Upcoming schedule both helps and hinders Atlanta-bound Georgia defense
There are two ways you can look at the scheduling quirk that has Mark Richt’s Bulldogs facing the triple-option offense on consecutive Saturdays to wind up the regular season before heading to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta.
On the one hand, playing FCS power Georgia Southern this week will give Todd Grantham’s defense an edge in preparing for in-state rival Georgia Tech since both of those schools use a run-heavy triple option. The Eagles might be from the lower level of Division 1 but they managed to run for 302 yards and score 21 points in a losing effort against Alabama last season and they’ll give the Dogs a much better look at that rarely seen offense than Georgia’s scout team could hope to replicate in practice.
Of course, UGA sees Tech’s triple-option running attack every year and did a pretty good job containing it last year. But the extra experience against that scheme is bound to help.
As Richt noted Sunday, “We’re going to play defense so completely different than how we’ve been playing all year long” against Georgia Southern. “Everything changes. The alignments change, the assignments change, the type of block you’re dealing with changes, and it’s very, very difficult to simulate in practice. You just can’t do it. You just have to be disciplined in what your assignments are. This offense tends to have a lot of fumbles. A lot of balls get on the ground when you run that type of system. Sometimes the only way you can stop one of their possessions is with a turnover.”
So you can credit having Southern and Tech back-to-back as smart scheduling.
But looking ahead to the big game at the Georgia Dome, the downside to the schedule is this: Two weeks of concentration on the triple option will take the Georgia defense out of its usual rhythm, and they’ll then have just a week to reboot before taking on the SEC West opponent, most likely Alabama, which runs a pro-style offense more like Georgia’s.
In the meantime, the Crimson Tide has games against lowly Western Carolina and a free-falling Auburn, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Nick Saban had his team spending a bit of time over the next two weeks getting ready for Georgia.
The Dogs, unfortunately, won’t have that luxury.
Now, a few more thoughts and observations from the win over Auburn …
Tavarres King and the other Georgia receivers stepped up big against Auburn. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
The ESPN crew covering the game indicated Tavarres King’s ballet-like move keeping a toe in-bounds on that 17-yard second-quarter touchdown strike from Aaron Murray was likely to show up on “SportsCenter,” and that was indeed the case Saturday night. It was a tremendous effort on TK’s part.
But what was especially encouraging was that it was the kind of play that is par for the course this season for Georgia’s athletic receiving corps. Even with Michael Bennett and Marlon Brown out, the Dogs’ passing attack didn’t appear to miss a beat, with Murray throwing TD passes to three different receivers — Chris Conley and Malcolm Mitchell in addition to King. Special kudos are due to Conley, who was making his first career start against the Tigers. …
Murray continued to spread the ball around, completing passes to six different players, with tight ends Artie Lynch and Jay Rome getting much more attention as receivers. For the most part, they did well, with Lynch catching three balls and Rome making two receptions.
But while it was good to see the tight ends becoming a bigger part of the passing attack, there’s room for improvement: Lynch did have a conspicuous drop on what would have been a first-down pass late in the first half, and Murray had to do some sideline tutoring with Rome after the redshirt freshman muffed a route in the end zone in the third quarter. …
A couple more notes on Murray, who got more than his share of bashing earlier in the season: A week after executing the Rooskie play flawlessly against Ole Miss, he had another really nice play-action fake on the touchdown pass to Mitchell. And after getting the wind knocked out of him on one of the many hits he took from Auburn defenders Saturday night, the tough quarterback came back in to make that perfectly thrown scoring pass to King. …
The Georgia defense gave up some yards in the short-passing game early on (mainly to Emory Blake), but overall played a superb game. And when Auburn was threatening to score in the second half, Shawn Williams helped maintain the shutout by stripping the ball away from Blake in a fumble that Georgia recovered. …
Christian Robinson gets the big-hit-of-the-game award for the way he ran over an Auburn receiver on a failed third-down conversion attempt. …
One quibble: Mike Bobo pulled his starters in the fourth quarter but Grantham didn’t. I fully understand why the fiery defensive coordinator wanted so badly to keep that goose egg on the scoreboard for the Tigers; it’s a tremendous confidence-builder for a defense that took a while to get back in sync this season.
But keeping the first string in the game in garbage time just to maintain a shutout was a questionable decision, as one of Georgia’s star defenders easily could have gone down with an injury well after the outcome of the game was already decided. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but was maintaining a shutout really worth the risk?
JUNKYARD MAIL CALL
Got something you want to discuss concerning the win over Auburn or the upcoming game against Georgia Southern? Thoughts looking ahead to the SEC Championship game? Or maybe a question you want the Junkyard Blawg to tackle? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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139 comments Add your comment
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
10:36 am
4 words for ALL Georgia football fans….CAPITAL ONE BOWL AGAIN!
vince
November 12th, 2012
10:41 am
Somebody needs to tell Richt that GSU coach Monken called UGA a junior college on his radio show
Flo-Ri-Duh
November 12th, 2012
10:50 am
No need to get another WR injured when the game is done……. good decision to run the ball and the clock. There was some substituting on the “D” but not so much in the secondary. Would be good to bet the backup DBs more playing time.
GeorgiaSouthernFan
November 12th, 2012
10:51 am
Back in 2008, Georgia Southern was not running the triple option, and finished the season 6/11 – a very different team than UGA is facing in 2012. This year, they face a triple option offense that is identical to the one that put 21 points and 302 rushing yards on Alabama in the previous year. As for comparing GSU to GT, yes, they both run the option, but they’re very different. Tech will throw the ball, be it the option pass, or a straight up pass play, 10-15 times a game. GSU will throw the ball 2-5 times a game, and only once you bring the house. Any completion GSU gets will be 40+ yards or a touchdown. Georgia will most definitely win, but I wouldn’t consider this to be a game to skip. If anything, the GSU game will probably be closer than the tech game.
Honey Badger Has the Munchies
November 12th, 2012
10:52 am
Come on BigJim….don’t hate, congratulate. Georgia is built to play a team like Bama and win. Have to play four complete quarters against Bama in order to beat them.
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
10:58 am
Hey Honeybadger….I want Georgia to win! Trust me. I just look at history, that’s all. They win and they’re in a BCS Bowl. But they won’t! They’ll fold, like last year against LSU! And they’ll wind up in the Capital One Bowl, AGAIN! Mark Richt: 3-15 against ranked teams, since 2009! I say…FIRE HIM, and his entire staff!!!!!
Flo-Ri-Duh
November 12th, 2012
11:00 am
Saban has been back in touch with Nkemdiche and Reuben Foster and will likely get an official visit from them. Saban is also keeping a spot open for Kamara in order to lure Nkimdiche and he is considering Denzel transferring to Bummer to get Nkemdiche. Saban doesn’t do package deals but these guys are special and Saban is willing to make an exception. To get Nkemdiche and Foster UGA would have to do the same and UGA has about 6 to 9 openings left. Nkemdiche/Denzel/Kamara, Foster, Tunsil, Adams, Johnson, Rumph, Alvin Kamara….. just maybe!
Lonnie
November 12th, 2012
11:03 am
Jim, patched and 35-7, we won and have won 9 out of 10 games! We are # 5 in the nation and in SEC championship game. Can u possibly blog this comment before your rants!!!!!! “good job dawgs”.
GeorgiaSouthernFan
November 12th, 2012
11:05 am
BigJim, Richt has taken UGA to the SEC championship 5 times in his 12 year tenure at Georgia. The problem with firing Richt, let alone his entire staff, is finding a replacement who will do better. The only person who might deserve to be fired (excluding the fact that he is one of the best recruiters in the nation) is Mike Bobo & his idiotic play calling. i.e. “third and fourteen? I think we’ll run it up the middle.”
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:05 am
Georgia used Carlton Thomas in the second half of the LSU game last year. . LSU weathered the passing attack, adjusted, and Georgia had nothing to counter. Did I mention we ran Carlton Thomas? He was the best best option to run the ball, given Crowell, and Malcome were out. That was the story in it’s entirety.
Does “history” tell you that we will be running Kyle Kerempelis against Alabama in the second half of the SECCG?
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:06 am
Lonnie…facts don’t lie! Mark Richt is 3-15 against ranked teams…since 2009! That, sir, is a FACT!
Honey Badger Has the Munchies
November 12th, 2012
11:06 am
BigJim…as Dawg fans we all feel the frustration, especially against ranked teams, in the past. We just can’t seem to escape our past. I try to stay positive (which can be difficult, because history has taught us that). Just have to get past Ga Southern and GT, which we should. Like I said, Georgia has the talent to beat Bama, just have to play a COMPLETE game.
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:07 am
I agree Honey Badger…I do. We’ll see, at the Georgia Dome.
SSIgator
November 12th, 2012
11:10 am
“Murray, who got more than his share of bashing earlier in the season”
____________
Like when he went 11-31 with 0 TD’s and an interception?
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:12 am
Hey GeorgiaSouthern fan. Mark Richt has won 2 SEC Championships. 2. 2002 and 2005. His last SEC Championship was 2005. It’s now 2012. Since 2009, Mark Richt has gone 3-15 against ranked teams. We have appeared in more Capital One Bowls in the last 15 years than I’d want to in a lifetime. That, sir, is NOT success! I expect more from a coach who finishes in the top 5 recruiting every single year AND who make $3,000,000.00+ per year! If you don’t, I can’t help you!
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:13 am
You could probably count the actual times Coach Bobo has run it up the middle on 3rd and long in the past few years on your toes. take out the instances where they were back up and protecting terrible field position (which is the exact correct call to make there), and I bet you could count it on one foot. Not to say that any number of complaints about of the job he has done is not warranted, but the “3rd and long run” cliche’ is frankly a complete myth.
I agree with the thesis, that “anybody” could do better in the fire/hire discussion. No, very very few coaches in America could do better than Mark Richt has done at Georgia, and there is no guarantees they would fit in as well.
Uncle Kirk
November 12th, 2012
11:16 am
Tire is still flat……maybe the much smarter than you coaches should play for this year now…..and worry about next year when this year is over. Still so bitter. We will continue to help you through your insecurities.
gbal
November 12th, 2012
11:18 am
Play your subs in a slaughter….. The right thing to do… Lets move on.
wr29te
November 12th, 2012
11:24 am
Let coach Spur cry about his next year schedule now At Uga,Vandy,Ky, at Ark, at Tenn, at MO, Miss St. and Fla……… it could be tough
Disco Duck
November 12th, 2012
11:27 am
Did Mark Richt bail his pal Caleb King out of jail when he was arrested last week?
SSIgator
November 12th, 2012
11:29 am
Richt after the game against Alabama on December 1, 2012:
“First of all, the bad news is we took a whipping. The good news is we all took it together. It was a team loss,”
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:30 am
Well he DOESN”T finish in the top 5 recruting every single year (hardly). The few coaches that have have done consistantly better than Richt since 2009 actually HAVE, and make a lot more money.
Not supporting Richt is your choice, thats fine. But if you insist on convincing the vast majority of us that do, otherwise, you might want to list criteria that are actualy factual.
MadDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:32 am
Enter your comments here
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:34 am
So Jim’s take on the 2012 SEC East Champs, 9-1, #5 team, is……..back 3 years ago, we weren’t as good.
MadDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:36 am
Keep the petal down hard and stay sharp these next two weeks. Bama is going to come with it to ATL and UGA best be up if we want to have a chance… A&M stirred the hornets nest!
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:37 am
AltamahaDawg….keep on supporting mediocrity and a LOSING RECORD (3-15) against ranked teams since 2009. You, sir, and happy just beating the Buffalos (barely), Florida Atlantics, Georgia Southerns, and other DIV II opponents…while getting killed against the quality, ranked teams! I, sir, and sick and TIRED of accepting that! We can do better, and we SHOULD! But we will NOT under Mark Richt!! I’m happy for you that you are tickled at beating crappy teams. I think the Georgia Bulldogs should aspire to greatness…not crap!
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:38 am
Mark Richt’s last SEC Championship…..2005!
BigJim
November 12th, 2012
11:39 am
Mark Richt’s record against ranked teams, since 2009: 3-15!!! That is a FACT!
ARdawg
November 12th, 2012
11:40 am
Good luck to Nkemdiche wherever he goes and I hope it’s not UGA
LawDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:42 am
I’ll say this for Murray: He is a tough kid and when he comes out to start a game not looking like he needs to take about 13 valium to get his head in game-mode, he can be a great, great QB. The problem is he usually spots good teams the first quarter.
I will say that Johnny Football is probably going to win a national championship in the next 2-3 years. Texas A&M is a great addition to the SEC. They were good last year and added an absolute stud QB and a great coach right in time for the SEC debut.
Bama/UGA should be a pretty good game. That Bama D is more disciplined than UGA, but less talented. As Pollack said on GameDay, when you watch them it is still a very good D, but not nearly as talented as the last three years (turns out losing 5 top-40 picks makes a difference). UGA has amazing talent, but sometimes loses focus. If Murray plays a solid, nearly mistake-free game and UGA can keep Lacy from gashing it, UGA has a good chance.
I am worried about being in triple-option mode, but maybe it is not a bad thing that we will not have extra time to overthink things.
Don’t sleep on Southern or Tech. We still have two games before Atlanta, and I would hate to see the season come to a shrieking halt with a loss to the bumblebees.
ARdawg
November 12th, 2012
11:44 am
Maddawg
C’mon, Bama hasn’t been the jaggernaut they’ve been given credit for. They were actually exposed in the Ole Miss Game and completely uncovered in the LSU game. McCarron isn’t as good as thought. Anyone can be good behind that line. Great lines on both sides of the ball can mask inefficiencies. Georgia can beat Bama in a good game in ATL. Talk about drinking kool-aid, those Bama fansrunning around with their chest poked out, now thats some serious koolaid drinkers
Desert Fox
November 12th, 2012
11:45 am
By pulling the starters on O so soon left our defense on the field which could have cost the dawgs dearly in injuries. You want to give the starters on O a rest CMB should also allow the replacements a chance to make first downs w/some easy pass plays instead of running the ball all the time and going 3 and out most of the 4th qtr. That might eat the clock but it also puts your D back on the field w/little rest between series. With so much at stake the next 3 weeks coaches need to consider a strategy that both gives backups playing time but not at a wholesale rate especially w/a entire quarter to play. I’d be somewhat upset at CMB if I was CTG. Wonder if this was discussed by both of them along w/CMR before doing it? Dawgs will be a tired team (esp on D) going into the dome if they pull this again in next 2 weeks.
LawDawg
November 12th, 2012
11:45 am
SSIgator (pronounced “sissy gator”): I know your life is so empty, lonely and devoid of meaning that you crave attention so much that you must have people react to you, even if the only attention you can receive is negative attention from strangers.
You and GTBob and BigJim and whoever else don’t really bother me. I just pity you and I hope things get better in your life where you do not need to have your identity reinforced through anonymous commenting. God bless.
Dwayne
November 12th, 2012
11:59 am
bigjim=bama/tech/gator troll
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
12:00 pm
The problem with you pretending to be an expert on what I think, JIm, Is that I know you are FOS, instantly. So there is that.
And what is so critical about “2009″? Just wondering why a coache’s entire record is not used if you are so sure that those specifit “facts”are all that matters? Do you use that to show a recent trend? Aside from the reality that (you are cherry picking stats) ………clearly Georgia Football is not trending downwards today? Please clarify your point for us, because it sounds like you are simply repeating stuff, with little thought put into it.
and those hackneyed insults to my manhood and expectations are a bit worn out and weak at this point aren’t they? did you just copy and paste that (most likely from YOU in another name)?
Newman
November 12th, 2012
12:16 pm
Very bush league on Grantham’s part. Coaches don’t forget those things…
AltamahaDawg
November 12th, 2012
12:22 pm
So if he has to face Chizik at North Dakota State anytime soon, payback is heck?
SanDiegoSunshine
November 12th, 2012
12:24 pm
Sorry, Bill, but I have to agree with Grantham on keeping them in. While injuries are part of the game and can occur at any time during the game, I believe keeping them in to secure the shutout was a major confidence builder in their ability to do what they’re suppose to do = keep the opponent from scoring. After a disastrous first half season, the game ball should go to the entire defensivie team and staff for the Auburn game. Goose eggs don’t come cheaply anymore, and this was a nice price. Great job, Grantham & Dawgs!!
Lonnie
November 12th, 2012
12:35 pm
Big Jim, this year is what matters and we are 9-1 #5 and SEC east champs!!!!!! Yes I am proud of the dawgs! Once again can u say good job. This is the same Auburn who played a 12-10 game against LSU! Yes we stunk it up against SC but we have rebounded well.
DrC
November 12th, 2012
12:47 pm
Bill – Players are susceptible to injury in practice during the week (see Michael Bennett) and to argue to keep them out for injury’s sake is not realyl valid…those players wanted that shutout more than Coach Grantham and to their credit, they earned it.
Just Saying
November 12th, 2012
12:58 pm
Yes indeed……… And ALL the negative bloggers and press ALWAYS point to where the defense ranks. A shut-out means a lot toward “style” points at a time in the season when it all starts to matter. I think holding Auburn scoreless was huge and worth the injury gamble.
Neutral
November 12th, 2012
1:09 pm
To ALL the Murray haters,
Please understand that he has never choked!!! You just think he does when he faces a Top 5 defense. Examples: LSU, Michigan State, FL and SC. If he choked then what did the #1 ranked LSU team do twice last season against Bama? In case you forgot……they scored 3 field goals in 2 entire games. Murray has never been that bad. What did the SC QB do against FL and LSU this year…..correct, absolutely nothing!!!! And what did The FL QB do against UGa this year? Correct if you say he didn’t even score a single TD. Even Bama’s QB on their NC team last year did not score a TD against LSU in the first game last last season. In fact, Bama only scored 6 points in that game. Sooner or later you doubters need to get a clue that it isn’t Murray “choking” in the big games…..it is what happens when ALL teams face great defenses. That is why a team like Oregon will look very different if they were to face a great defense like UGa, Bama, LSU, SC or FL.
35-7
November 12th, 2012
1:10 pm
Losing to South Carolina fo the third straight year means your program has slipped. Stay off the Kool aid People. Bama and the West is gonna cream the SEC East champs for a third straight year.
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 12th, 2012
1:41 pm
Altamaha
Captain Kirk
When your team has only beaten 1 top 20 team in 4 years and is 1-10 against the top 10 and 3-15 against the top 25 in 4 years those are realistic stats not cherry picking
the season is not over; we will be playing a great team in Bama and possibly a decent bowl team; win those then you can say we are doing much better
beating 1 decent team this year doesnt constitute a turn around performance
3 teams KY Tenn and Aub are probably going to fire their coaches Ky already has those 3 teams dont even have an SEC win this year
SC blew us away
Vandy Buffalo Florida Atlantic; Ole Miss and Missourri are a laughable joke so that leaves FL who on offense are horrific
So please inform the class how thats not cherry picking an easy beat no one schedule this year
LHarding Dawg
November 12th, 2012
1:58 pm
Last 8 quarters of football against Auburn, the score 83-7. Look really good!
Former Georgian
November 12th, 2012
2:12 pm
Agree with Grantham’s call. It seems like it would be really special for the Seniors on defense to get a shutout in their last regular season SEC game.
Uncle Kirk
November 12th, 2012
2:22 pm
It’s getting worse patched……you are noe bi polar blogging with 2 different names……we are still here for you.
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 12th, 2012
2:25 pm
Admiral Kirk…..Captain of the SS Kool-aid
Im not blogging with two different names
BTW
I will be here for you when we lose another game and you realize we didnt beat anyone this year
Uncle Kirk
November 12th, 2012
2:41 pm
Sorry patched….I won’t need you. Even if we lose, I don’t feel the need to spew out ignorant rants and raves because I either don’t like the coach or I am a fan of another team just trying to stir crap up. I will support my dawgs and the coaches no matter what. If you can’t see that we have gotten better each of the last 2 years then you have blinders on. Heck, you are so biased and negative, even if we beat Bama it would be because they had a down year. Don’t worry, your negativity can be cured. Just takes time and a big support cast…..we are here for you.
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
November 12th, 2012
2:43 pm
Nobody will say it…but is C. Lemay a bust at qb?