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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Good News, Bad News: Week 6

It's Tuesday, so that means it's time to share a little good news with you, and also to punch you in the gut with a little bad news, too. As always, we start with the bad news...

BAD NEWS: The last time Georgia lost two of its first five games was all the way back in 1996, Jim Donnan's first season when the Dawgs finished 5-6.

GOOD NEWS: If Georgia wins out the rest of the way, it will still be the SEC East champion. The only other team that can say that right now is Florida.

BAD NEWS: Georgia has 13 turnovers this season, and all but one came within four plays of a drive starting. The Dawgs also have 14 three-and-outs this season. Add those together, and Georgia's offense is off the field in four plays without getting points on 40 percent of its drives this year.

GOOD NEWS: The refs admitted they blew the call for excessive celebration against A.J.

BAD NEWS: They completely missed this one -- and it resulted in a nasty headache for Caleb King. Seriously, Reshad Jones must be wondering what he did wrong when he gets flagged for seemingly clean hits and that one goes unpunished.

GOOD NEWS: Georgia had zero penalties in the first half last week.

BAD NEWS: Georgia had seven penalties in the second half, and one of them had to be apologized for by the refs two days later.

GOOD NEWS: Tennessee is starting its week off on a bright note. Ah, Lane, you run a tight ship, buddy.

BAD NEWS: I forgot to link to this story earlier, but the actual story is good news for Georgia's women's golf team and head coach and Macon native Kelley Hester.

GOOD NEWS: Joe Cox can indeed stretch the field, despite what people seem to still be saying. Check out the yards per completion from SEC QBs this year...

QBYPC
Comp%
Mallett 17.13 54.47
Todd 15.18 58.70
Tebow 14.61 64.71
Cox 14.22 59.03
McElroy 13.92 65.55
Snead 13.48 51.43
Jefferson 11.50 62.50
Lee 11.48 54.72
Garcia 11.13 60.00
Crompton 10.98 54.67
Smith 10.64 46.48
Hartline 9.60 60.18

Looks like Cox is making big plays when he needs to without much problem. Only the big-armed Mallett and Auburn's Chris Todd -- who hasn't exactly played the stiffest of competition so far -- are significantly ahead of him.

Add to that Cox's 59.03 completion percentage, and things look even better. That's good for sixth in the SEC, but above him on the list are Hartline, Jefferson and Garcia, who clearly aren't throwing deep as often (as evidenced by their low YPC).

Combine the two and it looks to me like the best combination of accuracy and ability on the deep balls are Tebow, McElroy and Cox. Two of those three are on top-three teams. One is playing on an offense with zero running game, just three scholarship receivers being used and virtually no offensive experience at the skill positions. (Albeit, he does have A.J. Green)

BAD NEWS: Georgia is getting killed in time of possession this season, holding the ball for just 140:35 through five games -- or just a shade over 40 percent of the time. In the Dawgs' two losses, they have the ball, on average, almost seven minutes less than the opponent.

GOOD NEWS: Georgia may have finally found an answer to its tailback issues in Washaun Ealey, who looked impressive in the second half against LSU.

BAD NEWS: Georgia is still 105th nationally in rushing offense, at just 3.29 yards per carry. Tennessee, on the other hand, is fourth in the SEC at stopping the run.

GOOD NEWS: If Ealey does become a star, a lot of folks will already have his jersey.

BAD NEWS: He says he doesn't plan to keep No. 24 next year. He wanted No. 3 and he plans to switch to it after Bryan Evans graduates.

GOOD NEWS: You can follow the producers of "Lost" on Twitter.

BAD NEWS: There's still five months left before I have a reason to care about what they tweet.

GOOD NEWS: Georgia has played Tennessee following a loss just once since 1993. That was last year, and the Dawgs dumped the Vols 26-14.

BAD NEWS: Georgia is out of the top 25 for the first time since 2006, despite its two losses coming at the hands of two top-10 teams.

GOOD NEWS: We've got another week to watch football, and there's almost no way this trip to Knoxville can be worse than the last one.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brandon Wheeling is playing a significant number of snaps. This is absurd.

Unknown said...

Good news. The offensive line is protecting Cox great. Good news. Jones is playing great a safty. Good news. Our freshman and R freshman are playing great.

Try to stay postive posters. It helps our recruting. I love the DAWGS win or lose. I get just as mad at them when they play badly. They will play better. 2 years ago we were in the same place at this time of the season and ended up number 2 in the country.

Anonymous said...

2 years ago, we had Stafford and Moreno. Nevertheless, I get your point and will remain upbeat and excited....it would make it that much sweeter without those guys if we do take care of business.

TEAM

Anonymous said...

Brandon Wheeling is not a problem. Watch the kid play instead of assuming he can't because he was walk on. He's playing as well or better than some of our big recruits.

Anonymous said...

GOOD NEWS - #3 will be available for Ealey because will finally rid ourselves of B Evans!!!

Army Dawg said...

So the officials see a flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct (that 96,000+ and millions of tv viewers didn't see) but they don't see a player leading with his helmet which results in a Georgia player getting a broken jaw. If I were going to use a picture to train refs what to look for as an example of using the helmet as a weapon, that hit on Caleb King would be the only picture you would need to see.

I need to get another Saturday behind me because the last one is driving me up the wall of my office cube.

Jon Martin said...

Good News: Winning covers a multitude of sin (bad coaching, playing, etc.)
Bad News: Georgia is not winning right now