Some mild perspective

Last post notwithstanding, it’s not like I ever felt as if the game was getting away from Georgia yesterday.  I don’t even think my feelings rose to the level of frustration… puzzlement, maybe.  Let’s face it, we’ve seen this dance from the team enough times this season to become inured to it.

Anyway, it’s not like they turned in a bad performance.  You want bad?  How about this?

The Texas A&M – Vols box score confirms how ugly game that was: The teams combined for 205 penalty yards, 48% passing, two missed FGs and 0-for-4 on 4th downs.

Neither team had a play from scrimmage longer than 29 yards.

Neither team scored an offensive TD after 1st quarter.

— Brandon Zimmerman (@BZSEC) October 15, 2023

Meanwhile, in Columbia, Shane Beamer’s throwing everybody he can think of under the bus after his team blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead.

Shane Beamer is a master at blaming everyone else after a loss. pic.twitter.com/YJze9DOQ5h

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) October 14, 2023

LOL.  He’s keeping a list!

Plus, there’s this positive.

Georgia has now won 34-consecutive regular season games, setting the all-time SEC record, beating Tennessee’s streak of 33 games between 1937 and 1941. #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/QIlMCwJzXm

— 960 The Ref (@960theref) October 15, 2023

We’ve gotten spoiled, I’m afraid.

Stats vs. eyeballs

I tweeted this yesterday after Georgia’s final score.

Solid answer for UGA. Game stats are gonna look a little bit strange.

— Senator Blutarsky (@MummePoll) October 14, 2023

Boy, were they.  Graham lists some.

Georgia outgained Vandy by 323 yards, had +1.9 Net YPP advantage, was 10/16 on 3rd down, racked up 25 1st downs, ran for 281 yards and passed for 261 yards and some of you in my mentions wanna fire the OC. Y’all are high.

— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) October 14, 2023

Add to that a 15-minute advantage in time of possession and the fact that Georgia never punted — all against the SEC’s worst team — and it’s hard to reconcile that with a mere 17-point win in a choppy game.

Before you go there, it wasn’t the turnovers.  The first one wound up being a dodged bullet, as Vandy failed to score, and the second one was a wash with Vanderbilt’s, as both teams wound up scoring touchdowns after their takeaways.  A little of it can be explained by Georgia having to settle for field goals in the red zone.  (Woodring’s three field goals came in culmination of drives lasting 7:47, 8:30 and 5:45.)

But, really, I’m hard pressed to remember the last time the stats felt so out of sync with my subjective impression of a game.  Like I said, strange.

Lingerie on the field

Tykee Smith and Dominic Lovett basically took over the last minute of the first half yesterday, capped by this catch:

What a route by Lovett before the half pic.twitter.com/kmo2GQEwkD

— 704 Dawg (@FSFRecruits) October 14, 2023

The route was so good, he almost juked himself out of the play.  LOL.  Quite the first touchdown as a Dawg for Lovett.

YOLO

I’m not gonna say this Carson Beck quote ($$) about his bad interception is Coxian, but it’s uncomfortably close:

Beck’s explanation: “It happens. They covered it up (downfield) pretty well. Obviously, I’m not going to sit back there and try to just get sacked. I’m going to try to get some yards. Sometimes I try to do too much. So there’s a good balance between throwing it away and trying to make a play.”iii

I’m beginning to understand a little better why the coaches were pounding on him not to turn the ball over earlier in the season.

2023 Mumme Poll ballot, Week 7

  Okay, we’re off and running!

Here’s the link to this week’s ballot.  It’s the same format as last year, so you should be familiar.

You have until midnight Monday to fill one out and post it.

Any questions? If so, let me and Peyton know in the comments.