Chart from Seth Emerson ($$):
National Recruiting Rankings This Decade (Via 247Sports Composite)
I get the “but they flopped in Baton Rouge!” rebuttal, alright. But the simple reality is that Georgia is the more talented team on the field Saturday and has the superior statistical story to tell so far this season.
In other words, I don’t want to hear any excuses about youth, breaks or whatever. It’s well past the time for this bunch to turn in a full sixty-minute performance. Let’s get ‘er done, Dawgs.
Get The Picture 
Tell it all preacher and a big AMEN.
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Even before I read your post, I was gonna’ write, “YAY-Man”!
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Yeah, all summer everybody kept saying “there just isn’t any defense, save Alabama, that can stop our offense”. When’s it going to happen?
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I assume you’re asking when the offense is going to be good? Which it already has been aside from the LSU game.
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when they quit bringing out every toy in the box and let the starters get acclimated. Situational play calling and game planning (“the plan is, there’s no plan”) don’t help either. Hope I never see another debacle like I did last game. The staff need to give the players a chance. We’ll see soon if the coaches have learned from last game….just my 2 cents.
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Agree. The LSU loss was on Kirby & Co. Sure Chaney didn’t miss throws to wide open receivers leaving 14 points off the board in the first Qtr., but the fake field goal, bad offensive plan and horrendous player rotations are all on the coaches.
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92, I agree. This team has such an odd vibe to it. Actually, there is no vibe to this group. No consistency, no rhythm, no flow, almost as if they are sleepwalking through the season. The Dawgs were knocked down two weeks ago, now it’s time to see what they are made of. We hear about Committing To The G. Well, it’s time to see how committed this group is. Do they take pride and ownership in their play? Do the coaches hold them accountable? Can this team find its stride? Do they have the mental toughness to dig down, come together as a squad and fight when it counts. I have not seen it yet, but if there is ever a time to step up it is this weekend in Jax.
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THIS….
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Yep, it’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow if we blow this .
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Unthinkable really. I can think of a few things that would put me in a worse mood, but only a few….like alien abduction, castration with a dull knife, Kenny G concert……
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The ramifications of a loss to the Gator’s is too depressing to contemplate.
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You guys are bringing me down. Stop it.
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This for days.. time to show up, focused, and execute.
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Time for the X’s and O’s to best use those Jimmies and Joe’s.
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Yes, let the Jimmies and Joes win. It doesn’t take a genius at x’s and o’s.
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I keep trying to buy what you are selling Senator, I really am. I agree that talent and stat wise, the Dawgs should win. But the season long eye test keeps bringing out my inner Munson. I trust our coaches overall in their skill (last game not withstanding) but my fear is that we are just a young/undisciplined team without true leadership that no matter the coaching/schemes/playcalling is bound to flounder about trying to outtalent the other team. Though this “no plan” and mass subbing needs to stop. I just wonder if the whole season is just a razor’s edge from either 11-1 or 9-3 and it’s just going to be a wild ride the whole way that we have to wait til it all plays out.
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Yeah, I’m in full-on Munson mode after two weeks of thinking about the LSU game.
Still, f**k Florida.
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Stats helped me feel better going into the LSU game, and now stats don’t do a thing for me. All that flies out the window come game time. It’s who shows up and who wants it more? That determines your winner. Please, Dawgs, get it completely together! Coaches too!
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Sure in any given game a less talented team can play up to their potential and upset the more talented team but over a large sample size aka many games and a season talent usually wins out. In cases where that’s not the case it’s almost always due to deficent coaching. It’s why at the start of every season before a single game has been played you can narrow down to 10 teams from which the national champion will emerge based solely on prior years recruiting rankings.
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I can’t ignore the injuries. We are a banged up team right now, even after two weeks off.
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And we’re banged up on the DL, which is where we’re already not all that great.
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No excuses.
F**k Florida.
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There is a saying among quail hunters.
“You shoot birds over dogs, not paper”.
Time for these Dawgs to hunt!
One of the best English pointer I had out hunted two other breeds just a few months before she passed away due to age and illness.
If you love to hunt, you hunt!
To echo the Senator, get it done!
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I know Jacksonville has been a shitty place for many a dawg season but I just really wouldn’t be surprised to see a focused dominant performance over the Gators because 1) Georgia has its back against the wall 2) we have the aforementioned talent advantage and 3) I think we have a coaching advantage, i mean if I were a betting man I’d certainly favor Kirby smart over Mullen and Grantham.
Depressing matchup of the day to see who sucks less will be Jake fromms attrocous 3rd and long percentage against 3rd and Grantham. What happens when the stoppable force meets the very charitable object.
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Then again I felt pretty good heading into the LSU game and many of the same things could have been said what do I know. Guess that’s why they play the game.
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Some guy in half a hat said something about recruiting rankings not showing up in Jacksonville.
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I hate that Gator, too…
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I fully expect UGA to beat the brakes of florida because I am UGA fan.
I also fully expect to see the Gators play lights out because I am a UGA fan.
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https://giphy.com/embed/4NlIpYQMyPViU
via GIPHY
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Stupid lack of technology skills
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if you copy the link that has .gif at the end the website will display the image instead of the link
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It’s a really good article- essentially talks about the talent FL had in 2014 vs ours is what beat us and that the tide has turned.
I know it’s been said before, but Emerson is a great writer and seems to have gotten better since moving over to the Atheltic. I love reading it, it is so choice. If you have the means I highly recommend picking a subscription up.
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Hi Seth!
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haha
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Ha! A Ferris Bueller reference! Nice!
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Seth is terrible. As The Athletic grows and improves, I hope they will make replacing him a high priority.
Anyone remember when he replaced David Hale as our beat writer? My god what a downgrade.
Also check out Seth’s twitter feed. He never replies to anyone. He just promotes his content. People who use social media in that way are garbage. There’s no point to following someone like that. You can already find the content on their site. The point of social media is interaction.
Whenever I consider following a sports personality on twitter the first thing I look at is how often they reply/engage with people. Ignoring trolls/haters is fine. I mean the reasonable people. If they ignore even those types, I know their account is trash.
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I think this week we discover whether or not we have:
A. A very talented group of individuals who haven’t quite come together as a team and aren’t totally sure who they are..
Or
B. A team
If a team shows up we win. Otherwise, we could easily need a lot bourbon.
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Not sure if this chart gives me any confidence. It’s all well and good to be more talented, but all this is showing me is that the more talented team lost in 2012-2016, and it could be reasonably argued that the aggregate talent at Florida for 2011 was greater than Georgia so we might as well count that one too. 2017 was great but, based on this chart, the whole “Rivalry Game, anything can happen” narrative appears to have some credence.
That said, Dawgs by 90
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Actually by my own exception for 2011, the 2014 Florida team was more talented on aggregate and won. The trend remains, but bad data isn’t data so it’s now 5-3 in favor of the “less talented” team instead of 6-2.
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This also shows that UF had a significant talent advantage until around 2015/16
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Unfortunately, I think it all comes down to Chaney and whether he’s got his ship together. He has a ton of talent at this disposal. I have no doubt the D will hold up their end of the deal.
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No one knows who wins, and statistics don’t always forecast well, but UGA has better talent at most every position, and has every motivation to play this game well. We should win, and most think we will.
What is dragging the confidence level down for some is the over reaction to the LSU loss. They were a better team than most anyone expected, not elite, but very good in several key areas. The game was played in their house with them having the “must win” edge, and us having 4 1/2 key players out along the DL and OL in a game everyone said would be trench warfare. This was the game most felt would be the toughest challenge for UGA, and that was before they turned out to be better than expected. We lost, how many really felt we would go undefeated? Just a few. Get over it, let’s go 11-1, our toughest test is behind us.
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Pretty much the way I see it Mac. I was one of the few that thought we could go undefeated, but I’m ok. I’m not suicidal. I felt good about the LSU game until the news of losing the players on the line. I believe we can finish 11-1. The sad thing is, there is a good chance we’ll lose to Bama in the SECC and a 2-loss team will not play for the marbles. I can live with a nice secondary bowl…this year. I think the experience gained will set us up nicely for 2019.
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That call is realistic but I won’t rule out us going 10-2 if we don’t fix the defensive issues. Going into the season we had questions all across the defense, looks like the secondary developed up enough to not be a glaring weakness; sadly the front 7 hasn’t shown any reason for optimism and it has not progressed at this late date. But our toughest opponents don’t feature the pass, and are capable of playing keep away.
Good news for them, that is the way to beat UGA this season as our offense is explosive and capable of winning games on their own. We may be the only team in the SEC that could get into a shootout with Bama and compete. Right now I don’t like our chances but maybe that wake up call in BR will spark this team to reach new heights. Like others, I didn’t see this as a championship team but if we get healthy, who knows?
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At LSU I saw a lot of 6 sometimes 5 men in the box with our RPO selection turning into bad pass play over and over. Was that on the QB or the OC I don’t know. We have had two weeks to sort it out. Time for talking is almost over. Cry havoc unleash the Dawgs of war. GATA
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We have better talent than UF.
Our offensive performance over the course of the season has been a lot better than UF’s. We are 18th nationally in points per game. UF is 35th.
We are 13th nationally in scoring defense. UF is 15th.
Why would UGA fans think UF is some scary juggernaut?
More importantly, why would UGA fans think that our guys are scare of UF?
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X’s and O’s vs Jimmies and Joes. You can look at this game from so many angles, but at the end of the day run the damn ball and stop the run and no BS in field goals is all I want to see until further notice. Sprinkle in some sacks, turnovers, explosive plays and long returns get the W and move on. Our O-line outweighs their D-line enough to impose the will. Now GATA and beat the Gators
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