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- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Comments
@reddawg1…I hope you are right. I'm not crying in my beer, but I am extremely disappointed in the coaching staff and the execution. Saturday wasn't a slow start, heck, it wasn't like we had even gotten to the game yet until the 2nd half. Heck, we didn't even begin to mount any kind of drive until late Q3, and then it took 4 downs to get 10 yards multiple times!! How is that possible? Penalties, sloppy play, giving up several big plays, Beck throwing to guys that were completely covered up, poor edge containment by the defense, no containment at all on Milroe in the first half. No sacks. I could go on and on listing deficiencies from Saturday…after a BYE week!!
KY was not an aberration. Let's hope everyone realizes that. And as much as I loved the comeback late in the game we still couldn't finish the drill, because we played shell shocked in the first half - just like we did against KY. A moral victory doesn't mean much to me, although it may help us when it gets to deciding who gets to the playoffs.
So enough of these slow starts, enough with the sloppy play, let's either prove we are an elite team OR let's accept that we are just an above average 9-3 team. Which is it? Ready to see the Dawgs take control & lay the hammer down going forward.
Ultimately, as I've said before and think it applies even more after Saturday, it's about leadership, on the sidelines, but especially on the field.
A few thoughts on leadership:
As with several.of you, I have not yet "written the season off"... but then I never thought we had a CFP-winning caliber team since this summer.
As we reflected over the weekend, Lisa and I realized how blessed we are to have a team that we now always expect to be playing for the national championship. Times have changed.
Whether this team ends up being 11-1 or 8-4, we'll still be there every Saturday, grateful for the opportunity to have a handful of days each fall where we see a fine group of young men do their best to make Georgia proud 🏈😎
Best read of the morning! I think you're absolutely right @reddawg1, though I'm not as certain Lambo took away the same message that Stetson did a few years back... time will tell.
Appreciate the positivity! As my 91 year old dad says "if you have a choice between being optimistic or pessimistic, why wouldn't you choose to be an optimist?"
Looking forward to the Dawgs' improvement this Saturday!
[Ugh! This was in response to @reddawg1 's great post, but the quote didn't take. DN, fix this darn interface!]
We won 2 National Championships with a walk on QB. Recruiting could be overrated. I think we are still a good team and still have a shot at everything. Milroe made us look very bad with the back seven on defense. Milroe and Ryan Williams wore us out. Time for our coaches to get our highly recruited players playing up to their potential.
Totally agree with the out-coached part of this. The defensive game plan was terrible. I had two simple keys before the game: contain Milroe and be able to run the football. The defense had no answer for Milroe. They tried to spy him, he outran the spy; they tried to blitz him and he escaped and found the open receiver. When they got to him, they couldn't get him on the ground. When I look at UGA's record against Alabama in the last seven matchups the one thing that stands out is they have been better than us at QB in every matchup. The teams are even except for the most important position and it shows up in every game; fom Jalen Hurt/Tua to Brice Young to Milroe their QBs are game breakers and ours are game managers. If you put their QB on any of the UGA teams since 2016, UGA wins those games.
Saban used game managers until he lost to Johnny Manziel and he realized even though he had the better team, there was no defense against a dual threat QB who could breakdown your defense. He began recruiting those type of QBs and it gives him an advantage even against teams that are close to his teams in talent. That's a coach who was able to adapt to the changing landscape in college football. KS has not adapted to that and believes he can win with defense and a manager at QB on offense.
@RS289 Stetson Bennett IV had a historically great defense, future NFL players at every position on the OL and on the bench, two future NFL TEs in Brock Bowers - a Heisman candidate - and Darnell Washington who were perfect compliments for each other (a rarity for even the NFL in this era, making it completely unheard of in college), an above average group at WR led by Ladd McConkey (2nd round), AD Mitchell (2nd round), Jermaine Burton (3rd round) plus a deep versatile group at RB (including the current starting RBs for the Oakland Raiders Zamir White and Buffalo Bills James Cook). Bennett IV was a good player, but I am miffed at how he constantly gets the credit for the much more talented players around him. This team obviously doesn't have the defense that made a ton of future NFL starters like Jayden Daniels look ordinary 2021-2022 (more on this later) and Beck doesn't have all day to stand in the pocket or always 5 yards of free space upfield when he runs like the alleged dual threat QB Bennett did (UGA fans saw an actual dual threat QB Saturday night, as Milroe has more rushing yards already than SB IV did in a 15 game season in 2022).
When SB IV didn't have 35 upperclassman future NFL draft picks playing around him in 2020 he was terrible: more turnovers than TD passes and benched twice. Were Bennett were playing this year or even 2023 with Bowers and McConkey hurt most of the year, he'd look more like the guy from 2020. Carson Beck didn't play great Saturday, but he played a lot better than SB IV did in the 41-24 disaster against Bama in 2020. Bennett was 23 years old in that game. Beck is 21.
Folks, go back to the 2022 SEC title game and see how THAT Georgia defense utterly humiliated Jayden Daniels. It was so bad that LSU fans wanted to move Daniels to WR and start the backup Nussmeier the next season. And now go on YouTube and do a search for "Jayden Daniels Washington Redskins" where the guy is having an outstanding season. And realize that Jalen Milroe is nowhere near as good as Daniels, who won the Heisman and was the #2 overall pick. If the 2024 UGA team had the 2022 defense, they'd still be undefeated now with the Kentucky game being a cakewalk.
All the problems I have noticed about UGA's football team FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS came to a head last Saturday night. 1) I have always thought Beck was only a slightly better than average QB who had great weapons (Bowers and McConkey) who made him look better than he actually was; 2) Arian Smith, for all the speed he has, is a mediocre wide receiver. He tries hard and doesn't quit, but he doesn't strike fear in defenses; 3) Our defense, overall, is slow, particularly our LBs and our DBs. I know Milroe and Williams are fast, but our guys couldn't even touch them, even when they were even with them. And Alabama isn't the only team faster than us (see Tennessee); 4) our O-Line IS good, but not overpowering (even WITH Tate Ratledge). They don't blow teams off the ball, even teams with inferior talent. 5) And finally, I think Kirby Smart and his staff are great coaches. But they have fallen into a trap where they play the first half of games not to necessarily get out to a fast start, but to figure out what their opponent can or can't do, and then go in at halftime and make necessary adjustments. This has usually led us to ultimate victory because, A: we usually are either ahead or within one score at the half so we have time to make up any deficit, and B: most of the teams we play can't match us in terms of talent and depth so, as the second half drags on, our depth and talent usually just take over. In last Saturday's game with Alabama, neither scenario A or B applied, which made coming back that much tougher. The fact that we did really showed me something — most notably that if scenario A had been in effect — leading or within one score at the half — UGA probably would have won. Go Dawgs!
@87Dawg_11
Carson Beck is not a game manager QB. He is a very good - but not great - QB stuck with below average WRs. Note: TEs are average. The OL is above average but nowhere near as good as 2021-2022. Similarly the RBs are OK but nothing like 2017-2020 when UGA had four 1000 yard rushers, 3 of whom were future NFL Pro Bowlers. OK/average talent at QB, RB and OL combined with average TEs should make for a good SEC offense, but bad WRs are holding things back.
The one WR who can consistently get good separation - Arian Smith - has questionable route running and worse hands. Dominic Lovett runs good routes and catches the ball but at 5'10" 180lbs without being especially fast or quick often can't get open against good DBs (his game is better suited for a spread offense than a pro style one). Colbie Young did enter UGA from a pro-style program, but one where he wasn't going to be the starting X WR and isn't a Y or Z in their scheme. As Miami also has a very good TE, Young would have been the 5th passing game option as a senior. Dillon Bell is a good player, but the comparisons to Deebo Samuel are absurd: people forget how he carried a Will Muschamp South Carolina program that completely fell apart after he left. Bell needs a #1 guy at WR, TE or another RB Chubb/Michel/Swift/Gurley type RB to draw the defense's attention because he isn't that type of player himself, but UGA doesn't have that.
Recall after the Clemson game how critics trashed Dabo for not bringing in transfers like Smart. Dabo probably figures you are better off sticking with your own recruits than bringing in 3rd and 5th options from 6-7 (Missouri in Lovett's last year there) and 7-6 (Miami last year) programs because guys like that really don't make you better. Yes, Lovett was technically Mizzou's leading WR in 2022, but he saw Burden as a true freshman that year and knew that wasn't going to last.
There are reasons why WR recruiting has been so bad during the Smart era, and why the RB recruiting has fallen off from where Mark Richt had it, but those are other stories for other days.
“I think we just made mistakes,” Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said. “That was all it was. We had some busts and certain concepts, and we didn’t run the right things." 2 weeks to prepare and that is what happened? So much for how prolific the '24 offense was gonna be. Great lesson to Dawgnation. Wait until you see it on the field. Don't anoint anybody based on HS rankings. Coaching failure.
Inexcusable failure by Humphrey and Bolden on Williams late TD. When you see the ball in the air you fly to the ball and hopefully arrive with a shoulder pad to the ribs just as the ball arrives. Instead both players were searching the sky for a potential INT that they couldn't bring in. They lost track of the receiver who caught the ball and went untouched into the end zone w/the winning TD. Sometimes putting a hit on someone is a bigger play than an INT. Too much emphasis on wearing the cool shoulder pads on the sideline vs making the smart play. Coaching failure. DB 101: 1) break up the pass 2) tackle the receiver 3) INT the ball.
That AL RB embarrassed JWalker. Embarrassed him. Showed who was prepared and wanted it more. Did CKS say that UGA practices harder than the games? It wouldn't seem so. CKS should take that "highlight" of the AL RB buckling JWalker's knees and knocking his helmet off and run it on a continuous loop in the UGA weight room/locker room.
Hat's off to BVG. That kid is a player. Could've been UGA's poor man's Jalen Milroe. His inexperience shows and he runs too much. But he has the skills to be a very good QB. That long pass by BVG featured above was a good adjustment by the KY WR. We see WR's pushing off on almost every play and NEVER a call. Yet UGA gets 3(!) offensive pass interference calls in the 1st half vs AL??You haven't seen 3 offensive PI calls in the last 3 years.
I didn't say it before the season because I didn't want the grief here. I thought AL would beat UGA because of Milroe and because they usually do. AL has consistently made plays vs UGA. UGA has not consistently made plays against AL. BUT I do think UGA beats both TX and MS (and probably TN). So SECCG may still be in play.
Guys stepping up and developing will tell the story of the '24 season.
@UGADad20 Good points about the 3 offensive pass interference calls. One was where the BAMA defender runs straight into our receiver and he hoodwinked the official. On the safety unless my eyes deceived me we had a areceiver to the right sideline that got full body checked around 30 yards downfield(I believe who CB was throwing it to) but the PI didn't get called and the announcers never saw it or mentioned it. FOr whatever reasons BAMA always gets the refs leaning their way. Not saying theres a conspiracey, but..why?
The one call where we committed PI and it didn't get called their mild mannered coach bout blew a gasket.
Some of the review podcasts show how easy UGA made it for Milroe to run around the end. Bad angles by the DE and Outside LB.
The difference in the two losses is Milroe. Put Dart in there instead of Milroe or even say Ewers instead of Milroe and I believe we win both times.
Michigan affected him because they had 4 stud DL men, They didn't have to blitz to get pressure on him, that way all their LB's could just read and react. No gaps for Milroe to escape through, or if he tried a LB was there to meet him. at least that's what I remember.
I noticed that illegal contact no call on the near sideline too in real time. Would've been nice to get that call.
UGA did get away with the PI call you mentioned. There is so much arm grabbing , hand fighting and pushing off on every pass attempt I guess the ref's don't want to call repeated penalties. Unfortunately, football has regressed into a sport where the ref's can call multiple legitimate penalties on every play.
I don't know w/whom I am more PO'd. Bobo for calling that ridiculously low percentage fade? Beck for throwing that ridiculously low percentage fade pass? Or CYoung for not going after that ball like his life depended on it? WR 101: 1) catch the ball. 2) keep the DB from catching the ball.
I think BVG has tons of heart and determination, I just don't think he's a QB that you have to worry about him beating you with his arm. He's like the NFL version of Tebow, a guy who has grit and determination out the ying yang, fans love him, locker room loves him, but no team feared him beating you with his arm talent.