Two of these teams are unlike the ten others. (In a good way, that is.)
I wonder how many of those numbers would hold up as scores this Saturday.
Daily Archives: September 24, 2020
“… I have no reservations that (Costello) can run Mike Leach’s offense.”
Culture shock at Mississippi State ($$):
“At Stanford, I felt like I was going to football school every day,” said Costello. “I’d say 95 percent of college football players don’t experience that level of teaching — we’re talking very meticulous pro-style stuff. Sometimes it takes guys two to three years to pick up the stuff we’re doing.
“Then I come here and it’s — we don’t care what you’re running (defensively), we’re gonna line up, we’re gonna go faster, we’re gonna attack space. We don’t care what your coverage is. We’ve done this so many times, we’re going to out-execute you.”
“How can it be the same position? How can it be the same sport?” he marveled. “I’ve had those feelings for a while.”
I have a feeling the media folks who picked Kellen Mond as preseason second-team All-SEC are going to feel a little foolish about that by season’s end. Maybe that’s wrong (I admit MSU’s inexperienced receiving corps could put a damper on Costello’s season), but it’s sure gonna be interesting to watch.
Filed under SEC Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Another season, another Todd
I’ve gotta say I haven’t keenly anticipated the start of a Georgia season like I have this one since 2010, and for exactly the same reason: the replacement of a coordinator who was in over his head with the promise of another who appears to have a clue. (And before you go there, Todd Grantham was a significant improvement over Willie Martinez, low bar or not.)
If there’s a difference, it’s that I had a clearer idea of what Grantham would bring to the table than I do regarding Monken. That’s not because I think Grantham was better at his job, but because Monken’s career has been modeled on being adaptable. So any little tidbits I can glean about the likely new direction are welcome.
“When you’re a defensive-minded coach and you’ve grown up running the ball, being conservative, playing good defense and winning games and the game changed,” the Crimson Tide coach said. “When the RPOs came and everybody spread it out, the game changed. And if you don’t join that crowd, you’re never going to be able to make enough explosive plays in a game.”
Enter Todd Monken whose hire as offensive coordinator may take Georgia in the direction of the LSUs, Clemsons, Ohio States and Alabamas of the world…
Monken’s resume from the NFL as offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay to head coach at Southern Miss to offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State has shown an ability to dial up explosive plays, something missing too often from the Georgia offense last year.
Georgia studied teams that were successful offensively last year, coach Kirby Smart said, to find things it can simulate with players on offense.
Every situation is different, of course. Monken has to answer to Smart, so we know the running game isn’t suddenly going to shrink away into irrelevancy. Beyond that, Matt Luke and Buster Faulkner are likely to bring other perspectives that will be incorporated into whatever Georgia spins up in its offensive scheme.
But I ain’t gonna lie. I like hearing what other coaches say about Monken’s ability to call games.
Burnham went up against Monken’s Oklahoma State’s offense as Iowa State defensive coordinator in 2011 and 2012 when they were among the most prolific in the nation. Oklahoma State was No. 2 in the nation in passing his first season and No. 7 his second.
“He was a little bit ahead of a lot of people throwing the football even though most people were throwing the football in the Big 12 at that time,” Burnham said. “The spread was coming in. He had a good handle back in those days and there probably were some pro concepts that other people weren’t running.”
The No. 2 Cowboys passed for 476 yards but were upset in overtime 37-31 and threw for 415 while rushing for 210 a year later in a 31-10 Cowboys win behind 151 rushing yards from Joseph Randle.
“He had a really, really good running game back in those days,” Burnham said. “He was very innovative with his playing calling. The thing about it, he was always trying to get angles on your defensive linemen by blocking down or blocking out and pulling offensive lineman around on your linebackers, which is really hard to defend.”
That’s not your grandfather’s Georgia offensive line blocking scheme. Certainly not what we watched the last three years.
“He always had a new play that was really hard to defend and get ready for,” Burnham said. “He’s that kind of coach. He’s very cerebral. He did great in matchups and putting people on certain people.”
That is music to my ears, and exactly the kind of thing an offensive coordinator should be doing, especially at a program that should enjoy a marked talent advantage almost every week it steps on the field. Color me excited.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Corch: “No.”
Really, they could have shut down this article after the sixth word in the header without changing the message.
Filed under Urban Meyer Points and Stares
PAWWWLLL!!! is today’s guest Daily Gator.
Come for the Finebaum is high header, but stay for the “put his reputation on the line” bravado.
We should only be so fortunate.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., PAWWWLLL!!!
A savage preseason prediction
On the surface, this is a pretty standard looking preview of Georgia’s season — Dawgs go 9-1, with the only regular season loss at Alabama — but dig a little deeper and you’ll be rewarded with this:
November 28
Williams-Brice Stadium (Columbia, S.C.)
Series History: Georgia leads 51-18-2, but the Gamecocks delivered one of the biggest upsets in recent memory last season
Most Recent Meeting: South Carolina defeated Georgia 20-17 (2OT) on October 12, 2019
Georgia will be out for blood here, and as a result, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp gets fired. The Bulldogs put up their highest point total of the season as Zamir White, James Cook and George Pickens all top 100 yards of offense. Throw in a special teams touchdown on a punt return, and this one is over early. Georgia tops 500 yards of total offense in route to a big win.
Score: Georgia 45, South Carolina 7
Boom getting Kirby’d the year after beating him? As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold and that’s about as cold a take as you can find.
Filed under Agent Muschamp Goes Boom, Georgia Football
The mother of all SEC conspiracy theories
Hoo, boy, if this is right, look out.
Can you imagine the amount of shit that would be thrown Greg Sankey’s way if that’s how the season played out? Or the rank speculation that would be spewed about the decision making process? There ain’t enough popcorn in the world to get us through that scenario.
Filed under SEC Football
Not the hot QB take I was expecting
Barrett Sallee says D’Wan Mathis grabbed the starting quarterback job a couple of weeks ago, and not by default. In fact…
… he believes Mathis is the reason Jamie Newman left. Interesting. Love to know where he got that from.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Mark Richt plays the hits.
This could be a really fun read.
I hope he’s got enough of a sense of humor to play with the lost control meme somewhere in that.
Filed under Georgia Football
Going deep
Marc Weiszer hits on something in this piece I’ve mentioned before.
UGA football’s roster bulges with a whopping 16 players who were rated as five-star recruits, balanced out equally with eight on offense and eight on defense.
“You want to have guys behind you pushing you,” junior cornerback Tyson Campbell said. “That’s the best part about playing at Georgia.”
That quality depth is needed more than ever in this season being played in a pandemic.
It may need to be called on due to players being ruled out due to COVID-19 protocols.
“With concerns for COVID knocking somebody out we’ve got to be deeper than we’ve ever been,” said coach Kirby Smart, whose third-ranked team opens the season Saturday at Arkansas.
Missing spring practice, turnover on coaching staffs, new personnel at key positions — all that stuff is relevant, but I’m not sure any of it is more important in a season of COVID than roster depth.
“The need to be prepared for disruption is reality,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on the SEC Network.
The SEC laid out its policy for what would cause a game to be cancelled or rescheduled.
Teams would need to have at least 53 scholarship players available including seven offensive linemen with one being a center, one quarterback and four defensive linemen. An impacted team could choose to play with fewer than that.
Players are “cross-training,” at practice so they can be plugged in at another spot if a teammate isn’t available.
“We’ve got a lot of guys rotating 1s, 2s, 3s, so if someone does go down, a person is ready to step up and go in there because they’ve been going with 1s, they’ve been going with the 2s,” outside linebacker Jermaine Johnson said.
“We’ve been put in situations in practice we’ll say what if I go down, the next person has got to be up,” wide receiver Kearis Jackson said. “It’s always a next man mentality especially with COVID because of who may get knocked out for this week.”
There are two teams, Alabama and Georgia, better situated to deal with the numbers game than any others in the conference, and, with all due respect to the media members who think otherwise, until I see differently, those are the two I would pick to face off in the SECCG.
Filed under SEC Football, The Body Is A Temple
Get The Picture 