Georgia hammered Oklahoma’s defense all day and turned the game in the second half when its defense attacked Mayfield.
As the clips in Boyd’s post indicate, there was ferocious blocking by Georgia’s offense — not just the line’s, but also from the tight ends and the wideouts. Check out Tyler Simmons’ work on this run:
There were Oklahoma defenders being pancaked on almost every play from scrimmage. Don’t try to tell me that didn’t wear them down at the end, when even Jake Fromm was an effective blocker.
Meanwhile, defensively, it seemed like Georgia’s defense flicked on a massive switch in the third quarter that Oklahoma had no answer for. As Connolly put it,
An Oklahoma line that had given up just 30 total pressures all season suddenly looked clueless. The players were thinking, not playing on instincts. Basic four-man loops and stunts got home:
Georgia was more physical than Oklahoma and in the end, that was the difference on the day.
Get The Picture 
If you ask Cowherd, Georgia didn’t win the Rose Bowl, Oklahoma lost it thereby allowing Georgia to sneak into the NC.
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Yeah, I accidentally flipped over to those turds “discussing” the game. I think we hurt their fee-fees by beating Oklahoma. Defense played a little scared in the first half but GATA in the second half and OTs.
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I swear that sack of excrement doesn’t even watch the games. Always picks the front-runner. Always. He’s like Barnhart with an attitude.
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Hellooo Tyler Simmons!!!
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The experts at the Bama blog don’t think they’ll have too much trouble dominating our lines. I heard it on the Internet so it must be true. Still worries me though.
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Honestly this is what concerns me the most about Alabama: their ability to dominate the line of scrimmage especially when they are on defense and shutting down our offense a la auburn round 1.
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I think its reasonable to expect a stalemate. We will win some and lose some. I would be surprised to see us get dominated, but hell, anything can happen.
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Well, we’ll have to take them on at the edges, then, like we did Auburn in the SECCG.
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If they can whip out lines of scrimmage, they deserve to win. They have very short memories of how Auburn pushed them around on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes. Of course, they’re Alabama graduates they have short memories (except our friend B-D).
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tESffhWs8l0
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I really don’t know how to feel about the Rose Bowl game other than elated for the win and super proud of our team. I don’t completely understand the difference in the two halves. This post hints to player condition and physically. If the game had started the way the 2nd half started (in terms of defense/offense success) the game could have been as one sided as many others this season.
The fact that OU came out slinging and moving the ball easily, gave the 2nd half more of a ‘tiger-by-the-tail’ feeling even when we were dominating on defense. When their offense scored on the two big pass plays in the 4th, I feared the MO had swung again and we wouldn’t be able to stop them.
Did OU have success in the first half due to our scheme? Was it that our players were not ‘ready’ for the OU offense and was just shell-shocked? Was it the depth and condition of players, much like you see with lower-level conferences, where their starters are as good but the 2nd and third stringers can’t compete. I won’t lose sleep but I would like to have a better understanding.
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One other observation. I know our front 7 got more pressure on Mayfield in the 2nd half but the DBs must have been covering well. Mayfield had no quick pass options to get him out of trouble.
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I agree dawg. I ain’t complaining, but I would be nice to read some expert opinion on how the Dawgs did it. In the first half the OU receivers were running open by a couple of steps. In the second half our DB’s were in tight coverage and nobody was open. During the game I commented during the first half that Roquan was getting owned. Which he was. In the second half he is superman. What the hell happened?
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dawgtired, one article I read mentioned that Smart and Tucker came out in a deep safeties look hoping to keep OU from getting big plays down field but in the process let OU march down the field easily. They made the adjustment at half to bring pressure. The article specifically mentioned a certain blitz they used and you can see it often in the second half where two LBs come up on the center (or near the center) and if the line moves to protect to the left then the right LB blitzed (the left LB would engage the line but then back off into a spy/middle zone. It was very effective and you can see it if you rewatch the 2nd half
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I read the same article. Got to it from thedawgbone. Good article that helped me see what we did different in the front seven and also in the secondary.
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You guys didn’t click the links???
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Ok that helped. When all else fails, read the articles, right?
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🙂
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So, was this an instance where watching film and reading stats helped create the wrong decision for defensive scheme? I don’t won’t to make a habit of needing a half to determine the best approach in tough games? Of course I did notice things began to change before the half but you get my point. My ulcers cannot take come-backs every game. However, I am pleased that our coaching staff won the adjustments-at-the-half battle. That speaks volumes for our coaching prowess. You can check that box on Kirby and staff now.
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I think a reason for Roquan’s change was that in the first half we used a 3-4 base most of the time, and OU’s very good linemen were able to get upfield on RS more often than not. (He’s not big enough to quickly shed NFL lineman like them just yet, IMO.) In the second half we switched to a 4-3 base and their line was more occupied with Clark playing so well that he commanded a double-team. I honestly would have given Clark the defensive player of the game award, myself–but then the evidence of Roquan being more quick to make plays was really apparent in the OT when he smacked Smallwood short of the first down. He might have won the player of the game award for that one play.
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From what I’ve read, we switched schemes from 2 deep safety’s and a pattern matching zone to a single high safety and press coverage. We also blitzed more.
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Yep, it was a combination of getting used to their speed on offense and us deciding to bring pressure. Turned out that OU couldn’t handle our pressure. If we’d have started the game like that, it wouldn’t have been close because OU’s defense had zero answers.
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Looks like we stunted more too–that and a combination of conditioning and the fact that we saw a good deal of their playbook in the first half contributed to this. Pollack noted that this offense is a ‘baptism by fire’ in that you have to see it and get accustomed to the pace. Looks like there was a learning curve to defending a big 10 offense.
Kudos to Kirby for:
– Making the right adjustments (small as they were) and not panicking– and more importantly–not being stubborn and sticking to an inflexible game plan.
– Motivating his kids in halftime to keep choppin’. This mindset all year long was key. Often we shrugged off the ‘impose your will’ attitude Kirby talked about last year. This year we got payback in spades.
– Having his kids physically ready by proper conditioning (monitoring exertion, not wearing them out with excessive weight room antics etc).
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When Sony started slowing down and turned toward the OU defender before the touchdown, I thought holy crap the ref is going to throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct or taunting. But I guess he could have easily thrown a flag on OU for not trying to tackle.:-)0
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You are one scorned Dawg.
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Must be the inner Munson.
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Haha. I can’t blame you. We are the same fan base that watched AJ Green get a celebration penalty for running to his teammates to thank them that essentially cost us a win against LSU.
We discussed this mindset the other night. One of our friends still gets nervous every time we field a punt. Tried to explain to him that those days are over. The days of just having a guy just to fair catch are also over. Logan Gray and Rhett McGowan are no longer fielding punts. It’s a new era, embrace it. Lot of bad memories to overcome, but I have a feeling there will be plenty of good ones to overcome those in the near future.
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I hear ya. I thought ‘why on earth would he slow down???’ Obviously, he knew he would score, but as a lifelong Dawg fan with decades of big game frustrations welled up inside of me, I was hoping he would run through that end zone like Forrest Gump
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My favorite WR block was when Fromm audibled to change the run play with Sony and he broke a long TD run, Ridley blocked his dB clean off the field.
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That was a bone helmet sticker worthy play
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Michael Oher: Sorry, Coach. I stopped when I heard the whistle. Coach Cotton: Where were you taking him, Mike? Michael Oher: To the bus. It was time for him to go home
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I’m almost surprised we didn’t get a PWG penalty for that one.
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Yes, I loved that block. It kept going, and going, and going.
Though I’m enjoying the gif at the top of Simmons’ pancake. How many WRs get a pancake block?
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Probably my favorite offensive play of the game.
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That OU defender that Fromm “blocked” gave no effort on that play. None whatsoever.
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Agreed. It was almost like he was shocked Fromm was even going to engage him.
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I’ve said the same..but maybe he was concerned that Fromm was going out for a pass and was determined to cover him. Or..maybe he’d “sooner” not get run over by a freight train on a determined mission.
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I think you may be correct about Fromm slipping out for a pass.
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Yeah, he knew it was over.
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The Georgia offense identified that #13 freshman cornerback as a weak link and just went after him mercilessly in the second half. He truly looked like a high school kid out there.
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Conditioning is what worries me about playing Alabama. They just have so many guys they can keep rotating in and out. Georgia is light years ahead of where we were even just last year. But we’re still not quite as deep as Alabama. We played a very emotionally and physically draining game on the west coast. Alabama never left their time zone. If we pull this off the entire strength and conditioning staff deserve huge raises.
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Not sure I think that anymore. Given the injuries Bama has had, we’re definitely healthier and I think our depth is about the same.
It’s going to be a slobberknocker.
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Wrong. For once it is UGA who is the deeper team.
Alabama has had a ton of injuries not to mention that they just don’t seem to have the horses on Dline (depth wise) that they have had in past seasons.
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Guys, If we beat Bama that will be fantastic. But to see our team come out in the second half and basically whip the second coming of Johnny Manziel and his band of Merry Men’s collective ass to the point of quitting (See above reference to Fromm’s block) is IMO one of the greatest moments in Georgia football history. My personal favorites are now as follows:
(1) UGA v Oklahoma 2018
(2) UGA v Hawaii 2007
(3) UGA v Florida 1980
YMMV may vary of course. Go you Hairy Dawgs.
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Georgia puts two or three backs in the game when it has the ball, goes HUNH and uses them to pound away. You don’t need to substitute (and give ‘Bama the opportunity to sub) with three backs in…and run to the wide side of the field…this can be done. Alabama is made up of flesh and blood just like Georgia…If Auburn can beat them, so can these Dawgs.
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OU board Landthieves insists that we were not more physical at any point, but the third quarter we were the beneficiaries of poor play calling and substandard defense from Mike Stoops. They were the better team and would win the game 9 of 10 times. I figure that a river runs through Norman, that contains toxic hallucinogens…or it’s just old fashioned denial.
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The latter. I’ve heard regional media say the same thing.
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“…would win the game 9 of 10 times.”
Good thing we went ahead and played that tenth game first 🙂
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Well, the 9 outta 10 might be right, but they have it backwards. Now that we know we can pressure with four and cover their receivers, they’d be lucky to win the 10th.
I think Sony just broke off another 60 yard run.
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#RainBlitzes #FTW
https://www.dawgnation.com/football/team-news/film-room-defensive-tweak-shaped-historic-rose-bowl-win
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Mentioned something similar in another post, but look at the first GIF of Chubb’s run and you see #14 Blount racing to lead the downfield blocking. A freshman who I don’t think has a reception all year in the biggest game UGA’s played in for decades! You see him trail Sony in the endzone on the winning score too. Would love to hear the story on that player substitution selection.
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Same here.
I’m thinking fresh legs in OT and he probably earned it in practice.
It was only second down but Oklahoma was cheating to the middle of the field anticipating a play to line up a winning field goal try.
No one shifted with Nauta to the left side. After Sony slipped the arm tackle, there wasn’t anyone left to block.
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Agree with both assumptions, but that’s really something about this staff’s attention to detail that you can use a seldom used freshman receiver in a key situation for a specific aspect…in this case, wilddawg speed and blocking. GATA!
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It does concern me that despite how well those two run plays turned out that Baker whiffed on both…
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