Tom Luginbill’s analysis is about as deep as a kiddie pool.

Tom Luginbill’s hot take, ladies and gentlemen:

One national college football analyst doesn’t believe Nick Fitzgerald and Mississippi State are done with their upsets any time soon. ESPN’s Tom Luginbill expects Mississippi State to continue winning this week at Georgia and said so during his appearance with Frank Frangie on ‘The Frangie Show’ on 1010XL Jax Sports Radio.

The biggest reason: Mississippi State quarterback Fitzgerald. Luginbill believes the elusive Fitzgerald, who dominated in last week’s 37-7 victory against LSU, is likely to cause Georgia’s defense fits in the battle of the Bulldogs.

“If you’re Georgia, the biggest thing you’re concerned about is now you’re going to have to contend with a quarterback in Nick Fitzgerald that’s not a thrower and not just a runner,” Luginbill said. “He’s a dynamic play-maker. He can do it all. He’s the focal point of their offense, so that’s a lot to prepare for.”

That’s a kind of challenge that Georgia hasn’t yet encountered in its meetings with Appalachian State, Samford or even Notre Dame.

“This is going to be the first test against an opponent that brings some real challenges to the Georgia defense,” Luginbill said.

First test, eh?

Dare I bother to point out that right at the moment Notre Dame is ranked 23rd nationally in total offense and Mississippi State is 24th?  Or that Brandon Wimbush has accounted for more total yards than Nick Fitzgerald?

I don’t mind the lazy, uninformed commentary.  It’s people like Luginbill getting paid to furnish it that drives me up the wall.

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Tale of the tape, quarterback edition

Well now, doesn’t this suggest a few things…

Here's a look at the QB battle between Georgia and Mississippi State… pic.twitter.com/4dPUN67t1c

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) September 21, 2017

Okay, if you want a list:

• MSU has even less of a downfield passing threat than does Georgia.
• Fitzgerald is a less effective quarterback when the defense comes after him on the pass rush than is Fromm.  So much for the experienced guy.
• Fitzgerald’s also been under pressure more often than Fromm.
• Mississippi State’s bread-and-butter passing game is the short throw.  Guess it’s a good thing that Georgia has some inside linebackers who aren’t liabilities in coverage.
• Bonus consideration:  Lorenzo Carter is going to be all over the place again Saturday night.

Ah, Jesus.

C’mon, Jerry Falwell, Jr.  Can’t you keep politics out of college football?

@RadioWyatt

I got an email from a faithful reader pointing me to a vlog published by Matt Wyatt, a former Mississippi State quarterback.  If you are interested in seeing some Xs and Os before Saturday’s game, it’s definitely worth your attention this week.  I’ll give you two examples.

Here’s his breakdown of several plays from Georgia’s win over Notre Dame.

And here’s some film study of the LSU-MSU game.

If you get the opportunity, spend a half-hour of your time to watch both.

The Bulldog Spread

One think I noticed watching the LSU-Mississippi State replay is that Dan Mullen has incorporated certain elements of Big 12 offense — Mike Leach’s wide splits on the offensive line and Art Briles’ extreme receiver spreads — into what he’s doing now.  Take a look at this clip of the first play of the game.

If Mississippi State's line dominates the line of scrimmage like they did vs LSU then Georgia could be in BIG trouble. pic.twitter.com/lbZSmWKVT3

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 20, 2017

It’s very well executed, but notice that MSU has numbers at the point of attack and a lot of space immediately past the line of scrimmage.  The formation, plus the running threat of Fitzgerald, makes this a likelihood from the snap.  It sort of reminds me of what Paul Johnson’s after with the triple option.

Did I mention it was well executed?  The left side of Mississippi State’s line has been pretty kick ass all season long.

Mississippi State's offensive line looks like one of the best units in the SEC, led by Martinas Rankin at LT pic.twitter.com/wYUF7iiWSO

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) September 20, 2017

I said it the other day, but if Georgia’s defense doesn’t stay fundamentally sound, they’ll be eaten alive by this kind of stuff.

This week in Dawgrading

Dennis Dodd is canonizing Dan Mullen after the LSU game.

Jeffrey Simmons has been named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week two weeks in a row.

And the media is starting to measure the height of Mississippi State’s ceiling.

If Georgia wins Saturday night, how much air do you think is let out of the maroon balloon afterwards?  I mean, after all, it’s Georgia.  The media would probably make more of the Dawgs’ quality from a loss.

Here’s another good question.

Georgia's Lorenzo Carter has been on a tear the past two weeks. Can he keep this pace up for the rest of the season? pic.twitter.com/P3rq6j9TaP

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) September 19, 2017

It sure would be nice for Georgia’s chances.   It would also be nice for Carter’s draft status.  Maybe he should look at the 2017 season as his year heading into free agency.  That seems to work for the pros.

When you put it that way…

Matt Brown makes a compelling case as to why the expectation that Georgia should win the SEC East isn’t an unreasonable one.

Basically, Florida and Tennessee proved last weekend that both are a mess, it’s too early to rate Kentucky and Vanderbilt as divisional powers, and…

It seems clear already that Georgia is capable of fielding a dominant defense, perhaps stronger than anybody but Alabama in the SEC. Nearly everyone returned from last year, and the linebacking corps in particular — led by Roquan Smith, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy — has been excellent. They shut down what’s otherwise been a prolific Notre Dame running game, and they’ll be one of the toughest matchups all year for Nick Fitzgerald and Mississippi State.

The bigger questions are on offense, where freshman quarterback Jake Fromm has played solid football as the replacement for sophomore Jacob Eason, who is working his way back from the sprained knee he suffered in the Week 1 win over Appalachian State. Georgia brought back a fantastic one-two punch at running back in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel — with touted freshman D’Andre Swift joining them — but the rest of the offense was filled with unknowns entering the year, and that’s been complicated by the budding quarterback debate.

Both Fromm and Eason have shown flashes of high potential, and Florida has shown each of the past two years that winning the SEC East doesn’t require All-America quarterback play if there’s a great defense to lean on. Based on what we’ve seen so far this year, competent quarterback play combined with strong running and a loaded defense could be more than enough to carry Georgia far and allow it to return to the top of a winnable division.

It’s getting harder to make excuses this season, in other words, to explain Georgia’s failure to return to the SECCG.  Hopefully Kirby’s up to the challenge.

I’m just a blogger, so if I catch something’s off, it’s got to be a problem.

I mentioned in my Observations post about the Samford game that it appeared to me Samford’s passing game targeted Tyrique McGhee.  Looks like there was a good reason for doing so.

Georgia CB Tyrique McGhee – getting more playing time due to Malkom Parrish injury – has allowed 10 rec on 14 targets this season.

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) September 20, 2017

Um, that’s not good.  That’s also probably why the coaches are doing everything they can to get Malkom Parrish game ready for Saturday night.

Head coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday night that Parrish has done about “30 to 40 percent of a normal workload.”

“We’ve got him on kind of a pitch count,” Smart said Tuesday. “He had 16 plays (Monday). He had about 30 or 40 plays (Tuesday) and we’ll try to keep increasing that.’’

Can they get 30 plays out of Parrish against MSU?  That may turn out to be a big deal.