Sunday's thoughts on reality in our face

I hate dwelling on the negative. So on a morning when there is little else to do other than that, I'll keep this brief with a promise to address some specifics during the week.

I'll also rewatch the Missouri game off the dvr later today or tomorrow. But my first reactions are these:

- The lack of consistency from the offensive line is one of the season's most puzzling questions. The fact that we can't move Gates inside to guard really hurts us.

- Of course that's not a recent concern. Offensive line recruiting is Richt's Achilles heel.

- Timeouts at inexplicable times is his other one.

- At a time when there are fair and direct questions for the defensive coordinator, here's the man himself:

“You’ve got to understand the sticks,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “What’s the down and distance? You’re going to play coverages based upon the down and distance. You’ve got to be on them, you’ve got to be able to cover them. If you can do that, you get off the field. If you can’t, you extend drives and when you extend drives, you get more plays, which allows them to be out there, which in turn increases points.”

- Ok. You've got this week to figure that out Coach. I'm done listening to how young this defense is and how they're still learning. We're halfway through the season.
- I can't help but reflect on the things we embraced after Grantham arrived - intensity, turnovers, adjustments within the game. I did some research in the turnover side of things last night that I'll share later. 
- But it's clear that there's been considerable drop off this season. Sure, some of that is youth. But it's getting harder and harder to have the kind of faith that Richt sees for the defense's immediate future.

“I believe we’re going to be the type of defense that everybody is going to be proud of,” Richt said. “It takes some time. We’ve played some pretty good clubs. No doubt about it. This team was no joke offensively averaging 550 a game and 46 points or whatever it was a game.”

It's never as good as it feels and it's never as bad as it seems. At least in October. I keep telling myself that. Because the morning afters are the worst.