Nick Chubb says whatever’s ailing Georgia’s running attack the last two games, it ain’t his health. You want to argue with him? I don’t.
Dial this clip up to the 3:35 mark and take a look.
It’s Chubb’s longest run of the night, on the last play of the third quarter. He goes wide, shakes off a defender who eluded Payne’s block and turns it upfield for a sixteen-yard gain. It’s classic Chubb. The big difference between that play and what went on for most of the rest of the night was that he was able to get a little space within which to operate.
Jim Chaney needs to figure out a way to make that happen more often, that’s all.
Get The Picture 
So the O line blocking is worse than last year. That’s essentially the point that you must concede if you assume Chubb is healthy and 100%. Everyone knew Chubb was going to run last year and he did.
That just sucks. I expected Pittman to have an immediate impact on the line.
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Yes, but when the best option you have at left tackle is a transfer from an FCS team that appears physically outmatched play after play, there’s only so much coaching up that can be done. That is a talent problem.
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You are correct. We all thought Catalina would be better than he has been.
It’s only 3 games in so hopefully there is some improvement over the course of the season. It’s just disappointing to see Chubb’s last year (presumably) appear mediocre.
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Gracious. It’s 3 games. Gurley, and even Herschel, had weeks they couldn’t get going. The kid is second in the SEC in rushing yards.
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It’s the worst three game stretch of his career which is pretty significant. His ypc isn’t even in the top 100 nationally. He was #1 nationally in that category last year before he got hurt.
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No way Chubb gets filed under “mediocre”, Biggen. He has done enough to earn his spot as one of the most accomplished runners but let’s not put all the blame on Catalina. We have miscues all over the OL, on the right side and up the gut, at various times. He seems to be the one the most conversation is about but this seems more than about just talent. Something in the blocking scheme, personnel interaction, and formations is more a contributor(s). We didn’t have anything above average on the OL the two years Chubb was running over and through opposing defenses.
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^This. The O-Line is basically made up of the same guys as last year. New OC and OL coaches–new scheme. The scheme probably doesn’t fit the personnel.
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It will be his last year, I hope anyway. RBs only have so many carries in them and he should start getting paid asap.
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Sky, Cowboy and Moonpie aren’t walking through the tunnel, but there’s enough talent to run on Nicholls. This is a scheme/coaching problem. Hopefully it’s just a symptom of a move to a new philosophy and will get better (soon). But there’s enough talent to scheme around. Good coaches know how to use what they’ve got. Everybody’s a genius with 5 stars backing up 5 stars.
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Except Chubb had 222 in the first game. That’s what I can’t figure out. Why the drop off a cliff?
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Mix of lesser execution (especially vs Nicholls) and a bit less creativity in the run calls.
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Trigger warning – Old man rant: Why does every highlight film have to be overdubbed with generic hip-hop loops?
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not all clips are done that way.
Bobby Petrino hype films typically have the Benny Hill theme song.
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You win win the comments for today dude.
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This. Way to go, NTMike.
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Conventional wisdom says run the ball to set up the passing game. For UGA this year, it looks like the reverse might be true. The only caveat there is the question of whether or not the OL can give Eason (or Lambert) the time to stretch the D to the point where the running game becomes more viable. Either way, the OL has to be better or the better teams (OM, Tennessee, Florida) will be able to shut both the run and the pass down.
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Surely Eason’s success passing against Missouri will open things up a bit in the running game. Especially if he can hit on a couple of plays early in Oxford. I look for the rushing game to bounce back this week.
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Payne gets that block Chubb runs for more maybe a TD.
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It’s not Catalina’s fault, it’s not Eason’s fault. It’s not Payne’s fault. It’s not Chubb’s fault.
All of these guys are better than the personnel at Nichols.
This is Jim Chaney’s doing and he better get his head out of his arse..
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“He goes wide”. If I’m not mistaken, that was about the only time he ran wide all game. Otherwise it was straight into a stacked defense over and over and over.
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Just speculating but could the lack of outside runs, especially the sweep, be attributed to having Godwin and McKenzie in our 2-wide sets?
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Stick one of our eleventeen TEs in the slot.
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All of this…and we did stick TE’s out on the ends, who looked pretty slow on passing downs. Guess they were just trying to move some of the D out of the box. Looking at the replay, Mizzou would actually stuff the center with 9 (!) players, letting their 2 corners go man to man on our WR’s. I don’t recall once Eason audibling into a quick fly route to burn them on that. You could then see that from every I formation run with Chubb, he hit a line that was just more yellow than white jerseys. Our OL actually held their run blocks, but could not get a forward push…you see that on a couple of short yardage plays where we failed. We used the jet sweep a few times to fake the sweep and try Chubb up the middle, but that didn’t help much.
Don’t recall seeing one pitchout to Chubb. Only handoffs. No screens either as he was being used to great effect to double team block #91 for Mizzou…he and Sony saved Eason’s backside several times.
Sorry…but I think this is not “lack of execution” or talent on the OL as much as Chaney or Smart wanting to pound the middle to prove we can assert our will (or whatever). Small sample size. 222 vs. UNC. No explanation for Nichols. Mizzou D did what they did and we still found a way to win. So…no long term conclusions, but there sure is some opportunity on the edges that look exploitable and we’re going to need those Saturday.
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I read or heard somewhere that Eason is very limited in the play options he has at his disposal. I would expect that to change with more experience. But right now, it’s another reason why defensive coordinators can get away with loading the box like crazy against UGA.
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“I would expect that to change with more experience”
Maybe we put Lambert in for some plays?
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At what position? Guard? Tackle?
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I think this is the most obvious answer of all I’ve read. No way this OL + Chubb + Pittmann should be below average. Average…in the realm of possibility. But the run game in the last two games has been inscrutable.
It makes more sense that the D just knows what’s coming.
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Then I blame Chaney! (Hey, that’s kind of catchey. 😜). If anything he should let loose the deep ISO route or back shoulder pass in that look. He would have done that in H.S. so what’s to fear?
P.S. I’m through the 3rd Q looking at the Mizzou replay and can only find two single man corner/safety blitzes by Mizzou and a couple of ILB zone read or spy blitzes (which I don’t really consider a blitz since it’s delayed and reactionary). Mizzou got a strong push all night from their front 4. You seemed to think they blitzed more…?
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The easy/lazy answer is, yes, the OL is worse. The truth is that Chaney telegraphs when and how Chubb is running which makes any OL look worse. Add in the fact that our last two opponents showed zero respect for out ability to beat them passing and there you go. A good passing game will change all of this.
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Oh right.
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We haven’t been able to throw the entire time that Chubb has been in college. How is Chaney telegraphing in ways that Bobo and Schott didn’t?
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It’s an obvious difference in the formations and OL splits. It’s an obvious difference in play selection on 1st and 2nd downs.
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So you’re saying that the splits and formations that Chaney is using allow you to consistently predict the plays before they happen?
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All anyone has to do is watch game film. Sorry that’s hard for you to understand
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It’s easy to say it’s predictable after it’s already happened. Seems like hot air to me.
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I think the loss of Theus, Houston, and MM26 looms larger than we think in our current run game troubles. While Theus and Houston weren’t maulers by any means, they certainly weren’t push overs neither especially when you consider that Pyke is better suited for the gaurd position. I throw Malcolm26 in there for his ability to stretch the defense out. Even when the opposing defense knew the run was coming, they still had to respect his playmaking ability resulting in Chubb (before he went down) and Sony having that little extra space to do their thing. Right now we don’t gave a legit outside threat at reciever and we have a RI transfer and a true gaurd manning the tackle positions. UNC didn’t know what to expect from us, Nichols and Mizzou chose to sell out on the run and make Lambert/Eason beat em. The o-line is what it is, but I think if another reciever can step up and make plays on the outside who can block just a little, we can get the run game going.
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Watch this run against Clemson
and the Auburn highlights from 2014 (specifically the screen at 3:40 and the run at 4:55)
Then compare it with the UNC highlights
I’m not seeing the same amount of dynamic ability from Chubb this season. He’s still very good, but he isn’t unstoppable like he was pre injury, at least not right now. In the UNC game the first tackler usually brought him down (sometimes after being dragged for a few yards), and he hasn’t been breaking through piles of defenders like he was in the Auburn highlights. By my count we saw flashes of Chubb’s previous greatness on 3 runs during the UNC game, one of them being the final touchdown, but he’s just not quite back to what he used to be.
The o-line is exceptionally bad so far this season, but I don’t think that would have as big of an effect on his numbers before the injury. Chubb certainly isn’t the problem. Pittman and the boys up front need to get it together. Let’s just hope that as the season progresses Chubb will get his legs back under him and return to his previous dominant self. Right now he’s not there.
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I think the truth lies somewhere in between here. The defensive fronts we have been running into have small lanes, and don’t fear the RB bouncing outside. I think this is due to the D recognizing who is in the game at WR. If Godwin and Joystick are in there, they don’t fear the edge, because they are questionable blockers at best. But, they are deeply needed if the passing game is to get going. This dependency sticks out if you are a D looking for a way to stop our running game. If you leave Chigbu in there, he can block but there is no threat of the mid to deep routes (same with Davis sadly). The TEs should help mitigate this, but they haven’t been. Blaze especially would seem to be good to flex out for blocking and the threat in the seam. It makes you predictable, and that allows the D to dictate what you can do. Also, our QB is still learning so he can’t just switch it up and burn them when they call us out……yet.
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Totally agree William. That’s why I mentioned Malcom Mitchell in my post above. We need at 1receiver that we can keep on the field for any play call to make the offense less predictable.
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It seems personnel has forced us away from the WR screen the past 2+ years. Jail breaks, bubbles, etc. carry some risk but can be highly effective with a strong-armed, accurate QB. I would think, if nothing else, that motion would loosen up the interior of a defense. And if I recall, didn’t Kelly pump the WR screen and catch a Tide safety peeking into the backfield for an easy score? Murray went to the screen quite a bit but also had better blockers available in Conley, Bennett, etc. My non-football background, desk job says to flex Nauta and Woerner out and let McKenzie or Godwin operate in some space! Yeah!
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We are just seeing that most of our identified problem areas are real and not imaginary. The WR’s, the Oline and to a certain extent the DB’s are suspect. The Dline is not disruptive enough to help the DB’s out this year. Hopefully it will get better but I’m not sure it will soon enough to get us the East.
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I really like that every team we play this year gets the upside dawgrading.
Nicholls St is going to beat some teams this year.
Mizzou, man that front 4 is stout. They could win 7-8 games.
UNC….did you see how many points they put up on Lovie Smith’s team, he’s an NFL coach.
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Nicholls did beat Incarnate Word by 6 points last weekend.
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If Chubb is as good or better than Gurley, then…
HAVE HIM THROW THE DAMN BALL!
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Damn, man. That headline actually took me back to MY college days.
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Our screen game was Top 2 or 3 in the nation two years ago. It was below average last year, and is non-existent so far in 2016. I blame Bobo for taking it with him. But, there are lineman, rbs, and a QB still on the roster that can recall how we executed….and a ton of video tape. It is another way to get Michel and Chubb the ball in space, need to see it against the defensive fronts we will see the next two Saturdays. I know Chaney has had success as an OC before but more of this seems scheme/play calls than personnel to me. I hope Kirby has had an ass chewing with his OC this week.
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Agree with you about the RB screen, Mac. Don’t know why it disappeared.
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