I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now, so I won’t spend much time on it. Carson Beck is not who we hoped he’d be this year. He’s not terrible, or even bad. But he’s making mistakes that a first-year starter might. And if he’s not careful, he’s going to end up in DJU territory. Kirby Smart and Mike Bobo need to help him find his way, because the RB room is thin and Georgia likely can’t rely on a true freshman to carry a run-heavy offensive gameplan through the playoffs. Especially when there are so many bad secondaries out there to attack. On the other side of the ball, the defense remains nasty when they want to be and are a joy to watch. And the special teams are elite as well. So where does that leave us as fans? In a year with no great teams, our Dawgs are still CFP favorites. It’s just that the margins are far slimmer than in more recent years, and we’re all going to need prescriptions for beta blockers (or cannabis, whatever floats your boat). On to the bullets:
- I thought Bobo had a good gameplan, knowing the team – and especially Beck – would be amped up. Starting Beck off with easy passes and inside zone runs – stuff this offense does very well – calms the nerves and gets consistent yardage.
I was a little surprised Kirby played it safe on the 4th down though, given how aggressive he’s been all year in that situation, but maybe he knew Beck wasn’t feeling it yesterday. Or that his defense would have no problem stopping Florida. - I texted my group chat early in the first quarter that the early repetitive runs up the middle by the Gators felt like a setup. After Beck’s first pick, they used it to their advantage, and Lagway caught Malaki Starks looking for the run.
- As soon as Beck started getting comfortable, opening it up and looking more downfield, he would make a terrible throw out of nowhere. You could tell he didn’t have it again yesterday. Half the passes were off target, he was forcing the ball into windows that were too small or non-existent, and he refused to throw the ball away and get to the next down. He was pressing, and every time Florida brought 6 rushers, he got happy feet.
- I thought Lovett had a great day and is turning into the slot receiver we had hoped for. He doesn’t have as much wiggle as Ladd McConkey getting in and out of his breaks, but he’s fast and tough.
- That said, he had another drop and I counted 2 others. Which is half as many as the last game, so…progress?
- I hate to keep banging this drum, but officiating is absolutely awful this year. So many obviously missed calls.
- Did anyone else think Arian looked slow yesterday? Couldn’t tell if he was banged up or the field was just terrible (which it was – just ask Lagway), but he wasn’t running away from the DBs like I expected him to.
- Minor Mike Bobo PSA: can you please get away from running the ball up the middle on second down after every first down failure? If I’m calling your play before it’s run, I know the other team’s $2M coordinator knows it’s coming too. That is all, you were otherwise very good yesterday. 😉
- The TEs looked good yesterday as well, both blocking and receiving. Delp has turned it around, Lucky made a great bail out catch on the sideline, and even Yurosek looks like he knows what he’s doing! Mark that down for the future, they’re going to come in handy.
- Love Starks, but we really missed Anthony Evans in the return game. Starks was doing a great Logan Gray imitation yesterday, but we could have used the extra 5-10 yards on each possession, and they were often there.
- Mykel Williams looks almost completely healthy and when he and Jalon Walker are both playing 50 snaps, this defense will be even more electric. DL played well against a good Florida OL, the LBs did better against the wheel routes, and the secondary (once the starters were back) looked fine. But let’s remember that Florida was playing their second string WRs, third string RBs and second/third string QBs. So allowing 20 points to them was not what I’d call impressive. The QBs were 9/28 for 4 YPA, but the Gators ran for 156 (before sack yardage deductions). So not much to take from this game, as it felt like the defense knew it could win with less than full effort, and they were right.
- Lastly, Chaz Chambliss with 2 sacks?! He’s tied for second on the team with 3 on the season. Way to finish with a strong senior season. Professional wrestling will love you someday.
I was never concerned in this game, and maybe because Florida was missing so many pieces, but also because Georgia has such a huge talent and coaching edge. Waiting for this team to get interested enough is our weekly burden as fans. What a wonderful change from my college days, when I felt like Georgia needed the ‘86 Bears to beat Florida, and every game was agonizing. Beck remains a frustrating puzzle, but there are enough pieces around him (if Etienne can play) to beat any team this year, including Ole Maid next week. Laner, Daddy’s coming for you again. Bring your blanket and pacifier. Go Dawgs!
I was worried we were going to let the Gators steal one. Both sides of the ball play great when they want to, but there are too many stretches where they don’t want to. Letting the 3rd string QB from Yale drive the field for a tying score is the perfect example.
Beck needs to get his head together because if he pulls that INT stuff late in a game, it will cost us for sure.
Heck, even Thorson was off yesterday. Florida’s punter was the weapon.
Oh, and Florida is even now. I’m sure they feel they would have won if Lagway hadn’t gotten hurt. We’ll never know, but it was just like 2020 when we lost both Stetson and Rosemy-Jacksaint on the TD to give us a 14-0 lead.
Agreed, the kid from Yale should have been punished. They let him off easy. As for UF thinking they would have won, I still think the Dawgs would have just shut them down earlier had he remained in the game.
Even Beck’s basic passes were off. Throwing behind receivers, high, and leading them oob. NIL has changed everything. If he came back to win a championship/unfinished business, he’d get more grace than the real reasons he came back. He came back for $1M and to improve his draft stock. We lost the Nebraska qb because he stayed. And he’s thrown 11 picks in 5 games (could have easily been more) and seems to keep getting worse.
Two bad looks yesterday… After two awful picks, he tucked and ran for his life and got the first down. He made the first down gesture. Pretty sure we were all yelling for him to save the shenanigans for when you can stop throwing directly to UF defenders. And then he pouted after Lovett apparently messed up a route. How about if they pout when you can’t hit a wide open deep ball… ever. Or when you throw it 3 feet behind a receiver on an 8 yard slant. Or throw back shoulder passes to the cheerleaders. Not good looks imo.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong about Stetson Bennett. He was the goat. Beck is missing something and I don’t know how much is on him and how much is on the OC/QB coach. How many Bobo coached qbs regress vs progress over time? Legitimate question. I don’t know.
We keep winning, and that is what matters. Next week we will face an offense that is capable of putting up lots of points. If our defense struggles, and the game is on Beck’s shoulders, who has confidence that he can match them score for score? Not sure if I do at this point.
Don’t forget how many duds of a half Stet put on the board against good and bad competition alike. He just always came through when it mattered (after the Bama 2020 game, that is). If Beck starts to do that, he’ll be a Dawg hero too. Right now, he’s just passing through.
That was a solid thoughtful analysis. Criticism was fair, and so was the praise. You are obviously right about officiating, but that has been true forever. It hasn’t been Penn Wagers bad yet.
For all the OMG we suck type comments I have read here and elsewhere: take a deep breath! Parity is here this year. Just ask Texas, aTm, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa State. Clemson, and there are more. With one of the toughest schedules of all teams we are 8 points away from being undefeated. (Okay, we may also be 8 points away from being 4-4). But prior to start of the season I think many of us thought we might be 10-2 or worse. The toughest game we have left is next week at Ole Miss. Hunker down.
Exactly right.
As long as #15 stays 2/3 interception per game, UGA football has a chance, throw lost fumbles and backassward penalties into the mix, game gets a little tighter…there exists no defending #15 nor UGA football “OC”, dropped passed change a fragmented mind set, plus the offensive scheme/play calling, have seen enough open field dropped opportunities this season in 1st down yardage that would have made confidence spring eternal in the whole team, thusly causing the opposition great pain and keeping Thor on the bench, where he belongs….GO DAWGS!!
NIL, injuries, worrying about the draft, loss of dept to the portal, new position coaches, “rat poison”?? Who knows, but this team just doesn’t seem to hit on all cylinders consistently. They have stretches where they look unbeatable and then they have stretches where they don’t seem to be able to get out of their own way. It happens. Go back and look at the years where Bama didn’t make the final 4. Saban is considered the GOAT, but even they had some down years where they lost a couple. I get as frustrated as the next person, but once I calm down and look at the big picture, I back away from the ledge (just a little). What we consider a down year, a failure, most fan bases would kill to have just once in a while. We have become spoiled (and I like it). As much as I would like to, we (nor anyone else) is going to win every game every year. It sucks, but I can live with a loss every once in a while, (as long as it’s not the Handbags, NERDs, Hillbillies, or War Tiggles).
“They have stretches where they look unbeatable and then they have stretches where they don’t seem to be able to get out of their own way.” Sometimes that’s within the same drive! Lol
You were never concerned? I was mortified. How could we play so poorly on defense after what we did to Texas? I believe we will either have a new defensive coordinator or at least a new co-coordinator next year. There is no reason for the constant Jekyll and Hyde performances on that side of the ball. Before this season started most of us believed Beck to be a genuine Heisman contender. Surely we thought slogging through this same schedule next year with a new starting QB would be particularly daunting. At this point I can’t imagine Gunner will make any more mistakes than Carson. So far we’ve weathered the blizzard of interceptions and bad decisions. Eventually they’re going to come at the wrong time. If Beck thought he could increase his professional value by coming back I’ve got bad news for him. He’s likely cost himself tens of millions of dollars despite the fact Georgia continues to win. I understand it seems ridiculous to complain about a playoff likely team with only one loss. But they’re stressing my heart and brain in ways not even Richt era teams did. Its making me crazy. And we still have games to play that we can easily lose.
My “angst” in the title was referring to what I saw on message boards, including ours here at the blog. Maybe I’m crazy, but I just don’t fear a loss to the Gators anymore. They’re an average at best team, and we would have to collapse to lose to them. We merely played down to their level for periods of time. I don’t feel like the Richt days at all. Maybe it’s the 2 natties that buoy my resolve. I can think of 10+ Richt era games that drive me crazier than even one Kirby game (other than Nicholls and Vandy in 2016). But I agree with you re Beck. He’s got to be better or else this team won’t win it all.
One more thing: according to Seth Emerson, even with the INTs, Beck is ahead of schedule for total passing yards compared with last year. As CKS noted after the game, yes, Beck threw some bad passes, but he also managed drives to seal the deal in the second half. Maybe I’m just too optimistic, but I think Kirby knows more than y’all.
I have no doubt about that. Kirby has forgotten more than I’ve ever known. But this a blog. It’s where we come to vent our frustrations and say stupid things in public.
Duh, of course Kirby knows more about football than all of us combined. That said, passing yards don’t win natties. Protecting the football and playing well in clutch moments do.
What bugs me most about Beck’s interceptions is they were all different. On one he just didn’t see the defender. On the one hand that’s a little better than the other two but why didn’t he see him? On one he just threw a ball where there were too many defenders. And on another a rusher was getting his hands on him and instead of just taking a sack he decided to heave one and hope for the best. The not seeing the guy is annoying but it’s understandable that it can happen. But the other two are mistakes he absolutely knows better than to make and he’s doing it anyway. So he’s either trying too hard and needs to be willing to take what’s there and not take risks with the football or he’s Coxian. If it’s that first thing that can be managed. If it’s that second thing, that’s deeper and is probably just who he is.
The receivers are frustrating. Arian is who he is. A track guy who is fast but is never going to be a consistently reliable receiver. Lovett is good but seems to have a lot of brain farts as far as running the wrong route and has odd moments of “just couldn’t hold on”. Bell is hard to figure. I don’t know if he’s hurt or what.
We have who we have. I’m not giving up on the season by any means but as far as the offense goes this has potential for a “what could have been” type season. But maybe they’ll figure it out. With apologies to those who don’t seem to agree with this, we ain’t gonna beat people with Beck throwing deep.
And last, college football officiating just sucks. It’s terrible. The way they tried to throw a flag for targeting on a play that clearly wasn’t targeting was just the worst thing they did. There was plenty more that was bad. But I just expect it now. College football almost seems to be winking and saying, “Hey it’s just part of the experience. We have shitty officiating. It’s part of college football.”
There are insane amounts of money in college football. We need professional officiating. No one who watches the game can deny it. And the NCAA, conferences and schools can’t argue the money to pay professional referees doesn’t exist. Yes it does. Get it done.
Yeah there’s plenty of money. There’s no desire. The decision makers seem to want it the way it is and think shitty officiating is part of why “there’s just nothing like college football.”
I know it was a different day and time, but I thought this copy & paste bit from another site was interesting (I didn’t check the stats, but this guy is normally reliable):
“Zeke Bratkowski was a two-time All-SEC selection and two-time SEC passing champion throwing for 1,824 yards in ’52 and 1,461 yards in ’53. He set numerous UGA passing records and finished his career with 4,836 career passing yards. Following his senior season, Bratkowski threw touchdown passes of 50 and 60 yards in the Senior Bowl all-star game before embarking on a 14-year NFL career with the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, and Green Bay Packers. In his 14 NFL seasons, he completed 762 of 1,488 passes for 10,345 yards and 65 touchdowns.
1951 Georgia SEC QB 6 TD’s 29 Interceptions.
1952 Georgia SEC QB 12 TD’s 16 Interceptions.
1953 Georgia SEC QB 6 TD’s 23 interceptions.
Career 24 TD’s 68 Interceptions.”
Great summary. This is a really good team but one that has a wide variance week to week.
I had shades on South Carolina in 2019 in the 2d quarter after the 2d pick. While I don’t think Florida is a good team , they were very game yesterday and were far more “up” for the game than we were.
Despite that we got our 4th win in a row against them something that only barely has happened in my lifetime.
I wish Russ were here to enjoy it. FTMFs!!
How does GA play one-half of a game like a well-oiled machine and the other half like a bad high school team?
Not necessarily the FL. game, but other games this year. The talent seems to be there, but the concentration gets lost sometimes. I know this drives the coaching staff crazy.
When this team puts it all together (Tx. a great example) no one can beat them; the minutes of lost concentration will end up costing these team greatly. Old Miss
is not a team you want to play catch up with. Old Miss. might not be a great team, but they can score in bunches. Our O better play a 60-minute game. I am not as worries about the D. They seem to come to work every day. This can be a great GA. team if..if..if.
Aaron Murray did a YouTube video about Carson with great insight.