College Football Wrap-Up: Week 5

It wasn't pretty, but I'll take an ugly win, particularly when it's against a conference rival.  Georgia beat Tennessee for the 5th consecutive time on Saturday afternoon in Athens.  It started poorly (10-0 Vols) and then Georgia appeared to take control when Mason hit Chubb for a 20 yard touchdown pass to go up 21-10 with only 1:17 remaining in the first half. Then the Dawgs allowed Tennessee to march right back down the field and take the momentum back with a score to cut the lead to 4 with 18 seconds remaining before halftime. The defense held Tennessee scoreless during the 3rd quarter while the offense sputtered.  Fortunately, Todd Gurley rushed for a career high 208 yards and the Dawgs were able to hold on for a 35-32 victory.

Photo Credit: Ted Mayer/georgiadogs.com

The Dawgs have gone 11-4 versus the Vols since 1999 with the overall series now tied at 21-21-2.  Meanwhile, Tennessee has lost 10 consecutive SEC openers.

Todd Gurley is clearly the best running back in the country. After Saturday's game, I think it's fair to say he's the best player in the country.  He finished with a career high 208 yards, on only only 28 carries (7.4 avg.), and the defense keyed on him the entire day. He now has 16 100-yard rushing games in his career which is tied for 2nd with Garrison Hearst in UGA football history . He's also tied for with Hearst for 3rd place on UGA's career rushing TD records with 33.

Most impressive thing about Todd Gurley's performance is that Tennessee sold OUT for the run. More so than anyone else. Earned every yard.
— TheBlawgHouse (@TheBlawgHouse) September 27, 2014

If Gurley does go on to win the Heisman Trophy, this will be one of his many highlight plays.

Here are some other observations on the game:

• Cue the "Hutson Mason is much more like Joe Cox than he is like D.J Shockley" conversations. Dawg fans need to allow Mason to play with a full complement of receivers before they pass judgement on him.  Fortunately, Richt said after the game that Mitchell, Scott-Wesley, and Rumph will begin practicing on Monday. I believe Chris Conley's shoulder injury is more significant than the coaches have indicated. He should have made two catches on Saturday that he's normally made throughout his career. Furthermore, Brice Ramsey may be the future, but he's not going to put Georgia in a better position to win games this season than Mason is.
• The defense, and particularly the secondary, are a work in progress. However, you have to give them some measure of credit for Saturday's victory. They brought a lot of pressure on Saturday, had three sacks, and knocked Worley out of the game for a period of time. After giving up 10 points on Tennessee's first two possessions, they forced the Vols to punt or created a turnover on 9 out of the next 10 possessions. As good as Gurley played, the Dawgs don't win with Georgia's offense sputtering like it did in the 3rd quarter and early in the 4th quarter without the defense holding serve for the majority of that time.
• The secondary has so many young players and I do expect that they will continue to improve as they gain experience. However, if I'm Jeremy Pruitt, I believe I would consistently blitz and hope that your defense can create enough sacks and turnovers to offset the big plays that you're going to give up.
• If reports are true, Sony Michel will miss anywhere from 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. Not only does that hurt our offense, but he's been an integral part of the special teams as well.
• I was impressed with Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd. He finished with 119 yards on 24 carries and 1 TD. Unfortunately for the Vols, his fumble in the end zone resulted in a Georgia touchdown.
• A.J. Johnson, a Georgia native, led the Vols with 17 tackles. Ironically, when Willie Martinez was the defensive coordinator at Georgia, he didn't want to offer Johnson, from Gainesville High School, a scholarship. Johnson decided to accept a scholarship offer at Tennessee. Martinez eventually landed on the Vols defensive staff after stints at Oklahoma and Auburn, following his dismissal from Georgia in December 2009, and now coaches Johnson.
• Tennessee has now lost 9 straight games to Florida, 7 straight games to Alabama, and 5 straight games to Georgia. That's a tough stretch for the Vols versus arguably their three biggest rivals.

Around the SEC

Missouri at South Carolina

A year ago, the Gamecocks overcame a 17 point deficit on the road and beat Mizzou in double overtime.  This year, the Tigers returned the favor and beat South Carolina, after the Gamecocks lead 20-7, with only 7:25 remaining in the game. This game was a defensive battle until the 4th quarter.  After holding Missouri to 69 yards on the previous 11 possessions, the Tigers put together touchdowns on their last 2 drives of the game.  With the Gamecocks suffering their second SEC loss, the Dawgs again control their own destiny in the SEC East. Missouri is off next weekend so they will have two weeks to prepare for Georgia.

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas

The Razorbacks led 28-14 in the 4th quarter, but allowed the Aggies to tie it with 2:08 left in regulation. Texas A&M scored on the first play of OT and then held Arkansas from picking up a first down in their OT possession. The Razorbacks fall to 0-2 in the SEC and haven't won a conference game since October 2012.  They have a bye week before hosting Alabama on October 11th.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky

The Wildcats won 17-7 to end a 17 game losing streak in the SEC. Their QB play is much improved this season and Stoops has the defense playing more consistently. Kentucky has already won more games this season than they did all of last season and it's still September.  The Wildcats host South Carolina next week while Vanderbilt travels to Athens to face Georgia.

Other SEC Action

LSU, Auburn, and Ole Miss all defeated non-conference opponents. The action in the SEC heats up next week as three conference matchups feature ranked opponents: #6 Texas A&M at #12 Mississippi State, #3 Alabama at #11 Ole Miss, and #15 LSU at #5 Auburn. By next weekend we will have a better idea of who's a contender and who's a pretender in the SEC West.

Odd & Ends

• One of the games I'm most interested to see next weekend is Florida at Tennessee. Can the Vols reverse their fortunes versus the Gators? If so, it will certainly warm up Muschamp's seat even more. If the Vols don't beat the Gators then they will fall to 2-3 on the season.  Looking ahead, Tennessee will be favored versus Chattanooga, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt.  They will likely be underdogs versus the remainder of their opponents and would need to pull an upset in order to get to 6 wins and become bowl-eligible. The seniors on the Tennessee team have never played in a bowl game. The Vols haven't won a bowl game since the 2007 season.
• Heads (or bellies) have rolled at Kansas as the Jayhawks fired Charlie Weis. He was 6-22 in less than three seasons in Lawrence. My guess is that Brady Hoke at Michigan is probably the next head coach that will be shown the door.
• UCLA thumped Arizona State 62-27 on Thursday night and now sit at 4-0 on the young season.  They face their three toughest opponents (Oregon, Stanford, and USC) at home.
• In the least surprising news of the week, it appears that Auburn is recruiting a player that was previously dismissed by Georgia. What makes this story a little bit different is that he was dismissed by Mark Richt after punching and choking his girlfriend this past summer. With the Ray Rice incident domestic violence is becoming a hot topic in the sports world. Of course, Malzahn claims that he has a zero tolerance policy on domestic violence, but time will tell. He's also being recruited by Petrino and Grantham at Louisville - shocker, right?
• FSU fell behind North Carolina State 24-7 less than 13 minutes into the game. The Seminoles ralled to win 56-41 on the road but it wasn't an impressive victory for the top-ranked team. How bad do you think Jimbo Fisher misses Jeremy Pruitt? The Noles allowed 132 points during the regular season in 2013. They have already given up 101 points through 4 games this season.
• Deshaun Watson was impressive in his first career start versus North Carolina. Granted the Tar Heels gave up 70 points last week in a loss to East Carolina, but Watson set a school single-game record and an ACC freshman record with 6 passing touchdowns.
• Colorado State just did what Southern Cal couldn't...beat Boston College on the road. Saban's former offensive coordinator at Alabama, Jim McElwain, took over the program in 2012.  He has improved the program's record each year (4-8 in 2012, 8-6 in 2013, and currently 3-1 this season). If the Rams have a big season, McElwain may be in line for one of the head coach openings at a big-time program at the end of the season.

ICYMI here are two bonus highlights: Maty Mauck knocking Spurrier down. I couldn't help but chuckle because Spurrier was doing his best to get out of the way.

And two Penn State players blocking each other (look familiar Gator fans?) during a loss to Northwestern.



Until next time...Go Dawgs!