What Will Georgia Need to Do Against Georgia Southern for Me to Feel Good About the Game?
by T Kyle King on Aug 10, 2008 8:11 PM EDT
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PrintNow that the season-opener between the hedges is only 20 days away, a question must be asked: "What would constitute a win against Georgia Southern?"
Perhaps your immediate response is to say, "Kyle, you fool; a win would be a win, of course!" The Division I-AA status of the opponent notwithstanding, you come out of the first contest of the campaign one of two ways: 1-0 or 0-1. Undoubtedly, a Michigan man would agree wholeheartedly.
Let us assume, however, that (a) two straight seasons are not going to begin with shocking upsets by lower-division squads and (b) style points count. As you will recall, what were thought to be championship-caliber Bulldog squads kicked off the campaign against what formerly were Erk’s Eagles on two previous occasions, and neither left the Red and Black faithful feeling particularly good about the future.
The ‘Dawgs came into the 2000 season ranked tenth in the initial Associated Press poll and they began the autumn with a night game between the hedges in which they defeated G.S.U. by a 29-7 margin. The Classic City Canines’ failure to dispense with the Eagles as handily as anticipated offered an early hint that Jim Donnan’s last Georgia squad was overrated. The team finished 8-4 and ranked 20th after an O’ahu Bowl win.
Fastforward four years to 2004, when the two-time defending Eastern Division champion Bulldogs were pegged as the A.P.’s No. 3 team before the season started. A 20-point win over Georgia Southern to begin the fall was marred by the fact that the Bulldogs surrendered 28 points in the process. Although they ended up being the most points conceded by the Red and Black all season, the few weaknesses in Georgia’s defense were exploited by Auburn in a one-sided contest on the Plains. The final A.P. poll had the ‘Dawgs ranked No. 7.
Consequently, while I would have no trouble viewing a loss to G.S.U. as an absolute disaster, I will have a tough time regarding mere victory over the Eagles as indicative of anything positive. From where I sit, a win, all by its lonesome, will prove nothing; I will need to see four of the following five things occur before I am willing to call any victory over Georgia Southern on August 30 an encouraging sign:
- Georgia scores at least 45 points
- Georgia Southern scores no more than 17 points
- Georgia scores on the Bulldogs’ first possession of each half
- Georgia Southern does not score on the Eagles’ first possession of either half
- Georgia’s offense has at least four plays covering 20 or more yards
Is that reasonable? Is it realistic? Am I expecting too much? Am I omitting an important indicator? What are you looking for from the season opener? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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One thing that you might want to add to the list:
Georgia must not commit more than 50 yards worth of penalties.
While we were able to overcome the adversity last season, we exceeded 70 yards in penalties in 6 games last year. With the offseason shenanigans of some of our players this offseason, it will be encouraging to see that our heads are in the right place when we face off with Ga Southern. Since the game won’t have National Coverage, I will rely on those of you nearer the Classic City for reports on the composure of our team as we begin our 2008 campaign.
beat me to the punch
by about 30 seconds….
i expect less then 50 yards.
of course, i expect to see a calm, cool, collected, composed team of assassins out there.
like against Hawai’i. but with about 60 less penalty yards.
who we also beat by 30.
and held to 10 points or less.
Go Dawgs!
heck yes, i like it
if you want to whip sharks into a feeding frenzy, you chum the water.
if GSU looks like anything other than chum, UGA better be doing the dead-man float to throw off the scent. i want to win by at least 30 (but not much more, Richt is a gentleman) and i want our D to put up walls all over the field.
one more reasonable, realistic expected important indicator i would like to see in the season opener?
no UGA starters on the field after the 3rd quarter.
i don’t care to humiliate GSU (their fans are always so courteous) but i would like to get some idea of how our 2nd string plays and i don’t want any starters injured (enough are out already!), so the less 4th quarter Moreno, Stafford, MoMass, etc. play, the better as far as i’m concerned.
stretch their legs, taste the home crowd, home before midnight.
also, no after game arrests!
and few/no penalties b/c our team has field discipline and this is our little brother.
not our yellow-headed step brother (Tech).
I think . . .
dawgaddict’s proposal makes even more sense given our rash of injuries/suspensions. We’ll have several guys (John Knox, Justin Houston, half of our offensive linemen . . .) who haven’t seen a single snap of live action. It would be really good to get those guys in, even in a blowout win, before taking them on the road in the SEC.
Turnovers anyone?
You don’t want to get rediculous with every single stat but i really would like to see at least a few turnovers caused by the hard hitting and blazing fast defense. Stay healthy too, don’t waste a good player on a rather meaningless game in the long run. Here is my list. Tell me what you think.
2 Turnovers
No 1st Team Injuries.
40+ points scored
4-5 “3 and out”s on defense
170+ yds rushing and passing.
0 TD’s allowed IF they reach the red zone
4+ Sacks
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
I Corinthians 9:24
Let me give you my perspective from our (LSU's) openning game last year...
Yall may or may not remember that we whooped MS. St. 45-0 (or so, I can’t remember) on the first game of the year, in Starkville. On the surface it looked like we dominated every facet of the game, however my buddies and I who were at the game were pretty confused.
We pretty much argued that we learned absolutely nothing because:
1) Our offense was too vanilla in that game (we thought on purpose) to know how it would look the rest of the season.
2) Michael Henig (the MS St. QB) just threw the ball up for grabs so many times that our 6 pics didn’t mean a whole lot, and there were so many turnovers that our Defensive yardage numbers were skewed.
3) And most importantly, how good was MS St?
I wouldn’t take the first game too hard if it is close, or get too confident if you win big.
My goals would be:
1) Win game
2) No injuries
3) Show flashes of greatness (As in, are your blocking schemes working, is your QB getting time to throw, are your receivers open)
The numbers don’t mean much against a team like GSU, so you’ll really have to look at the performance against GSU, and compare it to your next game to see if any problems are fixed.
Good luck guys.
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