Hump Day Video Breakdown - Bobo uses Two Crayons at Once

Here at DawgSports, we're reviving an old feature once titled the "Tuesday Video Breakdown". The day of the week (and thus, name) have changed slightly, but the gist of the thing remains the same: each week, we'll take a look at a play (or a set of plays) that stood out for one reason or another in the previous week's UGA game. Sometimes this could be based on a particular player having an impressive game, it could take a look at something out of the ordinary, or it could highlight ways that a game was impacted behind the scenes. In any event, it should be entertaining, so let's jump right in...

In seasons past, we've seen that Mike Bobo tends to do a good job of sizing up his personnel on offense and adjusting his gameplan to best cater to its strengths. Sometimes, this has been done between seasons, other times, it's been done on a weekly basis due to unforeseen circumstances (I'm looking at you, Tennessee 2013). In 2012, after losing Michael Bennett and Marlon Brown to injury, we saw Bobo begin to use his Tight Ends more in the passing game (think Jay Rome's touchdown against Bama in the SECCG). Last year, as mentioned, it was moving away from a vertical passing game to more of a mid-range attack.

This season, we're in a bit of an interesting scenario. With Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley still recovering from ACL injuries, the Dawgs don't have much of a vertical threat. What they do have is most likely the best group of running backs to ever matriculate in Athens. As such, it should come as no surprise that Bobo is quite likely considering how he can best take advantage of this and scheme his offense around it. This past week against Clemson, Bobo just may have shown us a bit of what is to come, when late in the third quarter, this happened (dial it up to the 2:05:07 mark:

Yes, you saw that right - Todd Gurley II and Sony Michel were on the field at the same time. Let's take a closer look and see just what Bobo did there: After a first down, Bobo comes out in a Power I, with Quayvon Hicks at fullback, Jeb Blazevich at Tight End, and Blake Tibbs and Michael Bennett out wide. We get a quick toss to Gurley for a few yards and Bobo immediately brings out Hicks and Blazevich and replaces them with senior split end Michael Erdman in the slot and Sony Michel at running back along with Gurley. He puts Mason in a shotgun and now we're looking at three wide receivers, no tight end, fullback, or H-back, and a pair of running backs. For what it's worth, it didn't seem that Brad Nessler even realized the two were on the field together - he made note of Michel coming on but no mention of Gurley being to Mason's right.

The question now becomes, is this something we're going to start seeing more often? Considering that we have no set timetable on Scott-Wesley or Mitchell's respective returns, combined with the fact that Gurley, Marshall, and Michel all are talented catching passes out of the backfield, I can only speculate that we see the formation a few more times this season (and perhaps as soon as ten days from now). Todd Blackledge is right when he says it's a lot to ask of a freshman back, so why not try it out with Gurley and Marshall together? In any event, I'm glad to see Bobo playing around with his weapons and I'd love to see more two-back sets. What say you, Dawg fans? Sound off in the comments below...and, as always...

Go Dawgs!