There’s a couple of things that stood out to me from Saturday, and it involved our receivers.
Firstly, Talyn Taylor and Craig Dandridge are impressive wide outs…while we’re still waiting for the emergence of CJ Wiley, the two have been playing great ball as has Sacovie White-Helton, who plays like a man on fire. The receivers, even without Canion and Blackshear, are quietly becoming reliable and deadly, and the maligned Coley probably deserves a bit of credit to that. Especially with Bizarro Stockton coming to life, suddenly threading needles and hitting deep passes in ways we all thought he couldn’t do given his performance last season.
The other thing that stood out to me was the emotions you could see on the Georgia players faces. Take the victory highlights clip here (see how I’m quietly sneaking the free version here), dial it up to 1:30, and listen to Nate Frazier.
Also, when Luckie was called for holding, negating a Phillips touchdown, I could swear he looked like he wanted to simultaneously cry and puke. Same goes for White-Helton, who looked absolutely crushed on the botched return later in the game.
I think when Kirby says that these guys are special, he ain’t lying. That fire, passion, and energy is loud this season, especially the passion, and the team played like their tails were on fire the entire game.
I told a friend of mine who was texting during the game, as they were freaking out near the end, that “we’ve got this”. Aside from a few penalties and explosives allowed on defense, we were flying around the ball, the far more physical team, and we had that swagger of a team that wouldn’t be denied.
If they can play like that every game of the season, I think we’ll be just fine.
You forgot London Humphries. Dude is a weapon.
Personally I’m not shocked by what Gunner is doing. This is who I thought he was going to be. He just needed time. It’s so weird the narratives Thst get stsrted. I remember people posting right here last year Thst hes not a good runner. I swear a lot of people watch a football game and I am not sure what they see based on what they say about it.
I agree, Mike. I never thought Gunner was some hamstrung “gamer” getting by at QB. He runs the offense just fine. Heck, better than fine. I wouldn’t want anyone else back there for us this year.
It was apparent to me throughout the gamevthat we were the more physically dominant team and the second half proved we were better conditioned. If the graphic that stated the halftime yardage was 178 TO 177 that means we outgain3d Alabama by 109 yards in the second half.
I’m 95% certain that that’s Frazier, not Q. He’s lamenting he can’t be out on the field with the others.
Definitely Nate talking to the RB group.
my apologies. Thought it was Q.
We won because we were more physical, more relentless, and more composed.
We had a few busts, but we never panicked. Never quit. In particular, Alabama freaks out when they don’t get the late PI call. A lot of Gumps are growing about “the fire DeBoer showed” on the sideline. What I saw was a guy redlining and out of control. Seeing him lose his shit kind of gives his players license to do the same. While theyre all raging, very next play, they miss Bolden blitzing and they’re out of FG range.
More rage because they have to punt, the clock is rolling, and Gunner has put long drives together all night. Sure enough, the anger and frustration boils over and [heir guy cheap shots Dandridge, who just takes it. PF called, 1st down gifted, ballgame. DeBoer redlines again on the sideline.
What did we do after a bad play or bad call all night? Got back up and kept punching. All night. Because we aren’t just talented. We aren’t entitled. We are DISCIPLINED. Does Kirby show emotion in the sideline? Sure. Is he ever boiling over, out of control with choleric rage, I don’t recall it happening. Why do we win rock fights. games where one play changes the outcome, games where we stumble out of the gate? Because this staff and this team don’t lose focus. They make the other guys beat us. We rarely beat ourselves.
Nick had that same mindset. And he had the ability and the respect to enforce it. DeBoer is a good coach. Alabama has good players. But in crunch time, they buckled. They blinked. They lost composure. The margins are thin at the elite levels. They folded. We didn’t. They want to yap about “SEE YOU IN DECEMBER!”? Fine by me, if they can get there. TN said [he same in 22, but they were nowhere to be seen later. But for now, it’s time to turn the page to Auburn.
I agree with the “we’ve got this” sentiment. The old Georgia used to make a valiant effort in big games only to just come up short. This team seems to have the self confidence to handle any kind of pressure. I really didn’t feel nervous in the game’s final minutes Saturday night. Our guys knew what needed to be done and they executed just the way they had been trained to do.