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Dawgs fans, spare me the grousing about New Year’s bowls that aren’t a semifinal
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Dawgs fans, spare me the grousing about New Year’s bowls that aren’t a semifinal
Reality check: Georgia managed to beat a very good Top 10 team in the Cincinnati Bearcats
Comments
Bill - great article! I am also tired of some of our entitled fans, who unfortunately, are very vocal on social media outlets. It is one thing to be watching a game on the TV and having a spirited outburst about what I perceive to be a bad play call or a dumb mistake. It is another to then carry that over to the internet and publicly lambast players, coaches, etc. Especially since most of those folks have probably never played a down of football.
We did play a motivated Bearcat team that had a lot more to gain than we did with a "W". The fact that the Dawgs hung in there and made the comeback gives us something to build on and says something about the resilience of our young players, many of which had their first starts.
I am excited about 2021! Is it National Championship or bust? Nope. It takes a lot of things to fall right for that to occur. I just want to be in the hunt and watch our Dawgs play with spirit!
Fans always criticize where their team is ranked but, given the score and how the game played out, the team rankings seemed pretty accurate. Of course, the exception to the rule is Notre Dame whose rankings are based in large part on their history and not their current state of ability.
"...which ESPN’s various talking heads seemed to want,..."
Yes, I too tired early on (before the end of the 1st qtr, I think) of the merry ESPN magpies' fawning of the Bearcats - all due respect to their successful season and steadfast, game-long effort. So, I muted them for the rest of the game, which was a pleasant turn.
Great article Bill and I thought we played very well after the 2nd play of the 2nd half. I think we had over 200 yards of offense to Cincinnati’s 28 yards over that final 29+ minutes. I didn’t expect UGa to be a fine-tuned machine considering we hadn’t played in 3 weeks (thanks Vandy) and with all the opt-outs, injuries, etc. Now let’s hopefully add Arik to the puzzle and we will have some fun times in the future. Also, does anyone know if our scoring twice in 3 seconds is a record? Go Dawgs and Happy New Year!!!
Cincinnati's defense is probably the best we faced all year, including Bama. They were rarely out of position and did not miss tackles. There were a number of plays that could have been big gainers but they made nice tackles.
OE had a great game but I doubt the pros use this as a measuring stick for him given that he was abusing the backup left tackle.
Kirby should have gone for it with 3 minutes left. The D and Fickell bailed him out.
Overall I agree with Bill's sentiment. I enjoyed the game. And for the season.... If only JT had come back 1 game earlier.
I'm late on this one, so will just say, yes. UGA was the overcomer once again, topping a top ten team. It was not pretty but it was "gutsy" as one commented. To overcome so many errors against a very good top ten opponent to me merited this win in the "miraculous." I am proud of the young Dawgs who time and time again seemingly over achieved and took this game from Cincinnati. Now that is a huge WIN. Thanks again, Bill, great analysis.
Agree 100% Bill, a lot of folks have forgotten that the games are a form of entertainment as well as competition. We enjoy winning, and championships, but it's not that important in the grand scheme of things. I'm in a mixed Family, my Wife and a large part of her Family went to Auburn, a couple to Bama, and I live in the Mobile area.
Numerous comments from those described above said this was the most entertaining and exciting game of the bowl season. I've been a Dawg fan for over 52 years now and I still get that awful anxiety during games like this.
To me, anyone complaining about the game isn't a true fan. Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Looking forward to 2021.
How Bout Dem Dawgs!
USADawg, I like your attitude and appreciate your comments. Go Dawgs!!!
Bill, you are the best writer for DN. It is clear you take a little more pride in your work than others. Thank you for that!
To the complaining fans..."be slow to speak and quick to listen." At least wait until the game is over prior to complaining! If these Dawgs were at nearly full strength, like the Bearcats were, our game would have been more like that of ND and Bama.
In light of everything I have heard about players starting in new positions with very little time to prepare, I am proud of this team and the coaches for beating a quality opponent that was HIGHLY motivated.
Go Dawgs! When is G-Day?!
Let me explain this to you as simply as I can Bill. While a win is a win for sure. Sure beats losing, right? But here's the little nuance you are missing. Do you think for a moment the pundits would have picked Cincy to beat BAMA? Clemson? Notre Dame? Ohio St.? No! But they pretty much all did to beat UGA. And to my surprise and to many a UGA fans they **** near sure did, save for their coaches lousy decision to prove how macho they were and "play to win , not to lose", LOL! Thanks Cincy coach for throwing it when you should have ran it!
This was a Cincy team that had from what I understand zero 4 or 5 star players, unlike UGA with bumper recruiting the last 4 years. And we dang near got whipped. So yeh we won "Hallelujah" but think if we hadn't. Their team did more with less, good on them. UGA did less with more. But hey, a wins a win.
And while I applaud the win, pardon those of us who are looking for just a little bit more from Kirby and a slew of 4 and 5 stars.
Bill, great article.
It wasn't my favorite Georgia game because I like us to go up by thirty points and then begin to pull away. Anything else gets me too afraid we'll lose.
I'm not sure the game qualifies as an ügly win because there were several beautiful plays and moments, but I'll take an ügly win over a top ten team anytime. The Bearcats were darn good by any standard, but we were better!
Our team showed a great deal of character and grit. In my view, Kirby is building for a great future. We're on a roll going into 2021.
Go, Dawgs!
Georgia fans who complain about a Georgia win really need to remember what is best in life... to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!
I was tickled pink the Dawgs won Bill thanks mostly to our defense, Podlesny, and Daniels on that last drive. Otherwise, we were pretty sloppy. Although I never called for any coach to be fired I did see that Yes, some fans (including myself), complained rightfully so about (2) specific things that you brought up:
" With his team trailing by 2, Smart elected to punt on fourth-and-3, with only about 3 minutes left in the game. Making it worse, he burned a timeout deciding what to do.
His defense bailed him out (with some help from poor time management by the Bearcats, who didn’t eat up nearly as much clock as they could have before having to punt it back). After the game, talking about this decision to punt, Smart admitted, “Looking back, maybe we should have gone for it there.”
BINGO Kirby! Yes, you almost blew it and we were lucky to get back into a position to score after wasting the rest of our timeouts on Cincy's last drive. We were lucky to win, and anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy. Kirby has made several questionable 4th down calls over the years and this was definitely one of them.
The 2nd item you mentioned was this that drove me NUTS:
" Also, offensive coordinator Todd Monken seemed a bit too obsessed with the long ball, when perhaps some quick-release slant passes would have fared better amid all the Bearcats pressure. (It was obvious that Daniels isn’t a terribly mobile quarterback.)"
When you've got Daniels underthrowing and inaccurate on numerous passes (and having to deal with a receiver running his route wrong) this is just a jump ball and nothing but a chance for interceptions. Again, we were lucky.
Happy as can be that the Dawgs won but rolling my eyes at these 2 items...the Peach Bowl win was kudos to the players that decided to play. It gives us great momentum heading into next season.
GO DAWGS!!
Well that took a dark turn.
I think you, and others, are overstating that first point. Don't get me wrong, I can see the argument for going for it. But I also think there's a good case to be made for recognizing that the defense was playing a lot better than the offense at that point, and for trusting them to get the ball back to the offense with a fresh set of downs and only needing a field goal to win. I do think using that first timeout when it was used was questionable. But in the end, he was proven right to rely on a defense that had earned that trust with its play, so I don't know about writing off the result as dumb luck or "getting bailed out."
Oh, and timeouts aren't "wasted" on defense in the last few minutes. That's exactly when you're supposed to use them.
Sorry to get into the weeds, but I was thinking more about this assessment that Smart was "bailed out" by the defense and realized that it makes no sense. To reiterate, Smart deliberately placed his trust in a group that had earned it, to do the job that they were there to do, and they came through like he expected them to. That, quite simply, is not what getting bailed out means.
Georgia's third down conversion rate on offense was abysmal in this game, yet people are so sure that going for it on 4th and 3 was the obvious decision to make. Ok. If they fail, Cincy just need to pick up a handful of yards to get into field goal range. If the ensuing series carries out similarly to what actually did happen, and they make the field goal, then Georgia gets the ball back with the same amount of time, only they need a touchdown instead of a field goal. Winning becomes much more difficult and unlikely. So if the Georgia offense were to pick up that 4th down, despite struggling on third down all day long, and if we're adhering to any semblance of logical consistency, then it would have to be said Smart was bailed out by the offense.
So no matter what Smart decided in that situation, if it were successful, then we'd have to say that he was "bailed out" by the players who carried out the decision, and the phrase loses all meaning.
I know this is kind of a pedantic point by now, but it was bugging me. Sorry for the rant.
The defense didn’t “bail Kirby out” with three minutes remaining. They did exactly what Kirby expected them to do...get the ball back to the offense with time remaining to win the game. To my recollection, that’s exactly what happened! Good job, coach! The way the line was blocking, three yards was not anywhere close to guaranteed.
Kirby's plan to punt looks genius since the Cincy coach decided to throw it and stop the clock, Heck I even think they hiked it one time with 10 or more seconds still left on the play clock.
Kirby is a genius, or a bit lucky. You decide.
The Dawgs didn’t have the best game offensively, but it marked a dawning of a new day! How many times in Dawg history regardless of opponent have the Dawgs won while rushing for less than 50 yards?