Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Taking Offense

Posted on by

Question of the day: is the most improved (or at least most rapidly improving) unit the offensive line?

And this, from Saturday:

Quietly, somewhat, the offensive line has started to come together and is becoming a dirty, road-grading group. The death march that was our final drive of Saturday was a thing of beauty…felt like old times.

The upgrades at receiver and a deeper running back room…and an effective, competitive quarterback…is the offense silently becoming the strength for a program that has been known for their brand of defensive toughness?

Discuss.

59 thoughts on “Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Taking Offense”

  1. I would say that when you consider there is a new starting quarterback and an offensive line that has been a MASH unit in addition to having some inexperience, the screams about Bobo sound dumber and dumber. There’s nothing wrong with preferring Todd Monken. But to look at what he’s done with what he has had to work around, and that doesn’t even take the defense that waits until after halftime to start playing into consideration, acting like Bobo doesn’t know what he’s doing is just foolishness.

    • The guy that hired Bobo and keeps him around just set the modern college football wins record for the 1st ten seasons of his career at 110.

      And its early October.

      That guy can’t be trusted to hire/maintain a staff and is verging on becoming dabo.

      What’s amazing is that they:

      1) are serious and
      2) accuse you of being arrogant when you point out the degree of their gross stupidity.

      What could be more arrogant than telling the world that you know more football than CKS?

      • Blows my mind, man. The idea that Kirby cares about having his friends on staff more than he cares about winning is so mind boggling I can’t understand how anybody can get there. All that Kirby has done and as hard as he has worked to get Georgia to national championship level and he’s just going to throw all that away because he wants his friends around and cares about that more than results? Totally irrational.

        • No one but Kirby has been there for all 110. That’s why its Kirby’s record and no one else’s.

          • Feel free to list all of Bobos accomplishments then since that who you are defending.

  2. No. They scored 20 points against Auburn. The offense is vanilla and predictable at best. Just because our defense had been playing inconsistently this season doesn’t give the offense a free pass. With a competent OC, we should be able to score 28 points, at home, with a bye week to prepare, against anyone. Period.

  3. Here comes Bobo’s mother, Mike Cooley, to his rescue again. This guy has been peddling the same narrative since 2023. It’s everything else’s fault except for Mike Bobo. It’s getting tiresome. The point that Ms. Bobo/Cooley can’t dispute is that there are better OCs out there than Mike Bobo that could be on our sideline instead, but aren’t.

      • Then tell this sunshine pumper to stop pumping sunshine about Bobo. We can all agree that Bobo is not an elite OC, except for that guy. He’s trolling at this point, and the moderators do nothing about it.

        • There are detractors and there are pumpers, people are in both camps here. I don’t care which side anyone is on, but I do believe we can disagree in a civil manner without getting personal. Disagreeing is an inherent part of sports discourse, but we can do it without getting personally insulting in the responses.

        • The fact that you think it’s impossible for somebody to not share your opinion and that it must be trolling says more than you intended to say.

  4. Most of the problems I see with the OL are mental, not blocking the right defender. Freeling had at least 2 misses where he physically could not get to the defender Saturday. He played well for having a bad wheel. Against UK Hughley got manhandled by 92 several times. He looks like a Richt era Searrels recruit, basketball player trying to play football.

  5. File this under “two things can be true at the same time”. Is Bobo perfect? No, of course not. Is he as bad as a lot of the fanbase thinks he is? Also no. I think we’re seeing some improvement from Stockton as the season goes on which is leading to better execution, but I don’t know if the playcalling has changed much.

    Through the first 6 games of this season, I’ve had fare more complaints about the defense. It’s reminding me of the Willie Martinez days, when opposing QBs would have Heisman-level performances against our D while looking average against their other competition.

    I think the o-line is doing well considering the injuries and the ever-changing lineup, but they had some ugly plays during the Auburn game too.

  6. At this point in the season, the offense is WAY ahead of our defense. It also seems that we are having to use our tight ends to help with blocking which is taking away from our receiving.

    • I liked your post, but I don’t totally agree with it. I think we think the defense is behind because the recruiting stars and the “standard.” Are they playing to their talent level and to the Georgia standard? An emphatic no especially in the 1st half. The stats don’t necessarily bear that out.

      The offense is finding their sea legs, but they are also finding ways to shoot themselves in the foot, too.

      Just my $.02. This is an extremely young but talented team.

  8. When I was working, I was correctly accused of picking the flyshit out of the pepper.
    Before Kirby, we would have lost the Auburn game.
    Go Dawgs

    • And the Tennessee game too.

      From my seat the defense has played worse. Then due to talent and coaching decides to play seriously in the second half. There’s more long term upside here.

      Given the constant flux of players across the O line Bobo has done a good job. The offense has been more dependable. There is an awful lot of fight in these Dawgs. That every goal is still there for the taking right now is good enough at the half way mark.

  9. Bobo has certainly dialed up several great 2nd halves of football. The 4th down call to Nate Frazier on Saturday was a thinking beauty! The O-line is a mess due to injuries, but they continue to show improvement. That being said, there are still too many moments when they simply miss their assignment. Is the offense better today than game 1? Yes they are. Is Gunner still struggling to see the field and fleeing the pocket too early? Yes he is. This offense is better, but not great.

    The first half issues from the offense and defense are a complete head scratcher. At this point I have to blame the coaches for poor game planning. On the flip side, the adjustments at half time are pretty incredible. The bipolar nature of this team is why I did not include them in my poll the last two weeks. Can this team go 10-2? Sure. Is 9-3 or even 8-4 a possibility? You bet your fat fanny it is.

  10. I can’t grade the OLine until we start the same dudes two games in a row, smh

    • A new OL every week wouldn’t slow down the plethora of available and elite OCs out there to be named at some point, maybe.

  11. I am not a Bobo Hater overall, but I do think he runs the screen pass to Branch, Cash, and Bell too often. It is the new TB draw play on 3rd down.

    I was very pleased to see the TEs being targeted more over the last two games. Unfortunately, Gunner’s accuracy left something to be desired Saturday night so several completions to that group were missed. Hell, Gunner almost missed Frazier with the pitch on the option play.

    That play, the design of Gunner’s TD run to seal it and the reverse pass were things of beauty. Come on Dillon! Gotta make a better pass there!

    • According to Radi Nabulsi we are running the screen 1% more than we ran it under Todd Monken. People have latched onto that as a source of aggravation for some reason though.

      • Because like the mythical draw on 3rd and long, the WR screen is a play that is easily recognizable to even the most casual fans and thus is easy to focus on, whether rightly or wrongly….

      • You can run it when it’s effective and you can run it when the other team has clearly prepped for it during their off week and knocking you backwards. And then there is faking it and taking an open shot over the safety who is cheating in. I know what Monken does.

        • Seemed like the screens worked pretty well Saturday night regardless of whether or not we like them.

      • I don’t watch a lot of football besides the Dawgs and Miami, but it looks like every other team runs WR screens too. Some of our opponents have even used them against us, with varying degrees of success.

        I think some people question the timing of the screen calls, like running one on 2nd & 17 in the 1st quarter against Auburn. Although there I could argue that you’re just trying to get to 3rd & manageable, but instead it went nowhere and we were looking at 3rd & 17.

        I also wonder if opposing defense are “tricking” us into checking into screens sometimes.

        It could also be a tendency thing. Like if everyone knows you run WR screens on 3rd & medium, that makes it easier to defend. I think we used that to our advantage once in the Tennessee game on a pass to Humphreys where it looked like he was setting up to block for a screen. And Branch scored on a 3rd & 7 WR screen from 40+ yards out in that game.

        In other words, “60% of the time, it works every time.”

          • ^^^MdDawg’s last sentence and the following response from Anonymous deserve Internet Hall of Fame nomination! Mike “Sex Panther” Bobo is going to stick for a very long time. Mr. anonymous , please indentify yourself in order to receive the credit you deserve!

        • Terrence Edwards went on the record saying that 2nd and 17 is a running down, so a screen pass in that scenario as an extension of the run game makes sense. I don’t know. I’m no professional here.

      • I am not a Bobo hater, but I am losing confidence in his play calling/game planning. Your comment reinforces a big negative point, Mike. We are running the same offense, same plays that we have for 5 years.

        I don’t have the bandwidth to break this down but my eye test also says it is about when we run the tunnel screen. You can guess the call before the play. I don’t remember being able to do that with Monken. During Bobo’s first stint with CMR you couldn’t do that like you can now.

        I honestly think Bobo isn’t as creative or agressive as he was when he first took over from CMR as the OC. We don’t see new wrinkles or more importantly specific plays to attack the other teams specific weaknesses on a game to game basis. Monken was great at it. Bobo was at one time. Hell, SOS was famous for it.

        We don’t seem to scheme guys open or really fool the defense like we should. Other teams do it to us and our common opponents.

        Ask yourself how many times in the past 3 seasons -but especially this year – have you said, “Wow, nice play design.” or “Great call.” I am not saying it doesn’t happen at all. Just not enough and less frequently each season.

    • I’m not saying we shouldn’t run the play. I just feel like we run it a little too often. Like others have said it seems to be a staple 3rd down play. I think we use it too often on 3rd and longer than 5 yards. Yes, it has worked for some big first down gains and Branch ‘s TD, but it has also come up short or been stuffed badly it seems just as often. I like the chances of success with it much more when Branch is the target. That cat is different. Colby is also good at it with his physical running and ability to break tackles or carry defenders with him.

      I know a play doesn’t work every time, but it feels to me Bobo goes to it a little too much on 3rd down and 6 or more. I could be wrong since I don’t have stats on that.

  12. We’re just a young team on both sides of the ball. I do think the offense is ahead of the defense, which is what I expected at the start of the season. Injuries on the OL have hindered the offense.

    On the defensive side, I think the young players are over-thinking things to start. Who knows?

    If we can continue to eke out wins, I like our chances at the end of the season. Next season (assuming no mass transfers), this team will be hell on wheels.

  13. I do think the OL is improving, and yes, when you’re starting true freshmen and redshirt freshmen, I can’t understand why some people on here think their going to play like Seniors. I don’t think the young OL guys are as athletic as we’re used to seeing but that also will come with maturity and body transformation.

  14. OL is decimated with injuries and full of inexperience. We still don’t have a set starting 5 in position. After 6 games and the weeks of practice that goes with it of course there is improvement. Bobo’s opening script is falling apart because of inadequate execution. Seems a lineman goes hobbling off every first Q. Once the OL personnel is set and CMB brings in the TEs to help things get rolling which coincides with the run game going and Gunner moving better. So maybe Bobo is just too stubborn early to recognize his OL is not gelling but really, how do you go into your game plan with that expectation? You’ve practiced all week and things were working. Throw in the D putting the offense behind the 8 ball…early scores, poor field position, no take aways…I’d argue the offense is getting as much as they can out of the situation. My goodness do we have talent in the skill positions! But your OL has to hit their assignments and your QB has to have time to execute. Just not happening early but both sides of the ball finally come together and get to cooking.

    I can’t explain the D. “Auburn ran new plays” is pure BS. For them maybe, but those were the same plays Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee ran that worked. Mostly a mobile QB throwing quick hitches and crossing patterns with occasional deep shots. No clue what’s missing but watch replays closely and you’ll see the D front not pushing hard at times and whoever is able to break free is unable to reach the QB. Our DBs are really left on islands. Talent? Execution? Scheme? No clue. I’m guessing a little of all three. And then we see them not allowing 24 points except for the UT shootout and wonder what the complaining is about.

    • “Bobo’s opening script is falling apart because of inadequate execution.” THIS!

      I got an impassioned set of texts from a non HoneyBoBo hater, explaining the lack of execution means we’re seeing a poor coaching during practices and game planning.

      To steal from Coach McKay: “Regarding our team’s execution (on opening drives), I’m for it…”

      • I believe the offense reeled off two quick first downs on the opening drive before Stockton got sacked. That squashed that drive. The following 3 and outs were problematic. But the second half was a thing of beauty. The 8:30 death march to put the game away was a thing of beauty. And Gunner’s run to the pylon was the cherry on top. (Disagree with Kirby on sliding there.)

        • “Disagree with Kirby on sliding there.”

          When you see Gunnar repeatedly say he needs to “let er rip,” that Beck comment about having more fun, and Lil Stet’s refusal to be a company man – it appears Kirby’s risk averse nature may really impact our QBs. Not in the QB room, but dang it seemed like the Super Dive was the most fun Gunnar’s had this season and then he gets aired out over it. Classic way of the world, lol. Thankfully, it seems our guys have thick skin.

          • Sliding is dumb – odds the Auburn defender that was closing on him tries to take a cheap shot and come over the top of Gunner??? High to near certainty? Going up by two scores is definitely better than being up by just one where something fluky could cost you the game (instead there have to be two flukes!)….

  15. Our defensive scoring is ranked 26th, and the offense is ranked 56. Yeah, we definitely need to tighten up on Defense, the Offense is fine.

  16. I’m just thrilled we’ve stopped running sprint draws on second and long. Self-scouting ftw!

Comments are closed.