I mentioned in a post last week that I might need to write something about my favorite play calls over the last two seasons. After much thought, it’s down to three for me.
The first:
Yeah, I know the outcome sucked, but this play was genuinely thrilling to watch unfold. I was sitting on the other 20-yard line on the side of the field that Zamir ran towards, so I had a great angle — great enough that even a tyro like myself could tell Georgia was going to break a big play just based on the formation and how the Gators lined up on defense.
That this happened during the pandemic season, with limited preparation and a jumbled quarterback situation, told me all I need to know about Monken’s capabilities. And, I imagine, told a few defensive coordinators the same thing.
Second:
Everybody pointed to the next touchdown, the McIntosh pass, as proof that Georgia threw that “look out for Michigan’s trick plays on offense” warning right back in the Wolverines’ faces, but the trickeration actually started here. The Dawgs came out of a sugar huddle and lined up with Bowers in a tackle-eligible formation without giving UM’s defense enough time to sort things out. (Watch the safety, in particular.) The play fake just made things worse.
I hope Monken smiled a little watching that unfold.
Third:
Gawd, this play! Again, I was lucky enough to watch this unfold in front of me. I’ve seen the broadcast several times (okay, maybe more than several) and it really doesn’t do justice to how badly fooled the Tide’s defense was on that play. It was the culmination of a run-heavy drive (only one pass attempt before, the throw to Pickens that drew a PI call), and came on a short yardage call — again, hurry up to catch the defense not completely ready.
What it was not, though, was the same play as the above Michigan touchdown. Bowers isn’t lined up as a tackle and the play was more of an RPO than a pure play fake. It worked just as well, though.
What’s really great about the play was how smartly Monken anticipated the Alabama defensive call. The blitz left an ILB in To’o To’o who wasn’t great in pass coverage in the first place and was dead meat as soon as he took one step in towards the line of scrimmage anticipating a run. Just fantastic.
Anyway, those are my three. What are yours?
Get The Picture 
Nice. I really do appreciate the Zeus 75 yd run. It’s the one I haven’t watched in awhile. The one thing they all have in common is excellent blocking.
My favorites would be any goal line play for a TD using the D linemen as blockers/runners/receivers. After that seven try goal line debacle against FU a few years ago it’s refreshing to see some imagination from the O coordinator.
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Yep. ZW following the heavies into the ez after Cooks long run was so easy I couldn’t believe it.
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I never re watch losses. I just can’t take it Uncle Russ. I’m not a good winner or a good loser.
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Same here, Machine Gunner. I was raised to be a good sport and a gracious winner. The 90’s, SOS and obnoxious gator fans changed that. Here it is Tuesday and I just sent ol Gator Bob another meme rubbing in the Diamond Dawgs sweep of the then overrated gators.
“Whooped ’em again, Josey.
Just like football.”
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No single play to me but just his balls of steel use of James Cook and the entire TE corps – dawg-play-calling-pornilicious hall of famer!
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I love all 3 of those, but I really like the Bowers TDs. Notice the quality of WR blocking downfield on both of them. Rosemy-Jacksaint abuses the Tide DB, and McConkey gets the Michigan guy. In both cases, the only player who has a chance to make the tackle.
Does anyone else think T’oo T’oo was totally overrated? He wouldn’t have sniffed the field playing at Georgia.
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In the Michigan clip the unblocked safety, #2 Davis, had the angle and distance to his advantage, his teammates were counting on him, the pressure was unbearable, he was looking in the face of an actual athlete, the moment was too big for him and he failed. Simply too slow. Bowers is a real 5 star.
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To be fair, Davis is distracted by his home situation. Something having to do with his momma.
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When will he be rewarded with new contract? Sure seems he deserves one with a massive pay raise.
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From everything I’ve heard and read, the new contract is coming and it’s a doozy. We’re talking in the neighborhood of $4M annually.
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Pay that man his money.
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And let’s keep him at least another season. Would love to have some consistency with a new QB coming in ‘23.
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Hell, there ain’t no wrong choices there. Because we all like to pile on here, I’ll add my favorite Monken wrinkle…liked every time JD came to play glorified FB on offense on short & goal line…that made go koo koo for Cocoa Puffs
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I think Jalen Carter may have played FB even more.
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True dat
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Hey Bluto – hope you are feeling well today. Hard to beat those 3 – and I always love the play action off the fake toss. We ran a reverse out of that to #84 at Vandy https://www.secsports.com/video/32276600/georgia-gets-fancy-mcconkey-takes-end-td. And – a sweet touchdown toss to Bowers where he outran the entire UAB D. https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32190034
And – the reverse run with Bowers is now the ultimate power in the universe.
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Agree on Bowers. Using him on a jet sweep is just unfair and I love that Monken had the vision to scheme it and the cajones to run it.
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My favorite was Bowers’ catch and kicking in the afterburners against the nerds.
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I loved that too…and then Russ reminded me about Bowers dusting the UAB secondary…I went back and watched that and it was a thing of beauty as well…Bowers must have a rocket in his keester…the dude can jet
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His top end speed is quite impressive. Speaking of speed after seeing what Jake Camarda did in the combine, I wish we would have cut him loose at some point on a fake in plus territory.
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I commenting just to double like your post. Nothing better than a fake punt THAT WORKS. Of course, Kirby may be a little shy of fake punts.
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armydawg…that’s one of my favorites, too. If one play is a metaphor for the differences in the two programs, this is it.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D0v5qzvasN0
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James Cook’s 82 yard td reception vs Alabama in 2020 was mine. Find a weapon. Get a mismatch. Put him in space. It was everything I wanted to see. Lost the game, but it gave me so much hope.
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I really like the plays against Tennessee and Michigan. You would think teams would learn to cover him with a safety or corner when he goes wide.
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UGA football doesn’t date hope anymore, UGA football is looking for a long term relationship with the dazzling, the one and only Miss Trophy…GO DAWGS!
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Cook’s long run at the NC this year. It was just blocked to perfection. The backside G and T pull, and square up their blocks. You can hear two perfectly-timed pops on the TV replay when they seal it off. So good.
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Jalen Carter’s TD reception against Tennessee. Dial it up to 1:12 in this clip (or just enjoy ALL the mayhem he creates).
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Your post Senator this year showing our new (tight end) Bowers with the second fastest top speed with the football that week, gave me goose bumps! Knew for sure then, what he had shown so far was just the beginning!
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Seeing Stetson could engineer a comeback in the SECCG, then having him throw a pick. Brought our guys down to earth, got them focused for the CFP. Pressure of undefeated season is too much…brilliant coaching to keep their focus. His QB goes on the be MVP in next two games, don’t tell me it was coincidence!
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The things I appreciate about Monken’s playcalling are more mundane. I love how the majority of the time, he just takes what the defense is giving him, instead of trying to force things. And when something is working, it doesn’t inexplicably disappear from the playcalling for the next 2 quarters.
There’s only 1 complaint I have about his playcalling, and it drives me nuts. Most of the time when we hit a big play downfield, we immediately rush down the field, no huddle, and do a quick snap. And the playcall EVERY SINGLE TIME is a run up the middle, that goes for a 1 yard game every time. We go from hitting a big play to being in 2nd and 9 in the blink of an eye, and we do it all the time. To the point that my buddies have started calling it The Mullis Special (my last name is Mullis) because of how much it drives me nuts. LOL.
But there’s not an OC in the country I would trade Monken for.
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Any call where Cook moved out to WR when the offense recognized the mismatch and Cook caught one for a big gain. I believe Michigan and Bama both paid the price on that one.
I’ll add McIntosh’s TD pass.
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I didn’t intend to reply to the Reverend… was just adding my own comment
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FWIW, the calls with Cook isolated are right at the top for me too. 😀
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It goes with recognizing what the D is giving you. Monken does a very good job of recognizing weaknesses and taking advantage even if not for a big gain which you also need to sustain drives. Agreed like any OC, he has those things you wish he wouldn’t do and I wouldn’t trade him.
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Plays one and three…# one because after 25-30 yards down field, not friggin’ FU participant in sight for the final 40-45 yards…#FTMF, # 3 because that score pushed the UGA football lead to the point of the bammers feeling uncomfortable in the 4th quarter…GO DAWGS!
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The “take what the D gives you” is kind of why I feel like Monken may stick around for a while. With the roster that Kirby & Co hand over to him it’s as close to coaching like you want to in the NFL without dealing with the politics of it. The roster that he has to work with right now allows him to take what the D gives you and have it be successful, not force one or two star players which gets him predictable.
If Kirby pays him I think he’ll stay a while.
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I just noticed Ladd McConkey shoving that Michigan DB all the way into the endzone. Wow.
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Dooley would have loved to have Ladd as one of his “down field blockers” it wasn’t the only time he did that last year! He sprung Bowers on multiple big plays!
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Ladd McConkey’s long bomb touchdown against Auburn is one of my favorites. Defensive coordinators had to take notice of Ladd’s speed after that.
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For me it’s either the McIntosh trick play touchdown pass or the long bomb touchdown to McConkey at Auburn. For the Kenny Mac TD pass, I had an amazing angle from the upper deck end zone behind the play – on the TV copy you can kinda tell pretty soon after the snap that Kenny is not necessarily attacking the line of scrimmage and is going to shallow up and throw the ball. But from my angle you just could not tell until the ball was in the air and it surprised the hell out of me. So much fun. And then McConkey TD was just a gorgeous play call. Auburn was caught with their pants down, they clearly had no idea that either Ladd nor Stet had it in them and the throw was just gorgeous. I was in an upper deck there and man the silence after the play was golden.
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Anything with Cook split out wide.
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These 3 are all great. But my faborite might have been the heavy goal line play v Arkansas where Jalen Carter led the ball carrier into the hole and de- cleated 3 Hogs with one mighty block. Never seen that before! 🙂
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This play! https://twitter.com/DawgsHq/status/1511479593626075138?s=20&t=5va2aH-GjUERoeXXEKhCxQ
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JTD bombs away to Burton vs. South Carolina stands out. Kearis was just as open on the other side.
Arch happened to have a front row seat, too.
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I’m going to cheat and say Cook’s entire performance against UT. You could hear the collective wind being knocked out of the crowd every time he touched the ball. Same with the oline performance in the 4th quarter against Bama. Cook and Zeus taking turns running up the middle was dawg porn at its finest. For years we heard Kirby was playing with Bama’s 2011 playbook and you couldn’t win that way anymore. Now I would contend we were never really playing that way, but that drive was a giant FU to Saban and every other pundit who whined about Kirby’s offense for 6 seasons.
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My favorite was Big 99 going over the top on vs Charleston Southern. He, ” ” didn’t make it, but it was awesome.
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