Hey, it’s the Internet. Snap judgments are our specialty!
Anyway, based on this…
… what’s your immediate take on Addae?
Daily Archives: September 7, 2021
Fixin’ to get fixed
Before you get too invested in a “Georgia didn’t score a lot against Clemson because they realized it wasn’t necessary” narrative, you might want to consider an alternate possibility.
Whether it was due to injuries or something else — and, yes, Clemson’s defense is pretty damned decent in its own right — the fact remains that Georgia’s got its share of things to clean up on the offensive side of the ball.
Filed under Georgia Football
Mo’ sco’ or no?
A couple of observations about defenses trying to adjust… and doing so successfully.
Reverend Whitewall sent me an email after the opener, suggesting that Georgia adopted Todd Bowles’ defensive approach in the last Super Bowl:
Drove me nuts last year how even against the top offenses, we just tried to go man across the board and blitz everybody else, then were shocked when our guys got beat one on one by future NFL first round receivers.
The D we ran against Clemson was almost a carbon copy of what Tampa did in the super bowl. We brought guys from different angles but rarely rushed more than 4. Covered the zones behind them. Didn’t let anyone get deep. In some ways, I think the exodus in our secondary was a good thing because it forced Kirby and Lanning to not assume we can just match up man to man against everyone.
And, math:
Obviously, the sample size is way too small to draw any significant conclusions. I also think things are a little more nuanced than what you can suggest in a tweet. (For one thing, Georgia’s defense certainly allowed Monken to get away with being patient. For another, when your offense is explosive like Ole Miss’, avoiding mistakes by being overly aggressive on defense is a smart approach.) But I do wonder if there is something to the idea that defenses are finally starting to adjust. Something to watch for this season, anyway.
Filed under Stats Geek!, Strategery And Mechanics
In defense of Brent Venables
Here’s something Smart said at yesterday’s presser:
On the performance of the offense…
“Well, I think, you’ve got to be careful, because with the receptions, you’ve got to score touchdowns, and we didn’t. So, we’re a very matter of fact judgement and it’s like ‘okay so we didn’t score but, why? Why did we not?’ You go through the reasons why and you go through each play. A lot of it was attention to detail, not converting on third down, missing a couple of explosives. They played us very different than what you would normally say a Clemson team would play. They prepared for speed breaks and shots and fast balls because that’s what they had given up. They did a good job of defending that… [Emphasis added.]
I think a lot of us, after watching the way Clemson’s defense flamed out against Ohio State to the tune of 639 yards of offense, expected at least a certain degree of fireworks from JT Daniels. That it never happened can be chalked up to some extent to the injuries to the receiving corps, but more so to the adjustments Venables made in his game plan. What’s interesting to me about Smart’s quote is that Venables made those adjustments not because of what Georgia did well in its last four games of last season, but because of where his defense was vulnerable.
I saw comments leading up to the game that Venables is one of the best at shoring up deficiencies and I think Saturday night he showed that. That being said, there’s only so much you can do schematically. As Kirby went on to say, “Any time you can run the ball down someone’s throat in four minutes, it’s pretty obvious that they knew we had to run the ball there and we were still able to, so we did some really good things offensively.” True dat. There are few things in life more satisfying to a Georgia fan than watching an offense finish out on a game-ending drive that doesn’t even lead to a score.
Streaked
This doesn’t sound good.
“I thought it was going to be a very tightly contested ballgame.”
Northern Illinois went 0-6 last season and was a big underdog to Georgia Tech. So what was the secret to its success last Saturday?
“After the first couple drives, I said, ‘Let’s get in ‘22’ and see who’s the tougher team,’ ” Hammock said Saturday night following the Huskies’ 22-21 upset win over the Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium. “We wanted to be physical and get after them and keep our defense off the field.”
In other words, to paraphrase Pat Dye, Tech wasn’t man enough to handle Northern Illinois.
Filed under Georgia Tech Football
Oregon’s secret plan to win the natty?
Shot.
“Foot injuries are pretty common in football. It happens a lot, there’s actually been four. We’ve been dealing with Fitz (John FitzPatrick). Very different injuries, completely different. There’s been a big study done and we’ve worked hard in the off season. We had someone come in and tell the guys to wear the right kind of cleats because athletes all want to be fast and shoes have gotten lighter. It has nothing to do with Tate’s, John’s, or anyone else’s. Making sure our guys wear the right shoes because every company makes a speed cleat and a bigger cleat, but you’ve got to fit in your weight category. They all did that, but they’ve all been under different circumstances. A lot of them have been non-contact, so it isn’t a matter of contact.”
Chaser.
With the header, I’m kidding, but Stinch has a good question there.
Filed under Stylin', The Body Is A Temple
SEC Net YPP, Week 1
With the return to a normal non-conference schedule, the context is lacking, but out of a sense of thoroughness, here’s how the first week breaks down for the conference, in order of net ypp.
- Auburn: 7.41 (10.39 o; 2.98 d)
- Kentucky 7.04 (8.42 o; 1.38 d)
- South Carolina 3.43 (5.91 o; 2.48 d)
- Texas A&M 3.35 (7.83 o; 4.48 d)
- Ole Miss 3.18 (7.79 o; 4.61 d)
- Alabama 2.22 (6.51 o; 4.29 d)
- Tennessee 1.81 (5.40 o; 3.59 d)
- Florida 1.79 (6.83 o; 5.04 d)
- Arkansas 1.58 (5.74 o; 4.19 d)
- Missouri 1.36 (6.88 o; 5.52 d)
- Georgia 1.20 (4.20 o; 3.00 d)
- Mississippi State .64 (6.59 o; 5.95 d)
- Vanderbilt -1.04 (4.28 o; 5.32 d)
- LSU -2.14 (5.32 o; 7.46 d)
And here’s how turnover margin looks after week one:
- +2: Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss
- +1: South Carolina
- 0: Auburn, Florida, LSU
- -1: Georgia
- -2: Mississippi State, Tennessee
- -3: Kentucky, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Filed under SEC Football
SEC Power Poll, Week One
So, how was your week? Better than LSU’s, probably. Other than that, lots of cupcake feasting going on.
- Alabama. Miami, you’ve fallen for one of the two classic blunders. The first being never get involved in a land war in Asia but only slightly lesser known: never play the Tide in an opener when a top-20 ranking is on the line.
- Georgia. This may be crazy to say after the Dawgs took down the number three team in the country, but I’m really looking forward to watching how this team improves over the rest of this season.
- Texas A&M. Five turnovers, and the Aggies still win by 31. Your classic cupcake opener, in other words.
- Florida. They played a cupcake and all the Gators got for it is a quarterback controversy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
- Ole Miss. COVID, schmovid, the Lane Train rolls on. But I still have no idea if that defense is better.
- Auburn. Yeah, I know it was Akron, but Bo Nix, 20-22? Is it time to crank up the Heisman machine again? (I keed, I keed.)
- LSU. So much for this team’s problems being about last year’s coordinators.
- Kentucky. Again, ULM is no great shakes, but outgaining your opponent 554-87 is damned good even against air.
- Missouri. Outgained by Central Michigan and only up by three midway through the fourth quarter is no way to go through life, son.
- Tennessee. There’s a difference between having a good athlete playing quarterback and a good quarterback playing quarterback. The Vols are about to find that out.
- Mississippi State. Six turnovers will get you down by 20 in the fourth quarter to La. Tech. Somehow, the Bulldogs clawed their way back to the biggest comeback in the program’s history.
- Arkansas. Rice with a 10-point lead in the third quarter was not the prettiest start for the Pittboss.
- South Carolina. 46-0 over Eastern Illinois. Savor the moment, ‘Cocks.
- Vanderbilt. The Admiral got blown by East Tennessee State.
Filed under SEC Football
Honk if you sacked DJ Uiagalelei.
Just an amazing effort all night.
*************************************************************************
UPDATE: More here.
Filed under Georgia Football
Get The Picture 
You must be logged in to post a comment.