SB Nation - A.J. Green

SEC Power Poll All-SEC Results

Gamecock Man — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:16:43 -0000

The results for some of the SEC Power Poll All-SEC Results are rolling in. Check out Team Speed Kills for more information and check out the mentioned blogs for roll outs:

Quarterback: Tim Tebow (Alligator Army)
Running Backs: Mark Ingram, Dexter McCluster (Roll Bama Roll)
Wide Receivers: A.J. Green, Shay Hodge (Hey Jenny Slater)
Defensive Line: Terrence Cody, Antonio Coleman, Carlos Dunlap, Justin Houston / Cliff Matthews (War Blog Eagle)
Linebackers: Rolando McClain, Eric Norwood, Rennie Curran (Leftover Hot Dog)
Defensive Backs: Eric Berry, Joe Haden, Javier Arenas, Mark Barron (Gate 21)

LSU In Review - Week Five Vs. #18 Georgia

BSD — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:00:18 -0000

by John Bazemore - AP

2 months ago: LSU receiver Terrance Toliver (80) is stopped by Georgia's Bacarri Rambo during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

View full size photo »

Final - 10.3.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
LSU Tigers	3	3	0	14	20
Georgia Bulldogs	0	0	0	13	13

Complete Coverage >

In week five the LSU Tigers traveled to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in a game that would go a long way toward sorting out the SEC race. LSU had not won between the hedges since 1987, and Les Miles had never beaten the Bulldogs who came into the game with a #18 ranking despite an opening day loss to Oklahoma State.

If you fell asleep right after kickoff and woke up midway through the fourth quarter, you didn't miss much in this game. It was basically more of the same from what we saw out of the Tigers the first four weeks of the season. The defense smothered their opponent for much of the game while the offense did just enough to get by. Then there was a flurry of activity at the end with LSU somehow pulling out a win.

Georgia went three-and-out in their first possession giving LSU the ball at their own 37. The Tigers drove down the field largley on the back of a 34 yard pass from Jordan Jefferson to Brandon LaFell. But on 3rd and 4 at the Georgia 9 yard line, Jefferson threw a pick in the endzone to kill the drive.

Georgia ran the interception out of the endzone and got tackled at the two yard line. They puckered up with their back to the endzone and ended up punting from the five. A 14 yard return by Trindon Holiday set up the Tigers with a first down at the Georgia 43 yard line. By the way, did you hear that Holiday won the NCAA 100 meter dash championship? I'm sure the Capital One Bowl announcers will only remind us of that every time he touches the ball just in case you forget.

LSU drove down the field to get a first and goal at the Bulldog 9. But Charles Scott got blown up on a screen pass on second down for a one yard loss. Then Jefferson sailed a pass over the head of Terrance Toliver and the Tigers were forced to kick a field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Georgia strung together a few first downs and managed to flip the field position, but they had to punt and LSU took over at their own 20. To spark the team a bit, Miles put in Russell Shepard at quarterback, and he gained 26 yards on the first three plays from the Wildcat. The drive ended at the Georgia 22 when Charles Scott got stuffed for a two yard loss on 3rd and 1. Perhaps showing a little sign of redzone desperation, Les Miles tried a trick play on fourth down where LaFell jogged toward the sideline like he was coming out of the game but then lined up in formation. A slight delay in placing the ball by the officials allowed Georgia to spot him and run a man out to defend him. LSU was forced to call timeout, and then kicked the field goal to take a 6-0 lead.

After another Georgia three-and-out, LSU took over at their own 26 and made another nice drive down to the Georgia redzone. But another gaffe would cost them points. Again showing frustration with the redzone problems, Miles elected to go for a first down on 4th and 1 at the Georgia 9. With the play clock running down, Jefferson decided to hurry the snap rather than call another timeout. The quarterback sneak failed, and Georgia took over on downs.

Though LSU completely dominated the first half, they had to be disappointed that the first half ended with them only up by six points.

In the second half it was the Georgia defense that came out determined to dominate. LSU's first possession went backwards as Jefferson was sacked on three straight plays. The Tigers were forced to punt from their own two yard line giving the Bulldogs the ball at the LSU 44 yard line. But Georgia would later miss a 32 yard field goal to cut the score in half. LSU's next possession went three-and-out, and the third quarter would later run out with the Tigers only running six offensive plays.

Georgia took the ball at their own 40 yard line and finally got some mojo. An 18 play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes off the clock ended when Joe Cox found Shaun Chapas for a touchdown pass on 4th and goal at the 1. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 7-6 just as the fourth quarter began.

Both teams traded punts over the next four possessions, and then LSU began a drive at their own 12 yard line and went the length of the field in 12 plays. The drive ended when Scott smashed through the line for a 2 yard touchdown. A two point conversion attempt failed when Jefferson was sacked, and LSU took a 12-7 lead with 2:53 to go in the game.

Georgia responded with a drive of their own. An LSU defensive breakdown allowed a 46 yard pass to Tavarres King to get the Bulldogs in the redzone. Then Cox found A.J. Green who leaped over a defender to make a catch in the endzone. Georgia failed on their own two point conversion when LSU broke up a slant pass, so the Bulldogs took a 13-12 lead with just over one minute to go.

But Georgia shot themselves in the foot with an unsportsmanlike conduct that forced them to kick off from their 15. Holiday returned the kick 40 yards, and another Georgia penalty tacked on another five yards to give LSU the ball at the Georgia 38. Two plays later Scott slashed through the line and took it to the house for a 33 yard touchdown. Then in what appears to be typical SEC tradition, LSU drew an unsportsmanlike conduct making them kick off from the 15. But Georgia's final drive ended with an interception by Perry Riley, and LSU escaped with another ugly win.

It was another game where LSU dominated defensively but couldn't put their opponent away. They outgained the Bulldogs 368-274 in total yards and 154-45 on the ground. Jefferson finished the day 18-of-27 for 212 yards, but he was intercepted once and gave up six sacks, many of which were from him holding the ball too long. Charles Scott was the offensive hero on the day with 95 yards and 2 TD on 19 carries. But remember that 33 of those yards came on the winning touchdown. The two quarterbacks combined for 56 yards on 22 carries for the rest of the yards LSU gained on the ground.

Drive Chart

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Quotes From The Game

"I think our guys wanted to rush the football and certainly prepared last week to do so. I think it’s hard work. I think it’s attitude. I think it’s something that this team pointed at and achieved."

- Les Miles -

"I think our offense has confidence in Charles Scott. I think our offense has confidence in the ability to run the football. We just needed to do it and put it together. I think that’s a piece that we can’t lose. We can’t lose sight of it, and it must continue to grow, but I don’t know that Charles needed that. I can tell you that his team needed him to have that day."

- Les Miles -

"I would like to get some production in the sack area. I like, again, the position that our defense puts our team in and the opportunity to win a game on the road at Georgia. For me to say I need more sacks, I like the pressure that was put on. I like the opportunity to get turnovers. I like the opportunity to stop the rushing game. I thought our defense played well. Yes, I would like to have some more sacks but not at the cost of overall production."

- Les Miles -

"Part of me is tempted to say that Jordan Jefferson had a weak game. He certainly made some critical mistakes, and continues to struggle running the option. He just does not run it authoritatively. He gets too far into the backfield, and too close to the pitch man, making it easy for one defender to cover both him and the pitch, which defeats the whole purpose of the option. In the passing game, he would hold the ball too long, and would end up getting sacked when he could have thrown the ball to an open receiver or at least thrown the ball away to avoid a big loss."

-And The Valley Shook-

Georgia Bulldogs Punter Drew Butler Is Not Just Another Guy

T Kyle King — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:03:24 -0000

I was gently (and fairly) chided in the comments for failing to mention this fact, but the second-best Bulldog specialist in the Butler family is now officially the best punter in the country, as Drew Butler has brought home the Ray Guy Award.

Butler, the son of Hall of Fame placekicker Kevin Butler, consistently drew praise in Dawg Sports comment threads as one of the three best players on the 2009 Georgia squad. (Drew was deemed the Bulldogs' best special teams player while A.J. Green on offense and Rennie Curran on defense were regarded as the top players on their respective units.)

While we were glad to see Drew take the night off against Georgia Tech, all of us in Bulldog Nation were proud of his performance, as the Red and Black punter was one of the few consistent bright spots of the autumn.

No word yet on whether any Georgia fans plan to name a son "Drew" in Butler's honor, although I have a five-year-old nephew named Drew, and I plan to tell him he was named after the Bulldog punter and hope the boy is bad at math.

Congratulations, Drew Butler.

Go 'Dawgs!

Ags Headed To Independence Bowl

miketag — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:08:18 -0000

Texas A&M has accepted an invitation to play the Georgia Bulldogs on December 28th in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA. This was probably the toughest possible matchup that A&M could get, but I think in the long run it will be good for the program. If A&M is to return to the level of success that we all expect, we need to learn how to play with and beat the most talented teams in the nation. Playing a very talented UGA team will help get us to that level. Our freshmen need to see what kind of effort is needed to compete with and beat the Oklahomas and tu's of the world; beating Navy would do nothing to help in that area. Some may argue that a bowl win can do wonders for momentum in recruiting, but I would argue that developing the current players on our roster takes precedence. If we want to be a championship team, our defense needs to improve by leaps and bounds. Practicing for a month against the triple-option, as we would be if we were to play Navy, is not going to help develop our defense for next year.

As I previously stated, we have already won because we have an extra month of practice for our young team to get better. I expect some of our redshirting freshmen to make great gains during these December practices. Preparing for an offense with the athletes that UGA has will help our defense next season against Arkansas and the rest of the Big 12. Playing a defense with the size and speed that UGA has will help our offense perform at a higher level.

On a related note, three members of the UGA coaching staff have decided not to coach in the bowl game. This is suprising to me on many levels. I assumed the defensive coaches would use this game as an audition for future coaching positions. I was somewhat concerned because desperate coaches would likely use an aggressive gameplan in order to catch possible suitors attention. I have no idea how UGA will handle coaching the defense for the bowl game.

On offense, UGA definitely has the athletes to compete with any team in the country. They have a big RB in Caleb King who was nationally ranked coming out of HS. While he has failed to live up to his prep billing, he has had a solid season with 534 yds rushing and 5 TDs on 5.4 yds per carry. He is the type of big back that A&M has struggled to stop the past few seasons. Those of you who were there when we played Tennessee in the 2005 Cotton Bowl may have flashbacks to Gerald Riggs. Washaun Ealey leads UGA in rushing with 639 yds and 3 TDs (5.7 per tote) but has battled injuries. UGA's best offensive weapon and our defensive nightmare is WR A.J. Green. While Julio Jones was the number one rated player in the country in the '08 class, Green has been just as good or better since they both arrived in the SEC. Green had 47 receptions for 751 yds and 6 TDs. The triggerman for the UGA offense is journeyman QB Joe Cox. Cox completed 56 percent of his passes for 2426 yds and 22 TDs with 14 picks. Cox is a mediocre college QB. Unfortunately our defense can make even mediocre college QBs look like world beaters. If we can put consistent pressure on Cox, we can control their passing game and force some turnovers. We will need to win the turnover battle if we want to win this game.

The UGA defense allows 328 yds per game. They give up 200.6 passing and 127.8 rushing. Obviously they have not met expectations since half the defensive staff was fired. Statistically the player that stands out the most is sophomore DE Justin Houston who has had 15 TFLs on the year with 7.5 sacks. We need to contain him if we want to win the game. It should be interesting to see how our OL matches up with the athletes that UGA lines up after having faced Arkansas, OU, and tu this year. Our OL has improved as the season wore on. This game will be a great test and a great opportunity for A&M; hopefully we will be up to the task.

Georgia Bulldogs 30, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 24: Our Willie Outdistances Their Johnson

T Kyle King — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:18:26 -0000

At first, I did not believe.

I saw such upsets as the South Carolina Gamecocks’ win over the Clemson Tigers and the Mississippi St. Bulldogs’ win over the Mississippi Rebels, and I saw such near-upsets as the Alabama Crimson Tide’s close call against the Auburn Tigers and the Texas Longhorns’ close call against the Texas A&M Aggies, and I said, In each of those, the underdog had the advantage of playing at home.

I saw the Georgia Bulldogs go 74 yards in ten snaps---all of them running plays---for the opening touchdown at historic Grant Field, and I said, We looked good on the opening drive against the Oklahoma St. Cowboys, too.

I saw the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets held to three first-half points (and even those only after a Red and Black turnover at the visitors’ 40 yard line), and I said, The Engineers are a second-half team and Paul Johnson will make the halftime adjustments that allow him to out-scheme Willie Martinez.

I saw Demaryius Thomas break a couple of 2008-style arm tackles and take a third-down pass from Josh Nesbitt 76 yards for a touchdown on the opening series of the second half, and I said, I told you so.

Then I saw Caleb King go 75 yards for the score that put Georgia back out in front by two touchdowns on the very next play from scrimmage, and I said, This may happen.

As I indicated last night, I generally am pretty jaded where the Ramblin’ Wreck is concerned. I understand that the Yellow Jackets are our in-state rivals, but I was born in 1968, more than a decade after Theron Sapp broke the drought and a couple of years after Bobby Dodd retired. I have never seen a conference game between Georgia and Georgia Tech, but, in my first 40 years of life on this planet, I saw the Bulldogs beat the Golden Tornado 29 times. From 1991 to 2007, Georgia went 14-3 against Georgia Tech and 14-3 against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Then came 2008.

Since that time, I have had a Georgia Tech fan make a derogatory comment to me about Georgia while I was holding a piece of bread and she was holding the cup of juice into which I was waiting to dip the bread while receiving communion at church; I have had Georgia Tech fans in that same congregation who had not previously spoken to me in the entire time I have been a member there come up to me for the sole purpose of telling me how Coach Johnson had ended one winning streak and started another; I have had a Georgia Tech fan see my year-and-a-half-old daughter wearing a Georgia cheerleading outfit and say to her, "Are you ready to watch Georgia get their butts beat on November 28?"

These are the comments I’ve gotten from the Georgia Tech fans I like.

Accordingly, I feel safe in saying that no Georgia victory over Georgia Tech in my personal experience and my conscious memory has been quite so satisfying as last night’s was. This is so, in part, because of the level of sheer unmitigated obnoxiousness exhibited by Georgia Tech fans in the last year---a level unmatched by any fans of the Florida Gators, Tennessee Volunteers, or South Carolina Gamecocks I have ever encountered; a level unmatched by any Southern football fans I have ever encountered who were not fans of the Auburn Tigers (which is why I hate Auburn)---but also, in part, because Paul Johnson is an exceptional football coach who has molded the Yellow Jackets into a solid football team that will be an ACC contender for the foreseeable future. Georgia Tech is no pushover, nor will the Golden Tornado be during Coach Johnson’s tenure, which I expect to last for the remainder of his career. For the first time in my lifetime, we have ourselves a rivalry again.

That set of circumstances makes special a win that was not a fluke. Georgia led Georgia Tech in first downs (21-17), total offense (415-340), and rushing yards (339-205). It was a virtual dead heat in terms of penalties (each team drew five flags, with the Bulldogs being assessed 39 yards and the Yellow Jackets losing 35 yards) and time of possession (Georgia held the ball for 30 minutes and three seconds). At long last, the Classic City Canines came out ahead in turnover margin.

Joe Cox attempted only fourteen passes, but he completed eight of them to Red and Black receivers and none of them to Gold and White defenders. Caleb King and Washaun Ealey each averaged 9.2 yards per carry, with King gaining 166 yards on eighteen rushes and Ealey amassing 183 yards on 20 touches.

Georgia Tech had two weeks to prepare after running a late-season gauntlet of poor teams, while Georgia was playing without its best offensive player, A.J. Green, and (arguably) its second-best defensive player, Bacarri Rambo. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs stepped up, with four Georgia receivers posting double-digit receiving yardage.

For most of the game, it looked like the Red and Black won the coin toss and Mark Richt opted to have Paul Johnson call the visitors’ offensive plays while Mike Bobo handled those responsibilities for the home team. (Four straight incompletions to end the game? Really?) The Athenians ran the ball 44 times in 58 snaps and averaged 7.7 yards per rush to take the pressure off of Cox. To some extent, this was merely a happy fringe benefit of facing a questionable Georgia Tech defense, but it was nice to see the Bulldogs run the ball, with the result that the Classic City Canines won a game in which they never trailed.

Since tankertoad asked, I must say I agree with him on the third down call on the Bulldogs’ last meaningful drive. On the first six snaps of the series, Georgia ran the ball five times, all for positive yardage. The running game was working, picking up yards and running off clock. I’d have run the ball on third and four; had the play only picked up two yards---and every other running play on that drive had picked up at least two yards---Georgia would have faced the choice between a 49-yard field goal and going for it on fourth and two near the Georgia Tech 30 yard line.

I’m not going to criticize Coach Bobo too much for the pass play, though, because the first seven drives he directed produced three touchdowns and three field goals, and because sending Blair Walsh on to attempt a 55-yard field goal isn’t sheer lunacy, given his past accomplishments. Also, while we’re on the subject of the Georgia specialists, for all I can tell, Drew Butler may have spent his Saturday evening in Atlanta at the Cheetah with Kevin Butler. All right, he probably didn’t, but isn’t it nice to know our all-world punter was an arrow we were able to leave in the quiver?

Finally, to top it all off, the Bulldogs got the win without saving Willie Martinez’s job in the process. Georgia surrendered 21 points after intermission and was outscored in the second half, which demonstrates that, even though Coach Martinez came up with an effective game plan, his inability to make in-game adjustments remains a problem.

In short, I’m not happy with 7-5, and neither are you, but 7-5 is what I predicted back in the spring and it’s at least somewhat satisfying that, even in a down year, the ‘Dawgs can finish tied for second place in the SEC East and beat two of their three traditional rivals. Moreover, last night’s victory puts the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry into a new context.

Before, Yellow Jacket fans could claim---erroneously, yet with a straight face---that the hiring of Paul Johnson at the Flats marked a break point in the series, analogous to the hiring of Vince Dooley in the Classic City in 1964. Now, Bulldog fans can counter that, but for an ill-timed Richard Samuel fumble last year, we’d be sitting here today talking about Georgia going for a tenth straight series victory over the Ramblin’ Wreck in 2010. All of a sudden, "sea change in the rivalry" has dissolved and been replaced with "a lot of guys have won one in a row."

The best part of last night’s game, though, was Coach Richt’s anger after the Powerade bath and his terse insistence upon no smiles until the clock showed a trio of zeroes. In that moment, Mark Richt may well have found the happy medium he has been seeking.

What this program needs is not Evil Richt and not Hip Richt, but, rather, Righteously Indignant Richt. The adverb attests to the innate human decency and steadfast moral uprightness that cause us to admire Mark Richt and take pride in calling him our head coach, but the adjective indicates the hard-edged demand for discipline, execution, and performance that has earned men like Paul Johnson, Urban Meyer, and Nick Saban national championship rings.

Last night, in the image of Mark Richt victorious over a top ten team on the road, dripping wet, and hopping mad, we may have beheld the Coach of New Year’s Future, and the earliest inklings of the glory yet to come under the best head coach we have ever had. Mark Richt, like all Christians, isn’t perfect, but he’s working on it.

Go ‘Dawgs!

A Football Preview: Cornered Mongrel Edition

BirdGT — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:00:14 -0000

First, let's start by understanding the history of this rivalry. Read this article on wikipedia. I find it particularly interesting that the worst acts ever committed in the rivalry were by Georgie fans yet they claim they don't care about the rivalry. We belittle them in our fight songs but they question our patriotism in parades, throw rocks at our football team, and stab our mascots. There's a difference between supporting a good, old fashioned rivalry and poor behavior. Historically, Georgie loves to cross the line.

So let's look at some numbers from history that pertain to this coming Thanksgiving game:

1. When Georgie loses the week before Tech, they are 19-19-2 all time against Tech.
2. When Georgie loses to Kentucky in the regular season, they are 5-5-1 all time against Tech.
3. When Georgie travels to Atlanta, they are 30-23-4 all time against Tech.
4. When Georgie has a worse winning percentage than Tech in the regular season, they are 7-30-3 all time against Tech.
5. Combining all of the conditions, Georgie is 0-3 in seasons where they've lost to Kentucky, had a worse record than Tech, and traveled to Atlanta. Those seasons were 1947, 1949, and 1977.

Why has Georgie lost 5 games?
I'd say most Georgie fans would say that Georgia cannot hold on to the football. Looking into their turnover margin indicates a pretty desolate group of statistics. In I-A losses, the bulldogs had a -2.6 turnovers/game. In I-A victories, it was only -0.8 turnovers/game. So the bulldogs are making a lot of mistakes in winning and losing efforts.

Another talking point for bulldoggies is the play of their quarterback, Joe Cox. However, I'm not really buying the hate. Joe Cox is the second-best rated QB in SEC games this season just behind Chris Leak's backup. Bulldog fans came into this season knowing that Joe Cox was a career backup thrust into the limelight due to an early departure. They shouldn't have been expecting the second coming of Eric Zeier. Mark Richt can only recruit for what he does and doesn't have. You can't tell high school kids, "Oh that Matt Stafford will be gone by junior year." Sorry, that's not how it works.

The lack of a legitimate running back has limited Georgie big time. Their rushing attack is sporadic at best averaging 139 yards in I-A wins and 109 yards in I-A losses.

A look at the division of carries based on down and distance shows that UGA really doesn't have a primary back. Different guys have played in different games. There's a little more confidence in Ealey concerning play calling as he's getting more first down carries but for the most part plays are called the same no matter the guy in the backfield. To me, that means there's no game breaker back there if Richt and company haven't settled on a solid running back.

And honestly, putting all of the blame on a particular SA's shoulders is pretty lame. I'm a Blame-Pat-Nix-man so whenever my team's offense struggles, I blame the person directly responsible for game preparation, quarterback coaching, and overall offensive philosophy.

The Bobo Effect
I wanna attack Bobo's play calling like I broke down CPJ's earlier (I, II, & III). Due to limited time, this'll be slightly truncated.

If you look at Georgie's playcalling on the season, it's like a 10 year old losing in a video game. There's frustration when little yardage is gained on first and second down and the run is completely abandoned on 3rd down. Georgie passes 74% of the time on 3rd down. People call us unbalanced. At least we have an offensive identity. Bobo's idea of play calling is simple: run fail, run fail, pass, repeat.

The interesting thing about Paul Johnson's offense is that the offense is simply meant to gain yardage. If a defensive player misses a tackle, it's a touchdown. In passing offenses similar to Bobo's, plays are designed to achieve a certain amount of yardage thus limiting your play makers. A "pro-style" offense limits your playbook based on yardage and personnel. Hence, we see interesting trends in Bobo's pass play calls:

Looks are pass attempts to a certain player either completed, incomplete, or dropped (all kept by uga game stat keepers, blame them for mistakes). I was kinda amazed at the relatively low numbers for A.J. Green. It seems he's only really getting the ball on 1st down or in short yardage situations. I guess it makes sense that uga goes to A.J. or Orson Charles for those short yardage plays. I guess I just find fault in not utilizing your ONLY good offensive player more. Here's some perspective - Calvin Johnson caught 42% of GT's 2006 completed passes while A.J. Green has only caught 28% of uga's this season. The talent level disparity from 2006 Calvin to James Johnson is not that much different from A.J. Green to Michael Moore or Tavarres King this season.

Note (11/27 1:15 pm): FTRS reader Howell asked to see a breakdown of the progression of carries that the main running backs of georgie have received YTD. Well, Howell. Ask and you shall receive! It seems with Samuel's absence, both King and Ealey have seemed to have been told to pick up the slack.

Conclusion
I think GT will struggle against Georgia's passing offense but hopefully some Joe Cox misfires and sacks will keep GT's rushing attack consistently on the field burning clock. I'm worried about this being an FSU-type affair. Hopefully, Dave Wommack realizes people are really scrutinizing his defense these next couple of weeks. That means do your homework. Learn your opponents' tendencies, plays, etc.. Focus your defense. Now is not the time to give up 250-300 yards passing. Our common opponent, Vanderbilt, ran it up and down on us yet Georgie's lamented D handled them. Wommack, it's on you to stop Georgie.

Predictions

Bird: The combined scores from point #5 for those three wins are my prediction of Tech 30, uga 13.
Winfield: It is time to tell the mutts that we are in control. Make them piss themselves and make them leave Bobby Dodd early because of our celebrating. To Hell with Georgia. It's time to wipe them off the face of the Earth. 54-10 Jackets. TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!
Dane: We spot them a few, for a grand finale of 31-10.

Bulldogs vs Yellow Jackets coverage

Saturday Lessons: November 21

Year2 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:47:48 -0000

It's hard to argue against a late-season pseudo bye week.

I am philosophically against teams playing patsies this late in the season, but it's understandable why teams do it. Florida and Alabama got functional equivalents of bye weeks against FIU and Chattanooga, getting to rest the starters for a good bit and getting a breather after a long season. They also got an extra week to prepare for their in-state rivals before taking off for Atlanta to face each other. If I was a coach, I'd love it. As a fan who was deprived of good football on TV, I didn't love it. But, fans don't run the joint; we only pay for it.

Ole Miss replaces LSU as the No. 3 in the conference.

The Rebels survived LSU's comeback attempt (or benefited from Tigers' coaches trying to lose at the end; take your pick) and now stand as the third best team in the league. Sure LSU beat Auburn, and the Tigers from the Plains in turn beat Ole Miss. However, LSU has lost to the three best teams on its schedule and escaped against Mississippi State and Georgia. That about evens out Ole Miss' close loss to South Carolina, and the Rebels have the head-to-head edge. It's messy, but I think the guys from Oxford come out ahead.

The SEC is definitely down.

Two teams are undefeated in conference play, and the worst Alabama can do is 7-1. That's dominance, and it's a nice sign for the top of the league. What's not a good sign is that we're upset wins by Miss State and Arkansas over Ole Miss and LSU away from having no one else finish better than 4-4. Yeah, we've got 10 teams that are bowl eligible, but we got it largely in the same way the ACC gets nine or so every year: weak out of conference opponents and chaos that spreads the wins around within the conference.

The dearth of good teams out there means that most other conferences are like that too. The two juggernauts at the top help keep the SEC in the discussion for toughest conference, but the best out of conference win anyone has is Alabama's win over Virginia Tech and Bama's already one of the juggernauts. A South Carolina win over Clemson would help, but that only asserts the SEC as being better than the ACC, and that's never been in doubt. A lot have been assuming the Pac-10 as the best, but the best wins anyone has besides USC's victory over Ohio State out of conference are wins over teams like Central Michigan, Utah, and Minnesota. Hardly inspiring stuff.

Oklahoma is definitely down too.

It's one thing for OU to lose games to good teams with Sam Bradford out. That much is forgivable. However, Bob Stoops almost always shuts down Texas Tech because he used to employ Mike Leach and knows how the Cap'n thinks. Well, it didn't quite work this year with the Red Raiders smoking the Sooners 41-13. Bradford doesn't play defense, and that's a mighty bad loss.

Georgia probably had its back breaker.

After mumblings about whether Willie Martinez saved his job in UGA's win over Auburn, I think we can safely put them to bed. Kentucky didn't rack up a ton of yards, but the Wildcats had three sustained touchdown drives and the Bulldog defense couldn't force field goals when put in bad spots. And that offense... I know it's tough without A.J. Green, but committing four turnovers when you lose by seven is inexcusable. Once you start losing to Kentucky when up 20-6 at the half, the status quo can't remain.

We've been here with UGA though. In 2006, the Bulldogs went 4-4 in conference including a loss to Kentucky. However, that was with a promising freshman quarterback and against a far better Wildcats team. Georgia's 2006 non-conference schedule also supplemented its I-AA team with UAB, a sucky Colorado team, and a Chan Gailey-led Georgia Tech squad. They got to 9-4 that year. Things change when you supplement the I-AA team with a top ten Georgia Tech team under Paul Johnson and a top 15 Oklahoma State team. They're staring down the barrel of 6-6 now.

LSU might not have, but it could be close.

I can't honestly say that I follow the internals of the LSU fanbase on places like TigerDroppings.com and all, but I don't think Les Miles is quite in the same predicament that Richt is in over at Georgia. Richt is losing games handily from Sunday through Friday right now before his staff has the chance to make bad in-game decisions; Miles' teams haven't been blown off the field quite in the same way. Sure he lost the game with poor clock management, but every coach does every so often and Miles' team is still doing no worse than the Outback Bowl this year.

I guess the difference is that Richt is falling down from a peak he set, whereas Miles took over at the peak from someone else. That's a substantive disparity in the two men's positions. Safe for a year or not, ol' Les certainly doesn't look worth the clause in his contract that makes him the highest paid guy in the SEC. Barring a stunning turnaround, the only way this ends nicely is if Miles goes off to Michigan next season if UM fires Rich Rodriguez.

Arkansas makes the scoreboards sing.

The Razorbacks went for 40+ points for the seventh time this season, going 6-1 in those games. They're streaking to the end of the season after putting MIssissippi State away for good in the second half of Saturday's game. It's also true that the best wins Arkansas possesses are over teams that currently reside in fifth place of the East and West divisions, respectively. Still, they look like they have a good chance at beating LSU next weekend, and that would put them at a solid 4-4 in the SEC.

We'll see on that, but eight wins and a Cotton Bowl bid (UF and Bama to BCS, Ole Miss to Cap One, tiebreaker over LSU puts them in Dallas) would be significant progress over last year. It also sets them up nicely for next year if Ryan Mallett stays (and he should; he still needs some refining) and someone figures out the defensive problems.

Tennessee at least didn't lose to Vanderbilt.

The Vols of mid-October would have put 50 on the Commodores I think, but these are now the Vols of mid-November and they're not quite as good. Such is the life of a team in Year One of a coaching regime, especially when your roster is wracked by injuries and disciplinary casualties. You have highs. You have lows. You better hope you don't lose to the Vandys of the world, which Tennessee did not.

It's back to bowl territory for them, but they need to beat Kentucky week to finish in the top three of the East. Tennessee needing to beat Kentucky to avoid the bottom half of the division? Welcome to life in a down year of the SEC.

Kentucky Wildcats 34, Georgia Bulldogs 27: Chicken Little Was an Optimist

T Kyle King — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:42:50 -0000

Two weeks ago, my son was under the weather. Last week, my daughter caught what had ailed her big brother. This week, I took ill, and I felt worse and worse throughout the day on Saturday, leading me ultimately to the conclusion that I should eschew the season’s final home game and watch the clash in the comfort of my living room. Needless to say, that was a good decision, despite the fact that it forced me to listen to Bob Davie’s insipid commentary, in which he actually said, "We’ll get back to the game in a second" as a play got underway.

What is there to say about last evening’s sorry display between the hedges? In a night game at home, the Georgia Bulldogs held a two-touchdown halftime lead on the athletically overmatched and injury-riddled Kentucky Wildcats, who had not won in Sanford Stadium in more than three decades. The Red and Black should have won in a walk. Instead, the Classic City Canines failed in every phase of the game after intermission, repeating a litany of errors that has become so commonplace as to be comical in the course of losing a game that should have been put out of reach on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half.

Statistically, Kentucky never should have been in this game. The Bulldogs outperformed the Wildcats in passing yards (291-137), rushing yards (196-123), first downs (22-15), and time of possession (33:13-26:47). That ought to be a recipe for success, particularly for a team that has home field advantage on its side. The usual suspects reared their ugly heads, however, as two interceptions, two lost fumbles, and five fifteen-yard penalties, almost all of them at the most inopportune times imaginable, doomed the ‘Dawgs.

(Incidentally, while this game certainly cannot be blamed on the officiating, an out-of-place umpire greatly aided on one Wildcat score and the conspiracy theorists were given additional grist for their mill on Randall Cobb’s third-quarter touchdown, which did not draw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag despite his having noticeably and needlessly altered his stride en route to the end zone. Does anyone doubt that a Georgia player who did exactly the same thing would be penalized?)

Virtually every number indicates a Georgia victory. Joe Cox threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Washaun Ealey and Caleb King amassed 77 yards apiece, with each doing so on fewer than twenty carries. Tavarres King rose up in the absence of A.J. Green to make three catches for 109 yards, while Orson Charles and Rantavious Wooten both caught touchdown passes.

It was as though the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets---who had the week off, and who most assuredly were watching last night’s game unfold---had their voodoo dolls handy and asked themselves, "What is the most painful way we can cause the ‘Dawgs to lose?" They could not have done much better than giving Georgia a two-touchdown halftime lead, beginning a Keystone Kops-like second half with a fumble on the opening kickoff, and letting the contest unravel gradually with a game-tying 60-yard pass to Derrick Locke on which the Kentucky tailback zipped past several flailing would-be tacklers and scampered to paydirt with nary a Georgia defender near him, a ten-play Georgia drive covering 67 yards and nearly five minutes that ended in a fumble at the Wildcats’ one yard line, and a first-down interception on the Bulldogs’ last desperate possession.

The Classic City Canines were outscored 28-7 after intermission by a team that hadn’t scored more than 26 total points in any previous conference outing. The 34 points conceded to the Blue and White by Georgia put the Bulldogs in the same category with Louisville (which gave up 31 points to Kentucky), Louisiana-Monroe (36), and Eastern Kentucky (37). This is the state of Red and Black football.

This isn’t the worst season in Georgia gridiron history; it isn’t even the worst of my lifetime, or of my conscious remembrance. However, the ‘Dawgs could equal the seven losses sustained by the Red and Black in the disastrous 1990 campaign and no one who is not a partisan homer would suggest that the Bulldogs have any chance of avoiding embarrassment (much less of winning) next Saturday night at historic Grant Field. Our team is going to limp into the postseason at 6-6 to play in a meaningless game that has the potential to do as much psychological harm as physical good.

The last sixteen games, during which the ‘Dawgs have gone 9-7 and conceded 34 or more points eight times, have set this program back fifteen years. Our team hasn’t played four consecutive quarters of solid football in all three phases of the game since January 1, 2008. In the last four years, Georgia has gone 2-2 against Kentucky. We are where we were in the mid-1990s and we face a massive rebuilding job, one which will require replacing at least some of the contractors and masons currently assigned to the task.

In short, the loud thump heard in Athens last night was either the sound of the bottom falling out of Georgia football or the sound of Uga VII rolling over in his grave.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Random Thoughts From Around The SEC

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:25:33 -0000

More photos » by Dave Martin - AP

LSU coach Les Miles manages to make a boob of himself against Ole Miss. Don't act so surprised.

Browse more photos »

Usually at this time I run the Initial Impressions piece, but quite frankly the Tennessee-Chattanooga game was all of the uneventful blowout that the UA administration hoped it would be, and I really don't think enough is there to have a good piece on the subject. So, in its place, before Iron Bowl week kicks off with full force, I offer a few random thoughts from around the SEC:

The Les Miles time management fiasco was the worst coaching meltdown I have ever seen in my life. Even worse than Hallman against Auburn in 1994. And it's not just one bad decision, either. One mistake happens, but this is like eight mistakes all rolled into one. It was dumb to (1) throw the football on first down following the LaFell screen, (2) throw the football on second down that led to the sack, (3) throw a bad screen on third down, (4) not calling timeout with 26 seconds left, (5) not having the field goal team ready, (6) not having another play called beforehand, (7) having absolutely no contingency plan in place if you caught the ball short of the end zone, and (8) trying to spike the ball with one second left. Again, one bad decision happens, but eight bad decisions in the final minute of a game? I'm not kidding... that was the worst coaching meltdown I have ever seen in my life. And then throwing gasoline on the fire, apparently Miles lied about the whole thing afterward. At one point in the postgame he said that he didn't know who called the spike at the end, but apparently at the end video shows him calling the spike. If I hadn't seen this whole fiasco with my own eyes, I would have never believed it.
Readers of the meltdown piece will love the LSU meltdown this week, as it is arguably the greatest meltdown I've ever seen. Truthfully, though, every bit of that meltdown is completely and totally justified. It's not so much a stupid meltdown as it is an appropriate response. I tell you, had an Alabama coach pulled that stunt, I would have literally gone through the roof.
Now, as dumb as that decision was, that's not really what LSU fans should be concerned with moving forward. The real problem moving forward is that team continues to dramatically underachieve relative to its talent level, something that it has been doing for more than two years now. Since the 2007 Florida game, this team is now 10-10 in conference play and there is far too much talent on this team for them to be only a .500 team. And that was exactly what we saw against Ole Miss... outgained by 200+ yards, needing last-minute touchdown drives, two-point conversions, and onside kicks just to try to force overtime against a team with a fraction of the top-end talent and quality depth that LSU should have. In the grand scheme of things that is the real problem for the Bayou Bengals. Having a coach with a complete lack of time management skills is merely a secondary problem relative to that.
On a macro level, the worst coaching decision of the year has to go to Mark Richt. Joe Cox should have been benched weeks ago in favor of getting one of his highly-touted young quarterbacks but it never happened. Instead, Richt tried to win now -- but didn't -- and now he still has to break in a green quarterback next year. It's simply the worst-case scenario. And making matters even worse, A.J. Green will probably turn pro after the 2010 season, and the Dawgs will never be able to take full advantage of his incredible abilities.
Is there a more improved team in the SEC than Arkansas? I don't think so. With a win over LSU this weekend, the Hogs will move to 8-4 with likely a berth in the Cotton Bowl, despite playing arguably the toughest schedule in the entire conference. And not only have these guys improved relative to a year ago, they have also improved over the course of the season. I'm telling you, Arkansas is going to be a major threat in the coming years.
It's a shame that it took Houston Nutt more than half of the season to figure out how to properly use Dexter McCluster. If Nutt figures that out at the beginning of the season, Ole Miss is probably a 10-1 team right now and McCluster is likely the favorite to win the Heisman. Even so, it's hard to believe that after all of the Ole Miss criticism through most of the season, Ole Miss should nevertheless finish up at 9-3, the #3 team in the SEC, and with a berth in the Capital One Bowl. And, realistically, that is about as good as it gets for Ole Miss.
Is there a more underrated coach in the modern history of the SEC than Rich Brooks? As if three consecutive bowl appearances at Kentucky wasn't enough, he follows it up with a fourth consecutive bowl appearance. And even more impressive -- after road wins this year against both Auburn and Georgia -- Brooks can get his team to 8-4 and second place in the SEC East with a win over Tennessee. And oh yes, he's doing this with a true freshman at quarterback. Again, is there a more underrated coach in the modern history of the SEC than Rich Brooks?
Bowl selection in the SEC is going to be an absolute nightmare. The winner of the Alabama v. Florida game in Atlanta will play in the BCS Championship game, the loser will play in the Sugar Bowl, and Ole Miss will play in the Capital One Bowl. But the other seven SEC teams that are bowl eligible? Who really knows? You are looking at having about five or six teams that finish up at either 6-6 or 7-5. Good luck sorting that one out.

Georgia Bulldogs 31, Auburn Tigers 24

T Kyle King — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:30:06 -0000

Games between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers are not always close---see 2004 and 2007---but, historically, this has been a series hallmarked by tight ballgames, as befits a rivalry as ancient and storied as this one. Of the 113 clashes between these two teams, 49 have been decided by seven or fewer points. On average, more than two out of every five meetings between the Bulldogs and the Plainsmen have been nailbiters. So it was in Sanford Stadium last night.

Georgia recorded eighteen first downs and Auburn recorded eighteen first downs. Georgia converted five third downs and Auburn converted five third downs, which is baffling to me, since it seemed like the Tigers converted at least a dozen third-and-longs. Georgia ran the ball 38 times and Auburn ran the ball 38 times. Georgia tallied 342 yards of total offense, a mere 33 feet shy of the mark attained by Auburn. Had the Tigers held the pigskin for 47 fewer seconds, the time of possession would have been exactly even, which is remarkable, given the decided advantage the Plainsmen held in the early going. Despite the similar endings of the respective contests, this game, unlike the South Carolina game, was every bit as close as the score indicated.

It didn’t look that way from the get-go, though. Half an hour before kickoff, I entered Sanford Stadium accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread, assured of the doom that awaited the ‘Dawgs, and nothing I saw in the opening period disabused me of my dour preconceptions. Auburn opened the game with a nine-play, 74-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. Georgia responded by going three and out on an opening drive that lost four yards and included a Bulldog false start penalty. The Plainsmen proceeded to go 82 yards in eleven snaps to take a 14-0 lead and the Red and Black answered by picking up two yards in three plays before punting. In short, it was exactly the contest I anticipated it would be. After fifteen minutes of clock time had elapsed, the hedges were in jeopardy and the Tiger faithful were getting ready to party like it was 1999.

Joe Cox looked like Joe Cox at his worst . . . which is to say, he looked like Brandon Cox. Potentially big plays came up just short and the Bulldogs’ increasingly predictable menu of sweeps and screens routinely failed to gain. Willie Martinez’s defense played the way we have come to expect it to play. Seemingly one play out of every three went well for the Georgia D until the inevitable completion to the open receiver behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties. My 56-7 prediction wasn’t looking quite so outlandish as the second period got underway.

When we looked up at the scoreboard as the first half unfolded, we saw few statistics from which to take heart, but there were a couple for those among the Bulldog faithful who were willing to squint and search for them. Georgia had incurred fewer penalties and had shown at least a modicum of discipline, as when the defender very deliberately turned loose of the Auburn ballcarrier he had ridden out of bounds before drawing a flag for administering a late hit. The ‘Dawgs hadn’t moved the ball, but they hadn’t turned it over, either. It was, as my uncle has been known to remark, bad, but it wasn’t so bad.

Then Cox connected with Israel Troupe on a 50-yard touchdown pass to put Georgia on the board and allow the Classic City Canines to go to the locker room at halftime down by a single score. A 51-yard Blair Walsh field goal cut the deficit to four points and Washaun Ealey capped off a four-and-a-half-minute drive spanning 82 yards in eight plays with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs the lead. Son of a gun, we were in this thing! It had taken a decidedly lucky bounce on a would-be interception that turned into an Orson Charles reception, but the Bulldogs were out in front in a game that had appeared as though it might get out of hand.

Auburn wasn’t done, of course; the Tigers’ turnaround has been too genuine, and the spirit of the rivalry is too strong, for us ever to expect the Plainsmen to curl up into the fetal position at the first sign of adversity. A doinked field goal by Wes Byrum---whom Orson Swindle had told me at Tent City earlier in the evening that he would run down with his automobile if given the opportunity---sent the contest to the final quarter tied at 17.

Tavarres King redeemed his earlier drop of what ought to have been a touchdown pass by snagging a 47-yard reception on the first snap of the fourth stanza. One play later, Caleb King was in the end zone and the hometown heroes had retaken the lead. The Georgia edge lasted only as long as it took Demond Washington to take a pretty decent kickoff at the one yard line and weave 99 yards downfield for the tying touchdown.

The Bulldogs got the ball back and punted. The Plainsmen took possession and Reshad Jones intercepted a Chris Todd pass. A personal foul penalty against---wait for it---a team other than Georgia set up the Red and Black inside the Auburn 40 yard line. Three Ealey carries gave the ‘Dawgs a first down inside the 25 and Caleb King covered the remaining ground for a touchdown.

Once again, the Tigers refused to run and hide. Auburn held the ball for the next fourteen plays, running almost six minutes off the clock while marching 40 yards downfield. The Plainsmen picked up five first downs in the course of the drive, the last of which came on a fourth-down conversion that carried the visitors to the Georgia 22 yard line.

On first down, Ben Tate was halted for a one-yard loss. On second down, an electrified Sanford Stadium was given a severe scare when Bacarri Rambo went down after delivering the touchdown-saving hit that separated the intended receiver from the football. There were two more downs to be played, but, truthfully, the game was over when Rambo, strapped immobile to a backboard and lifted onto the cart upon which he would be whisked away to receive medical attention, raised his right arm and gave the crowd the thumbs up that signaled to us that he would be all right. There would be no 2005-like fourth-down heroics by the Tigers this night.

Inevitably, the Alabamians moved backwards. Cornelius Washington dropped Todd for a seven-yard loss on third down. Back-to-back Auburn time outs could not stop the roaring crowd from inducing perhaps the most flagrant false start in the history of college football. Todd’s final desperate toss on fourth and 23 fell incomplete, and all that was left was what my father calls "the prettiest play in football": your quarterback taking a knee to bleed the final seconds from the game clock.

I have yelled that loudly for that long, cheered that lustily and that elatedly, and applauded that strongly and that sincerely, in Sanford Stadium more than once before, but it’s been a while---actually, it’s been exactly two years, since the last time our guys beat these guys in this venue, in a game that yielded a victory only slightly more stirring than this one---and, despite what my head shrewdly tells me, there was no convincing my heart in that moment that there has ever been anything wrong with being a Georgia Bulldog that beating the Auburn Tigers couldn’t fix.

Oh, I know this doesn’t cure all our ills; a loss at historic Grant Field in two weeks appears all but certain, and a victory over the Kentucky Wildcats is far from a sure thing with Rambo and fellow injury victim A.J. Green sidelined for the duration. Nevertheless, for all the faults that fairly might be found with the Bulldogs’ performance between the hedges last night, I defy anyone to deny the truth of this statement: Georgia’s win over Auburn last night marked the best all-around performance by a Red and Black team since the win over Hawaii in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

The foregoing statement probably is more of an indictment of the 22 games that preceded last night’s triumph than a praise of this latest Bulldog victory, but, at this point, I’ll take it, warts (which admittedly and undeniably were there) and all. Maybe it was a "dead cat bounce" and maybe it was the start of a 2006-like stretch run, but, either way, it was a fourth straight win over our oldest and biggest rival for the first time in my lifetime, and that, in my book, is cause for celebration, no matter what the occasion.

After the game, I went into the Tate Center to use the facilities---in the course of a tense game against a major rival, I become so focused that I essentially experience a cessation of all bodily functions, so I tend to come down from the rarefied air of game day by exiting the stadium and realizing, "I have to go to the bathroom and get something to eat, stat!"---and I found myself in line behind an Auburn fan. Since we both were standing there, I thought the civilized thing to do would be to extend my hand and say, "Good game," so I did.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and sarcastically snorted, "Yeah, ‘good game.’" He refused to shake my hand. I didn’t say another word to him; he took care of his business at his urinal and I took care of my business at mine, but it was a satisfying exchange that confirmed the basic correctness of my prejudices against his kind and reminded me why this rivalry matters, why this victory matters, and why I hate Auburn.

Go ‘Dawgs! Auburna delenda est!