Tuesday Video Breakdown - Blown Coverages against USC

Okay, let me preface this posting with saying this: I get it. You're probably asking me at this point in time, 'How can you even begin to single out one particular play or set of plays that led to Georgia losing the game, when pretty much everything went wrong?' I'd respond, of course, that you're right.

It is virtually impossible to find a single play, or a recurring error on multiple plays, that led to Georgia's downfall. Luckily, though, we do have some video clips of the game that have been posted on various places around the internets, and these clips should serve to further illustrate that there were, in fact, a few plays that led to the Dawgs' implosion on Saturday.

The first play that jumps out to me was the opening touchdown. On this particular down, the Gamecocks lined up with Bruce Ellington on the right side of the field. As Ellington came across the field, the Dawgs' strong safety, Shawn Williams, got caught looking in the backfield. Shortly thereafter, Connor Shaw delivered an accurate pass over the head of Williams, finding Ellington wide open in the endzone. Further video of the play can be seen here (note: in this video, they actually had Mark Richt mic'd up, so you'll be able to hear his audio as well).

The second play, and the one that really put the dagger in the Dawgs' heart, was yet another blown coverage by Shawn Williams. The Dawgs were down 21-0, and the defense had largely settled in after the disastrous first quarter, holding the Cocks scoreless for the entire second quarter and the better part of the third. On this particular play, the wide receiver, once again from the right side of the field, ran a post route. Around the time that the wide receiver began to make his cut, Williams, overanxious to try to stop the Cocks' underneath route with Rory Anderson, once again found himself looking down low, despite the fact that Alec Ogletree had tight coverage on Anderson. As such, the wide receiver proceeded to run right by Williams, who should've been providing the deep help to cornerback Sanders Commings, and Shaw once again delivered an accurate ball, with the receiver finally going down on the Georgia one. The Cocks proceeded to score on the next play, essentially icing the game and removing any chance of a Dawgs comeback. Again, further video can be seen at this website, and the nice thing about this video clip is that it's actually been broken down into a frame by frame review.

Well, folks, this has been the second installment of the TVB. We'll be off next week, as the Dawgs have a bye, but hopefully the Tuesday Video Breakdown will return triumphantly following the game against Kentucky in two weeks time.

As always, Go Dawgs!