Hey folks - as a member of the DawgNation community, please remember to abide by simple rules of civil engagement with other members:
- 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.
- 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.
Options
Kirby Smart’s Dawgs face another ‘one-game season’
System
Posts: 10,680 admin
Kirby Smart’s Dawgs face another ‘one-game season’
Kirby Smart obviously is a man on a mission.
Comments
Bill-
Please get your compendium of articles of this season together for all DAWG fans to savor years hence. Hopefully, it will include a natty, but disappointment is a part of life as well. Your work deserves a hard bound edition!
This year has been a rousing success, regardless of the outcome on the 10th of January. I say that as a fan from Wally Butts through the Johnny Griffith years all the way through Jim Donnan. Coach Dooly's tenure was a welcome exception in that period as was Coach Richt. I certainly want to beat Alabama badly but a loss would not turn this into a bad year. Just my opinions.
Very thorough recap of the game, Bill. Now looking forward to the same positive coverage of UGA's next win...over Bama....and the CFP crown of crowns....the national championship.
Indeed.
It's a blessing to be headed for the Championship Game. We should certainly approach it as a one game season.
Win or lose, playing in the finals is a blessing. Win or lose, we've had a great season.
Still, as Coach Smart says, you're either elite or you're not. Only one team leaves Indianapolis elite.
Bill, I enjoyed the subtlety of your criticism of Kirby's SECCG strategy. We must play to win instead of playing not to lose. Especially against Alabama.
Go, Dawgs!
Great article Bill and you are so correct that many of our fans will consider the season a failure if we don’t win it all. That’s the terrible place Bama fans reside where anything short of a “natty” is considered a lost season. Go Dawgs and we are proud of you guys. Note: Thanks Bill for improving my vocabulary this morning with “churlish” and “nattering nabobs”. I can’t wait to use those against the Bennett Bashers!!!
*we don't drink or say G____ade in this house.
Great stuff, Bill, I always look forward to your column.
Hunker it down one more time.
Looking back on the SECCG, I have to wonder if Alabama had a natural advantage because it was an elimination game for them. While the Dawgs knew they were in win or lose. It will be an interesting second game.
The defense can’t be the main reason Georgia lost the way we did. When the offense goes 3 and out on 3 or more consecutive drives while they score at will, blame goes to both sides of the ball. Praying for a complete reversal for both units this time.
The Dawg defensive game plan in the SECCG looked like something in an all star game with no blitzing and only straight ahead pass rush. Won’t happen in NCG!
Who cares what the “natty-or-bust contingent of Dawg Nation thinks?” They are going to bash Kirby and whoever the starting QB is regardless!
JT is their darling, but if he comes back next year and has a bad game, it will then be Brock or Gunner and Kirby will be called an idiot for playing JT. Some fans just love being miserable!
I sure hope THIS team is the one that shows up for the championship.
Best article of the year by you Bill! Great points and analysis. Thank you!
I will say this concerning our rush/blitz-heavy display against Michigan: It worked. We rattled McNamara a lot. And looking at the Cincy-Bama game, even though Cincy lost, they were able to disrupt Young enough to cause him to be inaccurate and have a less-than-stellar performance. Auburn was the master at getting to Young, but Cincy did a very good job. Cincy was beaten on the ground, and Saban played it perfectly.
I strongly believe now we are going to have to find a way to get to Young enough or it will be a long game for the Dawgs. And that may mean we cross our fingers and hope to heck the secondary can find a way to cover Williams, Bolden, and Billingsley without penalties.
Never heard it said better. If they enjoy being miserable so much there’s the wanna-be-FCS/SEC school in Nashville they can go root for
An accumulation of all Bills articles in a Lewis Grizzard like fashion would be worth a few bucks in paper back form in my opinion. Great idea.
Great article Bill. I've read through most of the game coverage the last couple of days, your analysis is one of the best.
The one thing that continues to bug me is the continued reference to bad clock management by SB at the end of the half. From the play calling I thought CKS was content to run out the clock, two runs into the middle of the UM line. Did Bennett check out of plays called by CTM?. I was looking for some short passes to get a back or receiver out in space, try and pick up some chunk yard plays to get into field goal range at minimum. But then Smarts clock management at the end of the half has left me perplexed many times.
Bill, while I agree with your basic point. I am disappointed you too referred to the end of game christening as a "Gatorade" bath, While many years before most here could tell a bulldog from a collie, I know you remember when teams began to dole out electrolytic beverages, the Georgia Athletic Department absolutely refused to use any product the name gator. I seem to remember the Dawgs used "Bulldog Punch" and it was concocted by Coke. To this day you will not find the filthy term gator aid on the Georgia sidelines.
Happy New Year and I look forward to your wisdom in 2022.
Great article Bill, as usual, although I object to your characterization of Georgia fans who expect a national championship from this season or else will consider it a failure as "nattering nabobs of negativism" (love the alliteration, mind you, just don't care for the characterization).
Such a tone reflects what is wrong with much of the Georgia fan base- we think we're special enough to have all the championship hardware of Alabama, but place none of those expectations on the team. A choke in the 2017 national championship is viewed in the light of, it's ok, it was still a special season. Yes, it was a special season and put Georgia on the national map once again. BUT, what a missed opportunity. Bottom line is it was a blown lead that cost us the natty. We had Alabama by the b a l l s and let them off the hook. Had Alabama blown that lead, we all know their fans would have let the team know that, great season or not in terms of being one of the top teams in the country, it was ultimately a choke because they weren't *the* top team.
This is by far Georgia's deepest team since Smart took over and the one with the best chance to win it all. Our rivals in the East won't stay downtrodden forever. If the Dawgs lose to Alabama again, you and others can celebrate a season of 2nd place all you want. We can mint a Dawgs Natty Participation Trophy while we're at it. Myself and others will have none of it. I love the players and wish them nothing but the best on the field and in life. But if they can't get it done this time, they will have failed. I doubt that Davis and Wyatt decided to return with the mindset that 2nd place was good enough.
You might think me and other fans are harsh in our expectations, but that comes with the territory. Comes with a program that fancies itself as "elite". Elite is meaningless without a championship (and no, SEC East Champions doesn't count).
And for what it’s worth, I'm pretty sure most of us on this side of the expectation fence will lighten up a whole h e l l of a lot if just this once, Georgia could man up and beat Alabama.
Call it an elite expectation.
To MobileDawg. I wasn't. blaming Stetson. Clock management is the head coach's job.
Amen......x2