SB Nation - Brian Mimbs

Georgia Bulldogs 42, Kentucky Wildcats 38

T Kyle King — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:20:31 -0000

All right, let’s start with the good news.

The Bulldogs started strong by leaping out to a 14-0 lead on the road, converted 40 per cent of their third downs, averaged almost five yards per rush, rolled up 520 yards of total offense despite holding the ball for barely 25 minutes of clock time, incurred only five penalties for 58 yards, and scored 42 points on a Kentucky defense that had given up more than 24 just once all season long.

Matthew Stafford had statistically his best day as a Bulldog, completing 17 of his 27 pass attempts for 376 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Knowshon Rockwell Moreno averaged 5.6 yards per carry, rushed for 123 yards while hauling in three passes for 40 yards, and found the end zone three times. Mohamed Massaquoi snagged eight passes for 191 yards and a touchdown, A.J. Green went up and grabbed the game-winner in the back of the end zone, and Michael Moore once again proved reliable in the clutch with two catches for 68 yards.

Also, the Bulldogs won.

So we’ve got that going for us.

That brings us to the bad news.

The Wildcats, who are as injury-riddled as the ‘Dawgs (if not more so), held the ball for nearly 35 minutes, converted eight of 17 third downs (usually in short yardage situations) and two of three fourth-down tries, and scored 38 points, all with a wide receiver at quarterback. Randall Cobb---no, not Randall "Tex" Cobb; we’re playing S.E.C. football here, not searching for Nathan Arizona’s baby---ran the ball 18 times for 82 yards and three touchdowns while hooking up on 12 of his 20 passes for 105 yards and, mercifully, one crucial interception.

Of course, the fact that the ‘Cats did all this to the ‘Dawgs while amassing only 331 yards of total offense is more than a little telling. Due to the increasingly ludicrous offense-boosting kickoff rules, the Blue and White began their first scoring drive from their own 40 yard line after Blair Walsh’s kickoff went out of bounds. The second quarter possession on which Kentucky tied the game began at the home team’s 33 yard line when the Red and Black turned the ball over on downs.

The Wildcats’ third quarter field goal was set up by Tony Dixon’s 28-yard kickoff return out to the U.K. 35 to begin the second half. The home team took the lead when Danny Trevathan blocked Brian Mimbs’s punt to give the Bluegrass State Felines custody of the pigskin at the Georgia nine yard line. Mimbs’s next punt went just 18 yards, setting up Kentucky at the Bulldogs’ 29 yard line. The ‘Cats scored three plays later.

I’m not picking on Mimbs, I’m just saying. (Associated Press photograph by Mary Ann Chastain.)

After Georgia scored to reclaim a 35-31 lead, Winston Guy broke a 96-yard kickoff return to set up another three-play touchdown drive. The Red and Black’s next two drives appeared promising until Massaquoi fumbled in U.K. territory, but both turnovers could be classified as what appellate courts call "harmless error": Kentucky took over on Georgia’s 49 yard line and the Wildcats’ 38 yard line, respectively, yet those two first and tens turned into a fourth and 15 at the Kentucky 46 and a fourth and eleven at the Georgia 35, producing no points.

From there, Massaquoi atoned for his earlier miscues by taking Stafford’s first pass on the Bulldogs’ final drive for 78 yards to the U.K. seven yard line. A foolish (albeit apparently accidental) facemask penalty on what otherwise would have been a game-sealing fourth down stop by the Georgia D gave the Wildcats new life, which Demarcus Dobbs proceeded to snuff out with the pick that at long last ended all doubts as to the final outcome in the final minute.

Kentucky moved the football more than they should have, but they seldom had to move it much. As was the case in Jacksonville last weekend, the initial blame for the opposition’s unsightly point tally must be laid at the feet of the offense that gave the ball away and the special teams that set the other team up with good field position. There is plenty for which to blame the defense, but, when a new U.K. quarterback who hasn’t put a lot on film is set up with field position ranging from good to great in his home stadium all afternoon, even a solid defensive effort is going to be made to look bad.

Consequently, I’m more concerned about the kicking game than I am about the defense. The Wildcats began three of their five first-half drives at or in back of their own 30 yard line; that trio of possessions produced no points and, on average, lasted four plays apiece and generated fewer than 20 yards each.

I don’t have Willie’s back, necessarily, I’m just saying.

Kentucky never had to drive the length of the field. The Wildcats’ longest drive was 67 yards. Only two of their 13 possessions went for more than 50 yards. Just four U.K. offensive series covered as many as 35 yards of real estate. Had the Blue and White started in the neighborhood of their own 25 or worse as often as the ‘Dawgs did, Georgia would have won the game by at least two touchdowns.

As I noted earlier, the last two Saturdays have borne a disconcerting resemblance to the middle years of the 1990s, when beatdowns by the St. John’s River and shootouts in the Bluegrass State were the norm. I have to admit that it starts to look more like the rule than the exception when three straight opponents hang 38 or more points on the Bulldogs, but a couple of asterisks have to be appended to those tallies: Alabama hung 41 points on Georgia at home and every one of them accurately reflected the prowess of the opposing offense. The last three games were played in Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, and Lexington, and, in every one of them, the numbers artificially were inflated by garbage time yardage after the game was decided (at L.S.U.) or by offensive and special teams miscues (against Florida and at Kentucky).

There are problems in need of correcting; maybe there even are changes that need to be made among the members of Mark Richt’s coaching staff. Right now, though, we in Bulldog Nation have more immediately concerns. The Red and Black are 8-2, with two games remaining in which they may earn a New Year’s Day bowl berth, a top ten ranking, and a sixth ten-win season in a seven-year span.

Considering all of our lofty preseason expectations, that might not sound like much for which to play. I suspect a similar sentiment was heard in Tallahassee near the end of the 1992 season that was Florida State’s sixth straight ten-win campaign with nary a national championship to show for it . . . until the ‘Noles, with Mark Richt as their quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator, proceeded to finish No. 1 in the nation twice in the next seven years.

Forget about all that for now, though. Next Saturday, the Bulldogs will renew the Deep South’s oldest football rivalry when they travel to the so-called Loveliest Village to face an Auburn team that was tied with Tennessee-Martin---not Tennessee, but Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin---with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Now, as ever, there is nothing wrong with being a Georgia Bulldog that beating Auburn can’t fix.

Go ’Dawgs! Auburna delenda est!

Georgia Bulldogs 26, Tennessee Volunteers 14

T Kyle King — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:30:37 -0000

I enjoy an emotional game as much as the next fellow, but games that are about who is more fired up than whom wind up at one extreme or the other, as evidenced by the last two occasions on which the Bulldogs wore black jerseys when facing Yellowhammer State-based squads between the hedges. Because it is impossible to be emotionally inflamed for every challenging game---and the ‘Dawgs are at the point in the season at which every game is a challenging game---a team has to win some of them in strictly a businesslike manner.

So it was against Arizona State on September 20, and so it was against Tennessee yesterday afternoon. (Let us leave aside for now the fact that both the Sun Devils and the Volunteers now stand at 2-4; the Bulldogs have twice as many victories over Division I-A teams with winning records as our division rivals from Gainesville can claim.) Everywhere except on the scoreboard, Saturday’s Sanford Stadium showdown was a thumping.

How else do you describe a game in which Georgia holds the ball for over 42 minutes and gains 29 first downs to the Big Orange’s ten? How else could you characterize a contest in which the Red and Black converted more than half of their third downs (9 of 17) while holding the visitors to a one-third conversion percentage (4 of 12)?

Matthew Stafford connected on 25 of his 36 attempts for his first 300-yard passing day in a Bulldog uniform. Knowshon Rockwell Moreno became the first running back to rush for over 100 yards against the Volunteer defense this season. Meanwhile, Tennessee tallied a lone rushing yard---one; count it: one---and, even discounting Nick Stephens’s 15 lost yards on sacks, the tailback tandem of Lennon Creer, Arian Foster, and Montario Hardesty combined for 25 yards on 11 carries.

Tennessee twice threatened to climb back into the game, both times due to Georgia miscues (about which more forthwith), but the Bulldogs built up leads of 13-0 early in the second quarter and 20-7 at halftime in the course of amassing 458 yards against a fairly stout Volunteer D while holding the Big Orange to a measly 209 yards of total offense.

The day was far from perfect, of course, as evidenced by the Bulldogs’ 12-point margin of victory. After the indignities of the past two seasons, in which U.T. drubbed the ‘Dawgs once in Athens and again in Knoxville, this game could and should have been, at a minimum, 35-0.

A.J. Green just flat dropped a touchdown pass at the goal line for no good reason whatsoever. The defense missed a couple of shots at contest-clinching interceptions and failed to force a turnover all game. The penalties, which appeared throughout much of the first half finally to be under control, once again got out of hand in the second half, to the tune of 76 yards surrendered on eleven flags.

Stafford threw more interceptions (2) than touchdown passes (1), and both of the Georgia quarterback’s picks ended what would have been Bulldog scoring drives and led to what became the only Volunteer scoring drives; absent those two bad passes, the final score would have been, at worst, 32-0.

While I appreciate, respect, and even agree with the argument that it is better to be beaten deep than dinked and dunked to death, it isn’t any fun watching it happen to your team. My hope for Prince Miller is that he will turn out to be a latter-day Bruce Thornton---picked on unmercifully while experiencing growing pains before turning into a first-class defensive back---but, for now, it is painful watching him struggle in pass coverage.

Not all of the adversity the ‘Dawgs encountered was their own doing, of course. The unfortunate loss of Vince Vance was no one’s fault, naturally, nor was the fact that the S.E.C. officiating crew that sets new standards for incompetence set up the Bulldogs with third and goal on the three after a penalty that is supposed to produce an automatic first down.

In the end, though, there was much more to like than to dislike in Saturday’s performance. Mohamed Massaquoi had a great day and Demiko Goodman had a good one. The forward wall of the Georgia offense kept Stafford upright and able to throw, which was very impressive, considering the attrition in the Georgia ranks and the quality of the Tennessee defense.

In a not unrelated item, Brannan Southerland’s overdue return proved well worth the wait, and, not to be outdone, Shaun Chapas stepped up his game. Asher Allen remains Asher Allen and C.J. Byrd made some nice plays, as well.

While it’s unfortunate that Blair Walsh had to attempt four field goals, he split the uprights on all four of them, even though one of them was a bit harrowing and I’m not altogether convinced that the wind rendered it wise to let the third quarter expire before letting the true freshman try a 41-yarder at the other end of the field. Brian Mimbs returned to the form he displayed against South Carolina and we appear finally to be getting away from this nonsense of placing kickoffs anywhere other than the end zone.

I could have done with a few more touchdowns and I carry some sense of dread that another such effort of dominance on the stat sheet but not on the scoreboard will not suffice against L.S.U. or Florida or, heck, Vanderbilt. Nevertheless, the ‘Dawgs did what they had to do, converting critical third downs and closing the deal when the chips were down.

Clinging to a 13-7 lead and facing third and eight at their own five yard line, the Classic City Canines moved the chains to spark a drive that went 97 yards in nine plays, culminating in a touchdown with nine seconds remaining until halftime. After the Georgia defense later forced the Vols to go three and out, the Red and Black ran the ball 14 times in their next 16 plays, covering 76 yards and tacking on the game-icing field goal after taking eleven minutes off of the clock.

The Bulldogs played good football and moved the ball well on what is still a stout S.E.C. defense. I will admit that I am not unbiased upon this point, since my wife teaches with this particular walk-on’s father, but, for me, the emblematic play of the game is one you probably didn’t notice. On what I believe was Georgia’s last kickoff, Chad Gloer nearly made---arguably, should have made---the tackle that would have left the Volunteers with particularly poor field position, but, having missed his chance the first time, he got back up, gave chase, and made the tackle the second time. It wasn’t perfect, but it showed a refusal to let up and it got the job done.

The final score, while disappointing, was not surprising, particularly if you happened to read this weblog before the game. (Heck, I even picked the honorary game day captain correctly!) If you want to win a football game, you have to out-think, out-tough, and out-play your opponent. Georgia did that, and, anytime you can walk away from an S.E.C. football game with a win in your hip pocket, you’ve had a good day. I, for one, am not going to fret (for now) that the good was merely good and not great. When good is good enough, I’ll take it.

Go ‘Dawgs!