Now here’s an interesting observation about the LSU game from Kirby Smart:
Facing an up-tempo attack kept the Bulldogs from substituting as much as they would have liked and exposed what coach Kirby Smart called a lack of conditioning, not a lack of effort.
“We’ve played a lot of players this year, and sometimes you can’t do that in (every game),” Smart said. “Sometimes when people go fast, go hurry-up, they keep the same guys in, and you have to be able to sustain and play longer.”
So, if Georgia hadn’t substituted so liberally in its first six games, the team would have been better able to withstand LSU’s pace?
Color me a wee bit skeptical about that. The problems I saw the Dawgs having with the hurry-up were players not getting set properly on the field and the staff struggling to make timely substitutions. They better have worked hard on those during the off week, because I have little doubt Dan Mullen’s gonna test that again this Saturday.
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UPDATE: Naturally, the GPOOE™ thinks Georgia had a heart problem against the Tigers.
Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, now an SEC Network analyst, called out nose guard Julian Rochester by spotlighting the junior on a replay from the LSU game with Georgia trailing 19-9 in the fourth quarter.
It showed running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire picking up 17 yards to get to the Georgia 1 to set up a Joe Burrow touchdown run in the 36-16 LSU win.
“Look at the effort for LSU vs. this defensive lineman for Georgia,” Tebow said Saturday. ”‘Uh, I’m jogging, I could have made the play but I didn’t want any.’ If you’re a Georgia defensive player, that is embarrassing and you’re getting called out. On that play, three players were jogging to the football. Any one of them could have made the tackle. LSU, you weren’t jogging to the football. That’s why you dominated.”
It wasn’t clear which other Georgia players Tebow was referring to but it may have been linebackers Brenton Cox and Tae Crowder, who made the tackle on the play.
Tebow said some Georgia players were “pulling up on plays,” and called the lack of effort “shocking,” a season after a Roquan Smith-defense was “ferocious,” in its effort.
Shocking! I’m shocked, shocked, Teeb’s would suggest that.
Get The Picture 
Another area where not having Roquan hurts; can play against run and pass, every down and you don’t lose anything.
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While we’re relieved to not have Grantham & his waving towel around, when facing an up-tempo offense we’re right back to the same mess. No one is set at the snap, players trying to get off the field before the snap, … etc. The HUNH was kryptonite to Bama for a long time. I guess that’s another part of “the Process” Kirby brought to Athens.
However, Saban has adapted, offensively & defensively, the past three seasons while staying at the top. Was the off week helpful in allowing us to adjust?
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You’re right too Atlas. Alabama has adjusted. They seem to have guys going on the field before players are off the ground. I also see them use another way to slow them down. Any time the offense subs, they’ll sub. Even if it’s just one guy. Even if they have the guys they want on the field. Sometimes they string that out by having one guy start off, then another, then another. I saw a game this year where the offense had to call timeout to avoid a delay because they made a slow substitution and then Alabama pulled this move. They’re disrupting tempo every single chance they get. Whether they need to or not.
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What is odd to me is Georgia seemed to be prepared for the HUNH last season. As soon as a play was whistled dead you saw subs running in on defense. Last week at LSU that was not the case. It was like the coaching staff didn’t expect LSU to use the HUNH.
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The only thing that pops in my mind is that Roquan was the difference. The coaches didn’t have to get him out for a different LB skill-set & he was smart enough &/or prepared enough to get the rest of the defense aligned properly.
He hid both coach & player deficiencies for dealing w/ the HUNH.
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Exactly. We seemed ahead of the curve last season, especially in the SECC game. Always ready to get set fast and always taking advantage when a team subbed a player by having a group ready to go in, using the rule perfectly with the official standing over the ball to get in position. Danielson even pointed out more than once how good we were at it. I think it’s just the optics of what happened against LSU. It was pre determined they were going on fourth and short so they lined up very quickly without subbing, and it caught us off guard. The bad part was we didn’t adjust and it worked four times. They did the same thing against MSU. I think it’s a knee jerk reaction to say we’re struggling against tempo. This is the first instance of it really hurting us with this staff that I remember noticing significantly.
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I feel like I remember Danielson making a comment in this year’s S Carolina game about how efficient Georgia’s D was on substituting every play in response to the ‘Cocks hurry up. Something to the effect of ” Boy Georgia has really got this substitution thing down – they know who is going in before the last play is finished.” That to me suggests it was something else in Baton Rouge.
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Seems like we had some problems in 2016 but it got corrected.
Assuming a close game, I hope we are aggressive and predetermine to go for it on some fourth and shorts. I bet their D would have the same issues we had against LSU.
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I think you’re spot on Senator. Kirby hasn’t struggled very often defensively, but when he does , it’s most often against tempo. Not getting situational players in the game is a big issue. Having some younger guys in the game in those situations, where they don’t get the same amount of reps, can hurt you, especially if you don’t have as many defensive leaders keeping everyone on the same page. Ive seen Kirby’s defense have an issue with stamina before, the Clemson title game comes to mind, but that team ran a million plays. I didn’t see any of that against LSU.
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I say that Kirby and the coaches wet the bed far worse than any of the players not named Fromm against LSU.
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I remember reading a post during the off season about defensive changes and a presentation Kirby gave on the changes Bama had to make to keep up with the HUNH. IIRC the key was having the right base defense that could handle everything instead of substituting the perfect personnel.
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Screw that manscaped has been.
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Kirby, and Bama, did have problems with up-tempo offenses, but both seemed to have solved those with the quick-package substitutions. Think UGA got hurt with 3 DL players not making the trip to LSU.
What puzzles me is KS knows how hard it is to defend without a lot of depth. Yet UGA, who is pretty damned good at going fast itself, only seems to use this when the clock is running down in the 2nd and 4th quarters. We are capable of fighting fire with fire, but don’t. I understand the wear and tear on the defense if your aren’t successful, but you cannot be successful if you never try either. And our depth is better than most everyone we play. Better get ready because KY has burned us before with HUNH drives.
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But that’s not UK’s MO this year, is it? Aren’t they are pound the ground and play defense team now? Or was a 14-7 win at home vs Vandy just smoke and mirrors?
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They have changed somewhat this season, and playing better defense along the front line, but still use Snell out of the wildcat. I was thinking this same Kentucky staff might recall how they had us gasping for air the last time we were in Lexington and then saw us struggle against LSU. Could warrant a change in philosophy for our game.
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Well, I thought Brenton Cox showed tremendous effort when he flew toward the running back on the RPO that Burrow ran for 50 yards. He flashed.
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I don’t think it’s unfair to suggest the defense quit in the fourth quarter. That’s what happens when your offense does nothing all game and squanders their last opportunity to be in a position to win. I wouldn’t call it a “heart problem”. It’s part of football.
Nobody bats an eye when Smart suggests beating on the other team to make them quit, but God forbid someone suggest that it might happen to Georgia.
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This ^ is a unpleasant truth.
Georgia’s player are mostly human.
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Here’s a crazy thought. Maybe our offense should stay on the field longer than three plays at a time?
Defense was not the problem against LSU. Our coaches and inept O was.
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He’s not wrong. This team has been reading and hearing how great they are since the end of last season and have half assed their way to 6 wins by sheer talent alone.
If Kirby can’t get them focused (and sometimes as a coach you just can’t get 18-22 year old kids to focus) then we’ll lose 3 more to UF, UK and Tech. Defending the triple option is about discipline and playing your assignment, something this team hasn’t shown it can do.
I hope I am wrong but I see us getting embarrassed on Saturday along the lines of the 2014 beat down.
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Defense was a problem to the extent that (for example) your 5-star safety gets his ankles broken by Joe Freakin’ Burrow on a 50-yd run when you need a stop. I, too, think coaches were the bigger problem than players against LSU, but ultimately players gotta make plays.
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Everything’s a heart issue to Timmy. Everything ends up with the side who wanted it more. Forget the fact that wanting it more sometimes leads people to ignore homicidal H-backs, woman beaters, and rampant drug use in his locker room.
Is there anything about Timmy by this point that isn’t a well-worn cliche?
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GFY Timmy.
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That’s a “Man Enough” moment right there.
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Exactly. Agent Tebow – I had not idea you had turned, comrade.
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There comes a time in the season when you must leave your best players on the field. We had not had that game before LSU. When your D is subbed out situationally the coaches have to wait to see the situation. If the opponent is a HUNH team that does not sub then you are screwed. The coaches can only sub if they have the subs ready for the call before they go in and the subs and the subbed for players run like hell to get on and off the field. I seem to recall after one of our early games Kirby was “concerned” that the D guys were slow getting off the field. Having blowout games means your best guys are on the bench in the fourth quarter at least. This is not building their playing conditioning. After six games of playing 2/3 quarters the starters were spent. It’s a little late in the season to fix this. Buckle up guys and girls it’s going to be a slobber knocker.
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^^This. We need to return to the concept that there is such a thing as first string and play those guys more. If Herschel were on this team he would get to run the ball 7-8 times a game.
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Agree, we need to stop playing around so much with personnel packages, play your best guys and feed the hot hand. We should be past giving everyone a chance at a participation trophy.
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There is too much over reaction by Georgia fans. LSU saw that our depth in d-line was substantially degraded for that game and they made an obvious strategic decision to exacerbate our new weakness – HUNH.
That’s why the defense was gassed and demoralized at the end. There was literally nothing they could do to counter that offense once it got rolling and picking up first downs.
Here’s the reality though. The HUNH run by LSU stands no chance against a Georgia offense that’s humming. If Fromm has a different game, we coast out of that game with a W and a ton of points scored on both sides of the ball.
Let’s not over react. The team will be fine with time to heal and recover.
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I think he misspelled “coaching”
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There’s Something About Timmy….
At least Rochester wasn’t sobbing uncontrollably after the loss.
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