Bulldog Hotline Redux - Tennessee

The topic du jour last night was, of course, not being able to finish off the game at the end. And although most callers hit on it even just a touch, I think this series best explains the coaching mindset at the end of the game.

Jim in Duluth asks how close Richt thinks the offensive line is to leading us out of tough situations and finishing the game in the fourth quarter. Richt says we actually did get off the goal line, but had a turnover after we had moved out of the hole. The situations with the punt that was downed on the one and the kickoff were tough situations. But yes, we do have to be ready for those type things. At least get the space to punt the thing. Now at the end of the game, if we’re going to be dedicated to the run and not risk the pass we just have to line up and maul people. Our offense is predicated on the idea that if they load the box we throw it, if they don’t then we run it. So it is tougher to run the ball when the whole world knows it. You just have to make a decision as to whether it’s worth the risk to pass it. There are times when we have to line up and run it, gotta do a better job because it takes a lot of the drama out of it at the end if we can knock out one more first down and not have to punt and play defense.

Connor in Lexington (a young Dawg calling in!!) asks why we weren’t able to move the ball in the fourth quarter after moving the ball so well all game. Richt reiterates some of the previous answer. Earlier on in the 4th quarter we were trying to move the ball, threw a slant, picked up the blitz and if the receiver had caught it he might have scored. Or at least put us in position to keep the clock going and their offense off the field. So the next time out the coaches just made the decision to not throw the football because it was more important to take the time off the clock. And they were willing to punt again if they had to. Which we did successfully and then the defense made the plays.

During the exchange with the next caller Richt also mentions that the call is his to make as to whether to keep the playbook open or tighten things up. Sounds like after Murray spent the evening carving up the Vol secondary they were willing to keep (safely) winging it some. But got scared out of it after the dropped pass.

It's still a very conservative approach. But, we also had the lead and obviously Richt trusted the defense to rise to the occasion.

Monday's Meatloaf - Facts of Life

You take the good, you take the bad. You take em both and there you have the facts of life.

I've got a little rant that just won't stop eating at me until I get it out. If this offends you, good. Cuz then you are one of the dipshits I'm talking about.


Don't mind me Dawg. All I do is win.

 But first, the good. The fans the last couple games have been fantastic. Pretty much everyone is in their seat ready to go before game time. The stadium is loud and rocking. Opponents are clearly affected by the noise. The band is cranked up and the students are fully engaged and absolutely bonkers. Worse than bonkers. It's been awesome!

However, a good number of you embarrassed me the other night. With all the glory UGA athletes brought to London England this summer, some of you chose to stay seated when they were recognized on the field. Seriously? If there's anything that would justify a standing ovation I would think it would be representing your country AND your university on a world wide stage. Yet some of you can't get your fat, greedy and gluttonous faces out of your cup of Dippin' Dots long enough to get up off of your assholes and clap for Reese Hoffa. You'd rather check your phone and update your worthless BookFace status "Hey y'all I'm at Sanford Stadium and Samantha was all like let's get some Dippin' Dots and I said sure and I think DJ Shockley just ran for a touchdown thingie!!!" instead of showing Allison Schmitt some appreciation for swimming her ass off against competitors around the freakin' globe and bringing home a bronze, a silver and THREE GOLD medals.

By all means, don't let us disturb the conversation you have going about how crowded the mens bathroom was on the way in. Please, just sit there and save your precious energy for tomorrow when you have a spinning class at the gym. I mean all these kids did was to train FOR YEARS and dedicate THEIR LIVES to wear the red, white and blue proudly and with honor. If I'm clapping too loud I apologize...for caring and having a little heart.

Dumbasses.

Today's Ingredients
- And as Groo points out in his recap, Vreeland's recognition had bad timing. but still. C'mon people.
- Some more thoughts on the Tennessee game over at The Grit Tree; Ed Thomas revisits his keys to the game; Tyler answers his three questions; and GenX gives some shout-outs as well.

Swann, gettin' after it!

- Fallout in Knoxville: lil Dools wants to shore up the run defense. Not facing "Gurshall" again can't hurt that effort.

- I really thought I would be okay with Malcolm Mitchell returning to defense full time. But maybe we still need him in the secondary. Travis wonders the same thing.
- Or maybe Swann should just have a more prominent role. Dude got UP!
- Looking ahead, Weiszer gets us ready for a week leading up to a huge showdown in Columbia.
- cocknfire recaps Saturday's win in Lexington for the Gamecocks.
- And in this chapter of how irrelevant my role in the kitchen is becoming, a shout-out to Mrs. Bernie for the meatloaf she made last week. Best I've had in a long, long time. Including all of my previous, seemingly miserable attempts.

Not all facts are as easy to grasp though. Such as whether the Georgia defense just isn't as good as we thought or if Tennessee's offense was much better than expected. I know that for me it was mostly the latter. I didn't expect Bray to be protected that well (although we seemed content to allow it more than expected too). But regardless, they opened up holes and kept their quarterback upright and clean for about 57 minutes.

Grown Man Football Mrs. G!



In fact, if Bray hits Justin Hunter on a couple passes that were off the mark and/or Patterson doesn't crap his pants when he was wide open, today might have even more doom to go with the gloom.

Still, I keep coming back to another fact: as late as last season, this is a game we lose. Finding a way to win ugly games and overcome your own misfortunes and mistakes is an important step between an average team and a good team. Then, between a good team and a great team. I don't know if we're a great team yet. But winning Saturday night leaves that door open as a definite possibility. Shore up the special teams' comedy of errors and get back to actually tackling ball carriers and covering receivers and we're still on a track towards Atlanta.

Three weeks ago we were touting how grown our football was. This Saturday we find out if that is a fact of life as well. Y'all have a great Monday and don't let the weather soak your second helping.

Bernie

A picture's worth a buncha yards!

Lost in all of Gurshall's yards and Bennett's clutchness, was a pretty damned good performance by Georgia's tight ends. Lynch himself lead the team in receiving with 75 yards on three catches. Rome had a beautiful catch on a seam route. 

And Bobo ran what is my favorite play in his playbook. With the way we're gashing teams on the run, that play action rollout is absolute gold. There wasn't a defender within 15 yards of Lynch. He took the pass, shed a tackle and ran for a 38 yard gain well into Tennessee territory. And even if Lynch had been covered, Murray could've tucked it and run for plenty. Every single Vol player went for the fake handoff.

And who could really blame them.

via  Schmelter, R&B

Nailing the coffin shut

I wasn't [edit] willing to harp on the offense after Saturday night's fifth straight 40+ point performance, but Coach Richt found the words.

Georgia has put up 40 or more points five straight games, including 51 against Tennessee Saturday, but Richt wasn’t pleased with how Georgia couldn’t get first downs when it needed to in the fourth quarter.

“We just really haven’t done a good job of that in recent memory,” he said. “It’s not like we didn’t have a plan. We had a plan. It just wasn’t good enough. We didn’t knock out a first down when we needed it the most to try to take as much drama out of it at the very end.”

It worked out in the end. But sounds like Richt could use less drama. And I know about 92,000 fans that would agree with that.

Sunday thoughts on Tennessee

Holy (crap)! What a game. Unfortunately I'm going to have to keep this short. Coach Richt lost control of our car battery after the game. And then he lost control of traffic on 316. In short, like Sanford's scoreboard, I'm exhausted.

• Special teams...I wish you were a little less special.
• So Rambo did indeed play. Like Jennifer pointed out, it was just a silly ruse that came at a time the focus should've been on the game. What's more he showed a good bit of rust. Such as misjudging a pass early and went for an interception he never had a real chance at, leaving an easy play for the Tennessee receiver. Luckily said receiver fell down after the catch instead of scoring.
• That being said, Rambo's presence helped take away a lot of the deep options for Bray all night.
• Ogletree on the other hand was spectacular. Made good use of all the attention Jarvis was drawing. Led the team in tackles and had a key pass break up that led to the Damian Swann interception. And nearly had another interception on the razzle dazzle play in the third quarter.
• Speaking of Swann, he's turning into quite the difference maker at corner.
• Malcolm Mitchell so loves the Georgia offense he doesn't mind it starting from inside the one yard line. Sounds like McGowan will be the guy going forward.
• There are a lot of things I worry about when my head hits the pillow at night. But our offense ain't one of them. Gurshall has done a lot to help open things up. We're utilizing every playmaker and position, including our tight ends and fullbacks. It can click on all cylinders before a defense even gets set.
• But the offensive line, especially Theus, struggled. Most notably in that series of errors in the second quarter. Special teams didn't do the offense any favors with letting the punt roll to the one and whatever the hell happened on the kickoff where Gurley misplayed it horrifically. 
• How many times did we see a run where Gurley should've been stopped for no gain and ended up getting positive yardage in bunches?
• The defense...continually got gashed. I wasn't expecting that. We ran a lot of nickel. And we're clearly better against the run when we can go base. But allowing that many yards rushing only helped a good passing team gain momentum.
• And I thought Bray got better as the game went on. Made good decisions and looked very poised in the pocket. Clearly the best quarterback we'll see all season.

In the end the team can take heart in that on a night when we didn't play a clean game at all, we still came away from the win. A lot of similarities to last season against South Carolina. This time we found a way to pull it out. Offense made the plays and the defense pinned their ears back and got after it.

Coach Diaz previews the upcoming season

Georgia - Tennessee highlights

Georgia-Tennessee, what to look for

Once again, here's a collection of my pre-game thoughts. 

• I think Rambo plays. I think he's screwing with people. My reasoning is this: he was expected back this week, if he had tested positive for anything stronger than a Red Bull he'd be long gone by now, and surely he's not dumb enough to skip a class this week or something. Surely. I think he plays.
• Moving on...Intensity needs to match what we had for Vanderbilt and then the knob needs to be turned up. This goes for fans and players alike. I don't anticipate any problems here. At all.
• Abry Jones' ankle. He rested much of the week in practice. If he's even 80-90% it will go a long way towards completing the first objective of the game...
• ...Pass rush. Everyone agrees that this is the key to the game for Georgia. A harried and hurried Bray is no more dangerous than his own Sea Doo on an empty tank of gas.
• Offensive consistency. I just keep getting the feeling that the more comfortable Bobo gets with his offensive line and his freshman RBs in protection, the more comfortable he will feel opening things up. Let's pistol whip them into submission and then strap on the hobnail boots for old times sake.
• Defensive substitutions. This will be interesting to watch since we're getting Tree and Rambo (see first bullet) back as former starters. I would anticipate Rambo starting this afternoon. Probably Tree as well. But if Tennessee is able to score enough points to keep a lead and/or stay in the game late, having a deep, fresh front seven should turn the game in our favor.
• Snap. Hold. Kick!
• If....IF the Volunteers are as over-matched as the oddsmakers and pundits believe, how far does Richt go on the scoreboard before tugging back on the leash? 

Truly I don't know about Rambo. It's just a semi-educated guess. If he doesn't play I become a lot more like Munson and a lot less like I was yesterday when I was miserable. Regardless, let's just go out there and win the tailgate as usual. Chances are these HillBillys will be confused (as usual) by the plethora of choices at the coin toss.

GATA. Go Dawgs!

Flashback - 1981 Tennessee

From Dawg19 again, here a classic from 'tween the hedges to get you ready for what we hope is a beatdown similar to the 1981 matchup between these two teams. Can "Gurshall" repeat what Herschel did on this day?

SEC Kickoff with Coach Dooley