Best Of

Ha, I didn't realize "u g l y h e a d" was offensive, my bad. 🙃

The consistently questionable grading of the receivers is perplexing to me. You know why Sacovie was the only other receiver to catch a pass? It is because he is the only other receiver to have one THROWN TO HIM.

It is the same way most every game. You have an incredible weapon in Bell and sure hands in Humphreys yet you avoid them like the plague. You don’t pass across the middle and opt for a sideline screen or a bomb. Terrible, terrible play calling. 

Yet, even with the lack of ability to rein in the backyard quarterback, if Frazier doesn’t get hurt (which looked deliberate, to me), we win that game at the end.

You have to love everything about Gunner as a person, tough player, and leader: they don’t come much better than him. The article nicely points out the challenges he presents as a QB and that is definitely limiting. You can’t blame receivers or the O line for these as there is often a receiver open when he makes decisions. The problem of not using an incredibly talented TE room centers on Stocktons inability to throw across the middle. With Georgia’s room of TEs and speedy slot receivers, the middle is a huge advantage that Georgia doesn’t take advantage of because he can’t make those throws. This results in having to roll him out or make quick short throws. That alone, basically takes away at least half of the offensive playbook.

The coaches got stuck in a Mano v Mano battle with ole Miss and couldn’t or wouldn’t admit a different approach or scheme was needed. The game was there for the taking but those 5 possessions that did nothing gave ole Miss a wide open door and left the defense exposed. Not only does Stockton need to get better and evolve, but the coaches and schemes also must improve. It’s not fair to expect so much fire, passion, and energy from the team and watch them improve and offer up coaching like we saw in that game.

Great foundation for continued success and it will take work from everyone to make it back to the top. Thanks for an awesome season and always, Go DAWGS!

Congradulations, I wish each of you a successful coaching career.

Great article Connor. I've been saying much of the same kind of thing for weeks now. As resilient, tough, gritty, and talented Gunner is, he needs to become a better passer, reader of defense, and overall player. Most of Gunner's completions come from screen passes and short dunks. He definitely needs a better suite of receivers around him. And we've got one of the best TE groups in the country, but the last 2 seasons, our TEs have been almost exclusively used for blocking rather than catching passes. Other the the first play of this Ole Miss loss, and during the first Ole Miss win, our TE threat has been almost nonexistent.

The SEC had the weakest field of teams in years. Oklahoma couldn't beat Bama but played them pretty competitively. Indiana destroyed Bama like they were a scrimmage team. The Dawgs schedule this season was easier than last season, so one certainly would hope we would do better. But we struggled in too many games.

Georgia went in with a plan to physically dominate the Rebels. It didn't materialize. When Dawgs had 1st and goal down three, I thought they had Ole Miss checkmated. The following sequence typified the game for Georgia; missed assignments, yet another TFL and unable to move Ole Miss front. For stretches it looked like Ole Miss knew what was coming. Stockton never looked comfortable the entire night. And poor coaching decisions cost us points. Chambliss was clearly the more effective passer and his play made a difference.

Just like last season, every game this season you never knew which Georgia team would show up. Dawgs played some great games, but overall we've lost our dominant edge. We're running in circles and not really moving forward. Sure, blame injuries or whatever on this final loss. But, believe me, for Kirby to not make it past the 1st game of the playoffs for a 2nd year in a row is killing him. And it should. We're not finishing the drill. We're playing too much school yard football to survive and win games.

Something has to change moving forward. We need a better offensive game plan and ultimately that means a better QB and a more effective passing attack to compliment our strong running game. It's not my job to find a new QB or better receivers. That's on Kirby. Maybe it's just Stockton growing and playing more. I don't know. But this team is stuck in neutral.