Good piece from Chip Towers about how yesterday’s scrimmage marks the beginning of the preseason transition from roster evaluation to game prep for the opener.
… Nevertheless, when Georgia breaks out the watermelon, it means the hard and uncomfortable work of toughening up a team and determining who is going to contribute the coming season is pretty much done. So now the Bulldogs must make the shift from getting themselves ready to getting ready for somebody else.
It’s not a transition coach Kirby Smart is eager to make. The watermelons came out at the end of Georgia’s second full-scale scrimmage of the preseason Saturday at Sanford Stadium. It was the last truly competitive scrimmage of the year, from the standpoint of determining who is going to play and how much.
Some of those position battles will continue on into the season. But, for the most part, you’ve got to start getting 44 ready to face another team and decide what others are going to help you out on special teams.
The Bulldogs will conduct another scrimmage next Saturday, but that essentially will be a dress rehearsal for the season opener against Appalachian State, then just a week away. But coach Kirby Smart is not in a hurry to turn attention away from his team and onto an opponent.
“We feel like by the end of the week next week we’ll be able to start working on it,” Smart said Saturday of the game plan for Appalachian State. “I don’t believe in starting work on an opponent you’re going to play immediately because kids can get burned out on that. I’ve had a lot of history as an assistant coach where you do want more than a week, but you don’t want two weeks. So we’ll do some next week. We’ll start working on it.”
In other words, we’re getting close.
Get The Picture 
I like the idea of preparing for your opening opponent as if you have an open date the week before. I totally get how that 3rd week of intense preparation could be counterproductive plus you get a chance to try out any changes to your open date preparations. I imagine they have been doing some App State and tech prep sprinkled into camp.
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So many questions, so few answers right now. It’s going to be a very nervous time until that first kickoff.
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If last year is any indication I’m going to be nervous for every minute of every game until the gun sounds.
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I’m deciding how to approach this season. I’ll watch AppSt to see how Eason looks. If I don’t like it, and if the Dawgs struggle, I will definitely approach the rest of the seadon with great caution. I just can’t take much more of the same ‘ol.
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App State could very well be the latest “this year’s Boise State,” so I won’t necessarily be worried if its a competitive game but the team plays well. I’m hoping we’ve got the kind of team that can safely put away the “next Boise” anyhow, but I’m trying to be realistic.
The flip side would be playing down to a team that doesn’t belong on the same field. Could be the same score in either kind of game but you know it when you see it. Sort of like “defensive struggle” versus “both of these teams are just playing like garbage.”
If we play down to a bad team? Then I’ll get nervous.
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