Jacob Eason finished the Kentucky game with a pedestrian 131.88 passer rating. His sideline passes were erratic; he frequently looked uncomfortable in the pocket despite getting decent pass protection most of the night from his linemen.
But when he was needed the most, he ripped off a 4-4 performance on Georgia’s game winning drive and looked calm, cool and collected doing so. As Seth Emerson reminds us, it’s not Eason’s first rodeo in that regard.
Jacob Eason’s career is still very young, but he’s already led Georgia on two game-winning drives in the final minutes, and he had a third one taken away because of the other team hitting a Hail Mary.
“It’s kinda crazy, because every time we get in that situation we all feel like we’re going to win the game,” tailback Nick Chubb said.
There was the Missouri game, when Eason hit Isaiah McKenzie on a fourth-down, go-ahead, 20-yard touchdown catch in the final minutes.
There was the 48-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley with 10 seconds left against Tennessee. Only the even more improbable Volunteer pass completion prevented that from being Eason’s next big moment.
Then on Saturday night, Eason and Georgia’s offense took the field in a tie game with 2:47 left, 75 yards from the end zone. Perfect.
What’s the secret? Well…
It’s no accident. Eason’s background is in a spread offense, and his main adjustment this season has been to a pro-style offense. But when the two-minute offense arrives, he’s back in high school.
“That’s usually his game,” McKenzie said. “Coming from where he comes from, he had the spread offense. Here it’s similar but we’re three-wide, not five-wide.”
So against a Kentucky defense that appeared to be playing too loose inside the first down markers, Eason dinked and dunked downfield, completing four-of-four pass attempts for 42 yards to get Georgia in field goal position.
Eason’s situational stats suggest there may be something to this. On a quarter-by-quarter basis, his best passer rating comes in the fourth. And check out his performance in a tied game setting: he completes more than 70% of his pass attempts and has a passer rating of 171.26.
Perhaps somebody needs to take a closer look at what sort of sets and plays Georgia runs in tight games that allow its quarterback to function so well and incorporate more of that into the game plan on a more general basis. Perhaps.
Get The Picture 
Do we have the receivers to run the spread? He also gets the ball out in a hurry masking our problems on the O-line. Also did anyone else notice how well Wynn plays LT. He is so much quicker than Catalina. Catalina should be playing guard and Wynn tackle. That shit makes too much sense though. You don’t have to be 6’5 320 to take on a rush end or a quick DT.
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Wynn didn’t jump out at me at LT one way or the other, which I suppose is an improvement. If I had to guess, Wynn is our most nasty run blocker, so that’s why they have him inside at guard.
Ultimately, I defer to Pittman’s reputation when it comes to utilizing the OL pieces.
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Hopefully, Wynn can move back outside once Pittman has some better pieces to work with next year. I fully expect one of those true freshman -Johnson or Schaffer – to come in and push for playing time at LG or RG.
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Catalina is not strong enough to play inside. He gets pushed back by a bull rush by an All-SEC caliber DE; there is no way he can handle All-SEC caliber DTs. There is a reason that Pittman prefers the Catalina-Wynn-Kublanow to Wynn-Sims-Kublanow. We just don’t know the reason.
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One wonders if perhaps our offense should be more tailored to the strengths of our players, rather than forcing our players to be shoehorned into an offensive plan that doesn’t suit them.
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I totally agree with you … but Kirby and company seem to prefer the “impose our will” scheme no matter what our personnel consists of. Maybe it eventually works, but right now it is extremely frustrating.
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I think we did that Saturday a lot more. Nick’s 2 fumbles really hurt. Take those out and I think we’re pretty happy with the offense putting up 35-40 points.
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Muckbeast you need to visit GTP more often. WE’VE hashed and rehash the same sentiment for 3 or 4 games now.
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Sorry, I have been super busy (we just launched a new video game) and the season has me kinda down in the dumps and not following GTP as religiously as usual.
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I’m defending Kirby here a little because the college football landscape is littered with spread teams that can’t beat Bama. Kirby is recruiting to eventually – another year or two – have the players he needs to play the way he wants. Most of us agree that is his plan.
So the argument goes that we should do what we can with what we have in the interim, but that is short-sighted. If we don’t scheme to where we want to be with the guys that are currently freshmen and sophomores (including Eason, btw) they never learn what he needs them to know in a year or two. It’s more of a long range and sustainable plan.
I know it might not work, but I think it’s the best shot to year-in, year-out success. And even now, it isn’t as bad as it has seemed: knock down a prayer against UT with seconds left and beat Vandy like we’re supposed to, and we’re in the driver’s seat to Atlanta even now.
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I understand what you’re saying…but don’t bring the Bama argument into it. On the rare occasion that Bama’s D has had problems since Saban arrived, it has almost always been against teams that run a variety of spread offense. Ole Miss, Clemson, Texas A&M (w/ Manziel), Auburn (w/ Cam, w/ Nick Marshall), Ohio State, etc.) On the other hand, Bama has shut down traditional, pro-style offenses w/o much difficulty year after year over the past decade.
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You also mentioned some Heisman trophy winners (Newton, Manziel) and a first round draft pick (Watson) in there. Those likely had a lot more to do with the Jimmys and the Joes than the Xs and Os.
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Yeah sure, but those guys got the numbers to win the Heisman running a spread-type offense. They were successful running THAT offense, not a pro-style offense. So, I would reject the notion that those QBs would have had the same success running a UGA-type offense. Infamously, UGA identified Newton as a TE. Marshall WAS a DB at UGA. Manziel’s thing didn’t really translate to a more conventional offense as evidenced by his NFL experience. Get my point? Talented guys?…Sure. But the most important part of their successful equation is that they were in the right system for their talents. A mutually beneficial fit. Which is what this comment thread is all about, frankly.
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Yeah, I know, but how many of those teams have won National championships, especially after Bama adjusted and recruited its defense accordingly? Sure you can win a game every now and then against better talent and you can make things exciting for fans, but I still think yo have to train and coach for the style you want to go with.
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I think we generally agree. Obviously, Kirby wants a certain style of offense and is recruiting, training, and game planning accordingly. How well he ultimately does, in the long-term, will largely depend upon these efforts. However, I don’t think that this general philosophy completely precludes the possibility (and arguably, the duty) of remaining flexible when it comes to scheming or playcalling to adjust for a particular team’s or even a QB’s talent strengths and weaknesses. This is/was supposedly Chaney’s strength, right? Conveniently, look no further than referenced Alabama to illustrate the importance of remaining flexible and adjusting according to circumstances, including personnel (as you yourself note above with respect to their defense’s response to the spread). As to their offense, I think we can agree that Alabama’s 2016 offensive approach, play-calling, etc, with Hurts as QB, is different than last year’s approach with Coker.
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Yeah, but on a flipside, Aaron Murray in a spread-ish/pro style offense was good enough in 2012…if he didn’t have a D that was utterly incapable of stopping the run.
LSU hasn’t beaten Bama not solely because they’re not spread, but because they haven’t had good, much less great QB play post-Mett.
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Go 2:00 minute offense until you get up a few scores then go pro set.
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Yup. The offense should always be on 2 minute hurry up play in every set from now on until the defense stop it twice in a row, LOL.
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Let’s not forget the defense also plays with more cushion during a 2:00 type offense thus increasing the likelihood of success in the passing game foir short throws. But in general, I agree the quick passing attack using short throws suits Eason much better. Definitely need to try it some, we have been good at at and our RBs might benefit as well. When you face a dominating defensive front like we do this week, better try to outflank them because you certainly aren’t going to blow them back. Nicholls should have taught us that. If not, Vandy and FU certainly should have.
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IDENTITY
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Remember Hutson Mason was the same way at the start of his career. Murrays senior season he was in charge of 2 minute drill with first team because Murray knew it so well.
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I have been down on the Dawgs this year, but I realized Thursday night that I should give Kirby a year. Last year, the Falcons made stupid penalties, it appeared the team did not fit the offense at times, and the new head coach had some growing pains. This year, it kind of all came together. I am going to watch the Dawgs and hope for the best, but I am not going to get frustrated with Kirby this year. Now if UGA has these same problems next year or the year after, well then I will be of a different opinion.
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This! This all freaking day!^^^
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11points in fourth quarter. In other quarters they huddled more.
He plays better in up tempo and rythem. He plays under center and shotgun.
9 games. 5 on the road. Wims was huge for them in last drive as was Michel.
Speed and quickness.
But UK made a mistake on their last when they absndoned the back running the ball.
More t this than passerratings
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Why are all of your comments written in stanza form?
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Iambic pentameter.
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I get that CKS is working to build a physical team based on a power running game, but how about this:
Instead of plodding along all game, and then trying to win at the end, how about starting the game spread, score a bunch points, then go to the 2TE/FB set and plod along.
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Then people will bitch about sitting on a lead.
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I got a little frustrated that they refused to throw once they got off the goal line on their second possession, but the gameplan was working. Chaney isn’t to blame for Mackenzie running backwards on what would have set up a first and goal at the 3. The third quarter doldrums were frustrating, but I’m not sure it’s fair to blame Chaney for that.
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There were also some key penalties that stalled drives that were moving the ball on the ground quite well.
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Sony ran pretty well on that last drive too. Run to set up the pass with three wide. Then play action out of the i. Throw in some misdirection and voi fuckin la… we are in Atlanta.
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I blame Eason. He committed to the G to learn the pro-style offense. I’m sure he told Kirby that’s the only way he was staying committed, and told Kirby to get Chaney who is regarded as a great QB guru (see Brees, Drew). So it’s all on Eason and the coaches are just conceding to his wishes. We’re gonna struggle until he learns pro set. Nick and Sony can complain all they want, but this is Eason’s call. Sure, when the game is on the line he’ll jump back to spread O and show his HS stuff, but he’s here for the long haul and a pro career.
Smart call.
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+1000 I just wonder what happens next year when Fromm comes in. Have we promised him a Pro-style education or will we finally try something new.
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Kirby left Alabama a year early, Nick has changed his offensive philosophy with Hurt. He’s not exclusively Pro-Style any more. Without Hurts runs the Tide and LSU are still in OT this morning.
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