(Takes deep breath and prepares to type… takes another deep breath…)
Aw, fuck it. When your player of the game is the punter, it’s a bridge too far to waste a thousand words of analysis on.
If ever there were an exception to the rule of not scheduling weddings in the South in the fall, Saturday was it. My only regret was that it didn’t start a couple of hours earlier, so I wouldn’t have been able to watch the first half.
Here’s hoping for a complete reset against Tennessee.
*************************************************************************
UPDATE: If you’re a glutton for punishment, Seth Emerson is there for you.
Get The Picture 
2nd half was almost as sad as the first.
(…sighs and heads out the door)
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Well played Senator. Nothing to see here.
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The Grove was pretty
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I’m pretty sure Kent St doesn’t want any of this. Wait. Sorry. Settle down, KS. It’s too late to change our schedule.
On a related note. Bad day for KS all around.
Pretty sure it’s a film days at UGA. I say we fire up the backup screens this week.
Go Dawgs! Beat Vols! Or at least make it somewhat competitive.
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Deleting that disaster off my DVR was the most pleasure I’ve ever gotten from electronics.
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I turned it off at halftime before I threw my remote through the screen. Glad I didn’t record it on the DVR to even be tempted to go back and watch the 2nd half.
I understand Herrien and Holyfield looked pretty good running on the edges in the 2nd half. #tryingtolookatthebrightside
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There were some things. Those two new backs did do a nice job and the blocking wasn’t too bad, though it was garbage time. Eason managed to settle down a bit so he learned something. The receivers were open and all those drops were great plays, just didn’t catch. But they were open and the ball hit them with authority, that’s something we haven’t seen in quite some time. Blankenship has a great leg.
The game just got away from them really fast. The coaches were just going through the motions too, believe me. Everyone on our sideline knows all the stuff we’ve been reading and spewing, when the balls were dropped and the fg was missed, the whole sideline was gone. The “never quit” fake juice is bull in games like this, fsu quit when Petrino spanked them.
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Dammit, Bluto! I’m having bullet points withdrawal.
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Not that this really mattered but on the pick six our intended receiver was blocked in the back to the ground after the INT and no call from refs.
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I saw that, too
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For that to matter, though, the defense would have needed to come up with a stop on a short field. I have zero confidence in that outcome.
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I saw that and a few bad holding missed calls – all on big plays. I want to get upset but a 45-0 run can’t be blamed on the refs. Some catches and some calls going the other way might have swung momentum early and maybe given us a shot. But still, they were going to run away with it one way or another.
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I just don’t get the angst; this is all part of the process. Kirby is clearly a superior coach to the previous regime, and while it may take a few years to re-stock the talent pool, get the thinking straight, and re-wire the culture, the long term result is worth it. If we eventually land where we want to be – where we should be! – what are a few 7-5 seasons along the way? The competence, sell, focus, professionalism, language, and absolute unwillingness to make peace with mediocrity already demonstrated by this staff bode well for the future we all desire.
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I don’t know about “a few” 7-5 seasons, but it is amazing how irrational and impatient some people can be. If anyone expected Smart to wave a magic Saban wand and go win the East in year one they are nuts. These things take time.
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One has to be pretty damned drunk on Kool-Aid to definitively state that Kirby is “clearly a superior coach.” What is your standard? G-Day crowds?
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Might want to switch on your sarcasm detector. I hope, anyway.
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Fair enough. What is sad is that plenty of Georgia fans are saying this right now with no hint of sarcasm, making it quite difficult to tell.
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I hope Kirby proves to be a superior coach. That is clearly possible.
However, I still consider Richt to be the better coach when comparing him to Coach Butts or Coach Dooley. (2 superior coaches).
Miami Is also doing fairly well so far this year. The Dawgs & Miami
might meet in a Bowl Game. GO DAWGS.
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I assume this is sarcasm, but I do want to say, in the face of forced increases in donations, I have no patience at all to wait 3-4 years thru 7-5 seasons with our pitiful home schedules to burn those dollars. I’m getting too old to be constantly saying wait til next year by the 4th game…….
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I am pretty disappointed with everyone on this site. I am not sure what you guys expected to see on Saturday, but this team has major talent issues and got what they had coming to them. Our areas of weakness at DB, DL, OL and WR played to the Rebs strengths. As we witnessed last season and again on Saturday, we do not have the talent to compete with the top tier programs from the West. Kirby has to improve the talent level and quickly. CKS inherited a program that is weaker than what Richt walked into in 2001…and it is not even close. Sure, there are areas that scheme or coaching can correct moving forward. Our coaching staff is not without blame in this loss. But some of you guys are unable to see the forest for the trees. With quality WR’s the Dawgs may have been able to put some pressure on Ole Miss but that’s about it. This squad needs to grow up and grow up fast. I am not a believer in Butch Jones, but you better believe that the Vols will come into Athens believing that they can win and ready to play. I am hoping to see a few new faces along the OL, less of Carter and Briscoe and a slightly revised offensive game plan this Saturday (more short to intermediate throws to keep the chains moving and also reduce the length of time our OL is forced to block). Time for this team to earn the G that they wear.
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Commenter, please.
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All of the Dawgrading has finally seeped into our fanbase.
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Richt went 8-4 with a roster that had some really good players on it. Witherspoon, Stinchcomb, Musa,
Pollack, Green, Phillips, McMichael, Boss, Geathers, Gary, Edwards, Blue ect. Several future NFL players on that team.
There is talent in this team as well but you have to make plays when you get the opportunity. Lo Carter is killing me.
What strikes me is how undersized and less talented at recieved and OL we are.
My expectations for this team were 9-3 hopefully beating either the Vols or the Gators. The programs Richt and Smart inherited are very similar in talent. 8-4 is what I expect moving forward. Same as Richt in year one. We keep recruiting the way we are and by 2018 we will be ready to make a run at it for real.
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Wow, that was some talent. I do believe Richt had a lot to do with Green being on the list. What I would give to have a Pollack and Blue now.
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David Greene was recruited by Jim Donnan.
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I was talking about his development
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You’re thinking of Shockley
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Absolutely right CJ. You listed several players with super talent, many who played in the nfl for years and made millions. But the list goes on – Sean Jones, Verron Haynes, Ben Watson, Chris Clemons & Josh Mallard, Not to mention first round picks Charles Grant, George Foster and Jonathan Sullivan.
That team was so incredibly talented we redshirted Thomas Davis! Also should mention the kicking team had Kirouac, Kilgo and Bennett.
Going 8-4 with that amount of talent was definitely NOT a good job of coaching!
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Yeaaahhhh…..definitely a stronger program now. Richt raised the bar, no two ways about that. I think he may be referring to the talent level on the roster. I couldn’t find the article that compared Smart’s first year talent to the other coaches. Kirby isn’t in the same boat roster-wise as Muschamp, for example, but I don’t think his situation is as good as Richt’s in 2001, who benefited from Donnan’s recruiting prowess. I did see where Donnan warned in December 2015 that “fans were getting jacked up” needed to dial it back due to some deficiencies of talent on the current roster…..fwiw.
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On the defensive side, sure. On offense? Not so much. Anyone care to remember the running backs who played in 2001?
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Musa Smith and Jasper Sanks I believe. Haynes didn’t explode until later if memory serves.
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Sanks washed out. Smith was hurt and didn’t put up much in the way of numbers, outside of Arkansas State, I think(?).
Haynes was a fullback pressed into service at tailback because there wasn’t anyone else.
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Similar levels of talent yielding an 8-4 result. 15 seasons later and it all comes full circle.
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And I believe Haynes was a walk-on player as well.
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And he murdered Tech.
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I really believe that Dawg fans were so enamored to the coming of Eason that they were not listening to Kirby when he said at the very start that the team does not have the needed horses to run with the rest of the top SEC teams. The G Day and Mizz performance of Eason further screwed up their belief all games can be won by just one person and a Freshman QB.
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By my count, there were 21 eventual NFL Draft picks on the 2001 roster. How many do you think are on the current roster? It ain’t 21.
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You’re projecting backwards with one roster and forward with the other. Can’t say I find your logic persuasive.
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OK. How about this? 8 UGA players were drafted in the NFL Draft that followed Richt’s first year. How many on the current roster will be drafted this coming April?
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http://georgia.247sports.com/Article/Georgias-top-prospects-for-2017-NFL-Draft-45168580
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So 5? Chubb, Michel, Pyke, Carter and Bellamy. And that article is projecting Carter to leave early and get drafted if he has a strong year (he isn’t). Compare that group to: Charles Grant, Will Whitherspoon, Randy McMichael, Terreal Bierria, Jermaine Phillips, Verron Haynes, Josh Mallard, and Tim Wansley. The 2001 team has soo much more talent on it than the 2016. It’s not even close.
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You’re using hindsight. The 2001 squad had several future NFL players who were drafted in later years. But we don’t yet know the future NFL players on the 2016 team. Eason has a decent shot of being drafted, but not based on his 4-game career. Ditto for some of the big recruits that haven’t yet made an impact. Hardman, Rochester, Thompson, Cleveland, Holyfield, Herrien, Nauta, Woerner, and Smith are all young talents with legitimate pro potential. If most of those kids go on to the NFL, we may be awed with how much talent this 2016 team had in years to come.
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I understand your point about my original post, but notice I also mentioned that 8 players on the 2001 team were drafted the following April 2002. IMO there is at best 4 players on the current roster that could be drafted 7 months from now, and two of them play the same position (Chubb and Michel). This isn’t some far off projections of years, this is just a few months.
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Yes, but you’re looking at an outlier. Alabama won the national championship last year with 7 players who were drafted on their team. Georgia was a disappointment with 5 players drafted. I’m not convinced that two extra pro prospects would have made the difference between Richt getting fired and hoisting a crystal football.
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It sure didn’t feel like it sitting in the cold damn Nashville stadium losing to Boston College
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Some fans are just lunatic, LOL.
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Please show me one shred of evidence that Kirby is superior to any coach staff. He has rptaken a team that won ten games last two years and had them unprepared for the other team 3 out of four games.
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What concerns me the most is that, as Seth noted, “[o]ne of the more surprising things has to be that the play-calling didn’t show much more creativity than last week, or learn the lessons from that game.” I’d say nothing seems to have changed since week one. It appears we believe we can line up and ram it down the other guy’s throat even though they know precisely what we are going to do. If it didn’t work against Nichols State what makes them think it will work against Ole Miss or Tennessee? It’s one thing not to be able to adjust during a game. It’s a whole different thing not to be able to adjust from week to week. And if it’s simply a case of not being wiling to adjust then we may have a long, ugly season ahead.
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It seems to me that CKS believes it would be wrong to adjust to an opponent; the style of play he envisions is to force the opponent to adjust to the dawgs. He does not want to teach this mental weakness to his teams, he wants them to man up, be strong, and force their will on the opponent. While it may take him some time to get the right personnel on board to play this way effectively, he is beginning to build a culture. It is just not proper to expect expect Georgia to stoop so low as to adjust to Nichols State.
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Okay… I genuinely can’t tell. Is this the most subtle troll job ever?
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I’ve decided to look at it like that.
In which case….(golf clap) well done!
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He’s Kirby’s press agent.
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Is that you, Mary Beth?
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The two biggest points that Emerson made was the recognition of our offensive scheme issues, and the stubborn reluctance to address them, as well as how hard it is to blame the problems all on talent. All teams have flaws in spots, this team has a couple of glaring ones, but 90% of the teams in the country have less talent than UGA has to work with…very year. We all expected this to not be a championship team, and it won’t be, but the performance thus far doesn’t show the flashes of “something good is just around the corner”. I wasn’t shocked at the first half of the Nicholls game, those sleepwalks against a cupcake happen often, but not responding in the 2nd half was alarming.
My biggest concern remains the OC, laying an egg with that hire not only kills this season, it could impact the incoming recruiting class. I am more of an execution guy than blaming problems on play calls but I really get the idea we seem to prefer beating our head against the proverbial brick wall. Get Chaney up in the press box near the buffet where he can see what we see happening to the defensive reaction to our sets/calls. And by the way Jim, those screen passes FU used in the 1st half worked very well against TN.
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At one time, Georgia was a team that utilized screens effectively. Although I’m sure we must have, I can’t seem to remember us throwing a single one so far this season.
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+1
Yes we are thin on the OL, a Freshman QB and WR’s are acting like they have baking mitts on but I don’t see Chaney helping us out with his play calling. Not enough toss sweeps and I can’t remember a screen pass. I’ve never been in the arena but I have been in a few buffet lines, perfect place to try something new…….
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So there’s a screenshot in Seth’s post of Eason’s interception. The caption says Ole Miss is in man and there’s nobody open. However, it looks to me as though at the top left we have a Wr wide wide wide open. Anyone else see this?
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I think its either Payne or one of the tight ends… and yes, he had a check down short and left of the intended receiver that didn’t have a defender within 15 yards of him.
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saw it from another angle. It’s Chubb releasing out of the backfield.
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Is this what “being competitive” looks like?
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Our play-calling strategy seems to be similar to what it has been in the last few years:
If a play doesn’t work, keep calling it.
If a play works, call something else.
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Georgia is 72nd in total offense this season.
Georgia was 83rd in total offense in 2015.
Georgia was 30th in total offense in 2014.
Georgia was 17th in total offense in 2013.
Georgia was 22nd in total offense in 2012 (and first in yards per play).
Just curious which of those are the “last few years” you’re referring to.
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So you’re saying Chaney IS better than Schittenheimer. I was honestly wondering.
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No, I’m saying Bobo was.
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Oh, I know Bobo was the bomb. Once he found his groove (and QB) he was as good an OC as anywhere in the country. I still can’t believe all the nitwits that complained about him.
I was somewhat making light about Chaney, though he certainly hasn’t impressed me so far.
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Russ, there’s nothing “light” to be made about Chaney.
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No argument with or criticism of the total offensive production in the last few Bobo years. But, imho, the situational playcalling was always suspect.
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+1
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Bullet points:
1) That missed sack by Carter and dying bird TD pass that followed was my least favorite play in a long time. I wish our DB had just tackled the receiver, got the 15 yarder, and moved on.
2)Soo…it’s ok for the punter to throw it to Sony but the QB can’t? Hmmm…
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I’m willing to be patient with CKS. What alarms me already, however, is that we’ve been historically bad. Nichols was the closest we’ve played an FCS opponent in 50 years or so. Ole Miss hadn’t beaten a ranked team by that margin since the 60’s. I get that we have some major personnel issues, but we had many of the same issues last year and still squeezed 10 wins out of it.
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Agree with every word of this 100%.
For what it’s worth, Nichols barely beat Incarnate World (35-28) and just lost to South Alabama (40-41).
I’m willing to be patient, but we have plenty of talent on this team including the best RB in the country, a 5* WR, the literal no. 1 recruit in the nation (TT), a BACKUP 5* running back, multiple huge-recruit TE including the no. 1 TE in the nation, etc.
We may not have enough talent on the lines to play smash mouth football on offense. But why we can’t run outside, get the TE’s more involved in passing, and throw a damn screen once in a while is beyond me.
And on defense, why we can’t generate some pass rush when we’re demanding our DBs play man is beyond me. LoCarter is a pure bust and needs to get off the field. Period.
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“I’m willing to be patient with CKS.” With all respect Herschel, what fucking choice do you have? Really guys, all this being patient stuff is cute, and I am sure Kirby appreciates your patience, but Kirby is the coach for at least the next couple of years. End of story.
Welcome to the wonderful world of processing a coaching change.
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Patience as in I’m not overreacting or buying the domain name to firekirbysmart.com. None of us on this thread (I don’t think) have any influence on employment decisions at B-M, so we’re just talking.
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Don’t give anyone ideas, HT. 😉
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http://firekirbysmart.com/
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A thousand bucks for the domain name? Fuck those people.
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Well, yeah, but if we lay an egg this Saturday, somebody is going to be $995 richer on Saturday night, guaranteed. There are enough “fans” out there that will jump on this as soon as they can.
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They forgot the ALL CAPS and !!!1!1!11! Do it right or don’t do it at all.
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Patience, maybe Kirby is telling his OC that he wants to run into brick walls to toughen up the boys. This blame the OC crap is as old as Georgia football. If Kirby doesn’t like what the OC is calling he can tell him. Oh wait maybe Kirby doesn’t have time for that shit. We start hitting on the OC and the next thing you know we have our coach pulling a Muschamp and changing OC’s every year until he is fired. This OC is an old hand and a lifer OC, he will do his HC’s bidding so let’s just keep the tar and feathers for later. He has to teach a freshman QB how to check down while being constantly harassed. Not an easy job.
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