I’m sure you won’t mind reliving a little Cocktail Party fun.
Monthly Archives: October 2023
An early statistical look at Georgia-Missouri
I’ve watched a fair amount of Mizzou football this season. They’ve clearly improved as the season’s progressed, especially on offense. Moving Luther Burden to the slot has proven enormously effective. They’re getting good production out of Schrader at running back (you may remember him from last year’s game). And Brady Cook’s hit another gear this season. He’s third in passer rating in the conference, just ahead of Carson Beck — and, unlike Beck, he’s a threat in the run game. In their last two games, he’s run the ball 19 times for 104 yards.
They’ve been respectable on defense, too. But they’re not Georgia, as this Twitter chain shows.
One huge difference:
Mizzou also trails Georgia in the explosive plays department.
So, Georgia has been the better performer in terms of efficiency and explosiveness. That’s a good combination if you’re Kirby Smart.
One more comparison — as noted before here, Georgia is the least penalized team in the conference. Missouri? Not so much.
I guess some noise will need to be made Saturday afternoon in Athens.
Filed under Georgia Football, SEC Football, Stats Geek!
All their goal is still ahead of them.
Jimbo Fisher, setting his sights high:
Fisher explained that with four games left, the first goal for the Aggies is to get bowl eligible and move on from that point.
“The goal is to get bowl eligible and then keep walking down the road,” Jimbo Fisher said. “We have four more games.”
That’s why they pay him the big bucks, peeps. Plus, lowered expectations seem to be working.
In 2022, the Aggies were only able to win five games all season long. So, being at five wins with four games to go does seem like progress. Getting back to a bowl game would, on top of that, certainly be an improvement from that disappointing season…
Then again, Ole Miss and LSU are two of those four games, both on the road, so maybe Jimbo knows best.
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UPDATE: Stick around to the end of this clip, when the Laner throws shade on Jimbo’s “goal”.
Filed under SEC Football
When the bandwagon breaks
Dabo gets his feathers ruffled on his weekly call in show.
Here’s the audio. The caller was pretty obnoxious, so I can see how Dabo rose to the bait, but still…
https://twitter.com/CFBKings/status/1719165734918508764
I’ll say this — it’s gonna be an interesting offseason at Clemson.
Filed under Clemson: Auburn With A Lake
2023 Mumme Poll, my Week 9 ballot
Still going with undefeated teams with a net ypp of 2.0+, so this week’s ballot remains unchanged from the last:
- Georgia (2.61)
- Michigan (2.69)
- Ohio State (2.55)
- Washington (2.69)
Things may change after this week, though, as FSU just missed with a net ypp of 1.99.
Filed under Mumme Poll
“Georgia being Georgia”
Heather Dinich may have lingering doubts about Georgia, but after the Cocktail Party, Matt Hinton doesn’t.
Two-thirds of the way through the regular season, the Playoff picture is only just beginning to come into focus. Before we wade into the looming hypotheticals on the horizon, though, let’s start on the one undeniable patch of terra firma: Georgia is the best team in college football until further notice. If there was any doubt, Saturday’s thorough, 43-20 beatdown of Florida was an emphatic reminder that the Dawgs are not mere figureheads at the top of the polls. In any realistic scenario, they’re still the team to beat.
He goes on to point out something fun about the remaining regular season schedule.
With 25 consecutive wins under their belts, the Bulldogs are just 1 win shy of Alabama’s run of 26 straight in 2015-16, and just 3 shy of matching the SEC record of 28 straight, set by different Bama teams in 1978-80 and 1991-93. The schedule stiffens over the next few weeks, against 3 ranked opponents (Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee) who boast a combined 10-4 record in SEC play. All 3 harbor visions of a program-defining upset; all 3 will be heavy underdogs. Barring a stunning turn of events, UGA will match the record in Knoxville on Nov. 19, and eclipse it the following week at Georgia Tech. [Emphasis added.]
That would make for an excellent cherry on top of the sundae.
Filed under Georgia Football
Name that caption, catching up on old times edition
Mike’s dad posted this.
Pretty nice. Have at it in the comments.
Filed under Name That Caption
Diverging paths
CBS posted this graphic during their broadcast. It’s a doozy.
Florida fans, that is what a gap looks like.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football
Observations from the armchair, Cocktail Party edition
For all the crap Napier’s getting for his playcalling Saturday, I do have to give him credit for scripting an effective scoring drive on the Gators’ first possession. Unfortunately for him, that’s all he had in the tank in the first half. Here’s how Florida’s remaining possessions went:
- 6 plays, 13 yards, PUNT
- 4 plays, 6 yards, DOWNS
- 2 plays, -14 yards, FUMBLE
- 3 plays, -6 yards, SAFETY
- 3 plays, 2 yards, PUNT
- 5 plays, 41 yards, PUNT
That’s 44 yards on 15 plays. All the while, Georgia was on a scoring run that would ultimately generate 36 unanswered points.
That’s the first big story from the game, Georgia’s defense showing up and playing at a level of sustained excellence worthy of the ’21 and ’22 teams. The second big story was how for the first time this season, the Dawgs outplayed their opponent on both lines of scrimmage. Mertz was sacked four times and Florida suffered eight tackles for loss, while Beck wasn’t sacked and the Gators’ defense only managed four TFLs. Mertz was affected by pressure all game long; Beck clearly had more time to operate, something that was at least partly reflected in their respective yards per pass attempt (6.8 vs. 11.3).
Needless to say, if that’s sustainable, the Dawgs are going to be one tough out the rest of the season.
And with that, it’s on to the bullet points.
- It takes a village to replace Brock Bowers. And while most would take that in the context of yardage and receptions (more on that in a bit), what was satisfying for me was how well the offense blocked in Bowers’ absence. It was the o-line’s best overall showing of the season in that regard. Ditto for Oscar Delp. The downfield blocking by the receivers is something that has steadily improved over the past three or four games and that continued Saturday.
- It was good to see Truss back in the lineup. He threw a helluva block to spring Edwards on that 20-yard TD scamper. Do we get Mims back for Missouri?
- As far as receptions and yardage, both McConkey and Lovett stepped up in particular, combining for 10 catches, more than 200 yards and a touchdown, but there were other notable contributors. Delp had a spectacularly athletic one handed grab. Dillon Bell’s touchdown catch was smooth as silk. In all, eight different players had receptions.
- Daijon Edwards may be the unsung hero of Georgia’s season so far. Danielson couldn’t quit gushing over him, and with good reason. Milton turned in another solid day’s work.
- Carson Beck just keeps rolling. You know he had to be ginned up playing in front of the home folks, but he did a good job of keeping his emotions in check and playing within himself. He rarely made a bad decision and showed off his arm with some terrific throws, like the dime he dropped on Bell for the touchdown. The only real knock I’ve got was overthrowing an open McConkey for what would have been an easy touchdown, so there are still some deep ball issues that need to be cleaned up. But that’s nitpicking, really.
- I don’t know if it was keyed by the return of Ingram-Dawkins, or something else, but man, the d-line showed up to play. And as good as they were, the edge dudes, particularly Jalon Walker and Damon Wilson, were even better. (Marvin Jones, too, now that I think about it.) Those guys abused Florida’s offensive tackles all game long, much to Mertz’ dismay. Pretty exciting to see youth on display like that, if you ask me.
- I’m beginning to think Chambliss’ reputation precedes him. Florida ran at him early and often and with some success.
- Another guy who turned in his best game of the season was Dumas-Johnson and his cohort, Mondon, was right there with him.
- The secondary turned in a good effort… of course, the way the defensive front was manhandling the Gators’ O made that easier, but still. Bullard, Smith (at least until he got hurt), Lassiter and Starks all made contributions and stops after that first scoring drive. Wilson, who looked all-world for Florida early on, wound up with 11 catches, but only for 75 yards.
- Speaking of that first scoring drive, did that look a little weird in the middle of the field, or what? I don’t know if it was a designed pick or just a happy accident, but somehow Bullard, the receiver Bullard was covering and the official sort of got tangled up and split Wilson away from Everette, making for an easy score.
- Best special teams game of the season? If not, it was close. Mews didn’t do anything spectacular, but at least he kept the routine looking routine. Meanwhile, Aguero blocked a punt that led to a safety, Woodring nailed both of his field goal attempts and Thorson placed all three (!) of his punts inside the Gators 20. (By the way, if you were listening to the broadcast, did you catch the factoid that Georgia hasn’t allowed a punt return all season?)
- Tip of the cap to Schumann and Muschamp. You don’t have that sort of sustained defensive excellence without having your guys prepared for what Florida was doing. Georgia continues to tackle as well as anybody in college football, too. And we’re starting to see all the playing time the backups have been given earlier in the season payoff with more confident play on the field. (By the way, I thought Napier leaving his first string offense in late in the game after Georgia had pulled most of their defensive starters was a horseshit move.)
- Bobo called a largely flawless first half, but I have to say I wasn’t totally thrilled with the way he took his foot off the gas to start the second half. That said, I guess even he got tired of watching Georgia run into stacked boxes and opened things back up for a couple of touchdown scores to keep the game out of reach.
- Smart keeps pushing all the right buttons. He had his team prepared, both mentally and emotionally, to succeed and they followed. I also don’t recall an in game call of his that was even remotely questionable. He’s made himself into an elite game day coach.
With the win, Georgia is in even firmer control of the East. But the road doesn’t get easier with Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee next on the schedule. They need to stay on the level they showed Saturday. They’re still the only team capable of beating Georgia during the regular season.
Filed under Georgia Football
Your Daily Gator thinks life in the SEC is unfair.
Bless his heart.
I guess that’s one way to shrink the gap.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
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