Asking for a friend…
Filed under Georgia Football
“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
Well, Georgia setting some records for the ugliest 1st half’s for a supposedly top 10 team. Maybe we should just start dialing in at half time.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Wuh!
LikeLike
Better than the alternative… Just ask LSU
LikeLiked by 7 people
Alabama up by 21 early in the second quarter. They are going to whup us
LikeLike
I can’t believe how bad Mathis was. Seriously, after all the happy talk. After all the smoke.
He doesn’t see the field. He doesn’t throw with anticipation. He either takes off too quickly or he holds the ball too long, and his erratic play made the o-line much worse than it was.
Stetson came in, settle the offense down, and ran the offense. And when Bennett ran the offense it looked exactly liked I hope it would. Guys open in space. Running lanes for Zeus.
Mathis needs to sit and learn.
Also… Tennessee looks bad and Bobo’s offense looks good.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Kinda settles the question as to exactly why Newman left, eh? It wasn’t because he was feeling pressure from Dwan.
LikeLike
I wonder if the vicious hit on very first drive changed him a bit more than we realize? Maybe not a concussion, but this is a kid just off brain surgery who hasn’t been hit in 2 years at least, and he got rocked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He didn’t look right before the hit. He was anticipating the rush instead of feeling the rush.
He didn’t see the field well at all. All those open receivers Bennett was hitting in the second half? They were there in the first few drives, but you have to throw the ball on time, and Mathis wasn’t doing that.
The moment was too big for him. I think it’s a good wake up call for a kid who might have needed it. I still believe in his talent, but he does not need to start another game this season.
LikeLike
Holy shit Bluto.
Is Arky better than expected? Dawg I hope so
Is Georgia’s defense as good as advertised? See above.
Does Georgia have an issue at QB? Oh yeah.
Buckle up boys, shit just got real…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Truth
LikeLike
Stetson filled in very nicely. I don’t see him as the long term answer. Nor is Dwan. I’m sure that it wasn’t but the play calling seemed much more simplified for Stetson. Maybe it was just his experience and not trying to do too much. Stetson seemed very comfortable in the pocket though.
And how about the Pirate?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t want Pirate as our coach, but I’d be crazy not to lust after him as OC. Not that he’s taking that….only a pipe dream, of course.
LikeLike
Stetson made me feel better in Monken in that he knows what he’s doing and can scheme guys open. But he has no arm strength and will get eaten alive.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I saw him throw some strikes. With our D I’m happy with Bennett. Mathis is just FSU Blackman bad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a really good comparison actually.
LikeLike
Yeah, except Blackman has started multiple games over, what, three seasons? Mathis has played forty minutes?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sure. I mean, you’re losing 5% with every transaction, but maybe you can make it up with volume.
LikeLike
I have no idea if this applies here, but the concept made me laugh hard.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s too harsh man. Think about it. Stetson is one of maybe 60 young men in the country that can even function in that environment. Can you really put yourself there, or anyone you know? Damn dude, kid did great and will only get better. He has a lot of great athletes around him. Hell, he isn’t an worse than Fromm!
Yeah, AL might eat us alive, might not. We kind of feel that way right now, but Kirby is working his way UP and Nick is trying like hell to hang on. Let’s just enjoy what is happening and be hopeful that Kirby gets his shit right and kicks Nicky in the nuts. By the way, we have to kick AU in the nuts too, which wont be fun based on what we saw today, lol.
Damn, SEC ball at it’s finest.
LikeLiked by 8 people
That’s all well and good, but I know when a ball takes too long to get to the receiver. I lived through Joe Cox. And Bennett, God love him, doesn’t have the arm strength.
LikeLiked by 6 people
He also throws low motion. He’ll have tipped balls, just like today.
LikeLike
Lol. Well he looks about 5-8.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Better question is which upset win is bigger, K State’s or Miss State’s? I am just glad we got ship righted.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank coach Pittman for the cover with that second time out allowing another chance to make the missed field goal.
Glad # 2 got another chance to play. I was wondering if there was some amazing half time adjustment on offense or maybe we just wore the defense down. No to both of those thoughts. It just seems like the game is moving way too fast for him. No time for on the job training now.
It’s Auburn week in October WTF.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, I fell for the ad that asked you to vote for president. I hate that I fell for it. Dont like ads or links. Now my fake inbox will be flooded.
LikeLike
It is disturbing to me that mathis was in the back smoking and joking instead of being on point paying attention being involved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He’ll learn. Or not. Either way, Stetson or JT starts next week.
LikeLike
Smoking? I must have missed that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Its an expression of behavior
LikeLike
Sure sounds like a dog whistle
LikeLike
Wtf are you on about. Get out of here
LikeLike
It’s a military term. Don’t act like a jackass.
Why is it only certain kinds of people can hear these “dog whistles.”
Y’all ever notice that? It’s only a certain kind of people, and it’s never who you’d expect.
LikeLike
“Smokin’ and jokin’” is a dog whistle? It just means “goofing off”. It’s as old as my grandma’s false teeth. Relax.
LikeLiked by 8 people
An all SEC season is really awesome. We get AU next week! Time to play or go home! What fun. That prick Hilinski there a pick six, love it. Every play is live or die.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hilinski was beat out. He isn’t playing.
LikeLike
We’ve said all along that this team doesn’t need a great QB..just one that can manage the game, throw it around a bit and not hurt you. That’s what we saw with SB tonight. I love Dwan and he seems like a great young man..when he gets some more experience he will be good…but that may be a year away. he didn’t have the speed I expected…he was consistently beaten getting to the corner on runs. For now..unless AJ is ready and ABLE…I think Kirby’s best move is to stick with the steady hand.
LikeLike
OL run blocking is not good. Special teams are unreal. Praying for Daniels knee.
LikeLike
It may or may not be, but it is obvious that Kirby has to get over his fetish of inside zone being the bread and butter. It worked in 2017 and 18, and hasn’t since.
LikeLike
Man. I kept saying “inside zone” like a parrot
LikeLiked by 1 person
In his mind, it’s always 2017 where that play was the foundation that everything else was cleanly built off of. But Lamont and the guards were awesome at the combo block and then getting to second level. Hill is not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Plus the greatest RB duo….in history. That helps a lot. Youre spot on.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hill still has issues snapping the Ball!
LikeLiked by 1 person
On one he did for sure. On the first one, Mathis completely whiffed because he was worried about the rush.
LikeLike
I can’t even be upset about all the horrendous play. In my head I’m thinking about this as a “throw away” season. Nothing about it seems “real” to me yet. LSU loss and Oklahoma loss just reinforced that for me. Maybe it will change as the season progresses but if not who cares? I don’t. I’m just happy we’re getting to watch football at all.
LikeLiked by 5 people
That seems ridiculous to me, because do you know who doesn’t think of this as a throwaway season?
The Dawgs. Richard Lecount and Eric Stokes and Jordan Davis who all came back. Stetson Bennet who just played his heart out on the field. They don’t see it as a throwaway season. Get on board, Jared.
You know who also don’t see this as a throwaway season? KJ Costello and Mike Leach, who just did what you said they couldn’t do. Convenient for you to blame it on a “throwaway” season to diminish what the did.
LikeLike
Dude. I love Georgia football. But I’m a hard-working dude who’s in graduate school part-time, and I work even harder at spending quality time with my wife and four kids, and simply keeping same during the Covid Era. This football season is about #27 on my list of “important things I’m paying attention to this year”. Sorry if this doesn’t float your boat.
On Mike Leach, I congratulate you on somehow being able to make MSU’s big win Saturday a part of EVERY SINGLE thread since they won. Quite an accomplishment. But please note, their truly impressive performance doesn’t negate my major (and most recent) point on Leach. I said specifically I expected that at the end of his tenure at MSU we’d all look back and say something like “wow, he had a couple impressive upsets!” Other than that, I don’t expect much. If he beats another Top 5 team this year I’ll eat my words.
LikeLike
*sane, not same, of course
LikeLike
I’m on the boat, J. I’m viewing this as an exhibition season. We weren’t going to win a championship this year to begin with. 2021 can’t get here soon enough.
PS. There’s a reason every pundit drawing a paycheck says we lose the East to UF.
LikeLike
I think the season will be full of surprises. And by the time it wraps up and we watch an SECCG we’ll have the same feeling about the season in total as we just did about this game. Like, “this is so weird. What in the world did I just watch?”
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m so proud of Stetson, but we need JT cleared asap or we could be looking at 2 losses before Bama.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately Mathis just looked lost today. I’m not sure he has the mental chops to play in the SEC. Thank god for Stetson, and get cleared soon, Daniels.
LikeLike
I really feel for Mathis; he looked shell-shocked in the game. I’d love to have a quarterback who can read defenses and throw both touch passes and strikes, but after that first quarter, all I wanted was someone who would lead the unit on the field. Bennett gave us that in the second half. For me, the jury is still out on the Luke hire (Arky defense pushed our offensive line all over the field in the first half), but the gamble on a special teams coach seems (so far) to have paid off. Might be the best positive for the day other than pulling out the win.
LikeLike
Dwan had his chance and he failed. He might as well transfer because he won’t see the field in any meaningful way again barring injury to all of the other qb’s. I’m not impressed with the run blocking at all. Defense settled down and Felipe Franks did Felipe Franks things which entails making his team suck. I’m thoroughly impressed with the special teams. Overall, a win is a win and I’ll take em any way the team can get em. As long as the mail man keeps delivering, keep him at helm. He earned it IMO.
LikeLike
We better not run off vandagriff. I love kirby for many things but he has continually not impressed with QB management. I agree, mathis may be pretty good at a small school. Its shocking he was tbe starter. And there’s no way a guy with 3 years of playing time “lost out and quit” to mathis. Newman just got money and elected to stay healthy and get full time training. And maybe he saw that we weren’t exactly crushing it on O. And would not have been the best look
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think this is probably correct. Which is tough, bc we clearly have some talent, but it’s a disjointed mess.
I will say that I felt better about Monkin as the game went on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Think it’s pretty clear monken is getting a lot more players involved in a lot more variety of plays.
LikeLike
And he got players open over the middle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
TE TD!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Chuck, I think Kirby put a lot of faith and effort into Jamie Newman and gave him the lions share of practice reps in the wake of Fromm leaving. He’s making the best of a bad situation and the offense hadn’t been load tested until tonight. Arkansas may not be the most talented team, but Pittman is a good coach with a ton of time in our program. He’s got a good O line (That’s his thing, right?) and he used it well. I’ll give some props to the Dawgs for getting their shit together in the second half and to Monken for giving Mathis a chance to get back at it once things were in hand. That being said, It’s going to be a tough row to hoe with the schedule. Let’s see what happens next week.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Very reasonable. I mostly agree. I think Kirby got wind about Newman especially during that week he disappeared, and that’s why he got JT. There’s a lot more to the quarterback management situation but it’s in involves going through the past and we don’t need to do that anymore
LikeLike
It’s showtime. We’re gonna go with what we got. GATA Dawgs…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Keep in mind that this was Dwan’s very first college football game. He was grounded for a year with surgery. I think he’ll come around..he’s still a little inexperienced. Although he’s not ready yet, he has a great upside and future as a Dawg. But yes, Stetson was the hero today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There were some bettors sweating out garbage time.
LikeLike
Especially if you let a friend have the ESPN line of 28…and lost. 😢
LikeLike
I thought Dwan looked good, but things escalated quickly. He pulled up short on a scramble and that made everyone – including Kirby- question him. He has a good arm and great legs. If a few penalties don’t get called he plays the whole game.
LikeLike
He can throw it a mile, who knows where it lands and he looked slow.
LikeLike
Def was a second or half behind. On the money but Juuuust not there. That’s why we are all “shit, wtf”.
LikeLike
D’wan reminds me of a buddy I used to train with. Said buddy is about D’wan’s size, and has the same gait. Fucker can run very far, very fast, and his stride is about 20 feet when he gets there. But it takes him a minute to get there. Not football fast, in other words.
D’wan will do well to trust his pocket and use his arm.
LikeLike
Yea. Hes not so much a runner. He’d crush the perfect draw though. But arky is as easy as it gets. Im rooting for him. Maybe he’s the senior that kills it
LikeLike
Hell of a second half. Damn!
LikeLiked by 2 people
There will be a lot of improvement between games one and two..but I don’t know if the offense will improve enough to handle Auburn.
LikeLike
This was painful and I don’t want to go through this again. While it turned out for us, there better be a whole lot of coachin’ going on this week!
LikeLike
D’Wan is a tough kid and deserves our admiration. He was thrown into the deep end tonight, and it showed. He didn’t look slow, just tentative, and it threw the whole offense out of kilter. He also took a hell of a shot running to the sideline early in the game, which seemed to rattle him even more. Fact is, in short order we’ve gone from a supposedly stacked QB room to having a QB problem. Maybe Bennett will be enough, but the other option is working with a rebuilt, untested knee. Problem? Yes.
LikeLike
If getting the start against the worst team in the sec is the deep end….ah…n/m
LikeLike
Vandy resents the snub, LOL. I’d say playing in the SEC is a leap into the deep end. Just my opinion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He also played when their D was fresh and fired up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If Mathis beat out Newman, I’m glad we weren’t subjected to that bum.
I’m sure Stetson is a good kid, and he certainly bailed us out today, but he has no arm. ‘Bama, and probably Auburn, will eat him alive. Everybody better pray hard for J.T. this week.
LikeLike
mathis didn’t beat out newnan.
LikeLike
I know that man. But there has been talk in the last few days that Mathis was so good that Newman decided he’d be better off opting out.
LikeLike
Let’s just take a moment to remember that Kentucky has a player named Kavosiey Smoke. They got a bad deal today.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mike Bobo went with the wrong QB.
Of course Mike Bobo went with the wrong QB.
Mike Bobo is the guy who wanted sCam as a TE and didn’t recruit Deshaun Watson until too late.
Helinski is a good young QB with moxie. So of course Mike Bobo went with the safe, boring, Joe Cox-like guy who isn’t going to do anything to help his team win a close game.
LikeLike
So you’re saying it’s Bobo’s fault?
LikeLike
I mean, that we didn’t get sCam and Watson at UGA? Yeah, I feel good pinning that on Bobo.
LikeLike
Didn’t we have $cam for a minute?
Other than that sure. I love blaming Bobo.
LikeLike
He’s a solid OC. His problem is he is too comfortable with being comfortable, or trying all he can do to be comfortable.
There is no reason in hell a guy like Colin Hill should’ve started that game tonight. Tyler Hilinski is more talented and we’ve seen him play well in this conference. It’s not like Hilinski was D’Wan Mathis or something (too soon?).
But Mike Bobo did the same thing as when he went with Joe Cox when he probably should’ve started Aaron Murray as a true freshman, or when he and Richt went with JT3 instead of Stafford from the beginning. He gacked the decision and went with his own comfort over the guy who has the “it” factor.
LikeLike
Kinda seems like CMB likes “Yes men” rather than taking advantage of the true talent he’s been provided?
Just sayin…
LikeLike
I don’t think it’s “Yes men,” it’s just he has a risk-adverse, play-not-to-lose approach to coaching football. It’s why he’s a good pairing for Boom. It’s why I thought he’d be a good pairing for Kirby (in Kirby’s mind).
He’s solid, but not spectacular. He’s a slightly better version of Jim Chaney. Or Jim Chaney is a slightly worse version of Mike Bobo.
Bobo would rather have a Joe Cox than a guy like Mettenberger. He got lucky that Aaron Murray was there, but either Murray or Mettenberger would’ve been better off playing in 2009 instead of Joe Cox.
Colin Hill should not get another start at Sakerlina if Boom values his job.
LikeLike
Let me clarify, I dislike Cam Newton based on character. He’s a dick and I’m glad he doesn’t represent the G.
Deshaun on the other hand is a class act. CMB certainly deserves some flak for that.
LikeLike
All you say is true.
LikeLike
Everybodies pitch and catch looks better than us. We dont have enough burners and stetson aint exactly a nail driver. This is getting old.
LikeLike
Chuck, what were you watching in the second half? The offense looked really good after the first drive of the second half.
Guys were open in space. They were actually schemed open in space! How about that? Once we had a QB in there who saw the field, you saw just how open receivers were. Zeus had running lanes, too, once the defense had to respect the pass. There was even a TE TD! And it was over the middle! In fact, Bennett threw over the middle often.
Bennett’s arm looked find. Nick Mullens didn’t have an Elway-like arm, and he was good in this offense. I think we can safely say the moment was way too big for Mathis. The moment was not too big for Bennett. He looked good. He ran the offense well.
I wanted to slit my wrists in the first half, but Chuck, I’m feeling good after the second half.
LikeLiked by 1 person
UGA is terrible!!! They will be lucky to win 4 games this year. Just awful.
LikeLike
And I said it before and I’ll say it again James Cook doesn’t need to play.
LikeLike
Guess who coming… to our ci-tay?
Gameday in Athens for The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
They better not pick some dumbass random rapper from Atlanta with no ties to Georgia a the guest picker like last year.
I mean FFS, Kyle Chandler, aka Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights, is a damn Georgia grad!
Why not NEWMAN aka Wayne Knight?
Sawyer from LOST?
Ryan Seacrest?
Anybody than a D-list rapper.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know what it takes but it sure would be nice to come out killing and slayin. Just like bama and Clemson. Maybe Athens life is just a little too Kush
LikeLike
I thought we would have decent sense of what the ceiling on the offense could be, after game 1. You know, flashes.
Nope. We know what the floor is, though.
Disconcerting opening act.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bama covered yesterday? I think not.
LikeLike
Ripped out to. 28-3 lead and then coasted with back ups. Kind of the opposite of what Georgia did yesterday.
LikeLike
Unfortunately UGA has to always do things the hard way and that’s a reason why they will never be on the same level as Alabama.
LikeLike
ATM had a rough day. Lol. What a year
LikeLike
If the halfs were flipped and Bennett six inches taller we’d all be happy. Upper classmen’s leadership seemed to be the key to the comeback. Sure glad LeCounte came back.
Need a couple more hours sleep before dawn. That’s when the French and Indians attack.
Auburn sucks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Munson level worried here. O line looks iffy. RBs did not look good. James Cook reminds me too much of Tron – fast but unable to break tackles. Zeus still looking for a run longer than 20 yards. QB situation is scary. Yes, only one quarter, but Mathis looked overwhelmed. Bennet does not have a D-1 arm; he’ll throw too many interceptions (as he did at Juco level). Hopefully, PFF is wrong about Daniels, and he is cleared asap. We are in deep, deep dung otherwise.
Special teams (dayum!), Kearis and TEs were all pleasant surprises, but none of that will matter unless we get better QB play.
LikeLike
I feel ya. I didn’t see much of anything from our offense to hang our hats on. Let’s get the caveat out of the way that it was just one game, but it was one game against probably the worst defense we’ll play all year.
The running back room is solid, but for the first time in several years, we don’t have a certified gamebreaker in the backfield, at least not as of right now. The problems from last year of our offensive line failing to get a consistent push and receivers being unable to separate bled over into yesterday. Stetson had a feel-good performance, but I can’t say I’m super confident going to war against the likes of Bama and Florida with him as our guy.
I’m not going to go all doomsday and say we’re headed for four or five losses. Our defense is too dominant for that. But for this to be a special season, the offense will need to do its part. Right now, we still have a LONG way to go on that side of the ball.
LikeLike
How can we tell if we have a game breaker at running back when they’re running into a wall of bodies at the line of scrimmage. I thought Zeus looked pretty good (5.5 yards per carry). Odom sold out to stop the interior running game.
LikeLike
I’m not down on Zeus, he just hasn’t shown us yet that he belongs in the same tier as Gurley, Chubb, Michel, or Swift. Perhaps he is that caliber of back and he just needs better blocking to prove it. I still have a ton of hope for him, certainly.
Hoping we see Milton get some burn soon. I’m pretty over Cook at this point.
LikeLike
If Bennett can play the same against better teams, the offense will be fine. If not, Daniels needs to get cleared fast, or they’ll have to see what Beck can do. Maybe Mathis will develop into a good player down the road, but he was a mess in this game. I don’t think that can be fixed this year.
On the bright side, the defense was as good as advertised, and special teams looks like a strength. The offense doesn’t have to be outstanding to win most games, just functional.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kearis Jackson was O star of the game.
Monken believes and proves TE’s are weapons, not walls.
Pickens is a man.
Stetson is a DGD but should see if Tom Cruise has a spare pair of cleats he can borrow.
D and Special teams worked…what else can we keep stealing from Bama?
RBU looks like a Juco right now, but they’ll find their rhythm.
D is nasty in that good way.
Monken was first half all “Wut? We practiced this stuff?!” Second half was really good coaching and calling what worked with a LOT of help from the D and ST.
If Daniels is not an option, expect Kirby/Monken to rotate Stetson and Mathis situationally. Change in tempo and style could drive defenses nuts.
Would love to know if Kirby used Fire or Ice in halftime locker room. Whichever worked. Maybe it was both…Fire for D and Ice for O.
Florida gets all the press now…good. We need to stay the course, attend to business, pounce in Jax.
25k Dawg fans gonna need to bring it next week. Can’t let Auburn get comfortable and go fast on O.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t believe in ugly wins…
LikeLike