FanPost

A night where everything went wrong...

Was it just me, or did everything that could go wrong go wrong for our nationally televised game against South Carolina?  The typically exciting opening to the game was ruined by audio problems throughout the stadium (students as well as most of the crowd didn't even know that rosters were being announced).  This in part could probably explain the lack of excitement that usually builds up towards the team's charge onto the field, but I sensed it was a little more than that.  Most UGA fans as well as students didn't seem to understand the importance of this game, and that it was a divisional opponent that...could...beat...us!!!  This wasn't the South Carolina of old, this was a legitimate contender for the SEC East crown (I'm sorry, no one in th East is beating LSU after the dominating game I saw last night) and Spurrier is beginning to recruit exceedingly well at Columbia.     However, it is my opinion that the lack of crowd support at the start of the game was redeemed by the show of support at the end of the game (the fact that the PA system came back on helped too).  The noise during those last South Carolina drives was ear-shattering.  However, regardless of the problems the stadium was having, the game on the field was a overall mess.  Sloppy kickoff coverage, an illegal shift on a punt where South Carolina fumbled the ball (WHEN DO YOU SHIFT ON A PUNT FORMATION!!!??), the play calling and offensive strategy was as conservative and ill-begotten as I have every seen at UGA (and I've seen a lot since Richt arrived), receivers dropped balls on BOTH end zone lines, Thomas Brown seemed to hardly get back to the line of scrimmage,  Stafford played at his 06 level again, and the O-line showed its youth on the last drive of the game with a block in the back and a false start that all but put us out of the game.  And it wasn't as if South Carolina played a great game either.  If anything, they seemed to try and help our sinking ship the whole time.  They were penalized twice as much as we were, their offense continually shot itself in the foot with botched plays and silly mistakes, their special teams allowed a ton of yards for both Mikey (who played great by the way) and Brown, and when they needed a drive down the field to FINALLY put us out of our misery, our defense was able to stop them.  However, our offense's inept performance was facilitated by the typical problems that we as Bulldog fans have grown accustomed to.  Dropped passes by wide open receivers (I'm sorry, but Tripp Chandler's performance on Saturday deserves him another suspended game), inconsistent running game, and strange play calls on 3rd and 1 (why give the ball to the best fullback in the nation in a power-I when you can call a receiver screen where the possibility of things-that-could-go-wrong multiples 10 fold) showcased a typically sub-par offensive performance by a team who continually shows us that we can't win a big game without making it more difficult on ourselves than it has to be (Munson has earned his cynicism).  Several bright spots did show themselves on Saturday, however few their were. First, Knowshon Moreno = baller. He wants to play and my god can he play.  After every play he would shot right back up and run back to the huddle like a happy little kid in the backyard, and some of the runs he had were just spectacular. When he seemed to be met at the line of scrimmage due to our young o-line, he was somehow able to find a seam and pick up those few extra yards.  I am so stacked about this kid in the future, and I hope we can get some people to block for him soon. Mikey Henderson was another bright spot in a game of few.  He played wonderfully at punt returner, and was consistently pulling in big receptions. Lastly, South Carolina will not win the East with that team.  PERIOD.  Everyone at ESPN keeps hinting at Spurrier's success in his 3rd seasons at his respective schools, but that team I saw out there was horrible, which says something about our own team last night.  Blake Mitchell looked rusty at best, and they ran the ball not nearly as well as they should have been able to.  They won a ugly game against a team who played the ugliest.  Please, someone give me some hope that we will beat Florida (thats all I want right now, I'm so serious, its not even funny).  I lived through the horrible nineties, and didn't live to see the glory day of the 80s. I'm a student at the University and I've seen nothing but Gator domination my entire life, and to have that hope shredded last night by gamecocks leaves me a shell of my former self.  Someone, give me some HOPE.  

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