“We haven’t played our best yet. That’s the truth. That’s the truth.”

Nobody questions Georgia’s talent.  The question is about focus and mindset.  It sounds like the players know that, too.

“I don’t want to say we’ve just been pushing our way through,” defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter said. “We’ve had some physical games, but I don’t think we’ve really been battle-tested. We’re actually excited to have a situation where that’s going to happen. We’ve been waiting to see what we’re like through four quarters of a football game and we want to accept that challenge.”

Will they?

“I mean I think the tests are coming up,” Smart said. “We’ve got some tough games. We got a bye week after this one, and that’s probably coming at a good time because we got a football team that’s beat up, dinged up, just like every team in the conference is. You don’t get through this conference without being a little sore and a little beat up. But I think that our tests are upcoming. I think we play some good football teams starting this week with what’s an extremely physical, well-coached football team, in a tough place to play.”

We’re about to find out.

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“I understand how much these kids have been through.”

Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle, is there nobody at the University of Maryland with the sense of decency to tell this self-centered ass to STFU?

“I’ve been on trips for 20 years. I’ll be on trips for another 20 years, hopefully,” he said. “They could have used me. I’m still undefeated when I’m on the sidelines. But I refuse to be selfish. I’ll do whatever it takes to support Maryland. If I can support them by not being there, I’ll not be there. It’s all about the players, it’s all about the coaches, it’s all about my Terps.”

I don’t know how much money he gives the school, but it can’t be enough to excuse this garbage.

The Gus Bus has no clothes.

This ($$) is scathing.

The other concern is the Auburn offense. The No. 1 job of a college coaching staff is to win, not necessarily prepare players for the NFL. And Gus Malzahn’s system is based on rudimentary principles that aren’t helping Stidham develop as a passer for the next level – as one NFL scout put it: “If our offense is a 10, that Auburn offense is a 3.” While there is no doubt that he needs another season in college, is another year in that offense going to be beneficial to Stidham?

Well, let’s hope not.

Weirdly enough, I used to respect Malzahn’s skill in developing quarterbacks.  His renovation of Chris Todd into a functional SEC starter was impressive.  Then came Cam.  After that, though, not so much.  Marshall was a great fit in his system, but had no chance of playing the position at the next level.

Now, Gus isn’t being paid millions to produce NFL starting quarterbacks.  He’s being paid to win.  So on one level, being scorned by an NFL scout isn’t particularly relevant.  But on another level, do you really want to become known on the recruiting trail as a Paul Johnson with lower admission standards?

An unnecessary apology

From Adam Rittenberg:

While many Saban protégés haven’t come close to matching the master, Smart seems different. He leads a program that, despite being nowhere near Alabama’s historical success, boasts superior elements — more in-state recruits by capita and no major in-state recruiting threat (sorry, Georgia Tech).

Don’t feel bad about that, man.  It’s the genius’ choice.

Today, in Kirby gets it

I may get a little irritated when Kirby Smart talks about needing fans as recruiting props, but, man, does he get this right.  All of this:

“I’ve always been in favor or a nine-game schedule, (but) it’s not my decision to make,” Smart said, asked his thoughts on adding another league game with respect to the fact that`the Bulldogs are making their first trip to LSU since 2008 and under the current model won’t be in Baton Rouge again until 2030.

“I think it (would be) a good thing, but I think you will have teams with more losses,” Smart said. “Does it affect a team getting in the playoff? I don’t know, but I know you have a lot more games to get up for, a lot more good rivalry games.

“It’s not just about traveling, it’s just as much about the atmosphere of playing an SEC opponent, I think you are playing more comparable teams to your talent level, I think it’s important for college football.”

Smart fondly remembers playing in Tiger Stadium himself, his team-high 12 tackles highlighting a 28-27 Georgia victory in 1998.

“Every environment in the SEC is incredible, but this is one of the best in the country, it always is, their fanbase cares so much, they tailgate, and they are the center attraction, they are the show,” Smart said. “I played there as a player, coached there a lot of times, and it’s a great program, great atmosphere, they are loud, their fans are passionate.”

Smart, who has a degree from Georgia’s celebrated Terry College of Business, said adding another conference game is also another way to ensure college football attendance stabilizes.

“If college football attendance continues to drop, they’re going to be looking to do this,” Smart said. “So I think it’s important, and I think it’s good for the game.”

One big reason I’m making the trip this week is because who knows if I’ll be in any shape to make the next one?  That’s kind of sad.  Isn’t that what playing in a conference is supposed to facilitate?  Bless the man for saying it.

One other thing here — when the day eventually comes that Smart’s had enough with coaching, I sure hope Georgia has enough sense to look at him as an athletic director.  He’d make a good ‘un.  That is, unless the SEC steals him for a bigger role.

Aaron Murray hasn’t forgotten the 2013 Auburn game.

Or, more particularly, the lack of defensive support he got in that game.

Not a fan of rushing 3
Grantham you remember when you rushed 3 and Auburn threw a bomb to win?!
Rush the QB!!! You are getting after him all game

— Aaron Murray (@aaronmurray11) October 6, 2018

He’s entitled to complain.  (h/t)

Observations from the 35, Anchor Down edition

A game with a 7:30 start time and a fairly straight shot out of Athens afterwards, and I still didn’t get to bed until 1:30 in the morning.  It doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a day with a comfortable Georgia win a pain in the arse, just the right kind of effort.

Pre-game:  When did the first weekend of October start feeling like the first weekend of September?  I mean, it’s fall.  That’s the time for crisp, clear days and cool nights.  What we got instead of that was a friggin’ sauna.  Worse, there was little to no breeze all day.

End of game:  There’s garbage time and then there’s what the refs and Derek Mason inflicted upon the few thousands of us who stayed through the heat until the bitter end of a game that was decided with the first drive of the second half.  Mason called a timeout with fourteen seconds left, trailing by 35 and then some dumbass ref threw a flag for one of the stupidest pass interference penalties you’ll ever see.  All for a meaningless touchdown that didn’t even affect the spread.  (Not to mention I’m not sure the kid scored.)  Everyone responsible for costing me a couple of minutes of my life I’ll never get back — I hate you all.

On the other hand, Georgia is now 4-0 against the state of Tennessee.  Not too shabby.

Without any further ado, it’s on to the bullet points.

• Georgia actually trailed in a game for the first time all season.  It’s true!  You could look it up, but quickly, as it didn’t last longer than the fifteen seconds it took for Jake Fromm to unload a perfect bomb down the middle to Terry Godwin, who wasn’t having any of that stripping bullshit from the Vanderbilt defensive back.  Godwin looks as healthy as I’ve seen him in a while, which is good news.
• Ditto for Swift, who put a couple of moves on defenders on his touchdown catch that were sick.
• In fact, each of Georgia’s first four touchdowns were marked by spectacularly athletic plays:  the aforementioned catches by Godwin and Swift; Holyfield’s determined run, capped by his twist and leap to avoid being knocked out of bounds before crossing the goal line; and Ridley’s tip-drill quality catch, which reminded me a little bit of Godwin’s catch last season at Notre Dame.
• Five, count ’em, five catches by tight ends.  Be still, my heart.
• That was the best pass blocking performance I’ve seen out of the offensive line all year, something that was particularly impressive given that it played much of the game down two starters (and Gaillard went out for a little while, too).  Pass pro was so good it forced Vanderbilt to call more blitzes than it wanted and that played into opening up Georgia’s running game as the night went on.
• Man, I love watching James Cook in the open field.  Imagine what he’ll be like with a full year in the weight room under his belt.
• Is there a position group that’s improved more beyond expectations than the receiving corps?  They block, they catch, they run excellent routes.  It was good to see the group get rewarded by opening up the playbook.  And they’ve still got the Demetris Robertson card left to play!
• His passing chart showed it, as did the game:  give Jake Fromm time and he’ll pick you apart.  By and large, he did a fantastic job going through his reads and progressions.  His mechanics were sound and he can make the intermediate throw look effortless when he sets right.
• Fields is still learning the game, but, man, the physical tools he’s got are ridiculous.  That overthrow to Stanley was a perfect example of both; with more experience, he nails that bad boy.
• Jim Chaney had a really good day.  Emphasizing the pass was both a good strategy against Vanderbilt (the play action bomb to Godwin took advantage of the ‘Dores playing the run) and, as I previously mentioned, good message sending for upcoming defensive coordinators.  His playcalling on the two-minute drill to close out the first half was impeccable.  One thing I believe he deserves more credit for is play design.  He does a really good job of creating opportunities for players to get open field settings.  Two examples of that were the Godwin touchdown catch, where Ridley managed to clear space in the secondary underneath Godwin and the play action suckered one of the safeties, and the touchdown pass to Swift, where, even though he wasn’t Fromm’s first option, the design of the play left him with open field and a blocking receiver.
• The kindest thing I can say about the first half defense was that while it was inconsistent, it didn’t get badly burned, or, better put, as badly burned as it probably deserved.  They went from allowing a couple of huge chunk running plays to getting huge stops on third (way to go, Tyler Clark) and fourth (Jordan Davis!, My Gawd, a freshman!) downs to keep Vandy out of the end zone.  But there were also times they’d get the Vanderbilt offense backed up, only to see Shurmur dig out of it with good throws.  The defense clearly had a problem defending the screen pass and kudos go to somebody on the Vandy staff who saw something to be exploited (you have to think Tucker will be looking hard at that this week).  The inconsistency tells me that players on the defensive front aren’t as focused on gap control and run fits on a play-by-play basis as they have to be, and that’s something that needs to be cleaned up against an LSU team that will run, run, run.
• On the other hand, the defense allowed next to nothing in the third quarter when Georgia put the game away.  So there’s that.
• I don’t want to be a complete negative Nancy about the defense.  Once again, they went out there with Job One being to deny the big play and once again, Job One was accomplished.  Shurmur didn’t manage a touchdown pass and outside of that early 43-yard gain, Vandy basically had to work every drive in little bites to make something happen.  It couldn’t, which is how you wind up the first half on the short end of a 21-6 score despite running for more yards and dominating time of possession.
• It’s not that the ILBs are that weak, I’ve come to realize.  It’s that they don’t have a badass Swiss Army knife of a player who can do everything as they had last season.  Some are better at run support, some at coverage.  It’s a race between who Tucker deploys and what an offensive coordinator calls to try to exploit.  That being said, I thought Tae Crowder had his moments.
• The secondary is so solid.  Nothing spectacular on the day, I admit, but when the dust settled, no big plays, no touchdowns, a mediocre completion percentage are all things I can certainly live with.  A number of defensive backs contributed pass breakups.  This group is doing good work every week.
• I love watching a punter outkick his coverage as Hardman fields the ball.
• Rodrigo is making these 50+ yard field goal attempts almost look easy.  It was great the way the crowd ate it up, too.
• What is it with Vanderbilt and bullshit targeting calls?  It’s a good thing the review protocol has been changed since 2013, or we’d still be howling about Saturday night.  By the way, Steve Shaw, when an officiating crew whiffs that badly on targeting twice, somebody needs some more training.

So, the first half is in the books.  We’ve learned what the coaches already knew, that this is a young team, extraordinarily talented, that is still learning how to play a consistent game.  They’ve blasted through six games out-talenting the opposition.  The next few games are all against teams more closely matched to Georgia’s level, so it’s not unreasonable to expect the team to face a more challenging environment.

How they respond to that will likely be the big question of the second half.  Does the focus that’s been lacking at times finally kick in for sixty minutes and allow this team to play a complete game, or do they have to find a way to respond to an adverse situation that they haven’t dealt with so far?  One thing to consider is that even when this team has played its sloppiest ball, it hasn’t been plagued with turnovers and it’s been able to prevent being burned by the big play.  Can they continue to count on that against tougher competition?  We’ll soon find out.

Vegas works in mysterious ways.

Not sure which line makes me more nervous, Georgia getting giving 8.5 on the road against LSU (although as the article points out, that’s actually down from the preseason line), or Alabama favored by 29.5 at home against Missouri.

Thoughts on those, or any of the other lines?  Personally, I kind of wonder if Jeremy Pruitt has a shot of dragging Auburn down to the Vols’ level.

SEC Power Poll, Week Six

It may have been another wacky week, but it’s clear that the SEC East is gaining ground on the West.  Florida’s win over LSU marked a sweep by an East team of its cross-division games to go along with Kentucky’s split with the West.

That being said, I’m not sure it’s ever been harder to put together an order between the top two and the bottom three.

1. Alabama.  The Tide is averaging​​ 9.8 yards per play when Tua Tagovailoa is playing quarterback.  I ask you, is that fair?
2. Georgia.  The pessimism in certain quarters over a team that’s started back-to-back seasons 6-0 and is currently running a points differential of almost 30 a game is precious.
3. Florida.  Believe me, I didn’t want to place the Gators this high.  But any team you pick for the third spot has warts.
4. LSU.  I’m not sure why anyone should be surprised that mediocre quarterback play will only take the Tigers so far.
5. Mississippi State.  The zen of accepting that Nick Fitzgerald isn’t a passing quarterback.
6. Auburn.  Auburn’s gone three straight games rushing for under 100 yards, as the glow of the Washington win grows ever dimmer.  Oh, in case you’re wondering, Gus’ buyout as of December 1 is over $32 million.
7. Texas A&M.  No big wins, but no bad losses, either.
8. Kentucky.  Kentucky didn’t run a play in Texas A&M territory until overtime.
9. South Carolina.  The ‘Cocks ain’t pretty, but they do show a measure of resilience.  I guess they’ll find that reassuring over the winter.
10. Missouri.  A decent team wins that game against South Carolina.
11. Mississippi.  The Rebels are minus-84 points in two conference games and +41 overall in six.  These guys sure can pound a cupcake.
12. Vanderbilt.  Well-coached and a little ornery, the ‘Dores just don’t have the talent to be competitive week in and week out in the SEC.
13. Tennessee.  I’ll be damned if I’m giving the Vols a bye week bounce.
14. Arkansas.  Nick Saban may claim that you don’t beat a team that scores 31 points, but what do you say about an SEC team that gives up 65?

Fabris Pool results, Week 6

Looks like we all struggled a bit this week, as nobody could muster anything better than a 7-3 finish.  Tiebreaker, to boot.

STANDINGS for WEEK 6

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 48-45
1	Fromm on the feilds	Adj	7-3	7	54-53**
1	JM	Adj	7-3	7	27-28
1	GaK9s	Adj	7-3	7	0-0

Congrats to Fromm on the feilds!

Not a great deal of separation in the seasonal race yet.

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 6

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		StoneColdDawg	40-20	40
1		Dr. Goober	40-20	40
3		Ant123	39-21	39
4		Call me Lilliputian, we in Swifts World	38-22	38
5		ChunkyA	37-23	37
5		jayelbee23	37-23	37
5		DC Weez	37-23	37
5		waterswv	37-23	37