Saw some takes last night that we need to pursue a QB in the portal. While I get the criticism to a degree, I’d like to point out that Stockton shouldn’t have been in position to take hits like this:
Yes, he’s tough as nails, but this is a reminder that he’s still human and made of actual flesh and blood. He took a lot of hits last night that made me tell my buddy “I think he might be seeing double right now”. He’s got the skillset and the surrounding cast of skill players, but what’s missing?
IMHO, if we have to portal for “instant impact” our better options might be exercised with line play on both sides of the ball. For what has seemed like too long now, the defensive front and the offensive line starters have been screamingly inconsistent and it stands out to me moreso on the defensive side. Kirby/Schumann’s defensive philosophy works best when there’s disruption up front, and Chambliss had little to no pressure all night long. Even on the final drive, we were playing with fire and still trying to bring guys up the middle just to get stuffed every time.
It’s a reminder that we have a young, young team, and the ceiling is high on Georgia next year…
But we’ve gotta get stiffer in the trenches. All these five star tight ends aren’t going to see a catch if they’re constantly being used to shore up the offensive line’s shortcomings.
As always, I’m sure Kirby’s on the mother. The portal opens today, so let’s see who we go after this cycle.
I could see finding another backup that could possibly start should he need to, but hopefully Gunnar will continue to be our QB1 next season. We sort of went through this with Stetson and he improved greatly over time. I think it would change the culture too much and send the wrong message to try to find a replacement, but that’s just me. Go Dawgs!
Puglisi is that. We are young up front on the OL but with plenty of potential; the DL on the other hand needs serious portal help. Spend the money Kirby. We sure missed Drew Bobo, Jordan Hall and Gabe Harris last night
Agree 100%. We really need a couple of disruptors on the D line, whether developed or via the open market. I had this team at 9-3 at the best, preseason. I can’t be too upset but will probably find a way to do so. My inner Munson needs to leave me alone for a couple of months.
Everyone can use Jalen Carter.
I just want someone who can see people down the field consistantly.
The Ole Miss defense changed their approach and dominated our OLine. That was the biggest change from the first time we played them. To their credit their OLine also won. In short we got whipped at the line of scrimmage. It’s very difficult to win when losing in the trenches
I thought our dl played well enough. That kid just ran around and made plays. He’s done it to everyone. Gotta outscore that guy.
That’s right..you have to outscore him and we couldn’t.
Chamblis gets the ball out so fast (and with great accuracy) that it’s almost impossible to get pressure on him. He also is hard to pen up when he’s scrambling..which is hell on defensive backs trying to cover for eight or more seconds while also watching to see if he’s going to run it. O’Ms’ receivers catch the ball consistently.
Sometimes you just have to accept that someone outplayed you and you didn’t really have an answer.
O’Ms might go a lot further than we expected.
How did we contain their run game the first time and couldn’t last night?
Because bobo kicked Gabe Harris in the toe.
Gunner’s our QB1 and comes with limitations. So do nearly all others and we’re not getting one to replace him. We need to design the offense even more around his strengths rather than ask him to do things he’s not as good at. So I agree…we need help on both lines of scrimmage. Particularly a badass pass rusher, not one who gets too deep, flails his arms and misses the play. We need more RBs as Frazier is all guts with talent but takes too much of a beating. Bowens is not a #2 back. We need more receivers like Colbie…big, sure handed and tough. We got a lot of returning talent but need a lot of help; however, Kirby is not likely to add too much from the portal. In the new playoff world with coming expansion, you can be 9-3 and have a great shot to win it all with defense and a stellar QB/WR combo. Bama & Kirby’s old powerball philosophy is going to prove to be outdated even if it wins all the regular season games. The pounding can’t be sustained over this long of a season.
I’d like to see them use Gunner in more designed runs. Not sure why they never committed to that. Fear of injury? Gunner had nagging issues already? Who knows?
But he’s a capable enough passer that if you got the “plus 1” game going too, defenses would really be stressed.
How does a DC scout us? Jam the run. Keep Gunner in the pocket. Don’t worry about the deep ball. Jump the WR screen. Goulding had his guys ready with only one week to prepare and chaos all around him. Add Trinidad scrambling like ChatGTP would combine Tarkinginton, Staubach, Favre and old man Manning and all we can say is congrats to Pete.
We’re so bad we lost twice by a total of 6 points. Unforgivable really.
Bingo, We have a winner!!!!!!!. Derek very astute observation
Your right they loaded the box and dared us to beat them deep. Taking away our best runs and screen game.
I’m still in shock. Leading at half after not even playing that well, leading going into the 4th quarter, and playing a team with total coaching turmoil, but still find a way to lose. What the hell?
Going for it on 4th down with just under 10 minutes left cost us the game. I’ve heard Kirby says we weren’t supposed to snap the ball, but I still don’t get the strategy there even if that is the case. It is a 3 point game with plenty of time and Kirby basically gives them 7 points.
Gunner could have played better, but he isn’t the issue. Don’t understand the sentiment to go find a QB. We have a ton of young talent coming back (hopefully). Just need to bolster a few spots and next year should be a very strong team. Damn…hate already have to talk about next season. Ugh.
He said the analytics said “go.” He was willing to if the defense showed the right look. If the defense didn’t, they would take the delay or call timeout or of course take the 5 if they jumped.
He said the look the defense gave meant don’t snap it.
He blamed the coaches (incl. himself) for not making sure it was done correctly. So the back up center brain farted apparently.
Personally, I blame bobo.
I blame Freeling for letting 4 go by unblocked, similar to last years sugar bowl sack/fumble play.
Maybe freeling knew we weren’t supposed to snap it.
Thanks for more detail on what the thinking was. I did not hear the press conference.
I don’t care what the analytics say there. Just punt and play defense, imo. Don’t give your young backup center the opportunity to screw up.
I’m sure that’s what they were all thinking when the ball snapped.
Anyone who thinks we need to buy a starting qb for 2026 is a fool. Not that they’re hard to find. We need some depth there and I don’t know whether or not they see a starter in the two we have or not.
Given all the youth plus injuries forcing guys out there, I can’t say I see any real immediate needs.
Who knows where we are after nfl declarations and portalling are done tho?
Agreed. Gunner’s development priority is throwing ( or seeing) the 15+ yard routes.
Gunner is a curious case in that when the pressure is at its highest he is at his best. I mean if they forgo the tie and go for it on 4th he probably makes the play right? That’s just what he seems to do.
On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to have a calm chill during the meat of the game.
The game needs to slow down for him a bit.
All the batted balls seems to be a real issue; not sure how they fix that, but it really bit us 6 times last night….
Given how randomly they occur, my guess is that its a matter of “regression to the mean” at the wrong damn time.
Can I rant for a second? Maybe it’s just the fresh loss but last night’s game is exactly why I get frustrated with . . . Mike Bobo.
To be clear, I know Bobo hate is always fashionable and I don’t hate him at all. I think he’s a good coach. Might be a very good coach. But he’s not a GREAT coach and that was what I saw last night.
To wit, what if we start the game with what worked well last game (running the ball and eating clock to keep TC off the field)?
What if, once they started loading the box and Tolliver got eaten alive every play, we ran off tackle instead of up the middle? Quick pitch and toss sweep are pretty basic run plays that get away from those middle monsters and make them run sideline to sideline. (Fatigue playing into our depth advantage)
What if, after the 4th batted pass, we decided to roll out Gunner on most/all of his passes where he’s a dangerous, forward-falling runner anyway?
What if we target Lawson, who absolutely torched Ole Miss this year, more than 2 times in the entire game?
What if, on 3rd and goal to end the game, Gunner (as I said) rolls out of the pocket? If it’s wide open, throw it. If not, run it and we go to OT.
These are simple, basic coaching choices that elite coach’s get right and average coaches are 50/50. It’s why you’ll see articles today saying “it looked like Ole Miss knew what was coming.”
Chambliss was out of his mind great last night and deserved to win that game. But we could have and I think would have won with a better OC.
Know how I know? Because it’s exactly what happened when CJ Stroud went off against us a couple years ago. Monken coached around that and Bobo doesn’t. (Side note – we all have rose-colored glasses with our last impression of Monken cause of that TCU masterpiece but he was consistently great and would out-coach SEC DCs).
I’m glad Bobo got the Boyles nomination and he’s certainly a great Bulldog . . . just not a great coach.
Because the only way to truly measure him is games like last night. Our roster is so talented that we can simply out-talent 9 out of 10 teams we play regardless of our scheme (See Tech this year). In these tight games of equal talent, we have to out-coach people.
How many of you feel Bobo can outcoach a Matt Patricia?
What’s worse is I think Kirby knows this. Those aggressive fakes and 4th down attempts are not just a comment on our defense, they are saying we know that even when we get the ball back we are not confident we can get 1st downs in 3 downs.
And if he were truly great, wouldn’t his name come
up every once in a while on head coaching openings? Glenn’s does. The rest of the Broyles crew will get looks. Agent Muschamp just got his. Not our Bobo.
I guess I’ll wrap this with some dichotomy – Mike is a good man and a good Dawg. I’m proud he’s part of our program. But he’s simply an above average OC who gets saved by our talent and defense from true accountability.
I’ve heard it said that we won’t win a Natty with Bobo as our OC. Does anyone have any data to point to that being untrue?
As someone once said – You’re either elite or you’re not.
Anyone think he’s elite?
Anyway, Go Dawgs and Happy New Year.
Matt I have to agree with you buddy! On top of all that you just stated, if I were a tight end and wanted to ball out, I would leave Athens in my rearview mirror! I know there is only 1 football to go around, but for goodness sakes why in the world do we not use our tight ends on EVERY drive…I will never understand!
Monken did a great job getting the ball to his TEs. Imagine Brock Bowers UGA career without Monken calling plays.
Branch’s first 2 receptions were for a combined 2 yards. CMB lacks the ability to scheme downfield long or intermediate passes.
So true:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/332710061/lsu-georgia
https://youtube.com/shorts/B4oIXM-E5Hs?si=wtf2V3ZWK44jl6Ua
Facts!
Monken had his ass handed to him for 110 straight minutes vs bama.
Monken only won all the games after Stet went to work and got better. The 15-0 season is Bennett’s not a play caller.
Our winning percentage is pretty damn good since Todd left.
Reminds me of the “I wanna suck Joe Brady’s cock” crowd in 2019. That was burrows and co. not fucking ed ogeron being an offensive savant!
Now you’re gonna get me on a rant here!!!
Players on the field play the game!!! This is not tecmo bowl or Madden on a gd game console!!
Every position group could be improved. Here are the priorities –
1) Edge rushers – interior DL has good players that improved but the edge pass rush and contain is a huge need.
2) WR specifically the kind that stretch the field. We lose 1,5, 8 snd 86. 1 and 8 are the only 2 other teams had problems with.
3) DB still too many wide open guys in man or huge holes in zone. 27 was a liability last night. I guess 8 is still hurt or is getting the Brini/Poole treatment.
4) RB Cash is gone so what will we do on 3rd down? 33 hasn’t seem the same since November.
The rest of the groups could use elite players but barring transfers there is quality depth everywhere else.
1) zay walker will fill that role in some respect. Do you really want to buy that out of the portal? We bought one last year and never saw him.
2) 11 looks like a field stretcher. WR is always a need.
3) when are we not complaining about young dbs getting beat? Seems to be part of it. One year a corner is a liability, the next hes our shutdown. I’ve stopped worrying about it.
4) keeping backs healthy and productive has been a consistent issue. Not sure how to fix that. Walker looked pretty good to me.
People are calling for a new quarterback? This is why I don’t read the game day threads anymore. Because people are over emotional children when they don’t get what they want.
I’m as disappointed as anybody but that’s stupid.
Look for all that went wrong last night we still could have and should have won. Kirby is the man but last night is on him. With a lead in the first half he decided yet again that the best thing to do was to not be aggressive and go into a shell and try and squeeze the game. With nearly a minute and a half left until halftime we had plenty of time to get within field goal range. At that time Ole Piss had absolutely no answer for Nate Frazier and seemed like they were getting out of his way when he ran. Instead Kirby decides to fart around and punt the ball back to Ole Piss with fifty something seconds remaining and their kicker having a career night.
The result luckily didn’t end in points for them but we lose a player to a horse shit targeting call trying to keep them out of field goal range and we don’t get the possible three points that we could have had. What ended up being the difference innthe game? Three damn points. All because Kirby wasn’t comfortable being aggressive there.
Also, why did we seem so damn determined to make Gunner stand innthe pocket last night when our offensive line was playing horrible in pass protection? Why not move him around? And why did we stubbornly decide to relentlessly blitz Chambliss all night even though we couldn’t get our hands on him and it was leaving nobody back there to stop him when he ran past the rushers? It allowed him to just play backyard football. But we kept right on doing it. Just stupid and stubborn from our coaching staff.
Last, it seems like on that final possession when we were less than five yards from a touchdown that would have crushed their little feel good story, why wasn’t Elyiss Williams innthe game? Have Gunner throw it up where only he could catch it. What was Ole Piss going to do about it? Not a damn thing. But if he even played at all I never saw him.
Other than that all Ive got is their interim coach looks like a grease ball cocaine addict.
Buddy, that’s not the interim coach grease ball cocaine addict, he’s next year’s greaseball coke head coach.
Whatever he is I hope he chokes on a turd.
Williams did play. I saw him on the field breaking the huddle, but obviously he didn’t get any targets.
I assume either ee or Derek is going to argue this – because they love arguing, but thanks for a great season jp.
Verily.
Since I’ve been called out here, I trust Kirby to do what he thinks is right to use the portal to improve the team.
Frankly, I don’t love arguing.
Anyone else find it odd that hit on Gunner wasn’t flagged and reviewed for targeting?
Wouldn’t have mattered. Replay shows it was a clean hit.
Likely, yes, but in real time it looked like a viscous hit to the QB ‘s head after he threw the ball. Maybe that is out the window because the scrambled outside the pocket. I admit I am not clear on the rule there. I just see that play with no mention of targeting and then see our safety get flagged for it which is just another reason the rule sucks. It is too hard to call correctly and confusing to understand when it should and should not be flagged. I find it hard to believe seeing the hit on Gunner in real time at full speed that it didn’t look like it could have been targeting which I thought they were trained to throw the flag so it can be looked at under reply to see. Are they not still trained to err on throwing the flag there to get a better look?
It was fully targeting, especially given the call on our guy. OM defender hit Stockton directly in the facemask.
Looks like the shoulder pad to me.
Others have alluded to this and I completely agree, we appear to have a much more productive offense when our tight ends are involved in the passing game. I also think we do a lot better when we target a lot of different receivers. I love Branch and he’s amazing, but get as many others involved as possible and it usually works to our advantage. I know all this is easier said than done, especially when their DL is coming at us like tornado, but it just seems like we abandon the approach of many at the most inopportune times.
As far as I know the TE’s were targeted a bunch and every throw was swatted down before we saw its intended destination.
That’s Bobo’s fault, doncha know?
Bobo causes cancer.
As for the portal, we need more RB depth. Texas has some good ones in the portal. Baxter and another one have both been good for Texas.
Something changed with Bowens later in the season. He doesn’t seem to have the same burst or confidence that he had earlier. When Frazier went down, we didn’t have a good backup.
Bowens was hurt for much of the last part of the season.
If I’m Kirby, I’m looking for a dominant D-line player and a bad ass Edge. Two disrupters and with the young talent we have coming back could make the defense really good. I know losing Hall made a difference but can he stay healthy.
Unless you’re willing to drop a bundle of NIL money, you aren’t getting that in the portal.
Not only that, where are all these game wreckers onnthe interior defensive line that people think we should go after? There just aren’t many of those guys in college football in an any given year. God only makes so many humans like that.
Yeah MC, unfortunately you’re right. But a Dawg fan can dream.
Mine grow on the tree just to the left of the money tree in my backyard….
Say what you will, but Gunner is a DGD and Georgia will never find a kid that is literally willing to give it all on the field like that young man. Last night stung, but it wasn’t the lack of QB play and his game management that allowed victory to slip away. Down by 10 points with less than 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter is statistically a death sentence for a team…to see him will the offense back and then tie it was impressive. That reminded me of how good this season was…it wasn’t perfect, very, very few seasons are, but it was a good season and Gunner so many times this season epitomized what it means to be a DGD is…on and off the field…I’d start that dude for 2 more seasons if I could.
Gunner can be my qb any day. I would like to see him get a little better and I’d like to see more designed qb runs. He’s an old school qb. Let’s see some old school football.
We had a good run with a very young team. In years past I would be excited about next year thinking we have so much returning talent as compared to everyone else. Now, you can build a title contender in one year and who knows what happens. For all we know, Arkansas drops 30 million on a roster and kicks everyone’s assess. Anyway, we need a left tackle and a better backup at center. Kirby isn’t going to make any major program changes so no use to mention them.
Every team loses a game.
When they do there is always a reason or reasons for it.
Someone to blame…
Dawgs lost…Ohio State lost…and TT lost…
The bye week phenomena is real..
but you lose the game on game day on the field.
This Georgia team has flirted with it all year..young and inconsistent they were hard to kill…
Last night, our Dawgs got outplayed and out coached but
that doesn’t mean you fire people or revamp your whole program with second hand blood from the portal.
Laying an egg happens to the best teams.
Under Kirby it hasn’t happened very often..which tends to spoil us…but it happens and will happen again sooner or later.
The sky ain’t falling and next year looks promising.
I have left over hog jowl, blackeye peas, cornbread and greens in the fridge.
Life is still good.
But I’m not interested in watching the rest of the playoffs.
They were still hard to kill.
Agree that the “bye week effect” is real – Indiana came out playing like their hair was on fire because it was (and, unlike the TT coach, Cig is a psychopath); it is hard to go up against someone who has been in the flow when you have been out of it….
As i said in another thread earlier this week, they need to redo the playoffs so that first round and quarters are played before Christmas, and semis are played on New Years Day and we can wrap this up by in early January….
I’ll go down saying that the fourth down brain fart started an avalanche. If alabama punts there it might have been a rock fight. As it was Indiana gained confidence and Alabama got smaller and smaller still…
I’ve been saying for a couple of years we need a new DC. Schumann simply isn’t getting the job done. We got a little better as the season went along but we haven’t had a true Georgia defense for a while. Also, we are getting beat on the line of scrimmage, both offense and defense. We have to do better. Some of this personnel but a lot of it is coaching. It’s time for some folks to move on.
We need to start a list of people who need to meet with Kirby so they can explain to him exactly how to do his job. And why as necessary.
Once we have a complete list, we can reach out and schedule a time.
Hopefully the coaches are willing to at least admit to themselves if something didn’t work and figure out what to do differently next time whether we suggested it or not. I’d like to think they do that but one never knows because they rarely admit it publicly. I trust the coaches, especially Coach Smart, but we’re all human and have flaws occasionally so that means there is always room for improvement. They’re on it…and so are we!
Eh, I’d love to get after the coaches but I really think the team got hurt by the bye.
We had defenders threatening the qb most of the game but they would take bad angles, over pursue and lose contain. They were there, just making mistakes.
We had db/safeties/lb’s running good coverage patterns but they would take bad angles or make a leverage mistake or just not anticipate with good timing. They were mostly “there”, just off a little.
Tackling was bad.
The offense, on my opinion, was down to line play. We would have a guard decide to double team “looking for work” and instantly a defender would run untouched into the backfield. I don’t know how many times I saw this and it drove me nuts.
On the OC front, I don’t know why they just didn’t go 14 personnel in I formation with a FB in front of the back at times. That line needed all the help it could get.
All this to say, I don’t think we need to buy any “superstars”. Boys just need to play and stick to the routine. The month layoff screws with everything. I dunno how Indiana pulled it off but they damn sure did. Ohio st looked just like us.