Given that early Mike Bobo used to drive me nuts with his counterproductive insistence on balance in his play calling, it’s only fair to shake my head over what Kirby said yesterday about his offensive game plan.
In a win over South Carolina Sunday, Georgia was dominant on the ground — they racked up 326 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 50 carries, while Eason went 5 of 17 for 29 yards and a touchdown. This week, Eason took advantage of soft coverage while Vanderbilt held Georgia to 75 rushing yards on 35 carries.
“We were trying to establish the run still in the second half because when you become one dimensional, pass-pass-run, pass-pass-run, you’re predictable there and they just rush you,” Smart said. “It’s frustrating anytime you’re not successful and we look at everything internally, but to be honest with you, I thought the kids had an opportunity late in the game to run the ball and the offensive line wanted to do that and we weren’t doing that with much success.”
The problem with that line of thinking, as Smart and the rest of us discovered much to our chagrin on the last play of the game Georgia ran, was that Vanderbilt never gave up on selling out to stop the run.
I don’t get what’s so hard about taking what the other guy is willing to give you until he shows otherwise. Maybe it’s something about the Ray Goff coaching tree.
Get The Picture 
You aren’t the first guy I’ve heard reference Goff. All we need now is for Kirby to tell us the solution isn’t coaching. We just need to play buttah.
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I realize this is a circumlocational response, but would somebody please explain to me why Nick Chubb did not block any of the three Vandy players he ran by? When you are the fullback in an I formation, don’t you block somebody? Or was Nick looking into the second level and just missed them? I will hang up now and wait for Nick to text me.
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Nick Chubb isn’t a blocking fullback.
Glad I could help.
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Oh, sorry, I thought the guy in the I formation who lines up in front of the tailback was the fullback. So you are saying Nick was not in that position to block somebody. Thanks, now I understand.
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Pinky woulda made the field goal.
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Hindsight is 20-20 but in retrospect Kirby should have tried the FG, yes.
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Actually, I meant after we got the first down.
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Actually, I was joking. The kick would have been 57 yards.
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It was the perfect time to put Nick in as a FB. I will admit that no one in America thought about putting the best RB in the country at FB, so we took them by surprise.
Can’t believe we are reduced to blaming the hardest working guy on our team for the loss.
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Not that Chubb would ever admit to this (because he’s a classy guy), but I’d be seriously pissed about this season as it’s likely cost Chubb several million dollars as he’s fallen in the draft projections. What was once likely first round money has at best turned into second round money, or more likely third round money.
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If we had run Chubb out of that formation, we might’ve taken them by surprise, but then again …. maybe not.
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Chubb was looking to lead the way and block someone; but the defender made a nice play coming from the backside. As the play developed, I thought it was a first down for sure; but the defender made a great play. it’s all about execution and the Dawgs aren’t executing right now. I put 90% of the blame on what looks to be the worst Oline I’ve ever seen from UGA. they can’t move anyone off the ball.
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You must not have seen the offensive line in 1990.
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The OL wouldn’t be so bad if they were actually playing a scheme that could fit their talent level.
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May I suggest that Chubb has only run that play against air in practice. You could tell by end of 1st quarter we couldn’t run on Vandy but seemed allergic to passing on 1st down. The TD pass came on 1st down.
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We’ve been allergic to passing on early downs all season.
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At this point opponents aren’t just scheming against a limited QB and OL; they’re scheming against an offensive system that wants to play to its own weaknesses a fair amount of the time. And you have to figure they’ll take away what we want to do and live with consequences all of the time. Hey, if I know that once every series of downs they’re going to try to run right into 10 players, and at no point will they throw the ball deep to a WR, I’d do this too.
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Yep. Kirby Smart is an oxymoron.
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Based on how Eason was playing I would have thrown the ball all over the field.
I would have ran their LBs and secondary as hard as I could. I would have played them at a higher tempo. I would have matched the depth of my roster against theirs. And I would have forced 41 to one side.
Doubt if any team on the remainder of the schedule on kickoffs kick the ball into the end zone anymore against the Dawgs special team kickoff squad. Way too much upside to make them field the ball and put Eason deep in his own end. Forcing the running game on Chaney and Eason.
Somebody had better get 16 and 81 off those teams along with Beamer.
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All they would have had to do was fake to Chubb and throw a screen to McK right over 41’s head.
Bobo and Pruitt were very good at halftime adjustments, btw. Anyone else notice that these days?
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we look at everything internally
I thought the kids had an opportunity late in the game to run the ball
So, how much is Kirby involved in the offensive play calling? Is he overriding his OC at times?
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That’s what makes me wonder if some of the Chaney criticism is unfounded.
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Thats the million dollar question isn’t it? It felt like the UT game was a turning point in our offensive strategy, then we went right back to a strategy that had mixed success at best. Is Kirby pushing a concept (of physical in your face play) over the reality what this team can do when faced with teams selling out on the run?
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The whole room at his intro press conference cheered when he said he’d be involved in every aspect of the program.
I guess we’ll know how involved he is in gameday play calling at the end of the year if we’re getting a new OC.
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I remember Chaney saying he needed to sit down with Kirby and make the decision about the QB often during the summer. That tells me Kirby is involved in the offense and has the final say.
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Kirby had better take a long hard look in the mirror if that is in fact what happened
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Smart and Chaney need to analyze this: 2.1 yards per rush will get you beat by most teams. If they have to wait until the game is over and look at the film to figure it out, we are taking on water and sinking fast.
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the way Mckenzie described the last play made it sound as if Smart was just as responsible for it as Chaney…and Chubb’s response to it made it clear that he wasn’t happy to be “blocking”…my belief is the only game Chaney has had the shackles off is the Tenn game, when he was calling plays pre snap
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Fuck balance.
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It’s all about creating and exploiting advantages. Chaney’s reputation coming in was over-thinking things and being cute.
Running our smallest player to the short side without a true blocking fullback created a big advantage for Vanderbilt.
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The best thing about Chaney’s offense is that he gives our defense plenty of time to rest before they have to get back on the field. It’s very disheartening to see our freshman quarterback waiting on the field and calling for his coordinator to get the play call into him before they get a delay of game penalty. And then Kirby has the audacity to call out Eason on the one time where he made a mistake and the coaches had to call a time out.
Kirby is quick to claim responsibility for all things bad but those words are empty as everything he says subsequently is about how the kids just didn’t execute… even though he is big enough not to call them out by name. For his sake and Georgia’s sake I hope he is less polite when he addresses Chaney and Beamer in private.
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I was feeling really bummed by the Muschamp 2.0 references, until you brought up the one coaching name that’s worse.
On the 4th-and-one play we are all discussing, what I don’t get is why we ran to Zach Cunningham’s side of the field. Dude must have had 25 tackles.
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I’ve got a great idea:
With the game on the line and needing 1 yard, let’s put our smallest receiver in at tailback, put our excellent tailback in at FB, and just grind it out.
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They’ll never see it coming!
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Except those paying attention when we telegraphed it before the timeout. 😉
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Here is the way I read that move:
We don’t have a road grading OL so we gotta go outside.
We don’t have a road grading FB so we gotta put Chubb at that spot.
We are going to get beat at the LOS so we need a playmaker who can juke the tacklers.
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Christian Payne and either Blazevich or Nauta are pretty good at lead blocking, and the linemen are pretty mobile. That’s what the previous two weeks taught us. So of course we throw all that out and try our own variation on 4th and dumb.
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It was terribly frustrating to watch us continue to try to run out of power formations. Doing so allowed Vandy to further load the box and stuff the run game. However we did have success running the ball out of shotgun , three wide sets. Eason was clearly more comfortable from that set too, and completed a number of balls. Then we would stubornly go back to the power sets and get stuffed again.
I love the power, I’m bigger and badder than you style of offense. But I’m observant enough to see when it doesn’t work. As the Senator said, take advantage of what the D gives you until they take it away.
I just don’t understand. Maybe that’s cause I’ve never been in the arena.
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It doesn’t stop anyone else.
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Yeah, the point of being predictable and not caring is that they can’t stop you. I think it’s well-established by now, no matter what Kirby Smart wants, this offense cannot allow predictability.
But, hey, being hard-headed in style is apparently more important than actually winning, I guess. Maybe it’s the Coach Fab method…KS likes the challenge?
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Not inclined to watch this buzzkill of a game again to make the calculation, but I’m reasonably sure passing in a 3d- or 4th and short situation was a safer bet for the Dawgs than any kind of run featuring any of the backs in any formation. Yeah, someone could drop a pass, but yeah, Vandy could stone the run for the 20th time in the game as well.
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Fucking a. I commented during the game that if we went run, run, pass (,punt) one more time I’d scream. Don’t talk to me about predictable.
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I thought Kirby was a genius. It seems like he just have an extremely tight sphincter. This coaching staff seem determined to make it much more difficult for themselves to win games.
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That’s why many are starting to compare him to the guy he beat last weekend.
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This is my million dollar question. My thought was that Kirby hired Chaney because he has more than enough experience, enough to be a HC, and therefore Kirby could watch the O as a unit from a distance and focus his energy on recruiting and game day/in-game stuff. In my mind, the smart thing to do with a man like Chaney is to just watch and consult with.
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I get the OL isn’t the best. Good coaches scheme around that. To hell with identity and balance. Just win baby. We ran v SC cause they have a turrible DL, and Eason was off. He did great yesterday in spite of the coaches and penalties had him facing 3rd and long. Out tight package with Bynum in there does not work. We have to spread folks out and pass to open up the run. The point is we are suffering thru a rookie coach’s training. New coaches with no experience are for sun belt and MAC.
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Listening to a Smart post-game interview after a loss gives me Loran Smith/Ray Goff postgame flashbacks.
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Why? Because of the south Georgia drawl? Otherwise I don’t get it.
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I had to work and missed the game, thankfully! This is our busy season so I will probably miss a lot of games, maybe I will be in a better mood because of that, and drink a lot less. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. It seems to me that Kirby or Cheney is trying to force a shotgun QB into a power I QB as a freshman. I think you adjust your offense to make the QB comfortable. They have all offseason to work Eason into an under center QB, try to win some games and give the kid some confidence.
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Long time reader. Infrequent commenter.
Just watched the last play at home as I was at game and it was hard to see everything field level.
Never been in the arena but looked to me like the play might have actually worked and even scored if not for Cunningham. We missed a block on him. Not sure about criticism of Chubb on that play. His reaction suggested he was as surprised as everyone that Cunningham got there. He looked around like “what”.
Bottom line, if you are squeezing out a 4&1 at home under a minute against Vandy, one play isn’t the reason you lost.
I’ve seen Vandy do this often enough since I was in school (UGA 94) to know they are capable of beating us. And we are perennially capable of taking them lightly.
At the dawg walk the cheer group mocking Vandy for sucking set the tone for me. how many losses do we need to have to Vandy before we learn?
Vandy I believe is only a win away from 3rd in the east. We’re maybe 3rd in the state of Tennessee based on outcomes this year. But I digress. Happens when you live in Nashville. Y’all Georgia residents just rest assured Vandy fans know how to be obnoxious. All. Year. Long. #ThanksGeorgia
Still a huge fan and all that. Love the school. Just a head shaking moment.
Thanks for the forum to share.
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Kirby is in way over his head. Should’ve had these growing pains and proven his HC abilities at a program with lower expectations. I’m afraid, in his short tenure, he has already lost his players and a large portion of the fan base. Perhaps the next unproven assistant Georgia fans clamor for will do better.
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Three of our five OL starters started for us last year and Dyshon Sims played a lot. Don’t tell me not having Houston and Theus is the reason we can’t run block (although Kolton and John are DGDs). The main thing that’s changed is the blocking scheme. This is not a line built to man block. This line, however, could probably zone block very well, they did it last year. Why do we have to put up with all these losses just because the coaches want to be doctrinaire? Instill man blocking in them next year. This year, let’s just try to win as many as we can to help recruiting.
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The quality of our players doesn’t matter if our coaches insist on running into 9-man fronts. 6 OL can only block (at most) 6 defensive players. If 3 defenders are free, the running back will be stuffed.
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