About that Georgia passing game (that the Dawgs will need) ...
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017
For the third week in a row, Georgia's offensive game plan was a head-scratcher.
We know the Bulldogs can run the ball. We know they have two of the top senior running backs in the country.
We know they have superb depth at that position. We know that the offensive line is in some transition.
We know that offensive linemen are better at, and prefer, run blocking over pass blocking.
We know that Jake Fromm is a true freshman.
But you don't get better at something by not doing something, and it’s hard to figure out how Georgia is getting better at the passing game by not passing against defenses on Saturday, defenses that serve as a good chance to get better without getting threatened.
And it's not just about Fromm, who yes, has had some bad passes. Tom Brady does, too.
It's about the receivers, some of whom are still in the learning-to-catch-the-ball stage. The Bulldogs have more drops than they should.
It's about the offensive line, which has already shown it needs to improve on pass blocking, as do the vast majority of offensive lines.
It's about the offense having the sharpness to step up when the defense has an off day, not just an off quarter.
It's about what happens when SEC defenses put eight or nine in the box and have competent cornerbacks.
There are those who are too obsessed with Georgia's defense to realize that the Bulldogs will need more offense to win, to beat Florida, South Carolina, Auburn and Georgia Tech.
Yup, the Gators and Gamecocks are on that list because they’re SEC teams with winning records, and with SEC athletes. And if you don’t think Georgia Tech can make Georgia’s defense work, go take a Football 101 class.
There are those who think nobody on the college planet can stop Nick Chubb and Sony Michel - and maybe D’Andre Swift - and, of course, they're wrong.
And what if one gets hurt for awhile? Again.
Fromm has tried more than 15 passes in one game, Notre Dame, and that win is better now than when it happened.
People whine about Fromm – stunningly - but it's awful hard to get better when you aren't allowed to get into a groove, to see what you can and can't do on Saturday.
And Saturday is different than every other day of the week.
That's been fine so far, against App State, a then-overrated Notre Dame, FBS Samford, an overrated Mississippi State team, a reeling Tennessee outfit, and, well, Vandy.
“We ain’t needed to pass the ball.”
It’s not about need, and it’s not about doing what you do well to blast teams you’re going to blast or are blasting early. Once this game is under control, work for the future.
Georgia hasn’t done that, and not giving the passing game - in all its facets with all its people – a chance to get after it on Saturday can very easily haunt Georgia at some point.
If that happens, await the “why didn’t we try to get better against Tennersee and Vandy when we were killing ‘em? We know we can run the ball over everybody, don’t need to work on that.”
Maybe it won't lose game, but a lack of sharpness is likely to make some games closer than they should be. It can be the difference between a nice win and a dominant win, and soon enough, the difference between keeping an opponent in a game – setting up the possibility of the upset – and knocking the opponent out.
If Auburn's offense keeps making strides, the always-interesting matchup will be the same. South Carolina will have enough athletes – as will any decent team in the SEC – to, if they play smart, make life less easy than Tennessee did. The Gamecocks up and had three defensive touchdowns against Arkansas.
Georgia has none this year, had two last year and the year before. Others are playing some defense, too, and defense is a little easier when offenses – even with some superb talent – are one-dimensional.
Maybe the staff is just hiding the confidence in Fromm. Maybe today’s game against Missouri – 98th against the run, 109th in passing yards allowed, 114th in pass efficiency defense – will be where they just come out firing and throw all sorts of funky stuff to give Florida something to work on.
In any given game, the unexpected can happen. Ask Clemson and Washington State. Their fans thought they were bulletproof, too.
Loughdmouthings
Goodness gracious, a 59-yard field goal? In high school? On the road?
That’s what Northside’s Cory Munson did Friday at Lee County, drilling it to tie the game with 1:13 left.
Munson is one of the three-headed kicking monster in the neighborhood, with Warner Robins’ Eli Mashburn and Peach County’s Mitchell Fineran.
Mashburn has three game-winning field goals, and Fineran, for example, was 9 of 10 on touchbacks Friday night with five out of the end zone, and perfect on nine PATs.
Even if they haven’t yet, all three can do what the other three do, although to be honest, I figured it’d be Fineran who had the 50-yarder or better.
Old-school coaches giving their kickers such chances? Wow. …
I hope North Carolina's admissions office is ready, because now that we see their standards, a whole lotta young 'ns are likely to apply. ...
Anybody else still getting over Clemson losing to Syracuse? There are upsets you can see, that almost make sense.
That wasn't one of them. And yet analysts say the Tigers aren't out of the playoff picture.
Yeah, they are, unless Georgia loses to Missouri, Penn State loses to Rutgers/Maryland/Nebraska, Washington loses to Arizona State/Utah, TCU loses to Kansas/Iowa State/Baylor, Wisconsin loses to anybody, and so on. ...
Unfortunately, we're nearing the point of speculating about area high school coaching changes. ...
And from the Left Coast Sports Babe:
“At least US men’s soccer made sure we won’t have any national anthem controversy during the World Cup.”