I’ve seen this repeated on a number of message boards from some folks I have no reason to doubt, so while I wasn’t listening at the time, I accept it at face value.
Apparently Smart told Chuck Dowdle in the interview shortly before kickoff that, quote, “This team isn’t ready to play”.
I don’t know what was going on in the pregame locker room, but that doesn’t sound good. And before you tell me that’s nothing but coachspeak, I would agree if it were something he said after the game, but beforehand? I find that a little strange.
Get The Picture 
Yes, he said it. And you’re right: it’s unusual enough before a game that I was struck by it.
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Well, then, that’s on the coaching staff. Looked like a Mark Richt shit-the-bed moment out there Saturday.
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Seems to me that Kirby’s teams have pinched a loaf on enough beds all on their own that we can leave Coach Richt out of it now.
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My wife heard that pregame as well. The radio guys talked a little bit about it as well.
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Whose problem is that, Kirby?
If that was the case, what did you say to the team before they came out of the locker room?
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I’m sure it was the same thing Nick said before the Utah game. CKS was there after all.
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It seems the noon slot seems to be where we find ways to lay an egg at home. This isn’t just a Kirby thing … it was a Richt thing as well.
We come out like we just rolled out of bed after a night on the town with the mentality that the other team is going to roll over due to the G on the helmet.
I get this happens to everyone. The question is how do coaches prevent it from happening during the week because I would assume the early indicators are there during practice. Do you shake things up and go good-on-good when the players expect to be in helmets and shorts? Do you yank someone out of the starting lineup that seems to be a culprit?
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Who knows? If there’s a culprit is suspect it’s in the wide receiver room and it’s not like we can rely on the gritty, less talented veteran with stone hands, can we?
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Maybe the wide receivers and the o-line took Rodrigo out to an Athens bar on Friday night?
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I don’t think that’s an option.
Pretty sure they still ship the guys out of town before home games.
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So dollaritas at Apple-bee’s in Gwinnett
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They stay at the Georgia Center hotel on campus Friday night, I believe.
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I know for a fact they were out drinking thursday night. (Source: Silver Bartender)
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What is Kirby supposed to do about that?
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Run them until they puke I suppose. It sure worked in high school.
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On Friday before a game on Saturday?
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No, on the following Monday.
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Nobody cares about High School
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Someone needs to explain to me why the noon start only causes one team to comes out flat and lay an egg. It’s not like only one team starts early. Sounds like bullshit.
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I think noon starts affect the home team (at least in our case) for whatever reason. The visiting team is on a business trip and has only one thing on their mind. They know generally the home field advantage isn’t the same at noon as it is at 7 pm.
Combine that with possibly poor preparation/motivation and it’s a recipe for an upset especially if you can get off to a fast start.
No one has talked about it since Saturday, but Daniel got beat on a double move for the 2nd straight week early in the game.
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That noon (11 local time) start didn’t bother Hugh Freeze and Chad Kelly when they eviscerated the Dawgs a few years ago in Oxford.
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I agree. I don’t know what it is about the early start time that affects us.
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It also didn’t hurt Georgia at Missouri in 2014 when we eviscerated them 34-0.
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Arkansas State was a noon start this season and it was the best the team has looked all year. So it’s not like they’re incapable of playing well at lunchtime.
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You have a point
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It was Arkansas State.
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Personally speaking.. i am usually stronger in the morning up through lunch. I am usually sleepy by 3pm, and forget about getting anything productive out of me after 8pm. Maybe I am different than a football team though??
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Didn’t I read last week he also said they were having some really good practices?
Fairly bizarre- sounds to me like something happened that we don’t know about.
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Hey, I believe it. The HC would be one to know. But what can he do? Reschedule the game?
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Some day our roster will understand that despite the fact that USCe is irrelevant to all of us, they play us like it’s their Super Bowl.
I’d be willing to bet that’s what CKS sensed: we weren’t taking these guys seriously.
I doubt that will be an issue again this season. My only fear is that the weaknesses that were exposed come back to haunt us. Namely, stop the run and we won’t have an answer.
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We ran for 184 yards when you back out the 3 sacks, which in today’s game should be taken away from passing yards as it is in the NFL. We averaged over 4 yards a rush. We were effective enough running the ball.
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and the longest run was only 14 yards, so the total yards aren’t puffed by one big play.
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Exactly right
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4 yards per rush isn’t anemic, put your head in a sack of shame, crappy. Okay. But it’s below the national average (not to mention the Georgia standard) and, as an average, it doesn’t move the chains over time. (4 yards on 1st and 10, for instance, is an unsuccessful play according to the nerds.)
If your offense is only going to rush for 4 ypc, then you have to do the passing thing really well or else you suck.
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Take out the sacks from the numerator and the denominator, and we rushed for 4.6 yards per attempt. Plenty sufficient to stay in front of the chains for pure running plays.
Take Fromm completely out of the equation and the backs combined for 170 yards on 37 attempts (Swift, White, Cook). Once again, 4.6 per attempt.
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“My only fear is that the weaknesses that were exposed come back to haunt us.”
This. The rest on our schedule have a map of the plan. Let’s hope we realize that sometimes to win you have to deviate from the ‘impose-our-will’ mentality if it ain’t workin.
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Everyone gets up to play Georgia. We have more rivals than anyone in the country.We have to be ready to play every Saturday. No off days, no excuses!
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Bama gets everyone’s best shot. Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss (maybe #3 behind MSU and LSU), and even Miss State considers Bama to be either #1 or #2 on the list. They are generally ready to slap down any of their “2nd tier” rivals. We want to be Death Star East … we better be ready to play every week.
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And how much are these coaches paid to get the team ready?
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The same amount they get to tell them to catch the ball and not allow it to bounce up and be intercepted.
Millions.
How hard is it to tell 87 to catch it?
Coachin’ so easy!
https://www.al.com/sports/2019/10/coaching-in-the-sec-is-soul-crushing-just-ask-joe-moorhead.html
We throw in the crying daughter for free!!
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You’re right as usual, Derek. Everything was going so well before Simmons screwed up.
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When did I say that? The “going well” part?
I’m reading my post over and over again and I’m sure I said that but I can’t find it.
No doubt your not abusing or twisting my words, so please, help me out here with your fair commentary on my “everything going well until” observation.
My intended point, one that I clearly didn’t make well at all, was that the coaches get paid lots of money and consequential things happen on the field that are both within and well beyond their control.
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Derek
It’s clear you feel strongly about your views. But when you frequently drop snide remarks that appear to address the writer rather than their idea or opinion, you should be better prepared to be on the receiving end.
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I’m well prepared Dave. I’d just like the retorts to be on point.
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Obviously we got some bad breaks, but it was clear our bunch wasn’t focused. I have never hung that weight on a coach but it IS the way of the fandom-ship masses. Remember, it was Mark Richt’s fault we fumbled twice close to the goal against Tech.
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So if they’d just told him to catch it, he would have caught it. Is that how it works? It’s so easy. Why can’t they figure it out?
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I was listening to the radio broadcast at the time. Kirby stated we needed to get our ass ready to play. Think he was spot on there.
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Does the team still spend the night out-of-town before home games?
Or was this cut out of the budget?
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They stay in the Georgia Center on Friday nights.
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Thanks.
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If what he saw in the locker room was why they stunk it up then it was either Coley, Fromm, TEs, or Simons/Landers. I doubt it was SImons/Landers because they played a lot and it’s easy to sub another WR. I also don’t think the TEs are pivotal in a game plan’s success. That leaves Coley’s plan was crap or something was wrong with Fromm.
or it was nothing specific and just a coach worrying.
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Coley’s plan was crap AND Fromm was a bit of as was the FG unit and the receivers.
It wasn’t just ONE thing it was MULTIPLE things that failed, and if one of them does better UGA survives the day with a W.
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Makes me wonder how much grab ass was going on in the locker room.
Who are the leaders on this team that can put guys on edge. I really, really wanted that to be Thomas and Wilson, but it doesn’t seem like either one’s personality.
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Thomas and Wilson aren’t those kind of guys. It has to be Fromm, Swift, Clark, Crowder, Rice, and Reed.
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That makes for an interesting dynamic between players and coaches following Swift’s finger pointing at the play calling. Maybe thumbs are more appropriate and productive in this case. These things tend to go one of two ways, so let’s hope it’s the more productive and effective way.
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And ole Chuckles promptly blamed it on the fans and the dead pregame atmosphere. The radio crew repeated it at halftime.
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Home fans HATE noon starts. It’s generally a late coming, sleepwalking crowd that also leaves early due to the sun/heat. I’m not saying the outcome would have been different if we had been the SEC Network Saturday night game, but the atmosphere would have been a hell of a lot better.
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Looked to me the fans were there before the kickoff with the exception of the student sections and they were certainly loud on into the overtime. Didn’t see a lot of folks (with the exception of students) leaving early either. Don’t think you can pin his on the fans.
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this, not his.
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Chuck, I didn’t see that from being in the stadium. The student section was seriously late (especially in the 300 level) and a number left at halftime. The rest of the crowd seemed to be late coming as well, and there were PLENTY of tickets to be had on the street close to kickoff.
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Granted the students were late to arrive and early to leave. The rest of the stadium looked pretty full to me at kickoff with the possible exception of the 600 level. It wasn’t Notre Dame loud but, at least when SC had the ball, I thought it was pretty loud.
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That explains the first half. What about failing to score in OT?
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D’Andre Swift hinted at it too in the interview videos that were released yesterday. I get the feeling from what he said that some guys are just not giving maximum effort and or have not bought into the team culture. IF, this is true it appears to be a lingering effect from 2018.
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Lemme guess, after Coach Manball’s bizarre answer, Chuck didn’t miss a beat and just served up the next softball…
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Hey Coach Smart, what is your favorite color of Jellybean? Back to you Scott!
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Good morning Dawgs!
Super comment 79Dawg! Spot on!
Always listen to Dawgs announcers for game day tidbits and feel.
Howard, Zier, and Dowdle commented on that, plus Smart’s comment about the empty seats so close to kickoff with recruits coming in. Not a good look for them.
Another reason to stop the noon kickoffs AD.
Dowdle, what a loon Normally I do not listen to post game but I had to so I could hear how Dowdle voices changes to that “poor, pitiful, breakout the tissue for tears” questions.”
I would like to see how Howard diagramed sentences in English in the 6th or 7th grade. Must have taken Latin forever.
Miss Munson!!
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If the players buy into the Vegas Line I can see why they just toss their helmets onto the field. Maybe they think the line is a predictor of the outcome and have no real understanding that the line is simply a tool used by Vegas to spread the betting between bettors.
I really don’t know what the problem is – but I do know there is a problem – there is two deep talent on this team that doesn’t show up.
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If this is true, then it means we don’t have team leaders (thought Jake was supposed to be one of those) and our coaches haven’t figured out how to break the culture of entitlement that has set in post-2017. Newsflash fellas, we haven’t won enough to be entitled. We ain’t Alabama or Clemson so quit acting like you’re all that.
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There is a difference maker on this team.
Brian Herrien.
The Dawgs missed him. His determination is unmatched.
Had he played, I think the Dawgs win.
Reports are that he was having back spasms before the game. That could be one of the reasons for Kirby’s statement. Or he may have heard the excited bedlam coming from the South Carolina locker room and mentally contrasted it with the lackadaisical attitude from his own team. But if he knew that, it was up to him to address it and fix it. Georgia always lacked having an Erk Russell type of inspirer (not a word but IDGAS) during the CMR years and that may still be the case.
Bring Bill Goldberg to the locker room before the game…let him throw some guys around, arm wrestle with them, put them in headlocks, etc…and give a loud inspirational speech. Wake their young asses up. Have him lead the team onto the field and but heads with them. I think he would be great on the sidelines too. Just let him enroll in some post graduate study and be a student assistant .
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Given the locker rooms are on the opposite ends of the stadium, I doubt Kirby had any idea of what was going on in the visitors’ locker room before the game. The bottom line is this team did exactly what many other Georgia teams have done … play down to an inferior opponent rather than to the standard. Most of the time that results in closer than expected wins, but sometimes like Saturday, Vandy 2016, and Fech 2016, it ends up with a “what the hell was that” loss.
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Total team effort loss…whipped on offense, no sacks or turnovers (havoc) on defense, mental lapses on special teams, and stubborn, uninspired coaching.
It had it all.
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Come on guys. This wasn’t a coach’s lack of motivational words, or an individual player or two’s lack of focus; and it cannot be blamed on the start time. While all can be (were) contributing factors, this was a game of catastrophic miscues; taking away almost any of which would have put a W in the win column for UGA. Sorry SC, this was a UGA loss more than a win for you. But the ugly win would still not have changed our chances of winning the SEC, or making the playoff, very much. The flaws would remain, it just would have delayed when we were eliminated and forced to face up to the job that must still be done. Yes, it would have kept us out of being the topic of jokes nationally this week but that may have delayed the wake up call for Kirby. He badly needs help on offense, ASAP, and he needs help on a system to handle late game decisions/options.
On a related note, my wife noted the dramatic change of demeanor Kirby had on the sideline Saturday. He is usually animated and excited during a game; during this game he seemed more disengaged and not running around on the sideline. Look at the tape, compare to other games, it was very obvious. Kirby is too competitive and driven for me to say he was not focused and all about turning the game around, but it may add to the total picture of team culture that day. Who catered/spiked the team pre-game meal? 🙂
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If these young men lose to Bama on the last play of the MNC, I still love them and applaud their effort…winners in my mind. But if you’re going to wear the Red & Black and lose at home to a 24 point underdog rival with lackadaisical play and attitude then you’re abusing the privilege.
However, Getting motivated for Saturday starts on Monday. There are $7 million reasons this is all on Kirby. No team leaders? Kirby needs to identify and inspire one. A simple time out and ass chewing of his offense early in the 3rd Q with a finger in Fromm, Swift, or Ben Cleveland’s, etc. chest could have brought some wokeness to the lazy execution.
Would love to know if yesterday was a challenge to every player, every position, we’re starting over kind of day, or a goals are all still there, keep chopping wood platitudes don’t hurt anybody’s feelings hugfest. Either way, this is Kirby’s choice to make and I hope he chooses wisely.
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Saturday appeared to be a day where nearly everyone did a little less, and the cost was huge. Even the crowd wasn’t into it like we should have been. I was thinking that the receiver situation finally came home to roust, no pun intended, but it was more than that.
The whole day was off. I hope this is a wake up call to all involved. If not, this could be the beginning of something really unfortunate. I look over the remaining 6 games and 9-3 or 8-4 don’t seem far fetched. Makes me nervous just thinking about it.
Saturday really awoke my inner Munson.
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Crap “roost”.
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I didn’t hear that quote on Saturday, but there is a reason I wrote this in the “Whither Manball” post
This team strikes me as feeling entitled. The slow starts were indicative me to of a team that did not put in the work they needed to prepare that week; that they may work at practice, but they might not be doing things the right way off the field. We had a large uptick in arrests as well.
I took my mother shopping after the game. When she asked me what went wrong during the game, I spent the next three minutes explaining how I don’t like this teams attitude. Well see if someone on the team takes the reigns.
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USCjr has ONE game on their schedule that they think is the only ONE that matters, but I didn’t get recruited byUGA or Border WAR……WETF. this has always been a THING…… no way it should happen, roll back the years and your INNER MUNSON doesn’t speculate
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