I thought going into the season that Jim Chaney’s good work at Pittsburgh last season with Nathan Peterman, who, when I saw him play for Tennessee, may have been the worst quarterback in the SEC, would bode well for Jacob Eason’s future.
Welp, take a look at Peterman’s passer ratings over his four-year career:
- 2013: 42.53
- 2014: 70.58
- 2015: 138.57
- 2016: 161.23
Chaney made Peterman into an average passer, which is to his credit. But this year’s quarterbacks coach at Pitt made him into an excellent one.
Eason, by the way, finished 2016 with a 118.21 passer rating. That’s the lowest such mark notched by a Georgia starting quarterback since Matthew Stafford’s freshman season. There’s an obvious similarity to note there, and this isn’t to say that there won’t be improvement in 2017. But I do now wonder if there’s a ceiling with Chaney that there might not be with another position coach. Time will tell.
Get The Picture 
Lowest since Stafford’s freshman year, except for last year with Lambert, right?
LikeLike
Lambert’s was 141.47.
LikeLike
I knew we were going to be inconsistent with Eason. The problem is that the coaches never decided to trust him until we needed him to make a play to win the game. Then, it was, “Go win the game, son.”
Chaney haz a FAT pencil. I’ll take that crayon any day of the week.
LikeLike
Never. They threw on second and 8 at midfield trying to seal the game. But yeah, never trusted him. And he certainly never blew that trust. That’s coaching. Should have told him to throw it accurately.
Whose Tom Brady’s qb coach? Let’s get that guy. He’s made him into a really good qb. He’s been a league for a while so he’s probably had a half dozen or more but they all must be awesome position coaches. Why? Stats.
Who made Herschel such a great back at georgia? As a freshman? They should make him a head coach some day so he could make the whole roster that good.
LikeLike
I thought the call to throw at the end of the game was a poor call exaggerated by poor execution. At that point, you are trying to use field position and the clock to your advantage, and we gave that away. I’m talking about the Missouri and Kentucky games in particular.
I personally think Eason is going to be a special player. The problem is he’s coached by a guy who can’t get out of his own way.
LikeLike
We didn’t trust Eason vs. Missouri where we threw more times (55) than any game under CMR. Got it. You’re insane.
LikeLike
We started throwing it every down after we fell behind and needed to score quickly. Typically, you have to throw a personal insult in there whenever you make a comment.
LikeLike
We were down 7-0 after their first possession so if that’s the desperation you speak of, you’re right. Our first drive we threw 3 times and ran it twice. After half we were up 21-20, got the second half kick, threw three passes and the last was a pick.
We had two drives with the lead. On one we saw all passes. One the other we ran five plays and three were passes.
It’s not my fault that you pointed out two games were we “didn’t trust Eason” and we won both and in one we threw 55 times. That’s just crazy.
LikeLike
I don’t think Eason has been well coached this year. Has he made freshman mistakes? Yes, I predicted about 6 months ago to expect a season like 2006 where the kid makes plays but then makes some boneheaded decisions in the game and sometimes in the same possession. That’s exactly what happened. The difference is that I see the same raw freshman in game 12 that I saw in game 1 as opposed to Stafford where I saw a guy who had been coached by 2 guys who know how to handle a QB. YMMV, of course.
LikeLike
What we don’t know is whether they are giving him more to do. It seems like they are. I see a lot more changes at the line late than I saw early on. You need that to be successful, but it’s part of the learning process. It’s sometimes easy for a young talented kid to get single reads and sling it, but then they ask him to do full field reads and make line checks and all of a sudden you’re trying to think and play. Takes time to adjust to all that a big time qb (pro-style) has to absorb.
LikeLike
That’s kind of my thinking, too. I might argue that they didn’t give him the best chance to succeed early on, but since putting in more shotgun/pistol, I think they’re giving him more leeway. He was just a little off on Saturday. It stinks, but it happens.
LikeLike
Eason might be great, but he has a lot of work to put in. He misses a ton of reads and has no touch on anything short and is fairly inaccurate on long passes.
The talent is clearly there, I just think he needs a ton of film study and footwork help in the offseason. Gonna need to break it down and rebuild from ground up.
LikeLike
If the talent is clearly there, and I have no creds to say it is not, yet he has all that work to do….
Eason can certainly throw the ball a long way, but what you seem to be saying is that he has to learn all the other stuff that will make him into a great QB.
But then I am an antidiluvian about quarterbacks, believing as I do, that the best pass a quarterback can throw is the toss-sweep to Herschel.
LikeLike
Do you trust Chaney to do that? I don’t. He’s had the kid for a year and made the same mistakes in game 12 he was making in game 1.
LikeLike
Frankly I don’t know enough to know if Chaney should be trusted or not. That the kid makes the same mistake in week 12 could he made in week one could be on the kid…you know? I suspect it is more complicated than it seems from out here.
My suspicion is that the Richt plan for Eason and the Kirby plan for Eason were somewhat different.
Having said all that and read all this, I am most certainly not saying Eason’s progression as a QB are the reasons we are 7-5, and in fact it could be said Eason had some impact on keeping us from being 4-7.
There are so many holes in this team that have to be filled, its hard for me to focus on one position.
LikeLike
I think Eason has succeeded in spite of Chaney rather than because of him. Honestly, Eason has seemed to play better without Chaney on the sideline without having to come off the field to be berated by Chaney as soon as he steps on the sideline.
I thought Chaney was a questionable hire in December, and I think he’s a terrible hire now.
LikeLike
EE he talks to Chaney every time he comes off the field whether Chaney is in the pressbox or not. Do you really know what is being said? How do you know Chaney is berating Eason, really? Coaches have to holler, its loud.
LikeLike
I have no idea what is being said because I’m in the stands. He seems to have handled the face to face coaching from Coley much better than whatever was happening when Chaney was on the sideline.
LikeLike
I agree. If you are going to trust Eason sometimes, like Missouri and in desperation at the end, why not trust him all of the time? A lot of this comes with hiring a defensive minded head coach wanting to stay in the huddle and control the clock and salvage field goals in the red zone. Win Time of Possession and turnover ratio but end up losing the scoreboard.
LikeLike
That’s Boom football right there … I’m getting very afraid that we’re headed right there. We went spread and no huddle against Tennessee and probably Eason played one of his better games. We went away from it the rest of the year until we had to at the end of games.
LikeLike
“A lot of this comes with hiring a defensive minded head coach wanting to stay in the huddle and control the clock and salvage field goals in the red zone.”
Also sounds like Dooley and first-year Richt.
LikeLike
Sounds like winning football to me. If you can’t control the clock and the LOS you aren’t supposed to win. If you want to see how chuck and duck works in the sec look at UGA 1993-94. Look at Brad Scott’s career at South Carolina.
You can’t spread it out and chuck in around in this league and win championships. Hasn’t happened. Won’t happen. (Before you fart out Spurrier look up how they finished in rushing offense when he was at UF. They were NOT chuck n duck. They ran the damn ball and that’s why they were so unstoppable in the RZ.)
LikeLike
You can win spreading it out and still running it well. SJ and EE didn’t say to not run the ball. I think the point is that Boom ball and the previous iteration of Saban ball don’t work anymore. I think Les Miles is good example of falling behind and refusing to adjust.
LikeLike
I think you need to be able to both as needed. Les’ problem was that he could only do one. You have to be in a position to take what the defense gives you and you have to be in a position to take a win by running it down the throats of a defense designed to stop you. Most importantly you have to be a physical football team. Teams with finesse identities in offense tend to play defense like a bunch of wimps because they aren’t physical in practice.
That’s not to say that you can’t be spread and be physical. Urban does it. Herman does it. Gus doesn’t. Leach doesn’t.
Simplicity plus a good qb plus being physical is a good combination. The downside to those spreads is that w/o a qb you’re done. We won 10 with Lambert and 10 with Hutson. You can’t do that with their equivilants at Auburn or OSU.
Besides the spread annoys me. Seeing teams in shotgun in short yardage is heresy. I never want to see my team play like that.
LikeLike
But, but…DREW BREES!
Not sold on our offensive staff at all, but at some point we have to have some stability. I said it in jest earlier, but the surest way Kirby can emulate Boom is to fire his overweight genius of an OC and start that revolving door. I think he has to stay with him and hope they all learn together. If it doesn’t work, fire everyone except Rocker after year 3.
“Hope”. That’s a helluva plan for running a major college football program. But it sure sells more booze!
LikeLike
I really dont agree with this. Keeping these coaches because we need some sort of consistency with the coaches is not a reason to keep him.
I feel quite sure that a really good OC could have this team scoring 35 points a game next year.
LikeLike
I can’t argue with that. Sort of a “damned if you do” scenario in my mind.
LikeLike
As far as Eason, he shows his potential but didn’t seem to improve much, but everybody said the same thing about Matt Ryan and Kyle Shanahan. It was too plain, predictable, no creativity, too may INTs etc….but they put an offensive line in front of him and had another year to install and execute the offense and now its lights out. Eason’s curve is still huge and he will have his 1st offseason, it will slow down and they have some pieces but they have to figure out OL quick and have to find a few playmakers in Ridley, Godwin, Nauta, Webb, Blount, Landers and hopefully Holloman or one other.
LikeLike
This the biggest place Bobo is missed, IMO. I think the guy was an outstanding QB coach.
LikeLike
Hard to argue that. I do wonder what would have happened if we had offered the OC job to Lilly to install what Bobo had in place from 2012-2014.
LikeLike
YES he was….but just not quite good enough for our fans…careful what you wish for
LikeLike
I have nothing at all against Jacob Eason. I’ve met him a couple of times, and he is a very nice respectful young man. But, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the boys .. and girls on here… is he a little overrated or did we expect too much from all the hype?
LikeLike
I dont think that Eason really cost us too many games this season. I think that is a sign of a pretty good season from a freshman QB who played high school ball in washington state.
His stats are not great, he did help generate some timely pass interference that was a big part of this season.
LikeLike
Eason wasn’t the problem. He was a good freshman QB saddled with an ineffective line (for whatever reason) and suspect play calling. I’m sure we all bought a little too much hype, though.
LikeLike
There’s a good point some folks are missing. His level of competition in Washington was not what it would have been playing HS ball in Georgia or Florida or Texas. Granted, he went to all the camps, but there is no substitute for live game reps against really good talent. He can sure as hell throw the ball and has all the size you could want. Seems bright. We have to wait to see if he turns into a really good QB, or just stays a really good thrower.
LikeLike
If you look at the numbers, he is statistically closer to Matthew Stafford year 2(compared to year 1) as a true freshman. Obviously, not Aaron Murray’s freshman year, but Aaron was a redshirt freshman. If the guy turns into Stafford or Murray by year 2 or 3 is he overrated? I’d take that in a heartbeat! Give the guy some time.
LikeLike
that’s kinda what I am asking above, Spike. While we are taking Mark Richt’s interest in Eason as a sign of greatness-to-come to some extent, Richt, it turns out, was not good enough to be our coach.
Its kinda confusing…and more than a little concussing.
LikeLike
“We have to wait to see if he turns into a really good QB, or just stays a really good thrower.”
Exactly.
LikeLike
The kid had a decent year. His HS numbers stand for themselves. He showed some guts this year as well, so overrated is not the appropriate word. Are there better QB’s for our “system”…possibly.
LikeLike
Eason likely has lost some of his accuracy just from having to un learn or learn new things. In any performance based activity the ascension has bumps in it on the way to potential. Working out mechanics causes other things to be disrupted or adjusted all the time.
I’m waiting to see what happens with Pittman if Chaney gets removed. I’m also hoping for stability, so it’s hard to imagine what I would do if I were in kirbys shoes. Instability isn’t good for building a staff or a roster, both of which are needed badly in Athens.
I’m inclined to believe that Kirby is going to drive on as things are now for another year.
LikeLike
Glancing at their schedule, it looks like Bobo had a decent season at CSU, finishing up with 60+ points in a win against a 9-3 team, and playing Boise state and Air Force close. Probably means we can’t get him back at UGA anytime soon, and I doubt he would come while McG occupies the AD office.
That said, what about getting Charlie Strong as DC if Tucker takes the GA State job?
LikeLike
Strong will get another shot as a head coach before he’s a DC again. He didn’t forget how to coach between Louisville and Austin.
LikeLike
Yeah, mostly just wishful thinking, but it sure would be nice to have him help with some of the on the job learning. And he knows a thing or two about physical defense in the sec.
LikeLike
I am concerned that Van Gorder is wandering loose in BM. The guy is a Jonah….I have no idea what Tucker could see in the Georgia State job, but I could go the rest of my life without seeing Pornstache on the Georgia sideline again. He brings a whole wagon train of negative baggage.
LikeLike
I think Strong’s $10+ million buyout prevents him from taking another coaching job, or at least makes taking a new job a big hassle. But he’s a good DC.
Meanwhile, Pruitt’s on his way to a natty ring. Bama doesn’t miss Kirby at all.
LikeLike
No prevention at all, any salary he earns at a new coaching gig would be deducted from the Tx buyout.
LikeLike
Last night I dreamt that we finished 7-6 this season, after being crushed (CRUSHED!) by TCU in the Liberty Bowl.
I then dreamt we missed going to the SEC Championship in 2017 on a last-minute play against Auburn. There were 45 seconds left in the game and we were down 30-24…we had all three of our TOs. Brian Herrien had run for almost 200 yards in the game. It was 1st and Goal and instead of giving the ball to Herrien four times in a row, Chaney called some goofy-ass play where Godwin threw a pass to Eason in the corner of the end zone….and it was intercepted. Game over. We finish the season 9-3 – our three losses coming at the hands of Tennessee, South Carolina, and Auburn. Tennessee goes to the SEC Championship game and loses to Bama. Georgia goes to the Belk Bowl and loses to Louisville.
Then I dreamt that in 2018, after starting the season ranked #13, we promply lose three of our first six games and the season craters and we finish 6-7. Kirby Smart is fired and so is ADGM. The new AD hires Mike Bobo as Head Coach and Bobo hires Mark Richt (who was a combined 22-17 in his three years at Miami) as his offensive coordinator.
Talk about waking up in a cooooooooold sweat.
LikeLike
Sure..
LikeLike
Yes, if we catch the ball Saturday we win.
Things are never as good nor as bad as they seem.
LikeLike
Yup
LikeLike
Agreed, PTC. As the disappointment over Saturday’s game begins to fade, I’m amazed at how this season played out. As with most every other team not named Alabama, the entire season seemed to be played on a razor’s edge, with a literal handful of plays dictating how we all feel today. I generally agree with the old adage that you are what your record says you are, and Georgia is a 7-5 team in every respect. But if you’re honest, you have to admit that we’re just a few plays from being a 5-7 dumpster fire. Also, if the DBs knock down a pass in the end zone against Tennessee, if Mac gets another 2 feet against Vandy, if Eason’s pass to Godwin is 2 feet to the left, we’re rejoicing over 10-2.
I’m not arguing that Georgia was a 10-2 team, or deserved to be 10-2; I’m simply arguing that given how this season played out, it is too early to make any grand pronouncements on the state of the program (except perhaps the performance of our offensive coordinator).
I understand that we as fans want concrete answers, that we want to point to some concrete reason for our team’s failures. But as I’ve seen over my many years following sports, sometimes there is no easy answer. Take a look at what happened in Columbus on Saturday. The entire season for two teams comes down to where the official decides to spot the ball after a 4th down run. If its a first down, OSU gets the chance to likely move on to the playoff. No first down, and Michigan is in the driver’s seat, and Corch is the dumb ass who decided not to kick a chip shot FG to move to the 3rd overtime.
Maybe I’m simply looking for ways to forget about what I saw on Saturday. But I’m not ready, quite yet, to jump off a bridge in despair over the state of the program. Although I wouldn’t be upset if Kirby decided to find himself a new OC.
LikeLike
It seems like the received wisdom is that our OL was the biggest problem for us on offense. But I can’t help but think that we could have had a great OL, but would have still struggled mightily because our receiving corps is so weak. If we had just one truly elite WR (assuming he was healthy all season) like an AJ Green or Julio Jones, I think we would have finished with 9+ wins. I really do. I’m less convinced that adding one elite O-lineman would have ensured 9+ wins.
LikeLike
It isn’t that Eason had a bad year for a freshman QB, nor that he won’t get better, he certainly will. Clearly there were higher expectations than he was able to meet, and I feel he was a bit overrated. My biggest concerns are that he wasn’t that much better in November, tough kid that made some plays and gave his best, but his accuracy, and seeing the whole field were problems all season. Experience should help him with finding the right guy over time but accuracy is a difficult thing to teach, and he has that problem on both short and long throws. Add to that an OC that hasn’t put Eason in good positions to succeed with his system and bad game planning/play calling.
Chaney hasn’t made our QB look much better than he did in the Spring game and you have to have concerns going forward based on the lack of ability to adapt and adjust. I know there are some who call for stability and more time but I think this is the most serious issue facing KS. We are losing two outstanding RBs, and some experience along the OL, from an offense that never put 40 points up against one single opponent, and was absolutley stuffed by some teams this season. I honestly don’t see why we should put all our eggs in the Chaney basket based on what we have seen. I know He wasn’t Kirby’s first choice (just as Tucker wasn’t the DC he wanted), but he has to see the epic fail that was UGA’s offense this season and wonder why? And wonder what will be different in 2017. Chaney could be Kirby’s Martinez. Another year of ineptitude will run off potential recruits, if some of them aren’t already concerned.
LikeLike
My father is convinced several people will be fired after this season. He seems to think Beamer and Chaney will be fired. I’m not so sure. Not because I’m not sure they don’t deserve to be fired, but because I think Smart is a stubborn son-of-a-gun who doesn’t want to admit he was foolish for hiring one or both.
Having said that, I choose to trust Kirby’s judgment. (I don’t really have a choice if I want to be happy.) I’m still reserving judgment until the end of 2018. I actually have faith that if he sticks with his plan, he can have great success. And I do buy the argument that stability does count for something. And if Pittman is as great a recruiter as we expect him to be, and if he likes to work with Chaney as much as it seems he does, then we could see some great things happening in 2018, if not before.
Chaney better thank his lucky starts Eason is as much of a stud as he is….makes recruiting those OL guys much easier.
LikeLike
Would be utterly shocked if Cheney is fired. He just had dinner with Kirby and Jake Fromm last night.
LikeLike
Stafford had a 133.3 career rating and Huston Mason had career rating of 151.4. Taking into account Lambert’s 141.47 rating, it doesn’t seem like rating is a very good metric for measuring how good or bad a quarterback is.
Senator, I know you’re all about qb improvement over the course of a season/career. Eason has had a roller coaster year, and ended the regular season by getting out-passed (total yards and comp%) by GT’s Justin Thomas despite Eason attempting almost three times as many passes. Georgia is ranked 83rd nationally in total offense compared to 74th in 2015. Given the way that Schott was run out of town last year it almost seems like Chaney is getting a free pass. I know he’s getting criticized, but it doesn’t feel like the same extent. Why do you suppose that is? The only advantage that I can think of that Schott had over Chaney was Malcolm Mitchell. Chaney now has a 5 star qb talent, a much more talented, albeit inconsistent, receiving corps (Nauta, Ridley, Wims, Godwin etc), a somewhat healthy Nick Chubb, and Sony Michel is averaging more ypc this year than he did last season (despite the supposedly horrific offensive line, that according to Kevin Butler is to blame for the loss to Tech despite allowing 0 sacks and the offense averaging over 6 yards per rushing attempt). Is it unfair for me to expect Eason to torch a Tech defense filled with 2 and 3 star players at this point?
Why isn’t Chaney the same type of overwhelming scapegoat that Schott was? Also, why doesn’t Michel get the ball more? He was averaging over 10 ypc headed into the 4th qtr against Tech, and only got 3 touches after that. Am I crazy? Has it not been clear for about 2 months that Sony is the best back on the team? Please, help me to understand.
LikeLike
Peterman improving isn’t ‘new’ news. Arky’s Brandon Allen significantly improved when Chaney left and Enos took over. Allen’s younger brother performed well too. Find a good QB coach (and OC) and we’ll see Eason improve. And while we’re firing/hiring, also get a good OL coach.
By the way, Stafford had the benefit of 2 QB coaches – Bobo and Richt. Both of whom are/were superior to Chaney.
LikeLike
didn’t realize Eason had a higher ranking than Stafford did in his first year. Thanks for pointing that out. I am liking 2017 now big time!
LikeLike
Peterman still has one more game to play, against a good opponent, his rating should go down significantly. And keep in mind, the comparison in this post is a team that faced 3 ranked teams in 2016 to one that faced 4 in 2015.
Also, Chaney saw an improvement of 300%, while the current coach only saw an improvement of 20%. Is Chaney really 15x better?
LikeLike
Thanks. I no longer have to type “+1” to like a comment.
But are “likes” going to count as hits? Of is just logging on a “hit”? More words typed means more arguments, etc..which drags a subject around the block and back…You can’t piss someone off enough with a “like”. But good luck with it.
LikeLike