So the elites from the North Avenue Trade School are certain that Georgia got some home cooking officiating last night on Dan Jackson’s hit that caused the fumble. Apparently they haven’t watched much Georgia football this year, as we are never the benefactor of officiating calls.
Largely, I think the refs stepped back and let the guys play. But if we are arguing it was one sided, allow me to show you two other plays where targeting wasn’t called.
Seems textbook, yes? Also:
If we really want to play this game, though…Hamilton fumbled in 1998 and wasn’t down, and Jasper Sanks didn’t fucking fumble, either.
I’ll give it to them. Tech should’ve won. We played a typical Georgia game, at least typical for 2024, where we did a damn fine job of beating ourselves. We called a lousy game for 90% of the game, looked largely unprepared, didn’t tackle, didn’t catch, didn’t block, and didn’t execute well on special teams. Brett Thorson looked like the only guy who came to play last night for most of the game.
But that game wasn’t lost by Tech because of officiating. If there is ever a bigger gut laugh that could be had at the Nerds’ expense, it comes because Tech gained over 600 yards of offense, dominated the game up until about five minutes left in the fourth, and lost. They should’ve scored 50 plus points, but didn’t.
That, in a nutshell, is the 2024 Georgia football team. Rancid to a point, elite when they want to be, and 10-2 at season’s end. Most of us saw at least one loss on the schedule, possibly two, and that’s exactly what happened.
And none of those losses came at the hands of a traditional rival. That’s gotta count for something.
We’ve seen three games – Clemson, Texas, and Tennessee – where the defense was on a 2021 level. In two of those games, the offense wasn’t. We’ve seen a few games where the offense was on point when the defense wasn’t. We’ve seen several where neither were playing up to their potential, and last night was one of those nights. Unlike the previous two egregiously bad games where this was the case – Ole Miss and Alabama – Georgia found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Honestly, when a Georgia team goes 10-2, makes the SECG and looks like an in to the CFP, most would call that success. The fact that we can look at 2024 and see it as a regression, a disappointment, means we’ve reached rarified air as Dawg fans. Let’s not forget that the man who got us here is Kirby Smart. I’m sure he’s seeing the same things and issues that need to be addressed, and he’s in it. We’ve got a projected #1 recruiting class and a bunch of freshmen who can step in and play instantly that will address many of our current ailments. The ceiling is getting higher, and the warts will be addressed.
We’ve been beaten up, played the hardest schedule possibly in SEC history, and we’re 10-2. Honestly, as much as many of you may disagree, Kirby deserves some credit as possibly coach of the year. No one else has navigated this schedule and these issues and persevered like the 2024 ‘Dawgs. Weird officiating, stupid decision making from the CFP, and a obviously biased scheduling from the SEC have been the narrative for the year.
Yet here are our Georgia Bulldogs. Battle tested, beaten, and still fighting. Beck has improved over the month even when his surrounding cast has not. We executed some two point conversions when I thought we wouldn’t (would’ve had a few more if people could catch). The tight ends have developed into a combination effort to do what Bowers could do. Dan Jackson has turned into the defensive equivalent of Stetson Bennett. In other words, things didn’t freeze in a vacuum, adjustments and improvements can be noted in season, and that is rarely the case with a football team.
Agree or disagree, at the end of twelve games with this schedule, Georgia is 10-2, and the team and staff deserve credit for that. Shoulda coulda woulda isn’t necessary here.
These ‘Dawgs are hell. Hell to watch, hell to coach, and hell to play against. But they’ve accomplished a hell of a lot, and they never quit chopping.
And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
How ‘bout those fuckin’ ‘Dawgs.
The crew did not call a lot of penalties against Tech so so for them cry about the officiating sucks.
True. Not only did they not call many penalties against Tech, they had several opportunities to make legitimate calls and didn’t.
I disagree that Tech “should’ve won.” Tech could have won. Credit to it; it prepare all year for our game, coached it very well and it’s QB played great and had the heart of a lion.
But WE overcame that without Tech giving us anything.
Celebrate winning. Today’s Georgia fans would have spent the entire 1980 season pointing out the team’s faults (and there were plenty) rather than enjoying all those narrow wins.
This is a good way to say it. Tech could have easily won and played a helluva game. But the Dawgs dug deep and overcame everything to eke out the win. That’s what counts in the end.
Disagree with the 80 fans comparison. Huge difference in watching undersized, overachieving, fundamentally sound players winning on emotion & heart vs a group of extremely talented players who appear to be unable to tackle, catch and hold the edge against teams that don’t have their talent level. The one thing this team does have is heart in abundance and an absolute refusal to quit. If this team somehow wins a title, they will become a fan favorite for overcoming all their shortcomings.
Also agree fans are much more critical of teams & players now.
Fuck tech.
GT’s QB is a grown man. They (GT) played a great game and UGA played like they have played all year, which is nothing to brag about most of the time. But the good guys won and that is a;ll that counts.
Whatever, Techies. Jasper Sanks was down, Joe Hamilton wasn’t, and, oh yeah, GO DAWGS!
As always, the officials weren’t perfect – calling a few ticky tack penalties and missing some other obvious ones on both teams – that but that fumble was most certainly a fumble. King was still moving and the hit was clean. Like I don’t understand the decision to go for two after our first TD, I don’t understand how anyone could question that particular call.
This year’s Dawgs are rarely fun to watch but they’re as persistent as rats, roaches and Chevy Chevettes. It may not be pretty along the way, but they’re still puttering along at the end.
Okay, the secret sauce to our success – or lack thereof – is due to me. Work with me here. In the Alabama game I watched during the first half, got disgusted and turned away. But I kept checking ESPN to monitor the score and when we took the lead I thought I needed to see the end and rejoice. You know the rest, and I am sorry, that one is on me. I felt superstitious so I watched Ole Miss thinking I wasn’t a jinx, and well, that one is on me, too. So last night I thought the Dawgs didn’t need my superstitious powers to beat the Nerds, and watched live right up until about 6 minutes left in the game. You know the rest. You’re welcome It’s not a superstition if it works! I am banning myself from live viewing a game for the rest of this season at least.
Same, but pc chair or recliner.
Please use your DVR and go out on the next few Saturdays 🤣
From the skycast I was seeing at least two callable holds on tech’s O-line on nearly every play. I couldn’t tell if the Refs were calling it fairly because Georgia’s offense didn’t stay on the got-dam field long enough to get called for holding.
He’s right guys. All them orange teams went down. Bonus ones with Clemson and Texas. We don’t have to love it, and that’s ok. But my hats off to Coach Smart, I know he doesn’t like it either.
JP, I get the thing about the schedule. I had us at 11-1 (at Texas) before the season. The defensive performance and the offense’s 2nd half vs. Clemson raised my expectations.
I’m sorry, but that game last night was a stinker. The only positive is that we never went in the tank and won. Haynes King is not the 2nd coming of the GPOOE. There are very few players on their roster who would even see the field if they even had a Georgia offer.
Agreed whole heartedly. We’ve played poorly by Georgia standards but somehow we are 10-2. There were times after Alabama and Miss State I wondered if we were really going 7-5.
We need Muschamp back in the worst way.
Glad to see I’m not the only one thinking losing Coach Muschamp has changed the defense. Losing coach Fran also hurt the defense. Coaching loses on offense also hurt development. NIL has taken away a lot of the depth along with coaching changes has hurting player development. Somehow 10-2 and in full control of our destiny going into the SEC championship game.
I may be in the minority here with this. I think Kirby has done one of his greatest coaching jobs ever holding this team together. There’s been so many opportunities to lay down or feel sorry for themselves. Kirby pushed every player in the most effective manor. Kirby is far from perfect he still makes mistakes. One thing I’m sure of is there no other coach in the land I’d rather have than Kirby Smart.
I agree 100%. Boom being only an analyst and I am sure guiding his son at Vandy has hurt us. They say Schumann is one of the candidates for UNC head coach so our D has and is in a state of flux. I know Kirby is always on things so hopefully he has a plan. I also think Coley does great recruiting but receivers have. It flourished under him.
I thought splitting Texas/Bama and OM/Tenn. was about as good as we could expect. I didn’t think it would be this ummm interesting, but you could see that potential from the schedule and the fact that we’re everyone’s super bowl now. (Surviving 2025 with that Home winning streak intact will take some doing won’t it?)
If we could get some consistency on offense, we could do something but they are just so reliant on Beck that things are either rolling or on stop.
Crazy thing is: who are we underdogs against on a neutral field? We’re in the tourney and we’ve got a shot. There are no “great teams” out there.
Beck was on last night. The receivers, not so much.
The WR room this entire season has been plagued with dropped passes. At one point leading CFB in drops. The inability to run routes consistently has also been terribly frustrating. I’d bet many of Beck’s picks have been the result of not running the routes Beck is expecting. Is that on James Coley I don’t know. I know Kirby won’t accept these results going forward.
He was not on until the 4th qtr, prior to that he was missing swing passes bad enough that if a short stop made the throw in baseball it would have been counted as an error.
Quick fixes: 1) Send Smith deep on a post but never throw to him…EVER! Just loop Delp underneath in the space that gets cleared out. 2) Blitz Dan Jackson every down. He’s lethal that way, is lost in coverage otherwise.
IDK if this is Kirby”s best or worst job coaching. Jury is out but we’ll never know what has been really going on behind the practice field fences. 10-2 (predicted Bama and OM actually) is about right.
As for the first, i thought they had a couple of weak PI calls, one on Tech and one on us (that could’ve given Tech the win). So that worked out.
Targeting is just like holding in that it can be called nearly every play. The refs kept their flags in their pockets most of the night and did a decent job.
I gave up. You did, too!
That was just a classic case of getting out coached…badly…but winning on pure talent regardless. In the 1st half our defense didn’t have a clue what was going on and our offense was so predictable GT could have stopped them with 10 men. No Bueno. Reminded me of Richt barely scrapping by GSU in 2015.
There was a missed PI call on GT which was mientioned in the gameday topic. Missed holds on GT and likely UGA if they could move the ball.
Refs have been bad all years acorss every conference but in this case I don’t think they were biased just terrible. Further I wasn’t screaming about bad calls during the game.
20 years ago, David Greene beat GT and the refs.
The first tackle shown with the fumble was text book, hat on the ball.
He
I’m watching ut and Vandy which isn’t going Vanderbilt’s way, unfortunately. But…after the fucking brawl we got into with some unexpectedly tough Nerds last night? Tennessee’s cowardly theatrics make me want to puke. #FTMF
I thought the game was called well watching it live. I saw things that could have been called both ways, but I would rather let them play than selectively call this or that. That’s when it gets bad. If you call holding on only one team, or if you only allow one defense to play physically against WRs but call it tight on the other. I thought it was even. I was surprised to see the outrage about it on the socials.
How is there not one comment about career championship killer Mike Bobo?
We will never win a title with him as OC.
The sooner Kirby accept this and gets an elite OC the better.
The next CFP rankings will be interesting. Down goes tOSU to an unranked team. Down goes Miami. I wish ND could’ve lost, but when playing USC that’s a lot to ask.
I bitched and moaned about last nights game with the best of them. I feel certain however that Maimi, anOSU, and Clemson would love to have an ugly win like we had last night.
Absolutely. The way college football is going I’d say we’ve had a decent year. And we might be just be getting started. Games like last night can get a team on a hot streak. 🤞🏻
With Arkansas’s loss today to Missouri, does Pittman get fired? If so, how quickly does Kirby move to get him back?
like shit through a goose!
chier à travers l’oie!
I have a hard time saying this team has heart. I will say they are not quitters and I’m a big fan of that. My definition of a team with heart is one that comes ready to play from the beginning. They do show ‘heart’ each time they pull themselves together from an early implosion. They got their asses beat up and down at home by inferior talent while trying to make a championship run. Where was the heart after the opening kickoff? Yes, they pulled it out and I couldn’t be prouder. I love this team like all others but I’m not ready to say they have heart. Yet.
Note to self: Just stop