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Comments
@BigDawg61 "Ready to make history behind a "Generational" Offensive Line. " "Lol...you know how I feel about those "yankee" awards."
So what you are saying is that the UGA OL deserved the "yankee" award as the best OL in the country at least a couple of times in the last few years but didn't get it because of the media's NE bias? THEN you say that the '24 UGA OL is "Generational" meaning clearly superior to all UGA OL's in a generation. That is pretty high (again the appropriate word) cotton and a hellava assumption.
There are questions all across the UGA roster. That is the nature of CFB when you break in new, young players every year. There are more questions on this team on defense than offense. If there are questions on offense it is on the OL as I have stated.
UGA will be very good this year. The sky is the limit barring injury at QB. Certainly top 4. Is UGA a lock to win the NC? No. Is UGA a lock to win the SECC? No. A LOT has to fall in place for those things to happen including good luck.
"The Dawgs will be able to do...whatever they want to do in 2024." You said that last year too. And they did ……against most teams. Then they ran into another very talented team and they couldn't. There are other really talented teams out there.
"This is gonna be a fun football season and i'm beginning to look forward to it." I have been looking forward to this football season since instant UGA was left out of the CFB playoffs. This team has all the rallying fodder it needs by just watching the thumping it took in the SECCG. Does UGA have the killer instinct we saw out of Alabama during its dynasty or was UGA just an unsustainable "cheap" imitation the last 4 years? This season will go a long way in determining that.
I'm saying...I don't care who they give those awards to. Mackie, Burlesworth, Heisman, Moore, etc. are all awards created by a media, biased against Southeastern teams as a whole and awarded accordingly....from what i've seen..
There are a few exceptions...such as Alabama and Florida. It's always been that way. Which is kind of surprising, considering the number of Journalist majors UGA turns out every year. Hell my Cousin has a UGA Journalism sheepskin. Lol
I've liked the Dawgs O-line, for the last 3 years (min.). But, this year...something special is brewing between Searles and his players. They have exceptional depth and talent along the front 6. Not to mention the versatility they've created through cross-training.
Last year....injuries obviously interfered with last year's Dawg Destiny. The Dawgs would've been practically unbeatable last year, if not for that.
They are stacked with talent and experience, this year....mainly BECAUSE of last year. Freshmen and Sophomores got a lot more playing time, than they orherwise would have, due to a "bingo roster" in some of their games. The SECCG, being one of em.
You ARE right, though. There is no such thing as "a lock" in sports…IMO. You still have to perform in the games that matter most....regardless of mitigating factors, like the Dawgs had, last year.
The Dawgs are 50% more likely to do what I said, they would do, last year....IMO. They have far more depth.…with talent/experience upgrades in the WR, QB & RB rooms over last year's team.
I think Bama was just a testing ground for Smart. Coaches are going to try to become ",cheap imitations" of UGA, now. Seein' as how the Dawgs have either, been "in the dance"....or, on the dance floor when the music stopped every year for the last 7 years.…I'd hardly label em as a "cheap imitation". Lol
Maybe after this year, people will see what's going on in Athens, under the current Athletic regime. This ain't CFB as usual....is all I'm sayin. Kirby has discovered another dimension of College Athletics. Turn CFB [& other sports] into a College learning and growing experience.
IMO.…You couldn't do what those boys & Kirby have done over the last 7 yrs, and maintain the highest standard, as displayed in Athens..…if it were all about money and NIL. It's about "being the best you can be". Now….where have I heard that, before. Lol
@UGADad20
I don't think BAMA "thumped us". Maybe you're definition of thumping is a little more nuanced than mine. We lost by 3 points. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times with a penalty that pushed a very makeable field goal to a lot lower percentage one and we missed it. We had the only turnover in the game and a costly one at that. Bama didn't cause it, it was an unforced error on the exchange. Bobo stopped a drive we had when we were moving it predominantly through the air at will to their 19 by calling back to back run plays. BAMA had a crucial 4th down completion(incompletion) go their way by the refs(big surprise right) who couldn't be bothered to stop the clock to review it.
If you look up the stats they are virtually identical in all the different categories except rushing and passing yardage. If you subtract Milroes yardage our RB's ran for virtually the same as theirs. Neither team could really run the ball with their RB's. We passed more and for more yardage than them. First downs, time of possession, pretty much identical. Our main two receivers came into the game at probably less than 85% each but gutted it out. Oh and we lost by 3.
I actually think we got pushed around more by lesser teams during the season with their run games than what BAMA did. We held BAMA to 2.8 yards per carry. Other teams did better against us.
Anytime you play BAMA you know ou are in for a 60 minute battle. No other team has the amount of blue chip players they have, unless it's us. You have to play pretty much flawless to beat BAMA and we didn't. I don't think any UGA player left that game thinking we just got "thumped".
I actually feel like Ohio St came closer to "thumping" us than BAMA did. We had better passing and running stats than they did but if you'll remember at one point in the 3rd quarter we were down 38-24 and that was after them having their best receiver knocked out of the game on the hit by Bullard . And they missed the last second FG. BUt they were pretty much scoring at will on us and we had a better defense that year.
I always felt against BAMA that if we could just get the ball back with a minute or two left we would find a way to win.
@BigDawg61 " But, this year...something special is brewing between Searles and his players. They have exceptional depth and talent along the front 6. Not to mention the versatility they've created through cross-training." Front 6? Okay. UGA has OL depth. After 69 and 71 it remains to be seen how exceptional it is. Previous seasons have had higher ranked players and/or more experience. But you have the crystal ball….
FYI, Athlon's preseason All American team is out with some interesting results including OL. CBeck 1st Team QB. TRat 1st team OL. 71 makes 3rd team AA (preseason). Clay Webb (there's a name from the past) is listed at 2nd team AA ahead of Earnest Greene (71). Bottom line is professional informed opinions have 2 UGA OL on the 4 team preseason AA teams.
@reddawg1 I've only watched the '23 SECCG once. But my recollection was that after UGA scored 1st the game was pretty much controlled by Alabama the rest of the way. There was never a time after that that UGA took/seemed in control. We were all hoping for UGA to do something to take control and never look back. But it didn't happen. Instead the fumble happened. Alabama was in control the whole game. In my book that's a thumping. "if we could just get the ball back with a minute or two left we could find a way to win". You always hope to pull it out but after that 1st score UGA never seemed to be controlling the game.
To your point about OSU. It is nice looking back on the back to back championships now glossing over how much luck was needed to win those 2 titles. An amount of luck will be needed to win a title this year as well. In the OSU game there were 4 plays that UGA "got" that each kept UGA from losing. BB matrix 4th down conversion, Harrison "targeting" reversed, CKS getting a time out before OSU's fake punt and , of course , the missed OSU FG as time expired.
In '21, Alabama losing Metchie and JWilliams during/before the championship game obviously helped UGA. Also, on the Ringo pick 6, there was an Alabama WR 5 yards behind Ringo. Different ending possibly if the ball gets over Ringo's head.
The '24 UGA seems very similar to the '23 UGA team. This time last year many fans here were blindly forecasting significant development from unproven, younger players. I could cite examples but the bottom line is that didn't happen. 18th against the run happened.
UGA is a top team not close to a lock. It will be interesting to watch play out.
@UGADad20
I don't know about luck but definitely some plays and circumstances went our way in the 2 NC's, no doubt about it. Do we beat BAMA with a healthy Metchie and Williams? I say no. But do we lose to BAMA with a fully healthy Ladd ,Bowers, and Mims in the SECC game? I say no! It just is what it is. Michigan perhaps had some luck go their way in theirs this year as you have mentioned the bad snaps to Milroe. A misque at the wrong time in a tight game can be looked at as luck, or was Bama's center getting blown up in the game that led to his poor snaps? Could that somehow play a part in those bad snaps or was the guy just a bad snapper? I'm not saying it did as I haven't reviewed that game, just what if? If so, that doesn't seem as much like luck as much as just the pressure getting to him. A million ways to look at it, I suppose.
I see luck more like the prayer at Jordan -Hare deal, where two of our defenders draw a bead on the pass and they collide into each other and the ball bounces directly off of them and into the hands of their receiver. Lottery ticket winner!! I see the hit by Bullard as being just a great defensive play. The reversal of the penalty was the correct call that was looked at for several minutes. Now in any ole regular season game it probably wouldn't have been reversed but the officials new they had to get that one right. So, luck? Maybe. Maybe just the refs making the right call. Something they failed to do on the controversial pass completion that went BAMA's way. Luck or incompetence? Lucky for BAMA the officials were incompetent, the way I see it.
I seem to remember a couple of times when we played BAMA that Bruce Young fumbled tha ball and the ball bounced right back up to him. Luck? Yeh! Calling SB's 10 yard forward pass a fumble? Again, luck or incompetence on the officials? I have my view.
As far as another BAMA receiver 5 yards behind Ringo on the interception, I just pulled it up and looked at it and you're just misremembering(I'm guilty of that too) as there was no one behind Ringo or even in the picture other than the intended receiver. However, Bryce Young made one of his few poor decisions in throwing into coverage when he had a wide open lane if he tucked it and ran. It would have been a 1st down at a minimum around our 30 yard line! Lucky he didn't run with it, I suppose.
feel like I’m reading a tryout for DN
@reddawg1 What would you call Metchie and JWilliams getting hurt? Or BB, McC and Mims getting hurt? That is bad luck. Staying healthy is as much dependent on luck as it is on conditioning. It was extremely lucky for UGA that the OSU kicker missed a very makeable 50 yard kick. Did he choke? Was he not used to close games? Was the moment too big? IDK. But most decent CFB K's are at least 50/50 from that distance.
The prayer at jordan hare was just plain bad football and bad coaching. No luck there. It was 4th down. Really dumb DB's trying to intercept on 4th down is extremely dumb and that is what can happen. Terrible coaching. Every DB on the team should've been running the stairs for 30 mins in full equipment after the game.
Alabama C had previously experience bad snaps. But certainly not a routine thing for the AL C. ALMOST cost AL the game vs AU the week before. ALMOST lucky for AU definitely lucky for MI.
Bryce Young fumbling and having it bounce right back to him is about as lucky as you can get. That was a big (lucky) play in that game that went AL's way.
I disagree on the Ringo Pick 6. AL #11 was behind Ringo. Young threw the ball from his own 48. He had enough arm to air it out but chose to throw underneath to AL #18. Ringo was in front of 11 and behind 18. If Young throws it 45 yards instead of 30 yards the ball is over Ringo's head and he has a chance to hit AL 11 in stride down the sideline.
As for BYoung "throwing into coverage", there were 2 reserve WR's too close together on the play. Makes me wonder if 1 or those reserve, inexperienced WR's was in the right place. Did they both run the right route? Had those 2 WR's been Metchie and JWilliams would that zone been cleared and the WR open?
@UGADad20 I see we're in agreement on most of the things you responded with except the PRayer at Jordan Hare. WHy do you think it's called the Prayer? The game was over outside of that fluke play. You won't see that again ever! Just like you won't see another FG miss turn into a return for a win like at the end of the Auburn-BAMA game. Those are one in a million plays. Like I said it's like winning the lottery.
As far as Young's throw I don't know what you're looking at. Ringo was stride for stride with the deep receiver and one of the few times he actually turned to locate the ball he immediately saw it was underthrown and made the adjustment before the intended receiver did. THe underneath guy was literally 5 yards from the ball, he actually stopped running when he saw it wasn't to him. If Ringo had of fallen down the ball lands in the deep receivers hands(shoestring catch) or at his feet, but close. Did the deep receiver have to put on the brakes as Ringo did? YEs, but Young is not going to miss a receiver by 5 yards with the game on the line. He wasn't throwing to the underneath guy.
You originally said "there was an Alabama WR 5 yards behind Ringo. Different ending possibly if the ball gets over Ringo's head." That's just not the case. RIngo was stride for stride with his man but broke off the coverage when he saw the pass was underthrown and made the play for the ball.
Lol...that play...vs Auburn..."The Prayer at Jordan-Hare"....or, "Miracle of Jordan-Hare", whatever. That play was the worst coaching, execution and display of basic football skills I've ever seen from a UGA Team. Failure at all levels.
They [the 2 DB's] didn't quit. They were selfish and complacent. Something you won't see on a Kirby Smart Coached football team. They teach you to bat that ball down, in that situation [last down or 3rd/4th down], 100% of the time...from the time you pick up a football as a toddler.
Not one…but, two players had the same "wrong" mindset on that fatal play. That's a systemic failure…IMO. "You play, how you practice.".
No chance, those 2 DB's didn't know what to do...rather, they instinctively, did what they were taught not to do. Because, they "wanted" an INT and put their own desires above the common good of the Team. Selfish…Imo.
It's no coincidence that one of those DB's transferred to Louisville not long after. I believe, if I'm not mistaken...that took place, after DC Todd Grantham took a job there.
That was the most disappointment, I felt about the Dawgs "state-of-the-program", since Ray Goff's 3rd year. Lol
Defense was Richt's Achilles Heel. And, that play…highlighted just how undisciplined the program had become. When a lack of discipline & focus starts "costing" you ballgames, like that...it's time to look for a new head coach. Which they did..eventually...Lil.
Not sure what this novel back and forth is about but I'm going to try to return this to a conversation about Delp and the tight end room.
Delp and Yurosek are going to be a force this year. People are not ready for both of them on the field at the same time.
Luckie and Reddell are just as talented and we will get to see them both next year (or this year in the scrub games). Out of all 4 I'm most excited about Reddell. His frame and athleticism are off the charts.
No one is talking about these 2 but we will probably break them out against Kentucky and could be the difference against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss.
Anyways, as far as all the other stuff goes I think this is the year we get the Joe Moore Award and Heisman and Butkus. Most importantly we get the NC back in Athens. This defense is going to be heck by end of year. KJ and Ellis just need some salt and their talent will take over and transform the defense from great to all time great.