Mike Bobo’s playcalling didn’t do his young QB any favors
Aaron Murray did get to use his running ability a bit more Saturday. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
We talked here earlier this week about Georgia’s game against Arkansas as something of a test for Dogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.
Well, it was.
And he failed.
Yes, there were defensive lapses Saturday that the Razorbacks capitalized on, including biting on that play fake on Arkansas’ first score, but thanks to too many three-and-outs again this week the Georgia D was on the field entirely too long to try and keep a high-powered offense led by a talented QB like Ryan Mallett in check.
And showing a lot of grit the Dogs did battle back from a 24-10 deficit to tie it up 24-24 with 3:55 left in the game.
But after a fine defensive series got the ball back for Georgia and the Dogs had moved to midfield thanks to runs by Washaun Ealey and Carlton Thomas, the bizarre playcalling by Bobo that had plagued them all day reared its ugly head again.
Third and 4 and rather than a quick slant pass across the middle, or sending Ealey or Thomas wide, or rolling Aaron Murray out with the option to pass or run, instead Bobo sends all the receivers at least 20 yards downfield and has his QB standing back there way too long. The result is a sack that took Murray’s helmet (and nearly his head) off and the Dogs let a chance to win the game get away from them.
I’ll grant Bobo that Murray has a tendency to hold on to the ball too long in some situations. As Bobo said after the game, “We need to work on getting rid of the ball a little bit quicker.” But that’s to be expected of a redshirt freshman and Bobo knows that. So why put Murray into those situations?
And the play of Georgia’s offensive line continued to fall short, with run blocking up the middle virtually nonexistent and Murray’s protection falling apart too often.
But time and time again Saturday, Bobo showed a lack of a short-yardage game outside the red zone. On an earlier third and 1, Murray was sacked waiting on receivers to get open on long routes. All they needed was 1 yard and he’s looking to throw long??!!
This wasn’t a great defense the Dogs were facing in Arkansas, but at times Georgia made them look that way.
Yes, the Dogs missed suspended ace receiver A.J. Green on some plays, but especially in the second half Dogs receivers, including Kris Durham, Tavares King and the little-used Israel Troupe, came up with clutch receptions.
And because of the poor line play, the running game was inconsistent, though it occasionally showed flashes of what we had expected.
I’ll also give Bobo credit for at least loosening the reins on Murray and allowing him to take off with the ball, which resulted in Georgia’s first touchdown. But where were the tight ends for most of the day? Why didn’t Georgia make more use of the screen and quick hits over the middle?
And there was the predictability factor again in Bobo’s playcalling. When fans in the stands are consistently calling out what the Georgia play is going to be before the snap, you know your offense has a problem.
And I hate to say it, but I think that problem is Mike Bobo. Absent the superior talent of playmakers like D.J. Shockley, Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, who made Bobo look good in the past, he is revealed as a rather pedestrian offensive mind.
I’ll have more on Sunday, but for now, have at it. …
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612 comments Add your comment
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
9:46 pm
Sir Cameron Newton strikes again for 78 yards.
Bremen Dawg
September 18th, 2010
9:47 pm
Most of Richts success came with Donnan recruits. Maybe we need to hire him to recruit.
TazzDawg
September 18th, 2010
9:48 pm
MR is a pedestrian OC at best. HC, no way!
edumacated
September 18th, 2010
9:49 pm
dbc said it best!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 18th, 2010
9:49 pm
Sit the entire offensive line down and put in their replacements
The season is over start giving the returners some playing time now
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 18th, 2010
9:50 pm
Up the middle again for no gain please
T-Rex (GORT)
September 18th, 2010
9:50 pm
Never Mind!!!! The team tried hard somewhat but I do not think that the current coaches train these guys right—I mean how do you get a team like Alabama–and then a team like Georgia. I dont get it——————-What in h—ll are the coaches in Athens doing with these guys at practice===how about some simple plays that gain yards and running backs that run over people please!!!!! Georgia just does not hit hard and get after it —they should have sacked that guy at least 6 times today—never mind. Somebody please help us—-we need help.
dawgs01
September 18th, 2010
9:51 pm
I know players on Bama and AU and they both said that UGA is the weakest and softest team they played out of the SEC powers both of them said that without thinking. One is a starter for bama and the other gets about 15-20 mns a game at AU. I have been saying our strength coach was problem for yrs with all the injuries we were getting every team gets the injury bug every now and then but for like 6 yrs in a row we have had a ton of ACL and Shoulder problems. I am a strength coach and weak hamstrings and unbalanced muscles can cause those injuries. Hamstring pulls come from muscles not being balanced like being quad dominant which can cause hamstring pulls and ACL tears. Plus we are small and slow it is fine to be small but then we need to be fast our LB and safeties are not explosive when they tackle we look scared sometimes
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 18th, 2010
9:52 pm
Furman has scored 19 points on South Carolina
CHDawg
September 18th, 2010
9:52 pm
Guys, let’s not forget we did have a lot of success going up the field today. That isn’t the problem. We need more short checkoff options, and we need to mix in some of the short stuff. The one big mistake I did see Murray making was severe and prolonged telegraphing. He needs practice looking around and not staring at where he throws it. He made a lot of nice throws, though, especially considering his experience level.
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
9:53 pm
Didn’t anybody here see the 4th quarter of the Florida-Tennessee game? Derek Dooley was walking down the sideline repeatedly yelling to his players, “Keep fighting!”
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 18th, 2010
9:55 pm
Furman has scored 19 fans
Boo Boo's boo's from Sanford Stadium.
September 18th, 2010
9:55 pm
Furman Wow 19 points……..
Cross Eyed Dawg
September 18th, 2010
9:55 pm
It’s third and four everybody go long! Heck, even I can see that ain’t gonna work.
rincon dawg
September 18th, 2010
9:56 pm
I dont know if anyone else sees what could be happening. Miss. St, Tenn, Kentucky (no slouch) Vandy, Florida, Auburn. We could lose a lot of games. There are no guarnteed wins this year. Poor murray was sacked 6 times, twice because ealey missed a block and then just layed down on the last try which took murray helmet off. Play calling was better but still not what we expect with all the money in this coaching staff. If CMR loses alot of the games above with no bowl, change will happen.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 18th, 2010
9:56 pm
Hold it
Hold it
Run straight up the middle Ealey, stuffed, darn,
Do it again until we get it right Ealey
dawgs01
September 18th, 2010
9:56 pm
Since we beat Hawaii we have progressively gotten worse. Stafford and moreno should have won at least one SEC title but bad defensive coaching and bad play calling by bobo cost us that. with stafford at QB our defense gave up 35 points or more nine times that did not happen once for Green and DJ. We need some top LB recruits we have not had a great college LB since WILL W. and BOSS B. Curran was good but not like them Curran was good at running down sweeps but you could run it right at him with ease. TN will beat us bc they are going to try to run it all day and i dont think we can stop it.
TheTaxJacket
September 18th, 2010
9:56 pm
*** Nesbitt for Heismen ***
3-4, 76 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT
24 rushes, 104 yds
(((( 45 – 42 ))))
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
9:57 pm
Michigan held on to beat UMass 42-37.
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
9:58 pm
Rich Rod *may* be available after this year.
JD
September 18th, 2010
10:00 pm
CMR is up to both ears in it. On the one hand, he’s got a useless OC and on the other, a brand new DC whose players can’t seem to cover passes.
It’s the 3rd game into the season and the wheels are off buddy. Whatcha gonna do??
dog daze
September 18th, 2010
10:00 pm
It seems evident that if chickins and hogs can figure out the dog offence, something has to change. Otherwise all the animals will beat you guys.
George
September 18th, 2010
10:00 pm
Bobo said after the game, “We need to work on getting rid of the ball a little bit quicker.”
Let’s work on getting rid of Bobo’s balls.
dawgs01
September 18th, 2010
10:01 pm
Luckily we have better athletes than MS state bc they definitely have the coaching edge on us. Mullen is a great coach and we are about to face the best defensive line we have seen. Our o line is below average and our RB’s are not SEC caliber backs they do not make plays Ealey got tackle so many time by the first person and there were so many times that he could have bounced it outside but chose to try to run over someone which he cant do and what p1ssed me off is when after he scored to tie it up he just had to run his mouth like he had been playing great then on our next drive we do a great playaction but he whiffs on the LB who ends up sacking Murray. Ealey should have hit him in the mouth but instead the guy who was just running his mouth chose to dive at his feet like a man meet his a66 in the hole and drive him back
Boo Boo's boo's from Sanford Stadium.
September 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
Wow Clemons has tied Awburn 24-24
SoCal Dawg
September 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
Bobo said Murray was to blame for the final sack, an 8-yard loss on third-and-four that forced the Bulldogs to punt with 54 seconds left in the game. Arkansas scored the game-winning touchdown three plays later.
“On the last one, he’s got to get the ball out,” Bobo said.
WAY TO MAN UP BOBO! THROW THE KID UNDER THE BUS!
ryan
September 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
Under Jim Donnan we had pro Bowler and Super Bowl champions guys like Hines Ward and Richard Seamore plus John Stinchcomb CMR has had no one close to that .
01HAWK
September 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
Fire CMR and you also get rid of BOBO at the same time. All of the so called good recruiting classes UGA claims is not good enough.
BAMA just re-loads. BAMA is playing alot of freshmen because they have to and they are performing well on defense.
That weak ACC member called DUKE was taken to the wood shed to the sum of 62-13 and SABAN was not even trying to run up the score. DUKE looked like a high school team. They were pathetic looking………….short, undersized and slow. PATHETIC ACC.
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
10:04 pm
Miss. State’s D played very physical against Auburn. Will Caleb King be back?
TrueDawg
September 18th, 2010
10:04 pm
Chris Petersen for HC in 2011.
Donna Hayes
September 18th, 2010
10:05 pm
Okay, the good, the bad, and the ugly all the way from CA….logics first: Aaron Murray: he is good but just immature, can not do any thing about that, he is good and will grow up: Mike Bobo: why? Really why? Is it sentiment? Can’t figure this out and it offends all of us who try to think things through. Reminds me of the whole Willie Martinez thing last season, in fact, that will probably happen this year. Anyway, moving on, Mark Richt. I think it would be best if he would best be a Christian somewhere else other than here. He could take his family to a mission somewhere else where he really wants to be and that is great. We all have our passion but his arrogance and a word a can’t even spell with spellcheck, well, maybe it would be best if he took it to somewhere else, as I said before. Why are the plays so long to progess? Aaron would be best served if someone would take a stopwatch and time him for 3 seconds to get rid of the ball. Thats it. Teach him that. Why does the most experienced offensive line in college football currently, have such a hard time opening holes for the running back AND protecting the quarterback? Be careful UGA: make all the excuses you want, just look at your record so far. Some lame excuses will come out from the team, “We need to score.”, blah blah blah. Take a look at what is really is happening. I love UGA and will be moving back to Athens this week. So much for logic. Passion triumphs and we don’t have it, we put it in the hands of someone who doesn’t really get it. Guess who?
dawgs01
September 18th, 2010
10:06 pm
Murray looked great except for holding on to the ball to long a couple of times to long but he is a freshman our receivers looked good to. I am tired of UGA fans making excuses saying we are to young or to many injuries guess what this is college football every 3-4 yrs the players leave and every team deals with injuries. Bama, Fl and TN are young playing over 10 freshman a piece we are playing 2 on special teams. We are not a young team. We are just an average team and it sucks but some UGA fans wont except that they say we are playing great teams and this and that AR has no defense or running game BAMA will crush them and SC will end losing at least 3 or 4 games to somebody. If we had Mullen, Saban, Meyer, Chizick, Stong coaching us we are 3-0 right now
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
10:06 pm
I don’t think recruiting pro bowlers is the answer.
BeerDawg
September 18th, 2010
10:07 pm
OK, now that we all agree CMR has to go, who do we want? We all agree we need the next Saban, someone who’ll bring toughness, discipline, and smash mouth football mentality.
So let’s dream about it. Smart? Muschamp? Petersen? Turner Gill? Harbaugh?
Ray Goff's Top Ten
September 18th, 2010
10:08 pm
1)Secondary blew too many coverages today.
2)Ealey can’t pick up a blitz.
3)The O-line can’t pick up a blitz.
4)Bobo is too dumb to throw underneath to TEs.
5)Bobo is too dumb to have a screen audible on an obvious blitz.
6)Bobo doesn’t have plays for third and short.
7)Bobo is an idiot.
8)Richt is an idiot for letting Bobo the idiot call plays.
9)Defense still has tackling issues.
10)Did Jakar Hamilton have two facemask penalties??
Bonus:
11)Did I mention that Bobo is an idiot?
Boo Boo's boo's from Sanford Stadium.
September 18th, 2010
10:09 pm
I hear CMR is taking the team out for cosmic bowling tonight……
T Grantham
September 18th, 2010
10:09 pm
Coach Bobo is right….the players on my defense are god-awful, and over-rated. It’s their fault.
Ray Goff
September 18th, 2010
10:10 pm
Ryan, Don’t forget that I had Terrel Davis (Super Bowl MVP for Broncos) and I kept him on the bench. That’s why I host a radio show in Atlanta now.
CHDawg
September 18th, 2010
10:11 pm
Murray could have been holding the ball too long because he wasn’t seeing his checkoffs, or because they weren’t there, or were poorly designed. The announcers pointed out one time when he missed seeing Ealey all alone in the flats.
dawgs01
September 18th, 2010
10:11 pm
We only threw one pass all day to Charles who is one of the best tight ends is college football. One pass to him no LB on AR can cover him i just dont know what our game plan was going into the game and honestly it did not look like we had a game plan they saw tendencies on our defense and took advantage of them we did not utilize our weapons no bootlegs with murray who is a lot faster than i thought.
Boo Boo's boo's from Sanford Stadium.
September 18th, 2010
10:11 pm
Hire DABO clemson has tied Awburn. Kyle Parker is a stud playing hurt.
Delbert D.
September 18th, 2010
10:12 pm
The Auburn-Clemson game is becoming a war of attrition. A.J. Greene just went down, and it looks very bad. Parker for Clemson may be playing with a broken rib in the back.
ryan
September 18th, 2010
10:13 pm
I for got to mention Ben Watson to .
dawg2
September 18th, 2010
10:13 pm
Does anybody think Murray has a weak arm? Seems to underthrow a lot of balls.
CHDawg
September 18th, 2010
10:14 pm
He threw it right at 70 yards on that last throw…
dawg2
September 18th, 2010
10:15 pm
You have to wonder what difference A. J. Green could have made in the last two games. That was a costly decision he made by selling that jersey.
dawg2
September 18th, 2010
10:17 pm
CHDawg, that was a hail mary and unfortunately nobody caught it. Did you notice the underthrown balls earlier in the game?
CHDawg
September 18th, 2010
10:17 pm
Agreed! I think AJ should come back for another year to make up for it.
ryan
September 18th, 2010
10:17 pm
Here is my wish list Chris Peterson , Kirby Smart, John Gruden , Will Muschamp i don’t know about Rich Rod he has to much baggage .
bh
September 18th, 2010
10:18 pm
It took Richt 3 years too many to finally let Marinez go; how long will it take for Bobo