First, a quick site note. I have a few good posts waiting to be unleashed on the world, so the days of only one post per day are gone. I'm going to have to pull a page out of PWD and The King's playbook and post multiple times daily, so make sure you scroll down in order to see everything. Tuesday is the debut of "The List" and Wednesday night the preview should be up for the weekend. Hopefully the daily posting trend will continue through the season, because I really want to grow the site this year.

Some of the stuff upcoming includes a preview of the USC game, the Top 5 Home Games, and a new Munson Mix or two. Of course, the ultimate goal is to get back on The Songwriter's "Check Daily" list.

Now, it's time to see what we did well, did poorly, and what to work on this week before USC.


The Stats Say:

UGA was close to OSU in a lot of offensive categories. They almost matched us in first downs (16 to our 18), came somewhat close in passing yards (196 to our 234), but were way off in rushing yards (70 to our 142). Offensively, however, our most impressive statistic was the time of possession. The Dawgs were on the field with the ball just under 13 minutes more than the Cowboys. That's two minutes shy of a full quarter of football, and most of it came in the second half where we dominated them in TOP in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

That tells me a couple of things. First, our offense generally played good, solid football. We passed when necessary, but ran the ball a lot and stayed committed to the ground game. When looking at a 3rd down situation, we also converted more efficiently than they did (OSU: 3-13, UGA: 7-15). Second, the gameplan was designed perfectly for a young offensive line and to keep our defense fresh. A screen pass doesn't always make for the most exciting of football plays, but it wins games when run effectively (see: Ron Zook's 2002 Florida team).

Defensively, we controlled the line of scrimmage by gaining 5 sacks to their 2. We really GATA on Saturday and Martinez's plan of "if he's on his back, he can't beat us downfield" really worked out well against an offense that needs rhythm and timing to be effective. More on the defense later.

Special teams wise it was about even. They have a helluva punter on their team and if you take Mikey Henderson's play of "why the hell not" out of contention, they had a more solid day punting than we did. I think Mimbs did a good job for us even though he had a shank here and there. Coverage wise, it was even as well, and it was nice to see us not have to go for the field goal at all during the game. I know Richt said part of it was because we weren't blocking that well in the PAT set, so some of it is Red Zone efficiency and some of it is not giving up a big play.


What's not fun for a punter? This.


Pros:

RBs: Knowshon, Knowshon, Knowshon. If there ever was a "living up to the hype" on a gameday, it was this kid. He caught the ball out of the backfield efficiently, displayed some WOW factor, showed a little bit of power, and had some key blocks in the backfield. My early guess is that if he stays consistent, he's starting by the first of October.

D-line and LBs: Of the 5 total sacks, 3 came from the D-line, 1 from a LB, and 1 from a CB. That isn't even counting the times we tackled the RB in the backfield almost immediately after he received the ball. It was an absolute jailbreak upfront on Saturday. The one thing to remember, though is OSU's O-line started 3 So., 1 Jr., and 1 Sr. so it's not like there were all veterans blocking for Bobby Reid. I think our boys up front played well, but the true test will be if they can do it again next week.


The best part about this photo? The helmet in mid air.


WRs: Only one blatant dropped pass by the WR corps as a whole on Saturday and the blocking downfield was spot on. They really stepped up their game and proved some people wrong. The most impressive statistic? 170 of the 234 receiving yards were gained after first contact. That's breaking tackles, making guys miss, and blocking for your other WRs.


More of this please.


Cons:

SOME of Stafford's throws: I know I'm going to get blasted for this, but even though the O-line is young, they blocked pretty well for him on Saturday. There were times where he threw off his back foot instead of squaring his shoulders and stepping into the throw, which caused the ball to sail on him. I know that's going to be something he'll work on this week because there were times he was stepping backwards when he needed to step up, throw the ball, and take the hit. Other than that, a very solid game (18 for 24) by the Sophomore.

CBs and our Zone Coverage: This one is the scariest for me. Had our D-line and LBs not been cracking skulls in the backfield, I think Bobby Reid might have carved us up in the passing game. Our zone showed windows that were wide open and when he had time to throw, he exposed us badly. Spurrier will attempt to throw the ball even if the passing game isn't working, so we'd better make sure our coverage will be up to snuff next Saturday.

Lump getting hurt: Not the kid's fault, so it's not really a "con," but just a bad thing in general. Not sure how long he'll be out, but I like Lump a lot and I really hope he's only out for a few weeks. I think that's wishful thinking, but right now what else can you do? Don't expect the redshirt to come off of Caleb King, though. Richt has already said he doesn't see that happening.

The hype around the team: The last time we felt this good about our team after a marquee win, it was against LSU in 2004. The next thing you know, we're getting carved up by freshman Eric Ainge and UT the following weekend. It's important for our guys to stay focused and get back to work. I'm afraid that USC is going to be a much bigger foe in all aspects of the game, so we'd better have a solid week of practice. We can rest in January.


Overall:

My early impression is that this is a young, but very talented, Dawgs team. One of the only things the ESPN guys got right all night long was when they echoed that statement. I think OSU is a good team and against a slower defense, they might upset someone in the Big 12 this year. However, they are a program on the rise and I have a feeling that they're much like the 2005 Boise State team we played in that they're feeling the heat of the spotlight, but are not ready to step into it yet.

We've got things to work on this week, but it was a good win for a program that was getting beat up in the press a little bit. I hope the "pundits" continue to keep UGA out of their mouths for the next 11 games. We seem to do better when no one thinks we can win.



Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Labels: College Football, Game Recaps, UGA Football