Just thinking -
Georgia has an elite defense. So did Clemson to start the season. Clemson returned almost all of its defense from the prior year while Kirby had to reload on that side of the ball. Georgia returned much of its offense from 2020 while Dabo had to retool on that side, especially at QB. I actually ended up picking Clemson in that game after going back and forth for a few days. I thought it would be easier for Clemson to put an offense on the field than it would be for Kirby to get his new defense up and running. The two offenses only managed a field goal each in the game. The winning margin for Georgia was provided by a 74-yard pick-six interception return by Kirby’s defense.
Arkansas doesn’t have a QB. I mean the guy will do in a pinch but not the sort I don’t think that you want against an elite defense. Arkansas had one drive the whole game. It was for 55 yards and ended with a missed field goal.
Luke Doty for South Carolina came into the game against Georgia after Noland got hurt early on. South Carolina ended up with 310 yards of offense. Against Georgia this year no one else has even got to 200. Doty is coming off of a foot injury but he’s a mid-range blue chip (95-96) dual threat and based on the media sessions yesterday, it seems Beamer is ready to let him run. Up until this point they’ve been protecting him but they don’t seem to be able to generate any offense any other way.
Kiffin demonstrated that he is still a rebellious child in Ole Miss’s matchup with Alabama last week. He obviously doesn’t trust his defense and since he’s an offensive guru he wanted to be the hero and do it all by himself. In the process he repeatedly gave Alabama short fields. It’s one thing not to trust your defense; it’s quite another to stab them in the back time after time after time. I’ve sort of liked Kiffin but in that game he proved he is still a punk so I like him a lot less now. jmo.
I still don’t know how good we are for a number of reasons. I was surprised we didn’t appear prepared for Emory Jones to run wild against us in the swamp or at least it seemed like we weren’t doing anything special to account for him. So I have some concerns about our defense against a true mobile QB. I’m interested to see how our offense holds up against a somewhat better defense. From a ranking perspective Pittsburgh has a much better run defense than South Carolina (or Kentucky) but when we played Pitt we didn't really have any running backs. Evans was out and Small & Wright had limited carries. It was mostly Milton and Hooker for our ground game.
We’ve played Alabama close a couple of times in recent years, 2015 & 2019, but found ways to let it slip away. The only difference in our run defense and Georgia’s run defense, statistically, is Emory Jones.
Although it’s likely that Georgia and Kentucky win this week, I’m pulling for Auburn and LSU. I don’t have much hope for A&M against Alabama but the Aggies are at home. How the hell can you win without a QB? Thankfully, it appears like we have one now. jmo.
All this to say, don’t let Luke run free this week and while not probable it’s also not impossible but if we win out I think we’d be going to Atlanta.
Pregame prep begins at noon tomorrow, 48 hours out from kickoff. We need to be on point. jmo.
