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Georgia report card: Ferocious defense makes offense academic in win over Florida
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Georgia report card: Ferocious defense makes offense academic in win over Florida
ATHENS — Football is ultimately a pass/fail game, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart is known to split hairs when it comes to assessing his Bulldogs.
Comments
See my alternate theory on what might be going on with our QB situation. I have a thread up. If it's a question of simply being limited on offense by Stet's abilities and Kirby is waiting for JT to agree he's ready to play, what can a coach do ?
The intentional grounding call was due to the receiver cutting inside when Bennett thought he was going to cut outside. Replay clearly shows that he threw the ball before the receiver made his cut. It might have been the proper call strictly by the book but I do not think the incompletion was "intentional".
Continuing my previous post. I don't think your grade is unfair because of the two poorly thrown interceptions. This was his worst performance this year, pressing too hard, I think. It does give his detractors ammunition.
I would hope our players always remain humble, pride being a dangerous position to occupy.
As good as we are, especially on defense, we need to improve on defense, particularly in the secondary and in the fundamentals of tackles. We have even more room for growth on offense and special teams. Fortunately, Kirby & Company are fully aware.
The grades seem about right to me. Perhaps I'd give the OL a B-, and give the running backs a B+, but I'm not quibbling about it.
Zeus looked very good yesterday. As an individual player I'd single him out for a solid A- game.
Extra points to Stetson Bennett for turning Zeus's mistake into a good play. The passing game problems were not just on Stetson, so thanks for not giving the receivers a better grade than the quarterback.
Anytime we beat Florida the overall game is an A. Very much worth celebrating. Very satisfying to all true Dawg fans.
I'm sure our players are eager to improve and working very hard to do so. They see what needs to be done. That's one reason this is a very special team.
Nicely done, Mike.
Go, Dawgs!
I’m 100% agreement with these grades
Overall I agree with the grades with the exception of coaching. Smart is failing his team's chances by following his same pattern... If the QB plays adequate or better, then don't get substituted unless there is an injury.
It's getting worse. You can look back at how Eason was the starter despite Fromm being better from the Spring and magically he became the starter after Eason got hurt. Daniels was likely healthy enough to play possibly by Bama time last year and certainly by Florida time. So how did he get the starting job? Guessed it, an injury.
Funny how high profile Bama QBs don't transfer but ours do. Eason was appropriate and Mathis was appropriate since they both got shots as the starter. But Fields knew he wouldn't be the starter. Newman knew. Beck has been set aside so he will transfer. If Vandagriff doesn't get 1st team reps in the off-season then he's gone.
Come on. Just give these guys a chance.
Look at Bama. 2017, Tua got reps during the year and the rest is history. 2018 Hurts got 8 TDs and Jones 1. 2019 Jones got 14 TDs. 2020 (shortened year) Young got 1 TD. See how that works? No crazy transfers, just transition to the next 5 star QB.
You need to charge the intentional grounding that you charged against the QB to the o-line and running back. Both totally blew their block. But I still agree with the QB score you have. The offense wasn’t “flowing” yesterday. It struggled with consistency and looked out of sorts. The defense is to credit for most of the points that the offense scored by putting them on really short fields. Not many if any sustainable drives. Pod’s confidence appears to be shaken.
I'd agree with the grades and continue to emphasize a few key points in my mind (these points come from an 'elite' team perspective and the thoughts of playing for a Championship):
We're going to end up playing either Bama or Auburn for the SEC Championship. I hope it's Bama.
Here are the current rankings as of October 29th for College Football Scoring Offense:
#1 - Ohio State
#2 - Alabama
#8 - Oklahoma
#10 - Cincinnati
#14 - Georgia
Here are the current rankings for 3rd down conversions:
#1 - Alabama
#3 - Ohio State
#21 - Georgia
Yes, stats are for losers, but no one needs to really see these to understand that our offense needs improvements - no matter who is at QB - before we get to the SEC Championship and hopefully beyond. Our defense is ranked #1, but do we want to continue to rely on our defense to win the day overall? Will that be enough against the best of the best? I don't feel comfortable on our ability to win a National Championship hoping our defense can hold the line.
And really how good are the Power 5 teams that we have played thus far? Other than Kentucky with two losses, every Power 5 team we have played has at least 3 losses now (some have 4).
8-0 and a great win yesterday against the Gators. Am I being nit picky with these comments? Maybe. Maybe Daniels comes back in the lineup and everything is hunky dory on offense, and we shoot down the field with power and aggression. I don't know. I hope so.
GO DAWGS!!
I'm okay with Mike, maybe a B+ for the RBs.
I see this game as a less than the best UGA performance...YET they won by 27 points over a very determined but far outpaced Gator squad. UGA wins despite its myriad injuries and episodes of offensive entropy. This, to me, is emblematic of elite.
@BillyDawg1 JT wants to play -- he didn't transfer across the country to sit behind a former walk-on. Kirby had to get this out of his system, maybe,
For all the naysayers about the win yesterday it shows that even in poor offensive play, UGA only had to punt the ball twice, and almost a 50 YD average.
With Daniels back in the lineup, I assume you mean he will be throwing the ball all over the field. Assuming he has the elite arm so many refer to yet I have yet to see, what receivers will he be throwing to? We have great TEs and Jackson and McConkey occasionally get separation, but our best WRs are on the sideline and the ones who are on the field are “next man up” types and not yet elite.
@ShoottheHooch...you had WRs Rosemy-Jacksaint, Mitchell, Burton, and Jackson all in the lineup yesterday plus multiple TEs. The only WRs that are still out right now due to injury are Pickens and Blaylock.
Sure, a couple of these guys are youngsters, but you don't think we have enough passing weapons - adding Cook, McIntosh, and Zeus out of the backfield - to be good enough on offense??? Seriously? Just looking at Washington, Fitzgerald, and Bowers you've got elite talent in our TEs who can definitely play as wideouts/slot receivers and do sometimes.
No, I don't see any real issue. Get Daniels or somebody in there and move the ball. Right now we've got as much or more talent on the offensive side of the ball than most of the teams out there.
I had this game at 34-17. Although we didn't get to this score the way I expected, I'll gladly take a 34-7 against Florida any year and enjoy it for another 364 days!
My only concern with Bennett is he seems to force a ball or two into double coverage in almost every game.
The first INT was on a throw that no starting QB should attempt. The second INT, I feel like if he had put the throw toward the sideline, not toward the middle of the field and toward the safety, It likely goes for a TD.
With the amount of game reps Stetson has had, I don't understand why he can't see the downfield coverage better.
If Stetson stays as the starting QB and doesn't get that corrected it will likely cost GA a game this year.
The defense saved our bacon. I was hoping for better from SB. Throwing twice into double coverage won't win the NAtty. His biggest game and his errors were of the unforced variety. The horror of those throws is softened (camouflaged) by a lopsided win.
I thank DM for starting the wrong QB. Hope CKS doesn't make a similar mistake in the future.