First thought on Alabama

I know. It's so hard not to keep re-living those memories of the Rose Bowl. What an epic win! But we didn't do all that work just to rest on laurels, right?

VIA

The halftime adjustments by Tucker and Smart were what we've seen all season, just on a grander stage. My initial reflection was that Tucker got away from trying to contain Mayfield and squeeze the pocket, and used more stunts and blitzes, especially up the middle.

Well, I was partially right, as this video will show best. It's the back to back sacks on Mayfield in the third quarter that really started prove that the Sooners were going to have a tougher row to hoe in the second half.

The first sack is a coverage sack in my opinion. Tucker again uses four rushers to squeeze the pocket and by the time Mayfield tries to use his legs because there's no where to throw, Ledbetter is in his face with an easy sack.

And then...well, Tucker lets the boys loose!

Those two plays prove that, even though it may not have played out that way in the first half, Georgia had the defense to go up against this high-powered offense.

Okay, but aren't we supposed to be talking about Alabama? Yes, and that's my next point.

Jalen Hurts has a high of 16 completions in one game this season. And that was in the Sugar Bowl. We know he can hurt you with his arm, but only if you don't manage to stop the run.

Both of these defenses Monday night are going to be trying to do the same thing - stop each other's run game. And I think both are built just for that.

But I think Tucker will use similar schemes in containing Hurts that he did in the Rose Bowl's second half. He wants to contain Hurts as much as he can and force him to throw when he's uncomfortable. Stopping Harris and Scarbrough is a topic for later, because that is surely Tucker's biggest headache this week. Alabama has gained nearly a thousand more yards rushing this season than they have passing.

But games like this tend to come down to quarterback play. Hurts is a true winner, for sure. I like his style and leadership. Plus he comes up big in big moments.

But I like our guy. I think Fromm complements his offense in ways Hurts can only dream of. I just hope Tucker and those Savages can minimize Hurts' impact on the game.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing...Go Dawgs!

Rose Bowl - could time of possession be the game's biggest factor?

If we can agree that this Rose Bowl isn’t likely to be the high scoring affair that Sooners have gotten used to with Mayfield at the helm of its offense, and if we can agree that the Georgia coaching staff is likely to want to slow this game down and limit the Sooner possessions as much as possible, then we might start to look for 2017 games for each team that could serve as a crude, yet convenient barometer for what each team wants to avoid.

Never fear, I did just that last night.

October 14th, the Red River Shootout, Oklahoma 29   Texas 24. (And yes, that’s considered low scoring by their standards.) Time of possession is pretty even with the Sooners possessing the ball for just under 32 minutes. Here’s a recap of the highlights:

What I see is a lot of big plays breaking down (for both offenses really) to the point where the quarterback and his playmakers have to improvise. Both quarterbacks do a remarkable job of moving the pocket, using their feet for both time and yards (points), and simply waiting for the secondary to break down to the point that a receiver was open or there was room to run.

In the end Baker made one more play than Ehlinger. Otherwise it might have been the Longhorns running out the clock at the end instead. And in the end Texas surrendered 174 yards on 39 carries. The Longhorns were essentially beaten by Mayfield’s arm because they weren’t effective enough in stopping Trey Sermon and Rodney Anderson on the ground.

November 11th, Iowa State 38   Oklahoma 31. The Cyclones handed the Sooners their only loss, and ISU too held the OU just below their season average in time of possession. Unlike the Longhorns though, the Cyclones were able use enough screens, score late, or play some defense late to hold off another Sooner rally.

There’s no question that Georgia’s secondary should provide a more difficult task for the Heisman winner and this Sooner offense. But the last thing we want to see is Tucker’s defense struggling to balance when to rush extra men and when to drop them back. Because Mayfield is the type of quarterback that will expose a defense that is playing on its heels.

And he’ll do it with ease.

Baker dominated the Buckeye midfield logo. What a champion!

If 2017’s version of the Red River Shootout and the loss to the Cyclones at home are the types of games Oklahoma wants to avoid playing again, then without question Georgia wants to avoid what happened on the Plains about a month ago even more.

November 11th, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, part one, Auburn 40   Georgia 17. This was, obviously, the Dawgs’ worst game in terms of controlling to game’s momentum and possessing the ball - 26:54 to 33:06. (We only held the ball for 25 minutes in Jacksonville, but that was all you needed to whip the gators’ ass this year, so…)

The Tigers were undoubtedly the more physical team at the point of attack. They gashed Tucker’s defense for 237 yards, and made it feel like double that.

However you feel about the Big 12 being a finesse league and full of soft defenses and cute passes, make no mistake that this Sooner o-line is legit. They’ve got a Heisman winner that has helped them win some awards and gain some recognition. Plus they’d love nothing more than to contain Georgia’s pass rush and open up holes for their running backs in front all those NFL scouts that will be out in full in Pasadena.

I like the fact that our offense could really complement our defense well on this grand stage in the Rose Bowl. Fromm will definitely have to make some throws, but there should be plenty of yards to gain on the ground against a defense that is 40th nationally in rush defense.

Hand the ball off. Tick tick tick tick tick tick...Keep the Baker man cold on the sideline as much as possible.

Go Dawgs!

But is Kirby a chess master?

Bear with me here...

We've seen the program take a giant step forward. The 9-0 record speaks for itself. But there's also the following to consider: an enormous uptick in recruiting, the starting quarterback gets injured and we respond by going on the road and beat the Fighting Irish, the fact that a starting linebacker can get popped for pot hours before a road trip and it's buried at the bottom of a sports page under the NHL standings, divisional rival programs are chomping at the bit to fire their coach just to keep up with a second year head coach from Bainbridge GA.

But what's most intriguing to me here leading up to the Auburn game is that Kirby and his staff are out-coaching those across the field. Tucker's halftime adjustments are second only to his pre-game game plan. Jim Chaney has gone from an inept doof with a whistle in between buffets to a bonefied game caller that dares defenses to stop the same play he just ran just so he can show you what his freshman quarterback can do with his arm.

I understand the nervousness for this next game. Auburn is better than they were last year when they seriously considered punting on second downs in Athens because their offense was so offensively incompetent. Stidham is a vast improvement over their disaster at the quarterback position in 2016.

But it's still Malzahn. He's dangerous only when he has the tools that he took from Richt's tool belt. As much as an improvement as Stidham is I still like our defense which has proven they can cover the entire field in big games, then they throttle down and pin their ears back.

Which is why I ask the question: Kirby has shown he can play the entire coaching game, from Mama's supper table to developing entire game plans designed to suck the life out of hostile stadiums. But is he two, three, or even four moves ahead of his opposition?

In other words, we were so vanilla on defense Saturday against the Gamecocks. Was that on purpose? We didn't need to blitz in Jacksonville, but Bentley could've used some pressure in his face. He has the arm to hurt you. Was Kirby just thinking, "No, we can handle these guys with the basics. Let's save those sexy looks for when we might need it, whether that's the fourth quarter today or next week on the plains."

It's only Wednesday, but I'm thinking we match up really well against this Auburn team. I think we can generate as much if not more of a pass rush that Clemson did the second week of the season. Despite only managing two field goals in last season's game, Chaney's offense still had Eason throw for over 200, and Chubb had over 100 yards as well.

Kirby knows Auburn. Tucker knows Malzahn. And if nothing else, they are still Auburn. And we're Georgia.

the Friday Misery is now playing Comeuppance, the Sequel

First things first, here’s a conversation I had with Mr. Larry Munson earlier in the week. I think it should set the tone nicely for today.

Me: “Man, forty-one to noth…”

Munson: “Did you know we haven’t beaten Vanderbilt in over 700 days?!?!!!”

Me: “Yessir. Thanks.”#Dawgs

— Bernie (@BernieDawg) October 2, 2017

Forget it Donny...

We’re fans for a team that is 5-0. We’ve seen some days like that. But being fans of a team that has achieved 5-0 in the fashion that these Dawgs have...well, I have doubts that any of us can remember how to act. Hell, many of us weren’t even singing Glory, Glory back then.

To quote the great Walter Sobchak, “YOU’RE OUTTA YOUR ELEMENT!!”

Goff never sat in these kind of players’ living rooms their senior year of high school. Donnan’s era was largely a bend but don’t break method of defending our end zone.[insert yawn emoji for the millennial readers] In Richt’s early years, Van Gorder had a defense that got us excited and even up on our feet some! But what we’ve seen through five games in 2017 is a defense that plays with the fervor and relentless pursuit of doing bodily harm to the ball carrier like none other in recent memory.

WilMart was just a clean cut dude with a half empty can of mace. On his best days. Grantham was the guy that carried an actual glock but often forgot to load it. Even Pruitt, he was at best a novice ninja with a counterfeit conceal carry permit.

But this defense man...it’s like a menstruating, bazooka totin’, wild eyed bitch with a third degree black belt, strutting through the streets and leaving a trail of dead bodies strewn amidst empty bottles of whiskey and cans of Red Bull.

Slowly the book on Tucker’s crew is becoming a consistent read - steer clear and avoid eye contact. Forfeit the game at halftime if you must, just please don’t put those fresh outta high school reserve offensive linemen in during the fourth quarter. Because they will die. And I’m not calling their mama afterwards to explain your ineptitude and overly glib approach to your job.

But in the stands, and across the television waves where it’s just you and I, we’re not ready for this. We don’t know how to act. Like that dream when you’re suddenly on stage at your old high school and are supposed to be wearing a wig and reciting a Shakespearean soliloquy. We’re unprepared. We’re running a 5k for the first time since birth and after a six taco lunch and by the way we didn’t even stretch. We’re making mistakes. I left the Missouri game out of a sentence in a post where it belonged a couple weeks back. Hell, just in the last week I typed the wrong year in reference to The Hobnail Boot.

AND NOBODY CALLED ME ON IT!! Not even my wife...although she’s so sly she probably just left me hanging until I come back around and say, “Wow, can’t believe I said P-44 Haynes was in 2002 and not 2001. What’s wrong with me?”

“Glad you finally caught that Hon. Now, about that ketchup stain on those shorts…”

Vandy is gonna Vandy y’all

That is to say you never know what you’re going to get outta the ‘Dores - the team that lies down by the end of the 1st quarter, or the one that scraps its way into the thick of things and makes you doubt your own manhood.

When Mel Tucker's defense was a baby and was first told
it would grow up to tackle ball carriers.

Leading off this post with that Munson-esque conversation is an acknowledgement of our past. We tend to lose to Vanderbilt at our own Homecoming every so often (and that can lead to some poor life choices btw), and we tend to have some struggles in doing football type things in Nashville more often than not.

Altogether, it has the aftertaste of playing down to a lesser opponent.

I don’t want to see that tomorrow. I don’t need to see that tomorrow. I don’t think we will see that tomorrow.

This team has been built upon a foundation that is structurally sound. They tackle well. They block well. They’re fast. They know their assignments each and every down. Plus, you can tell they just love to play the game. To paraphrase Dan Rubenstein of The Solid Verbal when describing this defense, “They look like a bunch of excited seven year olds that were just told they can play outside another fifteen minutes.”

Now, it is our first noon kick (11am central). Which begs the question, “Will Kirby’s Dawgs have trouble cranking the motor tomorrow?” If so, I hope there’s another very large contingent of Road Dawgs there to help turn that ignition turn over. It’s been a long week since tasting all those Vol tears. Dawg fans are hungry for more!

Vandy beat Kansas State. Vandy seemed legit. Then conference play happened. The 'Dores slide continues tomorrow. Dawgs give Kylie Shurfur a four hour long headache, 45-0.

Now, please bow your heads...dear Lord Baby Jesus, please don’t let Ramik and Ray get flagged for playing football again. And save us from all the other weird things that happen up yonder. In the name of Terry Hoage and Pulpwood Smith, Amen!

And Go Dawgs!

Tennessee - early thoughts

I'm not too concerned about Chubb, for two reasons. One, I think he'll be fine to play by Saturday. And two, truly running back depth is the least of our concerns. Sony, Holyfield, and Herrien all looked good against Ole Miss. I think Chaney will spread the carries between those three while limiting Chubb.

I'd also like to see us challenge the edge with toss sweeps and quick screens. Our talented backups at tailback are quick enough to mask some of our blocking woes, More so than Chubb is able to. Throw some screens in there and eventually Eason is going to have a lot of room to work with with his tight ends.

On defense Tucker should sell out to contain their run game. Force DeBord's hand into putting more of the load towards Dobbs' arm. Yesterday sUGArdaddy mentioned that we've most likely faced the best quarterbacks on our schedule. I'd also add that we've most likely faced the biggest, most talented receivers on the schedule as well. Josh Malone is dangerous and will get opportunities to make plays, but our secondary isn't going to be challenged as a whole like we were in Oxford.

Lastly, I hope the crowd really comes in with an understanding of the weight of this game. Sure, Butchie got his big signature win over the gators last week. But the pressure is still on them at this point. The crowd can be a major factor. If the fans can come in with the energy of 2013 LSU, one of the more recent times I've heard Sanford at its loudest, then it could be a really good night in Athens.

Go Dawgs y'all!

The Mizzou recap is pass heavy and undefeated

Just getting around to having the time to put these thoughts together. I think Kirby put it best in the post game press conference, we’re so close to being 0-3 really, but those guys are playing really hard and instead we’re undefeated. Unreal.

Eason

• Eason is growing up before our eyes. I know we came into that game hoping to be able to run more effectively. The game dictated that we go pass heavy, and 10 really stepped up. Couple bad balls and the one interception, but it’s obvious he’s something special.
• I mean we knew he was going to be special, but it’s different now. The comparison to Matt Stafford is no longer relevant because Eason has so much more composure than Staff did at this point.
• The bottom line is that Eason is working through his progressions which is why he’s starting. He’s reading things well and making plays with not just his arm but his head.
• I think the touchdown pass to Payne exemplifies this. Payne was open and it seemed an eternity passed before Eason finally decided not to throw to the receiver trailing in the back of the end zone. I was sure he'd waited too long, but he zipped that ball in there and Payne ran a great route to meet that throw.
• Just shows he has a different set of skills and his college football mind is developing up to his arm's talent level.
• Yes, he still has a long way to go, but you have to be encouraged with our quarterback’s growth, especially after that game winning 4th down throw.

McKenzie

• Kirby alluded to the only concern we can have about 16 at this point, and that is that there’s no way his body can handle carrying that much of the load the entire season.
• We’ll get to the offensive line in a minute, but Chaney has to find a way to get some yards using his stable of running backs and tight ends as well as guys like Godwin.
• 16 is dynamic and a game changer. We knew that before the season. But it’s more than a little uneasy seeing how much we have to rely on him.
• Still, McKenzie deserves all the accolades he should receive this week. The touchdown run is one only a few guys in college football can make. His first touchdown catch would have just been a long reception for many receivers, but he found a way to make it into a touchdown.
• And the game winner, whoa Nelly. Perfectly placed ball, but 16 went up and got it. Showed a lot of tenacity and grit.

Defense

via

• Defense struggled but made a ton of plays when we needed them to. Not sure what Drew Lock was thinking on Mauger’s  interception in the endzone, but that was a game saving pick.
• And Mauger is clearly the type of player Smart wants. He’s a senior that hasn’t played much but continues to practice hard and makes the most of his time on the field.
• Coach Tucker is going to have to find a pass rush this week if our secondary is to have a chance to keep up with Ole Miss.
• After getting picked on repeatedly Briscoe improved in pass coverage in the second half, but some of that may be attributed to Missouri leaning more towards running the ball once they had the lead. Huepel has to be kicking himself for the shift in his philosophy after halftime.
• I was hoping we’d be more physical than we were, especially considering our lack of pass rush. The next couple games are critical for this defense. As a fan you want both the front seven and the d-backs to dictate the play, but we need at least one facet to step up.

Special teams

• I’m glad we didn’t have to line up for another field goal, but if we had it would’ve been interesting to see if the coaches actually would’ve stuck with Ham or given Rodrigo a shot.
• I would expect more emphasis on this phase of the game this week in practice. You can’t give up return yardage and leave points on the field like we have and expect to beat Ole Miss on the road and Tennessee the following week.
• And there’s moments to build on for sure. For instance, Tyrique McGhee had a great tackle in kick coverage. Just seems to me we have some guys sticking to their lane and others not as conscious about it or trying too hard to make a play.

Offensive line

• I was legitimately optimistic after beating UNC. I saw real promise in the run blocking and thought we’d have some time to develop better pass protection.
• Nicholls showed our offensive front could be outworked. That was an eye opener.
• Then Saturday night we saw a great defensive front just dismantle them play after play. Charles Harris never stops. He might end up being All-SEC for sure and might be the best pass rusher we see, even better than Tennessee’s Barnett and Auburn’s Lawson.
• But we have to run the football more effectively. Just as McKenzie can’t carry us at receiver all season and survive, Eason can’t throw it 55 times a game. We just can’t rely on that week in and week out.
• The coaches know that. Chaney is in Athens because Kirby respected him as a play caller and developer of quarterbacks. If the line can’t run block we have to do two things: find guys who can and develop plays that get Chubb to the second level.

But in all honesty, what do I know? Seriously. I looked closely at our schedule in August and scoffed at Missouri being able to beat us. I truly believed we would go in there and run them out of the state.

So I don’t know squat, except that I have a bruise on my arm from pinching myself Sunday morning.

Did you see what we just did?

— Bernie (@BernieDawg) September 18, 2016

I know I love teams that fight hard. This team does. They believe in each other from start to finish. And that’s the biggest reason why we’re heading to Oxford undefeated.

Go Dawgs!