This will be the toughest test of the season so far, and possibly the hardest one we face all year... I say that b/c we have Alabama at home.
On offense here are some things to consider:
1. Our ability to run the ball has without a doubt been better this year. However, UGA has one of the best run defenses we will face (other than Bama) and Jenkins in the middle is a force and will be an NFL 3-4 NG in the near future. Jarvis Jones is a playmaker and must always be accounted for on the other side of the ball at all times or he will hurt you as he's proven over and over again.
2. The weakness of this defense comes in their secondary. Especially if Rambo doesn't suit up, which early reports out of Athens seem to indicate he will not be on the field this Sat, this is an area we have to exploit. They've moved Mitchell to corner and he's done a solid job, but this will be UGA first real test when it comes to a passing attack. Hopefully our guys can put pressure on them and create mismatches. #36 is a safety for them and he's a solid player, but does not have great coverage skills... I hope we can get Hunter and CP going early so that the attention is focused on them and then work Rivera similar to the way we tried to attack them last year until Bray got hurt.
3. We need some sort of rushing attack. We all saw what happens when you become one dimensional against a good coach when we played Florida. Todd Grantham is a good defensive coach, if we allow him to make us pass happy and let his guys go at Bray, then we will be in for a long night. As I previously mentioned UGA has a great run D, so tough yards by Neal and Lane will be needed in this one. Also using the wildcat packages and speed sweeps to CP and Pig can help provide production in the run game for us.
4. We need to keep them off balance on defense. Do not let them get comfortable by mixing in draws, screens, different personnel packages etc early on in the game. The more an offense can keep the defense guessing or on its heels, the better off we will be.
5. We need AT LEAST one "new face" to show up and be productive for us. Whether it's : Rivera, Pig, Rogers, Lane or a conglomerate of all of them, we need these guys to be big and not drop balls in crucial situations for us this Saturday to have a chance.
Things to consider on Defense:
1. This offense is VERY balanced. They do a great job of establishing the running game and then hurting you over the top. Murray is a solid QB b/c he can hurt you with his legs and his arm. He's got a lot of experience and is finally looking like the guy they'd hoped for this year. We need to put a stop to their 3 headed rushing attack, which plays to the strengths of guys like: McCullers, AJ Johnson, and Herman Lathers. Also Brewer at safety is certain packages will allow us to have another big LB type body in there to help against the run.
2. It looks like we will continue to have to move Waggner around from corner to safety in certain packages again with Randolph's injury. He is a good FS option and obviously his coverage skills are good, but it means we will have to play BOTH Coleman and Teague at the same time, so they will have to play well for us to not get beat like we did several times last year in this game... I will say Murray's biggest weakness is his lack of accuracy on his deep ball, so hopefully he will continue to struggle in that area.
3. In the first half against Akron we played very base defense, but still struggled with our alignments at times which bothered me... Hopefully it is b/c we were looking ahead to this game and scheming for UGA. I hope Sal can dial up some good disguises in the back end and create pressure to put on Murray early to get him rattled and out of rhythm.
4. We have to win the turnover battle if we want to have a chance to win Saturday plain and simple. We've been doing a solid job creating turnovers on defense, but Saturday we will need some guys to step up big and make plays when we have our chances.
5. Our linebackers will be tested in this one. Not only do they have to stop a great rushing offensive threat. They have to be able to keep contain on Murray if he decides to take off and run, they have to be aware of situation where UGA will go play action so that they don't get sucked in and allow WR to exploit the space in between them and the secondary.
Overall this will be a tough test and we will see what our team is made of coming off of a tough loss and win against Florida and Akron respectively... I hope we play well and give UGA a good game. We will need to win BOTH the turnover battle and the Special Teams battle to have a good shot to win. Also not breaking down late in the 2nd half would be nice to see. I'm excited for the game this Saturday between the hedges and hope we can pull out a W
I'm hesitant to add this last part due to the scorning I could receive, but the reason Alabama is as good as they are isn't necessarily because they have superior talent all the time. (Their talent is as good as anyone in the country I'm not saying it's not) The main reason Alabama is so good is because they execute better than anyone in the country. They don't have stupid penalties or lapses in concentration which allows for big plays. They are able to focus and have 11 guys do their job and that's why they are able to be successful. We need to put an entire game together and execute our jobs in all phases of the game better and for 60 minutes.
