Graham Coffey has a detailed breakdown of Oregon’s projected starting 22 you’ll want to read.
QB – Bo Nix #11 – Bo Nix is Bo Nix. We know him. Georgia has had a plan for him since his freshman season and it has always been a good plan. If you flush him he will press and make some mistakes. In his past two games against UGA he has been about a 50% passer and has about 5 YPA. Georgia pressured him 17 times last year. He was 5/18 for 39 yards on those throws. If Georgia wants to have a comfortable game on Saturday they will have to pressure him again. Nix is actually a pretty good deep passer.,,, When he has time. Georgia needs to get to him to get the ball out quick. When they flush him they will have to keep him from hurting Georgia with his legs. UGA will spy him a lot. I expect Smael Mondon to do that some, as well as Nolan Smith and Malaki Starks when he is on the field in DB heavy packages.
Lanning may know Kirby’s secret sauce on how to defend Nix, but that doesn’t mean he’s got any real answers on how to counter.
Reading Graham’s entire piece leads me to believe he’s nailed the biggest key to the game — if Georgia can run the ball successfully, game over. The second most important key is whether Oregon’s offensive line is good enough to keep pressure off Nix in passing situations.
Graham points out that Oregon’s heralded inside linebackers are big-bodied, stout against the run types. How they hold up in pass coverage may be a different story. You can bet that Monken will be exploring that scenario and he’s certainly got the personnel with which to do so.
Get The Picture 
Agree, this could set up for a more pass happy offensive focus…Monken will take what the defense will give him.
Our large TE’s should be great targets for jump balls in the end zone.
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The best thing about Monken is that he has coached and called games as an OC in the NFL. Offensive game plans and calling games in the NFL is at a different level than in college because in the NFL it is about matchups and how to exploit them since there isn’t nearly the talent disparity you see in college from team to team and even from position group to position group on one team. What gives Georgia and a few other college teams a marked advantage offensively is having a coordinator that looks at the games from an NFL perspective…where are the matchups that we want to exploit and what are the best looks, sets, player groups, etc. to allow us to attack the defense most effectively.
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Good analysis. I’d never thought of it like that, but I like it.
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Run-stout LBs vs. our TEs? I’ll take our guys every time.
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Gotdam right!
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Didn’t last years meeshigun edition have some “supposed” bad ass players on d, they were relegated to an after thought by “Madman Monken” and his book of shit you ain’t seen yet…
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I think our O-Line is ready to earn a “nasty” reputation like the DL enjoyed last year.
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Except we won’t have Justin Shaffer to dive on the pile late to injure opposing defensive linemen’s shoulders…lol.
Still can’t believe he didn’t get flagged for at least one of those late dog pile flops in Indy.
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yes I believe you are correct sir.
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Yup
‘X’ factor is the tight ends. You have to account for the Tight Ends, which means the LB’S cannot cheat the line to stop the run. If you cheat the line, those Tight Ends will kill you.
The biggest strength they have (the LB’S) on defense, in theory will be negated and that opens up all kinds of options.
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Not so very long ago, Lanning was studying Bo Nix and figuring out how to beat him. So he knows Bo. And he knows exactly what adjustments Bo needs to make to be better.
It’s worrisome to me.
We’re not going to see the same Bo that we saw at Auburn.
I sure hope I’m wrong and tomorrow night I’ll say so if I am.
Bo will be a problem but not an insurmountable one.
Dawgs win a nail biter (any game going into the fourth quarter with less than a three score lead is a nail biter for me).
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Lanning undoubtedly communicated the changes that Bo needs to make to be better. But I just don’t think Bo can change when pressured and contained. He will revert to what we’ve all seen. Not only will he run around, but he will give up large chunks of ground in doing so before maybe trying to fling the ball as he’s in the grasp. While Lanning knows what should be done, and Bo knows (and Bobo knows-knows), that Tiger can change uniforms, but he can’t change his stripes.
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Lanning may know what Bo needs to change, but the HUGE question is whether Bo has the ability to make those changes. He couldn’t in three years at Auburn.
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Wanna swap usernames?
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The key to beating Nix is NOT HAVING A BRENTON COX TYPE TO MAINTAIN CONTAIN. UGA has been very disciplined on defense against him in the past. Flush him and turn him back inside and he is toast. Pull a COX and let him get outside and he is in his element. The fact that COX is at #FTMF should tell you that Kirby will not put up with the lack of discipline in your assignment very long.
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Kudos to Nix for making 18 pass attempts on 17 pressure plays.
Not everyone can do that.
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That was in fact even more impressive than him only having 3 INTs all of last season….
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Beat me to it!
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I think Coffey may be underselling Oregon’s LBs – Kirby wanted those guys bad. I expect Oregon will try to keep everything in front of their DBs and hope they can get pressure and slow UGA’s running game with ~6 in the box. Their DL and LBs give them a fighting chance early on to limit our explosive plays. I agree with Coffey on Oregon’s Offense – they have the talent to hit on 2-3 bombs while UGAs coaches and less experienced starters take a minute to settle in.
I see it as kind of a cross between UT and UF last year where things are interesting for a while as UGA adjusts to new schemes against fresh 1st stringers. We start to pull away by or before the 3rd quarter and Kirby eventually pulls the starters. There will still be enough for UGA fans to worry about.
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The only Dawg TE that either Sewell or Flowe might be able to cover is DW0, and I’m guessing he wins significantly more of those matchups than he loses. Bowers, Arik, and Delp, if he plays, will smoke those guys.
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Sewell is 6’2”
Flowe is 6’3”
DW0 is 6’7”
Math my friend. Neither of those cats can cover a man who has Washington wingspan. It ain’t gonna happen.
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That’ll teach me to bring words to a math fight. Damn you, Moe!
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I hope we see a few of those big bodied LBs get caught in man on wheel routes
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Kirbs secret sauce should be RB, Daijun Edwards #33
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