Georgia @ LSU
Sadly there will be no game day recap this week, as I will be attending this:
http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/
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Game Day Recap
You guys. I committed fan suicide last night. I FORGOT TO WEAR MY LUCKY SHIRT AND UNDERWEAR TO BED. I feel awful. Georgia would have had those field goals if it hadn’t been for me. I’m so sorry, everyone. But hey - it could have been MUCH worse.
Today was a strange sort of day in Athens…the usually overcrowded north campus was eerily sparse when I headed out to take photos for uHAPS. On top of that, the law school owned half of my regular stomping ground! Some alumni tailgate thing was spanning from the library all the way to old college, where my best and drunkest fans typically hang out. Uhaps hates old people, so it was awful for me. Ok, so everyone assumes that people offer me free food and beer from their tailgates all the time, and sadly that is not at all the case. But FINALLY someone offered me beer today! Two people actually. And I didn’t even drink them - whoever says I’m an alcoholic can consider this evidence towards the contrary. My uHAPS job has turned me into somewhat of a character (frighteningly similar to a townie). Today I was beckoned from across the quad as “Terrapin Girl.” Then later I walked up to a tent to take some pictures, only to be met with a guy holding his camera displaying a picture of me from the week before (wearing my moustache from the Stache Out - don’t ask). Some couple at Last Resort also recognized me as their photographer from earlier, even though I had changed clothes. Apparently I (read: my very noticeable glasses) make quite the lasting impression.
Oh my gosh, I’m watching the LSU @ S. Carolina game right now, and i am l-o-v-i-n-g it.
Onto my dawgs!
- Thoughts on the first half:
Reshad Jones and AJ Green had a spectacular game. Green really needed this to boost his confidence after last week.
The Georgia defense is really giving up too many yards. With the way UGA has played thus far during this game, Vandy should not have those seven points.
Sadly, penalties are still an issue for the bulldogs. I hope we can manage to come out of last place this week.
Stafford has been gradually, well…sucking…over the past few games. What is that all about?
So happy to see Moreno making plays again!
- Thoughts on the second half:
Pass Interference seems to be our new favorite thing. That’s going to destroy us in Florida and LSU games if we don’t get it under control.
Caleb King is doing so wonderfully. Still he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.
Vandy did a nice job of screwing with the Georgia offense in high pressure plays.
Asher Allen is just frighteningly dependable.
CJ Byrd had a great game, too.
The bulldogs have been way too inconsistent with red zone conversions. You can’t win games with field goals. Ok you can, but it’s kind of boring!
Poor Blair Walsh! Please don’t feel bad, it’s not your fault. I will never forget my lucky ritual again!!
All right, that’s all I’ve really got for today. Not exactly sage or unique, but if I don’t type my thoughts out then my brain will explode into a thousand mini footballs. Off topic, I’m thinking about re-organizing my “treasures” so that certain days of the week are equivalent to specific treasure topics (Television Tuesday, etc.). I’ll keep you POSTED. HAHA GET IT?! *cap*
Game Day Recap
As we all learned (the hard way) two weeks ago, apparently the first half of the ball game is all that matters. By those standards, the bulldogs were not looking too good with about 2:30 left on the clock. Their second touchdown was crucial in avoiding the disrespect in the polls that this team has become so accustomed to.
I am very dissapointed that UGA’s final score was not higher. They certainly had chances. They can’t miss opportunities (ahem - turnover in the end zone?) like that in the games against Florida or LSU if they expect to win.
Overall, Georgia looks fine, but I wouldn’t say strong.
Random Fact: As wonderful as UGA’s first touchdown was…it may have been even extra meaningful because fullback Sean Chapas made the play. He is actually this week’s offensive captain, and is apparently proving himself to be quite the team leader. Interesting that this was also Southerland’s first week back…
Player of the Game: #1 Masaquoi. Finally someone was consistently hanging onto the ball once it was thrown to him - a skill which has been largely absent in the Georgia offense thus far.
Most Underappreciated: #4 Caleb King - I have been saying this forever…Moreno might just be getting more plays due to his heisman candidacy…I don’t know. Richt wouldn’t do that, but Bobo might. And, Bobo, stop running the ball every play - can’t you figure out when it’s not working?? He never learns. I’m telling you what, if we had words…he’d be crying by the end of the conversation.
The CBS announcers are so obnoxious. They can’t get the UGA players’ names right, and can’t even properly identify them on the field. Not to mention, most of their banter is based on painfully awful jokes which they run with for basically the entire game. I have heard VERY few comments that were remotely insightful. Um, have they found a replacement for Munson yet? How can I apply for that…
My favorite player:
Ever since my precious Danny left the team, I have had a very hard time replacing him with a new fave. Paul Oliver held the title until he was kicked off for academic ineligibility and signed late to the Chargers. I’ve got my eye on a few players now, but it’s just not the same …
In no particular order:
#82 Michael Moore - I don’t know what it is about him, I just like the plays he completes
#2 Asher Allen - he’s kind of adorable, and typically very reliable
#23 Prince Miller - obvi, he is a rock star in the making
#8 AJ Green - he took Oliver’s old number, plus I can’t get over some of the catches he makes - next year he will be huge, he just needs to better adapt to Stafford’s arm
#6 Logan Gray - I really have no idea why, but I just like him
#57 Blair Walsh - he does yoga and he’s good, but can you really have a kicker for a favorite?
-Also, I’m sorry, but I gotta give a shout out to UNC this week, go heels!
AP POLL:
no.5 Texas will be moving up…does anyone expact Bama to move down on their week off?
I don’t want to see Florida jump us in the polls.
If anyone remembers the bowl game announcements last year, they might be curious as to how LSU’s cancelled game against Troy may affect the Tigers’s final match-up. Actually it probably won’t affect it at all, but I’m just saying, it screwed up UGA’s bowl.
If no.8 USC moves up, I am going to be livid. Aparently no one cares if they lose to an unranked team, so who cares if they can beat one?
no.7 Texas Tech went into over time with an unranked team, do you think they will be penalized despite the win? (i doubt it - even though UGA losing by 11 points to at the time no.8 Bama somehow puts them behind these teams…)
I love to see Vandy lose to Mississippi St. (sorry Jeffie :\ ), simply because I am nervous about next week. It’d be awesome if Vandy could beat Florida, though.
Game Day Recap
All right. I want to let everyone know that “it is ok to have lost this game.” And I mean it. Look at our schedule - you don’t expect to win them all - this is the big loss. And Alabama deserved the win. Now, for Georgia, Florida is always a “threat,” but I, myself, am not very worried. LSU is the next scary game, and since LSU has to play Bama as well,….one of the two has to lose. Let’s hope that somehow it all can work out to our advantage. And we can still hope for Florida to beat LSU if we can beat Florida! It’s stressful to think about, but I am still determined that UGA can come out as No. 1!
So….Boy, did Munson pick a good time to retire! Since I really have very few positive things to say…
I’m not sure how many people this bothered, but in the first half, the UGA fans would not shut up! - when Georgia was on offense. Do people seriously not understand that you shut your mouth when your team needs quiet time?
When Richt announced in his blog last week that he, essentially, was not going to reprimand the young Georgia team about their penalties, as a fan I was offended. Come on, you are last in the division (is it the nation, too?) in penalties….how can you ignore this? How many ‘roughing the passer’ calls have the bulldogs endured thus far? Man up and get your team in line. You are wasting their talent. Also, the Blackout was not nearly as effective as it could have been, thanks to Richt. It was little more than extra motivation for Bama.
Onto the polls. This was undeniably a great week for the upset. No. 1 USC, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 LSU (who cares if they ended up winning?), all played unranked teams, and clearly struggled. So how can UGA feel too bad about their difficulties at home with No. 8 Alabama? I have been concerned about this game for at least two weeks, so I was prepared for a loss. But a loss after this? I’m not so sure I could handle that quite so well.
Moore finally had a “great” game. He has secretly shined (shone?) all season, but he really stepped (stood?) up to the plate tonight to make this loss less embarrassing. Why is he the only one who could hang on to the ball in 4 th quarter - when it really mattered?
** EDIT: Grim Injury Report
- Durham sprained his ankle and is out “indefinitely”
- Ellerbe injured his left knee, they are not sure how many games he will miss
- Stafford went to the doctor after the game to make sure his head was all right; it was.
- Moreno has a bruised elbow and may miss the Tennessee game
- Rod Battle’s return on the 11th is still up in the air…
- …as is Tavarres King’s, as far as I can tell
- Southerland still slated to return as fullback on the 11th
- Word on the street is that one of the tight ends is also out for the season (Chandler, perhaps?)
And the AP Poll -
So Alabama plays Clemson, Tulane, W. Kentucky, and Arkansas - none of whom are ranked, and just because they beat UGA by 11 points, they move to number two? Seriously? I know that few people have played many big teams thus far, but I find it perplexing that we are behind USC and only one spot ahead of Florida who both lost to unranked teams! WTF AP Poll?
Game Day Recap
I don’t have too much to say about last week. Alabama looked frighteningly good, even if they did only play an unranked team. This match up scares me a lot more than I’d like to admit. Stafford needs to watch out for interceptions this weekend, wouldn’t want to break his no-picks streak! As for the Florida game, I’m not as worried. Watching them play Tennessee this weekend, I saw that when the Vols did anything decent it was because they used their running game. Now think about how much better Georgia’s running game is than Tennessee’s…I think it’s comforting. I have to admit, I love Tebow’s little jump pass. I’d love to see that from Stafford.
The guys at The Quad can be a little fickle, and they don’t talk about the SEC as much as I would like, but overall they are usually representin’ for my bulldogs. One of the writers even has them picked to play USC in Miami (a bit of a rarity for someone so neutral). Here’s a little sample of their Georgia spirit, courtesy of PeteThamel.
Onto the ASU game….
Since it’s so far past the game now, I only have a few quick thoughts. First of all, as I believe I mentioned last week, ASU was suspected of “looking ahead” to the Georgia game, which cost them an upset to UNLV. Is it just me, or was it ridiculously obvious what the majority of this “looking ahead” business was all about? Studying Moreno’s film…..over and over and over? He wasn’t able to get as far per carry as he typically does (despite still making amazing plays). Nonetheless, leave it to Bobo to play Moreno again and again - what about the quarterback sneaks/draws that we saw last week? I mean, yes the numbers are on Bobo’s side, put Moreno in enough times and he’s bound to get yards, but I thought it made Georgia look as though they couldn’t adapt their offense effectively. Moreno did have a better average than he did in the South Carolina game, at least. AJ Green’s completion average is only slightly down from the GSU and South Carolina games, but he had about 5 more receptions last Saturday - love to see him getting the extra attention from Stafford (and Bobo, I guess). One big concern of mine is that the recievers still aren’t making catches that they really should make simply because they can’t hang on to the ball. This was a trend I saw with Stafford from the beginning, and I figured that the players just weren’t used to his throwing style. But by now they really shouldn’t be dropping the ball as often as they do.
A few more stats: ** Bama and LSU are the only teams in the SEC whose leading rushers have a better average than Moreno’s thus far (all right, not including Pulley from KY who has only attempted 15 rushes). Moreno has the highest number of rushing yards attempted, so third place isn’t so bad. ** My new pet peve: Penalites. The bulldogs average about 86 yards per game in penalties. And Richt doesn’t seem too concerned about it, either.
Does anyone know if Southerland will actually be back for the Bama game this weekend? I hope so, this Chapas guy has not impressed me. Also on my mind, the LSU @ Florida game on October 11th. I suppose I want Florida to lose so that Georgia can take the SEC East for sure, right? I guess we’ll have to see what happens in the Bama game first.
I am thrilled they decided to go for the blackout this week, and when else could they really have done it? It will give the team and fans some much-needed extra energy.
Also, I have to say “thank you” Larry Munson. I will truly miss hearing his voice - it’s going to be strange without him.
Game Day Recap
No. 2 Georgia at South Carolina
13 September 2008 3:30pm
I have quarter-by-quarter comments, followed by some slightly more cohesive notes.
First Quarter
- I loved that Stafford went in to block for Moreno (well, at least tried to…). This was an early play and was kind of low-key, but I really appreciated the effort. Kind of adorable.
- Very early on, Daktronics messed up the game with their dysfunctional play clocks. So, remember in “Jobs: Part One” when that guy almost offered me the job and then didn’t give it to me?….Well that guy worked for Daktronics. South Carolina got a BS “mulligan” out of the technical difficulty, further instilling my dislike of the company.
- I was very upset to see how frequently King and Massaquoi were ignored. I felt they would have been a nice benefit to the offense.
- Ok, if you do not already know this, please learn now that we have three players - Chandler, Goodman, and Durham - who will only catch the ball about 50% of the time. I wish I could find the numbers to back me up.
- Overall, the defense looked good but they will certainly need A LOT of improvement before we can play Bama, FL, Auburn, etc.
- I think Bobo made a lot of poor decisions in this quarter (nothing new there), but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he was getting a feel for the South Carolina defense.
Second Quarter
- I know that everyone already knows this, but AJ Green is amazing. I mean, did you SEE that high school footage??! I can not wait for him to be recognized and prove himself just as much of an asset to this team as Moreno - hopefully sooner than later.
- This was a frustrating quarter for Stafford, he really was delivering the ball well, and if some players could have held onto it, it would have been a different ball game.
Third Quarter
- Some people think it was risky to ‘go for two,’ but I was confident that they could pull it off, and I am very glad that Bobo took the chance.
- Stafford had his really great run in this quarter. I was impressed, I hope they keep working on more plays like that - however, it became too predictable by the end of the game.
- UGA finally got their first sack in this quarter, too. I am pretty concerned about this aspect of our team. CMU and South Carolina’s offenses had very little trouble holding off the pressure.
- Samuel had a strange game. Stafford threw an important pass to him, which he missed - but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a deep receiving pass before anyway…He still has not proven himself as far as I’m concerned.
Fourth Quarter
- The touchback was basically the best outcome for that situation, but I am still not happy that USC almost scored. Still, amazing play by our defense.
- By the end of the game, South Carolina was able to exploit a lot of our weaknesses - It was frightening to see how vulnerable our mid-to-deep defensive coverage can be, and you can be sure other SEC teams will take advantage of it.
General Remarks
- Stafford was carrying this offensive game by himself for a long time (until he got tired and a little sloppy), but we can’t expect to be number one until some of our receivers can actually hang on to the ball…seriously, I don’t know what exactly the problem was, but it needs to be fixed immediately. Even though Stafford made some errors and didn’t pass to wide open men - would they have been able to catch it if he had? I wish I could say ‘yes’ for sure.
- There is undeniably some mysterious effect that Spurrier has over Georgia, and this game was obviously no exception. Look at last year, UGA only had 2 losses, one to South Carolina, who went on to lose 6 consecutive games. You can’t make any conclusive observations about the rest of our season just because we struggled with Spurrier. I would, however, suggest that the Vandy game will be somewhat of a challenge.
- Reshad Jones and some of the other younger players got some much needed practice. I really hope that it shows next week in Tempe.
- Though Stafford only had a cramp late in the game, it did bring up the question of what to do if he gets hurt or has to sit out at such a high-pressure point in any game. I would hope that Cox could handle it, but I am definitely skeptical.
- We need to learn from our penalty mistakes. Giving up 111 yards is in no way acceptable.
- I was hoping to see Smelley give up more turn-overs. Before this game South Carolina had 6 turn-overs, while the rest of the SEC combined only had 11.
- ASU lost this weekend, supposedly because they were too focused on preparing for the dawgs. Now they will have all the more motivation to bring their A-game. Georgia better be ready to step it up, and actually make some sacks! Carpenter is not at all one to hide his feelings, so I’d love to see him cry.
