15 Thoughts Almost Got in the Game, Too

Dawgs take care of business, but there’s room for improvement.

Georgia dispatched Tennessee Tech in a relatively efficient manner on Saturday afternoon. The road ahead will get tougher.

1. Writing “15 Thoughts” after what was essentially a glorified scrimmage can be a challenge. A ton of guys on both sides of the ball got valuable playing time, so keeping up with who’s who actually had me looking down at my roster sheet more than actually watching the game, or so it would seem – not that I’m complaining. In a season that could potentially be 16 games long, you’d better have depth. Plus, it’s always good to know what you have in case you need someone who might not be quite ready, but who can get ready.

2. Georgia needs to address some of the penalties. I realize a large portion of these occurred when the “twos and threes” were in the game, but on the day 9 flags for 85 yards is a bit too much. Against Clemson, we were flagged 7 times for 70 yards. I’m sure this will be a point of emphasis during practice as we head towards Conference play.

3. Playing cupcake FBS opponents like this one is a bit like eating an egg white omelette. It’s what’s on the menu, does the job but is rarely satisfying, despite margin of victory or individual stats. Don’t get me wrong. I always celebrate a Georgia victory no matter the opponent. I guess I’m becoming a bit of a curmudgeon in my old advancing age. ESPN+ had issues with going “black” several times throughout the game, which was annoying. My next door neighbor decided that 2:30 on a football Saturday is the best time of the week to hire out a stump grinder crew. My backyard smells of sawdust.

4. Emerging from a game like yesterday without injury is always the hope, but we got some guys a bit dinged up. Oscar Delp went down with a sprained ankle that looked serious at the time and could’ve played more according to Kirby but was held out, except for extra points. Nate Frazier looked to have some sort of shoulder injury after a hard tackle and wasn’t allowed to return. There has been nothing new to report as of this writing, but I suspect “day-to-day” is what we’ll hear all week. Hopefully they’ll both be fine for Kentucky.

5. Carson Beck started the day on-fire, but grew a bit inconsistent as the day went on. His deep ball to Arian Smith, who led all receivers with 4 catches for 73 yards, was slightly underthrown and Smith made a nice adjustment to the ball on the score.

Beck to Bell

6. Trevor Etienne got the start and did well, showing his elusiveness and burst, particularly on his 45 yard run. As he settles into the offense he’s going to be a problem. Branson Robinson probably had the most impressive run of the day on his 13-yard score in the 3rd quarter, shunning would-be tacklers and very reminiscent of what he did against TCU in the 2022 Natty. He’s getting his groove back and that’s great to see. The more he trusts his knee, that better he’ll be.

Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson.

7. Fifteen different players caught a pass in the game. Conspicuously absent from this list was London Humphreys. I’m not sure if that was by design, although I did see him in the game. Lawson Luckie got the lion’s share of reps at tight end after Delp went down and looks to be rounding into a real weapon as he gains confidence. He had 2 explosive catches, including a nifty 37-yard score.

8. Gunner Stockton played virtually the entire 2nd half, but his day was marred by penalties and he was never really in a groove. Of course, X (formerly Twitter) overreacted by calling for his benching in lieu of the 2nd most popular guy on offense: The 3rd string QB.

9. Georgia’ defense smothered Tennessee Tech for much of the day, especially early on when the starters (sans Mykel Williams and Warren Brinson) were doing their thing. The Eagles abandoned the passing game, going 5 of 8 for 18 yards, and this was probably by design as their starting QB was hurt last week. They rushed for 116 total yards. Georgia got caught a few times over pursuing and there were a few missed tackles as the game wore on. I’ve yet to see the replay, but some young guys made some plays. Twenty five ‘Dawgs made a tackle in the game. We had all kinds of Dawgs out there.

10. We’ve got a dude in Anthony Evans III, particularly in the punt return game. He broke loose for a 46-yard return – his longest to date – in the first quarter, setting up Georgia’s first score. I’d like to see him get involved more in the passing game and I’m sure some packages designed to get him and Arian Smith on the field together are in the plans down the road.

He’s gonna break one soon.

11. Special teams were solid. Brett Thorson had a single punt for 55 yards, Peyton Woodring hit on the only field goal attempt of the day. It appeared we were experimenting a bit with shorter kickoffs, perhaps working on something for later?

12. Did anyone, especially the freshman, stand out to you? I was impressed by Jordan Thomas. One sack, and a tackle for loss on the day in limited playing time. He’s a big boy who can move and might have earned more playing time.

13. Both Kirby Smart and Tennessee Tech coach Bobby Wilder agreed to shorten the game to 10:00 in the 4th quarter. In the post-game presser, Tennessee Tech’s coach Bobby Wilder cited the health concerns for both sides, and seems like a classy guy.

Should games be shortened if a blow-out against a Division 1 opponent is in-progress, Like the Orange Bowl against FSU? There are some pros and cons to this, but if we have a chance to whip Florida by 80, I say no (same goes for Auburn, Tech, Bama, Tennessee…).

14. It’s onto Kentucky. Oh, Kentucky. Oooof. I watched this game in drips ‘n drabs and I’ve got to tell you that was about the worst Mark Stoops coached performance I think I’ve ever seen, which means he’ll have his guys playing much better next Saturday night when we come calling. UK only mustered 183 yards of total offense and former Georgia QB Brock Vandagriff had a nightmarish outing and was eventually benched, which I hated to see.

15. I’m all out of thoughts, except this one: Except for the 2nd half of Clemson where we opened things up just a little bit, the offensive playbook is still very much under wraps. The true potential will manifest itself soon enough, but for now we are just seeing fairly basic sets. Do we show more stuff this coming Saturday night, or do we begin to dial it up against Alabama in 3 weeks?

BONUS THOUGHTS:

• Speaking of Alabama, they really struggled last night until their depth (and some questionable late coaching by South Florida) overwhelmed the Bulls from Tampa. Bama’s offensive line got whipped most of the night. Let’s see if this is a trend or not.
• Oh, and Clemson certainly flexed last night, whipping Appalachian State 66-20 and amassing 712 total yards of offense. Is Clemson a good team? If so, how great is our defense?
• I thoroughly enjoyed Auburn’s loss to California. In fact, I think I enjoyed their losing more than us winning. Auburn blew out their opening game cupcake and it didn’t shed one ounce of light on their team. You hate to see it.

• Notre Dame, ladies and gentlemen. Look at the schadenfreude fall out of the sky! Look at the schadenfreude fall out of the sky! The refs absolutely tried to screw Northern Illinois on the play that was clearly a first down but marked well short – even after review – just before their game-winning field goal. Justice prevailed.

• When will Aflac pull their commercials with Deion Sanders? On another note, that Raiola kids for Nebraska looks pretty legit.
• Is Tennessee that good, or is N.C. State that bad? Probably somewhere in the middle.
• Same thing with Texas. Michigan looked like ass.
• When Vandy trolls you, America suddenly becomes a better country.

That’s all I’ve got. See you next week.

As Always, GO DAWGS!