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What Georgia football still has to play for in the 2020 season
System
Posts: 11,459 admin
What Georgia football still has to play for in the 2020 season
Georgia's championship aspirations are all but toast following a 44-28 defeat to the Florida Gators. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 4-2 and essentially puts them two games behind Florida in the SEC East. The Gators must lose two of their final five games and the Bulldogs must win each of their final four games just
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Connor, we've all heard this song before...almost every season. "We can salvage the season". It's getting REALLY old. We lose to the best teams on our schedule each year and then get torched in the SEC Championship. We've made the playoffs only ONCE in 7 years since its inception. In every one of the 5 seasons that Kirby has been our head coach we have lost at least 2 games (some seasons more). Our ceiling with Kirby has apparently already been reached, and yes you are correct, the Georgia football program is going BACKWARDS.
As Bill King said, we have got some serious "structural deficiencies" on offense, and we are failing to reach our goals every single year.
Let's not sugarcoat the reality of the situation.
You're right, we shouldn't sugarcoat it. But we shouldn't exaggerate it either. We don't get "torched" in Atlanta every year. Smart's teams are 1-2 in those games, with one of the two losses coming by more than a touchdown. There's also no reason to lump in results from the Richt years, and it comes across as needlessly inflating the criticism to include results that never had anything to do with Smart. In the four seasons that Smart's teams haven't reached the playoff, one was his first year as a head coach and another involved a close loss in the SEC title game - sure, a loss is a loss, but they were at least in the mix. There have been two seasons (since his first) in which it couldn't be said that Smart's teams belonged in the conversation about the elites. Those two years have been the past two, and yeah, some serious corrections need to be made. And yeah, it's entirely on Smart to make sure they are. But the fact that things aren't going well right now doesn't mean we need to act like he's never been up to the job.
It's fine to be skeptical. I am too. While there has at least been SOME indication of a willingness to evolve (i.e., hiring Monken), overall there seems to be an undercurrent of stubbornness that is pretty discouraging. I'm just saying let's keep it all in perspective.
UGA going forward ...are we seeking fool's gold or the real thing? Now Milton is on the bench with an injury of some sort. Bennett is essentially out of the next game. He has no power as it is...with a dislocate you tend to favor that area to prevent a repeat. We field Mathis: "Mathis has the physical gifts but it’s clear the speed of the game is a little too much for him. Does he improve with more reps? Potentially." A real confidence booster. SEC too up temp for Mathis? Ok. Beck? A total unknown. Practices with 3rd team. Obviously not ready to start..I guess. JT Daniels.....back here somewhere playing with the "scouts." Kirby is obvious with his dislike of this guy. So...waterboy? Carries a mean bucket of water...sounds good. Strong arm. Get my point? UGA more than halfway through season and has no real QB! I never thought I would see this day. The problems are organic with UGA..not philosophical. Kirby? Prove to me JT is not ready to start a game? Prove it! You have nothing to lose now.
Why was Daniels getting 1st team reps in camp if he wasn't cleared to play? He got cleared for the 3rd game but has been running the scout team since then. WHAT?????
Dawg fans deserve a straight answer why Daniels hasn’t played a snap. We the fans and UGA donors pay his extravagant salary. If he forgets that and results don’t improve fast...Dawgnation will be leaving the Kirby bus in droves and believe me the AD will be forced to respond.He owes us an answer and not keep us guessing. We are not competing for anything the rest of the year, so being close to the vest is not acceptable or reasonable.
E_Roc, I don't think I exaggerated the overall message of Kirby's era thus far. The wins and losses speak for themselves. And I didn't refer or insinuate this has anything to do with Richt's reign. This is all Kirby's era, and we have lost AT LEAST 2 games per season under his watch (including bowl games). He's made a lot of poor decisions - both with players and coaches. I think he has handled this season and the starting QB issue very poorly, and I am losing faith in him as a head coach. He may have hired Monken, but I have yet to see much in the way of results. Smart is 0-3 against Bama. We lost. I don't really care if we lose by a touchdown or 30 points, because we still lost. We lost embarrassingly to LSU last season, and Florida made us look pretty bad yesterday.
Kirby is a great recruiter, defensive coach, and better for our program than Richt. However, our goal every year is to make it to the playoffs and win. We've only kinda done that once in now 5 seasons. And last I checked we still didn't win the Natty in 2017. We lost. Close is only good in horseshoes.
This season is unraveling before our eyes. I don't know if I trust Kirby to make the hard decisions immediately to get us back on track. So I don't think I'm off base. I do think too many fans don't demand more from a multi-million dollar coach and his staff who recruits the cream of the crop every year.
I'll put it succinctly: Georgia always seems to get rated pre-season as a potential playoff contender or ranked higher than we should be. You know why? Because we continue to get the best or one of the best recruiting classes in the nation year after year. And then we usually fall short...But, you can't just recruit the best players and expect the best results unless you have the operation, development, coaching, and formula behind those players to BE the best. We disappoint most years, because we haven't got all the RIGHT pieces of that winning formula.
How many shots did we take downfield, and overthrow the wide open receiver? What happens if we connect with three of those,,21 pts and we in are in the game... Problem is QB, and everyone sees it. The OC is doing exactly what he was hired to do,, but he is not allowed to select the personnel,, specifically the QB that can pull it off. Kirby is only allowed to pick the QB......Kirby should give the OC total and complete control of the offense for the rest of the season, including selection of the remaining healthy personnel, that can get the job done, without struggling to beat second tier teams that remain on our schedule.
What's left? Knowing that we'll likely play Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl. Hoping that our key players will bother to play in that game. Hoping that we'll beat Cincinnati without any inspiration and likely without most of our key players. Hoping that the team doesn't throw in the towel for the balance of the season. Hoping we can continue to recruit at a high level despite the potential for looking bad for the season.
I wasn't disagreeing with your overall point that Smart has to become a more effective leader if it can rightly be said that he deserves the status and the paycheck of being a head coach at a major program like Georgia. I tried to make that clear in the end, but admittedly I probably didn't say enough to that effect. I referenced the Monken hire to acknowledge that while it was a promising indication in and of itself, it isn't enough on its own. (Again, basically agreeing with you)
Anyway, I guess I'm just misunderstanding where you're coming from on all this, but the overarching issue at hand is the quality of Smart's job performance, so I'm still not clear on why you originally went back 7 years to illustrate your point. For that matter, I'm not sure how reasonable it is to hold the first year of his career as a head coach against him in terms of playoff appearances. As I see it, the real assessment of his career begins in 2017. In that four-year span (counting this one), there's been an SEC title and one playoff win, with 2018 being a narrow miss. And for the purposes of this discussion, margin of defeat does matter, as it goes to the accuracy of your assessment that we get "torched" every year in the conference championship game.
I don't mean to be pedantic or belabor all of this. Again, overall I think we are very much in agreement regarding the current state of the program. Yes, it's in worse shape than it should be, and it's mostly due to the failure to field a competent quarterback, which is ultimately Smart's fault. And I share your skepticism that Smart has the capacity for the kind of change that is necessary at this point; I think it's fair.
Where we seem to disagree is in how to assess his full career at Georgia up to this point. 2017 was a borderline great year, and a blown coverage away from being historically great. 2018 wasn't as good, but it was still a year in which Smart had Georgia in the national title conversation up until the end of the SEC game. I have no interest in disputing that he made some mistakes in those years. I'm just saying that the end results were pretty respectable, and I think going back... let's say several years to make an argument about a problem that really emerged a season and a half ago is kind of a stretch.
No Kirby, YOU made this bed.
As to NFL prospects, with the possible exceptions of Richard LeCount, Jordan Davis and (maybe) Monty Rice, I think every one of our starters should return next year. None of these guys (again with those three exceptions) has done anything worthy of being drafted into the NFL. LeCount was on the way but with his injury, I just don't know how much of an affect that will have on him. Same for Davis, but they may view their injuries as signs they should turn pro. But everyone else -- including Stokes and Campbell -- could use another year because what they did this year hasn't cut it.
Listen everyone. There is no way Kirby plays JT or Beck this year. If he does, and they put up 40 points or more against the rest to the teams (albeit, worse defensive teams), the fan base will lose their minds. And prove he was wrong. But if he does start one of them two, everyone will definitely be able to tell if he slows it down, with constant runs i.e. Kentuck game again.
I have a favor to ask of the Journalists. PLEASE get an answer from Smart about Daniels. A REAL answer. Push him hard. I know you guys are trying to be polite, but your job is to get us FANS the answers.
What Smart doesn't understand is that
1) We don't see what he gets to see. We don't have video of JT throwing. We don't hear him in interviews. Maybe he sucks. Maybe he doesn't.
2) The QB isn't like every other position, so Smart, please stop acting like it is. 40 different players have had a tackle and many more have played but haven't. 16 different players have caught a pass. 8 different players have run with the ball. At the core, though is QB and we've only seen 2 players play.
3) This is College Football. You play for the fans. We, as a whole, are your boss. Yes, we want you to win, but we want to see players get a shot to play.
Sure, 2 years ago, Daniels didn't have an amazing year.... as a FRESHMAN, but still pretty impressive. 60% completion rate for 2,672 yards with 14 TDs and 10 INTs.
Don't you realize, Smart, that if you would just give JT a dozen attempts or so that we'd get off your back??? I mean, I doubt fans are going nuts trying to see Mathis play more, so just do it. If JT overshoots and throws INTs then at least we can see that.
It's not just the fans. By not giving Beck playing time (+ Fields not getting enough playing time + Newman leaving + JT not getting playing time), you are making a statement telling future QB commits and transfers to stay away.
I'm being serious here. If we lose Vandagriff because he feels like he won't play, you may be losing your job. We have little to accomplish now, so give our offense every chance to flex its muscles.