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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Fleeting thoughts: After Kentucky

So it’s Florida week. Not sure if any of y’all were aware of that. File that away if you need something to do next Saturday afternoon.

I'm thinking of going, as long as that riveting Giants-Rangers matchup in the World Series doesn't suck the wind out of me.

Georgia enters the cocktail party on a three-game win streak, and having outscored its opponents 128-45 in those games. The Bulldogs are finally looking like the team they were expected to be.

But have they convinced everybody that they’re truly back? Not quite yet, I suspect. Winning at Kentucky is more impressive than the home routs of Tennessee and Vanderbilt, but Saturday’s win came in a sloppy fashion.

That said, turnovers count. (And because of that, a bunch of Bulldogs don’t have to shave again this week. Tune into the World Series this week, and you might see Fred Munzenmaier out there in the Giants bullpen.) The Bulldogs may have been out-gained by Kentucky, but they also had a ton of short fields. The Wildcats may have rallied, but it was never a one-possession game after the first quarter.

So, as we prepare for the onslaught of Florida week hype and analysis, a quick look back at how Georgia got back to .500:

QUARTERBACKS: Is it weird to say someone quietly had a quiet game? Well yeah, it probably is, but that’s how I’d sum up Aaron Murray’s performance. It was his worst passing yardage game of the season, and he didn’t have much substantial run yardage. But with his team jumping out to a 28-3 lead via short fields, Murray’s only job was to not screw up. Mission accomplished. … B.

RUNNING BACKS: Washaun Ealey’s record-setting performance looks a lot flashier on paper (five touchdowns, 157 rushing yards). In reality, Ealey was a workhorse, carrying the ball 28 times, hitting the line hard and getting a push on his runs. He also didn’t fumble. Carlton Thomas (13 yards on six carries) filled his change-of-pace role very well. Now with Caleb King back from his suspension, the Bulldogs have some interesting decisions to make on who carries the ball in Jacksonville. … A.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: Someone asked Murray after the game why there weren’t many downfield throws. Murray smiled and pointed out in so many words, Hey, why would we have bothered? A.J. Green (six catches for 86 yards) still put up his usual numbers, but with the exception of a 34-yarder in the second half, he got his yards on receiver screens. Rantavious Wooten (2 catches for 15 yards) and Tavarres King (1 catch for 12 yards) were the only others who caught passes. … B.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Murray was never sacked, and Ealey had enough holes. Josh Davis earned back his starting spot, at least for this game, while Trinton Sturdivant came off the bench, but he did play. Kenarious Gates got to play at Kentucky, the team he was committed to until two days before signing day. The results for everyone seemed positive. … B+.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Kentucky shouldn’t have been able to run well without Derrick Locke, and it didn’t. Never mind backup Raymond Sanders’ stats (79 yards on 16 carries). He got 21 of those on one carry, and most of his positive yardage came late. DeAngelo Tyson, the starting nose tackle, got to Mike Hartline on the game’s first drive, helping to force the first fumble. Hartline was sacked three times, half as many times as he had been sacked before Saturday. Most of Georgia's pressure was the edge rushing, but the front three appeared to get a lot of push too. … B+.

LINEBACKERS: Justin Houston was credited with 2.5 sacks to expand his SEC lead. He now has nine on the season. Akeem Dent had 15 tackles, 12 of them solo. Even Marcus Dowtin, starting for the first time this season, came through with six tackles, four of them solo. More importantly, Kentucky star Randall Cobb wasn’t much of a factor, which is due in large part to the linebackers staying on key and keeping the outside bottled up. … A-.

SECONDARY: This has become quite the hit-or-miss unit. They either make big plays or give them up, and there isn’t much in-between. Sanders Commings had a pick and a fumble recovery and Bacarri Rambo forced a fumble. But in the second half there were a lot of misses, allowing Kentucky to stay alive for longer than it should have. Even in the first half – on the first drive – Kentucky converted on four straight third-and-longs. … C-.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Brandon Boykin finally broke one, as he had seemed on the verge of doing for a few games now. Punter Drew Butler (50.7 yards on three punts, two inside the 20) was fantastic. The kick coverage kept Cobb from breaking anything. The only blemish was Blair Walsh, who missed an extra point for the first time in his college career, and also missed a 47-yarder. I understand from Walsh’s Twitter feed that his NFL fantasy football team is struggling this year. Maybe it’s affecting his own play. I’ll have to ask. … B+.

COACHING: The Bulldogs got their first road win of the year, against a team that had just won at home against a top 10 team, and nearly knocked off another. That says something. The season’s ultimate swing game now awaits in Jacksonville. … B+.

18 comments:

Willb said...

Justin Houston has been a beast this year! I wonder if he would consider leaving early for the NFL draft? He wasn't projected too high but as each game goes by that changes. If he stays he has a chance to break David pollacks 36 sack record. Houston currently has 19 I believe.

Also any word on ealey? I know he said he was ok but is there anymore news on that? I thought he had torn his acl for a second but then he was right back in there looking for that sixth td. He's played great now that he knows he is going to be just about the only back. Caleb doesn't appear to be in the same league as ealey as far as running goes in my opinion. It's just kings seems to do everything elsse better. Blocking catching doesnt fumble as much.... Anyways I hope we stick with one back from here out with ealey being that one back.

Jim said...

We have beat Vanderbilt, a rebuilding Tennessee, and Kentucky, all of whom we should beat. We are 4 and 4. Since 2006, we have been an underachieving team. Let's wait and see what we do with Florida and Auburn!!

Willb said...

I agree if we beat auburn then we can say we have done something. Fla is having a very down year. Very similar to ga only ga had it's down part of the season early. We might even be favorites against fla.

The thought of this defense going against cam newton is a scary thought. He's like tebow 2.0 and we all know what tebow did to us two out of three times. My thought is that this auburn team does not have a def any where near the talent that those tebow fla teams had. We could hang in a shootout with auburn if it came to it.

We have beaten two bad sec teams one decent yet scary sec team. Fla might not be any better than Kentucky this year but these are all still quality wins. Were blowing these teams out. Atleast were not winning close games with these bad teams were playing. If somehow we continue on this pace and win out or even if we get one more loss I will still be very impressed and excited for next year.

It's just sad that this team might of realized it's potential a little too late.

Moggs said...

I'll trade an Auburn loss for Gator SLAM!

Rick said...

While winning the East is a possibility, I don't think it's going to happen. There are too many factors we don't control.

Just beat Florida and Tech. That's two things we DO have control of. I don't care what else happens as long as we do that.

GATA!

South FL Dawg said...

I'd settle for just beating Florida.

Can we get an injury report btw?

Willb said...

I would take a fla win over an auburn or any other win anyway! This fla rivalry has really been one sided for a while now.

I don't think there fans or coaches take us very seriously. It's not really a rivalry game if one team is winning almost all the games. I still remember that 07 win over fla! Better euphoria than any drug could ever give!

Anonymous said...

Jesus, Willb. Give it a rest.

Bryan said...

Willb, don't listen to him you actually have said everything I was thinking. It wasn't very pretty on defense, but that's what happens when your offense only has to take the ball 30 yards to score a touchdown. Guys are bound to get tired towards the end and that's exactly what happened.

Anonymous said...

Of course he states the obvious, that's the problem.

Willb said...

Dude anon 3:56 what's your problem with me? It's getting kind of weird man. I can't imagine what I posted that bothered you this time. Just my random thoughts after a game just like everyone else.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that most of you would trade awin for a loss. what about expecting a win every week. Yea I know we are are in a somewhat rebuilding yr but you have to expect exellence or else it won't happen...I must have higher expectations...just win em all nothing else matters...

Willb said...

I don't think most are serious when they say they would trade a win. We all expect ga to win every game. It's just beating fla is a little different than beating most other teams. As much as were told in sports a win is a win no matter who it is there are games like this that mean a little more. I know i get more amped up for the fla game and I get pretty crazy for every ga game. It's like my mini iron bowl. Although I don't think there is a rivalry in sports that comes close to the actual iron bowl.

Also for me it seems most of my customers are either sc fans or fla fans and I want bragging rights over at least one of them this year dammit! I just don't run into too many Kentucky or Vanderbilt fans.

Anonymous said...

More great insight, Willb.

Doug said...

anon 6:23 you being sarcastic? I feel the same way about the Georgia vs. Florida game willb. We don't really have anything like the iron bowl here in Ga. Ga Tech is just a bunch of damn nerds so Fla is our big game by default! We beat the Gators and I'll be a happy man.

Anonymous said...

I know FL is a big game every yr, but I also think that we put too much emphasis on it like it is the end all be all...the players read this stuff and it just permiates down to them.. It's just another game. Bragging rights are one thing but winning the game is the other....just win ea game and every thing else will take of itself...you can only controll whatever is in you controll.......

Bizzaroneck said...

No offense Anon, but you are insane if you think any of our players can read.

Cleve said...

I think the most underrated play in the game was the one where Shawn Williams punched the ball out of bounds on the onside kick. A very heads up play by the young player and one that might have dramatically changed the game had it gone the other way. I think that play deserves a lot of attention in this great win. Go Dawgs GATA!