Erik Evans’ worst nightmare, ladies and gentlemen:
I don’t want to live in a world where Kirby wins back-to-back titles. I fear I will.
Daily Archives: November 15, 2022
This is what comes of letting the assistant coach walk off with the recruiting white board.
Filed under Georgia Football, The Blogosphere
And while we’re on the subject of awards…
Todd Monken is on the list for the Broyles Award.
As he damned well should be. He should win, but I’ve got a feeling Alex Golesh will instead.
By the way, there are 22 defensive coordinators on that list, none from Georgia. Seriously, Broyles Award?
Filed under Georgia Football
2022 Joe Moore Award semifinalists
In case you’re wondering, Georgia did make the cut for the final nine.
I wonder when was the last time Alabama didn’t make the semifinal list. Better luck in the portal next year, fellas!
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football
TFW there’s a slight glitch in the plan
Tennessee football, a play in two acts:
Shot.
Chaser.
True, but one of those games was on the road and in the rain. There’s a special Joe Moore Award exemption for that.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Observations from the arm chair, Clanga! edition
In my preview post for the game, I wrote this:
Two wild cards that cause concern are (1) turnover margin and (2) special teams. The first, simply because Georgia has turned the ball over 11 times in its last six games and is about to play its first chilly game of the season at night, on the road. The second, because Lideatrick Griffin is the nation’s scariest kick returner, averaging over 33 yards with his fifteen returns. He leads the country in 30+ yard returns, with nine. It might be a good idea to make sure those kickoffs are touchbacks, fellas.
All told, it shapes up as a game where if Georgia doesn’t mess up, the Dawgs should cover the 16-point spread. We shall see what we shall see.
So what happens? Stetson throws two picks en route to Georgia finishing the day minus-2 in turnover margin, Mississippi State scores on a 63-yard punt return… and the Dawgs win by 26. Munson would be turning over in his grave by now.
I tell you what — Todd Monken has MSU defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s number. In 2020, Arnett came to Athens determined to stop Georgia’s running game and make JT Daniels, in his first start, beat his defense. He won the battle (UGA only rushed for 8 measly yards), but lost the war (Daniels threw for 401 yards on the way to a 31-24 win). This time in Starkville, Arnett went after Georgia’s running game again. He didn’t get the same results; instead, it was one of those “take out two plays and Georgia didn’t run the ball very well” type games, as Josh demonstrates.
Yeah, not great. The problem, as you can see from that box, is that Georgia’s passing game, while not up to the 2020 results, managed quite well, thank you very much. Add in those aforementioned two running plays (the McConkey and Milton TDs) and the Dawgs actually managed to score an additional 15 points in the rematch.
Next, maybe some genius defensive coordinator will try to shut down Georgia’s offense by focusing on stopping Stetson Bennett instead of the running game.
And with that, on to the bullet points.
- Let’s start with one of the two areas of disappointment, the offensive line. More specifically, the offensive line’s run blocking. No way to sugar coat it. It was atrocious. How bad was it? So bad that Milton’s touchdown run, which came on one of the few well blocked plays of the game, was a genuine surprise. More than just being bad, it was incredibly disappointing, given the progress we’d seen over the past few games. Georgia had, what, three runs of over 10 yards? MSU didn’t do anything fancy, just kept shooting guys through the gaps who weren’t picked up. Lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe the worst thing of all is that it seemed like on a few plays, guys were kind of mailing it in with their run blocking.
- Pass pro was better. Bennett wasn’t sacked, or even pressured that much — the problem was, bad things happened when he was pressured, as his first pick came off a rusher hitting his arm as he threw. (Too bad, as McConkey had a step on the defensive back.)
- In short, I hope a few asses are being thoroughly chewed out in practice this week.
- Obviously, it wasn’t a great day for the running backs. McIntosh had a couple of nice runs early and pitched in with blitz pickups, Edwards had a nice reception and then there’s Milton’s aforementioned touchdown run. Other than that, it seemed like there was nothing else besides short runs. Except, of course, very short runs.
- Fortunately, they got a great game out of the receivers to make up for it. McConkey appears to have recovered nicely from his injury, leading the team in both rushing and receiving yardage. It’s always fun to watch a hapless defensive back try to recover from misjudging McConkey’s speed, isn’t it?
- The big story of the game regarding the receivers was the return of Georgia’s forgotten man, Kearis
JohnsonJackson, who turned in a whale of a good show with two spectacular catches on his way to a four-reception, 69-yard night. His first catch of the game, in particular, was a highlight reel effort. He’s a dude. - The tight ends combined for 10 catches, 101 yards and two touchdowns. Combine that with their usual effort blocking and, well… you’ve got a typically stellar day from them.
- One thing I found interesting, although it remains to be seen if it’s significant, is that the targets were more concentrated than they’ve been in most games, with 22 of 25 receptions being made by only five guys.
- Stetson had a Stetson kind of day — the occasional mistake, more than made up for by a brilliant play, combined with accurate passing and a half dozen receptions of 15+ yards. The interceptions are hard to get worked up about, as the first was the result of pressure and the second, while maybe not the best throw, was the result of a freak occurrence (I assume Van Pran is taking some kidding this week about that).
- Defensively, MSU couldn’t run much and Will Rogers didn’t have that much to show for over 50 pass attempts. In fact, toss out the turnovers and the punt return and you weren’t left with very much at all on the night other than some empty yards.
- A lot of that had to do with one Mr. Jalen Carter, who hasn’t taken long at all to return to form post-injury. The speed he showed knifing into MSU’s backfield was stunning to watch. He’s a nightmare to block, something I’m afraid Will Levis is about to discover in a very close and personal way.
- Others of note: Mondon, who was a tackling machine, along with his inside cohort, Dumas-Johnson (and the third Musketeer, Marshall, also turned in a nice pass break up).
- The secondary turned in another excellent game, led by Starks. Is there a better true freshman in the country this season? Chris Smith was his usual solid self. Lassiter flashed more than once. This group just keeps improving week to week.
- Which brings us to the second area of disappointment, special teams. Coverage on returns left a lot to be desired and it’s not like it was a surprise that Mississippi State was good at that. The punt return TD was set up by a weak Thorson punt, although he showed out well the rest of the night. Podlesny nailed all his kicks, but allowed Griffin to return three kickoffs, something that didn’t burn Georgia (he was held under his season average, fwif), but was less than ideal.
- Can’t really complain about the coaching (duh), except maybe the special teams prep (also, duh). Kirby deserves mucho credit for making sure there wasn’t a hangover after dispatching the Vols the week before in this season’s Game of the Century.
All told, a very good night. The Dawgs had a few rough edges that didn’t amount to diddly when the dust settled, in a road conference game, in chilly weather, at night. That’s the sign of a very good team. But we knew that already, right?
Filed under Georgia Football
A backdoor guide to SECCG and Peach Bowl tix
A reader passed this info on to me via email with instructions to share it with the group:
Senator,
I know that I’m likely to get shut out on tickets to the SEC championship game via Hartman Fund, so I called the Falcons. I’d always heard that Falcons season tickets holders in the club levels could get tickets for other events at MBS, so I called just to check it out. Currently they’re taking deposits for the 2023 season. If you make a non-refundable $250 payment per club seat you can order SEC and Peach Bowl tickets, subject to availability. The Falcons hope is that you’ll order season tickets, but you’re not obligated too. If you don’t order SEC tickets they’ll refund you the $250, but if you use the SEC tickets and don’t order Falcons tickets they keep your $250.
So basically I paid $250 per seat over face and got SEC and Peach Bowl tickets, which I wasn’t likely to receive through UGA. Much less that StubHub currently. My SEC are in the lower level endzone and Peach are in the club level.
Feel free to use yourself or put on the blog, at a later date, i.e. after you’ve purchased some yourself.
Give it a try if you need some.
Filed under GTP Stuff
My Week 11 Mumme Poll ballot
If it ain’t broke…
- Georgia
- Ohio State
Change my mind.
Filed under Mumme Poll
Looking ahead a wee bit
No doubt Kirby Smart would not approve, but Matt Hinton’s early look at the SECCG matchup hits on the two questions that came to my mind watching the LSU-Arkansas game.
First, what’s Todd Monken going to dial up to counter the rapidly ascending Harold Perkins?
In Perkins’ case, his combination of size and speed renders the distinction irrelevant. In the past 2 games following LSU’s open date, he’s graduated to a full-time role that divides his time between all three positions – 37 snaps off the edge, 47 as a box linebacker, and 48 in the slot, according to Pro Football Focus – and wreaked havoc from all of them, cementing his reputation almost overnight as a natural playmaker whose skill set falls somewhere between Micah Parsons and the Honey Badger.
Reckless comparisons for a player so early in his career? Sure, yeah. The exuberance that comes with watching a talent like Perkins coming into his own is part of the point. The sky is the limit, and the gap between potential and reality is closing fast.
Back in Week 3, he left a mark in his first SEC game, finishing with 5 QB pressures (per PFF) and 2 sacks in LSU’s win over Mississippi State. He recorded his first career interception against Auburn, on a trick play gone horribly wrong. In the first game of the current winning streak, he generated 4 pressures against Florida on just 9 pass-rushing snaps. He followed that up with 6 pressures against Ole Miss and 7 in his Week 10 breakout against Alabama, including 3 hits and a sack in each game.
He continued in the same vein against Arkansas, single handedly closing out the game with a forced fumble of the Hogs’ quarterback. He’s a force, alright.
None of which is to say he’ll do the same thing in Atlanta. My memories of what Monken came up with to frustrate Michigan’s pass rush in the national semis are still too fresh to think he won’t come up with something. It’s gonna be fun to see what, though.
He’s not the only OC who has to figure out what to do with an opponent’s pass rush. And that’s something LSU has struggled with this season.
The Tigers needed every last play that he made because their own offense was struggling to make any of its own, especially in the passing game. Jayden Daniels, coming off 3 highly efficient outings against Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama, was anything but on Saturday, turning in abysmal numbers in terms of passer rating (88.2) and Total QBR while finishing just 8-for-15 for 86 yards and throwing his second interception of the season.
That was largely due to pressure, which arrived early and often. On a dozen pressured dropbacks, Daniels was sacked 7 times, scrambled on 4 more, and managed to get off a single incomplete pass. That’s on the heels of games in which he was sacked 6 times by Alabama, 4 times by Ole Miss and 5 times against Tennessee, all in Baton Rouge. For the season, Daniels has taken more sacks (40) than any other Power 5 quarterback and has the highest pressure-to-sack ratio, defined as the percentage of pressure that result in sacks. For all his escapability, Daniels has been corralled at a higher rate under duress (34.5%) than any other full-time QB in a major conference. Against Arkansas, that number was over 50 percent.
Yikes.
And as Matt points out, “… against Georgia, they’ll face the unenviable task of taking on the nation’s premier interior pass rusher, Jalen Carter, before they can even begin to worry about the myriad other ways the Dawgs can get to the quarterback. (Ask Tennessee.)”
Should make for a helluva fight.
Filed under Georgia Football, SEC Football
Zero overlap
This is a good point Kirby Smart makes about his young defense.
Florida-to-Tennessee-to-Mississippi State is running the gamut of offensive philosophies, no doubt. Yet Georgia’s defense managed to handle the three disparate schemes with aplomb (although I’m sure the bye week before Florida came in handy). And by “aplomb”, I mean:
- Florida: 2.94 ypc; 119.09 passer rating
- Tennessee: 2.24 ypc; 113.28 passer rating
- Mississippi State: 3.13 ypc; 104.28 passer rating
52 total points yielded, including two touchdowns in garbage time and one special teams touchdown. That’s 10.33 points per game yielded by the defense in crunch time. Not too shabby. Smart’s got every right to be busting about his guys.
Filed under Georgia Football
But if he had Metchie and Williams, PAWWWLLL!!!
Yesterday’s discussion about Bryce Young made me realize something. A Heisman Trophy winner, he’ll be the first Alabama starting quarterback not to win a national championship since Blake Sims in 2014. And if you go back to 2009, six of the Tide’s last eight starting quarterbacks have national championship rings. Weird, hunh?
Filed under Alabama
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