Lessons of the Bye Week

[Weezer]

Despite not playing, there were still lessons to be learned from watching today's action.

First, no one's unbeatable. I watched as many of the top-rated teams as I could, and normally, you have at least 2-3 juggernauts. I didn't see that today. Yes, FSU was without Winston, but I think even he can be gameplanned for. And that's the thing, no matter how well ranked an opponent may be, a properly prepared and executed gameplan can lead us to victory. If the coaches do their job, we should be able to compete with any team we face. We may not win them all, but we should be in the game, and somewhere along the way, we'll pull out a victory that wasn't expected.

Second, the whistles always favor the higher ranked team at the end of the game. I saw plenty of blown calls. Most games had bad calls going both ways. But at the end of the game, if you added them up, the higher ranked team came out ahead. I'm not saying the NCAA favors the higher ranked team, but I do wonder if refs subconsciously give higher ranked teams certain calls because they are supposedly better. Whatever the case, I'm a proponent of refs being held to higher accountability for the role they play in the outcome of a game.

Third, new rules have taken the bite out of a lot of defenses. Honestly, I was embarassed by what passes as playing defense in the modern game. There's no reason our offense shouldn't be able to take advantage of that. I also hope Butch doesn't subscribe to all the new rules. I'll gladly take a few penalties for good football plays.

We should have the chance to beat anyone left on our schedule, even Bama. If we stay healthy and execute good football, there's no reason we shouldn't be bowling this year. The team just needs to stay focused and take each game one at a time. No looking ahead, no looking behind, keep your sights on what's right in front of you. If we do that, (and again, if we stay healthy), we should surprise some folks.

Now that the Bye Week is over, I'm looking forward to whippin' some UGA tail next weekend! GBO!

 

[mommasvol]

glad we got that out-of-the-way

 

[Z06Vol]

IDK, I watched a extremely good bama team.

 

[joevol33]

IDK, I watched a extremely good bama team.

I hate to say, but they looked good yesterday. If it wasn't for turnovers that game could've been 50-7.

 

[orangeluvr]

Personnel match ups are critical in football,ala and fla have more elite athletes than we have,CBJ is closing the gap though. :twocents:

 

[92volalum]

bama will get 300 yrds on the ground against us.. fla will look like bama because we always choke n ga won by 66 so they def looked beatable...

face it we lost to a ranked team by 24 pts.. so please calm down.. btw the spread was 21 which means we/were worse than they thought.

i still say sometype of bowl by not sure what level until the next two games

 

[Grand Vol]

bama will get 300 yrds on the ground against us.. fla will look like bama because we always choke n ga won by 66 so they def looked beatable...

face it we lost to a ranked team by 24 pts.. so please calm down.. btw the spread was 21 which means we/were worse than they thought.

i still say sometype of bowl by not sure what level until the next two games

The same Tennessee that held Oklahoma to 146 yards of rushing will give up 300 yards?

For comparison:

OU v WVU: 301 yards
OU v Tulsa: 261 yards
OU v LA Tech: 183 yards

And yet Bama is gonna run all over us?

 

[Seattle Hillbilly]

I agree with the OP. With the exception of Alabama and possibly UGA I don't see a dominate team left on UT's schedule. I think we'll see a lot of close competitive games from here on out. Too many variables for me to hazard a guess on final record, but I think this will be an interesting season.

 

[Biopsyman]

More time for hot action at noon,3:30 and 8

 

[OrangeMound]

I hate to say, but they looked good yesterday. If it wasn't for turnovers that game could've been 50-7.

Alabubba is good but Florida made them look better than they are. FLA struggled at home against KY and played like crap yesterday. FLA is not the team they use to be. We have both teams at home and we'll be more competive against ALA, and we will defeat FLA this year.

 

[Weezer]

Georgia is vulnerable. Doesn't mean we're a lock to win the game, but chinks in their armor were exposed by South Carolina. Beating up a cupcake yesterday doesn't change that. We can win that game if we execute a good gameplan and maintain discipline. If we get blown out, then the coaches haven't done their job, because we have the players to at least keep it close.

Alabama is the best team left on our schedule. Yesterday, despite pounding on UF, they looked downright sloppy at times. If we catch Bama playing sloppy, we have a chance. I'm hoping they look past us and don't put forth their best effort, because I believe the coaches will have our young guys firmly focused on the task at hand. If we catch them with their guard down, I think we have the ability to make them pay. They do not look unbeatable. There have been several years in recent history where they did imo. This year is not one of them.

The gators have an uncanny ability to get inside our heads and win the game before it's even played. I'm hoping Butch has found a way to end that. I think it all comes down to focus and execution. A good coach should have his players prepared both physically and mentally. Florida has not looked good on the field this year. There's no reason he shouldn't have our players believing they can win that game.

I'm not claiming we will win every game left on the schedule. All I'm saying is we should be able to compete closely with every team left on the schedule. The only exception is Bama. If Bama plays their best, they should dominate us. They have the depth to wear us down. I think we're a talented young team capable of pulling off some upset wins, but I think our depth still limits us against a team like Bama. If Bama is caught with their pants down though, I think we could witness some magic.

 

[Weezer]

Okay, that last sentence sounds bad reading it back, but I think you know what I'm saying.