15 Thoughts Saw Something on Saturday

If you had phoned Mrs. DavetheDawg about mid-way through the 2nd quarter inquiring as to the fortunes of our team, you would’ve been met with...

1. Starting off slowly is not sustainable. Yeah, you can get away with that stuff against Kent State, and we survived in CoMo last week. Auburn aided us as much as anyone we’ve played with 10 penalties for 60 yards and the majority of these were procedure penalties. But sputtering starts on offense has now happened 3 games in a row now. That’s a bit disturbing.

2. We’ve got Vandy next week at home and can probably rest some guys before the bye week. From what I’ve seen from our upcoming competition, we are going to need all hands on deck to navigate an increasingly tough back-half of the schedule. Florida certainly poses a challenge, but Tennessee and Mississippi State are dangerous offensive teams and slow starts against either will get us beat.

3. Okay, Dave...it’s not all doom and gloom, right? Of course not. The defense played very well yesterday, and despite not sacking Robby Ashford a single time, the kid was under pressure all day long and could never set his feet. On the day, he was 13/38 for 165 yards and a touchdown. If you take away Auburn’s lone 62-yard scoring pass which was a clinic on how not to tackle, their total offensive output for the day is under 200 net. Even their field goal was a gift when Stetson Bennett fumbled on our opening drive after the half.

A coachable moment.

4. The defense probably pitches a shutout if we clean up some things. On the day, some guys really stood out, including Nolan Smith (nice stuff on the fake punt!), Rian Davis and Jamon Dumas-Johnson. The interior of our defensive line got penetration all day and looked the best they’ve looked in that regard against a bad Auburn O-line. Tank Bigsby had 19 yards on 10 carries, which has to be a career low.

5. Bear Alexander played a good bit and is going to be a force going forward. He didn’t record a tackle, but he batted a pass down and was very disruptive when he was in. I’d like to see more of #99. Now, if we can only get #88 healed up. No need to play Jalen Carter until the Cocktail Party. Give Bear more reps.

6. As a team, we rushed 39 times for 292 yards and 6 touchdowns. It’s funny how the perception of our running back room can suddenly flip. We saw Georgia grind down Mizzou last week, particularly in the 4th quarter. Yesterday, we again committed to running the ball and really got to witness the potential of Branson Robinson, who led all rushers with 98 yards on 12 carries, with his first touchdown. He’s got a Nick Chubb vibe to him and is an absolute load. The kid is fresh, too. That bodes well for the 2nd half stretch. His workload will be increasing, too, as Kendall Milton left the game early with yet another injury (groin). Those are tough to recover from. I feel for the kid. He’s just been absolutely snake-bit his entire time here.

A big back with some quicks? More, please.

7. Running backs either have vision, or they don’t. This is what impresses me the most about Daijun Edwards. He’s a tough runner, but he also arguably processes what’s in front of him better than anyone in the backfield. He’s got quick feet and is tough to bring down. He’s earned the right as the solid #2. Twelve carries for 83 yards and the touchdown trifecta. I can’t help but believe Kenny McIntosh was limited in his carries by design as he may still be a bit dinged up. Either way, #30 and #22 are becoming fixtures in the rotation because they’ve earned it.

Daijun Edwards invented Daijun Mustard. And I love both.

7a. I thought Kendall Milton really had an opportunity to break a long touchdown run on our second possession when he should’ve bounced to the outside following the right tackle Warren McClendon, but chose to cut inside after an 8-yard gain. If he gets around the end, there’s only a cornerback to beat that was getting locked up by our receiver. McClendon might’ve been waving him “follow me,” but will have to look at the replay later in the week. The film don’t lie, though.

8. If Yards After Catch (YAC) is a thing, Yards After Push (YAP) should be one, too. Georgia’s line loves to play maul-ball and on a few occasions got involved in pushing the runner for an extra 5-10 yards down the field. Of course the runner has to keep his legs churning as well, but that is fun to witness.

9. Is Stetson’s shoulder dinged up? What’s the disconnect with the long ball? It seems like a physical issue to me, but I’m grasping. I did see him flexing his shoulders a bit in warm-up and he didn’t seem exactly comfortable. He missed at least 2 long, gift-wrapped scoring strikes in the 2nd half. Ladd McConkey was 5 yards behind his man for one; Brock Bowers blew by his guy as well. Both passes were overthrown, although Ladd’s could’ve been caught as it was touched - but a tough catch nevertheless. Stet will be okay and in a perfect world, we get up by 35 on Vandy next week and get Carson Beck a ton of reps.

10. Stetson is a helluva lot faster than I thought he was. We’ve all known he was “quick,” which doesn’t necessarily translate to speed. But this was a revelation:

Stetson Bennett, walk-on QB, walk-on track star.

11. It seems like I’ve been belly-aching a lot on this thread after a 32-point victory, right? I mean great teams cover, no? It’s just that we are capable of so much more and consistency, or lack thereof, is the one thing that gets me the most in any given season.

12. A.D. Mitchell did make a brief appearance as he continues to recover from the ankle injury he sustained on the first play of the game vs. Samford - which seems like a year ago now. Word is that he injured his thumb during practice this past week.

Jalen Carter, as mentioned before, is still recovering form the cheap shot chop blocks against Mizzou that resulted in a sprained MCL. We don’t play Florida for 20 more days and we’re going to need both #5 and #88 as healthy as possible for the stretch. Heal up, fellas.

13. The block below the waist call on Darnell Washington was ticky-tack as it was a football play. There was no intent here as the Auburn player was going low at the same time. His second 15-yard penalty was a “blindside” hit after a Kenny McIntosh 12-yard screen was also borderline. It didn’t affect the outcome of the eventual touchdown drive to put us up 21-3.

14. Ladd McConkey muffed his first punt fair catch attempt, but after that he recovered and showed us all why he’s such a dangerous threat when given a crease and a block or two. His 38 yard return to the Auburn 31 set us up to take a 14-0 lead going into the half. I think Ladd is still dealing with a turf-toe type injury. Those are painful and he’s playing through it. Ladd led all receivers with 5 receptions for 47 yards. Brock Bowers was targeting several times, but the connections were not to be. Oscar Delp showed us why the tight end room is in such great shape for the foreseeable future. Dom Blaylock had a nice reception late.

“Valuing possessions on offense.” Truth to power.

15. Our beloved mascot Uga is adored. He’s pampered. Above all, he’s a cherished family pet.

You’re the dog, dawg!

Now, tell me in a single Tweet that you don’t know the first damn thing about our mascot, his history and life. This is what I hate the most about social media. It gives imbeciles a voice. The imbecile of the day award goes to Alexandria. She probably orders an iced, Ristretto, 10 shot, venti, with breve, 5 pump vanilla, 7 pump caramel, 4 Splenda, [and] poured, not shaken at Starbucks.

Me? I order an American coffee, black, with 27 sugars. Rock ‘n F***** Roll.

Hey, Alexandria. GFY. Because everything on Wiki is true.

Folks, we absolutely own Auburn. And I’ve seen some folks wondering on a blog or two if it is starting to mean less and less after our dominance in the series. I cannot believe that question is even being asked. It’s always great to beat Auburn. It’s great this afternoon, it’ll be great next year and it’ll be great 40 years from now and beyond. I hate Auburn.

Many of these same people wonder if it’s time to make a quarterback change. Give me a break. Stetson might be a tick off, but he’s our QB.

On the day, we had exactly 500 yards of total offense (292 rushing, 208 passing). We left so many more yards (and points) on the table, which simply boiled down to lack of execution. This is what must be fixed going forward and I cannot think of a better team to fix things by than Vanderbilt. It’s been a while since they’ve visited ‘ol Sanford Stadium. Let’s make them welcome by getting just a few things tweaked before the bye. Continue to heal up and grow. Remember, Vandy bailed out on us in 2020. We owe them. Mostly because I wanted to see their young lady kicker run that wheel route.

BONUS THOUGHTS:

• Did Georgia Tech actually have a competent head coach right under their noses the whole damn time Geoff Collins was burning down The Flats, and ruining fashion?
• Alabama looked more than mortal without Bryce Young. If they play like they did last night in Knoxville on Saturday, they’re going to get beat. Somehow, I think they won’t. But this will be the truest litmus test regarding how good Tennessee really is I can imagine.
• Texas A&M gave Bama all they could handle, aided by more turnovers than a Pillsbury factory. I don’t know what the last play of the game was, but they should probably never do that again. Hell, I would’ve stacked all the receivers to one side and thrown a jump ball. A&M has some tall dudes. Anything would’ve been better than what Jimbo settled on. He looked a bit lost on the sideline. What a fraud.
• Is Tennessee that good, or is LSU that awful? Brian Kelly is as bad a cultural fit down in Red Stick as Bryan Harsin is a Auburn. I just don’t see this working, although Kelly can recruit and Harsin can’t. He’d better win next year. They ‘ve got Florida in Gainesville on Saturday.
• I see an easy first down. Wait, WUT!? Kids, don’t drink and punt...

That’s all I’ve got.

AS ALWAYS, GO DAWGS!