It's football season. It's on. It's real. My job as a contributing writer should be breaking down SCAR and telling you how we are going to win.
Except, I am still morbidly depressed from last Sat. I argued off season there was "no magic number" for Coach Mark Richt on the hot seat, it's how we win and how we lose. And now I am in this crazy position where we may beat SCAR, which means we forget about this last loss, which means the pain will continue, at least eventually. Or worse, we lose, and that means a lot of changes are on the way. The dichotomy kills me.
I think the thing that has triggered "depressed TT" today is two fold. The quotes from Coach Mike Bobo, where he didnt have the , well, where he didn't have guts, where he didnt man up and say "I failed, I will improve." That would have done something to help us. Instead, he was talking about how we actually planned 1st and ten bombs, and complained we had long 3rd downs. You need to lead your team Coach Bobo. The preseason hype and mid season excuses no longer work.
Coach Bobo, isn't it your job to figure this out?
He is a great man and husband and father. I mean him no ill will. But the fact is, UGA, which in terms of money, recruiting, facilities has an OC that basically no Div 1 team would hire as HC. Coach Richt isnt going to fire him. I don't know why. We hired Coach Richt because he was an amazing offensive genius at FSU. We have debated stats, but no matter how you cut it, it sure "feels" and "looks" like we call a long first down play call, long pass, long to develop, and ask underclassmen to do the blocking.
I said this in another post game post: How many receiver posts? zero. How many receiver slants? zero? How many toss sweeps? zero. How many tight end or flanker hot passes? zero. How many end arounds? One, and by god it scored a TD. How many red zone points? zero. Worse, how many red zone snaps? Zero. Ouch. Only one drive, which was finished by an interception. We didnt give our punter 20 yards (which is all he needs) to flip the field. We have one of the best 3 kickers in the nation and the only time we call on him is a 56 yard FG. Can he make it, yea, but we sure didn't help him going backwards from where it would have been a 50 yard FG.
Wait, there is more, I get to watch an amazing ESPN story on Herschel Walker. And I noticed quite a few things I never noticed before.
1) Herschel said it, they were a "unit". The players would notice a change of direction and start throwing blocks. There have been a few times I down played Buck Belue, I was wrong. That man cared, and cared a lot. Seeing Vince Dooley call an obviously predicable toss sweep right, it busts, Herschel knows its busted, so he changes direction, and Buck throws down a block. THIS is what it's about. I am not the biggest fan of Vince, but he went to the playmaker. Then the playmaker said, "this isnt working" and changed direction. Then the TEAM followed his lead and laid wood. It's amazing. They trusted and believed.
2) davethedawg said it, but I want to over emphasize it. Herschel was amazing. But damn, there were plays where it looked like every defensive player on the field exploded versus our blocking. It's more than just "executing your position", it's about executing your position and then looking for someone else to hit. AKA - Finish the Drill. Just blocking your man or running your route isn't enough. One positive example of this from last Saturday is Aaron Murray somehow (and g*d I don't know how) is Aaron Murray actually ran Brandon Boykin down on that TD. That's how you do it. So tell me, where was everyone else? The QB actually caught the speedster, was everyone else just watching? Finish the drill.
3) My greatest fear is now this: Coach Bobo will hear the talk, see the film, get in his own head, and call 100 run plays. Please Coach Bobo, don't do this. Just start calling some easy passes, work the run, and do what you have demonstrated you can do, find those weaknesses and exploit them. However, if we are losing, don't go crazy, believe. Believe like 1980 believed.
4) You may not like Steve Spurrier, but he is a good coach. And he just watched us against a top 5 team. That scares the holy living crap out of me. He probably has already planned how to score 100 pts. I told the Mayor on the phone, and Ludakit and I agree on this, although we can beat SCAR and go on to a good season, our motivation, our momentum, our faith is lost. That's why I so wanted to beat BSU. Not because I hate BSU, not because the season is over, but we need some faith, hope, belief. It's lost.
Which means, with point 4 - it's time to lead Coaches. I no longer care how you do it or what hype you speak. You better lead. If you don't, we are 0-2 and you will be looking for new jobs.
Feel free to disagree, to vent, to tell me how I am wrong, or how scared you are of this Sat. I would love to get your feedback. Hell, someone help me feel better.