A battle for the soul of America!

That's how TylerDawgden puts it.

You've got one week. Get your mind right y'all.

Early Dawgs get the spots!

Saw this on the Twitter last night. Not sure if this is the norm. I would imagine it is.

Regardless, it's proof that no matter what the records for the teams are, this game is something special.

Also, by the way...it's GA-fla. Just sayin'.

Florida - early thoughts

Ahhh...this time next week - the warm ocean breeze, the beer, the golf, the seafood, the beer. I love WLOCP weekend. And y'all know I don't use the word "love" much outside of my wife, children, bourbon, BBQ, and Herschel Walker. So here's some early thought processes on the next game.

• Who's angrier and who's just feeling sorry for themselves? Both teams have experienced devastating, and perhaps unprecedented, injuries. Whichever team is closer to no longer using that as an excuse will have an advantage mentally.
• Which coach is hungrier? Because the teams have been able to point to excuses too easily, whichever head guy does the better job steering the team mentality away from that could provide his team a huge edge.
• A lot of things to watch in the next week, but the biggest will be Gurley's ankle. His availability to the Georgia backfield would be a huge boost of confidence.
  
• It's not the record we'd expected or hoped for heading down to Jacksonville, but you get the feeling that this is one of those crucial contests in the series between these two teams. Georgia's finally won two in a row down there. Florida's looking to end that streak before it can get any further and, in their minds, restore order. Dawgs are looking to really damage the Cocktail Party Psyche of the gators.
• Interesting stat that I haven't mentioned in some time - Will Muschamp has never tasted victory in Jacksonville.
• Wrinkles vs. Tweaks...vs. Adjustments. Both teams have a bye week in preparation. And both teams need it. How much time is spent on minor wrinkles and how much is spent on the basics from back in August?
• Can the gators develop a downfield passing attack? Muschamp pulled his coaches off the recruiting trail earlier this week to "fix things". Plays that stretch the defense longitudinally is something that has been missing altogether. Florida has just eight passes that have gone for 25+ yards. I'm willing to bet some or most of those were short throws that evaded tacklers.
• Because even a defense that is struggling, if it can clamp down on the square yardage it has to defend, is going to have some success if it is not threatened deep.
• Another thing to watch will be how physical the practices get next week. Richt is certainly and understandably wary (and weary) of injuries. But tackling and getting off blocks has been something of a problem thus far.
• Fan enthusiasm. Tickets will be cheaper than usual this go round. I would expect the stadium to still be 50/50. But if anyone has been wanting to experience this game without the hefty price tag, now's their chance.

Lastly, two things this game will hinge on - third down conversions and turnovers. I would expect Florida to be tighter with ball security given Muschamp's emphasis obsession with it this off season and the fact that Jarvis Jones is no longer around. So who wins third downs will become even more important if that's the case. And it's one of the Gators' defensive specialities (27% on the season) and one of Georgia's weaker offensive categories (35%). Actually, except for the South Carolina and North Texas games, the Dawgs have struggled mightily on third and distance.

Did I mention how important Gurley's ankle is?

Basically, every (new) body is a freshman

What started out as a means of getting some class separation by signing some JUCO players, has just added to the inexperience on both sides of the ball.

Mayes sat out last season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College so he could still have three years of eligibility when he got to Georgia.

“I had to get back in the pace of the game and, of course, the SEC is way faster,” said the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Mayes, who has 13 tackles and a sack. “There were a lot of things I had to learn. I had to change from a read stance to a more attacking stance. We went from having like six plays to installing like 30 plays a day. It was a big transition.”Mayes sat out last season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College so he could still have three years of eligibility when he got to Georgia.

...

“If we signed everybody as a freshmen, 33 guys as freshmen, that’s a lot of guys in that one class,” Richt said. “By bringing in some junior college players to create some depth and separation from the rest of the class that was part of the strategy this past year. It was a little bit different from other years. It’s not necessarily a disappointment or a shock (that some aren’t contributing).”

Mayes said junior college players adjusting to the SEC are still first-year players at this level.

“So everybody’s a freshman basically,” Mayes said 

What a long strange season it has (already) been.

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.

Bama students turn tail on opponents

Or maybe it was just the "quality" of the opponent. (h/t AHD)

The special teams trauma ward

Yesterday we looked at the coaches gone wild. Today...

A kick in the tourniquet. Would having a special teams coach turn things around? I don't know. Does not having a special teams coach (when so many other programs are using one) hurt us in terms of consistency in that phase of the game? You could definitely make that argument. But if there's one thing I know, it's that Joe DeCamillis ain't walking through that door. Neither is Coach Seely. And certainly not Zach Smith.

Who's he? Check him out.

There's more of Smith's amazing work here if you really want to dream. But to beat Florida we don't need a re-vamped special teams organizational chart. Or some kid from the left coast that can snap a football into a trash bin from half a football field.

Look, we don't use the tight ends enough as it is. Hand Jay Rome and Artie Lynch to Will Friend and Tony Ball. Let Coach Lilly get a firm grip of the ball that Trent Frix is snapping. What's more, take a vested interest in how the teams relate to the specialty players, ie. the kickers. You know, those are the guys that just hang out way over there until you tell them to come on over and do their thing. Let's shore this shit up. Block some people. Kick it! Use special teams to our advantage again instead of as a means for shooting ourselves in the foot.

Coach Richt is right, the problem is execution. Barber is a good punter. Morgan is a good place kicker. But we lack the confidence and or the ability to execute around that. So it's time to change things up in terms of how we prepare. Take some ownership of the problem and put some capable hands into fixing it.

And to be quite frank, if Coach Lilly's duties in practice are so important to the tight ends, then Richt himself needs to roll up his sleeves. I don't necessarily think that's the long term answer here, but if things continue the way they're going, special teams may end up costing him a lot more than a road game in Nashville.

Humpday Hilarity - fun with statues

h/t Mac

    


    



    


    


    

And there was much rejoicing!

Targeting back: SEC officials could be punished

via gifsection.com

One of the first things I noticed on the Ramik Wilson flag for targeting was where the flag actually came from. After Ray Drew was thrown out by an official that had the flag in his hand before the pass was even thrown, I guess I became acutely aware of the periphery to the play on the field. Much of you probably saw the same thing.

For it was not the umpire standing directly in front of the play that flagged Wilson's textbook hit on Vanderbilt receiver Jonathan Krause. It was the field judge from across the field in front of the Commodore sideline that threw it.

I wonder if that is something going through SEC coordinator of circuses Steve Shaw's head this week as he has gotten an earful from Coach Richt and AD McGarity. It looks like some form of discipline for the crew could be on the table. Including but not limited to the replay official in the booth that upheld Drew's prompt dismissal.

The call on Georgia defensive end Ray Drew was made by referee Matt Moore. As Richt said on Sunday, that hit “by the letter of the law” probably met the criteria of a “targeting” foul. However, everybody – including the NFL’s head of officials, who tweeted as much – believes Drew should not have been ejected from the game. If anybody faces discipline as a result of that ruling, it would likely be the replay official, Mike McGinnis, who upheld the disqualification despite video evidence to the contrary.

But what discipline, if any, transpired as a result of all these reviews is and will remain unknown. The only way to know if anybody was suspended or dismissed as a result of this past weekend’s actions will be to determine whether any of the officials on a crew this coming weekend.

The final result -- a 31-27 Vanderbilt victory -- will of course remain forever unchanged.

Ugh.