5 reasons UGA might just have turned the corner
Here's Reason No. 3: A.J. goes awesomely airborne. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
1. Joe Cox is not Joe Tereshinski III. He gave a passing (no pun intended) performance against South Carolina. He made the necessary, if not necessarily artistic, throws. He kept his team moving against what was billed as a big-time defense. He made one egregious mistake — the Eric Norwood interception — but led his team to a vital field goal afterward. He did his job.
2. The men of Martinez made a stop. Actually, the Georgia defense made several. South Carolina didn’t score an offensive touchdown in the second half, and the difference between touchdowns and field goals — the Gamecocks had five – was the difference between this being an Alabama-like blowout and a narrow victory.
3. A.J. Green is the greatest Georgia receiver ever. No amplification required.
4. Branden Smith can really run. Fastest Bulldog ever? Faster than Herschel? Faster than Goldberg? (Kidding.) Just get this freshman the darn ball!
5. The Bulldog spirit returned at full-throated growl. A lesser team would have rolled over twice — when Carolina jumped up 17-7 and after Norwood’s touchdown. But Georgia kept playing, and DeAngelo Tyson’s blocked extra point could be to this season what David Pollack’s sack-and-snatch was to 2002. OK, so that’s a stretch. But Pollack’s famous play saved an essential early game against the Gamecocks, and Tyson’s snuff did the same.
(Rebuttal time: Because this thing could still go either way, we offer 5 reasons Georgia could still be swimming upstream. And also 5 reasons Georgia will — repeat, will — win at Arkansas.)
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183 comments Add your comment
Villa Rica DAWG
September 15th, 2009
12:45 pm
Something tells me that UF is gonna KILL us…
SOS Dawg
September 15th, 2009
12:47 pm
Why doesnt Willie understand and some of you blind homers understand that if the offense does commit a TO that the our defense is still allowed to stop the opposing offense from scoring. The defense can force a field goal try or even sack the QB for a huge loss.There are options for the defense.
shards1967
September 15th, 2009
12:52 pm
The so called prevent D vs a passing attack can work and we saw it vs Auburn with Pat Sullivan
( Heisman ) Spurrier ( Heisman ) and all the Joe Roths of the 1970s Pac 10 NCAA world ( RIP Joe ) and all the other Florida circus acts like John Reeves, and too many to name here, over the decades. Yes, the prevent D can work IF you have the O to grind it out and eat the clock up AND make tackles in the open field.
Currently at UGA and for many years now with three head coaches, UGA seems to have forgotten how to lock up and prefers to do the sea gull tackle with arms spread open with shoulders down low and against great talent, we will lose more than we win and that is basic to our D probs of late.
We do not teach fundamental tackling at UGA and even casual observers, like my wife know it. She does not know what a first down is or a blitz. She does know that we layed way off the SC receivers.
Change this one factoid and then we will be moving in the right direction. At FSU they got away with fast players on O and really no solid D, until the ACC caught up with them. We are FSU north in many ways it appears. FSU would not have won more than 7-8 SEC games per year in their glory days.
The SEC plays findamental D and the teams that do that win big, year in and year out.
Go Dawgs
Joe Wilson
September 15th, 2009
12:58 pm
Martinez’s defense is nothing but smoke and mirrors. In other words its a LIE !
mr me
September 15th, 2009
12:59 pm
One thing I saw that excited me was Cornelius Washington bull rushing the right tackle in the first half. He tossed the guy like a rag doll. But I didn’t see him in much after that which I don’t understand.
Preston
September 15th, 2009
12:59 pm
With all the dawg hacking going on, I think we need to point out one VERY important improvement from years past. SPECIAL TEAMS! Boykin and Thomas are doing a great job on kick returns. Something that has been lacking in previous seasons that Richt and his assistants obviously didn’t give much thought to… until the opponents burned our asses with them. Better late than never.
Debbie Downer
September 15th, 2009
1:09 pm
The dawgs still haven’t improved on penalties. They are still a bunch of undisciplined losers. Cant wait to see when the ACC rap sheet will start ram-ping up. Someone will get arrested during the season just bank on it! Maybe Sturdivant will start touching pregnant women again and feel sorry for himself.
dan
September 15th, 2009
1:21 pm
1. I think Joe Cox is alright. He can get the job done. I just think fans are used to seeing Matt Stafford with that tight spiral, and Cox looks inadequate in comparison. He’s not great, but he’ll have to do.
2. Defense is alright. They play hard, which will have to do.
3. AJ Green is very good. But he’ll have to deal with getting double teamed until the other receivers can develop and take some of the pressure off him.
4. Branden Smith is really fast as is Boykin. Those were good pick ups for the Dawgs.
5. I think this team’s character is good, but remember that had a nice goal line stand against Carolina last year and then they mailed it in down the stretch. Carolina also has a tendency to choke in games. The same will not be true for Florida, and we’ll find out what kind of character this team has in that game.
wreckmaniac
September 15th, 2009
1:29 pm
5 reasons why nothing has changed:
1. UGA is all about recruiting. Playing the game is secondary
2. Other teams will not give up 200 yards on kickoffs
3. The SEC has changed. There are 2,3 or 4 possibly tier 1 teams
and UGA is not one of them. The rest of the league is mediocrity
4. UGA proved it cannot play well against a good out-of-conference team on the road.
5. Richt needs to learn from Bobby Cox about how to use his bench.
DawgDad
September 15th, 2009
1:34 pm
Well, SC is not chopped liver. Even for the best of the Dawgs teams those have been hard-fought and normally nail-biter contests. Dawgs won, which is exactly what they needed to do. This game is now a foundation for the rest of the SEC campaign.
Agree wholeheartedly the defense hasn’t been the same since VG left. That said, they look like there’s a lot more upside talent on that side of the ball this year vs. last.
The OSU game may be the best thing that could have happened to this team. Non-conference loss early in the year is nothing but a benchmark, meaningless in the late-season rankings. Much more constructive in the long term than a totally meaningless blowout win over Troy. Say, who did Florida lose to last year, and where was that game played?
I think this will be a very entertaining season. Has been so far.
MiltonDawg
September 15th, 2009
1:37 pm
so we can write a letter to Damon Evans??
Reece Ikelben
September 15th, 2009
1:51 pm
A win is a win is a win…..just keep on winning and the naysayers will keep on whining. Ad Infinitum. (for you Auburn, Clemson, or Alabama types that means a long time!)
GatorNation
September 15th, 2009
2:03 pm
Did any of you guys watch that game. UGA gave up 37 points and 427 yards to USCe. No way does that game indicate UGA is Back!!!! Green by the way will be very good and perhaps UGA’s best ever.
he hate me
September 15th, 2009
2:18 pm
i hope you’re right mark.
GatorNation
September 15th, 2009
2:19 pm
Douglas
September 15th, 2009
7:03 am
We have great defensive players but lousy defensive coaching. Martinez is not the only problem — I have not been impressed with our LB’s coach either — look at all the great LB’s we have recruited — yet Rennie is the only standout. They never covered anything underneath. When Van Gorder was here, we always had great LB play.
Shouldn’t great players make great plays. UGA has done none of that. All those recruiting classes you guys had have turned to this, a marginal SEC team. Man, I was looking forward to our game. If you guys don’t improve, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, you’ll beat no one else except maybe Vandy and that’s stretching it.
5 reasons Georgia will - repeat, WILL - win at Arkansas | Mark Bradley
September 15th, 2009
2:23 pm
[...] completes our all-Georgia Tuesday. Earlier we offered 5 reasons Georgia might well have turned the corner and then, in a flip-flop worthy of Petrino himself, 5 reasons it might not have. If you [...]
Freelemur
September 15th, 2009
2:23 pm
hahahahahahahahahaha
#1 BAMA FAN
September 15th, 2009
2:24 pm
Didn’t care who won but it was a very entertaining game. I kept trying to flip back to OSU-USC but the GA-USC game was better! RTR
GatorNation
September 15th, 2009
2:32 pm
DawgDad…SC is no chop liver. Last week you guys were talking trash about how bad they looked. No their not that bad just because they played you guys. HA HA HA. Does that mean NCST isn’t that bad either?
dan
September 15th, 2009
2:56 pm
I think things are never as good or as bad as they seem. Could the Dawgs be better? Yes. Can they be worse? You betcha. Sometimes things click in game and sometimes they don’t. Here is how I’d break down the Dawgs:
Things they do well:
Running the ball
Big play ability from AJ
Solid play from Linebackers
Good Punter
Things they do alright:
Run blocking/Pass Blocking
Tackling
Redzone defense
Punt returns/ kickoffs/field
Areas for improvement:
Better pocket presence and awareness from QB
Better Pass Rush
Better coverage by DB’s
Generating turnovers( absolutely terrible here)
hatfieldgeoff
September 15th, 2009
3:03 pm
Coach Richt,
When you hire a friend the first question you ask yourself is “if necessary will I be able to fire him?” If the answer was no you should not have given him the job. Nick Saban, Mack Brown, and Urban Meyer change coordinators until they get it right. Coach you gave a raise to a DC who’s defense allowed over 38 points 5 times. You are supposed to be makeing UGA football the best it can be not finacially assisting average coaches who are your friends.
nerdhater
September 15th, 2009
3:59 pm
You haters make me ashamed to be a UGA fan.
jerry
September 15th, 2009
4:32 pm
You think Willie allowing 30 is bad? Check this out.
2001–9,10,17,16
2002–13,18,13
2003–10,16,13,13
2004–20,13,14,20,6,19
2005–17,10,14
2006–18,14,14,14,20,15
2007–12,14,20
2008–14,17
2009–10
These are the games in which UGA has scored 20 or less–32 times. This is about 32% of the time. And this is what this offensive guru from Florida State was hired to do.
FLA DAWG
September 15th, 2009
4:59 pm
1. Yes
2. Nope – 37 points hung on us by SC for G’s sake!
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Huh?
Way too early to say The Dawgs have turned the corner. As a matter of fact, with Martinez & Bobo I don’t think we will.
UGA STILL SUCKS
September 15th, 2009
5:14 pm
Mark what game were you watching? Mygod UGA game was flat out ugly. Those razorbacks going to beat those overrated muts.
takedowndawg
September 15th, 2009
6:37 pm
Guys, why is it necessary to write a “masters thesis” when given the bloggers space? Make a few heart felt, well thought out points and share them with us. I’ll bet you guys would REALLY be alot of fun to ride in a cross country car trip!! Talking about a captive audience!. Most of us just scan parts of your long blogs and skip the majority of the content. Give the troops a few nuggets and leave it at that. Go DAWGS!!!!!!!!
dan
September 15th, 2009
6:41 pm
This may be good ole’ fashion Dawg trash talking here, but I think the Razorbacks might get exposed Saturday. I think it will be a good game because Petrino’s crew has had 2 weeks to get ready for us. But the Dawgs have played 2 tough opponents while Arkansas has played no one in their opener. Usually a bye week is a good thing, but when your team is not battle tested, it can be a bad thing. I like the Dawgs in this game Saturday night.
John
September 15th, 2009
6:51 pm
I think SC is better than a lot are willing to say. Yes, it’s SC which is a traditional middle of the pack team. But, they have a lot of young talent just like UGA who will get better over the season. And they still have Spurrier who can still coach. They may actually be pretty good by year end.
Kim Z's Package
September 15th, 2009
6:54 pm
Did UGA join the Mountain West? UGA has to score 40+ points to just win on the last play of the GAME. HAHAHAHA. I thouoght you guys said UGA is a good SEC team. HAHAHAH. I think I just peed a little. HAHAHAHAHHA. even some more pee. I have to stop laughing, but I just cazn’t help it. UGA hahahaha top 25 hahahaha good Defense hahahah please stop stop I will totally wet myself.
Carl Spackler
September 15th, 2009
6:54 pm
5 reasons UGA might just have turned the corner
1) truck running on vapors, but there’s a gas station 5 miles up the road
2) slow leak in back right tire, but hope I can make it to the gas station
3) engine warning came on, but I think that I can last 5 more miles
4) oh oh, steam coming from under the hood, engine knocking yikes
5) taking a short cut and turning at the next street I see…dad gum it, didn’t see the sign “DEAD END”
exNFLplayer
September 15th, 2009
7:39 pm
Branden Smith could be the next Percy Harvin. I’d love to see him line up at bothe the WR positions and in the TB position as well. This kid is a game breaker.
Glen Mason
September 15th, 2009
8:08 pm
South Carolina? I mean its a graveyard for coaches. I surely woudnt go there Ha Ha Ha.
AceDawg
September 17th, 2009
2:34 pm
There was fight in the Dawgs, but lots of tough opponents mean there must be more execution than just isolated fantastic plays mixed with bad ones and lack of a defensive (or offensive) gameplan.