Thoughts on Georgia

Job search has been taxing, but it seems to be winding down, so hopefully I can find some more time to post more consistantly in the future.

On last year:

It's probably a bit late to be believed by the Georgia fans among us, but I never really was all that upset by "The Celebration". Furthermore, I believe Richt when he says he only meant for the 11 guys on the field to celebrate. Richt is a class act (Aside from being a Bulldog, natch), and I don't think he would go all "Evil Richt" intentionally.

That said, I think it was a mistake still. Georgia had an explosive offense, and a good defense. Florida had a wounded QB, a one-dimensional offense with Tebow restricted to the throw, and a secondary that got lit up like flash paper. Georgia was going to win the game 9 times out of 10. Asking for an intentional celebration penalty is stupid for a couple reasons: one, it's still a penalty. You can find other ways of motivating your team that don't give up yardage, and promote undisciplined behavior. Two, you don't know how Florida is going to react. It may motivate Georgia, but is certainly going to rile Florida (Doubly so since the sideline rushed). It put the hate back in the rivalry that was missing for years. Georgia could have won a few more before Florida looked at it as a serious rivalry again. And three, it sends the wrong message, to fans and foes alike. It says "I didn't expect to score on quite possibly the worst defense in the SEC". There's no other way to take it, and there's no good that can come of that in the long run.

On this year:

I've seen Georgia fans who said that the first half didn't seem like they were outplayed. Fact remains: Florida had 25 plays, and scored twice. And some of those plays were Meyer burning down the clock at the end of the half. Georgia had three trips to the red zone, and ended wide left, score, and doink the post. After the first conservative drive by Florida which seemed to be sniffing out Georgia's defense, Georgia didn't stop Florida. Georgia, on the other hand, couldn't seem to capitalize on the trips to the red zone. Charlie Strong's tactic of stopping the run and letting the occasional big play worked. Georgia switched to the big throws in the second half, and while it led to some pretty impressive plays, it also led to some game-killing turn overs for the Puppies.

I've seen Georgia fans who claim it was bad officiating. Certainly there were some untimely penalties, but Florida was actually more penalized than Georgia. The penalties just came at less damaging times. Georgia dug its own grave with penalties.

I've seen Georgia fans who have pretty brutally criticised Richt for the onside kick call... while I wouldn't have made that call, I can see where he was coming from. He saw momentum running away, he saw Georgia players tightening up, and Brandon James returns the ball so well anyway, why not take a risk? Well as we saw, you don't because if it fails, it sends a message of desperation. If it fails, and the Gators score, the momentum is squarely with the Gators. Still, Richt saw the writing on the wall, and decided to roll the dice, he shouldn't be held to the fire for taking a chance.

I've seen Georgia fans who think that the bulldogs gave up in the second half... which is false-ish. I think that the talk of last year's celebration for a week may have fired up the Gators, but more importantly it made the Bulldogs nervous. Richt was playing to win until the onside kick, but after that, Georgia noticibly stiffened, and was playing not to lose... something you can't do against the gators.

As for the Gators:

Seriously, how many offensive schemes can we RUN out of the spread? We run the veer, the triple option, the west coast... How do you stop that? Stop the run, and we punish you with long, efficient throws. Play prevent, you're killed with a brutal running game that can come from any direction, even when we're five-wide... go blitz happy, and we go wide-splits, and our recievers turn those three yard completions into fifteen yard gains with frightening regularity.

Want to make it a shootout? Our defense is improved enough that even a good offense has trouble keeping up.

And that's discounting our special teams, which are probably the best in the college football.

As much as I hate the talking heads babbling on about which teams is "playing the best in the country"... I can't really disagree with them. If Florida makes that extra point, or that fourth-down conversion against Ole Miss... all else the same, how are we NOT ranked number one at this point?

But I digress. If Tebow returns next year, even losing Harvin, how are we not ranked #1 preseason? We return our entire defense, and a good chunk of our offensive production...