This is equally painful and amusing.
That worked out well.
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UPDATE: The full quote has a pretty great punchline.
Daily Archives: October 4, 2021
CBS comin’.
Brad and Gary showing up for the Kentucky game…
Here’s what the whole day looks like:
Dawgs have an off week after that — and then get Brad and Gary again.
Filed under Georgia Football
If you don’t have your health, what have you got?
At 41 ppg, Georgia is eighth nationally in scoring. They’ve managed that while missing several key members of their receiving corps in those games, along with their starting quarterback from two of the five.
Is Todd Monken a wizard? I’m willing to consider the possibility.
Filed under Georgia Football
No hard feelings
This is what I posted about after the game the other day. Pretty damned cool.
Filed under Georgia Football
And now, the Auburn game
Let’s just get this out of the way.
I’m gonna let Bill Connelly ($$) kick off this week’s festivities with this observation:
The “I’m not falling for it, Bo Nix” list
Bo Nix. Auburn’s quarterback, the subject of a quarterback controversy just a week earlier, was at his wheelingest and dealingest on Saturday night in Death Valley, escaping impossible pressure on multiple opportunities, making some wild decisions and leading the Tigers to their first road win over LSU since 1999.
It was a glorious adrenaline rush, and for entertainment’s sake, here’s to hoping he provides a few more moments and games like that. But Georgia’s defense is on deck. Let’s just say a renewed quarterback controversy seven days from now wouldn’t be the most surprising thing in the world.
For all the wheeling and dealing, don’t lose sight of the fact that Nix finished the LSU game with a 108.45 passer rating. The second coming of Mac Jones he’s not.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands, Georgia Football
Observations from the 35, Hawg-tied edition
In some respects, the outcome wasn’t a surprise at all. I expected a comfortable margin, which is what we got, although Arky’s loss of composure starting on the first series of the game made for a lot more comfort than I predicted. Still, the under was the correct play.
That being said, Saturday was a reminder that I’m a blogger and Todd Monken is paid what he’s paid because he’s a great offensive coordinator. I looked at Arkansas’ 3-2-6 defense and had visions of 12 formations and tight ends blowing up Odom’s scheme. Monken looked at that three-man front and went with manball to blow up Odom’s scheme. I’m not sure I even saw any 12 formations until the second half. No Georgia tight end caught a pass. (Of course, when there were only seven completions, there aren’t going to be many throws to catch.)
Georgia’s run-pass ratio was 56-11. That’s Kirby Smart’s wet dream. Arkansas only ran 45 plays all game, partly because Georgia’s offense hogged time of possession and partly because out of the ten series Arky ran, they went three-and-out in seven of them.
One other part of Monken’s game plan that deserves much credit was how he used shifts to throw off the Arkansas defense. Several of those running plays were helped by bad run fits as the Hog defenders were often misaligned as they tried to adjust.
Stetson said after the game he was told last Monday he’d be the starter because of the injury to Daniels. Monken knew all week where he was going with his game plan. Talk about taking what the defense gives you! If it wasn’t perfect for the opponent, it’ll do until perfect comes along. My hat’s off to the man.
On to the bullet points.
- This was by far the best blocked game of the season. There were a minimal number of whiffs — no sacks and three or four tackles for loss. And there were a ton of line surges where offensive linemen were easily getting to the next level. The final averages on running plays may not have been that impressive, but that was because Arkansas spent the fourth quarter selling out against the run.
- It wasn’t just the o-line that kicked blocking ass. I saw great downfield blocking from Mitchell and McConkey, of all people.
- Speaking of Mitchell, that guy has turned into a pass interference magnet.
- The best reception of the day, though, came from a running back. The wheel route completion to McIntosh was simply gorgeous.
- The running backs were the stars of the show. Cook had himself a game, both inside and outside. Milton got himself a touchdown. And Zeus’ second touchdown run was the payoff for an amazing effort to keep his balance just long enough to get in the end zone.
- One other bonus from the game plan was that it limited the opportunities for Bennett to press and make a play. He really only had one bad moment that could have (okay, probably should have) resulted in an interception. For the most part, he played the role of game manager well, although there was a play or two when he missed seeing an open receiver. You could argue his best play was the first one from scrimmage, when Monken called a quarterback run that almost went for a first down and served as notice that Odom was going to have to account for a running quarterback, too.
- Damn, did I love trotting out Davis and Carter as part of the goal line power package? Sure did — especially when it forced Pittman to call a time out.
- As far as the defense goes, I’m running out of superlatives. The front seven dominated and for all the crap the secondary gets as the supposed weak link on D, let me note that Treylon Burks was a non-factor on the day.
- Devonte Wyatt, whom I probably don’t mention in these Observation posts as much as I should, turned in his best game of the season.
- Jordan Davis turned in another jaw dropper, running down Trelon Smith on an outside run from the inside.
- Speaking of outside runs, the defense shut down Arky’s ability to run outside.
- And adjustments! Briles called two option plays. The first went for decent yardage and I kept waiting for him to call it again. When he finally did, the pitch was played perfectly and the play didn’t gain. That was all for the option.
- ILB play was again superlative. Dean and Tindall played like… well, Dean and Tindall.
- Adam Anderson played big, too.
- Any time you get a special teams score, it’s a good day for special teams. If Boom drew that block up, well done, Boom. Podlesny seems to have found his groove again, so I assume that means nobody’s calling for his head now. Camarda’s kickoff game is turning into as big a weapon as his punting. The only thing to bitch about is three straight alignment penalties on punts. WTF was with that?
- Lanning had as good a game plan as Monken did. Shutting out the eighth ranked team in the country is no little thing. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I bet that last garbage drive of the day accounted for a third of Arkansas’ total yardage for the game.
- Smart had his team ready, that’s for sure. It was the second straight game when Georgia covered a double-digit spread before the first quarter ended. My bet is that he was grateful for the upset of Texas A&M the week before as motivation for his team.
Putting up back to back conference shut outs is nothing to sneer at. In fact, Georgia hadn’t done that since 1980. When you can dominate behind your backup quarterback only attempting ten or eleven throws, brother, you’ve got yourself a team. There’s plenty to point at with this team’s performance through five games, but perhaps what’s most impressive is how they’ve been able to maintain their focus throughout.
Next stop, the Plains.
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UPDATE: From Seth Emerson’s “At Second Glance” piece today ($$), here is quintessential Pressing Stetson.
He’s got a clean pocket and Kenny McIntosh in his line of vision, wide open in the flat. Instead, he chose to force it in to Bowers and almost got picked for that decision. A little Coxian, in other words.
Filed under Georgia Football
Your Daily Gator feels despair.
Maybe for you, buddy. I’ve got the feeling it’ll carry plenty of meaning for about forty thousand barking fans.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
Stat of the day
This would make for a helluva trivia question.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
TFW you show up on time
Saturday, somebody forgot to tell the Sanford Stadium crowd that it was a noon start.
That opening series set the tone for the entire game. It was loud.
Filed under Georgia Football
SEC Power Poll, Week Five
Last weekend, the pretenders separated from the contenders. The conference is two monster teams at the top, one at the bottom and a jumbled mess in between.
- Alabama. Look, if you want to argue that ‘Bama and Georgia are 1A and 1B, I don’t disagree. I have the Tide here because I’m gonna have to see serve broken first before I move them out. Also, they’ve got the more stable quarterback situation right now. It’s gonna sort itself out in the SECCG, anyway, amirite?
- Georgia. So, Georgia and Alabama used bruising power running games to bring a couple of upstart 3-2-6 defenses back down to earth. Between Smart and Saban, who do you think was more sexually aroused by that?
- Kentucky. On the one hand, this feels like a reach. On the other, they remain undefeated in conference play, still tied for first in the division and have a win over a ranked opponent, which is more than you can say for most of the rest of the conference.
- Florida. Bad things happen when you coach not to lose on the road, Dan.
- Ole Miss. There’s the defense I was expecting. They simply don’t have the personnel they need on that side of the ball to compete with the big boys.
- Auburn. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bo Nix Experience.
- Arkansas. Georgia exposed the Hogs’ talent deficiencies on both sides of the ball. They weren’t going to win because of that, but their loss of composure turned the game into a lopsided affair.
- Tennessee. As was said a week ago, it doesn’t matter who you play, scoring 60+ points in an SEC game is an impressive feat.
- Mississippi State. Is beating TAMU one of those “Leach’s team will upset somebody better” games, or just a game they should win?
- LSU. Bad things happen when you coach not to lose at home, Ed.
- Texas A&M. The conference’s biggest disappointment of 2021.
- South Carolina. Hey, they played Kentucky closer than Florida did. They’ve got Vandy coming up in a couple of weeks; beyond that, it’s hard to see where they can find another win this season.
- Missouri. I didn’t get the modest preseason buzz, but I had no idea their defense would be as atrocious as it’s been.
- Vanderbilt. A game winning field goal with time expiring, at home against one of the very worst teams in D-1? That’s so Vandy.
Filed under SEC Football
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