Georgia 45, Georgia Southern 21

by T Kyle King on Aug 30, 2008 11:03 PM EDT in Football

Where actual defeat is all but unthinkable, what constitutes victory? On August 10, I answered that question in this manner:

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

Well, Georgia scored exactly 45 points, but Georgia Southern scored four more than 17 points. (Credit MaconDawg with correctly predicting the margin of victory, if not the actual final score.) The Bulldogs’ first drive of the first quarter covered 57 yards in five plays for seven points and their first drive of the third quarter covered 71 yards in two plays for seven points. The Eagles’ first possession of the first half was a three-and-out that lost four yards and their first possession of the second half was a three-and-out that gained seven yards.

Finally, the Red and Black had four plays of well more than 20 yards---namely, a 36-yard completion from Matthew Stafford to A.J. Green, a 61-yard completion from Stafford to Kris Durham, a 37-yard completion from Stafford to Knowshon Rockwell Moreno, and a 47-yard completion from Stafford to Mohamed Massaquoi---ere the opening minute of the third period had elapsed.

Good game, Matt. Nevertheless, I have a few notes.

All right, that’s four out of five. Mission accomplished, right? So why do I feel as (relatively) badly as I do about what was, according to every indicator, a fine day for the ‘Dawgs?

It certainly isn’t that I had a rough day; far from it. My kindergarten-age son, Thomas, and I left at an early but not unreasonable hour, made the trek to Athens, and were in our seats in time for the initial festivities of the 22nd consecutive home opener I have attended between the hedges. (I am proud of that record; in 1996, I had to leave a friend’s wedding reception early and change clothes in the car in order to get to Sanford Stadium in time. Don’t get me started on weddings that take place during football season. . . .)

As father-son outings go, this was one of the best, just the boy and me, there to see Uga VII anointed and the top-ranked team in the land on the field. As on-field efforts go, this one was pretty solid. Stafford had what was statistically his best day ever in a Bulldog uniform, hooking up on 13 of 21 attempts for 275 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Despite a disastrous early series that was as inefficient in its execution as it was premature in its timing, Joe Cox was passably effective in the backup role, completing four of six passes for 48 yards and another score.

Offensive line issues aside, the Georgia ground game’s production (212 yards) more than doubled up the Eagles’ rushing output (102), with Moreno making the most of his eight carries by tallying a trio of touchdowns and Caleb King living up to the early hype by racking up 95 yards on a dozen rushes for a higher per-carry average (7.9) even than that managed by the fellow whose jersey (or, at least, a replica thereof) I was wearing (7.4).

Yeah, that would be the one.

Blair Walsh, the true freshman placekicker whose position was the subject of so much preseason angst, got off to the best start of any Bulldog, burying the opening kickoff deep in the end zone for a touchback and making good on a 52-yard first-quarter field goal attempt that would have been the stuff of Kevin Butler-like legend had it been tried from ten yards farther away (and it certainly had the distance to have been good from that much farther out) and against an actual rival. More than half of the third quarter had passed before Georgia Southern scored its first points of the contest.

Except under the most extreme of circumstances, I probably err on the side of being overly positive rather than needlessly dour, at least where football is concerned. Nevertheless, I came away from this outing feeling that the glass was half-empty rather than half-full. (I freely concede that this may be attributable to the fact that Thomas didn’t last quite as long as I had anticipated, so I listened to the second half in the car on the way home. Short of the occasional miracle---the aforementioned Butler field goal; Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott; Verron Haynes’s touchdown catch in Knoxville; etc.---no Georgia game ever seems to be going as well in a Larry Munson play call as it is in person.)

These facts indisputably are facts:

Georgia Southern matched Georgia score-for-score in the second half. Yes, it was against the scrubs, but if the Bulldog reserves are merely the equal of a Division I-AA team---even a good Division I-AA team (and it has yet to be established that G.S.U. is much more than average)---then the ‘Dawgs are not the equal of Auburn, Florida, or Louisiana State, much less Ohio State or Southern California.

For all his statistical proficiency, Stafford was less sharp than he seemed on paper. Georgia Southern’s obviously intimidated receivers had the fear-induced dropsies; Georgia’s receivers weren’t failing to catch the ball, but the Bulldog quarterback overthrew open receivers on more than one occasion and the only reason the two-play scoring drive that opened the third quarter wasn’t a one-play scoring drive that opened the third quarter was that Massaquoi had to slow down to bring in the ball. Had Stafford hit him in stride, it would have gone 71 yards for six points.

Jeff Owens was lost early in the outing, and, evidently, not just for the short term.

Get well soon, big guy. (Photograph by Kelly Lambert for Athens Banner-Herald.)

Although Green and King undeniably had solid games, they also made freshman mistakes. Green incurred a false start penalty on second and three that caused a drive to stall, forcing Georgia to settle for a field goal when the ‘Dawgs were nine feet away from a first down at the G.S.U. 31. King’s subsequent failure to pick up a blitz could have gotten his quarterback killed had the opponent been from the Southeastern Conference rather than from the Southern Conference.

Following a hot start, Walsh cooled considerably. His first kickoff went 70 yards, but his second went 50 (and was returned for four), while his third went 67 (and was returned for 45). His next five kickoffs set up the Eagles on the 24, 27, 30, 30 (before a 15-yard personal foul penalty against Georgia), and 32 yard lines, respectively; none made it into the end zone.

Speaking of the 15-yard personal foul penalty, the Red and Black drew eleven flags, many for flinches at the line of scrimmage, as the offense incurred its share of false start penalties and the defense received more than its share of offside penalties.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not displeased with this afternoon’s effort. I’m not even not pleased in any meaningful way, if that makes sense. Arguably, this was Georgia’s best effort ever against a Georgia Southern squad, inasmuch as the Bulldogs neither allowed a 40-yard option run by the Eagle quarterback to give the visitors a 7-0 first-quarter lead (as in 1992) nor registered an underwhelming 29-7 victory (as in 2000) nor surrendered four touchdowns (as in 2004).

This was a fine game by a fine team. If Georgia had taken the field ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, I might actually have been happy with this result.

However, Georgia didn’t take the field ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, and, at this level, style points matter. Truly elite college football teams take on in-state opponents from lower divisions in their season openers and trounce them 43-0, or they beat the defending Division I-AA national champions 41-13, or they beat the defending W.A.C. champions 56-10, or, at a minimum, they shut out somebody from the Sun Belt. Some truly elite college football teams even travel across the country to face B.C.S. conference opponents that attended bowl games last season and thump the home team 52-7 in a trouncing so utterly routine as to be uninteresting.

On the plus side, my daughter, Elizabeth, had her game face (or, at least, her game outfit) on today.

The question is a stark and simple one, and it was stated plainly by Quinton McDawg: "So, was that the performance of a No. 1 ranked team?"

I have to state, in all candor, that it wasn’t. It was the performance of a top ten team, certainly. It was the performance of a team that is capable of finishing first in the land, undoubtedly. At this exact moment, early in the 2008 campaign, though, I cannot conscientiously claim that the Bulldog team that took the field in Sanford Stadium today would have beaten either the Buckeye team that took the field in Columbus or the Trojan team that took the field in Charlottesville.

Georgia will be in my top five, but, when I cast my BlogPoll ballot after all the gridiron action this Labor Day weekend is done, the Bulldogs no longer will be ranked No. 1. They will occupy that position in my heart, always, but, at this instant, my head knows better.

Go ‘Dawgs!

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

Read Related

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Maybe not.....

…..but, look at the flip side. USC, OSU, and Florida all put out those “dominating” performance that we’re so used to seeing, everything going right (with the marked exception of the Beanie Wells injury) and little going wrong (same exception). Of course, their coaches will pick apart the game tape and find things to improve on, but the scoreboard is the most powerful motivating factor here. I see this as a plus in our case. One of the most poignant things that was pounded into my skull when I played high school ball out in Friday Night Lights country was that you never, ever stay the same. You either get better or you get worse. Georgia has a lot of room to get better despite having a 38-0 lead early in the third quarter. I’m not so sure that the afore-mentioned teams have quite the same top-end when it comes to potential as we do. Coach Richt knows we have a long way to go. And, with the way Bama dominated Clemson last night, our row just got, if possible, a little bit tougher to hoe. I’m thinking he wants to find out exactly what each and every player on the sideline has to offer, so that down the line when we’re not up by multiple scores but still just as tired, he doesn’t have to sacrifice fresh legs to the unknown.

Just my $.02…..Go Dawgs!!!

Cale Self

University of Georgia
Emmanuel College
Brevard Music Center

by allhailcale on Aug 31, 2008 9:33 AM EDT 0 recs

I'm as guilty as anyone but....

if we keep thinking this way then all of the fun and joy we felt at the end of last season will see its horrible mirror image this year. We as the fans should not be so hard on our team just because they are ranked #1, unless we are going to become one of those fan bases where we fire a coach for having a simply disappointing season.

CMR had the 2nd string offense in at 10-0. He already knew we owned the game and wanted to see if the 2nd string could play. He went on to play half the freshman class. If we cannot at least happily accept a blowout of a game then we are in for a miserable season.

by DarinSmith on Aug 31, 2008 9:36 AM EDT 0 recs

T. Kyle, did I see 30-0 on the scoreboard? I'll fall back on Blutarsky's analysis of what

happened, and that all the points came after GSU had been beaten senseless. Oh, Richt could have pulled a Pete Carroll, left Staff in to pile up points. But, I think in his estimation, we looked sharp enough and that it was time to let freshmen play, well, like freshmen. That they did is no surprise to me. It’s probably the first time most of them had played in a stadium with more that 5,000 folks in it. Never forget that Richt cares less about style points than getting everybody possible ready to play a second time. Surely doesn’t mean that Lomax won’t be running his butt off, and that losing Jeff Owens won’t smart. Our wide receivers, for the first time in my life, look uncoverable, too.

Don’t drink the grape Kool-Aid.

Hail to Georgia,

Shadrach

by shadrach on Aug 31, 2008 9:37 AM EDT 0 recs

Another note on the half-full side

I think Southern could have given La-Monroe, Appy State, Youngstown State, Hawaii, and even UVA a decent game. As cupcakes go, this one wasn’t quite as fluffy as some.

But count me in among those who are ready to go ahead and commit to touchbacks on kickoffs. I’d just as soon never see a return attempt from another SEC team except when they’re playing someone else. The Walsh boy’s got a leg. Let him hammer it.

by NCT on Aug 31, 2008 1:16 PM EDT 0 recs

walsh...

put his kicks where he was told too… He can kick it to the back of the endzone everytime, but they want him to put it on the right hash-mark at the five… That looked like EXACTLY where he was putting it, +/- three yards…

The short, ‘pooch’ kicks, were also to ‘open’ areas, and when he came off the field after those, he was getting high fives from the coaches… I think he was doing what he was told…

Now, all future opponents have to be ready for anything on kick returns… Nice…

cookin and smilin

by cookin and smilin on Aug 31, 2008 1:55 PM EDT 0 recs

Correct

The coaches know he could boot it through the end zone, but prefer him to kick directionally. I think he was supposed to aim for the 10 along the sidelines. Why they would have him (and Coutu before him, for that matter) do that is beyond me. I plan on finding out soon, though, and will report back when I have an answer.

by SG Standard on Aug 31, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

While Fabris does like the directed kick off, it's simply untrue that we can kick it out the back of the endzone easily

Richt said in week one that Walsh had the green light to kick for the endzone on 3 plays. He only made it to the endzone once. This myth about us being able to easily kick it through the endzone should have died years ago, yet it keeps getting repeated.

Kevin Butler can say whatever the hell he wants on his radio show (it doesn’t make him right) but the truth is we don’t have much evidence suggesting we’ve had kickers to do it. We don’t precisely know they can’t either, and I’d certainly like to see us try. All we know about Walsh is that he’s 1 for 3 in attempts, according to Richt. And that according to Richt, Walsh has trouble finding the sweet spot on the ball on kickoffs.

Kicking a long FG is not like kicking off, and the tee doesn’t magically add a ton of yardage to kicks. A FG attempt good from 60 yards under the old kickoff rules (from the 35) is fielded on the 5 yard line. Now, it’s on the 10 (kicking from the 30). Realistically, a kick needs to be five yard deep to prevent most returns, meaning that under the old rules you needed to kick it 70 yards and now you need to kick it 75. Going out the back is another 7 (iirc) yards from there.

I’m not happy with the kickoff coverage and I wish we had a kid who could kick it through the back/deep into the endzone all the time (and that it wasn’t our FG kicker – that’s just my wild paranoia at work though). However, we can’t say that UGA can do it whenever they want when the evidence we do have suggests it cannot.

May the wings of liberty never lose a feather

by peacedog on Sep 8, 2008 8:05 AM EDT up 0 recs

As Someone Who Sat Through 2007 LSU, I Have Advice

First, try to enjoy the season. If you fret over style points, you’re going to have a miserable year. Yes, you may get rewarded for it at the end, but if you’re of the opinion that life is about the journey and not the destination, try to enjoy the journey a bit. If you worry about a 24 point win in the first week of the season, this is not going to be a fun year for you.

Second, it really is best not to peak early. Last year, LSU looked absolutely beastly in its first two games, and then we slowed down. It was as if we had used up our mojo early, and then we had to sweat out games, and even lost a couple. Let your team build up its intensity a little over time, and maybe you’ll peak at a better time in the season.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Aug 31, 2008 2:24 PM EDT 0 recs

Come on, don't be so down

I watched this entire game and literally we were running the most basic of plays. No serious blitzs, running was nothing more than sprint draws and passing go routes and little outs. We also have a few players suspended and we’re not going to break out all the tricks just for Ga Southern and Cent Mich. Expect the same next week, and worry if we lose against SC. I loved CMR gameplan. He knows what he’s doing.

by romad_20 on Aug 31, 2008 5:22 PM EDT 0 recs

First game..

a) Offense: I think stafford looked really good. Sure he had a few underthrows but his first 8 throws were hitting all of the receivers in the hands. I have rarely seen him that accurate. I would say 3 to 4 of his missed attempts were his fault..

b) Defense: Not sure what to say here… The defense looked great the first series. The first half we were lucky to be 31 to 0. The second half we just sucked. We need to improve on D if we want to play with the big boys. Georgia Southern is one of the bigger players in I AA but we won’t be playing them again this year and our D needs to step up.

by dawgblogit on Aug 31, 2008 6:54 PM EDT 0 recs

My wedding

I’m getting married on October 4th (Georgia is off this weekend, and that is not a coincidence). When my fiance and I first went to reserve our wedding site, the only date in October available was the LSU weekend. I explained that wouldn’t work for me, and the site quickly did all they could to accomodate us on the 4th. Of course, I would get married on any given Saturday in October if absolutley necessary, but I wanted to avoid it at all costs. I explained to my fiance that she wouldn’t want me and all of my groomsmen worried about a football game during our wedding. In order to make it a non-issue, the best course of action would be to get married on the 4th. I am going to pay for making such a big deal about this because I am missing the Tennessee game while on my honeymoon.

As for the game, I share your half-empty view. A 24-point win and giving up 3 TDs to GSU is not what I would consider to be a decisive victory. And I think we are going to rightfully pay for it in the polls. Nonetheless, it is a victory. One down, eleven to go. It’s going to be a long season.

by marktheshark on Aug 31, 2008 7:08 PM EDT 0 recs

Let's not get all Gloom and Doom.....

I am not happy about the fact that GSU scored 21 points, HOWEVER they scored against a combination of third teamers and first and second team guys in different positions. I think Willie was mix and matching secondary guys in case we need some help later on at the safety position. I personally think that Pete Carroll and Cheaty McSweatervest are a couple of douches that run up the score and have no class. Everyone in my section knew that Coach Richt wouldn’t break 50 points and there was really no reason to do so. If the voters want to drop us behind OSU and USC next week, that is fine with me. One will eliminate the other week after next anyway.

The offense looked really good, line protected well, backs and receivers did their jobs and Stafford was as accurate as I have ever seen him.
The defense was good not great, we need more pass rush from the front 4 in my opinion, linebackers were good, and secondary was just okay. I felt like there were some passes completed against the zone that should have been knocked down at least.

Overall grade: B
Looking forward to next week…

by RocketDawg on Aug 31, 2008 9:53 PM EDT 0 recs

I appreciate all of the positive comments

Please understand: I have absolute faith in Mark Richt and his staff, who know a whole heck of a lot more about football than I do. After I foolishly called for the firing of Willie Martinez in the middle of the 2006 season and I was proven completely wrong, I have tried to be more measured in what I write about the team.

I understand and agree with the logic of playing freshmen after the game was out of reach. That is how you build a program for the long haul, which Coach Richt unquestionably is doing. The decision to put in underclassmen early will pay dividends down the road, certainly two or three years from now and maybe seven or eight games from now.

While I disagree with the decision not to boot the ball out the back of the end zone on kickoffs and the decision to put Joe Cox in that early, I understand both decisions. These are, at most, areas of minor disagreement . . . which is why I wrote above: “Don’t get me wrong; I’m not displeased with this afternoon’s effort. I’m not even not pleased in any meaningful way, if that makes sense.” I understand and basically agree with Senator Blutarsky’s analysis.

Nevertheless, style points count at this level and the game, while very solid, was not a No. 1 performance. I quite agree that Georgia Southern is no slouch as a team; as I told a Florida fan at church this morning, Hawaii would be no more than a seven-point favorite over Georgia Southern. When compared to Ohio State’s win over Youngstown State in an equivalent contest, and certainly when compared to Southern California’s much more impressive win over Virginia, I just can’t say Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country right now.

I will enjoy the season; believe me, the experience of taking my son to a football game, just the two of us, to see the new Uga introduced was a great experience, and the team’s solid performance in the early going made it all the more enjoyable. At the highest level of competition, though, missteps are magnified and even minute details take on outsized importance. I love my team, but, when you’re intent on making a real run at a national title, mere excellence is inadequate.

That’s totally unfair, but the standard is what it is. The team I saw yesterday was very, very good. What it was not—-or, at least, what it is not yet—-is great. RocketDawg is exactly right . . . this game was a B. Ohio State and U.S.C. earned an A.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Aug 31, 2008 9:57 PM EDT 0 recs

Postscript:

Nathan makes some valid points here and I have no doubt that he’s correct to say that we’ll see more good things next week. All I would offer in response is the statement that, when we see those good things next week, I’ll feel better about the team and the propriety of its No. 1 ranking.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me as a fan to cheer as hard as I can for my team, support them and tout their talent and ability, yet recognize dispassionately the existence of gaps, even if those gaps are explicable, correctable, and, to some extent, the result of deliberate decisions which were made honorably and correctly, as undoubtedly is the case.

I rank according to what I see and what I saw on Saturday were better performances from the Trojans and the Buckeyes than from the Bulldogs. That’s not to say I didn’t see an awful lot to like in Sanford Stadium yesterday; I just saw less, even if only slightly, than what Ohio State and U.S.C. displayed.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Aug 31, 2008 10:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'm with Kyle on this one

While there was much to be happy about yesterday, I also left the staduim with a “meh” feeling when I was hoping for a “wow”. Stafford looked very sharp, Knowshon was Knowshon, and AJ Green showed that not only will he be both a deep and red zone threat, but he will open the middle of the field for Durham and Chandler with his very presence. However, on the whole, it looked like a typical UGA season opener against an overmatched opponent: a bit of rust, liberal substitution, garbage points, and vanilla playcalling on both offense and defense. This is not what I wanted to see. I was looking for the team and coaches to come out with the mentality that they are the best team in the country, and they were going to prove it. I was looking for a performance along the lines of openers against Clemson in 2003, Boise State in 2005, or OSU last season. (I don’t think it a coincidence that all of these games were against well regarded, BCS conference opponents. Traditionally, the Dawgs play down to their opponents level early in the year. Perhaps we should move a cupcake to midseason and continue to schedule a more challenging opponent to start the year). I think that the “meh” performance and feeling was not a result of the execution on the field, but rather the attitude.

As we have seen, Coach Richt is not one to run up the score against a lesser opponent. Ours is not the type of team to hang 50 on a 1-AA school in the first half, or win a game by 50+ points. I don’t think this is due to a lack of talent, but rather a choice. I have no doubt that, even with our second and third stringers in the game, calling a normal game would have led to a much more decisive victory. Normally, this would not bother me. However, this game and this season are different. When the expectations are as high for a team as they are for this year’s version of the Dawgs, they must be met or exceeded. If we cannot do that, we will justly suffer in the polls. By no standard does a 24 point victory over a 1-AA opponent meet or exceed expectations. The team’s hold on the #1 ranking over USC and OSU was tenuous enough. When three teams are ranked so close to each other, style points will be taken into account. This game was not on television. Many voters will see the stat sheet, a few highlights, and no more. Stacked up next to what they saw from USC’s nationally televised whooping of UVA and OSU handling a 1-AA opponent the way that is expected, our game does not compare. Yes, they will see that Stafford threw for a personal record in yardage, and they will see that Knowshon had three touchdowns in eight carries, but they will also see 45-21. Who knows if they will take into account the fact we were bringing in second teamers in the first quarter or that it was 38-0 in the third quarter? In order to impress voters and earn the ranking which they bestowed upon us, we have to play like we want it. For lack of a better way of putting it, the team needs to do things the Evil Richt way.

So, in my mind, this bears the question, “Should UGA have run up the score to impress voters?” I say the answer is no. The coaches should not have been calling for deep bombs or reverse passes or punt block plays merely to put up a big number. However, there is nothing wrong with calling the same type of game we would against an SEC opponent. If that gameplan leads to a larger margin of victory, so be it. I hate to sound Spurrier-ish, but it is not our team’s job to ease up to keep the game respectable. Rather, it is our opponents job to stop us. If they cannot, we should not feel obligated to do it for them. Now, I totally understand not wanting to show all our plays and getting freshman work. But does it do Caleb King and Richard Samuel any good to run right into an eight-man front time and time again if we will not ask them do that in the second half against Auburn? Does it help the young members of our defense to play a soft zone with no blitzing if we will not play that way against Tennessee? I do not think it does. If they want to be as ready as they can for the much ballyhooed part of the schedule, and if they want to remain at the top of the rankings, the team truly needs to play and be coached the same way regardless of the opponent. Doing this next week will replace “meh” with whatever glorious feeling I have when I witness a national championship caliber team reaching their potential.

by SG Standard on Aug 31, 2008 11:50 PM EDT 0 recs

A coupleof more things.....

I honestly hope that we fall behind OSU and USC in the polls, heck lets even rank Florida ahead of the Dawgs (maybe that will piss the team off) because right now IT DOESN’T MATTER. We ran the vanilla offense and defense because we don’t want to give Darth Visor over in Columbia any hint of what we are gonna bring on the 13th. The less he knows about our team the better for us, while on the flip side OBC has to pull out the playbook against Vandy this week or he is going to be 1-1 instead of 2-0.

I am honestly a little concerned about Central Michigan this weekend, I have a feeling that game is going to be a little closer than we all think or want it to be.

by RocketDawg on Sep 1, 2008 11:08 AM EDT 0 recs