I have this sinking feeling that folks are going to be poking and prodding at that inexplicable South Carolina loss for a while. Sigh.
- Bloviation for the Dawgnation
-
Quote Of The Day
-
“Not playing for NIL deals. Not playing to go viral. Not playing for TikTok,” (Nolan) Smith said. “Playing for the guy next to you and being able to push with him through tough situations. I would love for the guys to take that into next year. Don’t play for money. Play for your ‘why’ — why you play football.”-- The Athletic, 7/20/22
Search
Categories
Archives
Blogroll (ND)
- 82 Sluggo Win
- And The Valley Shook
- Banner Society
- Black Heart Gold Pants
- Black Shoe Diaries
- Blatant Homerism
- Braves & Birds
- Brophy Football
- College Football Talk
- EDSBS
- Eleven Warriors
- Lost Angeles
- MGoBlog
- RazorBloggers Network
- Rock M Nation
- Rocky Top Talk
- Saturday Down South
- Saturday Tradition
- Shakin The Southland
- Smart Football
- Team Speed Kills
- The National Championship Issue
- The Wizard of Odds
- Tide Bits
Dawg Blogs
Dawg Links
Media Links
Stats/Info Links
- All-Time Division 1-A CFB Standings
- American College Football
- American College Football – Rankings
- cfbstats.com
- College Football at Sports-Reference.com
- College Football by the Numbers
- College Football Data Warehouse
- College Football Recruiting Map
- College Nicknames
- Football Outsiders – College
- Football Study Hall
- GBE College Football Ratings
- MapGameDay.com
- NCAA Division I Football Statistics
- SEC Statistics
- Statistically Speaking
- Strangestbrew's College Football Schedulizer
- The Helmet Project
- Varsity Numbers
Useful Links
Time, time…
GATA
@MummePoll
- @ESPN_BillC @MikeGriffith32 @HerschelWalker The passive aggressiveness would be off the charts. published 1 day ago
- @ESPN_BillC @MikeGriffith32 @HerschelWalker I'm thinking about creating an Evil Bill Connelly Twitter troll account… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… published 1 day ago
- @TylerDawgden @ESPN_BillC @HomefieldApparl I don't know if I deserve it, but I'll take it. 😉 published 1 day ago
- @ESPN_BillC @HomefieldApparl Not a Twitter thread I was anticipating, that's for sure. I've been a follower of Bil… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… published 1 day ago
- @aprobos @DawgOutWest This really is an excellent trivia question. published 2 weeks ago
Blog Stats
- 65,643,201 hits
Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
Still living rent free in Bammer’s head.
LikeLike
Maybe so, but Florida lives rent-free in our heads, at least based on how many off-season posts I saw about them on this and other blogs.
LikeLike
Or rather Florida is living rent free in our heads because we are observing how we are living rent free in their heads…oh crap…the rents too damn high!
LikeLike
At least it was Sakerlina and not Georgia State.
LikeLike
Hell, the Detroit Lions are still living off Thanksgiving Day 1962.
LikeLike
Good one! Hell, I still member that game!
LikeLike
Wouldn’t you if the roles were reversed? I mean, how many times have we seen the formerly hilarious, now sadly ironic cannon shot meme?
LikeLike
It’s the single most embarrassing loss I can remember. No contender (no real contender) should ever lose to a team as bad as that SoCar team. It can’t get made fun of enough.
LikeLike
Clemson lost to Pittsburgh in 2016 and Syracuse in 2017, made the playoffs both times. Won it all in 2016.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholls was much more embarrassing than this. Celebrating a win vs. GSU like it was the Super Bowl was more embarrassing than this.
Vandy in ’94 given the rumors the team threw the game because of the homecoming court was more embarrassing than this.
Watching FU score half a hundred for the first time in Sanford was more embarrassing than this.
Being down 31-0 at halftime to Bama in the 2008 blackout was more embarrassing than this.
I’m not discounting how bad a loss this was, but this game was a combination of factors. As I said yesterday, you have to work really hard to lose a game where the opposing team never runs a play inside the red zone during regulation.
LikeLike
All good points…I had forgotten the Homecoming Court thing….
I think some of y’all keep a logbook. 🙂
LikeLike
“Vandy in ’94 given the rumors the team threw the game because of the homecoming court was more embarrassing than this.”
I don’t recall ever hearing this. What’s the story?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The rumors flew the team threw the game because there was no African-American representation on the homecoming court for whatever reason that year. I don’t know if it’s true or not (Zeier or none of the players from that team have publicly confirmed or denied the rumor), but it seemed there was enough smoke to think there was a fire.
I can say for myself regardless of the truth of the rumor, that was the day I thought Ray Goff no longer warranted the privilege of being the head football coach at the University of Georgia.
LikeLike
I was there. It was a low day
LikeLike
Horrible … didn’t we almost get caught for a safety on the opening kickoff and then fumble on the 1st or 2nd play from scrimmage from inside the 10? I think they had a scat back style running back from Carrollton that ran up and down the field on us.
LikeLike
It’s one of the worst losses in the history of college football.
Top 5 teams dont lose at home to unranked teams.
We can talk bad losses and being embarrassed and all that, but this game will forever be on worst loss of all time lists.
LikeLike
That’s ridiculous. Maybe some idiots will include it on lists in years to come, but if so, that will be because they have no sense of history. I could go back and find at least hundred games worse than losing to a probably .500 SEC team. If Georgia wins out, nobody is going to care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Top 5 teams rarely lose at home to unranked teams. It might happen once every other year or so.
LikeLike
It tends to happen once a year. I was hoping it would have been UNC taking down Clemson, but I guess it’s our turn this year.
LikeLike
Exactly. All those examples don’t take into fact we were ranked #3 and commonly thrown around as title contenders.
LikeLike
Exactly…but don’t say we were curb stomped!
EE May take offense and start telling us what that really looks like🥴
LikeLike
Saturday was embarrassing … my only point was I believe there were other losses that were worse. 😉
LikeLike
Some folks just want to be miserable…
LikeLike
I think you would be raising hell the last couple of days if the previous guy was on the sidelines.
LikeLike
Exactly, he would be how far from an SEC Championship? 05 was a LONG time ago.
LikeLike
You’re acting as if no one should question Kirby after what was an embarrassing loss.
LikeLike
See my comments above, I don’t see him drastically changing the gameplay at this point.
I have gone from letting a loss ruin my weekend, to not letting it ruin the next hour after the game.
I was more passionate about CMR’s later years..just as I was very much onboard with him his first 7-10 years…
Times change…and remember, I’m not the one who brought up the past Coach.
LikeLike
While I do not agree with the conclusion, more and more it’s looking in the stats at least that the Dawgs lost this game because of turnovers.
LikeLike
Turnovers and missed/blocked FGs obviously flipped the game. 1 less of either gets a W.
LikeLike
I can’t help but see shades of all this in the post-game analysis of the LSU Game you posted last year….
https://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2018/10/19/come-for-the-blowout/
LikeLike
Get over it people, it was a conference game with 4 turnovers, hard to win those regardless of the opponent.
LikeLike
Big problem – UGA’s offense is based on perfection. They have to be in the right play, have great OL blocking, etc. Fromm can’t really improvise with his feet the way most top college QBs can, and the WRs right now each lack something – physicality for the freshmen and “being good” for the upper classmen – and so this offense gets in trouble easily. We’ve seen this team hit a new stride for two straight years, so I’ll cross my fingers, but I feel a bit more worried this time.
And losing to Muschamp is like getting a felony on your record that you can never erase.
LikeLike
Right. The difference between us and the offenses we envy is that their QBs seem to make a lot of pass plays in scramble situations. Alabama especially makes it so much harder for a corner to maintain coverage–seems like many of their big plays come on route adjustments after a corner just can’t maintain coverage long enough once Tua eludes the pressure. Dressed up backyard football, but it works like a charm.
We on the other hand can get one step in the process thrown off and the whole thing is shot. So dependent on timing that defenses can do 1 thing right and screw us up, but have to do most/all things right to screw up some of these more modern approaches.
LikeLike
I know I bitch about CMR and Bobo as much as anyone but damn, it sure was good to average 38 points a game and be able to strike from anywhere on the field when you had to. CMR’s problem during the Bobo period was on D. Why do smashmouth and wide open O have to be mutually exclusive? Can’t you be tough, play solid D and still score a lot of points? Bama seems to be plenty physical yet the Tide has a high powered passing game too. I just don’t get it.
LikeLike
For sure. This loss is most notable for others, and most painful for us simply because we thought in the Kirby era, this kind of performance (Nicholas or GSU) was behind us. It will take a lot of wins to get past this.
LikeLike
This loss hurts, and it hurts because we now know who and what this group is. We have rationalized poor performances in the majority of games we have seen this group play in 2019. The truth is typically pretty painful to accept. Collectively, this team is an offensive mess that presents no true identity. The why behind a lack of offensive identity is what I find to be curious. My best guess is that it is combination of coaching (Coley’s struggles plus Kirby’s stubbornness) and lack of talent on hand (WR, C, and QB…yes, I do not believe in Fromm). This weekend vs Kentucky is a must watch game to see what, if anything, Kirby and Coley change/improve upon. As the Senator has pointed out several times, I see Kirby standing pat on his offensive philosophy. I hope we see an improved game plan and performance this weekend, but I would not put money on it.
LikeLike
Honestly, I don’t see them changing much. IF we have 4 turnovers, one being a pick 6, the others being in or near the plus 50..we will lose again..maybe not to KY or GT, but anyone else on our schedule can beat us if that happens again.
My money is on that NOT happening again.
LikeLike
My fear is that it won’t take 4 turnovers to lose to Florida or Auburn if we continue our stubborn offense. Florida and Auburn will just play tight man coverage and their DLs will give us trouble running between the tackles. We have the talent to beat any team on our schedule, but we need a scheme that gives them the best chance to do so. Not just “block more”.
LikeLike
We don’t lack talent anywhere. Talent is not the issue/problem. If talent is the issue then anyone who pays one cent to any recruiting newsletters, websites, or the like is a damn fool wasting their money. “2019 — we finally have depth of talent.” If there was one overriding theme going into this season that was it.
The problem is preparation (coaching up great talent, developing effective game plans/schemes, deploying the right personnel), execution (talented players have to make plays), and motivation (“this team’s not ready to play” — who’s that on, coaches or player/leaders?)
The problem is not talent.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It can be both. We don’t have the receivers this year. There is talent in that group, but they’re either young, underperforming or not schemed correctly. Our passing trees are terrible. We also have no tight-end threat. Some of us (myself included) underestimated the effect of losing Nauta, Hardman, Holloman, and Godwin in a single season.
LikeLike
It’s the trend that concerns me. 5-3 in our last 8 games and the only win against a quality team came against ND in a close game. Really, this is not looking like a championship caliber program.
LikeLike
I read your post earlier this week when you shared that trend. I was a tad shocked, but there numbers are accurate. It will be interesting to see how this group responds moving forward, specifically against Florida and Auburn.
LikeLike
I just hope they get past Kentucky right now. The word is out. How to beat Georgia: Crowd the box with front 7 and play man with back 4. Ignore the middle in pass coverage cause the ball isn’t going there. Dare the Dawgs to beat you with the pass up the sidelines and when you see it coming jump the route. Prove to me I’m wrong. I predict we will see exactly this the rest of the season. Every. Damn. Game.
LikeLike
“[M]ost painful for us simply because we thought in the Kirby era, this kind of performance was behind us.”
I think that’s what really continues to stick in my craw 4 days later.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And that’s fine, but given how much of a factor turnovers were, I don’t think this is as much “this kind of performance” as everyone is making it out to be. I do look forward to a time when everyone is truly over the Richt years and doesn’t treat everything as a referendum on his firing and Smart’s hiring. That’s really the subtext to the freak out over this loss or Georgia looking less than perfect in wins.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stupid penalties were just as big of a contributor to the loss as the turnovers were.
I don’t think most look at any game through the prism of hiring/firing decision any longer (I think 2017 convinced me that the right guy was hired). I think many (myself included) thought Kirby would bring the mind melding process from Bama to prevent these type of losses from happening especially at home.
LikeLike
I don’t think it’s conscious for most people any more, but I think that turmoil still colors any discussion about the state of the program. It’s like how almost nobody gave much of a shit about McGarity until the question of Richt came up, but now they bitch about everything he does.
LikeLike
Personally I’ve been on the AD since the Gurley suspension and how he handled the PR from that CF. Between that and how our powerhouse non-revenue sports have struggled during his tenure, he hasn’t been an asset.
LikeLike
^^This. McAsshole lost me when he threw Gurley under the bus. Gurley was a legit Heisman contender and probably the best back in UGA history other than Herschel. And don’t tell me just the accusation of a rules violation would have kept Gurley from winning if he had played the whole season and been exonerated. Remember Scam Newton? I’ll go to my grave believing McPrick sold Gurley out to the NCAA to save the swimming coach.
LikeLike
Maybe some good will come out of this. Maybe, from now on, maybe, the team will come out of the locker room realizing they have to play their best and CKS will come out realizing you can’t win by playing not to lose
LikeLike
I hope so but as my Momma told me many a time, “You can’t fix stupid.” Kirbs will still be making in-game decisions.
LikeLike
Isn’t there always the possibility that we win out and look back and say “Huh, maybe that loss was actually GOOD for this team!”?
I’m praying anyway… lol
LikeLike
It could because blessing. The pressure is off and the reality is in our face.
LikeLike
Or, maybe the pressure is on. Now we have to win them all.
LikeLike
I for one don’t wanna see another stat. Show me the scoreboard Saturday evening. You can have a statistician for every damn thing but they don’t tackle, block, catch or throw a football.
LikeLike
That game is the definition of why I dont care for stats
LikeLike
Scoring is a stat.
LikeLike
One time when I was on the HS golf team we beat the other team in stroke play but lost in match play. Problem was, it was a match play event. Same kind of thing. Outplay ’em and still lose. Really pissed me off too.
LikeLike
Some of these stats are confirming my suspicion that they’re not using Cook enough (which was doubly bad on a day Herrien couldn’t go.)
LikeLike
It’s the worst loss ever because it’s the last one, or the first one since the Sugar Bowl. Aren’t all losses like that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Zero successful plays in two overtimes. That didn’t really register with me until just now. Zero, with the game on the line. Damn. How is that even possible against such an average defense?
LikeLike
If they know what plays you’re gonna run……
LikeLike
I finally watched the replay last night. My gosh! Rodrigo’s kick looked like it was gonna be good for a second and then sliced away late. Our seats are on the 20 so I could see that. I don’t know if the breeze caught it or he just sliced it but it really just added more emphasis on how fitting it was.
Also, if we hadn’t done the same thing all year long, I’d accuse Muschamp of stealing plays. How we were still run off guard, run off guard, pass into OT is actually amazing. At some point Coley and Smart should have realized how well scouted we were! Actually, our been exactly the same every game with the difference being over team actually had a capable D.
Yeah, your scheme isn’t gonna change much but I’m talking down and distance and field position. One could easily chart what plays we’re gonna run for down, distance yard line and formation.
LikeLike
Coley is a pure play chart OC with seemingly zero variance. Our actually scary how elementary he’s been through 6 games.
Unless he adapts, he could really hurt Fromm’s pro prospects imo
LikeLiked by 1 person
it’s actually
LikeLike
The loss was frustrating enough … how we lost was maddening … the fact we let this game take away the safety net for the remainder of the season flat out pisses me off.
LikeLike
Maybe we come out against Kentucky and Florida with the same pissed off’edness in the passing–receiving game we took into 2004 LSU. Sort of invert the 04′ LSU-TN highest of highs-lowest of lows sequence the other way around. Yea, I know, veteran receivers…….but that was sort of the headline coming in to that game. Our offense was really struggling, soft receivers that couldn’t get off blocks…….then they put their big boy pants on and made 2 All-American corners (coached by Kirby oddly) look foolish.
LikeLike
No Shit, Catalina has a ONE game schedule. That’s not just in this past season it’s their season every year……. Somewhere the McGill Society has overcome embarrassment with donations to mediocrity !
LikeLike
While I understand this game will live in perpetuity, especially for the remainder of this year, when did losing a game where you dominated stats but had a -4 turnover rate including giving up a defensive TD suddenly become ‘weird’? Still embarrassing? Yes, but not exactly odd or unexplainable.
LikeLike