Shot.
“We didn’t finish on the quarterback, meaning he outran the guy,” Smart said. “We got pressure, we didn’t finish and we didn’t cover at a premium. And a lot of it has to do with him. Him being a good athlete and their skill guys outside beating us one-on-one. Against other teams when we didn’t pressure, we didn’t get exposed. When you don’t pressure this guy and you don’t put a body on a body, he’s so accurate. And they’re dynamic against zone. Their numbers are just staggering when you play zone against them. They do a great job of that. You have to find ways to get him on the ground and pressure him.” [Emphasis added.]
And yet, Georgia came out playing zone! Funny how ‘Bama anticipated Lanning and Smart would stick with what they’d done all season and made them pay for it.
But, sure, something, something, Stetson Bennett.
Get The Picture 
They came out playing zone because a) that’s what we’ve been doing all year and b) they expected they could get pressure against the O-line and zone with pressure is typically a good strategy (hence all year),
The issue is not going in with looks like it should work…it’s not adjusting/having a plan B, seems like.
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I.e., they better figure out some novel blitz pressures and/or ways to disguise what they’re doing to make Young think a few beats longer.
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They also have to play zone because even still, Alabama has world-class receivers. Our DBs couldn’t play man coverage on those guys all night long.
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I take it that you were unimpressed with not having anyone within 15 yards on Metchie on 3rd and 10?
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I was unimpressed with a lot on Saturday. I still think we’re a really good team, but Alabama is just so far above and ahead of everyone, you have to both play flawlessly and catch them on an off-game.
I don’t think there’s any shame in losing to those guys, but it’s embarrassing and annoying to have it keep happening. As UGA fans, we also know it’s not just Saban. Those guys, while aren’t rivals, are obstacles in our way so much more than any team in the conference.
I’m not convinced we’ll win a rematch, either, but I do hope we’ll at least be competitive like the previous few match-ups.
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Yep, it was bad. I could live with Young and their receivers making a few insane covered catches. That happens. It’s how Burrow mostly beat us. But this was different. Wide open green spaces. We were outcoached.
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I feel for Kirby – having to constantly bang your head against the wall vs the GOAT has got the be frustrating
Not sure why Poole played so much
There is definitely more to the story on the QB situation and who knows what else behind the scenes
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Brini was hurt and Smith didn’t come in until Dan Jackson had already been abused. Smith still isn’t 100%. Ringo hasn’t gotten better and obviously got abused. The secondary isn’t very good and and having even more guys injured didn’t help. The front 7 protected them all year.
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I never saw Brini’s name on an injury report before the SECCG. When did that happen?
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Eh, I don’t think Ringo was that bad, but admittedly I’d need to go back and watch. Jackson and Cine were rough in coverage, that I could see in real time.
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Ringo and Brini don’t play the same position.
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Yeah, I know. I was just responding in general to his comment about Ringo writ large.
I didn’t feel like Ringo and Kendrick bathed themselves in glory, but compared to the safeties…..
I do not understand the Poole thing, and Speed isn’t a world beater, but did he get hurt or something?
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Speed hasn’t played star. He has consistently been an outside true corner.
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Idk. I still listen to the radio while at the games and Loran Smith mentioned it.
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Must’ve been some radio broadcast! (spoken in my most Loran like voice)
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Brini was dressed with helmet and stood next to Lanning/Smart all night ready to go. Ringo had one good cover & was abused the balance of the game. I was actually shocked 5 wasn’t targeted more frequently. He seems confused every play on where to line up & is lost in zone coverage.
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Well, I doubt I need to say it but Georgia injury reports are rarely dependable. Guys who are actually suspended are “injured” or out and the injured aren’t mentioned until after the game.
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Where was Channing Tindall all night?
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Yelling at Poole.
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You mean the greatest coach in college football history outreached Kirby??? Say it ain’t so.
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Outcoached
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That too 😇
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Apparently we didn’t think our DBs could handle man coverage with the Bama receiver speed. If we get past the yankees, we better figure a way to mix zone and man to get to Young in time. Young played his best game, 4 quarters of what he gave Auburn on the last drive.
He will need to repeat that again if we get anther shot.
I hate to say anything positive about Bama, but the coaching and execution in the SECC was impressive. That’s what happens when a good coach and great team meet a dynasty coach/team. Makes me sick!
I expect Smart/Lanning/Monken to pull out all stops if they get another chance.
I’m concerned will be thinking about Bama when we play Michigan…nothing would hurt more than losing to the yankees and missing a second chance at Saban.
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I just made a long post below so I won’t opine again much here. I’m two simple questions for you: is the UGA offense limited with Stetson running the show? Can we win a game with him at QB in which we will need the offense for once to pull us through to a win?
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Thought I answered those here.
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Unless my reading comprehension skills are poor, the answer to the first question is mostly yes. I do not see anywhere in there the answer to my second question.
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Maybe I didn’t say it clearly enough in my postings on the subject, but I don’t think Stetson is built to carry a team when it’s forced to chase an opponent.
That being said, if Kirby is convinced Georgia won’t have to chase Alabama in a rematch, then he’ll stick with Bennett.
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I 100% agree with your assessment of Bennett, and thus, I 100% disagree with Kirby on putting him in as the starter.
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Pretty much.
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No
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I got nothing.
Go Dawgs!
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I have no inside access. I’m not a Magill donor. I’ve never been at a practice period. I do know a couple of things based on watching just about every game Kirby Smart has coached at Georgia either in the stadium or on TV:
1) He is a defense first coach (duh!). When his defensive game plan doesn’t work, bad things happen. When his defense can’t get consistent pressure with 4 or 5 and we are blitzing more by necessity than choice, bad things happen.
2) For all of his talk about explosiveness, the high school coach’s son comes out. When he has a team pinned to the mat, he is content to run the ball and end the game rather than continuing to develop his players (the Tech game scared the hell out of me when Daniels got one series and it was all runs). I’m not a believer in running up the score, but I’m also not a fan of “I handed off good as ****.”
3) His philosophy of offense seems to indicate he doesn’t believe the QB is the most important player on the field. Someone yesterday said it well … every chess grandmaster knows the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard (hell, I barely understand the game and know that). The QB is one of two players who touches the ball on almost every non-special teams play (the center being the other). To win championships in today’s game, you don’t have to have a #1 overall draft choice at QB, but you also better not have a guy who is going to be working as a financial advisor after college either (unless that’s after he has been given a chance at the professional level).
I don’t write any of this to say I’ve lost faith in Kirby or the direction of the program. I love that we are good on defense (and no, that defense isn’t the product of a weak schedule) in a wide-open offense era. I am proud of the tradition of RBU. He has to do some soul searching and decide if he wants the program to be elite or not. Assuming so, he has to make a decision that we are going to be elite at the most important position on the field (by the way, that has nothing to do with recruiting … the current QB room has plenty of blue-chip talent with more on the way). Until he makes that commitment, I’m afraid we’ll always be a bridesmaid but never the bride.
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Double E, well written…I’m one of the most Pollyanna Kirby homers here, but even through my red & Black colored lenses I can see the same thing…at some point GA needs a “Heisman” type quarterback…the way Kirbs recruits…it shouldn’t be such a reach
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He doesn’t need a Heisman type QB … an Aaron Murray type of player (and, no, I’m not going to get into a debate about Murray and his professional career) who can make every throw, could make plays with his legs when he had to, and ran the offense with incredible efficiency (especially as an upperclassman) would be more than adequate in my opinion.
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ee agree we need an Aaron Murray my guess Aaron wins the Heisman and NC if he had this team around him.
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I agree with you Frozendawg. We just do not have that quarterback on the roster nor have we ever had that quarterback since I have been a fan. We caught Bama at their best (which may be how they play the rest of the season-they are Bama and they have Saban) and we played our worst game on defense and the offense was asked to do too much and we were not able to keep up. I think that if we beat Michigan we will play Bama again but I would put our chances at beating them at around 20%.
None of the above make me sad or make me feel that this season is lost or was a failure. I have faith in Kirby finding the above type of quarterback I just don’t know when.
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You don’t think any of the blue-chip players on the roster are difference makers at QB? How do we know that? Kirby for whatever reason (I believe it’s about not upsetting team chemistry) decided after the Florida game to let it ride with SBIV knowing the ceiling and believing his defense would hold the line when the level of competition rose. I think it’s as simple as this. Everything else appears to be speculation.
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I don’t think that the other QB we have seen is a difference maker. I think he is a good QB but not in the ballpark of Young, Tua, Jones, Burrow, Fields, etc. The younger guys I do not know about I certainly hope that Vandergriff or Beck or perhaps the Stockton kid can be the type of player we need but I don’t think that Kirby is playing Bennett because those guys are better.
I think Kirby gets a lot of shit- justifiably so for the Fields situation even though I can understand his reasoning both at the time and in hindsight but that doesn’t make me think that Daniels is a Fields type talent.
That being said you may be correct about his decision being based on team chemistry but to your point everything is speculation.
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I go off the fact that JT was the starter for the Clemson game, a game that we all believed would be telling about the season’s prospects. He was clearly looked as the best QB on the roster and was in the early discussions of the difference makers entering the season.
JT isn’t Justin Fields, but is he Aaron Murray or David Greene? I can tell you with confidence that SBIV isn’t.
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Hell, JT is at least Jake Fromm.
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I agree that he was the presumed starter and won against Clemson but I don’t think he is a Murray or Greene not that I think either of those guys are the caliber of players that I referenced before that we lack or at least possibly lack on this roster.
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Mac Jones is a great story, but he was lower rated than Jake Fromm coming out of high school. I think your question is more about QB coaching.
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It is almost like Kirby didn’t get the memo that his mentor got. What consistently gave Saban problems when he was a defense, ball control, field position guy? Teams with dynamic QBs and dynamic receivers all over the place. What did Saban do to fix that? Go out and get QBs and receivers that are first and second round NFL talent guys.
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Mac Jones wasn’t a dynamic quarterback. He waited his turn, developed under Satk and was rewarded for it.
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True enough. But he was a mid first round draft pick and barring injury will likely be the NFL rookie of the year.
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Mac is the flip side of the nature/nurture conversation with QBs. Young, Tua, Lawrence and Hurts are examples of the nature. Mac took coaching and was patient at Alabama … not surprisingly, at the NFL level, this happened with the same franchise that turned Tom Brady as a 7th round game manager into the GOAT.
I think you could make the case the problem at Georgia hasn’t been the quality of raw talent. Every QB that has signed a scholarship offer out of high school under Kirby was a blue-chip recruit (Mac was a 3-star IIRC). Until the arrival of Todd Monken, you could make the case our QB coaching has been inconsistent.
That’s why I say it’s going to be interesting to find out what Monken does. If he leaves for a lateral move or even a Gof5 had coaching job, it will be a sign that Monken didn’t see eye to eye with his boss.
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AKA Deshaun Watson.
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Stetson will be our QB. Kirby ain’t even considering anything else. Our D is the only reason we lost in his mind. He’s changed the coaches and players but he hasn’t changed his approach at QB. Every week is a competition. Blah, blah, blah. Young is extremely talented and had all year to work through adversity and get better. That’s why he was so good Saturday. It will be even worse if we play them again. That was an ass whipping that I have zero confidence can be fixed in the next month.
Lastly, Brock Bowers is the man!!
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“You’re either elite or you’re not!”
I love this team mantra. Question, is our QB elite or not?
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The answer is we are absolutely not elite at the QB position. The guy with the potential to be elite has been rotting on the bench for most of the season.
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He’s got to practice better. 😂🤣😂🤣
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I keep forgetting all the times bama lost and the winning team scored in the 20s.
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Your point being?
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Thinking that any defense is gonna hold them to under that and win with a mediocre offense isn’t going to work.
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You’ve gotta throw everything you’ve got at Young. It’s coaching malpractice to have all our future nfl studs walk out of that stadium without a sack. I’m not sure Kirby appreciates how truly awful the preparation was. It should be a life changing event for him and our D staff.
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You were posting this while I was typing (my post right below).
We said the same thing but you, in brevity, said it more pointedly and better!
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The defensive strategy in this game remains a head scratcher to me. I’ll repeat what I’ve already said a couple of times. It’s as if Lanning didn’t watch the Iron Bowl. Young has a weakness…he doesn’t like contact…you’ve GOT to put him on the ground a lot and make him uncomfortable even if it means sending all eleven.
If anyone ate rat poison it was Dan Lanning. I think he’s a great coach and I hope we keep him forever, but he was bad in this one. Ultimately, CKS gets the final call on a game strategy and being a defensive type, maybe he made the decision to play it that way. Nobody’s perfect and I’m hopeful they’ll learn from this blunder.
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I think that the issue is that to make Bama’s offense manageable you are going to have to be willing to get beat from time to time. Rush 6 and play tight press coverage to take away the quick throws from Young that negate the pass rush. That means that at times one of those Bama speed guys is going to get free and if the pass rush doesn’t get home it is going to be a big gain. Frankly, I would rather go that route knowing that Bama is going to hit some plays but playing aggressive is going to put Young on the ground for some losses too. It honestly couldn’t be any worse than Saturday when they were running around in the soft zone wide open.
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Something something….qb play post season teams vs our toughest reg season teams- final rankings: clemson #20 Arkansas #22 Kentucky #23.
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Coverage busts and bad defensive scheme certainly rank 1 and 2 for the loss. But 2A definitely was Stetson. Without his picks (and the TD return that followed one of them), the game is 31-30 Bama with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. I would have preferred that scenario to the one we got.
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Not arguing, but 17 all with 2 minutes left in the half and letting Bama fly down the field to score, then letting them score to open the second half was how they finally took control of the game. Our offensive game plan was then toast and we still hadn’t made the adjustments to pressure Young.
100% poor coaching.
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Yep – that’s why I have what I have at 1 and 2.
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From memory I think the last Georgia QB to beat Bama Matthew Stafford at Tuscaloosa. I wish we had another one of those.
Bama’s right side was been an open gate on offense or a sack machine. How did that get fixed in a week? I never expected their OL to win the line. They did and gave Bryce Young enough time to play find the open guy. Bennett could have beaten Georgia for Bama with time allowed and lack of coverage.
Why can’t Georgia attract or coach up a game changing QB like Bama has every year. It’s the only difference between the two programs. Is it bad luck or bad coaching or some of both. I don’t claim to know the facts I do see the failures and losing will always hurt more than winning feels good.
Could this season flip like losing then beating Auburn in 2017. I sure as heck hope so and nobody knows today how this season ends no matter what we think or how furious we type our opinions. We’re still in the fight and quitting is not an option. So fix what’s wrong and win.
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Bama gave up 35 or 36 sacks in 12 games and Georgia got zero. I heard someone opine that the Iron Bowl noise probably affected the Bama O line. I am sure that the noise had something to do with the seven sacks given up. Maybe at aTm and UF as well. But that doesn’t explain beating LSU and Arkansas in Tuscaloosa by 6 and 7, respectively, and only managing 20 points against LSU. It is certainly quite the job that they did to fix that line in preparation for the SECCG.
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NFL QBs beat NFL defenses 15 times on Sundays and once once on Monday.
Why would Saturday be any better.
Kirby is 4-11 When teams score 25+.
The only QB who was drafted that Kirby has beaten was Stidham and Lock.
But something something something something can’t score points when it matters
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DawgStats, do you also know how many games we have lost when we score 30+? I know the answer … once.
Um, I think you missed an overall #1 pick … Baker Mayfield.
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Since 2018 Currently 0-5 when they allow 25+. Losses to LSU Bama LSU Bama Bama.
One game, 2018 SECCG, was competitive in 4th Q.
Sorry. Sometimes you have to outscore the other guys. And be built to do it.
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Sorry. We beat Missouri in 2018 allowing 29
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We’re saying the exact same thing … when we get to 30, we’re practically unbeatable because that means the defense isn’t being consistently sent back out. When we get to 40, we are practically unbeatable.
The defense didn’t hold the line on Saturday night, and the offense isn’t designed by SBIV to outscore people.
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I politely disagree. LSU outscored Bama in 2019.
Clemson outscored OSU in 2020.
We had to outscore OU.
Bama had to outscore Florida
You have to put up points in playoffs. I am not convinced and recent results don’t show that we can beat elite teams.
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If our defense is given 40 points, we are unbeatable because they don’t spend the game on the field.
The crap that went down on Saturday was due to the defense giving up too many plays in the 2nd quarter. Just as big of a problem was the consecutive 3 and outs that gave the ball right back to the Tide. We were fortunate to get the DPI penalties when the game went to 17-10. Then the defense gave up 14 consecutive points around the halftime break. At that point, the offense totally imploded with turnovers and loss.
The reason a team doesn’t score points is typically due to the player who touches the ball on every play and I’m not talking about the center.
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Yes.
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loss of downs – when you possess the ball and get empty possessions, you lose because eventually the clock becomes the leading team’s 12th man.
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With the roster we have and the receivers finally getting healthy, we should be built to outscore anyone.
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One would think.
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1) In the last 10 years, when Saban/Alabama loses a big game/title game, the other team had an elite QB.
Trevor Lawrence
Joe Burrow
Deshaun Watson
J. T. Barrett
Even outside of that, you usually needed someone like Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, or Tim Tebow. Very few flukes otherwise.
2) The last time Georgia beat Saban/Bama, we had Matt Stafford at QB.
3) Top 3 rated QBs of 2018: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, JT Daniels. Kirby had two of three and benched them.
4) Stetson isn’t 100% to blame for his 0-2 record against Alabama, but you can’t count on (or even hope for) him to save you and he always throws brutal picks in bunches.
We still might win a rematch if our defense goes Super Saiyan and Bama/Saban finally has a disastrous performance in a huge game.
Is that really what we want to pin our hopes on? A Saban title game choke?
5) When’s the last time we won a big game shootout? The Rose Bowl? We don’t have Chubb/Michel, Hot Rod, or the good fortune to face a shoddy Oklahoma defense. And we were SHOCKED to even pull that one off. We’ve had some good offenses but they usually feast on a team our defense is pummeling. I rarely remember our offense bailing out our defense.
I desperately hope
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I desperately hope I am wrong but I don’t see anything changing with Stetson when there’s even MORE pressure, bigger stakes, and Saban has even MORE time to prepare.
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It could be both right- Stetson played poorly and zone coverage was a terrible idea.
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There is some seriously bad reconstruction and debrief going on in Dawg world today.
Literally no one but Corso and Bama bloggers picked them. Why is that? There are an ass ton of smart football people that said UGA was going to win. Vegas had it at a TD in our favor. What were all of them missing?
Y’all, Bama played lights out their best game of the year. We had their number the first two drives and once they adjusted away from balance to their flag football attack, we didn’t have an answer until four drives later. They found a formula that worked against the same scheme we’ve played ALL SEASON…linemen hold gaps and win battles, linebackers react and run to the ball, secondary matches up in zone. That scheme allows our superior front seven to control games against anyone that doesn’t have three NFL receivers and an NFL QB. We didn’t leave that scheme until the last drive of the first half where Young got pretty lucky on a scramble and fumble and another scramble for TD. Then—other than the one long ball to Jameson—the adjustments worked okay.
Too bad we were pressing on O by then.
Our coach says it’s never as good as it looks or as bad as it looks, or something like that. I agree totally. Young recovers his own fumble. Stet throws a pick in the red zone when we are down 7 two drives later. Let’s say we’re tied going into half after recovering a fumble, Bama still punts on their first possession of the third, and Stet doesn’t throw that pick. The result of only two plays change and we are 100% in that game.
GMAFB folks. Bama is still the team that won one-possession games against Arky and LSU, lost to A&M, and needed 4 OTs to beat Auburn. And they’re without statistically their top WR.
Reconstruction and debrief matter. Ice cold and without emotion.
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Best post I’ve seen other than acknowledging the intangibles lined up for Bama and we don’t know how to out-coach the GOAT.
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Bama did not punt on their first possession of the 3rd quarter. They scored the 14 points around halftime that changed the entire game. They did to us what we’ve done to teams all year.
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Whoops, transposed Bama’s first two possessions of the second half. Minus 1 for accuracy.
I stand by the point of the post.
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I agree with the premise of your post, but the failure to recover Young’s fumble and the 1st possession of the 2nd half completely changed the game.
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