15 Thoughts Wants to Body Slam Larry Culpepper

I'm sitting here trying to formulate some sort of plan to bang out at least 15 Thoughts this morning, but it is hard.  Yes, we won the game and I did sleep easier last night in the comfort of that knowledge.  It has been a horrible couple of weeks going back to the  Southern game with the Devon Gales injury, the Monsoon Massacre when Bama came to town, and last week's disaster in Knoxville on so many levels.  The upcoming bye week is much needed.

1. Who knew that perhaps the biggest play of the game happened on the very first play of the game?  When Greyson Lambert's pass hit a wide-open Mizzou linebacker who deflected the ball to safety Ian Simon, Georgia wide out Kenneth Towns made a touchdown and perhaps game-saving tackle that kept the Mizzou defender out of the end zone.  Georgia's defense bowed up.

2.  Lambert should have been picked at least 3, maybe 4 more times.  At this point of the season, miscommunication and horrible decisions are no longer acceptable excuses.

3.  I hate bashing a player, but if we have no better option at QB than what we have in Lambert, are headed to Shreveport?  What's the old saying, "If you have 3 quarterbacks you really have none?"  Okay, that saying is only 15 seconds old, but is that where we are.  I can't understand what in the hell is going on at this position.

4.  What happened to our tight ends?  Was Mizzou's defense so dominating that they had to stay in to chip-block instead of getting involved as a passing option?  Jeb Blazevich caught a single pass for 8 yards. That was it.

5.  I thought Keith Marshall looked effective when given his limited opportunity to run the ball.  Not a knock against Brendan Douglas, but Keith Marshall is not getting enough touches.  Maddening.

6.  Third and long always calls for a run up the middle.  Amirite?  Sarcasm font seems to be broken today...

7. Have a game, Malcolm Mitchell.  He caught a few clutch passes to keep drives (that would eventually stall) alive, and was interfered with often.  The last PI flag thrown against his cornerback "mirror" was a sympathy call almost.  His play as a gunner on the punt that resulted in the muff - a tad controversial, perhaps - was pure hustle.

8.  Terry Godwin is going to be a great, great player.  Once he learns how to effectively block on tunnel screens.  Oh, and when you can't block your assigned guy not once, not twice, but three times, at what point do you quit doing the same thing?

8a. How about Mizzou's freshman punter, Corey Fatony?  What a weapon.  We need one of those.

9.  Get used to folks stacking the box with everything but the kitchen sink from here on out.  Mizzou figured we really couldn't pass, and they were mostly correct.  Florida is going to do the same thing in 2 weeks.  Florida has some better dudes on defense, too.  We've got two weeks to figure something out.  My confidence is not high.

10.  Trenton Thompson is a beast.  He got a bit dinged on a play where he dragged down Hansbrough, but as far as I know he's okay.  For a moment there, I thought it was worse than it was.  I thought he crushed Drew Lock early in the game when he forced a hurried throw.

11.  A lot of freshman were all over the field, particularly on defense, for much of the game.  These freshman are very good players.  But, they're still...you know, freshman.  I cannot recall seeing such a rapid advance of the youth movement in all the years I've been watching Georgia Football.  Back in the day, no freshman played.  Now, they're an integral part of any program - either out of necessity or luxury, depending on how good you are.  I think we are in the "former" category.  I do have hope for our secondary...

12. ...but losing Dominick Sanders for targeting - the correct call - is going to hurt as he is now suspended for the first half against Florida.  Next pup up...

13.  Sony Michel played his heart out and had some good runs.  He nearly broke a few.  Jake Ganus was simply all over the field again and led the team in tackles.  I wish we had him for another season.

14.  For those of you who have a problem with coach Richt speaking with Marshall Morgan prior to his game-winner, I can only shake my head.  The kid just missed a chip shot, from a slight angle.  He simply pushed it.  Morgan has missed a few kicks in his career.  His next opportunity for redemption needed a special word or two, and that's exactly what he got.  The end result was the margin of victory.  No matter the means, I'm happy about that.  You should be, too.

15.  Nick Chubb is scheduled for surgery very soon.  Let's all remember him and send good vibes his way.  We are all wishing you the best, NC27.  The very best of luck.

That' really all I've got.  This was supposed to publish a few hours ago, but I tried to attach a gif file and the body of my work POOF! vanished.  The gif was of the Michigan punter dropped the snap and doing what punters tend to do when they panic:  Something really stupid.  I didn't see this live and was going to say something clever in the gif caption like, "It could be worse."  I guess making fun of someone else's misfortune is #Karma.

The coaching staff has indicated that we should have the services of Isaiah McKenzie, Jordan Jenkins and, hopefully, John Atkins in a couple of weeks.  We need all hands on deck.  It'd be healthy if they weren't the walking wounded, too.

I need this bye week.  You need this bye week.  The team needs this bye week.  We are still in this thing, but at this point our offense gives me very little hope.  We know the reasons, but here we are - still in control of our destiny (unless Tennessee pulls off a miracle down their stretch).

Enjoy the downtime, folks.  Until next time...

GO DAWGS!