Shotgun's Thoughts on Game

[ShotgunDawg]

Until proven otherwise, Dan Mullen is Nick Saban/Kirby Smart's biaaatch. They own him. Dan can move the ball against everyone else, but put Saban or Smart on the other sideline & he loses all game planning ability.

- We ran into an ambush tonight against a more talented team that played as well as they could. I think we were confident coming, but the sucker punch flea flicker on the first play put us on our heals the rest of the game. I don't think we would've won by any means, but had the sucker punch not taken place, I think it goes into the 4th quarter as a competitive game.

- I'm really confused about our DL tonight. UGA has the smallest OL in the conference & according to pretty much everyone that follows UGA, is the weakness of the team. This unit certainly didn't show up tonight like they had to for us to win. Again, not sure what happened.

- Tolando Cleveland - Dude, your a SR. Act like it. You were the single biggest weakness on our defense tonight. You looked unprepared & outclassed. You've got to step up. Poor effort from you.

- Our lack of offense tonight is an absolute product of poor OL & WR recruiting. Our midget WRs got manhandled by physical corners. There were numerous balls pried away by Georgia DBSs due to lack of size & physicality at WR. Throw in a QB that doesn't have the greatest accuracy & we've got problems if our passing game can't be set up by running the ball.

- Logan Cook - your worst game tonight. Your lack of quality punts, really hurt us early in the game.

- Fitz - I thought you were tough tonight. It wasn't a good game for you, but you weren't the problem. At this point, I've accepted you for what you are. A damn good football player that is tough, can run, & competes, but you aren't an NFL passer. Not yet at least & when our offense requires you to be that, it's the team's fault, not yours.

Going forward, next week is going to be tough. Auburn found their legs tonight & they've got the DL to force us into a passing team because we can't run for 5-6 yards on 1st down. We'll really find out what we are made of next weekend from a leadership standpoint. Do we sulk or do we get back to work & play better next weekend?

UGA played lights out tonight. Some times when you play a top 5 recruiter, they don't play great, you sucker punch them early like they did us tonight, & you play the game on your terms. That didn't happen tonight. UGA was ready to go & played their best game in 2 years tonight. We'll lose that battle most every time.

I know everyone is disappointed, but we really do have a quality team. It's just limited offensively when other teams can keep us from running. From what I've seen, we will can & should beat, KY, OM, A&M, Ark, BYU, etc. We have a great chance to win 8....maybe 9 games.

Gotta put this one behind us & move on. Lots to play for & got to be ready for Auburn next weekend.

[GoDawgz]

UGA did play lights out tonight! Still a long way to go this year!

[Todd4State]

I agree. I think the flea flicker was an absolutely key play in the game. That and the two INT's which I believe were converted into scores. That's 21 of their 31 points tonight. Eliminate those three plays and we're right there with them.

[BuckyIsAB****]

We are run the ball or die on offense. Auburn is run the ball or die on O. Its at auburn. Will be tough but we can do it. Fitz is better than Stidham or whoever the hell is playing for them now. Mullen is better than Malzahn. We are better on offense than Auburn. They are pretty good up front on D. We're pretty good up front on D. We'll see what happens.

[ShotgunDawg]

I agree. I think the flea flicker was an absolutely key play in the game. That and the two INT's which I believe were converted into scores. That's 21 of their 31 points tonight. Eliminate those three plays and we're right there with them.

I disagree about the 2 INTs.

We were beat at that point. Again top level competition, we can't get into a passing contest & that's what happened. Nick forced a few balls because he had too. Nothing more. I don't think those played a big part in the outcome

[War Machine Dawg]

You're ripping Logan Cooke? WTF? Dude punted 7 times, had one go 67 yards, 5 go 40+ and 4 killed inside the 20. He was our best damn player. Could have been much worse if he hadn't forced them to drive a long field. We had many issues tonight, but Cooke wasn't one. Stop being an emotional puss.

[ShotgunDawg]

We're pretty good up front on D. We'll see what happens.

This is my biggest question about tonight.

We weren't good up front tonight. We got pushed around by an OL that wasn't supposed to be very good.

We got no pass rush & gave up chunk runs.

The DL's lack effectiveness in this game is baffling to me.

[ShotgunDawg]

You're ripping Logan Cooke? WTF? Dude punted 7 times, had one go 67 yards, 5 go 40+ and 4 killed inside the 20. He was our best damn player. Could have been much worse if he hadn't forced them to drive a long field. We had many issues tonight, but Cooke wasn't one. Stop being an emotional puss.

I disagree. He finished strong, but really cost us early in the game with poor punts. I thought he had his worst game tonight when the game was still in doubt

[parabrave]

Well one thing I noticed was the def scheme between this and last week. Against LSU the Linebackers were killing it on all phases of the game being aggressive and going after the QB. . This week they just seemed to sit back and wait for things to happen instead of making things happen. And yeah tackling sucked.

[Liverpooldawg]

I'd feel better about you if you hadn't included the word "thoughts" in that.

[ShotgunDawg]

I'd feel better about you if you hadn't included the word "thoughts" in that.

Can someone ban this ass hole?

What is your problem?

[Dawgology]

I don’t know that Mullen has ever fielded a come from behind team while at State. I can only think of maybe one or two instances where we edged out a win after being down 2+ touchdowns.

I don’t know WHY this is I just know it IS. If you notice when we score first we typically win those games. Seems like an obvious statement but a great strategy to attack Mullen was used tonight. Use trickery and jump to an early lead. It’ll get him every time it appears.

I’m not hating on him for it it is simply something I’ve noticed.

[ShotgunDawg]

Well one thing I noticed was the def scheme between this and last week. Against LSU the Linebackers were killing it on all phases of the game being aggressive and going after the QB. . This week they just seemed to sit back and wait for things to happen instead of making things happen. And yeah tackling sucked.

That tends to happen when your sucker punched early

[Liverpooldawg]

Can someone ban this ass hole?

What is your problem?

I don't think like you. If that's a banning offense then so be it. Notice I'm not calling for banning you. I relish debate with opposing viewpoints. Perhaps you don't.

[msstate7]

That tends to happen when your sucker punched early

Yep. The whole start was terrible... offense 3 and out and bad punt. Georgia doesn't run a flea flicker if we have them inside their own 30

[justwin]

Shotgun, we lost tonight bc we lost on the edges like we always do vs Saban. Fitz refused to pull & challenge the edges enough, Cleveland & durr were identified presnap and attacked every time like they do in the NFL. Our ol & DL we're fine. Our RBs were fine. Fitz's accuracy was fine. Like 2014 & forward vs Saban, he dupes us into abandoning the qb run to the edges then they drop 7 into passing situations after we think we can win the edges. There was a play in the 3Q where 3rd and 2, Chubb got 3 after durr refused to help on the tackle. Durr & Cleveland are liabilities and shouldn't play any more. I wish someone could post that video play by durr, zero effort.

People complain about hevesy, but I'd replace Gonzales first. Our WRs are fine, but they don't even try to make fakes in their routes. Banana routes too often. That's on Gonzales.

We can still win a bunch this year.

[ShotgunDawg]

I don't think like you. If that's a banning offense then so be it. Notice I'm not calling for banning you. I relish debate with opposing viewpoints. Perhaps you don't.

But you aren't debating with counter points. Your being an asshole and immature

I'm all for opposing view points, but your post here and many others aren't that.

Why would I be banned? Do I purposefully attack your posts with none sense just to chastise you?

No of course not.

[Liverpooldawg]

But you aren't debating with counter points. Your being an asshole and immature

I'm all for opposing view points, but your post here and many others aren't that.

I basically don't like your doom and gloom tone. We got beat by a better team. You can dissect it and point out our team's and individual player's and coaches' failings from now to doomsday, that's your right. I prefer to move on. I've seen too many beatdowns like that both at MSU and my other program. We got our asses handed to us, you look at the film, and you move the heck on. If you dwell on the negatives from this then you set the tone, a negative one, for the season. Learn from it and move on, and if you do that in a blaming manor, you are doomed.

[ShotgunDawg]

I basically don't like your doom and gloom tone. We got beat by a better team. You can dissect it and point out our team's and individual player's and coaches' failings from now to doomsday, that's your right. I prefer to move on. I've seen too many beatdowns like that both at MSU and my other program. We got our asses handed to us, you look at the film, and you move the heck on. If you dwell on the negatives from this then you set the tone, a negative one, for the season. Learn from it and move on, and if you do that in a blaming manor, you are doomed.

I'm one of the larger sunshine pumpers on the board. Might want to move on to other people if you dislike doom and gloom

[Liverpooldawg]

I'm one of the larger sunshine pumpers on the board. Might want to move on to other people if you dislike doom and gloom

The real solution we all know. It ain't coaching, Mullen is a good coach. The real answer is better recruiting. There are two paths you can take there. One is the one Ole Miss chose. That is the quick one but it carries obvious risks, as they are about to discover. The other one is he one we are on. Slow, consistant success with the natural ups and downs but with a geneRal upward trajectory. It's frustrating at times, but it's the right one for us, we are horrible cheaters, and always have been. Patience grasshopper.

[Todd4State]

The real solution we all know. It ain't coaching, Mullen is a good coach. The real answer is better recruiting. There are two paths you can take there. One is the one Ole Miss chose. That is the quick one but it carries obvious risks, as they are about to discover. The other one is he one we are on. Slow, consistant success with the natural ups and downs but with a geneRal upward trajectory. It's frustrating at times, but it's the right one for us, we are horrible cheaters, and always have been. Patience grasshopper.

There's zero chance Dan would do what Ole Miss did. Hevesy working with a Network is a hilarious thought. That's not even an option.

What pisses me off is the fact that here we are in YEAR NINE and we have a bunch of midget WR's and had a class with one high school o-line recruit in it. That's not natural ups and downs. That's not having some college student in the football office fill out a depth chart for you. What pisses me off too is that I complained about it three-four years ago.

I think the "counting back" rule actually has hurt us in some ways because I think it caused Dan to think "Oh, OK we only signed one o-lineman but we can count those spots to the next class and we can get some then." The NCAA doing away with that rule I think may be a HUGE blessing for us because it's going to hold Dan and certain members of his staff even more accountable because it's either sign guys or waste a spot. It makes the 25 spots more valuable. It also takes away the sign and place guys which may or may not be a good thing too. I think it will allow us actually to "place" more guys because since we won't have the option to have them in our class "in case they make it" we won't have to worry about someone making it and taking a spot in the 25.

[Todd4State]

I disagree about the 2 INTs.

We were beat at that point. Again top level competition, we can't get into a passing contest & that's what happened. Nick forced a few balls because he had too. Nothing more. I don't think those played a big part in the outcome

I definitely think that they allowed this game to be a blow out. Of course, if we had more physical receivers I think we have a better chance to win.

[TUSK]

You're ripping Logan Cooke? WTF? Dude punted 7 times, had one go 67 yards, 5 go 40+ and 4 killed inside the 20. He was our best damn player. Could have been much worse if he hadn't forced them to drive a long field. We had many issues tonight, but Cooke wasn't one. Stop being an emotional puss.

I thought yalls punter was (at worst) "ok"... regardless, he deserves the game ball.

[TUSK]

This is my biggest question about tonight.

We weren't good up front tonight. We got pushed around by an OL that wasn't supposed to be very good.

We got no pass rush & gave up chunk runs.

The DL's lack effectiveness in this game is baffling to me.

No offense, 'Gun, but who told you that UGA didn't have a good OL?

[Commercecomet24]

No offense, 'Gun, but who told you that UGA didn't have a good OL?

2-5 stars, 10-4 stars, 3-3 stars. Uga gotta a lot of talent on that ol.

[TUSK]

2-5 stars, 10-4 stars, 3-3 stars. Uga gotta a lot of talent on that ol.

yeah, I don't understand.... UGA is supremely talented... and anyone that didn't know that should prolly watch more football.

[Commercecomet24]

yeah, I don't understand.... UGA is supremely talented... and anyone that didn't know that should prolly watch more football.

Yeah I would venture to guess that only bama has more talent. That was the best I've seen uga play this year. After I watched them play nd I thought we matched up well but we didn't on this night lol. Uga is fast and physical and the more Fromm plays the better they will get.

[TUSK]

Yeah I would venture to guess that only bama has more talent. That was the best I've seen uga play this year. After I watched them play nd I thought we matched up well but we didn't on this night lol. Uga is fast and physical and the more Fromm plays the better they will get.

if ya wanna feel better, watch some Pac 12 ball... eg UCLA v Stanford... It's a sad year for the football...

[Commercecomet24]

if ya wanna feel better, watch some Pac 12 ball... eg UCLA v Stanford... It's a sad year for the football...

Ha I'm watching it now and you're right. The thing is outside of Bama and Clemson it thins out pretty quick. Michigan struggled with Purdue, Oklahoma struggled with Baylor, tcu whipped okie state, I could go on and on. I guess parity has hit college football outside of the top 4 or 5

[Bothrops]

We've got to start playing our other RB's earlier than in the 4th mother****ing quarter. I have never understood this self mutilation play by Mullen. At least if the game plan evaporates early, why not give the defense a different look and style, or a ****ing opportunity for a player. Play calling was amateur bad tonight, but when Mullen gets frustrated every component of the offense just grinds to a halt. No revision of plan, no conversion.

I'm calling next week a loss, because I don't see how we can improve enough in one week to deal with a big road environment, and a dominating defense.

[Really Clark?]

We've got to start playing our other RB's earlier than in the 4th mother****ing quarter. I have never understood this self mutilation play by Mullen. At least if the game plan evaporates early, why not give the defense a different look and style, or a ****ing opportunity for a player. Play calling was amateur bad tonight, but when Mullen gets frustrated every component of the offense just grinds to a halt. No revision of plan, no conversion.

I'm calling next week a loss, because I don't see how we can improve enough in one week to deal with a big road environment, and a dominating defense.

Hill got carries in the first quarter.

[Howboutdemdogs]

I agree. My thought is why we kept going for 10-15 yards passing on 3rd down, when we only needed 3-4 yards. We failed over and over with this. I believe in getting the 1st down and then try for the longer yards.

[Dawgface]

Hill got carries in the first quarter.

True. I think he was in on the 2nd or 3rd possession.

[Howboutdemdogs]

One more thing: it kills me when a receiver does not run a deep enough route to get to the first down marker. Georgia's DB's could play man to man really good. They were there to tackle each time preventing the first down on under ran routes.

Still believe in what we got, but and old fashion azz whooping is what we got last night. Got to get up and answer the new day and prepare for Auburn. Learn from this game, and put it behind us, and move on.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

I disagree. He finished strong, but really cost us early in the game with poor punts. I thought he had his worst game tonight when the game was still in doubt

Agreed, he was off to start the game and it would've been nice for one of our strengths to have been on point when we were struggling.

Our safeties are a liability in pass coverage, especially play action. If it wasn't for the penalty against LSU, we would've had three blown coverages early in the game in three straight games.

Where was our blitzing, aggressive defense? It seemed like we rushed only 4 early and gave their QB time to get comfortable. 8-8 for a true freshman is unacceptable. Our LB's were pretty quiet too.

[ShotgunDawg]

The real solution we all know. It ain't coaching, Mullen is a good coach. The real answer is better recruiting. There are two paths you can take there. One is the one Ole Miss chose. That is the quick one but it carries obvious risks, as they are about to discover. The other one is he one we are on. Slow, consistant success with the natural ups and downs but with a geneRal upward trajectory. It's frustrating at times, but it's the right one for us, we are horrible cheaters, and always have been. Patience grasshopper.

I agree very much with your post

[ShotgunDawg]

No offense, 'Gun, but who told you that UGA didn't have a good OL?

Georgia fans and film. Regardless of how talented, that's the best the UGA OL has played in 2 years.

[ShotgunDawg]

2-5 stars, 10-4 stars, 3-3 stars. Uga gotta a lot of talent on that ol.

Then they've been really underachieving because they haven't played like this in 2 years.

[Liverpooldawg]

2-5 stars, 10-4 stars, 3-3 stars. Uga gotta a lot of talent on that ol.

Yep. Those guys were good.

[Liverpooldawg]

Georgia fans and film. Regardless of how talented, that's the best the UGA OL has played in 2 years.

At our high school game Friday night the consensus was that we found out we were a decent team against LSU. We would find out how decent in Athens. Most of us weren't caught up in it yet because we recognized that we hadn't played a talented team that could pass the ball yet. Or one that could block Simmons. And all that on the road. We know now where we are. On to the next one.

[MarketingBully]

Then they've been really underachieving because they haven't played like this in 2 years.

Yep. OL easily are the hardest players to grade out with “stars”. That’s a shitty OL and has had the Georgia QB running for his life the last 17 games. Those kids were way overrated in high school. They were basically able to control our DL by non legal means but hey they got away with it. Won’t next week and the rest of the year and it will play itself out as a shitty line.

[Bully13]

Until proven otherwise, Dan Mullen is Nick Saban/Kirby Smart's biaaatch. They own him. Dan can move the ball against everyone else, but put Saban or Smart on the other sideline & he loses all game planning ability.

- We ran into an ambush tonight against a more talented team that played as well as they could. I think we were confident coming, but the sucker punch flea flicker on the first play put us on our heals the rest of the game. I don't think we would've won by any means, but had the sucker punch not taken place, I think it goes into the 4th quarter as a competitive game.

- I'm really confused about our DL tonight. UGA has the smallest OL in the conference & according to pretty much everyone that follows UGA, is the weakness of the team. This unit certainly didn't show up tonight like they had to for us to win. Again, not sure what happened.

- Tolando Cleveland - Dude, your a SR. Act like it. You were the single biggest weakness on our defense tonight. You looked unprepared & outclassed. You've got to step up. Poor effort from you.

- Our lack of offense tonight is an absolute product of poor OL & WR recruiting. Our midget WRs got manhandled by physical corners. There were numerous balls pried away by Georgia DBSs due to lack of size & physicality at WR. Throw in a QB that doesn't have the greatest accuracy & we've got problems if our passing game can't be set up by running the ball.

- Logan Cook - your worst game tonight. Your lack of quality punts, really hurt us early in the game.

- Fitz - I thought you were tough tonight. It wasn't a good game for you, but you weren't the problem. At this point, I've accepted you for what you are. A damn good football player that is tough, can run, & competes, but you aren't an NFL passer. Not yet at least & when our offense requires you to be that, it's the team's fault, not yours.

Going forward, next week is going to be tough. Auburn found their legs tonight & they've got the DL to force us into a passing team because we can't run for 5-6 yards on 1st down. We'll really find out what we are made of next weekend from a leadership standpoint. Do we sulk or do we get back to work & play better next weekend?

UGA played lights out tonight. Some times when you play a top 5 recruiter, they don't play great, you sucker punch them early like they did us tonight, & you play the game on your terms. That didn't happen tonight. UGA was ready to go & played their best game in 2 years tonight. We'll lose that battle most every time.

I know everyone is disappointed, but we really do have a quality team. It's just limited offensively when other teams can keep us from running. From what I've seen, we will can & should beat, KY, OM, A&M, Ark, BYU, etc. We have a great chance to win 8....maybe 9 games.

Gotta put this one behind us & move on. Lots to play for & got to be ready for Auburn next weekend.

Lotta good points there shotgun. However I'm not as inclined to put quite as much emphasis on the importance of the early flea flicker. I think what happened last night was more due to the lack of recruiting on the OL and WR (tall , tough & physical) like you stated. too many short drives, lack of scoring wears down your defense both mentally and physically. even without the flea , we still take a thorough whipping in my opinion.

another thing that stings about this is that we thought we had beaten a typical LSU team but it seems quite apparent they are not. We simply are not as good as we thought we were. the reality chickens have come home to roost and it is what it is. But one thing is certain, we are better than last year and improvement from one year to the next is something we should be satisfied with.

based on the remaining schedule, I see an 8-4 or 9-3 possibility. would be a HUGE improvement. it's up to Mullen now to see if he can re-group this team's attitude and get the most out of what he has to work with.

[MarketingBully]

Lotta good points there shotgun. However I'm not as inclined to put quite as much emphasis on the importance of the early flea flicker. I think what happened last night was more due to the lack of recruiting on the OL and WR (tall , tough & physical) like you stated. too many short drives, lack of scoring wears down your defense both mentally and physically. even without the flea , we still take a thorough whipping in my opinion.

another thing that stings about this is that we thought we had beaten a typical LSU team but it seems quite apparent they are not. We simply are not as good as we thought we were. the reality chickens have come home to roost and it is what it is. But one thing is certain, we are better than last year and improvement from one year to the next is something we should be satisfied with.

based on the remaining schedule, I see an 8-4 or 9-3 possibility. would be a HUGE improvement. it's up to Mullen now to see if he can re-group this team's attitude and get the most out of what he has to work with.

Meh, I don’t think we need a better OL per se but the lack of a big physical receiver when you have a QB with shitty accuracy is a recipe for disaster. If we had a Malik Heath, AJ Brown, or Stephen Guidry last night, it would have made the difference and we would have kept up with them on offense. The lack of a big physical receiver on the outside hurt us big time as #18 shut Gray down with contact before the ball got there with 50/50 interference balls that would be called if we were at home. It’s the same way that Saban teaches his corners to play. Use as much contact as possible and complain if they call pass interference (which it is). The only way to combat that is either A) Move your receiver around since UGAs best corner was 18 or B) get big physical receivers and challenge them since the refs have no balls. It’s hard as hell to win a 50/50 ball when a corner is able to basically push you bump you before the ball gets there. Also, if a D doesn’t have to respect your passing game and sells out on the run, the job becomes infinitely harder on the OL. It was a classic Alabama D we went up against last night. Dan does a shitty job gameplanning on offense for a Saban D. We will play much better next week but we have to move Gray around like we did Fred Ross last year. We made it way too easy on the defense last night.

[Bully13]

Meh, I don’t think we need a better OL per se but the lack of a big physical receiver when you have a QB with shitty accuracy is a recipe for disaster. If we had a Malik Heath, AJ Brown, or Stephen Guidry last night, it would have made the difference and we would have kept up with them on offense. The lack of a big physical receiver on the outside hurt us big time as #18 shut Gray down with contact before the ball got there with 50/50 interference balls that would be called if we were at home. It’s the same way that Saban teaches his corners to play. Use as much contact as possible and complain if they call pass interference (which it is). The only way to combat that is either A) Move your receiver around since UGAs best corner was 18 or B) get big physical receivers and challenge them since the refs have no balls. It’s hard as hell to win a 50/50 ball when a corner is able to basically push you bump you before the ball gets there. Also, if a D doesn’t have to respect your passing game and sells out on the run, the job becomes infinitely harder on the OL. It was a classic Alabama D we went up against last night. Dan does a shitty job gameplanning on offense for a Saban D. We will play much better next week but we have to move Gray around like we did Fred Ross last year. We made it way too easy on the defense last night.

can't disagree with much there Market. good points about how the lack of a passing game can make the OL look shittier than they really are. I'm not ready to call the game plan shitty though. I'm thinking more that it was Mullen having not enough to work with.