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Say what?
The Georgia defense has been the focal point of conversation this week, and with good reason. Some go right to coaching. Some note a few key injuries. Others question leadership. Then there’s the lack of big plays from the defensive ends and defensive backs. I think pwd does a good job of laying out the situation here. Lots of different takes on things, but the common tie is that no one is happy with the play of the defense.
That dissatisfaction includes, as you’d hope, the players themselves. Corvey Irvin, Dannell Ellerbe, and Rennie Curran challenged the defense on Monday in a player-only meeting. What came out of the meeting was in part encouraging but also a little disturbing.
First, credit the players for taking ownership of the problem and showing some leadership. It’s not too late to end the season on a strong defensive note. In 2006, the defense was left for dead after allowing a last-minute Kentucky scoring drive. The defense bounced back, started creating turnovers and big plays, and was a big part of Georgia’s memorable wins against Auburn, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech.
The disturbing part is that here we are again hoping, for the third straight year, for a November turnaround from the defense. Players come and go, but this is a song we’ve heard before. You’d hope and expect, given the national expectations of the program entering the year, not to hear something like this from Rennie Curran ten games into the season:
“We’ve got to do everything in practice the same way we would in a game. We’ve got to quit joking in practice when we miss an assignment. It’s not funny any more and we’ve got to stop thinking that it is. We just can’t go out there in the game and turn on a switch and be an amazing defense.”
Now I trust no one has the impression that Georgia practices are Keystone Cops routines with a laugh track. Coach Garner more than anyone on the staff gets after his defensive linemen. What we’re talking about is a more subtle erosion of focus relative to the level of competition. These are practice habits forged in the offseason, and I doubt what Curran is talking about is something that has just now come up.
Mark Richt on Sunday was a little defensive and even became somewhat pedantic about the performance of his defense. He deflected questions about scheme by remarking (correctly) that "people don’t get it" and most fans don’t have a clue what the defensive call is on a given play. That’s very true; most people criticisng the Georgia defense think that "cover everybody" would be a better coverage call than "cover one". It might help to know that a fire zone has nothing to do with parking, but even dumb fans could see that something wasn’t quite right with the defense at Kentucky. Darryl Gamble indicated it had something to do with preparation.
“We really didn’t prep for (quarterback Randall Cobb) to run the ball as much as he did,” linebacker Darryl Gamble said. “We really didn’t think that was a main focus and wasn’t really prepared for it.”
The execution and talent angles hold a lot less water after a statement like that. It’s true that the Kentucky option was a new look, but no one should have been surprised by the Kentucky offense running the ball and Cobb doing a lot of that running. In his first start of the year at Mississippi State, he ran the ball 12 times. When he replaced the starter at Florida, he rushed 9 times for a team-high 52 yards. He averaged 4.3 yards per pass attempt in each of those games. What exactly did the Georgia coaches expect to see?
Just in case anyone is unsure: Auburn and Georgia Tech like to run the ball. A lot. Even from the quarterback position. It would be nice if that was a main focus of practice over the next few weeks so that the defense might be prepared for it.
3 Responses to 'Say what?'
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“Maybe we can talk to coach Tubs and play some music.” « Get The Picture
November 11th, 2008
3:44 pm
[...] Groo has some other quotes and some other thoughts worth a [...]
DawgByte
November 11th, 2008
5:04 pm
Groo – Nice article. It’s highly unlikely Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are allowing their defensive players to joke around after missed assignments. As I’ve said on Dawg Run… I think it’s quite clear this program (yes that’s correct – program) has some discipline issues that need to be addressed. I’m not privy to how hard Richt comes down on players for mistakes, but the results indicate some additional toughness may be in order – along with some fundamental tackling drills!
Thomas Brown
November 12th, 2008
6:32 am
I don’t know
Notre Dame’s Strength of Schedule this year for all known opponents is Number 72, according to the Official NCAA SoS All Known Opponents.
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2008/Internet/toughest%20schedule/fbs_9games_cumm.pdf
Southern California’s Official NCAA SoS this season is number 63. That the Rose Bowl would be stuck with them and Penn State today, if both win out, is fitting as far as I am concerned. I hate the Rose Bowl for what they perpetuate every year trying to tell the world that the Big 10 and PAC-10 are the only 2 conferences in football.
Pennsylvania State’s Strength of Schedule all known opponents this season, is Number 68.
Compare this with UGA headed to the CaptialOne Citrus Bowl against I would prefer Penn State, although they think against Michigan State :
If we would not have started out preseason Number 1, we would not be Number 10 in the BCS today.
Clearly falling behind 31 to nothing to Alabama and falling behind 49-3 to Florida isn’t just a concept that the players or coaches or both, were not focused because we were the higher ranked team.
I believe, correct now if I am wrong please – that if we are behind 31-0 and 49-3, that those two teams Number 1 and Number 4 in the BCS today, just perhaps are better football teams.
What do you think ?
This season, more than any previous season, is a season in which the fans bought into the hype that the players that have averaged about 7th best in the nation in national recruiting rankings, are instead the Number 1 Best National Champions Football Team.
We are not.
For example, there is not 1 Tight End on this team – nor has there been all season long.
There, for another example, is not 1 Defensive End on this team – nor has there been all season long.
So, what are we doing about it ?
As fans, what we are doing about it is saying fire Mike Bobo, fire Willie Martinez, fire Coach Richt – they just can’t get over the hump of being ranked Number 7 in the Final Polls on the average for the 8 years now of the Coach Richt Era.
What we should be saying is why is it that the best we can do in recruiting for next season is 1 guy at Tight End who has 4.93 speed in the 40-yard dash and at Defensive End all we can do is just 1 guy too and he too 4.93 in the 40-yard dash.
I believe we don’t have the talent of Florida, nor Alabama this season. They out-recruited us. We knew that when they did it.
Unless we just bought into the hype that UGA would go undefeated against the Number 1 Strength of Schedule in the nation.
As for the Defense, 31 to nothing and 49 to 3 is not just a problem of the Defense, now is it ?
I am not all that disappointed with 11-2 and CaptialOne Bowl with $4.25 million dollar payout New Year’s Day, because I was the only poster to this blog who said that UGA would be a 2-Loss team this year. Way too many tough games, especially all the away games against top teams like South Carolina and LSU, Alabama and Florida, etc. that we would lose more players to injury.
If you want to show me the teams who beat Number 23 South Carolina and Number 19 LSU this season, for their season, then please do so.
Alabama and Florida had better talent, and were clearly the better team on the field, which is why they are Number 1 and Number 4 in the nation. If you want to show me any team too who has beat the Number 1 and Number 4 team in the BCS today, please do that too.
Now, if we can get back to the Oldest Rivalry in The Great South in Football, I would like to suggest that we have much to play for this weekend on the road again. And then a week off before we take on the nerds who think they are so great having beat zero Top 25 BCS Teams today, nor played even Number 1 or Number 4. Tech fans and the AJ-C state outright that Tech is having a better season than UGA because of expectations. But Tech clearly is having a far worse season than UGA or Tech would be a ranked opponent in any poll. Tech is not.
Somehow that is better because of expectations when UGA is Top 10 BCS, and Tech unranked.
B.S.
It is very tiring to read posters say that UGA has had a horrid season. That our staff has to be replaced that they cannot coach. That they cannot get over the hump of averaging a Number 7 ranking in the Final Polls every year despite clearly playing by far as I show here far tougher schedules than the other teams at the top of the rankings with us today.
Can we find something else to harp on please ?
Such as just perhaps beating Auburn who has a 53-50-8 record against UGA in the Oldest Football Rivalry in The Great South, is very important for us to be in the CapitalOne Citrus Bowl $4.25 million dollar payout New Year’s Day.
I’m sure that Tech and Auburn, both of whom have been ranked this season, would die to have our sorry football coaching staff, sorry football players, and would loathe to have our sorry football fans.