It’s here.
It’s the right thing to do. It also means we won’t have to hear any more pained excuse making for a waiver, or see kids like Luke Ford get screwed over by a technicality.
Use it wisely, kids.
Daily Archives: October 14, 2020
An offensive coach
Is it possible to be offended by a Florida coach being a dumbass? Asking for a friend.
************************************************************************
UPDATE: As putdowns go, this one’s pretty good.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
All the makings of a classic
Shot.
Chaser.
Leave the damned bottle on the bar.
************************************************************************
UPDATE: And there it is.
First open date for both teams to make the game up is December 12.
Filed under SEC Football, The Body Is A Temple
Stetson Bennett and a tale of two halves
Three weeks in, PFF ranks Georgia’s quarterback seventh overall in the conference, but it’s the breakdown that’s interesting.
In the first halves of Georgia’s three games, Bennett has posted a 56.5 passing grade, the worst in the SEC. In the second halves, Bennett has posted a 90.9 passing grade, the best in the SEC.
Georgia’s been a second half team for the most part so far. We’ve chalked a lot of that up to defensive adjustments, but it looks like Bennett plays a role in that, too. Can Monken coach him up more out of the gate?
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
“Georgia has really good special teams,” Saban said.
The Roll ‘Bama Roll assessment in the previous post neglected to mention one area. It’s an area coached by Scott Cochran, so maybe they simply haven’t figured out a snark-free way to approach the subject. It’s hard to be sarcastic about the job Cochran’s done so far.
Well, Georgia is ranked No. 3 nationally in special teams efficiency by the ESPN Power Index.
The Bulldogs lead the nation in net punting (47.7), are first in the SEC in kickoff returns (42.8) They are one of just two SEC teams to have blocked a punt and haven’t allowed a single punt to be returned.
Jake Camarda leads the nation in punting average at 51.0 yards. Walk-on kicker Jack Podlesny is second in the SEC in field goal percentage after converting on 7 of 8 attempts.
Kenny McIntosh is third in the nation in kickoff returns, and Kearis Jackson is second in the SEC in punt returns.
Alabama is 24th in special teams efficiency, so it’s no slouch, either. But it’s not as good as Georgia.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Roll ‘Bama Roll’s Mortal Lock of the Week
Alabama -6 vs Georgia:
Yep. We’re here. Risking my 6-0 record on the season to give you an ironclad guarantee — Alabama will win this game, and will do so by double digits. Why?
First of all, the ‘Dawgs are undoubtedly impressive up front. They’ve bullied Auburn, turned it on against Arkansas, and slopped around versus Tennessee before finally pulling away. But in no case has the offense been impressive doing so. And it is just an offense that matches up better with an intellectually challenged Alabama defense, with inexperience all over the place. Hat-on-a-hat, UGA doesn’t want to trick you; they want to punish you up front. And that simple violence is precisely what this defense can likely counter the best. See Mizzou and Aggy.
On defense, the Bulldogs have seen absolutely nothing like the hellfire that can be dumped over their head in gooey buckets as they will on Saturday. Do they want to blitz against UA’s outstanding pass-blocking line and leave some iffy corners on an island against the speedy ‘Bama wide receivers? This says nothing of Mac Jones, who’s shown the willingness to scorch people over the top. Do the Dawgs sit back in a zone, where Mac is coming off a career game picking apart the same? Will they crowd the box on standard downs to sell-out against Najee, leaving screens and and dangerous double-move play-action passes open? We’ve not even seen what the Tide offense can do outside of the very vanilla plays its been tormenting opponents with to date.
And it’s on the road, where Road Kirby is not Home Kirby and the ‘Dawgs were gifted the Vols and Barn at home. Thus, their biggest test is on the road, against a man and a team that they’ve come to expect heartache from, and against whom Kirby has made some woeful coaching calls.
Yes, it will be a step up in class for the Tide offense. We won’t see stupid track meets that have become a fixture of Saturdays in 2020. Yes. We will still see screwups in execution by the Tide, particularly with Battle sitting for a half. And we will still see some frustrating big plays allowed and aggravating missed tackles. But, at the end of the day, a smart Mac Jones and too much team speed wins games.
If we’ve learned anything the last half-decade it’s that elite offense beats elite defenses 99 times out of 100…or certainly when it matters most. And the best one on the field will be wearing crimson. The Tide gets a garbage score late to make it look worse than it is, but ‘Bama covers: Alabama 34 — Georgia 20
‘Bama scoring 34, garbage time or not, certainly isn’t outside the realm of possibility (although if there’s a defense that can match speed, it’s this Georgia one), and his point about elite offense is my biggest concern about Saturday, but I am intrigued by the confidence shown in the defense holding Georgia to 20. Particularly, I doubt anyone who has closely watched Georgia’s offense this season would boil Monken’s approach down to a simple “Hat-on-a-hat, UGA doesn’t want to trick you; they want to punish you up front”. Maybe I’m wrong about that, though. Thoughts?
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football
Your 10.14.20 Playpen
This Q&A with Walton Goggins is all kinds of awesome.
I know I only have you for a little bit here, so is it okay if I finish by asking you a very specific question about Justified that’s been banging around my head for like five years now?
[laughs] Yes. Yeah.
Okay, good, because I’m going to go crazy if I don’t. In season four of Justified, before things all start going sideways, Boyd develops this plan to get out of crime and go legit. And his plan involves opening a Dairy Queen franchise. Do you think Boyd Crowder would have been a successful Dairy Queen franchise owner?
I think he would have been a very successful Dairy Queen franchise owner, very successful. And that episode in particular, it’s very … All of this shit is very personal to me. I’m a poor kid from Georgia. We’re divided on a lot of things in this country. The one thing that a lot of us aren’t divided on is poverty. And for me, Boyd Crowder was what I wanted to say about rural America and my version of it. And that for him, there was a glass ceiling, and he couldn’t break it. And all he ever wanted was that, was the ability to escape a life that he came from, and to be somebody, and to be respected in a different way, and not through fear and intimidation.
With my story, I participated in kind of all of it. And I said, “We got to say this, man.” Because there was a dude in my hometown whose dad had four Dairy Queen franchises, and he made it. He was a success. And so, to answer your question, as fastidious as Boyd Crowder was, and as great of a compartmentalizer as he was… yeah, I think you would have seen Dairy Queens popping up in places that you never anticipated.
I’m very glad you said that because I’ve always had a theory that Boyd Crowder would have become the South’s greatest ice cream tycoon.
Absolutely. He would sell more Blizzards than anyone in any state in America.
That would have made one helluva Justified spinoff series, if you ask me.
And with that, have at it in the comments.
Filed under GTP Stuff
What the Ole Miss-Alabama game doesn’t tell us, part two
He’s right, you know. Which in one sense is a shame, because PO’d Nick Saban is the best Nick Saban.
If you’re looking for an explanation as to what Junior ran to frustrate Saban, Andy Staples’ primer ($$) is an excellent reference piece.
Basically, Ole Miss runs a variation of Art Briles’ Baylor offense, which relies on extremely wide deployment of receivers to reduce the middle of the field to a counting game for the quarterback in choosing whether to run or throw, and combines that with a crazed rate of pace all game. Neither of those features are in Georgia’s wheelhouse.
The question I’ve got after watching that game is whether Alabama’s poor fundamentals on defense were simply the result of what Ole Miss was throwing at it, or if there are deeper problems for the Tide on that side of the ball. I’m hoping for the latter, but there’s no way to know for sure until we see Saturday night.
In any event, whatever Todd Monken has up his sleeve to exploit Alabama’s defense won’t be the same as what the Laner had.
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
What the Ole Miss-Alabama game doesn’t tell us, part one
Alabama sports the best offense in the country. It was other-worldly last Saturday. But consider the competition.
Left with little defensive talent, Kiffin in his first season at Ole Miss hasn’t hidden the fact his Rebels have to outscore everybody. Opponents are scoring a touchdown once every 10.4 snaps. Alabama quarterback Mac Jones had more pass completions of at least 20 yards (seven) than incompletions (four). “I joked with Coach [Saban] afterwards,” Kiffin said. “‘I thought they played defense in the SEC.'”
Ole Miss’ defense through three games is giving up 8.79 yards per play, which is worst in the country. To give you an idea how wretched that is, North Texas, ranked 71st in that metric, is close to a yard-and-a-half lower than the Rebels.
Georgia, by the way, ranks second, at 3.70. ‘Bama will face more resistance this week.
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
How the rich get richer
Shorter Knight Commission survey: I mean, say what you want about the tenets of P5 schools’ greed, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, The NCAA
Get The Picture 
You must be logged in to post a comment.