So, that was a bit closer than we'd hoped, but you cannot diminish what that victory meant overall. Three straight undefeated regular seasons, 39 straight regular season victories (!!!). It's a crazy accomplishment that should not go underappreciated, regardless of how we looked yesterday. Tech has had a lot of success offensively this year, and they really brought their A game.
Kendall Milton was the story offensively, with career highs in yards and TDs, going 18 for 156 and 2 tuddy's. He's looked especially sharp and been running with toughness and decisiveness the last several weeks. Ironically, all the time he's missed this year and during his career has probably kept him fresher in a sense. Now healthy, we see what he's capable of.
Carson Beck, on the other hand, had the worst start of his career. After 11 straight games of 250+ through the air, he failed to reach 200 last night. He also made a poor decision on 3rd and goal late, opting to try to through into a tight window instead of throwing it away. The resulting INT meant the Dawgs missed out on a chip shot FG that would've put the Dawgs up by 3 scores. As it turned out, Georgia was forced to recover an onside kick and get an extra first down to put the game away. To their credit, they did both and never gave Tech a chance to have a potential game-tying drive.
Ditto for Daijun in terms of worst games. The fumble on the first scrimmage play wasn't exactly a case of him being careless or anything, but it did lead to Tech's first TD after we finally got a stop on our first defensive series. He had tough sledding for most of the game, although it was almost comical the disparity in running lanes when he was in vs. Kendall. Did he pee in the O-Line's Cap'n Crunch yesterday morning? Found his groove later and helped salt the game away, though.
Lest we forget, Georgia again was on the receiving end of some bad calls, ranging from ticky-tack to non-existent. The "hold" on Dylan Fairchild was ridiculous, and the ineligible downfield was borderline at best. While it ended up being wiped off due to the tipped pass, the PI on Mondon that nearly extended a Tech drive was also BS. I may have missed something, but it didn't look like Mondon even touched the receiver, much less interfered with him. The officials also missed a couple that favored Georgia, but trying to be as objective as I can, it was definitely the Jacket's day in terms of key calls going their way.
For the most part, the LBs and DE's for Georgia struggled. Give Faulkner, Haynes King, et. al. credit for sure. They executed their plan to near perfection. The stretch zones and read-option stuff gave us fits. That said, I was astonished how bad our eye discipline and dishonoring of responsibility was. Several times, our LBs were taking false steps instead of reading and reacting. @brollinspff beat me to it with his post-game analysis, but I couldn't help thinking about how Bama has incorporated a lot more of this into their offense. But, I also remembered Gary Danielson mentioning they have moved more to a pre-determined approach for Milroe, so it will hopefully make it a bit easier on us next week. Lastly on that front, I don't think there could have been a better prep game for the Dawgs going into next week defensively.
The Bulldogs have given up 200+ on the ground twice this year. That's the first time that's happened since the 2017 season, with (God willing) 3 more games to go. The 23 points is the most given up by Georgia in the regular season since 2020, although that's just by 1 point (22 pts, twice last year). The Dawgs are also the only team in FBS whose highest points allowed game is lower than their lowest points scored game (23 and 24, respectively). As I said before, that's not a prerequisite for being undefeated, but you can't lose if that is the case, either.
Probably just my lying eyes, but I really feel Dillon Bell looks faster and more explosive this year. Some of that is probably due to more confidence, but he looks more explosive than he did as a freshman. Not shocking, but just something I see.
From a viewing standpoint, holy hell, the commercial breaks! At one point during the first half, there was a long break before a kickoff, a touchback, and then another long commercial break. I didn't time it exactly, but there was literally about 12 minutes between scrimmage plays on the telecast. Bonus Factoid: There's a Wal-Mart commercial where they show a grid of 'then-now' pricing on various items. If you look, there are about 5 listed where the 'then' price is lower than the 'now' price. Not really selling me, Wally.
Georgia's 6 penalties for 60 yds was actually not their worst game of the season, but it just seemed like they were more untimely and costly. TID had a silly unsportsmanlike after making a great play stopping King for a loss. Was it egregious? Not especially, but shoving him down at the end was just stupid and unnecessary (roughness). Saw Kirby mouthing "Get him out" probably 8 times in a row.
The Dawgs' 437 yds of total offense was their 4th lowest output of the season (385 vs. Mizzou, 420 (bowldawg) at Auburn, and 386 vs. Ball State). Once again, we punted just once, and didn't yield a return, but I digress. That's really not a bad game, especially with Brock and Ladd out. Just couldn't re-establish a consistent rhythm in the second half.
Speaking of Brock and Ladd, I really can't help but wonder if they were being held out just to get them as healthy as possible for Bama next week. On the one hand, that seems logical. On the other, that would seem to be against Kirby's MO with regard to taking every week seriously. Probably, some folks here know the truth. Regardless, since we came away with the win, I'm glad they sat.
Overall, I wouldn't say it was the worst game Georgia has played during our current run, but it was obviously a big step back from how we played the last couple of weeks. That's really not a surprise, though. It's been kinda like that all year, hasn't it? Even though this was a rivalry game, it was against a team that was 6-5 and lost to Bowling Green at home earlier in the season. As long as we maintain the same trend of getting up, way up for the biggest games as we have, we'll be just fine.
So, it's on to Bama in the SECCG. While Georgia's game was maybe a bit too close for comfort at times, Bama had the ho-hum snooze fest at Auburn yesterday in the Iron Bowl. Just your typical 4th and Goal from the 31 winning TD pass at the end. Will that create the confident "this is our year" mentality for the Tide, or does it show that they're just living on borrowed time? Or, will that have absolutely nothing to do with this coming Saturday? My money is on option 3.
Without launching into a full on preview, it will likely be a knock down, drag out fight for the better part of 60 minutes. If we can get Brock and Ladd back, I'll feel a million times better about our chances, though. Everyone knows what's on the line. Win and in. Lose, and it would take some serious upsets out there for us to make the playoffs. I like our chances, though.
Kendall Milton was the story offensively, with career highs in yards and TDs, going 18 for 156 and 2 tuddy's. He's looked especially sharp and been running with toughness and decisiveness the last several weeks. Ironically, all the time he's missed this year and during his career has probably kept him fresher in a sense. Now healthy, we see what he's capable of.
Carson Beck, on the other hand, had the worst start of his career. After 11 straight games of 250+ through the air, he failed to reach 200 last night. He also made a poor decision on 3rd and goal late, opting to try to through into a tight window instead of throwing it away. The resulting INT meant the Dawgs missed out on a chip shot FG that would've put the Dawgs up by 3 scores. As it turned out, Georgia was forced to recover an onside kick and get an extra first down to put the game away. To their credit, they did both and never gave Tech a chance to have a potential game-tying drive.
Ditto for Daijun in terms of worst games. The fumble on the first scrimmage play wasn't exactly a case of him being careless or anything, but it did lead to Tech's first TD after we finally got a stop on our first defensive series. He had tough sledding for most of the game, although it was almost comical the disparity in running lanes when he was in vs. Kendall. Did he pee in the O-Line's Cap'n Crunch yesterday morning? Found his groove later and helped salt the game away, though.
Lest we forget, Georgia again was on the receiving end of some bad calls, ranging from ticky-tack to non-existent. The "hold" on Dylan Fairchild was ridiculous, and the ineligible downfield was borderline at best. While it ended up being wiped off due to the tipped pass, the PI on Mondon that nearly extended a Tech drive was also BS. I may have missed something, but it didn't look like Mondon even touched the receiver, much less interfered with him. The officials also missed a couple that favored Georgia, but trying to be as objective as I can, it was definitely the Jacket's day in terms of key calls going their way.
For the most part, the LBs and DE's for Georgia struggled. Give Faulkner, Haynes King, et. al. credit for sure. They executed their plan to near perfection. The stretch zones and read-option stuff gave us fits. That said, I was astonished how bad our eye discipline and dishonoring of responsibility was. Several times, our LBs were taking false steps instead of reading and reacting. @brollinspff beat me to it with his post-game analysis, but I couldn't help thinking about how Bama has incorporated a lot more of this into their offense. But, I also remembered Gary Danielson mentioning they have moved more to a pre-determined approach for Milroe, so it will hopefully make it a bit easier on us next week. Lastly on that front, I don't think there could have been a better prep game for the Dawgs going into next week defensively.
The Bulldogs have given up 200+ on the ground twice this year. That's the first time that's happened since the 2017 season, with (God willing) 3 more games to go. The 23 points is the most given up by Georgia in the regular season since 2020, although that's just by 1 point (22 pts, twice last year). The Dawgs are also the only team in FBS whose highest points allowed game is lower than their lowest points scored game (23 and 24, respectively). As I said before, that's not a prerequisite for being undefeated, but you can't lose if that is the case, either.
Probably just my lying eyes, but I really feel Dillon Bell looks faster and more explosive this year. Some of that is probably due to more confidence, but he looks more explosive than he did as a freshman. Not shocking, but just something I see.
From a viewing standpoint, holy hell, the commercial breaks! At one point during the first half, there was a long break before a kickoff, a touchback, and then another long commercial break. I didn't time it exactly, but there was literally about 12 minutes between scrimmage plays on the telecast. Bonus Factoid: There's a Wal-Mart commercial where they show a grid of 'then-now' pricing on various items. If you look, there are about 5 listed where the 'then' price is lower than the 'now' price. Not really selling me, Wally.
Georgia's 6 penalties for 60 yds was actually not their worst game of the season, but it just seemed like they were more untimely and costly. TID had a silly unsportsmanlike after making a great play stopping King for a loss. Was it egregious? Not especially, but shoving him down at the end was just stupid and unnecessary (roughness). Saw Kirby mouthing "Get him out" probably 8 times in a row.
The Dawgs' 437 yds of total offense was their 4th lowest output of the season (385 vs. Mizzou, 420 (bowldawg) at Auburn, and 386 vs. Ball State). Once again, we punted just once, and didn't yield a return, but I digress. That's really not a bad game, especially with Brock and Ladd out. Just couldn't re-establish a consistent rhythm in the second half.
Speaking of Brock and Ladd, I really can't help but wonder if they were being held out just to get them as healthy as possible for Bama next week. On the one hand, that seems logical. On the other, that would seem to be against Kirby's MO with regard to taking every week seriously. Probably, some folks here know the truth. Regardless, since we came away with the win, I'm glad they sat.
Overall, I wouldn't say it was the worst game Georgia has played during our current run, but it was obviously a big step back from how we played the last couple of weeks. That's really not a surprise, though. It's been kinda like that all year, hasn't it? Even though this was a rivalry game, it was against a team that was 6-5 and lost to Bowling Green at home earlier in the season. As long as we maintain the same trend of getting up, way up for the biggest games as we have, we'll be just fine.
So, it's on to Bama in the SECCG. While Georgia's game was maybe a bit too close for comfort at times, Bama had the ho-hum snooze fest at Auburn yesterday in the Iron Bowl. Just your typical 4th and Goal from the 31 winning TD pass at the end. Will that create the confident "this is our year" mentality for the Tide, or does it show that they're just living on borrowed time? Or, will that have absolutely nothing to do with this coming Saturday? My money is on option 3.
Without launching into a full on preview, it will likely be a knock down, drag out fight for the better part of 60 minutes. If we can get Brock and Ladd back, I'll feel a million times better about our chances, though. Everyone knows what's on the line. Win and in. Lose, and it would take some serious upsets out there for us to make the playoffs. I like our chances, though.
