This week, we’ll be hearing ad nauseam about the Alabama offense versus the Georgia defense (strength against strength!) and about Saban versus Smart (if you didn’t know that Saban’s never been beaten by a former assistant, you sure as hell will by game time).
But I came across something intriguing yesterday. Speaking of former assistants, look at how Fisher and Kiffin attacked the Alabama defense with their passing games.
Down. The. Middle.
Last season, Coley and Fromm would have completely ignored that. Somehow, I don’t think Monken and Bennett will.
Get The Picture 
For the portion of the game I saw on Saturday night, Junior and Corral were ripping the seams up constantly. Saturday night may call for some McKitty, Fitzpatrick and 0.
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Bennett’s wheelhouse. And he can go fast, too.
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This whole down the middle thing with SBIV is remarkable. As a height-challenged QB, that should be the toughest part of the field for him to see. And as an arm-strength-challenged QB, that should be a concerning part of the field to want to work. Yet, here we are.
More and more I think Fromm’s issues were fear of failure. Hate to say that, but what other conclusion can I draw? SBIV def. does not have that problem. He seems to have no cares about the risks… I guess you have to think that way when you’re an oompa loompa-size guy playing division 1 football.
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His arm is fine when he steps into the throw. He’s sometimes a little late on throws, but some of that is probably lack of reps.
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Fromm’s issue is he did what he was told to do, period, and Coley did what he was told to do.
That offense was so play not to lose it was right out of a defensive-minded head coach’s wet dream.
The reason why Fromm left when everyone including NFL scouts said he shouldn’t is because he couldn’t take another year playing in that offense.
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And yet he barely made the Bills’ roster– it was even speculated that they kept him solely because of his relatively high draft position and not wanting to look like they messed up by taking him.
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WTF are you talking about “relatively high draft position???”
He was a FIFTH ROUND pick!!!
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Man, I’m just the messenger here. https://thebuffalofanatics.com/2020/09/08/the-jake-fromm-situation-in-buffalo/
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I didn’t realize they only do seven rounds now. Maybe the concern was that they drafted him at all. IDK. Either way, he barely avoided getting cut, is the point.
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And he is offsited for covid protection. His career is already toast.
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We’ll never know for certain, but I have to believe Kirby told Jake the offense would change this year.
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CKS knew that after the dust settled on the carolina game (2019)
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Oompa Loompa may be harsh; but Mike Teavee style, yes…
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SBIV is the equivalent of a #14 seed making it to the FInal Four…on paper he’s not supposed to even be there so why would he worry or get nervous. He’s already accomplished more than he was supposed to everything now is just gravy. One thing’s for sure, he ain’t worried about meeting expectations – now he’s just out there for the sheer hell of it.
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Music to my ears. It’s how Burrow tore everyone up last year.
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And unlike Fromm, Bennett hits those throws down the seam with ease.
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Fromm once hit a lot of those throws with ease, too. In 2017. I have a feeling Kirby began to interfere quickly though, because we saw the pass over the middle begin to disappear from the offense in 2018, and all but disappear in 2019.
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Since you said it, I was almost certain that you were wrong:
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/bv176SU
https://www.rotoworld.com/article/qb-klassroom/qb-klassroom-georgia-qb-jake-fromm-part-2
https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/quantifying-quarterbacks-jake-fromm-161319554.html
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Fromm is a DGD. That Rose Bowl is enough to make him a legend.
He’s also was a very average college QB. It’s OK, he’s still a Bulldog great.
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Most accomplished georgia qb ever.
3 sec east titles
1 sec title
1 rose bowl title
1 sugar bowl title
1 national title appearance
3-0 vs Florida, Tennessee and Tech
He wasn’t the most talented, but he won more big games than any other.
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He won big games and beat the crap out of our rivals.
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Add 2 – 0 vs Notre Dame
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He was better than an average college QB. He finished 3rd in the nation in 2018, which was the reason he came into 2019 with first round buzz. Had he had the same year in 2019 as he had in 2018, he wouldn’t have slid beyond the second round of the draft.
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And could sing rocky slop like no other….
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If Fromm had never done anything else in his Georgia career, that right there was enough to make him a DGD for life!
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Athletic, scrambling QB’s have given Bama issues for years. Bennett is a lot like Corral….not that good yet, but he can move and improvise.
Hope it is enough to tire them…
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The middle is simultaneously the weakest and strongest part of the defense. When you catch them flat-footed, you get a 20 yard TD to Kearis Jackson or FitzPatrick on 3rd down.
I’m also simultaneously tired of the inside zone runs while ignoring the edges, but elated about the throws over the middle.
I keep telling myself the offense is a work in progress, but shit, we are still struggling to run between center and guard and guard and tackle in a big way.
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Yet you had to enjoy, as I did, that zone read where SBIV took off toward the sideline for about 12 yards. (only dragged back b/c KJackson held).
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Said the same thing about the inside runs during the game on Saturday – can we get a toss-sweep or off-tackle? (The reverse was nice though!)
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That little simple quick toss has been working well. I want more of it.
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Waiting on a RB to take that toss and then heave it downfield
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The passing success was the ultimate result but Om’s pre-snap motion and tempo really had Bama off from the start. Bama often reminded me of Grantham’s Georgia defenses that were always scrambling and often late to be set at the snap. I have no idea how a DC, in 2020, can not be prepared for that.
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Motion is Monken’s wheelhouse.
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I’m not even sure what Kiffin was doing is called. They’re often have a RB or WR split out and their motion in, which is typical, but then they’d circle around the QB and either line up beside him or sprint back outside just before they snapped. You’d think it should take a lot of time but they were very quick with all of it between getting the play and snapping the ball. I don’t think Bama EVER adjusted it to it.
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Its called jogging around. Technical term.
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Are the refs really gonna let Georgia go fast against Bama in BD? Its a battle we have fought for 20 years. But maybe we at least go to the line fast to stop substitutions.
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Stetson is playing like someone who has absolutely nothing to lose. What’s the worst that could happen? Make him the 4th string quarterback and bring in a 5-star transfer to push him further down the depth chart?
He is living his dream. In the words of Eminem, “you only get one shot, do not miss your chance…”. A gunslinger mentality makes this Monken offense work. And Stetson has it. They’re gonna have to pry the starting job from his cold dead hands at this point.
While defenses will adjust to him, he will keep getting better. Particularly on pre-snap reads and “timing routes”, that just come with experience and repetition.
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As someone who’s still skeptical of our ceiling with a former walk on at QB, I completely concur that a huge plus for Bennet is he absolutely plays like he has nothing to lose but not in a reckless way. My only concern from that is that he’s 5 foot nothing and sometimes on those runs he needs to take a slide to avoid getting splattered like at the end of the Tenn game.
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I was afraid that they would sit on the middle and short routes since Bennett doesn’t have the arm to throw deep but I see Bama may actually be vulnerable there. What a welcome sight, especially knowing that-unlike Fromm, Bennett will throw over the middle.
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He has enough arem to throw it 50 yards. Not many deep balls are thrown and caught further than that. No one throws a bomb from their 40 to the end zone for instance. The throws are short because he is throwing too late.
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Mathew Stafford throws over them mountains
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Ole Miss also had success running up the middle
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And yet somehow I think Saban has seen the same analytics and will be far better prepared in the middle of the field on Saturday. That said, it’s sure refreshing to see us targeting the entire field and to know we have options.
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Fromm fell in love with the back shoulder throw. He felt comfortable with it.
It was well hidden in 2017, because we ran the ball with two NFL running backs about 65% if the time.
By 2019 the book was out on Fromm and the coverage showed it.
I think a lot of the blame gets placed on Coley, and rightly so. But I honestly don’t think Fromm saw the middle of the field well or was so risk averse that he was reluctant to throw into tighter windows inside the hashes or perhaps both.
Stetson, being more of a risk taker, isn’t afraid to go there and Monken’s scheme requires that.
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Generally over the middle you need to throw the WR open, and that wasn’t Fromm’s strength. He feasted on throwing to a spot in zone coverage.
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Did you hear the admiration in Gary’s voice on Saturday when he talked about SB IV “throwing McKitty open” on one of those seam routes?
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