Short and repetitive this week, but here were go.
Chaney is handcuffed and it's obvious. We constantly ran the ball on 3rd and 5s and even 3rd and 8s. And it's starting to become obvious that Pruitt is handcuffing Chaney and forcing him into a conservative game-plan that simply can't win in the SEC in the year 2020. Sure, we got lucky on some of those runs, but the 3rd or 4th time in a row, it started to feel a bit absurd.
JG is also handcuffing the offense. Sure, JG did not have the disastrous game he did against Kentucky. But the SEC has changed and you can't win by scoring 17 points and playing great defense any more. JG is a dinosaur. And it's becoming obvious that the coaches have no faith in him. Which is why we were running it on 3rd and 8. So right now, the entire gameplan revolves around not putting JG into situations where he will turn the ball over, which is unsustainable. You can't play scared (and with a 5th year Senior, no less!).
Baffling gameplan. While we're at it, this was one of the most baffling gameplans I've ever seen. We decided we were going to try to run down their throats and rely on our defense, but also decided "let's play hurry-up!" Seriously? If you're going to rely on your defense and running game, you want to shorten the game and grind down the clock. It makes no sense to play hurry up, which plays more into Alabama's hands. It felt like there was a disagreement at the coaches' meeting and they came up with this "worst of all worlds" compromise.
JG's performance. Better than last week, but still far from great. No INTs or fumbles, but 13 for 24 for 162 yards (6.8ypa) is stat line that wins in 1988, not 2020. Simply no comparison between JG and Mac Jones (25 for 31, 387 yards, 12.5 ypa)
Maurer or Bailey. Ultimately, the coaches need to take this offweek and get ready to roll with Maurer or Bailey. JG is a game manager and can't be more than that. It doesn't win in today's game. Even Georgia, which is basically elite at almost every position on the field other than QB, got destroyed by Alabama with a game-managing QB.
4th Quarter. Seriously, why not bring in Maurer or Bailey at the start of the 4th? We were down 4 touchdowns. Makes me no sense at that point. For that matter, I want to see Eric Gray and Ty Chandler "on the shelf" at that point, given that they are our biggest offensive weapons. Get Jabari Small and Tee Hodge some playing time.
Pruitt. When we hired him, I thought the ceiling was Dabo Swinney and the floor was Will Muschamp. I really hope he's not becoming Will Muschamp. He's been recruiting well. We've seen a lot of player development unlike with Butch Jones. I've bought into him, but am concerned by his dogged persistence in sticking with JG at QB. We played better on offense this game than the last one, but it's also ridiculously obvious to me that we can't win big with JG.
D-line. That said, I'm starting to understand why Pruitt fired Brumbaugh, because the DL has clearly regressed from last season. I'll give Pruitt credit for spotting that before a lot of other people. Let's hope we can bring in someone like Tosh Lupoi in the offseason.
Jalin Hyatt. I've been saying all offseason that this kid would be special. He was one of my favorite recruits we brought in. And I posted that he was the
2nd best WR on the team and not getting enough playing time the morning before the game. Glad someone on the staff saw the same thing. Annoyed that he was robbed of that 2nd TD (and a 100-yard game) by the refs, but happy that he had such a great game against one of the toughest teams on our schedule. We are very fortunate to have landed him and it's crazy how many teams managed to somehow overlook him.
The other WRs. While I'm happy to see Hyatt get more playing time and it pay off big time, I still want to see more of these Freshman WRs. I think Malachi Wideman is probably our 3rd or 4th best WR already and he's not getting enough action. You might remember him as the guy who caught that great pass by Harrison Bailey in garbage time. But right now, Palmer and Hyatt are our only receiving weapons, as you might see from looking at the box score. Brandon Johnson and Velus Jones are not good enough to get open much against elite SEC DBs. Get Wideman in the game! He's tough to defend.
Offense did play better. People are laughing about Pruitt calling this the best offensive performance of the season, but he's right. We should've had 24 points against one of the better defenses in the country. It's not enough and we need an elite QB, as well as to get more of these Freshman plyamkers at WR in the game, but I at least saw some progress yesterday on the offensive side of the ball.
Defense sucked, but everyone's D has sucked against Bama. We gave up 41 points, but even Georgia gave up 41 (you can adjust that down slightly for turnovers, but still probably have to say 30 - 35 points given up by Georgia's D). I don't know how to gauge our performance. I'm not happy about it, but there were also plays where I felt we played perfect defense and Alabama still managed to have some WR make a spectacular catch and pick up huge yardage. But I did feel like the front 7 didn't play well enough and we're still not tackling as well as we should.
Gary Danielson. Seriously getting sick of his bias:
'That's textbook targeting by Tennessee. No way that gets overturned.' Call then gets overturned. As it should. It was not targeting. The offensive player led with his helmet and initiated the contact, not Jaylen McCullough. Yeah, there was some subjectivity there, but the replay officials made the right call overturning that IMO. I don't see how, as a defender, you can be charged with targeting when the offensive player is the one charging into your helmet. Good reversal by the refs, bad call by Gary Danielson.
That's all.
Happy for the bye week. Let's hope the coaches figure things out better for the 2nd half of the season. At least we're through the worst 2 games on the schedule, but getting blown out to Kentucky is really what strings the most to me.
GBO!
