Normally I would be here lamenting, nay Munsoning, over the upcoming weekend’s opponent. Now that Georgia has the bye off week, the only thing I can focus on was the less than desirable brand of football the Bulldogs displayed Saturday night in Lexington. So instead of worrying about the University Who Shall Not Be Named, I’m just worried about us*.
So what worries you about this current iteration of Georgia Bulldog football? Is it Mike Bobo? I know a lot of you think it’s Mike Bobo. Is it the inability to play well in a conference game on the road at night? Is it the injury bug which seems to have infested our defensive line? There are no wrong answers, and here are the thing that seem to have wormed into my wee little brain.
1. Carson Beck still can’t connect on the deep pass. And I don’t mean deep crosses, but go routes. Vertical routes. Bombs.
Early in the Tennessee Tech game, the Golden Eagles jumped offsides and it was an obvious free play (good on Beck with his hard count). Split wide, Dillon Bell saw the jump and knew to just run. But even with a free play, Beck threw Bell completely out of bounds, 5 yards from being a legitimate attempt. There was another soon after, down the left seam, and Beck simply overthrew the receiver. Even the successful pump-and-go to Arian Smith that resulted in a touchdown was significantly underthrown. The ball simply had too much air under it for a wide open receiver.
With so little success 35-40 yards down the field, I wonder if that has worked into the Jacksonville native’s psyche. Is it that he isn’t looking at those vertical routes in his progression, or progressing past them? If it’s man coverage, I’d like to see some attempts, even at 50/50 balls. Let’s see if Humphreys or Bell or Young can make something special happen – other teams seem to be doing it. 5 things can happen on a single coverage deep pass, only 2 of them are negative and only 1 is really bad. And I don’t remember seeing any deep throws against Kentucky. If we don’t show this as a threat, defenses will play 2 high safeties and really focus on the underneath stuff – which won’t end well.
2. Where are the tight ends? Delp had a mere 2 catches last week, none for Lawson Luckie or Ben Yurosek. Not having looked at the tape, the reasonable explanation is that they were kept in for extra blocking. Because that was another problem. Probably even more so once Tate Ratledge left before the half.
But Mike Bobo’s offense needs those tight ends. We need those chip and release routes, the quick tight-end screens, that crucial squat on a 3rd and 7 to move the chains. So I don’t know if the question is where are the tight ends or why can’t we run block consistently?
3. Sloppy. Georgia is one of 5 teams without a turnover this season. But that isn’t for lack of trying. 3 fumbles in Lexington, none of which were lost thankfully. And Carson Beck has thrown some fortunate passes, which easily could have turned into interceptions. With bodies moving quickly and an oblong-shaped ball, you are at some point subject to chance and those dice can turn on you quick.
Then there’s the penalties. We’re currently 112th in penalties and 120th in penalty yardage per game (of 133 teams). We’re giving up over 80 yards per game for free. There’s a difference between good penalties and bad penalties. And we’ve had a few bad ones – extending opponents drives, improving their field position, or totally disrupting any offensive rhythm that Mike Bobo has actually conjured up.
Let us not forget the tackling. Because most of the Bulldogs forgot how last weekend, at least when they were in the backfield with a chance to stop a play for a loss. I couldn’t count the number of times we had a player make contact at or behind the line of scrimmage, only to see arms flailing and a blue on grey jersey scoot for 5 positive yards. Sometimes running backs made good plays and shed tackles. And a lot of times that is because of poor form from the defense.
Don’t worry, we have plenty of time to discuss that school over west next week. Maybe y’all can make me feel better about our ability to execute and play championship-caliber football once again. Even if you don’t, sound off in the comments. And as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!
* Yes, “us”. “We” is also acceptable. I know I’m not on the team, and never was. But Larry Munson said it was okay and I’ll do what Larry tells me to.