Bill Connelly’s advanced box score for UGA-AUB

… is something to behold.

I wonder how often a team wins on the road against a top-15 conference opponent sporting a giant goose egg in fourth quarter success rate.

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F-gate

Kirby Smart also begins his press conference by apologizing for the F-bomb he issued in his postgame press conference. He said his wife wasn't happy about it, and that "it's not what I represent."

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) November 18, 2019

Although unnecessary, the “my bad” doesn’t surprise me.  Sadly, neither does a sentiment like this:

Yeah, as a huge Dawg fan, that put a big stain on the W for me. No classier than Gus’ comments from two years ago. Just makes us look Busch League.

— Kyler Post (@RealKylerPost) November 18, 2019

Yeah, if you can’t win a big rivalry game without cussing, go home. I’ve come across more than a few folks like Mr. Post.

The Georgia Way has many doors, my friends.

Low noon

You shouldn’t be surprised to read this.

Georgia Tech will face No. 4 Georgia before a national-television audience in a noon kickoff Saturday, Nov. 30. The annual meeting of in-state rivals will be broadcast on ABC, including Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta.

But you should be amused to read this:

It will be Tech’s first game this season off of cable television.

You know the marketing geniuses on the Flats aren’t going to let an opportunity like that pass them by.

Remember that whole “Texas is back” narrative?

Not so much, it turns out.

I can't wrap my head around the fact Texas has lost four games or more in 10 consecutive seasons.

— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) November 18, 2019

At least when Georgia gacks a bowl game, there isn’t any lasting puffery for the winner, unlike the case of a certain school to the west I could mention.

From Kirby’s lips to your chest

Hot off the presses comes this stylish accoutrement.

Wear it and be wonderful.

Observations from inside the orbit of Mars, Auburn edition

Why do I always seem to have Roger McGuinn’s guitar intro to “Eight Miles High” running through my head when I finally arrive at my seat at Auburn?  Before the game, we were joking that we could see the Atlanta skyline from our vantage point.

The walk out never seems as long after a win, though.

Bullet points for ‘ya:

• If you want to make an argument that the game turned on a questionable time out Malzahn called on Georgia’s last series of the first half, well, I won’t argue with you.  It felt like Smart was this close to running out the clock, taking his first half winnings off the table and turning to receiving the ball to start the next half.  Instead, Swift cranked out a big gain on a nice call by Coley and the Dawgs were off to a fourteen-point lead at halftime.
• Needless to say, Gus’ lucky rabbit’s foot was nowhere to be found Saturday.
• The ballyhooed matchup between Georgia’s offensive line and Auburn’s defensive line lived up to expectations, for the most part.  Both sides had their wins and losses.  I won’t be sorry to see Derrick Brown go.  I will be sorry to see Andrew Thomas go.
• Salyer deserves credit for stepping up and plugging the line after Cleveland and Mays went out.
• One thing the o-line deserves a ton of credit for is discipline.  I don’t recall a single illegal motion penalty called on any one of them, and that crowd was loud for much of the game.
• Mixed game for the receiving corps.  Cager coming out early certainly didn’t help. Blaylock made a nice adjustment on his TD catch, but also let a pass go through his hands.  Wolf had a touchdown catch, but also dropped a pass that hit him right in the numbers at a crucial time in the fourth quarter.  There were several occasions when it looked like the receivers didn’t do their best to maintain position on a throw, allowing an Auburn defensive back to make a play on the ball.  Downfield blocking was also spotty.
• D’Andre Swift has been Georgia’s most valuable player on offense down the stretch.  Over 100 yards against a tough defense clearly geared to stop the run was just another impressive day.  His spin move against Pappoe (I think) was sick; so was that patented stop jump of his on his longest run of the day.
• Herrien continues to contribute in every way imaginable (although he really shouldn’t have run that one kickoff out of the end zone).
• Maybe it’s just me, but it seemed like Zamir White preferred running behind the left side of the line.  He missed an opportunity on one play when he didn’t see a huge hole Hill and the right guard opened up.
• Still think they could mix in more outside runs for the backs.
• I’ve already mentioned it was an up and down day for Fromm, but it wasn’t all his fault.  He did have a couple of misreads, but there were a few occasions when his receivers didn’t help him out.  He was also aware of when the pass rush was coming and did his best to avoid costly sacks.  (The one he did have was a coverage sack.)  He also didn’t turn the ball over, which means South Carolina remains the only game this season when he’s thrown an interception.
• One thing I have to give Coley credit for is how much better the offense has gotten in the red zone, especially close in.  Georgia not having to settle for field goals on either of its extended scoring drives made a big difference in the way the game played out.
• With the exception of soft zone mode in the fourth quarter, the defense played brilliantly.  When you make a Malzahn offense throw the ball more than it runs, you’ve done your job.  (When Auburn’s leading rusher is Nix, ditto.)  I continue to be impressed with their ability to step up and make big plays at just the right time; Auburn struggled on third and fourth downs all day.
• It’s pretty amazing to see how much the defensive line has improved over the course of the season.  Herring and Clark were great (the latter is this year’s unsung defensive hero, IMO), but almost everyone stepped up at some point and made a crucial play.
• Jermaine Johnson may have played his best game of the season.  His strip of Nix was huge.
• Georgia continues to get excellent play from its inside linebackers.  Rice is so smart, always in the right place at the right time.  Crowder played well, for the most part, and Dean seems to be getting more time with each passing week.
• When the other team throws the ball fifty times, a secondary is going to give up a few receptions, and Auburn did hurt them with slant passes all day long.  But the DBs did break up every deep throw — sometimes with the help of the sideline, true — and kept most of the underneath stuff from beating them down the field.
• That being said, I sure wish Stokes could have come up with the interception to stop Auburn’s first scoring drive.
• Tyrique Stevenson is another true freshman coming on.  Loved the way he didn’t give up on getting that sack.
• All the youthful contributions were great, but the old guys at safety had good games, too.
• I really hope Kirby junks that soft zone.  Not only did it leave open holes in the coverage that Auburn exploited when the pass rush didn’t get to Nix, but it seemed like Georgia’s tackling fundamentals suffered, too.
• Special teams were also a mixed bag.  Maybe I didn’t count right, but it sure seemed like most of Georgia’s penalties came via special teams mistakes.  Camarda had a career day with eleven (!) punts; his first, a 67-yarder with perfect placement, was as big as any play in the first half.  Blankenship was perfect with his kickoffs and PATs.  The return games weren’t so hot, though.  And how was Georgia not prepared for that onside kick?
• Just a reminder, for those of you waiting, that the officiating is not a subject for an Observations post.
• I’ve been to road games at Auburn before, and a certain amount of in your face behavior in the stadium is to be expected.  It seemed like the obnoxiousness was stepped up, though.  The PA system blared until the last possible moment when Georgia was on offense and often seemed to drown out the referee’s explanations for calls.  They also kept showing plays from previous wins over Georgia, including Nick Fairley’s penalized beat downs of Aaron Murray, and, curiously, a block from Kirby Smart’s playing days.

Look, it may not have been as pretty as we would have liked, but any time you win a rivalry game on the road against a top-15 opponent, you’re doing a lot more right than you’re doing wrong.  This team is going back to Atlanta, an outcome many were questioning after the South Carolina loss.  It’s also managed to do this without a smoothly functioning offense, which makes you think there’s still room for improvement.  I can live with that.

It’s not easy always being right.

One thing you gotta love about college football — where else can the media grumble about players sitting out meaningless bowl games to protect their pro futures and turn right around and give Saban grief for not taking Tua out in the second quarter of a conference game?

“We’ve had a rough year.”

Fun times in Columbia, South Carolina.

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp admitted that where his team sits is not where it should be.

The Gamecocks’ history might not include much contending for SEC titles, but missing bowls is never accepted.

“It’s frustrating,” Muschamp said. “It shouldn’t happen — call it like it is — at South Carolina. Never would’ve envisioned this. This is where we are right now. We’ve got to continue to play hard, coach hard, get ready to play Clemson.”

It had been a trying week around South Carolina in terms of public perception and discussion.

New school president Robert Caslen spoke early in the week about Muschamp, saying he was the coach through the season, and then things will be assessed. It led to athletic director Ray Tanner issuing a statement Friday in support of Muschamp.

Some reports even said Board of Trustees members were talking to a potential replacement as USC’s athletic director.

I’m trying to figure out Boom’s best argument for keeping his job.  It’s either “I went 4-8 at Florida and came back for another season” or “who are you gonna get that’s better?”.  While both are true, neither is exactly a ringing endorsement for a triumphant return.

One can only hope that Kirby did Boom enough of a solid with that embarrassing loss in Athens.

Is this good? Asking for a fan base.

Gus Malzahn’s record of 6-15 versus the SEC’s Big Three—Georgia, Alabama, and LSU— is good for a winning percentage of 28.5.

— Mike Marshall (@MikeMarshallAU) November 17, 2019

I’m curious.  Back when Richt was in town, there was a consensus from a sizeable group that Auburn’s ups and downs were preferable to Georgia’s steadiness — that an occasional, truly lousy season was worth the price for playing for national championships every so often and beat a regular ten-win trip without the glitter.

In light of Auburn’s current state and Georgia’s, how many of you feel that way now?

SEC Power Poll, Week Twelve

Georgia’s in the SECCG and Tua’s out.  Just your normal week in the Southeastern Conference.

1. LSU.  Ole Miss gained how many yards against the Tigers’ defense?
2. Alabama.  If it weren’t for bad injury luck, the Tide wouldn’t have no luck at all.
3. Georgia.  Per Mark Schlabach, Georgia’s 251 yards of offense against Auburn was the lowest total for a team winning against an AP top-15 foe on the road since LSU had 239 yards in a 9-6 victory in overtime at Alabama in 2011.
4. Florida.  So near, and yet so far.
5. Auburn.  Now losers of 14 of their last 20 games against Georgia.
6. Texas A&M.  Well, if the Aggies are looking for a meaningful regular season win, they’ve still got two shots remaining.
7. Tennessee.  Recipients of a bye week bump, the Vols are living large in November.
8. Mississippi State.  There was a warning before this week’s game that the stadium had an infestation problem with rabid bats.  As metaphors go…
9. Kentucky.  Give the ‘Cats credit.  Somehow they’ve managed to work themselves into decent shape for a bowl game.
10. Ole Miss.  They aren’t good, but they are entertaining.
11. Missouri.  The wheels have come off the wagon.
12. South Carolina.  Does a 4-8 season really merit a vote of confidence from the school president and AD?
13. Vanderbilt.  Now 128th nationally in scoring offense.
14. Arkansas.  A bye week bounce for this team?  Get real.