The Defense is Talking Big - What Do You Think?

We've seen a lot of quotes this week already from various members of the Defense about how they believe our defense is at least as good, if not better than LSU's.  Seth Emerson expands on it this morning, and here are a few tweets of some sample quotes from the past few days:

@SethEmerson
Seth Emerson Georgia safety Shawn Williams not shy when comparing his team's defense to LSU's: “I really do think we’re better than they are."
Nov 30 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

@ajcsportseditor
ajc sports editor#UGA's Jarvis Jones: 'I think our defense is just as good as [LSU's], if not better' http://t.co/gtAj31I5#bulletinboardmaterial
Nov 29 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

@marcweiszer
Marc Weiszer New blog post: Commings: Georgia defense `is better than theirs’ http://t.co/0PNELPeD#UGA
Nov 29 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Then, Rex Robinson weighed in this morning with his opinion, which is not in favor of the defense stirring the pot:

@Rex_Robinson5
Rex Robinson FOR THE RECORD - I do NOT like our DEFENSIVE players righting checks that our OFFENSE will have to try and cash. #DAWGS#SEC
Nov 30 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

So what do you think?  My opinion - in the scenario as it is, it's not like we've got much to lose.  Nobody outside of the UGA fan base is giving us a chance in the game anyway.  In fairness, I too have predicted LSU to win, but I also said as part of my prediction that for us to win, one of the things that has to happen is LSU has to be off their game at least a bit.  If the talk gets in their heads and makes them more focused on trying to make us look bad than just playing good, fundamental football........well, I'm all for it.  If it backfires, and they come out and skunk us, we weren't supposed to win anyway.

What are your thoughts on our Defense talking the talk?

-Rev.

SECCG Thoughts & Prediction

I've already said this once before, but no matter what happens Saturday, I am thrilled with the results of this season.  To think that we would be here after some of our early season showings seemed like far fetched fantasy up until after the Florida game for me.  So I am proud as can be of what the whole team accomplished the past 10 games.

All that being said, my thoughts on the game this week pretty much mirror what SimpleMan posted yesterday.  If we played LSU 10 times, at most I think we'd win 2 of them.  LSU has just been so impressive this year.......if you take out the Alabama game, who most people would agree is the only team that is the same caliber as LSU, the Tigers' worst victory this year is by 13 points, and that is pretty amazing.  Even your elite undefeated teams usually have one game a year where a lesser opponent sneaks up on them, and they end up only beating them by a slim margin, but LSU has simply taken care of business every time they've stepped on the field, and have essentially been at least 2 touchdowns better than everyone.

It may sound a little odd coming from me, because I typically hate when we play really conservative, but I honestly believe our only chance at winning this game is to come in with an ultra-conservative offensive game plan, and outside of maybe taking one or two well-timed shots, sticking to that game plan.  What LSU has seemed to do to almost everyone this year is "out-patient" their opponent.........they just sit back on offense with a mostly conservative, patient approach, until the opponent's offense finally tries to press the issue.  Then, their defense and/or special teams typically steps up and makes the plays that blow the game wide open.  Just one example is when they played Auburn, who started trying to press the issue, threw a pick-6, then the game blew open from there.  The one opponent who managed to stay as patient as LSU was Alabama.......both teams essentially used the same philosophy.......safe, conservative playcalling, relying on the defense to win.  Both teams were able to maintain that patience all game long (with the controversial interception by LSU at the goal line as the possible lone exception - and ultimately could be looked at as what decided the game.  Had 'Bama been more patient there, they likely would have at least ended up with a FG, which changes the complexion of the game). Of course, two patient offenses like that is what results in a 9-6 final score, but that's probably what we need if we are going to have a chance in this game.  If the final score gets up into the 20's or 30's, it's going to be because LSU's total is that high, and we won't win.

Blutarsky posted today that he feels our WR's have the potential to be effective against the LSU secondary.  I don't disagree if you are looking strictly at the wide receivers vs. their DB's, but what I can't get past is the part he touches on at the end of his post:

And while I’m on the subject of pause for thought, I sure hope somebody in the Georgia offensive brain trust is working on a way to give Justin Anderson some help handling Barkevious Mingo.  That is one scary match up if you’re trying to keep Aaron Murray upright.

Bingo.  The more times we drop back to pass, the more times Murray is going to be hurried or sacked, and the more likely we are to throw a game-changing pick-6, or LSU cause a sack with a fumble that can change the complexion of the game (yes, I realize that technically that's the case against any team - the more times you throw, the more times bad things can happen - but it carries far more weight against a D like LSU).  Murray has been able to step up and slip away from the pressure in our past few games, but that is much more difficult against LSU.  If their guys are getting in the backfield - and they will - they're much more difficult to get away from than what Murray has been seeing.  But the more we run the ball, and use a quick passing game instead of deep drops by the QB, we can limit those potential game changing plays for their defense, rely on Butler to have a great day punting the ball, and rely on our Defense which certainly matches up well against their offense.

But even though our Defense will hold their own, I can pretty much guarantee you that LSU is going to be conservative with their offensive game plan early, just like they have all year, limiting the opportunity for our defense to create big plays for us as well.  As long as the game is close, we have to match their patience with the playcalling, and hope to catch a couple of fortunate bounces as the game wears on.  Here are the things that I say have to happen - and ALL of them have to happen - for us to win:

• LSU has to be off their game at least a bit - if they show up and play to their full potential, the rest of this list really doesn't matter.
• Crowell has to play the full game, and be able to handle at least 22-25 carries without losing steam. 
• The offensive line has to play the game of their lives, especially in pass protection.
• As referenced above, Butler needs a great game
• The place kickers having a great game would be helpful too, especially in a low scoring game
• Our defense will hold their own, but the offense has to avoid putting them in impossible situations, or giving up points directly.
• Hold LSU to 17 points or less.

In the end, I just think they are too good and too deep for us, and I think eventually we'll start to press on offense and make some critical mistakes.  I see this game being close through 3 quarters, but ultimately being another fairly convincing win for the Bayou Bengals.  What I also see it being though is a tremendous learning experience for our team, as the majority of them will be coming back next year.  They need to see what it takes to be the best, digest it, then put in the work during the offseason to reach that level.  With the growth we have seen this year, if the attitudes remain the same, I see no reason why next year can't be a special, special year.  But for this year's SECCG, I'm calling it this way:

LSU - 27
UGA - 13

-Rev.

Meaningless Matchup?

I've caught some heat on here for making the comment that I had no problem with LSU facing Alabama for a rematch if they end up being the 2 best teams in terms of their BCS ranking.

"Do you not remember 2007?" "Munson wouldn't feel this way!" "No UGA fan would ever say that!"

Look, I'm not a fan of pissing in the wind. Back in 2007 when we were idle on Championship Saturday, LSU beat UT to win the SEC Championship. While no team in the country was playing any better than we were, we tied for first in the SEC East, but lost the tiebreaker to UT.
When Mark Richt said that he felt we deserved a shot, the media went crazy. "You didn't even win your conference, much less play for the conference title!" Jim Rome, the Lord of all Idiots, laughed at the notion and it was played anytime the talking heads on any network discussed it. Nick Saban's quote from way back in 2003 (while at LSU) was repeated: "If you don't win your conference, you shouldn't play for the national title." More on that later.
It stung at the time, but if I remember correctly, we really didn't have a leg to stand on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we were ranked #3 on BCS Selection Sunday when LSU leapfrogged us and I remember thinking that was complete BS that they went from #7 up to #2 and got to face Ohio State the next month. Then, I remembered that they finished 10-2 just like we did, but they played for and won the SEC Championship. It sucked. It hurt. It was reality.

Jump forward 4 years and here we have LSU poised to play us this Saturday in our first return to the SECCG in 7 long years. Alabama will be at home that day because they didn't win or even tie their division. Yet, they're a virtual lock to play LSU for the national championship whether LSU wins or loses against us. Think about that for a minute.

Chris Fowler tweeted that Championship Saturday's games would have no bearing on the matchup between those 2 teams (Bama & LSU). How nice.

Mark Bradley wrote a good piece in today's AJC about it all. (I'm usually not one to quote or reference him since he's so wishy washy in his worship of Paul Johnson...then Richt...then Johnson, but it is a good read)

Back to my comments, tho. The BCS is the most flawed system in sports, maybe even America. It's beyond ridiculous that preseason rankings and votes and behind-closed-doors politicking can dictate who plays for the national title. If Bama can play for the national championship without even playing for their conference championship when we couldn't, well, then...what can you say.
It's par for the course.

As a fan not just of UGA, but of college football and wanting to see a good, competitive game, LSU/Bama is the best matchup given the current system that suffers from amnesia (or refuses to acknowledge the past). Not the most fair. Not even close, but it is the best...unless you want to see OK State or Stanford go and get trounced by either of them. Some say they wouldn't, some say they would. I'm in the camp of the latter.
Even if you want that out of spite, that's OK. Keep in mind that we all have our own opinions and everyone doesn't have to agree.

I'm just concerned with my beloved Dawgs' game this Saturday. I don't give 2 damns who plays for the national championship because it doesn't matter what I think about it. Change to that system will have to come about in waves and a team that lost it's conference championship game vs. a team within it's own division that didn't even play for it (and previously lost to it's opponent) for the BCS Championship tells me all I need to know about the system and the need for change. Immediately.

Again, Go Dawgs and to hell with the BCS.

Gameday in the ATL

Maybe they'll talk about our game a little bit being that Corch Meyers has made a shocking return to coaching.

Either way, I can't wait for Saturday.

Crazy lady

Enjoy

Tech - SECCG

I'm traveling tomorrow and will be gone all week and probably won't be posting anything else this week (some of you will be happy) so I'll go ahead and give some quick Tech, season, and LSU thoughts.

Tech

• Very solid win. We did exactly what we needed to. As the boys said earlier, I never felt the game was in doubt.
  
• Both coordinators did a great job and have earned their paychecks.
  
• Special teams was better than average but not quite great yet.
• Aaron was his normal self, good at times, great at times, and a little off at times.
• Was surprised that a lot of analyst thought that we'd be "looking ahead" and not ready for this game. This is the fourth time that we went into the Tech game before playing in the SECCG and that's never been an issue before. Oh well.
  

Season

• 10-2 and a SEC East championship. Honestly couldn't have asked for more when the season started. No matter how we got there, 10 wins is a great season. The only kind better is one of a historic championship nature.
  
• There's no doubt we got lucky with the schedule but like I said the other day, we beat those bad teams. That hasn't been the case in recent years. I have no problem taking advantage of other schools troubled seasons. No one could have predicted just how bad UF would have been and we all knew that UT and Auburn were going to be garbage this year. They all had REALLY bad Saturday's and I'm okay with that.
  
• I've been so impressed with Grantham's in-game adjustments. This has been an issue for me for years in all phases of the game. I love the fact that a team can look great on a couple of early drives and I'm still confident that at the end of the game, we'll look up at the score/stats knowing we dominated them.
  
• Aaron has had a very good year but I honestly thought he was going to just be lights out. I'm going to try and put a lot of this on our thin OL, constant RB issues, and crazy young receivers. But he did miss a lot of open throws and had more picks than I'd like to see.
  
• I have to give Rev credit for his early season worries about Crowell and injuries. Some kids just have the bug and bad luck and some are just soft. I'm not going to be the judge on Crowell or any player when it comes to injuries but the bottom line is that we need him on the field. I really hope we end up signing a couple of these big time RB's because as we found out this year, we might need every single one of them.

LSU (side note: thanks to my wonderful younger sister who I beat in basketball growing up, I will be attending the game)

• I've got a lot of that Munson pessimism in me, so I'd put our chances of beating LSU at around 10%. Meaning that I think we could beat them 1 out of 10 games.
  
• The LSU offense is nothing to be afraid of but run for your life when it comes to that defense and playmakers.
  
• I think the lack of a running game is going to kill us. I'm not counting on Crowell being healthy enough to make a difference.
• We won't have time for long developing pass plays, so we'll need to be on with quick timing routes. And I don't mean bubble screens and RB screens, they have too much speed for that. I'm talking about 4 yard slants, crossing routes with picks, and quick outs. I want to see Orson turn around after 5 yards on a hook instead of running down the seams.
  
• Hopefully I'm wrong and the offensive line plays great, Murray has time, and our running game is successful.
• But since I don't think this will happen, I think LSU beats us pretty bad. I've watched all of LSU's big games and I just can't see this being close. Having said that, Iowa St did beat Okie St and Texas Tech did beat Oklahoma. We're a lot closer to LSU than those teams were in those games.
  
• The only way we win this game is with turnovers, if our Defense completely dominates and takes the ball a way a lot, we can win.
  
• At the end of the day, our offense makes too many mistakes and LSU rolls on.
• Dawgs 13 - Tigers 37

I'm hoping for a Cotton Bowl bid against Kansas State.

-Simple

Coaching Carousel

Zook out at Illinois (you Gators want him back?). Gill out at Kansas (Sir Charles still wants him at AU). Corch Meyers to OSU (his esophagal spasms have miraculously healed). Former UGA OL coach Callaway out at UAB (no, we don't want you back). Erickson out at AZ State. Etc.

The point of all of this is to say that I all but expected us to be lumped in there not just after the Boise State loss, but in the summer. I figured we had it in us to have a successful year, but I am beyond thrilled with how things turned out. No matter what happens to us vs. LSU, we as fans have much to celebrate. Let's take a look:

• Bobo's growth as an OC in that he seems to stick with what's working instead of following a script he put together before the given game. See: Tech, Georgia.


• Grantham silencing his critics (ahem, Rev) in Year 2 of the 3-4 defensive changeover. Our front 7 is as good as any in the land and when's the last time you actually felt good about our secondary?


• Richt making necessary changes on & off the field and yielding immediate results.


• The Dream Teamers stepping up in a big, big way.

I could go on, but I'll save it for another day.

I said from the get-go that I wanted Richt to be the one that turned us around. Favorable schedule or not, he did just that.

Thoughts from the Tech Game

Beating Tech just never gets old, does it?  SimpleMan touched on it in his prediction for the game last week, beating them is kinda like beating your younger sibling growing up.......you don't necessarily derive a huge sense of accomplishment from it, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it every time.  I really didn't have any doubts that we would win this game convincingly as long as we didn't do anything stupid.  Tech's defense is just terrible, especially their secondary.  The only reason their season defensive stats are somewhat respectable is because their offense eats up so much of the clock every game that the opposing offense doesn't get as many chances to put up yards and points.  But when your defense has the ability to get off the field against them, your offense should have a field day every time.  It was fun running all over them in 2009, but the past two years, there has been no reason to run the ball, except just occasionally to keep them honest.  The passing game has been there for the taking, and Bobo did a nice job with his playcalling to exploit that.  Here are a few more observations:

- Murray did a nice job several times of stepping up to avoid pressure, then either completing the pass or running for chunks of yards.  He had two bad misses (one to King, one to Mitchell), but he was accurate for the majority of the game.  He rebounded very well from the Kentucky performance.
- I really hope Crowell is able to be healthy, and play the entire game this week.  Malcome had some nice runs late once the game was basically decided, but none of the RB's were able to find any space in the first half.
- The defense did a great job of limiting blown assignments.  Tech got us a few times, but it was nothing compared to last year.
- Once again, Grantham did a great job making adjustments.  He referenced having to adjust to that inside dive by the A backs that they gashed us on 3 or 4 times, but once the guys figured that out, Tech really had nothing.  I was also surprised Tech didn't connect on a couple of more big pass plays early (although the wheel route was there, but Washington missed him).  It's just so easy to give up big pass plays when you're so focused on stopping the option, but the defense for the most part was solid in all phases.
- Butler had a fantastic game.
- Orson Charles looked like he was twice the size of anybody in their secondary, they didn't look like they even WANTED to tackle him.  He got a fortunate bounce on the fumble, but he had a great game regardless, I wish he could have had a TD to top it off.
- Once again, I have fallen in love with this group of receivers.  None are superstars (yet), but every one of them is a big play waiting to happen.

I had predicted us to go 9-3 this year based on our talent and schedule, so I am thrilled with the final result of the regular season.  Granted, I had thrown that out the window after our 0-2 start and was just hoping for an 8-4 season at that point, but this team proved all us naysayers wrong.  I have a lot of thoughts about our game at the Dome this weekend that I'll put in a separate post tomorrow, but for now I am just as proud as can possibly be of the entire program.........coaches, players, everybody..........regardless of what happens on Saturday.

-Rev.

Nerdtastic

I could take the high road and gush about our 10 straight wins and a seemingly effortless win over our in-state rivals...but I'm not going to. We beat them without our top TB. Without our backup TB. Our 3rd, 4th & 5th string TBs got the carries. Boom, emeffers.
We went to our receivers and made them try & stop it. When they couldn't, we simply made them like it.

This was a schoolyard underwear up the flagpole game where victory was never really in doubt and we'd have to really screw ourselves to lose.

High fives to the D for playing them extremely well and limiting big plays. That's a very difficult offense to defend and prepare for, but kudos to Grantham and his charges for getting the job done.

The one thing I was scared of did happen as Tyson was knocked out of the game by those chickenshit chop blocks. It's a wonder they don't seriously injure 3-4 players a game with that crap. Yes, I'm looking at this filled with hate, but it is what it is.

Some random thoughts as this wonderful day draws to a close:

• The worst Gator squad that I've seen in quite some time is fumble farting around trying to beat FSU. My goodness, if we would have lost to them, it would have been catastrophic in every sense of the word, not just missing out on winning the East.


• Alabama throttled Auburn and made them like it. I loved them going for 2 while up 19 late. I'm all for a FU play in a rivalry game. Absolutely fantastic.


• Speaking of the Tide, I have no problem seeing them play LSU for the BCS Championship (depending on how things shake out w/ us next week). That's the best matchup. If either of them face OSU, Stanford, etc., it just won't be as good. If they're ranked #2 in the BCS when it's all said and done, how are you going to keep them out?


• Good Lord, we're going to have our hands full against LSU next week. I didn't expect Arky to beat them, but I didn't expect them to be beaten as soundly as they were. I did enjoy Petrino losing his cool and slinging F bombs at Miles from across the field. That guy's a turd and deserves several turd sandwiches throughout the year.

We'll be very busy here next week recapping the season and examining the upcoming SECCG, but enjoy yesterday's win, Bulldog Nation. It was, in the words of the nWo...TOO SWEET!

The Growth of an Offensive Coordinator

Bobo after the game:

“We were trying to mix them up, give them something different … Our base plan for the game was to be balanced, but as the game went on I thought the best way to win was by throwing.”

In previous years, he still would have tried in vain to establish the run for the sake of balance.  Well done, Bobo, your past few games as a playcaller have been excellent...........and yes, I include the Kentucky game in that opinion.......having to adjust on the fly to losing Crowell early on, and Murray going into a deep brain freeze for much of that game.  LC will have his game wrap up either tonight or early tomorrow, then SimpleMan and I will chime in with our thoughts.

GO DAWGS!

-Rev.

Rev's Tech Prediction

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  I was traveling to see family, had a great time, but am delayed in getting my prediction up as a result.  I won't bore you with a bunch of analysis, but I feel REALLY good about this game.  We have the size and athletic ability to really lock their offense down.  Now that offense is entirely based on forcing the defense to play a great mental game as well, regardless of size and athleticism, but I fully believe that Grantham will have our guys ready to play good assignment football.  It wouldn't shock me if they come out and put up some points on their first couple of drives, as we often times seem to take a quarter or so to adjust to the other team's offense.  But once we settle down, I think we'll be just fine in this game.  They will burn us with one or two pass plays, we just have to limit those so that doesn't keep them in the game.  A lot of folks seem to be anticipating a tight game in this one, but I don't.  I'm not predicting an Auburn-type blowout, but I am predicting this:

UGA - 45

Tech - 24

Also, if you're thinking of hitting up The Varsity before or after the game, stop by and meet Scott Woerner, Rex Robinson, and possibly a few other guys from the 1980 National Title team.  They'll be there both before and after the game promoting the "1980 Dawgs" documentary.  Full details are HERE.

I'm watching the LSU-Arkansas game as I type this, and LSU just intercepted Arkansas, already up 31-17.  I'm not conceding anything.......but damn, LSU is good.

GO DAWGS, BEAT THE NERDS!

-Rev.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, folks.  I'm thankful for many things today, but also wanted to take the time to say thanks to all who read the blog - as new bloggers, it's been a lot of fun for us so far, and we look forward to a lot more.

-Rev.

Nerd Prediction

I guess I'm either in the minority or befuddled when I read (David Pollack's Twitter feed is one source) that Tech's offense is going to cause us fits because we're built to stop the run up the middle. Well, that's true to an extent, but I thought our OLBs were more than capable of defending that offense in a suitable manner. We handled Mississippi State's spread offense pretty well (YES I KNOW THEY STINK AND THIS IS A DIFFERENT STYLE), so I'm not as gloom and doom about it as others, nor am I as worried about it as I was last year.

I didn't say we'd be able to stop it, but I'm just not in the camp of believing that we aren't built to handle it.
Secondly, I am more than confident in Grantham's preparation of our D in getting ready for this, although lots of coaches admit that 1 week really isn't long enough to prepare.

I'll give them credit where credit is due in that it is a highly effective and difficult offense to handle, but I'll also give credit where it's due to our DC and our D. I'm really looking forward to seeing how we handle it.

As for our offense vs. their defense, I'm not all that worried unless Crowell is either still gimpy or re-injures that ankle. We can't have our 4th string TB getting the majority of the carries in this game because Carlton Thomas will likely misinterpret the term "smoke a turkey" for something else and be suspended again.
We should be able to exploit them w/ our TEs, Mitchell, etc. I'm looking for some big plays to get a comfortable lead and let Richt do what he likes to do: eat the clock and rely on the D.

In sum, unless we just can't find a way to keep their offense somewhat under control, I say we win a squeaker, 27-21. I'm really hoping for a 35-14 beatdown, tho.

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday, eats too much, farts even more and gets ROWDY while watching the game Saturday, either at the field library or at home.

GO DAWGS!

BBall - Nice rebound

The hoops team didn't let the Cal beat down cost them 2 losses. They took out Notre Dame last night in a nice win.

-Simple

UK thoughts, Tech prediction

I glazed over the UK game on purpose. I didn't see it live (skiing) but watched the replay and didn't have much to add from what everyone else wrote. I was shocked at how bad the offense was considering how many times we started with great field position. We lost RB's but I still expected a little more from the O. SC put 54 on them and Vandy beat them by 30. Based on my prediction, I obviously thought this would be an easier win but hey, a win is a win.

I'm very proud of the guys for coming back and winning 9 in a row and winning the East. Yes, you can only play the teams on the schedule but the fact is we got lucky as hell with this schedule. We're the same fan base that would be complaining if the roles were reversed with SC or UF and they had the easy schedule and won the East. When you look the Senator's rankings, it really shows just how lucky we got this year. We didn't play the top 3 teams and lost to the next best team. The 7 SEC teams we've beat have a combined SEC record of 12-39 and Auburn beating SC is the only win out of the 12 that was against one of the top 5 teams.

Because of our defense and talent on offense/special teams, I really do believe we can beat LSU (or Bama). I'd never put money on it and don't expect it but I won't be shocked and I'll be cheering as loud as anyone. I'm not drinking the kool-aid just yet that we've turned this thing around but at least we beat the teams that we should. That hasn't happened consistently the last couple years and it's really good to see again.

As far as Tech goes, my hatred is all used up on Auburn, UF, SC, and UT. I have a lot of Tech friends and of course want to beat them, but my hatred for them just isn't there. Like playing basketball against my little sister, it's just hard to take them seriously. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand their ability to beat us, but let's face it............At Georgia, we're not snobs, we're just better than them.

I'm afraid this will be an ugly game and I think it comes down to turnovers and limiting them on big plays. Keys:

• Win turnover battle (or at least even)
  
• Win field position
• Score TD's instead of FG's
• Do not give up first downs with penalties

I think we keep them in the game with FG's and put it away at the end. This isn't cricket so we win.

Dawgs - 26
Virgins - 14

-Simple

Bad Basketball showing

Well the hoops team took one on the chin last night. We lost a couple of key pieces from last years team, so hopefully some of the young guys will develop throughout the year and fill the voids. They will get better. At least it's not football and one game doesn't kill you.

If I don't have to travel for work, I'll be going to the UGA-Colorado Bball game on Monday night and provide a quick recap. Yes it's football season, but LC needs some bball news or he'll die.

-Simple

It's Funny Because It's True

Munson Tribute Clip

Per Mike Moss, Executive Producer of "1980 Dawgs":

We wanted to respectfully share this with the Bulldog Nation.  We filmed it last year as part of the "1980 Dawgs"  project.  We don't want to try to commercialize his passing, but wanted to share it.  We are deeply saddened by Larry's loss.  There will be no other like him.

http://youtu.be/FJ7ofAr5Wmg

-Rev.

It's Hate Week!

This is the week that familes gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, eat copious amounts of food, nap in front of the TV and get up at an insane hour to save a few bucks shopping.

It's also known as Hate Week. The week that UGA plays GT. The week that insults fly, pocket protectors become targets and pride is on the line.

We all either know or are related to Tech fans. Losing this game results in a long, long year of snide remarks and limit-testing patience.

I'll be having Turkey for lunch on Thursday and hate for lunch on Friday.

Let's hope we cap off this highly successful year with a win, be it by 1 or 21, at the Joke by Coke.

I look forward to this game more than any other. I hate the Jackets with every fiber of my being (and that's a lot of fiber). I hate them worse than Florida. Worse than Auburn. Hell, worse than Al-Qaeda. If Tech played Al-Qaeda, I'd wear a towel on my head that day.

I hope they go 0-12 every year with the 12th loss being the worst. I'm constantly told, "We need Tech to be successful so that when we beat them, it shows them our dominance." Poppycock.

I hope Crowell's ankle magically heals and he channels his inner Ealey & King, um...nevermind. I hope he runs all over, around and thru them this weekend.

Oh, yeah...Suck it, Nerds.

Rest In Peace, Larry Munson

Lawrence Harry "Larry" Munson (September 28, 1922 - November 20, 2011)

 

 

 

You were the greatest, Larry, and it wasn't even really close.  Thoughts and prayers to the Munson family.

-Rev.

We Survived Upset Saturday

This was just a bizarre weekend in college football.  Obviously Oklahoma State started things off on Friday night, but even Corso decided to get in on the action and dropped an F-Bomb on live TV (h/t Leather Helmet Blog) to start the day yesterday. WARNING - Adult language ahead:

Herbstreit and Fowler both just wanted to crawl under the desk and hide after that one, I believe.  Just a wild guess here, but I'm guessing Mr. Corso will be otherwise occupied during the Gameday broadcast this upcoming weekend.

Anyway, after that, things just continued to get crazy.  The endings of the Oklahoma-Baylor, USC-Oregon, and FSU-VA games were mixtures of bad coaching decisions (Stoops not letting the clock run out in regulation, Kelly keeping all his timeouts in his back pocket), penalties, and just poor execution.  Then you had Clemson, who apparently peaked back in their Va Tech game.  It's one thing to be upset, it's another to lose 37-13 to a .500 team when you are in the top 10.  Florida and Auburn both at times looked like they might find ways to lose to FCS schools.  I'm saying all that to say this.....

WE WON!

That performance against Kentucky was as ugly a win as you can see, but it was a win.  Everyone on offense was off their game.  Bobo had some curious play calls, though it's not like he had a lot of time to plan to have to rely solely on Harton and Malcome.  Even if we have to rely on those guys against Tech, with plenty of time to plan in advance, I actually feel pretty confident that Bobo will come into the game with a good gameplan.  And in Bobo's defense yesterday, there were a number of times that he had the perfect playcall on, and the guys just didn't execute.  After having 2 great weeks, Murray regressed back to his head-scratching self.  When he wasn't overthrowing guys, it was mainly because he was underthrowing them.  And Harton and Malcome both have a long way to go in pass protection.  Hopefully a lot of reps this week will help.  After his fumble, I actually thought Boo looked pretty good, but it was clear to me that the coaches don't trust him in pass protection.  I think Harton was on the field for almost every pass play, it seemed like if Boo was on the field, it was a running play every time (don't quote me on that, I haven't watched the replay, that was just the impression I got as the game wore on).

But, WE WON!

There was also a lot of good that came out of this game.  Chief among them is the division championship.  That was so badly needed for the program at this point.  Walsh was 4 for 4 on field goal attempts, and they were all solid kicks.  The defense was OUTSTANDING, that poor freshman QB for Kentucky is going to barely be able to roll out of bed this morning.  Butler got back into his groove with punting....as a matter of fact, outside of Bogotay's shank, special teams all the way around looked good.  And the offense did enough to win, despite losing the top 2 RB's.  And of course with Samuel being out, we were really playing with our 4th and 5th string backs.  And if you consider that Ealey and King were supposed to be on the team this year, we were REALLY down to our 6th and 7th string backs.  Any team that is having to dig that deep into their RB depth is going to have some struggles, so I'm proud of the guys for fighting through it. 

Bring on the Nerds.  Even if Crowell and Thomas are out, I believe in this team.  I have officially chugged a full pitcher of the Kool-Aid.  These guys know how to win the ugly, close games, and I have a feeling that's what we are going to find ourselves in on Saturday.  Plus, we will have Jarvis Jones, and they won't....that's good enough for me.

GO DAWGS!

-Rev.

SEC EAST CHAMPS!!!!!!!

Hold off on the wailing and gnashing of teeth about that game, folks.  Our boys just manned up after an 0-2 start and won the division.  Win pretty, win ugly, it doesn't matter, JUST WIN, BABY!

Congrats team, and thanks for the ride.  Whip the Nerds for us, and you'll go down as one of my favorite UGA teams.

Oh yeah, and if you were at the game and not watching on tv, I hope you recorded it.  If you did, fast forward to the post game celebration, and watch the moment between Richt and his wife.  Richt's offense might not have scored much today, but I've got a feeling he's gonna be make up for it with some scoring of his own tonight.  :)

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!

More tomorrow.

-Rev.

Friday Frivolities

Word, mofos! It's finally Friday and that means it's time for the Friday Frivolities.
They'll be brief today due to a crazy start to the day that just kept going. Having said that, here goes:

Barring a clusterfork of epic proportions, the Dawgs will win the SEC East tomorrow and either quell some of Richt's critics or simply give those that say our schedule was easy more fodder.
To the latter, I invite them to kiss my ass because we didn't make the sched. We just had to win the games.
I'm going to have an article up next week about this season, so I'll stop for now and go onto some entertainment tidbits rattling around my brain.

I was almost ready to give up on American Horror Story, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm really into that show now. This week's eppy was way out there, but got very interesting towards the end.

I've pimped Sons of Anarchy to you already, but the fits really hitting the shan right now. Wow.

Duty calls again, but if you're going to the game tomorrow, enjoy the show. I had to sell my tix due to my son having a minor surgical procedure done today, but we plan on viewing it together tomorrow and taking it all in.
We've come a long way a lot faster than I thought we would. Go Dawgs.

Onward & upward.

Another Chance to Meet Scott Woerner

ugavet76 with Amp Arnold, Scott Woerner, and Greg Bell

last week at Hotel Indigo

The guys with the "1980 Dawgs" documentary are hosting another event this weekend, this time they're back over at The Red Zone.  Ugavet76 (lower left) stopped by their event last week to pick up a copy of the DVD set, and not only was Scott Woerner there, but Greg Bell and Amp Arnold were also hanging around, so it was a great chance to meet several players from the national championship team.  If you're in or around downtown this weekend, Saturday's event will be from 9:30 - 11:45 am before the game, then for 2 hours immediately after the game.  In case you missed it, here is my review of the film, it's very well done.

Also, instead of me putting up the full press release, Bernie has already done so, so check there for the full details!

GO DAWGS!

-Rev.

UK Prediction

We win.
They lose.

Tears fall in Columbia.
No one cares.

Thoughts for the UK Game

Ok, I don't think anybody in the country is going to pick Kentucky to pull the upset in this game, and I sure won't either.  I mentioned the other day that losing to Kentucky wouldn't really be any more of a shocker than Oklahoma losing to Texas Tech at home, but Stoops had been complaining for a few weeks leading up to that game that the team was not practicing and preparing with the proper focus, and that does not appear to be an issue with the Dawgs right now.  They're as focused and locked in on their goals as we've seen since 2007.  So while you never say never, especially in college football, this game should be over at halftime.  So I'm basing my prediction on whether or not we cover the spread, which currently sits at either 30 or 30.5 depending on where you look

SimpleMan already put up his keys to the game, so I don't want to step on his toes there, but here's the things I'd like to see:

• 10 points or less allowed by the defense.
• Crowell to show more of the toughness he showed in the 2nd half of the Auburn game.
• Murray continue with the level of accuracy he has shown the past 2 weeks.
• Be far enough ahead that the backups get lots of playing time in the 2nd half.
• Georgia Tech losing to Duke, just because.

As for the score, while the guys are playing well and playing focused, I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to come out as hyped up for this game as they were for Auburn.  I think we win convincingly, but fall just short of covering the spread.  We get a nice lead, then milk the clock again in the 2nd half.  So I'm calling it:

UGA - 38
UK - 10

-Rev.

Kentucky prediction and The Pacific

I'll keep this short, Kentucky could be the worst team we've played this year and not just in the SEC. Okay, Ole Miss, CC, and NMS are probably worse, but this is a very bad team. Having said that, so was Colorado last year. No doubt we are better than last year and I'm hoping the SEC east title is enough to keep us focused. Keys:

• Continue to work on quick timing routes, WHEN we play LSU in the SECCG, Aaron will have to get rid of the ball quick, he won't have the time he's been having the last 3 games. Need to practice hot routes and quick 3 step drop timing patterns.
  
• Close this game out by halftime and get the backups and walk-on seniors a lot of 2nd half playing time. I'd like to see Hudson play most of the 2nd half and Crowell not play one snap in second half.
• No injuries

We win 56-13

Side note:

I'm 8 episodes in on HBO's The Pacific and am once again in total awe of the Courage, Bravery, and Sacrifice that those men and women displayed. My great uncle was wounded in WWII and a POW in Europe. He and I are very close, he's 87, has had a dead foot from getting shot multiple times when he was 20, and still sharp as a whip. I've always had the utmost respect for our military and been fascinated with WWI and WWII. Band of Brothers is the greatest television program ever created and The Pacific has the same quality. It's not quite as good as BofB, but it's still must watch. All high school kids should have to watch both of these series to help gain a little perspective in today's "tough" world.

-Simple

Congrats to Corey

As some of you know, one of our favorite artists here on OTA is Corey Smith (at least me, LC, and Reeder 3:16). Well he's released a new music video on CMT, you can check it out through his website here.

Gotta support a fellow Dawg anytime we can. If he ever plays close to you, go check him out live, he puts on one hellva live show.

-Simple

What If?

Blutarsky wrote about it yesterday, but in sum, Grantham has become a hot commodity (according to his agent) as a potential NFL DC next season or a head coach on the college level.
As he noted, Grantham does have an out in his contract to take another position as a head coach, but nothing else.

Now, the question at hand is this: With our turnaround, being on the cusp of winning the SEC East, the emergence of the D to Vangorder levels, etc., if Richt comes back, but Grantham leaves, how will you feel?
I have a well-documented man crush on Grantham. I find myself looking forward to watching our defense more than our offense. I love his intensity, I love how his players love to play for him and how they note how prepared he is and thus how prepared they are, I love what potential recruits say about him. I could go on & on.
If he leaves to take a DC job in the NFL, I wouldn't really blame him. That's the highest he can go as a coordinator, but I would really hate it. Also, if he left to take a head coaching job, I wouldn't kvetch too much, but I would if he did a BVGesque move to a school like GA Southern. If he took, say, the Ole Miss job or something along those lines, it'd be hard to blame him.

My answer to my own question is this: I want Richt back, but I lump he & Grantham in the same deal. If Grantham leaves, I don't feel as good about anything. Granted, he's not the only DC out there, but based on where we were and where we are (and where we may be headed), I do not want him to leave. If McGarity feels good about Richt and Richt feels good about staying, I hope they back up the truck and show Grantham some monetary love.

What say ye?

So, I'm thinking of changing my name......(Rev)

I've been going back and forth on this for a while now, and the further I go along, the more uncomfortable I am with the "Reverend Whitewall" nomenclature.  If you've never clicked on my name to the right and read my profile, here's where the name came from:

I've always been strong in my Christian faith, including during my time at UGA where I was a member of the Worldwide Discipleship Assocation (WDA), which was basically a smaller version of a Campus Crusade or Baptist Student Union.  In an unrelated venture while I was at UGA, I had to get new tires at one point, and they put them on with the whitewalls facing out.  I had to leave though, I can't remember exactly why but I didn't have time for them to flip the tires once I saw them, so I ended up having to drive around for a couple of days with whitewalls on my 1989 Mustang before I could get back over there for them to flip the tires - it was quite a sight, but I've always been fine about laughing at myself, so it just kinda became a running joke.  Well eventually at one point me, LC, SimpleMan, and Reeder 3:16 were having a debate about something that I disagreed with LC on, and LC said something to the effect of "Well if you take what ol' Reverend Whitewall over there says..........." and then continued on his point, but we all thought it was hilarious, and it just kinda stuck as something LC liked to throw out there every now and again.

My problem though is that I feel kinda sacrilegious because especially when I'm commenting at other sites and things like that, people's responses that don't know who I am tend to be tinged with some sort of religious of references, because they think they're talking to an actual Reverend.  The more those sorts of things happen, the more uncomfortable I feel about it, like I am misrepresenting myself.  Nothing like some good ol' Christian guilt to unsettle you, you know?  (just kidding).  And I'm still early enough in my life as a blogger that I don't think switching names would be that big of a deal.  This blog has only been around for about 6 months, but if I'm going to make a change, I need to do it sooner than later.

Anyway, I'm looking for some ideas.  One is just to go my real name.  That's not super common, but not unheard of either for bloggers (bloggers like Doug Gillette, Aaron Torres, Ben Dukes, and T. Kyle King jump to mind, not that I consider myself in anywhere near the same category as them).  Another is since people have taken to calling me "Rev", come up with a name that still incorporates that somehow.  There's just not that many good words that start with "Rev".........Revolution, Revenge, Revolver.......nothing I can think of that fits me in any way.  I suppose I could go with "Rev Dawg" or something along those lines, that just doesn't totally strike my fancy.  If I can't come up with something I love, I may still stick with Reverend Whitewall.........I don't know.  I haven't even discussed this with my co-writers here, so I'll be curious to hear their thoughts too.

What do you guys think?  Am I crazy for being uncomfortable with the name?  Can you think of anything clever that would still use "Rev" in it?  Or should I just go to my real name?  T-Bone? I'm open to any and all suggestions.  If your suggestion is chosen, you'll win...........something.  Maybe get to do a guest post on the blog here, or just a big ol' "Thank you" from me, and the eternal feeling of satisfaction that that brings.  Seriously though, I would appreciate your thoughts below.  I've spent way more time thinking about this than I should have, and would appreciate help in putting it to bed.

-Rev. (for now)

NERDS!

Due to their rampant incompetence and inability to finish the drill within their own division, our game vs. our in-state "rivals" is a nooner on either ABC or ESPN.

ESPN chose to go w/ SC @ Clemson for their 7:45 game, which angers me deeply.

I guess I'll be having hate for lunch and smiles for an afternoon snack.

More Thoughts On Richt's Mentality

I noted on Sunday about how much more aggressive Richt has gotten in his decision making, and ugavet76 had expanded on it in his comments as well.  I'm not sure that there was one magical moment that made Richt decide to be more aggressive - as a matter of fact, after we got burned at the end of the first half in the Ole Miss game, I thought that would be the end of Richt being more aggressive.  And for a while, it looked like it would be, up until the Florida game.  Since then, Richt has been much more likely to go for the jugular, whether it's on 4th and short, or trying to tack on a score at the end of the half.  Which got me thinking, and Andy Coleman apparently had a similar thought, I wonder if our kicking woes may have ended up being a blessing in disguise?

Part of Richt's decision making has always been "Well, I can go for this, or I can take the guaranteed 3 points".  He has pretty much always had highly reliable kickers, so it was something he could always fall back on.  But now, with that reliability out the window, Richt has been in some ways been FORCED to trust his offense.......and that trust has been rewarded with success by the players..........which increases the trust for future opportunities, which will hopefully lead to more success.  The "crisis of faith" that Blutarsky and PWD have been discussing for a couple of years now is finally going away, and of all things, I think a shaky kicking game may at least partly be what we have to thank.  And the success in 4th down situations has increased the trust in end-of-half situations as well, which is great to see.  All that being said, now that the crisis of faith is over, I'd be happy for the kickers to go back to being reliable (Bogotay did drill his down the center on Saturday).

I haven't had time to research this yet, but I wonder how many times since the SEC went to 2 divisions a team has gone undefeated in their division, yet didn't win the division title?  Assuming we beat Kentucky, I know it will have happened at least twice, with SC beating everyone this year, and Florida having beaten everyone in the East in 2002 (but lost to Ole Miss and LSU).  The Gamecock fans up here (I live in the Greenville, SC area) are pretty bitter about it right now, and still can't believe they managed to lose to Auburn.  But, the games from the other division count just as much as the games in your own division, so I'm having a hard time mustering up much sympathy.  Suffice it to say there are a LOT of temporary UK fans here this week though.

I'm still just as excited about Saturday's victory today as I was yesterday.  I hope the team has already put it behind them though.  Losing to Kentucky would be an enormous shock, but I can't say it would be much more of a shock than a TERRIBLE Texas Tech team upsetting Oklahoma, and we saw what happened there.  Richt and the team seem to be playing with incredible focus right now though, so I'm feeling good about us.

Another random thought I had yesterday..........is Justin Anderson eligible to apply for a medical redshirt?  I would think he is, since he was out all last year with the injury, but I haven't heard anything at all about him considering pursuing one.  Anybody heard anything?  Will Friend has done a great job this year, but we're gonna be right back in the same situation next year with very little depth on the OL, so getting a guy like Bean back would be a boost.  He's had his issues in pass protection, but he is a devastating run blocker at times.

Have a great Monday, people, and GO DAWGS!

-Rev.

Aubie recap

As always, Rev did a great job with the recap, so I'll just add a few of my thoughts.

Completely agree about how impressive Grantham has been with in-game adjustments. There's been quite a few games this year where a team looks like they're gonna have their way with us and then we absolutely shut them down the rest of the game. We've had some very good small DB's in the past 10 years but I really love having a big secondary. These guys all like hitting and are very solid in coverage. Imagine for a second how good this defense could potentially be next season.....scary good.

The kicking thing is working right now but I'm curious who our "go-to" guy is if it comes down to a last second FG.

I know he was just handing the ball off, but I was surprised that Aaron was still playing into the 4th and maybe even to finish the 3rd. He's playing very good but I do wish he'd throw the ball away more instead of taking a sack or bad hit (the one where he got his legs taken out when he rolled right). Of course, Matt Ryan is just as bad on Sunday's, so it's apparently not an easy thing to learn.

I can't wait to see how we play against Tech and LSU (or whoever).

My final thought is that Verne and Gary are terrible. I usually don't complain too much about announcers but good googly moogly, they got so many things wrong. Verne couldn't figure out if Thomas or Harton was running the ball, mispronouncing names, and even reading stats on the screen incorrectly. Maybe it was just me but it was tough to listen to. Gary drives me crazy with his arrogance. I like Verne but these old guys just need to move on, they can't keep up with the game.

I'll be disappointed if we don't win these next 2 but there's no way you can say that this team gave up on the season after the rough start. Love to have a do over on those first games but the team was able to move on much faster than I was.

-Simple

Looking Ahead (Cardinal Sin be Damned)

Coaches always tell their players to never look past the upcoming opponent, but we here at OTA always look ahead. At least I do, so I want to pose the question to you readers and have you comment below about how you feel entering the SECCG against mighty LSU (under the mightiest of assumptions that we can manage to scrape by UK and they beat Arky).

This past game against AU was the most complete I've seen us look in years. The D is healthy and clicking on all cylinders and the offense was humming along at a great clip.
Now, fire away below and let me know how you feel as if this game were approaching this Saturday.

(Don't waste your time about insinuations of Kool-Aid drinking or anything like that.)

All In

Good stuff (h/t GA Sports Blog).

Rev's UGA-AU Game Thoughts

Wow, I had fun watching the game at home yesterday and live blogging during the game, but I REALLY wish I had been in Sanford Stadium.  LC touched on it, the crowd was vibrant, you could even tell that on TV.  The stadium sounded like it was rocking the loudest it's been.....well, since the Auburn blackout game.  We've all been wanting to see the team finally play a complete game, and boy did they deliver.  Interesting fact of the day, as tweeted by Radi Nabulsi:

@RadiNabulsi
Radi Nabulsi The #Geoirgia defense has only given up 12 rushing yards to Florida, Tennessee and Auburn combined.
Nov 13 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

Wow, are you kidding me?  Now I realize those teams are not the superpowers they have been in the past, but we're still talking about talented runners like Poole, Rainey, Demps, Dyer, and McCalebb.  That stat is somewhat misleading due to sack yardage being taken off of running totals, but that is impressive no matter how you slice it.  Todd Grantham's salary has turned out to be a bargain, after what we suffered through in the Martinez years.

I said it during the live blog, but how nice is it to enjoy to watching our games again?  Last night was a team that was well prepared in all phases of the game, and executed the plan perfectly.  Ted Roof is a horrible defensive coordinator, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Bobo called a beautiful game last night, and Murray's execution was just as good.  I know New Mexico State was a weak team, but Murray seems to be really hitting his stride the past couple of weeks.  His stats have been good all year, but there has been a disconnect between the stats and the on-field performance, where some of his throws would just leave you scratching your head.  But the past two weeks he has been on the mark.  There may have been more, but the only miss I can think of last night was when he missed Conley deep early in the game, but it was fairly well covered and I think Murray was just trying to lay it out there far enough that no defender had a shot at it.  From there on, he was on the money.  The touchdown to Bennett was as pretty a throw and catch as you'll see at the college level.

On top of that, Crowell really impressed me in the second half.  I'll admit it, I was getting down on him again at halftime, after he basically disappeared again in the first half after taking a big hit.  But then he came back out in the 2nd half and gave his best performance of the season as far as grinding out tough yards.  The OL did a great job blocking, and he & Thomas were great at hitting the hole at just the right time to squirt through and pick up good yardage.  Crowell has to watch the fumbles, of course, but that was an anomaly for him.  I was just glad to see the toughness and grit he showed in the 2nd half.  Gary Danielson made the comment that it looked like maybe a light was switching on in Crowell's head of what it takes to be a star back in the SEC, and I think he was right.  I think making the switch from AAA high school football to the SEC was a lot harder than Crowell had imagined, and he's had to go through a maturation process.  But if Crowell can continue to show the growth that he showed last night, big things are in store for him.

Here are some of my other thoughts:
- Wow, Alec Ogletree!  Grantham is doing a great job of moving him around.  Auburn never knew if Ogletree was going to be coming from the middle, the edge, or wherever.  Grantham has to be having fun getting to mix and match two guys like Ogletree and Jones.
- Remember when we used to blitz, yet nobody would get within 5 arm lengths of the QB?  Contrast that with the 3rd down play right smack in the middle of the 2nd quarter where we blitzed Ogletree, Jones, and Robinson - and all 3 LB's got to the QB at the same time for the sack.  That nearly brought a tear to my eye.
- I gave Crowell props above, but Carlton Thomas also played a GREAT game.  He is playing far beyond his stature.  Whether running, blocking, or whatever else is asked of him, Thomas is invaluable to the team right now that Samuel is out.
- Malcolm Mitchell definitely adds another element to the offense.  Having him back was a big lift for our big-play potential.  I've totally fallen in love with this receiving corp.  Nobody is going to be confused with AJ Green, but I can't remember us having so many guys who have the ability to step up at any given time and make a huge play.
- Grantham continues to show a great ability to make adjustments.  Auburn's first drive, and the first few plays of their second drive, looked like they were going to move the ball at will against us.  Then, all of a sudden, our defense figured them out, and it was all over.
-  I love Richt's new mentality.  He is playing to win now.  You look at the 4th down calls against FL, the timeouts before halftime that we've seen the past few weeks to give the offense another chance to score instead of just running out the clock, and just his demeanor on the sideline, and you can tell that he has adopted much more of a "take no prisoners" mentality.  And that is feeding into the team.  There is no more "crisis of faith" on this team, like there had been the past few years.  The coaches believe in the players, the players believe in the coaches, and the players believe in each other.  I said early in the year that I wanted Richt to be the guy who got us turned back around, but I didn't believe he had it in him.  Well, I was wrong.  There's still a lot of football to be played this year, but Richt HAS turned this team around, and the future looks very bright right now.  McGarity needs to come out soon and make it clear that Richt will be back next year so we can get along in putting together another top recruiting class.

As LC said earlier this morning, it truly is great to be a Georgia Bulldog.  Let's take care of business the next two weeks, then see how the chips fall in Atlanta.  GO DAWGS!

-Rev.

That Felt Good

Rev will have his detailed analysis later, but that was a helluva nice win yesterday.
Some thoughts:

• The crowd was jakked and ready for blood.


• Not that AU is anything more than an average team, but that's the best I've seen our D look all year as far as reacting to everything that Malzahn threw at them (and that's saying a lot).


• The balance of our offense was very good.


• After the game, some of the players ran to the stands on the band side and celebrated with fans. For those that were still there, and there were still a lot, there was a lot of joy coming out of Sanford Stadium.

Sitting at 8-2, I see no reason why we couldn't finish 10-2 and give LSU all they can handle in the SECCG. This isn't a Kool-Aid statement. If you look at us as a whole right now, we look pretty damn good.

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

UGA - AU Live Blog

END OF 3RD:  Folks, that's it for me tonight, unless something crazy bizarre happens in the 4th qtr.  The Dawgs are currently driving in Auburn territory again, and Crowell is showing some grit which is nice to see.  Let's just get out of this last quarter with no injuries, then enjoy the celebration.  This team has come a LONNNNGGG way, and I don't give a damn who we didn't have to play this year, we've earned the right to be leading the East right now.  Congrats to Richt and the whole team, and GO DAWGS!

3rd qtr, 5:37 to go:  Ogletree strips Dyer, and I think it was Gilliard who came up with the football.  As the cameras cut away, I'm pretty sure I could see Chizik calling the bus drivers and telling them to rev up the engines.  It's gonna be a good night in Athens, wish I was there!

3rd qtr, 7:32 to go:  UGA pounds it down the field and eats up a ton of clock.  Bogotay splits the uprights for a 38-7 lead.  Auburn looks about as interested in this game as Russ does over on the sideline.

HALFTIME:  I mocked Ted Roof, but on the flip side gotta give props to Bobo....hell props to the whole team and staff.  The defense started a little slow, but has quickly adjusted.  Both sides of the ball, AND EVEN SPECIAL TEAMS (until Butler's punt), are playing like a well prepared, well coached team that has fire in its belly again.  Isn't it great enjoying watching our games?  UGA 35, Auburn 7, and you wonder if Auburn will sniff the endzone again.

2nd qtr, 5:00 to go:  Murray to Mitchell, pitch and catch, this is a joke at this point.  I hope Auburn signs Ted Roof to a 10 year, unbreakable contract extension.  UGA 35, War Tiggers 7.

2nd qtr, 8:00 to go:  Another three and out by the defense.  Grantham brought 3 LB's on a blitz - and all three got to the QB.  Gotta love that!

2nd qtr, 9:41 to go:  Rambo with a pick 6!  Got a celebration penalty afterwards, but 28-7 Dawgs.  The defense looked great right there on all 3 plays.  Now let's see if we can bury these guys, of if we let them back in.

2nd qtr, 10:36 to go:  BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We finally went back to the FB in the flat, and Figgins rumbles in for a TD.  21-7, good guys.

2nd qtr, 13:09 to go:  The football gods must like us again.  Auburn gives it right back on an equally terrible fumble, Geathers with the recovery.  LET'S GO DAWGS!

2nd qtr, 13:16 to go:  Terrible fumble by Crowell, who was untouched, then a less than inspiring effort to try to recover it.  Auburn takes over near midfield on the turnover.

End of 1st qtr:  One of the few times Malzahn has been predictable.  I saw that draw play coming from a mile away, and apparently so did Abry Jones & Christian Robinson.  Barring a special teams breakdown, UGA is about to get the ball back to start the 2nd qtr.   Other than that last play, Malzahn has kept us off balance with the passing game and misdirection in the running game.  I gotta think we'll adjust to that misdirection as the game wears on.  Boykin is injured, though not sure how serious yet.  That could end up being a big deal though.

1st qtr, 3:02 to go:  Dang, this is shaping up to be a MAC game.  UGA flies right back down the field.  Murray hit Marlon Brown on a beautiful 25 yard pass where he threw it before Brown even made his break.  Then he throws a perfect pass to Bennett, who laid out for it in the endzone and brought it in.  To this point, this is the best Murray has looked this year.  Let's hope he can stay in that mental zone for the next 3 hours or so.

1st qtr, 6:13 to to:  Well, that didn't take long.  Auburn goes down the field with the passing game, and receives little to no resistance from the UGA defense.  Then they capped it off with a clever playcall from Malzahn to score.  Knotted at 7.

1st qtr, 8:57 to go: Nice opening drive, even if we did need the first generous spot for UGA from an SEC officiating crew in recent memory.  Now let's see if we can tackle somebody on the kickoff.  Score is 7-0, good guys, as Murray and King hook up on a nice little slant route.

1st qtr, 13:00 to go - UGA gets the first break of the game.  No way Crowell picked up that first down.

Pregame - Well, the 'Cocks refused to make the path easy for us, but then what HAS been easy this year?  Let's hope the boys come out fired up and ready to play.  

Assuming my young ones cooperate, I'll be adding my sometimes humorous, occasionally insightful thoughts during the game here.  Feel free to add your own comments as well.

-Rev.