Season 2 Volume 6: Put Em on Notice

Intro

A few weeks ago I went to The Battery after the Alabama FSU game and met a Tennessee fan/subhuman. He had clearly been drinking all day in preparation for his inevitable miserable season and was so excited to show me his t-shirt. His shirt was a massive blank canvas on which was printed an image of Juaun Jennings soaring above Georgia defensive backs to win the game on a hail Mary in 2016. I was less than pleased. But it’s little obnoxious encounters like that one that make what happened on Saturday so sweet.

In a blowout, you have to assert your dominance and put the game completely out of reach. Then it’s time to put in backups and allow them to gain valuable experience. In most games it’s rarely about embarrassing your opponent. I wanted nothing more than to continue to embarrass Tennessee on Saturday. I took as much enjoyment at Tyrique Mcgee’s initial pick as I did in David Marvin’s final field goal to make it 41-0 and the worst Tennessee loss in Neyland Stadium history. One thing Kirby has been preaching this year is every single player beating the individual across from them every play. I found so much joy in watching so many Georgia players dominate their one on one matchups.

Five years in and Tennessee is now back to square one. Butch’s gimmicks have run out and he is most likely on the way out. As I said last week, this is still a long season with a ton of good opponents left on the schedule. But looking past the wins, I’m proud and excited about the way this team is playing and the identity they are creating. Players can’t create culture. No matter how skilled or influential, players move on after a set amount of time. It’s great that you had Josh Dobbs and built your program around a great kid for a few years. But without him, Tennessee looks lost, not only on the field but off the field as well (Shy Tuttle fell on a helmet- lulz). A successful program’s culture is established by the man that everyone looks to on a daily basis. It’s very clear now that Butch Jones was a fraud and will not make it in the SEC. Again, it’s early, but Kirby’s culture of physicality, toughness and discipline is already evident.

Georgia Offense

The defense gets so much press and justifiably so but lets give the offense a little credit. Let me say this first, I don’t think Georgia has played an elite defense. Notre Dame is clearly the best defense we have faced. The offense is going to need some serious progression to remain effective against defenses such as Florida, Auburn and possibly Alabama (woah, chill Brooks). But I have been seriously impressed by a few things

Aggressive with a freshman QB

It would be easy to limit the offense and rely solely on the run game and play action pass. But the scheme seems to have expanded with Fromm in place. More quick pass, more read option and more deep shots. When Georgia took a timeout due to offensive confusion in the 1^st quarter against Tennessee, I turned to my buddy and said “If you’re going to burn a timeout on some dumb ****, you gotta go get a TD on the next play” Well Javon Wims reminded us what he does best and went up to pull down Georgia’s first TD of the game. Love the aggressiveness we continue to see from Chaney even while breaking in yet another freshman QB.

Offensive Line Starting to Mesh

Man, how huge has Sam Pittman been? Not only has he been hugely successful in recruiting some hog-maulies but he has also been able to mesh a somewhat mismatched offensive line together. Wynn has been fantastic at tackle. It’s been so good to see Kendall Baker grow into this roll at guard. He was a huge athletic body out of high school and Pittman has molded him into a perfect guard. Lamont Gaillard has been everything you want as a leader at center. This guy is a converted DL. Pruitt never really wanted him when he came in in 2014. Gaillard comes in anyways, gets no realistic shot to play DL and makes the best out of his situation. Solomon Kindley is what you should expect future guards to look like at Georgia as long as Pittman is here. Dude is freaking huge and just moves people. Finishes every single block with some anger. Andrew Thomas has been quiet, exactly what you want from a freshman RT. Dyshon Sims has been an excellent swing player to plug in wherever needed. You can see how badly Arkansas misses Sam Pittman. They went from the country’s premier run offense to an offense without an identity. We are very lucky to have him at Georgia after the struggles on the OL as of the past few years.

Fresh RBs

We have three of the best RBs in the entire country. And I am totally ok with limiting all of them to around 15 carries a game maximum. You can tell how fresh they are as the game wears on. Such dangerous big play threats with speed against tired Defenses

Fires Me Up

These Dudes Just Want to Win: Tyler Clark got into a scuffle with a Tennessee OL after a huge third down stop. Luckily, it was an offsetting penalty but Aaron Davis, Tyrique McGee and John Atkins looked straight up pissed off at Clark. Roquan came sprinting over from 15 yards away and got in Clark’s face. When I was working, I never saw things like this. There were a ton of fights in practice and most of them stemmed from ego. The reaction of getting in Clark’s face rather than reacting against another Tennessee player told me everything I needed to know about how desperately these guys want to win

Special Teams: It looks like Georgia may have finally turned special teams from a liability to an advantage. There are so many starters playing on special teams which speaks to how deep or team currently is. Not to mention performance of our Kicker and punter thus far

Overall Health: Not gonna say any more than that for fear I may reverse it. Strength and conditioning doing their jobs (and creating a very interesting social media presence may I add). Depth certainly helping as well.

Vandy Preview

Really respect what Derek Mason has done at Vandy. His defense is his calling card but I really think Georgia’s team is just too deep. I think this is the game we grab a defensive or special teams TD and offense is able to do more than enough to pull away. Defense should dominate as usual while remaining alert for some gimmick plays. Vanderbilt is a tough team but Georgia is too talented and is dialed in even at 11am ET. Dawgs 34 Vandy 10

Friday Morning Thoughts

Really pumped about Justin Fields decision this morning. What Kirby has been able to do reeling in 3 5-Star QBs in a row is truly unbelievable. Fields game is worthy of the number 1 player in the country. No matter who the starting QB is next year, Fields will get valuable playing time and will be elite by the time he leaves Georgia

I am not pumped about the really dumb decision Natrez Patrick made this morning. From what I have heard, I think he is one of the last turds on the team that hasn’t fully bought in. He is talented as hell though. I think the suspension at this point is 4 games. Reggie Carter is hurt, so I think we turn to Monty Rice or Juwaun Taylor. Not a great place to be with Florida approaching. It kills me that there are still some guys that are so selfish with a season like this in play.

Bucky’s Easy Money of the Week

Last Week: 2-3

Overall: 40-32-1

Missed 3-2 by a .5pt hook in the FSU game. That’s bad ball. Apologies my friends. Lookin for a 4-1 week this week.