15 Thoughts is a Little Bit Broken Today

How do we respond going forward? Everything is still on the table.

Well, that was some 2nd half ballgame. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?

1. I did not think it was possible for a Kirby Smart team to come out of the gate so completely unprepared for the task at hand. For an entire half, it was the Kentucky game on steroids, a gallon of Red Bull, 13 toddlers eating 2-lbs. of confectioners sugar and every one of them has a dirty diaper against a colossally better team.

By the end of the first half (or even the first quarter), I was just hoping this wouldn’t be such a horrible margin of defeat to scar future generations of players and fans alike. That’s hyperbole. I think.

2. Make no mistake about this game: We deserved to get exactly what we got. No amount of adjustments at the half could possibly remedy this, right? I mean, I literally told Mrs. DtD I’m turning off the TV and coming to bed at 30-7. But like an impending train wreck, or a Live-TV police chase from some affiliate in Los Angeles, I could not look away. Some sick sense of hope kept me from retiring for the evening. But I’m the eternal optimist and I stuck around. Ah, yes. Hope.

She’s baaaaaaaaaaaack…

3. Spotting Alabama 28 points in their house, turning the ball over 4 times, not playing defense for an entire half (and 1 stunning play with under 3 minutes to play) is no way to go through life. There are no moral victories in college football. We lost to a damn good team that didn’t need any help and we provided them with bucket loads.

4. Kirby and his staff must find a game-changing receiver going forward. We are constantly losing recruiting battles to Alabama (and others) for elite talent at that position. Ryan Williams’ type players are rare, but they’re out there. Somehow, we can’t keep losing out on kids that end up in T-Town, or Columbus, Ohio (see Jeremiah Smith’s highlights). On Bama’s game winning score, Julian Humphrey simply lost the location of the ball which was not a perfect pass. The play was made after the catch by incredible individual effort by #2 in crimson, but a defensive play could’ve been made and wasn’t prior to the completion. It happens. I realize these guys don’t grow on trees, but we are this close on so many recrootin’ battles only to lose out in the end.

5. Having said that, we do have playmakers and an emerging star in Anthony Evans who will get more reps going forward. Dillon Bell has largely been absent until last night. Why? The kid is awesome. He’s physical. Arian Smith’s “atonement” in the 2nd half cannot make up for his gaffes early in the game, but we’ve got to get him involved as well. Colbie Young is obviously a red-zone threat.

6. There’s simply no excuse to start as slow as we have on offense and that must change now. The talent is there. The urgency, focus and execution is absent. I think a good time to fix this is on Saturday. As far as 2nd half adjustments? That’s a different story. I can’t believe I’m typing this – Georgia outplayed Bama in the 2nd half. They did. Imagine the possibilities if we play with that vigor for an entire game? We could be a pretty scary team if we get this figured out.

7. Dan Jackson is the Stetson Bennett of our defense. A walk-on who has simply contributed since day-1 and who gives his all on every single snap. The kid is incredibly aware, physical and really is a good athlete. At times, he seemed to be the only guy in the secondary doing anything. He was the only one setting the edge consistently. Dan, you’re officially the defensive captain in my estimation. Take it on.

8. Jalen Milroe beat us on the same play that got us burned in last year’s SECCG. How does this happen? Similarly, our linebackers got scorched on a wheel route – just like last December.

8A. Screw it. Here’s some good news:

9. Despite our defensive play in the first half, this game – as all games do – comes down to a few plays and execution. It was absolutely surreal when we took the lead late in the game. With the chance to tie (or win) with under a minute in the red zone, 2 timeouts in our bandolier we simply failed when we were poised to cause the Bryant-Denny faithful to lose their collective minds* for a 2nd time in 3 minutes. I wish we had that final Beck interception back. The matchup was there. Poor throw. Ballgame.

*Those 13 seconds when we had the lead were glorious, weren’t’ they? The crowd reaction was worth staying up despite the result.

10. I do not understand the analytics of going for 2 point conversions like we did. Imagine if we tie the game at 41 with the extra point deciding the outcome? Someone explain that to me.

11. I thought the safety was another bogus call. Our receiver was blocked well beyond 5-yards downfield like a gunner on a punt, but no flag! The ball was in the vicinity. Two huge points right there.

12. Here’s another non-call in a game where we got dinged for 3 offensive pass interferences. One constant in an ever-changing universe is craptacular officiating in the Southeastern Conference.

13. Alabama is currently our kryptonite. Just like Florida was in the ‘90’s and 2000’s. At some point, that worm has to turn.

Yeah, it was a pretty good game. Personally, I can think of about 100 better ones.

14. When Georgia took the late lead on the Beck-to-Bell bomb and Bama struck back so quickly we had ample time on the clock to do it again. Just typing this after the first-half fiasco is really incredible if I allow myself to think about it.

15. Georgia isn’t going to fall far in the polls, for what it’s worth. None of that matters right now. We’ve got a reeling Auburn team coming to town next week and we either play an uninspired game that could go either way, or we come out of the gate with really bad intentions and make Hugh Freeze wish he would’ve stayed at Liberty. I cannot gauge our team right now. Fifty-one percent of me feels like last night will be a spring board to a great finish; 49% feels like the problems we have are not un-fixable but for whatever reason we have a mysterious inability to live up to our talent and potential.

What I do know is this: At halftime I’m thinking we might be an 8-4 team. Afterwards, I can see a path to the playoffs and perhaps another shot at a title. To get up off the mat like those kids did in that environment was actually magnificent. They have it in ‘em. Can they tap it again when adversity strikes again because you know it’s coming?

We’ll see next Saturday what we’ve become. There’s still everything to play for and I hope we get another crack at Alabama.

BONUS THOUGHTS:

I watched only 2 other games yesterday. They were pretty wild, too:

• Auburn is in a bad place right now. I hope we send ‘em down a rabbit hole from which they never recover.
• Ole Miss has loaded up on 4 cupcakes to start the season. They finally played a team with a pulse and failed miserably at home. Kentucky hung around and made plays when they had to. Great win for Mark Stoops.

That’s all I’ve got.

As Always, GO DAWGS!