Well…that escalated quickly. And with that, cupcake season is officially over.
I’m not sure what the appropriate emotional response is to scoring 60+ points in back-to-back games, but I’ll take it as a good thing. For the second straight week, the Dawgs were putting up PlayStation stats in the first half and eventually hung 70 on Western Kentucky.
We all know competition level has not been elite, but as many have pointed out in our Refugee community, we have played less than elite competition for several years now and seldom have we taken care of business looking this dominant/explosive (or whatever adjective fits your needs).
I don’t think we’re at the point of booking flights and hotel rooms for the CFP championship game yet, but we’ve looked as impressive as anyone else, no?
For now, I’m going to enjoy it.
Like last week, not going to go with traditional A-F letter grades because all we did was beat up a weakling, that’s all we did. The rest of this is just smoke-filled coffee house crap. We tortured and tormented a weaker team…(name that movie). On to the grades…
Quarterback: Put Gunner In Bubble Wrap
I know he hasn’t had to make Josh Allen level throws in these first two games, but I’m not sure we can ask a lot more out of Rabun County’s finest.
13-16 for 234 yards, 5 TD’s in basically a quarter and a half of football. Five different receivers caught those touchdown passes, and he left the game with Georgia up 42-0.
He took a couple of hits I didn’t love watching and made a decision or two resulting in incomplete passes when other receivers were open for big gains, but easy for me to say when I’m not seeing the field through his eyes. His deep ball to Dandridge was a little underthrown, but it almost “threw him more open” by the time he made the catch. Gunner also did a very nice job extending a couple plays with his feet and finding open receivers to keep drives going, great composure. Gunner’s played less than a full game’s worth of time in these first two contests and I’d sum it up as mistake free and incredibly efficient.
And what of Puglisi?
Well, he showed some wheels on a 70 yard TD run…didn’t have that one on my bingo card. I’ll admit that any time I see him throw the ball more than 15 yards over the middle of the field, I get little heart palpitations. He’s not afraid to take some chances, that’s for sure. His run that resulted in a fumble deep in our territory was a “learning opportunity” and I think his courage simply got the better of him.
One thing that’s important to consider for any backup QB coming into a game that’s well in hand…they’re generally playing with a lot of second (and possibly third) teamers at all other positions. They’re not always going to be in sync the same way the starters will be. Not saying we could start him tomorrow and he’ll produce like Gunner does, but I can appreciate his situation as the backup where he wants to make some plays and they’re not always there to be had.
Running Back: Still Very Much Bought In
I said it last week and I’ll repeat it…Nate Frazier is different this year. Statistically, he’s the most efficient runner in college football history right now (guessing). After 2 games he has 10 carries for 127 yards and 4 TD’s. Put the stats aside for a second…just put the eye test on him. He’s running different this year…he’s seeing the holes (of which there have been many), hitting them decisively, making people miss (that first run spin off the defender was special stuff) and finishing runs violently. Impossible to not love what we’ve seen from him this year.
Chauncey Bowens didn’t get much rushing production, but caught two passes for 45 yards, including a TD with the smoothest hurdle into the endzone I’ve ever seen…barely looked like he was trying. If he and Frazier can stay healthy this season, we have playmakers in the backfield.
My main man Dwight Lightning only had a couple of touches for 8 yards, so I can’t get on my soapbox this week…I know you’re all super disappointed.
Consider about half of our carries came from the combination of Nick Peal, Bo Walker and Jae Lamar…and we rushed for 234 yards on 35 carries (6.7 YPC)…not a bad day’s work.
Offensive Line: Not Hating What I’ve Seen
When the offense is scoring at will, running backs have holes to run through and Guner has time and throwing lanes, they’re doing their job in my eyes.
Again, they’ve been beating up on TSU and WKU, so too hard to judge because they’re manhandling these teams. Arkansas should give us a better idea of what this unit looks like…not that Arkansas is considered an elite SEC squad, but they are an SEC opponent we will play on the road.
Why don’t we sum it up this way, after two games I don’t believe our offense is limited by our offensive line. I didn’t love watching Gunner take a couple of hits, so not a perfect outing…but still better than last year in my opinion. I reserve the right to change my opinion in future weeks. Our first teamers are helping to produce chunk plays in the running and passing game and we’re jumping on top of teams immediately.
Receivers (WR’s + TE’s): Who Wants To Score This Week?
Nearly all of the damage was done while Gunner was in the game, so that’s where I’ll put my judgment.
Sacovie took full advantage of his lone catch…grabbing a long slant in stride and took it 70 yards to the house. He showed some nice speed to outrace a few defenders. Loved the route, throw, catch and run on this one.
Craig Dandridge caught two balls for 56 yards, including the early 43 yarder. He continues to make me look smart and represent Milton, GA like the badass he is. I’m trying to figure out what makes him different. He’s got a really nice skillset when it comes to speed, quickness, hands, etc. But there’s a “slipperiness” to him that’s unusual to me. Maybe someone smarter than me can verbalize it better than I can.
Talyn Taylor had two catches and another touchdown. Start buying that stock now if you haven’t already. London Humphreys got into the end zone. Ethan Barbour caught his first career touchdown.
Not a whole lot more from the rest of the receiving group in terms of noteworthy performances, but we shut it down VERY early. No reason to show anything more than we had to after we built such a big early lead. We didn’t even target guys like Reddell and Prothro this week…wasn’t necessary.
What was of some concern in the offseason has not been a concern at all through these cupcake games. I’ll stay optimistic with a little caution until we see them matched up against more worthy competition.
Defensive Line: Doing Their Job
I’ll keep this short and sweet.
Defensive linemen are winning their battles, pushing the pocket, taking time away from the QB and creating opportunities for linebackers to do their job.
Gabe Harris continues to stand out when he’s on the field. Nice to see Elijah Griffin record a couple of tackles this week. I don’t know if Jordan Hall is “fully back” from his injury last year, but he continues to show up with another couple of tackles.
We’ve been able to get a lot of different guys reps in these first two games, so that’s always a plus and we should have a fresh squad going into SEC play.
Most of WKU’s production came against backups and their backup QB was responsible for more than half of their rushing yardage. Not too worried.
Linebackers: Not Worried At All
It’s too hard to use statistics as a judgment here because guys like Raylen Wilson didn’t even record a tackle, and I think we’d all agree he’s not a bad football player.
Guys like AJ Kruah, Nick Abrams and Terrell Foster were leading tacklers…and those are all second and/or third teamers.
Chris Cole looks like a guided missile and once he’s needed on the field for a majority of snaps, he looks like a guy who could win the Butkus award. I don’t know if the total production will be there, but he can impact the game in so many ways…great against the run, can cover and might be our best pass rusher on obvious passing downs.
Still very high on Justin Williams, it’s going to show once we need him on the field in closer games.
We didn’t even get to see Zayden Walker record any statistics, so there’s that to consider.
So many weapons.
Defensive Backs: Loaded
Let’s enjoy this while we can.
Ellis Robinson still looks the part of a lockdown corner. I know there was a pass or two thrown his way that was completed, or should have been completed. But he nearly had a pick on a ball he played perfectly and laid a nice hit on a receiver to jar the ball loose on what should have been a completion. This will almost certainly be his last year in Athens.
KJ Bolden is unmistakably elite. He has incredible instincts, closing speed and tackling ability. This will almost certainly be his last year in Athens.
Demello Jones has gotten better and made a beautiful interception that nearly turned into a pick 6. I don’t know that we’ll lose him after this year, but he will one day be playing in the NFL.
How about Blake Stewart being Johnny On The Spot with the interception of the batted pass? The ensuing run/fumble pickup by Green, fumbled around by Green, recovery by Green for a touchdown was a fun little sequence.
Let’s sum up…WKU did very little in the passing game, we created some turnovers via interceptions and many of our starting players will be playing on Sundays in the future. Arrow up.
Special Teams: Mostly Great
Peyton Woodring was perfect on all ten extra points.
Drew Miller averaged 46 yards on four punts, including a 57-yarder.
Sacovie had a couple of solid punt returns.
AJ Kruah caused a fumble on the opening kickoff that the Dawgs recovered and quickly turned into points.
Oh yeah, Tyriq Green took a kickoff 91 yards to the house…so not bad. Last kickoff returned for a TD was in 2016 according to my mental rolodex (and some help from Google).
On the negative, Roldan’s punt return attempt was mishandled leading to a fumble and turnover…think he saw a lot of green grass in front of him and started running before he secured the catch.
Tyriq Green got injured on a return that wasn’t necessary. Rumor is a high ankle sprain and not expected to miss extensive time.
Certainly like the good more than I don’t like the bad, and the bad can definitely be cleaned up.
Offensive Coaching: Let’s Give Bobo Some Credit To Start The Season
We scored 70 points.
We scored touchdowns on our first seven possessions.
Four of those touchdown drives took less than a minute.
We had 493 yards of offense with most of that coming in one half of play.
Gunner threw five touchdown passes.
Twelve different players caught passes.
And we did all of that while pulling the starters in less than a half of play.
It’s tough for me to complain about anything when we score 70 points.
I couldn’t tell anyone if Mike Bobo is the greatest OC ever. I certainly wouldn’t call him the worst. He’s put together his fair share of great offenses (I think 2014 is still the most productive offense UGA has ever had statistically). I’ll admit, I’ve scratched my head at some of the play calls in certain situations in the past…because I’m a football fan and that’s just what we do. What I have loved thus far after two games…we are jumping all over teams immediately and putting inferior teams away in emphatic fashion.
We have not always done this against cupcakes and it’s a welcome change.
Defensive Coaching: Seek And Destroy
Our first team defense (and even most of the second team defense) has looked frighteningly fast, physical sharp.
Good luck running the ball conventionally against this group. Good luck taking your chances through the air if this defense forces you to be one dimensional…not sure if you’ve heard, but our secondary situation is promising.
My biggest concern would be facing a very athletic QB who can extend plays with his feet…because that can be kryptonite for even great defenses. Aside from that, it seems we have great to outstanding players at every level when it comes to our starters.
I’m not too worried about the first half touchdown we gave up and definitely not worried about the 14 points we gave up in the 4th quarter against our 3rd and 4th team guys.
Let’s see how we come out of the gate against Arkansas next week. If we can keep them from moving the ball, or force them to make phenomenal individual efforts to move the ball, that’s another proof point that we’re in better shape than we were last year.
White Uniforms: I Admit…They Looked Great
I’m a traditionalist like many others in the Refugee community. I love the red helmet, red jerseys and silver britches. That said, if we’re going to do the occasional one off uniform change, I think these were damn sharp. We had all seen sneak previews of these a million times, but seeing them in action…I didn’t hate it.
When we do the alternate uniforms right, they can look great. Black jerseys with the red helmet and silver britches is a sharp look in my opinion. I liked the red pants, red helmet and white jerseys combination for the 2020 Arkansas game.
Where we have gotten it wrong…1998 Outback Bowl with the black pants and white jerseys, not a fan. 1998 Florida game with the black pants and red jerseys, even worse. 2009 Florida game with whatever the hell that was, revolting. The Power Ranger costumes for the 2011 kickoff against Boise State, awful.
I’m not saying I want to do any kind of alternate uniform frequently, hell, I don’t care if we ever do them again. But, if/when we’re going to do some alternate combinations, keep it simple and clean like we saw on Saturday.
Go Dawgs!
