Georgia dropped a Hairy uga on the field

This was only my second neutral site game. The first was the Outback Bowl against Iowa several years ago. That second tier bowl had an 11:00AM kickoff. This was a little different. I can’t imagine even half the crowd there had tickets (at realize attendance was 84,000). It was just a crush of colorfully dressed people moving in mass (not always in the same direction). After the game the whole area was just trashed, I walked through a lot more garbage and drained beer bottles than I ever have after a game at the Swamp. It’s a unique experience – I would recommend to anyone that if you can get some tickets in the future you take advantage of them (but boy would I have been annoyed to see us lose by 39). Dawgs fans were a little surly, but honestly most of ours were nimrods too – although two were dressed as Mr. Two Bits and lead the cheer. And when the game started their stands were a little fuller, while we straggled in. Also I have nowhere good to add this, so I will stick it here. That mascot in a plush bulldog outfit is known as “Hairy” (also, their bands is called the Redcoats) – think your own thoughts. I never saw Uga VI. I was high up, so high up in fact no Jags fans sits there as I was in a temporary stand put up for the cocktail party. I was in an endzone too, but I had a pretty good view. I’ve never been high in an endzone for a UF game before. Finally I want to add that no less than seven people complimented me on my hat.

QB: The Savior (15) is getting better. He barely threw this game, but a few times I saw him clearly go through his reads – and I am pretty sure he was looking at the whole field. That said the interception he threw (called back by a penalty before our first TD) was atrocious – after holding the ball for a while he floated a pass out to a short receiver. He ran okay, defenses key on him so the yards are getting harder. He still runs hard and gets short yards. His toughness comes in handy other times – on our first TD it was an option and he held the ball until the last second, taking the hit, which let Harvin (1) run for an easy six.
GRADE: A-

RB: I was very surprised to see Moody (21) come on the field when the starters left. I thought he was not playing much because he was dinged, not because Meyer doesn’t like him. He is our only RB of size. I know Meyer loves his little speedsters, but they rarely get much inside and against fast defenses they struggle to get wide so why not try Moody? Our longest rush by a back not named Emmanuel was five yards.
GRADE: C

WR: First of all while Louis Murphy (9) had the TD that for all intents and purposes put the game away, he also had yet drop earlier in Georgia territory (which was why the bomb was his only catch). Also on his TD he totally grabbed the corner and pulled him aside to get open. We had a briefly Riley Cooper (11) sighting too, but I still worry Harvin needs help.
GRADE: B (the big three combined for 6 catches).

TE: I had thought Hernandez (81) would be that #2 guy for Harvin, but he as disappeared lately. To be fair Tebow has not had more than 17 competitions and 217 since Ole Miss in September (and every game his stats have gone down). Tater Salad (#84 in your program, #1 in your heart) is playing more too. I want to be clear about something – I don’t think Tate Casey is a bad player – he does whatever he is asked, catches okay, and blocks fairly well. You need those guys. They line him up close behind the line - it works especially well because the defense will key on that and on one play action play he crashed down on the DE as Tebow rolled out – which gave him a ton of time.
GRADE: B

OL: Tebow had plenty of time on those rare occasions he passed (that rarity also helped slow the pass rush as their D was usually thinking rush). On the other hand rushing yards were not coming in bunches. Guard Jim Tartt (63) did not start, but got some time. If he can get healthy our offense should get even better. He held Glenn Dorsey quiet for most of the game at LSU last year. When he plays Mike Pouncey (55) flips to the other side (right) of his twin brother.
GRADE: B

DL: They weren’t dominant by any stretch, but there was only one major hole I remember the entire game – Moreano never broke one for even twenty yards. For the most part the DL just clogged lanes and let the backers clean up. But make no mistake that they were doing their job – because it was when I noticed our backups (such as Brandon Antwine (47) and Duke Lemmens (44)) were in that UGA’s offense was most effective. Torrey Davis (95) made one nice penetration stop – which surprised me because I though he was academically ineligible. DT Terron Sanders (92) was probably our best guy this game getting some run penetration and some passrush.
GRADE: B+

LB: I was happy to see Stamper (41) starting again over Doe (32), but was surprised to see him in the middle often as Spikes (51) was outside. I think that was in part to us Spikes as a passrusher. I liked that quite a bit, Spikes was not all over Stafford, but his presence did enough to give us a little pass rush – which we have been desperately lacking all year. As a whole the linebacking corps was good in coverage, and got in the backfield to disrupt the run several times.
GRADE A+

DB: Okay at this point it is clear that freshman superstud Janoris Jenkins (29) is already our best defensive back. That’s not meant to be a knock on Joe Haden (5) – who is talented enough in his own right and knocked down a few passes. Haden did struggle several times playing balls in the air and get outworked for the ball. He gave up one right over his head and might have given up another in the endzone if freshman safety Will Hill (10) had not hit the receiver in support. Maybe Hill should be playing more because Major Wright (21) continues to something of a liability. He goes for the kill shot and misses tackles with his bad angles. Nor is he exemplar in coverage. Take for example that funny play where he deflected a pass with his head – he was going for the hit when if he had played the pass he might have gotten a pick. Ahmad Black (35) is just a centerfielder, which is not bad: he’ll get some picks on tips and bad throws and should prevent us from giving up too many deep plays (the one against Ole Miss was Wright’s mistake). That said he is not a playmaker. Also, we don’t move our corners, they always line up at the same spot, so if two WRs are on one side we have to rely on a safety to cover one of them – that is how I would attack this secondary. They didn’t have a great game – Stafford had 265 yards and he worked with his receivers to put several drive together – hitting several third and longs. They did clamp down a little better in the redzone. Also, the Wondy Wonder (4) is so bad that other fans complained when he game on the field even though the game was over.
GRADE: B-

Defense overall: I just want to point that while we scored a bunch, the defense really had the better game. When UGA got close to our endzone we somehow kept them out. Several scores were set up by turnovers, and once we were ahead the defense got a few more.

ST: Last time I said special teams could be a key to a win for us, and they were, but not because we did anything special. Their kicker killed them with two misses and an awful onside kick that went right to Butch Rowley (37). We allowed had one big return (which was one more than we had) and had a kickoff out of bounds but coverage was pretty good overall and we pinned them deep once. The Chris Rainey (3) fake kneel return was hilarious even if was called back for a block in the back (which was a legit call).
GRADE: B

Coaching: I’m conflicted because Florida has been rolling lately (the only game we did not win by at least 23 was the one lost). On the other hand Meyer is suppose to be an offensive guy and our offense was not outstanding (Georgia had more yards and time of possession). We did not have any real long dominate drives and I am getting tired of seeing the same crappy runs into the line for few yards. Also there is momentum in the game – while we blew them out if things had gone different early (which was possible) they might have kept it closer for longer (not saying they would have won). Finally I can’t really complain too much about the timeouts late in the game – in some ways you have to do something in response to the celebration last season – the team mentality feels off if you don’t. Also, that pass to Harvin when were up 35-3 in the 4th also seemed to surprise the Bulldogs D, who all just watch him run past them.
GRADE: A- (hey results matter, and this grade includes Charlie Strong – and the offense certainly took advantage of the opportunities the D gave them).

Football 101: When a quarter back “goes through his progressions” (or “reads the defense” or “surveys the field”) what that means is he is looking at his receivers to find one that is open. When a play starts every receiver has a route he is suppose to run, and one of them is the primary receiver (the guy the play is supposed to go to). If he is covered then the quarterback is suppose too look for the secondary receiver and so on until he completes a pass, throws it away, runs, or get sacked. Bad quarterbacks will stare down their primary receiver the whole play and throw it to him no matter once – which is often bad because the defense will see him staring the receiver down and get a good play on the ball. Good quarterbacks will purposely look at another receiver to draw the defense in the wrong direction. Bad (or if you prefer “inexperienced”) quarterbacks won’t be given many reads – coaches will tell them to just look at two guys and then throw it away, or too look at receivers only at one part (usually just one side) of the field. Michael Vick make a career of that, and Tebow started out doing that.

Play of the game: After pinning the Bullpuppies at their two while ahead 14-3 (and it might have been 14-6) we gave up a long drive. Momentum was absolutely with them as they got play after play against us – our defense looked as though it could not do anything and they were getting frustrated. Then deep in our territory we got just enough pass rush (Sanders) in Stafford’s face that his pass sailed and Joe Haden was able to slip under the receiver, steal it, and run 88 yards. One play later it was 21-3 and the pups knew they were in trouble.

Player of the game: I have been down on him because he has never been much of a play maker for his hype and because Stamper is solid and (along with Jenkins) our best tackler. However I will be the first to give props to Dustin Doe (32). He had two crucial passes defensed while the game was still in doubt. They were both great plays because the receivers had their hands on them for both and could have had catches, but Doe reached in both times and knocked them out of their hands. Football is a game of inches. Doe also later added pick on a nice self deflection. He played well enough he could be getting more time – our backers are the strength of our D, I don’t want to go to a 3-4 to get all of them out there, but on any obvious passing down they should move Spikes up to DE.

Bottom line: When I first got here, the Gators were a team that won with its defense. That lasted until last year, when we could score with anyone, but not necessarily stop them. This year we are much more balanced, the D has taken a step forward while the offense has not been able to keep its pace from a season ago. I’d rather have live with my defense, but we are better than last year and a legitimate contender.

I got home in time (10:50) to see some of the second half of Texas Tech doing us a favor by knocking off Texas. They still have to take down Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and potentially Missouri in the championship game to stay undefeated. We’ll probably run the table and face Bama in the SEC Championship. If we win and Texas Tech loses we’ll have a strong argument to face Penn State in Miami (can’t see them losing until January). But so will Oklahoma if they beat the Red Raiders and win the Big 12 (Texas might too) – which is realistic. But it is the BCS so I am sure BYU end up going.

By the way I went to the Atlanta Constitution Journal and looked around – over half their readers gave Fs to their offense, defense, special teams, and Richt (who I have a lot of respect for). 70% were cool with Meyer’s late timeouts.