Curses, foiled again.
Why, that’s almost as awful as swiping the recruiting white board info on the way out of Tuscaloosa. IS THERE NOTHING KIRBY SMART WON’T STOOP TO, PAWWWLLL?!?!?!?
Daily Archives: October 12, 2023
Happy anniversary, ‘Cocks!
You know what I absolutely love about this tweet?
Both statements are true, by Gawd. And what does it say about a football program that its greatest coach quit in midseason out of frustration that he could no longer get it done there?
Quite a lot, actually. You could say it was kind of a cannon shot in that regard.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, The Evil Genius
This week, in Danielson hate
This ought to go over well in Tooth Nation.
I tells ya’, Lulu and Junior aren’t gonna stand for that kind of talk, Gary.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
From Monken to Bobo
Marc Weiszer points out that, six games in, the changes on offenses aren’t that dramatic.
Going from offensive coordinator Todd Monken and quarterback Stetson Bennett to Mike Bobo and Carson Beck hasn’t changed the output much. Several areas have seen improvements.
Third down: 50.7 percent conversion rate after six games last year to 54.7 this year.
Completion percentage: 69.2 to 72.2
Passing offense: 320.3 to 349.7
Yards per completion: 12.56 to 13.03
Yards per pass attempt: Stetson Bennett 8.8, Carson Beck 9.6
Scoring offense: 39.5 to 40.7
Passing efficiency: 151.8 to 166.8
Sacks allowed from 0.83 per game to 0.67
Where the offense has shown a downturn
Red zone offense: From 97.2 percent conversion last season to 90.6 this season, a drop from No. 5 nationally to 29th.
Total offense: From No. 4 in the nation at 517.8 to No. 8 at 502.3.
Tackle for loss allowed: from 3.17 which was No. 3 to 4.33 which is No. 31
Much of that, up and down, can be explained simply by the increased emphasis on the passing game. But, again, nothing that dramatic.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Licking their wounds
Kentucky’s defense may not have gotten the number of the truck that ran over them last Saturday night, but it’s the SEC and that means you only have a week to regroup.
Saturday night in Sanford Stadium was a bad night for Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White and his unit. In a ranked vs. ranked spot against the top program in college football, Kirby Smart’s team delivered a message to the rest of the college football world in a 51-13 beatdown of Kentucky. The game was over from the opening snap. Most notably, a strong Kentucky defense was beatdown for 60 minutes.
At practice this week in Lexington, White’s defense is looking to flush that bad performance quickly. As the Wildcats continue their prep for Missouri, the top goal is getting back to playing to this program’s established defensive standard.
“We have to get back to what we know and who we are. We’ve gotta execute. Simple things and mistakes that we didn’t make in training camp, we didn’t make in spring, we made on Saturday. You get into that kind of environment and things start to snowball,” White told the media on Thursday evening. “Again, hopefully, they can use that as a learning moment.”
Hope is, after all, the best of things.
There was no hiding from what Saturday was — Kentucky’s defense was awful. Georgia did whatever it wanted to a unit that had only allowed 76 points through the first five weeks. The Bulldogs nearly got to that number in one game. Everyone in the program involved with the defense now has something to prove after a very disappointing performance.
“Not the performance that we wanted. I think everybody in that defensive unit — coaches, players, everybody involved — is embarrassed by how we performed. But that is last Saturday.” White said. “Now it’s our job to step up and respond. That’s what we gotta do.”
Mizzou’s got a pretty potent passing attack of their own, so it will be interesting to see if the Tigers picked up anything from what Georgia’s offense did to the ‘Cats. Weird, hunh?
Filed under SEC Football
A mortal lock
That’s what our good buddy, Erik Evans, thinks about the point spread in the Georgia-Vandy game.
UGA -31 at Vandy
The ‘Dores have the SEC’s worst secondary. The Dawgs, its most efficient passing offense. There’s literally no one on this entire VU squad that can cover Bowers if you told them which play was coming. And I doubt that any three could even tackle him. Now, add in a one-dimensional Vandy offense that has turned it over 12 times in its last five games, and an obscene eight times in three SEC games….against UGA’s secondary. Sure, the Cocktail Party is next week, and Kirby has been known to be flat in these kinds of games. But it’s a long year in Nashville, and this 0-7 ATS Vanderbilt team is hard to put money on in any position.
The Dawgs could come out flat and still cover this, methinks.
Georgia -35.99
I will say he’s right about one thing. Turnover margin is the wild card Saturday. If Vanderbilt continues on its current trend, this game will get out of hand, and quickly. (Although I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Dawgs themselves are minus-4 in turnover margin over their past three games.) We’ll see which way the ball bounces, I guess.
“Thank God we’re not going to be in this conference.”
Coach Prime ain’t a big fan of late night college football.
“Who makes these 8 o’clock games? These are the dumbest thing ever,” Sanders said. “Stupidest thing ever invented in life, who wants to stay up until 8 o’clock for a darn game? What about the East Coast? They even care about ratings or anybody watching it?
“What are we supposed to do with the kids all day until 8 o’clock? What are we supposed to do all day until 8 o’clock? What are you supposed to do in the hotel? What are you supposed to do all day?”
And you thought we had it bad, bitching about too many noon starts.
Filed under Coach Prime, Pac-12 Football
Get after his ass?
Matt Hinton, on Carson Beck’s season:
… The only remaining question mark, to reprise a theme from the Stetson Bennett years, is what happens when an opposing defense eventually succeeds in turning up the heat?
Kentucky barely laid a hand on Beck, generating a grand total of 2 QB pressures on 36 drop-backs, per PFF, and his pressure rate for the season (14.2%) is the lowest of any full-time starter nationally except Oregon’s Bo Nix. That can’t last forever. (Well, probably.) But in the meantime, any other defenses that were banking on stuffing the run and forcing the new guy to beat them with his arm should be on notice to be more careful about what they wish for.
The flip side of that is what happens to Beck’s pressure rate should opposing defenses decide they have to change their approach in attacking Georgia’s offense. He’s been a pretty cool customer and I assume that Bobo is alert enough to resort to running the ball more if that’s what defenses start giving the Dawgs. But, should that occur, it will be interesting to see how much of the o-line’s success in pass pro has been the result of defenses focusing on stopping Georgia’s running game.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!, Strategery And Mechanics
A different meteor game
ESPN asks the musical question “Who needs a win?” about the titanic matchup in Columbia, South Carolina Saturday.
Florida at South Carolina: It’s difficult to see the loser of this game going on to have a successful season, a season that was pivotal for both teams — albeit for different reasons. Billy Napier, in his second season at Florida, needed to show marked improvement after the Gators suffered through a 6-7 campaign a year ago. Florida (4-2, 2-1) was pummeled two weeks ago at Kentucky and has played poorly away from home since Napier arrived. The Gators are 1-7 when they’ve ventured outside the Swamp, and after the trip to Williams-Brice Stadium, they still have to play Georgia in Jacksonville and LSU and Missouri on the road and then close the season at home against No. 4 Florida State.
For Shane Beamer and South Carolina, there was a ton of momentum surrounding the program after the Gamecocks won eight games a year ago and beat Tennessee and Clemson to end the regular season, creating lofty expectations in Year 3 for Beamer Ball. But much like a year ago, the Gamecocks (2-3, 1-2) need a strong close to the season after losing to three top-25 teams in their first five games.
Florida routed South Carolina 38-6 last season, but the Gamecocks bounced back to play their best football of the season and win their next two over Tennessee and Clemson. They’re going to need a similar resurgence to finish with their third straight winning record under Beamer, and that starts Saturday at home against the Gators. — Chris Low
What’s striking about this is that both programs are basically perceived as being in the same boat right now, which is pretty amusing when you think about it from the Gators’ perspective. My guess is that smell emanating from Williams-Brice on Saturday will be the stink of desperation.
Just remember, no matter who wins, somebody’s gonna lose.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Gators, Gators...
Get The Picture 