Thoughts on the South Carolina Game, after sleeping on it

[NighthawkVol]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

How many times have we looked at JG's stat line and thought, "those numbers look a lot better than I thought?" I think it's because he misses the a) important 3rd down throws and b) throws he should hit. That being said, if you're missing that many throws you should hit and still have a good stat line, that tells me that most of the throws he's making are throws he should hit....which, as BruinVol pointed out, means he's making good decisions. He's throwing to the right man. The one throw I recall that was a bad decision was near the end zone at the end on a 3rd and 5...he had Gray wide open in the flat and tried to drill it in the end zone. We settled for the final field goal. Other than that, I think his reads were spot on. And that's not nothing.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

-As Clockwork mentioned, there were some nice freshmen contributions. Had no idea Slaughter would play. Hadn't heard much about him in practice and he wasn't one of the more talked-about recruits. He had some nice plays and some struggle plays, like any freshman. But the fact he was in there Game 1 as a true freshman tells me he's got a bright future. Same for Spraggins playing some OLine. Baron looks like a future star. Also spotted Morvyn Joseph, Jalin Hyatt (on another 3rd down that JG missed and should have hit), and of course, Holiday on teams recovering the fumble. I also thought I saw Eason out there...but he looked slim...maybe that was another #20? And of course, Will Albright...

-I'm so tired of saying it....but wasting initial counters on long snappers is SO stupid. When have we ever had a problem with a walk-on earning a scholarship? How many bounced snaps have walk-ons made? But we waste a scholarship/counter on Albright and he bounces two in the dirt before being replace by a....you guessed it, walk-on, who....you guessed it, made nothing but perfect snaps the rest of the game. STOP. WASTING. COUNTERS. ON. LONG SNAPPERS. I don't care if Saban does it. It's stupid. Lovingood couldn't even win the job on kicks and now Albright is benched for a walk-on.

-He's not a true freshman, but redshirt freshman, Elijah Simmons looked good in there. Another kid with a bright future.

-Who started/played the most on the OLine? It looked like Jahmir Johnson was the LT over Morris until he pulled a hammy (not sure if he went back in). I saw both Carvin and Spraggins at RG. Obviously, Trey was the LG, Kennedy was the C, and from what I saw, Wright got all the time at RT. Didn't notice Calbert.

-Jeremy Banks is a monster at ILB if he can keep his head straight. Let's say he had some "coachable" moments. But man, he's like a missile out there.

-Same for Deandre Johnson. He and Kivon Bennett look like they're going to be problems for opposing offenses off the edge. I thought Roman Harrison would overtake one of them, but they're not going anywhere. Nice to have Harrison for depth too. Have to be happy with the pass rush overall.

-We've gotta figure out how to defend the slant. Maybe that was a product of not having Shamburger in there. Or being caught in man too often. Don't know, but they killed our secondary with the slant.

-Anybody know who #96 was when we went jumbo at the end trying to run clock? He got a penalty and came out, but had a nice block before that. Didn't have a name on his jersey. Did they sneak Cade Mays in? ;P

-Disappointed to see Cimaglia miss. But that looked like a product of the entire unit screwing up. Gotta fix that. Don't wanna go back to the days when field goals were adventures. Having a nearly automatic kicker last year probably won us some games. We'll be in some close ones this year in which the kicker is the difference.

-Once we got the long snapper straight, Brooks had some booming punts.

-Velus Jones, Jr. looks dynamic on kick returns. The new rules have marginalized that aspect of the game, but when he gets a chance, he looks like he could be a weapon back there. Gray also had a nice punt return, but he's gotta make better fair catch judgment...he fair caught one when there wasn't a Gamecock on the TV screen. At least he didn't fair catch it inside the 5 like they did, though.

-Overall, glad to get out with a win. It wasn't pretty, but we went on the road in the SEC and won a game we would've lost in the past. 7 straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Now let's go home, beat Missouri like we should, and get ready to go to Athens, 2-0. Because after Missouri, the Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama stretch is brutal.

 

[ThreatLevelOrange]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

How many times have we looked at JG's stat line and thought, "those numbers look a lot better than I thought?" I think it's because he misses the a) important 3rd down throws and b) throws he should hit. That being said, if you're missing that many throws you should hit and still have a good stat line, that tells me that most of the throws he's making are throws he should hit....which, as BruinVol pointed out, means he's making good decisions. He's throwing to the right man. The one throw I recall that was a bad decision was near the end zone at the end on a 3rd and 5...he had Gray wide open in the flat and tried to drill it in the end zone. We settled for the final field goal. Other than that, I think his reads were spot on. And that's not nothing.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

-As Clockwork mentioned, there were some nice freshmen contributions. Had no idea Slaughter would play. Hadn't heard much about him in practice and he wasn't one of the more talked-about recruits. He had some nice plays and some struggle plays, like any freshman. But the fact he was in there Game 1 as a true freshman tells me he's got a bright future. Same for Spraggins playing some OLine. Baron looks like a future star. Also spotted Morvyn Joseph, Jalin Hyatt (on another 3rd down that JG missed and should have hit), and of course, Holiday on teams recovering the fumble. I also thought I saw Eason out there...but he looked slim...maybe that was another #20? And of course, Will Albright...

-I'm so tired of saying it....but wasting initial counters on long snappers is SO stupid. When have we ever had a problem with a walk-on earning a scholarship? How many bounced snaps have walk-ons made? But we waste a scholarship/counter on Albright and he bounces two in the dirt before being replace by a....you guessed it, walk-on, who....you guessed it, made nothing but perfect snaps the rest of the game. STOP. WASTING. COUNTERS. ON. LONG SNAPPERS. I don't care if Saban does it. It's stupid. Lovingood couldn't even win the job on kicks and now Albright is benched for a walk-on.

-He's not a true freshman, but redshirt freshman, Elijah Simmons looked good in there. Another kid with a bright future.

-Who started/played the most on the OLine? It looked like Jahmir Johnson was the LT over Morris until he pulled a hammy (not sure if he went back in). I saw both Carvin and Spraggins at RG. Obviously, Trey was the LG, Kennedy was the C, and from what I saw, Wright got all the time at RT. Didn't notice Calbert.

-Jeremy Banks is a monster at ILB if he can keep his head straight. Let's say he had some "coachable" moments. But man, he's like a missile out there.

-Same for Deandre Johnson. He and Kivon Bennett look like they're going to be problems for opposing offenses off the edge. I thought Roman Harrison would overtake one of them, but they're not going anywhere. Nice to have Harrison for depth too. Have to be happy with the pass rush overall.

-We've gotta figure out how to defend the slant. Maybe that was a product of not having Shamburger in there. Or being caught in man too often. Don't know, but they killed our secondary with the slant.

-Anybody know who #96 was when we went jumbo at the end trying to run clock? He got a penalty and came out, but had a nice block before that. Didn't have a name on his jersey. Did they sneak Cade Mays in? ;P

-Disappointed to see Cimaglia miss. But that looked like a product of the entire unit screwing up. Gotta fix that. Don't wanna go back to the days when field goals were adventures. Having a nearly automatic kicker last year probably won us some games. We'll be in some close ones this year in which the kicker is the difference.

-Once we got the long snapper straight, Brooks had some booming punts.

-Velus Jones, Jr. looks dynamic on kick returns. The new rules have marginalized that aspect of the game, but when he gets a chance, he looks like he could be a weapon back there. Gray also had a nice punt return, but he's gotta make better fair catch judgment...he fair caught one when there wasn't a Gamecock on the TV screen. At least he didn't fair catch it inside the 5 like they did, though.

-Overall, glad to get out with a win. It wasn't pretty, but we went on the road in the SEC and won a game we would've lost in the past. 7 straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Now let's go home, beat Missouri like we should, and get ready to go to Athens, 2-0. Because after Missouri, the Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama stretch is brutal.

Referring the jumbo package, #96 was Locklear and #93 was Cooper Mays. You’d have to look at the numbers on the back of the helmet to finds their true identity. In the NFL they just report as an ineligible number playing TE.

 

[DowsaTV]

Agreed, to me the biggest coaching mistake last night was late in the game, three passes and punt. At least run a screen play there, or pitch it once, or a reverse. Something to keep the clock running. All in all, super happy with a win this morning.

 

[utvolpj]

Agreed, to me the biggest coaching mistake last night was late in the game, three passes and punt. At least run a screen play there, or pitch it once, or a reverse. Something to keep the clock running. All in all, super happy with a win this morning.

Might agree but the drop by Keyton killed that drive. If JG hits your hands you've gotta catch it

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Agree a win is win anyway it happens. We could all be LSU fans this morning. JG is just maddening to watch and I don't see that getting any better. He seems to have series where he just forgets all of his mechanics. Saw and interview where he said he was throwing off his back foot on all the high throws. Well crap, if you knew that why didn't you stop it. Maddening!!

 

[Roustabout]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

How many times have we looked at JG's stat line and thought, "those numbers look a lot better than I thought?" I think it's because he misses the a) important 3rd down throws and b) throws he should hit. That being said, if you're missing that many throws you should hit and still have a good stat line, that tells me that most of the throws he's making are throws he should hit....which, as BruinVol pointed out, means he's making good decisions. He's throwing to the right man. The one throw I recall that was a bad decision was near the end zone at the end on a 3rd and 5...he had Gray wide open in the flat and tried to drill it in the end zone. We settled for the final field goal. Other than that, I think his reads were spot on. And that's not nothing.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

-As Clockwork mentioned, there were some nice freshmen contributions. Had no idea Slaughter would play. Hadn't heard much about him in practice and he wasn't one of the more talked-about recruits. He had some nice plays and some struggle plays, like any freshman. But the fact he was in there Game 1 as a true freshman tells me he's got a bright future. Same for Spraggins playing some OLine. Baron looks like a future star. Also spotted Morvyn Joseph, Jalin Hyatt (on another 3rd down that JG missed and should have hit), and of course, Holiday on teams recovering the fumble. I also thought I saw Eason out there...but he looked slim...maybe that was another #20? And of course, Will Albright...

-I'm so tired of saying it....but wasting initial counters on long snappers is SO stupid. When have we ever had a problem with a walk-on earning a scholarship? How many bounced snaps have walk-ons made? But we waste a scholarship/counter on Albright and he bounces two in the dirt before being replace by a....you guessed it, walk-on, who....you guessed it, made nothing but perfect snaps the rest of the game. STOP. WASTING. COUNTERS. ON. LONG SNAPPERS. I don't care if Saban does it. It's stupid. Lovingood couldn't even win the job on kicks and now Albright is benched for a walk-on.

-He's not a true freshman, but redshirt freshman, Elijah Simmons looked good in there. Another kid with a bright future.

-Who started/played the most on the OLine? It looked like Jahmir Johnson was the LT over Morris until he pulled a hammy (not sure if he went back in). I saw both Carvin and Spraggins at RG. Obviously, Trey was the LG, Kennedy was the C, and from what I saw, Wright got all the time at RT. Didn't notice Calbert.

-Jeremy Banks is a monster at ILB if he can keep his head straight. Let's say he had some "coachable" moments. But man, he's like a missile out there.

-Same for Deandre Johnson. He and Kivon Bennett look like they're going to be problems for opposing offenses off the edge. I thought Roman Harrison would overtake one of them, but they're not going anywhere. Nice to have Harrison for depth too. Have to be happy with the pass rush overall.

-We've gotta figure out how to defend the slant. Maybe that was a product of not having Shamburger in there. Or being caught in man too often. Don't know, but they killed our secondary with the slant.

-Anybody know who #96 was when we went jumbo at the end trying to run clock? He got a penalty and came out, but had a nice block before that. Didn't have a name on his jersey. Did they sneak Cade Mays in? ;P

-Disappointed to see Cimaglia miss. But that looked like a product of the entire unit screwing up. Gotta fix that. Don't wanna go back to the days when field goals were adventures. Having a nearly automatic kicker last year probably won us some games. We'll be in some close ones this year in which the kicker is the difference.

-Once we got the long snapper straight, Brooks had some booming punts.

-Velus Jones, Jr. looks dynamic on kick returns. The new rules have marginalized that aspect of the game, but when he gets a chance, he looks like he could be a weapon back there. Gray also had a nice punt return, but he's gotta make better fair catch judgment...he fair caught one when there wasn't a Gamecock on the TV screen. At least he didn't fair catch it inside the 5 like they did, though.

-Overall, glad to get out with a win. It wasn't pretty, but we went on the road in the SEC and won a game we would've lost in the past. 7 straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Now let's go home, beat Missouri like we should, and get ready to go to Athens, 2-0. Because after Missouri, the Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama stretch is brutal.

JG made good decisions. No turnovers. I thought he threw the ball towards the right receiver, but His execution and accuracy at times were terrible. There were multiple moments where UT could have made this a blowout and almost all of them were where we had receivers wide open and JG missed the throw. And missed it badly. Leach shows that offense doesn't have to be an arduous process. Leach sets an SEC record with a transfer in his first year after a funky off-season with a transfer QB.

The worst aspect is that I think this is the worst SC team in over a decade. We had some folks out, and lost some talent from last year, but nothing compared to SC. Plus they haven't recruited nearly as well as UT. I'd be surprised if they win 3 games.

Someone in another thread mocked me for saying DB was a thin position and claimed it was our deepest. Last night showed how thin we are and I can't figure how a head coach and DC who specialize in secondary play, have it like this in year three. What the heck happened to Burrell?

Personnel wise there were some weird things going on. In a critical 3rd down, they had a true freshman in on the O-line. With the depth and experience, I can't figure out how that happens. What in the world is wrong with Lampley, Chris A., and Ollie Lane. These are guys that have been in the program and can't be relied upon?

In the end, JG still seems to have a ceiling of points and if not for the defense scoring who knows. They had three drives that started in SC territory and got zero points. Chaney doesn't impress me and I said last night that Pruitt chewed his ass at the half and told him to run the ball. Resulted in our most impressive drive and actually opened up the throw game for the next drive.

 

[Roustabout]

Agree a win is win anyway it happens. We could all be LSU fans this morning. JG is just maddening to watch and I don't see that getting any better. He seems to have series where he just forgets all of his mechanics. Saw and interview where he said he was throwing off his back foot on all the high throws. Well crap, if you knew that why didn't you stop it. Maddening!!

LSU basically lost a team and a staff. I was hoping we would get them instead of Auburn on the road.

 

[imw8n4u]

We have to fix the ineptitude with trying to ice a game. I never understand why they even line up with more than 10 seconds on the play clock when you aren't going to snap it until the last second. We are lining up with 20 seconds to burn and our linemen can't hold it that long and someone screws up and false starts or something. Just stand 2 yards from the line until the play clock is at 10, then line up.

 

[ru4real-really?]

were up 21 14 and have a fourth and two deep in. Should have gone for it. Get the first down and score, the game is 28 14 and we coasting! Instead, miss FG and the game is tied!

should have had faith in OL and gone for it!

 

[lukeneyland]

We have to fix the ineptitude with trying to ice a game. I never understand why they even line up with more than 10 seconds on the play clock when you aren't going to snap it until the last second. We are lining up with 20 seconds to burn and our linemen can't hold it that long and someone screws up and false starts or something. Just stand 2 yards from the line until the play clock is at 10, then line up.

I thought the same

 

[JFreak]

My takeaway from watching all the games yesterday. UGA subbed in their backup QB in the first half when their starter didn't perform. Backup ended up putting about 35 points on the board in the 2nd half after UGA couldn't get anything going in the first. Maybe Kirby is the better coach?

 

[PulaskiVolFan]

JG made good decisions. No turnovers. I thought he threw the ball towards the right receiver, but His execution and accuracy at times were terrible. There were multiple moments where UT could have made this a blowout and almost all of them were where we had receivers wide open and JG missed the throw. And missed it badly. Leach shows that offense doesn't have to be an arduous process. Leach sets an SEC record with a transfer in his first year after a funky off-season with a transfer QB.

The worst aspect is that I think this is the worst SC team in over a decade. We had some folks out, and lost some talent from last year, but nothing compared to SC. Plus they haven't recruited nearly as well as UT. I'd be surprised if they win 3 games.

Someone in another thread mocked me for saying DB was a thin position and claimed it was our deepest. Last night showed how thin we are and I can't figure how a head coach and DC who specialize in secondary play, have it like this in year three. What the heck happened to Burrell?

Personnel wise there were some weird things going on. In a critical 3rd down, they had a true freshman in on the O-line. With the depth and experience, I can't figure out how that happens. What in the world is wrong with Lampley, Chris A., and Ollie Lane. These are guys that have been in the program and can't be relied upon?

In the end, JG still seems to have a ceiling of points and if not for the defense scoring who knows. They had three drives that started in SC territory and got zero points. Chaney doesn't impress me and I said last night that Pruitt chewed his ass at the half and told him to run the ball. Resulted in our most impressive drive and actually opened up the throw game for the next drive.

As much trouble as their DEs were causing I can't believe we never ran a simple draw or RB screen right past them. I think Gray needs the ball in space, he goes down on 1st contact way too much for my liking. I thought Chandler was our best back and could tell that Coach Graham has toughened him up a bit.

 

[FranklinVFL]

were up 21 14 and have a fourth and two deep in. Should have gone for it. Get the first down and score, the game is 28 14 and we coasting! Instead, miss FG and the game is tied!

should have had faith in OL and gone for it!

We were 1-12 on 3rd down conversions and 0-1 on 4th down conversions. For some reason, we could not convert to save our lives.....at with Cimiglia being so consistent, I had no problem with the call to go for a FG.

Now, we do have to do better to move the chains or it will be a long....long season.

 

[Elhanan]

JG is almost serviceable but still makes some super inaccurate throws. He will cost us games.

Really hoping he makes that week 1 to week 2 improvement.

 

[MurphyVol]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

How many times have we looked at JG's stat line and thought, "those numbers look a lot better than I thought?" I think it's because he misses the a) important 3rd down throws and b) throws he should hit. That being said, if you're missing that many throws you should hit and still have a good stat line, that tells me that most of the throws he's making are throws he should hit....which, as BruinVol pointed out, means he's making good decisions. He's throwing to the right man. The one throw I recall that was a bad decision was near the end zone at the end on a 3rd and 5...he had Gray wide open in the flat and tried to drill it in the end zone. We settled for the final field goal. Other than that, I think his reads were spot on. And that's not nothing.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

-As Clockwork mentioned, there were some nice freshmen contributions. Had no idea Slaughter would play. Hadn't heard much about him in practice and he wasn't one of the more talked-about recruits. He had some nice plays and some struggle plays, like any freshman. But the fact he was in there Game 1 as a true freshman tells me he's got a bright future. Same for Spraggins playing some OLine. Baron looks like a future star. Also spotted Morvyn Joseph, Jalin Hyatt (on another 3rd down that JG missed and should have hit), and of course, Holiday on teams recovering the fumble. I also thought I saw Eason out there...but he looked slim...maybe that was another #20? And of course, Will Albright...

-I'm so tired of saying it....but wasting initial counters on long snappers is SO stupid. When have we ever had a problem with a walk-on earning a scholarship? How many bounced snaps have walk-ons made? But we waste a scholarship/counter on Albright and he bounces two in the dirt before being replace by a....you guessed it, walk-on, who....you guessed it, made nothing but perfect snaps the rest of the game. STOP. WASTING. COUNTERS. ON. LONG SNAPPERS. I don't care if Saban does it. It's stupid. Lovingood couldn't even win the job on kicks and now Albright is benched for a walk-on.

-He's not a true freshman, but redshirt freshman, Elijah Simmons looked good in there. Another kid with a bright future.

-Who started/played the most on the OLine? It looked like Jahmir Johnson was the LT over Morris until he pulled a hammy (not sure if he went back in). I saw both Carvin and Spraggins at RG. Obviously, Trey was the LG, Kennedy was the C, and from what I saw, Wright got all the time at RT. Didn't notice Calbert.

-Jeremy Banks is a monster at ILB if he can keep his head straight. Let's say he had some "coachable" moments. But man, he's like a missile out there.

-Same for Deandre Johnson. He and Kivon Bennett look like they're going to be problems for opposing offenses off the edge. I thought Roman Harrison would overtake one of them, but they're not going anywhere. Nice to have Harrison for depth too. Have to be happy with the pass rush overall.

-We've gotta figure out how to defend the slant. Maybe that was a product of not having Shamburger in there. Or being caught in man too often. Don't know, but they killed our secondary with the slant.

-Anybody know who #96 was when we went jumbo at the end trying to run clock? He got a penalty and came out, but had a nice block before that. Didn't have a name on his jersey. Did they sneak Cade Mays in? ;P

-Disappointed to see Cimaglia miss. But that looked like a product of the entire unit screwing up. Gotta fix that. Don't wanna go back to the days when field goals were adventures. Having a nearly automatic kicker last year probably won us some games. We'll be in some close ones this year in which the kicker is the difference.

-Once we got the long snapper straight, Brooks had some booming punts.

-Velus Jones, Jr. looks dynamic on kick returns. The new rules have marginalized that aspect of the game, but when he gets a chance, he looks like he could be a weapon back there. Gray also had a nice punt return, but he's gotta make better fair catch judgment...he fair caught one when there wasn't a Gamecock on the TV screen. At least he didn't fair catch it inside the 5 like they did, though.

-Overall, glad to get out with a win. It wasn't pretty, but we went on the road in the SEC and won a game we would've lost in the past. 7 straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Now let's go home, beat Missouri like we should, and get ready to go to Athens, 2-0. Because after Missouri, the Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama stretch is brutal.

I've been watching UT for 35 years and I've yet to see them defend a slant

 

[ClockworkOrange]

Great post, Greg! You brought up some wonderful points. If we get some things corrected and notch #2 against Mizzou with some solid play, I'm going to be more than pumped for that UGA game. But let's put away the Tigers first. We owe them a number of good whippings for past years. Last year JG was money against them. Here's hoping! Like you, these are the kind of posts that really make me love this board. Thanks!

 

[Roustabout]

As much trouble as their DEs were causing I can't believe we never ran a simple draw or RB screen right past them. I think Gray needs the ball in space, he goes down on 1st contact way too much for my liking. I thought Chandler was our best back and could tell that Coach Graham has toughened him up a bit.

His TD run was full of contact. Thing of beauty.

 

[PulaskiVolFan]

His TD run was full of contact. Thing of beauty.

He also has a highlight reel full of him going down on 1st contact. If he's ever going to be an every down back he's got to get better at that and I believe he will. He showed marked improvement in his pass rush blocking skills yesterday being a key role in the game winning drive on the successful pass play to Johnson.

 

[JarrettClass79]

Why so much passing with the OL we have?

Why 3 passes on the next to last possession with a lead? Run the ball and the clock.

Any win is a good win. The team is getting better and WRs stepped up.

Free Cades Mays

 

[MikeVol44]

my thoughts on the game:

1. first game AFTER a very weird off-season W....A+
2. JG average.... some improvement...some of the same stuff.....scrambled to extend plays and drives a little more...held the ball instead of throwing pics......C

3. OL just a C+ SCe lacked depth and size to compete with us....4 YPC not good...but 1st game....I liked that Pruitt played a bunch of guys including Spraggins in there...
3a. RBs... B+ they ran hard and made some good cuts....Gray missed an opportunity to make another LONG RUN one time by cutting back instead of turning on the jets and getting out and down the sideline
3b. WR... A they ran good patterns and caught most catchable balls.....Jones looks like a game-changer...

4. Interior DL played very good game...got good push most of the game and stuffed the run...A
5. DE got held, but overall did not play the outside run very well....SCe got outside too many times on runs.....But also pressured the QB well ....B
6. LBs...I know Henry T got a pic-6....but HT, Crouch, and Banks got owned on passes to TE and across the middle....Banks blew up some screens.....but just an average overall performance C+
7. DBs...D..... too many times beaten deep--both Safeties and CBs....NEVER stopped the SLANTS all night long....And that was with a gimpy QB playing his first SEC game...

I know we're young at DB... have some good athletes out there....but NOW I am GLAD we didn't play OK in Norman earlier....
And I know a lot can happen before we have to play FL....but Trask playing this bunch will throw for 600+ if something doesn't change....

A+ for the W.....but overall a C- for the game....

That USCe team is NOT GOOD.....and they won't finish better than 4-6 this year....

 

[PandamoniumReigns]

He also has a highlight reel full of him going down on 1st contact. If he's ever going to be an every down back he's got to get better at that and I believe he will. He showed marked improvement in his pass rush blocking skills yesterday being a key role in the game winning drive on the successful pass play to Johnson.

So...since you are criticizing Eric Gray's play and ability, is it safe to say you are a NeverGrayer?

I think Gray is our best back. Reminds me a bit of Kamara in how he's slick/elusive, but not quite to the same level. Chandler is solid too though.

 

[Wireless1]

My takeaway from watching all the games yesterday. UGA subbed in their backup QB in the first half when their starter didn't perform. Backup ended up putting about 35 points on the board in the 2nd half after UGA couldn't get anything going in the first. Maybe Kirby is the better coach?

Heresy! A Georgia coach will never be better than a Volunteer coach! At least as long as he’s a Vol coach.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

Had JG hit those open receivers he missed, we might have had 10-14 more points.

 

[Rickyvol77]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

How many times have we looked at JG's stat line and thought, "those numbers look a lot better than I thought?" I think it's because he misses the a) important 3rd down throws and b) throws he should hit. That being said, if you're missing that many throws you should hit and still have a good stat line, that tells me that most of the throws he's making are throws he should hit....which, as BruinVol pointed out, means he's making good decisions. He's throwing to the right man. The one throw I recall that was a bad decision was near the end zone at the end on a 3rd and 5...he had Gray wide open in the flat and tried to drill it in the end zone. We settled for the final field goal. Other than that, I think his reads were spot on. And that's not nothing.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

-As Clockwork mentioned, there were some nice freshmen contributions. Had no idea Slaughter would play. Hadn't heard much about him in practice and he wasn't one of the more talked-about recruits. He had some nice plays and some struggle plays, like any freshman. But the fact he was in there Game 1 as a true freshman tells me he's got a bright future. Same for Spraggins playing some OLine. Baron looks like a future star. Also spotted Morvyn Joseph, Jalin Hyatt (on another 3rd down that JG missed and should have hit), and of course, Holiday on teams recovering the fumble. I also thought I saw Eason out there...but he looked slim...maybe that was another #20? And of course, Will Albright...

-I'm so tired of saying it....but wasting initial counters on long snappers is SO stupid. When have we ever had a problem with a walk-on earning a scholarship? How many bounced snaps have walk-ons made? But we waste a scholarship/counter on Albright and he bounces two in the dirt before being replace by a....you guessed it, walk-on, who....you guessed it, made nothing but perfect snaps the rest of the game. STOP. WASTING. COUNTERS. ON. LONG SNAPPERS. I don't care if Saban does it. It's stupid. Lovingood couldn't even win the job on kicks and now Albright is benched for a walk-on.

-He's not a true freshman, but redshirt freshman, Elijah Simmons looked good in there. Another kid with a bright future.

-Who started/played the most on the OLine? It looked like Jahmir Johnson was the LT over Morris until he pulled a hammy (not sure if he went back in). I saw both Carvin and Spraggins at RG. Obviously, Trey was the LG, Kennedy was the C, and from what I saw, Wright got all the time at RT. Didn't notice Calbert.

-Jeremy Banks is a monster at ILB if he can keep his head straight. Let's say he had some "coachable" moments. But man, he's like a missile out there.

-Same for Deandre Johnson. He and Kivon Bennett look like they're going to be problems for opposing offenses off the edge. I thought Roman Harrison would overtake one of them, but they're not going anywhere. Nice to have Harrison for depth too. Have to be happy with the pass rush overall.

-We've gotta figure out how to defend the slant. Maybe that was a product of not having Shamburger in there. Or being caught in man too often. Don't know, but they killed our secondary with the slant.

-Anybody know who #96 was when we went jumbo at the end trying to run clock? He got a penalty and came out, but had a nice block before that. Didn't have a name on his jersey. Did they sneak Cade Mays in? ;P

-Disappointed to see Cimaglia miss. But that looked like a product of the entire unit screwing up. Gotta fix that. Don't wanna go back to the days when field goals were adventures. Having a nearly automatic kicker last year probably won us some games. We'll be in some close ones this year in which the kicker is the difference.

-Once we got the long snapper straight, Brooks had some booming punts.

-Velus Jones, Jr. looks dynamic on kick returns. The new rules have marginalized that aspect of the game, but when he gets a chance, he looks like he could be a weapon back there. Gray also had a nice punt return, but he's gotta make better fair catch judgment...he fair caught one when there wasn't a Gamecock on the TV screen. At least he didn't fair catch it inside the 5 like they did, though.

-Overall, glad to get out with a win. It wasn't pretty, but we went on the road in the SEC and won a game we would've lost in the past. 7 straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Now let's go home, beat Missouri like we should, and get ready to go to Athens, 2-0. Because after Missouri, the Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama stretch is brutal.

Agree with every point! Good job!

 

[DiderotsGhost]

Clockwork Orange has an outstanding "thoughts on the game" post elsewhere, so I apologize for any redundancies.

-Guarantano looks about the same to me. He looks great at times, then he drives you nuts at times. In the end, he made the plays to win. If he could simply remedy the high throws, that alone would make him a MUCH better QB. It seems like that would be a mechanical issue and would have been fixed by now. Of course, Tee Martin never really fixed that either. But he could run.

Guess the question is whether this is the overthrows were from a lack of practice? I did notice he seemed to overthrow the newer WRs more so than Josh Palmer. While I wasn't super-impressed with JG's performance (I thought it was maybe a "B-" or "C" game), it's very difficult to say how much of that is a result of the lack of preparation this offseason versus what we typically have. Think we'll learn more the next couple of weeks.

-Jim Chaney is too pass-happy. Always has been. The strength of this offense is the OLine. We didn't even try to run it in the first half. In the 2nd half, when trying to ice the game, we had a possession that was all-passing, after having run successfully on the prior drive. We also have an inconsistent QB. Run the damn ball.

I strongly disagree with this.

We were about 50/50 pass/run. Everyone is acting like we were 75/25 pass / run, when we were very balanced. This isn't 1952; you've got to pass the ball. And the pass game was still, by far, more successful, even with a lot of mistakes. We're just not generating enough explosive plays in the run-game. It's good for a few yards here or there, but you want need big 30 or 50 yard plays to score TDs.

Moreover, we lack a big-bruiser type back to grind out yards. Think we have a few guys who could play this role, but the limited prep this offseason probably hurt that element of our game.