Kirby’s revised remarks

Life is more than a tweet, sometimes.

“We’ve got to play our brand of football and help Stetson with the people around him,” coach Kirby Smart said last week. “That’s probably the No. 1 thing.”

So what exactly, Smart was asked Monday, is that “brand of football,” these days?

“What the defense gives you,” Smart said. “If they’re playing man-to-man, we’ve got to be able to take shots and make plays. If they’re playing off coverage and giving us RPOs, we’ve got to be able to take it. If they’re taking chances on the run then we’ve got to play-action them to get on top, you’ve got to be able to do it. It never changes. I think you guys want a perfect answer. It’s really a lot more about what are you good at and what can we do better than they do.”

Anodyne, sure, but that makes sense.

“Balance is always important, but balance is not 50-50,” Smart said. “When you look across the league, teams that are able to run the ball and play-action pass and do those things are the ones that are most successful regardless of the total number of points and the total number of yards and all the different statistics. Don’t turn it over. You’ve got to have an ability to run the ball and you really need to be able to run the ball when you’ve got a quarterback who is still developing and still young and doesn’t have the experience of a guy that maybe has.”

Not sure that Bennett qualifies as “still young”, but what I read there is what I read in the Cliff’s Notes version earlier:  he doesn’t trust Bennett enough in the passing game to let him carry the offense.  So I guess Smart’s current offensive philosophy is take what the defense gives you, but you really need to be able to run the ball… even if it’s not what the defense gives you?

There are times when I really wish he’d change his stance on coordinators speaking to the media.

And, yes, I have no idea what “balance is not 50-50” means, either in the Bobo sense or the Leach one.  Other than that, carry on, fellas.

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UPDATE:  Seth Emerson’s one-sentence summary ($$) is better than what I just wrote:  “Georgia is somewhere between old school and new school, not really sure what it wants to be.”

Sure, some of that you can blame on turnover at the quarterback position the coaches weren’t expecting.  But some of that sounds like a head coach who’s not completely sold on what he bought with the new offensive coordinator.

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OR is on the roster.

I see Stoops is going with the tried and true “when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have any” approach.

Kentucky's depth chart has Terry Wilson OR Joey Gatewood as the starting quarterback this week.

— Derek Terry (@DerekSTerry) October 26, 2020

A time-tested strategy… which is not the same thing as saying a successful one.

You got questions? Kirby’s got answers.

Swear to Gawd, it sounds like somebody’s been reading the blog for the past week.

Kirby Smart said Georgia's "brand of football" is what the defense gives you…

— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) October 26, 2020

KIRBY: It's: don't turn it over, and you have to be able to run the ball.

— DawgPost (@Dawg_Post) October 26, 2020

KIRBY: The outcome is determined by what we do, not what the weatherman does.

— DawgPost (@Dawg_Post) October 26, 2020

I know I’m comforted by that.

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UPDATE:  This, too.

Kirby asked about Nick Saban's philosophy of 'great defenses will not stop great defenses':

Smart points out that the Alabamas and the Clemsons that have won recently ALSO had great defenses in addition to great offenses.

— 960 The Ref (@960theref) October 26, 2020

A not so promising trend

Here’s Stetson Bennett’s game log for 2020, so far:

His completion percentage has dropped in every game he’s played.  And before you say, “’cause Alabama”, note that he’s the only quarterback to face the Tide this season who didn’t complete half of his pass attempts.

That’s not how this is supposed to work.

Kentucky is vulnerable in that area.  The ‘Cats are currently 11th in the SEC in defensive completion percentage.  It’s a good opportunity for Bennett to gain some confidence in the game plan and his place in it.

So much for the honeymoon.

Shorter Actual Stingtalk:  “Geoff Collins is a Joke“.

It really sucks Georgia doesn’t play Tech this season.

SEC net ypp, Week 5

Five weeks in, here’s the conference order by net yards per play, with the offensive ypp and defensive ypp, respectively, in parenthesis.  As I’ve been doing, I also show the week-to-week change in the net figure (stats via cfbstats.com.)

1. Alabama:  2.39 (8.18; 5.79) [net change:  +.07]
2. Florida:  1.29 (7.61; 6.32) [net change:  DNP]
3. Georgia:  0.67 (5.42; 4.75) [net change: DNP]
4. Mississippi State: 0.52 (5.08; 4.56) [net change:  DNP]
5. TAMU:  0.47 (6.43; 5.96) [net change:  DNP]
6. Kentucky:  0.23 (5.10; 4.87) [net change:  -.05]
7. Auburn:  0.10 (5.53; 5.43) [net change:  +.09]
8. Arkansas:  -0.16 (4.85; 5.01) [net change:  DNP]
9. Missouri:  -0.26 (5.67; 5.93) [net change: -.17]
10. South Carolina:  -0.39 (5.60; 5.99) [net change:  +.06]
11. LSU:  -0.61 (6.56; 7.17) [net change:  +.05]
12. Ole Miss:  -0.85 (6.50; 7.35) [net change:  +.14]
13. Tennessee:  -0.93 (4.88; 5.81) [net change:  -.55]
14. Vanderbilt:  -3.30 (3.95; 7.25) [net change:  DNP]

Here’s the current order for turnover margin.

• +6:  LSU, Arkansas
• +3:  Kentucky, Alabama
• +2:  Auburn, South Carolina
• +1:  Georgia
• -1:  Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
• -4:  Missouri
• -5:  Ole Miss
• -10:  Mississippi State

And, observations:

• The outliers are a story:  Alabama and Vandy in net ypp and LSU, Arkansas and Mississippi State in turnover margin.
• The net ypp numbers are starting to stabilize week over week.  Except for Tennessee’s, that is.
• The Egg Bowl is gonna be a mess, isn’t it?
• Bookends:  LSU and South Carolina both improved their net ypp and that’s also the case for Auburn and Ole Miss.
• Meanwhile, Kentucky’s and Missouri’s both declined.

Today’s stat of the day

Apparently, defense is optional for the Laner ($$):

Every Ole Miss opponent has scored a season-high point total against the Rebels.

Florida scored 51, Kentucky scored 41, Alabama scored 63, Arkansas scored 33 and Auburn scored 35. Those are all season-highs for those teams.

Quite the body of work there.

Could’a been a contendah.

So, Jake Rowe, in defending the proposition that Georgia has a legitimate chance to make it to this season’s CFP, has this to say about its Achilles heel:

It has been said numerous times over the past year that it takes elite offense driven by elite quarterback play to win a National Championship. There are examples to support that and few would argue against it being the best way. No matter who plays the quarterback position at Georgia, it’s almost certainly not in the arsenal this year. Bulldog fans would love for it to be, but it’s just not.

That doesn’t mean the Bulldogs can’t push some boundaries as far as the performance of its overall offense. They don’t have to be some grand exception to the rule and defy all of these insurmountable odds to be a great offense. It’s just going to take improvement and consistency. It starts with whoever plays the quarterback position. Right now that guy is Stetson Bennett IV and minds have already been made up about him, but the feeling inside UGA’s building is that he can play at a much higher level than we’ve seen thus far. He has to take care of the football, use the entire field, and make the defense pay for game planning to take away what he likes to do by crossing up his tendencies.  [Emphasis added.]

Easier said than done, I’m afraid.  Especially when the head coach goes on record saying the offense has to do a better job of helping him.

Currently fourth in the SEC in defensive yards per rush, Kentucky has done a decent job defending the run this season.  I don’t think it takes a strategic genius to expect that the ‘Cats are going to load up to stop Georgia’s running game and make Bennett beat them throwing the ball.  On top of that, UK is also good at limiting explosive passing plays, only allowing a total of three completions of 30 yards or more so far (UGA has allowed six, by comparison).

This week’s game has all the hallmarks of being a grinder, in other words.  Assuming the Dawgs stay out of turnover trouble — Kentucky has yet to win a game in which it wasn’t in positive turnover margin territory — that would suit Smart just fine, even if it doesn’t add much to Bennett’s development.

Georgia has attempted 47, 28, 27 and 40 passes in its four games, an average of 35.5 per game.  I would be surprised if Bennett attempts even 25 throws come Saturday.

Which calls for a reader poll…

SEC Power Poll, Week 5

Every week, I keep hoping the conference waters will become a little less muddy.

I’m still waiting.

1. Alabama.  Will Waddle’s season-ending injury become a factor?  It wasn’t Saturday.
2. Georgia.  With each week’s passing, I understand why pulling in the reins for the remainder of the regular season is so tempting for Kirby Smart.
3. Texas A&M.  The Aggies’ chances to run the table didn’t take much of a hit, assuming they can keep up with LSU’s offense.
4. Florida.  Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how shutting down the program for a week during the regular season isn’t going to hurt the Gators, at least a little, in the short run.
5. LSU.  This team will go as far as outscoring Bo Pelini will take it.
6. Auburn.  If Gus’ rabbit’s foot were an SEC team, I’d rank it third in this week’s Power Poll.
7. Missouri.  Looks like the Tigers found a quarterback.
8. Arkansas.  The Hogs are here because the bottom of the East is a dumpster fire again.
9. South Carolina.  The ‘Cocks averaged 7.9 yards per play and lost by 28.
10. Kentucky.  Can’t blame turnovers for the loss, just a totally ineffective offense.
11. Ole Miss.  Yeah, they got hosed, but if it’s in the service of keeping Malzahn employed as Auburn’s head coach, I’m good with it.
12. Mississippi State.  Next stop, Tuscaloosa.  Leach versus Saban has the potential to be entertaining.  The game, though, probably not so much.
13. Tennessee.  Even the Vol faithful aren’t buying Pruitt’s “remain calm, all is well” act.
14. Vanderbilt.  So you’re saying there’s a chance against Tennessee?

Fabris Pool results, Week 8

This week, a logjam at the top and a tiebreaker:

Congrats to 4boysbrew for pulling it out over a crowd.

There’s a tie at the top of the seasonal standings, too.