Interesting stat from Saturday’s game.
To say that that figure is simply concerning is an understatement. Allowing Simpson to sit in clean pockets certainly didn’t help, as I can remember too many situations where Simpson could comfortably check down and find wide open options to make for easy conversions. Given that our defensive linemen aren’t named Carter or Davis, some form of adjustment from Schumann et al would suggest bringing more pressure from linebackers could certainly help. Georgia has amassed, to date, five sacks in four games, all of which came from linebackers. No sacks from DLs or DBs is a strange stat to behold.
But all hope isn’t lost, as they say. The defense certainly adjusted in the second half, though one has to wonder how are serving as analysts and what is happening in film study that leads to such a slow start on defense. It’s not as if Alabama didn’t have any film or that they were throwing many nuanced wrinkles at us (seriously, when you see an offensive linemen shift to receiver, what the hell are you expecting to happen?). Whatever is happening, the finger wagging is shifting from offense to defense, which is something I never thought I’d be saying about a Kirby Smart coached squad.
It was obviously brutal on the social yesterday, but one common refrain across many platforms was back on Kirby’s choice of his coaching staff…great recruiters, but not great coaches. We aren’t built to simply outlast and overwhelm with talent as we used to be, so coaching up what we’ve got is becoming a greater priority than just getting talent on campus. But that’s also a part of college football discourse, as much as it ever has been.
So what are our odds to finish out…maybe compete for an SECCG?
Hey, at least it’s not zero. Missing out on the SECCG wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Georgia can make the CFP, but it’s still a goal that is in sight.
So how will Kirby and Co. respond? We get Kentucky this weekend, which could either be a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter or could be another disappointing slog fest of a game where Manball (hey, we are running better, so there’s that) rules the day and a listless and likely sleepy and distracted – it’s Homecoming – noon home crowd won’t do us many favors.
One thing’s for sure…what’s happening on the defensive side of the ball will be under greater scrutiny than on the offensive side of the ball. Will the bitter taste of another loss to Alabama deflate or will we rise to the challenge and respond? The team’s not out…but how down will we collectively be?
Kirby will not be happy with the crowd Saturday. Not sure on how the game goes, I could see a 35 point win or a hungover slogfest.
There is still a lot of football left and plenty of time for improvement. Unfortunately I’ve seen way too many seasons under Bobo and Searels to expect improvement on offense. The SAE bond is too strong for Kirby to cut ties with Bobo.
If the defense doesn’t improve I’m wondering if Kirby pulls the trigger on some coaches, especially the DB coaches.
Its been no secret that a qb who can make plays from the pocket and has multiple options at wr causes Kirby/Saban defenses fits. If they can scramble a bit its even worse.
See Manziel, Watson, Burrow, Young, etc…. vs those coach’s defenses.
The opportunity was there to outscore them. I would have taken that point total before we started. The score on the board is the stat that matters.
You’re supposed to win when you win the los. We didn’t because players failed to make plays.
We lost because the coaching was poor, primarily.
We have the dudes.
They have the effort.
They HAD the fundamentals, until, well, coaching.
How many mistakes do you want in game coaching to overcome?
4 drops a pick when it was 0-0.
Nate fumbles at our 8.
The receiver drops a sure TD.
The coaches put them in those spots and God gave them fucking hands.
If all 85 guys went out there, got butt naked and ran off the field, you’d blame Kirby.
“Man that ol Saban would call some ball plays with folks from the Spike Squad!”
I have said and will continue to say I saw Kirby make the dumbest decision in a big game I have ever seen. And took lots of criticism for it. Don’t care. I’ve gotten on Bobo when he deserves it. I don’t cover for coaches for the sake of covering for coaches. They have let us down and may well again.
The truth is the truth.
While not fucking perfect, the coaches did enough to win. A few players did fucking not.
Kirby forgot more about football doing his necessaries this morning than you will ever know.
Pretending like what we really need are you whiny fuckers making football decisions is laughable. And annoying.
I love it when self-appointed know-it-alls resort to ad hominem attacks. I’ve already won.
I find it amazing you are trying to chalk up 12/19 third downs for Bama and 2/8 for UGA to lack of execution. That’s scheme. That’s playcalling. That’s personnel.
Players make mistakes, it’s part of the game. Games don’t hang in the balance on a mistake. Ryan Williams dropped a TD. Bama missed a field goal worse than you’ll see in a MS girls soccer game. Bama’s LBs repeatedly failed to maintain contain and safeties got sucked down into the box, on the many outside runs UGA had. Bama had a targeting call.
Also don’t both mentioning Robinson’s excellent PBU defending Bernard in the end zone or McCray’s second effort to get us our own TD. Players make mistakes, and players make plays, on both sides.
Bama won the game because they leveraged what their OL does well against what our DL is weak at, and what Simpson is good at vs. what our LBs and secondary are bad at (and additionally what they can’t defend for 5+ seconds each drop-back.)
Bama and UGA both should have predicted Bama couldn’t run on UGA given prior game results and Miller’s injury return status. Only one team came out with an excellent plan, and they came out firing. Scripted TDs on their first two possessions, 3rd down conversions. Schumann’s head was spinning before the 1st quarter was over.
But keep telling me how keeping in or putting in a gadget back on our most important plays was player failure to execute. Keep telling me how running off-tackle to our right, where we haven’t had any success all night and is being protected by a mix of Freshman and guys that on a normal roster-managed team would struggle to see the practice field, was a singular lack of execution that cost us the game.
We should have put you in at RB so we could have blamed the loss on your “lack of execution”
Read elsewhere that we’re getting Chase Linton back from injury. Reports were that he was doing really well in practice before the injury, possesses a relentless motor. If Linton or someone else doesn’t step up, we’re in trouble. The best DB’s in the college game can’t cover for the amount of time the opposing QB has to scan the field and pick us apart. GOTTA come up with much more pressure on the QB or it’s gonna be a loooong and frustrating season…again.
Not anonymous, whit1356.
Not very many qb/wr combos out there who can dissect what we throw at them with our defense.
We won’t see a better qb/wr combo on this schedule.
Maybe in the postseason.
Got it, so A&M’s Heisman-odds receiver, Craver, with Marcel Reed, and Miss State’s conference-leading passing attack are crap.
Who needs to dissect when you can convert with 75% efficiency on quick slants and <10yd zone reads, and keep the chains moving?
And dissect what? Disguised pas rush? There is none. X/Y man assignments? Can’t cover the Z in slot any way.
If you didn’t notice how exotic we were on defense, I don’t know what to tell you. I really don’t.
Its like explaining nuclear fission to a cat.
It was glaringly exotic. Almost like a Grantham defense with the players running back and forth to get into position, only to not be in position to stop the play.
The “should have been pick” was due to exotic as was 0 points in the second half.
The front played a lot better than the back end. Missed tackles without proper leverage is inexcusable.
Cite me the plays. Then tell me how this amazing scheming made a spit of difference to disrupting Bama’s offensive rhythm and execution.
Extra points if you can point out anything crime the first half!
The coaches drew up a play where 4 dropped a pick.
You must have missed that “disruption.”
I missed the part where it was “exotic”. Maybe it was just another bullshit comment by you trying to be right by acting like a know-it-all, when in reality you’re just bluster
Me bluster?
You’re the 10 million dollar a year hc. I’m just trying to learn at the feet of the master.
If this weekend is a problem for us we are doomed. When you have a freshman tackle starting when Greene is out you are in big depth issue trouble. I miss the Pitt Boss damn it.
To their credit extended long drives ending in TD’s are very difficult usually. I’d rather force that than an easy explosives like we gave UT. Under KD on the road they’ve played sloppy undisciplined football. Saturday they were almost mistake free. Georgia made the mistakes.
Kirby’s and Saban’s weaknesses have always been mobile QB’s. This team like all great Kirby defenses needs a game wrecker up front. Right now just disrupting a pass play is proving difficult. There is no one on defense that incites fear or requires special planning to account for. What we’re seeing is what there is to work with.
The offense has the greatest capability of making big improvements as the season progresses.
I don’t believe Bobo called a bad game. There were receivers running open. Either Gunner just didn’t see them or trust himself. We left plenty of points on the field.
Now whoever thought giving a game on the line carry to Cash Jones should at minimum still be running stadium steps. That was just dumb or stupid. I don’t care if the block was made Jones was the worst option for that play.
Not taking the tie at home well if it worked and we won by four Kirby’s a genius. It didn’t and we lost. He gets paid to make those calls they don’t all work out and never will. It sucks now learn move on and beat U.K.
I’m in the Mizzou crowd now……..Show Me. The crowd will be sedentary and anxiously waiting to have a fit if we start slow yet again. It’s time for our coaching staff to Get after their OWN ASSES
It’s surreal to see a Kirby/Schumann defense struggle early and often. Kirby seems to seek aggression from his offense when it’s the defense lacking in our traditional GATA attitude. Last year we could all see from Section 606 that the team chemistry was off and Carson was the victim of it (but I don’t believe the cause…just not the cure). I don’t know what to make of this squad other than seeing loads of talent, lots of youth and maybe…just maybe…a coaching staff that is forcing some square pegs into round holes?
You probably saw the post (was it here?) showing how we’ve had slow starts (on both sides of the ball) for the vast majority of our P4 games over the past 4 years. That’s something we need to fix. That’s my coach speak for today.
My favorite game of all time was the Oregon game to start the 22 season. That was an absolute clinic on agressive, full tilt paly like Mike Tyson used to fight football as I have ever seen. I know we had a generational team from a talent standpoint. But I just long to see that naked hair on fire aggression in all three phases, Not these slow starts and 15 round prize fight mentality. I don’t want us to be known as resilient. I want us to be feared for our agression.
And the 2020 MS State game, JT Daniels’ debut. We threw the ball like we were 2019 LSU. I thought the corner had been turned forever.
Dammit, Bobo! Giving up all those 3rd downs!
There was plenty of complaining to do about both sides of the ball Saturday night, plus the coaching staff all the way to the top.
If I recall from a few years ago, we would basically go vanilla on D to start the game, see how the offense was attacking and then make our adjustments. We rarely see those well timed blitzes until the 2nd half. Perhaps we need to come out more aggressive with blitzes.
I had high hopes for Hall and Big Baby, but they aren’t getting it done. I’m curious how much Elijah Griffin and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye are playing. They seem to be the 2 most disruptive interior linemen we do have, but we need some of our edge players to step up like Gabe Harris and QJ. Schuman shouldn’t be let off the hook, but I still feel like we have some “dudes” who have shown flashes and should be taking over a bit more.
Kirby is still the man, but we absolutely MUST have new coordinators next season. Bobo and Schumann have proved over multiple seasons they’re not up to the task. Both are good at their jobs. Neither is great and no one would call them elite. That’s unacceptable. Bring in new people. We desperately need an infusion of new ideas and new attitudes. Kirby hired Monken, Faulkner, Lanning and Brown just to name a few. Go find more people like that. Keep your friends on the payroll if you like but hire some top tier coordinators.
And let’s be honest, persistent slow starts, which we’ve been seeing for years now, are a coaching issue plain and simple.
Honestly, nobody should show up.
The charity program he is running for unqualified coaches doesn’t deserve anyone’s time, effort, or money.