Last week I had a brief exchange online with one of our esteemed commenters (Nil Butron is a Pud) about the middle 8 (the last 4:00 of the 2nd quarter and the first 4:00 of the 3rd). Coaches talk a lot about winning that 8:00 of game clock time. I went back and looked at last season against Power 4 opponents to see what there is to the story:
Clemson @ MBS – score entering the middle 8 (6-0) exiting 13-0
Peyton Woodring kicked a 55 yard field goal just before the start of the middle 8. The Dawgs get a 3 and out. The Dawgs grind out an early 1st down and then end the half with a 57 yard Thorson punt. The offense takes the 2nd half kickoff (we must have won the toss and deferred) and marches 75 yards for a touchdown. With the way the defense was playing, the game was virtually over, and the offense proceeded to score 3 TDs in their next 4 possessions. The Dawgs won the middle 8, and it jumpstarted a route of the Tigers.
@ Kentucky – score entering (0-3) exiting (3-9)
The Dawgs had forced a turnover that could have been a scoop and score, but a 3 and out enabled another Woodring field goal to tie the game. Kentucky grinds out a field goal to end the half enabled 4(!) 3rd down conversions and all of them on the ground. The Wildcats then take the opening kick of the 2nd half and grind out a 6:00 drive culminating in another field goal. The Dawgs playing from behind eventually get a 1-point win in Kentucky. A great example of allowing teams to hang around by shortening the game almost bit us. Kentucky won the middle 8.
@ Alabama – score entering (7-28) exiting (15-30)
In a game I’ve still never watched, the Tide is driving for a back-breaking score as the middle 8 begins. The Dawgs’ defense finally bows up stopping the Tide on 4th and 1 at Dawgs’ 35. Alabama intercepts Carson Beck on the next play just to turn the ball back over inside the Georgia 10. Bama gets a safety to add 2 points. A fumbled punt by Anthony Evans almost leads to another backbreaking score. The Dawgs do nothing with the 2nd half kickoff after getting good field position, and Bama closes the middle 8 with a punt of their own. Bama wins the middle 8 with the safety but, more importantly, by keeping the Dawgs off the scoreboard for that stretch. Who knows what happens if the Dawgs score after the 4th down stand?
Auburn – score entering (7-3) exiting (14-10)
Both teams score a TD in the middle 8 on the day we honored the Senator. The Dawgs are driving as the clock hits 4:00 in the 2nd quarter. A holding penalty on a 2-yard run on 3rd and 1 and an ensuing sack knocks the offense out of scoring position (it must have been into the wind because a 51 yard attempt by Woodring isn’t a huge deal). Freeze then makes a terrible clock management decision with 1:33 to go and backed up inside the 10. He calls a pass play at 1:20 that falls incomplete and stops the clock. The Tigers fail to get a 1st down, and Georgia scores a TD on a short field as Beck hits Lovett for 11. The Dawgs fail to take advantage of the opening kick in the 3rd quarter by going 3 and out. Auburn gets a long run by Jarquez Hunter to cut the lead. While the scoring was tied, I give the Dawgs the edge due to Freeze’s terrible clock management mistake.
Mississippi State – score entering (20-10) exiting (34-17)
The real Dawgs almost played the middle 8 perfectly as the Dawgs were driving for a Lawson Luckie touchdown when the middle 8 started. KJ Boldin makes a big play with an interception on a deep pass with 27 seconds left. Carson Beck engineers a great 30 second drive only for Peyton Woodring to miss a 55-yard field goal. The Dawgs strike quickly to open the 3rd quarter with a touchdown in less than 2:00 to start the 3rd quarter to take what many in Sanford thought was a rout in the making. 2 first downs by penalty on 3rd and long enable the Bizarro Dogs to score a TD in their middle 8 possession. The Dawgs win the middle 8 but leave a lot of meat on the bone.
@ Texas – score entering (20-0) exiting (23-8)
The teams exchange punts at the beginning of the middle 8 before Jalon Walker and Damon Wilson introduce Arch Manning to SEC football at the highest level with 2 sacks for 22 yards with less than 30 seconds to go in the half. Peyton Woodring likely put the game out of reach with 44 yard field goal as the clock hits 0:00 to shut up the 100,000+ gathered in Austin. The onside kick that really wasn’t opens the 2nd half and gives Texas field position. Eventually with the help of a couple of penalties, Texas breaks through to begin an attempt at a comeback. Texas wins the middle 8 on the scoreboard, but Georgia makes a comeback difficult.
Florida @ Jax – score entering (3-10) exiting (6-13)
The teams exchange 53 yard field goals prior to the halftime break. A 4th down conversion enables Florida to kick their field goal right before the half. To open the 2nd half, the Georgia defense gets the 3 and out just to have a 3rd interception 2 plays later close to midfield. The Dawgs hold and then score the game-tying touchdown after the middle 8 concludes. I have to give the edge here to the Gators especially after so many scoring flurries have happened by the Dawgs at this point in the game in the past.
@ Ole Miss – score entering (7-13) exiting (10-16)
The Rebels reach for a long field goal at the beginning of the middle 8 to take a 9-point lead into the locker room with the Dawgs taking the 2nd half kickoff. The Dawgs drive the length of the field to open the 3rd quarter even after a couple of penalties. They get to the 10 and sputter to the 5 where Woodring kicks a short field goal. Similar to the prior week, Ole Miss gets the edge although the deficit did not change as they force the Dawgs to take over 5:00 off the clock just to get 3 points. Everyone knows the game turns with turnovers and offensive inefficiency after the middle 8.
Tennessee – score entering (14-10) exiting (24-17)
The Vols are driving for a TD to retake the lead powered by a 27 yard run by Dylan Sampson with a little less than 2:00 to go in the half. Carson Beck brings the Dawgs back to kick a short field goal to enter the break tied at 17. The Dawgs get a stop to open the 2nd half after the Vols move the ball for the first 2 minutes. On the 1st possession, the Dawgs overcome a 1st and 24 caused by an offensive pass interference penalty as the Dawgs take the lead for good in a 8:00 TD drive. The Dawgs win the middle 8.
Georgia Tech – score entering (0-10) exiting (6-17)
As the middle 8 begin, the Dawgs are driving until a Dom Lovett fumble allows the Jackets to take over at their 37. Then Kirby has a brain cramp in clock management after the nerds start driving. After stopping a run on 1st down at the 20 and less than a minute in the half, Kirby decides to call a timeout and gives the head nerd a chance to go for a TD when it appeared he was happy to kick a late field goal when they had no timeouts. Tech scores a TD to extend the lead into the half. Beck leads a great drive, but Woodring misses a long field goal at the buzzer. The teams trade quick punts to open the 3rd, and the Dawgs break through on their 2nd middle 8 possession. Kirby then makes a mistake that could have cost the Dawgs the game by attempting the 2-point conversion. You have to give the middle 8 to Tech as a result of a couple of sideline blunders.
Texas @ MBS – score entering (3-6) exiting (10-6)
10 plays, 75 yards, 4:33 off the clock and Georgia scores the SEC championship game’s first TD as Gunner Stockton comes on in relief of the injured Carson Beck. Dawgs win the middle 8 on the scoreboard, and Texas never regains a lead as the Dawgs take home the trophy.
Notre Dame @ Sugar Bowl – score entering (3-3) exiting (20-10)
In what was possibly the worst middle 8 since the 2021 SEC championship game loss to Alabama, the Dawgs yield 17 points. Poor run defense sets up a long field goal to start the 8 minute period. Kirby makes possibly the dumbest decision he has made since running the fake field goal in Baton Rouge in 2018. He decides to push for points and gets Gunner blindsided for a fumble than the Irish immediately turn into 7. Then to rub salt in the wound, the Irish infamously run the 2nd half kickoff back to make the score 20-3. The game wasn’t over, but it made the type of game we needed to play to get the win impossible.
Summary
The last 2 games of the season are exactly what the “middle 8” are all about. Executed well, a team can put games out of reach or grab momentum, and, of course, the opposite is true. What I really saw is that coaching can make or break that stretch. Kirby did some of his best work in the middle 8 (Clemson and both Texas games) and made some terrible errors as well (Tech and Notre Dame, most notably).
Smart aggression seems to be the solution. Turnovers can change the middle 8 more dramatically than at any other time. Message Board Geniuses aren’t going to be kind when the middle 8 don’t go your way.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
First…great premise, research and write-up. This is why GTP/r is so good. Looking at those results I wonder how we won some games and wonder how they stack up against prior seasons. I guess 8 out of 60 is not the full story but clearly meaningful.
I think mistakes in that part of the game get magnified. For example, in the Fech game, we defer(?) the choice, and then a turnover and coaching mistake lead to the late TD that neutralizes the benefit of receiving the 2nd half kickoff. Without the turnover, at worst, the Dawgs don’t score but kick the nerds deep … no points and down 10-0 at half and receiving the ball. OTOH, Dawgs score a TD with little remaining clock and get the ball to score again to go up 14-10 early in the 3rd. No doubt the “big mo” would have led to Dawgs’ win.
I think it’s been evident for a long time that the middle 8, along with special teams-related net field position, is one of the hidden game-changers that few fans discuss. We all knew ND was basically over after that middle 8, and Clemson and the SECCG were clear momentum changers. Sometimes the game is too far out of reach for it to matter in the final outcome, but winning that segment of the game has a high statistical correlation with winning in the final score. Thanks for the post!
I sometimes think the middle 8 is overrated, but then a game like ND happens to show you exactly what can happen.
While not as dramatic because the game was close to out of hand, the middle 8 took the TCU game from a game where with the right breaks, the game wasn’t over to one where half the team got curtain calls in the 3rd quarter.
Special teams hidden yardage is enormous. There’s a reason coaches say every drive needs to end with a kick.
Inside of those lines, Special teams play is paramount, knowing your teams capabilities, even forcing the opposition into 2nd/3rd and long and winning that point and time field position to ease out a field goal, a safety or even a UGA football T.D., did CKS apply such pressure late in the 1st half in the 2018 Rose Bowl…do believe hc’s that don’t utilize Special Teams play as an equal to the teams offense/defense play are just that, walking the sidelines looking to the football gods for help…sometimes analytics, down and distance, playing the percentages succeeds, sometime not…GO DAWGS!!
Our problem recently seems to be the front 8. Slow starts, sleepwalking. I’d be intrigued to see how the first quarters have looked over the past few years.
I wonder if that’s tied to a couple of things:
1) Change in OC – this is not a bash Bobo comment, but Kirby let Monken do his thing (7 straight TDs to open the game vs. Oregon). I think with every other OC, Kirby has put his thumb on the O.
2) The clock rules – if the D isn’t going to get a quick 3 and out off the opening kickoff, an overmatched opponent can milk the play clock and melt the game clock.
It’s both sides.
You looked at that early in the offseason. I recall our first quarter being putrid, second quarter being good, 3rd being excellent and 4th being decent. I can’t recall the date of the post or the exact details, but it was a chart of our efficiency by quarters, I believe. And it was color-coded, for dopes like me.
Most days I can barely remember to put my pants on, so I’ll take your word for it. Sleep is a wonderful thing, if I could just find some more of it.
Thanks for the post ee – I honestly didn’t mean to give you homework :).
I think that the overall goal is “don’t lose focus” going into and out of the half. This applies to players and coaches. When you do (GT, ND), it can go to shit quickly. When you get it right and the other team wavers, it reminds me of the nightmare 90’s when the OBC would push and push and roll up multiple scores on us in just a few minutes time (please God, make the ugly pictures in my head go away). I can appreciate Kirby/Bobo trying to grab some points againts ND, but with your 2nd string QB on the field, it wasn’t worth the risk.
Of course, last week I admitted that I was yelling at Ringo to get down instead of returning his INT for the greatest TD in 2 generations, so what do I know…
You gave me a great idea, sir. It was totally worth it!!
I took a quick look at the first possession of the 2nd half of these games. If I did it right, the Dawgs were 5-7 on positive outcomes on that possession as defined by scoring on offense or preventing a score on defense/special teams.
If you’re going to defer the choice to the 2nd half when you win the toss, you better make something positive from that possession consistently.
Watch the last play of the 2003 Georgia vs toothless orange people and reassess the 4 minutes around the half. The 2006 game was flipped around halftime as well, I try to forget that one.
I definitely think it’s a thing. The question is whether it’s consistently a thing.