15 Thoughts Ain’t Upset

…and may or may not have ordered a Vandy hat last night.

If our game was “mild,” a bunch of other games yesterday were wild. For a Saturday that appeared to have a several ho-hum games on the schedule it turned out to be pretty awesome. Four top 10 teams went down in flames. Some flames were crimson, some orange.

1. Beating Auburn will never, ever get old. It’ll never not be celebrated as it should be. We never trailed yesterday and were never really in danger of losing. In the last 20 games, we are 17-3; Kirby Smart has dominated the Plainsmen since the day he arrived as The Man and his record is 9-1 including eight-in-a-row.

2. Were there frustrating bits in the game? Absolutely. Trying to tackle Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter (who reportedly can bench press a 1974 Lincoln Mark IV) isn’t easy. Trying to tackle him high is an exercise in futility. Georgia’s defense took some really bad angles at times, especially on the edge. Offensively, that “let it rip” attitude that we saw in our comeback against Alabama wasn’t there and conservative offensive play-calling was the L’Ordre du jour. However, today we are celebrating another victory over a good Auburn team whose record isn’t indicative how their ability. They’ll beat someone soon that they “shouldn’t.”

3. Finally a Nate Frazier sighting! His 7 snaps resulted in 38 yards with a long of 17. We need more Nate going forward and I think that’s the plan as he becomes better in pass-protection. Frazier has a burst and incredible quickness that will pay dividends sooner than later. Whatever kept him off the field seems to be resolving itself. At least, that’s my hope. He certainly provides a boost when he’s in the game.

4A. Trevor Etienne is a damn good back with 88 yards on 16 carries, 2 TD’s. He’s gonna pop a long one soon.

5. Scoring on our opening drive was a first. I guess this qualifies as a fast start, but we could not sustain any rhythm in the first half until we got the ball back with a minute before intermission and scored. This team is better when there is a sense of urgency. In a game where we only possessed the ball 8 times (not counting the last possession to run out the clock), all possessions are valuable. Still, we scored on 3 of the 4 legitimate 2nd half drives. I guess we’re a 2nd half team.

6. Carson Beck was effective, but imperfect. This team is lacking explosive plays and, at the moment, is a grind-it-out, long drive offense. We’ve got playmakers, but something just isn’t clicking. Maybe this is who we are? Unless something changes, it won’t change.

Missed opportunity here…

7. Seven penalties for 85 yards. Some really dumb ones, too. Now the refs threw a bogus holding flag on Dylan Fairchild late in the 2nd quarter that killed an effective drive, but we had some real head-scratchers and that really needs to get cleaned up. As we were driving for the late touchdown on a fine Nate Frazier run, 6th year senior Xavier Truss speared an Auburn defender well after the play ended. No bueno. The offensive line still needs work. Hope Tate Ratledge heals up soon.

8. Nice game from Ty Ingram-Dawkins finishing the day with 2 sacks of Auburn QB Payton Thorne. Dan Jackson, 7 solo tackles, and Malaki Starks were busy dudes on defense. Georgia generally bowed up when it had to. Jalon Walker’s stats might not bear it out, but he played a helluva game. I think this was the play of the game:

9. Both teams didn’t turn the ball over, which has been Auburn’s bug-a-boo all season long and certainly killed our chances at Alabama last week. For Auburn to win this game, they needed to get a couple of takeaways. Good job on our part to protect the ball.

10. So, are we back to directional kickoffs? Auburn’s Jeremiah Cobb returned 5 kicks on the day, with a long of 29 yards. Coverage, outside of the aforementioned, was generally solid. Maybe it’s just me having flashbacks from the Richt era when we’d give momentum right back to the other guys on kickoffs, but I’d rather see us boom it through the back of the endzone.

11. Nice punt block, Dan Jackson! Denying Auburn points just before the half is always a good thing.

12. Kirby had an issue with the crowd after the game. It seemed a bit flat on TV as well. Perhaps we had a bit of a hangover from last week’s deflating loss. Maybe the weight of expectations on every team that Kirby trots out there is unreasonable. Perhaps some people from south Georgia who made the drive up are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Not every game is going to be like Arkansas, 2021 or Tennessee 2022. Is Smart’s criticism fair?

13. I hope Mykel Williams doesn’t play a single snap next week against Mississippi State. I’m unsure of how many snaps he got against Auburn, but he gave it a go early but disappeared for most of the game. We need him to heal up. We need him for Texas.

14. The slant from Beck to Dillon Bell was probably my favorite play of the game and the score that put ‘em away. Bell needs more touches. It was really good to see London Humphreys back and he made a couple of nice grabs. We’ll need him. Overall, the receivers played well.

15. We’ve got 1-4 Mississippi State coming into town off a bye week at 4:15 on the SEC Network. I wonder if Kirby’s appeal for more crowd noise will have any effect? This game isn’t exactly, at least on paper, very sexy.

The tone of these thoughts were probably a bit too negative. I guess I’m spoiled in Kirby’s 9th season in Athens. You are, too. I think our best football is still ahead and beating an arch rival by 18 is still a beautiful thing even if the result wasn’t exactly a Glamour Shot.

BONUS THOUGHTS

• If Vanderbilt and Alabama play 9 more times, does Vandy win one more? Who cares. That was an incredible upset and the ‘Dores simply outplayed the Tide, who has some real issues on defense. Vandy possessed the rock 42:08 to Alabama’s 17:52. What a great game called by Clark Lea & Co.

• Thank you, Arkansas. I had a feeling that they’d keep this game close. Beating the Vols was just the nightcap we needed. Good for Sam Pittman.

Oh, and the burn! ↓

• Miami’s incredible comeback against Cal last night was aided, for the 2nd week in a row, by some really poor officiating.
• USC lost to Minnesota. Yes, Statesboro is a lovely town when a hurricane isn’t roaring through it.

• On another thought, folks continue to pray for the victims of Hurricane Helene. As if this weren’t bad enough, the potential for another catastrophe on Florida’s west coast is becoming clearer as soon-to-be Hurricane Milton is headed for a mid-week landfall. The Tampa area is still recovering and this has the potential to be much, much worse. If the track forecast verifies, this storm will hit that part of Florida at a near perpendicular angle and storm surge will be devastating.

That’s all I’ve got.

As Always, GO DAWGS!