Okay, I’m not about to tell you Monday night was Todd Monken at his best at Georgia. ‘Bama had done an excellent job prepping for what he was throwing at them and the Dawgs offense struggled to move the ball much of the game.
But this may have been his best call of the season:
The broadcast didn’t do the way Alabama’s defense was totally fooled on that play justice. Live, it was utterly clear that they bit on the runner first and Bennett keeping the ball second. Rosemy-Jacksaint’s block was great, but I think Bowers makes it in no matter what.
Just a brilliant play call and design there.
Get The Picture 
It was such a good call that I was fooled completely in the stands. We had had success running on that drive, and the expectation was that we’d do it again. I yelled in frustration when I saw Cook tackled, only to look up and see, somehow, Bowers sprinting into the endzone.
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Was that actually PI on 81, though? Just wanting to know what the actual rule is re: blocking downfield while the ball is in the air.
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Ball thrown behind the line of scrimmage means that receivers can be downfield blocking.
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It was the perfect call for that moment.
The shoulders forward explosive leg drive Bower’s had nobody was stopping him from scoring.
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And they still haven’t touched him…GO DAWGS!
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When I looked back to the backfield and saw a flag I nearly crapped my pants! Thought it has to be a hold and a field goal after a called back TD would have seemed catastrophic!
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Same – from where I sat I turned in disgust making the holding gesture. Based on the way the game was going I knew we’d get a hold or chop and be 3rd and 16… Really missed out on the joy until I saw the head official walk towards Kirby 🙂
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Looking at it again, Bowers was the only route, so it must have been an RPO.
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Ten defenders went for the fake and the 11th didn’t matter because he was getting blocked. Once Bowers got up a head of steam nobody was gonna get in the way.
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To’oto’o is Pacific Islander for “out of position”
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I completely agree, Senator. They were going for it on fourth down anyway and it was a perfect time to try something different.
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They set that play up all year long. Every time they went fast on third and short, it was an inside run. Saved the counter to it until the perfect moment.
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It was a great setup. Bowers had been absent for most of the game because of us trying to run and Bennett throwing to other WRs. They basically forgot about him and they paid the price.
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I watched the reply several times. One time was to focus on Bowers. I promise you he was not absent most of the game. His blocking on run plays was outstanding and he and Broderick Jones neutralized Anderson in the second half. The way Bowers blocks as a freshman is as impressive as
his receiving.
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I meant absent as far as making catches. Sorry about that. You are right, he was blocking his ass off the whole game.
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I am not 100% certain that Bowers was as healthy as we wanted him to be. I will not be surprised if we get a “clean up the shoulder” announcement at some point.
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What is ironic about that play was the horrible spot they gave James Cook on his last run. James clearly landed with a ball right at the first down mark, but they set the ball back a yard to make it 3rd and 1. As Stetson snaps the ball, you can hear Chris Fowler saying, “I don’t like the spot at all.”
I’m pretty certain they wanted to get in formation quick to run that play, otherwise Kirby would have challenged the spot (and probably won).
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Noticed the same.
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As others have alluded to, and my brother said, Monken saved some wrinkles for the fourth quarter and they really came through…
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Just a great last drive in total. Beautifully called and executed.
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It was perfect execution of the RPO. Once Bowers turned up the field, there was no way they were going to get him on the ground in the field of play.
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Also, Stetson did a nice job of getting the ball over the defender…not an easy throw imo
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Absolutely.
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He really did. Almost caught Bowers in stride. If he had had to pull any more, #10 for Alabama might have been able to nail him before he got up a head of steam.
Beautiful.
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All the takes about how poor Alabama was without some veteran receivers and had to play freshman made me laugh. That was the entire season for us. Mitchell and Bowers are true freshman and just getting started.
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Exactly. The excuses are already rampant about how this was Saban’s “worst team”. Excuse me? Didn’t they recruit the #1 team every year for the past 6 or 7 years? Didn’t they have a Heisman winner behind center? Didn’t they have the G.O.A.T on the sidelines?
If anyone wants to throw out excuses, it should be us. Losing Pickens in the Spring, starting a former walk-on QB for 2/3 of the season, losing a starting offensive lineman for the season in the first game of the year, having a friggin police investigation right in the middle of the season and a 5* LB kicked of the team and charged with rape, etc…
Give me a break with their “excuses”.
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It’s so hilarious. The takes about how “Kirby didn’t outcoach them and couldn’t beat a healthy Alabama” are so rich. I mean poor Nick Saban over there having to figure out how to coach up his 5-star generational Heisman trophy-winning QB to have any chance against Kirby’s walk-on QB.
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Don’t forget about the loss of Tykee Smith. That’s an All American DB who could’ve made a difference in the SEC championship game.
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I was told this week by the internet that poor Alabama was so young at DB and we were able to exploit that. The narrative about the lack of depth in UGA’s secondary all season must have been false. It’s not like Alabama had the mighty former walk-on Dan Jackson playing on their side. Just wasn’t a fair contest.
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We did something really good teams do! When we got the lead in the fourth quarter our offense ground the ball down the field and kept the defense fresh! Not just Bama, it was a huge key against Clemson! It’s what we couldn’t do in 2018 game against Tide and it cost us!
But not this time! The Defense won the game but a lot of credit goes to that last drive eating about 5 min of clock! The 7 points didn’t hurt either!
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To me this was one of several poetic storylines in the game. All the attention is on the big TD passes in the 4th quarter, but I believe the run game is what won it for us offensively. In the 3rd quarter, we were starting to get some first downs on the ground, and I told my son to keep an eye on that in the 4th quarter. The pivotal drive was Cook’s big run and then how our OL shoved the entire defense into the endzone for Zeus on the ensuing TD. The run game also set up the brilliant play call to Bowers on his TD. This was truly a championship for RBU.
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Replacing Ericson with Salyer, and bringing in Broderick Jones at LT was the difference for our offense. They were fantastic in the second half.
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OL was brilliant in the CFP. That’s for sure.
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Hey Fake – Hope you lost your ass betting on Alabama…STFU and go away…
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Wut? Life long Dawg and not a gambler.
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I guess I missed it if they said it, but I assumed Ericson was not injured. He was getting abused. As well as Truss had played at that spot when he was pressed into service, I was surprised he didn’t come in and keep Salyer at LT. All water under the bridge. It’s a lot nicer to discuss the what if’s when you just WON THE NC instead of after once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
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I don’t think he was hurt. He looked fine standing on the sideline in the 4th. Regardless, the move was huge.
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I don’t mind admitting I was feeling defeated when I saw Robinson break what seemed like two dozen tackles on his best run of the night. I can’t express how excited I was in the last quarter when it turned out that it was THEIR defense that suddenly couldn’t stop the run and ours suddenly seemed to get a second wind.
Lord, there are just so many little things that went our way in the second half in a way that I’m just not used to seeing against Bama. I’m going to be re-watching this one for a long time.
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Zeus is one of those backs that seems to get better and better the more you feed him. They get worn down. He doesn’t.
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I had a big group text going during the game with my football buddies, a couple of whom are Auburn people. When they hit that play I said “that’’s the Nick Marshall RPO from the 2013 Iron Bowl.” They did not find Monken’s commitment to film study as amusing as I did.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but this the same play Bowers scored on against Michigan.
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Actually it is not. On that play, Georgia lined up in an unbalanced line (3 OL opposing him) with Brock as left “Tackle” on the line of scrimmage — but eligible because he was not covered up by the WR split out wide. Here, Brock’s lined up as an H-Back behind the line.
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So similar play design in some respects, but a different formation.
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this
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My son coaches and is still talking about that play.
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As I saw this play unfold on the broadcast, i could see it coming together. I probably went through the ceiling, and it’s got to be the best play call of the game, aside from the the blocked field goal and the free play to Mitchell and, and, and.
Y’all, I’m still crying at random parts of the day. It’s so incredible.
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I was pretty sure (after I saw the poor spot the refs gave Cook on the previous play) that the refs were going to do a number on us. When I saw the flag, I was ready to freak out..and Stetson signaling the bench by hitting his face-mask seemed to be saying “Dammit”…But my wife told me “No, he’s saying it’s against Bama for punching his facemask”. She was right! You can see the hit very well on the video above.
BTW I’m looking forward to seeing the statistics from this game. I felt like we were penalized a lot..but I think the penalties were pretty fair. I do think they missed the early (fumble? incompletion?) call on where we thought our D had scored.
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I thought the scoop n score overturn was the correct call although it should have been intentional grounding. The only bad miss was the uncalled Offensive Pass Interference on the Bama TD.
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He damn near threw Smith? into the first row of seats to get open.
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Exactly! I think it was Kendrick, but Smith was right there too.
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I thought Monken called a pretty poor game until after the Bennett fumble. Credit to Monken for trusting Bennett to air it out down field and dialing up a beautiful clock eating drive capped off by the Bowers TD. I’m still surprised we didn’t bring more of the Michigan game plan to this game.
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Ballsiest call of the night, even more than the bomb to AD.
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We should’ve taken the penalty on the try, put it on the 1.5 yard line, and put in the jumbo package for the 2 point conversion. Putting the ball on the 50 and kicking it into the stands made no sense at all. At least drill a hard squib kick down the field.
But I heard we wound up winning so I guess it all worked out. 😉
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Give yourself the lowest chance of risk to success. Going for 2 puts you 9 ahead, sure… but not making it leaves you at 7. That means if you give up a score, they now only need the PAT to tie.
But kicking the 1 gets you to 8, which means they HAVE to go for 2.
And the extra 15 virtually assures the touchback.
It’s the “conservative Kirby” that so many hate… who just so happens to have a Natty in his cabinet.
Go Dawgs
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Don’t cloud the issue with facts and logic, Ben.
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“Davis’ momma playing in the middle of the line cause there’s a big gaping hole!”
LOL!
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Dammit! Wrong place.
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Brock Bowers is gonna be a big problem for defenses. He took off once he got that ball, and it’s insane to watch. Glad he’s a Dawg
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Any season ticket owners who have tickets for Saturday not using their allotment?
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