Down Goes the Georgia Bulldogs

It started perfectly for UGA. Then it became a disaster. Safety Dan Jackson intercepted Jaxon Dart in Ole Miss territory, which resulted in a Nate Frazier touchdown for the Dawgs to go up 7-0 early against the Rebels. With Dart headed to the locker room, it looked like UGA was prepared to throttle Ole Miss’ vaunted offense like they did to Texas. Read more down goes the Georgia Bulldogs.

But back up QB Austin Simmons came in, went 5 for 6 and marched the Rebels down the field for a touchdown. Once Dart returned to the game, things began to get out of hand for UGA. 18 points really doesn’t show the full discrepancy between these two teams. 

The Good

Defensively, UGA did better than it feels. While there were moments where the defense was carved up and receivers were running free, the Dawgs were able to buckle down in the red zone and hold Ole Miss to field goals. Without the turnovers and going for it on 4th down, UGA’s defense should have done enough to position the team to win the game. 

CB Daniel Harris continues to get more reps at cornerback. Coach Smart has said that he had a frank conversation about his practice habits and since then Harris has earned more reps. 

Lb Smael Mondon was back from his foot injury. While I’m sure he’s still not 100%, I had assumed he’d be out for the year.

The Bad

Carson Beck was better today, but still not great. While his turnover wasn’t directly his fault (the pass was tipped at the line) I read somewhere that he leads that nation in tipped passes. Beck was conservative, so he didn’t put the ball at risk much throwing, but also didn’t see the open targets he had down the field. Part of that was that he was running for his life. He also fumbled on a sack. 

Dropped passes once again plagued the Dawgs. They now lead the nation in dropped passes. Plus UGA’s receivers all but disappeared in this game. UGA had 1 receiver with over 30 yards. It was Dom Lovett with a mere 41. The skill players did nothing to help Beck. 

Injuries are becoming a major problem for the UGA offense. RB Trevor Etienne couldn’t go long with his rib injury. RG Micah Morris did not play. RG Tate Ratledge couldn’t play for long. LT Earnest Greene is dealing with injuries as well. 

The offensive game plan was poor from the beginning. UGA absolutely had to establish the run against Ole Miss so that the passing game would open up and so that the defense could rest. They only managed 60 yards rushing when you factor in the multiple sacks given up. Ole Miss’ defense style is built to counter UGA’s offensive run game.

Inside Zone Runs

UGA love inside zone runs, but they can be stuffed with good run stunts. Ole miss did that all day long, and UGA was unable to adjust. The Dawgs tried to respond with counter runs, but those weren’t very successful either. UGA needed more than one option to turn to in order to adapt to the Rebel run defense, but they had one other move and it didn’t work. This is why UGA threw so many screens. What it led to, though, was allowing Ole Miss to hold UGA to short yards on first and second down, and then tee off on 3rd down with their pass rushers. 

The Defensive game plan wasn’t great either. Again, UGA wasn’t using its playmakers in the best ways. Watching LB Jalon Walker get burned in pass coverage, I kept asking “why is our best pass rusher in coverage so much?” UGA stopped bringing pressure and that was a bad idea. It worked great the first drive and then UGA just didn’t show enough aggression on the defensive side of the ball.

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The Ugly

The offensive line. Holy crap, they were terrible. Swiss cheese. Olè blocking. Pathetic. Yes, the injuries are bad. Yes, we ended up with our 4th string RG playing. I don’t care. It was an utter disaster. The communication and execution was horrendous from start to finish. Beck has nearly single-handedly cost UGA some football games.

Today, the offensive line unit cost UGA this game. They couldn’t run, they couldn’t throw because Beck was harassed all night. It didn’t matter what combination of players UGA used, they were abused by Ivey, Nolen, Pegues, and the crew. 

We haven’t seen this kind of loss since 2016, in Kirby’s first year. UGA was completely man-handled on both lines of scrimmage and out-coached too. This game was shocking to watch, because it felt like a Mark Richt-era defeat all over again. It’s not that UGA lost. It’s how they lost, looking inept in the process. 

Reaction

Things are snowballing right now for UGA. The offensive issues that have persisted all year are now compounding as the Dawgs are on their last leg with the offensive line and running back room with injuries. Surprise, Cash Jones is in a boot too, which would leave UGA with their 4th, 6th, and 7th string options available for Tennessee this week if he can’t go.

UGA’s leadership, which has lacked all season, now seems to be crumbling as Beck mopes about the sideline when he plays poorly, but simultaneously was seen smiling and laughing while the Dawgs were getting stomped. Back up Safety Jake Pope was seen jumping and smiling with Ole Miss fans as they stormed the field. Even with his apology and plausible explanation, it’s indicative of this entire roster: they don’t execute the small things and the small things become big things. 

UGA’s Scheduling Woes

UGA has gotten screwed this season with the most difficult schedule in the nation. They are going into what would only be their 4th home game this week, while every other team in the entire nation has already played at least 5 home games.

In some ways, a difficult schedule combined with losing NFL guys like Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Kamari Lassiter, and Tykee Smith combined to expose weaknesses in this roster that were covered up or overlooked previously. UGA has zero swagger to them. Their confidence is low, their QB is broken, and they have a top 10 matchup this week to fight for their playoff hopes.

I’ll also say, so far the playoff committee has also screwed UGA, punishing them insanely last year and so far this year. They have not rewarded a challenging schedule one ounce in dropping UGA so far in the rankings. However, I think they deserve the drop based on their on field performance. 

Mike Bobo

I know Dawg fans want to blame Mike Bobo, Stacey Searles, and Carson Beck for the offense sucking. Here’s what I’d say. Yes, Bobo deserves some blame because he can’t get the guys to execute. But honestly, his play calling on the whole this year has been good to great. Searles has a lot of explaining to do with such a bad performance this week, and with his guys continuing to make the same miscues over and over.

Yes, Matt Luke is not any Good

However, UGA is also seeing the effect just now of 2 years of Matt Luke not recruiting hardly anyone worth a dang. UGA has put a lineman in the first round the last 6 years. Where is that guy on this roster? He’s not there, in large part because Matt Luke phoned in recruiting and we signed goofballs like Griffin Scruggs and Aliou Bah to our class, who promptly left.

What we have now are mostly guys who weren’t good enough to go pro early in their careers on talent. But their experience hasn’t done much for them either. A group that was a Joe Moore award nominee is now a mess. We’ve seen 10-12 key players either show no improvement from last year, or have in fact gotten worse than last year. Offensively, Oscar Delp, Dylan Fairchild, Earnest Greene, Dillon Bell, Carson Beck, all are playing worse than last season. You throw in injuries and two of your best receivers kicked off the team, it’s no wonder this offense sucks. 

At the end of the day, this team can still make the playoff if they win out and achieve it’s goals. However, I don’t see it. I don’t know if they can even hang with Tennessee. This has been one of the least enjoyable UGA teams I can remember watching because I can’t think of a team with this much talent that plays so poorly in recent memory. The sky isn’t falling in Athens, but we are a Tennessee loss away from that being the case.