Why the Belk is important.

Most of you aren't at all excited about this. And 50% of you that are...well, you're just pretending. Shut up! You aren't. Really.

Well, here's why you're wrong.

- 61. 31. 5. 52. 51. 39. 14. 82. 84. 88. 47. 96. 88. 

- If you don't care about them going out on top, GTFO of here.

- We lost to Tech.

- Lilly hates Grantham. I hear the Louisville defensive coordinator once made his "Vanderbilt face" at Lilly's daughter's 4th birthday party.

- Hey, we lost to Tech! Duh.

- Petrino sympathizes with North Korean computer nerds.

- They're one of the best teams in the ACC. (not sure which division, because....)

- Losing the last game of the season is worse than microwaved grits.

Buy a ticket. Or at least tune in, ya filthy animal. Go Dawgs!

One year removed from Grantham, big game looms

Walking away from Sanford after losing to in-state rival Tech, I knew whatever bowl we ended up in against whatever opponent said bowl matched us up against...it'd be a huge game for the Georgia Bulldogs. When it was announced that Charlotte was the destination and Louisville was the opponent, it was a matter of time before the comparisons between Pruitt and Grantham began.

I think Weiszer hits in the biggest difference here.

The biggest difference is the vast improvement on the back end.

Georgia surrendered big plays — touchdown passes of 73 yards against Auburn, 77 against Clemson and 99 against Nebraska — last season, but hasn’t give up a pass play longer than 38 this season.

The Bulldogs are the only team in the nation to not give up any pass plays of 40 or more yards, according to cfbstats.com. Opponents had 10 against Georgia in 2013.

Belk Bowl - Grantham, Chubb and motivation

For what it's worth, here's Schlabach's preview for Georgia's upcoming bowl matchup. It follows the popular script I think.

Belk Bowl

No. 13 Georgia vs. No. 21 Louisville, Dec. 30 (ESPN, 6:30 p.m. ET)

Why to watch: There's some lingering bad blood between the coaching staffs. Louisville defensive coordinator Todd Grantham left Georgia last season, and then took some veiled shots at his former colleagues on his way out the door. Plus, Louisville's Bobby Petrino, a former Atlanta Falcons coach, still isn't the most popular guy in Georgia.

Who to watch: Georgia freshman Nick Chubb ran for 1,281 yards with 12 touchdowns, with much of his damage coming after UGA star Todd Gurley was suspended for accepting money for autographs. Chubb ran for more than 100 yards in each of the last seven games, averaging 151 yards during the stretch.

Motivation for Georgia: After losing to rival Georgia Tech 30-24 in overtime in the regular-season finale, the Bulldogs will be trying to avoid a two-game losing streak to ACC foes. Georgia also hasn't played well in the postseason recently, losing three of its past four bowl games.

Motivation for Louisville: By beating Georgia, the Cardinals would win 10 games and their third straight bowl game, which would put the icing on their first season in the ACC.

Prediction: Georgia 31, Louisville 27

Sure, Grantham is the sexy thread that will easily feed the storyline. And Chubb's production his freshman season is worth every word it can garner. But the motivation of the two teams is what is key, for any bowl really.

So, does Georgia or Louisville want a ten win season more? Who is more vested in that outcome?

Grantham. Tremendous.

I've decided to piggy back on Estes' work in combining all of the thought provoking quotes and summarize yesterday's UGA Media teleconference with Louisville's defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.

Put your thesaurus down folks. This should only take a sec.

Leaving Athens
"Tremendous decision on my part. Tremendous chance to unite with my brother, coach with a tremendous offensive mind, and pursue an ACC/National Title. Both of which we were tremendously close to this year. Well, at least one of them."

Facing Bobo
"Tremendous opportunity. Bobo is a tremendous offensive mind. Petrino, of course, is tremendouser. But still, Bobo is real good at doing what he's trying to do." 

"(whispers to himself)...carry the one, add the 2...Hey Mike, we winning?"
"Yeh Todd. We're winning."

Facing Bobo's players
"Houston Madsun is tremendously patient, waited his turn behind the other guy. Andrew Davidson is a tremendously tough center. Georgia is a tough, physical team. It's tough, really."

The Georgia players he stole took in
"Did a tremendous job for our scout team, which in turn helped them avoid pesky appointments to give urine samples to Coach Richt. Those things were a tremendous hindrance on my depth chart while at Georgia."

Stopping Chubb
"We won't. Not completely. He's real good at running the football, which is also something he wants to do when he gets the football. Have to avoid the long gains. It presents as a tremendous challenge."

On facing old faces
"I don't really give a shit about that. We had a tremendous season here. Other than Omarlo Wilson and Quincy Swann I don't even remember those guys' names."

On Pruitt
"He's a very good coach in what he's trying to do. I have no clue what the hell that means. And you probably don't either. But it sounds like I'm saying something nice when really it makes no sense whatsoever."

On possibility of giving the Georgia sideline the choke sign
"Nah. I knew I'm awesome. No reason to rub it in. I mean, my defense was tremendous in our time there. 8-1 against some rival teams I'm going to try and list for you in a second. I mean, nevermind it had more to do with the offense outscoring Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia Tech and Auburn and also Vanderbilt..oh wait... Again, Mike (Bobo) is a very tremendous coach in what he's trying to do."

Anything else?
"I like Belk belts. And also tater tots. You're welcome for the time this morning. You're welcome."

Grantham, Petrino, and then all the whining

1) say what you will, but the Cardinals have really bought into Grantham.

Louisville ranks 68th in total offense (83rd in rushing and 50th in passing) and ranks 6th in total defense (3rd in rushing defense and 30th in passing yards allowed). Louisville ranks 41st in scoring offense (32.6 points per game) and 18th in scoring defense (20.5 points per game allowed). (via Dean Legge)

Sure, the lesser opponents' narrative holds some water there in terms of explaining the defensive rankings. The Wake Forests, Boston Colleges, and Syracuses of the CFB landscape aren't going to move many chains and score many points. But as I'm preparing my own outlook for this bowl matchup, I think it starts with Kentucky as the Wildcats scored plenty of points to win both the game in lexington against Georgia dn then one on the road against Louisville.

(addendum - a quick glance shows that unlike the game against Georgia, Kentucky scored in each quarter against Louisville. Something to look at a little more closely when evaluating this common opponent.)

2) On the offensive side the Cards have had much changeover at quarterback and an old nemesis at running back.

The Cardinals do have some impressive talent elsewhere on their offense, headlined by senior receiver DeVante Parker, who is getting attention in NFL ranks as a potential first-round type of guy in the upcoming Draft. The 6-foot-3 Parker only played about half the season because of a broken foot in the preseason, but he still managed to catch 35 passes for 735 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 122.5 receiving yards per game. He's joined by 250-pound senior tight end Gerald Christian (30 catches, 359 yards), who transferred from Florida. In the backfield, Louisville features former Auburn running back Michael Dyer (110 rushes for 482 yards) and 5-foot-9 sophomore Brandon Radcliff (125 rushes for 648 yards), a talented duo that has split carries much of the season. (via Gentry Estes)

Dyer and Radcliff's numbers are inconsistent. Of course, Pruitt's defense has had some trouble stopping the run. But I still see the story here will first be how Louisville's receivers match up against Pruitt's secondary, and then who will be throwing them the football. Even though Petrino wants to run the football (and a lot, as he averages nearly ten more rush attempts than pass per game), he will want to be able to keep Georgia's talented linebackers honest.

3) The fans moaning about the bowl selection is a time honored tradition. But it's one I'm tired of entirely. The facts are that Georgia has a better record (overall and head-to-head) than many teams in seemingly better bowl games, but this year's selection process is a completely new one. Essentially, after the Citrus, all the bowls are the same. And while that will take some time for fans to get used to, it didn't take long for many to gripe openly about the location, payout, opponent, name of the bowl, etc.

My response: Get over yourself. Air your dirty laundry to the people that count. That starts with the SEC offices, Butts-Mehre and even Coach Richt if you're still pissed off about the record that landed us in Charlotte as opposed to Miami or Atlanta. The rest of us are kind of over it. Move along. Don't go to Charlotte. Don't watch the game. Whatever. The other fans and especially the players don't need to hear the griping and the yapping and the tweeting and the whininess.

I mean, do guys like Boss Andrews and Chris Conley deserve to hear y'all share your butthurt with the rest of the world in the days leading up to their last game as a Dawg?

UPDATED: Goshamighty! So long Toddy!

Huge if true.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

UPDATE: some player tweets seem to confirm the news. 

Thursday's thoughts on the world's smallest cornhusker cocktail party

That sucks, man. Just to go all the way down and you just give it to them. That’s 

a bad feeling right there. - Todd Gurley

• I was wrong about Gurley being the healthiest he's been in some time. Clearly not himself, he had just 28 touches for a total of 183 yards. That's a good day for most individuals, but for a team struggling to find rhythm and consistency offensively it was well short of what was needed. And I wouldn't be surprised to hear sometime soon that he's having some type of procedure to address his ankle and whatever is wrong. 
  
• Mason had a good day individually and statistically as well - 320 yards. But he never found that confidence we saw on the Flats a few weeks ago. At times he had all day to throw, and at others he didn't even have time to set his feet. At times he laid it in there with authority. At others it floated into general areas.
• Lot of people saying we missed Aaron Murray yesterday. Well, duh. Of course. But we really just needed the same Mason that beat Tech. Maybe the wet ball accounted for the drop in completion percentage (61% in Atlanta to 53% yesterday). Maybe not.
• Ditto for the offensive line in terms of consistency. Kublanow came in for Dallas Lee and I thought he did pretty well. (Reminds me some of Ben Jones once the tension reached a boil.) But it was the usual fits and starts mostly.
• Did a play go by where the Nebraska coaches weren't bitching about something? If so, I missed it.
• Conley really toughed it out. Had to be especially painful and uncomfortable on that wet turf. Other than him (and Bennett on the long 48 yarder) it was hard to find a receiver that was getting open. Other than the ones on the sidelines in sweats. *sigh*
• In the end, the offense was not greater than the sum of its parts. And how could it be really? Why exactly was I expecting everything to fall into place suddenly?
• "Marshall Morgan" is a floridian slang term for "Money". It's okay Pelini, you can keep that extra field goal as a souvenir.
• The blown coverage on the 99.9999 yard pass is a script we've seen played out too often: Defense makes a great play. Seemingly puts themselves in position to get off the field having given the offense good field position. Only to completely blow it. But I'll let the expert explain it further...
• “It wasn’t a missed assignment. There should’ve been guys there,” Grantham said.
  
  Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/01/01/2880994/99-yards-grantham-and-wiggins.html#storylink=cpy
• Ok then...

Probably the best summary to yesterday's finale is we went in hoping for some closure and only got more questions. Now we'll spend the next eight months bickering at each other and feeding on our own self-loathing and discontent. Was it coaching? Was it injuries? Was it rotten luck? Was it the lack of an indoor practice facility??!!?? Should the was be an is?

Or is it just an unhealthy life choice that we continually force ourselves into year in and year out? Welcome to another off season of discontent. Your reserved seat is waiting.

Airing of Grievances - Grantham survives

Believe me, I was all for the guy leaving town. Once you dive into the statistics for this season alone it's enough to make your head spin. And I guess there's still a chance that someone flirts enough with him to lure him back to the NFL as an assistant...

...anyway...

The decision to retain Grantham will end up being the best decision for Georgia. I like the guy's intensity and I believe he can turn things around with the talent on the roster. Quite frankly, the idea of another coaching search where we're met with the reality of who we truly need to turn things around versus what we're likely willing to actually spend was enough to change my mind. And then when you get right down to it, Grantham's guys played hard for him down the stretch. That's not something to overlook.

That all being said, one thing that has to improve (and is primarily the reason for my uptick in terms of the direction of the defense) is turnovers. Looking back at Martinez's last season as defensive coordinator, going through all of the epic failures, yards surrendered and points allowed, it was the complete lack of fumbles and interceptions gained that lead to that defensive staff packing boxes before Christmas. In 2008 we had only 16 turnovers in the black. In the final season of the Martinez era we only had 12.

Likewise, much of the reason for Grantham's popularity in his first season was the enormous increase in fumbles covered up and passes intercepted - 26. His defenses followed that up with totals of 32 and 30 the next two seasons. Now we're back down to Willie Martinez levels (much of which can be attributed to the youth this season, especially in the secondary) with only 14 fumbles and picks.

But it's important to note that of those 14 turnovers (six interceptions and eight fumbles), five came in the final two games and nine came in the last half of the season. That small breakdown as well as the fact that the defense will only mature exponentially heading into next season (both in terms of their understanding as well as their familiarity with the speed at this level) lead me to believe that this season we're about to close the book on has tremendous potential to be a weird outlier for Grantham.

Ultimately, the defense played too many snaps and couldn't get off the field at key moments. Getting back into the top ten nationally instead of with the cellar dwellers can go a long ways towards turning that around.

On Grantham and his "up arrow"

A month ago my gut feeling was that Grantham was in his last weeks as Georgia's defensive coordinator. My questions at the time had as much to do with strife between Richt and Grantham as anything on the field. To me it seemed as if Richt was suggesting more rotation among the players, particularly at inside linebacker. I won't go into a long discourse over our continued problems with positional depth. It's something that was painfully obvious on defense in the Georgia Dome last year, and is something PWD covers thoroughly here.

And to his credit, Grantham stuck with his plan (at least I never saw an alternative to playing just the starters and anyone who was forced to come in due to an injury). And there was improvement in the final stretch of games in terms of tackling and covering intermediary routes. If you recall, it was Ramik Wilson that had more than one key pass break up on Saturday, one in particular that sealed the win. That's something he struggled with earlier in the season.

One has his eye on the play clock, the other
has his eye on....?? (via Dawgs247)

All that aside, signs definitely point to a rift between head coach and defensive coordinator. Sure, part of that has to do with the frustrations of losing key players as well as just plain losing. But there have been directed comments from Richt regarding the need for simplicity in the playbook as well as the length of time it takes to get the plays in. For a guy that has been pretty guarded with the media in his 13 years in Athens I believe that speaks volumes.

Regardless, a vote of confidence was given yesterday. No one is getting fired. Continuity is Richt's bet and that means one of three things: 1) I'm off base in regards to whether there are differences in philosophy (however minute or grandiose) between the head guy and his defensive coordinator, 2) they've patched things up enough to where they can at least function on the same page, or 3) firing anyone at this point is a money issue.

Before you laugh at that third point, we'll get more into that side of things in a post for tomorrow. For right now we have a defense that grossly under-achieved (again) and a staff that has to fix that. Of course, there's still a chance Foley and Muschamp could come in the next couple weeks and offer Grantham as their offensive coordinator. Who knows. Stranger things have happened. Kidding aside, in the very least Richt believes he has the staff to fix what has ailed the defense this season.

His "body of work" (which may not have been the best phrase to use considering the decline since he arrived) notwithstanding, Grantham is right about one thing. And you can certainly argue to the contrary, but the defense is in better shape now that it was when he got here. The stats may not support it and the numbers may beg the contrary. But we have much better athletes entering the program on that side of the ball. And truly that's half the battle. When you're getting defensive backs who have offers from your actual conference competitors instead of mid-majors, that's improvement. When your linebackers are coming in as freshman physically ready to play SEC football, that's improvement. When you have players getting paid at NFL locales instead of Saskatchewan, that's improvement.

What we need to look at as how much they are improving before they exit Athens. What needs to go up are turnovers gained and not opponents' red zone conversions. What needs to improve are on field adjustments during the course of the game and not just on the practice field Monday.

People ask me whether we should keep Todd Grantham. Even though the point now appears to be moot, it's still worth saying - I truly don't know. I like the guy's intensity. I like the recruits we're getting under his watch. Overall, he's done a good at least an adequate job against our biggest rivals. I'm not sure what his "up arrow" is measuring against. But I think the greatest question we need to look at is how to take the talent he's helping to sign in February and turn that into on field results in the fall.

Whether he's the guy to get that done is a distinct maybe. Not exactly where you want to be heading into year five. But it's where we are nonetheless.

Today's keys to victory

The only offensive key I can dig up is for the offensive line to man up and play lights out. That Attachou kid has nearly a sack a game. The last thing Hutson Mason needs is to feel a lot of pressure when he's asked to pass. Make some holes for Gurley, Douglas and Green and create a nice pocket for the experienced backup turned starter.

Now to the other side of the ball.

We have to play disciplined defense. That means we have to tackle to the ground. None of that arm tackle crap that did us in back in '08. More like point of attack, wrap em up and take em down hard.

And that especially has to happen early. Grantham can't let his guys come out too keyed up where they make simple mistakes, ones we've been prone to during the season. If we hold them down early, they'll get frustrated. And quite honestly, our offense could have the game in hand by then and ready to squeeze it tight.

But play good, disciplined defense first and foremost. Stop the dive play and force this black russian Vlad kid to make mistakes. Because he will make them when put into a position to do that. For as many times as he runs the ball, he only averages a couple yards a carry. And he has almost as many picks as touchdowns thrown. Hassle him and he's just Reggie Ball with an ill-suited name.

Next, when they get their yards and get to the redzone, they're one of the best in the nation at getting seven points when they get there - over 85%. Even in their losses they score touchdowns when they get to the redzone 75% of the time. Our defense in the red zone has been much better since that murderous October run. That's got to be another key right there. Give up the yards, man up and force a turnover or a field goal attempt at best.

Lastly, protecting the ball is always a key. And Georgia Tech has been more horrible at it than we have this month, at least until they played Alabama A&M last week. Going into that cupcake they were -4 at Virginia, -1 Pittsburgh and -1 at Clemson. Georgia's been better, not significantly better. But better. If we can create some fumbles like we did last week against Kentucky it would be great.

Now, I gotta go make sure the bourbon is packed so that when these guys heckle me about SAT scores I can say, "Hey! Richt is to yellow jackets as winning is to reggie ball."

Bernie's here. Set phasers to stun. (or whatever the hell...)

The Grantham lobby, everywhere but on the field

As they head into the SEC finale, a good overview of the defense here by Weiszer. Players defending their coach, stats compared with history, quotes from just before Coach Willie got the ax...

And while Richt doesn't want to get crazy with statistics, I just look at one chart.

via cfbstats

Strange 6-4 season when you've beaten the teams at 2, 3 and 4. With a game left against Kentucky and Mizzou having to play Johnny Football's Aggies, there's a decent chance of Georgia finishing top eight. But that would take a better than good effort against Tech in the season finale, a team known to get their yards in mass chunks.

Regardless, there's soon to be some serious evaluation going on in Butts-Mehre. It was easy to blame inexperience early in the season. But 10 games against the 2013 schedule no longer a freshman makes. So can the walk match the talk this weekend and next?

One last chance for that SEC shine

In August there was hope. Those feelings faded away by the time we hit the Mizzou/Vandy skid. But Kentucky presents one last chance for this defense to put in a full four quarters against an SEC opponent.

"I think that's a little bit of a reflection of how these guys continue to grind and work," Grantham said. "The inconsistency is obviously something we've got to work on, but I saw a lot of passion out of the guys this past Saturday, and I saw guys taking it to another level with their passion for what they were doing and what our offense was doing and what our special teams were doing.

"I thought it was a step, because we made a lot of good things happen in the fourth quarter. We've just got to build on it."

By now everyone is hoping Saturday night is more of a look towards the future rather than a reflection of the past.

Swann: "I think the play that was called was a great one"

Swann talks about sideline instructions during the timeout before The Marshall Heave.

“I can’t say guys didn’t know,” Swann said. “I don’t know if it was said in the huddle. I didn’t hear it, but I think on this level of football that’s something that should be known.”

So what was said on the sidelines?

“It was more of, ‘Exactly what defense did we want to play?’” he said. “It was, ‘Did we want to go after him on (fourth)-and-18 and leave a lot of guys one-on-one or did we want to play what we played and take away all the deep threats?’ I think the play that was called was a great one.”

Early look at Kentucky

This post won't be as much about the Wildcats. I'll look more closely at them later. But there are a few things I'm curious about in the days leading up to the last home game of the season.

First, and this should be fairly simple, is how the coaches shift gears after that emotional loss on the plains. It certainly helps that this is Senior Day and Aaron Murray's last game 'tween the hedges to boot. Those two things are enough to get everybody on the same page quickly. It should also help that the game is at night, so despite the lackluster opponent and the current record, the place should be rocking. But there could certainly be lingering effects from Auburn's dramatic win. The coaches should have a close eye on that for sure.

Next, how aggressive does Grantham get with the gameplan? This defense is struggling. But there's a lot of talent and they've shown themselves to be a different beast when the pressure is applied. Does he trust his guys enough to unleash them on Kentucky and try to impose our will early rather than later?

Also, kickoffs. We had zero touchbacks against Auburn. Pretty sure that was by design as I don't think we targeted the endzone on a single kickoff. But, Auburn's starting field position on kickoffs was their own 27. That number is mainly due to a fourth quarter where the kick coverage team was on a tear, forcing the Tigers to start their drives from the 11, 19 and 22.

Still, as much as I enjoyed watching Blake Sailors and Connor Norman make those plays on the returns, I'd jump for joy if we would just let Morgan kick the cover off the thing.

Grantham needs to use more players

So, we've talked about the coaches and special teams. Now ask yourself this - Is the roster really limiting Grantham as he would have us believe? Or is he limiting the roster despite poor results?

Rotate the talent dude. The defense is coming off their best game of the season. That's great. What's not so great is that this isn't saying a whole lot. But there's signs there that could grow into something much better. Possibly. Probably. Maybe definitely. And acknowledging that the defensive line is leading the charge would be a good first step for Grantham in helping his squad rise to the occasion of what's left of this season.

There's a lot of rotation along the front line. Garrison Smith, Sterling Bailey, and Ray Drew are leading the way. But their counterparts in Mike Thornton, Josh Dawson, Toby Johnson, Chris Mayes, and John Taylor are seeing the field as well. It's time to utilize that philosophy with the linebackers and the secondary, specifically the inside linebackers and cornerbacks. For instance, Swann played some good football once Harvey-Clemons went down Saturday. Now, perhaps Grantham's hand was forced. But Swann shifted into the "star" position and Sheldon Dawson made an appearance finally. The results were good bordering on great.

Rotate some more players into the game. I'm not sure who's bowl of Cheerios Dawson pissed in to get left off the field so much this season, but on Saturday he was covering guys and making solid tackles...just doing the things we've been wanting to see. And you can tell Swann's confidence is rising, just based on the couple of quarters he had at the "star".

“I’m getting my feet back,” said Swann, who had two pass breakups and 10 tackles against Vanderbilt. “I played back in the nickel spot where I haven’t been all year and I think it’s going to be great from here on.”

Not sure what Grantham will do when Harvey-Clemons and Tray Matthews both return from the injury list. Actually, my best educated guess would be that he'd go right back to a lineup that wasn't working well in most all phases of the game.

But the fact is that one of the reasons Georgia is third in the conference in sacks is because Coach Wilson (and to be fair, Grantham as well, either directly or by proxy) is rotating guys into the game. There's a sense of active competition at real game speed. Legs are fresh and ready for the full 60 minutes. The defensive line is not only occupying space but they're getting separation and making plays on their own.

I have no doubt that everyone of those players at Grantham's disposal wants to do their job and win the game. We need better results. We have to have better results. So it's time to acknowledge that we need more players in the game.

Richt, Grantham...opposite corners, but same ring

Look, this team is going to fight hard to win out. That's great and is exactly what we'd expect them to do. Meanwhile, those of us outside the arena, on blogs and message boreds and the twitters, are going to spend great time and effort offering up solutions as extreme as hiring Nick Saban at eleventy billion dollars a year to as simple as building an indoor practice facility so that we can lose to Vandy in style.

But for me, I'm a more immediate gratification/attention deficit disordered guy. I can't think about bowl options, firing coaches, what next year will be like, who's on first, what recruits are thinking. (I mean, seriously?), or what I'm going to have for lunch. Because right now, in all my despair and all my frustration, there's only one thing I can concentrate on - beating the shit out of florida. And in order for me to be able to give that my full attention, I'm just going to purge some thoughts here over the next couple days. Play along if you like.

For now let's start with the most interesting one. Richt and Grantham need to just fight it out. Even before all of the rumors began to swirl yesterday, I've thought for some time now that there's been a lot of tension between the two. In my mind it goes back to January and the Philadelphia Eagles. But I could definitely be wrong about that time table. But I don't think I'm wrong about them having words. I know what I saw in Knoxville. Richt was clearly fed up with using timeouts so that Grantham could get his defense set and ready some time before the next millenium. They had words. And Richt has taken a couple occasions with the media to point out some suggestions - playing more inside linebackers, dumbing down to playbook, getting calls in quicker. I can't say for certain if those suggestions have also been provided to Grantham in a more direct manner.

But it's Tuesday of a bye week before the annual trip to Jacksonville. Good time to hash some things out, air some grievances, have a skirmish in the coaches meeting. Coaches are competitive by nature. And regardless of what you think of the staff as a whole or a particular coach individually, they all want to win the next game. Tension can be a motivator.

Let's use it to get on the same page guys; the one that continues this streak against our bitter rivals.

Playing fast vs playing overwhelmed

Great piece here by Gentry Estes about the young defense absorbing a massive playbook. I think Josh Harvey-Clemons sums it up nicely.

“A lot of those guys from the secondary last year, they’ve told us the playbook they have in the NFL is not even as hard as the playbook we have here,” safety Josh Harvey-Clemons said. “It just shows you right there how difficult our defense can be, I guess. …

"We run a very complex defense. You’ve got to know a lot to play fast.”

And it's not just the freshmen. As Estes points out, even some of the more experienced players are playing different positions than the ones where they played previously. People ask where Jordan Jenkins has been. Well, he's at his new spot - the Will.

Add in a bunch of new kids and it explains a lot as to why we're seeing so many players standing instead of running because they're not sure yet what they're seeing. Reaction is good. Reacting late yields yards. And points.

So...anyone remember this?

It's Vandy week! And the first trip back to Nashville since the chop block and the chippiness and "the confrontation" post-game.

Don't you just know that James Franklin would love to stick it to Grantham? Kick him while he's down? Especially after the way last year's game in Athens turned out. Plus, the 'Dores have had an extra week to prepare for this one. So there's also that.

Suddenly, very glad this one isn't a night game.

Let's talk turnovers

I'll preface this by saying I believe we're recruiting much better players under Todd Grantham. Physically they're better equipped for the SEC, they're faster and able to compete for playing time earlier rather than later.

But suddenly that's not translating into creating fumbles and picking off passes. And the numbers are eye opening to be quite honest. Now, this isn't a knee jerk reaction, fire the coaches they all suck post. So if you're looking for that, you might as well go elsewhere. I'm sure there are plenty of other hosts that will feed into that, but the fact is that it's October. I'd rather look at what needs fixing than throw grease on the fire.

Speaking of grease fires, let's look back at Willie Martinez's last season.

2009 - 12 turnovers gained, .92 turnovers per game, and a -16 margin on the season

That sucked. And it reminds us that a lot of Martinez's defensive backs were so far out of position they made up for it with pee wee league tactics such as face guarding and just out-right interfering/tackling/mugging the potential receiver. All in all, those numbers in 2009 were a large part of why the defensive staff (outside of Rodney Garner) were let go.

Ok, now Grantham's revolution.

Year	Total gained	Margin	Turnovers per game
2010	26	10	2
2011	32	7	2.28
2012	30	11	2.14
2013	5	-4	0.83

Our national ranking in turnover margin since 2009: 118th, 19th, 26th, 22nd, and this year we're back down to 106th. You can tell me about the youth and the inexperience. But we're now six games into the season. Where are all those pick sixes we heard about in training camp back in August? The pass rush is starting to evolve and we're actually on pace with last year's sack totals despite losing arguably our best pass rusher of all time. But we just can't create enough chaos to give us the ball back.

Is it having the confidence to make a play? Being in position to separate the ball from its carrier or tip a pass at the line of scrimmage enough that it falls into a teammate's waiting hands? Knowing an opposing quarterback's tendencies well enough that you can anticipate and jump a route?

I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of things. The number of points scored against this defense through just six games has to be playing games with their collective psyche. I'm just dumbfounded at the drop in creating turnovers. Is it a regression to the mean? I don't think I'm wrong about that opening statement as to the talent, size and ability of the players. And I know that turnovers are an emphasis with Grantham and his staff.

So what gives?

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.