think the LSU O Lineman thought the ball was still live when he decked that kid?
when I saw it happen, I though so. But not sure if people have gone back and looked at the chain of events to see if he knew.
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Two thoughts:
He thought the guy was running with the football, and that the play was still live. I firmly believe that.
However, it was a cheap shot hit regardless, hitting him up high like he did, nearly took the dude’s head off. He was pissed that the play had sealed their loss, and took a cheap shot.
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I heard one of the ESPN talking heads make a good point about the LSU lineman thinking the ball was still live. If he thought it was still live and he saw the DB running at him with the ball in one hand with arm extended – why didn’t he try to knock the ball out rather than take his head off?
At the point in the game, LSU needs the ball more than it needs to bring the guy down.
I think he knew the ball was not live. He was frustrated and he didn’t like that this tiny DB was celebrating in front of him so he decked him.
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The guy called for the fair catch so early that Malcome didn’t see it. There should be a rule that you can’t call it before the ball is punted. That would work a lot if returners would do it..of course, who wants to get planted that way?
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Trubisky fumbled the hell out of that ball! Ha. You could totally tell by his body language. Unfortunately (or probably “fortunately” in most cases) I don’t think the rules allow for refs to try and interpret body language; refs are only looking for whether or not the throwing arm is moving forward.
But yeah, his body language said, “NO NO NO SHT SHT SH*T,” as soon as the ball left his hand.
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I think you’re right here. What was telling to me was that his hand wasn’t opened, like when a QB has just thrown a pass, but closed, like when a person is trying to hold on to the ball. Ultimately, intent may not matter so much as arm motion.
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Here’s my thing…the ruling on the field should of been upheld because it was a judgment call on his intent…therefore it couldn’t be 100% conclusive…therefore ruling on the field stands. Should have been a touchdown.
Same thing happened to Oklahoma. They ruled it a fumble and although the guy’s knee was probably down while still holding the ball there was no camera angle to show it so they upheld the original fumble call. Should of done the same thing for the Dawgs.
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I always wondered how the NCAA handled the “tuck rule”. To me – although it’s clear here Trubisky decided not to throw that ball – there is no good, objective way to decipher a QB’s intentions in these scenarios, so I think ruling any “forward movement” an incompletion is the right way to go.
NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body.
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Intent does not matter at all. The rule is solely based on arm and ball motion. He went to pump fake and the ball came out. The ball continued in a forward motion when his hand started coming back. It is an incomplete pass. If the ball came out while his hand moving backwards, either while winding up for the pump fake or after completing the fake, then it would be a fumble.
The refs screwed that one up as it should have been a grounding call.
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I thought the same about it then being grounding if not a fumble but he was outside the pocket and I think the ball made it across the line of scrimmage so it wouldn’t be grounding.
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It did, barely. I was thinking the same thing live, but remember running it back and it clears the LOS by about a yard or two IIRC.
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Having arm motion over-rule intent is like zero tolerance. Based on intent, he was trying to bring the ball back in, not throw it. That should be a fumble IMHO.
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Wasn’t there a nearly identical play in the pooch-kick Tech game by the Tech QB that was ruled a fumble? We recovered; it was held up by replay, and we scored what should have the winning TD on the ensuing drive. Or am I just totally misremembering the sequence?
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Yeah, he definitely fumbled it, but to me the rule is the rule. Arm going forward equals grounding/throwing it away. Even though it cost us a TD, I’d rather have the rule interpreted this way than have a ref trying to infer what the QB was thinking at the time he lost the ball.
Bottom line, I think the refs got it right on that one.
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Not only was the illegal lineman downfield a bad call, I honestly felt that flagging Fedora when he protested the call was a bad flag too. Yes he was somewhat animated, but I’ve seen guys like Muschamp lose their mind way worse on the sideline without drawing a flag before. And remember that was after like a 12 yard gain or something like that. They went from first down in good field position to being backed up to their goal line on 2 dubious calls, which lead to the safety on the next play, which gave us the momentum for the game. (And yes, while the calls were bad, Fedora has to take the blame for a horrible, slow developing playcall there.) Maybe Kirby and the Process even know how to get breaks from the refs, because we sure aren’t used to it. 🙂
There were several other borderline calls that also went our way. But the one at the end where they were trying to decide if the UNC receiver maintained possession or not —– his foot was on the line when he caught it. Like, it was blatantly obvious, but nobody caught it – not the announcers, and not the replay official either because the ruling was that he didn’t maintain possession, not that his foot was on the line. But the possession shouldn’t have mattered because he was clearly out of bounds.
It was not a great performance by the refs. They were bad both ways, but this was the first time in a LONG time that I can honestly say way more breaks from the refs went in our favor than against us.
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I’m not sure if we’ll ever know, but the illegal man down field penalty was bad and maybe not even borderline, which left me thinking the refs must have been really looking for it, which left me wondering if Kirby & Staff had noticed it earlier and had been riding the refs about it. Maybe another +1 to attention to detail, or maybe me just projecting.
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When it comes to working the refs, Kirby studied under a master.
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Dean Smith?
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The NCAA has been emphasizing this with refs starting last season. They considered changing the rule to 1 yard past the line, but they tabled the rule change. It was a bad call, but they have been told to look out for it.
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“the illegal man down field”
The Trump rule?
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It wasn’t as clear cut a bad call to me. The tackle was out about two and a half yards, but he fired out and engaged the linebacker, who was trying to get to the flat in coverage. I believe that is what the official was basing it on rather than judging distance.
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That downfield lineman call was certainly a critical play. I don’t think any other officiating calls would have stood out at all if not for that one bad call – a call that clearly was momentous for UGA.
In any case, thanks for the observations. I think the return of Michel and unveiling of Holyfield will put UGA’s rushing attack at the top of college football, so here is to hoping that the UGA passing offense evolves this season. Can we throw for 225 yards a game? That’s would be enough in most games. Lambert didn’t play poorly, but I still wonder if he can truly sustain quality drives throwing the ball. He can make some nice throws, but they rarely happen in close proximity and force UGA to rely on the running game.
The good news for UGA is that Josh Dobbs has not evolved, and Luke Del Rio is the second coming of Hutson Mason. Chad Kelly and the Ole Miss offense still scares me, as it took a lot of big time pass rushes from FSU to slow Ole Miss down. UGA has to improve by the time that game comes assuming Ole Miss keeps it together mentally.
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Fedora had been pushing the refs all night. That was the proverbial straw.
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That was the only thing I could think, that maybe the linesman had repeatedly warned Fedora to stay off the field, and that was the final straw. Because Fedora wasn’t even talking to the linesman, he just ran in and threw the flag before Fedora had a chance to say anything to him. If the linesman had been repeatedly warning Fedora tho, then I understand why he was flagged, because just the protest itself didn’t seem to warrant one.
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You also have no idea what he said.
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HB: Absolutely. Officials generally give coaches a lot of latitude. Fedora, however, continuously exceeded limits, thereby reaped what he sowed. As for calls, it was opening night for the refs too and it showed a bit. They were pretty much both ways, albeit some sting more than others.
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Fedora got that call for being an ass and running out onto the field throughout the game. The side judge was obviously tired of it and picked that time to throw the flag. I have no problem with that call.
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Agree. I guess refs have first game screwups too. And I thought the larger issue was the NC receiver’s foot being on the white also.
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It’s easy to take shots at Huard because he’s such a SEC-hater, but I appreciate your fairness in pointing out that much of his commentary is pretty good — which is good because he does, in fact, offer MUCH commentary.
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I thought Huard’s comments were more in response to the play by play guy’s incredulous reaction to the fact that Lambert was “benched” in favor of Eason (when we know it wasn’t a benching) and the fact that he wouldn’t shut up about it. I think Huard’s comments were designed to do just that, more so than to take gratuitous shots at Lambert
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I agree about the play by play guy harping on the quarterback change. He didn’t seem to have a clue about a pre-game strategy by CKS to alternate quarterbacks. I don’t recall ever seeing/hearing him before, and would be happy to never see/hear him again.
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Huard was pimping his state of Washington home boy, Eason.
But this does not mean his commentary on Lambert’s pocket presence was incorrect.
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I think Huard like a lot of folks was really interested in seeing Eason. Also given the fact that Huard is also from Washington and had a lot more familiarity with Eason’s game than the rest of us, Huard wanted him in the game to see what he could do in the SEC. Plus it just made for better talking points and a more compelling game for the announcers.
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Huard doesn’t seem to know some pretty basic stuff. He assumed that, because Eason was bought in, that Lambert had screwed the pooch. It never seemed to dawn on him that it was probably a pre-arranged decision that Eason would go in at a given point. And his comment, when North Carolina was trying to drive late in the game…like a minute and a half left, saying that if NC scored it would be a big task for the defense to hold Georgia so they could get the ball back…was….stupid. His partner told him that NC would almost certainly attempt an onside kick if they scored. To me..it was kind of awkward. I thought he was a blabberer.
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There must have been better games on in this time slot (I didn’t notice) because, clearly, we had the “C” team.
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Yep…and Blackedge was his usual outstanding self calling the Texas/ND game.
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In Malkom’s defense the returner signaled for fair catch almost as soon as the ball left the punter’s foot. Running downfield at full speed trying to avoid blockers ain’t easy. Malkom didn’t see the signal because it came early and he was still focused on avoiding blockers when it was made. I would much rather Malkom did what he did than hold up and let the guy run for a TD if there had been no signal..
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My thoughts exactly. That kid waved once, way early. I really don’t think Parrish realized it.
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He called it while Georgia was still in the huddle. Should be a new rule to prevent that..such as, you can’t call it until the ball is halfway to you..or reaches the apex of it’s travel..or something.
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Totally agree.
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this is exactly what it looked like from the endzone – with the ball coming our way. I didn’t see the signal until the replay. Not sure how they expected him to do it. Usually they hang their hand up much later. This may have been by design even.
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Think he was just not looking that far downfield avoiding blockers, but to me he is by far one of the surest tacklers on team.
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That was no doubt an incomplete pass. Losing control of the ball – even “fumbling” the ball- doesn’t matter if the hand is moving toward the LOS in a passing motion. Similar play last night. If you pump fake and it falls out while you’re going forward, it’s a pass.
I think what messed Parrish up was how early the fair catch was called. He may not have seen it. Usually those calls are made closer in time to the arrival of the ball.
Had Lambert gone the whole way, we lose. That’s all we really need to know isn’t it? I kind of understand while they are handling Eason the way they are, but the sooner the baton is handed over the sooner we can reach our potential.
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Some things come down to a judgement call. Everyone knows it was a fumble.
And how do you know that Eason would absolutely have not made a fatal freshman mistake? I agree he’s more talented, but he’s less experienced also. I think the balance was about right. But I think you worded it right..had Lambert played every down we lose…but he didn’t and we won. The mixture worked. It will be tweaked until it’s Eason and I think eventually Ramsey (to give the dual threat) will be Eason’s backup.
That’s just my opinion…and we know what is said about opinions.
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Yall think Parrish unloading on the returner was retribution for when Isaiah McKenzie got bumped after his fair catch earlier in the game?
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Nah..you could tell by his actions after the penalty that he was upset that it happened.
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For such a tall drink of water, Lambert sure does have a lot of balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. It was a problem last year, and it looks like it could continue to be a problem this year as long as he’s in the game.
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Yep. Three sacks and a ball batted down – even with his playing time reduced. Folks keep saying he’s a good game manager, but he has some huge liabilities when he’s in the pocket. On top of that, much of an aggressive offensive game plan has to be abandoned to play down to GL’s weaknesses. I still say we lose the UNC game if not for Eason.
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I think what we know on the illegal man downfield is that officials can’t call it accurately. They either don’t call it at all (old emphasis) or just make it up as they go (new emphasis). I’m betting the official flagged it because everyone else was retreating and the one guy was downfield – the separation from his fellow blockers triggered the call. Bad call, but also a blocking scheme by a coach/team with a rep for pushing that 3-yard boundary that runs the risk of errant flags.
UNC, for whatever reason, played straight into the strength of the Georgia defense with their play calls all night long and left an undermanned defense on the field for 38 minutes.
The good news is that Ole Miss could easily replicate those mistakes, and they don’t have RBs like Hood and Logan. But Kelly is going to hit downfield. Trubisky couldn’t.
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On the downfield call, is it where the lineman is or where the defender is. The defender was 3+ yards beyond the LOS with a blocker engaged whose feet were close to the 3-yard mark. It’s a judgment call. If he had not been engaged in a block, the call probably doesn’t get made.
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I’ve seen linemen pancaking DBs 8 yards downfield with no call, so I’m not sure it’s that.
If you could line up an official at the 3 yard point and dedicate them to the call, then sure. Otherwise, they’re just guessing based on vantage point – and probably using relative visual cues, like the number of the guy being blocked and separation from the rest of the blocking scheme.
So both?
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If the ball is thrown behind the line, it’s ok for the linemen to go downfield to block. He was out there alone, looked out of place, and the ball got thrown down the field.
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Three comments in reply to the Senator’s list:
I agree about the Roquan Smith safety play. When Roquan sees the screen being set up, he pushes Hood into the endzone, which just disrupts everything UNC is trying to do. That pass was never supposed to be caught in the endzone.
Malkom Parrish is going to be All-SEC. He looked like the second coming of Paul Oliver defending that fade route.
I noticed the same thing on the replay: Carter got a lot more pressure than I realized. A lot of it won’t show up on a stat sheet, but it still affected several plays.
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Good post, WF. I saw exactly the same thing when I watched the replay yesterday. Roquan was a beast the entire game. Parrish is one of the best players on the team (I thought that last year). Zo gets a bad rap because he’s not getting 3 sacks per game, but he’s still disruptive and draws a lot of attention.
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100% spot on with your Godwin bullet. He’s too good to not be on the field.
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Kirby wants Godwin to block better. Until he does, playing time will be limited.
This is one of the few messages that made it through to the media.
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I get that. Truly. But Put him in the slot then. He’s too good and UGAs WRs aren’t good enough to get separation. UGA can’t run the ball 70% of the time against good teams.
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Right on. Godwin gets his separation after he gets the ball in his hands — we don’t have many that can.
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I like Godwin. He’s a legit play maker. He’ll catch everything in his zip code. But he blocks like a guy who’s maybe 6′ at best. I’m not expecting him to block like a guy who’s 6’4″ and 230, like the WRs Kirby was used to at bama – Amari and Julio.
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My biggest concerns from the game are 1A.) Outside LB 1B.) Left Tackle
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The WRs getting zero separation outside of iMac is concerning.
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Lambert’s downfall is that he holds onto the ball too long on EVERY PASS ATTEMPT. It’s pathetic to watch.
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ALL CAPS doesn’t equal truth. He had a couple of terrific throws Saturday.
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Lambert made some very nice throws. Truly. But he still can’t see the whole field. I’m not sure he can see half of it.
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A couple of throws that really sizzled and makes me question the arm strength thing. However, when he is in traffic, he seems to lower his release point (short arming the ball) which may account for the tipped balls.
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He did. Which in my mind makes him all the more frustrating. He has the ability to play the position. His physical and mental attributes probably make him look very good in a no contact jersey.
Put him under the pressure of a live game situation and far too many times he just folds.
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Watching the replay, Eason provides a real contrast to Lambert on how quickly a decision is made and the ball released. Eason looks like he makes up his mind at the snap and is going to zip it regardless of what’s developing, but with far better accuracy than Ramsey. He threw a couple where only his receiver might make a play, but not a DB. Greyson sees the same opportunity, but hesitates to see the coverage…then overthinks it and will not throw if he’s not comfortable with the situation. Both are instinctive reactions, with GL’s probably being reinforced to “be safe” by coaching while Eason is going to have to be coached to think about his check downs (he missed a couple of wide open ones where he threw long incompletions). Clearly, Eason shows the better upside by simply being quicker and willing to live/die with his arm strength. Reminds me so much of Matt Stafford. I also think we’ll see Eason’s size (he’s huge!) come into play by avoiding sacks and being able to save a few plays by running better than Greyson.
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YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
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I hope I end up eating these words, but Godwin has yet to prove to me that he can create consistent separation from db’s. He’s got great hands, but he’s undersized so separation is key.
On another note. Charlie Woerner was stalk blocking like a senior. It was unreal the way he dominated NC’s corners.
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I agree with you Senator. Lambert was not bad; in fact I would say he was above average compared to QB play this weekend. The problem is, however, above average would not have won Saturday and will most certainly lose in Oxford, vs. Tenn, and likely in Jacksonville too. Eason was certainly not perfect, but the talent and leadership is unquestionable IMO. I feel pretty good about our East chances with #10 behind center.
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One thing for sure, both teams reacted differently when Eason came in during plays. There was definite difference. It may only be my bias eyes and brain, but the Dawgs seemed a second or so faster and stronger, LOL.
The defense also definitely respected Eason’s passing potential more than that of Lambert, and that meant better possibilities of Eason.
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I saw too many plays in the first half where the UNC receivers were behind the defenders but thankfully the UNC QB didn’t deliver.
And pass rush?
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D’Andre Walker! That was down right fearless. He looked like a missle going through those Tarholes.
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Areas of concern. 1) Wide receivers lack of separation. 2) Left Tackle when speed rushed. 3) Not setting the edge on defense even though we were holding back to make sure the NC QB didn’t hurt us when he scrambled. 4) TE’s having to be used as blockers rather than receivers (same as last year).
If we play any pocket passers I think we will be ok on the rush. I give Eason a pass on not seeing the check down receiver because he is a freshman but Lambert is a 5th year QB. I think as long as we play both QB’s the other team is going to load the box when Lambert is in and when he passes the Oline has to block too many at the LOS. With Eason, especially now that the opposing DC’s see his ability to sling it, you won’t see any more single high safeties. If they do it Eason will destroy them. We need to work on the short passing game to the RB’s and TE’s and just let the WR’s fly.
New thought on our record this year 10-2 regular season loses to Ole Miss and either UT or UF but not both.
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Don’t think UT can slow down our rushing game. If Eason comes of age very quickly it will take a lot of points to beat these Dawgs.
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Has anyone else noticed – on a national media level – the lack of recognition that Chubb is getting? I realize that I/we are biased but it seems like in the ‘the greatest college football weekend in the history of the galaxy of human beings’ that his amazing comeback isn’t splashed all over national media.
Or have I missed it?
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Well, the media can’t really say a lot about Chubb’s play until they have exhausted all possibilities of there being a better than average player in the BIG whatever. You do remember the “Great big fat Dane” winning the Heisman over Peyton Manning?
For most of the silly-assed TV sports media, this is the Big’s world and the rest of us are just living in it.
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FWIW, ESPN’s weekly poll of 10 of its college football writers has Chubb on top this week — ahead of all the preseason favorites, and Fournette isn’t listed at all.
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Well at least the SEC took notice…
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Suddenly, we’re a top ten team. So much for flying under the radar.
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Yeah, watching the replay Senator, Malkolm Parrish’s penalty came only 4 plays after Isaiah McKenzie was bumped after his fair catch. I’m wondering if there wasn’t some retribution in mind there…
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