I’m down with this.
The SEC's most successful offense is set to play the SEC's least successful offense this weekendhttps://t.co/ZenJMljuye pic.twitter.com/DDl5zNw2Be
— Clark Brooks (@SEC_StatCat) September 16, 2022
Daily Archives: September 16, 2022
Next level rat poison
Nick Saban is probably asking himself “why didn’t I think of that first?” about now.
Filed under It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major
The price of success
Sure, why not.
I mean, UT barely had a winning record last season, but, on the other hand, he’s done better than Jimbo so far in 2022.
*********************************************************************
UPDATE:
Just a reminder that Jimmy Sexton never loses.
The incredible disappearing Gamecock
Doing my weekly research for tomorrow’s game, I’ve come across something of a mystery. Last season, Josh Vann was South Carolina’s leading receiver. (He had an effective game against Georgia, too.) Phil Steele named him second team All-SEC.
And yet, through two games this season, he’s barely made his presence known, with one catch for nine yards and no touchdowns. I couldn’t find anything that indicated he’s had injury issues, or is in Beamer’s dog house for some reason. Anyone know what the story is there?
Filed under 'Cock Envy
Run the damn ball, Monken?
On paper, there’s a ginormous mismatch tomorrow on both lines of scrimmage. Check out this take from a post entitled “Five keys to Victory” at The Big Spur:
1. Miracle turnaround on the offensive line – Let’s face it, if South Carolina’s offensive line plays the way it has the first two weeks, the Gamecocks have no chance to win this football game or even keep it close. Georgia has one of the most talented and athletic front sevens in all of college football and if the Gamecocks cannot slow them down, they will have little chance of offensive success tomorrow afternoon. Greg Adkins has to find a way to get his players to play way over their heads and to prepare them for what they are going to face from the Bulldogs’ defense.
When your first key to victory involves a miracle, I’d say you’ve got problems. And that was borne out in South Carolina’s first two games.
Georgia State and Arkansas essentially gashed South Carolina on the ground. Both teams went for 200 rushing yards or more. Those two teams also combined for six rushing touchdowns with Arkansas reaching the end zone five times on the ground. This has to be an area of major concern for the Gamecocks.
With that said, most would point to the rushing attack as the weak point of Georgia’s offense. The Bulldogs rank 10th in the league in yards per game and ninth in yards per carry. It’s worth pointing out that there hasn’t been much of a commitment to the run game through two games. Despite a couple playing in games where it had 25 and 30-point leads at the half, UGA has just 57 rushing attempts through two games. This could be a game where the UGA ground game gets right.
Which leads to my question in this post. We know Monken’s MO this season has been to take what opposing defenses give him, and to date, that hasn’t been a power run game. Does that change tomorrow?
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
The new normal?
Shot.
Chaser.
I’m not sure it’s totally sunk in how different Georgia’s offense is this season from last year. The Dawgs have run a total of 137 offensive plays so far; they’ve thrown the ball on 80 of them. That’s better than a 58% clip, way higher than we’ve ever seen in the Smart era. They haven’t used play action nearly as much as they have before. The leading receiver is a running back who has more than twice as many catches as the top wideout does. Bennett has rushed the ball five times, for minus-five yards.
And they’re averaging about two and a half more points per game than they did in 2021. Pretty impressive, when you think about it.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
“He goes, ‘some coaches are just weird…’”
I could let you look at this All-22 tape, but then I’d have to kill you.
Every spring, football writers sink deep into the black market. They’re not bartering for controlled substances, or blood diamonds, or credit card numbers. The only contraband they want is the tape that leaks from colleges and is covertly passed around through a clandestine network of beat reporters.
Those writers are in search of the precious and rare “All-22” tape. It’s the bird’s-eye, uncompromised panorama that, as the name implies, captures all 22 of the players on a football field. Unlike the regular television broadcasts — with varied camera angles and editorial direction, All-22 footage offers an uncompromised vantage. The footage is captured by a football program’s film division, and it’s used by coaches to prepare for weekly matchups and by NFL general managers who are agonizing over what to do with their fourth-round draft picks. For those outside that insulated fraternity, it’s kept under stringent lock and key.
Weird? Sure, but…
It’s a refrain you hear all the time in the bizarre world of the NCAA; coaches have a lot of power, and if they’re maniacal about keeping their schemes under wraps, they’ll gladly muster their legal forces against anyone in possession of that precious cargo.
… totally in keeping with college football.
Filed under Strategery And Mechanics
“Open by birth.”
If you’ve been following Georgia football over the past year, I doubt you’ll find this ESPN piece on the evolution of the tight end position groundbreaking, but it does have a good quote from Kirby Smart about it:
The way Smart sees it, the change was inevitable.
He pointed out how those old-school, run-oriented offenses really only featured one guy: the tailback. No one ever talked about the great block a tight end had, he said.
And now that spread offenses are everywhere and everything is geared toward the passing game, it’s no wonder that tight ends are getting in on the action.
“It’s becoming basketball,” Smart said. “Because in basketball, the center is gone. Everybody’s a guard. Well, in football the evolution is everybody’s a pass-catcher. So if you’re big and you’re a pass-catcher, what does everybody draft in the NBA? The 6-10 guy that can play guard. So we’re looking for the 6-6 guy that can play receiver and tight end.”
…
“It’s a great X-and-O scheme advantage because you can flex guys out,” Smart said. “I mean, teams are trying to figure out whether we’re gonna run it down their throat or we’re gonna open it up and throw it.”
And that’s all before Georgia’s offense has shown its first 13 personnel look.
I didn’t have “Kirby Smart, offensive innovator” on my bingo card, but I’ll take it.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Get The Picture 