And Georgia’s quarterback room thins.
Got his degree in three years, so good for him. Rumor has him linked to Kentucky, but wherever he winds up, I wish him the best.
Daily Archives: December 4, 2023
Saban, on in-game adjustments
Most interesting…
“… and 19’s not gonna kill us and 84’s not gonna kill us”. Sigh.
Amazing how much Georgia’s first drive revealed. It’s almost like it was too successful for their own good.
Observations from the armchair, 29-1 edition
My first thought after the end of the SECCG was to revisit this Aaron Murray quote.
“This game is so much mental than even physical at times,” former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said. “I remember going back to 2012. Alabama, they were the kings of college football. When they walked on the field, you felt their presence. When you were preparing for the guys, you were kind of like ‘Oh, my God, they’ve got that guy and that guy and that guy and this first-rounder. Nick Saban.’ You’d be on the field and you’d see him. There is an intimidation factor. There’s no doubt about it. It’s the dynasty. It’s the greatest coach of all time. That is in the back of your mind. When things aren’t going great you start to think, oh, it makes sense, it’s Alabama.”
Is that fair? In some ways, probably not. As the game ebbed and flowed, I wasn’t thrilled with the defensive strategy of making Alabama beat them by driving down the field, but when the dust settled, I had to admit it did make sense, as Alabama was held to its season low in offensive yardage.
Same thing, as far as Bobo goes. It wasn’t his best game plan of the season, and I don’t understand the emphasis on the run for the better part of two quarters, but guess what? Georgia averaged 5.35 yards per play, better than nine other teams managed against the Tide’s defense.
There was enough meat on the bone to make a meal, in other words. It’s just that, to some extent, the chef wasn’t able to translate the recipe successfully. Some of that was unfortunately due to several key players being banged up — I’m not offering that as an excuse, before anyone goes there, as it’s part of the game — but some of it was due to poor execution. And some of it was due to… well, “oh, it makes sense, it’s Alabama”.
But what I’ve loved about this team all season didn’t desert them in the face of all that, even when they were down by ten. They were resilient and got themselves off the floor with two touchdown drives when it seemed like everything was going against them.
And then the defense didn’t fit the run correctly and let ‘Bama run out the clock. Sigh. Time for bullet points…
- The offensive line carved up the ‘Bama front on the first series of the game. After that? Not so much, especially after Mims exited the game for good. I could understand getting stuffed on the run; the Tide decided to sell out stopping that and leave it up to Beck to win the game throwing. The disappointing part was that Alabama rarely rushed more than four on pass plays and still managed a fair amount of pressure doing so.
- Truss did an admirable job earlier in the season stepping in for Mims, but he wasn’t as good Saturday. They really felt it, because Mims was a total beast while he was out there. Greene had his share of ups and downs. Van Pran was terrific. Guard play was inconsistent.
- Milton and Edwards did what they could, but Alabama’s defensive strategy didn’t leave a lot of room for them out there. Milton did look fantastic on that first touchdown run, though, didn’t he?
- For all their pain, somehow Bowers and McConkey managed to combine for eight catches and 90 some odd yards. No touchdowns, though. It made for some rough watching, as they were clearly not anywhere near 100%, but as their faces showed, they were giving everything they had to contribute.
- Boy, was it good to see Arian Smith get that deep ball. That’s been missing from the offense this year. I guess file it under better late than never.
- The strange thing about the receivers was that much of the time it appeared like they were doing a better job blocking than they were getting separation from the ‘Bama coverage. Again, like much of what else went on, it was inconsistent.
- Count Beck among the inconsistent, while you’re at it. On the surface, he had a pretty decent night: 21-29, 243 yards, no interceptions, but no touchdowns, either. The big pass to Smith was underthrown; had Beck put it out there a little more, it’s six points. Seeing as Georgia wound up settling for a field goal instead, it wound up being one of those little things that kept adding up all game long. Beck also seemed a little spooked by the threat of the ‘Bama pass rush, perhaps somewhat more than he should have. (At least one of the sacks was the result of him holding the ball too long, though.) He did have another one of those patented “take the nine yards the defense gives you” runs.
- One other thing about Beck’s inconsistency: dealing with his two key targets who were hampered by injuries no doubt affected the timing on some passes, or, at a minimum, put a question in Beck’s mind about timing. It’s not fair to be too hard on him because of that.
- Which brings us to the defensive front, a motley group that had mixed results. On the one hand, they missed their fair share of gap assignments, leading to some gaping holes the ‘Bama backs exploited. On the other hand, Alabama only averaged 2.8 yards per rush. (Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have taken that before the game; I sure would have.) On the one hand, there were plays when Milroe had an obscene amount of time in the pocket to throw. On the other, Brinson and Walthour recorded sacks and Logue had a pass breakup. Miller had a tackle for loss. Jalon Walker didn’t play a lot of snaps, but when he was out there, he was incredibly productive with two sacks of Milroe. Chambliss didn’t play badly, even on his contain work. Overall, it was… inconsistent, but not terrible.
- That being said, not being gap sound and fitting the runs on that last Alabama possession basically undid whatever good work they had done before then.
- Another thing that was inconsistent, but unnerving to watch when it did happen, was the way Alabama’s offensive line was able to manhandle Georgia’s front. That shouldn’t happen.
- Overall, a quiet night from the ILBs. I realize a lot of that was due to Georgia deploying them — both of them! — as spies to keep Milroe from running at will and that did work. But the run support when he wasn’t the ball carrier wasn’t as good as it needed to be. I realize Mondon was gutting it out, but I saw him take himself out of a couple of plays by overcommitting to one side of the play as it developed.
- The secondary, outside of Everette, was its usual solid self, and even Everette acquitted himself fairly well at times. To be fair, given the amount of time Milroe had to throw, Georgia’s defensive backs faced a tall task keeping Alabama’s receivers in check. They only had thirteen catches, although in comparison with Georgia, two of those were cashed in for touchdowns.
- I still hate the fucking wheel route. Especially when the coverage busts and leaves the back wide open for an easy 28-yard touchdown.
- One other thing the secondary deserves much credit for — despite the amount of time Milroe often had, Alabama only had one other completion of more than 20 yards on the night. That’s good defense.
- Special teams? It’s hard to give the group too much credit, considering the penalty bust on the field goal attempt wound up costing Georgia three points. Woodring did nail his other attempt, along with three extra points, so it wasn’t a total lost cause. Thorson wound up punting four times (season high?) and still hasn’t allowed a punt return.
- That said, the play design that led to the big punt return by Anthony Evans was inspired and did its job misleading the ‘Bama coverage team. Evans looks pretty damned fast, by the way. I wonder if he’s handed the job for good starting with the bowl game.
- I’ve already had my say about the coaches, either at the beginning here, or in another post or two, so I see no reason to beat any dead horses further. The big thing about the coaching is that they gambled they could beat Alabama in a grinder and Saban proved them wrong. There’s a reason he’s the GOAT, so there’s no shame in that.
Georgia didn’t bring its “A” game, that’s for sure. But it brought enough to win, had it been able to avoid some of the stupid penalties and that brutal turnover. The margins for error thin in the postseason and this year’s team got caught on the short end.
That’s all the observing I’ve got until month’s end, when they play FSU. Stick around.
Filed under Georgia Football
Another stupid and futile gesture
Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle…
Are there any serious politicians left in this country? Apparently not in Florida, anyway.
***********************************************************************
UPDATE: Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…
Filed under Political Wankery
To beat the best, you’ve got to be the most deserving.
Gosh, hosing a quality Georgia team appears to be becoming a tradition for the selection committee.
Probably just a coincidence. Anyway, hear about the 12-team playoff coming?
Filed under Georgia Football, BCS/Playoffs, Stats Geek!
More selection committee follies
While we’re on the subject, here’s what Hale had to say about what the selection committee did with (to?) Georgia:
Three points.
Three.
After 29 straight wins and two consecutive national championships, a three-point loss with two of its best players battling injuries and two freshmen playing linebacker is what knocked Georgia from No. 1 in the rankings last week to No. 6 this week.
Three. Stinking. Points.
You know where three points come from? A field goal. A kicker. We’re cutting the two-time defending champs out of the playoff because of a kicker? To paraphrase Allen Iverson: “We’re talking about field goals? Field goals? Not a touchdown! Not a touchdown! Field goals.”
Please, committee members. Go stand next to Brock Bowers. Look him in the eye and tell him a field goal is why he doesn’t belong in the College Football Playoff.
We hope your committee assignment comes with a good health insurance policy.
Again, I can’t get that worked up, as I never expected the committee to leave the Dawgs in the top four. In the end, I think they didn’t want to face any further media criticism related to Georgia’s non-conference schedule.
But while we’re on the subject of rationales, here’s a question: if the Florida State injury was so devastating to their standing in the rankings, why didn’t the committee look at the other side of the coin in Georgia’s case by noting that the four offensive starters who were banged up/missing for the SECCG would have enough time to heal and be ready to go in the CFP semis?
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, Georgia Football
Hale bringing the heat
David Hale has some scathing words for the committee.
In the olden days, we had a beauty contest. The top team in the nation was decided entirely by the voters.
Then we moved to a better system, one determined in part by computers that at least added some math to the abstract rationalizing while also allowing two teams to decide it on the field.
Then we moved to a four-team playoff, and the whole point was to eliminate the hypotheticals and let a champion be crowned by the actual results on the field. If you won your games, you had a chance to win a national title.
Turns out, all of that was a charade. None of it mattered. The games are pointless. What happens on the field is less important than what a committee thinks might happen in a future matchup.
It is an absolute slap in the face to every player who has ever put on a helmet, laced up cleats and marched onto the field to battle for a victory, because a bunch of folks in a conference room in Texas decided their sacrifice was not as important as the Las Vegas line on a potential playoff matchup.
It’s a joke.
I’m not angry about that like he is, but it’s hard for me to see how what the committee did isn’t tremendously damaging to their credibility going forward, mainly because the rationale they gave was so flimsy when everyone knows what really went down.
Let’s be real about what happened here: The committee members couldn’t leave the SEC out of the playoff. They didn’t care that Alabama needed a miracle to avoid a loss to 6-6 Auburn two weeks ago. They didn’t care that Georgia’s own injuries — playing with a banged-up Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers — likely played a large part in why the Tide won Saturday. They didn’t care that the ACC has a winning record, head-to-head, against the SEC this season. They didn’t care that Alabama beat 2023 Georgia, not 2021 or 2022 Georgia. They cared that Alabama and the SEC had to have a spot in the playoff by birthright. And as a result, they sent a message that what happened on the field — the blood, tears and sacrifice that players made all season to win every game on their schedule — was less important than getting the most compelling TV matchup.
David works for ESPN, so I’m sure he had to be a little circumspect in his criticism there, but it’s pretty clear where his finger is really pointing. And he’s right.
The biggest flaw with the old BCS was letting the coaches, with all their bias and conflicts of interest, have a say in the rankings. Now we’ve got the selection committee clearly beholden to Mickey’s interests. Hard to see how that’s much of an improvement.
And as David notes, it’s hard to see how a 12-team field fixes that. I have no doubt Bill Hancock will try to explain it away before he retires, though.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs
Kirby’s Monday to-do list
No rest for the weary.
Toss in meeting with Carson Beck about his future plans, and you’ve got a fluid situation, to say the least.
Filed under Georgia Football
The Alliance’s final accomplishment
Seth Emerson flat out nails the law of unforeseen consequences for the ACC here:
Well played, moron. And well deserved.
Filed under ACC Football, BCS/Playoffs
Get The Picture 