Well, it was a win. In the SEC East. On the road. I guess there's a lot to be said for that. However, I think I was dead on in saying that we'd probably be left wanting more from the team.

So, let's get right to it.


The Stats Say:

That we're a good a team as Vandy. We had 50 more total yards, beat them in passing yards, and they got us in rushing yards. Defensively, we're a little better in that we created a couple of turnovers that essentially won us the game. Special teams-wise, we're dead even.

The most glaring stat to me is that UGA sacked Vandy 3 times for 24 total yards. We have been alarmingly ineffective in getting pressure up front and to get 3 sacks is a great confidence boost to this team. On top of that, it was the direct result of some crucial halftime adjustments that essentially saved us from a very embarrassing loss. More on this later.



The Pros:

Second Half Adjustments -- Nothing was really working for us in the first half. We couldn't stop their mobile QB, we couldn't stop their running back, we couldn't stop their passing attack. It was getting ugly at a very quick pace. However, we went into the lockerroom and came out with a new game plan of bringing pressure to force mistakes on the defensive side of the ball, and we effectively used Chandler to open up short passes over the middle.

Knowshon Moreno -- Now more than ever this kid is essential to our success. His heart is something this team can rally around and his toughness is something we need. He had 157 yards on the ground on 28 carries. I'm not sure how many more carries that is compared to what our per RB average, but he carried the load and came through in the clutch for us on some crucial downs.

Dannell Ellerbe -- He continues to impress me with how well he plays the LB position in general. After being relatively quiet since 2005, he is having a monster year and is really the shining star in a struggling corps. Yes, Geno Atkins had more tackles (8), which is a wonderful thing, but Ellerbe is really stepping up for a Defense that is begging for an identity.

Coach Mark Richt -- It has been up for debate whether or not the players intentionally celebrated on Vandy's logo. Me personally, I don't think that they meant to; it's just where they ended up. However, props to CMR for making sure we didn't appear to do something that we just don't do. He apologized to every coach he could, and then did it again on national television. I have doubts about our defensive scheme. I have doubts about our aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball. I DO NOT DOUBT that we win with class or that CMR is the right man to lead this program.

Tripp Chandler -- He had 2 crucial catches and took a monster hit to get one of them. I hope all those people that booed him a few weeks ago get hit in the nuts sometime in the near future.


The Cons:

First Half Gameplan -- Russ, Will, and I spoke about this at length Saturday night. It's exciting to know that we see problems and fix them. It's exciting to see how much better of a team we are when we are aggressive. It's VERY exciting to hear CMR say on the post game show that he told CWM at halftime that we needed to be more aggressive. What's not exciting? Knowing that we could've done it from the start. We should've been way more aggressive from the beginning on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, I wish we could've been more productive, but I can't complain too much because our early deep shots softened up Vandy's Defense. We still have a long ways to go, however.

Tackling -- We still suck here. We've got to learn to quit biting so quickly on runs. I appreciate the effort of diving towards a player, but if we have to dive, we're already out of position on the tackle.

Needing Luck to Win -- Sorry, but if Vandy doesn't fumble that ball late in the fourth, they score and we lose. Period. We turned 2 turnovers into 10 points, which is good, but we were anemic when it came to creating on our spark. We needed the motivation to score. Sorry to say it, but we're going to have to learn to create our own fire and not wait on someone else's mistakes to get us going.



Overall:

We are not where we need to be to win any more games this season. It's time for us to discover whether or not we're going to be a team that wins one game for the rest of the season, or wins them all. Honestly, if we pull it together and play to our talent level, we're 10-2. If we are the same team that we've seen over the past 3 games, then we're 6-6.

We need this bye week badly. Worse than we've ever needed one. Florida has a tough road ahead of them by preparing for a UK squad that believes they can beat anyone and we get to sit back and enjoy two weeks worth of healing up and getting ready for our rival.

Hopefully this team can find a spark and use this time to come out on Oct. 27 ready to play. If not, it's going to be a very bad rest of the year.



Extra Points:

I usually don't have these, but there are some other things I wanted to touch on before I closed out the post.

• Kregg Lumpkin could be out for the year -- He injured his knee and ankle pretty badly on a play. I knew it was going to be something awful when the camera panned to him on the sideline and he covered his face with the jacket he was wearing. I can only assume he was too upset to be shown on national TV. Can't blame the guy, because I would have been the same way. I hope no matter what happens, he can get healthy enough in time for the combine. He's a DGD to the core.
• Alec Kessler has passed away -- PWD writes better about this than I do, and was the one that broke the story for me. I will be completely honest when I say that I have not followed Georgia Basketball long enough to really know who this guy was or how good of a basketball player he was for us. However, everything I've read says this guy was what you would hope your kids grow up to be. A smart kid, good teammate, enjoyed some athletic success, and then becomes a doctor when his playing career is over. Another DGD that we, as fans, need to recognize.
• Brandon Coutu kicked his first game winning field goal -- He's been more hit or miss this season than he ever has been, but he's still a kid that I trust with the game on the line. The fact that this was his first game winner really shocked me. The more impressive stat behind the stat is that means we either win games by a larger margin than 3 points, or we lose them the same way. I just found that interesting.

Well that's it for the recap. Some changes I hope are going to be happening to the blog this week as I have bought two domain names and should have things up and rolling soon. Also, expect a couple of college football related posts that don't touch on the Dawgs at all. There probably won't be much to talk about regarding UGA football, so I figured I'd talk a little bit about the game in general.


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Labels: College Football, Game Recaps, UGA Football