There will still be a lot of talk going forward about how much of an amazing talent Knowshon Moreno is. Most of that has to do with yet another 100+ all purpose yard effort, with most of that coming on the ground.

However, Thomas Brown is getting respect but not the spotlight. He's quietly having one of the best years of a Georgia running back since maybe Garrison Hearst. No, I'm not kidding. Think about it. Thomas Brown currently has 393 rushing yards only 5 games into the season. On his current pace, ESPN has him finishing just around 940 yards rushing at the end of the year. Now, do I think he'll get that close? Nope. Not with Knowshon getting more carries and Lumpkin's comeback on the horizon. However, it's very exciting to me to know that we have at least two tailbacks that are potential 1000 yard rushers. Just a rambling thought.

Let's get to the recap shall we?


The Stats Say:

That we can run the ball and that we played pressure-free Defense. We racked up over 380 yards on the ground and had a pretty uneventful day passing. On the opposite side of the ball, we allowed too many yards on the ground and through the air, while getting no sacks whatsoever.

More on this below.


The Pros:

Thomas Brown -- I touched on this in the opening, and there's really not much to say more than that. TB had a career day, and even if it was against an atrociously bad rushing defense, not many kids are going to rack up 180 yards against any team, much less an SEC one. Good effort by him and I hope he gets the props he deserves within the Dawgnation.

C.J. Byrd -- Great day for C.J. as he led the team in tackles and had the huge fumble recovery from Ole Miss on the one yard line as they were about to score. He is a very big kid and has proven to be a solid tackler against the running game. I'd like to see him get an interception or two and show how solid he can be in the passing game, but I'll take what I can get right now with how porous our run defense has been.

Brandon Miller -- Not to get down on the guy, but I never thought he'd have a good enough day to warrant some props. I swear he's not a LB and fits much better as a DE, but yesterday he racked up five solo tackles, one assist, and an interception. He also had a good day special teams-wise. Props to the guy for having a decent day. Maybe it'll continue.

WRs -- Mo Mass especially had a good day in getting open at tough times and really helping out Stafford when he was struggling to find an open receiver. Also, the WR corp in general did a great job of blocking dowfield to give TB and Knowshon an opportunity to make some of those runs. Our blocking in general this year has been tons better than in years past.

Second-Half Adjustments -- They still came a little later in the second half than I would've liked, but we kept Ole Miss from getting any points in the fourth quarter and we put the game away by scoring four unanswered touchdowns. Defensively, we still didn't get pressure, but we played better in regards to the running game, and defended the pass more accurately.


The Cons (there are a lot in my eyes, but here's what I got to focus on):

The O-line -- Sorry, but put the rushing stats aside, we just did not do a great job yesterday of creating holes and protecting the QB. There were plenty of times yesterday where the running backs made something out of nothing and there were plenty of times where Ole Miss didn't bring pressure and still got Stafford to hurry. I understand we have two running backs that are doing a wonderful job right now, but they're not always going to be able to create something out of nothing. Don't get me wrong, I know we're young up front and have done a better-than-expected job, but there's still some room for improvement here.

The D-line -- There was no pressure at all yesterday. None at all. That is a problem that we have got to correct. We were getting run all over by BJGE and gave Seth Adams all day to find an open receiver. From here on out, "bring pressure" will be a key to the game in every preview until we actually do it. No sacks yesterday is atrocious against the Offense we played. We have to bring pressure against Tennessee or they will carve us up.

Special Teams -- We were still poor on our kickoff coverage. There were times where we could've killed Ole Miss and really questioned their place in the game, only to let them get a big return and give them hope to get back in it. Our coverage has really got to improve over this hit-or-miss type playing.

Killer Instinct -- We finally decided to put the game away in the fourth quarter as opposed to putting it away in the first quarter like we could have. It's a constant shame to begin a game without fire when we feel like we should win it. Our team and coaches have got to find a way to stop coming out flat or we're going to have a letdown like Vanderbilt last year. I can't say it enough; we've got to get mean and make the other team question why they put on their uniform today instead of sleeping in.


Overall:

People will remember this game exactly the opposite than they should. They will look a the score and say "the Dawgs are a good team that can finally put points on the board, and Ole Miss is still a joke in the SEC." And the people saying that would be exactly wrong. We played flat football, played poor defense, couldn't throw, and thankfully had a helluva day running. That sums up the entire day.

The only things I can say is that maybe we were looking ahead to next week's game instead of taking care of business. That's a possibility. It's also a possibility that we couldn't shake the hangover of the amazing win at Alabama (which looks a little less impressive this morning). The truth is there is no excuse for not putting Ole Miss away early when we obviously could, and then using the rest of the game to get some other guys quality minutes.

Simply put, my fear is that we will read the papers, love the stats, and roll into Knoxville thinking we are better than we really are. Here's hoping for another week of closed practice.

Thoughts? Disagreements?


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Labels: College Football, Game Recaps, UGA Football