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LSU is the better team, but Dawgs’ poor play turned SEC title game into a rout
System
Posts: 10,496 admin
LSU is the better team, but Dawgs’ poor play turned SEC title game into a rout
Kirby Smart's banged-up Dawgs had too many missed opportunities to compete with the talented Tigers.
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Well done, Bill.
Go, Dawgs!
I don't know Bill, seems like Dawgnation is pretty angry with the Dawgs' sorry performance in this year's SECCG as well. Whether it's scheming, mental prep, execution, whatever, there's enough talent (as determined by recruiting services) that the score should have at least been respectable had Georgia shown up. And if that's Georgia's version of showing up for a big game, then the fans are doubly mad about that. I think the sad resignation comes from seeing other programs maximize their talent with better coaching and scheming. And no, your silver lining didn't take much of the sting away from another big-game loss by Georgia. The only silver lining I see is that with the lopsided score, I'm pretty sure we'll be spared this year from player tweets about how we belong in the CFP, only to no-show for the bowl game. No, this SECCG score should motivate them to play and coach well against Baylor, but I'll believe it when I see it.
And great column by the way, as usual. In my anger I failed to acknowledge that in my first post:).
" If you want a silver lining, Georgia converted all three of its fourth-down tries to set an SEC Championship Game record."
"Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
Good column,Bill.UGA wanted to make a contest of LSU but fell woefully short as you note. Many will agree that at their optimum the Dawgs would not have bested the Tigers. That is an understatement. Kirby is simply not a Coach O. He cannot seem to float an offense worthy of his defense's consistent support. LSU wore down the Dawgs not vice versa. LSU made a shambles of UGA's "vaunted" defense. LSU is an elite team and had to work long and hard to get there. Kirby is working long and hard but is not able to produce to that level. He needs to see that a Bobo returning might be able to turn that around and open up the UGA offense once again as in the earlier years. Coley will never achieve this....IMO. Good recruiter but inefficient coach. Just look at Fromm this season as an example. Coley is the QB coach. He cannot coach Fromm beyond Cager. Cager is gone! Fromm needs new proficient targets.....? Pickens? What is Coley doing about this...little. The buck stops with the coaching. They are the drivers.
Nice analysis Bill. I think the Defense did all they could last night, considering they got zero support from the Offense. I know time of possession was pretty close, but the Offense did not score points. They put the Defense in bad field position several times. The kicking game was off both kicking and punting which didn't help the Defense either. A lot of new coaches on this staff along with a head coach that has exactly four years as a head coach. I think our lack of a credible passing attack allowed teams to really load up and shut down our run game. I think people really underestimated losing our top 5 receivers from last year. Kirby will get it together, but I think they will really need to open up the Offense next year. Kudo's to Bulldawg Nation again this year. The fans have really shown up and supported this team all year long. Hopefully we will see better results in the Sugar Bowl and it will set us up well for next year. Go Dawgs!
Bill,
I love your articles! The nation is very much angry after this game! I believe it’s mostly from feeling like our voice and the signs of the awf-ense (see what I did there? Blended awful and offense 😉). Our performance was sub par to say the least. Kirby himself said he came here to compete for championships. The closest thing to competition I saw last night was the coin toss, everything from there was south.
its not that we lost but how we lost that hurts this yr. As a fan, I know the coaches all know more than we do, but after the Kentucky game who couldn’t have imagined something like this happening? Yet nothing was done to help on offense, it is for this reason Coley cannot be the one who calls plays for us. And if Kirby doesn’t change his philosophy as well he will be destroyed yet again.
Another great article Bill. You seem to be the only writer that actually GETS IT.
Every time we get to a title game I see those 1980 Dawg Natty highlights, and I'm honestly pretty tired of seeing those SAME 40 year old highlights again and again. We should have already created more National Championship memories than one single year. Egads. Top 5 recruiting classes year after year, and then excuses, poor coaching, poor execution, and countless eggs being lain time and again.
I'm sick of it.
If defenses supposedly win Championships, how did the #2 Defense in the nation just get shredded so badly? How can our supposed great OL and run game go nowhere against a good but not great defense like LSU?
How can Kirby realistically expect to keep this kind of run-heavy old style offense in today's age of wide open, dynamic, big play football?
Answer: He can't IF we want to have any chance in the world to get even BACK to the playoffs.
Justin Fields was correct and justified in transferring. His style of play would never have meshed with Kirby's current offensive strategy.
Kirby has got a LOT to do to earn his $7 mil between now and opening day against Virginia next season. Let the coaching carousel continue, because Coley is NOT the man for our offense.
Many thanks Bill. I appreciate Coach Smart standing up for Fromm. It was apparent very early in the season that this group of young WRs was going to be a concern. Cager is a very good possession receiver who consistently caught the balls that prior WRs caught on a normal basis in Fromm's first two seasons. The drop off in reliability/consistency in the other WRs this season made Cager a more important piece than was intended, and I doubt he would have been nearly as valuable if playing in 2017 or 2018. With that said, Fromm's drop-off is most definitely a product of one of the weakest WR groups we've seen in some time, and this was exacerbated by the one solid WR (Cager) being hurt. Fromm had a much higher completion percentage to Cager because he made plays that we expect an SEC WR to make. It seemed going into this season we glossed over this potentially glaring weakness...just hoping or even assuming that some of the WR group would stand out after all of the departures. The defenses found early on that focusing on the run was much easier without a consistent deep threat, and the offense was pretty much doomed from that point (doomed in terms of actually winning the SEC and reaching the CFP). Regardless of who comes in as OC next season, there is definitely some work to be done in improving the passing game...whether that is talent, coaching or both.
If LSU goes on to run the table and win the NC we can just chalk it up to we got beat by a awesome team, maybe as good as any team in the past few years. I won't feel quite as bad if that happens. If however, they get spanked by either Ohio St. or Oklahoma, then that is definitely a major cause for concern. IMO the game was pretty much over when Simmons dropped that pass or when Jake couldn't put enough air under that pass to DROB, would have been an easy score. But why would we really expect things to happen that haven't happened for much of the year? Championship games aren't the place(generally) where you find what's been missing.
Until our offense is as dynamic as our defense we are in trouble. we believe that we can run the ball and wear down every team and that's just not how the game is played anymore. what we just watched was a team that had to go through the same transition we need to go through. They revamped their offensive game plan with new coaches and new ideas and they go for the jugular first through fourth down. Coach Smart better humble himself and go get us the best offensive minds money can buy fast.
We all knew LSU was the better team. I was just hoping for a competitive game and that was certainly not the case. Keeping things competitive and close, anything can happen. Orgeron looked stress free from the opening kick off.
Does anyone remember reading that Notre Dame's coaches said our receivers run simple routes? That's on the OC or whomever is responsible for the route tree and not the receivers. Fromm missing wide open receivers is not on the receivers. I wonder how do the receivers we are recruiting feel about CKS throwing the current receivers under the bus? He can protect Jake and his receivers equally.
We have some work to do on offense but just about every team out there would struggle if you took away their best player(Swift in this case) and their best receivers. I think Fromm’s confidence took a beating. Pickens is going to be a beast if he really figures things out. I think Blaylock will be a player too. The offensive scheme was actually pretty good yesterday. The execution was poor. Jakes got to hit open guys but the receivers have to catch contested balls and help him out some and not drop easy balls. Still a pretty danged good year when you beat Notre Dame, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee in the same year.
Yes, @FrankDG, what you said is true, the execution was poor. But therein is the problem. Our execution was poor all season long and it NEVER improved. That's why so many Dawg fans are barking. Coaches are supposed to see their teams' weaknesses and then figure out ways to get them to improve, especially when the kids are as talented as ours. But our coaches never seemed to do that and when we finally met a team with equal (if not better) talent than ours, they showed us our shortcomings. Yes receivers dropped balls, but they were doing that throughout the year. Same for Jake missing open receivers. And our running backs, though highly touted, never were the breakout stars that they were expected to be. And that's because our O-Line, proclaimed to be All-Everything before the season, woefully underperformed all year. With this line, our running backs should have routinely running for 3-5 yards before even getting touched. All too often, they were met at the line of scrimmage -- or behind it. Think long and hard about this: the University of Georgia only gained 62 yards rushing Saturday in a conference championship game with three, THREE, 5-star running backs (Swift, White and Cook) on the roster, plus one 4-star (McIntosh). There's NO WAY that should be happening. Kirby's throwing receivers under the bus (maybe he knows they all are graduating or planning to transfer or something so he doesn't care) but there is PLENTY of criticism to go around. Go Dawgs!
@DallasDawg - great points about the running game. I've been wondering why we didn't see more of White early on vs LSU? He is a great north-south runner and was running angry with some purpose and extra effort. I felt like a few more punishing runs from him would have made a difference.
Bill, Last week , after our tight end had caught a pass for a first down, I bet my brothers, any amount of money, that we would not throw the ball to him again for the rest of the game. I would have won the bet!
Then the SAME THING happened against LSU!
The tight end is like the Castle in a Chess game and Coley refuses to use them. WHY!?
Kirby Smart was my dream hire. He was a player that played far beyond his statue and physical abilities. I do believe he is a defensive guru. He has show great recruiting abilities in the short run. But cracks started showing up late last year. Basically after the SEC championship, out team fell apart. Smart was unable to produce a motivated team for the SUGAR BOWL! I will always wonder if allowing a player who, apparently, was a divisive force and used the race card to persuade the SEC to allow him to transfer & play immediately and not sit for a year, join the team in New Orleans. Everyone knew he would not play and his presence appeared to be polarizing. I will always wonder which deserving player was left behind to make space for the transferring player.
I also believe, perhaps tired of all the internal team drama, some juniors elected to go pro. Players who might have benefited playing at UGA one more year. In any case the Sugar Bowl was an embarrassment. I believe Kirby had a failure in leadership last year. Yeah, I know discipline is now a no no for today's athletes. But I still believe a firmer hand, coupled with the love Kirby shows for his team members would produce better results.
It is hard for any man to humble himself when showered with more money and acclaim than any one person could possibly truly deserve. But great men and women find a way. Kirby Smart needs an INDEPENDENT offensive coach. A person with the track record and gravitas to make all game decisions without input from coach Smart. A coach that has a proven track record developing offenses and players, especially quarterbacks. Recruiting such a person would prove CKS a great hire. Time will tell.