Jeff Schultz ($$) relays an interesting story from the Georgia locker room at halftime yesterday:
… Georgia’s defense, its strength all season, limited the Jackets to three first downs and 75 yards in nine possessions in the first half. But the Dogs led only 17-7. Nobody was happy.
Why did it turn out to be a good thing for Georgia? Because the defense’s leaders took it upon themselves to vent their anger at offensive players during the intermission.
“They definitely expressed their frustration in the offense,” said wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who had a second-half touchdown catch. “We haven’t really been living up to our expectations. We haven’t been putting up as many points as we want to. We haven’t been converting as many third downs as we want to. We haven’t been scoring in the red zone like we want to. The defense expressed their frustrations and we took the time to listen.”
What did they say?
“Well … uh,” Simmons said, “some words of motivation.”
My first thought upon reading that was what the hell took you so long, defense? After all, yesterday was hardly new. Georgia’s offense has been on-again, off-again pretty much all season. In this case, after suddenly catching fire on their last two series of the first quarter to take a 17-0 lead, the offense went into a funk for the entirety of the second. (Worse, the funk appeared to be contagious, as special teams play nosedived, too.) Motivating a few weeks ago might have been useful.
Still, I can’t complain too much, as the message must have gotten through: the offense woke up and put the game away for good in the third quarter.
Maybe the defense ought to think about laying into their offensive brethren in the locker room before the SECCG kickoff. Just sayin’.
Get The Picture 
I could understand a bit of a letdown after a challenging and emotional run of conference games. But the O came out as discombobulated as it did against Cackalacky. Whatever was going on with them was more than a “bit of a letdown.” They played better – not great – in the second half but I think that had as much to do with Tech’s D being completely outmanned as anything. Tech’s O might be even worse than their D, but the Dawgs didn’t miss a beat defending them. There was absolutely no letdown whatsoever on that side of the ball. No wonder they were pissed.
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The offense came out discombobulated at a rate of 68 points per game in the first quarter. The second quarter offensive problems were due to special teams taking 2 possessions from the offense and a missed field goal and a fumble.
I agree Fromm was having problems with accuracy in the first half but had we had the 2 possessions lost to special teams we likely would have had 20 plus at the half.
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They could probably see clearly that it wasn’t like they were going up against Auburn or even TAMU-level defensive talent either. Multiple 3 and outs against that team should get you yelled at.
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I second the “it took you this long?”. I love that this team has come together over the course of the season and the defense hasn’t turned on the offense when the offense hasn’t pulled its weight. But I’m also really happy that someone finally said “hey can you get your act together?” That gives me more hope for next weekend than anything else.
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Why are they not making these self-adjustments as they happen during the season? This conversation should’ve happened during the USCjr halftime.
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With Swift jawing at Fromm and players jawing at coaches, I dont get the feeling of great team chemistry. Of course Kirby is going to spin it this way. What else can he say? Same with his comments about Coley, he can’t throw him under the bus during the season.
I hope I’m wrong and this is finally the spark the offense needs. We’re going to need them next Saturday for sure.
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I’d be pissed too if I was on defense and had to carry the offense against Georgia goddamn Tech of all teams. The offense has no vision, no identity, no cohesion, no rhythm. The defense plays with its hair on fire on every play.
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It’s them damn young receivers. 😉
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The whole team seems to be walking on egg shells to avoid ripping into Fromm.
I’ve never seen a player regress in the course of 6 weeks worse than he has.
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Coley is definitively not a QB whisperer. Fromm either won’t take his coaching or he is afraid to piss off the star and only QB he has. If Fromm can’t judge the speed and distance of his receivers on the long passes given all the time he has, then he is just not that good at his job. Even on the long TD pass the receiver had to wait on the ball. If he had not been so wide open it would have been another circus catch. As far as the defense is concerned, they have stone hands and must not practice recovering fumbles. They can cover but they can’t intercept, except for Reed. The spread is crazy why aren’t the Cajuns betting their butts off. Unless the offense scores early and often I’m expecting a 2018 type beat down.
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I agree with most of what you say. But with a wide open receiver, you do not throw him open. Throw it to where he is, let him wait on it, then celebrate the touchdown.
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Dawgs in a blowout next Saturday.
Bank it.
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That’d be nice. But I’ll take a 3OT win by one score. 😂
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Too bad it’s the defense having to do what the head coach should be doing. The offense has been a train wreck all season & the head coach is either ignoring the problems or is just plain incapable of handling it.
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As far as that goes, I’d like to see Fromme warmed up for an entire half before he plays. The first half look has been poor for many games and he gets better in the second half, so why not start him with a first half experience under his belt? He appears to have the stamina of a mountain goat and, after getting chased around and pounded a few times (after releasing the ball), he gets better.
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Lol, “mountain goat”. Isn’t that the stuff they sell in capsules at the gas station for whoopee?
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Did the special “teams” screw up or did Blaylock muff a punt, Prather Hudson get his head knocked off on an insides and Rodrigo miss a field goal in the 2nd quarter? If I’m Fromm with degree in hand I’m leaving UGA ASAP whether I ever play a minute of NFL or not. Who needs this kind of grief?
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I have mentioned this a few times, but I posted the following after the South Carolina game:
I’m not sure if this was or was not that moment. It if is, it may be a few weeks too late. I get the sense that it isn’t just on the field where this team needs to make improvements. One week most likely isn’t enough time to build up all of the good habits that are needed for a team to play their best.
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There wasn’t any real leadership by the offense in the second half (3rd Quarter) either. Pickens, Swift, etc.
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