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Georgia football short-yardage struggles 'unacceptable'
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Posts: 10,444 admin
Georgia football short-yardage struggles 'unacceptable'
Georgia football struggles in short-yardage situations are perplexing when one considers the Bulldogs' coaching expertise and the talented players
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Not to substitute my judgment for the coaches, but perhaps -- just maybe -- we should do something less vanilla than simply line up and try to jam it down the other team's throats. I know -- our offensive line is big and massive and highly rated and should be able to get the one yard. But they are not succeeding right now because the defense has nothing to think about other than "stop the hand off up the middle."
Think back to the 2017 SEC Championship Game. Our first TD came when we faked a toss sweep and threw it to Isaac Nauta for the TD. Using play-action passing in short yardage situations is key to making sure that DBs and safeties have to stay home and cover the WR on the field.
Just a thought. YMMV.
I still remember the 4th and 1 against Mizzou last year where we put every man on the line and could not get it.
I looked up the play, and was surprised to see that Herrien got the carry.
We were up 20-7 on the Mizzou 31, and there was 1:00 before halftime.
Maybe that triggered Kirby's memory to kick the FG in the ND game.
At any rate, this was before Florida, and was concerning to me.
BTW, the San Francisco / Cleveland game the other night really brought back memories of when Chubb played for us. I love Chubb and cheer for him, but man did the Fortiners contain him.
I don’t know what the problem is in a 4th and one situation but we need to get it fixed before it costs us in a close game
Dawgfan1965, I agree with you that maybe we should try something less vanilla than trying to jam it down the other teams throat. The thought of putting the ball in the air with one yard to go gives me pause because of a tipped ball, possibly an interception or just dropping the ball. With our backs speed seems as if we could get outside the tackles for one yard. But again, I agree with you, we have to get this fixed before it does cost us a game, whether it’s a regular season SEC game, an SECCG or a playoff game. Go Dawgs!
how bout lining up in a 5 WR set and let Fromm throw a 2-3 yard sideline out. They have to pull 5 DB's out and leave 6 in the box. Fromm is Money, especially that quick out of hand and as sharp as he throws. Higher percentage than off tackle with a RB.
I'm just throwing this out there, thinking about the short yardage failures.
I believe Ga has the biggest O-line in college football, and we know they have elite talent, so why the short yardage woes?
Could it be because they are so big that it simply takes them a fraction longer to get moving? That is all I can think of.
I like the idea of bringing in the most athletic lineman as a fullback. I also think they need to use the QB sneak...
Someone else mentioned this a few days ago (maybe you) that this is also one of the problems we have in goal line situations that the linebackers can come in under the OL and make the stop.
I meant to check and see if this is what SF did against Cleveland the other night to stop Chubb.
It seems fairly obvious to me that our formations in short yardage situations tend to be very compact. The defense knows what we're going to do so they totally sell out to stop a handoff coming right up the gut.
Maybe I'm missing something but I'd think Kirby & Company see what's obvious to me and every defensive coordinator in the world. If so, there are obvious alternatives to what we've unsuccessfully done over and over.
I'm a big Kirby fan, but this is a problem he should be able to fix.
Go, Dawgs!
Maybe Jeff Monken, Army's head coach, could give some insight into Georgia's short yardage woes.
We need to run a more traditional I-formation type setup on short yardage where RBs get a better head of steam and more of a chance to scan the openings by starting further behind the QB. And play action is an option from that as well. To me, in short yardage situations the RPO style offense just doesn't suit a less mobile QB and our beefy rather than small/fast OL. The RPO formations are fine on earlier downs, but we should just play some traditional slugfest football when the situation calls for it. Let our great RBs get a head of steam and have some better opportunities to find a hole.
First of all, @Loranwhaddayagot , Chubb gained 87 yards against the 49ers. In the NFL, gaining 87 yards is a pretty good day. They didn't exactly "stop." him. Now on to the question at hand.
We've tried EVERYTHING else. Why can't Kirby just humble himself and use a fullback for short yardage situations? What does he have to lose if it works besides his pride? I'm convinced that having an extra blocker clearing the way ahead of say Herrien or Zeus would work. And it could be one of our O-linemen or another big running back. But at 10-21, that's less than 50 percent so it's clear that what we've been doing up to now isn't getting the job done. I really don't understand why Kirby is so obstinate about not using a fullback. And even with him in there, there are still a few options out of it besides the dive up the middle (quick pass to the tight end, a toss sweep, actually handing it to the fullback on a quick hitter). But primarily, it would help our run up the middle, which we seem committed to doing. I hope he tries it. I mean, if he tries it and it doesn't work, we're no worse off than we are now. So what could it hurt? Go Dawgs!
It is crazy to line up in the shot gun on 3rd and 1 and run the ball because you've moved the point of contact with the ball back 6 yards but that's what spread teams do and we are a spread team because we take 90% of the snaps in the shot gun with at least 3 wides most every possession. A D-lineman who penetrates the line of scrimmage always disrupts a spread teams short yardage play because the back is 6 yards off the line of scrimmage and there's no lead blocker to pick the pieces. Take the snap from under center with a lead blocker and allow the back to have a head of steam towards the line of scrimmage and see if we don't improve in short yardage situations. The back can press the hole or bounce it outside and one other thing, why do we not run toss sweeps anymore? Every team knows we run between the tackles primarily so why not run toss sweeps?
Looking at the data, it seems Swift is not the guy to use in short yardage situations, although the sample size is pretty small. That being said, Smart should stop being stubborn and bring back a fullback as a lead blocker. That would be a start. Give Zeus a chance as well. Lastly, we need tight ends that can block and from my perspective, Woerner gets blown up way too many times -- he wiffed on a block on the 2 pt. conversion just before the half that almost got Fromm killed.
I meant this as no disrespect to Chubb.
I used stop comparatively speaking; he did not have the explosive plays he has been making this season, and the plays I saw showed a dominant SF defense tackling Chubb behind the line on some of them.
It wasn't Chubb...Cleveland was simply outmanned in every aspect of the game.
Did you notice what the Fortiners did to accomplish this?
To your latter point, I fully agree about the use of a fullback!
Agreed, it is indeed unacceptable. In fact, 4th and 1 is so important to convert, if these statistics don't improve dramatically in the next four games, we need to stop going for it. I guarantee Fromm could convert more through the air on fourth and short. Heck, create special packages that are proven to work against our D-Line in practice. No way this O-line is the best in the country without significant improvement in this one area.
More times than not, especially against UF last year on the one, the problem was not sealing the end. The DE was in the backfield pulling the RB backwards almost the instant he got the ball. Not once did we adjust. Seal the end and if the DL submarines go over the top a la H. Walker in short yardage situations.
We kind of went down this road with CMR also. Remember the Macon fan who was unhappy with CMR's running game, running backs and play-calling? CMR responded by saying; “I see your frustration, I understand your frustration,” Richt said, politely but sternly. “I wasn’t born yesterday, I’ve coached football for 25 years, so I know what the hell I’m doing, OK?”
Well, just maybe if CMR had listen to that fan, he might still be in Athens.
Anyways...….I'm confident that ZW can get those 1st downs if they give him the football.
@ShoottheHooch, That was my point in bringing up Chubb in the game the other night (so it's not as off topic as the person who flagged it thinks), and I saw several plays where Chubb was stopped behind the line almost exactly like you describe from the FU game.
Man, would I love to see something like what Herschel used to do!