Big Game Prep...Something is obviously wrong.
by RocketDawg on Nov 2, 2008 9:26 AM EST
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PrintI posted most of this in the comments section of the Game Day thread, but I wanted to stimulate some discussion on what seems to be the problem with our Big Game preparation. Twice this year we have had huge games and twice we have fallen flat on our faces, I don't think that it is a matter of talent. I also don't think that it is a matter of preparation (i.e. we practice well, rep our plays etc), so what is it? Psychological? Physical? Animal? Mineral?
Just off the top of my head I can't remember us winning a truly BIG game in years.
2002-Big Game vs UF-We were undefeated for the first time since 1982, had playmakers all over the field, and were playing some of the best football I had ever seen at UGA. What happened: We go in and go 0-for11 on 3rd down conversions, and Terrence Edwards has the worst drop of his career. Result: Some would say it cost us a shot at the MNC, but with an undefeated OhioSt and Miami ahead of us, we would have probably been the poster child for blowing up the BCS instead of Auburn '04.
2003-Big Game vs LSU-Undefeated going into Death Valley to play LSU. What happened: Billy Bennett misses 3 FG's and we lose 17-10. Result: Go on to win the SEC East and get pasted by LSU in the SECCG.
Big Game #2 vs UF- Once again we go into WLOCP with the more talented team expecting to win for the first time since 1997. What happened: I refer to this game as "Death by Bubble Screen". Rex Grossman had to have thrown that pass at least 20 times and we never adjusted to it. Result: Luckly UF sucked so bad that year that we STILL managed to represent the East in Atlanta.
Big Game #3 vs LSU SECCG- The Dawg Nation was primed for a rematch with LSU after our defeat in Death Valley. What happened: Justin Vincent left, Justin Vincent right, Justin Vincent up the middle. Gashed, gashed and gashed. Evidently LSU got better and we didn't. Result: Capitol One Bowl..meh.
2004 Big Game v LSU- LSU came into Athens for a rematch of the previous years SECCG. Dawgs were locked and loaded and primed for revenge. What happened: The most complete performance of the Mark Richt era. It was 24-0 after the first quarter, David Greene threw 5 TD passes and the Defense dismantled LSU's offense. Result: The one bright shining moment on this list...too bad it was followed the next week by.....
Big Game #2 vs UT-Tennessee came into Athens having struggled early in the season and rotating 2 true Freshman QB's. What happened: Hangover from the LSU game, poor execution, and some questionable penalties result in a loss that cost us the SEC East. Result: Much like in '07 a very average UT team manages to hold on the rest of the year and win the East, only to get pasted by Auburn in the SECCG.
2005- The two Big Games of this season were UF and Auburn, with DJ Shockley healthy we win in Jacksonville easily, and the Auburn game was just a great game where one team unfortunately had to lose.
2006 Big Game vs. UT- Tenessee came into Athens to face the 5-0 Dawgs. JT III was back at QB after leaving the USC game with an injury. What happened: After coming out and playing a great first half and going in to the half up 24-10, the team has one of the worst second half meltdown's in UGA history. Between turnovers and special teams break downs the Vowels drop 51 on the Dawgs. Result: This game started the downward spiral that was the 2006 season.
Big Game #2 vs Auburn-The Dawgs rolled into the Plains with their season on the brink, a loss here almost guaranteed a trip to Shreveport in December. What happened: I can't really say since I was in the woods doing an adventure race and didn't watch the game. Evidently we played well and Tra Battle picked Brandon Cox off 3 times. Result: This win salvaged the season and layed the groundwork for a sucessful 2007.
2007 Big Game vs UT-After being embarrassed at home the year before, the Dawgs were looking for a little payback. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the team when the bus left because none of them got on in Athens and certainly didn't get off in Knoxville. What happened: After it was 28-0 we woke up and decided to play some football, but it was too little, too late. Result: Just like 2004 a very average UT team managed to hold on and represent the East in the SECCG while the Dawgs rose to #2 in the polls but had no shot at the MNC.
Big Game #2 vs UF-We were looking for something, anything to change the mojo of this series and we got it in "The Celebration". Admittedly the UF defense was pathetic, but this is what happens when you get a good team ready to play. What happened: Knowshon left , Knowshon right, Knowshon up the middle, our line grew up and we played some good old fashioned Georgia football. Result: We built a wave of momentum that carried us the rest of the season.
Big Game #3 vs Auburn-The first "Blackout" game. Riding the wave of emotion from the UF game, the Dawgs were ready to play and the stadium was crazy. What happened: After a relatively close first half, the Dawgs turned it on after half time and pummled the Warchickenplainsmentigers. Result: Continued the climb up the polls.
2008 Big Game vs Alabama- Blackout game #3 in less than a year. The fans were ready but the team was not. What happened: Nothing went right, the defense couldn't stop the Tide, untimely penalties that extended drives for UA or killed our drives, O line couldn't protect or open holes. Result: The 41-30 score is deceptive, this was never a game.
Big Game #2 vs UF- SEC East championship game, Gators still pissed about the celebration. What happened: Despite playing a relatively even first half we find ourselves down 14-3 due to 2 missed FG's and boneheaded play calls in the Red Zone, the onside kick didn't help either. The second half was a complete and total team implosion. 3 picks and a fumble all lead to UF points. What happened: Yet to be determined. Do we come out and play the rest of the season and finish 10-2 and go and play some crappy Big 10 team in a crappy Florida bowl or do we lay down and quit and end up in Shreveport or Memphis? Do any heads roll because of this one?
Looking back over the period of '02-08 our record in Big Games is 4-9. In two of those wins we needed some sort of "gimmick" to get up for the game. My questions to you Dawg fans are:
1) What is the problem in your opinion? Coaching? Preparation? A team of head cases? Is there a talent gap that we don't see through our Red and Black colored glasses?
2) What can we do to rectify the situation? Do heads need to roll on the coaching staff? Do we need to change the culture of our program?
Looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts.
Go Dawgs!
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The big question..........
…….. where do you start with a critique of what is right and wrong. The injury bug is one area that can be summed up with few words – it happens – good teams have the depth to overcome them. I think we have the depth. Stupid penalties – I dunno – I think well coached teams avoid the drive killing penalties.
Assuming the practices are good, the talent good then the scheme must be bad. If the guys aren’t buying into the scheme then the confidence goes out the window when something goes wrong. You can see it on the faces of the players as in Stafford when he was told (assuming he was) to run that sweep against Bama. After the predictable failure he looked at the sideline as if to say – what other brilliant play do you have in mind?
How many times have we needed to control the clock by utilizing our stable of RB’s only to see BoBo call for the infamous 80 yard incompletion? As I have said before BoBo seems to try and out trick the tricksters and it has carried over to the defense and now special teams. Either we have the talent to line up and play or we don’t – I think we do.
For some reason our guys seem to be easily deflated as if they have little confidence in the game plan. We are playing the game like Fla. St. did back in the heydays – it won’t work in the SEC.
Perhaps I’m being overly critical out of frustration but I see the talent presently on the team and the recent graduates that are playing in the NFL and shake my head. I’m not convinced Bama or Fla have the talent advantage indicated by the beatings they put on the Dawgs. I wouldn’t trade CMR for Saban or Meyer but right now they are both doing a better job with what they have and I can only guess it is the staff.
Personally,
and I really don’t want you to take this the wrong way, I think there’s a problem with your sampling. I think the 4-9 record in “big games” is only achieved if you leave out some other big games. For example, wasn’t the 2002 Sugar Bowl versus FSU a big game? Wasn’t last year’s Sugar Bowl a big game? What about facing a wounded and angry Tennessee team in Knoxville in 2005? How is that less significant than facing a similarly wounded UT team in Knoxville in 2007, which you say was a big game? What about last week’s trip to Death Valley to face LSU? I think that one stands on equal footing with last year’s Tennessee game (though in retrospect that one was more significant in the division standings than we thought at the time).
What exactly is your critieria for a big game other than “a game against a strong opponent that we lost” or “a game against a strong opponent that we won because of a gimmick”? Because this looks a lot like finding a conclusion then going back through the record to support it. If you add the “big games” that I mentioned above, the record goes to 8-9, without including a single Georgia Tech game. Though in fairness you also left out the 2005 Sugar Bowl, and for that I thank you.
What constitutes a Big Game...
Honestly I don’t really have a litmus test that I used to say “this is a Big Game and this one isn’t”, I was going more on the circumstances surrounding the games.
The ‘02 Sugar Bowl IMO wasn’t a big game because I don’t think there was anyone in the Dawg Nation that honestly thought we were going to lose that game. FSU’s starting QB was out and they weren’t exactly a great team to begin with having won the pathetic ACC at 8-4. Again I don’t have a A+B+C=D formula to say but that is how I viewed it when I was compiling the list.
The ‘05 UT game was a Big Game and I probably should have included it in the list, but we had beaten UT 3 out of the previous 4 years so it had lost a bit of it’s luster in that regard.
Last week was a semi Big Game, but after LSU was housed by UF 2 weeks prior and then LSU struggled to beat USC I honestly didn’t expect us to lose. I didn’t expect to drop 52 points on them, but I did expect to win.
The two Sugar Bowls that you mention didn’t make the list because 1) Hawaii was a fraud, I said so before the game and we certainly proved it on the field, 2) No one thought WVU was going to be much of a challenge, and I blame that for our loss.
Tech hasn’t IMO been a Big Game since we beat them in ’99. It could be this year though with the way that they are playing.
There are several types of 'Big Games'
What I gather is that the ‘big game’ being discussed are those opponents in conference with significant implications either in our division or the national title picture—with major stakes. Kind of arbitrary, but that’s maybe why none of the non-conference games are mentioned. Of course not all of those games fit that model (like Auburn in ’06) and some are left out (LSU ’08), but there is indeed hindsight involved with that.
What this does tell you is that the SEC has been esp. tough these past few years (this one excepted), and that the fact that we’ve won it twice in that span lets me know we’ve got the pieces in place. To me, that’s what makes the way we lost to Alabama, UF yesterday, or Tenn last year so frustrating: in more than one game with this ‘big game’ factor as stated above in it, we’ve not played our best game.
by The ArchDawg on Nov 2, 2008 11:12 AM EST up reply actions
I have no clue
what’s gone on. I think there’s probably certain circumstances for each game.
Looking at yesterday, I can’t help but think it would’ve been a different game if some things went different in the first half :
1) We made all our field goals.
2) That penalty on the Tebow INT wasn’t called.
3) The Mark Richt challenge of the spot was called correctly the first or second time, or the holding on the same play was called.
That’s a big difference, they scored the TD after #2, and they scored a TD on the drive on #3. I think yesterday we got deflated and, dare I say it, stopped expecting to win.
I’m trying to like Bobo, but come on. Our first red zone trip yesterday was completely awful. It doesn’t take Bill Belichik (sp) to know you run Knowshon in the red zone. What was it, 2nd and 2 and he does a 5 step drop? Really? Then the fake handoff to Caleb on 3rd down, is that what it was? I honestly have no idea what the 3rd down play was, I can’t remember ever seeing us run that.
I’d chalk up the Bama game this year to kinda the same reasons we lost to WVU in 05. We knew it’d be a good game, maybe Bama a bit moreso, but I think we didn’t think Bama was THAT good. If Bama had already had a big win before we played, I think it might’ve been a different game.
I dunno, just my two cents. Frustrated, pissed, annoyed, hating Florida even more. And I can’t be the only one that was feeling that that first half felt like the days where we went to UF and didn’t expect to win.
Another thought....
Did anyone notice that when we start the season with a tough opponent we usually do pretty well (i.e. ‘02 Clemson-SEC Champs, ’03 Clemson-SECCG, ’05 Boise St-SEC Champs, ’07 Okie St-Sugar Bowl #2 ranking) vs when we play I-AA schools we don’t (’04 Ga Sou-Capitol One Bowl, ’06 WKU-Chic-fil-a/Peach Bowl, ’08 Ga Sou-Probably Outback Bowl.
Does a big time first game make us more focused for the season?
RocketDawg . . .
I think it does, and Kyle has talked about this as well. In fact, he’s done a post on it that I just searched the archives for and simply couldn’t find.
Of course, I don’t think it would have really mattered too much yesterday.
I agree...
as much as it pains me to say so….I don’t think we were beating Florida yesterday regardless.
The good news....
is that we open the season @ Okie State next year.
You know I think out biggest problem is our state of mind. Every big game it seems like our team just isn’t in the right state of mind. They need to play every game like its the last game of their lives…we need some players that go all out all the time and don’t make mistakes!!!
The best team in the nation...UGA DAWGS!
Visit http://www.dawgsnation.com
by dawgsnation.com on Nov 3, 2008 12:23 PM EST reply actions
I agree with you
This has been an issue since the two Davids left. I feel like there hasn’t been a guy on the team that brings the fire like Pollack and maybe they’ve just been missing that Type-A personality in a player that just doesn’t quit and hates to lose. Stuff like that rubs off on a team.
reality
Big games are games where you play someone as talented as you… (or if you are in the Big Ten – more talented)
these games are supposed to be toss-ups… in the last 4 years UF and UGa are 2 & 2 – forget about Spurrier, he is no longer here (and you traded up to M. Richt) so, games between the Dawgs and the Gators are going to be roughly 50:50 as long as the players and coaching staffs remain so similar in talent… this was just UF’s year… as last year belonged to the Dawgs… I hope you whip whichever team you face in your bowl game!
Live and don't Learn!
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