DiderotsGhost
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2011
- Messages
- 4,627
- Likes
- 23,503
This was one of those games where I was just happy that it was over and the scoreboard said we won. There was a bit of a VN war here over the "Don't Overlook" stuff, but the "Don't Overlook" crowd definitely ended up being right. South Carolina has been playing much better as the season has gone on. That said ...
We Got the W. It wasn't pretty, but we still managed to win. South Carolina probably deserved to win that one, but I'll consider it a case of the universe evening out after the Florida game.
Worst Game of the Season. Even if we did win, I felt like this was our worst played game of the season. This is after coming off our two best played games of the season versus Alabama and Kentucky.
Awful Middle Stretch. We started off this game looking like world-beaters. Then after going up 14-0, we played completely uninspired football starting around the mid 1st quarter, running till around the end of the 3rd. Not sure if it was the rain, overlooking the opponent, or what, but this was the first time this season our guys didn't seem like they were 100% into it.
We Finished Strong. Give this team credit, they came back in the 4th Quarter big-time. The defense deserves a lot of credit for stopping a very strong South Carolina offense.
South Carolina's Offense Looked Very Good. I thought South Carolina's coaches made a lot of excellent calls on offense, using tricky plays, and keeping our defenders guessing every play.
Depth. Remember when people were making 10-2 predictions at the beginning of the year? This is why I always thought that was crazy. Our depth has certainly improved this season versus Butch's first 2 seasons, but we're still not where we need to be. You could see it very clearly in this game. After injuries, we're extremely thin at multiple positions now, with the secondary, D-line, and O-line being the most impacted. I think our depth issues explain some (not all) of our struggles versus SC. Hoping some of our starters get a bit of rest next week versus North Texas.
Debord Struggled with Adjustments. I've been a Debord fan thus far. I'd give him an "A" or "B" for every game this season aside from that Oklahoma loss. I felt like he struggled with adjustments this game, though. He continued calling a lot of sophisticated runs (reverses, misdirections, etc) when the field conditions simply made it ill advised. Still, he did start pushing the passing game a bit more in the 2nd half to some success. I'd probably grade Debord in the B- / C+ range.
Execution in the Passing Game. Some of the issues aren't really Debord's fault. In the category of passing game frustrations, we had WAY too many drops, one of which would've almost certainly gone for a touchdown. We played better in the late game, but drops were killing us! Dobbs had quite a few errant throws, too, but a lot of those drops were right on the money.
Jancek Made Great Adjustments. Jancek's defense got destroyed by South Carolina for awhile, but he came back and made the right adjustments. Our defense really won the game in the 4th Quarter. Fwiw, I think it was clear that Jancek was struggling some with the lack of depth, too, but managed to find a way to succeed anyway.
Randolph's Targeting. Dumbest play of the season for our guys. The ball wasn't going to the receiver he hit and the targeting call put us in a bad spot, as we already had significant depth issues in the secondary, against a reasonably good passing attack.
We Don't Make a Lot of "Dumb Plays." On the bright side, after Randolph's targeting ejection, it did occur to me that we haven't had a lot of plays like that this season. Most teams have at least a half-dozen of those plays a season (if not a few every game), but this is the first time this year I can remember us having such a blatantly awful play. This is a testament to our staff with preach fundamentals.
Big Mistakes. We've been making quite a few mistakes on offense lately and getting away with it (e.g. defenders dropping passes going straight to them). Finally caught up with versus SC, as we had 3 turnovers, and at least one of them turned out to be very costly. We can't afford to make those mistakes against Mizzou and Vandy.
We won! Did I already mention that we won?! Sometimes you have to win them ugly. As nerve-wrecking as it was being a UT fan last night, our guys found a way to win and stepped up in the 4th. 5-4 looks a lot better than 4-5 to me.
COMING UP
North Texas. Back in 2013, North Texas went 9-4 and gave Georgia a scare. This year, according to Sagarin, this is the 3rd worst team in all of I-A football. There are at least 2-3 dozen I-AA teams rated higher than them. Hoping we can get some back-ups some play time and give our starters some much needed rest.
Mizzou. If we play like we did against SC, we'll lose to Missouri. We can't afford to make costly turnovers against that incredibly good defense. Mizzou's offense is terrible, so the last thing we want to do is allow their D to score on us.
Vandy. Gave Florida a scare. Don't underestimate their defense, which has also played incredibly good all season. Just like Mizzou, Vandy's problem has been offense. So it looks like our last two games of the season are going to be very similar.
Still #18 in Sagarin. Surprisingly, we're still #18 in the Sagarin ratings this week. Mizzou is #62 and Vandy is #75.
Recruiting. This game really highlighted the importance of closing out another good recruiting class. We've had two top 10 classes and you can see how it's made a tremendous impact in the way we play. But we still need more top players and more depth to be at a championship level. Be interesting to see how things play out, especially with the chaos at Georgia. This has been the one year where we've been #2 or #3 on a lot of key guys that UGA is recruiting, so it'll be interesting to see if we can grab a few more top recruits.
That's all I got. Glad we have North Texas next week.
We Got the W. It wasn't pretty, but we still managed to win. South Carolina probably deserved to win that one, but I'll consider it a case of the universe evening out after the Florida game.
Worst Game of the Season. Even if we did win, I felt like this was our worst played game of the season. This is after coming off our two best played games of the season versus Alabama and Kentucky.
Awful Middle Stretch. We started off this game looking like world-beaters. Then after going up 14-0, we played completely uninspired football starting around the mid 1st quarter, running till around the end of the 3rd. Not sure if it was the rain, overlooking the opponent, or what, but this was the first time this season our guys didn't seem like they were 100% into it.
We Finished Strong. Give this team credit, they came back in the 4th Quarter big-time. The defense deserves a lot of credit for stopping a very strong South Carolina offense.
South Carolina's Offense Looked Very Good. I thought South Carolina's coaches made a lot of excellent calls on offense, using tricky plays, and keeping our defenders guessing every play.
Depth. Remember when people were making 10-2 predictions at the beginning of the year? This is why I always thought that was crazy. Our depth has certainly improved this season versus Butch's first 2 seasons, but we're still not where we need to be. You could see it very clearly in this game. After injuries, we're extremely thin at multiple positions now, with the secondary, D-line, and O-line being the most impacted. I think our depth issues explain some (not all) of our struggles versus SC. Hoping some of our starters get a bit of rest next week versus North Texas.
Debord Struggled with Adjustments. I've been a Debord fan thus far. I'd give him an "A" or "B" for every game this season aside from that Oklahoma loss. I felt like he struggled with adjustments this game, though. He continued calling a lot of sophisticated runs (reverses, misdirections, etc) when the field conditions simply made it ill advised. Still, he did start pushing the passing game a bit more in the 2nd half to some success. I'd probably grade Debord in the B- / C+ range.
Execution in the Passing Game. Some of the issues aren't really Debord's fault. In the category of passing game frustrations, we had WAY too many drops, one of which would've almost certainly gone for a touchdown. We played better in the late game, but drops were killing us! Dobbs had quite a few errant throws, too, but a lot of those drops were right on the money.
Jancek Made Great Adjustments. Jancek's defense got destroyed by South Carolina for awhile, but he came back and made the right adjustments. Our defense really won the game in the 4th Quarter. Fwiw, I think it was clear that Jancek was struggling some with the lack of depth, too, but managed to find a way to succeed anyway.
Randolph's Targeting. Dumbest play of the season for our guys. The ball wasn't going to the receiver he hit and the targeting call put us in a bad spot, as we already had significant depth issues in the secondary, against a reasonably good passing attack.
We Don't Make a Lot of "Dumb Plays." On the bright side, after Randolph's targeting ejection, it did occur to me that we haven't had a lot of plays like that this season. Most teams have at least a half-dozen of those plays a season (if not a few every game), but this is the first time this year I can remember us having such a blatantly awful play. This is a testament to our staff with preach fundamentals.
Big Mistakes. We've been making quite a few mistakes on offense lately and getting away with it (e.g. defenders dropping passes going straight to them). Finally caught up with versus SC, as we had 3 turnovers, and at least one of them turned out to be very costly. We can't afford to make those mistakes against Mizzou and Vandy.
We won! Did I already mention that we won?! Sometimes you have to win them ugly. As nerve-wrecking as it was being a UT fan last night, our guys found a way to win and stepped up in the 4th. 5-4 looks a lot better than 4-5 to me.
COMING UP
North Texas. Back in 2013, North Texas went 9-4 and gave Georgia a scare. This year, according to Sagarin, this is the 3rd worst team in all of I-A football. There are at least 2-3 dozen I-AA teams rated higher than them. Hoping we can get some back-ups some play time and give our starters some much needed rest.
Mizzou. If we play like we did against SC, we'll lose to Missouri. We can't afford to make costly turnovers against that incredibly good defense. Mizzou's offense is terrible, so the last thing we want to do is allow their D to score on us.
Vandy. Gave Florida a scare. Don't underestimate their defense, which has also played incredibly good all season. Just like Mizzou, Vandy's problem has been offense. So it looks like our last two games of the season are going to be very similar.
Still #18 in Sagarin. Surprisingly, we're still #18 in the Sagarin ratings this week. Mizzou is #62 and Vandy is #75.
Recruiting. This game really highlighted the importance of closing out another good recruiting class. We've had two top 10 classes and you can see how it's made a tremendous impact in the way we play. But we still need more top players and more depth to be at a championship level. Be interesting to see how things play out, especially with the chaos at Georgia. This has been the one year where we've been #2 or #3 on a lot of key guys that UGA is recruiting, so it'll be interesting to see if we can grab a few more top recruits.
That's all I got. Glad we have North Texas next week.
