15 Thoughts Just Gonna Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and Edit

This week’s “15 Thoughts” was fairly simple to construct. I just copied a bunch of last week’s points, made a few edits, and Voila! On to the particulars...

1. Ah, yes. Early September noon cupcake kickoffs. There’s nothing quite like ‘em. Despite the sun angle decreasing and the length of daylight hours waning, it was a typically hot and humid “I haven’t even had my 3rd Bloody Mary” start against another overmatched foe. Kudos for all that showed up. We were actually lucky the game began and concluded with no weather issues because thunderstorms plagued much of the southeast and eastern seaboard yesterday with numerous games being delayed by lightning. Next week will be a CBS 3:30 start vs. ‘Sakerlina. We could actually have a more comfortable gameday experience if the weather gods (and computer models) are on-point. Trust me: I’m a weatherman.

2. Mekhi Mews, ladies and gentlemen, is fun to watch. He’s done quite well in the first couple of games and is The Unicorn v2.0. His opening kick return set the Dawgs up in great field position, but after some positive plays the offense bogged down on first and goal, nearly turned the ball over on a ill-advised Carson Beck scramble (ball protection isn’t just limited to a jock and cup, CB ;-). We then missed an easy field goal. These slow starts are doing nothing for my gastrointestinal tract. Speaking of which, a few words from a man who has no gastrointestinal tract...

Looks are so deceiving. This guy could eat a Buick, but probably couldn’t play right guard for Wofford.

3. So after the aforementioned positive offensive possession that ultimately failed, Georgia’s 2nd drive of the opening quarter sputtered after 8 plays and that ‘ol familiar refrain of “Fire Mike Bobo” began to circulate around the interwebs. Bobo, at last check, doesn’t block. It really is incredible, you know. Do you think for a minute that over the last 8 quarters of football we have shown anything on tape to our SEC foes?

As the 1st quarter ended - with no score - Ball State had to punt. Mr. Mews provided his 2nd spark of the young afternoon, and the scoring fire was lit, right there.

4. It’s hard to gauge how good this team is, particularly on offense, when there are still so many injuries and so much experimentation with personnel groupings. Once the offense got into rhythm and did some up-tempo stuff, the potential began to manifest itself. After Mews’ punt return Georgia tacked on another 24 points during the 2nd stanza outburst.

5. Carson Beck’s touchdown pass to Dom Lovett was nullified by a horrible offensive PI call against Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint. Ultimately Georgia had to settle for a Peyton Woodring field goal. Just a really poor effort from the back judge who saw a phantom pick play, I guess. Marcus R-J didn’t initiate contact and wasn’t anywhere near the action that went wide, as he went towards the middle of the field and was actually bumped by his defender. Ridiculous.

6. Malaki Starks is a ball hawk. He’s also very good in run support. Tykee Smith is healthy and his quickness and instincts were on-point yesterday. He’s a very good tackler, too. He grabbed his first pick of his Georgia career yesterday on a deflected pass that set up the Dawgs on the Cardinals 25 yard line.

I haven’t heard anything new on the ankle injury to Javon Bullard, but hoping he was in a boot as a precautionary measure only.

7. Dillon Bell might be the shiftiest “running back” on the team, no? At the minimum we need to get him the ball in space more in his traditional role as a slot guy. As we get Daijun Edwards back into the rotation - he probably could have played yesterday, but why risk it? - and Kendall Milton continues to heal up from his hamstring issues, we might have to rely upon his unique skill set down the road, but it’s good to know he’s available.

Best ankle breaking since Annie Wilkes hobble Paul Sheldon in “Misery.”

8. I was a little surprised Andrew Paul didn’t get any carries as he’s been cleared to play. We are still waiting for this kid to get his legitimate chance to show off his talents.

9. Carson Beck’s acclimation to being “the man” is beginning to round into shape, methinks. His interception in the 3rd quarter was not his fault on a ball that should have been caught. When Georgia went up-tempo and he got into a rhythm, he seemed to feed off of that. His touchdown pass to Cash Jones in the 3rd quarter was nice - Jones’ catch was even better.

10. The offensive line was inconsistent, again. Like last week (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V), they had issues opening up consistent lanes in the middle of the field, but improved as the game progressed. Earnest Green, our young left tackle, is...young. Kid has all the ability in the world, but had a rough first half. He’ll be fine.

Young Roderick Robinson is a load.

11. Kirby wanted to see improvement in the turnover margin and he got it. A few were on the bizarre side, but they all look the same in the box score.

You could try and replicate this a thousand times and I bet it would never happen again.

12. Brock Bowers and Oscar Delp played the majority of snaps at tight end. Did I actually see a couple of drops by #19? Bowers is famous for his focus, but yesterday was the first time I’ve ever seen him lose that. I bet that’ll never happen again.

13. Special teams were highlighted by Mekhi Mews 111 punt return yards and 47 kick return yards. Remember, he had another fine return called back because of a very ticky-tack holding call. Brett Thorson averaged 45. 3 yards on 3 kicks, including a long of 51 and had excellent hang time, allowing the coverage to converge. Ball State had 0 punt return yards, and only 9 kickoff return yards. Peyton Woodring was 1 for 2 on field goals, including a 35 yard effort; 6/6 on PAT’s.

14. Georgia, though two games, has scored 93 points and has given up 10. They’ve sleep walked through about 2 quarters, played backups for another 3 and, once they focused, did what the #1 team in the nation should do: bury their lesser competition.

15. Thirty-one different Georgia players recorded a tackle in the game. Kirby cleared the bench. Offensively, the heavy rotation of youth in the 4th quarter didn’t add to the scoring, but it did add to the experience ledger.

And in conclusion...

For all of the gnashing of teeth, this game was once again another opportunity to essentially practice. This all ends next Saturday at 3:30 when the Gamecocks, fresh off a 47-21 win over Furman, come calling. That game was close for a half. This will be the last time that CBS will kickoff their SEC slate at 3:30 as they move over to the B1G next year and ESPN (is the devil) takes over the prime 3:30 afternoon slot. So, get your “shut up, Gary!” lungs ready. Georgia is a 4-touchdown favorite.

I want to see us come out with crisp execution on our first possession. Carolina’s offensive line acquitted themselves a bit better than they did against North Carolina in their opener, only allowed 1 sack on Spencer Rattler. For all of ‘Sakerlina’s warts, they are still much more talented than our first two opponents. We need to take them seriously (I believe Kirby will remind them of 2019), fix some things, and get some offensive continuity going, with better line play.

BONUS THOUGHTS:

• I won’t watch another GameDay, ever. They replaced David Pollack with an “it’s really all about me” guy. He’s a sideshow. I think Rece and Kirk are probably doing the best they can to humor him, but what a poor fit. GameDay already has a prop. His name is Desmond Howard. I guess they needed a tool. Mission accomplished.

• Hey, Roman. Eat shit. (Sorry, Macondawg. I’ll turn in my notice if I must).

• How about some more GameDay piling on. Care to amend anything?

• Texas A&M is like the Japanese battleship “Yamato,” for those who know their World War II naval history. It’s was a beautifully imagined warship, with millions of yen poured into every aspect of the design and construction. The largest battleship to ever float (actually had a sister ship, so doubly bad), that sucked all the resources out of a nation program but in the end was just a really bad, bad idea. It’ll be interesting to see where A&M goes from here. They’ve invested millions into what should be a better product than it is. The loss to Miami is either the beginning of the end, or (to paraphrase Churchill) the end of the beginning. This team has talent. It must be coaching.
• You say Tennessee struggled with Austin Peay for most of the game yesterday? You say the crowd booed Joe Milton for much of the first half? Tennessee is probably looking ahead to their game in The Swamp next Saturday night. The Vols better watch out. They might actually make the Gators look competent. In fact, I won’t be surprised if they go down there and lose.
• As I was watching Auburn beat California last night, a funny thing happened. I fell asleep and did not miss a thing.
• This is disturbing, if true. h/t

Update: Mel Tucker fired.

• Colorado won again, and suddenly they’re getting playoff buzz. Seriously? Nebraska isn’t a good team. Wake me up when they play someone.
• Hell, wake me up when we play someone. After 2 games, we think we know what we have. I guess we’ll begin to find out a little bit more next weekend. Hope the crowd can make it loud. I think they will.

That’s all I’ve got. As Always

GO DAWGS!