Two-A-Days: LSU Tigers

Two-a-Days rolls on with our sixth installment, in which we take a closer look at the LSU Tigers.

To read previous entries, click HERE.

LSU in a flash:

Head Coach: Les Miles, 6th season
2009 Record: 9-4 (5-3 SEC), lost to Penn State in the Capital One Bowl
2009 Stats: Total offense, 304.54 ypg (12th SEC, 112th nationally), Total defense, 327.62 ypg (6th SEC, 26th nationally)
Coaching Changes: The offensive staff was largely overhauled with former Tennessee assistant Frank Wilson taking over for Larry Porter as running backs coach (and recruiting coordinator), Billy Gonzoles, formerly of Florida, taking over passing game coordinator and WR coach duties from D.J. McCarthy and tight ends coach Don Yanowsky leaving in favor of former LSU QB Steve Ensminger, who had previously worked at Auburn and Georgia.
Starters Returning: Offense (6), Defense (4), Special Teams (2)
Key Player Losses: KR Trindon Holiday, DE Rahim Alem, S Chad Jones, OT Ciron Black, WR Brandon LaFell and RB Charles Scott
Big Games: West Virginia (9/25), @ Florida (10/9), @ Auburn (10/23) and Alabama (11/6)
Non-Conference Slate: North Carolina (9/4, in Atlanta), West Virginia (9/25), McNeese State (10/16), Louisiana-Monroe (11/13)

LSU was probably the third-best team in the SEC last season, yet for many Tigers fans, it still felt like a bit of a disappointment. Les Miles will have his work cut out for him in 2010 with the departure of many key figures on both sides of the ball, but the Bayou Bengals still have some solid parts to work with.

As to how things are going in Baton Rouge, I checked in with LSU beat writer Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans Times-Picayune to get some answers…

David Hale: Without some of those veteran receiver threats and without Charles Scott in the backfield, the pressure will surely be on Jordan Jefferson to take a step forward in 2010. Has he embraced that role this spring, and what are your expectations for him going forward?

Jim Kleinpeter: Actually Jefferson has not progressed as much as the coaching staff had hoped. He still seems to struggle making decisions in the pocket and is much better on rollouts. Some insiders say Jarrett Lee outperformed Jefferson throughout the spring and that was the case in the spring game, which is the only time the media saw the players in scrimmage situations.

DH: Despite having an All-SEC performer in Ciron Black last year, LSU's offensive line was among the worst in the league. Has the line shown signs of improvement this spring? And has Les Miles' emphasis on improving the running game helped build some momentum for the guys up front?

JK: The offensive line should be a case of addition by subtraction. Ciron Black was the unit's best player but simply had a bad year. He was overweight and battled sore knees. The other senior Lyle Hitt probably should have been benched but Les Miles is loyal to his seniors. This year's line should be more athletic, better able to get downfield and move laterally. Running the ball was heavily emphasized during spring and two backs went over 100 yards in the spring game. There was a general emphasis on being more physical.

DH: I'm guessing a few more LSU fans will be clamoring for Russell Shepard to see plenty of action this season. How is Les Miles planning to use him this year?

JK: Shepard is anchored at wide receiver but will still get the ball as a running back and occasionally run the wildcat. He's going to be on the field more rather than coming in and out as the situation dictates. Miles said this will make it more difficult for the defense to know from play to play how he's going to be used. He looked great in the spring game. LSU is hoping he can become its version of Percy Harvin.

DH: John Chavis did a nice job of turning around the defense in 2009, but he'll need to find some replacements for departed stars like Rahim Alem and Chad Jones. Who stood out this spring that might be ready to step into a bigger role this season?

JK: LSU's defense should be better overall from being in the second year under John Chavis. His defense was new and significantly different. The biggest standout has been redshirt freshman DE Sam Montgomery, who was constantly in the backfield in the spring game. Also, Stefoin Francois takes over at the hybrid linebacker spot, where the player is actually a safety. Harry Coleman played there last year to great effect. Jai Eugene, who started at cornerback last year, has been moved to free safety, giving LSU two former cornerbacks at the safety position and better overall speed on defense. That move was made possible by the emergence of CB Morris Claiborne.

DH: Generally I consider the "hot seat" talk surrounding coaches who are proven winners as more bluster than reality, but Les Miles certainly heard a good bit of it a year ago, despite the 9-4 record. Miles has overhauled both his offensive and defensive staff in the last couple of years. He made some serious tweaks to spring practice in terms of competition and physicality. And while there's still lots of talent in Baton Rouge, he will need to replace some accomplished veterans. So, is it fair to ask if Miles might be feeling some heat?

JK: There is absolutely heat on Miles and it may get hotter early. LSU plays a North Carolina team with 19 returning starters in the season opener in Atlanta. Losing that game will increase the scrutiny. LSU also has to play West Virginia non-conference and travel to Florida, Auburn and Arkansas. On the other hand, Les made some great assistant coach hires for the second straight season and I think some of the seniors who are gone took some baggage with them that dragged the team down the last two seasons.

***

Is it just me, or does that last part sound a lot like what was said at Georgia last spring? For Miles' sake, he should hope things go better in Baton Rouge in 2010 than they went in Athens in 2009. In any case, many thanks to Jim for all his insight into the Tigers. You can read his LSU coverage for the Times-Picayune HERE, check out his blog HERE or follow him on Twitter HERE.

So, do you think Miles will be getting his walking papers in 2010 or will the addition by subtraction keep LSU in BCS contention?

And don't forget, we'll be wrapping up Two-A-Days with an in-depth look at Georgia, so if you have questions you want answered, leave them in the comments section here or send me an email at dhale@macon.com.

NEXT UP: Florida on Friday morning.

Grading the Game: LSU

As always, I've put together my position-by-position grades for this week's game. I usually ask at the end for your thoughts on where I went wrong or what your grades might be, but I think T Kyle King sums that question up properly in his post from this weekend. The bottom line is, a lot went right against LSU and a lot went wrong. And whatever you thought of Georgia before the game, you can probably find plenty of evidence to support those claims still. The only thing that's really important now is whether or not Georgia fixes the problems you all have critiqued and emphasizes the immense talent they clearly have.

In the meantime, let's hand out some grades...

QUARTERBACK: I wrote extensively about Joe Cox earlier today, so I won't get into all the gory details again. Instead, just mash your mouse HERE and read my synopsis.

The bottom line is this: Cox didn't play his best game on Saturday, but there is absolutely no reason to think Logan Gray would have improved the offensive effort in the first half. In the second half, Cox was very good, and the drive to put Georgia back on top with 1:09 to play was truly remarkable.

Fans should be thrilled to have Cox as their QB this season, not angry.

Final Grade: B-

RUNNING BACKS: Trivia question for you: Who had Georgia's longest run of the day against LSU?

I'll give you a second to think about it rather than rush you through a decision like they do during that Uga VII hiding behind the french fries game at Sanford Stadium.

Give up? It was Joe Cox, who picked up eight yards on the ground on a scramble in the third quarter.

OK, that's not entirely fair. Washaun Ealey also had an 8-yard run in the game to tie Cox for the day's longest dash, but I think the fact that one of the team's slowest players tied for its longest run speaks volumes.

The Bulldogs finished the game with just 45 yards rushing on 24 carries, which works out to 1.87 yards per carry. Caleb King had seven yards on eight rushes. Richard Samuel, who was absent for almost the entire second half, picked up 11 yards on four carries. For the second straight week, Carlton Thomas didn't see the field.

The complete lack of a running game totally disrupted Georgia's offense. The Bulldogs got nothing on first and second down, were forced to pass far more than they wanted because the ground game wasn't working, and the end result was that, of Georgia's 17 third-down plays, 14 required six yards or more to pick up the first. The fact that Georgia actually converted seven of them is borderline amazing.

The only silver lining was Ealey, who coaches supposedly planned to play all week, but who didn't see his first action until midway through the third quarter. Once he did get in the game, he managed to look like a weapon, which is far more than King or Samuel could accomplish against LSU's aggressive front four. Ealey picked up 33 yards on eight carries and was the spark that got Georgia's offense moving in the second half.

The problem was that Ealey couldn't pass block. When it came time to throw, the true freshman trotted to the sideline and King returned to the game to pass block. It was a patchwork system to say the least, but it's what needed to be done at the time. Still, it's no longterm solution. The Bulldogs either need to roll with Ealey in all situations or find a way to get King going on the ground because they can't telegraph the play call by swapping personnel.

A few other notes on the running backs:

-- With King in as a pass blocker late, he managed to grab three passes -- all screens or dump-offs. Every one of them went for a sizable gain, and he finished with 30 yards receiving in the game. I had at least five people comment or email me last week leading up to the game saying something to the effect of LSU's defense plays too aggressive and Georgia can kill them with the running back screen. So if that many people knew this in advance, and their prediction turned out to be accurate, why did it take three full quarters before Georgia's coaches started calling it?

-- Shaun Chapas deserves some kudos for a nice catch on Georgia's 2-yard touchdown on fourth down that put the Bulldogs up 7-6. It was far from the best throw in the world, but Chapas got the job done. Great play call, great grab.

-- And finally, here's an interesting question I got from a reader named Chris: "While there are a host of issues that are contributing to UGA's rushing woes … I think it's interesting that I've heard little (if any) mention of who's coaching the running backs, Bryan McClendon. I thought it was an interesting (that word again) move that the coaches made in hiring an extremely young, unprovenm former average wide receiver from within the program to coach the running backs."

I was among the masses to applaud the McClendon hire when it happened for several reasons. For one, he was widely credited for Georgia's improved receiver play in 2008 when he was working as a graduate assistant. Secondly, he was a younger guy that might relate a little better to the occasionally emotional Caleb King, whereas Tony Ball had been awfully rough on King for two years. Third, Stacy Searels, roundly considered Georgia's most reliable assistant, was taking over the job of "running game coordinator," so he'd be doing much of the heavy lifting.

Looking back now, it probably is fair to wonder if this was the right move at the right time at the right position. With so much turmoil on offense and a stable of young and unproven backs, why not let Ball stick with his position for one more season and let McClendon handle the receivers for another year?

In truth, I have no idea how much this has affected the performance of Georgia's tailbacks (or Marlon Brown and Israel Troupe, for that matter) but I do know the results have not been there yet, and McClendon (and Searels) will not be immune from the criticism for long if the trend continues.

Oh, and one more thing on the tailbacks: I have been told, although not confirmed through Georgia SID's office, that Caleb played much of the second half of that game with a broken jaw. Claude Felton reports that Georgia will not have a full injury report until late today, so there won't likely be confirmation on that until tomorrow, but that should go a long way to dismissing those questions about the kid's toughness.

Final Grade: D (brought up by Ealey's decent late-game performance)

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: What more can be said about A.J. Green that we didn't say last week -- and the week before and the week before that?

The kid is simply amazing. He hauled in five catches for 99 yards and a miraculous touchdown in a game in which his coach admitted would provide him with one of his best defensive matchups of his career. Georgia had essentially nothing going offensively, LSU knew Green would be the Dawgs' primary target, and yet Green still managed to pick up 99 yards -- and the number would have been a lot higher if Cox had been on target with a deep ball that sailed over Green's head after he beat his man downfield.

I'm out of superlatives. Just suffice it to say that Green is a truly special player, and you should be sure to appreciate every reception you get to witness.

(And by the way, I'm certain Green deserves to be in the Heisman debate, but he's a longshot at best. Still, watching Lou Holtz drench the teleprompter Saturday night during an absurd monologue on how Jimmy Clausen should be the Heisman favorite right now made me want to vomit.)

Tavarres King had a huge catch on Georgia's final drive and Orson Charles picked up a crucial third down in the second half, but beyond that, Georgia got next to nothing from its receivers. Rantavious Wooten was used twice as a runner -- once with dreadful results -- but was rarely a factor in the passing game. Mike Moore was completely absent for the second straight game.

Also, fun trivia question for you (to which there is no real reasonable answer): Why has Marlon Brown been relegated to the sidelines for the first five games, but on what appeared (before an overturned call that ended the game) a crucial fourth-and-16 to keep the game alive, was Brown on the field? He's good enough to be out there on the most pivotal play of the game because of his size advantage, but that advantage is not worth using at any other point in the game? Or he's out there because something on clicked for him on the sideline during the fourth quarter that suddenly made him a reliable receiver? I just don't know.

Final Grade: C+ (with the lack of production from everyone else offsetting another spectacular performance from A.J.)

OFFENSIVE LINE: This is always the portion of the grades I struggle with. I know what I see on the field, and it's not good. I know what I read on the stat sheet, and it's not good. But I don't really KNOW what has happened. From my perch in the press box, I can't see every little detail that goes on with blocking. I don't even have the advantage of TV announcers pointing out details and offering replays of things I may have missed. But most importantly, I don't have access to ask the offensive line coach or any of the players about the problems that appear to be utterly undermining Georgia's offense.

So I'd love to have a lot to tell you here, but the fact is, I just don't know. I don't know where the weak link is, but I do know that Georgia can't seem to find a single yard on the ground up the middle. Add that to Ben Jones' sudden inability to snap on the Bulldogs' final drive and you have to wonder what happened to this kid. Is it fair to say he might be the most disappointing player on the team this year? Jones was so impressive as a freshman last season and he seemed destined for big things this year, but he's been involved in more than his fair share of the holding calls and he hasn't shown much in the blocking game.

Give some credit, I suppose, to the fact that the pass protection was adequate and Georgia avoided any sacks. But don't forget if it weren't for a rather liberal interpretation of the tackle box, Cox would have been flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone and we might not be talking about the same frenetic finish to the game.

(By the way, Fletcher Page mentioned the humor in the use of "tackle box" when discussing Joe Cox, who is an avid fisherman. Now I can't mention the term without thinking about that. Damn you, Fletcher!)

Anyway, bottom line here: The line isn't run blocking well, which means Georgia can't run the ball, which means the offense is going to struggle. Searels may have been a miracle worker last season, but something is seriously wrong this year.

Final Grade: D

DEFENSIVE LINE: Arizona State's offensive line is far from impressive. LSU's line has struggled all season. So we're probably not at a point where Georgia can breath easy and pronounce its problems with pressure to be solved. But here's a stat that should put a smile on the face of any Georgia fan: Through three games, the Bulldogs had four sacks and 12 tackles for a loss. In the last two games, the Dawgs have seven sacks and 18 tackles for a loss.

On the surface, there appear to be two big reasons for the sudden turnaround beyond the potential lack of blocking ability by the opposition.

The first is obvious -- it's Justin Houston. The sophomore returned in Week 3 from a two-game suspension, and in the past two weeks he has been dominant off the edge. After earning the SEC's defensive lineman of the week award following Georgia's win over Arizona State, Houston turned in an even better performance Saturday, racking up six tackles and two sacks against LSU. His productivity has completely changed the dynamic of the D line.

(As a side note, on Jordan Jefferson's 26-yard run on LSU's penultimate scoring drive, Houston has literally no more than an inch away from sacking the Tigers' QB for a loss on the play. He clipped Jefferson's cleats as the QB darted around the left side of the line and down the sideline for a big game. It was the perfect example of how close Georgia was to a victory despite all the other shortcomings Saturday.)

The second, slightly less noticeable, change has been the increased presence of Kade Weston. The senior has started the past two games over Geno Atkins at DT, and while Atkins has still seen a fair number of reps, Weston has been a stud. Last week, he had a tackle for a loss and was exceptional at stuffing the run. This week, he chipped in with five tackles and a sack and made running between the tackles nearly impossible for LSU for much of the game.

A special mention goes to Abry Jones, who had the first sack of his career on Saturday. His facemask flag on Jefferson on LSU's second-to-last scoring drive, however, proved to be brutal timing, turning a second-and-8 into a first-and-goal. LSU scored two plays later to regain the lead, 12-7.

Overall, it has been two remarkably strong performances up front (which not surprisingly has led to two pretty strong performances by the secondary) but there is this one caveat: If you take away the negative yardage from Georgia's six sacks, LSU rushed for 190 yards on 39 carries -- almost five yards a tote.

Final Grade: B+

LINEBACKERS: As impressive as A.J. Green has been, fans shouldn't forget their defensive star.

Rennie Curran had a career-high 16 tackles in the game, including stuffing Jefferson's QB sneak up the middle on a fourth-and-inches play from the Georgia 9-yard line in the second quarter. Take away the insanely good game Curran played in the first half, and Green's heroics in the second half are meaningless.

Of course, that also begs the question: Why wasn't Curran on the field during some crucial moments in the second half?

Marcus Dowtin had another strong game, but if you're going to throw the blame for Charles Scott's long run to win the game on anyone, it was the sophomore linebacker who probably had the best shot at bringing him down. Still, hard to throw too much criticism his way. At least four Bulldogs had a chance to make the tackle but didn't for one reason or another.

Darryl Gamble has been remarkably quiet all season. He's still second on the team in total tackles, but for a guy who was known for a handful of big plays, he's been a part of very few crucial moments this season. His poor coverage of Reuben Randle on a third-and-10 in the fourth quarter allowed LSU to keep a drive alive that ended with a touchdown.

Final Grade: B+

DEFENSIVE BACKS: Overall, it was a solid day for the secondary, particularly considering the immensely tough matchups they faced.

Brandon LaFell had just three catches for 52 yards -- 34 of which came on one play when Reshad Jones blew a coverage.

Terrance Toliver had a decent day -- six grabs for 76 yards -- but he didn't have a huge impact at any point.

Jordan Jefferson threw for 212 yards in the game, but he never exactly seemed like a threat. In fact, every time he dropped back to throw the ball, there had to be a sigh of relief from fans. Good things happened when LSU was throwing the ball.

Beyond the blown coverage, Jones had a very solid 10-tackle day, including one on Russell Shepard that should definitely make his personal highlight reel.

Brandon Boykin hauled in his second interception of the season, this time coming in the end zone to stuff an LSU scoring chance. It was a huge play, but it was sullied a bit by his poor decision to take the ball out of the end zone, where he was tackled at the 2. Georgia could never regain a field-position advantage, and it's fair to wonder how that first half might have been different if the Dawgs weren't playing out of their own end zone the whole time.

Really the two biggest mishaps in terms of coverage came on throws to Randle. On the first, it was a linebacker in coverage, and Randle gained 16 to pick up a first down on third-and-10. That was particularly upsetting because Boykin had come on a corner blitz and was a split second away from demolishing Jefferson in the backfield.

The second came against Branden Smith, when Jefferson hit Randle for a 12-yard gain on a first-and-15. That was the second of three moments when Georgia's D really could have stuffed LSU on what turned out to be a 13-play, 88-yard touchdown drive to take the lead. Two of those moments ended with big receptions by Randle, the third was the run by Jefferson. Make any of those plays and the Bulldogs are likely sitting at 4-1 right now.

Final Grade: B

SPECIAL TEAMS: I already covered the kickoffs in an earlier post today. You can check it out HERE.

Travis Fain thinks I did a fine job summing up the kickoff issues, but I think he did it much better: "Eventually, everything you do wrong goes wrong all at once, because you're dumb."

On to the other topics...

I mentioned Blair Walsh's field-goal miss in the same post, but here's some "what if" thoughts from reader JLeonardJr.: "I have to disagree with your assessment that the missed field goal did not matter in the end. I think it was pretty big. If Georgia makes that FG then they don't go for 2 pts after the second touchdown which means there is a good chance the score is 17-12 instead of 13-12 when LSU gets the ball back with less than 2 minutes to play assuming Georgia still scores a TD versus playing safe and kicking a FG on their last score. This changes the whole purpose of LSU's final drive. Now LSU has to score a TD and a FG does them no good which means they probably aren't running the ball the last few plays because they can't afford to waste time off the clock. Instead they are passing most likely and both their offensive mindset and Georgia's defensive mindset are very different. Georgia knows they just have to prevent a TD and LSU getting into field goal range isn't disheartening. I think that missed field goal totally changed that game."

It's a fair point, but I'm inclined to give Walsh the benefit of the doubt considering he won the game for Georgia a week earlier. It was a bad time for his first miss of the season, but it was, after all, his first.

Here's another good note from reader PatinDC, who writes: "Two years ago I went to Coach Richt's Football Camp for Women. One of the best, most incredible experiences I have ever had.

"As part of the workshop, you get to pick which part of the team you would like to be immersed in, offense, defense or for the first time, special teams. I chose special teams because I was interested to see how it worked. Ever since, I have feared for our special teams unit.

"We were instructed by Coach Fabris, who is an incredible motivator and educator. I wanted to run thru a wall for him after the session. The thing that worried me however is this: At the time, and they may be doing something different now, they special teams practiced ten minutes a day three days a week. They got 20 minutes of instruction on top of that. How can anything work well when you don’t have anytime to work on it?

"Coach Fab knows what it takes to make special teams work. I believe that. He is not given the time or players to make it happen. Top down decision."

I skipped a little of the comment, but this is the gist of it. And here's the answer to PatinDC's question: Georgia actually spends a little less time on special teams most days than that. It used to be similar to what PatinDC describes, but with the new schedule in which Georgia practices on Sundays instead of Mondays, the team now doesn't practice special teams at all until Tuesday. Then, on Thursday, they tack on the extra 10 minutes worth of special teams work during that practice, weather permitting.

There are some practices where they'll spend more time, and during the Friday walk-throughs the special teams gets additional focus, but from what Richt has said, that's the rough sketch of the schedule.

I don't know how much more time other schools spend on it, so I'm not inclined to criticize here, but again -- it's too much of an issue to ignore.

Beyond all of that, however, there are two more special teams issues I want to touch upon.

The first is the punting, which once again was exceptional. Drew Butler averaged 49.1 yards per punt with none longer than 53. That's consistency, folks. He's been spectacular throughout this season and is one of the few consistent weapons Georgia has had.

Yet, here's what Mark Richt had to say about him after the game: "You hate to say he's spectacular, but he really has been to this point. You don't want to get him too pumped up, but he's done a beautiful job."

Um, why don't you want to get him too pumped again? I just don't get Richt sometimes. He's worried about over-complimenting his punter, who leads the nation in punting average, but he makes excuses about the wind on the kickoffs that have been a total disaster? I can't help but think back to last year when Walsh -- a true freshman kicker being given an absurd task of directional kicking which he had clearly proven he couldn't properly execute -- was probably the only player Richt consistently criticized publicly. My only guess is that a punter or kicker ran over Richt's dog when he was little or something. Otherwise this makes no sense.

Then, there's the other side of the punting game -- the returns.

First off, let me give you the exact quote from Richt on why Logan Gray is returning punts (or, more to the point, not returning them): “Even if you set up your best return that you’ve got, you’re much more vulnerable to a fake. When those guys are around midfield, you don’t want to be in that situation. More than likely the ball is going to be punted so high and so deep that even if you have your best returner on, you’re probably going to have to fair catch it.”

So that's the philosophy. Here are the results, courtesy of some fine work done by reader John B.

Punt returns so far this season:
Georgia, 8 returns, 42 yards, 5.2 average
Opponents, 10 returns, 132 yards, 13.2 average

Those numbers, of course, only consider returned punts, not fair catches or punts that roll out of bounds or are touched dead by the opposition. Here, again courtesy of John B., are the true results, using total punts received, divided by the total punt return yards, by game.

Game	UGA	Opp.
LSU	0	6.2
ASU	4.8	6.2
Ark	1.8	0
SC	1.5	5.0
OSU	0.42	7.5

As John points out, Georgia is averaging 1.34 yards returned per punt this season, while the opposition is gaining 5.34 yards.

That doesn't sound like a ton, but that's a difference of four yards per punt and Georgia is averaging about five punts per game. That's 20 "hidden" yards from punt returns alone throughout the course of a game. Add that to the penalties, the lack of possession time and the turnovers, and you can see how all these little things add up.

But more than the low average, it is also essentially saying that on a large number of punts, there was absolutely no chance for anything beyond a zero-gain return. Here are the raw numbers, as researched by John: "UGA has had punt return of 0 yds or less 21 times this season. Of those 6 have been fair caught. (Actually Caught). Of the remaining 15 returns, I'd say 10-12 where waved as a fair catch but downed by the other team."

I'm not going to really argue with the philosophy here because, quite frankly, it's an argument I cannot win. It is what it is. But beyond the obvious issues with a potential freak injury to the No. 2 quarterback or the fact that on any given punt when Gray is in the game, the opposition knows there won't be a return, there are these three issues that should be addressed:

No. 1: Why is Prince Miller a reliable and smart enough player to be on the field at cornerback for almost every play, but he's not smart enough or reliable enough to decide whether or not to field a punt routinely?

No. 2: Last year, Georgia ranked fourth in the nation, averaging 17.58 yards per return. This year, the Bulldogs are 93rd.

No. 3: I want to take you back to a question I asked James Varney of the New Orleans Times Picayune in our "Behind Enemy Lines" segment this week.

DH: The special teams have been none too special for the Tigers so far, save Chad Jones' big return. How have the coaches been addressing these issues?

JV: Well, most of that has been the punting. ... Again, the punting has been an adventure, with both the long snapper Alex Russian (now apparently replaced by Joey Crappell) and punter Derek Helton getting off to bad starts.

So LSU's punting was a complete disaster coming into Saturday's game, and the game ended with Georgia racking up a whopping zero yards returning punts.

Final Grade: F+ (the plus is for Butler)

COACHING: I don't really have the energy to get into it at this point. You can go back through and read the comments from any of my posts since the game. You guys have pretty much said it all.

Mike Bobo's play calling hasn't been great, but it's also hard to really open up the playbook when you're averaging 2 yards per carry on the ground.

(Although, here are a few horrifying numbers: Georgia is losing the time-of-possession battle this season at a 60/40 split; Sixty-eight percent of Georgia's drives this season have been five plays or fewer; Georgia has 14 three-and-outs this season -- 21.5 percent of all drives. Thirteen more have ended in turnovers either on special teams or within five plays of a drive starting -- another 20 percent. So that means that roughly four out of every 10 times Georgia starts a drive, it has either turned the ball over quickly or punted after three plays.)

Willie Martinez's defense played lights out, but was killed by four big plays in the final three minutes.

The special teams… what else can be said?

This is a young team, and that fact cannot be forgotten when looking at the bipolar nature of how the Bulldogs have played so far.

"I think we're a little bit young in our skill area," Richt said. "When we make some plays early, I think they gain confidence in that. When you start slow, they have a hard time breaking free. It's like every play has to be perfect. Every call has to be perfect. Once you kind of break the damn open and make a big play and things start happening, I think they gain more confidence."

And that personality leads to an inconsistent execution that Richt said is unlike any he's been a part of.

"It has been a very unusual year in regard to knowing what you're going to get on a week-to-week basis," he said. "We really haven't been able to predict how the game's going to go."

Yeah, no kidding.

Final Grade: D+ (believe it or not, carried by Willie Martinez)

And, no, I'm not giving the officiating a grade. I say this because they don't make grades low enough to sufficiently capture the atrocity.

Live Blog: Georgia vs. LSU

PREGAME:

-- We're about 15 minutes away from kickoff. I just spent the past half-hour or so down on the field, where the weather is much nicer than it was a week ago. Unfortunately, however, I did a leg workout at the gym yesterday for the first time in --- well, let's just say a very long time. So walking back up through the stands to the press box was nearly impossible. I'm old.

-- Mark Richt said he expected at least 200 recruits and parents/coaches at today's game, and judging by all the folks on the sideline, that was probably a conservative estimate.

-- Saw Thomas Davis down on the field. He was rocking a Rennie Curran jersey. Seems appropriate.

-- Richard Samuel is slated to start at tailback yet again. That's two weeks in a row I've been wrong.

-- Watching Trindon Holliday stand next to Terrance Toliver was hilarious.

-- A few pregame predictions: Three catches today for Wootendaballcarriah; Caleb gets his first TD of the season; Fewer than three turnovers for Georgia; More than eight penalties for Georgia; A.J. doesn't crack 100 yards, but Mike Moore has a big day; A sack for Cornwallis Washington; Blair Walsh stays perfect on field goals; An interception for Reshad Jones.

OK, we'll be back with more throughout the first quarter...

FIRST QUARTER, 8:23 REMAINING

-- Congrats to Greg Paulus today. Five interceptions. That's almost two hat tricks.

-- Meant to mention this earlier, saw Ricardo Crawford on the field pregame with a cast on his arm. Not sure when that happened, but he wasn't seeing much playing time anyway. Oddly, Damon Evans also had a brace on his wrist. I'm going to assume the two were arm wrestling and that's how they got hurt.

-- Georgia gets the ball first, and LSU boots it deep into the end zone. Dawgs start off at their own 20.

-- Joe Cox's pass on third-and-three was intended for A.J. and was way off target. That was a better break on the ball by the corner away from being his third pick-six of the season. Butler on to punt.

-- Oh, so get this -- I got stung by a bee before the game. I felt something on my shoulder and swatted it away and it stung me. I bet it's been 15 years since I've been stung by a bee. Who gets stung by bees anymore? Bees!

-- Russell Shepard in the game on a keeper and picks up three to take the ball into Georgia territory.

-- Jefferson hits LaFell who is WIDE OPEN at the 15 yard line. Seriously, how does LaFell get left alone? Come on, Willie. This ain't helping your cause any.

-- Two keepers by Jefferson picks up a third-and-four. Jefferson's pass into the end zone is picked off by Brandon Boykin, who brings the ball out of the end zone to the 2. The latter half of the play, not so great, but that was a HUGE play by Boykin. I really wanted to predict Boykin getting the pick rather than Reshad, but I changed my mind at the last second. I'm so dumb.

-- A flag was thrown following Boykin's pick. It was on LSU, but I think everyone in the stadium failed to really celebrate the INT because they were all nervous it was going against Georgia. That's what happens after so many big plays were overturned last year --- you just start expecting it.

-- Caleb King into the game at tailback now. Samuel had runs of minus-1 and 8 on the first drive.

-- Cox had A.J. open down the middle of the field on third-and-seven but overthrew him. This is going to set up good field position for LSU, but a bright note: the O line blocked extremely well on that play. Sign of things to come?

UPDATE, FIRST QUARTER 3:51 REMAINING

-- Third-and-inches for LSU at the Georgia 33 and Charles Scott has no problem picking up the first down.

-- I don't know what Mississippi State did last week to stop Scott, but he is running over people today. Another first down for the Tigers at the Georgia 20.

-- Toliver grabs a pass at the 9 where he looked out of bounds but it was ruled a catch to set up a first-and-goal.

-- Nice tackle by Rennie Curran who brings Scott down for a loss after Justin Houston pressured Jefferson into a quick dump-off. Third-and-goal.

-- Jefferson sails a pass out of the back of the end zone intended for Toliver. The field goal unit trots on to the field, but no A.J. Green for Georgia. The result is a 23-yard field goal. LSU 3, Georgia 0 with 3:51 remaining. (10-37-10:32)

-- So far Georgia has had two three-and-outs. LSU has run 16 plays and all but three have come in Georgia territory.

UPDATE END OF FIRST QUARTER

-- King in at tailback for the second straight drive. Georgia throws on first down to Chapas for a 3-yard gain.

-- Third-and-seven and Cox hits Green for a 27-yard gain to the 50. Green gave the DB a little nudge then spun around and hauled in the pass. I may end up being way off on my A.J. prediction, too.

-- Wooooooooooooot!

-- Cox had A.J. wide open but didn't see him, instead rolling out and tossing the ball away. Brings up a third-and-eight.

-- Cox hits Orson Charles behind the line of scrimmage, and Charles is up-ended after a short gain. Butler on to punt yet again, and this one goes into the end zone.

-- Duke hung with Va Tech today, which puts me off to another awful start on my weekly picks. Love to see Michigan State beating Michigan. Another fraud exposed. I think there might only be like six good teams in the country. Everyone else is a fraud.

-- Shepard in again on a carry, and Dowtin brings him down after 2. Shepard appears to be LSU's Logan Gray so far. That'll do it for the quarter.

UPDATE SECOND QUARTER, 9:11 REMAINING

-- OK, I take back what I said about Shepard. He picks up 18 yards on second down, then runs for six on the next play.

-- Jefferson hits LaFell for a 17-yard gain to the Georgia 30. LSU has lived in Dawgs' territory today.

-- The Tigers have already more than doubled their rushing total of a week ago. Scott has 35 yards on seven carries, Shepard is 4 for 29.

-- Huge tackle by Reshad Jones of Charles Scott for a three-yard loss on third down. Jasper comes in for his second field-goal try.

-- Football would be so much better without TV timeouts.

-- Jasper's kick is good with 10:55 left in the half. LSU 6, Georgia 0. (10-56-3:44)

-- You know, there's been a lot of talk this week about Houston, TCU or Boise State getting a shot at the BCS title. I don't see how that happens. But you know who very well could go undefeated and have a decent case for a title shot? Cincinnati. They're a BCS conference team (albeit barely), they haven't played an awful schedule, and they're probably going to be favored in every game they have remaining.

-- Time of possession so far: LSU 12:37, Georgia 6:28.

-- Nice job by A.J. of keeping Cox from being picked off by Patrick Peterson. And yet another third-and-long looms for Georgia. This has been an ugly offensive performance thus far.

-- They give to Samuel, who runs around end and is stood up at first contact for a gain of a yard. That was a.) an awful effort by Samuel, and b.) an absurd play call by Bobo. And for the third time in four possessions, it's a three-and-out for the Dawgs.

UPDATE, SECOND QUARTER, 4:01 REMAINING

-- I'd been meaning to say this for a while, but having heard it three times already today, I wanted to point out that "That's Not My Name" has got to be the worst song ever written. In fact, I just Googled "That's Not My Name" and "Worst Song Ever" and it came back with 33,700,000 results.

-- Take away the catch by A.J. and Georgia is averaging 1.4 yards per play so far.

-- Jefferson hits Toliver for a big gain to the UGA 30. Toliver ended up matched up with a linebacker, and Jefferson was able to avoid pressure just long enough to get the throw off.

-- Jefferson connects with Richard Dickson on third-and-5 to pick up a first down at the UGA 18. You have to get the feeling that if LSU punches it in here, that might be enough to win the game the way Georgia's offense is playing.

-- LSU has run 20 of its 32 offensive plays in Georgia territory so far. It's amazing this game is only 6-0.

-- Reshad Jones with a big hit on Shepard forces a fumble that bounces around near the sideline. The replay seemed to show that Shepard was down. In either case, it remains LSU's ball.

-- Third-and-10 and Jefferson darts straight up the middle on a keeper and comes up just inches short of the first down. LSU goes for it and doesn't get much. Prince Miller either thinks Jefferson was short or just wanted to do some arm exercises. The sticks come out and Prince was right. LSU turns the ball over on downs. Honestly, I think both of these teams might be terrible.

UPDATE, END OF SECOND QUARTER

-- You'll be shocked by this, but it's another third-and-long for Georgia. And you'll be even more shocked by this: It's another three-and-out. The boos come from the stands, and for good reason. Georgia has run 18 plays. One went for 27 yards. The other 17 have combined for 22.

-- This is the lowest scoring blowout I've ever seen.

-- On third-and-13, Jefferson hits Toliver for 14 to pick up a first down to midfield. Total yards so far: LSU 222, Georgia 49.

-- Nice tackle by Baccari Rambo after Brandon Boykin couldn't wrap up his man. Brings up a third-and-1 for LSU with under a minute to go in the half.

-- Once again, LSU can't pick up the short yardage, with Dowtin stopping Scott's run. Dowtin's got a bunch of tackles already -- of course everyone on D has plenty of tackles. They've been on the field the whole game.

-- We head to the half with LSU leading 6-0. That's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

HALFTIME NOTES

-- Georgia is 16-16 all-time under Richt when trailing at the half.

-- Take away the completion to A.J. Green for 27 yards and Cox is averaging half-a-yard per attempt.

-- Time of possession so far: LSU 20:42, Georgia 9:18. And LSU gets the ball to start the second half.

-- Georgia went the entire half without a penalty.

-- Total offense for Georgia: 18 plays, 49 yards, 1 first down.

UPDATE, THIRD QUARTER, 8:43 REMAINING

-- Didn't see this coming: Three straight sacks for Georgia setting up a fourth-and-28. LSU punts and Georgia will begin its first drive of the second half at LSU's 44.

-- And the Dawgs begin by going backwards. Wooten takes a handoff and is tackled for a 10-yard loss. That's 18 plays for 12 yards outside of the completion to Green.

-- Cox hits Aron White to get back near the original line of scrimmage. That sets up a third-and-11, the sixth time Georgia's been in third-and-long.

-- Free play, and Cox hits Green who hauls in a one-handed grab at the 13. Where would this team be without A.J.?

-- And we're back to third-and-6. Georgia can get NOTHING on the ground. A false start on Ben Jones moves it back to a third-and-11. That's the first flag of the day for the Dawgs.

-- Cox looks for White in the end zone, but Perry Riley breaks it up. Blair Walsh comes on and shanks a 32-yard field goal. Could this get any uglier?

UPDATE, END OF THE THIRD QUARTER

-- It's time to find out what box of french fried Uga VII is hiding behind.... and it's No. 3!!! Now, where is Georgia's offense hiding?

-- Uh-oh, LSU's band is playing Journey. I have to assume this will energize the Tigers' offense.

-- Georgia has 8 yards on 11 carries on the ground so far today.

-- Great tackle by Branden Smith, bringing down LaFell short of the first down. And LSU sends out its punt team. This game has been the football equivalent of the "That's Not My Name" song.

-- And Logan Gray calls for the fair catch. Never saw that coming. Say what you want, folks, but if there's a guy in this league better at waving his arms as a punt goes up in the air, I haven't seen him.

-- There's always random guys riding the exercise bikes on the sideline during games. There's no real rhyme or reason as to who it is. Cornelius Washington is on one now. I wonder how they decide on who gets bike duty? This is what I'm thinking about now because this game is so awful.

-- Washaun Ealey won't be redshirting, folks. He gets his first carry and it picks up 8 -- the longest rush of the day. Wonder when that decision was made. My guess is about five minutes ago.

-- Back to Ealey, who picks up six more. The kid has breathed new life into things.

-- Caleb King back in the game on third-and-3, and Cox hits Green for a first down. Wow, two first downs on the same drive.

-- Cox threw behind King and Peterson just missed the interception. He'd have had a lot of room to run, too. Third-and-10... again.

-- Cox hits Orson Charles down the middle to the 13 but a flag flies in following the play. They call Orson for unsportsmanlike conduct for circling his finger in the air. Absolutely unbeliveable. The quality of officiating this year has been absolutely brutal.

-- Wait, wait... another flag on Georgia. Too many men in the huddle. And we're now back to where we started, but with a fresh set of downs.

-- Ealey just pushes a pile of LSU defenders for a 6-yard gain. Guess it just took a No. 24 to get the running game going again.

-- Note to Joe Cox: The little dump offs to Chapas aren't accomplishing much. Might wanna look elsewhere.... oh, hey, a third-and-long!

-- Cox hits TK for a 13-yard gain and a first down. Sure looked like a facemask on that, too, but no flag.

-- Cox looks for A.J. in the end zone, but it's incomplete. And guess what... a third-and-long! We should play some sort of third-and-long drinking game.

-- King has a nudge block then turns around to take the dump off from Cox and runs down to the 1-yard line. As aggressive as LSU has been, I'm not sure why they hadn't run that earlier.

And that'll do it for the third quarter, LSU 6, Georgia 0, but knocking on the door.

UPDATE, FOURTH QUARTER, 9:48 REMAINING

-- Cox bobbles the snap, recovers and then looks to Green in the end zone. No flag, but Peterson was all over him. Sets up third-and-goal.

-- Cox hits Moore who gets to the two inch line. Fourth-and-goal and Georgia's going for it. Boy you'd like to have seen something -- anything -- from the running game prior to this.

-- Didn't need it. Cox hits Chapas who falls backwards into the end zone for the touchdown. Sanford is going nuts. Walsh boots the extra point. Georgia 7, LSU 6 with 14:15 left. I feel really weird typing that score. (18-60-7:52)

-- Cox giveth, Fabris taketh away. Trindon Holliday returns the kick to the Georgia 46. A flag comes in following the play, however, with a personal foul on LSU, backing the Tigers up to their own 39.

-- Another big stop by the defense, but LSU's punt is downed inside the 5. Dawgs need Ealey to keep running the football here.

-- Another third-and-long. Take a drink!

-- Cox was about to go down for a safety and chucked the ball sidearmed out of bounds. That was a huge play that will only show up in the box score as an incompletion. Either way, LSU is about to get some good field position yet again.

-- CBS picked up Alabama-Ole Miss for next week's 3:30 game. That means the Dawgs will likely be playing an early one at either noon or 12:20.

-- Another sack for the Dawgs. If I'm not mistaken, that's five for Georgia today. They have dominated the line of scrimmage.

-- And the Dawgs get to Jefferson again on third-and-seven. Dobbs and Houston on the sack. A flag comes in for holding, but the Dawgs decline, and LSU will punt again. Man, I thought LSU's O line was supposed to be solid, but it's been a disaster, and Georgia's front four has dominated. I seem to remember someone calling that the key to the game in his preview of the matchup today. Oh right, that was me.

-- Dawgs get the ball back at their own 14 with 9:48 to play. It'll be interesting to see if they can run the ball enough to run down some clock.

-- If you have Logan Gray in your fair-catch fantasy league, you're having an awfully good week.

UPDATE, FOURTH QUARTER

-- I'll probably have to abandon the blog in a few minutes in order to head down to the field. Just an FYI.

-- Georgia has six sacks today. That's one more than they had all season.

-- Cox hits A.J. up to the 34 for a first down. Washaun follows that up with an 8-yard run. Get ready for a slew of Washaun Ealey stories this week.

-- Holding on Clint Boling brings up a second-and-12.

-- The writer from the weekly paper in Washaun's hometown came to the game last week to do a story on him when he didn't play. Bad timing.

-- And we've got a third-and-13. Take a drink! (I really hope you don't need to drive anywhere later.)

-- Screen pass to King picks up about six, but Butler is back in to punt... and it's a beauty. Holliday calls for the fair catch at the 12, a 50-yard punt. Might Butler be the second most important player for the Bulldogs so far this season?

-- Probably should be noted that, while Caleb has continued to get some action since Washaun emerged, we haven't see Richard Samuel since the first half.

-- After barely seeing the field in the first half, Georgia has a current ToP edge this half of 13:23 to 7:50.

-- Branden Smith just missed an interception after Brandon LaFell couldn't hang on to a pass from Jefferson. That would have just about iced this game.

-- Third-and-10, and it is as loud as it's been all season inside Sanford. Boykin came on a corner blitz but was a split second too late. Jefferson hits Randle for a first down.

-- LSU is marching now. Jefferson hits Scott underneath and takes it for another first down into Georgia territory.

-- Another completion to Toliver who gets down to the Georgia 30 for another first down, but an illegal shift flag negates the gain and moves LSU back to its own 49.

-- Jefferson is getting hit on almost every throw. One of these is going to be off line sooner or later.

-- Justin Houston had Jefferson by his heels, but the QB escaped and darts down the sideline to the 13. Not good.

-- Facemask call on Abry Jones gives LSU a first down at the 4 with 3:06 to play.

-- I was talking to David Ching before the game, and we were saying there's not really many possible outcomes for this game that would surprise us. The one exception, Ching said, would be a 3-2 type of game. Ironic, eh?

-- Richard Samuel is on the exercise bike now. See, I told you. No rhyme or reason.

-- Charles Scott plows into the end zone on second-and-goal to regain the lead for LSU. The Tigers try for two, but Rennie Curran drops Jefferson in the backfield. LSU 12, Georgia 7. I'm heading down to the field for the last drive.

Behind Enemy Lines: LSU

We're a little later than usual getting to this, but it's time to go behind enemy lines to get a read on what LSU has been up to in the run-up to its game at Sanford Stadium this weekend.

For answers, we went to the New Orleans Times-Picayune's LSU beat writer, James Varney, who gives us the lowdown on the Bayou Bengals.

David Hale: When we got our first real look at Jordan Jefferson last year, he looked like a future star. So far this season, the results have been mixed, at best. Is he failing to develop as planned or has this been the product of a rather lackluster performance by the O line and little help from the running game?

James Varney: I think Jefferson is very good and getting better. He has only thrown one interception and he manages the game well, overall. The o-line has been the team's biggest weakness, and that is true in both the running and passing game.

DH: Speaking of the running game, LSU was supposed to have one of the best backfields in the conference this season. Instead, they've struggled badly, culminating with just 30 net yards on the ground against Mississippi State last week. What gives?

JV: Again, the o-line isn't moving anybody. Both Charles Scott and Keiland Williams have proven they can run in the SEC. The loss of Quinn Johnson at fullback has also been a factor, but I put the lion's share of the blame on the o-line which returns three starters.

DH: If there's one stat that jumps off the page separating these two teams so far, it has to be turnovers. LSU is plus-7, while Georgia is a dreadful minus-9. How much has ball security been talked about so far this week, and do you expect this could be the deciding factor in the game?

JV: After last year LSU is extremely paranoid about interceptions. That's been a factor in Jefferson's development, too, as the team simply doesn't throw over the middle. But LSU's new defensive coach has instilled a risk/reward mentality I think the team lacked last year and that shows in the plus seven. LSU never got interceptions last year, this season they have 7 and have returned two for touchdowns.

DH: The special teams have been none too special for the Tigers so far, save Chad Jones' big return. How have the coaches been addressing these issues?

JV: Well, most of that has been the punting. Prior to the third quarter against Miss. State, kicker Josh Jasper hadn't missed, including a 52-yarder. His kickoffs have been better, too, and so has the team's kickoff returns in general. Again, the punting has been an adventure, with both the long snapper Alex Russian (now apparently replaced by Joey Crappell) and punter Derek Helton getting off to bad starts.

DH: Last week was a struggle for LSU against what we thought was probably a bottom-feeding SEC team in Mississippi State. The next two weeks, however, get tough. With Florida looming, is LSU focused on this week's game or is there some danger of the players looking ahead to that date with the No. 1 team in the country?

JV: For both LSU and Georgia this game strikes me as gigantic so I doubt anyone is looking past it. I had Georgia pegged as the hinge game for LSU all year and nothing has changed my mind. If LSU loses it is looking at back-to-back SEC losses and everything falling like it did last season. If Georgia loses it goes to 3-2 on the year. I expect the intensity level Saturday to reflect such stakes.

DH: It's not often you'll hear about an undefeated coach of the No. 4- ranked team in the country coming under siege, but from the blogs and message boards, it sure sounds like folks aren't too happy with Les Miles right now. How important is this week's game against Georgia for Miles in particular, in terms of regaining some fan support and going into the Florida game with some momentum?

JV: The latter issue, momentum against Florida, is big. A win against Georgia would go a long way there, but it would also give LSU some breathing room that it won't have if they lose. It is true there is grumbling about Miles, which is surprising not only because of current rankings but because he's won four bowl games in a row, including two BCS games. But LSU has gotten spoiled recently and wants to stay there, and Miles himself declared 8-win seasons unacceptable. Thus, everyone knew going in LSU would have beat Georgia, Alabama or Ole Miss on the road, and now this is the first prong of that test.

Great thanks to James for his help on this. You can read his work for the Times-Picayune HERE or check out his LSU blog HERE .

Notebook: Turnovers Remain a Concern for Dawgs

In many ways, Georgia and LSU have had similar seasons. Both teams rank near the bottom of the conference in rushing yards, have seen highly regarded offensive lines struggle and have failed to get a consistent pass rush. But if there’s one statistic that starkly contrasts the Tigers and Bulldogs, it’s the turnover margin.

Through four games, LSU leads the SEC with a plus-seven turnover margin, while Georgia is among the worst teams in the nation with a minus-nine.

While that’s a concern for head coach Mark Richt, he said the past doesn’t have to be prologue to what happens Satuday.

“Turnover ratios are important, but what’s happened in the past I don’t think is very important at all,” Richt said. “I’m more concerned about the turnover ratio Saturday than I am what we’ve had to this point, so hopefully we’ll get that thing turned around and be in a whole lot better shape.”

To ensure that happens, Georgia’s coaching staff has taken a more disciplinarian approach to preventing turnovers during practice this week, but that’s not always a solution.

“We work on that every day at practice,” wide receiver A.J. Green said. “I don’t know what’s the problem. It’s not like we’re not trying, but it’s just happened.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said the team actually enhanced its discipline for fumbles and interceptions during practice last week, making the entire team do calisthenics when one person coughed up the football. The result was yet another three-turnover game.

“This week we (did) a little more ball security at practice,” Bobo said. “But at the same time, I don’t want to talk about it to the team every day. We want to practice it to where they’re consciously doing it in practice. It’s like telling somebody after they drop a ball, ‘Hey, catch it.’ Well, why did they drop it? You’ve got to coach it up.”

Linebacker Rennie Curran hopes the increased focus on protecting the football works because with No. 4 LSU coming to town Saturday, the Bulldogs can’t afford to give away offensive drives and set the Tigers up with easy scores.

“When we play a team like LSU, we have to have a perfect game,” Curran said. “We can’t give them any room to breathe. We have to get ready to play our best game of football. We have to put all the mistakes we made behind us, get ready to have a great game and put it all together.”

MAKING PROGRESS

Freshman defensive end Montez Robinson had seen little action during the first three games of the year, but was on the field for a few extra snaps last week against Arizona State.

That’s a trend that defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said could continue, and if Robinson keeps progressing at the same rate, Georgia’s defensive ends could become a lot more dangerous as the season goes along.

“He’s getting better and better,” Martinez said. “He’s learning the system, and he’s a great athlete. And we need it. We need that push. He did some nice stuff. He’s learning it, and he’s got the ability, so that’s a good thing to see.”

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Georgia’s big defensive stands in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Arizona State proved to be crucial in the Bulldogs pulling out a last-second victory, but the effort also helped to rejuvenate the beleaguered defense, too.

“That fourth quarter was huge,” Curran said. “It shows we’re a serious defense. It shows that no matter where we are on the field we’re going to stay positive and we can stop anybody. That was our attitude when we got that sudden-change situation. Before we even hit the field, we were like, ‘Hey, let’s do this. It’s our opportunity to show greatness.’”

FIGURING IT ALL OUT

After four weeks of tough tests against four BCS-conference foes, Georgia’s players admit they still aren’t quite sure how good the team really is, but safety Bryan Evans thinks the hard-fought games are helping to shape the team’s identity.

“We don’t have a true identity yet,” Evans said, “but it’s molding into an identity where we’re fighting through the tough games.”

Of course, the real mark of a good team always comes down to its record, quarterback Joe Cox said, and on that scale, he’s happy with where the Bulldogs are at.

“I know that after Week 1, if you’d asked us where we wanted to be going into the LSU game, we’d have said 3-1,” Cox said. “That’s where we are. We’ve found ways to win, we’ve stuck together. When the defense needed to make plays, we made plays. When the offense needed to make plays, we made plays. So there’s a lot of things in between that we need to correct that could make us a pretty good football team. We’re fully aware of the things we need to work on, but once we correct those things, we could be a good team.”

CAN’T FORGET CARLTON

After racking up 43 yards on 12 touches in Georgia’s first three games, freshman tailback Carlton Thomas disappeared from the offense last week. But offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said the team hasn’t forgotten about him. In fact, with the running game struggling, Georgia’s coaches aren’t crossing off any options from the playbook.

“I would not rule out Carlton Thomas,” Bobo said. “We haven’t ran the ball like we’ve wanted to, so I wouldn’t rule out any running back on our roster getting a chance to run the ball.”

SHORT DRIVES, SHORT RUNS

Georgia’s ground game ranks 11th in the SEC through four games, and while the blame has been shared between the offensive line and the tailbacks thus far, there’s a chance the entire offense is to blame.

Through four games, nearly 70 percent of all of Georgia’s offensive drives have lasted five plays or fewer, meaning few opportunities for the tailbacks to get in a groove running the football.

“It’s hard to get in a groove, and once we are in, we’re pass blocking or don’t get the ball for entire series,” tailback Caleb King said. “But the balls we do get, we have to do better at taking advantage of it.”

Richt said he isn’t going to complain about Georgia’s quick-strike touchdowns, something quarterback Joe Cox has made a habit of so far. But the number of turnovers and three-and-outs has been disturbing, and it’s a trend he hopes will change this week.

LSU also provides an opportunity for Georgia to improve its running numbers, too. King said the Tigers play an aggressive style in their front four, and the best way to counter that is to run the football – meaning he’ll have more chances to make a big play.

“I think we’ll run the ball a lot, so that’s a good thing,” King said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Practice Notes: Dawgs Looking For Spark on the Ground

Georgia knew replacing Knowshon Moreno would be tough, but four weeks into the season, coaches hoped the results would be a bit better.

The Bulldogs rank 11th in the SEC in rushing offense, averaging just 112 yards per game on the ground – down nearly 40 yards per game from last season.

Richard Samuel opened the season as the Bulldogs’ top tailback, but since Caleb King returned from a hamstring injury two weeks ago, the two have shared the load. That’s a trend head coach Mark Richt said he expects to continue.

“Right now in my mind they are 50-50 in my thinking,” Richt said. “One guy might be running a little bit better than the other, and he may get more. We’re not to the position where we saying 75 percent of the totes here and 25 percent there. We looking to more let’s play them both, keep them fresh, see how they’re doing and kind of go from there.”

That’s Richt’s plan, but offensive coordinator Mike Bobo isn’t convinced that a timeshare is the best alternative.

Before Tuesday’s practice, Bobo said he hoped one back could impress enough during this week’s workouts to secure the bulk of the work and, in turn, improve the floundering running game.

“We’ve got to get somebody in a groove, and we’ve got to get the running game going,” Bobo said. “I’d say right now, (they’re even), but if somebody has a great day (in practice), they might be the starter. We’ve got to find somebody to jump start our running game.”

Samuel is averaging 4.5 yards per carry so far this season, but aside from an 80-yard run against Arkansas, the sophomore tailback has tallied just two yards per rush on his other 26 carries in the past two games.

King has looked like the better runner overall, picking up 114 yards on 22 carries since returning from a hamstring injury that cost him the first two games of the season. In addition to his rushing exploits, King has also been the better all-around back in practice, running backs coach Bryan McClendon said. But that doesn’t mean King has secured a more significant role in the offense.

“I do think both worked extremely hard, but Caleb did a little better in pass protection than Richard did,” McClendon said. “Hopefully one way or another it will shake out, but as long as we get the production, it wouldn’t hurt me if I had to play them 50-50 again.”

Richt has been impressed with King's strong outings in his first two games as well, but a fumble last week against Arizona State and two drops on screen passes make the task of identifying a clear starter a bit hazy.

“He’s been progressing as he’s been able to play," Richt said of King. "I think he’ll certainly get a good share of (the carries), but I’m not going to sit here and try to predict if he’ll get more than Richard."

Beyond the work of the tailbacks, Bobo said Georgia needs to improve in other areas in order to get the running game going. Blocking by the offensive line has been problematic at times, and Georgia's continued propensity for turnovers and penalties have hindered the team's ability to get its tailbacks into any sort of rhythm.

The bottom line is productivity, Bobo said, and the coaches are happy to employ whichever lineup will maximize that, whether it means playing one tailback the majority of the time or splitting up the playing time between Samuel, King and freshman Carlton Thomas.

“If you ask any running back, they’d like to have it 25 carries themselves a game, but what’s going to give us the best chance to win the game?" Bobo said. "We’re not going to give it 25 times a game if we’re not getting but a yard or two yards every time we run it.”

BACK TO WORK

Two weeks ago, Brandon Wood wasn’t expecting to play this season. His shoulder was feeling better after offseason surgery, but he had all but decided to accept a medical redshirt in order to preserve an extra year of eligibility down the road.

Still, Wood missed being a part of the action, and when Richt approached him about returning to work following Georgia’s win over South Carolina earlier this month, Wood jumped at the chance.

“It’s hard just sitting there and watching the boys play and I can’t do anything, and then I saw we had injuries and I didn’t want to be selfish, I wanted to be a part of the team and help out,” Wood said.

With starting defensive end Rod Battle out, Wood saw a chance to make an impact. And despite the surgery that held him out of the first three games, he said his shoulder is actually feeling pretty good.

“I felt good going through the drills and stuff,” Wood said. “The (coaches) had been looking at the film and seeing what I was doing. They asked me what I was thinking about it, and I said I was ready to play.”

The junior saw significant action at defensive end last week against Arizona State despite having played defensive tackle each of the past two seasons. The transition hasn’t been particularly tough, Wood said, but it has tested his conditioning.

“You cover a lot more ground at defensive end than you do at tackle,” Wood said. “That’s the tough part about it. But it’s better going against a tight end than a guard and a center.”

FILLING OUT THE SCHEDULE

Georgia announced Tuesday that it had finalized a deal to add Idaho State to its 2010 football schedule.

Georgia had two open dates available on the slate, needing one more non-conference home game to fill out the schedule. The Bengals will visit Athens on Nov. 6, one week after the Bulldogs’ annual date with Florida. Georgia’s lone open date will be Nov. 20, meaning it will play 11 straight games before its 2010 off week.

Idaho State plays in the Big Sky Conference and is 0-4 so far this season, including a 50-3 defeat to Arizona State, which lost to Georgia last week. The Bengals finished 1-11 in 2008, losing their first 11 games before beating Sacramento State to close out the season. Overall, Idaho State has lost 19 of its last 20 games.

Georgia’s remaining non-conference slate in 2010 includes the home opener against Louisiana-Lafayette, a road date at Colorado and the annual regular-season finale against Georgia Tech.

FAMILIAR FOE

LSU will be the second team Georgia faces this season with a new defensive coordinator, but unlike the mystery that surrounded Bill Young’s defense at Oklahoma State, the Bulldogs know what to expect from John Chavis.

The Tigers’ new defensive coordinator is a familiar adversary for Richt, having spent 14 years as Tennessee’ defensive coordinator before moving on to LSU when Philip Fulmer was let go at the end of last season. From what Richt has seen on film, not much has changed in Chavis’ new location.

“They are doing the same thing and for good reason,” Richt said. “Coach Chavis has been one of the finest defensive coordinators in the SEC for years. … What they do is very, very sound, very difficult to deal with. When you insert the type of athletes that Tennessee and LSU have, they’ll have nothing but success.”

WAITING ON MARLON

While fellow freshman Rantavious Wooten has enjoyed increased playing time in each of the past two games, Marlon Brown is still waiting his turn on the sidelines.

Brown said he thought he had a good preseason and has been surprised by the lack of action so far, but he isn't letting it get him down.

"It's been real tough, real tough," Brown said. "When the season started, I wasn't playing and I was kind of down a little bit. But after a while, I just said, 'Forget it,' and keep grinding in practice."

Brown was highly recruited coming out of high school, waiting until National Signing Day to confirm he was headed to Athens. After announcing his decision, Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin suggested Brown only chose Georgia to make his grandmother happy.

So the slow start to his career could certainly have Brown questioning his choice, but when asked if he had any regrets, he was pretty emphatic in his response.

"Never, man," he said. "Never."

INJURY UPDATES

Richt said Tuesday that he expected linebacker Akeem Dent to miss a second straight game and said defensive end Kiante Tripp was likely to sit out of Saturday’s matchup against LSU as well.

Dent's hamstring injuries have been an ongoing problem since the preseason, with his brief return to the lineup earlier this season only setting him back further.

"It's one of those things you can't really explain," linebackers coach John Jancek said. "At first he had a high hamstring pull, and now this one's a little lower. I think it's an issue of time and once he gets back of just rehabbing it and maintaining. For me, it's hard to explain, but I just know we need him out there."

After spraining his knee against Arkansas and missing last week’s game, however, cornerback Vance Cuff is expected to be ready to play this weekend.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Asked about the big hit that sent Florida’s Tim Tebow to the hospital with a concussion last week, Georgia receiver A.J. Green said he was more concerned about the lineman responsible for the sack.

“Whoever on the offensive line gave up that block is about to get it,” Green said. “It’s not good to be him right now.”

UGA Notes: D Line Looks For Pressure

While the secondary has gotten the majority of the blame for Georgia’s defensive problems the past two weeks, defensive tackle Jeff Owens said his unit will be the key to shutting down the opposition’s passing attack.

“It starts with getting more sacks up front,” Owens said. ‘I think we’re nowhere near where we can be, and we need to get over that hump to get where we can be. But we’re going to keep progressing and just get better because we’re not where we want to be right now.”

Through three games, Georgia has recorded just four sacks, despite opponents throwing the ball or using the quarterback as a runner on more than 70 percent of their offensive plays the past two weeks.

Georgia finished last season ranked 11th in the SEC in sacks, with the bulk of its success coming in non-conference games against Arizona State and Michigan State. The Bulldogs worked on the pass rush this offseason, but so far the results haven’t shown up on the field.

“It gets frustrating after all the effort and time you put into it during the offseason, you think you’re going to come out and have a better season than last year,” defensive end Demarcus Dobbs said. “But it’s still early on. It gets frustrating, but we just have to keep grinding and try to go make a play.”

Part of the problem, Dobbs said, is that the group hasn’t been able to function at full capacity often this season.

Starting defensive end Justin Houston missed the first two games of the season with a suspension, and Owens and fellow defensive tackle Geno Atkins were forced to rush off the edge for nearly 60 snaps during the first two weeks.

Dobbs said the group showed some signs of improvement last week – sacking quarterback Ryan Mallett twice – but that more time together will be a key in getting the pass rush going on a consistent basis.

“We have to be able to mesh as a group,” Dobbs said. “Sometimes we’re getting pressure from the edge and people aren’t in the middle and we lose contain. But it takes chemistry, and you have to know the other person’s strength and when to cover somebody. It will come in time.”

HE’S THE MAN

It was against Arizona State last season that wide receiver A.J. Green had his first breakout performance – racking up 150 receiving yards in the first half.

Since then, Green hasn’t surprised too many defenses, and as the sophomore continues to compile big games, even his quarterback thinks there’s a chance Green will go down as the best receiver to play at Georgia.

“He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Joe Cox said. “He’s an incredible playmaker, and he could end up being one of the best players that ever played here.”

As to what makes Green so impressive, head coach Mark Richt said it’s hard to identify just one thing. The beauty of having Green is that he does everything so well.

“When you take his combination of height and the range of his arms, his speed and agility; a lot of guys who are tall might be fast and can make a play on a deep ball, but A.J. can out-jump people, he can run by people,” Richt said. “He can make them miss, and he’s becoming a pretty darn good blocker. There isn’t much that you’d ask a receiver to do that he can’t do well. He’s pretty good, and I’m glad we have him.”

WOOTEN GETS THE NOD

After earning just one snap during the first two games, freshman receiver Rantavious Wooten saw a big increase in his workload against Arkansas last week.

While Wooten was targeted for just one throw and ran a sweep that failed to gain, he was in on a number of plays, and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said that’s a trend that will continue this week.

“We’ve just got to play some of those guys and Wooten has done a good job at practice,” Bobo said. “He’s extremely quick and explosive and does a nice job running routes. He hasn’t had many opportunities to catch the ball. We tossed him a sweep. But you’ll see more of him this week just because of our number issue at receiver.”

DO-IT-ALL GUY

With tailback Caleb King sidelined for Georgia’s first two games, the burden of being the counterpunch for starter Richard Samuel fell to redshirt freshman Carlton Thomas.

The results so far have been mediocre, at best. The 5-foot-7 tailback has mustered just 25 yards on 10 carries, including one fumble. Thomas has been far more successful as a receiver, catching two passes for 18 yards – utilizing his elusiveness in space to his benefit.

Now that King is back, running backs coach Bryan McClendon said the team would like to find ways to better utilize Thomas, but he said it’s still essential that his freshman tailback learn all the intricacies of the position.

“There’s definitely things Carlton can do, but Carlton needs to work on being a guy that can get in there and we can run everything with him,” McClendon said. “That’s the focus he needs to take. We need to get him ready to go every play if he has to. There are definitely things he can do, but we want to make sure he knows everything come Saturday.”

JOE COOL

Georgia has trailed by double digits in the first quarter in each of its past two games, and the Bulldogs have won both. The common denominator, according to tight end Aron White, is the guy doing all the talking in the huddle.

Against South Carolina, the Bulldogs’ offense barely saw the field in the first quarter, and a special-teams turnover cost Georgia an early possession last week as well, but White said Cox has been calm, cool and collected each time – a bit asset in coming back from behind.

“Joe’s just extremely lighthearted when he’s in the huddle,” White said. “He came back into the huddle, just smiling, some words of encouragement, and we see his confidence and that does a lot to motivate guys and take some of the pressure off.”

COACHES STILL HIGH ON BROWN

Although Marlon Brown has yet to see any significant action, Bobo said he’s still expecting the freshman receiver to be a contributor to Georgia’s offense before the season is done.

“Marlon is starting to show some progress,” Bobo said. “Marlon is working hard, and we’re not at all disappointed with Marlon. I think Marlon has as much potential as anybody we’ve got on this team, it’s just a matter of him understanding what’s going on and learning how to do things.”

DREAM MATCHUP

With the Pac-10’s Arizona State making its first trip to Athens this weekend, linebacker Rennie Curran was asked which team outside the SEC he would most like to play. He said he’d like to stay in the Pac-10, but set his sights a little higher.

“Southern Cal because they are respected across the nation and they get a lot of hype,” Curran said. “Also, because of the kind of program they have. I was hoping we would get them a couple years ago in the Sugar Bowl, but they had their rule with the Rose Bowl. I think that would have been bigger than the National Championship.”

BUSY WEEKEND

Richt said he expects a high number of recruits to be visiting Athens this week, but it’s next week’s matchup against LSU that’s the really hot ticket.

“From what we’re hearing, there’s an awful lot of interest in this LSU game already,” Richt said. “It’s probably more than we can handle. There’s only so many that can get in, so it’s probably going to be tough to get everybody in who wants to get in.”

Two-A-Days: LSU Tigers

Over the past few weeks, I've traded emails with beat writers for each SEC team, along with Georgia's three other BCS-conference opponents to get some insider insight into what fans can expect from UGA's competition in 2009.

Each day, we'll preview two teams, culminating with a big-picture look at the SEC and a deeper look at the biggest issues facing your Georgia Bulldogs. To submit a question for the Georgia entry in Two-A-Days, send me an email with the subject line "Two-A-Days" and I'll do my best to find you an answer.

To read the previous entries in the series, click HERE.

The 13th entry in the series is the LSU Tigers.

LSU TIGERS
Head coach: Les Miles (5th season)
2008 Record: 8-5 (3-5 SEC)
Total Offense: 368.08 (5th SEC, 55th overall)
Total Defense: 325.54 ypg (9th SEC, 32nd overall)
On the docket: LSU opens the season on the road at Washington on Sept. 5. The Tigers travel to Georgia on Oct. 3.

A year removed from a national championship, 2008 was a disaster for the Bayou Bengals. LSU spent most of the season trying to find a quarterback, which led to a turnover prone offense, despite a number of solid playmakers. More concerning, however, was the defense, which allowed more than 50 points in two of three games against Georgia and Florida. The Tigers finished strong, however, demolishing Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. So will LSU turn things around and build on its bowl victory? I talked to James Varney of the New Orleans Times-Picayune to get some answers.

David Hale: One of the biggest question heading into the spring was at quarterback. Jordan Jefferson finished up the season last year and looked decent, but Jarrett Lee and true freshman Russell Shepard are pressing him for snaps. Who has looked the best in the spring and who do you expect to have the starting gig when the season finally kicks off in the fall?

James Varney: Jefferson is, without a doubt, the No. 1 quarterback right now. Barring catastrophe, he'll be the guy. Now the starting LSU QB has gotten hurt at some point the last two seasons so history suggests the backup will play. That's Lee right now - again, definitely. Shepard will be in several packages - he is going to play as a true freshman. But don’t expect to see him under center.

DH: While the quarterbacking concerns haunted the Tigers last year, the defense may actually have been the bigger disappointment. LSU allowed teams to top 50 on them twice, and finishing ninth in the SEC in scoring defense. In comes new defensive coordinator John Chavis along with two other new defensive assistants. What kind of changes have they implemented and have you seen a new attitude among the Tigers' D since Chavis' arrival?

JV: Certainly the attitude is good; the energy level seems very high. The biggest changes are 1. using three linebackers more often than before and not having the chaotic substitution issues; 2. more zone as a result; and 3. making it clear to just about every player that they’re on-field time is up for grabs every practice.

DH: Speaking of the defense, LSU was virtually helpless against the pass at times. The Tigers finished 11th in the SEC in pass defense, allowing 216 yards per game through the air. What has been done to shore up the secondary and cut down on the big plays?

JV: The new secondary coach, Ron Cooper, is more vocal than Mallory and South Carolina was No. 2 nationally last year against the pass so he's obviously got a clue. He also has many drills ending with someone throwing a ball to the defender (and one drill like that the QBs run where the defender, like a receiver, just goes on a fly and is supposed to catch it). Personnel-wise, the biggest changes are Chad Jones locked in at free safety and Harry Coleman moving from strong safety to linebacker.

(*NOTE: Since this interview, LSU corner Phelon Jones has announced he is transferring.)

DH: Keiland Williams is a guy who oozes with potential, but he's yet to really have that breakthrough season. Heading into his senior season, Les Miles has singled him out as one of the main guys who needs to step up if LSU is to get back into the thick of things in the SEC East. Has his attitude changed any this spring, and what do you expect from him in 2009?

JV: Keiland’s off-field attitude has never been the problem. As far as I can tell, he's a great guy and quite well spoken. But, for whatever reason, he has this timidity that surfaces on some plays in game situations. Especially with Ridley getting hurt, I expect Charles Scott to be the featured back. Remember, Scott rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns last year so he’s no slouch.

DH: After seeing the team this spring, what jumped out at you in a positive way, and what would you say are the biggest questions LSU still needs to answer before the season begins?

JV: Judging strictly from the spring game, Shepard is an exciting player who lives up to the hype. At a minimun, I think he will assume the touches that went to Trindon Holliday (obviously if Holliday goes pro in track) and in terms of consistent positive yardage Shepard will be better. I’m not convinced the 3-linebacker scheme works as much as Chavis seems to want it to, but Coleman, a late shift, improves the speed of that unit and I think Jacob Cutrera in the middle helps if only because Darry Beckwith was hurt a lot last year. A still unanswered question is defensive line. Other than Rahim Alem, LSU has no proven players on that unit.

* James Varney is the LSU beat writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. You can read his LSU coverage HERE and find his LSU blog HERE.

NEXT UP: The Mississippi State Bulldogs with Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal beat writer Brad Locke.