UGA 14, South Carolina 7: The Stream of Consciousness Recap

I'll obviously be back on Monday with a recap of the 5 Things I said you'd see during this afternoon's game. But before then, I wanted to share a new feature that I hope to do during weeks (such as this one) where I'm watching the game from the comfort of my living room.

Obviously, the security folks at Sanford Stadium still won't let me bring my laptop in to record my stream of consciousness impressions of the Bulldogs' play. But here at home, I can peck out in excrutiating detail my most trivial thoughts about what's going down down on the field.

Then, I can cut and paste it here for your scrutiny (and hopefully amusement). But mostly scrutiny. So, omitting only the profanity and typos, here are the notes I took during the course of the 'Dawgs victory over South Carolina. Think of it as Jack Kerouac, only without the drugs and with more moaning about defensive schemes:

Tripp Chandler has his standard issue pair trio of early season, drive killing drops. After the Alabama game last year I thought we were past this. Ditto for Kris Durham, though admittedly his drop was on a more difficult throw.

 

That Drew Butler kick was about as poor a pooch punt as I’ve ever seen. It looked like the amateur golfer who tells himself he needs to just hit a light seven iron, and in the process relaxes enough to make solid contact and sends the ball over the green.

 

I was wondering why SC threw the ball every snap on that first drive until I saw them get stuffed on that first running play while Georgia was in the nickel package. Maybe the Ole Ball Coach knows a little something after all.

 

First Verne Lundquist mentions Garcia’s previous alcohol problems, then the officials and clock crew perform like they're all drunk. Foreshadowing is a wonderful thing. Not to mention his allusion to “goat roping”  and his reference to ESPN as “a four letter network”.

 

When Gary Danielson, a former NFL QB,  refers to a roughing the passer penalty as “dubious”, that’s a pretty good hint that the rest of us should just call it BS. For a moment there I thought Chris Smelley’s lungs were going to get to go commune with Colt Brennan’s spleen in Valhalla.

 

In principal, I like the idea of getting Knowshon and Richard Samuel/Caleb King on the field at the same time, but I really wish we would just come out and establish the run first.

 

Daryl Gamble has been all over the place in the first half. The only thing our linebackers can't do is cover their receivers.

 

 The snag by A.J. Green to move the chains early in the second just made me smile. That guy is truly going to do some great things before he leaves Athens.

 

Line of the first half : Verne saying that Casper Brinkley is no longer on the team because he “ran out of seniority”.

I was really hoping that we'd drive it down there to start the second half. This thing is getting way more interesting than I would have liked.

 

So far Gamecock Man has been dead on about Chris Culliver making an impact returning kicks.

 

Is it wrong for me to think that if Charlie Weis had laid off the bratwurst he might not have torn every ligament in his left knee today? I mean, being lighter wouldn't have helped him avoid the blindside hit, but don't you think 210 pounds coming down awkwardly would be less dangerous than 325 pounds coming down awkwardly?

This 3 man line is an experiment that needs to be dropped. Why we refused to get in the face of a quarterback who’s spent the past two weeks passing out picks like they were Pez is beyond me. We cannot get there with three men, and I know Martinez is saving the LB blitz for a 3rd down (because that's what he always does), but wouldn't it be better to stop them on their 40 as opposed to our 10? It looks a lot like playing not to lose.

 

The truly sad thing about the Reshad Jones interference penalty in the endzone is that it was totally unneccessary. He could have easily faced up on Cook. But that’s what happens when you have a safety forced to cover a guy like Cook man on. That's just not what most free safeties do.

 

God bless you, Asher Allen. May Cha-Ching The Green, Patron Saint of automatic teller machines, grace you with an extra $20 for the rest of your days.

I understand the play action pass call by Bobo, because the thought crossed my mind as well. And if it had worked we'd be running the clock out and/or lining up for an extra point. But in retrospect it may not have been that great an idea.

But it was a better idea than running Stafford on a designed draw on 2nd and 10. When you have potentially the best tailback in the country and you're leading by a touchdown on the road you feed him the ball and make the defense stop him.

Rudy Carpenter will be watching this game tape instead of Grey's Anatomy this week. Not to prepare for Saturday, but because you know nothing on ABC could be as entertaining for a quarterback as watching us try to play pass defense so far this season. And you also know that Rudy Carpenter is definitely a Grey's Anatomy fan.

If this game goes into overtime I'm not sure how we'll handle it psychologically. I do know that if we have to go to overtime to beat South Carolina that we'might be ranked behind East Carolina on Tuesday. If we lose in overtime we could be ranked behind Purdue.

I sincerely wish that when Cha-Ching the Green visits Asher Allen that he holds a little back for Reshad Jones. And that he's not a UGA booster. Because we would totally get nailed for that.

And there you have it. A glimpse into my randomly firing football synopses. Also, thanks for a great open comment thread. You guys kept it coming all game long. I'll see you on Monday. Until then . . .

 

Go 'Dawgs!!!