First real test of the season…passed.
Georgia finally played a team with enough talent to potentially make things interesting. And our Dawgs responded emphatically with a 41-13 drubbing of the best team of the 1950’s decade, moving to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.
Was it perfect?
Hardly.
We gave up 296 total yards. Oklahoma had more first downs than we did. They possessed the ball for more than 35 minutes. Gunner threw an interception. The third quarter made me dry heave a little bit.
And we still won by 28 points.
Why?
Because we’ve got some dudes on defense.
Still not booking the flight and hotel to the CFP Championship game yet.
But this past weekend didn’t do anything to dissuade me either.
Apologies for the super late posting this week and completely whiffing last week…life’s been crazy the past couple of weeks, which is another way of saying I suck.
On to the grades…
Quarterback: Not Perfect, But Good Enough
OK, this was definitely Gunner’s most ordinary game of the season.
14-25 for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception isn’t going to shoot you up any Heisman boards, and I wouldn’t say Gunner brought his “A” game.
Couple of throws I didn’t love. Held the ball a little long a time or two. The interception wasn’t great, even if the ball wasn’t tipped. Didn’t love some of the decisions in the third quarter, but not sure Gunner was at fault when he and receivers were clearly not on the same page.
That said, he made a few big plays that weren’t of the ordinary variety.
That 35-yard touchdown to Talyn Taylor was a beauty. The 30-yarder to Taylor on our initial touchdown drive really loosened up the offense. The final big pass to Taylor (damn, Taylor had a game!) was beautifully placed, even if the catch was the more impressive feat.
The 4th down throw to Barbour on the initial touchdown drive was also pretty clutch and he had to squeeze that ball in between a couple of defenders.
Room for improvement, but came through in the most important situations.
Grade: B-
Running Back: Been Waiting To Do This For A While
We absolutely need Nate Frazier. He’s our best back and was playing his best ball to start the season. Nothing but love for Nate and we need him at his best when we get to the brutal mid-season stretch.
But it was nice to see what this group can do without him.
Bowens YPC isn’t going to set the world on fire, but he ran tough to put a couple of TD’s on the board, and he’s been even more impressive as a receiver out of the backfield in these early season games. Didn’t love the fumble, no more of that sh*t.
Fair warning, my Dwight Phillips crush is getting worse.
Eight carries. 84 yards. 10.5 yards per carry.
He FINALLY got the ball with a lot of space to work with and did what I knew he could do…54 yards to the house. Dude just has a different gear.
I said before the season that I wanted to see more Dwight Phillips. I may have been a little repetitive about it. I will not apologize. The guy is a potential home run every time he touches the ball. I’m totally good with anywhere between 6-10 touches a game.
Let’s not forget, Oklahoma’s defense is very good.
Grade: B
Offensive Line: Very Solid, Maybe Even Good?
This might be the best defensive front we play all year, at least that’s what I heard all week leading up to the game.
I wouldn’t say we dominated them, but they did a more than admirable job. Only 1 sack on the day, created some nice running lanes here and there, Gunner had decent time for the most part and don’t recall any holding penalties.
All of this with our best RB on the shelf. I’ll take it. Still believe this group is better than the 2025 version.
Grade: B
Receivers (WR’s + TE’s): Talyn Taylor Would Like To Have A Word
Remember a few weeks ago when I said of Talyn Taylor:
“Start buying that stock now if you haven’t already.”
That looks to be sage advice. 110 yards and a touchdown, with one of the catches being of the super highlight variety. He’s starting to look like the guy.
Not too much production out of the remainder of receiving group, which is a little frustrating. The lack of effort to get the TE’s involved in the receiving game was beyond puzzling to me, but guess I won’t complain since the scoreboard at the end of the game made me very happy.
Don’t remember any drops, which is always good. A little hard to judge since opportunities were a little more scarce than average.
Grade: B-
Defensive Line: Smiling
I’ll keep it short and sweet, loved it.
Mateer rarely had the luxury of time or comfort to make decisions. This group was winning battles all day long.
Oklahoma’s conventional running game was non-existent. Mateer had a couple of runs that extended drives, but dude is a good athlete and is going to make some plays with his feet from time to time.
Whatever, they were generating pressure and making life pretty damn difficult on the Sooners. Jordan Hall continues to look better every week. Griffin looked excellent and Horton picked up a sack. Stock up.
Grade: A
Linebackers: Chris Cole…That Is All
Chris Cole put together a Lawrence Taylor stat line.
Eight tackles. A sack. Two fumble recoveries. Dude was all over the field…oh yeah, one of the fumble recoveries went for an 85 yard touchdown where he reached over 22 mph…that’s ludicrous speed.
Raylen Wilson was equally impressive with a whole sh*tload of tackles, think he had a forced fumble, a sack and 1.5 TFL’s.
Justin Williams chipped in with another 4 tackles, but very efficient with less reps to work with compared to Cole and Wilson.
Quintavious Johnson had a nice performance with 4 tackles as well…almost overshadowed somehow.
Most impressive position group of the game.
Grade: A+
Defensive Backs: Big Plays, But Not Perfect
KJ Bolden grabbed a pick on a perfectly played ball and also produced a nice run after the interception. But…he was victimized on Oklahoma’s most significant passing play.
Ellis Robinson had a gorgeous PBU and I generally don’t even look his way during the game because he doesn’t get tested too often. I don’t think his injury is too significant according to rumors, and I thought I even saw him come back into the game, but could be wrong on that…hope he’s OK.
I thought that might have been Demello Jones’s best game as a Dawg…coverage was sticky all day and produced a couple of nice tackles as well.
Khalil Barnes had a couple of tackles and a pass breakup.
Dinkins had a great individual effort punching the ball out after a first down reception, and recovering the fumble as well…killing any momentum Oklahoma was trying to build during our 3rd quarter lull.
Some criticism, we looked to be playing a little bit of soft coverage and gave up a few easy pitch and catch plays. Not sure if that is on the players or the coaches as a defensive strategy. I’m torn between B+ and A- on this group…you tell me.
Grade: B+A-
Special Teams: Reliably Boring
Peyton Woodring?
Two field goals. 45 yards. 49 yards (and looked like he caught it a little fat). Perfect on his extra points.
Drew Miller?
Five punts.
Four punts of 50+ yards. Three inside the 20. Two touchbacks (think he’ll get a little more control to keep these out of the endzone).
No major gaffes on returns or kick coverage. That’s a pretty damn good day.
Grade: B+ (only because of the touchbacks…gotta have some incentive)
Offensive Coaching: Not Pissed, Not Thrilled
The good, we scored 41 points against a great defensive team and we did so without our best RB and a valuable WR.
The reality, 7 points were the result of a defensive TD, another 7 on a very short field following a forced turnover, and another 3 following a forced turnover where I don’t think we even moved the ball.
Still, 24 points against that defense is nothing to be embarrassed about. Thought we did some very good things following our first possession and found a nice groove. The 3rd quarter was totally fugly, but the 4th quarter looked more like the first half.
Don’t understand the lack of usage of the TE’s when it comes to targets in the passing game, especially when we have so many options to create mismatches…just don’t get it.
What to do? Feels like a B- but wouldn’t argue if we want to make a solid B.
Grade: B-
Defensive Coaching: Little To Criticize
Oklahoma was going to bring their A+ game with backs against the wall.
Their most impressive drive of the game ended in zero points when Mateer threw the Vaseline ball that Cole ran back hitting Forrest Gump levels of speed.
Beyond that, the run defense was a brick wall. The pass coverage did its job outside of a missed assignment or two.
We forced a couple of turnovers by making legitimate defensive plays and our linebackers ate all game.
Not the greatest offense in the world we were facing, but not our fault…they still dominated.
Grade: A
Athens Atmosphere: A+
Couldn’t have been a much better day to be in Athens. My wife and I even got carded going into a bar to watch some of the early afternoon games…it’s the little things, isn’t it?
The weather was pristine and gotta give the fans some credit for solid execution on the red/white/black striping of the stadium.
When the game got out of hand, definitely some early departures from certain sections, but fan participation for the first half was excellent. They definitely affected the game and made life difficult on Mateer…not to mention a seismic explosion on the Cole fumble return.
Don’t want to knock any gameday atmospheres of other teams, but could any of them really be better than Athens, GA for a big game?
Enjoy the rest of your week and Go Dawgs!
Another excellent write up! I get that OU could/should have scored but for the turnovers and we could/should have scored less. Might have been 24-20 or something similar. But that discounts that our D and offense did outperform a good team. Good defensive plays create turnovers. Good offenses cash in when given a short field. That was a dominant performance. I expect further validation this Saturday.
Couple of things. I don’t understand the howling from so many about the tight ends. I don’t know enough about football to know whether Oklahoma’s defense was doing something to prevent that but it seems barely possible.
Ellis Robinson is fine. He got hit innthe nuts. That’s “all” that happened to him.
Good job as usual, UL.
The interception was on a ball forced to a tight end. Also, I think we used more max protect blocking schemes on Saturday than we have been. We also tried to hit Reddell on a Brock Bowers wheel route special.
All 3 levels of the defense were really good even if we did give up too much to their tight end.
“even if we did give up too much to their tight end”. Opposition tight end was open, more than not, UGA football pressure gave their qb anxious moments, which created timely T.O.’s, when they committed to finding the open zones, mid way into the 3rd qtr., some yardage was gained, clean up, in isle film study, would not be surprised, should anchor down attempt to find the under route to spare their young qb’s ass from meeting that beautifully coiffed Sanford Stadium turf, over n over….GO DAWGS!!
I don’t worry about the lack of Tight End usage. Future opposing coaches have known they were there. But now they know Taylor is a weapon. And I bet Canion and Dandridge will be, too. So now DCs gotta pick a poison. You’re gonna bracket 2 TEs and a receiver? We now have three legit backs to move the chains.
They can doubt Gunner at their own peril, but I sure wouldn’t.
Last thing, someone should send Adult Protective Services to check on Cole, R. Wilson, and J. Williams. I don’t think Kirby is feeding them all week until after game day. Those young men. Are. Angry.
Agree overall with grades. I like us seemingly getting better and better every week. I guess we all have a gripe somewhere, but CKS is the man to make it right. He will use that game to let iron sharpen iron! ( if gators don’t steal that mantra too)! Go Dawgs!!
I agree with you regarding the tight ends. Even if we don’t want to use them until we “need” them, those guys should get reps in real games. Anyone at our level looks good against Western Kentucky. They “need” to play against some genuine competition in my opinion. Plus, if I’m a tight end being recruited by Georgia I’m asking myself when I’ll get to play.
Another great review. Can’t argue with any of your grades. The defense created turnovers which totally changed the game. Without those turnovers it’s a much more competitive game.
The schedule has allowed them lots of practice. To their credit they’ve came out fast every game. No playing with their food. The middle game slumps giving Kirby plenty of ammunition to work with.
Crush vandy this weekend and stay healthy.
Saturday was a case study in schemes and results. Defensively, it was obvious that the gameplan was to keep Mateer in front of them and create pressure on him to make bad throws. Seemed to work most of the time. As such, the linebackers were staying home and containing which freed up Coors Light on much of his tight end success. The receivers were generally getting downfield to create space for Mateer to run, but the defensive did a good job scheming to Oklahoma’s plan. In said plan, the TE is going to be open because of the containment and coverage in the secondary on receivers.
Offensively, yes, it looked like max protect against a team that is notorious for tackles for a loss and sacks, so TEs were sixth and seventh man on the line, and I can’t blame the staff for that plan. Generally seemed to work and we actually could run against a team that is actually really good against the pass and is weaker in stopping the run (probably due to pressure on the quarterback, which yields great pass defense stats but the overpursuit leaves leaks for the run game to do better).
While there were some warts on the game, for sure, but the results are hard to argue with. Some will do it, anyway.
Well said. None of us know what our staff’s (or Oklahoma’s) strategy was. My guess/hope is that (1) on defense, we strategized to contain Mateer and avoid the WRs burning us – something’s gotta give, and that meant the tight end was open some; and (2) on offense, it was more important for us to have the tight ends in to block and, on passing downs, perhaps Oklahoma’s strategy was to lock-down the tight ends, which we countered (well) with good throws to the WRs.
It is virtually impossible to have all A’s across the board against any half-decent competition (although maybe last year’s SEC Championship Game was close!), because what happens in-game is not wholly dependent on what our team does.
It’s why I don’t harp too much on specific Mike Bobo playcalls – the overall result has been very good, and blips can happen for lots of reasons, many which are out of his control….
Is Chris Cole the guy that missed the SECCG and the PO game last year due to turf toe?
nah, that was Gabe Harris.
I hate to be too picky, but I use the 2019 Notre Dame, 2021 Arkansas, and 2022 Tennessee as my measuring stick. This game was good but not great from a crowd noise perspective. We can do better.
That’s more than fair…was definitely not on that kind of sustained level. I’d rephrase and state it was great crowd involvement for a matchup against an unranked team. The Cole touchdown being the apex.
I was just hoping that we would bring it louder if not just out of respect for OU football history. Ranked or not I wanted to make their lives a living hell. I guess Mateer did that all on his own.
On the play that broke open the floodgates, the Mateer fumble that should have been an OU TD…what was KJ Bolden doing on that play? It looked like he had the TE and then he runs back towards the OU WR and almost into his own player (Justin Williams?), leaving the TE wide open. I’ve watched the play several times and I don’t understand why he let the TE go when the QB is rolling the same way.
Yup. OU was about to be back in the game, unfortunately for them, Mateer shit himself publicly.
KJ was trying to play two different men. Human error. He had one guy but whoever was supposed to get the other guy either couldnt get there or just screwed up. As it happens, KJ kind of trying to do both screwed Mateer up and lead to the fumble. Fine by me.