College Football Wrap-Up: Week 9

The Dawgs enjoyed an open date before next weekend's matchup with Florida in Jacksonville. Saturday night was another excellent night of football!

Ole Miss at LSU
The Bayou Bengals upset the third-ranked Rebels in another classic game in Death Valley.  It was a defensive battle between the two teams that slugged it out all night before LSU took the lead 10-7 on a touchdown, with only 5:07 remaining in the game. Ole Miss had an opportunity to tie the game with a 42 yard field goal attempt. A delay of game cost them 5 yards and, instead of trying for the 47 yard FG attempt, they decided to run one more play (really, Hugh Freeze?). Unfortunately for Ole Miss, Bo Wallace made a poor throw that was intercepted with only 3 seconds remaining and LSU held on for the victory.

Photo Credit: The Advocate/Travis Spradling

Ole Miss has a championship caliber defense, but their offense was average on Saturday night and Bo Wallace seems to be easily flustered. The Rebels drop to 7-1 on the season, but they still control their own destiny. Their two toughest remaining games will be played at home -- Auburn  next weekend & Mississippi State on November 29th. Meanwhile, LSU enjoys an open date before hosting Alabama on November 8th. LSU's team is improving and would love to play spoiler again when the Crimson Tide roll into Baton Rouge.

South Carolina at Auburn
Steve Spurrier proved once again that he's still one of the best playcallers in America. Unfortunately for Gamecock faithful, their defense is probably one of the worst in Spurrier's ten seasons in Columbia. The two teams combined to roll up nearly 1,100 yards of offense in the 42-35 Auburn victory. 

In a contest that went back and forth all night, Spurrier pulled out all the stops and converted an onside kick and four fourth down plays in their own territory. On the night, the Gamecocks converted 5 out of 6 4th down plays. If it weren't for 3 interceptions, Dylan Thompson had his finest game as a quarterback with 402 yards passing and 5 touchdowns. South Carolina drops to 4-4 and will host Tennessee this coming Saturday night.

Alabama at Tennessee
Lane Kiffin made his return to Knoxville and he had Alabama's offense firing on all cylinders to begin the game. Alabama opened a 27-0 lead on the road by scoring touchdowns on 4 out of their first 5 drives. Tennessee deserves credit for fighting back to cut the lead to 10 midway through the 3rd quarter, but the Crimson Tide were too much for the Vols to handle and eventually won 34-20.

The Volunteers dropped to 3-5 on the season and will need to win 3 out of the 4 remaining games to become bowl eligible. After their road trip to South Carolina next weekend, they host a vastly improved Kentucky team and a Missouri team that currently sits at 6-2.  They finish the season in Nashville versus Vanderbilt. Tennessee hasn't reached a bowl game since the 2010 season and they haven't enjoyed a winning season since 2009.

Mississippi State at Kentucky
The Bulldogs held off the Kentucky upset bid in another SEC contest, where teams combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense. Sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles lead Kentucky in passing yards (390) and rushing yards (76) and accounted for 4 touchdowns. The Wildcats dropped to 5-3 on the season and play 3 out of their last 4 games on the road, beginning with a trip to Columbia, MO next weekend. Mississippi State, which remains as the only undefeated team in the SEC, hosts an Arkansas team on Saturday that is still searching for their first conference victory under Bret Beilema.

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.

College Football Wrap-Up: Week 1

Revenge: Dawgs Tame Tigers!
In the words of the late Erk Russell, "There ain't nothing like being a Bulldog on a Saturday night!"  Todd Gurley ran wild and the Dawgs defense shut Clemson down in the second half to win 45-21.  Georgia racked up 328 rushing yards on only 41 attempts. Defensively, the Dawgs pitched a shutout in the 2nd half, while limiting the Tigers to 15 yards and only one first down.

Photo Credit: AJC/Brant Sanderlin

Todd Gurley is a BEAST! I believe the DawgNation has known this since 2012, but it became apparent to everyone across the nation on Saturday night.  Gurley amassed 293 all-purpose yards offensively, while accounting for 4 touchdowns.  He rushed for a career high of 198 yards on only 15 carries, with 3 TDs.  His 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown was the 2nd of his career.  Check out Gurley’s stat line in his two games versus Clemson: 27 rushes, 352 yards (13 yards per carry), 5 rushing touchdowns, and a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.  I'm quite certain that the Tiger faithful are happy they won't have to face Gurley once again.

The sideline is clearly the only thing preventing Todd Gurley from running for 800 yards tonight.
— Spencer Hall (@edsbs) August 31, 2014

Everyone in the DawgNation was looking for signs of improvement on the defensive side of the ball. When Coach Richt hired Jeremy Pruitt from Florida State, everyone around the program believed it was a game changer.  If the first game is any indication then it was a great hire.  Clemson had good success versus the Dawgs in the 1st half, but Coach Pruitt and his staff made adjustments at halftime and the Tigers were stymied in the second half.  Clemson had 7 drives, in the 2nd half, and only ran 22 plays.  Here is a breakdown of the number of plays per drive: 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, and 3.  9 of Clemson's 15 drives resulted in a 3 and out.  Another drive ended with an interception.

In the 2nd half, Clemson offense averaged 0.68 yards per play. Only had 15 total yards in the half. Dawgs defense looked like a new bunch!!!
— Trent Smallwood (@UgaRecruitingBI) August 31, 2014

Here are some other observations from the game:

• Todd Gurley is the stud on offense but Leonard Floyd is a freak on defense.  Coach Pruitt lined him up all over the place and he abused Clemson's right tackle all night.
• Amarlo Herrera was named the SEC's Defensive Player of the Week, after leading the Dawgs with 12 tackles, 3.5 TFL, and 2 sacks.  I love how Coach Pruitt used the ILBs.  In Grantham's scheme the ILBs rarely ever blitzed.  Herrera had 2 sacks in one game whereas last season he recorded only 0.5 sack the entire season.  Reggie Carter did an outstanding job in coverage, knocking the ball away from Peake on a play which would have resulted in a big gain otherwise.  
• Georgia played 21 different defenders on Saturday night.  Again, this is a big change from the previous defensive regime. The Dawgs looked fresh in the 2nd half, while Clemson looked like they were out of gas.  Going back to the ILBs, it was rare for anyone to get playing time last year other than Wilson and Herrera.  Both are fine football players, but neither are great in pass coverage.  Carter and Kimbrough played a significant number of snaps and looked impressive.
• #TailbackU - Gurley is the headliner, but the Dawgs have a stable of talented running backs.  True freshmen tailbacks, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, combined to rush for 103 yards on only 10 carries.  Nick Chubb simply would not be denied on his TD run (the last 35 yards with just one shoe). The future looks bright!
• Have you ever seen 3 rushing TDs on 3 consecutive offensive plays?  Gurley and Chubb toted the rock but the offensive linemen did some heavy lifting.  It's demoralizing for a defense when you know the offense is going to run the ball and you can't stop it.
• In all, 9 different true freshman saw action on Saturday night.  Jeb Blazevich made a nice catch to convert a first down. Isaiah McKenzie, Michel's high school teammate, had 44 all purpose yards and was a shoestring tackle away from breaking a punt return for a TD in the 4th quarter.  This kid is very talented and I believe he will break a punt return for a TD before the season is over.  He was dubbed the "Human Joystick" in high school and highlight tape is just plain sick.
• Special Teams were actually "special" on Saturday night.  Gurley's kickoff return for a TD was a huge momentum swing in the game.  That play wasn't all Gurley though.  If you watch it again you will see that it was very well executed by the whole KO return team.  The other noteworthy item for special teams was the fact that Richt has decided to go with his best players for those squads.  Both Keith Marshall and Sony Michel were on the kickoff teams.  Very good night's work put in by both punters and Marshall Morgan.
• Deshaun Watson is going to be a very fine football player. He looked very impressive for it to be his first college football game in a very tough environment.  It's only a matter of time before he unseats Stoudt as the starting QB at Clemson.
• If you would like to enjoy the highlights again then watch this.  I promise that you will enjoy it! If you're interested in hearing an opinion from the Tiger's point of view then here you go.

Other Notable Games

• Texas A&M had the most dominating performance of the week when they throttled South Carolina in Columbia on Thursday night.  I would caution everyone that is ready to write off the Gamecocks' chances of winning the SEC East this season.  It is way too early to make judgement on a team after one game.  A healthy Mike Davis would have made a huge difference, in my opinion.  I fully expect the Gameocks to regroup and be ready to take on the Dawgs in 2 weeks.
• Alabama's defense looked pedestrian, at times, but they were able to hold off West Virginia to win the the second part of the Chick-fil-a Kickoff classic.  Sure, it was a sloppy performance, but Bama has way too much talent to write them off this early in the season as serious contenders.
• The Glory Days of 2013 are over for the Vanderbilt Commodores.  The Dores had "their doors blown off" by Temple.  It's never good to lose by 30 at home, regardless of the opponent, but particularly when the opponent went 2-10 the previous season.
• FSU and LSU both won neutral-site games versus Oklahoma State and Wisconsin, respectively. Both teams are very talented and I believe they will improve as the season moves along.  Unfortunately for LSU, the SEC West is going to be rugged this season.

Looking ahead for the Dawgs

As the season progresses, I fully expect for defenses to put 8 or 9 players in the box to try to shut down the running game.  As defenses challenge the Dawgs, we will have to get better at throwing the ball downfield. We definitely need the speed and play making ability of both Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott Wesley.  In case you have forgotten about the kind of difference Mitchell can make in a tight game, watch this.  

Dawg fans should be excited about the outcome of Saturday's game, but I hope the players don't buy into the hype from the national media.

Georgia is now the favorite in the #SEC. pic.twitter.com/YjEMMjXB6r
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 2, 2014

 

It was just one game.  I cannot agree more with this column written by Seth Emerson of the Macon Telegraph.  Let's take it one game at a time and enjoy the season!

College Football Wrap-Up: Week 6

Another nail-biter and the Dawgs escape Knoxville with a 34-31 OT victory!  It was a game that left you with mixed emotions.  Obviously, SEC road wins are hard to come by and it’s always nice to beat Tennessee so you certainly appreciate the victory but on the other hand the Dawgs lost some huge playmakers to season ending injuries.

Overall it was a very gutsy performance, particularly for the offense.  I said before the season that this was a trap game because it’s tough to maintain playing at such a high level after the gauntlet we faced with our September schedule.  It was on the road in a tough environment and you knew that Butch Jones was eager to get his big signature win.  You enter the game without your two best playmakers (RB Todd Gurley & WR Malcolm Mitchell) then you lose your starting RB (who had his best game last year vs. Tennessee) in the 1^st quarter followed by losing 2 of 3 remaining top receivers in the 3^rd quarter.

With less than 2 minutes to go in regulation, down by 7, with the home crowd going nuts,  Aaron Murray takes the Dawgs down the field and scores a TD with just 5 seconds left on the clock.  First and foremost, that was an unbelievable drive by Aaron Murray knowing that he was missing so many playmakers.  Then consider this: 62 yards out of that 75 yard drive were picked up by true freshman playing in their first ever SEC road game.

While you have to give the offense a lot of credit the defense is becoming increasingly frustrating.  After playing a very decent first half it seems like they regressed in the 2^nd half.  The DL and LB play have improved for the most part but the secondary is still struggling.  I understand that the defense is young but there is plenty of talent and Grantham is one of the highest paid coordinators in the business.  With all the injuries the offense has sustained you cannot continue to rely so heavily on the offense to carry the team for the remainder of the year.

Grantham’s defense has been built around disrupting the QB and creating TOs.  So far this year we’ve only picked off one pass and our 3^rd down defense is dead last in the league.  Georgia has some legitimate playmakers on defense with Ray Drew, Leonard Floyd, Jordan Jenkins, Sterling Bailey, JHC, Tray Matthews, etc. but we haven’t seen anything resembling a very solid game yet.  This coming Saturday would be a good time for the defense to step up and play big.

Another game, another costly special teams mistake.  Marshall Morgan has proven to be a threat with his leg.  The rest of the special teams units leave a lot to be desired.

Congratulations to Aaron Murray on becoming the All-Time Passing Yards leader in SEC history.  3 of the top 5 in conference history are now Dawgs – 1) Murray 2) Greene and 5) Zeier

The Dawgs have now won 4 in a row versus Tennessee and 5 out of the last 6 in the series.  Since Tennessee won 8 straight versus the Dawgs in the 90’s Georgia has gone 10-4 since then.

The one-handed catch that Chris Conley made in the first half for a TD is as good as you will see in college football.  As a matter of fact, it was the best catch I’ve seen since AJ Green made that spectacular one-handed catch against Colorado for a TD in 2010.

Georgia Tech dropped their 2^nd straight game and now Paul Johnson’s record at Tech versus Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and Georgia is 6-16.  As a matter of fact, he’s only beaten Georgia, Miami, and Virginia Tech one time each.  The athletic director that hired Paul Johnson is now the AD at Clemson.  You have to wonder if the new AD will make a coaching change after the season if Tech doesn’t either upset Clemson or Georgia.

Auburn beat Ole Miss on Saturday and unless they totally fall apart should make a bowl this season.  That’s a big step forward from last season when Auburn went 0-8 in the SEC.  Ole Miss has lost two in a row and next they have to face Texas A&M.

It’s beginning to look like a soap opera in Columbia with Clowney and Spurrier.  First, Clowney appears out of shape to begin the season and now the OBC is questioning the severity of his injuries while he sits out ballgames.  He’s obviously a very gifted football player but he doesn’t really help his team’s chemistry.  It will be interesting to see how he finishes the season.

FSU exposed Maryland while Northwestern broke my heart by not beating Ohio State.  More and more I’m beginning to believe that the SEC’s run as claiming the National Champion may come to an end in 2013.  Honestly, in the final year of the BCS I really won’t be surprised to see 4 unbeaten teams at the end of the year.  I know these things typically work themselves out but who is going to beat Ohio State or Louisville.  Oregon and Stanford play each other so one of those teams will knock the other out and the same holds true for FSU and Clemson.  Alabama is still #1 and undefeated but I could certainly see them losing before the end of the year.  There are still several weeks left to play so we’ll l see what happens.

The Dawgs face a serious test this weekend.  Missouri rolls into town with a 5-0 record and ranked #25 in the polls.  Their schedule has been weak but their offense appears to hitting on all cylinders.  Georgia has to find a way to plug in new players at RB and WR and continue scoring points.  Gurley is 50/50 to play and if he can’t go the Dawgs will rely on two true freshmen.  Both players have been impressive but consider this: when they signed JJ Green in February they had intended on him playing WR or DB.  Brendan Douglas only received a scholarship offer from UGA with less than 2 weeks to go before signing day.  They played very well on Saturday combing to rush for 154 yards on 27 carries so let’s hope they can continue to carry the load until Gurley returns.