- Jun 10, 2014
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Founding Member
I hate Georgia.
So yesterday was a tad frustrating. Anyone else agree?
We knew going into the game that we were going to have to play a relatively clean and mistake free game. We knew their defense was very good and their offense had been sputtering a bit as of late. We knew we were going to have to pressure Fromm and contain the run game. And we knew we were going to have to protect Trask. And we basically did none of that.
The worst thing about both sides of the football yesterday was the inability to make the plays when they presented themselves, whether they were difficult plays to make or not. Jefferson almost came down with a back shoulder jump ball early in the game. Davis almost had a one-handed interception on a UGA drive that ended with a FG. Perine came up inches short on 3rd down on the first drive. The defense in general had a complete and utter incompetence on 3rd down when all they had to do was just get one more stop to get off the field so many times. And the busted coverage on UGA's final touchdown.
The second worst thing was the fact that UGA DID make the plays they had to make. That ridiculous one-handed tip catch in the 2nd half. The throw Fromm made to ice the game on 3rd & long in the 4th quarter. The 4th down stop in the 1st quarter. Hell, even the 2 point conversion that would have forced the game to overtime had we somehow come back to score one more touchdown.
And that was the difference. There wasn't THAT big of a gap between the teams. It came down, as it always does, to a handful of plays to decide the game. For the second straight year, they made every play they had to make, and we barely made any. It was eerily similar to the LSU game when an interception and a holding penalty practically clinched the loss for us. As good as we are at making those clutch plays against the middle/lower tier teams on our schedule (and occasionally the good ones like LSU last year and Auburn this year), we've got to take the next step and do it against the big boys. I think a big part of that is these kids don't know how to win yet. They came in during the end of the Mac era when we were completely and utterly helpless, and that mentality hasn't completely been eradicated yet. Mullen has done a GREAT job swinging the culture back the other way, but we still have to translate that to winning these type of games on Saturdays.
It was extremely frustrating to watch us call slow developing play after slow developing play for nearly 3 quarters until we finally started calling quick hitters and moved right up the field. It was also extremely frustrating to watch us dick around and wait for the play clock to get under 10 seconds on every play on the last touchdown drive. The drive itself was great because we scored and gave ourselves a chance, but our margin for error was zilch by the time it was over. Trask played another great game, but damn son, learn to throw the ball away! We don't need 20 yard sacks! Say what you want about Franks, but he knew how to throw the ball away. 2nd or 3rd & 10 is a hell of a lot better than 2nd or 3rd & 30.
Defensively, it's basically all been said already. Don't bill yourself as an attacking, man to man defense, then turtle up and play a pillow soft zone on 3rd & long and wonder why we constantly give up long conversions. I think we all put a little too much stock into how effective Greenard and Zuniga were going to be, but our rush defense was surely improved over the last few weeks without them. I mean they popped off that one longer run, but they were completely bottled up otherwise. We just have to try whatever we can to increase our pressure on the QB, because the pass rush has been almost non-existent for three straight games now.
Anyway, time to flush that game down the toilet and move on to Vandy. They're the weakest FBS team we'll play by FAR this year, so don't get sucked into that post-UGA funk and come out flat. Bury them quickly and move on. There's no reason to think we can't finish 10-2 and head to another NY6 bowl, which is what we all figured would be our result this season back in August.
Go Gators, new winning streak begins in 6 days!
So yesterday was a tad frustrating. Anyone else agree?
We knew going into the game that we were going to have to play a relatively clean and mistake free game. We knew their defense was very good and their offense had been sputtering a bit as of late. We knew we were going to have to pressure Fromm and contain the run game. And we knew we were going to have to protect Trask. And we basically did none of that.The worst thing about both sides of the football yesterday was the inability to make the plays when they presented themselves, whether they were difficult plays to make or not. Jefferson almost came down with a back shoulder jump ball early in the game. Davis almost had a one-handed interception on a UGA drive that ended with a FG. Perine came up inches short on 3rd down on the first drive. The defense in general had a complete and utter incompetence on 3rd down when all they had to do was just get one more stop to get off the field so many times. And the busted coverage on UGA's final touchdown.
The second worst thing was the fact that UGA DID make the plays they had to make. That ridiculous one-handed tip catch in the 2nd half. The throw Fromm made to ice the game on 3rd & long in the 4th quarter. The 4th down stop in the 1st quarter. Hell, even the 2 point conversion that would have forced the game to overtime had we somehow come back to score one more touchdown.
And that was the difference. There wasn't THAT big of a gap between the teams. It came down, as it always does, to a handful of plays to decide the game. For the second straight year, they made every play they had to make, and we barely made any. It was eerily similar to the LSU game when an interception and a holding penalty practically clinched the loss for us. As good as we are at making those clutch plays against the middle/lower tier teams on our schedule (and occasionally the good ones like LSU last year and Auburn this year), we've got to take the next step and do it against the big boys. I think a big part of that is these kids don't know how to win yet. They came in during the end of the Mac era when we were completely and utterly helpless, and that mentality hasn't completely been eradicated yet. Mullen has done a GREAT job swinging the culture back the other way, but we still have to translate that to winning these type of games on Saturdays.
It was extremely frustrating to watch us call slow developing play after slow developing play for nearly 3 quarters until we finally started calling quick hitters and moved right up the field. It was also extremely frustrating to watch us dick around and wait for the play clock to get under 10 seconds on every play on the last touchdown drive. The drive itself was great because we scored and gave ourselves a chance, but our margin for error was zilch by the time it was over. Trask played another great game, but damn son, learn to throw the ball away! We don't need 20 yard sacks! Say what you want about Franks, but he knew how to throw the ball away. 2nd or 3rd & 10 is a hell of a lot better than 2nd or 3rd & 30.
Defensively, it's basically all been said already. Don't bill yourself as an attacking, man to man defense, then turtle up and play a pillow soft zone on 3rd & long and wonder why we constantly give up long conversions. I think we all put a little too much stock into how effective Greenard and Zuniga were going to be, but our rush defense was surely improved over the last few weeks without them. I mean they popped off that one longer run, but they were completely bottled up otherwise. We just have to try whatever we can to increase our pressure on the QB, because the pass rush has been almost non-existent for three straight games now.
Anyway, time to flush that game down the toilet and move on to Vandy. They're the weakest FBS team we'll play by FAR this year, so don't get sucked into that post-UGA funk and come out flat. Bury them quickly and move on. There's no reason to think we can't finish 10-2 and head to another NY6 bowl, which is what we all figured would be our result this season back in August.
Go Gators, new winning streak begins in 6 days!
